"Evening." The Doctor said as they entered the Ood habitation. "Only us." Rose said and Danny turned to the three. "The mysterious trio. How are you, then? Settling in?" He asked them. "Yeah. I have to ask, how do the Ood communicate? I mean, with one another." Galaxy asked, she was interested in them and since they were a species she hadn't heard of before, it made her even more curious and it was a good distraction.
"Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle." Danny said and they looked to see the Ood sitting on benches below the catwalk. "This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" The Doctor asked him. "Because I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something, well, odd." Rose said. "Hmm. An odd Ood." "And then I got something else on my er, communicating thing." "Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."
"Monitor the field. That's this thing?" The Doctor asked as they looked at the screen Danny was just at. "Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. The only register basic five." He told them. "That's not basic five. Its gone to ten, twenty. They've gone up to basic thirty." Galaxy said as she saw the readings and down below the catwalk, the Ood lifted their heads. "But they can't." "Doctor, Galaxy, the Ood. What does basic thirty mean?" She asked them. "Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads." "Or something's shouting at them." The Doctor said. "But where is it coming from? What is it saying? What did it say to you?" Danny asked turning to Rose.
"Something about the beast in the pit." She answered. "What about your communicator? What did that say?" "He is awake." "And you will worship him." "What the hell?" Danny asked as he looked down at the Ood. "He is awake." The Doctor said to them. "And you will worship him." "Worship who?" He asked but got no reply, "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" When there was no reply again, Galaxy, Rose and the Doctor went down to have a better look at them.
"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach." The computer announced when the base was hit with another shake. "Which section?" Danny asked. "Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen. We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!" Zach's voice ordered, and the Doctor, Rose, Galaxy and Danny ran out of the Ood Habitation and down the corridor. "Open door 19. Close door 19."
"I can't contain the oxygen field. We're going to lose it." Zach said. "Come on! Move it!" Jefferson ordered. "Breach sealed. Breach sealed." "Everyone all right?! what happened? What was it?" "Oxygen levels normal." "Hull breach. We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters." Jefferson informed them. "It wasn't a quake. What caused it?" Galaxy asked.
"We've lost sections eleven to thirteen. Everyone all right?" Zach asked from the control room. "We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report. Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." Jefferson called to his comm. "She's all right. I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation three. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious." Zach told them, "How about that, eh? We survived."
"Habitation three. Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on." Jefferson said. "What happened?" The Doctor asked Toby as the others started to make their way to Habitation three. "I don't know. I was working and then I can't remember. All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air..." He told them with a shake in his voice. "Come on. Up you get. Come and have some protein one." Rose said as she helped him stand up. "You're going native." Galaxy said with a smirk on her face. "Oi, don't know it. It's nice. Protein one with just a dash of three." Galaxy chuckled at her response before they joined the others in Habitation three.
"I've checked Habitation four. Can you hear me?" Ida asked. "There's no sign of her. The biochip says she's in the area. Have any of you seen Scooti?" "No, no, no. I don't think so." Toby answered as he shook his head. "Scooti, please respond. If you can hear this, please respond. Habitation six." "Nowhere here. Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing." Jefferson asked Zach.
"It says Habitation three." Zach notified them. "Yeah, well, that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here." 'Doctor...' The Doctor looked at Galaxy when he heard her voice and she saw her looking and when he did the same his eyes widened. "I found her." Everyone looked up toward the open shutters like the Time Lords had done. "Oh, my God." Rose gasped as they saw Scooti drifting away, toward the black hole. "Captain. Report Officer Scootori Manista PKD, deceased. Forty three K two point one."
"She was twenty. Twenty years old." Ida said as she closed the shutters. "For how should man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods." Jefferson said, quoting Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay. "It's stopped." Ida said as she noticed the base was silent and the others realised it as well. "What was that? What was it?" Rose asked. "It was the drill." Galaxy told her. "We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero."
-9-
"All non essential Oods to be confined." Zach's voice rung over tannoy. "Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. Bring systems online." Ida said as she was in a space suit. "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force." The Doctor said as he was also in a space suit and walked down into the drilling area with Galaxy behind him, she wasn't going, much to her annoyance, she wanted to go, but the Doctor wouldn't allow her to, not when he didn't know what could happen down there.
"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are." Zach sighed. "Yeah, but you trust me, don't you? 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." The Doctor told him. "I wouldn't try and talk him out of it, I couldn't." Galaxy said sighing, seems as though this Doctor was stubborn just like the current her sometimes. "I should be going down." Zach said. "The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."
"Not much good at it, am I? Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mister Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement." Zach shouted to everyone around. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's ages since I've worn one of these." The Doctor said as Rose came up to the two. "I want that spacesuit back in one piece mister, got it?" Galaxy said crossing her arms. "Yes, sir." The Doctor said as he put 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? It's tough." Rose said.
"I'll see you both later." The Doctor said though he was looking more at Galaxy when he said that. "Not if we see you first." Galaxy said and placed a kiss on his helmet before letting him go to join Ida in the capsule. "Capsule active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six," Jefferson closed the door of the capsule one both the Doctor and Ida were inside, "Five, four, three, two, one. Release." The capsule gets lowed on its cable and Rose and Galaxy went to the screen to check the progress of the capsule.
"You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own." Zach said. "Don't forget to breath. Breathing's good." Rose said over the comm as she held it so she and Galaxy could stay in contact with the Doctor. "Rose, stay off the comm." "No way." Galaxy said, letting him know she was going to stay on the comm as well. The room suddenly shook briefly before going steady but that still worried Galaxy. "Doctor? Are you all right?" She called over the comm as she felt both her hearts beat really fast.
"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" Zach tried as they saw the capsule had reached Point Zero. "It's all right. We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now." Galaxy sighed in relief when she heard the Doctor's voice. "What's it like down there?" Rose asked as Galaxy calmed down her hearts. "It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive." "Well, this should help. Gravity globe. That's, that's. my God, that's beautiful." Galaxy really wished she had gone with them now, she wanted to see what was down there. "Rose, Galaxy, you can tell Toby we've found his civilisation."
"Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work." Rose called. "Good, good. Good." Toby said and Galaxy frowned a bit when she saw him curled up in the corner and was checking his hand. "Concentrate now, people, keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?" Zach asked her. "We're close. Energy signature indicates north north west. Are you getting pictures up there?" "There's too much interference. We're in your hands." Zach told them. "Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back." "Oh, did you have to? No turning back? That's almost as bad as nothing can possibly go wrong, or this is going to be the best Christmas Walford's ever had."
"You done, Doctor?" Galaxy asked through the comm after hearing him babble. "Yeah. Finished."