After a while he turned and looked back. His footprints snaked off into the distance and over the hill that he had spent a good ten minutes climbing up. He sighed and wondered if he would ever find any more signs of life in this god forsaken place.
He continued on his journey, his left leg dragging slightly where he has twisted his ankle earlier on in his trek. He had had no choice but to continue though. He needed to find help for the others.
He looked up and groaned, the lines on his face deepening in a look of desperation. Another huge hill of sand ahead of him.
Resigning himself to the climb he made his way onwards. Eventually he reached the top and stopped to catch his breath. He was getting too old for this. At the age of 57 you really shouldn’t be trekking across deserts. Especially not with a twisted ankle.
He was going to continue on his journey when something made him stop. In the distance there appeared to be a large, brown, pyramid-like structure. It was almost like a huge, fat wing of a plane sticking out vertically from the ground.
“It’s got to be help,” he mumbled to himself. “It’s got to be!”
Forgetting about his damaged ankle he began a run down the sand dune. He tripped and fell forward, rolling down the hill. He finally came to a stop at the bottom, slightly shaken from the fall. But he didn’t care. He got to his feet and continue on his limping run towards the shape.
As he approached the weird thing a shaft of light appeared in the side of the structure.
“Hey!” he shouted out. “Hey, we need help. We need help!” he shouted as he got closer.
Above him the grey clouds were beginning to part and the wind was dying down.
“Is there anybody there?” he called out as he reached the structure. It was huge. It towered above him - at least 100 feet from the floor to the tip of it’s pointed top. The door was huge as well and the glowing from inside was almost blinding.
He reached the door and placed his hand on the cold steel of the surface of the structure.
“Is there anybody there?” he called again. “My name’s William. William Reynolds. We had an accident. Please.” He stepped inside the light. “There are children. They need your help.”
William heard a growl from somewhere inside the structure.
“Hello?” said William, a little more cautiously.
The growl came again. Two growls. Three growls. There were more growls. They were surrounding him.
“I think I’ll be going,” said William nervously.
He turned to head back outside when he felt something grab his ankle. It felt like a claw. He screamed in pain. It was his bad ankle. And then he was dragged to the floor.
Outside all that could be heard was William’s screams and the howling of dogs coming from within the structure as the clouds parted to reveal a star field above.
On board the TARDIS the glowing green time rotor which sat in the middle of the central console was gently rising and falling whilst the sound of the TARDIS engines continued in the background.
The Doctor was hunched over the controls, looking at read-outs, jotting stuff down with a pen on his hand and randomly tutting to himself.
Danny, meanwhile, was sat in a chair, watching the Doctor with interest.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
The Doctor didn’t answer.
“Hey, I asked if you’re alright?”
The Doctor looked up at him, the pen in his mouth. “Yes.”
“I thought we were going to visit a planet.”
“We are.”
“Then why aren’t we there yet?”
The Doctor straightened himself up and crossed over to Danny. He looked like he was about to explode. “I’m trying. The TARDIS is just being temperamental.”
“It’s just that we’ve been stuck in this thing for over an hour now and so far all we’ve done is visit Caroline’s flat again for some spare clothes for her and my parents house to pick up my suitcase.”
“What’s your point?” said the Doctor, returning to his hunched-over position.
“My point is that you promised us time and space. So far I’ve been in a church and a room, a room and a room and now back in this room.”
“We’ll be there soon,” said the Doctor. He had gone distant again.
Danny sighed. “I’m off to find Caroline.”
Caroline was standing in what the Doctor had designated her room. He had taken her through the door under the staircase in the main console room, down a corridor and to a room just to the right. It was a fairly spacious room, but certainly no where near as big as the church-like control room. And this room felt much, much warmer. The same circular pattern adorned the stone walls, but this time they glowed a warm, orange colour and the hum of power that could be heard in the console room was much more subtle.
In one corner there was a huge, double bed with extremely soft pillows and a mattress and next to that an ornate wooden bedside table. Across on the other side of the room was a wardrobe and a full length mirror standing next to that.
She wasn’t really sure if she wanted to be on this trip right now, but she knew it was her only way of finding answers and at least she would be travelling in comfort.
Before they had left the Doctor had taken her back to her flat where she had gotten a suitable amount of clothes to keep her going until they had gotten her back. She had also taken the time to report Brian Cope, her landlord, missing to the police. She knew the truth, of course, but she could hardly tell the police that he’d been converted into a ghost-creature from another dimension.
Then they’d made a quick stop off at Danny’s parents. The Doctor had parked outside and he’d run into his parents house, made up some excuse of having to go back to his job for a couple of days, grabbed his suitcase and then re-boarded the TARDIS.
Since then they had done nothing. No promised answers from the Doctor and definitely no travelling to different planets.
She had changed from her winter gear into jeans and a dark, blue top. Although she wasn’t sure where they’d end up next, she definitely had a hope that it wouldn’t be as cold as it had been in Thornsby.
She stood there, looking at herself in the mirror for a few seconds and then smiled at her reflection. As mad as all of this sounded, perhaps she was starting to find a purpose to her life.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” said Caroline.
The door opened and Danny stepped inside. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” she replied. “How’s your room?”
“Well, it’s never gonna be the Hilton, is it?” he said. “But it’s fine.”
“And how’s the Doctor?”
“Being vague.” He sat on her bed. “I came along because I thought we were going to be going to other planets and visiting other times.”
“I’m sure he’ll get us there,” said Caroline, putting on a necklace with a cross around her neck.
Danny frowned. “I still don’t know why you wear that thing. I didn’t think you were religious.”
“I’m not,” she said, turning to look at him, “but it was my grandmas. She made me promise to always wear it to protect me from evil.” She turned the cross over in her fingers, looking down at it. “Maybe she knew something I didn’t. My parents didn’t let me have it until I was sixteen.”
“Your parents were overbearing and overprotective, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“Well maybe they knew something I didn’t as well. It seems I’m the only one who’s in the dark.”
“Not the only one,” said Danny. “Why don’t you ask the Doctor to take you back to them? Question them?”
Caroline shook her head as she sat next to him on the bed. “No. I don’t want to see them. Not yet.”
He looked at her. “Fair enough. It must have been difficult when you fell out with them.”
She looked back and smiled sadly. “It was always going to happen. Always.”
The door to the room was flung open and the Doctor leant inside. “We’re about to land. Lovely little planet on the other side of your galaxy.”
Caroline and Danny jumped up.
“Finally!” said Danny.
“What’s it called and does it have anything to do with what’s going on with me?”
“It’s called Trixatin, and I doubt it does, Miss Parker. Come on.”
Caroline felt her heart sink a little, but followed the Doctor and Danny out to the console room anyway.
They entered the room and the Doctor ran to console, flicking switches and taking readings.
“Well?” asked Danny. “Can we go out?”
“Hang on..” he said. “Air normal. Gravity normal. It’s quite warm out as well so, Danny, I’d abandon the pullover and go for a t-shirt.”
Danny rolled his eyes and pulled off his jumper revealing a yellow, smiley-faced t-shirt underneath.
“Oooh, you’ll love it here. I’ve read all about the place. Rolling sands, rivers of silver-water, lush, blue trees and never-ending sunshine. I’ve always wanted to come here.”
He flicked a switch and a small TV monitor came down from the roof. The screen flicked on and the Doctor’s face dropped.
On the screen there were rolling sands, but that was it. Above them grey clouds rolled in the sky and a wind was whipping up, causing sand particles to spiral around and around on top of the dunes.
“It looks beautiful!” said Caroline mockingly.
“It’s definitely Trixatin,” he said, checking the readings. “I suppose the guide books must have been wrong.”
They made there way to the door of the console room which led outside to the surface of the planet. If they had been paying attention, though, they might have noticed the sound of howling dogs coming from the TV monitor.
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