Author Note: Hey, guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated Jessa for awhile. I've been really focused on Flora's story for the last year or so. But I will continue to work on Jessa, it'll just won't be as much as Flora. And I've decided to rewrite Jessa's story in Third Person Point of View. So, after this chapter it will be 3rd pov from now on and I will rewrite the other chapters in that view. So I hope you like this chapter!
~o~
The Doctor and I break apart when the TARDIS started to make some sickly sounds. The Doctor begins to push buttons and pull levers as he tried to get Des to land.
"Doctor, what's going on? What's the matter with Des?" I questioned as Rose walked into the control room.
"What's happening?" Rose asked as she appears beside me looking at the Doctor in concern. The Doctor opens his mouth to answer when the TARDIS suddenly materialises. The Doctor looks at me in confusion before heading out of Des with Rose and I following after him but I paused in the doorway.
"I dunno what's wrong with her, she's sort of . . . queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land." The Doctor finally answered as he looks up at the TARDIS. I glanced around at the small storage room we seemed to be in with a frown, something was wrong and it was beginning to make me feel anxious.
"Oh, if you think there's gonna be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else. . ." Rose trailed off with a mock serious look. The Doctor and Rose looked at each other before bursting out laughing at the absurd notion. The Doctor turns towards me and slowly stops laughing once he noticed I wasn't joining in.
"Jessamine?" He asked in concern. "What's wrong?"
"Something's wrong, I don't know what but I can feel it. It's really, really wrong." I told him as I looked over his shoulder. "I think we should leave, Doctor." The Doctor bites his lip for a moment before wrapping an arm around my waist.
"How about this? At the first sign of trouble, we'll leave?" I stare at him.
"You promise?" The Doctor presses a kiss to my temple.
"Promise." He told me then looks around the room. "I think we've landed inside a cupboard! Here we go!" He let's go of my waist and pushes the door open and we walk into another part of the room.
"Open Door 15."
"Some sort of base. . .moonbase, sea base, space base . . . they build these things out of kits." The Doctor said as he looks around the hallway.
"Glad we're indoors," Rose paused for a moment to listen to the sounds coming from outside the base. "Sounds like a storm out there. . ." I nodded in agreement as I listen to the howling winds.
"Open Door 16." The Doctor opens another door. We follow the Doctor through the door into another corridor, this one slightly bigger.
"Human design, you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier."
"Open Door 17." We go through another door and end up in a canteen.
"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" The Doctor exclaimed as he strides into the middle of the room.
"Close Door 17." I walk towards the Doctor to stand in the middle with him, needing to stay close to him as I could.
"Deep Space exploration, We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath. . ." He points downwards, indicating for Rose and I to listen. While Rose looks down, my sight is frozen on the words written upon the wall. "Someone's drilling."
"Welcome to hell." I whispered just loud enough for the Doctor to hear. He looks at me in shock.
"Oh, it's not THAT bad!" I just shake my head and shakily point towards the wall over his shoulder. The Doctor slowly turns around to look at what I was pointing at. The words "WELCOME TO HELL" are scrawled on the wall, along with ancient symbols written underneath. The Doctor stares at it.
"Hold on. . ." He goes over to it with Rose following him. "What does that say?" The Doctor peers closely at the ancient text, but it remains stubbornly incomprehensible. "That's weird. It won't translate."
"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well. We should see English." Rose said confused.
"Exactly. If that's not working then it means . . . this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." The Doctor stands and goes over to another door. "We should find out who's in charge." He turns the wheel to open the door.
"We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough. . ."
"Open Door 19." The door opens and the three of us gasp in shock, stumbling backwards a few steps. There was some type of alien standing on the opposite side of the door, blinking at us.
"Right!" The Doctor said brightly as he tried to regain his composure. I took a step back from the group of aliens, 'Wrong!' the one word that kept repeating in my head over and over again. "Hello! Sorry! Uh. . .I was just saying, uh. . .nice base!"
"We must feed." The aliens said together, a ball in their hands glowing.
"You're gonna what?" The Doctor questioned.
"We must feed." They repeated.
"Yeah. I think they mean us." Rose answered as we backed away from them as they advance towards us.
"We must feed." We try to make for the other door, but it opens and more of the aliens come through it. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." Another door open and more aliens walk slowly through it, soon cornering us. The aliens continue to repeat what their saying as the Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver, while Rose picks up a chair and I take out my wand. I look down at my hand to see it shaking a bit more then it was earlier and frowned. We're soon backed against the wall by the advancing aliens.
"We must feed." One of the aliens shakes and taps the white orb it's holding. "You. If you are hungry."
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked confused as we lowered our hands.
"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems." Rose puts the chair down back at the table. "Would you like some refreshment?"
"Uhm. . ." The Doctor trailed off, perplexed.
"Open Door 18." A door opens and a group of humans come through, holding guns.
"What the hell. . .?" The older man of the group asked in shock. "How did. . .?" He approaches us, staring before lifting his wrist to his mouth. "Captain. . .you're not going to believe this. We've got PEOPLE. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean three. . .living. . .people. Just standing here, right in front of me." He told whoever was on the other line, sounding absolutely incredulous. The Doctor and I glanced at each other not really understanding what to do or make of this unusual reception.
"Don't be stupid, that's impossible." A man replied back through the communication device.
"I suggest telling THEM that." The man continues to stare at us.
"But you're a sort of space base, you must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible." Rose said.
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" He asked roughly.
"No idea." I told him with a shake of my head.
"It's more fun that way." The Doctor explained with a grin.
"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way." A young girl says over the PA system. The base starts to quake and tremble causing the man to rush over to the door and opens it.
"Through here! Now. Quickly, come on!" He told us urgently. Sirens sound. We quickly follow after the man through the door with the other two behind us. "Now!" We go through another shaking corridor, smoke rising from the floor. It was complete chaos.
"Move it! Come on!" I grab Rose as she nearly falls over while sparks fly everywhere. "Move it, come on! Quickly!" We hurry down the corridor and find ourselves in a control room, where a few more people were working. Three of the crew members looked up when we walked in. Their mouths dropped open. I watched them warily while the Doctor beams at everyone.
"Oh, my God. You meant it." Said the man sitting in the center of the room.
"People! Look at that! Real people!" A girl around Rose's age exclaimed in shock.
"That's us. Hooray!" The Doctor chuckles.
"Yeah, definitely real." Rose smiled at them. "My name's Rose, Rose Tyler," She motions to me and the Doctor, who waved. "This is my sister, Jessa and the Doctor."
"Come on, they oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating." A boy strides over to us, peering at us in shock. "They can't be, no. They're real!"
"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert!" The guy in the middle said impatiently. "Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" The seconds start to count down on a computer screen. "Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just hold on. Tight."
"Hold on to what?" I asked him.
"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?" Rose and I grab onto some railings to hold on to while the Doctor grab onto the railing around me, locking me into place.
"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated." The ood replied.
"What's this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor inquired.
"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" The Doctor and I raise an eyebrow. "You really don't know, do you?"
"And impact!" The entire base begins to shake violently. Everyone is clinging on tight then suddenly just quick as it started, it was over. The Doctor stands and let's go of the railing.
"Oh, well, that wasn't so bad-!" He's thrown backwards as the base shakes even more violently than it did before. I shriek as the violent shakes cause me to lose my grip and fall onto the Doctor. He holds me tight as he grabs something to hold us to. Small explosions and sparks fly around the room while we're tossed about like a bunch of rag-dolls. Then it stops.
"Okay, that's it." The man from before hurries forward with a fire extinguisher. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Called the blonde woman. The man called out to every person except the three of us.
"We're fine, thanks, fine, yeah, don't worry about us." The Doctor snarked as he helped me back to my feet.
"The surface caved in." The computer screen indicated the part of the base that was lost during the quake. "I deflected it onto storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."
"That's not my department." Toby told him.
"Just do as I say, yeah?" Toby grudgingly leaves the room.
"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay." Ida reported.
"Never mind the earthquake, that's," Rose looks around, "that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum." Scooti told her.
"Then what's shaking the roof?" I asked this time.
"You're not joking. You really don't know? Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." She indicates the man in the middle. "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mr. Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee."
"Not as boring as it sounds." Danny tells us causing the Doctor and Rose to grin.
"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this," Ida places her hands on Scooti's shoulders, "is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance." Scooti smiled and Ida goes over to a set of controls. "And this, this is home." She turns a lever causing a whirring sound.
"Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad." The room is flooded with a redish light as an overhead window opens, revealing a black hole right above us. My eyes widen in shock as I watched light being sucked into it.
"That's a black hole." Rose said, pointing up to it.
"But that's impossible." The Doctor replied in disbelief.
"I did warn you."
"We're standing under a black hole." I muttered while the Doctor argued with Ida. I shuddered as that wrong feeling comes back even stronger. I turned to the Doctor as the argument finished. "Doctor, we should go." He turned to me.
"Jessamine?" He asked confused.
"You promised at the first sign of trouble, we'd leave." I told him.
"And we will, Jessamine. Let's figure this out first then we'll go." The Doctor replied and turned to Zach. I bit my bottom lip as I looked around the room.
"That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gen 5." The Doctor puts on his glasses as Zach brought up a hologram of the black hole.
"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called 'Krop tor'. The bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out. Because it was poison." Ida explained.
"The bitter pill. I like that." Rose smiled and laughed slightly as she turned to me and the Doctor.
"We are so far out." The Doctor sad as he stared at the hologram. Rose frowned when we didn't join in. "Lost in the drift of the universe, how did you even get here?!"
"We flew in. You see," Zach presses another button and the hologram changes to one of the planet with a tunnel coming out of it.
"This planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how, we've no idea, but it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there." He gestures to the tunnel. "As a funnel. A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down that thing? Like a rollercoaster." Rose chuckled again.
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain," Zach paused for a moment. "Which is what put me in charge."
"You're going a good job." Ida said, consolingly.
"Yeah. Well, needs must."
"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out." Danny informed them.
"We had fun speculating about that." Scooti teased.
"Oh, yeah. That's the word." Danny whacks Scooti on the head with a scroll as he walked past her. "Fun."
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power!" The Doctor exclaimed, completely stumped. "I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I?" He gestures to the controls. I roll my eyes and take a seat on the stairs next to the door. 'We'll leave my arse.' I thought angrily as I plopped my head on a fist.
"Sure. Help yourself." Ida pushes the calculator over to him and leaves him to it. Suddenly an ood appears in front of me.
"Refreshment." I stared at it shocked and confused before slowly taking the drink.
"Thank you." I told it. "What's your name?"
"We have no titles. We are as one." I watched it leave. 'Their sorta like house-elves.' I mused as I take a sip of my drink. 'Not bad.'
"There we go." I glance over at the Doctor. "D' you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to power of six every six seconds."
"Six, six, six?" I whispered feeling slightly nauseated.
"That's a lot of sixes." Rose said, worriedly.
"And it's impossible." The Doctor told us.
"It took us two years to work that out!" Zach exclaimed.
"I'm very good." The Doctor said modestly causing me to snort in amusement.
"But that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." Ida states.
"It's giving off reading of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale."
"We could revolutionize modern science." Ida said, enthusiastically.
"We could use it to fuel the Empire." Jefferson put in.
"Or start a war." The Doctor added as he took his glasses off.
"It's buried beneath us. In the darkness, waiting." I raised an eye at the dramatic response from Toby.
"What's your job? Chief dramatist?" Rose sassed causing the Doctor and I to smirk.
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena. And this, er, planet once supported life. Eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk." He explained.
"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" The Doctor asked him. Toby nods.
"I copied it from fragments we found on earth by the drilling, but I can't translate it."
"No, neither can I. And that's saying something."
"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in." Toby said.
"And you came." The Doctor grins, fondly.
"Well, how could we not?" Ida inquired as Zach turns the hologram off.
"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there! Brilliant. Excuse me, ah, Zach, wasn't it?" The Doctor turned to him, still grinning.
"That's me."
"Just stand there, 'cos I'm gonna hug you. Is that all right?" Everyone stares at him.
"I s'pose so." Zach replied.
"Here we go. Coming in." The Doctor edged towards him and throws his arms around Zach and clutches him. "Aah, human beings, you are amazing!"
"Amazingly stupid." They all glanced over at me. The Doctor releases Zach with a small frown. "You lot are completely mad for coming here. There were a bunch of signs that should have made you run. And the three sixes? That's the sign of the Devil!" I rant, tossing my hands in the air.
"But no, you came to look for the demons anyway. Absolutely ridiculous. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives." I crossed my arms and glared at the floor. I felt angry and annoyed that my warnings were being ignored.
"You can talk! And how the hell did you get here?" Ida asked me but I remained quiet.
"Oh, I've got this um, this, it's hard to explain, it just sort of appears." The Doctor rambled.
"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from um, oh, what's it called? Uh, habitation area," Rose trailed off.
"Three." The Doctor supplied.
"Three." She snaps her fingers as she remembered. "Three.
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked suddenly.
"Uh, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah." My eyes widen in shock as I realized what happened. "Storage six, but you said," It dawns on the Doctor. "You said, you said storage five to eight." Without another word, he turns on his heel and dashes from the room, Rose hot on his tail. I remained seated, already knowing what the outcome would be. I looked back up when they returned and connected glances with the Doctor.
"She's gone, isn't she?" I inquired. He nods and turns to Zach.
"The ground gave way. My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way." He said urgently.
"We can't divert the drilling." Zach shrugged him off and began to walk off. The Doctor stares after him then quickly follows.
"But I need my ship. It's all I've got. Literally the only thing." He told him.
"Doctor, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions - no exceptions Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that is the end of it." Zach ended the conversation and leaves the control room. Ida approaches the Doctor, who's staring after Zach completely helpless.
"I'll uh, put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry." She follows Zach from the room.
"Open Door One." The Doctor walks over and sits down next to me.
"I've trapped you here." He said quietly.
"Yeah, you have but don't worry about me. I'm more worried about Rose then myself." I told him, glancing over to my sister who was leaning against the control panel. "Next time," I turned to him to find him watching me. "Listen to me when I say something doesn't feel right."
"Of course." He nods and I sigh before standing up then moved over to settle against the control panel next to Rose.
"You doing okay?" I asked her then the base shakes again. We both grip onto the panel. Rose looks upwards through the window.
"Okay, we're on a planet that shouldn't exist, under a black hole and no way out." I look at her and catches my eye. "Yeah, I'm just peachy." She laughs nervously. I quickly pull her into a tight hug which she returned and glared darkly up at the black hole.
"Let's go get something to eat? They've got to have something good to eat here, yeah?" I grabbed her hand and we walked back to the habitation area three with the Doctor following after us quietly. The Doctor and I sat down while Rose went to check the canteen area out. The Doctor stared at the ancient text with his brow furrowed.
"Careful," He glances at me. "You face might stick if you stare at it any harder." The Doctor snorts and turns his attention back to it as Rose wanders back over with a tray. "Everything all right, Rose?" I asked her as she sits back down.
"Yeah, fine." She answered. Everyone looks up when the lights flicker above them.
"Zach, have we got a problem?" Ida called into her com.
"No more than usual. Got the Scarlet System burning up, it might be worth a look."
"You might wanna see this. Moment in history." Ida pulls a lever which opens the overhead, revealing the black hole and flooded the room with a soft red light. "There. On the edge." She points at a stream of red light that was spiralling into the black hole.
"That red cloud, that used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Pallushi, a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed." We gazed up at it, fascinated. The last of the Scarlet System disappeared into the black hole. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."
Ida goes to pull the lever to close the shutters again, but the Doctor stops her.
"Er, no, could you leave it open?" He asked her. I looked over to him. "Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."
"How would you know?" Ida questioned but the Doctor smiles. "Scooti, check the lockdown." Scooti nods and leaves. "Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." Jefferson and Ida exit next, leaving the three of us alone.
"I've seen films and things, yeah? They say black holes are like gateways to another universe." Rose said as she turned to the Doctor.
"Not that one. It just eats." He told her.
"Long way from home." We both glance at her. The Doctor points a bit to the right of the dome.
"Go that way, turn right, keep going for um, about five hundred years then you'll reach the Earth." I take my phone out and press a few buttons.
"No signal." I said in shock. "That's the first time we've gone out of range."
"What would we even tell her?" Rose questioned me then turned to the Doctor. "Can you build another TARDIS?"
"They were grown, not built." I said quickly still staring at my phone, missing the surprised look the Doctor gave me.
"With my own planet gone, we're kind of stuck." The Doctor replied after a moment of silence.
"Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift." Rose said consolingly, trying to keep the tone light.
"And then what?"
"I dunno," Rose sighed. "Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."
"Pfft, I'd have to settle down. In a house or something, a proper house with doors and things. Carpets! Me! Living in a house!" The Doctor exclaimed. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "Now that is terrifying."
"You'd have to get a mortgage." Rose teased in sing-song tone.
"No." The Doctor said, horrified.
"Oh, yes."
"I am dying. That's it. I am dying, it is all over." I laugh this time and shook my head.
"Oh, it won't be that bad. You'll have me." I told him as I linked our fingers together. "It could be fun, just another adventure really." He smiled and pressed a kiss to my temple.
"We could get one together. We could be flatmates!" Rose said excitedly. We sit in silence for a few moments.
"I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home." The Doctor said to Rose and I.
"Everyone leaves home in the end." Rose waved off but I bit my lip. I was bound to leave mum and Rose behind one day, only they wouldn't even know I was there in the first place.
"Not to end up stuck here." The Doctor replied.
"Yeah, but stuck with you two. That's not so back." I looked over to her.
"Yeah?" I questioned, slightly surprised.
"Yes." She said, sincerely. I grinned brightly before the moment was ruined by my phone ringing. I stared at it confused before answering it.
[Hello?]
[He is awake.] A male voice growled. My eyes widen in fear and flinged the phone away from me. The Doctor followed in before turning to me.
"Jessamine, what's wrong?" He asked me.
"It said 'He is awake.'" I repeated, my hands started to shake slightly.
"Who, Jessamine?"
"I've no idea but I have a really horrible feeling about it." I told him as we get up and head to Ood habitation. We bound down the stairs and find Danny at a computer.
"Evening!" The Doctor called cheerfully.
"Only us!" Rose said just as cheerful.
"The mysterious trio. How are you, then? Settling in?" He asked us.
"Yeah, sorry, straight to business, the Ood. How do they communicate? I mean, with each other." I looked over a balcony that looked into the area below us. The Ood were sat in what almost looked like an animal-pan. I glared at it in disgust. 'Their treated worse than house-elves.' I thought as I turned back to the Doctor.
"Oh, just empaths." Danny shrugged. "There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle."
"This telepathic field, can it pick up messages?" I inquired.
"Cos I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something, well, odd." Rose explained.
"Oh. An odd Ood." Danny scoffed.
"Then I got something on my communicator." I added.
"Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing." We stared at him far from being convinced. "Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."
"Monitor the field," The Doctor nods to the computer. "That's this thing?" We read the screen and it says 'Basic 5'.
"Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register Basic Five." While Danny was speaking, the reading began to rise.
"Well, that's not Basic Five." It continues to rise. "Ten. . .twenty. . ." The Doctor turns to Danny. "They've gone up to Basic Thirty."
"But they can't. . ."
"Doctor, the Ood." The Ood turned, as one, and looked up at the four us on the balcony. "What does Basic Thirty mean?"
"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads." Danny told her, baffled.
"Or something's shouting at them." The Doctor supplied quietly.
"But," Danny began to tap on the keyboard, "where's it coming from? What is it saying? I mean," He looked to Rose. "What did it say to you?"
Author Note: Hey, guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated Jessa for awhile. I've been really focused on Flora's story for the last year or so. But I will continue to work on Jessa, it'll just won't be as much as Flora. And I've decided to rewrite Jessa's story in Third Person Point of View. So, after this chapter it will be 3rd pov from now on and I will rewrite the other chapters in that view. So I hope you like this chapter!
~o~
"Something about the beast in the pit." She said. Danny blinks then turns to me.
"What about your communicator? What did that say?"
"He is awake." I replied.
"And you will worship him." We all turned to the Ood in shock.
"What the hell?"
"He is awake." The Doctor repeated.
"And you will worship him."
"Worship who?" There's no reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" The entire base begins to shake causing us to be thrown around violently. We struggle to regain our balance.
"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach."
"Which section?" Danny shouts into wrist device, scared.
"Everyone, evacuate Eleven to Thirteen, we've got a breach! The base is open. Repeat: the base is open!" The four of us get our feet and raced towards habitation area three.
"Open Door Nineteen." We burst back into the canteen area and keep heading towards the control room. "Close Door Nineteen."
"I can't contain the oxygen field, we're gonna lost it!" We finally reached the others in a secured area.
"And you too, Toby!" Jefferson yelled as he pulls Toby through the door. He falls flat on his face as Jefferson slams the door shut.
"Breach sealed. Breach sealed."
"Everyone all right?!" The Doctor rushed over to them. "What happened? What was it?"
"Oxygen levels normal."
"Hull breach!" Jefferson panted. "We were open to the elements. A couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters." Rose crouches to help Toby, who was sweating and panting on the floor. I quickly moved over to the Doctor, trying to get away from him as far as I could. He was giving off giant waves of wrongness.
"That wasn't a quake. What caused it?" The Doctor inquired as he wrapped an arm around my waist.
"We've lost sections Eleven to Thirteen. Everyone all right?"
"We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report." Static came from Jefferson's communication device. "Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." Again there was only static.
"She's all right." Jefferson and Ida breathed a sigh of relief. "I picked up her biochip, she's in Habitation three. Better go and check if she's not responding, she might be unconscious." I glanced over at Toby and noticed him looking over his hand, turning them over and over again.
"How about that, eh? We survived."
"Habitation three, come on, I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on." Everyone but Toby, the Doctor, Rose, and I followed after them. The Doctor crouches down next to Toby, who still looks severely shaken.
"What happened?" He asked him.
"I don't - I dunno, I - I was working and then I can't remember. All - all that noise, the room was falling apart, there was no air-" He spoke fast, very flustered. I still stood at the other end of the corridor, not wanting to get closer to the man. He felt wrong and smelt like death.
"Come on. Up you get. Come and have some Protein One." Rose said as she helped Toby to his feet. She linked her arm through his and walked him down the corridor.
"Oh, you've gone native." The Doctor said as he held a hand out me. I took it and we slowly followed after them.
"Oi, don't knock it. It's nice. Protein One with just a," Rose snaps her fingers, "dash of Three." The canteen was in slight chaos when we arrived. The group was looking for Scooti, all talking over each other.
"Have you seen Scooti?" Jefferson asked us as we walked in.
"No, no, no, I don't think so." Toby stuttered out.
"Scooti, please respond, if you can hear this please respon - Habitation six." I moved into the middle of the room and looked up, spotting Scooti floating outside heading towards the black hole.
"I've found her." Everyone went quiet.
"Oh, my God. . ." I hear Rose mutter.
"Sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor told them but the room remained quiet.
"Captain, report Officer Scootori Manista PKD, deceased. 43K 2.1" Jefferson reported to Zach.
"She was twenty," Ida said. "Twenty years old." She goes over to the controls and pulls the lever to close the shutters. Scooti's body drifting further and further away towards the black hole.
"For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods." Jefferson's voice drops to a whisper as the shutters closed completely. A strange silence falls over the room.
"It's stopped," The was a distance crash.
"What was that? What was it?" Rose asked the Doctor.
"The drill."
"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero." Ida added.
"All non-essential Oods to be confined." We all head down to the exploration deck. The crew was preparing to do down the mineshaft.
"Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go, bring systems online now." I watched as the Doctor approaches Zach in a spacesuit.
"Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force." He told him.
"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are." Zach replied.
"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you? And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on, look me in the eyes. Yes, you do, I can see it. Trust." The Doctor teased.
"I should be going down."
"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here. In charge."
"Not much good at it, am I?" Zach asked, bitterly. The Doctor doesn't answer him, he just simply looks at him. Zach sighs. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions!" I catch the Doctor's eye as he walks over to me. We stand facing one another, the Doctor checks a device on the wrist of the spacesuit.
"Oxygen, nitro-balance, gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these!" He said excitedly. I gave him a small smile.
"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" I place a kiss to his lips.
"Yes, sir." He grins and puts the helmet on.
"Just be careful, Doctor. Whatever is going on here, it's blocking me from seeing who's supposed to die. So just be on your toes." I told him.
"I will." He cups my cheek with his hand. "I'll see you later."
"Not if I see you first." I laugh softly then pull his head down so I could place a hiss on his helmet.
"Capsule active. Counting down in ten. . . nine. . . eight. . . seven . . . six. . ." The Doctor and Ida go into the capsule with Jefferson closing the door after them. "Five. . . four. . . three. . .two. . ." Jefferson salutes them. "One. . ." Rose and I wave, smiling to the Doctor and he waved back, returning the smile.
"Release." The capsule descends down the shaft. I tossed a glanced over to Toby, who was sitting hunched in the corner. He was still very twitchy as he kept checking his hands. He was reminding me off Moody's paranoia which was making me twitchy.
"Gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own." Came Zach's voice.
"Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good." Rose said into the comm, obviously worried out of her mind as she starts demonstrating by taking deep breaths.
"Rose, stay off the comm." I said with a small chuckled as I take the comm from her. We watched the diagram on the computer screen, it indicated that the capsule has reached Point Zero. The whole base shakes as the capsule hits the ground. I quickly steady myself and grab the comm before Rose could.
"Doctor?" There's no reply. "Doctor, are you all right?"
"Ida, report to me," There's more silence. "Doctor?"
"It's all right, we've made it. Coming out of the capsule now." I breathe a sigh of relief as Rose hugs me tightly at the Doctor's response.
"What's it like down there?" Rose asked.
"It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. . . cavern. . . it's massive." The Doctor answered.
"Well, this should help. Gravity globe." There was a moment of silence. "That's. . . that's. . . my God, that's beautiful." Ida said, her voice filled with awe.
"Jessamine. . .Rose, you can tell Toby we've found his civilisation." The Doctor replied. Rose turned to Toby, cheerfully.
"Oi, Toby! Sounds like you've got plenty of work."
"Good, good. Good." He muttered, distractedly.
"Concentrate now, people. Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?" Zach inquired.
"We're close. Energy signature indicates north, north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"
"There's too much interference. We're in your hands."
"Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back." Both the Doctor and I groan at the woman's jinx.
"Oh, did you have to? No turning back? That's almost as bad as 'Nothing can possibly go wrong" or "this is gonna be the best Christmas Walford's ever had'." Rose and I chuckled at the Doctor's ramble.
"Are you finished?" They waited for the Doctor's response.
"Yeah! Finished." I shake my head at the Doctor's antics.
"Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood." Danny's voice came through Jefferson's wrist comm.
"What are they doing?" Zach asked.
"They're staring at m. I've told them to stop, but they won't." He said lowly.
"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being stared at." Zach replied at the childish answer.
"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at Basic One Hundred! I've checked, there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred." Danny said.
"But that's impossible." Rose and I turned to Jefferson in confusion.
"What's Basic One Hundred mean?" Rose questioned.
"They should be dead." Danny answered.
"Basic One Hundred is brain death." Jefferson explained further.
"But they're safe? They're not actually moving?" Zach asked.
"No, sir."
"Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson, keep a guard on the Ood."
"Officer at arms!" He readies his guns.
"Yes, sir."
"You can't fire a gun in here. What if they hit a wall?" Rose asked in concerned.
"I'm firing stock fifteen, only packs upon organics." Jefferson told her then turned to the guard. "Keep watch. Guard them."
"Yes, sir." She answered.
"Is everything all right up there?" Rose and I shared a panic look.
"Super." I said into the comm.
"Yeah, yeah." Rose replied quickly.
"It's fine." Came Zach's voice.
"Great!" I rolled my eyes at Danny's sarcastic response.
"We've found something." The Doctor reported. "It looks like metal. Like some sort of seal. I've got a nasty feeling the word might be 'trapdoor'. Not a good word, 'trapdoor'. Never met a trapdoor I liked."
"The edge is covered with those symbols." Ida said.
"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked them.
"That's what trapdoors tend to do." The Doctor snarked.
"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter." Ida answered.
"Any way of opening it?"
"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism."
"I suppose that's the writing, that'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation." The Doctor supposed.
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach asked him. I looked over to him.
"Toby," I called to him softly. "They need to know what that lettering means. Does it make any sort of sense?" He kept his head in his arms, still crouched in the corner.
"I know what it says." My eyes widen at the deep voice that came from him. I glanced at the others but they didn't seem to notice the change.
"Then tell them." Rose demanded.
"When did you work that out?" Jefferson inquired.
"It doesn't matter, just tell them." I grab Rose's shoulder as Toby stood up. He turned towards us, revealing that he was covered in the ancient symbols, his eyes a blood red.
"His eyes." I whispered in panic, "Oh Merlin, his eyes." I froze in my spot as those eyes brought back unwanted memories.
"These are the words of the Beast." We stared at him in shock. "And he has woken." Jefferson points his gun at Toby. "He is the heart that beats in the darkness, he is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise."
"Officer, stand down." Jefferson ordered. "Stand down!" Toby flexes his arms. "Officer, as commander of security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!"
"Doctor, he's got those symbols all over his face." I said into the comm. "His eyes, though. . ."
"Mr. Jefferson, tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?" Toby asked Jefferson suddenly.
"I don't know what you mean." He replied, although the hesitant in his tone said otherwise.
"Let me tell you a secret: she never did."
"Officer," Jefferson swallowed, "you stand down and be confined."
"Or what?"
"Or under the jurisdiction of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you." He aimed his gun at Toby.
"But how many can you kill?" His eyes light up and his mouth opens in a low roar as the symbols evaporate off his skin and leave him as swirls of black smoke. The smoke enters the Ood, who jerk as the Beast possesses them. Toby coughs and collapses to the ground as Jefferson points his gun at the three Ood next to us.
"We are the Legion of the Beast." The Ood said as one. "The Legion shall be many. And the Legion shall be few." I could hear in the background as Jefferson and Rose try to talk to Zach and the Doctor. "He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time."
"Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer or the Bringer of Despair, The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free." We started to back away from the advancing Ood.
"Back up to the door!" Jefferson shouted.
"I shall become manifest."
"Move quickly!"
"I shall walk in might."
"To the door!" We backed up against the door. "Get it open!"
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds." The whole base starts to shake as the Ood continued to advance towards us. "I am the sin and the temptation. And the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the dead will come."
"Get that door open!" Jefferson yelled at the guard. The door won't budge no matter how desperately we try to open it. Jefferson keeps his gun aimed on the Ood, but they ignored it.
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed."
"Come on!" Rose shouted at the door.
"Door sealed."
"The Pit is open. And I am free."