Two

Rose had no idea how or when it was that she had finally fallen asleep. She had walked, picking her way along in darkness for what had felt like days. As the adrenaline rush from the fall had begun to fade, she had begun to notice dozens of little hurts. Though she couldn't remember doing it, she was reasonably certain now that she must have bounced off the walls of the fissure a few times before landing in the awkward position she had found herself in. A large knot had formed on her forehead. She suspected she had probably looked better.

The more she'd walked, the more she'd begun to ache. She couldn't help the feeling that she'd walked half the length of the world by now, and would eventually end up right back where she'd started. Stopping for what she'd promised herself would be just a moment to catch her breath; she'd huddled against the cavern wall, resting her back against cool rock. She pulled her knees up, and, shoulders screaming had laid her head down on her arms in front of her.

That was how they'd found her.

As the haze of sleep slowly retreated, She became aware of two voices arguing in heated whispers. Someone called Lorcan was certain she was a spy. For whom she had no idea. He was arguing with a man named Aigon when she first realized she'd been sleeping. She didn't move. Hoping they'd just assume her dead and leave her alone. She sat unmoving, listening. It had, she supposed, been too much to hope they'd have ended up somewhere safe and peaceful.

"How did she get here, Aigon, we're half a day from the nearest stair, and all the stairs are manned! Even if she'd climbed down yesterday, the patrols would have seen her coming! No, he has to have put her here."

The other man, Aigon, laughed.

"Looks like he dropped her a couple of times first then. Think sense, man. Why send an outsider in like this. He knows we're not that stupid! You've been listening to that idiot cousin of yours too much lately. He wants you to be afraid you know."

"If you had any sense, you'd be just as cautious. Broccan is a fool to just sit here and wait for him to come to us. We're too few as it is now, with more being taken all the time! Those he doesn't kill outright end up in the mines, and Daigh knows what lurks down there!"

Rose had heard enough to be certain no one was going to kill her immediately.

"Not a spy."

She frowned at how loud her own voice seemed in her aching head.

"No one put me here, I fell." She gazed up from the ground at the two men arguing before her.

Rose stood. Every muscle ached from the combination of the fall, and the time spent sleeping against the rock wall of the chasm. She looked around. It was light now. Looking skyward she found that her impression of going downhill had been quite correct. She estimated the top of the rock walls to be at least thirty feet above her now. The sky was full daylight now, though the depth of the chasm kept them in shadow.

Two men stood before her. One was a big bear with a full red beard that matched the wild tangle of copper curls on his head, and round face. Not quite middle aged, Rose mused, but he could certainly see it from where he was standing. The other was just as tall, but wiry, and the one day growth on his face suggested that he was usually clean shaved. At a guess Rose would have put him in his late twenties. Both wore the same kind of dark trousers and work boots. Except that their loose fitting, long sleeved shirts didn't match, although the both looked to be some sort of cotton, Rose would have thought it was a uniform. They were both armed with the same sort of pistol, though with limited experience with such things, she couldn't begin to guess the specific nature of the weapons. The knife each man wore in his belt was less ambiguous. Knives she recognized. All these thoughts passed in the space of a few seconds after she had stood, and now began to swim together. The combination of the knot on her head, fatigue, hunger, and having stood up too quickly all hit her at once. She would never remember fainting. Though later, it would disgust her to no end that she had.

The Doctor walked towards the jutting orange cliffs, still scanning in every direction for any sign of Rose.

"Rose!" He called.

His echo answered him.

Nothing moved.

The sun was getting higher in the sky. Anything alive had already retreated to the shade for the day. The blazing sun was relentless; the back of his jacket felt like it was on fire. Choosing instead to carry it, the Doctor slung the battered leather over one shoulder. In his shirt sleeves, he made for the shade of the nearest of the rocky spires. Surely Rose would have the sense to do the same. It always struck him as wonderful that such a fragile species had managed to survive at such length in such a hostile universe. Vulnerable even to something as simple as sunlight, it seemed to him at times that the human race survived at times sustained by nothing more than sheer force of will. It was one of the things he liked about them. He pushed concerns like sunburn and dehydration out of his mind for now. Rose was a very sensible example of her tenacious species. She would take care of herself.

Now that he was upon it, the rock formation was much larger at its base than it had seemed. It stretched unknown hundreds of feet into the air, and as big around at the base as Rose's apartment building (not worrying yet) had been. Strewn around the soaring rock face, as if tossed there by some great, unseen hand, large rocks clustered together. Something similar to granite, if he guessed correctly. Here out of the sun, it had an almost pink cast to it. Noticeably cooler as he stepped into the shade, the air was still punishingly dry. He looked around for any sign of water. Not for his own sake, but because if Rose was out here, he knew she'd do the same. A cluster or boulders about 20 feet away looked promising. Surrounded by the strange silvery sedge grass that seemed native to this place, a few of the squat prickly bushes stood like sentries before them, looking just a little greener than the ones he had first seen. As with the flora on many planets, the Doctor assumed that green meant water close by. Photosynthesis was a process remarkably similar throughout the universe.

The sound of voices drove all thoughts of water from his mind at the next instant. Peering behind the largest of the boulders, the Doctor spotted the crack in the earth. Not more than six feet wide, and deeper than he could see from this angle, the voices were distorted, echoing up the wall from an unknown depth below. Creeping cautiously around for a better vantage point, the Doctor failed to notice the guard until it was too late. Something poked him sharply in the shoulder. He turned to see a man of about 40 leveling some sort of pistol at his chest. He raised his hands and smiled.

"Hello."

The man with the pistol registered surprise, but did not respond. Keeping his hands visible, the doctor leaned back against the rock, and tried to affect what he hoped was a relaxed, non-threatening pose.

"Sivna! Seersha!" Called the man with the pistol. "Intruder! Look sharp!"

The Doctor turned to see two more men appear from behind the rocks. Both had pistols drawn. True to form, he smiled broadly.

"I'm looking for my companion, The Doctor said easily, carefully keeping his tone light. Young woman, blond hair, likely saying horrid things about me, I'm the Doctor by the way."