Programmed to Kill Part 2 By The Whoniversity

When they arrived, the body was on the ground. The name tag on her uniform identified her as Becky. She was dead. Her face was pale, almost grey, and she’d been like this for at least a few minutes. The Doctor was crouched beside the body, “Dead,” he said, as Nyssa caught up, and stopped, out of breath. “That’s horrible! Who would do such a thing?” The Doctor looked up; “I have no idea. But I intend to find out!” he replied, and noticed an important detail. “She was strangled. Oxygen supply was cut off, and by the marking around the neck, I’d say someone or something with immense power would’ve done this!” The Doctor stood up, and thought for a second. “Can’t we cover her up, we can’t just leave her like this!” Nyssa asked, but the Doctor was moving at a million miles an hour, not literally, but as usual he was extremely energetic, but inside part of him was dying.

“Yes, you can, later. But if we’re seen with the body when the cameras are back online, we’re going to be the prime suspects, hmm?” he said, and Nyssa agreed. “So what’s our first move? How can we possibly find the killer?” Nyssa asked. “Well, firstly look at the markings on her neck. What could’ve done that? Maybe once we’ve solved that, everything else might fall into place!” he said. Nyssa realised exactly what the cause of death was, and with shock, said; “Doctor. You said immense force. Well, no human, even the strongest, couldn’t inflict damage like that!”

“So what did cause it?” The Doctor stood there, trying to crack the code. A service robot, eye-piece still glowing bright, marched around the corner, entering the corridor which the Doctor and Nyssa were currently occupying. Nyssa tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, and they both looked at the robot. “I think that’s what did it!” Nyssa said. They stared at the robot. And the robot stared back.

Scott was panicking, and urged Dave to carry on. “Hurry up man! Hurry up I tell you!” he pleaded. The power had shut down. All of it. The engines, the lights, the electricity, the heating. Everything. Absolutely everything. Scott was shivering, and if the power wasn’t resorted soon, they’d all freeze to death and never leave this planet. It would become their tomb for eternity. “I’m going as quickly as I can, Scott. I promise ‘ya.” Dave replied, genuinely trying his hardest to get the power online once more. “Well, you’d better be. If I found out you caused this…” his hands were clenched into fists, and he waved them in the air, suggesting...well, it’s obvious what he was suggesting. “Do you really think I would’ve caused this? No way, I would never!” Dave defended, but Scott wasn’t so sure. Not yet, it would take more than just that to convince him otherwise. “It could’ve been the intruders!” Scott said to himself, and Dave overheard. “Intruders? How’d they get in; intruder window?” Dave laughed. “There’s a time and a place you know! If you don’t hurry up and fix the damn thing we’ll all be dead!” Scott said, rushing the mechanic. Sometimes he wished he had a better crew.

“That should do it,” Dave said, and just like that, the power was restored. He threw the screwdriver into the air and caught it in one hand, without even looking. “What did I tell you?” he said. “Best in the business.” Scott sighed; “You never said that, but well done anyway!”

“Sure I did.” Dave said, but Scott had heard enough. “Well, I’d better get back to the bridge, and check on the prisoners. If they’re still there!” he said, and stormed off with haste. He had a hunch that whatever was going on - these two travellers had caused it.

The CCTV showed nothing. Well, at least the working units didn’t. One of the camera’s on C deck was static, and no picture could be displayed; probably a fault that’d fix itself. Scott was desperately searching for his escaped prisoners, the spies going by the codenames; The Doctor, and Nyssa. While Scott was on the bridge, Alex was on the ground (as in searching the actual corridors himself). Nothing had been found so far, only that the two had created an EMP amplifier, which they believed to be the cause of the blackout. “Where are you, Doctor?” he asked, speaking to himself. He desperately wanted them caught before they interfered with anything important, or did anything dangerous. Scott pressed a button, opening the communications network; he was about to make an announcement; “IF ANYBODY HAS SEEN TWO STRANGERS, A MALE AND FEMALE IN INFORMAL ATTIRE, PLEASE HAND THEM IN! THEY ARE A DANGER TO OUR MISSION! AGAIN, IF YOU HAVE SEEN TWO STRANGERS, A MALE AND FEMALE IN INFORMAL ATTIRE, PLEASE HAND THEM IN! I REPEAT, THEY ARE A DANGER TO OUR MISSION!" he ended the announcement, not wanting to make it too long. His voice was heard throughout the vessel, and he was confident it wouldn’t be long before the enemy agents were handed in. “Robot!” he called out, and the metal machinery marched over, awaiting orders. “During his interrogation, The Doctor and his companion mentioned a blue box which they referred to as the TARDIS. Locate it for me, and bring it here.” he ordered, and the robot obeyed, towards the TARDIS. As if knowing the machine would take multiple robots to carry it, three other service robots followed after the other. Scott was going to discover the truth.

It had been at least half an hour since the venture back into the isolated cavern on the isolated planet in which they were trapped, but at last, Peters finally had a living organism to experiment on. He’d set up all sorts of experiments, and he even tried injecting the pod with all sorts of chemicals, some of which would kill a regular plant. But then again, this wasn’t an ordinary plant. The pod was lighter than it looked, but it was stronger than it looked. The leaves were as hard as iron, and Peters had broken multiple scalpels trying to cut into the pod and dissect it. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t prize open the thing. What on Earth, or rather Space, was it? He’d told Amanda to give him time to experiment on his own, while she got some rest. The ship was entering night-mode soon anyway, so while the crew rested, Peters could have hours to himself. Hours to discover the mystery of the pod before Amanda got involved. Currently, Peters had moved on to making notes, and as he jotted down all sorts of theories and recent discoveries he’d made, as well as facts about the pod, there was a sort of cracking noise. He looked around. Nothing. Back to writing, but there it was again. Peters looked up at the pod, and there it was, right in front of him - the pod was breaking before his eyes.

“Finally!” he called out, speaking to himself. He had to discover what had caused this sudden change. His first thought was to sit it under more UV light, like he had done a few minutes ago, and as if by magic, the process began to slowly speed up. Of course, it would take time to ‘hatch’ and break open completely, but sooner rather than later, Peters was going to make the investigation of a lifetime.

“What are we going to do?” Nyssa whispered, as her and the Doctor walked through the maze of identical corridors. “I don’t know, Nyssa. I simply don’t know,” he said calmly. “But we’ve got to discover the truth before anyone else ends up dead!” he added, and they continued to walk. “Who’ll end up dead?” a voice said, and the two travellers stopped in their tracks. “Sorry, are you part of the crew?” she asked, and the Doctor and Nyssa were both standing there awkwardly, unsure of what to say. “No, not quite. I’m Nyssa, and this is the Doctor.” Nyssa introduced, “Amanda. Scientist. Qualified in almost everything. What about you Doctor, what are you a doctor of?” she asked. “Generally speaking...everything,” he smiled, “Really, we must be on our way!” he started, but Amanda kept them talking. “No, you mustn’t, otherwise I’ll radio the captain, then you’ll just be locked up,” she said. “Not again,” Nyssa sighed. Amanda was confused; “Again?”

“Yes, a cell, locked up, that’s where we were before the power shut down!” The Doctor explained, and with that, the lights switched on one by one, life was restored to the vessel. “Oh, speaking of,” he said. Amanda was unsure of these two, they were mad. Very eccentric and all over the place. She had to know more; “Doctor, if you don’t mind, could I have a chat with you and Nyssa?” she asked. “Why not,” Nyssa replied, “Just in here,” Amanda gestured, and Nyssa walked into the quarters. The Doctor was still hesitant. “After you Doctor,” Amanda said, but the Doctor politely smiled, “No, I insist, after you,” Amanda proceeded into her own quarters, followed by the Doctor, who was weary this could all be a trap. But maybe it would be an opportunity to investigate what was really going on here.

Nyssa was surprised at how one person could live in a room as compact as this. It seemed to be smaller on the inside; the complete opposite of the TARDIS. There was barely enough room to even walk around. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was at least the size of the cell she’d been trapped in previously. Amanda sat on the bed, which was basically just a rectangular gap in the wall. The Doctor sat down at the dining table, a white round table similar to the one in the recreational room, only more compact. “So, you have a lot of questions to answer,” Amanda began and the Doctor sighed; “I suppose we have. Like we said, The Doctor, Nyssa. We’re travellers.” Amanda nodded, “Yes I know, but how did you get here?” The Doctor was about to explain the concept of the TARDIS, but decided to go with the dumbed down version. “TARDIS. My ship, it travels in the fifth dimension.” he said. Amanda was amazed, but also lost for words. They had to be making it up, “You mean you’re time travellers?” she said with joy, “So it’s possible?” Nyssa nodded, “Yep. It’s true. I don’t fully understand it, but neither does the Doctor,”

“Moving on from the TARDIS and my apparent lack of knowledge, do you know anyone who’d want to murder a woman called Becky?” The Doctor said. Amanda was frozen with shock! She couldn’t believe it; “Becky? She’s dead? So that’s what you meant?” she asked, coming to a realisation. The Doctor nodded solemnly, “Unfortunately yes, and you have to believe it wasn’t us. We’re here to help. Somebody sent us a distress call, a warning of danger ahead, and I have the strangest feeling that the distress call and this murder are connected,” The Doctor explained. “How can I trust you?” she asked, but surprisingly, she sort of already did? “You just have to! We’re not criminals, or stowaways or whatever the captain thinks we are!” Nyssa pleaded. “Scott? He’d make up any story to lock you away. Then if you don’t tell him what he wants to hear, he sends you to Alex!” Amanda said. “How do you know this?” Nyssa asked. “Rumours from previous expeditions, before Scott was allowed to command his own. Him and Alex have known each other for years. Scott is the calculating one, always one step ahead of everybody, and Alex is the brute. Military trained, and any excuse to extract information through torture - he’s on it!” The Doctor didn’t like the sound of that, and neither did Nyssa. One slip up and they’d be potentially excused. “Right. Would those two have any reason to murder Becky?” The Doctor asked. Amanda shook her head; “Not that I’m aware of. As far as I’m aware, the only people that know each other are Alex and Scott. Everybody else is new. We’ve never met before.” she said. The Doctor was preparing to leave. “I’ll keep that in mind.” he said, headed for the door. “Where are you going so soon? We’ve barely sat down? Nowhere is safe anyway, they’ll be looking for us now,” Nyssa asked. “That’s a chance I’ll have to take. Amanda, do you have a night cycle?” The Doctor asked. “Yes, night mode should be activated any minute now.”

The Doctor sighed with relief; “Good, then I’ll go under the cover of darkness. I’m going to have a look around the ship, see if I can find anything that’’ll link the murder to anyone on the crew.” “But she was strangled. By a robot! Unless the robots are being controlled,” Nyssa realised, “Of course!”

“Ninety percent of the time if robots are doing the killing, they’re used as puppets for a higher power. Or should I say evil power,” The Doctor exited the room, without even giving his goodbyes; the Doctor didn’t like goodbyes anyway. He was confident that he’d return to Nyssa safely, or rather he hoped.

Night mode was active, and most of the crew were sleeping, or relaxing at least; Scott and Alex were on the hunt for their fugitives, while Amanda was awake, and hiding Nyssa. Despite his plans to work through the night with no interruption, Peters had fallen asleep, head on desk; the desk which was housing the alien pod. It had almost cracked open entirely, and whatever was inside was now breaking free. The lights began to flicker, but Peters was none the wiser, still in deep sleep. The pod cracked and fell open, and a long vine-like root shot out. Wrapping itself around Peters’ hand, the pod began to infect the scientist. It was already too late.

Instead of becoming pitch black, or even darker, night mode changed the colour of lighting from bright white, to an ocean blue. During night mode, all unnecessary units were shut off to conserve power, such as security cameras, but during this cycle, the cameras were most definitely still active. The Doctor was weary of this, and made his way through the ship as silently as he could. Sticking to the shadows was the only way of avoiding detection, but he had no doubt either Alex or the robots would be searching for him on foot, so the Doctor had to tread carefully. The doors to the recreation room opened with a hiss, automatically parting for the Doctor. He stepped in, and took his iconic panama hat out of his pocket, placing it on his head after unravelling it. Looking around, it reminded him of the usual space-ship area, white polished tables, complex architecture, but also some items from Earth, so as it wasn’t too drastically different and unusual. There was a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the table, all battered, like an old Bible. Moving over to a wall after getting the idea it wasn’t what it seemed, the Doctor ran his hand over the metal. “Interesting!” he said, and searched for a button, but failing to find one, the Doctor bashed the wall with his fist. The wall moved the right; he’d discovered a hidden passage of some kind.

Entering the passage, the ‘door’ closed behind him, clicking back into place. The corridor was claustrophobic, there was barely enough room to walk, it was almost as if it had been designed so that anyone using the passage would have to walk side-on. He continued down the plain corridor. Smoke rose from the ground, he must be above the engine room, or at least close to it.

For minutes, it was nothingness, but the time lord came to a quick turn, and found a flight of stairs. He descended down the industrial steps, and as he ventured further, the heat became more and more intense. It was like standing meters away from a sun. Smoke concealed the time lord, and he eventually jumped from the final step, onto the hard ground, causing an echo to bounce about the place. He’d entered the engine room, as you’d imagine for a ship as big as this, the engines were immense, and must’ve had to convert massive amounts of power. Instead of one giant converter sitting at the heart of the place, there were dozens of them. The Doctor was standing on a sort of a gantry. A platform that allowed him to oversee the whole engine room. And because of his expert knowledge, the Doctor knew something wasn’t right. He examined the engines as much as he could from the distance, and realised the exact model; a 32nd century fission converter. But something was wrong, and it wasn’t just a regular fault. The engines had been damaged. Damaged beyond repair. “This ship is going nowhere! We’re trapped”. There was a saboteur onboard, and this expedition was doomed to fail. Nobody was leaving the planet alive.

Alex hated everybody on this expedition. Literally everybody. Especially the intruders, who he couldn’t find anywhere on the ship. He’d searched far and wide, every inch of the ship had been checked and double checked, but still no sign of the fugitives. He had the suspicion that one of the crew members was hiding and protecting them, so he was currently on his way to Amanda’s quarters. He stormed through the corridors, seconds away from arriving at his destination.

Turning left, Alex had made it, Amanda’s private quarters. He stopped and took a deep breath, sort-of calming down, but his temper wouldn’t be suppressed. He could still snap at any moment, as he did most of the time, but first he had to manipulate Amanda. Gain her trust before he accused her of harbouring criminals, or asking her questions on them, should the criminals not be concealed by Amanda. He knocked on the doors, “Amanda? It’s Alex. May I enter. Please?” he added, cringing, but it had to be done. There was no reply, so he gave it two seconds, hoping she just didn’t hear the first time. “Hello, is anyone there?” he repeated. “Yes, come in!” Amanda’s voice was muffled through the thick metal materials that lined the walls, but it was hers nonetheless, and he’d been invited in.

The door opened with the expected hum of a space-ship door, and Alex took the step in, smiling as he entered. “Just wanted to check up on everyone. How are you?” he asked, through gritted teeth. “Fine thanks Alex. What about you, it’s very out of character for you to say something like that,” Amanda replied, and Alex forced a laugh. He hated this woman, almost as much as he hated Dave. Well, he detested Becky the most, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“Oh, you know. I thought I owe you an apology; I’m a bit too harsh sometimes. Just doing my job that’s all. Really, I’m not as bad as I seem. I’m certainly not as evil as you think I am,” he explained, lying extremely well. “Who said I hate you or think you're evil?” Amanda asked. “I’m not stupid you know, I can tell that nobody on this expedition likes me.” he replied, playing the victim. “That’s not true! Don’t be silly, everybody likes you. Yes, you may be too harsh sometimes etcetera etcetera, but I’m sure nobody hates you,” said Amanda, appearing to be falling into the trap. Alex sighed, “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Scott’s tasked me with locating the fugitives. They go by the names the Doctor and Nyssa. I’ve searched the ship time after time and still no sign of them!” he replied, hoping his trap had worked.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t seen whoever you’re looking for. If I’d seen any intruders--” Amanda said.

“--That’s fine. Honestly, I just need to find them as quickly as possible before they cause any trouble!” Alex cut in, and went to leave, but stopped in his tracks. Alex felt like shouting, and tearing the room apart to search for the fugitives, but he decided against it. During the short conversation, Alex had determined that it would be better to keep up the act for longer, because if Amada was being truthful, perhaps when she did encounter them, she’d update him. “I’ll be on my way. Going to search the entire ship again,” he said, trying to make a joke out of it. Amanda stopped him one final time before he left, so it didn’t seem awkward or suspicious. “Oh, Alex.” he turned to face her. “If I’d seen the intruders, you’d be the first person I’d inform!” Alex nodded, acknowledging and giving her his thanks without saying another word. And with that, he was gone.

It had been some time since Scott had ordered the robots to locate the Doctors’ ship, and bring it directly to him, and the captain was beginning to get anxious. “What on Earth is keeping them so long?” he asked rhetorically, and decided to locate the robots using the trackers that were installed within them. Once he’d found them, Scott would have to go down himself, ‘if you want something doing’, he thought. Tapping in letters and numbers and codes of every kind, the tracking devices suddenly became visible in the forms of fading red dots. Each singular red dot indicated a different unit. (Scott had only searched for the robots that he’d sent off, so that the screen wasn’t clogged with unnecessary data). “Ah, that’s where you are,” he said, and got up out of his chair, leaving his desk. Scott had no idea what he was about to stumble upon, and therefore walked through the corridors as if nothing was wrong. There was no rush, after all the robots were stationary, and he doubted they were going to move any time soon. He wasn’t too far away now, after walking for a few minutes, and was ready to turn the corner and shout at the robots; maybe even disassemble them for being damaged and redundant. “Right, what on Earth is--” he said, entering the corridor in which the robots were stationed. He stopped in his tracks, and was in shock. Frozen with shock. Although he’d found the Doctors’ TARDIS, a thin blue capsule reading; “Police Public Call Box”, Scott didn’t pay any attention to it. For something far worse was presented before him. The robots were gathered around a body, all in a circle and all looking down, almost as if they were expressing sorrow. The robots had discovered the body of the second technician - Becky. She was dead. Stone dead. Lifeless. Her eyes were emotionless, yet still displayed pain. There were marks around her neck, so she’s been choked to death. Horrific. Utterly horrific. And now Scott had people to blame it on. Why else would the body be laying next to the machine? The Doctor and Nyssa had done this, and whenever they turned up, Scott would shoot on sight.

Amanda waited until she was sure Alex had left, and was out of earshot before she called out Nyssa. Nyssa appeared from out of a cupboard, and sat down at the table; “That was close,” she said, but Amanda disagreed; “No, that was weird. Alex isn’t usually like that. So either he was drugged, or he’s trying to gain my trust.”

Six hours had passed since the night cycle had been activated, and day-mode was now commencing. The deep ocean blue lights were altered, and swapped out for a more optimistic and bright colour; white. Gleaming white light, almost blinding. Nyssa had decided now was a great time to gather more information on the expedition, all of the crew members, including the recently deceased Becky, because it could mean piecing everything together and discovering the murderer. “So, what was the purpose of this expedition, if you don’t mind me asking!” Nyssa started, and Amanda sat down at the table, and handed Nyssa a protein cube, as well as a sachet of coffee. “No, it’s perfectly fine...Well, where do I start?” she began, and Nyssa interrupted, “The beginning?” they both found this amusing, and Nyssa had hoped this would defuse any tension. After all, she was hoped to be questioning everyone, even Amanda. Although she sort of trusted the scientist, Nyssa couldn’t rule her out. “We arrived a few weeks ago, almost a month now. The sole purpose was to venture to the outer regions, and discover life, if there was any. We got some funding from various companies, but the backing isn't’ too great. After all, it’s believed that no life could ever survive out here. Nothing. So nobody wanted to put massive sums of money into the project, because they’d potentially never see it again. That’s why everyone is so inexperienced. Peters and I, the only scientists on the ship, are also inexperienced. If anybody really cared about this project, we could’ve had the best scientists around. But alas, nobody believed in it,” Amanda said, solemnly. “However,” she said, with joy, “I think I might’ve proved that theory wrong. You see, I think I’ve found indigenous plant life,” she explained. “Not harmful though? You don’t want to bring any parasites onboard,” Nyssa said. “Not sure yet, but I’d like to hope not. I’ve not had time to experiment on it, that’s what Peters has been doing all night. I should probably check on him!”

Nyssa had to keep her talking; “Not yet, I want to know more about the crew, and about Becky. We need to find out who could’ve been controlling the robots, and why they’d want to murder her. I can’t exactly ask anybody else, because they’d just throw me in a cell!” Nyssa explained, and it was enough. Amanda nodded, “Ok, I obviously don’t know exactly everything, but I think I’m a good judge of character. I’ll tell you what I know…”

Alex was isolated, alone. He was sure of that. Using this time wisely, he pulled up his arm and tapped in a series of numbers on a device attached to his wrist. A device that would begin a voice conference with another power... An unknown power..

Nyssa was taking in everything that she’d just heard. Amanda had finished speaking, and Nyssa had no words. “So…” Amanda said, awkwardly, and Nyssa shrugged. Their silence was broken suddenly, as the doors to Amanda’s quarters opened. They saw the shadow on the ground before the person, and had a moment in fear. Nyssa could be found and executed. However, the Doctor entered, Amanda and Nyssa sighed with relief. “For a second, I thought you were Alex,” Amanda said. “Luckily, I’m not!” The Doctor said, with a beaming smile. “Doctor!” Nyssa exclaimed. “You’re alive! What did you find?” Nyssa asked, and the Doctor sat down at the white table. He looked to the left, out of the window, into the black void of space, and the rocky, mountainous planet below. “Well,” he said, and as he looked outside, he was thinking of how they’d never leave the planet alive. And he had to tell Amanda. “During my ventures, I’ve discovered a series of passages. It leads the engine room,” he began. “What about it?” Nyssa asked, expecting something extremely devastating or ground breaking. “Sabotage, we’re not getting off this planet. Any of us, and if there’s a murderer about as well, our chances of leaving alive are even lower,” he explained. “Excuse me for a second,” Amanda said, needing some fresh air; well, the corridor outside. She stormed outside, possibly crying, and the door shut automatically. This was the perfect chance to talk; “Any news Nyssa?” the Doctor asked, hoping Nyssa had more interesting and less gloomy news. “Amanda just told me everything she knows about the crew. Obviously, there’s a chance she could be lying, but I don’t believe she could be behind this all,” Nyssa started. “Alex and Scott have known each other for years, and everyone else were picked at random, and are expendable according to Amanda. It’s a doomed mission; nobody believed in it, so the company dumped the least qualified people for the job. I don’t think anyone really likes each other, but none of them have a reason to murder. According to Amanda, Scott has always wanted the role of captain, and from what I’ve heard, the power has gone to his head. At the beginning of the expedition, almost a month ago, Amanda said he was a regular guy, cool, calm, collected. Rational. But now the power has gotten to his head, he thinks he can stroll about and do what he likes. He’s been worse than Alex, annoying everyone, and mocking them. Making them feel inferior, that sort of thing. Amanda didn’t know exactly what he’s said to everyone, but apparently this gives everyone a reason to hate him, even Alex.” she said. “Amanda knows nothing about Dave, except that he’s a mechanic, and one rank above Becky. Peters is her co-worker, but he doesn’t like working together one bit, he’s selfish, and massively greedy. Now, Alex served in the military, but got kicked out for reasons unknown. He doesn’t like to talk about it, and he has a rough past. I think we should try and gain his trust, and find out what this was,” Nyssa said, and the Doctor agreed; “Well, it should be easy unless he’s the murderer!” The Doctor remarked. “Right, let's get back to the TARDIS!” he stated, and jumped up off the seat. “Why?” asked Nyssa, “We can’t just leave them! It’s all very sudden!” she announced. The Doctor turned back, “I need to retrieve some equipment,” he explained, oddly optimistic, with a hint of urgency and sorrow, “Now come on,” he said, and the Doctor and Nyssa began their journey to the TARDIS.

Peters’ was staring at his hand, shaking with fear. It was almost unrecognisable; thin green vines were wrapped around his hand, cutting off all circulation. He felt like a monster, an abomination, and he couldn’t tell anyone. One look at him and they’d shoot on sight. Right now, Peters wished he hadn’t tried to experiment on the pod, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Of course it had to happen to him! Having a nervous breakdown, Peters ran his arm violently down his desk, knocking everything off the table, and all glass items crashing and breaking. He proceeded to flip over the table, and cause carnage around the laboratory in anger; he was emitting a sound that was half crying with pain, and half maniacal laughter. What was happening to him? Peters ran out of the laboratory, and entered the maze of identical corridors in the ship. Peters was suffering; his whole body was changing before his eyes. The transformation from human - to-whatever-came-next was almost complete. At least fifty percent of his body was human, the rest, alien. But what was it? What was happening to him, and what did it want. Did it even want anything? He hobbled through the corridors, gripping the sides to stay on his feet. He needed to avoid contact with anyone, except maybe Amanda. He’d changed his mind, and decided the only person to turn to was Amanda, after all she was a scientist. Who knew, he could persuade her to concoct an antidote. If there was one. He’d have to get to her quickly, before the transformation was complete, and after hearing other stories and watching Intergalactic movies based on virus’, Peters had realised he could lose his mind. He could lose everything that made him human, and turn into a mindless monster. He turned to enter another corridor, and that’s when he was met by Scott, who was tightly gripping a gun.

“Scott!” he cried, and limped towards the captain, but he was seen as a threat, and a single bolt was fired into his chest, and he fell to the ground, dead. The captain watched as the body of his former-crewmate fell to the ground. Scott had realised that the Doctor and Nyssa would need to return to their mode of transport sooner rather than later, so had decided to stay put. What he didn’t expect was to find an infected crewmate. He hated firing the shot, but in the heat of the moment, Scott had seen it as a threat, and after Becky’s death, he didn’t need a murderer AND a virus spreading through the ship, otherwise it’d spell disaster!

The Doctor and Nyssa strolled without worry. That was a lie, they were worried, but not much. After all this was how they lived their lives. The only fear they had was that they’d be shot and killed, meaning the murderer would continue to murder, and not being able to save the innocent people on the ship. The Doctor rolled out his Panama hat, and placed it on the golden mop of hair on his head, while Nyssa started to gain more and more anxiety the longer they went without being apprehended. Maybe they’d already been spotted, or maybe there was a trap waiting for them? The Doctor took the lead, and remembering the way to the TARDIS, he knew they were just a few paces away. “Doctor?” asked Nyssa, but the Doctor continued walking, in a world of his own and not paying the slightest bit of attention to Nyssa. “Doctor, don’t you think it’s weird --” she began, before entering another corridor and being threatened with a gun. They were face to face with Scott, who was surrounded by robots, who were surrounding both the TARDIS, and Becky’s body. This looked awful, now the captain had a reason to kill the Doctor, but if considering they weren’t the killers, to the Doctor and Nyssa, it could show that Scott was the murder. No matter who believed what, Scott was going to shoot.

“Ah, my old friend,” The Doctor said, reaching out a hand. He was always overly optimistic and cocky at the most inconvenient times. One day, he’d annoy the wrong person and end up shot! “Doctor, Nyssa.” Scott said, through gritted teeth; Scott was beyond angry. “Yes, that’s us,” The Doctor began. “-Doctor,” Nyssa said, nudging him and shutting him up. “Firstly, you kill Becky, then you infect Peters with a virus, and then you sabotage the engines!” he was bursting with rage, and about to pull the trigger. The Doctor held out his hands, and tried to defuse the situation. “Woah! Don’t do this! You know it’s not true, we didn’t murder Becky, and we certainly didn’t infect Peters!” The Doctor explained. “I. Want. You. Dead. And that’s what I’m going to have! I’m going to kill you Doctor!” he shouted, and fired a bolt, missing the target by a hair. Literally. The bolt fired from the weapon destroyed the Doctor’s hat, rather than his head. The hat blew off with amazing force, and crumbled to ashes within seconds. “When I say run….RUN!” The Doctor declared, and the two time travellers legged it. Scott followed, not far behind!

While Scott was chasing down his two suspects, Amanda was nowhere to be found, Dave was doing repairs, Alex was also searching for the Doctor and Nyssa, Becky was still dead, but Peters wasn’t. He was revived from the brink of death. Brought back into reality, but not as a human, not as Peters. As a monster. A virus. A living creature. He was a dead man walking. The metamorphosis was complete.

Dave was going about fixing the ship, minding his own business, and still hoping to win the bet he’d made with Amanda. The robots weren’t trailing far behind, and despite the events occurring throughout the ship, Dave was blissfully unaware. He took his time walking through the corridors, and because of this, he didn’t even bat an eyelid at the robots. The slow pace allowed the robots to appear like they were mimicking his actions, but instead, they were walking this slow because they had no reason to run. Their next target was Dave, well, he was the target of the individual controlling the service machines. While fixing a drink dispenser, the Robots amassed, tilting their heads in unison, eyes glowing blue. He didn’t even turn around, didn’t even hear them advance. The leading machine reached out its arms, hands in position to grip the man's neck. The last thing Dave saw was the very dispenser he was repairing, as the cold iron grip of a service robot strangled him to death, crushing his windpipe. The death was slow and painful, but right before it was impossible to take another breath, the mechanic managed to scream. A scream of terror, and a scream that echoed through the walls of the ship.

The Doctor and Nyssa stopped in their tracks, stopping in the centre of a corridor that lasted an eternity. They listened to the scream, lasting only a second, before it faded. “Another murder!” Nyssa said, in a low voice, and the Doctor nodded, “Unfortunately, and I don’t think our friend Scott is going to see that as proof we’re not the killers,” he said, as the power shut off. “What now,” Nyssa said, looking around, the lights in the corridor faded one by one, and they were plunged into darkness. “The power has been deactivated again, which means only one thing!” The Doctor nervously. He ran through the corridors, and Nyssa followed blindly. They ran through a couple of corridors before reaching a metal door, opened completely. The Doctor ran through; it was the entrance to the stairs. Stairs that ran from the top of the ship, right down to Z deck. The Doctor began his descend, towards the only place an individual would be able to hack the systems.

They reached the engine room within seconds, an alarm was sounding within the complex. The fission reactors towered over them, and up in the distance, the Doctor could see the gantry from which he first observed the faulty reactors. “Stop!” a voice shouted, and the two travellers came to a sudden halt. Scott stood behind them, a rifle in his hand, locked and loaded and ready to fire in the direction of the Doctor and Nyssa. This time, he wouldn’t miss, couldn’t miss. This rifle was a 32nd century heat seeker rifle, meaning Scott would only have to press the trigger, and aim in the general direction of the Doctor and Nyssa, and the weapon would do the rest; locking onto their unique heat signatures. “It’s not what it looks like, we want to help!” The Doctor shouted over to him. “That’s what they all say. It’s over for you two.” Scott retorted.

The reactors were dying down. Therefore the exterior shields were lowering; the second the shields fractured, the below freezing temperature would spill into the ship and freeze them to death. Another crew member was dead and a virus was about to make its way through the ship in the form of its host; Peters. They were doomed to die.x