Hearts as One

(Open POV)

The Drum: Underwater Mining Facility, Caithness, Scotland, 2119…

It is a large underwater base with lots of lights on. 

"Private journal of Captain Jonathan Moran, 21st November 2119. We have located a craft of unknown origin on the lake floor. Visual scans in situ revealed nothing, so we have brought the craft on board and myself and the crew will now investigate." Moran said, over the speaker.

Main hangar…

The mystery craft is a space shuttle - there are steps on the back hatch which has lowered as a ramp up into a singe empty compartment with one large rectangular object inside.

Moran is a large man standing just inside it, "How did they miss this in the initial survey?"

"Cass says it was buried, and then the currents of the water must have shifted the rubble around." Lunn said.

Cass is a deaf lady who uses sign language, and Lunn is her interpreter. Another man wearing glasses - Bennett - is scanning with a Geiger counter.

"A conversation needs to be had about who owns this spaceship." Pritchard said.

"Can we stop calling it a spaceship? We don't know what it is." Moran said, annoyed.

"A case could be made that this is an asset, and my company has bought the rights to all assets…"

"Whoa, whoa. What's this? Lunn, grab me a torch, will you?" Moran asked.

There are four strange symbols apparently scratched into the port side of the inner hull.

"It was found on MOD property, even if that property is underwater." Moran said.

Lunn goes to a wall cabinet and we see something flash past at speed. When he shuts the cabinet door a face is briefly seen behind his own, but as he turns around there is no one there.

"What you bought is the oil under the ground. Lunn! Where's the torch?" Moran asked.

O'Donnell, a young lady with pony tail and baseball cap, gets the torch from Lunn and hands it to Moran. He shines it on the symbols and we see them in his eyes. The two of them leave the vessel.

"Can I go in?" Cass asked, signed by Lunn.

"What is the radiation count?" Moran asked..

"Pretty much background level." Bennett said, looking at a scanner.

"Anything more, it would have shown up on the initial survey twenty years ago." O'Donnell said.

"If it's not safe, how come you can go in?" Lunn asked, signing to Cass.

"How long do you think it's been down here?" Cass asked, signed by Lunn.

"Well, there's next to no corrosion. I've not seen technology like this…" Bennett said, in awe.

"Please don't say on Earth." Moran said, scoffing.

"On Earth before."

O'Donnell laughs.

"Maybe it's some kind of experimental craft that got left behind when they abandoned the site." Moran said, letting out a sigh.

"Wait, you think the Army would just lose a prototype weapon?" Bennett asked.

"You're new to the military, aren't you, son?" Moran asked.

 "Cass says he might be right. It might have been here since the 1980s, when the valley flooded. It was flooded around the time the Space Station Endymion was built in the 1980s." Lunn said, speaking for Cass.

Pritchard is peering at a circular dot design on the forward bulkhead of the craft, when he sees a hand reach for him. It belongs to a strange figure in Victorian style clothes and top hat, with long white sideburns. Then the craft's engines ignite, spurting flame.

"Cass!" Moran said, pushing Cass to safety and gets incinerated himself. 

Alarms sound and everyone flees.

"Come on! Move! Come on, we need to go now!" Lunn yelled.

"Fire in the main hangar. Safety protocols have been initiated. All crew must evacuate immediately. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum." The computer said.

Corridor…

Sealing a doorway.

"We can't just leave him in there!" O'Donnell cried.

"There was something in the spaceship, I saw it!" Pritchard said, angrily.

"O'Donnell. O'Donnell, he's dead. Didn't you see?" Bennett asked.

"The fire, are we safe out here?" Lunn asked.

"It's fine. The CO2 will put the fire out."

"It was you! You were messing about with the controls on that ship!" O'Donnell said, looking at Pritchard.

Cass looks past them all and screams, and grabs Lunn to protect her. Moran is standing behind them, lips moving. There are black holes where his eyes should be.

"Moran. But, we just saw you…" Bennett said.

"He's. Oh, my God. He's a ghost." O'Donnell said, sadly.

Moran is joined by the other figure, and they both reach out for the crew.

(Jared's POV)

Corridor…

Three days later, the TARDIS materialises. There is an overturned chair and a base that seems to be empty. 

The Doctor talks to the TARDIS, "What's wrong? You're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Tell me."

"Come on! we're on a roll!" Clara chirped, standing in the TARDIS doorway. "Monsters, things blowing up. Oh, hey, can we go back to Lowee where we were at an amusement park called Super Retro Land? I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity when we spent time with the CPUs."

"That's because Sayaka and Neptune liked playing video games together." I said, happily.

"We did." Sayaka said, exiting the TARDIS with me.

"You two were talking for hours so I ended up talking to Eunie." Kyoko said, a Pocky in her mount and walking out of the TARDIS.

"Why have you brought us here?" The Doctor asked.

"Here being?" Clara asked, shutting the TARDIS door.

"Underwater. Some sort of a base. The technology's 22nd century. Maybe military, maybe scientific." The Doctor said.

"So, is there a crew?" Sayaka asked.

"There must be a crew somewhere, Sayaka." I said, happily. "If there's oxygen here."

We walk down the corridor.

"I want another adventure. Come on, Doctor, Jared, you feel the same. You both are itching to save a planet, I know it." Clara said, smiling.

"You like having her around you." Kyoko said, telepathically.

"Well, yeah. Clara's going to be gone someday." I said, telepathically. "But someday, she's going to get reckless."

"You mean how it was for Sayaka. When Kyosuke broke her heart."

The Doctor and I smile behind Clara's back.

"I got over him." Sayaka said, telepathically.

Mess hall…

A big mural of a dragon or serpent threatening some men in a small wooden sailing boat. Their garments look suspiciously like ST:TNG style, including the colours. 

"This looks like something out of Star Trek." Sayaka said, grabbing my hand.

This is where the overturned chair is, along with a lot of mess.

"It does." Kyoko said, the Pocky is still in her mouth.

"Doctor, Jared, look at this." Clara said.

"Well. Looks like you got your wish." The Doctor said, sadly.

"Food fight?" Clara asked.

A knife is stuck in a wall. Clara twangs it.

"It couldn't have been a simple food fight. And Jared, you told me how the food fights go with Team RWBY and Team JNPR." Kyoko said, frowning.

"Well, they have superhuman abilities like you two, Sayaka, Kyoko." I said, squeezing Sayaka's hand.

"Jared's right. I think there was more to it than that. Whatever it was, it happened pretty recently." The Doctor said, sticking his finger into a cup of originally hot liquid. "Seven or eight hours ago. No bodies, though."

"And they took provisions. Okay, so something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base. Maybe they went for a swim in the creepy flooded village outside." Clara said.

We look through the windows.

"Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it." Clara said, holding out her hand for a high five. "Oh, come on. Don't leave me hanging."

"Nah. Come on, Sayaka, Kyoko." I said, looking down at the floor.

The Doctor, Sayaka, Kyoko, and I walked out of the room. Clara follows after a few moments.

Corridor…

Yet another one, but they all look the same.

"Look. Told you. Crew." The Doctor said, smirking.

Moran and the ghost are squatting on the floor with their backs towards the Doctor, Clara, Sayaka, Kyoko, and I.

"Hello, sailors!" The Doctor yelled.

"What's up?" Sayaka asked.

The figures stand and turn, their lips moving.

"Right, I did not expect that. Hands up who expected that." The Doctor said.

The figures walk forward.

"Wait, wait. I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious." The Doctor said.

The alien stands nose to nose with the Doctor, while Moran looks down at Clara.

"Are you sure?" Clara asked.

"Well, I mean, define sure. Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?" The Doctor asked.

The figures turn away, still muttering to themselves.

"Come on." Sayaka said, looking over at me. "Do you know what's going on?"

The Doctor, Clara, Sayaka, Kyoko, and I follow the figures.

"Yeah." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.

"What the hell are they?" Kyoko asked.

"I haven't a clue. Isn't that exciting?" The Doctor asked.

Main hangar…

The doors open. 

"So, what is this similar to?" Kyoko asked. "You said you knew what was going on."

The Doctor, Clara, Sayaka, Kyoko, and I enter, and the doors close behind us. 

"Have you ever played Among Us?" I asked, looking over at Sayaka.

The fire has long been extinguished.

"You mean that game that…oh." Sayaka said, her eyes widening.

"What's Among Us? Where did they go? What is it, some kind of submarine?" Clara asked.

"No, it's alien." The Doctor said.

We go inside the spaceship. I let go of Sayaka's hand and looked back at the two Magical Girls.

"Sayaka, Kyoko, stay out there." I said, telepathically.

"What's wrong?" Sayaka asked, telepathically. 

The Doctor runs his hand over the rectangular object and sees the symbols on the wall. 

"It's not safe." I said, telepathically.

The Doctor points to them, and Clara picks up the light and shines it on the markings.

"How is it not safe?" Kyoko asked, telepathically.

"It just isn't." I said, sadly. "Sorry, was having a conversation with those two."

"Jared, you normally do telepathy with Magical GIrls and mages if things are super bad." The Doctor said, frowning. "That's weird. The TARDIS hasn't translated it."

A strange, hissing sort of sound. 

Clara turns, "Hey, look, they're back."

"Hello! Did you want to show us this? It's very nice." The Doctor said.

"Wait, are they saying something?" Clara asked.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious." Kyoko said, scoffing.

Moran takes a fire axe from the wall, but it is very heavy for him.

"This isn't good." Sayaka said.

"Okay, they now appear to be arming themselves." Clara said.

"We know, my Impossible Girl." I said, looking at the ghosts.

"Yes, I spotted that, too." The Doctor said.

The Doctor, Clara, and I leave the craft as the other ghost takes a harpoon gun.

"Was it something they said? They do that. Clara once had an argument with Gandhi!" The Doctor said, angrily.

Moran swings the axe, and just misses.

"I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner." Clara said.

The harpoon gun is fired and dodged. The Doctor, Clara, Sayaka, Kyoko, and I run out. The ghosts walk through a wall, but their weapons have to be left behind.

Corridor…

A hand reaches through the wall next to Clara. She cries out. Moran emerges, making them back away down the corridor, then the other rises up through the floor behind them. 

Clara grabs at the Doctor's arm, "Run!"

I grabbed Sayaka's arm and Sayaka grabbed Kyoko's arm. A door at the end of the corridor is opened.

"In here! Quick!" O'Donnell cried.

Faraday cage…

The ghosts peer in though the round window in the door, but do not enter. The Doctor returns their stare.

"What are you?" The Doctor asked.

The ghosts leave.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" Pritchard asked.

"I'm Jared." I said, taking out my psychic paper out of my sling bag and showing it to Pritchard. I then pointed a finger at the Doctor. "This is the Doctor." I pointed a finger at Clara. "That's Clara." I then nodded towards Sayaka and Kyoko. "This blueberry is Sayaka. And this strawberry is Kyoko."

"You're from UNIT." Pritchard said, looking down at my psychic paper.

"Yup." I said, placing my psychic paper inside my sling bag. "I am. And so are they."

"I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett." Pritchard said, looking over at Bennett.

"O'Donnell! Are you really the Doctor and Jared? I'm a huge fan! I mean, er, you know. Nice work." O'Donnell said, looking between the Doctor and I.

"Thanks, O'Donnell." I said, smiling, "I've been meaning to meet you for a while."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass." Lunn said.

"So, what were those things out there? What are they? And why the hell are they trying to kil us?" Sayaka asked.

"That's what I want to know too!" Kyoko yelled.

"Well, they're er, they're ghosts." Bennett said.

"They're not ghosts." The Doctor said, scoffing.

"Cass is saying…" Lunn said.

"Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign." The Doctor said, signing. "Go ahead."

Cass signs her reply.

"No, no, actually, I can't. It's been deleted for semaphore. Someone get me a selection of flags." The Doctor said, frowning.

"One of the ghosts is our previous commanding officer. The other, um moley guy, we don't know what he is." Cass said, signed by Lunn.

"Jared, didn't you say you and the Doctor met one of them at a hotel with a minotaur?" Sayaka asked.

"Oh yeah. You called it 'the God Complex'." Kyoko said, smirking.

"Yeah." I said, taking out some apples out of my sling bag and tossed one to Kyoko. "He's from the planet Tivoli."

"See? I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?" Bennett asked.

"Weird thing is, they're not violent. They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details. When did they first appear?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar? Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got…" O'Donnell said, pausing for suspense. "Moran was killed."

"Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us. So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here." Cass said, signed by Lunn.

"What is this place?" Clara asked.

"It's a Faraday cage. Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently, whatever those things are out there. So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore." The Doctor said.

That would be me." Cass said, signed by Lunn.

"Her." Lunn said, pointing a finger at Cass.

"Actually, that would be me." Pritchard said.

Richard Pritchard, Vice President of Sub-aquatic Resources, handed the Doctor his card.

"I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil." Pritchard said.

"The oil? Where are we?" The Doctor asked, tossing the card on the floor, and Pritchard picks it up again.

"This used to be a military training site. There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged." Bennett said.

"Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it." Pritchard said.

"Good morning. Entering day mode." The computer said.

The lights brighten.

"Okay, it's morning. We can go outside now." O'Donnell said, happily.

"Thank God for that." Lunn said, overjoyed.

"At last, we can get out of here." Pritchard said.

"Yeah." I said, as Kyoko and I are munching on our apples.

"Morning?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights." Bennett said, taking a towel from a hook.

O'Donnell opens the door.

"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship, but what about those things that aren't ghosts?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, it's all right. They only come out at night." O'Donnell said.

"Weird how that is not comforting." Clara said, sarcastically.

Main hangar…

"If whatever they are…" The Doctor said.

"I think they're ghosts." Sayaka said, sadly.

"They're not ghosts. Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?" The Doctor asked.

"That was my call. We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it. What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus." Pritchard said.

"It's okay. I understand. You're an idiot. Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?" The Doctor asked.

"It's the mining equipment. It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak." Bennett said.

"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor. Anything else I should know? Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?" The Doctor asked.

"Red velvet, blue raspberry, stay out there." I said, happily. "Where it's safe."

The Doctor, Clara, and I go back into the spaceship.

"It all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be." The Doctor said, looking down at a section of the deck, then removes a hatch. "What's happened to the stuff you've removed? This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing."

"Power cell?" Pritchard asked, running up the steps into the spaceship.

"Yeah. You can see the casing is empty." The Doctor saId.

"Jared, why won't you let me and Kyoko in there?" Sayaka asked, telepathically.

"It's not safe." I said, telepathically.

Cass and Lunn are having a vigorous discussion.

"The hell do you mean it's not safe?" Kyoko asked, telepathically.

"It's not safe out here!" Lunn yelled.

"What's the matter?" Clara asked.

"She won't let me look inside the spaceship. She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here." Lunn said, frowning.

"Jared is saying it's not safe in there either." Sayaka said, her hand on her hip.

"Don't know why either." Kyoko said, placing her hands behind her head.

"I imagine they're pretty valuable." Pritchard said.

"What is it?" I asked, clutching the strap of my sling bag.

"I mean powerful. Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty powerful." Pritchard said.

"Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark." The Doctor said.

"And the missing one must still be out there."

"Yes, well, otherwise. Sorry, why is this man still talking to me?" The Doctor asked.

"We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time." O'Donnell said.

Pritchard leaves, then the Doctor and I leave the spaceship.

"So what have we got? Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through." The Doctor said.

"And they're different from the ghosts I encounter at Amity Park." I said, smiling.

"Doctor, Jared, wait, you're not saying…" Clara said.

Bridge…

Computer stations, control panels on walls, and a nice illuminated map of the base.

"They're ghosts! Yeah, ghosts…" The Doctor said.

"Doctor, you said there was no such thing. You actually pooh-poohed the ghost theory. Jared, Sayaka, and Kyoko believe in the supernatural more than you do." Clara said, annoyed.

"Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as, as socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were. Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead. Wow. This is, it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost." The Doctor said.

"I have met proper ghosts. And they are located in Amity Park." I said, looking down at the floor.

"Moran was our friend." Cass said, while Lunn signed her.

"Hey, Doctor. You're forgetting the cards!" Sayaka chirped.

"Oh! Oh, right you are." The Doctor said, fumbling in his pocket for a set of record cards.

"Give it here." I said, grabbing the set of note cards from the Doctor and looking through them with Sayaka and Miki. 

Sayaka, Kyoko, and I sort through them looking for the right one. 

"Nope." Sayaka said, telepathically.

'I completely understand why it was difficult not to get captured.' I shuffled that card to the back of the deck.

"This one isn't good either." Kyoko said, telepathically.

'It was my fault, I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen.' I shuffled that card to the back of the deck.

"Definitely not that." I said, telepathically.

'I didn't mean to imply that I don't care.' I shuffled that card to the back of the deck.

"Oh, that one is pissing me off." Kyoko said telepathically.

'No one is going to get eaten / vapourised / exterminated / upgraded / possessed / mortally wounded turned to jelly, we'll all get out of this unharmed.' I shuffled that card to the back of the deck.

"Here you go." I said, handing the Doctor the next card. "Took three people with common sense to help you, Doctor Disco."

"Ahem. I'm very sorry for your loss. I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend slash family member slash pet." The Doctor said.

"Let me take that. Thank you very much." Sayaka said, taking the card back from the Doctor and placing it back into the note card deck.

"But don't you see what this means? Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects? Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so! Calm, Doctor, calm. You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey. Okay." The Doctor said.

"So, what is a ghost? If it isn't one Jared hunts down at Amity Park." Sayaka said, sadly.

"And what the hell do they want with us?" Kyoko asked.

The lights go out.

"Whoa. Whoa, what's happening?" O'Donnell asked.

"Good evening. Entering night mode." The computer said.

"That's not right. We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!" O'Donnell said, sitting at a computer terminal. 

Then a distant bell starts to toll.

"Damn it!" Kyoko growled.

"Er, what's doing that?" Bennett asked.

"I honestly forgot about that." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag. "Sorry."

"Doctor?" Clara asked, looking between the Doctor and I.

"I forgot about the fucking TARDIS Cloister Bell!" I said, running out of the room with the Doctor, Sayaka, Kyoko.

TARDIS…

"Doctor, Jared, what's wrong?" Clara asked.

"The ghosts are the reason why the Old Girl was upset when we landed." I said, leaning against the TARDIS console.

"What's up? I don't get it." Sayaka said.

"It's just what I was saying. You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations. A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them." The Doctor said.

"So, what do we do now?" Kyoko asked.

"We do what we do to help calm Sexy down." I said, turning a handle on the console. The Cloister Bell stops and the engines power down. "We put the handbrake on.

Clara takes off her jacket and heads for the doors.

"Whoa! Ho, ho, ho, ho! Where do you think you're going?" The Doctor asked, looking at Clara.

"Out there, where the action is." Clara said, smirking.

"Look, you, er…" The Doctor said, letting out a sigh.

"What?"

"Clara, this is my fault. Letting Danny Pink die. I like adventures like the Doctor. Even so, don't become like me or our Spaceman here." I said, leaning against the TARDIS console.

"What do you mean? I'm not."

"Clara, the TARDIS is a whole other dimension." I said, looking down at the floor. "But there can be only one madman with a box. That being the Doctor. I distanced myself far enough from the Doctor by having adventures on Earth."

"Wait, wait a second. Jared, the Doctor just raved about ghosts like a kid who had too much sherbet."

"Hey, Clara." Kyoko said, walking up to Clara with a box of Pocky that appeared in the redhead's hands. "You know what you need. Have some."

"I really don't. Kyoko, I'm not in the mood for some Pocky."

"Clara, how about getting into another relationship?" Sayaka asked, giggling. "I got into one with Kyoko after Kyosuke fell in love with Hitomi."

"Sayaka's right, Clara. Come on, you lot, you're bananas about relationships. You're always writing songs about them, or going to war, or getting tattooed…" The Doctor said.

"Doctor, Jared, Sayaka, Kyoko, I'm fine." Clara said, letting out a sigh.

"We just felt that we, we, we had to say something."

"I know. And I appreciated it."

"Because I've got a duty of care to look after you and Jared, Clara." The Doctor said.

"And I've got a duty of care to look after Sayaka and Kyoko." I said, happily. "Madoka would kill me if something happened to them."

"Which the two of you take very seriously, we know." Clara said, looking between the Doctor and I.

"Can we stop with this now? It's getting a bit annoying, my Impossible Girl."

"Please. Please do."

We leave. The TARDIS groans.

(Open POV)

Airlock…

"Attention, all crew. The Drum has switched to night mode early so grab provisions and make your way to the Faraday cage." O'Donnell said, over the speaker.

A man is in a full dry suit. He removes his helmet whilst talking and puts it down. A figure is on the other side of the airlock door.

"That you, Bennett? I went out looking for that missing power cell. Okay, contractually, it's a grey area, but I reckon we can argue…everything non-indigenous is an asset and therefore…" Pritchard said, as he realises something is not right. "Bennett?"

Moran steps forward on the other side of the door.

"We're meant to be in day mode! You shouldn't be here." Pritchard said.

Moran whispers incomprehensibly.

"What? What? What, what are you saying?" Pritchard asked, looking through the window he saw Moran touch the outer door override control. Pritchard tried to get to his helmet but couldn't. "No, Moran! Don't!"

The airlock is suddenly flooded.

Mess hall…

Clara and Kyoko are helping Bennett gather provisions.

"Pritchard, you are unaccounted for. Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately. Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!" O'Donnell said, over the speaker.

"I'd love to work for UNIT, Earth's first line of defence, and all. I'm probably not suited, though. Not much of a fighter. More of a bleeder." Bennett said.

"Who knows, you might be a hero." Kyoko said, munching on an apple.

A figure in a dry suit has his back to them.

"Pritchard! Where you have you been? Everyone's been looking for you. What's with the wet suit?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Bennett asked.

"Something's not right here…" Kyoko said, looking at Pritchard.

Bridge…

"O'Donnell, it's okay. Pritchard's in here!" Bennett said, over the speaker.

"Pritchard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early. In case I can't get this back into day mode." O'Donnell said.

Mess hall…

"Is he all right?" Clara asked.

Something bumps against the windows. It is a figure in a dry suit floating outside.

"Man overboard. Man overboard! We need a rescue team in the water now!" Bennett said, angrily.

"Bennett, wait! It's Pritchard." Clara said.

The figure with them turns around to show its black eye sockets. Cass, Lunn, the Doctor, Sayaka, and Jared run in.

"Pritchard's a ghost…" Kyoko said, looking at the figure. "He's become another ghost."

Ghost Pritchard picks up a chair and advances towards them.

(Jared's POV)

Bridge…

O'Donnell works at the computer consoles.

"Come on, come on. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." O'Donnell said, annoyed.

In the mess hall, the lights come on, Pritchard vanishes and the chair falls to the floor.

"Good morning. Entering day mode." The computer said.

We watch CCTV of what happened to Pritchard on a wall screen. The alien ghost is a few steps behind Moran.

"No! No, Moran! Don't!" Pritchard said, on screen.

"They're working out how to use the base against us. Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning." The Doctor said.

"And now there's three of them." Sayaka said.

"That's great." Kyoko said, sarcastically.

"Cass, what do we do?" Bennett asked.

"We abandon the base. Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghostbusters or whatever." Cass said, with Lunn speaking for her.

"Wait, Cass…" I said, walking over to Cass.

"I can't force you to leave, so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew." Cass said, with Lunn speaking for her.

"Jared, we are coming back, right?" Sayaka asked, telepathically.

"We are, Blue Raspberry." I said, telepathically.

"O'Donnell, contact Topside. Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders." Cass said, with Lunn speaking for her.

O'Donnell uses a sort of field telephone, "Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over."

"Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over." Topside said, over the speaker.

"Repeat, Topside. Over." O'Donnell said.

"We've received your request for a rescue sub. It's two minutes away. Over."

"Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over."

"Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over."

"Son of a bitch." I said, snatching the handset from O'Donnell. "Topside, this is Jared Shay. Also known as the Black Pearl and the President of the World. I was one of the Avengers a hundred years ago. You might know me and my work. Call back the submarine."

"Jared, why would…" Topside said, over the speaker.

"Call the damn submarine back! We have something dangerous here that can't be let out onto the surface of the Earth. This base is now under quarantine by the Gold Protocol." I said, putting the handset down.

"What did you do that for?" Bennett asked.

"None of us sent that message. And I kept a telepathic link between Sayaka, Kyoko, and I. The ghosts are unable to get through the mind barriers I set up. The ghosts sent the message for the rescue sub and they want the crew down here."

"Why would they do that?" Lunn asked.

"Well, I don't know, but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band. Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?" The Doctor asked.

"It's mainly atmospheric. The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled." O'Donnell said.

"No. Something, something else."

"The diagnostic sweep. When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power." Cass said, with Lunn speaking for her.

"What kind of systems?" Sayaka asked.

"Life support, the locks. They're electromagnetic. Like with Jared's ghost powers, but they're slowly evolving. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds." O'Donnell said.

"The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it." The Doctor said.

"Doctor, Jared, what do we do?" Clara asked.

"Nice job, O'Donell, putting the base back to day mode." I said, smiling.

"Shut up. It was nothing. Do you really think so?" O'Donnell asked.

"Yup. I do. Can we please put it back to night mode?"

"What?!"

"We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not any more. So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. We want to know what these ghosts are after? We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost." The Doctor said.

(Open POV)

Mess hall…

The lights go down in sequence in the modular corridors, then the night lights come on. Pritchard is half inside a wall, the alien is standing sideways halfway up a wall and Moran is hanging down from the ceiling.

"Good evening. Entering night mode." The computer said.

Bennett enters nervously, "H-Hey, how's it going?"

Ghost Pritchard steps fully out of the wall in front of him and he runs out.

Bridge…

Everyone is on CCTV on various wall screens.

"Bennett has the ghosts on the move." Sayaka said, looking at the screens. "And Clara is in position."

The Doctor, Sayaka, Kyoko, Jared are by the big wall map of the base.

"Okay. My Impossible Girl, Bennett's gonna run across the top of the three way intersection to your right." Jared said, tossing a jelly baby into his mouth.

Corridor…

"In twenty seconds, have the ghosts come toward you. Turn right and go to your second left." Jared said, his voice coming out of the Bluetooth device.

The running man passes the junction, then the alien ghost comes into view, walking just a few yards behind.

"Hey! Hey, ghosts. Down here!" Clara yelled.

All three follow Clara.

Bridge…

"Lunn, they're heading towards you. Clara's gonna duck down to her left. You have to keep the ghosts going the same way they're going now." Jared said, munching on another jelly baby.

Corridor…

"After about fifty yards on your left." Jared said, his voice coming out of the Bluetooth earpiece. "There is a flood door."

Bridge…

"O'Donnell will close the door once you're through it." Jared said, picking up another jelly baby.

Corridor…

"I, I can hear them." Lunn said, sadly.

Bridge…

"Lunn, it's okay. There's no need to worry. Just don't have them see where you're going." Jared said, munching on a jelly baby.

Intersection…

Lunn steps out, Clara sees him and ducks out to her left just before the ghosts arrive.

"Hey! Yeah, this way." Lunn said.

But the alien and Moran turn to follow Clara. Only Pritchard follows Lunn.

"We've got a problem!" Lunn said, terrified.

Bridge…

"Damn. They've split up." Sayaka said, looking at the screens.

"What?" The Doctor asked, looking over at the screens.

"Moran and the mole guy are going after Clara." O'Donnell said.

Corridor…

"Clara, watch out. There's two ghosts right behind you." Kyoko said, her voice coming out of the Bluetooth speaker.

"I'm beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan." Clara said.

Bridge…

"Clara, there's a flood door at the end of the corridor, around the corner to your right. We'll close it from here. Listen to me. You've got to get through that door before Moran and the other ghost sees you." The Doctor said.

Flood door…

"Doctor. Jared." Clara said, frowning.

Bridge…

"O'Donnell, do it as fast as you can!" Jared said, excitedly. "We're not against a Dalek. So everything should be fine."

Door 17018 closes and Clara stands against it, out of sight of the ghosts, who pass by.

Corridor…

"Guys, I'm nearly at my door." Lunn said, going through the open doorway.

Bridge…

"Hurry, Lunn! Cass would become heartbroken if you became a ghost!" Jared cried.

O'Donnell closes the door.

Flood door…

"It saw me. Oh, God." Lunn said, sadly.

Bridge…

"It saw me. It's coming through. It's coming through the door." Lunn said, over the speaker.

They watch as ghost Pritchard steps through the door.

"We don't have a camera in there." O'Donnell said.

Sayaka and Kyoko stop Cass from leaving.

"No, no, Lunn. Lunn, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Lunn, what's happening?" The Doctor asked.

In the flood compartment or whatever it is, Lunn backs up to the rear wall then closes his eyes and cringes as Pritchard comes right up to him and reaches for a wrench on the wall. It stares at the whimpering man, then the wrench falls to the floor with a clatter. They see Pritchard walking off down a corridor.

"Lunn, can you hear me? Lunn? Lunn?" The Doctor asked.

Floor door…

"Can you hear me? Lunn, Lunn? Lunn, Lunn! What's happening? Lunn? Lunn? Can you hear me?" The Doctor asked, his voice over the Bluetooth earpiece.

"I'm okay." Lunn said.

Bridge…

"Cass, it's okay. Lunn's alive." Jared said, taking out some bubble tea to drink it.

O'Donnell then signed what Jared said to Cass.

"It didn't hurt me. I'm okay…" Lunn said, his voice over the speaker.

"What? What's wrong with you? Why didn't it hurt you? Bennett, you're on again. Bennett, where are you?" The Doctor asked.

O'Donnell calls him up on CCTV, "There. Oh, God, look."

"Bennett, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked.

Corridor…

"There are two ghosts just around the corner from you." The Doctor said, his voice coming out of the Bluetooth earpiece.

"Yes, thanks, I'd noticed." Bennett said, sarcastically.

The alien and Moran are swaying and muttering at each other.

Bridge…

"The Faraday cage is across the intersection and down the corridor to your right. This last bit is down to you." The Doctor said.

Bennett runs, the ghosts follow. Pritchard joins them.

Corridor…

"Okay, so, the good news is, they aren't split up any more. Cue Clara!" Bennett said, worried.

Clara appears in the open door to the Faraday cage. The ghosts walk in, and straight through her. She flickers. The door shuts and locks.

Outside the Faraday cage…

The Doctor puts on his sonic sunglasses, "We need to talk. Sorry, chaps. Just a hologram. You play a little bit too rough."

Holo-Clara disappears.

Bridge…

"That was too close." Sayaka said, telepathically.

Bennett, Clara and Lunn return. 

"Tell me about it." Kyoko said, telepathically.

Cass hugs Lunn, and O'Donnell punches Bennett's arm.

"Sorry. At least you two are safe." Jared said, telepathically.

"I'm fine, by the way, in case any of you were worried." Clara said, happily.

"I was worried." Jared said, walking up to Clara for a hug. "Thank goodness you're safe."

Outside the Faraday cage…

"Cass, are you seeing this?" The Doctor asked.

Bridge…

"Sonic glasses Wi-Fi locked in. On screen B2." O'Donnell said.

"She says she can't see them properly." Lunn said.

Outside the Faraday cage…

"The glass is too thick and they're too far away." Lunn said, over the sonic sunglasses.

"Open the door." The Doctor said.

Bridge…

"What?" O'Donnell asked.

"Doctor, you can't go in there, they will kill you!" Clara yelled.

Faraday cage…

"They don't have any weapons or access to any of the controls. They can't hurt me, so open the door." The Doctor said.

"Do it." Jared said, his voice coming out of the sonic sunglasses' speaker. "He'll be fine. Promise."

Clara gives O'Donnell the nod and the door unlocks. The Doctor steps inside and closes it behind him. Moran steps forward, lips moving, and reaches into the Doctor's body. It is not a comfortable feeling.

"Cold, isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Cass?" The Doctor asked.

Bridge…

Cass looks intently at the faces of the three ghosts on the monitors, who are now enunciating their words clearly and in unison.

"She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over. They're saying the dark. The score. No, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple." Lunn said.

(Jared's POV)

Faraday cage…

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes, she's sure. The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple." Lunn said, his voice coming out of the sonic sunglasses' speaker. "Just that. Over and over."

"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man? Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us."

Bridge…

"Oh. They're coordinates." Sayaka said, her eyes widening.

"Yup. They are." I said, happily. "They totally are."

"How can they be coordinates?" Kyoko asked.

"The dark? Space. So, whoever's following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet. The sword?" The Doctor asked.

The Doctor hands out an apple to Kyoko, a knobby ball to me, a table tennis ball to Clara and a Vector Petroleum place mat to Sayaka, and makes us hold them up in a diagonal line.

"Orion's sword. The sword, the three stars, although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula, hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer." The Doctor said, retrieving the objects and puts them on the map table."The forsaken. The forsaken or abandoned or empty town. See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over. And every time they kill one of us…"

"It strengthens the signal. Another ghost, another transmitter." Clara said.

"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub." O'Donnell said.

"They send down the rescue sub to get more people down here. The ghosts kill them to make even more of them. Just to beam out the coordinates." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.

"So why the hell are they beaming out the coordinates? Is it a distress call?" Kyoko asked.

"It could be. Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself. Wait a minute, though. Wait a minute. Do you know what this means? It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters." The Doctor said.

"But what do the coordinates lead to, though? To us? To the ghosts? What?" O'Donnell asked.

"Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking." The Doctor said, getting blank stares. "Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?"

"Gah… it's the temple.That's the fourth piece of the puzzle. What is the temple?" Sayaka asked, looking down and placing her hands on her face in frustration.

"Finally. It's like pulling teeth. This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this." The Doctor said.

"That's a church." Kyoko said, frowning.

A long narrow building with an annex projecting off at right angles at one end, according to the old aerial photograph.

"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them." The Doctor said.

"Wait, you're not suggesting that? But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here." Bennett said.

"No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went. You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know…" The Doctor said, looking at Cass, Lunn and O'Donnell. "…you have chosen to protect and serve." He then looks at "You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."

"Cass says we should go, but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay. So I, er, guess I should too." Lunn said.

"Well, count me in. Who wants to live forever, anyway?" O'Donnell asked.

"Not Magical Girls like Sayaka and Kyoko. They don't have a choice once they made a contract with an Incubator." I said, looking down at the floor.

"Fair point."

"Sorry, er, have you gone insane? We can go home." Bennett said, while O'Donnell does a one shoulder shrug and grins. "They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts? Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."

"So, how much longer do we have in this underwater base?" Kyoko asked, telepathically.

"Not long." I said, telepathically.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah." 

"Jared, you don't seem so sure." Sayaka said, telepathically. "What's wrong?"

"It's O'Donnell. She's going to die and become one of the coordinates. The undertaker is going to die too." I said, telepathically.

"You feel bad that you can't save either, right? So save who you can."

"But how?"

"You don't have to worry. You have me and Kyoko by your side."

Later, Bennett is controlling a drone submarine by virtual reality goggles and remote controls on his fingers, left hand for steering, right hand for power.

"Okay, the sub is approaching the town square. Which way is the church?" Bennett asked.

"North-north-west, one hundred and fifty yards. That's it. Starboard two degrees." O'Donnell said.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Clara asked.

"Something that has the power to raise the dead and turn them into transmitters. I expect we'll know it when we see it." The Doctor said.

"Wait, I've found the church." Bennett said, happily.

"That's it, keep going." The Doctor said, and a large white casket is in amongst the debris in the church ground. "Wait. What's that? Move closer."

Main hangar…

"It's the suspended-animation chamber from the spaceship." The Doctor said.

"That means the pilot can still be in there." Sayaka said.

"There's something inside there." The Doctor said, using his sonic sunglasses on the large white casket. "But it's deadlock sealed. I can't open it. It should be the pilot, it should be. So why do I think it isn't? More questions. Everything I solve, just more questions. I have to go back to the beginning. We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then they try to kill us."

The Doctor goes inside the spaceship and looks at the symbols on the wall.

"Not translated by the TARDIS. Why?" The Doctor asked, cleaning his sunglasses and puts them on to look at the scratched marks. Whirring. "Jared, do you know?"

"Yup. I do." I said, happily.

"Will you tell me?"

"Nope.

"I see." The Doctor said, taking his sunglasses off and comes out into the hangar and speaks to Cass. "Lunn, translate for me. Whenever I step outside, you are the smartest person in the room. So, tell me, what's weird about this? I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?"

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship." Cass said, with Lunn translating for her.

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship. Yes! Why?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't think they're just words."

"They're not words." I said, walking over to Sayaka and Kyoko. "It's an AIM Diffusion Field Resonance."

"You mean like the one Mikoto Misaka has to detect her Sisters?" Sayaka asked. "But they're magnets here? How?"

"Well, a localised and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise. But it isn't the electromagnetic field the Railgun or Jared has as a radar. The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that? No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us." The Doctor said.

"Hold on a minute. That writing is the coordinates?" Kyoko asked.

"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired. And Jared, you are normally immune to your synaptic connections in your brain being changed. Clara, Jared, why don't I have a radio in the TARDIS?" The Doctor asked.

"You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel." Clara said.

"And you kept that in your home, Clara. Because the Doctor left it there." I said, laughing a lot.

"And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand. Don't you see? These words are an earworm. A song you can't stop humming, even after you die." The Doctor said.

"Okay, so, the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber…" Clara said.

"Waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up. My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death."

Alarm sounds.

"Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures." The computer said.

O'Donnell runs to a wall touch screen. It says Flooding Initiated. Reactor Malfunction. Emergency Cooling.

"Oh, no. The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. It's…it's first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and, it's flooding the base." O'Donnell said, sadly.

Water gushes into the corridors.

"Cass says, close the internal flood doors. That'll contain the water in the central corridor." Lunn said, translating for Cass.

"So, where's the TARDIS?" I asked, grabbing Sayaka's hand.

"On the other side." O'Donnell said.

"We need to get there. It's our only way out." The Doctor said.

"Okay. We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close." O'Donnell said.

Corridor…

"Come on!" Clara said, looking at Lunn.

O'Donnell and Bennett make it across the central corridor before the flood door closes. I squeezed Sayaka's hand and grabbed Kyoko's hand before changing into my ghost form and flying through and making the three of us intangible for us to phase through the flood door to get to the other side. Clara, Lunn, and Cass are trapped on the other side.

"Doctor! Jared!" Clara cried.

I became tangible again and turned myself back into my human form. I let go of Sayaka's hand and Kyoko's hand. The Doctor dives under the other closing door just in time. He activates the intercom.

"Clara, just sit tight. The Doctor and I will get you, Cass, and Lunn out. We'll come back for you. Promise." I said, looking at Clara.

"Just come over here with the Doctor in the TARDIS now." Clara said, annoyed.

"The TARDIS won't go there. It won't go near the ghosts that aren't Jared." The Doctor said.

"You can't just leave us!" Clara yelled.

"Listen to me. Jared and I are going back in time to when this spaceship landed. If I can understand why this is happening, I can stop them killing anyone else." The Doctor said.

"The Doctor and I can save you. We can fix this. We always fix it. Clara, you trust us, right?" I asked, looking straight at Clara. "Sayaka and Kyoko will help to save you, Cass, and Lunn."

The water fills the central corridor between us. Clara nods her agreement.

"Wait, the two of you are going to go back in time? How do you do that?" Bennett asked, looking between the Doctor and I.

"Extremely well." The Doctor said.

(Open POV)

Mess hall…

"You're sure they're not going to hurt us?" Lunn asked.

"They can't get out of the Faraday cage." Clara said.

TARDIS…

"Sayaka, Kyoko, you both wore those for Valentine's Day." Jared said, looking between Sayaka and Kyoko.

The Doctor takes off the hand brake and the Tardis dematerialises. 

"Yeah." Sayaka said, happily

Bennett, O'Donnell, Sayaka, Kyoko, and Jared have acquired coats and scarves from somewhere.

"We need to wear something to keep us warm." Kyoko said, smiling.

"Back to before the flood." The Doctor said, smirking.

Mess hall…

"And you're sure the Doctor and Jared won't just leave us here?" Cass asked, with Lunn translating.

"Guys, look, this is how we roll. The Doctor and Jared are going to go away, come back and we'll have to listen to how they did it." Clara said.

Looking through one of the big windows, they see a figure approaching the Drum through the water from the village.

"Is it Moran or Pritchard or the mole guy? How, how did they get out?" Lunn asked.

"No, I don't think it's any of them. And I don't think it's Jared, because I know his ghost form. I think it's a new ghost." Clara said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that something happened in the past, it means that somebody else must have. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no."

The pale ghostly figure with empty eye sockets is the Doctor.