VII
About Wales

20th Centuary
Planet Earth
Wales
1984
Middle of nowhere

"Who are you and what are you doing on our land?" The farmer standing next to the Doctor orders in a thick Welsh accent. "This is private property! You have no right to be here! I demand you to tell me who you are!" He presses his gun to the Doctor's temple.

April narrows her eyes at the farmer standing directly in front of her, unafraid of the shotgun that is pointing in her face. For a short moment, no one knows what to do to get out of this situation. But then the Doctor suddenly lets out a roar of laughter and starts speaking in a Scottish accent.

"We mean no harm wee lads; we're merely just travellers passing by. Uhm we're a wee bit lost I'm afraid."

"You must read English if you speak it," One of the farmers replies harshly. "Didn't you read the sign on the gate?"

"Ahh no."

"It's a fake!" The farmer next to Rose shouts. "They're only pretending. They look perky and I don't like it!"

The Doctor lets out a loud deflated sigh. He gestures to his coat pocket as he looks at the farmer next to him. The farmer scowls before dropping his gun and reaching inside the Doctor's coat pocket. He pulls of the psychic paper.

"I guess you've found us out." the Doctor mutters without the Scottish accent, loud enough for them to hear. The farmer looks down at the psychic paper. "I'm Doctor Smith from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and these are my fellow co-workers," The Doctor's voice becomes more serious and formal. "This is Lieutenant Jackie Orman," He points to Rose who nods. "Second Lieutenant Tiffany Jenner," He points to Terry. "And this is our newest recruit, Mrs Robinson."

April shoots daggers at the Doctor.

The four farmers suddenly take a step back in line, standing side-by-side and salutes them. The Doctor, Rose, April and Terry cautiously salutes back.

"That's more like it!" Rose says as she straightens her posture. The look of pleasure on her face is clear to say that she is enjoying being saluted to.

The Doctor, who hasn't dropped his stare from the farmer in front of him, nods and drops his hand. "At ease boys," He orders and the farmers drop their salutes, yet they keep their line formation and upright posture. "We're on a secret mission," The Doctor continues as he takes a step forward. "It's a mission to discover a ship that may have crash landed around here about a week ago. A space ship. Do you know what I speak of?" He directly looks at the farmer who was pointing his gun at him only moments ago.

The farmer's bottom lips trembles ever so slightly. "Follow us." He croaks after a long silence. He turns and starts to walk north.

The Doctor and Rose exchange glances before they all follow the farmers across the field. April takes one last look at the Tardis behind her before walking next to the Doctor.

"I hate you," She mutters to him. "For the false name."

The Doctor laughs lightly in response.

They walk through the Welsh fields for a long time and the longer they walk, the darker the sky becomes. The farmers are silent along the journey and neither the Doctor, Rose, Terry nor April speak a word. They all feel somewhat scared to say anything in case of the farmers hearing them and blowing their cover.

They cross over many different fields and climb up and over hills, some steeper than others. It is getting on for twilight by the time they reach the bottom of another steep hill. There is already a stone pathway to follow, yet halfway up the hill they have to use their hands to climb because it is so steep. The hill becomes steeper the higher they get and April really starts to struggle. She grips hold of a branch to haul herself up but it snaps and she slips down. Luckily she quickly manages to grab onto a rock for support. Once April gains her balance, she looks up at the Doctor, Rose and the farmers as they continue to climb as if they didn't hear April's stumble. Terry only just stares at April as she climbs around her and continues up the hill, catching up with the others, not once offering April any help. April sighs before regaining her body strength and hauls herself up the hill.

When they reach the top, the sky is a deeper twilight colour. Clearly it is summer time so they know that the stars will not be showing in the sky for another couple of hours or so. Surrounding them are many different trees making up a large wood.

"Continue travelling north through the woods and you'll find it," One of the farmers says, breathless from both the journey and fear. "It's stuck in a bog but you'll see it."

"Aren't you going to take us there?" Rose asks but they shake their heads.

"No we can't. It's too dangerous for us." Another farmer says gravely.

"Well thank you, good sirs." The Doctor says as the farmers turn and travels back the way they came. The sound of the wildlife in the woods surround them and the cool breeze starts blowing from the south.

"We'd better keep moving and stay warm," The Doctor's voice is still formal and serious as he slowly starts to walk on through the woods. "The farmers fear this ship."

"Doctor," April starts as they walk on. "The Slitheen's ship has been here a week before we arrived. Do you think that they're still going to be there?"

"I hope so," The Doctor replies. "But I have a bad feeling that they've moved elsewhere."

There is an electric bleep making everyone jump in fright, but they are only to find Terry looking down at a small computer handheld device in her hands. The Doctor sighs.

"What are you reading?" He asks.

"There's a village about a mile east from where the Slitheen spaceship has landed." Terry's voice is somewhat flat as she reads the screen on her handheld device.

"What?"

"A village."

The Doctor frowns. "But on the map there wasn't any towns or villages close to this area. We are in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town would be at least a couple hours drive from here."

"Well this village is an easy walk away," Terry looks up at the Doctor. "I don't know about you but I think this is a set up. Those farmers are scared. But there is a reason why that village isn't on the map. I think that's why the Slitheen chose to come here to this exact spot."

"There must be something in the village." The Doctor mutters darkly under his breath.

"But there's nothing around here. All we got is a distress signal." Rose says, folding her arms, feeling the chill in the air as the wind blows.

"Maybe it's the people in this village," April suggests. "Maybe they sent out a distress signal to the Slitheen like they did to you."

The Doctor rubs his eyes. "Let's just find the spaceship first." With that he starts walking on and the others follow.

They walk through the trees in silence for a short while, the Doctor holding out his sonic screwdriver, making sure that they are still travelling north.

Suddenly there is a loud roar that echoes in the trees. They stop dead in their tracks. The wildlife in the trees falls silent yet the wind continues to blow. The roar, almost like a screech, comes again and then in the dark shadows of the woodland trees comes a Slitheen in view.

"RUN!" The Doctor shouts, pushing Rose forward and they all start sprinting through the woods, weaving in and out of the trees and trying to continue heading north. Every so often they stumble over a few roots but always manage to regain their balance, desperate to get away. The sound of the Slitheen running after them is heard not far behind so they continue to run faster.

When they finally reach the edge of the wood, the Doctor stops instantly, looking down at the steep drop below. In the distance is a field circled by more hills. To the right is a muddy pathway between the hills. In the middle of the field is a large bog where the Slitheen spaceship sits. The Doctor examines the scenery in a matter of seconds before Rose bashes into the back of him, followed by Terry. The Doctor regains his balance so that they all don't go tumbling head first down the steep dip. April manages to slow down and look over the edge when she catches up with them.

"What do we do now?" Rose asks as the Slitheen behind them screeches again.

The Doctor looks back at the woods, trying to find a way out when the Slitheen comes into view. The Slitheen locks its jet black eyes on its prey. It straightens its posture and slowly approaches them, raising one of its giant claws to attack.

"Go down!" April shouts as she pushes the others forward. Stumbling over her own feet from the force of her own push, the four fall forward and tumble down the hill, getting tangled up in leaves and branches as well as one another. They finally land in a heap at the bottom of the hill, groaning and grumbling from being bruised and battered from the fall.

The Doctor quickly shushes them and they remain in the ditch for a few moments more, listening to the Slitheen above. It walks around, heavy footed at the top of the dip, clearly not able to see them in the dark. Then it roars before running south. No one moves until they can no longer hear it and are sure the alien is no longer around.

The Doctor is the first to roll out of their pile and jump back on his feet.

"Well that's one way to get away from a monster," He says cheerfully as he brushes the dirt off his trousers. "Thank you, April Hollerford!" He smiles at her before turning to the ship in the bog. He takes out his sonic screwdriver and scans the ship. It bleeps a couple of times. The Doctor frowns in confusion.

"Anything the matter?" Rose asks as she stands beside him, glancing down at the screwdriver.

"No." The Doctor lies, turning to Terry who, despite an emotionless face, has a slight concerned twinkle in her black eyes as she looks down at her handheld device. She catches his eye and nods. A silent agreement is made between the Doctor and Terry that Rose and April cannot see. "Is anyone hungry?" The Doctor asks, looking at April and Rose. "Good," He says before they can respond. "There's a village a couple of miles east if you follow that pathway," He points to the muddy pathway between the hills. "Go to that village and Terry and I will meet you in the pub later."

"What happened to the Doctor that hates splitting up?" Rose queries with a raised eyebrow.

The Doctor looks at Rose for a moment. "There's bigger fish to fry, you know that," he says darkly. "Let's just see what is going on here and then we can leave. Go with April to the village. Investigate."

Rose doesn't at all look that pleased about splitting up with the Doctor but does as she is told. "Pub later then?" She insists and the Doctor nods. Rose turns to smile at April who only replies with a scowl, before they head down the darkening muddy pathway between the two hills.

They head through the darkness towards the village that is not on the map.