42

This episode is probably one of the ones I hate/enjoy the most because it just shows how much the Doctor hides. From my memory, he never mentions being scared before/It's very rare. so I found it quite horrifying in how desperate he sounded. Props to David Tennant's acting in this episode because it's brilliant!

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"I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do." Rita repeatedly paced around her room, Martha sitting on her bed trying to help the confused Time Lady.

"Stone!" Martha shouted making the Time Lady stop in her tracks. "Why are you so worried?"

"You saw what happened last night?" She asked continuing to pace around shaking her head. "I can't Martha."

"Can't what?" She asked resting her chin in her hand.

"Do that, I just. I've never had a 'proper relationship' before." She explained to the confused woman. "Of course I was forced to marry but I never- well you know." She looked at her.

"Loved them?"

"Yeah that," She waved a hand at the woman not even able to look at her in reply as she continued to pace the room. "There is no way I can, not with him."

"You say it as if it's a bad thing." Martha raised a brow.

"Well it is... but it isn't." She then groaned slumping into the spinning chair next to her desk which had been cleared now scattering new pieces of paper all over it.

"Why isn't it?" Martha frowned.

"I- I can't discuss this, I'm sorry Martha but I can't, I don't- you know and I most likely never will." Martha raised her brows at the Time Lady not believing a word. "He's my best friend!" She protested running a hand down her face. "Even if I did- which I don't." She gave the woman a pointed look telling her to not even go there. "He clearly is just playing a joke on me." She groaned once again spinning around in the chair out of comfort. "I'm sorry for taking up your time Martha."

"It's completely fine Stone, it isn't like you can go to the Doctor about this and there isn't anybody else"

"Well, there is that." She sighed standing up. "Has he spoken to you about it though?" Rita asked not able to hold back the itching question.

"I mentioned you earlier and he froze in place not moving for a good five minutes."

"Great." Rita threw her head back pacing her room once more. "Can't even hear my own name without freezing up."

"Oh, you two will sort it out. Talk to him about it."

"No way." Rita shook her head gesturing with her arms for emphasis. "That is the last thing I want to do because if I do that it will become twenty-one questions and I will end up saying something I didn't want to say and it will be a complete disaster."

"So you're going to ignore it then?" Martha asked as it if wasn't the best thing to do.

"If he doesn't mention it then neither will I." She shrugged.

"How long will that last for?" Martha asked standing up from the bed.

"As long as it needs to last," Rita replied. "One day I may tell him why I ran off, or I might not."

"Will you ever tell me?" She asked.

"Probably not, it's personal."

"I understand." Martha smiled then exited the room leaving Rita sighing and flopping onto her bed in confusion and stress.

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"Right, there we go." The Stone heard the Doctor talking to Martha. "Universal roaming." He walked around the TARDIS console holding Martha's phone. "Never have to worry about a signal again."

"No way." Martha gasped as he threw her phone at her. "This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?"

"Frequent fliers privilege?" Rita asked walking in.

"Of course." He nodded grinning at her causing the Stone's slight fear that he would act differently to die down. He was complacently fine, perhaps it was just a joke?

"That's basically a signal to say that you're stuck with us for as long as you like now." Rita laughed. "Also if you know the area code you can phone anywhere you like." She told Martha jumping into the jump seat.

"Go on, try it." The Doctor encouraging just before the TARDIS shook.

"Doctor?" Rita looked over at him.

"Distress signal. Locking on." He said. The Time Lady jumped up to help. "Might be a bit of turbulence." He said as it shook again. "Sorry. Come on, Stone, Martha. Let's take a look." He then exited the TARDIS after pulling down a lever.

"Phew, I would say that someone is cooking but last time someone said that it didn't end badly." She waved an arm in front of her face while looking around. They were currently in an extremely hot room with steam emitting and the room slightly glowing red.

"Whoa, now that is hot." The Doctor agreed with the brunette.

"It's like a sauna in here." Martha pointed out and Rita shook her head.

"It's too hot to be a sauna, oh look venting systems." She walked over to the machine and looked at the information on it.

"Working at full pelt, trying to cool down." The Doctor pointed at it. "Wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat." Rita rolled her eyes as he opened the door and headed through.

A man and a woman then ran in their direction shouting at them. "Oi, You three!"

"Get out of there!" The woman shouted. Another woman then ran up to them. "Seal that door now!" The man shouted furiously sweating.

"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" The woman obviously the captain asked them.

"Are you police?" The other woman questioned.

"Why would we be police?" The Doctor asked.

"We got your distress signal," Martha informed them.

"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" The Doctor pointed out questioning.

"It went dead four minutes ago." The captain replied.

"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering... Captain."

"Secure closure active." They heard through speakers.

The captain then frantically looked around sounding confused. "What?"

"The ship's gone mad." They turned their heads in the direction of another woman screaming and running towards them. "Who activated secure closure?" She asked. "I nearly got locked into area twenty-seven." She then looked at the three extra people frowning. "Who are you?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to talk but was cut off. "He's the Doctor, she's the Stone and I'm Martha." She then frowned slowly walking past them. "Hello."

"We'll get out of this. I promise." The captain reassured them. The Doctor frowned and shifted slightly over to the brunette. Martha then looked out of the porthole and gasped.

"Stone... Doctor..."

"Impact projection forty-two minutes twenty-seven seconds."

"What was the computer just talking about?" Rita asked taking note of what it just said. "Forty-two minutes until what exactly?"

"Doctor! Look." Martha shouted. The Time Lords ran over and looked out of the porthole the Doctor instantly grabbed Rita's hand.

"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun." The captain told them bluntly.

"How many crew members on board?" The Doctor grabbed the captains shoulders.

"Seven, including us."

"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated. We just keep the ship spaceworthy." A man informed.

"Call the others, we'll get you out." He looked at Rita who nodded. The Doctor then let go of the brunette's hand running over to the door that was closed earlier.

"No, don't!" The captain cried as the Doctor opened the door getting knocked down by the blast of heat. Rita and Martha ran over to him. Rita crouching down and holding him tightly knowing fully well what that meant.

"But my ship's in there!" He shouted.

"In the vent chamber?" A man asked.

"It's our lifeboat." The Doctor shouted as Rita helped him stand up.

"It's lava."

"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising." The woman read off of the dial.

"Channelling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that rooms going to get." The man informed them.

"We're stuck here." Martha hissed.

The Doctor looked at Rita and Martha worryingly. "So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple. Engineering down here, is it?" He asked.

"Yes." The captain replied. The Doctor and Rita lead the way rushing down to the engine room.

"Impact in forty twenty-six."

"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" The Doctor asked.

The captain looked around gasping. "Oh, my God."

"What the hell happened?" A woman asked looking around, seeing all of the ship in pieces.

"Oh, it's wrecked." Another woman told them.

"Looks like someone knew what they wanted and what they were doing, this doesn't look like some accident," Rita said looking around.

"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" The captain asked.

"No."

"You mean someone did this on purpose?" Martha asked.

"Mhm" she hummed.

The captain ran over to an inter-comm and began to speak into it. "Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer?" She then moved away from the inter-comm running a hand through her hair. "Where the hell is he? He should be up here."

"Oh, we're in the Torajii system." The Doctor realised looking at a monitor. "Lovely. You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."

"Yeah. Feels it." She muttered.

"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" He asked the captain, she worryingly looked over to one of her crew then answered.

"We're due to upgrade next docking. Scannell, engine report."

Scannell ran over to the monitor and sighed. "No response."

"What?"

He ran over to the controls. "They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."

"Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries." The Doctor took his glasses off.

"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."

"Yeah, with twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time." Scannell replied

"Can't you override the doors?" Martha suggested.

"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all deadlock sealed."

"Great." Rita sighed. "Our sonics are no use with that then."

"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance." Scannell groaned already losing hope.

"Oh, listen to you." The Doctor scoffed. "Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?"

"They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti." Riley replied hoisting a large red bag on his back

"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it."

"Well, it's a two person job. One, a technish for the questions, and the other to carry this. The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?" He held up a large piece of red metallic equipment.

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" The captain joked.

"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice." Riley muttered

"I'll help you. Make myself useful." Martha volunteered.

"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two." Riley went to head.

"Oi. Be careful." The Doctor warned her.

"You too." She nodded at the Doctor then Rita. "The both of you."

A male voice then came through the comm sounding worried. "McDonnell. It's Ashton."

"Where are you?" The captain ran over asking. "Is Korwin with you?"

"Get up to the med-centre now!" They shouted. The Doctor and Rita ran past them all heading up to where they guessed the med-centre.

"Impact in thirty-four thirty-one."

"Argh! Stop it!" A man cried struggling against an older man and a younger frightened woman, his eyes tight shut getting forced into what looked like an MRI scanner.

"Korwin, it's Abi. Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you." The woman told him.

The Doctor and Rita ran in with the captain their eyes widening at the sight. The captain ran over concerned about what was going on. "Korwin! What's happened? Is he okay?"

"Help me!" He cried out. "It's burning me!"

"How long's he been like this?" The Doctor asked taking out his sonic screwdriver.

"Ashton just brought him in," Abi informed holding Korwin down with all her strength.

"What are you doing?" The captain asked stepping forward.

"I wouldn't get too close," Rita warned.

"Don't be so stupid. That's my husband." The captain told her stepping forward and moving next to Korwin.

"And he's just sabotaged our ship."

"What?"

"He went mad. He put the ship onto secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls." Ashton said.

"No way." She shook her head. "He wouldn't do that."

"I saw it happen, Captain." Ashton protested.

The Doctor looked at the struggling man and calmly spoke to him. "Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."

"I can't!" He screamed trying to fight off Ashton and Abi holding him down.

"Yeah, course you can. Go on." The Doctor encouraged.

"Don't make me look at you, please." He cried out.

"All right, all right, all right. Just relax." He said. Rita then picked up the hypo-gun from a counter.

"Sedative?" She asked.

"Yes." Rita then sedated Korwin and his body went limp.

"Thank you, Stone"

The captain looked at them slightly shaking with worry. "What's wrong with him?"

"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings." He answered. "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a bio scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."

"Just doing them now," Abi told him.

"Very good." Rita nodded. "Do you have anyone else at all showing these symptoms?"

"Not so far," Abi replied pressing the screen of a monitor.

"Well, that's something."

The captain stood up and ordered to know what's going on. "Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?"

"Some sort of infection." The Doctor answered. "We'll know more after the test results. Now, allons-y, back downstairs." He ordered then slowly forced her away. "Hey. See about those engines. Go. Hey. Go. " The captain then followed Ashton out of the room.

"Call us if there is any news." He told her. "Any questions?"

"Yeah. Who are you two?" She asked as they went to head through the door.

"I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm the Stone." They then left heading back towards engineering.

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"Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?" The Doctor asked through the inter-comm at engineering.

"He's under heavy sedation. I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know." She replied.

"Martha? Riley? How're you doing?" He then asked.

"At the door to twenty-eight." She replied.

"Martha you got to try and move as fast as you can," Rita spoke up.

"We're doing our best."

"I know you are, keep going."

"Find the next number in the sequence three, one three, three, three, one, three six, seven." They heard Riley on the comm.

"What?" Riley asked.

"You said the crew knew all the answers," Martha told him.

"The crew's changed since we set the questions," Riley replied causing Martha to groan.

"You're joking."

"Three seven nine." The Doctor and Rita both replied high fiving each other.

Martha frowned. "What?"

"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine."

"Happy what?" Martha asked him.

"Just enter it." He ordered.

"Are you sure? We only get one chance."

"Riley we know it's correct," Rita reassured him.

"Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number." He explained. "Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. Now type it in! I don't know, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?"

"It seems as if they don't, slightly disappointing." Rita sighed.

"We're through!" Martha shouted.

"Keep moving, fast as you can and, Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship. "

"Talk about worrying her." Rita rolled her eyes.

"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free."

"Will do, thanks." He joked.

"Impact in thirty fifty." The computer reminded them.

"Don't remind me." Rita groaned.

"We'll get out of this." The Doctor told her taking her hand in his.

"I know." She sighed resting her head on his shoulder. "You know I'm starting to dislike us arriving on ships near stars and black holes." She joked causing him to chuckle.

"You and me both." He nodded looking at her, her head against his shoulder.

"I can't believe our lives depend on some stupid pub quiz. Is that the next one?" They heard Martha ask through the inter-comm.

"Oh, this is a nightmare." Riley groaned reading the question. "Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Beatles? How are we supposed to know that?"

"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time. Come on, think. Resources." The Doctor asked McDonnell. "What have we got?"

"Doctor, Stone?" They heard Martha.

"What is it now?" The Doctor asked causing Rita to hit him on the arm.

"Rude" she pointed out. "And not ginger." She then added smirking.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Sorry, Martha continue" Rita rolled her eyes at the look the Doctor was giving her.

"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles. That's pre-download." Rita groaned at the question not actually sure of the answer herself.

"Elvis." The Doctor answered then changed his mind shouting through he comm. "No! The Beatles!"

"I don't have a clue." Rita sadly shrugged.

"No! Wait!" The Doctor shouted again. "Er, er. Oh, what was that remix? Er, I don't know. we're bit busy."

"Fine. I'll ask someone else." Martha told them.

"Now, where was I?" He asked Rita who just shrugged. "Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that. Ah!" He jumped causing Rita to jump at the sudden outburst.

"Use the generator to jump-start the ship." McDonnell finished.

"Exactly. At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."

"That is brilliant."

"Well he is." Rita shrugged.

"So are you." He winked at her causing the brunette to roll her eyes. "Tiny glimmer of hope."

"If it works." Scannell muttered.

"Oh, believe me. You're going to make it work." McDonnell remarked.

"That told him." The Doctor laughed watching Scannell walk away.

"Impact in twenty nine forty six." The computer reminded them again.

"Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me." Abi shakily picked up the intercomm.

He ran from the monitor he was looking at over to the intercomm picking it up and speaking in to it, Rita watching from the monitor. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological make-up." She shakily answered sounding terrified. "It's impossible." She gasped reading the results.

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