Rose could not believe that her salvation had arrived in the form of a bin lorry.
Racing back to the docking back, it had been Lorna who had led them over to the large box-shaped hunk of metal that wouldn't have stood out anymore had it been a shipping container at a dockyard. But given that it was the only craft available to them now, nobody argued as they all climbed aboard.
Discovering Bert Rawling's body had been a hard blow for the recycling girl.
The poor man had been shot at point-blank range in the chest with the same weapon which had injured Peter. The only difference was here, however, was that the hole which had been left behind was the size of a fist and it had burned through all of his major organs, leaving nothing but charred remains behind of them.
"It would have been quick." Rose tried to assure her. "He wouldn't have suffered too much."
Laying his hand on Lorna's shoulder with his good arm, Peter nodded in agreement of this.
"Rose is right." He added. "Go and get this thing off the ground. Me and Callum will stay here and… We'll look after him"
Staring back down at the body of her supervisor, Lorna thought it odd that he was so quiet right now. Although lazy in his work and commitment to the company he had worked for, Bert had a deep and booming raucous laughter that was infectious enough to actually made the job bearable.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away.
"Thank you." She said. "There's a medical kit in there. It'll have a blanket in it."
Once Lorna and Rose had walked on and through into the cabin of the large container ship, Callum didn't waste any time in retrieving the large green bag that had been stored away in an overhead compartment. Within it, amongst the bandages and medicines that could have aided with treating all sorts of ailments, was a large grey blanket.
"No, let me." Callum insisted. "I can do it."
With his arm still in a sling, Peter allowed the young pirate to drape the large sheet of fabric over the man's body. It was a sobering moment in any situation, and he was glad that he had never had to experience it with anyone he knew. But even though he had never met Bert, his unnecessary death at the hands of the ice warriors was enough to anger him.
"These ice warriors won't stop." He said. "They'll kill anyone in their path to get what they want."
"Aye, they won't." Callum agreed. "We need to stop them before they do any more damage."
Peter's eyes instantly fell to the two pistols that were threaded in through the pirate's belt. Although he was right-handed, nothing was stopping him from being able to handle the weapon with his left one. It was time to even the odds and fight back against these creatures.
"Give one of those guns, Callum." He requested. "We'll make them pay for what they've done."
Callum didn't even hesitate in handing over the weapon, and ordinarily, this wouldn't have been the case. But Peter's confidence was as infectious as Rose's was, and it didn't hurt to have two of them armed against the martians. Besides, he did owe Peter a favour for abandoning him and Lorna to the ice warriors in the first place. Also, there was very little choice in terms of allies right now.
"Don't lose it." He told him. "Ma will shoot your other arm if you do."
Although the weapon was nothing like he'd even fired before, Peter took reassurance in the solid weight of it in his hand. The barrel and trigger were no different in shape to his P222 handgun, and it was a nice thought to think that he was now capable of returning the favour of his burnt arm to Lord Hasskar and his warriors.
"Come on. Let's join the girls."
The bridge of the recycling vessel was only just big enough to fit all four of them into. With two bucket seats positioned in front of the control console, it was a narrow squeeze behind each of them for Callum and Peter to stand in as Lorna steered the ship away from Coldstar.
"First time I've ever escaped in a bin lorry," Rose said with a smile.
"Technically, it's the actual bin," Lorna replied. "Coldstar is the lorry and that's about to blow up."
"I'm just glad it's airtight. When you suggested we jump ship in a wheely container, I didn't think it would actually work."
"They're meant to avoid polluting the environment," Lorna said. "That includes space."
The ride was getting bumpier and bumpier as the almost minuscule vessel fought against the gravitational pull of the sun and powered its way back into the safety of space. But even as the vessel ratted with the effort, Lorna steered it smoothly and calmly as though she had been doing it for decades. If only Bert could have seen her now, he might've actually told her that she was doing a good job.
"Callum, how are your wreckers doing?" She asked. "Are they holding alright?"
It was as they had cleared Coldstar that a debris field of ice yet to move close enough to the sun to melt had become stood in their way. But the little robotic army didn't need a ship to escape, and they had managed to lend a helping hand once Callum had relayed the instructions via his small control pad.
Attaching themselves onto the sides of the floating bin, they had used their collective source of power to aid in steering the vessel through the debris field.
"Clamped outside and steering us through safely." The pirate reported. "But I don't know if we'll have enough power to make planetfall."
"Forget that for now," Peter told him. "We just need enough to catch up with your ship."
"Hold on, shouldn't we be going to Enyo?" Lorna questioned. "We need to let the authorities know."
"No, lock onto Volta's Pearl," Rose told her. "That's where the Doctor will be."
A bleeping sound confirmed that the wreckers and the ship agreed with her as Callum saw that the metal crabs were using whatever they had to power them towards his ma's ship. It was their best chance as Volta's Pearl was closer to them than Enyo, and right now they stood a better chance of making it there in one piece.
Even though Coldstar's death was inventible now, it was a slow journey to its final destination.
The ship would have been travelling hundreds of miles an hour towards the sun, from the distant those abroad Volta's Pearl was to it, the destruction of the moon-sized vessel was almost happening in slow-motion as bit by bit, the nearest parts of it melted against the intense heat and broke off before been reduced to fiery meteorites that slammed into the infernal ball of energy.
With his forehead pressed up against the shield protecting the glass window, the Doctor was powerless to stop any of it.
"You have the flight controls, Slaan?"
"Yes, Lord Hasskar." The ice warrior reported. "We are moving towards the planet."
Marching over to where Brona was still stood at the controls of her ship, Lord Hasskar pushed her away from it and made it clear that she was now surplus to requirement. The pirate did not resist him, and the fight seemed to have left her ever since the fate of her son had been decided.
"Step back Brona Volta." He ordered. "I will summon you if we require your assistance. Join the Doctor. Perhaps you would like to share your loss?"
Saying nothing against this or the ice warrior's cruel cackling laugher which followed her as she made her way across the bridge, the pirate sat down quietly next to the defeated Time Lord.
"Doctor?" She whispered. "What are you doing?"
"Thinking."
"What are we going to do now?"
"Nothing without my TARDIS." The Doctor grumbled back. "There she is, just sitting there… Not ten feet away from me."
The large blue box had been brought up to the bridge by Slaan and the two other ice warriors. It was sitting no more than a couple of meters away from its owner, and yet there was nothing he could do to reclaim it right now. What made it even worse was that, right now, he would still have enough time to return to Coldstar and save the others.
"They're not that fast." Brona quietly encouraged. "I could distract them and you could run?"
"No, there's still too many." He told her. "They're right in front of the doors. No way past them, not yet."
"So? Soon it'll be too late, and Coldstar will be ashes."
"Yeah… There are rules about time." The Doctor muttered. "Or rather, there used to be. I guess that's up to me now. One chance, that's all I need."
A repetitive small beeping sound was the first indication that not everything was going according to the new plan the ice warriors had concocted against Enyo. Slaan hissed loudly as he read the information being relayed back to him on a small screen built into the control panel.
"Lord Hasskar, we are passing through Coldstar debris." He reported. "Impact! Something hit the cargo deck. It is stuck and slowing us down."
The dull thuds and shudders that were originating from somewhere below their feet accompanied this information enough for Lord Hasskar to deem it worthy of acting upon it. The cargo bay was a very odd place for debris to have become entangles with as it was located towards the back of the ship. Something else was going on, he could sense it…
"Take Vasspar and Sicsheil." He ordered. "Investigate this. I will guard the Doctor and his ship."
"Yes, Lord Hasskar," Slaan replied. "Come, warriors."
Slaan marched out of the room with the other two ice warriors following close behind him. It was only once they had gone that the Doctor's head rose up and off the shield placed in front of the window.
"Brona?" He asked softly. "How many wreckers did you set loose on Coldstar?"
"About a hundred or so."
"Did they have iron-propelled blowtorches?"
"Among other things, yes." She replied. "Why?"
Eyeing Lord Hasskar and the TARDIS that was stood almost within touching distance of him, the Doctor's mind had suddenly awoken once again with a spark of hope now crossing through it. Just like the ice warriors, he knew that it was almost impossible for a piece of random debris to have struck the cargo bay.
"Just a thought, Brona." He whispered back. "Just a thought."