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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 3, 2011 20:54:12 GMT -5
"Lets get you out of here." She took his hand and started toward the isle that led to the room that led to the strange, domestic horror within. "Come on. I'll show you."
Aware that his outburst hadn't really explained anything, too emotionally wrought to do anything else, he let Sarah lead him out of the cargo bay.
"Doctor, I don't think we should let this spaceship take off."
"No," he agreed. "No, we shouldn't." He took a few deep breaths, attempting to regain his composure. "So, is this the laundry room you found?"
The door was marked "SJ Batch 1" - a fact that, combined with the familiar voice inside - caused a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He opened the door.
There was a slab of muscle and skin, stretched over some kind of life support unit. "Give me your soiled clothing," it repeated in a terribly familiar monotone, "Give me your soiled clothing."
He couldn't stop his eyes darting from the thing to Sarah and back. His fists clenched, and he found himself literally beginning to tremble with rage.
"No," he snarled, "We can't let this ship take off. And we can't let that Bane genelab continue operating."
He drew a deep breath. "This ends here." There was no humor in his eyes. No compassion. No mercy.
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 14, 2011 22:09:57 GMT -5
She turned to question the Doctor to find him in a tautly contained fury as she had ever seen. He was shaking, his eyes were full of ice and pain.
If Sarah Jane barely recognized the man across from her, she all to well now recognized the voice, the jaw, of the other presence in the room.
"Give me your soiled clothing. Give me your soiled clothing." it droned. Not impatient. Not excited. A mindless voice. Her own voice, slaved. Her nose. Her mouth. Was this vast bed of flesh somehow hers as well? Her stomach turned.
" -We can't let this ship take off. And we can't let that Bane genelab continue operating." the Doctor snarled, making her flinch back, her face going near blank with the slightest hint of a pout, looking up at him through the protection of her dark lashes, she hated to see him like this.
He drew a deep breath. "This ends here." There was no humor in his eyes. No compassion. No mercy.
Sarah Jane was suddenly covered in chill bumps regardless of the heat, her hands now pressed behind her back against the cool smoothness of the bulkhead wall. She meant to speak, but her voice came out a frightened, almost peevish whisper.
"Doctor, what are we going to do?"
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 16, 2011 9:40:32 GMT -5
Sarah Jane was suddenly covered in chill bumps regardless of the heat, her hands now pressed behind her back against the cool smoothness of the bulkhead wall. She meant to speak, but her voice came out a frightened, almost peevish whisper.
"Doctor, what are we going to do?"
He hesitated, his eyes flicking between Sarah and the... the thing that spoke with her voice.
"First, we're going to allow this poor creature to rest," he said, suddenly sounding and feeling more tired than he ever had in his life. "Then, we're going to find a transmitter, and then the main engine room of this ship."
He smiled, thin and humorless. "And then we're going to visit that lab, and tumble down the wall."
The Doctor sighed, long and weary. "But first... Sarah? Please, step outside." He weighed the sonic screwdriver in his hand, and eyed the thing in the room. "I don't think you want to watch this."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 16, 2011 18:15:57 GMT -5
Find a transmitter. Check.
Find the Main Engine room. Check
Visit the lab, and shut it down. Check.
Leave the room while he did . . .something . . . to the washing machine that wore half her face? No. She darted between him and . .and it.
"No! I'm not going anywhere!" Perhaps she was a bit shrill, but her friend wore a new face. And he wasn't human and he didn't always understand.
"You can't just kill it Doctor! What if that is me in there? In a time loop or something? What the hell is this thing? Can't you at least take the time to find out if it has a brain in there? My brain?"
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 18, 2011 20:16:48 GMT -5
She darted between him and . .and it.
The Doctor's eyes narrowed with irritation. But before he could say anything, Sarah spoke up.
"No! I'm not going anywhere!" Perhaps she was a bit shrill, but her friend wore a new face. And he wasn't human and he didn't always understand.
"You can't just kill it Doctor! What if that is me in there? In a time loop or something? What the hell is this thing? Can't you at least take the time to find out if it has a brain in there? My brain?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it slowly. What have I become? he wondered. I used to worry about things like that.
He lowered his gaze, unwilling to meet her eyes for the moment. "You're... you're right." He took a deep breath. "I've... I..." No. He couldn't burden her with that. "I'm... sorry."
Another deep breath, and he forced himself to look up. "Right, then. Let's see what we're looking at here, then." Stepping around Sarah, he tugged the cabinet out from the wall. Eying the cybernetic interfaces with a critical eye, he carefully dismounted a side panel and checked inside. The shrill humming of the sonic screwdriver could be heard as he poked around.
"Let's see... ganglia... rudimentary digestive system... a simplified cardiovascular network... is that? Yeah, a gas exchange mechanism." More humming and buzzing, and a little clanking.
"Ouch," the... domestic horror announced in a monotone.
The Doctor emerged from the cabinet and peered over the top, startled and a little horrified. "Ouch?" he echoed.
"That hurt," the domestic horror stated in a monotone. It fell silent for a moment. "Where am I?" it asked in the same monotone. "Why can't I see?"
The look of horror deepened on the Doctor's face. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 18, 2011 21:04:16 GMT -5
She would not forget that moment when he had started to speak and stopped himself. Such a pain flashed in his eyes that it caught high in her chest. Then he was doing his thing, his brilliant Doctory thing from where answers came from, climbing under the table of animate flesh.
The answer was "Ouch."
It got worse from there. Longing questions in her own voice, but stripped of all inflection. Somehow, that made it even worse. However, she supposed if it had been speaking as she did, Sarah Jane might have just gone stark raving mad that moment.She had stepped away from it, not liking the way it sniffed at her when she got anywhere near it.
When she the thing speak it's own words, she almost would have run to cradle that face, but the Doctor's own pain for it was even more potent comfort than her own.
"Doctor." She said in a harsh whisper. "Let it sniff you."
When he got closer, that familiar nose twitched in a deep sniff. It wasn't close enough. She had to be certain.
"Closer." Sarah Jane asked, a thread of desperation in her voice.
It sniffed again.
"Give me your soiled clothing. Give me your soiled clothing." It asked twice before breaking loose into it's own words again.
"It's so dark here. It's so dark."
"It's not me. It can't be me. I know it isn't."
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 19, 2011 9:14:21 GMT -5
"Doctor." She said in a harsh whisper. "Let it sniff you."
Carefully extracting himself from the interior of the machine - no, life-support unit - he waved his arm in front of the half-face. It - she - sniffed.
"Closer." Sarah Jane asked, a thread of desperation in her voice.
He stepped closer, almost touching the half-face now, placing the skin of his hand and the leather of his jacket directly under the nose. She sniffed again.
"Give me your soiled clothing. Give me your soiled clothing."
The Doctor started to relax. Maybe it had just been a reflex, an accidental triggering of random memories stored in the neurons, with no real thought...
"It's so dark here. It's so dark."
"It's not me. It can't be me. I know[/i] it isn't."[/i]
"Sarah Jane," the Doctor said, "listen to me."
"Who..?" responded the monotone.
"I'm the Doctor." He gave Sarah - the mobile, un-tortured Sarah - a quick look.
"Doctor?" the monotone asked, "What... what happened?"
He took a deep breath. "There's been an accident. You... you've been hurt. Badly."
"I... ache."
"I know, Sarah Jane. I know." His voice shook for a second. "I've hypnotized you, to block the worst of the pain."
"Don't... don't feel good."
He looked away for a moment, scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand. "I... I'm going to put you to sleep, now. You can rest, while I get the TARDIS." He paused, struggling to keep his composure. "I'll... I'll get you out of this, old girl."
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Call me old girl again, and I'll spit in your eye."
He wiped his eyes. "Yeah, you would. Wouldn't you?" He raised his hands.
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Try not to get lost, this time."
A deep breath. "I won't." He put his fingertips on the partial face, right where the cheekbones should have been. "Sleep, now." The partial face relaxed.
The Doctor slumped down by the machine, resting his back against it, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched. "I'm getting too old for this."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 20, 2011 0:29:37 GMT -5
It had never been so personal before. She had faced many a monster, she'd taken many a bad turn from them as well. But never had she suffered any lasting damage. The Doctor never let it get that far. He'd always come before any harm could be done to the core of her.
This cut right to that core. For a moment, she cursed her future self for sending her here to witness this. She knew she must see this through to the bitter end.
Since she had first stepped back in to the TARDIS, she'd been running on desire and faith. Still, in the back of her mind, she'd been adding up all the details. So many key pieces of information dropped neatly into place and tied it all together. It knocked the breath from her and she could only watch, open mouthed as the tragic scene played out before her. What she saw was the truth could not be the truth, it was too horrible. She pressed herself even harder against the wall, grip on reality slipping a bit.
The only thing that kept her from flinging herself at him and thrashing at him with her fists was that she could have wished no greater comfort in her own torment than what the Doctor already offered this bed of flesh and faded memories. She would not ruin this moment for either of them, no mater how her anger boiled in her veins.
She recognized the gesture when he put it to sleep. That would do for now. As the Doctor sat, she pushed away from the wall and strode at him, inner boil reaching top pressure. Then she stopped, paced two steps away. His battered face had turned her. Then she strode back still too angry to stop herself. Well, until she saw his eyes. Pain in the depths that went far deeper even than the torment he was feeling now over what was happening. However, she felt like this was his fault and that he'd failed her.
Effectively, this inner battle expressed itself by pacing, agitated, toward and away from the Doctor who sat on the floor. Unbeknownst to her, she was also making little spitting sputters like an irritated cat, escaping her as she tried to hold her tongue. She stopped and stood in front of him.
Say something nice. Say something nice. Something happened to him back there while he was waiting for you, so say something nice.
"I can see in the future, I've fallen down your priority list a bit." She snapped, then set her jaw to keep back any more harsh words for a moment. "It's a right awful mess now, isn't it? And if you don't get us out of it, I'll wind up dead or a washing machine or something. So on your feet, soldier. We have a Transmitter to find."
She held out a hand to him, her face pale and grim. She'd done her best, lousy as it was.
"Come on Doctor." Her own voice ragged with conflict. She'd never been so angry with him, but right now, she needed him.
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 20, 2011 14:15:46 GMT -5
"I can see in the future[/i], I've fallen down your priority list a bit." She snapped.[/i]
The Doctor winced. It was true that he hadn't checked in on her - on anyone really - the way he should have. But he was confused at the same time. What in the world had prompted that?
"It's a right awful mess now, isn't it? And if you don't get us out of it, I'll wind up dead or a washing machine or something. So on your feet, soldier. We have a Transmitter to find."
She held out a hand to him, her face pale and grim. She'd done her best, lousy as it was.
"Come on Doctor." Her own voice ragged with conflict.
He gaped at her, unable to believe his ears. Did she think..? Then, with a sinking feeling, he checked the display of his increasingly-overengineered "screwdriver". "Let me see..." he muttered. "No signs of artron or huon radiation."
He looked up, grabbed Sarah's hand, and played the blue light of the "screwdriver" over the back of her hand. Then he checked the display again, and twisted the handle several times.
"For what it's worth," he said, relief trickling through him, "That poor woman there isn't you. Not in the sense that you grow up to be her, anyway."
Slowly, feeling older than his years (I'm only 900), he climbed to his feet. He looked at Sarah, then looked at the sleeping, tortured Sarah. "But she's you. A clone, with her memory structures kept intact for reasons I can only attribute to sadism, twisted and violated into the core processing structure of a washing machine."
His own voice was hard and clipped. "We have a transmitter to find. Then we need to get to the TARDIS, and get her out of here. Get her help." His eyes narrowed. "And then, after all that? We've got to see to the Bane as well."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 25, 2011 23:23:25 GMT -5
Sometimes the Doctor made her feel like a thing. A bag of water, blood, and amino acids. She found it both annoying and comforting as he took readings from her offered hand.
"It's a shadow of me." She said, in a tone so dead it was eerily like the construct that wore half her face and carried some of her memories. Then she sounded more like herself, definitive and bold. Having reclaimed her hand, she gripped both on the little railing around the SJ - Batch 1. "I would never forget how you smell. She can take her chances with the rest of us, and we'll try to get her out." Then she literally and figuratively turned her back on it.
She turned back to the Doctor He had lumps and contusions, bruises, with a terribly haunted look in his eyes. It was that look that chilled the anger right out of her. Something had really happened to him. Something had hurt him even since he'd picked her up off the street. In that instant she felt terribly alone. It struck her hard that he'd been about to put the thing before her to sleep forever. The thing that thought it might be Sarah Jane. She caught him by the lapels of his jacket in her fists. What she wanted to do was cling to him, but she fought it. Initiating a hug with a a Time Lord was like putting a sweater on a cat.
"Doctor, you're scaring me. What the hell is Thionite? What happened to you back there?"
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 26, 2011 9:57:28 GMT -5
"It's a shadow of me." She said, in a tone so dead it was eerily like the construct that wore half her face and carried some of her memories.
"She's a copy of you," he said, feeling it important to humanize the tormented clone. "Probably identical, up to the moment that..."
He let the words trail away, realizing that now was not the best time.
"I would never forget how you smell. She can take her chances with the rest of us, and we'll try to get her out." Then she literally and figuratively turned her back on it.
"We will get her out," he said, rising and resting a hand on her shoulder. "Because, you're right when you think that in the centuries that have passed since I last saw you, I haven't always been there when you wanted me there." He squeezed her shoulder, gently. "But - and never forget this - I will always be there when you need me."
She turned back to the Doctor He had lumps and contusions, bruises, with a terribly haunted look in his eyes. It was that look that chilled the anger right out of her. Something had really happened to him. Something had hurt him even since he'd picked her up off the street. In that instant she felt terribly alone. It struck her hard that he'd been about to put the thing before her to sleep forever. The thing that thought it might be Sarah Jane. She caught him by the lapels of his jacket in her fists. What she wanted to do was cling to him, but she fought it. Initiating a hug with a a Time Lord was like putting a sweater on a cat.
"Doctor, you're scaring me. What the hell is Thionite? What happened to you back there?"
"Thionite." He said the word like a prayer and a curse, loathing and longing mingled in the syllables. Then he drew a ragged breath.
"It's a drug, Sarah Jane. A terrible, addictive drug." Another deep ragged breath. "It lets you experience... call it wish fulfillment. All of the dark, secret fantasies you've ever had. All of the hidden hopes and dreams, the things that could never have happened. You live them out, under the influence of thionite."
His eyes were watering up, now, and his voice was shaking. "I saw... I experienced... my family." He scrubbed at an eye with the back of a hand. "The Archivist. Arkytior. Gallifrey..."
A deep, wracking sob tore itself from his throat. He wrapped his arms around himself, fighting for control. But the pain wouldn't retreat, not this time. "They... they're... all... gone..."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Oct 26, 2011 12:19:02 GMT -5
First things first. She wanted some.
She wanted to stride back down the isle through the crates back to that sack of blue grains and take it. This desire was clear, compelling, and shocking to her. It was like discovering that a monster, or perhaps a two year old, lived in the back of ones own mind. Her mouth opened in a perfect o shape as this all dawns before her, and she is suddenly in battle with herself. She won. Stubborn as a mule, her Aunt had always called her, and she was, winning by simply locking her knees.
It was also clear, as the Doctor cracked, that he had taken Thionite, and it had done this to him.
She pushed jealousy away hard, there was no time now for that now. They were in trouble. If it did this to the Doctor, the whole Universe might be in terrible trouble.
The Doctor's sobs shocked her into action. She needed to do something fast. Words were her strength. She needed one to latch on to. Centuries. Centuries. 'In the centuries since I have seen you.' he had said.
She let go of his lapels and now pressed one hand over his right side heart, her other hand cupping high on the back of his neck to pull his head down toward her shoulder, her lips near his left ear.
"My friend. The Doctor. He lives in the now. He drinks in the now. My friend, the Doctor, always understood the power of now. My Doctor was child like, but he wasn't childish, so stop acting like a two-year-old and fight this thing. You're a Time Lord, by Gallifrey's sake. I need you here now. I'm not them, but I'm here now. Find now, Doctor, be here with me. Its ugly here, Doctor, there are monsters and we're in trouble." Now she pushed him by the shoulders, back just far enough that she can see his face.
"I want you to promise me something. When this over. When I'm home. You'll find someone. You shouldn't be alone."
"Promise me you'll find someone fresh and eager and take them with you. You need someone. Maybe that is enough promise to the future that it can drag you from the past back to now." His sobs had drawn her own silent tears to fall ignored down her face as she searched his eyes. "I can't do this without you." Her face is drawn and desperate, her hands grip his shoulders with her need, giving him a little shake.
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Post by The First Doctor on Oct 26, 2011 21:22:13 GMT -5
"My friend. The Doctor. He lives in the now. He drinks in the now. My friend, the Doctor, always understood the power of now. My Doctor was child like, but he wasn't childish, so stop acting like a two-year-old and fight this thing. You're a Time Lord, by Gallifrey's sake. I need you here now. I'm not them, but I'm here now. Find now, Doctor, be here with me. Its ugly here, Doctor, there are monsters and we're in trouble." Now she pushed him by the shoulders, back just far enough that she can see his face.
There was an inhuman rage in his eyes as he looked up, a rage that bled away as quickly as it came. Her words were having the desired effect, even if they were sandpaper on raw nerves.
"I want you to promise me something. When this over. When I'm home. You'll find someone. You shouldn't be alone."
"Promise me you'll find someone fresh and eager and take them with you. You need someone. Maybe that is enough promise to the future that it can drag you from the past back to now."
He opened his mouth, then closed it, ashamed of himself now.
His sobs had drawn her own silent tears to fall ignored down her face as she searched his eyes. "I can't do this without you." Her face is drawn and desperate, her hands grip his shoulders with her need, giving him a little shake.
He scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, then produced a handkerchief from a jacket pocket and dried her tears as well. "You won't have to, Sarah Jane." His smile was a little shaky, but it held. "You won't have to." And then, like a cat putting on a sweater, he hugged her close.
He held her for a second, wondering when his little Sarah Jane had become so amazing, knowing that she always had been. "Thank you," he whispered. "For being brilliant."
"Right, then," he said, animation returning to his voice. "Right now, we have to get a transmitter, get your tormented sister to safety, and deal with that bio lab. Then, I promise you I will find someone with new eyes, someone eager, and take that person with me."
He spun his sonic screwdriver in his fingers, then stuck it in his jacket pocket like a knight sheathing his sword. "Now," he said with a grin, "let's go and be amazing."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Nov 5, 2011 16:31:06 GMT -5
It was a genuine hug. It was her Doctor. He sort of swooped in and banged up against her, arms circling for an iron bound moment making her breath come out in a surprised whoosh.
As they rebounded away from each other, she could still see the shadows behind his eyes, but his will seemed to be keeping those shadows at bay. He was fighting the drug now, and for the moment he was winning. Their situation was still terribly dire, but she felt the ice glaze cold of panic melting away from her heart.
"Hello Doctor, it's nice to see you again." She grinned at him. "Whomever you find, they better be brave. Lets get to it."
Sarah Jane had started her journeys with the Doctor with a sort of bravery that came from simple gumption and ignorance. She'd learned a new sort of bravery during their time together. To simply give all and know that not only was failure worth the price of the good they were trying to do, but that the Doctor was going to do the best he could (which was very very good) to keep her from having to play the ultimate price. Her life.
In this past week though, before she had left the Doctor (or he had left her, it was hard to say) she'd lost some of her faith that the outcome was worth the price. Not to mention, her ignorance was long gone. It seemed as though she'd been living on borrowed time. It was someone else's time. Well, as soon as they had her future straightened out anyway. For now, she would follow the Doctor anywhere.
"They better be brave." she whispered to herself with a wry smile.
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Post by The First Doctor on Nov 12, 2011 23:39:59 GMT -5
"Hello Doctor, it's nice to see you again." She grinned at him. "Whomever you find, they better be brave. Lets get to it."
He grinned back, a smile full of teeth and worthy of the days when he'd worn curly brown hair and a garish scarf. "And it's nice to see you again, too. Did I tell you that? Because, if I didn't, I should have."
He looked around the room, really looking this time. And then he made an exasperated sound, and smacked himself in the forehead with both hands. "Old! I'm getting old, and there's too much stuff in my head!" He smacked himself again. "I need a new head!"
The broad grin returned. "We've been going about this the entirely wrong way, Sarah Jane. And I'll have to blame my age, because I used to recover my wits pretty quickly after a professional beating, back when I was only 750." He pointed. "There's a computer terminal right there," his voice had dropped to a stage whisper. "Why don't we just have a quick look and see where we want to go?"
That was easier said than done, and finally the Doctor had resorted to opening the casing and fiddling with the wires and circuitry. "Hardware and software," he'd said, "They're interchangeable. So, with a few twists of this wire..."
The screen blinked, then offered a menu. "Brilliant!" he enthused. "Let's see... main reactors? Rubbish. Ah, this looks promising. Auxiliary battle bridge. Yes, perfect!" He looked over his shoulder at Sarah Jane. "Don't you agree? Of course you do! Because I know you, and you're thinking the same thing I am right now: that you could really go for a nice cup of tea and a couple of iced biscuits."
He paused, grinning. "But, failing that, you're thinking that we could really use access to the full suite of controls required to operate the ship. Am I right? Of course I am, because you're brilliant!"
The Doctor stood back up, still limping just a bit. "And because you learned from the best, right?"
The spring was back in his steps as he ducked through the door.
"They better be brave." she whispered to herself with a wry smile.
"I can hear you, you know," he called back. There was a pause. "And they always are, Sarah Jane. All of you. You always are."
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