And here is chapter 2, also re-uploaded. I will trying to keep chapters coming but school is first now these last weeks before graduation. Anyway, here's the chapter, Allons-y!
The Cave of Skulls
Trixy pulled herself to her feet as the Doctor and Susan started checking the readings on the console, Barbara starting to stir at the same time. She soon woke up and started to look around. She threw a quick glance at Trixy who showed no sign of being hurt and as such the woman turned to the man by her feet.
"Ian? Ian" she said leaning forward to shake him awake.
"I'm all right" the man said pulling himself to a half sitting position with the help of the chair. "I must have hit my head" he continued rubbing the back of his head before pulling his hand in front of his face to check for non-existing blood as he moved to lean against the chair and then continued up on his knees. "The movement's stopped"
Barbara looked to the Doctor and Susan who were going over the scanners, Ian still had his back to them and Trixy rose on her toes by the side of the console to try and see what was going on.
"The base is steady" Susan said turning to the next scan as she finished speaking.
"Layer of sand, rock formation. Good" the Doctor said as Ian also turned his head to look at the two aliens as they spoke.
"We've left 1963" Susan said looking up at the screen and Trixy made her way around the console to be able to see as well.
"Oh, yes, undoubtedly. I'll be able to tell you where presently" the Doctor said "Zero? That's not right. I'm afraid this yearometer is not calculating properly"
"Or you have it turned to Earth years, there is a year zero then" Trixy suggested looking up at him.
"Hm! Well, anyway, the journey's finished" the Doctor said considering the idea as he looked up at the screen again before turning to his human passengers. "What are you doing down there?"
"What have you done?" Barbara asked wisely choosing not to respond to the alien's words.
"Barbara, you don't believe all this nonsense" Ian said looking up at her.
"Well, look at the scanner screen" Susan suggested.
"Yes, look up there. They don't understand and I suspect they don't want to" the Doctor said as the humans got to their feet, Ian with a little help from Barbara. "Well, there you are. A new world for you"
It wasn't a very exciting image on the screen, just bare sand and rocks with a range of mountains in the distance. Quite boring according to Trixy but at least it wasn't school in the 1960s. It could however be almost anywhere.
"Sand and rock?" Ian asked sounding disbelieving, if they were going to fool around with something like this surely they could have taken a more exciting image?
"Yes, that's the immediate view outside the ship" the Doctor agreed.
"But where are we?" Barbara asked.
"You mean that's what we'll see when we go outside?" Ian asked and the Doctor nodded.
"Yes, you'll see it for yourself" Susan said once more trying to convince them
"Ha! I don't believe it" Ian said looking at the screen once more but he was starting to look a bit desperate now.
"You really are a stubborn young man, aren't you?" the Doctor said turning to him.
"All right, show me some proof. Give me some concrete evidence" Ian argued and the Doctor turned and walked away from them and the man turned to Susan instead. "I'm sorry, Susan, I don't want to hurt you, but it's time you were brought back to reality"
"But you're wrong, Mister Chesterton" the girl said.
"They are saying I'm a charlatan" the Doctor said touching Susan's shoulder from behind. "What concrete evidence would satisfy you?" he asked as he walked around the console.
"Just open the doors, Doctor Foreman" Ian gave the simplest solution of them all.
"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" the Doctor asked himself.
Trixy's jaw almost dropped. The Doctor himself had asked that question first? Her parents had told her about the first question and now she heard it from the alien's mouth. She never had gotten the full story about that one though, she wasn't sure her parents knew. How did Ian know to call him doctor though?
"They're so sure, Ian" Barbara said looking up at the man who was about half a head taller than her.
"Yes, I know" Ian agreed and were about to continue but the woman interrupted him.
"And remember the difference between the outside of the police box and the inside" she continued her arguments.
"Yes, I know, but" Ian said to her before turning back to the Doctor. "Are you going to open the doors or aren't you?"
"No" the Doctor said calmly almost before Ian had stopped speaking.
"You see?" he said turning back to the woman by his side.
"Not until I'm quite sure it's safe to do so" the Doctor continued as he started to check the readings. "Well, yes, good. Yes, it is, it's good. Excellent, excellent. You've got the radiation counter there. What's it read?" he asked Susan.
"It's reading normal, Grandfather" Susan answered.
"Splendid, splendid. Well, I think I'll take my Geiger counter with me in any case. So, you still challenge me, young man?" the Doctor said looking up at Ian as he walked to the next section of the console gripping his labels.
"Well, just open the doors and prove your point" Ian said walking up to meet with the man halfway around the console from Barbara.
"You're so narrow-minded, aren't you? Don't be so insular" the alien said turning his back to the console still holding the labels.
"Grandfather, do you know where we are?" Susan asked from where she was now standing beside Barbara, Trixy standing in-between the groups so that she could see everyone.
"Yes, we've gone back in time, all right. One or two samples and I shall be able to make an estimate. With rock pieces and a few plants. But I do wish this wouldn't keep letting me down. However, we can go out now" the Doctor said looking at the TARDIS that had let him down, it had done the same thing when they landed in 1963 and they had to go out to know exactly when they were.
"Just a minute. You say we've gone back in time?" Ian asked.
"Yes, quite so" the Doctor agreed.
"So that when we go out of that door, we won't be in a junkyard in London in England in the year 1963?" Ian asked pointing to the door.
"Isn't that the point of a time machine?" Trixy asked moving to Barbara's side and looking up at her.
"That is quite correct. But your tone suggests ridicule" the Doctor said.
"But it is ridiculous. Time doesn't go round and round in circles. You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future" Ian said.
"He picked me up in 1918" Trixy said and Ian turned to look at the girl and the Doctor smiled.
"Really? Where does time go, then?" the Doctor asked amused.
"It doesn't go anywhere. It just happens and then it's finished" Ian said.
Barbara frowned slightly. There were people who believed time to go in circles, several religions in fact. She actually found herself believing them as the Doctor turned to her.
"You're not as doubtful as your friend, I hope?" the old man asked.
"No" she said simply with a shake of her head.
"Barbara, you can't –" Ian said but the woman interrupted him.
"I can't help it. I just believe them, that's all" she said.
"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" the Doctor said.
"Yes" Ian answered.
"Go fetch your jacket, Trixy" the alien reminded the child as he opened the door and the girl excitedly grabbed the specified piece of clothing from where she had put it in one of the round things in the wall. "Now, see for yourself"
"It's not true. It can't be" Ian said in astonishment as he looked outside the door at the bare land outside.
"That's not on the screen" Susan said satisfied turning to her male teacher.
"Well I've no more time to argue with you. I must get some samples, Susan" the Doctor said moving to pick up his equipment from a table beside the door.
"Be careful, Grandfather" Susan said before pulling her own jacket on as the Doctor left the ship mumbling to himself.
"Come on" Trixy said standing just outside the door and Barbara stepped out to join her, there was no way she was going to let the girl run off on her own.
"Ian, come out and look" the woman said looking around up in the sky and at the wasteland around them.
Ian slowly moved around the console towards the door just to stumble just before the door and holding his head, wondering how hard he had really hit it or if it was actually real.
"Oh here, lean on me" Susan said noticing his struggle.
"No, thank you. I'm all right, thanks" Ian said and they left the ship, the doors closing behind them.
Ian stumbled slightly as he stepped out of the ship and out to a world that was not much like the one he knew. The sky was pale blue like a late autumn day and the wasteland stretched for miles to end in cliffs far away. As he looked around he also noticed a dense forest that looked like no one had ever tried to clear out. A bird cried above them. Ian leaned slightly on Susan to keep himself steady in his shock.
"Well?" Barbara asked as Ian and Susan reached her and Trixy and they started to walk, Trixy throwing a stone between her hands.
"But there must be some explanation" Ian said running his hand through his hair after turning on the spot to look around.
"That it was all true?" Trixy suggested innocently.
"This is Trixy by the way" Susan said realising her teachers didn't know. "She is Grandfather's ward"
"Well then, I'm Ian Chesterton and this is Barbara Wright" Ian said crunching down to speak to the girl.
"Yeah, I gathered that, it's nice to meet you" she said offering her hand to the man who took and shook it.
The Doctor looked at them as they all pulled their coats closer together and looked around, Trixy with the pure refreshing curiosity almost only children possess. As the Doctor walked off she spotted something in the sand and approached just to find an animal skull halfly buried in the sand.
"What do you think it could be?" Barbara who had followed her asked crunching down to check on it, lifting it up for Trixy to brush off as Susan sat down beside them. "Ian, look at this"
"I don't know" Ian said sitting down as well and picking up the skull. "It hasn't got any horns or antlers. Could be a horse" he put it down again and stood up. "Could be anything. Incredible. A police box in the midst of. Oh, it just doesn't make sense"
"It should have changed. Wonder why it hasn't happened this time" Susan said looking up at the TARIDS in concern.
"The ship, you mean?" Barbara asked.
"Yes, it's been an Ionic column and a sedan chair" Susan answered.
"Disguising itself wherever it goes" Barbara concluded.
"Yes, that's right. But it hasn't happened this time. I wonder why not" Susan said thoughtfully. "I wonder if this old head would help Grandfather. Where is he?"
Susan, Barbara and Trixy stood up as well. Susan and Trixy started to look for the Doctor while Barbara turned to speak with Ian.
"You're very quiet" she said to him.
"I was wrong, wasn't I" Ian said.
"Oh, look, I don't understand it any more than you do" Barbara tried to reassure the man. "The inside of the ship, suddenly finding ourselves here. Even some of the things Doctor Foreman says"
"That's not his name" Ian interrupted her. "Who is he? Doctor who? Perhaps if we knew his name we might have a clue to all this"
"Look, Ian, the point is, it's happened" Barbara said quite fed up with the man's attitude to it, even if she could understand him.
"Yes, it has. But it's impossible to accept. I know I'm here –" Ian said but Susan interrupted him.
"I can't see him anywhere" she said coming to stand before the adults.
"Me neither" Trixy agreed.
"He can't be far away" Barbara tried to reassure the girls.
"I had a feeling just now as if we were being watched" Susan said worried. "Grandfather"
Suddenly a cry Susan and Trixy recognised as the Doctor's voice was heard through the relative silence.
"Grandfather!" Susan cried desperately.
"Come on!" Ian said and they ran off towards the sound, Susan dropping the skull she had been holding as she took off.
"Look" Ian said coming to a stop beside what looked to be some of the Doctor's things.
"What is it?" Susan asked.
"Some of his things" Barbara said bending down to look at the things.
Trixy scrambled up to the top of a nearby rock and looked around for the Doctor. She needed to find him. She didn't know what they would do without him. Not when trapped in a time where there was no type of technology, no clue if there were even people and it very well could soon be winter from the feeling in the air.
"Grandfather, where are you?" Susan cried in panic, she couldn't lose him, he was all she had.
"Susan, don't panic" Ian said trying to hold the girl still and get her to calm down.
"I must find him" the young alien cried in her teacher's face.
"Susan" Ian said still trying to calm her down.
"I must see" Susan said breaking free.
"Well, be careful then" Ian said looking after her for a moment before turning back to Barbara as the woman spoke.
"Ian, look" she said holding up the Doctor's broken Geiger counter for him to see.
"It's not much good any more" Ian said briefly wondering if the device had shown any signs of radiation before it broke.
"Well, maybe he saw something and went off to investigate" Barbara said trying to sound positive.
"Not without that" Trixy said from her rock pointing at the Doctor's hat in front of the adults.
"Well, what do you think happened?" Barbara said looking more to Ian than Trixy, mostly not to worry the girl.
"I don't know. Perhaps he was excited and went off to investigate something as you suggest, but" Ian paused as he spoke and Trixy bit her lip as the adults stood up. "He may have been taken"
"I can't see him. I can't find him anywhere. There's not a sign of him" Susan returned sounding like she was about to cry.
"Calm down, Susan" Ian said.
"Susan, don't worry" Barbara said as the alien bent down to pick something up. "What's the matter?"
"It's his notes" Susan said standing up. "He'd never leave his notebook. It's too important to him. It's got the key codes of all the machines in the ship. It's got notes of everywhere we've been to. Something terrible has happened to him, I know it has. We must find him" Susan's explanation was desperate and ended in a cry as she tried to run but just ended up on her knees a meter of so away.
"Susan, Susan. We'll find him, I promise you. He can't be far away" Barbara said having dragged Susan back to her feet and tried to calm her down.
"What's on the other side of those rocks?" Ian asked looking up at Trixy from where he was picking up the Doctor's things.
"There is a forest not so far off with a gap that could be a path" the girl told him as Susan dried her eyes and nose.
"All right, we'll try there first" Ian said bundling up the Doctor's things as Susan took off and Trixy jumped down from her rock. "Strange" he continued holding a hand in the sand.
"What?" Barbara asked.
"This sand. It's cold. It's nearly freezing" he said.
"Could be close to winter" Trixy suggested quietly.
"Could be" Ian agreed, liking the logical explanation as they hurried after Susan towards the woods.
It was ominous under the trees as they moved along the path. Slowly darkness got thicker around them as they hurried along. Trixy seemed to have better night vision than both the adults and Susan and had as such taken the lead with Barbara close at her heals while Ian and Susan brought up the rear.
"What happened to Trixy? To make your grandfather her guardian" Ian asked Susan in a low voice.
"It was just before we arrived to 1963. We had landed in London in 1918 and were just on a walk around town when we found her. She sat with her back against the wall of an alley with a backpack in her arms not far from a burning house. We asked what she was doing out there all alone and where her parents were" Susan took a deep breath before continuing. "She pointed to the burning house with tears leaking out of her eyes. There was nothing we could do. Just about then the roof of the building collapsed, it was horrible" Susan was speaking in a low voice as to not alert Trixy of the subject, Barbara had drifted backwards to them as Trixy had stopped just up ahead. "There was no way we were going to leave her on the street and when we realised she wasn't human I convinced Grandfather to bring her along"
"You aren't human either, would anyone have noticed?" Ian asked. "Not that I think that orphanage in a post-World War I world would be all that good idea"
"She's eighteen" Susan explained. "That is enough not to leave her at an orphanage even if she didn't had a reptile's tongue rather than a human's not to talk about her scaled hands. The last five months have been hard on her"
Ian and Barbara looked at each other in surprise. The girl was eighteen? Did that mean she aged at third the rate humans did? They didn't understand the other parts fully but they clearly indicated that she couldn't live a normal life among humans as a child, maybe when she grew up but not now. Ian decided there and then that if they were stuck with this strange group of people he would try to bring up Trixy's spirits and remind the Doctor what it meant to be a parent, he must have known at some point if Susan was his granddaughter.
"What was that?" Susan asked and all of them started to listen closely as the young alien led them towards the sound.
Trixy's thin tongue dashed out for a moment like a snake's and Ian blinked, reptile tongue was it.
"I smell people" she whispered and the others nodded in understanding.
Ian was slightly revealed that it was people she smelled and nothing else, humans he knew how to fight.
"Make fire. Make fire come from your fingers as I saw you" a male voice said slightly desperate.
Ian peeked between the trees spotting the Doctor in a group of people dressed in animal skins. What had he been captured by? Cavemen? It would explain the year zero thing. Except that humanity had moved far past the caveman stage at that point.
"Cave men?" he whispered.
"Possible" Barbara agreed as the Doctor spoke.
"I have no matches. I cannot make fire. I cannot make fire!" he cried.
"Let the old man die. And we'll watch the great Kal as he kills his strong enemy" another male voice said mockingly.
"Make fire! Make fire! Or I kill you now!" the first of the men said grabbing the Doctor from behind and putting something to his neck, Ian couldn't tell what it was.
"Or we'll keep them and make them hunt for us. It's good to have someone to laugh at!" the second unknown man said and the entire tribe laughed as Ian suddenly noticed that Susan was moving among them towards the Doctor.
"Not good" he said barely holding back swearing due to Trixy being there.
"Grandfather!" Susan called jumping onto the back of the man holding the Doctor.
Ian, Barbara and Trixy moved in among the people as well trying to make their way towards the two aliens. Ian got in a few good hits bit both he and Barbara were soon stopped and Susan was pulled down from the back of man she had attacked. Trixy moved by people's legs but were soon lift up as she saw one of the men stand over Ian with a stone axe in his hand threatening to use it.
"If he dies, there will be no fire" the Doctor said in a desperate attempt to save the man, like him or not he didn't want him dead.
All the prehistoric humans stared at the alien for a moment but the axe didn't fall. Ian was pulled to his feet and held by another man while the man that Susan had attacked looked at Barbara in fascination. He moved towards her across the open space in the crowd left after the fight and reached out for her face, Barbara desperately leaning backwards, when an old woman spoke.
"Kill her. Kill her" she said and the man reached for his knife.
"Wait" the one who had been about to kill Ian said while grabbing the other's hands. "You cannot kill all our enemies. When Orb gives fire back to the sky, let him look down on them. Then that is when they die, and Orb will give us fire again" he said and they broke apart, the other one threatened him for a moment before looking around and putting away his stone knife. "Take them to the Cave of Skulls"
"No! No! Grandfather!" Susan cried as they were carried and in Ian and the Doctor's cases dragged towards the cave.
"All right" the Doctor said as they were moved into the cave.
The place were filled of bones and skulls and the primitive men bond their hands together. They soon realised it would be next to impossible to wriggle their hands free and not even Trixy seemed to have much luck with it. Ian who had gotten his hands bond last fell to his knees beside the others.
"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" he asked looking down at Barbara who he was beside.
"No. Ian, I'm frightened" she said it mostly as a statement but it still rung true.
"Try and hang on" Ian said glancing at Trixy who smiled slightly to tell him that she were fine.
"But how are we going to get out of this?" Barbara asked.
"We should use our cunning" the Doctor said. "I hope you can get yourself free, Chesterton. I can't. The stench in here. The stench. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I'm desperately sorry" he apologised.
"Don't blame yourself, Grandfather" Susan said before coughing.
"Look at that. Look at it" the Doctor said pointing to some of the skulls.
"They're all the same" Ian said looking at the holes on the top of the skulls. "They've been split open"
There are going to be many short chapters in these early Doctor parts. Hope you enjoyed and chapter 3 is in the works. See you next time!