Mini ep. 14: Into Oblivion

Pippa unloaded her gun and threw it onto the desk, as Petr appeared in front of her. A few seconds ago he had been in the Heron Jungle watching Korena be attacked.

“How did it go?” Pippa asked.
“Not to plan,” Petr replied. “Bennet was unconscious, and Hashimoto was attacked.”
“Are they okay?” Pippa wondered.
“They’re fine,” Petr said. “They’ve moved on. They’re headed to the planet Shari now the TARDIS is fixed.”
“Should we follow them?”
“No,” Petr decided. “We need to report back to boss.”

Pippa nodded and gathered her things. Petr handed her a teleport, and with a flash, they disappeared… and reappeared in a gleaming, silver spaceship.

“This isn’t base,” Pippa muttered.
“Something caught the teleport beam,” Petr said. “We’ve been dragged here.”
“By what exactly?” Pippa asked.

Petr completed a scan of the surrounding area. He threw it to Pippa, and she caught it swiftly in her hand.

“Just one alien,” Pippa said. “What is that…?”

Petr shrugged. He hadn’t seen one of those things while he was following the Doctor. They walked down the gleaming corridor, and were about to head through into a new corridor when the creature jumped around the corner.

“Get down!” Petr yelled.

The creature had eight metallic arms, and a head like an octopus. It leapt through the air, carrying two guns in two arms. As it landed on the ground it fired two bullets, both of which slammed into Pippa’s chest.

“Pippa!” Petr cried, running towards her.

He pulled a gun from his pocket and swiftly put a bullet in the Octopli’s head. He bent down next to Pippa, and lifted her head up. She went to say something, but her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed away.

Petr handed Pippa a teleport, and with a flash, they disappeared… and reappeared in a gleaming, silver spaceship.

“What the hell happened?” Petr said. “You were! The gun! You!”
“What are you on about?” Pippa asked.
“You died!” Petr cried. “Here, just now!”

He pointed at the spot where Pippa’s body had lain. She rolled her eyes and showed off her alive body.

“Still here,” she said. “You aren’t going soft on me are you?”

Petr shook his head. Having a sudden thought, he pulled out the scanner and threw it at her. She caught it, and laughed.

“One alien? One alien? You’re saying one puny alien kills me?”

Petr shrugged, considering the possibility of him imagining the situation, when the creature jumped around the corner.

“Get down!” Petr yelled.

The creature had eight metallic arms, and a head like an octopus. It leapt through the air, carrying two guns in two arms. As it landed on the ground it fired two bullets, both of which slammed into Pippa’s chest.

“Pippa!” Petr cried, running towards her.

He pulled a gun from his pocket and swiftly put a bullet in the Octopli’s head. He bent down next to Pippa, and lifted her head up. She went to say something, but her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed away.

“I told you so!” he said hollowly.

Petr handed Pippa a teleport, and with a flash, they disappeared… and reappeared in a gleaming, silver spaceship.

“It happened again!” Petr said. “Just now…”
“What did?” Pippa asked.
“An Octopli killed you!”
“At least come up with something original,” Pippa sighed.

Petr pulled out the scanner and threw it to Pippa, who caught it.

“You’re right, an Octopli,” she muttered. “You aren’t kidding, are you?”

Before Petr could reply, the Octopli jumped around the corner.

“Get down!” Petr yelled.

The Octopli leapt through the air, carrying two guns in two arms. As it landed on the ground it fired two bullets, both of which were headed for Pippa.

“No!” Petr cried, leaping forwards.

Petr took the bullets square in the chest, and collapsed onto the floor.

“Petr!” Pippa screamed, running towards him.

She pulled a gun from her pocket and swiftly put a bullet in the Octopli’s head. She bent down next to Petr, and lifted his head up. He went to say something, but his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he passed away.

Petr handed Pippa a teleport, and with a flash, they disappeared… and reappeared in a gleaming, silver spaceship.

“I saw it!” Pippa cried. “You died! You saved me…”
“What?!” Petr cried. “When? Was it a vision?”
“I dunno,” Pippa admitted. “But you said earlier that you saw me die, and then you sacrificed yourself to save me!”
“I’ve got no idea what you’re on about,” Petr sighed. “Let’s just get out of here, and head back to base.”

Pippa grabbed the scanner from Petr’s pocket, and thrust it in his face. He looked at the Octopli that was headed towards them. He sighed, and then frowned, grabbing the scanner from Pippa’s hand.

“What’s that shimmering around that Octopli?” he muttered.
“Is that his name now, shimmering Octopli?” Pippa snorted.
“No, it’s Captain Octofrank,” Petr said, as if it was obvious. “But that shimmering – that’s a time loop!”
“A time loop?” Pippa cried. “That would explain! We’re trapped in a time loop, and Octofrank kills me! And when I die, I don’t remember the loop, and when you die, you don’t remember the loop!”
“I’m confused.”
“We’re trapped in a time loop, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to get out,” Pippa said. “Here he comes, get back.”

Petr ducked against the wall, and Pippa raised her gun. As Captain Octofrank leapt around the corner, they both fired at once, and two bullets penetrated his brain, killing him instantly. Petr and Pippa felt a wave wash over them, and the time loop was broken.

“Nice.”
“We’d better be getting to boss,” Pippa reminded him. “We need to report this too.”
“I think we’d better leave this out of it – we don’t want boss to know we were fooled by a simple time loop,” Petr said. “And Korena – trying to get her to spy on the Doctor – maybe we’d be better to forget to mention that as well.”
“We’d better forget to mention Hashimoto all together,” Pippa nodded. “She was nice. She doesn’t need to be involved in, you know. If it was my choice, I’d leave Georgia and Conner out of it too. I can’t bear to think what it’s gonna do to them…”

Petr shuddered, and threw the teleport to Pippa. With one more flash, they disappeared into the night.

The End.