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...
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