Chapter 35- The Satan Pit Part 1
"Open fire!" Jefferson ordered as him and his soldier began to fire at the Ood while Rose and Jackie hid behind them. Once the Ood where down, the base stopped shaking and Rose pushed passed Jefferson to get back to the communicator just knowing that the Doctor was probably out of his mind with worry.
"Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?" Rose asked hoping that whatever had been interfering with the communicator was now gone. Rose glanced back towards the door when she heard it opening fearful that more Ood were coming for them. Jackie rushed to her daughter and away from the door just encase it was the Ood.
"It's me!" Danny cried when Jefferson pointed his gun at him. Once Danny was sure that he would not be shot, he began to lock the door. "But they're coming. It's the Ood. They've gone mad"
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked.
"All of them, all 50." Danny told him.
"Danny, out of the way." Jefferson ordered making his way towards the door. "Out of the way!" He pushed Danny out from in front of the door.
"But they're armed. It's the interface device." Danny cried as Jefferson began to unlock the door. "I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon." Jefferson opened the door, an Ood used his ball to electrocute the soldier and Jefferson began to shoot the Ood giving Danny enough time to shut and lock the door and then just for good measure, sealed it.
"Jefferson, what's happening down there?" Zachary's voice suddenly said through Jefferson's communicator giving Rose hope that she would be able to contact the Doctor with her communicator.
"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?" Jefferson reported.
"All I've got is a bolt-gun with, uh, all of one bolt." Zachary informed. "I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."
"Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine." Jefferson suggested.
"Strategy nine agreed." Zachary said with a sigh. "Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose, what about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"
"I can't get a reply." Rose said very scared and trying not to cry, the Doctor wouldn't want her to cry, he would want her to fight and try to find a way to get communications working while also figure out a way to save everyone.
-Thirty Five-
"Just nothing. I keep trying, but it's…" The Doctor suddenly heard Rose through his communicator, his hearts leaping knowing that she was alive.
"No, sorry. I'm fine. Still here!"The Doctor cut in and Rose let out a wet chuckle.
"You could have said, you stupid…" Rose started.
"Right, listen here mister, you're getting a right smack when you get back for scaring us like that!" Jackie informed him.
"Be looking forward to it, Jackie." The Doctor said smiling just happy that they were safe enough for Jackie to be able to threaten him. "Anyways, it's both of us, Me and Ida. Hello! But the seal opened up. It's gone." He informed them as him and Ida looked down into the very dark hole that the seal had been covering up. "All we've got left is this chasm."
"How deep is it?" Zachary asked.
"Can't tell. Looks like it goes down forever." The Doctor said feeling the TARDIS brush up against his mind, his TARDIS was somehow down that chasm waiting for him. Now the question was, how did he get down there without dying?
"The Pit is open. That's what the voice said." Jackie informed.
"But there's nothing. I mean, there's nothing coming out?" Zachary asked.
"No, no, no. No sign of the Beast." The Doctor told him.
"It said Satan." Rose informed him, her voice shaking enough that the communicator had picked it up.
"Come on, Rose. Keep it together." The Doctor muttered into his communicator .
"Is there no such thing? Doctor?" Rose asked and the Doctor sighed turning away from the pit, what did she want him to say, that he hadn't already told her? She knew what he thought about all the religion aspect. They had spent many long nights discussing his thoughts and the science of it all. And now that he was thinking about it, not once did Rose ever say she believed or not. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."
"Ida, I recommend that you withdraw immediately." Zachary said.
"But we've come all this way." Ida complained.
"Okay, that was an order. Withdraw!" Zachary ordered. "With that thing opened, the whole planet 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." Ida said.
"I'm initiating strategy nine so I need the two of you back up top immediately. No…" Ida cut Zachary off by turning off her communicator, which also seemed to turn off his. The Doctor shifted away from Ida suspicious of her. And if it wasn't for the fact that the TARDIS was in the chasm he would have high tailed it back to the capsule.
"What do you think?" Ida asked him.
"He gave an order." The Doctor told her.
"Yeah, but what do you think?" Ida asked and the Doctor sighed as he turned to look back at the chasm, he needed to get down there but he knew that he needed her help. But he didn't want to ask her to disobey her captain just so he could get to his TARDIS.
"It said, 'I am the temptation.'" The Doctor said referring back to when the demonic voice had taken over their communicators to speak to everyone while keeping them from contacting anyone back at the base.
"If there's something in there, why is it still hiding?" Ida asked nervously.
"Maybe we opened the prison but not the cell." The Doctor guessed.
"We should go down." Ida said and the Doctor looked at her. "I'd go. What about you?"
"Oh, in a second." The Doctor said as the TARDIS brushed up against his mind. "But then again… That is so human. Where angels fear to tread. Even now, standing on the edge, it's that feeling you get, yeah? Right in the back of your head. That impulse, that strange little impulse. That mad little voice saying, 'Go on, go on, go on. Go over, go on.'" The Doctor looked back towards the chasm as the TARDIS brushed up against him again, calling him to her. The Doctor began to wonder if that was actually the TARDIS or if it was something else pretending to be the TARDIS so that he would jump into the chasm without a second thought. He also began to wonder if Rose was here instead of him if she would be able to tell if it was the TARDIS or not. "Maybe it's relying on that. For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say…" The Doctor looked back at Ida, he needed Rose here to know if this was really the TARDIS or not, "retreat." The Doctor winced after saying that, it felt wrong but right at the same time. "Now I know I'm getting old."
-Thirty Five-
"Rose, we're coming back." The Doctor's voice suddenly came through the communicator, cutting off Zachary who had just been angrily yelling for Ida.
"Best news I've heard all day." Rose replied before the sound of a gun cocking caught her and Jackie's attention. They looked at Jefferson who was standing over a terrified Toby.
"What are you doing?" Jackie demanded.
"He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." Jefferson said as he pointed his gun at Toby. Rose handed Jackie the communicator and walked over to Jefferson with a disappointed look.
"Are you gonna start shooting your own people now? Is that what you're gonna do? Is it?" Rose asked.
"If necessary." Jefferson told her.
"Well, then you'll have to shoot me, if necessary." Rose challenged with her arms crossed, she would not let this scared idiot with a gun start killing people.
"And if you shoot her you'll have to deal with not only me but also the Doctor. And trust me when I tell you, you don't want to mess with the Doctor after his Rose had been hurt or taken from him." Jackie warned with a glare.
"So what's it gonna be?" Rose asked, Jefferson looked between her and Jackie while trying to decide what he should do."Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." Jefferson uncocked his gun and lowered it.
"Any sign of trouble, I shoot him." Jefferson said, Rose sighed knowing that that was the best she was going to get.
"You all right?" Rose asked Toby.
"Yeah." Toby said shakily. "I don't know."
"Can you remember anything?" Rose asked wanting to get as much information as she could to help the Doctor figure out what was going on when he got back.
"Just… It was so angry." Toby said. "It was fury and rage and death." Toby suddenly looked as if he realized something. "It was him. It was the Devil."
"Come here." Rose said pulling Toby into a hug not knowing what else to do.
-Thirty Five-
"What's strategy nine?" The Doctor asked once the capsule was in sight.
"Open the airlocks." Ida said and the Doctor looked at her in shock. "We'll be safe inside the lockdown. The Ood with get thrown out into the vacuum."
"So we're going back to a slaughter?" The Doctor asked as they got to the capsule.
"The Devil's work." Ida said and the Doctor looked back to were the chasm was as Ida climbed into the capsule and waited for the Doctor who slowly climbed in after her. "Okay, we're in. Bring us up." Ida said over the communicator.
"Ascension in three, two, one." Jefferson alerted, the Doctor and Ida waited to feel the capsule start moving but the only thing that happened was the light in the capsule went out.
"This is the darkness. This is my domain." The Demonic voice said as the computer screen in the capsule turned on to show the Ood standing there looking at them. "You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die, in the end…"
"That's not the Ood. Something is talking through them." Zachary informed.
"Only the darkness remains." The Demonic voice said.
"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base 6, representing the Torchwood Archive. You will identify yourself." Zachary ordered as the Doctor looked confused. There was that name again, Torchwood. Where had he heard that name before? And why did it feel like it was following them, taunting them? Fear enveloped the Doctor, was this going to be another Bad Wolf?
"You know my name." The Demonic voice said.
"What do you want?" Zachary asked.
"You will die here, all of you. This planet is your grave." The Demonic voice told them.
"If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm?" The Doctor asked. "'Cause the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Arkiphets, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash Pash, Neo-Judaism, San Clarr, the Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"
"All of them." The Beast replied and the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?" The Doctor asked.
"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind." The Beast said and the Doctor froze as he fought back the memories of the Time War.
"How did you end up on this rock?" The Doctor asked shoving the memories into the darkest corner of his mind.
"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the Pit for all eternity." The Beast said.
"When was this?" The Doctor asked.
"Before time." The Beast said.
"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked, how could something have existed let alone happened before Time? Time created everything! Nothing could exist without Time!
"Before time." The Beast repeated.
"What did 'before time' mean?" The Doctor demanded.
"Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created." The Beast said.
"That's impossible. No life could have existed back then." The Doctor told it.
"Is that your religion?" The Beast asked.
"It's a belief." The Doctor said guarded. He didn't have a religion, and if he did then it would be the religion of Rose. Because the only thing he believed in and worshiped more than science was Rose.
"You know nothing. All of you, so small. The captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from daddy. The little boy who lied, the virgin, the mother out of time and the burning wolf. Both so far from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." The Beast taunted.
"Doctor, what does that mean?" Jackie asked, fear clear in her voice.
"Jackie, Rose, don't listen." The Doctor told them refusing to even accept what the Beast was saying. Bad Wolf had promised him a life and a child with Rose, created a new Time Line that was never suppose to exist and maybe this thing wasn't privy to that knowledge. And frankly he believed Bad Wolf more than this thing because he had been witness to Bad Wolf's ability. So, Rose would not die and him and Rose would have the rest of Jackie's forever traveling in the TARDIS with their child.
"But what does it mean?" Jackie demanded.
"Your daughter will die and I will live." The Beast told her as the screen changed to show red horned being.
"What the hell was that?" Danny asked.
"I had that thing inside my head." The Doctor heard Toby say.
"Doctor please, what did it mean?" Jackie begged clearly afraid for her daughter's life as almost everyone began to talk at once.
"Captain, what's the situation with strategy nine?" The Doctor heard Jefferson asked.
"... the black hole, everything's true!" Toby rambled.
"We've lost pictures." Zachary said.
"Doctor, please tell me!" Jackie begged.
"Did anyone get an analysis?" Ida asked and the Doctor began to wonder where Rose was, and why she hasn't speaking.
"Jefferson." Zachary said.
"Stop. Everyone, just stop!" The Doctor called out trying to get them all to shut up so that he could think. He needed to get everyone to calm down, because panicking was bad. Panicking lead to rash decisions. And rash decisions could end up getting someone hurt or worse killed. And why wasn't Rose saying anything!
"What do we do?" Danny asked.
"Report…" Suddenly a loud metallic screeching sound rang out from the communicator, causing the Doctor to cry out in pain as the sound made his sensitive ears ring. But it also caused everyone to be quite.
"If you want a voice in the dark, then listen to mine." Rose said calmly. "That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood, nightmares, all that stuff." The Doctor realized that Rose was right, he had just been too worried about Rose and finding the TARDIS to see that.
"But that's how the Devil works." Danny told her.
"Or a good psychologist." The Doctor added letting his mind run down the path Rose's had obviously gone down, hopefully he would be able to catch up with her.
"How did it know about my father?" Ida asked.
"Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm?" The Doctor asked. "'Cause 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! Do you hear me? Amazing. All of you. The captain, his officer, his elder, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage, the Beast is alone, we are not. If we can use that to fight against him..." The capsule rocked violently causing cutting the Doctor off.
"The cable's snapped!" Ida cried.
"Get out!" The Doctor yelled throwing the door open and pushed her out quickly following her, throwing his body onto hers, knocking them to the ground as the cable slammed into the capsule, collapsing it.
-Thirty Five-
"Doctor, we lost the cable. Doctor, are you all right?" Rose cried through the communicator, her fear for the Doctor spiking to the point where she couldn't hide it. "Doctor?"
"Comms are down." Zachary informed.
"Doctor, can you hear me?" Rose cried, tears in her eyes.
"I've still got life-signs, but we've lost the capsule." Zachary told her and Rose took a deep breath, the Doctor was alive and right now he didn't need her freaking out, he needed her to keep everyone calm. And to do that, she needed to be calm, or at least appear to be calm. "There's no way out. They're stuck down there."
"There's got to be another way to bring them back." Jackie said peering down the mineshaft, Rose was next to her leaning on the railing around the mineshaft.
"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Jefferson informed Jackie who looked at Rose for help.
"All the Doctor's got to do is fine the TARDIS." Rose told her mother.
"But we don't know how long that will take, nor how much air they have." Jackie said panicking. Rose stood up from leaning on the railing and pulled her mother into a hug.
"Everything is going to be all right, mum." Rose told her and Jackie pulled away from Rose to stare at her in confusion.
"Are you not even the least bit worried for him?" Jackie asked.
"Of course I am mum, but I'm not going to let that get to me. This thing plays on our fears, and if we let it get to us, it wins. So, the best thing we can do is be strong and believe that the Doctor will find a way back to us." Rose said.
"But what if…" Jackie started but Rose covered her mouth.
"What if Jack is still alive and is actually immortal? What if one of the many stuffed toys that my child will surely be showered in is actually a shape shifting robot that was created to kidnap them yet falls in love with them and begins protecting them? What if the Doctor is actually an insane Time Lord that is actually called the Master and is actually making things worse instead of helping them. Or how 'bout this, what if you had never started traveling with me and the Doctor?" Rose rattled off with a smile. "Don't let the 'what if's distract you, they will only make your worry and fear grow. Focus on what we know."
"You know, it's sometimes scary how much you sound like the Doctor at times." Jackie said with a small smile.
"I take that as a complement." Rose said right before a loud banging sounded from the sealed door and everyone turned to look at it.
"Captain, situation report?" Jefferson asked through the communicator as sparks flew from the door.
"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in." Zachary informed.
"Yes. Same on door 25." Jefferson reported.
"How long is it gonna take?" Rose asked grabbing onto her mother's hand.
"Well, it's only a basic frame. Should take ten minutes." Jefferson told her as another spark came from the door as the Ood cut another bolt. "Eight." He corrected.
"I've got a security frame, might last a bit longer but that doesn't help you." Zachary said.
"Right. So we need to stop them or get out or both." Rose deduced.
"I'll take both, yeah? But how?" Danny asked.
"You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off? 'Cause he was making sense." Rose told him. "He was telling you to think your way out of this."
"Rose is right! First thing we need to do is turn the light back on." Jackie said. "Zack, there's got to be some sort of power somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do. Some captain! Stuck in here, pressing buttons." Zachary said angrily.
"That's what the Doctor meant. Press the right buttons." Rose told him.
"They've gutted the generators." Zachary told her. "But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that… Mr. Jefferson, open the bypass conduits." Jefferson opened the fuse box next to him and began to do as Zachary told him. "Override the safety."
"Opening bypass conduits, sir." Jefferson alerted him.
"Channeling rocket feed." Zachary said. "In three, two, one. Power." Rose smiled at her mother as the lights came on.
"I knew you could do it, Zack!" Jackie called.
"And let there be light." Rose whispered as Danny said it loud enough for everyone else to hear.
"Oh wait, what about strategy nine?" Jackie asked.
"Not enough power, needs 100 percent." Jefferson said shaking his head.
"Right, we need a way out. Zack, Mr. Jefferson, you start working on that." Rose ordered as Jackie walked over to Toby.
"Alright, Toby, your turn." Jackie said.
"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything." Toby said angrily.
"No, you're the archeologist. What do you know about the Pit?" Rose asked firmly.
"Nothing, we can't even translate the language." Toby said.
"Right." Jackie said annoyed and began to walk away.
"Hold on. Maybe…" Toby started and Jackie turned back to him.
"Yes?" Jackie urged him on.
"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters make more sense." Toby admitted.
"Well then, what are you waiting for, get to work. Anything you can translate will help." Jackie told him, Toby nodded and went to find something to translate.
"As for you, Danny boy, you're in charge of the Ood." Rose told Danny turning to look at the man. "Any way of stopping them?"
"Well, I don't know." Danny said obviously disappointed in himself.
"Then find out." Rose told him as she gently pulled him to stand in front of the computer. "The sooner we get control of the base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Now get going. Shift." Rose said walking over to her mother that was looking down the mineshaft.
"We've got everyone working on a way out except us." Jackie said.
"But we are working, we're doing the only thing we can, we're keeping the others calm and focused." Rose told her pulling her into a hug.
-Thirty Five-
"How much air have we got?" The Doctor asked as he helped Ida off the cavern floor.
"Sixty minutes." Ida told him. "Fifty-five." She corrected and the Doctor nodded looking over towards the direction of the Pit, there was nothing else left to do but find a way down that Pit. The Doctor glanced at the capsule covered in ten miles of cable. "We've got all this cable. We might as well use it." Ida said as if reading his mind. "The drum is disconnected. We could adapt it. Feed it through."
"And then what?" The Doctor asked, testing her as she began to coil up the cable.
"Abseil into the Pit." Ida told him.
"Abseil. Right." The Doctor said turning to look back towards the Pit.
"We're running out of air with no way back. It's the only thing we can do, even if it's the last thing we ever achieve." Ida told him.
"I'll get back. Rose is up there." The Doctor said looking back at Ida, he had a life that the Bad Wolf had promised him and he was intent on living it.
"Well, maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the Pit." Ida told him and the Doctor made his way over to her.
"Well, it's half of a good plan." The Doctor told her.
"What's the other half?" Ida asked.
"I go down, not you." The Doctor said before going over to the drum and pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to adapt it as Ida fed it through. Once they had finished, the Doctor picked up the drum motioning for Ida to head towards the Pit and he followed her. Once there Ida secured the drum so that the Doctor's weight wouldn't pull it down the Pit with him.
"That should hold it. How's it going?" She asked the Doctor who had secured the cable around him and was slowly walking back towards the Pit, watching the drum uncoil the cable at a nice pace.
"Fine. Should work." The Doctor informed, his foot hit the edge of the Pit and he glanced out into the darkness. "Doesn't feel like such a good idea now." He muttered as a wave of what felt like the TARDIS brushed against his mind. "Hmm. There it is again. That itch. Go down, go down, go down, go down!"
"The urge to jump." Ida said. "Do you know where it comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage. Ever since we were primates in the trees. It's our body's way of testing us, calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch."
"No, that's not it. That's too kind." The Doctor said looking around the cavern. "It's not the urge to jump. It's deeper than that. It's the urge to fall." The Doctor said before he allowed his body to fall.
"Doctor!" Ida yelled stopping the drum. "You okay?"
"Not bad, thanks." The Doctor told her as he looked around. "The wall of the Pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just not much of it. There's a crust about 20 feet down. And then… nothing, just the Pit." The Doctor felt the TARDIS, or what felt like the TARDIS brush against him again. "Okay, then. Lower me down."
"Well, here we go, then." Ida said and the Doctor felt the cable began to lower him.
-Thirty Five-
"Open junctions five, six, seven." Jefferson announced as he opened the junctions just as the Ood cut another bolt. "Reroute filters 16 to 24. Go."
"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood." Danny told Rose who was standing next to him watching her mother pace. "Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."
"Listing thing we haven't got is so helpful. We haven't got a swimming pool either, or a Tesco's." Jackie said.
"Mum, your not helping." Rose told her as the computer began to let out a strange beeping alert.
"Oh, my God. It says yes! I can do it!" Danny cried out in excitement. "Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!"
"What happens to the Ood?" Rose asked.
"It'll tank them, spark-out!" Danny informed her.
"There we are, then. Do it!" Rose told him.
"I know, but… I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation." Danny alerted as the Ood cut another bolt.
"That's what we'll do, then." Rose said her mind working a mile a minute as she tried to come up with a way to get them out of the room and to the Ood Habitation safely, or at least relatively safe. "Mr. Jefferson, sir, anyway out?"
"Just about." Jefferson reported. "There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
"Ventilation shafts." Rose said with a smirk.
"I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms." Jefferson said as the Ood cut another bolt.
"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." Zachary informed them.
"Right. So we go down and you make the air follow us by hand?" Rose asked making sure she understood what the plan was.
"You wanted me pressing buttons." Zachary reminded her.
"Yup, I asked for it. Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route." Rose told Zachary before she and Jefferson opened a way into the tunnels as the Ood cut another bolt.
"Danny!" Jackie called to Danny who was still at the computer.
"Hold on, just conforming." Danny told her.
"Danny, we've got to go now. Come on." Jefferson ordered.
"There!" Danny cried before grabbing something from the computer. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood!" Danny said running over to them.
"We're coming back. We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out." Rose told them.
"Okay, Danny you first, then Rose and her mother, then Toby." Jefferson said as everyone the tunnel in the order Jefferson had said. "I'll go last in defensive position. Now come on, quick as you can!"
"Dear God, it stinks. You all right?" Jackie asked Danny and they made room for Toby to enter,
"Yeah, laughing. Which way do we go?" Danny asked Zachary as Toby dropped into the tunnel.
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so." Zachary told them and they all crawled through tunnel as quickly as they could.
"Not your best angle, Danny." Jackie joked as she was right behind Danny.
"Oi, stop it." Danny called back.
"Don't know, could be worse." Toby called from behind Rose.
"Oi, that is not yours to look at, and you best hope the Doctor doesn't find out you looking it it." Rose called back.
"Straight on till you find junction 7.1." Zachary told them. "Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you." The group crawled until they got to 7.1 before they took a much needed rest.
"We're at 7.1, sir." Danny alerted Zachary.
"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section." Zachary said as Toby accidentally rested his hand on Rose's leg, believing it to be his.
"Sorry." Toby muttered quickly taking his hand off.
"'S okay, it was an accident." Rose said smiling at him.
"Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?" Danny asked.
"I'm working on half power here." Zachary told him.
"Stop complaining." Jefferson said.
"Mr. Jefferson said to stop complaining." Jackie told Danny.
"I heard." Danny snapped.
"He heard." Jackie told Jefferson and Rose bit her lip to keep from laughing at how childlike her mother was being.
"The air's getting a bit thin." Toby said shifting and accidentally kicking Rose.
"He's complaining now." Jackie complained.
"I heard." Jefferson said.
"Oi, don't make me turn this caravan around." Rose joked.
"Danny, is that you?" Jackie asked looking as if she smelled something rotten.
"I'm not exactly happy." Danny hissed at her. Rose rolled her eyes and lightly hit her mother and mouthed at her to stop it. They were all exhausted and stuck in a tiny tunnel that was not meant for human while being chased by possessed Ood trying to kill them. Now was not the time for them to start bickering.
"I'm just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's gonna feel worse." Zachary informed them and Rose gave her mother a stern look while pointing at the communicator. A loud noise from where they had just came from startled all of them, Jefferson quickly took his gun from his shoulder and pointed it down the tunnel.
"What was that?" Toby asked accidentally gripping Rose's leg in fear.
"Mr. Jefferson, what was that?" Rose asked trying to peer down the tunnel hoping to be able to spot what made that noise.
"What was that noise?" Toby demanded.
"Captain, what was that?" Jefferson asked into the communicator.
"The junction in Habitation 5 has been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels." Zachary informed them.
"Open the gate." Danny said.
"I've got to get the air in!" Zachary told him.
"Just open it, sir!" Danny demanded once more.
"Where are they? Are they close?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. I can't tell. I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms." Zachary informed her.
"Well, that's helpful. Whose stupid idea was that?" Jackie asked.
"Open the gate!" Danny yelled into his communicator and the gate opened allowing them access into the next area which they quickly crawled into.
"Danny, turn left, immediate left!" Zachary instructed.
"The Ood, sir, can't you trap them? Cut off the air?" Jefferson asked as he scooted backwards so that he would be able to see the Ood coming up behind them.
"Not without cutting off yours." Zachary said. "Danny, turn right, go right. Go faster. They're gonna catch up." Everyone sped up as much as they could.
"I'll maintain defensive position." Jefferson called out to them.
"You can't stop!" Rose cried out. She was not going to lose anyone! She couldn't lose anyone! She had to get them all to safety.
"Miss Tyler, that's my job." Jefferson told her pushing her to get her to continue before turning and facing the way they came from with his gun at the ready. "You've got your task, now see to it."
"You heard what he said, now shift!" Toby ordered before shoving her forward. Just seconds after they left him, the group heard gunfire. Rose closed her eyes to fight back the feeling of despair, she had to focus on getting the rest of them out of there safely.
"8.2, open 8.2!" Danny ordered when they got to the next gate. "Zack, open 8.2!"
"I've got to aerate it!" Zachary told him.
"Open it now!" Danny yelled.
"I'm trying!" Zachary growled at him and Danny began to frantically hit the gate. Jackie reached out and caught Danny's arm to stop him.
"No! Stop it! That's not going to help, Danny!" She cried.
"Zack. get it open!" Toby cried into his communicator.
"Jefferson, I've got to open 8.2 by closing 8.1." Zachary informed. "You've got to get past the junction, now move! That's an order, now move! I'm gonna lose oxygen, Jefferson. I can't stop the automatics!" The gate to the next area slowly began to rise.
"That's it, come on, come on!" Danny cried.
"Danny, turn left and head for 9.2. That's the last one." Zachary told them as they quickly made their way to 9.2. "Jefferson, you've got to move faster!" Rose looked back in time to watch the gate began to shut as Jefferson quickly tried to beat it, and she hoped he would. "John! Move! Move!"
"Mr. Jefferson! Come on!" Rose yelled to him, but he was to late. The gate closed just as he reached it, and it reminded Rose of the time she wasn't fast enough to get under the closing door, trapping her with the Dalek.
"Keep moving!" Toby ordered pushing her forward.
"I regret to inform you, sir, I was a bit slow. Not so fast these days." They heard Jefferson announce over the communicator, and Rose let a single tear fall. Because unlike with her, Jefferson would not be getting a lucky break.
"I can't open 8.1, John. Not without losing air for the others." Zachary informed him sadly.
"And quite right, too, sir. I think I bought them a little time." Jefferson panted out, obviously running out of air as they came to 9.2.
"There's nothing I can do, John. I'm sorry." Zachary whispered, sounding like he was fighting the urge to cry. Rose felt the same, but knew that now was not the time to grieve for the ones they lost, that time would be when they got out of here. Jackie wrapped her arm around Rose gaining comfort from her daughter, and giving her daughter comfort.
"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances. Might I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of it's removal?" Jefferson asked and Rose tightened her grip on her mother. Jefferson was sacrificing himself.
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Zachary asked.
"Well, if I might choose 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." Jefferson's voice became urgent at the end, alerting everyone Ood were closing in on him.
"Godspeed, Mr. Jefferson." Zachary said.
"Thank you, sir." Was the last thing they heard from Jefferson.
"Report. Officer John Maynard Jefferson, PKD… deceased, with honors, 43K 2.1." Zachary announced.
"Zack, we're at the final junction. 9.2. And, uh, if my respects could be on record, he saved our lives." Danny quietly said into his communicator.
"Noted. Opening 9.2." The gates opened and three Ood were waiting for them on the other side.
"Oh god! No!" Jackie screeched.
"Lower 9.2!" Rose shouted as they all backed away. "Zack, lower it!"
"Back, back, back!" Danny shouted as the Ood tried to stop the gate from closing.
"We can't go back. Look, 8.2's sealed off. We're stuck!" Toby cried. Rose looked up to see a way out.
"Come on! Up!" Rose ordered quickly climbing out of the tunnel and hoped the the Doctor was having a better time.
"Toby, hurry! Come on!" Jackie cried as the Ood opened both of the gates.
"Toby, get out of there!" Rose ordered feeling that something wrong was happening down in the tunnel with Toby and the Ood.
"Help me. Oh, my god! Help me!" Toby yelled as he quickly climbed out of the tunnel with the help of Danny and Jackie. The Ood opened the door behind them and Rose wondered what the Doctor was doing now.
"It's this way!" Danny cried running towards the other door with quickly following him.
"Hurry up!" Zachary ordered.
"Quick, put it in!" Jackie yelled as they ran over to the machine.
"Danny, get it done." Toby ordered.
"Transmit!" Rose cried.
"I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm getting it in…" Danny said fumbling to pull out the virus from his pocket to be able to put it into the machine.
"Stop them!" Toby yelled.
"Danny, please hurry up and get that thing transmitting!" Jackie cried as Danny slid the virus into the machine. The Ood grabbed their heads and fell to the floor.
"You did it! We did it!" Jackie gasped out before squealing and pulling Rose in for a hug.
"Yes! Oh, yes!" Danny celebrated as Jackie pulled away from Rose to hug him then Toby as Rose smiled at them while grabbing a communicator connected to the machine.
"Zack, we did it. The Ood are down." Rose informed Zachary. "Now we've got to get the Doctor."
"I'm on my way." Zachary said. Rose put the communicator back and grabbing her mother's hand before their group took off toward the mineshaft ready to bring the Doctor and Ida back.