Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Seventy-Two: Silent Night

The comms whistle again. I get to my feet and reach for the button, motioning for him to speak. After all, he's the Captain by default now. "This is the bridge."

"This is Kitchen Five."

He shares my relieved grin. "How many of you are there?"

"Six of us. Just about. Are we the only ones left alive, sir?"

"No, there's more on Deck Nineteen." My warnings aren't enough to stop him. Using the desk to pull himself up, he examines the controls. "Hold on. If I reverse the scanner..." With a few prods of the ship's schematics on the screen, dozens of tiny figures dot across the various floors. "There's fifty— sixty people still alive all over the shop. Hold on, I can see you! Kitchen Five, there you are! Listen, everyone's heading for the bridge. Don't go portside, there's no air. Can you make your way starboard?"

The ceiling creaks again. I look up, muttering prayers under my breath. It remains steady.

Hesitating, the cook replies, "We're stuck. The doors have sealed, we can't get out." With another pause, we can hear a muffled squeaking. "No, wait a minute. It's opening! There's someone on the other side!"

We look at the scan again. There is no other life form indicated on the rest of their floor.

The cook cheers, "Host, we've got Host! The Host are still working!"

At my confused glance, Alonso explains, "The angels. That's brilliant! Tell them to clear a path to the bridge."

They don't reply.

"Did you get that? Kitchen Five, report. Hello, Kitchen Five?"

Screams ring out from the speakers. Then a slicing of metal. The life-signs vanish.

"Report! Kitchen Five, report, now!"

Nothing.

My eyes close. I utter another prayer, this time for easy passage.

"Inara, Mr Frame, how's things?"

Still in a state of shock, his head shaking slightly, he stammers, "Doctor, I've got life signs all over the ship but they're going out, one by one."

The Doctor pauses. "What is it, they losing air?"

"N-No. One of them said it was the Host, it's something to do with the Host."

We wait but he says nothing. My heartbeat grows louder again. I can't keep that noise out of my head. "Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor!"

His reply is taking too long. I begin to pace, agitatedly pulling on the roots of my hair. Most of the elaborate bun he did for me has come loose from the crash.

"The Host have gone berserk! Are you safe up there?" his shout finally comes.

We freeze. Footsteps tread softly towards us. Just through the open doorway, a ripple of white catches my eye. I sprint over and slam my hand against the button for the door.

Before I can properly catch my breath, Alonso shrieks, lunging for the fallen pistol. A loud bang shocks me away from the door as he shoots the button. It slams shut with a little more force and a severed mechanical hand falls to the floor. Backing up, we find the Host staring back through the window.

"How long will that hold, d'you think?"

I don't need an answer. Stumbling over to the rubble, I try to shift some of it over to block the door, cautious not to disturb it and cause another collapse.