DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who, unfortunately D: I own Odie's plot, and Odie's little settlement of immigrants. I am trying to make this story as accurate as possible, but when many sources contradict themselves, according to Doctor Who, I will ALMOST always take the TV-info as the correct.
This is the last part of Odie's first adventure. I really hope you enjoyed it, and if any of you found a mistake somewhere in the lore, please do correct me :o TARDIS wiki is a terribly confusing place.
The humans arrived in the Chieftain's room, Odie glad to see they wouldn't be interrupting anything again. The Chieftain was seated at the table, calmly chatting with one of the envoys over a cup of... Well, Odie assumed it was what passed for iced tea?
He stood up when Azeel entered, nodding.
"What is it?" he asked, as Azeel kneeled in front of his father, showing him the item. What was it called again?
"This Rilse was placed inside the strangers' room, Chieftain. The youngest human tells me that some Aggressives intends to frame them for sabotaging the Water Pump," he shared. Hisses spread around the room, and Odie shuddered. She didn't care if the Martians were peaceful, those hisses scared her. The Chieftain took the Rilse, and looked towards the humans.
"Who is the youngest amongst you?" he asked, and they all looked to Susan. Her lower lip was quivering; she was obviously not comfortable with the idea of speaking to the Chieftain. Odie smiled, reaching out for the younger girl. Susan slowly took Odie's hand in her own, approaching the Chieftain.
"I am," she stuttered.
"Who are these Aggressives who wishes to frame you?" he asked.
"I, ehm, thought I heard the name of Greizt," she muttered, and when hisses sounded all around them again, she shut up like an oyster. Odie wrapped an arm around Susan's shoulder, trying to calm her down.
"Greizt in the city? Impossible," the Chieftain hissed.
"But the humans could not know his name if not they had heard it, Chieftain," Azeel pointed out. The Chieftain shook his head.
"Someone could have told them," one of the envoys suggested.
"Impossible. I have been with them for as long as they have been in the city," Azeel quickly replied.
"But who would hide him?" another of the Martians, this one a female, asked, and Susan slowly got her voice working again.
"Usloo was there with him."
"Usloo" This hiss was thrown around the room, some in anger and others in disbelief.
"Have you any proof of this, traveler?" the Chieftain asked, and Susan slowly shook her head.
"I heard Greizt talk to him, that's all," she admitted.
This, of course, was not enough to convince the Chieftain. After all, what leader would believe one of his own was a criminal, based only by evidence and the statement of a witness? ... Odie groaned, rubbing her forehead, as the Chieftain dismissed them again.
"Then what about the Water Pipes? Azeel said that the Rilse could easily be responsible for those punctures," she reminded him, and the Chieftain shook his head.
"But they could also simply be caused by animal bites," he replied. The Doctor folded his hands as he stepped forward.
"With all due respect, Chieftain, I have a proposition," he said, and the Chieftain turned towards the aging man.
"Speak then." The Doctor nodded, a slight bow in his step forward.
"An easy way to settle this would simply be to summon Usloo, and have him tell you where he was during the bazaar," he suggested, and the Chieftain became silent with thought.
A few moments passed, but he eventually nodded.
"Very well. Azeel, bring Usloo here," he commanded, and their friend quickly bowed, leaving the room in a hurry.
Of course, Usloo himself denied every charge as soon as he stepped in the door. Odie couldn't see what the Doctor had hoped for with bringing him here.
"But then who was it that placed the Rilse in our room?" Susan asked, clearly disliking being a liar to such a degree, that her fear of speaking to the green Martians was overcome. A hiss from Usloo, the latest in a line of many.
"You must have used it to sabotage the Water Pump yourself, and now you are trying to frame it on me."
"AH-HAH!"
Everyone, and I mean everyone, jumped at the sudden exclamation from the Doctor, and they all looked to the old man, who looked as if Usloo had just gifted him a very precious object.
"What on Earth are you so happy about, Doctor?" Odie asked incredulously. The Doctor smirked, facing Usloo.
"But if we were indeed the ones to have punctured the Water Pipe with the Rilse, would that not require us to be able to lift it?"
The humans soon understood what he meant, although the Martians didn't.
"What do you mean, Doctor?" Azeel asked, expressing the confusion of all the Martians.
"Whereas you people can easily use the Rilse, the five of us do not have the strength required to even lift it off of the ground," he explained. The Chieftain hissed, but not a loud hiss indicating anger; this was a softer hiss.
"Would you care to demonstrate, Doctor?" he asked, and this had the five humans go on turns to try and lift the Rilse. Every single one of them failed, and even when two of them paired up, they could barely lift the heavy tool an inch off of the ground. Azeel nodded.
"This settles it. The strangers could, by no means, have sabotaged the Water Pump, and they could not even have lifted the Rilse into their room," he summed up, turning towards Usloo. Usloo was in a dire state. He was wheezing and hissing so frantically, Odie wondered if he would be sweating if he was a human.
"Usloo, your idea was wrong."
"It won't matter! You're too late to do anything about it! Greizt has already gone to destroy the Water Pump!" Usloo shut up quickly, but the damage had been done.
Loud hisses erupted from everywhere around them, and as two of the Martians overpowered Usloo, forcing him to the ground, the Chieftain stood up and began pacing back and forth.
"They are going to stop the cooling system, and then when you're all vulnerable, they will attack you," Susan said loudly, trying to make herself audible over the many hisses.
"We still have time! Some of us could go up to stop them," Ian insisted, but Azeel shook his head.
"We become slower in the heat, we won't make it in time."
"Then let us go up there!"
Everyone turned to look at Odie, who had been the one to come with the suggestion. She nodded eagerly.
"We can move quickly in the heat, so we can run towards the water pump, while some of your people makes their way to it. Greizt and his Aggressives are too strong for us humans to fight, but we can at least distract them until you get there," she suggested.
A chuckle was heard from the Doctor, who nodded.
"I think that is a most excellent idea, what about you, Chieftain?" he asked.
"Agreed. But you must move quickly," the Chieftain insisted, and Odie turned back towards the others.
"I am going. Anyone coming with me?"
Ian volunteered, while the others doubted that they could run fast enough. This resulted in Odie and Ian running through the village, as fast as they could. It was no problem making their way out of the village, the problem came when they got out. The sandy plain was hard to get a good speed on, and Ian soon discarded his loafers. He had trouble keeping up to the younger girl, who seemed to be running as fast as a horse.
The sun scorched down upon the plain, making sweat run down their faces, and tire them unnecessarily. The shade of the forest was welcome when they finally reached it, but they did not stop running until they reached the creek from before.
"The pump must be somewhere nearby," Ian reasoned. Odie nodded, looking up and down the creek.
"If only we knew which way."
"Odie, be quiet a moment," Ian asked, and Odie tried to calm her breath as best as she could. Had he heard something? For a while, all the two humans could hear was the trickle of the water around their feet, but soon they heard it. Leaves being cut, branches being snapped, and the unmistakable wheezing of the Martians. It was coming from further down.
Ian and Odie looked at each other, grinning, as they grabbed each other's hands and followed the creek in the direction of the noises. They tried to make as much noise as possible, splashing the water around with every stride. Before long, they came to a large lake, and a few meters on their right was a white machine. It was spluttering, as it sucked up water from the lake, and led it through silver pipes running down into the ground.
And after a little while, a small army of Martians came bursting out from the forest. It had to be every Aggressive banished over the past years. Ian groaned.
"Think we can outrun all of them?" he asked, and Odie smiled.
"Maybe, maybe not. Think Greizt is prone to speeches?" she whispered back, as she tightened her grip on Ian's hand.
"Which one of you is Greizt?" she asked loudly. A wheezing from behind them made the two humans' eyes widen.
"I am."
"DUCK!"
Odie and Ian both crouched down, barely getting out of the way before their heads would've been smashed by a powerful hit from the Martian, and they ran around him in a quick movement. And just to finish it off, Ian smashed his shoulder into the hard, reptilian body, causing Greizt to fall forward.
The two humans took a few steps backwards, for safety measures, as Greizt tried to get back on his feet, wheezing all the while.
"Why are you doing this, Greizt?" Ian asked aloud. The Martian hissed.
"Be quiet, traveler. You will not need to know my plans once you are dead," he retorted, and Odie gritted her teeth together, as she and Ian took another few steps back.
"There is no honor in dying without knowing why," she attempted, making Greizt look towards them with his large, black eyes. He stepped a bit on the spot, obviously wondering to himself whether he should kill them or not.
Ian blinked.
"Well done, girl," he whispered, and Odie nodded briefly.
"We aren't out of the woods yet," she whispered back, before she stood straight.
"If I have to die, I will at least want to know it is for an honorable cause," she called. And just as she knew he would, Greizt hissed.
"Great honor in our cause. We have all been banished from our villages; some for starting fights, others for not giving the gifts needed, and others again for arguing with their Chieftains. We have been stripped of our honor. But we will regain it, once we start our own village, a better village!"
Agreeing hisses were heard from the larger group of Aggressives gathered behind Greizt.
"What honor is there in attacking foes who are weakened by sabotage?" Ian asked, making more agitated hisses sound from them. "Is it not more honorable to fight them at their best, and know that your victory was won by just means?"
Odie smiled as the Martians were stepping where they stood; an action she had come to associate with nervousness and confusion from their species.
"I think, in reality, you know that you do not stand a chance if you don't weaken them first," Odie said aloud, as she heard the same noises from the forest as the ones that had led them here. They needed to continue speaking, so that Greizt and his accomplices wouldn't hear it.
"For all your talk of honor and justice, you are really just cowards and willing to use underhanded tactics to get what you want!"
Greizt hissed loudly.
"We are honorable!"
"Then prove it!"
Ian's eyes glimmered as Azeel came out of the bushels from Odie's left. Greizt hissed loudly, and when his small group of Aggressives turned around, they saw themselves surrounded by every able-bodied Martian from the village. Azeel stepped in front of Ian and Odie, as he pointed a finger on Greizt.
"If you truly have honor left in you, then defeat me in single combat. I challenge you to a duel, defending the honor of my village!"
Greizt hissed in an agitated fashion. This was clearly not how he had intended his revolution to progress. But whatever measure of honor he had left could not ignore a challenge, and so he stepped forward.
"I accept your challenge!"
The two Martians began circling around each other, their wheezing subsiding as something else took place. They were no longer considering their body, the way the heat tired them and made their body wish to hibernate. They were focusing on each other, the slightest tension of muscle and every step the opponent took.
Odie felt goose bumps break out on her arms, despite the hot air, and she slowly attempted to rub them away, while not taking her eyes away from the two Martians. A fight between two Martians, Azeel had explained to her, was a battle of endurance; who could keep concentration long enough, who could find a weak spot first, and who could protect themselves from attacks.
Greizt was bigger, possibly also older, than Azeel, but his aggressive nature made him impatient. This worked to Azeel's advantage. Greizt stepped forward, sending his arm in from the right towards Azeel's head, but Azeel crouched out of reach, as he gave Greizt an uppercut.
Greizt stumbled backwards in reaction to the strength of Azeel's hit, but when Azeel followed to land another hit, Greizt's left arm was sent forward and punched Azeel in the stomach. Azeel doubled up, hissing from the pain, but he was aware enough to step out of the way from Greizt's elbow that came swooshing down from above.
The two Martians were, once again, locked in the observation of each other. No words were spoken, they were unnecessary, and the tension stopped anyone else from saying anything either. Out of the corner of her eye, Odie saw the Doctor, Susan and Barbara arriving with the Chieftain, but she was too on edge from the atmosphere of the fight to make any movements.
The fight had lasted for almost ten minutes under the baking sun, and this was when it would be decided. Greizt threw himself forwards, and Azeel stepped to the side, sending an elbow towards Greizt's neck. Greizt, however, had counted on this and grabbed the elbow in one of his hands, throwing his other hand upwards in an attempt of an uppercut. Azeel send a kick in from below, sweeping the legs out from under Greizt, who fell as heavy as he was onto the ground.
One final bash from Azeel's arm onto Greizt's neck was enough to make the other Martian go limp. Whether he had died or merely fainted was not to say. But there was no cheering and no applause. For Martians were, by heart, a peaceful race, and even the violence necessary to protect what they loved pained them.
"We thank you for your hospitality, Chieftain, but I fear we must be on our way now," the Doctor said with a smile as the group walked up the creek. Greizt was being carried by his group of Aggressives, who in turn were spurred on by the other Martians.
"What will happen to Greizt?" Susan asked, and Azeel looked back towards the unconscious Martian.
"He will be brought back to the village. It is too dangerous to simply banish him again," he explained, and Barbara bit her lip.
"You will not kill him, right?" she asked, frightened, and Azeel shook his head.
"No, there has been enough violence. We are thinking of maybe copying your people's use of a 'prison'," he admitted, and Barbara and Susan smiled.
"If you are certain you will not stay, then I will not stop you, Doctor. But you are always welcome amongst us," the Chieftain said with a nod. Odie smiled, her arm linked with the Doctor.
"I hope you won't have any more problems with the Aggressives from now on," she said, making the Chieftain wheeze in a chuckling manner.
"So do I, stranger, so do I."
After saying goodbye to their new friends, the group slowly made their way towards the TARDIS. It was quite easy when they found Odie and Susan's discarded shoes.
"Why couldn't you just tell me what you needed me to do, Doctor?" Odie asked. The Doctor laughed.
"Why should I tell you, Odie? I knew you would suggest it on your own, so it was a waste of time for me to tell you, wasn't it?" he said. Odie groaned, shaking her head.
"Your logic is faulty, Doctor," she accused, as they arrived at the Police Box.
"His logic isn't the problem – his childish view on life is," Ian corrected her, and the Doctor scowled at the young man.
"Yes yes, that's quite enough out of you, Chesterton," he grumbled, as he led his little band of travelers into the Police Box. And as he did, he turned around, bowing slightly and entered himself. And as the TARDIS dematerialized, Azeel blinked.
"What kind of machine was that!?"
So! How did you like Odie's first adventure in the TARDIS? :)
Please stay tuned for the next chapter, another precious little interlude before Odie's second adventure commences! :)