4. Docking.
Just then there is a loud metallic clunk. The Lander docks above the Orbiter. The Lander doesn't see the Tardis on its approach as it is on the other side of the Orbiter, on its heat shield.
After a minute, the air lock opens and Angel floats in.
When Angel enters she gets a shock. She is only expecting to see Neville. Neville has tried to radio to Earth but he has been heavily distracted and hasn't forewarned Angel.
Angel takes a moment to adjust. She likes Crystelle being there. She is unsure of the Doctor.
Introductions follow.
The Doctor is trying to be nice to help calm things down but doesn't always succeed.
"He's an alien," Neville says.
"Is that so?" Angel retorts. "He looks ok to me. Is he an alien, Crystelle?"
"Yes, but he's an extremely helpful alien."
"Are you an alien, Doctor?" Angel asks.
"Yes. Well, it depends from whose perspective. I'm not an alien to me!" He jests to try to remove the sting.
"What sort of alien are you? Where are you from?" Angel asks.
"I'm from Gallifrey."
"I haven't heard of Gallifrey, Angel says. "Is it in the Bahamas?"
The Doctor doesn't really want to underline his alien position, so he wants to change the subject. "It's about as far away as you can get."
"Ah, the Antipodes!" Angel supposes.
She is interrupted by Crystelle.
"Crabs!" Crystelle says. There are crabs following Angel into the Orbiter. Crystelle is sitting opposite to the air lock and so sees the crabs first. Everyone turns to look, very scared. "Count how many there are," Crystelle suggests.
Crystelle floats over and picks up a crab carefully (from behind). The crab waggles its legs. She presents the crab to the Doctor.
The Doctor is amazed to see Crystelle just pick up the crab. "How did you know that you could do that? Even I didn't know you can do that."
"I just watched the way their legs work."
The Doctor wants to examine the crab. Crystelle continues to hold the crab steady. He rapidly identifies where the crabs are from. "Rontagen, at a guess," he says at last. "There may be more crabs on board. We need to completely clear them out."
"Why?" Neville asks.
"They can cut through anything in your spaceship in a moment," the Doctor replies. "Air lines, external walling, anything. I need to scan the Orbiter and Lander from the Tardis."
"The what?" Neville asks.
"From his spaceship," Crystelle says.
"Oh, yes," Neville says. "Where is that just now?"
The Doctor points downwards. "Below us!"
"But there's no docking point there, just a heat shield," Neville says.
"Oh, I thought it was a bit bent," the Doctor says.
"I hope you've not bent our heat shield!" Neville says defensively. "We may need that when we go back home."
"Sorry. No, I just mean that it wasn't flat. But I need a very close look at the crab, internally." The Doctor flexes his hand like a crab's legs. He goes into the air lock with the crab.
The Doctor comes back from the air lock with the crab.
"What's the matter?" Crystelle asks.
"There's something in the way," the Doctor jests, smiling humorously.
"What's that?" Crystelle asks.
"The Lander!" the Doctor laughs. "It's occupying the airlock. Bother."
"There's another crab clinging to your coat," Crystelle says.
The Doctor looks horrified - as if the crab might kill him at a moment's notice.
Crystelle reaches forwards and holds the crab from behind. "There, I've got it, but it won't let go."
"You bet it won't!" the Doctor says. "Have you got something to crush it with?"
"There's another one just crawling in through the airlock hatch," Crystelle says.
"I'll hold on to this one while you get that one," Neville volunteers.
Crystelle picks up the crab by the airlock hatch and passes it to Neville to hold in his other hand.
Crystelle picks up another two. She passes these to Angel.
"Many more and we'll have a major problem," Angel says. "What can we crush them with?"
"Throw them all into the Lander and jettison it," Crystelle suggests. "Do you need it again?"
"We still haven't performed all of the experiments we were going to," Angel says. She still laments the loss of the mission. The Lander wasn't going to be jettisoned until all of the kit and samples had been removed from it. Now there won't be any samples. But it will take her a little longer to think through what kit they ought to remove from the Lander … if they can retrieve anything while there are crabs in the Lander!
"There won't be enough fuel to go down again, will there?" Crystelle asks.
"Very true. Chuck them through." Angel jerks herself out of her thoughts and into the present.
Neville is feeling the responsibility again. "We must clear this with Earth control."
"How many more crabs are in there?" Angel asks. "We've no idea. There were hundreds down there on the planet surface."
"I agree," the Doctor says. "If the Lander isn't useful, we must jettison it."
"It should be one of us crew to close up," Neville says.
"I'll do it," Angel says. "Oh no. What about Ben? His body is still in there."
"Ok," the Doctor says. "I'll drag his body through, then you close up."
"I'm slimmer," Crystelle claims. "I can do it quicker. I've been trained." Everyone looks at Crystelle.
"Trained?" Angel exclaims. "There's no training for this. You just have to think on your feet."
Crystelle has to back down as she mustn't reveal that she was trained a millennia later than they are now.
"But I want to keep ONE of the crabs to study," the Doctor says. "Please hold on to one of them for me?"
Crystelle crawls through. She crawls back through pulling the body behind her. "I had to prise a few crabs off him, but I've frisked him and he's clear. Pass me the crabs we have, and I'll chuck them through." She throws the crabs as far through into the Lander as she can. "Angel, can you close up now please?"
"You sound like a captain when you say it like that," Angel says. "But you look so young, like you're only just out of school."
"We start training early where I'm from," Crystelle says.
"And where's that exactly?" Angel asks.
"Could you please close the airlocks before the crabs come through?" Crystelle says more colloquially.
"Ok, but I'll want an answer," Angel says. She goes to close the airlocks.
Angel screams. "Aaagh. It got me." There is a clunk followed by two more clunks. "Done it!" She reappears. She sports a hand with blood oozing rapidly.
"Can I have a look at that, please?" the Doctor says urgently. The Doctor passes the crab he is holding for Crystelle to hold. He grabs Angel's arm and wafts his sonic screwdriver along the arm to the hand and pauses there.
The Doctor groans. "I need to control the infection. I've got some facilities on my ship. Can we jettison the Lander now?"
Neville presses a button. "Bombs away! It should be gone now. Where are you going? You'll kill yourself!"
The Doctor opens the first airlock and gets in. "See you in a few minutes."
The airlock closes. The sound of air pumps is heard, followed by a small whoosh noise as the Doctor opens the outer airlock a moment early.
Crystelle is trembling as she realises the danger the Doctor is in. She also realises that she, too, will have to go that way. She is terrified.
The way from the Tardis was dangerous enough. How can they get back? The Tardis door is now closed, so no air is available. How will the Doctor manage?