Aw man, am I a sucker for your attention or what?
AKA In Which Impossible is Just Another Word for Now
Rey went back in the end. There was no choice between Nevermore and the TARDIS—she would always choose to go back to her home, to go back to the Doctor, every time. The only variable was how long she was away. It was hard to keep track of days in the cell. She got two meals at varying times, if that. Food was brought to her, but the straightjacket made eating difficult.
Sometimes, a nurse fed her. She had long since grown numb to that sort of humiliation, but depending on the nurse, her meals were often cut short. She'd manage a few bites, enough that she wouldn't starve, before the tray was ripped away and she was left once more in the boring cell all by her lonesome.
She slept a lot. When she couldn't manage sleep, she made do by reciting articles and even entire books from memory. It was times like these that made her grateful for her mind. But eventually even that wasn't enough to keep her away. Eventually, Rey closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was home.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
She nodded and softened her gaze. The Doctor was a calming presence by her side, surefire and definite. The sun made his blue suit look like it was glowing, and his floppy hair made him look softer. She loved traveling with the Doctor, loved the excitement and hijinks and even the inevitable pandemonium they always managed to stumble into. But the quiet moments like this held a special place in her heart.
She had reached a resolution before returning. Whatever happened that caused her to attack the Doctor, it hadn't happened for her yet. She could act normal and keep her eyes peeled; look for the signs and when she found the cause, change it. Perhaps she even succeeded. The future Doctors she met never mentioned her acting strangely or attacking him. He'd told her once that sometimes just knowing the future changed it. Was she a fool for hoping that was the case now?
Probably. Her luck was always terrible.
A familiar numbness started setting in. She sighed, hoping to preserve this moment of peace a bit longer but knowing it was futile. He, of course, noticed the shift in her demeanor. "I'll see you soon," she said, and then she jumped before she could hear his response.
Rey had resolved to act normal, but she wasn't prepared for the weirdness that she encountered when she landed. She prepared herself for a confrontation, for stony silence or harsh judgment. Not… this.
Rose was acting almost friendly.
Rey had no idea what to make of it. It wasn't as though she had jumped that much further in the future. What had changed? How had they gotten to this point? Not even her imagination was able to fill in the blanks from then to now.
Whatever it was, she was grateful. As if a great pressure had been relieved, she felt lighter. It had felt like she was constantly tiptoeing before, forever waiting for the levee to break. In hindsight, she realized she'd begun to regard Rose as she might Dr. Usher or one of the nurses. But now, once she'd gotten over the sheer bizarreness, she could relax.
The TARDIS landed roughly, groaning and wheezing. "I dunno what's wrong with her," the Doctor told them worriedly. "She's sort of… queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land."
Rey held back a sigh and was glad she wore her running shoes today. She could already see where this was headed.
"Oh, if you think there's gonna be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else," Rose said seriously before she and the Doctor burst out laughing.
"Are we in a cupboard," Rey asked. There wasn't much space to move around. It was a miracle that they all even fit.
"Here we go!" The Doctor pushed the door open to lead them out into a much bigger room. They were on a base of some sort, and definitely in the future. "Moon base, sea base, space base… they build these things out of kits," he nonchalantly remarked as they wandered further in. A computer announced the door numbers as they opened and closed. They could barely hear it over all the noise.
"Glad we're indoors—sounds like a storm out there…"
"Or one hell of a party," Rey suggested offhandedly. It earned her a small grin from Rose, which she quietly relished in. They weren't suddenly the best of friends, but it was a huge improvement considering how they started out.
"Human design—you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger, and easier."
"This is a sanctuary base," she noted as they entered Habitation Area Three, also known as the mess room. She'd read about them in one of the many history texts in the library. They were built for deep space exploration.
The Doctor beamed proudly at her. "Couldn't've put it better myself. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath…" He pointed to the floor and fell quiet so they could hear the hum. "Someone's drilling."
"'Welcome to hell,'" Rey read off the wall.
The Doctor suddenly looked worried. "Oh, it's not that bad," Rose protested.
She pointed to the writing, her gut twisting into knots at the sight of the strange symbols drawn beneath. The TARDIS had a few glitches when it came to translating languages, most notably when it had to deal with a language isolate or something that relied on nonverbal language. She purposefully didn't translate Gallefreyan because she didn't need to. But Rey had never seen the TARDIS fail to translate written words before.
"Hold on… what does that say?" The Doctor walked over to take a closer look at the symbols. He squinted at them as if to will them to translate to English, but they stubbornly stayed the same. "That's weird. It won't translate."
Even Rose was starting to get nervous now.
"If that's not working, then it means… this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." He moved over to the other door. "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS's knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough—"
"Or unfortunate enough," she interjected.
"Open Door 19."
The Doctor and Rose both gasped and flinched back in shock. Rey blinked, but otherwise didn't show any sign of alarm. It was just a group of Ood, and not even rabid or red-eyed ones at that. But they were processed, that much she could tell from the orbs in their hands. She recalled the Doctor's words from her first adventure with him. Was this the "last time" he'd spoken about?
"We must feed," they said in unison.
The Doctor blanched. He reached out to grab Rey's wrist, pulling her back behind him. "You're gonna what?"
"We must feed," they repeated.
"Yeah. I think they mean us," Rose said nervously.
"Well you're not wrong." Rey went to explain, but was cut short when the Doctor pulled her with him to make for the other door. Another group of Ood were on the other side, walking slowly in as if to surround them. "But not in the way you're thinking," she added.
"We must feed."
"What does that mean," Rose asked in a strangled voice. She picked up a chair while the Doctor pulled out the sonic.
"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."
One of the Ood shook and tapped the translation orb. "You. If you are hungry."
"Sorry?" Confused, the Doctor's outstretched arm faltered slightly, but he refused to put the sonic down completely until he was certain they weren't in any danger.
"We apologize. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems." Rose put the chair down slowly. "Would you like some refreshments?"
"Um…"
Rey reached out to lower the Doctor's arm for him. He looked back at her for confirmation. "The Ood are normally very kind," she assured them both.
"Open Door 18," the computer announced.
Jefferson, head of security, faltered when he saw the three of them. He was flanked by two guards, each holding guns at the ready. "What the hell…? How did…?"
He approached them cautiously and pulled out his communication device to report back to his superior. "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."
The three exchanged glances, not quite sure what was going on.
"Don't be stupid," Zach, the captain, said back. "That's impossible."
"I suggest telling them that," Jefferson replied without taking his eyes off them.
"But you're a sort of space base," Rose pointed out. "You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?"
The Doctor grinned. "No idea. More fun that way."
"Stand by, everyone." Scooti, the maintenance officer trainee, spoke over the intercom. "Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way."
Rey froze at the word "quake." No sooner had Scooti given the warning did the base begin to shake. She gripped the Doctor's arm tighter, her entire body a tense coil. His thumb rubbed soothing circles against the fabric covering her while he tried his best to steady her.
Sirens began to sound off. She head Jefferson usher them through another door in a distant, detached way where she didn't really register his words. It was only thanks to the Doctor leading her that she made it through the corridor and into the control room. Not even the smoke and flying sparks could snap her out of her stupor. All she could focus on was the shaking and the way her breaths were getting shorter and shorter like she was running out of air.
She shut her eyes and thought back to the trip she recently had with the Doctor. They'd had a picnic in a clearing by the river. The grass had been sea green in color, and the air was light with the scent of fresh rain. The river flowed swift and smooth, the sound of the water a soothing white noise in the background. The planet had been wonderful to explore. There was a continent forever in twilight, one where rain fell upwards, and one where enormous plants made them feel as small as ants.
But that glade the Doctor had brought her to was the place she liked the most. Winter came there with such speed that the flowers didn't even have time to wilt before freezing over. It passed with equal celerity so that they could continue growing afterwards as if someone had simply hit play on a paused video.
He was looking at her with worry when she opened her eyes, but all it took was a sure nod to reassure him that she was alright.
Inside the control room, the small crew was frantically working. Zach, Science Officer Ida, and archeologist Toby all dropped their jaws in shock when they noticed the new additions to the base. The Doctor beamed back.
"Oh my God. You meant it."
"People," Scooti exclaimed. "Look at that! Real people!"
"That's us," the Doctor cheered. "Hooray!"
Rose smiled. "Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose… Rose Tyler, this is the Doctor and— and Rey."
Ethics Committee Representative Danny marched over to them, still in denial. "Come on… the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be… no. They're real!"
"Of course we are. Are you," Rey shot back. She didn't like the way the crew was scrutinizing them. It made her feel rather like a science experiment.
"Come on," Zach insisted. "We're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" Rey paled at the thought of another quake. A countdown appeared on the computer screen. "Sorry you three, whoever you are. Just… hold on. Tight."
"Hold on to what," Rose asked.
"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?"
Rey braced herself against the railing, gloved hands clinging to the bar with a death grip. She sat down so she wouldn't lose her balance and fall over. The Doctor moved to box her in, keeping her securely in place. Rose grasped the other railing as the Ood responded that they were secure. "What's this planet called, anyway," the Doctor asked.
Ida scoffed. "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "You really don't know, do you?"
"And… IMPACT!"
Zach's warning came half a second before the shaking started again. Rey tightened her hold, knuckles white and the skin covering them threatening to split. One of the consoles exploded, showering that side of the room with sparks. The others were tossed around like leaves in a storm and she would have joined them if it wasn't for the Doctor. His presence at her back was warm, anchoring her in more than one way. She didn't think about the hospital or the Institute, only him and the clearing by the river.
Fortunately, it was all over rather quickly. She waited until the aftershock passed before standing on shaking legs. Jefferson hurried with a fire extinguisher as soon as Zach gave the all-clear. "Everyone alright?" Obediently, they all echoed back with no lasting damage.
The base itself had also managed to scrape by mostly intact, but the surface had caved in on them. Zach pulled up images on the screen to show which parts of the base had been lost. "I deflected it only Storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."
"That's not my department," he protested. He grudgingly left when Zach snapped at him to just do it.
"Oxygen holding," Ida reported. "Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay."
Rose looked around the room. "Never mind the earthquake, that's… that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane," Scooti corrected. "There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum."
"Then what's shaking the roof?"
"You're not joking. You really don't know," Ida asked. She ran through a series of quick introductions wandering over to another set of controls. "This… this is home."
"Brace yourselves," Zach warned as she turned a lever to open the viewing port overhead. "The sight of it sends some people mad."
Dark red light shone down on the room. Above their heads hung the most breathtaking, most impossible sight Rey had ever seen. "That's a black hole," Rose gasped.
"But that's impossible," the Doctor insisted.
"I did warn you," Zach said.
Rey couldn't take her eyes off it. "We're standing under a black hole…" Saying it didn't make it feel any more real.
"We're in orbit," Ida clarified.
"But we can't be," the Doctor denied.
"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit."
"But we can't be," he stressed. Without looking, Rey reached down for his hand.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."
"And that's bad yeah," Rose asked.
"A black hole is formed when a dead star collapses in on itself to the point that the matter is so dense and tight that it starts pulling everything else in too," Rey explained. "Nothing can escape it. Light, gravity, time… everything gets pulled in and crushed."
"So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in," Rose concluded.
"We should be dead," the Doctor stated.
"And yet… here we are," Ida said, gesturing out. "Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board."
Rose pointed to what looked like clouds drifting by towards the black hole. "But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?"
"Gas clouds," Rey told her. The sight was as beautiful as it was sad. "Stars being broken up. Entire solar systems ripping apart and falling in."
"So, a bit worse than a storm, then?"
"Just a bit," she joked back.
The base started shaking again. Nothing so rough or intense as the quake from earlier, just ordinary space turbulence one would expect with what was going on outside. Even the TARDIS shook worse than this sometimes, when the piloting was particularly rough.
They were crowded around the controls when Toby returned to report that the rocket was fine. The Doctor put his glasses on as Zach tapped a command in to bring up a hologram of the black hole. Officially, it was designated K37 Gen 5. "In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called 'Kroptor'," Ida told them. "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."
"If they were going for ominous, they succeeded," she muttered.
The Doctor stared at the hologram. "We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe—how did you even get here?!"
"We flew in. You see…" Zach changed the image to show the planet with what looked like 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. As a funnel. A distinct… gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew into that thing?" Rose grinned. "Like a rollercoaster."
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart," Zach narrated. "We lost the Captain… which is what put me in charge…"
"You're going a good job," Ida said encouraging.
"Yeah. Well, needs must."
"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out," Danny told them.
"We had fun speculating about that," Scooti chimed in.
"Oh, yeah. That's the word." He smacked her over the head with a scowl. "'Fun.'"
The Doctor slumped back. "But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power! I mean… not just big, but off the scale! Can I…" He gestured to the controls. Ida pushed the calculator over to him. Rey watched over his shoulder while an Ood offered Rose a cup.
A part of her was still angry over the Ood's treatment, but she knew she couldn't change things. She couldn't tell the Doctor—that would be a spoiler. At least there was the comfort of knowing justice would be served in the end. It still wasn't enough, however, to sooth her current guilt. She wasn't satisfied with knowing eventually things would be okay, she wanted them to be okay now.
"There we go," the Doctor said, having finished his calculations. "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 the power of six every six seconds."
"That's a lot of sixes," Rose remarked.
"And it's impossible," the Doctor said again.
Zach stared at him in disbelief. "It took us two years to work that out!"
"I'm very good," he said, aiming for modest and falling short.
"But… that's why we're here," Ida explained. "This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."
"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale," Zach reported. Ida was enthusiastic over all they could learn while Jefferson was more interested in what it meant as fuel for the Human Empire.
"You could start a war," Rey mumbled, seeing as how that was pretty much how all wars started: competition over resources. The Doctor nodded in solemn agreement.
"It's buried beneath us," Toby said ominously. "In the darkness, waiting."
"What's your job? Chief… dramatist?" Rose hazard a guess.
Toby looked a bit like a bird with its feathers ruffled. "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."
"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that," the Doctor asked.
He nodded. "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 civilization," Toby urged. "They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in."
The Doctor grinned at the crew. "And you came."
"Well, how could we not," Ida asked as Zach switched 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, was it? Just stand there, 'cos I'm gonna hug you. Is that alright?"
Jefferson stared at him like he'd grown a second head. Zach shrugged. "I s'pose so."
"Here we go. Coming in." The Doctor threw his arms around Zach, still beaming. "Ahh, human beings, you are amazing!" Rose chuckled. Even Rey managed a small smile at the Doctor's antics. "But apart for that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives."
"You can talk," Ida shot back. "And how the hell did you get here?"
"Oh, I've got this um… this… it's hard to explain, it just sort of… appears."
"We can show you," Rose offered. "We parked down the corridor from, um… oh, what's it called? Uh, habitation area…"
Rey's blood ran cold. She had barely registered what Zach said about which parts of the base they'd lost in her relief, but now that Rose mentioned it…
"Three," the Doctor answered.
"Do you mean storage six," Zach asked.
"Uh, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah," he said cheerfully.
"You said storage five to eight…" She trailed off.
Without a word the Doctor made an about face and ran from the room. She was right on his heels with Rose right behind her. They dashed back through the corridors and the canteen towards where they came.
"Door 16 out of commission," the computer announced when the Doctor tried it. He slammed against the door, jabbing the button to open it to no avail.
"Can't be, can't be!"
"What's wrong," Rose asked. "What is it?" The Doctor opened the cover of small a circular window in the door to look though. "The TARDIS is in there. What's happened?"
"The TARDIS is gone."
She backed away, horrified. "This section of the base collapsed in the earthquake," Rey told her softly, coming up to stand close beside the Doctor. He reached out blindly for her and she reciprocated the gesture.
"But it's gotta be out there somewhere," Rose tried. She looked out the window to see what was on the other side.
"Look down," the Doctor advised. There was no ground left, just an enormous chasm.
They made their way back to the control room at a less frantic pace. The Doctor spoke with Zach urgently, trying to convince him to redirect the drills so they could go after the TARDIS. Unfortunately, Zach was adamant about keeping the drill on its current course. "We've 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."
As the captain left, Ida approached awkwardly. She stopped briefly to tell them that they were added to the duty roster before following Zach out of the room. With the last Ood exiting out the other door, the Doctor, Rey and Rose were left alone in the room.
He walked over and settled against the control panel by the two girls. While he had been trying to convince Zach, Rey had stuck with Rose, who was taking their predicament better than Rey had thought she would. Then again, all she had to do was look at Rose's face to see she was still in denial.
Rey wasn't sure what to think. Maybe she was in denial too. She kept trying to come up with some way they could get to the TARDIS.
"I've trapped you here," the Doctor said quietly.
"No. Don't worry about us," Rose told him.
"There are worse places to be," Rey added. She would pick trapped on an impossible planet orbiting a black hole with the Doctor and Rose over Nevermore any day. "At least it's not a hospital."
Rose let out a sharp laugh that sounded a little hysterical. The Doctor pulled her in a tight hug. One hand reached out to hold Rey's hand. They sat there for a while, the three of them drawing comfort from one another. Eventually, they moved back to Habitation Area Three. The ancient writing on the wall still creped her out, but the Doctor wanted to study it some more.
Over the tannoy, Zach asked Danny to check on the temperature in Ood Habitation. Rose and Rey got up to join the queue for food. The thought of eating made her feel sick, but it was better than sitting by the symbols. Scooti joked with Rose for a short while, already carrying a tray with food.
"I did that job once," Rose said as the Ood shook some sauce onto her tray. "I was a… a dinner lady! Not that I'm calling you a lady. Although, I dunno, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?"
"The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God," the Ood replied politely.
Well, if ever there was a big flashing sign that something was about to go terribly wrong, this was it.
Rose blinked in confusion. The Ood tapped the communication orb. "Apologies. I said, 'I hope you enjoy your meal.'"
"Yeah…"
Rose collected her tray and they returned to the Doctor. The food was strange, and not just in appearance. She made a face when she took a bite, but chewed and swallowed diligently.
"You might wanna see this," Ida called over after a short while of the three of them sitting in silence. "Moment in history." She pulled the lever to open the overhead shutters. The black hole continued to rage on, and the same light from earlier flooded the room. "There. On the edge." Ida pointed to a red light spiraling into the singularity. "That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluch, a mighty civilization spanning a billion years… disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed."
When it was over she went to close the shutters again only for the Doctor to stop her. "Could you leave it open? Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."
"How would you know," Ida asked teasingly, but relented.
"You're plenty mad enough already," Rey added. He smiled at her but didn't refute her claim.
"Scooti, check the lockdown," Ida instructed. "Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." She left with the security chief, leaving them alone.
Rose seemed to feel awkward in the silence. "I've seen films and things, yeah—they say black holes are like gateways to another universe."
"Not that one," the Doctor said. "It just eats."
"Long way from home…"
He looked at her, finally picking up on her nerves. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for um… about five hundred years… then you'll reach the Earth."
Rose managed a weak tweak of her lips before taking out her mobile. "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could call mum… what would I tell her…? Can you build another TARDIS?" She let out a half-hearted laugh.
"They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone… we're kind of stuck."
"Well, it could be worse," she said consolingly. "This lot said they'd give us a lift."
"And then what?"
"I dunno… find a planet… get a job... live a life, same as the rest of the universe."
"Pfft…" He slouched back in his chair. "I'd have to settle down. In a house or something, a proper house with… with… with… with doors and things. Carpets! Me! Living in a house!"
"I've always wanted to live in a house," Rey said. She kept her eyes fixed on her hands, trying her best not to notice the probing looks both the Doctor and Rose were giving her. "Or a flat." Anywhere that wasn't a hospital or mental facility.
Rose's smile looked a little forced, but was the thought that counted, Rey supposed. "Where did you live before?"
She shrugged. There was only the hospital, for as long as she could remember. Sometimes, if she thought hard enough about it, she managed to dredge up some faint memories of a house that was too big and children that treated her like she was their friend. It was too vague for her to believe it to be a real memory. More likely that it was some fantasy or dream from her early childhood, the kind a person revisited so many times they could believe it actually happened.
"I can't imagine you in one," she said to the Doctor, trying to bring back the lighthearted mood.
"You'd have to get a mortgage," Rose teased in a sing-song voice.
He looked back at them, horrified. "No."
"Oh, yes."
"I am dying," he declared. "That's it. I am dying, it is all over."
"What about me," Rose asked. "I'd have to get one too. I dunno, could… could be the same one, we could…" The Doctor caught her eye but she looked away quickly, suddenly shy. "I dunno… share. Or not, you know. Whatever."
Something strange settled between them. Rey looked back and forth discreetly, more than a little confused. What was so bad about sharing a house? They already basically lived together in the TARDIS, why did it matter if they lived together in a house instead? There was nothing to be shy about.
Another part of her was preoccupied with what would happen if they really were stuck. Would all those wonderful adventures—Donna, Amy, Rory, Martha—would they never happen? Would she still jump around the Doctor's timeline? Living linearly wasn't a terrible idea, but the fear of never returning to the Doctor, of being stuck for good in Nevermore, struck her cold.
"I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home," the Doctor eventually said, breaking the awkward silence.
"Everyone leaves home in the end," Rose offered.
"Not to end up stuck here."
"Yeah, but stuck with you—that's not so bad."
They smiled at each other briefly before Rose's mobile rang. She answered, then flung the phone to floor. The Doctor looked at her strangely, caught off guard by her sudden outburst. Rey hesitantly picked the device up. The call was still connected, so she held the speaker to her ear.
"He is awake."
"Who is?"
The line clicked and the dial tone rang out. She handed Rose her phone and repeated the message back to the Doctor along with the Ood's strange response from earlier. He frowned, brow furrowing and getting that signature let's-find-out-what's-going-on look on his face. "I think we should pay a visit to Ood Habitation," he declared, and led the way.
Danny was working at a computer when they arrived, humming to himself off-tune until he noticed he wasn't alone anymore. "They mysterious threesome," he greeted. "How are you, then? Settling in?"
"Yeah, sorry, straight to business. The Ood—how do they communicate? I mean, with each other."
On the level below, the Ood were sat in an enclosed area that resembled an animal-pen.
Danny shrugged. "Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle."
"Watch your mouth," Rey warned. So much for the ethics committee.
"This telepathic field—can it pick up messages," the Doctor asked.
"'Cos I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something… well, odd," Rose explained.
"Oh. An odd Ood," Danny repeated sarcastically.
"And then I got something else on my er… communicator thing."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, be fair. We've got who star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing." The three of them stared at him, unconvinced. "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."
Rey grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "Is that what the computer's doing? Monitoring the field?"
"Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register Basic 5."
"Check again." The number kept rising, first to 6, then climbing to 10, 20, 30. Danny gasped but remained in denial. He was convinced the problem was with the scanner, not the Ood.
Rose had her gaze locked on the aliens below. They all raised their heads in unison. She called out a warning to the others. "What does Basic 30 mean?"
"Well, it means that they're shouting—screaming inside their heads."
"Or something's shouting at them," the Doctor said quietly. He took Rey's hand, squeezing reassuringly.
Danny tapped on the keyboard. "But… where's it coming from? What is it saying? I mean—" He looked up at Rose. "What did it say to you?"
"Something about the beast in the pit."
"What about your communicator? What did that say?"
Rose bit her lip and looked away. "He is awake," Rey answered when it became clear the other girl was too uncomfortable to reply.
"And you will worship him," all the Ood said in unison.
"What the hell?"
"He is awake," the Doctor repeated.
"And you will worship him."
"Worship who," he asked, but received no answer. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"
Rey's head throbbed as the base shook again. Since the second they landed and stepped foot on the base, she had a headache that was steadily growing worse. At first, she thought it had just been the stress of the quake and the devastation of losing the TARDIS. But this didn't feel like one of her usual headaches. Suffice it to say, headaches and migraines weren't uncommon, but they usually came when she was feeling overwhelmed, when there was too much going on and her senses were too good at picking them up but not good enough at processing them.
This didn't feel like seeing too much. This felt like something was staring her right in the face, in plain sight but invisible because she just couldn't put the pieces together.
She, the Doctor, and Rose went down to the lower level where all the Ood were. Danny, still on the walkway above, stubbornly refused to join them. Unceasing tremors threw them violently to the floor, nearly as bad as the quake from earlier.
Then the computer announced an emergency hull breach. From the control room, Zach spoke to the entire crew over the tannoy. "Everyone… evacuate 11 to 13, we've got a breach! The base is open. Repeat: the base is open."
They ran from Ood Habitation back towards the center of the base. The Doctor and Rey led the way with Rose at a close second and Danny trailing a bit behind. In the corridor between Habitation Area Three and the control room, they were met with Jefferson, trying to keep the door open to usher everyone through. Ida and the other crew members approached from the other direction.
"Come on," Jefferson yelled. "Keep moving! And you too, Toby!" He pulled the archaeologist through and slammed the door shut behind them.
"Breach sealed," the computer announced. "Breach sealed."
"Everyone alright," the Doctor asked. "What happened? What was it?"
"Oxygen levels normal."
"Hull breach," Jefferson exclaimed through pants. "We were open to the elements. A couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."
"That wasn't a quake," the Doctor said. "What caused it?" He gave Rey a thorough once over while Rose bent down to check on Toby, who had fallen on his face when he was rushed through the door. He was sweating profusely, looking like he'd seen a ghost.
Everyone but Scooti was accounted for. She didn't answer her comm when Jefferson ordered her to report in. From the control room, Zach reported that her biochip registered her in Habitation 3.
"Habitation 3… Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink," Jefferson offered.
Everyone but Toby, Rose, the Doctor, and Rey followed him. Toby was still sitting on the floor, staring at his hands like they were someone else's. The Doctor crouched down to his eyelevel. "What happened?"
"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—"
Rose helped him up. "Come on. Up you get. Come and have some Protein One." She linked arms with him and led him down the corridor to join the others in Habitation 3.
"Are you okay," the Doctor asked Rey. She rubbed her head, trying to sooth the ache behind her eyes, and nodded. Physically, she was just fine. They'd had closer calls before; sore muscles and a few bruises were better than flesh wounds. "You sure?"
"Something bugs me," she admitted quietly. She didn't want anyone, especially Toby for some reason, to overhear. "It feels like we're being watched. Or rather, like we're mice scurrying around in a maze someone has set up."
He frowned. She found herself bothered more than usual by the troubled look on her face. It was her fault it was there, and, irrationally, she felt like she had to do something to make up for it.
"Do you feel lost?"
She shook her head. "I'm with you. People get lost when they're alone. If they're with someone else, then they're on an adventure."
Despite the grim circumstances and the uncertainty, despite all the questions and the daunting future, his smile made something loosen in her chest.
Habitation 3 was a flurry of disorder when they arrived. Everyone was talking over each other, looking for Scooti who was nowhere to be found.
"Zach," Jefferson called over his communicator. "We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing."
"It says Habitation 3."
"Yeah, well that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here."
Rey followed the Doctor's gaze upward. The shutters were open, revealing the outside. She felt her stomach drop at the sight above them. "I've found her," he said quietly.
"Oh my God…"
Scooti's body floated almost eerily just outside the window.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."
The crew were too stunned to respond. Quietly, Jefferson reported back. His voice was barely above a whisper, but it still cut through the horrified silence as if it were a shout. "Captain… report Officer Scootori Manista PKD… deceased. 43K2.1."
"She was twenty," Ida lamented. "Twenty years old." She walked over to the console and pulled the lever to close the shutters. Through the closing crack they watched as Scooti's body drifted closer and closer towards the singularity.
"'For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father… and the temples of his Gods,'" Jefferson recited, voice lowering into a whisper towards the end. It was as if his words cast a physical shadow over the room, leaving everything just a little darker and more somber.
"It's stopped," Ida said. Something in the distance crashed.
"What was that," Rose asked. "What was it?"
"The drill," the Doctor replied.
"We've stopped drilling," Ida declared. "We've made it. Point Zero."
The crew quickly gathered on the Exploration Deck, equally eager to move past the foreboding implications of Scooti's death and to find something that would make all their sacrifices worth it. Even with the parts that were damaged and lost, the base was huge and there were only a few of them left. It begged the question of just how many people had begun the expedition, and how many more were lost. Rose and Rey puttered about nervously in the background, especially when the Doctor insisted on joining the landing party.
"Capsule established," Ida reported, dressed in an orange space suit. "All systems functioning… the mineshaft is go… bring systems online now."
"Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force," the Doctor said to Zach, decked out in a similar suit.
"This is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are."
"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 eye… Yes, you do, I can see it. Trust."
"I should be going down," Zach grumbled regrettably.
"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here. In charge."
"Not much good at it, am I," he asked bitterly.
The Doctor looked at him pointedly. "I'm trusting you with Rey's safety. And Rose."
Zach sighed and called out to the rest of the room. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions!"
Rey and Rose walked over to the Doctor as he checked the readouts of his suit to make sure everything was in order. "Oxygen… nitro-balance… gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these!"
"Orange isn't your colour." She hoped her teasing words covered up the stilted quality of her voice.
"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that," Rose ordered.
"Preferably with you in it, clever boy."
The Doctor put the helmet on and saluted. "Yes, sir."
"It's funny, 'cos people back home think that space travel's gonna be whizzing about and teleports and anti-gravity… but it's not, is it?" Rose's voice cracked towards the end, betraying her emotions. "It's tough."
"I'll see you later," the Doctor told her with confidence.
"Not if I see you first," she shot back before laughing softly and pulling his head down to place a kiss on the top of his helmet.
He turned to Rey. "See you soon."
"You'd better." She stepped back and wondered if this was what he felt like every time she jumped.
Zach returned to the control room to oversee the mission. "Capsule active," he announced through the speakers. "Counting down in 10… 9…"
The Doctor and Ida walked over to the capsule. Jefferson closed the metal door behind them and saluted. Rose waved, a smile on her face. The Doctor waved back, returning her smile. Rey stood stiffly, still full of a tension that she knew wouldn't release until he was back. As Zach finished the countdown, all eyes were on the capsule that descended rapidly. No one paid attention to where Toby was sat hunched in the corner, twitchy and worked up over something, and constantly checking his hands.
The nearby computer station tracked the capsule as it descended further into the planet. Rose had taken command of the comm. and refused to relinquish it to anyone else. "Don't forget to breathe," she reminded the Doctor and Ida. Rey thought that with how red her face was that Rose should take her own advice. "Breathing's good."
"Rose, stay off the comm," Zach ordered.
"Fat chance."
Jefferson took a step forward like he was thinking about taking it from her. Rey shook her head. Better to just let Rose be. If taking over the line made her feel better than she should have at it. The last thing they needed was an argument or fight dividing them.
A soft beep sounded as the computer registered the capsule reaching Point Zero. The entire base shook as it touched down. She swayed on her feet but managed to keep balance.
"Doctor," Rose called over the line. "Doctor, are you alright?"
"Ida, report to me," Zach tried when there was no response. "Doctor?"
A moment of silence passed. The dread built up like a tidal wave, threatening to crest and come crashing down over everything. Rey's heart pounded in her chest.
Actinium. Silver. Aluminum. Americium. Argon…
Finally, "It's alright…" The Doctor's voice was faint and interlaced with static, but it was unmistakable. She sighed in relief and didn't stop mentally reciting. "We've made it… Coming out of the capsule now."
"What is it like down there," she asked, speaking into the device still in Rose's hand.
"It's hard to tell… Some sort of… cave… cavern… It's massive." Great. The one time she wanted him to talk—talking meant he was still alive, after all—and the Doctor was at a loss for words.
"You can tell Toby we've found his civilization…"
Rose cheered. "Oi, Toby—sounds like you've got plenty of work," she called out.
"Good, good," Toby replied distractedly. Rey studied him from the corner of her eye, lips twitching downward in a slight frown. She was well aware that different people handled stress differently, but there was something markedly off about Toby. He had been contentious, almost hostile when they first met in the control room, but at least he'd been responsive. Now he seemed to be in a world of his own.
"Concentrate now, people," Zach corralled. "Keep on the mission. Ida… what about the power source?"
"We're close," she reported. "Energy signature indicates north, north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"
"There's too much interference. We're in your hands."
The Doctor's and Ida's line went silent while they explored some more. In the meanwhile, Danny reported something strange in Ood Habitation. According to him, the Ood were all staring and it was putting him off. Zach told him not to make a big deal about it, but Danny was adamant something was wrong.
"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at Basic 100! I've checked—there isn't any fault. It's definitely 100."
"But that's impossible."
"What's Basic 100 mean," Rose asked.
It meant brain death. If the Ood's telepathic field really was that high, they should have been overwhelmed. It wouldn't be just each other's thoughts and emotions they shared, it would be their sensations, their memories, every tiny passing notion amplified by a thousand. No one could handle that.
"They should be dead," Danny stated.
"But they're safe," Zach asked. "They're not actually moving?"
"No, sir."
"Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson—keep a guard on the Ood."
"Officer at arms," Jefferson announced. He pulled out his own gun while the crew members responded to his order and prepared themselves for confrontation.
"You can't fire a gun in here," Rose protested. "What if they hit a wall?"
"I'm firing stock 15, only packs upon organics. Keep watch," he told the other security guard.
"Is everything alright up there," the Doctor asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Rose replied quickly.
"It's fine," Zach stressed.
"Great," Danny added with strangled enthusiasm.
"Rey?"
"Peachy." No one was dying or actively trying to kill them, so she couldn't really complain. But she was distracted between keeping an eye on Toby and trying to work out if anything could be done for the Ood. "Anything of interest down there?"
"We've found something. 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 relayed. Rey thought back to the writing on the wall in Habitation 3.
"Do you think it opens," Zach asked.
"That's what trapdoors tend to do."
"'Trapdoor' doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."
"Any way of opening it," he asked again.
"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism," Ida said.
"I supposed that's the writing," the Doctor guessed. "That'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation."
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?"
Toby was still in his corner, head in his arms. He didn't seem to have heard Zach. "Toby, they need to know—that lettering, does it make any sort of sense," Rose asked him.
Rey bounced on the balls of her feet, ready to react if he tried something. She wanted to be wrong about him, but her luck meant she was rarely wrong in these cases.
"I know what it says."
"Then tell them," Rose urged.
"When did you work that out," Jefferson asked.
"It doesn't matter, just tell them."
Toby got to his feet and walked to them slowly. One second he looked normal, and a blink of an eye later, his skin was covered in black symbols. Glowing red eyes stared back at them, and when he spoke it was the same monstrous voice as the one she'd heard over Rose's mobile.
"These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken." Jefferson aimed his gun at him, but Toby continued to talk like it wasn't there. "He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And he will rise."
"Officer, stand down," Jefferson ordered. "Stand down."
Static burst over the comm. Rey had a feeling that it was Doctor or Zach were trying to reach them. But whoever it was, they were unable to get through. Toby flexed his arms as Jefferson tried to order him back.
"He's come out in those symbols all over his face," Rose said into the device, hoping to reach the others. "They're all over him."
"Mr. Jefferson, tell me, sir… Did your wife ever forgive you," whatever was possessing Toby suddenly asked.
"I don't know what you mean," he lied.
"Let me tell you a secret: she never did."
He swallowed loudly but held his ground. "Officer… you stand down and be confined."
"Or what?"
"Or under the jurisdiction of Condition Red, I am authorized to shoot you."
"But how many can you kill?"
Toby's eyes lit up a brighter red. He opened his mouth and roared as the symbols seemed peel of his skin all at once, turning into black smoke in the air. It flew from the Exploration Deck, and Rey knew exactly where it was headed: Ood Habitation. Toby collapsed, seemingly no longer possessed. Jefferson turned his gun on the three Ood in the room with them.
"We are the Legion of the Beast," they said in unison. The translation orbs were held out like weapons in front of them. She remembered the warehouses of that snowy planet from what felt like so long ago. Those orbs would kill them if they made contact, and it wouldn't be a quick, painless death.
"Rey?" The Doctor's voice broke through the static. "What is it? Rose?"
"Report," Zach yelled. "Someone, report."
"The Legion shall be many. And the Legion shall be few…"
She pulled the communication device, still clasped tightly in Rose's hand, towards her so she could speak. "It's the Ood," she warned. At the same time, Jefferson was reporting a livestock contamination to Zach. "Something has overtaken them. It's forcing them to act according to its will."
"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan, or Lucifer, or the Bringer of Despair… The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night." The three Ood walked calmly towards them, undeterred by the guns aimed in their direction. "These are the words that shall set him free."
"Back up to the door," Jefferson shouted over his shoulder. Rey, Rose, and the other crew member complied.
"I shall become manifest."
"Move quickly," he urged.
"I shall walk in might."
"To the door! Get it open!"
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds…"
Everything was shaking again. The entire base was devolving into chaos. Her head throbbed. It felt like a full-on migraine was about to cause a storm in her brain.
"We're moving," Zach exclaimed, his voice coming from the device on Jefferson's wrist. "The whole thing's moving! The planet's moving!"
"I am the sin and the temptation. And the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the dead will come."
No matter how hard they pulled, the door refused to budge.
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed," the computer repeated unhelpfully. "Door sealed."
"The Pit is open. And I am free."