Chapter Thirty Seven: The Impossible Planet

When they landed the TARDIS a few weeks later, the engines were making strange wheezing noises—stranger than the usual wheezing noises they made, that is.

"I don't know what's wrong though," the Doctor frowned as they stepped out into a storage room. "She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land."

"Oh, well if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else," Rose suggested, smirking. They all looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I think we've landed inside a cupboard," Alex pointed out, finding the door. "Here we go."

"Open door 15," a computer-generated voice stated.

"Some sort of base," the Doctor realised as they spilled out into a corridor. "Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits."

"Close door 15."

Rose glanced up at the ceiling, wincing at the howling winds outside. "Glad we're indoors. "Sounds like a storm out there."

"Open door 16."

"It's human design," the Doctor explained to them. "You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat pack wardrobe, only bigger." He tilted his head. "And easier."

"Open door 17."

They entered a living area, complete with tables and chairs. On one wall was a huge printed '3'.

"Oh!" the Doctor exclaimed, grinning. "It's a sanctuary base!"

"Close door 17."

"Deep space exploration," he continued. "We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath. Someone's drilling."

"Welcome to hell," Alex murmured.

The Doctor made a face. "Oh, it's not that bad."

She rolled her eyes. "No, muppet! I'm reading. Over there!" She pointed to the wall behind him, where the words were painted in black above some kind of vertical alien script.

That caught his attention. "Hold on... what does that say?" He headed over to take a closer look. "That's weird, it won't translate."

"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything," Rose frowned, "writing as well. We should see English."

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed. "If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old. We should find out who's in charge." He started to spin the wheel on another bulkhead door, all the while talking. "We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough—"

"Open door 19."

To say the creatures on the other side of the door were aliens was to contend for the understatement of the century. They were humanoid in shape, but all sense of similarity ended at the face. Where a human's nose and mouth would have been, these creatures had tentacles. And stranger still, there was a tube coming out from behind the tentacles to connect them to a plain sphere holstered on their identical uniforms.

"Oh," Alex said, trying not to seem too shocked. After all, maybe she looked that strange to them as well.

"Right," the Doctor said, his eyes wide. Apparently he wasn't especially well-acquainted with the species either. "Hello. Sorry, we were just saying, er... nice base."

The creatures tilted their heads in unison. "We must feed." Their spheres lit up as they spoke.

Rose stared. "You've gotta what?"

"We must feed."

"I've got a horrible feeling they mean us," Alex admitted. Together, the trio backed away as the creatures advanced, intoning their threat. Rose grabbed a chair to defend herself, the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, and Alex raised both hands, creating a shimmering silvery forcefield. Soon, though, they were completely cornered against a wall, the creatures surrounding them.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the chanting stopped. One of the creatures tapped his sphere quizzically, then looked up at them. "We must feed... you, if you are hungry."

The Doctor blinked. "Sorry?"

"We apologise," the same creatures said pleasantly. "Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?"

"Er..." Alex lowered her hands, letting the forcefield dissipate as Rose put her chair down.

"Open door 18."

A small group of humans entered, each of them stopping dead and staring as they saw the Doctor, Alex and Rose.

"What the hell?" the lead man spluttered. "How did—?!" He used a wrist-comm. "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!"

"Don't be stupid," the man on the other end said. "That's impossible."

The first man snorted. "I suggest telling them that."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "But you're some 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?" The man gave them an incredulous look.

"No idea," Alex admitted.

"More fun that way," the Doctor grinned.

A woman's voice transmitted through the base. "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming, and it's a big one. Quake point five on its way."

That clearly meant something to the crew. The man opened the door behind him. "Through here, now! Quickly, come on! Move!" The TARDIS trio did as they were told.

Alex grabbed Rose's hand and tugged both her and the Doctor faster through the corridors, following the logical path to the control room: the one going to the centre of the base. The native humans they'd first met followed in a few minutes later.

"Oh, my God," one man breathed. "You meant it."

"People! Look at that, real people!" a cute girl who reminded the Doctor of Alex's last face exclaimed, grinning wildly.

"That's us," he agreed. "Hooray!"

"Yeah, definitely real," Rose confirmed, sharing an odd look with her sister. "My name's Rose. Rose Tyler. That's my sister, Alex, and, and this is the Doctor."

"Come on," a third man reasoned. "The oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be." He poked the Doctor in the chest. "No, they're real."

"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert!" the leader, who had spoken first when they'd entered the control room, reminded the team, and they all began strapping themselves into chairs. "Danny, strap up. The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds! Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just hold on, tight."

"Hold on to what?" Alex asked.

The man shrugged. "Anything. I don't care." He turned to the creatures who were standing against the walls around the room. "Ood, are we fixed?"

"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated," one of them said, holding up its translator ball.

"So," the Doctor began, standing ready by the railings to hold on, much like Alex and Rose. "What's this planet called, anyway?"

A second woman scoffed. "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" She stared at their uncomprehending expressions. "You really don't know, do you?"

"And impact!" the man in charge exclaimed, and the TARDIS trio rushed to grab hold of the railings properly before the base started shaking. The quake only seemed to last for a few seconds, and once it stopped, the Doctor stood up, grinning.

"Oh, well, that wasn't so bad," he quipped, before the quake started up again, only much worse this time. Alex rolled her eyes and let go of the railings with one arm to wrap it round his waist and yank him to safety. Consoles around the room burst into flames at the impact of the quake, and as the tremors drew to a close, everyone visibly relaxed.

"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay," a sciency woman announced as another guy left.

"Never mind the earthquake," Rose exclaimed, looking up to the ceiling as the winds got up. "That's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"

"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum," the young blonde girl replied matter-of-factly.

Alex narrowed her eyes. "Then what's shaking the roof?"

"You're not joking," the sciency woman realized. "You really don't know. Well, introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flame, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mr Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee."

"Not as boring as it sounds," Danny clarified.

"That man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manista, trainee maintenance. And this? This is home," Ida declared, pulling down a lever on the wall.

"Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad," Zachary warned.

Alex snorted. "How would you know, if people never come here?"

She, like the others, was distracted when the ceiling shutters opened to reveal something wondrous. A deep, dark whirlpool in the depths of space, sucking in dust and rocks and galaxies. It was beautiful. 

"That's a black hole," Rose correctly stated.

"But that's impossible," the Doctor reasoned, his eyes wide behind the glasses he'd just slipped on.

"I did warn you," Zach said smugly.

"We're standing under a black hole?" Alex checked, just to be sure.

"In orbit," Ida confirmed.

"But we can't be," the Doctor contradicted.

"You can see for yourself," Ida told him. "We're in orbit."

"But we can't be," the Time Lord insisted.

Ida smiled. "This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."

"And that's bad, yeah?" Rose made sure.

"Bad doesn't cover it," the Doctor replied. "A black hole is 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 in everything else too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."

"I wanna go poke it with a stick," Alex mentioned idly, staring up at the black hole in awe.

"No way. You're bad enough at breathing as it is," the Doctor teased.

"So they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in," Rose summarized, smiling at the pair of them.

"We should be dead," the Doctor agreed.

"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board." Ida looked almost smug.

"But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" Alex questioned, pointing to a red dusty cloud swirling into the black hole.

"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing," Ida explained.

"So a bit worse than a storm, then," Rose remarked.

"Just a bit." Ida nodded.

"Just a bit, yeah," Alex snorted.

"The rocket link's fine," Toby said through the comms system.

Zach called up a hologram over the central console. "That's the black hole, officially designated K-three-seven-Gen-five."

"In the scriptures of the Falltino, 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," Ida described.

"We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe," the Doctor noted, before turning to Zach. "How did you even get here?!"

"We flew in," Zach replied. "You see, this planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant 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? Like a roller coaster?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows.

"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart. We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge," Zach informed the trio sadly.

"You're doing a good job," Ida assured him.

"Yeah, well..." He shrugged modestly. "Needs must."

"But if that gravity funnel closed, there's no way out," Danny cut in.

"We had fun speculating about that." Scooti grinned impishly.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's the word. Fun."

"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power. I mean, not just big but off the scale! Can I?" the Doctor asked, gesturing to a calculator left on a console nearby.

Ida nodded. "Sure. Help yourself."

As Rose started talking to Danny and Scooti, an Ood walked up to Alex, offering her a drink. "Your refreshment." 

She blinked, surprised. "Oh! Er, thanks." She took a sip, raising her eyebrows at the berry taste. "Nice. So, er... what are you, like a waiter, a servant?" 

"Basic slave race," Jefferson told her. 

"Slave?" she echoed, her eyes widening in disgust. "What, you don't pay them anything? That's horrible!"

"They offer themselves," he explained, shrugging. "If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die." 

She frowned uncertainly. "What, seriously? You like being ordered about?" 

The Ood inclined its head. "It is all we crave." 

"But..." She shook her head, bewildered. "Why?" 

"We have nothing else in life," the Ood replied. 

Alex swallowed. "I used to think like that," she admitted, "a long time ago. But it doesn't have to be that way. It's like how you can't imagine a colour you've never seen. I never knew how much I craved freedom, hope... love. And then I met the Doctor, and... it was like watching the sun rise over a whole new world. You deserve so much more than this." Jefferson stared at her, his brow furrowing. 

Just then, the Doctor's calculator beeped. "There we go!" he exclaimed, snatching everyone's attention. "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."

"That's a lot of sixes," Rose noted, raising an eyebrow.

"And it's impossible," the Time Lord added.

"It took us two years to work that out," Zach stated incredulously.

"Oh, he's very good," Alex smiled.

"But that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero." Ida pointed on a hologram. "We're drilling down to try and find it."

"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale," Zach added.

"It could revolutionise modern science," Ida breathed.

Jefferson smiled. "We could use it to fuel the Empire."

"Or start a war," the Doctor pointed out darkly.

"It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting," Toby said as he reentered.

"What's your job, chief dramatist?" Rose quipped.

Toby threw her a look. "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."

"That lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" Alex asked.

"I copied it from fragments we found, unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it," Toby replied.

"No, neither can I," the Doctor sighed. "And that's saying something."

"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in," Toby continued.

"And you came." By this point, the Doctor was grinning like a lunatic, and Rose and Alex rolled their eyes at each other.

"Well, how could we not?" Ida shrugged.

"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why?" the Doctor questioned. The crew members exchanged looks. "I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant! Excuse me, er, Zach, wasn't it?"

"That's me." Zach nodded.

"Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?" the Doctor asked, edging towards the man.

"I suppose so?"

"Here we go. Come on, then." The Doctor hugged Zach. "Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha! Thank you." He stepped back.

"Not at all." Zach didn't look as though he was entirely sure what had just happened.

"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives." The Doctor grinned.

Ida snorted. "You can talk. And how the hell did you get here?"

"Oh, we've got this, er, this ship. It's hard to explain. It just sort of appears," the Doctor struggled to articulate.

"We can show you," Alex offered. "We parked down the corridor from... Er... Oh, what's it called? Habitation area..."

"Three," Rose supplied.

"Three. Three," Alex agreed.

"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked.

The Doctor blanched, and Alex tilted her head, oblivious. "It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah."

"Storage six," the Doctor realised, his expression one of horror. "But you said... You said... You said storage five to eight." The girls quickly caught on, and raced after him as he ran out.

***

"Door 16 out of commission," the Computer stated as the trio reached it, aided by Alex's speed.

"It can't be. It can't be!" the Doctor cried as he looked through the small porthole.

"Doctor, the TARDIS is in there," Alex said, struggling to comprehend. How could they be trapped here?

"The TARDIS is gone," the Time Lord replied dully. "The earthquake. This section collapsed."

"But it's got to be out there somewhere," Rose reasoned. She looked through the porthole.

"Look down," the Doctor told her. She did so and gasped, seeing the gaping crevice where the TARDIS used to be.

***

The Doctor started talking as soon as he entered the control room. "The ground gave way. My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."

"We can't divert the drilling," Zach stated apologetically.

"But I need my ship. She's all I've got asides from these two. Please," the Doctor begged.

But Zach was already shaking his head. "Doctor, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions. Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you a loft if we ever get to leave this place, and that is the end of it."

Ida looked at the Doctor awkwardly as the rest of the crew left to their various jobs around the base. "I'll, er, put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry."

She left with Rose, who was going to check out the food options.

"I've trapped you here," the Doctor sighed, pulling Alex into his arms and resting his head on top of hers.

"Hey, don't worry about me. We're gonna be just fine. You'll see." She rested her head against his chest, listening to his hearts beating.

The Doctor snorted, kissing Alex's forehead. "I love you, Kez."

Alex smiled. "I love you too, Kas." She pulled back to look him in the eyes, smiling softly. "Come on. Let's go see if Rose has found anything puke-worthy." And with that, she led him out of the room by his hand.

***

An hour or so later, Alex and the Doctor were examining the alien scripture in the corner of Habitation Three.

Lights flickered overhead as Rose returned, frowning a little, and Ida looked up, calling out to the Captain over comms.

"Zach? Do we have a problem?"

"No more than usual," Zach replied from the control room. "Got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."

"You might want to see this. Moment in history," Ida said, opening the ceiling shutters. "There. One the edge, that red cloud? That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi, a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years, disappearing forever. Their planets and suns consumed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."

She went to close the shutters again, but the Doctor stopped her. "Er, no, could you leave it open? Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?" Ida sighed, leaving it. "Scooti, check the lockdown. Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." The three left, leaving the TARDIS trio alone, watching the stars.

"I've seen films and things, yeah. They say black holes are like gateways to another universe," Rose mused.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not that one. It just eats."

"Long way from home," Alex noted.

"Go that way," the Doctor directed, pointing. "Turn right, keep going for, er, about, er, five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth." He had his arm around her.

Rose turned her phone on. "No signal." Alex checked hers, with the same result. "That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could, what would I tell her? Can you build another TARDIS?"

"They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone, we're kind of stuck," the Doctor denied.

"Well, it could be worse," Alex pointed out. "This lot said they'd give us a lift."

"And then what?" the Doctor questioned tiredly.

Rose shrugged. "Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."

"I'd have to settle down," the Doctor realised, panic in his eyes. "Get a house or something. A proper house with, with doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house? Now that, that is terrifying."

"You'd have to get a mortgage," Alex said, snickering at her boyfriend's scared expression.

"No."

"Oh, yes," Rose crowed, laughing.

"I'm dying," the Doctor decided. "That's it. I'm dying. it is all over."

"What about us? We'd have to get one too," Alex reminded him, gesturing between herself and Rose. I don't know, could be the same one. We could all, I don't know, share. Can't be that much different from living together in the TARDIS."

The Doctor sighed. "I promised Jackie I'd always take you two back home."

"Everyone leaves home in the end," Rose tried.

"Not to end up stuck here."

"Yeah, but stuck with you, that's not so bad," Alex stated casually.

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," she confirmed, grinning. Seconds later, her phone rang. She frowned—she was sure she'd had no signal—but answered all the same.

"He is awake," a loud voice growled on the other end. Alex jumped, throwing her phone on the table and glaring at it. Rose and the Doctor stared at her, partly confused about what had just happened, but mostly at the black metal armour that had formed over her body, leaving her head and wings free. The material seemed to meld perfectly into the base of her wings, leaving no gaps.

"Kez?" the Doctor asked.

Alex drew her haze away from her phone to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Armour."

Alex looked down at herself and frowned, before shaking her head. The armour shimmered a little before fading away. "Okay... We've got problems."

***

The TARDIS trio made their way into Ood Habitation, where Danny was, Alex having filled them in on what had happened.

"Evening," the Doctor greeted cheerfully.

"Only us," Rose told Danny, waving slightly. Alex just stood on the balcony looking down onto the Ood, her arms crossed and her wings quivering restlessly.

"The mysterious trio," Danny said by way of greeting. "How are you, then? Settling in?"

"Yeah," the Doctor replied absently. "Sorry, straight to business: the Ood, how do they communicate? I mean, with each other."

"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 explained.

"This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" the Time Lord questioned.

"Because I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something, well, odd," Rose stated.

"Hmm. An odd Ood," Danny teased.

"And then I got something else, on my, er, communicator," Alex added.

Danny rolled his eyes, scoffing. "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 inquired, pointing to a computer-like device.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "But like I said, it's low-level telepathy. They only register basic five."

The number on the computer screen started rising.

"Well, that's not basic five," Alex noted, pointing. "Ten, twenty. They've gone up to basic thirty."

"But they can't," Danny denied.

"Doctor, the Ood," Rose called as they all lifted their heads in unison. "What does basic thirty mean?"

"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads," Danny replied, looking at the computer screen in utter confusion.

"Or something's shouting at them," the Doctor suggested darkly.

"But where's it coming from? What is it saying? What did it say to you?" Danny looked to Rose.

"Something about the beast in the pit," she shrugged.

Danny turned to Alex. "What about your communicator? What did that say?"

"He is awake," Alex replied easily. She could practically hear the voice in her head.

"And you will worship him," all the Ood responded.

"What the hell?" Danny asked, his eyes wide.

"He is awake," the Doctor tried.

"And you will worship him," the Ood repeated.

"Worship who?" the Doctor demanded. There was no reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

Alex heard a faraway scream, and sped off, unnoticed by the others. Seconds later, the whole base started shaking.

"Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach," the Computer reported.

"Which section?" Danny questioned.

"Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen. We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!" Zach called through comms.

The Doctor, Rose, and Danny started running.

***

"I can't contain the oxygen field. We're going to lose it," Zach stated worriedly as the crew converged in a corridor.

"Come on! Keep moving! And you too, Toby!" Jefferson shouted.

"Breach sealed. Breach sealed," the Computer reported.

"Everyone all right?! What happened? What was it?" the Doctor asked, breathing heavily like the others.

"Hull breach," Jefferson explained. "We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters."

"Yeah, but that wasn't a quake," Rose noted. "What caused it?"

"We've lost sections eleven to thirteen. Everyone all right?" Zach asked.

"We've got everyone here, except Scooti and Alex." Jefferson spoke into his wrist device. "Scooti, report. Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." The Doctor and Rose listened anxiously.

"They're all right," Zach stated. "I've picked up Scooti's biochip with a second life form. They're in Habitation Three. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious. How about that, eh? We survived."

"Habitation Three." Jefferson nodded. "Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on."

***

They found the two girls unconscious on the ground in Habitation Three. After a bit of coaxing from the Doctor and Danny, they woke up, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" the Doctor inquired. "You were right with us, and then you weren't."

Alex frowned. "I heard Scooti scream, so I ran over. We almost got trapped in the breached corridor. I had to use my wings to stop us from being pulled out whilst we ran for the door." She let her head fall back to the floor, sighing. "Ugh. When we get out of this, I'm gonna sleep for a week." The Doctor chuckled.

"It's stopped," Ida stated suddenly. Everyone stopped talking, and noticed the lack of background noise.

"What was that? What was it?" Rose questioned.

"The drill," the Doctor murmured, helping Alex stand.

"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero," Ida said.

***

"All non-essential Ood to be confined," Zach said over a tannoy system in the drilling area.

"Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. bring systems online now," Ida reported. Both she and the Doctor were wearing bright orange spacesuits.

"Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force," the Doctor announced cheerfully.

"Doctor, this is breaking every protocol," Zach told him apologetically. "We don't even know who you are."

"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you?" The Time Lord grinned. "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."

"I should be going down," Zach muttered.

"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."

"Not much good at it, am I?" Zach asked rhetorically, before turning away to issue instructions to his crew. The Doctor walked up to Rose and Alex.

"Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these."

"I want that space-suit back in one piece, you got that?" Alex said, biting her lip.

"Yes, ma'am," the Doctor teased, putting on his helmet.

"Good luck," Rose smiled tensely.

Alex kissed his helmet. "I'm gonna be really pissed if anything happens to you," she promised. The Doctor hugged her as best he could in the spacesuit.

"I'll see you later."

"Not if I see you first," she retorted weakly, already worrying about him.

"Captive active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..." Zach said from the control room.

The Doctor and Ida went inside the capsule. Jefferson closed the door.

"Five, four, three, two, one. Release."

The capsule was lowered slowly on its cable. Rose and Alex stood by a screen, checking their progress, while Alex clutched the microphone.

"You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own," Zach told the explorers.

"Don't forget to breathe. Breathing's good," Rose advised, hoping the inside joke would relieve some of the tension in her sister's shoulders. It worked, but only a little.

"Rose, stay off the comms," Zach ordered.

Rose snorted. "No chance!"

The capsule shuddered, then suddenly dropped, before hitting the ground.

"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?" Alex asked hurriedly. The Doctor was so far down, she couldn't reach him telepathically. The screen said that the capsule had reached Point Zero.

"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" Zach called.

"It's all right," the Doctor's voice filtered through, and Alex sighed in relief. "We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now."

"What's it like down there?" Rose wondered.

"It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive," the Doctor replied. He paused. "Kez, breathe. We're fine."

Alex chuckled weakly. "Shut up, Kas." She shook her head as she heard him laughing, smiling a little.

"This should help," Ida cut in. "Gravity globe." There was another pause. "That's... That's... My God, that's beautiful."

"Girls, you can tell Toby we've found his civilisation," the Doctor murmured, clearly awed by whatever it was he was seeing.

Rose turned to look at the archaeologist. "Oi, Toby. Sounds like you've got plenty of work."

"Good, good. Good," he replied distractedly.

"Concentrate now, people," Zach reminded. "Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?"

"We're close. Energy signature indicates north north west. Are you getting pictures up there?" the scientist asked.

"There's too much interference. We're in your hands," Zach denied.

"Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back," Ida stated.

"Oh, did you have to?" the Doctor complained, making Rose and Alex snicker. "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."

"Are you finished?" Ida questioned, sounding irritated.

"Yeah," he replied innocently. "Finished."

"Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood," Danny reported from Ood Habitation.

"What are they doing?" Zach asked.

"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't." Danny sounded unnerved.

"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being stared at," Zach said, sighing.

"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at basic one hundred. I've checked; there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred," Danny reported urgently.

"But that's impossible," Zach muttered.

"What's basic one hundred mean?" Alex inquired.

"They should be dead," Danny replied.

"Basic one hundred's brain death," Jefferson elaborated to the girls.

"But they're safe," Zach questioned. "They're not actually moving?"

"No, sir," Danny confirmed.

"Keep watching them," Zach ordered. "And you, Jefferson? Keep a guard on the Ood."

"Officer at arms!"

"Yes, sir."

Jefferson handed guns to a few crewmen the girls hadn't been introduced to.

"You can't fire a gun in here," Rose reasoned. "What if you hit a wall?"

"I'm firing stock fifteen. It only impacts upon organics." Jefferson turned to a female guard. "Keep watch. Guard them.

"Yes, sir."

"Is everything all right up there?" the Doctor asked, sounding a little suspicious.

"Yeah, yeah," Alex lied instantly.

"It's fine," Zach stated.

"Great," Danny added.

"We've found something," the Time Lord reported. "It looks like metal. Like some sort of seal. I've got a nasty feeling the word might be trapdoor. Not a good word, trapdoor. Never met a trapdoor I liked."

"The edge is covered with those symbols," Ida added.

"Do you think it opens?" Zach inquired.

"That's what trapdoors tend to do," the Doctor stated almost sarcastically.

"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice," Ida disagreed. "It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."

"Any way of opening it?" Zach asked again.

"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism," Ida replied.

"I suppose that's the writing. it'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation," the Doctor mused.

"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach questioned.

Alex turned to the archaeologist, who was turned away from them all. "Toby, they need to know that lettering. Does it make any sort of sense?"

"I know what it says," he stated darkly.

"Then tell them," Rose suggested. Alex narrowed her eyes at the man. It'd only been a day.

"When did you work that out?" Jefferson questioned, speaking her thoughts.

"It doesn't matter, just tell them," Rose repeated.

Toby turned to them, covered in the same symbols. His eyes were red. "These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. he is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise." Jefferson aimed his gun at the man, and Alex did the same, but with a palm that was glowing blue, her armour forming over her body again.

"Officer, stand down. Stand down."

"What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Kez? Rose? What's going on?" the Doctor demanded.

"Jefferson? Report. Report!" Zach called.

"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!" Jefferson ordered.

"He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him," Rose told the Doctor and Ida.

"Mr Jefferson. Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?" Toby asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Jefferson replied roughly.

"Let me tell you a secret. She never did," Toby smiled, turning to Alex. "Oh, and look at you. A lone angel fighting the devil. Not very strong, are you? Jimmy Stone didn't think so." Alex blanched white and narrowed her eyes, not letting her aim waver.

"You bastard," she hissed.

"Officer, you stand down and be confined," Jefferson instructed.

Toby reluctantly turned his grinning gaze from Alex. "Or what?"

"Or under the strictures of Condition red, I am authorised to shoot you."

"But how many can you kill?" Toby asked, before opening his mouth wide. The symbols left him and floated over to the Ood, who jerked to attention as Toby collapsed.

"We are the Legion of the Beast," they all said in unison, before raising their heads to show red eyes.

"Girls?" the Doctor called. "What is it, girls? I'm going back up."

"Report. Report! Jefferson, report!" Zach pleaded. "Someone, report!"

"The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few," the Ood continued.

"It's the Ood," Rose told the Doctor.

"Sir, we have contamination in the livestock," Jefferson reported.

"Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed."

"They won't listen to us," Jefferson stated.

"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 shouted.

"Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night." One Ood walked up the steps to the balcony. It released its globe, which telekinetically flew to a guard's forehead and electrocuted him.

That single Ood continued, "These are the words that shall set him free."

"Back up to the door!" Jefferson ordered.

"I shall become manifest," all the Ood stated as the humans and Alex made their way to the door, Jefferson and Alex firing shots at the Ood.

"Move quickly!"

"I shall move in might."

"To the door! Get it open!"

"My legions shall swarm across the worlds."

"Doctor, it's opening!" Ida shouted.

"We're moving! The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving," Zach cried as the base shuddered.

"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the-"

Zach drowned out the Ood's words. "The gravity field. It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!"

"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."

"Come on!" Rose called to her sister, who was the last to slip through the door.

"The Pit is open. And I am free."

And the base was filled with a sinister laughing.