Chapter 21
Rose stared while Jefferson tried to control Toby, but the Doctor's panic broke through and she raised the mic to her mouth to narrate what she was seeing. "He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him."
She watched in frozen horror as Toby slowly advanced on Jefferson. "Mr. Jefferson. Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Jefferson said, but Rose could tell from the sudden tension in his neck that he knew exactly what Toby meant.
Toby tilted his head and a taunting light entered his red eyes. "Let me tell you a secret. She never did."
"Officer, you stand down and be confined," Jefferson ordered, but there was no authority in his voice.
"Or what?" Toby asked mockingly.
"Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you."
The crew person standing next to Jefferson was shaking so badly Rose could see her rifle moving—not exactly the kind of front that would be guaranteed to make the enemy back down.
Toby smiled slowly. "But how many can you kill?"
Rose stiffened at the threat. Toby's body pulled taut, and his mouth opened in an almost silent scream as the writing floated off his face. The wisps of ink drifted over to the Ood, who one by one stiffened as if they'd been shocked.
When they opened their eyes, she wasn't surprised to see them glowing red. "We are the Legion of the Beast," they said in one voice.
The Doctor and Zach both demanded to know what was going on. The deep, instinctive fear she was getting from the Doctor was stronger than anything she'd picked up on before, and she knew there was more going on than she realised. Something telepathic, something he understood because of his experience…
As one, the Ood held out their communication balls. "The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few."
Rose finally registered that she was the one holding the mic. "It's the Ood."
Jefferson raised his wrist to his mouth. "Sir, we have a contamination in the livestock."
"Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed." Suddenly she realised that's exactly what it was. The Ood's minds had been invaded with a force so great, it suppressed their consciousnesses. Then this person, or Beast, or whatever, was able to control them.
"They won't listen to us," Jefferson added.
The Ood continued. "He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer."
Rose listened in fascination to their recitation, dimly registering Danny's announcement that the Ood in Ood Habitation had been similarly possessed. "Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free."
The Ood started to advance, and Rose hurriedly whispered to the Doctor. "Doctor, the Ood are attacking. We're going to have to leave the drilling station. It's not safe. Don't come back up until we tell you it's safe. Stay down there!"
Then she had to drop the mic as they backed up to the door. She knew the Doctor wouldn't want to stay down below when he was needed up here, but she fervently hoped he would stay out of harm's way—just this once.
The Ood kept coming. "I shall become manifest. I shall walk in might. My Legions shall swarm across the worlds."
Rose, Jefferson, and the officers backed up the stairs to the door. As they reached the top, the whole planet shook in an earthquake stronger than anything Rose had ever experienced.
"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the death of all."
Rose shuddered. The words had been creepy enough coming from Toby, but with all the Ood reciting together, they somehow seemed even more menacing.
"Get that door open!" Jefferson shouted.
The planet continued to rock, and Zach shouted at them over the comms. "The gravity field, it's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!"
The immediacy of the Ood problem in front of Rose superseded the problem of the gravity field. "I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
They were trapped against the door. "Open fire!" Jefferson yelled, and Rose covered her head against the weapons fire.
The Ood fell to the ground without a sound, just as the severe quake stabilised. Rose jumped back down to the catwalk and ran to the comm. "Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"
She heard the hissing of a door opening and looked over her shoulder in fear. "It's me!" Danny yelled, holding his hands up against Jefferson's weapon. "But they're coming." He worked fast to shut the door again. "It's the Ood. They've gone mad."
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked.
"All of them! All fifty!"
"Danny, out of the way. Out of the way!" Danny tried to block the door, but Jefferson shoved him out of the way and started opening the door, a member of his security detail standing by, pointing her weapon at the door.
"But they're armed!" Danny exclaimed. "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."
Jefferson ignored the warning and opened the door. Over his shoulder, Rose spied a group of Ood, their eyes frighteningly red. To her horror, the Ood in front held his interface device to the young crew member's head and electrocuted her. Jefferson fired enough shots to drive the Ood back from the door, then pulled it closed and spun the wheel.
"Jefferson, what's happening there?" Zach asked.
Jefferson looked down at the readings on his weapon. "I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?"
"All I've got is a bolt gun. With er, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."
Rose tapped her fingers nervously against the mic. All her instincts told her to run, but even if the Doctor weren't trapped beneath the planet, they were backed up against a wall—literally and figuratively. They had no way to get their friends back, they had no way to fight the Ood, and there was no way out of the drilling station.
Jefferson nodded curtly. "Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine."
"Strategy Nine." There was disbelief in Zach's tone, and Rose wondered what exactly Strategy Nine was. "Agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"
DWDWDWDWDW
That earthquake wasn't just some natural phenomenon, the Doctor realised as he stood back up. He could feel the subtle shift in the rotation of the planet and knew their position in space had drifted just a hair closer to the black hole. His connection to the TARDIS pulsed mauve; she knew the danger as well as he did.
"Well, we made it," Ida said shakily, dusting some gravel from the rock fall off her suit. "Oxygen masks intact and all."
"Yeah, but I don't think that's the last we're going to hear from the Beast," the Doctor muttered. "Come on, let's see if that last quake did anything to the temple or the trapdoor."
"I don't know why you keep calling it a trapdoor," Ida complained.
"Because it feels like a trap," he retorted, jogging to the edge of the stone cover. "Especially since it's magically opened."
"Oh my god," she said, staring down into the chasm. "We need to tell Zach about this."
"Hang on, there's a thought," the Doctor said. "How come we haven't heard from them in over 90 seconds?" He checked the mic controls on his hip and groaned. "Switched off. How much to you want to bet…"
As soon as he toggled the switch back on, Rose's voice filled the airwaves. "I can't get a reply. Just nothing. I keep trying, but it's—"
The Doctor cut in, eager to erase the fear he'd caused. "No, sorry, I'm fine. Still here."
She let out a huff of air in exasperation. "You could've said, you stupid—"
Her invective was so loud, it sent a burst of feedback over the comms. "Whoa. Careful!" the Doctor replied, apologising silently at the same time. "Anyway, it's both of us. Me and Ida. Hello. But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."
"How deep is it?" Zach asked.
"Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever."
"The pit is open," Rose said. "That's what the voice said."
"But there's nothing," Zach said. "I mean there's nothing coming out?"
"No, no. No sign of the Beast."
"It said Satan," Rose said before she could stop herself.
"Come on, Rose. Keep it together." Just like the moment yesterday when they'd realised they were trapped, the need to ease some of her panic made it easier to hold his own at bay.
It didn't seem to work as well this time though. "Is there no such thing? Doctor, Doctor tell me there's no such thing."
There was a sort of resigned note in her voice that he hated. She knew she was asking for something he couldn't give, no matter how much he wanted to. Did Satan exist? Not as an opposite to any god, but apparently there was an alien force that bore a strong resemblance to that personification of evil, and he seemed to be pulling the strings right now. Rose knew that as well as he did.
Zach interrupted their conversation. "Ida? I recommend you withdraw. Immediately."
"But we've come all this way," Ida protested.
"Okay, that was an order. Withdraw. When that thing opened, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now."
"But it's not much better up there with the Ood."
"I'm initiating Strategy Nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar—"
Zach's voice turned to static, and Ida looked at the Doctor. "What do you think?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I think he gave an order."
"Yeah but…" She gestured at the cavern. "What do you think?"
She wanted his position as a scientist, but it was hard to focus on anything but Rose's desperate fear and hope and all those possibilities where they were permanently separated. Still, he had to try. Maybe staying really was worth the risk.
He put his foot on the rim of the pit and looked down into the darkness. "It said, 'I am temptation.'" The temptation to stay? To not take their last chance to leave?
Ida sighed. "Well if there's something in there, why is it still hiding?" she asked, though the slightly wobbly note to her voice suggested she wasn't completely sold on the idea of staying either—no matter what her words suggested.
Ah, but she'd forgotten the same mythology she'd told them about the day before. The planet was a trap. "Maybe we opened the prison but not the cell."
She squared her shoulders. "We should go down. I'd go. What about you?"
The indomitable human spirit spurred on his own sense of adventure, and for a moment, all he saw was a place to explore. "Oh—oh, in a second…"
As soon as he said it, he felt a faint hint of satisfaction from that telepathic presence still hovering at the edges of his mind. "But then again, that is so human. Where angels fear to tread."
He tried, but he couldn't bring himself to take a step back. The pit was luring him in, even though he knew it was probably a trap "Even now, standing on the edge. It's that feeling you get, eh?" He looked at Ida, but she was fixated on the pit. "Right at the back of your head, that impulse—that strange little impulse. That mad voice saying, 'Go on. Go on. Go on. Go over, go on.'"
This time he knew the enemy knew what he was thinking and liked it. He braced himself for a moment, tightening his own barriers as much as he could, though he had a feeling it was a pointless exercise.
"Maybe it's relying on that." He looked at her again, and this time, she met his gaze. "For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say… retreat."
He pushed back from the pit, feeling equal parts disbelief and relief. It was the right choice; he was sure of it. Whatever was down there wasn't worth the risk of staying, and it certainly wasn't worth risking Rose's life for. Still, he knew he'd always wonder what secrets the pit held.
The TARDIS hummed her approval, even as he opened up their link to apologise. He had no guarantee of finding her below, and she wanted him to keep Rose safe. A picture of Rose standing on a beach with a tear-stained face teased the edges of his time senses, and he shuddered and pushed it aside.
Any disbelief he might have felt at making the safe choice for once disappeared in the face of that future. "Rose, we're coming back."
Rose drew in a shaky breath. She knew how close a call that had been. "Best news I've heard all day," she told him truthfully.
Jefferson reloaded his firearm. "What are you doing?" Rose asked. There weren't any Ood in sight.
His aim was steady as he pointed the barrel of the gun at Toby, but it was fear, not anger or hatred she saw in his eyes. "He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it."
"Are you going to start shooting your own people now?" Rose slowly moved so she was positioned in between Toby and the security officer. "Is that what you're going to do? Is it?"
"If necessary."
Toby cowered against the wall, and Rose glared at Jefferson. "Well then, you'll have to shoot me if necessary, so what's it going to be?" She saw Jefferson's uncertainty and pressed her advantage, crouching down next to Toby. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, is gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean."
"Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him." Jefferson turned around and walked over to Danny.
"Are you all right?" Rose asked Toby.
"Yeah. I don't know."
"Can you remember anything?"
"Just, it was so angry." Toby's face was white and his lips trembled. "It was fury and rage and death. It was him. It was the Devil."
Rose tugged at the young man's arms. "Come here," she said, and he clutched at her desperately when she offered him a hug.
When Toby loosened his grip on her, she got to her feet and went back to the comm station. "What's Strategy Nine?" she asked Danny.
He gulped. "Everyone gathers in the control room, and Zach'll lock it down. After that, he opens the airlocks."
"But there's not room in the control room for everyone," Rose said.
"There's room for all the humans," Jefferson told her.
"What? You can't! First you enslave them, and then you just slaughter them like… like they've got mad cow disease or something?" She turned to Danny. "I thought you were the head of the ethics committee or something. Is this what they teach you in ethics class now?"
"Rose, you saw those things," Danny said hysterically. "They're not, they're not even Ood anymore."
Ida's voice interrupted the debate. "Okay, we're in. Bring us up."
Jefferson switched on the capsule controls. "Ascension in three, two, one." He flipped the switch, but instead of the cranking of the cable pulling them back to the surface, the power went out.
Out of the dark, the voice of the Beast echoed over the comms. "This is the darkness. This is my domain." The screen flickered and showed a black and white picture of Ood. "You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the—"
"That's not the Ood," Zach said, cutting off the voices for a moment. "Something's talking through them."
"—only the darkness remains."
"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself."
"You know my name."
There was another mind drifting along the edges of Rose's telepathic sense where she was used to feeling only the TARDIS and the Doctor. They both felt safe and warm, like home, but this… She shivered. This was pure malice.
"What do you want?"
"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."
On the floor, Toby wrapped his arms around himself and rocked back and forth, muttering, "It's him," repeatedly.
"If you are the Beast, then answer me this," the Doctor said. "Which one, hmm? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"
"All of them."
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?"
The Beast's voice dripped with scorn. "This one knows me as I know him—the killer of his own kind."
A sick shudder ran through both Rose and the Doctor. She knew he felt exposed, but there was something worse she didn't want to think about. If this… this thing had gotten into his head, then what chance did her feeble barriers have?
"How did you end up on this rock?" the Doctor asked, the mocking gone from his voice.
"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity."
Rose nibbled on her thumb nail, worrying a hangnail free and tearing it off. The sting was a welcome diversion from the perilous situation she was in.
"When was this?" the Doctor asked
"Before time," the Beast answered.
Rose could almost see the deep furrows in the Doctor's forehead. "What does that mean?"
"Before time."
The repeated line caught the attention of Jefferson and Danny, and they started whispering in the corner. Rose couldn't hear all of what they said, but she could pick up on the panicked notes in Danny's voice and guessed at the content—Danny insisting the Beast was Satan, and Jefferson saying the owner of the voice was just trying to play them, get them riled up.
Judging by the frustration in the Doctor's voice, he was succeeding in that goal. "What does before time mean?"
"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."
"That's impossible," the Doctor said. "No life could have existed back then."
"Is that your religion?"
"It's a belief." The corner of Rose's lips rose up in the barest hint of a smile. He called himself a Time Lord; time literally was his religion.
"You know nothing. All of you, so small. The captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." Jefferson started, and Rose realised the Beast was pulling at the weak points of every single person on base.
"The scientist, still running from Daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin." Rose watched, one by one, as the crew members on the drilling platform started when the Beast mentioned them. She thought she was prepared for anything he might say; so much had happened to her, what would he mention?
"And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon."
Rose stared at the monitor in horror. She hadn't expected that. "Doctor, what does that mean?"
"Rose, don't listen."
His words were reassuring, but she could feel his fear. He didn't know what the Beast meant, and if he didn't know, he couldn't promise her it wouldn't happen. Still, she couldn't keep herself from asking again. "What does it mean?"
The Ood answered before the Doctor could. "You will die and I will live."
The Ood disappeared from the monitor, replaced by a beast with red horns howling in a pit. Everyone stared at the image of the Beast until it disappeared. "What the hell was that?" Danny asked.
Toby clenched his teeth. "I had that thing inside my head."
"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose repeated.
Around her and over the comms, the entire crew were panicking. Danny kept asking what they were going to do, and Jefferson tried to get Zach to take the lead in the situation. Zach, who'd been a fine leader until then, barely said a word.
Rose tried again. "Doctor, how did it know all of that? What did it mean?"
"Everyone just stop," the Doctor ordered, but everyone kept on talking until a blast of feedback went over the comms. "You want voices in the dark, then listen to mine. That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff."
"But that's how the devil works," Danny pointed out.
"Or a good psychologist."
"Yeah, but how did it know about my father?" Ida asked.
Rose knew the Doctor wouldn't answer that question, because telling the crew the creature they were fighting against was telepathic would only fan the flames of their fear.
"Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm?" the Doctor cajoled. "Cos I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket right into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery. That's amazing!"
There was a beat of silence.
"Do you hear me?" the Doctor asked. "Amazing, all of you. The captain, his officer, his elders, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him—"
One strand of the cable holding the capsule snapped, then another, and then the rest of it at once. "Doctor, we lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right? Doctor!"
"Comms are down," Zach said.
Rose ignored him. The Doctor was still down there. She could tell he was shaken, but all right. Although come to think of it, would I be able to tell if he were injured? She shoved the thought aside and tried to get him on the comms again. "Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me?"
"I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule," Zach said.
"Say something," Rose pleaded. "Are you there?"
"There's no way out. They're stuck down there."
Rose's stomach turned at the finality in Zach's voice. "But we've got to bring them back," she said.
Jefferson nodded toward the shaft. "They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable."
A loud bang on the door broke the conversation. "Captain? Situation report."
"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."
"Yeah, it's the same on door 25."
Rose's thumbnail was bit down to the quick, but a plan was forming in her mind as she listened to the crew members discuss the situation. "How long's it going to take?"
"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes." They heard the clang of another bolt being cut. "Eight."
"I've got a security frame," Zach said. "It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."
The platform was still in semi-darkness, and she had a feeling the entire station was the same. Right. Step one, light. Step two, stop the Ood. Step three, save the Doctor. Step four… Find the TARDIS. The ship hummed in the back of her mind, and she could feel how close they were—close, and yet with miles of planet crust between them.
Rose steeled herself. The people around her were frightened into passivity, but she wasn't going to take death by Ood sitting down. It was up to her to save all of them, and the Doctor too if she could manage. "Right. So we need to stop them, or get out, or both."
Danny flailed a bit and rolled his eyes at her. "I'll take both, yeah? But how?"
Rose joined him by the capsule controls. "You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off?" She looked over at Jefferson. "Cos he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this. Come on! For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do. Some Captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons," Zach said
"That's what the Doctor meant. Press the right buttons."
"They've gutted the generators." He paused, and Rose could almost hear his brain working again. "But the rocket's got an independent supply, if I could reroute that—Mr. Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety."
Jefferson set his gun down and turned to the panel behind him. "Opening the bypass conduits, sir."
"Channelling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power."
Rose clapped even as she blinked against the sudden influx of light. "There we go," she crowed, willingly suffering the pain as her eyes adjusted.
"Let there be light!" Jefferson said.
Rose was startled to see he was looking at her like she had some authority.
"What about that Strategy Nine thing?" The idea repelled Rose, but the Ood didn't seem to be saveable.
"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent."
Rose rocked back on her heels, her mind racing. "All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mr. Jefferson, you start working on that. Toby, what about you?"
Toby stood up, his body rigid in anger. "I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."
"No, you're the archeologist," she reminded him. "What do you know about the pit?"
"Well, nothing. We can't even translate the language."
"Right."
She started to walk away, but Toby stopped her. "Hold on. Maybe."
Maybe was good. Maybe was very good. "What is it?"
Toby shook his head and squinted. "Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters make more sense."
"Well, get to work. Anything you can translate, just anything." She turned to their remaining team member. "As for you, Danny boy. You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"
"Well, I don't know."
She tugged him over to the terminal. "Then find out. The sooner we get control of the base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift." She kicked him lightly on the bum as she walked away. If she could keep everyone working and thinking like a team, they might still get out of here alive.
Jefferson looked over at her when she mentioned the Doctor, but Rose didn't care what he thought of her priorities. She stared down into the pit, willing him to feel her determination. I'm not leavin' here without you.
It was easier to stay focused on bringing him back to the top when she knew he was working toward the same thing. Her and the Doctor had always worked well together, as long as they were both working for the same goal. The few times things had really fallen apart had been those moments when they were aiming for different things and worked against each other instead of with each other.
Jefferson continued to reroute power and adjust the oxygen filters while Rose watched Danny work. Another bang on the door reminded them that they were running out of time.
Danny practically vibrated with frustration, shaking his hands at his terminal like he wanted to strangle it. "There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."
Rose had had it with his self indulgent self-pity. "Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either. Or a Tesco's."
Danny started to snipe back at her, then the computer dinged and the monitor flashed with the word AFFIRMATIVE. "Oh, my God. It says yes. I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!"
Rose remembered the Doctor talking about brainstorm when they were in the parallel universe, but he'd never said what it was, exactly. "What happens to the Ood?"
"It'll tank them spark out."
Finally, a working plan! "There we are, then. Do it!"
He swallowed and shook his head. "No, but I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."
"That's what we'll do, then." Rose pivoted to face her strongest team member. "Mr. Jefferson, sir. Any way out?"
"Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
The Doctor had taken them back to 1977 to see Star Wars not long after Christmas. The idea of using the shafts to get through the base made her grin. "Ventilation shafts."
Mr. Jefferson shook his head. "Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."
Zach spoke up. "But I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network."
It was a sketchy plan at best, but it was also their only plan. "Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand."
"You wanted me pressing buttons."
Rose had to smile. Finally, they were starting to think their way out of this—even if they came up with a plan almost as impossible as the planet itself. "Yeah, I asked for it. Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."
Danny kept tapping away at his terminal while Zach and Mr. Jefferson figured out how to get them through the maintenance shafts to Ood Habitation. Rose paced the metal grating and watched everyone do their jobs, feeling a little bit like she didn't have much of a point now that they were all motivated.
But that's leadership, yeah? she reminded herself. Delegate and then expect people to do their jobs.
"Right, we'll start in the maintenance shaft right at your feet, Jefferson," Zach said after a few minutes. "I'll direct you once you're under."
Another bolt on the door gave way. "Toby!" Rose called out. "Come help Mr. Jefferson pull up the deck plating."
The archeologist abandoned his books and lent the security officer a hand, for once doing as he was told without complaining. Danny was still working on the computer, but they could all hear the clangs as the Ood continued to cut through the bolts around the door frame.
"Danny!" Rose called out.
"Hold on! Just conforming."
Another bolt was cut loose. "Dan, we've got to go now," Mr. Jefferson shouted. "Come on!"
"Yeah." He ran to the tunnel, waving the chip in front of Rose's face. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood."
Rose put one arm on his shoulder and the other on Toby's. "We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."
Jefferson didn't seem to care about her vow. The door clanged again, and he directed them into the tunnel. "Okay. Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler, then Toby. I'll go last in the defensive position. Now, come on, quick as you can!"
Rose dropped into the tunnel after Danny, and the smell almost overpowered her: metal dust and stale air and foul fumes from the machinery that had worked in the tunnel. "God, it stinks. You all right?"
Danny nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, I'm laughing. Which way do we go?" he asked Zach.
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so."
The started crawling through the maintenance shaft, moving as fast as they could. Danny's bum filled Rose's vision, and she couldn't help a little jab at him. "Not your best angle, Danny."
"Oi, stop it."
"I don't know, it could be worse," Toby said from behind her.
"Oi!" Rose retorted, not caring for it when the shoe was on the other foot.
"Straight on until you find junction 7.1. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you," Zach promised.
The metal shavings that coated the floor cut into Rose's palms as they crawled through the tunnels, and she spared a moment to be grateful she was wearing thick jeans. Her palms were likely to be a bloody mess when they got out of here anyway, no need to add another injury to the list.
Toby, Danny, and Jefferson were all breathing heavily by the time they reached 7.1, but Rose wasn't even winded. Danny stared at her in confusion as he flipped the button on his comms. "We're at 7.1, sir."
"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section."
"Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?" Rose rolled her eyes at Danny's dramatics.
"I'm working on half power, here."
"Stop complaining," Jefferson said from the rear of the party.
Rose rested her head against the side of the tunnel and passed the message on to Danny. "Mr. Jefferson says stop complaining."
"I heard."
"He heard." She knew it was childish, but she had to do something to lighten the situation or she'd go mad. She examined her palms; the metal filings seemed to be too fine to cut, even if they did dig as she crawled over them.
Toby spoke up next. "But the air's getting a bit thin."
"He's complaining now," Rose told Jefferson.
"I heard."
Rose caught a whiff of unpleasant body odour, and looked over to see Danny dripping in sweat. "Danny, is that you?"
"I'm not exactly happy," he said defensively.
Zach's calm voice came over the comms. "I'm just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."
Behind them, they heard a grating of metal on metal. Rose fleetingly wished people would stop saying things like, "It could only get worse," because it always did.
Rose, Danny, and Toby all talked over the top of each other, each asking Jefferson what exactly had made that noise. The security officer held up a hand and got on comms. "Captain, what was that?"
"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels!"
Danny beat at the door. "Well, open the gate."
"I've got to get the air in!"
"Just open it, sir!" He used his shoulder to wipe the sweat off his face.
The atmosphere at the junction was getting out of hand, and Rose took control again. "Where are they? Are they close?"
"I don't know. I can't tell. I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."
She rolled her eyes. She'd half a mind to become one of those Friends of the Ood once they got out of here—if they got out of here. "Whose idea was that?"
"Open the gate!" Danny demanded, and as if his words were magic, the gate finally opened.
They all piled through. "Danny, turn left," Zach directed. "Immediate left." Danny led them down the next tunnel, all of them going as fast as they could.
They could hear the Ood behind them now, and Jefferson asked the question they were all wondering. "The Ood, sir. Can't you trap them? Cut off the air?"
"Not without cutting off yours." Zach continued to guide them through the tunnels, all of them knowing they'd have to move fast to beat the Ood. "Danny, turn right. Go right! Go fast, Dan. They're going to catch up."
Jefferson stopped in middle of the tunnel and braced both his legs against the sides. "I'll maintain defensive position."
Rose's vision swam with the now familiar sensation of timelines shifting. This was one of those decisions that caused a split—two different ends to the story… to Jefferson. "You can't stop," she protested, knowing what would happen if he did.
He shook his head slightly, and she saw in his eyes that he knew exactly what he was doing. "Miss Tyler, that's my job. You've got your task, now see to it."
Toby pushed her forward. "You heard what he said, now shift."
They heard weapons fire behind them as they reached the next junction. "8.2," Danny said. "Open 8.2. Zach! Open 8.2!"
"I've got to aerate it."
"Open it now!"
Zach's normally calm voice had an impatient edge. "I'm trying."
Panicked, Danny started thumping the gate. "Danny, stop it." Rose pulled on his arm, but he resisted her. "That's not helping."
"Zach, get it open," Toby yelled.
"Jefferson, I've got to open 8.2 by closing 8.1. You've got to get past the junction. Now move. That's an order, now move!"
From the sound of gunfire, Rose didn't think Jefferson was obeying the order fast enough for Zach's taste, and the captain's next words confirmed it.
"I'm going to lose oxygen, Jefferson, I can't stop for your dramatics!"
Door 8.2 opened for them, and Rose followed Danny through with a look back to where Jefferson was keeping the Ood at bay.
"Danny, turn left and head for 9.2. That's the last one. Jefferson you've got to move faster. John, move!"
Rose watched the door slide shut. Once before she'd been in a situation where a door had shut too early. That time, she'd been on the wrong side, but the Doctor had been able to rescue her after all. This time, that wouldn't be an option. "Mr. Jefferson!"
"Keep going," Toby growled.
"Regret to inform, sir," Jefferson said, sounding winded, "I was a bit slow. Not so fast, these days."
The regretful resolve in Zach's voice was painful to hear. "I can't open 8.1, John. Not without losing air for the others."
"And quite right too, sir. I think I bought them a little time."
"There's nothing I can do, John. I'm sorry."
"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances. May I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?"
"I don't understand. What do you mean?"
Rose held back tears as the security officer bravely made his last request. "Well, if I might chose the manner of my departure, sir, lack of air seems more natural than, well, let's say death by Ood. I'd appreciate it, sir!"
"God speed, Mr. Jefferson."
"Thank you, sir.
"Report. Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD deceased with honours. 43 K 2.1."
Rose bit her lip. It had been her idea to go through the tunnels; maybe if she'd worked a little harder, been a little more clever, they could have found a different way and Mr. Jefferson wouldn't have died.
"Zach," Danny said, his voice hoarse, "we're at the final junction, 9.2. And ah, if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives."
"Noted," Zach said sombrely. "Opening 9.2."
The door slid open, but there were more Ood waiting for them on the other side. "Lower 9.2!" Rose shouted. "Hurry, Zach!"
They backed up along the tunnel, but Toby said, "We can't go back. The junction's sealed off. We're stuck."
Rose glanced wildly around the tunnel, and then she looked up and realised they were back under the deck. "Come on, up!" she shouted as she slammed on the grating, heedless of the sting in her palms.
It finally moved, and she and Danny lifted themselves up into a corridor near Door 32. "Come on! Toby, come on!"
There was an unbearable pause while Toby seemed to move in slow motion. "Toby, get out of there!" Rose yelled.
"Help me! Oh, my God. Help me!" he yelled, and Danny pulled him up, just as Door 32 opened to let Ood into the corridor.
"It's this way," Danny said, running in the opposite direction.
"Hurry it up!" Zach yelled, and Rose realised the Ood must be nearly through his security door.
Door 34 slid open and they were finally in Ood Habitation. Danny raced to the terminal, fumbling with the chip in his haste. Rose stood by him, looking down at the Ood below. "Get it in!" Rose ordered when they started marching toward them.
"Danny, get the card in," Toby said.
He looked at them both, and Rose could see the pressure and terror were really getting to him. They didn't have time to calm him down though—he needed to work. "Transmit!" she shouted, and he nodded and turned back to the terminal.
"I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it."
The Ood were on the stairs now, and Rose didn't have to ask to know that Zach was in a similar situation. "Danny get that thing transmitting!"
She heard him smack a button on his console, and then all the Ood grabbed their heads and fell to their knees in agony. Rose felt a loud whoosh in her mind, then the buzz that had been there since they'd landed on Krop Tor disappeared.
"You did it! We did it!" Rose hugged Danny first and then Toby.
Danny pumped the air in victory. "Yes!"
"Zach, we did it," Rose told the captain. The Ood are down. Now we've got to get the Doctor."