Before Arthur can register where he is, he receives a scream.
"Oh my God!" A man yelled, nearly scaring Arthur as the boy looks around. It seems he's inside some sort of underground passage. But not any kind of underground passage. Judging by the techs around, it seems much more advantageous and more high-class tech than Arthur normally sees.
"What's wrong?" A man from inside a hangar spoke.
"T-There's a child suddenly appears out of nowhere," Lunn explained, sounds shaking.
Not long after, a woman with a ponytail and baseball cap steps out and is startled. "What the...?! How did you get here?!"
"Long story?" Arthur sheepishly replied.
She looks suspicious of the blonde boy, but quickly said, "later," to Lunn before stepping back inside. Not long after, more people get out.
"Can I go in?" Lunn asked while making some weird gestures to a woman. Arthur guesses she must be deaf since she replies with some gestures as well.
"What is the radiation count?" A man with tall features and a serious expression asked.
"Pretty much background level," another man with glasses replied.
"Anything more, it would have shown up on the initial survey 20 years ago," the baseball cap girl added.
"If it's not safe, how come you can go in?" Lunn asked the girl.
She makes some gestures, which Lunn spoke. "'How long do you think it's been down here?'"
"Well, there's next to no corrosion," the glasses man said. "I've not seen technology like this..."
"Please don't say on Earth," the tall man hoped.
"On Earth before."
"It's an alien one?" Arthur guessed, shocking some people around.
"Where did you come from?!" The glasses man demanded.
"Long story," Arthur replied quickly. "But I can assure you, I meant no harm here. I swear."
They all look at Arthur curiously. Arthur gulps. Hopefully, they won't harm him.
"Lunn, keep an eye on him," the tall man continued. "Maybe it's some kind of experimental craft that got left behind when they abandoned the site."
"Wait, you think the Army would just lose a prototype weapon?" The glasses man wondered.
"You're new to the military, aren't you, son?"
The deaf woman spoke to Lunn. "Cass says he might be right. It might have been here since the 1980s when the valley flooded."
Suddenly, then the craft's engines ignite, spurting flame.m
"Cass!" The tall man yelled and proceed to push Cass to safety and gets incinerated. Arthur can hear alarms sound everywhere, which makes people start to run away.
"Come on!" Lunn suddenly grabs Arthur, forcing the boy to follow others. "Move! Come on, we need to go now!"
"Fire in the main hangar. Safety protocols have been initiated. All crew must evacuate immediately. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum," the computer voice announced as Arthur and others arrived at a corridor.
"We can't just leave him in there!" The baseball cap girl argued as a doorway sealed them.
"There was something in the spaceship, I saw it!" Another man insisted.
"O'Donnell. O'Donnell," the glasses man calmed O'Donnell down. "He's dead. Didn't you see?"
"The fire," Lunn mentioned. "are we safe out here?"
"It's fine. The CO2 will put the fire out."
"It was you!" O'Donnell pointed her finger at the man before. "You were messing about with the controls on that ship!" Then, she glares at Arthur. "And you! You must have something to do with this!"
"O'Donnell, calm down!" Lunn noted, shielding Arthur.
"I mean, how can he be here?! He must have something to do with this!"
Cass suddenly screams and grabs Lunn to protect her while holding Arthur. The blonde boy immediately went pale as the tall man before is standing behind them while his lips moved. His eyes are black, like a skeleton.
"Moran," the glasses man whispered. "But, we just saw you..."
"He can't be," Arthur mumbled, shooking his head in disbelief.
"He's a ghost," O'Donnell realized as Moran and another figure attacked them.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Claudia steps outside the Tardis, looking at their current location. "Underwater base," she mumbled, frowning as the Doctor also steps outside.
"What's wrong?" He asked the Tardis. "You're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Tell me."
"Come on! we're on a roll!" Clara shouted as she stands in the Tardis doorway. "Monsters, things blowing up. Oh, hey, can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries?" She steps inside. "I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity."
"Yeah, I don't need that reminder, okay?" Claudia grumbled, which makes Clara giggles. "Why would the Tardis bring us here?"
Clara steps outside and shuts the Tardis' door. "Here being?"
"Underwater," the bluenette checks her sonic pen. "A base, I guess."
"The technology's 22nd century," the Doctor added. "Maybe military, maybe scientific."
"Is there a crew?" Clara pondered.
"Must be, somewhere, if there's oxygen."
They walk down the corridor. If the bluenette can be honest, it's kinda dark and eerily.
"I want another adventure," Clara complained. "Come on, you two feel the same. You're itching to save a planet, I know it."
"Yes. But we're not going to keep plunging ourselves into danger, Clara," the bluenette reminded her, looking at Clara seriously. Lately, she seems to want more and more adventures. It's not bad, to be honest. Adventures are in her blood, her lifestyle. Especially when it comes to the Doctor and his space-time machine.
But after what happened to Danny Pink and their recent encounter with Missy (or the Master), the person who's responsible for Danny's death... Claudia feels worried about Clara's behaviour.
She remembers what Clara did last Christmas. The implication of her action... was quite unnerving to the bluenette.
"Clau, look at this," Clara called her, focusing Claudia back to reality, where they're inside some sort of cafeteria, judging by the chairs, tables, and food provide. But what strikes Claudia is how messy this entire room is.
"Well. Looks like you got your wish," the Doctor mused.
"Food fight?" Clara guessed, twangs with a knife that's stuck in a wall.
"Maybe more than that," Claudia asserted, scanning the food and a cup of tea. "Quite recently. Around 7 or 8 hours ago."
"No bodies, though," the Doctor argued, looking around.
"And they took provisions," Clara added. "Okay, so something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base. Maybe they went for a swim in the creepy flooded village outside."
"Or maybe not," Claudia stated, grabbing a backpack that was lying under a table.
Clara gasps. "That's not..."
"It's Arthur's," the Doctor finished, glancing at the window, looking serious and then leaving in hurry.
"Wait!" Clara huffed as she and Claudia ran behind him. The Doctor is always like that when it comes to Arthur. It might not help as well considering the last time they met him, they have to deal with Daleks, Missy, and Davros himself, which might bring some horrible memories from the past.
Soon, Claudia and Clara find the Doctor standing in a corridor. "Doctor?" Claudia called.
"Crew," he whispered, spotting two figures are quatting on the floor. "Hello, sailors!"
The figures stand and turn, their lips moving. Claudia's quickly standing in front, ready to attack.
"Right, I did not expect that. Hands up who expected that," the Doctor asked as the figures walk forward to them. "Excuse me. Did you two see a blonde boy in here? Or a brunette one? Or even the black hair man? He's wearing a backpack."
The figures simply turn away, still muttering. Claudia frowns upon it. Okay, she's not expecting that. "What in the world?"
"Come on," the Doctor urged both girls so they follow them.
"What are they?" Clara whispered.
"No idea," Claudia answered as they ented some sort of hangar room. "But I bet they know something about Arthur."
"Where did they go?" Clara is confused as the trio sees a large craft. "What is it? Some kind of submarine?"
"No, it's alien," Claudia replied and they all go inside it. The girl spots a weird symbol on the wall. "Look at that."
The Doctor and Clara look in her direction. Clara picks up the light and shines it on the markings.
"That's weird. The Tardis hasn't translated it," the Doctor remarked.
Suddenly, they hear a strange noise.
"Hey, look, they're back," Clara pointed out.
"Hello!" The Doctor greeted. "Did you want to show us this? It's very nice, but I would love it if you tell me where's my Sunny."
"Wait, are they saying something?"
"You're just realizing it now?" Claudia hissed, ready to attack as one of them takes a fire axe from the wall.
"Okay, they now appear to be arming themselves."
"Yes, thanks for the commentary, Clara. Now we better go."
They quickly leave the place as another ghost takes a harpoon gun.
"Was it something she said?" The Doctor joked. "She does that. She once had an argument with Gandhi!"
Claudia kicks the axe away and drags Clara and the Doctor, holding their hand in tight. "Come on!"
"I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner," Clara mumbled, managing to dodge a harpoon gun before finally hiding in a corridor. Clara looks back and gasps as a hand suddenly appear out of nowhere.
"Damn!" Claudia cursed, pulling Clara and the Doctor in a hurry. The bluenette spots a door being open and a girl in a baseball cap gestures to them.
"In here! Quick!" She shouted, which neither the trio argued with and proceed to enter inside. Luckily, the ghosts don't enter the place, simply watching. Claudia needs some time to take a break. Despite getting used to running, it's not like she wants to run for 24 hours strike.
"Doctor! Clara! Claudia!"
The trio quickly glances at the voice, all dash to Arthur Jonas himself.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor asked, checking his face and hands. He spots a small bruise under his nose.
"Accidentally hit a wall," Arthur explained, not wanting to make the Doctor angry. From his experiences lately, this (and future) version of the Doctor is very protective of him. "My backpack!"
As Arthur happily takes his backpack back, the Doctor slowly looks through the round window in the door. Two ghosts still stand outside, but neither of them enters. "What are you?" He wondered as they leave.
"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" Pritchard demanded.
"I'm Claudia. This is Clara and the Doctor. We're Arthur's guardians," the bluenette introduced, showing them her psychic paper.
"You're from UNIT."
Not far from the truth. "Yes, we are."
"I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett."
"O'Donnell!" O'Donnell greeted. "Are you really the Doctor?" She pressed, then looking Arthur with realization. "That means you're the Arthur Jonas! The Explorer Boy! I'm a huge fan of you two! I mean, er, you know... Nice work."
The young boy frowns. "You know me?"
"Oh, absolutely! Especially what you did with UNIT during Cybermen Invasion at St. Paul and Canary Wharf."
Wait, what? "I don't know what are you talking about."
"Don't tell him that!" Claudia suddenly hissed. Her face mixed with anger and fear. "He mustn't know!"
"Why not? I mean, eventually, he knows, right?" O'Donnell argued. "I read the file about his condition. Sooner or later, he'll face it."
"Yeah? And do you want to be responsible for causing a paradox in his timeline?"
"Hey, hey, enough. Focus on pressing matter, okay?" Lunn interrupted, standing between two women warily. "Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass," he introduced himself.
"Tell me, what about those things out there? What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?" The Doctor pondered.
"This is sound incredibly insane, Doctor, but..." Arthur sighs. Oh, the Doctor will hate this for sure. "They might be ghosts."
"Sunny. You know there's no such thing as a ghost."
"I know. You told me. I tried to find a simple explanation, but what can I say?"
Cass starts to gesture.
"Cass is saying..."
"Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign," the Doctor interjected Lunn. "Go ahead." But the moment Cass signs, he quickly said. "No, no, actually, I can't. It's been deleted for semaphore. Someone get me a selection of flags."
"'One of the ghosts is our previous commanding officer. The other, um moley guy, we don't know what he is'," Lunn translated Cass' words.
"He's from the planet Tivoli," Arthur repeated.
"'Don't be ridiculous.'"
"But he has a point!" O'Donnell stated.
"Weird thing is, they're not violent," the Doctor added. "They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details. When did they first appear?"
"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar? Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got... Moran was killed."
"'Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us. So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here.'"
"When did you arrive?" Clara asked Arthur, curious.
"When they inspected the spaceship," he replied, sighing. "Never got a chance to know this place.
"It's a Faraday cage, Sunny," the Doctor answered. "Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently, whatever those things are out there. So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore."
"'That would be me'," Lunn said before adding. "Her."
"Actually, that would be me," Pritchard declared, handing a card. "I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil."
"The oil?" The Doctor frowns, throwing the card away. "Where are we?"
"This used to be a military training site. There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged," Bennett stated.
"Then 20 years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it," Pritchard added.
"Good morning. Entering day mode," a computer voice announced as the lights brighten.
"Okay, it's morning," O'Donnell said. "We can go outside now."
"Thank God for that," Lunn sighs.
"At last, we can get out of here," Pritchard noted.
"Morning?" Clara asked.
"This bass is too deep, so they put artificial days and nights in here," Arthur explained, remembering what Lunn said while hiding.
O'Donnell opens the door and they all exit the place.
"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship," the Doctor exclaimed, "but what about those things that aren't ghosts?"
"Oh, it's all right. They only come out at night," she assured him as one by one, everyone left the room.
"Weird how that is not comforting," Clara commented, holding Arthur.
"With our lack of luck?" Claudia shook her head. "Sooner or later, the danger will come to us."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
As they enter the main hangar, the Doctor speaks. "If whatever they are..."
"They're ghosts," Pritchard insisted.
"They're not ghosts. Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?"
"That was my call. We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon. What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."
"It's okay. I understand. You're an idiot," the Doctor concluded. "Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?"
"It's the mining equipment," Bennett answered. "It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak."
"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor. And my Sunny is trapped in this unfortunate place. Anything else I should know?"
"What did you mean before?" Arthur suddenly asked O'Donnell. "With St. Paul and Canary Wharf?"
"Spoilers," the Doctor, Claudia, and Clara quickly responded before going back into the spaceship.
Arthur huffs. He knows there is a certain situation where he cannot expose his future. But sometimes, he's so sick of it. So sick of waiting and hearing spoilers over and over
"It all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be," the Doctor began, returning the blonde boy to reality.
Claudia kneels, opening a hatch. "That's weird."
"What's happened to the stuff you've removed?" The Doctor asked.
"It's for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here," Claudia pointed at the Doctor's position. "One of the power cells is missing."
"Power cell?" Pritchard frowns as he runs up the steps into the spaceship.
"Yeah. You can see of the casing is empty."
Arthur intends to step inside, but Cass grabs him, stopping the boy from entering. Both Cass and Lunn are discussing using sign language.
"What's the matter?" Clara wondered.
"She won't let me and Arthur look inside the spaceship," Lunn denoted. "She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here."
"I imagine they're pretty valuable," Pritchard commented.
"What?" Claudia and Arthur reacted.
"I mean powerful. Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty powerful."
"I mean, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so," Arthur shrugs, "you know."
"And the missing one must still be out there."
"Yes, well, otherwise," the Doctor stops. "Sorry, why is this man still talking to me?'
"We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time," O'Donnell mentioned as Pritchard leaves.
The Doctor leaves the spaceship. "So what have we got? Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night... and they're sort of see-through."
"Wait," Arthur paused. "Does that mean..."
"Yes, Sunny! Ghosts!"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"You said there was no such thing," Clara argued as they all enter the computer base. "You actually pooh-poohed the ghost theory."
"Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as, socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were. Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead. Wow. This is... it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost."
Cass looks at him ridiculous as she mouthing, 'Moran was our friend', which Lunn translated.
Claudia grumbles. "Clara, please take care of this idiot."
"On it," Clara said, holding her chuckles while taking some cards from her pocket and showing the Doctor.
The Doctor starts reading. "Ahem. 'I'm very sorry for your loss. I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend slash family member slash pet.'"
Arthur slaps his forehead.
"But don't you see what this means?" The Doctor continued as Clara takes the card away. "Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects? Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so... Calm, Doctor, calm. You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey. And River might kill you when she knows Sunny's listening to it. She will be so cross. Okay. Question one. What is a ghost?"
Arthur raises his hand. "Someone already dead?"
"Okay. Question two. What do they want?"
The lights go out.
"Whoa. Whoa, what's happening?" O'Donnel pondered.
"Good evening. Entering night mode."
"That's not right. We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!"
As O'Donnell checks on a computer terminal, Arthur's ears pick up the Tardis' sounds. "Oh no," he muttered before running.
"The Tardis Cloister Bell!" The Doctor realized before running as well.
Once again, Clara and Claudia follow him.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Clara asked as they arrive inside the blue box.
Arthur rubs his forehead. "The ghosts. She's upset."
"Why? I don't understand."
"The ghosts are aberrations," Claudia noticed, pulling Arthur to sit down. The boy isn't in good condition. "A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. The Tardis wants to get away from them."
"So what do we do, Clau?"
The Doctor turns a handle on the console. The Cloister Bell stops and the engine's power is down. "Put the handbrake on," he told Claudia, which she does. Suddenly, Clara takes off her jacket and heads for the doors. The Doctor quickly stops her. Whoa! Ho, ho, ho, ho! Where do you think you're going?"
"Out there, where the action is."
Claudia glances at her. "Clara, just wait, okay? Please? For me?"
Clara giggles. "You don't have to worry about me. You know I'm capable."
"Yeah, that doesn't stop me from worrying you," Claudia responded, holding her arms. "Please, Clara. Don't go without safety."
The brunette gives a quick kiss on her lips. "Okay," she answered.
"Good," the bluenette nods as they all leave the Tardis.
Arthur silently watches Clara and Claudia from behind. This Clara and Claudia... they're so much closer. Granted, he knows they are always close with each other. But there's something else between these two from what he saw them last time.
What is the word that describes them? Ah, now he remembers.
Intimate.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Pritchard, you are unaccounted for. Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately," O'Donnell spoke while Arthur and the Doctor look at the monitors. "Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!"
"O'Donnell, it's okay. Pritchard's in here!" Bennett responded.
"Pritchard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early," she huffed, moving her seat. "In case I can't get this back into day mode."
"Man overboard. Man overboard! We need a rescue team in the water now!" Bennett suddenly shouted.
"Stay here," the Doctor told Arthur before running. From a monitor, Arthur looks at the cafeteria where Clara, Claudia, and Bennett are currently in. Cass, Lunn, and the Doctor soon arrive.
"Too late," Claudia mumbled. "He's a ghost now."
"Help me out, kid!" O'Donnell shouted, which Arthur doesn't argue with. "Press this and this."
Arthur did what she told him. He can feel his body shaken and terrified of others. He truly hopes they can survive.
"Come on, come on," O'Donnell mumbled. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on."
"Good morning. Entering night mode."
Both sigh in relief as Pritchard's gone. "Not bad, kid," she complimented him.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"They're working out how to use the base against us," the Doctor guessed after they watched how Pritchard died. "Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning."
"And now there's three of them," Clara added.
"Cass, what do we do?" Bennett asked.
"'We abandon the base. Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever.'"
"Hold on," Claudia interrupted. "This isn't right..."
"'I can't force you to leave, so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew.'"
"But we're coming back, aren't we?" Clara asked the Doctor.
"Yes, we're coming back," he assured her, watching Claudia holding Clara much closer.
"'O'Donnell, contact Topside. Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders.'"
O'Donnell complies. "Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over."
"Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over."
"Repeat, Topside. Over."
"We've received your request for a rescue sub. It's two minutes away. Over."
"Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over."
"Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over."
Realizing something, Arthur immediately responds. "Topside, this is Arthur Jonas. You might know me from UNIT. I order you to call back the sub."
"Mister Jonas? Why would..."
This time, the Doctor takes the call. "This is the Doctor from UNIT. I repeat, call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base... is now under quarantine."
"What did you do that for?" Bennett demanded as he ends it.
"None of us sent that message," Claudia denoted. "Which means... those ghosts sent it. They want that crew down here."
Lunn frowns. "Why would they do that?"
"Well, I don't know, but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band," the Doctor replied. "Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?"
"It's mainly atmospheric," O'Donnell recalled. "The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled."
"No. Something, something else."
"'The diagnostic sweep. When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power,'" Lunn translated Cass' words.
"What systems specifically?" Claudia pressed.
"Life support, the locks. They're electromagnetic," O'Donnell mentioned. "They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds."
"The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it," the Doctor pondered.
"Doctor?" Arthur looks at him, confused.
He pats his curly head. "Don't worry, Sunny. We'll make it." He glances at O'Donnell. "O'Donnell. Excellent work, returning the base to day mode."
"Shut up. It was nothing," she blushes. "You really think so?"
"Now put it back into night mode."
"What?!"
"We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not any more," the Doctor stated, holding Arthur with a serious face. "So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. We want to know what these ghosts are after? We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Why I'm here but you're out?" Clara huffed as Claudia stands in her position, holding her earphone.
"Because between you and me, I'm much more athletic," Claudia chimed up with a slight smugness in her voice. "Plus, you're a shorty."
"Oi!"
"Girls, focus," the Doctor interrupted their conversation. "Bennett is going to run across the top of the T-junction to your right in about 10 seconds. Draw the ghosts towards you. Turn right, and then take second left."
"Got it," Claudia responded. As Bennett runs in, she quickly raises her voice. "Over here!"
As predicted, they're chasing her. She listens to the Doctor's instructions toward Lunn. A couple of minutes later, she spots Lunn. The bluenette ducks out to her left just before the ghosts arrive.
"Hey! Yeah, this way!" Lunn declared before running.
Claudia looks behind and founds the alien and Moran. "Doctor?!" She reacted. "What's going on?!"
"I don't know, Claudia. Keep running. We'll find a way out," he informed, clearly sounding frantic.
"You better be! Because I can still get tired!" She denoted, keep running, focusing on holding her fatigue and speed in balance. Just because she has good physical strength, that doesn't mean she's not 100% invisible.
"Clau, there's a flood door at the end of the corridor, around the corner to your right," Clara informed. She can hear how nervous and scared the brunette girl is. "Go in there. O'Donnell will take care the rest."
"You've got to get through that door before Moran and the other ghost sees you," the Doctor added.
Claudia gets through the door per their instruction. She hides behind the door while taking her time to breathe normally. A few minutes pass, and she peaks outside. No ghost. "I'm clear."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Are you okay?" Arthur queried Lunn as he, Bennett, and Claudia return.
"Yeah," he breathed, still shaken a bit.
Clara hugs the bluenette with a kiss on her cheek. "That was... awesome," she praised.
"I know," she winked before nuzzling her nose against hers.
"Cass, are you seeing this?" The Doctor asked as he was standing outside Faraday cage.
"Sonic glasses Wi-Fi locked in. On-screen B2," O'Donnell mumbled before showing the view on a screen.
"She says she can't see them properly," Lunn translated. "The glass is too thick and they're too far away."
"Open the door."
"What?!" Arthur and O'Donnell blurted.
Claudia and Clara walk closer to the monitor. "Doctor, you can't go in there, they will kill you!" Clara argued.
"They don't have any weapons or access to any of the controls. They can't hurt me, so open the door."
Claudia sighs. "I swear, Doctor..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You will make sure River and Delaney know about my stupidity. Just open the door."
The door unlocks. The Doctor steps inside and closes it behind him. Moran steps forward, lips moving, and reaches into the Doctor's body. "Coooold... isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Cass?"
"Wait," Arthur spoke, catching their mouth's movement. "Are they chanting?"
Cass had the same idea as Lunn translates. "She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over. They're saying the dark. The score. No, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple."
"What?"
"Yes, she's sure. 'The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple.' Just that. Over and over."
"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man?" The Doctor pondered. "Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Coordinate?" Arthur repeated, confused.
"How can they be coordinates?" Bennett asked.
"The dark? Space. So, whoever's following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet. The sword?" He hands out an apple to Bennett, a knobby ball to O'Donnell, a table tennis ball to Clara, and a Vector Petroleum place mat to Claudia, making them hold them up in a diagonal line.
"Orion's sword!" Arthur gasped. "The sword, the three stars, hanging down from Orion's belt!"
"Correct, Sunny! But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer." The Doctor retrieves the objects and puts them on the map table. "The forsaken. The forsaken or abandoned or empty town. See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over. And every time they kill one of us..."
"It strengthens the signal," Clara added.
"Another ghost, another transmitter," Claudia finished.
"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub," O'Donnell understood.
"Get more people down here, kill them, make even more ghosts to beam out the coordinates," the Doctor alluded.
"'But why are they beaming out the coordinates?'" Lunn translated Cass' words. "'Is it a distress call?'"
"I don't think that's the case," Arthur disagreed. "I think it's more like... luring?" A sudden truth hits the blonde boy. "If that's the case, this is all a set-up!"
Bennet frowns. "What?"
"They're not a natural phenomenon," the Doctor elaborated. "It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters."
"But what do the coordinates lead to, though?" O'Donnell asked. "To us? To the ghosts? What?"
"Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking."
"The temple," Claudia recalled.
The Doctor snaps his fingers in her direction. "This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this."
"A church?" Clara noted at what the Doctor's gestures on the map.
"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them."
"Wait, you're not suggesting that?" Bennett asked. "But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here."
"No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went. You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know, you have chosen to protect and serve," he alluded to Cass, Lunn and O'Donnell before doing so to Bennett. "You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."
"Cass says we should go, but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay," Lunn mentioned. "So I, er, guess I should too."
"Well, count me in," O'Donnell beamed. "Who wants to live forever, anyway?"
"Sorry, er, have you gone insane? "We can go home," Bennett reminded, to which O'Donnell responds with a shrug and a grin. "They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts? Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Thanks to a drone submarine, they can get clear into the deep sea.
"It's the suspended-animation chamber from the spaceship," the Doctor alluded as they were all in the main hangar.
"So the pilot could be in there," Clara guessed.
"There's something inside there. But it's deadlock sealed," Arthur added, standing beside Cass.
"I can't open it. It should be the pilot, it should be. So why do I think it isn't?" The Doctor mumbled. "More questions. Everything I solve, just more questions. I have to go back to the beginning. We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then they try to kill us." He goes inside the spaceship before coming out into the hangar and speaking to Cass. "Lunn, translate for me. Whenever I step outside, you are the smartest person in the room. So, tell me, what's weird about this? I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?"
"'The markings on the inside of the spaceship.'"
"The markings on the inside of the spaceship. Yes! Why?"
"'I don't think they're just words.'"
"They're not," the Doctor agreed. "They're magnets."
"Magnets? How?" Bennett asked.
"Well, a localised and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise. The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that? No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us."
"So that writing is the coordinates?" O'Donnell concluded.
"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired. Girls, why don't I have a radio in the Tardis?"
"You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel," Clara answered.
"And you'd still hate Guglielmo Marconi for complimented your eyebrows," Claudia added.
"And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand."
Arthur snorts. "The Tardis did that after you won't let me touch the console at all," he mentioned. That blue box seems can be temperamental regarding him.
"Don't you see? These words are an earworm," the Doctor continued, likely ignoring his words. "A song you can't stop humming, even after you die."
"Okay, so, the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die," Clara summarized, "they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he-slash-she-slash-it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber..."
"Waiting for his-slash-her-slash-its mates to pick the message up. My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death."
Suddenly, an alarm blares. Followed by an announcement. "Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures."
O'Donnell runs to a wall touch screen. "Oh, no," she trembled. "The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its-its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base."
"Cass says, close the internal flood doors. That'll contain the water in the central corridor," Lunn translated.
"Where's the Tardis?" The Doctor asked as he's picking Arthur.
"On the other side," O'Donnell replied.
"We need to get there. It's our only way out."
"Okay. We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close."
They all rush down, running as fast as they can to get away and find safety. Arthur can feel adrenalin inside him and keeps pumping up.
"Doctor!" Clara shouted, too late as she, Claudia, Cass, and Lunn trap on the other side of the corridor. The door automatically closes as water enters the corridor.
Quickly the Doctor and Arthur dive into another corridor and activate the intercom. "I'll get you and the others out. Sit tight, I'll come back for you," he told them.
"Just come over here in the Tardis now," Clara suggested.
"She hates ghosts," Arthur reminded her.
"I'm going back in time to when this spaceship landed. If I can understand why this is happening, I can stop them killing anyone else," the Doctor said. "I can save you and Claudia. You trust me, don't you, Clara?"
The water fills the central corridor between them. Clara nods her agreement.
"Do what you must do," Claudia asserted.
"We'll be back!" Arthur promised as he, the Doctor, Bennett, and O'Donnell continue their way.
"Wait, you're going to go back in time? How do you do that?" Bennett wondered.
"Extremely well," he replied.