Chapter 1
It was a picture perfect scene, thought Amy. There she stood in a huge clearing, luscious green trees all around them, and the sun (or whatever this planet's residents called their star) beating down on them. It's just such a pity the TARDIS had to spoil it.
The Doctor was pivoting around his stationary time-ship, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. The air was so still except for the buzzing sound. It was when Amy realised she wouldn't have known if there were birds singing in the trees or not that she finally decided enough was enough. "Oi! Less with the sonicking?" Her companion looked up and gave a feint smile. "Almost finished here". He pivoted around to the back of the blue box, activated his screwdriver once again, and continued talking to Amy nonetheless. "Just some small problems with sonic resonation. Last time we took off I realised I needed to check it out next time we landed. But not to worry". The Timelord emerged from around the back of the TARDIS and flicked off his sonic device. "Good as new now".
But Amy wasn't convinced. "Why couldn't you have checked it out on the last planet we were on?"
The Doctor looked surprised at the question, and raised his busy black eyebrows until they became invisible under his dark mop of hair. "Well we were fighting off a fire-breathing dragon at the time".
Grabbing a lock of her black singed hair, Amy was immediately stunned into embarrassment. "Oh yeah", she mumbled, "there was that".
Not allowing further embarrassing silence to develop, she shot the Doctor another question. "So where are we now?"
"Well you said you wanted to go somewhere nice?"
"Yes?"
"Well, here we are. Pog. Nicest spot in the universe. A planet exuding niceness". He stretched his hands, framing the tree-clad horizon.
Amy grinned. "Pog? Not much of a name is it?"
The Doctor snapped his hands back down to his sides. "Quite true. In fact, all the planets in this region were named by the monks in the monastery of Quon. They simply assigned each one the shortest name they could imagine. Then when they ran out of short names, they had to invent longer ones. In fact…", he pointed a finger to a seemingly random spot in the heavens, "… there's a planet over there called New Rad Rover-Rover. Home of the Golden Cup".
Folding her arms, Amy smiled again. It was then that she realised that there were no birds singing. "No intelligent life forms on this planet then?"
"No, just plants. I think that keeps things simple".
"And nice?"
The Doctor smiled. "Yes. Nice too".
Amy and the Timelord whirled around in astonishment. There on the top of the TARDIS was something that looked to Amy like a cross between a frog and a garden gnome. He was perched on the roof of the time-ship, crouched down, cradling the police light in his hands. His skin was pale green, his head was flat, and he had ears that stretched out from his head like a pair of handlebars. He was totally bald, save for a small goatee on his chin. His eyes were yellow and friendly. In fact Amy thought that, as aliens went, he seemed about as trustworthy as they came.
The Doctor was about to say something when the creature somersaulted from the TARDIS, revealing himself to be wearing a bright blue tunic and brown trousers. His green feet were bare. In mid-flight, he still spoke. "Flibber-Flabber's the name", he said, and then, landing and standing upright, he continued, "and to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
Seeing that the creature was about her height, and totally convinced that he meant them no harm, Amy took the initiative. "I'm Amy Pond". She pointed a thumb to her companion. "And this is the Doctor".
"Delighted to meet you", said Flibber-Flabber.
"But I thought you said the planet wasn't inhabited?" said Amy.
The Doctor touched his chin. "That's what I thought".
The green creature hopped on the ground. "Not true! Not true! Pog is teeming with life. Teeming!"
The Doctor took a step toward their new acquaintance. "Flibber-Flabber…". He paused, and changed what he was about to say. "Your name's a bit of a mouthful isn't it? Do you mind if we just call you 'Flib'?"
"I most certainly do! How rude! Calling me by my name's first syllable!" He folded his long arms and turned sharply away from the Doctor. Only a few moments passed thought, before he turned back with a friendly smile. "But you can call me 'flab'. Most of my friends do".
Smiling gently the Doctor remembered the question he had meant to ask. "Okay, 'Flab', I thought your planet was uninhabited. How many of you are there?"
"Enough, enough", replied the creature. "Flibber-Flabber has lots of friends. You'll meet them soon enough. Yes I think you're going to love staying here".
"'Staying'?", echoed the Doctor.
"Of course", replied Flibber-Flabber. "You've come to live here, yes?"
Amy chuckled. The Doctor waved his finger at her in a clear gesture to stop her laughter. He bent his head gently down to the creature. "Flab, we're travellers. We came here in this vehicle. We'll stay here maybe a few days and then we'll be off again".
Disappointed the creature hung his head. "But why?"
Amy smiled warmly. "Like he said, we're travellers. I'm from a place called Scotland, which is really dull…" – the Doctor nodded in agreement towards Flibber-Flabber – "… so I met this man, who owns the box over there and we go travelling all over the universe".
The creature pointed toward the Timelord. "So you are from this 'Scotland' too?"
Not managing to suppress a laugh, he shook his head. "How could a man with such a cool blue box like mine be from Scotland? I mean, steam engines and telephones notwithstanding, they're only due to get the wheel next week". Noticing the look of total confusion on Flab's face, the Doctor decided to give a more direct answer. "I'm from Gallifrey. A very old planet a long way from here".
The travellers noted Flibber-Flabber silently mouth the word "Gallifrey". He then turned back to the pair. "But you must stay here, you must! Pog is lovely. Calm. Gentle. You will come to adore it here".
"I'm sure we will", said Amy, "but really we're just here for a rest. We don't usually visit planets like this".
"Then what kinds of planets do you visit?"
The Doctor raised his right index finger into the air. "Let's put it this way: on the last planet we went to my lovely companion here go her hair singed by dragon fire". As he said this, Amy brandished her still-scorched hair toward Flibber-Flabber as if presenting evidence. And just for good measure she added, "we normally end up fighting monsters".
"Which is okay", interjected the Doctor, "because I'm really good at it".
"We're really good at it", corrected Amy.
The Timelord clapped his hands. "Anyway, Flibber-Flabber, my old friend. You said you were going to introduce us to your chums".
"Yes, yes", remembered the creature. He pointed toward the forest. "Come, come. They live in the forest. The 'nicest' place on Pog". And with that the trio began to calmly stroll toward the lush forest surrounding them on every side.
"How much further do we have to go?" asked Amy. They'd been walking through the forest for a good hour now. At first it was really pleasant, as they walked on the soft soil with trees dimming the sunlight to a comfortable green hue. But as their journey continued, Amy was sure that the trees were getting closer together. On more than one occasion she had to irritably yank a lock of hair, or a a stitch of her clothing from a set of greedy branches.
"Not far, not far", came the reply from Flibber-Flabber. He was a good few feet ahead of them now, and the Doctor and Amy could hardly see him. But the Timelord had another question. He raised his voice slightly to their new found companion whose footsteps they were following. "Flab, you haven't told me anything of your people yet. What are they like? Do you live in a village, or a city, or in some kind of commune?"
Silence.
"Flab?" shouted the Doctor. He looked towards Amy. Confused, the pair started calling out their companion's name, careful not to lose sight of each other. After a couple of minutes the Doctor decided to give up. "Okay, Amy, he's gone. No point in calling him anymore".
"But where could he have disappeared to?"
"No idea. But as claustrophobic as this forest is, it doesn't seem dangerous. He's probably all right…" But the Timelord didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. He and Amy had heard something, a voice calling to them, shouting "hello" over and over again. They followed in the direction they thought the voice was coming from for a good two hundred feet, and were more than slightly pleasantly surprised to find themselves out of the forest. They were now standing on grassy meadowland, with a coastline about half a mile in front of them. To the right there were just more trees, but on their left they could make out some rocks in the distance.
It took them a few moments to get their bearings in the light of the sun, but once their eyes had grown accustomed to its glare, they realised they were not alone. A creature, clearly of the same species as Flibber-Flabber stood in front of them. He didn't seem hostile, but his facial expression was far more serious than that of Flab. He was taller too, a good foot. And the clothes he wore were darker. Amy also thought that he seemed a good deal older than the other creature they had met, but if she had been asked to explain her thinking, she wouldn't have known where to start. The Doctor moved toward the creature to introduce himself, but was cut short by the creature's sharp question.
"What are you doing out here? It isn't safe".
Amy could see that the Timelord was taken aback by this. He managed just a puzzled reply. "I'm sorry?"
The creature went on. "You can't stay here. It's dangerous. Your lives are in extreme peril".
"But Flibber-Flabber said…" began Amy, only to be cut off by the creature. "Flibber-Flabber, eh? I might have known. Sees Pog through rose-tinted eye covers. It'll be the death of him, I should imagine".
Amy and the Doctor looked at each other, bemused. Then the creature turned towards the rocks on the left and motioned the travellers to follow him. "My name is Strock", he said, "now quickly follow me. It simply isn't safe here".
"But what about Flibber-Flabber?" asked Amy, reluctantly following Strock, "we left him in the forest".
"Oh, he'll be alright", replied the creature, "there are enough places for him to hide in there, and he knows it like the back of his hand". He motioned them to pick up their pace.
Then it was the Doctor's turn to question Strock. "By the way, Strock, I'm the Doctor and this is Amy Pond. Might I ask what we're running from?"
Abruptly Strock stopped and turned around. "The bringer of death, the terror on two legs, the one cloaked in darkness". He screwed his face up in what Amy thought must be an expression of terror for his species. "The Umbra!" he cried. Any abuptly he turned around and continued toward the rocks in a fast walk. As the travellers followed him, Amy listened intently to their guide. At first she thought that he was gargling in his throat, but then she realised that he was reciting the same rhyme over and over again. After a few recitals, she was convinced that Strock was becoming louder and more panic-stricken.
"Darkness will come and the darkness will thrive,
When the Umbra arrives, when the Umbra arrives!
He will be quick; he's the man that survives,
When the Umbra arrives, when the Umbra arrives!
Women will fight him; they'll fight him with knives,
When the Umbra arrives, when the Umbra arrives!
Children will scatter; they'll run for their lives,
When the Umbra arrives, when the Umbra arrives!"
After a few attempts, the Doctor managed to interrupt Strock's rhyme. "So this Umbra, who is he?"
"A hunter cloaked in darkness, an enemy of all things good. He takes the lives of the good people of the world, and then flies back into the darkness!"
Amy felt a shudder up her spine. She realised that it had got quite a bit darker since they had left the forest. The Doctor continued to question Strock. "So what have your people done about it? Have they fought back? Developed any anti-Umbra measures""
"How could they? The Umbra is too fast and strong for us. And we're only a simple people, we have no weapons. Not like you people from Gallifrey and Scotland, I should imagine". Without warning, Strock fell to the ground, and let out a screech of pain. He was holding his spindly leg, and Amy guessed that he had sprained his ankle. The Doctor rushed to his side to help him, but Strock waved the Timelord away. "Go, go, save yourselves! Head to the rocks, he won't be able to see you!" Amy looked up to the sky which was now a dark shade of steely grey. "We're not leaving you", she said.
"Young lady", countered Strock, "I'm old now, older than you could imagine. I've lived my life, but you've got yours ahead of you", he pushed the Doctor away in the direction of the rocks, shouting, "Go! Go!"
They didn't know what it was but something in the creature's voice convinced them that he was right. The pair ran as fast as they had ever run in the direction of the rocks, which they were now quite close to. After a couple of minutes, Amy could have sworn that she saw a man-sized shadow shoot over their heads, but was too out of breath to let the Doctor know.
The Timelord pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket and flicked it on.
Arriving at the first set of rocks, the pair stopped as the Doctor pivoted, presumably taking readings from his device. He pointed to a large rock behind Amy. "There's something over there". She felt her heart sink as her companion slowly crept toward the towering rock to get a glimpse of what was on the other side. Deciding that she would rather die along with the Doctor than be left alone on the planet Pog with this "Umbra" creature, she crept alongside him. They rounded the rock. Would the monster be on the other side, ready to kill them in an instant, letting the darkness thrive? She prepared herself for a shock. And she got one.