The Doctor started when the floor rumbled beneath him.

"That sounds too much like an engine," he said.

The lights on the panels in front of him began to flicker and soon began to flash.

"This is not good, not good at all," he muttered. He swayed when the floor tilted slightly...it was taking off.

"Definitely not good," he said.

He scanned the flashing panels. "There must be an off switch."

After several seconds of guesses and no results, he realised there was only one option left. He crossed every finger and toe and kicked the panel nearest to him. Sparks showered him and he was tipped off his feet as the ship lurched sideways.

Whatever engine it had whined in protest. He'd just righted himself when the interior was plunged into darkness, with only the sparks as illumination.

"Not good," he muttered and tried to steady himself in the dark.

The ship lurched again and this time it didn't stop. It tilted sideways and he was thrown against the wall. As his hand hit the wall, he felt a tingling sensation wash over his body.

"Oh this is so not good," he said as he faded in the haze of a trans-mat.


Jack watched helplessly as the ship rose into the air...he was losing the Doctor again. He jumped when the engine seemed to falter and the ship lurched to one side.

He followed its path as it righted itself and gained more height.

Then it lurched again, but instead of righting itself it flipped on its side and began a graceful arc towards the city.

He began running, trying to keep an eye on the ship and an eye on the rubble as he tried to keep up with its descent.

Don't crash, don't crash he kept repeating to himself as he clambered over ruined buildings and shattered roads.

The ship suddenly swerved and the engine finally stopped, and its controlled descent turned into a dangerous free-fall.


The Doctor shuddered as the trans-mat enveloped him. Trans-mats in his mind were never a good thing, especially ones where he didn't know the destination. He guessed it was an automated emergency trans-mat and it could be going anywhere. But anywhere was better than being mangled of crispy fried.

I wonder if I'll meet the builders of this ship he wondered as a new surrounding coalesced around him.

He stepped away from the beam and into semi-darkness. "Oh joy, another dark corridor," he muttered as he made his way down it.

Apart from his own footsteps there appeared to be no signs of life, perhaps he was in the lower decks, and what was it with the semi-dark corridors.

He stopped when he heard something up ahead and he pressed himself into the shadows as the sound of boots marching filled the corridor.

He held his breath as the owners of the boots emerged from the semi-dark and he had to stop himself from gasping when he felt that feeling again. It writhed like snakes in his mind as the figure lumbered by.

It was clad in armour, its face hidden by a face plate and it seemed to move with a fluidity that belied its size.

He flattened against the metal wall a much as he could until the figure had passed. He shook his head and tried to clear the snakes from his mind. When he'd looked at the figure it was like looking at a moving nothing, a black darkness.

Then he felt, the all pervading darkness, the floor, the wall, in fact the whole place vibrated with it.

He was right inside the viper's nest.


Jack had never run so fast as he saw the ship dip below the ruins of a large building and the sounds of metal twisting filled the air. He was relieved when there was no explosion, but there was smoke.

He clambered over the rubble of the building to find the ship had landed. It was still on its side and there was a huge gash running the length of the body and in a twist of ironic fate, a door had appeared.

"Doctor!" he called as he approached, hoping to see him appear.

When he wasn't forthcoming, he became concerned and he stepped inside the door.

The smell of smoke assailed him and the taste of burnt wire burnt his throat. The interior was dark except for the occasional spark.

"Doctor?" he called as he walked into the darkness.

There was no reply... no sound of movement as he searched...the Doctor was nowhere.

He stepped out of the ruined vessel and looked round, looking for any sign of the Doctor.

"Doctor!" he yelled, but only his voice echoed back at him.

The Doctor was gone and Jack had no idea where to start looking for him.


The Doctor moved more cautiously down the corridor. Somehow and he didn't know how, he must have moved up another level, because he was seeing more and more of the moving nothings.

His head was pounding with the feeling of non-existence, like reality itself was warped and distorted.

He saw a light up ahead and for want of nowhere else to go he moved towards its. He moved slowly, warily, trying to remain in what was left of the shadows.

Up ahead he could see what looked like massed ranks of moving nothing.

He stopped on the edge of the light, the pain in his head was now almost crippling. The feeling of complete and utter darkness returned with such force that it became physical pain, and he cried out.

The sound of massed boots turning filled the air, but it wasn't that that caused the Doctor to black out. It was the tide of darkness that flooded his mind.

So he never felt himself being dragged through the ranks of moving nothing and towards a vast expanse of utter black.