He hears music as they cross a rock bridge, following the general path of the rocket.
"Hold on, can you hear that? Donna, take your hood down."
"What?"
"That noise is like a song. Over there." he heads to noise and sees an ood laying on the ground, partly covered in snow. Not wanting Kiam to see, he lets go of his hand and walks over and kneels down next to the Ood, keeping one eye on his child.
"What is it?" Donna ask as she kneels next to him.
"An Ood. He's called an Ood."
"But it's face."
"Donna, don't. Not now. It's a he, not an it. Give me a hand."
"Sorry."
He pulls out his stethoscope and tries to find a heartbeat. "I don't know where the heart is. I don't know if he's got a heart. Talk to him, keep him going."
"It's all right, we've got you. Er, what's your name?"
The ood holds the translator Ball. "Designated Ood Delta 50."
He watches as Donna picks up the Ball and speaks into it. "My name's Donna."
"No. No, no, no. You don't need to." he takes it from her and hands it back to Delta 50.
"Sorry. Oh, God. This is the Doctor."
"You've been shot." He says sadly at the realization.
"The circle."
"No, don't try to talk." Donna says.
"The circle must be broken."
"Circle?" He ask. "What do you mean? Delta 50, what circle? Delta 50? What circle?"
Delta 50 sits up and roars at them his eyes suddenly red. He grabs Donna and pulls her back, using their bodies to block Kiam. He watches as Delta 50 exhales and then falls back.
"He's gone." Donna says and moves closer.
"Careful." He says not moving.
"There you are, sweetheart. We were too late. What do we do, do we bury him?"
"The snow'll take care of that."
"Who was he? What's an Ood?"
"They're servants of humans in the forty second century. Mildly telepathic. That was the song. It was his mind calling out."
"I couldn't hear anything. He sang as he was dying."
"His eyes turned red."
"What's that mean?"
"Trouble. Come on." He leaned down and grabbed Kiam's hand. He made a face at how wet they were. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief. He dries Kiam's hands and his own. He stows the handkerchief back in his pocket and takes Kiam's hand again in the other hand. He starts to walk and Donna follows him.
"The Ood are harmless. They're completely benign. Except, the last time I met them, there was this force, like a stronger mind, powerful enough to take them over."
"What sort of force?"
"Oh, long story."
"Long walk."
"It was the Devil." He says simply enough. He didn't really want to talk about that day.
"If you're going to take the mickey, I'll just put my hood back up."
"Must be something different this time, though. Something closer to home." They come to a small hill and he scoops Kiam up and climbs it. "Ah ha! Civilization." He says seeing a building in the distance.
Reaching the complex he uses his psychic paper to get passed the guards and they head over to a group of people.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Late. Don't mind us. Hello. The guards let us through."
"And you would be?" She asked them.
The Doctor, Kiam and Donna Noble."
"Representing the Noble Corporation PLC Limited, Intergalactic."
"Must have fallen off my list. My apologies. Won't happen again. Now then, Doctor Noble, Mrs Noble, if you'd like to come with me, though it is unusual for children to be brought here.
"Oh, no, no, no, no. We're not married."
"We're so not married." Donna agreed with him.
"Of course. And here are your information packs, vouchers inside. Now if you'd like to come with me, the Executive Suites are nice and warm."
They enter a room and see three ood standing around on small platforms, while others are serving drinks.
The hostess started her speech. "As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve..." He tuned her out his thoughts elsewhere. Hearing clapping he snaps back to reality and heads over to the lectern she was using. He tries to pass Kiam to Donna and she gives him a look. He gives her puppy dog eyes and she shakes her head. Mumbling about "liking Martha better," he sets to work one hand and uses the computer to light up the big screen.
"Ah, got it. The Ood Sphere, I've been to this solar system before. Years ago. Ages. Close to the planet Sense Sphere. Let's widen out." He hits a few more keys. "The year 4126. That is the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire."
"4126? It's 4126. I'm in 4126."
"It's good, isn't it?"
"What's the Earth like now?"
"Bit full. But you see, the Empire stretches out across three galaxies."
"It's weird. I mean, it's brilliant, but. Back home, the papers and the telly, they keep saying we haven't got long to live. But look at us. We're everywhere. Is that good or bad, though? I mean, are we like explorers? Or more like a virus?"
"Sometimes I wonder."
He starts digging in the lectern and comes across a map. He turns to Donna and holds it up.
"I've had enough of the schmoozing. Do you fancy going off the beaten track?"
"Rough guide to the Ood Sphere? Works for me."
-DW-
He uses the sonic screwdriver to break through a mesh gate. They hear one of the guards say. "Ood shift eight now commencing." As they watch the Odd march across an upper catwalk. One at the back falls down and another guard marches over to it holding a whip. He turns Kiam away from it as the man tells the ood to get up and cracks the whip.
"Servants? They're slaves." Donna says appalled.
"Last time I met the Ood, I never thought. I never asked."
"That's not like you."
"I was busy. So busy I couldn't save them. I had to let the Ood die." He had wanted to save them, but by the time he had rescued Ida it was too late. "I reckon I owe them one."
"That looks like the boss."
"Let's keep out of his way." He turns down a side path. "Come on."
He continues walking, until he hears a whistle behind him. He stops and turns to see Donna standing by a door.
"Where'd you learn to whistle?"
"West Ham, every Saturday."
He opens the door and enters it seeing lines and lines of shipping containers. "Ood export." He points at a claw like crane. "You see? Lifts up the containers, takes them to the rocket sheds, ready to be flown out all over the three galaxies."
"What, you mean, these containers are full of?"
"What do you think?" He walks over to one of the shipping containers and sonics the lock. Opening it to ood standing silently inside.
"Oh, it stinks. How many of them do you think there are in each one?"
"Hundred? More?"
"A great big empire built on slavery. I don't understand, the door is open, why don't you just run away?"
"For what reason?" One of the ood ask.
"You could be free." Donna replied.
"Ood, tell me. Does the circle mean anything to you?" He ask. Donna glares at him, obviously not done with her argument.
"The circle must be broken." They replied as one.
"But what is it? What is the circle?" He wanted to help them but he couldn't unless he knew what he was looking for.
"The circle must be broken."
"Why?" he asked taking a new direction, since they had not answered his previous question.
"So that we can sing."
At that an alarm sounds. "Oh, that's us. Come on." He holds Kiam tightly to his side as he takes off.
He stops running as he realizes Donna is not beside him. He looks around confused. Until he hears the claw moving above him. He takes off running again trying desperately to get away from it. It hits him in the back and he falls over and lands hard. Kiam starts screaming but he uses his body to cover Kiam as he hears the claw coming down towards them. Suddenly it stops and he realizes he had been holding his breath. He lets it out and sits up. "There, there. It's all right. He says to Kiam, as he tries to cling to him. He checks him over and is relieved to find out he is just scared from the fall. He stands up as three guards come over. One grabs Kiam from him and the other two grab his arms and pull them behind his back. "If you hurt him, you'll answer to me." He says calmly to the guard holding Kiam. He watches pleased as the man turns pale.
They march him through the shipping containers and he hears Donna calling from one of them.
"Doctor, get me out of here."
"If you don't do what she says, you're really in trouble. Not from me, from her." He says to the guards. They open the container and she runs out. "There we go safe and sound." He says.
"Never mind about me. What about them?" He looks at the ood and sees they all have red eyes. The guards holding his arms, release him as the ood kill the guard closest to the shipping container. He takes Kiam back from the other guard as they open fire on the ood.
"Come on Donna," He grabs her hand with his free hand and they run outside. "This way." He says listening to the ood sing. He stops out side of a door.
"Oh, can you hear it? I didn't need the map. I should have listened."
They go inside and he sonics the door lock. Turning around he sees a cage holding ood sitting in a circle. All of them have there hands clasped together, protecting what is in it.
"Hold on. Does that mean we're locked in?"
"Listen." He says. The music, seeming so loud it is hard to think. "Oh, my head."
"What is it?"
"Can't you hear it? The singing?" He looked at Kiam and wondered if he could hear it. The baby was back to his normal curious self and his eyes were lit up in wonder as he looked at the ood. Deciding he could he smiled.
"They look different to the others."
"That's because they're natural born Ood, unprocessed, before they're adapted to slavery. Unspoilt."
He sonics the lock on the ood cage as pounding starts on the door.
"They're breaking in."
"Ah, let them." He tries once again to pass Kiam to Donna and this time she takes him. He goes into the cage and kneels next to one of them. "What are you holding? Show me. Friend. Doctor, Donna. Friend. Let me see. Look at me. Let me see. That's it. That's it, go on. Go on."
The Ood opens his hands to reveal that he is holding a small brain.
"Is that?"
"It's a brain. A hind brain. The Ood are born with a secondary brain. Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn't be Donna any more. You'd be like an Ood. A processed Ood."
"So the company cuts off their brains?" Donna began
"And they stitch on the translator." He finished
"Like a lobotomy. I spent all that time looking for you, Doctor, because I thought it was so wonderful out here. I want to go home."
The door crashes open and the guards rush in. He grabs the cage door and locks the three of them in the cage with the ood.
"What you going to do, then? Arrest me? Lock me up? Throw me in a cage? Well, you're too late. Ha!"