Lost in the Universe

xxiii

Suddenly, the entire room shook, lights turning themselves off and alarms blaring all around them.

"Chan, where is the power, tho?" Chantho asked desperatly. Nina and the Doctor shared a worried look before they decided to take action.

"Radiation is rising!" Nina yelled, running to the pannel. The Doctor nodded and ran to her.

"We've lost control!" Jack told them. Nina fel a wave of panic go through her body. That poor boy was still inside that chamber, and they could no longer control the radiation he was being blasted with.

"The chamber is going to flood!" Yana also realized.

"Nina!" The Doctor yelled from the other side of the room.

"Busy!" She called back. She was trying her best to override the automatic controls to be able to level the radiation manually.

"Jack, override the vents!" He yelled at Jack. He nodded and quickly ran to another control panel. A long and stressfull munite passed and neither of them was able to do what they intended to.

"We can jump start the override!" Jack yelled at them, holding two gigantic cables in his hands. Before the Doctor or Nina could say anything, he pressed the two cables together. Lights sparked all around him as Jack yelled, the cables electrocuting him.

The lights immediatly stopped flickering and the power was restored as Jack's body fell limp to the ground. As Martha ran to Jack's aid, Nina looked back behind her at the monitor. There was no one in the radiation room, only a pile of clothes. Nina sighed.

10.

"I'm so sorry," Yana told them when they all approached Jack. Nina and the Doctor stood behind the other three people crouching around the fallen man.

"The chamber is flooded with radiation, yes?" The Doctor asked Yana. Nina immeidalty got the same idea he was having. The radiation in the room was going to kill anyone who stood in there for too long.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start," Yana told them as Martha started mouth-to-mouth on Jack. "It was all for nothing!" Yana yelled in frustration.

"I don't know," the Doctor mumbled. Nina reached down and grabbed Martha's arm.

"Martha, leave him," she said. Martha scoffed, but Nina still pulled her up gently.

"You've got to let me try," she whinned.

"Come on." Nina said as Martha tried to reach Jack once more. "Come on, just listen to me." Martha pouted, but complied. "Now leave him alone." Nina walked her a bit further from him.

"It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room a man can't enter without dying," the Doctor said, trying to sound smart. "Is that correct?"

"Uh, yes," professor Yana said. Nina rolled her eyes at the Doctor.

"Well.." Jack suddenly gasped out loud. Everyone stared at him in either surprise or disbelief, in Martha's case. The Doctor took off his glasses smugly. "I think I've got just the man."

"Was someone kissing me?" Jack asked, still out of breath. Martha let out a laugh that almost deafened Nina's ears as Nina playfully slapped the Doctor's arms. He faked being hurt but soon enough grinned widely, making Nina's heart flutter.

"Are we doing this or not?" She asked him.

♧♧♧

The three of them ran through the halls of the base, now empty. All of the people previously waiting there were now inside of the rocket.