Story 10: The Spires of Jacarthia

“He’s never told you about Jacarthia, has he?” said Stark.

“Only a few basics,” replied Holly. She didn’t want to hear this, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get a choice. “When he’s ready he’ll tell me.”

“He’ll never tell you. Let me enlighten you. And once you’re suitably enlightened you might decide to give me a chance.”

An explosion had thrown the TARDIS into darkness.

The Doctor decides it is time for his friends to know the truth about the mysterious town of Jacarthia and so takes them to UNIT:X where Roger Stark gives them the answers they need.

Whilst Lilly struggles with her past - and possible future - the Doctor realises that pushing away the events of Jacarthia may be doing him more harm than good.

And so the story is told. A story of a different Doctor and different companions. A story of friendship, a town on the edge of extinction...and lives on the brink of death...


This is the tenth in a series of adventures starring James McAvoy as the New Doctor, Felicity Jones as Holly Dangerfield, Evanna Lynch as Lilly Galloway and David Anders as Richard Hicks.


This story also introduces another previously unseen Doctor portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor along with his companions Louisa (Rosamund Pike) and Atom (DJ Qualls).

The Doctor

Atom

Louisa

A Beautiful Life (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (X-223)

The Doctor, Lilly and Kitz had been led through to an encampment not far from the base of the trees they had descended from. Josk had gotten one of his men to carry Obi who had slipped out of consciousness again.

The Doctor was grateful that Obi had awoken long enough to save their skins, but he was still concerned. Despite the warnings of the Surfacers being savage and dangerous, Josk had so far proved to be quite intelligent.

The encampment was at the bottom of a crater-like hill. Dug-outs had been dug into the hills and in the middle was a large bonfire.

Sat around the fire were more of the Gandran-like creatures, each with different deformities. One had no eyes, one had no arms or legs and others lesser deformities.

All the creatures watched the visitors with intrigue. Some became agitated, whilst others made sure the agitated ones were calm.

Obi was taken into a nearby dug-out, whilst Josk guided the Doctor and his friends to the fireside. He stood up on a trees stump and raised his head.

“I hope you realise there’s no escape,” whispered Lilly. “I mean, if they decided to kill us now then there’s no way we’re getting out of this.”

“Hush, Lilly.”

“My people,” said Josk, “we have visitors from above.”

“They are Superiors,” called one of the watchers.

“Look at them, Able, they are not Superiors. They are from another planet entirely.”

“The small one is a Superior,” said Able.

Kitz shifted uncomfortably.

“He tells me that they have been tricked. Only the top leaders understand what is going on. They believe that their elders pass to the Age.”

“Have you told him the truth?” asked another voice.

Josk turned to the Doctor and looked sadly at him. “This Age his people talk about cannot be real. It simply cannot.”

“Then what happens, Josk?”

“First you must understand that we are not here by choice. For many, many years we all lived in harmony, but then there was a light show above our planet. Two carriers -”

“He means spaceships,” whispered Lilly to Kitz.

“-fought above. A carrier crashed to our planet. Not long after a small amount of children that were born after the crash were born with things wrong with them.” He indicated the race of the encampment.

“Deformities,” said the Doctor, sadly.

“The Superiors - the leaders of each Gandran habitat - decided that any child that was born with a mutation should be expelled from their pure place of living.”

The Doctor shook his head. “So instead of trying to help you they instead exiled you.”

Josk nodded. “And so our ancestors lived on the surface, caring for each other.”

“But what about you eating people?” said Lilly, a look of disgust on her face.

“We ate the fruit for some time, but soon even that ran out. We instead began trying to get back to our rightful place in the trees, to try and live in harmony.”

“And they fought you back?”

“Yes. Then we discovered that they were throwing their dead bodies down to us to keep us fed and keep us away.” Josk shook his head. It looked painful for him to continue talking. He rubbed the side of his face. “But the bodies decomposed before they were good enough to eat.”

The Doctor looked at Kitz. “Kitz, how long are your life spans?”

Kitz thought for a moment. “Until the Age takes us.”

“But how many years?”

“Maybe twenty.”

“Twenty years!” said Lilly. “You age quickly, then?”

“It is normal for us.”

The Doctor rubbed his chin and nodded. “Your life spans are only twenty years and your bodies decompose quickly as well.”

“The meat was no good to us,” said Josk. “We began our ascent to the platforms again.”

“And then they devised the Age,” said the Doctor, looking up at the trees. “Yes, it’s all starting to make sense now.” The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and stepped towards Josk. “May I take a sample of your blood?”

“Is this a trick?”

“Trust him,” said Lilly, managing a gentle smile.

Josk sighed and held out his arm. The Doctor pressed the screwdriver down on his forearm. It beeped and whirred and then the Doctor looked at a small, digital readout. He shook his head and smiled in disgust. “Just as I thought.”

“What is it?” asked Lilly, trying to catch a look.

“Your blood is full of some kind of substance.” He put his screwdriver away and sat down on another tree stump. “What happens when you get the dead bodies?”

“Well they are warm. They don’t decompose.”

The Doctor nodded. “That’s because they poison them. When they pass to the so-called Age they are, in fact, being poisoned. It looks like they’re dead but they’re not.”

“I knew something was wrong!” said Kitz, angrily.

“They convince the people that they are dead and then lower the poisoned bodies down to your people were you eat them thinking they are already dead.”

“So they paralyse them or something?” asked Lilly.

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. He shook his head. “The poison is harmless now, but it’s there in your bloodstream. Not only that, but you are full of X-223.”

“What is this?” said Josk.

“The two ships fighting above your planet were part of the Virus Wars - a war between the Shrieks and Plantaniums. It went on for a few years. Each faction fought the other with varying different viruses. I intervened a while back and brought it to an end. I almost lost Louisa and Atom in the process”

“Who?” asked Lilly with a frown.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the ship that crashed must have been carrying a virus. It got into the very air you breath and effected a certain amount of the population causing the mutations in the new born.”

“So we have been eating the living?” said Josk, with disgust.

“I’m afraid so,” said the Doctor.

Josk looked away, disgusted with himself and then back at the Doctor. “What do we do now?”




Richard and Holly were surrounded by confused Gandrans back at the main living platform. Richard was carrying the small, still-unconscious Tees in his arms.

Jag was flanked by his soldiers and they were pointing spears at the two Humans.

“This cannot be true,” said Jag. “None of it can.”

“I’m afraid it is true,” said Holly. “The Age is nothing but a lie.”

“But…how many people know of this?” said Jag, his anger threatening to boil over.

“Likely just the leaders of each town and the priests,” said Richard.

“But the Age has been with us for centuries. It’s always been there.”

“It’s always been a lie,” said Holly, sadly. “They’ve been feeding your elders - alive - to the Surfacers.”

Jag shook his head and lowered his spear.

Tees groaned in Richard’s arms and he set him down on the floor.

“What have you done!” growled Jag, pointing his spear at his leader.

“What…is happening…?” asked Tees, barely able to comprehend what was going on.

Jag grabbed Tees and hoisted him to his feet. Richard tried to stop Jag, but Jag pushed him away. “My mother and father joined the Age,” said Jag.

“The Age is real…”

“It’s not real,” said Jag, shaking Tees. Tees didn’t have the strength the fight back. Jag dragged him towards the edge of the platform.

“Jag, no!” said Holly. “You can’t kill him. He needs to face trial with the rest of the leaders and priests.”

“He needs to go to his Surfacer friends,” said Jag.

The crowd gasped as Jag hoisted him over the railings and hung him over the edge.

“WAIT!” came a familiar voice.

Everyone turned their heads to the source of the voice. The Doctor was standing beside the large, central tree trunk with Kitz, Lilly and Josk beside him.

“It’s a Surfacer!” yelled one of the Gandrans.

“He is not here to hurt you,” said the Doctor.

“It’s true,” said Kitz. “We climbed back up to the platforms. We know what has been happening.”

“There’s been a misunderstanding,” said the Doctor.

“Not a misunderstanding,” said Jag. “A lie. A centuries-long lie.”

“Yes, that’s another way of putting it,” said the Doctor, edging closer to Jag. “But Holly is right - Tees needs to stand trial.”

“No,” said Jag. “He needs to die.” Jag released his grip. For a moment time seemed to be frozen. Tees eyes widened and then he fell from Jag’s hands. The small creature screamed as he plummeted down to the ground and landed far below with a sickening thud.

“Jag…” said the Doctor, quietly.

“He’s gone to join his Age,” said Jag, who slumped to the floor and sighed, his head in his hands.

“What do we do?” asked Josk, looking around nervously.

“All in good time, Josk,” said the Doctor, crossing over to the worried alien. “We have time to work this out.”

Holly looked across to Lilly who was looking tired and dishevelled. Now the tension had been broken between Josk and the rest of the Gandrans Holly slowly approached her. The Doctor smiled and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re safe, Holly.”

“You too, Doctor,” she said.

The Doctor relaxed his hug and then crossed over to Richard.

Holly slowly walked up to Lilly and smiled. “You’ve alive.”

“Always, Dangerfield,” said Lilly.

And then the two embraced.

“I wanted to come and find you,” said Holly, burying her head in Lilly’s neck.

“But he wouldn’t let you,” said Lilly. She smiled. “It’s alright. I know how he works. I’ve just been on a little adventure. I even went swimming!”

Holly laughed. “How’s your infection?”

“It’s eased off a bit,” said Lilly, idly scratching at her side again. “The results should be in now, though.”

“We need to tell the Doctor.”

Lilly nodded. “Yeah, I know. It was stupid of me to keep it quiet.”

“You’ll be okay,” said Holly. She kissed Lilly on the lips and then smiled. “Once we’ve sorted these guys out, we can sort you out.”




The Doctor had spent the next few hours with Kitz, Josk and the other Gandrans negotiating a truce between the Surfacers and the Superiors. He had contacted other tribes across Gandra and they had exposed their leaders and priests for their crimes and slowly the planet was coming to terms with what had happened.

Jag had allowed Kitz to take charge of the situation and slowly Josk was going to start moving his Surfacers back to the tree tops. It was going to be hard, but they were going to find a way to live together.

Jag had then disappeared into the morning light and had not been seen since.

Kitz and Josk had escorted the Doctor, Lilly, Holly and Richard back to the jungle surface where they found the upturned TARDIS lying in a big bush.

The Doctor patted his ships side and said in a soothing voice, “Don’t you worry about it, old girl. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Your craft is alive?” asked Kitz.

“Not exactly,” smiled Holly.

“I shall miss you people,” said Kitz. “Especially you, Holly Dangerfield.”

“I’ll miss you too, Kitz. But you never know, we may come back and see you some day.”

“Please do,” said Josk. He held out his hand and Holly shook it. “You are always welcome here.”

The Doctor clambered down from the TARDIS and shook Josk and Kitz’s hands. “You two need to work together to bring your two peoples together. You know that, don’t you?”

“We do,” said Kitz.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I’ve seen others do it before. I know you two can.”

“Now we know the truth it will be easier,” said Josk.

“Take care,” smiled the Doctor.

Kitz and Josk gave them one last look and then headed back to the ropes at the bottom of the tree.

The Doctor watched as the two of them ascended to the platforms, his hands in his pockets. “So, Mr Hicks, how was your first alien world?”

“Well,” said Richard, “I got knocked out by alien poison and almost died, but apart from that…yeah, it was alright.” He smiled.

“You’ll get used to it,” said Lilly.

“You mean you’re okay with him being onboard now?” asked Holly, just out of earshot of the Doctor and Richard.

“If he hadn’t have been there then you would have been killed by Tees,” said Lilly. “That means more to me than you could know.” She took Holly’s hand and guided her to the TARDIS.

“But we’ve gotta be open with the Doctor now,” said Holly.

“Open with me?” said the Doctor as they clambered through the opened TARDIS doors.

Holly looked at Lilly.

She sighed. “Back on Earth when I fought that Kro’Tenk captain I got some of it’s blood in a wound. It’s been hurting - itching - ever since.”

“You should have told me, Lilly.”

“I know, I know,” said Lilly. “I’ve already had the Dangerfield Lecture. But I was running scans in the TARDIS. They should be complete by now.”

“Then let’s get you seen to,” said the Doctor.




The Doctor had quickly set the TARDIS in motion and as it entered the space/time vortex Holly relaxed onto the sofa. The Doctor was hunched over the console with Lilly by his side as they examined the readings.

“I’m off for a shower,” said Richard, heading through the interior door.

“It doesn’t look too serious, but-”

The Doctor was cut off by a strange, high-pitched buzzing emanating from the central rotor. The rods inside were glowing a little brighter than normal.

“What’s that?” asked Holly, looking up at the flare of light coming from the rotor.

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor.

And then, without warning, the light flared brighter, the glass cracked and shattered and the console erupted in a huge ball of light.

The TARDIS tipped and rocked to the side and was plunged into darkness.




To Be Continued…

A Beautiful Life (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 (Jungle)

“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor, as the weak Surfacer started to pant and then collapsed down on top of Lilly.

“Get this thing off me,” said Lilly, struggling under the creatures weight.

The Doctor and Kitz obliged and shifted the thin creature off Lilly.

“It said help,” said Kitz, scratching his head as they turned the creature onto it’s back. It’s eyes were pale and it’s skin was cracked, but, despite being a little underweight, looked quite similar to the other Gandrans.

“It looks like us,” said Kitz.

“Have you never seen one before?”

“No,” said Kitz, peering closer at the creature. “Only shapes and shadows. We were never allowed down to the surface.”

“Well I got a little more up close and personal than I wanted to,” said Lilly, sitting herself up and brushing herself down. “And I’m soaking wet.”

“Your wound,” said the Doctor, moving his hand to her top.

“I’m fine,” she said, shuffling away. “I caught myself when I fell.”

“At least you’re alive,” said the Doctor.

A thin arm shot up from the unconscious creature and grabbed the Doctor. “Help…”

“What do you need help with?” asked the Doctor, leaning in closer.

“From…them…” it pointed towards the tree tops.

The Doctor and Kitz helped the creature to sit up. It looked groggy and put a hand to its forehead, closed its eyes exhaled deeply.

“You need to tell us what’s going on here.”

The creature opened its eyes and looked at the Doctor. There was something there behind its eyes. Some kind of sadness. The Doctor looked at it’s deep, black eyes and almost felt his own eyes start to water.

“They hurt us,” said the creature.

“What’s your name?” said Kitz.

“Obi. My name is…Obi.”

The Doctor noticed something with it’s arm. It was slightly greyer than the rest of it’s body. The skin was crinkled and the arm was much smaller than the other. It was deformed.

“Can we take you somewhere?”

“Nowhere safe,” said the creature. It closed it’s eyes and then opened them again. “Please, don’t blame us.”

“For what?”

“For what we do?”

“You mean eating people? You eat the dead, don’t you?”

The creature shook its head.

“You don’t eat them?” asked Kitz.

The creature nodded.

“You’re not making much sense.”

“We eat them, but they are not dead,” said the creature, screwing its eyes up in shame.

“What?!” spat Lilly.

“But we see them. The Age takes them.” Kitz looked puzzled

The creature shook his head. “I only wish that were true.”




Richard and Holly had so far not encountered anyone. They made their way across the bridge and to the platform. Either side of the platform and continuing down each side of the platform were burning torches, but the place looked deserted.

They made their way down a path which was lined with small trees and bushes until they emerged into a clearing on the platform. Sat in the middle of the platform was a huge, three-story circular wooden structure. In the middle was a arched-doorway, about seven-foot high and rimmed with gold beading. Small windows were dotted around the circumference at ground level, but no higher, which led Holly to believe that it didn’t have any other floors other than the ground floor.

Richard looked at Holly and looked a little concerned. “Do you think we should?”

“We’ve got to find answers, Richard,” said Holly. She straightened herself up. “There’s nobody about. Let’s go in.”

They made their way under the archway and into the darkness. Holly took out her phone and switched the torch on. The place didn’t look particularly exciting. In fact it looked better from the outside. The inside was mainly hollow with a few cubicles off the side. The floor was straw-covered and in the middle of the building was a wooden table.

“I’ve never seen a temple as boring as this,” said Richard.

“Which makes me believe that it’s not a temple.”

“You mean they use it for something else?”

“And just tell the people it’s a temple.”

Something caught the corner of Richard’s eye to the right. “Look at this?”

The two of them walked over to a cabinet. Inside were shelves and shelves of jars filled with some sort of clear liquid.

Richard went to open one of the jars but Holly stopped him. “What’s up?”

“We don’t know what that stuff is.”

“Looks like water to me.”

“In jars?” Holly shook her head. “Something isn’t right here.” She looked around her, sighed and then opened a jar.

“You just told me-”

She sniffed it and screwed her eyes up. “It smells like vodka.”

“It can’t be vodka, surely?”

“No, but it’s not water.”

“Maybe an embalming fluid for the dead or something?”

Holly was about to dip her finger in when a voice from towards the entrance made her jump.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The two of them turned around. Silhouetted against the moonlight shining outside was one of the Gandrans. And they recognised the voice - it was Tees.

“We didn’t mean to intrude-” said Richard.

“But you did,” said Tees. He grabbed a torch and stepped into the cavernous temple. It lit up the nearby walls an orange colour. He looked angry, but did not break his eye line with the two Human beings.

“We just wanted to understand,” said Holly. “Something is not right here.”

Tees went to another side cabinet and took out a white, silver-studded glove. He snatched the jar off Holly and then dipped his hand into it. The liquid was absorbed into his glove and he put the jar back on the shelf.

“You want answers?” he asked.

Holly edged back a little.

“Here are your answers.” In a flash his gloved hand grabbed Richard’s arm. Holly yelled out in horror as Richard went stiff and rigid. He began gasping for air, clutched his chest and then collapsed to the ground.

“What have you done?” said Holly, dropping to her knees and checking Richard.

“The Age has come for him.” And then Tees burst out into a belly laugh that Holly wouldn’t have expected to come from such a diminutive creature.




The Doctor had hefted the stricken creature up into his arms and was now following Kitz through the jungle. The creature had given rough directions to some encampment he came from and they were now making their way there.

Lilly had protested, wondering if it was the wrong course of action, but the Doctor had summarised that something wasn’t quite right here and that they needed to get to the bottom of it.

They had not been walking for long when there was a rustle of trees and bushes and three more creatures emerged, holding spears. Each of them looked similar, but each of them had a different deformity. The lead creature’s right side of his face looked like it was melted, the creature to the far right only had one arm, and the creature to left had an enlarged foot.

The lead creature snarled at the Doctor and company as they approached.

“Please,” said the Doctor, laying the stricken creature to the floor and lifting up his arms, “we mean you no harm.”

“You are not Gandran,” said the lead creature. It looked like it was almost a struggle to speak his words, his mouth barely opening.

“No,” said the Doctor. He stepped forward a little. The creatures raised their spears and the Doctor stopped. “I’m a Time Lord.”

“We have not heard of your kind,” said the lead creature.

“Makes a change,” smiled the Doctor. “What’s your name?”

“Why did you kill Obi?” The creatures snarled.

The Doctor looked down at the creature. “He’s not dead.”

“No, absolutely not,” said Kitz, stepping forward.

“Keep away, Superior,” growled the leader.

“Superior?” said Lilly.

“You come from above,” said the leader. “You come from up there.”

Kitz looked up to the trees and then back down. “I do, but I am nothing but a mere soldier.”

“You are all Superiors.”

“They call you Surfacers,” said the Doctor. “Presumably because you live on the surface of the planet rather than above. That much is obvious, but why do you call them Superiors.”

“That does not matter,” growled the leader.

“We must kill them,” said the creature with the enlarged foot.

“There’s no need for that,” said the Doctor, stepping back and shielding Lilly and Kitz.

“Doctor, I think we need to run,” said Lilly.

“No,” said the Doctor.

“You must heed your friends words,” said the leader. “We like a good fight.”

The leader raised his spear.

“No!” came a desperate cry from the ground.

All eyes looked down to where the voice was coming from - the injured Obi. He had his eyes open and his arm raised up.

“They are from the Superiors,” said the leader.

“Please, Josk, they helped me. They are not like the others,” gasped Obi.

The leader, Josk, crouched down beside Obi and held his withered hand. “All Superiors are the same.”

“The small one isn’t,” said Obi. “He is kind. He has helped me.”

Josk looked to Kitz and then to the Doctor and Lilly.

“It’s true,” said Lilly. “We don’t really know what’s going on here.”

“But we’re trying to get to the bottom of it,” said the Doctor. “You have to believe me that we are not here to hurt you.”

Josk looked to each of them, then to Obi and then lowered his spear.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. “You need to tell me all that happens down here.”




Tees closed in on Holly as she backed away from the still body of Richard. She reached for a torch on the far wall and grabbed it, holding it up in front of herself in defence.

“Do you not want the Age to take you?”

“With your mystery vodka juice? No thanks,” said Holly.

“But the Surfacers are getting hungry.”

“So that’s what you do, is it?” Holly backed away towards the door. She didn’t want to leave Richard’s body there, but there was not much she could do on her own.

“Explain,” said Tees.

“That glove protects you from that poison. You touch the skin of a living creature and it kills them. Then you take their bodies away and give them to the Surfacers.”

“We have to keep them down on the ground somehow,” said Tees. He had grabbed a jar of the poison and was getting ready to throw it at Holly.

“It’s sick,” said Holly. “Why would you even do it?”

“The body withers and dies,” said Tees. “The Surfacers are not like us. They are mutations. They must be kept below.”

“But why throw your own people to them?”

Tees threw the jar at Holly. She dodged it and it smashed on the wall to her right. “There is no food below. We pick the fruit from the trees and eat the meat of the birds, but down below there is nothing.”

“So they come up for food and you fight them off?”

“We decided that the old people were too weak for our tribes, so we devised the idea of the Age. Our people were convinced that at a certain age they would pass on. But instead we threw their bodies to the Surfacers to keep them down below.”

“And if the families ask about their loved ones bodies?”

“They are given ashes. Ashes of burnt wood and trees.”

“You’re insane,” said Holly. “Throwing your own people to your enemies. Where do they even come from?”

Tees lunged at Holly again, but she was quick and dodged through the door to the platform outside. Tees emerged from the doorway into the moonlight. Now he had a dagger and was pointing it towards her.

“You should not have come to our planet.”

“It looks like this planet needed us here.”

Tees raised the dagger and launched himself at Holly. She fell back against the wooden railings and closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. Instead she heard a smash and a cry come from Tees. Without opening her eyes she rolled herself out from underneath him. When she was sure she was clear she opened her eyes.

Standing over Tees prone body was Richard holding a smashed jar of the poison. Holly stared at him in disbelief. “But…the poison. You were…”

“Not dead,” said Richard. He rubbed at his chest. “It didn’t kill me.”

“Then what happened?”

“It felt like my body went numb. It’s some sort of paralysing liquid. Obviously I’m a Human being so the effects didn’t last as long on me.”

“So Tees and his people aren’t killing them at all,” she said, getting to her feet and looking down at the unconscious leader. “They’re making it look like they’re dead…” A look of horror was on Holly’s face. “And they’re throwing them to the Surfacers whilst they’re still alive!”

To be continued...

A Beautiful Life (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 (Jungle)

“We can’t just sit here,” said Holly, who had been pacing up and down.

“So what do we do?” said Richard. “Lilly’s down there and we’re up here. The Doctor has it covered.”

She looked exasperated. “There’s something going on here. I say we expose the truth.”

“You mean mess with an alien civilisation and their culture.”

“Well, yeah,” said Holly, nodding. She looked a little unsure. “I mean…not in a bad way.”

“Then it what way?”

“Look, these people know when their old ones are gonna die. That in itself is strange. This festival…Tees said something about a Temple. They feed their dead bodies to the Surfacers, for god sake!”

“The festival’s been put on hold.”

“Well I reckon we should look for this Temple.”

“I don’t know,” said Richard, shaking his head. “You always see it on TV.”

“See what?”

“You don’t go to someone else’s country and interfere with their culture. When in Rome…”

Holly shook her head. “We’re talking about exposing a scam.”

“Are we sure it’s a scam?”

Holly closed her eyes. “Will you at least come with me? Will you help?”

Richard exhaled and then looked towards the door. He shook his head. “If you promise you won’t get us into trouble.”

Holly smiled wryly at him. “I can’t promise that, Rich.”

Richard picked up his shirt, had another look around the room and then joined Holly by the door. The two of them peered out. It was quiet now. Most of the revellers had gone home and Tees had headed back down to the lower platform too look for any sign of Kitz and the Doctor.

When Holly was sure the coast was clear, she led Richard out of the hut and into the shadows of a large tree trunk at the edge of the platform.

“Where do we even start?” whispered Richard.

“There,” said Holly, noticing two white cloaked figures on a rope bridge higher up. “They look templey”

“Templey?” said Richard with a smile.

“Come on.”

They kept to the shadows of the large trunks and made their way off the platform, onto a walkway and then to a wooden ramp that led from a walkway up to a smaller, platform which in turn led to a spiral staircase up to where the cloaked figures had been heading.

“So these Gandrans know the exact moment their elders are going to die,” said Holly, trying to piece it together in her head. “When they die they throw their bodies down to the Surfacers. Why?”

“To keep them at bay. To give them something to eat so they don’t come to their towns,” said Richard.

“Except they are coming up to their towns now,” said Holly.

“Maybe they want younger ones,” said Richard. “Perhaps they got tired of old bones.”

“But this has been going on for years. Tees said. Why change now?”

As they reached the rope bridge Richard shrugged. “Maybe they’ve only just learned to climb.”

“No,” said Holly, shaking her head. “It’s gotta be something else.”

They continued along an old walkway until they reached the rope bridge. This bridge was different. It’s wooden slats weren’t wood at all. They were made of solid gold. Richard knelt down and touched the cool metal. It was slippery with condensation.

Up above on the other side of the bridge was another platform with a pathway visible through overgrown foliage. Through the foliage there were lights - flames dancing about in the night air.

“Looks templey to me,” said Richard.




The Doctor and Kitz had been walking for some time when they heard a sound from ahead of them. The Doctor tried to peer through the foliage, but Kitz instead pulled him back into some denser bushes, concealing themselves.

“You seem to know more than you’re letting on,” whispered the Doctor, his eyes flitting from left to right to see for any sign of movement.

“Only what I’ve managed to work out,” said Kitz.

“Which is?”

“My grandfather was taken by the Age.”

“I’m sorry,” said the Doctor, glancing back at him momentarily.

“We were all prepared,” said Kitz, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “but still it didn’t feel right. My grandfather was fit and healthy. He was strong minded. Why would he die?”

“You say all your people die at the same age?”

“That’s correct,” said Kitz. “It doesn’t matter if they are fit and healthy or old and decrepit. They all pass to the Age at the same time.”

“And nobody has ever questioned this?”

“People have,” said Kitz, freezing at the sound of a rustling and then relaxing a little when a large blue and white tripple-winged bird broke cover from a bush. “Those people have been silenced.”

“In what way?” the Doctor pulled out a pair of binoculars, trying to get a look at the blue and white bird.

“They were moved further up the trees to work in the temples.”

“Interesting,” said the Doctor, putting the binoculars away and rubbing his chin. “So if you question the Age you are taken to become priests.”

“Exactly,” said Kitz. He shook his head. “We see the people again, but they are never the same. They are quiet and focused on maintaining the Age.”

The Doctor exhaled and rubbed his forehead. “So what do you think happens to them? You said that you believe they are being fed to the Surfacers.”

Kitz nodded grimly. “That’s correct.”

“What proof do you have though? I mean, have you seen anything?”

“After the Age the priests take the bodies. They are never seen again. We’ve seen smoke from the direction of the temple, but never the bodies.”

“So they tell you they cremate them?”

“Yes, but none of us have ever witnessed it.”

“But it doesn’t make sense. We came across the body back there. Pol, was it? The trooper that Jag said fell from the loose vine.”

Kitz nodded sadly.

“It was untouched. Why not eat him?”

“I don’t know,” said Fitz, frustration on his face. “If I knew the answers, Doctor, I’d tell you.”

There came another rustle of leaves and twigs and the Doctor and Kitz crouched even lower. The Doctor peered between two thin branches as a blue shape appeared from the bushes across the pathway.

A damp, dirty and Humanoid blue shape.

The Doctor smiled and stood up.

“Lilly!”

Lilly at first seemed shocked and then relaxed. She was soaking wet from her swim and her blue Supergirl t-shirt was stained with blood from where she had been bleeding. She smiled when she saw the Doctor.

“Are you okay?” he asked, pushing past the bushes into the clearing.

“I am now I’ve found you,” said Lilly. “What are you both doing down here?”

“Oh, come on now, Lilly. You didn’t think we’d forgotten about you, did you?”

Lilly smiled and shook her head.

“Holly’s extremely worried. She wanted to come down here herself but I wouldn’t let her.” The Doctor noticed the wound to her side. “What happened to you.”

“It’s a long story.”

But she didn’t get to finish her story. Before anyone could say anything else a flash of colour shot out from the foliage and launched itself at Lilly. She was knocked to the ground as a hideously deformed creature, which looked remarkably similar to the Gandrans, albeit more dishevelled, snarled and hissed at her.

“Get off her!” yelled the Doctor.

Lilly closed her eyes and waited for the killer blow from the creature. But instead it said one, single word:

“Help…”

To be continued...

A Beautiful Life (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Conflict)

“What was that?” said Jag as he led his party to the lower levels.

“That sounded like Lilly,” said the Doctor as he pushed past Jag and hurried down the steps.

“Wait, other-worlder,” said Jag. “We cannot rush this operation.”

“Something’s happened to them,” the Doctor called back.

The Doctor was about to step onto what he thought was the lowest platform when Jag grabbed him by his shirt collar and held him back. The Doctor struggled and was about to protest when he realised why Jag had stopped him.

The steps just ended.

The platform and the TARDIS was gone.

“Doctor,” said Holly from above as Kitz pointed a brightly glowing lantern down at them. She was back in the branches with Kitz holding onto her tightly.

“Holly, are you okay?” asked the Doctor. “Where’s Lilly?”

“She fell when the platform collapsed,” said Holly, trying to hold back the panic. “She’s down there somewhere.”

The Doctor peered over the edge of the steps into the darkness, but Lilly was nowhere to be seen.

“We need to return to Habitat Quill,” said Jag.

“Not without Lilly,” said the Doctor.

“She is lost,” said Jag. “If she survived the fall then she will not survive what’s down there.”

“What is down there?” asked the Doctor.

“The Surfacers.”

“You keep mentioning them,” said the Doctor, rounding angrily on the diminutive captain. “What are they?”

“They live on the surface of the planet. They are down below.”

“But what are they?”

“Mutations,” said Jag. “They are wild creatures.”

“That doesn’t completely answer my question!” shouted the Doctor.

“They are what happens after the Age,” said Kitz from above. “It’s where our elders go when they die. They go to the Surfacers. They feed the Surfacers.”




Lilly opened her eyes. Her side was hurting like hell, but the pain was somewhat dulled by what she suspected was a sprained right wrist. She was covered in cuts and bruises and had, mercifully, landed in a crop of bushes. They were thorny, but she figured it was better than the hard, jungle ground.

She sat up and tried to get a fix on her surroundings, but it was still dark. She couldn’t for the life of her make anything else out.

She couldn’t even see the familiar blue of the TARDIS.

And then she heard the breaking of twigs.

And slowly, out of the darkness, a number of dark shadows advanced on her.




The Doctor knelt down to look at the diminutive Jag. He didn’t make any aggressive moves, but his face looked as though a scientist had bottled all of the fury in the world and poured it onto the Doctor’s face.

“I’m going to try and keep calm here, Jag,” said the Doctor, as calmly as possible, “and you’re going to help me get my friend back.”

“It’s too late,” said Jag, for the first time looking afraid.

“That’s the wrong answer,” said the Doctor, holding a finger up. “The wrong answer, my friend.”

“We cannot descend below these steps,” said Jag, apologetically. “The Surfacers would take us in an instant.”

“The Surfacers are already up here,” said Holly, as Kitz helped her down to the Doctor’s level. “They climbed up to get to me and Holly.”

“Then we must get higher,” said Jag.

“No,” said the Doctor, still remaining calm. “You and I are going to go down there and get Lilly back.” He raised his voice a little on “back”.

“We cannot,” said Jag, pleadingly. “It is forbidden.”

“Then I’ll go,” said Holly.

“No, Holly, this is a job for myself.”

“I didn’t intend on going without you,” said Holly, peering over the edge. “She’s down there somewhere.”

“And probably already dead,” said Jag.

Holly rounded on Jag and pointed at the Doctor. “He might have been able to keep calm with you, but I certainly am not calm.”

“If there was anything I could do-”

“I’ll go with you,” said Kitz, looking nervous.

“That’s not necessary,” said the Doctor.

“It is,” said Kitz, flexing his almost invisible muscles. If Holly wasn’t so concerned about Lilly she would have laughed. He looked like he was trying to psych himself up. “I found out what my people were doing.”

“How?” growled Jag.

“There’s no time for this,” said the Doctor. “Kitz, you come with me. Holly, you go back up with Jag and try and find out exactly what’s going on here.”

“But I want to come with you.”

“I know you do,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, “but I also need some eyes up here keeping an eye on these fellas.”

Holly nodded reluctantly. “Be careful.”

“I don’t intend to be anything other than careful,” said the Doctor.

The Doctor and Kitz watched Holly and Jag head back up the staircase and when they had disappeared into the darkness he turned to Kitz. “So, my friend, how do we get down to the surface.”

“How do you think,” said Kitz. He walked right to the edge, closed his eyes and then jumped.

“KITZ!” shouted the Doctor.

There came the crush of foliage from far down below and then the Doctor heard Kitz’s voice. “There’s enough trees and bushes down here to break your fall. Just make sure you fall straight.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, looked down into the darkness, shook his head, held his nose and then jumped.




Richard was reclining on a soft cushion when the commotion came from outside. He got to his feet and peered out of a window to see Holly marching ahead of Jag and his men. She looked full of fury and as though she was on a mission.

She headed for the hut and pushed the door open.

“What’s going on?” asked Richard.

“It’s Lilly,” she said, hands on her hips. “She fell from the lowest platform and is out there somewhere.”

“But these Surface things-”

“I know, I know,” said Holly. “The Doctor and Kitz are out there looking for her now.” She looked at Richard. “Turns out this place isn’t the paradise we thought it was.”

“In what way?”

“Say no more, Miss Dangerfield,” said Tees, entering the hut with his finger held aloft.

“How many of you know what you do with the older people here?”

“What do they do?” asked Richard, finding it difficult to keep up.

“They feed the elders to the Surfacers.”

“It’s not as simple as that,” said Tees.

“How many of you know?” asked Holly again.

“I shall offer you up a deal,” said Tees, folding his arms and looking confident. “If you keep quiet about this we will allow you to leave this planet.”

“Are you threatening us?” said Richard.

“Simply giving you an opportunity.” Tees looked smug and looked out of the window at the rest of his people as they packed away the bunting and decorations for the Age Festival that never happened. “This is tradition. It is something my people have done for many years. Four alien visitors are not about to stop it now.”




She didn’t know how she had managed it, but Lilly had gotten to her feet, backed herself into a creature-less bush, and then felt herself falling backwards, head over heels and tumbling downwards.

And then she felt herself falling through thin air. In the very few seconds she was falling she had little time to consider anything other than that she had fallen down a small hill and off the edge of a cliff. She was going to land at the bottom, her body smashed on the rocks below.

She waited for the impact, closed her eyes tightly.

And then felt herself hit water.

She hit the water with such a force that her back might have just as easily hit rock. It felt like she had all the air knocked out of her as she continued to sink through the water.

When she had finally gathered her senses she opened her eyes and struggled to swim and push herself upwards towards the surface.

She wondered if the creatures would be there waiting for her when she emerged. Her only other option was to stay under the surface and drown.

Go out fighting or give up?

She wasn’t a giver-upper.

She pushed herself upwards and burst out onto the surface, breathing in deeply as she tried to regain some sense of where she was and what she was doing.

It was quiet all around. She was in the middle of horse-shoe shape of cliffs with the lake she had fallen into disappearing through a narrow opening behind her. She looked up to where she had fallen. She could see the trees high up above, but the creatures were nowhere to be seen.

The stars glittered up above. This part of the jungle was better illuminated and she could see nearly everything around her.

She waited a few moments to make sure they weren’t waiting for her and then began to swim towards the right side of the cliffs.

She could feel the rash on her side itching again. The water had agitated it. Beside the cliff was a small cluster of rocks and boulders and she managed to haul herself onto them.

She made sure there was nothing more around her and then lifted up the side of her top. The rash was dark blue and was now bleeding. She touched it and winced.

She considered her options as she pulled the top back down. She could swim through the lake and through the narrow opening and hope to find a way back up to the tree tops or she could attempt to climb the cliffs.

Either way would lead to certain danger. She hadn’t caught a glimpse of those creatures, but they didn’t look friendly.

“You’re in a right pickle here, Galloway,” she said to herself.

She put her hands into the lake, splashed her face with water again and rubbed her eyes. She felt tired and wanted to sleep, but she wondered if that was just the rash on her skin making her feel that way.

She looked back up the sheer cliff. The was no way she was making it up there. She’d most likely lose her footing and slip back down to the lake. There was nothing for it - she had to swim through the lake and the narrow opening and hope there was another route up there.

As she lowered herself off the rocks and back into the lake, the same, alien eyes continued to watch from the concealment of the vegetation up above.

To be continued...