The Doctor knew Gadric was a quick thinker and shock at being called out would wear off very soon so with a flick of his wrist the Doctor produced the sonic screwdriver. He aimed it at the fuse box on the wall causing all the lights in the room to explode at once.
As the shards of glass fell and sparks flew everywhere he switched the sonic back to torch mode and hopped back down the ladder, swimming as if he were being chased by a shark. Actually he was in more danger now than if there were a dozen sharks consdering of all things, electrocution was probably the deadliest possibility.
"DOCTOR!" Gadric yelled out in fury but if the crashing sounds that accompanied the shouts were any indication he had not yet found his way out. As if the darkness were chasing him the lights all along the corridor began to explode so that all that could be seen were sparks reflecting on the melting ice walls and sizzling when they hit the water.
By the time the Doctor reached the door to the keypad room the smell of smoke was growing stronger and the shouts for urgent. Without warning his vision went black and he stumbled against the steps he'd begun to climb. He felt wind rushing past him and the screams of daleks and cybermen alike met his ears. Daleks, Cybermen- and Rose.
She shouted in struggle and his vision cleared as he recognized his own voice shouting for her to hold on. She let go of her clamp with one hand and reached for the giant lever that had come undone. No! He though manically. It wasn't worth it, they would find another way.
"Hold on!" He begged her.
She got the lever pulled back and smiled as the powerful wind pulled them back again but before could regain her hold on the clamp a Dalek shot past just beside her and broke her grip entirely.
"ROSE!" He screamed in terror. She was being pulled into the void and there was no way to save her.
"NO!" The Doctor's guttural shout rang out and echoed against the ice walls, "She did not die! You cannot use her! Never again!"
His vision was restored and he finished climbing the steps only moments before a lose wire broke free from the charred ceiling and fell into the water along with chunks of fiery debris.
"Sela, are you still with me? Are you okay?" He asked quietly as he wiped a stray tear from his cheek.
"I'm here." She answered just as quietly. Her voice sounded thick, full of tears. "I'm so sorry. I saw it... I hadn't seen it before, when I dreamed. I'm just... I'm so sorry."
"What do you mean you saw it?" The Doctor asked, his emotion causing his tone to be harsher than he intended. Even without Sela's help things were starting to come together in his mind. He just wanted confirmation.
"On the screens. I told you the alarms all went off again. Red lights everywhere and the screens all went crazy. It was like a video montage of pictures at going by at super speed. It stopped for a moment on a planet. Then again on a scary looking man laughing and then everything went quiet again until..." She paused, unsure if she should continue.
"Until you saw Rose fall." The Doctor finished for her in a blank voice. It was better than she could not see his face then. The storm that had been growing inside of him had finally broken free and it seemed that at any moment lightning might actually flash from his eyes.
"I thought he was reading my mind but he wasn't. He was drawing recent information from the TARDIS' memory banks by using your connection to it. That's how he triggers the memories as well, by using it's connection to me. All for a distraction?!" The Doctor shouted out. "All to disable the shield? That's what you want isn't it? Well, if you like heat so much," He continued as the smoke in the air grew thicker. "Then burn!"
On cue, another, larger piece of fiery ceiling fell into the water with a crash. The Doctor looked up to see that the observation room was just above him. Gadric was still there, trying to find a way to open the hatch above the ladder but the lock seemed to be welded shut. The Doctor could not stop the cold grin that spread across his face and wouldn't have if he could.
Gadric pressed his finger to his ear for a moment and then again in frustration before he continued to struggle with the hatch door. The Doctor saw a flash of silver and realized that must be the controller for the machine. He had been trying to trigger another memory but for some reason it wasn't working. Perhaps the wiring had been compromised which seemed to mean that the machine was connected to this building somehow.
The Doctor turned his back on Gadric and using the sonic, he began to key in the code to open the door again. He had to find that machine and end this.
"What about you, Doctor? What are you turning into?"
The Doctor jumped at the sound of her voice and looked up but Gadric was still fighting to get out of the now blazing room. Flames licked at the sides of the hole in the floor and ash rained down surrounded by a weirdly familiar golden glow. The Doctor felt the sick stab of guilt in the pit of his stomach dampening the rage. He closed his stinging eyes for a moment to regain his composure and there she was.
"My Doctor." Rose said, so softly it was almost as if the Doctor's subconscious had created the words. But she was real and in real trouble.
"Why does it hurt?" She cried. The time energy was burning her up because even she, no matter how precious to him, was still only human. That was a fact he could never let himself forget and he hadn't. He'd forcibly reminded himself of her humanity every time she smiled or held his hand. With every hug he'd tell himself not to hold on too tightly because she was fragile and limited. He could not keep her no matter how much he wanted to.
But this was different. She needed him to save her and selfishly he was thankful for this one way that he could.
"Come here." He smiled gently, "I think you need a doctor." The Doctor leaned down toward her upturned face and kissed her, drawing all of the time energy into himself at the same time. She wouldn't likely remember but he would never forget this one perfect moment that she was his.
"I'm here!" Rose's recent words finished the memory like an exclamation point and the Doctor found himself able to breathe. The gaping hole in his heart not necessarily healed, but patched somehow. There was a fresh hope where only emptiness and anger had been.
He held onto his new lifeline as he climbed, needing to use his hands sometimes to keep his grip on the slick, melting ice. The temperatures rose dramatically higher as he climbed closer to the surface and tremors nearly continuously rocked the ground beneath him.
"Sela, I need you to find another entrance to the observation room. It's just above the ice cells."
"Um, Doctor, I'd love to help you with that, but I'm... well, I'm not in the TARDIS anymore." She answered but there was so much interference and noise it was almost hard to understand.
"WHAT!?" The Doctor held the little radio so tightly he heard a crach from either it or his own hand.
"What happened? Where are you?"
Sela pressed the little earpiece she'd found on the TARDIS' console tighter against her ear as she stumbled through the wind storm.
"Cerro- Dr. Kallor. He called out for help. I couldn't just let him die. Doctor, I'm sorry but I just thought since you're with Gadric it would be okay. Besides, the TARDIS let me go so that's got to mean something right?"
The Doctor was very quiet, not trusting himself to speak just yet. He looked upwards, but he was too far now to see what was happening with Gadric.
"Okay!" He finally burst out in a rush of breath. "If you would have stayed where I told you then nothing in my life would make sense so that's fine. Look, right now, just please be careful. If you'll remember, Gadric does have a lot of people working for him so trust no one. I mean it,Sela, no one at all. I'm almost there."
The Doctor could see the light at the top of the tunnel but it was further than he'd imagined. Sela's propensity for trouble along with Gadric's resolve to cause it was more than enough reason to need to move quickly.
"At least a rope would help." He muttered to himself, looking around pointlessly. Of course there was nothing that he could use there. Then it dawned on him; nearly everyone in Deslo was at least low level psychic just the same as Gadric; just the same as him. That was how Gadric had used them to do his bidding.
"What's good for the goose..." He smiled, closing his eyes and concentrating on sending out a message for anyone close enough to hear it.