"You know, I think we landed in a closet," the Doctor noted, looking around the room. He gripped Victoria's hand tighter and pulled her through the doorway.
"Open Door 15," a computerized voice called out as they walked into the new room. There was some sort of harsh humming coming from beneath the floor
"Some sort of base... moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits," he said, scanning the room.
"Do you hear that?" she asked, looking up at Rose and she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm glad we're indoors. It sounds like there's a storm."
He didn't acknowledge the sound, much too curious as to finding out where they were. Without a word, the Doctor walked through the door and into yet another new room. "Human design - you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier,"
"There's nothing wrong with kits, Doctor. They're quite useful," she said, nudging his shoulder lightly as they walked into the next room.
The fact that this room was a canteen and not another storage room was a nice surprise. "Open Door 17," the computerized voice called out. The Doctor pulled her with him to the middle of the room. Victoria looked back at Rose to see that she hadn't really moved much, but she was looking around.
"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" the Doctor exclaimed as he took in the environment.
"What's that mean?" Victoria asked, looking as well. It looked like it could be any old base for anything.
"Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath…" he said, looking down at her. He gestured to the ground, as they both stood quietly, listening to the hum beneath them. The sound was distinct, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was, but the longer they listened, the more it didn't sound like a storm. "Someone's drilling," he said, looking between Rose and Victoria. However, Rose wasn't paying attention to him. She was staring at something behind us.
"Welcome to hell."
"Oh, it's not that bad," the Doctor said, scrunching his nose at her,
"No," she laughed, pointing at whatever was behind them. "Over there!"
They turned around to see the words 'WELCOME TO HELL' painted on the wall with odd symbols painted in columns underneath.
"Hold on," the Doctor said, dropping her hand to get a closer look. "What does that say?"
He stared intently at the symbols. "That's odd. It won't translate."
"That can't be good," she said, frowning at the Doctor.
"I thought the TARDIS could translate anything?" Rose asked, biting her lip, deep in thought.
"If that's not working, then it means... This writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old," he said, his face beginning to show signs of worry. He stood up and moved over to the door right beside them. As he worked on spinning the wheel, he said "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough-" he cut himself off as the door opened. On the other side of the frame stood a group of odd-looking aliens. They had slanted eyes, and tentacles where a mouth would normally be. In each of their hands was a small, white sphere that had a wire blended in with the tentacles. "Right! Hello! Sorry! Uh... I was just saying, uh... nice base!"
All at once, the creatures' globes lit up as they said: "We must feed."
"You're gonna what?" the Doctor asked, taken off guard.
"We must feed," they spoke again.
"I think they mean us," Rose spoke somewhat shakily. The creatures began approaching again, and the three of them moved backward.
"We must feed," they spoke in unison.
"Yeah, we got it," Victoria snapped. The Doctor tugged the two girls back towards another door. Before they can reach it, it opens, allowing another group of aliens to come through.
"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed," they repeated over and over. To Victoria's left, yet another door opens, and more of the creatures filled the room. They continued walking backward away from them to the point of being cornered. While the Doctor and Victoria pulled out their respective sonics, Rose grabbed a nearby chair, trying to ward them off. "We must feed," the alien said, over and over and over again. "We must feed," one repeated itself before banging on the globe in its hand a few times. "You. If you are hungry."
The three froze in shock, not expecting those words. The Doctor and Victoria lowered their sonics and Rose sat the chair back on the ground. "Sorry?"
"We apologize. The electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems," it said, tilting his head somewhat apologetically. "Would you like some refreshments?" it asked.
"Oh, uh," Victoria tried to say, not quite sure what the right answer was to that.
"Open Door 18."
They turned to look as three men walked into the room, two holding guns. "What the hell? How did…" the man without the gun gaped. Without taking his eyes off of them, he brought his wrist up to his mouth and began talking into a communicator bracelet. "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."
Victoria looked between Rose and the Doctor, all of them quite confused. They could hear a voice respond "Don't be stupid, that's impossible."
The man in front of them rolled his eyes. "I suggest telling them that."
"But you're a sort of space base, you must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible," Rose said, causing the man to give them a look.
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" he asked roughly.
"No idea. More fun that way," the Doctor grinned while sticking his hands in his pockets.
Another voice came through the communicator. "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way." Before anyone else could say anything, the base began to tremble and shake. The man who had taken charge ran for one of the doors and opened it quickly.
"Through here, now! Quickly, go on!" he instructed, ushering them down the corridor just as sirens began blaring. The Doctor grabbed Victoria's hand as they ran through the door. Inside the corridor, smoke was filling the air, and sparks were flying everywhere as the room shook roughly. The trembling in the room caused them to stumble their way through the corridor. She gripped the Doctor's hand tighter as they ran through the thin space.
As they entered the next room, it was obvious they were in some sort of console room. There was a circular structure in the middle with computers lining the outer walls. There were four people working at different stations throughout the room. "Oh my god, you meant it," a man stared at the three of them, looking over to the two people standing beside him. From what Victoria could gather, he seemed to be the captain of the group.
"People! Look at that. Actual people," a woman said as she approached the trio.
"That's us. Hooray," the Doctor said with a grin, looking around the room.
"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose... Rose Tyler. That's Victoria Jones," she grinned, pointing at said girl. "And that's the Doctor."
"Come on... the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be... no. They're real!" another man said from his spot by the wall.
"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" the leader commanded. "Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just... hold on. Tight."
"Hold on to what?" Rose asked, looking at him.
"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?"
They looked around for a moment before noticing a railing on either side of the stairs. Victoria stood next to the Doctor while Rose grabbed the rail across from them. "What's this planet called, anyway?" the Doctor asked the other woman from the crew.
She shook her head, looking at him incredulously. "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?"
After a moment of staring back at him, she shook her head again in disbelief. "You really don't know do you?"
"And… Impact!" the captain called out, followed by violent shaking. Victoria's grip on the bar tightened as she fought to stay upright.
She shared a grin with the Doctor when the shaking stopped, and he stood up to approach the crew. "Oh, that wasn't so bad-"
The shaking started again and was worse than before. He fell backward into Rose, and she barely managed to keep her grip. She wrapped her arm around the rail tighter as sparks started flying, fires starting around the room.
"Okay, that's it," the captain said, looking up from his screen. Victoria let go of the railing slowly, looking over at Rose to make sure she was okay. Having been appeased, she looked at the Doctor and he nodded.
"We're fine, thanks, fine, yeah, don't worry about us," he said, raising his voice to capture the crew's attention.
"The surface caved in," the leader ignored us, busy looking at the monitor in front of him. "I deflected it onto storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."
"That's not my department," Toby said with an irritated look on his face.
"Just do as I say, yeah?"
With a huff, Toby did as he was told and ran out of the room.
"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay," the woman said from her spot at the console.
"Never mind the earthquake, that's... that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?" Rose asked, looking around.
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum," the older of the two women in the room answered, looking up from her spot at the console.
"Then what's causing the shaking?" Rose asked again, and the woman stared back in disbelief.
"You're not joking. You really don't know? Well - introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer," she said before pointing towards the captain. "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir... you've met Mr. Mr. Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee."
Danny stood up from his seat on the other side of the room. "Not as boring as it sounds," he told us, causing Victoria to smile a little bit.
"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this…" Ida said while placing her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "... is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance."
Scooti smiled at them while Ida walked to a small lever on the wall and turned it. "And this… this is home."
Zach shook his head while looking at them. "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad."
The three of them watched as a metal screen retracted, giving them a view of what was outside the base. Right above them was a black hole, which made absolutely no sense. Rose gaped at the view while the Doctor shook his head in disbelief. "But that's impossible."
Zach shook his head again while watching them. "I did warn you."
The Doctor looked over at him with a frown. "We're standing under a black hole."
"We're in orbit," Ida told them. Victoria shook her head with a frown.
"But… shouldn't we be getting sucked in? Isn't that what a black hole does? So how are we in orbit?"
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss," Ida said.
Rose looked over at the Doctor. "Is that bad?"
"That doesn't cover it... Vie was right. 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," the Doctor explained.
"So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in," Rose said, looking at the Doctor for confirmation.
"We should be dead," he nodded.
"And yet... here we are. Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board," Ida said, watching them from her spot by the wall.
"So," Victoria said, nodding up towards the black hole. "What exactly is being pulled into the hole?"
"Stars breaking up... gas clouds... we have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads before falling into that thing," Ida explained, giving her the chills.
"So, a bit worse than a storm, then," Rose said lightly.
"Just a bit," Ida nodded.
"Just a bit, yeah," Rose repeated just as the base began to shake again. The three of them moved closer to the console, trying to get a look at what was happening. After a few minutes of banging and shaking, door 1 opened and Toby approached the control panel.
"The rocket link is fine," he announced as Zach pushed a few buttons on the console. As he pushed one more, a hologram of the black hole popped up. The Doctor reached into his suit and pulled out his reading glasses and moved to get a closer look.
"That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gen 5," Zach explained.
"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called 'Kroptor'. The bitter pill. 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," Ida explained, a grim look on her face.
Rose smiled, however, saying, "The bitter pill. I like that."
The Doctor looked at the hologram in wonder before turning to Zach. "We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe - how did you even GET here?"
"We flew in. You see…" Zach pushed another button, causing the hologram to change. It now showed the planet with a funnel-like field on it. "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," he pointed to a certain spot on the hologram. "As a funnel. A distinct... gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down that thing?" Rose smiled slightly, seemingly enjoying the idea. "Like a rollercoaster?"
"That must have been a really rough ride here," Victoria said, looking up at Zach apologetically.
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain... which is what put me in charge…" he said, looking down at the console while Ida put her hand on his shoulder.
"You're doing a good job," she tried to comfort him.
"Yeah. Well, needs must," he said with the shake of his head. Ida and Zach seemed to be taking everything a lot more heavily than the others, and Victoria couldn't help but feel bad for them. Although he was oblivious, Zach seemed to be doing a great job as captain so far.
"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out," Danny explained, looking over to them.
"We had fun speculating about that," Scooti said, coming to stand by Danny.
Danny smiled sarcastically while gently whacking Scooti in the head with a scroll. "Oh, yeah. That's the word. 'Fun'."
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power! I mean… not just big, but off the scale! Can I...?" the Doctor asked, gesturing down at the controls. Ida nodded while pushing a calculator towards the Doctor. After a moment, a hand tapped me on the shoulder. Turning around, Victoria was greeted by one of the aliens holding a cup.
"Your refreshment," it said, handing it to her. She took it and smiled. "Thank you very much," She said, looking over at Rose to see her receiving a cup as well.
"Oh yeah, thanks. Thank you. I'm sorry, what was your name?" she asked, looking at it with a smile.
"We have no titles. We are as one," it said before walking away. Together they approached Danny, who seemed to be the least busy person in the room.
"What are they called?" Rose asked, nodding at the retreating aliens.
"Oh, come on. Where've you been living? Everyone's got one!" he said, looking at them as if they were crazy.
"Well, not us, so what are they?" Rose said, giving him a dirty look.
"They're the Ood," he explained.
"The Ood?" Rose repeated with a smile. "Well, they're very… Ood."
"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," Danny explained.
She couldn't stop the frown from growing on her face at that. "They're slaves?" Rose asked, upset at how they were treating the Ood.
Danny didn't seem perturbed at all though. "Don't start - she's like one of that lot. Friends of the Ood."
Victoria felt Rose stiffen next to her at his words. "Well maybe I am, yeah. Since when do humans need slaves?" She asked, annoyance obvious in her voice.
"But the Ood offer themselves. If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die," he explained.
"Excuse me," Victoria said, calling over one of the Ood. "You really like this?"
The Ood looked at the two of them before answering. "It is all we crave."
"Why's that, then?" Rose asked, shaking her head.
"We have nothing else in life," it explained.
"Yeah, well I used to think like that. A long time ago," Rose said, before looking away. Victoria grabbed her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.
The Doctor had a way of making everyone feel important and special. "There we go," the Doctor said, drawing their attention. "D'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."
"That's a lot of sixes," Rose noted, causing the Doctor to nod.
"And it's impossible."
Zach stood up, surprised by the Doctor's words. "It took us two years to work that out!"
The Doctor shrugged while looking away. "Well, I'm very good."
Victoria smiled up at the Doctor and nudged his shoulder. "You're more than very good. You're brilliant."
The Doctor grinned at her while Ida walked closer to the console.
"But... that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."
"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale," Zach explained, looking at the reading on the control panel.
Ida looked at the Doctor with a bright smile and enthusiastically said, "We could revolutionize modern science."
Mr. Jefferson nodded, looking at the console as well. "We could use it to fuel the Empire."
Victoria smiled while watching the crew of this base. While they seemed stressed, they seemed so proud of the work they were doing. They were absolutely brilliant.
"Or start a war," the Doctor said as he took his glasses off.
Toby shook his head. "It's buried beneath us. In the darkness, waiting."
Rose gave him a look. "What's your job? Chief... dramatist?" Victoria tried her best to cover her snicker at her words but obviously failed at the look Toby was giving the two.
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomenon. And this, er, planet once supported life. Eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk," he explained.
"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" the Doctor asked Toby.
He nodded. "I copied it from fragments we found on earth by drilling, but I can't translate it."
"No, neither can I. And that's saying something," the Doctor said.
"There was some form of civilization. They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in," Toby explained, causing the Doctor to grin.
"And you came," he said, looking at the crew in awe.
"Well, how could we not?" Ida asked while shaking her head as Zach turned off the console.
"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. Excuse me, ah, Zach, wasn't it?" the Doctor asked, turning to the man in question.
"That's me," he nodded.
"Just stand there, 'cos I'm gonna hug you. Is that all right?" the Doctor asked, and Zach stared at him in surprise.
"I s'pose so," he nodded.
"Here we go. Coming in," the Doctor said, pulling him into a hug. Rose grabbed Victoria and wrapped her arm around her shoulder as they watched the scene in front of them. "Ahh, human beings, you are amazing!" the Doctor exclaimed "Thank you," he added, pulling away.
"Not at all," Zach replied.
"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives," he said, glancing at the whole crew.
Ida looked taken aback by his words. "You can talk! And how the hell did you get here?"
"Oh, I've got this um... this... it's hard to explain, it just sort of... appears," the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from um... oh, what's it called? Uh, habitation area…" Rose said, looking back to the Doctor.
"Three," the Doctor said, causing Rose to nod.
"Habitation three," Rose amended.
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked, quite uncomfortable if Victoria might add. Wait, didn't he say something about storage six earlier, Victoria realized.
"Doctor," Victoria said, grabbing his arm, pulling his attention to her. "He said storage five through eight.
Without another word, the Doctor bolted out of the room and back to where they had originally parked, Victoria right behind him. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rose cried out, rushing after us.
"We were parked in storage six, Rose. If all the damage went to that area, then that means..." Victoria said just as they reached door sixteen.
"It can't be," the Doctor whispered, staring through the window of the door.
"Doctor, what's wrong? What's happened?" Rose asked, trying to look over his shoulder while he stared out the window in despair.
"Doctor, the TARDIS is in there. What's happened?" she asked again.
"The TARDIS is gone," he said, backing away in horror. Victoria reached out and grabbed his hand as he started breathing harder.
"The earthquake. This section collapsed," he explained, tightening his grip on her hand.
"But it's gotta be out there somewhere," Rose said, looking out the window.
"Look down," was all he said, slumping against the wall as she did. Victoria closed her eyes as she let out a gasp, feeling an immense sadness come over her. She couldn't believe she was just… gone. She slid her hand into her pocket and gripped her watch tightly, glad that she always kept it with her. If she had lost that too… she didn't know what she would have done.
"Come on," Victoria said gently to the Doctor. "We should go back and see if the crew can do anything."
The Doctor took a moment to collect himself before standing up straight. "Let's go". We quickly made our way back to the console room to see the crew surrounding the control panel, and the Doctor made a beeline for Zach. "The ground gave way. My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way," he said, trying to appeal to the captain.
"We can't divert the drilling," Zach said, shaking his head while moving away.
"But I need my ship. It's all I've got. Literally the only thing," the Doctor stressed, and Victoria had to force back the hurt from his words. She struggled not to take his words personally, and judging by the look on Rose's face, she already was.
"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. 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," Zach stressed, obviously very irritated by the Doctor.
As Zach walked away, Ida approached the trio. "I'll uh - put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry." Victoria felt the Doctor's hand find hers and grasped it tightly.
"I've trapped you both here," he whispered, his guilt obvious.
"No, don't worry about me," Rose said, looking up at the black hole.
"It's not your fault. But, if we're really trapped, there's no one I'd rather be stuck with than you two," Victoria told him, squeezing his hand. Suddenly, the base began to shake again, causing Rose to let out a nervous laugh.
"Okay, we're on a planet that shouldn't exist, under a black hole... and no way out" she shifted her view from the ceiling back to Victoria and the Doctor. "Yeah, I've changed my mind. Start worrying about me".
Victoria looked at Rose with concern as she began to look around frantically. She reached out to her friend, and Rose walked into them. The Doctor wrapped his free arm around her shoulder, pulling the two girls into a tight hug.
– page break –
Victoria wasn't sure what to say to the Doctor or Rose, who were handling the situation very differently. Rose was in the meal line, preparing to eat blue alien slop with a nervous smile. The Doctor, on the other hand, was sitting beside Victoria while staring intently at the tabletop. The only thing keeping her from feeling immense fear for the Doctor was that he was holding her hand.
"You should go eat too," he whispered after a moment, somewhat startling her.
"I'm not hungry," Victoria told him, shrugging her shoulders lightly. She couldn't eat when there were more important things to worry about. "Listen," she said, turning towards him to get a better look.
"Earlier, when you were talking to Zach, you said you had nothing else left. That's not true," she said, reaching into her pocket. She gripped the pocket watch her dad gave her a few years ago and pulled it out. She stared at it for a moment before offering it to the Doctor. "You have this."
He glanced down at the watch, seeming to relax for a moment, before taking it from her gently.
"If you thought it would make this easier, I could open the watch right now and become a Time Lady," she told him, the question in her voice.
"You can't open this because you want to make me feel better, Vie. I couldn't live with that, not when you have a choice," he shook his head, tilting the watch curiously.
"But you'd have someone to help find the TARDIS. You'd have a piece of Gallifrey," she tried, but he raised his hand slightly. He reached back out and gave her back the watch, trying his best to avoid looking at the disappointed look on her face.
"Am I interrupting?" Rose asked as she reached their table, placing her tray on the table. Victoria turned towards her and gave her the most convincing smile she had in her.
"Nope," the Doctor said with an exaggerated pop while Victoria placed her watch back in her pocket.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she looked at Rose's plate. "What is that exactly?"
She shrugged, picking up her fork and poking the food a bit. "Doesn't hurt to try it". She put a small amount in her mouth, hesitantly trying the food. Her face immediately scrunched in disgust, but quickly turned into one of contemplation. "This honestly… isn't too bad," she said before quickly finishing off what was on her plate. Once she finished, she took her tray and put it in the tray area. Just as Rose sat back down, the lights began to flicker.
"Zach - have we got a problem?" Ida asked into the communicator.
"No more than usual. Got the Scarlet System burning up, it might be worth a look," Zach said, causing Ida to turn towards the group.
"You might wanna see this. A moment in history," she said, turning the lever, causing a panel to slides open slowly, revealing the skylight. Victoria gazed out the window, observing the beautiful light outside. Dangerous and impossible, but beautiful nonetheless. Drifting towards the black hole above them was a bright red and gold light.
"There. On the edge. That red cloud," she pointed. "That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi, a mighty civilization spanning a billion years, disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed," Ida explained with a frown as the light was pulled into the darkness of the black hole. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."
Just as Ida went to close the panel, the Doctor reached out to stop her, barely pulling his eyes from the view. "Er, no, could you leave it open? Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."
Ida gave him a look but relented, causing the Doctor to grin. "How would you know?" she asked before turning towards the others to get to work.
Rose looked back up at the black hole and the red and orange glow it gave off. "I've seen films and things, yeah - they say black holes are like gateways to another universe."
The Doctor shook his head, however. "Not that one. It just eats."
Rose lowered her gaze towards the Doctor. "Long way from home…"
The Doctor pointed up as he spoke, "Go that way, turn right, keep going for um... about five hundred years... then you'll reach the Earth."
Rose reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone. She fiddled with it a moment before shaking her head. "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 asked, laughing half-heartedly.
"They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone, we're kind of stuck," the Doctor said, looking up again, avoiding the girls' eyes.
"Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift," Rose said.
"And then what?" the Doctor asked, trying his best not to be so harsh, looking at her questioningly.
"I dunno... find a planet... get a job... live a life, same as the rest of the universe," Rose said, looking at us with a grin.
"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 exclaimed, humoring Rose, and Victoria smiled slightly at that.
"You'd have to get a mortgage," Rose sang with a smile.
"No," the Doctor said in horror, making Victoria chuckle.
"Oh yes," Rose confirmed, smiling with her tongue poking out.
"I am dying. That's it. I am dying, it is all over," the Doctor said, shaking his head at the idea.
"What about us? We'd have to get one too. Imagine the three of us, sharin' a home together," Rose said, looking between Victoria and the Doctor. Victoria looked up at the Doctor, knowing the conversation was making him feel guilty, even though he was trying not to show it.
"Not a bad idea, Rose. Living with my best friend, that sounds like the best thing ever," she said before anything began to get awkward.
"I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home," he said, looking over to Rose. "I promised your dad that you'd always make it home."
"This is my home, Doctor," Victoria told him, placing her hand on his arm. She wanted to say more, to tell him that wherever he was was her home.
Rose nodded, catching the Doctor's eye. "Everyone leaves home in the end."
The Doctor frowned, not happy with her response. "Not to end up stuck here."
"Yeah, but stuck with both of you, that's not so bad," she said, grinning brightly.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Yeah," she nodded.
The Doctor grinned at her just as her phone began to ring. She brought the phone to her ear and listened for a moment before throwing her phone on the floor.
"Rose?" Victoria rushed over to her, feeling concerned. "How'd your phone just ring if there's no signal?"
"I… I don't know. The Ood that was doing the food, he told me 'The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God'," she said.
The Doctor reached down and picked up her phone. "And what did the voice on the phone say?"
"'He is awake'," she said.
The Doctor stood up, motioning for the two to follow. "Where are we going?" Victoria asked, speeding up to walk beside him.
"We need to go see Danny and see what's going on with the Ood," he explained, and the girls followed him silently. It didn't take them long to find Danny. He was standing at a control station that stood overlooking a couple dozen Ood sitting in chairs. "Evening!" the Doctor called out, starting Danny.
"The mysterious trio. How are you, then? Settling in?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the computer.
"Yeah, sorry, straight to business, the Ood, how do they communicate? I mean, with each other," the Doctor asked, nodding down to the Ood.
"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," he explained, finally glancing up from his work.
"This telepathic field - can it pick up messages?" the Doctor asked.
"'Cos I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something... well, odd," Rose said.
"Ah, an odd Ood," he said lightheartedly.
"And then I got something else on my er… communicator thing," she explained.
"Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing," Danny said, shrugging off our concerns.
"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," he said with the shake of his head.
"Monitor the field - that's this thing?" the Doctor asked, looking at the computer monitor. The screen simply said Basic five.
"Yeah. But like I said, it's low-level telepathy. They only register Basic five," he explained, just as the number began to rise.
"Uh, Danny," Victoria began to say as the Doctor finished her sentence. "That's not Basic five." Tbey stared at the screen as it continued to increase, from ten to twenty to thirty. "But Danny, it says Basic thirty."
"But they can't…" Danny looked at the screen in disbelief.
"Doctor, Victoria, the Ood," Rose said, grabbing our attention.
In the area where the twenty-some Ood were sitting, they were now standing and glancing directly up at us. "What does Basic thirty mean?" Victoria asked Danny.
"Well, it means that they're shouting - screaming inside their heads," he explained, obviously confused by the situation.
"Or somethings shouting at them," the Doctor muttered.
"But... where's it coming from? What is it saying? I mean-" Danny cut himself off to turn to Rose. "What did it say to you?"
"Something about the beast in the pit," she said, blinking as she tried to remember the phrasing.
"What about your communicator? What did that say?" Danny asked rushedly.
"He is awake," she said, inciting a response from the Ood.
"And you will worship him," they said.
The Doctor gripped the railing and looked down at them. "He is awake."
"And you will worship him," they responded again.
"Worship who? Who's talking to you? Who is it?" the Doctor asked, but received no response. "Let's go have a closer look," he said, looking back at Rose and Victoria.
Barely inspecting the Oof for around five minutes, the base began shaking roughly, throwing them around.
"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach," a computerized voice called out through the room as an alarm began to sound.
They looked up at Danny to see him holding his communicator up and speaking briefly. After a few moments, he looked down at the group with urgency. "We need to get out of here. There's been a breach. Just head for the canteen for now," Danny said, nodding towards the exit behind them.
The Doctor took off through the door, leading the three out of the area. As they ran, they collided with Mr. Jefferson, Ida, and Toby. "Come on! Keep moving!" Mr. Jefferson called out, ushering everyone through a door. "And you too, Toby!" he said, pulling Toby through just in time for him to close the door.
"Beach sealed. Breach sealed," the computerized voice echoed down the corridor.
"Everyone all right?! What happened? What was it?" the Doctor asked, going around to check on everyone quickly.
"Hull breach! We were open to the elements. A couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters," Mr. Jefferson explained.
"That wasn't a quake. What caused it?" the Doctor asked.
"We've lost sections 11 to 13. Everyone all right?" Zach's voice sounded from Mr. Jefferson's communicator.
"We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report," he said, speaking into his communicator. "Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." After a moment of silence, Zach spoke again, assuring everyone that Scooti was safe, picking up her readings in habitation three.
"Better go and check if she's not responding, she might be unconscious," Zach said, and Mr. Jefferson, Danny, and Ida followed after him.
"Are you alright, Toby?" Victoria asked, crouching down in front of him.
"What happened?" the Doctor asked, looking at Toby with concern.
"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-" Toby stumbled over his words, rushing to speak. Together, Rose and Victoria helped him to his feet, but they let go once I saw that he was stable.
"Come on. Up you get. Come and have some Protein One," she said.
"Oh, you've gone native," the Doctor said, and Victoria started laughing despite the situation.
"Oi!" she said, pointing at her. "Don't knock it. It's nice. Protein One with just a dash of Three!"
"Sure, Rose!" Victoria called out with a laugh. After collecting herslef, the Doctor grabbed her hand and they followed after the group.
"Have you seen Scooti?" Mr. Jefferson asked as they walked into the canteen.
"No, no, no, I don't think so," Toby shook his head.
Ida raised her communicator and began speaking as well. "Scooti, please respond, if you can hear this please respo- Habitation 6." As the crew continued talking, a shadow in the ceiling window caught my attention. As Victoria looked up, gasped in horror at the sight. Floating in orbit of the ship was Scooti.
"We've found her," the Doctor said, his glance stuck on the window as well.
"Oh my god," Rose said, covering her mouth in shock.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the Doctor said mournfully.
"Captain... report Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. 43K2.1," Mr. Jefferson reported mournfully.
"She was twenty... twenty years old," Ida whispered, looking up at Scooti's floating body. She walked over and closed the shutters, covering the window and the sight of Scooti.
"For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father... and the temples of his Gods," Mr. Jefferson spoke, his voice slowly dropping to a whisper as he talked.
After a moment of the heavy silence, Ida spoke up. "It's stopped."
In the distance, there was a loud crash, which Victoria thought sounded a lot like the area they had been in before. "What was that?" Rose asked.
"The drill," the Doctor said, looking over to her.
"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero," Ida announced.
Victoria could see it in the Doctor's eyes how much he felt he needed to see Point Zero, it was seeping from every part of him. He walked over to Ida, who she assumed would be the one exploring the tunnel they created. As they talked, it became clear that he was offering her his assistance in exploring. Vitoria stood next to Rose, not entirely sure what to do. She grabbed Rose and pulled her into a hug.
"Today has been so stressful," Victoria said into Rose's shoulder.
"Yeah, it really has been. But the Doctor will fix it. I know he will," Rose said, looking at the Doctor with hope. Victoria couldn't help but sniff at the trust she put in him. Sometimes she couldn't help but think that Rose thought the Doctor was infallible.
"Yeah," Victoria said halfheartedly, knowing that the Doctor couldn't fix everything. "Well," she said, deciding to change the topic for the time being. "I didn't eat before, so I might as well do it now while everyone is preparing for the exploration. Come with me?"
Rose pulled back and nodded. "Yeah, of course. Let's go," she said, looping her arm with Victoria's. They walked into the kitchen part of the canteen and began looking for something quick to eat."What about this?" Rose called out, holding up a plastic-wrapped object. "It says its a jelly bar, looks like some kinda ration."
She shrugged and opened the wrapper. It looked like it was a simply jelly covered in sugar, which didn't sound horrible. With a shrug, she took a bite. "This isn't bad at all," Victoria said, taking another bite of the small bar.
"I hope that helped. Do you think the Doctor is done getting ready now?" Rose asked, looking out the small window to see Ida walking in an orange spacesuit.
"Well, if Ida is, then my assumption is the Doctor is too. Let's go," Victoria said, pulling Rose out the door.
As they approached the crew, Zach began calling out to all of them. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions!"
"Oxygen... nitro-balance... gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these!" the Doctor said, looking at one of the features on his wrist.
"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" Rose said, looking at him like a stern mother while grinning.
"Yes, sir," he grinned.
"It's funny, 'cos people back home think that space travel's gonna be all whizzing about and teleports and anti-gravity... but it's not, is it? It's tough," Rose said, her voice beginning to break, showing how worried she was.
"I'll see you later," he said with a grin.
"Not if I see you first," she said, pulling him into a hug before giving the two some space.
"Please be safe. Don't do anything stupid like you normally would," Victoria said with a small grin.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he grinned at her.
"I believe in you," Victoria said, placing her free hand on his cheek. They shared a look before she stood on her tiptoes lightly and kissed him.
"I'll see you when you get back, yeah?" Victoria said, taking a few steps back so he could have room to finish suiting up.
"I'll always come back for you," he said, placing his helmet on.
"Good," Victoria grinned, trying her best to hid the tremor of fear in her hands. She stood with Rose on the observation deck as Zach began counting down to one. They both waved at the Doctor, glad to see him wave back just as the capsule was released.
Rose gripped one of the yellow communicators in her right hand as Victoria held her left for support. "Don't forget to breathe. Breathing's good," Rose said into the comm.
Zach's voice quickly followed, telling Rose to stop talking. Victoria took the communicator from her and said, "In all due respect Zach… no."
After handing the communicator back to Rose, she didn't speak, too worried to really speak at all. As they watched a hologram show that they reached Point Zero, the base began to shake. "Doctor? Doctor are you all right?" Rose asked, but received silence.
Victoria held her breath, waiting for a response, but only heard Zach call out for the two as well. She grabbed the communicator from Rose again. "Doctor?" she asked, trying to keep her nerves down.
"It's all right... we've made it... coming out of the capsule now," the Doctor finally replied, causing Rose to slump her head down in relief onto Victoria's shoulder.
"Doctor… what does it look like?" she asked, hoping to try and imagine the landscape.
"It's hard to tell... some sort of... cave... cavern... it's massive," he responded.
"Rose… Vie... you can tell Toby... we've found his civilization…" he said after a moment of silence.
Rose turned to Toby, who was standing to the side, to tell him the news. However, as she told him, he didn't seem to be all the responsive. "Toby?" Victoria asked, worried for the man, but was distracted by Danny's voice coming from the communicator.
"Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood," Danny said.
"What are they doing?" Zach asked, concerned for his crew.
"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't," he said, his voice quieter than normal.
"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being STARED at," Zach said, obviously not taking Danny's words seriously.
"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at Basic one-hundred! I've checked - there isn't any fault. It's definitely 100!" he stressed, his worry beginning to really shine through.
"But that's impossible," Zach responded.
"What's Basic one-hundred?" Rose asked.
"Well, if thirty was screaming, imagine how bad one-hundred is," Victoria said, causing Rose to grimace.
"Exactly. They should be dead," Danny said. From behind, Mr. Jefferson added that one-hundred meant braindead.
"But they're safe? They're not actually moving?" Zach asked, and Danny responded with a 'no'.
"Keep watching them. And you, Mr. Jefferson - keep a guard on the Ood," Zach instructed, and Mr. Jefferson immediately pulled out a gun, ready to fight.
"You can't fire a gun in here. What if they hit a wall?" Rose asked.
"I'm firing stock 15, only packs upon organics," he explained before ordering one of the other security guards to watch the group.
"Is everything okay up there?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine, " Victoria responded, hoping that the tension wasn't obvious, followed by Zach and Danny answering quite similarly.
"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 Doctor told us.
"The edge is covered with those symbols," Ida noted.
"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked.
"That's what trapdoors normally do," the Doctor responded.
"'Trapdoor' doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter," Ida explained, the sound of her walking barely noticeable in the background.
"Any way of opening it?" Zach asked.
"I suppose that's the writing, that'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation," the Doctor answered, perplexed by it.
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Rose asked, looking over at him. Toby was looking worse than he was a few minutes ago, now with his head in his arms.
"I know what it says," he whispered.
"Then tell them," Victoria whispered, hoping to not startle him.
"When did you work that out?" Mr. Jefferson asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"It doesn't matter, just tell them," Rose said, standing back to give him space. When he stood up and turned to the group, chills began running up Victoria's arms and neck. His face was covered in the symbols from the wall and his eyes were blood red. What shocked her the most, however, was how his voice changed.
"These are the words of the Beast. 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," he said, and Victoria reached out blindly from Rose's arm, hoping to pull her close.
"Officer, stand down. STAND DOWN!" Mr. Jefferson ordered, his gun pointed directly at Toby.
"What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Victoria? Rose? What's going on?" the Doctor's voice echoed from the communicator.
"Mr. Jefferson? Report! Report!" Zach ordered.
"Officer, as commander of security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!" Mr. Jefferson demanded, but Toby didn't relent. Rose grabbed the communicator, hoping that someone would hear, and tried to explain the situation.
"He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him."
"Mr. Mr. Jefferson, tell me, sir... did your wife ever forgive you?" Toby asked, looking at Mr. Jefferson with a sinister look.
"I don't know what you mean," he tried to deny.
"Let me tell you a secret: she never did," Toby said, which had a physical effect on Mr. Jefferson.
"Officer... you stand down and be confined," he said, swallowing heavy. Victoria gripped Rose's arm tighter, huddling close as they watched the two men.
"Or what?" Toby asked with a smirk.
"Or under the jurisdiction of Condition Red, I am authorized to shoot you," Mr. Jefferson said, aiming his gun.
"But how many can you kill?" Toby asked, opening his as the symbols and turned into a dark cloud that then flew into the three Ood standing with them. After the final bit of the cloud was gone, Toby fell to the floor, coughing.
"Victoria? What is it? Rose? Vie?" the Doctor called out again as Zach shouted for a report.
"It's the Ood," she said while Mr. Jefferson lifted his communicator up to his mouth.
"Sir, we have contamination in the livestock," Mr. Jefferson said as he continued to point his gun at Toby.
"It's like the Ood are being possessed by someone or something. Doctor, we're not quite sure what it is," Victoria explained, leaning into the comm.
"They won't listen to us," Mr. Jefferson explained as the three Ood began to advance.
"Back up to the door!" he exclaimed.
"I shall become manifest," the Ood said.
"Move quickly," Mr. Jefferson ushered as the Ood repeated itself.
"Get it open!" he called out as they backed into the door. Victoria turned around, and together, Rose, the other crew member, and she tried her best to open the lock on the door.
"I am the sin and the temptation. And the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the dead will come," the Ood said, continuing to advance.
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more," it said.
"My sonic!" Victoria cried, having forgotten about it. She reached into her pocket and pointed it at the door, hoping it would unlock the door, but knew it was pointless in the end.
"Door sealed," the computer spoke as they continued to fight with the mechanics.
"Door sealed."