Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Eighty: A Song of Freedom

The lights of the translator balls go out. The Ood bow their heads, clasping their hands over their ears as if pained by some unheard din. When they stand again, the red light in their eyes is gone. "Inara. Doctor. Donna. Friends."

"Yes!"

"That's us!"

"Friends! Oh, yes!"

With their help, we get free from our cuffs. A blizzard has begun to rage outside. Racing down the steps of the fire exit, we run right into an active battle. Bullets whizz past, red staining the snow. Bodies of both races lie unmoving. Halpen and Dr Ryder are nowhere to be seen. The Doctor stops us before we can step into the open, looking around. "I don't know where it is, I don't know where they've gone!"

"What are we looking for?"

Sticking to the edges, we get clear from the line of fire and make it into an empty alley. "Might be underground, like some sort of cave, or a cavern, or..."

What else, he can't guess. Just as we think we're clear of the fighting, a stray bullet hits the fire tanks behind us. We manage to jump away in time. The heat of the explosion pushes us back.

Recovering from the fall, the Doctor quickly looks over the two of us. "All right?"

We hastily nod. Something else catches our attention, though. The smoke clears until we are met with the curious stare of an Ood. His eyes are normal, unaffected. He tilts his head, a gesture for us to follow.

There is no time to ask questions. Hurrying after him, we come to one of the larger warehouses at the edge of the complex. Its door is printed with a red '15', sliding open to the sonic's command. An electric hum grows louder as we sprint along the corridors.

Its source is soon clear to us. The corridor opens into a balcony overlooking the ground below. Within this square of space lies a giant brain, wired into machines. It pulses in and out with each pump from the tubes connected to it, as if breathing on its own. A circle of blue electricity surrounds it.

"The Ood brain," the Doctor marvels. The song can be heard again, ringing out to us from this wonder of creation. "Now it all makes sense. That's the missing link, the third element, binding them together. Fore brain, hind brain, and this — the telepathic centre. It's a shared mind, connecting all the Ood in song."

The familiar clicking of a gun alerts us. Halpen grimaces back from the shadows. "Cargo. I can always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business, much more manageable, without livestock."

Dr Ryder trudges along behind him, far less enthusiastic. "He's mined the area," he warns us.

Donna looks around. Sure enough, at least a dozen mines have been fused to the walls surrounding the brain, scarlet lights blinking steadily. "They're gonna kill it?"

"They found that... thing," Halpen continues in disgust, "centuries ago beneath the Northern Glacier."

Inclining his head towards us, the Doctor notes, "Those pylons."

She nods. "In a circle. 'The circle must be broken'."

"Damping the telepathic field, stopping the Ood from connecting for two hundred years."

Halpen ignores us, instead looking to his servant who remains silent in the corner, unnoticed until now. "And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here. I expected better."

He blinks and starts to approach. "My place is always at your side, sir."

A cold burst of laughter comes from Halpen, who keeps his gun steadily trained on us. "Still subservient. Good Ood."