The Doctor stepped back, his breathing quickening. They were going to try to escape this thing? That was outrageous. It was at least a hundred metres long, and its shell was coated in a strange metallic material. It was unlike anything the Doctor had seen on any of his travels. The torchlight glinted off the beast's back. Beast. That was what it was, a beast. There was absolutely no way that an Ayokyan could grow this big. The stronger shell, the incredible size, the sheer strength that it must have to hold up its own body. It was terrifying. The Doctor looked away, noting the way that the torchlight flickered on the walls.
The bright red reminded him of his forgotten promise. Who was this ruler? He could not think of many redheaded rulers. And she was an important one. She. The fact that she was female had just came back to him. Shit. Another female that he had let down.
"Why are you frightened?" the King demanded. "I shall not harm you unless you give me reason to. I find your race quite… fascinating." With that remark, he reached out an appendage to the Doctor's face. The Doctor recoiled, surprised by the warmth of the shell. "It's just… You're massive. Ayokyans are not supposed to grow to this size. The biggest ever seen was maybe, twenty metres? And you, you look at least eighty." He gestured along the King's shell.
"As a matter of fact, I am 104 metres, and thirteen centimetres. I could go into further detail, but what are a few millimetres in the face of such massive proportions." The King reached out two appendages, the shell clacking on the floor just behind the Doctor. A third appendage reached out once again to his face, vibrating while the King talked. As the appendage reached his face, the Doctor realised a couple of things. Number one, his skin was extremely soft after his recent regeneration, and two, there was a relatively sharp, buzzing appendage next to his skin. Too late, he moved away.
He could feel his skin split where the King had touched him. His blood rushed to the opening, and one drop slowly formed. The King's eyes widened, looking crazed and… hungry. Suddenly, the King shot forwards. The Doctor was knocked backwards onto his arse, and he quickly turned around and scrambled up. Sprinting down the corridor, he heard the sound of shell on shell and a low, vibrating noise that he knew was the mating call of the King. "COME BACK HERE, DOCTOR." The King bellowed, causing the Doctor's brain to shake. He could feel his frontal cortex quiver and contract, causing his vision to go blurry and him to trip up. The King's animalistic cries were affecting the hormones in his brain, trying to paralyse him with an overdose of serotonin and dopamine.
As he reached the stairs, the Doctor lost all hope of escaping by running. Stopping briefly to tear a piece of shell off the wall, he looked behind him. The King was right behind him, coiled up and around the corridor like some twisted, perverse New Year's dragon, like the one you might find at a Chinese market on Earth. The shell came loose after a quick buzz with his screwdriver, and he jumped onto it, awkwardly skating down the stairs. As he looked up, the King vaulted the banister and started to free fall directly down the centre of the spiral staircase. Roaring, the King tucked his appendages tight to his body, speeding up the fall even more.
Reaching the laboratory's level, the Doctor quickly jumped off the makeshift board and ran inside. Jenny spun around quickly, throwing a microscope and a folder full of loose paper onto the floor, surprise evident on her face. "What do you think you're-" she started, and then quickly noticed the cut on his cheek, which was now bleeding profusely. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit." She mumbled, as she grabbed a piece of greenish tissue from the table. She ran to him and held it to the cut, and the Doctor felt a cold, reaching sensation inside his cheek. When he ran his hand back over the cut, the only evidence was a smear of blood, which Jenna was quick to wipe up.