The Doctor was itching to get out to where the orb had shot.
"Out of the question."
"I don't care about questions, I break questions, I am questions. And from where I'm standing, I'm pretty firmly rooted into myself."
"Yes, but can a question truly question itself?"
A slightly chubby man walked in, wearing much more...shinier gold.
"Only when there's an answer."
"Ha. I like this stranger. I am Fyrok."
"I'm the Doctor."
"Ah, I know that name."
"Really? Because I did my best to wipe it out."
"You wiped out a word?"
"Not all words are immortal. But I guess one is. God. Y'know? Some people use it to describe their friends, other use it to describe cult leaders. You use it to describe red balls. But it always comes to mean the same thing."
"Which is?"
"An empty promise."
Fyrok sighed.
"Different opinions. Pah, we ephemeral beings disagree too much. Not that we should be sheep."
He sat down on his throne.
"Y'see, one thing I don't understand is why you haven't investigated yet. I mean, usually people set up shrines or statues to their gods. But you lot, you don't seem to care. You're happy for a flame to fly."
"Yes, but that flame holds our love. And that is enough for me, for us, for everyone with interest in believing. It's better than any shrine!"
The Doctor sighed.
"Like trying to wade through treacle, you lot are. I'm going to go there by myself, by the way."
Ardok hopped over.
"I'll go too, Doctor."
"You sure? Because there could be anything there. Dragon! Beings made of smoke or fire, maybe even a giant fire-breathing duck from Pluto but naturally they're all in hibernation right now I'm going off topic aren't I?"
Ardok nodded.
"Good, need a bit of self-diversity now and again."
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Nerok crept around the residence of Ardok, ambushing his brother and then putting on his clothes. He placed his old ones on Ardok and laughed, walking towards the other Priests.
He entered their hall, and was greeted by Klirok.
"My dear Ardok, you seem rough. Are you ok?"
"What? Oh, oh yes. Quite alright, thank you Klirok."
"I thought you had gone with the Doctor?"
"Oh, no. He left already. Brought that dog thing with him."
Klirok nodded, and Nerok took his brother's place.
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
The Doctor found who he thought was an unconscious Nerok. He took a small bottle labelled "Saborian smelling salts" from his pocket and waved them under the man's nose.
"He's tricked them!"
The Doctor looked at K9, then back at the delirious man.
"Tricked who, Nerok?"
"I'm Ardok! Nerok switched our clothes, now he's disguised himself as me! He wants to bring the people into power!"
"K9, do a data sc-"
"Data scan already in progress, master."
"Good dog."
"Data scan complete. Subject is known as Ardok."
The Doctor helped Ardok to his feet.
"Sorry, couldn't be too sure."
"No, it's alright. I would do the same with you."
"So you ready to get out into the open?"
"More than ever."
The Doctor smiled, and they sprinted out.
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
The jungle underfoot was damp and mushy. Ardok didn't enjoy his surroundings, for personal reasons. As a child he'd been adventuring with Nerok, who had uncharacteristically (or at least at the time) gone home without him. He remembered the darkness, and the strange noises. He just...just couldn't forget it. The feeling that he was going to die.
"So, uh, seen any good telly recently?"
"Telly?"
"Beyond your time, I suppose. Or space. Or both, who knows. Look at me, speculating!"
Ardok sighed.
"You alright?"
"Ye...bu...no. This place brings back memories. Bad ones. I won't bog you down."
"Try me."
"Well, I always remember the feeling of everything being over. I suppose it's because we've had the tradition of being afraid of death passed down. We're taught to laugh at life and cry at death."
"So, you're scared of death?"
Ardok nodded. The Doctor stopped walking and looked him in the eye.
"Y'know Ardok, there really is nothing wrong with dying. Life is all about death, when you think about it. Every day, every minute, we're dying. And we'll never stop it. I've seen people, beings who thought they could live forever, beings who decided life flowed around them, and death never touched them. And you know what? They all died. Every last one. Each of them met their grave and never turned back. So, don't be afraid of dying. Be afraid of trying to live without acknowledging death."
"You seem to know a lot about death."
"Well, once you've been through it so many times it kinda becomes boring."
They kept on creeping through the jungle, hearing what sounding like monkeys on drugs playing the tuba in the tip-top trees. The Doctor kept making sure K9 was keeping up, cursing his decision to bring him along under his breath.
"What's going to be waiting for us?"
"I dunno. I have a plan though, if it's hostile."
"Which is?"
"The time-honoured method of bunging a rock at it."
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Nerok was currently alone, or at least until his betrothed Soprok crept up as close as she could without being detected.
"Nerok!" she whispered hoarsely, making sure no one in further proximity could sense her.
"Soprok, what news do you bring?"
"The others are getting restless. They speak of rebellion, and do not trust you."
"Do you?"
"Of course I-"
"And were we not so close, would you?"
"I-"
"No, you would not. I see no point in praise due to friendship. We must be honest."
Soprok was quiet. She had so many things to speak against, but no words with which to phrase them.
"Nerok, the Doctor, the one you told the watch to follow? They have seen him-"
"-okay-"
"-with Ardok."
Nerok sighed.
"No matter. What will be done, it will still be done. Tell the others to be ready. Tomorrow we strike."
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
The Doctor began to sniff the air.
"What's wrong?"
"Can't you smell it?"
"Smell what?"
"The smell of space!"
He took out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it around. Once this was done he flicked it open at eye level and made a surprised expression. He then moved towards a clump of bushes, and Ardok followed him quickly.
Through these plants, in a scorched clearing, lay a metal wreck. Pieces of panels lay in a scattered pattern, while trees were scarred beyond belief. There was a cylinder lying sideways into the air, connected by the thinnest strands of wires and leaned against a mighty root.
"It's a spacecraft! Bit primitive, but a spacecraft nonetheless. Must've crashed a while ago."
He looked inside and found skeletons.
"Very while ago. This is what's been causing the second ball." he informed Ardok, pointing at the cylinder.
"How?"
"It's an emergency flare. Every so often it fires. Must be a high-tech one. You hear rumours about ones that work as long as connection is maintained with the ship. Like this one."
"So we've been worshipping a machine?!"
"No. No, you're worshipping something else. And that's not good at all. Because we still don't know what's sending the first ball out."
As if by utterance, a chest-high metal box wheeled into view. K9 shot at it, but the lasers reflected back. The box unveiled two pincers, and seemed to point behind it.
"Speak of the Devil." The Doctor popped, straightening his bowtie and walking towards the distance.