The four of them ran through the shaking base, smoke flying at them as the base shook violently. They ran through Habitation three, the Doctor in the front, Rose behind him, Lily right behind Rose and Danny bringing up the rear, as they fought to stay upright. They raced on, as the computer continued to repeat: "Breach sealed. Breach sealed."
"Everyone alright?!" The Doctor called as he raced into a corridor where the rest of the crew was converged. "What happened? What was it?" He demanded as the computer announced: "Oxygen levels normal."
"Hull breach." Jefferson announced between gasps as he tried to catch his breath. "We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters." Lily and Rose helped Toby sit up from where he was lying, gasping on the floor.
"Where's Scooti?" Lily asked but the Doctor cut across her as he asked with furrowed brows: "That wasn't a quake. What caused it?" Zach's voice came over Jefferson's wrist comm: "We've lost sections eleven to thirteen. Everyone all right?"
"We've got everyone here, except Scooti." Jefferson reported, before opening all lines and calling into his wrist comm: "Scooti, report." There was no reply except for the sound of static. "Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." Lily's heart sank as he was answered again by static.
"She's alright." Zach's voice came over the wrist comm. "I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation three. Better go and check, if she's not responding. She might be unconscious." Zach ordered. Lily suddenly felt cold- her gut told her something wasn't right, and she frowned as she tried to figure out what was wrong.
Zach was saying: "How about that, eh? We survived." Lily frowned at Toby who was examining his skin with a puzzled look. "Habitation three." Jefferson murmured. "Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on." He said, moving off down the corridor.
The others all left, Ida hesitating a little before she followed, glancing at the strange trio and Toby as the Doctor bent down to Toby's eye level. "What happened?" He asked. Toby shook his head as he murmured: "I don't. I don't know. I was working and then I can't remember."
Lily and the Doctor frowned but he carried on, not noticing: "All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air-" He was sounding more and more confused and hysterical, so Rose interrupted: "Come on. Up you get."
Rose and Lily helped the man stand. "Come and have some protein one." Rose suggested as she led the man down the corridor, and the Doctor mocked: "Oh, you've gone native." He and Lily followed behind as Rose said over her shoulder: "Oi, don't knock it. It's nice. Protein one with just a dash of three." The Doctor glanced at Lily with his eyebrows raised, and she just shrugged as they walked.
The four of them walked into Habitation three to find the others completely frazzled and worried. "The biochip says she's in the area." Jefferson was saying, when he spotted the four. "Have any of you seen Scooti?" He asked them as Ida called into her wrist comm: "Scooti, please respond. If you can hear this, please respond."
Toby shook his head at Jefferson. "No, no, no, I don't think so." He answered the man, as Ida continued: "Please respond. Habitation six." "Nowhere here." Jefferson muttered. Lily was alarmed and she walked over in concern, while Rose led Toby to a seat. The Doctor meanwhile wandered about, looking around the room.
Jefferson called into his wrist comm: "Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing." He reported, and Zach's voice came over sounding confused: "It says Habitation three." That's when it clicked for Lily.
"Yeah, well, that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here." Jefferson informed him, and Lily piped up: "Wait, we ran through here earlier." She gestured at her group and Danny, and Danny nodded, realizing she was right. "There was no sign of her here then, and we arrived seconds after you lot did back in that corridor. There wasn't time."
Jefferson frowned as Danny backed Lily up: "No, she's right, and I was at the back and I didn't see Scooti. She wasn't here and she didn't come in after us, I'm sure of it." Jefferson frowned, getting ready to report to Zach when the Doctor interrupted darkly: "I've found her."
Lily looked to see him staring up through the open shutters. Lily's heart sank, and she slowly lifted her eyes praying to God she would be so, so wrong. "Oh, my God." Rose breathed, and Lily's eyes filled with tears as she saw the young woman floating above them, her skin a pale blue as she drifted backwards, towards the black hole.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor murmured as he gazed at the woman. The whole room stood in shock and despair, before Jefferson finally clicked his wrist comm. He said softly: "Captain. Report Officer Scootori Manista PKD, deceased. Forty three K two point one." Lily gave a short gasp, unable to breathe as the horror just continued to sink in.
"She was twenty." Ida murmured, still in shock and gazing up at the poor girl. "Twenty years old." She finally turned away to close the shutters, unable to bear looking any more. The others stood watching as the girl disappeared from their view.
"For how should man die better," Jefferson murmured, "than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods." They all stood in a moment's silence, when suddenly the entire base fell silent. "It's stopped." Ida murmured in disbelief. Rose moved to the Doctor, who was staring at Lily's distraught face as it paled even further.
"What was that?" Rose asked. "What was it?" She asked again when the Doctor didn't reply right away. "The drill." He answered and Ida said blankly: "We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero." Lily closed her eyes, squeezing it tight. This can not be good.
Zach called over the intercom: "All non essential Oods to be confined." The catwalk was a flurry of activity as Ida readied to head down, dressed in an orange spacesuit. "Capsule established." She called. "All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. Bring systems online now."
The Doctor appeared, also wearing a spacesuit. "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force." He said, standing before Zach. "Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol." The Captain bit out through grit teeth. "We don't even know who you are." Zach pointed out, looking the Doctor up and down.
"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you?" The Doctor replied, and Zach avoided his gaze. "And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on. Look me in the eye." The man looked at him. "Yes you do, I can see it. Trust." The Doctor finished.
"I should be going down." Zach said finally. The Doctor looked at him, before saying seriously: "The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge." "Not much good at it, am I?" Zach said bitterly. The Doctor just raised an eyebrow and Zach sighed.
"Positions!" Zach shouted, and Lily and Rose looked over from where they'd been standing with Jefferson by the computers. "We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mr. Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement." He shouted as he headed back to the control room.
Rose walked over to the Doctor. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these." The Doctor commented, but Rose wasn't having any of it. "I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" Rose said, tugging on the Doctor's spacesuit. "Yes, sir." The Doctor replied, before looking pointedly at Lily over Rose's shoulder.
The brunette sighed, before coming to join them. "Orange is so not your color." She teased half-heartedly and the Doctor grinned. "That all you've got to say?" He asked, and she shook her head.
"Check your oxygen tank is functioning once more when you're in the capsule, check gravity, and I've tested the helmet, it's fine… but check that again too, just in case. I don't care if you're a Time Lord, you still need to breathe." She sighed, and he smiled. "Yes, ma'am." He replied.
The Doctor placed his helmet on as Rose commented: "It's funny, because people back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about," the Doctor switched the lights on inside his helmet as he looked down at her, "and teleports and anti gravity, but it's not, is it? It's tough." She murmured, her voice breaking a little at the end.
"I'll see you later." Was all the Doctor said and Rose smiled. "Not if I see you first." She replied with a grin, before leaning in and pulling the Doctor's head forward to place a gentle kiss on his helmet. Lily averted her gaze, and the Doctor noticed. He didn't know how to react as one heart leapt while the other sank, so he simply turned and followed Ida.
Lily lifted her head as Zach announced over the intercom: " Capsule active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six," the Doctor and Ida entered the capsule, and Jefferson closed the door while Rose and Lily stood behind him, watching the Doctor, "five, four, three," Rose smiled and gave the Doctor a wave which he returned before sending a grin and a wink at Lily's anxious face.
"Two, one. Release." Rose and Lily watched the capsule descend, taking the Doctor down with it. They turned to the screen to watch the descent progress, Rose fiddling anxiously with the communicator while Lily was gripping the console edge tightly.
Lily watched as they went below the oxygen field, and Zach confirmed moments after: "You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own." Rose chimed in anxiously: "Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good." Lily rolled her eyes at her, her grip tightening anxiously.
"Rose, stay off the comm." Zach ordered and Lily gave a faint laugh as Rose replied: "No chance." Lily held her breath as the capsule reached Point Zero, and she let it out in a gasp as the whole base shook once. She righted herself and listened anxiously as Rose called: "Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?"
"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" Zach ordered, also sounding worried. Lily almost fainted in relief as the Doctor replied: "It's all right. We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now." Rose and Lily shared looks of relief before Rose asked: "What's it like down there?"
"It's hard to tell." The Doctor replied. "Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive." Ida joined in then, saying: "Well, this should help. Gravity globe." There was a pause, and then Ida said: "That's, that's. My God, that's beautiful."
"Rose," the Doctor said, and Lily's heart sank a little before she shook herself, "you can tell Toby we've found his civilization." Rose turned to Toby: "Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work." She said with a grin.
"Good, good. Good." Toby muttered, sounding distracted. Lily paused to look at him, watching him stare at his hands again. She was distracted as Zach ordered: "Concentrate now, people. Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?"
Ida replied: "We're close. Energy signature indicates north, north west. Are you getting pictures up there?" "There's too much interference. We're in your hands." Zach replied, and Lily's grip tightened. "Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back." Ida replied and Lily sighed as they heard the Doctor complain: "Oh, did you have to? No turning back? That's almost as bad as nothing can possible go wrong-"
"Doctor." Lily warned, but she wasn't close enough to the comm for him to hear. "- or this is going to be the best Christmas Walford's ever had." The Doctor continued, and Ida interrupted in annoyance: "Are you finished?"
Lily smiled, as there was a pause and the Doctor muttered: "Yeah. Finished." The two carried on in silence, but Danny suddenly chimed in: "Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood."
Lily's heart stopped and she leaned in closer to listen. "What are they doing?" Zach demanded and Danny answered, sounding terrified: "They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't." Lily heard Zach sigh. "Danny, you're a big boy." Zach said. "I think you can take being stared at."
"But the telepathic field, sir." Danny said seriously. "It's at basic one hundred." Lily swore her heart did stop then. Danny continued: "I've checked. There isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred." Jefferson had also leaned in by then.
"But that's impossible." Zach commented. Rose turned to Lily, confused. "What's basic one hundred mean?" She asked and three people answered at the same time. Danny replied: "They should be dead" as Jefferson told her: "Basic one hundred's brain death."
Lily's answer: "Things are about to get really really bad." Zach cut in: "But they're safe. They're not actually moving?" Danny replied: "No, sir." Lily frowned as Zach ordered: "Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson? Keep a guard on the Ood."
"Officer at arms!" Jefferson ordered, picking up his gun as the officer answered: "Yes, sir." Rose protested: "You can't fire a gun in here. What if you hit a wall?" Jefferson answered: "I'm firing stock fifteen. It only impacts upon organics. Keep watch. Guard them."
He nodded at the three Ood that were with them, and the guard replied: "Yes, sir" just as the Doctor asked: "Is everything all right up there?" "Yeah, yeah." Rose replied as Zach answered: "It's fine" while Danny muttered: "Great."
"No, it's not." Lily argued, but Rose was holding the comm. Jefferson and Rose looked at Lily, frowning, but the Doctor interrupted as he announced: "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."
"What's wrong?" Jefferson asked Lily quietly as Ida added: "The edge is covered with those symbols." Lily replied to Jefferson quietly: "The Ood, they mentioned something, and we got a message saying 'he is awake'. Now the Ood are acting strange. It…" She trailed off, eyebrows furrowing as she thought.
"Do you think it opens?" Zach was saying, and the Doctor replied curtly: "That's what trapdoors tend to do." Ida interjected: "Trapdoor doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter." "Any way of opening it?" Zach asked and Lily frowned, the talking was distracting her as it threw more pieces of the puzzle at her to solve when she was trying to make sense of the ones she'd already had.
Ida replied: "I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism." The Doctor added: "I suppose that's the writing. It'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation." The Doctor sounded a bit put out.
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach asked, and Rose turned to the man, asking: "Toby, they need to know that lettering. Does it make any sort of sense?" Lily frowned, as the question raised another mystery to her already jumbled puzzle. Toby…
"I know what it says." Toby said in quivering voice, and Lily's head snapped up. Everything clicked and she looked at Toby in horror. "Then tell them." Rose urged, while Jefferson frowned. "Rose-" Lily began, but Jefferson cut in: "When did you work that out?" He asked, and Rose interrupted urgently: "It doesn't matter, just tell them."
"Rose, get back!" Lily cried, but it was too late. Toby turned to them, and his eyes were red and his skin covered with the symbols, the symbols they had seen on the wall. Toby spoke in a deep, echoing voice: "These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken."
Jefferson looked at him in shock while Rose backed up a bit. "He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease." Jefferson raised his gun, aiming it at Toby. "And now he will rise." Toby raised his arms, spreading them wide.
"Officer, stand down. Stand down!" Jefferson ordered. Toby just grinned, and Lily stepped in front of Rose, pushing her back slightly, as the Doctor's voice called: "What is it? What's he done? Lily, what's happening? Rose, what's going on? Lily, talk to me!" Zach called: "Jefferson? Report. Report!"
"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!" Jefferson ordered Toby while Rose replied into the comm: "He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him." Toby lowered his raised arms.
"Mr. Jefferson. Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?" He asked in that dark voice, and Jefferson's eyes widened. "I don't know what you mean." He whispered and Toby continued: "Let me tell you a secret. She never did." Jefferson swallowed and Lily said sharply: "Leave him alone!" Toby glanced at her but Jefferson regained himself.
"Officer, you stand down and be confined." Jefferson ordered quietly, and Toby asked: "Or what?" "Don't tempt him!" Lily warned, but Jefferson ignored her. "Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorized to shoot you." Jefferson said, cocking his gun. Toby grinned as he asked: "But how many can you kill?"
Toby's eyes went red, and Lily pushed Rose further back, calling to Jefferson: "Get away, he'll kill you." Jefferson pulled the gun tighter, as a black cloud left Toby's mouth, entering the Ood whose eyes all turned red as they jerked to attention. Toby gasped, back to normal before he collapsed, but they couldn't worry about him as Jefferson turned his gun to the Ood, who had all turned to face them.
"We are the Legion of the Beast." The Ood said, and Lily swallowed hard in fear. The Doctor shouted: "Lily? Rose? What is it, Lily? Rose? I'm going back up." As Zach shouted: "Report. Report! Jefferson, report. Someone, report!"
All the while the Ood all chanted as one: "The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few." Rose whispered to the Doctor: "It's the Ood." Jefferson reported to Zach at the same time: "Sir, we have contamination in the livestock."
Rose whimpered: "Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed." "They won't listen to us." Jefferson finished. Lily took the comm from Rose. "Doctor," she began quickly as she watched the Ood as they continued to chant: "He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time."
"Doctor, it's some kind of beast, that thing Rose's phone warned us about." Lily explained urgently.
"Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor." The Ood chanted.
"It possessed Toby, he was covered in the symbols."
"Some may call him Satan or Lucifer."
"It's probably what killed Scooti."
"Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. "
"It moved into the Ood. Its using their telepathic link-"
"These are the words that shall set him free."
The Ood moved towards them and Jefferson yelled: "Back up to the door!" Rose pulled Lily, causing her to drop the comm while the Ood chanted: "I shall become manifest." "Lily!" The Doctor yelled worriedly.
"Wait, I haven't finished-" Lily began but Jefferson yelled: "Move quickly!" Rose pulled Lily with her as they backed up further. "I shall walk in might." The Ood hissed as Jefferson yelled: "To the door! Get it open!" Rose yelped as she fell a little on the stairs as the group backed away, never taking their eyes off the Ood.
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds." The Ood hissed. Suddenly the whole place shook and Ida's voice came over Jefferson's wrist comm: "Doctor, it's opening!" Zach yelled: "We're moving! The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving."
"I am the sin," the Ood carried on, "and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the-" "Get that door open!" Jefferson shouted desperately, and Rose and Lily stared at the approaching Ood in horror while Jefferson's hands shook as he pointed the gun at each of the Oof in turn.
"The gravity field." Zach called. "It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!" He yelled. Rose turned to help try to open the door but Lily stared at the Ood knowing it would be useless. She stared as the Ood approached, chanting: "I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed." The computer said, as though mocking them, and Rose cried: "Come on!" "Door sealed." The computer repeated, just as a voice echoed menacingly through the whole base: "The Pit is open. And I am free. Bwahahahahahaha!" Lily stared at the Ood, knowing the trapdoor had probably opened.
"Doctor!" Lily screamed as the Ood closed in, the Beast awoken.