Through the Universe [2]

II. The Satan's Pit

Danny, Rose, Toby and I burst through the doors into Ood Habitation, and rush over to the computer. The Ood already inside look up from our arrival. "Get in!" Rose yells.

"Danny, get down." Toby says.

"Transmit!" I yell at Danny.

"I'm trying, I'm trying" I'm getting at it..." he says.

"Stop them!" Toby yells as the Ood are making their way up the stairs towards us, causing me to pull out one of my guns. "Danny, get that thing transmitting!" I yell at him before Danny plunges it into the computer. The reading goes down to Basic 0. The Ood clutch at their heads and stumble about, all over the ship. They finally collapse to the floor and silence falls. "You did it! We did it!" Rose exclaims smiling as I sigh in relief and put my gun away.

"Yes!" Danny exclaims. Rose laughs in delight, as does Danny, and throws her arms around her, then hugs Toby, who grins before Danny and Toby hug and Rose hugs me. "Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now we've gotta get the Doctor." I tell Zach, through the comm. "I'm on my way." Zach responds causing me to rush from Ood Habitation with Rose.

**********

Rose, the others and I reach the exploration deck. Without a moment of hesitation, I pick up one of the comm. "Doctor? Are you there? Doctor? Ida? Can you hear me?" I ask.

"The comms are still down. I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute." Zach tells me before he starts working on the computer and I look on, anxious and my eyes wide.

**********

"Are you there, Doctor?" I ask.

"He's gone." Ida tells me.

"What do you mean, 'he's gone'?" I ask Ida.

"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is, miles and miles and miles." Ida tells me.

"But... what do you mean 'he fell'?" I ask, my voice breaking slightly as a few tears fall down my face. "I couldn't stop him. He said your name..." Ida says quietly. Zach gently tugs the comm away from me whilst I'm silent, staring straight ahead before I'm pulled into a hug by Rose. "I'm sorry." Zach tells me but I don't respond. "Ida? There's no way of reaching you." Zach says. "No cable, no back-up... you're ten miles down... we can't get there." he finishes.

"You should see this place, Zach." Ida says through the wrist comm. "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things... and here I am." she finishes.

"We've got to abandon the base." Zach informs her. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."

"But we'll never find out what it is?" Ida asks.

"Well, maybe that's the best." Zach says.

"Yeah." Ida says before there's a pause. "Officer Scott..." Zach trails off.