The Hungry Earth

A/N: I'm skipping Amy's Choice because I don't really care for the episode. And, now on with the show…

After Venice, we decided to head somewhere fun so The Doctor to take us to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival. When the TARDIS landed, The Doctor walked up to the doors and said, "Behold…" he opened the door, "Rio!"

We all looked out and saw we were in a cemetery, next to a church, that was defiantly not in Brazil. In the grass of the cemetery was patches of blue grass, "Nuh-uh." said Amy as she and Rory walked out.

"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe." said Rory.

"No," said The Doctor, as he walked out and took a few steps.

"Well, I can't blame you for messing with the coordinates," I said, as I walked out, "You're the one who set them this… time… Doctor? Do you feel that?" The ground felt strange under my feet

"Yeah, what's that?" said The Doctor as he bounced in place.

"We are in South Wales," said Annabelle as she walked out of the TARDIS, "20...20? What is up with the ground. It feels… different…"

"Wait... That's weird," said The Doctor.

"What's weird?" asked Rory.

"Doctor, stop trying to distract us," said Amy, "We're in the wrong place." The Doctor then ran around to the other side of the church. We all followed him, while Amy kept talking, "Doctor, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here." The Doctor, the stopped at a patch of blue grass and plucked some. "Doctor! You listening to me? It's a graveyard! You promised me a beach."

"Blue grass. Patches of it all round the graveyard." said The Doctor, as we walked up to him, "So, Earth, 2020. Ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot."

"Why are those people waving at us?" asked Amy. I looked and saw two people on the other side of the valley waving at us.

"Can't be," said The Doctor, as he took out a pair of fold-up binoculars and looked through them. Rory started to wave back but Amy stopped him, "It is! It's you two." said The Doctor. I took the binoculars from my uncle, and sure enough Amy and Rory were on the other side of the valley waving at us.

"No, we're here," said Rory, "How can we be up there?!"

Annabelle rolled her eyes, "Rory, we are ten years in your future. You and Amy probably came to relive this moment."

The Doctor smiled, "Humans, you're so nostalgic."

"We're still together in ten years?" said Amy.

"No need to sound so surprised!" said Rory.

"Hey, let's go and talk to them! We can say hi to Future Us! How cool is that?" she took Rory by the arm and started to head off.

"No, best not, really best not." said The Doctor, "These things get complicated very quickly, and...oh, look! Big mining thing." I looked in the distance, and saw a large drilling rig, "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?" asked Amy.

"How long have you been traveling with us?" asked Annabelle.

"Let's go and have a look!" said The Doctor, then he started to head down into the valley, "Come on, 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?" asked Rory.

"Don't worry," I said, "when it's time to take you and Amy home. Annabelle and I will be doing the piloting and we will tie him down to the jump seat to keep him from touching anything." then I looked at my daughter, "Come on…" Then we ran to catch up with our uncle.

A short time later, I heard Amy's voice, "Doctor! Teddy! Annabelle!" I stopped and saw Amy running up to us without Rory. "Where's Rory?" I asked.

"He's putting my engagement ring in the TARDIS." said Amy, as she rolled her eyes, "He's afraid I'm going to lose it."

I nodded, "I can understand that…" I moved my hand to the gold necklace around my neck and pulled it out from under my blouse. On the end, was the engagement ring that Jack gave me.

"Wow," said Amy, "That's beautiful… I didn't know you were engaged…"

"I'm not… I was… a couple of years ago…" I looked at the ring and smiled.

"What happened?"

"We drifted apart," I slide the ring back under my blouse, "We had a long distance relationship. I was traveling with The Doctor…. He worked for… the British Government… We decide that we couldn't ask the other to give up their lives for the

other. But, we are still very close friends."

Soon we reached the drill site and a locked gate, "Restricted Access," said The Doctor as he read the sign on the gate, "No Unauthorized Personnel. Mm." He used his sonic screwdriver on the lock and it opened

"That is breaking and entering," said Amy.

"What did I break?!" asked The Doctor, "Sonicing and entering, totally different." Then he opened the gate.

"Come on, then," said Amy as we walked through the gate

We walked through the halls of the drilling station trying to find the main control room when The Doctor asked, "What about now, can you feel it now?"

"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're on about," said Amy.

"The ground doesn't feel like it should," I said.

"It's ten years in the future, maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels."

"Good thought! But no. It doesn't," said The Doctor. Just then we heard a whirring sound start up, "Hear that, drill in start-up mode. Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." He put the blue grass he got earlier in his mouth. He made a face as he pulled it out from under his tongue.

"Oh, please!" Said Amy, "Have you always been this disgusting?"

"No, that's recent," Said The Doctor, as he walked up to a door, "What's in…" he opened the door, and we walked in. In the room was an Indian woman standing by some computers, "here? Hello!"

"Who are you?" asked the woman, "What're you doing here? And what're you wearing?"

"I dressed for Rio!" said Amy, sounding disappointed.

The Doctor took out his psychic paper and said, "Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science! New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?

"None of your business," said the woman.

Us Time Lords walked over to the computers. "Where are you getting these readings from?" asked The Doctor.

The woman removed some equipment from a hole in the floor, "Under the soil."

Just then an older man walked in to the room, "The drill's up and running again. What's going on? Who are these people?"

Us Time Lords knelt down by the hole. We each picked up a handfull and let it fall through our finger back into the hole. We all looked at each other not knowing what to make of it, "Amy, Teddy, Annabelle, and The Doctor. We're not staying, are we, Doctor?!"

"Why's there a big hole the middle of your floor?" asked Annabelle.

"We don't know, it just appeared overnight," said the woman as Amy walked closer to us.

"I see," I said , as us Time Lords stood up, "We all need to get out of here…Fast…" Then we went over to one of the monitors.

"Why?" asked the woman.

"What's your name?" asked The Doctor.

"Nasreen Chaudhry."

"Look at the screens, Nasreen, your readings. It's moving."

The man walked over to us, "Hey, that's specialized equipment! Get away from it," he said.

"What is?" asked Nasreen.

There is steam rising from the dirt in the hole.

"This steam, is that a good thing?" asked Amy.

We turned and saw steam rising from the hole., "No…" I said.

The Doctor walked over to the hole, "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting."

"What shouldn't?" asked Nasreen.

Just then the ground started to shake, "The ground, the soil, the earth, moving, but how?" he rejoined us back at the monitor, "Why?"

"Earthquake?" asked Amy.

"What's going on?" asked Nasreen.

"It doubt it," said Annabelle, "Because, it's only happening under this room."

Just then more holes started to appear, "It knows we're here," said The Doctor, "The ground's attacking us."

"No, that's not possible!" said Nasreen.

"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" said The Doctor.

I saw The Doctor grab Nasreen by the hand as Annabelle and I started to run for the door. Then I heard the man call out. I turned and saw him trapped by the knee, "Tony!" called Nasreen.

Amy stopped she was looking as us, unsure of what she should do, "Stay back, Amy!" called The Doctor, "Stay away from the earth!"

Amy leapt over a hold and when to help Tony. But, then the floor under her opened and her feet through, "It's pulling me down!"

"Amy!" said The Doctor as he and I ran to her. Annabelle and Nasreen went to help to her.

"Doctor, help me," said Amy, "something's got me!" We both fell to our stomachs and reached for her as she sunk to her waist, "Teddy, the ground's got my legs."

We grabbed Amy's hands, "We've got you." I said.

"OK." said Amy. "Don't let go."

"Never," said The Doctor.

"Doctor, what is it, why is it doing this?"

"Stay calm, keep hold of my hand, don't let go."

I looked at Nasreen and Tony, "Your drill, shut down your drill! Now! Hurry!" The two of them ran out of the room.

"Can you get me out?"

"Amy, try and stay calm," I said, "If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep a hold of our hands. We're not going to let you go."

Then what was pulling on Amy from below her pulled harder and she was pulled from our hands and she started to sink to her chest, "It's pulling me down, something's pulling me!" she called.

We both grabbed hold over her again, "Stay calm," said The Doctor, "Hold on, if they can just shut down the drill…"

"I can't hold on!" said Amy. Whatever was pulling her was strong. Soon she was up to her neck and her arms were sticking out. We were finding it hard to keep a hold on her, "What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there."

"Amy, concentrate," I said, "Don't give up!"

"Tell Rory…" said Amy.

"No. Amy!" said The Doctor as Amy started to sink lower.

"Amy, no!" I shouted and then Amy was swallowed by the earth.

"No! No!" shouted The Doctor as he tried to dig through the dirt. "No! No! No! No. No! No. No."

"Doctor…" I said as I stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. I knew it was futile.

He slapped the ground and stood up, "No. No!" Then he used his sonic on the ground.

Just then Nasreen and Tony ran back in, "Where is she?"

"She's gone," said The Doctor, "The ground took her."

"Is that what happened to Mo?" asked Tony, "Are they dead?"

"It's not quicksand," I said, as us Time Lords started pacing, "She didn't just sink – something pulled her in, it wanted her."

"The ground wanted her?" asked Nasreen.

"You said the ground was dormant when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped?" asked Annabelle.

"That's right." said Tony.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back," said The Doctor.

"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling?!" asked Nasreen," Doctor, that is ridiculous."

The Doctor took out his sonic on the hole that took Amy. Then the ground stared to vibrate, "I'm not saying that, and it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right. Oh! Of course! It's bio-programming!"

"What?!"

The Doctor stood up, "Bio-programming!" and clapped his hands, "Oh, clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects!"

"But, bio-programming is mainly used in engineering and construction on jungle planets far in the future, not on Earth at this time," I said, "What's it doing here?"

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" said Nasreen.

"Neither of you are making any sense!" said Tony

"'Scuse me," said The Doctor, "We're making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up. 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?" asked Nasreen.

"Stop you drilling!" said The Doctor, "We find what's doing the bio-programming, find Amy, get her back. Ssh ssh ssh! Have I gone mad?! I've gone mad!"

"Doctor."

"Ssh ssh! Silence! Absolute silence!" said The Doctor.

In the quiet I could hear a whirring sound, "You stopped the drill, right?" I asked

"Yes!" said Nasreen

"And you've only got the one drill?" asked Annabelle.

"Yes!"

"You're sure about that?" asked The Doctor.

"Yes!" said Tony.

The Doctor laid on his stomach next to the hole, that took Amy put his ear to the floor, "So, if you shut the drill down... why can I still hear drilling? It's under the ground."

"That's not possible."

Annabelle ran over to the monitors, took out her sonic screwdriver and pointed it at them.

"Oh, no, what, what are you doing?" asked Nasreen.

"I'm hacking into your records," she said, "Reports, samples, sensors. Now I need to combine all the data… Done… Now, let's have a look. So. We are here and this is your drill hole."

The Doctor and I walked up and looked at the depth of the hole on the screen, "21.009 kilometers. Well done!" he said.

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time," said Nasreen.

"Why here, though?" I asked, "Why drill on this site?"

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 million years."

"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away," said The Doctor, "Cos while you've been drilling down... somebody else has been drilling up." The Doctor then pulled up an image, on one of the monitors, showing a vertical network of tunnels. "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."

"No, no, we've surveyed that area." said Tony.

"You only saw what you went looking for," said Annabelle.

"What are they?" asked Nasreen as she pointed to some blinking light's on the bottom of the screen moving up through the tunnels.

"Heat signals," said The Doctor, "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"

"Just my daughter and her family," said Tony, "The rest of the staff travel in."

"Grab this equipment and follow me," said The Doctor as he started to head for the door.

"Why? What're we doing?!" asked Nasreen.

"The Doctor stopped and walked back towards us, "That noise isn't a drill. It's transport. Three of them, 30km down, rate of speed looks about 150km an hour."

"At that speed they should be here in about 12 minutes," I said as The Doctor picked up one of the computers.

"Right," he said, "Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now." Then he walked out of the room.

We started to head back to the church, The Doctor and Tony were carrying the computers while Nasreen followed pushing a wheelbarrow full of equipment.

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" asked Tony.

"You saw the readings!" said Annabelle.

"Who are you lot, anyway?!" asked Nasreen, "How can you know all this?" Before any of us could answer, we heard a whirring sound and saw red lights streak across the sky.

"Whoa, did you see that?"

"No, no, no!" said The Doctor. He set down the computer he was carrying, took a slingshot out of his pocket, picked up a rock and shot it up into the air. We knew it hit a force field, when we saw red lights streak out from the impact.

I took out my sonic and pointed it toward the impact point. Then we saw a large that a large force field dome was covering us. "An energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped," I said.

Just then Rory, a young boy and a woman in her 40s who was obviously the boy's mother ran up to us, "Doctor! Something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people." said Rory.

"Not now, Rory!" said The Doctor, "Energy barricade. Invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no-one from the outside world can get in."

"What?! OK, what about the TARDIS?"

"The what?!" said Nasreen.

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc with the controls," I said, "If we had time we could make the adjustments to compensate but we've only got nine and a half minutes."

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" asked Rory.

"We're trapped. And something's burrowing towards the surface," said Nasreen.

"Where's Amy?" asked Rory as he looked around.

"Get everyone inside the church!" said The Doctor as he picks up the computer. Then he looked at Rory, "Rory, I'll get her back."

"What d'you mean, get her back?" asked Rory, "Where's she gone?"

"She was taken," I said, "Into the Earth."

"How?! Why didn't any of you stop it?!"

"The Doctor and I tried. I promise, we tried."

"Well, you should've tried harder!"

"We'll find Amy," said The Doctor as he set the computer back down, "We'll keep you all safe. I promise. Come on, please. We need you alongside us." He picked it back up and started to head for the church.

The church was in a severe state of disrepair and disuse with boxes, crates and junk everywhere. Us Time Lords, Nasreen and Tony started to setup the equipment. The woman came up to us and said, "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."

"Yes," said The Doctor, "If we move quickly enough, we can be ready."

"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"

"He's telling the truth, love," said Tony.

"Come on!" said the woman, "It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."

"Look, Ambrose," said Nasreen, "we saw the Doctor's friend get taken, OK? 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?!"

"Me," said The Doctor.

"Can you get my dad back?" asked the boy.

We all looked at my uncle, "Yes," he said then he walked over to Ambrose, "But, I need you to trust me and my nieces and do exactly as we say from this second onwards because we're running out of time."

"So tell us what to do." said Ambrose.

"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring us every phone, camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find. Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors."

Ambrose and Rory hooked up the cameras while The Doctor used his sonic to connect them all together. Annabelle and I stayed by the monitors to watch the progress of what was coming up, along with Nasreen, Tony, and Ambrose's son, Elliot, . "We need to be ready for whatever's coming up," said The Doctor as he ran back into the church.

I looked at Elliot, "Can you draw us a map of the village, showing where the cameras are going?"

"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic." he said.

"Oh, that's all right," I said, "Nobody's perfect. Think of how boring life would be if we were all perfect. Take my family for example. My uncle, The Doctor, he can't make a decent meringue to save his life. I always lose at Monopoly."

Then Annabelle spoke up, "I have two left feet. Just draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." she said with a smile.

Then he ran off.

"6 minutes 40," said The Doctor.

Tony then pulled up an overlay of the village on his computer, "Works in quadrants, every movement sensor and triplight we've got. If anything moves, we'll know," he said.

The Doctor slapped Tony on the back, "Good lad!" Then The Doctor headed back outside.

When the countdown reached 3:23, Elliot ran back into the room with his map. I took it and said, "Look at that!"

I handed it to Annabelle, "Wonderful!" she said.

She handed it to The Doctor, "Perfect!" he said, "Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you."

"I don't understand what you're going to do," asked Elliot.

"It's a two phase plan," I said, "First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives."

"Second, if something does arrive," said The Doctor, "I use this…" He showed Elliot is sonic screwdriver, "to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe."

"Knock 'em out. Cool," said Elliot.

"I must say this looks like a very nice place to grow up," I said.

"Suppose. 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," said The Doctor.

"Me too." I said, I looked at the Doctor with a smile.

"Did you get away?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Do you ever miss it?

The Doctor and I looked at each other and then he looked at Elliot and said, "So much."

"Is it monsters coming?" asked Elliot, "Have you met monsters before?"

"Yeah."

"You scared of them?"

"No way!" said Annabelle, "They're scared of us."

"Will you really get my dad back?

"No question," I said as I turned back to the computer.

"I left my headphones at home," said Elliot. Then he turned to leave. I looked at the clock on the screen there was a over a minute left.

The Doctor and I went outside to check on Rory and Ambrose. We walked to the graveyard and saw Rory setting up a camera on one of the gravestones. "How're you doing?" asked The Doctor.

"It's getting darker," said Rory. We looked up and saw the light was starting to get blocked out.

"They are shutting out light from within the barricade," I said, "They trying to isolate us in the dark. Which means…" then there was a rumbling, "They're here."

The three of us ran to the church and saw Ambrose trying to get to get in, "I can't open it!" she said, "It keeps sticking! The wood's warped."

The Doctor and I went up to help Ambrose open the door. I turned and saw Rory standing a few feet away, "Feel free to help any time you want, Rory!" I shouted

"Can't you sonic it?" he asked.

"It doesn't work on wood!"

"That is rubbish!"

"Oi!" said The Doctor, as turned and stormed up to Rory, "Don't diss the sonic!"

Rory came over to us and the four of us were able to get the door opened. We joined Tony, Nasreen and Annabelle as the church door slammed shut behind us. Then the ground started shaking, "See if we can get a fix." said The Doctor as he ran to the computer. Items starting falling off the shelves and just as The Doctor starting to narrow down the 'landing' area, the computers sparked and the power went out.

"No power," said Tony.

"It's deliberate," said The Doctor.

"What do we do now?" asked Rory as Tony turned on a flashlight.

"Nothing," I said, "We've got nothing! They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."

"Is everyone OK?" asked Rory, "Is anyone hurt?"

"I'm OK," said Annabelle.

"I'm fine." said Nasreen.

"I'm good." said Tony.

"Me too." said Ambrose

Just then there was a load rumbling, "What was that?" asked Rory.

"It's like the holes at the drill station," said Tony.

"Is this how they happened?" asked Nasreen.

The Doctor put his ear to the ground, "It's coming through the final layer of Earth."

"What is?!"

The Doctor jumped to his feet and then there was silence. "The banging's stopped." said Tony.

Ambrose looked around the room, "Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"

Us Time Lords looked at each other and then I spoke up, "We did."

"Where is he?" she asked.

"He said he was going to get headphones."

"And you let him go? He was out there on his own?"

Tony put a hand on her shoulder and then someone started pounding on the church door, "Mum!" called Elliot, "Grandpa Tony! Let me in!"

"Elliot!" shouted Ambrose as she rushed for the door.

"Let me in."

"He's out there! Help me."

Elliot continued to pound on the door, "Open the door! Mum! There's something out here!"

We all ran to the door and tried to pull it open, "Push, Elliot, push, Elliot!" called Ambrose.

"Mum!"

"Hurry up!"

"Mummy."

"Come on!" said Tony as we finally got the door to open.

"Elliot!" said Ambrose. But once we all got outside we saw Elliot was gone, "Where is he?" She ran out, "He was here. He was here! Elliot." then she ran into the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off," said The Doctor.

"Ambrose!" said Tony as he ran after her.

Then, The Doctor looked at me, "Why is it that no human ever listens to me?"

I shook my head then we heard Ambrose's voice call out, "Elliot! It's Mum! No-o-o-o-o-o!"

My hearts were breaking. I knew the feeling of losing a child. Even though Annabelle regenerated, she still died protecting me, "I shouldn't have let Elliot go…"

"Don't blame yourself, Teddy," said The Doctor, "We had no idea what was going to happen…"

"Yeah, Mom," said Annabelle as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, "When he left there was a minute left… a lot can happen in a minute…"

"I know," I said as I wiped a tear from my eyes, "But, if something happens to him… I'll never forgive myself."

"Wait," said Nasreen, "Did she call you 'Mom'? How can you be her mother? You two look almost the same age?"

I smiled, "It's a long story…"

Just then we heard Ambrose call, "Get off me!"

Us Time Lords looked at each other, "Rory, Nasreen stay here…" I said.

Then we ran into the graveyard and heard Ambrose again, "Dad!"

We reached Tony and Ambrose. Tony was sitting on headstone, Ambrose was kneeling next to him "What happened?" I asked.

"My dad's hurt," said Ambrose.

"We need to get him into the church now!" said Annabelle, looking around. I could tell she switched into solider mode.

"Elliot's gone. They've killed him, haven't they?" asked Ambrose.

"No… They've taken three people, when they could've just killed them up here." Annabelle looked down at Ambrose, "There's still hope, Ambrose. There is always hope."

Ambrose started to cry, "Then why've they taken him?"

I knelt next to her and put an arm around her to comfort her, "I don't know. But, I promise we will find Elliot and your husband. But, first we've gotta stop this attack. Please, get yourself and your father inside the church.."

Ambrose helped Tony to his feet, "Come on, Dad." then they headed back to the church.

I looked at the Doctor, "So, what's the plan?"

The Doctor and I walked down the street of the village. We were both wearing infrared glasses to detect heat signatures. I looked over at my uncle and saw him glowing red. I heard something ahead and looked at some bushes and saw a blue shape, "Cold blood," said The Doctor. Then, with a smile in a sing song tone of voice he said, "I know who they are."

I rolled my eyes and took my glasses off. Then we headed to a meals on wheels van. Ambrose was in charge of Meals on Wheels for the area, so it was parked just outside the church. The Doctor was whistling as he opened the driver's side door and took out a fire extinguisher. He closed the door and in the reflection of the window, I saw something behind us. We both got out of the way of the creature's attack and he blasted it with the fire extinguisher. The creature screamed and then Annabelle jumped out of the back of the van, covered it with a blanket then we all shoved it into the refrigerated back and lock the door.

"We got it!" said Annabelle.

"Defending the planet with meals on wheels!" said The Doctor.

We were about to do a three person high ten when there was a rumbling, "Sounds like they're leaving, " I said. Soon the darkness started to fade and the sun started to shine again.

"Now both sides have hostages," said The Doctor.

After a few moments, us Time Lords unlocked the van and took the creature down to the basement. Because it was cold blooded, we knew that it would slow down in the cold, so we had no resistance when we chained it up.

A short time later, us Time Lords found Rory sitting on a toppled graver marker, "I've met these creatures before," said The Doctor, "different branch of the species, but all the same…" then we walked through the doors that led to the basement, "Let's see if our friend's thawed out!"

"Are you sure?" asked Rory, "By yourselves?"

The creature was sitting on the floor in the shadows, "Very sure." I said.

"But the sting…" started Rory.

"The venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge," said Annabelle, she looked at the creature, "Am I right?" then she looked at Rory, "We know what we're doing. We'll be fine."

Rory sighed and we walked down the remaining steps to the basement floor. The creature was definitely reptilian with large black eyes and it was wearing some sort of chain mail. With it's bound hands, it moved forward along the floor The Doctor put his hands up, "I'm The Doctor. These are my nieces, Teddy and Annabelle. We've come to talk. I'm going to remove your mask." The Doctor squatted down and gently removed the creature's mask. Under the mask was a humanoid face with feminine features. "You are beautiful. Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth. And by the way, lovely mode of travel! Geothermal currents, projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous! Mind if we sit?" The Doctor stood and we grabbed a folding chair and sat down in front of the creatures.

"Now," I said, "Your people have a friend of ours. We want her back."

There was no response from the creature.

"Why did you come to the surface?" asked Annabelle.

Still. no response from the creature.

"What do you want?" asked The Doctor. The creatures was still silent, "Oh, I do hate getting no answers. Give us a bit back. How many are you?"

"I'm the last of my species." said the creature.

Annabelle shook her head and said "No. 'Last of the species' is the Klempari Defense. As an interrogation defense, it's a bit old, I'm afraid.

"I'm the last of my species."

"No. You are not…" said Annabelle, forcefully, "Because WE are the last of our species and we KNOW how it feels. So do not insult us."

I put a hand on my daughter's shoulder to calm her down, "Let's start again," I said, "Tell us your name."

"Alaya." said the creature.

"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya?" asked The Doctor, "It's not difficult to work out. You're 300 million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?"

"We were attacked."

"The drill," said Annabelle.

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems," said Alaya, "The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet."

"Do you have to call them vermin?" I asked, "They're really very nice. I was adopted by a family of them."

"They are primitive apes."

"They are an extraordinary species," said Annabelle, "If you attack them, they'll fight back."

"But, there's a peace to be brokered here," said The Doctor, "We can help you with that."

"This land is ours," said Alaya, "We lived here long before the apes.

"But, that doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid," I said, "The humans won't give up the planet."

"So we destroy them."

"You underestimate them," said Annabelle.

"You underestimate us," said Alaya.

"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans, you've got your work cut out," said The Doctor.

Alaya stood, "We did not initiate combat. But we can still win."

"Tell us where our friend is," I said, "Give us back the people who were taken."

"No."

The Doctor stood and sighed, "We're not going let you provoke a war, Alaya." Annabelle and I stood and we all folded up our chairs and put them away, "There'll be no battle here today." Then we started up the steps to the door.

"The fire of war is already lit," said Alaya, "A massacre is due."

"Not while we're here," I said.

"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?"

Without a word, us Time Lords left the room.

We went back to the church and told the others what happened with Alaya and told them what we planned to do next. The men in the room were sitting while the woman stood, "Your going to what?!" asked Rory.

"Teddy, Annabelle, and I are going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe," said The Doctor, "To talk to them."

"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" asked Ambrose.

"They're not aliens," I said, "They are from Earth. They were once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo reptilia. They are not monsters and they are not evil. They are only as evil as you are. They are previous owners of the planet, that's all."

"Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders," said Annabelle, "Your drill was threatening their settlement."

"Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya," said The Doctor, "She's one of their warriors and she's our best bargaining chip. We need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Amy. Because we will find them."

"While we are gone, you four people, in this church have to be the best of humanity," I said.

"What if they come back?" asked Tony, "Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?"

"No dissecting and no examining!" I said. Then I looked at Annabelle, "Annabelle, you are going to have to stay up here to keep an eye on them." I said as I pointed at the humans. Most humans I could trust but the Silurian's had members of Tony and Ambrose's family.

"Understood," said Annabelle.

"You nee to make sure that Alaya remains safe because…" I looked at the humans and continued, "If we return their hostage safe and sound, they'll return ours safe and sound and nobody gets harmed,"

"We can end this together," said The Doctor, "If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"

Everyone nodded quietly. Nasreen started to applaud but stopped when no one else joined her. I turned to Annabelle and gave her a hug, "Keep a close eye on Ambrose," I said telepathically, "They have her son… Who knows what she could do…"

"I will," she replied.

I broke the hug and The Doctor and I walked out the door and headed for the TARDIS. Then, Nasreen ran up behind us, we turned to look at her, "Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

"Coming with you, of course!" said Nasreen, "What is it, some kind of transport pod?"

"Sort of," said The Doctor, "but you're not...coming with us!"

Then, Tony walked up, "He's right, you're not."

"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet," said Nasreen, "And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!"

The Doctor checked his watch, "I don't have time to argue!"

"I thought we were in a rush."

"It'll be dangerous," I said.

"Oh, so's crossing the road," she replied.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, all right, then!" said The Doctor as he rolled his eyes, "Come on!" he unlocked the TARDIS and the two of us went in and started to prepare for departure.

A few moments later, Nasreen walked in and did a double take, "Welcome aboard the TARDIS." I said.

"Now don't touch anything!" said The Doctor, "Very precious."

Nasreen walked over from the doorway, "No way! But that's... this is…" she slapped him on the arm, "fantastic! What does it do?"

"Everything!" I said with a smile, "We're hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere."

Just then the TARDIS started to pitch drastically. The three of us held onto the console, "Did you touch something?!" shouted The Doctor.

"No!" said Nasreen, "Isn't this what it does?!"

"No!" I said, "we're not doing anything! We've been hijacked!"

"I can't stop it!" said The Doctor, "They must've sensed the electro-magnetic field!" he looked at the monitor, "They're pulling the TARDIS down into the Earth!"

All we could do was hold onto the console and yell. Several moments later, the TARDIS landed with a thud and it knocked the three of us to the floor. Nasreen laughed and snapped one of The Doctor's suspenders, "Oi." he said.

"Where are we?" she asked as she stood up.

The Doctor got up and ran for the door. Nasreen and I followed. He held a hand outside the door before stepping out. Then, he stepped out. We were in a tunnel with roots and fungus covering the walls. The Doctor looked up and whistled, "Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system."

"I don't think it was designed to handling something like the TARDIS," I said.

"How far down are we?" asked Nasreen.

"A lot more than 21km," said my uncle.

"So why aren't we burning alive?"

"I Don't know," I said, with a smile, "It's interesting though, isn't it?"

"It's like this is everyday for you two isn't it?!" asked Nasreen.

"Not every day," I said.

"Every other day." said The Doctor.

The Doctor and I headed down one of the tunnels with Nasreen close behind us. "We're looking for a small tribal settlement," said The Doctor.

"It's probably housing around a dozen homo reptilia. Maybe less," I said.

"One small tribe," said Nasreen slowly.

The Doctor and I turned around and saw Nascreen standing at a small window-like opening, "Yeah," He said.

"Maybe a dozen?" she asked.

We reached the opening and saw what she saw. Below us was almost a city with all kinds of buildings and monuments. "Ah." said The Doctor.

"Maybe more than a dozen," I said, "Maybe more like an entire civilization living beneath the Earth."

To Be Continued…

A/N: I would like to thank Nikki Pond for making the wonderful cover for my story. I love it so much! I hope you guys are still liking my story. I can't believe that it's almost been a year since I've started working on this and people are still reading it! Please send your comments in the box below. I love to hear what you think. I'm thinking about having Teddy and Annabelle regenerate with The Doctor at the end of "The Time of The Doctor." I would love to hear your ideas on who should play Teddy and Annabelle next.