Napier wasn't interested, he was more concerned with the fact that two fellow crew members were dead and possibly a third and he wanted answers:
'What have you done with Brent?' he asked, 'Who sent you?'
'Nobody sent us...' piped up Ace and the Doctor pushed her behind him.
'Brent?' asked the Doctor, 'I think he's dead. We found a body outside beneath the platform when we arrived...'
'You seem to have a habit of finding bodies, don't you?'
'Yes, yes. But not by choice I assure you.' said the Doctor.
'Sir?' Valla and Lodge entered the room.
Ace saw the ideal opportunity to make a run for it. She pushed Napier t one side causing a brief glimpse of the dead bodies before leaving.
Napier recovered himself and pointed his gun threateningly at the Doctor. 'Don't think of trying anything, or you're dead.'
'Look, don't you think this is getting a little out of hand...?'
'Shut it!' Napier was angry; angry at letting things get out of hand; angry at letting Ace get away and angry at not being able to pull the trigger. 'You'd better start giving me some answers and they'd better start making sense.'
~~~
Malikyan and Lindley had finished checking airlock five and were moving through into the next section of the base when they heard the sound of running in the distance.
'Someone's in a hurry.' said Lindley.
'Perhaps they've found something,' suggested Malikyan, who took out his com-link and began to talk into it. 'Commander, Malikyan here. Are you receiving? Over.'
The sound of crackling greeted him at first and then the voice of Dr.Jezak came through: 'This is Jezak. We've caught an intruder and found the bodies of Santo and Ridge. We believe the body of Brent to be outside. Locate him and I'll meet you shortly. Over.'
'Okay, Doc.' acknowledged Malikyan, 'You heard the lady, let's go.' and they both made their way towards airlock six, both unaware that they were being watched by someone moving in the shadows.
Ace was exhausted. She felt as though she had been running for miles through the endless narrow corridors. It was quite clear to her that she had no idea where it was she was going - she simply had no recollection from which direction she and the Doctor had come from earlier when they entered the base.
As she turned yet another corner, she stopped momentarily to look back in the direction she had come from to see whether she was still being followed. Her pursuers were nowhere to be seen but no doubt were gaining on her the longer she took to observe her surroundings.
Ace needed to rest and time to think of a way of helping the Doctor. As she looked ahead of her she suddenly realised that she had entered what appeared to be the crew's living quarters. Several doors now lined the corridor each having a name to indicate which room belonged to whom.
She was suddenly aware of the sound of running moving closer towards her and without looking, she quickly tried to enter the nearest door. It appeared to be locked. A panel to the left revealed a series of numbers, which when pressed in the correct order would simply open the door.
'Simple?' said Ace, and rapidly entered a series of numbers at random. Nothing happened. Then she thought about a number that she herself might use and to her surprise it worked and the door slid quietly open. As she entered the room the lights came on automatically which startled her. The door closed behind as quietly as it had opened.
The room she had entered was simple; a bed (upon which she threw her ruck-sack), a locker, a wardrobe set within the wall, and upon observation much too small for her to hide inside; several pictures lined the other two walls and a tv monitor set within another, under which sat a desk with various monitoring equipment with dials and switches and numerous papers which were scattered on top.
As Ace quickly took in her surroundings the footsteps were now within proximity of her location. She could hear the muffled sound of talking.
Then silence.
Ace opened the door and peered out into the dim-lit corridor. As she cautiously dared to venture out she heard more footsteps heading back in her direction. Having immediately re-entered the room she quickly took cover beneath the bed - her only hiding place available to her.
The door opened and the heavily booted feet of one of the crew members entered. Ace observed as the crew member moved over to the desk and began to operate the instrument panels in front of them.
Ace lay face down unable to see who had entered. She knew, judging by the boot-clad figure, that it was a man, his voice now confirming what was clearly one of the male members of the base:
'Saros 5 calling mother ship. Saros 5 calling mother ship.'
Ace heard no reply but it was clear that the occupant of the living quarter could:
'Everything is going to plan, except we have an intruder - he calls himself the Doctor. His craft was observed arriving here. Very well, I understand. The Doctor and his companion are to be destroyed. I will obey. Saros 5, out.'
Ace dared not breath as the occupant moved over towards the bed, paused momentarily turned and left the room. Within seconds she crawled out from here hiding place and moved over to the door to hear the footsteps recede into the distance.
She looked over at the console and then across at the bed. Realisation dawned on her - her ruck-sack had gone. Ace had thought it wise that she should try and get back to the Doctor and warn him of what she had heard, before the crew member returned for her.
As she left the room, Ace noted the name upon the door as it closed behind her and quickly made her way back in the direction she had come earlier.
Malikyan and Lindley were now in the process of checking airlock nine. Again they peered through the small window set within the door. Again, they could see nothing.
'Isn't this where Ridge found Sterne?' asked Lindley
'I believe so,' replied Malikyan as he began to operate the door panel for it to open.
'Why?'
'Well, I thought...well don't you think it strange that there appears to be no body lying around?'
'Perhaps Dr.Jezak had it moved to medical.'
'I don't like this Mal.'
'Stop worrying, everything will be okay once I get the door open.
'What's wrong?'
'Damn thing's short circuited.'
'No wonder,' said Lindley taking another look through the window, 'the outer airlock door's open.'
'Ah shit!' snapped Malikyan and began to rewire the programming sequence set within the panel, upon which the outer door slid closed and inner door opened.
As the door opened, a clawed arm appeared and grabbed Lindley by the throat taking both of them completely by surprise - so much so that Malikyan dropped his side arm. As he fumbled to pick it up another creature appeared from the airlock into the corridor, snarled and roared before making its attack.
~~~
The Doctor meanwhile was still trying to convince Napier that he had it all wrong. 'Listen to me, Commander. Why should I or my companion go to all the trouble of brutally savaging that poor fellow over there,' he indicated the remains of Ridge, 'drag him in here and then casually just shoot him over there?!'
Napier looked over at the body of Santo, still slumped against the chair at the console. It clearly didn't make much sense, he thought, but he had to take precautions, he couldn't afford any more deaths. He looked over at Dr.Jezak who was examining the remains of Ridge, for an answer.
'The Doctor could be right, Sir.' She moved over to Napier's side. 'It doesn't make sense to me either, but I'm sure that Ridge was attacked by something much more than the hands of a psychotic human being.'
'Listen to her, Commander,' urged the Doctor but resisted from pointing out that he was more than human in case it complicated things further.
'It still doesn't explain Santo's death, nor the fact as to where these creatures - if there are any - came from.'
'I've told you, they're from another planet - sent here purposely to wipe you all out.'