Nova's P.O.V:
The Doctor, Rose and I step out of the TARDIS doors before turning around to look back up at it. "I dunno what's wrong with her, she's sort of... queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land." the Doctor says.
"Oh, if you think there's gonna be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else..." Rose begins before trailing off but the three of us burst out laughing at this absurd notion. "I think... we've landed inside a cupboard!" the Doctor says, looking around. "Here we go!"
The Doctor pushes the door open and we enter another part of wherever we are. "Open Door 15." a computer says.
"Some sort of base..." I begin. "moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits." I tell them.
"Glad we are indoors cos it sounds like a storm out there..." Rose trails off listening to the noise outside before following both the Doctor and me through the door and into a corridor. "Human design, you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier." the Doctor says before we go through another door.
**********
"Open door 17." the computer says.
"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" the Doctor says, striding into the middle of the room.
"Close door 17." the computer says as I shut the door.
"Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath..." the Doctor says, pointing downwards, indicating for us to listen. We hear the hum of drills. "Someone's drilling."
"Welcome to hell." I say, looking up and reading the words off the wall.
"Oh, it's not that bad!" the Doctor tells me.
"No, over there!" I laugh, pointing over to the wall which has the words WELCOME TO HELL are scrawled on the wall, with ancient symbols written underneath. "Hold on..." the Doctor begins, walking over to the wall. "What does that say?" he asks. He peers closely at the ancient text, but it remains stubbornly incomprehensible. "That's weird. It won't translate."
"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well. We should see English." Rose points out.
"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means... this writing is very old. Very old. Impossibly old." I tell them before the Doctor stands and goes over to another door with me following. "We should find out who's in charge." he begins, turning the wheel to open the door. "We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough..."
"Open door 19." the computer says. The door opens and the Doctor, Rose and I gasp in shock, stumbling backwards a few steps. The Ood stand on the other side of the door, blinking at us. "Right! Hello! Sorry! Uh... I was just saying, uh... nice base!" the Doctor stutters, trying to regain his composure.
"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.
"Hold on to what?" Rose asks him.
"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?" the man asks as the Doctor, Rose and I find some railings to hold on to. "Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated." the Ood says.
"What's this planet called, anyway?" I ask everyone in the room a general question.
"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" a woman asks us, making me raise my eyebrows. "You don't know, do you?" she asks us.
"And... Impact!" the man yells. The entire base shakes violently. The crew, the Doctor, Rose and I all cling on tight, but it's over pretty quick. The Doctor stands before offering me his hand to help me get up. "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad!" the Doctor says before we both get thrown backwards as the base shakes even more violently than it did before. I cling onto the Doctor whilst he clings to the railing for dear life. There is a small explosion from one of the consoles. Sparks fly around the room. We are all tossed about like a rag doll and finally, it stops. "Okay, that's it." the man says. Jefferson, whose name I learned on the way over here, hurries forward with a fire extinguisher. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" the person who I assume is Ida says.
"Danny?" the man asks.
"Fine." Danny replies.
"Toby?"
"Yeah, fine." Toby replies.
"Scooti?"
"No damage." Scooti says.
"Jefferson?"
"Check!" Jefferson yells.
"We're fine, thanks, fine, yeah, don't worry about us." the Doctor says.
"The surface caved in." the man tells us all. The graphics on the computer screen indicate the part of the base that has been lost. "I deflected it onto storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."
"That's not my department." Toby asks.
"Just do as I say, yeah?" the man asks him. Toby grudgingly leaves the room.
"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay." Ida says.
"Never mind the earthquake, that's... one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?" Rose asks, looking around.
"You'd need an atmosphere from a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum." Scooti tells us.
"Then what's shaking the roof?" Rose asks.
"You're not joking. You don't know? Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." Ida tells us. "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir... you've met Mr Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartlock. Ethics committee."
"Not as boring as it sounds." Danny tells us making us grin at him.
"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this..." she begins, placing her hands on Scooti's shoulders. "... is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance."
Scooti smiles over at us before Ida goes over to a set of controls. "And this... this is home." she says before she turns a lever and a whirring sound starts.
"Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad." Zach says. The room is flooded with a red-ish light as an overhead window opens, revealing a black hole right above us. The Doctor, Rose and I stand, amazed, watching the light being sucked into it. "That's a black hole." Rose says, amazed.
"Yeah. Way to point that out." I think to myself.
"But that's impossible." the Doctor says in disbelief.
"I did warn you." Zach tells us.
"We're standing under a black hole." the Doctor says in shock.
"We're in orbit." Ida tells us.
"But we can't be..." the Doctor trails off.
"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit." Ida repeats.
"But we can't be." the Doctor says, turning to look at her.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss." Ida says.
"And that's bad, yeah?" Rose asks.
"That doesn't cover it... 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. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity... time... everything just gets pulled inside... and crushed." I explain slightly confused.
"So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in." Rose says, making me nod my head.
"We should be dead." I tell her.
"And yet... here we are. Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board." Ida tells us, making me smile weakly over at her. "But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" Rose asks, pointing to clouds speeding rapidly towards the black hole outside the base. "Stars breaking up... gas clouds... we have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads before falling into that thing." Ida tells us.
"So, a bit worse than a storm, then." Rose tells her, making Ida nod her head.
"Just a bit." Ida tells us.
"Just a bit, yeah." Rose says but the base shakes again.
**********
Toby walks back into the control room after a while to find the crew, the Doctor, Rose and me crowded around the control panel. "Close door 1." the computer says.
"The rocket link's fine." Toby tells us before Zach taps a button on the controls and a hologram of the black hole appears before us causing the Doctor to put his glasses on. "That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gen 5." Zach tells us.
"In the scriptures of the Faltino, this planet is called Kroptor. The bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon." Ida tells us. "It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, Because it was poison."
"The bitter pill. I like that." Rose tells us, making me shake my head at her.
"We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe, how did you even get here?" the Doctor asks them, staring at the hologram.
"We flew in. You see..." Zach informs us, pressing another button and the hologram changes to one of the planet's gravity field emanating out from it like a tunnel. "This planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know-how, we've no idea, but... it's kept in a constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there." he says, gesturing to it. "As a funnel. A distinct... gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down in that thing?" she asks, grinning. "Like a rollercoaster."
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain... which is what put me in charge..." Zach informs us.
"You're doing a job." Ida consoles him.
"Yeah. Well, needs must." Zach says.
"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out." Danny says.
"We had fun speculating about that." Scooti tells us.
"Oh, yeah. That's the word." Danny says, whacking Scooti on the head with a scroll. "Fun."
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power! I mean... not just big, but off the scale!" I exclaim. "Can I...?" I ask trailing off and gesturing to the controls.
"Sure. Help yourself." Ida tells me, making me smile gently at her. She pushes the calculator over to me and leaves me to it and I gesture to the Doctor to help me.
After a while, the Doctor and I finish with the calculator. "There we go. D'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 source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every second." I tell them, standing up straight.
"That's a lot of sixes." Rose tells me.
"And it's impossible." the Doctor tells us.
"It took us two years to work that out!" Zach explains shocked.
"We're very good." I tell them modestly.
"But... that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below the solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." Ida tells us.
"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale." Zach says.
"We could revolutionize modern science." Ida says enthusiastically.
"We could use it to fuel the Empire." Jefferson says.
"Or start a war." the Doctor says, taking off his glasses.
"It's buried beneath us. In the darkness, waiting." Toby says.
"What's your job? Chief... dramatist?" Rose asks causing both the Doctor and me to smirk.
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomenon. And this, er, planet once supported life. Eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk." Toby says.
"We saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" the Doctor asks.
"I copied it from fragments we found on earth by the drilling, but I can't translate it." Toby nods.
"No, neither can I. And that's saying something." the Doctor says.
"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in." Toby says.
"And you came." I grin at them.
"Well, how could we not?" Ida asks. Zach turns off the hologram.
"So, when it comes right down to it, who did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant. Excuse me, ah, Zach, wasn't it?" I ask, still grinning at them fondly.
"That's me." Zach tells me.
"Just stand there, 'cos I'm gonna hug you. Is that all right?" I ask him as Jefferson just stares. "I s'pose so." Zach tells me.
"Here we go. Coming in." I say, edging towards him. I throw my arms around Zach and hug him, beaming. "Ahh, human begins, you are amazing." I beam. Ida looks bemused at this. "Ha!"
Rose chuckles and I release Zach before going to stand back next to my husband whilst he grabs my hand. "Thank you."
"Not at all." Zach says.
"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives." the Doctor says, changing the subject.
"You can talk! And how the hell did you get here?" Ida asks us confused as to how we got onto her space station.
"Oh, we've got this um... this... it's hard to explain, it's just sort of... appears." the Doctor explains.
"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from um... oh, what's it called?" Rose asks.
"Habitation area..." I answer for her.
"Three." the Doctor says, finishing my sentence.
"Three. Three." Rose says.
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asks.
"Uh, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah?" the Doctor says cheerfully. Zach glances uncomfortably at Ida. "Storage six, but you said..." the Doctor trails off.
"You said... you said storage five to eight." I realise as it dawns on me but without another word, I turn on my heel and dash from the room, dragging the Doctor with me. I spring back down the corridor with the Doctor, Rose hot on our tails. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rose asks, shouting after us. I frantically open Door 19.
"Open door 19." the computer says. We sprint the length of the room. "Close door 19."
I spin the wheel to try and open the door back through the other corridor. "Stupid doors, come on!" the Doctor exclaims furiously. It swings open and we begin to run through the door and down the corridor. "Open door 17." the computer says. We dash down the corridor, open another door.
"Open door 15." the computer says. We run down the corridor and slam ourselves against the next door, the Doctor frantically pushing the button to open it but it won't budge. "Door 16 out of commission."
"Can't be, can't be!" I exclaim.
"What's wrong? What is it?" Rose asks as I open a small round window in the door and look through it. "Doctor, Galaxy, the TARDIS is in there. What's happened?" Rose asks.
"The TARDIS is gone." I say, staring out the window and a few seconds later, I back away from the window, absolutely horrified and breathing heavily. "Door 16 out of commission." the computer says.
"The earthquake. This section collapsed." I breathe.
"But it's gotta be out there somewhere." Rose says, staring at me puzzled. She peers out of the window to witness the rocky landscape of the planet outside. "Look down." I tell her and Rose looks down. There is a gaping chasm right beneath us. The Doctor rubs my arm to calm me down. "It's gonna be alright. Just remember, the TARDIS isn't gone until I feel it has gone, alright?" the Doctor asks me, making me nod my head but in my head, I can't help but wonder if the TARDIS is gone and the Doctor doesn't want to say anything to me to make me even more upset than I already am.