Chapter Seven: Paranoia

The Doctor's face looked strangely gaunt in the light cast by his sonic screwdriver. Rose could hear him mumbling something about finding a torch, but until that point she suspected the safest thing for her to do would be to remain where she was. There had been a point in time where she thought she could negotiate the corridors of the TARDIS in the dark, but that was three years ago. She'd be far more likely to mistakenly open a door and fall into the TARDIS pool or get eaten by a man-eating plant in one of the gardens.

"Ah ha!" the Doctor's triumphant shout heralded the appearance of a warm golden glow from a torch. In the light, Rose could see (and now smell) smoke rising from burnt circuitry. The Doctor's smile faltered as he took in the damage, "I don't have any spare gwaila crystals – that's my last batch currently smoldering in the console. Without them, we're not going anywhere."

"What happened?" Rose asked, "And where are we?"

"The dimensional stabilizer's shot and, if I know the TARDIS' emergency protocols – which I do – we're on the nearest habitable planet or starship. We're on the Talween."

"Ghost story, huh, Doctor?" Jack asked, repeating the Doctor's earlier words, "There is one good thing about this. If we're on the Talween, we should be able to find some gwaila crystals. If I remember correctly, the Daan used them in their command and control circuitry."

"Which means we're going to have to go out there," Rose finished, looking towards the darkened doorway that led to the outside world.
Somehow, she felt far safer inside the TARDIS despite the fact that it was currently parked within what could possibly be a haunted spaceship. "Fantastic," she sighed, before she caught the Doctor's sudden grin and Jack's laugh, "What? It's not like you have a patent on the word, Doctor."

"I'll stay here and see if there's anything I can salvage," Jack said, "Though you might want to pick up some extra gwaila crystals if this is going to be a recurring thing, Doctor."

"Everyone's a critic," the Doctor shook his head, "Well, Rose? Ready to explore a haunted spaceship?"

"Oh sure," she murmured, sounding rather unconvinced.

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Daan Explorer Ship Talween

She didn't know what she had expected to find when she and the Doctor entered the ancient starship, but she knew that what she found was not it. Instead of cobwebs, corpses, foggy mists and the smell of decay there was brightness and a smell of flowers that accompanied her every movement through the Talween. However, underneath the beautiful exterior, she felt that there was something seriously wrong.

"This place is a little too nice looking," Rose commented as she looked around.

"Yeah, normal starships get some rust or wear and tear after long use. This place reminds me of a hospital...a brand new hospital," The Doctor agreed, "No one came to meet us..."

As if in answer, a sound echoed through the gleaming corridors--a sound oddly reminiscent of a footstep. However, after that single sound, they could hear nothing else.

"Hello?" Rose said, pitching her voice so that it would carry.

Silence.

The Doctor shifted his feet, an almost unconscious gesture of his nervousness. "Let's go, Rose. We need those parts, and standing here isn't going to help us any."

Somewhere deep within the Talween, the ancient entity would have smiled. Soon...all too soon, it would take what had been denied it for so long...food.

Her breathing sounded louder in her ears as she and the Doctor ventured further into the too-clean bowels of the Talween. After hearing footsteps earlier, now the only sound was made by themselves. Rose shook her head at her own thoughts, realizing that all she was doing was a very good job of scaring herself. It was true that it was strange that no one had come to meet them, and that no one had even contacted them as they walked through the deserted hallways. But from what Jack had told her and from the stories that she had listened to, she knew that the Talween only had a main crew of eight, along with a massive hyperdrive section. It was towards this that she and the Doctor traveled.

CRASH

Rose and the Doctor stopped in an instant, turning toward the noise behind them. A large container had turned on its side and was rocking against the wall in a steady 'tap, tap' noise.

"Hello?" The Doctor said, "I know someone's back there. Come on out."

They waited in a tense silence, but nothing revealed itself, indeed it seemed as if the entire ship was waiting in anticipation of their next move. The Doctor slowly approached the rocking container.

From where she stood, she could see beads of sweat appear on his neck as he closed in on the object. Fear pounded through her veins though it was for no known reason. It was the fear of the unknown, and there was much to fear on this ship.

"Rose," his voice was hushed as his hand gestured for her to join him.

When she reached his side, she couldn't prevent the gasp of astonishment that escaped her lips. Where once there was a white wall, 'Danger' was scrawled in a child-like hand behind the container in what appeared to be blood.

"Who did this?" she asked, and even her voice betrayed the tremors that now shook her body. "There's no way someone could have come up behind us, knocked over the container, written that, and disappeared. NO WAY."

"Maybe it was written before?" The Doctor suggested, his eyes sweeping the empty hallway.

"How could they have known we were coming this way? There were two ways we could have gone."

"It could be written in two places..." he began, before shaking his head, "It's probably nothing but tricks to scare us. Come on, we need to get to the hyperdrive section."

Rose nodded reluctantly. She longed to return to the relative safety of the TARDIS, where though she would just as surely die after a lifetime of being isolated in no-man's land she knew that it was far safer than the ship that she had just entered.

Their hands firmly entwined, Rose and the Doctor walked further into the bowels of the Talween. The only sound was now of their heavy breathing and the ever fainter 'tap tap' of the container.

"Why did it say 'danger?'" her voice was a shock and caused the Time Lord to jerk in response.

"Sorry," she apologized after he glared at her, "I just was wondering."

"I don't know."

"Could it be because something had happened to the Talween? Something that they had never expected could happen? Something that could still be on this ship?" she mused.

"I'd say that you're paranoid," The Doctor muttered, but inwardly he had to acknowledge that she might have a point.

"What if I'm not?"

He had no answer.