Through the Universe [2]

I. The Impossible Planet

Nova's P.O.V:

The Doctor, Rose and I step out of the TARDIS doors before turning around to look back up at it. "I dunno what's wrong with her, she's sort of... queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land." the Doctor says.

"Oh, if you think there's gonna be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else..." Rose begins before trailing off but the three of us burst out laughing at this absurd notion. "I think... we've landed inside a cupboard!" the Doctor says, looking around. "Here we go!"

The Doctor pushes the door open and we enter another part of wherever we are. "Open Door 15." a computer says.

"Some sort of base..." I begin. "moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits." I tell them.

"Glad we are indoors cos it sounds like a storm out there..." Rose trails off listening to the noise outside before following both the Doctor and me through the door and into a corridor. "Human design, you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier." the Doctor says before we go through another door.

**********

"Open door 17." the computer says.

"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" the Doctor says, striding into the middle of the room.

"Close door 17." the computer says as I shut the door.

"Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath..." the Doctor says, pointing downwards, indicating for us to listen. We hear the hum of drills. "Someone's drilling."

"Welcome to hell." I say, looking up and reading the words off the wall.

"Oh, it's not that bad!" the Doctor tells me.

"No, over there!" I laugh, pointing over to the wall which has the words WELCOME TO HELL are scrawled on the wall, with ancient symbols written underneath. "Hold on..." the Doctor begins, walking over to the wall. "What does that say?" he asks. He peers closely at the ancient text, but it remains stubbornly incomprehensible. "That's weird. It won't translate."

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

"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means... this writing is very old. Very old. Impossibly old." I tell them before the Doctor stands and goes over to another door with me following. "We should find out who's in charge." he begins, turning the wheel to open the door. "We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough..."

"Open door 19." the computer says. The door opens and the Doctor, Rose and I gasp in shock, stumbling backwards a few steps. The Ood stand on the other side of the door, blinking at us. "Right! Hello! Sorry! Uh... I was just saying, uh... nice base!" the Doctor stutters, trying to regain his composure.