At first she was blinded by darkness with only the sound of her sliding on smooth stone and the cascading water helping her along. She could feel her eyes working over time trying to find light or anything they could focus on, but otherwise she actually felt safe. The slide was headed down at a steep enough angle to keep her moving along and the smooth banks of the wide curves were gentle and fun. Of course, as with all good scares, just as she got comfortable enough the bottom felt like it dropped out on her as the slide suddenly took a sharper plunge downward making her yelp in surprise. Reflexively her hands and feet tried to push against the sides to slow herself down, but it was too smooth to have any effect. After a few quicker, tighter turns the bottom dropped again at an even steeper angle. Somewhere above her, she could hear Dandella making frightened squeals and yelps in the dark. Up ahead a soft glowing of light caught her attention and she felt some relief now that she'd be able to see what was coming up next. She only saw it all for a moment laid out in front of her before she dropped through the air. For the briefest moment, she saw the slide she had been going down was a completely rounded smooth tunnel and it opened up into a large cave. Before she could completely register it though, her brief fall was shattered by a solid base of water that quickly swallowed her up. She almost instantly felt her feet hit the bottom and she pushed up to break the surface to find she was standing in only three feet of crystal clear waters.

"Pay up! I told you she'd get a good five feet off the end of it!" One man happily shouted while she wiped at her face to clear it of water and hair.

"You would have thought Mang would have gone the farthest with his weight on the slide." Another man grumbled.

"Were you taking bets on how far I'd go flying?" Amara couldn't help but smile at that as she waded out of the water and up the small incline to where everyone else who had gone before her was standing still drying off from their ride. The Doctor held out his hand for her to grab and helped her up out of the water.

"It was Robert's idea!" The man who apparently lost the wager pointed to the one collecting money. Before Amara could make another comment on it, a terrified scream broke through and Dandella came flying from the chute and landed almost completely flat on her back before sinking into the water. She was up with a sharp gasp an instant later and her eyes were as wide as her mouth in shock. To Amara's surprise though, the man who had lost the wager had sprung into action and was instantly in the water wading to her side to help her out of it constantly asking if she was okay and comforting her. It only surprised Amara because of how fast he had gotten to her and he seemed like he really cared about her, but Dandella didn't say friends of hers had come along on this trip. In fact, she had made it sound like she was only there with her husband.

"That was certainly different!" Amara said to the Doctor turning her back on the scene knowing Dandella was fine and seemed to be in the hands of a friend.

"Oh, yes. That certainly is different." He said, but it sounded more of an automated response as he was busy looking at other tunnels of various sizes that split off from the cavern they were in.

"The water slide, I mean." She crossed her arms partly to hug herself from the chill of the water and partly in attitude feeling ignored by him.

"Yes, yes. Waterslide are fun." He said in the same distracted way. He was now standing at the entrance of one of the tunnels running a hand over the rock surfaces just on the inside and outside of it in comparison of the surfaces.

"Being in the dark most of the way was pretty fun. Kind of like being in those cheesy haunted houses where the darkness makes the smallest things seem like the biggest bumps in the night." She continued knowing full well he wasn't actually listening to her.

"Lots of fun." He was now kneeling just inside the tunnel apparently examining the floor and some of the rocks scattered there.

"Yeah, especially the part where Elvis popped out asking directions to Neverland." Amara threw out casually just to see what she could get away with.

"Hm, yes—what?" He looked back over his shoulder at her briefly with a raised eyebrow, but didn't wait for an answer turning back to pick up a rock and looked it over before licking it and gave a thoughtful expression as if trying to decipher what seasonings were on it.

"Did you just lick a rock?" Amara asked.

"I'm sorry, did you want one too?" He grabbed another one and handed it up to her. She shook her head so he dropped it back to the ground standing and dusting off his hands. "Have you been paying attention?" His tone had gone from inquisitive about his surroundings to hushed.

"To what exactly?" She asked. She did remember his whispered words from earlier, but she was still not sure what exactly he meant by it.

"Everything." His eyes bore into her as if trying to pick out what she might know.

"Well, I did notice a lot of things, but what do you mean? Why are we here? It not just to walk around the canyon, is it?" Amara wanted answers now that she knew something was up. She had thought it was kind of weird and even disappointing that with his wonderful machine he brought her to a very Earth-like canyon out of all the places they could have gone. Yes, the canyon had been beautiful and everything they had seen so far was interesting to an extent, but she had the distinct feeling there had to be more to this little excursion. His behaviors only helped push that thought along.

"Dandella seems really attached to you. I heard her talking to you the whole time. What has she been telling you?" He ignored her questions.

"Mostly about herself." Amara sighed feeling frustrated that she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him. "She said that people pay a lot just to get into this tour, but some will pay extra to make the tour more special. She said her husband, Jaster, paid an extra fifty thousand credits to this tour." The Doctor whistled at that with raised eyebrows. So, it is a lot, she confirmed with herself.

"He must have really wanted to make this special then." He commented looking back over the tunnel he had been examining.

"Doctor, please tell me why we're here." She said trying to give her best 'this is serious and I want answers now' warning glare. He simply regarded her for a moment before his eyes flicked up to something behind her.

"Just stay close to Dandella for now and keep paying attention." He hurriedly said in the hushed way once again, but before Amara could protest Dandella was already at her side and was looping an arm in hers.

"Trying to steal my buddy!" Dandella playfully accused the Doctor.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" He flashed a friendly smile.

"Come along, Amara dear!" She started to drag her off. Amara glanced back at the Doctor and he made a shooing hand gesture as if to push her along. In a culmination of her frustration with him, although knowing it would look childish, she stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to Dandella who didn't seem to notice the exchange. By then, the other two men and Fred found their way down the slide tunnel and dried off a bit while Fred gathered everyone around.

"Are we all still here?" Fred asked no one in particular as he counted heads. "Good! All right, we'll stick around this main room just a bit longer while we all dry off before we head on."

"Let them drip dry on the way!" Jaster impatiently sighed from somewhere in the back of the group. Dandella hid her face in a hand, but Amara could tell it was more so to control her temper towards her husband rather than to hide her embarrassment. Definitely not a happy couple.

"Okay then, all in favor of a squishy walk?" Fred offered to the group and seven hands shot up. Amara wasn't surprised to see that many geologists wanted to see more of the interesting cave, but she was somewhat surprised to see the Doctor's hand one of the most eager ones up there practically creating a breeze from waving around. "Majority wins! Personally, I'd like to dry off some more, but I am also so very excited to show you what I have down here for you all this time."

Why don't I like that? Why does he rub me the wrong way? Amara thought as she started to follow Dandella and the rest of the group. And the Doctor, he knows something, but he's being so difficult about it. Is it that bad?

"Are you okay?" Dandella asked.

"Oh, um, yeah I'm fine. Why?" Amara shook her head clear of the thoughts.

"You just look bothered." Dandella was a beacon of concern.

"It's just been a very long day so far." Amara tried to blow it off with a smile.

"I saw the little tiff between you and your 'friend' earlier." Dandella started sympathetically.

"Oh, no, we weren't fighting or anything." Amara shook her head again.

"Oh, please! I know what I saw. He was talking down to you and you were just trying to get answers. Believe me; I know those fights all too well." Dandella gave her a knowing look that was dipped in sympathy.

"We may have hit a wall, but we weren't fighting. All good friends do from time to time." Amara insisted. Dandella nodded and didn't push it further, but it was obvious she didn't really believe Amara. Besides, I'm still trying to figure him out. I only met him this morning. After that thought, it seemed to really dawn on her that it truly had been a very long day since she very first ran into the strange man earlier in the day. It also seemed the day was far from over yet.