The Twilight Zone
Prologue
A cacophonous explosion tore through the caves far beneath the city, the rubble pulled into a singularity and condensed until it ceases to exist under the interminable weight of itself.
The Doctor cackled with delight. She had finally done it, finally broken through into a large cavern after weeks of fruitless, filthy tunnelling. Working around veins of geothermal piping which, ordinarily, she wouldn't think twice about destroying to get what she wanted, had become so tedious she almost gave up. She would have given up if her latest excavation hadn't given her such wonderful results.
It was a mysterious cave full of fresh air, so she wouldn't have to do battle with the diving suit anymore if she only remained in the undersea lair. A bounty of fossilised creatures lay at her feet. Ribs, teeth, skulls, spines; everything she needed to conduct her experiments. It was almost funny how little the native population knew about their own home, how they hadn't seen to take advantage of the bones and graves hundreds of years before she had heard rumours of ancient monsters stalking the silver seas.
"Is this it, Doctor?" asked her associate timidly.
"Did I say you could speak to me?" They silenced. "I thought not. Do not address me unless I address you first. But yes. This is it. Now, go fetch my things. I need to begin my analysis. I've wasted enough time here already crawling through these tunnels."
"The stability of the volcano is paramount to-"
"You are answering a question I haven't asked. And why are you still standing here? I told you to go, so go," she snapped. Emix jumped out of their skin.
"Yes, Doctor…" They crawled away on their tentacles back out of the cave, sliding into the water again. The Doctor put her hands on her hips to examine the cave more thoroughly, with only a head torch for illumination.
It really was a glorious sight to behold.