"I guess those monkey spiders really do belong to Ozymandias," Yaz said, as the team continued onwards in the cave, whose walls were becoming progressively darker as they went deeper.
"I'm still not convinced," shrugged the Doctor.
"Because you believe in him or in his wishes?" Graham asked.
"Either way, he might be our only chance of getting out of here."
The corridors of the cave slowly began to widen, until they expanded entirely out to a huge, open area. The space appeared to be mostly empty, apart from two, large statues at the opposite side of the room.
"This is weird," Ryan said, trying his best to peer into the darkness.
"Seems man-made," the Doctor commented, taking a torch out of her pocket. "An area specifically chiselled out of the cave for-"
The Doctor cut herself off as she reached the other side of the room, her torch scanning the statues in front of her.
"Oh no."
The statues were of two, elderly women sat on thrones. Both were over twice the size of any actual human, their crooked legs alone being the same height as the group. As the Doctor passed her torch across each of their faces, the team took in the sheer unpleasantness of each of the figures; long, wart covered noses, bony chins that protruded down their necks, and eerie sneers that looked as if they were laughing at their presence.
"What are they?" Yaz asked, unable to take her eyes off them.
"Wayward Witches. Which means we need to get out of this place, now!" the Doctor yelled, turning to go, only to be jumped on by a monkey spider.
"Doctor!" the others shouted, as the giant statues somehow seemed to start cackling with manic glee.
Monkey spiders began dropping down from the ceiling and walls in huge numbers, crawling across the floor and amassing on Graham, Yaz and Ryan.
Everyone began desperately trying to fend them off, but were quickly overwhelmed by an endless supply of wriggling legs.
The group found themselves being tossed and turned, but largely unhurt, as their bodies began to be lifted into the air.
Once their job was completed, the monkey spiders crept back into the dark recesses of the area, leaving the Doctor and her companions literally hanging from the ceiling, trapped in four spherical webs. The statues, meanwhile, continued to cackle, their screeching laughs echoing around the space.
"How do we shut those things up?" Graham asked, his body swinging perpendicular to the floor.
"It's how they talk. If the TARDIS was around you'd understand them," explained the Doctor, trying in vain to sonic literally anything.
Yaz, whose two arms were trapped, sticking out from her body, looked at the statues' grotesque faces. "They're alive then? You called them Wayward Witches."
"Distant cousins to the Weeping Angels," the Doctor explained. "Lucky for us, these guys never move; they're stuck where they are no matter what. Unlucky for us they're just as hungry."
"For what?" Ryan asked, his body stuck in the foetal position.
"Weeping Angels feed on time potential. These guys feed on time possibilities."
"You're gonna have to explain a bit, Doc," Graham exhaled.
"A man gets up in the morning. Has some toast, goes to work. Comes home, watches TV, goes to bed. Same job, same house, same toast, day after day. He'd be like a piece of broccoli to these guys; totally bland. But a man who wakes up in the morning, goes to work, quits his job and comes home? Now that's a meal.
"They feed on possibilities. Uncertainties, maybes, perhapses. The sheer quantity of timelines a single person can create when they're faced with an option is exactly what they crave. If you don't know where you'll be this time tomorrow, then you're a veritable meal to them."
"Well we're toast, then," Ryan gulped. "Or, you know, gourmet toast."
"How did they end up down here?" Graham asked.
"They're drawn to areas where timelines split. And what better than a place where people come to make wishes. People brimming with hope for new possibilities and options. Just sit here and let the food be delivered straight to your door."
"And why aren't they chomping on us?" asked Ryan.
"You savour a good meal."
"Right, well, this is all very helpful information, but I'm still not clear on how we're getting out of it," Graham said, wiggling desperately in his confines.
"Oh, that. I'm not so sure about that bit," the Doctor admitted, defeatedly placing her sonic back in her pocket.
Everyone hung somewhat solemnly, swaying gently like decorations on a Christmas tree. Graham watched as one of the bolder monkey spiders clambered up a wall opposite them and clung to the surface at their height, its appendages wiggling as if considering them all. Then, as if from nowhere, it squealed as a ray of light shone on it, collapsing to the floor and landing on its back.
"Here, did you see that? Some kind of light hit that thing."
"Up there." Ryan pointed to very small gap in the wall of the cave that was allowing a tiny glimmer of light through.
"It came from the other direction though," Graham clarified, looking across to the other wall to no avail.
"Hang on…my necklace!" Yaz shifted slightly until her body was positioned parallel to the light ray. It immediately bounced back off her necklace and reflected onto the wall, creating a dancing image that swayed in time with Yaz's body.
"Brilliant!" the Doctor yelled. "Yaz, try and position yourself so that you're facing the light. I can use the sonic to concentrate the light beams in the necklace and reflect them back out, hopefully lighting up the whole room."
Yaz awkwardly moved her body to the best position she could, and the Doctor pointed her sonic at the necklace, but it simply created a mostly dull glow under Yaz's head.
"There's not enough light coming in," the Doctor sighed. "And the surfaces in the necklace aren't mirrored enough."
Yaz looked down at the still shining jewel. "My sister gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. She said it was proper expensive, but I saw ten like it at the market the next week."
"It looks nice," Ryan offered, since it was the typically the thing people said.
"It doesn't really. But I wear it to remind me of her. She didn't have to get me anything, I wouldn't have cared. I just knew that she hadn't lied out of spite, she'd done it to impress me. She…wanted me to like something she'd done."
"Well, when we get out of this, you can tell her she very nearly helped save us from six-legged alien monkeys, how about that?" Graham smiled.
"Yeah," nodded Yaz.
"My head feels funny," Ryan commented, squinting out of pain. "Is this the Witches?"
"That'll be them," the Doctor groaned, her head pounding too. "Sucking what could-have-been right out of you."
"And what happens when they're done?" asked Yaz.
"No more options; you die."
Graham squirmed. "Thought you might say that."
The Wayward Witches began cackling once again as a strange blue mist drifted away from the group and seemingly up into the statues' noses.
"Here, Doc, if this really is it…" Graham began.
"Don't you dare finish that thought, Graham. I've lived long enough to know that in times like these, there's always hope. A chance of something good coming through at the last second. Because these things might feed on possibility, but the universe is infinitely impossible."
"Affirmative, mistress."
Everyone looked below them in amazement as the hologram of K-9 hovered slightly above the cave floor.
"You clever dog!" the Doctor grinned.
"Laser mode, engaged," K-9 said, as a small gun appeared from his nose, and red beams began shooting out towards the cave wall.
"Wait, your dog has a laser gun?" Ryan balked.
"For defensive purposes, purely," assured the Doctor.
The laser beams began tunnelling in to the wall, dust clouds puffing out from it, until they had soon created a large gap all the way through to the outside. Through which bright rays of sunshine began shining through.
The monkey spiders below immediately began squealing loudly, and the cackling from the Wayward Witches abruptly cut off.
"Now Yaz!" the Doctor shouted, pointing her sonic at the necklace once more. "Let's make a light show."
Yaz angled her body once again, catching the light much more easily this time. The sonic whirred, and light exploded outwards from Yaz's necklace, shining rays around the cave like a small disco ball.
The monkey spiders screeched ever louder, bodies scattering frantically around the area. A mass of them began crawling up the Wayward Witches, clawing at their bony fingers and crooked faces. Chunks of stone fell from the two statues, including one of their noses and several of their fingers, leaving a pile of dust and debris at their feet. When the stampede died down, both Witches looked as if someone had taken a chisel to them, their faces almost entirely wiped of features.
"That is one clever dog," Graham laughed.
"And a priceless necklace," Yaz smiled, watching the lights dance around the room.