Chapter Text
The Doctor and Gazelle walked hand-in-hand into the TARDIS, ready to resume their travels. The Doctor tossed his coat over one of the Y-beams and walked over to the console. "First things first, let's have some more light in here." he said and turned a dial, causing the lights in the console room to brighten. "That's better." the Doctor grinned, walking over to Gazelle. "I can see your beautiful face better now."
Gazelle blushed bright crimson at the compliment. "And I can see your handsome face better now." she reciprocated, and kissed him. They'd spent several days with Rose and her family on Earth after Christmas, during which the two Time Lords had grown more affectionate to each other, much to the other's delight.
Rose, Jackie and Mickey were outside, with Rose packed and ready to go. "Have you got everything?" Jackie asked her daughter.
"I've got everything, don't worry." Rose assured her.
"Be careful." Jackie said sincerely, and they both hugged.
"You gotta call Mo about..." Rose began.
"Oh, never mind Mo." Jackie waved her off, making the most of the hug. She would have preferred Rose to stay home, but she could see that Rose loved the travelling too much to give it up anytime soon, so she wasn't going to try and stop her.
"Ok, I'm going now." Rose said as they broke apart. "I love you." She kissed her mother on the cheek.
"I love you." Jackie reciprocated.
"Love you, love you..." Rose said back in quick succession, then went over to Mickey and kissed him goodbye.
"Good luck." he said. He'd accepted that he and Rose were well and truly finished, so he was going to be a gentleman and wish her best.
"Bye!" Rose waved and went into the TARDIS with a bounce in her step. She smirked when she saw the Doctor and Gazelle kissing each other. They made such a cute couple.
The Time Lords seemed to notice Rose's presence, so they pulled away and started operating the TARDIS' controls ready for departure. With extra vigour, the Doctor pulled a lever, and they were off.
"So, where're we going?" Rose asked eagerly.
"Further than we've ever gone before." the Doctor grinned, his eyes shining with enthusiasm.
"Here we go, then!" Gazelle said cheerfully, flipping a switch to set them on course.
~8~
When the TARDIS stopped, the Time Lords indicated for Rose to step out first. The Human stepped out of the box to find herself on a windy stretch of grass. Her mouth dropped open at something in the distance.
The Doctor and Gazelle stepped out behind her, their arms wrapped around each other. "It's the year Five Billion and Twenty Three." the Doctor explained. "We're in the galaxy M87, and this... is New Earth."
They were overlooking a futuristic city with magnificent skyscrapers towering up into the heavens and hover cars zooming to and fro. At last Rose found her voice, "That's just... that's..." She found herself unable to put her thoughts into words. "That's..." She burst out laughing in wonder.
"Not bad." Gazelle said for her. "Not bad at all, eh?"
"That's amazing." Rose managed to get out. "I'll never get used to this. Never. Different ground beneath my feet!" She jumped up and down excitedly. "Different sky...! What's that smell?" she sniffed the air.
The Doctor bent down, pulled out some blades of grass and showed it to Rose. "Apple grass." he told her.
"Apple grass...!" Rose laughed.
"Yeah, yeah." the Doctor confirmed.
"That's beautiful." Rose beamed.
"Oh, I dunno. I've seen better." the Doctor said, looking at Gazelle, who blushed again.
Rose laughed at the Time Lords' little moment. "Oh, I love this. Can I just say... travelling with you two... I love it!"
"Us too." Gazelle smiled.
"Come on!" the Doctor said cheerfully, and hand-in-hand, the Time Lords walked off, Rose bouncing happily behind them. The trio stopped by the water's edge. The Doctor lay his coat down on the grass and he and Gazelle sprawled down on it, while Rose sat down nearby. "So, the year 5.5/apple/26..." the Doctor began, slipping an arm around Gazelle's shoulder and playing with a few strands of her hair, "the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."
"That was our first trip." Rose remembered.
"We had chips." the Doctor recalled.
"And you had a little accident!" Gazelle laughed, remembering how the Doctor's previous incarnation had been eating fish & chips when a bit of his fish fell off his fork and landed on his trousers, leaving a stain.
"So, anyway..." an embarrassed Doctor continued, "planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up... oh, yeah, they get all nostalgic... big revival movement... but find this place!" He and Gazelle both sat up for a better view of the city. "Same size as Earth... same air... same orbit... lovely! Call goes out, the Humans move in!"
"What's the city called?" Rose asked.
"New New York." Gazelle replied.
"Oh, come on." Rose scoffed good-naturedly.
"It is!" the Doctor insisted. "It's the City of New New York." He paused, thinking. "Strictly speaking, it's the 15th New York since the original. So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."
Gazelle laughed softly at him.
"What?" the Doctor asked her.
"This new you, he's such a geek." Gazelle chuckled.
"New New Doctor." he smirked.
"I like it." Gazelle replied and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to grin goofily.
"Anyway, you're one to talk, Miss 'It's aytee-aytee, not at-at'!" the Doctor said cheekily.
"Well, it is!" Gazelle retorted playfully.
Rose just laughed at their banter, then got to her feet. "Can we go and visit New New York... So good they named it twice?"
The Time Lords stood up too. "Well... I thought we might go there first." the Doctor said, nodding to a large clinical-looking building on the coast nearby.
"Why, what it is?" Rose asked.
"A hospital." Gazelle told her. "See that green moon on the side? That's the universal symbol for hospitals, like the Red Cross in your time."
"I got this." the Doctor said, producing his psychic paper and showing it to Rose. "A message on the psychic paper."
The words, 'Ward 26. Please come.' were scrawled across the paper.
"I got it too." Gazelle said, producing her own psychic paper, which showed the exact same message. "Someone wants to see us." she mused.
"That's a bit powerful." Rose remarked. "Projecting a thought across time and space to both of you."
"Exactly." the Doctor concurred. "Well worth a visit."
"Hmm, and I thought we were just sight-seeing." Rose joked. "Come on, then! Let's go and buy some grapes." She walked off towards the hospital. The Time Lords linked arms and followed her.
~8~
The trio soon reached the hospital and made their way into reception. "Bit rich coming from you." Rose said in response to something the Doctor had said on the way over.
"I can't help it!" the Doctor defended. "I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps."
"Yeah, I can't blame ya, given what happened in the last hospital we went to." Gazelle remarked, remembering the nanogene incident at Albion Hospital. Seeing Dr Constantine transform before her eyes had haunted her subconscious for quite a while afterwards.
"The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next 15 minutes." the PA system announced. "Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted."
Rose looked around the reception area. "Very smart." she observed. "Not exactly NHS."
"No shop." the Doctor moaned. "I like the little shop!"
"I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything." Rose remarked.
"As the Human race evolves and moves on, so do the viruses." Gazelle replied. "It's a never-ending battle."
Just then, a nurse walked by. Rose couldn't help but stare. The nurse appeared to be a humanoid cat in nun's habits. "They're cats." Rose pointed in disbelief.
"Now, don't stare." the Doctor chided her. "Think what you look like to them, all... pink and yellow."
Gazelle tapped him on the shoulder. "Be nice." she lightly chastised, then she approached one of the cat nurses. "Excuse me, Sister, we need to find Ward 26."
"If you'd go to the lifts, miss, they're automatic. Just ask for 26." the nurse instructed.
"Thanks." Gazelle nodded, and the nurse walked on.
The Doctor pointed over Rose's shoulder. "That's where I'd put the shop, right there." While Rose was distracted, he took Gazelle's hand and led her over to a nearby lift. "Ward 26, thanks." he said to the lift computer.
"Why did ya do that for?" Gazelle frowned, wondering why the Doctor had deliberately distracted Rose like that.
"Fancied a bit of time to ourselves." the Doctor shrugged.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Rose wailed, running up to them, but she was too late, for the doors closed before she could reach them.
"Can't. Too late, we're going up." the Doctor called through the doors.
"It's all right, there's another lift." Rose called back, pressing the button for the other lift.
"It's ward 26." Gazelle called down. "And watch out for the disinfectant."
"Watch out for what?" Rose called up.
"The disinfectant!" the Doctor shouted down.
"The what?"
"The dis.. oh, you'll find out." the Doctor gave up.
Rose stepped into the other lift. "Uh, ward 26. Thanks." she said awkwardly to the computer and the doors closed.
~8~
"Commence stage one disinfection." the computer in the Time Lords' lift announced.
A green light flashed on and the Doctor and Gazelle were both soaked in a shower of disinfectant water, neither of them even flinching. The Doctor even starting washing his hair in it, as if he was in the shower.
~8~
"Commence stage one disinfection." the computer in Rose's lift announced.
Rose was also soaked in disinfectant. She screamed in surprise.
~8~
As the shower stopped, the Doctor looked to Gazelle and noticed how her now soaking wet clothes clung to her in all the right places.
~8~
A frantic Rose blindly smacked the walls, trying to stop the water.
~8~
The Time Lords were puffed with talcum powder, neither of them reacting in any way.
~8~
The same treatment happened to Rose, who screwed her eyes shut, looking shocked and a bit disgusted.
~8~
A blow-dryer whirred into life in the Time Lords' lift, blowing the powder off them and drying them. The Doctor looked to Gazelle again and noticed how her long, silky brown hair billowed behind her in the draft. She looked so beautiful to his eyes, like an ethereal goddess. He sneakily projected that thought to her telepathically, causing her to blush and try and sort herself out.
~8~
The blow-dryer started in Rose's lift too. Once she'd gotten over the initial shock, she actually quite enjoyed it and tidied her hair.
~8~
The lift doors slid open at ward 26 and the Doctor and Gazelle stepped out, both looking very well-groomed. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, while Gazelle smoothed out her navy-blue t-shirt and pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself.
~8~
Rose stepped out of her lift to find herself in what appeared to be a dingy cellar. "The Human child is clean." a voice called from down the corridor and Rose turned to see that the voice belonged to a pale-skinned man with red facial tattoos.
"Um... I'm looking for ward 26...?" Rose said.
"This way, Rose Tyler." the man said and scurried off.
Rose followed apprehensively, picking up a metal rod just in case.
~8~
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Gazelle were being led through ward 26 by one of the cat-nurses. "Nice place." the Doctor commented, looking around. "No shop downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one... just a shop. So people can shop."
"The hospital is a place of healing." the nurse replied in a haughty way.
"A shop does some people the world of good." the Doctor countered. "Not me."
"Ne neither." Gazelle chimed in. "Unless it's a sandwich shop, of course."
The nurse led them through the ward, past a red-skinned man in his bed. "The Sisters of Plenitude take a life-long vow to help and to mend." the nurse said.
They heard a groan and the time travellers looked round to see a rather rotund man lying in bed, his skin grey and stone-like. By his bedside was a very prim-looking woman. "Excuse me!" the woman said indignantly, approaching the Time Lords. "Members of the public may only gaze on the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York."
"That's petrifold regression, right?" the Doctor asked, nodding to the duke.
"I'm dying, sir." the duke groaned. "A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this."
"Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance." the prim woman said stiffly.
"Frau Clovis!" the duke wheezed, and the woman rushed to his side. "I'm so weak!"
"Sister Jatt, a little privacy, please!" Clovis said to the nurse, who led the Time Lords away.
"He'll be up and about in no time." Jatt said off-handily.
"I doubt it." the Doctor replied. "Petrifold regression? He's turning to stone! There won't be a cure for... ooh... a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue!"
"Have faith in the Sisterhood." Jatt waved him off. "But is there no one here you recognise? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient."
"I think we've found him." Gazelle said, nodding her head towards a corner of the ward by the window. The Doctor followed her gaze and saw quite literally a familiar face; the Face of Boe.
Jatt led them over to Boe and the nurse who was keeping vigil. "Novice Hame, if I can this young lady and gentleman in your care?" she said to the nurse.
"Oh, I think our friend got lost." Gazelle said to Jatt. "Her name's Rose Tyler. She's Human, looks a bit like me, but with blonde hair and wearing a blue jacket. Could you ask at reception for us, please?"
"Certainly, ma'am." Jatt nodded, and walked away.
Novice Hame and the Time Lords looked at the Face of Boe. "I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep." Hame said. "That's all he tends to do these days. Are you both friends or...?"
"We met just the once on Platform One." the Doctor replied. "What's wrong with him?"
"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying."
"Of what?" Gazelle asked.
"Old age." Hame replied. "The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions. Although, that's impossible."
"Oh, I dunno... I like impossible." the Doctor shrugged and knelt down beside Boe's tank. "I'm here." he said gently. "I look a bit different, but it's me... it's the Doctor. Gazelle's here too. She still looks the same."
Gazelle knelt down beside him and put her hand on Boe's tank. "Hello again." she said softly. "I'm sorry we never had a chance to properly meet last time, but we're here now."
~8~
In the hospital cellar, Rose emerged from the corridor and into a room where an old home movie was playing. She looked at the footage curiously. It showed a glamourous party scene, everyone present laughing and holding champagne. The life and soul of the party was a stately blonde woman. "I mean, you never know what your life's going to be like." the woman in the film said. "Ever! I'm bored with this drink." She handed her glass off to someone. "Anyway... oh, hello darling! Now, don't! Stop it!" She playfully pushed a man in the chest.
"Wait a minute." Rose frowned, recognising the woman's voice. "That's..."
She turned around and there was the Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen, with the pale-skinned man cowering beside her. "Peekaboo!" Cassandra said mockingly.
"Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra!" Rose growled, holding up the metal rod threateningly.
"Why? What d'you think I'm gonna do? Flap you to death?" Cassandra retorted.
"Yeah, but... what about Gollum?" Rose gestured to the pale-skinned man.
"Oh, that's just Chip." Cassandra said nonchalantly. "He's my pet."
"I worship the mistress." Chip said eagerly.
"Moisturise me! Moisturise me!" Cassandra ordered, and Chip obeyed. "He's not even a proper life form." she said to Rose. "He's a full-grown clone. I modelled him on my favourite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs."
"I hope that means food." Rose said tersely. "How comes you're still alive?"
"After you murdered me." Cassandra sneered.
"Oi! That was the Doctor, not me!" Rose shot back. "Anyway, that was ya own fault."
"The brain of my mistress survived. And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin." Chip explained.
"What about the skin?" Rose questioned. "I saw it; you got ripped apart!"
"That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body." Cassandra answered. "This piece is the back."
"Right!" Rose tittered. "So you're talking out of your a..."
"Ask not." Cassandra said irritably.
"The mistress was lucky to survive." Chip said. "So lucky! She stole a ride on the back of the Face of Boe's ship, and fled to my devotions. Chip secreted m'Lady into the Hospital."
"So they don't know you're here?" Rose quizzed.
"Chip steals medicine." Chip replied. "Helps mi 'lady. Soothes her. Strokes her..." He raised a hand to stroke Cassandra.
"You can stop right there, Chip." Rose said hastily.
"But I'm so alone, hidden down here." Cassandra said pathetically. "The last Human in existence..."
"Don't start that again." Rose interrupted, in mood to listen to the talking tarpaulin's bigoted views. "They've called this planet New Earth."
"A vegetable patch." Cassandra said condescendingly.
"And there's millions of Humans out there... millions of 'em."
"Mutant stock."
"They evolved, Cassandra." Rose shot back. "They just evolved, like they should. You stayed still. You got yourself pickled and preserved, and what good did it do ya?"
"Perhaps." a chastened Cassandra grumbled. "I'm just desiccating in my pit. Letting the memories play." She watched the film. "Oh, I remember that night. Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that it all became such hard work."
"Well, you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that." Rose grunted.
"But I've not been idle, Rose... tucked away, underneath this hospital... I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something."
"What d'ya mean?" Rose questioned, her interest pipped.
"Oh... these cats have secrets. Hush, let me whisper. Come close."
"You must be joking if you think I'm coming anywhere near you." Rose retorted. She took a few steps back... straight into a metal archway that she hadn't noticed. Before she realised what had happened, she had been immobilised by an energy field created by the archway.
"Chip, activate the psychograft!" Cassandra ordered, and Chip bounded over to a control panel.
"I can't move!" a scared Rose cried. "Cassandra, let me go!"
Chip pulled a lever and bars of light descended from the ceiling, surrounding Rose like a cage.
"What're you doing?" Rose demanded, knowing the answer wouldn't be good for her.
"The lady's moving on." Cassandra crowed. "It's goodbye trampoline, and hello Blondie!"
A cloud of light jumped from Cassandra and across the room into Rose. Chip released the lever and Rose's body fell to the floor. "Mistress?" Chip asked, peering at her.
Rose, or rather Cassandra in Rose's body, began to stir. "Moisturise me." she mumbled, Rose's South London accent replaced by Cassandra's plummy tones. Then she realised that she had an actual body again. "How bizarre... arms... fingers... hair! Let me see! Let me see!" She sprung to Rose's feet and dashed to a mirror. "Oh, my god! I'm a chav!"
~8~
In ward 26, Gazelle and Hame were sitting by the Face of Boe when the Doctor came over with two cups of water. He gave one to Gazelle, the other to Hame. "That's very kind," the nurse said, "but there's no need."
"You're the one working." the Doctor replied, going to look out of the window.
"There's not much to do." Hame said. "Just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes. In my mind... such ancient songs."
"Are we the only visitors?" Gazelle asked. "What about his children?" She remembered Cathica telling them that about the Face of Boe being pregnant back on Satellite Five.
"The rest of Boekind became extinct, long ago." Hame answered sadly. "He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There are all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret. That he will speak those words only to two like himself."
"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked.
"It's just a story." Hame said.
"Tell me the rest." the Doctor encouraged.
"It's said he'll talk to two travellers, to a man and woman without a home. The lonely physician and his antelope lady."
The Time Lords shared a look, both knowing full well who the story referred to.
~8~
In the cellar, Cassandra was still stood in front of the mirror looking at Rose's body. "Look at me!" she wailed. "From class to brass. Although..." She pulled the zipper on Rose's jacket down slightly and ran her hands over her body. "Oh... curves... oh, baby. I've been flat for too long, curves are the new black. It's like living inside a bouncy castle."
"Mistress is beautiful." Chip assured.
"Absolutement!" Cassandra cheered, then noticed something, "Oh, but look." Her eye was caught by her old frame, which was now empty.
"Oh, the brain lead expired!" Chip said sadly. "My old mistress is gone."
"But safe and sound in here." Cassandra reassured him, taping Rose's head.
"What of the Rose child?"
"Oh, tucked away. I can just about access the surface memory, she's..." She paused, searching through Rose's memories. "Gosh, she's with that Gazelle girl and a man... he's the Doctor... the same Doctor with a new face! That hypocrite! I must get the name of his surgeon." She turned on Rose's heel to look in the mirror again. "I could do with a little work, although..." She ran a hand over Rose's backside. "Nice rear bumper. Hmm!" Just then, Rose's mobile rang. "Oh... it seems to be ringing... is it meant to ring?" She pulled Rose's phone out of her back pocket and stared at it.
"A primitive communications device." Chip explained.
"It's so antique. What do I do?"
Taking a lucky guess, Cassandra pressed a button and Gazelle's voice came over the phone. "Rose? Where are you?"
"How does she speak?" Cassandra whispered to Chip, putting the phone to Rose's ear.
"Old Earth Cockney." Chip whispered back.
"Um... wotcha." Cassandra said into the phone in a stereotypical cockney voice.
"Where've ya been?" Gazelle asked. "We've been worried about you."
"I'm on my way guv'nor." Cassandra replied. "I shall proceed up the apples and pears."
"We're in ward 26. Oh, by the way, we're with the Face of Boe. Remember him?"
"Course I do..." Cassandra laughed through Rose's gritted teeth as she searched through the blonde's memories, "that big old boat race."
~8~
In ward 26, Gazelle was using a payphone. She was puzzled by Rose's strange way of speaking, but before she could question her on the matter, her attention was caught by something going on by the Duke of Manhattan's bed. "I've gotta go, see ya in a minute." she said and hung up, then went over to the duke, the Doctor joining her.
The duke was now looking full of life, his skin was back to normal, and he was drinking champagne with Frau Clovis. "Didn't think I was going to make it." he laughed, then saw the Time Lords. "It's that man and woman again. They're my good luck charms. Come in! Don't be shy!"
"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute any form of legal contract." Clovis informed the Time Lords as they came closer.
"Winch me up." the duke instructed, and Clovis pressed a button on a remote control, which tilted the duke's bed forwards. "Ah! Look at me!" he cheered. "No sign of infection!"
"Champagne, sir, miss?" a waiter asked the Time Lords.
"No thanks." the Doctor waved him off. "You had petrifold regression, right?" he asked the duke.
"'Had' being the operative word!" the duke laughed. "Past tense! Completely cured."
"But that's impossible." Gazelle frowned just as another cat-nurse came up.
"Primitive species would accuse us of magic." the nurse said. "But it's merely the tender application of science."
"How on Earth did ya cure him?" the Doctor stared.
"How on New Earth, you might say." the nurse waved him off.
The Doctor noticed a drip beside the Duke's bed. "What's in that solution?" he asked.
"A simple remedy." the nurse said unhelpfully.
"Then tell us what it is." the Doctor challenged.
"I'm sorry, patient confidentiality." the nurse said stiffly. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Matron Casp."
"I'm the Doctor and this is Gazelle."
"I think you'll find we're the doctors here." Casp boasted.
Just then, Sister Jatt came up. "Matron Casp, you're needed in intensive care."
"If you would excuse me." Casp said to the Time Lords and walked away with Jatt, talking lowly.
"It's happened again. One of the patients is conscious." Jatt said quietly.
"Well, we can't have that." Casp replied, and they walked away together, neither of them aware that the Doctor and Gazelle had overheard them and were becoming increasingly suspicious.
~8~
In the cellar, Cassandra was preparing to head upstairs to meet the Time Lords. "These people are dangerous." Chip warned.
"Dangerous and clever." Cassandra replied. "I might need a mind like the Doctor's. The Sisterhood is up to something. Remember that old Earth saying? Never trust a nun. Never trust a nurse. And never trust a cat. Perfume?"
Chip handed her a small tube of perfume, which Cassandra secreted in Rose's blouse, then she strode out of the room with purpose.
~8~
The Doctor was examining various drips on ward 26 when Cassandra arrived. Sharp-eyed Gazelle immediately sensed that something was amiss with Rose. The blonde was missing her jacket and she seemed to be swaggering; something that Rose never did.
"There ya are!" the Doctor said, pulling his specs off. "Come and look at this patient." He showed her the red-skinned man. "Marconi's disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. We've never seen anything like that, they've invented a cell-washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced. And this one!" He led Cassandra to a man who was completely white. "Pallidome pancrosis. Kills ya in 10 minutes, and he's fine." He waved cheerily to the patient, then spoke quietly to the women; "We need to find a terminal. I've gotta see how they do this."
The trio walked off down the corridor, with Cassandra swaggering again. Gazelle watched her carefully, growing increasingly concerned.
"'Cos if they've got the best medicine in the world... then why's it such a secret?" the Doctor asked rhetorically.
"I can't Adam and Eve it." Cassandra said in the stereotype cockney voice she'd used on the phone.
"Rose, why're you talking like Del Boy?" Gazelle asked, concerned.
"Just larking about." Cassandra replied, going back to her normal voice. "New Earth, new me."
"Well, I can talk." the Doctor shrugged, realising that something was wrong with Rose too. "New New Doctor."
"Mmm, aren't you just?" Cassandra purred, then she very suddenly pulled the Doctor towards her and planted a smacking kiss on his lips.
The Doctor was taken completely by surprise by this, but he quickly regained his bearings and pushed Cassandra off him. "Rose, what's got into you?" he spluttered.
"T-terminal's this way." Cassandra said breathlessly and strutted off down the corridor, leaving two very confused and concerned Time Lords behind her.
"I'm sorry." the Doctor said to Gazelle once 'Rose' was out of earshot. "I didn't know she was gonna do that." That kiss felt wrong. He felt that the only person who should kiss him was Gazelle.
"It's not your fault." Gazelle replied. "That's not Rose. I dunno what's happened to her, but that is not Rose Tyler."
Cautiously, they went after the blonde.
~8~
The Doctor, Gazelle and Cassandra were soon looking at the details of the hospital on an information screen. "Nope, nothing odd." the Doctor said as he checked the data. "Post-op, nano-dentistry... no sign of a shop. They should have a shop."
"No, it's missing something else." Cassandra said, not reacting to the Doctor's shop comment, thus further confirming the Time Lords' suspicions. "When I was downstairs, those nurse-cat-nuns were talking about intensive care. Where is it?"
"You're right. Well done." the Doctor conceded.
"Why would they hide a whole department?" Gazelle wondered.
"It's gotta be there somewhere." Cassandra said. "Search the subframe." she told the Doctor, who had taken out his sonic screwdriver.
"What if the subframe's locked?" he tested.
"Try the installation protocol." Cassandra replied, failing the test.
"Yeah, course." the Doctor said, scanning the screen. "Sorry. Hold on."
The entire wall slid downwards to reveal a secret corridor behind it. Cassandra smiled and swaggered off down the newly-discovered corridor.
"Intensive care." Gazelle commented as she and the Doctor followed.
"Certainly looks intensive." the Doctor agreed.
They soon found themselves in a huge, cavernous chamber, looking upon rows of luminous green doors. They walked along one of the rows and the Doctor opened one of the doors with his sonic screwdriver. Inside was a man covered in boils and hooked up to a feed. "That's disgusting." Cassandra burst out, covering Rose's mouth. "What's wrong with him?"
Neither Time Lord answered; they just stared in horror at the man. "I'm sorry." the Doctor said softly. "I'm so sorry." He shut the door and opened the door next to it. Behind that door was a woman in the same condition as the man.
"What disease is that?" Cassandra asked.
"All of them." the Doctor replied quietly and disgusted. "Every single disease in the galaxy, they've been infected with everything."
"What about us?" Cassandra asked. "Are we safe?"
"The air's sterile." the Doctor replied. "Just don't touch them."
"We'll stop this, I promise." Gazelle said softly to the woman before the Doctor shut the door and the Time Lords leaned over the railings, looking upon the rows of doors.
"How many patients?" Cassandra asked as she joined them.
"They're not patients." the Doctor replied darkly.
"But they're sick."
"They were born sick." the Doctor said with quiet anger, "They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have the cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research facility."
"A Human farm." Gazelle said sadly, her hearts breaking for the poor people behind all those doors. "They're all lab rats; millions of them."
"Why don't they just die?" Cassandra wondered.
"Plague carriers." the Doctor replied, looking at one of the doors on their row. "The last to go."
"It's for the greater cause." a voice said, and they all turned to see Novice Hame standing at the end of the row.
"Novice Hame, when you took your vows with the Sisterhood, did you agree to this?!" Gazelle challenged the up to now well-meaning nurse.
"The Sisterhood has sworn to help."
"What, by killing?!" a furious Doctor snapped.
"But they're not real people." Hame protested. "They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."
"What's the turnover, hmm?" the Doctor sneered, advancing dangerously on her. "Thousand a day? Thousand the next? How many thousand? For how many years? HOW MANY?!" he roared
"Mankind needed us." Hame said meekly.. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone meat and bio-cattle... but the results were too slow. So the Sisterhood grew it's own flesh. That's all they are, flesh."
"No, they're not. They're living people!" Gazelle argued, thrusting a finger at one of the doors.
"But think of all those Humans out there." Hame tried to reason. "Healthy and happy, because of us."
"If they live because of this, then life is worthless." the Doctor growled.
"But who are you to decide that?" Hame challenged.
The Doctor stepped forward. "I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it... if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with us!"
"Just to confirm..." Cassandra spoke up, peering over the Time Lords' shoulders. "None of the Humans in the city actually know about this?"
"We thought it best not." Hame replied.
"Hold on, I can understand the bodies." the Doctor said, having had enough of 'Rose's' strange behaviour. "I can understand ya vows. But one thing I can't understand, what've ya done to Rose?"
"I don't know what you mean." Hame protested.
"And I'm being very, very calm." the Doctor said in a deathly quiet tone. "You wanna beware of that... very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a very delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, we want it reversed."
"We haven't done anything." Hame said sincerely.
"I'm perfectly fine." Cassandra tried to wave the matter off.
"These people are dying." Gazelle said to Hame. "Rose would care about them."
Cassandra rolled her eyes at being rumbled. "Oh, alright, goody two-shoes." she huffed, grabbing both Time Lords by their jackets and turning them to face her. "Smarty pants." she continued, pulling the Doctor's tie out flirtatiously. "Lady-killer."
"If it wasn't the Sisterhood, then what's happened to you?" Gazelle asked suspiciously.
"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your minds to find it out."
"Who are you?" the Doctor demanded.
"This body might look fresh, but I'm a little bit older. Just old enough to be... the last Human." Cassandra whispered in both Time Lords' ears.
"Cassandra?!" the Doctor stared in unpleasant surprise.
"Impossible." Gazelle frowned. Although she'd been recuperating in the TARDIS when the Doctor had confronted Cassandra on Platform One, the Doctor had told her about how she'd died.
"Wake up and smell the perfume." Cassandra sneered, taking out the tube of perfume and spraying the Doctor in the face with it, knocking him out. Then she sprayed Gazelle too, knocking her out as well.
~8~
When the Time Lords came to, they found themselves squashed together in one of the intensive care cells. "Let us out!" the Doctor demanded. "Let us out!"
"Aren't you two lucky there was a spare?" Cassandra's voice said, and the Doctor looked over Gazelle's shoulder to see Cassandra peering in through the closed door. "Standing room only." she cackled.
"You've stolen Rose's body." the Doctor growled.
"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you both." Cassandra said callously. "And now, that's exactly what I've got; one thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every 10 minutes, and you've got about..." She checked Rose's watch. "Three minutes left. Enjoy!"
"Just let Rose go, Cassandra." Gazelle called over her shoulder. "You can do what ya like with us, just let her go."
"I will." Cassandra smirked. "As soon as I've found someone younger and... less common. Then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushabye! It's showtime."
Just then, Matron Casp and Sister Jatt approached her. "Anything we can do to help?" Jatt asked coolly.
"Straight to the point, Whiskers... I want money." Cassandra replied.
"The Sisterhood is a charity." Casp replied dryly. "We don't give money, we only accept."
"The Humans across the water pay you a fortune and that's exactly what I need." Cassandra said, standing her ground. "My name is the Lady Cassandra O'Brien dot Delta Seventeen, but somewhat fallen from grace. A one-off payment. That's all I want... oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing about your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"
"I'm afraid not." Casp replied coolly.
"I'd really advise you to think about this." Cassandra retorted.
"Oh, there's no need. I have to decline."
"I'll tell them!" Cassandra threatened. "And you've no way of stopping me. You're forbidden to harm any living thing, and no matter what your definition, as you can see, I'm completely alive. So you can't hurt me."
"This would seem to be a conundrum. Except... We were given full access to Human medical records. And according to them, it appears that the Lady Cassandra O'Brien died, years ago." Casp retorted.
"A technicality."
"That's all we need."
"I'd like to see you try! You're not exactly nuns with guns... you're not even armed."
"Who needs guns when we have claws?" Casp retorted, brandishing her claws threateningly.
"Oh well, nice try." Cassandra said simply and turned to Chip, who was waiting nearby. "Chip? Plan B."
Chip pulled a lever and every cell door on that row sprung open. The Time Lords scrambled out, but so did the infected patients.
"What've you done?!" the Doctor demanded to Cassandra.
"Gave them a shot of adrenaline, just to wake 'em up." Cassandra smirked. "See ya!" And she and Chip ran off.
Gazelle spotted Casp and Jatt on the other side of the escaping patients. "Don't touch them!" she warned. "Whatever ya do, don't let 'em touch you!" Then she and the Doctor ran after Cassandra and Chip.
The infected patients walked zombie-like towards the nurses. "I think we should withdraw." Jatt murmured
"We understood what you did to us." a male patient said hoarsely. "As part of the machine, we know the machine."
"Fascinating." Casp said as she and Jatt backed away. "It's actually constructing an argument.
"And we... will end it." the male patient said, and plunged his arm into the electrics, frying himself but causing every single cell door in intensive care to explode open. Cassandra screamed as she, the Time Lords and Chip ran for their lives along the row. The infected patients started to leave their cells.
"They're free." Jatt breathed in horror. "By the Goddess Centauri... the flesh is free!"
The patients staggered slowly towards her, chanting, 'Stop the pain'.
Jatt was backed against the wall and one of the patients touched her, causing her to immediately break out in boils and scream in pain as she was infected with every disease that ever existed.
The Doctor, Gazelle, Cassandra and Chip paused by the railings to watch the scene unfolding before them. "Oh, my God!" Cassandra cried, realising that her plan was backfiring spectacularly.
"What the hell have you done?!" the Doctor growled.
"It wasn't me!" Cassandra protested.
"One touch and ya get every disease in the world, and we want that body safe, Cassandra!" the Doctor said as the patients began to advance on them. "We've gotta go down!
"But there's thousands of 'em!" Cassandra wailed.
"MOVE!" Gazelle yelled. "Run! Down! Now!"
And so they all ran down the stairs.
As the quartet ran for their lives down the innumerable flights of stairs, they heard the PA announce, "This building is under quarantine. Repeat; this building is under quarantine. No one may leave the premises. Repeat; no one may leave the premises"
"Keep going!" the Doctor urged. "Go down!"
They reached the bottom floor of intensive care and burst through a door leading into the cellar. Cassandra frantically tried to operate the lifts.
"No, the lifts have closed down." the Doctor told her. "That's the quarantine, nothing's moving."
"THIS WAY!" Cassandra shilled as she led the way down the corridor. She, the Doctor and Gazelle hurried past an intersection just before a group of infected patients burst out of the adjoining corridor, cutting Chip off.
"One of 'em's gonna touch him!" Gazelle realised as she and the Doctor doubled back to try and help him.
"Leave him!" Cassandra insisted. "He's just a clone-thing, he's only got a half-life... come on!"
"Mistress!" Chip wailed fearfully.
The Doctor looked between the fleeing Cassandra and the trapped Chip. "I'm sorry, I can't let her escape." he told Chip.
"Try and find somewhere to hide." Gazelle advised. "Save yourself!"
Chip took her advice and dived down the waste chute. Satisfied that he was safe for now, the Time Lords hurried after Cassandra.
~8~
The Doctor, Gazelle and Cassandra rushed into the room where Cassandra had been hiding out in. The Doctor slammed the door shut and locked it with his sonic screwdriver while Cassandra hurried over to another door. She opened it to find more infected patients, all clamouring to get in. Gazelle raced over, slammed the door shut and locked it again with her sonic screwdriver. "We're trapped!" Cassandra wailed.
"So this is where you were hiding." the Doctor remarked, looking at Cassandra's empty frame. "Sitting right on top of the secret and you didn't even see it."
"I wasn't exactly built for looking around corners." Cassandra retorted. "What're we going to do?"
"Well, for one thing, you're gonna get out of Rose's body." Gazelle said, folding her arms and giving Cassandra a pointed look.
"That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet." the Doctor added, pointing to the equipment in question. "You're compressing Rose to death!"
"But I've got nowhere to go." Cassandra protested. "My original skin's dead."
"Not our problem." the Doctor retorted bluntly. "You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out!"
"Aren't you tired of killing me?" Cassandra deadpanned.
"You did all of this to yourself." the Doctor retorted. "Now d'you really think we can't force you, Cassandra?" He pointed his sonic screwdriver threateningly at Cassandra. "You've met us before. You know I won't stop. You're violating that mind, and I won't allow it. Give her back to us!"
"You asked for it." Cassandra growled, and a cloud of light leapt out of Rose's body.
Rose staggered forward and Gazelle caught her. "You all right?" the Time Lady asked her friend.
"Yeah. I think so." a disorientated Rose mumbled. "Blimey, my head.." Then she realised something. "Where'd she go...?"
She got her answer when the Doctor said in a very effeminate voice, "Oh, my. This is... different."
Both Rose and Gazelle paled as they realised exactly where Cassandra was; she was now in the Doctor's body. "Cassandra?" Rose breathed.
"Goodness me, I'm a man." Cassandra said as he examined the Doctor's form. "Yum. So many parts! And hardly used..." He made the Doctor do a silly dance. "Ah.. ah! Two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!"
Gazelle's blood boiled in anger. "Get of him now!" she growled furiously.
"Lesson in logic, Joan Jett. The Doctor has the power to remove me. You and little Rose Tyler do not." Cassandra retorted. "Ergo, I occupy the Doctor. Temporarily, of course. Ooh, he's slim. And a little bit foxy. You certainly seem to think so." he taunted Gazelle.
"Shut up and get out of him before I force you out!" the Time Lady retorted angrily.
Just then, the infected patients burst through the doors. "What do we do?" Cassandra panicked. "What would he do? The Doctor... What the hell would he do?!"
Rose looked around and noticed a metal ladder built into the wall. "Ladder... we've gotta get up." she said.
"Outta the way!" Cassandra said, barging past the two women and scrambling up the ladder. Gazelle and Rose quickly followed.
"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something." Rose said as they all climbed upwards.
"Yap yap yap... God, it was tedious inside your head." Cassandra rolled the Doctor's eyes. "Hormone City."
"We're gonna die if..." Rose began, then yelped as she felt someone grab her ankle. She looked down to see Matron Casp holding her in a vice-like grip. "Get off!" Rose cried, trying to shake the matron off.
"All our good work, all that healing!" Casp hissed. "The good name of the Sisterhood... you have destroyed everything!"
"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra snorted dismissively.
"Leave her alone, Matron." Gazelle demanded, but the stupid matron wouldn't listen.
"Look at what you've done!" she ranted. "Infection triumphant. Everywhere, disease. This is the Human world: Sickness!"
Suddenly, a diseased hand grabbed Casp's ankle. She wailed in pain as the diseases took hold and she broke out in boils. She let go of Rose's ankle and fell to her death. After watching her fall, the infected patients resumed their climb up the ladder.
"Oh my God, they can climb. MOVE!" Rose yelled to Cassandra, who whimpered and hastily resumed the climb, Gazelle and Rose right behind her.
They reached the top of the ladder to find the lift doors closed. "Now what do we do?" Cassandra asked.
"Use the sonic screwdriver." Gazelle told him. "It's the silver thing with a blue light at the end."
"What, this thing?" Cassandra asked, taking out the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and holding between his thumb and forefinger.
"Yes, that thing. Quick!"
"But I don't know how!" Casandra protested. "That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts."
"Can't you use yours?" Rose asked Gazelle.
"I'm not close enough to the doors." the Time Lady replied. She did some quick thinking. "Look, just go into me." she told Cassandra. "The Doctor can open the doors then."
"Hold on tight." Cassandra said, and leapt from the Doctor to Gazelle. "Oh, another one with two hearts!" she huffed as she settled into the Time Lady's body. "Still, this one's not so bad. Pretty face, nice figure... though I'm going to have to do something about these eyebrows. And her wardrobe. Open it!" she called up to the Doctor.
"Not 'til you get out of her." the Doctor snarled, pointing his sonic screwdriver at her.
"But we need the Doctor!" Cassandra insisted.
"I ORDER YOU TO LEAVE HER!" the Doctor thundered. "GIVE GAZELLE BACK TO ME NOW!"
"Doctor..." Rose grimaced, rubbing her sore ears.
Cassandra leapt out of Gazelle and back into the Doctor. "No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout." he remarked.
"Get out of him, now, Cassandra!" Gazelle demanded angrily.
"But I can't go into you, he simply refuses... he's so rude. And neither of you want me to go into Blondie down there."
"Just do something!" Rose hollered, seeing how dangerously close the patients were getting.
"Oh, I am so gonna regret this..." Cassandra groaned and leapt into a female patient's body "Oh, sweet lord... I look disgusting." she grimaced.
The Doctor meanwhile soniced the doors open and climbed through to safety, then he helped Gazelle up and they both helped Rose up. "Nice to have ya back." the Doctor said to Rose.
"Oh, no you don't." Cassandra grunted, and leapt back into Rose, causing her to double over on the floor.
"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" the Doctor said angrily as he sealed the doors.
"Inside her head..." Cassandra said quietly. "They're so alone... they keep reaching out, just to hold us... all their lives and they've never been touched."
Gazelle held out a hand, which Cassandra took. She pulled her to Rose's feet and the trio walked off as the patients banged on the doors.
~8~
The Doctor, Gazelle and Cassandra arrived back at ward 26. Frau Clovis charged at them, brandishing a stool and roaring like a wild animal. "We're safe, we're safe, we're safe!" the Doctor shouted. "We're clean! We're clean! Look, look..." he held up his hands and Cassandra followed suit.
"Show me your skin." Clovis demanded to Gazelle, who quickly removed her gloves and held her hands up.
"See? We're all clear." Gazelle said. "If we'd been touched, we'd be dead by now."
Clovis accepted that and lowered her stool.
"So, how's it going up here? What's the status?" the Doctor asked.
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards." Clovis replied. "I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine." She held up a communicator device. "If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."
"You can't do that." Gazelle protested. "If they force their way in and break quarantine, the whole city will be danger."
"I am not dying in here!" Clovis said angrily.
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out." the Doctor said firmly. "There's ten million people in the city, they'll all be at risk! Now, turn that off!"
"Not if it gets me out!" Clovis spat.
"You're not going anywhere." Gazelle retorted and used her sonic screwdriver to overload Clovis' communicator, destroying it.
"That is property of the New New York Senate!" Clovis sputtered in outrage.
"So sue me." Gazelle deadpanned.
"Right then..." the Doctor said, taking charge. "Rose, Novice Hame, everyone, get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. MOVE IT!" he ordered.
So everyone rushed around the ward gathering up all the drips, while the Time Lords removed the winches from two of the beds. The Doctor then tied a rope around his body and Cassandra attached the solutions to it so they hung off of him.
"How's that?" the Doctor asked. "Will that do?"
"I don't know!" Cassandra replied. "Will it do for what?"
"Just wait and see." Gazelle said, walking out into the hallway and sonicing one of the lift doors open.
"The lifts aren't working!" Cassandra pointed out as she and the Doctor joined her.
"Not moving." the Doctor replied, peering down the lift shaft. "Different thing." Then both he and Gazelle backed up, ready for a running jump.
"Ok... here goes." Gazelle muttered, she and the Doctor putting their sonic screwdrivers in-between their teeth.
"But you're not going to..." Cassandra began, but the Time Lords ignored her and charged at the open doors. They jumped into the lift shaft and grabbed hold of a cable each. "What do you two think you're doing?!" Cassandra stared.
"We're going down." the Doctor replied, he and Gazelle using their sonic screwdrivers to attach the winches to the cables. "Come on!" he urged.
"Not in a million years!" Cassandra shook Rose's head.
"We need as many pairs of hands as we can get." Gazelle said. "If you wanna live, come on!"
Just then, more infected patients emerged from intensive care. "Seal the door!" Frau Clovis ordered, and the ward doors closed, leaving Cassandra trapped with the patients.
Seeing that she had no other choice, Cassandra jumped into the lift shaft and grabbed onto the Doctor's back. "You're both completely mad." she moaned. "I can see why you love each other!"
"Going down!" the Doctor said, and pressed a button on his winch, sending them both whizzing down the cable. Gazelle pressed a button on her own winch and zoomed down after them on the other cable.
They all settled down on top of the lift car, which was stopped at reception. "Well, that's one way to lose weight." Cassandra said as she dusted Rose off.
"Ok, when I say so, both of you take hold of that lever." the Doctor instructed. "I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself." He ripped the tops off some of the drips with his teeth and began pouring them into the lift's disinfectant tank. Gazelle took the rest of the drips and began emptying them into the tank too.
When she'd finished, she joined Cassandra at the lever the Doctor had indicated. "That lever's gonna resist, so we've got to hold it in position." she told Cassandra.
"Hold on it with everything you've both got." the Doctor said, opening the lift's escape hatch.
"What about you?" Cassandra asked, not understanding what the Time Lord was up to.
"I've got an appointment." the Doctor replied. "The Doctor is in." He dropped down into the lift and soniced the doors open, revealing infected patients all huddled together in reception, who all started to come towards him when they saw him. "I'm in here, come on!
"Don't tell them!" Cassandra called down.
"Just help me with this lever." Gazelle told her, and they both pulled the lever back.
"Come and get me, come on!" the Doctor urged the patients as they staggered towards him. "I'm in here, come on!"
The patients reached towards him just as the computer said, "Commence stage one disinfection."
"Hurry up, come on!" the Doctor yelled, beckoning the patients towards him as the water jets started. "Come on! Come on!"
The patients stumbled into the shower and were soaked in the Doctor's solution.
"All they wanna do is pass it on." the Doctor said enthusiastically. "Pass it on!"
"Pass what on?" a confused Cassandra asked. "Pass on what?"
"Think about it." Gazelle said simply, but Cassandra still didn't get it.
"Pass it on!" the Doctor urged the patients, who touched each other, passing on the disinfectant. Their boils began to disappear as the cures to their diseases took hold. The Doctor grinned manically as the results. Gazelle jumped down and the Doctor slipped an arm around her as they watched.
Cassandra jumped down too, still confused. "What did they pass on?" she asked. "Did you kill them? All of them?"
"No. That's your way of doing things." the Doctor told her, then he and Gazelle walked hand-in-hand into the patients' midst. "I'm the Doctor and I cured them." he said proudly.
"They had every disease in the galaxy, so the Doctor gave 'em every cure in the galaxy." Gazelle elaborated to Cassandra. "And they passed it on to each other."
The now-cured patients looked around at their surroundings with child-like wonder. A woman came up to the Time Lords and hugged them both. "That's right." the Doctor said gently. "There we go, sweetheart. Ay, look at him..." He ushered the woman off to sit with someone.
"Go on, that's it." Gazelle encouraged the woman. "That's it."
It's new sub-species, Cassandra." The Doctor took a man by the shoulders and looked at him. "A brand-new form of life!" he beamed. "New Humans! Look at 'em, look! Grown by cats... kept in the dark, fed by tubes... but completely, completely alive!
"You can't deny them, Cassandra, because you helped to create them." Gazelle added.
"The Human race just keeps on going." the Doctor said ecstatically. "Keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!"
Gazelle looked at him fondly. In that moment he looked so happy, handsome and full of life.
~8~
That evening, the New New York Police Department arrived to take the Sisters into custody and give the New Humans homes. The Doctor, Gazelle and Cassandra stepped out onto Ward 26 to see Novice Hame being taken away by a police officer. She gave the Time Lords an apologetic look, clearly ashamed of being part of the Sisterhood's amoral actions.
The Doctor suddenly remembered something. "The Face of Boe!" He and Gazelle hurried over to Boe, who was now wide awake again and looking very much alive and well. "You were supposed to be dying." the Doctor remarked.
"There are better things to do today." Boe replied telepathically. "Dying can wait."
"Oh, I hate telepathy." Cassandra grumbled "Just what I need, a headful of..." She was cut off by Gazelle clamping her hand over Rose's mouth.
"I have grown tired of the universe, Doctor, Gazelle." Boe continued. "But you two have taught me to look at it anew."
The Time Lords knelt down in front of him. "There are legends you know, saying that you're millions of years old." the Doctor said.
Boe laughed slightly. "Well, that would be impossible." he chuckled.
"Wouldn't it just?" the Doctor replied jovially. "We got the impression there was something you wanted to tell us."
"The great secret."
"So the legend says." Gazelle said.
"It can wait."
"Oh, does it have to?" the Doctor moaned
"We shall meet again, Doctor, Gazelle." Boe told them. "For the third time... for the last time... and the truth shall be told."
"We look forward to it." Gazelle nodded.
Until that day..." Boe finished and teleported himself away in a blue flash.
"That is enigmatic." the Doctor remarked, very impressed. "That... that is... that is textbook enigmatic." He and Gazelle stood up again and turned to Cassandra, who had been examining Rose's nails, completely disinterested in the proceedings.
"And now for you." Gazelle said dryly.
"But... everything's happy." Cassandra protested. "Everything's fine... can't you two just leave me?"
"We want Rose back."
"But I can't. You two won't let me go to anyone else."
"You've lived long enough." the Doctor said bluntly. "Leave that body and end it, Cassandra."
Cassandra started to cry. "I don't want to die." she blubbed.
"No one does." Gazelle said firmly but not unsympathetically. "We'd like to help you, but we can't."
"Mistress!" Chip's voice called, and they all looked round to see him enter the ward.
"Oh, you're alive!" Cassandra breathed.
"I kept myself safe." Chip said. "For you, mistress."
Cassandra suddenly got a glint in Rose's eye. "A body... and not just that, a volunteer..."
"Don't you dare!" the Doctor said warningly. "He's got a life of his own."
"But I worship the mistress." Chip said. "I welcome her."
"You can't do this, Cassandra." Gazelle began. "You..."
Cassandra ignored her and leapt into Chip's body. Rose fell forward with a gasp and the Time Lords rushed forward to catch her before she could fall over. "You all right?" the Doctor asked her.
"Yeah..." Rose mumbled as she regained her bearings and steadied herself. "Hello!" she smiled at her friends.
"Hello." the Doctor smiled back.
"Welcome back." Gazelle said as she hugged her friend.
The trio's attention was then caught by Cassandra speaking in Chip's voice. "Oh, sweet Lord, I'm a walking doodle." he complained.
"You can't stay in there." the Doctor told him. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. We can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done."
"Well, that would be rather dramatic." Cassandra remarked. "Possibly my finest hour. And certainly my finest hat." he joked, then became serious, "But I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip, he's only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart's racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last..." Chip's legs suddenly gave way and the Time Lords quickly rushed forward to support him.
"You all right?" Gazelle asked him.
"I'm fine." Cassandra replied, then paused as he realised something. "I'm dying. But that's fine."
"We can take you to the city." the Doctor offered.
"No, you won't." Cassandra replied. "Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for me and Chip anymore. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die." he swallowed hard "That's good."
The Time Lords helped him to Chip's feet. "Come on." the Doctor said. "There's one last thing we can do." And they led her away, a now-sympathetic Rose following.
~8~
The TARDIS landed at the reception for the Ambassador of Thrace. The Doctor stepped out, followed by Gazelle and Rose, supporting the rapidly failing Cassandra, who had covered himself with a black robe. They watched Lady Cassandra, as a proper Human, laughing and talking; the life and soul of the party.
"Thank you." Chip-Cassandra said to the Time Lords.
"Go to her," Gazelle encouraged, "and don't look back."
"Good luck." Rose added.
Chip-Cassandra walked into the midst of the party, smiling as he watched his younger self socialising.
"And then if you'd actually seen them, they were shocked!" Lady Cassandra said to her audience. "But don't quote me on that. Oh, naughty!" She walked away from her group and Chip-Cassandra approached her.
"Excuse me." Chip-Cassandra began. "The Lady Cassandra?"
"Sorry, I don't need anything right now." Lady Cassandra replied snootily. "I'm fine, thank you."
"No, I just wanted to say... you look beautiful." Chip-Cassandra told his younger self.
"Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing." Lady Cassandra smiled. "Thank you very much."
"I mean it." Chip-Cassandra said, stepping forward and looking straight into his younger self's eyes. "You look... so beautiful." he finished sincerely.
"Thank you." Lady Cassandra whispered, genuinely touched by the compliment.
Chip-Cassandra's eyes suddenly closed and he keeled over.
"Oh, my Lord!" an alarmed Lady Cassandra gasped. "Are you alright? What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help!" She gathered her future self into her arms. "Call a medic or something, quickly!" she urged her friends.
"Who is he?" a partygoer asked.
"I don't know." Lady Cassandra replied frantically. "He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying. Someone do something!"
The Doctor, Gazelle and Rose watched solemnly as Lady Cassandra gently rocked her dying future self in her arms.
"There you are." she soothed. "There you are. I've got you. It'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing..."
The three time travellers walked slowly back to the TARDIS, the Time Lords' arms wrapped around each other. They both paused for one last look before following Rose into the TARDIS.