The sound of chanting becomes almost deafening by the time they make it to a proper vantage point. The rolling hills, it turns out, are hiding a rather deep crevice in the landscape. Donna is somewhat disheartened to see what looks like a religious site at the heart of the valley, surrounded by a huge crowd. The smallish town shouldn't hold that many people, not unless there is some kind of underground complex, there just isn't enough room. She can't see Terry in the crowd, not from their vantage point in a small grove of grey-pink trees at the crest of a hill, so she starts looking for any unusual looking groups. The perimeter of the crowd is mere meters away from their hiding spot. The Doctor leans around her slightly, his hands resting on her arms, his body pressing against her back. She wants to snap 'hands!' at him, but that would just give away their position, and really she has more important things on her mind at the moment than some slightly inappropriate touching.
'...you see anything...' comes the faint mental question, barely audible but tinged with a sense of familiar worry. She shakes her head, then gestures at him with her sonic, miming running a scan. He cocks a baffled eyebrow, so she pokes him in the chest with one finger, then flicks her head in the general direction of the religious looking site, and gestures with her sonic again. His wide brown eyes do not spark with comprehension. She huffs in annoyance, then grabs his hand, hoping that the increased skin contact will strengthen their link enough that she can get her point across. 'Specific Life-Sign scan, remember?!' She mentally hollers, a bit too loudly it seems. The Doctor pulls his hand away like he's been burned and gives her a pained grimace. Well, telepathy had never been her favourite subject at the academy,she thinks, mouthing 'oh you big baby,' at him when he brings a hand to his temple. He glares reprovingly at her, but obligingly brings out his sonic screwdriver, then begins to fiddle with it.
It takes him less than five minutes to do what ever it is he is doing, then turn the screwdriver on the crowd. Donna tenses at the low hum of the scan, but not a Aeckuran reacts. That is actually really starting to freak her out. The more Donna looks at the natives, the more she realises that most of them have no expression on their faces at all. It is like looking at a large congregation of automatons milling about, their mouths thoughtlessly crooning the wordless sound that Donna is starting to doubt is actually a chant. She flips her sonic over to waveform diagnostics mode and starts taking readings, even as she carefully follows the Doctor. He is leading them around the rim of the valley, closer to the focus of Aeckuran attention. The indistinct buildings dissolve into what looks surprisingly like a roman amphitheatre built in the dull grey wood. It matches the dull grey grass so well that it nearly blends in, and if its hadn't been for the crows and the colourful banners hadn't been hung, Donna rather doubts she would have noticed it. The building is absolutely swamped, but the closer they get, the more disturbed the two Time Lords become. The natives start looking more and more bedraggled the closer they get to the amphitheatre. Each person they pass looks more vacant than the last.
The sound is vibrating into her bones by the time they get to the building. The level of anxiety that is drumming through the link is not helping Donna's nerves any at all. A sudden change in the wind brings a cloyingly familiar scent to her nose. Tapioca/Candy floss, so strong and overpowering that Donna gags. She turns and spits bile into a bush that is growing against the building. The Doctor places a bracing hand on her shoulder, but keeps his attention to the Aeckurans. This close to the building the people are utterly emaciated, their colourful frocks and headgear in rags and tatters around them. They are all facing the building, once brilliant eyes dull and lifeless, mouths open and expelling that same reverberating sound. There is something heartbreaking about this. Donna wants to cry on their behalf, horrified by the empty gazes.
Inside the building it is the same. Corridor after corridor filled with the forms. The Doctor gestures towards the back of the building, his sonic buzzing wildly in hand. Donna and the Doctor have to squeeze through doorways and inch through the filled spaces, both of them careful not to harm the mindless masses. Some of them are already dead, tilted over next to an uncaring neighbour, mummified in the cool stale air. Donna winces as she steps on something. There is a loud 'snap' that is drowned out by the drone but manages to reach her ears anyway. She looks down. A shattered femur rests feebly under foot. She has to pause and take a deep breath to steel herself. A cool hand comes to rest on her own, and she looks up to meet the Doctor's concerned eyes. She gives him a small smile in thanks for his wordless reassurance. The drone is giving her a terrible bone-deep headache, and she feels the ghost of an answering one in the Doctor.
The inside of the building was probably beautiful once, she thinks, her eyes taking in the construction with some professional appreciation. Primitive, but well built, and very reminiscent of Roman architecture. It's internal structure is mostly wood, but the floor is made of the same bluish stone as the buildings in the square, just polished to a smooth shine. There are banners in here as well, most of them grey with dust and age. Some of them have elaborate designs on them, probably denoting some history or perhaps the patron that had donated them, but most are solid colours under the grime. There are so many of them that Donna thinks they must have some kind of dampening effect on the noise, though unnoticeable at this decibel level.
The closer they get to the back of the building, walking through a vaulted, gently curving corridor, the fewer live Aeckurans there are. It doesn't get any quieter, though part of Donna thinks it should. There are skeletal forms of adults and children alike in the dust, thinning out slightly, but still blocking their way. Donna notes with some surprise that the high corridor that they've been following has a gentle slope down-wards. She glances at a window, only to realise that there are none on their level. One floor up, light flows through some high windows. The building appears to have been dug out of the valley wall.
The two Time Lords finally reach an open door and share a grim look before stepping through. They find themselves in the gallery area of what was once a theatre. There are rows and rows of seats in a large semi-circle facing a stage. In each seat, a dead and crumbling mummy sits, a gruesome testimony to whatever has happened here. The clothing these mummies are wearing is of a different style than the drab, yet colourful style of the natives they've met wear. It is more elaborate, more creative. The roof has partially caved in at one corner, letting the planet and moon-light in, green sky clearly visible. The architecture looks ancient and decrepit, but the part of her that was forever changed when she looked into the untempered schism is already drawing up schematics on how to repair and improve the structure. Donna takes another deep breath, trying to remand that part of herself to the deep corners of her mind, and coughs wildly as dust and air borne debris try to congest her lungs. Her respiratory bypass kicks in, much to her relief.
The stage area seems to have sunk away. There is a deep pit there, deep enough that they need to walk all the way to edge to see the bottom. A shaft of light pierces the darkness like a spotlight. The woman from earlier is pacing the floor, occasionally throwing contemptuous glances at the remains of her fellow Aeckurans as she walks past them. The contrast between the bright area and the shadows is enough that Donna doesn't seen Terry at first. Her eyes scan the area, looking for signs of movement, of anything that might betray her son's presence. The Doctor grabs her arm and points into a shadow at the far right of the pit, his sonic pulsing.
The woman is clearly talking, the movements of her mouth clearly visible, an occasional hand gesture thrown in for good measure, but the droning is still too loud for Donna to make out any words at all. Donna turns her attention to finding a way down there, rather than to what the crazy person is saying. Her sonic whirs in her hand as she does a quick scan. There have been more catastrophic failures of architecture that block their access. Donna grabs the Doctor's hand in hers again, and pulls him along, making sure to keep out of sight of the woman. A rock-fall has created a possible access route, a pile of debris stacked high enough that a few jumps is all that stands in their way. They slide down the last small drop into a shadow not far from the pacing woman. This is when Donna spots Terry, tried up in what looks disconcertingly like a straight jacket. He is being made to sit in a chair by two thugs. Terry looks away from the pacing woman for just a moment, and catches her eye. Donna smiles reassuringly, and places a finger over her lip. He smiles crookedly in response, then turns his attention back to the woman.
Whatever the purpose of the sound, it is nearly completely dampened at the bottom of the pit by some strange coincidence of acoustics. The sound of the woman pacing echo slightly in the enclosed space, and her ranting starts to come through loud and clear. It takes a moment for Donna to realise that the Doctor isn't directly by her side. He is edging over to a deeper shadow. For a moment all Donna can see is a wall of darkness under the seating area, but then her eyes adjust. There is another pit there, and clearly her companion has decided to check out what is in it. Donna turns her eyes back to her son's captor, and realises that she is ranting at something in the pit.
Donna gives up any pretence of not following the Doctor and hurries after him. The smell of Tapioca and candy floss is stronger here, she notes absently, then stops short at the Doctor's side.
There is an Ilk in the pit.
It isn't anything like the setup that they had encountered on the Edifice. This Ilk is clearly not here by its own free will. It is held down by what appears to be a thick netting, forcing the blobby mass of its body to the ground. There are spikes woven into the netting, long dangerous looking things that are jabbing the creature mercilessly, creating large rents and wounds in its gelatinous form that ooze bright pink blood, somewhat sluggishly. There is a set of long wires attached to the spikes. Donna follows their flow back towards the stage area. They are attached to a generator, in a style that reminds her of those little mechanical toys that she had been looking at in the market place. More of the Aeckuran thugs are working the generator. Occasionally the Ilk twitches violently, but it is completely unable to get free. Donna and the Doctor exchange a look of determination. Whatever the hell is going on here, they have to stop it.
Then, the Doctor gets that stupidly determined look on his face, again. Donna doesn't have even half a moment to react before he walks straight into the light and catches the woman's attention. "Now, what the hell do you think you are doing here?" he booms out, apparently shocking the woman senseless for a moment.
Donna feels herself shake with suppressed fury at his thoughtlessness, but takes the opportunity to run over to where the two thugs are holding Terry. She flips her sonic to it's maximum setting, which is not fatal, but rather incapacitating if she does have to say so herself. The two thugs fall like puppets with their strings cut, purple blood spurting from their noses as the powerful sonic, and incredibly localised pulse, knocks them out. She hurries to undue the bindings of Terry's restraint, and hugs him to within an inch of his life as soon as she can. A quick pat down to asses him for injuries later, and the two of them turn their attention to the verbal battle that the Doctor is fighting.
