A/N: I hit 20K views with that last chapter, and Storm of the Wolf just hit 50K views. I am in awe, like speechless. Thank you so much for the love you show this endeavor. For that, you get the next chapter a day early.
He is Awake
Toby shambled down the corridor to his room, his latest scrolls tucked under his arm and deep in thought.
"Toby," a deep voice whispered. The lights flickered.
The blonde spun around, searching for the source of the voice. "Who's that?" he called. "Danny?"
There was no answer.
John shuddered. "Did you feel that?" he asked the Wolf quietly.
"Feel what?" The Wolf was distracted, inspecting the computers for any data that could help her figure out the circumstances surrounding the black hole.
"I don't know. It just felt … evil. Malevolent, maybe." John couldn't really think of another way to describe it.
The Wolf frowned, turning her attention to him. "No, I didn't feel anything."
John shrugged. "Probably nothing. The black hole just wigs me out," he excused.
The Wolf went back to the computer, but she wasn't paying attention to it anymore. Instead, she looked inward. The barriers around her mind were shut tight, as they always were now, protecting her from any telepathic signals that might have been floating around. Ever since the War, the Wolf had maintained the blocks around her abilities, trying to cut off the pain of her mental universe being so – empty. It hurt every time she opened her mind, automatically reaching out for the nearest of her race, only to recoil when she was met with silence once again. So she kept herself locked up, avoiding the agony as much as possible.
John had no such barriers and was vulnerable to any telepathic message sent on the most marginal level. She had seen that in him. With that in mind, she opened herself up to her surroundings slightly, waiting for whoever it was to make contact.
Not a minute later, something brushed past her mind. Not wanting to draw attention to herself in case it was evil as John had said, the Wolf waited. And watched.
The presence went right past both her and John, seemingly focused on someone else. But she could feel it. John was right. Whatever it was, it was evil. "Something's wrong with this place," she muttered, shuttering her mind once more.
"You're telling me," John said emphatically. "At the risk of sounding petulant, I'm gonna say that black holes are really not my cup of tea."
"The rocket link's fine," Toby announced to the rest of the crew as he returned to the control room, interrupting the Wolf and John's quiet discussion.
Zach called the new pair over, pulling up a hologram over the central console. "That's the black hole, officially designated K37Gen5."
"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor, the bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon," Ida described. "It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison."
"The bitter pill." John smiled. "I like that."
"We are so far out," the Wolf said. "Lost in the drifts of the universe. How did you even get here?"
"We flew in," Zach shrugged. "You see, this planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there as a funnel." He waved generally upwards. "A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down that thing?" John asked, impressed. "Fun rollercoaster."
"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart," Zach went on gravely. "We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge."
"You're doing a good job," Ida reassured him.
"Yeah, well, needs must."
"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out," was Danny's input.
Scooti grinned. "We had a lot of fun speculating about that."
"Oh, yeah, that's the word. Fun," Danny scoffed.
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power." The Wolf looked skeptical. "I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I?" she asked, pointing at the console.
"Sure. Help yourself," Ida said, standing back to let her in. The Wolf jumped to the computer and began rapidly typing in numbers.
John was going over to watch what she was doing when a cup of liquid appeared in front of him. He looked over to the side to see one of the tentacled aliens offering the cup to him. "Your refreshment," it said.
"Um, thanks," John replied uncertainly. "Yeah, thank you. Sorry, what was your name?"
"We have no titles," the alien informed him. "We are as one."
"Right." John turned to Danny. "What are their names?" he asked.
"Oh, come on. Where have you been living," Danny mocked. "Everyone's got one."
John nearly snapped at him over his superior attitude but reined it in. "Well, not me, so, what are they?" he asked tightly.
"They're the Ood," Danny shrugged.
"The Ood."
"Yep. Ood, isn't it?" the man in charge of the ethics committee joked.
"Yeah..."
"They're weird, but handy. They work the mine shafts," Danny explained. "All the drilling and stuff. Supervision and maintenance. They're born for it. Basic slave race."
"You've got slaves?" Disgust filled John at the thought.
"Don't start," Scooti complained. "He's one of that lot. Friends of the Ood."
"Since when do humans need slaves?" John demanded. "What do the Ood do that we couldn't do ourselves?"
"Hey, the Ood offer themselves," Danny defended. "If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die."
"Is that right?" John asked, skeptical. "You like being ordered around?" he directed at the Ood nearest him.
"It is all we crave," it replied politely.
"I don't buy it. Why, then?"
"We have nothing else in life."
"There are many other things in life than just existing," John whispered fiercely. "Someone just has to show you." He shot a glance over at the Wolf, who was still entirely focused on the computer. But as he looked, she straightened up, her face excited. John went over to see what she had to say.
"There we go. Do you see?" she asked him. "To generate that gravity field keeping us in place, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."
All of that flew over John's head, except for the last bit. "That's a lot of sixes," he pointed out. He wasn't one for superstition, but something about the place still felt off to him.
"It's impossible, is what it is," the Wolf corrected.
Zach was staring at her. "It took us two years to work that out," he said, amazed.
"Did I forget to mention? I'm kind of a genius," the Wolf bragged. John hit her arm lightly, making her grin. "S'true. If you've got it, flaunt it, I always say."
"But that's why we're here," Ida said. "This power source is ten miles through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."
"It's giving off reading of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale," Zack continued.
"It could revolutionize modern science," Ida added.
"We could use it to fuel the Empire," Jefferson spoke for the first time in a while.
The Wolf's eyes narrowed. "Or start a war."
"It's buried beneath us," Toby put in, "in the darkness, waiting."
John eyed him. "What's your job, chief dramatist?"
Toby's face cleared, as though he was waking up. "Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena. And this, um, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race even learned to walk."
"We saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" the Wolf asked.
"Yeah, 'Welcome to Hell'. Real cheery," John muttered. This time, the Wolf slapped his arm.
"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling," Toby answered, ignoring John. "But I can't translate it."
The Wolf sighed. "No, neither can I. And that's saying something."
"This was some form of civilization. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in," Toby explained.
"I would be running in the opposite direction," John told the Wolf.
"And you came," the Wolf said, looking blissfully happy. John rolled his eyes. Of course the great evil unknown excited her.
"Well, how could we not?" Ida said with a shrug.
"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here?" the Wolf asked rhetorically. "Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant. Excuse me, Zach."
"Yeah?"
"Just stand there," the Wolf ordered. "I'm going to hug you. Is that alright?"
"I suppose so," Zach agreed, nonplussed.
The Wolf grinned and walked over to throw her arms around Zach's waist. Zach patted her back uncertainly. The Wolf let go after a few seconds, still smiling like a lunatic. "Oh, human beings. You are amazing. Utterly idiotic, but amazing. Thank you."
"Not at all," Zach replied uncomfortably.
"Now," the Wolf said, business like, "you're all completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives."
Ida scoffed. "You can talk. And how the hell did you get here?"
"Oh, I've got this, er, this ship. It's hard to explain," the Wolf stumbled. "It just sort of appears."
"We can show you," John offered. "We parked down the corridor from, er, Habitation area – three. Yeah, that was it. Three."
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked.
The Wolf nodded. "It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah. Storage six." She froze, realization dawning on her. "But you said – you said – you said storage five to –"
"Eight," John finished for her. The Wolf sprinted out of the room, John quickly following her. "Wolf! Wolf, wait!" he called.
The Wolf ignored him, merely running faster. The doors were opening too slowly – she had to get to the TARDIS. "Come on, come on!" she yelled, desperate to get through. She burst through the door just as John was catching up, only to be brought up short at the next one when it led to nothing but open air. "No, no, no! It can't be! It can't be!" she screamed into the steel, pounding on it.
John grabbed her, pulling her away before she hurt herself. "Wolf. Wolf. It's okay," he tried to calm her. She struggled in his arms, not listening. "It's okay, we'll figure something out."
"Don't you see!" she shouted as she tore out of his hold. "She's gone. The TARDIS is gone! The earthquake. This section collapsed."
"She's so far away," John murmured, a sick feeling growing in his stomach, making him nauseous and giving him a headache.
The Wolf felt the same way, but she ignored it. Instead she focused on any way of getting her ship back. She stormed back to the control room with John close behind. "The ground gave way," she announced to the crew. "My TARDIS must have fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."
Zach shook his head. "We can't divert the drilling."
"But I need my ship," the Wolf pleaded. "She's all I've got left of my race. Literally the only thing."
The captain looked regretful but remained firm. "Wolf, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions. Your machine is lost," he told her bluntly. "All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that's the end of it." With that, he left the room, the others following him out.
Ida hung back for a moment, hesitant. "I'll um, put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry," she said apologetically before leaving as well.
The Wolf and John were left alone. She kicked the console in frustration and then began to pace, trying to think of a way to get them out of their newest disaster. John watched her, rubbing his head absently as the headache continued to build.
"Are you alright?" the Wolf asked, startling him.
He jerked, hand leaving his temple. "Oh, yeah. Fine," he assured her.
The Wolf didn't look convinced. "You've been off since we came here – sensing things. Things you shouldn't be hearing."
"What are you talking about?" John asked. "It's just a headache, I'll be fine."
"Except for the part where I trapped you here," the Wolf muttered.
"No, don't worry about me," John denied. The station shook once more, lighter that time. "We're stuck on some impossible planet under a black hole and the TARDIS is gone. I'm more worried about you," he said earnestly.
The Wolf grabbed him into a fierce hug, holding him close. John held her just as tightly.
The pair eventually followed the rest of the crew back to the room where they had first encountered the Ood, which apparently also served as a makeshift cafeteria. The Wolf immediately went over to examine the alien symbols once more, staring at them intently. John followed and sat on the steps close by. The team was all eating except for Toby, who was absent.
The lights above them flickered and a searing heat ran through John's head, making him flinch sharply. "You okay?" the Wolf asked as she reached out a hand to rest on his shoulder.
"Yeah, fine," John repeated. "Headache just got a little worse, that's all. Gone now. You going to eat something?"
The Wolf shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"Well, you should eat anyways. I'll grab a tray if you promise to eat a few bites."
"Fine," the Wolf sighed, sounding put upon. "Mother hen," she muttered with a small smile.
John grinned, nudging her. "If I didn't nag you, how would you get your daily dose of complaining out of the way?" he teased.
The Wolf laughed and shoved him toward the food. "I like complaining, it's comforting," she retorted.
He stared at her incredulously. "Now you're quoting Star Trek at me?" he asked. "I thought I was the nerdy television one."
The Wolf rolled her eyes. "Just go get the food," she ordered. John grinned and obeyed, getting in line behind Scooti.
"Help yourself. Just don't have the green," the younger girl warned. "Or the blue."
"Noted. I guess I'll just have some of that," John pointed at some brown mush. An Ood dished it up. "Thanks." It didn't look appetizing at all.
"Would you like some sauce with that?" it asked.
John grimaced. "Er, no, I think I'm good. Might as well give me some of that blue stuff too, though. Just in case." The Ood obeyed. "You know, the Wolf threatened me with that job once. I do not envy you. Imagine, me being a lunch lady. Not that being a lunch lady is bad, or anything," John stumbled. "And not that I'm calling you a lady. But you might be? I'm sorry," he cut off his ramble abruptly, embarrassed.
The Ood looked up at him, it's eyes an unnatural red. "The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God," it droned.
John froze. "Um, what?"
The Ood paused. "Apologies," it said, eyes back to normal. "I said, I hope you enjoy your meal."
"Right," John replied skeptically, inching away to head back to the Wolf. "I don't like this place very much," he mentioned, sitting down.
The Wolf was still inspecting the writing carefully. "Huh?" she asked distractedly. "Right, yeah."
"In other news, I turned into a giraffe early this morning and gave birth to a baby hippo," John said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Glad you like it," the Wolf replied.
John rolled his eyes. "You should try the blue stuff," he suggested, holding out a spoonful. "Scooti said it was the least edible kind."
The Wolf turned. "Thanks." She took a bite – and immediately spat it out, gagging. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, grimacing and wiping her mouth.
"Don't know," John shrugged. "Maybe you should pay attention to what you're doing though."
She glared at him. "You did that on purpose."
John grinned. "You were off in Neverland. You have been since the TARDIS was lost. I needed you back here with me, because there is something very wrong with this place. I can feel it." Pain spiked in his head again. John groaned, gripping his hair as he waiting for the shooting in his temple to end. The lights flickered.
"That's a bad headache," the Wolf said worriedly. "Did you have it before we got here? You should have said something."
"No, no I was fine. It wasn't until – we met the Ood. That was when I noticed it."
"Zach?" Ida interrupted their conversation. "Have we got a problem?" she asked, checking the lights.
"No more than usual," Zach replied over the intercom. "Got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."
"You might want to see this," Ida told the new pair as she went to open the ceiling shutters. "Moment in history." The metal closures slid open. "There. On the edge." She pointed. "That red cloud. That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi, a mighty civilization spanning a billion years disappearing forever. Their planets and suns consumed." The last bit of the red wisp was sucked into the blackness. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."
Ida went to re-close the ceiling, but the Wolf stopped her. "Wait, could you leave it open?" she requested. "Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."
"How would you know?" Ida asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Scooti, check the lockdown. Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me."
The two left for their assigned tasks, and Ida went off somewhere else, leaving John and the Wolf alone in the cafeteria. The Ood were also gone. John was quiet for a while, just watching the sky with the Wolf, but eventually he broke the silence. "I've seen movies, you know," he began.
"Oh, I am well aware," the Wolf interrupted with a chuckle.
John pushed her shoulder. "Shut up." But he grinned. "But, no – I've seen movies. And they always say that black holes are like gateways to another universe. But we went to another universe, and not through a black hole. So is that true?" he asked.
"Sometimes, but not that one. That one just eats." The Wolf was expressionless, but John thought he could see a muted kind of fear in her eyes.
"Long way from Earth anyhow," John sighed.
The Wolf pointed to the left, just a few degrees off from center. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for – er – about five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth," she directed.
"Huh." John pulled out his phone, curious. There were no bars. "No signal. First time we've ever gone out of range. Not sure who I'd call though, even if I could. Maybe Kate? Could you build another TARDIS?" he asked suddenly. "Although, given that she's alive, can they be built? I mean, there's artificial intelligence, but she doesn't seem very artificial to me."
The Wolf shook her head. "I can't build one because they weren't," she told him. "They were grown. The TARDIS is as organic as you or me. And since Gallifrey is gone, we're kind of stuck."
John shrugged. "Well, it could be worse. "That lot said they'd give us a lift."
"And then what?" the Wolf asked, desolation creeping into her.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Being confined to one planet wouldn't be horrible. It'd be an alien planet. We would just have to explore all it had to offer, then we could get on a ship, fly to a different one. Or you know, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe. I wonder if I would still qualify as a doctor."
"I'd have to settle down," the Wolf said, disgust obvious in her tone. "Get a house or something. A proper house with – with doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house. Now that – that is terrifying."
"You'd have to get a mortgage," John sang teasingly.
The Wolf's eyes widened. "No," she murmured.
"Oh, yes," John assured her.
"I'm dying," she declared dramatically. "That's it. I'm dying, it is all over."
John laughed. "What about me? I'd have to get one too. Again. It could be the same one. We could, you know, share."
The Wolf looked at him, her eyes softening. "You'd want to share a place with me?" she asked, almost sounding vulnerable.
John shrugged. "We've done for two years almost already. I don't see what the difference would be, really. Or not. I mean, if you don't want to. Whatever. We'll sort something out."
"Maybe," the Wolf murmured. "We'll see." They were quiet again for a few minutes, until the Wolf was the one to break the silence that time. "I promised myself I'd always take you back home."
"It hasn't been home for a while, Wolf," John told her, entirely serious.
"But to end up stuck here?"
"Stuck with you is never going to be a bad thing."
"Yeah?" the Wolf asked with a small smile.
"Yes," he said firmly. The Wolf's smile grew and she was opening her mouth to say something when John's phone rang, breaking the moment. The Wolf turned away as John dug in his pocket. Forgetting it didn't have service, he answered it automatically. "Hello?"
"He is awake," something growled.
John threw the phone across the room, the battery flying out on impact with the wall. He turned wide eyes to the Wolf, who was watching him worriedly. "What was it?"
He hesitated. "We might have a problem."