The small group of colourfully dressed Gallifreyans were standing in a huddle, talking quietly and almost frantically amongst themselves. They all wore long, shimmering robes, some had large, heavy-looking, club-shaped 'collars' (Kerry couldn't think of any other word to describe them) – which stuck up rigidly behind the wearer's head – resting on their shoulders, and most had flat, colour-coordinated caps on their heads. Behind them, the large, emerald green building (which the Doctor called the Panoptican) glowed, reminding Kerry of the Emerald City in 'The Wizard of Oz' as she stood listening to the Gallifreyans' hushed discussion.
"I take it there has been no sign of the boy, then?" one was saying, almost calmly. He stood the tallest of the group by a couple of inches, and his every move was full of the grace of a person in authority. The others stood as close as was respectful, and there was no doubt that this individual was the leader of the group.
"No Sir. My men and I have searched everywhere we can think of, every day and night since he disappeared." replied another, clearly some kind of soldier judging by the various weapons (at least, that's what Kerry assumed they were) that hung from his belt.
"What about the Forbidden Caves?" suggested a third, almost as if he was afraid of the words. He stood closest to the leader, making Kerry wonder if he could be the second-in-command.
"With all due respect, Sir, we dare not venture into the Forbidden Caves, Sir" admitted the soldier hurriedly, and the few similarly dressed men nodded in agreement. By way of an explanation, he added, "We would certainly never return, and it is so treacherous, it is impossible that the boy would survive if he has gone in there, which I am most certain he hasn't."
"Your meaning is that if the boy has indeed entered the Caves, it is then insensible to go after him as he will probably be dead." said the leader with the air of one who wishes to hear someone confirm what he already knows.
"Yes, Sir, that is my meaning."
"How long has this boy been missing?" Kerry asked, unable to remain quiet. "And what are these Forbidden Caves?"
The Gallifreyans turned to look at her, not showing the slightest bit of surprise at her sudden appearance (or perhaps not noticing that she wasn't one of them), and then the leader motioned for his second-in-command to tell her, who complied.
"The youngster has been missing for a few days – four, maybe five." He explained in a honey-sweet voice. "A group of our soldiers," – he indicated the soldiers present – "took him out with them when they went out to patrol the perimeter of the City. They returned without him."
"We think he must have left our group to explore." added the soldier, looking shamefaced. "He often wandered around in the City and exploring."
The second-in-command nodded in solemn acknowledgement of his words, then continued, "As for the Caves, they are situated on the outskirts of the City in the North Quadrant. They are highly dangerous and few who enter them ever come out."
When it became clear to Kerry that her questions had been answered in full, and that no other information was going to be disclosed, she thanked the colourful Gallifreyans and moved away, back towards the TARDIS. The Doctor, who had silently joined her at some point during her conversation, put his hand gently on her shoulder and murmured, "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
If Kerry had been listening, she would have replied "I don't know; it depends on what you think I'm thinking." As it was, however, she just said "We've got to see if he's in there. And if he is, we've got to get him out."
"I thought you'd say that." the Doctor muttered quietly as they neared their spaceship.
"Well? Don't you agree?" Kerry said hotly, suddenly alert.
The Doctor, trying to think of an answer that approached the problem from a different angle, finally said, "We can try a scanner check on the Caves first – if they exist, which I'm sure they do – and then…then we can decide whether to go in or not. And if we can't scan them…"
"We go in anyway." said Kerry firmly, looking into his eyes. The Doctor gave a defeated sigh and held the TARDIS door open for her before following her inside.
The tall, cloaked figure hurried along the complex maze of tunnels deep below Gallifrey, the seemingly endless row of small, everlasting lights that lined the tunnels casting eerie shadows on the walls as he flitted past. Presently he came to a strong, wooden door studded with jewels; rubies as large as a man's fist glittered around the edge, and a single, huge sapphire was embellished in the centre of the door where it glowed malevolently. The cloaked man knocked firmly and after a pause a rough, croaky voice bid him enter. The room within was larger than one would expect, and was bathed in soft green and blue light from a collection of tall candlesticks dotted around the room. A large mirror was situated on the wall opposite the door (so that even if the occupant of the room had their back to the door, they could see those who entered the room, and the cloaked visitor saw himself reflected in the glass. A vast oak desk stood in the centre of the room, and sat behind it was a small, red-robed person whose face was obscured by the dense shadows of a vast hood. A bony hand rested on the desktop, and a playful inkwell kept darting eagerly to an outstretched, twig-like finger.
"They have arrived, your Honour." announced the visitor, bowing to the owner of the hands. "A man and a girl, as you said."
There was a pause. The whole room seemed to be listening – even the candles ceased to flicker, their blue and green flames standing erect and motionless. After what seemed like an age, the mysterious creature at the desk spoke in a wizened voice that rasped in his throat.
"Make sure they are not hindered in any way." he commanded, and then he stood up so suddenly that the little inkwell leapt backwards so far it nearly fell off the desk and cowered, trembling, on the edge. The old man scooped the little thing up and stroked its black lid soothingly. Then, in an ancient and cracking, yet somehow strong and almost triumphant voice, he declared,
"For the Prophesy has begun!"
The central column on the TARDIS console gradually slowed to a stop as the TARDIS landed once again. Kerry watched on the scanner as the Time-machine settled outside the Forbidden Caves. True to the name, the Caves did indeed look forbidding – almost like a crouching cat would look to a tiny mouse. Kerry shuddered at the thought of anyone ever going in there, and she could understand why even Time Lords would be afraid of the place. I do hope he's not in there she thought to herself, though she had a feeling he was.
"Right!" said the Doctor authoritatively. "Let's scan these Caves!"
Kerry moved round the console to the Doctor's side, pulling the dangling scanner with her. She positioned it so both she and the Doctor could see it, and watched attentively as his fingers started flying over the keys of the tiny control computer so fast, they were just a blur. After about a minute of high-speed tapping, an image – or rather a black screen covered in white gridlines – appeared on the screen. As the Doctor went off into yet another spiel about the results of this process, Kerry peered at the screen, trying to make out any details. The Doctor realised that Kerry wasn't listening and ceased babbling, instead reaching out and touching a few more buttons on the panel before him. all at once, the image on the scanner became much clearer, and a plan of the Caves showed that the network of tunnels within was not as complex as it had been expected to be. Most of the tunnels branched off another, larger and wider tunnel that ran all through the Caves and beyond, and these smaller tunnels were either dead ends or connected to one another in such a way that they eventually led back onto the main tunnel.
"Wow, look at this," murmured the Doctor to himself. " This is almost as bad as the Death Zone."
"Er, Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Are we looking for the boy or admiring the interior of the Caves?"
"Hang on, I was just getting to that!" A few more seconds at the keyboard and four interlocking lines began to move on the screen, outside edge to centre, over and over as the Caves were scanned for life-forms. Then the motion stopped, the scanner gave a high-pitched beep and a message flashed up in white lettering that read 'LIFE-FORM DETECTED'. Immediately below that, a smaller, still paragraph read 'ANIMAL-SPECIES: BAT-NATIVE PLANET: GALLIFREY.'
"Oh, it's only a bat," said the Doctor, disappointed, as he watched the small red blob that represented the bat flit across the screen. The scanner continued its scan and five minutes later it had identified no less than twenty bats plus a large rat, each represented by a blob that had its respective information floating underneath. Kerry had almost gone 'batty' with frustration when a new scan result popped up. Kerry forced herself to look though she thought it was probably their twenty-first bat and found herself reading an entirely different message. 'LIFE-FORM DETECTED:- HUMANOID – SPECIES; GALLIFREYAN MALE – NATIVE PLANET: GALLIFREY – STATUS: ALIVE.'
"Viòla!" yelped the Doctor triumphantly, "Got him!"
Kerry just stared at the boy's respective blob, a sense of dread – no, terror – no, no…. oh, never mind, both then – slowly welling up inside her. She left the console and went down a short flight of steps that led from the console platform down to door level, and pulled the door open. She gazed out at the Caves for a few minutes, and thought how much more intimidating they looked close up.
"We've got to get him out," she said for her own benefit.
"Yes, I know."
Kerry turned and looked into the Doctor's eyes, to make sure he wasn't intending to back out. He stared back at her with that familiar look of sadness, that expression that silently beseeched her to be careful. She nodded.
"You too," she whispered. Then she turned back to stare at the mouth of the Caves, and swallowed hard.