Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Dr Who - What If ❯ Loves Labour's Won ( Chapter 5 )

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Rose and Martha have a chat about the Doctor. Shakespeare gets told off by Rose, and she gets a bit miffed at Martha asking the right questions. That was her job. Oh, and the Doctor gets another kiss.

Non Anime: Doctor Who Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.16.2016 | Pages: 37 | Words: 15.6K | Visits: 352 | Status: Completed

Everyone walked back into Will's room after returning from the courtyard. Dolly came in behind them. `I got you rooms, Sir Doctor. You are just across the landing, and your lady friends are in the adjacent room.

`Poor Lynley. So many strange events,' Will pondered. `Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?'

`Where a woman can do what she likes,' Martha said defiantly.

`An' she can give you a slap if you're not careful,' Rose warned, seeing the lustful look in his eye was still there.

Will gave her a mischievous smile, before addressing the Doctor. `And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?'

`I do a lot of reading.'

`A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do.' Will looked at Rose. `And you my fair lady. You look at him as though he is your whole world. Such love and longing I see in your eyes, `tis a wonder he is not under your enchantment. And yet my dark lady, you look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me.'

`I think we should say goodnight,' Martha told him, and left the room. Rose lingered by the door for a moment, looking into the Doctor's eyes. Shakespeare's insight had hit home, and the Doctor gave her a look which could only be called loving. She looked at Will, who had a knowing smile on his face, before turning away and leaving the room.

`I must work. I have a play to complete. But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, and I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours.'

The Doctor strolled to the door. `All the world's a stage.'

`Hmm. I might use that. Goodnight, Doctor.'

`Nighty night, Shakespeare.'

The ladies found their way to their room. It was cosy, with two single beds, and was lit with candles on the walls which cast a warm yellow light around the room, and flickering shadows in the recesses. Martha picked up a candle in a holder from the bedside table and walked around the room, inspecting the wardrobe.

`It's not exactly five star, is it?' she commented.

`Oh this is lovely . . . quaint. You should see some of the gaffs we've stayed in,' Rose said. `And it beats a prison cell, believe me.'

Martha laughed, not sure if Rose was winding her up or not. `How long have you two been together?'

`A couple of years, I think . . . you lose track of time when you travel in the TARDIS.' She tested the mattress on one of the beds, and then lay down, propping her back up on the pillows.

Martha did the same on the other bed and turned to look at Rose, propping her head on her hand. `He's quite a catch,' she said with a cheeky smile. `How did you meet?'

`He blew up my workplace,' said Rose, with a deadpan expression.

Martha spurted a laugh. `You're kidding me.'

`Nope. Remember the shop window dummies comin' to life and attackin' people? They had a transmitter on the top of Henrick's, and he blew it up.'

`Remember it? I was in my second year and A+E was inundated with casualties. They asked the medical students to go in to help the doctors. Y'know, putting plasters on, wrapping bandages, stuff like that.'

`Ah, sorry about that. He has a habit of causing chaos when he's saving the world.'

There was a knock at the door. `Hello, you in there?' the Doctor's voice called quietly from the other side of the door.

`Yeah, we're here,' Rose said with a laugh. `Come on in.'

`Ooh this is nice and cosy,' he said, as he walked in and sat on Rose's bed. `Better than some of the places we've stayed in. eh?'

`We've already done that one,' Rose said.

`So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a little bit Harry Potter,' Martha said.

`Wait till you read book seven. Oh, I cried,' he told her.

`Oh yeah, The Deathly Hallows. So many of the characters died, including . . .'

`Oi, I'd like to read that when it comes out,' Martha interrupted.

`You can borrow my copy if you want,' the Doctor offered.

`But is it real, though? Not Harry Potter. I mean witches, black magic and all that, it's real?'

`Course it isn't!' he said dismissively.

`Well, how am I supposed to know? I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break.'

Rose slapped his arm. `Don't be so rude you. I remember the dead comin' back to life, and a small, dead child wearin' a gas mask. That was like witchcraft and black magic.'

`But that was gaseous life forms and nanogenes.'

`Yeah, I know that now, but I didn't at the time. So cut her some slack, she's still learnin' all this weird stuff that we take for granted.'

`Yeah. Okay, sorry. It looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing, something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it.'

`Well, there was somethin',' Rose ventured. `While you were tryin' to save Lynley. The serving girl that was in Shakespeare's room, I saw her watchin' from the gallery.'

`There were a lot of people watching. It was a most unusual occurrence,' he said.

`Yeah, I know. But you didn't see the look on her face. It was as if she knew what was goin' on and was happy about Lynley dyin'.'

`Hmm. Interesting.' He stood up and put his hands in his pockets. `She's probably gone home by now, so we'll have to wait until morning. Get some sleep, and we'll have a word with her when she comes to work.' He walked to the door and opened it.

`Goodnight Doctor,' said Rose as he walked through the doorway.

`Goodnight.'

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A scream in the darkness!

Martha was jolted awake and opened her eyes but she still couldn't see. There was no glow from street lights through the window, no light pollution, just a wall of inky blackness. She then remembered where and when she was; no wonder people believed in creatures lurking in the darkness.

`Rose, did you hear that?' she called out to the darkness.

An oblong of pale blue light made her blink, and she saw Rose's concerned face illuminated by her phone. `Yeah, c'mon. It looks like the plot thickens.'

Using the light from her phone display, they hurried to the door and opened it to find the Doctor standing there, with his knuckles raised about to knock on the wood.

`You took your time . . . this way,' he said, and ran towards Shakespeare's room.

In his room, Will was slumped over his desk, apparently exhausted from writing the final scene of Loves Labour's Won. He woke up as the trio ran in and disturbed his fitful slumber. `What? What was that?'

Dolly had collapsed on the floor, and Martha knelt down to see if she could do anything for her. She knew she wouldn't be able to do much; a fully equipped resuscitation room would not be available for another 500 years or so. Whilst the Doctor joined Martha, Rose went to the window and saw an archetypal witch on a broomstick silhouetted against the full moon. It was the serving girl she'd seen earlier, and she was cackling as she flew off.

`Bellatrix Lestrange eat yer heart out,' Rose muttered to herself.

`Her heart gave out,' Martha diagnosed, feeling no pulse in her neck.

`She died of fright,' the Doctor added.

`Doctor?' Rose called from the window with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

He ran over to see. `What did you see?'

Remembering how he had pooh-poohed Martha about witchcraft and black magic, Rose proceeded cautiously. `Y'know if ya see somethin' that looks like a witch, and it flies like a witch, and it cackles like a witch . . . is it all right to call it a witch?'

`Well, yeah, I suppose. Why?'

`I just saw a witch.'

They sat down around Will's desk, while Rose described what she had seen. Will explained how he must have fallen asleep after writing the final scene. A cockerel crowing could be heard through the open window as dawn's early light started to filter through the breaking clouds, and dogs started barking at the rising of the sun.

`Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit,' said Will sadly.

`Rage, rage against the dying of the light,' the Doctor said, quoting Dylan Thomas.

Will raised his eyebrows. `I might use that.'

`You can't. It's someone else's,' the Doctor warned him.

Rose was thinking about the events of the last few hours. `But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land.'

`And Dolly died of fright,' Martha added, also wanting to put things into perspective.

`And they were both connected to you,' Rose finished.

`You're accusing me?' asked Will in surprise.

`No, but I saw a witch, big as you like, flying, cackling away, and you've written about witches,' Rose said.

Will looked puzzled. `I have? When was that?'

The Doctor gave Rose a warning look. `Not . . . not quite yet.'

`Peter Streete spoke of witches,' Will remembered.

`Who's Peter Streete?' asked Martha.

`Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe.'

The Doctor sat forward. `The architect . . . Hold on. The architect! THE ARCHITECT!' He leaped out of his seat `The Globe! Come on!'

The Doctor stood in the stalls, looking around the tetradecagon. Rose, Martha and Will stood on the stage. `The columns there, right? Fourteen sides. I've always wondered, but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?' he asked.

`It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well.'

The Doctor frowned in thought. `Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen.'

`There's fourteen lines in a sonnet,' Martha offered.

`Is there?' Rose asked, impressed with Martha's knowledge. She'd never cared for Shakespeare at school. They had tried to do Romeo and Juliet, but the arcane language was difficult to follow, and all she knew was that it had ended badly for the star-crossed lovers.

`So there is,' the Doctor responded. `Good point. Words and shapes following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon.' He started slapping his own head in frustration. `Think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines!'

Will spread his arms out. `This is just a theatre.'

`Oh yeah, but a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage; say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them.' Slowly, a realisation started to dawn on the Doctor. `You can change people's minds just with words in this place,' he said to himself. `But if you exaggerate that.'

`Like an amplifier?' Rose asked.

`Yes!' the Doctor said, pointing at her and grinning.

`It's like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside,' Martha ventured.

`Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you,' he told her.

Rose was feeling a bit miffed. It was her job to give the Doctor ideas, and now this clever, attractive young woman was trying to take over. She liked Martha, but come on; she was just a passenger on a day trip. Leave the detective work to the professionals.

`Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?'

`You won't get an answer. A month after finishing this place, lost his mind,' Will told him.

`Why? What happened?' Martha asked as Rose opened her mouth to ask the same question.

`Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled.'

`Where is he now?' the Doctor asked.

`Bedlam.'

`What's Bedlam?' Martha asked.

Hah! Rose had heard that question on Quizmania. `Bethlam Royal Hospital,' she said with a satisfied grin. She knew something Martha didn't.

`I don't know about the Royal, but it's the madhouse,' added Will, just in case they didn't know what Bethlam Hospital was.

`We're going to go there. Right now. Come on,' the Doctor said, striding out of the theatre.

`Wait! I'm coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand,' Will said as two young men enter the theatre. `Ralph, the last scene as promised. Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it. Back before curtain up. And remember, kid, project. Eyes and teeth. You never know, the Queen might turn up.' He turned and hurried after the time travelling trio. `As if. She never does,' he muttered.

`So, tell me of Freedonia, where women can be doctors, writers, actors,' Will asked Rose and Martha as they walked through the streets of Southwark.

`This country's ruled by a woman,' Rose told him.

`Ah, she's royal. That's God's business. Though you are royal beauties,' he declared.

`Whoa, Nelly,' Martha said, and they stopped walking. `I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country.'

“I know that too”, Rose thought. “Anne Hathaway”. She'd been to Stratford on Avon on a school trip once and visited her thatched house.

`But Martha, this is Town,' he told her, as if that was reason enough to be unfaithful to his wife.

Rose was reminded of her mum's accusations against her dad when she had gone back to see him. `Oi! Town or country, she's still your wife, and a marriage is built on trust,' she told him in no uncertain terms.

Martha didn't know where that had come from, but she could see Rose meant it. “Good for you girl”, she thought to herself.

The Doctor had strode ahead, but came back to get them. `Come on. We can all have a good flirt later.'

Will gave him a saucy smile. `Is that a promise, Doctor?'

The Doctor stood there, dumbfounded as Rose giggled. `Oh, fifty seven academics just punched the air. Now move!'

Rose fell in step beside him. `I know a certain captain who would love to meet him.'

The Doctor groaned at the thought. `Oh don't . . . please don't.'

They managed to get a lift to Bethlam Hospital from a merchant who had a cartload of stock he was taking to Bishopsgate. Will traded a free entry to a performance of one of his plays for the 11 mile ride in the cart.

The hospital was a large, brick building near the city wall, and had an atmosphere of foreboding emanating from behind the wrought iron gates. They were greeted by the Keeper of the Hospital, who thought they had come for the popular entertainment of the time, which was to watch the mad people do strange and ludicrous things.

`Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam,' the Keeper said.

`No, I don't!' he replied angrily.

`Well, wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies.' The Keeper of the Hospital walked on down the corridor with cells on either side.

Martha looked around in disgust. `So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?'

`Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia,' he said.

`Too right it is,' Rose said, relieved that she'd been born in the 20th century.

Martha was still not happy. `But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?'

`I've been mad. I've lost my mind,' Will said sadly. `Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose.'

`Mad in what way?' Rose asked him.

`You lost your son,' the Doctor said by way of explanation.

`My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there.'

`I didn't know . . . I'm sorry,' said Martha.

`It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be.' Will paused in thought. `Oh, that's quite good.'

`You should write that down,' the Doctor told him.

`Maybe not. A bit pretentious?' he questioned.

`Mmmmm.' The Doctor gave him a noncommittal shrug.

`Well I like it,' Rose said. `If you don't want it, I'll have it.'

`If the fair lady Rose approves, then who am I to argue.'

`This way, my lord!' the Keeper called to them. as they entered the cell, they saw a hunched figure in rags with his back to them. `They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength,' warned the Keeper.

The Doctor gave him a stern, disapproving look. `I think it helps if you don't whip them. Now get out!'

The Keeper left the cell, and locked the gate behind him. The Doctor went around the cell and knelt in front of Streete. `Peter? Peter Streete?' the Doctor called gently.

`He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing out of him,' said Will.

The Doctor touched Streete's shoulder. `Peter?'

Streete raised his head, and looked at him with wild staring eyes. The Doctor put his fingers on Streete's temples and started to probe his mind. `Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go. That's it. That's it, just let go.'

He lay Streete down on his cot. `Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches.'

`Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. They whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design! The fourteen walls. Always fourteen. When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits,' Streete told him.

`Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me where were they?'

`All Hallows Street.'

`Too many words,' a voice croaked beside the Doctor, making him jump up.

`What the hell?!' Rose exclaimed in surprise, as an old hag suddenly appeared in the cell.

`Just one touch of the heart,' the hag cackled reaching out with her forefinger.

`NO!' the Doctor cried as the hag leaned forward and touched Streete's chest with her finger. His heart stopped abruptly.

Will pointed at the hag. `Witch! I'm seeing a witch!'

`Now, who would be next, hmm? Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals,' the hag taunted.

`Let us out! Let us out!' Martha shouted, rattling the bars of the cell.

`That's not going to work,' the Doctor told her. `The whole building's shouting that.'

`Who will die first, hmm?' the hag asked them.

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and stepped forward. `Well, if you're looking for volunteers.'

`No! Don't!' Rose cried.

`Doctor, can you stop her?' Will asked him.

`No mortal has power over me.'

`Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one. If I can just know you,' the Doctor said.

`None on Earth has knowledge of us.'

`Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think. Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy.'

`Narrows it down,' Rose said in encouragement. He turned and smiled at her. `They channel and use psychic energy.'

`Narrows it down,' he said.

`They can drown a man without water,' Martha added.

`Narrows it down.'

`They can appear out of the ether in a locked cell,' Will said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Will's participation. `Narrows it down, nice one.'

`And they have a thing about the number fourteen,' Rose remembered.

`Narrows it . . . Ah! Fourteen!' He pointed at the hag in a sudden moment of realisation. `That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Braxill Planetary Configuration. Creature, I name you Carrionite!'

The hag screamed and dissolved in a ball of light before vanishing.

Rose came and stood beside him. `What did you do?'

`I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic,' said the Doctor.

Martha stood the other side of him. `But there's no such thing as magic.'

`Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead.'

`Use them for what?' Will asked.

`The end of the world.'

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Back in Will's room at the Elephant Tavern, the Bard was washing his face in an enamelled bowl while the Doctor explained about the alien witches.

`The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend.'

`Well, I'm going for real,' Will said, wiping his face with a towel.

`But what do they want?' Rose asked.

`A new empire on Earth. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft.'

`But how?' Martha enquired.

`I'm looking at the man with the words,' the Doctor said, giving Will a pointed stare.

`Me? But I've done nothing.'

Rose thought back to the previous night when the serving girl had been in the tavern. `Hold on, though. What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?'

`Finishing the play,' Will replied defensively.

`What happens on the last page?' the Doctor asked quietly.

`The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual.' Will paused in thought. `Except those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them.'

The Doctor straightened up. `That's it. They used you. They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. Love's Labours Won. It's a weapon. The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing!' He turned to look at Rose and Martha and then turned back to Will. `And yes, you can have that.'

`So how do we stop them?' Rose asked.

`I've got to find their base of operations in All Hallows Street. Will, do you have a street map of London?'

`I have a parchment on the shelf over there.' He reached a rolled up paper from between some leather bound books on the bookcase. He flattened it out on the desk to reveal a hopelessly inaccurate map of London streets.

`Blimey. It's hardly an A to Z is it,' said Martha.

`The cabbies around here must have it easy,' Rose joked.

The Doctor put his brainy specs on and pointed to one of the three marked streets, which he noted was where Thames Street would be in Rose's and Martha's time. `All Hallows Street. There it is. Rose, Martha, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play,' he said.

Will held out his hand to the Doctor. `I'll do it. All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing.'

`Oh, don't complain,' Rose said sympathetically.

`I'm not. It's marvellous. Good luck, Doctor.' They shook hands.

`Good luck, Shakespeare. Once more unto the breach,' he said as they left the room.

`Ooh, that's a good one for you,' said Martha.

`I don't know,' Rose said with a frown, `the last time I saw a breach . . .'

`I like that!' Will declared, and then realised. `Wait a minute, that's one of mine.'

The Doctor reappeared at the doorway. `Oh, just shift!'

A while later, the three time travellers were walking through a narrow passageway onto a ramshackle street. `All Hallows Street, but which house?' the Doctor asked, looking around.

`The thing is though, am I missing something here?' Martha started a train of thought. `The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me. I'm living proof.'

`That don't mean nothin,' Rose told her. `I nearly died in the 19th Century . . . Oh, and the world nearly ended in 1987 when I caused a paradox.'

`Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux? I know. Back to the Future. It's like Back to the Future.'

`Ooh, that's a good one,' Rose said.

`The film?' Martha confirmed.

`No, the novelisation. Yes, the film. Marty McFly goes back and changes history.'

`And he starts fading away . . . Oh my God, am I going to fade?' Martha asked with concern.

`Nah, it's more like gettin' eaten by gargoyle monsters,' Rose explained helpfully.

The Doctor looked serious, deadly serious. `You and the entire future of the human race. It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?'

They heard a creak of hinges. The kind you hear in all the good horror films. A door had creaked open invitingly on it's own.

`I think that answers your question,' said Rose.

`Ah. Make that witch house,' he said and set off for the open doorway. Rose smiled at Martha and rolled her eyes at his terrible pun.

They made their way into the house and climbed the stairs to an upstairs room. The serving girl from the tavern was waiting for them. `I take it we're expected,' the Doctor said.

`Oh, I think Death has been waiting for you a very long time,' the Carrionite said.

`Right then, it's my turn,' Martha said with a slap of his chest. `I know how to do this. I name thee . . . Carrionite!' She pointed at the alien as she said it and the alien gasped, before laughing. `What did I do wrong? Was it the finger?'

`The power of a name works only once. Observe.' It pointed at Martha. `I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones.'

Martha gasped and fell backwards. Rose caught her and lowered her to the floor. `Doctor?'

`What have you done?' he demanded.

`Only sleeping, alas. It's curious. The name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time. And as for you, Sir Doctor. Fascinating . . . There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh, but look. There's still one word with the power over your heart.'

`The naming won't work on me.'

`With fire and ice and rage you come. Like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. Ancient and forever your passion grows,' it pointed at Rose who was kneeling by Martha. `For the wolf in a woman's clothing whose name is . . .' The Doctor stepped in front of her. `Rose.'

With his back to Rose, he didn't see her eyes flash with a gold light as the Bad Wolf inside her absorbed the power of the naming. Once again, Rose noticed that one of his adversaries had accused him of being in love with her.

`Oh, big mistake,' the Doctor told the Carrionite. `Because that name keeps me going. The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?'

`The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness.'

`And how did you escape?'

`New words. New and glittering, from a mind like no other.'

`Shakespeare,' Rose realised. The Doctor looked around, surprised and puzzled that she was still conscious, but there was no time to contemplate that at the moment.

`His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance.' The Doctor could see Shakespeare on the surface of the blue liquid in the cauldron.

`How many of you?'

`Just the three. But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as pestilence. And from this world we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic.'

`Hmm. Busy schedule,' he said, walking up and looking the Carrionite in the eye. `But first you've got to get past me.'

`Oh, that should be a pleasure, considering my enemy has such a handsome shape.' The alien whispered in his ear, running her fingers through his hair.

`Get away from him you bitch!' Rose shouted. `Doctor, be careful.'

He held his hand up and waved to let her know that everything would be all right. `Now, that's one form of magic that's definitely not going to work on me.'

`Oh, we'll see.' The alien pulled some hairs from his head.

`What did you do?'

`Souvenir.'

`Well, give it back.'

The Carrionite leaped backwards out of the window and hung in the air, out of reach.

`Well, that's just cheating.'

`Behold, Doctor. Men to Carrionites are nothing but puppets.'

It wrapped his hair around a wooden doll. Behind the Doctor, Martha started to wake up, and Rose helped her into a sitting position, her eyes fixed on the window.

`Now, you might call that magic. I'd call that a DNA replication module.'

`What use is your science now?' The Carrionite asked, and stabbed the DNA replication module with a spike.

The Doctor cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor.

`DOCTOR!' Rose called out and rushed to his side, rolling him onto his back. `It's the Royal Hope all over again.'

Martha hurried over and knelt by his side. Rose tilted his head back, pinched his nose, and sealed her lips around his. She was about to breath air into his lungs, when something occurred to her. She kissed his lips before sitting back on her heels.

`Hang on a minute . . . she only stabbed the doll once.' She leaned forward and spoke quietly into his ear. `You mate, have got two hearts.'

He opened one eye and looked at her, his boyish grin spreading across his face. `It was worth a try. At least I got one of your life saving kisses again.'

Martha laughed, and Rose slapped his chest in pretend annoyance. He tried to stand, and staggered to the side. Rose and Martha supported him.

`Ah! I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!' Martha thumped him on the right side of his chest.

`Dah! Other side.' Rose thumped the left side. He leaned forward. `Now, on the back, on the back.' Martha linked her fingers together and thumped him with both her fists. `Left a bit. Dah, lovely. There we go.'

He straightened up. `Badda booma! Well, what are you standing there for? Come on! The Globe!'

Both Rose and Martha rolled their eyes and set off after him.