Right, here's part two of The Satan Pit. I promise that from now on there won't be so long between updates as I want to finish this soon. Anyway, here we go.

"Best news I've heard all day."

Mr Jefferson pointed his gun at Toby and prepared to fire. "What are you doing?" Rose asked

"He's infected." he answered "He brought that thing on board. You saw it."

"Are you gonna start shooting your own people now?" she asked "Is that what you're gonna do? Is it?"

"If necessary." Jefferson answered with conviction

"Well, then you'll have to shoot me, if necessary." she said "So what's it gonna be?" He lowered the gun "look at his face." she said as she crouched down beside Toby "Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean."

Jefferson appeared to be convinced "Any sign of trouble, I shoot him." he told her

"You all right?" she asked Toby when Jefferson walked away.

"Yeah." he said, still shaking "I don't know."

"Can you remember anything?"

"Just..." he answered "It was so angry. It was fury and rage and death. It was him. It was the Devil."

"Come here." Rose told him. She gave the terrified man a hug

--

The Doctor and Ida walked back to the capsule "What's strategy nine?" he asked as they neared it.

"Open the ailocks." she said "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 Devil's work."

They went inside "Okay, we're in." she said over the comms "Bring us up."

--

Rose heard Ida telling them to bring her and the Doctor back up "Ascension in three, two, one." said Jefferson as he started to bring them up. All of the lights went out.

"This is the darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die, in the end..." the Ood said in a strange voice.

"That's not the Ood." Zach told them from the control room "Something is talking through them."

"Only the darkness remains."

"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base 6, representing the Torchwood Archive. You will identify yourself."

"You know my name." the beast replied through the Ood

"What do you want?" Zach asked

"You will die here, all of you." it said "This planet is your grave."

"It's him." said Toby "It's him. It's him."

--

"If you are the Beast, then answer me this." the Doctor said "Which one, hmm? 'Cause the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Arkiphets, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash Pash, Neo-judaism, San Claar, the Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"

"All of them."

"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?" he asked

"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind."

"How did you end up on this rock?" he asked

"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the Pit for all eternity."

"When was this?" he asked

"Before time."

"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked

"Before time."

"What did 'before time' mean?"

"Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."

"That's impossible." the Doctor said "No life could have existed back then."

"Is that your religion?"

"It's a belief."

"You know nothing. All of you, so small. 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 virigin and the lost girl. So far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon."

"Doctor, what does that mean?"

"Rose, don't listen."

"What does it mean?"

"You will die and I will live."

--

A picture of the devil appeared on the screens and everyone reeled back "What the hell was that?" Danny asked

"I had that thing inside my head." Toby said

"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose asked again.

Everyone began to talk at the same time, and the Doctor said "Stop. Everyone, just stop!"

--

He pulled something that caused radio feedback, when everyone was quite he spoke "If you want voices in the dark, then listen to mine." he said "That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood, nightmares, all that stuff."

"But that's how the devil works."

"Or a good psychologist." he said

"How did it know about my father?" Ida asked

"Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm?" he said "'Cause I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space. Flying in a tiny little rocket right into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery. That's amazing! Do you hear me? Amazing. All of you. The captain, is 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..." he was cut off as the cable snapped

"The cable's snapped!" Ida said

"Get out!" he told her and shoved her out of the door in front of him

They got out just in time.

--

Rose grabbed the walkie talkie and said "Doctor, we lost the cable. Doctor, you all right? Doctor?"

"Comms are down."

"Doctor, can you hear me?"

"I've still got life-signs, but we've lost the capsule. There's no way out. They're stuck down there."

Right, that's it for now, I'm off to work on the next story on my list.

TTFN

Julie