Doctor Who – Hide and Seek
Chapter 1
The control panel made a loud beeping noise it filled the TARDIS, the Doctor jumped up in surprise and curiosity.
"What is it?"
"Strange…very strange" the Doctor said. The TARDIS control was now acting very strangely, bizarre purple lights were flickering up the tubes and wires "We're getting alien messages"
"Is that normal?"
"it used to be when there were more time travellers about we used to often send messages to each other by time and space machines….but this, this isn't from a machine or any machine I've ever seen anyway. It's coming from" the Doctor paused and squinted closely at the strange lights "Its coming from a living creature"
"An alien?" asked Rose
"Yeh but…there are only one race of alien who can send messages from living to machine" the Doctor looked terribly confused "but why this"
"What are they saying?"
"Just 'help'!"
"'Help?'" repeated Rose
"Yeh again and again" he traced the lights with his finger "Alien code, just 'help, help, help, help,' what from…Rose check the computer what are we travelling over" he asked urgently, Rose jumped over to the control panel
"Planet 24343 – unregistered – the Salenite galaxy…mean anything to you?" asked Rose. The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS shuddered
"A planet used only for factory and laboratory work. Lots of those here in the Salenite galaxy" The Doctor began to press a series of buttons on the control panel "oh…that's lucky" he smiled
"What is?"
"The message seems to be coming from this planet!"
"Time to land?" asked Rose her hand on a large lever which allowed them to land on the ground safely at that time
"I'll say"
The Doctor opened the door; he stood still in the doorway and looked around. Rose stood up on the tip of her trainers to see above the Doctor's shoulder. There was not much to see just a lot of desert and sand rocky hills. The Doctor looked up at the dark crimson sky
"Very strange, I've never seen Salenite sky this red…it's like blood"
"It gives me the creeps" said Rose suddenly she gasped "Doctor, look at the sun" she pointed up at the sky. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS allowing Rose to return to normal height and follow him. The Doctor looked up at the sun; it was much larger than the Earth sun in a maroon red. It burned down upon the planet
"It's so hot" Rose said unhelpfully
"Lets take a look around their may be a chance that the message was coming from a little further away." Rose was half taking off her tracksuit top when the Doctor pulled it back on her "Keep it on, it may be hot but the more skin exposed to that" the Doctor pointed to the sun "The more chance you have burning"
"Burning? How bad?"
"In this heat" the Doctor looked around "Wouldn't be surprised if you fried like an egg"
"Great no wonder this person wanted help"
Rose and the Doctor wandered around the deserted landscape for while searching the rocky mountains for gorges where someone could get stuck. Rose ran her hands through her hair. The sweat on her head glistened and ran down her face. Not far away in the distance Rose could see a large gust of smoke coming from the ground and filling the sky, Rose looked at the Doctor, his eyes were narrowed and staring at the black smoke curiously, Rose stopped for a second and the Doctor did not argue but joined her
"Do you have any water?" Rose asked; the Doctor shook his head and looked around he looked over into the distance behind where Rose was standing. His eyes widened in horror he ran passed Rose. Rose flicked her head around quickly to see why he was running. On the floor in the distance was a small figure laying out in the hot red sun. Rose ran after him, the heat filled her head making her feel dizzy. The Doctor crouched next to the figure
"It's a child" the Doctor shouted out to Rose "Not sure where from but this planet doesn't have a native species" he continued as she crouched on the other side of the unconscious child.
"Does that really matter…she's just a little girl, where's her parents"
"It's just a guess but I think she's probably been left here" the Doctor said sarcastically
"She's so thin" Rose said as she touched the skin of the little girl. It was true the child look half starved the skin was stretched over the jaw you could practically see her teeth under her skin she was so skeletal. A scarf was tied around her head like a turban. Her clothes consisted what looked like a, was once, white linen summer dress. She wore no shoes just pieces of material wrapped around her small feet.
"Is she alive?" asked Rose, the Doctor put his hand on her wrist and concentrated
"Just…we have to get her to the TARDIS give me a hand will you?" Rose helped the Doctor pick the little girl up in his arms to carry her back. The little girl's head lay back
"Where do you think she's from?" asked Rose
"Well if it was her making the messages, I would say she was from Zelnt"
"Where's that" she wondered. The Doctor paused
"On the other side of the galaxy so how she got here I don't know?"
The overbearing sun continued to bear down on them mercilessly; they were walking slower now they were carrying another person so Rose found the heat twice as bad as on the way there, Rose began to see mirages. She saw somebody giving out ice creams, and a woman taking out a bottle of water from a large bucket of ice offering it to Rose. Everything was so real; Rose had her hand out to take the bottle of water
"Its not there Rose" the Doctor said exasperatedly as if he could see the same images as Rose could. The mirages disappeared and Rose continued to walk through the terrible desert. Then she saw it, oh please let it be real she thought, the TARDIS! It had never looked so fantastic it was waiting there for them
"Is it there?" asked Rose asked happily, the Doctor chuckled
"Yep its there alright"
Rose pulled out her duvet and laid it on the floor. The Doctor placed the little girl down
"Go get some water, tea and some biscuits" the Doctor said
"But…" Rose argued
"I'm the Doctor I examine what's wrong with her" he said
"Yeah but what do you know about medicine"
"Stop babbling, if you want to help then get water, tea and biscuits!" he said urgently. Rose shook her head and walked off to make the tea. Rose was happy to be in the cool air conditioned TARDIS but the sudden change in temperature had made Rose slightly dizzy and feel a little nauseas.
The Doctor examined the little girl's arms; they were marked with injection holes bright and raw. The Doctor took the scarf off the little girl's head. He was horrified. The little girl's hair was a very light blonde it was thin, dirty and bits were not there, like a doll belonging to a child who took pleasure from ripping the hair out of the toy. The Doctor saw the child had stitches along her hair line as if she had been cut up and sewn back together badly. Rose came in with tea and biscuits and a couple of glasses of water on a tray. She sat down on the floor placing it next to her. The Doctor pointed out the stitches to Rose, she gasped, then the Doctor showed Rose the marked arms of the little girl as well
"That's sick...it's like she's been experimented on or something!"
"That's exactly it; here give me that glass of water." Rose gave it to him. The Doctor held the head of the little girl up and trickled some water into her mouth. The child suddenly coughed and spluttered. The Doctor smiled. The little girl rubbed her eyes and looked up at the Doctor and Rose, she screamed and kicked her legs violently.
"Hold her down Rose!" the Doctor ordered, Rose obliged and held the child's legs down
"Shh don't be afraid we've come to help you" he said. The little girl began to whimper, "We got your distress signal"
The girl looked at Rose and the Doctor terrified. She had stopped kicking so Rose let go of her legs
"Hi I'm the Doctor"
"I'm Rose"
"Here drink this" the Doctor handed her a cup of tea
"What is it?" she asked in a voice so soft that it was barely a whisper
"It will give you your strength back…careful it's hot"
The Doctor and Rose stayed with her while she drank the tea after that she went to sleep soundly
Rose and the Doctor walked away to the control panel to talk
"What do you think happened to her?"
"Remember I said that the planet was probably used for factory and laboratory work?"
"Yes"
"Well I don't think they were following the rules too much, she's still a child and the conditions she worked in did not seem fit for an adult let alone a child by what she looks like"
"There were others like her?" Rose gasped
"Probably, there were probably hundreds of children there"
"Well we have to go and rescue them." Rose said leaning towards the door
"No! It's too late I think that girl managed to escape…the factory may have burned down…that would also explain why the sky was so red and full of smoke, the fire mixes with the atmosphere. The others were probably still in there."
"That's dreadful…what are we going to do"
"we'll take her back to Zelnt or wherever she comes from and tell them about it"
"We can ask the girl, when she wakes up, what happened"
"Yeh...if she wants to speak, she may refuse"