With no other choice, they went down that opened corridor, in the darkness, with only faint green from the walls giving them a faint outline, only the sounds of Alpha walking being their guidance as they followed the latest corridor.
"Are you doing this?" Paul questioned if this was intentionally the voice's work, and he heard a faint chuckle.
The voice in his mind replied, if he could see the voice's face, he imagined they were smirking as they said, "Of course… I am… always… watching… Mister… Smith…"
He wanted to accuse the voice of being the madman, but it's though the voice grew disdainful being likened to… him…
"I am… only helping… you… Mister… Smith… do not… question it…" the voice warned him, the tone never raising beyond stilted.
Having no other choice, Paul conceded, and the voice went away from his mind, allowing him to think freely, and speak to Taylor covertly.
He couldn't tell her about the voice that was just in his mind, it was as though he was tongue tied, only when he refrained, he was able to speak.
Since he started hearing it, Paul had a bad feeling about this voice, seemingly appearing out of thin air, never a body attached, somehow able to keep him from speaking about it.
It always kept getting ahead of him in answers to questions he hadn't thought about, keeping him in check, preventing him from trying to sneakily ask.
If it wasn't… him… who else with such gifts can get inside Paul's mind to talk to him, getting around the natural barriers Paul put up to keep such things from happening?
He won't get the answer, not now, not soon, only when, and that day is coming, and the voice knew this.
Just don't know what to expect and that's frightening.
Going around the corner, the corridor opened up to a long catwalk that went across to the end where there's a circular door.
Below the catwalk, there is only darkness, and Alpha admits it can't take the catwalk because of the weight restrictions.
And because it's narrow, leaving it incapable of walking without falling over.
Instead, it used the photon jets hidden on its back, allowing it to fly over to the other side, waiting for Taylor and Paul.
It used its eye stock to cover much of the catwalk in light, giving them something for reference as they make their way across.
Below, the light from the eye stock shows that below the catwalk's a large conveyor belt that fed into the walls, leading to another part of the complex.
Slowly, Paul and Taylor went across the catwalk, the only barriers keeping them from falling over were the railings, the only sound coming from their footsteps causing the metallic catwalk to echo throughout the room.
With light shone from Alpha, they're able to watch their steps as they kept focused walking.
Paul felt Taylors hands on his back, something to steady herself as she walked, and it helped him feel grounded as he heard the hollow steps walking across the catwalk.
He swore hearing something moving underneath the catwalk, that his angel eyes moved looked over the railings to the conveyor belt below.
As he walked, he didn't initially see anything, maybe it was just his nerves, the way his and Taylor's shadows moved, no he wasn't mistaken.
He saw something lurking below the catwalk.
It's hard to see since the catwalk is high up, but Paul swore seeing two glowing orbs in the darkness below, looking up, he felt them on him.
His eyes forced him to blink, when he opened them, the two glowing orbs were gone, and he continued walking across the catwalk until he got to the end.
The moment Taylor was across the catwalk, Paul held her close, exhaling sharply, before they turned their attention to the circular door in front of them.
Alpha located the keyhole on the side, using its eye stock to open it, the trio watched as the circular door opened sideways, revealing another room.
Rows of pulsating liquid flowed through large tubes, the iridescent liquid lit up the entire room, with the clear tubes causing a wavy effect.
"What room is this?" Paul asks Alpha as it went ahead of them.
He heard, "Processing."
All the excess radioactive byproducts flowed through here, to be processed before shipment off world.
The tubes have enough shielding that it'd be akin to standing near an operating microwave.
"But if anything happened to them?" Paul asks.
He heard, "Instantaneous death."
The radioactive liquid would be enough to melt them all, they would be irradiated to the point they'll be spotted from satellites above.
Though there won't be any remains of them left for anyone to morn over, given the intensity of the radioactivity.
"C-can Omega destroy the tubes?" Taylor sheepishly asked if the blasts from its weapons would be enough to destroy the tubes.
Thoughtfully thinking, Alpha responded that Doctor Ivo was careful in his construction of the complex, he took consideration for everything, that it would take approximately three nuclear bombs for it to cause significant damages.
"Even in the event that his creations run amok?" Paul brings this up as he slowly moves through the aisles of tubes.
If it could shake its head, it would, as Alpha affirmed, "Doctor Ivo accounted for everything."
Slowly nodding, Paul looks through the tubes, seeing the radioactive material pushed through to plants somewhere in the complex for further processing.
Coming around the corner, Taylor's emerald eyes glimpsed around, slowly she walked and as she did, she felt the need to stop at a tube and look inside closely.
Despite the reinforced tubes, Taylor could feel the slight buzz, a brush of death.
As she looked at the pulsating liquid, she noticed a pair of eyes looking back at her, bright from the liquid, was it hers?
Blinking, Taylor noticed the eyes gone, and she sees her reflection.
She could've sworn seeing those eyes, but for some reason, she couldn't recall them, she couldn't even call out to Paul, but it was though the eyes were focused on her.
Why?
Walking around the tube, Taylor's eyes fell to the ground where she sees a keycard on the ground.
Slowly, she reached down, picking it up in her hand, Taylor looked it over, it was an emergency keycard.
How did that get here?
With it in her hands, Taylor walked back around the tube, she almost ran into Paul.
Almost gave her fright, but Paul was quick to plant a kiss on her nose, and all was well.
"What did you find, luv?" Paul asks her.
Handing it over, Taylor tells him, "Some sort of emergency keycard. I think he might've dropped it by mistake… I don't know how…"
Looking it over in his hands, Paul assesses the keycard before thanking Taylor with a quick kiss on the nose, "This could be useful, good find."
His arm around her shoulder, they walked back to the awaiting robot, Paul asking Alpha about it, and it then informed him that the keycard was for emergencies where none of Doctor Ivo's creations worked or in this scenario where they have been tampered.
It caused Taylor to ask, "What would happen if he died?"
This came to pass, of course, but Taylor wanted to know if Doctor Ivo had everything planned.
It would seem he did.
"Special instructions. Restricted access. Denied."
Alpha didn't budge on this, Taylor tried to convince it into telling them, and even if Paul wanted to, using his Sonic Screwdriver wouldn't change anything.
Knowing little about Doctor Ivo, Paul chewed on his inner lips, as he thought about what an eccentric man would do to ensure his creations weren't stolen from him or cause undue terror onto everyone else.
Complicated when his creations were remade with Dalek scraps, Paul rightfully assumed that Doctor Ivo would want them destroyed immediately if he was killed before getting the chance.
"Can you show us where it is?" Paul quickly asks Alpha.
Turning its whole body, Alpha asserts, "Acknowledged."
