Searching for the Doctor [attn: Rose] cont

"If I disapear...it'll have nothing to do with that." Rose paused for a moment. "Didn't mean to make that sound so...morbid. I'm not going to disapear though, anymore than you are."

Donna froze for a moment and then relaxed as Rose went on. "Well, that's a relief," she replied with a grin. As they slowly reached the bottom of the stairs, Donna felt the memories washing over her again.

You can stop now...

She shuddered. "Right, then, we've gotten here...and I'm almost afraid to open the door. I don't know what we'll find..." she said quietly.

"We're going to find what we came here for, right?" Rose did her best to sound convincing, putting a hand on Donna's shoulder with a small smile.

"Or we'll find something else. Something that can help at least." She paused. "That's all we can find, yeah?"

Donna looked over at Rose and nodded, forcing a small smile. "Yeah...if everything isn't completely destroyed from the fire and flooding..." she said softly. She didn't want to be thinking negatively, but she'd seen it and she was afraid of what it'd look like now. Her heart actually seemed to sink at the very thought.

After a short pause, she handed Rose the key chain. "You go first?" she asked. "I can't..."

"Alright. No problem." She took the key chain gently, situating it in her hand. The light was warm in her hand from use, even before Rose switched it on. When she did turn it on though, she aimed it at the doorway.

Moving forward, she couldn't help but wonder what it would actually look like. The extremely minimal lighting would no doubt make it that much more...whatever it was. "Just let me know if you see what we're looking for." Rose requested before she lead on.

Donna nodded and followed Rose into the hallway that would lead them to the place where the Racnoss had become extinct. She could still smell the smoke, now mingling with the stench of mold from the water. "Take a left and at the end of the hallway...well that'll be it. It'll just open into a room at the end."

She followed close behind Rose, all the while the sights and sounds of that night flashing into her head. She could remember it all so clearly and she couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or cry; laugh at the fact that it was all she could think about when there might be something so much better at the end of the hall or cry because there might not be...

"'kay." Rose followed her directions, flicking the small light here and there as she made her way along the hallway. Soon they'd see if coming here had been anything but a waste of time. One little flicker of doubt insisted that that's all it would be.

Even if that was the case though, this was just day one. It would be a possibility marked off the list. Rose swore she saw something move out of the corner of her eyes, swinging the beam of the key chain up to the space where the wall met the ceiling, but there was nothing. She moved on without a word, and when it was time, turned left.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Rose swung the light upward and Donna froze. Rose had apparently seen something Donna had not, but before Donna could ask what it was, Rose went on moving as if nothing had happened.

At the end of the hall, Rose turned left and Donna followed her. She wished there was some sort of light source other than the tiny key light; everything was shrouded in shadows and she couldn't make anything other than shapes out of it.

"Over there, if I remember right. See the really big towering shapes? Those were creating all kinds of different chemicals. One of them was making the Huon Particles," she said softly, unsure why she'd dropped her voice so low. It wasn't like there was anyone or anything in there, except she herself and Rose.

"Right." Rose kept her own voice low, partially following suit and partially sure if she spoke louder there'd be some kind of echo or something. "D'you remember which one?"

She shone the light over at the shapes for a moment before returning it to the ground so she could watch her step. She was listening carefully for any sounds outside of the two of them, though she thought idly that all that would do was end up making her jump because of a rat or something.

"Watch there." The warning was quiet, and she kept the light shone on a piece of debris after she'd made her own way over it.

The silence surrounding the women was almost deafening. It seemed almost too quiet.

"D'you remember which one?"

Frowning, Donna shook her head. "No, but I'd know the stuff if I saw it. Looked like gold glitter in water, only it didn't need lights to glow...kind of did it on its own," she whispered back, carefully stepping over the debris when Rose pointed it out. "Thanks."

She hoped her eyes would adjust to the light soon enough that she could spot the particles if they were still here. That would make life much easier, rather than having to look at each glass tower on its own. She wondered if they'd be broken - which would be decidedly bad - or simply smoke-stained.

"Sounds like it'll be easy to recognize, in any case." Rose mused, nodding in response to the thanks.

She led the way across, heading for what seemed to be the closest of the glass towers. If they did have to check all of them, Rose figured it would make sense to do them in something resembling order.

Once again she thought she saw something move out of the corner of her but she paid it even less attention this time. It'd just make the both of them more uneasy if she kept getting startled by shadows.

Donna followed closely behind Rose and was looking down at the floor to avoid tripping when a movement caught her peripheral vision and she reached up with one hand, taking a hunk of Rose's denim jacket in her fist. "Did you see that?" she gasped. "I swear I saw something moving, just then..." she went on in a whisper.

Something suddenly felt wrong. They were being watched. That's what that creepy feeling is...not just being in this place again; it's the feeling of being watched... she thought, panicking slightly.

Alright, Rose couldn't help thinking, her heartbeat quickened at Donna's grabbing her jacket, maybe not just a shadow then.

"Yeah, I think I did." She tried to keep her voice calm, and attempted to put her hand on the other woman's arm as she glanced around. They weren't alone then. Rose trained the beam of the small key chain's light slowly across the floor in sweeping motions, hoping to catch another glimpse of whatever it was.

"Try to stay calm, whatever it was...could just be a scavenger or something. Already knows we're here, and it hasn't done anything yet." Rose wasn't sure which of them she was trying to convince.

Who was Rose trying to convince? Hopefully not Donna, because it wasn't working. "Right, well, the last time I was in here I was a sacrificial lamb, so forgive me for freaking out a little..." she hissed, not meaning it harshly, just wanting to get the fear across without making too much noise. "Bollocks, I really wish we had torches...they'd come in handy, right about now..." she murmured.

Donna felt a little foolish practically clinging to Rose like a child to its mother when their ages would suggest the opposite. This place was uncomfortable enough for Donna, though, and the person or thing in the shadows certainly wasn't helping matters any. Rose hadn't shrugged her off in annoyance, yet, anyway, so she couldn't have been too bothered by it...

"Fair point." Rose muttered softly, still scanning the room. It could, she supposed, be almost anything in there. They weren't, however, going to get anywhere just standing there, and whatever it was seemed to be avoiding the light. It would be nice if it didn't like the light, and they could use that as an advantage if need be, as opposed to it just trying not to be seen.

"We've got a couple choices." She decided after a moment's thought, staying still but for her sweeping of the room. "Stand here and do nothing, keep looking for those particles, back out of here and figure out something else to do or..." Rose swallowed. "We can say hello and see if we can get whatever it is to show itself, figure out exactly why it's here." Her voice stayed quiet.

"Oi, you're braver than I am for even considerin' it, Rose," Donna admitted. "D'you think that'd be wise? We haven't got any weapons and I dunno if you've noticed, but we haven't got the Doctor to protect us, either..." she whispered warily, eyes not moving from the spot where the movement had occurred.

It was still, now, whatever it was and its shadow was no longer casting itself, or else it was mingling with the other multiple shadows. "What lives in the dark and would want to be in this type of environment? It's musty and murky in here...no food, no water...." she thought aloud.

"I know we don't. But..." Rose trailed off. She couldn't help thinking it was what they should do anyway. Know your enemy and everything, if it was even that. At the same time though, she was painfully aware that her own attempts at making contact with things tended not to go well. First with the Dalek, and then with the Sycorax at Christmas, when she'd ended up laughed at by the whole shipful.

"Whatever it is might not have a choice, it might be stuck here. Or it could've just gotten here, maybe it even goes in and out..." She didn't like that last thought. That'd mean it was smart, had figured out the door codes. "Could be something robotic, that'd explain not needing food or water.. Don't think I remember meeting anything that'd pick somewhere like this though.."

Donna listened to Rose and found herself agreeing with the possibilities. She took a deep breath. If they ignored the thing and went on about their business, it could just as easily attack them when they weren't paying attention to it as it could if they confronted it. So ignoring it was not an option, so far as Donna was concerned.

That left talking to it or leaving altogether and Donna was afraid if they didn't at least look for the particles, they'd both be regretting it, in the end, and Donna didn't want to be the reason for that.

"Right, then," she said more to herself than to Rose. "Oi, 'ello? We...erm...come in peace?" she called out shakily. She looked over at Rose. "Any funny business and we run like hell, yeah?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah." Rose agreed in a whisper of her own. Hopefully it wouldn't come down to the running though. The thing...things? Whatever they were, seemed to be fast. It was better not to have to run from things that were faster than you. She watched the shadows carefully.

At first nothing seemed to be moving, but then noises started. Soft scampering footsteps could be heard all around them, just a few at first but then more and more. Rose sweeped the light again but once more the beam was evaded, though this time thin shadows could be seen for fraction of a second.

Eventually the noises became more distant, the footsteps further away and within a minute they'd stopped altogether and once more the room was silent. But the flood of movement had revealed at least one thing. Whatever was there- there were alot of them.

Rose swallowed at the silence, sweeping the light once more across the now eerily empty floor. "They ran away, so that's good...right?" Her voice was barely audible.

Letting out the breath she'd been holding in fearful anticipation, Donna looked over at Rose as the scampering faded away. Rose was sweeping the tiny blue beam back and forth across the floor, revealing nothing in its wake.

"They ran away, so that's good...right?"

"I...I dunno," Donna whispered back. "It could be really good...or really bad. They could be afraid and retreating or..." she paused and swallowed hard. "They could be afraid and going for reinforcements. Either way, I say we start looking for the particles while they're gone and then get the hell out of here," she suggested nervously.

Or there's something else we don't know about in here, and they ran from that... Rose thought but didn't say. They'd find out if that was the case, and right now she agreed entirely with Donna's plan of action.

"Right. Definitely... Do what we came here for." She whispered back, trying to regain some confidence. After one final sweep of the key light she started forward once more. There still didn't seem to be any visible differences between the towers so she continued her journey to the nearest one.

The tower was reached without any further problems, the silence still hanging in the room. When Rose shone the light on it, it stayed a dark solid shape, the glass blackened and opaque. "This is gonna make it harder..."

Donna followed Rose forward and the silence remained static as the two women approached the first of the towers. Rose shined the light on it and there was no change. Soot covered it in blackness, making it opaque.

"This is gonna make it harder..."

"Bollocks," Donna muttered. "Well, on the bright side, nothing looks broken," she said softly, pulling her arm out of one of her jacket sleeves and rubbing the fabric gently against the glass, wiping away the grime. "This isn't it," she said immediately. She couldn't really see what was inside, but she could see that it wasn't glowing independently. "Next, yeah?"

"That's good at least." It was even better that the blackness could be wiped away. It would have proved more than a little troublesome if they couldn't even see inside of them. "Next." Rose agreed.

It didn't take long at all to reach the next tower, and this time she made use of her own sleeve to clean off a spot. Recalling Donna's earlier comment about the glow, she stepped back after a moment's examination of the insides. "Not it either, right?"

Donna shook her head. "No, the liquid was clear and it had these little...well, particles...of gold that glowed by themselves. I think they glowed because of the emotion, but given our anticipation to find them and I know at least I'm terrified that those...things...are going to come back, I imagine we've got high enough emotions going that they'll at least have a weak glow..." she replied.

Rose nodded, and moved on again. With the number of things it sounded like there were, it didn't really matter what they were, did it? They'd just have to hope they stayed whereever they'd gone.

She made her way to the next tower, rubbing at it once again. The soot on that particular one seemed more resilient, and didn't come off at her first attempt. Her attention turned more to the task now, Rose wiped at it again, this time a little harder. She froze though, when something fell a few inches past her back, and after a moment's delay there was a scampering of feet again.

"Donna?" She enquired, craning her neck to face the other woman.

When Rose had trouble wiping away the soot on the next tower, Donna had moved beside her, trying on a spot of her own with the same results. It was smudging, but not really wiping away. Stubborn. She frowned. Then something made her freeze up completely in terror. She heard the scampering sound again.

"Donna?"

"I heard it," she whispered back quickly, unable to move. She closed her eyes. "We've gotta hurry," she decided. "You keep working on that one; give me the light and I'll go to the next. When you're ready to move, let me know and I'll toss it back to you, and vise versa. We can cover the territory twice as fast and hopefully find what we're looking for before they come back en masse..." she breathed.