The Exotic Tree

By Ellie

At first glance, the garden seemed innocent. It seemed like an ordinary, mundane place - although it did have some endearing qualities. Beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers stood out amongst the lush, brilliant-green grass in a variety of colours, ranging from deep reds to striking blues. Lined neatly along the paved paths were fist-sized rocks, enhancing its beauty. The most unusual aspect of the land was the tree in the middle of the gravelled area, surrounding the fish pond. The leaves were purple and the branches were red. Sprouting from the tree trunk were giant, green-spotted red flowers. The naïve residents of the village just assumed that the tree was a very rare, exotic tree from across seas. There were a few more observant and wiser villagers who regarded the tree with caution.

Just last week, Samuel - the crazy, old man - had seen the village postman get sucked into the ground by the tree. The police hadn't listened to him when he tried to explain what had happened. They had just dismissed his account of what had happened, claiming him to be a delusional, attention seeker. They had warned him to stay out of the investigation and gave him an official caution for wasting police time. Samuel had also pleaded the other villagers to stay away from the tree but his efforts were in vain and were fallen on deaf ears, besides, what would a strange old man know?

Only yesterday had a similar incident occurred. This time, however, it was a lot more personal to Samuel. Laura - the nice, sweet girl who came to check up on him everyday and sometimes cooked for him on a Wednesday - had gone missing without a trace. Samuel didn't see her go missing but he suspected the tree was behind her disappearance too. The more Samuel suggested the tree was behind these events, the more he was mocked. Parents had warned their children to stay away from him, thinking him to have gone insane in his old age. Samuel had began to feel useless and helpless but little did he know that help was on the way.

Amy was beginning to feel very drowsy; the gentle hum of the TARDIS and her newly-wed husband's body heat was slowly sending her to sleep. Like usual, the day had been eventful and exciting. The Doctor had taken both her and Rory to Tyrainia to see the sunset after they had re-sealed the Egyptian goddess, who had gotten loose on the Orient Express, into the Seventh Obelisk, of course. Amy had thought that it was a wonderful way to spend her honeymoon.

The sunset was spectacular; the planet Tyrainia had four suns that set one after the other. The sundown had lasted an incredible three hours and it was ever-changing its colours. The sky had been filled with every single colour that Amy could think of and, according to the Doctor, some that she couldn't think of because humans couldn't see them. Apparently they lacked the imagination to see colours that they weren't familiar with. All the same, the site had to be one of the top, most beautiful and stunning scenes that she had every seen. It wasn't long, however, until they managed to inevitably run into some sort of trouble. A race called the Beetocks had wanted to invade Tyrainia and enslave the insect-like Tyrainians and basically build an empire. The Doctor had saved the day by using his superior knowledge and his trusty sonic screwdriver. Soon after that, they had to make a swift exit as, apparently, the Tyrainians eat their saviours at the celebration feast.

Now, exhausted, all Amy wanted to do was fall asleep on the steps she was currently sitting on. Looking at Rory, she suspected it was the same for him. The hectic day didn't seem to have slowed the Doctor down any, though. He was doing his usual maintenance on the TARDIS console, flicking a switch and pulling a lever here and there. He occasionally typed on the typewriter-look-a-like thing and talked to himself…or to Amy or Rory but they seemed too tired to be even paying attention. All of a sudden he turned towards the couple with a look of excitement in his eyes.

"So, where now?" even his voice was filled with barely contained eagerness. "We could go to 18th century France, they do some lovely food around that period." He looked at both Amy and Rory before lowering his voice, "I've been there before. No, no, no, we could go to the planet Sanctuary, which is a planet colonised by humans thousands of years in your future, or, or we could go to the planet Baghue and watch the 10-yearly eclipse. We could set the co-ordinates to random and let the TARDIS chose our destination and let her-"

"Bed," Amy butted in. Surprise was clearly written all over the Doctor's face before he composed himself.

"Bed… Yes, sleep! Go to sleep," the Doctor started rambling about sleeping and Amy pulled herself to her feet and yanked the quiet Rory up too.

"I, am shattered! C'mon, Rory, I need you to keep the bed warm for me."

"G'night Doctor," Rory called over his shoulder as Amy dragged him up the stairs that led to their room, "or morning or afternoon, you can never tell in this place." The Doctor smiled fondly at his companions before walking down the stairs that led under the console to do some more maintenance there. It would be a few hours before he would retreat to his own room hidden in the long corridors in the TARDIS for his hour-long sleep.

Back in the village of Redmount, the situation was getting desperate. Not only were people going missing but at least half of the population were getting ill, weak or tired as if they had had all of their energy drained from them. They were also having problems with their power, even their cars wouldn't start the first time. Most of the residents were still too narrow-minded to heed old Samuel's warnings, however, there were a few who now avoided the tree. It seemed pointless to avoid the tree now, though, as it can affect the whole village and those who don't even go anywhere near the tree.

There had only been 3 deaths from the illness, but there had been a total of 7 disappearances, including the postman and Laura. The victims of the tree seemed random but there had to be some sort of link. What did the tree want? People had started to assume that the water or the crops that they had been eating had to be polluted and bought their food and drink from the nearest cities or towns.

The help that the villagers had been waiting for had finally come. The normal, green leaves scattered around the edge of the woods blew softly in a breeze that seemed to come out of nowhere. Following the breeze was a metallic thrumming, sending a frightened squirrel scuttling up a tree. Once the sound had stopped, an old, blue 1950's police box materialised out of thin air. It stood tall with an air of mystery surrounding it, which was cancelled out by the perception filter.

The Doctor, Rory and Amy stepped out the TARDIS and looked around curiously. It looked like they had landed in the early evening as it was only just starting to go dark.

"Where are we?" Amy asked exhilarated as she grabbed the Doctor's arm.

"Earth." He looked down at his watch before continuing. "Early 21st century, England."

"Out of all the places we could have landed, out of the whole universe, we land on Earth." Rory added, unhelpfully.

"It's not my fault, the TARDIS chose for us." The Doctor looked around their surroundings before replying with, "Where is everyone?"


A/N: I wrote this story ages ago, just after The Big Bang was aired, and I thought it was time to publish it online, enjoy =)