Chapter Four
Martha drove them out of the garage and into the sky. They built up speed and then Martha started pushing all kinds of buttons and even hit it with a hammer once. The ship had a large window in front where they were sitting. Just like a car so Sarah and Martha were able to see what was going on outside. The clear blue sky was beginning to disappear and in its place was darkness and stars. The ship began to whip around in circles and Martha no longer had control over the vehicle. It spun and spun until Sarah was about ready to throw up. Then it stopped and was very still. Martha and Sarah were looking out the window which showed them a dark desert.
"This must be where The Doctor is," Martha whispered, "It could be dangerous so let's not draw attention to ourselves."
Slowly they made their way out of the ship and stepped onto the soft desert sand. The stars were twinkling up above and looked so close Sarah thought they might not even be on earth anymore. She was right. Martha was still holding the lunch box and pointing it in all directions. Sarah guessed she was trying to pick up a hint of The Doctor. Off in the distance was a vast forest. Mangled trees and bushes were sitting together so closely it was more like a wall of green then the edge of a forest. The air smelled like dirt and dust.
"Oh I got it! This way!" Martha called. She was already making her way towards the forest at a fast pace. Sarah ran to catch up.
"We have to go through that?" Sarah asked. She wasn't exactly glad about it. She wasn't even sure it was possible for them to make it through the tree wall. Martha didn't answer. She was busy shaking her lunch box and pointing it around. When they got to the edge of the forest Martha stopped.
"Well he is definitely in there," Martha let out a sigh, "He might even be in trouble so keep your eyes open." Sarah swallowed. She wasn't really expecting danger or to be on a different planet for that matter. She wasn't even sure where they were, but she didn't ask because Martha probably didn't know anyway.
Walking through the forest was slow, tiring work. Time was passing, but it was hard to know how much or even how far they had gotten into the forest. Every once in awhile there was a cracking of twigs or a rummaging of the bushes, but no creature was ever seen. And with the cover of the trees no moonlight made its way to the forest floor. Sarah ran into trees and bushes and into Martha a couple times. It was hard to know which direction they were going in or if they were still going the same way when they started. For all they knew they might be going in an endless circle. But, Martha had the lunch box which kept them following some sort of trail or at least Sarah hoped so. Sarah's feet were getting tired and sore from the rough ground and her arms were scratched from branches and thorns. She really wanted to just sit down and rest, but she didn't want Martha to think she was weak especially since Martha didn't seem to be dazed at all from fighting through the forest.
Finally when Sarah thought she was going to collapse Martha stopped and Sarah ran into her.
"The tracking device says The Doctor should be right… here" Martha said pointing out in front of her, "Um...Doctor?"
"What? Martha, is that you?" A voice called from up in the trees.
"Yeah. Doctor?" Martha called.
"Oh my god! It's great to see you!" The Doctor said jumping down from the tree and wrapping Martha in a huge hug. Martha didn't look too pleased, but she didn't pull away. Then a scream rang through the forest. Someone or something was falling through the trees. It was a woman. She landed on the dirt ground with a thud.
"Ouch" She said in pain. She was lying face down.
"I see you've taken no time to replace me." Martha said glaring at The Doctor.
"I see you've replaced me as well…" The Doctor mumbled taking notice of Sarah.
"Oh yeah… but it's not the same… This is Sarah. She's helped me out a lot." Martha clarified. The Doctor went to help up the young woman who was sitting on the ground now.
"This is Jenna. Jenna this is Martha my old assistant and Sarah her new assistant." The Doctor said looking amused.
"Nice to meet you two, but right now we need to get back into the tree or we're all going to be in trouble!" Jenna hissed. She was annoyed, mostly because she had just fallen out of a tree and embarrassed herself.
"Oh yes, right, this way ladies!" The Doctor began to climb back up the tree and the others followed. Once they were all safely seated Martha started interrogating The Doctor.
"So where are we? What trouble? Where's the Tardis? How long have you been here? Why are we in a tree?" Martha rambled on.
"Calm down! We are on Zethworbothindia. The trouble is the planet's inhabitants, the Zethworbothindians. The Tardis was taken by them. We don't know exactly how long we've been here because the days are different then earth days and we are in a tree because we are hiding." The Doctor answered calmly. "Now more importantly how did you get here?"
"Just because I'm not a Time Lord doesn't mean I can't learn to time travel." Martha said vaguely.
"What?"
"I got my very own ship and everything."
"What?"
"Yup, see I don't need you to get around space."
"… Well I'm impressed. So you have your very own ship. Yes I knew you'd do fine on your own." The Doctor said, "So how did you find me though?"
"I think I'll leave that one a mystery for you…" Martha said not wanting to tell him she had stolen a sandwich he had bitten.
"You should leave though. It's not safe here." The Doctor whispered looking over his shoulder. "The creatures here are strange even to me."
"Well I can't leave until I get the thing you stole from me." Martha said firmly. Sarah and Jenna just waited silently throughout the conversation. Neither of them had a good idea of what was going on, but they didn't want anyone else to know that.
"No! You need to leave now. Everything is in the Tardis so I don't have it and we can't exactly stroll up to the Zethworbothindians! They are very dangerous creatures!" The Doctor seemed very frustrated. It made Sarah nervous. She wouldn't mind leaving now.
"No. I'm going to get back what was stolen from me and besides you need help getting the Tardis back and you can't do it alone." Martha said crossing her arms.
"I have Jenna to help me" The Doctor said defensively.
"Right, I said you can't do it alone." Martha said smirking.
"Hey!" Jenna yelled. Then there was a shaking in the bushes. Something was approaching. Sarah and Martha both let out a gasp. The creature stepped out from the darkness. It was… a child, a small human child. It was a blond haired boy that looked to be about five years old. He even smiled a small childish smile.
"What you people doin in the tree like that?" He asked in a cute squeaky voice.
"Oh! It's just a child!" Jenna exclaimed in astonishment and let out a sigh of relief.
"No! It's a Zethworbothindian!" The Doctor shouted. Jenna, Sarah, and Martha couldn't help giggling. After all they were hiding in a tree from a five year old.
"No it's just taken that form. That's why it's dangerous. It changes into something you have a weak spot for. Would you ever hurt that little boy?" The Doctor asked.
"Well no. I guess not. How could I?" Martha answered, finally realizing the danger of the boy. If she did anything to that child it would haunt her thoughts forever. She would be incapable of doing anything to him so how would she be able to defend herself?
"Don't get to close either. They can manipulate emotions as well." The Doctor explained further.
"Uh… guys!" Sarah yelled pointing at the boy who was now holding a small gun. He aimed it at the tree and shot. A bright red light shot out of the gun and struck the branch Jenna was sitting on. She fell screaming unto the forest floor. The boy walked slowly over to her. It seemed confused and studied her for a minute. Jenna would have been scared had she not found the whole situation all of a sudden hysterical. She lay on the ground laughing and rolling from side to side. She laughed so hard tears began streaming down her face.
"Come with me." the boy ordered motioning for Jenna to take his hand.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Jenna hooted with laughter "Ok I'm coming, I'm coming." Jenna got off the ground and went to take his hand.
"No!" The Doctor jumped out of the tree and grabbed Jenna by the shoulders. "Listen to me. You don't know what you're doing. Come on!" He pulled her away from the boy. But, for some reason Jenna found this extremely annoying. In fact, she was so angry she wanted nothing more then to get away from The Doctor and follow the boy.
"Get your hands off me!" She snapped and pushed The Doctor away. She tried to run towards the boy, but The Doctor got a hold of her arm and pulled her back.
"The Zethworbothindian has control of your emotions. That's all it is. You don't really feel this way." The Doctor tried to explain as calmly as he could. The boy crept up slowly towards The Doctor and no one noticed because of the struggle with Jenna. But it was too late and the boy was changing The Doctor's logical thoughts into emotional frenzies.
"Please Jenna come with me. Please!" The Doctor pleaded and then began to cry. "Why won't you just come with me? You're really hurting my feelings!" Sarah and Martha just watched from the tree. Neither of them was sure what they could do because if they got too close they would both become emotional wreaks as well and without any logical thinkers they were never going to get off the planet.
