Chapter 6: Sands of Time

As Jack clung to a board from the totalled boat, he thought about his past experiences. He had faced death many times and walked away unscathed, but this time was different. When had had still been with the Time Agency, Jack had worked alone, relying on himself and his abilities to get the job done. Even after he had lost two years worth of memories, the man had still traveled alone, having no family to go back to and not caring to gain a companion.

But this was a new situation for the time-hardened warrior. He had friends he could trust and rely on, people who would be there for him no matter what. Jack was certain now that the Doctor and Rose hadn't stranded him here. They were out there somewhere, searching with all their might for him. He would find a way to get back to them.

As the sun beat down on his still form, Jack swallowed hard, his mouth and throat bone dry. Water, water, all around, and not a drop to drink…Was Jack Sparrow ever going to come and get him? Then again, something might have happened, or the pirate thought he was dead. He hoped that a ship of some sort would pass by and pick him up, since he was hot, very sore, and dehydrated.

Wearily lifting his head up, he scanned the blue horizon for any sign of a sail. Seeing nothing, Jack sighed and dropped back down onto the board. Night was coming on, and he hadn't had anything to eat since early morning. As if to remind him of this fact, his stomach rumbled loudly, demanding to be fed.

Groaning softly, Jack laid his head on his hands and gazed out at the endless expanse of blue water. It was a lovely sight, and Jack realized once again why he loved Earth so much. This planet was home to thousands of amazing creatures, and the scenery was unmatched anywhere else in the galaxy. Other planets were also very beautiful, and had exotic life forms, but Earth was the only planet Jack truly felt at home with. Even in the 51st century, his own time, the steel vistas and the sprawl of metal that made up the human race had it's own unique charm to it.

Brown eyes closed as Jack drifted on the waves, lost in the memories of time. Images of Rose, the Doctor, and Jack Sparrow flowed through his mind, blurring together to finally form a black abyss into which he gratefully fell.

- - -

Bluish-grey eyes opened and landed once more on the sleeping profile of Rose. The Time Lord's thoughts were a going around in a circle, like an endless wheel travelling the road of his mind. The spokes of the wheel were made up of four things: his worry about Jack, curiosity about the period they had landed in, the slight fascination he had for pirates, and his displeasure at Rose.

The last thought was the most irritating. He had told Rose not to wander off, but she had done exactly that. Humans…he couldn't always live with them, but there were times he couldn't live without them, either. For many, many years, the Doctor had travelled through time and space with humans, expanding his knowledge of the universe along the way.

Closing his eyes once again, he imagined a pendulum swinging. His thoughts just kept going back and forth, back and forth, much like how a pendulum moved when swung. He was giving himself a headache…

Rubbing his temples, the Doctor sighed and glanced once more at his companion. At least Rose was safe, and she appeared to be sleeping soundly despite the rocking motion of the ship. He knew that last number of days must have been trying on her, but she hadn't complained, not once. The closest she had gotten to pestering him was when the Time Lord had returned from his reconnaissance mission to the island. Not wanting to scare her, the Doctor had brushed off the question, saying that he had found nothing of interest…which was a complete lie. Oh, he had found plenty of things at the island, things which would haunt his dreams for decades to come.

- - -

The Doctor had told Rose to head back to the TARDIS, fearing that whatever had attacked the small island was still around. Indeed, there had been quite an fight, and whoever was here had put up quite a struggle before getting carted off. All the footprints had led towards the water, where an abandoned rowboat sat at the ready.

He had rowed over to the adjacent island, alert for any sign of danger. All he had heard were the calls of a few birds and the rustle of the wind in the trees. Landing on a sandy beach, he pulled the boat above the high-tide mark and set out to search the island.

Finding a well-trodden path through the jungle, the man cautiously walked down it, emerging in a large clearing after a few minutes. Blinking in the sudden sunlight, the Doctor gasped at what he saw. Dead bodies were spread everywhere across the space, hundreds of flies buzzing over the decaying corpses. Many were on the ground, covered in blood. On closer examination, the Time Lord found that they had multiple stab wounds, probably made by spears at close range. Others were tied to posts or trees, and unlike their counterparts beneath them, these men had been clubbed to death.

Feeling sick at the stench of the bodies and the ever-present blood, the man moved on, leaving the clearing behind. Continuing down another worn track, the Doctor noticed he was going up a fairly steep incline. All around him where brightly-coloured exotic flowers, providing a sharp contrast between the dark green of the trees.

Breaking out of the trees, the Time Lord sighed as he caught the smell of blood on the wind. More death, more dead bodies. Oh how he hated tasks like these…Advancing up the hill, he passed a few more prone figures, spears sticking out of their bodies. Reaching the top, he resisted the urge to gag as he saw the rows upon rows of cages that lined the cliff he was on and the one opposite. Most of them had the remains of what the Doctor suspected were once people in them, but it was impossible to tell now.

Closing his eyes, the man faintly heard the sound of water lapping against rock. Although his hearing far exceeded that of any human, he was on top of a cliff. Why was he hearing waves? Striding forwards towards the edge, he noticed a slight depression on one side. Curious, he moved closer and saw that it was in fact a very rough set of stone stairs leading down.

Descending down the handmade steps, the Doctor noticed that the sun was slowly slipping from view as he went further down. He assumed that the bottom of the cliff would be shaded completely from the light above. Interesting.

Reaching the bottom of the cliff, he hopped down the last few steps, resigned to the fact that there was probably more bodies awaiting him. Raising his gaze from the stone that made up the cliff bottom, the Doctor sighed as his point was proven. This time, the corpses were different. There was only about twenty bodies, and each one was flat on his back, arms by their sides. All had their throat slit, but none had appeared to struggle with whoever had killed them.

Also, all of the bodies where laid out in two straight lines, ten to a side. They formed a gruesome corridor that led straight to the water. Walking over to one of the men, the Time Lord noticed that all the bodies were fresh; there were no flies or other insects swarming around them. Crouching down, a flicker of light caught his eye. Storm-coloured eyes narrowed, he leaned closer and saw that the man wore a leather collar with a crimson stone attacked to it by means of a piece of rope.

Digging around in and inside pocked of his leather jacket, the man pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver. Flicking on the device, he scanned the object and read the readings.

"Crimson quartz? What's so important about a bit of quartz?" he muttered, stowing the sonic screwdriver back in its place. Standing up, he picked another random corpse and did the same thing. Finding the same results, he stood up and did a general scan of all the bodies. Each and every one had a small piece of blood-red quartz tied to a leather collar. One question was burning a planet-sized hole in the Doctor's mind: why?

Why did everyone have a stone tied to them? What was it's purpose? Symbolic? Ritualistic? Status? Recalling something he had noticed but dismissed while gazing at the caged prisoners, he frowned. All of then had had similar collar, but they had been wearing clear stones probably made of rock quartz.

Puzzled but the stones, the Doctor tried to find a connection between the prisoners and the dead natives. He sensed that he was missing an important piece of information, so he shoved the problem to the back of his mind. Yet another puzzle to be solved later.

Turning to face the water, the Doctor walked down the passage created by the cadavers. Reaching the lip of the stone slab, he gazed into the deep waters of the channel, and turned pale. At the bottom of the chasm was a ring of black stones with a stone pillar in the centre. The column was laying on its side, and tied onto it was a human. At least, the sonic screwdriver identified the remains as human. Hanging from the man's face was a hideous mask make out of human bones. Turning around, the Doctor followed the path of the corpses, lining up the bodies with the position of the pillar.

From what he could tell, the ends of the pillar lined up with the necks of the bodies. Turning on the sonic device once more, he scanned the stone, and stared at the results. The pillar was made of a mixture of amethyst, rose and citrine quartz, resulting in a pillar that was purple, pink, or amber coloured depending on the light. The pillar also had a very strong negative polarity, or minus charge. The ring of stones had a charge of some sort, but it wasn't negative or positive.

Turning around, the Time Lord scanned the rows of dead natives once again. Frowning, he double-checked the results and scratched his head. The cadavers were emitting a strong positive polarity from the quartz stones attached to their necks. Closing his eyes, the Doctor imagined how the pillar had gotten into the water. The man had been tied to the pillar or had attached himself to the column, and had somehow made the black stones levitate around the pillar.

The pillar would have shifted onto it's side and moved over to the first set of dead natives. The opposite charges of the quartz would have repelled each other; making the pillar bounce to the next pair, kept airborne by the neutral stones around it. This pattern would have been repeated all the way down the line, ending with the pillar and black stones plunging into the water and sinking to it's current resting spot. But why had all the other natives been killed? Why kill everyone, then sacrifice yourself? What did this all mean?

Realizing that he wasn't going to find any answers here, the Doctor made the lonely journey back to the rowboat, arriving back at the TARDIS and Rose