Last time on the Doctor's Girl:
"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" The Doctor said going to the center of the room.
"Close Door 17." The computer said as I closed the door.
"Deep Space exploration.
"Welcome to Hell."
"Why did you come here?"
"That's a black hole." I said pointing at it.
"But that's impossible." The Doctor said looking up at it shocked.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in."
"This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." Ida told us.
The entire base shook violently. We all clung on tight to whatever we held.
"The TARDIS is gone." he said quietly
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena."
"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something."
The capsule descended the shaft.
"What are they called?" I asked him.
"They're the Ood." he told me. "Basic slave race."
"There's something happening with the Ood."
"And you will worship him." The Ood said suddenly as one.
"You can tell Toby... we've found his civilization..."
"These are the words of the Beast." he said, his voice was deeper than it had been before. "And he has woken."
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed."
"Come on!" I shouted.
"Door sealed."
"The door is open and I am free."
The Ood advanced towards the three of us as I tried to open the door.
"Open fire!" Jefferson ordered and he and the guard fired at the Ood, while I cowered behind them until they were done shooting. I quickly stepped over the dead bodies of the Ood and grabbed the communication device once more, impatient to see if the Doctor is okay.
"Doctor?" I called. Static, no reply. "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor? Ida? Are you there?"
"Open Door 25." I quickly spun around to see Danny.
"It's me! But they're coming." he said.
"Close Door 25."
"It's the Ood. They've gone mad." Danny told us.
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked him.
"All of them! All fifty!" Danny said.
"Danny, out of the way." Jefferson said, but Danny didn't move. "Out of the way!" He pushed Danny out of the way of the door.
"But they're armed! They're da-" Danny tried telling him as Jefferson started to open the door.
"It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon." Danny told us.
"Open door 25." Jefferson opened the door and the Ood were standing on the other side. One of them immediately advanced, sticking the communication orb to the guard's forehead. She screamed and slumped to the floor, dead. Jefferson opened fire.
"Jefferson, what's happening, there?" I heard Zack say.
"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?" Jefferson asked him.
"All I've got is a bolt gun. With uh all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is." Zack said.
"Given the emergency, I recommend Strategy Nine." Jefferson said and I looked at him confused.
"Strategy Nine agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Hunter? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?" Zack asked him and I shook my head.
"I can't get any reply," I said, sick with worry. "Just... NOTHING, I keep trying, but it's..."
"No! Sorry, I'm fine. Still here!" The Doctor said and I got angry.
"You could've said, you stupid b-" The communication device screeched loudly, blanking the rest of the word out.
"WHOA! Careful! Anyway, it's both of us, me and Ida. Hello! But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm." he said.
"How deep is it?" Zack asked them.
"Can't tell. It looks like it goes on forever." the Doctor told us.
""The pit is open." That's what the voice said."
"But there's nothing? I mean... There's... NOTHING coming out?" Zack asked them.
"No, no. No sign of 'the Beast'." The Doctor said.
"It said 'Satan'." I told him.
"Come on, Hunter. Keep it together." he told me.
"With all we've seen is there really no such thing?" I asked him. Nothing. "Doctor? Doctor, answer me."
"Ida? I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately." Zack told her.
"But... we've come all this way!" Ida said.
"Okay, that was an order. WITH-DRAW. With that thing open, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now." Zack told us.
"But it's not much better up there with the Ood." Ida pointed out.
"I'm initiating Strategy Nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar-" We heard something cutting him off. "Ida? IDA?"
"Hunter, we're coming back." The Doctor said suddenly and I smiled, pleased with what he said.
"Best news I've heard the entire time we've been here!" I told him. I heard Jefferson release the safety on his gun. I looked to see him looking down at Toby. "What're you doing?"
"He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." Jefferson said and Toby's eyes widened in shock
"Are you gonna start shooting your own people, now?" I asked him.
"If necessary." Jefferson said and I stood between them.
"Well then, you'll have to shoot me 'if necessary', so what's it gonna be?" I asked him. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." I said moving over slightly. Jefferson considered what I said.
"Any sign of trouble... I'll shoot him." he told me before moving away from us. I knelt down to him and hugged his shoulders.
"Are you all right?" I asked him.
"Yeah... I..." he said trembling. "Dunno."
"Can you remember anything?" I asked him, trying to get more information from him about the creature.
"Just... it was so angry. It was... fury and rage... death..." Toby said looking everywhere before looking into my eyes. "It was him. It was the devil."
"Come here." I pulled him in a comforting hug. After a while I stood with Jefferson and Danny and waited for the Doctor and Ida to make contact with us.
"Okay, we're in. Bring us up." Ida said and I smiled, going over to the opening they would appear from.
"Ascension in... three... two... one." Jefferson said when suddenly the light went out.
"This is the Darkness. This is my domain." We heard over the comms. We saw a picture of the Ood on the screen. "You little things that live in the light... clinging to your feeble Suns which die in the..."
"That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them." Zack told us.
"Yeah, thanks for that." I said sarcastically.
"Only the Darkness remains." the voice said.
"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctury Base Six representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself." Zack ordered.
"You know my name." It said.
"What do you want?" Zack asked.
"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave." the voice said.
"It's him. It's him. It's him..." Toby said trembling.
"If you are the Beast, then answer me this: which one? Hmm? 'Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archivits... Pordonity, Christianity... Pash-Pash, New Judaism... Sanclar... Church of the Tin Vagabond - which devil are you?" the Doctor asked him.
"All of them." the voice said.
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?" the Doctor asked it.
"This one knows me - as I know him. The killer of his own kind." the voice said and I froze.
"How did you end up on this rock?" the Doctor asked him.
"The disciples of the Light rose up against me. And chained me in the pit for all eternity." the voice told him.
"When was this?" my husband asked him.
"Before time." I looked at the screen confused.
"What does THAT mean?!" The Doctor asked.
"Before time."
"What does 'before time' MEAN?" the Doctor asked.
"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created." the Beast said.
"That's impossible. No life could have existed back then." the Doctor said.
"Is that your religion?" The Beast asked him.
"It's a belief." The Doctor said.
"You know nothing. All of you. So small." The Beast said to us. "The Captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin. And the lost girl, with the stolen family, so far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." I paled.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Hunter, don't listen." The Doctor told me but I ignored him.
"What does that mean?" I asked again.
"You will die... and I will live." The footage of the Ood suddenly cut and was replaced with a roaring horned beast, which causes us all to gasp and stumble backwards. We all panicked.
"What the hell was that?"
"I had that thing inside my head."
"What did it mean?"
"What do we do? Jefferson?"
"Captain? What's the situation on Strategy Nine?"
"Zach, what do we do?"
"What if I can fix it? ... the black hole, everything's true."
"Captain, report."
"We've lost pictures-"
"Doctor, how did it know all of-"
"Did anyone get-"
"Jefferson?"
"Stop-"
"What did it mean?"
"Everyone just stop-"
"What do we do?"
"Report." Suddenly the communication devices screeched loudly. The babble stopped and silence fell.
"If you want voices in the dark, then listen to mine; that thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness - childhood nightmares, all that stuff." the Doctor told us.
"But that's how the devil works." Danny said.
"Or a good psychologist." the Doctor said.
"But... how did it know about my father?" Ida asked him.
"Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? Hmm? Cos I'll tell you what I can see: humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space. Flying in a tiny little rocket into the orbit of a black hole! Just for the sake of discovery, that's amazing! Do you hear me? Amazing. All of you. The captain - his officer - his elder - his genius - his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him-" Suddenly a loud bang was behind me. I turned to see the cable falling down the shaft.
"Doctor!" I shouted down the shaft.
"The cable's snapped!" Ida said.
"Get out!" The Doctor shouted. We heard a bang then nothing. Dust wafted up the the deck we were standing on.
"Doctor! We lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right?" I asked him. Nothing. "Doctor?"
"Comms are down." Zack said.
"Doctor, can you hear me?" I asked again.
"I've still got life signs, but... we've lost the capsule." Zack told us, but I ignored him.
"Say something - are you there?"
"There's no way out. They're stuck down there." Zack told us and I grew silent.
"But we've GOT TO bring them back." I said after a moment, staring at the shaft.
"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Jefferson told me. Something banged on the door into the room we were in. "Captain? Situation report."
"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in." Zack told us.
"Yeah, it's the same on Door 25." Jefferson told him.
"How long's it gonna take for them to come in?" I asked him.
"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes." another bang. "Eight." Jefferson said.
"I've got a security frame, it might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you." Zack told us and I started thinking.
"Right. So we need to stop them or get out. Preferably both." I said.
"I'll take both, yeah? But how?" Danny asked me.
"You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off? 'Cos he was making sense. He was telling us to think our way out of this. Come on! For a start, we need some lights. There's gotta be some sort of power somewhere." I said to them.
"There's nothing I can do. Some captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons." Zack said to me.
"That's what the Doctor MEANT: press the right buttons." I told him.
"They've gutted the generators!" Zack said. "But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that... Mr Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety..."
"Opening bypass conduits, sir." Jefferson said.
"Channeling rocket feed. In 3... 2... 1... power." Zack said and the lights came back on.
"There we go." I said happily.
"Let there be light!" Danny said.
"What about that Strategy Nine thing?" I asked them.
"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent." Jefferson told me.
"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mr Jefferson, you start working on that." I ordered before going to Toby. "Toby, what about you?"
"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything." he told me.
"No, you're the archaeologist. What do you know about the pit?" I asked him.
"Well, n-n-nothing. We can't even translate the language." Toby told me.
"Okay." I said turning from him.
"H-hold on. Maybe." he called to me and I turned back to him.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters made more sense." Toby told me.
"Well... get to work. Anything you can translate, just... anything." I told him before going to Danny. "As for you, Danny - you're in charge of the Ood - any way of stopping them?"
"Well... I don't know." he said.
"Then find out." I said, pulling him to the computer. "The sooner we get control of the base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift." I said smaking him playfully before looking down the never-ending shaft. "Give us time Doctor, we're coming." I turned back to Jefferson, watching him as he worked at the computer.
"Open junctions five... six... seven..." a bang on the door. ",,. reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go." I turned to see Toby working on the symbols before going to Danny.
"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board." Danny said.
"Well, that's smart, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either." I told him before the computer bleeped at us. The word 'affirmative' flashed on the screen.
"Oh my God." Danny said, excited. "It says yes! I can do it! Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare... it can disrupt the telepathy! Brainstorm!"
"What happens to the Ood?" I asked him.
"It'll tank them, spark out!" Danny told me.
"There we are, then! Do it!" I told him, happily.
"No, but... I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation." Danny told him. Another bang on the door, causing sparks to fly.
"That's what we'll do, then." I said staring at the door before going to Jefferson. "Jefferson, sir! Any way out?"
"Just about... there's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here." Jefferson said, showing me the picture.
"Ventilation shafts." I said, smiling at him.
"Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact - at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms." he told me and I leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing. Another bang.
"But - I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere... if I control it manually... I can follow you through the network." Zack said and I picked my head up.
"Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us. By hand?" I asked him.
"You wanted me pressing buttons." he told me and I smiled.
"Yeah - I asked for it - okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation, work out a route." I ordered. Another violent bang on Door 25. We were all ready to enter the maintenance tunnels, but Danny was still at the computer.
"Danny!" I shouted.
"Hold on! Just conforming..." he told me.
"Dan, you gotta go NOW!" Jefferson said as another bang sounded. "Come on!?"
"Yeah!" Danny took what looked like an orange computer chip from the machine. He showed us as he hurried over to the entrance to the maintenance tunnels. "Put that in the monitor... and it's a bad time to be an Ood!"
"We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out." I told them.
"Okay, Danny, you go first, then you Hunter, then Toby, I'll go last in defence of position. Now come on! Quick as you can!" he ordered us and we all lowered ourselves down into the tunnels in the order we were told. I landed in the tunnel next to Danny and I took a sniff before making a face.
"God, it stinks. You all right?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I'm laughing." Danny told me as Toby landed beside us. "Which way do we go?" he asked Zack.
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going 'til I say so." Zack ordered and we started crawling though the tunnels.
"Not your best angle, Danny." I said staring at his bum.
"Oi! Stop it! Aren't you married?" he asked me.
"No rule against harmless looking, and commenting." I told him.
"The view could be worse." Toby said from behind me.
"Oi!" I said looking back at him.
"Straight along until you find junction 7.1. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you." Zack told us. We continued crawling until we reached a junction in the tunnels and sat down, out of breath.
"We're at 7.1, sir." Danny told him.
"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section." Zack told us.
"Getting kinda cramped, sir... can't you hurry up?" Danny asked him.
"I'm working on half power, here." Zack told him.
"Stop complaining." Jefferson ordered Danny.
"Mr Jefferson says 'stop complaining'." I told him.
"I heard." Danny said.
"He heard." I told Jefferson.
"But the air's getting a bit thin." Toby said.
"HE'S complaining now." I said looking at Toby.
"I heard." Jefferson said. I saw Danny wiped the swear off his face when I smelt something, and my face screwed up in disgust.
"Danny, is that you?" I asked him.
"I'm not exactly happy." He told me and I tried to get the smell our of my airway.
"I'm just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm... or it's gonna feel worse." Zack told us. We suddenly heard a loud banging from the other end of the tunnel and Jefferson aimed his gun.
"What was that?" Danny asked.
"Mr Jefferson, what was that?" I repeated to him.
"What's that noise?" Toby asked.
"Captain... what was that?" Jefferson asked Zack.
"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened - it must be the Ood." Zack told us. "They're in the tunnels!"
"Well, open the gate!" Danny shouted at him.
"I've gotta get the air in!" Zack shouted back.
"Well hurry it up!" I ordered.
"Just open it! ... sir." Danny told him.
"Where are they? Are they close?" I asked Zack.
"Don't know, I can't tell - I can't see them... the computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms." Zack told me and I made a face at them.
"Whose idea was that?" I asked him.
"OPEN the gate!" Danny yelled at him and the gate open and we lunged through it.
"Danny, turn left. Immediate left." Zack told him and we crawled down the tunnel as fast as we could.
"The Ood, sir - can't you trap them? Cut off the air?" I heard Jefferson ask.
"Not without cutting off yours." Zack told us.
"Yeah, lets not do that." I told them.
"Danny, turn right. Go right! Go fast, Dan - they're gonna catch up!" Zack told him and Danny turned right with me right behind him.
"I'll maintain defence of position!" Jefferson said and I stopped and turned back to him.
"You can't stop!" I told him.
"Hunter - that's my job. You've got your task - now see to it." he told me.
"You heard what he said, now SHIFT." Toby said pushing me down the tunnel. I quickly followed Danny down the tunnel to the next junction.
"8.2. Open 8.2. Zach!" Danny said.
"I've gotta aerate it!" Zack told him.
"OPEN IT NOW!" Danny shouted in fear and I looked behind us to see if Jefferson was coming.
"I'm TRYING."Zack said to him. Danny thumped on the gate, desperate to move on and I stopped him.
"Danny, stop it. That's not going to help." I told him.
"Zach, get it open!" Danny shouted.
"Jefferson... I've gotta open 8.2 by closing 8.1. You've GOT to get past the junction, now MOVE. That's an order, now MOVE!" I heard Zack tell Jefferson. "I'm gonna lose oxygen, Jefferson, I can't stop for your dramatics!" Gate 8.2 opened, allowing the three of us to go through it.
"Come on!" Danny said. I glanced behind us down the corridor before following him.
"Danny, turn left and head for 9.2. That's the last one. Jefferson - You've gotta move faster. Move!" Zack said.
"Mr Jefferson, come on-!" I shouted to him.
"Keep GOING!" Toby said pushing me forward.
"Regret to inform, sir... I was a bit slow. Not so fast, these days." I heard Jefferson say over the comms.
"I can't open 8.1, John. Not without losing air for the others." Zack told him.
"And quite right too, sir. I think I bought them a little time." Jefferson said as we reached the other end of the tunnel.
"There's nothing I can do, John." Zack told him. "I'm sorry."
"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances." Jefferson told Zack. I closed my eyes to keep the ears from falling.
"I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section... can you speed up the process of its removal?" Jefferson asked Zack.
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Zack asked him.
"Well... if I might chose the manner of my departure, sir... lack of air seems more natural than... well... let's say... death by Ood." Jefferson told him. "I'd appreciate it, sir!"
"God speed, Mr Jefferson." Zack said.
"Thank you, sir." Jefferson said.
"Report... Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD... deceased... with honors." Zack said and we sat in silence. "43K2.1."
"Zach... we're at the final junction. 9.2. And er... if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives." Danny told him.
"Noted. Opening 9.2." Zack told us. the gate opened and the Ood were right behind it, waiting for us. We screamed before quickly scrambling away from the gate.
"Lower 9.2. Zack, lower it!" I told him.
"Back! Back! Back!" Danny shouted.
"We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off, we're stuck!" Toby said. I looked around the tunnel before noticing a grilling above me.
"If we can't go back we'll go up. Come on!" I told them pushing it out of the way. I emerged through the floor of the corridor above and Danny followed.
"Come on! Toby, come on!" I called down to him. "Toby, get out of there!"
"Help me! Oh, my God - help me!" Toby called up to us. He reached up through the hole with his arms an Danny and I hoisted him through the hole as more Ood approached from one end of the corridor.
"It's this way." Danny told us running the opposite direction. We followed Danny along the corridor with the Ood in pursuit.
"Hurry up!" Zack shouted at us. We burst through the door the doors into Ood Habitation and rushed over to the computer. The Ood who were already inside looked up at our arrival.
"Get it in!" I told Danny.
"Danny, get down." Toby said.
"Transmit!" I said.
"I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it-" Danny told us.
"Stop them!" Toby shouted as the Ood made their way up the stairs towards us.
"Danny, get that thing transmitting!" I ordered. Danny bunged it into the computer. The reading went from Basic 100 to Basic 0 and the Ood clutched at their heads and stumbled about before finally callapsing to the floor. "You did it! We did it!"
"Yes!" I laughed in delight with Danny and hugged him before going to hug Toby. I separated from them and went to the comms.
"Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now we've gotta get the Doctor." I told him.
"I'm on my way." Zack told me. I quickly dropped the comm and ran back to the shaft. Without a moments hesitation, I picked up the comm as Zack met the three of us.
"Doctor? Are you there? Doctor? Ida? Can you hear me?" I called down to them.
"The comms are still down. I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute." Zack said before starting to work at the computer and I watched him, anxious.
"Doctor? Are you there? Doctor, Ida? Can you hear me?" I called to them once Zack nodded to me. "Are you there, Doctor?"
"He's gone." I heard Ida say and I froze.
"What do you mean, "he's gone"?" I asked her quietly.
"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is - miles and miles and miles." Ida told me.
"But... what do you mean "he fell"?" I asked her, tears stinging my eyes.
"I couldn't stop him. He said your name..." she told me. Tears fell down my face as I let Zack tug the comm away from me.
"I'm sorry." Zack told me, but I said nothing to him. "Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable, no back-up... you're ten miles down... We can't get there."
"You should see this place, Zach. It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things... And here I am." Ida told him.
"We've got to abandon the base." Zack told her. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."
"But we'll never find out what it was?" Ida said to him.
"Well, maybe that's best." Zack told her.
"Yeah." Ida agreed and there was a pause.
"Officer Scott-" Zack started saying.
"It's all right. Just go. Good luck." Ida said to us.
"Thank you." Zack said before replacing the comm. "Danny - Toby - close down the feed links. Get the retrotopes online. Then get to the rocket - strap yourselves in. We're leaving." I finally moved and looked to him.
"I'm not going." I told him.
"Hunter, there's space for you." he told me and I shook my head.
"No, I'm gonna wait for the Doctor. Just like he waited for me." I told him.
"I'm sorry, but... he's dead." Zack told me and I smiled.
"You don't know him like I do. 'Cos he's not dead. Even if he was, how could I leave him? All on his own, all the way down there? No. I'm gonna stay." I told him and he nodded. I looked down the shaft, into the darkness.
"Then I apologise for this. Danny - Toby - make her secure." I quickly looked at the boys as they came up on either side of me, each taking an arm.
"Let me go!" I ordered, trying to push them off. "Get off me! I'm not leaving!" Suddenly, Zack plunged a needle into my arm and I stopped struggling. "No..."
"I have lost too many people. I am not leaving you behind." he said before my world went black.
I started waking up, rubbing my arm.
"Captain... I think we're gonna have a problem passenger..." I heard Danny say.
"Keep an eye on her." Zack said and I opened my eyes to see we were in the rocket.
"Wait... I'm not..." I told them groggy.
"It's all right, Hunter - you're safe-" he said and I focused everything on where I was.
"I'm not going anywhere!" I shouted, tugging on my seatbelt. "Get me out of this thing! Get me out!"
"And... lift-off!" Zack said and I screamed as they all whooped and cheered as the rocket lifted off. I reached for my gun and pointed it at Zack.
"Take me back to the planet." I ordered him. He didn't reply or turn around. "Take me BACK! NOW!"
"Or what?" Zack asked me.
"Or I'll shoot." I told him, deadly calm.
"Would you, though?" He asked finally turning to me. "Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?" I held his gaze for a moment, him calmly staring into my deadly eyes. I was a killer, that's why I chose the name The Hunter. Everyone thought it strange when I married the Doctor. The man who heals married the woman who kills. I sighed and put away my gun, before slumping back into my chair. "Sorry, but it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted." I looked out of the window and tried to ignore him. "Isn't that right?" After a while, Toby started to laugh quietly to himself and I gave him a look.
"What's the joke?" Danny asked him.
"Just... we made it. We escaped. We actually did it." Toby said with a smile.
"Not all of us." I reminded him.
"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." Zack ordered.
"Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding." he said, smirking. "Stats. at 53, funnel status at 66.5. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir. All the way back home." I looked away from him and stared out the window. 900 years together and now I was truly alone. "Coordinates set for Planet Earth." I thought about this situation. The Beast was intelligent. He could have used anyone to stop us from leaving.
"It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've... ripped out the air or... burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why? Unless it wanted us to escape..." I said out loud to myself.
"Hey, Hunter, do us a favour..." I turned to him. "Shut up." I stared at him and it dawned on me. "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in 40... 39..." Before I could do anything the rocket began to shake violently.
"What happened? What was that?!" Danny asked.
"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Toby asked and I looked at him in shock. He? Who was he?
"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!" Zack said. "We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" The rocket turned back on itself and spiraled toward the black hole. I looked out the window and saw the planet.
"It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling." I said before sitting back in my seat and glancing at Toby. I reeled away from him in shock. He was glaring at her, eyes red - the symbols from before broke out onto his skin again.
"I am the rage-" Toby said.
"It's Toby, the Beast is Toby!" I said.
"And the bile and the ferocity." he was afraid. "I am the Prince and the Fall and the Darkness-"
"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Danny kept saying.
"Stay where you are, the ship's not stable!" Zack told us. Toby suddenly expelled a burst of flame from his mouth. "What is he?! What the HELL is he?!"
"I shall never die! The thought of me is forever! In the bleeding hearts of men - in their vanity and obsession and lust-" I pulled my gun from its place on my thigh and cocked it. "Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" I pointed my gun at the window in front of us.
"Go to hell." I told him darkly before firing. My gunshot shattered the glass. The other two boys screamed and I undid Toby's seatbelt and watched as he was sucked though the window and into outer space, headed straight for the black hole. He roared at me in far and anger.
"Emergency shield!" Zack shouted and he pressed a button. The emergency shield activated, covering the gaping hole as the rocket continued to shake and shudder, headed towards the black hole. "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!"
"But we stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done." I told him.
"Some victory. We're going in." Zack told me.
"Doesn't matter. That thing isn't going back to the human race." I said, making peace with everything as the rocket continued to spiral towards the black hole.
"The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" Danny said. The computer screen indicated the planet had fallen into the black hole, and then went blank. "The planet's gone." he said looking at me. "I'm sorry."
"Accelerate. I did my best. But hey - first Human Beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History." Zack said sarcastically. I closed my eyes as we held on tight as the rocket shaked violently. I was ready for the impact when suddenly, it stopped and silence fell. I opened my eyes and looked around.
"What happened?" I asked them. I looked at them as we all leaned to one side as the rocket turned.
"We're... turning." Zack said confused. He looked at one of the screens. "We're turning around. We're turning away!" Suddenly the comms sprang to life.
"Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS." My mouth dropped open in shock and happiness. "Now, first thing's first - have you got the Hunter on board?"
"I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God!" I said laughing with relief and happiness. "Where are you?"
"I'm just towing you home. Gravity-schmavity. Our people practically invented black holes." he said and I laughed. "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 the Hunter - I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"
"She's alive!" Zack asked delighted.
"YES! Thank God." Danny cheered.
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." the Doctor said. Ah! Entering clear space - end of the line - mission closed." I smiled, happy and relieved to hear his voice again. When the Doctor told us he'd landed the TARDIS in the rocket I quickly ripped my seatbelt off me and ran to him. I threw the doors of the TARDIS opened and closed them behind me. The Doctor looked up at me and smiled. We ran to each other and I threw my arms around him. He gathered me up into his arms, lifting me clean off the floor. I laughed as tears ran down my face. but I didn't care. I was with him again. Once we stopped hugging, he changed back into his suit and activated the comms.
"Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home." The Doctor told them. I held the Doctor's hand in mine and refused to let go. "And the next time you get curious about something- oh... what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race..." I laughed.
"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature - what was it?" Ida asked him and I looked up at him.
"I don't know! Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything? Might as well stop." he said, grinning his contagious grin at me.
"What do you think it was? Really?" I asked him, knowing they could hear us.
"I think... we beat it. That's good enough for me." he told me and I shook my head at him.
"Always the optimist, maybe that's why I love you." I joked with him. "It said I was gonna die in battle." I reminded him.
"Then it lied." he told me and I smiled at him, sighing. "Right, onwards, upwards - Ida - see you again, maybe!"
"I hope so." Ida told him.
"And thanks, boys!" I said to them.
"It's been an honor and a privilege." Zack told me.
"Maybe we'll meet under better circumstances next time." Danny told me.
"Maybe." I agreed.
"Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said... you two... who are you?" Ida asked and we looked at each other.
"Oh... The stuff of legend." The Doctor told them and we smiled at each other as he pulled a lever. I looked up and watched the rotor rise and fall.
Next time on the Doctor's Girl:
"30th Olympia." The Doctor told us.
"That's great!" Rose said.
The athlete ran along the road with the Torch.
'MISSING' posters tacked onto the lamp post.
"In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen."
"I'm not being funny or nothing, but that picture just moved."
"We need to find the source of that power."
"And these - they're kids pictures. Now get out!" she demanded.
"Chloe has a power. She's using it to snatch the kids." I told her.
"Get out."
"If living things can become drawings, then maybe drawing can become living things." the Doctor told us.