10 In the Year 4120

"Okay then, let's have it; where are we, Spaceman?" Donna asks, gazing wide-eyed around at all the bustling humanoids and more interesting looking aliens. They'd all just exited into a teeming hive of activity. Snug against a wall, the TARDIS is as unobtrusive as possible, and fortunately receives not a single look from the passersby.

"This is the year 4120, and we are on the Space Station Alpha Epsilon orbiting the planet Aristos in the Cleomides system of the Andromeda Galaxy," he tells her with a smug grin at her surprise.

"This is the year 4120?"

"Yup."

"I'm standing on an alien space station, orbiting an alien planet, in the year 4120."

"I know, pretty great, yeah?" he says with added glee, enjoying her excitement. "Remember, it was 6012 on Messaline."

"I've done planets," she sniffs dismissively. "This is a space station! Where's a window? This thing has windows, right?" she asks enthusiastically. "I've got to see this. Jack, come on. You've done these before. Show me a window." And taking Jack by the hand, Donna drags him off in the direction of one of the curving walls of the station.

"Are you going to let them wander off?" Rose asks, looking at the Doctor incredulously.

Another smug grin and he reaches into one of his impossibly deep pockets and pulls out…a phone. "Nah, I made sure they have their phones. Brilliant, I am."

"Aren't you just? Well, Dougie, I guess it's just...us? Dougie?" Looking around, Rose thinks she spots his head above the crowd several meters off.

"Doctor? Is Dougie all right?" It's strange for him to wander off. He's previously been the only companion to never do so—quite the achievement. The Doctor would sometimes (annoyingly) boast about it when any of the rest of them would get more than 30 steps away.

"Dougie? What's wrong with Dougie?"

Rolling her eyes at his obliviousness, Rose grabs his hand and starts weaving her way through the throng to reach Dougie's side.

For his part, Dougie is standing in the middle of the crush of people moving in and out of the docking area, like a rock in turbulent water. Not even realising it, the populace breaks apart to avoid him. Dougie's eyes are closed, and he has both hands pressed to either side of his handsome face. Usually his expression is one of serenity, but at this moment it's pinched. And if Rose was to guess, he's in pain.

"Dougie? What's wrong?" she asks, touching his arm gently to get his attention.

"Rose," he says almost distractedly. "There you are. I…" Looking around himself in confusion, he continues, "I…thought I saw, no heard… Rose, something is wrong here." The sudden intense clarity in his eyes is a little frightening, and the Doctor moves protectively to Rose's side on instinct.

"Dougie, what is it? I'm not sensing anything out of place. It's too busy here at the shuttle bay to check for time disruptions. Let's move away from the terminals," the Doctor says to him slowly and clearly, eyes never leaving his face. "Maybe we should head back to the TARDIS, Rose." Something isn't quite right with their friend and it's making him uneasy.

Taking Dougie's arm the Doctor begins leading him back toward the TARDIS with Rose following close behind, worried for their friend. His confusion, accompanied by an almost manic intensity is so unlike Dougie that Rose immediately shares in the unease she's picking up from her husband.

Reaching out with her mind, Rose sees if she can pick anything up anything in the area that would disturb Dougie. Opening up is a bad idea though, as the station has thousands of people on it. The immediate roar that accompanies the lowering of her mental shields, causes her to stumble a moment before she slams them back into place. Rubbing her temples, she quickens her pace to catch up. She has no idea what he could have possibly picked up amongst all that, but she wasn't going to try again! They knew he was much more sensitive than they were. Hopefully the TARDIS can help.

With the TARDIS in sight, Dougie abruptly halts with a low cry, the Doctor stumbling at the suddenly stop. Dougie, then suddenly snaps erect and gazing around himself, as if he's completely unaware of the past few seconds.

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, Dougie says, "Doctor, Rose! I seem to have been confused for a moment, forgive me."

Reaching up to rub a spot between his eyes, he looks back to them, a bit embarrassed but smiling. "I do not know what came over me. One moment I was taking in all the life surrounding us, and then I thought I heard…" As he tries to recall what exactly he heard, his eyes lose focus again, but only for a second and then he's back. If not for the previous couple of minutes, it wouldn't have seemed odd.

"I do not know exactly what I heard. I apologise if I alarmed you," Dougie says with genuine concern in his eyes.

Stepping in to give him a hug, Rose reassures him that everything's fine. Catching him up on Donna and Jack's exploring, they decide to go ahead and explore the expansive corridors to see what the station has to show them.

Dougie's sensitivity has impressed them before, and he's given them warnings and intuitions that have changed entire potential outcomes on previous adventures—they trust him.

After lunch in the cantina, where they're able to eat while listening to an all non-human band play amusing interpretations of classic Earth music, they make their way through the various shops. The Doctor must visit each and every one of them, muttering about the possibility of TARDIS parts. As there are several hundred little shops; this could take awhile. Rose and Dougie are preemptively exploring the other stands and stores near the one the Doctor is in, hoping to speed up the process.

Rose has just returned to the Doctor's side after failing to find anything in the candy store next door, to find him muttering to her, as if she hadn't left. He can't see her rolling her eyes at him and grinning at how adorable he is when he's all distracted.

"You never know, Rose, where the next likely gem will come from. Could be anything, anywhere. I'm trying to remember the shop I located the last time I was here. Why, one time I found…"

Seeing Dougie go by the doorway quickly and intent on something, she moves to the hallway to see what grabbed his interest.

"Doctor!"

Freezing at the urgency in Rose's tone, the Doctor hurriedly makes his way to her. She's wide-eyed with a little fear tinging their link and looking past a stiff and silent Dougie as she motions for him to hurry up.

Reaching her side, she leans in to whisper urgently in his ear, "Doctor, there are Ood here!"

Ood. Oh dear. It hadn't occurred to him about the Ood. Of course there are Ood here. He's in the right place at the right time—42nd Century and dead smack in the middle of the Tri-Galactic Empire.

Still feeling a bit guilty about the Ood he'd had to leave on Krop Tor, he looks over Rose's shoulder to see that there's a human salesman putting his charges through their…"paces."

Having the poor Ood behave like trained dogs bothers the Doctor, but they aren't his affair. They seem to come to this way willingly and he tries not to judge. A look of distaste mars his expression, though, before he turns back to Rose to reassure her that these Ood won't be anything like the ones they'd met the last time.

Dougie, on the other hand, is rigid, his gaze locked on the 15 or 20 Ood that are standing by waiting to be purchased for…"50 Credits…They're a bargain!"

"It's alright, Rose. The Beast is gone," The Doctor tells Rose, pulling her close. "He can't control these Ood. On their own they're generally harmless…"

The words barely leave his mouth before five of the waiting Ood turn as one to face Dougie with glowing red eyes and chant, "The Circle. It must be broken."

Just as their keeper whips around to see what's going on, they've already resumed their places and their previously meek and blinking gazes, no longer looking at Dougie.

"You just had to open your mouth," Rose huffs at the Doctor, who is opening and closing this same mouth in a lovely fish impression, his mind spinning at what just happened before it snaps shut, his lips pressed into a flat unhappy line.

Stepping to Dougie's side, Rose finds him with his eyes pressed tightly shut and trembling slightly.

"Dougie? Are you okay?" she asks, reaching out to lay a reassuring hand to his arm. At the contact this time, he reacts sharply, flinching away from her.

"Don't touch me!" he cries, taking a couple of faltering steps sideways. Clutching his skull, he moans low in his throat. "Rose. Did you hear it? The pain…they're suffering." Leaning against a bulkhead, Dougie moans again, still holding his head.

Startled, Rose looks over at the Doctor, to see he's mirroring her expression.

-What the hell is going on, Doctor?-

-I don't have a clue-

-Did you hear anything? I didn't-

-No, and I've never seen Dougie react violently…well, about anything…even Daleks!-

-I know! I'm worried, Doctor.-

-Me, too, Rose, but let's try to give him some space. The Ood are telepathic. Maybe they function at a frequency more like his own, and he is more susceptible to them, to what ever made them react that way-

-Right…and tell me how that's a good thing? Something is talking to Dougie through the Ood-just like on Krop Tor!-

-Ahhh, Right. Now that I said that, I think we need to get back to the TARDIS…ASAP. She'll block anything from trying to get to him. Call Jack and have them meet us there. Tell them it's Dougie and it's urgent. I'll keep an eye on him-

-Okay-

Pulling out her superphone, Rose moves a little way off to have the conversation where Dougie won't hear her. It only takes a minute to convey to Jack what's happening and he assures her they'll meet them back at the TARDIS. Hanging up, she turns back…and they're gone. Looking around, she sees the Doctor and Dougie—moving closer to the Ood.

"Doctor!"

Dougie is fixated on the Ood. Slowly, he begins moving through the people toward them. He shrugs off the hands of someone trying to stop him. All he can hear is the singing—the low, powerful, sad, and suffering Song coming from the Ood. Swatting away the annoying thing that is bothering him, he makes his way to the front of the crowd watching the sales pitch, and comes to a stop—waiting.

Twice the Doctor is unable to keep Dougie from advancing. He's much stronger than the Doctor realised. That could be problematic, especially if it had been Rose he'd just tossed aside. Bushing his trousers off, Rose reaches him looking scared and confused.

"Jack and Donna are on their way to meet us at the TARDIS. How are we going to get Dougie there? He just tossed you like a rag doll."

"So I noticed, thank you. I have a few ideas that will be effective, but I'm not looking forward to using them in public."

"Well, I hope your Jedi tricks work, because I have a feeling this is about to get weirder. Look!"

Reaching the front of the press near to Dougie, Rose and the Doctor see the Ood begin to turn away from the spokesman and face their friend. The ones that turn all have glowing red eyes. They haven't moved yet or said a word, but they are watching.

The crowd, sensing that something isn't right, starts to break up; people leaving in ones and twos. All of them are looking over their shoulders as they flee, uncertain as to why they felt they needed to be elsewhere, but all determined to put distance between themselves and that corridor.

Furious, the man who had been working the crowd turns to see what has everyone on edge. Seeing the eyes of his Ood, he pulls out a radio and yells into it something about red-eye and another entire batch.

Rose doesn't know what he means, but she feels the tension in the room ratchet up another notch. She doesn't know what's going on, but the current of unease is affecting everyone around them.

Nearly screaming at the light touch on her shoulder, she whips around to see Jack by her side, looking serious.

"Sorry, Rosie, I used my vortex manipulator to pop me close. I figure if we can grab Dougie, I can land us in front of the TARDIS—Donna's waiting by the doors. So what's going on? I have a really bad feeling."

"Something is trying to communicate through the Ood," the Doctor says, still watching. "They seem to be targeting Dougie, but so far…"

All twenty Ood now focus on Dougie, who has stepped forward, holding himself rigid but visibly trembling. The company man is still rattling away into his radio, beginning to look panicky. As one, the red-eyed Ood raise their hands to chest height, and say in unison, "The Circle must be broken. The Circle must be broken, so we can Sing."

As they begin to speak, Dougie falls to his knees with a low cry, weaving back and forth, his arms wrapped around his head. From the hallways around them, the Doctor, Jack, and Rose hear the running of many booted feet heading their direction.

"Damn! I hate it when I'm right. Rosie, get back; boots mean guns," Jack says, pulling out a blaster and moving to Dougie's side careful not to touch him yet.

The Doctor immediately moves between the Ood and Dougie.

"Circle, right…we need to break it. That sounds like a good plan," the Doctor says reasonably, quickly trying to get their attention. "Let's go do that then. Where's the Circle and we'll all just go nice and quietly before the humans get here with the big guns. Jack, dammit, put the gun away!"

"Too late, Doctor," Rose calls. Looking over his shoulder, he sees Rose backing toward him and Jack, arms raised.

Moving again, to put himself between the crowd of men in black carrying really big guns and everyone else, the Doctor isn't pleased with the limited options available. He doesn't get two steps before there's an incoherent yowling behind him.

Whipping around, he sees Dougie struggling against Jack, who's managed put him in a choke hold. Dougie is trying to stand and shake Jack off his back. His head bowed and he's growling like a mad bull. Rose is hovering nearby, but she can't think of how to help.

Looking up suddenly, Dougie's eyes are also glowing blood red. "THE CIRCLE MUST BE BROKEN," he screams, spittle flying, and trying to reach behind himself for Jack. Seeing Rose, Dougie takes two enraged steps in her direction—that gets the Doctor moving.

Hearing the cocking of weapons behind them and knowing he has only seconds to save his family, he knows there isn't time for the techniques he'd mentioned earlier. Running directly to Dougie, the Doctor punches him twice, as hard as he can—once to the temple and once to the sternum. Like felling a tree, Dougie is instantly unconscious, dropping to the floor. Grabbing Rose and tucking her close, the Doctor sits on Dougie and wraps an arm around Jack. Rose wraps her other arm around him as Jack slams his hand to the Vortex manipulator, triggering the sequence as the first bullets begin flying, cutting the now docile Ood down where they stand.

A/N: We begin the Ood arc! I know the Whoniverse labels them as monsters, but I've always really liked the Ood. I think they're more victims of circumstances, and no more monsters than any human that can go mental. There are seven more chapters in this arc of the story before we move to an original adventure. I'm still writing away, and Ash is beta'ing as fast as she can.

Friday's chapter is: It's Only a Wee Scratch

Thanks so much for the follows and reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I am writing it. Cheers!