Theodore gave a lengthy description of these cockroaches sometime ago, but the description stayed with Lila for a long time, even though at one point she waved it away, having not encountered them, until now.
Unlike the cockroaches that are a thing of nightmares on Earth, that pop up at the worst times, difficult to exterminate, and generally regarded as signs of uncleanliness, these cockroaches have their own category.
Nightmare.
On top of maturing faster than Earth cockroaches and exploding out of bodies, they're just as nightmarish getting rid of, due to their thick exoskeletons preventing most firearms and improvised weapons from penetrating them.
The weapons they gotten from the armory won't work against the cockroaches, which is why Theodore believed that's how the Ourang Medan's crew became overwhelmed, their weapons weren't adequate against the likes of cockroaches.
These cockroaches can go into hibernation for centuries if they don't find adequate hosts or food for an extended period, only to come back around quickly if they smell the CO2 on anyone's breaths that wanders too close to their nests.
No one would think cockroaches have the strength to manhandle grown humans, but these can drag two grown men away to their nests to turn into hosts.
Like Earth cockroaches, the cockroaches have sensitive antennas, but these are capable of tracking movements nearly a country over, with their cheetah-like speed, the cockroaches would've closed spaces between them within minutes if given the chance.
Their proboscis's the root of everyone's fears, once the cockroaches reach sexual maturity within hours, their needle-like proboscis carries eggs no bigger than piece of sand, in the trillions, no less, but when they inject their eggs, only one reaches a host, at a time.
When they say cockroaches bite, they do bite, on top of the proboscis that carries the eggs, they have mouths with rows of teeth, with two front sets meant to keep prey in place as they're injected with eggs.
Ergo, when someone gets bit, they're injected by the proboscis instantly, as it's situated right above the cockroach's mouth.
Earth cockroaches easily have hundreds of young, but for these cockroaches, they're not the common pest people in space must put up with, they're predators, that they've developed predator-like mentalities, not overwhelming their ranks's one of them, and those trillion eggs go through their own predator-like mentalities themselves, ensuring all but one egg reaches a host, at a given time.
Adaptive, they can just about survive anywhere short of black holes and the surface of the sun, it's almost a miracle the universe didn't become overrun with them, until Theodore tells Lila that his parents always believed there's something bigger that even they have an evolutional fear.
Daleks?
Cybermen?
Well, they'll certainly destroy planets for less, but given an opportunity, they'll happily destroy planets that have an infestation of these cockroaches, but no, they don't actively go after the cockroaches.
Like stubborn gits, they'll walk or pivot themselves into brick walls, even if they should've moved to the side through the doorway there, unless they see them on their scanners.
No.
Something goes after the cockroaches, actively, not sure what, Theodore's parents never figured it out, but they theorized that whatever it was, that if the cockroaches sense the presence, they'll do whatever they could to escape it.
To humans, cockroaches are predators, but to the cockroaches themselves, they're something's prey.
Whatever that is, Theodore hopes they never encounter in their lifetime.
Their weapons hoisted, Theodore's icy blue eyes moved accordingly as Al kept them posted on movement, keeping Lila close to him as he trained his eyes on the vents.
One of the good things about the cockroaches, they're limited by their sizes, they're not octopods, so they can't squeeze themselves into tight corners, the vents about as subtle as they're able to afford.
Another good thing, they're still at the whims of their nature, and tricking them with CO2 bombs always worked when in a pinch.
The squelching skittering noises continued as the cockroach moved through the vents, trying to locate the best vantage point, while the group moved quickly while Al's giving them updates on where the cockroach's moves.
He had an idea of tricking the cockroach into going through a bend, where there's large industrial blades at the bottom, a perfect recipe for a blended cockroach.
Once they're on a scent, cockroaches never break their hunts, and Al used this against the cockroach hunting Albert, Theodore, and Lila.
Thankfully, they never achieved higher intelligence, so the cockroach fell for Al's bag of tricks, lured from the group as it smelled a well-placed CO2 bomb that sent it spiraling into spinning blades that mulched it within seconds.
One down, twenty-eight to go!
"We're not far from the loading bay!" Al conveyed through one of the twenty something crew mates he's projected in the halls.
Al's alerted that the other cockroaches caught on that something's wrong and coming out of the engine room, they're riled up, and ready to rumble, as he puts it.
Something's wrong.
They're not taking the vents.
They're not taking the subtle approaches.
They're coming for them.
He relayed this to both Theodore and Lila via their telepathic link and Theodore's confused that the cockroaches suddenly changed on a whim, something his parents never experienced.
"Could've it had to do with you mulching their friend?" Lila asked if Al's plan of sending the advancing cockroach to its death had anything to do with it, but Al told her that there's no maternal instincts among the cockroaches, no hierarchy, anything of that nature.
Single-minded, that's about it.
No, this's different and Al's certain something changed, as he's noticing the cockroaches are splitting off into groups.
They never done that.
They're insects that swarm on whims, they'd never go through the effort to swarm like this.
The dots on his scanners are showing that a few groups of cockroaches are…
Going for the electrical.
Normally, insects like electronics and anything generating heat, but Al's seeing these cockroaches having strategy.
Strategy!
Cockroaches!
If only Medi was alive to see this!
"Why now?" Theodore wanted to know why the sudden changes and Al didn't have answers on hand for this.
This is highly unusual for the cockroaches and it's concerning, an understatement, but concerning nonetheless.
As they fled, the lights above flickered.
Al came back with, "They're chewing through the wires… and… don't come to me!"
He warned them not to come to the TARDIS, one of the cockroaches gotten into the loading bay, and, well, they don't want to see it.
The hesitation in Al's voice concerned Theodore and through ample prodding, Al broke down and told him that if Albert sees this cockroach, it will further break him.
No.
It'll be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"What's different about this one?" Lila asks Al, but Al wouldn't tell them, just that they needed to keep Albert from the loading bay.
Lights above faltered before finally waning, plunging them into darkness, Al warning them they don't have much time before they run out of oxygen, which cockroaches didn't need to worry about.
Another group of cockroaches managed to eat their way through the electrical for the engines, further exacerbating the problems.
Highly unusual, highly problematic, big reasons why Al made sure the mothership doesn't know what's happening, because if they knew, they'll torpedo the ship into kingdom come, without hesitation.
"Can't you just come to us and we'll take care of Albert?" Theodore pointed out that Al can easily show up in front of them, allow them inside, take them away from the ship before it's blown into pieces, and deal with Albert the hard way, but Al tells him if he does that, the cockroach won't stay in the loading bay.
The logic board on this!
"What do you mean, you can just whack it, can't you?" Lila found it impossible that Al couldn't destroy the cockroach with relative ease, but Al then responded that there's a reason he can't, and they don't want to know.
The vagueness isn't helping and even though Al conveyed concerns about the integrity of the loading bay, Albert's showing hesitation following his captain's orders, despite Al doing everything possible to convey his concerns in the same fashion as the late captain.
Determined, Albert ordered the rest of the crew to turn on their lights, which Al's forced to project, while keeping watch on the scanners.
Now, the cockroaches are in a strange formation, and they're converging on the group, from all sides.
Not to hunt them, they would've swarmed, it's almost like…
They're pushing them to the loading bay.
"Why are they doing that?" Lila called out to Al as Theodore kept her in front of him as the squelching skittering noises intensified.
Al responded with, "…You know the cockroach that's here with me?"
Guess they're getting a preview of horrors they'll have to face in the coming future, after all!
Like cattle, the trio and Al's projections were corralled, forcibly led somewhere against their will, with the threat of large cockroaches swarming them at any point.
Albert's firing off his plasma rifle at intervals, to no effect, the cockroaches weren't affected by it, Theodore and Lila refrained from using theirs, not wanting to risk firing on a projection, breaking the illusion.
Despite the attempts, they were going back into the darkened loading bay whether they liked it or not, at the center, there's the TARDIS, lights coming through the windows.
It almost seems like a straight path to the TARDIS, that in normal situations, they'd run towards it, but there's an undeniable sense that they're being watched from somewhere in the darkness.
"Co… Comma… Commander," there's a voice rattling from somewhere in the darkness.
Their eyes widened, Theodore and Lila looked around, with Theodore pulling Lila towards him, as Albert's shocked by the sudden voice, too.
Confused, Theodore's icy blue eyes sharply moved as he tried deducing the source of the voice, instead he heard the same skittering noises known to induce nightmares.
There's rattling breathing echoing throughout the loading bay, until the skittering noises stopped short of the group, there they see an outline.
"Who-who's there?" Al tried to broach the topic using one of the projections, but unfortunately, Albert started seeing through them, it didn't help when a giant cockroach appeared beside one, and Al couldn't get it to react in time.
He's shocked at the sight of the projections, seeing through them, that Albert trained his plasma rifle on the closest ones, before Theodore called to Al, forcing him to rid the area of the projections, leaving them and the giant cockroach alone in the loading bay.
Albert's wild eyes focused on the giant cockroach, hidden in the darkness, as he tried firing on it, hadn't Theodore stopped him on Al's suggestion.
It wasn't like the plasma rifle would've done much and Albert's erratic behaviour risked hurting himself and Lila, something Theodore wouldn't allow on his watch.
"Co… Co… Commander!" Albert heard the rattling voice calling to him, coming from the cockroach.
So, that's what Al was trying to get at.
Their eyes wide, Theodore and Lila see the cockroach rise from the ground, towering them, it didn't help that Al managed to draw enough power to light up the loading bay, somewhat, showing the face of nightmares.
"What the hell?" Lila recoiled as she sees something out of an 80's horror movie.
A cockroach, yes.
A giant cockroach, yes.
A giant cockroach with a human face?
This's a new one, a terrifying new one.
Albert's flabbergasted too, not that anyone blamed him, but as he stared at the sight, it gave him enough time to process that…
This…
Was…
His captain?
"Al?" Theodore wanted answers and Al says that he didn't know, the scanners picked up cockroaches and no one from the crew, that's it, but seeing this, there's another wrench in the plans.
It would seem, Al's guessing here, that there was an unprecedented mutation that went on when the cockroaches overran the ship.
When they got the captain and the cockroach came out of him matured, it might've garnered an unusual quality, an evolutionary trait that's best summed with "that scene in Alien 3."
Seeing the human faced, but still with an insect quality, it's enough to rattle anyone, space mercenary, criminal, name it.
Gripping Theodore's arm, Lila's chestnut eyes widened as she sees the cockroach moving around, the insectoid face barely animating, but it's clear that the mutation resulted in a disjointed replica of the captain's face.
"C-captain?" Albert's eyes widened.
Cogs turning in his head, Theodore's quick to leave Lila's side, grabbing Albert, pulling him back, and using his natural strength to force Albert's hand to lost his grip on the plasma rifle, Theodore warns Albert, "He's not your captain!"
Tilting his head, Albert's broken mind couldn't understand, especially after the ruse of using projections to trick him into believing his crew's still alive.
He struggled with this, while struggling with Theodore, trying to break free from his grip, and retrieve his stolen plasma rifle.
Lila tried to reason him with, "It's a cockroach with your captain's face!"
Albert tilts his head at this, turning back to the cockroach as it stiffly moved, the face barely animating, as the exoskeleton gave it a mask-quality.
"C-captain?" Albert called out to it.
He heard back the unusual, "Co… co… commander."
Somewhere in that broken mind, it came back to him, in sharp bright flashes, as his vacant eyes stared off into the distance, then his mouth moved.
"You… told me… nobody would get hurt," Albert whispered as he blinked, staring at the cockroach with his captain's face.
Hastily, Al and Theodore's able to conclude that the cockroach didn't suddenly grow a brain, the mutation of it coming out of Captain Bahaman's body presumably gave it some limited capacity of speech, but no recognition.
Just like why it's suddenly commanding the swarm the way it is, it just did.
Al warned Theodore and Lila that the swarm's coming towards them, now.
"You promised that nobody would get hurt!" Albert shouted at the cockroach, the antennas swaying as it moved its body.
Tears running down his cheeks, Albert grimaced as he admitted, "They're dead. They're all dead. Because of you, they're dead."
He was close with them, they were his closest mates, a family, and because of his captain's rash decisions and greed, they're all dead.
Their families don't even have something to remember them by, everything's gone, taken, stolen, and Albert held the blame squarely on his captain.
Stiffly, Albert reached into his shirt, bringing out a small, but easily recognizable shrapnel grenade.
Taken aback, Theodore instinctively stepped backwards with Lila behind him.
"Kid! That's got enough juice to rip your lungs apart and then some!" Theodore heard Al in his head, warning him that he couldn't hope to disarm Albert without blowing them all up.
Against his better judgement, Al opened the TARDIS door for Theodore and Lila, gesturing towards them while the cockroach's occupied with Albert.
His fate was already cemented the moment his fingers squeezed the grenade, activating a countdown.
The swarm's too close for Theodore and Lila to do anything, but run into the TARDIS, with Theodore shutting the door tightly while Al got them off the ship the moment the cockroach lunged at Albert and the grenade went off.
Safely away from the damned ship, but unable to explode it due to the electrical work being consumed by the cockroaches, Al's forced to call into the mothership and a team of ships worked to destroy the Ourang Medan with precise shots.
The ship exploded into smithereens, with Al's help, they made sure none of the cockroaches survived.
In the safety of the console room, Lila exhaled sharply.
So, those are the cockroaches that gave Theodore and his family nightmares, good to know they lived up to their reputation.
Still, it's upsetting that they couldn't do anything for Albert, though they had no other choices, he had a grenade, the swarm got too close, and with a giant cockroach like that, they couldn't risk getting implanted with eggs.
"Ah, that's not going to happen, again, right?" Lila asked Al as he paced around the console room wearing a creamy smoker's jacket, smoke trailing him from his cigarette.
Al calculated that the odds of a cockroach bearing the face and some echoes of the host, oh, forty million to one.
A good thing they destroyed the nest when they did, if that cockroach survived, it risks causing a higher chance of it happening, again, until it's another problem they'll have to worry for the rest of their existence.
Sighing, Theodore ran a hand through his wild hair as he said, "Not a moment too soon, I hope?"
Shaking his head, Al affirmed that it'll be after his time for the chances of those mutations to happen again.
"Oh, uh, the mothership thanks our service, they're going to write it off," Al received a message from the mothership.
Due to the nature, it can't risk other ships getting ideas, as it agreed that they couldn't have the Doctor fix every problem, so the Ourang Medan's listed as MIA, a ghost ship, and they covered up the trails of where it went, though Al thinks they're also going to explode the planet that the cockroaches came from, just in case someone else gets any ideas.
It's not usually legal, but in the circumstances of the cockroaches, there's wiggle room, and that said, the mothership also warned that no one's to talk about the incident, ever again.
"Why's that?" Lila asked Al why the mothership forced them under an NDA and she's informed that the mothership didn't want anyone knowing about the incident.
Too many idiots with wild ideas.
Nodding, Lila then says, "Makes sense."
She's pulled into Theodore's arms, holding her tightly, as he exhaled sharply, thankful none of them gotten bit, but also none of them gotten hurt by a broken man.
"If we did get him back, would there been a chance?" Lila asks Theodore if they were successful bringing back Albert to the mothership, would years of therapy and medication bring him back to some form of normalcy.
Thoughtfully as he held her, Theodore thinks about Lila's question, before responding with, "I don't think so, Lee."
The overwhelming guilt, the hours of isolation, the stress, even if the world's finest helped, Theodore doesn't think Albert could've been partly salvaged.
"That's what it was like when that happened with them, right?" Lila asks him.
Nodding, Theodore responded with sadness in his icy blue eyes how his parents tried helping the surviving victims of the cockroaches, but it's not easily cut and dry as they hoped.
Cradling her, Theodore sighed, as he held Lila tightly, resting his head on top of hers.
THE END