ignite ➝ Doctor Who¹

XXXIV

"Glad we're indoors. sounds like a storm out there."
— Rose Tyler, The Impossible Planet

They walked through the new hallways, Penelope just ahead, ignoring her friends' conversation. Walking forward, she traced the writing on the walls.

"Welcome to hell." The Doctor laughed, watching her from the doorway.

"Oh come on, it isn't that bad." She rolls her eyes, putting her hand out behind her, knowing he would take it. When he did, she dragged him forward, pointing out the writing.

"Idiot. It says 'welcome to hell'. And I don't know about you but that can't be good." He nods along with her, not wanting to be slapped when he spotted a section of text that wasn't translating.

"Hold on, what does that say?" He squinted at it and then frowned, concerned. "That's weird, it won't translate." Rose and Penelope gave each other a worried look, that can't be good either.

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

"Exactly. 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 moves, pulling Penelope with him, to a bulkhead, like the one they had passed through earlier. Together they spun the wheel, and waited for it to open. "We've gone beyond the reach of the Tardis' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough-" A robotic voice interrupted him and the door opened, having the three come face to face with a group of aliens. The Doctor laughed nervously, trying to pull Penelope back behind him, her proximity to danger was causing his brain to short circuit. She smiled, ready to cover his back.

"Sorry about that, we were just saying what a lovely base you had." The white balls in their hands flashed, the group of them staring down the three intruders.

"We must feed." Penelope's smile faltered and the Doctor managed to pull her back as she started to panic a little.

"Right- I'm sorry, what?"

"We must feed."

"Yeah. I think they mean us." Penelope scoffed at the younger girl.

"Nice observation Rose." Recently they had started to bicker over small things, to them it was harmless fun but the Doctor was going mad at them. It was one of the reasons they kept going, it felt nice - to the both of them - to have a sister figure after being an only child for most of their lives.

"I know Penny, that's why I made it." The Doctor dragged Penelope away, the blonde girl following them both. More of the same alien entered the room and so they armed themselves. The Doctor had his sonic, Rose picked up a chair and Penelope managed to break off part of the metal railing. They slowly got closer chanting 'we must feed' over and over and over again. It felt like they were being taunted. One of them stepped a little close and they wielded their weapons higher.

"We must feed." It looks down and taps the globe in its hand. "You, if you are hungry." Penelope felt herself laugh involuntarily.

"I'm sorry?" It bows towards her and the three people slowly lowered the weapons they had fashioned themselves.

"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?" The three of them stumbled over their words, not really expecting to be alive right now. Luckily, a door opened and a group ran in, led by a man, who was immediately stumped by their presence.

"What the hell? How did-" The man shook his head and spoke into the device on his wrist, walking up to the trio. "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." A man's voice came from the device, tinged in disbelief.