Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ A Growing Madness ❯ Chapter 6

Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property of the BBC, and we obviously don't have any right to them. Any and all crossover characters belong to their respective creators. Alas no one makes any money from this story, and it's all done out of love for a cheap-looking sci-fi show.

 

Chapter 6

Gracefully Raina pulled herself along the corridor. With a climbing rope and carabineer set she mountain-climbed the access rails as she went along. Miles of nylon rope now stretched along the ship passageways. "Just like mountain climbing without gravity," she laughed. How strange her training for geology was helping her in the middle of outer space. She came to the hatch Ace had opened with her futuristic lock-pick set. Distant voices echoed in her ears. One was Scots, the other Midlands. And arguing by the sound of them.

Something about the Doctor bothered her. She wanted to discover where the ship was headed. But she didn't want to set off there without first discovering what happened to the Cerise's crew. Did they kill each other out of suspicion, or did some outside force manipulate them to destroy each other through mind control?

*Callom, are you there?

*Aye.

*How are you two getting along there?

*She's right curious enau . . .

Ace spun around when she heard Raina's swami belt jingling. The carbines on the mountain climbing gear rattled. "Cor! We thought you were a ghost or something."

Over in one corner, Callom covered his mouth to stifle his giggling. Lately everything made Ace jump, grabbing her baseball bat like he grabbed his skeindu when he was agitated. Up in one corner he perched, arms spread out anchoring him to a railing. He watched Raina clip a carabineer to the railing and run a blue nylon rope through it. "Yuir a wee spider nau, eh?"

Into the cabin she drifted. Closely the geologist noted all the floating crates sheathed in metal casing. Strange that the cargo should remain unscathed by the attacks. It was a relief ship, judging from the cargo manifest.

"Brill idea, using the mountain climbing gear," commented Ace, gripping a nearby railing. "We just ran out of jet fuel."

"Jet fuel?"

Holding up the empty aerosol can, Callom explained, "Just a little idea of Ace's."

"Wish I had my flair gun to put this piton into," she muttered. "It'd be just the thing."

"Not really. You'd fly backwards whenever you'd try to use it."

"Where's the Professor gone off to?'

"He's on the command deck ," Raina said. "That's what he called it."

"Och, ye mean the bridge?"

Ace rolled her eyes. "That's the old-fashioned word for it."

Callom pulled a face at her. "Yuir jest mad you didna think of it."

"Now, guys, don't bite each others heads off."

"Did he read the captain's log?" asked Callom, from his perch.

"Yes. The Doctor says the crew attacked each other when the star drive kept breaking down. They couldn't make it to their port of call, as you would say, Callom. But I feel like there was a saboteur on board," said Raina.

"Who'd want the cargo?" Ace asked.

"Mebbe someone wants that Growth Accelerator machine, or something?" suggested Callom. "But what would that do?"

"Accelerate growth," said Ace, smirking. "I'd have thought you'd know what that means."

"Of course I ken what the words mean. But what use is that device?"

"Not sure," Raina said. "I'd guess it would be some futuristic device to stimulate the growth of crops on other planets? I mean since the Doctor said this was a colony ship… I'm assuming it's for colonizing other planets, right? But could it be used as a weapon?"

"Thought yuid ask that," jabbed Callom. She ignored him.

"Maybe," Ace mumbled. "I'm thinking from what I saw on Ice world. I remember hearing about those devices and stuff. This one here.. might be used to accelerate the development of livestock. Accelerate chicken eggs into chicks and chickens. Or push the growth of wool. Even perhaps push evolutionary processes. But they'd need a temporal modulator on it to do that."

"She sounds like the Doctor," muttered Callom.

"Yeaow!" they all cried. A lurch sent all three sailing in separate directions. Except for Raina, who grabbed hold of her rope. Engines boomed into life as the retrorockets fired. The geologist grabbed hold of the young Scot as he flew by her. Ace snagged the rope. All struggled to hold onto it or tie it to themselves.

"What started the motors?" cried Ace.

"Someone's alive on this ship," gasped Callom, fear rising in him.

 

"Could be the Doctor? What do you think, yank?" Ace asked.

"I dunno, Ace. It doesn't feel like a tractor beam. The rockets are firing. How did it start up?" asked Raina.

"How long did it take you to get here, Prof?" asked Ace. "Do you think the Doctor got the ship on line?"

Both women glanced at each other. Callom felt resonance as the same thought crossed their minds. "Why would he start the ship up?"

"If he wanted to find out where it was going to go maybe!" snapped Raina, anger darkening her mature face.

"You think the Professor would actually do that?" Ace wondered. “You're a real piece of work after we saved your arses!”

 

“No wait, I just am worried. He wanted to figure out where this ship was headed. He figured that whoever left the log would have programmed the ship to follow a certain course! But I think he's set off a trap!"

"Usually the Professor has a good reason for doing something . . . unless . . . " Ace trailed off. A similar look of fear crossed her face. She tried to hide it from Raina. But Callom knew Raina was not fooled.

"I've got to stop this ship!" announced Raina. Against the thrust of the rockets, she pulled herself back along the rope. "C'mon, Callom!"

"Coming!" he said obediently. Ace followed, protesting. Surely the Doctor knew what he was doing. At least most of the time. However there were times when she wasn't sure. He had a dark side, the part of him that was not human that surfaced from time to time. At those times he would sacrifice his friends for the greatest good. Ace shivered. She didn't know. And Raina's fierce devotion to protecting Callom also was frightening. She might take unnecessary risks to protect him.

That could spell conflict. "With a capital 'C'," joked Ace grimly, pulling herself along Raina's rope.

***

Unable to fix the gravity, the Doctor hovered over the command chair. He had moved the body of the Commodore to one side, and covered her face with a space blanket. Still, one detail bothered him. The name stated in the log for the planet. That planet the ship had been passing when the mutinies started. What did Raina say it was? He recalled the log entry. "Kala? Never heard of that star system," he mused, scratching above his left ear. His turtle face wrinkled in doubt. "Perhaps it was misspelled, or misread by our dear geologist want-to-be."

Scrolling though the journal entries, he saw that there were whole portions of text blanked out. With a frown, the Doctor, punched a few keys on the log console. He fumbled through his pockets to produce his half-moon reading glasses. "Passing near planetary system Ka__o four. G sequences star, ten planets. Three moons . . . "

Two letters were missing. The name of the system could be the name given by Earth colonists. Unlikely, because by this time period, the Earth colonists had made contact with other intelligent space faring civilizations.

Again he turned to a small console set into the navigational computer. Depressing a key he ringed up a three dimensional image of a star map. Among the stars traced a red line to indicate the ship's intended trajectory. "Theileria Minor," he muttered, looking at the M star binaries to the G star. He checked the present heading. Was there a deviation? Not according to the guidance system was there.

The ship shuddered and wheezed its way out of hyper drive. Streaks became single points again in the view-port. Discretely he coughed. Then peered out the view port, overtop his glasses. His eyes widened. "Great galaxies, this looks wrong!"

Constellations he gaped at through the view-port were not the corresponding ones in the stellar map!

"Kala?" he muttered, taking off his battered straw hat and tumbling about. "Karlo?"

Maneuvering thrusters fired. A light blinked, to indicate the ship had entered the gravity well of a solar system. At sub drive it sidled, past several terrestrial planets. As each planet whizzed by, the Doctor felt sicker. Theileria Minor's system was purporting to have two gas giants. This system had but one.

"It's not Kala," he muttered. "It's the home world of the Karakulians, also called Pyorrheas... no wonder the colonists went mad..."

Grimly he fired the ship's retrorockets. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his 500 diary, thumbing to the page about the Karakulians.

"Like the sirens of ancient myth, the Karakulians lure unsuspecting ships that pass by, to their world... for a variety of experiments. They test the mettle of any possible civilizations that dare to venture out this far into their solar system. Just Why they do this has several theories. However, the Karakulians main enemies, the Ehyrwell, have long sought to stop their unethical experiments, and regain their planet. Unfortunately in their last conflict, all Ehrywell were thought to have perished in a biological experiment gone wrong..."

His blood froze. It must have been two hundred years ago. How had the Karakulians managed to continue such activity for so long? Yet another race of beings who thought less of other species then to test their mettle and eventually exterminate their specimens. Had he rescued his friends from the Rani only to plunge them into another horrific nightmare fair of biological experiments?

****

Raina clawed her way along the rope. It was all she could do to hang on once the ship hit hyper drive. Yet now she breathed a sigh of relief as the stars became pinpoints of light once more. Captivated, the human geologist admired them through the glass.

"Ahem."

"Ace. I didn't see you there. Where's Callom?"

"He's waiting in the other room. I want a word with you, Yank."

"Ace, what's wrong? That way you're staring at me, is uncomfortable."

"I get this feeling you don't trust the Professor," she admitted, brown eyes fixing into Raina's. Despite the fact she was weightless, Ace tried to lean against the corridor railing. All around them the linking corridor curved. It resembled a glass gerbil tube with a radius of eight feet, for in all directions an observer could see the stars.

"He could have brought us into a trap, for all we know," she snapped. "Just look at that."

"Yeah, we've entered a solar system. So?"

"That's not Theileria Minor!"

"How would you know?"

"I have a gut feeling… that's why…"

"Prove it, Yank. For all I know, how should the Doctor and I trust you?"

"I don't know, kid, I just… dammit… have a bad feeling. Something smells wrong… why would people kill one another and then leave the ship running? If they WERE all dead, who would stick around to make sure it's running… I mean if they REALLY went nuts, I think they'd have blown it up or something.."

"Hold on a sec. Just suppose there was a mutiny on board,"

"Okay, shoot," Dr. MacLaren nodded.

"And a person set the ship to a new heading, for some reason. It could be there was no one left alive to set the new course."

"But if that was the case, why was there no one else in the control cabin but the Commander?" pointed out Raina.

"Maybe someone escaped from the ship," suggested Ace.

"No, the Doctor said something about… all life pods were in place." Shaking her head, Raina continued down the rope. Ace followed her. They reached the flight deck, in the `fore section of the Cerise. With a mighty shove Raina propelled herself to the command area. "I demand to know why you sent us to the wrong system!" she snapped.

Sadly the Doctor looked up from the control. "Well, how was I to know it was wrong? And what makes you so sure it is?"

"My gut feeling?" suggested Raina.

"My dear Raina, I am not that dense!" he protested. "You were the one who read the name of the star system wrong in the journal."

"Hey, pack it in you two!" Ace shouted.

Raina and the Doctor both shut up. Together they spun themselves to face Ace. "That's enough squabbling. Wrap up and tell me what the hell's gonna happen!"

"What do you think I just discovered?" interrupted the Doctor. "Of course we aren't headed there. Whoever sabotaged the ship obviously set it on a new course."

"Professor!"

"Well, at least since I last checked the log," continued the Doctor sheepishly. "And I think we will soon discover the answer to all our questions on that planet below."

Ace and Raina looked out to see a curved hemisphere rising up under the forward view-port. A dreary dark mantle of clouds drifted across its curve. Between swirls of the mantle peeked gray continents against gray seas.

"Some toxic waste ball," muttered the geologist sadly. "Looks like a nuclear war hit it."

"Sadly, yes. This is clearly a war-torn world. Allow me to introduce you to the planet Pyorrheas."

"Pyrrorheas?" gasped Ace. "Where's that?"

"A planet fragmented by many wars. There should be no one there now. At least judging by the age of this ship. But someone is operating this device, and I must know why."

"What precisely are you hiding, Doctor," said Raina quietly. Grim faced, she held down her anger. She could just tell in her gut he was concealing something. It was instinct, but it screamed louder then ever before.

"Doctor!" shouted a young voice. Callom sailed into the room, pulling along Raina's lifeline. "There's a ship coming up to us! From the planet!"

"Ace, take Callom back to the TARDIS . . . and stay there," began the Doctor. "You too, Raina."

"Doctor, I demand to know what the HELL you're worried about. That look on your face sure tells me it's life threatening!"

Anxious faces all looked toward the Doctor. "There's no time to tell you," he snapped. "Just do as I say, Raina."

"This time, Doctor," said Raina, staring him straight in the face. "I stay here, with you." He coughed nervously.

Already Ace tugged at Callom's black jacket. She pulled him out the door after her. "C'mon Raina!" Callom urged. "There may be danger!"

"And he's going to tackle it alone?" snorted Raina. "No way! Callom, you go with Ace. "

Sighing the doctor tossed his isomorphic key towards Callom. Neatly Ace caught it, and the hatch door spiraled shut.

"Rather noble of you to stay," sniffed the Doctor.

"Someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble. Obviously you expected a trap, and you fell right into it. But what are you plotting now?"

"Ace and Callom should be safe in the TARDIS. The attackers should not notice it, if it's in the corridor I think it is." Raina watched him run fingers down some warmth buttons. "There, that should close off their section of the ship. As soon as their infrared signals pass the sensor."

"Say what?"

"I programmed the camera to respond to the humanoid temperature range. All the door sensors, with the exception of the cargo bays and private quarters, are triggered by heat patterns. Specifically those of a human body, or part of a human body."

"So you programmed the doors to open and close to a general heat pattern, Doctor. For their sake, I hope whoever's boarding us won't. But what do we do?"

"Sit tight for a few minutes. Then I want you to head down to the cargo bay. And reel in the rope as you go."

"What then?"

"Get the Growth Accelerator. And slip into the aft section of the ship. I guessed from the design of this ship the aft section can be jettisoned from the front as a safety measure."

"Won't the attackers shoot it down?"

"Not after the reception I'll give them," grinned the Doctor mischievously. "Now get going."

****

Sounds reverberated along the axis of the ship. Frantically the two children grabbed at the rope, their lifeline to safety. "I wish someone would turn on the gravity!" complained Callom.

"I thought you liked being in space, squirt."

"It's no fun anymore, Ace. No wi' space pirates latching on n' all."

"Pirates?" scoffed Ace. "Stop thinking in the past! We're gonna be okay. Just keep climbing!" Three percussive blasts rocked the chamber. "Sounds like they're cutting through," muttered Ace.

"Why dinna they jest use the airlock or something?"

"That door probably has a locking mechanism. And whoever is breakin in isn't fooling around."

Raina's rope meandered along the metal corridors in the aft section of the ship. Ace guessed they were in the residential area. The ship was in three sections, the cargo and residential were in the middle, while the drive unit was separated by three pylons spacing it far from the rest of the craft. A short corridor, the one Raina had taken her astral reading in, connected the residential crew quarters to the command deck. Here was where the flying and stellar cartography were done. This research vessel was a standard Aries class ship. Ace had seen several come and go from the colony planet of Iceworld. That had happened before she met the Doctor. And after she'd left Earth. Memories of cleaning up other people's messes in a drink bar on a futuristic shopping mall flashed for a moment in her mind's eye. She shut the memory door on that chapter in her life. At last Callom reached the door. Automatically it spiraled open. "Get in, quick!" Ace told him, and gave him a shove. Reaching out behind herself she reeled in the rope as before. Then thrust herself through before the door completely sealed shut behind her.

Distantly they heard explosions. "C'mon. Get a move on, kid!" Ace cried to Callom. For painful moments they threaded their way through the scorched walled hallways. People once had walked here, and lived and laughed here. Now the two children simply sought the refuge of the familiar. The TARDIS floated in mid air, slowly rotating. Eagerly Ace and Callom slipped inside.

***

Meanwhile, Raina was a few minutes behind. Hand over hand she crawled to the cargo hold on the underside of the middle section. As she went, she reeled in her rope, careful not to touch the rope in front of herself. She too heard the bangs and explosions ripping into the Cerise. Glancing out through round ports she saw the craft latched alongside. She could make out a strange metal surface, not lead, but incredibly dense. All through her journey she caught glimpses of the saucer like craft gliding up from the planet's surface, and as it encroached upon the ship. Yet the Doctor said there was no time to explain. He had explaining to do. Raina had never heard of Pyrrorheas. The name sounded hard and cruel, even to her ears. What sort of civilization existed there? She was certain to find out soon enough. Another boom sounded awful close. Raina eased herself down a vertical shaft, perpendicular to the one in which she'd traversed. A pressure door led down to the cargo deck. Seconds later she pushed herself down. Glanced at all the undelivered cargo. People's lives most likely depended on its arrival, and it would never come. All the space mail and the foodstuffs and seeds that would never be planted sat in their metal sealed crates. Raina shook the visions out of her imagination, and crossed over to the wrapped electronic devices. It was easy for her to read the modern labels written in Hispanariese letters. "El Accelerando Germinating," she muttered, gripping a bundle about the size of her arm. Compact by twenty-second century standards, this device could germinate a field in a matter of days, which would normally take weeks. Whoever invented this biocatalyzer that sped up cell division was taking on enormous responsibility. Strange about Time Travel. You saw the general trends, even if you gaped at the immensity of the Continuum. Event after event and a multitude of dizzying possibilities could make a human's mind mad. Yet to Raina she saw the awesome totality with childlike simplicity. How did the Time Lords perceive History?

Fzam!

Raina peeled herself off the wall. Somehow the gravity was reactivated. Her whole body felt heavy, even thought they were falling around the planet at several thousand miles per hour. Against the pull of the field she hauled herself up the rope hand over hand, device carefully tied to her back with a length of nylon rope. She reached the horizontal shaft. Pressing down on cold metal she hauled herself out of the pressure cell leading to the cargo hold. For a brief time she allowed herself to rest and catch her breath. "Gee, gravity is exhausting," she heard herself say. Tottering to her feet, she stumbled off down the corridor as fast as she could.

Each step became easier as her feet clanged against the metal floor. Each step carried her away from the explosions. Just what was the Doctor doing up on the bridge of the Cerise? She remembered him shutting the pressure door behind her as she left. And punching keys like a piano player. Once more she was in the maze of corridors. The residential section on levels One and Two were where the crew cabins existed. Following the pattern of scorch marks she traced her way back to the TARDIS.

KABOOM!

Raina grabbed the railing for dear life. Suddenly the wall blew inward. Cold void opened mere yards away through a jagged frame. All the air around her sucked out to fill the vast maw of space. With tremendous strength she struggled to pull herself to a door, or anyplace still pressurized. Despite her terror she was awestruck. She spotted the alien ship latched onto the side of the Cerise with an airlock tube. Beneath them both moved the convex curve of the gray orb. It filled half the sky, moving into its nighttime phase. She could see every minute detail of curling swirling cloud masses crossing the terminator. Every storm, every gale swishing miles below.

Spiraling out in space was a blue box. The TARDIS rushed away from the Cerise, blown back by the explosive decompression. Raina would soon follow, if her strength gave out. Already her frostbitten fingers were slipping from the freezing barite bar. Holding her breath she clipped herself to the bar with a carabineer. Slid herself along the bar to a doorway. Hoped and prayed she could get the door, mere inches away, open. Her hair felt as if it would be sucked from her scalp. She tried to equalize the pressure in her ears in vain. Something was drifting away from the ship. A small craft, spherical with three rods and a cylinder protruding. Tiny lights twinkled at points in the white sphere. It was none other than the flight deck of the Cerise. One of the blasts had torn it loose.

Huddled together in the TARDIS, Callom and Ace saw Raina's desperate battle. "Och no!" cried the Scot. "We gotta save her!"

"How?" demanded Ace.

"I must. . . teleport to her. . ."

"You can't from this distance!" protested Ace. "The force field in the TARDIS will stop you!"

"I canna let her die!" shouted Callom. "When you see us on the scanner screen, open the doors and pull us in!"

"What?"

"Tie the rope ye pulled in around yon console! Tie yuirself to it, and then ye won't be sucked out so ye can pull us in!"

Gathering all his courage he fixed the sight of Raina in his mind. The distance was increasing by the minute. But as long as he could see her he was alright.

A switch fired in his mind. A circuit completed, and he was there by her side, grabbing onto her as she was being sucked away. Wrapping his arms around her, he sucked a breath and stared out into infinity. Just a blue speck now was the TARDIS. It didn't orbit with the ship, for the explosive decompression had blown it away. Callom unclipped the carabineer and let himself be sucked into space. He knew he'd survive, for at least a minute anyway. Just long enough to see the TARDIS, and think his way there. Long enough to feel Ace's hand clench them and haul them into the TARDIS before the air ran out.

Before they could pull themselves in, something happened. A beam caught hold of the TARDIS, tractoring them. Ace barely managed to pull them through the doors before the TARDIS was pulled forwards. Towards the ship. A large spiral hatch spun open, and the TARDIS was draw inside.

***

A streak of fire bashed its way through the Pyorrhean atmosphere. The Doctor gritted his teeth as his back was pressed up against the seat back. Tremendous G-Forces ripped at him. Reaching against the amazing pressure his hand hit the antigravity switch. Stabilizers pushed against the planet's surface. If he glimpsed out the forward view screen he could see gray streaks blowing up beneath the ship. And the glowing trails of fire soaring between himself and the streaks. Quickly the glow drifted from white-hot to orange, then to cherry red. At last the heat cleared, and he could see the convex curve of the planet looming ahead. Trees cracked as the ship skimmed through. Everything went black behind his eyes.

***

Half-dazed Raina dragged herself out of the flight deck. Instinct had kicked in. Her hands gripped the collars of her friend's jackets. Had to get out. From beneath the wreckage. Slowly she wormed her way out, and ashen air hit her lungs. Gasping, she staggered to her feet, and noticed the charred and twisted remains of the ship. High shapes rose around her, and she pushed her glasses up on her nose again, glad they had survived. A small tinkling like glass being struck by water met her ears, and she whirled about in alarm. Her hands flew up to defend herself from the unknown attacker. Yet, when she seized the figure that had drawn up behind her she heard an anguished gurgle.

"Hrrgh..." he gasped. "Mind you... that's no way to say thank you..."

"Doctor?" she gasped. "Where... what... dammit where are we?"

"If you'd release me, I'll explain," he gasped. She did so, letting the Doctor's throat release from her grasp.

"I'm really sorry," she said, backing away.

"I see you're uninjured," he said with a sigh of relief as he brushed himself down. "Can I presume you are if you're standing... if you're not I can..."

"I think you've helped us enough, Doctor," Dr. Mariner grumbled. "Where the hell are we?"

"Pyorrheas," he said, clearing his throat. "But there is no time for that now. We must find Ace and Callom, and quickly."

"Pyorrheas... how do you know..." she asked, rushing after him as he turned back to the wreckage. "You mean you've BEEN here before?"

"Unfortunately yes. Some two hundred years ago. And I'm sorry for getting you involved in this," he muttered, probing the wreckage with his umbrella tip. "But we must work fast..."

"Doctor... I demand to know WHAT this is about!"

"The main race of this world, called the Karakulians… they are scientists, arrogant and cruel," he said. "Not unlike the Rani. They did not think any civilization should surpass them in the ways of science."

"Terrific... care to explain why... and what this has to do with the Cerise?" Ray demanded.

"There was another race on this world, the Erweyl, who opposed the development of their genetic research, and challenged their arrogance. However the two races fought, and the Karakulians were shocked to find out that the Erweyl had surpassed them in one realm of science... that of space travel. Rather then continue the war that has reduced their planet to this... wasteland, the Erweyl fled..."

"Like this..." she asked, glancing around at the gray mists swirling around them. Only the bare bones of tall-striated crystalline trees passed between them and the ashen sky. "What did they do?"

"The Erweyl were pacifists, not fighters. Once this was a world worthy of Earth itself in its diversity and beauty. They fled to the nearest planet, fourth from the sun named Deuceine, to rebuild, and somehow find a way to stop the Karakulians. However, they could do nothing to stop the Karakulians from luring unsuspecting ships here... to enslave and experiment upon their civilizations. But I tried to put a stop to it... and I fear my past interference is what brings us here now..."

"What are you saying... that the Cerise..."

"Was bait," he said. "They know about the existence of the time lords, thanks to me. And for this, I'm sorry. I wouldn't' be surprised if they have used the captured Erweylian technology to build devices that are even more monstrous that scan space-time for disturbances..."

"So, we're here now... but surely if you've faced them before, you can do so again," Ray whispered, unholstering her axe and helping him to dig.

"I'm afraid it will be more difficult this time around," the Doctor lamented, wrinkling his brow. He dabbed his forehead with his paisley handkerchief. "For they are expecting me."

"Damn..."

"When earth ships and other civilizations developed spaceflight, and started passing by their star system, they'd lure them to this world, and test them in a barrage of bizarre experiments. If they survived, they were enslaved. If they died, the Karakulians did not consider them a threat..." the Doctor muttered. "And obviously since the inhabitants of the Cerise survived, they consider any Earth people a threat..."

"What can we do?"

"Find Ace and Callom, and then decide," the Doctor muttered.

***

After they crashed, she wanted to take the commander's body out of the flight deck and give it a proper burial. Unfortunately, the Doctor disagreed.

"We don't have time to pick daisies," he snapped.

"But we should pay respect to the dead, Professor," said Ace.

"With the Karakulians possibly searching for us?"

Ace dragged the Commander's body. Luckily, the woman wasn't too heavy. Already rigor mortis had set in.

"How's Callom?"

"Still out cold, Doctor. Where in blazes are we?"

"Pyorrheas. This is a Petrified Forest."

All overhead were brittle branches. Gray sunlight cast its light on bone white trunks. Beneath their feet they could feel the crunch of the under growth, long since shattered.

"Where's the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked.

"I'll look around," said Raina. "Keep an eye on Callom."

The young Scot lay motionless on a space blanket. His skin looked as pale as the surrounding landscape. Ace sensed Raina was worried sick, although she hid it well. "Ace," she said. "Let's take our Commander back to the Flight deck..."

Raina slipped her hands under the body and hefted it to her shoulders. Ace clutched her bat and followed. At least Raina showed interest in respecting the dead. Minutes later, they spotted the Police Box. It sat on its side, buried half way into the charred ground. "Is nothing alive here?" Ace asked.

"It's been dead for years," said Raina.

"How do you know, if you've never been here?"

"Death's stench cries out. That's why. Call it an impression. "

"What do you mean?"

"An echo. Many locations have temporal impressions of stressful events. The forest is riddled with them. And plus I can tell from the geology of the rocks they were stressed by intense heat…"

"We'll need a shovel to get this out," said Ace, practical minded. Hands thrust into her pockets, she circled the half-buried TARDIS.

Raina spotted the fractured eggshell of the crashed flight deck. A huge gash spread up the two hemispheres. Shouldering the commander's body, she stepped inside. Then she disappeared from view. Ace cautiously followed. Inside the flight deck, Raina lay the commander on her chair. Ace covered her with a blanket. For a moment, the two women regarded each other. What could you say about a woman you hardly knew?

"What do we say, yank?" she asked. "It's not like we were buddies or anything."

Raina looked up at the sky and the planet around her. "Dear God, I stand in the midst of death. This woman is far from her home and family. Yet, she did not die in vain. The people here, on this planet, didn't either. I ask whatever power this woman believed in to take her to where she needs to be. Maybe the lives here, can keep her comforted with their understanding."

"What?"

"I didn't know her. But I did know she did the best job protecting her crew. She was brave to the last. And God grant her the rest she deserves…"

Ace noticed Raina's silence. She opened her own mouth to say, "I didn't know her either. But she had nerve. Stood of to disaster when everyone went crazy. Just hope her family, friends will know she's found. Wherever she is, hope it's better than here."

Raina nodded, and covered the commander's face. Then, the geologist turned to the gash, and stepped one foot outside. In her hands, she carried a small box. Ace guessed it must be the log of the craft. In the clearing, the Doctor gently fingered Callom's cheek. Cold and clammy to the touch, the lad's skin seemed almost like rubber. Still, the Doctor felt the breaths slowly wafting against his hand. He spun around. Ace and Raina crunched through the fragile fossil pants.

"Back so soon," he asked.

"Yeah. Any change, Professor?"

"Still the same."

"We found the TARDIS," said Raina. "About fifty feet from here."

Dusty air made Raina cough. "I'd like to get moving," said the Doctor. "It's not safe to stay..."

"We're going t' have some digging ahead of us," said Ace.

"Let's go."

"I'll take Callom," said Raina. Before anyone could argue, she slipped hands under his knees and back. Then squatting, she lifted him up. Effortlessly she stood, cradling him in her arms. Ace hoped they wouldn't join the restless spirits here. As the followed the Doctor in the strange procession, she shivered away the coldness.

It was only fifty yards to the TARDIS. Fifty yards too many. Ace glanced around herself warily as she usually did. To her young ears, each sound felt magnified in the gaunt silence. That kind of silence that sucks all little noises into itself, and spits them back out a hundred times louder. Her ears clung to the sanity in her own crunching footsteps, and those of the Doctor ahead of her, and Raina behind her.

Raina suddenly pushed from behind. "I heard something. Tell him to pick up the pace...."

The Doctor stopped. Everyone crashed into his restraining arm. "Stop right there," he hissed.

"What..." came out of Ace's lips before she choked them back.

"Turn around, quietly..." he choked. All the color blanched from his face. Hands gripped his umbrella as he looked back only with his eyes.

"When I tell you to run, run..." he said stiffly, in the same volume of whisper.

"The TARDIS..."

"Don't ask questions, Dr. Mariner," he grunted. "Just do as I say..."

Raina read the urgency in his tense clamped jaw, and silent anger. Something was preventing them from getting to the TARDIS. Whatever it was, the Karakulians perhaps, the Doctor feared enormously. When the Doctor was that afraid, she knew it had to be terrible. They placed their steps cautiously in the undergrowth as they retreated. Raina, the Doctor, and Ace all backpedaled. A high pitched electronic whine impeded at the top of Ace's hearing. Like those tone tests she had to take in school so many years ago. Where the nurse tested the high frequencies, you could hear. Or that whine that computer screens gave off when they were on in a lab. Only this whine grew in intensity.

"Run!" thundered the Doctor, when they had retreated ten feet. He shoved past Raina and Ace, clutching his hat to his head. Raina and Ace rushed after him.

"What's stopping us from going to the TARDIS?" asked Raina, between labored breaths. She shifted Callom to her back.

"We must get to the city," breathed the Doctor. "It's the only place."

"But if we go there, they'll trap us for sure," cried Ace.

"That's the only place we can be safe from the radiation. The mountains have cut off our retreat. Anywhere we go their scanners can track us..."

"What about into the forest?" asked Raina.

"We wouldn't survive. There are worse mutations running around in there..."

But then they could no longer comment upon any mutations, for they had been found! Raina drew in her breath sharply, clutching Callom to her.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted. "To the city!"