CHAPTER THREE

The shove out the door was so hard that Claire rushed forwards several steps before stumbling to a stop. So it was several seconds before she could take in her new surroundings. The first thing Claire felt was the humidity, it was so hot she instantly felt a flush of sweat coating her entire body, the second thing was the damp, squishy sand between her toes. The third was the school of iridescent green fish swimming past her vision.

Wait, what?

Arms flailing, Claire turned about to see the Doctor closing the door of the blue box. Fish zipped past them both, as large fronds of purplish seaweed waved lazily nearby. Underwater, she was underwater!

The air in her lungs beginning to burn Claire began to clumsily half swim, half lope back towards the Doctor. She was going to drown, if she didn't get back inside and fast.

The Doctor caught Claire's arms, stopping her forward momentum. 'Claire, Claire, it's alright.'

Claire tried to fight off the Doctor as a couple of bubbles of precious air escaped her lungs.

'Claire listen to me,' the Doctor tried to get her attention, 'take a deep breath, you're just panicking. Puppies and kittens, remember, packages with string? Oh fine, we'll do it the hard way shall we?' he poked his fingers into her side.

'Argh,' Claire's air exploded from her mouth as she gasped in pain. 'Why did you do -?' her eyes widened in shock as Claire realised she was talking. Then it occurred to her that the Doctor had been talking, underwater. 'What the hell is going on?'

'I told you to breathe, remember, why does no one listen to me?'

'You never mentioned breathing underwater!' Claire took a shallow breath, then a deeper one. She was breathing air, somehow she was breathing air!

'On a bit of time schedule with the Reaving, in case you've forgotten.' The Doctor said, as he took her arm and began steering her away from his box. 'Let's walk and talk shall we?'

'But that's just it,' Claire protested, 'I am talking underwater, how is this even possible.'

'Hydroxsys catalyst convertor.'

'You what, now?'

'Converts water into oxygen,' the Doctor noted Claire's continuing confusion, 'the pretty rope about your neck. DON'T touch it!' Tthe Doctor snapped as Claire's hand moved upwards. 'Not unless you want to drown.'

Claire resisted the urge to even touch the rope and instead very carefully poked herself in the cheek.

'Why did you do that for?' The Doctor asked.

'I, dunno,' Claire shrugged, 'thought your hydro-whatsis might be some sort of force-field or something.'

'Or something,' the Doctor laughed, small bubbles emanating a short distance from his mouth and rising towards the distant surface. 'I could try and explain it, but I doubt you'd understand.'

'Condescending much?' Claire muttered.

'If it makes it any easier just think that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'

Claire stopped walking. 'Did you just quote Arthur C. Clarke at me?'

'No, I quoted me at you,' the Doctor tugged at Claire's arm to get her walking again.

Claire let herself be dragged along. 'Right, like you knew Arthur C. Clarke.'

'We were good friends, I helped him out with some technical bits and the occasional bit of writer's block. He never even bothered to credit me or anything.'

Claire looked about her surroundings. 'Can't believe I'm breathing underwater, this is too much,' she muttered.

The Doctor continued complaining. 'And it's not just Arthur, Will was always stealing my best stuff. The balcony scene, in Romeo and Juliet,' he turned to look at Claire, 'one of mine, you're welcome.'

'Will, William Shakespeare?' Claire stopped moving again, 'as if, there is no way you knew Shakespeare!'

The Doctor sighed. 'We're never going to get there if you insist on stopping all the time. Yes I knew Will, I am an alien, remember? Have a ship that travels in time as well as space.'

'Listen I'm still having a hard time getting my head around the space part, now you do time travel too? Where are we going anyway?'

'Just over there,' the Doctor pointed past a coral reef. He began walking but collapsed to one knee, crying out in pain.

'Doctor!' Claire bent down to try and help him, 'what's wrong?'

The Doctor pressed a hand against his forehead. 'The Reaving just found a really juicy bad memory,' he reached blindly towards Claire, 'help me up, will you?'

Claire tugged on the Doctor's arm, glad for the first time that they were underwater and she could use the buoyancy to lift him to his feet. Placing the Doctor's left arm over her shoulders Claire slung her right arm about his waist taking on some of his weight. 'If we're in such a hurry why did you land so far away?'

'Thank you,' the Doctor steadied himself before starting to walk. 'I thought you might like to have your "I'm drowning, wait no I'm not" panic attack in private,' the Doctor looked down at Claire, 'was I wrong?'

Keeping her arm still about his waist in case he fell again Claire protested, 'I wouldn't call it a panic -,' Claire thought back at her reaction, 'okay it was a big freak out wasn't it? Thanks, although it mightn't have been so bad if someone had warned me first.'

They walked around the coral and Claire could see off in the near distance for the first time signs of habitation. There were people walking and swimming around several low buildings.

'If I had warned you,' the Doctor said leaning slightly on Claire, 'would you have believed me? You were having a hard enough time believing you were in my ship.'

'Mate, if you had told me I was about to step out into a bleeding ocean I would never have left your ship.'

'Exactly, I still need your help.'

'What do you need me for?' Claire looked up to see a seal, at least she assumed that's what it was. Although she didn't know of any seal that was mottled red and brown and seemed to be wearing a bathing suit. The seal waved as it floated past.

'Claire, I am about to try and extract a ravenous alien entity from my brain. Maybe I was looking for a friendly face?' he indicated Claire's arm, 'a little support.'

'Oh,' Claire looked away from the swimming seal and back at the Doctor. 'Of course,' she patted his hand, 'totally here for you.'

'Too kind.'

'Although I still don't know where here is.'

The Doctor began steering Claire towards one of the buildings. 'The official designation is FLX-39C, but most people call this planet Floxaica. What the indigenous inhabitants call it is something entirely different.'

'What do they call it?'

'Well that's a bit hard to translate.'

'Why?' Claire looked up to see a giant octopus floating towards her. 'Holy crap,' she stopped in shock.

'Its alright,' the Doctor hastened to calm Claire, 'meet the locals and the reason why we're here.' Standing straighter he moved away from Claire's support. 'Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is the Waitress.'

'Claire,' Claire corrected him.

The octopus, the Floxican, Claire supposed it was, floated to a stop and began slowly to wave a few tentacles at them, blues and red colours flickered across it's large dome shaped head and along it's body.

'Yes,' the Doctor seemed to be talking to it, 'thank you for seeing us in such short notice. I know this is a busy time for you.'

The Floxican moved another tentacle and its colouring faded to a muddy brown.

'I understand there are no guarantees,' the Doctor said, 'but I am willing to take the risk.'

'What risk?' Claire asked him.

The Doctor waved away Claire's words as he continued to address the Floxican. 'You are the only ones I could think of to help. It's not my intention to kill the Reaving, I just want it out of my head.'

The Floxican's muddy colours brightened up a little, dashes of blue and green chased across its skin.

'Yes I thought you might appreciate that,' the Doctor said, 'and I agree, it's just following it's nature.'

The Floxican began gently moving away from them, it's colouring flashing brighter then fading away to a dull cream.

'I'll be ready,' the Doctor said as it floated away. He turned back to Claire. 'They communicate entirely by colour and arm posture, fascinating species.'

Claire turned to him, mouth open. 'Can everyone speak alien octopus?'

'Of course not,' the Doctor scoffed, 'most people use a translator and the Floxians can't be octopuses, they only have six arms.'

'Floxians,' Claire repeated absently, 'so they're alien sextopuses?' She scrunched up her face, 'oh wait that sounds a little rude.'

'Yeah, a little.' The Doctor groaned and slumped slightly, 'it getting harder to distract the Reaving.'

Claire hurried to his side., 'What did you mean risks?' she slipped an arm back about his waist to take some of his weight.

'All surgery comes with risks,' the Doctor began walking them towards the buildings.

'Surgery?' Claire shuddered at the thought, 'they're going to cut the Reaving out of your head?'

'Psychic surgery,' the Doctor corrected her, 'the Floxians are going to use their abilities force the Reaving out.'

'What are they going to do, join tentacles and sing Kumbaya at it?'

'Arms,' the Doctor corrected her, 'and if that's what it takes, although the Floxians are a bit more sophisticated than that. Ah, here we are.'

Claire looked up to see the seal floating in front of a building. She squinted harder and realised that it was another seal, this one's colouring was more red than brown and it was wearing a two piece bikini style swimsuit and the black rope necklace that she and the Doctor were wearing.

The seal tapped a small blueish tablet in it's flippers. 'Greetings, sentients,' a male voice spoke from the tablet, 'please input your preferred designations.'

'He means names,' the Doctor explained quietly.

'Yeah, I get that,' Claire hissed back at him before raising her voice. 'I'm Claire and this is the Doctor.'

The seal tapped his tablet and gave a few rising whistles which the device seemed to translate. 'Designation: Doctor, patient requiring non corporeal extraction.'

'Yes, that's me,' the Doctor said.

The seal indicated the building behind him with a flipper and barked. 'Please enter,' the tablet said. 'You are expected.'

'Thank you,' the Doctor moved towards the closed door, which opened like some sort of airlock.

Claire started to follow him.

The seal barked and held out a flipper, stopping Claire. 'Designation Claire: not authorised to enter.'

'What?' Claire looked from the seal to the Doctor.

'It's alright, Claire,' the Doctor said.

'It's not alright,' Claire protested as the Doctor placed a hand on the doorway, 'what happened to needing me for support?'

The Doctor leaned against the door frame and looked back at her. 'I'm grateful you followed me this far, Claire, you helped save your world. But some things must be done alone.'

'So what?' Claire flung her arms up in frustration, 'I'm supposed to just sit about and twiddle my thumbs, because I've done my share of hospital waiting rooms and its not fun.'

'Of course not, this is your first alien world. Go play tourist, explore everything,' the Doctor made a shooing gesture at her, 'I expect a full report when you get back.'

'And you?'

'Don't worry about me, I expect this will involve a lot of navel gazing and getting in touch with my inner Reaving.' The Doctor shrugged, 'should be a piece of cake.'

'Why don't I believe you?'

'Because you're smart,' the Doctor pushed himself upright and backed into the building, 'I've made contingency plans in case.'

'What plans, you're starting to worry me, promise me you're going to be okay.'

'Our translator friend is also a tour guide, ask him about this place.' The Doctor continued backing into the building. 'And check your left trouser pocket.'

Claire tried to follow the Doctor but the door shut before she could enter. 'He didn't promise,' she whispered to herself. Reaching into her pocket Claire pulled out a key. It was that the same one that opened the Doctor's ship? Was he not expecting to come back? Claire turned and hurried back to the seal. 'I need to get inside.'

The seal whistled. 'Sentient Claire is not authorised.'

'Well there has been some sort of mistake,' Claire waved at the tablet, 'he needs me in there, so check your records again.'

The seal dutifully tapped at his tablet. 'Tourist classification, not patient, sentient Claire is not authorised to enter.' The seal seemed to sense Claire's distress, 'apologies.'

'This can't be happening, he can't just leave me out here,' Claire felt her pulse speed up and her breath start to hitch and fought the urge to check her air whatsis. She was pretty sure she was working up to another panic attack. That was the last thing she needed right now, taking a deep breath Claire closed her eyes and began to focus on the world around her. The warm squishy sand between her toes, the slight salty scent in the impossible air she was breathing. The faint barks and whistles of, she assumed, the other translators off in the distance, how the currents washed up against her left side and gently pushed her into a swaying motion. Breathe, just breathe, Claire could imagine the Doctor saying to her. The squeezing restrictions in her chest began to ease and several breaths later she slowly opened her eyes. 'What did he mean, contingency plans?' she wondered out loud.

The seal raised a flipper to get Claire's attention and hurriedly pecked away on his tablet.

'I need you to convey the following information word for word to my friend, Claire.' It was the Doctor's voice coming from the tablet. 'Claire if you are hearing this, thank you for helping me, that was very brave of you. My plan must have worked and we're now on Floxaica, I'm sorry I have to leave you behind for this next bit, but if the extraction process is successful I can't risk the Reaving jumping from me to you.'

Claire let the Doctor's voice wash over her, feeling her heart rate continue to slow as she wondered when he had found the time to record this.

'I don't know how long this will take, but I'm leaving you in good flippers with our translator friends. They will take care of you until I come back and, Claire, if some strange guy finds you and tells you he is me -' there was a pause, 'stupid, stupid Doctor you're trying to make her feel safer not scare her more. Let's delete that last part, shall we?'

Claire smothered a nervous giggle.

'Listen to the Floxians and the translators they have your best intentions in mind and if the worst happens, Claire, take my key and go back to the TARDIS. I've preset the co-ordinates, just pull the lever and she will take you home.' The Doctor sighed, 'now I just have to find you and convince you to follow my foolish plan. I'll look for you near the bus stop, wish me luck.' The recording stopped.

'You forgot to delete some of that,' Claire said.

The seal barked sharply. 'Doctor sentient asked us to convey his message word for word.'

Claire smiled. 'You take things every literally, don't you?'

The seal did a back flip in the water. 'Correct.'

'I'm sorry,' Claire said, 'I never asked your name.'

The seal whistled. 'One's designation is private.'

'Oh, I didn't mean to offend.'

'No offense, but you may allocate a temporary designation for ease of conversation.'

'Oh,' Claire thought for a minute before replying, 'how about Harry?'

Funny why did that name spring to mind? She didn't know anyone called Harry, unless . . . Hairy Harry the Hamster? Didn't Chrissie, her sister, have a pet called Harry when they were young?

The seal whistled thoughtfully. 'Designation Harry is acceptable.'

'Oh good,' Claire looked around, 'what happens now?'

Harry started swimming away from the buildings.

'Wait,' Claire gave a few bounding leaps after Harry before giving up and started swimming. 'Where are we going?'

Harry flipped over onto his back, his powerful rear flippers pushing him along, resting his tablet on his chest he tapped on it.
'Welcome to Floxaica,' a serene female voice emanated from Harry's tablet, in what Claire assumed was a pre-recording, as Harry began to wash his whiskers. 'Welcome, sentient, to the spawning.'

'The what?' once again Claire found herself reduced to asking questions.

Harry raised a flipper at her. 'Every third quadrant,' the recording continued, 'this planet undergoes a great coral spawning, renowned throughout the galaxy for its beauty and wonder.'

'Spawning?' Claire said 'I thought coral was a plant, doesn't it just seed or something?'

Harry tapped on his tablet three times. 'Coral,' the female voice seemed to have jumped forward in its recording, 'is not a plant as many sentients assume, but is in fact invertebrates that live in colonies. During a spawning event a single colony will release several thousand polyps a night. These polyps, if they survive, will float in the currents until they find their new home.'

Harry tapped the tablet and barked several times. 'Polyps are considered a delicacy,' he said in what Claire was beginning to think of as his own voice, 'this sentient recommends trying some.'

'Oh that sounds,' don't say gross, don't say gross, 'interesting,' Claire said insincerely, 'I'll definitely consider it. So when does this spawning thing happen?'

Several taps later the female voice continued. 'Spawning occurs on the second night after the full moons conjunction.'

'Moons, you have more than one moon?' Claire felt a grin spread across her face, for the first time since the Doctor disappeared she felt a sense of awe and wonder. She really was on another planet. 'We only have one moon,' she told Harry, 'how many are there?'

Harry barked three times. 'Two moons,' he replied in his own voice. Harry tapped the tablet, seeming to abandon the pre-programmed recording. 'Sentient Harry's home planet has only one moon.'

'Oh,' Claire said, 'I thought this was you planet?'

Harry gave a chortling bark and wrinkled his nose. 'Negative, only Floxians live permanently on this planet. This sentient has nine more quadrants of service then this sentient can return home.'

'Is home far?' Claire asked. She shook her head, like an answer would mean anything to her, Harry's home could be next door or a ga-billion miles away. 'Never mind, do you like working here?'

Harry stopped swimming and thought about his answer before barking and whistling for about a minute. 'Yes, this sentient is learning much about the universe and how to translate for varied sentients. This information will benefit this sentient and their family unit back home.'

'Oh good,' since they had stopped moving Claire let herself settle back down on the ground. 'So this is a tourist planet, I mean people come for the spawning?'

'And the wellness,' Harry said as he slowly flippered towards another group of buildings.

'Wellness?' Claire walked after him.

'Like sentient Doctor,' Harry said, 'some sentients come to Floxaica for health benefits. The waters are said to be very beneficial for some bipeds.'

'An intergalactic health spa,' Claire was delighted at the idea. 'Do you do meditation and pottery and stuff?' Claire looked about at the underwater vista, 'well maybe not pottery.'

'Clarification pottery?' Harry asked.

'Oh, uh making objects out of clay and drying them in a kiln,' Claire waved a dismissive hand, 'not important. I mean, how would you get it dry?'

Harry tapped on his tablet. 'Classification pottery, unimportant. If sentient Claire is interested in meditation, this sentient can recommend -' there was a sharp series of beeps from Harry's tablet. 'Apologies,' Harry barked at his tablet and it barked back at him.

'What is it, is it about the Doctor?'

Harry waved a flipper. 'Negative, sentient Doctor is still in session, no cause for alarm.' Harry looked up towards the surface.

'But?' Claire prompted him.

'This sentient has been requested for urgent service elsewhere.'

'Oh,' Claire blinked and tried to hide the disappointment from her voice, 'you have another job.'

Harry seemed to sense her hesitation. 'If sentient Claire requires help, this sentient can refuse a service request.'

'No, no,' Claire hurried to reassure Harry, 'if it's important, mum always said "if something's important, don't put it off for tomorrow, do it today".'

'Clarification: mum?' Harry asked.

'Oh mum, mother, a female, uh, sentient who gave birth to me.'

'Classification: mum,' Harry tapped on his tablet, 'female progenitor, see also mother. Sentient mum is correct, request is important.'

'Then you should go,' Claire said. 'I can take care of myself. I'll just wander around and wait for the Doctor. He told me to explore, I could check out the meditation or maybe there's some line dancing or synchronised swimming to do.' She shrugged, 'no big deal.'

'This sentient could request another service translator for sentient Claire.' Harry suggested.

'No, no, it's fine,' Claire waved away the suggestion, 'I always wanted to travel, I've just never had the time or money before.' She smiled at Harry, 'it'll be fun.'

Harry stroked his whiskers thoughtfully before tapping on his tablet. The blue device whirred, then something small and round popped out of its side. 'Sentient Claire,' Harry said, 'may I have your flipper?'

'My flipper?' Oh hang on, Claire thought, he probably meant her hand. 'Sure,' she held out her right hand, palm up.

Harry turned her hand over and placed a small gel like glob on the back of her hand.

'What is this?' Claire asked, raising her hand up to her face to stare at the purplish green snot-like glob.

'If sentient Claire requires any help at all,' Harry said, 'just tap the request module and the nearest translator will attend.'

'Oh, Harry,' Claire said quietly, 'that's very kind.'

Harry seemed to beam at Claire's words. 'Kindness is the reef of any civilisation.' He waved at Claire's hand, 'please try.'

Claire pressed down on the blob, it felt like touching rubbery jelly.

Harry's tablet beeped at him. 'Acknowledged,' he told the tablet before tapping a few times to silence the noise.

'Well,' Claire said quietly, 'I guess this is goodbye then.'

Harry hugged his tablet tight to his chest. 'This concludes our transaction. Did sentient Claire find their translator experience satisfactory?'

'Oh yes,' Claire said, 'very good, gold star, five gold stars in fact.' She noted Harry's quizzical expression. 'I mean it was very satisfactory, thank you, sentient Harry.'

Harry performed a back flip in delight. 'This sentient found sentient Claire, very satisfactory as well.' A muffled beeping from his tablet reminded Harry he had somewhere else to be. He pulled the tablet away from his chest and tapped a quick series of instructions on it. 'Happy spawning, sentient Claire and may your future hold many fish.'

'Oh, you too sentient Harry, happy, uh, spawning and only the biggest and fattest fish for you.'

Harry barked in agreement. Looking up towards the surface he tucked his tablet under one flipper and quickly swam away. Harry's large back flippers where so powerful that the surge of water pushed Claire backwards a few steps as she watched him slowly disappear amongst all the other seals and swimmers.