Episode 3: Ghost Ship Part 3

The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS and stepped out, Russell following.

“We’re on the Drifter,” she said.
“But in the 46th Century,” the Doctor added. “Before it crashed.”
“You think it’ll happen soon?” Russell asked.
“What, crash? It’s a possibility,” the Doctor nodded. “Knowing me, I’ll probably make it happen…”

Russell laughed, and followed the Doctor along a corridor, into a large dining room. The guests below stopped eating to glance up at the pair on the stairs. The Doctor took Russell’s arm, and led her down the carpeted steps to join the guests at the table.

“Don’t mind us,” he grinned.

Leon accessed a computer, and tapped the screen. Georgia leant over, and looked at the pictures.

“This is a full scan of the ship,” Leon said. “Look, there’s Robyn and Freddie. And that’s Adele and Conner… Oh, but, where’s Megan?”
“I don’t think the scan works properly,” Georgia replied. “The Doctor and Russell aren’t on the scan at all!”
“And no Lucia either,” Leon sighed. “Let’s get back to the body room – she’ll know where to find us.”

Georgia nodded, and they stepped back into the room with the bodies. Leon opened another box, and coughed once more.

“They really do stink,” he frowned. “How can all these people have died? Look at this body – it’s got holes in it! What did that?”
“They’re bullet holes,” Georgia said quietly. “Most of the people in this room were shot to death.”

Conner dropped the dusty objects he was examining, and headed over to Adele.

“I think you should go to the control room,” he said. “Try and turn off the ship. Everyone died on the Drifter, and it’s been running all this time, which means it has records of what happened. If you look through those, then shut the ship down. We don’t know what’s causing all this, but we’ve got to think the ship could be involved. Shutting it down will keep us safe, for a while.”
“And what do you think you’ll be doing?” Adele asked.
“I’m going to see if Lucia’s alright,” Conner replied. “And I’ll take Meg. Where is she, anyway?”
“She was following you, wasn’t she?” Adele shrugged. “She’s a smart girl; she knows how to use her communicator when she wants to get in touch.”

Conner frowned. Everyone seemed to just think everything was okay. Earlier, he’d heard Leon tell Georgia that everything was fine, and Russell had repeatedly said that the previous deaths were an accident.

“Why are you all so convinced nothing’s wrong?” Conner asked. “Meg’s missing, Lucia’s ill, and yet you shrug it off. Why is that? Meg could be hurt, but you think she just wants time on her own or whatever…”
“It’s called lying to yourself,” Adele sighed. “I’m just as worried, but if I let the others know that I’m scared Meg and Lucia are dead or going to die, they’ll panic too. If we can just get out of here, we’ll be fine. No need to panic anyone.”
“Well I’d prefer it if we looked for Meg,” Conner said. “I’ll see you later.”

And he turned and walked off. Russell and the Doctor finished eating, as the rest of the table departed to their rooms.

“I haven’t had a nice meal for a long time,” Russell laughed. “Where are you taking me?”
“To get us a room,” the Doctor said. “Wait – that sounded wrong. I want to access the computer, see if anything’s wrong.”

He led her out of the dining room, and ran over to a robot, which was cleaning.

“Hello, sorry to bother you,” the Doctor beamed, turning on the charm. “But we seem to have not been given a room. We paid for the best, with computer access and everything!”
“Please show identification,” the robot hummed.

The Doctor whipped out the Psychic Paper, and dazzled the robot with his teeth.

“Everything seems to be in order,” the robot hummed. “Follow me.”

Russell took the Doctor’s hand, and they headed to their rooms. When the robot reached their destination, he hummed something to the door, and it opened.

“Enjoy your stay,” the robot hummed. “Sorry for any inconveniences.”
“That’s okay,” Russell smiled. “It’s fine, isn’t it Doctor?”

She turned around, to see him already at the computer terminal. Shutting the door in the robot’s face, she slid over to see what was going on.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong,” the Doctor frowned. “The Drifter’s just registering our room, nothing else. Air’s fine, no illnesses.”
“What’s that?” Russell asked, pointing to some sort of clock on the screen.
“A countdown,” the Doctor muttered. “But to what?”
“Five minutes,” Russell noticed. “What happens then?”
“I’d love to say I know,” the Doctor replied. “I guess we wait.”

Conner stepped into the body room, joining Georgia and Leon.

“Hey,” he said. “Is Lucia here? I heard she was ill; and the Doctor…”
“She’s not here,” Georgia interrupted. “Don’t tell Adele. We lost her a while ago. She just walked off…”
“Meg’s disappeared too,” Conner frowned. “This isn’t good.”

Georgia sighed, and opened another box. Several bodies fell out, littering the floor and causing Conner to cough.

“What happened here?” he asked.
“These are the victims from when the Drifter crashed in the 46th Century,” Leon replied.
“They were all shot to death,” Georgia added. “We’re looking for any signs or identification on the bodies.”
“Fun,” Conner said sarcastically. “That crate there – let’s get it open.”
“What I don’t understand, is how all these bodies are fresh,” Leon frowned. “They died in the 46th Century, why aren’t they rotting skeletons?”
“Maybe the Drifter’s keeping them fresh for something,” Georgia shuddered. “It’s cold in here – the temperature must keep them fresh or something.”

Adele reached the control room, and attempted to shut down the ship. Instead of complying with her request, the Drifter locked the controls.

“How is it doing this?” Adele muttered. “The Drifter seems to have a mind of its own!”

A countdown appeared at the left hand corner of the screen. Adele studied it, but it offered no clue as to what it was counting down to.

“Five minutes,” she muttered. “I guess I’ll have to wait.”

Russell looked back at the computer screen, centuries earlier.

“Ten seconds,” she announced. “Doctor, are you ready for the worst?”
“We should get back to the TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “Just in case.”

Russell nodded and followed the Doctor to the door. They stepped out into the corridor, as the countdown reached 0. Suddenly, all over the ship, walls and ceilings opened, to reveal large machine guns. Passengers screamed and ran for cover, but they could not escape the spray of bullets that flew like raindrops.

“Watch out!” the Doctor yelled.

He dived for the bedroom door, but it had sealed itself. He slid sideways as a machine gun shot bullets along the wall. He heard a scream, and Russell collapsed.

“No!” he yelled, skidding over to her.

He saw the blood spilling from her jacket, and knew there was no hope. The machine gun coming from the ceiling turned in his direction once more, so he staggered to his feet and ran off.

“Pull!” Conner cried.

He heaved the lid of the crate, with Leon and Georgia. It was slightly stuck, and the side cracked when they finally prised it open. Bodies spilled onto the floor, and when Leon saw one particular body, he ran off to be sick. Georgia coughed, and watched Conner heave the body out of the pile, and fully examine it.

“It’s Russell,” he confirmed.

The countdown was reaching 2 minutes. Adele decided she couldn’t wait any longer – she had to confess her doubts to the others.

“Everyone!” she said into her communicator. “Meg’s dead. She got lost, and you’re all coming up on the scanner, except Meg, and Lucia. I didn’t want to admit this, but I’m scared. If we can get out of here as soon as possible!”
“Sorry,” Georgia sighed. “It’s our fault about Lucia…”
“No it isn’t,” Adele replied. “The Drifter has a mind of its own – I don’t think it wants us to leave. There’s a countdown, and I don’t know what’ll happen when it finishes. Brace yourselves.”
“Russell’s dead too,” Conner frowned. “We found her body in a box, along with the dead from the 46th Century.”

Everyone fell silent as they took this information in.

“And the Doctor?” Robyn asked. “He was supposed to be saving me and Freddie!”
“He’ll be fine,” Georgia hoped. “Otherwise we’re stuck here.”
“1 minute,” Adele added. “Good luck everyone. The main mission now is to survive – make it back to the ship, and if you get a chance, shut down the Drifter! 45 seconds!”

As the remaining 45 seconds ticked away, Adele ran from the control room. The doors slammed shut behind her, and as she ran, she saw the doors far in front seal too. Reaching them, she tugged at the handle, only to find she was trapped. Running back down the corridor, she tried another door, which was open, and ran through it.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” she muttered.

The lights flickered and turned themselves off as Adele ran through more doors. Finally she entered a small room, with a large window looking out onto space. The door behind her sealed shut, as did the only other one in the room, which led back to the ship. She sighed, and slumped to the floor.

“I’m trapped,” she said into her communicator. “Just make sure you all get out of here. No more deaths. I’m so sorry.”
“10 seconds,” Robyn sighed. “Look – I think you’d better leave me and Freddie here – there’s no way out for us.”
“I’m not leaving without the Doctor,” Conner said firmly. “And Georgia’s staying too. Well, if she wants to.”
“I do,” Georgia smiled. “We’ll wait for the Doctor.”
“I’m staying with Georgia,” Leon added.
“Four seconds,” Adele muttered, turning off her communicator.

She watched the SS Recovery floating beside the Drifter sadly. Meanwhile, in the control room, the Drifter smiled, and with one foul swoop, destroyed the SS Recovery, blasting it into pieces and watching the wreckage float through space. Adele placed a hand over her mouth in shock, and Leon collapsed to the floor. Even if the Drifter didn’t kill them, there was no way out – they were trapped, forever.

To be continued…