The Ego Bug - A Doctor Who Fan Fic

The Others

Rogers green face falls.  "Good lord."

The Doctor sighs and turns the young alien man on his back. He touches his lips then lifts shards of glass from the floor beside him. "Looks like poison from this broken vile." He sniffs the substance on his finger. "Which is strange...considering the gem should've killed him.  He can't have been dead long."

Rogers shakes his head, sticking his hands in his lab coat pockets.

Thedoctor sighs and gets to his feet.  "Can't have been a coincidence."  He turns and examines the room.  It's the one they passed earlier with the larvae in viles connected with translucent tubes to the case holding the giant pulsing mother bug. He walks slowly past the squirming larvae.  "Did you have test subjects for the ego bug?" he asks. "Depressed, suicidal people that sort of thing?"

"Yes,"Rogers sighs a jittery breath.  "Jenkins was one of them. And it seemed to work.  His self confidence and self-esteme returned and hewas functioning normally.  Dear God, do you think he killed himself? I thought he was stable I thought..."  Rogers eyes wet. 

The Doctor rushes forward and takes Rodger's arms and looks into his eyes.  "Rogers.  Don't blame yourself.  I know your past struggles with this.  I know how much this meant to you." Rodgers gulped and looked away but the doctor shook him, forcing him to look him in the eye. "But some people can't be helped."

Rodgers looks down and nods.  "I know.  I guess I just hoped if Icouldn't get better at least my life could mean something if my research helped someone else..."

"Rogers." The Doctor stares him dead in the eyes. " Your life means something weather you help people or not.  I knoweveryone here thought your smile and cheerful optimism made a difference.  You don't need a Nobel Prize to be worth something."

He nods.  "Thank you."

The Doctor claps him on the shoulder and nods looking once more at Jenkens.  "Hey, let's get back to the others."

He walks out but Rogers pauses still watching Jenkens.

The Doctor looks back at him. "You coming?"

"One moment.  I need to..."

The Doctor nods understandingly and steps on down the passage.  Rogers kneels next toJinkens reverently and shuts his eyelids, then own his eyes change into sly evil. He rises, lifts a syringe from the counter containing a wriggling larvae and tucks it in his pocket.

-

Rose pauses in front of a white lift set into the metal wall and listens. The sound of crying comes from inside.

"It's in here!" Rose yells.

Mickey hurries forward and grabs the lift doors heaving to pry them open. Rose grabs the other one and together they pull them open to see ayoung woman huddled in a corner of the lift, hugging her knees to her chest.

Rose clicks her walky-talky on and speaks into it.  "Doctor?  We found her. She's in..."  She glances at the number above the door.  "Lift 74."

-

The Doctor sighs, relieved.  "On my way."

-

Rose pockets her walky-talky and crouches in front of the girl who whimpers andpulls away.  "Hey...it's okay..." Rose promises.  "We're notgoing to hurt you."

The girl (who's probably in her late twenties, human, in a business casual skirt, shirt and blazer) wipes her tears on the back of her hand and sniffs.  "I heard screams.  I was-I was scared- Iwas..."  The girl hugs herself tighter.