Tegan panted, leaning into the tree. The Doctor continued for several paces, engrossed in the GPS, until he realized that she wasn't following him. His glance over his shoulder had him sighing. "Are you all right, Tegan?"
"Just within a hair's breath of my own death by heat exhaustion, that's all," she retorted. "Other than that, I'm perfectly fine."
He frowned and paced back several steps. She panted and glanced about the forest with a discerning eye. As far as she could tell the plant life was getting slightly thinned out. If it was anything like her basic ecology module in science class, that meant they were approaching something like civilization. She squinted her eyes and considered the Doctor. His aura had changed slightly: there was less red about his waist and a fair amount of purple flushing amber surrounding him. "Feeling less tense?" she asked, surprised that she was stabbing a guess at what had changed in him.
The Doctor lifted an eyebrow, adjusted to small knobs on the GPS and nodded. "Yes, I am. There's been a slight change in my hormonal flow in the last twenty-four hours"
"Has there?" she asked, almost impishly.
He stared at the object in his hand and held it up. "Well yes. There is a usual change in hormonal flow after a heightened release of testosterone. I suppose it has something to do intrinsically with" his voice drifted off and he glanced at her. "Ah, yes. Yes, Tegan. I am less tense" he replied, fumbling with the switches on the GPS. He tried to keep his gaze away from hers. She could tell, however, when a new thought overrode his embarrassment. "How did you know?"
Tegan squinted her eyes and nodded to him. "The colors about you: they've changed again."
The Doctor looked surprised. "Interesting. I wonder what has changed in your brain chemistry to allow that. I suppose it has something to do with your visual cortex, of course"
"It's made me uneasy, you know" she bit back. "Interesting or not."
He sighed and turned around to walk away from her. "Yes, wellthe sooner we reach our destination, the sooner we'll get you sorted out. Have you caught your breath?"
She gave a frown and a bent to stretch out her thighs. Sleeping on the rock had made her sore. How he could be as active as he was, she didn't know. But then again, he hadn't been the one on the bottomshe blushed. She knew they had to make time, but he was more brisk than usual and wouldn't meet her eyes. His eyes were cloudy as well, the blue in them full of gray and she found he was biting his lip more often than usual. With startling clarity, she saw that he was upset about the prior night no matter how much feigned nonchalance he used.
"Oh no" she breathed.
"Hmmm?" he asked. "Are you ready, Tegan? We should push on."
He didn't wait for an answer and started forward. She fell into step behind him, staring at his leaf and grass stained white shirt. They pressed on as the day became a sauna and even in her short top and skirt, she felt the lines of sweat forming on her body. She stepped and stumbled, walked and fell after him, the whole time, her mind replaying their interlude the previous night.
The only thing that jarred the images from her mind was the Doctor stopping in the forest and humming happily. The different sound brought a smile to her face. "Found the answer to the Universe, have you?" she joked.
"Eons ago, if you must know," he replied. "And the end of our quest. Our grail so to speak" He held aside the vines ahead of him so that she could see their destination.
Pyramids crumbling and covered in moss and planets rose out of the forest ahead of them. The rock itself was light colored stone with darker mortar lines shocked through it. Moss and vines covered all available surfaces. She wiped sweat from her brow.
"That's Chitzen Itza?"
"Yes, or ratherwhat's left of it," the Doctor muttered, glancing down at her. "And our destination."
"But where would Illiana hide a ship here?" Tegan pressed. She continued to look around what must have been some sort of a playing center or large open courtyard. It looked like the place hadn't been disturbed in hundreds if not thousands of years. "This place is a tomb."
"Not quite," he argued. Then he jumped down and she realized they had been standing on some sort of a block lip. He reached back up and waved her forward. As his hands closed on her hips and she was hefted down on level with him, he met her eyes.
"It's not necessarily a tomb," he croaked, his voice low. His hands seemed glued to her hips. "But she did say that this was one of the few places on Earth that Ares' power was lessened. It was a safe place for her"
"So he can't step foot here?" she whispered, glancing around. "We're safe?"
The Doctor nodded once and then shrugged. "Maybe not the entire place, mind youpossibly the main pyramid would be my guess. We'll have to search. If the 'safe place' is limited to a very small area, then I think she won't have a look out for us. Too risky."
"I'm not splitting up," she said plainly, leaning away from him.
"I wasn't going to suggest it," he replied with raised eyebrows. He gave her a hint of a smile when he grasped her hand and gave a twitch of the head toward the pyramids and buildings. "It's only an hour or so until sunset, Tegan. I suggest we make the most of the time."
**
It was getting dark when they approached the final and, the Doctor thought, only truly applicable place for a ship to be hidden. The Grand Temple pyramid was in the center of the complex and as she jogged behind him, it grew in size until it filled her entire vision. It certainly was large, she thought. But where on Earth would anyone hide a ship inside of it?
"I don't know," the Doctor answered when she asked him. "More than likely underneath it," he muttered.
"Under itbut that would mean"
"That this was built on top of it? It isn't inconceivable, Tegan. Remember, the Joiba are older than the Earth, actually, they are older than most of this part of the galaxy. It would be nothing to have a ship buried under this pyramid."
They slowed to a stop at the bottom of the steps and stared upwards. She had heard the term 'stairway to heaven' before, but had never seen it so literally portrayed. "I'll get dizzy going up there," she said testily.
"It's the only way in, if I remember correctly," he replied. "I'll be with you; you'll be fine. It'll take a while to climb, though and in the dark, it'll be dangerous." He started to climb, his hand still firmly holding hers. "So"
She sighed and trudged behind him. As they quietly stepped and climbed, continuously moving upward, she found that she was keeping rhythm of her steps with the chirping of the insects and birds around her. It was almost surreal and incredibly calming to hear a symphony of nature around them. When they crested the top, she felt the pain in her legs and an answering pain in her head where her pounding blood pulsed. It seemed trivial, however. She felt like she was on top of the world. She walked to the southern edge and stared out at the mist and trees in the falling twilight.
The Doctor said something, but she didn't hear him. She shook her head. "It's like the Eye of Orion," she whispered. "Peaceful"
She felt his cool hand on her elbow and then another on her waist as he came to stand behind her. "Tegan?"
Her head turned slightly and she glanced up at him. "It's beautiful here. So peaceful." She barely registered his touch, but her hand fell subconsciously to touch at his fingers. The smile on his face flared for a moment, approaching a grin, before it faded and his hand withdrew from her waist.
"Very. Does it remind you of some-"
"The Eye of Orion," she replied, turning her face into the cooling breeze.
"Ah yes. Quite. I have a few theories on that," he responded, his hair tumbling across his brow. "We have a little time until dark, Tegan. We need to get inside."
She blinked, as if coming out of a daze and nodded decisively. When he turned, she followed along carefully, and her face changed into a mask of confusion. "What are all thosethings."
"Hieroglyphs," the Doctor corrected with a small nod. "Very like Egyptiana pictorial representation of a spoken language. The Mayan carvings had people fooled for a long time. They've figured it out recently. But they've never completely understood the use for this templeis it a temple? Is it a burial tomb? Is it a water gather point or a site for human sacrifice? Apparently, if I'm correct"
Tegan frowned and rolled her eyes playfully. "If."
He smiled. "Yes, well, if I'm correct, it's something completely different. Something morecosmic."
"Ever the mysterious one, aren't you?" she complained good-naturedly. With a sigh, she crouched next to him. "What are you doing?"
"Opening the door," he grunted as he finished turning two dials and pulled on the stone. It came up slowly, apparently on a counter weight. Inside was a very steep stairwell leading downwards. He glanced up at her and then swung his legs over, reaching out his hand. "Shall we, Tegan?"
With a deep frown, she stared down into the depths of the stairwell and then up at him. She knew that gleam in his eyes. In the fading light of the day, his eyes appeared almost dusky blue and purple. "I know I'm going to regret this"
His smile widened and he began to climb downwards, leading her by the hand.
**
The light had quickly faded and the Doctor's pen torch barely sliced through the damp dark. Soon, it too began to fail. She glanced upwards, but night had fallen and the way to the fresh air was hidden in the dark. He shut it off suddenly, without warning and she nearly yiped. His hand tightened in comfort. "Did you have to do that? And why?" she muttered, her toes prodding around from the next step.
"To save batteries and yes," he sighed. "I can see relatively well in the dark, Tegan. And it isn't too wide through here. If we lean into the walls, we'll be all right. Just go slowly."
"Are you sure we need to go down here? I mean, really"
"It's the only way left to go," he replied, his disembodied voice floating back to her. "As Holmes once said: "Investigate all avenues, discount them one by one and whatever remains, however silly, is the only answer."
"That's paraphrased."
"Actually, Doyle paraphrased me," he sniffed. "He never did listen to my suggestions. Now, just walk slowly, Tegan. Feel around for the steps and we'll be all right."
They continued downward, inching really. Tegan became very used to the dim and her eyes ceased to crave the light. She didn't know what was cooler, though: the Doctor's hand or the cool rocks against which her arms and back brushed. With a sigh, she told him she was tired.
"Humans," he replied with a sigh. "We can't stop now."
Finally, after what seemed an hour, they slowed and at last, came to a halt on a level ground. "Where are we?" she whispered.
"At the entrance."
"Of what?"
"Our safe haven," he answered with a sigh, as though it should have been apparent to her. She yawned in response.
"NowI'll just have to figure out how to get in there. I'm quite sure, no I'm positive that our safe haven is on the other side of it. Illiana's ship"
She nodded and felt cold creeping up her back and spine that wasn't from the chill around her. She frowned as she felt a presence creeping into her mind.
Ominously, she glanced up the stairwell to see that the dark was filling with something morethan the night
