"Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. Bring systems online now." Ida ordered as she made her way over to Raelle and The Doctor in the drilling area. Ida and the Doctor were in spacesuits, deciding to venture out and explore point zero. Raelle chewed down on her nails as she watched the Doctor get ready.
"Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force." The Doctor informed Zach as he made his way over to him, helmet under his hand.
"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol." Zach sighed. "We don't even know who you are."
"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you?" The Doctor countered. Zach scoffed in response. "And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on. Look me in the eye. Yes you do, I can see it. Trust." He smiled at Zach.
"I should be going down." Zach told him.
The Doctor shook his head. "The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."
"Not much good at it, am I?" He sighs. "Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mister Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement." Zach ordered as he made his way back to the control room. Raelle made her way over to the Doctor as he finished his final preparations.
"Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these." He grinned at the girl,
Raelle placed her two hands on his chest. "I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" She told him, a worried look in her eye.
"Yes, sir." The Doctor winked at her, causing her to smile slightly. He puts on his helmet.
"It's funny, because people back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about and teleports and anti gravity, but it's not, is it?" Raelle remarks as the Doctor stares at her intently. "It's tough." Her voice broke slightly.
"I'll see you later." The Doctor replied, sending her a reassuring look to calm her. He sent a wave of calmness across his body in the hopes she would receive the same feeling.
"Not if I see you first." She smiled, dipping her head down in a slight chuckle. She reaches up, pressing her two hands either side of his helmet to press a gentle kiss to the front of his helmet. The Doctor smiles down at the girl as he breaks away to make his way into the capsule with Ida, as Jefferson closes the door behind them.
"Capsule active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Release"
Jefferson salutes the two before they descend, moving away to reveal Raelle. She warmly smiles at the pair, waving her hand. The Doctor smirks back, mimicking her wave back as the capsule is lowered on its cable. Raelle watches them descend, moving to monitor their progress on the screen whilst clutching the microphone.
"You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own." Zach informed the Doctor and Ida over the comms as they turn on their life support.
"Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good." Raelle added over the comms.
"Raelle, stay off the comm." Zach ordered.
"No chance." She retorted.
The capsule shudders even more than usual then suddenly drops. Raelle watches as the capsule drops down, causing the drilling room to shudder in response.
"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?" She asks intently over the comms. The screen says the capsule has reached Point Zero.
"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" Zach ordered.
"It's all right. We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now." The Doctor informed them, as him and Ida opened the door. They shone their torches around the area.
Raelle sighed a breath of relief. "What's it like down there?"
"It's hard to tell." The Doctor informed her, squinting about. "Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive."
"Well, this should help. Gravity globe." Ida throws up a ball that illuminates the cavern. They stare at their surroundings in admiration. "That's, that's." Ida stuttered. "My God, that's beautiful."
"Elle, you can tell Toby we've found his civilisation" The Doctor remarked as he stared around at the walls of the cavern, carved into pillars and statues.
Raelle smiled, glancing over to Toby who sat on the floor. "Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work."
"Good, good. Good." He replied blankly, staring down at his hands.
"Concentrate now, people." Zach reminded everyone. "Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?"
"We're close." She replied, checking her scanner. "Energy signature indicates north north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"
"There's too much interference. We're in your hands." Zach informed her.
Ida sighed. "Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back." She turned to the Doctor.
"Oh, did you have to? No turning back?" The Doctor whined. "That's almost as bad as nothing can possible go wrong, or this is going to be the best Christmas Walford's ever had."
Ida stared at him in disbelief. "Are you finished?"
He paused, eyeing her. "Yeah. Finished." He told her, walking on.
"Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood." Danny stated over the comms, a panicked tone to his voice.
"What are they doing?" Zach asked.
"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't."
Zach chuckled, shaking his head. "Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being stared at."
Danny shook his head in frustration. "But the telepathic field, sir. It's at basic one hundred. I've checked. there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred."
Zach frowned. "But that's impossible. They should be dead."
'What's basic one hundred mean?" Raelle asked Jefferson as they listened over the comms
"Basic one hundred's brain death." Jefferson informed her. They both frowned as they listened on.
"But they're safe. They're not actually moving?" Zach asked.
"No, sir." Danny reported.
Zach nodded. "Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson? Keep a guard on the Ood." He ordered.
"Officer at arms!" Jefferson commanded, grabbing his gun from beside Raelle.
"You can't fire a gun in here. What if you hit a wall?" Raelle asked incredously.
"I'm firing stock fifteen." He told her, as he loaded the gun. "It only impacts upon organics. Keep watch. Guard them." He ordered the other officers, gesturing to the Ood standing in the room.
"Is everything all right up there?" The Doctor asked over the comms.
"Yeah, yeah." Raelle replied hastily.
"It's fine." Zach nonchalantly responded.
"Great." Danny added.
At Point Zero, The Doctor and Ida have gone between a pair of massive pillars into an area with a lot of rubble, discovering a big round decorated door in the floor. "We've found something." The Doctor informed the others as he stood beside the door. "It looks like metal. Like some sort of seal. I've got a nasty feeling the word might be trapdoor." He tapped the door with his foot. "Not a good word, trapdoor. Never met a trapdoor I liked."
Ida shone her torch over the inscriptions on the side of the door. "The edge is covered with those symbols."
"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked over the comms.
"That's what trapdoors tend to do." The Doctor mused.
"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice." Ida remarked. "It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."
"Any way of opening it?" Zach inquired.
Ida sighed. "I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism."
"I suppose that's the writing. It'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation." The Doctor offered, peering down at the inscriptions.
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach asked over the comms.
"Toby, they need to know that lettering." Raelle asked Toby, peering over to him, to see his head in his hands. "Does it make any sort of sense?"
"I know what it says." He replies, not looking up.
Raelle frowned at the boy, perplexed. "Then tell them."
"When did you work that out?" Jefferson asked Toby sarcastically.
Toby starts to stand as Raelle argues with Jefferson. "It doesn't matter, just tell them." She turns to face Toby again to see his face covered in thick black symbols and eyes red. She freezes, staring at Toby as he gives her a sly smile.
"These are the words of the Beast." Toby said, in a deep menacing voice. Raelle taps Jefferson's arm, not taking her eyes of Toby. "And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease." Toby continued, slowly walking towards the group. Jefferson steps froward aiming his gun at Toby. "And now he will rise."
"Officer, stand down. Stand down." Jefferson barked at Toby who smiled in response.
The Doctor frowned, feeling a feeling of panic wash over him. Something is wrong with Elle. "What is it? What's he done?" The Doctor cried out over the comms. "What's happening? Elle, what's going on?"
"Jefferson? Report."Zach shouted over the comms as flickers of energy zap from the control panel. He stand up, trying to counteract it. "Report!"
"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!" Jefferson barks at Toby.
"He's come out in those symbols all over his face." Raelle told the Doctor over the comms, panicked, in a rushed voice. "They're all over him."
"Mister Jefferson." Toby tipped his head at the man. "ell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?" He stepped forward.
"I don't know what you mean." Jefferson replied, gun cocked.
"Let me tell you a secret. She never did." Toby continued as he move towards them.
"Officer, you stand down and be confined."
"Or what?" Toby challenged, a menacing smile on his face.
Jefferson aims his gun at Toby. "Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you."
"But how many can you kill?" Toby replied. He opened his mouth, a wave of black smoke leaving his mouth. The symbols leave him and float over to the Ood, who jerk to attention. Toby collapses. Raelle and Jefferson watch in horror.
"We are the Legion of the Beast." All the Ood state in unison, eyes red.
"Elle? What is it, Elle?" The Doctor cries out. "I'm going back up." He tells Ida, turning back.
"Report. Report!" Zach calls out on the comms. "Jefferson, report. Someone, report!"
"The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few."
"It's the Ood." Raelle informs the Doctor over the comms.
"Sir, we have contamination in the livestock." Jefferson adds. "They won't listen to us."
Raelle sighs in worry. "Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed."
"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer."
"Captain, it's the Ood. They're out of control!" Danny cries out over the comms. Raelle's frown grows even bigger.
"Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free."
"Back up to the door!" Jefferson orders as the Ood advance forward. "Move quickly!"
"I shall become manifest. I shall walk in might."
"To the door! Get it open!" Raelle rushes over to the door, spinning the wheel. She frantically pulls at the door to open.
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds."
Back at Point Zero, as the Doctor and Ida make their way back to the capsule, the ground shakes, causing them to fall. The Doctor looks up as Ida yells. "Doctor, it's opening!" She points to the trap door as the centre starts to open.
"We're moving! The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving." Zach informs, concerned, over the comms.
The Doctor runs back to Ida as the whole trapdoor opens its segments.
"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss."
The Ood continue towards Jefferson, Raelle and the others as Raelle can't get the door to open.
"The gravity field. It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!" Zach cries out over the comms.
"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."
"Door sealed."
"Come on!" Raelle bangs her hand on the door. She turns to see the Ood directly in front of her.
"Door sealed."
"The Pit is open. And I am free. Hahahahhaha!"