Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 36: The Impossible Planet

"Greetings, human sir." Echo said as they walked into Ood habitation. Wanting to look into what Rose had heard on her phone and what an Ood had said to her in the cafeteria, they thought it wise to look more into them.

Danny looked over at them with a smile. "The mysterious trio. How are you, then? Settling in?" he asked with his mind mainly focused on Echo as he worked.

"Yeah. Sorry, straight to business. The Ood, how do they communicate? I mean, with each other." the Doctor inquired with obvious curiosity.

The human man shrugged. "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." he explained, not an ounce of concern for the Ood to be found.

Looking down from the catwalk they were on,  the 'herd race' could be seen sitting on benches below. The sight made Echo feel mildly bad for them. "This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" the Time Lord asked, thinking back to what Rose had told them.

"I was having dinner and one of the Ood said something, well, odd." the blonde said, wanting to help where she could.

"Hmm. An odd Ood." Danny mused, not hearing anything that was cause for concern.

"And then I got something else on my er, communicator thing." she added, unsure on how to properly phrase it.

Danny then rolled his eyes. "Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. 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."

Echo glared at him with growing distaste. "They are the stupid ones? No shit, they don't tell you about their troubles. They're more than likely bred into the slavery business. So, why would they tell you if it wasn't a part of their orders? They don't know." she said, crossing her arms as a subtle challenge.

" 'Monitor the field.' Can it pick up messages?" the Doctor asked, pleased with his lover's passion towards defending others.

The screen read 'Basic 5'. "Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register at basic five." Danny said without care.

As the ignorant human spoke, both Echo and her Doctor watched the monitor begin to climb. "Well, that's not basic five. Ten, twenty. They've gone up to basic thirty." the Time Lord commented, making Danny quickly look as well.

"But they can't be." he denied.

"Well, evidently they are." Echo replied, then noticed how the Ood had lifted their heads and were looking up at them.

"Doctor, the Ood. What does basic thirty mean?" Rose asked as nervousness slowly trickled into her blood stream.

"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads." Danny said with intense confusion, checking the system for any faults but found none.

"They're not the ones screaming. Something's screaming at them." the brunette woman said as she kept her eyes fixed on the Ood.

Her evaluation made Danny's nerves also spike. "But where is it coming from? What's it saying?" He then looked at Rose. "What did it say to you?"

The blonde shrugged, "Something about the beast in the pit."

"What about your communicator? What did that say?" he pressed, needing to get to the bottom of their problem.

"He is awake." she replied worriedly. 

"And you will worship him." came the unified response from the Ood.

Danny looked at them with wide, fearful eyes. "He is awake." said the Doctor, testing the situation.

"And you will worship him."

"Who is it that we must worship?" Echo asked, but was given no reply.

Only moments later did the base begin to violently shake, causing everyone to become scared of their situation. "Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach." the computer announced automatically.

"Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen." came Zach's urgent voice. "We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!"

Running out of door nineteen, the group was then quickly led to a safe area to avoid certain death. Jefferson took the lead through the corridors until the computer finally said it was safe for the time being. "What happened? What was it?"

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

"But that wasn't a quake. So, what caused it?" the Doctor wondered aloud. Echo, too, was cautiously curious over what had happened.

Zach then gave them an update. "We've lost sections eleven to thirteen. Everyone all right?"

Jefferson replied as he looked over everyone around him. "We've got everyone here except Scooti." He then switched the intercom. "Scooti, report." but then came no response. "Scooti Manista?" There was still no response, making everyone become even more concerned. "That's an order. Report."

After conducting a quick scan, Zach found the human woman's position. "She's all right. I've picked up her biochip. She's in Habitation three. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious." 

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

That was when the Doctor noticed Toby's differently agitated state of fear. "What happened?"

The scared human man shook his head. "I don't-- I don't know. I was working and then I can't remember. All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air."

Rose then knelt down to help the sir to his feet. "Come on. Up you get. Come and have some protein one." she offered, trying to comfort him the best she could.

"Oh, you've gone native." the Time Lord mused as he took Echo's hand into his own.

The blonde smiled at him, "Oi, don't knock it. It's nice. Protein one with just a dash of three." she replied playfully, making Echo crack a smile in equal fondness.

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"Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing." Jefferson said to the captain in the control room.

"It says Habitation three." Zach answered with furrowed brow of confusion.

Seeing his love's eyes looking up at the visible black hole somberly prompted the Doctor to follow her gaze and became sorrowful as well. "We've found her." his impossible love muttered, giving the dead woman her silent respects.

"Oh, my God." Rose practically whispered in shock, seeing Scooti's discolored and floating corpse in horrified disbelief.

"I'm so sorry..." the Doctor mumbled just as quietly.

Jefferson took a deep breath to steady himself. "Captain. Report Officer Scootori Manista PKD, deceased. Forty-three K two point one." he announced sadly.

"She was twenty. Twenty years old." Ida said mournfully. She then closed the shutters, unable to watch any longer.

To give his own respects, Jefferson began to quote Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay. " 'For how should man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods.' "

Almost to accentuate the mood, the base then fell deafeningly silent. "It's stopped." Ida said with an almost relieved tone. "We've made it. Point Zero."