The Lost Series (A Doctor Who fanfiction) - 'Episodes '1-4

'Episode' 4-Europa - part 1

"Will you hush up." Her anger barely concealed through her gritted teeth as she gave her so called 'colleague' a whack across the back of his clumpy helmet.

"It's called breathing and the last time I checked, it's a necessary inconvenience." He grumbled back as they pressed against the slimy wall in the narrow passageway.

The heat was maddening. Their specialized suits did almost nothing to cool them and the perspiration on their brows was visible through their visors. The two could almost touch the gleaming rough wall in front of them. The only light from their small lamp, which even on a low beam, reflected dazzlingly off the crystalline walls around them. Aside from that, it was pitch black no more than a meter from where they huddled.

Again the loud scraping sound that had startled them tore the silence.

"There it is again." Marie whispered, her breath hitching. This moon was lifeless, there was no-one else here except her small odd-ball crew. No one in their right mind would dare to come and mine on a condemned planet-except her and her crew. This was their get rich quick plan, their risky escape from poverty stricken lives back home.

"You know as well as I do that NOTHING is on this god forsaken rock." Marcus grumbled shifting his weight. "We make the move-before we bloody roast in this place." He wished for all the world he could just wipe the sweat off his brow, that was running in heavy droplets down his temples. That, and a burger- he could murder a burger.

He and Marie had decided to explore further into the narrow caverns in search of easy pickings but had accidentally wandered too far. Just his luck.

"I'm fed up of this- I'm going. It's just a noise." He thrust the lamp back at Marie, he needed to take this suit off, he needed a cold shower and something to eat. He was certain base camp was near by. Stupid woman was freaking out over nothing. He stepped out into the darkness. The light on his suit casting a dim blue light around him as he walked, thankful of the grips on the soles or else he'd have a hard fall. The floor was like glass; bumpy, annoying, glass - peppered with stupid rock. He kept his eyes down, squinting in the dim light watching his step. Then, he found himself rebounding, clattering backwards on to the floor. something kind of spongy had knocked him clean off his feet. "What the-" he breathed as he glanced up. The huge lump in the middle of his path began to turn. Shell - like ridges of white rippled as a high pitched hiss made him wince. When he opened his eyes again he found himself looking back into a large circular tube...a tube that looked like it had pushed into the middle of something inflatable, nestled in the middle of fat folded ridges.  It  scraped against his visor as it pressed forwards.  The force of it pushed his head back sharply. Then he watched, disbelieving as the hollow looking tube seemed to peel back and open up, revealing a horrendous array of teeth. A mouth- it was a mouth! Before he could scramble to his feet the teeth stretched around his helmet, gnawing. There was  a cracking noise and this time, a different hiss as the bulbous creature withdrew. The hiss, he realized then, was of air seeping out. His visor had cracked. Damn this shoddy cheap equipment! He'd said it from the start, this damn equipment would be the death of him. The overpowering heat of the crystal caverns of the moon Europa pressed in on him as he struggled to breathe his last breath, staring into the cavernous jaws lunging toward him.

"Oh. Oh that's a bit- well...." The Doctor hunched over- peering closely at the center time rota column. There was something- only slight- miniscule really- that he didn't recall noticing before-ever. A tiny hairline ....crack. It was a crack. Was it? He peered closer again, his face nearly pressed up against it now.

"What are you doing?" Kitty's voice interrupted his inspection, briefly.

"Looking at something." He mumbled whipping on his glasses.

"Obviously." She sighed, he was aware she was now beside him "Looking at what exactly."

"That." The doctor replied, without giving any physical indication as to what he was looking at.

"Where?" She attempted to lean forward, leaning forward on her tip toes.

"There." The doctor only slightly nodded.

"Where?" she pressed forward and there was a clunk. "Oops."

"What was that?" He snapped his head towards her to find her glancing hurriedly over the console panel, eyes wide.

"I don't know- I think-I think I pressed something."

"what did you press?" He asked , only just a teeny bit worried.

"Uhhh..I dunno..." She gestured frantically at the console panel before a hard lurch of the time machine sent her crashing in to it. The doctor just about managed to steady himself, catching her arm.

"Are you okay?" He asked but his attention had already been drawn to the door. They'd landed, suddenly.

"Beginning to think this thing has a death wish for me..." A loud slow, almost painful creak filled the air and the Doctor raised his arm to silence his companion.

A faint, echoed hiss sounded outside.

"We've landed." The doctor voiced. Predicting his curious companions next question before it even left her lips.

"...where?" she asked quietly, the slightest hint of excitement lingering in her single word.

"Dunno. Could be anywhere." He spun around to face her, spreading a wide grin across his face.

She smiled back. "I think, we should find out."