Author's note: Hello everyone, I am back and full of ideas for not just this episode, but for the rest of the series and so many more random things in the future. I guess we have binge watching Peter Capaldi to thank for that. Anyway, this is a republish of this chapter, because I have added a lot more after a quick read through, discovering that where I ended the chapter before was rubbish. I hope this new version rectifies that.

Episode Two: The Cannibal Machine;

Chapter Two - Landing Inhibitors

The TARDIS gave another violent sway, nearly knocking both Bella and Sally over and the Doctor gave a roar of frustration.

"What's wrong?" Bella yelled over the noise that the TARDSI was making.

"I can't land," he shouted back. "Hang on!"

They watched him pull two separate levers before quickly pulling the computer screen towards him, and then pushed another button.

The TARDIS suddenly became still, yet the klaxon still wheezed like it normally did mid-flight and the time rotor rose and fell. Bella quickly followed the Doctor around the console towards the doors, feeling slightly confused.

"Doctor?" she asked him.

"Someone has left the landing inhibitors on, which means I can't land on deck and without the proper schematics of the vessel it's too risky for me to land inside, even if the ship would let me." He explained at one hundred miles an hour.

"Do you know what kind of ship it is?" Bella wondered.

"Not without taking a look at it," the Doctor said as he made to reach for the doors.

"Doctor!" gasped Bella, grabbing his arm to stop him. "We're mid-flight – if you open the doors we'll get sucked out!"

The Doctor gave her a warm smile.

"We won't, I promise." He said gently before pulling open the doors. "We have the airlock,"

Bella grinned in amazement as she looked out over the stars and galaxies that were just outside the TARDIS doors.

"Brilliant isn't it?" the Doctor grinned enthusiastically down to her,

Bella gave a laugh, thinking that it were an understatement as she edged forwards, gripping tightly onto the edge of the TARDIS doors, the Doctor telling Sally to come and have a look too., Her grin faded however when she looked down below them.

"Doctor," she whispered and the Doctor was instantly at her side, peering down to the black ship below them.

It looked similar in the exterior design to an aircraft carrier, having a large deck with short railings around the side. In the middle of the space ship was what looked like the helm; a multi-storied building that was almost as wide as the ship was.

"An aircraft carrier in space?" asked Sally, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"It isn't an aircraft carrier," the Doctor said quietly.

"What is it?" asked Bella.

"A refugee ship," the Doctor explained quietly. "And there is the landing inhibitor's switch." He added, pointing down to a small switch on the side of the helm's wall, right next to thick metal doors.

"How are we going to deactivate it?" Bella asked the Doctor as he began to pace back and forth.

"We can't," he told her. "The only way is for someone to manually reset it, which I could do, but there needs to be someone driving the TARDIS –"

"You could still drive the TADIS, Doctor." Bella said with a slight smile. "I could put on one of those space suits and then you could get the TARDIS in as low as possible and I could jump out onto the deck and manually switch off the landing inhibitors."

"No," the Doctor said instantly, closing the doors. "It's too dangerous –"

"But we have to try and help them," Bella said calmly. "The captain said that they desperately need help, that there was some kind of monster –"

"Exactly, I'm not letting you go on board a ship that we know nothing about, you could get hurt." The Doctor said stubbornly, starting to walk back towards the console.

"Doctor, that has never stopped us before, and we do know something about the ship." Bella told the Doctor quickly, and Sally watched the pair of them as they looked at one another resolutely. "We know that the people on that ship need our help"

The Doctor looked unblinkingly at Bella for a long time, as if weighing up the pro's and con's in his head, before finally giving a small nod.

"Go and get one of the space suits." He said quietly and Bella nodded, instantly making for the stairs.

Sally watched open-mouthed as the Doctor moved back over to the TARDIS doors, opening them and peering down to the ship below him, squinting as though he was looking for something in particular. Sally couldn't believe that he was actually going to let Bella go on a spaceship that contained some kind of a monster.

"I've got it!" Bella called, running back up the stairs carrying a burnt orange space suit, a helmet and a pair of black boots.

"Good, come here," the Doctor said, waving at her to join him over by the doors. See the trap door over by the landing pad?"

Bella craned her neck, looking down to the ship below her.

"The one down on the bow?" she asked, the Doctor nodding in answer.

"You'll have to open it and drop down into it," the Doctor started to tell her quickly. "There will be another box somewhere there; it will be a secondary switch, maybe try that one after the one on deck."

Bella nodded resolutely before she placed her legs into her space suit and pulled it up onto put her arms in as well and zipped it all the way up. The Doctor held out his arms for her to lean on while she slipped her bare feet into the heavy black boots.

"I will get the TARDIS as close as possible can to the deck, but, if the distance is too far we'll have to think of another way to get on board." The Doctor said as Bella placed the helmet over her head. "You have direct contact with the TARDIS via the suit, but once you leave the TARDIS I can't bring you back until you switch off the landing inhibitors, do you understand.

"Yeah," Bella said, her voice sounding different through the helmet. "And what happens if there is no air lock in place?"

"There is one in place, I've already checked." The Doctor said as Bella gave him a slight smile. "But we'll know more once you've landed down there, the suit will give me the particulars."

"Good," Bella smiled. "Should be easy,"

The Doctor gave her a quick frown before reaching into his inside pocket.

"Take the sonic in case you need it," he said quietly, handing his beloved sonic screwdriver across to Bella who took it gently. "Be careful."

"Always," she said softly before the two of them exchanged a quick hug.

"Are you actually going to go down there?" Sally asked, feeling forgotten from where she was standing. They both looked over to her with slightly guilty expressions on their faces and she noticed Bella give the Doctor a small nod before he walked away up the ramp towards the centre console.

"I am really doing this," Bella said calmly.

"But why?" asked Sally, feeling confused and a little concerned for her best friend. "You don't even know these people, why should you risk your life for them, and what do you owe them?"

"They asked for help," Bella said, giving Sally's hand a quick squeeze before pulling a pair of thick gloves from one of the many pockets in the suit. "See you soon she smiled.

"Sally, I'll need your help to keep the TARDIS stabilized," the Doctor said, motioning her back up the ramp to the consol. He wore a serious expression on his face as he looked to her. "And I honestly can't do this without you."

He quickly gave sally her instructions, indicating which levers she needed to hold onto, then looked over to Bella.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Let's do it," she answered determinedly, taking hold of the railing beside the still open doors. The Doctor gave a reluctant nod and said "Hold on," before he pulled a lever and the klaxon began to rise and fall, screeching loudly.

"Sally, push the button NOW!" the doctor yelled over all of the noise and Sally did as she was told. Something sparked below their feet and the TARDIS lurched from side-to-side as she seemed to groan in protest. The Doctor pulled levers, pushed buttons and hit the console with the rubber mallet, all the while watching the screen with a look of utmost concentration upon his face.

"Just a bit more!" yelled Bella from the doorway.

"Come on!" the Doctor yelled in frustration, reaching over Sally to push yet another button. "Bella, this is it, I can't get her any closer; can you make it?"

"I – I think so," Bella answered uncertainly.

"You don't have to do this!" the Doctor shouted as the console showered him and sally in red hot sparks.

"No, I am going now –"

"BELLA!" the Doctor yelled as Bella jumped (or fell, Sally couldn't tell which) out of the open doors. The TARDIS lurched suddenly, knocking both her Doctor and Sally off their feet before becoming still again. The Doctor instantly got to his feet and ran towards the doors, Sally quickly following him, her heart racing.

"Is she okay?" asked Sally somewhat hysterically.

The Doctor didn't answer her immediately. Instead he looked down to the ship below them, seeing a small orange figure, but he couldn't tell if it was moving or not.

"Doctor?" pressed Sally, her eyes fixed on the alien's face.

"Ow, I'm alright," said a familiar voice from the console, and the Doctor turned and ran towards it.

"Bella are you hurt?" he asked quickly, staring intently at the screen.

"The landing was a little rough but I'm okay," Bella answered slowly, sounding as though she was walking. "The main thing is that I did actually land on the ship, which from where I am standing is a massive relief."

The Doctor shook his head slightly, but Sally caught sight of a slight smile working its way onto his face.

"Okay, I've switched the first switch, Doctor."

"The landing inhibitors are still on, you're going to have to go and flick the other switch at the far end of the ship." the Doctor instructed, Sally, still being standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, watched as the orange figure began to walk the length of the alien ship's deck.

"Heading there now," Bella told them. "The ship seems okay from here,"

"Just be careful," the Doctor warned her sternly.

They both heard a scraping noise over the comms, followed by a grunt from Bella before there came a worrying silence.

"Done," Bella said triumphantly moments later.

"Good girl!" the Doctor said proudly, flashing a gleeful grin. "We'll be with you momentarily."

Sally heard Bella give a laugh before the Doctor told her to close the TARDIS doors. The klaxon began to sound again and moments later (after much hitting of a rubber mallet) everything in the TARDIS became still and relatively silent. The Doctor moved towards Sally.

"Don't we need suits?" asked Sally, feeling suddenly nervous.

"There is an airlock around the ship still in place, I checked as soon as we landed," the Doctor said happily, grabbing his overcoat from the archway by the door.

"But it's an alien ship," she pressed, making the Doctor roll his eyes slightly. "Won't the air be different?"

"Just because you lot haven't worked out that there are other humanoid life forms that also depend on the same air doesn't mean there isn't any. In fact, ninety-five per cent of the universe's population needs and breathes the same concentration of air that you do. Who knows why you lot think you're the only ones. Come on."

Sally followed the Doctor as he opened the TARDIS doors and walked out onto the ships deck. Sally hesitantly stepped out and held her breath in fear, just in case the Doctor was wrong. She stayed perfectly still with her eyes closed for a few moments before she heard the Doctor give a slight cough.

"Sally Brenner," he said lightly, his voice full of amusement. "Open your eyes!"

Sally slowly did as she was told, opening her eyes and feeling her mouth drop as she took in the sheer scare of the ship she was now standing on. It looked as though it went on for miles and miles, and even if she squinted she could only just make out the opposite end. But it was when she glanced up at all the stars surrounding them did she realise how small she actually was.

"Welcome to the rest of the universe," the Doctor grinned at her before beginning to walk towards Bella, whom was jogging slowly towards them.

Closing her mouth, Sally quickly followed the Doctor, still gazing in awe at the sky around her. She looked back to Bella, who stood about ten metres away from them taking her helmet off and looking to both Sally and the Doctor crestfallen.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Sally before the Doctor threw out his arm to stop her from falling over the sudden ledge that had appeared before them, that spanned roughly nine metres between them. Sally glanced over the edge and felt dizzy with the sheer height of the drop; at least twenty stories between their level and the very bottom of the ship.

"How did we miss this?" called Bella from the other side, her voice echoing slightly against the harsh metal surroundings.

"Its Stoic design," the Doctor said, glancing down as well. "The ship is from the planet Sto; we're in the outskirts of the Cassavalian Belt."

"Wasn't that where you said the Titanic that almost crashed into Buckingham Palace came from?" asked Bella with curiosity.

"Yeah," he said, looking confused. "But they haven't needed refugee ships in a very long time -"

A sudden sparking noise filled the silence and Bella gave a sudden cry and ran back towards the helm's building that stood not too far away from them, shouting 'no!' as she went.

"Bella, what is it?" the Doctor asked as they heard the sound of the sonic screwdriver before there came a small explosion and a thin, blue light arched its way above the ship like some kind of shield, locking them in. Bella emerged from a thick cloud of smoke, coughing and spluttering with a deep frown on her face.

"The switch for the landing inhibitors just blew up," she managed to cough out.

"Oh no," the Doctor groaned, running his hands through his hair.

"Why should it matter, we've already landed?" asked Sally with a frown.

"Because now Bella is stranded on that side of the ship," the Doctor answered her somewhat angrily. "I now can't get the TARDIS to her,"

"It's okay, Doctor," Bella said reassuringly. "I'll be able to make my way to the helm, but it will just have to be through the ship, the long way round. The only stairs to the helm are on your side of the deck, bit of a design flaw, but that's hindsight for you."

"But what about the monster?" asked Sally, remembering why it was that they had gone to the effort of landing on the alien ship in the first place.

"Wait up here, Bella." The Doctor instructed firmly. "Sally and I will make our way to you, it's too dangerous."

"Or, we can save time and effort and meet each other half way; that saves you making the trek all the way here and then all the way back." Bella suggested levelly. "If there is actually some kind of monster on board, me staying put out here in the open isn't such a great idea. I would be like a sitting duck or something."

Sally looked to the Doctor, whose eyes were fixed in a frown directed at Bella and waited to see wait he would say in answer. She didn't really like the idea of going into the ship, but Sally thought Bella had a point about staying up here on deck. It looked like the Doctor was having an internal argument with himself, but eventually he gave a sigh of frustration.

"Be careful," he said to Bella, and Sally looked to him in surprise at the emotion in his voice. "First sign of trouble and you hide, understand?"

Bella nodded resolutely, her own eyes lingering on the Doctor's for a few moments before she gave him a small smile.

"Look after my best friend, won't you?" she said lightly before turning and walking back towards the service hatch that she had found the second landing inhibitor switch, knowing that that was her way in.