A RARE BREED

Chapter Eleven

"What's wrong?" Rose asked Arjunk.

"I need to confront my employer about this supposed breeding plan of his. Because I believe it's doomed to failure," Arjunk said to her.

Rose was about to ask for an explanation when Darius came into the room. He froze when he noticed the Doctor and Rose were unrestrained.

"Um, shouldn't they be tied down?" he said, pointing to them.

"No, they shouldn't. I don't believe in restraints. I find I get better results from my patients when they're not wriggling around, yelling and screaming for mercy. As you can see, they're not running away so leave them be," Arjunk said.

"So why am I here?" Darius said, folding his arms over his chest.

"What were you planning to do with him?" Arjunk said, pointing to the Doctor.

"What's it to you?" Darius said. "Your job is to make sure they're healthy."

"And they are. However, there are a few genetic anomalies I found in their bodies and I want to know if you plan to mate these two," Arjunk said.

"The thought crossed my mind," Darius said, bored.

"I'd recommend you don't."

"And the reason being…"

"Do you know anything about these two particular species, Darius?"

Darius sighed and leaned against the doorframe.

"Let's pretend I don't and enlighten me," he said.

"Rose is a human. Humans are extremely fragile creatures, especially when it comes to reproduction," Arjunk said, gesturing to her.

"I am?" Rose said to the Doctor.

"You are, my dear. That is why your species is prone to disease as well as miscarriages and stillbirths."

"Oh," Rose said, "okay then."

"Now, these two species share a similar body type," Arjunk said. "Now when I took alien anatomy classes, it was theorized that humans were a lesser subspecies of Time Lord that branched off from their genetic family tree eons ago."

Rose was taken aback by that. She glanced at the Doctor and noticed he was listening in an interested silence to Arjunk.

"But there are several differences between the two species. And there is one highly critical difference among those and that is his regeneration gene," Arjunk said, pointing to the Doctor. "It registered as an aberration on my scanner and I believe that's because his is the only known species that has this gene. Humans and Time Lords share about an 80 percent similarity to each other but it's not enough. These two species cannot mate."

"And why not?" Darius said.

"Because…sir…the regeneration gene is not compatible with any of her genes and it'll become a defective gene in any offspring they have. This means that their offspring could be born deformed but most likely there would be miscarriage or stillbirth. And because humans are delicate, Rose could not only have complications during the pregnancy but it could make her sick or even kill her. These two cannot mate, full stop! Besides that, this is the last of his kind, he's an endangered species. If the Shadow Proclamation find out you're keeping an endangered species without a license and mating him…"

"I'll take care of that," Darius said, waving his hand dismissively. "So what do you recommend I do then?"

"I'd let them go."

"Nope. I mean about mating them," Darius said.

"Did you just hear anything he said," the Doctor said to Darius. "He just got done saying Rose and I can't mate."

"There are ways around that. I can do gene splicing," Darius retorted. "Isn't that right?" he said, giving Arjunk a pointed look.

"Perhaps," Arjunk said reluctantly. "But the regeneration gene isn't the only incompatible gene in his body. That's just the major one and the one that'll do the most damage to Rose or her children. Any gene splicing would have to be a major undertaking and then the child might be born with limited intelligence or motor skills."

"That won't matter if it's a pet," Darius said.

The Doctor couldn't stand it any more. He hopped up from the table and ran to him.

"Look, you stupid fool," he growled in his face. "You seem to think playing God with us is going to be fun but I have other ideas and I can assure you if you try to mate us, you'll be the one put under the gene splicer. Got that?"

"See why restraints are necessary?" Darius said to Arjunk as he pointed to the Doctor.

The Doctor forced himself to sit back down so he could stay free. He glowered at Darius while Darius smirked at him.

"So how soon can you start the breeding process?" Darius said to Arjunk.

"Forty days," Arjunk said.

Darius blinked in shock.

"Excuse me?" Darius said.

"These two are rare species. I want them in quarantine for forty days before putting them out in the general population. Especially since Rose's immune system is susceptible to disease. I need to give her a full course of immunizations and monitor her for adverse reactions. Plus, I need to run more tests to ensure that she can carry a child to full term safely. These are my patients, Darius. I am in charge of their wellbeing and I want them here in quarantine for the full forty day restriction. After that, you can put them in a cage and do what the hell you want with them."

"Fine. Just get them ready," Darius said dismissively. "Is that all you need?"

"I just need authorization for a quarantine room and permission to treat them as I see fit."

"Granted. Just do it!" Darius said. "And make sure they're ready to breed and they don't escape of it'll be your head. Remember that."

"I will…sir," Arjunk said tersely.

Darius smirked before he turned and left the room.

"You can't do this," Rose said when he was gone. "You just told him that we can't breed."

Arjunk silenced her with a finger to his lips and leaned in. Rose and the Doctor leaned in.

"I'm buying you time," Arjunk said. "You now have forty days to find a way out of here before you have to mate. I'd suggest coming up with a plan. But in the meantime…are you immunized, Rose?"

"Well, a bit. I had vaccines for Earth diseases," Rose said.

"If you want me to do it, I can vaccinate you for some other diseases you might come into contact with while you're here."

"Well, I travel with him to different planets so I might as well," Rose said.

"Yes, if you travel, you will need to be immunized. You're a nice woman and as your physician I want you to be as healthy as possible."

"Thanks," Rose said while the Doctor smiled at that.

Arjunk patted her knee and Rose watched while he walked over to the counter and searched through a drawer for some vaccines.

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