Doctor Who (c) BBC.
This is pretty much a filler chapter, since the exciting bit is just around the corner. Like, next few chapters. Oooh!
Not far to go. It will be finished in 8 weeks, it will!
Chapter 10:
Cassie glanced at her watch. It was past time she was meant to meet Sam and his friend, and she was still on the wrong side of the ship for what she needed to do. Quickening her pace, she hurried past identical doors for another five minutes until she reached the one she needed.
She checked the door first to make sure it was locked, then slid her ID card out of the plastic pocket clipped to her belt, and ran it through the scanner beside the door. Luckily, she was high enough up the pecking order for the door to buzz open without protest, and she opened it just enough to slip through the gap, silently closing it behind her.
Once inside, it was easy to find what she was looking for. Ignoring the patchwork of screens that covered two of the four walls, that showed every inch of the ship, Cassie applied herself to the single computer, whose blank eye supervised the rest of the room. She narrowed down the time window she was looking for, and a few minutes later, was watching Rose's arrival unfold on the screen in front of her.
Cassie, caught up in the full wonder of what she was seeing, paused as her finger hovered over the delete button. Rewinding the video, she gazed in shock as the capsule appeared – not fading in softly, but dragging itself into existence through sheer willpower, whipping up a spinning gale that consumed the rest of the room and then fell still as quickly as it had begun. The light that filled the screen was so bright she had to squint, and glowed gold against the video's black and white backdrop.
As a young woman stepped out of the machine and was discovered by Sam, Cassie paused the video. Her mind was whirling. She had met this girl less than an hour ago, in the canteen…
"What's going on, Sam?" she muttered. Then something on a different screen caught her eye; one of the security guards, instantly recognizable due to his clothes (charcoal grey instead of the pale blue of the rest of the citizens, Steel's black, or the green overalls worn by maintenance staff). He was heading her way. Quickly pocketing the video file for later use, she slipped out of the door and was gone before anyone knew she was there.
The Elevator turned out to be just that; a set of lift doors at one end of a long hall. Two racks running along each wall held stacks of futuristic guns and big, padded, blue-grey space suits with matching fish-bowl helmets. Halogen lights hung from the ceiling, giving the room a ghostly blue quality, and there was a chill in the air that Rose hadn't felt in the rest of the ship.
"It's one of the only rooms Steel hasn't installed with CCTV," Sam explained, as Rose curiously lifted a gun from one of the stands. "Cassie wants to talk to us without anyone else hearing..."
"Oh." Rose carefully slotted the heavy pistol back into place, not really listening. As his words hit she suddenly spun round with a look of alarm. "Hold on; if there's CCTV everywhere, won't someone have seen me arrive? They'll tell Steel..."
"Unlikely," Sam replied after a moment's thought. "We would have been stopped by now, if anyone was even watching at all. No-one checks the vids. It's not like just anyone can drop in."
"I did." Rose bit her lip.
"That was different," he told her firmly, "Don't worry."
Rose nodded, wishing she were as certain as he was, and, at the same time, that they didn't have to be so careful. It felt very strange to be creeping around, very unlike her usual way of doing things. If she were with the Doctor...
She stopped that train of thought right there, knowing exactly where it would take her.
"OK," she said instead. "What now?"
Sam was about to answer when there was a sound from the other end of the chamber; someone was opening the door. Sam and Rose waited with bated breath as the door swung shut again, and then the sound of approaching footsteps rang out.
"Come on!" he hissed, and pulled Rose back into the shadows by the Elevator doors. A few seconds later a figure came into view. It was Cassie; she approached them quickly, without looking back, and there was a sense of fear and excitement in the way she held herself, the way her fists clenched and her arms hung stiffly by her sides.
Sam breathed a sigh of relief, and moved to greet her. After a moment's hesitation, Rose followed suit. The young black woman hurried up to them.
"Sorry I kept you waiting," she said, breathless with adrenaline and nerves. "Had to make a quick detour – to make sure I wasn't followed."
"That's OK." Sam looked relieved, as if surprised she had actually turned up. He shuffled awkwardly. "So what's going on? Has Steel said anything to you?"
It was Cassie's turn to look uncomfortable. "Not exactly..." she answered. "But there's definitely something not right about these disappearances. I mean, you don't go missing on a ship like this without someone doing something, but...it's like Steel just doesn't care. Like she hasn't noticed anything different..."
"But surely there's someone we can tell," Rose interrupted. "The police or...security or something..."
The other girl was shaking her head. "Everyone answers to Steel," she explained. "She's the highest authority here. We tell anyone what we suspect, they'll go running straight to her. We're on our own."
"All right, so what's the plan?" asked Sam nervously. "I mean, not to be pessimistic, but there doesn't seem to be much we can actually do..."
"Yes, there is," said Rose. "Of course there is. There's always a way out; someone can always do something. This time it just happens to be us."
Cassie glanced at the new girl in surprise, wondering just who she was exactly. She appeared to have fallen from the sky, or through a gap in time, and now she was taking charge. The rest of the ship were sleepwalking, doing nothing about their fears except worry and make them worse. But now here was someone fresh, someone who had the hope they all needed to figure out this mystery. And Cassie couldn't help liking Rose; not just because of her direct nature, her way of getting to the point, but also her willingness to help a group of doomed citizens on a ship that was going nowhere.
She took a deep breath and delivered the punchline.
"You have to go down there, and see for yourself what's going on."
"What?" Sam squeaked, then cleared his throat in an embarrassed way and repeated. "What?"
"It's the only way," Cassie continued. "We all know there's something going on, and it's not just up here, it can't be."
Rose was nodding, not exactly eagerly, but nodding. "That's right, that's what I've been saying. If you've got a problem then get to the root of it, no point in messing around."
"Exactly." Cassie grinned, and Rose grinned back. "So when you get down there –"
"Hold on." Sam interrupted. "What do you mean, us? Aren't you coming?"
"I can't. Someone has to be up here controlling things. Don't worry though; you'll have microphones, so I'll be able to hear you, and there are cameras in the helmets; I'll keep an eye on you from the observation room. Plus, I need to be here so people don't get suspicious. No offence, Sam, but you don't exactly stand out. Nobody's really going to notice. And no one's met Rose before, so there's no problem there."
"Well. No. But –" Sam seemed to be struggling to find words. "What if...something happens?"
"Sam." Cassie took his hand, causing the boy to make a small choking sound in the back of his throat. "You'll be fine. I promise."
But they all knew there was no way she could promise something like that. She avoided Sam's eye as she let go of him; turned and began the long walk back towards the door.
"Cassie," Rose called after her. "Thanks. For, you know, helping..."
Cassie turned slowly to face them, little more than a shadow in the darkness.
"Don't thank me, not yet," she replied, and then she was gone. Sam let out a long and shaky breath, before looking back at Rose. He lifted down one of the radiation suits and passed it over. It was bulky, and heavier than it looked. Neither of them said a word as they pulled the suits on; Sam because he was too afraid, Rose because she was filled with the familiar, heady thrill of fear and anticipation that was best had in silence. She pulled up the long zip on the front of her suit, slotted a microphone headset over her ears, and dropped the large, domed helmet over her head. Sam, already suited up, helped her buckle it in place, and attached the complicated array of wires that connected it to the oxygen tank on the back of the suit.
Then, breathing heavy in their ears, they stood in front of the Elevator doors.
"OK then," Sam muttered, reaching out to press the call button. His voice crackled inside her helmet, but Rose knew he was really talking to himself. The doors hummed open and they filed into the lift. It was larger than the lifts Rose knew – probably because people went down in teams of four or five – and there was a thick metal shaft in the centre, about the width of her palm, encased in clear plastic, the magnetic pole that restricted the lift's movement.
Rose couldn't tell if the Elevator used motion sensors, or if Cassie was controlling it externally, but the capsule needed no instruction to start moving. The doors slid closed, and the Elevator began its foreboding descent into the unknown.