We found out where it had gone.
Yaed, a planet of ice. It was a glorious place. Surprisingly, not too cold. Too cold had been Ravrock. As the Doctor explained, the water here quite simply froze at a higher temperature. Though we'd landed at high altitude (as the Doctor further explained, the entire planet was a mountain system), the air was rich and fresh.
There was no civilization here. Life, yes. A rich kingdom of animal life, all of which was carnivorous. It had to be carnivorous to live here; there was no vegetation. Only ice and snow, the floor beneath a deep crust of soil through which nothing grew. The water was the ice, and the Doctor told me that some of the creatures here had extremely high body temperatures; they would clamp their jaws over a mound of ice and the heat of their breath would melt it down, turning it into a pool of cold, fresh water. The food, the only food, was the other animals.
But now something different had happened.
An new predator had arrived. The Whispering, which only ate. The Whispering which no other animal who lived here could hunt, or indeed would hunt even if it could. It was now that I saw that the Whispering wasn't really evil. Not really. Only hungry. There was no hatred of humanity, no burning desire to murder people or take over their worlds. Only to eat. Everything was meat, and anything would do; human life or animal alike. Whichever was available.
Rose was a hostage.
Because again, something different had happened. For the first time, the hunter was hunted. The little flesh and blood creature with the massive brain was chasing after it. If protection were ever needed before, why, the little boy had always served to protect it from harm. But the big-brained meaty creature saw straight through the camouflage, to the creature beneath, even if he couldn't understand what it was that he saw.
In as much as the Whispering understood deeper emotions (having only very primal emotions itself) it understood that the other morsel with whom he travelled was loved and cherished by myself, and more so by the big-brained foodstuff himself. Take her and throw her before itself, and the big-brained little thing would stop in his tracks.
The Whispering didn't like different. It liked to eat, changing it's hunting grounds only very rarely. It liked to chase. It didn't like being chased. It wanted it to stop. It thought that probably it would.
But I know better. I know that the Doctor won't ever stop.
The Third Adventure Part 1
"In there." The Doctor told me quietly, pointing at a cave at the base of a nearby mountain. We were stood outside the Tardis, on the summit of a large mountain, the largest in the immediate vicinity. In the horizon, glittering like jewels, I could tell that other summits were higher still. We had to be at six thousand meters, but the air was perfect.
The entrance to the cave was an upward crack in the side of that mountain. The inside was dark; too dark. And too narrow. I wondered whether we'd actually get in very far. If it were to narrow further still inside, we might not. Could the Doctor instead simply take us down in the Tardis?
"Nah, no can do," he replied when I asked him just that, "nah, the old girl wouldn't land that close to it. She doesn't like multi-dimensional organisms."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"No idea," the Doctor said flippantly, "just 'ow it is."
He shut the Tardis door. His leg was all better. He'd disappeared deep into the labyrinth of the Tardis when we fled, successfully, from Kriak -
- I don't remember doing it! -
- And staggered back into the ship. He'd come back a half-hour later with his leg healed. The skin was red and sore, but the hole left by the arrow had gone. He swallowed a pair of white tablets with a glass of water, smacking his lips. Antibiotics, no doubt.
That was good - ahead of us, we had to negotiate our way down from this cliff, and then proceed through a particularly narrow cave. Couldn't be done with a bad leg. Heck, I wasn't sure it could be done with two good legs! The mountain was horribly steep. I took a cautious, terrified step towards the edge and peered down. There was a shallow downhill walk to a vertical spot which could only be traversed with ropes. After that, it was a steep downward roll, something which might be possibly with sensible shoes, on the hardest of grounds, but which would be highly dangerous in snow, with the both of us wearing trainers.
Evidently the Doctor felt the same. He peered down the cliff and scratched his chin. "Bit high that, innit?" He observed.
"Little bit, yeah," I replied, "yeah. You got climbing gear on board?"
"Somewhere," the Doctor said, "if you wanna climb, that is. I'm not."
"Your not?" I scoffed," well how're we gettin' down there, then?"
"We fall." The Doctor grinned, a madman's glint in his eyes.
"We...uh...we fall?" I said weakly.
"We fall. Me old Tardis has fallen off a cliff plenty, and always been fine. We'll hunker down in there, and take her for a little tumble."
"Yes, but surely..."
"You got a better idea?" He barked. "Better ideas are welcome, Lynsey. But make it quick."
"You sure you can't just fly us down?"
"No. I told you. This is as close as she'll land to it's nest. She can't stand the thing."
I swore softly. "All right then." I said finally. "But how are you gonna knock it down the hill?"
"Oh, I've got some impulse bombs somewhere," he replied, "they send out a shockwave rather than an explosion. Will blow us right down this here hill."
"Right. And then what?"
"And then," the Doctor began, "we get in there. We find Rose, and we get her free from it's influence. Then we take it out. End this once an' for all, get back to some adventuring. What say you?"
"Aye aye," I agreed softly, gritting my teeth. "come on then. Let's get falling."
The Tardis comes equipped with supplementary oxygen. It comes equipped with medical provisions capable of repairing a whopping great hole in someone's leg. It comes equipped with gas masks, and it comes equipped with a swimming pool.
It doesn't come equipped with seatbelts.
We fished out the Doctor's impulse bombs, and we'd planted one atop the mountain, set on a timer. It wouldn't do any damage at all to the hill. It would simply send out a blast of energy, sending all of the snow, and the little blue box, careering down the cliff face. I was vaguely worried that we might cause an avalanche, and I again asked the Doctor about that. He shrugged it off.
"Doubt it," he replied casually, his grip on the console a lot tighter than normal, "can't promise nothing."
"Great," I retorted, "really. Great."
We were watching the impulse bomb on the scanner. It was down to thirty seconds.
"Best of luck." The Doctor said, offering me his hand.
"Likewise," I said, my mouth dry, "you sure this thing is invincible, right?"
"Nah," the Doctor said waving his free hand, "nothing's invincible Lynsey. But close enough." He added hastily, catching the horrified look on my face. "I remember me first fall in this thing. Ancient Rome. Came outta that without a scratch."
"Yeah? So what was how long ago?"
"Um...uh...nine hundred minus four hundred...yeah, so about five hundred years ago was when that 'appened."
"Right," I said nervously, eyeing the counter. Fifteen seconds. "So it survived a fall five hundred years ago...but your sure it still can?"
"Hmm. Yeah, I see ya point there." The Doctor conceded. "Still, happen your safer in here than out there right now. Ten seconds to go."
And so it was. I bit my lip and gripped the console as tightly as I could. Nine. Eight. Seven...six...five...
"Oh man..." I said weakly.
Four...three...two...ONE!
With a stomach churning lurch, the device exploded. A field of faint blue energy shot out in all directions, throwing up snow from the ground. With a sensation very much like being on a rollar coaster, I felt the Tardis get scooped up and thrown, thrown away from the mountain's summit with force, the same force with which someone would hurl a ball across a field for their dog to chase. I screamed as we shot forward, and started to tilt. Myself and the Doctor were lifted off our feet and thrown to the corrugated metal floor, a full on body-slam which sent pains shooting up and down my back and arm, the ghost of injuries past. Although the box outside was now hurling through the air, and falling violently down the hill, slamming against the cliff face as it went, the gravity systems inside meant that although a violent experience, we wouldn't truly feel the sheer force with which the Tardis was careering downhill. I watched on the scanner; all I could see was white sky, snowy ground, white sky, snowy ground, the two images so similar that it was impossible to really tell them apart. The Doctor, to my chagrin, was laughing hysterically, each smash into the cliff face outside producing a violent bump in here, picking us momentarily off the floor, and slamming us back down into it. Hard.
One of the bumps caught my head. As I landed on the floor, my neck snapped back and the back of the head hit the floor. I cried out in pain, stars swimming before my eyes...
"Hey," the Doctor said softly, touching my cheek. I opened my eyes, my vision blurry. I felt as though my brain had been used as a bowling ball. Every bone ached. I sat up slowly, groaning. The falling had stopped.
"We're down." the Doctor said.
"Well that's just great..."
"So yeah," he continued quickly, "up ya get now, come on. Let's go."
"Was I unconscious?" I said uncertainly.
He didn't answer. Simply walked out of the door. Amazingly, we'd landed upright. I got gingerly to my feet and limped outside into the snow. We'd come down all right. I looked behind us - on the cliff face were big dents in the snow, where the Tardis had face-planted on it's way down. I looked all the way up and laughed. The mountain was white with snow. But the very top now wasn't. It was a grey-black colour, the colour of the stone and soil beneath. We'd blown off all the snow. Thankfully, however, no avalanche as such. It had all rolled down gently and most of it had settled on the cliff face as it came down.
The Doctor chuckled. "Yup. It'll snow hard overnight, will look good as new tomorrow."
I nodded and looked the other way. There, ahead of us now and not below, was the cave entrance, a jagged slash in the stone face of another mountain half a mile away. Was it my imagination, or could I smell something nasty, even at this distance?
"This is the place all right," the Doctor said, handing my a nose-peg. I stared at him.
"Don't want a repeat o' last time, Lynsey." He said firmly. "Rose is in there. She's not in her right mind o' course. But I still think she'll feel alone. And afraid. And I can't bear to think of her like that. Not for one moment. Can you?"
"No." I agreed, putting the nose-peg on.
"Exactly. So I can't be 'aving you retchin' every few minutes. I need you on the ball."
"Sure, sure," I agreed. "I'm ready."
The Doctor smiled and took my hand again. "I know you are. I know I've said it before, Lynsey, but I'm so glad I met you. I really am."
I smiled and shook his hand playfully. To my horror, I felt tears burn my eyes, and I looked down at the snow at once. "You feel the same?" He asked.
"Oh sure," I said in a half laughing, half choked voice, "since we met, I've been mutilated, taken into a room full of puke, chased down by savages and rolled down a hill. What's not to like?"
"That's the spirit!" The Doctor beamed, and we burst into nervous, rapturous laughter. As we walked towards the cave, I spoke to him again.
"Your worth the pain," I said, "and the monsters. I know you don't believe that. But you are."
Now it was his turn to go bleary eyed. In a quiet voice, quite unlike his normal one, he replied "say that to me again once we save her. Then I might half-believe ya."
"Fair deal," I replied. And hand in hand, Dimension Traps in pockets, we walked towards the cave.
Towards the lair of the Whispering.
Towards, oh we so desparatley hoped, an alive and well Rose Tyler.
The Doctor's Diary, Entry 1967 Part 1
Ever watched cheese rolling?
Cos I have. It's hilarious. I once sat in me room (yes, course I've got a room) binge watching it for about twelve hours. If you don't know what it is, let me sum it up; a large, round cheese is rolled down a hill (still in it's pack). A group of idiots then charge down the hill after it. Bear in mind that this hill is both steep and muddy. They fall badly, they injure themselves. But they carry on. They throw themselves down this big hill, each desperate to get to the bottom first, whatever the cost.
The winner gets the cheese. I'm honestly not making this up.
We engaged in a similar sport when he arrived on Yaed. Tardis rolling can be the provisional name for now, til I think of a better one. It was ever so much fun. But we didn't win a cheese when we got to the bottom first (we were the only competitors, so thus the only possible winners). No, our prize was a nice trip into an unknown and presumably highly dangerous cave, the Whispering's new pad.
I'd have sooner taken the cheese.