A Time of Healing
Part Three
The Doctor's eyes gazed sympathetically at Delvare's temporarily unconscious form now lying quite still on the ground. He turned to Ace.
"Ace, next time you plan to throw a can of Nitro9, give me a warning."
"Sorry, Professor."
The Doctor sighed and glanced once more at the unconscious Zegraskarian. Ace looked at him thoughtfully.
"Well, at least it gave Zaria time to get away," she said optimistically. "Where do you suppose she's gone?"
"How did you get to Earth?"
Zaria turned to face her new friend. "I strengthened my telepathic powers and used them to pilot the capsule in which my people imprisoned me."
Currently things had already settled down, the confusion sorted out and introductions made. Now Mel was sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, while Zaria was standing by the window, gazing out and admiring the town.
"Imprisoned you? Why, because your intentions were different from theirs?"
Zaria nodded. "They didn't want me causing trouble for them so they locked me up at a very young age. They didn't kill me because, after all, I was one of their own race."
Nodding in understandment, Mel lay back on the bed and gazed at the ceiling. "So, how did you free yourself from the capsule?" she asked.
"Oh, I didn't free myself. I had some assistance from the Doctor."
Mel sat up immediately. "The Doctor? The Doctor helped you?"
Zaria looked puzzled and turned to her. "Why yes, do you know him?" she inquired, moving over to where Mel was sitting.
"Well yes, but I don't really want to talk about that right now.... What are you doing?"
Zaria had moved forward and looked Mel directly in the eye, as if she was trying to hypnotize her. Then she leaned back and nodded. "Oh I see, you two had a bit of a disagreement, didn't you?"
Mel was taken back. "You can mind-read?"
"Amongst other things," Zaria answered. "Look, enough about me, what about you?" she asked, more to change the subject than anything else. She indicated Mel's right arm. "How did that happen?"
Mel glanced down at the amputated arm with a sigh. "Happened a few days ago. This stupid being from another universe got a hold of me and..." She stopped, "What's the point of telling you this if you can read minds?"
Zaria shrugged. "I like to communicate, besides I can't go reaching into people's thoughts all the time, that would be rude."
"Oh..." Mel started but was cut off as she and Zaria heard footsteps coming from outside the room.
Zaria jumped up in alarm. "Someone's coming!"
"That's probably Dr. Edmonds and my uncle," Mel said, "Quick, disguise yourself!" Obediently, Zaria morphed into a... well, whatever it was she certainly couldn't see it.
Moments later, Edmonds walked into the room followed by Justin Hill, Mel's uncle. Justin hurried over to where Mel was standing by the window.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked. Mel nodded and reached down to pick up her suitcase with her remaining arm.
Edmonds coughed. "Well, I hope you have a fulfilling life Melanie... glad we could help. Mr. Hill, you know the way out."
"Yes, thank you very much, Dr. Edmonds," Justin replied. When Edmonds left the room, Justin turned back to his niece. "Well, come on," he said, "I'll take you to the car." He reached over to take Mel's suitcase from her hand but she held it firmly.
"It's all right, uncle, I can handle it. Just because I have one arm doesn't mean I'm helpless!"
It wasn't until they had reached Justin's car that the pair realized they were being followed... by a small gray kitten with beautiful dark eyes. The cat purred and rubbed affectionately against Mel's leg. Mel giggled.
"It's all right, the coast is clear now," she reassured the kitten. Moments later the kitten's body shimmered as Zaria morphed back into her true form. Justin gasped.
"Zaria?" he stammered. Mel looked at him in surprise.
"You've met?" the ex-patient asked and Justin nodded.
"Your uncle was with the Doctor when he freed me," Zaria explained. She turned back to Justin. "How's David?"
"He's a bit confused and very skeptical, but he'll be okay. Wait a second, I didn't see that cat in the hospital room," Justin said suddenly, "though there was this rather annoying fly swarming around..." He stopped.
Mel smiled and pointed to Justin's car. "Let's just get in the car, uncle, we'll explain on the way to my house."
Meanwhile, the Doctor was waiting patiently at the front desk of the hospital. Finally, the receptionist returned from whatever errand had caused her absence and sat down.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Yes, you might recognize me from last time. I'm here to visit a patient by the name of Melanie Bush who was brought here a small while ago."
The receptionist took a minute to check the files on her computer and replied, "I'm sorry, sir, but Melanie Bush has already checked out."
"When?"
"About an hour ago, sir."
The Doctor slammed his hand on the desk in frustration. Now he'll never know if his guess had been correct. Because of her capabilities, Zaria might have realized that one of the Doctor's friends was nearby. He was almost sure that she would have turned to Mel for assistance because Zaria knew from his memories that Melanie Bush wouldn't refuse to help her.
The Doctor relaxed and apologized to the receptionist. "Yes, I understand. Thank you very much anyway," he said and quickly left the building.
Delvare stirred and opened his eyes cautiously.
He was lying flat on the ground.... Where? Oh yes - Pease Pottage, Earth - Zaria came here and he was supposed to...
Zaria! Remembering his vital mission he sat up in one swift motion. He was about to stand when the butt of a gun jabbed into his side and he crashed back down into the dirt.
"You're not going anywhere, mate," a familiar voice sneered. Delvare looked up in alarm to see that wretched girl the Doctor called "Ace" standing over him and pointing a pistol at his chest. He looked at her resentfully.
"I suppose that trying to escape would be out of the question?" he asked coldly. Ace glared at him in return and said nothing. After a few moments, she held her hand out.
"All right, hand it over and no tricks."
Delvare reached over and placed his blaster in the palm of Ace's open hand. Then he sat quietly on the ground and folded his arms. Ace looked at him suspiciously.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Delvare shrugged. "Well, there's not much that I can do here, is there? You have unarmed me so the only useful thing to consider doing is to wait. Unless, of course, you want to start an interesting conversation?"
Ace's silence was enough of an answer and Delvare nodded.
"I thought so," said the Zegraskarian. Then, unknown to Ace, Delvare reached secretly into his tunic and pulled out a small bottle filled with a white powder. He poured a small amount of the powder into his hand and quickly put the bottle away. He turned his attention back to Ace.
"Would I be wrong in assuming that you may need an ophthalmologist soon?" he asked her suddenly.
"What?"
Without warning, Delvare lashed out his arm and threw the white powder in Ace's eyes. Crying out, Ace covered her face with her palms and fell to the ground.
Delvare leaped up from sitting position to recover his blaster that Ace had so conveniently dropped. Then he ran out of the clearing without looking back.
"And Zaria came to you for help?" Justin was asking his niece as he calmly guided his car along Pease Pottage's smooth roads.
"I guess so, she may have recognized me from the Doctor's own thoughts and that's what led her to the hospital," Mel finished. She turned to glance at their silent passenger who was sitting quietly in the back seat. Zaria hadn't said a word since she entered the car. She ignored Mel and Justin's curious looks and continued to stare out the window.
"Maybe it wasn't the simple reading of thoughts that brought her to you," Justin said suddenly, causing Mel to turn her gaze away from the Zegraskarian and onto her uncle. "Maybe it was... something else."
"You mean, some sort of instinct?"
"Probably. Some internal feeling - a sixth sense, if you will - that led her to the hospital... and to you."
The raven sat patiently on a telephone line by the road.
It watched eagerly as the car drove by, its eyes flashed with an unknown evil. Then it flew off the telephone line and farther ahead to wait by the side of the road. The raven's body shimmered and Delvare was standing there with blaster in hand.
"Someone's following us."
Zaria's calm but urgent manner caused Mel to glance worriedly out the back window.
"There's no one there, Zaria," she announced, sounding a little relieved. But the Zegraskarian shook her head sharply.
"No, he's not following our car, he's following... our thoughts," she finished uncertainly and frowned. Justin caught on immediately.
"Delvare?"
No sooner had the single name left Justin's lips that a shot rang out followed by the shattering of glass as Mel screamed. Justin's car swerved as he tried to regain control of the steering wheel. The front window of the car was cracked, bearing a single bullet hole... the remnants of Delvare's vain attempt of a brutal execution.
Nearly throwing his blaster down in frustration, Delvare swore under his breath and took to preparing for one last despairing try but the car had moved too far away.
Determined not to give up, Delvare's body shimmered once more as he assumed the likeness of yet another form.
The car suddenly screeched to a stop and Justin turned urgently to Mel who was sitting in the passenger seat beside him.
"Get out of the car," he ordered her sternly.
"But..."
"Get out! I need to get this car as far away from you and Zaria as possible, especially if Delvare is shooting at us. If you move quickly Delvare won't see you leave and he'll follow me instead. Now go!" He gave her a starting push and Mel nodded.
"All right, I going. Zaria... where is she?" Mel asked, suddenly realizing that the alien had disappeared.
"She must have morphed again. I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure that Zaria can take very good care of herself. It's you that I'm worried about."
Mel struggled out of the car. She took cover in the undergrowth near the road and watched as Justin drove away. Praying that her uncle would be all right, Mel settled down to wait.
Delvare reappeared at the other end of the road. Good, the car was coming in his direction. Raising his blaster at this thought, he prepared to pull the trigger.
He wouldn't miss this time.
Another shot and more shattering glass.
Justin drove in fury, anything to lure the murderous Delvare as far away from Mel and Zaria as possible. The road he was driving on was near to the edge of a steep hill, overlooking Pease Pottage. Then he saw a brief flash of black as Delvare fired again.
This time there was no shatter of glass as another window was reduced to a pile of shards. This was different. Delvare had hit one of the tires.
Justin felt nothing as he completely lost control of the car and felt no pain as he was hurled over the edge of a cliff. There was a sudden flash and then all was silent.
Mel jumped to her feet at the sound of the crash. Several images and possibilities raced through her mind in an instant but something inside her told her that it was Justin Hill's car that had crashed. But what happened? She remembered seeing her uncle drive away and for the briefest moment she also saw Delvare's dark form as he followed in pursuit.
As she emerged from the undergrowth, she felt a sick feeling churn inside her stomach. Had Delvare...?
The answer presented itself as she approached the site of the crash. Her eyes widened in pure horror. Her uncle's car was in ruins, reduced to a pile of smoking debris. But where was her uncle? Had he managed to escape somehow or...
She screamed at the ghastly sight that greeted her as she moved closer. Partly hanging out of the open and severely twisted car door was the bloody and motionless body of her uncle, Justin Hill.
Mel barely noticed the tearful mist that clouded her eyes as she slowly sank to her knees. This can't be happening, she thought to herself, this just can't be happening...
Melanie?" a quiet voice whispered from behind her. Mel spun around in alarm to find Zaria looking on from a few feet away. How the Zegraskarian had avoided any injuries was beyond her but there she was, standing awkwardly on the grass in her sandaled feet. When Mel looked at her face she was shocked to find that Zaria was in tears also.
"Mel, I... I don't know what to say." Zaria was clearly as upset about Justin Hill's death as Mel was herself.
"You don't have to say anything, just do something," Mel pleaded but Zaria didn't move. The expression the alien's face held was greatly downhearted.
"I can't raise the dead, Melanie. Death is one thing that I have no control over. You must learn to except that your uncle is gone now, he died to preserve our lives. You and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."
As Mel continued to mourn, Zaria knelt down beside her and gently took her amputated arm into her hands.
What are you doing?" Mel asked. Zaria's face was deeply serious when she finally spoke.
"Something I should have done a long time ago. Mel, I can't make everything right for you now, but I can take away a small amount of your suffering."
What Zaria did then, Mel couldn't begin to explain. All she could recall was that she saw a brilliant flash of light. No, not a flash, it was more like a kind of sudden glow. The glow faded and... her arm! Her arm was... well, it looked as though it had never been amputated in the first place.
Mel ran her fingers along her fully restored arm, not daring to believe what had just happened. She looked directly at Zaria.
"Why?"
Zaria smiled, "Because you helped me, that's why. Now, come on." She pulled Mel to her feet.
"But..." Mel protested, "We can't just leave him here, Zaria. What's left of him, I mean. Shouldn't we do something about the body?"
"We'll call for an ambulance after this whole ordeal is over with. But for now, we have some unfinished business to settle... with Delvare."
The Doctor gently helped a slightly dazed Ace to her feet. "What happened?" he asked her urgently. Ace groaned and rubbed her eyes.
"I don't know... Delvare had this handful of powder in his hand and he threw it at me, he threw it in my eyes." She stopped suddenly and grasped the Doctor's arm. "We've got to find him though, before he finds Zaria."
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Yes, you're right."
"Were you able to find out where Zaria is hiding?
The Doctor looked down at his shoes. "No, I wasn't. Mel has already checked out of the hospital. I don't know where to look next."
"Is that so?" an appallingly familiar voice spoke up suddenly. For the second time that day, the Doctor and Ace turned once more only to see Delvare grinning ruthlessly at them from the other side of the clearing, his blaster pointed in the Doctor's direction.
Keeping his blaster carefully trained on the Doctor, Delvare moved into the clearing. Ace began to slip her hand into her trench coat but Delvare swung around to cover her as well. Not letting her eyes stray away from Delvare's blaster, Ace let her hands fall to her sides.
"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," sneered the murderous Zegraskarian. "Unfortunately, the Zeg powder only temporarily distorted your vision. I was hoping that it would blind you permanently."
"Zeg powder?"
"Zegraskarian sand," Delvare explained. "Originates on our planet like the Evraals or any resource we use. The sand doesn't harm us but it seems to have disastrous effects on other life forms." Delvare moved closer, his expression held something that Ace wasn't sure she liked the looks of. He tightened his grip on the blaster, but his eyes were only on the Doctor now. When he spoke, Ace could detect traces of pure evil in his voice.
"I thought that bringing the two of you here would simplify my task but all you have caused me is trouble. Because of you I was forced to resort to murder to finish what I came here to do."
The Doctor looked up suddenly with terror in his eyes. "Murder? What did you do Delvare? Is Zaria dead?"
The Zegraskarian shrugged. "Dead or injured, if she isn't finished I could always deal with that later. But now I have to tie up some other loose strings."
"Us?"
Delvare nodded, a cruel smile on his face. "I have dealt with most of you already. Thankfully, Justin Hill and some girl called Melanie were killed along with Zaria... less for me to worry about."
The Doctor stared at Delvare in disbelief. "Melanie? You killed..." his voice trailed off as his heart sunk into despair. This had gone too far... even Mel had gotten involved, most likely by accident. Justin even more so.
Ace saw a small tear form in the corner of the Doctor's eye and personally she didn't blame him. She knew that the Doctor was effected badly, just as she knew that it would take him a long time to accept that Mel was probably dead.
Delvare took the advantage of the Doctor's hesitation and step forward. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a portion of the Zeg powder in the Doctor's face. With a cry of rage the Doctor fell to the ground on his knees. As Ace moved to help him, Delvare swung his blaster to cover her once more and she froze in her tracks. Delvare looked down at the Doctor with a satisfied smile.
"A favorable weapon to use against one such as yourself, Doctor... having the retina of a *human* eye." He turned to Ace. "And as for you..." He took an elaborate bracelet-sized ring decorated with buttons and switches out of his tunic. Delvare pressed one of the buttons and an inaccessible force field appeared out of thin air, completely surrounding Ace. "That'll keep you out of trouble until I decide what to do with you."
Delvare then turned his attention back to the Doctor. He couldn't resist a cruel smile as he watched him suffer. Imagine that... the Doctor, a renegade Time Lord, once Time's Champion and now a wanderer once more, thrown down in severe pain by a few grains of sand.
Delvare bent down and pressed the muzzle of his blaster against the Doctor's head. Not able to see properly, the Doctor was powerless to prevent the inevitable execution. "Did you ever think that it would come to this?" Delvare sneered, "Dying on the very Earth that you fought so hard to protect? You are defeated, Doctor. No one can save you now."
"Think again, Delvare," a female voice stated harshly from somewhere very close behind him. Startled, Delvare spun around to see Melanie Bush looming over him. The Zegraskarian barely had time to stand before Mel's fist lashed forward, catching him in the jaw and throwing him to the ground - more by surprise than by force.
Not letting her eyes stray from the fallen Delvare, Mel confiscated the Zeg powder, bracelet, and blaster from him. She looked at the bracelet thoughtfully and - thankful that she had taken the initiative to observe exactly which button Delvare had pressed - she freed Ace from the force field. Handing her the blaster, Mel pointed to the defenseless Delvare. "Watch him carefully, he's harmless now without his little toys." Not blinking an eye at Mel's sudden authority, Ace accepted the blaster and started over towards Delvare. She turned back suddenly and pointed to Mel's arm. "Wait a minute..." she stopped, "Zaria's doing right?" Mel smiled and nodded to where Zaria had emerged from her hiding place. Ace smiled back and Mel turned her attention to the Doctor, who was gradually recovering from the effects of the Zeg powder. She leaned over him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, the Doctor look up at her in astonishment.
"Melanie?" he whispered. "Delvare said that you were killed along with Zaria and Justin. What happened?"
"My uncle sacrificed his life to save Zaria and me. We were driving to my house, Delvare forced the car over a cliff and my uncle was in it."
"I'm sorry."
"That's alright," she smiled and helped the Doctor to his feet. Fully recovered, the Time Lord dusted down his clothes. Something about Melanie was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shook head in amusement.
"All these years I had saved your life time and again. And now at the last minute you save mine, it's nice to be on the receiving end for a change."
"Delvare had already murdered my uncle, I wasn't going to stand aside and watch while he killed you too." Mel said determinedly and her eyes misted over. "I'm sorry about what happened in the hospital, I still had my mind in the past. So much time had moved by that I thought I had gotten over what happened all those years ago, but it seems I'm no better than when I returned here."
"So you trust me then?"
Mel's tearful embrace was enough of an answer. Then he realized what had been bothering him... Mel was hugging him with *two* good arms. His reaction was the same as Ace before him. He pulled away slightly. "Mel, what..." then he glanced at the calm form Zaria, who was watching them happily from a distance and smiled. "Oh, I see."
Gently disentangling himself from Mel, he approached Zaria. "I don't know how I can thank you..." he started but Zaria held up a hand.
"No, Doctor, I should thank you. You freed me from the capsule and helped me escape from Delvare, I am grateful."
"But how will you get home? I would give you a lift myself but my TARDIS seems to be misplaced for the moment..."
"That's alright, Doctor, I have my own means of transport." She lifted Delvare's bracelet for him to see. "My race was once as advanced as the Time Lords, until evil and greed pushed us into second place. Delvare's bracelet here is what you may call an advanced version of the transmat beam."
The Doctor nodded. "And Delvare?" he asked, pointing to the dark form lying - tied and gagged - on the ground.
"He will be taken back to my planet as a prisoner. Maybe when they see how defenseless he is without his weapons or threats, the other Zegraskarians will pay a little more attention to my values." She stood by Delvare and raised the bracelet up. "Farewell, Doctor"
Mel came over and stood quietly beside the Doctor. Smiling, the Time Lord slipped his arm around her shoulders as they both heard Zaria's voice carrying across the clearing as she and Delvare faded from site.
"All individuals must have their own time of healing, a time to tend their wounds and rebuild their friendships. Yours had come... make the best of it."
The End