You are about to see why I cannot properly take any credit for the story of Ana and Miguel. :-)


Chapter 8

He found her in the back of the library at a cluster of computers, staring at a screen with giant black leather earphones over her head, lost in thought. Suddenly, she wrote something down frantically, scratching at the paper as quickly as she could. As he got closer, he could see a squiggly line floating on the screen, indicating that she was listening to music.

He touched her shoulder, trying not to startle her. He did not succeed.

"Oh!" she exclaimed with a start, and then pressed her mouth shut gently with the tips of her fingers. She whispered, "You're back!" She stood up and gave him a hug.

"Indeed," he murmured. "But not without considerable effort not to die. Well, I had some help..."

She ripped the headphones off her head and stood aside. "Sit down," she demanded. "Listen to this song. It's called Naturaleza Muerta. It means literally natural death, but is an expression that refers to a still life painting. Almost a play on words."

He took the headphones and sat down, without a word. "Did you find them?" he asked. "Ana and Miguel?"

"I did," she said, and she showed him the piece of paper she had been writing on. "My Spanish is super-rusty, but I think this is them. And I may have figured out where that voice was coming from, the voice you heard that made you not want to get on that fishing boat."

"Really? What the hell was it?" he asked, going for her paper.

"No, no, I want you to listen, unbiased," she protested, pulling the paper behind her back. "I might be wrong. Again, my Spanish is not so good anymore. Speaking of which, why aren't the TARDIS' translation circuits working on me?"

The Doctor looked at the wall at a spot beyond her, in thought. "Hm. I'm not sure. Perhaps because it's artificial, the recording? Because it's music? An art form meant to be intact in a certain type of cohesion? Because we're being messed-with? I'll ask her later."

"I thought it might be because I was out of touch with you."

"You don't need me in order to commune with her," he assured her. "You do that on your own, whether you can feel it or not."

"Okay. Well, meanwhile, I'm struggling with this... but you can tell me for sure." She grabbed another chair and sat down beside him to wait.

The Doctor re-set the song she had been listening to, in order to hear it from the beginning. He recognised the intro as a song they had heard out in the festival a little while ago. Though, it seemed to them as though it had been days.

A man's clear, baritone voice filled his ears, someone whom Vance Ray had said was Greek, but was singing in Spanish.

No ha salido el sol, y Ana y Miguel ya prenden llama,

Ella sobre él, hombre y mujer deshacen la cama.

Y el mar, que está loco por Ana, prefiere no mirar.

Los celos no perdonan al agua, ni a las algas, ni a la sal.

Al amanecer, ya está Miguel sobre su barca.

"Dame un beso, amor, y espera quieta, junto a la playa."

Y el mar murmura en su lenguaje, "Maldito pescador,

Despídete de ella. No quiero compartir su corazón!"

Y llorar, y llorar, y llorar por él...

Y esperar, y esperar, y esperar de pie

En la orilla que vuelva Miguel...

Dicen en la aldea que esa roca blanca es Ana,

Cubierta de sal y de coral - espera en la playa.

No esperes más, Niña de Piedra, Miguel no va a volver.

El mar le tiene preso por no querer cederle una mujer.

Y llorar, y llorar, y llorar por él...

Y esperar, y esperar, y esperar de pie

En la orilla que vuelva Miguel...

Incluso hay gente que asegura que cuándo hay tempestad,

Las olas, las provoca Miguel, luchando a muerte con el mar.

The chorus repeated... Y llorar, y llorar, y llorar por él... and the Doctor waited until the music was over before removing the headphones and laying them on the desk.

He turned and faced Martha, leaning forward, elbows on knees. "Give me what you've got," he told her.

She looked at her sheet, and began to recite:

"The sun has not come out, and Ana and Miguel are now catching fire. Her on him, man and woman, undoing the bed. And the sea who is crazy for Ana prefers not to look. The heavens do not forgive water nor algae nor salt.

"At dawn, now Miguel is on his boat. 'Give me a kiss, love, and wait patiently beside the beach.' And the sea whispers in its own language, 'Wretched fisherman,say goodbye to her. I don't want to share her heart!'

"And cry, and cry, and cry for him... And wait, and wait, and wait standing on the shore for Miguel to return...

"They say in the village that that white rock is Ana covered in salt and coral - she's waiting on the beach. Wait no more, Stone Girl, Miguel won't return. The sea is keeping him close for not wanting to give up a woman.

"And cry, and cry, and cry for him... And wait, and wait, and wait standing on the shore for Miguel to return...

"There are people who swear that when there is a storm, the waves, Miguel provoques them, fighting to the death with the sea!"

She raised her eyes and looked at the Doctor for approval.

He paused, and said, "I thought you said your Spanish was rusty."

"It is. Do I have it right?"

"You know you do," he smirked.

"You were hearing the voice of the sea?" she asked, amazed.

"So it would seem."

"And this explains being swept forward in time, just to talk to that guy with the beach kiosk," she commented, remembering the experience. "So he could tell us about the 'legend' of Ana and Miguel and the Stone Girl."

The Doctor stared off into the distance. "And why Ana felt the sea was warm, after Miguel was gone. The sea was trying to be her lover. Or something."

"Blimey," she breathed. "That's even weirder than the thing about the alligator."

"Alligator?"

"Yeah," she said, suddenly, it seemed, coming to from a reverie. She pulled the keyboard toward her, and with a few keystrokes, changed the song that was ready to play on the screen. "Listen to this one."

With that, the Doctor heard, again, a familiar intro, one they had heard in the festival not too long before. It was someone playing the banjo rather skilfully, and the recording quality sounded like it had been made in the 1950's or 60's. The singer was clearly from somewhere in the American South, and his voice was nasal, whimsical and pleasant.

In 1814, we took a little trip

Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip'

We took a little bacon and we took a little beans

And we fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin',

There wasn't as many as there was a while ago.

We fired once more, and they began a-runnin',

On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come,

And there must have been a hundred of them, beating on a drum.

They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring,

While we stood behind our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin',

There wasn't as many as there was a while ago.

We fired once more, and they began a-runnin',

On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise

If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eyes.

We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well,

Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave 'em... well,

We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin',

There wasn't as many as there was a while ago.

We fired once more, and they began a-runnin',

On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles,

And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go,

They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em

On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down,

So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.

We filled his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind,

And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin',

There wasn't as many as there was a while ago.

We fired once more, and they began a-runnin',

On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico...

The Doctor took off the headphones, and rather chuckled.

"Sound familiar?" asked Martha.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor told her. "See, I told you the historical events in that scene didn't much matter. That song was written right after World War II, when pro-American hoopla was at its peak."

"So, is the alien trying to kill us, or just mess with our lives, by putting us in these songs?" she wanted to know.

"Why choose?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Go for both! Although looking at these songs now objectively, I know I've had my doubts, but I'd suspect that the killing is the principal objective. The Battle of New Orleans doesn't discuss anything about two random Brits who happen onto the scene and nearly foul up the whole operation. We were thrown in there on purpose, added expressly in the most heinous, dangerous way, by the alien. And in Naturaleza Muerta, there is nothing about friends of Ana and Miguel. We were thrown into that one - or at least I was - to be in the line of fire of the sea."

"But... why?" she whined.

"Shh," he reminded her. "It's a library. I would suspect vengeance."

"For what? For winning over the siblings the last three times?"

"Yep," the Doctor said. "We escaped from all three - from Ramechac, from S'Dromer, and especially from Essed'Iv, all intact and unscathed. And, in love. All the better for it, wouldn't you say?"

She smiled and blushed a bit. "Yes, I would."

"Well, you said yourself, they're not keen on us getting our way with members of the family."

"So one of the siblings wants us dead, just for dishonouring a sister, or whatever?"

"Probably," the Doctor agreed. "Which reminds me... do you want to know where I was, just now?"

"Oh yeah," she sang. "I'd forgotten. Where were you?"

He turned toward the computer once again, and opened up a Google search. "Well, let's find out."


Note: Naturaleza Muerta by Mario Frangoulis and The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton are both available on iTunes! Check 'em out - the former is gorgeous, the latter is fun!