Satan's Pit: Part One
Zach, captain of the sanctuary base on the remnants of a planet falling into a black hole, braced himself on the console as he read out the readings, causing hope to flare as the planet began to stabilize from its descent into the black hole.
"We're stabilizing," He informed the others via the comm, "We've got orbit."
He let out a breath and quickly worked to close the shield so that he no longer had to stare into the back hole. Ida had said the sight of it drove some people mad, she hadn't been wrong. He wasn't going mad, per say, but he was definitely more panicked than he should be with the black hole within sight.
Once that was done, he quickly went back to the console, moving to get everything working properly. He needed to keep his crewmates, and the strangers, safe from the beast. He would not be able to live with himself if anything happened to them and he didn't try his damnedest to prevent it.
Rose, time traveling friend of The Doctor, continued trying to get the door open before scrambling for the comm to get in touch with The Doctor. She was so used to having Chris there with her that she almost tossed the comm to her before realizing that she was alone.
"Doctor?" Rose tried only to be greeted by static and hissing coming from the other end, "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"
She closed her eyes tight and took a calming breath before turning in time to see Danny, the Ood expert, enter the room. He looked terrified, and it did nothing to calm Rose down. She needed The Doctor to be safe, she needed The Doctor to save them.
"It's me!" Danny said the second he noticed that the crew was pointing guns at him, "but they're coming. It's the Ood. They've gone mad."
"How many of them?" Jefferson demanded his need to protect everyone overriding any need he may have had to be polite.
"All of them, all 50," Danny informed. He remained in front of the door, trying to keep Jefferson from running through.
"Danny, out of the way," Jefferson demanded. He grabbed Danny, shoving him out of the way shouting at the man again, "out of the way!"
"But they're armed! It's the interface device," Danny protested, trying to keep Jefferson from opening the door, even as the man was opening the door, "I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."
The swung open to reveal a group of Ood with red eye. The guard that had been standing next to Jefferson was the unlucky one to demonstrate what exactly it was that Danny had been talking about. The Ood raised his interface device to the woman's forehead. Everyone in the drilling area watched in horror as she was electrocuted.
Jefferson opened fire as Danny and Rose worked to get the door shut, both of them glad that Jefferson had good aim.
Zach had enough sitting around, he needed to be with his crew, helping to defend them. Not sitting at a console pressing buttons. With that in mind, he stood from the console and raced to the door, hitting the buttons on the side to get it open.
Open Door One.
Close Door One.
He was three steps into the hall when he saw the Ood. Zach raced back to the door, getting it open again.
Open Door One.
He hit the buttons in a panicked manner, managing to seal the door and keep the Ood out.
Close Door One.
"Lockdown! Seal Door One!" Zach demanded, pressing one final button on the panel, ensuring that everything was locking down. He heard the faint sounds of shooting and pressed the button for his comm. "Jefferson, what's happening?"
"I've got very little ammunition, sir, how about you?"
Zach ran to the lock box on the wall that contained the control room's firearm. "All I've got is a bolt-gun." He checked the ammunition, "With, uh, all of one bolt.I could take out a grand total of one Ood, fat lot of good that is."
"Given the emergency, I'd recommend Strategy Nine," Jefferson suggested.
"Strategy Nine, agreed," Zach concurred before going back to the console to take control, "Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? What about Ida and the Doctor, any word?"
"I can't get a reply," Rose informed him, "Just. nothing. I keep trying, but it's. Oh, I wish Chris were here, she'd know what to do."
"No, sorry, I'm fine, still here!" The Doctor's voice sounded over the comm. Zach let out a relieved breath.
"Oh, you could've said, you stupid," Rose's voice was cut off by feedback.
"Woah. Careful," The Doctor warned, "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."
"How deep is it?" Zach asked, trying to get as much information as he could.
"Can't tell," The Doctor relayed, "Looks like it goes down forever."
"The Pit is open," Rose commented, "That's what the voice said. But there's nothing. I mean, there's nothing coming out?"
"No, no sign of the Beast," Ida reiterated.
"It said Satan," Rose reminded The Doctor as she started to panic with the rest of the crew.
"Come on, Rose," The Doctor chided, "keep it together."
"Is there no such thing?" Rose asked, continuing when The Doctor remained silent; "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."
"Ida," Zach said, having had enough of this and wanting all of his crew together and safe. "I recommend that you withdraw, immediately."
"But we've come all this way," Ida protested
"Okay, that was an order," Zach reiterated, "Withdraw! When that opened, the whole planet shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. This stops, now."
"But it's not much better up there, with the Ood."
"I'm initiating Strategy Nine, so I need the two of you back up top, immediately, no arg-" Zach heard a click that signaled the comm being shut off on the other end, "Ida, IDA?"
"Once I was seven years old, my mama told me-" Chris was singing as she explored the dark cave she gave up as she missed yet another partial, "I haven't heard that song in at least a month. I don't remember it."
You're pretty good at that, Rain commented
"Forgetting things or singing?" Chris asked as she shone a flashlight at the wall she had just about run into, "If it's the singing then thanks, if it's forgetting things then… well, thanks?"
Look up ahead, Rain suggested.
Chris did just that, spotting the writing that Rain had noticed on the walls ahead of them. She walked over and traced the ancient words. She had no clue what the words said, what surprised her was what was depicted inside the ring of words.
Someone had carved an image of the Tardis, Ten, and herself surrounded by what looked like stars. The images were disturbingly accurate, down to the faint scar that Chris had on her left hand. She traced the image of the Tardis and was surprised to find that it was warm while the words had been cold.
"The hell is this?" Chris wondered, looking to the right down the rock and then to the left. She could see nothing that would give away what these pictures were for or who had created them.
Chris, at the bottom.
Chris looked to where Rain had suggested seeing something that looked like a lever. She went to move it but pulled back at the last moment.
"Nope, not pulling the random lever, ain't gonna happen," Chris said, turning her back on the wall, "then again, if Doc were here he would pull the lever."
But he's not here, so we can just leave the lever and continue exploring.
"Nah," Chris said, waving the idea off before reaching out and pulling the lever.
"What do you think?" Ida asked, looking at The Doctor who was watching Ida in shock.
"He gave an order," The Doctor reminded.
"Yeah, but what do YOU think?"
"It said, 'I am the temptation,'" The Doctor ignored her question, "Chris said something about temptations last time I saw her. I think it was 'Even the best person has dangerous temptations.'"
"If there's something in there why's it still hiding?" Ida countered.
"Maybe we've opened the prison, but not the cell."
"We should go down," Ida said, "I'd go. What about you?"
"Ohh, in a second," The Doctor agreed, "But then again. That is so human. Where angels fear to tread. Even now, standing on the edge. It's that feeling you get, yeah? Right at the back of your head, that impulse, that strange little impulse, that mad little voice saying, 'Go on, go on, go on, go over, go on' Maybe it's relying on that. For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say." He sighed, "Retreat, Ohh. Chris is going to call me old when she hears about this." The Doctor pressed the button on his comm. "Rose. We're coming back."
"Best news I've heard all day," Rose said before turning to see Jefferson pointing a gun at Toby, "What are you doing?"
"He's infected," Jefferson gestured at Toby, his voice hard, "He brought that thing on board - you saw it."
"Are you gonna start shooting your own people now, is that what you're gonna do?" Rose asked, "Is it?"
"If necessary," Jefferson admitted.
"Well, then, you'll have to shoot me, if necessary," Rose informed him, "So what's it gonna be? Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood, you saw it happen. He's clean."
"Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him," Jefferson gave in.
Rose nodded and then knelt by Toby who was shaking terribly.
"You all right?" Rose asked
"Yeah," Toby breathed before shaking his head, "Um. Dunno."
"Can you remember anything?" Rose asked
"Just… it was so angry. It was fury, and rage, and death," Toby looked at Rose with wide eyes, "It was him. It was the Devil."
"What's Strategy Nine?" The Doctor asked as he and Ida made their way to the lift.
"Open the airlocks," Ida informed, "We'll be safe inside the lockdown. The Ood will get thrown out, into the vacuum."
"So we're going back to a slaughter," The Doctor accused, not at all happy with that.
"The Devil's work," Ida informed.
"Okay, we're in," The Doctor said into the Comm., deciding it was better to ignore Ida's comment, "bring us up."
"Ascension, in three, two, one," Zach let them know.
Suddenly the ground started to shake. The Doctor and Ida glanced at each other in worry as a voice called over the comm to accompany the shaking,
"This is the darkness. This is my little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns, which die, in the end."
"That's not the Ood," Zach pointed out, "Something is talking through them."
"Only the darkness remains," were the next words of the Beast
Chris paused as the ground started to shake. She looked around the room she was in worriedly before crouching down and covering her neck and head the best she could. She sighed when it stopped.
"I hate this, Rain," Chris grumbled, "I hate knowing what the hell is going to happen and being where I am and not being able to be open about myself and all these damned panic attacks. I mean, I'm surprised I haven't had more, honestly. But I hate that I can't control my body all the time." Her breathing got heavier and she wrapped her arms around her waist, " Why am I so useless?"
Chris sighed, "no don't answer that, I'm being pathetic. I need to get my act together."
Right after she said that the wall in front of her began to split open. Chris watched in wonder as light filtered through the cracks and she was finally able to see without the use of her flashlight.
On the other side of the wall-that-is-actually-a-door, there was a creature shackled to the sides of the cave. The beast was muscular and tall, taller than Chris had imagined he would be. The red skin looked like it was burning and Chris could actually feel it giving off heat.
"Oh yeah, that thing is hideous," Chris commented as her body began to shake even more than it previously had been. "God I wish The Doctor was here. I mean, I've known the man for a total of what- a month? Give or take a week? And already I know that I will always feel safer when he is present. Oh god, that terrifies me. I don't want to be reliant on anyone like that. "
Chris, Rain demanded only for Chris to ignore her, Chris!
Chris stopped and looked up to see The Doctor descending on a length of cord. She let out a sigh of relief even as the portion of the room that she was in was suddenly shrouded in darkness.
"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane, of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood Archive," Zach informed over the comm., "You will identify yourself."
"You know my name," The Beast reminded
"What do you want?"
"You will die here. All of you," The Beast growled, "This planet is your grave."
Toby started to chant, Rose went over to comfort him, placing a hand on his back, "It's him. It's him. It's him."
"If you are the Beast, then answer me this," The Doctor's voice came over the comm. and Rose let out a breath of relief, "Which one? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There're more religions than there are Arkiphets, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash-Pash, New Judaism, San Claar, the Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which Devil are you?
"All of them," was the reply.
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?"
"This one knows me," The Beast taunted, " As I know him. The killer of his own kind."
"How did you end up on this rock?" The Doctor asked, ignoring the taunt even though it hit too close to home.
"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me, and chained me in the Pit for all eternity," The Beast told him.
"When was this?"
"Before time."
"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked, a little agitated.
"Before time."
"What does "before time" MEAN?" The Doctor yelled, frustrated at the vague, very impossible, response.
"Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created." The Beast gave him several alternate definitions.
"That's impossible," The Doctor breathed, "No life could have existed back then."
"Is that your religion?" The Beast asked
"It's a belief." The Doctor confirmed.
"You know nothing. All of you, so small," The Beast was now addressing the entire group, rather than just The Doctor, "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 lost girl.
So far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle, so very soon. The Rain and the Clouds. Always wondering which will fall first."
"Doctor, what does that mean?" Rose asked, starting to panic.
"Rose, don't listen," The Doctor ordered, although he was wondering why the Beast was talking about Chris even if she wasn't there.
"What does it mean?" Rose yelled, feeling her chest constrict.
"You will die, the Rain will fall," The Beast roared, "and I will live."
Suddenly everyone began to panic.
"What the hell was that?" Danny demanded.
"I had that thing inside my head!" Toby panicked, Rose left his side to go to the Comm.
"Doctor, what did it mean?" She repeated, desperate for the comfort she knew The Doctor would provide. She would have preferred Chris but since the girl wasn't there she would have to settle.
"What do we do? Jefferson?" Danny asked, addressing the head of security.
"Captain?" Jefferson asked using the comm. "What's the situation on strategy nine?"
"Zach, what do we do?" Danny asked, panicked.
"The orbit, the planet, the black hole - everything's true," Toby said in awe, "How did it know that?
"Captain report," Jefferson demanded
"We've lost all pictures, Mister Jefferson," Zach informed over the comm.
"What battle?" Rose demanded over the comm. "What did it mean? Doctor, how did it know all of- "
"Did anyone get an analy-" Ida interrupted
"Jefferson-" Zach began
"Stop," The Doctor tried to get control
"What did it mean?" Rose tried again
"Everyone just stop," The Doctor demanded when no one listened. There was feedback over the comm. And everyone stopped talking to cover their ears, "If you want voices in the dark, listen to mine. It's playing on basic fears. Darkness, childhood, nightmares, all that stuff."
"But that's how the Devil works," Danny argued
"Or a good psychologist," The Doctor countered
"How did it know about my father?" Ida questioned.
"But what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? Cos I'll tell you what I can see.
Humans," The Doctor said, a part of him wished Chris was still there since she was much better at calming people down than he was, "Brilliant humans. Humans who travelled all the way across space, flying in a tiny rocket, into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery! That's amazing! D'you hear me? Amazing. All of you. The captain. His officer. His elder. His juniors. His friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him-"
Suddenly the ground shook, interrupting The Doctor.
"The cable snapped!" Ida yelled, looking at the readings.
"Get out!" The Doctor ordered as the cable fell towards the pod.
"Doctor, we lost the cable! Doctor, are you alright? Doctor?" Rose demanded, worried for her friend.
"Comms are down," Zach informed but Rose wasn't giving up.
"Doctor, can you hear me?"
"I've still got life-signs, but, we've lost the capsule," Zach told them,
"Say something," Rose demanded, "are you there?"
"There's no way out," Zach sighed, "they're stuck down there."
"But we've got to bring them back!" Rose yelled
"They're ten miles down," Zach reminded, "We haven't got another ten miles of cable."
There was an explosion and everyone grabbed onto something to keep themselves upright. The lights to the drill room were cut.
"Captain?" Jefferson demanded, "Situation report."
"It's the Ood," Zach informed, "They're cutting through the door-bolts, they're breaking in."
"Yes, same on Door 25," Jefferson told him,
"How long's it gonna take?" Rose asked as she glanced nervously at door 25.
"Well, it's only a basic frame, should take ten minutes," Right as Jefferson said that one of the bolts fell to the ground, "Eight."
"I've got a security frame - it might last a bit longer," Zach let them know, "But that doesn't help you."
"Right. So!" Rose called, startling everyone, "We've got to stop them, or get out, or both."
"I'll take both, yeah, but how?" Danny called.
"You heard the Doctor," Rose reminded, "Why d'you think that thing cut him off? Cos he was making sense, he was telling you to think your way out of this! Come on! For starters, we need some light. Zach, there's got to be some sort of power, somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do," Zach apologized, "Some Captain! Stuck in here, pressing buttons."
"But that's what the Doctor meant!" Rose exclaimed, "Press the right buttons!"
"They've gutted the generators!" Zach called before continuing shortly after, "but the rocket's got an independent supply. If I can reroute that. Mr. Jefferson! Open the bypass conduits, override the safety."
"Opening bypass conduits, sir!" Jefferson informed
"Channeling rocket feed. In three, two, one," Zach said before slamming his hand down on a button, "Power! There we go! Let there be light!"
"What about that Strategy Nine thing?" Rose questioned
"Not enough power - needs 100%," Zach informed regretfully.
"Right," Rose said, accepting that, "We need a way out. Zack, Mr. Jefferson, start working on that." Rose turned to Toby, "Toby, what about you?"
"I'm not a soldier!" Toby protested.
"No, you're the archaeologist," Rose reminded, "What do you know about the Pit? "
"We can't even translate the language, but," Toby looked up with wide eyes, "hold on maybe."
"What is it?" Rose asked
"Since that thing was inside my head, the letters make more sense," Toby explained
"Then get to work," Rose commanded, "Anything you can translate, just anything. As for you, Danny boy," She turned to Danny, "you're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"
"Well," Danny mused before sighing, "I don't know."
"Then find out!" Rose commanded, "Sooner we get control of this base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Now get going. Shift!"
"How much air have we got?" The Doctor asked Ida who was at the controls.
"Sixty minutes, maybe fifty-five," Ida said before sighing, "We've got all this cable, might as well use it. The drum's disconnected, we could adapt it. Feed it through."
"And then what?" The Doctor asked with the feeling that he knew where this plan was going.
"Abseil," Ida said, confirming The Doctor's suspicions, "into the Pit."
"Abseil!" The Doctor said sarcastically, "Right!"
"We're running out of air, with no way back," Ida reminded, "It's the only thing we CAN do. Even if it's the last thing we ever achieve."
"I'll get back," The Doctor informed, "Rose is up there. Chris would kill me if I left her there."
"Then maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the Pit."
"Well," The Doctor said, drawing out the word, "It's half of a good plan."
"What's the other half?" Ida asked with a frown.
"I go down," The Doctor said, "Not you."
Rose, Jefferson, Toby, and Danny were in the maintenance tunnels, having figured out a way to deal with the Ood. Zach was at the control station working it so that they group in the tunnels had air.
"That should hold it," Ida said, making one last adjustment with the cable, "How's it going?"
"Fine," The Doctor informed, "Should work. Doesn't feel like such a good idea now. There it is again. That itch. Go down, go down, go down, go down. The urge to jump.
"D'you know where it comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage, ever since we were primates in the trees," Ida said, "It's our body's way of testing us, calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch."
"No, that's not it. That's too kind. It's not the urge to jump, it's deeper than that," The Doctor corrected, "It's the urge to fall."
With that The Doctor tipped over the edge, his harness keeping him near the top of the Pit.
"Doctor!" Ida yelled after him, "You OK?"
"Not bad, thanks," The Doctor commed to Ida, "Wall of the Pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just not much of it. There's a crust about 20ft down, and then. Nothing. Just the Pit. OK, then. Lower me down."
"Here we go, then," Ida said, doing as The Doctor commanded.
"You get representations of the horned beast across the universe, in the myths and legends of a million worlds," The Doctor informed as he was slowly lowered into the pit, "Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos, the Kaled God of War. The same image, over and over again. Maybe that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through. A thought at the back of every sentient mind."
"Emanating from here?" Ida asked
"Could be," The Doctor agreed, feeling oddly peaceful.
"If this is the original. does that make it real, does that make it the actual Devil, though?"
"Well, if that's what you want to believe," The Doctor said, he hit the end of the cable "Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end. An idea."
"That's it," Ida informed, "That's all we've got. You getting any sort of readout?"
"Nothing," The Doctor informed, "Could be miles to go. Or, could be 30 feet, there's no way of telling. I could survive 30 feet."
"Oh, no, you don't, I'm pulling you back up," Ida said only to feel something catch on the cable, making it so she was unable to pull The Doctor up, "What are you doing?"
"You bring me back, and we're just gonna sit there and run out of air," The Doctor reminded, "I've got to go down."
"But you can't," Ida protested, "Doctor, you can't!"
"Call it an act of faith," The Doctor joked half-heartedly.
"I don't want to die on my own," Ida sobbed.
"I know," The Doctor said gently, pausing in his attempt to unlatch the harness, "I didn't ask.
Have you got any sort of faith, or?"
"Not really," Ida said, "I was brought up Neo-Classic, Congregational. Cos of my mum, she was. My old mum. But no. I never believed."
"Neo-Classics, have they got a devil?" The Doctor wondered.
"No. Not as such," Ida paused for a moment, "Just the things that men do."
"Same thing, in the end," The Doctor conceded.
"And what about you?" Ida asked.
"I believe, I believe I haven't seen everything," The Doctor told her, " I dunno. Funny, isn't it? The things you make up. The rules. If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe it, but before the universe? Impossible. Doesn't fit my rules. Still. Maybe that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong. Thank you, Ida."
"Don't go!" Ida tried again.
"If they get back in touch… If you talk to Rose, just tell her," The Doctor paused, unsure what he wanted to tell Rose, "tell her to keep safe. If not for me then for Chris."
With that, The Doctor undid the hitch and fell into the darkness of the Pit.
(000)