Findings
Sarah Jane tried to remain as floppy as possible as she was dropped on yet more concrete, at the same time trying not to land on her elbows. She had been half awake for a few minutes now, and she'd tried to memorise the route the figure had taken her on as much as possible, but there had been so many off shoots and passages she hoped she wouldn't need to remember them. The room was bare, and single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling provided a dim light, there was a stale smell of straw and what Sarah thought was some sort of animal.
The figure had left through a thick, sturdy door, leaving her on her own. She stood up, and skirted the walls, running her hands across the bases and as high as she could reach, which wasn't even half the height of the walls, but it made her feel less helpless. She didn't expect to find anything, and so moved back to the door.
Half heartedly she tried the handle, and longed for the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Instead, she thought of picking the surprisingly small lock. She fished about for a paperclip in her pockets, and eased it into the lock. A pulse of electricity stung her fingers, and quickly, she pulled away. Right, so there was a current in somewhere. She tried looking for it, examining the floors, which had channels carved into them, but couldn't see any evidence of wire coming into or out of the room.
She cursed herself for getting lost, though, by now she'd travelled enough with the Doctor to realise that she was probably twice as use to him captured than with him. She carried on scuffing up straw, looking for ways out, and finally, she saw the outline of a square cut into the floor. About 2 centimetres thick on each side. Sarah pushed the thick block of concrete into the corner, leaving a doubly wide space for her fingers. She levered up the square, and saw the tunnel going straight downwards, but she could see it turned at a right angle about 10 metres down. The tunnel was wide, which came as a relief after the conduits in the Arc, where she'd got stuck several times.
Pushing her palms up on one side of the chute, and her back against the other, she eased herself down, to the change of direction. The tunnel became slimy and cold down here. The tunnel ended surprisingly early, and Sarah looked out, cautiously, not wanting to leap out into a trap. The large square room was empty, and cold. Condensation clouds followed Sarah's breathing as she came out of the tunnel. Sarah looked around, realising that this was the freezer. She tried not to look at the hanging corpses of large animals. Large channels were cut into this floor as well, to collect falling blood, and giblets. Sarah shuddered, and went to the door, which was unlocked.
The corridor she ended up in was wide and gently sloping upwards. Animals could hardly be expected to crawl miles of tunnel, she thought. There were few doors along this stretch of tunnel. Finally, Sarah came to a thick wooden door.
She put her ear to it, listening intently. She could hear general noise, nothing to suggest that anything was going on, and she debated weather just to try and open the door. But she wasn't sure what was on the other side. She didn't think she was back on the level of the first bunker yet, where the Doctor and Harry would hopefully still be. She tried to remember what she'd seen in the bunker. She hadn't seen a door, she was sure of it. This door was huge, far bigger than the largest of earth animals. She noticed that, along the walls, the channels still followed the corridors, and that they also went through the wall.
She, reluctantly, got into the tunnel, trying to breathe as shallowly as possible. Thankfully, it was only about a metre and a half in length, and she was almost out. She peered out, cautiously.
This bunker was similar to the first one. Except it was huge. About double the size of the first. In the centre was another panel, a hexagonal table, going into the ground, with screens showing the surface. She suddenly registered what she was seeing, she jumped in surprise, and backed into the tunnel, praying she hadn't been seen.
-
"Sayal," Janis lead the way across the bunker, to a sleeping figure, "He started all this." Janis nudged the tired looking woman. She sat up slowly.
"Janis?" She asked, "Is something the matter- Who's this?" She said, seeing the Doctor peering at her.
"Calls himself the Doctor." Janis said, and he turned and looked at the Doctor, meaningfully. The Doctor took the hint, and moved away.
"Janis, how much does he know?"
"He's on our side, Sayal. He knows that we shouldn't be down here, he wants to help." Janis explained.
"He's a plant," Thea said, darkly, glaring at Harry and the Doctor.
"I'm not, honestly." The Doctor said.
"Who are you?" Thea challenged them.
"I'm the Doctor, and that's Harry. Travellers. He's from earth." The Doctor indicated Harry.
"Why should we trust you?" Thea asked.
"Well, that's a fair point, but why would you trust Warren and Drake? Why would you trust your friend Janis here?"
Grudgingly, Thea looked away.
"Janis says you've got some information for us."
"Not much, really." Sayal said, apologetically, "Not as much as we'd like. We have to be careful, you see. There are people watching Firen, and Kay, they cant get much information without people getting suspicious."
"Where are they?"
"Kay is a scientist. She was measuring radiation. Of course, being a scientist, it was supposed to be her job to define unsafe levels of radiation, and she says the atmosphere is safe, we could have stayed up there. That's what first set off the alarm bells."
"Oh yes?"
"And then Firen, he's with the army, the patrols. Guards the first bunker. The sweepers check up on all of them. Scientists, guards, Drake, Warren, all of them. Checks them all. Says they even scan brains occasionally."
"And you think there's something else here, forcing Warren's hand?"
"Doctor, Warren has been a very good leader to us. He initiated the move to the surface, he ensured our safety. Something must have happened to make him go back on all his plans for our race, and it isn't just radiation levels." Sayal said, grimly.
"Have you got any evidence of this?"
"Nothing solid.. Kay says there's evidence in the water that something's in there, breathing the oxygen from the water. Water contains oxygen, normally, the oxygen from the air balances the amount breathed by fish and so on, but because there's low levels here, there's an oxygen debt gathering slowly in the water.. but Kay says she cant prove it's something that shouldn't be there.. maybe it is just fish."
"After a solar flare?" Harry asked, dubiously.
"Harry, the flare was 10 thousand years ago." The Doctor pointed out.
"And there's tracks… we think. Firen says there's large channels cut all over the surface. Deep ones. He doesn't think they can be natural, caused by wind, they're too deep for that." Janis said.
"We've got some photographs.." Sayal said, looking about, briefly, then, she casually drew back the lumpy mattress, and brought out a wooden box.
"Don't people get suspicious of someone hiding a box under there?" The Doctor asked, dryly.
"Oh, no, Doctor. Everyone has their personal possessions down here, where else should we keep mementoes of the surface, the sun, green plants, family histories, books, pictures? These are mine." Sayal said, quickly. She opened the box using a key on a chain around her neck, she took out 5 poorly lit, bad quality photographs, of what looked like just the ground, like photos you'd taken by accident when carrying the camera.
She handed them to the Doctor. He looked at them closely, and saw the deeply cut ditches in the ground, uneven but smooth, as though made by some sort of snake, or reptile. Possibly water.
"Thing is, Doctor, they lead from and to bodies of water, but they don't fill up themselves.. The lakes should overspill into them, but they don't. Kay has asked to investigate the water, but Warren wont let her.. They've stopped virtually all of the scientific work. Kay does nothing but check the skies now. Weather predictions and things." Sayal sighed.
"What d'you make of it all?" Janis asked, hopefully.. "Anything?"
"I'd like to look at them properly. D'you think I can get to the surface without the armed escorts?"
"We'll talk to Firen, He'll be able to do something." Janis said.
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