Whirlwind

Nine: The Very Last of it's Kind

We walked down a dark corridor, reaching a circular room. The tentacle things I saw before were there again, locked away behind bars. "Doctor, where are we?" My sister asked in confusion. 

"The lowest point of Starship UK. The dungeon." He answered as we looked around. 

The children were here. I walked over and knelt down in front of them, trying to get one of them to tell me what was going on. "Hello, my name is Wanda, who are you?" 

Noticing where my attention was focused, the Doctor looked at the man named Hawthorne in confusion, "There's children down here. What's all that about?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky." The man stated with a smile.

The blood drained from my face as I realized that they had, at some point, tried to feed children to the creature. "You're despicable," I muttered at him, shooting a cold glare his way."

"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." The Doctor said as he ran around to the control console and looked down at it. Standing up and moving away from the children, I walked over and glanced to see what he was looking at before I stopped in horrified shock.

Liz walked over to stand next to me and glanced down too, shocked at what she saw, "What's that?"

"Well, as I said, it depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain center of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly," The Doctor started, my stomach churned at the thought of that.

"Or?" Liz asked.  

The Doctor was silent for a moment before sighing and looking at her, "Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Starship UK's go faster button."

Liz furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "I don't understand." 

"Don't you? Try to. Go on. The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck. This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature," The Doctor said as he looked down at it sadly, "It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving." I watched as The Doctor struggled with his anger before he whirled around and stared at Liz, "Tell you what. Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." Pointing the Sonic at one of the tentacles, a screaming sound occurred, making everyone flinch away. 

"Stop it. Who did this?" Liz asked, looking around at the people who worked for her. 

I looked down at the brain of the poor creature, unwilling to meet the Queen's eyes. "We act on instructions from the highest authority," Hawthorne explained. 

"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now! Is anyone listening to me?" I shook my head, she still didn't get it. 

The Doctor finally spoke up and helped her understand, "Liz. Your mask."

"What about my mask?"

Gesturing to it, the Doctor continued to push her in the right direction, "Look at it. It's old. At least two hundred years old, I'd say."

"Yeah? It's an antique. So?" 

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over two hundred years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign."