Through the Universe [2]

I. The Impossible Planet

"We must feed." the Ood say together.

"You're gonna what?" I ask them slightly confused and shocked at the same time.

"We must feed." they repeat.

"Yeah. I think they mean us." Rose tells us before we begin to back away as the Odd advance on us. "We must feed." they keep repeating. The three of us try and make for the door, but it opens and more Ood come through it. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."

Yet another door opens and more Ood walk slowly through it. The Doctor, Rose and I are cornered. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." the Ood continue. The Doctor takes his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket whilst I take one of my guns out of my holsters and Rose arms herself with a chair. "We must feed. We must feed." they continue. The Doctor, Rose and I, screwdriver, gun and chair at the ready, are backed against the wall by the advancing Ood. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."

"We must feed." one Odd says out of sync with the others then it suddenly shakes and taps the white ord he holds before him. "You. If you are hungry."

"Sorry?" I ask confused and lowering my gun.

"We apologise. Electromagnetics has interfered with our speech system." the Ood tells us. Rose puts down the chair as the Doctor lowers his screwdriver. "Would you like some refreshment?" the Ood asks us.

"Uhm..." the Doctor begins.

"Open door 18." the computer says. A door opens and someone comes through the door, flanked by two others holding guns. "What the hell...? How did...?" the man asks, approaching the Doctor, Rose and I. "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." he says, into his communication device. The Doctor, Rose and I don't quite know what to make of this unusual reception. "Don't be stupid, that's impossible." someone says back through the communication device.

"I suggest telling them that." the man says, staring at us.

"But you're a sort of space base, you must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible." Rose tells him.

"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" the man asks us roughly.

"No idea. More fun that way." the Doctor gins, making me shake my head towards him.

"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way." someone says. As the base starts the quake and tremble, the man we were just talking to rushes over to a door and opens it. "Through here! Now. Quickly, come on!" he yells urgently. Sirens sound. The Doctor, Rose and I run to follow him through the door, with the two other security guards. "Now!" he yells.

**********

We go through into another corridor which is shaking, smoke rising from the floor, complete chaos. "Move it! Come on! Come on, come on!" he yells over the noise. We hurry down the corridor that we find ourselves in.

**********

The Doctor, Rose, me, and the three men walk into the control room. "Oh, my God. You mean it." a man says as everyone's mouths drop open and the Doctor beams around at everyone. "People! Look at that! Real people!" another man exclaims.

"That's us. Hooray!" the Doctor cheers.

"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose... Rose Tyler, and... and this is the Doctor and the Protector." Rose introduces us.

"Come on... the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be... no. They're real." someone else says, striding over to us.

"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" someone yells impatiently. The seconds count down on a computer screen before the person turns to us. "Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just... hold on. Tight." he warns us.