When the TARDIS materialized, it did so with audible difficulty; groaning and wheezing, as though it didn't want to land.
Cass, from her perch on the jump seat, frowned. She had only needed to hear that particular sound to know exactly where they'd landed, and it wasn't exactly an adventure she was itching to have.
In fact, she'd been kinda hoping to avoid it altogether.
Following the Doctor and Rose outside, she sighed when the man murmured worriedly, "I dunno what's wrong with her, she's sort of... queasy. Indigestion, like..."
"She didn't want to land." She finished grimly, frown deepening on her face when she felt the deep thrum of unwillingness from the clever girl.
They'd realized, over the course of their adventures, that she could understand the TARDIS very well. Could feel its emotions and decipher them as words, as thoughts...as feelings.
The Doctor had theorized that the vortex swimming in her veins was the cause, but it was still a lower quantity that he had, and he couldn't seem to understand the machine as she did. So they'd simply shaken their heads, and filed it under 'Cassie Mysteries', along with the hundred other unexplainable things about her.
Rose looked around curiously, before saying, "Oh, if you think there's gonna be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else..."
Both she and her pilot burst into disbelieving laughter, shoulders shaking with mirth. As though they would ever leave because of danger! What an inane thought.
But the laughter stopped when they noticed something missing, when they couldn't hear twinkling bells and the Doctor couldn't feel his tether's glee in his chest. Instead, all he felt from her was hesitation and discomfort.
When they turned to her, they found her frowning, hands wringing together in slight nervousness as she whispered, "This place...it feels...wrong." She knew why, knew exactly what was wrong, but it just...it was more than foreknowledge, more than precognition. It was like something, in the pit of her chest had hollowed out the minute the doors had opened, and instead of being reassured that she knew the events as they would occur, all Cass could feel was...darkness.
A warm hand wrapped around her own, fingers threading together, as her tether's voice reassured, "We'll check it out, and if you still feel that way, we'll leave immediately."
She nodded, though she knew,she just knew, that wouldn't be the case. There were many unpredictable things about her tether, but his thirst for adventure, for fixing things wasn't one of them.
The more perilous the situation seemed, the more eager he would be to dive headfirst into it, consequences be damned.
And Rose was exactly the same. Reckless to the point of self-endangerment sometimes.
Following behind her alien, she still frowned as he said joyfully, "I think... we've landed inside a cupboard!" Hurrying towards the door, he pushed it open, "Here we go!"
"Open Door 15." An automated voice announced above them.
They looked around, well, Rose and the Doctor were looking around. Cass meanwhile, had begun rubbing her throat nervously, feeling as though the darkness in the air was wrapping around her vocal chords.
It just...this entire place felt so unbelievably wrong, that she couldn't even begin to explain it in normal terms. Couldn't describe it in words if she tried.
"Some sort of base... moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits." The Doctor explained.
Rose glanced curiously out a window, listening to the sounds behind it, "Glad we're indoors, sounds like a storm out there..."
They pushed through another door, the computer announcing again, "Open Door 16," as the Doctor continued, "Human design, you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier."
And through another door they went, arriving into what looked like a canteen, the computer once more intoning, "Open Door 17."
The man came to a stop, spinning around in thought, before exclaiming, "Oh, it's a sanctuary base! Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath... Someone's drilling!"
But he frowned when he noticed neither of his girls listening, instead, their attention was drawn to a wall, as the blonde murmured, "welcome to Hell."
"Oh, it's not that bad!" He pouted.
The youngest points the graffiti out to him; a large scrawling of ' Welcome to Hell', beneath which laid a set of symbols in a different language.
One the TARDIS wouldn't translate.
But one Cass somehow found herself able to read, herein lies the devil's domain; lord of darkness and destruction.
"Hold on...What does that say?" The man huffed, walking closer to the writing, Cass being pulled behind him by their linked hands.
"That's weird. It won't translate."
"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything," Rose asked, confused, "even writing, back into English."
That wasn't necessarily true. The TARDIS, though in the form of a machine, was a living thing. Occasionally, it could choose not to translate something, such as Gallifreyan. But most of the time, if a language remained untranslated for no reason, that meant it was old.
It preceded the time of the Time Lords themselves, wasn't present on the clever girl's omniscient matrix.
Which only made the feeling of absolute wrongness grow in the redhead. If the language was this old, if it was this...wrong, then why could she read it?
And why, couldn't she tell her family what it meant? The words seemed to stop at her throat, refusing to come out no matter how hard she pushed.
She couldn't tell them, and yet she knew.
So instead, she cleared her throat, before muttering, "That means it's impossibly old. Impossibly old, and impossibly wrong."
The Doctor nodded, her apprehension finally reaching him as he tugged her closer, and began walking to the other door, "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough..."
"Open Door 19."
They gasped at what lay behind; a horde of small pale aliens, with egg-shaped hands and tentacles where their mouths ought to be. Cass couldn't help the pang of pity that went through her, knowing how unfair the aliens', Ood's, lives actually were.
"Right!" The Doc nodded quickly, "Hello! Sorry! Uh... I was just saying, uh... nice base!"
"We must feed," the aliens all replied at once, voices mingling into one.
"You're gonna what?"
"We must feed,"
Rose slowly began backing away, "Yeah, i think they mean us."
Cass shook her head, trying to pull them back, but found herself tugged behind her tether regardless, as he opened more doors, more Ood appearing until it seemed as though they were surrounded, he chorus of "We must feed," growing in volume.
When she saw him raise his sonic, however, she huffed, lowering his hand and saying, "It's fine. They're just confused. They don't want to feed on us, they want to feed us." Looking at the Ood, she smiled gently, head tilting, "Right?"
One of them approached, repeating, "We must feed," as it gently shook the white orb in its palm, before continuing, "You. If you are hungry."
The Doctor blinked, "I'm sorry?"
"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems."
He slowly turned to his tether, finding her eyes already on him, a small, smug smile on her face as she explained, "Doc, Rose, meet the Ood. Humanity's future slave race. Makes me real proud to be a human, please note the sarcasm. They're harmless, for now at least."
"For now?" He whispered, tugging her closer, eyes narrowing when he felt exactly how...uncomfortable she felt here. How...wrong indeed, this place felt to her.
He really should've listened to her from the get-go, instead of jumping headfirst at the prospect of an adventure.
Cass bit her lip, before whispering apologetically, "spoilers, sorry. I think...i think i can't give anything away here. Something's blocking my ability to tell you what's to come, to warn you."
Confusion filled him at her words, but he nodded regardless, knowing that there was no precedent to her abilities, and thus, no way to understand until the answers were given to them.
They looked back at the Ood as they said, "Would you like some refreshment?"
"Uhhh..."
They weren't able to answer, Cass managing to shoot them a polite smile of decline before spinning on her heels, facing another door a second before it opened, letting a man flanked by two others through.
The redhead frowned slightly at how correctly she'd timed the action, how she'd managed to turn at just the right time, but shook her head, chalking the action up to her precognitive powers kicking in.
The man in the middle, the one not holding a gun, frowned in bewilderment, "What...how?" His eyes moved between each of the three in mounting confusion, before he raised his communicator to his lips, breathing incredulously, "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."
Cass rolled her eyes at the obvious statement, as both the Doctor and Rose looked at each other in confusion, not really understanding why their presence was that big of a deal.
"Don't be stupid," another voice came through the comm, "that's impossible..."
"i suggest telling THEM that,"
Rose tilted her head, "But you're a sort of space base, you must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?"
"No," the redhead sighed tiredly, before looking pointedly at her tether, "We never really do, because someone thinks it's more fun to fly at random."
The Doctor grinned, quickly wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her into his chest, whispering teasingly, "But i thought you loved how spontaneous I was."
The way he'd murmured than word, Cass knew he wasn't talking about their adventures, at least...not the kind that happened outside their bedroom. Clearing her throat, she internally cursed the blush on her face, mumbling, "That's not what i meant..."
And besides, while she did love his spontaneity most of the time, Cass couldn't function like that. It's why she appreciated her foreknowledge, because while random bullshit popped up on every adventure, she always knew what would eventually occur, always felt that things would end up alright in the end.
Like she'd told him before, she couldn't just go waltzing into danger, armed with nothing but a sonic and a smile. She needed more.
Through the communicator, another voice, this one distinctly female, warned, "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way."
The base began quacking roughly when the man ran to another door, pulling it open, "Through here!" He yelled, waving them through, "Now! Quickly, come on!" he kept yelling as they ran through the halls, watching as it shook and ominous plumes of smoke began rising from the floor. Rose screamed, feeling herself nearly tumble, though before she could, a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her sideways, and she sighed in relief, grateful for the millionth time that her older sister could see and predict the future to some extent.
Finally, they ran trough one final door into what seemed like a control room of sorts, where a crew was quick at work. Three people, two men and a woman looked up at the computer announced their presence, gaping, "oh, my god!" A black man breathed in awe, "you meant it!"
"People!" The woman exclaimed, "look at that! Real people!"
"That's us," the Doctor confirmed happily, pulling his tether back into his chest, needing to feel her safe in his arms, before grinning, "Hooray!"
He'd been more protective, since the Magpie incident. More possessive, needing to touch her more, as though to constantly reassure himself, and their bond, that she was safe, that she was still here.
Normally, Cass would have immediately balked at his behavior. But she could feel him. She could feel how desperately he needed to touch her, to reassure himself that she was still with him, in his arms. She could feel how grievously the past adventure had hurt him, how it had caused the bond to torture him, to ensure her safety. So, if he needed to constantly touch her to feel sane, then there were worst things in the world.
Especially when she simply loved being in his arms.
"Yeah," Rose nodded, a small smirk on her face, "Definitely real. My name's Rose...Rose Tyler. And this is Cass and the Doctor."
"Come on..." a young Indian man whispered in awe, making his way over to them, "the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be..." His finger slowly reached out and poked Cass' cheek, pulling quickly away when she flinched in surprise, and gasping, realizing she was solid. As in real, they all were, "No. They're real!"
"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert!" The black man yelled impatiently, "Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" Turning to look at the trio, he added, "I'm sorry you three, whoever you are...Just, hold on. Tight."
"Hold on where?" Rose asked, before getting pulled towards a group of beams, Cass' hand pulled her own towards one, wrapping it tightly and whispering, "Just...just hold on tight and do not let go!"
In turn, the Doctor pulled her to his chest, backing them quickly into another beam, her back directly against it as he wrapped his arms around both of them, pushing her face into his chest.
"Ood, are we fixed?"
One of the aliens held up its orb, saying, "Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated."
"What is this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor asked, looking over his tether's shoulder at the crew.
"Now, don't be stupid," a slightly older woman shook her head, "It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" Her expression dropped in stupefaction when the Doc simply raised his brow at her, "You really don't know, do you?"
"And...IMPACT!" The black man, who seemed to be the one in command, yelled.
The entire base shook, very violently. Cass had to wrap both of her arms around the Doctor, gripping into his jacket till her knuckles turned white, while consciously pressing them even further into a beam, feeling its shape bruising her back.
When it calmed down, she felt him beginning to pull away, sighing, "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad..." but she clutched him tighter, pulling him back into her, his arms automatically wrapping around the beam again to keep from falling, "It's not over just yet."
And just like that, the base began shaking with renewed vigor, the tremors even more potent and powerful than before. Explosions began blasting throughout the room, sparks lighting up the air, as everyone got thrown around, only their grips keeping them from slamming harshly into the walls.
Until finally, it quieted.
"Okay, that's it," the black man announced, relieved, "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" The middle aged woman who'd been talking to them yelled.
"Danny?"
The Indian man held his hand up, "Fine."
"Toby?"
Another young man, who'd been flung to the floor, pulled himself up with a groaned, "Yeah, fine."
"Scooti?"
The youngest amongst them, a woman, announced happily, "No damage."
"Jefferson?"
"Check!" The eldest man, who'd grabbed a fire extinguisher, shouted.
"And we're fine, thanks," the Doctor muttered sarcastically, hands coasting over his tether's body frantically, as his eyes sought out Rose, "Fine, yeah, don't worry about us," he sighed in relief when he'd finally realized both of his girls were alright.
The black man, who Cass assume must've been Zach by process of elimination, ignored him, saying, "The surface caved in," his fingers quickly typed on the key, pulling up the base's schematics to show them, "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," the young man grumbled.
"Just do as i say, yeah?"
He grumbled some more as he obeyed, and Cass couldn't keep her eyes from following his figure, knowing exactly how instrumental he'd become to whatever darkness had permeated the air around them.
"Oxygen holding!" Ida called, "Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay!"
Roe shook her head, "Never mind the earthquake, that's... that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"
Cass grinned at her softly, shaking her head, "You'd need an atmosphere for that. Space is a vacuum, there's no air to create a hurricane." Her smiled dropped, face falling into a worried frown again as she muttered the next part, "this, this is something way worse."
"Then, what's shaking the roof?" The blonde asked, not having heard her sister's words. The Doctor however, had, and with an arching furrow in his brows, pulled the redhead closer to himself, holding onto her as though to shield her from whatever danger she sensed.
He'd nearly lost her once already, he wasn't ready to do that again.
Noticing Ida's frown, Cass nodded before she could say anything, sighing, "Yeah, we really, really don't know what's happening here."
The older woman looked at her with wide eyes, before nodding, "Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." She began pointing to each person in turn, introducing them, "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir... you've met Mr Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee."
"Not as boring as it sounds," Danny grinned, winking impishly at the redhead, before smirking when he noticed the way the tall man behind her pulled her deeper into his chest, as though letting him know exactly what they were to one another.
Cass chuckled at the jealousy she felt form him, reaching up to rub his knuckles reassuringly, as Ida continued, "And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this... is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance."
The youngest grinned happily, before moving to a set of controls, pulling a lever as Ida finished, "And this...this is home."
Zach turned to them knowingly, warning, "Brace yourselves, the sight of it sends some people mad."
Red-tinged light began shining upon them as the window slowly opened, revealing a black hole.
Cass couldn't help the gasp of slight awe that left her as she looked at it. After all, she'd spent all of her adult life studying the stars and the cosmos. To witness such a thing in real life, to see it with her own eyes...well, it really did remind her how insignificant they all were in the grand scheme of the universe.
But right there, snaking between the awe she felt, was that feeling again. As though this black hole in particular, was just...wrong. Dark in all of the wrong and worst ways.
"That's a black hole," Rose gasped.
The Doctor shook his head, "But that's impossible."
"I did warn you," the captain smirked.
Cass shook her head as well, disbelief warring with worry an her face, "But...we can't be...we're orbiting a black hole!"
"But we CAN'T be." Her tether shook his head again.
Ida nodded, raising her hands, "This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."
Rose turned to the pilots, knowing they'd be able to explain this better than the crew, "and that's bad, yeah?"
"It's impossible..."Cass breathed, before looking at her sister and elaborating, "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, a thousand times over...until all the matter around it's so dense that it begins pulling everything in." She bit her lip, feeling the Doc grab her hand tightly, his protective instincts rising to the surface against this improbable and impossible threat, "Nothing can escape it...not light, not matter, certainly not an entire fucking space base." Her eyes moved to her tether's, widening in fight and disbelief, "We should be dead."
She felt him pull her tighter into his chest, his nose nuzzling against her temples when he felt her fear, as though trying to remind her of his presence, to remind her that nothing could harm her while he was there.
Except, they were in orbit around a black hole that didn't feel correct, and she knew, the threat that laid inside would change...everything.
"So, they can't be in orbit," Rose realized, "we should be pulled right in."
"And yet...here we are," Ida looked up, eyes moving to the light-erasing darkness above them, "Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome onboard."
"But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" The blonde pointed towards a moving cloud.
"Gas cloud," the redhead revealed, not noticing the interest Ida now held at her knowledge. After all, this had been what she'd spent years studying, she knew a thing...or eighty-five. "I told you, Rosie...black holes pulls everything in, including entire star systems. And when a star breaks up, it releases gas."
Ida nodded, "Yes. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads before falling into that thing."
"So...a bit worse than a storm then?"
"Just a bit."
Rose scoffed, finally understanding exactly why apprehensive Cass had been since they'd left the TARDIS, "Just a bit, yeah."
—
"Close Door 1."
Cass turned around, eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of Toby returning. He seemed...scared. Almost as though he'd been spooked by something outside.
"You good?"
The boy nodded, shooting her a fleeting smile that did nothing to reassure her. She knew he'd been contacted by now, knew whatever monster lived in that hole must've reached out to him.
Zach pressed a couple of keys, and a hologram of the black hole appeared before them. From next to her, the Doctor pulled on his glasses, grinning a softly when he felt her amusement at them, before looking back at the captain who explained, "That's the black hole. Officially designated K37 Gen 5."
"In the scriptures of the Falltino," Ida added, "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."
Rose grinned, looking happily at the pilots, "The bitter pill. I like that."
"i don't." Cass muttered, before adding to her family, "Demons don't just hide in fiery pits."
Her tether frowned at the words, cataloguing them in the back of his mind, knowing they were most likely one of her subconscious premonitions. Pressing a gentle kiss to the side of her head, he then turned to Zach, "We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe, how did you even get here?!"
"We flew in, you see..." he pressed another button, bringing up a different hologram of the black hole, one showing its gravity field, "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?" Rose grinned incredulously, "Like a rollercoaster."
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain... which is what put me in charge..."
Ida placed a consoling hand on his shoulder, "You're doing a good job."
"Yeah, well, needs must."
"But if that funnel closes," Danny added, "then there's no way out."
Scooti rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we had fun speculating about that."
The young man huffed out laugh, before smacking her softly upside the head with a scroll, "Oh, yeah. That's the word...fun."
Cass meanwhile, simply shook her head, the scientist in her rising to the surface at the challenge, the notion of this thing she didn't understand.
A mystery she could unravel.
Stepping closer to the hologram, she began, voice taking on the tone of a lecturer, "But s field like that...that would take phenomenal amounts of power. Not any normal amounts either, but above and beyond what even a black hole would be theoretically capable of producing..." her eyes swung to Ida's, noting the scientist's observant gleam, and she nodded towards the image, asking, "May i...?"
"Sure," the woman handed her a calculator, "help yourself."
Cass grimaced lightly, before asking, "Um...could i maybe just have a pen and paper? I work faster by hand."
Ida's eyes widened in disbelief, but she handed her the items she'd requested, before leaving her to her own devices.
Cass raised her eyes to the hologram once more, before putting her pen to the paper and writing, mind whirring far too fast for anyone to comprehend. Within instants, calculations and algorithms that usually needed computing power to solve were laid out in messy scrawls.
The Doctor had chosen to stand beside her, eyes never leaving her face. He'd seen her work, knew exactly how bloody brilliant his tether was, but he'd never witnessed this. He'd never seen her in her element this way, surrounded by space and empty matter, numbers and equations coming as easily to her as words did to most.
He couldn't help but smile lovingly when he noticed her face; she'd been biting her tongue. That expression he adored, the one she only made when she was so heavily focused on something, usually fixing whatever he'd managed to break in the TARDIS, was clear and present right now.
His eyes dropped to her paper, widening when he realized that she'd really worked faster by hand than by a computer, running calculations quicker than the machine would. He could barely understand how, since even he wouldn't have been able to do any of this quite as fast, but...this was his Cassie. She was far more brilliant than even he was.
"Huh," she finally breathed a minute later, head tilting as she kept her eyes on the hole, "It's...odd. 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."
Rose approached her, eyes growing when they dropped to the messy paper, before breathing curiously, "That's a lot of sixes."
"Three of them, to be specific." Cass added slowly, before swallowing and speaking into her tether's mind.
Six-six-six, beware the number of the beast, Theta.
"And it's impossible," he finished for her, quietly wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her back flush to his chest.
Zach gasped, disbelief in his eyes as he stared at her, "we...it took us TWO YEARS to work that out! And you...you just did it in less than five minutes!"
"I'm good," she shrugged modestly, only to roll her eyes when the Doc bragged, "She's a genius."
Ida grinned, before nodding, "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."
"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazen Scale," Zach agreed.
"We could revolutionize modern science."
Jefferson nodded, piping up, "We could use it to fuel the Empire."
But the redhead shook her head, smiling slowly, "Historically speaking...humans aren't known for making use of limitless energy wisely. They're just as likely to use it to start some kind of war. Actually, that's what they're most likely to do."
"Exactly," the Doc nodded.
From behind them, Toby added, ominously, "It's buried beneath us. In the darkness, waiting."
"And what's your job?" Rose turned to him with a raised brow, "Chief dramatist?"
Both the Doc and Cass smirked, grinning at her well-timed quip.
"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."
Cass looked to him curiously, "So I take it you're the Michelangelo behind the wall graffiti?"
He nodded, smirking at the title a little, before explaining, "I copied it from fragments we found on earth by the drilling, but I can't translate it."
"No, neither can I," the Doctor sighed, "and that's saying something."
But when he felt Cassie tensing against him, he looked down at her curiously, finding a strained expression on her face.
What's wrong?
I could read it, Theta. Her voice whispered softly across his mind. I could read it, but every time I open my mouth to tell you, or even try to project the thought to you, i can't. It's like something is blocking it.
His eyes narrowed in concern. Nothing had been able to affect her ability to speak her premonitions before. And yet, he could see the veritable struggle on her face as she valiantly tried, and failed, to tell him.
Can you give me a hint?
A second passed, before she whispered ominously, abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
Dante's Inferno? Why would she be quoting Dante's Inferno now? Cataloguing the information in his mind, he whispered, "It's alright. Nothing's going to hurt you or Rose, i promise."
"Yeah, that's not gonna work, buddy," she huffed back, looking up at him in slight exasperation, "I need you to include yourself in that promise too, Time Lord. I worry more about you than i do the both of us combined."
He grinned softly, leaning down to quickly press his lips against her own, cursing how little time they had, how he couldn't fully appreciate her taste, "Promise, I'll come back to you, alive and in one piece. Always."
"There was some form of civilization," Toby continued, accidentally interrupting their moment, "They buried something. Now it's reaching out. Calling us in."
The alien beamed at them, "And you came."
"Well, how could we not?" Ida shrugged.
As he began rambling, Cass giggled, turning to the captain with a conspiratorial smirk, "Zach?"
"Yes?" He smiled at her.
"Just giving you a heads up, he's about to give you a hug. So you might wanna get into position."
"is that alright?" The Doctor grinned.
The man nodded slowly, "I s'pose so..."
"Here we go," the Doctor said, edging closer to him, "Coming in." He threw his arms around Zach, hugging him tightly, grinning wide, "Ahh, human beings, you are amazing!Ha!"
He released him, smiling when he felt and heard both Cass and Rose chuckling, "Thank you,"
"Not at all."
"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives."
"You can talk!" Ida laughed, "And how the hell did you get here?"
His face blanked, "Oh, I've got this um..." he trailed off, not really sure how to explain his clever machine, "It's hard to explain, it just sort of...appears."
Rose nodded, "We can show you, we parked down the corridor from um...oh, what's it called? Uh, Habitation Area..."
"Three..." Cass finished slowly, heart dropping when it dawned on her exactly what had happened to the clever girl.
She wasn't dead, that much she knew. But for now...
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach questioned, frowning.
"Uh, it was a bit of a cupboard, yeah." The Doctor agreed, "Storage six, but you said..." slowly dawned on him, eyes widening in horror, "You said... you said storage five to eight."
His eyes turned to his tether, only to find her nodding slowly, a replica of his desperate expression painted on her face. And with no further argument, the two took off at once down the corridor, Rose close behind.
All but one of them believing without a shadow of a doubt, that their TARDIS was lost forever.
"What is it?!" The blonde yelled as she ran after them, trying to keep up, "What's wrong?"
"Open Door 19."
The tethered couple dashed through the canteen, eyes focused solely on the next door.
"Close Door 19."
He spun the wheel angrily, bunt when it resisted, he yelled, "Stupid doors, come ON!" It swung open, and they ran through again.
"Open Door 17."
They pushed open another one, rushing down a different corridor, to another door.
"Open Door 16."
As Cass watched roughly try to open the next door, she sighed, knowing it would be fruitless.
"Door 15 out of commission."
When he started slamming his shoulder against it, she slowly pulled him away, murmuring, "It won't work, and you can't brute force your way through it."
"It can't be!" He yelled frantically, "Can't be!"
When Rose finally reached them, she huffed, breathless and panicked, "What's wrong?! What is it?!" She arched as the alien opened a small porthole on the side, and glanced through it, "Doctor, the TARDIS is in there. What's happened?"
"The TARDIS is gone..." he breathed, devastation evident in his tone. Cass wrapped herself around his back, hands tenderly gripping his jacket as she tried to offer him comfort, any comfort against this loss, "The earthquake. This section collapsed."
"But it's gotta be out there somewhere," she shook her head, puzzled, before peering out to the rocky landscape.
"Look down." He said softly, and she obeyed, eyes widening in horror as she saw the gaping chasm beneath them.
Cass inhaled softly, before saying, "She's not dead." When they both turned to look at her pityingly, thinking her words were ones of denial rather than actual truth, she huffed, "The last time the TARDIS 'died', i felt it. I'm connected to the vortex morons, remember? If she was dead, i would feel it, very painfully at that." Leaning closer to her tether, she added, smirking softly, "Also, also, I'm a precog. She's not dead, just...geographically indisposed."