"How's them dreams?" The Doctor asked Rita sitting beside her in the console room.

"Oh well I haven't got any other dreams like that" She replied crossing her legs. "Still can't remember what I was dreaming about"

"You'll remember," He told her getting up.

"Where are we going next?" She asked.

"Never ended up going to Barcelona" He thought out loud. "Shall we go to Barcelona?"

"Where dogs have no noses?" She grinned.

"That's the one" He ran around the console.

"Rose!" The Doctor beamed seeing her walk in. "You know I said about Barcelona that time?"

"After you regenerated scaring the hell out of me and was talking about that mole" She raised a brow laughing.

"I love the mole! Leave the mole alone, but yes that Barcelona."

"What about it?"

"What do you say about taking a trip to Barcelona" She grinned and the Doctor took that as a yes and pulled a lever.

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Carful bit tight out here" Rita warned the Doctor and Rose stepping out the TARDIS moving over a bit. "Aww I know where we are, not even Barcelona" she moaned.

"One day I promise you will see Barcelona, the planet where the dogs have no noses." He laughed at Rita's face she rolled her eyes knowing that they weren't going to leave since the TARDIS apparently takes the Doctor where he needs to be and he definitely needed to be here. "I don't know what's wrong, though." He looked at the TARDIS rubbing the door making Rita snort a little. "She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land."

"Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else, say Barcelona?." She looked at Rita pausing biting her lip, Rita did the same trying to hold in a laugh, they then burst out in hysterics unable to keep it in. After the outburst, the Doctor looked around the tight space.

"I think we've landed inside a cupboard." He moved past Rita opening the door. "Here we go."

A robotic computer then said: Open door 15.

The Doctor took in the surroundings. "Some sort of base. Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits."

"Space" Rita confirmed for them.

"Ooh, so this is one of your little 'episodes' eh?" The Doctor raised a brow.

"TARDIS feeling queasy, storage area, space base. Definitely one of my 'episodes'" She used her fingers for speech marks laughing a little.

Close door 15.

"Glad we're indoors. sounds like a storm out there." Rose shivered.

"Storm in space?" Rita's brows came together in a frown.

"Anything can happen in space!" The Doctor told them. "Rain in space not so much, but a storm in space. definitely possible, metaphorically"

Open door 16.

They walked through a corridor and the Doctor continued talking to both the girls. "Human design. You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier.

Open door 17.

They walked into a room with a few tables and chairs. "Oh, it's a sanctuary base." The Doctor looked around his mouth open in an 'o' shape. "You were close" He nodded his head left to Rita.

Close door 17.

"But we are in space, deep, deep space. A deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath." He bent down a little putting his ear closer to the ground. "Someone's drilling."

"Well isn't that lovely." Rita looked at the direction Rose was looking in.

"Welcome to hell." The blonde companion read aloud. The Doctor not paying attention to the two continued looking at the floor listening to the drilling.

"Oh, it's not that bad."

"No, over there." Rose laughed. It faded when she saw the confused expression on the Doctors face. He walked towards the sign looking at the small shapes bellow it.

"Hold on, what does that say? That's weird, it won't translate." He looked at Rita then Rose.

"And it's not because she's sick either" Rita pointed out.

"No it's not" He mumbled placing a hand on the writing as if it would do something.

Rose looked at the two confused. "But I thought the Tardis translated everything, writing as well. We should see English."

"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old. We should find out who's in charge." The Doctor started to spin the wheel on another door.

"We've gone beyond the reach of the Tardis' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough-"

Open door 19. The Door opened and ailens with tenticals where their nose and mouth would be better known to Rita as the Ood, they were standing behind the door causing the Doctor and Rose to jump at the sight. "Oh! Right. Hello. Sorry. I was just saying, er, nice base." He commented.

The Ood all say in sync: "We must feed." The Doctor and Rose frown in confusion. "You've got to what?"

"We must feed."

"Yeah. I think they mean us." They begin to back away, Rita shook her head staying where she was not moving.

"Rita!" The Doctor pulled her back before she had time to tell them both that the Ood didn't mean literally eating them.

"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." They chanted. Rita rolled her eyes, the Doctor brought out his sonic screwdriver pointing it at the Ood while Rose grabbed a chair. Rita sighed at how much they looked like idiots, the Doctor and Rose was definitely too busy with the situation with the Ood to notice her body language.

"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed." They chanted over and over. The Ood all stop and the Ood in front then repeats what they said multiple times over on its own. "We must feed." it then tapped the white globe causing it to flicker off then on again. "You, if you are hungry."

"I did try to tell you" Rita muttered. The Doctor lowered the sonic screwdriver and Rose did the same with the chair.

"Sorry?" The Doctor asked it to explain.

"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?"

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "Er"

Open door 18. The door beside then opened and two people emerged from the door, the look on their faces showed confusion and shock as if they had seen a ghost.

"What the hell? How did?" A man looked baffled stepping closer to the three. The Ood stepped aside for the man. He raised his hand and spoke into a wrist comm not breaking his gaze with the Doctor thinking that if he looked away they would disappear. "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean three living people, just standing here right in front of me."

"Two actually" Rita mumbled just loud enough for the Doctor and Rose to hear, the Doctor glanced at her and she just grinned at him.

"Don't be stupid, that's impossible." A man on the other end spoke out.

"I suggest telling them that."

"But you're a sort of space base. You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible." Rose told the man not understanding where they were.

"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" He looked at them like they were mad (Which they were when with the Doctor)

"No idea. More fun that way." The Doctor smiled.

"I know" Rita raised a hand.

"Yeah but you're not fun." The Doctor commented.

"Oi! I can be fun!" She protested shoving his shoulder a little playfully, he just smirked at her shaking his head.

"So you know but them two don't?" The man from before pointed at Rita then at the Doctor and Rose.

"Yep" She popped the 'p' smiling.

"How?"

"Long explanation that I don't want to repeat five times" She groaned.

"Why do you think I don't say about two hearts?" The Doctor whispered in her ear.

"Good point" She nodded having to give him that one. The man opened his mouth to ask another question but was interrupted by a woman on the wrist-comm.

"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake point five on its way." The man ran to the door opening it and ordering everyone inside, alarms began to blare in the room and they ran through not asking any questions.

The room they were now in had 5 other people three around what looked like controls and two others sitting at a console.

"Oh, my God. You meant it." A man looked up noticing the Doctor, Rita and Rose standing there.

"People! Look at that, real people!" A woman looked at them wide eyed.

The Doctor looked slightly uncomfortable and cheered. "That's us. Hooray!"

"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler. And, and this is the Doctor and Rita Stone"

One of the men walked over to the three not believing his eyes. "Come on the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating." The three just gave him a look as if to say 'really?' "They can't be. No, they're real." His eyes widened in shock and mouth hung open.

"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up. The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds! Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just hold on, tight." Rita walked back a little and held onto a bar connected to a table.

"Hold on to what?" Rose looked around.

"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?"

"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated." One of the Ood said quite calmly.

"What's this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor asked holding into the bar beside Rita.

A woman looked up at him like he was definitely an idiot. "Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name? You really don't know, do you?" She asked not giving him time to answer the man from before shouted impact and the whole room shook for a second. The Doctor stood up after it stopped.

"Oh, well, that wasn't so bad."

"You wish" Rita muttered pulling him back towards the bar just before the room shook more violently. One of the consoles burst into flames, sparks flew everywhere and smoke began to fill the room, the shaking stopped and the man which Rita now remembered as Zach the captain confirmed it was over. One of the men closest to the door jumped up, grabbed a fire extinguisher and started to put the fire out.

"Everyone all right?" He asked getting no response he ordered them to speak. "Speak to me, Ida."

"Yeah, yeah" she quickly answered.

"Danny?"

"Fine."

"Toby?" He continued to ask everyone.

"Yeah, fine."

"Scooti?"

"No damage." She replied not saying if she was okay or not.

"Jefferson?"

"Check!"

After a pause, the Doctor spoke up sarcastically. "We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us."

Zach ignored the Doctor looking at what looked to be a map of the base. "The surface caved in."

"I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely." Rita bit her lip knowing that the TARDIS was in one of those storages, she could have stopped this and told the Doctor to land elsewhere but she didn't, would it have changed the course of the 'episode' much? Probably not the TARDIS could just end up in one of the other storage rooms that were lost.

"Toby, go and check the rocket link," Zach ordered.

"That's not my department." He protested against the captain.

"Just do as I say, yeah?" Zach wasn't taking no for an answer. Toby slightly huffed then walked out of the room.

"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity fifty-six point six. We should be okay." The woman informed Zach.

"Never mind the earthquake, that's, that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?" Rose asked forgetting she was in space.

"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum." The woman told her.

"Then what's shaking the roof?" Rose asked.

"You're not joking. You really don't know. Well, introductions. F Y I, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mister Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee." She pointed to all of the other people.

"Not as boring as it sounds." Danny interrupted Ida.

"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manista, Trainee maintenance. And this? This is home." She pulled a lever and the shutters began to open.

"Brace yourselves," Zach warned the three. "The sight of it sends some people mad.

Rose and the Doctors eyes widened. "That's a black hole."

"But that's impossible." The Doctor looked at it then too Zach.

"Does look beautiful though" Rita added. "For a deadly black hole that is"

Zach chipped in. "I did warn you."

"We're standing under a black hole." The Doctor frowned still not understanding how.

"In orbit," Ida told then.

"But we can't be" the Doctor muttered continuing to stare at the black hole before him.

"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit." Ida repeated.

"But we can't be." The Doctor looked over to her telling her this time not muttering to himself.

"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."

"And that's bad, yeah?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Bad doesn't cover it. A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too." He explained to her. "Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."

Rose frowned trying to understand. "So, they can't be in orbit. We should be pulled right in."

"We should be dead." He told her.

"Lovely" Rita muttered.

"And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board." She told them.

Rose continued to frown not fully understanding the situation. "But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?" She asked.

"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing."

"So, a bit worse than a storm, then." Rose guessed.

"Just a bit," Ida confirmed.

"Just a bit, yeah," Rose repeated the woman before another shake caused them to become unbalanced.

"So deadly black hole and these guys think it would be fun to have a space base under it?" Rita asked.

"Pretty much yeah." The Doctor confirmed.

"Almost as mad as you" she commented smirking at the eye roll he gave her which she deserved.

Close door 1.

Toby walked in breathing out a sigh or relief. "The rocket link's fine." He walked over to Zach who called a hologram with the control console.

"That's the black hole," the Doctor, Rose and Rita walked over to him, "officially designated K three seven Gen five."

"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor, the bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison." Ida explained to the three of them. The Doctor placed on his glasses leaning forward to take a better look.

"The bitter pill. I like that." Rose commented.

"Bitter isn't meant to be nice," Rita informed the blonde.

"We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe. How did you even get here?!" He turned to Zach for an explanation which he gave him.

The hologram switched from the black hole to the rock they were on with a red circle like funnel moving from it. "We flew in. You see, this planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there as a funnel. A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."

"You flew down that thing? Like a rollercoaster." Rose asked.

"Maybe they are madder than you" Rita patted her arm on the Doctors shoulder.

"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart. We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge."

"You're doing a good job." Ida complimented walking over to one of the consoles.

"Yeah, well, needs must."

"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out," Danny explained.

"We had fun speculating about that." Scooti joked

"Oh, yeah. That's the word. Fun." Danny scoffed hitting her on the head lightly with rolled up paper.

The Doctors brows came together and his eyes scanned the hologram. "But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power. I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I?" He looked Ida.

"Sure. Help yourself." She picked up a remote walking around the console and handing it to the Doctor while an Ood walked over to Rose handing her a plastic cup.

"Your refreshment." It said holding up the white globe that lit up as it spoke.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." She took the cup from it. "Thank you. I'm sorry, what was your name?" She asked.

The globe lit up again. "We have no titles. We are as one."

"Er, what are they called?"

"Oh, come on. Where have you been living? Everyone's got one."

"Well, not me, so, what are they?"

"The Ood" Rita explained. "Apparently they're born as a 'basic slave race' born to serve, without orders to follow they just die"

"The Ood?" Rose raised a brow. "What you got slaves?" She looked at Danny

"Don't start. She's like one of that lot. Friends of the Ood." Scooti spoke up rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Well, maybe I am, yeah. Since when do humans need slaves?"

"But the Ood offer themselves." He protested that nothing was wrong. "Like your friend said if you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die."

Rose turned to the Ood who handed her the drink. "Seriously, you like being ordered about?"

"It is all we crave." It told her.

"Why's that, then?" She questioned it.

"We have nothing else in life."

"Yeah, well, I used to think like that, a long time ago."

"You and me both Rose" Rita gently rubbed her friend's arm.

"There we go." The Doctor stepped back. "Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."

"Six, six, six, what did you say was on that wall Rose?" She pursed her lips looking at the blonde.

"Welcome to hell" she replied frowning then understanding what the brunette meant. "It has to just be a coincidence though, right Doctor?"

"Well," he drew out the word and paused. "It could be, but it couldn't because it's impossible"

"It took us two years to work that out." Zach looked at the Doctor gobsmacked.

"I'm very good." He told them.

"You just like to rub it in don't you?" Rita asked him.

"Just a bit, yeah" He smirked.

"But that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." Said Ida.

"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale.

"It could revolutionise modern science." Ida thought out loud.

"We could use it to fuel the Empire." The Doctors face darkened.

"Or start a war." 

"It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting," Toby said sounding a little terrifying. 

 "What's your job, chief dramatist?" Rose asked grinning, the Doctor looked at her in the corner of his eye smiling a little at her comment.

Toby didn't answer her question and changed the subject.  "Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenoma. And this, er, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk."

"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" The Doctor asked sounding amazed by what the man had done."

"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it."

"No, neither can I. And that's saying something." He took his glasses off and placed them in his pocket.

"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in." 

"And you came." The Doctor smiled at them all.

"Well, how could we not?" Ida asked. 

"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant." He beamed they looked at him not understanding what he meant. "Excuse me, er, Zach, wasn't it?" He looked over at Zach who nodded.

"That's me."

"Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you." He stepped away from the console slowly walking over to Zach. "Is that all right?"

"I suppose so." He shrugged.

"Careful I'm told there like paper cuts, well... spoilers."

"what is she on about?" Danny looked at Rita most likely concerned for her mental health.

"Oh never mind" She shook her head.

 The Doctor opened his arms grinning. "Here we go. Come on, then." The two hug the Doctor grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha!" He shouted happily. "Thank you." He stepped away returning to beside Rita and Rose.

"Not at all." Zach also returned to where he was before.

"But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives." He told them.

"You can talk. And how the hell did you get here?" Ida looked between the three of them.

They looked at each other the Doctor scratching his head, Rose her neck and Rita just looking at the floor. "Oh, I've got this er, this ship. It's hard to explain. It just sort of appears." He shrugged at them.

"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from er. Oh, what's it called? Habitation area..." Rose looked at the Doctor to see if he could remember.

"Three." He told her. 

Rose nodded. "Three. Three."

"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked.

"It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah. Storage six. But you said... You said... You said storage five to eight." His eyes widened and he sprinted for the door. He ran down the corridor Rose sprinting after him Rita just behind the blonde. 

"What is it? What's wrong?" She shouted following him down the long corridor. Open door 19. Close door 19. 

"Open the door! Come on!" He shouted gritting his teeth and spinning the wheel to open it.

Open door 17. The  Doctor continued to run not answering the blonde running just behind him. Open door 15. He ran through continuing down the corridor. Door 16 out of commission. The computer told him.

"It can't be. It can't be!" He shouted looking through the porthole.

 "What's wrong? What is it? Doctor, the TARDIS is in there. What's happened?" Rose asked frantically worried about the Doctor, herself, Rita and the TARDIS

"The TARDIS is gone."