Chapter 1

Frederick looked up from his diary; he had heard a noise outside his wooden shelter "surely they can't be hunting again" He grabbed his knife from the damp ground nearby and the rustling sound startled him again. His grip tightened around the handle of the knife and he slowly wandered out of safety.

He crept towards the bushes, where the rustling came from and shouted "WHO'S THERE!" silence answered him. Suddenly the rustling got louder and there was a mumbling "Doctor, I heard something"

"Don't be silly, it was the wind" came the reply.

"I don't think the wind can shout Doctor" A third voice added.

"Shut up"

Suddenly three people stepped out of the bushes and Frederick stared at them open-mouthed, he looked at the girl in the middle "Ebony?" His heart thumped and then sank at the realisation that it was not her.

Two of the people were oddly dressed, the tall man was wearing a long coat and a long scarf. The woman standing next to him was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, a fashion that had gone thousands of years ago on Earth. The third boy was gloomy looking, simply wearing grey jeans and a black T-shirt and leather jacket but he looked up at him and his striking violet eyes made Frederick stare at him.

Maria looked at Frederick puzzled "Ebony? I'm Maria"

The man with the scarf smiled an wide grin "Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Maria, and this is Seth"

Maria smiled and Seth nodded.

Frederick frowned suspiciously at them "Now what's all this I hear about a crash?" The Doctor asked.

Frederick studied the three people who had just invited themselves into his hand made wooden shelter. They obviously weren't half-witted like the tribe just the other side of the river. Neither did they seem arrogant enough to be The Company, who had sent them on a wild goose chase to The Serene Galaxy. He had no idea who they were, yet here he was telling them what had happened in the crash "None of us knew what happened, some of the surviving crew members told us the engine had blown out. I don't remember much, I just remember the lights flashing and the alarms blaring in my ears that was one of the last times I saw Ebony…" Frederick's hand began to shake. And the familiar dull ache in his chest appeared, he hadn't talked about her to anyone in months.

Maria glanced down at Frederick's shaking hand and pretended to splutter to shut the Doctor up.

The Doctor noticed this and was silent for a while, "So what brings you here?" Frederick asked.

"Well…." The Doctor began.

"Well basically the Doctor drove our space ship into an asteroid" Seth spoke at last.

"You put me off!" The Doctor argued.

"You put yourself off by losing chess to Seth, and yet again you forgot to put the shields up" Maria answered.

The Doctor frowned "Am I not allowed to make a mistake too?"

Seth was staring at Frederick intensely and his eyes sparkled intelligently "So, do you have survivors?" He asked.

"Dead" Frederick replied simply.

"Because of the crash?" Maria replied.

"No, you see, there is a tribe, just across the river, who hunts us, no one knew why; from the first day we've been here they've done it. And they've narrowed it down to me" Frederick explained the fury exploded in his mind as he thought of them. "They have no emotion, no remorse, and they way they kill us off is terrible…"

"I want to see this tribe" The Doctor interrupted "Do you think you could lead us to the river?"

Frederick pondered it for a moment, maybe this was it, and maybe this was his chance to leave the planet before the tribe hunt again. "Alright, but I won't go further than the edge of the river, they know I'm the only one left"

The Doctor nodded "Good enough for me, Maria and Seth stay here"

"But…" Maria began.

"Stay here!" The Doctor exclaimed.

Maria tutted and sat down, Seth joined her and smiled mischievously, his violet eyes shone meaningfully towards her when the Doctor had gone "So are we going then or what?"

Maria smiled back and kissed him, they both left the wooden shelter hand in hand and crept behind the Doctor and Frederick.

The Doctor gazed across the river to the dark jungle ahead of him; Frederick hesitated and looked behind him to see Maria and Seth dive into a bush nearby "Erm, Doctor"

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"I think your friends followed us" Frederick replied.

"What!?" The Doctor spun around and called into the wood "COME OUT MARIA, SETH I KNOW YOU'VE FOLLOWED ME!Maria stepped out of the bush and trying to keep a shred of dignity, pulled a leaf out of her hair "How is it fair that Frederick, the person who we've only just met gets to go with you and we don't?"

"Because I don't want either of you in danger"

Frederick shifted from one foot to the other "Actually it's more dangerous back at the wooden shelter where the tribe can get them behind our backs"

The Doctor glared at him for a second then glared back at Seth "Look after her"

"As I always do" Seth replied coolly.

"Teripians…" The Doctor muttered.

Maria giggled and took Seth's hand, Frederick looked back at them and pain stabbed at his heart once more as a flash of Ebony's pale face appeared in front of his eyes. Maria looked like her, with her black hair and hazel eyes, and it killed him to even glance at her.