Episode 3: Ghost Ship Part 2

“Lucia’s been gone a long time,” Georgia noticed. “Maybe I should go back and see where she is?”
“Adele told us not to split up,” Leon said. “You’re staying with me.”
“True,” Georgia sighed.

Leon forced the door to the cargo room open, and allowed Georgia to step inside. Immediately, she wrinkled her nose.

“It stinks in here,” she gasped, holding her breath.
“Rotting bodies?” Leon guessed.

Georgia shook her head.

“They would have completely disintegrated by now,” she said. “No, I’m thinking that it’s a deterrent.”
“A what?”
“Something to keep us from looking too closely in this room,” Georgia replied. “Come on, check all the boxes. We need to salvage it all anyway…”

The Doctor tapped on the keyboard, frowning.

“What?” Adele asked.
“The communication’s gone,” the Doctor replied. “The ship’s stopped talking.”
“Can you find it?”
“Sure,” the Doctor smiled.

He typed some more, and brought up a map of the ship. He pointed at a room, where a red dot was bleeping.

“There you go,” he said. “Whoever was talking is in there. Well, I expect they’ve left the room, cos the ship isn’t talking anymore.”
“Then it’s pointless us going there,” Adele sighed. “Maybe we should ask Leon and Lucia? They’re closest.”
“No point,” the Doctor replied. “Let’s just get on with what we’re supposed to be doing and leave. You don’t think the other crews died for no reason, do you? I’d like us to leave before the same thing happens to us. But we’ll be fine. Probably. You’re not worried, are you?”

Adele shook her head, and continued to work.

“Run!” Robyn screamed.

Freddie abandoned his equipment and ran after. As they ascended a rotting staircase, Robyn pulled out her communicator.

“Adele!” she cried. “We’ve got a break in the ship! It’s about to pull all the oxygen out of the west wing!”
“Get out of there!” Adele yelled.
“We’ve nearly made it,” Robyn said breathlessly. “Freddie get the door open!”

Freddie yelped and tried to open the door. Robyn sighed and pulled him along another corridor until they reached an Airlock. She punched in the code above the door and it opened. Pushing Freddie inside, Robyn climbed in and sealed the door. There was an explosion outside, and parts of the west wing were thrown into space. With a scream, Robyn felt the escape pod detach itself from the Airlock and be ripped apart.

“Captain, we’re alive,” Freddie said into his own communicator. “But we’re trapped – the escape pod got ripped apart and we can’t go back into the west wing without spacesuits. I’m sorry.”

Adele slammed her communicator down in frustration. The Doctor looked up from his work, and looked at her.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Robyn and Freddie are down,” she sighed. “There was a breach in the west wing and they lost all the oxygen.”
“They’re dead?” the Doctor gasped.
“It’s worse,” Adele said. “They’re trapped in an Airlock, and they lost the escape pod. They can’t go back into the ship, as there’s no oxygen. They’re gonna starve to death and I’ll get the blame for it! After all, I’m Captain of this operation.”
“I think I’ve got a solution,” the Doctor smiled. “Call everyone here, I’ll need help.”

Adele looked confused, but pulled out her communicator nonetheless.

“Everyone, get back to the ship, immediately, we have an emergency,” she said.
“We can’t, remember?” Robyn sighed.
“You and Freddie are excused,” Adele replied.
“We can’t either,” Leon said. “Lucia’s not feeling well and she wants to sit down.”

Georgia looked at him, with a frown.

“What are you on about?” she asked.
“We can’t tell Adele we let Lucia go,” Leon hissed. “And Lucia knows she’ll get in trouble just as much as us. She’ll find us.”

Georgia nodded, and spoke into her communicator.

“Sorry Adele.”
“I need you back here,” Adele repeated. “Carry her if you have to.”
“Actually it’s alright,” the Doctor said. “You carry on Georgia.”
“Thanks Doctor,” Georgia smiled, glad that he realised when something was wrong.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Russell told Adele.

A few minutes later, the Doctor, Adele, Conner, Megan and Russell were stood outside the ship.

“We’ve had a problem,” Adele announced. “The hull of the ship broke in the west wing, and Robyn and Freddie are trapped in an Airlock. The Doctor thinks he has a solution, which we’re all waiting to hear now. Doctor?”
“I’ll take my ship, and collect them,” the Doctor grinned.
“Couldn’t they just take their ship?” Conner asked.
“No,” Adele said. “We haven’t got enough fuel to find them. We’ve only got enough to travel here and back exactly.”
“Cos that’s a good idea,” Conner replied sarcastically. “I’ll come, Doctor.”
“I need you to stay here actually,” the Doctor said. “Georgia and Leon think there’s something wrong with Lucia, and I’m worried, and I trust you to be able to check it out and ring me if something’s wrong.”
“You think there will be trouble?” Russell asked.
“The crew of the SS Groundbreaker didn’t just drop dead,” the Doctor shrugged. “Maybe it was an illness, and if Lucia’s caught it…”

Russell shuddered, and the Doctor nodded.

“Bad times,” Conner sighed. “Why don’t you go with Adele? You were paired with her.”
“Because Adele is in charge,” the Doctor said. “And if something is wrong, she needs to make the decisions for her crew.”
“I’ll go,” Russell smiled.
“Alright,” the Doctor grinned. “We’ll be back in a minute.”
“Get back to work Megan and Conner,” Adele ordered. “Actually, you two had better come with me – I did say nobody is allowed on their own, and that rule applies to me too.”

Conner and Megan waved at the Doctor and Russell and ran after Adele. Russell smiled nervously and followed the Doctor to the TARDIS.

“So what’s your ship like?” she asked along the way.
“Surprisingly roomy,” the Doctor grinned. “We’ll get them back, you realise that, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Russell smiled, leaving the Doctor unconvinced.
“Wait till you see my ship – then you’ll be convinced.”

Russell swung her torch around, and gazed at the blue box. The Doctor grinned, and stepped inside, unlocking the door with his key.

“Roomy?” Russell frowned.
“Come on in,” the Doctor chuckled.

She nervously stepped into the TARDIS, and gasped. Immediately behind her, the TARDIS doors slammed shut, and the sound of the universe ripping into life threw Russell and the Doctor to the floor.

“What’s going on?” Russell shouted.
“The TARDIS is taking us somewhere!” the Doctor shrugged. “Hold tight!”
“But it’s bigger on the inside!” Russell cried. “What’s that even about? I thought you were just a perv trying to get me into a tiny box!”

The Doctor sighed, and waited for the TARDIS to land.

“I think you were right Leon,” Georgia coughed.

She opened to reveal several bodies stored in it. Leon shuddered and opened the box next to it, which also contained bodies.

“We’ve hit the body jackpot,” Leon muttered.
“I’ll tell Adele,” Georgia said.
“Wait!” Leon cried. “If you tell her, she’ll come and look. And then she’ll realise we left Lucia behind. We need to find Lucia before we tell her.”

Georgia nodded, and placed her communicator back inside her pocket. Leon led the way out of the storage room, and back the way they came.

“Where are we going?” Conner asked Adele.
“The east wing,” Adele replied. “We need to finish the work you, Meg and Russell started.”
“So you found the control room?”
“Yes,” Adele said. “And we discovered the Drifter’s still running.”
“Like its engine and everything?” Conner frowned.
“Yes,” Adele said once more.

They were walking to the east wing, chatting as they surveyed the damage. What they didn’t notice was that Megan had vanished.

“Hello?” Megan called, entering an empty corridor. “Is that you, Conner?”

She’d heard a noise, and followed it until she’d arrived in the corridor. Adele and Conner were miles away by now, and there was nobody else around.

“Is there somebody here?” she asked again.

In the room above Meg, a desk creaked, and slid along the floor. There was a crack, and the floor began to break apart. Meg looked up at the ceiling as dust flittered down. She screamed, and ran as a desk fell through the ceiling.

“Oh God!”

The rest of the ceiling began to collapse, and as Meg ran along the corridor, the floor began to collapse too. She screamed once more, and fell through the floor. She missed a large chunk of something heavy, before hitting a second desk and sliding off it.

“Urghhh,” she groaned, losing consciousness.

High above her, the first desk tilted, half falling through the floor. In the room above Meg, the sprinklers activated, water pounding against the floor, until, with one final crack, the desk fell through the floor and crushed Meg. Meanwhile, in the control room, the Drifter began to smile.

To be continued…