Up a Tree (p.18)
Rory slipped into the hall with the unconscious Sondherson and his guards, reminding the men at the door that he was a nurse. He looked around quickly and located Amy and the Doctor. And was relieved to see that Aaron was awake. Then he turned his attention to more important matters.
Five men, brought down instantly with no more warning than a sneeze. The men were transferred through the door like so many parcels, red emergency slings transferred from hand to hand, maintaining the quarantine. He immediately started helping the local doctor with triage on the influx, testing each man and getting them hooked up to life support.
On Paul's order, they didn't bother to move the men to alcoves. For now Sondherson and his guards were laid out on the benches. Handling an unresponsive body was heavy and difficult work at the best of times. With any luck, the new patients wouldn't need to be maneuvered into the upper level bunks.
Rory could see the lower level alcoves were already filled. Silas and Jonas were there. Erik and Janet must have been turned away from the door earlier, since he didn't see them here.
Emma was off fabricating more of the Doctor's devices. Rory took hope from the fact that Aaron was awake. The Doctor must have found a cure.
He hoped so, because he never wanted to work another coma ward again.
-----
Emma emerged from the back tunnel carrying a box load of the devices. Paul rushed up to take them, as anxious as the relatives to revive his patients.
The Doctor bounded up. He placed a restraining hand on the man's arm. "Give me a few minutes, Dr. Harris," he said. "It's important. Are Silas and Jonas still unconscious?"
"Yes."
"Good - give me that." He took two headsets from the box and went to where Silas and Jonas had been placed in adjacent bunks. They were lying head to toe in separate wooden alcoves.
"This won't work. Here," he said, beckoning Rory who was helping untangle a nearby patient's IV's. He stuffed the ipods in his pocket, leads dangling. "Help me move Silas over here, Rory, where they can see each other." He dragged over a wooden bench, screeching it across the floor.
"What are you doing, Doctor?" Emma asked as she and Rory hoisted Silas onto the bench in front of Jonases alcove.
The Doctor tossed one headset to Rory and attached the other one to Jonas. "Don't turn them on yet," he cautioned Rory. He turned to Emma. "I need some information, this seems the quickest way to get it."
He stood between the two men and held up his sonic screwdriver. "Okay, Rory, when I say so, turn it on. As soon as they see each other, turn it off." Rory nodded, setting himself alertly.
"One, two, three..." They both switched on the headsets. The two men stirred and opened their eyes. They looked around, saw each other, and lunged.
"Turn it off!" the Doctor yelled, just as Silas knocked Rory aside. Rory still had hold of the ipod and yanked it out of Silas' ears.
Both men collapsed. Silas hit the floor with a meaty thunk. The Doctor's screwdriver whirred.
He studied the readings.
"I hope there was a good reason for that," Emma said repressively as she helped Rory lift Silas back onto his bench. The Doctor pulled his foot out from under the hunter's head.
"Ouch. Yes, there was.” He closed the screwdriver tines. “I need to talk to Deran."
-----
"You better do this one," the Doctor said, handing Emma a headset and nodding down at Sondherson. "I'll just stand over here." He pointed behind him, well out of Sondherson's reach.
Emma ignored him. She brushed aside the administrator’s white-winged, red hair and pressed the earbuds in his ears. She flipped on the switch and Deran's eyes opened. He looked around at the visitor's hall. "What happened?" He sat up abruptly. "Where's the Doctor!"
One of the earbuds fell out, his eyes rolled up and he fell over backward with a thump.
"Uhm, yes," the Doctor said from behind him. "I think those need to be seated more firmly."
Emma gave him a repressive look. She put the earbuds back in Sondherson's ears and held his shoulders down as he woke up. He struggled. He looked up. "Emma, what..?"
"You need to calm down, Deran. Everything's fine. Amanda's fine. Everyone is starting to wake up. Look." She nodded to where Paul and Amy were busy handing out ipods, there was a background sighing and babble of conversation as the victims woke up. "The Doctor found a cure."
"Well, I wouldn't call it a cure exactly..." the Doctor's voice drifted over her shoulder.
Sondherson frowned. "But he caused it!"
The Doctor's face appeared over Emma's shoulder. He shook his head, hair flopping. "No, I didn't. This is something that has been affecting the Trelwin for millennia, now, for some reason, it's started affecting humans. I had nothing to do with it."
Sondherson stared at him, then turned his eyes back to Emma. "Cure?"
"Those earphones you're wearing," Emma said.
"Amanda?" his voice broke.
Emma nodded to the side, he turned his head to see a young, red haired woman sitting up in a bunk across the room. He breathed out a sigh of relief.
"You can let me up now."
-----
While Emma and Paul were bringing Sondherson up to speed, and everyone else was busy with the recovering victims, the Doctor filched a wide beam dermal regenerator from the medical supplies and showed Amy how to use it to heal her still tender skin.
When she climbed back down from her former bunk, she saw the big double doors were open and sunlight was streaming in. The recovered patients and their families were leaving by ones and twos, being swept away by joyful groups of relatives outside.
Dr. Harris and his medical staff were busy gathering up equipment and clearing away the evidence of the quarantine. The Doctor, Sondherson, and Emma were watching the exodus. The hall was slowly returning to normal. Jake was cleaning mugs with a smile on his face.
"Sorry to bring it up, Deran," Amy said as she stalked up and tossed Paul's regenerator back in his medical kit, "but I was wondering if you had another Visitor's jacket I could borrow. This shirt doesn't have a chute," Amy said, plucking at the fabric. "In fact," she looked down at her safari kit, "This isn't even my shirt. Eula loaned it to me, and the trousers belong to Janet." She bit her lip and looked at the Doctor. She looked back at Deran. "Is there any place I can get some clothes of my own? All our stuff is still in the Tardis."
"I can get you a jacket, and there's clothing shops over in B Tree," Sondherson replied.
"We don't exactly have any money," Amy said. "And since we're not your biologists..."
Deran frowned at them in remembrance.
Emma broke in, "They just saved your life, Deran, and everyone else's. I think we can manage to continue subsidizing them for a while. Besides," she said, "Erik said they helped harvest the cocoons and fruit on the safari, so they are due a share of that." She looked Amy up and down.
"You come with me, I think my daughter had some clothes that will fit you." She looked at the Doctor. "And I hate to say it, Doctor, but you could do with a wash and a change yourself. Come along, we'll get you cleaned up. Deran, you have work to do." She waved them on behind her, and Amy and the Doctor looked at each other, shrugged, and followed. Rory stayed behind, helping to tend the patients who were still recovering.
Emma led them up through the spiral corridors to her flat, which was a nice, chintzy, homey abode similar to any you would find for an iron-haired matron anywhere in the universe. Carved wooden walls aside.
Pictures of family hung on the walls and a group holograph stood in pride of place on a side table, looking like a sculpture made of light. Amy could see a younger version of Erik, a baby that must be Cindy, and a blond smiling young woman, slender, but as tall as her brother, that must be the unnamed daughter. Emma stood in pride of place in the middle, surrounded by an extended brood of cousins and relatives of all ages and heights.
"You have a lovely family," the Doctor said, smiling at it. They all looked robustly healthy and happy.
Emma smiled at the compliment and directed him off to the shower room, telling him to leave his clothes outside the door. He skipped off happily, pulling loose his grimy and droopy bowtie.
"You do realize there won't be any hot water left after he's through," Amy said.
Emma laughed. "We've got solar converters, he can use as much as he wants." She leaned back and peered around the corner after him. "I bet he sings in the shower too," she said, conspiratorially.
Amy grinned. "Loudly."
-----
Rory arrived hesitantly just as the Doctor was shrugging back into his downy clean jacket and re-attaching his harness clips. Amy waved at him from the sunny little breakfast nook that looked out over a sheer drop outside. She was dressed in sturdy camoflage pants, tucked into the top of her boots, and a feminine cut hunter's jacket that had apparently been a gift from Erik to his sister. She was chewing on a piece of toast slathered with jam.
Emma got up, finished pouring her juice and waved Rory inside. She soon had him bundled into the bathroom, explained all the amenities and took the dirty clothes he bashfully passed through the door, promising to have them back nice and clean once he was done.
-----
When Rory emerged from the bathing room it was to find the Doctor leaning precariously far out of Emma's breakfast window, one leg waving, holding up his sonic screwdriver like he was taking a reading.
Rory's heart jumped in his chest, certain the gangly Time Lord was going to fall to his death. Before he could, he leaned back into the room and extended his arm as far as he could inside and took another reading. Although what six feet of distance was going to tell him, Rory had no idea.
A scratching at the door heralded the arrival of Steve, the young man who'd first greeted them at the tree. "Sorry to interrupt, Emma. Doctor, the Administrator wants to see you in his office," he said.
The Doctor looked up from his sonic. "Good, I want to see him. Come along, Ponds."
-----
Sondherson was sitting at his desk in his empty office. He looked up when they entered and waved Steve away. Emma closed the door behind them.
“I’ve got everything locked down for the moment,” Sondherson explained, as they took positions around the room. “But I need to know what’s going on.
"We've already been getting reports of unexplained deaths in other groves," he said.
Rory jerked upright in his chair. “Tell them they aren’t dead!” he exclaimed.
Sondherson looked at him. “I already have. But, unfortunately, not before some funerals.”
The Doctor asked quietly, “What are your funeral practices?”
Sondherson’s jaw went rigid. “Cremation.”
“Oh my god,” Amy slapped a hand over her mouth.
"People are starting to panic,” Sondherson said. “They don't know what's going on or what is causing it. In at least one grove, they've started hunting Trelwins because they think they're responsible, that the Trelwins have been attacking people." He held up a hand, "I've already sent messages out that the Trelwin aren't causing this. I've told them that it's something that affects Trelwins too and that they can detect it, which is why they're reacting this way. At least, that's what Erik reported to me. But I don't know if I'll be believed. Not if I can't tell them what's actually causing this.
People are scared."
"And so they should be," the Doctor said, pacing. "We've got to hold off a panic until we can deal with this. Distributing the headsets will be a start. Draw up a set of guidelines so people know what to look for and have a feeling they have some control."
"We can't fabricate headsets for everyone, Doctor," Sondherson said. "We don't have enough raw material packs."
"Then just fabricate the components you can't make yourselves," Rory said.
Sondherson looked at him. "I considered that, but I've looked over his schematics and there are several components that we can only get by fabrication. And most of the other groves don't have fabricators. We only do because of our agreement with Neale."
The Doctor held a hand up. "You don't need to give headsets to everyone on the planet. Obviously this doesn't affect everyone, or all the Trelwin would be extinct."
"Even so, Doctor, we can't provide enough components to cover even those we do know will be affected. Statistically our supply of packs will run out soon. We've already been using them to fabricate life support units. And we can't even predict who it will hit next!"
"I had a thought about that," the Doctor turned to pin Sondherson with a fascinated stare. "What does your sister do?"
Sondherson glared at him. "What has that got to do with anything?"
The Doctor just stared at him, eyebrows raised.
Sondherson glowered. "She's a painter," he finally admitted, grudgingly.
Rory looked around at the wood textured walls. "You mean, like varnish?" he asked. Sondherson gave him a withering glare. Rory shrugged and waved. "Sorry, I just haven't seen much paint on your walls."
Emma grinned, she and Amy were leaning on either side of the door, like bookends. "It's because she doesn't paint walls, except for murals. Amanda's one of the premier artists of Yblis. Not that you'd ever get her older brother to admit it." Emma chuckled.
Deran grumbled. "You didn't have to put up with all her early sketches everywhere."
The Doctor smiled. "Then that's who you need to put on your watch list. Artists, painters, inventors like Aaron."
Sondherson rubbed a hand wearily over his face, "I hate to admit it, Doctor, but I'm no artist, neither is Jonas or Silas, or several of the other victims."
"Ah, yes. The other thing to watch out for is violence, especially premeditated violence," the Doctor said.
Sondherson winced guiltily. "I'm sorry about that Doctor. At the time..."
"Don't worry," the Doctor said, waving it off. "I get that all the time."
"Yeah," Rory said. "People are always wanting to kill him."
"Thank you, Rory." The Doctor turned back to Sondherson. "What you need to do is to tell people to stay calm, to stay focused on their work, and if they have any fiery grudges, to set them aside until we get this cleared up."
Sondherson raised his red eyebrows at the Doctor. "You think it will be that easy?"
The Doctor shrugged. "No. But it's a place to start."
-----
"That still leaves us with all the people who have already been affected." Sondherson tapped at his own ipod, the wires dangling from his ears. "We can't supply units to all the groves."
"You don't need to," the Doctor said. "Only a few people will need to wear them constantly, like Aaron, and possibly your sister. In fact, you can probably take yours off now and be completely fine," the Doctor said. He stopped his pacing and leaned on Sondherson's desk, watching him expectantly.
Sondherson hesitated, then reached up to his earbuds. His eyes darted to everyone else in the room. Amy and Rory nodded, Rory somewhat hesitantly. Emma shrugged.
Dubiously, he took the earbuds out and laid them carefully on his desk. He held himself straight, and still. But nothing happened. He didn't collapse, didn't pass out, there seemed to be nothing wrong with him. He let out a sigh of relief, and draped the leads back around his neck, just in case.
The Doctor grinned approvingly at him, as if at a pupil. "Thought so." He stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets in satisfaction.
Amy frowned. "Explain."
The Doctor swiveled on his heels to look at her. "We only need to use the units as revival tools. As soon as the subject is revived we distract him from what he was thinking when he collapsed. After that, he should be fine."
His hands came up, gesturing. "Whatever this thing is, it only reacts to certain wavelengths of energy," he said in lecture mode. "Thoughts are energy. Different types of thoughts give out different wavelengths. Whatever this thing is, it reacts to that."
"It reacts to thoughts?" Emma frowned. "Some sort of telepathic plague?" she asked dubiously.
"So how do we stop a whole planet from thinking?" Rory said.
Sondherson protested. "That’s impossible. I can't tell people not to think!"
"So what do we do?" Amy asked.
"We take a lesson from the Trelwins," the Doctor said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets again.
"According to Zeke; 'The monster has existed since the beginning. It preys on passion, and anger, and vengeance.'"
They could hear the sing-song cadence of legend in his voice.
"Beware passion. It will draw the eye of god.
Subdue anger. It will draw the mind of god.
Deny vengeance. It will draw the finger of god.
The monster waits. It watches, it hears. Do not draw its attention.'"
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