Disclaimer: Nothing related to Doctor Who or the Harry Potter Series is mine. I swear. I wish I owned them, cuz then I might have a bit more money, but I don't.

Warnings: Book Two of Three (Main books anyway). Swearing. Sarcasm. I have only watched the new series, no knowledge of early Doctor Who. EWE, kind of...

Dedication: To the Writers and Producers of Doctor Who, thank you for giving me something else to obsess over, now that Harry Potter is long gone. And to the lovely people who encourage me to continue writing in their reviews. To the lovely people who encouraged me to post the next chunk. To my lovely reviewers, thank you for everything you've said.

Book 2: Stories of A Shop Girl

Summary: A Death too soon. A woman who steps up to save the world.

Rating: Dark T

Genre: Adventure/Drama

A/N: So, anyone like the canon-ish twist I popped in? I thought it was brilliant, if I do say so myself.

A/N 2: I will not be updating daily like before. It will probably be every Saturday or so. At least once a weekend. And please, if you match the criteria below, I do need someone to talk to. If you are worried about spoilers, don't be. It's all theoretical.

NEEDED:

Someone familiar with the early Who. Preferably Doctors 3-5. And someone with knowledge of Gallifrey. It's for another story, but I don't want to make things up, and I don't want to screw everything up. TARDIS files only has so much.

A/N 3: So, another new character added to the mix. And I have to say, behind Maria, Bast is one of my favourite characters. It's pronounced like the Egyptian Cat Goddess, btw. :) I am not going to be including the episode with the Wire. The episode that this chapter is based on is The Impossible Planet.

Part 2: Relearning Life and Death

Chapter 15: Meeting Bast

It had been a long month since we'd left Mickey in an alternate universe. The Doctor took me to visit Jackie right after, which left us attempting to explain what happened. And then there was that crazy bitch that stole my face called the wire.

It was tiring and annoying, which is why I had a bad feeling when we stepped out of the TARDIS in some sort of storage shed.

"I don't know what's wrong though. She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land." The Doctor commented, following me out. He placed a hand on the blue doors, frowning.

I frown too, "Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else."

There's a pause, before we both burst out laughing at the thought. Wiping away tears of mirth, the Doctor looks around, "I think we've landed inside a cupboard. Here we go."

"Open door 15." A computer voice sounded.

The Doctor looks around. "Some sort of base. Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits."

"Close door 15."

I hear some sort of storm going on. "I'm glad we're indoors, sounds like a storm out there."

"Open door 16."

The Doctor continued, "Human design. You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat pack wardrobe, only bigger." He pauses, frowning, "And easier."

"Open door 17."

"Oh, it's a sanctuary base."

"Close door 17."

"Deep space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath. Someone's drilling."

I glance at the writing on the wall across from us. "Welcome to hell." I read aloud.

"Oh, it's not that bad." The Doctor said, giving me a look.

I point to the writing across from us, "No, over there." The words are painted on the wall, which makes my skin crawl. Underneath is a vertical alien script.

"Hold on, what does that say?" He looks at the script, and frowns, "That's weird, it won't translate."

I frown, "I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well. We should see English."

"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old. We should find out who's in charge." He turns to another door, and starts turning the wheel. "We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough..."

The door opens to a bunch of aliens, who have tentacles where humans have noses and mouths. They were pale white, a little pink, with slanted eyes. Underneath the tentacles, there was a white tube going up to a ball, one of which was held in one of each's hands.

"Oh! Right, Hello. Sorry. I was just saying, er, nice base."

They all spoke through the balls back at us, "We must feed."

The Doctor blinks, and I've started edging towards the other door, glancing to see how far it would be to pull him that way. "You've got to what?"

"We must feed."

I grab his hand, frowning, "I think they mean us." More of them enter through our escape route, and I drag him until we're against the wall saying 'Welcome to hell.'

"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."

The Doctor takes out his sonic, and I subtly take out my wand.

The aliens stop, and one of them speaks up, "We must feed." He taps the globe, as if trying to get it to work. "You, if you are hungry."

I blink. The Doctor frowns, "Sorry?"

"We apologise. Electromagnets have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?" The alien said.

We stand there gaping until the computer opens another door. "Open door 18." Humans enter.

The first one says, "What the hell? How did..." He looks confused. The aliens make a way for them to move towards us. The first one starts talking into a wrist communicator. "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean two living people, just standing here right in front of me."

"Don't be stupid, that's impossible." His wrist answered back.

"I suggest telling them that."

I frown, giving him a look, "But you're a sort of space base. You must have visitors now and then. It can't be impossible."

"You're telling me you don't know where you are?"

The Doctor grins, "No idea, more fun that way."

A voice comes on overhead, "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake point five on its way."

"Through here, now. Quickly, come one! Move." He leads us towards a control room.

The man in the captain's chair gapes at us. "Oh, my God. You meant it."

One of the women in the room gasp. "People! Look at that, real people!"

"That's us. Hooray!" The Doctor said, confused at the reactions. One of the men in the room laughed at him.

I frown, "Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler. And, and this is the Doctor."

Another one of the men frown, "Come on the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be." He goes up to us, placing a hand on my shoulder. "No, they're real."

The captain frowns. "Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up. The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds! Sorry you two, whoever you are. Just hold on tight."

I give him a look, "Hold on to what?"

"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?" He addressed the last part to one of the aliens.

"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated."

The Doctor frowned, grabbing hold of one of the bars in the room. I followed suit. "What's this planet called, anyway?"

The captain looked at us. "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" He sees something on our faces and frowns. "You really don't know, do you?"

One of the women yell out, "And impact!"

The whole place shakes for a few minutes. It stops, and the Doctor lets go. "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad." I grab on tighter, because the moment he said that, the quake started again, much worse. Bad enough that some of the panels burst into flame.

The captain gets up. "Okay, that's it. Everyone alright?" When he doesn't hear anything, he voices. "Speak to me, Bast."

"Bruised but working."

He goes through names, and each one responds.

"We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us."

The captain frowned, "The surface caved in. I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."

One of the men frowns, "That's not my department."

"Just do as I say, yeah?" Toby leaves, sighing.

I glance around the room, zeroing in on someone with bright blue eyes. He had dark brown hair, and was completely skinny. He reminded me of someone. He spoke next, "Oxygen holding. Internal gravity fifty six point six. We should be okay." He looks up, glancing at the Doctor and I, before his jaw dropped.

He walked over to us, almost waiting for us to disappear. He swallowed. "If I said the name River...?" He trails off, watching our reactions. He frowns, "How about Martha?" After our lack of reaction, he tries one more time, "Saxon?" I fight to react to that name, which he notices. Something seems to click in his brain, because he nods. "That would explain it. What regeneration are you on?"

The Doctor sputters, "How-"

"I'm your son. Now, regeneration."

The Doctor answers in shock, "Ten."

"How do you mean, you're his son?" I ask, growling out.

He turns to me, "Back off blondie, this doesn't concern you."

"Don't you talk to Rose like that!" The Doctor growls out.

The kid's eyes flew open wide. "Shit. Mum's going to kill me."

"Alright, you two, can it, the both of you." I yell. They both turn to me, "Now, back to more important matters." I turn to the captain. "Never mind the earthquake, that's one hell of a storm? Is it a hurricane or something?"

"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum." One of the women said.

I frown, "Then what's shaking the roof?"

The other woman in the room blinks. "You're not joking. You really don't know." She looks between the two of us and the kid.

The kid frowns, "It's the story of their lives."

"Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, second in command. Zachary Cross Flane, acting captain, sir. Bast Smith, science officer and apparently your son? You've met Mister Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee."

Danny speaks up, "Not as boring as it sounds."

"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manistra, Trainee maintenance. And this? This is home." She pulls a level, and the shutters overhead begin opening.

Zach tries to warn us, "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad."

Between the Doctor and I, I was the first one to comment. "That's a black hole."

"But that's impossible."

Zach sighs, "I did warn you."

"We're standing under a black hole."

Bast laughs, "In orbit."

"But we can't be."

"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit."

The Doctor turns to Bast, "But we can't be."

"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. No matter how much you protest something existing, it still exists." He comments.

"That's... We're... I think I'll quote Rio on this, 'We've bypassed good and went straight for horrible." I frown, looking down.

Bast frowns too, "So you've already met Rio then?"

The Doctor ignores him, "Horrible doesn't even begin to cover it. A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed." He rounds on Bast, "And I let you come here?"

"Most likely to avoid a paradox." Bast comments, frowning.

"So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in." I said, bringing the attention away from the domestics.

The Doctor frowns. "We should be dead."

"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board." Bast says sarcastically. I give him a look.

"But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?"

Ida answers this for us. "Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing."

I can feel myself paling, "So, a bit worse than a storm, then."

"Just a bit."

Toby came in, looking a little spooked. "The rocket link's fine."

Zach brought up a hologram of the area. "That's the black hole, officially designated K three seven Gen five."

"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. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison." Ida commented.

I nod, "The bitter pill. I like that."

"We're so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe. How did you even get here?!"

The captain explained it for the Doctor.

"If the gravity funnel closes, there's no way out." Danny commented.

Scooti grinned, "We had fun speculating about that."

"Oh yeah, that's the word, fun."

The Doctor exploded, confused, "But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power. I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I?" He gestures to some form of calculator.

"Help yourself."

One of the aliens hands me a drink. "Your refreshment."

I nod my thanks. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"We have no titles. We are as one." The alien walks away.

I turn to Danny, the 'ethics committee' head. "Er, what are they called?"

He laughed at me. "Oh, come on. Where have you been living? Everyone's got one."

"Well, not me. What are they?" I growl out.

Danny raises his hand in surrender. "They're Ood." At my look, he continues. "They work the mine shafts. All the drilling and stuff. Supervision and maintenance. They're born for it. Basic slave race."

The first thought that came to mind was house elves. "You've got slaves?"

"Don't start." Scooti said, frowning, "She's like one of that lot. Friends of the Ood."

I give her a look, "Well, maybe I am, yeah. Since when do humans need slaves?"

"But the Ood offer themselves. If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die." Danny protested.

I give him a look. "And where is the evidence that backs that up?" I turn to one of the Ood, "You like being ordered about?"

"It is all we crave."

I swallow heavily, "Why's that then?"

"We have nothing else in life."

I frown, "I used to think like that a long time ago."

The Doctor came out of whatever calculations he was doing. "There we go. Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self extrapolationg reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."

"That's a lot of sixes." I comment, frowning.

He gives me his 'stupid ape' look, "And it's impossible."

"I know that." I hiss back.

Bast frowned, "Took me a few hours to figure that out."

"You told us it took two years." Zach said, protesting. Bast shrugged.

Ida frowned, "That's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."

"It's giving of readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale." Zach said.

Ida grinned, "It could revolutionize modern science."

"We could use it to fuel the empire." Jefferson commented.

I took a darker look at things, "Or to start a war."

Toby frowned, "It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting."

"Oh dear, is your job chief dramatist?" I comment towards Toby.

He flushes, "Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena. And this, er, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk."

The Doctor watched him, "I saw that lettering on the wall. Did you do that?"

"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it."

The Doctor frowned, muttering, "Neither can I, and that's saying something."

"There was some form of civilization. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in." Toby continued, either not hearing or, more likely, ignoring the Doctor's comments.

"And you came." The Doctor finished.

Ida frowned, "Well, how could we not?"

"So when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why?" He grins, "I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant. Excuse me, er, Zach was it?"

The captain nods, "That's me."

"Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?"

He frowns, "I suppose so."

"Here we go. Come on then." The Doctor hugs the captain, and then releases him, grinning. "Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha! Thank you."

"Not at all." Zach says, frowning.

The Doctor turns serious. "But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives."

Ida frowned, "You can talk. And how the hell did you get here?"

"I can vouch for them." Bast stepped in, "Where'd you guys park her, anyway?"

I frown, trying to remember, "We parked down the corridor from habitation area..."

"Three." The Doctor finished.

Zach frowned, "Do you mean storage six?"

"Yeah, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah." The words seemed to sink in, "Storage six. But you said... You said... You said storage five to eight." He turns on his heel, and runs out of the room.

I'm following right on his trail, Bast right behind me.

We get to where the TARDIS is supposed to be. "It can't be. It can't be!" The Doctor said, shock displayed on his face.

"You don't mean?" I ask, voice almost breathless. I can barely breath.

The Doctor turns to me, eyes wide in shock, "The TARDIS is gone." He swallowed, looking at me as if for the first time. "The earthquake. This section collapsed."

"But it's got to be out there somewhere." I said, looking out the window. I blinked, there was nothing. Ringing started in my ears, I couldn't hear anything he said next.

We ended up back in the control room, with Zach telling us that he couldn't help. He and Ida exit the room, leaving the Doctor and I alone. "I've trapped you here."

I swallow, giving him what I hope is a reassuring smile. "No, don't worry about me." And I was honest. We'd been trapped in 1969 by the weeping angels. Compared to that, I figured this was heaven.

I was standing in the lunch line, attempting to be friendly with the ood when I felt a tingle on my mental shields.

"The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against the Gods."

I frown. Looking at the Ood. "I'm sorry?"

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

I blink, "Yeah."

I sit down next to the Doctor when Ida comes in, "You might want to see this. Moment in history." She opens the shutters in the room, showing us the view of the black hole. "There, on the edge. 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. Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed its passing." She goes to close the door, when the Doctor protests, asking her to keep it open.

I look up into the sky. "Long way from home." I comment.

He frowns, looking at the sky for a moment. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for, er, about, er, five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth." I give him a smile.

I glance at my phone, frowning. "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could, what would I tell her? Could you build another TARDIS?"

He frowns, "They were grown not built. And with my own planet gone, we're king of stuck."

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

"And then what?"

I shrug, "I dunno. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."

"I'd have to settle down. 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'll have to get a mortgage."

"No."

I laugh at him, "Oh, yes."

"I'm dying. That's it. I'm dying. It is all over." He said, hiding his face in his hands.

I laugh at him again. "What about me? I'd have to get one, too. I don't know, could be the same one." I give him a look out of the corner of my eye, "We could both, I don't know, share. Or not, you know. Whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out. Maybe we could get Bast to take us somewhere."

"I'd promise Jackie I'd always take you back home."

"Everyone leaves home in the end."

"Not to end up stuck here."

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

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

My phone rings, and I frown, glancing down at it. I answer, only to hear "He is awake."

We head down to Ood habitation, or at least the Doctor does. I follow him down. After telling him what the phone said, he seemed to have an idea.

"Evening." The Doctor called out.

Danny jumped. I frowned, "Only us."

Danny looks at us, and then continues back to working on his little toy. "The mysterious couple. How are you, then? Settling in? Strange suddenly seeing your son again?"

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

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

The Doctor frowned, "This telepathic field, can it pick up messages?"

"Because I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something, well, odd." I frown, lacking a better word.

Danny seemed to belittle me, "Hmm, an odd Ood."

I shoot him a glare. "I got something else on my communicator."

"Oh, be fair. We've got whole solar 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 this thing?" The Doctor said, pointing out a control box. It said 'reading basic 5'.

Danny nods, "But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register basic five." I glanced at the screen, which showed the number slowly going up.

"Well, that's not basic five. Ten, twenty. They've gone up to basic thirty."

Danny looks a little freaked out. "But they can't."

I glance down at the Ood in the pen. They all were staring at us. "Doctor, the Ood." I turn to Danny, "What does basic thirty mean?"

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

"Or something's shouting at them."

Danny frowns at the Doctor, "But where is it coming from? What is it saying? What did it say to you?" He directed the last question at me.

"Something about the beast in the pit." I said, trying to recall the exact words.

Danny frowned, "What about your communicator? What did that say?"

I swallow, "He is awake."

"And you will worship him." The Ood all replied in tandem.

"What the hell?" Danny cried out.

The Doctor tried the words again, only to have the Ood repeat the same sentence back. "Worship who?" There was no reply, "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach." The computer sounded.

"Which section?" Danny asked, frowning.

The captain came on the speakers, "Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen. We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!"

We all run towards the section, hoping to make sure everyone's alright.

"Everyone alright? What happened? What was it?" The Doctor asked, looking around.

Bast answered him, "There was a hull breach. We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."

"What caused it?"

The question was ignored. The Doctor looked down at Toby, "What happened?"

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

I frown, "Come on, up you get. Come and have some protein one."

"Oh, you've gone native." The Doctor said, mock horrified.

Bast replies, "Don't knock it. It's nice, protein one, with just a dash of three."

In habitation three, we all found each other. Everyone but Scooti.

"Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing." Jefferson called through the armcom.

There was a pause, "It says Habitation three."

"Yeah, well, that's where I am, and I'm telling you, she's not here."

I glanced at the Doctor, who's attention seemed to be on the roof, I looked up and gasped. "I've found her." The Doctor muttered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Oh, my God."

The ringing in my ears started again, it didn't stop until I heard Ida say, "It's stopped."

"What was that? What is it?" I said, glancing around the room.

The Doctor frowned, "The drill."

"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero."

I am about to run over, screaming at the man I saw in the space suit. After talking with the captain, he walks over to me. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's been ages since I wore one of these."

I give him a look, "I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?"

"Yes, sir." He says, faking a salute. He slips on his helmet, and a random thought pops into my head.

"It's funny, because people back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about and teleports and anti-gravity, but it's not, is it? It's tough." I said, blinking back tears.

He gives me a look. "I'll see you later."

"Not if I see you first."

He climbs into the capsule, and I watch the capsule fall.

"Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good."

"Rose stay off the comm." Zach's voice came through.

"No chance." The capsule wire shutters, and then suddenly stops. "Doctor! Doctor, are you alright?"

"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" I hold my breath, waiting for his voice to come through.

"It's alright. We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now."

I breath out a sigh of relief. "What's it like down there?"

Bast comes up behind me. I offer him the comm, but he refuses. "It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive."

"Well this should help. Gravity globe." There is a pause, before Ida continues, "That's, that's. My God, that's beautiful."

"Rose, you can tell Toby we've found his civilization."

I grin, I turn to Toby, who's curled up in a corner, "Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work." He mutters something, and I frown. He seems to be acting a little bit different that what I'd seen before.

I'm just listening to the conversation between Zach, the Doctor, and Ida, when Danny inserts himself in. "Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood."

I feel my blood freeze. "What are they doing?"

"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't." Bast and I exchange glances.

Zach sighs over the comm. "Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can handle being stared at."

"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at basic one hundred. I've checked, there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred."

"But that's impossible."

"What's basic one hundred mean?"

"They should be dead."

Jefferson looks over to me, "Basic one hundred's brain death."

"But their still safe. They're not actually moving?"

"No, sir."

"Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson? Keep a guard on the Ood." I glance at the Ood in the room.

The Doctor's voice came up the comm, "Is everything alright up there?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"It's fine."

"Great."

I listened to the Doctor and Ida discussing the area, and went to look at Toby when they found the pit. "Toby, they need to know that lettering. Does it make any sort of sense?"

"I know what it says."

I frown, "Then tell them."

"When did you work that out?" Jefferson asked.

I shake my head, "It doesn't matter, just tell them."

He stands up, covered in the symbols, and his eyes are bright red. Possession. Shit.

"These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise."

"Officer, stand down. Stand down." Jefferson called, turning to Toby, pointing his gun. People are panicking on the comm link, but I'm focusing on what happening.

I offer a quick explanation of the events, "He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him."

"Mister Jefferson. Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Let me tell you a secret. She never did."

"Officer, you stand down and be confined."

"Or what?"

"Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorized to shoot you."

"But how many can you kill?"

He opens his mouth, and the dark symbols on his skin seem to dissolve into vapour. They immediately rush over to the Ood, who seem to jerk to attention. Toby collapses.

The Ood look at us, and in union say, "We are the Legion of the Beast. The Legion shall be many and the Legion shall be few."

The comm errupts with people demanding to know what is going on. "It's the Ood."

"Sir we have a contamination in the livestock." Mr Jefferson commented.

I frown, Bast takes the comm from me. "No idea what it is Dad. It's like they're possessed."

"They won't listen to us."

"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abadddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer. Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of the Night. These are the words that shall set him free."

Jefferson tries to lead us towards the doors. "I shall become manifest. I shall walk in might. My Legions shall swarm across the worlds."

I hear Zach over the comm, "We're moving! The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving."

"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the darkness."

"Get that door open!" It only reveals a shaft.

Zach's on the comm, "The gravity field. It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!"

"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."

We try the other door, but it's sealed too.

Over the comm unit, we hear a new voice. "The Pit is open. And I am free. Bwahahahaha!"