2x08 "The Impossible Planet"
The TARDIS materialized, the landing was not nice on her. Clearly, from all the groans and wheezing coming from her. The Doctor and I stepped outside of the doors, looking up at her. "I dunno what's wrong with her," the Doctor said, "she's sort of... queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land."
I frowned, "I feel bad." I rubbed the side of the door softly with the hand that wasn't clutching my phone. Rose was just telling me about how its been going with her and Jackie when we landed and my phone told me there was no service. Weird. "Poor baby."
The Doctor gave me a smile which I returned. He appreciated how well I treated the TARDIS, seeing as I too understood that she was a sentient being. She wasn't just a machine, and it was wrong to say think that. The Doctor looked around, "I think... we've landed inside a cupboard!" I laughed. "Here we go!" He pushed the door open and we entered another part of the… base I suppose.
"Open Door 15," a computerized voice announced.
"Some sort of base..." the Doctor said, "moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits."
I gave him a look, "Well that's definitely reassuring."
"Open Door 16," the computerized voice said as the Doctor opened another door, holding it for me.
I smirked at him as I continued through. The Doctor began talking again, "Human design - you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier."
I shrugged, "We're lazy. Kits are convenient. That's all I have to say."
The Doctor opened another door, "Open Door 17."
The Doctor strode into the middle of the room. "Oh, it's a sanctuary base!"
I closed the door behind us, "Close Door 17."
"Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath..." he pointed downwards. I tilted my head as I listened. The hum of drills came though the distance. "Someone's drilling."
I looked up, my eyes meeting something on the wall. "Welcome to Hell."
"Oh, its not THAT bad!" he said.
I laughed. "No," I said pointing to the wall. The words "WELCOME TO HELL" were scrawled on the wall, with ancient symbols written underneath. As the Doctor walked forward to better see what that un-translated writing was I realized what was going on. "Oh," I whispered. Hell. This was going to be interesting… and highly depressing.
"What does that say?" the Doctor asked peering closely at the ancient text, but it remained stubbornly incomprehensible. "That's weird. It won't translate."
I frowned, "But the TARDIS translates everything." Except for Gallifreyan.
"Exactly," the Doctor said. "If that's not working, then it means... this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." He stood and made his way over to another door. "We should find out who's in charge." I came over to him as he turned the wheel of 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 computerized voice announced.
The door opened and we were greeted with the surprise of four Ood on the other side. My attention immediately went to their eyes, they were normal. Well, that's a plus. Means we wont die. The Doctor, trying to regain his composure, began to speak, "Right! Hello! Sorry! Uh... I was just saying, uh... nice base!"
"We must feed," the Ood spoke together.
"Your gonna what?" the Doctor asked.
"We must feed," the Ood repeated.
I tilted my head, "What?"
"We must feed." Even though I knew that these Ood weren't going to kill us, we began to back away while they advanced. "We must feed." I turned and made for the door we had just come through only to have it open and more Ood begin to come through. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." Yet another door opened and more Ood began to walk through. Now the Doctor and I were cornered. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver while I picked up the only thing that was close enough to me and wasn't bolted down. A school bus yellow chair. "We must feed. We must feed." The Doctor and I were now against the wall. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."
The Ood right in front of us, tapped the white orb he held. I flinched, I remembered what used to be there, and just to think of it hurt. "You. If you are hungry."
The Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver, confused. "Sorry?"
"We apologize. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems." I placed down my chair. "Would you like some refreshment?"
"Uhm…" the Doctor said.
"Open Door 18,"
The door opened and a man came through, flanked by two others holding guns. "What the hell…?" the man asked. "How did…?" He approached the Doctor and I, breaking through the Ood. The man then spoke into his wrist, which held more then likely a communication device. "Captain... you're not going to believe this. We've got PEOPLE. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean two... living... people. Just standing here, right in front of me."
I tilted my head. What they expected fake people? A voice, not computerized, came from the speakers, "Don't be stupid, that's impossible."
The man continued to stare at us and said, "I suggest telling THEM that."
I frowned, "But this is a space base isn't it? You've got to have people come every once in a while."
The man looked directly at me saying roughly, "You're telling me you don't know where you are?"
"No idea," the Doctor said. "More fun that way." He grinned making me grin. God, why was that goofy grin so contagious?
Over the speakers another non-computerized voice spoke, "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way."
As the base began to quake and tremble, the man rushed over to a door and opened it. "Through here!" he growled. "Now. Quickly, come on!" Sirens began to sound. The Doctor grabbed my hand and we ran to follow the man through the door, the other two behind us. "Now!" the man bellowed. We entered through another corridor which was shaking, smoke rising from the floor. It was complete chaos. I could hear the man shout over the noise, "Move it! Come on! Come on, come on!" Sparks went off right in front of my face, causing me to jump and then almost fall from the large shake that was given the moment of my landing. The Doctor wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me along. Keeping me from falling again. "Move it, come on! Quickly! Move it!" We made it down the corridor and hurried into the door. The control room that is. The crew was busy working, but the moment we entered and they saw that we were in fact new people they stared. The fact the Doctor had that grin again wasn't helping.
"Oh, my GOD," one of the men said. "You meant it."
"People!" a younger curly haired woman spoke. "Look at that! Real people!"
The Doctor smiled, "That's us. Hooray!"
I smiled at them and said, "Yeah. I'm Faline and this is the Doctor."
A dark haired man stood from his seat at the controls and walked over to us. "Come on... the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be... no. They're real!"
The first man who spoke, clearly the one in charge and now that I thought of it, the first non-computerized voice, said impatiently, "Come ON, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny," the man in front of us turned, "strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" The seconds counted down on a computer screen. The man turned towards the Doctor and I, "Sorry, you two, whoever you are. Just… hold on. Tight."
"Onto what?" I asked.
"Anything," he said. "I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed." The Doctor and I grabbed onto railings right beside eachother.
The Ood spoke saying, "Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated."
"What's this planet called, anyway?" the Doctor asked.
An older curly haired woman said, "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" The Doctor and I clearly looked confused because the woman said, "You really don't know, do you?"
"And… IMPACT!" the man in charge said just before the entire base began to shake violently. I screamed slightly in surprise and almost fell, but held tightly onto the railing. It stopped almost as soon as it started.
The Doctor stood. "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad-!" He was thrown backwards as the base shook even more violently than it did before. I squeezed my eyes shut and clung to the railing for dear life. There was a small explosion from one of the consoles that I opened my eyes just in time to see. Sparks few around the room as we were all tossed around like rag-dolls. Finally, it stopped.
"Okay," the man in charge said, "that's it." The man we first encountered hurrying forward with a fire extinguisher. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" the older curly haired woman said.
"Danny."
"Fine," the black haired man in the control seat said.
"Toby?"
"Yeah, fine," said a short haired man.
"Scooti?"
"No damage," the younger curly haired woman said.
"Jefferson?"
"Check!" said the man that had helped us.
"We're fine, thanks, fine, yeah, don't worry about us," the Doctor said before turning to me. My hands still held onto the railing. "Faline?" he asked softly.
"I'm fine," I said letting go of the railing. I flexed my fingers. "A little freaked, but otherwise fine." The Doctor kissed the top of my head as I tuned back in to the others' conversation.
"The surface caved in," the man in charge said as he looked at the screen in front of him. "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 said.
"Just do as I say, yeah?" the man said. Toby left the room, he brushed past me and as I got a better look at him I remembered what part he was going to later play in this.
"Oxygen holding," the older curly haired woman, Ida, said. "Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay."
I looked around. "Never mind the earthquake. What kind of storm is that outside? A hurricane?"
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane," the younger curly haired woman, Scooti, said. "There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum."
I tilted my head, "Then what's shaking the roof?"
"You're not joking. You really don't know?" Ida asked. I shook my head. "Well - introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." She indicated to the man in charge. "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir..." she indicated to the first man we saw, "you've met Mr Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee."
Danny, the man with the dark hair, said, "Not as boring as it sounds." The Doctor and I smiled.
"And that man who just left," Ida continued, "that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this..." She placed her hands on the younger woman's shoulders, "... is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance." Scooti smiled at us. Ida went over to a set of controls. "And this… this is home." She turned a lever and a whirring sound started.
"Brace yourselves, Zach said. "The sight of it sends some people mad."
The room was flooded with a red-ish light as an over head window opened. Revealing a darkened mas with golden beams surrounding it. Light being sucking into it. "It's a black hole," I said softly.
"But that's impossible," the Doctor said in disbelief.
"I did warn you," Zach said.
"We're standing under a black hole," the Doctor said.
"We're in orbit," Ida told us.
"But we can't be…"
"You can see for yourself," Ida said. "We're in orbit."
I could see the Doctor turn to Ida out of the corner of my eye. I, however, couldn't take my eyes from it. "But we CAN'T be."
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."
"That's bad, isn't it?" I asked not turning away.
"That doesn't cover it…" the Doctor said, "a black hole's a dead star, it collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity... time... everything just gets pulled inside... and crushed."
I frowned, "So we cant be in orbit. We should be pulled in."
"We should be dead," the Doctor said.
"And yet... here we are," Ida said. "Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board."
I frowned, "If theres no atmosphere, then whats that?" I pointed to what looked like clouds speeding rapidly towards the black hole outside the base.
"Stars breaking up..." Ida explained, "gas clouds... we have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads before falling into that thing."
I kept staring at it. "Faline?" the Doctor asked. I turned to him, forcing myself to look away. "Are you alright?"
I nodded. "Is it weird that I find it beautiful and absolutely terrifying at the same time?"
The Doctor shook his head with a slight smirk. "No," he said kissing the top of my head.
I nodded. "Okay, then I'm fine." I gave him a smile that he returned.
The Doctor took my hand and we walked over to the control panel. "Close Door 1," the computerized voice said causing me too look up and see Toby walk in.
"The rocket link's fine," Toby said.
I turned my attention back to Zach. He tapped a button on the controls and a hologram the black hole appeared before us. The Doctor put on his sexy 'thinking' glasses. "That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gen 5," Zach said.
"In the scriptures of the Falltino," Ida said, "this planet is called 'Kroptor'. 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."
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," Zach said. "You see…" He pressed another button and the hologram changed to one of the planet with a gravity field emanating out from it like a tunnel. "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 gestured to the hologram. "As a funnel. A distinct... gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
I turned to him surprised, "You seriously flew down that thing?"
"By rights," Zach said, "the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain… which is what put me in charge…"
"You're doing a good job," Ida said.
Zach shrugged, "Yeah. Well, needs must."
"But if that gravity funnel closes," Danny told us, "there's no way out."
"We had fun speculating about that," Scooti said.
"Oh, yeah. That's the word," Danny said. He whacked Scooti on the head with a scroll. "'Fun'."
The Doctor frowned, "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 nodded, "Sure. Help yourself." She pushed the calculator over to him and left him to do… whatever he does with controls.
I was trying to follow what he was doing, however I felt a presence. I turned to see an Ood holding a cup out to me. "Your refreshment," he told me.
I smiled softly, "Thank you." I placed my other hand over the Ood's hand that held the communication orb. "And I'm sorry." He seamed to understand what I was apologizing for because he placed his other hand on top of mine for a moment. In that moment I swear I could hear the song. All that heartbreak, fear, and sorrow hit me at once. A tear slipped down my cheek. The Ood released me and walked away. I walked over to Danny, seeing as the Doctor was a little busy. "Danny," the man turned his attention to me, "Why are they here?"
Danny gave me a look. "They're Ood," he said. "Everyone's got one. They work the mine shafts. All the drilling and stuff. Supervision, and maintenance! They're born for it. Basic slave race."
I glared at him, "That's heartless."
Scooti, clearly amused with my reaction, said, "Don't start – she's like one of that lot. Friends of the Ood."
I glared at her with a glare that would put the Oncoming Storm to shame. "You would be too if you knew how the Ood were treated so they could be the way you want them."
"But the Ood offer themselves," Danny said. "If you DON'T give them orders, they just pine away and die."
I growled heavily. I wanted to yell and scream that they did this because they had to! They had no other choice but to put their trust in ever person they met! One of the Ood, the same one from before came up to me. "Do you like being ordered around?"
"It is all we crave," the Ood told me.
"Why?"
"We have nothing else in life," he said.
I gave him a long look before deciding what I was going to do. I leaned towards him and whispered so that he was the only one that heard. "The Circle will be broken. I promise." The Ood looked at me long and hard before placing his hand on top of mine again. This time I didn't hear a song of sorrow, but rather of joy. I smiled at him as the Ood took away his hand and walked away.
"There we go," the Doctor said. I turned my attention back to him for the moment. "D'you see?" He gestured to the screen, where it was filled with his new calculation. "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." I coughed heavily. Holy Fuck! How did I never notice that?! "Faline?" the Doctor asked.
I bit my lip. "Its one of those instances where I don't know if I should say anything Ten. But I just noticed the giant hint that was in your sentence." He looked at me confused for a moment. "That's a lot of sixes." I couldn't bare myself to say it. I mean, come on! Its six-six-six!
"And its impossible," the Doctor said.
Zach stared at him in disbelief, "It took us two years to work that out!"
"I'm very good," the Doctor said.
"But... that's why we're here," Ida said. "This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."
Zach nodded. "It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale."
"We could revolutionize modern science," Ida said enthusiastically.
"We could used it to fuel the Empire," Jefferson said.
The Doctor took off his glasses. "Or start a war."
"It's buried beneath us," Toby said. "In the darkness, waiting." I flinched. "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," the Doctor said. "Did YOU do that?"
Toby nodded. "I copied it from fragments we found on earth by the drilling, but I can't translate it."
The Doctor shook his head, "No, neither can I. And that's saying something."
"There was some form of civilization," Toby said. "They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in."
The Doctor grinned at the whole crew. "And you came."
"Well, how could we not?" Ida asked.
Zach switched off the hologram as the Doctor still looked around grinning at them all fondly. "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?"
Zach nodded, "That's me."
"Just stand there, 'cos I'm gonna hug you," the Doctor said. "Is that all right?"
Jefferson stared as Zach said, "I s'pose so."
The Doctor began edging towards him. "Here we go. Coming in." He threw his arms around Zach and clutched him, beaming. "Ahh, human beings, you are amazing!" He gave Zach a squeeze. "Ha!" I giggled as the Doctor released Zach. "Thank you."
"Not at all," Zach said.
"But apart from that," the Doctor said, "you're completely mad. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives."
Ida gave him a look, "You can talk! 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," I said. "She's parked down the way from… umm…" I looked to the Doctor for help.
"Habitation area Three," he said. I just nodded and smiled. Wow, why is it all I can think of now are the penguins from the Madagascar movie saying 'Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave'.
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked.
"Uh, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah," the Doctor said with a smile. Well, that smile lasted till he saw the look between Zach and Ida. "Storage six, but you said..." something hit him. "You said... you said storage five to eight." Without another word, he turned on his heel and dashed from the room.
I immediately followed, trying to remember what happened next. I could barely pay attention to where we were going. Just the sound of the computerized voice speaking, "Open Door 19. Close Door 19."
I almost ran into the Doctor when he stopped to spin the wheel and try to open the door. "Stupid doors, come ON!" the Doctor growled. The door swung open.
"Open Door 17." We continued down the hall. "Open Door 15." The Doctor slammed himself against the next door, frantically pushing the button to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Door 16 out of commission."
"Cant be, cant be!" the Doctor cried.
"What is it?" I asked. "Something happened to her. What happened?"
The Doctor opened a small round window in the door and looked through it. "The TARDIS is gone." He backed away from the window, breathing heavily. I could see the horror written on his face.
"Door 16 out of commission."
"What?" I asked. "What do you mean she's gone?" I looked outside only to see the rocky landscape of the planet outside.
"Look down," the Doctor said. I did, only to see a gaping chasm right beneath us.
-x-x-x-
"The ground gave way," the Doctor told Zach with great urgency in his voice when we returned to the control room. "My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."
"We can't divert the drilling," Zach said walking off.
The Doctor stared at him for a moment before following him. "But I NEED my ship," he said. "Its all I've got. Literally the only thing."
"Doctor," Zach said, irritation clear in his voice. "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." He then left.
Ida approached the Doctor, who looked completely helpless. "I'll uh - put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry." She followed Zach from the room.
"Open Door 1." The Doctor and I looked at each other. One of the Ood exited, leaving us alone. "Close Door 1."
The Doctor came to me, wrapping me in his arms. He leaned us against the control panel. "I've trapped you here," he said softly.
I shook my head, "No. Don't worry about me, I'm with you." I leaned my head against him. "I'm just sorry I didn't remember what happened to the TARDIS. And I'm not sure whether or not I should tell you what's going to happen." I paused. "I don't think I should though, I cant risk whatever's here to know what I can do. We can't risk it getting out." The base shook again causing the Doctor to tighten his grip on me. I looked upwards at the black hole, pulling in anything and everything but this planet. "Okay, so we're on a planet that shouldn't even exist. A planet that's under a black hole… with no way out." The Doctor looked down at me as I turned my attention to him. "Maybe we should worry a little bit." I gave a slight nervous laugh. The Doctor kissed the top of my head. I leaned my head against his chest, listening to his hearts beat, hoping it would calm me down.
-x-x-x-
We were back in Habitat Three, the Doctor and I sat by the ancient text. The Doctor staring at it with his brow furrowed. Over the loudspeaker Zach spoke, "Danny, check the temperature of Ood Habitation. It seems to be rising." I froze for a moment before getting up and walking over to the hatch, where the Ood were serving food. Danny stood to do what Zach told me.
Scooti was already by the hatch with her tray. She gestured to the trays, "Help yourself," she said to me. "Just don't have the green. Or the blue." She laughed.
I picked up a tray and moved to the hatch where an Ood stood. I smiled at him, "Hello."
"Hello," the Ood said. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Ummm, sure." I gestured to the blue… whatever it was. "Some of that please."
The Ood placed some of that sloppy blue gloop onto my tray. "Would you like sauce with that?"
"Sure, why not," I said smiling at him.
The Ood shook some sauce onto my tray. "The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God."
I froze, "What?"
The Ood tapped his communication orb. "Apologies. I said, "I hope you enjoy your meal"."
I nodded slightly. "Yeah," I paused. "Thank you." I picked up the tray and walked off. Okay then. I'm a little freaked. But at least he didn't have red eyes and he was only picking up on what was in the pit. But God, that was fucking scary either way.
I placed my tray down and tried whatever it was I was eating. Just a little. It wasn't actually that horrible. Actually, whatever sauce they placed on this blue goop kind of tasted like steak sauce. After two bites though, I couldn't finish it. It was creepily filling. I threw away the rest of whatever it was and moved back to the Doctor's side. He wrapped his arm around my waist just as the lights flickered.
I glanced around to see Ida speak into her wrist communicator, "Zach – have we got a problem?"
"No more than usual," Zach answered."Got the Scarlet System burning up, it might be worth a look."
Ida looked over at the Doctor and I, we had turned our full attention on her when Zach answered. "You might wanna see this," Ida said. "Moment in history." She pulled a lever, which opened the overhead 'shutters', revealing the black hole overhead and flooding the room with that, now familiar, soft red light. Ida pointed upwards, "There on the edge." I turned my attention to the black hole. A stream of red light is spiraling into the black hole. "That red cloud... that used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi... a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years... disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed." I felt my heart pounding, we were seeing them die. What if they were still there? People still living on those planets? Souls trapped as they were pulled into nothingness. "Ladies and gentlemen... we have witnessed its passing." She went to pull the lever to close the shutters again, but the Doctor stopped her.
"Er, no, could you leave it open?" They all gave him a look. "Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise." Of course not, if he looked into the Untempered Schism then I think he can look at a black hole and not go crazy.
"How would you know?" Ida asked. The Doctor just smiled. "Scotti, check the lockdown." Scooti nodded and left. Ida turned to Jefferson, "Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." Ida then left with Jefferson.
"Open Door 18," the computerized voice announced.
I looked up at the black hole before looking back at the Doctor, not wanting to keep staring again. "I heard once that black holes are gateways to another universe," I said.
"Close Door 18."
"Not that one," the Doctor said. "It just eats."
I looked back into the sky, "Its one long way from Earth." I would have called it home, but it really wasn't my home anymore. My home was with the Doctor.
I must have not been paying attention because the next thing I knew the Doctor wrapped his arm around my waist and pointed into the sky with the other. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for um... about five hundred years... then you'll reach the Earth."
I smirked, "Oh only five hundred years?" The Doctor wrapped his other arm around my waist. "There's no way to get back to Earth is there?" I asked him.
I felt the Doctor shake his head. "A TARDIS is grown, not built. And with my own planet gone… we're kind of stuck."
I bit my lip before saying, "Well they said they could give us a ride."
"And then what?" he asked.
I shrugged, "I don't know. Find a planet, live life. Same as everyone else, I guess." I could tell that he knew my heart wasn't in what I was saying. There's no way he could give up this life, and there's no way that I could either.
"Pfft... I'd have to settle down," the Doctor said. "In a house or something, a proper house with... with... with... with DOORS and things. Carpets! Me! Living in a house!" I laughed. "Now that... that is terrifying."
I giggled, "You'd have to get a mortgage."
The Doctor buried his face into my neck, "… No."
"Oh yes," I said holding onto his arms before moving to interlace our hands.
"I am dying," the Doctor said. "That's it. I am dying, it is all over."
"Hey now," I said. "I'd have to get one too. Well, actually, I'd have to take care of yours." The Doctor was silent and I continued, "Cuz there's no why I'm leaving you alone. Trouble magnet." I added the trouble magnet to hide what I truly meant. That I wanted us to stay together as this, whatever we were. I wasn't going to allow him to leave me, not now.
The Doctor laughed, "Trouble magnet?"
I gave him a look. "There's no way you wont find trouble. It follows you. Knowing our luck we'd land on a planet ruled by spider people that want to take over and make everyone else their lunch." I glance at him, seeing him open his mouth and I quickly said, "If there is a planet ruled by spiders, please for the love of God, don't tell me." He snapped his mouth shut and I knew that there was a planet like that. I shivered and removed myself from the Doctor, wiping at my 'Who Killed Bambi!?' shirt, shorts, and bare legs. I could practically feel spiders crawling all over me. The Doctor laughed at me. "Don't laugh, its not funny," I said with a smirk. I knew how ridiculous I was being… but I hate bugs. Oh my god.
The Doctor wrapped his arms around my waist again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. My fingers unconsciously made their way into his hair. My god, his hair. The Doctor smiled down at me, before he got a small frown. "I promised Jackie and Rose I'd always take you back home," he told me.
"I'm home with you," I said without really thinking. I noticed what I said and couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye.
The Doctor leaned forward until his lips caught mine for a moment. "I didn't want you to end up stuck here," he told me.
I shrugged. "It could be worse. I could be here without you."
The Doctor leaned forward to kiss me only to be interrupted by my phone ringing. I frowned and pulled it out. "What?" I asked confused.
"What?" he asked.
I looked at him. "I was on my phone with Rose when we got here. It told me there was no service."
I paused a moment before answering. "He is awake," a deep voice said. I jumped and threw my phone to the floor.
-x-x-x-
After that phone call, the Doctor immediately grabbed my hand and we made our way down to, what he later told me to be Ood Habitation. We bounded down the stairs, seeing Danny working at a computer. "Evening!" the Doctor said.
"Hello," I smiled at him.
Danny looked up and smiled at us, "The mysterious couple. How are you, then? Settling in?"
"Yeah, sorry," the Doctor said, "straight to business, the Ood - how do they communicate? I mean, with each other."
It was then that I noticed where the Ood were. I looked over the balcony to see the Ood sitting together in what looked like an animal-pen. Well, it might as well be. Tears welled in my eyes.
"Oh, just empaths," Danny said. "There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does THEM much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle." If he says one more thing that I don't like towards the Ood, I'm going to blow. They're living … aliens. They know what's going on and to see them treated like this kills me. This is wrong.
"This telepathic field – can it pick up messages?" the Doctor asked.
"When I was having dinner, one of the Ood said something…" I said.
Danny brushed me off saying, "Oh. An odd Ood."
"And then I received something on my… communication device," I said knowing better then to say i-phone.
"Oh, be fair," Danny said. "We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing." I rose my eyebrow. Really now? "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."
I glared at him. I opened my mouth to yell at him, but the Doctor took my hand. I took a deep and let the Doctor speak. "Monitor the field - that's this thing?" He nodded to the computer screen.
The reading on the screen read 'Basic 5'. "Yeah," Danny answered not noticing my anger. "But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register Basic 5."
While he spoke the reading rose to 'Basic 6'. "Well, that's not Basic 5." The reading began to rise again… and again. "10…" The reading kept rising as I turned to see the Ood suddenly raise their heads in unison. "20… They've gone up to Basic 30."
"But they cant…" Danny said.
I tightened my grip on the Doctor's hand. "Doctor, the Ood…" the Ood then turned, as one, to look up at the three of us. I turned to Danny and asked, though I'm not really sure that I want to know, "What does Basic 30 mean?"
"Well," Danny said clearly baffled, "it means that they're shouting - screaming inside their heads."
I flinched. Why do they have to suffer so much? "Or something's shouting at them…" the Doctor said wrapping his arm around me.
Danny tapped hurriedly at the keyboard. "But... where's it coming from? What is it saying? I mean—" he turned to look at me. "What did it say to you?"
"He said, 'The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God'," I answered.
Danny blinked slowly for a moment, "What about your communicator? What did that say?"
I took a deep breath before saying, "He is awake."
"And you will worship him," the Ood said as one. I jumped and clutched at the Doctor's jacket.
"What the hell?" Danny asked.
The Doctor looked to the Ood, wrapping an arm around my waist. "He is awake," he said to them.
"And you will worship him," the Ood said as one.
"Worship who?" the Doctor asked. He was met with no reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" There was still no answer. The Doctor looked down at me, "Faline?"
I shook my head. He wanted me to tell him what I knew. "I cant." I wasn't going to tell him about this, especially because I knew that the Beast in the Pit was more then likely listening. I couldn't risk it knowing that I knew… well the future.
I looked down at the Ood and moved out of the Doctor's embrace to go down the steps to the Ood 'pen'. The Doctor stayed on the balcony, I could just barely hear them talking. But I wasn't going to pay attention. The Ood looked at me, one of them moved closer to the door. I gave it a weak smile, "Hello."
The Ood just stated at me for a moment before saying, "Hello Faline Marks."
"Are you all okay?" I asked, looking at the others trapped in the cage. Because it wasn't a pen, it was a cage. "I know it must hurt."
"We are well," the Ood said. "You will break the circle." I gave him a weak smile. I might help to break the circle but I'm not sure if I can save them.
A hand grabbed mine causing me to jump and flinch away. I turned to see the Doctor standing there with a smile on his face. I punched his shoulder, "You jerk." He laughed, taking my hand back. He opened his mouth to speak then the entire base shook violently. The Doctor's grip on me tightened as we were thrown around, hitting the 'pen' more then once.
"Emergency hull breach," the computerized voice announced as the shaking stopped suddenly. "Emergency hull breach."
The Doctor and I made our way upstairs. We could hear Danny asking someone, "Which section?"
Zach's voice came out of Danny's wrist device, "Everyone… evacuate 11 to 13, we've got a breach! The base is open. Repeat: the base is OPEN."
The Doctor was at the door before Zach finished speaking. My hand was tight in his as, "Open Door 19," we ran through the door. Danny was close behind us as we ran. "Close Door 19."
Over the intercom we could hear Zach say, "I cant contain the oxygen field, we're gonna lose it!"
We began to run faster, pushed ourselves harder. At the end of the corridor we would see Jefferson keeping a door open for us and for the group coming down the other corridor. "Come on! Keep moving!" Jefferson yelled. We made it inside the room, I could hear Jefferson saying, "And you too, Toby!" I turned and looked at Toby before taking a single step closer to the Doctor. I remember what happened to Toby, that he was a part of the beast now.
"Breach sealed. Breach sealed."
The Doctor ran over to the group. "Everyone all right?! What happened? What was it?"
"Oxygen levels normal."
Jefferson panted as he said, "Hull breach! We were open to the elements. A couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."
I moved next to the Doctor as he said, "That wasn't a quake. What caused it?"
Zach's voice came over the intercom, "We've lost sections 11 to 13. Everyone all right?"
Jefferson began speaking into his wrist device, "We've got everyone here except Scotti. Scotti report." Static came from the device followed by a beep. "Scotti Manista? That's an order. Report." Again, the device created static and then a beep.
"She's all right," Zach told us. A sigh of relief came from Jefferson and Ida. "I picked up her bio chip, she's in Habitation 3. Better go and check if she's not responding, she might be unconscious." Zach paused. "How about that, eh? We survived."
"Habitation 3..." Jefferson said, "come on, I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on."
Everyone but the Doctor, Toby, and myself followed Jefferson down the corridor. The Doctor crouched down beside Toby, who looked severely shaken. I felt bad for him, but at the same time I didn't want to. He didn't know what was going on, but he was going cause so much destruction. Its moments like these I hated knowing what's going to happen. "What happened?" the Doctor asked him.
Toby spoke very fast, clearly flustered and clearly human. "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—"
I helped Toby to his feet. At the moment he was human, I couldn't hate him while he was human and its not like he wanted this. "Come on. Lets get you up and get you some Protein One to calm down." He began to walk down the corridor, ahead of the Doctor and I.
"Oh, you've gone native," the Doctor said smirking at me.
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Oh yes. Protein One with just a dash of Three." We both smiled at each other and laughed a little.
We followed Toby to Habitation Area Three, from what the computer said. Everyone was looking for Scooti. "I've checked Habitation 4…" Ida said.
"There's no sign of her. The bio chip says she's in the area." Jefferson turned to us and asked, "Have you seen Scooti?"
Toby shook his head. "No, no, no, I don't think so."
Ida spoke into her wrist device. "Scooti, please respond, if you can hear this please respo- Habitation 6."
Jefferson shook his head. "Nowhere here." He spoke into his own wrist device. "Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing."
"It says Habitation 3," Zach's voice filtered through.
Jefferson nodded, though Zach couldn't see him. "Yeah, well that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's NOT HERE."
"I've found her," the Doctor said from beside me. We all looked at him before following his gaze upwards, through the overhead window. My hands flew over my mouth and tears welled in my eyes. Through the glass we were able to see Scooti's body floating eerily through space. "Sorry," the Doctor said. "I'm so sorry."
Jefferson spoke into his wrist device quietly, "Captain... report Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. 43K2.1."
"She was twenty…" Ida said, "twenty years old." She went over to the controls and pulled a lever. The shutters closed as the Doctor and I watched Scooti's body drift 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." At the end Jefferson's voice dropped to a whisper. The shutters closed completely with a slight clang, leaving the room noticeably darker and gloomier than before. A strange silence also fell across the room.
"It's stopped…" Ida said.
There was a distant crash that caused me to jump slightly. I turned and looked at the Doctor, "What was that? What's going on?"
"The drill," he said.
"We've stopped drilling," Ida said. "We've made it. Point Zero."
-x-x-x-
It took us a while but we ended up on the Exploration Dec where the crew was preparing to go down into the mineshaft. Something I remember the Doctor was going to volunteer for. Damn it. "Capsule established," Ida said. "All systems functioning... the mineshaft is go... bring systems online now."
The Doctor, having already grabbed a spacesuit and put it on, approached Zach. Zach openly stared at him as he spoke, "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force."
"Doctor," Zach said, "this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are."
The Doctor gave a slight nod, "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 smiled slightly. Its hard not to just the Doctor. He has that face, no matter the face he has, that makes you want to trust him, believe in him.
"I should be going down," Zach said.
"The Captain doesn't lead the mission," the Doctor said. "He stays here. In charge." Unless you watch Star Trek, then the captain is always leading the mission.
"Not much good at it, am I?" Zach said bitterly. The Doctor didn't answer, but simply looked at him. Zach sighed before addressing everyone. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions!"
I caught the Doctor's eye and he walked over to me while Zach continued to address everyone. Not that either of us really paid attention. The Doctor checked the device on the wrist of the spacesuit. "Oxygen... nitro-balance... gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these!"
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him which he returned. "You better come back to me," I told him seriously before smirking, "I don't want to have to kick your ass."
The Doctor smiled at me and leaned forwards kissing me on the lips, "Yes ma'am."
I took the helmet from his hands and placed it on him, locking it into place. "Its funny. People back home think that space travel is gonna be like Star Trek with teleports and anti-gravity. But its not." I paused. "Its tough."
The Doctor gave me a smile. "I'll see you later."
I smiled at him in return. "Of course you will." I pulled his head down so I could place a kiss on his helmet.
-x-x-x-
"Capsule active," Zach said over the intercom. He had returned to the control room to watch over the Doctor and Ida while they went into the mines. "Counting down in 10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 …" As the countdown drew to a close the Doctor and Ida stepped into the capsule that would lower them down into the mines. Jefferson closed the door after them. "5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …" Jefferson gave the Doctor and Ida a salute. "1." I smiled and waved at the Doctor. He waved back, returning my smile. "Release." The capsule descended into the shaft. I glanced at Toby as he sat hunched in the corner, he was very twitchy and paranoid as he kept checking his hands. I couldn't keep my attention on him. It scared me too much to think about what was going to happen, so my attention moved to the diagram on the computer screen to my right. It showed the descent of the capsule into the depths of the planet.
"Gone beyond the oxygen field." Zach said through the computer. "You're on your own."
I leaned forward speaking into the comm, "Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing." It was obvious I was worried and nervous out of my mind.
"Faline, stay off the comm," Zach told me.
"Ha, ha," I said. "Your funny." There was a few moments filled only with the sound of the capsule moving and Jefferson typing away at the computer. The diagram indicated that capsule reached Point Zero. It caused the whole base to shake. Damn. As soon as I steadied myself, seeing as I almost fell flat on my ass, I returned to the comm. "Doctor?" there was no reply causing me to frown. "Doctor, are you okay?" There was still no answer.
"Ida, report to me…" Zach too was met with silence. "Doctor?"
"It's all right…" the Doctor's voice filtered through causing me to practically sigh in relief. "We've made it… coming out of the capsule now."
"What's it like down there?" I asked trying not to let him know how terrified I had been when he didn't answer.
"It's hard to tell…" the Doctor said, "some sort of… cavern… its massive." There was a few seconds of silence before the Doctor said, "Faline… you can tell Toby… we've found his civilization…"
I turned and glanced at Toby, but didn't say anything. He was still clearly distracted and twitchy so its not like he'd pay attention to what I said anyways.
Zach came onto the comm, "Concentrate now, people. Keep on the mission. Ida... what about the power source?"
"We're close," Ida answered. "Energy signature indicates north, north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"
"There's too much interference. We're in your hands."
"Well…" Ida said, "we've come this far. There's no turning back."
The Doctor then came onto the comm. "Oh, did you have to? No turning back? That's almost as bad as "nothing can possible go wrong" or "this is is gonna be the best Christmas Walford's ever had" –"
Ida interrupted him, "Are you finished?"
"Yeah! Finished," the Doctor said. I laughed. I could tell he was a little bugged about being interrupted.
"Captain, sir," Danny's voice filtered through the comm. "There's something happening with the Ood."
"What are they doing?" Zach asked.
Danny kept his voice low as he answered, "They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't."
"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being STARED at."
"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at Basic 100! I've checked - there isn't any fault. It's definitely 100."
Zach sounded extremely shocked as he said, "But that's impossible."
I was thankful that the Doctor and Ida couldn't hear Danny and Zach's conversation. I turned to Jefferson, "What does Basic 100 mean?"
"They should be dead," Danny answered for him.
"Basic 100's brain death," Jefferson said.
"But they're safe?" Zach asked. "They're not actually moving?"
"No sir," Danny said.
"Keep watching them." Zach commanded. "And you, Jefferson - keep a guard on the Ood."
"Officer at arms!" Jefferson called as he readied his gun.
"Yes, sir," one of the gun touting crew member replied.
I turned to Jefferson. "You said you cant fire a gun in here. What if you hit a wall?"
"I'm firing stock 15, only packs upon organics," Jefferson explained. Thankfully I could understand that enough to know he has special bullets that make it ok. Jefferson turned to the security guard. "Keep watch. Guard them."
The guard nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Is everything all right up there?" the Doctor asked.
I nodded to myself saying, "All good here."
"It's FINE." Zach said.
"Great!" Danny said sarcastically.
There was a long pause before the Doctor said, "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 said.
"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked.
"That's what trapdoors tend to do," the Doctor said.
I laughed. "And you had to find that trapdoor didn't you?"
It wasn't the Doctor that answered but Ida, "'Trapdoor' doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."
"Any way of opening it?" Zach asked.
Ida paused before saying, "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 Doctor said. "The letters that defy translation."
"Toby," Zach asked, "did you get anywhere with decoding it?"
I turned to Toby and said, "Tell them what it means."
Toby didn't move from his little ball in the corner. "I know what it says."
"When did you work that out?" Jefferson asked.
Toby stood. He turned towards us, revealing that he was covered in the symbols, eyes glowing red. When Toby spoke it was with the Voice of the Beast. "These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken." Jefferson immediately pointed 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 growled. "Stand down!"
I backed away slightly, bumping into the computer behind me. I could hear the urgency in the Doctor's voice came onto the comm, "What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Faline? What's going on?" I wanted with all my heart to answer, but I couldn't do that at the moment.
Toby flexed his arms. "Officer," Jefferson said, "as commander of security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!"
Toby seamed to consider this for a brief moment. "Mr Jefferson, tell me, sir... did your wife ever forgive you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Jefferson said, though from the tone of his voice you could tell he did.
"Let me tell you a secret: she never did."
There was an loud swallow. "Officer... you stand down and be confined."
"Or what?"
"Or under the jurisdiction of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you." Jefferson aimed his gun at Toby.
"But how many can you kill?" Toby's eyes lit up and his mouth opened in a low roar. The symbols evaportated off his skin and leave him as swirls of black smoke. The smoke began to enter the Ood, who jerk, as the Beast possessed them. Their eyes turned a burning red. Toby, now himself again, now human, coughed and collapsed. Jefferson turned his gun on the three Ood on the exploration deck.
The Ood began to speak as one, "We are the Legion of the Beast. The Legion shall be many. And the Legion shall be few..."
I spoke into the comm, hoping they could hear me, though I knew they couldn't. "It's the Ood. Doctor, its they're possessed."
Jefferson spoke into his wrist device, "Sir we have a contamination in the livestock. They wont listen to us."
"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. These are the words that shall set him free."
We began to back away as the Ood advanced on us. "Back up to the door!" Jefferson shouted over his shoulder.
"I shall become manifest."
"Move quickly!" Jefferson called. I backed away quickly while watching the Ood, almost falling in the process.
"I shall walk in might."
"To the door!" We were now backed up against the door. The other crew member turned to the door to open it as Jefferson commanded to "Get it open!"
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds...I am the sin and the temptation. And the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the dead will come." I turned to help the crew member with the door.
"Get that door open!" Jefferson yelled.
The crew member and I tried desperately to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. From the corner of my eye I saw Jefferson aiming his gun at the advancing Ood, not that it even registered to them.
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed," the computerized voice sounded.
"Damn it! Come on!" I cried.
"Door sealed."
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N:
I finally updated. :)
A gift from me to all of you to go along with Matt Smith's goodbye and the Christmas Special (Which I am watching while I type). I hope everyone has a Happy Holidays.
(ps.
Part two will be uploaded before the new year.)