A/N: As I mentioned before, I'm going to try to get a bit more regular with my updates. Thanks for everyone being so patient with me!
The Urge to Fall
The Wolf waved a hand in front of her face, trying to clear the dust away. In front of them, the capsule was wrecked, the cable a tangled mess on top of and around it. "How much air have we got?" she asked.
"Sixty minutes." Ida checked her reader on her wrist. "Fifty-five," she corrected.
The Wolf nodded. "Excellent. I love long odds," she said sarcastically. "Makes things so much more interesting."
"We've got to bring them back," John told Zach. "I'm not leaving her down there to die. I have to get her back!"
"They're ten miles down," Zach said harshly. "We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Banging echoing over the comms kept John from retorting.
"Captain?" Jefferson asked. "Situation report."
"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."
"Yeah, it's the same on door twenty-five."
"How long's it going to take?" John asked.
"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes." Another bolt was cut through. "Eight," Jefferson adjusted.
"I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you," Zach said.
"Right," John announced. "So we need to stop them, or get out, or both. And try to figure out a way to get the Wolf and Ida out of that cavern, because we're not leaving them behind."
"I'll take both, yeah?" Danny agreed. "But how?"
"You heard the Wolf. Why do you think that thing cut her off? Because she was making sense. She was telling you to think your way out of this. So, come on! First thing is that we need lights. You have to have some way of getting power from somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do," Zach denied. "Some Captain. Stuck in here, pressing buttons."
John jumped on his words. "Well, it's like the Wolf was saying. Just push the right ones," he encouraged. "Think outside the box. What have we got?"
"They've gutted the generators. But the rocket's got an independent supply," Zach mused. "If I could reroute that – Mister Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety," he ordered.
Jefferson snapped to attention. "Opening bypass conduits, sir." The conduits opened.
"Channeling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power."
The lights flickered on, making Danny cheer. "There you go," John praised.
"Let there be light!" Danny said happily.
"Okay, now what about that Strategy Nine thing?" John asked.
Jefferson shook his head. "Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent."
"Alright," John conceded. "So instead, we need a way out. Zach, Mister Jefferson, you start working on that. Toby, what about you?"
"I'm not a soldier," Toby contradicted. "I can't do anything."
"No, you're an archaeologist," John corrected. "What do you know about the pit?"
"Well, nothing. We can't even translate the language."
John sagged. There went his only hope of getting the Wolf back, up in smoke. "Right," he sighed and turned away.
"Hold on. Maybe," Toby stuttered out.
"What is it?" John asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letter make more sense," Toby said hesitantly.
"Well, get to work. Anything you can translate – just anything. We need to know what we're facing if we're going to get the Wolf and Ida back." John walked over to Danny. "As for you, Danny boy. You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"
"Well, I don't know," Danny said defensively.
"Then find out," John told him, impatient. "The sooner we get control of the Base, the sooner we can get the Wolf and Ida out. So shift!" Danny rushed to a computer.
The Wolf spent a few minutes pacing back and forth, trying to figure out a way to get back up the shaft and back to John, but her mind kept going back to the TARDIS being the only way. And the TARDIS was currently – and it was looking like permanently – unavailable. So they were stuck.
Ida watched the Wolf for a while, lost in thought. "Well, we've got all this cable," she said suddenly, making the Wolf jerk to a halt. "We might as well use it. The drum's disconnected. We could adapt it, feed it through."
The Wolf shrugged, looking at her quizzically. "And then what?" she asked.
"Abseil into the pit," Ida said, as though it were obvious.
The Wolf nodded absently. "Abseil. Right."
"We're running out of air, with no way back," Ida reminded her. "It's the only thing we can do. Even if it's the last thing we ever achieve."
"I'll get back," the Wolf said without a trace of doubt in her tone. "John is up there. I promised."
"Well, unless you can hold your breath for a ten mile climb up a stone shaft, our only hope of finding the key to our problem may be finding out what's in the pit."
"Well, it's half of a good plan," the Wolf allowed.
"What's the other half?" Ida wondered.
"I go down. Not you."
Ida tried to argue, but the Wolf was firm. She would be taking the risk. Not Ida. Eventually recognizing that arguing was pointless, Ida agreed to the Wolf's terms. They began preparing the cable and the Wolf's suit for a long descent into the pit.
"Open junctions five, six, seven," Jefferson recited. "Reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go."
John watched Danny search through the station's database, looking for a way to keep the Ood from killing them. "There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood," Danny told him. "Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."
John rolled his eyes. "Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got," he snarked. "We haven't got a swimming pool either, but go ahead, buy some water toys."
The computer screen suddenly flashed a large, green 'Affirmative'. "Oh, my God," Danny breathed. "It says yes. I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!" he said triumphantly.
"What happens to the Ood?" John asked. He didn't actually want to kill them.
"It'll tank them. Spark out," Danny explained.
Which might spark him out too. The feedback would probably fry his brain. The Wolf was going to be pissed. But the Ood were growing agitated, he could feel them. The Beast was speaking to them again, his voice a quiet black mark in John's mind. "Do it," John told him.
"Can't," Danny denied. "I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."
"Okay, then that's where we're going," John decided. "Mister Jefferson. Any way out?" he asked.
"Just about," was the soldier's good news. "There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
"Ventilation shafts," John clarified.
Jefferson shook his head. "Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."
"Well, come one. You're all brilliant scientists," John urged. "Put air in the tunnels."
"I can manipulate the oxygen field from here," Zach realized. "Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow through the network."
"There you go, Zach!" John praised. "So we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand."
"You wanted me pressing buttons," Zach reminded him.
"That's what I asked for. Okay, so Danny has a plan, and we need to get to Ood Habitation to put it into action. Work out a route," John ordered.
Ida and the Wolf had wrapped the cable around a drum, allowing for Ida to control a slow release. One end of the cable was tied securely around the Wolf's waist. "That should hold it," Ida told her. "How's it going?"
"Fine. Should work. Doesn't feel like such a good idea now, though," the Wolf replied. There was a very good chance that she was going to die in the next hour. And John was going to be pissed at her for breaking her promise. And yet, she stepped onto the rim of the now open trapdoor, peering down into its depths. "Hmm, there it is again," she mused. "That itch. Go down, go down, go down, go down."
"The urge to jump," Ida agreed. "Do you know where it comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage. Ever since we were primates in the trees. It's our body's way of testing us. Calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch."
The Wolf shook her head slightly. "No, that's not it," she contradicted. "That's too kind. It's not the urge to jump. It's deeper than that. It's the urge to fall!" With that, the Wolf launched herself into the black chasm, dropping quickly.
"Wolf!" Ida yelled, immediately throwing the brakes on the drum to halt the Wolf's sudden plummet. "Are you okay?" she asked over the radio once the cable stopped.
"Not bad, thanks," the Wolf replied, inspecting her surroundings. "The wall of the pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just not much of it." She looked down once more. "There's a crust about twenty feet down and then nothing. Just the pit." The Wolf thought for a moment, before making a decision. John would just have to learn to forgive her. "Okay, then. Lower me down."
"Well, here goes nothing." Ida obeyed, and the Wolf traveled deeper into the dark.
The Ood were breaking through the final bolts on the door to the drilling area. "Danny, I don't want to rush you, but we needed to leave like, five minutes ago!" John urged.
"Hold on!" Danny said. "Just conforming."
"Dan, we got to go now!" Jefferson yelled. "Come on!"
The monitor indicated the transfer was complete. "Yes!" Danny cried, grabbing an orange computer chip and sprinting over to where the other three were waiting. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood," he said triumphantly.
Jefferson opened up the first door to the maintenance tunnels, but John hesitated, looking back to the comms that were now his only connection to the Wolf. "We're coming back," he told the others. "Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Wolf and Ida back up here."
"Okay," Jefferson agreed. "Danny, you go first, then you, John, then Toby. I'll go last in a defensive position. Now come on, quick as you can!" All four piled into the tunnel just as the Ood broke through the door and Jefferson shut it on them.
"Okay, that stinks," John said. Danny wasn't moving in front of him. "You alright?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm laughing," Danny muttered. "Which way do we go?"
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going til I say so," Zach instructed.
They all started crawling on their hands and knees. "Not your best angle, Danny," John teased.
"Oi! Stop it," Danny complained.
"I don't know, it could be worse," Toby broke in.
"Oi! Not you too!" John protested. He did not need another Captain Jack Harkness on his hands. "What is it about my ass that men find so attractive, anyway?"
"Shut up, you three," Jefferson ordered from the back. They all obeyed, focusing on moving as quickly as they could through the tunnel.
After a few minutes of crawling, Zach came back on. "Straight on until you find junction seven point one. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you."
"We're at seven point one, sir," Danny said a few seconds later.
"Okay. I've got you," Zach reassured them. "I'm just aerating the next section."
"Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?" Danny asked.
"I'm working on half power, here."
"Stop complaining," John heard Jefferson say.
"Mister Jefferson says stop complaining," he told Danny.
"I heard."
"He heard," John told Jefferson.
"The air's getting a bit thin," Toby whined.
"He's complaining now," John told Jefferson.
"I heard," Jefferson drawled.
"I think Mister Jefferson wants you both to stop talking," John informed the other two.
"Well, I'm not exactly happy," Danny pointed out.
"I'm just moving the air," Zach said calmly. "I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."
There was a loud noise from somewhere behind them, that of metal slamming against metal. "What was that?" Danny asked fearfully.
"What's that noise?" Toby said at the same time.
"Mister Jefferson, I think we would all like to know what that noise was," John called over his shoulder.
"Captain, what was that?" Jefferson asked.
"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened," Zach replied. "It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels."
"Well, open the gate," Danny said.
"I've got to get the air in!"
"Just open it, sir!" Danny said frantically.
"Where are they?" John asked, trying to keep Danny calm. "Are they close?"
"I don't know. I can't tell," Zach answered, sounding frustrated. "I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."
John rolled his eyes. "And whose brilliant idea was that?"
"Open the gate!" Danny cried, ignoring him. The gate finally slid up and all four of them rushed through it.
"Danny, turn left. Immediate left," Zach ordered. Danny obeyed, and the rest followed.
"The Ood, sir. Can't you trap them?" Jefferson asked as they crawled. "Cut off the air?"
"Not without cutting off yours," Zach said grimly.
"Yeah, I like breathing," John put in. He could feel the Ood getting closer in his mind, the Beast growing excited as he sensed his prey nearing. "We need to go faster," he muttered.
"Danny turn right. Go right!" Zach said frantically. "Go fast, Dan. They're going to catch up."
Jefferson halted. "I'll maintain defensive position."
John stopped as well, shoving Toby in front of him to follow Danny. "You can't stop!" he protested.
"Mr. Smythe, that's my job. You've got your task, now see to it."
"You heard what he said," Toby yelled back at John. "Now shift."
John shook his head. "No I can feel the Ood," he told Jefferson. "They're still a little ways back, come on!" He pulled Jefferson after him, following the two boys.
"You're going to get us both killed," Jefferson muttered, but John kept a firm hold on his collar as he crawled. Jefferson aimed a couple shots backward under his arm, warning off the pursuing Ood as they came around the corner. One fell to the ground dead, setting up a temporary obstacle for the ones behind it.
"Eight point two. Open eight point two, Zach!" Danny cried. "Open eight point two!"
"I've got to aerate it," Zach insisted.
"Open it now!"
"I'm trying!"
Danny began pounding on the gate as John and Jefferson reached it. "Danny, stop it," John commanded. "That's not helping."
"Zach get it open!" Toby put in.
"Jefferson, you better be at that gate," Zach said as he worked on the controls. "I've got to open eight point two by closing eight point one. You better be past that junction."
"He is!" John yelled as Jefferson sat behind him, firing at the oncoming Ood. "Just get it open, hurry!"
"I'm out of bullets!" Jefferson shouted, dropping his rifle and pulling out a pistol.
"Closing eight point one!" Zach said as the gate slammed down right in the Oods' faces. The three younger men cheered and rushed through. "Danny, turn left and head for nine point two," Zach instructed.
Jefferson followed John. "Hey, kid," he called lowly.
John looked over his shoulder as he kept moving. "Yeah?"
"Thanks, for dragging me along back there," the soldier said reluctantly. "I would've been too slow to make that distance. Not so fast, these days. It would have been death by Ood for me without you. So, thanks."
"Anytime, Jefferson," John smiled.
"Zach, we're at the final junction," Danny announced. "Nine point two."
"Opening nine point two."
The gate went down, revealing a red-eyed Ood waiting for them. "Lower nine point two!" John yelled. "Hurry, Zach!"
"Back, back, back!" Danny cried, shoving backward. Jefferson tried to get a shot off, but the other three were in the way.
"We can't go back!" Toby replied. "The gang point's sealed off. We're stuck." The Ood was struggling to get through the partially closed gate, snarling at them. The Beast was urging it on, making John flinch as the mental signature flared in his mind.
Ignoring the pain in his head, John looked for an escape route. He spotted a possibility above them. He pushed open a floor grating over their heads, waving at Danny. "Come on!" he urged. "Up!" In a strange show of bravery, Toby swung and landed a fist to the Ood's face, knocking it back far enough for Danny to make it out of the tunnel. "You next, Jefferson!" John yelled. "Clear the way up there for Danny to upload the program!" Jefferson looked like he wanted to protest, but obeyed, scrambling through the grate with Danny's help. John began working his way up through the hole. "Toby come on! He yelled down as he hauled himself up. "Toby, get out of there!"
Toby was still facing the other way for another moment before turning around and frantically yelling, "Help me! Oh, my God. Help me!"
John grabbed his arm and pulled him up to stand on the floor as the Ood gathered around at the bottom of the tunnel, looking up with their red eyes. John could feel them backing off, and understood why when he saw more approaching them from down the corridor. Jefferson fired some shots from his pistol, stopping one and slowing the rest slightly. "Come on," John said.
"It's this way," Danny pointed and began running. The other three followed him to Ood Habitation.
"Hurry it up!" Zach ordered over the radio.
"Get it in!" John tried to spur Danny on as he fumbled with the memory stick.
"Transmit!" Jefferson yelled, firing the last of his bullets at the oncoming Ood.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Danny shouted back. "I'm getting at it." He dug around in his pockets as the Ood began to swarm up the stairs.
"Danny, get that thing transmitting!" John commanded as Danny finally pulled the orange stick free. Jefferson placed himself between the Ood and the other three, ready to go down fighting.
Danny stuck the program into the computer, and the reading immediately fell from basic one hundred to zero. A sharp pain went through John's mind as the broadcast went out, but it faded quickly. All the Ood grabbed at their heads and writhed for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground. John staggered as all the voices except one left his head. The sudden quiet was unsettling, but he could still hear the Beast in the back of his mind, reduced to enraged muttering as its servants were removed from its power.
"Yes!" Danny cried ecstatically.
John grinned. "Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now, we've got to get the Wolf."
"Agreed, Captain," Jefferson said.
"I'm on my way," Zach replied.