After another moment watching the cafeteria empty, Donna, too set out to start checking her assigned floor of the colony. As she walked out into the hall, she felt her wrist buzz.
Good work, Donna! She smiled. Most of the colonists were in that cafeteria. There's a few up by the pool you'll still need to talk to and a few in their rooms. Hang, on I'll give you a list of the suite numbers.
Donna mentally kicked herself as the list of rooms streamed in. Of course the Doctor would know if there were any colonists somewhere else. She should have thought of that before sending the others off. She changed course to head for the pool.
I've got some of the colonists going door to door to make sure everyone's got the message. I should have thought to ask you if anyone was missing. Donna sent back. She was nearly to the pool when her wrist buzzed again.
I see them, the Doctor said. I'll let them know where they need to go.
Donna found the colonists in the pool area and repeated her instructions and encouragements there, smiling to see the colonists head out with determination in their step. Then she checked the list of rooms the Doctor had given her. There were only three in her section of the colony. She quickly made the rounds and had those colonists packing their things as well. Her wrist buzzed.
Your friends didn't believe me, the Doctor said. Donna could imagine the indignant tone in his voice.
Maybe it's for the best, Donna said. Joanna and her lot could start sending them messages too, after all.
Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Still, it shouldn't slow us down any. You should get to the escape pods though. Some of the staff on your side of the colony are gathering there – could be trouble.
Donna's heart skipped a beat.
How many? Are they armed?
Only a handful, and no. I've still got all of security trapped over here. You've just got some of the cooks and cleaning staff to deal with.
"Over here" Donna noted. The Doctor was on the hospital side of the colony.
So where're the escape pods?
Bottom deck.
Donna stepped into the lift. The doors closed and nothing happened for a moment before Donna realized that there was no reason she shouldn't just push the button herself. Apparently the Doctor was too busy to continue as her personal door and lift operator. Ah well.
She reached the bottom deck and stepped out into the hall. To her left she could see a group of colonists, laden with bags, standing in an uncertain cluster. She strode purposefully toward them.
"What's going on here?" She demanded, breaking through the crowd. She could see that the hall here was lined with doors, marquises overhead proclaiming "Escape Pods 1-25" "Escape Pods 26-50" and so on. There was a cluster of men and women in Lanassa Colony uniforms standing between the colonists and the escape pods, doing their best to appear intimidating.
"I'm sorry," said one of the women politely. "It is against colony policy to launch the escape pods except in the case of a genuine emergency. Everything is fine here. You can all go back to your rooms." She did not sound very sure of herself. Donna snorted.
"You can drop the act now," Donna said. "We know what's really going on here, and we're leaving."
The colonists behind her murmured in assent.
"I've called security," one of the men next to the first woman said. "If you do not disperse immediately they will be here shortly. Please, go back to your rooms. There's no need for anyone to get hurt."
"Well, it's just too bad then that the biolock's shut down right now. Security can't get here. You think you can stop this many people on your own?" Donna raised an eyebrow at them. A few exchanged worried looks while the others glared at them, then seemed to be counting the colonists behind Donna. Donna turned to the colonists.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go." Then she strode forward toward the first doorway. The man who had threatened them with security held out an arm to bar her way. She stopped and looked him straight in the eyes. "There's no need for anyone to get hurt." She told him. She watched him waver for a moment, then he finally stepped out of her way. She smiled and stepped past him to the door, then turned back to the colonists.
"After you," she told them, with a sweeping gesture towards the doors. The colonists began moving then, streaming into the openings in a growing throng. The colony staff stepped out of the way, standing in a cluster at the side of the hall, watching the whole proceeding in bewilderment. Donna heard a clunk, the floor shook just a bit, and she realized that the first escape pod was away. She stepped over to where the staff were standing.
"I assume you have assigned escape pods as well?" She asked them. The woman from earlier nodded. "Best use them. Once the colonists are away, we're blowing the place."
The woman gasped, and Donna was surprised to see a misty film of tears starting in her eyes.
"Why?" she said. "Why are you doing this? We helped you!"
"Helped me?" Donna said incredulously. "Helped me? You shot me, kidnapped me and the Doctor, erased my memories, and abducted all of these innocent people! I'm doing this because you sicken me and they deserve better."
"There are patients on the other side of the colony," one of the men said. "You can't just – "
"Are there escape pods for them over there?"
He nodded reluctantly.
"Then get them moving."
Donna turned on her heel and strode away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him tap a button on a pager much like hers and raise it to his lips.
"This is Matthew Stone, in the residential sector," she heard him saying. "The residents are evacuating the station…"
The rest of his explanation to whomever he was speaking to trailed away as she walked out of earshot, striding along the long line of colonists gathering in the hall, waiting for their chance to board. More trickled in every moment, and the thumping of escape pods pushing away from the hull beneath her was becoming more and more frequent. Her wrist buzzed.
Brilliantly done, Donna.
"I think this is everyone, dear," Cheryl said, strolling up behind Donna. There were nearly three hundred colonists on Lanassa Colony in total, but with their scant possessions the evacuation had only taken a few hours so far. A group of twenty or so colonists was filtering into the hall with Cheryl and heading to the remaining pods. The remaining staff had made no further attempt to hinder the evacuation, but had so far stubbornly refused to make their own escape from the station.
"Best hurry now," Cheryl said, shooting a sidelong glance at the lurking janitors. Before long the numerical superiority of the colonists would be no more.
"I'm not going," Donna said. "There are still things I need to do here."
"Oh, of course," Cheryl said. "What with the sabotage and all." She nodded absurdly cheerfully for a woman discussing sabotage. "Well then," she set her bag down on the deck beside her and reached up to pull Donna into a tight hug. "You be careful then, alright?"
"Yes, mum," Donna chuckled.
"And tell that Doctor of yours thanks from us when you see him, alright?"
Donna smiled.
"I will."
Cheryl picked up her bag and headed off with a light step. Donna watched, still smiling to herself as the elderly woman disappeared through the doorway to pods 251-300. The last colonists were disappearing through those doors now, and the thunks from below had begun to slow once more. The colonists were safe. Donna's wrist buzzed.
Donna, you need to get moving. NOW.
Donna frowned at the urgency in the Doctor's message. She reached down to type a reply, but before she could the pager buzzed again.
RUN!
The sound of approaching footsteps registered in Donna's ears. She looked up. The small pack of colony staff had left the corner where they had been standing bemusedly throughout the evacuation. They were now making their way toward Donna, who now realized that she was the only other person left standing in the hallway. Suddenly understanding her peril, Donna turned and fled back in the direction of the lift. Behind her, the footsteps quickened pace as the colony staff sped up in pursuit, and the hall echoed with the sound of running feet.
Donna dashed around the corner, feeling as though her pursuers were right on her heels, then shrieked at the sound of a loud, metallic clang. Casting a frantic glance over her shoulder, she saw that a large, metal blast door had just slammed into place behind her, blocking her pursuers completely. Donna breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the wall to catch her breath.
Alright, she typed into her watch. Now what?
Hang onto something, came the reply.
Red emergency lighting suddenly filled the hall. With a hiss, panels Donna hadn't even been able to see slid open at points all along the hallway and convenient handholds folded out. Not bothering to question, Donna took hold of the nearest one.
The floor lurched and bucked sideways. Donna screamed as she was nearly thrown from her feet and felt a crushing weight pressing her into the floor, as if the entire colony were a lift speeding up its shaft at a crazy angle. A massive tremor shook the hall and the jolt subsided, but before Donna was allowed even the briefest respite the colony tossed a second time, tilting the floor in a different direction. The hall to the lift had suddenly become a long, downward slope and Donna struggled to keep her hold on the hand rail rather than tumbling down toward the lift. The third jolt tipped the hall back in the other direction, and now Donna finally did lose her grip and rolled down what was thankfully a fairly gentle slope to bump against the heavy metal door that had closed behind her.
Donna struggled to her feet and latched onto a new handhold, preparing to brace herself for the inevitable. But the fourth jolt never came. The floor settled back into its normal orientation and the hallway was still.
"What the bloody heck was that?" Donna shouted to the security cameras she hoped were listening. Her wrist buzzed in response.
I just fired the orbital thrusters out of sync at about 900% capacity.
"You just turned me into a human pinball is what you did," Donna snapped back.
I did warn you.
"And what exactly was this supposed to accomplish?"
The thrusters are destroyed and we're now in a highly unstable orbit. We have two hours, thirty eight minutes, and sixteen seconds until the atmospheric resistance tears the place apart.
Donna's heart thumped.
"Doctor, the patients in the hospital! Will they have time to get out?"
Plenty, and the evacuation should distract them enough to make your last job a bit easier.
"And that is?"
Saving me, of course.
At the end of the hall, the doors to the lift slid open invitingly.
Come find me.
Donna smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."