“What’s wrong?” asked Ivy.
“I’m not sure. But if we’re supposed to go through some tests then why has the wind stopped before we’ve gotten to the end of the river?”
“Perhaps the test is over,” suggested Caroline.
“So we succeeded then,” smiled Ivy.
“Maybe…” A thought entered the Doctors head. “Or maybe we failed.”
“Failed! How?” asked Ivy.
“Dennington and the others. Maybe they’ve had bigger troubles than we thought.”
“Mark will be fine,” called Nivere from the front of the raft. She’d been rowing since the incident and Ivy and the Doctor had been pleased that she’d kept quiet for most of the journey.
“Are we anywhere near the end of this river yet?” asked the Doctor.
“Yes. Just look up there.” Nivere pointed ahead. The river was trickling into smaller streams that were too narrow for the raft. Ahead was more of the dense jungle.
“And we have to go through more jungle?” asked Caroline.
“I’m afraid so. This is where we have to travel through the most dangerous part of the jungle.” Nivere emphasised the dangerous part.
After a few minutes Nivere guided the raft to one of the banks of the river. They gathered up their belongings and sat down beside the water.
“Now all we have to do is wait for Mark,” said Ivy. “I hope he’s okay.”
But Dennington was not okay. He had been washed up on some rocks half a mile away from Nivere’s position. He spluttered and coughed the water out of his system and managed to drag himself to a safe distance from the water.
After a few moments of lying down and gazing up at the dark, over-hanging trees, he sat himself up and looked around him. Everything was still and silent.
“Where the hell am I?” he asked himself.
A noise came from behind him and he was amazed to see a tall, slender, blonde haired woman step out from behind a tree. Dennington felt his heart strings tug and tears of joy began to well in his eyes.
“Mark,” said the woman. Her voice was silky and smooth. “Mark, I’ve missed you.”
“But…but it can’t be,” said Dennington, fighting away the tears. “You died on the moon. You’ve been gone seven years.”
“And those were the loneliest seven years of your life. I know, Mark, I know.”
Dennington got to his feet and ran over to the woman. She embraced him and kissed him passionately on the lips.
“I won’t let you die again, Julia, I won’t.”
“Oh, I know you won’t.”
The woman, Julia, looked into Dennington’s eyes. The explorer could feel something was wrong with her and not all of this was ringing quite true. But right now he didn’t care. He had his wife, Julia, back and he was never going to let her go again.
Julia took his hand and led him into the jungle. After a while she let go and began to run. Dennington chased her and they both laughed, ignoring the branches and sharp thorns that were slashing against their clothes.
Julia arrived at a large lake that had been formed from a stream that had run from the river. She dived in. Dennington couldn’t believe this was happening and he dived in after her.
They swam around for a moment, splashing water at each other and then embraced again. It had been such a long time and he had turned into a robot for Nivere. He needed Julia back in his life, but something at the back of his head was telling him that this couldn’t be happening.
“What’s wrong?” asked Julia.
“I don’t know,” he replied, pulling away from his wife.
“I want you to come away with me, Mark.”
“No.” He was stunned at the harshness of his own voice.
“Why?” The tears began falling from her eyes.
“Because you’re not real.”
As he said the words Julia was dragged under the water by some invisible force. When she emerged her eyes were bright yellow and cat-like. She snarled at Dennington and lunged at him.
Dennington backed away. “You’re not Julia.”
“I can be,” she snarled, attempting to wrap her arms around him again.
He pushed her back, but she grabbed him around the throat.
“I love you Mark,” she growled.
“You’re not Julia!” he yelled, pushing her under the water.
After a few moments of struggling she stopped. Dennington began crying and watched his wife’s body sink to the bed of the lake and then evaporate.
A voice came from beyond the heavens.
“Well done, Mark. You have defeated one of my illusions. You are indeed strong. But are you the strongest? We shall see.”
After a while Dennington regained his composure and swam to the bank. He sat there for a good fifteen minutes and then made his way back into the jungle with a new determination. Someone had blackened the memory of his wife and he wasn’t going to let them get away with that.
The Doctor, Ivy, Caroline and Nivere sat around the edge of the lake waiting for Dennington’s party. It had been around an hour and there still hadn’t been any sign of the second raft. Things were beginning to look decidedly grim.
The Doctor looked across to Nivere. For once she seemed truly concerned. Maybe it was because Mark Dennington had been a close friend of hers and she’d finally realised that her eagerness to proceed with this expedition had resulted in the rest of her crews disappearance.
First Bridges and now the others. That’s if they were dead, of course. There was no telling.
And then there was Danny. What was he doing now?
Too many questions. The Time Lord picked up a stick off the ground and began to draw in the sandy-mud. The doodle was interrupted when a shadow was cast across the Doctor. It was Caroline.
“How are you doing?” asked the Doctor.
“Fine,” said Caroline, giving a weak smile.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk since we arrived.”
“No, we haven’t,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “But I can understand that you wanted to talk to Ivy. She’s an old friend after all.”
“And I hope that you and I can be friends as well, Caroline.”
Caroline looked unsure. “I like you, Doctor, but I don’t feel like I can settle into this life. Not while I know so little about my own.” She looked sideways at him. “And so little about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ivy never recognised you at first. How come? If she’d travelled with you for - what, five years? - you would have thought she would have recognised you.”
“Hmm,” said the Doctor, drawing his knees up close to his chest. “I wondered when you were going to start asking about that.”
“It’s almost like she thought you looked like a completely different person.”
“Not exactly,” smiled the Doctor. “You see, I am a Time Lord, and Time Lord’s have certain…gifts. When our bodies become damaged - irreparably damaged - we can completely regenerate ourselves. Change our appearance. Renew ourselves.”
“You mean-?”
“When Ivy knew me I looked completely different. I had a completely different personality. And I was younger and fitter and healthier.”
“Healthier? Has this got something to do with those pills you’ve been taking?”
“Not exactly,” said the Doctor. “I’m not exactly sure how to explain that to you at the moment.”
“Hmmm,” said Caroline, rolling her eyes.
“As soon as I’ve figured it out myself, I’ll tell you.”
Caroline moved around uncomfortably and then looked at him. “I’m also worried that you don’t care what happens to us.”
“What!?” The Doctor was taken aback.
“The TARDIS is lying at the bottom of a swamp, Doctor. You didn’t seem to bat an eyelid.”
“Caroline, I’m concerned; truly concerned. But we can’t do anything about it yet.”
“But is there a way to get the TARDIS unstuck?”
“Possibly,” said the Doctor, managing a slight smile which didn’t reassure Caroline.
There was a splash of water and the Doctor, Caroline and Nivere got up and ran towards Ivy who was crouched down beside the river banks.
“What was it?” asked Nivere.
“I don’t know,” said Ivy, trying to peer over the edge.
“Look!” Caroline pointed towards a shape under the surface of the water. A large, green shape.
Tressure dismissed Yentob and Slavin and watched as Danny cautiously entered the chamber.
Danny looked confident and not a bit scared.
The fool, thought Tressure, he’ll never be able to stand up against me.
“Good morning, sir,” said Danny extending his hand.
Tressure narrowed his eyes, thought about shaking the young mans hand and then decided against it. “Good morning, Mr. Lennon.”
“You know my name?”
“I know everything. This is my world, my planet. Everything is mine. I am God.”
“Then you must be extremely powerful.” Danny’s tone had changed from sounding confident to sounding full of admiration.
“More powerful then you could imagine.”
“But, what do you do here? I mean, what is the reason behind having an entire planet under your control? I could understand if it was Earth or something, but there’s only one small tribe on this planet.”
“I wanted power – I have it. It’s all I ever wanted. But the question is, Danny, what do you want?”
“What do I want?”
Tressure leaned in closer. “Yes. What do you want?”
“I want to be a God as well.” Danny wasn’t sure he was really thinking this as he said it.
Tressure smiled and then let out a huge belly laugh that threatened to shake the entire chamber to it’s foundations.
Danny frowned and felt angry.
The jungle was full of all sorts of strange sounds, sights and smells and by now Dennington was getting hungry. He’d lost his pack of food when the raft broke up and he wasn’t sure whether he dare try any of the fruits that hung from the trees. Eventually he’d reached a small pool and, risking it, he had taken a drink of the cool water. It may have been cool, but it was fowl tasting and he spat it out immediately. At least his thirst was quenched for a while. But this jungle had seemed to have gone on forever.
A sound made him stop in his tracks. He turned around and standing beside him was a small, pale-skinned man with a long white beard and white hair. His eyes were small and pale and he was grinning at Dennington.
“Can I help you?” asked Dennington.
“Can I help you?” smiled the man.
“I don’t think so. Who are you?”
“A friend.”
“A friend in this jungle? I doubt it.”
“We are not all savages,” said the man. His high voice had taken on a darker sound. “I am not from the tribe of Tressure.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dennington, sitting down beside the small man.
“I do not worship the Eye. I am one of the few on this planet that don’t believe in this false God.”
“You don’t worship the Eye? Well how come you’re allowed to live on this planet.”
The little man was about to speak and then stopped himself. “It’s a long story, my friend.”
“Perhaps you could tell me as we walk. I’m trying to get back to my friends.”
The two men – one tall, one small – set off further into the jungle and the little man told of how he and some others had broken away.
“The legend goes that Captain Tressure was carrying the Eye of the Gods on his cargo ship. The ship crashed here when it was just sand and baking hot sun. He grasped the power of the Eye and a whole new world grew around him.”
“The jungle?”
“Yes, the jungle.”
“You mean he created all of this?”
“Yes. The Eye gave him this world. Throughout millions of years the Eye had travelled from person to person. The person that took the Eye became a God and it was his bound duty to create a world and civilisation and try to continue the life of the universe. Then, after centuries, the Eye would depart and find a new host, having learnt all it could from each new civilisation.”
“Well, this Tressure doesn’t seem to have created anything worthy of continuing the life of the universe.”
“No. And that’s the problem. He became power mad and created a tribe which was there to solely protect him. A few of us broke away and we’ve been trying to fight him ever since through these many long centuries.”
“But how come he let’s you live here?”
“He doesn’t. But he gave up trying to destroy us a long time ago. You see, his mistake was in giving his tribe magical powers. Magical powers which we also have. There have been times he has succeeded in killing of a number of us, but we can usually hide ourselves from him for short times.”
“And you are here to do…what exactly, besides fighting him?”
“We want to rescue the Eye. Free it and let it find a planet more worthy. And then perhaps our planet can begin to live without fear. Maybe we can advance as a civilisation without having to live in the dark ages.”
The little man had given his name as Dunjan and had promised to accompany Dennington to the fortress of Tressure. Dennington had decided that Nivere and the rest of the team would have continued on their way there, but the Jungle threatened to become more and more dense and soon they’d have to find an alternative way in.
“What’s happened to Aamina and Mark?” asked Ivy, impatiently.
Grasp coughed and spluttered.
“Come on, Grasp, where are they?” said the Doctor.
“Leave him,” complained Nivere, getting down to her knees beside the drenched lizard who they had pulled from the river.
“Shut up, Nivere,” moaned Caroline. “If it was anyone else you wouldn’t give a toss.”
“How dare you -”
“Captain Nivere, how long are we going to persist with this disrespect for others? Caroline is quite right about you. We need to know where Aamina and Dennington are, and from this point on I’m taking charge.”
It was the first time the Doctor had used such authority, but it took Nivere by surprise and silenced her.
“Well done, Doctor. You certainly showed her,” smiled Ivy.
Nivere narrowed her eyes and backed away from the group whilst the Doctor, Caroline and Ivy attempted to get some sense out of her bodyguard.
“The raft…”
“What about the raft?” urged the Doctor.
“The raft…it…it broke up.”
“What about the other two?” asked Ivy.
“They…they tried to argue with me…”
“Oh, let me guess. You killed them?” said the Doctor, looking down in disgust.
Amazingly Grasp’s mouth curled up into a sneer. “I attempted to kill them. They wouldn’t obey orders.” He chuckled. “We fought. They both fell into the water. I don’t know where they are now.”
The Doctor rubbed his tired eyes and sat on the floor shaking his head. “People are dying because of this stupid expedition. We need to round everyone up – if they’re still alive – and get us back to the ship. This expedition has to end now.”
“It won’t!”
The Doctor looked up. Nivere was standing over them, aiming a blaster at the Doctor’s head.
“Captain Nivere, please - !”
“Shut up, Doctor. Grasp, get to your feet. We’re leaving.”
The lizard man struggled to his feet and stood by his Captain’s side.
“So you’re going to kill us in cold blood, are you?” asked Ivy.
Nivere laughed and shot out three energy bolts. The bolts hit the Doctor, Ivy and Caroline and they flopped down to the ground. There was no movement.
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