Soul's Shadow (Doctor Who - SI)

Part IV (X)

Smoothly the elevator rattled down into the pitch black depths of the planet's core. There was no noise beside the rumbling of the machines and the sound of my own breathing inside the helmet. Aside from a tiny lamp above our heads there also was no light to illuminated the shaft, nothing to indicate how far below our destiny lay. Only the timer inside my helmet told that we were in here for almost ten minutes.

"-kzzzt- You're okay, there?" the Doctor's voice asked through the communicator.

I picked mine up and pressed the button at its side. "Yup. All quiet and boring."

"Good! –zzzzt- We might not respond in a while. Or, well, we will. But things got a little busy. The Ood started to act up and..."

"-kzzzz- Move, Doctor!" Zach's voice rang from afar through the com. "We need to get to section 22. It's sealed and they won't come in so easily."

"You heard the man! Ida's still in the elevator room. And Jefferson is guarding the door and hallway."

The Master chuckled and shook his head, picking his own communicator up. "Can't leave you alone for one second, Doctor," he mocked. "Was actually hoping it would be me to get rid of you..."

"Ha! Don't fret. I'll find a way to protect everyone. You know me."

"Yeah, I do," the Master mumbled and smiled to himself. With that the communicator went dead and silence spread again, only interrupted by the noises of the elevator.

I did not ask. The relationship between the two Time Lords seemed a lot more complicated than I could fathom in that moment. Enemies, but still friends, fighting each other to the blood, not bothering to endanger their lives and still hoping the other would survive anyway.

My thoughts got interrupted as the elevator landed on the ground with a rough thump. The door rattled open, leading us outside into absolute darkness.

"The gravity globe," the Master said, holding me by the shoulder, before I could step outside. "You don't want to accidentally fall into a hole, do you?"

"Eh, no."

I reached down and picked the sphere from the elevator ground. It had roughly the size of a soccer ball and was smooth to the touch. As Ida had instructed I tossed it into the air, where it flew upwards for a bit, before suddenly illuminating our surroundings. The sphere kept hovering in the air and even followed us around.

The light was bright enough to reveal an enormous cave, with lots and lots of layers into the depth. Bridges of stone connected them, decorated by ancient stalagmites and stalactites, thick as trees. And not only that. Where we exited the elevator, there were giants of statues carved into the rough stone walls. Devilish faces, horned heads and more of the strange symbols.

I glared open mouthed at the scenery, slowly turning around myself o take everything in properly. Even the statues were more fascinating than scary, despite their eerie depictions.

"That's... wow," I simply let out, finding myself at a complete loss for words.

The Master stepped next to me, his eyes wandering over the scene. "Yeah, indeed." An odd smile was on his face, or was it simply the light? "The universe is still able to surprise me."

We reported back to Ida. I told her as best as I could about what was down here and heard in her response how much she envied us right now.

We didn't walk far. Maybe a hundred meters. I picked up the com again, while the Master kneeled down next to a huge round gate on the ground.

"Hey, Ida. We found some kind of hatch. It's really big and round. The Master looks for a way to open it."

"Are there more of the symbols?"