Soul's Shadow (Doctor Who - SI)

Part IV (XI)

Falling when there is no air around you is a strange feeling. You sense the drop and gravity takes a hold of you. There is, however nothing rushing past you, nothing tugging at your clothes. It is almost like floating downwards, the speed of your movements not palpable, until...

Impact.

There was no pain. Only a far away realization that I wasn't falling anymore and then... nothing.

Suddenly I stood on my feet again, my head having trouble orientating myself properly after awaiting some sort of crash that, however, never came. Puzzled I glanced around, only noticing the diffuse orange light after some seconds. There was stone around me, raw, with no traces of symbols or engravings. A weird bubbling sound crept into my ears, as if there was water boiling nearby. My look wandered upwards, finding the hole through which I had fallen. The cable was nowhere to be seen. It must have been too high above.

How, then, had I survived the fall? Why was I standing upright on my feet and had not crushed to death? Something must have stopped my fall.

I winced as a loud beeping noise rang through my suit. And suddenly I also understood why it was so hard to breathe. Remembered.

The oxygen was running out.

Ten seconds.

Beep! – Beep!

I laughed. It was hard in the thin air, but I couldn't help it. Surviving the fall, only to die anyway. This wasn't fair. It just wasn't. I dropped to my knees in defeat, slowly screwing the helmet open. It was instinct. Just this small wish to not die inside a glass dome around my head. It didn't matter, I'd suffocate anyway. And I wanted to have a clear sight. Just for the last moments of my own mental wellbeing.

Another thought that made me laugh a little. The helmet dropped to the ground.

This was it.

I took one last breath and...

Wait... Did I just breathe? Completely baffled I tried it again and sucked in some air, oxygen. Maybe a little thin and too hot to be comfortable, but still... How was that even possible? The sensor the Master had with him had clearly shown no signs of it. And yet...

The Master!

I shot to my feet and scrambled for the communicator.

"Jump!" I shouted into it an hastily rambled on. "You can breathe down here! There's got to be... I don't know what. I survived the fall. There's got to be some gravity bubble or whatever. Don't even have a scratch and it was damn deep."

My heart thudded excitedly in my chest from the good news, then, after some seconds passed, because of fear. I paced up and down, away from the hole. A minute passed.

Two.

Again I raised the com, barely daring to speak.

"Are you..." I gulped, afraid to finish the question. It drove me mad that there was no answer. Hadn't he said... Had it been a lie? No, no, no, no! I stopped dead in my tracks, glaring at the communicator. Sweat dropped down from my forehead, from the heat and from my fear. Time seemed to stand almost completely still while I raised the device to my mouth again. "You said you'd survive longer than I." My choking voice was barely a whisper.

Silence.

It hadn't even been so long! There was no way... "Dammit, answer!" I pleaded. "I swear, if you lied to me... I... I..."

My hand lowered. Tears burned in my eyes, unable to fall. Suddenly everything crushed over me like a wave. The past days, the beast in my head, the elevator, the fall, the heat... and now the missing answer. Shit! This was too much. I couldn't breathe anymore. It was so hot, my stomach cramped and I slid down the stone wall, sobbing out all the tension. Fuck! It couldn't be true! It wasn't possible! It was a cruel joke, nothing more. I was dreaming, trapped in a nightmare.