The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Two

The man taps a glass, gaining the crowd's attention, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever."

Jack crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow. Lazarus turns around, entering the machine behind him. A high pitched noise resounds, and the four columns surrounding the small chamber he entered begin to spin rapidly around the chamber. Sophie squints against the lights coming off of the device, when an alarm starts to sound.

The device begins to spin even faster, and sparks start to fly from the various machinery. Jack, without a moment of hesitation, leaps into the control booth. Sophie watches as the Doctor does the exact same thing from the other side. The two work back to back pressing buttons and flipping switches. "It's overloading," the Time Lord states.

"No sh*t, Sherlock," Jack replies, as if on instinct.

The Doctor stops his sonic for a second, glancing behind him, "Jack?" he asks, resuming his soniccing.

Jack freezes from where he was carefully pressing buttons and pulling levers, working to stop the machine, he turns his head, "Doctor?"

The old woman who was with Professor Lazarus looks nervously up at the machine, "Somebody stop them. Get them away from those controls."

Jack grumbles something unkind under his breath, and the Doctor snorts. "If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it."

"Is that really what you want?" Jack finishes. The Time Lord leaps back over the booth, yanking a large cable out of the machine, and it whirs to a halt.

Sophie and Martha both immediately rush forward, prising the door open. The Doctor and Jack rush over, the Gallifreyan demanding, "Get it open!"

"What the actual f*ck does it look like we're doing?"

With those words the door flings open, and a man much younger than Lazarus staggers out. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy six years old and I am reborn!"

Technicians rush forward to look him over, and the Doctor grabs both Sophie's and Martha's elbows, ushering them away. He looks between Sophie and Jack, "What are you two doing here?"

Jack smiles, "Gee, Doc, nice to see you again."

The Time Lord rolls his eyes. Martha is frozen in place, staring at the younger Lazarus, "It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick."

"It's real. Happened just like William said it would."

Jack smirks, "When are we gonna get to meet this William, anyway."

"Who's William?" the Doctor asks, looking between the two.

"He's one of Lazarus' techs. Helped design the machine. I asked him if he could tell me what was gonna happen. Unfortunately he just worked on the control panel, and not the actual machine, so he couldn't tell me how it worked."

"But he would've," Jack smiles, "Sounds like he's sweet on you."

The Doctor keeps his eyes locked on Lazarus, as he grabs a tray from a passing waiting, scarfing down about five of the sandwiches, not even pausing to breathe. The lady with him seems mortified, but the Professor shrugs her off, "I'm famished."

The Time Lord walks right up to Lazarus, the other three trailing right after him, "Energy deficit," he shrugs, "Always happens with this kind of process."