just_the_doctor | [Otherways] Arrival at Palasia Four

"What'd you find, Doctor?"

"They... they've killed half their planet. The Northern hemisphere is still lush and green and alive, but the Southern, where we are, is just... dead. It's parroted about that it was a slight shift in the planet's orbit that caused massive ecological devastation, but they did it. They didn't understand it and they just unleashed it. Destroyed everything."

His eyes go wide suddenly. "Oh, no."

The Doctor grabs Padme's wrist as he jumps up from the seat, already running. "We've got to get back to the TARDIS!"

And OW. Well, not really but still. She so was not used to her wrist being grabbed. But she doesn't question what the hell is going on. She'll question that when they're safely back on the TARDIS. Because... yeah, somehow it's starting to look a whole lot more safer in there than out here.

He runs flat out back through the park, dragging Padme behind him and ignoring the shouts of the guards for them to slow down. He grabs the TARDIS key from his pocket and jams it into the lock in a single movement.

And nothing happens. The key won't turn.

"It's too late," he says softly, slamming a fist on the door. He spins around and falls back against the TARDIS, sliding down to a sit, his eyes fixed on the key in his hand.

And this is where she's even more confused than anyone could possibly imagine. Really she is.

"Okay, explain to me what in the hell just happened?"

The Doctor looks up at her with haunted eyes.

"Nanobots. The scientists were experimenting with nanobots. Microscopic robots that can be programmed to perform tasks that would otherwise be impossible. One of the applications they were experimenting with was disposal of hazardous chemicals. Because the nanobots were created from a material impervious to virtually every known substance, they could be programmed to break down the chemicals on a molecular level, changing them into harmless substances like nitrogen, oxygen, water... They were even able to build more of themselves with the component molecules.

"But something went wrong. And they didn't stop. They stopped being able to recognize the substance they were neutralizing from any other substance. And so they set about to neutralize everything. Metal, wood, glass, plastic, even flesh. They started breaking down everything in accordance with their programming. And they kept building more and more nanobots with the same faulty instructions.

"The only thing they didn't seem to destroy was each other. By the time the scientists figured this out, three million people had been killed and over a third of the planet was reduced to that... wasteland that we saw. The only solution they came up with was to fool the nanobots into seeing everything as one of them. All the buildings, the tools, the machinery -- everything had to be built with a certain percentage of the particular metal the nanobots were made from. Plants and trees, the water supply, even the people are all inoculated with it as well.

"Everything on this planet, everything that you see, has it inside them, protecting them from the nanobots."

He looks away from her, then.

"Everything but us."

Padme leaned against the TARDIS and frown listening to the Doctor. Everything was infused with nanobots? Not that she had the slightest damn clue what the hell a nanobot was to begin with. That would be figured out later...

"Damn. So because the three of us don't have these nanobots..." Well, she really didn't want to know what was going to happen. Hell, the Force had nothing to do with nanobots and that was one thing that no one could see. Good thing these people didn't know about Force collars. Things that could be put on a Force user to keep them from using the Force.

"Oh, no. We have the nanobots. They're everywhere, even the air. We're breathing them in and out right now. They're settling on our skin, crawling up from the ground. We're infested with them. That's the problem. What we don't have are the additional inoculations to protect us from them.

"Which means that the nanobots see us as foreign objects and are breaking us down. Reducing our clothing, our tools, our bodies into component molecules. We're being eaten, Padme.

"That's why the TARDIS wouldn't open. The key is so sensitive that even the smallest variation means it no longer fits. The nanobots may have only broken down the tinest portion of it so far, but it's enough that it's not the right key anymore."

"Well, then, we have to find a way to fix it because by the Force I am not going to allow myself to be eaten alive by something that I can't see. Hell, I already use something that I can't see!"

He stares blankly ahead for a moment. Then, a sudden thought.

"Do you think you could use the Force to convince the TARDIS to let us in? She does have a mind, after all. And if I could get us inside, I can probably work out how to help us."

"It's worth a shot, but I can't guarentee anything."

Why couldn't she? Because the TARDIS was strong minded and more than likely strong willed.

Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and focused on the TARDIS, soothing her, caressing her with the Force so to speak. More or less gently coaxing her to let them in.

The TARDIS is used to telepathic connection, but not to the communication being two-way. The mind shrinks back at first, and Padme can hear the garbled speech of others in the park instead of the translation the ship had been providing.

But the TARDIS recognizes Padme after a moment and reaches out again. The alien voices recede and are again replaced by the more familiar Galactic Basic she's used to.

She doesn't communicate in words, or even in images. Just sensations of emotion. If they had words, though, it would be something like I trust you, but...

And when she hears the Galactic Basic it almost relaxes her. ALMOST but not quite. And she's not going to let the TARDIS get away that easily. Nope, no way in the Force is she going to allow that.

But she continues what she'd begun. The soothing and the caressing of the TARDIS with the Force. There is no buts in this... we need to find a way to stop this and we can't do that without you

This time, the response is just shy of verbal. There's no mistaking it for what it means, though.

Doctor?

You could lose him if you don't let us in so he can find a solution to all of this

And that makes her frown. She doesn't want to lose him because they're friends and the TARDIS, well, she needed the Time Lord.

The TARDIS is confused. On the one hand, she can still feel her connection to the Doctor, still loud and strong. On the other, she's also aware of something being not right. She has no concrete reason to either believe or disbelieve Padme, only the feeling of sincerity and pleading behind her words.

And so she does what TARDISes shouldn't be able to do. She takes a leap of faith.

The door lock clicks.

Thank you

And when the door lock clicks she pulls the Doctor up and opens the TARDIS' door and escorts him inside and once inside she shuts the door.

You might want to lock the door so no one else tries to enter

Because the guards and some of the people on this planet are just flat out idiots and would definitely try to get in after them.

No problem there; the lock seals as soon as the door is pulled closed.

The Doctor pats the console affectionately before turning to Padme. "Well done!" he says with a smile. "Now, let's get to the infirmary so I can see what we're dealing with."

He starts down the corridors at a brisk jog.

She gives a smile back before following him down to the infirmary. Once inside she leans up against the wall and watches him. What a way to do things...

The Doctor tosses off his leather jacket and rolls up his sleeve. Popping open one of the drawers, he pulls out a tool the size and shape of a ball-point pen. He places the tip against the inside of his elbow and clicks the plunger twice.

Then, he pulls out a slide and places a drop of the blood he collected on it, moving it under a microscope attached to a display screen. A few fiddles with the knob, and the resolution zooms in with dizzying speed to reveal an infestation of tiny spider-like creatures latching onto the surface of the blood cells and burrowing their way inside.

Her eyes stare at the screen. At the fact that its showing little spider like things burrowing into the blood cells. And she wasn't feeling so good either. For the moment she wasn't showing it...

But then as she watches him she lets herself slide down the wall. Her body feeling weak or rather weaker. Whichever it was...

He doesn't notice her at first. The Doctor's engrossed in introducing several foreign substances into the culture and watching the nanobots effortlessly neutralize them.

The only saving grace so far is that they've been unable to affect the TARDIS itself. The material was simply too strong and too advanced for the nanobots to penetrate. The ones that blew in with the air as the door opened had already been swept up by the ventilation system and blown back outside.

When he does finally look over to her, rubbing his eyes, he doesn't immediately register what he sees.

"You doing okay over there?"

"Doing just peachy, Doctor."

Not really but wasn't going to tell him that. They'd figure this out. She was sure of that. Giving him a warm smile she leans her head back and shuts her eyes, willing her body to relax putting herself in a meditative state.

He mistakes her actions as despair.

"We're going to beat this, Padme," he says reassuringly.

"Didn't say we wouldn't, Doctor."

She might, if he's paying attention, sound a little weaker than what she did before.

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