This chapter is dedicated to Verity359 and Aaallllllooonnsssyyy for your helpful input; I've tried to involve both your ideas. Thanks guys!

I know, I know. This chappie is basically just a re-tread :( BUT it'll split back away from the cannon in the next chapter :) so yay for that! More notes at the bottom, for now…

Enjoy!

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Chapter 7 – Utopia

A large fire crackled in the centre of the ring, the only source of light for miles stood out starkly from the inky blackness. Hunched around the beacon sat a large, tattooed tribe. Their hair, long and mostly matted, waved gently as the wind changed direction and blew through the camp. As one, the tribe raised their heads and sniffed the air; their feral eyes widened and their pointed teeth bared.

"Humans." A voice growled, the word barely distinguishable from the guttural growl. "Humans are coming."

The Chieftain, holding court beside the bonfire, stood taller; the firelight catching the metal piercings on his eyebrows and nose and making them shine. He tipped back his head and roared triumphantly as the tribe rose to a crouch around him, snarling and snapping at each other. Meat. Food. There was precious little of either at the end of the universe, and a human traveling alone?

Dinner time.

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Padra's breath forced its way out of his lungs in harsh pants. His legs ached, his chest burned and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled and bristled at the feeling of being hunted.

He ran.

He had been running for what felt like hours, days even weeks. His family had left before him; taken one of the final Axiom shuttles from New Sol 3 to this God forsaken rock, the final stop before Utopia. There hadn't been enough room on the shuttle, his papers had been delayed, women and children first; a bureaucracy nightmare of red tape and for the greater good, Padra had been separated from his family. Forced to steal any sort of space travel ship he could get his hands on, Padra had fled across the black space following the trail of the Axiom shuttle in a rickety old Star Ship 2 that had barely made the outer atmosphere.

The Axiom had quickly outstripped him and his stolen ship and Padra was left to fly blind into the void of space, relying on nothing more than a hope and a prayer to get him to Utopia. After what felt like weeks alone in the empty void, Fortune had seemed to smile on him as a passing asteroid belt had steered him back onto the correct course and delivered him onto the Malcassairo planet's surface.

Of course, delivered may be too kind a term. Thrown burning, smoking with the hull crushed beyond repair and crashing in an uncontrollable tailspin to the planet's surface by the passing asteroids may have been more accurate. But, somehow, he had survived. Bruised, a bit battered and shaken, but Padra had remained in one piece. It was as he was climbing out of the smouldering wreckage that Padra had immediately sensed the wolves at his door. The Future Kind had seemed little more than an urban legend from the safety of New Sol 3; a silly tale to scare small children. Nonsense, of course, but good for the blood. But crouched in the twisted wreckage of the old Star Ship, Padra understood how terrifying the idea of the Future Kind could be.

So he ran. Ran from the horror of what they could be. Ran in the direction of the lights; to civilisation, to safety, to the Silo. "The Silo." He gasped to himself as he ran from the phantom baying of the Future Kind. "If I get to the silo, then I'm safe."

The rocky underbrush made it difficult to run. Pebbles skittered out from underneath his boots and sprayed across the path, tapping loudly against each other. He was filthy and he was tired and the sweat was pouring down his face and into his eyes making it harder to see in the dim light. The pricking on his neck grew sharper as he ran. It was almost too quiet apart from his own harsh panting and the skittering of stones. How long until he ran face to face with the Future Kind?

Padra leapt across a bank of pointed rocks, quickly changing direction. He could still vaguely see where the Silo stood across the surface. It was a safe sanctuary for all those heading to Utopia, if only he could get there.

He slowed, head whipping around to scan the area for the Future Kind. If he could just rest, just for a minute. He'd been running so long…

The underbrush rustled and an animalistic roar accompanied a female Future Kind bursting out into Padra's path. She bared her teeth at the shaking Padra, a spiked swinging mace clenched in her hand. Padra raised his hands in a defensive gesture, taking note of her wild hair, pointed teeth and ripped, leather-like clothes.

"Please!" He begged, trembling with primal fear. "I don't. I just want to go. Please, let me go."

His words fell on deaf ears as she turned and called back to another Future Kind lookout standing high on a ridge.

"Human!" She bayed, the call long and loud. Padra flinched, following her eyes to the tall, male, muscle bound sentry. There could no escape from the Future Kind's notice now.

The male Future Kind on the ridge took up the call. "Human!" He bellowed, waving his flaming torch as a signal.

Padra tore his eyes away from the pair and took off running as fast as he could. Away from the Future Kind, towards the Silo. They would be hunting for him now. His only hope was to get enough of a head start on the Future Kind before the rest of the pack joined the hunt.

"Human!" The female gave up the call again. It echoed through the night and charged Padra's adrenaline. The chilling cry turned his blood to ice and burnt deep in his chest. The panic gripped him as he fled and fuelled his speed, the desperate dash of hunted prey.

"Human!" A male shout this time and different from before. More were coming. Drawn to the sound of the hunt.

And there on the breeze, quiet but growing louder, the chant that poured dread deep into Padra's soul.

"Hunt."

The rest of the tribe were worked up into a frenzy.

"Hunt!"

Roaring and bellowing, their cries barely distinguishable from growls and barking of wild dogs.

"HUNT!"

To Padra, it felt as if the very ground was shaking from the amount of their footfalls.

"HUNT!"

The rabid pack was descending. The chase was on.

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Inside his make shift and ramshackle laboratory, Professor Yana glanced up from his work as the surface scanner alarm sounded. Turning on the spot he examined the readout. A circular blip had appeared on the screen. A single green dot appearing on the corner of the scanner. Yana's eyebrows furrowed as he watched several more green dots appear on the screen. Approximately thirty in total, closely grouped together and in obvious pursuit of the first.

"There's movement on the surface." Yana sighed, gesturing towards the screen. His face hardened. "Another human hunt. God help him."

His assistant Chantho stood from her work attempting to fix a static-filled monitor. Her blue, insect-like face creased with concern. "Chan, should I alert the guards, tho?" She asked, stepping towards the intercom.

Yana sighed again, bustling towards a more homely area of his workshop. "No, no, we can't spare them." He said, heading towards the small kitchenette he had installed and looking longingly at the comfy, leather armchair. "Poor beggar's on his own." He turned to face Chantho and away from thoughts of rest. "One more lost soul dreaming of Utopia."

Chantho stepped away from the Comms tower and joined him in the kitchen. "Chan, you mustn't talk as if you've given up, tho." She admonished, wishing there was something more she could do to help.

The professor picked up his coffee mug. "No, no, indeed." He lifted his mug in salute. "Here's to it. Utopia."

Chantho smiled at him as he took a drink. He swallowed and his face twisted into a grimace, the coffee cup still held near his face. "Where it is to be hoped…" He continued, the taste of the foul coffee coating his tongue. "the coffee is a little less sour." He lowered the mug and gestured to the still warm pot on the end table. "Will you join me?" He asked Chantho.

She smiled apologetically. "Chan, I am happy drinking my own internal milk, tho."

He smiled awkwardly. "Yes, well." He swallowed, face dropping into a stern expression. "That's quite enough information, thank you."

Yana placed the mug down onto the table as the Speaker Comm crackled overhead. A man's voice replaced the static from a loudspeaker up in the rafters.

"Professor Yana? I don't want to rush you, but how are we doing?"

"Er, yes!" The professor replied, scrabbling for an answer. "Er, er, yes." He stuttered. "Working. Yes, almost there." He glanced up towards the speakers as he replied, uncomfortable.

"How's it looking on the footprint?" Asked the intercom.

Yana paused, trying to find the best way to answer. It wouldn't work. We're stuck here. I don't know what to do. "It's… good." He finally blustered. "Yes. Fine. Excellent."

He gestured frantically to Chantho to take over as they exchanged worried looks. Chantho stepped forward nervously. "Chan, there's no… problem as such." She started, her words hesitant as she tried to reassure the man on the Comm. "We've accelerated the calculation matrix but it's going to take time to harmonise, tho." She nodded to herself, hoping the technobabble would appease the waiting Captain. "Chan, we're trying a new reversal process. We'll have a definite result in approximately…" She paused again. How long could they delay? "two hours, tho."

After a quick thanks, the intercom clicked out and Chantho sighed with relief. She turned to address the professor but saw he was hunched forwards, holding his head and breathing heavily.

"Chan, Professor, tho?" she asked. He didn't reply. He didn't even hear her. The drumming in his head drowned everything out.

"Chan, Professor Yana, tho?"

The drumbeat. The loud, incessant noise that he'd heard far longer than he could remember. The rhythm of four, over and over again.

One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four.

Louder and louder, drowning out every other thought.

One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four.

His driving force, the reason he worked so hard. Never silent, always there. Every waking moment, drumming in his head; but at least it was quieter when he focused on something. The moment he rested however…

ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR. ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR. ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR.

"Chan, Professor, tho!" Chantho's voice broke through the drums and Yana sat up in surprise.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes." He stuttered again, trying to regain his composure. "Working." He bustled quickly back to his previous work station, eager to refocus and to banish the drums back to a quiet corner of his mind. Chantho stood next to the surface scanner, eyes riveted to the screen.

"Chan, it's the surface scanner, Professor. It seems to be detecting up a different signal, tho."

Yana looked over her shoulder at the unusual reading. "Well, that's not a standard reading." He frowned. "I can't make it out."

Instead of the usual circular blip, the reading showed a square on the screen.

The professor took a step back, bemused. "It would seem something new has arrived."

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Yes I know this one was just a re-tread, but I tried to explore a bit more of the background on each of the scenes. URGH this chapter was hard to write! Not just trying to match what we saw on screen, but trying not to indirectly copy from every other writer who has done a Utopia rewrite!

Very difficult.

I'm still having trouble wrestling the next chapter into shape – the next scene is of course the Jack/Doctor/Rose reunion. I obviously can't just lift from the episode because the Doctor's character is VERY different between the two seasons. Also DUH no Torchwood yet! (Doomsday at least) I'm setting this story arch just after Fear Her. So no angsty Doctor. Also more obviously, no Martha AND the addition of Jackie. Nightmare!

Ah well, I'll get it done by posting hehe.

As always, drop me a review and let me know what you think!

Love and Hugs,

Spannerspoon out.