Only the Doctor's dignity, such as it was, kept him from collapsing in an exhausted heap on the island's shoreline. Charley had no such pride. Gasping and sputtering, she fell face first on the sand, only half out of the water, and clung to the earth for dear life. He raised a brow as he looked at her.
"Charley, are you alright?"
She groaned, not even lifting her head. "I'll be just fine after a nice long nap."
He chuckled, surveying their surroundings. The tree line was only a few feet from the water's edge. He shook out his hair, raking his fingers through it to keep it out of his face as he dragged himself to his feet and headed for the shade. The sun was getting hotter by the minute, and his curiosity had the better of him as he surveyed the sounds of the island - much more alive than the shore they'd left. Searching for the source of the rattling hum that sounded almost like an engine, he found a new life form - another rocklike creature that vibrated and clicked its tiny appendages together.
"Charley!" When she didn't respond, he wandered back towards the water and found her very much the way he'd left her. "Charley?"
"Five more minutes, Doctor."
He smiled as he came closer and offered her a hand. "Come on. Can you walk? Or am I going to have to carry you?"
Finally, she raised her head and glared at him. He kept his hand extended as she pushed herself up, and finally reached out, letting him pull her to her feet.
"You're enjoying this a little too much, Doctor," she said dryly.
"Well, enjoying ourselves is rather the point, I would think. Though I see now what you meant about the sticky hands."
She made a face as she pulled her hand away from his, flicking her fingers as if that might help them to be less sticky. It certainly didn't work.
"As uncomfortable as the stickiness might be, it's not my first concern right now."
"Oh? What is?"
"A drink of water, for one. And getting out of this blazing sun."
He smiled as he tipped his head back. "I think the sun feels rather nice."
"Yes, but my skin is a bit fairer than yours, Doctor. And now that I'm standing here on this beach wearing strikingly little, it occurs to me that there are two suns overhead. I can literally feel my skin cooking."
"Hmm, good point. Into the shade, then. And just as well; there's so much to see!"
"It looks like there's a stream over there," Charley said. "Flowing into the ocean or... whatever you'd call it."
"I think ocean is appropriate. It does cover three-fourths of the planet."
"Well, maybe there's a freshwater spring or something at its source."
"Possibly. At any rate, it has plenty of shade."
She led the way, anxious to duck under the covering of the lush, wide-leafed trees. It was much cooler in the shade of the little cove, among the twisted trees with their mangled, exposed roots. Calm and damp, the air was thick with the sweet scent of evaporated water from the slow-moving stream. Vines that looked rather like flexible reeds hung from the trees, draping all the way to the sandy ground. There were none of the sharp rocks here, only sand and small patches of grey and gold grass.
"Do you suppose it's like a tide pool?" Charley guessed.
"Were there a tide to come in, I would say yes."
"Oh. Right." Charley stepped down into the water, dipping her hand in and touching her fingers to her lips. "Still that sweet, sugary water."
"This close to the ocean, I'd imagine it would be. It's below the water level." He stepped down beside her, into the center of the stream. The water came up to his waist. "But it is moving. Something is feeding it."
"No harm in exploring, right, Doctor?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Come on."
It was darker under the shade of the canopy, but light still peeked through, reflecting off the shimmery surface of the water and casting glimmering light up to the branches and leaves overhead. It looked almost alive, the way it fluttered. Nature's magic. On nearly every planet - the few exceptions being those ravaged by some higher species - beauty took such varying forms and yet was always constant in its majesty. The tiniest flower, the most brilliant sunrise; the crystals of light filtering through a grain of sand or the tallest peak of the highest mountain...
"I don't know what's worse," Charley grumbled, "being all wet or being dry and sticky."
"It's not so bad," the Doctor answered encouragingly. "But given the steep banks up ahead, I'm afraid we haven't got much choice but to wade through the water if we want to keep moving forward."
"And given that the alternative is to go back..."
"It makes the decision of what's worse rather a moot point."
He smiled at her and she made a face as she pulled her sticky fingers apart, then dunked them into the water again just to get them apart. It was too bad he didn't have much of a sweet tooth, or this place would be like heaven. Even the air was saturated with the smell of sugar, even more so in here, where the shelter trapped the thick humidity. It was a smell almost like menthol or eucalyptus, but sweeter than either.
There were tiny fish swimming past his legs. He could feel them, even if he couldn't see them in the dingy grey water. The fish followed them as they waded through the waist deep water until a familiar sound ahead made him pause.
"Charley, listen. Do you hear that?"
"Yes. It sounds like trickling water."
"I think we may have found our source. One of them, anyway."
"One of them?"
"The stream keeps going. Maybe for miles. But that sound is coming from right over there..."
He pulled himself up onto the sandy grass, and tried unsuccessfully to brush the particles off of his hands as he gained his footing. Giving up, he crossed the tiny clearing and pulled aside a few thick reed-vines to reveal a tiny spring. He knew as soon as he touched it that it was fresh water. It wasn't as thick, and it rinsed the stickiness from his hands. Cupping them together, he caught the water and smelled it carefully before he drank. Cool and clean, it tasted wonderful.
Charley was hardly content to rinse her hands. She twisted and turned every which way, dousing her face, her arms, her torso, her hair, her legs. He watched her with amusement for a few minutes, then turned his attention to his surroundings, surveying them with interest.
Some of the knotted, twisting trees had bark, grey in color and covered with patches of dingy yellow moss. Others looked as if they had been stripped of their bark by wind or by animals. Or maybe they were meant to look that way, since he couldn't imagine the wind reaching them in the stillness of this cove, and so far he'd seen no animals capable of stripping a tree of its bark. Still, it was possible that there were many things on this planet he'd not yet seen.
"Ah, that's much better," Charley finally announced, wringing out her hair as she sat down on the soft grass.
He cast her a quick glance, then returned running his fingers along the soft moss. Everything living in this world seemed so soft and fragile. Unusual, given that many of the living creatures resembled rocks to the naked eye.
"Did you notice how much darker it is in here, Doctor?"
"More layers of the canopy."
"How do you suppose the grass grows without sunlight?"
"I'm not sure. Certainly not through photosynthesis. Maybe it takes all it needs from the soil."
"But then why have leaves at all?"
"A good question. I don't know."
"That's a first," she teased.
He smiled, but didn't answer. Instead, he returned to her and sat down, legs crossed, beside her.
"I suppose it'll get really dark once the sun goes down," she mused. "Or... suns, rather."
"Probably. But we have hours before that's going to happen."
"Long enough to take a nap before exploring, do you suppose?"
"Yes, if you like. I'll try not to venture too far."
She pouted. "Oh, that's not what I meant. I want to go with you. It's just that I'll enjoy it much more if I could have twenty minutes to shut my eyes. That swim was a bit more than I'm used to, after all."
He considered her, and her suggestion, briefly before nodding. "You're right. I think we could both do with a few minutes of rest."
"Thank you, Doctor."
He watched her as she settled on her side, curling in on herself slightly with a smile on her face. He waited for her eyes to close before he lay back, tucking his arm under his head as he breathed deeply and let sleep wash over him.