~revised~

Chapter XXX

Mira

The next morning they were all sitting in the canteen. She had managed to sleep for a few hours, not because she had been overly tired, but because there had been time. She had had a weird dream about Toby; strange signs or writing in black had covered his skin, symbols similar to the etchings on the wall, and he had watched her out of red eyes, saying something she couldn't understand. She wasn't thinking that the dream meant anything though. It hadn't been one of those dreams. It was most likely just her brain processing the things she had seen throughout the day.

Suddenly the lights flickered, and Ida asked over her wrist-comm, "Zach – have we got a problem?"

"No more than usual. Got the Scarlet System burning up; it might be worth a look."

She looked at the Doctor and Rose whilst Ida said, "You might wanna see this. Moment in history."

She pulled a lever and the roof opened once more. "There. On the edge," she pointed up.

Indeed, she could see it. A red stream of light was being pulled into the black hole, stretching out in an almost elegant curve. It was a great sight – somehow sad, but, nevertheless, it was awe-inspiring, especially knowing what forces were at work in that moment. A whole system, including its sun, was being pulled into an all-consuming dead star. Well, it wasn't really pulled anywhere. It was just compressed, becoming part of an incredibly dense mass.

"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," Ida explained.

Mira wondered what had become of this civilization. Surely they had seen it coming; that wasn't something that happened over-night. Did they escape? On the other hand, a civilization that spanned a billion years might have gotten tired. Sometimes civilisations vanished, just like that. They grew tired, degenerated, and even if they had seen it coming, they might not have found the initiative to do something. Maybe they had died out long before that. She had seen many of remains of old civilizations in her life. Sometimes there was no way of telling what had happened. No signs of a war or anything. They had just vanished. Making room for something new, completing the circle, like everything else in the universe. Everything was changing around her, she thought. Being born, growing, evolving and then dying. Only she herself didn't. She had escaped this universal cycle at some point. Every time she looked in the mirror, she saw the same face she had seen for almost sixteen hundred years now. Had she really not changed? Of course, she had seen a lot, and it had had its effects on her, or at least on her soul, but how could she really change if her body was just staying the same? Suddenly, the words the Doctor had said crossed her mind again. Frozen in time. That's what she was. Would she still be there the day humanity finally vanished in her universe? A living fossil, standing on a dying world, watching a dying sun?

"Um, could you leave it open?" the Doctor asked and pulled her out of her thoughts. Ida had reached for the lever again. "Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?" Ida asked. The Doctor didn't answer, just smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Scooti, check the lock down," Ida said, and then to Jefferson, "Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me."

"Open Door 18."

"Close Door 18."

Now, the three of them were alone. She looked at Rose. The girl was holding herself together quite well, although Mira doubted that she had fully realized the impact of the loss of the TARDIS on her life.

"I've seen films and things, yeah – they say black holes are like gateways to another universe," Rose said, obviously talking to the Doctor. Well, it seemed she was back to ignoring her.

"Not that one. It just eats," the Doctor confirmed her suspicion from earlier.

"Long way from home…," Rose said, trying to crack a smile.

"Go that way, turn right, keep going for um…about five hundred years…then you'll reach the Earth," the Doctor replied, looking up to the stars.

Five hundred years... If he meant light-years, then they weren't that far from home – if they had a space ship. Without one, even one light-year was an eternity.

Rose took her phone out and pressed a few buttons. "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could…what would I tell her…? Can you build another TARDIS?" She laughed nervously at her own suggestion.

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

Welcome to my world, she thought.

"Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift," Rose said, trying to sound casually.

"And then what?" She couldn't hold her tongue any longer. Besides, she was curious what Rose's plan might be.

"I dunno…find a planet…get a job…live a life, same as the rest of the universe," Rose replied.

Oh hell. She surely wouldn't settle down on a planet. And somehow she couldn't believe that the Doctor would either. She didn't know what he had been doing before his homeworld got destroyed, but she couldn't imagine him just living on some planet. No, in that way, he seemed to be like her. Planets were nice, especially if they were one's homeworld, but she couldn't even stay on Earth for too long. It was a place to return to. A place that was always there, a place she missed when she wasn't there. But it had never taken too long until she had itched to get back out there again.

"Pfft... I'd have to settle down. In a house or something, a proper house with…with…with…with DOORS and things. Carpets! Me! Living in a house!" The Doctor said.

Rose only laughed at his indignant tone.

"Now that…that is terrifying."

It was terrifying, indeed.

"You'd have to get a mortgage," Rose went on teasing him.

"No!"

"Oh yes."

"I am dying. That's it. I am dying, it is all over." The Doctor shook his head.

It was supposed to sound funny, but she noticed how serious it really was to him. She couldn't imagine it either. Being forced to live on a planet for the rest of her live? Looking up at the stars every night, knowing exactly she would never be able to go there again? After all she had seen, all the places she had been? No. Not an option.

"What about me? I'd have to get one too. I dunno, could…could be the same one, we could both…" Rose trailed, "I dunno…share. Or not, you know. Whatever."

Mira looked at the Doctor and saw the awkward expression on his face. He was clearly feeling uncomfortable, and she couldn't blame him for that. The whole situation had become awkward from one moment to the next.

"I dunno, we'll sort something out…" Rose hurried to say.

She had noticed it too. Poor girl. Wait. Hadn't he said that he had talked to her? Well, at least not about this particular topic.

"Anyway," the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck and shooting a quick glance to Mira with that look in his eyes.

"We'll see!" Rose tried to say lightly.

"I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home," the Doctor said after a few moments of silence.

"Everyone leaves home in the end," Rose replied.

"Yeah, but not to be stuck in the future without your mother knowing what happened to you," she said before she could help herself and regretted it almost instantly. No need to remind Rose of how severe the situation was. She would realise it soon enough on her own. She braced herself for Rose's answer, because the girl was clearly thinking about something appropriate to say, as she heard a voice echoing in her head.

He is awake.

She winced and turned her head to the Doctor. He looked at her equally surprised.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Yeah. He is awake."

"What?" Rose asked.

"Didn't you hear it?" he asked Rose.

"No, what?"

"It was in our heads," Mira explained. "Some sort of telepathic transmission."

"Was it?" the Doctor asked, looking around him. "But who..."

"The Ood!" they said simultaneously, staring at each other.

"What's with them?" Rose wanted to know.

"They're telepathic. And I think we should check on them," the Doctor answered her.


Doctor

A few minutes later they reached Ood Habitation, finding Danny there, and most of the Oods standing in their places downstairs.

"Evening." the Doctor said to him, followed by, "Only us!" from Rose.

"The mysterious trio. How are you, then? Settling in?" he said, looking up from his work on a computer terminal.

"Yeah, sorry, straight to business, the Ood - how do they communicate? I mean, with each other," the Doctor said to him, after taking a look at the Ood. He was now clearly feeling that they were psychic, but he couldn't say if they were talking to each other or what they were saying. He looked over to Mira, who observed the aliens herself. Did she understand something?

"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," Danny answered, making him frown. He didn't like how Danny was talking about the Ood, and he couldn't imagine that it was true what they were saying about them. A species born to serve? Not really.

"This telepathic field - can it pick up messages?" he asked Danny.

"'Cos I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something... well, odd," Rose threw in. She had told him about it, but he hadn't known what to make out of it.

"Oh. An odd Ood," Danny replied, obviously not taking the whole situation very seriously.

"And we... heard another message," Mira added, not being specific about how they had heard it. She was really overly cautious about this topic from time to time, he noticed.

"Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There are all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing," Danny replied casually. He only shook his head, being far from convinced. Stray transmissions? Maybe there were some, but not telepathic ones. Just as he wanted to clarify what sort of message it had been, Danny continued, "Look…if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."

"Monitor the field - that's this thing?" he said, pointing at a small screen with a five on it.

"Yeah. But like I said, it's low-level telepathy. They only register Basic five," Danny answered, not looking at the console that was now reading a six.

"Well, that's not Basic five," the Doctor pointed it out, looking at the scale that was still rising.

"Ten..." Now Rose was standing next to him, looking at the screen as well.

"Doctor!" he heard Mira from behind him, an alarmed tone in her voice. The scale had gone up to a thirty by now.

"They've gone up to a basic thirty," he informed Danny, before addressing Mira, "What?"

"The Ood, they..."

"But that can't be," Danny said in disbelief.

He turned around and saw how the Ood turned to them as one, looking up at the balcony.

"What does basic thirty mean," Rose asked.

"Well, it means that they're shouting - screaming inside their heads," Danny said baffled.

"More likely something's shouting at them," Mira said, and as he turned his head he could see that she was standing with eyes closed, her face a mask of concentration.

"What? What's shouting at them?" he wanted to know and walked over to her.

"I don't know. Would be a bit easier if they would stop making such a noise themselves," she said, opened her eyes and looked at the Ood.

"Who should shout at them?" Danny wanted to know as well. "What messages did you get?"

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

"He is awake," Mira told him, and just as she had finished, the Ood said all as one, "And you will worship him."

They all looked at the Ood.

"What the hell?" was all Danny could manage to say.

"He is awake," the Doctor repeated now, his hands on the rail, looking down to the Ood.

"And you will worship him," they repeated.

"Worship who?" No reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" But the Ood remained silent now.

"Mira?"

"There is definitely something, but I've no idea what, or where. And I don't know what it's saying. It's almost as if it's deliberately hiding its thoughts from us."

"Oh wait, what? You're not saying you can understand the Ood? I mean, telepathically? Have you looked at the black hole for too long?" Danny asked, completely dumbfounded now.

"Well, as she had just said, no, we're not understanding them, she's just hearing them," the Doctor answered as he watched how Mira covered her ears in a futile attempt to block out the 'noise' of the Oods.

"Sorry," she said after a few more moments, putting her hands down again. "I can't make anything out of it. It's just, the telepathic field of the Ood has gotten really strong now, and there's something else, something that definitely isn't an Ood."

"Well, I have a feeling we'll find it out sooner or later. You're fine?" he asked her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about the Cybermen. Had been a bit more of them, but..."

"What? Oh, no. The emotions of the Oods are no problem. It's their weird telepathic or empathic ability that's bothering me, not their emotions, and I'm able to block that out."

Suddenly, as he was about to answer, the whole base started to shake. Different this time, not like the shaking that happened on their arrival. He had a distinct feeling that the reason for it was inside the base this time, and immediately the computer confirmed it.

"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach."

"Great. One of the two things you don't want to hear on a station with vacuum around," he heard Mira murmuring.

"What's the other thing?" Rose asked, seeming a bit shocked now.

"Fire," Mira replied.

"Which section?" Danny asked into the wrist-comm.

"Everyone…evacuate 11 to 13, we've got a breach! The base is open. Repeat: the base is OPEN," Zach's voice came over the device.


Mira

The next moment they were running back to the canteen, Danny at their heels, where Jefferson joined them.

"I can't contain the oxygen field, we're gonna lose it!" Zach's voice came over the comm-device. They were hurrying through a door, which was held open by Jefferson. By now she could feel how the air was drawn into the direction where the hull-breach was. The atmosphere wasn't getting too thin yet, as there was obviously quite a bit of air in the base, but it couldn't, and wouldn't, last for much longer. Jefferson just pulled Toby through the door, and then finally closed it. The draught stopped and for a moment they tried to catch their breath, Toby sitting on the floor and visibly shaking. There was something wrong with him, but she couldn't yet say what it was.

"Breach sealed. Breach sealed," the emotionless voice of the computer said.

"Everyone all right?! What happened? What was it?" the Doctor wanted to know.

Well, that actually was a good question. It didn't seem like the base had been hit by anything. She wouldn't swear to it, but she had the distinct feeling that the reason for the breach came from inside. One could call it instinct, after spending centuries aboard space ships and space stations. To her it seemed as if the base had been shaking because of the breach, not because it had been hit by something subsequently causing the breach.

"Oxygen levels normal," the computer announced.

"Hull breach! We were open to the elements. A couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters," Jefferson said whilst panting heavily.

Rose was crouching next to Toby, who was still on the floor. His face was covered in sweat, and Mira could hardly believe that it was only because of the hull breach. Well, maybe if he had been next to it, but then, he must have seen what had happened.

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

"We've lost sections eleven to thirteen. Everyone all right?" Zach's voice came over the comm before anyone could answer the Doctor's question.

"We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report," Jefferson said

All remained silent for a moment as they were waiting for an answer. But there was none.

"Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report."

Silence.

"She's all right," Zach eventually said, "I picked up her bio chip, she's in Habitation 3. Better go and check if she's not responding; she might be unconscious."

Mira was still observing Toby – he looked down at his shaking hands as if he were seeing them for the first time. What the hell was wrong with him?

"How about that, eh? We survived," Zach continued.

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

They left, leaving her, the Doctor, Rose, and Toby behind. She and the Doctor were also crouching in front of Toby now.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked.

She concentrated on Toby. He was utterly confused, way beyond the normal stress reaction to an event like that.

"I don't…I dunno, I-I was working and then I can't remember. All-all that noise, the room was falling apart, there was no air…" he flustered quickly.

"Come on. Up you get. Come and have some Protein One," Rose said, as she pulled Toby to his feet, linked her arm through his and walked with him along the corridor. Mira and the Doctor followed. She would have liked to ask him more, but well, that could wait. Hopefully. She caught the Doctor's glance and shrugged. She had no idea what was going on, but suddenly the dream came back into her mind. It had been about Toby. Had it really only been a dream?

He is awake.

Who – or what – had they woken with their drilling and their search for this lost civilisation? What was it that was influencing the Ood? She had to talk with the Doctor about it to make some sense out of it. As soon as they had checked on Scooti.

Finally they reached the canteen. The room was bathed in the orange light of the black hole, since they had left the roof open, but there was still no sign of Scooti. All were there now, except for Zach, talking over each other.

"I've checked Habitation 4…" Ida said.

"There's no sign of her. The bio chip says she's in the area," Jefferson replied. "Have you seen Scooti?" he asked them as he saw them entering the room.

"No, no, no, I don't think so," Toby replied. There was no sign of her, Mira couldn't even feel her presence. Scooti had a quite distinct and strong mental presence, one that she couldn't easily miss.

"Scooti, please respond. If you can hear this, please respond!" Ida tried it again, using her comm.

"Nowhere here," Jefferson said, and then into his comm, "We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing."

"It says Habitation three."

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

"I've found her," the Doctor suddenly said. His voice had been rather quiet, but nevertheless, everyone had heard him and they all were following his eyes and looking up now. There she was, floating through space and away from the base, into the direction of the black hole. The room suddenly fell silent as everyone watched her body in shock.

"Oh, my God…" Rose whispered.

Exactly what she herself was thinking. Not her. Not Scooti, not someone so young and so full of life.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for anyone to die, and even though Scooti had been aware of the dangers on the base, she didn't deserve this. All her dreams, hopes, plans – all that life that had been laying out in front of her, it was all destroyed and gone. It had been only yesterday when Scooti had told her what she wanted to do with all the time she thought she had left.

And, even though Mira had witnessed countless times how someone so young had died right in front of her eyes, it left her in utter shock. She would never get used to this. The day it would become normal she might as well be dead herself.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry," the Doctor whispered, standing next to her now.

"Captain... report Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. 43K2.1," Jefferson said quietly into his comm.

"She was twenty…twenty years old," Ida said, stunned, before walking over to the control and closing the roof.

"For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father... and the temples of his Gods…" Jefferson quoted.

She looked over to him. She herself had never been religious, at least not in the common sense of the word. She had come to understand how religion and belief could give a person strength, make their lives meaningful, and she deeply respected it when someone had found something they could have so much faith in. She also knew that it was important to believe in something, if only to keep one from going mad from the cruelty and the meaninglessness one could experience in the universe. A universe that could seem so indifferent about the loss of a life like Scooti's. She didn't believe in a personal god as so many humans did, but in the universe itself, in something that was more than the sum of its parts, and in destiny. But in moments like this it was incredibly hard not only to believe, but to trust that there was something more to it. More than pure, almost cruel coincidence and arbitrariness.

It was still silent in the room. Unusually silent, she noticed. And then she realized that the ever-present drilling sound had stopped.

"It's stopped…" Ida had noticed it, too.

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

"The drill," the Doctor answered. She could hear in his voice that he was still shaken by what had just happened to Scooti.

"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero," Ida said in disbelief.


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