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ravaged beyond comprehension, that parts scattered around the room. McDonnell, the assumed captain, took the wreck in with a groan and a open questioned of why. All the crew seemed taken back by the damage that had been caused to the engine while they had been away.

"Oh, it's wrecked!" One crew member groaned examining the mess of the engine. McDonnell looked around in a confused panic.

"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" She asked as the Doctor examined the engine. A crew-mate Valarie had come to identify as Scannell shook his head, muttering an exhausted no. Panic washed McDonell's face as she moved towards the intercom and began to frantically ask about Kowrin and Ashton. The Doctor continued examining the engine, muttering to himself. Valarie, still on the edge of screaming, followed him closely. The safety he radiated to her almost resembled how one would imagine the Earth pulling the small moon into its orbit, and holding it there safely.

"What do you think happened?" She asked him quietly. He kept his eyes on the twisted metal and gutted engine, before leaning in to answer her.

"Someone did this. Look at the way the metal is torn, not fried or melted. Someone ripped this thing apart." It was now he took notice in some modifications to the wreckage, pieces that were formally attached to the engine that signaled how the ship ran.

"This ship is running on energy scoops? Aren't those outlawed?" He asked McDonnell, who sighed in annoyance and frustration. She nodded.

"Yes. But that was passed after our last dock, so next time we dock we planned to upgrade. Scannell, how are the controls?" Her quick shift in conversation was noted, and attention turned to Scannell who stood over a fried set of controls.

"Obliterated. The ones in the front of the ship should be fine, but the lock down sealed them all the way down there. There's twenty-nine doors between us and it. All password sealed."

"Well, use the passwords." Valarie shrugged, knowing her answer to be too obvious to be correct. He shook his head.

"We don't know them. It's randomly generated questions, take at least two people to get through them in time." Martha stepped forward.

"I can try to help, make myself useful." The Doctor set a hand on her shoulder, giving her a knowing look before she smiled at him. "I'll be fine." She muttered. He drew in a deep breath, before asking she be careful. The intercom McDonnell stood at hummed to life with static.

"McDonnell. It's Ashton."

"Asthon? Where are you? Where is Korwin?" She was on the intercom in seconds. In the background of Ashton's end, a man could be heard screaming.

"Get to med-center, now!" He was gone as soon as his voice had arrived. McDonnell began a sprint towards med-center, with the Doctor following. Valarie, like the moon stuck to the Earth, followed him.

----

The medical bay appeared to be the only clean place on the ship. Two people crowded over what resembled a CAT scanner, and one man held the other down as he thrashed and cried out.

"Korwin!" McDonnell cried, rushing towards him. Korwin was slick with sweat and oil smudged his hands and cheeks. He jerked violently under their grasp, almost too strong to be held. "What happened?" She asked them as the three new bodies crowded over his.

"Help me! It's burning!" He screamed, eyes screwed tightly shut. No burns were visible on his body. The phrase hung in the air as he continued to sob and beg as the Doctor took the situation in. He pulled the sonic screwdriver and raised it to Korwin, before pulling it back to himself and looking at it closely. He turned to the young doctor, who Valarie believed was named Abi, and asked her for a sedative. She brought one to him swiftly, and watched as the Doctor sedated Korwin.

"He sabotaged the ship." Ashton mumbled after a few moments of silence. McDonnell turned to him in shock, asking him to explain himself. Ashton shrugged with a sadness of his face. "He went mad. He set us into the secure lock down, and then basically set the controls to fry themselves." McDonnell began to bicker with him as she couldn't grasp her own husband sentencing them all to death. Valarie looked at the Doctor.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked, as Abi listened intently in on their conversation also.

"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings." He turned to Abi. " Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there, regulate his body temperature. And for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail.

He turned back to Valarie. "Stay here with her. Come over the coms if there's trouble. Hopefully Martha has already gotten through some of those doors, and we can get outta here soon. Okay? I'm gonna go take care of those engines with McDonnell and Ashton."

Valarie nodded, watching him call to the bickering two and leading them from the room. Her shoulders slumped as she looked back towards Korwin, who was being moved into the stasis chamber. She turned back towards Abi who began on the scans the Doctor suggested.

"So, who is he?" Abi asked, not looking away from the screens. "What is his deal?"

"The Doctor? Getting us into trouble it seems." She half-laughed.

----

Valarie was unsure of how much time had passed despite watching the clock.

28 minutes, 50 seconds.

"Valarie, can you come here?" Abi asked after continued silence. Valarie looked to her from leaning against the stasis machine and approached her. In her hands some held a wide scan. The lines on it jumped past what the paper would allow to be printed.

"What is that?"

"His internal temperature." The answer dropped dread right into Valarie's chest as Abi moved to the coms and paged what was the engine room McDonnell, Ashton, and the Doctor should've been in.

"Doctor, these readings are scaring me. His whole biological makeup is changing. Whatever infection he has, is changing him."

Valarie stood back, her eyes looking back up the glass timer. In the reflection, a man now stood behind her. Korwin had came out of the stasis chamber, and stalked them with his eyes screwed tightly shut.

"Abi." She interrupted her conversation with the Doctor as she moved back towards the wall the door sat on. Korwin seemed to not even notice her as he moved towards the source of Abi's voice. Abi pressed a button that came over the entire ships coms.

"This is med-center, urgent assistance needed."

"Urgent assistance!"

"Abi, they are on their way." One chimed back in.

"Burn with me."

Korwin stalked Abi like a predator cornering prey, as Valarie kept a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She assumed her was coming towards Abi as he could only hear her with his eyes so tightly shut.

"Korwin, you're sick." She pressed her back tightly to the wall.

"Burn with me." He repeated, now looming over her. His eyes opened and a blinding light, comparable to the sun emitted from them. The entire room felt engulfed by the light as Abi began to scream. Valarie moved her hand over her eyes as she began to blindly an desperately move for the door, crying out in fear as she finally grasped the metal handle. The entire room was becoming unbearably hot, and even the handle burned to the touch. She found the adrenaline to overcome to pain in her palm and opened the door. Throwing herself out into the hallway, Valarie ran blankly into the metal corridors. Every turn looked the same and the pipes lining the walls started resembling living things, like tendrils slowly closing in on her.

She felt panic clutching her ribs, and couldn't find her strength to shout as she feared Korwin would be looming around any corner, waiting to strike and kill her too. He had to have killed Abi. And Valarie abandoned them.

"Everybody, listen to me. Korwin had been infected with something. He," McDonnell struggled with her words, Valarie stopped running, leaning against a wall and leaning on her hands that pressed against her knees. She sniffled. "He killed Abi Laner."

"Is that clear?" She asked the question into silence. Valarie slid down the wall, partially to catch her breath and partially to try to fight crying again. She was stronger then this, she knew she had to be.

A hand suddenly grasped her forearm tightly and raised her to her feet. She jerked away, only to find the Doctor's eyes staring into her. She sighed in relief and laid her head against the wall.

"Doctor."

"Come on, we need to go. Martha is in trouble." He pulled her along with little explanation.

"What? What's wrong with Martha?" They turned a corner and through a door labelled 'Area 17'. Valarie froze as there stood what seemed to be Ashton, breathing heavily in a helmet that resembled a welding helmet. He pressed buttons on a keypad.

"That's it! That's enough!" Ashton turned to the Doctor's voice.

"Why? Why this ship? Tell me!"

Ashton turned back, sending a fist through the keypad. It erupted into sparks. He turned back to the two and began to approach. Almost instinctively the Doctor nudged Valarie behind him, concealing her body with his own.

"Come on now. Let's see what you really are." Ashton raised a gloved hand to open the visor, before jerking away as if in pain. He straightened back out, and looked at them again. The Doctor reached behind him, grasping Valarie's forearm tightly as Ashton approached again. This time he walked directly past them. Valarie and the Doctor held a breath as he moved past. When he was out of sight, the Doctor ran towards a com.

"McDonell, Ashton is coming your way! He has been infected just like Korwin!"

"Infected?" Valarie asked.

"Whatever is in Korwin is a parasite, and it has a vendetta against this crew." He explained.

"Korwin is dead, Doctor." Scannell responded back.

Valarie moved to a large sealed door, with a porthole. Across a room through another porthole was Martha. She quickly realized what trouble Martha was in as a computer informed her of a jetpod departing.

"Martha!" She yelled into the glass as the Doctor pressed next to her.

"I'll save you!" He yelled to her. The two repeated the combination of the phrases 'Martha!' and 'I'll save you!'

They were unaware of the simple fact that all Martha could hear was deafening silence as she drifted away from the sight of their faces.

The Doctor had the only way to Martha was to follow her out into space. Scannell had joined him and Valarie in Area 17 are he came onto the coms to request someone quickly bring a spacesuit. He had donned a large, clunky, orange space suit. Most likely kept for any repairs that had to be done outside the ship. The top collar was tale and metal with stains of age and grease on it. The Doctor was fastening himself onto the harness.

"I can't let you do this." Scannell told him.

"You are wasting your breath Scannell. You can't stop me."

"You want to open an airlock on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that."

"Oh, just you watch." The Doctor argued, only pausing when Valarie pressed a hand to his shoulder. He stared at her for a second before shaking his head and looking away. "You can't stop me either." He refused to look back at her face, covered in a layer of sweat and sadness.

"It's suicide!" Scannell said. "The shields will barely protect you."

"I have to go get her back."

"It's too late. She is as good as gone." The Doctor lifted the helmet, placing it on his head as he opened the airlock and stepped onto the platform between it and the outer door. He refused to look at them as the door sealed shut behind him.

----

Valarie had been left alone by Scannell due to her own requests. An anger had overtaken her as she listened to the clocks continuous reminder that death was impending. The most recent reminder had been eleven minutes remained. This was the crews fault. It had to be. They all seemed to hide something. She waited by the airlock. She felt like time crawled until the door opened again.

"Airlock re-compression completed." Echoed from the chamber he had vanished into. Valarie looked to the side as the Doctor tumbled into the hallway on his hands and knees, falling onto his side several times as he tried to crawl back up.

"Doctor!" Martha's voice cried as her and the crew-mate she had been launched with, Riley, came to his side. Valarie rushed to him, helping him up into a sitting position as he blindly waved a hand at her. His eyes opened barely as that same horrible light vaguely came from them.

"Stay away from me." He hissed. Valarie stared in shock as she tried to continue to take his hand. She forced the large gloved hand between hers as he tried to thrash it and her away. McDonnell approached, immediately asking what had happened to him.

"It's your fault Captain McDonnell!" He cried at the sound of her voice.

"What did you do to him!" Valarie screamed to her, her anger exploding as McDonnell seemed at a lost for words.

"You mined that sun, stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" He yelled to them.

"I don't understand."

"That sun is alive! A living organism! You scooped its heart out and used it as fuel and now its screaming!"

"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive, how do you know?" McDonnell further questioned.

"Because it's living in me!" The statement hung in the air. McDonnell covered her mouth.

"Human! You grab whatever is nearest and bleed it dry!" He continued as he gasped and yelped in pain. "You should have scanned!" He wailed at them.

"It was the quickest! We need fuel and if we scanned we would have been caught! Fusion scoops are illegal!"

"Stasis chamber! You need to take me to it and freeze me! Minus 200, if you don't it will use me to kill you! Med-center, quickly!" Valarie grasped his arm as he violently thrashed towards her, his hands grasping her frame and she struggled to raise him.

"Help me!" She screamed at McDonnell and Martha, who rushed to her aid to raise him. The three struggled with him through the ship to the med-center. It seemed like an impossible fight to get his body onto the bed. Martha moved to the controls of the stasis chamber with McDonnell pointing out the manual on how to rig it.

"Ten seconds, I will only be able to take about ten seconds!" He yelled to them as Valarie leaned over his body. "It's burning me up. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you." He stopped thrashing for only a second.

"I could kill you all." He hissed a deeper voice, before shaking his head side to side violently. Valarie caught it between her hands and forced it in her direction as his face morphed to terror.

"I'm scared. I'm so scared." He pleaded with Valarie as she nodded, leaning closer to try and be a source of calm for him.

"Just stay calm. Martha and I got you. We got you and you are gonna be okay."

"Valarie, if it burns through me there's," he thrashed more before regaining physical control for a second again, "there is this process, this thing that happens if I'm about to die."

"Shut up. You don't need to tell me because you won't die." Valarie confirmed to him, hoping what she said was true.

"Valarie, step back." Martha pushed her back as she pressed a button that pushed the Doctor's body into the chamber. With the chamber humming almost violently, it began. Quickly his body temperature dropped and he began screaming. Valarie and Martha held each other as they watched. After only a few seconds the power cut and the lights revealed his frost covered body.

"No! Keep going it's not done!" He cried to them.

"The power has been cut." Martha moved to the machine as she began efforts to restore its power.

"Martha, I'm gonna heat up fast again. You and Valarie have to go. Go to the engines, and release the fuel. Give the sun back what they took!"

"But-"

"Go!" Valarie turned to Martha, mouthing 'go'. She looked at her wearily before leaving the room in a sprint, leaving Valarie and the infected Doctor. The computer announced only three minutes until impact remained. The Doctor began thrashing again. He attempted to pull himself from the machine, tumbling to the floor onto his belly. He began a crawl that froze when he felt hands turning him over. He fought against it.

"Doctor, its me."

"Valarie, what are you doing?!" He cried. He desperately pushed her body away, and every time she crawled back he grabbed onto her for a brief second before pushing her away.

"She has to give it back Valarie, Martha has to give it back!" He finally caved to her grasp as she pulled his upper body into her lap and pressed his forehead to her shoulder. He remained limp against her as tears fell from her face onto his spacesuit and forehead. The timer now sat below zero with seconds remaining,

Valarie, in that moment, accepted death.

A hand grasped at her collarbones and then her ear, then firmly locked itself in her hair. She turned her face away, fearing what came next. The Doctor yanked her hair to look back down at him.

"Burn with me."

A sob escaped her mouth and bounced off the walls.

"Burn with me, Valarie."

His eyes began to pry open as the light became visible. The heat of the light pressed against her skin as she closed her eyes, accepting fate. She opened her eyes only when he cried out in a strangled voice and the hand in her hair went limp. His eyes faded from the blinding, horrid light to the brown that welcomed Valarie so. His mouth hung open as he went limp against her body. She sat there frozen, placing a hand on his cheek before cupping his head inwards towards her body. She cried in a odd mixture of relief and fear as she cradled him.

It only became full relief when his weak arms lifted from her lap and almost desperately wrapped around her torso.

----

thank you to everyone for being so kind and patient! This is a longer chapter for sure, but I enjoyed writing it! I am feeling a lot better and am already working on the next portion which is the human nature and family of blood which is gonna be so important and fun on my end to write! Have a great night!