The Doctor rubbed the side of his head as he pushed himself off the sandy floor with the other hand. He straightened his back and gazed around at the barren sandy plateau that he'd found himself on, his brown eyes scanning for landmarks and finding none.
A muffled squealing noise alerted him to the scuffling efforts of a living organism somewhere behind him. He whirled around and squinted in the harsh sunlight, discerning a dark lump half buried under the fine white sand a fair distance away. It was only when the thing screamed his name that he realised it was Martha.
He kicked himself into gear and sprinted across the sand, his converse slipping in the fine sand and quickly filling up. He ignored the added weight to his feet as he stumbled to a halt, throwing his arms forward and grabbing the nearest part of Martha, that being her waist. She was buried with her head half in the sand, one shoulder engulfed and her legs covered up to the knees.
She screamed again, not being able to see that it was him grabbing her and started, flailing around with her free arm, landing a few heavy hits to his side. "Oof! Martha, it's me. Hold still." She carried on flailing, her hearing apparently impaired by the sand, landing even more hits to his side.
Nevertheless he yanked her out of the sand, her shoulder and head coming free from the clinging granules. She took in a deep, sharp breath, pulling all the air she could into her lungs to reassure herself that she was alive. She tried to turn around, but fell flat on her butt, as her legs were still half buried. She resorted to looking up, shielding her eyes from the glaring sun with a hand.
"Doctor." She sighed his name with relief, a smile spreading across her face, "I'm so glad to see you." The Doctor grinned back at her, "Likewise Martha Jones." He offered her a hand and she wriggled free of her sandy prison. She flung her arms around the lanky man and squeezed him in a relieved hug.
They separated and she took to brushing herself down, she looked up slightly as she patted her knees, "Where are Rook and Jack?" The Doctors brow creased with worry, but a large and false grin spread across his face, "Oh, I'm sure they're fine, waiting for us on some lovely beach having the time of their lives." Martha raised an eyebrow, "Don't lie to me Doctor, I can see that worry line."
He let the grin slide into a sickly looking smile, the one he got when he was nervous or didn't know something. "Truth be told Martha, I have no idea. I don't even know where we are. But I do know that we're surrounded by sand, it's very hot and I can smell ozone." He sniffed the air loudly, turning in a full circle while digging in his jacket pocket. He pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and held it towards the shimmering horizon.
Suddenly the grin came back, he shoved the sonic back in his pocket and grabbed Martha's hand, "Come on Martha, I've found the Ocean!" He shouted jubilantly before taking off, dragging his staggering companion behind him. She spluttered as she tripped along behind him, "B-b-but Doctor, I thought we were in a desert?"
He laughed, "Au contraire! I thought we were, but it seems we're in the 'dunes' of the coast. Although they're remarkably flat for dunes, and there's no dune grass, it's not a proper sand dune without dune grass. I love the word 'dune.' It sounds so long but it's actually very short; duuuuuuuuuuuuune." He rattled off his words in his typical machine gun blast while still dragging Martha.
The lanky man halted abruptly, catapulting Martha forwards a few steps, she stumbled and collapsed to the floor. The sand here was much more tightly packed and she hit the ground with a solid 'thwump.' She picked herself up off the floor this time as the Doctor was busy looking for his screwdriver again, she turned to him as she dusted her knees off, "Why don't you put it back in the same pocket? Wouldn't that be easier?" He frowned in concentration and stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, "Nah," He smiled widely, "This way it's a challenge every time I need it." He crowed with joy as he found it and yanked it from the depths of one of his unfathomable pockets.
For reasons only known to himself he pointed the little mechanical tube at the ocean and pressed down a button. The blue bulb on top flashed brightly and the typical buzzing noise droned out of the mechanism. Martha gave him a sceptical look but stayed silent.
Suddenly an ear splitting, metallic shriek sliced through the quiet, drowning out the dim buzz of the screwdriver. Martha clapped her hands to her ears and fell to her knees, her eyes screwed shut, tears threatening to fall. The Doctor flinched, but stood stoically, staring out into the ocean where the water seemed to be bubbling and frothing.
A tall spire was rising from the centre of the roiling water, it appeared to be made of hard sea rock, covered in sea weed, algae, and coral. It rose until it appeared to pierce the clouds lazily drifting by, about a third of the way down buildings spread outwards, made of the same rock they looked like a rather odd coral reef.
The rising spire ground to a halt and the water ceased its furious movements. The Doctor lowered his screwdriver and scowled at the structure in the ocean. He grabbed Martha's elbow and hoisted her up. "Martha, this is very bad. I know where we are and if what I'm seeing is right then we are in big trouble. And if my suspicions are correct, and Jack and Rook are in there, we're in even more trouble."
She stared at him, worry and fear in her eyes. He gave the city, for that's what it was, one last look before turning away and saying, "We have to get out of here, find somewhere to hide. Come on." He guided Martha back to the dunes, leaving the dark rock city outlined against the brightly lit horizon.