As a young girl growing up in a deep space colony, you got so used to excitement that it became... Unexciting. Everyday was an adventure, from watching the stars beside your astronomer father, to naming new flora with your botanist mother. After a while, you wanted something... Normal. Most children back on Earth would have loved to trade places with you, and sleep in a house made out of alien wood, a wood house unlike anything since the beginning Twenty-First century, and not having to worry about waking your neighbors up when you clomped around, pretending to be some long-dead creature that had lived before your species took its first steps. You, you just wanted some peace and quiet. So naturally, you woke up one night to bloodcurdling screams.
—•—•—
When the first shriek sounded I bolted up. The Scandinavian Colony was usually very peaceful, with the exception of the natural disasters that were expected after terraforming. Why were they screaming?
"SNÁKUR!" Screamed one person. "Björt snákur!" I sighed and rolled over. Some of the colonists had phobias of snakes and spiders. While I wasn't a big fan of spiders, (I attributed it to childhood trauma, I'd almost died after a spider bit me,) I quite liked snakes. The colony herpetologist, Albin Christeson, pointed and laughed at those people... But then I realized who'd screamed. Dr. Albin himself! I sprang out of bed and rushed to the window. The sight I saw terrified me.
It was a björt snákur, or huge snake! It was easily twice the length of the shuttle that had brought us here, and as big around as one of the millennia-old trees that bordered the settlement! The beast was snow-white, and it had pale pink wattle hanging off of its chin, and yellow eyes so pale they were practically white. Its mouth was filled with fangs, each dripping with pine-green venom.
"Alva!" Screamed my mother, running in. "Ner till källaren, skynda!" I tore my gaze away from the window, but not in time to miss the snake swallow one of the colonists whole.
"Var är pappa?" I asked as she dragged me down the stairs.
"Ätas." She sobbed. My heart shattered.
"Nej..." I whispered. Mother pushed me to the cellar as the snake roared and rammed into the house, shattering the door Pappa had made in his spare time, carving in the designs of the stars above us.
"Skynda Mamma!" I shouted, inside the threshold of the cellar. Mother looked at me, kissed me on the head, then shoved the door shut, locking it from the outside. "MAMMA!" I screamed, pounding on the door. "NEJ!"
"Jag är en krigare." I heard her say to the snake. "Du har dödat min man, och du hotar att döda min dotter, så nu ska jag döda dig!" She yelled a war cry, then the snake roared. And then there was silence.
"... Mamma?" I asked, hesitantly. Then I heard it roar in triumph, and could do nothing but weep, for my family, and for my lost friends, still screaming outside.
—•—•—
"See Peri?" Asked the Doctor smugly. "Jörmungandr Three, 2195. I think you owe me an apology."
"Why would you think that?" Asked Peri, leaning against the wall.
"Because you said that I couldn't pilot the TARDIS." Said the Doctor, puffing up like an angry parrot. "And I told you I well could! So you told me-"
"That you better be able to take us to someplace relaxing!" Said Peri. "And a ruined village doesn't cut it!"
"A what?"
Peri pointed to the screen, which displayed an abandoned settlement. The houses were empty and dilapidated, and not a soul remained.
"What-" The Doctor checked the console, working many different bits and bobs. "But this is one of Jörmungandr's golden years, when they find the Diamond Palace! It was one of the wonders of the universe, an entire city carved out of a six kilometer long block of diamond! This has gone horribly wrong!" He opened the doors and ran outside, Peri following after.
"This isn't right!" Cried the Doctor. "That's the Borg residence, over there, and then that's Dr. Christeson's cottage, but they've all been wrecked!"
"Borg? Like the tennis player?" Peri asked as she made her way over to the large home.
"Yes, I suppose." Mused the Doctor, following. "Alf was a good friend of mine, back a while ago."
"Did he make this door?" Asked Peri, picking up two of the pieces and fitting them together. "It's beautiful!"
"And a astronomically correct star chart." He answered, observing the wreckage. "You know what's troubling?"
"The fact that we can't seem to stay out of trouble?" Quipped Peri, trying to fit the pieces together.
"No." Said the Doctor, flashing her a glare. "The door's been shattered from a blunt force about the size of a loaf of bread, coming down from an angle of about, sixty degrees? There's nothing on this planet that could do anything like that, and there won't be anything for decades!"
"Story of our lives, I guess." Muttered Peri. "Let's check inside."
The Doctor bounded inside the house. The living room was a shambles, furniture and decor in pieces scattered all around, and what looked suspiciously like blood on the kitchen floor.
"Hm..." Muttered the Doctor, leaning to examine it. "Well, it's not human... But what is it?"
"Help!" Shouted a raspy voice from a door. "Is anyone out there? Captain Harold? Mr. Hurst? Anyone?"
"Just a moment!" Said the Doctor, trying the doorknob. It was locked.
"Are you alright?" Asked Peri, as the Doctor went to work on the door.
"I'm hungry and thirsty, but I'm unharmed." The door swung open to reveal a dark-haired girl with wide, bloodshot eyes, still in her pajamas.
"Alva?" Asked the Doctor, peering at her.
"Who are you?" Asked Alva, leaning back and almost falling down the stairs. "How do you know my name?"
"I know your father." Said the Doctor, steadying her. "Where are your parents?" Alva's eyes filled with tears.
"It took them! It ate them both, and then killed everyone else! It was awful, I could hear them all screaming as it hunted them down and ate them!" She sobbed, burying her face in her hands. The Doctor worriedly noticed that even though her back was shaking, no tears came out.
"How long were you in there?" Asked Peri.
"I don't know!" Alva sobbed, coughing a little bit. "Mamma locked me in here and then tried to kill it, but it got her too! Maybe days, maybe hours?"
"Have you had any water in that time?" Asked the Doctor. "Or food?" Alva shook her head and the Doctor pulled her up.
"We should get you back to the TARDIS." He said. "Come along Peri."
Alva shuffled along beside the Doctor, then stopped when she saw the TARDIS.
"What is that?" She asked.
"It's the TARDIS." Said Peri, leaning down to her level. "It's a time-machine."
"If you think I'm going to believe that, then you are crazier than my Gramma, and," she said, eyeing the Doctor's coat, "have even worse dress sense."
"Charming girl." Muttered the Doctor, letting go of Alva and stalking into the blue box. There was a pause, then he poked his head back out. "Aren't you coming?" He asked. Peri walked inside, and Alva, figuring she could give her rescuers the benefit of the doubt, poked her head inside. Instead of the cramped, wooden interior she was expecting, she saw the console room in all its glory.
She gasped and brought her head out, and ran around the TARDIS, brushing her fingers against the sides. When she was done, she ran inside, breathless with excitement.
"It's bigger on the inside." She exclaimed.
"Oh really?" Asked the Doctor snidely. "What a surprise."
"But, how?" Asked Alva, pacing around the room. "It's beyond almost anything modern science could conceive of!"
"Well." Said the Doctor, puffing up with pride. "I'm just a bit beyond 'modern science'."
"That is an understatement!" Alva spun around, then faced the Doctor, a smile on her face. Then her expression drooped.
"Pappa would have loved to see this." She said.
"He has." Said the Doctor. "It was a slightly different model, but..." His voice trailed off as he stared up at the scanner.
"What is it?" Asked Peri.
"Hm." He said. "I thought I saw something. Nevermind." He turned his attention back to Alva. "Let's get you some food. Peri?" He looked at his companion. "Take her to the kitchen and get her some food, would you?" Peri looked at him exasperatedly, then smiled at Alva.
"Sure." She took Alva's hand and walked her to the kitchen. "What do you like to eat?"
"Just about anything at this point." Alva admitted.
"We have just about everything." Said Peri with a wry smile. "How about... Bacon, eggs, and orange juice?"
"Yes please!" Alva said, smiling. Peri pressed a few buttons on the food dispenser and handed her a bag of orange juice and a small bar. Alva took it and nibbled on the bar hesitantly, then with more enthusiasm as she sat down. Peri noted that she seemed to be pacing herself as Alva began sipping at the orange juice.
"Thank you very much." Said Alva when she was done. "This box is full of wonders!"
"It most certainly–" Peri was cut short by the TARDIS shaking violently, throwing the both of them to the floor.
"What the–" Peri asked, only to be cut off by another tremor.
"Peri, Alva, come quickly!" Shouted the Doctor.
The two ran over to the console room and gaped at the scanner. The white snake was frantically trying to swallow the TARDIS, beard-like wattles flapping wildly.
"It's back." Yelped Alva as the snake rocked the TARDIS again. "It's come back!"
Bloody: Ooooweoooooooooo... Dun dun dun. This was one of the best ideas that's ever stemmed from a dream. Only in the dream, the snake ate souls too...
Unicorn Plushie: Bloody doesn't own it, if she did, she'd PWN it!
Bloody: What does that even mean?
UP: IDK.
Bloody: Whatever. R&R!
UP: And the translations are:
SNÁKUR!: Snake!
Ner till källaren, skynda!: To the cellar, hurry!
Var är pappa?: Where's pappa?
Ätas: Eaten.
Nej...: No...
Skynda, Mamma!: Quickly Mamma!
UP: And so on. Bye!