The first time I saw him, he was wandering hopelessly through the woods, his pants getting caught on brambles, his funny hat getting smacked off by tree branches. At first sight I thought I was hallucinating and the Wanderer's Disease had finally gotten to me. But when I saw his blonde whispy hair, I knew I was fine. I was more than fine, I was seeing a vision and here was an angel fallen from heaven.
"Tegan," he was calling out. "Turlough!" He was searching for someone.
I don't know what made me do it. Maybe it was his momentary helplessness, but I was brave for the first time in my life. I stepped out of the shadows and went up to talk to the most incredible man I'd ever seen.
"Are you lost?" I asked. My voice was fragile and soft, like a reed blowing in the wind compared to his resounding vocals.
"I'm not lost, but I think my friends are," he sighed. "You haven't happened to see a girl with short hair and a redheaded boy by any chance, have you?"
"No," I shook my head.
"It figures. I send them off to do one job," he held up his finger. "One job, and they get lost. It's one thing if Tegan does it (I plan to strangle that girl anyway) but Turlough ought to know better."
He looked over at me, exasperated, and his eyes softened. "And you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
I shook my head and kept staring at him, noticing how his brown eyes seemed to stare deep within my soul. It scared me, but I couldn't look away.
"I'm sorry," he said, breaking into a smile. "I must be scaring you. Come here."
He had no idea how true his words were, but I came to him. Even if I had not wanted to get nearer to him, I would have had to come anyway. There was something about him that was commanding and magical.
"I'm the Doctor," he said, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"I am Liesbeth," I introduced myself. I put my hands in my own pockets.
"Well, Liesbeth," he said, coming along beside me and taking a few steps. It was nice to hear him say my name. I began to walk with him. "Would you be so kind as to lead me to the nearest form of civilization? Something may have happened to my friends I may be need to get some help in locating them."
"Do you mean Trident or Allly-ampy?" I asked him, knowing he would say Trident. Everyone wanted Trident, no one ever wanted Ally-ampy.
"What's the difference?" he asked. I was shocked beyond belief. My mouth fell open and I just stared at him. He eventually cleared his throat and said, "Well, take me to Trident then, I guess."
I nodded mutely and led the way, jumping over bushes and dodging trees. I glanced back and saw that he was still where I had left him, struggling through a patch of Tangle-weeds. I leapt back to where he was and landed softly next to him.
"Stay away from the Tangle-weeds," I warned him. "Or you'll keep getting stuck."
He kicked his feet free and stepped over the top of the bush. "Thanks," he said, striding forward. At the rate he was going, I knew it would take us a long time, so I audaciously stepped forward and told him what to do.
"You need to leap," I said. "Like this," I demonstrated and he mimicked me, picking it up right away.
"Oh, I like this way of travelling," he said, jumping up and down in place. "Much more fun than walking. Come along, Liesbeth." He took a giant leap forward and soared several feet through the air, landing solidly on his feet. It took my breath away to see his grace. He was more graceful than any of the other humans I had ever seen, though maybe not as graceful as the Ally-ampies.
I had to keep calling out directions to the Doctor as he bounded ahead of me, eager though completely lost. Leadership and self-confidence emanated off of him in waves. Normally it would have made me feel inadequate and made me question myself, but he took control so easily that I didn't feel too intimidated to tell him when he went the wrong way.
Trident was a set of cubicles built high above in the upper tree-branches. It made the company nearly impervious to attacks, which was necessary since the Ally-Ampy were never too keen on sharing the forest.
I didn't blame the humans for disliking the Ally-ampies. They deserved it, to be completely honest. Ally-ampies were terrible with first impressions, just like myself, and they did not improve on closer acquaintance.
I entered the passcode to enter the lift that took the Doctor and I up to Trident. He stood in the lift with his hands clasped behind his back and his legs spread. In the close quarters, I could smell him. He smelled just like lemons and soap, a clean and natural combination that made me melt a little inside.
When we stepped into the busy control room, I was surprised. Dr. Leeson approached us right away. Whenever I came to Trident, they never looked twice. And why should they?
"Who are you, sir?" Dr. Leeson asked, puffing out his chest and sizing the Doctor up. I felt a protectiveness flare up inside of me, something I had never felt before, and moved closer to the Doctor.
"He's with me," I told him. Dr. Leeson didn't even glance at me.
"I'm the Doctor," my new-found friend replied, standing up straight. "I thought you might be able to help me Mr…"
"Doctor. Dr. Leeson." Leeson squinted his eyes skeptically at the Doctor. "What makes you think I could help you?"
"I'm looking for some friends of mine out in the woods and…" The Doctor was suddenly distracted something on the computers. "Well, that's very interesting," he said, stepping forward and peering closely at a screen. He reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of spectacles which he perched on the end of his nose.
"Excuse me," Dr. Leeson said irritably, grabbing the Doctor's arm and pulling him back. "That's none of your business. And what the hell were you doing in the forest. There have been no authorized landings on the planet and I'm pretty sure you're not a native."
"He's definitely not a native, or a human," said a thin, hunched man, stepping forward. He began to excitedly examine the Doctor with various tools of medicine. It was Professor Kyle, and he seemed particularly interested in the Doctor's fair hair.
"Tell me, how did you get your hair like this? It looks almost natural. I've never seen anyone with yellow hair before."
The Doctor seemed very uncomfortable with Professor Kyle touching him and his hair so much.
"Yes it's natural, and all of your other questions will have to wait. What's more important is that machine there. What is it?"
He looked at the red diagram on the screen. It was a hover-craft with four blades on the front and a large bucket on the back, like a dump-truck. The back had finer blades threaded together that could grind and mulch.
"Looks to me like you're going to be chopping things down. Lots of things, too." He looked closer and whistled. "You've got a force large enough to cut down an entire forest. Is that what you're planning?"
"I can see it's no use hiding anything from you, Doctor," Dr. Leeson said. "You've discovered the purpose for the Trident operation. We're going to shave this entire planet clean of its wild forests and ship it back to earth."
This was something new and alarming. I listened closely and could not believe what they were saying. The entire planet was one giant forest. Surely they weren't going to cut down all of the trees, only a few.
"Why ship it back to earth?" the Doctor asked, returning his glasses to his pocket. "Why not just use the resources on earth?"
Dr. Leeson snorted and turned away. "What cave have you been hiding in your entire life?" he asked sarcastically.
"Well, not exactly a cave," the Doctor murmured. "More like a blue box… But anyway, why go to all the trouble of reaping another planet's forest?"
"Earth's forests are all gone," Professor Kyle answered him. "We've been looking for a planet like this for ages, and the plan if finally set. Exciting, isn't it?"
"Yes, very," said the Doctor. He didn't sound excited, though. He sounded like he didn't like the plan at all. And I wasn't liking what I was hearing either. I had been told that they were only harvesting a portion of the forest to take back to earth so they could regrow their own forests. Someone was lying.
"What about the natives?" asked the Doctor. "The Ally-ampies, or whatever they're called. Don't they have any use for the forest?"
"They're just primitives," Dr. Leeson said brusquely. "More animal than human if you ask me. Constantly warring among the tribes and not at all friendly. The galaxy is better off without them."
"You're not even evacuating them?" the Doctor cried indignantly. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"We tried," Professor Kyle explained. "But they wouldn't even talk to us. They just kept trying to impale us with their primitive spears and burn our headquarters down."
I stepped forward, unable to listen to this any longer. "You told me you were changing the plan so they wouldn't have to leave," I said. "You said you wouldn't harvest where the Ally-ampy were camping."
"Be quiet, Revvie. Things have changed and you wouldn't understand." Dr. Leeson turned back to the Doctor. "The situation on earth has become critical and there's no time to lose. It's a good thing Revvie found you when she did, Doctor, or no one would have ever known and you would have been counted amongst the dead."
"How is the situation critical, Dr. Leeson?" He asked, his voice rising. "How is it ever so critical that you cannot take the time to move innocent people out of harm's way?"
"I understand you're angry. You could have been killed, and we're all very sorry about that." The way Dr. Leeson's face looked when he said it told me that he wasn't very sorry at all. "But no harm done, you're safe now. We'll continue on as planned."
"You most certainly will not!" The Doctor said loudly. Several people looked up from their computers.
"What do you mean, I will not?" Dr. Leeson asked, advancing on the Doctor.
"I've got two friends out there and you're not going to touch one tree in this forest until they are safe and sound. Do I make myself clear?"
"I don't think that's your call to make, Doctor." Leeson said. "This is my operation, and three strangers aren't going to put a wrench in it. I know what I need to do and I'm not stopping for anyone."
"But this is genocide." The Doctor's voice was low and even more menacing than his loud commands. I truly believed that if anyone could stop the entire Trident operation, he could. He could save the Ally-ampy. He could save us all.
"If you'd like, you're perfectly welcome to go back out there and try to find your friends. But, come morning light, if you and your friends aren't back, I'm sending out the harvesters as planned and there's nothing that will stop them."
The Doctor looked like he was about to either strangle Dr. Leeson or start destroying the computers. I was tempted to do so myself, but knew it would do no good. The humans were so much more powerful than the Ally-ampy.
"I'm going to find my friends," the Doctor warned. "And then, when I come back, this whole plan had better be at a halt or else."
"Or else what, Doctor," Dr. Leeson smiled unpleasantly. "If you go out there, you and your friends are already dead."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." The Doctor turned and marched resolutely to the lift. I watched him go and felt fear grip me. He was going to die. Just as surely as he was the only one with a hope of saving us, he was surely going to die. Unless I went with him.
"I'm going too," I said, stepping into the lift with him as the doors closed.
"Are you sure?" he asked, looking sadly at me.
"I know these woods better than any human and you're going to need me."
"Why?" he asked. It wasn't an insult; it was a genuine question.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm Ally-ampy. I don't belong with the humans, and I don't feel at home with the Ally-ampies. All I can do is fight for my people." I looked at him meaningfully. "Both of them."
"Well, that's good," he sighed. "Because I don't have any plan and I need all the help I can get."