Fic: Hollow World, Chapter 10/12
May. 6th, 2009 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veldeiaTitle: Hollow World
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: Takes place before Blink. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, OCs. Gen.
Rating: PG
Genre/Category: Adventure, hurt/comfort, drama.
Warnings: WIP
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not making money. Will return everyone good as new once I'm done.
Summary: The 10th Doctor and Martha, stuck in a cave, utterly unprepared and separated from the TARDIS - what else could go wrong?
10. The Nest
Martha very nearly cried out when she realised the Doctor had fallen unconscious again. It was incredibly difficult to keep quiet when what she really wanted to do was to shout at him to wake up on top of her voice. She reached for his shoulder, but this time, she couldn't rouse him, no matter how hard she shook him.
The three cavers had gathered close to her and the Doctor. Grant pointed the soft green light at him, and Brian helped her turn him over, so that he was lying on his back. She did a quick check of his vital signs: breathing fast and laboured, pulse rapid and irregular, and his skin felt warm to the touch. Hadn't he said that everything would slow down and his body temperature would drop when he went to sleep? Of course, that would probably take some time.
Brian raised his eyebrows, nodding towards the Doctor. Martha shrugged and shook her head. It seemed likely to her that he had simply reached his limit, and wouldn't be waking up for another twenty hours. Grant spread his hands, his expression clearly saying "what the hell are we going to do now?"
Martha looked away from the Doctor, towards where they'd been headed. The petromite they'd been following was almost out of sight, if she was even looking at the correct one. There were several glowing ants in the tunnel, and more than one of them were moving in the same direction. If they wanted to keep following theirs, they didn't have much time.
They still needed to find the TARDIS, and the Doctor had thought this was their best shot. She motioned at the cavers that they should take up carrying him, and went after the petromite. Apparently, the cavers weren't about to question her decision, because she could hear them start moving behind her.
She looked over her shoulder. The round tunnel they were in wasn't quite as claustrophobic as Stratton's Squeeze had been, but it was so low that there was no room to stand, and so narrow that two people could only just fit in it side by side. Carrying an unconscious person wouldn't be an easy task. Brian had grabbed hold of the Doctor's upper body, and Joseph seemed to be supporting his legs. Grant came last, holding the torch. Martha was glad the cavers had come along. Had she been here alone with the Doctor, she would be having a very difficult time now.
As they crawled on, she could see more and more petromites around them. Soon, there were so many that she had to be very careful where she put her elbows and knees. She could only hope that the cavers wouldn't accidentally squash any as they dragged the Doctor along, because she was pretty sure that would count as a threatening action.
Avoiding the alien insects took so much concentration that it was well nigh impossible to keep track of which one of them she was following. On the other hand, the majority of them seemed to be going in the same direction. That seemed like a good choice to her, so she switched from following one petromite to following their trail.
Because they didn't have all that much light, and Martha was staring at the ground in front of her, she was taken completely by surprise when they emerged in a larger space. She raised her head, and saw the greenish light from behind her reflected from a large crystal formation, similar to the one she'd seen before, but of a slightly different shape. Another khirindal, smaller than the first one, in a slightly smaller room. There were lots and lots of petromites around it, not just on the floor, but on the ceiling and the walls as well. She didn't think they were eating the rock, though. They all seemed to be going somewhere or the other.
She still couldn't see the TARDIS anywhere, and it dawned on her that they were hopelessly lost. She had no way of telling apart their petromite from the countless others, and they'd been in such a hurry that as far as she knew, none of them had been doing anything to keep track of where they were going. There were about ten tunnels leading out of the chamber. Where to go next?
The three cavers emerged from the opening behind her, and set the Doctor on the ground. She turned towards him, to do another cursory check. If anything, he felt warmer than before, feverish. The Doctor had hardly explained everything to her in great detail, but she didn't think this was the way he was supposed to be. Even though she didn't expect him to react, she tried shaking him once again.
He drew a deep breath, and let out a groan. "Did I drift off again?" he mumbled, slurring his words like he was too tired to articulate properly. Now, Martha could guess why he'd seemed agitated even when unconscious. He had been straining to stay awake all along.
"Ssh," she hissed, keeping an eye on the petromites around them. A few had stopped at the sounds breaking the silence, but most seemed to be going about as if nothing had happened. The last time the Doctor and Martha had seen a khirindal, they had spoken in normal voices. Maybe that was all right. She wished she could know for sure.
He opened his eyes a crack. "Martha? What's going on?"
"You've messed up again, that's what," Grant said in a low voice.
Martha glared at him, and whispered a sharp "Shut up!"
"It's all right, you can speak here," a female voice spoke up, the tone casual and friendly.
The Doctor bolted up next to Martha, grunted, gasped, and started to slump backwards. She quickly placed herself behind his back to help him stay upright. He sagged against her, but kept his head up, looking for the source of the unexpected, unfamiliar voice.
"J - Jess? Is that you?" Brian murmured. "But - you -"
"Brian, darling, I'm so sorry," the woman answered, and stepped into plain sight from behind the khirindal.
Jess was dressed in overalls even muddier than the other cavers', but she had no helmet or headlamp, and there was something very odd about her. She was short and wiry, and even in the soft green light of their torch, she looked paler than everyone else, almost gleaming white. Her hair was close-cropped and very light, and Martha thought her eyes looked strangely colourless, too.
"But - Jess! What - what's happened to you? What's wrong with you?" Brian stammered.
"Brian..." She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. This is what I really look like. The way you know me, that was just props and make-up. I'm really sorry. I never meant for you to see me like this."
"Oh! You're a -" The Doctor made a rather disconcerting choking sound, cleared his throat, and tried again. "A Khiandrian!"
"Yes, I am," Jess admitted. "But what are you? You sound and smell different from the others. Different from anyone I've ever met, actually."
"I'm one of a kind, I am," he said. Since he was propped against Martha, she could practically feel the effort it took for him to speak and to stay conscious, each shaky breath a new struggle.
The cavers were staring at Jess, completely dumbstruck, and speaking simultaneously - "What do you mean?" - "Jess, are you nuts?" - "Why?" - "Who are you?" - "How did you survive?" - on and on, questions that weren't really helping, as important and interesting as it all was.
Martha raised her voice to make herself heard. "If you're a Khiandrian - the petromites are from Khiandria, too, right? Did you bring them here?"
"Not on purpose," Jess answered tersely. "They stowed away."
"That's why you have the quarantine laws," the Doctor rasped.
"Well, yes, that's right," Jess said slowly. "The thing is, I didn't go through quarantine. I was sure I didn't have any extra passengers with me, and I was in a hurry. It wasn't exactly my ship."
"You stole a ship?" Martha asked. "Did you take the TARDIS, too?"
"The TARDIS? You mean that wooden box? No, I didn't."
"So, you don't have it, then," Martha said, with a sinking feeling.
"No, no, I mean, yes, I have it, but I didn't take it. They did," she gestured at the petromites around them. "The brainless little twerps... You see, I came here to look for my ship, because - because I thought it was time for me to move on, but it wasn't here anymore. They had eaten it. Can you imagine that? Stupid mites. Of course, I was mad at them, and they were ashamed, and they wanted to make up for their mistake. So, they found this unknown thing which had materialised from out of nowhere, and they thought I might like it, so they brought it to me."
That sounded so silly, and sort-of cute, that Martha almost felt like chuckling. As smart as a dog, the Doctor had said about the petromites. As loyal, too, apparently. The Doctor didn't comment on Jess's explanation, and Martha noticed his head was bowed, his chin resting against his chest. She shifted, and squeezed his arm, but he seemed to have passed out once again - unconscious, but still fighting, judging from the way he was breathing.
"How far is it?" Martha asked Jess. "Can you take us there?"
"Not far at all, and of course, I'll do that. I hope it's not my fault he's that sick. I'm really sorry about this all. Never meant to cause anyone any trouble, but I completely messed things up," Jess said.
"But - but - I still don't understand!" Brian cried out.
"Can't you talk about it later?" Martha pleaded.
"Yes, and it's going to be a very long conversation," Jess said. "Now, please, let me help."
She walked over to them, scooped up the Doctor, and slung him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing at all. Martha could hear the cavers gasp in amazement behind her. It was quite a sight, since the Doctor was so much taller than Jess, but Martha didn't find it all that baffling herself. Jess was an alien, after all, and Martha had seen aliens who could do far stranger things.
The Khiandrian lead them to one of the many openings in the room, probably the largest one, high enough that they could walk upright. Where she went, the petromites scurried away, giving her a clear path. There was clearly some kind of a special relationship between the alien termites and the woman.
Like Jess had promised, it wasn't a long walk. Less than ten minutes later, they found themselves in another room with a khirindal, the largest one Martha had seen so far. Standing at the foot of the huge mass of crystals, which looked like an entire frozen forest, was the familiar angular shape of the TARDIS.
"In there?" Jess asked, nodding towards the police box. "You'll need to unlock the doors."
"Yeah, okay," Martha breathed, so overwhelmingly relieved that she could barely speak.
"We'll wait here, then," Joseph said, making the obvious assumption that the TARDIS was exactly the size it looked.
"No, no, you should come with us, there's plenty of room," Martha said, as she turned the key in the lock. Apparently, the door had sealed itself when she had slammed it closed.
She held the doors open, letting the caving team in. Even Jess hesitated at the doorstep, shading her eyes with her hand, peering at the brightly lit console room with a look of disbelief on her face. The Doctor was stirring on her shoulder, as if he could sense where they were - and maybe he could. She set him down on the grating.
Martha crouched over him, and brushed back his muddy and damp hair. "Doctor? We made it. We're in the TARDIS."
He opened his eyes and squinted at her, one eyebrow raised. "We really are, aren't we?"
"Yes. It's all right, you can rest now."
"Thank you, Martha Jones." He closed his eyes again, and took a very deep breath. For the first time since Martha had found him unconscious at the bottom of the chasm, his face relaxed completely. She was slightly startled when she didn't hear another breath follow the first one, but he had told her to expect that.
"Is he..." Brian whispered.
Jess tilted her head and frowned, as if listening closely. "Still alive, for now," she declared. "Hanging by a really fine thread, by the sound of him."
"He's in a very deep sleep, but he's going to be all right," Martha said, doing her best to convince herself. She didn't exactly like the idea that she'd have to wait twenty hours before she could be absolutely sure about that.
11. The Throne Room
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: Takes place before Blink. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, OCs. Gen.
Rating: PG
Genre/Category: Adventure, hurt/comfort, drama.
Warnings: WIP
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not making money. Will return everyone good as new once I'm done.
Summary: The 10th Doctor and Martha, stuck in a cave, utterly unprepared and separated from the TARDIS - what else could go wrong?
10. The Nest
Martha very nearly cried out when she realised the Doctor had fallen unconscious again. It was incredibly difficult to keep quiet when what she really wanted to do was to shout at him to wake up on top of her voice. She reached for his shoulder, but this time, she couldn't rouse him, no matter how hard she shook him.
The three cavers had gathered close to her and the Doctor. Grant pointed the soft green light at him, and Brian helped her turn him over, so that he was lying on his back. She did a quick check of his vital signs: breathing fast and laboured, pulse rapid and irregular, and his skin felt warm to the touch. Hadn't he said that everything would slow down and his body temperature would drop when he went to sleep? Of course, that would probably take some time.
Brian raised his eyebrows, nodding towards the Doctor. Martha shrugged and shook her head. It seemed likely to her that he had simply reached his limit, and wouldn't be waking up for another twenty hours. Grant spread his hands, his expression clearly saying "what the hell are we going to do now?"
Martha looked away from the Doctor, towards where they'd been headed. The petromite they'd been following was almost out of sight, if she was even looking at the correct one. There were several glowing ants in the tunnel, and more than one of them were moving in the same direction. If they wanted to keep following theirs, they didn't have much time.
They still needed to find the TARDIS, and the Doctor had thought this was their best shot. She motioned at the cavers that they should take up carrying him, and went after the petromite. Apparently, the cavers weren't about to question her decision, because she could hear them start moving behind her.
She looked over her shoulder. The round tunnel they were in wasn't quite as claustrophobic as Stratton's Squeeze had been, but it was so low that there was no room to stand, and so narrow that two people could only just fit in it side by side. Carrying an unconscious person wouldn't be an easy task. Brian had grabbed hold of the Doctor's upper body, and Joseph seemed to be supporting his legs. Grant came last, holding the torch. Martha was glad the cavers had come along. Had she been here alone with the Doctor, she would be having a very difficult time now.
As they crawled on, she could see more and more petromites around them. Soon, there were so many that she had to be very careful where she put her elbows and knees. She could only hope that the cavers wouldn't accidentally squash any as they dragged the Doctor along, because she was pretty sure that would count as a threatening action.
Avoiding the alien insects took so much concentration that it was well nigh impossible to keep track of which one of them she was following. On the other hand, the majority of them seemed to be going in the same direction. That seemed like a good choice to her, so she switched from following one petromite to following their trail.
Because they didn't have all that much light, and Martha was staring at the ground in front of her, she was taken completely by surprise when they emerged in a larger space. She raised her head, and saw the greenish light from behind her reflected from a large crystal formation, similar to the one she'd seen before, but of a slightly different shape. Another khirindal, smaller than the first one, in a slightly smaller room. There were lots and lots of petromites around it, not just on the floor, but on the ceiling and the walls as well. She didn't think they were eating the rock, though. They all seemed to be going somewhere or the other.
She still couldn't see the TARDIS anywhere, and it dawned on her that they were hopelessly lost. She had no way of telling apart their petromite from the countless others, and they'd been in such a hurry that as far as she knew, none of them had been doing anything to keep track of where they were going. There were about ten tunnels leading out of the chamber. Where to go next?
The three cavers emerged from the opening behind her, and set the Doctor on the ground. She turned towards him, to do another cursory check. If anything, he felt warmer than before, feverish. The Doctor had hardly explained everything to her in great detail, but she didn't think this was the way he was supposed to be. Even though she didn't expect him to react, she tried shaking him once again.
He drew a deep breath, and let out a groan. "Did I drift off again?" he mumbled, slurring his words like he was too tired to articulate properly. Now, Martha could guess why he'd seemed agitated even when unconscious. He had been straining to stay awake all along.
"Ssh," she hissed, keeping an eye on the petromites around them. A few had stopped at the sounds breaking the silence, but most seemed to be going about as if nothing had happened. The last time the Doctor and Martha had seen a khirindal, they had spoken in normal voices. Maybe that was all right. She wished she could know for sure.
He opened his eyes a crack. "Martha? What's going on?"
"You've messed up again, that's what," Grant said in a low voice.
Martha glared at him, and whispered a sharp "Shut up!"
"It's all right, you can speak here," a female voice spoke up, the tone casual and friendly.
The Doctor bolted up next to Martha, grunted, gasped, and started to slump backwards. She quickly placed herself behind his back to help him stay upright. He sagged against her, but kept his head up, looking for the source of the unexpected, unfamiliar voice.
"J - Jess? Is that you?" Brian murmured. "But - you -"
"Brian, darling, I'm so sorry," the woman answered, and stepped into plain sight from behind the khirindal.
Jess was dressed in overalls even muddier than the other cavers', but she had no helmet or headlamp, and there was something very odd about her. She was short and wiry, and even in the soft green light of their torch, she looked paler than everyone else, almost gleaming white. Her hair was close-cropped and very light, and Martha thought her eyes looked strangely colourless, too.
"But - Jess! What - what's happened to you? What's wrong with you?" Brian stammered.
"Brian..." She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. This is what I really look like. The way you know me, that was just props and make-up. I'm really sorry. I never meant for you to see me like this."
"Oh! You're a -" The Doctor made a rather disconcerting choking sound, cleared his throat, and tried again. "A Khiandrian!"
"Yes, I am," Jess admitted. "But what are you? You sound and smell different from the others. Different from anyone I've ever met, actually."
"I'm one of a kind, I am," he said. Since he was propped against Martha, she could practically feel the effort it took for him to speak and to stay conscious, each shaky breath a new struggle.
The cavers were staring at Jess, completely dumbstruck, and speaking simultaneously - "What do you mean?" - "Jess, are you nuts?" - "Why?" - "Who are you?" - "How did you survive?" - on and on, questions that weren't really helping, as important and interesting as it all was.
Martha raised her voice to make herself heard. "If you're a Khiandrian - the petromites are from Khiandria, too, right? Did you bring them here?"
"Not on purpose," Jess answered tersely. "They stowed away."
"That's why you have the quarantine laws," the Doctor rasped.
"Well, yes, that's right," Jess said slowly. "The thing is, I didn't go through quarantine. I was sure I didn't have any extra passengers with me, and I was in a hurry. It wasn't exactly my ship."
"You stole a ship?" Martha asked. "Did you take the TARDIS, too?"
"The TARDIS? You mean that wooden box? No, I didn't."
"So, you don't have it, then," Martha said, with a sinking feeling.
"No, no, I mean, yes, I have it, but I didn't take it. They did," she gestured at the petromites around them. "The brainless little twerps... You see, I came here to look for my ship, because - because I thought it was time for me to move on, but it wasn't here anymore. They had eaten it. Can you imagine that? Stupid mites. Of course, I was mad at them, and they were ashamed, and they wanted to make up for their mistake. So, they found this unknown thing which had materialised from out of nowhere, and they thought I might like it, so they brought it to me."
That sounded so silly, and sort-of cute, that Martha almost felt like chuckling. As smart as a dog, the Doctor had said about the petromites. As loyal, too, apparently. The Doctor didn't comment on Jess's explanation, and Martha noticed his head was bowed, his chin resting against his chest. She shifted, and squeezed his arm, but he seemed to have passed out once again - unconscious, but still fighting, judging from the way he was breathing.
"How far is it?" Martha asked Jess. "Can you take us there?"
"Not far at all, and of course, I'll do that. I hope it's not my fault he's that sick. I'm really sorry about this all. Never meant to cause anyone any trouble, but I completely messed things up," Jess said.
"But - but - I still don't understand!" Brian cried out.
"Can't you talk about it later?" Martha pleaded.
"Yes, and it's going to be a very long conversation," Jess said. "Now, please, let me help."
She walked over to them, scooped up the Doctor, and slung him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing at all. Martha could hear the cavers gasp in amazement behind her. It was quite a sight, since the Doctor was so much taller than Jess, but Martha didn't find it all that baffling herself. Jess was an alien, after all, and Martha had seen aliens who could do far stranger things.
The Khiandrian lead them to one of the many openings in the room, probably the largest one, high enough that they could walk upright. Where she went, the petromites scurried away, giving her a clear path. There was clearly some kind of a special relationship between the alien termites and the woman.
Like Jess had promised, it wasn't a long walk. Less than ten minutes later, they found themselves in another room with a khirindal, the largest one Martha had seen so far. Standing at the foot of the huge mass of crystals, which looked like an entire frozen forest, was the familiar angular shape of the TARDIS.
"In there?" Jess asked, nodding towards the police box. "You'll need to unlock the doors."
"Yeah, okay," Martha breathed, so overwhelmingly relieved that she could barely speak.
"We'll wait here, then," Joseph said, making the obvious assumption that the TARDIS was exactly the size it looked.
"No, no, you should come with us, there's plenty of room," Martha said, as she turned the key in the lock. Apparently, the door had sealed itself when she had slammed it closed.
She held the doors open, letting the caving team in. Even Jess hesitated at the doorstep, shading her eyes with her hand, peering at the brightly lit console room with a look of disbelief on her face. The Doctor was stirring on her shoulder, as if he could sense where they were - and maybe he could. She set him down on the grating.
Martha crouched over him, and brushed back his muddy and damp hair. "Doctor? We made it. We're in the TARDIS."
He opened his eyes and squinted at her, one eyebrow raised. "We really are, aren't we?"
"Yes. It's all right, you can rest now."
"Thank you, Martha Jones." He closed his eyes again, and took a very deep breath. For the first time since Martha had found him unconscious at the bottom of the chasm, his face relaxed completely. She was slightly startled when she didn't hear another breath follow the first one, but he had told her to expect that.
"Is he..." Brian whispered.
Jess tilted her head and frowned, as if listening closely. "Still alive, for now," she declared. "Hanging by a really fine thread, by the sound of him."
"He's in a very deep sleep, but he's going to be all right," Martha said, doing her best to convince herself. She didn't exactly like the idea that she'd have to wait twenty hours before she could be absolutely sure about that.
11. The Throne Room
