The Doctor and The Nightingale {1}

the satan pit 9.1

"Open fire!" Jefferson called, pointing his gun at the approaching Ood. He and the guard started shooting at them.

"We're stabilising" Zach announced. He closed the overhead shutters in the control room. "We've got orbit"

Once the Ood were down, Rose and Tate rushed back over to the com. Rose picked it up and spoke into it, hoping that they could hear her. "Doctor? Nova? Can you two hear me? Doctor, Nova, Ida, are you there?"

Tate gave Rose a worried look when they didn't respond. "Rose, do you think they're okay?"

Door 25 began to open. Jefferson and the guard pointed their guns at it, thinking more Ood were coming through. It was just Danny. "It's me! But they're coming" He warned. "It's the Ood. They've gone mad"

"How many of them?" Jefferson asked.

"All of them! All fifty!"

"Danny, out of the way" Jefferson moved closer to the door, his gun ready to shoot. "Out of the way!" He pushed Danny out of the way.

"But they're armed!" Danny tried explaining to Jefferson. He ignored the warnings and proceeded to open the door. "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon"

Jefferson opened the door and there was a line of Ood waiting on the other side. The Ood in front stepped forward, and touched it's globe to the guard's forehead. She screamed out as the Ood electrocuted her. She fell to the ground, and Jefferson began to fire at the Ood.

Zach attempted to make an exit out of the control room. Unfortuneatly, as soon as he stepped out into the corridor, he saw a line of Ood coming towards him. He quickly reentered the control room. "Lockdown" He said, typing in a code on the keypad next to him. "Seal door 1" He walked back over to the main console.

Jefferson's voice broke through Zach's wrist-com. "Seal door 24. Seal door 23"

"Jefferson, what's happening there?"

"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?"

Zach walked over to a panel on the wall and opened it up. It revealed a bolt gun inside it. "All I've got is a bolt gun" He took the gun and examined it. "With er, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is"

"Given the emergency I recommend strategy nine"

"Strategy Nine. Agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? Tate? What about Ida, The Doctor, and the Nightingale? Any word?"

"We can't get a reply" Tate responded in a shaky tone.

"Tate's right" Rose cried. "Just nothing. We keep trying, but it's--"

"No, sorry," The Doctor's voice broke through. "We're fine. Still here"

"You could've said, you stupid---"

That last bit was cut off when feedback played. "Whoa. Careful! Anyway, it's the three of us. Me, Supernova and Ida. Nova, say hello!"

"Hello!" Nova chirped up. "Like The Doctor said, we're fine. But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm"

"How deep is it?" Zach asked.

"Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever"

"The pit is open" Rose said. "That's what the voice said"

"But there's nothing. I mean," Zach spoke up. "There's nothing coming out?"

"No, no. No sign of the Beast" The Doctor said.