I'm back again, now, here's part four. This should be the second last part of this episode, so I'll hopefully finish it before I leave the shop this afternoon and then I can start the Satan Pit, so hopefully I'll be finished that tomorrow, therefore I'll be able to move to Love and Monsters and on Sunday at the earliest; I hope to be at Fear Her, then Army of Ghosts followed by Doomsday, although, things don't always happen as I plan, but I want to be on the final three by the end of next week at the latest, but enough of me, here we go.

Chapter 73

The Doctor and Rose were in H.A. 3 where the former was trying to translate the writing on the wall. They heard Zach ask Danny to check the temperature in Ood Habitation, cause it seemed to be rising. Rose was just sitting there, so the Doctor told her to get something to eat, which she did.

"Help yourself, just don't have the green." Scooti said as Rose picked up a tray "Or the blue."

She went to the window "Um, a bit of that, thanks." she said pointing to something, the Ood put it on her tray

"Would you like sauce with that?" the Ood asked

"I'll have a go, yeah." she said. She smiled as the Ood put her sauce on the tray. "I did that job once." She told it "I was a dinner lady. Not that I'm calling you a lady. Although, I don't know, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?"

"The Beast and his armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God."

"I'm sorry?"

"Apologies." It said "I said I hope you enjoy your meal."

"Yeah." she said before she sat down.

--

The Doctor was sitting across from Rose when Ida got up "Zach, we got a problem?" she asked

"No more than usual. Got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."

"You might want to see this." Ida said "Moment in history." She went to the lever and pulled it, causing the roof to open in there as well. They all looked up "There, on the edge." she continued, pointing at the red cloud "That red cloud. That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Pallushi. A mighty civilisation spanning a billion years disappearing forever. Their planets and suns consumed." The red cloud past the event horizon of the black hole "Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing." She went to closed the roof

"No, could you leave it open?" the Doctor asked "Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?" she asked, he didn't answer "Scooti, check the lockdown. Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." They all left, leaving the Doctor and Rose alone

"I've seen films and things, yeah?" she said "They say black holes are like gateways to another universe."

"Not that one." the Doctor said "It just eats."

"I'm a long way from home." she said, changing the subject.

"Go that way, turn right, keep going for, erm…" he said pointing in the direction he was meaning "about 500 years and you'll reach the Earth."

Rose took out her phone "No signal." she said "That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could…What would I tell her? Can you build another Tardis?"

"They were grown, not built." the Doctor answered "And with my home planet gone, we're kind of stuck."

"Well, it could be worse." Rose said "This lot said they'd give us a lift."

"And then what?"

"I don't know." she said "Find a planet. Get a job. You live your life same as the rest of the universe."

"I'd have to settle down." he said "Get a house or something. A proper house with…doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house!" Rose laughed "Now, that…That….That is terrifying."

"You'd have to get a mortgage." Rose said, teasing him.

"No."

"Oh, yes."

"I'm dying." he said "That's it, I am dying. It is all over."

"What about me?" she asked "I'd have to get one, too…" The conversation continued, and for the first time ever it was awkward .

"I promised Jackie I would always take you back home." the Doctor said, changing the subject again.

"Everyone leaves home in the end." Rose said

"Not to end up stuck here." he said

"Yeah, but stuck with you, that's not so bad."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." she said

Her phone started to ring, she picked it up and answered it "He is awake." She dropped the phone. The Doctor looked at her, concern showing on his face. "Who was it?" he asked, going round to her and crouching down so that he could see her face.

"I don't know." she answered "It was just a voice, it said 'He is awake.' I don't know what it means, it just scared me." The Doctor hugged her, then he picked up her phone and gave it back to her, she put it in her pocket and they left the room.

--

"Evening." said the Doctor as he came down a staircase.

"Only us." Rose said as she followed him

"The mysterious couple." said Danny "How are you, then? Settling in?"

"Yeah, sorry, straight to business." the Doctor said "The Ood, how do they communicate? I mean, with each other?"

"Oh, just empaths." he answered "There's a low-level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race, like cattle."

"This telepathic field, can it pick up messages?" the Doctor asked

"'Cause I was having dinner and one of the Oods said something…Well, odd."

"Hmm." he said "An odd Ood."

"And then I got something else on my….communicator thing."

"Well, be fair." Danny said "We've got whole star systems burning up around us, there's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. Look if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid. They don't even tell us when they're ill."

"Monitor the field, that's thing." said the Doctor

"Yeah." Danny answered "But like I said, it's low-level telepathy. They only register Basic 5"

"Well, that's not Basic 5." the Doctor said as he looked at the screen "10... 20... They've gone up to Basic 30."

"But they can't." Danny said.

Rose was watching the Ood, there was something wrong with them "Doctor, the Ood." He turned around and looked down, the Ood were now sitting facing him, just staring. "What does Basic 30 mean?" she asked

"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads."

"Or something is shouting at them." the Doctor said.

"But where is it coming from?" Danny asked "What is it saying? What did it say to you?"

"Something about the Beast and the Pit."

"What about your communicator?" he pressed "What did that say?"

"He is awake." she answered.

"And you will worship him." the Ood said

"What the hell?" asked Danny

"He is awake." the Doctor said.

"And you will worship him." they said again.

"Worship who?" the Doctor asked "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

--

The Doctor went down to the Ood and checked on them when he didn't receive an answer, suddenly, the ship began to shake. "Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach"

"Which section?" Danny asked over his watch

"Everyone, evacuate 11 to 13. We've got a breach. The Base is open. Repeat the Base is open."

The Doctor, Rose and Danny left Ood habitation at a run and ran through each door as it opened, they didn't stop until they passed Mr Jefferson, who pulled Toby through the door.

"Everyone all right?" the Doctor asked "What happened? What was it?"

"Hull breach." answered Mr Jefferson. "We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes. And we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."

"That wasn't a quake." the Doctor said "What caused it?"

"We've lost sections 11 to 13. Everyone all right?"

"We've got everyone here except Scooti." Jefferson replied. "Scoot, report. Scooti Manista, this is an order, report."

"She's all right. I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation 3. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious. But how about that, eh? We survived."

"Habitation 3." Jefferson said "Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on."

The Doctor joined Rose beside Toby, "What happened?"

"I don't know." he answered "I was working and then I can't remember. All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air."

"Come on, up you get." said Rose, pulling him to his feet "Come and have some Protein One."

"You've gone native." the Doctor said

"Oi, don't knock it, it's nice." she replied "Protein One with just a dash of Three."

Okay, that's part four, part five will be up soon.

TTFN

Julie.