Genesis Of The Doctor - A Doctor Who Story

10 - Hospital

When the boy awoke the first thing he experienced was an all-encompassing numbness; he could not feel or move any part of his body.  He felt as if he was floating in a pool of warm water, gently drifting.

Cautiously he tried to open his eyes but something seemed to be holding them shut.  He could hear a low humming and what sounded like an exaggerated breathing noise.  Many unfamiliar smells mingled with what might be surgical alcohol and some sort of antiseptic.  He told himself not to panic.

He tried to remember what might have brought him here.  He recalled appearing with the girl within the atmosphere of a beautiful planet and a rapid descent whilst the flyer exploded around them.  He must have lost consciousness after that. 

Lying still and unable to move, he felt helplessness and an almost overwhelming concern for the girl.  Hoping that she was nearby, he tried to shout out to her but this too seemed impossible.  He felt a sudden pressure in his arm and soon after that he lost consciousness once again.

Matron Hilda Barley turned away from her patient, "That seems to have worked doctor.  Honestly when they brought them in I really thought letting them quietly pass away would be the kindest option.  The extent of their recovery since then has been remarkable."

Two thick-set men clad entirely in black sat reading newspapers in the next room.  The doctor gestured towards them, "I felt the same way Matron but I'm glad I ignored my instincts.  I don't think their Ministry chaperones would have been too pleased if we had done that either."  He continued, "I still don't rate their chances, their burns are extensive and they seem to have broken every bone that it is possible to break.  Such a shame."

"Well, they've surprised us so far, who knows what they are capable of?"

"Yes, quite, well, hmm, we'll keep them sedated for now even if we need to keep up such a curiously high dose of sedative."  He cast his eyes over the two completely bandaged forms lying with legs and arms elevated in their adjacent rooms, tubes and wires extending from them into various machines, "Very odd indeed," he said.

Sometime later the boy awoke again.  Everything seemed as before; the same numbness, the inability to move and to see.  He could hear muffled sounds like voices, though unintelligible, 'We didn't think that through did we?' he thought to himself, 'Not having a Time Ring to translate the aliens' words may make things a bit awkward for us. If I ever get to speak again.'

He drifted off into unconsciousness once more, sleeping soundly for the first time since the crash.

Over the days and weeks that seemed to pass as he lay there the boy tried to make some sense of his surroundings.  The sounds he heard were always muted and unclear but from what he could hear of the speaking voices the predominant sounds seemed to be "Doctor", "Nurse" and "Matron".  He had no certain idea what these words were but he imagined that these must be the names of the people who held him since the words were almost always followed with a response by someone other than the person saying the word.  The voice that he identified as "Doctor" had a deeper voice than the others and if he were Gallifreyan would likely have been male while the two other voices might be children or female he supposed.

Early on he had tried to call out a number of times but inevitably this was followed by a stinging sensation in his arm and then by unconsciousness.  He had learned to keep quiet when he heard voices or when he sensed that there was someone else in the room.  When he felt that he was alone he tried to shout out, hoping that the girl would hear him, wherever she was, if she still lived.  Shouting was always a failure, like calling out in a dream.

One day he felt the numbness lessen. Perhaps they had given him less sedative he wondered, or maybe this was a sign that his body was repairing itself.  Either way he could feel more, certainly more pain but also other sensations.  He could feel the inside of his mouth with his tongue.  He could feel his legs!

Although prone and immobilised it felt like he could wiggle his toes and his fingers.  He had some movement in his neck.  It seemed that he had something holding his head firmly; a wise precaution for head injuries he imagined.  Elsewhere he could feel a number of loose restraining straps across his body, perhaps there to stop him falling from his bed.

Then he felt it, attaching his wrist to the bed and allowing very limited movement of his arm was what could only be a hand cuff.  He realised that this was not a place of safety - someone did not trust him and potentially they meant him harm.  They had escaped from the Time Lords but what had they escaped into?