‘Professor, do I have to wear this thing?’ she asked, indicating the head gear and adjusting it slightly to try and make it a more comfortable fit.
‘Yes!’ he snapped, ‘You want to be able to breath, don't you?’ He scanned the area in front of him with his torch, looking for anything that might be of interest to him. ‘Saros 5 has a low atmosphere, the air here is very thin.’
‘Well, you're not wearing one.’ Ace declared, she hated the thing, you'd have thought the TARDIS would have had something a little more practical, she thought. Still, it was better than the other choice she had had - that which she could only describe as a goldfish bowl! What she really want was a bike - a motor bike and then perhaps, she thought, she wouldn't feel such a prat!
‘That's because I'm not Human.’ he growled at her, reminding her. ‘Humans.’ he muttered to himself.
‘I can't see a thing,’ Ace moaned, her torch scanned the surface of the platform that the TARDIS had materialised on - the lights of the landing area only indicated the size and position on which the ship could land. ‘Why is it so dark?’ she asked, checking that her torch was in full working order by shinning it in her face, tapping the lenses several times and then shinning it in the Doctor's face.
'Ace!’ he sneered.
‘Sorry, Professor. Well?’
‘Well, what?’
Ace repeated the question and added, ‘I thought the TARDIS indicated that it was day time?’
‘Yes it is,’
‘Well pardon me for being so obtuse, but could you tell me why it's so dark?’
‘Because, my dear Ace, Saros 5 is the furthest of seven planets from its star.’ The Doctor pointed up into the clear sky. Ace could clearly see the star shinning, very much like the moon of Earth, and could make out the silhouette of three of the other six planets orbiting the star.
‘It's quite something, isn't it?’ announced the Doctor.
‘Yeah, sure is, Professor. Well wicked!’ Ace moved back and almost fell over what appeared to be a large rock. As she steadied herself the beam of light from her torch gave her a glimpse of the damage the platform had sustained before their arrival. ‘Doctor, over here!’
The Doctor moved over to her side and leaning upon the rock that Ace had nearly fallen over, he knelt down to look at the damage. From his observations he was sure that the platform had been struck by something. Ace pointed out the scorch marks that the object had made on impact before disappearing over the edge. She peered over the edge shinning her torch down into the darkness below, but the torch wasn't strong enough for her to see clearly.
The Doctor suddenly grabbed her arm making her jump with fright. ‘Watch you don't fall,’ he said with a smile.
‘That's not funny,’ retorted Ace. ‘What could have done this anyway?’
The Doctor shone his torch over the damaged area of the platform and upon doing so the beam of light fell upon a ladder, still intact and running down over the edge of the surface below. ‘Let's take a look, shall we?’ and made his way towards it. Ace nervously and cautiously followed.
As they started their descent Ace asked, ‘Could it have been junk from the shuttle we saw explode?’
‘Possibly, or a meteorite storm,’ suggested the Doctor, ‘judging by the amount of rubble and earth strewn over the platform…’ The Doctor had suddenly noticed that Ace had stopped her descent above him. ‘Ace, what is it?’
‘I thought I heard something,’ she whispered, ‘on the platform.’
‘I can't hear anything, you're imaging it.’ he said casually and continued with his descent to the ground beneath them. When they had both reached the bottom, the Doctor shone his torch around him and the beam of light immediately fell upon the elongated sphere that Sterne, before him, had discovered. With immense excitement the Doctor bounded over towards the object. Ace meanwhile glanced about her, the sounds she had heard made her even more nervous than before.
‘Professor, what are you doing?’ she whispered as loud as she dared, fearing that someone might hear her.
‘Come and take a look at this, Ace, it's fascinating.’
Reluctantly, Ace joined the Doctor's side and crouching down she could see what it was that the Doctor found so fascinating; two halves of a sphere, hollowed out, giving the impression that it had once contained something.
‘What is it?’ Ace asked, ‘It looks like an escape pod or something.’
‘Not quite. A life capsule - I think judging by this…’ and the Doctor indicated a small electronic panel on the inner surface of one half of the sphere, which had a thin lining of green translucent liquid coving it. ‘Timed to open on impact.’
‘Could it have come from the shuttle?’
‘Possibly,’ replied the Doctor, though he doubted it very much.
Ace ran her fingers along its surface and came across several markings etched into its hard metallic surface. ‘Look, Professor.’
The Doctor observed the markings she had found, they interested him immensely as they reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite remember. Perhaps it'll come to me later, he thought.
‘Reminds me of a hallmark, you know, like you get on jewellery,’ suggested Ace.
‘You could be right there, Ace.’
Ace walked around the sphere as the Doctor continued to observe the sphere's markings. He removed a note book and pencil from inside his jacket pocket, and having ripped out a sheet of paper from his note book, he set about taking a 'rubbing' of the markings.
Ace meanwhile almost fell over something lying at her feet. ‘Hey, Professor, look over here...tools or something,’ and she picked up one of the objects and immediately dropped it with a cry of disgust.
The Doctor called, ‘What is it?’
Ace cast the beam of light over her hand.
‘Blood.’ she announced.
The Doctor looked up from his examination of the sphere and offered Ace his handkerchief with which she immediately wiped her hand.
‘Looks as thou someone left in rather a hurry, don't you think?’ The Doctor examined the various pieces of equipment scattered around them. The beam of light from his torch fell upon a trail of blood leading away from the ladder they had both climbed down and around to the other side of the broken sphere. ‘Something evil has happened here.’ he whispered.
‘You don't have to tell me, I can feel it,’ and offered the handkerchief back, which the Doctor declined and she threw away.
They were both suddenly aware of something moving behind them. Instinctively and together they directed the torches towards the sound. It sounded like stones rolling down the side of the hill.
Abruptly it stopped.
‘What was that, Professor?’
The sound came again, but this time from the left of them. This was quickly followed by the sound coming from another direction which they both were unsure of and cast their torches from side to side in a vain attempt at seeing what it was that was out there.
Ace moved closer to the Doctor's side. ‘Professor, let's get out of here,’ she said.
The sounds of movement grew louder as whatever it was got nearer. ‘I think that's a good idea, Ace,’ and he grabbed Ace by the rucksack that was slung over her shoulder and started dragging her back towards the ladder. Ace needed no prompting or help for that matter. As she moved back, she almost fell over the Doctor in the sudden rush to get back to the ladder.
‘Come on, let's get back to the TARDIS.’
‘Best idea I've heard so far, Professor.’ Ace scrambled up the side of the platform, she immediately became aware of something very odd. ‘Professor...?’
‘Best idea I've heard so far, Professor.’ Ace scrambled up the side of the platform, she immediately became aware of something very odd. ‘Professor...?’
‘What is it?’ he asked, his hand held out in the hope of some little assistance from Ace and receiving none, as she reached the top of the ladder.
‘Look! By the TARDIS!’ She directed the beam of light which viewed the familiar shape of the police box up and down until it fell upon several large rocks that had somehow appeared beside it. ‘Where did they come from?’
The Doctor, having climbed the last rungs of the ladder looked in the direction of the TARDIS.
The sounds that Ace had heard earlier, before their descent were now much clearer. ‘Doctor, those boulders, they're…’
‘Moving?’ suggested the Doctor. ‘Come on, Ace!’ Looking around them, the Doctor could see a familiar sign; that of an airlock. Two small red lights flashed above it and a large number six had been painted clearly on the door. Again, the Doctor grabbed Ace's rucksack and with her attached to it, pulled her towards the airlock door.
‘What about the TARDIS?’ she asked.
‘We'll deal with that later, when we know what we're up against.’