In his TARDIS, the Doctor felt that familiar burning sensation, he knew he was going to change again! A flash and the Doctor felt dizzy, disoriented. He slowly walked to a mirror, he looked in it and could help exclaiming: "What a difference ! Oh God, those ears. I'll need some time to get accustomed to them." It was only then when he realised his clothes didn't fit anymore. He went to the wardrobe and found a leather jacket that he threw there some time ago, but now, strangely, he really liked it. "This'll do" he said. He then went to the console and pushed some buttons that he had pushed so many times before, only this time, it felt a little bit … different. The TARDIS's column started moving accompanied by the familiar noise, and the Doctor started his journey into the unknown.
The TARDIS landed and the Doctor stepped out of it. He realised that he has landed on a spaceship, but it was incredibly cold.
"Hello! Anyone here?" Nothing, the ship was silent. The Doctor ventured through the long and cold corridors, hoping he would find someone, or something. After spending some time on the ship, he thought he could hear someone talking. It was a woman's voice. He went to greet her. "Hello, I'm the Doctor and I …". He couldn't finish his sentence as he was struck from behind, the last thing he heard before passing out was: "We've finally got him!".
The Doctor woke up later, he was tied on a chair and six people were looking angrily at him. He tried to talk to them: "I'm the Doctor, what is this about?" Someone who probably was the leader walked close to him and said: "I could kill you right now, in fact, I want to kill you right now, you're lucky that Alice over there, said you should be held for trial". "Trial? What are the accusations?" asked the Doctor. "Sabotage … and murder". "Well you're making a terrible mistake. You see, I just arrived here". The captain laughed and said "You just arrived here?In the middle of nowhere, you just happened to arrive here, and by accident I suppose". "Well, I didn't really had a specific place in mind when I started my journey, but tell me, what happened here?". Alice told him: "Oh, like you don't know. Three days ago, we had a malfunction, luckily we managed to get it under control, but a few hours later, our temperature systems went down, and now we have to live in those freezing temperatures". "And on top of that there is a disease that's killing my men" said the captain, "it's turning them into ice, and you're the one to blame". "What if i can prove that I'm not guilty?" said the Doctor." And how would you do that?" asked the captain."Let me help you". "Never!", "You've got nothing to lose" said the Doctor. "He's right captain, we need all the help we can get." said Alice. "Alright, but if you try anything, I'll shoot you, Jack, untie him, and Maggie, where is that soup, we're starving" A young man untied the Doctor and an old woman came with some bowls. "This is the only thing you'll eat today, the rest is frozen, I'm trying to heat it, but it'll take some time" she said.
"Tell me more about this disease" said the Doctor."It happens so quickly, one moment you're fine and the next you turn into a giant block of ice" said someone. "Well it's incredibly cold here, you know" said the Doctor. "Don't mock me, I know how someone who froze to death looks like, here, they look fine … on the outside that is, but they are frozen inside, you can see their cold eyeballs frozen in fear, their blood is frozen, everything on the inside is cold, their flesh is hard, but they keep still on their feet, looking at you." After a pause, the Doctor asked: "Where did it all start?", "In the engine room, that's where the first man died" the captain replied. "I'd like to see this engine room" said the Doctor. The captain nodded his head and said "Alice, Neil, accompany him, if he tries anything, you know what to do". "Yes, sir!" they replied.
The engine room was a big room, full of advanced machinery. The Doctor knew exactly what he was looking at. "Ah, this in the F32XO59 model isn't it? No wonder you had a malfunction with this old engine!" Neil didn't agree with the Doctor: "Old engine? This is the newest model there is!" "Never mind that!" said the Doctor "What is that?". The Doctor was pointing something that looked like an ice crystal in the corner of the engine room. Not knowing what it was, Neil went to get a closer look, before he could react, the curious object jumped, attacking Neil. It was then when the Doctor realised what it was, an ice snake. Alice screamed and tried to help Neil, but the doctor stopped her and said: "Run! We can't save him, it's too late". Alice and the Doctor ran back to the others. "Neil is dead" said Alice. The captain looked at The Doctor and yelled: "What did you do?". " I didn't do anything, but I know what has been killing your men. It's a very rare species of snakes, ice snakes to be exact, they come from the planet that you probably call Alpha 90034. Have you been there recently?" After a moment, the captain replied: "Yes, about two weeks ago". "Did you bring anything with you?". "Hank brought some minerals, why?". "Those minerals were actually snake eggs, unlike real eggs, they need cold to hatch, but once they do, the snakes go to the hottest place they can find to cool it down and make it suitable for breeding. When you had the engine malfunction, I imagine that you switched to emergency mode to preserve power, by doing this, the temperature dropped in the storage rooms and the eggs hatched. And what was the hottest place on the ship? The engine room, as the F32XO59 model gets very hot when it's used. I guess you can figure the rest for yourself ". "Yes,poor Ted went to fix the engines and he was bit by a snake, who also damaged the engines", said the Captain. "What can we do?", asked Alice. "Well, it's simple, we just have to..". The Doctor was interrupted by a scream. It was coming from the kitchen. Everyone rushed to the kitchen to see what has happened. They found Mrs Maggie frozen in fear, she was dead. Next to her were five snakes, attracted by the heat from the kitchen. Before anyone could react, a snake lunged and killed the captain. Everyone backed away. The kitchen was closed to prevent the snakes from escaping. "Doctor! What can we do? asked Alice. "The snakes are very sensitive to vibration, we have to fix the engine, I can do that. I'll remove some key components, and the engine vibrations will become even greater. Do you have any emergency energy left?". "Yes, but just for the breathing systems". "Alice, take someone with you. I want you to go to the emergency system panel and switch all the energy to the engine room when I tell you to. There should be enough power left to start the engines and kill the snakes. In addition, with the engines running, you'll have power again, before we go, Alice, take this walkie talkie so we can communicate".
Alice and one of the men went to the emergency system panel, while the Doctor and another crew member went to the engine room. The crew member accompanying the Doctor entered the engine room first, he was immediately killed by a snake. The Doctor took a metal bar and hit an empty barrel, thus creating vibrations and scarring the snake, that got out of the room. The Doctor quickly fixed the engines and asked Alice via the walkie talkie: "Are you there?". "Yes Doctor, we're here". "Fantastic! Switch the power to the engines … NOW!". A loud metallic noise shook the ship as the engines started to work. All the snakes exploded into millions of pieces and the temperature started rising almost immediately. The Doctor was preparing to leave, when Alice walked into the room. "Are you going to leave without saying goodbye?". "I don't like saying goodbye". The Doctor turned and unlocked the TARDIS. "Can I come with you?". "The crew needs you here". "They can manage, I don't like what I do anyways, I became an astronaut just to follow my father's footsteps. He died 5 years ago". "I'm sorry about that." After a few moments of silence the Doctor said: "Well come on now, get your things, we have an entire Universe to explore". Alice fetched her things and said goodbye to the crew. When she stepped into the TARDIS she couldn't help exclaiming: "It's bigger on the inside". The Doctor just smiled and close the TARDIS's doors. A few moments later, the TARDIS dematerialised and the Doctor was on his way for yet another adventure.
The TARDIS landed and the Doctor stepped out of it. He realised that he has landed on a spaceship, but it was incredibly cold.
"Hello! Anyone here?" Nothing, the ship was silent. The Doctor ventured through the long and cold corridors, hoping he would find someone, or something. After spending some time on the ship, he thought he could hear someone talking. It was a woman's voice. He went to greet her. "Hello, I'm the Doctor and I …". He couldn't finish his sentence as he was struck from behind, the last thing he heard before passing out was: "We've finally got him!".
The Doctor woke up later, he was tied on a chair and six people were looking angrily at him. He tried to talk to them: "I'm the Doctor, what is this about?" Someone who probably was the leader walked close to him and said: "I could kill you right now, in fact, I want to kill you right now, you're lucky that Alice over there, said you should be held for trial". "Trial? What are the accusations?" asked the Doctor. "Sabotage … and murder". "Well you're making a terrible mistake. You see, I just arrived here". The captain laughed and said "You just arrived here?In the middle of nowhere, you just happened to arrive here, and by accident I suppose". "Well, I didn't really had a specific place in mind when I started my journey, but tell me, what happened here?". Alice told him: "Oh, like you don't know. Three days ago, we had a malfunction, luckily we managed to get it under control, but a few hours later, our temperature systems went down, and now we have to live in those freezing temperatures". "And on top of that there is a disease that's killing my men" said the captain, "it's turning them into ice, and you're the one to blame". "What if i can prove that I'm not guilty?" said the Doctor." And how would you do that?" asked the captain."Let me help you". "Never!", "You've got nothing to lose" said the Doctor. "He's right captain, we need all the help we can get." said Alice. "Alright, but if you try anything, I'll shoot you, Jack, untie him, and Maggie, where is that soup, we're starving" A young man untied the Doctor and an old woman came with some bowls. "This is the only thing you'll eat today, the rest is frozen, I'm trying to heat it, but it'll take some time" she said.
"Tell me more about this disease" said the Doctor."It happens so quickly, one moment you're fine and the next you turn into a giant block of ice" said someone. "Well it's incredibly cold here, you know" said the Doctor. "Don't mock me, I know how someone who froze to death looks like, here, they look fine … on the outside that is, but they are frozen inside, you can see their cold eyeballs frozen in fear, their blood is frozen, everything on the inside is cold, their flesh is hard, but they keep still on their feet, looking at you." After a pause, the Doctor asked: "Where did it all start?", "In the engine room, that's where the first man died" the captain replied. "I'd like to see this engine room" said the Doctor. The captain nodded his head and said "Alice, Neil, accompany him, if he tries anything, you know what to do". "Yes, sir!" they replied.
The engine room was a big room, full of advanced machinery. The Doctor knew exactly what he was looking at. "Ah, this in the F32XO59 model isn't it? No wonder you had a malfunction with this old engine!" Neil didn't agree with the Doctor: "Old engine? This is the newest model there is!" "Never mind that!" said the Doctor "What is that?". The Doctor was pointing something that looked like an ice crystal in the corner of the engine room. Not knowing what it was, Neil went to get a closer look, before he could react, the curious object jumped, attacking Neil. It was then when the Doctor realised what it was, an ice snake. Alice screamed and tried to help Neil, but the doctor stopped her and said: "Run! We can't save him, it's too late". Alice and the Doctor ran back to the others. "Neil is dead" said Alice. The captain looked at The Doctor and yelled: "What did you do?". " I didn't do anything, but I know what has been killing your men. It's a very rare species of snakes, ice snakes to be exact, they come from the planet that you probably call Alpha 90034. Have you been there recently?" After a moment, the captain replied: "Yes, about two weeks ago". "Did you bring anything with you?". "Hank brought some minerals, why?". "Those minerals were actually snake eggs, unlike real eggs, they need cold to hatch, but once they do, the snakes go to the hottest place they can find to cool it down and make it suitable for breeding. When you had the engine malfunction, I imagine that you switched to emergency mode to preserve power, by doing this, the temperature dropped in the storage rooms and the eggs hatched. And what was the hottest place on the ship? The engine room, as the F32XO59 model gets very hot when it's used. I guess you can figure the rest for yourself ". "Yes,poor Ted went to fix the engines and he was bit by a snake, who also damaged the engines", said the Captain. "What can we do?", asked Alice. "Well, it's simple, we just have to..". The Doctor was interrupted by a scream. It was coming from the kitchen. Everyone rushed to the kitchen to see what has happened. They found Mrs Maggie frozen in fear, she was dead. Next to her were five snakes, attracted by the heat from the kitchen. Before anyone could react, a snake lunged and killed the captain. Everyone backed away. The kitchen was closed to prevent the snakes from escaping. "Doctor! What can we do? asked Alice. "The snakes are very sensitive to vibration, we have to fix the engine, I can do that. I'll remove some key components, and the engine vibrations will become even greater. Do you have any emergency energy left?". "Yes, but just for the breathing systems". "Alice, take someone with you. I want you to go to the emergency system panel and switch all the energy to the engine room when I tell you to. There should be enough power left to start the engines and kill the snakes. In addition, with the engines running, you'll have power again, before we go, Alice, take this walkie talkie so we can communicate".
Alice and one of the men went to the emergency system panel, while the Doctor and another crew member went to the engine room. The crew member accompanying the Doctor entered the engine room first, he was immediately killed by a snake. The Doctor took a metal bar and hit an empty barrel, thus creating vibrations and scarring the snake, that got out of the room. The Doctor quickly fixed the engines and asked Alice via the walkie talkie: "Are you there?". "Yes Doctor, we're here". "Fantastic! Switch the power to the engines … NOW!". A loud metallic noise shook the ship as the engines started to work. All the snakes exploded into millions of pieces and the temperature started rising almost immediately. The Doctor was preparing to leave, when Alice walked into the room. "Are you going to leave without saying goodbye?". "I don't like saying goodbye". The Doctor turned and unlocked the TARDIS. "Can I come with you?". "The crew needs you here". "They can manage, I don't like what I do anyways, I became an astronaut just to follow my father's footsteps. He died 5 years ago". "I'm sorry about that." After a few moments of silence the Doctor said: "Well come on now, get your things, we have an entire Universe to explore". Alice fetched her things and said goodbye to the crew. When she stepped into the TARDIS she couldn't help exclaiming: "It's bigger on the inside". The Doctor just smiled and close the TARDIS's doors. A few moments later, the TARDIS dematerialised and the Doctor was on his way for yet another adventure.