"I was right," the Doctor said to Donna. "She is in there, and she is very much alive. Her name is Yenna. She lives in the village on the other side of the hill, and she has a daughter there. Her husband is away, but I think the others will take care of her daughter. I'm more worried about the disappearances."
"Disappearances? D'you think this has happened before, then?" Donna wondered, gazing in pity at the still, pretty form of Yenna leaning against the console unit. "That would be awful—Do you think they were buried like that? Still conscious?"
The Doctor grimaced. "I hope not, but I don't think so. It was definitely disappearances, and not deaths."
Donna frowned. "So where'd they go then?"
"That, Miss Noble, is an excellent question, one I am sure we will find the answers to. First, though…" He knelt back down next to Yenna and put his hand on her shoulder. "Yenna," he said carefully. "Donna and I will be away for a bit. But I promise we will come back. Go to sleep if you can. Be back soon." He brushed the brown hair away from Yenna's face and stood up. "Coming, Donna?" For the first time, Donna hesitated. "Look, we won't be gone long, Yenna will be fine." He knew her so well, too. "Okay? Don't worry. We'll figure it out."
"Oh all right then," Donna said finally. "Let's go." As they walked arm in arm out of the TARDIS, she continued, "At least we get to explore a little, although it's not exactly what I expected."
The Doctor locked the door. "Yeah, but this is what we do, isn't it? Wander around, explore, see new things, and help people out?"
"Not all the time."
"No," the Doctor agreed. "Not all the time." He sighed. "Because nobody can make everything better, Donna. But I try my best." He looked so sad all of a sudden. Donna wanted to cheer him up, but didn't know what to say. So she just put her head on his shoulder and together they walked to the well.
… … … … …
"Well that doesn't make sense," the Doctor said. "It's not like it's some sort of...no, it's a kind of a...Well make up your mind," he told his screwdriver sternly. It was making a much buzzier sound than it usually did and the blue light was wavering.
Donna, standing nearby, was a bit concerned. "What's going on, Doctor?"
"Well, I...my sonic isn't...it's not picking up…" He trailed off again. "It's not working." The Doctor was looking a little bewildered. That didn't happen often. "It's like…" He shook his head, trying to focus, and scanned the ground where Yenna had lain. Donna walked up to the Doctor and put her hand on his arm.
"Look at me," she said. "What is wrong with your screwdriver?"
"Sorry, sorry. It's like something is confusing the feed deliberately. But that doesn't make sense, there's nothing on this planet that could do this sort of thing yet. These people are centuries away from sonic tech, and yet something is managing to tell my screwdriver that it's scanning a metal…" He shook the screwdriver as it bleeped again. "What?! No, I highly doubt it's a metal fruit tree."
As serious as the situation was, Donna could barely stifle a laugh. She decided to press the matter further later. "What are we going to do, then?"
Frustrated as the screwdriver gave him yet another preposterous solution, the Doctor shoved it back in his pocket. "We're going to have to go to Yenna's village. It's right over that hill. We have to tell them we found her, and make sure they're taking care of Amia."
"That's Yenna's daughter, yeah?"
"Correct."
"What're we going to tell them? They're going to want to see her," Donna pressed. "And we can't very well let them do that, they'll think she's dead. They won't understand she's still awake."
"Rule number one: the Doctor lies," the Doctor said. Almost jokingly, but not quite."
"Really, I thought rule number one was 'don't wander off'?"
"Obviously, there's two rule number ones. Pay attention." The Doctor straightened his tie. "Let me do the talking."
Donna rolled her eyes. "Right, cos that's totally gonna happen."
The Doctor grinned. "Worth a try." He pointed up the hill. "Allons-y!"