Stranded at Sea

The Answers Within

'Well done, Blake. Put her in the cell while I prepare my lab. You see, Jess, I have an entirely new experiment that I've been working on. One where I plan to take over not only these islands - but the entire world. And, like your mother, you're going to prove quite useful for my research...'

Blake takes Jess to the cellars.

'Why are you locking me in here if your on my side?? "Trust you"?! Why can't you just let me go??' Jess dropped to the ground.

'I just need you to go along with the plan for right now! I can't make the Doctor suspicious. I need him to think I'm following his plan.' Blake said promising.

'I want to trust you, so I will.' Jess thought.

'You should trust me. I've been snipping around the lab for clues. Just anything that we can use to destroy this lab and my father. I feel like I'm close to cracking the code, but I'm not there yet. That's why I need you to go along with this for right now, okay?'

'I'm ready for anything!'

'Alright, cool, because I have to leave you here on your own for a little bit. While the Doctor is setting up his lab, I have some time to look around. I'll try to come back tonight.' Blake ran off.

Hours pass and there's no sign of Blake returning... Jess started to wonder if he had any intention of coming back, like he said. Jess pulled out her mother's sapphire necklace and held it, feeling a little bit safer. Like in the forest earlier, something seems to be moving around inside of it... But you think nothing of it and climb onto the rusty bench, curling up and falling asleep...

*BANG BANG BANG.

Loud knocking on the bars of the cell jolt Jess awake and she jumped up. Who's there?? Jess gasped.

'H! You're alright! I'm so happy to see you!' Jess exclaimed.

'I stuck in! I can't stay for too long. It's not safe here for either of us. But I needed to get to you - fast. I discovered something. Something major.' H said seriously.

'What?? What is it?' Jess said curiously.

'There was a place, deep in the fort that only Ruth and I used to know about. We went there often when we needed to get away from all the bickering in the lab. When...when she was trying to help me. To save me. I went there today. And I found her journal.'

'Oh my goodness! My mother always kept journals... What was in it??'

'I read that Ruth had never been able to figure out a cure - but not because she wasn't capable. She intentionally shifted her attention away from it temporarily. She had suspected what the Doctor was up to and she knew she had to stop him. Ruth saw that their research was going towards a bad place. One of selfishness and greed. So she started secretly developing a strain that would br able to kill him. Even in a state where he thought couldn't be challenged. I know everything except where she hid the strain.'

'Wait! I think I know!'

Jess pulled out the sapphire necklace once again and shook it. 'Do you hear that??'

'It's like there's something-'

'Inside! Exactly. This must be where she hid it! Okay, we need to break open this necklace fast and then get to the Doctor-'

'Wait. There's one more thing.'

'What is it??'

'Ruth was still working in one thing right before she was killed. The pH levels and the toxicity of the strain. What she created - what's in that necklace - would work as intended, but.... But it would also kill the person inflicting the strain upon another.'