"Brave heart."
Even the whispered age-old words of support didn't soothe her nerves as she stopped next to the Doctor. They were surrounded by literally hundreds of people. Every one of them was dressed alike in bright orange and red rough loincloths with matching materials draped over their shoulders. They were of average height, she supposed. It wasn't often that she felt petite, but surrounded by these men, the point was driven home.
"Hell's teeth..." she reiterated. She heard Tren's startled inhale as he stopped alongside her. Just the sheer number of men, dressed alike, standing in mass in the large temple was enough to impress them.
"Incredible," the Doctor breathed. Tegan saw his perusal of the area and the situation out of the corner of her eyes. "Look at the architecture."
Tegan barely had time to glance upwards at the red brick building with the columns before they were forced to walk forward once more. The Doctor's hand engulfed hers, holding it tightly as they approached steps leading up to the building. "What is it?"
"If I'm not mistaken," the Doctor said extremely quietly but with a profoundly interested tone. "This is very similar to the Temple of Nanna in Ur, Tegan. We're in Ur."
"Which is...west of Brisbane, I suppose," she bit out, her hand clenching his as they began to climb the steps.
He frowned, but leaned down so that he could talk more privately with her. Tren leaned forward as well, obviously interested in what the Doctor was saying. "It's only the principle city in the later fourth through first millennium in the area of the Euphrates, Tegan. You know the bible or the torah...it's the birth place of your Abraham. The Hanging Gardens will be here some day. And before you ask, I would estimate our time to be approximately 3000 or as late as 2800 BCE."
Tegan heard the words and strained her mind to remember some of her ancient history.
Tren shook his head. "And this is Earth?" He glanced up as he stumbled the remaining steps. Tegan looked up as he did, using the Doctor's hand to keep her balance. Over head there were planted gardens surrounding a large opening which led into darkness. In the sun the red bricks looked like they were covered in blood.
"Oh, undoubtedly," the Doctor whispered as their captors pushed them away from the steps.
"Can't we just leave?" Tegan remarked.
"No, I'm afraid not..." her friend began.
"No, we need to be in the area of first arrival. It isn't so much where we leave here, but if we were to be elsewhere, it might cause problems with the vector travel for our return." Tren interrupted, speaking quickly and concisely.
"Like materializing inside a planet or a star..." the Doctor continued.
"Zap..." Tegan breathed. As they neared the entrance, she could feel cool emanating from the interior. There were still more men lining the walk to the temple entrance; their method of dress was the same. Some light flickered from the torches inside.
Sticks were extended in front of them, stopping their advance and the Doctor drew up short. She could tell that he was biting at the bit to continue forward. And like a wild horse that is harnessed and reined the first time, he appeared ready to bolt. But it wasn't in fear. Tegan could tell by the look in his eyes that something more was happening. It was something that hadn't quite flickered on her danger radar screen; it was something that had him intrigued and yet just a little worried.
At the shadow line where the sunlight disappeared, they waited. A medium tall man stepped from the shadows. He appeared the same as the rest, only he was dressed in indigo and the fabric appeared of better quality. A man behind them called out several words. Although she was tempted to turn about and look at the man, Tegan trained her eyes on the Blue man. He lifted his chin as though listening intently and his black eyes and black hair appeared almost blue in the shade. She shivered.
The Doctor started forward, but was restrained. His voice rumbled several words before he was silence with a jab to his ribs.
"Bastards," Tegan growled. Before she could get her arm about his waist to support him, the Blue man spoke. It seemed to be similar words to what the Doctor had said.
Breathing hard, the Doctor frowned. "Hmm..."
"You know what he said?"
The Doctor's bright blue eyes speared her and she recognized the gleam. "Ah, no...no, not quite...but I do intend to find out."
Tren yelped as they were prodded with sticks away from the front of the temple and toward the side. Tegan grunted, keeping her arm firmly about the Doctor's waist. "Whatever it is," she sighed. "I don't think you made any new friends."
**
"Well..." she sighed. Tegan's hands rested on the window sill. There was barely enough room on the flat surface for her two hands to be together. It was just enough room to see sky, and a slim sliver of ground far below. "I'm afraid that mountain climbing isn't on my resume."
"But if I remember correctly from the detailed stories that your Slyvanian friends told me," the Doctor said. "You could possibly demolish the mountain, dependant on amount of explosives on hand."
"That was more Peri's job," she shot back. She tilted her head back to stare at the small square of visible sky overhead. They had been lowered into this hole by climbing down ropes. Her fighting had only gotten her legs constrained by rope. If she had to guess, there was only about 15 square feet on the floor and it had two small slits at shoulder height that allowed in sweet fresh air.
The Doctor had the three pages of paper laid out across the floor and was on his hands and knees. He glanced back up at the window. "Don't disturb the glass, Tegan."
She glanced up at the several glasses that the Doctor had hung together with twine and straws. They created a line of reflective light down to the area where the Doctor worked. "Oh, and do move out of the light, would you, Tren?" He complained. With a sigh, he went back to studying the papers.
Tegan frowned and backed away from the window to crouch next to her friend. "What have you figured out from those impression things, Doc?"
"I haven't figured out anything quite yet," he grunted. "And we have very few hours before nightfall. So, if you don't mind..."
With a sigh and resting her crossed arms on her knees, she turned her attention to the actual papers. The last two hours had been filled with him sighing and harrumphing over the papers. She still didn't have a clue in hell what they were about, but assumed that the Doctor had an idea. "Can I help?" she asked again for the fourth time.
"Linguistics is a hard subject," he sighed tiredly as he lifted his gaze to her. "And alien translation of language to cuneiform is even harder, Tegan..."
"I only asked," she responded hotly. "You're a bloody bear when you're working, you know. I only asked a simple question. And both Tren and I are in this hole with you because you thought these impressions important enough that you didn't take us back to the landing place immediately. And if you think they're important, I think they're important. You're trying to translate..."
It must have been her tone because he finally rocked back to sit on his feet and removed his glasses. Almost blindly, he tapped two fingers at the first paper. "This is Sumerian cuneiform from the Early Period. This is an alien language that matches the one we found on the column on the Eye." He looked back down and tapped his finger agitatedly on the third piece of paper. It was the one she had transferred. "And this one appears to be a numeric, mathematically based code."
"But you read maths like other people read cereal boxes," she encouraged. "It's one of those logic based languages you're always going on about..."
"Yes," he breathed, drawing out the syllable. "Not quite, Tegan."
Tren had pressed himself up against the wall. She recognized the look that had taken over his eyes since they had been lowered into the hole. There was resignation to fate and fear warring for dominance; she had seen the look on many men and women on Sylvania. They were the ones she tried to separate from when the fighting would break out; they often gave up or panicked. "These things describe the same thing?" he asked in a tiny voice.
The Doctor nodded. "I'm positive that they do. It would make no sense to have three different languages describing three different things on the same object."
Tren appeared to try and take a deep breath. "So one would help you decipher the others."
"Clearly." The Doctor met Tegan's eyes. She understood from his expression that he too had sensed Tren's state.
"It's like reading those bloody international directions on the airplane," Tegan sighed. "I almost thought I was teaching myself Spanish once by...what is it, Doc?"
He started next to her, leaning forward to stare at the papers. "You take my breath away, Tegan...of course! I'm an imbecile! It's instructions!"
"Eh?" she asked. She watched the Doctor change from cranky to industrious in a matter of seconds. "How would you know that?"
"The columns on the Eye were detailing a history of travel. It described travel to Earth. We couldn't have been much beyond the time stated on the columns; they were quite new and technite does rather have the tendency to change to a fiery red after fifty or so standard years. That column was still the original color. Therefore, travel was to here...recently. But the people here aren't from the Eye...they're human. Why would there need to be a column here outlining travel or listing Kings or religious rights with three different languages on them? There wouldn't be a need. No, no..."
He balled his hands up in fists and leaned over the papers. "No...there wouldn't be a need for it. That column wasn't there to remember something by; it was there to give instructions to people. To those that read...the priests and scribes and royalty..."
Tegan leaned forward as well. "So it's telling people to do something. Why do you think this is a problem? Or why do you think it's enough of a problem to make us stay here this long?" She could feel the Doctor's excitement. It electrified the air around them.
The Doctor moved the papers one on top of another. "Why? Call it a hunch, Tegan. You said yourself that you had a bad feeling about all of this. Why would the Eye populace be leaving instructions to a bunch of newly evolved humanoids on a remote planet?"
"Are you sure it's the people from the Eye?"
Tren asked the question with a flicker of interest. The Doctor bit his lip and glanced up at the man. He continued, waving his hand at the papers and the Doctor. "I didn't recognize the words on the column there or rather, I couldn't read it. I know the Eye's dominant languages."
"Interesting, isn't it? Quite true you didn't. So who is leaving messages on the Eye in this language and then issuing directions here in several." The Doctor commented. He lined up the letters one under another. "I've been trying to decipher them in conjunction with one another..." He pulled out the one paper with the scratchy scribbling outlining the Eye type language. The familiar thought stringing mutterings began. "If the first word is similar to the Ancient Gallifreyan word....and the second word is a secondary root form of the word for...yes, yes...that would work..."
Tegan rocked back on her heels and watched fondly as the Doctor began to mutter and intone in both Gallifreyan and English. Then with a sigh, she glanced back up at the opening. She could tell by the color of the sky it was getting on towards night. "Are you sure about the Gallifreyan, Doc? Is it really close enough to it?"
"We're here, aren't we?" he asked, but she could hear a bit of a chuckle lurking in his words. His eyes still scanned the writing. "And we did find more of the same writing. I couldn't have been that far off in my translation, then."
"Typical."
**
"He's weakening. He's in shock."
"Quite."
Tegan rubbed her arms. She could sense rather than see the Doctor moving about. Tren had stretched out on the ground on the opposite side of the small cell. There was little room left, so she sat, against the wall, her arms around her knees. Then she felt the Doctor lower himself to the ground next to her. "It's a good thing this isn't the middle of a war," Tegan whispered. "He'd never last."
"The rest of our lives aren't going to be wars, Tegan," the Doctor whispered. "Lean forward."
She did and she felt his arm slip about her shoulders and draw her in. His hand, cool, but still warmer than the night air, rubbed at her naked arm. "He's scared. This is a new thing for him."
"It's sad that it's old hand for us," Tegan said quietly. The Doctor's sigh ruffled her hair. "What did you find? You haven't told me the first thing about it. And if it isn't Gallifreyan but it has the same basics of Gallifreyan..."
"It's something older than Ancient Gallifreyan. These sentences are strung together with complex grammar and that isn't something that Ancient Gallifreyan does, per se. It possesses most of the sounds of Gallifreyan language...therefore it must be something older than Ancient Gallifreyan, something that Gallifreyan evolved from..."
"Older than the Time Lords?" she asked. He patted her shoulder and tightened his hold.
"Possibly," he commented. "And as to what it said...you heard me muttering, Tegan."
"All I heard was 'twenty steps to the east of the line of demarcation'."
"Twenty-two actually," he responded. She could hear the smile in his voice. "Something is hidden in that area, Tegan. Buried, put within or something...but something is hidden out there where it says."
"The rest of the columns..."
"There were five of them," he agreed. "I think we only have twenty percent of the story here. I think the rest of those columns outline what to do with what is there."
"Great...a user's manual."
"I need to find out what is going on, Tegan."
"Why?"
He sighed. She felt the slide of his chest against her shoulder and suddenly wondered when the feel of his body's movements had become second nature to her. "Something isn't right here," he urged. "There is no reason for these instructions. It describes the need to hide the object...its called an Irtian, by the way...from the people who sent it here. It's called the Gatherer."
"Are you sure you have your words right? You're comparing words to numbers..."
"Quite. And yes, I'm sure I'm right," he said. "But there is no information in your archeological records about Ur having these major finds. No, no...Tegan, the time's all wrong. I need to find out what's going on here. It could be very important."
"I see that a year of being a general didn't dim your curiosity at all," she sighed. "I'll still say it'll eventually kill you."
"Oh, probably," he commented with a small laugh. "But not today."
She glanced back up the shaft. "We could climb out, you know. It's pitch black."
"And they're at the top of the shaft, Tegan. Besides, they'd expect us to escape from here. We should rest and try at a time they won't anticipate. Tren wouldn't make it, though, I'm afraid."
"You know that," Tegan responded with a nod. "We can't leave him." She rolled her head back into the wall across his arm. "After all that has happened in the last few weeks, I swore to Peri I'd never hold a gun again. But, rabbits, if I don't want one now."
He sighed and rolled his head back too; she could feel it. "If it makes you feel any better," he admitted so quietly that she could barely hear it. "I wouldn't mind a strategy table..."
She smiled. "Cripes, Doc...who ARE we? Because it doesn't sound like us."
"WE haven't been the same in over a year, Tegan," he replied.
She quieted a laugh and shook her head. "That's not what I..."
"I know."
The words were said with a tenderness she hadn't heard since the top of the castle's armaments. For the first time in a long time the meaning behind them was clearly understood. He was considering the other changes to be secondary in the scheme of things. And for him, she supposed, that was true. Leave it to a Time Lord to consider a close, caring, perhaps loving relationship to be a more major change than a complete personality overhaul. After all, they did regenerate and shed just about everything about themselves.
But then again, she was the only one in the relationship of two that had said I love you. She sighed as she thought that perhaps he didn't mean that at all. Her hand rubbed at her brow. Rabbits, life was so much more straight-forward with a gun in your hand and very little thought to anything more than protect your friend and yourself.
"What are they doing up there?" she asked, striving to change the subject and to take her mind off of it.
"It isn't moonrise, Tegan," he answered. "And this is the Temple of the Moon. I rather think they are waiting for the presence of their major God..."
"Great."
He turned his head toward her, his lips brushing against her brow more by accident than design. "Brave heart, Tegan. Follow my lead."
She shook her head slowly. "Very typical," she sighed and turned to rub her nose against his cheek. He caressed her cheek for a moment, his long fingers gently cradling her face. "Do you have any clue what we have to do up there, Doc?"
The answering smile was felt against her brow.
"Oh, great," she whispered. "Just tell me what you think they're going to do..."
And with a deep breath, he did just that.
**
She remembered what he said in vivid detail as she, Tren and the Doctor were pushed to the center of the Temple later that evening. In the moonlight, the red brick of the Temple seemed black as night. Tegan's dress glittered in the light, silver on silver. All was as before complete with the hundreds of men, except now the opening to the Temple was nearly blazing with fire light. They were led toward it with sticks and that was something Tegan noted.
"They never touch us."
"Ah, yes..." the Doctor replied. He eased Tegan a little in front of him. "I've noticed that as well. Do you remember the way they did not approach us until told to when we were in the middle of the columns? I do believe we may have intruded on a religious area, Tegan. That adds another layer to the scripts we've found. Interesting."
"But does it explain their lack of..." she glanced over her shoulder to their guard. "...want to touch us?"
"Yes. If we've done something horrible by their religion and we're tainted, they wouldn't want to be tainted either, now would they?"
"That makes sense." Tegan climbed the five steps into the main temple. "Are you sure there they don't subscribe to human sacrifice?"
"Not at all," he whispered. Beside them, Tren walked in silent shock. He had been that way since they had been lifted out of the shaft. Tegan could tell the Doctor was sizing up the man for future problems. "As I told you, Tegan, they use forced slavery."
She nodded as she looked about the temple. It was dark except for a perfect circle of light in the center. The smell of sun dried mud filled her nose and she inhaled hard. She wanted to retreat. There were too many people; the area was too open. She needed places to hide. She couldn't fight in the open, it was unsafe. "Can't we make a run for it?"
"Tren is in too much shock to be able to make it with us," the Doctor replied. "And we can't leave him here."
"No, no, we can't..."
The Doctor's hand pressed at the middle of her back. "Then we have to face this."
Tegan stopped outside the circle of light, but they were all pushed bodily into the center. "Too right we have to face it."
"It can't be all that bad, Tegan. We've had worse."
Tren whimpered next to her and she reached back to comfort him. Suddenly, and without warning, a man approached her as two others approached her friends. She heard clothing ripping and turned around to see Tren stripped of his clothes. The man's eyes were wide as saucers and he swayed on his feet.
The Doctor was next. He stood stoically, staring forwards impassively, as his sweater and shirt were cut from his body.
She met his eyes as they cut her dress from her body. His stoic mask cracked a little and she could see the anger pulsing out of his eyes. But seeing the emotion in his eyes made it easier for her to only concentrate on him. It kept her from fighting for the knife. And then naked, they were turned to face the priest, or what she guessed was the priest. It was the blue dressed man. He was in full regalia complete with a cap and draped rich blue cloth. The rod he held was more intricately carved. It appeared to her that they were the main attraction at a religious gathering. The situation wasn't comforting in the least.
"Doc..." she breathed. "It's that bad."
Even the whispered age-old words of support didn't soothe her nerves as she stopped next to the Doctor. They were surrounded by literally hundreds of people. Every one of them was dressed alike in bright orange and red rough loincloths with matching materials draped over their shoulders. They were of average height, she supposed. It wasn't often that she felt petite, but surrounded by these men, the point was driven home.
"Hell's teeth..." she reiterated. She heard Tren's startled inhale as he stopped alongside her. Just the sheer number of men, dressed alike, standing in mass in the large temple was enough to impress them.
"Incredible," the Doctor breathed. Tegan saw his perusal of the area and the situation out of the corner of her eyes. "Look at the architecture."
Tegan barely had time to glance upwards at the red brick building with the columns before they were forced to walk forward once more. The Doctor's hand engulfed hers, holding it tightly as they approached steps leading up to the building. "What is it?"
"If I'm not mistaken," the Doctor said extremely quietly but with a profoundly interested tone. "This is very similar to the Temple of Nanna in Ur, Tegan. We're in Ur."
"Which is...west of Brisbane, I suppose," she bit out, her hand clenching his as they began to climb the steps.
He frowned, but leaned down so that he could talk more privately with her. Tren leaned forward as well, obviously interested in what the Doctor was saying. "It's only the principle city in the later fourth through first millennium in the area of the Euphrates, Tegan. You know the bible or the torah...it's the birth place of your Abraham. The Hanging Gardens will be here some day. And before you ask, I would estimate our time to be approximately 3000 or as late as 2800 BCE."
Tegan heard the words and strained her mind to remember some of her ancient history.
Tren shook his head. "And this is Earth?" He glanced up as he stumbled the remaining steps. Tegan looked up as he did, using the Doctor's hand to keep her balance. Over head there were planted gardens surrounding a large opening which led into darkness. In the sun the red bricks looked like they were covered in blood.
"Oh, undoubtedly," the Doctor whispered as their captors pushed them away from the steps.
"Can't we just leave?" Tegan remarked.
"No, I'm afraid not..." her friend began.
"No, we need to be in the area of first arrival. It isn't so much where we leave here, but if we were to be elsewhere, it might cause problems with the vector travel for our return." Tren interrupted, speaking quickly and concisely.
"Like materializing inside a planet or a star..." the Doctor continued.
"Zap..." Tegan breathed. As they neared the entrance, she could feel cool emanating from the interior. There were still more men lining the walk to the temple entrance; their method of dress was the same. Some light flickered from the torches inside.
Sticks were extended in front of them, stopping their advance and the Doctor drew up short. She could tell that he was biting at the bit to continue forward. And like a wild horse that is harnessed and reined the first time, he appeared ready to bolt. But it wasn't in fear. Tegan could tell by the look in his eyes that something more was happening. It was something that hadn't quite flickered on her danger radar screen; it was something that had him intrigued and yet just a little worried.
At the shadow line where the sunlight disappeared, they waited. A medium tall man stepped from the shadows. He appeared the same as the rest, only he was dressed in indigo and the fabric appeared of better quality. A man behind them called out several words. Although she was tempted to turn about and look at the man, Tegan trained her eyes on the Blue man. He lifted his chin as though listening intently and his black eyes and black hair appeared almost blue in the shade. She shivered.
The Doctor started forward, but was restrained. His voice rumbled several words before he was silence with a jab to his ribs.
"Bastards," Tegan growled. Before she could get her arm about his waist to support him, the Blue man spoke. It seemed to be similar words to what the Doctor had said.
Breathing hard, the Doctor frowned. "Hmm..."
"You know what he said?"
The Doctor's bright blue eyes speared her and she recognized the gleam. "Ah, no...no, not quite...but I do intend to find out."
Tren yelped as they were prodded with sticks away from the front of the temple and toward the side. Tegan grunted, keeping her arm firmly about the Doctor's waist. "Whatever it is," she sighed. "I don't think you made any new friends."
**
"Well..." she sighed. Tegan's hands rested on the window sill. There was barely enough room on the flat surface for her two hands to be together. It was just enough room to see sky, and a slim sliver of ground far below. "I'm afraid that mountain climbing isn't on my resume."
"But if I remember correctly from the detailed stories that your Slyvanian friends told me," the Doctor said. "You could possibly demolish the mountain, dependant on amount of explosives on hand."
"That was more Peri's job," she shot back. She tilted her head back to stare at the small square of visible sky overhead. They had been lowered into this hole by climbing down ropes. Her fighting had only gotten her legs constrained by rope. If she had to guess, there was only about 15 square feet on the floor and it had two small slits at shoulder height that allowed in sweet fresh air.
The Doctor had the three pages of paper laid out across the floor and was on his hands and knees. He glanced back up at the window. "Don't disturb the glass, Tegan."
She glanced up at the several glasses that the Doctor had hung together with twine and straws. They created a line of reflective light down to the area where the Doctor worked. "Oh, and do move out of the light, would you, Tren?" He complained. With a sigh, he went back to studying the papers.
Tegan frowned and backed away from the window to crouch next to her friend. "What have you figured out from those impression things, Doc?"
"I haven't figured out anything quite yet," he grunted. "And we have very few hours before nightfall. So, if you don't mind..."
With a sigh and resting her crossed arms on her knees, she turned her attention to the actual papers. The last two hours had been filled with him sighing and harrumphing over the papers. She still didn't have a clue in hell what they were about, but assumed that the Doctor had an idea. "Can I help?" she asked again for the fourth time.
"Linguistics is a hard subject," he sighed tiredly as he lifted his gaze to her. "And alien translation of language to cuneiform is even harder, Tegan..."
"I only asked," she responded hotly. "You're a bloody bear when you're working, you know. I only asked a simple question. And both Tren and I are in this hole with you because you thought these impressions important enough that you didn't take us back to the landing place immediately. And if you think they're important, I think they're important. You're trying to translate..."
It must have been her tone because he finally rocked back to sit on his feet and removed his glasses. Almost blindly, he tapped two fingers at the first paper. "This is Sumerian cuneiform from the Early Period. This is an alien language that matches the one we found on the column on the Eye." He looked back down and tapped his finger agitatedly on the third piece of paper. It was the one she had transferred. "And this one appears to be a numeric, mathematically based code."
"But you read maths like other people read cereal boxes," she encouraged. "It's one of those logic based languages you're always going on about..."
"Yes," he breathed, drawing out the syllable. "Not quite, Tegan."
Tren had pressed himself up against the wall. She recognized the look that had taken over his eyes since they had been lowered into the hole. There was resignation to fate and fear warring for dominance; she had seen the look on many men and women on Sylvania. They were the ones she tried to separate from when the fighting would break out; they often gave up or panicked. "These things describe the same thing?" he asked in a tiny voice.
The Doctor nodded. "I'm positive that they do. It would make no sense to have three different languages describing three different things on the same object."
Tren appeared to try and take a deep breath. "So one would help you decipher the others."
"Clearly." The Doctor met Tegan's eyes. She understood from his expression that he too had sensed Tren's state.
"It's like reading those bloody international directions on the airplane," Tegan sighed. "I almost thought I was teaching myself Spanish once by...what is it, Doc?"
He started next to her, leaning forward to stare at the papers. "You take my breath away, Tegan...of course! I'm an imbecile! It's instructions!"
"Eh?" she asked. She watched the Doctor change from cranky to industrious in a matter of seconds. "How would you know that?"
"The columns on the Eye were detailing a history of travel. It described travel to Earth. We couldn't have been much beyond the time stated on the columns; they were quite new and technite does rather have the tendency to change to a fiery red after fifty or so standard years. That column was still the original color. Therefore, travel was to here...recently. But the people here aren't from the Eye...they're human. Why would there need to be a column here outlining travel or listing Kings or religious rights with three different languages on them? There wouldn't be a need. No, no..."
He balled his hands up in fists and leaned over the papers. "No...there wouldn't be a need for it. That column wasn't there to remember something by; it was there to give instructions to people. To those that read...the priests and scribes and royalty..."
Tegan leaned forward as well. "So it's telling people to do something. Why do you think this is a problem? Or why do you think it's enough of a problem to make us stay here this long?" She could feel the Doctor's excitement. It electrified the air around them.
The Doctor moved the papers one on top of another. "Why? Call it a hunch, Tegan. You said yourself that you had a bad feeling about all of this. Why would the Eye populace be leaving instructions to a bunch of newly evolved humanoids on a remote planet?"
"Are you sure it's the people from the Eye?"
Tren asked the question with a flicker of interest. The Doctor bit his lip and glanced up at the man. He continued, waving his hand at the papers and the Doctor. "I didn't recognize the words on the column there or rather, I couldn't read it. I know the Eye's dominant languages."
"Interesting, isn't it? Quite true you didn't. So who is leaving messages on the Eye in this language and then issuing directions here in several." The Doctor commented. He lined up the letters one under another. "I've been trying to decipher them in conjunction with one another..." He pulled out the one paper with the scratchy scribbling outlining the Eye type language. The familiar thought stringing mutterings began. "If the first word is similar to the Ancient Gallifreyan word....and the second word is a secondary root form of the word for...yes, yes...that would work..."
Tegan rocked back on her heels and watched fondly as the Doctor began to mutter and intone in both Gallifreyan and English. Then with a sigh, she glanced back up at the opening. She could tell by the color of the sky it was getting on towards night. "Are you sure about the Gallifreyan, Doc? Is it really close enough to it?"
"We're here, aren't we?" he asked, but she could hear a bit of a chuckle lurking in his words. His eyes still scanned the writing. "And we did find more of the same writing. I couldn't have been that far off in my translation, then."
"Typical."
**
"He's weakening. He's in shock."
"Quite."
Tegan rubbed her arms. She could sense rather than see the Doctor moving about. Tren had stretched out on the ground on the opposite side of the small cell. There was little room left, so she sat, against the wall, her arms around her knees. Then she felt the Doctor lower himself to the ground next to her. "It's a good thing this isn't the middle of a war," Tegan whispered. "He'd never last."
"The rest of our lives aren't going to be wars, Tegan," the Doctor whispered. "Lean forward."
She did and she felt his arm slip about her shoulders and draw her in. His hand, cool, but still warmer than the night air, rubbed at her naked arm. "He's scared. This is a new thing for him."
"It's sad that it's old hand for us," Tegan said quietly. The Doctor's sigh ruffled her hair. "What did you find? You haven't told me the first thing about it. And if it isn't Gallifreyan but it has the same basics of Gallifreyan..."
"It's something older than Ancient Gallifreyan. These sentences are strung together with complex grammar and that isn't something that Ancient Gallifreyan does, per se. It possesses most of the sounds of Gallifreyan language...therefore it must be something older than Ancient Gallifreyan, something that Gallifreyan evolved from..."
"Older than the Time Lords?" she asked. He patted her shoulder and tightened his hold.
"Possibly," he commented. "And as to what it said...you heard me muttering, Tegan."
"All I heard was 'twenty steps to the east of the line of demarcation'."
"Twenty-two actually," he responded. She could hear the smile in his voice. "Something is hidden in that area, Tegan. Buried, put within or something...but something is hidden out there where it says."
"The rest of the columns..."
"There were five of them," he agreed. "I think we only have twenty percent of the story here. I think the rest of those columns outline what to do with what is there."
"Great...a user's manual."
"I need to find out what is going on, Tegan."
"Why?"
He sighed. She felt the slide of his chest against her shoulder and suddenly wondered when the feel of his body's movements had become second nature to her. "Something isn't right here," he urged. "There is no reason for these instructions. It describes the need to hide the object...its called an Irtian, by the way...from the people who sent it here. It's called the Gatherer."
"Are you sure you have your words right? You're comparing words to numbers..."
"Quite. And yes, I'm sure I'm right," he said. "But there is no information in your archeological records about Ur having these major finds. No, no...Tegan, the time's all wrong. I need to find out what's going on here. It could be very important."
"I see that a year of being a general didn't dim your curiosity at all," she sighed. "I'll still say it'll eventually kill you."
"Oh, probably," he commented with a small laugh. "But not today."
She glanced back up the shaft. "We could climb out, you know. It's pitch black."
"And they're at the top of the shaft, Tegan. Besides, they'd expect us to escape from here. We should rest and try at a time they won't anticipate. Tren wouldn't make it, though, I'm afraid."
"You know that," Tegan responded with a nod. "We can't leave him." She rolled her head back into the wall across his arm. "After all that has happened in the last few weeks, I swore to Peri I'd never hold a gun again. But, rabbits, if I don't want one now."
He sighed and rolled his head back too; she could feel it. "If it makes you feel any better," he admitted so quietly that she could barely hear it. "I wouldn't mind a strategy table..."
She smiled. "Cripes, Doc...who ARE we? Because it doesn't sound like us."
"WE haven't been the same in over a year, Tegan," he replied.
She quieted a laugh and shook her head. "That's not what I..."
"I know."
The words were said with a tenderness she hadn't heard since the top of the castle's armaments. For the first time in a long time the meaning behind them was clearly understood. He was considering the other changes to be secondary in the scheme of things. And for him, she supposed, that was true. Leave it to a Time Lord to consider a close, caring, perhaps loving relationship to be a more major change than a complete personality overhaul. After all, they did regenerate and shed just about everything about themselves.
But then again, she was the only one in the relationship of two that had said I love you. She sighed as she thought that perhaps he didn't mean that at all. Her hand rubbed at her brow. Rabbits, life was so much more straight-forward with a gun in your hand and very little thought to anything more than protect your friend and yourself.
"What are they doing up there?" she asked, striving to change the subject and to take her mind off of it.
"It isn't moonrise, Tegan," he answered. "And this is the Temple of the Moon. I rather think they are waiting for the presence of their major God..."
"Great."
He turned his head toward her, his lips brushing against her brow more by accident than design. "Brave heart, Tegan. Follow my lead."
She shook her head slowly. "Very typical," she sighed and turned to rub her nose against his cheek. He caressed her cheek for a moment, his long fingers gently cradling her face. "Do you have any clue what we have to do up there, Doc?"
The answering smile was felt against her brow.
"Oh, great," she whispered. "Just tell me what you think they're going to do..."
And with a deep breath, he did just that.
**
She remembered what he said in vivid detail as she, Tren and the Doctor were pushed to the center of the Temple later that evening. In the moonlight, the red brick of the Temple seemed black as night. Tegan's dress glittered in the light, silver on silver. All was as before complete with the hundreds of men, except now the opening to the Temple was nearly blazing with fire light. They were led toward it with sticks and that was something Tegan noted.
"They never touch us."
"Ah, yes..." the Doctor replied. He eased Tegan a little in front of him. "I've noticed that as well. Do you remember the way they did not approach us until told to when we were in the middle of the columns? I do believe we may have intruded on a religious area, Tegan. That adds another layer to the scripts we've found. Interesting."
"But does it explain their lack of..." she glanced over her shoulder to their guard. "...want to touch us?"
"Yes. If we've done something horrible by their religion and we're tainted, they wouldn't want to be tainted either, now would they?"
"That makes sense." Tegan climbed the five steps into the main temple. "Are you sure there they don't subscribe to human sacrifice?"
"Not at all," he whispered. Beside them, Tren walked in silent shock. He had been that way since they had been lifted out of the shaft. Tegan could tell the Doctor was sizing up the man for future problems. "As I told you, Tegan, they use forced slavery."
She nodded as she looked about the temple. It was dark except for a perfect circle of light in the center. The smell of sun dried mud filled her nose and she inhaled hard. She wanted to retreat. There were too many people; the area was too open. She needed places to hide. She couldn't fight in the open, it was unsafe. "Can't we make a run for it?"
"Tren is in too much shock to be able to make it with us," the Doctor replied. "And we can't leave him here."
"No, no, we can't..."
The Doctor's hand pressed at the middle of her back. "Then we have to face this."
Tegan stopped outside the circle of light, but they were all pushed bodily into the center. "Too right we have to face it."
"It can't be all that bad, Tegan. We've had worse."
Tren whimpered next to her and she reached back to comfort him. Suddenly, and without warning, a man approached her as two others approached her friends. She heard clothing ripping and turned around to see Tren stripped of his clothes. The man's eyes were wide as saucers and he swayed on his feet.
The Doctor was next. He stood stoically, staring forwards impassively, as his sweater and shirt were cut from his body.
She met his eyes as they cut her dress from her body. His stoic mask cracked a little and she could see the anger pulsing out of his eyes. But seeing the emotion in his eyes made it easier for her to only concentrate on him. It kept her from fighting for the knife. And then naked, they were turned to face the priest, or what she guessed was the priest. It was the blue dressed man. He was in full regalia complete with a cap and draped rich blue cloth. The rod he held was more intricately carved. It appeared to her that they were the main attraction at a religious gathering. The situation wasn't comforting in the least.
"Doc..." she breathed. "It's that bad."