A Cracked Fairy-tale
The Hungry Earth
"Behold..." the Doctor announced, flinging the TARDIS doors open "Rio!"
Amy and Rory stepped out of the box to find themselves in a cemetery on a dull, misty day "Nuh-uh." Amy said flatly, wrapping her jacket around herself to try and keep out the chill
"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe." Rory remarked, eyeing their surroundings
"That's cos' we're not in Rio." Gazelle said from where she was checking the environment on one of the monitors "We're in Cwmtaff, South Wales."
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS "Ooh, feel that, though." he frowned, bouncing up and down on the spot "Ground feels strange. Just me? Wait, that's weird."
"What's weird?" Rory asked
"Doctor, stop trying to distract us." Amy complained "We're in the wrong place." the Doctor ignored her and ran round to the other side of the church they'd landed by "Doctor, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio!"
"You and me both." Gazelle muttered, glancing uncomfortably down at the shorts she'd decided to wear today
"We are not stopping here!" Amy continued to moan as the Doctor knelt down and plucked out a few blades of grass "Doctor! You listening to me?! It's a graveyard! You promised us a beach!"
"Blue grass." the Doctor muttered thoughtfully as he stood up again "Patches of it all round the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish."
"2019, actually." Gazelle corrected, having read the date on the monitor
"Wrong continent, I'll admit." the Doctor conceded "But it's not a massive overshoot."
"Could've been worse." Gazelle replied "At least we're on the right planet this time." it seemed that the TARDIS was even more uncooperative than ever lately, causing Gazelle to wonder if the box was doing it deliberately to punish the Doctor for the damage he'd caused with his regeneration
It was then that Amy noticed two figures waving to them from the other side of the valley "Why're those people waving at us?" she wandered
"Can't be." the Doctor muttered, pulling out a pair of binoculars "It is! It's you two."
"No, we're here." Rory said "How can we be up there?"
"Well, this is nine years in your future, Rory." Gazelle told him "Maybe you both decided to come back here to relive old times."
"We're still together in nine years?" Amy remarked
"No need to sound so surprised." Rory rolled his eyes
"Hey, let's go and talk to them!" Amy said eagerly "We can say 'hi' to future us. How cool is that?"
"Better not." Gazelle warned "We don't a paradox and then Reapers devouring the Earth again."
Something in the valley below caught the Doctor's eye "Oh, look. Big mining thing! Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio! Rio doesn't have a big mining thing."
"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy groaned, just knowing that the Doctor was going to do exactly that
"Let's go and have a look!" the Doctor said eagerly "Come on, let's see what they're doing." and he walked away towards the valley
Gazelle just shook her head fondly and went back to the TARDIS to get changed. There was no way she was going to walk about the Welsh valleys in shorts!
"If they can't get us to Rio, how're they gonna get us back home?" Rory said to Amy
"Did ye not see, over there?" Amy replied "It all works out fine."
"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives." Rory frowned "The nurse and the kissogram?"
"I guess." Amy shrugged "He's getting away." she took Rory by the arm
"Hang on." Rory stopped her "What're you doing with that?" he pointed to Amy's ring finger
"Engagement ring!" Amy said, proudly holding it up "I thought you liked me wearing it."
"Amy, you could lose it." Rory pointed out "Cost a lot of money, that."
Amy slipped her ring off and gave it to him "Spoilsport." she snorted. She didn't see the harm in wearing the ring. After all, the Time Lords wore their wedding rings for all to see.
"Go on, I'll catch you up." Rory told her "Gazelle's in the TARDIS, I'll be with her."
And so, they went their separate ways, with Rory going back to the TARDIS and Amy running after the Doctor "Doctor!" she called
Rory put Amy's engagement ring back in it's box and put the box on the console for safekeeping. Just then, Gazelle came back to the console room, having swapped her shorts for her usual jeans "Oh, hey, Rory, what're you doing here?"
"Just putting something away." Rory replied
"Where's Amy?"
"She went after the Doctor." Rory told her "Er, that's alright, isn't it?"
"Yep." Gazelle answered. The Dream Lords business had put her mind to rest about Amy's fascination with the Doctor, and she decided that it was time to start trusting her again "So, shall we?"
Gazelle and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS to find a brunette woman in a fuchsia coat and a small boy in a stripped rugby shirt standing there "Well, that was quick." the woman remarked
"Was it?" Rory blustered, wandering what the woman was talking about
"It's great that you both came."
"Bit retro." the boy commented, looking at the TARDIS "What is it, portable crime lab?"
"In a manner of speaking." Gazelle replied
"Ambrose Northover." the woman introduced, holding out a hand, which both time travellers shook "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot."
"Where're your uniforms?" Elliot asked
"Don't be cheeky, Elliot. They're plain clothes." Ambrose scolded "CID, is it?" she asked the time travellers
"Yep, that's us." Gazelle replied, producing her psychic paper "Detective Inspectors Smith and Williams at your service."
"Right, it's over here." Ambrose said, and led the confused time travellers away
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Amy arrived at the drill site, Gazelle having telepathically informed the Doctor of their delay "'Restricted access.'" the Doctor read the sign on the locked gates "'No unauthorised personnel.' Hmm." he flashed his sonic screwdriver at the padlock to open it
"That is breaking and entering." Amy hissed. She noticed that both Time Lords seemed rather casual about breaking into places
"What did I break?" the Doctor answered nonchalantly "Sonicing and entering, totally different." he opened the gate
"Come on, then." Amy said and they entered the site
Back at the graveyard, Ambrose, Gazelle, Rory and Elliot were looking into an open grave. "It's a family plot, see." Ambrose explained "My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alan, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now."
"Mum, they don't care about that." Elliot interrupted "They want to know about the dead bodies."
"Yes, sorry. Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together." Ambrose said "But when we went to bury uncle Alan, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything."
"What?" Rory frowned
"Was there any indication of graverobbers?" Gazelle questioned
"No, none at all." Ambrose replied "On the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with. Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried. But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?"
"Well, that's what we're here to find out, Mrs Northover." Gazelle replied, realising that maybe this was why the TARDIS had brought them here. The ship must've sensed that something was happening here, so had brought them here so they could investigate.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Amy walked through the halls of the drill site "What about about now?" the Doctor asked Amy "Can you feel it now?"
"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're talking about." Amy replied
"The ground doesn't feel like it should."
"It's nine years in the future." Amy shrugged "Maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels."
"Good thought, but no, it doesn't." the Doctor replied. Then, he heard a loud whirring sound "Hear that? Drill in start-up mode. After waves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." he took out the blades of blue grass he'd pulled out earlier and stuffed them in his mouth, before making a face and spitting them out quickly
"Oh, please. Have you always been this disgusting?" Amy wrinkled her nose
"Pretty much." the Doctor waved her off, making a mental note to try and get out of the habit of using his taste buds to try and identify things "What's in..." he entered a room where an Asian woman was busy working on a bank of computers "Here? Hello!"
"Who are you?" the woman eyed them suspiciously "What're you doing here? And what're you wearing?" she glanced at Amy's skimpy outfit
"I dressed for Rio." Amy grunted, making a mental note that maybe it was time to seriously consider wearing trousers
The Doctor produced his psychic paper "Ministry of drills, Earth and science." he fired off "New ministry, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?"
"None of your business." the woman retorted
The Doctor wasn't fazed and walked over to the computer monitors "Where're you getting those readings from?"
"Under the soil." the woman said, removing some equipment from a hole in the floor
Just then, an older man walked in "The drill's up and running again." he reported, then spotted the two time travellers "What's going on?" he questioned the woman "Who're these people?"
The Doctor knelt by the hole and tested the soil, by letting it slip through his fingers, while Amy answered the man "Amy, the Doctor. We're not staying, are we, Doctor?"
"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" the Doctor questioned
"We don't know, it just appeared overnight." the woman said, while Amy knelt down to look at the hole
"Good, right." the Doctor said as he quickly got to his feet "You all need to get out of here very fast." he hurried over to one of the monitors.
"Why?" the woman questioned
"What's your name?" the Doctor asked her
"Nasreen Chaudhry."
"Look at your screens, Nasreen, your readings. They're moving."
The man came striding over to the Doctor "Hey, that's specialised equipment!" he grumbled "Get away from it!"
"What is?" Nasreen asked the Doctor
Amy noticed steam wafting out of the hole "Doctor, this steam, is that a good thing?" she asked
"Shouldn't think so." the Doctor replied, coming back over "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting."
"What shouldn't?" Nasreen questioned
Before the Doctor could answer, the ground began to shake "The ground, the soil, the earth, moving. But how?" he wandered, running back over to the monitors "Why?"
"Earthquake?" Amy suggested
"What's going on?" the man questioned
"Doubt it." the Doctor said to Amy "Cos' it's only happening under this room." more holes appeared as the ground began to subside underneath "It knows we're here. The ground's attacking us."
"No, that's not possible!" Nasreen said sceptically
"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" the Doctor hollered, grabbing Nasreen by the hand and making for the door
The man moved to follow, but a hole appeared right underneath his foot, trapping him "Tony!" Nasreen cried
Amy paused, debating whether to run to safety or to stop and help Tony "Stay back, Amy!" the Doctor warned, realising what the ginger was thinking "Stay away from the earth!"
Amy, being Amy of course, ignored him and leapt over to help Tony "It's ok." she said as she began to help him out, but then another hole appeared beneath Amy, trapping both her feet "It's pulling me down!" she cried as she felt herself begin to sink into the ground
"Amy!" the Doctor yelled, running over to help
"Doctor, help me! Something's got me!"
The Doctor lay down on his stomach and reached for Amy
"Doctor, the ground's got my legs!" Amy cried as she sunk to her waist
"I've got you!" the Doctor said, gripping Amy by both hands
"Ok. Don't let go." Amy said as Nasreen helped Tony out of his hole
"Never."
"Doctor, what is it? Why's it doing this?"
"Stay calm keep hold of my hand." the Doctor reassured her, then turned to the others "Your drill, shut it down! Go! Now!" Tony and Nasreen hurried away
"Can ye get me out?" Amy asked
"Amy, try and stay calm." the Doctor told her "If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand. I'm not going to let you go."
Amy's arms slipped from his grip and she sunk up to her chest "Doctor, it's pulling me down!" she yelled "Something's pulling me!"
"Stay calm." the Doctor urged, gripping her wrist with both hands "Hold on, if they can shut down the drill..."
"I can't hold on!" she sunk down to her neck "What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't wanna suffocate down there!"
"Amy, concentrate. Don't you give up!" the Doctor urged
"Tell Rory..."
"No, Amy!" the Doctor hollered as Amy was completely engulfed by the earth "Amy, no! No! No!" he frantically began to dig at the dirt "No, no, no, no, no, no!" he slapped the ground in frustration and stood up "No! No!" he began flashing his sonic at the hole just as Nasreen and Tony came back in
"Where is she?" Nasreen asked
"She's gone." the Doctor replied grimly "The ground took her."
At the graveyard, Rory was crouching by the side of the grave, while Gazelle had climbed down into it and was scanning the earth with her sonic "Do you two want sugar?" Elliot asked them
"Sorry?" Rory blinked
"In your teas." Elliot clarified "Mum's asking."
"No. Just white for me, thanks." Rory replied
"Just milk in mine, please." Gazelle added, checking her scan results
"There's only one explanation as far as I can see." Elliot remarked
"And what's that, then?" Gazelle asked him
"The graves eat people. Devour them whole, leave no trace."
"Not sure about that..." Rory began
"They didn't steal from above." Elliot reasoned "They couldn't have got in from the sides. Only other thing is, they get in from below."
"Not very likely, though."
"'When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'" Elliot quoted
"Sherlock Holmes." Gazelle noted
"Got the audiobook." Elliot nodded "The graves round here eat people." he walked away while Gazelle climbed out of the grave
"Is he right?" Rory asked her "Are the graves eating people?"
"I'm afraid so." Gazelle replied, brushing the dirt off her jeans "We'd better find the Doctor. He needs to know about this."
The Doctor, meanwhile, was pacing about, racking his brain, trying to figure out what was going on "Is that what happened to Mo?" Tony asked "Are they dead?"
"It's not quicksand." the Doctor said to himself "She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in, it wanted her."
"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen questioned
"You said the ground was dormant, just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning." the Doctor said to the Humans "And the drill had been stopped."
"That's right." Tony confirmed
"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back."
"So, what, the ground wants us to stop drilling?!" Nasreen scoffed "Doctor, that is ridiculous."
The Doctor paid no attention and scanned the hole with his sonic again "I'm not saying that." he said "And it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right." he checked the scan results "Oh! Of course! It's bio-programming!"
"What?" Nasreen raised a brow
"Bio-programming!" the Doctor clapped as he stood "Oh, clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects! It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future, and not here. What's it doing here?"
"Sorry, did you just say 'jungle planets'?" Nasreen stared
"You're not making any sense, man!" Tony added
"'Scuse me, I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up!" the Doctor retorted "The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack."
"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?" Nasreen probed
"Stop you drilling." the Doctor replied "We find out what's doing the bio-programming, find Amy and get her back. Shh, shh, shh! Have I gone mad? I've gone mad!"
"Doctor?" Nasreen frowned as the Doctor lay down on the ground and pressed his ear to it
"Shh, shh! Silence! Absolute silence! You stopped the drill, right?
"Yes."
"And you've only got the one drill?"
"Yes!"
"You're sure about that?"
"Yes!" Tony answered that time
"So, if you shut the drill down... why can I still hear drilling? It's under the ground."
"That's not possible." Tony frowned
The Doctor ran over to the machinery and began sonicing them "Oh, no, what're you doing?" Nasreen asked him
"Hacking into your records. Reports, samples, sensors, good, just unite the data, make it all one big conversation, let's have a look." he replied "So, we are here and this is your drill. 21.009 kilometres. Well done!"
"Thank you. It's taken us a long time."
"Why here, though? Why drill on this site?"
"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 million years."
"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying 'dig here.' They were a warning. 'Stay away.' Cos' while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up." he pulled up a screen on one of the monitors, which showed a vertical network of tunnels "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."
"No, no, we've surveyed that area." Tony said
"You only saw what you went looking for." the Doctor told him
"What are they?" Nasreen asked, pointing to the bottom of the screen, where something was registering
"Heat signals." the Doctor replied "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"
"Just my daughter and her family." Tony replied "The rest of the staff travel in."
"Grab this equipment and follow me." the Doctor said, slamming a monitor shut and making for the door
"Why?" Nasreen questioned "What're we doing?"
The Doctor stopped and turned round "That noise isn't a drill. It's a transport. Three of them, 30km down. Rate of speed looks to be about 150km an hour. Should be here in, ooh, quite soon." he checked his watch "12 minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on it's way up, now." and he left quickly
Nasreen and Tony packed away the other computers and followed him
They were soon walking up the hill towards some cottages, with the men carrying the computers and Nasreen pushing a wheelbarrow full of equipment "How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Tony wandered
"You saw the readings!" the Doctor replied
"Who are you, anyway?" Nasreen probed "How can you know all this?" suddenly, there was a whirring sound and red lights streaked across the sky "Whoa! Did you see that?"
The Doctor pulled out a slingshot and fired a rock at the sky. The rock hit a forcefield and red lights streaked out from the impact. The Doctor then aimed his sonic at the sky, revealing a dome-shaped forcefield surrounding the area "Energy signal originating from under the Earth." he observed "We're trapped."
Just then, Gazelle, Rory, Ambrose and Elliot joined them "Ah, Doctor." Gazelle said "We've got trouble here. Someone or something is bio-programming the graves to steal bodies."
"Yeah, saw it too." the Doctor replied "And now we've got an energy barricade stopping us from getting out and others from getting in."
"What?!" Rory stared "Ok, what about the TARDIS?"
"The what?" Nasreen questioned
"No, can't use the TARDIS with that lot up there." Gazelle said "Those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. We could modify the circuits to cope, but it'll take time."
"And time is one thing we haven't got." the Doctor added "We've only got nine and a half minutes."
"Nine a half minutes to what?" Rory questioned
"Let me guess, nine and a half minutes till whoever's doing all this arrives?" Gazelle asked her husband, who nodded
It was then that Rory noticed that someone was missing "Where's Amy?" he asked
"Get inside the church." the Doctor told Nasreen and the others "Rory, we'll get her back."
"What d'ya mean get her back?" Rory demanded "Back from where?"
"Oh, don't tell me." Gazelle groaned "The ground took her too?"
"Why didn't you stop it?!" Rory rounded on the Doctor
"I tried." the Doctor reasoned "I promise, I tried."
"Well, ya should've tried harder!" Rory said angrily
"Rory." Gazelle put a soothing hand on his shoulder "We'll find Amy. I promise you. Even if we have to literally move the Earth itself, we'll find her."
"Come on, please." the Doctor added "We need you alongside us."
Everyone was soon gathered in the church and debriefed on what was happening "So we can't get out, we can't contact everyone." Ambrose said sceptically "And something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth?"
"Yes." the Doctor confirmed "If we move quickly enough, we can be ready."
"No, stop." Ambrose scoffed "This has gone far enough."
"He's telling the truth, love." Tony told her
"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals, reception's always rubbish."
"Look, Ambrose." Nasreen told her seriously "We saw the Doctor's friend get taken, ok? You saw the lightening in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."
"Him?!" Ambrose stared, wandering how this man-child who seemed to love dressing up as Mr Bean could possibly make sense of all these strange happenings
"Me." the Doctor grinned
"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asked
"Yes." the Doctor replied, then turned to Ambrose "But we need you to trust us and do exactly as me and my wife say from this moment onwards because we're running out of time."
"So tell us what to do." Ambrose conceded
"Thank you." the Doctor nodded "We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence." he turned to Gazelle "Now then, love, over to you."
"Right." Gazelle said as she stood "We need every phone, camera, every single piece of transmitting equipment that we can lay our hands on. Burglar alarms, movement sensors, security lights, you name it. We need to hook up sensors to cover the whole area."
Soon everyone was hard at work preparing a defence. Outside the church, Ambrose and Rory hooked up cameras in ideal locations and Gazelle soniced them to connect them to the computers
Inside the church, the Doctor was checking the progress of the oncoming invaders on the monitor "Right, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up." he said and turned to Elliot "We need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going."
"I can't do the words." Elliot said "I'm dyslexic."
"Oh, that's alright." the Doctor reassured him "I can't even make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." and Elliot scampered off, while the Doctor checked his watch "6 minutes 40." he went over to where Tony had brought up an overlay of the village
"Works in quadrants." Tony said "Every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know."
"Good lad." the Doctor grinned slapping him on the back
Outside, Gazelle was checking Ambrose's van for anything useful when the woman herself came up "Oi!" Ambrose called "What're you doing?"
"Just looking for anything we can use." the Time Lady replied "Every little bit helps. Let's see, you've got a hot plate in the front here and a chiller in the back."
"Bit chilly for a hideout, mind." Ambrose said, plonking a bundle of objects on the seats
"What are those?" Gazelle frowned, seeing that the bundle comprised of sharp garden implements, a hunting rifle and a taser gun
"Like you say, every little bit helps." Ambrose shrugged
"We didn't say anything weapons."
"Your husband said we're supposed to defend ourselves!"
"Ambrose, you're scared and wanna protect ya family. I understand that, really I do. I've been a mother myself and I understand the natural instinct to protect ya own, but violence isn't the answer. It only makes things worse. You're better than that, Ambrose. I'm asking you nicely, put the weapons away and let us handle us without any bloodshed." and with that, Gazelle went off to make further preparations.
Inside the church, Elliot showed the Doctor his map "Look at that!" the Doctor praised "Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein. It's not stopping you."
"I don't understand what you're going to do."
"Two phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive. Me and Gazelle will send sonic pulses through that network of devices, pulses that would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe."
"Knock 'e, out." Elliot nodded, catching the drift "Cool."
"Lovely place to grow up, round here." the Doctor commented. It seemed that quiet country villages were the preferred setting for extra-terrestrial threats lately
"Suppose." Elliot shrugged "I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."
"I was the same, where I grew up."
"Did you get away?"
"Yeah."
"Do you ever miss it?"
"So much." the Doctor sighed
"Is it monsters coming?" Elliot asked "Have you met monsters before?"
"Yeah."
"You scared of them?"
"No! They're scared of me!" the Doctor replied, a glint in his eye
"Will you really get my dad back?"
"No question." the Doctor smiled and went back to the computer
"I left my headphones at home." Elliot said, and left to fetch them
Outside, the others were just finishing up "Good work, Rory." Gazelle observed, noting how he'd done a good job of setting the cameras up
"It's getting darker." Rory frowned and looked up to see the sky darkening "How can it be getting dark so quickly?"
"They're shutting out the light inside the barricade." Gazelle realised "They're trying to put us at a disadvantage, which means they're close." and sure enough, a faint rumbling sound could be heard
They went to the church to see Ambrose and Tony struggling with the door "I can't open it!" Ambrose said "It keeps sticking. The wood's warped."
"Right, stand back." Gazelle said, and the Humans back away, then Gazelle swiftly booted the door in, causing it to open
"Nice one." Rory commented
"Yeah, learned it from a friend." Gazelle replied. She'd inherited Donna's sass and door skills.
They headed inside to join the Doctor and Nasreen "See if we can get a fix." the Doctor murmured, heading to one of the computers and narrowing down the area with the program Tony had set up
Suddenly, the lights went out, plunging them into darkness "No power." Tony groaned
"It's deliberate." the Doctor realised
"What do we do now?" Rory asked as Tony got out a torch and Gazelle used her sonic's penlight setting to provide some illumination
"Nothing. We've got nothing!" the Doctor said in frustration "They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."
"So much for defending ourselves non-violently." Gazelle groaned
"Is everyone ok?" Rory asked, his nurse instincts kicking in "Is anyone hurt?"
"I'm fine." Nasreen answered
"I'm good." Tony added
"Me too." Ambrose finished
Then came a loud rumbling "What is that?" Rory questioned
"It's like the holes at the drilling station." Tony observed
"Is this how they happened?" Nasreen asked the Doctor, who was kneeling down to listen to the ground
"It's coming through the final layer of the Earth." he noted
"What is?"
Then came silence. "The banging's stopped." Tony observed
"Which means they're here." Gazelle realised
Ambrose suddenly noticed that someone was conspicuously missing "Where's Elliot?" she fussed "Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"
"I did." the Doctor breathed, realising his mistake
"Where is he?"
"He said he was going to get headphones."
"Oh, don't tell me you let him go on his own?" Gazelle groaned
"I was busy!" the Doctor defended
"And you let him go!" Ambrose stormed "He's out there, all on his own!"
Then came banging on the other side of the door "Mum!" Elliot's voice shouted "Grandpa Tony! Let me in!"
"Elliot!" Ambrose shrieked, and raced over to the door, struggling to open it
"Let me in."
"He's out there!" Ambrose said to the others "Help me!"
"Open the door!" Elliot yelled, sounding panicked "Mum! There's something out here!"
Everyone ran over and tried to get the door open, but even with five adults, it still wouldn't budge "Push, Elliot! Push, Elliot!" Ambrose urged her son
"MUM!" Elliot yelled, now sounding absolutely terrified
"Hurry up!" Ambrose growled at everyone as they all struggled to get the stubborn door open
"Mum." Elliot's voice came again, now a terrified whimper
"Come on!" Tony grunted as with one big effort, the door finally opened
"Elliot!" Ambrose cried as she ran out first, but there was no sign of her son "Where is she? He was here. Elliot?!" she ran out into the graveyard
"No, Ambrose, wait!" Gazelle hollered, but it was too late, Ambrose was gone
"Ambrose!" Tony yelled as he ran out after his daughter
"Rory, stay here. Look after Nasreen." the Doctor instructed as he and Gazelle went after the Humans
Soon, they heard Ambrose's voice yell "Dad!", so they hurried off in that direction
They found Tony sitting on a gravestone in pain "What happened?" the Doctor asked
"My dad's hurt." Ambrose answered
"Get him in the church now." the Doctor ordered
"Elliot's gone." Ambrose whimpered "They've killed him, haven't they?"
"We don't know that for sure." Gazelle soothed her "There's still a very good chance Elliot's still alive. So don't give up hope just yet."
"Then where have they taken him?"
"We don't know yet, but we'll find him, Ambrose, I promise." Gazelle said
"But first, we've gotta stop this attack." the Doctor added "Please, get inside the church. Rory's a nurse, he can help your dad."
So Ambrose complied and helped Tony back to the church where Rory and Nasreen were waiting "So, what's the plan?" Gazelle asked her husband
"They've taken people from us, so let's how they like it if we do it to them." the Doctor replied
The Doctor was soon walking along the path wearing Gazelle's sunglasses. He glanced down at his hand and could see the red heat signature radiating from it. Then, he saw something moving in the bushes, something that gave off a blue signature "Cold blood." he smiled "I know who they are." he pulled the glasses off and went over to Ambrose's meals on wheels van and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the front seat. As he shut the door, he saw the reflection of the attacking creature behind him. He promptly spun round and sprayed it with the extinguisher. Gazelle then jumped out of the back of the van, and together, the two Time Lords managed to force their opponent into the back and slammed the doors shut, trapping it,
"Well, that takes care of that." Gazelle remarked
"Defending the planet with meals on wheels." the Doctor grinned, and they shared a congratulatory kiss
Then, a rumbling came "Huh, sounds like they took the hint." Gazelle remarked as the forcefield deactivated, allowing the daylight to shine through again "
"Now both sides have hostages." the Doctor agreed
Amy regained consciousness to find herself sealed inside a transparent coffin "Let me out!" she yelled, hammering on the lid "Can anybody hear me? I'm alive in here! Let me out! I know ye out there! My name is Amy Pond and you'd better get me the hell outta here or so help me I am going to kick your backside!" she saw a distorted figure through the glass "Please?"
"Shh!" the figure hissed
"Did you just shush me?!" Amy glared "Did you just shush me?" suddenly, the coffin began to fill up with knock-out gas "No, no, no, don't do that!" Amy coughed "No gas! No gas!" her protests were in vain and she was soon unconscious again
At the graveyard, Rory was sitting on a gravestone while the Time Lords explained about their captive "We've met these creatures before." the Doctor said "Different branches of the species, but all the same..."
"They're not evil, just very protective of themselves." Gazelle added "One of them is a good friend of ours, does detective work in Victorian London. This one should've thawed by now."
So the trio made their way to the church's cellar, where they'd put the prisoner "Are you sure?" Rory asked them "By yourselves?"
"Very sure." the Doctor replied as they entered the cellar, where the creature was chained up. It had a humanoid shape and was dressed in silver battle armour and a silver mask with a hole in the mouth area
"But the sting..."
"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge." the Doctor replied "Am I right?" he glanced to the creature "We know what we're doing." he told Rory "We'll be fine."
"We hope." Gazelle muttered, and so Rory left them to it, not entirely convinced, but deciding to trust their judgement
The Time Lords approached the creature, which tried to crawl towards them "I'm the Doctor and this is Gazelle." the Doctor said, both he and Gazelle holding their hands up to show that they meant no harm "We've come to talk. I'm going to remove your mask." he squatted down and removed the creature's mask, revealing it to have a female Humanoid face with green reptilian skin "Remnant of a bygone age on Planet Earth. And, by the way, lovely mode of travel. Geothermal currents, projecting you up through a network of tunnels. I would say gorgeous, but nothing is as gorgeous as you." he said to Gazelle, making her blush "Mind if we sit?" he said to the creature and pulled out a pair of fold-up chairs and he and Gazelle sat down
"Now to business." Gazelle said "Your people are holding a friend of ours, along with an innocent boy and his father. We'd like 'em all back, please."
No response from the creature
"Why did you come to the surface?" the Doctor tried "What do you want?"
Again, no response from the creature
"Oh, we do hate talking to ourselves." the Doctor remarked "Give us a bit back. How many are you?"
The creature finally spoke "I am the last." she hissed
"No offence, but if you were Pinocchio, you would've just poked the Doctor in the leg." Gazelle said flatly
"The Klempari defence." the Doctor added "As an interrogation device, it's a bit old hat, I'm afraid."
"I'm the last of my species." the creature insisted
"No." the Doctor stated "You're really not. Because we are the last of our species and we know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult us. Let's start again. Tell us your name."
"Alaya."
"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya?" the Doctor questioned, causing a flash of surprise to appear on Alaya's face "It's not difficult to work out. You're 300 trillion years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?"
"We were attacked." Alaya snarled
"Oh, the drilling." Gazelle realised "That wasn't an attack, Alaya. This is all just a misunderstanding."
But Alaya wasn't listening to reason "Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet."
"Do we have to say vermin?" the Doctor remarked "They're really very nice."
"Says the man who used to call 'em stupid apes." Gazelle quipped
"And that's what they are." Alaya spat "Stupid, primitive apes."
"No, they're an extraordinary and wonderful species." Gazelle countered "But we warn you, if you try and attack them, they will fight back. But there's a chance for peace here. We can help you with that."
"This land is ours." Alaya said stubbornly "We lived here long before the apes."
"Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid." the Doctor countered "Humans won't give up the planet."
"So we destroy them."
"Many other species have tried." Gazelle said "And they all failed because they underestimated the Human race."
"You underestimate us!" Alaya retorted
"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion Humans?" the Doctor scoffed "You've got your work cut out."
"We did not initiate combat!" Alaya said, pushing herself to her feet "But we can still win."
"Not if we side with the Humans." Gazelle countered "We're Time Lords, and you seriously underestimate us."
"Tell us where our friends are." the Doctor demanded, deciding that Alaya wasn't going to listen to reason and bluntness seemed to be the only language she understood "Give us back the people you've taken."
"No."
The Doctor sighed, and stood up "We're not going to let you provoke a war, Alaya." he and Gazelle put their chairs away "There'll be no battle here today." both Time Lords made for the door
"The fire of war is already lit." Alaya called to them defiantly "A massacre is due."
"Not while we're here." the Doctor shot back
"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you two sacrifice for yours?"
"If it stops a bunch of xenophobic lizards from committing genocide, then our lives if need be." Gazelle retorted, and with that, she and the Doctor left
Back in the main part of the church, the Time Lords told the Humans of their plan "You're going to what?!" Rory stared in disbelief
"We're going to try and find the rest of the tribe and try to reason with them." Gazelle clarified
"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose asked sceptically
"They're not aliens." the Doctor countered "They're Earth-liens. Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes or Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all."
"This is all a misunderstanding." Gazelle added "Your drilling was threating their settlement, so they panicked and lashed out. You'd do the same if you were in their place."
"Now, the creature in the crypt." the Doctor continued "Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors and she's our best bargaining chip. We need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot, Mo and Amy. Because we will find them. While we're gone, you four people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of Humanity."
"And what if they come back?" Tony pointed out "Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding it's weak points?"
"Don't even think about it!" Gazelle said sharply, pointing a warning finger "Like my husband said, she's our bargaining chip. If she's harmed, then we lose any chance of getting our people back in one piece."
"So no dissecting and no examining!" the Doctor added sternly "Nobody gets harmed. We can land this, together. If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"
Nasreen began to applaud, but stopped when she realised that nobody else was joining in.
The Time Lords left Rory in charge at the church and made their way to the TARDIS. Just as they reached the box, they heard footsteps and turned to see Nasreen running up behind them "No, sorry, no." the Doctor said, shutting the door "What're you doing?"
"Coming with you two, of course." Nasreen said "What is this, some kind of transport pod?"
"In a manner of speaking." Gazelle said for the second time that day "But we need you all to stay here."
"She's right." Tony said as he joined them "You're not going."
"I have spent my life excavating the layers of this planet." Nasreen said "And now you want me to stand back while you two head into it? I don't think so!"
"We don't have time to argue." the Doctor said irritably, checking his watch
"I though we were in a rush." Nasreen smirked
"It won't be safe down there." Gazelle told her seriously
"Neither is crossing the road." Nasreen countered
"Oh, for goodness sakes, alright then!" the Doctor conceded "Come on!" he unlocked the TARDIS, then he and Gazelle went inside and went to the console to prepare for departure
A moment later, Nasreen came in and did a double take when she saw the interior "Ah, yes, welcome aboard the TARDIS." Gazelle said to her "And yes, she is bigger on the inside."
"Don't touch anything!" the Doctor added sharply "Very precious."
Nasreen moved away from the doorway, marvelling at the TARDIS' interior "No way." she breathed "But that's... this is..." she slapped the Doctor on the arm "Fantastic! What does it do?"
"Everything." the Doctor answered "We're hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere." The TARDIS suddenly dramatically pitched, causing the trio to hold onto the console to avoid being thrown "Did you touch something?!" the Doctor yelled to Nasreen
"No!" Nasreen called back "Isn't this what it does?"
"This isn't us." Gazelle said, checking one of the monitors "Must be the Silurians. They're hijacking us. We can't stop it. They're pulling us to the centre of the Earth."
In the church crypt, the Humans went to check on Alaya "You had to come and see me." the Silurian commented
"We are going to keep you safe." Rory said. The Time Lords had trusted him to keep everything under control and he was determined to do just that.
"Your tribe are going to give us back our people in exchange for you." Ambrose added
"No." Alaya said simply, walking forward "Shall I tell you what's really going to happen, apes? One of you will kill me. My death shall ignite a war. And every stinking ape shall be wiped from the face of my beloved planet."
"We won't allow that to happen." Tony said defiantly
"I know you apes better than you know yourselves." Alaya smirked maliciously "I know which one will kill me. Do you?"
The TARDIS finally stopped, sending it's three occupants tumbling to the floor "Where are we?" Nasreen asked as they picked themselves up
The Doctor ran for the door, the women quickly following. They stepped out of the TARDIS to find themselves in a tunnel lined with fungus and roots. The Doctor looked up the way they'd fallen and whistled in amazement "Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system." he observed "Don't suppose it was designed for something like this."
"How far down are we?" Nasreen asked
"A lot more than 21km."
"So why aren't we burning alive?" Nasreen wandered
"Good question." Gazelle nodded "S'pose the Silurians must have an atmospheric shell, so they can't be far away."
"Interesting, isn't it?" the Doctor said to Nasreen
"Is it like this every day with you two?" Nasreen asked
"Pretty much." Gazelle shrugged "One of these days, we might actually get a quiet day off. Haven't had one for a while now."
"Aw, those days are boring." the Doctor pouted, taking his wife's hand and heading off down the tunnel. Nasreen shook her head at the pair and followed them.
Amy awoke to find herself strapped upright to an examining board and began to struggle against her bonds. "Don't struggle." a male voice urged her, and she looked round to see a man in a similar predicament to her "Close ya eyes and don't struggle."
"What?" Amy questioned "Where am I? Why can't I move my body?"
"Decontamination, they call it." the man told her "They did it to me. While I was conscious."
"Ok, ye freaking me out now. Did what? Who did?"
"Dissected me." the man said and looked down at his torso, where there was a long, vertical scar.
"No." Amy breathed in horror
"He's coming, I'm sorry." the man whispered urgently "I wish I could help you."
A Silurian entered the room, wearing a surgical apron and mask, and holding up a syringe. Amy promptly struggled furiously against her bonds.
Meanwhile, the Doctor, Gazelle and Nasreen were making their way through the tunnel. The Time Lords walked past an opening, but Nasreen stopped to look.
"We're looking for a tribal settlement." the Doctor said "Probably housing about a dozen Homo reptilia. Maybe less."
Nasreen looked out at something bathed in a golden light "One small tribe." she said slowly
"Yeah, pretty much." Gazelle said as she and her husband walked back to join the Human
"Maybe a dozen?" Nasreen repeated as the Time Lords reached her
"Ah." the Doctor said as they saw what Nasreen had found "Maybe more than a dozen."
"More like an entire city full of 'em." Gazelle finished as they looked down on a large community of buildings and monuments.
To be continued...
Author's notes: And I managed to get another chapter done. Not my best work, but then again, this is a Chibnall story, so there's not much that can be done to salvage it. Still, did what I could. Something I noticed about this story, it borrows elements from several 3rd Doctor stories. The most obvious is Doctor Who and the Silurians, with the appearance of the eponymous lizard people. Other similarities are with Inferno, with the drilling project, and The Daemons, with the forcefield cutting off the village from the outside world. Just to explain the reference to Vastra, a comic established that the 9th Doctor was the one who first met her, so I've gone with that, and imagine that it was 9 and Gazelle 4 who first met her, hence the reference here. So, not my best work, but I hope you will at least find it passible. Not sure when I can do the next chapter, hopefully soon. So, hopefully see you all soon.