Sorry for the delay: personal stuff happening and the beginnings of some kind of illness.

But here's a big one! Another two-parter! Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty Six: The Impossible Planet


It was two days before Ember jumped again, which she was a little unhappy about. She and the Doctor had been simply hanging out in the Tardis, taking advantage of the rare moment of peace that come over them. During that time, the Doctor had been courteous, giving her the space she needed to think about their relationship.

It didn't keep him from getting in the occasional snog from her, though she didn't resist: she found that she wasn't feeling as guilty about it after their conversation.

They'd been watching a movie, cuddled together under a blanket on the large, comfy sofa, when she'd felt the burning sensation. The Doctor was able to sneak in a last kiss before she left.

Ember looked around the room she'd ended up in as she pulled on her jacket. It was similar to a construction site cafeteria, with railings and a couple of tables and a door on three of the four walls. It also sounded like a storm or hurricane was happening outside, shaking the roof with its intensity.

But it wasn't the only thing shaking. The brunette could feel the floor vibrating under her feet, on which she only had socks since she'd taken off her boots so that she could put her feet on the sofa. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a white top before she jumped, and she was lucky to grab her jacket this time too.

Ember knelt on one knee and pressed her hands on the floor, closing her eyes and concentrating. The vibrations weren't natural; she could tell that right off the bat now, but it was also rythmatic, which reminded her of the drill that nearly attacked the Silurians.

"Open door 17."

Ember turned at the monotoned female voice as a door opened behind her, though she breathed a sigh of relief when the Tenth Doctor and Rose stepped through it.

"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" The Doctor said before he spotted her. "Ember!"

"Close door 17."

Ember smiled at them. "Hey, guys. Um, you wouldn't happen to have a spare pair of shoes, would you?"

"Ah, now it just so happens that I do!" The Doctor rummaged through his bigger-on-the-inside pockets for a few moments before he pulled out a pair of black converse. "And even a spare change of clothes if you need them! You asked me to have them, so I guess you can thank yourself."

Ember nodded, grabbing the shoes and taking a seat in one of the chairs to put them on. "I'll just take the shoes for now. Sorry, I interrupted the dialogue. You were saying about this place?"

The Doctor took the hint and focused on the room they were in. "Deep Space exploration, I reckon. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath. Someone's drilling."

"I noticed that."

That was when the Doctor looked at her again. "Where abouts are you right now?"

"Not long since I started to be able to control wind, but I'm still working on using any of the primary four in combinations. It kinda hurts."

"Welcome to hell." Rose murmured, facing the far wall.

"Oh, it's not that bad..." The Doctor began.

"No, over there." Rose laughed as she pointed to the wall, where the words she'd said were painted on the wall in big block letters, and a vertical alien script underneath.

The Doctor walked over to the wall, confused. "Hold on, what does that say? That's weird, it won't translate."

Ember tilted her head at the alien script. Was it just her, or... did it look like those symbols were in the wrong order...?

"But I thought the Tardis translated everything, writing as well." Rose said. "We should see English."

"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old. We should find out who's in charge." The Doctor walked over to a door opposite the one they'd entered through, spinning the wheel. "We've gone beyond the reach of the Tardis' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough-"

"Open door 19."

The Doctor was interrupted not just by the computerised voice, but by the sight of several Ood that were on the other side of the door. "Oh! Right. Hello. Sorry. I was just saying, er... nice base."

"We must feed." The Ood said together.

"You've gotta what?"

"We must feed."

Rose stepped back. "Yeah. I think they mean us."

"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." The Ood kept repeating as they moved into the room, forcing Rose and the Doctor to back up. The other doors opened and let more Ood in. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."

Rose picked up the nearest thing she could find, that being a chair. The Doctor held out his Sonic while he tried to grab Ember to pull her with him.

Now clad in the converse, Ember easily stepped out of his reach, facing the Ood. "Um, technical issue. You're not getting all your words out."

"We must feed..." the Ood at the front of the group shook his translator ball and tapped it before it spoke alone. "You. If you are hungry."

The Doctor paused. "Sorry?"

"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?"

"Um-"

"Open door 18."

The trio looked as three humans came through the opened door, looking at them in shock. The man at the front, mid-forties and wearing a security uniform, moved closer, the Ood making a path for him.

"What the hell? How did...?" He lifted his wrist to speak into his watch, not taking his eyes off them. "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean, three... living people, just standing here right in front of me."

"Don't be stupid, Jefferson," a male voice came back. "That's impossible."

"I suggest telling them that."

Rose raised a brow. "But you're a sort of space base. You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."

Jefferson looked at her. "You're telling me you don't know where you are?"

"No idea." The Doctor grinned. "More fun that way."

Ember shook her head. She knew where they were now. And she had a bad feeling about it.

"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down." A woman's voice came over the tannoy, alive instead of the computerised one. "We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake point five on its way."

Jefferson immediately ran to the nearest door. "Through here, now. Quickly, come on! Move!" Things started to bang and shake around them as he got the door open and ushered them through it. "Move it! Come on! Keep moving. Come on! Quickly! Move it!"

The group ran down a corridor and soon made it to what looked like a control room. Several other people were there already, working at panels.

"Oh, my God." The black man at the central console breathed. "You meant it."

"People!" A young woman with curly hair gaped. It was her voice they'd heard on the tannoy. "Look at that, real people!"

"That's us. Hooray!" The Doctor said.

"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler. And this is the Doctor, and Ember."

A young, tanned skinned man moved over to them. "Come on, the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be..." he reached out and poked Ember. "No, they're real... Ow!"

Ember glared at him, having slapped his hand away when he kept poking her. "Hands off, buddy."

The black man rolled his eyes. "Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up. The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds! Sorry you three, whoever you are. Just hold on tight."

"Hold on to what?" Rose asked.

"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?"

The Ood standing next to him inclined his head. "Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated."

"What's this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor called as he gripped the railing next to Ember.

"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" The older woman said, only for the Doctor to raise his brow at her. "You really don't know, do you?"

Before she got an answer, the black man cut in. "And impact!"

The whole place shook for several seconds, then stopped. The Doctor released his hold on the railing.

"Oh, well, that wasn't so bad-" he was cut off mid-sentence as Ember yanked him back by his jacket just before the place shook again, much more violently. The consoles burst into flames and sparks, but it all settled soon after.

"Okay, that's it." The black man said after a moment. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida."

The older woman replied. "Yeah, yeah!"

"Danny?"

"Fine." The younger man replied.

"Toby?"

A young, white man answered. "Yeah, fine."

"Scooti?"

"No damage." The younger woman.

"Jefferson?"

The security guy called back. "Check!"

The Doctor glanced around, checking Rose and Ember, before adding sassily, "We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us."

"The surface caved in." The black man said, pulling up a schematic of the base and ignoring the sass. "I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."

"That's not my department."

"Just do as I say, yeah?"

Ida checked her panel as Toby left the room. "Oxygen holding. Internal gravity fifty six point six. We should be okay."

Rose looked at the ceiling, hearing the racket above. "Never mind the earthquake, that's... that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"

"Not a hurricane." Ember muttered.

Scooti looked at Rose. "You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum."

"Then what's shaking the roof?"

"You're not joking. You really don't know." Ida said. "Well introductions. F Y I, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mister Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee."

"Not as boring as it sounds." Danny added.

"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manista, Trainee maintenance. And this? This is home."

Ida pulled a lever as Zach looked at the new arrivals. "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad."

"What if you're already mad?" Ember whispered to the Doctor, who grinned and pulled her in for a one-armed hug.

The shutters overhead pulled back to reveal a white hot, angry disc with a black centre and black dots falling into it. All humour disappeared at the sight.

"That's a black hole." Rose said.

The Doctor couldn't take his eyes off it. "But that's impossible."

"I did warn you." Zach said.

"We're standing under a black hole."

Ida nodded. "In orbit."

"But we can't be..."

"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit."

"But we can't be!"

"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."

Rose looked between her and the Doctor, who'd tightened his hold on Ember without realising it. "And that's bad, yeah?"

"Bad doesn't cover it." The Doctor said. "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time... Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."

"So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in."

"We should be dead."

"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics." Ida said, a smirk on her face. "Welcome on board."

Rose looked at the black hole, noticing specks of light or colours swirling towards it like water to a plug hole. "But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?"

"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing."

"So, a bit worse than a storm, then."

"Just a bit,"

"Just a bit, yeah."

The place shook again, nowhere near as bad as before, but enough to let the information sink in.

The place shook again as the Doctor leaned his head towards Ember without looking away from the black hole, as though to do so would condemn them. "How bad is it?"

"In your words?" Ember replied. "A whole extra suitcase of bad."

Toby came back into the room at that moment, the door being announced when it opened and closed. "The rocket link's fine."

Zach nodded, pulling up a hologram on the central console. "That's the black hole, officially designated K three seven Gen five."

"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor, the bitter pill." Ida joined in. "And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison."

"The bitter pill." Rose repeated. "I like that."

"We are so far out." The Doctor had pulled on his glasses. "Lost in the drifts of the universe. How did you even get here?"

"We flew in." Zach pulled up a new image, showing a funnel shape leading to the planet. "You see, this planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there as a funnel. A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."

Rose smiled. "You flew down that thing? Like a rollercoaster."

"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart. We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge."

Ida cut in gently. "You're doing a good job."

"Yeah, well, needs must."

Danny spoke up next. "But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out."

"We had fun speculating about that." Scooti added.

"Oh, yeah. That's the word." Danny said sarcastically, taping Scooti on the head with a rolled up sheet of paper. "Fun."

The Doctor was staring at the image intently. "But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power. I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I...?"

"Sure." Ida said, sliding over what looked like a small calculator at his request. "Help yourself."

An Ood approached Rose, holding a plastic cup of drink. "Your refreshment."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks. Thank you..." The blonde replied, only to realise something. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"We have no titles. We are as one."

Rose blinked at that, turning to nudge Danny. "Um, what are they called?"

"Oh, come on. Where have you been living?" He said. "Everyone's got one."

"Well, not me, so, what are they?"

"They're the Ood."

"The Ood?"

"The Ood."

"Well that's... ood."

Danny smiled at the play on words. "Very ood, but handy. They work the mine shafts. All the drilling and stuff. Supervision and maintenance. They're born for it. Basic slave race."

"You've got slaves?" Rose asked, shocked.

"Don't start." Scooti said. "She's like one of that lot. Friends of the Ood."

"Well maybe I am, yeah. Since when do humans need slaves?"

Danny looked perplexed. "But the Ood offer themselves. If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die."

"Do they?" The three of them looked at Ember as she spoke, though her voice was flat and almost cold. "Do they really? They walked up to you one day and said 'hey, stick this plastic ball up my nose so I can be your servant forever', did they? You really think they did that?"

Rose shivered at the tone in Ember's voice. She definitely knew something they didn't. The blonde turned to the Ood again. "Seriously, you like being ordered about?"

"It is all we crave." It replied calmly.

"Why's that, then?"

"We have nothing else in life."

"Yeah, well, I used to think like that, a long time ago."

"There we go!" The Doctor suddenly spoke, seemingly oblivious to the conversation. "Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."

Rose moved back to his side, Danny and Scooti following to listen, but Ember stayed. She took the chance and faced the Ood, her back to the group so they wouldn't hear her. "I know it hurts right now, and I don't know how much longer it'll be, but you will be free to sing again one day. Just hold on."

For a moment it looked like the Ood didn't know what she was talking about, but then it twitched and muttered quietly. "The circle..."

"Yes. The circle must be broken. And it will." Ember said, reaching out and taking the Ood's hand. "You just need to be patient. I'm the Great Fire, and I swear to you that your people will sing."

She felt the Ood squeeze her hand lightly before it let go, turning away to go about other tasks. Ember watched it for a moment more before she turned and rejoined the group.

"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale." Zach was saying.

Ida nodded. "It could revolutionise modern science."

"We could use it to fuel the Empire." Jefferson added.

"Or start a war." The Doctor countered, seemingly calm as he took off his glasses.

Toby spoke up, his eyes almost unfocused. "It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting..."

"What's your job, chief dramatist?" Rose said.

"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena. And this, uh, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk."

The Doctor looked at him. "I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?"

Toby nodded. "I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it."

"No, neither can I. And that's saying something."

Ember leaned forward slightly. "Out of curiousity, why did you add 'welcome to hell' on there?"

Toby shrugged. "Well, in theory, this is hell. Though it could be worse."

"Oh, Hell is very much worse than this place, I can assure you," Ember found herself saying almost without thought. "At least you're not alone in here. Remember that."

Toby, along with the rest of the crew, looked slightly nervous at that statement. The young man cleared his throat before changing the subject. "There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in."

The Doctor, who'd taken Ember's hand when she spoke, looked at him. "And you came."

Ida shrugged. "Well, how could we not?"

"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant." The Doctor grinned and turned to Zach. "Excuse me, uh, Zach, wasn't it?"

"That's me."

"Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?"

Ember leaned over again, this time with a smile. "Please? I promise, he doesn't bite."

Zach looked puzzled at the request, but nodded. "I suppose so."

"Here we go. Coming in." The Doctor moved slowly at first, but then wrapped his arms around the captain in a hug. "Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha! Thank you."

Zach shook his head as he was released. "Not at all."

"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives."

Ida tilted her head at the abrupt change in attitude. "You can talk! And how the hell did you get here?"

The Doctor gestured vaguely. "Oh, I've got this, uh... this ship. It's hard to explain. It just sort of appears."

"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from uh... Oh, what's it called?" Rose said. "Habitation area..."

"Three."

"Three. Three."

"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked, suddenly alarmed.

"It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah. Storage six. But you said... You said..." The Doctor trailed off as he suddenly remembered what had happened earlier. "You said storage five to eight."

He took off, out the door with Rose right behind him. Ember wasn't far behind, but she still missed a few seconds before she caught up with them at the door marked 16. The Doctor was standing a few feet away from it while Rose was against it, looking through the tiny glass window near the top.

"Look down." The Doctor said solemnly. As the blonde did so, the Time Lord looked at Ember as she leaned against the wall, panting slightly. "You knew?"

Ember nodded, though she was starting to shake. "I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you. This had to happen."

The Doctor moved closer to her, pausing when she flinched as though she expected him to strike her. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Ember looked up at him, confused. "Aren't you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?" The Doctor asked, frowning as he watched the brunette shake her head and look away. "Ember, I understand completely. I know that you can't always tell me what's going to happen. I know you want to, though. But it's okay, honest."

Ember flinched again when she felt him pull her into a hug. "I thought you didn't like not knowing stuff."

"Well, no one can know everything all the time. That's impossible, even for me."

Rose turned away from the door, blinking as she saw the two Time Lords hugging. "Ember? Are you alright?"

Ember nodded. She attempted to squirm out of the Doctor's hold, but he only tightened his grip with a cheeky grin. "Yea. I'm sorry. It's going to be ok, though. It's not destroyed. It just... has to be where it is right now."


"The ground gave way." The Doctor said to Zach as soon as the three travelers returned to the control room. "My Tardis must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."

"We can't divert the drilling." Zach said.

The Doctor frowned. "But I need my ship. It's all me and Ember have got. Literally the only thing, besides each other."

Ember blinked. Why was she included?

"Doctor, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions." Zach stated, his face firm. "Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that is the end of it."

He walked away, leaving the Doctor looking shell shocked, and Ida cleared her throat. "I'll, uh... put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry."

With that, she left the three alone, the door announcing when it opened and closed behind her.

"I've trapped you here." The Doctor finally said.

"No, don't worry about me." Rose said before the place shook a bit. She bit her lip. "Okay, we're on a planet that shouldn't exist, underneath a black hole and no way out. Yeah, I've changed my mind. Start worrying about me."

Ember fiddled with her hands, unsure of what to do. Both of them looked so heartbroken, and she wanted so badly to tell them, but it was already enough that she'd told them the Tardis was fine. She just hoped the day played out like it did in the show.


After a short time of moping, the group decided to go back to Habitation 3, where the Doctor was busying himself with trying to translate the alien script on the wall. Ember was sat on one of the chairs, still fiddling with her hands, while Rose had decided to get something to eat at the cafeteria-style area at the far back, where Ood were serving what was available.

"Help yourself. Just don't have the green." Scooti joked, then added "Or the blue."

Rose nodded as she took her tray to one of the serving windows, looking at the offers before gesturing to what looked like blue jelly. "Um, bit of that, thanks."

The Ood scooped some of the jelly onto her tray, then indicated to another substance. "Would you like sauce with that?"

"I'll have a go, yeah." She watched him add the 'sauce' before striking up some idle conversation. "I did that job once. I was a... dinner lady. Not that I'm calling you a lady. Although, I don't know, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?"

"The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God."

Rose blinked. "I'm sorry?"

The Ood shook its orb before speaking again. "Apologies. I said, I hope you enjoy your meal."

"Yeah." Rose wasn't sure of that, so she took her tray and walked back to where Ember was sat. "Hey. How are you doing?"

Ember smiled slightly. "I'm ok." She looked at the tray of food, leaning over to smell it. Oddly, it didn't have a scent. "Let's hope you didn't just order liver."

Rose laughed before she paused. "...Did I?"

"Dunno. They never said what it was."

The lights flickered a bit as the place shook again, and Ida looked up at them before she spoke into the comm. "Zach? Have we got a problem?"

"No more than usual." The captain replied. "Got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."

Nodding, Ida moved to the switch that controled the shutters, calling over to the travelers. "You might want to see this. Moment in history."

When the shutters opened, the view of the black hole above them was a immense as before, but it looked like a red cloud was being pulled in now.

"There. On the edge." Ida pointed to it. "That red cloud. That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi, a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years, disappearing forever. Their planets and suns consumed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."

She made to pull the switch again to close the shutters, only for the Doctor to stop her. "Uh, no, could you leave it open? Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?" Ida asked, not waiting for an answer as she turned to the trainee. "Scooti, check the lockdown. Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me."

"Um, maybe I should go with Scooti?" Ember suddenly called, making them look at her in puzzlement as she stood up. "Maybe she can give me a tour?"

Jefferson raised a brow. "We'll give you all a tour later. For now, you stay here."

Before Ember could protest, the three left, each taking a different door out. The brunette sat down heavily, sighing.

"You ok?" The Doctor said, moving to kneel next to her.

Ember shook her head. "There's danger here. Can't you feel it?"

The Doctor nodded, putting his hand on her knee to offer comfort. "How bad? Between face-stealing TVs at least threatening, to Daleks at the most."

Ember shrugged. "Nearing the Dalek end. There's a reason this planet is here; why it's right next to this black hole. I want to tell you, but-"

"No."

The sudden, dark voice boomed in her mind, making it ache, so much so that she flinched and grabbed her head with a whimper. "Wha-"

"You will not speak yet."

That voice - she recognised it. It was the Beast.

"Ember? Ember, what's wrong?"

The brunette shook her head to clear it as the Doctor's voice reached her. "My head... It hurts..."

The Doctor pulled her in for a hug, tucking her smaller frame against his. "You're probably still tired from your last adventure. You should try to rest."

"But... ah..." Ember winced as the headache flared a bit before calming down. "Ok..."

The Doctor eased her to turn so her back was to him and got her to lay back until she was lying on the seat with her head on his lap. "Take it easy."

Ember would have probably blushed as their position had her head not been throbbing at the moment. "Alright..."

Rose looked on in concern as Ember closed her eyes, the Doctor helping by putting his hand over them for added shielding from the lights. What she didn't see was that the Doctor took advantage of the touch to use his own telepathy to ease Ember into a light slumber: a simple subliminal trick that could have easily been refused if Ember wanted. The blonde tried to start up a conversation. "I've seen films and things, yeah. They say black holes are like gateways to another universe."

"Not that one." The Doctor replied, looking up at the black hole. "It just eats."

"Long way from home."

The Doctor glanced at her for a moment before raising his free hand and pointing just to the left. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for about, um... five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth."

Rose smiled at his attempt to cheer her up. She pulled out her phone and turned it on. "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could... What would I tell her?" She thought about her mother for a long moment before looking at the Doctor again. "Can you build another Tardis?"

"They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone... we're kind of stuck."

"Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift."

The Doctor looked at her. "And then what?"

"I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."

"I'd have to settle down." The Doctor looked increasingly bothered by the thought alone. "Get a house or something. A proper house with... with doors and things. Carpets! Me, living in a house! Now that... that is terrifying."

"You'd have to get a mortgage." Rose joked in a sing song voice.

The Doctor's eyes widened, almost in fear. "No!"

"Oh, yes!"

"I'm dying. That's it. I'm dying. It is all over."

"Not dying..." Ember mumbled, mostly asleep as she shifted slightly. "No..."

Rose smiled at her, also noticing the Doctor look down at the brunette fondly. "What about me? I'd have to get one, too. I don't know, could be the same one. We could both, I don't know, share. Or not, you know... Could be just you two. Whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out..."

"Anyway..."

"We'll see..."

"I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home." The Doctor said, gladly changing the subject.

"Everyone leaves home in the end."

"Not to end up stuck here."

"Yeah, but stuck with you... that's not so bad."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. And Ember is an added bonus."

The pair laughed, quietly so as not to disturb Ember, when Rose's phone suddenly started ringing. Confused, the blonde looked at the screen, seeing no number, and then hesitantly pressed ACCEPT before bringing the phone to her ear.

Before she could say anything, a deep voice rumbled at her. "He is awake."

Rose's response was the throw the phone away from her, the clatter waking Ember as the Doctor looked concerned.


After explaining what she'd heard on the phone, and what the Ood had said, Rose, the Doctor and Ember made their way to Ood Habitation - after taking a wrong turn that the Doctor insisted wasn't his fault.

"Evening." He greeted Danny as he and the two women stepped onto a walkway above where the Ood were sat in rows

Rose smiled. "Only us."

"The mysterious trio." Danny greeted as they approached. "How are you, then? Settling in?"

The Doctor saw Ember lean on the railing, looking at the Ood with an unreadable expression. "Yeah. Sorry, straight to business, the Ood: how do they communicate? I mean, with each other."

"Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle."

"If you say so," Ember murmured, just loud enough for the Doctor to hear her.

"This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" He asked.

"Because I was having dinner," Rose explained, "and one of the Ood said something, well... odd."

"Hmm." Danny mused, seemingly unconcerned. "An odd Ood."

"And then I got something else on my, uh... communicator thing."

"Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them." Danny gestured to a monitor next to him. "They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."

Ember's grip on the railing tightened, her knuckles turning white. It was getting very hard to resist decking the man, even if he didn't know the whole truth.

"Monitor the field." The Doctor said, looking at the monitor, which was displaying 'Basic 5' above what looked almost like brainwaves. "That's this thing?"

Danny barely glanced over as he checked some equipment. "Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register basic five."

The Doctor raised a brow when the reading changed, going to 7, 8, 9 and then even higher. "Well, that's not basic five. Ten, twenty... They've gone up to basic thirty."

The Ood lifted their heads in unison. Ember tensed.

"But they can't..." Danny said, looking at the monitor.

"Doctor, the Ood." Rose alerted him before she turned to Danny. "What does basic thirty mean?"

"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads."

"Or something's shouting at them." The Doctor corrected.

Danny shook his head. "But where is it coming from? What is it saying? What did it say to you?"

"Something about the beast in the pit," Rose said.

"What about your communicator? What did that say?"

"...He is awake."

"And you will worship him." The Ood said, all together at once.

"What the hell?" Danny whispered.

The Doctor put his hands on the railing next to Ember, facing the Ood. "He is awake."

"And you will worship him." The Ood said again.

"Worship who?" There was no reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

"Something horrible..." Ember murmured, barely loud enough for them to hear her. She chose to stay up on the ramp with Danny as the Doctor and Rose went down to Ood to examine them. She thought about saying something else, only to flinch as pain flared in her head again. "Agh!"

She dropped to her knees, clutching her head in pain. The Doctor and Rose were quickly at her side, but before they could help her, the base suddenly shook violently, almost sending them all to the floor.

"Emergency hull breach." The computer announced. "Emergency hull breach."

"Which section?" Danny yelled into his wrist comm.

"Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen!" Zach's voice came through. "We've got a breach! The base is open! Repeat, the base is open!"

The Doctor pulled Ember to her feet and towards the door, Rose and Danny following. In the chaos it was hard to tell how much time had passed, but they soon reached Habitation 3, where they nearly crashed into Jefferson before he led them away.

"I can't contain the oxygen field!" Zach yelled. "We're going to lose it!"

In the corridor not far from Habitation 3, Jefferson was shoving everyone through a hatch, Ida and Toby joining them. "Come on! Keep moving! And you too, Sunshine!"

The hatch was finally closed, and the chaos seemed to calm as the computer announced "Breach sealed. Breach sealed."

"Everyone all right?!" The Doctor said, getting nods from the gasping crew. "What happened? What was it?"

"Hull breach." Jefferson said as the computer announced that the oxygen levels were returning to normal. "We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."

"That wasn't a quake. What caused it?"

"We've lost sections eleven to thirteen." Zach's voice came from Jefferson's comm. "Everyone all right?"

Jefferson raised his wrist to reply. "We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report. Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report!"

"She's all right. I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation three." Zach added. "Better go and check, if she's not responding. She might be unconscious. How about that, eh? We survived."

"Habitation three." Jefferson repeated. "Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on."

As the rest of the crew walked away, the Doctor noticed Ember staring intently at Tony, who was still kneeling on in the ground and looking at his shaking hands. "What happened?"

"I don't... I don't know..." Toby rambled. "I was working and then I can't remember. All that noise... The room was falling apart. There was no air..."

Rose helped him to his feet. "Come on. Up you get. Come and have some protein one."

"Oh, you've gone native." The Doctor teased.

"Oi, don't knock it. It's nice. Protein one with just a dash of three." Rose clicked her tongue as she led Toby away.

The Doctor was about to follow when he felt Ember take his hand. "Ember? Are you alright? Does your head still hurt?"

"No, it's fine now," Ember replied, though the Doctor could feel her hand still shaking. "But I got distracted. And something awful has happened..."

"It's alright," the Doctor gently freeing his hand so he could put his arm around her and tuck her into his side. "Whatever happened, it isn't your fault."

Ember nodded as he led her to follow the others, though she was far from believing his words.

The rest of the short trip back was quiet, and they soon found themselves in Habitation 3, looking around for the missing member of the crew as the others returned from checking the other corridors.

"I've checked Habitation four." Ida said upon her return, talking into her wrist comm. "Can you hear me?"

"There's no sign of her. The biochip says she's in the area." Jefferson said. "Have any of you seen Scooti?"

"No," Toby said. Ember was the only one to catch the hesitation in his voice. "No, no, I don't think so."

"Scooti, please respond." Ida said. "If you can hear this, please respond. Habitation six?"

Jefferson shook his head. "Nowhere here. Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing."

"It says Habitation three." Zach replied.

"Yeah, well, that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here."

The Doctor felt Ember tug his jacket, and looked just in time to see her glance up before turning her face into his chest, a choked sob escaping her. He looked up, dread filling him. "I've found her."

Everyone looked at him, then followed his gaze up. The shutters were still open, showing the black hole... and the lifeless body of Scooti, skin turned blue and face frozen in a dead stare.

"Oh, my God." Rose covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide as they stared at the body slowly drifting away from them.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor murmured, though it was unclear if he was talking to the dead woman above them or the silently sobbing woman he was holding. "I'm so sorry."

Jefferson raised his wrist comm to his mouth again, not taking his eyes off the sight. "Captain... Report, Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. Forty three K two point one."

"She was twenty." Ida gasped, trying to fight back tears. "Twenty years old."

As she turned and hit the switch to close the shutters, Jefferson spoke a quote from something Ember didn't know. "For how should man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods."

For several long moments, no one spoke as the shutters closed. Then, there was a faint rumble followed by silence.

"It's stopped." Ida said quietly.

"What was that?" Rose asked. "What was it?"

The Doctor glanced at her. "The drill."

"We've stopped drilling." Ida added. "We've made it. Point Zero."

Ember shook her head, still hiding her face against the Doctor's chest. In her mind, it was more like Ground Zero.


Despite the solemn atmosphere, the crew got on with their plans, going to the drilling station and preparing for the next stage of their mission. Ida was in an orange spacesuit as she readied herself.

"All non essential Oods to be confined." Zach was saying over an intercom.

Ida nodded. "Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. Bring systems online now."

Zach turned and blinked in surprise as the Doctor approached him, now clad in a spacesuit like Ida's with the helmet under his arm. "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force."

"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are." Zach tried to reason.

"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you? And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on. Look me in the eye." He made a point to meet the captain's eye evenly. "Yes you do, I can see it. Trust."

Zach hesitated, and then he sighed. "I should be going down."

"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."

"Not much good at it, am I?" Zach looked at him for a moment, then caved, turning to the rest of the crew. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mister Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement."

The Doctor grinned, knowing he'd won, and turned to where Rose and Ember were standing to one side, both looking nervous. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity... It's ages since I wore one of these."

"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" Rose said.

"Yes, sir." The Doctor said as he pulled the helmet on.

"It's funny, because people back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about and teleports and anti gravity, but it's not, is it? It's tough."

"I'll see you later." The Doctor said simply.

"Not if I see you first."

Ember expected Rose to kiss the helmet like she'd done in the show, only to blink when the blonde instead turned the Doctor and pushed him towards her with a smile. For a moment nothing was said, and Ember gave in and hugged him, burying her face in his chest.

"I don't care if that suit gets burned and ripped to shreds." She murmured, unsure if he heard. "You're the one I want back in one piece."

"I'll do my best," The Doctor said, holding her close for a moment before somewhat reluctantly pulling away. He gestured to his face. "Kiss for good luck?"

Ember blushed, but leaned up and kissed the faceplate right where his forehead was before she could think about it for too long. He sent her a wink and a grin before he turned to join Ida at the capsule. Zach's voice came through the comms from the Control Room he'd returned to.

"Capsule active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..." The Doctor and Ida got in the capsule, Jefferson closing the door and stepping back. "Five, four, three, two, one... Release."

The capsule shuddered and began to lower into the tunnel the drill had made. Ember glanced over at Toby, who was anxiously checking his palms as though expecting something to be there. She debated saying something, but without proof the others would probably brush her off.

"You've gone beyond the oxygen field." Zach said, drawing her attention back to a monitor that showed the capsule's decent. "You're on your own."

Rose reached over and grabbed a radio from the hook, assuming correctly that it was a means of communicating to the two. "Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good."

"Rose, stay off the comm." Zach said.

"No chance." Rose looked at Ember and winked, making her smile. Suddenly, it seemed like the capsule took a dive down the shaft, landing at the bottom with a loud crunch that made everyone look startled. "Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?"

"Ida, report to me. Doctor?"

"It's all right. We've made it." The Doctor's voice came back. "Getting out of the capsule now."

"What's it like down there?" Rose asked.

"It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive."

"Well, this should help. Gravity globe." There was a pause from Ida that was filled with a light humming sound. "That's, that's... My God, that's beautiful."

"Rose, you can tell Toby... we've found his civilisation."

Rose looked over at Toby, not noticing his weird behaviour. "Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work!"

"Good, good." He muttered. "Good."

Zach cut in before Ember could comment. "Concentrate now, people. Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?"

"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."

"Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back."

"Oh, did you have to?" The Doctor whined. "No turning back? That's almost as bad as nothing can possible go wrong, or this is going to be the best Christmas Walford's ever had..."

"Are you finished?" Ida said flatly.

"...Yeah. Finished."

Just then, Danny came over the comm from Ood Habitation. "Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood."

"What are they doing?" Zach asked.

"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't."

"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being stared at."

"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at basic one hundred. I've checked, there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred."

"But that's impossible."

"What's basic one hundred mean?" Rose asked, looking at Jefferson.

"They should be dead." Danny said.

Jefferson nodded. "Basic one hundred's brain death."

"But they're safe?" Zach tried to clarify. "They're not actually moving?"

"No, sir." Danny replied.

"Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson? Keep a guard on the Ood."

Jefferson nodded, raising his gun and turning to face the three Ood that were in the room with them. "Officer at arms!"

"Yes, sir!" The female Officer with him did the same.

"You can't fire a gun in here." Rose said. "What if you hit a wall?"

Ember shook her head. "Bullets safe for space base use."

"I'm firing stock fifteen." Jefferson nodded. "It only impacts upon organics. Keep watch. Guard them."

"Yes, sir."

"Is everything all right up there?" The Doctor asked, not having heard the whole exchange.

"Yeah, yeah." Rose said, trying to sound cheery.

"It's fine." Zach said.

"Great." Danny added.

"... Ember? Is everything alright?"

Ember hesitated, but took the radio when Rose handed it to her. "As good as it can be. What have you found?"

"Should have known you'd know," the Doctor teased before answering the question. "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."

"The edge is covered with those symbols." Ida added.

Zach spoke next. "Do you think it opens?"

"That's what trapdoors tend to do." The Doctor replied.

"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice." Ida said. "It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."

"Any way of opening it?"

There was a pause before Ida replied. "I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism."

"I suppose that's the writing." The Doctor mused. "It'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation."

"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach asked.

Rose leaned over to where Toby was still kneeling on the floor, his back to them. "Toby, they need to know that lettering. Does it make any sort of sense?"

"I know what it says." For the first time since the last quake, his voice was calm. Ember froze.

"Then tell them."

Jefferson looked puzzled, knowing the man hadn't moved since they sent their friends down the shaft. "When did you work that out?"

"It doesn't matter, just tell them." Rose said as Toby slowly stood up. When he turned to face them, they were shocked to find his face covered in alien symbols and his eyes blood-red.

"These are the words of the Beast." He said, his voice now deep and almost inhuman. "And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise."

Jefferson raised his weapon at the young man. "Officer, stand down. Stand down!"

"What is it? What's he done?" The Doctor asked, hearing some commotion. "What's happening? Rose, what's going on? Ember?"

"Jefferson? Report." Zach called. "Report!"

"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined." Jefferson said. "Immediately!"

Rose held the radio close. "He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him."

"Mister Jefferson." 'Toby' said calmly. "Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?"

Jefferson hesitated. "I don't know what you mean."

"Let me tell you a secret. She never did."

"Officer, you will stand down and be confined."

"Or what?"

"Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you."

"But how many can you kill?" 'Toby' opened his mouth, a dull roar coming out as the alien symbols drift off of his skin like smoke, going right for the Ood and seeping into them. Toby, now looking normal, coughed and collapsed.

Ember was about to move to do something, but then the pain flared in her head again, sending her to her knees with a cry.

"We are the Legion of the Beast..." The Ood said at once.

"Rose? What is it, Rose? Ember?!" The Doctor yelled, but got no reply. "I'm going back up."

"Report. Report!" Zach was also yelling. "Jefferson, report. Someone, report!"

"The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few..."

"It's the Ood." Rose murmured into the radio.

Jefferson turned his gun toward the Ood. "Sir, we have contamination in the livestock."

"Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed. And Ember's in pain..."

"They won't listen to us!"

"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer. Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free."

"Back up to the door!"

"I shall become manifest..."

"Move quickly!" Jefferson shiver them toward the far door, away from the advancing Ood.

"I shall walk in the light."

"To the door! Get it open!"

"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds..."

The whole place shook violently, adding to the chaos. If one focused, Ida and Zach could be heard shouting.

"Doctor, it's opening!"

"We're moving! The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving!"

"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the death of hope..."

"Get that door open!" Jefferson yelled.

Zach could be heard on the comm. "The gravity field. It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!"

"I have been imprisoned for eternity, but no more."

The door refused to open, annouching such. "Door sealed."

"Come on!" Rose cried, but got nothing but the same. She was helping Ember stay upright, until the brunette collapsed, unconscious. "Ember!"

"Door sealed."

"The Pit is open. And I am free. Bwahahahahahaha!"


Well, there we go. Hope you like it so far.

Slight bit of bad news, though. Usually I try to post the second part a few days after the first, but I'm afraid that won't happen this time. It will be coming on shedule on Monday, though.

Next Time: It's time to face the devil, and Ember is about to get a bombshell in the form of an answer she's been looking for. Stay tuned!