Rose and Rita continued banging on the door trying to force it open. "Open fire!" Jefferson shouted then started firing his gun at the Ood walking towards them. After all of the Ood were killed Rose and Rita ran back to the comm.

"Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?" Rose spoke into the comm, there was no reply only a slight buzzing, she looked at Rita who hugged her.

"Don't lose hope" She whispered into the blonde's ear.

Open door 25. Jefferson and the guard spin round holding their guns up ready to shoot. The Door opens and Danny shoots up his hands in the air shouting at them in panic "It's me! But they're coming." He warned them. Close door 25. "It's the Ood. They've gone mad."

"How many of them?" Jefferson asked eyes locked on the door behind Danny who was shaking in his shoes. "All of them! All fifty!" Danny's voice shook.

"Danny, out of the way. Out of the way!" Jefferson ordered.

"But they're armed! It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon." He protested.

"Don't open that door!" Rita pointed at Jefferson, he looked at her then opened it ignoring her. Open door 25. The door opened and the Ood appeared with red eyes staring at the others, the Ood in front takes its globe and it flies sticking to the other guards head kidding her, she screamed then fell to the floor dead, the group watch in horror and Jefferson then starts shooting at the Ood, spraying every bullet at them until they fall to the floor dead.

"Jefferson, what's happening there?" said Zach.

"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?" He asked his captain who groaned "All I've got is a bolt gun. With er, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. A fat lot of good that is." He spat sarcastically

"Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine," Jefferson suggested.

Zach paused for a moment not saying anything. "Strategy Nine," He said aloud. "Agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose, Rita? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?" He asked them.

"I can't get a reply. Just nothing. I keep trying, but it's-" She was cut off by a buzz and the Doctor's voice, both the girls sighed in relief.

"No, sorry, I'm fine. Still here."

"You could've said, good job Rita is here to tell me you stupid" Rita lightly stepped on her foot before she could continue, Rose shrieked in a little pain and stared at the brunette deadly, she sheepishly grinned at her stare.

"Whoa. Careful!" The Doctor winced. "Anyway, it's both of us. Me and Ida. Hello. But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."

Zach then spoke up. "How deep is it?"

"Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever." The Doctor replied to his question.

Rose muttered in thought. "The pit is open." She then raised her voice a little, "that's what the voice said."

"But there's nothing. I mean there's nothing coming out?" Zach asked for confirmation.

"No, no. No sign of the Beast."

"It said Satan," Rose said under her breath not believing what the Ood said.

"Come on, Rose. Keep it together, you too Rita"

"Is there no such thing? Doctor." He didn't reply not knowing what to say. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing. Rita?" She looked at the brunette who's face was blank and unreadable.

"Ida? I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately."

She began to protest. "But, we've come all this way."

"Okay That was an order. Withdraw. When that thing opened, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now." He demanded her to turn back."

"But it's not much better up there with the Ood."

"I'm initiating strategy: Nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no-" He stopped hearing the comm cut out. "Ida. Ida!" He began to shout.

"What do you think?" She asked the Doctor for his opinion on the subject.

"I think they've an order."

"Yeah, but what do you think?" She repeated not satisfied with his reply.

"It said, I am the temptation." He quoted the beast.

"Well, if there's something in there, why is it still hiding?" Ida inched closer to the pit.

"Maybe we opened the prison but not the cell." The Doctor muttered crouching down.

"We should go down. I'd go. What about you?"

"Oh. Oh, in a second, but then again, that is so human." He started to explain. "Where angels fear to tread. Even now, standing on the edge. It's that feeling you get, eh? Right at the back of your head. That impulse. That strange little impulse. That mad little voice saying, go on. Go on. Go on. Go over. Go on. Maybe it's relying on that." He then thought for a couple of moments looking into the pit. "But I promised her I wasn't going to be an idiot." He muttered. "For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say retreat. Oh, now I know I'm getting old. Rose, Rita, we're coming back." He said through the comm.

"Best news I've heard all day." Rose smiled breathing out in relief.

"You can say that again" Rita smiled at the blonde. Jefferson then snapped his rifle pointing it at Toby, the smiles on Rita and Roses faces were then wiped off and scolds replaced them.

"What're you doing?" Rose asked moving beside Toby.

"He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." He stared at Toby then looked at Rose.

"He didn't bring it on board, it was already here, enough people have died we don't need any more dead," Rita told him standing in front of Toby. "You are not going to kill him."

"Are you going to start shooting your own people now, Is that what you're going to do? Is it?" Rose asked.

"If necessary." He told them.

"Well then, you'll have to shoot me if necessary, so what's it going to be?" She stepped beside the brunette who nodded at her. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, is gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." She told him.

"Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot hi," Jefferson promised then walked off towards Danny.

Rose breathed out a long sigh turning to Toby. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he said then paused telling the truth. "I don't know."

"Can you remember anything?"

He thought for a moment then shivered at what he remembered. "Just, it was so angry. It was fury and rage and death. It was him. It was the devil."

Rose saw the terror and fear in his eyes then gave him a hug. "Come on."

"He won't kill you" Rita knelt down. "Won't let him kill anyone else, enough people have died, we definitely don't need any more dead."

"How do you know he won't?" Toby asked.

"Some things" She paused thinking of the right words. "I just know" he looked at her a little strange then nodded not questioning her further. She left Rose with Toby to calm him down and picked up the comm listening in.

"Okay, we're in. Bring us up." Rita heard Ida through the comms.

"Ascension in three, two, one." He goes to press a button to start to bring them up but the power cuts out.

"Oh good" Rita muttered under her breath. Rose got up then stood beside the brunette.

"This is the darkness. This is my domain." A deep gravily voice speaks through the comm and an image of the Ood with red eyes show on the monitors around the group. "You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die"

"That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them." Zach told them.

"Not someone, something," Rita told them.

"Only the darkness remains." The Voice began to speak again.

"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself." He ordered it.

"You know my name."

"What do you want?"

"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave." Toby began to freak out his eyes frantically moving around the room.

"It's him. It's him. It's him." Toby panted out

The Doctor then cut in feeling that everyone was now starting to panic a little bit more. "If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?" He asked.

The voice of the beast then replied. "All of them."

"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?"

"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind." The Doctors eyes widened a little ignoring its statment he questioned it again changing the subject off of himself.

"How did you end up on this rock?"

"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity." It spat.

"When was this?"

"Before time."

"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked.

"Before time." It repeated once again. The Doctor frowned then repeated the question not satisfied with the answer the beast was giving him.

"What does before time mean?"

"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created." It finally answered.

"That's impossible. No life could have existed back then."

"Is that your religion?" The beast asked him.

The Doctor paused thinking of a reply. "It's a belief."

"You know nothing. All of you, so small." The beast then began to look inside the group of people bringing out there deepest fears and secrets. "The Captain, so scared of command." "The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." Jefferson then looked around trying to ignore the beasts voice but not able to. "The scientist, still running from Daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin." The beast stopped for a moment.

"The lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." The beast paused again Rita looked at Rose who was practically shaking staring at nothingness. "And then the one trapped inside, the girl all on her own, tick tock goes the clock Rita Stone." Rita froze eyes fixed on completely nothing, her breathing stopped and her eyes widened in fear.

"Doctor, what does that mean?" Rose shakily spoke into the comm.

"Rose, don't listen." He told her, Rita gripped onto the blonde's arm feeling as if her feet would give way any second.

"Rita?!" She looked at the brunette scared for her life as well as her own. "What does it mean?" She repeated.

"You will die and I will live." The voice of the beast spoke, the images of the Ood then were replaced by a red horned beast roaring and then disappeared just as fast as it came.

"What the hell was that?" Danny gasped jumping back with the others, all exept Rita who was frozen breathing rappidly her eyes almost wide enough to pop out of her own head.

"I had that thing inside my head," Toby said shakily.

"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose asked. "Rita?" She looked at her concerned about how hard she was gripping onto her arm and how fast her breathing was.

"What do we do? Jefferson?" Danny asked.

"Captain? What's the situation on strategy nine?" Jefferson asked. There was no answer.

"Zach, what do we do?" Danny pleaded for an order, anything to get him to stop thinking about what it said.

Toby began to mutter. "The planet, the orbit, the black hole. Everything's true."

"Captain, report."

"We've lost pictures, Mister Jefferson," Ida informed him.

"It said-" Rita started to mutter between rapid breathing. "All alone- tick tock." She shook her head. "I'm trapped inside..." She squeezed her eyes shut trying to ignore the words repeating themselves over and over in her mind.

"Doctor, how did it know all of that?" Rose begged for a reply, an explanation, anything.

"Jefferson," Zach replied empty and shaking.

"Stop." The Doctor demanded hearing seeing everyone starting to get out of control.

"What did it mean?" Rose asked again.

"Everyone just stop!"

"What do we do?

"Report."

Rita stopped squeezing her eyes, her breathing slowed. Now is not the time to panic She thought hearing the chaos around her. She screamed as loud as she could possibly scream "Everyone shut up!" They all stopped instantly, she let go of Rose's arm. "Sorry Rose had a little bit of a meltdown there, again. Doctor, you wanted to say something?"

"Thank you" he breathed out. "You want voices in the dark. Then listen to mine. That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff." He said loudly getting them all to listen.

"But that's how the devil works," Danny told him.

"Or a good psychologist." He countered Danny.

"Yeah, but how did it know about my father?" Ida questioned.

The Doctor thought for a moment thinking of what to say. "Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm? Cos I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket. Right into the orbit ofa black hole, just for the sake of discovery. That's amazing!" He gleamed at them. "Do you hear me? Amazing, all of you. The Captain, his Officer, his elders, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him."

There was a loud crash and Rita's eyes widened. "Doctor get out!" She screamed into the comm.

"The cable's snapped!" Ida gasped.

"Get out!" They both ran out the capsule and dived to the ground as miles of steel cable arrived at a harsh speed.

"Doctor, we lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right? Doctor!" Rose frantically asked in the comm. Rita placed a hand, on her should.

"Rose"

"Comms are down," Zach informed them.

"Rita is he all right" she looked at the brunette a tear rolling down her face.

"Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me?" Rose snapped her head to comm again begging for anything to tell her that he was okay after the brunette gave no answer.

"Yeah" she gave the blonde a hug. "Their good" She finally whispered

"I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule. There's no way out. They're stuck down there." He told them sighing in the process

"But they're now stuck" she lightly sobbed.

"I know, but the Doctor will find a way, he always does," she told her trying to give some hope to Rose. The blonde sniffed then raised her head.

"But we've got to bring them back."

"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Said Jefferson before snapping his head towards the door after a loud bang filled the room. "Captain? Situation report" his eyes were fixed on the door.

"Guess who" Rita hisses at the door. "The Ood want to get us, you heard the beast, this is our grave, not without a fight from me" Rita spat clenching her fists.

"Yeah, it's the same on door one, they're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."

"Same for us," Rita said not looking at the door.

"How long's it going to take?" Rose asked.

"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes."

"Eight actually Rita corrected him just as another bolt was cut.

"Eight minutes," he said.

"I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."

"Right. So we need to stop them, or get out, or both." Rose suggested.

"I'll take both, yeah? But how?" Danny crossed his arms.

"You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off? Cos he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this. Come on! For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power somewhere."

"There's nothing I can do. Some Captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons."

"That's what the Doctor meant. Press the right buttons."

"They've gutted the generators." He told her.

"But..." Rita added drawing out the word. "Think Zach"

"But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that. Mister Jefferson open the bypass conduits. Override the safety.
Thank you, Rita"

"Opening bypass conduits, sir." He started to press some buttons on a screen.

"Channelling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power." The lights then flickered back on.

"There we go." Rose grinned.

"Let there be light!" Jefferson beamed.

"Rose what are you thinking?" Rita asked.

"What about that strategy nine things?" She asked.

"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent." Jefferson shook his head.

"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mister Jefferson, you start working on that." She ordered. "Toby, what about you?"

"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."

"No, you're the archaeologist. What do you know about the pit?" She pushed him on.

"Well, nothing. We can't even translate the language."

"Right." Rose nodded waiting for him to continue.

"Hold on. Maybe."

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters made more sense."

Rose then patted his shoulder. "Well, get to work. Anything you can translate, just anything. As for you, Danny boy. You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?" She asked.

"Well, I don't know." He shrugged looking at the monitor.

"Then find out. The sooner we get control of the Base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift."

"Rose Tyler officer of command" Rita hummed. "Very good" she nodded. "You're not going to order me about now are you?" She raised a brow crossing her arms"

"No Rita" she chuckled. "Second in command"

"Second?" Rita scoffed. "If you say so ma'am" she joked giving a salute. "Why did I do that" she then groaned shaking her head, Rose laughed at her patting the brunette's back.

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

"Well, we've got all this cable, we might as well use it. The drum's disconnected. We could adapt it, feed it through." Ida stood up assessing the damage to the capsule and cable.

"And then what?"

"Abseil into the pit."

"Abseil. Right." He nodded.

"We're running out of air with no way back. It's the only thing we can do. Even if it's the last thing we ever achieve."

"I'll get back. Rita and Rose are up there." He promised.

"Well, maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the pit."

"Well, it's half of a good plan." He nodded his head to the right a little.

"What's the other half?"Ida curiously asked.

"I go down, not you."

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

"Open junctions five, six, seven. Reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go." Jefferson said to the monitor

Rita and Rose stood beside Danny as he explained about the Ood. "There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."

"Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either. Or a Tesco's."

"Please don't remind me of my old job" Rita groaned. "I don't remind you of the shop"

"Which he exploded," She looked down at where the capsule was before heading down. "Careful he might go exploding Tesco's next" She joked grinning slightly.

"Now that's something I would like to see" She crossed her arms leaning closer to the monitor. Which flashed with affirmative.

"Well then" She patted Danny's back

"Oh, my God. It says yes. I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!" He ecstatically said pressing buttons.

"What happens to the Ood?" Rose asked.

"It'll tank them spark out."

"There we are, then. Do it!"

"No, but I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation." He thought it would be suicide to do so.

"That's what we'll do, then." Rose put some faith in. "Mister Jefferson, sir. Any way out?"

"Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here." He pointed at a map of the base.

"Ventilation shafts." She nodded.

"Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."

"Don't go losing hope just yet" Rita shook her head taking the comm. "Zach what can you do?"

"I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network."

"One of the most important roles, not just pressing buttons, after all, keeping us safe and alive, just the way it should be."

"You two wanted me pressing buttons"

"Yeah, We asked for it. Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route." Rose practically ordered him.

"Right get this open Jefferson" Rita called him over from what he was doing.

"On it" He crouched down and started to work on getting the deck plating off of the floor.

"Danny better work fast," Rita told him. "That door will be down in no time and we are not staying in here when it does"

"Got it" he nodded continuing to type away and press buttons.

"Toby anything?" Rose asked helping Jefferson.

"Not yet"

There was another bang on the door.

"Come on more time" Rita gritted her teeth.

There was another loud bang and sparks flew through the small gap in the door.

"Danny!" Rose shouted for him to hurry up and finish.

"Hold on! Just conforming."

Jefferson pulled up the deck and shouted. "Dan, we got to go now! Come on!" He demanded the man to hurry up.

"Yeah!" He shouted in agreement grabbing an orange computer chip from the machine then ran over to the others by the opened deck.

"Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood." He told them showing the chip.

"In a moment it will be a bad time to be us" Rita hissed feeling the pressure rise.

"We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out." Rose promised them and herself.

"Okay. Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler and then, Miss Stone, then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position. Now, come on, quick as you can!" Danny wasn't having to be told twice and scrambled to the floor into the tunnel, Rita followed then Rose, Toby and finally Jefferson who pulled the deck back.

"God, it stinks. You all right?" Rose looked at Danny.

Danny snapped a little sarcastically not enjoying the current situation. "Yeah, I'm laughing. Which way do we go?"

"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so."

"Not your best angle, Danny." Rose groaned.

"Oi, stop it."

"I don't know, it could be worse," Toby muttered.

"Don't make me kick you Toby" Rita hissed at his remark. "3 year's of karate, might not remember it all but I know how to kick."

"Okay, okay." He protested.

"Straight on until you find junction seven point one. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you." Zach told them.

"Wasn't going to stop thanks," Rita said under her breath.

"Not the time for sarcasm Rita"

"When is the time Rose?" Rita groaned with how much her hands were aching at the moment. They continued crawling in the tunnel until reaching the point, Danny let Zach know and they all stopped leaning against the walls of the tunnel.

"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section." He let them know.

Danny started to complain about the situation, Rita rolled her eyes at his moaning. "Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?"

"Stop complaining," Jefferson told Danny panting a little.

"Mister Jefferson says stop complaining." She told the message to Danny.

"I heard." He told Rose.

"He heard." She repeated to Danny.

"But the air's getting a bit thin." Toby began to complain.

"He's complaining now."

Jefferson then groaned. "I heard."

Rose then sniffed the air and scrunched up her nose. "Danny, is that you?"

"I'm not exactly happy."

"But you're alive so stop complaining" Rita huffed.

"I'm just moving the air." Zach let them know everything was okay.

"I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."

'Not with the Ood now in the tunnels' Rita thought just before there was a bang that echoed through the tunnel.

"What was that?" Danny asked

"Mister Jefferson, what was that?"

"What's that noise?" Toby questioned

"Captain, what was that?"

"Oh, ignore the one with the foreknowledge then" Rita huffed. "The Ood got in, habitation five I believe."