"Susan?" The Doctor stood up and turned around abruptly, causing a three-person pileup. Susan climbed down off the Ammut and rushed over to help them up. "Are you all right?" she asked. She had to shout a little to be heard over the commotion of the crowd and Kita yelling at her husband.
"Probably," said Ian, "Where have you been? We've been worried!"
"I followed a possum into the woods. It's a long story, but this is-"
"Are these yours?" asked a possum, holding out Barbara's clothes.
"-Archie," continued Susan, "he's an-"
"An Ammut!" said the Doctor.
Archie smiled. "Hello!" he said, vigorously shaking the Doctor's bound hands while Barbara tried to collect her clothes from the possum and Susan tried to untie Ian. Blackburn hurried over and prodded at her knee.
"No! Stop that. We're in the middle of a trial. And you," he pointed at Barbara, "You've got your clothes back. Take off that flag."
She stared at him and pointedly waggled her hands. "Unless you expect me to grow another pair of arms..."
"Fine! You can go, but be quick about it!" he snapped. Susan untied her so she could go find someplace to change. "Now what's this you've brought here? What's he doing on Bekberry?"
"His name is Archie, and his ship crashed. He's been stranded here for a few years." Susan replied. She turned to the Doctor, undoing the ropes, "Grandfather,I was going to ask you, do you think you could fix it? His ship?"
"I could take a look, yes."
Blackburn eyed Archie warily. "And he'd leave as soon as it was repaired?"
"Yes," said Susan, "He's been wanting to leave for a long time now."
The General went back over to Judge Greenwood and the two of them had a hushed conversation. Around them, the large crowd was slowly settling down, becoming used to the new alien in their midst. There were a few joyous reunions as the cult members reunited with estranged family and friends. After a few minutes, Barbara returned, fully dressed and just in time to help rescue Ian, who had stood next to Archie and found himself severely hugged.
Blackburn and the judge finished their conversation. "May I have everyone's attention, please?" said Greenwood. Only a few people up front heard. "ORDER!" she shouted with surprising volume. The crowd quickly settled down. "Now, the General and I have just reached a verdict. In light of previous events, the one known as the Doctor is preemptively pardoned, as is his young assistant. As for this new creature," she pointed at Archie, who was holding Susan's hand at her instruction, "We find him to be your responsibility. By court order, you are not to leave the planet until he does, and your ship will be grounded until then." She moved on to Ian and Barbara. "You two," she said, "have been found guilty of all charges. The usual penalties are a fine and about three to five years."
Ian and Barbara started to protest when Judge Greenwood held up a paw. "However," she continued, "under the circumstances, I'm reducing it to twenty hours community service. You will report to town hall for further instructions." Greenwood then walked over to Maude, who looked extremely worn down. "Maude, you have also been found guilty. But once again, due to such unusual circumstances, we're not sure what to do with you. I need to speak with both you and the General alone, immediately. Court is dismissed!"
The crowd, sensing that the night's entertainment was over, began to disperse as Maude followed the General into Town Hall. Greenwood started to follow when the Doctor approached her. "If I may," he said, "I'd like to speak with the three of you as well. After all, the documents in question are about me, hmm?"
"You might as well." replied Greenwood, "Never in my life have I had to deal with fictional characters turning up in my courtroom."
As it turned out, the possums' idea of "grounding" them was to tether the TARDIS to a nearby tree with a single rope. A minor inconvenience, seeing as the doors opened inward and the rope was low enough to step over with minimal tripping. They could have taken off whenever they felt like doing so, had they not promised that they'd make sure Archie got home.
Archie's ship had gone down close to the valley where the possum cult had gathered. For an interstellar delivery vehicle, it had actually survived the crash fairly well. However, because of the lack of proper supplies and having spent so much time being neglected, the craft was past the point where a simple repair would be sufficient. Instead, the Doctor decided that the best thing to do would be to fix the emergency beacon and wait for help to arrive. He enlisted Susan and Ian to assist. Barbara, meanwhile, kept Archie company.
Susan had warned her about his telepathic abilities, which didn't really affect Barbara that much. The most she could feel were his emotions brushing the edges of her mind. Archie was perfectly friendly, albeit in a "large dog that doesn't realise it's no longer a puppy" sort of way.
"Archie, I can walk now."
"I'm just helping!"
She sighed, trying to be patient. He'd picked her up so they could cross the river about ten minutes ago and had apparently forgotten to put her back down. "Yes, and that's very kind of you, but I can manage on my own."
"Are you sure?" he asked nervously, "Only I've noticed that you go around on two legs. Not that there's anything wrong with two legs, but you haven't even got a tail to help you balance! None of you do. Are you born that way or was it an accident? If it was an accident, I'm sorry for bringing it up. It must have been very traumatising, but I just wanted to help..."
As he babbled, he lowered his trunk enough for Barbara to put her feet on the ground but didn't let go. In that instant, she felt a mental connection and suddenly caught little flashes of fear and loneliness. He was terrified that if he let go, everyone would disappear and he would be alone forever. She gave him a reassuring hug. "Archie, it's all right." she said, "Listen, why don't you and I go see if the Doctor's finished the repairs? You can help me keep my balance if you like."
Archie nodded, happy to have something to do. They walked off in the direction of the ship, Barbara setting the pace. He continued to ramble about everything that crossed his mind until they reached it.
It was a basic delivery vehicle, with a control room, sleeping quarters, and a storage bay. Several years without maintenance were starting to take their toll, but other than that it was like any other spacecraft. Except that it was designed for a non-humanoid creature. And everything was very large. After becoming accustomed to the scale of the possums' city, though, the effect was disorienting. Barbara felt as though she'd just shrunk to the size of a child.
She saw Ian and Susan sitting on top of a horseshoe-shaped console, focused on an open control panel. The Doctor was working in an open panel on the side, occasionally giving instructions.
As she and Archie arrived, the Doctor closed the panel with a satisfied "Hmpf!"
"Well, that seems to have fixed it! Now, Susan, switch on the emergency beacon. The little red button on the left...your left. No, other left. That one! Yes, that should do it. You can come down from there now."
Ian lowered himself down from the console and neatly caught Susan as she jumped. "That didn't take as long as I thought it would." he said, "Lucky we can all understand each other, though. I hate to think how we'd have managed otherwise."
"Sí," said Susan, "Cuando hablamos la misma lengua, es imucho/i más fácil para trabajar juntos. ¿No te lo crees?"
Barbara laughed as Ian rolled his eyes. "Enough of that!" he said, "And how are you doing that, anyway? I thought that circuit translated everything."
Just then, there was a tiny knock at the open door. Maude stuck her head in. "Hello?" she said. She'd been looking much better since the trial. The Doctor had successfully argued that since the public had grown more comfortable with the idea of aliens through her books, it was time to let the secret go. In the end, Maude was made to pay a hefty fine and had a serious discussion with Blackburn about government documents.
"There you are!" exclaimed Maude as she scampered into the shuttle. "Been looking everywhere for you! I've just been down to the courthouse and they've got your community service assignments. Do you think the two of you could handle teaching?"
A smile played across Ian's lips. "Teaching, you say? I don't know...Barbara, do you think we could teach?"
"I suppose we could give it a try." she replied, trying to hide the amusement in her voice.
"Excellent!" said Maude, "I've got it all written out what you're supposed to cover. It's mostly stuff about space and stars and such. The local schools thought it'd be a good time to teach these things what with everything that's been happening lately. Oh, and you're supposed to find a way to work in 'don't do drugs' as well. Now, this other thing," she held out a small sheaf of papers, "Dr. Stiller, you remember her, don't you? You were kidnapped, and anyway, Dr. Stiller is still interested in learning about humans. Before you say anything, it's entirely voluntary. All she's asking is a face to face interview. This is just a consent form, and it's got a bit about your rights as a volunteer. You wouldn't have to do anything you didn't want to."
"We'll think about it." said Barbara. She wasn't particularly eager to spend any more time with Bekberry's scientific community.
"Well, I'll just leave you the forms, then. You can turn them in to me or my new assistant. You remember Fritter?"
"Two weeks." said the Doctor from near the console. He'd been adjusting the settings on the emergency beacon. "If I've calculated this correctly. It will take your people a short while to get this signal, and it will take their reply just as long to reach us, but it should take no longer than two weeks for someone to come for Archie."
Archie was ecstatic. "You really think so?" he asked.
"Of course!"
It was a little over three weeks later when Archie's people finally came, but it took Ian and Barbara about that long to finish their sentences. Teaching possum children was strangely similar to teaching human children, except their students were small, furry, and thrilled about not having class up in a tree. And of course, there were a lot more personal questions. ("How do you balance without a tail?" "Is it true you've only got one set of thumbs?" "But if you don't have a pouch, then where do you keep your babies?")
Of course, Susan helped out. So did the Doctor, surprisingly.
Archie, while doing much better, was still having a difficult time adjusting. After years of solitude, finding people to talk to was a welcome relief, but it just wasn't the same as connecting with his own species. Now the thought of being rescued was almost too much for him to handle. Susan would sit and talk with him telepathically to help him manage his restlessness. When a larger shuttle of ammuts arrived, Archie immediately latched on to the first one out of the craft. The captain of the crew handed him over to the nurse, and assured everyone that Archie would begin therapy right away.
The ammuts were grateful for Archie's return, and the Doctor was able to talk them into protecting Bekberry. Nothing too involved, just to keep an eye on the planet and shoo away any potential invaders until the possums had developed enough to handle space travel. After Archie's departure, the four time travellers stayed a few more days before finally departing.
Meanwhile, fifty years ago and two regenerations later, the TARDIS materialised in the forest. There was a moment or two of silence, then the doors open and a young woman stepped out, dressed for an evening at the theatre. One look at her surroundings told her that this wasn't the premier of iThe Pirates of Penzance/i.
"Doctor!" she exclaimed, "You've missed it again."
"Are you sure, Sarah?" he asked, stepping out to join her. Sarah Jane spread her arms wide to gesture at the scenery. "Oh..."
"Yes."
The forest looked like an earthquake had hit it; trees were toppled over, huge sections of land rose up at odd angles. "This again." said the Doctor, "I was wondering when I'd show up."
"What?"
"Oh, just a stable time loop, Sarah. This whole planet is being terraformed without regard for the locals, and it's up to you and I to fix things as usual. We'll find that the colonists don't really know what they're doing, seeing as they weren't prepared for the natives to be possums. Once we're explained thing to them, the majority of the crew will agree to leave, but we'll have to take stronger measures with a few of the senior officers. Fortunately, everything will work out in our favour."
Sara Jane just stared at him, "And just how do you know all that?"
"I read it in a book once." he replied, "You're going to want to put on something more appropriate to this climate. Let's hurry up. The plot isn't going to unfold itself!"