AN:
I haven't got any feedback on my last update and would really like to know what everyone thought of Nyx. Just wanted to know what everyone thought of her.
-0-
"Behold, Rio." The Doctor announced as he came out of the Tardis in a flourish, stepping straight into a chilly very old cometary in the midst of a churchyard. Amy in her brown leather jacket, maroon shirt, jean shorts and boots looked out of the Tardis along with Rory in a vest, button up shirt, jeans, and shoes.
"Nah." Amy shook her head.
"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe." Rory added.
"No?" Stella came out after them wearing a long bell sleeved crème colored floral print off the shoulder crop top blouse that buttoned up the front with lace around the elbows, a flowing rose pink ankle length vest with a white lace design up the back, a pair of jean shorts with lace accents, and a pair of light brown ankle high gladiator sandals. Her hair was pulled back into a long fishtail French braid accented with small white flowers and her rose colored glasses were perched on her nose. "Well this is very wrong."
"Ooo, feel that, though. What's that?" The Doctor jumped up and down on the ground, Stella coming up to stand next to him. "Ground feels strange. Just me."
"Forget the ground, look over there, that's weird." Stella pointed to the patches of blue grass that dotted the graveyard.
"What's weird?" Rory asked.
"Doctor, stop trying to distract us and Stella stop encouraging him. We're in the wrong place." Amy whined, but the Doctor and Stella kept on making observations. "Doctor, Stella, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here. Doctor. Stella. You listening to me? It's a graveyard. You two promised me a beach."
"Blue grass. Patches of it all around the graveyard." Stella said as she and the Doctor walked over to a patch of the strange grass.
"So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot." The Doctor said as they looked over the grass, pocketing some of it.
"Why are those people waving at us?" Amy asked looking to the other side of the valley where a couple were standing.
"Can't be." The Doctor said as he and Stella stood up looking to the mysterious couple.
"Don't." Amy pushed Rory's hand down when he started to wave back.
"It is. It's you two." The Doctor said looking through a pair of binoculars he had pulled from his pocket.
"No, we're here." Rory said in confusion. "How can we be up there?"
"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine." The Doctor grinned at them as Stella waved back enthusiastically. "Humans, you're so nostalgic."
"We're still together in ten years?" Amy said with a look.
"No need to sound so surprised." Rory replied.
"Hey, let's go and talk to them. We can say hi to future us. How cool is that?" Amy said in excitement as she grabbed Rory started forward.
"Er, no, best not. Really best not." Stella stopped them with a wince. "These things get complicated very quickly. I met myself on accident one time and by the end of it I wasn't even sure which me was me from when."
"What?" Rory looked to her in confusion as did Amy.
"Exactly." Stella replied not explaining it at all.
"And oh look. Big mining thing." The Doctor pointed to a large yellow mining facility. "Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing."
"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy groaned.
"Let's go and have a look." The Doctor smiled as he started down the hill pulling Stella along with him. "Come on, you two, let's see what they're doing."
"If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?" Rory asked as they watched the Doctor almost stumble over a small gravestone, Stella gripping his arm and holding him up.
"Did you not see over there? It all works out fine." Amy assured him. "And more than likely Stella was driving."
"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives? The nurse and the kissogram?" Rory questioned.
"I guess." Amy frowned then smiled brushing the thought away. "They're getting away."
"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" Rory holding her left hand with her engagement ring on it.
"Engagement ring. I thought you liked me wearing it." Amy smiled.
"Amy, you could lose it." Rory said then hesitantly went on. "Cost a lot of money, that."
"Hmm. Spoilsport." Amy gave the ring to Rory as Stella came running back up to them. "Oh don't tell me the Doctor is already in trouble."
"No, not yet, we were just wonder if you two were coming or not? You know he won't leave until he knows whatever it is he doesn't know." Stella told them placing her hands on her hips. "What's the hold up?"
"Rory won't let me wear my ring." Amy said with a pout. "He's going to put it back in the Tardis."
"There's a ring box in one of the console drawers, I'll show you and then we'll get it treated so that only you and Rory can take it off so then you won't ever have to worry about losing it." Stella said leading him back into the Tardis.
"Sounds good." Rory said looking to Amy before he followed Stella. "Go on. We'll catch you both up."
"And keep an eye on the Doctor, keep him out of trouble." Stella called out.
"I make no promises." Amy replied before they went their separate ways. Stella walked up to the Tardis snapping her fingers causing the door to swing open.
"I am never going to get tired of that." Stella grinned to Rory who rolled his eyes with a smile as they headed inside.
"Which drawer?" Rory asked as he bounded up the steps to the console while Stella remained in the doorway.
"That one." Stella pointed and Rory retrieved the box.
"Thanks." Rory said as Stella nodded.
"All set?" Stella asked as Rory placed the ring into a red velvet box with a soft smile.
"Yep." Rory nodded placing the box on the console.
"Good, let's go see what kind of trouble the Doctor and Amy have gotten themselves into." Stella started toward the doors with Rory following.
"They might not have." Rory argued lightly.
"Oh Rory, you know better than that." Stella laughed patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah." Rory sighed as he and Stella came out of the Tardis coming face to face with an older looking woman.
"Well, that was quick." She commented.
"Was it?" Rory asked as he closed the door before the boy could look inside.
"It's great that you came." The woman thanked them.
"Bit retro. What is it, portable crime lab?" The boy asked.
"Yep, good eye." Stella said easily playing along. "I'm Detective Stella Quinn and this is my junior partner Rory Williams."
"Ambrose Northover." Ambrose shook their hands. "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot."
"Good to meet you both." Stella said formally.
"Where's your uniforms?" Elliot asked.
"Don't be cheeky, Elliot." Ambrose lightly scolded him. "They're plain clothes. CID, is it?" She eyed Stella's bohemian fashion, but brushed it off. "Anyway, it's over here."
"Lead the way then ma'am." Stella said, the woman nodded as she and her son took the lead.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked in a sotto voice to Stella.
"Playing along, see what's going on, that sort of thing. This might be a clue to whatever made the blue grass and is trying to get my and the Doctor's attention." Stella replied softly.
"You mean you don't know why you're interested?" Rory eyed her.
"Not really, now come along Rory." Stella smiled happily looping her arm through his and pulling him along.
-0-
"Restricted access." The Doctor commented as they came up to a large gate. "No unauthorized personnel." The Doctor took out his sonic causing the lock to spark as it unlocked. "Hmm."
"That is breaking and entering." Amy pointed out as she glanced around.
"What did I break? Sonicking and entering." The Doctor corrected her as he pulled the gate open. "Totally different."
"Come on, then." Amy grinned as she went in, the Doctor casting a glance back the way they had come.
"You're sure Stella and Rory'll catch us up?" The Doctor asked as he followed Amy inside.
-0-
"It's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago." Ambrose informed them as they all starred into the empty metal sided empty grave. "Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now."
"Mum, they don't care about that." Elliot told her as he balanced on the wood planks surrounding the grave. "They want to know about the dead bodies."
"Yes. Sorry. Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together." Ambrose went on with her story. "But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything."
"What?" Rory looked to her brows furrowed.
"The mad thing is, on the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with." Ambrose went on.
"Nothing huh, interesting." Stella mumbled as she subtly scanned the area with her eyes, but the readings didn't tell her enough.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Rory stated shaking his head.
"Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried. But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?" Ambrose asked them.
"Well I can think of countless possibilities, but I need some time to sort through them." Stella smiled brightly.
-0-
"What about now? Can you feel it now?" The Doctor asked Amy as they made their way down a tunnel toward the drilling.
"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're on about." Amy replied in frustration.
"The ground doesn't feel like it should." The Doctor pressed as he twirled some grass he hand picked up in his hand.
"It's ten years in the future. Maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels." Amy tried.
"Good thought, but no, it doesn't." The Doctor took out his sonic. "Hear that, drill in start-up mode. Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass."
The Doctor slid his sonic back into his pocket and put the grass into his mouth worrying it, and then almost instantly spitting it out. His tongue hung out in disgust at the taste pulling a face and scraping the grass from his tongue.
"Oh, please. Have you always been this disgusting?" Amy's face scrunched up as she watched him.
"No, that's recent. What's in…" The Doctor pushed open some door leading into a larger room filled with drilling gear. "…here?" The woman in the room looked up at their entrance. "Hello."
"Who are you? What're you doing here?" The woman demanded then she took note of Amy's clothing. "And what're you wearing?"
"I dressed for Rio." Amy defended herself getting another strange look as the Doctor popped her lightly on the arm.
"Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science." The Doctor held out his psychic paper flashing it quickly before putting it away again. "New Ministry, quite big, just merged. It's lot of responsibility on our shoulders." The Doctor moved over to some monitors. "Don't like to talk about it. What are you doing?"
"None of your business." Nasreen snapped.
"Where are you getting these readings from?" The Doctor asked as he eyed the report.
"Under the soil." Nasreen replied picking up the machine she had been using on a patch of earth and moving it away.
"The drill's up and running again." Mack said as he came into the room. "What's going on? Who are these people?"
"Amy, the Doctor. We're not staying, are we, Doctor?" Amy asked in a warning voice as she leaned against some machinery and the Doctor moved over to the patch of earth, running the dirt through his fingers.
"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" The Doctor ignored her, focusing instead on the uncovered earth.
"We don't know. It just appeared overnight." Nasreen replied. Amy pushed off from the machinery walking over to the whole peering down at it, Mack also standing next to the hole.
"Good. Right. You all need to get out of here very fast." The Doctor said quickly as he went back to the monitors and started to type.
"Why?" Nasreen asked.
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked her.
"Nasreen Chaudhry." She answered.
"Look at the screens, Nasreen. Look at your readings." The Doctor pointed to the monitors. "It's moving."
"Hey, that's specialized equipment. Get away from it." Mack ordered moving over to the Doctor and Nasreen as Amy kneeled down by the hole which started to fill with thick fog like steam.
"What is?" Nasreen asked.
"Doctor, this steam, is that a good thing?" Amy asked.
"Shouldn't think so. It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting." The Doctor said as he moved back a few steps eyeing the steam.
"What shouldn't?" Nasreen asked as a rumble from below filled the room.
"The ground, the soil, the earth, moving. But how? Why?" The Doctor questioned looking form the hole and back to the readings a couple of times as everything shook.
"Earthquake?" Amy offered.
"What's going on?" Mack asked.
"Doubt it, because it's only happening under this room." The Doctor said. Two more holes suddenly appeared in the floor, then three more right after that, all of them filled with the thick steam. "It knows we're here. It's attacking. The ground's attacking us."
"No, no that's not possible." Nasreen denied.
"Under the circumstances, I'd suggest, run!" The Doctor shouted sending them all into motion, the Doctor grabbing hold of Nasreen and pulling her along as the holes seemed to follow them.
"Tony!" Nasreen called out when Mack's foot got caught in one of them.
"Stay back, Amy. Stay away from the earth." The Doctor called out as Amy jumped over a hole to help Mack.
"It's okay." Amy assured him just as a hole opened under her feet.
"It's pulling me down." Amy yelled as the Doctor ran over to her.
"Amy!" The Doctor called out as he grabbed her hands.
"Doctor, help me. Something's got me." Amy whimpered as they held onto each other.
"Stay away from it." The Doctor snapped at Nasreen as she made her way over to Mack.
"Doctor, the ground's got my legs." Amy said fearfully.
"I've got you." The Doctor assured her.
"Okay." Amy said as Nasreen pulled Mack free. "Don't let go."
"Never." The Doctor said as the ground continued to suck her down, the Doctor moving with her to maintain his hold on Amy.
"Doctor, what is it, and why is it doing this?" Amy asked.
"Stay calm. Keep hold of my hand. Don't let go." The Doctor told her as the earth was now up to her chest. The Doctor looked to Narseen and Mack. "Your drill, shut it down. Go. Now!
"Can you get me out?" Amy asked as Narseen and Mack ran out.
"Amy, try and stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand." The Doctor told her. I'm not going to let you go."
"Doctor, it's pulling me down. Something's pulling me." Amy yelled as the Doctor momentarily lost his grip, scrambling back to her and retaking her hands in his.
"Stay calm. Now, hold on till they can just shut down the drill." The Doctor told her as the dirt came up to the shoulders.
"I can't hold on!" Amy panicked as the dirt was up to her neck. "What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there."
"Amy, concentrate. Don't you give up." The Doctor ordered.
"Tell Rory…" Amy said, the earth at her chin then slowly enveloped her face.
"No. Amy! Amy, no!" Amy disappeared below the soil pulled from his hands, the Doctor digging desperately for her. "No! No! No! No! No. No! No. No. No. No…."
He pulled out his sonic, but it was no help either. Nasreen and Mack ran back in to find the Doctor starring down at the hole in fearful shock.
"Where is she?" Narseen asked.
"She's gone. The ground took her." The Doctor breathed out.
-0-
Stella moved around the grave mumbling to herself a bit as she tried to put it all together. She kicked off a rock into the grave, bounce a few times on the edges, but still nothing.
"Can I offer you two anything to drink?" Ambrose asked them.
"Tea would be lovely, thank you." Stella smiled, Rory nodding in agreement.
"Alright then, back in a mo." Ambrose left along taking Elliot with her.
"Stella, what's going on?" Rory asked as soon as the two were out of ear shot.
"I don't know." Stella shrugged as she starred down into the grave.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Rory questioned in disbelief.
"I mean the knowledge of which you are searching for is not contained inside my noggin." Stella tapped the side of her head. "Seriously, I'm running like a thousand search engines on the universal net, I got squat. It's this time periods internet services, they all stink no matter where you are." Stella sighed in annoyance them smiled over to Rory. "Now get in there and tell me if anything is off."
"What?" Rory stepped back from the grave.
"I need you to jump into a grave…hole…thing." Stella gestured to the hole.
"Why me?" Rory asked.
"I'm wearing sandals and it's icky in there." Stella said easily as Rory stared at her. "Off you get."
"Fine." Rory caved and eased himself into the grave cut.
"You feel anything? See anything?" Stella asked as she knelt down next to the grave.
"No, just a lot of mud and the uncomfortable feeling that I am standing in a grave." Rory replied.
"Just think of it as a big hole." Stella smiled.
"Thanks." Rory scoffed.
"That dead people are stored in." Stella went on.
"Oh thanks." Rory rolled his eyes.
"It's no different than a meat locker at the butchers really." Stella added on thoughtfully.
"Please stop." Rory sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Just helping." Stella got a look from the nurse. "Trying bouncing a bit and check the sides." Rory did so bouncing in a puddle of mud and pushing against the sides where the dirt was exposed. "Do you feel anything?"
"It all just feels like wet muddy earth." Rory sighed as Elliot came back up to them.
"Do you want sugar?" Elliot asked them.
"Sorry?" Rory looked to him.
"In your tea. Mum's asking." Elliot replied.
"No. Just white, thanks." Rory said.
"Four lumps for me. I'm going to need the extra sugar for this one." Stella said as she rubbed her hands together.
"There's only one explanation, as far as I can see." Elliot said paced a bit.
"What's that, then?" Stella asked him as she stood back up.
"The graves eat people. Devour them whole, leaving no trace." Elliot said simply.
"Not sure about that." Roy said slowly, seeing Stella's thoughtful look.
"No, no, he may be on to something." Stella turned to Elliot. "Explain."
"They didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides." Elliot started to explain as he walked on the edge of the grave. "Only other thing is, they get in from underneath."
"Not very likely, though." Rory looked hopefully to Stella.
"But very probable." Stella crossed her arms as Rory glanced down.
"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Elliot quoted.
"Sorry?" Rory asked.
"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, good quote." Stella complimented.
"Got the audiobook." Elliot smiled proudly. "The graves round here eat people."
With that Elliot turned and walked away back to his house.
"I like him, smart kid." Stella commented.
"Now what?" Rory asked looking up at her.
"I think it's time we went and got the rest of our team, don't you?" Stella held her hand out to Rory easily pulling him out of the grave and starting toward the big mining thing.
-0-
The Doctor paced agitatedly by the hole that had taken Amy, torn between anger and sadness as he tried to think of what to do next.
"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Mack questioned fearfully.
"It's not quicksand. She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in. It wanted her." The Doctor reasoned darkly.
"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen echoed from where she stood next to the monitors.
"You said the ground was dormant." The Doctor said as he walked over to her, his hands clenching and un-clenching. "Just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped."
"That's right." Mack nodded.
"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back." The Doctor reasoned.
"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling? Doctor, that is ridiculous." Nasreen scoffed as the Doctor took out his sonic scanning again.
"I'm not saying that, and it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right." The Doctor shot back as the hole rumbled briefly and he read his readings. "Oh, of course. It's bio-programming."
"What?" Nasreen asked.
"Bio-programming. Oh, it's clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects." The Doctor explained not that they understood him. "It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?"
"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen asked.
"You're not making any sense, man." Mack said.
"Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor said clearly offending Nasreen who crossed her arms with a look. "If Stella was here she'd explain it to you, but I guess I can give it a go." The Doctor rambled. "The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack."
"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?" Nasreen asked.
"Stop you drilling. Okay, so we find whatever's doing the bio-programming, we can find Amy." The Doctor said. "We can get her back." The Doctor held up a finger. "Shush, shush, shush. Have I gone mad? I've gone mad."
"Doctor." Nasreen tried.
"Shush, shush. Silence. Absolute silence." The Doctor cut her off. "You've stopped the drill, right?"
"Yes." Nasreen nodded as the Doctor stepped over the whole standing next to them.
"And you've only got the one drill?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes." Nasreen replied.
"You're sure about that?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes." Mack said. The Doctor eyed them before moving back over the hole and laying down stomach first on the ground.
"So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling?" The Doctor pressed his ear to the ground as Nasreen and Mack bent over to hear better. "It's under the ground."
"That's not possible." Mack said as the Doctor jumped up and sonicked the computers nearby.
"Oh no, what, what are you doing?" Narseen demanded as they ran over to him.
"Hacking into your records. Probe reports, samples, sensors." The Doctor replied. "Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look." The Doctor pointed to the monitors. "So, we are here and this is your drill hole. Twenty one point zero zero nine kilometers." The Doctor was impressed. "Well done."
"Thank you. It's taken us a long time." Narseen said proudly.
"Why here, though? Why'd you drill on this site?" The Doctor asked.
"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years." Nasreen told him.
"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen. Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up." The Doctor explained as the deep sensor readings resolved themselves on the screen showing a dome with a network of tunnels coming up from it. "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."
"No, no, we've surveyed that area." Mack denied as he pointed to the dome.
"You only saw what you went looking for." The Doctor said
"What are they?" Nasreen asked pointing to the blinking lights coming up the tunnels.
"Heat signals. Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense." The Doctor said looking to the blips. "And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"
"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in." Mack replied.
"Grab this equipment and follow me." The Doctor ordered motioning to the monitors as he walked away.
"Why? What're we doing?" Nasreen asked. The Doctor paused coming back and closing one of the monitors.
"That noise isn't a drill, it's transport. Three of them, thirty kilometres down. Rate of speed looks about a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Should be here in ooo, quite soon." The Doctor checked his watch. "Twelve minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now."
The Doctor dashed out of the room taking one of the monitors with him, Mack and Nasreen sharing a look before following him with the equipment, piling most of it into a wheelbarrow that Nasreen pushed while Mack carried the rest.
"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Mack asked once they caught up to the Doctor outside racing down a rural road with grass growing between the wheel tracks.
"You saw the readings." The Doctor replied as they started down a ditch path.
"Who are you, anyway? How can you know all this?" Nasreen asked as a slow red lightning appeared in the sky. "Whoa, did you see that?"
"No, no, no." The Doctor used his sling shot to fire a stone from the ground into the air. It hit the energy shield and vaporizes. "Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped."
"Doctor, something weirds going on here, the graves are eating people." Rory said as he and Stella ran up to him, Stella having tracked his sonic with her sonic abilities, surprised when he was on the move and no longer at the big mining thing.
"Not now, Rory." The Doctor brushed him off taking hold of Stella's hand keeping her close, the cyborg instantly concerned sensing that something was wrong. "Energy barricade, invisible to the naked eye."
"We can't get out and no one from the outside world can get in." Stella breathed out.
"What? Okay, what about the Tardis?" Rory asked.
"The what?" Nasreen asked. "And who are you two?"
"Stella Quinn and Rory Williams at your service." Stella beamed with a wave of her hand. "And no Rory, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits."
"With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes." The Doctor replied checking his watch again as the dome cleared.
"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Rory asked as the Doctor used his sonic.
"We're trapped, and something's burrowing towards the surface." Nasreen told them.
"That would explain the empty graves." Stella placed her free hand on her hip.
"Where's Amy?" Rory asked looking around, taking note of his lack of fiancé.
"Get everyone inside the church." The Doctor ordered picking the monitor back up before looking back at Rory and Stella. "Rory, I'll get her back."
"What do you mean, get her back? Where's she gone?" Rory demanded.
"She was taken. Into the Earth." The Doctor answered hesitantly.
"How?" Stella asked taking his free hand in both of hers, seeing his guilt.
"Why didn't you stop it?" Rory snapped angrily.
"I tried. I promise, I tried." The Doctor said quickly.
"Well, you should've tried harder!" Rory exploded and the Doctor's face fell.
"Rory, that's enough, calm down, we'll find Amy. You panicking will not help her." Stella snapped and Rory back down, but it was clear he was still fuming.
"Stella's right, we'll keep you all safe, I promise." The Doctor said in determination. "Come on, please. I need you alongside me."
"We both do." Stella said and Rory just continued to glare until Stella pulled the Doctor away, giving Rory some room.
"It's going to be ok Theta, Rory will come around and we'll get Amy back." Stella said gripping the Doctor's hand lacing her fingers through his. The Doctor gave Stella a brief smile pressing a kiss to her forehead.
-0-
The other went through the cemetery that was overgrown with grass moving straight up to the old stone church.
"Where's Mo? Is he with you?" Ambrose asked as they came up to the door of the church.
"This flaming door. Always sticking. I thought you were having it fixed." Mack evaded as he tried to get the door open as well as side step his daughters question.
"Dad!" Ambrose snapped as Stella and the Doctor came up followed by an still angry Rory.
"Something's happened to him, hasn't it?" Elliot asked taking note of Mack's face. Stella eyed them for a moment before stepping forward.
"The earth took him like it took Amy is my guess." Stella said bluntly shoving the door open with ease. "But it won't keep him, the Doctor, Rory, and I will get him back along with Amy."
"You can promise me that?!" Ambrose snapped.
"Yes, I can." Stella said meeting Ambrose's gaze before making her way inside the church. There was a nice stained glass window behind the altar, but the small building was obviously just used for storage now.
"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." Ambrose summarized as they started to set up the equipment they had brought from the big mining thing.
"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready." The Doctor replied.
"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?" Ambrose demanded.
"He's telling the truth, love." Mack told her.
"Come on. It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish." Ambrose was in denial and wanting to protect an already worried Elliot.
"Look, Ambrose." Nasreen looked up from her work. "We saw the Doctor's friend get taken, okay? 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?" Ambrose scoffed.
"Me." The Doctor grinned as he popped up from behind a table.
"Can you really get my dad back? Miss Stella said you could, can you?" Elliot asked looking between the time lord and cyborg who turned from their work to face the boy.
"Yes." The Doctor said right away then walked up to Ambrose as he spoke. "But I need you to trust us and do exactly as I or Stella say from this second onwards, because we're running out of time."
"So tell us what to do." Ambrose gave in, close to tears for fear of her husband and the unknown.
"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense." The Doctor said as he backed up checking his watch.
"Bring us every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find." Stella ordered as they led them back out of the church, Rory going through a pile of procured recording devices.
"Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light." The Doctor listed off as they moved through the cemetery sonicing the devices.
"We want the whole area covered with sensors." Stella said taking in their surroundings as they all set about securing the perimeter. Once they were set up they returned to the monitors where the dots were still heading up towards the surface on the computer screens.
"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 patted Elliot on his shoulder as he passed him by looking to where Stella was working with Nasreen and Mack at the monitors.
"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic." Elliot frowned.
"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue." The Doctor handed him some paper. "Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot."
"Six minutes forty." Mack said as Elliot ran off. Mack looked over the new CCTV array he was getting ready. "Works in quadrants. Every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know."
"Good lad." The Doctor smiled then he went over to Stella taking her hand in his. "Come along Stella, I have a few more things I want to gather."
"Right, Nasreen, Mack, you got it?" Stella looked to them.
"Yeah, no problem." Nasreen replied as Mack nodded to her.
"Back in a bit." The Doctor said as he and Stella headed out of the church.
-0-
With four minutes to go the Doctor and Stella were examining the inside of Ambrose's meals on wheels van. Stella rapt against the side of the van while the Doctor opened the front door looking into the cab of the truck.
"Seems sturdy enough." Stella commented as the Doctor nodded.
"Oi! What're you doing?" Ambrose asked as she came up to them, her arms loaded.
"Resources." Stella replied. "Every little helps."
"Meals on wheels. What've you got here, then?" The Doctor said as he moved along the side of the truck. "Warmer in the front, refrigerated in the back."
"Bit chilly for a hideout, mind." Ambrose put her armful of rifles and a cricket bat on the seat.
"What are those?" Stella eyed the weapons.
"Like you say, every little helps." Ambrose smiled happily.
"No, no weapons." The Doctor told her. "It's not the way we do things."
"You said we're supposed to be defending ourselves." Ambrose frowned.
"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely." The Doctor said with a small smile although his eyes showed that he was not really giving her a choice. "Put them away."
Ambrose watched as the two moved away, glancing at her weapons before snatching up her tazer gun stuffing it into her pocket hidden under her jacket.
-0-
Less than three and a half minutes to go Elliot ran in to the church and straight up to the Doctor and Stella with his map.
"Oh, that is really good." Stella ruffled his hair as the Doctor took the map. "I wish I could draw that well."
"Look at that. Perfect. Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein. It's not stopping you." The Doctor grinned as Elliot beamed proudly.
"I don't understand what you're going to do." Elliot commented.
"Two phase plan." The Doctor started to explain to him as he and Stella worked on the monitors. "First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives."
"Second, if something does arrive, we use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices." Stella added on as the Doctor took his sonic from his pocket.
"A pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." The Doctor said as he returned his sonic back to his pocket.
"Knock 'em out." Elliot grinned. The Doctor moved to the monitors on the other side of the table. "Cool."
"Lovely place to grow up round here." The Doctor commented.
"Suppose." Elliot shrugged. "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." The Doctor said with a small smile.
"Did you get away?" Elliot asked him.
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded starring down at the monitor.
"Do you ever miss it?" Elliot asked causing the Doctor to freeze for a moment.
"So much." The Doctor said sadly. Stella looked up from her monitor over to him, her gaze concerned.
"Do you miss it as well?" Elliot asked Stella whose eyes snapped over to him from the Doctor.
"Oh the Doctor and I didn't grow up in the same place, but yeah, I miss my old home quite often." Stella nodded thinking back to her family. They were all alive right now, safe and sound just on the other side of the world. Practically seeing her train of thought the Doctor moved over to her and squeezed her hand gently making her smile. "But I have a new family now, one that I love very much, and I'm very happy."
"Me to." The Doctor kissed her cheek. They both missed their families and old homes, but they were also happy with the life they had now together.
"Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?" Elliot asked them, looking scared.
"Yeah." The Doctor said truthfully.
"You scared of them?" Elliot asked nervously.
"No, they're scared of me and they are very scared of Stella." The Doctor replied as Stella winked causing Elliot to smile.
"Will you really get my dad back?" Elliot asked.
"No question." Stella nodded ruffling his hair making Elliot smile again.
"I left my headphones at home." Elliot said and started out of the church.
"I'll come with you to get them, no one should be out alone right now." Stella said. "Love, try not to get into trouble while I'm gone."
The Doctor nodded distractedly, his attention taken by the monitors once again. Stella rolled her eyes as she followed Elliot out of the church with one minute to go. Not soon after the Doctor moved out of the church to check on the progress of the others out in the cemetery.
"How're you doing?" The Doctor asked Rory as he came up to him. The nurse was completing the sensor array attached to the side of the building when he looked up at the sky.
"It's getting darker. How can it be getting dark so quickly?" Rory asked as the darkness spread like ink across the dome that they were trapped in.
"Shutting out light from within the barricade. Trying to isolate us in the dark. Which means…" The Doctor glanced around as a deep rumble filled the air. "It's here."
-0-
"They're close to the surface now." Narseen said putting her hand on Mack's starring into each other's eyes then Mack pulled Narseen into a deep kiss.
"Tony." Narseen smiled adjusting her glassed when they pulled back.
"Like you didn't know." Mack said kissing her one more time as the clock ticked down to zero and the dots stopped moving.
-0-
"I can't open it. It keeps sticking. The wood's warped." Ambrose said as she and the Doctor tried to budge the door to the church open, the rumbling growing.
"Any time you want to help." The Doctor looked to where Rory was standing behind them.
"Can't you sonic it?" Rory asked.
"It doesn't do wood." The Doctor replied.
"That is rubbish." Rory scoffed.
"Oi, don't diss the sonic." The Doctor snapped and Rory rolled his eyes before helping them force open the door just as the ground started shaking sending stacked objects tumbling to the ground. "See if we can get a fix."
The Doctor worked the monitor as it searched the village trying to locate the source, but before he could complete the search the lights exploded violently plunging them into darkness, and all of the electronics went out with the power.
"No power." Mack said as he tried the light switch and the Doctor looked over the monitors.
"It's deliberate." The Doctor said. Mack found a flashlight turning it on as the Doctor started to pace in agitation.
"What do we do now?" Rory asked.
"Nothing. We've got nothing." The Doctor snapped in annoyance. "They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."
"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" Rory asked the others going into nurse mode.
"I'm fine." Narseen said.
"Me too." Ambrose said as a big rumble broke out coupled with a strange sort of sound.
"Doctor, what was that?" Rory asked as they all looked around nervously.
"It's like the holes at the drill station." Mack said as the Doctor laid down on the ground pressing his ear to it.
"Is this how they happened?" Narseen asked.
"It's coming through the final layer of Earth." The Doctor said standing back to his feet.
"What is?" Narseen said then it went silent, no one speaking for a time.
"The banging's stopped." Mack said as Ambrose came to realize a horrifying fact.
"Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in?" Ambrose looked around desperately. "Was he in when the door was shut?" She looked to each of them. "Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"
"I did." The Doctor breathed out as the blood drained from his face noticing another missing person.
"Where is he?" Ambrose demanded.
"He said he was going to get headphones." The Doctor said weakly.
"And you let him go? He was out there on his own?" Ambrose snapped angrily, but the Doctor shook his head, fear gripping his hearts.
"No, Stella went with him." The Doctor said.
-0-
Something was moving in the graveyard as Stella and Elliot ran hand in hand. Stella glanced over her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Elliot shielding him from one of the shadows that fired something that hit Stella in the neck causing her to cry out in pain.
"Stella!" Elliot called out as Stella stumbled holding onto a gravestone, trying to stay up. Elliot ran up to her gripping her hand fearfully as he glanced around at the moving shadows.
"Run…keep running. Get the others." Stella gasped out as the world shifted around her.
"But…" Elliot tried, but Stella pushed him forward.
"Go! Get help!" Stella ordered and Elliot reluctantly did so. Stella watched him run the rest of the way before her vision went black and she fell to the ground, the shadows from before closing in on her.
"Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!" Elliot yelled and started to pound on the door. "Stella needs help, she's hurt!"
"Elliot!" Ambrose and the others ran for the door, the Doctor's hearts freezing at Elliot's cry.
"Let me in." Elliot called out.
"He's out there. Help me!" Ambrose struggled with the door.
"Open the door. Mum! There's something out here, it hurt Stella." Elliot called out.
"Push, Elliot." Ambrose yelled. "Push, Elliot. Give it a shove."
"Mum. Hurry up." Elliot yelled as something looks down on him. "Mum."
"Come on." Mack urged and the door finally opened.
"Elliot! Where is he? He was here. He was here. Elliot!" Ambrose raced out amongst the grave stones.
"I don't see Stella either. Stella!" The Doctor called out in a panic, then saw Ambrose heading further out into the graveyard. "Ambrose, don't go running off!"
"Ambrose!" Mack ran after her.
"Elliot, it's Mum." Ambrose called out stopping short when she found his headphones on the ground, falling to her knees she picked them up. "Nooo!" Ambrose cried out then something knocked her over. "Get off me!" Mack grabbed it from behind struggling to keep a hold of it, but it wriggled free. He shined his torch on a human sized reptilian biped. Before he could react it flicked its extensible tongue out stinging Mack's neck sending him to the ground allowing it to get away. Ambrose ran over to her father holding him close. "Dad!"
"What happened?" The Doctor ran over to them.
"My dad's hurt." Ambrose said.
"Get him into the church now." The Doctor ordered.
"Elliot's gone. They've killed him and Stella, haven't they?" Ambrose sobbed.
"I don't think so. They've taken four people when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Ambrose. There is always hope." The Doctor said, seeming to be trying to reassure himself more than Ambrose.
"Then why have they taken them?" Ambrose demanded.
"I don't know. I'll find Elliot, I promise, and I will find my Stella as well, you can bet on that." The Doctor said in determination. "But first I've got to stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."
"Come on, Dad." Ambrose gathered up her father helping him back to the church.
The Doctor glanced down and saw not too far away Stella's rose colored glasses setting on the edge of an open grave. He slowly approached them kneeling down and picking them up finding one of the lenses cracked. Rory came up to him seeing the glasses and feeling his heart sink even further. First his fiancé and now a dear friend, both taken with barely a clue on how to find them. He looked to the Doctor taking in his heartbroken worried look and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"So what now?" Rory asked looking in concern to the Doctor as he gripped the glasses before placing them in his pocket, his face becoming determined as he led Rory away without a single word.
-0-
Stella slowly came to, the fog clearing from her head, well at least it was letting up. She opened her eyes waiting for the blur to clear up and found herself in some sort of jungle like underground lab. She was strapped, much to her discomfort, to an upright bed.
"Well this is just not cool at all." Stella grumbled as she tried to gather her scattered memories. She had a vague recollection of being decontaminated by a greenish white blur. Her cybertronic implants was the only thing that compensated for the things that were harmed in the process of that she was sure, but it did leave her with a pounding headache.
She glanced around and saw a man who she assumed was Mo strapped to another upright bed to her right unconscious. There was a vertical line going down the center of his chest which meant dissection and was already scarred which meant advanced technology, she was just thankful that he was alive. All she had to do now was get him out, find Amy, and reunite with their loved ones, easy. She tried to move, but found herself to be immobilized, not even her sonic fingers worked.
"I see you're awake." Malohkeh commented as he came into the room.
"Yeah, it would seem…." Stella did a double take, her eyes filling with wild fear as she struggled to get her body to respond as her hearts picked up to a very uncomfortable rate. "No…no…please…."
"I was going to dissect the other female first, but you my dear are far more interesting." Malohkeh moved over to his table which held his medical tools, moving them closer to Stella.
"Get away from me." Stella cried out.
"Calm down, you won't feel a thing." Malohkeh assured her, but it didn't calm Stella at all. Tears streamed from her eyes as he closed in with a Silurian scalpel in hand.
"Get away from me!" Stella sobbed, crying uncontrollably. "Please…please…"
Stella shrieked as Malohkeh started his dissection of Stella, the blade slicing into her skin and moving down, her blue blood running down her chest. Mo woke up to her screaming sobs, watching helplessly, unable to do anything to stop it.
-0-
The Doctor donned a pair of infra-red sunglasses looking to his hand through them seeing the blurry redness of it. He then scanned the surrounding area then started walking down the street to a more vegetated area and spotted a dark shape moving through the bushes.
"Cold blood. I know who they are." The Doctor smiled, but it quickly dropped. "Oh Stella…"
The Doctor went back to the van taking off his glasses as he waited, using himself as bait, whistling to draw attention to himself. He reached into the van grabbing the CO2 fire extinguisher closing the door and spotting the creature in the reflection of the window. It hissed as it readied to attack him the Doctor moving out of the way at the last minute and shot the CO2 off hitting it straight in the face causing it to scream. Rory burst out of the back of the van with a scream, and he and the Doctor bundled it inside securing the doors.
"We got it." Rory said.
"Defending the planet with meals on wheels." The Doctor said as they high fived, but were interrupted by another rumble.
"What was that?" Rory asked
"Sounds like they're leaving." The Doctor replied.
"Without this one?" Rory asked as the energy dome became transparent, letting the sunshine in once again. "Looks like we scared them off."
"I don't think so. Now both sides have hostages." The Doctor looked back to the truck. "Lizard people, why did it have to be lizard people."
"What?" Rory looked to him, but the Doctor grimly shook his head, his hearts pounding with fear for his Starlight.
-0-
Melohkeh looked quickly from the monitors back to Stella who was shaking violently on the bed, her eyes rolling in the back of her head. Her hearts were beating far too rapidly and her screams were horrifying to say the least.
"What have you done?!" Mo yelled as Malohkeh rushed to stabilize her.
"She is simply having a seizure." Malohkeh replied taking a syringe filled with a green liquid.
"What is that? What are you doing to her?" Mo snapped.
"It is a sedative." Malohkeh pressed the syringe into Stella's neck pressing the plunger down causing Stella to slump going completely limp. "An interesting reaction."
"Interesting!" Mo screamed. "She was having a seizure, you could have killed her!"
"But I did not." Malohkeh released Stella placing her on a rolling bed.
"Where are you taking her?" Mo growled.
"To a stasis chamber, to stabilize and fix in damage done to her." Malohkeh said before rolling Stella out. He paused as he heard the shuffling from where he was keeping the other female, then she called out.
"Let me out. Can anybody hear me? I'm alive in here! Let me out!" Amy screamed pounding on the walls around her. "I know you're out there. My name is Amy Pond and you'd better get me the hell out of here or so help me I am going to kick your backside. Please?"
"Shush." Malohkeh leaned over her.
"Did you just shush me? Did you just shush me?" Amy snapped then gas entered the coffin. "No, no, no. No, don't do that. No gas." Amy coughs and passed out. "No gas!
-0-
"So, I think I've met these creatures before. Different branch of the species, mind, but all the same." The Doctor said trying to remain calm as he and Rory went through the back door of the church that led to the basement. "Let's see if our friend's thawed out."
"Are you sure? By yourself?" Rory asked as they went down the stairs of the basement where they were keeping their prisoner.
"Very sure." The Doctor said tensely, trying to remain calm in the presence of one of the beings that took his fiancé.
"But the sting?" Rory pointed out.
"Venom gland takes at least twenty four hours to recharge. Am I right?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes as the lizard woman who made not move to answer. "I know what I'm doing." The Doctor assured Rory. "I'll be fine."
Rory nodded stiffly, casting one more look at the reptile before going back upstairs as the Doctor clapped his hands moving down the stairs. Their prisoner slowly moved out of the shadows, her chains rattling.
"I'm the Doctor. I've come to talk. I'm going to remove your mask." The Doctor said slowly as he approached her. The mask looked like a reptile face, with very big black eyes. He reached out and gently removed it revealing the lizard face underneath. "You are beautiful. Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth." The Doctor commented, his worry for Stella doubling. Besides color and habitat there was very little difference between Lacetra and Silurian. "And by the way, lovely mode of travel. Geothermal currents projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous." The Doctor took a plastic seat and sat down in it. "Mind if I sit? Now. Your people have a friend of mine as well as my lovely fiancé. I want them back. Why did you come to the surface?" She said nothing. "What do you want?" She remained silent. "Oh, I do hate a monologue. Give us a bit back. How many are you?"
"I'm the last of my species." She replied.
"Really. No. Last of the species. The Klempari Defence. As an interrogation defense, it's a bit old hat, I'm afraid." The Doctor easily saw through her.
"I'm the last of my species." She repeated.
"No. You're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart." The Doctor leaned forward, his eyes showing just how it felt. "So don't insult me. Let's start again. Tell me your name."
"Alaya." She gave in.
"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya?" The Doctor took note of her shocked look. "It's not difficult to work out. You're three hundred million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?"
"We were attacked." Alaya said.
"The drill." The Doctor nodded.
"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet." Alaya hissed.
"Do we have to say vermin? They're really very nice." The Doctor commented.
"Primitive apes." Alaya said.
"Extraordinary species." The Doctor countered. "You attack them, they'll fight back. But, there's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that."
"This land is ours. We lived here long before the apes." Alaya narrowed her eyes.
"Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid. Humans won't give up the planet." The Doctor said.
"So we destroy them." Alaya said confidently.
"You underestimate them." The Doctor said.
"You underestimate us." Alaya countered.
"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans? You've got your work cut out." The Doctor cautioned her.
"We did not initiate combat, but we can still win." Alaya said raising her chin as she stood to her feet.
"Tell me where my friend is. Tell me where my fiancé is. Give us back the people who were taken." The Doctor said with a tense calmness as he remained seated.
"No." Alaya denied with satisfaction and the Doctor sighed as he stood up to his feet.
"I'm not going let you provoke a war, Alaya. There'll be no battle here today." The Doctor folded his chair placing it back against the wall.
"The fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due." Alaya replied.
"Not while I'm here." The Doctor defied her.
"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?" Alaya questioned with a wicked grin, the Doctor's mind flashing to Stella.
-0-
"You're going to what?" Rory demanded when the Doctor told them his plan from where he sat in a plastic covered easy chair, the others sitting on various things facing him while Ambrose remained standing.
"I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe, to talk to them." The Doctor repeated.
"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose questioned in disgust.
"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." The Doctor corrected her leaning back into the chair, his hand wrapped around Stella's sunglasses. "Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all." Everyone still looked doubtful. "Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement." The Doctor reasoned with them as he stood up starting to pace. "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 and Stella, because I will find them. While I'm gone, you four 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?" Mack asked.
"No dissecting, no examining. We return their hostage, they return ours, and nobody gets harmed." The Doctor said sternly. "We can land this together, if you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"
Everyone nodded in acceptance and Nasreen applauded the speech getting a small smile from the Doctor, but looks from the others causing her to slowly stop clapping and start examining her nails an nonchalantly as she could pull off in her embarrassment.
-0-
The Doctor made his way out of the church heading straight for the Tardis with Nasreen followed him and with Mack following her.
"No, sorry, no. What are you doing?" The Doctor questioned her as he stood in front of the Tardis doors.
"Coming with you, of course. What is it, some kind of transport pod?" Nasreen looked over the Tardis tapping the door with the sign on it.
"Sort of, but you're not coming with me." The Doctor denied.
"He's right. You're not." Mack agreed with the Doctor.
"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." Nasreen said sternly crossing her arms.
"I don't have time to argue." The Doctor groaned.
"I thought we were in a rush." Nasreen said.
"It'll be dangerous." The Doctor warned her.
"Oh, so's crossing the road." Nasreen brushed him off.
"Oh, for goodness sake." The Doctor smiled. "All right, then. Come on."
"Hey. Come back safe." Mack said seriously.
"Of course." Nasreen smiled patting his cheeks before slipping into the ship.
"Welcome aboard the Tardis. Now, don't touch anything. Very precious." The Doctor said as he worked the controls.
"No way. But, but that's, this is fantastic. What does it do?" Nasreen looked around herself in wonder and awe clapping the Doctor on his arm.
"Everything." The Doctor replied with a wide smile. "I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere." They got knocked off their feet. "Did you touch something?"
"No. Isn't this what it does?" Nasreen questioned as they held on.
"I'm not doing anything. We've been hijacked. I can't stop it." The Doctor told her. "They must've sensed the electro-magnetic field. They're pulling the Tardis down into the Earth."
The Tardis came to a sudden stop, throwing the Doctor and Nasreen to the floor. Nasreen propped herself up on her elbows when everything had calmed down looking to the Doctor.
"Where are we?" Nasreen asked as she reached out and popped one of his suspenders making him yelp. They quickly clambered to their feet, the Doctor leading the way as they ran for the doors.
-0-
Alaya stood confidently to her feet as soon as she heard the door open and the footsteps coming down the stairs.
"You had to come and see me." Alaya said as Rory came down along with the others.
"We are going to keep you safe." Rory said.
"Your tribe are going to give us back our people in exchange for you." Ambrose said.
"No." Alaya walked up to them as far as her chains would allow. "Shall I tell you what's really going to happen, apes? One of you will kill me. My death shall ignite a war, and every stinking ape shall be wiped from the surface of my beloved planet."
"We won't allow that to happen." Mack stated.
"I know apes better than you know yourselves. I know which one of you will kill me. Do you?" Alaya smirked darkly.
Later, once he was alone, Mack painfully made his way down a hall and set on the ground unbuttoning his shirt to check on his injury in an old dusty mirror. Green veins were spreading from the bandage that covered the initial wound moving down to his chest like thick green roots. His breathing was starting to become ragged and a light sheen of sweat covered his forehead. He quickly pulled his shirt back over it, his face fearful and in pain.
-0-
Loose soil was raining down, gently, from the hole above the Tardis as the Doctor and Nasreen stepped out. They looked around Nasreen dusting off the dirt that fell into her hair while the Doctor let out an echoing whistle of appreciation looking up the way the Tardis had come.
"Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system." The Doctor commented. "Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this."
"How far down are we?" Narseen asked in wonder.
"Oh, a lot more than twenty one kilometres." The Doctor answered as he ran his hands along a vine.
"So why aren't we burning alive?" Narseen asked placing her hand on the low ceiling.
"Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?" The Doctor replied.
"It's like this is every day to you." Narseen took in his calm appearance.
"Not every day." The Doctor started down one of the tunnels. "Every other day."
Nasreen watched him run off with a smile as she looked around a bit more, then realizing she was alone quickly took off after him.
-0-
Amy woke up strapped to a near vertical examination table groggily glancing around before taking note of the restraints.
"Don't struggle. Close your eyes and don't struggle." Mo told her gaining her attention.
"What? Where am I? Why can't I move my body?" Amy questioned.
"Decontamination, they call it. They did it to me while I was conscious." Mo said with a dark look. "They did it to her as well. I've never heard someone scream like that…it was…I can't even…"
"Okay, you're freaking me out now. Did what? Who did? Her who?" Amy questioned.
"Dissected us." Mo answered and Amy's eyes dropped to the scar running from sternum to naval. "I was awake when he did it to me and when he did it to her, she was awake as well."
"No." Amy shook her head, eyes wide.
"He's coming. I'm sorry. I wish I could help you." Mo said as Malohkeh, the Silurian scientist approached with a high-tech scalpel in hand, the fear in Amy's eyes growing as she struggled.
-0-
"We're looking for a small tribal settlement probably housing around a dozen Homo Reptilia? Maybe less." The Doctor said going down one tunnel only for Nasreen to go down a side passage and stopped.
"One small tribe." Nasreen echoed.
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded as he doubled back and joined her.
"Maybe a dozen?" Nasreen raised an eyebrow.
"Ah." The Doctor and Nasreen looked down on a vast chamber filled a whole city of buildings and walkways capable of housing many more than just a few dozen. "Maybe more than a dozen. Maybe more like an entire civilization living beneath the Earth."
