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Fic: Hollow World, Chapter 11/12
Title: 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?
11. The Throne Room
Martha decided that lying on the grating for twenty hours wouldn't be good for the Doctor, and asked Jess to carry him to a bed instead. On the way, she showed the cavers where they could find the bathroom, the wardrobe and the kitchen. The three men stayed behind as the women took the Doctor to Martha's bedroom - she still didn't know where his was, if he even had one.
Once they'd reached the room, Martha had little choice but to ask for Jess's help in taking off the Doctor's soaked clothes, since her injured wrist would've made doing that on her own well nigh impossible. Even though undressing patients was hardly new to Martha, she found the situation extremely awkward. Jess, on the other hand, was very businesslike, and soon, they had stripped him to his underwear and covered him with blankets.
After Jess had left, Martha went on to examine the Doctor properly. She was glad he had warned her about what this coma state was like, because if she hadn't known better, she would've taken him for dead. His skin was ice-cold, and she couldn't feel his pulse at all. Listening very carefully with the stethoscope, she could just pick up the faintest whisper of his breathing and the startlingly slow beats of his hearts - she only counted six per minute. If Jess had actually been able to catch those from a few feet away, her hearing must be incredible, and it was no wonder she had thought he was dying.
After several hours of sitting with him and mopping the grime off his face with a wet cloth, Martha headed out of the room to take a quick shower, and changed into clean clothes. Unlike she had expected, she wasn't feeling sleepy at all herself. She was much too anxious, not to mention curious about Jess and the petromites and everything else. With a pang of guilt, she realised she had no idea what the Khiandrian and the cavers had been up to while she had watched over the Doctor.
She found Grant and Joseph in the kitchen, making tea. It was actually the first time she saw them in good lighting and without their helmets. Grant's hair was thick and steel grey, Joseph was almost completely bald. Their haphazard clothing made them look even less familiar - Grant had jeans and a flamboyant Hawaii shirt, Joseph's khaki suit brought to mind a tourist on his way to a safari.
"How is the Doctor?" Joseph asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Resting," Martha replied. "Where's Jess? And Brian?"
"Outside, I think. They wanted some privacy," Joseph said.
"And no wonder they did, after everything that's happened," Grant added. "I'm still thinking I must be hallucinating. We're lost in the cave and dying from starvation, and I'm imagining things. Spaceships and people from other planets - and Jess being one of them..." He shook his head.
"Did you know her well, then?" Martha asked.
"I taught her a few courses, and went on several caving trips with her. She's really good at this stuff. A promising young lady, I used to think. Now, I don't even have any idea how old she really is. Other than that, I didn't know her all that well," Grant answered. "She and Brian, on the other hand, they were really close. Everyone was expecting them to get engaged soon."
"Oh, dear," Martha said. "I think I'd better go and see if I can find them."
She didn't have to look far. Brian was in the console room, sitting on the floor near the door, his back against the wall and his knees pulled up. He was still wearing his wet and muddy overalls. His helmet rested on the floor next to him, and his sandy hair was plastered against his head. She sat down next to him, not sure what to say.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then, he spoke up in a soft, desolate voice. "It's all my fault. She did what she did because of me. She had run away from her home world as a teenager, she was hiding on Earth, and then, she met me, and we fell in love. And she thought we were becoming too close. Because she was sure I'd never understand if she told me who she really is, and she couldn't go on living a lie. So, she was going to leave. Make it look like she had died in a caving accident, return to her spaceship, and fly away."
Even though Martha had heard how Jess had addressed Brian, and she remembered how broken Brian had sounded when he'd told her about Jess's supposed death, his story took her by surprise. She wasn't sure what she'd expected Jess's motivations to be, but surely not just love.
"That doesn't make any of this your fault," Martha assured him. "You couldn't have known."
"Maybe not." He shrugged. "I have no idea what to do now."
"If she's still the same person you fell in love with -"
"That's just it! How can I know if she is?" Brian interrupted her. "She had long black hair and dark eyes - she used to say her father was Spanish. She's been lying to everyone all this time, pretending to be someone she's not. I don't know what to think about all this - I mean, she's not even human!"
"That doesn't have to change anything."
"Oh, right." Brian looked at her, his brow furrowed. "You and the Doctor... He's not human, either, is he?"
Martha sighed. "It's not like you think. But yes, he's not human, and he's no less loveable for that."
Brian didn't comment on that, just stared into the distance for a while, and asked, "What's going to happen next?"
"We've got seventeen hours to wait before the Doctor wakes up," Martha answered. "After that, we'll be leaving. Where to, I don't know. It's up to you, I guess."
"She still wants to leave Earth. She said as much."
"Maybe you should talk to her about it."
"I'm not sure she wants to talk to me anymore. I'm not sure I want to talk to her."
"I'll talk to her, then," Martha decided, not because she wanted to set herself up as a mediator in this intergalactic love story, but because she wanted to hear Jess's side of things, to find out if she had been sincere with him. "Where is she?"
"I don't know. Somewhere out there," Brian answered, gesturing at the door.
"I'll find her. Come on, the others are having tea."
She took him to the other cavers, and picked up the Doctor's torch from them. She paid the Doctor a quick visit, too - no change - and stepped out of the TARDIS, back amongst the rock, the crystals and the petromites.
Luckily, Jess was almost as easy to find as Brian had been, crouched in the shadows of the khirindal right behind the TARDIS. "Hi," she greeted, still facing away. She could probably recognise Martha without seeing her. "I never caught your name."
"Martha. What's yours? Your real name, I mean."
"Jess. That's what I've always been called," she answered, pronouncing the "j" in a strange, explosive way Martha didn't think she'd be able to imitate. "Not Jessica, though. Martha, meet the primary queen of this nest." She turned around and held up her hand. On her palm sat the largest petromite Martha had seen so far, at least six inches long, and that wasn't counting the antennae.
"Um, hello," Martha said tentatively. "Can she understand us?"
"Aliens like you, not at all. Khiandrians like me, just a few simple words and phrases, but they're quite good at picking up our moods. They're upset now, because of me and Brian. I've been doing my best to soothe them, but they've got a hard time trying to understand why I'm so miserable, if everything's all right. Yes, it's all right, don't worry," she told the queen, and set her on the ground next to the khirindal. She quickly disappeared into the crystal formation.
"It's all so easy for them," Jess said wistfully. "The workers dig and build, the kings travel around and breed, the queens sit in their khirindals and lead, and that's all there is to it. At least as long as we don't make things more complicated for them."
"So, the khirindals are like their castles?"
"Castles, or thrones. The prime queen lives in the largest and most elaborate one, leads the entire nest, and answers to the caretakers."
"You mean - they're domesticated?"
"Back home, of course they are. It's better for both us and them. Otherwise, they'd eat half the planet. We help them by keeping water and big predators away from their nests." She sighed. "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss home. Coming here and seeing their tunnels made me feel it more strongly than I'd have thought possible."
"We could take you there, as soon as the Doctor wakes up."
"It's not quite so simple," Jess said, and stood up, crossing her arms. "I was young and angry and fed up with the whole place, always cooped up in our caves, with all the strict rules regarding travel to other solar systems. I ignored all of those when I took my mother's ship and left. I've been here for twenty years. I don't know what kind of a welcome I'd get if I went back."
"If you really miss the place, I think you should go anyway - but you should talk to Brian before you make that decision."
"I guess," Jess said, walking slowly along the edge of the khirindal. "I don't think he wants to talk to me, though. He's right to be mad at me."
Martha walked after her. "He didn't seem that mad at you. Just sad and confused."
"Oh. Of course. That's what he's always like, always so kind to everyone. Poor Brian - I've really been horrible to him. I was so sure things could never work out between us. I thought I was doing the right thing, running away, even though it tore me apart."
"You should apologise to him, then," Martha said.
"I will," Jess answered. "But I'll need some time on my own first. If you don't mind."
Martha stopped in her tracks. "Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"No, it's all right. I'm glad you came. Thanks. I hope your friend will be better soon."
Jess kept walking until she passed from sight, into one of the tunnels. Although the petromites made way where she went, there seemed to be a good amount of them following in her wake - like they were worried, and wanted to keep her company.
Though Martha had had doubts about Jess's sincerity earlier, those were all gone now. She returned to the TARDIS, and went straight to the Doctor. He was exactly the same as when she'd left his side. Not that she had been expecting anything different. She checked the time. About sixteen hours left.
She joined the cavers in the kitchen again. Brian had showered and changed, too. Somehow, he looked older than before, his hair combed back, wearing a blue dress shirt and black trousers. Martha spent a few hours with them, listening to their stories about adventures they'd had on other caving trips, and elsewhere - Grant had done a fair bit of mountaineering, and Joseph had travelled a lot. Brian was subdued, only saying a word every now or then, and the others were carefully avoiding any serious subjects.
Everyone fell silent when Jess appeared in the doorway. "Brian, we should talk," she said, leaning on the frame, her arms crossed.
"We already did," Brian answered, his voice flat.
"Yes, but there's more to say. Please."
"Okay."
He stood up and followed her out of the room. Not long after they had left, the older cavers announced they'd like to rest. Martha managed to find beds for them, and returned to the Doctor's bedside. Thirteen hours left.
She was starting to feel tired herself. She lay down next to him on the wide bed, and closed her eyes. With nothing to keep her attention away from her wrist, she realised how horribly sore it was. No wonder, after all the stress she'd put on it during their trip through the cave. She had to get up again to take some painkillers.
Even when the ache had settled to a tolerable level, she still had serious trouble catching sleep. Every time she was about to get there, she jolted awake, afraid that something was wrong with him, and couldn't relax until she'd made sure he was still alive. Finally, after going through that cycle half a dozen times, she actually drifted off.
She woke up to a soft knock at the door. She must've been even more tired than she'd thought, because a quick look at the clock revealed she had slept for over ten hours straight. Two hours left. The knock was repeated, louder this time.
"Yes," she said, and sat up.
The door opened a crack and Jess peeked in. "Is he any better?"
Martha glanced at the Doctor. He looked exactly the same as before, every freckle and line standing out on his pale face. "Hard to say," she answered. "We can't really know until he wakes up."
The door opened a little more, and Martha could see Brian standing right next to Jess. "Care for some company as you wait?" he asked.
"Sure," Martha said. "Please, come in."
The two cavers entered the room and sat down on the floor. Everything about their body language spoke plainly that there were no hard feelings between them anymore. Martha was glad to see that. They stuck to small talk and didn't say a thing about their situation, or whether they had made any decisions concerning their future, but Martha was sure she'd hear about it soon enough.
A little later, Joseph and Grant joined their company as well. Grant seemed to have got over his grudge against the Doctor, since he appeared every bit as concerned about him as everyone else.
As the twenty hour mark approached, Martha kept anxiously looking for the slightest sign of change in the Doctor's state. She couldn't see any.
Finally, the moment she'd been waiting for arrived - and nothing happened. He slept on.
Her worry rising to a whole new level, Martha forced herself to wait a little longer, in case the timing wasn't all that exact, or his system simply needed a while to sort itself out. Even fifteen minutes past the mark, nothing had changed. His skin was still unnaturally cold, his breathing and heart rates were still absurdly slow, and he still seemed completely lifeless.
From what he had said, she had got the idea that he was supposed to come out of it on his own. That didn't seem to be happening. She decided she'd better take matters into her own hands, and tried shaking him, and shouting at him, and pinching his arm. He didn't even twitch.
She looked up at the four cavers. "I think something's wrong," she said, her voice coming through all shaky.
12. The City of Lights
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?
11. The Throne Room
Martha decided that lying on the grating for twenty hours wouldn't be good for the Doctor, and asked Jess to carry him to a bed instead. On the way, she showed the cavers where they could find the bathroom, the wardrobe and the kitchen. The three men stayed behind as the women took the Doctor to Martha's bedroom - she still didn't know where his was, if he even had one.
Once they'd reached the room, Martha had little choice but to ask for Jess's help in taking off the Doctor's soaked clothes, since her injured wrist would've made doing that on her own well nigh impossible. Even though undressing patients was hardly new to Martha, she found the situation extremely awkward. Jess, on the other hand, was very businesslike, and soon, they had stripped him to his underwear and covered him with blankets.
After Jess had left, Martha went on to examine the Doctor properly. She was glad he had warned her about what this coma state was like, because if she hadn't known better, she would've taken him for dead. His skin was ice-cold, and she couldn't feel his pulse at all. Listening very carefully with the stethoscope, she could just pick up the faintest whisper of his breathing and the startlingly slow beats of his hearts - she only counted six per minute. If Jess had actually been able to catch those from a few feet away, her hearing must be incredible, and it was no wonder she had thought he was dying.
After several hours of sitting with him and mopping the grime off his face with a wet cloth, Martha headed out of the room to take a quick shower, and changed into clean clothes. Unlike she had expected, she wasn't feeling sleepy at all herself. She was much too anxious, not to mention curious about Jess and the petromites and everything else. With a pang of guilt, she realised she had no idea what the Khiandrian and the cavers had been up to while she had watched over the Doctor.
She found Grant and Joseph in the kitchen, making tea. It was actually the first time she saw them in good lighting and without their helmets. Grant's hair was thick and steel grey, Joseph was almost completely bald. Their haphazard clothing made them look even less familiar - Grant had jeans and a flamboyant Hawaii shirt, Joseph's khaki suit brought to mind a tourist on his way to a safari.
"How is the Doctor?" Joseph asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Resting," Martha replied. "Where's Jess? And Brian?"
"Outside, I think. They wanted some privacy," Joseph said.
"And no wonder they did, after everything that's happened," Grant added. "I'm still thinking I must be hallucinating. We're lost in the cave and dying from starvation, and I'm imagining things. Spaceships and people from other planets - and Jess being one of them..." He shook his head.
"Did you know her well, then?" Martha asked.
"I taught her a few courses, and went on several caving trips with her. She's really good at this stuff. A promising young lady, I used to think. Now, I don't even have any idea how old she really is. Other than that, I didn't know her all that well," Grant answered. "She and Brian, on the other hand, they were really close. Everyone was expecting them to get engaged soon."
"Oh, dear," Martha said. "I think I'd better go and see if I can find them."
She didn't have to look far. Brian was in the console room, sitting on the floor near the door, his back against the wall and his knees pulled up. He was still wearing his wet and muddy overalls. His helmet rested on the floor next to him, and his sandy hair was plastered against his head. She sat down next to him, not sure what to say.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then, he spoke up in a soft, desolate voice. "It's all my fault. She did what she did because of me. She had run away from her home world as a teenager, she was hiding on Earth, and then, she met me, and we fell in love. And she thought we were becoming too close. Because she was sure I'd never understand if she told me who she really is, and she couldn't go on living a lie. So, she was going to leave. Make it look like she had died in a caving accident, return to her spaceship, and fly away."
Even though Martha had heard how Jess had addressed Brian, and she remembered how broken Brian had sounded when he'd told her about Jess's supposed death, his story took her by surprise. She wasn't sure what she'd expected Jess's motivations to be, but surely not just love.
"That doesn't make any of this your fault," Martha assured him. "You couldn't have known."
"Maybe not." He shrugged. "I have no idea what to do now."
"If she's still the same person you fell in love with -"
"That's just it! How can I know if she is?" Brian interrupted her. "She had long black hair and dark eyes - she used to say her father was Spanish. She's been lying to everyone all this time, pretending to be someone she's not. I don't know what to think about all this - I mean, she's not even human!"
"That doesn't have to change anything."
"Oh, right." Brian looked at her, his brow furrowed. "You and the Doctor... He's not human, either, is he?"
Martha sighed. "It's not like you think. But yes, he's not human, and he's no less loveable for that."
Brian didn't comment on that, just stared into the distance for a while, and asked, "What's going to happen next?"
"We've got seventeen hours to wait before the Doctor wakes up," Martha answered. "After that, we'll be leaving. Where to, I don't know. It's up to you, I guess."
"She still wants to leave Earth. She said as much."
"Maybe you should talk to her about it."
"I'm not sure she wants to talk to me anymore. I'm not sure I want to talk to her."
"I'll talk to her, then," Martha decided, not because she wanted to set herself up as a mediator in this intergalactic love story, but because she wanted to hear Jess's side of things, to find out if she had been sincere with him. "Where is she?"
"I don't know. Somewhere out there," Brian answered, gesturing at the door.
"I'll find her. Come on, the others are having tea."
She took him to the other cavers, and picked up the Doctor's torch from them. She paid the Doctor a quick visit, too - no change - and stepped out of the TARDIS, back amongst the rock, the crystals and the petromites.
Luckily, Jess was almost as easy to find as Brian had been, crouched in the shadows of the khirindal right behind the TARDIS. "Hi," she greeted, still facing away. She could probably recognise Martha without seeing her. "I never caught your name."
"Martha. What's yours? Your real name, I mean."
"Jess. That's what I've always been called," she answered, pronouncing the "j" in a strange, explosive way Martha didn't think she'd be able to imitate. "Not Jessica, though. Martha, meet the primary queen of this nest." She turned around and held up her hand. On her palm sat the largest petromite Martha had seen so far, at least six inches long, and that wasn't counting the antennae.
"Um, hello," Martha said tentatively. "Can she understand us?"
"Aliens like you, not at all. Khiandrians like me, just a few simple words and phrases, but they're quite good at picking up our moods. They're upset now, because of me and Brian. I've been doing my best to soothe them, but they've got a hard time trying to understand why I'm so miserable, if everything's all right. Yes, it's all right, don't worry," she told the queen, and set her on the ground next to the khirindal. She quickly disappeared into the crystal formation.
"It's all so easy for them," Jess said wistfully. "The workers dig and build, the kings travel around and breed, the queens sit in their khirindals and lead, and that's all there is to it. At least as long as we don't make things more complicated for them."
"So, the khirindals are like their castles?"
"Castles, or thrones. The prime queen lives in the largest and most elaborate one, leads the entire nest, and answers to the caretakers."
"You mean - they're domesticated?"
"Back home, of course they are. It's better for both us and them. Otherwise, they'd eat half the planet. We help them by keeping water and big predators away from their nests." She sighed. "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss home. Coming here and seeing their tunnels made me feel it more strongly than I'd have thought possible."
"We could take you there, as soon as the Doctor wakes up."
"It's not quite so simple," Jess said, and stood up, crossing her arms. "I was young and angry and fed up with the whole place, always cooped up in our caves, with all the strict rules regarding travel to other solar systems. I ignored all of those when I took my mother's ship and left. I've been here for twenty years. I don't know what kind of a welcome I'd get if I went back."
"If you really miss the place, I think you should go anyway - but you should talk to Brian before you make that decision."
"I guess," Jess said, walking slowly along the edge of the khirindal. "I don't think he wants to talk to me, though. He's right to be mad at me."
Martha walked after her. "He didn't seem that mad at you. Just sad and confused."
"Oh. Of course. That's what he's always like, always so kind to everyone. Poor Brian - I've really been horrible to him. I was so sure things could never work out between us. I thought I was doing the right thing, running away, even though it tore me apart."
"You should apologise to him, then," Martha said.
"I will," Jess answered. "But I'll need some time on my own first. If you don't mind."
Martha stopped in her tracks. "Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"No, it's all right. I'm glad you came. Thanks. I hope your friend will be better soon."
Jess kept walking until she passed from sight, into one of the tunnels. Although the petromites made way where she went, there seemed to be a good amount of them following in her wake - like they were worried, and wanted to keep her company.
Though Martha had had doubts about Jess's sincerity earlier, those were all gone now. She returned to the TARDIS, and went straight to the Doctor. He was exactly the same as when she'd left his side. Not that she had been expecting anything different. She checked the time. About sixteen hours left.
She joined the cavers in the kitchen again. Brian had showered and changed, too. Somehow, he looked older than before, his hair combed back, wearing a blue dress shirt and black trousers. Martha spent a few hours with them, listening to their stories about adventures they'd had on other caving trips, and elsewhere - Grant had done a fair bit of mountaineering, and Joseph had travelled a lot. Brian was subdued, only saying a word every now or then, and the others were carefully avoiding any serious subjects.
Everyone fell silent when Jess appeared in the doorway. "Brian, we should talk," she said, leaning on the frame, her arms crossed.
"We already did," Brian answered, his voice flat.
"Yes, but there's more to say. Please."
"Okay."
He stood up and followed her out of the room. Not long after they had left, the older cavers announced they'd like to rest. Martha managed to find beds for them, and returned to the Doctor's bedside. Thirteen hours left.
She was starting to feel tired herself. She lay down next to him on the wide bed, and closed her eyes. With nothing to keep her attention away from her wrist, she realised how horribly sore it was. No wonder, after all the stress she'd put on it during their trip through the cave. She had to get up again to take some painkillers.
Even when the ache had settled to a tolerable level, she still had serious trouble catching sleep. Every time she was about to get there, she jolted awake, afraid that something was wrong with him, and couldn't relax until she'd made sure he was still alive. Finally, after going through that cycle half a dozen times, she actually drifted off.
She woke up to a soft knock at the door. She must've been even more tired than she'd thought, because a quick look at the clock revealed she had slept for over ten hours straight. Two hours left. The knock was repeated, louder this time.
"Yes," she said, and sat up.
The door opened a crack and Jess peeked in. "Is he any better?"
Martha glanced at the Doctor. He looked exactly the same as before, every freckle and line standing out on his pale face. "Hard to say," she answered. "We can't really know until he wakes up."
The door opened a little more, and Martha could see Brian standing right next to Jess. "Care for some company as you wait?" he asked.
"Sure," Martha said. "Please, come in."
The two cavers entered the room and sat down on the floor. Everything about their body language spoke plainly that there were no hard feelings between them anymore. Martha was glad to see that. They stuck to small talk and didn't say a thing about their situation, or whether they had made any decisions concerning their future, but Martha was sure she'd hear about it soon enough.
A little later, Joseph and Grant joined their company as well. Grant seemed to have got over his grudge against the Doctor, since he appeared every bit as concerned about him as everyone else.
As the twenty hour mark approached, Martha kept anxiously looking for the slightest sign of change in the Doctor's state. She couldn't see any.
Finally, the moment she'd been waiting for arrived - and nothing happened. He slept on.
Her worry rising to a whole new level, Martha forced herself to wait a little longer, in case the timing wasn't all that exact, or his system simply needed a while to sort itself out. Even fifteen minutes past the mark, nothing had changed. His skin was still unnaturally cold, his breathing and heart rates were still absurdly slow, and he still seemed completely lifeless.
From what he had said, she had got the idea that he was supposed to come out of it on his own. That didn't seem to be happening. She decided she'd better take matters into her own hands, and tried shaking him, and shouting at him, and pinching his arm. He didn't even twitch.
She looked up at the four cavers. "I think something's wrong," she said, her voice coming through all shaky.
12. The City of Lights