"Short version." An inactive screen got turned into a drawing board as he made an oval shape in its left corner. "Because of the black hole, time is moving faster at this end of the ship than the other." Much like stars being used as connect the dots for a skull, several smaller lines joined in a crude schematic of the colony ship. "It's all about gravity, gravity slows down time." His usual company seemed to follow the explanation pretty well, Nardole even hummed an agreement. "The closer you are to the source of gravity, the slower time will move." While Ophelia looked up, thinking this made perfect sense, Jorj blanked. "If you're standing in your garden, your head is travelling faster through time than your feet." The Doctor turned towards him, wanting to move on as fast as possible. "Don't they teach you this stuff at space school?"
"Space school?" His blue forehead wrinkled. "I'm basically the janitor."
"That's a good job." No, it's not, Missy mumble under very obvious fake coughing. "But you've got to concentrate more. Now, listen..."
Lia's heart did a funny thing when it remembered how Bill's eyes would've rolled at his dramatic gesture, sonic screwdriver flipping in the air before being caught. No tears, not one. Bill was okay. Those things would fix her. They had to. Yeah, they were going to. Their leader seemed to want to include this man in their next steps but every second wasted in explanation meant less time to find her friend and get the hell out of here. It'd be about two minutes until her patience ran out.
A black hole isn't just any old gravity, it's Superman gravity. You really want to slow down time, park next to one of these guys. Trouble is, one end of the ship is closer to the Superman gravity than the other.
"But what about these lifeforms?" Jorj began to question, not able to understand how the ship's scan showed so many life signals (Missy echoed the girl's feelings demonstrated a harsh exhale of air). "What are they? Where did they come from? How can there be so many?"
"Those are the descendants of your crewmates." He continued to explain calmly, his remaining female companion putting away her knife in its holster. "Two days for you, generations for them."
"What are these..." His question ended abruptly, body dropping down like a heavy bag.
Standing over him was Ophelia Watson, a girl full of surprises.
"Sorry." While she knelt to check Nardole's trick of pinching a point in someone's neck hadn't killed the guy, three different stares bore into her. "What?"
"That was good." Nardole acquiesced, some vague memory of himself using that same trick surfacing.
"Thanks." Her hands dusted her knees before walking the lift doors. "Doctor?"
"What?" His eyes remained unfocused, too many surprises causing an overload of information.
"Would you mind...?" Missy laughed at his state.
"Not at all." The sonic screwdriver calling the central lift.
"But it's been ten minutes, so she must have been down there for years." Nardole's sentence made too much sense.
How long had her best friend remained in such an unknown environment? The numbers couldn't move fast enough.
"Yeah." Her time lord seemed to share those feelings.
Both wanted to end this nightmare soon, neither knew just how much worse things would get in a matter of minutes.
"Why don't we take the Tardis?" She turned to him in curiosity, their ship should be able to help. "Go back and get it right."
Instead of answering right away, he walked into the lift, light surrounding him then all of them as they followed.
"This close to a black hole..." His eyes met hers. "We'll never be able to pilot her accurately."
God knows how many miles down they went in that dimly illuminated lift, her head (more like entire left side of her body) leaned against the Doctor's right side, until it opened back up, showing what Bill would've called a budget version of upstairs. There would be time for dealing with whatever happened later, right now both held on to a stupid hope of having their beloved human back safely.
"Okay, you three, welcome to a new time zone." The Doctor cautiously walked out first, followed by Ophelia who tried so hard to be brave. "Not knowing the differential, I don't know how much time has passed here." He turned to talk to their other counterparts. "Right, we need to find out more about this ship."
"On it." Nardole made for the keyboard with happy steps before being rudely interrupted.
"No. Missy, you do it." His decision got a satisfied smirk and disbelieving scoff in return. "Nardole, you come with us."
Him and his (somewhat) closest friend, always a package deal.
"But I'm the computer guy." Their cyborg complained while they stood by the exit. "That's always me."
"Sorry, she's cleverer."
Missy took her assigned post at once, fingers running across every key with such ease that for one shining moment they were back in the vault, Vivaldi's Four Seasons echoing.
"She's more evil." He tried to argue.
"Same thing." Missy's agreement did not help her case.
"It really isn't." Ophelia said with a sigh.
"Oh, it is a little bit."
Though the pair seemed inclined to continue their arguing, it only took a rather annoyed calling of Nardole's name to break it up.
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"I'll go in first."
"We go in together."
After a hushed exchange, all remaining members of team TARDIS walked into the room through a rear door. For a few seconds there was nothing but starlight guiding them, one beam reflected on the rooms center: a pristine surgical bed. Several unknown instruments laid around it, even some computer screens probably used to show vital signs or scans. The Doctor's right hand carefully touched a tray of surgical instruments before sonicking the main light on, Nardole turned around and gasped.
"What the..." Ophelia staggered backwards into the time lord at the sight of several patients, once again slumped against the walls. "Oh."
"Oh, there's always a scary thing with you, isn't there?"
Both males stared at each other.
"Are you only getting that now?"
While Nardole did his computer thing in one corner, the other two explored as much as it was possible in this space.
"There's a lot of genetics, bio-engineering. There's a lot of stuff about something called Exodus. Operation Exodus."
On the opposite of where Ophelia had been studying some weird silver parts, another door swung open to reveal silver boots. Brow furrowed, The Doctor sent her a don't be stupid look before moving to look at it. Around chest height, lights flickered in a plastic box.
Apparently it was a person inside because it began to stiffly move forward into the light. Was it wearing armor? Much like those mysterious figures that took Bill's body, this one had a woolen covering for his face with a metallic helmet, frames of the same material for both mouth and eyes.
"It's a Cyberman." His hand blindly grabbed for her, who'd come closer in awe of that thing. "A Mondasian Cyberman!" A very bad thing judging by his confused tone. "You're brand new, fresh out the factory. You're not ready for a fight yet."
It approached them slowly, stopping three feet away.
"He does looks a little bit ready." Nardole disagreed from behind them though neither dared look away from their company.
"Bill Potts." The girl asked barely louder than a whisper, eyes wide in fright. "Do you know where she is? Where is Bill Potts?"
"O-phe-lia." It answered, sounding curiously like those things from the bridge.
"You know me?" Her brow furrowed and lips pursed.
"You are O-phe-lia"
The Doctor didn't like how interested it seemed in her because finding Bill became more unlikely as each second passed. So when the Cyberman began to walk forward, he pushed her fully behind him (funnily enough only hazel eyes peeked over his right shoulder). Nardole took her left hand (the right one seemed to find its way to one of the Doctor's)and pulled both back slowly.
"Listen." Both of his companions' fear increased at hearing their leader sound so agitated. "We mean you no harm. We're just passing through. We're looking for Bill Potts, friend of ours."
"Bill Potts." It echoed her name with... interest?
"Yes, Bill Potts." He nodded for emphasis. "You're a Cyberman, part of a neural net. Can you find her?"
"Accessing."
"Get back from it." Nardole warned them, pulling their groups even further back.
While the cyborg didn't have emotions in a traditional sense (it such thing even existed), loosing the free spirited girl from Bristol had been terrible (specially because he wasn't sure she'd be back). He didn't feel like loosing his master or friend.
"Bill Potts, locating Bill Potts." After facing upwards for a few seconds before turning back to them with its answer. "I am Bill Potts."
"No!" Ophelia staggered, hands shaking. "No."
"Bill? Bill, talk to me." The Doctors tried to keep himself together for their sake, knowing they'd need him to make it out of here alive. His right hand touched the raised box in her chest. "What have they done to you?"
"Operation Exodus, whatever that is."
"Oh, wrong name, for a start." Missy came out of nowhere to correct him.
"I waited." Cyber-Bill's voice echoed as Missy went to stand by her right shoulder.
"This is not an exodus, is it?" Their time lady friend jested. "More of a beginning really, isn't it?"
"I waited."
"In fact, do you know what I'd call it?" An unknown male voice joined hers. Well, unknown to Ophelia and Nardole, the Doctor turned in slow motion to see someone he thought to be king gone. "I'd call it a genesis."
A man with this Tony Stark-ish goatee, black but beginning to gray, walked to stand by Cyber-Bill's left shoulder with a mischievous grin similar to Missy's.
"You've met the ex?" She introduced him.
"Specifically, the Genesis of the Cybermen."
Both people stood triumphant as whatever remained of the Doctor's hearts shattered further.
"I waited for you."
‧͙⁺˚*･༓༓･*˚⁺‧͙
this one's a little shorter but like eleven whole hours early so it's a win-win.
six chapters till we're done.