Green Vortex [III]

Voyage of the Damned Pt6:

"Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive." The Doctor said as he sat with Frame and Galaxy, "Unsinkable, that's me." He said and Galaxy laughed. "We made it." Frame said, smiling. "Not all of us." Galaxy said as she fiddled with a bit of her dress that was surprisingly still in good condition.

"Teleport!" The Doctor suddenly said, jumping up, "She was wearing a teleport bracelet!" He ran out the room before Galaxy could follow him. She helped Frame up and they ran after him, following him into the main room where Mr Copper and Rickston were waiting.

"Mr Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?" The Doctor asked him. "I don't know." He answered as he joined him at the teleport controllers, Galaxy did as well after she got her sonic back, "They should have."

"She fell, Mr Copper. She fell. Where's the emergency code?" He asked, getting the computer working. "Uh, let me see..." Mr Copper said as he typed in the code. "What the hell are you doing?" Frame asked.

"He might be able to bring her back." Galaxy said as she watched the Doctor work on the teleport. "If the passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis so that we can just trigger the shift." Mr Copper explained.

"There!" The Doctor shouted, finishing. He turned around to see a glowing, but transparent, Astrid stand a few feet away.

"I'm falling." Astrid echoed.

"Only halfway there. Come on." The Doctor said, moving to adjust the inner workings of the teleport.

"I keep falling..."

"Feed back the molecule grid, boost it with the restoration matrix..."

"No!" Galaxy shouted just before the teleport sparked.

"No, no, no, no!" The Doctor shouted as he rushed toward it, "Need more phase containment."

"Doctor..." Mr Copper stepped forward.

"No! If I can just link up the surface suspension..."

"Doctor, she's gone."

"I just need to override the safety. I can do it."

"Doctor, let her go."

The Doctor turned around to face Astrid's ghost like figure then kicked the teleport in frustration. "I can do anything!"

Galaxy sighed slightly and went over to him where she took hold of his hands. "You're right, you can do anything. But not without a clear mind and not on your own. Let me have a try." She told him and gave his hands a squeeze before kneeling by the controls.

"There's not enough left." Mr Copper told her gently as she pulled out a number of wires, "The system was too badly damaged. She's just atoms. And echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust. It's impossible." He said but she carried on working.

"See, impossible is just another word for 'challenging' to me. There's just enough power here that can bind atoms and download the consciousness back to the body." Galaxy explained as she pressed a button on her computer wrist that she connected to the machine and a bright light exploded.

When the light faded they saw Astrid standing there, flesh and blood, no longer the ghostly image as before.

"I'm alive!" Astrid shouted, looking at her hands before running toward Galaxy, pulling her into a hug as she stood up, "Thank you!" She said, pulling back before hugging her again.

-10-

"The engines have stabilised. We're holding steady till we get help and I've sent the SOS. A rescue ship should be here within twenty minutes. And they're digging out the records of Max Capricorn. It should be quite a story."