Up a Tree - p.2
Rory stepped down with relief onto another large branch that formed a wide platform, the stairs continued on beyond the other edge.
There was a table and chairs set out on the deck, above the endless drop, like they were on someone's back patio.
Their guide trotted over to a doorway cut into the bole of the tree, two arch shaped windows were carved on either side of it. He stuck his head in.
----------
"Deran! We've got visitors. Some more biologists, they parked their transfer pod out on NE J 27, it's blocking traffic."
Amy looked in over his shoulder to see a typical office; desk, chairs, file cabinets, but the walls were carved directly out of the wood of the tree. An extremely fit looking middle aged man, with auburn hair to rival her own, stood up from the papers he was perusing on the desk. "Is it stable?" he asked. Amy noticed he had silver wings in his hair at the temples and was really quite good looking, in a roughhewn sort of way.
"Looks like it, but it's blocking the path."
"You're the only one who ever goes out there, Steve. Just leave it for now and go around. We'll deal with it later." He turned and looked at the newcomers. Steve shrugged at them and ducked back out the door, leaving them at the mercy of the official.
"Hello!" the Doctor said with his usual cheerfulness, holding out a hand. "I'm the Doctor, these are my assistants, Amy and Rory." He pumped the man's hand jovially.
"Deran Sondherson," the man replied in a mellow voice. "Security administrator." He looked around at all of them, taking in Rory's puffy vest and Amy's shorts and tights. "We weren't informed of your arrival."
The Doctor waved it off. "Bit of a last minute thing. We just couldn't wait to see your wonderful planet!"
Sondherson stared at him as if he'd had far too much experience with enthusiastic scientists. "Well, you're here now.”
He pulled down a large ledger from a shelf on the wall and opened it up. He slid it to the Doctor over the table. "Just sign here, and we'll get you set up."
“You weren’t notified of our arrival, but you’re expecting us?” Rory asked.
Sondherson looked at him. “Our standing arrangement with Neale Biological College provides us with fabricators on a yearly basis, in exchange for room and board for any groups of biologists they send our way.”
The Doctor nodded as if he knew all this, pulled out a pencil and jotted his and Amy and Rory's names down with a flourish.
Sondherson took it back and stared at the signatures. "Just, 'the Doctor?'" he asked, laying a finger on the Doctor's signature.
"Yes, well, we're here a bit on the QT. Very hush hush," the Doctor improvised.
"Looking for the next big miracle drug no doubt," Sondherson guessed.
"Can't say," the Doctor shrugged nonchalantly and rocked on his heels.
"Why do you live in a tree?" Rory asked, waving a hand behind him at the endless unoccupied forest. "Surely it's not safe up this high. Why not just carve out a city on the ground?"
Sondherson turned from slipping the ledger back on its shelf, he stared at the Doctor at this elementary question. The Doctor shrugged. “Intern.”
The administrator explained patiently, as if Rory should know this already. "Because the jungle's too dangerous, all the predators on this planet are larger than we are."
Amy interrupted. "What are those?" she asked, from the doorway, pointing. She'd been watching the people come and go outside.
Sondherson sauntered over to where she stood leaning against the door jamb. He ran his eyes appreciatively over her long legged form. She smirked flirtatiously back at him. Rory rolled his eyes, but walked up behind his wife.
Amy wandered outside, the others followed. The top of the giant branch formed a small plaza in front of the office, not as big as the large platforms, but it seemed to get a lot of through traffic.
By watching the come and go of the villagers, Amy had noticed that every person, young or old, wore some type of one-piece, from dock-worker like coveralls, to more refined looking business suit versions, to more casual short sleeved or sleeveless versions, long legged, or shorts, she even saw some kids in unitards. But every single version had an extra panel of fabric on the back, over the shoulder blades.
"What are those?" she asked, pointing.
"Chutes," the man said.
Rory raised his eyebrows.
Sondherson smiled. "We do live in a tree," he reminded him. "Sometimes there are emergencies and we need to reach the ground quickly." He went to the edge of the branch and pointed. They followed his finger to a man on a lower branch below them. The man casually walked to the edge and jumped off.
Rory gasped, Amy grabbed his arm in surprise. The Doctor smiled.
The back of the man's coverall billowed open with a snap to form a rectangular parachute. The man steered it with his sleeves and by shifting his weight. He floated down the tree bole, curving slightly around it on the air, and dropped lightly down onto another branch. He shrugged and his chute retreated back into the panel on his back, sealing as he trotted unconcernedly away into a tree bole store.
Now that he knew to look for it, Rory could see other chutes deployed here and there among the branching network of the tree. Some were a utilitarian grey-green, blending in with the background. Others were as brightly colored as butterflies.
"Ohh," said Amy. "I want one."
Sondherson grinned, then frowned and leaned backward to stare at her back. "Good god! You don't have chutes!" he said, horrified, as if he'd just noticed. "Tell me you're wearing antigravs," he said desperately, looking them each over as if searching for something.
The Doctor shrugged. "Nope."
Sondherson growled and pulled at his hair with one hand. "I thought you people were scientists! Haven't you ever heard of gravity?" He stomped over to his office and started rummaging in a cabinet. He turned and pointed a finger at them through the door. "Don't move!" he ordered, sternly.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything, he stuck his hands in his pockets. Not moving. Rory just nodded vigorously, keeping a firm hand on his wife's arm. Amy grunted.
The wind seemed determined to remind them of its presence. Ruffling the Doctor's jacket and rippling Amy's shirt.
Sondherson came out a few minutes later. He was holding a stack of "Visitors" jackets over his arm. They even had the word "Visitor" stenciled on the back over the chute panel.
"Here, put these on," He passed them out, then showed them how to strap the leg braces around their legs then clip them back onto the belt in front. Fortunately Amy was wearing her Rio shorts.
"Get a lot of neophytes do you?" the Doctor asked, looking a bit rumpled as his tweed jacket poked out of the lines at odd angles.
Sondherson finished helping Rory with his clips. "Too many, best to be prepared."
"Quite right," the Doctor tried to settle his visitors jacket more comfortably, with no success.
Something swung down out of the foliage above them, flashing past like a panther on the strike, and thumped down on the windowsill of Sondherson's office.
Amy screamed a little, Rory jumped. Sondherson turned around and looked, "Hello, Chitchi," he said casually.
The creature on the windowsill cocked its head, staring at them with glassy, curious, animal eyes.
It looked almost like a spider monkey, but with extremely long arms and legs. It wasn't covered in fur, but some sort of suede, smooth and velvety, except for rough patches here or there that looked like tree bark. It was brown, the same color as the tree, and with its longjointed branchlike arms and legs it would be virtually invisible in the tree.
"What is that?" Rory asked. The creature's unusually long limbs made it look unnatural, they were almost twice as long as its body. Yet, at the same time, it was obviously a very natural creature. It had the softly round-muzzled face of a monkey, but it didn't have any tail.
"That's Chitchi, he's one of the Trelwins."
"Indigenous lifeform?" the Doctor asked, fascinated. He was leaning forward, peering at the creature as it clung-sat on the windowsill which was actually too narrow for it. The creature looked back, it had the full brown eyes and flat expression of an animal. Yet it studied him back just as curiously as he did it.
It held out a long hand for him to shake. The Doctor shook it with a delighted smile. "Hello," he said gently. The creature cocked its head the other way, studying him, then abruptly swung off back into the trees, ruffling the Doctor's hair with the speed of its departure.
"Are those your pets?" Rory asked.
"No," the man answered, "Trelwins are too independent for pets, but they're not dangerous, and occasionally they help."
"Intelligent?" the Doctor asked.
The man shrugged. "We've never been sure. Our best guess is that they're on the cusp of becoming sentient."
The Doctor nodded, then frowned and sniffed. "Does anyone else smell cherries?"
Rory inhaled and frowned. "Yeah." His eyes went huge and he looked around at the foliage. "Good god, imagine the size of the cherries!"
Amy stared at him, then burst out giggling, imagining a cherry as big as his head.
Sondherson shook his head at the visitor's antics. "Charley!" Sondherson grabbed a speeding eight year old by the arm as he darted past. "Go tell Emma I've got some pupils for her."
The boy, as redheaded as Sondherson, nodded and sped off.
"Pupils?" the Doctor asked.
"If you're going to be staying here, you have to learn how to use your chutes. I'm not having you fall to your death on my watch."
"Wait," Rory went pale. "You're going to make us jump?"
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter