~revised~

Chapter XXXIV

Doctor

The Doctor was still being lowered down into the pit. Beneath him was nothing but complete darkness. He really wondered how far it would go. Surely not endlessly, for the size of the planet was finite.

"You get representations of the Horned Beast right across the universe. In the myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth... Draconia, Velconsadine... Daemos... the Kaled God of War... it's the same image, over and over again. Maybe... that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through... the thought at the back of every sentient mind," he said to Ida, mainly to distract himself, but also to hear Ida's voice in return – before the feeling of loneliness could overwhelm him.

"Emanating from here?" he heard her voice over the speakers in his helmet.

"Could be."

"But if this is the original... does that make it real? Does that make it the actual devil, though?"

"Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the devil is, in the end. An idea. Mira said something like that." Indeed she had. They both had heard it down here. He had also heard what the beast had accused her of. Destroyer of the stars? What did that mean? Suddenly his decent stopped.

"That's it. That's all we've got," Ida explained. "You getting any sort of readout?"

"Nothing. Could be miles to go, yet. Or... could be thirty feet. No way of telling." He looked down, but, of course, couldn't see anything. "I could survive thirty feet."

"Oh no you don't. I'm pulling you back up." At the same moment, he was lifted back up, but fortunately he could as well operate the winch from down here, and stopped it.

"What're you doing?!" Ida wanted to know.

"You bring me back, then we're just gonna sit there and run out of air. I've gotta go down."

"But you can't. Doctor, you can't." He could hear the fear in her voice now. And she wasn't the only one. He was afraid as well. Maybe falling down there was the last thing he would ever do. And if not, then he would die of a lack of oxygen soon enough. Would this really be the end? He had often been in situations like that, and had always found a way out. What if this time he didn't?

"Call it an act of faith," he said eventually in an attempt to reassure Ida – and himself. Then he started to release one of the hooks which were securing him to the cable.

"But... I don't want to die on my own."

"I know," he replied gently and released another hook. Faith. In what did they believe? Not only Ida, but also Rose and Mira. He had never asked them. Well, he had only known Mira for a short while, but he even hadn't found time to ask Rose. Now he probably would never find out. Most likely she believed in some sort of god. But what about Mira? After everything she must have seen, could she still believe in anything? She surely did believe in honesty. And hope. And in never giving up. Well, that was at least something to start with, wasn't it?

"I didn't ask - have you got any sort of faith, or...?" he finally asked Ida.

"Not really. I was brought up Neo Classic, congregational... because of my mum, she was...," she replied, "My old mum. But no, I never believed."

"Neo Classic - have they got a devil?"

"No, not as such. Just um... the things that men do."

"Same thing in the end."

"What about you?"

He paused for a moment whilst he was thinking about it. Good question. When had he thought about that the last time?

"I believe... I believe I haven't seen everything, I don't know... it's funny, isn't it? The things you make up - the rules. If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe it, but before the universe... impossible. Doesn't fit my rule. Still, that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong. Thank you, Ida."

"Don't go!" Ida said in an urgent voice.

So, this was it, probably the last and final moments of his life. He just wished he would see them again. See her again. Wished that he could tell her how much she meant to him already. If he had only be able to tell her.

"If they get back in touch... if you talk to Mira... just tell her...," he started to say. Oh hell, why did this had to be so hard? "Tell her I...," he continued after he had stared into the pit for a few moments. "Oh, maybe she already knows. Or she doesn't want to know, after what I've done to her."

With this said, he released the last hook and fell into the darkness.


Mira

She rushed with the others back to the exploration deck. Once there, she grabbed the mic and said, "Doctor? Are you there? Doctor? Ida? Can you hear me?"

No response. Zach, who had reached the exploration deck as well, said, "The comms are still down. I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute." He started to work at the computer. When he was finished she tried it again, "Doctor? Ida? Report!"

"He's gone," Ida finally replied.

"What do you mean, "he's gone"?", Rose, who was standing next to her, asked.

"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is - miles and miles and miles."

"Fell? How could he fall into the pit?" Mira asked in disbelief.

"I couldn't stop him. He said your name..."

He did what? She could hardly believe it. Why would he do that? And why would he say her name? Just her name or something else along with it? And there she had thought it couldn't get much worse. She looked at Rose. The girl stared back with a dangerous mix of grief and open hatred on her face. She realised that it would only be a matter of time until Rose would finally snap. She could physically feel how much on edge the girl was. As she tried to figure out what Rose would probably do, Zach took the mic from her. Her thoughts returned to the situation at hand. What had Ida meant with he had fallen? Had it been an accident? Or did he jump? Why would he do that? Surely not to jump to his certain death. Did he have a plan? And if so, what was it?

"I'm sorry," he said, but Rose didn't respond. She was just staring, now into space, but the expression on her face hadn't changed.

"Ida? There's no way of reaching you," Zach said into the comm. "No cable, no back-up... you're ten miles down... We can't get there."

"You should see this place, Zach," Ida said into the silence that had fallen over the exploration deck. "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things... And here I am."

"We've got to abandon the base," Zach said quietly. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."

She just stared at him as if having been slapped. No. They couldn't leave. Making sure that no one ever came back wasn't enough.

"But we'll never find out what it was?" Ida wanted to know.

"Well, maybe that's best," Zach replied.

"Yeah," Ida said, and Mira could clearly hear in her voice, in this one single word, that she was fully aware of the consequences for her.

"Officer Scott-"

"It's all right. Just go. Good luck."

"Thank you," Zach said and put the mic back in its place. She was still staring at him, hating herself for what she had to do, for what she had to tell him. She knew exactly how hard it was for him to leave even Ida behind.

"Danny - Toby - close down the feed links. Get the retrotopes online. Then get to the rocket - strap yourselves in. We're leaving," he said.

"Zach? A word," she said. He looked at her and she could see the struggle in his face. Basically there wasn't time for further talking, and so she urged, "It's important."

"Fine."

She walked a few steps away from the others, Zach following her.

"Zach, I'm sorry. But we can't leave."

"What!? Why?" He stared at her in disbelief. "Is it because of the Doctor? I'm sorry, but we can't do anything for him. Neither for Ida. He's most likely dead if he fell into the pit."

"He's not dead!" That was Rose. Mira hadn't realised that she had approached them.

"Rose, please...," she tried to calm her down, and then added, before Rose got the chance to say anything, "It's not about Ida or the Doctor. It's about this beast, whatever it is. It wants to escape. You've heard it. And with us leaving we're giving it the perfect opportunity. It got locked away ages ago, and probably for a good reason. I don't think we should risk setting it free."

"What? Are you nu-"

"Rose, not now!" Zach interrupted her. "So, you're saying we should stay on a planet that's about to fall into a black-hole, because this thing could maybe escape with us?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And I think you know that I'm right. You volunteered for this mission, and surely you did know that it wasn't supposed to be a holiday-trip." She observed him closely. He wasn't facing an easy decision; she of all people knew that. But she also knew that this was probably the price everyone had to pay for venturing out into space. Space was inherently deadly, always. No matter how secure it seemed to be aboard a space station or even one of the great battle-ships of the Fleet, they were always only separated by a relatively thin hull from certain death, may it come with loss of oxygen, fire, superior aggressors, or even from within like it was now the case with the Beast and the Ood. "Listen," she tried to convince him. "That thing got trapped here, an unimaginably long time ago. On a planet orbiting a black hole. And now it's free and the planet's falling. Could that be a coincidence? Sounds more like a safety measure to me. If it ever escapes it'll fall into the black hole. The perfect prison – apart from us being here and having a way to get off it!" Indeed, it all made sense now.

"It's all your fault!" Rose suddenly shouted at her. "He was right. You knew that all this would happen!" Her face was distorted with anger, and tears were streaming out of her eyes. "And now he's dead because of you! And now you want to kill us all!" The next moment she was outright jumping at Mira, but Zach managed to hold her back.

"Rose, stop it!"

Rose struggled a few moments longer in his grip, then indeed stopped in her attempts, but Zach didn't let go of her yet.

"You knew that this would happen?" Jefferson asked in disbelief. He had overheard everything Rose had said, it had been loud enough. By now, Danny and Toby were also standing around them. Great. Not.

"No I didn't, I-"

"She knew! He got angry at her the other day just because of that. And he was right. That was why you wanted him down there!" Rose spat at her.

"Why would I do that?" She could feel that the others were turning against her.

"Is that true?" Jefferson asked, more distrusting than ever before. Right now, the base shook again violently.

"Yeah, I don't think we have time for that now...," Zach said as the ground had stopped shaking, and finally let go of Rose.

"We can't leave!" She tried it again. She had to keep on trying, even though she still didn't know the Beast's plan.

"Maybe you should stay? You're possessed, aren't you? Or how did you stop the Ood?" Rose yelled.

Mira noticed out of the corner of her eye how Jefferson aimed is gun at her.

"What?! Has everyone gone mad now?" Zach said.

"Uhm..." All heads flung around to Toby. "I guess Rose's right. I've seen its plans in my head."

"Oh for God's sake! It can take over everyone! Don't you see it?" she asked. Hadn't Toby's eyes been red a second ago? Had the others not seen it?

"So you're saying we should leave her behind?" Zach asked Toby, and he nodded.

"Yeah. She's gotten us into all this in the first place!" Rose said, still crying.

"I say she stays," Jefferson said.

Only Danny remained silent. Right now, the Beast laughed in her head, louder than ever before, making her wince and instinctively cover her ears.

"See?" Rose yelled almost hysterically now.

Suddenly she saw it. The Beast would leave with Toby. That had been its plan from the beginning. She had lost. The Beast had tricked and manipulated them, the Doctor was missing down in the pit somewhere, with just enough air for probably an hour, and now it was ready to escape into the universe once more.

"I have lost too many people. I am not leaving anyone behind," Zach said, but she could feel that he was far from being convinced by his own words.

"Zach, I've seen it. She's some sort of psychic, the Beast only waited for someone like her!", Toby said, but no one – aside from her – saw the sardonic smile on his face, because they were all staring at her. There was no need for the Beast for leaving her behind – it was only out of cruelty and for its triumph of victory.

"Mira?" Zach said to her.

She just shrugged. What could she say now? They wouldn't believe her. It was over. And yet, it didn't feel like that. She wouldn't die here, it wasn't over yet. Or maybe it was only nature's way of showing her kindness, not letting her foresee her own death.

"I stay. And so should you," she said calmly. Maybe there still was a way to stop the Beast. Or to stop the planet from falling into the black hole. Maybe there were more safety measures she just had to find. Maybe the Doctor was still alive and had found the TARDIS. Maybe...

"Let's go, Zach!" Jefferson urged.

Zach took a long look at her and finally nodded. He didn't make that decision lightly, she could see that.

"Have an eye on Toby," she said quietly. There was no answer, and the next moment they hurried out. She looked after them, trying to work out the chances of actually getting away in that rocket. The whole system was destabilising. The planet, and probably the funnel as well.


Doctor

As he came round, he found himself lying on the floor. It was quite uncomfortable, but there was another, highly disturbing sensation. The glass of his helmet was gone. Of course he couldn't feel that, not really at least. But it was a difference if there was a closed helmet in front of ones nose or not. His hand flew to his mouth, confirming his fears. But then, why...

"I'm breathing," he wondered. Air. Down here, where ever he was, was air. He stood up and removed the now useless helmet. At least he was unharmed, although it had been quite a fall.

"Air cushion to support the fall..."

He turned the comm on, and said to Ida, "You can breath down here, Ida." He listened to the comm for a while, but there was only statics. "Can you hear me, Ida?" Nothing. He walked a few feet as he heard the sound of something big. Something lifting off. The rocket. He turned his head up and saw it. So they had managed to escape, at least as long as the gravity-funnel would remain stable.


Rose

Rose didn't want to leave and she didn't want to belief that she had really lost him. That couldn't be true. Surely she was in her room in the TARDIS, only having a very bad dream. She would wake up soon enough, go to the console room and there he would be. But at the same time she knew how very real her situation was. She was running along a corridor with the others, just as the Ood started to open their eyes. Red eyes.

"Did that one just move?" Toby asked and pointed at one of them.

"The telepathic field - it's reasserting itself," Danny yelled.

"Move it - get to the rocket – move!" Zach shouted.

Well, at least Mira had finally gotten what she deserved. If the Ood didn't get her, she would fall together with this whole dammed planet into the black-hole. Just like the Doctor. Suddenly the pain of his loss was overwhelming her, but Toby took her by the arm and pulled her with him. Finally they reached the rocket, got in and fastened the seatbelts.

"We should wait. Maybe he'll-"

"Rose, I'm sorry, but he won't come back," Danny told her sympathetically.

How could he now? He didn't know him.

"Dislocating B-Clamp - C-Clamp - raising blue nitrates to maximum - Toby, how's the negapact feed line?" Zach said, sitting in the front seat.

"Clear! Ready to go, sir. For God's sakes, get us out of here!" Toby replied.

"And... lift-off!"

She could feel how she was pressed into her seat as the rocket lifted off. It shook like crazy and the sound of the engines roared in her ears. But she almost didn't notice it. Her thoughts were with the Doctor. Surely he would somehow pop up here any second, wouldn't he? As he always did. Hug her, telling her that everything was alright again.

Then, the quiet laughing of Toby reached her ear. Irritatedly she turned her head, and Danny asked, "What's the joke?"

"Just... we made it. We escaped. We actually did it."

"Not all of us," Rose said, her voice thick with tears.

"We're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats," Zach said.

"Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding," Toby replied, still having this almost disgusting smirk on his face.


Doctor

By now the Doctor had reached an underground cavern. Not as huge as the other one, but still impressive. The walls were covered in drawings of a horned beast and tiny stick figures. They surrounded the beast, but he wasn't entirely sure what they were doing. On the other hand, it was clear that they were fighting it. But who had started? Was it even important?

"History of some big battle. Man against Beast. I dunno if you're getting this, Ida. Hope so. Anyway, they defeated the Beast and imprisoned it."

The shone the light of his torch around and saw a large vase on a stand. Wait... He spun around and turned the torch light back on the wall. There were people carrying the vase on their heads. The exact same vase. He walked over to it – the real one, not the image – and could see a second one on a stand just next to it.

"Or maybe that's the key..." He touched one of the vases, and both lid up. "Or the gate, or the bars...," he continued. By now he was sure that Ida couldn't hear him, although it could still be possible that only the receiver of his comm was damaged. But he had to talk to someone, even if he was only pretending that Ida could hear him.

Suddenly a quiet growl pulled him out of his thoughts, making him almost jump. It came directly from in front of him, and as he looked up, he saw it. The Beast. Huge and horned, chained down in a pit. Now it was roaring at him, pulling at his chains, which were short enough that it couldn't reach him.

He stared at it for a moment, before saying, "I accept that you exist. I don't have to accept what you are, but you're physical existence, I'll give you that." Well, there wasn't much he could do, for it was clear to see that it actually existed. It growled at him again, and he took a few steps forward.

"But I don't understand. I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing, and air. You need me for something. What for?"

The Beast didn't answer but lunged forward, leaning heavy into the chains.

"Have I got to... I dunno, beg an audience? Or... is there a ritual? Some sort of incantation or summons or spell - all these things I don't believe in - are they real?" he asked, completely out of his depth. The Beast just kept staring at him.

"Speak to me! Tell me!" he yelled. No reply. "You won't talk. Or... you can't talk. Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute, just let me...," he said, and walked a few steps whilst thinking. "Oh! No. Yes! No... think it through, you spoke before. I heard your voice. An intelligent voice. No, more than that - brilliant! But, looking at you now... all I can see...is...," he was interrupted by a growl of the Beast, "Beast. The animal. Just... the body. You're just the body, the physical form! What's happened to your mind? Hmm? Where's it gone? Where's that intelligence?" He glanced upwards and it finally dawned on him. "Oh, no..."


Mira

She didn't stay for too long on the exploration deck because she had noticed as well that the Ood were regaining consciousness. But where should she go? The Ood were all over the base, and locking the doors hadn't proven successful earlier. What should she do anyway? The rocket would soon be off, she couldn't get down – so the only thing left to do was to defend her life against the Ood until she the planet would brake apart under her feet. Or maybe stumble upon something. Anything. Staying here had been a stupid idea. Or rather, believing she could do anything. But in a way the Beast had been right. She was indeed afraid of life and of death. What would be with her had she followed the others to the rocket? Stuck in a foreign universe, all alone, without the Doctor? Trying to get her hands on a space ship and then searching for a way back until all eternity? That thought terrified her. Just as much as dying on this rock did.

She heard how the rocket launched as she was hurrying through the corridors, searching for a place to hide. And even though she didn't believe that the Doctor was really dead – it just didn't feel like that – he surely wouldn't pop up right in front of her. How would he do that anyway. Well, there was still the possibility that he had found the TARDIS, but that would be too good to be true.

At least she knew what she wouldn't do – let the Ood electrocute her. She didn't believe she would be able to stop them once more, her head was still hurting like nothing good, and the nose bleed hadn't been a good sign as well.

She ran around a corner and stopped dead with a scream. She had almost ran into a bunch of Oods, who were staring at her, the glowing orbs lifted in their hands. They were only a few feet away, and she just managed to turn around in time and heed back to were she had come from. Bad thing was, that there were Ood as well, and she hadn't passed by many doors in this particular corridor.


Doctor

The Doctor looked at the symbols on the walls once more. The answer must lie in them somewhere.

"You're imprisoned. Long time ago. Before the universe, after, sideways, in-between, doesn't matter. The positioning is perfect. It's absolutely - it's eternal. Oh, yes! Open the prison - the gravity field collapses! This planet falls into the black hole! You escape, you die. brilliant! But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is just an idea. In all those civilisations - just an idea"

Said that, he paused, walking towards the Beast again as he was thinking.

"But an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind - the mind of the great Beast - the mind can escape! Oh, but that's it! You didn't give me air - your jailers did! They set this up! All those years ago! They need me alive. Because if you're escaping, then I've gotta stop you."

He picked up a stone and the Beast roared in fury, straining against the chains once more.

"If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed. Your mind with it."

He swung the stone over his head, ready to smash the first of the two vases with it, but something made him stop. He dropped the stone and said, "But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket. The rocket loses protection and falls into the black hole. I'll have to sacrifice them all."

He looked at the Beast in disgust. Well, the crew of the base probably knew that this could be their grave. But there was also Mira, and Rose. He wasn't sure what Mira would be doing in his stead, but he could imagine her rather sacrificing herself then letting this beast get away. But he had made a promise to bring Rose back to her mother, alive and well.


Rose

"Stats. at 53, funnel status at 66.5. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir. All the way back home," Toby said, "Coordinates set for Planet Earth."

Rose was just staring out of the window. Slowly she started to realise what had happened. If she had believed she couldn't possibly feel more miserably, she was clearly proven wrong now.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Jefferson said, who was sitting in the front next to Zach, "We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It basically had full control over the base. And why did Mira wanted us all to stay, if she was possessed by it? Shouldn't she have tried to get away with us? Or without us?"

"Jefferson, could you do us a favour? We've escaped. Just accept that." Toby said, and then, as if nothing had been, "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in 40... 39..."


Doctor

"So, that's the trap. Or the test or the final judgement, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill them all. Not only myself, but Rose and Mira as well," he said.

The Beast laughed, just as if it did understand him.

"Except that implies - in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils - that they're just victims. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods - out of all that - out of that whole pantheon - if I believe in one thing... just one thing...," he said, now standing almost at the edge of the pit. Suddenly, it was all too clear. He knew that she wouldn't let him down. And not just because she was acting out of emotions as Rose had done it before, mostly without thinking of the consequences, but because she actually was thinking. It was out of some strange sort of loyalty that he couldn't fully understand yet. He had given her enough reason to hate him, had hurt her probably in the worst of all ways, but she still hadn't let him down. He believed Mira would try to do the right thing, whatever this would be.

"I believe in her!" And with that, he picked up the stone again and smashed the vase next to him, and then the other one. "This is your freedom! Free to die. You're going into that black hole and I'm riding with you!"


Rose

Suddenly, the rocket shook violently.

"What happened? What was that?!" Danny said.

"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Toby murmured, almost to himself. What was going on with him?

"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!" Zach said, and she could hear the panic in his voice.

"What does that mean?" Rose asked, although she almost knew it.

"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!"

"It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling," she said, after she had looked out of the window. Then she turned her head to Toby, and instantly she reeled backwards in shock. He stared at her out of red eyes, his face was covered with black symbols.

"I am the rage-" he said, with the voice of the Beast.

"It's Toby, Jefferson, do something-" Rose yelled.

"And the bile and the ferocity," the Beast said.

"Just do something!"

"I am the Prince and the Fall and the Darkness-"

"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Danny realised it as well.

"Stay where you are, the ship's not stable!" Zach warned them. Rose hardly trusted her eyes as a burst of flame came from Toby's mouth.

"What is he?! What the HELL is he?!" Zach yelled.

"I shall never die! The thought of me is forever! In the bleeding hearts of men - in their vanity and obsession and lust-"

Rose saw how Jefferson suddenly had a bolt gun in his hands as he turned around to them. But he wasn't pointing the gun at Toby, instead he was aiming at the window.

"Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" Toby said.

"Open his seatbelt when I say so," he said quietly to Rose.

"What?"

"Just do it," he said and fired at the front window. "NOW!"

She did as he said, and Toby was, along with the air, sucked out of the window.

"Emergency shield!" Zach yelled and pressed a button. The emergency shield was activated and covered the hole. Toby was gone, and with him – hopefully – the beast.

"Mira was right," Jefferson spoke out what she was thinking. The rest remained silent; it was an uncomfortable silence, heavy with guilt and regret.

Mira had been right and now she had stayed back on this dammed planet. Well, that was what she had wanted, wasn't it? Didn't matter now anyway - the rocket was still shaking, and their own escape seemed to be everything but certain.

"We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!" Zach said.

"But we stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done," she said quietly.

"Some victory. We're going in."

"The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" Danny yelled after he had looked at a screen.


Mira

She had managed to escape the Ood for some time, but now she was cornered. The last room she had entered only had one door. She had closed it, but unfortunately there had been already two Ood in this room. Well, two were better than six, but still too many. Close combat wasn't an option, one touch with their orbs and she would be history. She hadn't found a weapon, there had been no time to look for one. So she had tried to stop the Ood the same way she had back in the maintenance tunnels. Somehow she knew from the beginning that she wouldn't be successful this time. She managed to slow them down a bit, but she couldn't break the influence completely. Either they had gotten stronger or she was just too exhausted. Or both. Anyway, she had almost passed out whilst trying it, and now the Ood were approaching as if nothing had happened. Slowly, almost as if the Beast was enjoying its final triumph. But suddenly, the Ood stopped dead and fell to the floor. At the same time, the planet under her feet shook and almost send her flying across the room.

Just as she was aiming for the door in a last, desperate attempt, knowing exactly that there was no place for her to go, she heard an all too familiar sound. Mechanically and yet strangely alive at the same time. Together with the sound her vision of the room got blurred and was replaced by the familiar, greenly lit console room of the TARDIS.

The Doctor, still in his orange space suit, was standing at the console and looked up at her, a wide smile on his face. Really?


Doctor

He had run back down the tunnel as a blast of air had knocked him off his feet, straight against some blue, wooden object. He had turned his head and smiled in delight. He had not lost one more second, had gotten into his beloved TARDIS, had picked up Ida, who had a bit of an oxygen starvation but was fine otherwise, and was now about to head for the rocket, because by now he had realised that the gravity-funnel was gone. But the TARDIS didn't seem to agree.

"What's now, old girl?" Instead of flying after the rocket, she chose to materialise again. Seemingly back in the base. What did she want here? Then he saw her. The TARDIS materialised right around Mira, who stared at him as if she had just seen a ghost. Well, she looked a bit like one herself. White as a sheet and a small stain of dried blood under her nose.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in the rocket!" he said with a wide grin on his face, went over to her and enveloped her in a big hug. She hardly returned it, so he released her, looked at her and finally asked, "You're alright?" Well, obviously she wasn't, that was clear to see, but...

There wasn't time. The TARDIS de-materialised, resuming her previous course towards the rocket. Not without shaking and tossing around, it was all to clear that she didn't particularly like being that close to a black-hole.

"I'm fine. What about the rocket?" she asked.

"I'm on it. Just hold on to something. Maybe to that lever over there. Will stabilise our flight a bit."

"That one?"

"No, next to it... Yeah. That one."

He observed her out of the corner of his eye as they were trying to catch up with the rocket. Her movements were a bit insecure and once or twice it almost seemed as if she was about to pass out, but despite all that, she did really quite well in helping him flying the TARDIS. Not even the TARDIS herself complained, even though she had always been a bit touchy when someone other than him was trying to put their hands on her controls. He really should give her some flying lessons. But that could wait. Next thing for her would be sickbay, after he had taken care of the rocket.

Finally he had the rocket secured to his ship, turned it around and was flying away from the black-hole.

"Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS," he said after he had opened a comm-link. "Now, first thing's first - have you got a Rose Tyler on board?"


Rose

Rose couldn't believe it at first – but it had been his voice, hadn't it?

"I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God!" she yelled overjoyed, "Where are you?" Yet despite all her joy, another realisation hit her. How should she explain what had happened to Mira? She must have fallen into the black-hole together with the planet. Well, she would find something to say, it wasn't even a lie to tell him that she stayed behind voluntarily. Somehow she did.

"I'm just towing you home. Gravity-schmavity. My people practically invented black holes," the Doctor continued, "Well - in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and captain - can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler - I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"

"She's alive!" Zach exclaimed.

"YES! Thank God." Danny added, as cheerful as Zach.

"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right."

What? Not a word about Mira? Had he already forgotten her?

"But Doctor, I... I'm sorry, but Mira, she..."

"Ah, don't worry, she's here, safe and sound. Well, more or less. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet."

Rose could feel how all the colour went from her face for a moment. She was at the TARDIS? Oh bloody hell. That meant that she had probably already told him what had happened back at the base.

"Ah! Entering clear space - end of the line - mission closed," the Doctor pulled her out of her thoughts. Well, she would think of something. As long as Mira kept her mouth shut. But why would she do that?


Doctor

While the Doctor was waiting for Rose after saying goodbye to Ida, he had taken off the space-suit. It was indeed a bit antique and plump, but he thought about keeping it anyway. If only for sentimental reasons.

"So, why did you stay back at the base?" he asked, but honestly, he didn't expect an answer. Something had happened, although he couldn't imagine what it might be. Right at this moment the door swung open and Rose came running in. He ran over to her and they hugged each other. He was really glad to see her again, plus, he would never have forgiven himself if something had happened to her. Not to mention that he would have had to tell Jackie about it.

"Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home," he said over the comm as they had let go of each other again. "And the next time you get curious about something- oh... what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race..."

"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature - what was it?" Ida asked.

"I don't know! Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything? Might as well stop. Anyway. Right, onwards, upwards - Ida - see you again, maybe!"

"I hope so! Just one more thing, Doctor: You never really said... the three of you... who are you?"

"Oh," he said and smiled, "The stuff of legend."

He closed the comm-link and they were on his way. The rocket was save now and they would make their way home without any further problems.

"What do you think it was? Really?" Rose asked after a few moments. He turned his head to her. Something was going on with her, he had seen the look she had shot Mira. Oh well. And there he had hoped that there would be at least some sort of ceasefire between them.

"I think... we beat it. That's good enough for me," he answered.

"It said I was gonna die in battle."

"It said a lot of stupid things and lies," Mira said quietly. She was standing on the opposite side of the console. Even though she had spoken to Rose, her eyes were resting on him. She still didn't look any better, but there was another thing that was really bothering him now. She had heard what the Beast had said to him. And she also knew that it had been true what it had said about herself and the others. Well, then she only had to put one and one together, to get an idea of what he had done. He just hoped she would never bring up this topic, ever.

Whilst he was thinking that, he saw how she grew even paler and her eyes lost focus. He just managed to get around the console and catch her before she hit the floor.


Time-twilight: I'm not sure yet, if I'll do 11. But on the other hand, it's still a long way so probably I'll decide doing him.

Quasi-Stellar: It's possible that the TARDIS knew that she would appear in the Doctor's universe, at least Mira didn´t send an emergency-signal, however he knew somehow where to find her ;-)

bored411, d0ct0rwh0l0ckf4n, 10th Squad 3rd Seat: Thanks for your reviews :-)