The Hungry Earth Pt 2
I stand off in a corner and watch the madness around me.
"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the earth." The woman from the village, whose name is Ambrose, comments trying to understand what is going on.
"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready."
"No, stop. This has gone far enough. I mean, what is this?" Ambrose demands, unable to accept what is happening.
"He's telling the truth, love," Tony reassures her.
"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."
"Look, Ambrose," Nasreen states before motioning in my direction, "we saw Jaz's sister get taken, ok? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."
"Him?!"
"Me!" the Doctor says popping up from behind the table.
"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asks from his place next to me. Everyone turns to look at the Doctor.
"Yes. But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards, because we're running out of time." The Doctor marches over and stands in front of Ambrose.
"So tell us what to do."
"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find."
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"Right, guys, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. I need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going." The Doctor pats Elliot on the shoulder.
"I can't do the words, I'm dyslexic," Elliot says turning to look at me.
"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." Elliot smiles at the Doctor before heading off. I decide to follow him and give him a hand.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"What do you think?" Elliot asks me when he is finished.
"I think that is better than anything I could ever draw," I saw with a smile. "Let's go show the Doctor." He smiles at me excitedly as we run back in to the church.
"Look at that! Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you."
"I don't understand what you're going to do."
"Two-phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe."
"Knock 'em out. Cool." Elliot turns to look at me.
"Yeah, cool," I agree.
"Lovely place to grow up, round here," the Doctor mentions.
"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."
"I was the same, where I grew up."
"Did you get away?" Elliot asks with intrigue.
"Yeah."
"Do you ever miss it?" The Doctor pauses before answering.
"So much." The Doctor looks over at me and I smile at him sadly.
"Is it monsters coming?" Elliot looks from me to the Doctor. "Have you met monsters before?"
"Yeah," we answer together.
"You scared of them?" I turn to the Doctor and let him answer.
"No. They're scared of me." The Doctor turns back to the monitors. Elliot turns to look at me.
"Will he really get my dad back?" I put a hand on his shoulder.
"No question," I reply confidently.
"I left my headphones at home," Elliot says. I nod my head and turns and leaves.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
The church becomes dark as a rumbling sound can be heard. Tony and I turn the lights on.
"They're close to the surface now," Nasreen says as she places a hand on Tony's. He pulls her in for a kiss. "Tony!"
"Like you didn't know." They kiss again before quickly pulling apart when the Doctor and Rory comes running back in. The ground starts shaking.
"See if we can get a fix." The Doctor checks the monitors as things start falling off the shelves. There is a sudden surge of electricity as the monitors spark and then everything goes dark. The shaking stops and everything goes quiet. Tony tries the light switch.
"No power."
"It's deliberate."
"What do we do now?" I ask.
"Nothing. We've got nothing. They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."
"Is everyone ok? Is anyone hurt?" Rory questions slipping in to his nurse mode.
"Fine."
"All good."
"Me too." Everyone answers back to him. The rumbling starts again.
"Doctor…what was that?" Rory questions.
"It's like the holes at the drill station," I say as the Doctor leans his ear down to the floor.
"Is this how they happened?" Ambrose questions.
"It's coming through the final layer of earth," the Doctor informs.
"What is?" Nasreen questions as the rumbling stops.
"Banging's stopped," Tony notes. Ambrose looks around.
"Where's Elliot? Has…has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?" Guilt washes over me as I realize I was the last one to see him.
"I…I did," I admit slowly.
"Where is he?" she demands as she walks toward me.
"He said he was going to get headphones," I reply as everyone looks at me.
"And you let him go?! He was out there on his own?!" Ambrose accuses. The Doctor takes a step in front of me as Tony places a hand on her shoulder.
"Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!" We hear Elliot call as he bangs on the door.
"Elliot!"
"Let me in!"
"He's out there! Help me!" Everyone rushes to the door. I stand back and watch.
"Open the door! Mum! There's something out here!"
"Push, Elliot! Push, Elliot, give it a shove!"
"Mum!"
"Push! Hurry up!"
"Come on!" Tony grunts as the door finally budges.
"Elliot!" They rush out the door and I follow. "Where is he?! He was here! He was here! Elliot!"
"Ambrose, don't go running off!" The Doctor calls after her as she runs in to the cemetery.
"Ambrose!" Tony yells as he runs after her.
"You, stay here," the Doctor says pointing at me. I can only nod my head knowing this is entirely fault. He and Rory run off after them. Nasreen and I share a look before turning to watch as they disappear.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
Rory and I sit outside the church.
"So, I think I've met these creatures before. Different branch of the species, mind, but all the same…Let's see if our friend's thawed out." The Doctor leads the way down in to the crypt.
"Are you sure?" Rory questions.
"By yourself?" I ask skeptically.
"Very sure."
"But the sting…" Rory notes.
"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge. Am I right?" He calls out the last bit to the creature. He turns back to us. "I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine."
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"You're going to what?!" Rory questions the Doctor after he tells us his plan.
"I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe, to talk to them," he restates from his seat.
"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose questions.
"They're not aliens! They're Earth…liens. Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well…" the Doctor stands as he continues his rambling, "only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look…from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors, and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Amy. Because I will find them." He pauses before growing very serious. "While I'm gone, you five people, in this church, in this corner of Planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity."
"And what if they come back? Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?" Tony demands angrily.
"No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, they return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this, together…if you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people Nobody dies today. Understand?" Everyone nods before Nasreen starts to applause. She stops when she realizes she's being silly.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
Nasreen heads for the door after the Doctor.
"Nasreen, wait," I call out but she ignores me. I sigh before chasing after her. I feel Tony coming up behind me.
"No, sorry, no, what are you doing?" The Doctor blocks her from entering the TARDIS.
"I tried to stop her," I comment as he glares at me.
"Coming with you, of course! What is it, some kind of…transport pod?"
"Sort of, but you're not…" he pauses when he spots Tony, "coming with me."
"He's right, you're not."
"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet. And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!" As Nasreen explains, the Doctor checks his watch.
"I don't have time to argue!"
"I thought we were in a rush."
"It'll be dangerous."
"Oh, so's crossing the road."
"Oh, for goodness' sake, all right, then! Come on!" The Doctor unlocks the door and then tugs me in after him.
"Doctor!" I exclaim in shock.
"Sorry, thought you might want to tag along," he apologizes.
"Always," I say with a smile. We turn when the door opens and Nasreen steps inside.
"Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Now, don't touch anything. Very precious."
"No way! But…but that's…This is…" Nasreen walks up the stairs as she tries to find the right words, "fantastic!" she finally replies slapping the Doctor on the arm. "What does it do?"
"Everything! I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't inter…" Suddenly the TARDIS shakes and we lose our balance. "fere! Did you touch something?!"
"No! Isn't this what it does?!"
"I'm not doing anything! We've been hijacked, I can't stop it! They must've sensed the electromagnetic field!" The TARDIS pitches from one side to the other. We all struggle to keep on our feet, holding on to the console for support. The Doctor looks at the monitor. "They're pulling the TARDIS down into the Earth!"
"Whoa! Whoa!" It feels like we are on an elevator that is dropping quickly. Suddenly we stop and we all crash to the floor. Nasreen reaches over and pulls one of the Doctors straps.
"Oi," he calls out after it snaps back on him.
"Where are we?" Nasreen questions. The Doctor smiles and hops up rushing over to the door. We walk out as dirt rains down on us. "Oh!" The Doctor whistles and it echoes. We look up.
"Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system. Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this."
"How far down are we?" I ask as we look around.
"Oh…a lot more than 21 km."
"So why aren't we burning alive?" Nasreen questions.
"Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?"
"It's like this is every day to you!" Nasreen comments.
"Not every day," I state.
"Every other day," the Doctor finishes with a smile. We walk on as Nasreen stands shocked for a moment before following us.
"What are we looking for?" I ask as we walk through a maze of tunnels.
"We're looking for a small tribal settlement. Probably housing around…a dozen Homo reptilia. Maybe less." Nasreen branches off to a side tunnel and I follow. In front of us, a whole civilization lies below.
"One…small tribe?" Nasreen calls out.
"Yeah," the Doctor replies turning back to us.
"Maybe a…dozen?" I question.
"Ah," the Doctor comments as he finally sees what we are seeing. "Maybe more than a dozen. Maybe more like an entire civilization living beneath the earth."