The halls of Paradise Towers were filled with the intoxicatingly sweet aroma of neglect, as the faint scrawl of "Pex Lives" began to fade even more. The place had been emptied of residents for a good fifty years now, resulting in a bleached, rotted colour on the vine-hugged slimy, wet walls. A lone bird swooped around the empty corridors, gliding past rotting doors, unknown possible skeletons, broken down cleaning robots. It nested in a little alcove, above a burnt open-space spray-painted with the words "Kangs are United".

The glory days of the Towers had been ended abruptly, all those years ago. No one knew what drove everyone away...some said that the spirit of Kroagnon, the Great Architect of Paradise Towers, had returned from beyond the grave to menace...some said that an infestation had occurred. These people were correct. Paradise Towers, infected with an incurable disease.

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"So, first stop! Hopefully of many. Who knows? Maybe this could be the last one!"

"Is the scanner working yet?"

"Not exactly. I mean, now it's telling me what year we're in, just not where."

"Shall we go outside then, Doctor? Or just sit around?"

"You'll be the first to know."

The doors opened.

"The door's open."

"See, first to know."

They ran outside, finding themselves on an old, cracked footpath. At the other side of the dead road was a glimmering monolithic tower, surrounded by an iron fence.

"Oh, wow."

"I know. Been here before."

"What is it?"

"Paradise Towers. Residential towers, built by an insane architect. Had cannibals, too. Tried to eat one of my old companions."

"Did they?"

"No. Some would say unfortunately. Anyway, by the look of it now it's probably been abandoned for...fifty, fifty five years. Shame, had a really nice pool and everything."

"Looks like everything is gone. No cars or anything."

"Obviously we need to find out why."

He sprinted across the lonely road and hopped over the fence. Maxine did exactly the same (but with more accuracy). They forced the door open, and the whiff of gas flooded out ominously.

"I've got some gas masks in the TARDIS. Stay here!"

He returned after a minute, carrying what looked like motorcycle helmets.

"Couldn't find the gasmasks, so you'll have to do with these. Should protect us for at least 24 hours. After that, we'll slowly begin to melt, nothing to worry about. Now, come along, we've got a mystery to solve!"

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The halls were haunted by the terrifying sense of loneliness, along with the crumbled remnants of skeletons.

"Poor people."

"What could be here...Maxine, don't touch those bodies!"

"I wasn't going to."

He knelt down and got a closer look.

"It's almost as if the flesh was ripped off of them..."

"Cannibals?"

"Oh, definitely not. Look at the way the flesh was taken! Far too clean. No, whatever it is, it was patient."

A vent popped open and a cloud of smog plumed outwards.

"That's some unusual gas."

"Hang on...flesh, gas...there's something on the tip of my tongue and I can't think of what it is! Urgh!"

They walked down one of the corridors and discovered a large, white, rusted metallic thing.

"Cleaner! Just what we need!"

He ripped a panel off of the machine's side and crossed over, and ripped out, some wires. The Cleaner twitched.

"Right, try to find somewhere to hold onto. It may move quite fast."

It didn't. It was slower than a tortoise, and considerably heavier, meaning it left rough, uneven marks on the ground.

"It'd be easier and neater just to walk."

"Yeah, but we need excitement once and a while and quite frankly this is exciting."

The machine stopped, screeching across the ground.

"Enough excitement then?"

He scowled.

"I guess walking is exciting. No actually, walking is still boring."

"Oh shut up."

They eventually reached a door, which was smeared in now-dried, flaking blood. A spew of weak, black smoke slowly leaked from its gaps. The Doctor opened the door and stood back, as an overworked generator pumped methodically, grinding and sputtering.

"Okay, so overpowered generator, abandoned bliss, and gas, all built up around what could be a valuable time anomaly. Cool!"

"Cool?!"

"Fine then, adequately thrilling! We should get back to the TARDIS, scan...for...lifeforms..."

Behind them stood a man in rough leather rags, with a dazed look and long, greasy hair. He grunted and walked away.

"Should we?"

"Yeah."

Quietly they tread behind him, as their new friend grunted softly to himself. Eventually he shuffled through a musty set of double doors, disappearing into the misty darkness of unknown territory. The Doctor took out the sonic, fiddling around with the settings so it would become a flashlight. There was a low, clicking sound creating an uneasy ambiance.

"So, what happened last time you were here?"

"Nothing much, boring stuff. The original architect just tried to kill everybody living here, that's all."

"Sounds normal."

"You should know by now that normal can mean anything."

Maxine was caught off guard by the scuttling of feet, and even more clicking.

"Is it just me, or is someone clicking their fingers?"

"That's more than fingers...think! Come on you thick headed idiot think! Flesh, gas and clicking...what am I missi- oh. Oh no."

"What?"

"I should've realised sooner. Stay perfectly still, and close your eyes as soon as you see even a glimmer of a claw."

"Claw?"

"Gnnnnnnnrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

"Too late."

Bright ceiling lights popped on, revealing a platform of spherical seats. On these sat gigantic, dirty crabs, snapping their claws as if clapping hands.

"What are they?!"

"Relatives of the Macra...the Maroc!"