[IC] Through Time and Space | Kirah and carsgovroom

[carsgovroom]

Nora's expression had gone from curious to horrified as she listened to the Doctor tell her what the aliens were and what they were doing. "They're taking over people's minds? And their bodies?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly from disgust. "That's what they were planning on doing with me? And Evie? I don't understand why they would be targeting us specifically."

Her eyes widened when she was told that the only way to stop the Torx was to kill it. And the human, too. Nora's head shook weakly, even though the Doctor told her that there was nothing left of the humans the Torx were invading, that they were zombies dependent on the parasite that was in control. No, that couldn't be it. Those people's minds couldn't just be gone. Those people's hearts, minds, and souls had to be somewhere in there. Just blocked off by the Torx. Not dead. "No there's got to be something we can do," Nora said, shaking her head more firmly now. "We can't just kill them, there's got to be a way to save those men, the real men. And whoever else those Torx things have. Those people, their minds or spirits or whatever makes them who they are, they can't just be gone! There has to be a way to reverse it, to take the Torx out without hurting the humans." Nora felt a bit desperate as she looked at the Doctor. "Please tell me there's a way. I don't want to murder anyone."

[Kirah]

The Doctor gave Nora a sad smile then nodded. "I'll find a way." She told her. Steel in her voice. "For now, take care of your sister." She turned back to the TARDIS consul, flicking levers and staring at one or another of three screens. After what felt like hours to Nora, but couldn't have been much more than ten or fifteen minutes the Doctor yelled "Got it! It's the Hyiasam! The Torx release Hyiasam as a byproduct of their connection." The Doctor stumbled over the last word, as if that wasn't the word she wanted to use.

"Hyiasam is extremely reactive, hence why eventually humans will harvest it from some planets that produce it naturally to make a super-efficient fuel. What I can do, I think I can do, is since the human body doesn't react with Hyiasam as all is stop the Torx system from releasing the Hyiasam. It'll poison the Torx, but the human should be spared. As long as they haven't been hooked up to the Torx for too long. I am sorry, but if the Torx has been feeding off of the human for too long the human is already dead, just a shell and the Torx would have been moving on soon anyway." The Doctor frowned at the prospect, but there wasn't anything she could do. Not everyone would live today, but maybe mostly everyone could.

"Biggest problem I can see...is I'll have to be really close to someone infected by a Torx to reverse the process. I might be able to get a burst, that hits most of London, but if they have spread out of London, then I won't get them all."

[carsgovroom]

Nora turned back to Evie, but there wasn't much she could do for her other than try to make her as comfortable as possible. She didn't seem to have any injuries and she was very much unconscious. Nora remembered how out of it she had been when she had been drugged that morning and she had been asleep for about two hours. Poor Evie. And on her wedding day, no less. She just hoped that this wasn't an omen about the marriage.

She had been sitting beside Evie, stoking her hair absently, when the Doctor yelled out. Nora looked up at she started babbling about Hyiasam, which she vaguely recognized as a word she had said earlier that morning when they had bumped into each other, but she still wasn't entirely clear on what Hyiasam was. But it seemed to be the answer to their problems since the Doctor said that she could probably use it to free humans under Torx control. At least the ones who hadn't been possessed for a long amount of time. She winced a little at the thought, but if they did nothing...then the whole planet was dead.

Rising to her feet and moving over to the control panel as the Doctor listed the problems, Nora thought for a moment. "Well...there are a couple of Torx infected people coming back to the room any minute now. We could ambush them and start the reversal process thing. And maybe they haven't spread? Maybe their invasion isn't ready yet?" She glanced over to her sister. "I'm just trying to think of reasons why they went after Evie and I specifically. If they were ready to take over everyone on the planet then why are they putting so much effort into kidnapping my sister and me? Like something about our 'genetic compatibility' makes a global invasion possible?" Nora made a face. "I don't know what I'm saying, sorry."

[Kirah]

"It has to do with the mitochondria. They need to be able to process it. Not sure why, but you see there are a bunch of different mitochondria types, but they pass through the mother line. The genetic compatibility is because you and your sister have the same mitochondria, but you have different DNA. The Mitochondria...." The Doctor trailed off with wide eyes. "I can save them all. I can make the mitochondria fight off the Torx, that's why they can't just connect to humans, and maybe even why the Hyiasam doesn't affect you."

The Doctor spun around pleased with herself. "You're brilliant." She hugged Nora and then dashed about the TARDIS again. "I can do this!" She slammed the tracking machine on the consul and hooked a cord to it. She typed furiously and then the tracking machine made some funny noises. "Nora! We can save everyone!" She bounced up and down, holding the tracking machine proudly.

"Alright here's the plan, those guys come back and I start sending this signal out. You get their attention. Keep them coming toward me. We can do this." The Doctor took Nora's hand and walked out of the TARDIS with her.

[carsgovroom]

One second the Doctor was telling her all about mitochondria and why it made her and Evie "genetically compatible," and then the next her eyes had gone wide and she had stopped speaking. Nora frowned a bit, leaning a little closer. "Um...Doctor?" Then she was speaking again. Nora wasn't sure how much of the technical babble she was able to follow, but she did understand was that the Doctor said she could save all of the humans. Even the ones who had been connected to the Torx for a long time. Her face lit up, a hopeful sort of gleam in her eyes. "Are you serious?" she asked, no doubt in her mind and a smile spreading across her face. Suddenly Nora felt herself enveloped in a hug and, a little shocked, she hugged the Doctor back.

"You're brilliant."

"Not entirely sure what I did?" Nora said truthfully as she was released from the hug and she smiled sheepishly. "But thanks?" She spun as the Doctor darted around, snatching up her tracking device as she went and returning to the console with it. She felt herself smiling as she watched the energetic woman, practically feeling the glee that was radiating off of her. They way she was bouncing around made Nora think of a child on Christmas morning. Then she was being told the plan and Nora gazed at the woman, nodding in understanding. "Then let's do it." The Doctor took her hand and she squeezed it, unable to contain her smile as the pair of them left the TARDIS and went back into the room. It seemed smaller than it actually was, compared to the TARDIS.

"So you do this a lot then?" Nora asked, looking over at the other woman with a half smile on her face. "This stopping alien invasions, saving planets thing. It's like a normal thing for you, isn't it?"

[Kirah]

"A bit. I travel mostly and things like this tend to come across my path. I have a hard time walking away." The Doctor couldn't explain how she felt there was a lot she owed the universe. She wouldn't have said she did what she did out of guilt, especially since she had been saving people since before the guilt. "Always have. That's why my name is the Doctor, got to heal things." She smiled at Nora. They were just in time. The door to the small room opened and the two men from the car stood in front of them.

"Where's the other girl?" The kidnapper asked just as the Doctor pressed a button on what was once a tracking machine. A high pitched noise emitted from it and both men shivered and started having what looked liked a seizure. They collapsed and the Doctor winced a bit before bending over and checking for a pulse on the driver.

"He's alive." She smiled brightly. "Come on." The Doctor waved Nora to follow her and headed out of the small room.

[carsgovroom]

"You travel. So you're a wanderer?" Nora asked, smiling a little. "You like wander through time and space in your box?" She glanced over at the TARDIS and felt her smile grow a little wider as she thought about it. What it would be like to live like that. "It sounds a bit dangerous. But also...fun?" A life she could never live. Half of her wanted to ask if she took along any passengers, but she stopped herself before she had a chance. She had too much to do. There was this wedding that they may or may not even get to, and then she had to go back to work and try to make something out of her life. Besides for all she knew the Doctor liked to travel alone, and she didn't want to seem like she was inviting herself to come.

The kidnappers returned just them, thankfully distracting Nora from these thoughts. She took a step back, but it wasn't really necessary. The men barely had enough time to speak before the Doctor pressed a button on her little thing-a-ma-jig and they started convulsing as a ear splitting noise filled the air. Then they dropped like a sack of potatoes. Nora's mouth opened, almost hesitant to ask, but the Doctor was already answering her questions and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they really could do this.

She followed the other woman out of the door and into the hallway. Nora had only hazy memories of this place, and she looked around with a little bit of a frown. "So that button, that noise, their...seizures. Was that getting rid of the Torx? Those two are back to normal now, right?"

[Kirah]

"If I did everything right they should be." The Doctor nodded as she replied to Nora's question about the guys. "They'll wake up with a bit of a headache and no memory of however long they've been controlled by the Torx. That'll cause some confusion I'm sure, but as all things do it will clear up." The Doctor was leading the way down a hall. Several more of the Torx controlled humans were up ahead. The Doctor pressed the button as they started toward them.

The Doctor looked up and noticed a PA system. "I have an idea. We can get the noise to play over the sound system." She pointed up at the speakers. "It should take care of all of them in one go. See if you can find the right room. I'll keep playing the noise as we go."

[carsgovroom]

Nora peered down the hall where several people that she could only assume were controlled by Torx were milling about. She hesitated, but when she saw the Doctor striding down the hall without a pause she was quick to follow. The sound filled the air and she could see it affecting the people ahead as they convulsed and their Torx controller was presumably eradicated.

She glanced up at the PA system when the other woman pointed it out to her and she nodded when she was told the plan. Her gaze lowered and she saw that doors lined the hall. Nora nodded her head in agreement and moved forward, past the figures that probably would have tried grabbing her if that noise from the Doctor's tracking device hadn't been ringing through the air. she started opening doors and glancing inside the rooms. Mostly she just saw empty storage closets, a lot like the one she had been tossed in. She closed the doors as she went off to look at the next ones and it took a while for her to finally open a door and smile when she saw what was inside.

"Doctor!" Nora called out, looking over to find the other woman with her gaze. Her smile widened when she saw her. "I think i found it." She looked back through the doorway to a room that looked like the main office, or a control room. She just hoped the PA system was still operational.

[Kirah]

The Doctor took care of several other Torx controlled people while Nora was looking for the PA system. The Doctor started wondering if there was a head Torx and what would happen after she took that Torx out. Where they a hive mind? Probably not, they all seemed surprised as she took them out. Then a passing thought, she was killing off all these aliens. Some of them deserved a chance too, but if they lived they'd kill all the humans. When Nora called her over she was making sure that the just fallen people had a heartbeat still. She stood quickly and headed over to where Nora was standing in a doorway.

"Perfect." The Doctor grinned seeing the PA system. She walked over to it quickly. The Doctor flicked several switches hoping the same thing Nora did. When nothing happened she sighed. "Watch the door." She handed the "tracking" machine over to Nora. "That's the button you'll want to press if anyone comes." She then knelt under the desk and started messing with the wiring. The strange noise Nora had heard in the car repeated as The Doctor dug around under the desk.

[carsgovroom]

Nora took the device as it was handed to her, sighing a bit that this plan was going to be harder than they had originally thought. Luckily the Doctor seemed to be a whiz at mechanics. Well at least Nora hoped she was. As she looked at the device in her hands she noticed, not for the first time, how slapped together it looked. But it worked? So hopefully the woman could make the PA system work, too. Then they could finish up here, get back to the TARDIS and Evie and maybe make it to the wedding on time. What a day.

She turned towards the door. She had closed it to give them some privacy, so no one should know they were there. But if more Torx started wandering down the hallway and saw a bunch of unconscious, unTorxed humans they'd probably start looking into it. Which might call for a room by room search of this warehouse. She kept her finger close to the button in case she had to use it. "So, do they have a leader?" she said in a conversational tone to the other woman. She didn't take her eyes away from the door as she spoke. "Like they're the worker bees and there's a queen bee type of thing?"

She could hear movement from outside and tensed a little. Either the humans were starting to stir or more Torx were coming their way.

[Kirah]

The Doctor's muffled response from under the counter was "I'm not sure, but I can tell you they aren't a hive mind. I've not encountered them since before the Time War and then they were a small parasite that kept to a rudimentary planet. I didn't even know they had gotten off that planet till now. I mean I had found traces of the possibility, but never a face to face encounter with them." The sound of electricity sparking and the smell of ozone filled the room.

"Gotcha ya!" The Doctor shouted pleased with herself. She sat up suddenly and banged her head on the underpart of the desk. "Ow..." She climbed out one hand on her head, that hand also held the metal device Nora recognized from the car. "Alright the PA system should work now." The Doctor flicked it on and said into the microphone, "Testing. Testing. Good afternoon Torx. This is The Doctor speaking. I need you to listen very closely to what I am about to say." The Doctor waved Nora over to her with the machine.

[carsgovroom]

Nora spun around when she heard the woman's shout out with glee, and got to watch as the Doctor banged her head while getting up and out from under the desk. She winced at the sound and leaned forward a little, half tempted to ask if she was all right. But soon the woman had emerged, looking perfectly fine beyond the sore spot she was rubbing. In her other hand she was carrying a thin metal object that Nora recognized from the car trip. She was about to ask what it was but the Doctor was speaking into the microphone, and through the door she could hear a louder echoing of her words playing through the speakers all over the warehouse.

She could also hear the Torx controlled people's surprised outbursts at the Doctor's words and reached out to lock the door. Just in case. It was a good thing because the ones who had been just outside and knew where the PA system in the building was located started twisting at the doorknob. Nora looked away from the door to see the Doctor waving at her and she immediately moved forward and thrust the tracker doohickey into her hands. "You're sure this is going to work?" she asked, only half wary while. The other half was almost daring herself to hope.

[Kirah]

"Nope." The Doctor said as she pressed the button. The high pitch noise emitted and the PA system picked it up. The sound echoed through the building. The Doctor leaning over it holding her breath as she waited. After about 15 seconds, but what felt like a much longer time there was the sound of a bodies hitting the floor outside the room. In response the Doctor let out her breath of air.

"It worked." She gave Nora a happy smile. "Come on." She picked up the machine and opened the door that led out. Outside the room were several unconscious people the Doctor paused and checked to make sure they all had pulses. "Let's get you and your sister to the wedding. I'll come back and help these people." The Doctor led the way back to the TARDIS. Outside of it the two men from earlier were starting to sit up.

"Oye, my head." The man who had the body of the kidnapper said as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"You'll be alright mate." The Doctor said kneeling beside him. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was gettin' off shift at the factory." He replied looking between the Doctor and Nora perplexed.

"What's the date?" The Doctor asked.

"Uh, January seventh." The Doctor shook her head.

"We'll talk when I get back. For now there's a bunch of people unconscious throughout the building. If you find anyone not unconscious and they are acting suspicious press this button." She handed over the machine. The man nodded taking the machine from the Doctor.

[carsgovroom]

Nora had moved past the two men as the Doctor checked on them. She went straight into the TARDIS, where Evie was still slumped in a seat. She was still asleep when Nora went over to her, but she wasn't as still as she had been before. Evie shifted in her sleep and made incoherent mumbling noises, as well as sleepy sounding sighs. She'd probably start waking up soon, groggy and confused. And Nora didn't feel like adding to her confusion by having her wake up in a blue bigger-on-the-inside time machine/space ship box.

She darted back to the doorway and poked her head out of the opening as the Doctor handed her little tracker/un-Torxing machine to one of the men whose body was used to kidnap her. But it hadn't been the man. Just the alien parasite that had been inside of him. So she offered the two a sympathetic smile before looking back at the woman. "Doctor, come on. We're on a bit of a tight schedule. We can't let Tim think Evie's left him at the alter. Or let my mum have a heart attack. I just hope that she hasn't noticed we're missing yet." Nora made a slightly terrified face at the prospect of what Irma Clarke might do if she discovered both of her daughters missing just hours before the eldest was supposed to get married.

[Kirah]

"It's okay." The Doctor told Nora as she entered the TARDIS, closing the doors behind her. "The TARDIS can travel through time properly now. I am going to take you to moments after you guys got kidnapped. Bring the unconscious Torx guy back here, and you guys will be alright." The Doctor nodded mostly to herself, before setting about pulling levers, pushing buttons and running around the large circular consul like the madwoman she was.

The TARDIS made some truly terrifying noises and then quieted down. "Alright we're here." The Doctor helped Nora take her sister and place her on the bed, then the two of them grabbed the unconscious Torx kidnapper and put him in the TARDIS. "Right so, I hope your sister's wedding goes well. You still have my number if anything odd happens." Never one for goodbye that was the closet the Doctor was going to get.

[carsgovroom]

Nora's expression was hesitant when the TARDIS seemed to throw a fit, but when the Doctor announced that they had arrived and the doors opened she saw the hotel room and let herself smile. Pulling one of Evie's arms over her shoulder, the two carried her out of the TARDIS and laid her gently onto the bed. Nora brushed some of Evie's golden hair out of her face before helping the Doctor load the unconscious Torx into the TARDIS, then she stepped out of the box. She looked around the room, noting the shards of lamp on the floor that she'd have to clean up, but other than that the room looked fine. Now she just had to think of what to say to Evie when she woke up.

The Doctor spoke and Nora turned to look at the woman, her eyes widening a little when she realized what the words meant. They were a goodbye. "No, wait! You're just...leaving? After all of that...?" She looked at the Doctor uncertainly, then shook her head in a resigned sort of way and glanced back at where Evie was lying. "Look, um, you didn't just save me. You saved my sister, too. So thanks. For that." She really hoped her voice didn't betray how much the Doctor just running off was hurting her. You can't just show me everything and then leave me here with nothing.

[Kirah]

"You're welcome." The Doctor gave her a small smile. A part of her glad to see Nora off safe, another part sad to part ways. She stepped into the TARDIS and took it back to the factory. There with she freed the last couple Torx possessed people and helped the others get home. It was relieving to get everyone back into their proper place, and no one died. That was the wonderful part. The whole affair of clean up took a few hours from when she had gone and taken Nora and Evie back. Basically it was late when the Doctor finally stepped into the TARDIS alone.

Alone, she didn't do alone well did she. She thought of what could have happened if Nora hadn't been there to stop her from killing all the humans with the Torx. The Doctor had thought she had the answer, but it was thinking spurred on by Nora that had brought her to a conclusion that saved everyone. The Doctor smiled to herself and found where Nora was after the wedding, long after Nora's sister and new husband had been seen off. Before she went to bed, but after dealings with people.

"So, need a lift?" The Doctor asked as she stepped from the TARDIS grinning at Nora.

[carsgovroom]

Nora was sitting on a bench in the hotel's garden all by herself, her brown hair all done up and wearing her periwinkle blue bridesmaid dress. She was barefooted, the heels sitting on the bench beside her, and she kicked her feet lazily. Evie and Tom had already been seen off in a car on their way to the honeymoon, but the reception was still going on. At least it had been. She could hear the music beginning to die down, the voices of the guests getting fainter. She had been social, paused for photographs, danced with every boy her mother had shoved at her, but she had finally needed to escape and be alone for a while to mull over her thoughts. Too much had happened that day.

She tried thinking about how beautiful and happy Evie had looked that day. Sure she had been confused upon waking, but when Nora said some people wandering by had chased the man off she had accepted it. And then had worked miracles getting them both ready on time. And then she had walked down the aisle, and Nora didn't think there had ever been a more beautiful bride. That's what she tried to focus on. Evie being happy and in love and safe. Not about how much her heart had hurt as she watched the blue box fade away from her life, taking the Doctor with it. She had wanted to see the stars just once, but her opportunity had disappeared from her life while making that wheezing sound. A sound that she'd never hear again.

A sound that began filling her ears right at that moment and Nora looked up to see the blue box fading in and out and in and out until it was sitting in front of her. She was on her feet as a beaming Doctor stepped out of the doors and asked if she needed a lift. Nora was silent for a moment, looking at her as though she was making sure she was really there. "Didn't think I'd ever see you again," she managed to say, and tried not to smile like an idiot as she answered the question. "I'm supposed to catch a train back home tomorrow. But I guess your way is quicker. And cheaper." Nora folded her arms over her chest and gave the Doctor a small half smile. "Of all you're offering is just a ride home, of course."

[Kirah]

"Well, I was thinking of getting this one frothy hot chocolate thing that they have on Beauwind, but if hot chocolate isn't your thing. Especially when half of it is the milk froth I can understand. I'll just take you straight home, I could have you there five minutes ago, but I can understand if you don't want a lift from me anyway, you know what they say, stranger danger." The Doctor was rambling a bit. She could handle a no, right? Nora had her own life to worry about. Taking her off to see the universe...that was a big deal, she could die up there, and her family would just have a missing daughter or sister.

"You never know what might happen, even for a cup of coco." The Doctor took a step forward, leaving the TARDIS door ajar behind her, the lights shinning out and giving her a strange halo effect.