“So tell me about yourself,” said Caroline to Hideo.
“There’s not much to tell really,” he said. “I come from a poor family and I’ve made my way through the education sector. It’s probably the best thing anyone in the family’s ever done. What about you?”
“Ah, I’m just plain and dull,” she laughed. “Nothing exciting about me at all.”
“Oh come on, don’t put yourself down.”
“Seriously. I work in a shop. That’s it. I only came on this trip with the Doctor to try and find myself.”
“How do you mean?” enquired Hideo.
“There’s just a few things I’d like to clear up about my past. That’s why I’m here.”
The two of them were distracted when the Doctor, quite far ahead of them, suddenly fell to the ground, clutching at his chest.
They ran as quickly as the could over to him. He was gasping for air and on his hands and knees.
“Doctor!” yelled Caroline. “Are you alright?”
The Doctor held his arm out and motioned for them to stay back. “I’m fine. Just a twinge of cosmic angst,” he said, wincing in pain.
He struggled in his pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills. He sat back in the sand, took two pills and then washed them down with a few sips from his water bottle. After a few moments his rapid breathing slowed down and he relaxed.
“What are those things?” asked Caroline.
“Nothing important,” he said, smiling. “Excuse me.”
They watched him struggle to his feet and unsteadily walk a few metres away. He then pulled out a the Dictaphone from his pocket, pressed the “record” button and spoke into it.
“Aleena,” they heard him say. “It’s not good. Relatively speaking it’s only been a day or two now since the last attack. And it was worse this time.” The Doctor looked back at them. “We’re going to have to look into it again.”
Caroline watched as he switched the Dictaphone off and put it in his pocket. He stood for a few seconds, hands on his hips, eyes closed and looking out to the distance. Then, composing himself, he went back to them.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked Hideo.
“Who’s Aleena?” asked Caroline.
“A friend,” said the Doctor quickly. “A very dear friend.” He seemed distant for a moment. “She helped me when I was very, very lost.”
“Look,” said Hideo, “we need to go. If we want to get one over these dog things then we need to get there before they notice we’ve left.” Hideo thought for a moment. “Come to think about it, we don’t even know where we’re going.”
“No,” said Caroline, looking around her. “We’re just wandering aimlessly.”
The Doctor was standing, looking up at a nearby ridge. “Oh, they already know that we’re coming.”
Hideo and Caroline followed his gaze up to the ridge. A small figure was crouched and soon disappeared when it realised it had been noticed.
“This is insane!” said Hideo, starting to panic.
“Then why did you come?” asked the Doctor, starting to walk towards the ridge.
“To get answers,” said Hideo, following him.
“Then buckle up and get ready for the ride,” said the Doctor, making big strides up the hill.
Caroline held back for a moment. She was sure she could hear a sound coming from behind her. It sounded like running water, but when she turned to look there was nothing there. Just rolling dunes of sand.
She shook her head and continued to follow Hideo and the Doctor.
They were about to reach the top when they stopped in their tracks. Emerging from the other side of the ridge were three creatures. They looked exactly like Hideo had said earlier on. Huge, Alsatian-like dogs. They were about seven feet tall and wore ripped fabric which reminded Caroline of old cavemen skins. Their heads were huge and the eyes were black. Their mouths were wide open, their tongues hanging out, saliva dripping from them.
Over the central dog’s shoulder was a diagonal belt with brightly coloured teeth attached to it. He also held a huge, curved knife, a little like a cutlass.
“Hello!” said the Doctor, cheerily. “How are you today?”
The three dogs growled and the central dogs eyes narrowed. One of them licked it’s lips.
“Doctor,” said Hideo, slowly backing up, “we need to get away from here.”
“Careful,” hissed Caroline as he almost backed into her.
“Nonsense, Mr Sanada,” said the Doctor, staring the central dog right in it’s eyes. “This is why we came out here. We’re not about to turn around now.”
Caroline noticed that the fur of all three dogs was matted with what looked like dry blood. Their snouts were a dark, red colour.
“Move,” growled the central dog, indicating for them to come over the ridge.
“Fascinating!” said the Doctor, glee in his eyes. “You can speak. So there is some intelligence in there.”
“MOVE!” it growled again and reached out a claw.
“Take it easy,” said Caroline as they made their way over the ridge.
When they reached the top they could see a large, brown pyramid-type building in the sand. Standing next to it was a large group of dogs…and a human figure.
Danny was walking through the corridors of the ship. He had gotten bored at exploring as he had found absolutely nothing of any interest on board the Pythagoras. He had even contemplated taking a walk around the outside of the ship when he had heard his stomach rumble and had decided to head to the canteen.
When he got there he found Alison busy tucking into a bowl of noodles. He crossed over to what looked like a food machine and eyed it up. It looked almost like a vending machine with buttons indicating various different foods.
“It doesn’t cost anything,” said Alison, her mouth full of noodles. “And we can eat whatever we want at meal times. One meal a day. The rest of the day it’s rations.”
His eyes stopped on tomato soup and he pressed the relevant button to select it. A bowl slowly materialised onto a waiting shelf. The red, tomato soup was already in the bowl and Danny could see steam coming from the piping hot sauce.
He went over to the table and sat down opposite Alison.
She smiled at him. “You’re late. You missed everyone else.”
“But you’re still here,” said Danny, taking a sip of from a large spoon.
“Having seconds,” she said, smiling.
“You’ll get fat,” said Danny.
“So what?”
Danny chuckled. “How can you be a space adventurer if you’re trudging around out of breath?”
“Who says I want to be a space adventurer?” she frowned.
“Well you’re travelling around in space, aren’t you?”
“You’ve really never been to space have you? You don’t have to go into space just to have adventures.”
Danny thought about it for a moment before returning to soup. He supposed it was just a way of life for the people of the future.
“Maybe you could stay with us for a while.”
“I doubt it,” smiled Danny, “I’m all for adventure. Well, sort of. As long as I know there’s a life waiting for me back home.”
Alison smiled. “Danny The Space Adventurer.”
Danny laughed and they both finished off their food.
They were clearing away their bowls when Danny saw something in the corner of his eye rush past the window.
“Did you see that?” he asked Alison.
“What?” she asked.
He looked down at her, she looked frightened again. “Stay here,” he said, moving over to the window.
“What was it?” asked Alison, rushing over and standing on her tippy-toes to see outside. “What did you see?”
“There’s something out there,” said Danny. “Stay here,” he said again, pointing a finger down to her.
He went through the corridor and towards the airlock. The control panel had been repaired and the door was locked again.
Alison came running up.
“I told you to stay,” said Danny.
“You need someone to protect you,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Plus, I know the code to open it.”
Danny arched his eyebrows. “Really? Why would a kid know the code?”
“We’re told it in case of emergency and need to get out.”
She reached up and tapped the six digit code into the panel. The door silently opened.
Danny braced himself for the sound of alarms, but they never came.
“You’re gonna get into trouble for helping me,” said Danny.
“You’re gonna get into trouble for going out there,” said Alison.
Danny and Alison walked out of the airlock into the desert sand. They looked around, a wind was whipping up, but there was nothing else to be seen.
“There was definitely something here,” said Danny.
“What’s that?” asked Alison, pointing towards a space just in front of them.
Danny looked closer and the air seemed to be shimmering. The closer they got the more it shimmered.
“What the hell is that?” he said, narrowing his eyes and leaning in closer.
“I think we should go back in,” said Alison.
“Good idea,” said Danny. “Go and get the headmaster.”
Alison was about to turn when the air in front of them rippled and two arms, covered in coarse hair emerged from the shimmering air and two claws grabbed the both of their arms.
Alison screamed and she and Danny was pulled into the shimmer.
The Doctor, Caroline and Hideo were led towards the huge structure and the group of vicious looking dogs. They all looked just as vicious as each other and each had various different coloured fabrics on with each having a varied amount of teeth attached to their shoulder belts.
A larger, black dog pushed it’s way through the crowd towards the Doctor and stood, looking down at him.
The Doctor looked up, his eyes fixed on the dogs. “Good morning,” he said, “I’m the Doctor. Who are you?”
The huge, black dog looked down and grinned, saliva dripping from it’s teeth.
Caroline and Hideo stayed back, flanked by the three dogs who had taken them there.
“It’d be nice for us to enter some kind of negotiations,” said the Doctor, with a smile.
The big dog threw his head back and laughed. The other dogs all howled together in unison.
It then crouched a little and lowered it’s face to look at the Doctor. “Good morning,” it growled.
The other dogs let out cries and howls of laughter.
“So you can speak English, just like your friend?” said the Doctor.
“Of course we can,” it said in a deep, rumbling voice.
“Then surely there’s enough intelligence in that head of yours to tell you that fighting these humans from the space ship is pointless.”
“Is it?” came a voice from behind the group of dogs.
The circle parted and a man dressed in black with short blonde hair stepped up beside the lead dog. “Back down Doomclaw, I can deal with this,” he said.
The lead dog, Doomclaw, growled. “Watch your tongue.”
A look of realisation came across Hideo’s face.
“And who might you be?” asked the Doctor.
The man smiled, his blue eyes looking tired. “The only thing that’s keeping you alive.”
“It can’t be,” said Hideo. “You died in the explosion. You died when the engines blew up.”
“Ahhh,” said the Doctor, remembering what he had been told before.
“Good to see you again, Hideo,” he said, giving a little wave. He turned back to the Doctor. “I’m Magnus Blackmore, maths teacher of the Pythagoras, and if you’re not careful, you’re going to end up as Doomclaw’s breakfast.”
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