The sun was bright and warm, the waves blue and clear, the breeze a gentle caress…
"About a 9.4 on the Jovanka Scale, Doctor."
"Is that all?" by the tone of his voice, he sounded slightly hurt.
"Minus 0.6 points for lack of bathing huts, cold drinks and showers..."
"The TARDIS is only three hundred feet away, you know." He unfurled his cream Panama hat and rammed it atop his head.
"And there is a distinct lack of Spanish waiters wearing tight leather pants..."
"Hmmm....." the Doctor turned away from gazing across the sea, and stared down at Tegan who lay sprawled upon a blanket in her light blue swimming suit, a white flower lodged beside her left ear. He slid his hands into the pockets of his pajama trousers. "I managed to get us to one of the tropical wonders of the world, in an era without war or destruction, at the exact time and place that I said I would, to a place that most people would give their lifetime salaries to spend one day at... and you only give it a 9.4?" he asked indignantly.
"Sorry Doc, but amenities cost you," Tegan replied as she rubbed some oil onto her shoulder.
He bent down over her, until they were nose-to-upside-down-nose to each other. Tegan stared back at him through her sunglasses. She felt something cold and wet press against her skin as he handed her a glass of iced tea.
"9.6?" he asked, a wide grin spreading across his face.
"Definitely," she smiled back. "9.8 if it's a Long Island."
"Come on," he sighed. "You won't want to miss this."
"Miss what?"
"Sit up and see for yourself."
Tegan pulled herself, somewhat reluctantly, off the beach towel and slid the shades up off her face. The Doctor squatted down beside her and swung his feet off over the edge of the ridge.
Before them lay a massive semi-circular bowl, with the gray walls rearing up on three sides like a meteor crater. At the base lay a swath of emerald sand, which swirled out into the crystal blue-green water that filled the bottom and led out to the sea. As the walls of the edifice pinched out into the ocean, they were breached and melted, forming deceptively delicate sea arches and columns that rose upwards out of the water.
As she watched the, gray rock and green sand seemed to pale and bleach in color, as the vast shadow of the crater walls started to fill in the bowl.
"Behind you," said the Doctor quietly.
She slowly shifted around until she was facing westward and Tegan then realized that she must have fallen asleep for longer than she had thought.
They sat there and watched the sun, a magnificent globe of orange and gold, slowly settle onto the horizon. They could feel the wind rustling through their hair and over their clothes, but all else was still.
Tegan felt a huge feeling of the moment fill her. The thought that this was a moment to which no time machine could take her back to, that there were circumstances and emotions that she could never relive. It was her's. And the Doctor's. A moment outside of time.
"What is this place?" Tegan whispered eventually.
"Papakolea, according to the natives," answered the Doctor. "Or will be..." he said more uncertainly. "Geologically speaking, we're sitting on the remains of a cinder cone whose insides have slid into the sea. The green sand beach is a result of olivine crystals being weathered out of the volcanic rock..."
"Papakolea," Tegan rolled the syllables around in her mouth, savoring the vowels. Although it hurt her to look near it, the sun was almost half gone now, and the reflection shimmering across the ocean was just as blinding. "Polynesian?" she hazarded.
"Well, Hawaiian at any rate," he responded, lowering the brim on his hat slightly. "If anyone ever asks, I've never been to Rapanui."
Tegan took a long breath and savored the scent of paradise. "I've changed my mind."
"Oh?" the Doctor asked distantly as he stared out into the purple and magenta sea.
"It's utterly beautiful: 9.9." Tegan revised. "Thanks."
"Sorry?" He seemed to pull himself back to the present and turned to her.
"Thanks. I mean thanks for taking me, I mean us, here to see this..." She trailed off as she watched him. He started to fidget and frown slightly as he always did when he felt uncomfortable. To cover the awkward pause, she hurriedly asked, "When are we anyway?"
"Friday," he replied firmly.
"You don't know, do you?"
He turned sharply to her, but his frown quickly leapt up to a grin. "Somewhen between 200 and 2000 A.D."
Tegan smiled at his sudden mood change, glad to be away from the previous moment. She leant back on her elbows and pulled her shades down again, "As long as it isn't December 1941, it's fine by me."
The Doctor gave a slight groan. "Yes, well, your geography needs more help than your history, Tegan." His voice gained in volume as he launched into full lecture mode, Romper Room Style especially for Tegan. He stood up and gestured expansively around him. "Papakolea is on mainland Hawaii, near South Point, while Pearl Harbor is located-"
She cut him off before he could hit full swing, "Where's Nyssa?"
The Doctor pointed upwards with his index finger.
Tegan stared blankly back at him.
"Turlough's snorkeling, if you're interested."
Tegan gave a sort of snort and waited.
After a few moments it became evident that the Doctor was finished.
"Doctor," she repeated slowly, "Where's Nyssa?"
"I've just told you," he replied. "She was examining the marine life on the shore earlier this morning."
"And now?"
"She's parasailing." The Doctor pointed more accurately to a dot coasting across the deepening sky.
Tegan sat up so fast she nearly rolled off the ridge.
Nyssa spent the morning examining the tidal pools, observing the various life forms that had collected in the warm, shallow waters among the rocks. She knew little about the marine organisms of Earth, so the Doctor had dug through the TARDIS cupboards and fished out a hand-held bioscanner for her. Together, she and the Doctor had rolled up their trousers and hopped about in the salty pools. The water-proofed scanner had bleeped happily away, and scanned the various life forms that she pointed it at, providing not only a detailed bio-schematic, but also gave an approximate location and time period for the organisms.
She had a playful urge to point the scanner at the Doctor, but resisted- just.
The Doctor had given his own scientific narrative of the various starfish and crustaceans they encountered, but Nyssa refrained from the occasional correction, afraid that he might be offended and take the scanner away.
Nyssa had been fascinated by the variety of life that could be found in such a tiny biosystem. Fascinated, until she picked up an eight-inch long, rather slimy, tubular organism: "Sea Cumber," read the green display, "Holothurian." The thing had squirted water at her face, causing her to flinch in surprise, tightening her grip. In response, the creature eviscerated all over her.
A very soggy and nauseous Nyssa retreated to the TARDIS to clean herself off. She took a quick shower and changed into her bathing suit. Over this, she slipped on some fatigues with a large knee pocket for the scanner and a large yellow T-shirt and headed back to the control room. She was still pondering the value of suicide as a defensive measure in such a creature when she came across a cupboard that she had never seen before, stuck in a recess in the TARDIS corridors.
Curious, she poked her head within to discover a bizarre assemblage of harnesses and sheets of fabric. For lack of anything better to do, she had lugged it out and dumped it at the Doctor's feet, who was examining the stratigraphy of the cinder cone walls. He prodded at it, and rather absently explained the concept to her before he lost interest and started hunting for seashells.
The physics of it had seemed simple enough to Nyssa, and so, after collecting a helmet for safety from the TARDIS, she carried the equipment up to the top of the ridge, crammed her head of brown curls under the helmet, and tightened the strap. She fumbled with the fastenings of the harnesses for a half hour and then stood poised on the edge. There she remained, taking deep breaths, waiting to collect an updraft, and more importantly, her courage.
And she stepped off the edge.
That was two hours ago. Since then she had floated out over the ocean, learning how to pull the cords that controlled her kite/sail. It had taken a bit of practice, but she could steer pretty well by now, and played on the gentle updrafts of warm air. In the distance she could see the large sloping volcanic masses of Mauna Loa and the snow-capped top of Mauna Kea behind it, the black lava fields blanketed the earth between them. Along the coast she could see areas of green that spoke of a tropic lushness that she had yet to experience.
Apparently there were black sand beaches as well, with tall palms and waterfalls, but the Doctor had expressed concerns about blending in with the natives and altering history. So they had remained in their secluded cove, which was fine by Nyssa.
She hadn't realized how calm she could feel so high above the ground, how still everything seemed, how tiny. It wasn't exactly like flying, but she still felt as if she were part of a dream, or a memory. She felt different somehow. Removed.
The old Nyssa wouldn't have done this, wouldn't have dreamed of trying something like this, she thought as she watched the sun touch upon the horizon. Done something so dangerous, so silly.
All she could think about as she stood on the ledge were equations of mass, gravity and aerodynamics and how logical it was. And half a millisecond later, as she stepped into thin air, all she could think about was how absurd mathematics was and how much she still wanted to do in life and how far down the ground actually was and why was she doing this, why, why was she flying?
In those three seconds she experienced a lifetime of emotions, without a scrap of logic to be found anywhere, crammed up into a lead ball and shoved down her throat with a shot of adrenaline. All because she had chosen to jump. To make a change.
It was wonderful, Nyssa decided, as the last of the sun slipped below the waves.
Landing, however, was another matter.
She spied a figure lying sprawled out below her, and a tiny grin played upon her face.
Think like a fish, he thought.
Turlough dove once more beneath the surface and tried again. Beneath the water, his legs pressed together and his arms flat against his side, he began to wiggle his body, so that from a side profile he looked like a propagating sine wave. Slowly, and awkwardly he began to swim forward. After less than a minute, however, he was at the surface again, gasping for air.
More like a dolphin, he reprimanded himself as he floated on his back, drawing great heaving breaths. Some water splashed into his mouth, causing him to gag.
He started treading water as he coughed it up, and he realized just how far out from shore he had swam. He was just inside the crescent of sea arches before the open ocean. He had ditched the mask and snorkel the Doctor had provided after he realized that there was nothing to see in the water. Just vast stretches of gray mud with the occasional pebble dotting the bottom. He still had the flippers on though, which was technically cheating. But just a little.
He rolled over on his back again and stared at the sky, trying to regain his breath before attempting the long swim back. He spat a miniature fountain of seawater into the air and listened to it splash about him. His red-gold hair was plastered darkly to his scalp, and the pale skin of his taught body glowed white beneath the turquoise water.
He stared at the clouds above him, and without his bidding, his mind began to see forms in them. That one a rabbit, the little sleek one a fighter jet, the gray one a dove or a maybe a crow- very bird-like at any rate. A peculiar itching sensation tingled the in the back of his head.
He realized with a start how human he had become, which made him feel very uncomfortable. That thought led him to thinking about home again, which still hurt him to remember, and about what he had agreed to do...
Why can't the world just leave me alone, he thought. It was nice to do nothing, to just relax, to forget everything. Just for a little while-
And then the sky fell on him.
He started to scream and curse, but his mouth instantly filled up with water. He started to panic, and started pulling at his face that was covered with a slick film of-
And then he heard Nyssa giggle.
She splashed over to him and helped him pull the fabric over his head. He started to launch into a series of expletives, but ended up spluttering something incoherent as he expelled the last of the ocean from his throat..
"I'm sorry," she said kindly as she tread water beside him, "I just meant to splash you, I forgot about the sail."
Turlough was clearly still annoyed, but he was slightly surprised to see Nyssa having, well, fun. He settled for sloshing her in the face with a handful of water.
"Can you swim?" he asked, when she had finished yelping.
"Of course," replied Nyssa indignantly.
"Have you ever body-surfed?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what that is."
A wicked grin spread across Turlough's face.
"What happens now?" asked Nyssa as she kicked about in the water just outside the surf zone. She was only wearing her bathing suit now, and dusk was already starting to fall, a full moon was high in the sky, turning the dull gray to silver.
"Now," replied Turlough, hovering in the water beside her, "we wait for it."
"It?"
"The Big Kahuna." said Turlough excitedly as he looked out to sea.
Nyssa thought for a moment. "I assume you are referring to a wave with sufficient height and velocity to support our weight."
Turlough's animated features creased in puzzlement slightly as he looked at her. The old Nyssa seemed to be back, it appeared. "Where did you say you were from?" he asked.
"Traken," answered Nyssa proudly.
"That explains a lot," said Turlough.
"And just what, precisely,' said Nyssa dangerously, "is that supposed to mean?"
Ooops, thought Turlough. He paused for a moment, trying to think of a suitably tactful response, and the he saw it. "Quick! Swim for it!" and he started to swim ahead of her with a powerful breaststroke.
"What-" began Nyssa, but then she had turned and saw it bearing down on her, six feet above her head. With all the strength she could muster, she started after Turlough.
In another second the wave had caught up and under them, lifting them in up into the air, and for a few seconds, still swimming furiously, they rode the crest. With a sudden shove, they found themselves coasting up the beach on a few inches of water, and then dumped.
They lay gasping with exhilaration, letting the water rush past them and back into the sea. Turlough turned to Nyssa, "Bet they don't do that on Traken very often."
"We don't do a lot of things on Traken," replied Nyssa as she lay staring up at the starry sky, "I'm only just beginning to realize. But then again, we don't- oh dear..." Her eyes widened as she stared past him back out to sea.
Turlough turned just in time so see a much larger wave slam into his face, and pick him up, tumbling and turning him over and over. He thrust his legs out, trying to gain purchase in the sand beneath, above, around him. His head was spinning as he tried to orientate himself and suddenly he was sprawled on his back on the beach again, sand cemented to his face and filling some very uncomfortable parts of his BVDs.
He turned to see Nyssa lying a few feet from him, her slender form plastered with green sand, her hair tangled with fronds of sea weed and a look of absolute disgust on her aristocratic face. And he laughed his head off.
When he felt a clump of sea weed slap into his face, he found he didn't mind at all.
It was very odd, Nyssa decided as she looked around her. Turlough was quietly staring at the controls on the central console, obviously uncomfortable as Tegan glared at him for no particular reason- probably out of habit.
The atmosphere was more relaxed than before, she decided, but aside from the tanned skin and rested faces, the familiar tension that filled the Ship when Turlough had arrived remained. Less constricting, but still tangible. Nyssa felt depressed by this somehow.
The Doctor had ushered them into the TARDIS shortly after dark, informing them that a large number of rats often came out and scavenged around cone. Nyssa had entered the Ship to find Tegan had bolted herself in the bathroom, refusing to come out until they were all in the TARDIS and the big double doors had been sealed.
The Doctor stood opposite them by the navigational panel, fiddling with the horizontal hold. Aside from the fact that his long blond hair was a shade lighter, his skin was still pale and fresh, leaving almost no testament of their former vacation.
Nyssa decided to break the silence that hung over the crystal column that rose up and down with the steady rhythm that accompanied them on their flight through time and space. "What are the new co-ordinates?" she asked brightly.
He glanced up from the glowing controls and looked to them, seeming surprised to see them all still staring at him. "I've decided," he announced, "to let the TARDIS decide. She usually knows best."
Tegan gave a little cough.
The Doctor silenced her with a glare. "I said 'usually'," he admitted, obviously irritated. "Besides," he continued as he headed for the inner door of the TARDIS, "She got us to Hawaii, didn't she?"
"I've been meaning to ask you something," said Nyssa as she followed him out of the console room, Tegan trailing behind her. As she reached the door, she found the Doctor was already vanishing impossibly down the corridor. She took a final glance at the console, where Turlough was pouring over the navigation panel, and then started jogging after the Doctor.
They found him in the billiard room.
"Doctor."
His frock coat was slung across the drinks table, his hat perched upon the decanter. He was lining up a difficult shot, the tip of his cue stick hovering just above the felt. He glanced over his shoulder at them. "Yes?"
"Doctor," stammered Nyssa, attempting to get her breath back, "Back on the island, I tried to perform a Stokes analysis of the gravity currents in the ocean using the TARDIS scanner systems..."
"And?" the Doctor asked as he returned his attention to his shot.
"And, I found I had jettisoned the closets instead," finished Nyssa.
Tegan's eyes narrowed.
"Oh really..." muttered the Doctor as he squinted down length of his stick.
"Which closets?" asked Tegan.
"Doctor," pleaded Nyssa.
"All of them?" Tegan asked with growing horror.
The Doctor slammed the cue ball, knocking in the nine-ball that slapped against the seven and six in its path that, in turn, both bounced off the border and dropped into the corner pocket. The cue ball gently rolled into the Eight ball, tapping it into the opposite corner hole.
The Doctor stared in puzzlement at the Two ball that remained untouched, sitting defiantly in the center of the table. He drummed his fingers on the edge of the pool table. "Yes," he muttered, "that's very odd."
"Doctor," repeated Nyssa, "the console!"
The Doctor spun around and replaced his cue on the rack. "Oh, I... ahh, rearranged the controls while you were all outside."
"What?" asked Tegan, bewildered.
"But whatever for?" Nyssa asked.
He pulled his coat back on as he talked. "It relaxes me. It's very boring to have the same control for the scanner for several hundred years. It gives me some different buttons to press."
Tegan stared at him as if he just announced he had decided to regenerate into a woolly mammoth.
"It's perfectly safe," he reassured her.
"Tell that to my wardrobe," she muttered.
"I didn't damage any of the systems," he protested
"You could have at least warned us," Tegan scolded.
"You've altered all of them?" Nyssa asked disbelievingly.
"Of course," the Doctor said as he brushed past them toward the door. "Wouldn't be much point in just switching some of them. I do it quite often actually. I don't know what you're all so upset about."
The room gave a sickening lurch, accompanied by a loud echoing gong that filled the TARDIS. The Doctor and Nyssa were thrown to the floor while Tegan was slammed against the drinks cart followed by the tinkle of breaking crystal.
Brandy soaked into the front of her dress.
Turlough withdrew his hands from what used to be the navigational control panel and tore his eyes from the still-oscillating column. The Crystal was stuck to the telepathic controls like malevolent barnacle. The console started screeching in unison with the cloister bell. With a growing sensation of dread, he stared as the huge outer doors swung slowly open.
And the world went white.