A/N: Welcome back!
I don't own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy.
Part one of this two-part chapter, takes place during the Doctor Who episode 'The Impossible Planet'.
Please review, and no flaming will be tolerated.
Enjoy :)
HIGHWAY TO HELL
"Livin' easy, Lovin' free.
Season ticket on a one-way ride.
Askin' nothin', Leave me be.
Takin' everythin' in my stride."
– AC/DC: 'Highway to Hell" (Highway to Hell [1979])
Storage Area 6
The Tardis materialises in an unknown area with a very tight space. The Doctor steps out and inspects her with a confused and worried frown. Katy and Rose follow him, all three of them just barely fitting inside the small room with the Tardis.
"I don't know what's wrong though," the Doctor was explaining to the sisters. Earlier, when they were picking their next destination, the Tardis had been behaving erratically. "She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land."
"Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else?" Rose suggested, and all three of them looked at each other for a brief moment, before they laughed hysterically and the Doctor turns, locks the Tardis's doors; and heads for the entrance, followed closely by Katy and Rose.
"I think we've landed inside a cupboard. Here we go." He leads the way out.
Junction
They step out into what looked like a narrow, windowless metal corridor. A loud noise surrounded them, even below their feet. Loud enough that they needed to shout to be heard; like they were at a rock concert and had music blasting in their ears. The Doctor glances about curiously.
"Some sort of base," He deduced, by the metal walls of the corridor they were standing in. "Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits," He explained.
'Close door 15'
Both Rose and Katy frowned at the loud noise surrounding them.
"Glad we're indoors, sounds like a storm out there," Rose lamented as she and her sister follow the Doctor through the corridor. But it appeared he had barely noticed the comment she had made on the racket coming from outside wherever they were.
"Human design. You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier."
"You've obviously never brought something from IKEA and had to put it together without chucking a tantrum, Doctor." Katy observed, in amusement.
"God don't get me started," Rose scoffed. "It's like they add those extra parts in those flat packs on purpose, just for the fun of it." The Doctor rolls his eyes at the sisters' complaining but was secretly relieved that they were at least talking again since the accidental trip to the parallel earth.
As far as he was concerned, he'd prefer the truce between them, rather than an all-out brawl because of some ill-thought-out words uttered by Rose out of spite, jealousy or all of the above. The three of them eventually come across another door with a spinning wheel for a doorknob, and the Doctor spins it to let them through. They step down into an area with tables and chairs.
'Open door 17'
On one of the walls was a big '3' stencilled there. The Doctor immediately brightened when he realised exactly where they were.
"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" the Doctor announced, as Katy and Rose stepped through and Katy shut the door behind them.
'Close door 17'
"Deep Space exploration," the Doctor continues his explanation. "We've gone way out." His eyes swivel to the ground, and he squats and puts one of his hands on the floor, curiously. "And listen to that, underneath. Someone's drilling."
Katy's eyes zero in on some words that had been spray painted in black on the wall above some strange symbols.
"Welcome to Hell…" She mutters, and elbows Rose who looks at her in annoyance, and then at the wall when Katy indicates to it with a jerk of her head.
"Oh, it's not that bad," the Doctor scolds her.
"No, over there." Rose indicates to the wall, and the Doctor turns to see it for himself … including the strange symbols. He frowns curiously and slips on his glasses for a closer look.
"Hang on, what does that say?" He goes closer to the symbols to examine it. "That's weird, it won't translate."
"But I thought the Tardis translated everything, writing as well. We should see English," Katy stated.
"Exactly," the Doctor agreed. "If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." He takes off his glasses and stows them away back in his pocket, looking a bit disturbed. "We should find out who's in charge," He suggests, walking over to yet another bulkhead door and starts spinning the wheel to open it. "We've gone beyond the reach of the Tardis's knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough—"
'Open door 19'
He is cut off mid-sentence when the bulkhead door opens, revealing a group of aliens with tentacles hanging where their mouths and noses should've been. The three of them jump back in surprise.
"Oh! Right, hello!" The Doctor greets the aliens despite being startled. "Sorry. I was just saying, er, nice base." He complements them, as they step over the threshold and into the room. The aliens all had a tube going in behind the tentacles, carrying an opaque white globe in their right hands; which they apparently used for communication, as they were about to find out.
"We must feed…" The alien spoke in unison.
"You've got to what?" the Doctor asked, frowning in surprise.
"We must feed…" the aliens repeated. Both Katy and Rose immediately start backing up, not liking the sound of what this weird creature had just said.
"Yeah, I think they mean us," Rose realises; shielding Katy who grabs Rose's arm and pulls her backwards with her. The Doctor follows them, standing protectively in front of the sisters with a stern look on his face.
"We must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed…" The alien's chant in unison, and several more of them enter from other doors. The Doctor produces and raises his sonic screwdriver at the aliens while both Katy and Rose arm themselves with chairs with the four legs pointed outwards as a weapon. "We must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed… we must feed—" One of the alien's taps its globe and shakes it, before speaking again.
"—You, if you are hungry." It says politely. The Doctor, Katy, and Rose blink at the group of aliens, bewildered.
"Sorry?" the Doctor questioned.
"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems," the alien explained. "Would you like some refreshment?"
"Um…" Katy stammered, as she and Rose put down the chairs.
'Open door 18'
A couple of humans come walking through a nearby door but stop dead and stare at the three of them in shock.
"What the hell? How did?" One of them, an older gentleman; who held himself in a very militarised posture, raises his wrist-comm to his mouth, as he wades through the sea of aliens towards the trio, frowning suspiciously at them. "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean three living people, just standing here, right in front of me."
"Don't be stupid, that's impossible," another male's tired voice rings out overhead from hidden speakers.
"I suggest telling them that," the first man requests. Rose frowns at him, confused.
"But you're a sort of space base," She stated. "You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" the man looked at them, dubiously.
"No idea," the Doctor confirmed with a cheerful grin. "More fun that way." A young woman's voice sounds over the hidden speakers.
"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake point five on its way!"
The man opens the door he and the other human had just come through, and gestures for the trio to go through first.
"Through here, now. Quickly, come on! Move!" Conduits bang over their heads. "Move it! Come on! Keep moving. Come on! Quickly! Move it!"
Control Room
The Doctor, Katy, and Rose are 'escorted' towards the control room of the sanctuary base, by the two strangers, and they step down into it: finding more people working at control panels. They all stop working and stare at them with shock.
"Oh, my God. You meant it," a dark-skinned man in his mid-to-late 30s blurts out, looking stunned.
"People!" A young woman in her late-teens, early 20s; pipes up looking amazed. "Look at that, real people!"
"That's us. Hooray!" the Doctor confirms, with false cheer.
"Don't see what the big surprise is," Katy added, looking perplexed as Rose nodded in agreement.
"We're definitely real. My name's Rose, Rose Tyler; this is my sister, Katy. And this is the Doctor." She introduces, with a half-hearted wave.
"Come on, the oxygen must be offline," another male with thick black shoulder-length hair scoffs in disbelief. "We're hallucinating. They can't be." He walks over and prods Katy in the shoulder with his finger.
"Ow! Hey!" She protests, frowning at him. His eyes widen in surprise.
"No, they're real," He confirms, grimacing apologetically at Katy. The dark-skinned man – obviously the Captain – reacts with irritation.
"Come on! We're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up!" Everyone, except for the Doctor, Katy, and Rose, scramble back to their stations. "The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" He looks apologetically at the three confused time-travellers. "Sorry you three, whoever you are. Just hold on, tight."
"Hold on to what?" Rose questioned.
"Anything. I don't care, just hold on!" He responded sharply, before turning to one of the aliens and addressing it. "Ood, are we fixed?" The trio scramble for something to hold on to, as the alien, apparently called an 'ood' addresses them.
"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated," It tells them, like a polite air hostess.
"What's this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor asks, curiously. An older woman, in her late 30s, early 40s with curly strawberry blonde hair, fixes him a disbelieving frown.
"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name," She chides. "How could it have a name?" She then realises he is completely serious. "You really don't know, do you?"
"And… impact!" the Captain confirms, and the entire place shakes for a few seconds. The Doctor straightens up and moves away from the pole he had been holding onto for support.
"Oh, well, that wasn't so bad—" The place shakes more violently, throwing the Doctor back off his feet, nearly into Katy's lap. He clings to both the wall and his girlfriend for dear life, massaging his knee that he had fallen hard onto when he had been thrown about by the shaking. Consoles all around them burst into flames as the shaking continued for a few minutes before stopping entirely.
"Okay, that's it," the Captain gives the all-clear. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" She replies hurriedly.
"Danny?"
"Fine," He mutters, distractedly.
"Toby?"
"Yeah, fine," Another younger male with a short-back-and-sides haircut mumbles, boredly.
"Scooti?"
"No damage," the younger woman confirms.
"Jefferson?"
"Check!" the soldier-type man from earlier calls out. The Doctor gets to his feet and helps both his companions up, looking annoyed.
"We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us," He drawls sarcastically, before turning to Katy and Rose to make sure they were in fact okay. "You two alright?"
"All good," Rose was quick to answer.
"Still in one piece," Katy groaned. "Mostly just curious about what's going on though," She continued.
"You and me, both," the Doctor agreed. "Let's find out."
"The surface caved in," the Captain reported, looking stressed out and tired as he looks at a schematic of the base in front of him. "I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely." He looks over at Toby. "Toby, go and check the rocket link."
"That's not my department," Toby complains, earning a sharp look from the Captain.
"Just do as I say, yeah?" He narrows his eyes at Toby, who rolls his eyes and leaves.
"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity fifty-six point six," Ida lets out a breath of relief before confirming her results. "We should be okay."
"Never mind the earthquake, that's, that's one hell of a storm," Rose protests. "What is that, a hurricane?"
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane," Scooti tells her, looking amused. "There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum."
"Then what's shaking the roof?" Katy asks. Ida looks at the three-time travellers incredulously.
"You're not joking. You really don't know," She scoffs, not unkindly. "Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." She introduces herself. "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir." She indicates to the dark-skinned man who briefly nods his head in greeting at them. "You've met Mister Jefferson, he's head of Security," the older male grunts at them in response. "Danny Bartock, Ethics committee—"
"Not as boring as it sounds," Danny grins at them.
"—And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology," Ida points vaguely towards one of the bulkhead doors, before walking over to the young woman and standing beside her. "And this is Scooti Manista, Trainee maintenance." She claps Scooti lightly on the back, as Scooti smiles at them warmly in welcome. "And this?" Ida wonders over to a nearby lever and pulls it down. "This is home."
"Brace yourselves," Zach warns. "The sight of it sends some people mad." The metal shutters overhead retract back to reveal a white hot, angry, disc with a black centre and black dots falling into it. It is truly a remarkable sight, and Katy's mouth falls open in shock when she sees it.
"No way!" She exclaimed.
"That's a black hole," Rose stated, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. The Doctor had a grave, shocked expression on his face.
"But that's impossible."
"I did warn you," Zach reminded them, but the Doctor ignores him.
"We're standing under a black hole," the Doctor points out.
"In orbit," Ida confirms.
"But we can't be," the Doctor protested.
"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit," Ida insisted, understanding his protests.
"But we can't be," He repeats himself.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss," Ida stated, flatly. Rose tears her eyes away from the black hole and looks at the older woman, worriedly.
"And that's bad, yeah?"
"Bad doesn't even cover it," the Doctor took over the explanation, darkly. "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too." Both sisters pale, uncomfortably. "Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."
"So, they can't be in orbit," Katy realised. "We should be pulled right in."
"We should be dead." The Doctor corrected her.
"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board!" Ida said, looking sympathetically at them; knowing that what they were viewing was a lot to take in.
"But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" Katy asked, both curious and nervous at the same time.
"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds," Ida explained. "We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing."
"Oh." Katy muttered, uncomfortable.
"So, a bit worse than a storm, then?" Rose confirmed.
"Just a bit," Ida nodded.
"Just a bit, yeah." Rose gulped. The base shakes violently again.
'Close door 1'
Toby walks back into the room, carrying some scrolls tucked underneath his arm, looking a little unnerved. Observing him, Katy reckoned something or someone had obviously had him rattled before he came back to the control room.
"Rocket link's fine," Toby confirms to Zach, who pulls up a hologram over the central console.
"That's the black hole, officially designated K three seven Gen five," Zach explained, as the Doctor comes over to inspect the holographic map for himself; Katy and Rose following him, looking just as curious about this mysterious and utterly impossible planet they had stumbled upon on this part of their adventures through time and space.
Ida joins in the explanation.
"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor, 'the bitter pill', and the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison."
"The bitter pill. I like that." Rose grinned.
"But we're literally in the middle of some galaxy. Drifting in the universe. How did you even get here?" Katy questioned, earning a surprised but impressed look from the Doctor, who looked like he had been just about to ask the same question.
"We flew in," Zach explained. "You see, this planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there as a funnel. A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down that thing? Like a rollercoaster?" Rose clarified with a grin on her face.
"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart. We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge." Zach shrugged like it was no big deal, although he looked rather uncomfortable by the reminder of how he got put in charge of this motley crew of explorers.
Katy just looked at him like he was nuts.
"And none of this raised any red flags for you lot? The ship nearly gets torn apart, killing your leader and that didn't inspire you to get back into your ship, turn around and get the hell out of there?" Katy was appalled. Zach and the rest of them shrugged, looking sheepish. "You're mad. You're all bloody mad…" Katy declared, earning a chastising glare from both Rose and Ida.
"Katy!" Rose chided, looking shocked at Katy's rudeness, and looked over at the Doctor for his reaction to Katy's outburst. Only to be disillusioned by the confirmation of his agreement of Katy's statement.
"You're doing a good job," Ida attempts to reassure Zach, throwing Katy a filthy look in addition to the one Rose was sending her because the Doctor was siding with her about this crew's judgement on the perilous situation they had found themselves in.
Zach looks unconvinced.
"Yeah, well, needs must." Zach replied dully.
"And you can both glare at me as much as you like … you know I'm right about this." Katy retorts to her sister and Ida, forcing the Doctor to step in to change the subject and avoid an argument breaking out ... again.
"Right then, moving along. What else have you discovered?" He asks, moving closer to Katy to grab her hand and rub soothing circles on to it with his thumb to calm down his irritated girlfriend.
'So much for the truce…' He thought sadly.
"If that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out," Danny reveals, looking awkward.
"We had fun speculating about that," Scooti added, earning a scoff from Danny at her comment.
"Oh yeah. That's the word: 'Fun.'"
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power," the Doctor pointed out, worriedly. "I mean not just big, but off the scale!" He indicates to the holographic map. "Can I?"
"Sure. Help yourself," Ida nods. Two Oods approach Katy and Rose and offer them a plastic cup of drink.
"Your refreshment," they say to the surprised girls, who take the cups gratefully.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks." Rose smiles at her Ood, while Katy nods and takes a sip from the cup. "Thank you. I'm sorry, what was your name?" Rose questions the strange alien.
"We have no titles. We are as one." The Ood replies before bowing and walking off.
Katy frowns curiously.
"What are they called?" She asks Danny, indicating to the groups of Oods walking about, lending help where indicated. He blinks back at her in disbelief.
"Oh, come on. Where have you been living? Everyone's got one."
"Well, we haven't. So, what are they?" Katy retorted, taking another sip from her drink.
"They're the Ood," Danny explained.
"The Ood?" Rose repeated.
"The Ood." Danny confirms, earning a grin from Rose.
"Well, that's … ood."
"Very ood," Danny agrees. "But handy. They work the mine shafts. All the drilling and stuff. Supervision and maintenance. They're born for it. Basic slave race."
Both Katy and Rose immediately frown.
"You've got slaves?" Rose was taken aback.
"Oh, don't start." Scooti pleaded, rolling her eyes. "She's like one of that lot. Friends Of The Ood." She glances at Katy, questioningly. "Are you the same as your sister, then?"
"Well, that all depends. Since when do humans need slaves?" Katy replied, narrowing her eyes in disapproval.
"But the Ood offer themselves. If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die." Danny insisted, and Katy scoffs with disgust.
"Are you serious?"
"You like being ordered about?" Rose questioned one of the Ood.
"It is all we crave," the Ood confirms.
"Why's that, then?" Katy asked, surprised by the confirmation.
"We have nothing else in life." The Ood insisted, and both girls simultaneously glance over at the oblivious Doctor, both for different reasons. Katy reaches up absently for her locket and plays with it, lost in thought, while Rose sighed sadly.
"Yeah, well. I used to think like that," Rose admitted. "A long time ago."
Still oblivious to the attention he was getting from the Tyler sisters, the Doctor finishes tinkering with the holographic map, and lets out a triumphant yell.
"There we go. Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds," He confirms.
"That's a lot of sixes," Rose observed.
"And it's impossible," the Doctor explains, gravely. Zach looked down at the completed equation with a look of absolute shock.
"It took us two years to work that out!"
"I'm very good!" the Doctor boasted, earning a teasing smirk from his companions.
"Hmm, and so modest too…" Katy muttered underneath her breath, earning a mock glare from her boyfriend and a playful wink, much to Rose's resentment.
"But that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." Ida explained their reason for remaining on this dangerous planet.
"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale," Zach added.
"It could revolutionise modern science."
"We could use it to fuel the Empire," Jefferson theorised.
"Or start a war," the Doctor warned. Toby started staring off into space, focusing intently on something, looking deep in thought.
"It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting…" He intoned, almost emotionlessly.
"What's your job again? Chief dramatist?" Rose raised an eyebrow at him, earning a sarcastic sneer from Toby who returned to his work.
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena. And this, er, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk." He rationalised his words.
"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" the Doctor asked, curiously.
"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it," Toby admitted, and the Doctor nodded in agreement.
"No, neither can I. And that's saying something."
"There was some form of civilisation," Toby continued his explanation. "They buried something, and now it's reaching out, calling us in."
"And you came," the Doctor nodded, understanding.
"Well, how could we not?" Ida asked.
"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why?" The Doctor asked rhetorically. "I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant." He grinned, before turning and addressing Zach. "Excuse me, er, Zach, wasn't it?"
"That's me," Zach confirmed, looking at the Doctor warily.
"Just stand there because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?" The Doctor asked permission, and Zach frowned but nodded his assent.
"Uh, yeah. I suppose so."
"Here we go. Come on, then," the Doctor walks over to him, arms outstretched and embraces a confused, but smiling Zach in a warm hug. "Oh, human beings," the Doctor grinned happily. "You are amazing! Ha! Thank you."
"Not at all," Zach brushed off the complement, abashed. The Doctor releases him and takes a step back, going to stand between the sisters, looking deadly serious once again.
"But apart from that, Katy's right; you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives."
"You can talk," Ida scoffed, mildly offended. "And how the hell did you lot get here?"
"Oh, I've got this er, this ship." The Doctor clumsily explained. "It's hard to explain. It just sort of appears."
"We can show you," Rose piped up trying to be helpful. "We parked down the corridor from, er. Oh, what's it called?" She glanced at the Doctor and Katy for help.
"Habitation area…" Katy trailed off, also unsure of what the name of the place the Tardis had materialised in.
"Three," the Doctor supplied.
"Three! Three." Rose nodded, triumphantly. Zach's head immediately shot up, and he looked at them with horror.
"Do you mean storage six?" He suddenly asks, and all three of them frown at the harried tone in his voice. Then Katy thought back to what they said earlier when the violent shaking had finished, and her heart sank like a stone in a pond.
"Oh, shit!" She swore, also looking at the Doctor frantically, willing him to remember.
He looked at her, uncomprehendingly.
"It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah." Then his face clouded when the penny suddenly dropped. "Storage six. But you said. You said … you said storage five to eight—" The Doctor cut himself off as he immediately bolted in the direction of Habitation Three, with Katy hot on his heels.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Rose called out to them, looking concerned.
Habitation Three
The Doctor ran like the very hounds of hell were nipping at his heels, desperately determined to discover the condition of the Tardis and if she was still in one piece after that violent earthquake from before. He was followed closely by Katy, also concerned about the Tardis, but even more so about the Doctor if what she feared had happened turned out to be true.
Then she knew her boyfriend would be requiring some big-time consoling.
'Open door 19'. 'Close door 19'.
"Open the door! Come on!" the Doctor urged frantically, as he spun the handle on each bulkhead door he came across.
'Open door 17'.
Corridor
The Doctor and Katy finally made it to the corridor the three of them had left the Tardis idling in.
'Open door 15'.
The Doctor made a mad dash towards the final door and attempted to spin the handle … but it wouldn't budge. It was locked in place.
'Door 16 out of commission'.
"It can't be. It can't be!" He muttered over and over again, as Katy hung her head in despair, looking out of the porthole in the bulkhead door at the barren wilderness outside.
The Tardis had disappeared.
Rose eventually caught up, looking bewildered.
"What's wrong? What is it?" She demanded, getting slightly frustrated when the Doctor didn't immediately answer; too busy staring helplessly out the porthole. Katy glowered at her sister reproachfully, but Rose ignored her, so intent on getting a straight answer out of the distraught Doctor. "Doctor, the Tardis is in there. What happened?"
"The Tardis is gone." The Doctor finally responded, quietly. 'Door 16 out of commission.' "The earthquake. This section collapsed…" He explained, and Rose's eyes widened in alarm.
"But… it's got to be out there somewhere," Rose insisted, refusing to believe what the Doctor was telling her was true. She shoves past Katy to look through the porthole for herself.
"Look down." Katy tells her, icily.
Rose shoots her a glare but does what she's told and immediately pales when she sees what looks like a black bottomless pit.
Control Room
The Doctor runs back to the Control Room; a man on a mission, with Katy and Rose following behind him.
"The ground gave way," He explains to Zach, who looks up at him, sympathetic but unsurprised by the news. "My Tardis must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."
Zach shakes his head; immediately understanding where the Doctor was going with this statement, but powerless to help.
"We can't divert the drilling," He states, firmly.
"But I need my ship," the Doctor insisted, stubbornly. "It's all I got. Literally the only thing."
He pretends not to see the hurt expression on Rose's face when he says this but spots the supportive one on Katy's, and is relieved, realising that the girl understood what he meant by his statement and didn't take it to heart. But he wasn't entirely truthful with what he had said:
He may have lost the Tardis, but he still had Katy.
Zach let out a pained sigh, psyching himself up to lay down the cold hard reality to the Doctor. Because this strange, mysterious man was not going to like what he had to say to him.
"Doctor, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it." He explained, firmly. "No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions. Your machine is lost." The Doctor sagged with despair and disappointment. "All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that is the end of it."
Zach excuses himself and returns back to work, leaving the Doctor glaring angrily at the floor, and both Katy and Rose looking at him with worry and sympathy. Ida approaches him, an awkward expression on her face.
"I'll, er, put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry." She turns and leaves the Doctor, Katy, and Rose alone in the room with only an Ood for company.
'Open door 1'. 'Close door 1'.
The sisters come up and sit either side of him on the table, trying to give him emotional support. The Doctor looks at them with slightly teary eyes.
"I've trapped you both here," He muttered sadly.
Katy doesn't respond, just leans her head against his shoulder and hugs his arm to her chest, holding his hand in hers. He squeezes it gratefully.
Rose puts on a brave smile.
"No, don't worry about me," She reassures him. But then the whole base shakes slightly, and the smile drops. "Okay, we're on a planet that shouldn't exist, under a black hole and no way out. Yeah, I've changed my mind. Start worrying about me."
The Doctor immediately wraps an arm around both sisters and pulls them towards him for a hug; kissing Katy's head and resting his cheek against it as he looks up at the ominous black hole hovering above their heads, grimly.
A few hours later, the crew were shifting into 'Night Mode' and doing their various duties: Jefferson was supervising a group of Ood while they were working; Scooti was outside the base working on the planet's surface.
"All finished. Coming back inside," She reports in before making her way towards the bulkhead door.
Danny was inspecting the Oods, checking them off as they walked by him, "Ood 7 Gamma 10. Ood 7 Gamma 11. Ood 7 Gamma 12…"
And Toby was sitting in his quarters examining a fragment of an ancient scroll underneath a magnifying glass. The music that had begun playing over hidden speakers when the night shift had started, suddenly stops.
Toby looks up, frowning in confusion.
"Toby. I can see you…" An eerie voice calls out to him in a whisper.
"Danny, is that you?" Toby calls out, annoyed. "It's, it's not funny, all right? Dan?"
There is no reply.
He gets up and steps out of his quarters into the corridor which ends with doors 38 and 40.
However, the corridor is empty. Toby huffs in frustration.
"I'm… I'm trying to work, Daniel." He stammers, uncomfortably. "Look, if, if that's you, then can you just stop it?"
The lights flicker, and Toby takes one last look around before going back inside his room.
Habitation Three
Meanwhile in Habitation Three, the Doctor is attempting to make himself useful by examining the alien script stenciled on the wall. Katy and Rose sat at a table nearby; Rose playing on her phone with a sullen look on her face, and Katy occupying herself by sketching a picture with some borrowed paper and a pencil, while absently fiddling with her locket as she stared off into space.
"Danny, check the temperature in Ood Habitation," Zach requested over the hidden speakers. "It seems to be rising."
Katy's stomach suddenly growls loudly, grabbing Rose's attention. The blonde looks at her with mild amusement as Katy flushes with embarrassment before deciding to get up and get something to eat. Rose joins her, and both sisters stand in line behind Scooti who was also getting food.
She smiles at them.
"Help yourself," she tells the girls. "Just don't have the green," She warns, then pauses and adds: "Or the blue." The sisters pick up their trays and head to the serving window.
"Er, I'll have a bit of that, thanks." Rose indicates towards the blue food, which the Ood promptly spoons onto the tray.
"Same," Katy supplies.
"Would you like sauce with that?" the Ood asks the sisters politely.
"I'll have a go, yeah." Rose nodded, while Katy shakes her head no. "I did that job once. I was a, a dinner lady. Not that I'm calling you a lady. Although, I don't know, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?" Rose asks the Ood.
It raises its orb to respond.
"The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God." It intoned.
Both Katy and Rose blinked at it.
"Pardon me?" Katy questioned, surprised.
"Apologies," the Ood replied. "I said, I hope you enjoy your meal."
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Rose gave the Ood a weird look, before both girls turned to sample their strange meal.
In the control room, Zach is monitoring the drilling process.
"Drill head now at point sixteen," the computer announces. "Drill head speed increasing."
"Keep pressure at sixty," Zach instructs the computer before turning away from the console, and the hologram in the middle of the console suddenly turns briefly into an image of a roaring horned beast. However, when Zach looks back, the image disappears.
But the strangeness, isn't only in the control room.
Danny is walking along the corridor, minding his own business and walks through a bulkhead door.
'Close door 3'.
"I've closed door three," Danny tells the computer, frowning. He shrugged, thinking it was a random malfunction.
'He is awake.' Danny pauses, blinks, then turns and frowns at the closed door behind him.
"What did you say?" He asks.
'Close door 3'.
Feeling strangely freaked, Danny hurries along to his destination, pretending that nothing actually happened.
In Toby's quarters, he is perusing pieces of a pot, and getting blinky from fatigue when…
"Toby. Don't turn around." The eerie voice from before warns him. Toby freezes, wary.
"Dan?" He calls out. His first reaction was to get angry again about being interrupted doing his work, but realises the voice belonged to something more sinister. "That's not Dan," He realises.
Toby goes to turn around to see who the intruder was.
"Don't look at me!" The voice warns harshly. Toby decides to listen to the voice.
"Who are you?"
"I have so many names…" The voice responds mysteriously. Toby swallows hard and licks his suddenly chapped lips.
"If I could—" He tries to turn around again.
"If you look at me, you will die."
"But who are you?" Toby asks, frightened.
"I'm behind you, Toby. I'm right behind you. Don't look. Don't look at me. One look and you will die." Toby shudders in horror. "I'm reaching out, Toby. I'm so close. Don't turn around. Oh, I can touch you…" Toby abruptly turns to see.
But there is no one there.
He puts down the pieces of pot he was looking at and rips off his latex gloves. His eyes widen in horror when he sees the same alien symbols he had written on the walls in Habitation Three on the palms of his hands.
He picks up a mirror and they are on his face too.
He falls to the floor…
A/N: Stay tuned for part two!