Chapter 1 (Gandra)
It had been raining. The leaves were still glistening wet with raindrops, but the sun had come out now and it was a hot day. The whole jungle was steaming in the tropical heat; the air humid with not a hint of a breeze.
The old man made his way across the wooden bridge and towards the waiting priests on the other side. He was old, but he wasn’t ancient. He stooped a little and his back was arched, but he still felt alive. His legs felt sturdy and his heart was beating strong in his small ribcage.
As he approached the priests he turned his narrow, insect-like head back towards his family. His eyes were black and wet. He had been trying not to cry. He knew his time was here, but he was still going to miss them.
He raised a thin arm and gave them a gentle wave.
His family on the other side of the bridge held each other close and waved back.
“Are you ready, Bedeck?” asked the priest, his white and gold robes damp in the moist air.
“I could never be ready for this,” said Bedeck, his voice barely audible over the chirruping creatures of the jungle.
He finally stepped off the wooden bridge and the head priest took his hand. “The Age comes to us all, Bedeck.”
“I know. I know.” He knew there was no point in fighting against the inevitable.
The priest closed his eyes and gripped Bedeck’s quivering arm tightly.
And then Bedeck felt the pain. At first it was just a niggle from somewhere beneath his chest, but it soon built up until the pain was too much to hold back. He felt as though his heart was going to burst from his chest.
Bedeck gasped.
His watching family tensed.
And then Bedeck fell limply into the priests arms. The priest lowered the old man to the ground and then placed a spindly hand on his head. He mumbled a few words and then turned back to the waiting family.
“Bedeck is dead. He has passed on to the Age.”
There were cries of despair from the other side of the rope bridge.
“Do not mourn him, my friends,” continued the priest. “He will live on in our dreams forever more. The Age cannot be stopped. The Age will always take the old. The Age is everlasting.”
A smaller, younger creature watched from the shelter of his grieving family. His eyes were narrowed. Something wasn’t right and he was determined to expose them for what they really were.
Richard Hicks finished drying his hair with the towel and then looked at himself in the steamed-up mirror in front of him. Physically he felt good. He had shaved and showered and washed away the chaos of the last few months, but mentally he didn’t feel at all well. He felt like a train wreck.
Thankfully he didn’t remember much about being in the other world, but the effects of him being over there had rippled through his life and dislodged it in ways he could barely piece together.
His wife had moved on with her life - convinced he was dead - and had possibly met someone new. When he had sat there and watched them from the seat of the UNIT Land rover in the park - his wife getting to close to someone else and his kids laughing and joking and playing without him - he wanted so much to run to them and tell them it was all a mistake.
He didn’t.
Was he regretting that decision now? It wasn’t anyone’s fault other than Roger Stark for what had happened to him and his family. He had considered literally returning from the dead, but could he put his family through that trauma? He didn’t intend on staying “dead” forever, but the Doctor had convinced him to come on board his weird time machine and take a break, clear his head and then return once he felt right.
But he still didn’t feel right. The TARDIS was truly a wondrous creation, but it was mind-bending as well. The Doctor had tried to prepare him for what to expect, but when he walked through those police box doors into this new, bigger place, he felt like he had done when he was seventeen and went for his first pint - completely lost and unsure of what to do. What exactly did a 17 year old do in a pub? Other than get drunk, that is? Badly drunk…
He had gone for a lie down in a small room somewhere a few corridors away from the main control room. The Doctor had brought him a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate cake and had shown him the way to the shower.
Even the bloody shower was bigger! A huge, chamber - not unlike a church - with a large swimming-pool sized bath set into the floor and numerous, ornate cubicles.
He returned to his room and pulled out the small holdall of clothes he had brought from storage. When he had “died”, his wife had taken his clothes to the charity shop. Stark, being the devious sod he is, had bought them all back from the charity shop. He supposed he should have thanked Stark for that. The Doctor had made a stop-off at UNIT: X HQ before he had boarded the TARDIS to collect his things.
He pulled out a chequered shirt and held it to his nose. He could still smell his home - the lavender wash powder that Cheryl would always use. But instead of getting upset he resolved to fix this. He would make it right. Once his head was clear he would return to them. He would put his life back together.
There came a knock on the door as he finished fastening up his jeans.
A dark-haired girl popped her head around the corner and smiled. “Hey, how you doing?”
Although Richard had met Holly before, he still didn’t really know her. He didn’t know Lilly or the Doctor either. Not really. But she seemed like the most easiest to get along with. Holly was like him in a way - she had dropped everything in her life to go travelling with the Doctor. If she could be so settled in this place then surely he could.
He shook those thoughts away. No, he thought, I’m not here to settle. I’m here to clear my head.
“I’m okay,” he said, smiling back at her and sitting on the bed. “Just getting used to this place,” he smiled, pointing towards the ceiling.
“Mind if I come in?” she said.
“Go right ahead,” said Richard.
She stepped into the room, shut the door and then sat down on the small, wooden chair beside the bedside cabinet. “How’s the room?”
“It could do with a window,” said Richard.
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” She smiled. “I get claustrophobic in my room sometimes.” She looked at the holdall of clothes on the floor. “Want me to help you to unpack?”
“No,” said Richard quickly. And then he smiled. “Not yet. I…”
“You don’t want to feel settled yet,” said Holly, nodding.
“I’m happy to be here,” said Richard, “but I don’t intend on staying forever. Just until I get my head clear. I’m treating it like a holiday I guess.” At least that was what he was telling himself.
“People unpack suitcases on their holidays,” said Holly.
Richard nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m just not quite ready for it yet.”
“The Doctor told us everything,” said Holly. “It can’t be easy having your world fall apart like that.”
“No,” said Richard, looking away from her. “In fact it’s horrifying that my family have had to go through these last few months thinking I’m dead.”
“Is that really the problem though?”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t part of your sadness because your wife may have moved on?”
Richard smiled and nodded. “If she hadn’t I would have run straight to her and told her everything. It would have been difficult, but it’d be okay in the long run.”
“But because that other man was there you found you couldn’t.”
“Yes. She’s gotten over me.”
“She hasn’t,” said Holly, shaking her head. “She’ll never get over you. She’s just found comfort with a friend. It’s how these things work.” She relaxed a little more in the chair. “It happened to Roxy’s parents, believe it or not. Her dad died and her mum found comfort in another widower. It took time but they fell in love. She never forgot about Mike though.”
Richard looked sadder than ever.
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and make everything better again,” said Holly, noticing his sadness. “It doesn’t mean she’s going to fall in love with that other man.”
“Does she deserve to be put through that though? To have a new life ripped apart by my ghost coming back to haunt her.”
“Well this is why you’re here, isn’t it? To clear your head and to come to those decisions.”
Richard nodded. “You’re right.”
Holly got to her feet. “For now though you need to come back to the control room with me. The Doctor’s taking us somewhere that will help clear your head.” She smiled and held out a hand. “Come on, Richard. It’s gotta be better than my first go.”
“Really?”
“Yep. First time travelling in this box and he took me into the middle of a Cybernetic war zone!”
She guided him through the maze of identical looking, circle-indented corridors until they reached a doorway that led to the large, white-domed control room with it’s weird, technological mushroom sat in the centre.
The Doctor was stood in a long, black coat and jeans with a white shirt and black tie observing the readouts. His hair was a mess, his piercing blue eyes were transfixed on something and he was in need of a good shave.
Or perhaps he was growing a beard in. He wasn’t too sure.
Sat on a sofa on the other side of the room was the blonde girl, Lilly. She was dressed in a blue, Supergirl top, jeans and was reading through a book. On closer inspection it looked like a diary. When she saw Richard looking at her she closed the book and glared at him.
“Mr Hicks!” said the Doctor, his eyes flicking back towards him. “I trust you’ve had a good rest and clean up? How was the chocolate cake?”
“Yeah,” said Richard, hands in his jean pockets and nodding. “I feel much better. And the cake was nice,” he added quickly.
“Excellent,” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together. “There’s nothing like a good sleep when you’ve spent the last few months battling the forces of evil.”
“I didn’t really need the sleep,” said Richard with a sheepish grin. “I spent five months in a coma, remember?”
“I didn’t forget, Mr Hicks,” said the Doctor, smiling sadly.
“Please, you can just call me Richard. None of this Mr Hicks business. I’m just an ordinary bloke.”
“In an extra-ordinary situation…Richard.”
Richard smiled. “Holly says you’re taking us somewhere.”
“Indeed I am,” said the Doctor. He flicked a switch and a large screen descended from the high ceiling. On the screen was an aerial shot of a beautiful, lush, green forest. The sun was shining and he could hear strange birds chirruping.
“The Amazon?” questioned Richard.
“Ah, not so close, Richard,” smiled the Doctor. “This is a new and different world. A planet called Gandra. It’s a jungle world. The trees are several hundred feet high and the Gandrans live in tree houses high above the jungle floor. In fact the entire community is up in the trees all across the planet. Some Gandrans are born, live and die without ever setting foot on the jungle floor.”
“Looks perfect,” said Holly, gazing up at the screen.
“It looks sticky,” said Lilly, joining them.
“Yes,” said the Doctor, checking the readings, “it is a bit warm out there.” The Doctor removed his dark coat and grey blazer and flung them over the console, rolling up his shirt sleeves and loosening his tie.
“Hang on,” said Holly, “are you sure it’s safe to land?”
“What do you mean?” asked the Doctor, as he began preparations for materialisation.
“Well you never know how alien races are going to react when you drop in on them.”
“Nonsense,” said the Doctor, grinning, “the Gandrans are peace loving folk. They don’t get many visitors, but when they do they welcome you with open arms.”
“Famous last words,” said Holly, rolling her eyes at Lilly.
To be continued...
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