The three of them returned to the main building to find the Doctor and Philip helping everyone get settled. Rose was shocked to find only a handful of couples and the young girl from the shop setting up cots and speaking in hushed tones.
"Is this all there is?" Rose asked Philip.
"Yeah," he said somberly, handing out pillows and blankets. "Other cabins were empty. No sign of a struggle. Nothing."
"What did ya tell everyone?" Rose wondered.
"He told them that there's a toxic gas in the air and that continuing to chew the gum helps regulate their oxygen levels so they don't die," Philip said with a hint of admiration.
"Sounds like something he'd say." She smiled and patted Philip on the arm.
"Everyone all set up, then?" she heard the man in question ask from behind her.
"We've got the cots and a fully stocked kitchen in the back. So I think we're good for the night," Philip told the Doctor.
"Brilliant," the Doctor said, beaming. "We'll just keep everyone together until I can figure our way of this."
"And how long will that take?" Philip asked him hopefully.
"Oh, not too long, I should think. Bit of a jam, this. But my people have stopped this thing before. It's just a matter of thinking up a way to trap it and…how to trap it. I'm a bit limited at the moment."
"Oh," Philip said as his face fell. "I'll just…try to keep everyone calm, then?"
"Right," the Doctor said, nodding. "Rose, I need you."
"Sorry?" she asked, turning towards him.
He cleared his throat and started rubbing the back of his neck absentmindedly. "I, uh, need you to come with me, that is."
She followed him past the kitchens to a little room where they kept the furnace and such. The TARDIS tank was all set up in the middle, surrounded by cables.
"You've fixed it?" she asked, going over to inspect the tank.
"Ah, no. Not quite. But she's still pulling through. I've got the environment set up right again. But we don't have the power that I need to put the ol' girl back on the mend." He sat down next to the tank and ran the sonic screwdriver over it. After looking at the readings, he drug his hand down over his face and lowered his head, keeping his eyes thoughtfully locked on the TARDIS coral. "I'm in a bit of bind, actually. There's a dilemma that I'd like your opinion on."
"And what's that?" she asked, sitting next to him and soothingly running her hand over the glass of the tank.
"It's all about energy, really. The TARDIS coral used the energy that the Na'vorotti was sucking up to bring us here. Then, when I was in the bedroom, the Na'vorotti tried to make me think that I was regenerating. It wanted to feed off of the regeneration energy but since I don't have that ability anymore, it only made me hallucinate it. Since it failed in that, it retaliated by making me destroy the TARDIS coral's tank and it wanted one of us to make it nuclear. In doing so, it trapped us here since, like I said, it seems to like us. Now, we've got everyone out there breathing peppermint all over the place like a day after the pub. It'll keep the Na'vorotti away but we don't have enough gum to last the rest of the week. By my estimation, this needs to be sorted in the next twenty four hours.
So now I have twenty four hours to find the missing people and do something about the Na'vorotti. It needs to be contained. The TARDIS coral can do this, but it might end her life." Rose paused with her hand on the tank and the Doctor reached out to take her hand in his. "Which means that we would lose the TARDIS and we could never go back. We'd have to live out the rest of our days in this time."
Rose let out a shaky breath. "We can't ever see Mum, Dad, and Tony again."
The Doctor shook his head.
"But it would save everyone, yeah?" she asked, blinking back tears.
"Yeah," he said, swallowing and studying her face.
"Then we have to do it. We don't have a choice, really."
He gave her a small smile and ran his thumb over her knuckles. "Thought you might say that."
"S'not so bad…1974. How'd you reckon I'd look in go-go boots?" she asked, grinning with her tongue between her teeth.
The Doctor raised his eyebrow and let out a chuckle. "I wonder if they make bell bottomed pinstripe trousers."
"Oh, don't you dare," she teased.
Then he dropped her hand and stared intently at the tank. "There's a catch."
She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. "There always is. Out with it then."
"The TARDIS coral in infancy. She's sentient, but running on pure instinct at the moment. Her instinct to protect and keep you happy is what brought us here. The only way that she'll expend the amount of energy needed to pull the Na'vorotti inside her is if she believes that one of us is in serious danger. We have to exploit this instinct to our favor."
"We have to be bait," Rose breathed out. It was not a question.
Just then, they heard a clang from across the dimly lit room.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes and got up from the floor. He held out his index finger indicating to Rose to wait there and went to investigate the noise. Of course, she didn't listen, (Why would she? She never did before.) and followed him around the corner of the furnace to find the door to the room slightly ajar.
"And I think," the Doctor said ominously, glaring out of the darkness, "that we're not just dealing with the Na'vorotti."