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: I apologise for the late-ish update. Things have been pretty hectic. I've got two midterms tomorrow. I also know it is NaNoWriMo, and I plan on working, but for me, it's going to start Tuesday. And (hopefully), I'll have the third chunk of this story finished by the end.

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. :) The episode that this chapter is based on is The Satan Pit. We only have one more chapter, then the intermission. I've combined The Army of Ghosts and Journey's End. Suggestions for the name of Part three are appreciated. The Donna episodes will be coming, but in the next book. I have plans for two or three unique episodes (all of which make me giggle at how much fun I'm going to have), an episode about the Dimension Cannon, and then FOUR episodes actually from the TV Show, as well as two episodes tying everything together. :) If you have any suggestions about the story, or an idea for an episode, let me know. I'm always open for suggestions.

Part 2: Relearning Life and Death

Chapter 16: Satan Pit

"Open fire!" Jefferson called, shooting the Ood.

Across the room from the comm link, I heard Zach cheer, "We're stabilizing. We've got orbit."

I run to the comm. "Doctor? Doctor can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"

The door behind me opened, and I whipped my head around long enough to see Danny run in.

"It's the Ood, they've gone mad."

Jefferson takes the soldier's view of the news, "How many of them?"

"All of them! All fifty!"

"Danny, out of the way. Out of the way!" He tries to move Danny, but he won't budge.

Danny's eyes are wide, "But they're armed! It's the interface device, I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."

Zach comes over the line, "Jefferson, what's happening there?"

"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?"

"All I've got is a bolt gun. With, er, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."

"Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine."

"Agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? Bast? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"

"I can't get a reply. Just nothing. I keep trying but it's-"

"No, sorry, I'm fine. Still here." There's static on the line, but I breathe a sigh of relief at his voice.

"You could have said, you stupid..." There was feedback that tuned out my last word.

"Whoa. Careful! Anyway, it's both of us. Me and Ida. Hello. But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."

"How deep is it?" Zach asks.

The Doctor sighs, "Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever."

"The pit is open. That's what the voice said."

"But there's nothing. I mean, there's nothing coming out?"

"No, no. No sign of the Beast."

I swallow, "It said Satan."

"Come on Rose. Keep it together."

I was focusing on him being alive, and telling me I was a stupid ape. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."

"Ida? I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately." Zach came over the comm.

"But, we've come all this way."

"Okay, that was an order. Withdraw. When that thing opened, the whole planet shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now."

"But it's not much better up there with the Ood."

"I'm initiating strategy nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar-" We get static over the line for a few minutes.

The Doctor's voice comes back on, "Rose, we're coming back."

I laugh. "Best news I've heard all day."

I argue with Jefferson over Toby, and we come to an agreement, "Any sigh of trouble, I'll shoot him."

"Okay, we're in. Bring us up."

"Ascension in three, two, one." And then the power goes out.

Over the comm, a voice comes on, like before, "This is the darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light, clinging to you feeble suns which die. Only the darkness remains."

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

"You know my name."

"What do you want?"

"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."

The Doctor starts up on his questions, "If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"

"All of them."

"What are you then, the truth behind the myth?"

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

"How did you end up on this rock?"

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

"When was this?"

"Before time."

"What does that mean?"

"Before time."

"What does before time mean?"

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

"That's impossible. 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, running from daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin. The son, who will never be free of his parents' shadows. And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon."

"Rose, don't listen." The Doctor's voice called through the comm link.

"What does it mean?"

"You will die, and I will live."

"Obviously you don't know me very well."

An image flashed across the screen of a roaring horned beast. "I never really understood why Rio liked this story so much." Bast commented, ignoring the beast.

"What the hell was that?" Danny asked, freaked out.

Toby cried out, "I had that thing inside my head."

"What do we do? Jefferson?"

"Captain? What's the situation on strategy nine?"

"Zach, what do we do?"

"The planet, the orbit, the black hole. Everything's true."

"Captain, report."

"We've lost pictures, Mister Jefferson."

"Did anyone get any-"

"Jefferson."

"Stop."

"How did it know all that stuff?"

"Everyone just stop!"

"Report."

"What do we do?"

Feedback comes through the comm, making everyone shut up for a moment.

"You want voices in the dark, then listen to mine. That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff."

"But that's how the devil works." Danny protested.

"Or a good psychologist." Bast commented.

"But, how did it know about my father?"

"Alright, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? 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 amazing! Can you hear me? Amazing, all of you. The Captain, his officer, his elders, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him-" I was cut off by the sound of the cable snapping.

"The cable snapped!"

"Get out!"

"Doctor, we lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right? Doctor!" I called, stopping my little monologue.

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

"But we've got to bring them back." I said, looking at the others in the room.

Jefferson frowned, "They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable."

There was a bang on the door. More like pounding.

"Captain? Situation report." Bast called through the comms.

"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."

Jefferson frowned. "Yeah, it's the same on door 25."

I ask the question I'd rather not know the answer to. "How long's it going to take?"

"Well, it's only a basic frame. It should take ten minutes." Another clang, the sound of, what I assume, another bolt being cut. "Eight." Bast swallowed.

"I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."

I focused on the goal at hand, letting everything else slip away. "Right. So we need to stop them, or get out. Or both."

"I'll take both, yeah?" Danny comments, nervous. He gets serious, "But how?"

I shoot him a glare. "Were you not listening to a thing I've been saying. Why do you think it cut me off? I was making sense. I was trying to get you lot to think our way out of this. Come on!" I pause, looking around the room, "For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power somewhere."

"There's nothing I can do. Some Captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons."

I roll my eyes. "Well then, press the right buttons."

"They've gutted the generators." His next words sounded full of inspiration and hope. "But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that..." He and Mr. Jefferson transfer the power over. "Three, two, one. Power."

The lights come on. "There we go."

"Let there be light!" Danny said, laughing. Everyone joins in for a second, giddy with the brief bit of success.

"What about that strategy nine thing?" I comment.

Mr Jefferson answers, "Not enough power. It need a hundred percent."

I nod in understanding. "Alright. We need a way out. Zach, Mr Jefferson, you start working on that."

"Who made you in charge Miss?" Jefferson asked, frowning.

I get up close and personal with him, releasing a bit of energy. "I made myself in charge, because no one else was doing anything but scream their heads off. I'm staying focused on getting us all out because if I don't, I am going to crack, because not only has my ride off this god-forsaken asteroid gone, but the only man I've actually got that hasn't died in front of me yet is also gone. So either work, or sit down in the corner and shut up." I take a deep breath before turning to Toby, who looks a little uneasy at my temper. "Toby, what about you?"

"I've got nothing against you running this."

I roll my eyes, "I mean, what can you do?"

"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."

I give him a look. "No, you're an archeologist." I comment, thinking briefly towards that old Earth movie Indiana Jones. "What do you know about the pit?"

"Well, nothing. We can't even translate the language."

I frown, thinking, "Right."

"Hold on. Maybe..." He trails off, looking at a piece of pottery in his hands.

I watch him carefully. "What is it?"

"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters make more sense."

I swallow heavily at that sentence. Harry never could speak parseltongue after the piece of horocrux that was inhabiting his head disappeared. If Toby could understand some of the language, it was a pretty safe bet that he was still partially possessed. "Well, get to work. Anything you can translate, just anything." Even if he was partially possessed, I could still take advantage of the fact.

"As for you, Danny boy. You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"

Danny blinks, "Well, I don't know."

"Then find out." I told him, stating the obvious. "The sooner we get control of the Base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift." I turn to the final crew member in the room. "You alright?"

Bast looks up at me and blinks, seeming to come out of thought. "That's an interesting question. My dad's quite possibly going to die in the next little bit, we're hiding out from Ood who seem to've taken over the Base, and my dirty laundry was basically just aired to the whole crew."

"You're in your parents' shadows." I said, he looks away. "You know, I used to have a best friend who thought that exact same way. He had five older brothers, all of whom had done something great and brilliant. And he always asked, why bother doing something, if someone else has already done it first."

Bast swallowed, "What happened to him?"

"He paid so much attention to everyone else's paths in life. He thought those were the only ones. But he ended up creating his own path, and stepping far beyond his family's shadow. Don't focus on where everyone else is going. Focus on your own two feet." I said, giving him a small smile.

After a few more minutes of quiet chitchat, I went to go see how everyone else was doing.

Danny caught my attention first. "There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."

"Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either. Or a Tesco's." I might have been a little bit testy at the moment.

Danny cut me off as soon as the screen he was working on started blinking. "Oh, my God. It says yes. I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!" I wanted to ask if he meant that last comment in reference to the event, or in reference to his thought.

"What happens to the Ood?"

"It'll tank them spark out." I frown.

"There we are, then. Do it!"

Danny frowns apologetically. "No, but I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."

Of course, nothing could be simple. "That's what we'll do, then. Mister Jefferson, sir. Any way out?" I call to the old soldier. I walk over to him.

"Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here." I nod looking at the schematics.

I almost snort. "Ventilation shafts." Bast doesn't hold back his laugh.

"Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."

"But I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network."

I swallow, "Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand."

"You wanted me pushing buttons."

I roll my eyes. "Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."

I walk over to Toby. "How's it hanging?"

"What?"

I blink, forgetting where we are for a moment. "Old Earth slang. How's it going?"

"I don't know. The letters all seem to be swimming around my head right now." He said eyes unfocused.

I give him a small smile, "Maybe when the Devil possessed you, he left behind some of his latent dyslexia? I know I'd be horrible if I couldn't read."

He blinked at me, unsure of my joke. "How can you joke like that? At a time like this?"

"If we find humour in the darkest moments, suddenly they aren't as dark. Sorry, I've usually got better jokes." I said, sighing.

Toby frowned, "So you've been through stuff like this before."

"What? Evil megalomaniacs possessing people, turning off the lights and trying to take over the world? This is just another Tuesday." Toby actually laughed at that one.

Mister Jefferson interrupted. "We've got a route." I turned to see him open up one of the floor gratings.

All but Danny rushed to the grating. I crouch looking at him, "Danny!" I hiss.

"Hold on! Just conforming!"

Jefferson frowned. "Dan, we got to go now! Come on!"

"Yeah!" He grabs an orange computer chip, tossing it at me. I catch it, lacking the grace that most Seekers would have caught it with. "Put that in the monitor, and it's a bad time to be an Ood."

I look at all of them. "We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."

"Okay." Jefferson nodded. "Bast, you go first, then you, Danny, then you, Miss Tyler, then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position. Now, come on, quick as you can!"

I watch the two slip down the grate, and then follow myself. I can't hold in my exclamation, "God, it stinks." I look at Danny, who seems almost catatonic. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm laughing. Which way do we go?"

"Just straight ahead. Keep going till I say so."

I try to keep the air light, "Not your best angle, Danny."

"Oi, stop it." Danny protested, half heartedly.

Toby laughs behind me, "I don't know, it could be worse."

"Oi!" But secretly, I'm pleased. Toby seems to be doing a bit better. Hopefully he took my words to heart about making jokes.

"Straight on until you find junction seven point one. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you." We continue crawling along in silence.

We hit the door marked 7.1. "We're at seven point one, sir." Bast commented.

"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section."

Danny frowned. "Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?"

"I'm working on half-power here."

"Stop complaining." Mister Jefferson says, watching our rear.

I repeat the message, in case Danny didn't hear it.

"I heard."

"He heard." I repeat back.

Toby added his two cents, "But the air's getting a bit thin."

"He's complaining now."

"I heard."

I sniff, a new smell floating in the air and grimace. "Danny, is that you?"

"I'm not exactly happy."

"Just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."

"I've got a friend who can tell you that suffocating to death is the worst." I comment.

Danny looked at me strangely. "You can talk to the dead?"

Toby took a different approach, "You've got a friend that can't die?"

"No, he can die. He just doesn't stay dead." I comment, feeling a brief flash of guilt over Jack.

Bast laughs, "Good ol' Captain Jack."

"I take it you know him." I comment.

Bast laughs, "Rio's named after him. Was completely upset to find out that he used to be an ex-con man."

"So that's already happened to you lot then?"

Bast grins, "Yeah, mum was pissed with dad. Never seen her more angry."

"So, Rio's like your younger brother?"

Bast laughs again, "Nope, we're two parts of triplets."

"I pity your mother. Another brother or sister?"

"Sister. Her name is..."

BANG!

"I'd hate to interrupt this lovely moment," Danny started, staring down the tunnel, "But, what was that?"

There was a chorus of the question repeated, until Mister Jefferson asked the Captain.

"The junction to Habitation Five's been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels."

"Well, open the gate!" Danny yelled frantically.

"I've got to get the air in!"

Danny practically yelled, "Just open it sir!"

I swallow, fighting the urge to panic. "Where are they? Are they close?"

"I don't know. I can't tell. I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."

I snarl, "Whose idea was that?!"

"Open the gate!" Danny yelled. Zach opened the gate, and we all scurried through.

"Danny turn left. Immediate left."

Mister Jefferson had an idea, "The Ood, sir. Can't you trap them? Cut off the air?"

"Not without cutting off yours. Danny, turn right. Go right! Go fast, Dan. They're catching up."

"I'll maintain defensive position." Mister Jefferson said, stopping.

I stop and turn to him. "You can't stop!"

"Miss Tyler, that's my job. You've got your task, now see to it." He said. And in that moment, he reminded me of Moody.

"Constant vigilance, sir." He nodded.

Toby looked at me, "You heard what he said, now shift."

I give him a hard look before joining Danny at the gate to 8.2. "Eight point two. Open eight point two. Zach! Open eight point two!"

"I've got to aerate it."

"Open it now!"

"I'm trying!"

Danny starts pounding on the gate, and Bast holds him back. "Come on you idiot, that's not helping. You're just wasting air with your panic attack."

Toby yells, "Zach, get it open!"

"Jefferson, I've got to open eight point two by closing eight point one. You've got to get past the junction. Now move. That's an order, now move! I'm going to lose oxygen, Jefferson, I can't stop for your dramatics."

The gate opens, and I frown, but rush after Bast and Danny.

"Danny, turn left and head for nine point two. That's the last one. Jefferson, you've got to more faster. John move!"

"Mister Jefferson!" I said, trying to turn back. I didn't want to lose someone else.

"Keep going!"

Jefferson's voice comes on the comm. "Regret to inform, sir. I was a bit slow. Not so fast, these days."

"I can't open eight point one, John. Not without losing air for the others."

"And quite right too, sir. I think I bought them a little time."

"There's nothing I can do John. I'm sorry."

"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances. May I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?"

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Well, if I might chose the manner of my departure, sir, lack of air seems more natural than, well, let's say death by Ood. I'd appreciate it sir!"

"God speed, Mister Jefferson."

"Thank you sir."

"Report Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD deceased with honours. 43 K two point one."

Danny swallows. "Zach, we're at the final junction, nine point two. And er, if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives."

"Noted. Opening nine point two."

The gate opens and we are faced with an Ood.

"Lower nine point two! Hurry Zach!"

"Back! Back! Back!" Danny said, trying to reverse.

Toby had to be logical. "We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off. We're stuck."

Now, I've never been one to admit defeat. I glance up. Perfect, a grate. "Come on! Up!"

I get up, and Danny and Bast follow. "Toby come on!" I stick my hand down, and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "Toby, get out of there!"

"Help me! Oh, my God! Help me!" Toby latches on to my arm and I yank him up. I feel the presence of the Devil retreat in his head. Damn, Toby was already gone.

Danny lead the way into Ood Habitation. I lock the door when everyone is inside. I take out the orange data disk and toss it to Danny.

"Transmit!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it!"

"Danny get that thing transmitting!" I see the scanned change from basic 100 to zero in a few seconds, and hear the Ood dropping like flies in the room beyond. "You did it!"

"Yes!"

I update Zach over the comm.

"I'm on my way."

I head back towards the Drill room. I grab the comm, trying to talk to the Doctor and Ida.

"The comms are still down." Zach said, coming up behind me. "I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute."

He gives me a nod, and I take the comm again, "Doctor, are you there? Doctor, Ida, can you hear me? Are you there, Doctor?"

"He's gone."

I swallow, unsure. "What do you mean he's gone?"

"He fell into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is. Miles and miles and miles."

"But what do you mean he fell?"

"I couldn't stop him. He said your name."

"But this isn't supposed to happen." I whisper.

Bast comes up behind me. "Time is always in flux."

And I could feel the migraine that usually came from Bad Wolf waking up, "Not this time. Not those times, those memories." Bad Wolf takes over, and I pass out.

I wake to someone saying, "Captain, I think we're going to have a problem passenger."

"Keep an eye on her."

I open my eyes and see the inside of a rocket ship. "No, wait, we're not..." I trail off. Looking around.

"It's alright Rose. You're safe!"

"Let me out. I'm not going anywhere! I'm going to wait for the Doctor! Let me out!"

"And lift off! Whoo!"

I blink back tears, focusing on a goal. Get back to the Doctor. I grab the bolt gun. "Take me back to the planet. Take me back!"

Zach turns to look at me, "Or what?"

"Or I'll shoot."

"Would you, though? Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?" I open my mouth, staring at him, before slumping back. "Sorry, but it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted. Isn't that right?"

I swallow. Toby starts to laugh. I look at him.

"What's the joke?" Danny asks, frowning.

Toby smiles, "Just, we made it. We escaped. We actually did it."

"Not all of us." Bast comments.

Zach frowns, "We're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats."

"Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding. Stats at fifty three. Funnel stable at sixty five point five. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir, all the way back home. Coordinates set for planet Earth."

My mind turns over what happened in the past few hours. "It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've ripped out the air, or, I don't know, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why?" I swallow, not liking the next thought, "Unless it wanted us to escape?"

Toby turns to me, "Hey, Rose, do us a favour. Shut up. Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty-nine..."

"I've seen a lot of the universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods, and out of all that, out of the whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in her."

The rocket starts to shake. "What happened? What was that?" Danny cried out. I rolled my eyes.

"What's he doing? What is he doing?!" Toby yelled.

I didn't pay attention to what Zach said. Toby turned to me, but his eyes were red and his face had black symbols all over it. "I am the rage. And the bile and the ferocity. I am the Prince and the Fall and the enemy. I am the sin and the fear and the darkness." He then proceeds to breath fire. "I shall never die. The thought of me is forever. In the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsession and lust..."

I grab the bolt gun, and aim at the exterior window.

"Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!"

"Go to hell." I shoot the bolt at the window and at the same time unfasten Toby's seat-belt. At the same instant, everyone suddenly develops a bubble around their head. I glance at Bast, who smiles.

"Emergency shield!" Zach yells out, and there suddenly is glass in the window again. The bubbles disappear as soon as they came. "We've lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole."

I swallow, "But we stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done."

"Some victory. We're going in." Zach called.

"The planet's lost orbit. It's falling!" Danny called, watching out one of the side windows. "The planet's gone. I'm sorry."

"Accelerate. I did my best. But hey! The first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History."

Bast speaks up, "For the record, I'd like to point out that I'm not exactly human, nor am I an Earthling."

The shaking suddenly stops. I blink. "What happened?"

"We're turning..." Zach trails off, before restarting again, disbelief colouring his tone, "We're turning around. We're turning away!"

"Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS." I blinked back tears. "Now first thing's first. Have you got a Rose Tyler on board?"

"I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God! Where are you?"

"I'm just towing you home. Gravity schmavity. My people invented black holes. Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and Captain? Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"

"She's alive!"

"Yes. Thank God."

"Fantastic!"

"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be alright. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet. Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line. Mission Closed. Hey Bast, want a ride?"

"Sure pops."

"I'd rather you didn't call me that."

When I get into the TARDIS, I run to hug him. Bast leaned on the door frame, and glanced around the room.

"Zach? We'll be off now. Have a good trip home. And the next time you get curious about something.." He trails off, sighing, "Oh, what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race."

"Oi, pops, I'm part human, I'll have you know." Bast commented with a grin.

"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature, what was it?" Ida asked.

"I don't know. Never did decipher that writing. But that's good. Day I know everything? Might as well stop." The Doctor grinned.

Bast frowned, "What do you think it was, really?"

"I think we beat it. That's good enough for me."

I swallow. "It said I was going to die in battle."

"Then it lied. Right, onwards, upwards."

"Hang on though, Doctor. Neither you or Bast ever really said. You two, who are you?"

The Doctor looks at me and grins, "Oh, the stuff of legend."