"Behold!" The Doctor loudly proclaimed, throwing the TARDIS doors open. "Rio de Janeiro!"
El and Sarah Jane blinked, stepping outside.
"Yeah, no." Sarah Jane told the notoriously unreliable Time Lord.
El frowned, as she looked on the old graveyard, wet from recent rainfall, the sky thick with grey clouds. "Looks… different to how you described it. No sun."
"No!" The Doctor loudly replied. "But feel that!" The Doctor suddenly began hopping up and down. "The ground feels… strange."
Sarah Jane let out a frustrated sigh. "Doctor, where are we?"
The Doctor sniffed the air, and stuck out his tongue, smacking his lips. "Somewhere in Wales, I'd say. Oh!" He suddenly ran around the outside of the building, looking at the patches of discolored ground below, before stopping at one. "Blue grass… patches of it all around the graveyard." He noted, narrowing his eyes, before turning to the others, putting away the sample he took. "So, Earth, 2020! That's about ten-ish years in your future, Sarah Jane."
"Really?" Sarah Jane looked around. "Doesn't look that different."
"Did 2000 look too terribly different to 2010?" The Doctor retorted.
"Dad?" El suddenly asked, pointing to a hill into the distance. "Who're they?" Three people were standing on it in the distance, a tiny blue object behind them.
The Doctor's eyes focused in that direction, and they narrowed. "Can't be…" He reached into his jacket, pulling out a pair of binoculars to look through. "It is!" He said in surprise. "It's you, El! And Sarah Jane!" The Doctor answered. "And… JACK HARKNESS!?" He bellowed in rage. "OI! You get away from her!"
"What are we doing over there?" El inquired.
"God only knows." The Doctor replied, focusing through the binoculars. "Well, we are in Wales. Jack probably flirted his way into interstellar war again and had to call us to fix it."
Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow. "Again?"
"Yeah… the Drahvins didn't take too kindly to him during our visit to their homeworld." The Doctor replied. "He got half the entire species pregnant. Don't ask me how he managed that."
"Oh, oh!" El began hopping up and down excitedly. "Let's go talk to them." As strange as it sounded, she wanted to see Jane -herself- again.
"No." The Doctor gently grabbed her shoulder, preventing her from going that way. "Best not. These things can get complicated, trust me. And… Oh, look!" The Doctor pointed to a large metal support structure, painted bright yellow, with a metal arm extending down into the ground below. "Big mining thing. Oh, I do love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio." The Doctor pointed. "Rio doesn't have a big mining thing."
"Let me guess," El began, "Look?"
"Yep!" The Doctor confirmed. "Let's go and have a look." He suddenly dashed off in the direction of the drill.
Sarah Jane sighed, shaking her head. "I should've known his piloting hasn't improved one iota since I was last aboard."
"It'll work out." El said, as they moved to follow. Who knows, the Doctor's inability to pilot might be the inciting event that caused El to learn how to fly the TARDIS.
"Oh," Sarah Jane suddenly patted her pockets with a sigh. "I forgot my sonic lipstick again. Go with your father, I'll catch up."
El nodded and turned to catch up with the Doctor.
Sarah Jane walked up to the TARDIS console, shaking her head. One of these days, she was going to forget her own head.
The woman grabbed the sonic lipstick out of the small slot that was normally reserved for the Doctor's screwdriver, and the TARDIS warbled happily, as Sarah Jane went to exit.
She pulled the door shut, the locking mechanism engaging by itself, as she turned around.
"Well, that was quick." A redheaded woman wearing magenta clothes commented, a young boy standing next to her, looking Sarah Jane up and down.
Sarah Jane blinked. "Was it?" She commented. Maybe that was why the other versions of her, El, and Jack Harkness were standing on that hill. They'd been called in to do something, but they knew their past selves had shown up to deal with it, so they saw themselves off.
"It's great that you came." The other woman stated.
"Bit retro." The boy looked around the outside of the TARDIS curiously. "What is it? Portable crime lab?"
"Oh, something like that." Sarah Jane replied. The TARDIS was portable, if nothing else, and the Doctor was rather like a detective in some respects.
"Ambrose Northover." The woman introduced herself, shaking Sarah Jane's hand. "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot."
"Hello." Sarah Jane said to the boy.
"Where's your uniform?" He questioned.
"Don't be cheeky, Elliot." Ambrose admonished him before Sarah Jane came up with an answer. "She's plainclothes. CID, is it?" She asked of Sarah Jane. "Anyway, it's over here." She guided the woman over.
Sarah Jane stood there for a moment. "Okay. You've been doing this for years without the Doctor's help, and the Doctor managed to survive without your help for… a few days. He'll be fine."
"Restricted access." The Doctor read with narrowed eyes. "No unauthorized personnel… guess we'll have to come back later."
El looked like she was about to explode. "…do it."
The Doctor laughed manically, flicking the sonic screwdriver open, and pointing it at the padlock at the metal gate. The bit of metal popped, sending out a small shower of sparks, before falling to the ground.
"Electronic padlocks." The Doctor shook his head, putting the sonic away. "It's like they were asking for me to break in."
"Ah, yes." Sarah Jane followed. "What is it that I'm investigating?"
Ambrose frowned. "You don't know?"
"Oh, you know how it is." Sarah Jane replied, "So much red tape, things get lost in the mix."
Ambrose nodded, and took the lead over to an open, empty grave. "Well, it's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. Not many of us left up here now."
"Mum," Elliot rolled his eyes, "She doesn't want to hear about that. She wants to hear about the bodies."
"Yes. Sorry." Ambrose apologized to Sarah. "Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together. But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys was… gone."
Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow. "Gone?"
"Coffin, body, everything." Ambrose elaborated.
Sarah Jane frowned, looking to the open, empty grave, bottom muddy from the rain.
"The thing is; the grave was untouched." Ambrose continued. "No signs of it having been messed with."
"Is it possible it could've happened just after she was buried?" Sarah Jane considered. That was a common tactic among corpse thieves, alien and otherwise. Wait for the mourners to leave, dig up the still disturbed soil, and then scarper, nobody the wiser until it was far, far too late.
"No." Ambrose stated. "They've had cameras overlooking this place since 2012, if it happened back then, somebody would've noticed. The fact is, a grave that hasn't been touched for six years is suddenly empty!"
"Interesting…" Sarah Jane looked in. Well, count her intrigued.
"What about now?" The Doctor questioned as he and El turned the corner into the facility. It didn't look military, that was good, less shouty people with guns he had to deal with. "Do you feel it now?"
El shook her head. "No clue what you're talking about."
The Doctor suddenly stopped, looking around. "The ground doesn't feel like it should."
"It is the future." El considered as they began walking again. "Maybe this is just how it feels?"
"El, the year 2020 is host to way too many events to count, but strange ground was never one of them." A faint siren sounded as they walked. "Hear that? Drill in start-up mode. After-waves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass…" He put the substance in his mouth, before spitting it out. "Eugh."
El frowned. "Gross."
"Yeah, don't really know where I picked up that habit. What's," He took the lead through a red door, "In here?"
The Doctor looked around a mechanical workshop, a woman standing at a computer at the other end.
"Ah!" The Doctor said to the woman as he entered the room. "Hello!"
"Who are you?" The woman questioned. "What are you doing here? …and what are you wearing?"
The Doctor looked down at the Hawaiian patterned shirt and waved it away. "Dressed for Rio. Ministry of Drills, Earth, and science." The Doctor flashed the psychic paper. "New ministry, quite big, just merged. There's quite a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it." He followed the woman's gaze to El and waved it away. "Bring your daughter to work day. What are you doing?"
"None of your business." The woman evasively answered, going to a nearby contraption set up in a hole in the floor.
The Doctor looked at the woman's screen and frowned. It was your standard seismograph, but… "Where are you getting these readings from?" The Doctor inquired.
"Under the soil." She answered, putting away the device.
"The drill's up and running again." A man announced, entering the room. Catching sight of the Doctor and El, he immediately stopped. "What's going on? Who are these people?"
"El, dad- the Doctor." El amended.
The Doctor frowned as he crouched by the hole, feeling around at the soil inside. "Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of the floor?"
"We don't know." The woman answered. "It just appeared overnight."
The Doctor's eyes widened. Appearing overnight, seismograph readings like that… "Right, good." He shot to his feet. "You all need to get out of here very fast." He told them, moving to look at the scanner.
"Why?" The woman questioned.
"What's your name?" The Doctor inquired as he began typing.
"Nasreen Chaudhry." She answered.
"Look at your screens, Nasreen." The Doctor pointed. "Look at these readings. It's moving."
"Hey!" The man barked, walking over to the Doctor. "That's specialized equipment, get away from it."
Nasreen looked to the Doctor. "What is?"
Nearby, unnoticed by all of them except El, the ground began to steam.
"Dad, the ground." El looked down at the hole. "This isn't good, is it?"
The Doctor turned around to look. "Shouldn't think so, no. The it's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting." He walked over to examine.
"What shouldn't?" Nasreen demanded.
The lights began to flicker as the room began to quake, the people inside staggering.
"The ground, the soil, the earth." The Doctor hurriedly explained. "It's moving, but how, why!?"
The seismograph went wild as the quake intensified.
"Is it… earthquake?" El asked.
"Doubt it!" The Doctor replied, looking to the scanner. "'Cause it's only happening under this room!"
Sections of the floor began to break apart, the people inside yelping, trying to get back from the steaming holes.
"It knows we're here." The Doctor stated. "It's attacking us. The ground is attacking us!"
"No, no, no that's not possible!" Nasreen replied.
"Under the circumstances," The Doctor shot back, "I'd suggest… run!" He quickly ordered, the others dashing to the other side of the room quickly.
"Ah!" The other man grunted in pain, as his foot suddenly fell through the floor.
"Tony!" Nasreen shouted.
The Doctor turned, looking to the girl standing nearby. "Don't get close, El! Stay away from the ground!"
El nodded, and turned to look at Tony, focusing her mind and her eyes. Her concentration was broken when, suddenly, the floor underneath her gave way as well. "Dad!"
The Doctor reacted quickly, sprinting over and diving to the floor. He took El's hand, trying to pull her out.
"El, try to pull with your mind!" The Doctor ordered, as he put what little psychic force he could behind his pull.
"I'm trying!" El replied. "It's not working! Don't… don't let go." She requested, as Nasreen pulled Tony out of his predicament.
"Never." The Time Lord replied.
"Dad…" El gulped. "What is it? Why's it doing this?"
Well, the Doctor had some theories… none of them good. "Stay calm." He told her instead. "Keep holding my hand. Don't let go." He turned to look at Tony and Nasreen. "Shut down that drill… NOW!" He bellowed when they took too long to go do as he instructed.
"Can you get me out?" El asked, breathing heavily. But, given that she was already trying to pull herself out with her powers, the Doctor was trying to pull from his side, and she was still stuck… the answer was likely to be no.
"El, stay calm." The Doctor told her. "It's like quicksand, struggling's only going to make it worse. Keep holding my hand. I won't let go of you."
El yelped as her grip slipped free momentarily, the Doctor grabbing back on. "Dad!"
"Stay calm!" The Doctor said, more to himself than her. "They'll shut down the drill, they can…" He grunted, struggling to hold on. "Hold on!"
"I can't!" El howled, as it felt like the downward pulling of the earth and the Doctor's grip was beginning to stretch her out. "Dad… find me."
"What?" The Doctor questioned.
He realized too late exactly what she meant when she let go on her own.
"El, no!" The Doctor shouted, as the girl closed her eyes, face disappearing under the dirt. "No, no!" He tried to pull her back out, only brushing against her fingers. "No, no, no!" He pounded on the ground, getting to his feet as the quaking finally stopped, far too late.
The Doctor soniced the ground, trying to stimulate it to push El back up… to no avail.
Nasreen and Tony came running in, looking at the ground in shock.
"Where is she?" Nasreen questioned.
"She's gone…" The Doctor replied. "The ground took her." In a microsecond, however, the Doctor switched from despondent to angry. He was going to get her back…
Even if he had to rip apart the planet to do it.
