Wolfsbane AU story 4
Title: Face of Terror - after Chris Boucher
Author: kowarth
Rating: pg
Characters: 4, sarah, Leela
Spoilers: Once again as a rewrite, great big ones for Face of Evil
Disclaimer: This is non-profit a work of fan fiction. Doctor Who and all related characters belong to the BBC and their original authors.
Authors Notes: part 4 of the Wolfsbane AU following from the events of The Deadly Assassin
Word count: 3190 approx
Summary: Many Lives of Sarah Jane prompt fic - 8: Sarah is still traveling with Four when he meets Leela.
The console room was quiet, only that slightly smug hum to tell you it was functioning at all.
Sarah stuck her head around the heavy oak inner door and peered at the immobile form of The Doctor, sat stiffly in the tall antique chair in the corner by the hat stand. His eyes were closed and he was paler than she had ever seen him.
She stepped in, noting his coat thrown haphazardly over the console. Hands behind her back she tiptoed over to him and blew in his ear.
“Hello Sarah” he grinned without opening his eyes.
“How did it go?” she asked breezily.
“Hmm?”
“On Gallifrey Doctor?”
“Dull, terrible place, you didn’t miss much.” He sprung up from the seat and strode to the console, tossing the coat in the direction of the rail that circled it.
Sarah bent to collect it when he missed.
“Oh you say that but I bet it was fun, you were gone for hours!”
He turned slowly towards her, face grave. “No.” She took one look at his face and decided to let the subject drop. Instead, she forced a beaming smile and bounced over to stand next to him.
“Where next then?”
“Anywhere, everywhere.”
“Same old same old eh?” she smiled.
“Hmmm. How’s Harry by the way?”
“We sorted out some books and a teasmade, he’s as well as he can be.”
“Well, about time we did something about that.” He flipped one of the wooden panels on the console down and jabbed his thumb onto a blue lit control. The usual roaring crating noise of materialisation filled the room.
“Where are we?”
“Hopefully somewhere I can find enough of the cure without destroying anything.”
The TARDIS doors opened and The Doctor strode out, hands in pockets, hat jammed on his head and an air of disdain at the smell of the place. Sarah followed, pulling at the blouse under her denim dungarees in the sudden tropical heat.
“Oh Wow! Really going to turn up some rare minerals here!” she grinned at his back.
“That’s odd.”
“Weren’t you expecting a jungle?”
“I’ve just had the most powerful feeling of Déjà Vu.”
“Well, you do get around a bit; maybe you have been here before?” She kept her smile up even though he appeared to be ignoring her “Or perhaps, in the future you come back her in the planets past? Would that work?”
He turned to her with a flash of understanding smile. “I think you’re finally getting the hang of all this. Come on.” And he stalked into the surrounding jungle.
-
The Doctor broke into a whistle, counterpointed by Sarah, as they walked. Somewhere in the leafy canopy above them, a huge indefinable something roared in response.
“Something doesn’t like colonel bogey.” Sarah commented. Above them the vines stirred and then the trees began to move in response to something getting closer. The Doctor stood fascinated for a moment before Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him back along the pathway they had been travelling. The Doctor overtook Sarah, crashing through the bracken ahead, headless of it swinging back toward her.
The bush was full of a thick cobweb and Sarah struggled to extricate herself, conscious of the roaring getting closer. She heard her blouse tear as she fought free and muttered to herself precisely what she thought of the time lord.
Once she had caught up with The Doctor she found him stood impassively in front of a young woman in very few animal skins.
Hearing her gasp The Doctor put a warning hand in Sarah’s direction. The woman ahead of him looks up at the movement, her eyes growing wide at the site of The Doctor’s no doubt beaming smile.
“The Evil One!” the woman cried in disbelief, touching at her throat, shoulder and hip in a ritual gesture.
“No, I’m The Doctor,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out his battered paper bag “Would you like a jelly baby?”
“It is true what they say...” the woman moved from her crouch to stand warily at arm’s length.
Sarah had started to itch and was still acutely aware of the creaking of nearby trees. Fed up of waiting she stepped forward with an inquisitive ‘oh?’
“The Evil One eats babies” the woman had a knife from belt faster than Sarah could blink. The roar came once more, even closer than before.
“Either you have four friends with very bad colds or we're in danger.” The Doctor quipped darkly.
“They are your creatures evil one...”
“I wonder if they know that.”
“Invisible phantoms that stalk the borderlands”
“Hey, this isn’t Zeta Minor is it?” Sarah asked brightly.
“No, gravity’s all wrong, but that’s a good thought. We could still see something of the anti matter creatures however...”
“Why stay invisible when they make so much noise?” Sarah interrupted
“Perhaps they’re blind?” The Doctor stuck the packet of jelly babies back into his pocket and swapped it for a clockwork egg timer. “If so they’ll be hunting by sound, scent or vibration.”
Sarah reached for the woman, her eyes wide. “It’s ok, but we should move away.”
“Then do so quietly, we would not wish the phantoms to follow us.” Sarah smiled, a practical woman after her own heart. They watched The Doctor set the timer on an outcrop of rock and move gingerly back toward them.
The roaring reached a crescendo and the trees to their left parted with a snapping of branches.
“Stand still!” The Doctor hissed at the girls, ignoring his own advice as he stepped backward.
A massive footprint appeared in the leaf litter, compressing the plants around it. The roaring turned to a low grumble and the next print appeared to be heading toward the timer. Then The Doctor stumbled into Sarah.
The next roar was directed right at them. Sarah watched the woman tense, one hand on a pouch at her belt, the other wielding the knife ahead of her in a fighting stance. Maybe they weren’t so alike after all. The alarm on the egg timer shrilled and the footsteps thundered towards it.
The three didn’t stay long enough to see what became of the egg timer.
The woman, who introduced herself as Leela, a warrior of the Sevateem, led them towards a thin gravel path in the midst of the jungle.
Sarah found she was still itching as they came to an undramatic stop in amongst even more greenery.
“Why rest here?” she complained.
“It Is the boundary. The phantoms will not pursue us here.”
“Really?” pondered The Doctor. “I wonder if there’s some sort of fence to keep them out.” He looked up into the canopy and frowned “of course it would probably be just as invisible...”
“Oh for goodness sake...” Sarah bristled, shoving her hand into the tear in her blouse,
“Problem?” The time lord asked. He wasn’t concentrating on her however. Instead he’d knelt to scrabble in the undergrowth
“Itchy, since you hit me with a cobweb thanks a bunch!” Sarah poked her tongue out at his back. Leela stiffened and moved to stand in front of Sarah. “Something wrong?”
The woman’s eyes flashed across Sarah’s slight frame. She reached out, pulling Sarah’s hand away from the torn blouse. Those eyes scanned her again.
“What?” Sarah asked. Then, with the same lightening reflex’s she’d demonstrated drawing her knife, the woman tore Sarah’s blouse open and sank her lips to the exposed flesh beneath. Sarah’s eyes widened the feeling of the woman’s lips slowly replaced with the edge of her teeth... “Hey! What’s your game?”
The warrior stepped back and spat into the grass. “Weevil Spider, they burrow under the skin and lay eggs. I have caught it in time.”
Sarah looked down at her chest and saw the trail of blood that matched the stain on the warrior’s lip.
“I... Thank you.” Sarah smiled her thanks coyly.
“I do not trust you, but a dying enemy is more dangerous than an unwary one.” Leela replied. “What are you doing evil one?”
“He’s not the evil one,” Sarah complained, trying to find a way to repair her blouse. “Just a very naughty boy.”
“It’s a sonic disruptor that keeps the phantoms away. The technology is far more advanced than anything from your tribe, hmm?”
“Such things of metal must be created by the great god Xoanon. He is held captive by the Evil One and his followers -- the Tesh.”
“Well that proves The Doctor’s not the evil one, do I look like one of these Tesh?” Sarah asked.
“You do not. I am not sure what to believe anymore.”
“That sounds healthy.” He grinned at her. When he offered the warrior a jelly baby this time, she accepted, pleasantly surprised by the taste. “Where is this Xoanon?”
“He is beyond a black wall wherein lies paradise.” Leela saw the look pass between The Doctor and Sarah, understanding the question without it being asked. “Come, I will take you there.”
-
They hadn’t gone far when two crossbow bolts thudded in to nearby trees. Leela was in cover before Sarah had even worked out where the bolts had come from. Two leather clad figures were advancing on them. Sarah made a break for it.
It took her all of a minute to realise The Doctor wasn’t following, by which time he’d been captured.
“Now I suppose I’ll just have to go back and rescue him.” She sighed and turned to walk back. A lithe hand shot from the bushes and pulled her from the path. Sarah hit the ground with a thump that knocked the breath from her lungs.
Leela’s hand was over mouth, her body pining her to the floor. After the spider thing Sarah wasn’t going to take any chances. Was it her imagination or was something moving through her hair.
“Stay still little one, the tribe will bring your Doctor this way. If we are to free him they must not see us.”
The wait was interminable but eventually Sarah felt Leela’s leg move from where it had pinned her knees. Once the hand was removed from her mouth she gave the warrior a piece of her mind.
“I’m not little! You’re not that much taller than me anyway. Come on, we’d better get The Doctor back.”
“They will have taken him to the shaman, Neeva, you will not release him.”
“We’ll see about that...” Sarah struggled upright and brushed at her clothes, resigned to the blouse being beyond repair.
“I will get him. You should go to the black wall, we will meet you there.” Sarah was about to argue but she could see the logic of the argument. She had to admit that if she got a head start they could get along a little faster. She followed Leela’s directions to the black wall, only regretting it when she discovered its precise location. Towering above her in sandstone sculpture was the face of The Doctor.
“And the black wall is in his mouth is it?” she rolled her eyes and sighed. “How do I get myself into these things?”
There was a more physical barrier further down the path. Sarah caught the smell of ozone, like a flash of lightning had recently passed by. Forewarned, she bunged a rock at the wall, only to see it flash red and disintegrate.
“More technology? Something isn’t right here at all.” After debating with herself whether to go back and try to help Leela and The Doctor she instead started searching the nearby undergrowth for any more of the boxes The Doctor had unearthed previously. Perhaps if she could damage one it would leave a break in the wall.
It took her maybe twenty minutes to find and break into one of the sonic disruptor beacons. The wall showed no signs of changing even when she pulled out half of the cables. She was still hunched over the box when a space suited figure walked through the barrier and pulled her back through with it.
The next few hours were a blur; she woke occasionally and was interrogated in candle lit control rooms. The snatches of conversation she overheard noted how physically different she was from anything her uniformed captors had been expecting.
The third time she woke she had been strapped to a table in something not unlike an operating theatre. There was a dull throbbing around her that suddenly dropped out to be replaced with an alarm. Somehow she was sure The Doctor would be involved as she once more faded into oblivion.
“Wake up Sarah!” The Doctor insisted. She rolled over and moaned at him.
“Just a couple more minutes Aunt Lavinia.”
“There are no more minutes little one.” Hissed Leela. The teasing worked, forcing Sarah to open her eyes at the warrior woman. “You must come with me. The Doctor has to face Xoanon and we must defend the cave of god.”
“Defend?” Sarah worried. She pulled herself from the operating table and stumbled into Leela’s arms. “I hope that doesn’t mean what it sounds like.”
“Just keep the Tesh back from the room while I sort out that megalomaniacal doppelganger.” The time lord spat. Leela handed Sarah a Tesh gun and showed her which gun fired its invisible bolts.
“You better be asking me to knock out the lights or something.” Sarah grumbled.
Outside the cave (which turned out to be a bulkhead door with computer core stencilled on it) Leela and Sarah took up positions allowing them to watch both entrances to the section.
“You smell of fear, little one.”
“Please call me Sarah, you wouldn’t want me shooting you first eh?” she giggled in reply. It was good to hear Leela join in.
“Fear and beasts. As though your defences lay in the wild woods.”
“I suppose in a way he does.” she thought of Harry, trapped in the null environment aboard the TARDIS, waiting for his friends to come back with the cure. If she or the Doctor died here, would he ever know what had become of them? How long would he wait until he risked leaving the room, becoming all wolf for the final time?
She did her best when the time came, aiming carefully at the walls or the feet of the Tesh sent to stop the Doctor. She even yelled a sorry down the corridor at the one who fell screaming to the floor.
The walls around them changed from a soft white light to a pulsing red colour. The Doctor stormed from the room behind them.
“It's one thing after another with this place.”
“What’s happening?”
“Xoanon is the most powerful computer ever designed, and it’s utterly insane. It has decided that if his followers cannot stop me, it will destroy the ship.”
“Destroy the...” Leela started to ask.
“Atomic regulators in the engine room, I have to get down there and diffuse them before I can deal with Xoanon.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Sarah urged, running for the nearest stairwell.
-
In the Engine room the doctor sets to work, making rapid progress. Suddenly Leela abandoned her guard post by the doors, turning instead to aim her disruptor at the Doctor. In a trance she intoned the phrase “destroy and be free.”
Sarah stepped in, knocking the Gun away and struggling Leela to the ground. Outside the room there comes a cacophony of clattering as Tesh and Sevateem alike try to break into the room and complete the hypnotic command.
Just as the Doctor succeeds in stopping the overload of the engines the lighting changes back to its pale white.
“What are you doing?” Leela asked Sarah, pushing her as if she were a doll.
“I was stopping you from trying to kill the Doctor.”
“Why should I wish to see him dead?” Leela frowned confused.
“It was Xoanon’s last ditch gamble, to set everyone nearby against me. Sarah wasn’t affected of course, far too much travel with me for that.” He grinned broadly at her.
“So turning off the engines stopped Xoanon?” Sarah enquired.
“No, no something else has happened. Shall we go and see?” he beamed.
The something else turned out to the village shaman, Neeva. Having been betrayed by Xoanon, he had decided to take his own meaning from the phrase Destroy and be free.
The Doctor found what was left of him the Computer Core, alongside a wrecked Disruptor canon.
Xoanon was successfully rebooted, with the kinks in its personality ironed out. Once it was back online it seemed ever more eager to please, talking to anyone and everyone.
The Doctor still passed an override control to the remaining heads of both factions.
Sarah, in the brief time she was left alone with the computer, asked hurriedly whether it knew of a source of Th-1789 K beta.
“That is an extremely rare mineral but it has been known to be found more plentifully in the Arglinium cluster and the desert worlds of Arridus, Solnarium and Frenzek Minor.”
Sarah nodded, a ray of hope blooming in her.
She waited until The Doctor was leading the way back to the TARDIS to bring up the subject. He nodded morosely as his only reply.
“Why would you need to find rocks?” Leela enquired.
“It's a very special rock, with healing properties. And we have a friend who needs a lot of healing.”
“I know many unction’s of my tribe; it is a skill necessary for the hunt.” Leela admitted proudly.
“I don’t think Harry will take to kindly to being wrapped in leaves, do you Sarah?” The Doctor grinned happily to himself. Sarah punched his arm.
“That’s not fair Doctor, Leela was only trying to help.”
“Why are you following us anyway?” The Doctor continued irritably, ignoring Sarah.
“You need protection from the monsters.”
“Those were projections of Xoanon; they won’t be any more trouble.” He turned away and stalked into the tree line. Sarah put out a hand to Leela in support.
“I’m sorry about that, he gets like that sometimes, usually when he thinks he’s outstayed his welcome.”
“Then he is a very silly man.” Leela took Sarah’s hand and followed after the time lord. They came upon the TARDIS shortly afterwards. The Doctor had just unlocked it and turned back to the girls as they arrived.
“Come on Sarah. Goodbye Leela.” He intoned, turning his back on them both and entering the Police Box.
”I want to come with you!” the warrior called after him. His head poked back out through the doors. Sarah was smiling at him, buoyed by the warrior’s enthusiasm.
‘I’ve no need of anymore of your strays Sarah!’
“Strays! I like that...” she raised a hand to poke at him and Leela took the opportunity of the distraction to run inside the TARDIS.
“Come out of there!” The Doctor yelled, disappearing inside after her. Sarah followed, the grin fixed to her face. As the door closed behind her The Doctor’s voice could still be heard, “Don’t touch that!”
The light on top of the Ship flashed into life and the TARDIS slowly faded back into the vortex.
Author: kowarth
Rating: pg
Characters: 4, sarah, Leela
Spoilers: Once again as a rewrite, great big ones for Face of Evil
Disclaimer: This is non-profit a work of fan fiction. Doctor Who and all related characters belong to the BBC and their original authors.
Authors Notes: part 4 of the Wolfsbane AU following from the events of The Deadly Assassin
Word count: 3190 approx
Summary: Many Lives of Sarah Jane prompt fic - 8: Sarah is still traveling with Four when he meets Leela.
The console room was quiet, only that slightly smug hum to tell you it was functioning at all.
Sarah stuck her head around the heavy oak inner door and peered at the immobile form of The Doctor, sat stiffly in the tall antique chair in the corner by the hat stand. His eyes were closed and he was paler than she had ever seen him.
She stepped in, noting his coat thrown haphazardly over the console. Hands behind her back she tiptoed over to him and blew in his ear.
“Hello Sarah” he grinned without opening his eyes.
“How did it go?” she asked breezily.
“Hmm?”
“On Gallifrey Doctor?”
“Dull, terrible place, you didn’t miss much.” He sprung up from the seat and strode to the console, tossing the coat in the direction of the rail that circled it.
Sarah bent to collect it when he missed.
“Oh you say that but I bet it was fun, you were gone for hours!”
He turned slowly towards her, face grave. “No.” She took one look at his face and decided to let the subject drop. Instead, she forced a beaming smile and bounced over to stand next to him.
“Where next then?”
“Anywhere, everywhere.”
“Same old same old eh?” she smiled.
“Hmmm. How’s Harry by the way?”
“We sorted out some books and a teasmade, he’s as well as he can be.”
“Well, about time we did something about that.” He flipped one of the wooden panels on the console down and jabbed his thumb onto a blue lit control. The usual roaring crating noise of materialisation filled the room.
“Where are we?”
“Hopefully somewhere I can find enough of the cure without destroying anything.”
The TARDIS doors opened and The Doctor strode out, hands in pockets, hat jammed on his head and an air of disdain at the smell of the place. Sarah followed, pulling at the blouse under her denim dungarees in the sudden tropical heat.
“Oh Wow! Really going to turn up some rare minerals here!” she grinned at his back.
“That’s odd.”
“Weren’t you expecting a jungle?”
“I’ve just had the most powerful feeling of Déjà Vu.”
“Well, you do get around a bit; maybe you have been here before?” She kept her smile up even though he appeared to be ignoring her “Or perhaps, in the future you come back her in the planets past? Would that work?”
He turned to her with a flash of understanding smile. “I think you’re finally getting the hang of all this. Come on.” And he stalked into the surrounding jungle.
-
The Doctor broke into a whistle, counterpointed by Sarah, as they walked. Somewhere in the leafy canopy above them, a huge indefinable something roared in response.
“Something doesn’t like colonel bogey.” Sarah commented. Above them the vines stirred and then the trees began to move in response to something getting closer. The Doctor stood fascinated for a moment before Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him back along the pathway they had been travelling. The Doctor overtook Sarah, crashing through the bracken ahead, headless of it swinging back toward her.
The bush was full of a thick cobweb and Sarah struggled to extricate herself, conscious of the roaring getting closer. She heard her blouse tear as she fought free and muttered to herself precisely what she thought of the time lord.
Once she had caught up with The Doctor she found him stood impassively in front of a young woman in very few animal skins.
Hearing her gasp The Doctor put a warning hand in Sarah’s direction. The woman ahead of him looks up at the movement, her eyes growing wide at the site of The Doctor’s no doubt beaming smile.
“The Evil One!” the woman cried in disbelief, touching at her throat, shoulder and hip in a ritual gesture.
“No, I’m The Doctor,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out his battered paper bag “Would you like a jelly baby?”
“It is true what they say...” the woman moved from her crouch to stand warily at arm’s length.
Sarah had started to itch and was still acutely aware of the creaking of nearby trees. Fed up of waiting she stepped forward with an inquisitive ‘oh?’
“The Evil One eats babies” the woman had a knife from belt faster than Sarah could blink. The roar came once more, even closer than before.
“Either you have four friends with very bad colds or we're in danger.” The Doctor quipped darkly.
“They are your creatures evil one...”
“I wonder if they know that.”
“Invisible phantoms that stalk the borderlands”
“Hey, this isn’t Zeta Minor is it?” Sarah asked brightly.
“No, gravity’s all wrong, but that’s a good thought. We could still see something of the anti matter creatures however...”
“Why stay invisible when they make so much noise?” Sarah interrupted
“Perhaps they’re blind?” The Doctor stuck the packet of jelly babies back into his pocket and swapped it for a clockwork egg timer. “If so they’ll be hunting by sound, scent or vibration.”
Sarah reached for the woman, her eyes wide. “It’s ok, but we should move away.”
“Then do so quietly, we would not wish the phantoms to follow us.” Sarah smiled, a practical woman after her own heart. They watched The Doctor set the timer on an outcrop of rock and move gingerly back toward them.
The roaring reached a crescendo and the trees to their left parted with a snapping of branches.
“Stand still!” The Doctor hissed at the girls, ignoring his own advice as he stepped backward.
A massive footprint appeared in the leaf litter, compressing the plants around it. The roaring turned to a low grumble and the next print appeared to be heading toward the timer. Then The Doctor stumbled into Sarah.
The next roar was directed right at them. Sarah watched the woman tense, one hand on a pouch at her belt, the other wielding the knife ahead of her in a fighting stance. Maybe they weren’t so alike after all. The alarm on the egg timer shrilled and the footsteps thundered towards it.
The three didn’t stay long enough to see what became of the egg timer.
The woman, who introduced herself as Leela, a warrior of the Sevateem, led them towards a thin gravel path in the midst of the jungle.
Sarah found she was still itching as they came to an undramatic stop in amongst even more greenery.
“Why rest here?” she complained.
“It Is the boundary. The phantoms will not pursue us here.”
“Really?” pondered The Doctor. “I wonder if there’s some sort of fence to keep them out.” He looked up into the canopy and frowned “of course it would probably be just as invisible...”
“Oh for goodness sake...” Sarah bristled, shoving her hand into the tear in her blouse,
“Problem?” The time lord asked. He wasn’t concentrating on her however. Instead he’d knelt to scrabble in the undergrowth
“Itchy, since you hit me with a cobweb thanks a bunch!” Sarah poked her tongue out at his back. Leela stiffened and moved to stand in front of Sarah. “Something wrong?”
The woman’s eyes flashed across Sarah’s slight frame. She reached out, pulling Sarah’s hand away from the torn blouse. Those eyes scanned her again.
“What?” Sarah asked. Then, with the same lightening reflex’s she’d demonstrated drawing her knife, the woman tore Sarah’s blouse open and sank her lips to the exposed flesh beneath. Sarah’s eyes widened the feeling of the woman’s lips slowly replaced with the edge of her teeth... “Hey! What’s your game?”
The warrior stepped back and spat into the grass. “Weevil Spider, they burrow under the skin and lay eggs. I have caught it in time.”
Sarah looked down at her chest and saw the trail of blood that matched the stain on the warrior’s lip.
“I... Thank you.” Sarah smiled her thanks coyly.
“I do not trust you, but a dying enemy is more dangerous than an unwary one.” Leela replied. “What are you doing evil one?”
“He’s not the evil one,” Sarah complained, trying to find a way to repair her blouse. “Just a very naughty boy.”
“It’s a sonic disruptor that keeps the phantoms away. The technology is far more advanced than anything from your tribe, hmm?”
“Such things of metal must be created by the great god Xoanon. He is held captive by the Evil One and his followers -- the Tesh.”
“Well that proves The Doctor’s not the evil one, do I look like one of these Tesh?” Sarah asked.
“You do not. I am not sure what to believe anymore.”
“That sounds healthy.” He grinned at her. When he offered the warrior a jelly baby this time, she accepted, pleasantly surprised by the taste. “Where is this Xoanon?”
“He is beyond a black wall wherein lies paradise.” Leela saw the look pass between The Doctor and Sarah, understanding the question without it being asked. “Come, I will take you there.”
-
They hadn’t gone far when two crossbow bolts thudded in to nearby trees. Leela was in cover before Sarah had even worked out where the bolts had come from. Two leather clad figures were advancing on them. Sarah made a break for it.
It took her all of a minute to realise The Doctor wasn’t following, by which time he’d been captured.
“Now I suppose I’ll just have to go back and rescue him.” She sighed and turned to walk back. A lithe hand shot from the bushes and pulled her from the path. Sarah hit the ground with a thump that knocked the breath from her lungs.
Leela’s hand was over mouth, her body pining her to the floor. After the spider thing Sarah wasn’t going to take any chances. Was it her imagination or was something moving through her hair.
“Stay still little one, the tribe will bring your Doctor this way. If we are to free him they must not see us.”
The wait was interminable but eventually Sarah felt Leela’s leg move from where it had pinned her knees. Once the hand was removed from her mouth she gave the warrior a piece of her mind.
“I’m not little! You’re not that much taller than me anyway. Come on, we’d better get The Doctor back.”
“They will have taken him to the shaman, Neeva, you will not release him.”
“We’ll see about that...” Sarah struggled upright and brushed at her clothes, resigned to the blouse being beyond repair.
“I will get him. You should go to the black wall, we will meet you there.” Sarah was about to argue but she could see the logic of the argument. She had to admit that if she got a head start they could get along a little faster. She followed Leela’s directions to the black wall, only regretting it when she discovered its precise location. Towering above her in sandstone sculpture was the face of The Doctor.
“And the black wall is in his mouth is it?” she rolled her eyes and sighed. “How do I get myself into these things?”
There was a more physical barrier further down the path. Sarah caught the smell of ozone, like a flash of lightning had recently passed by. Forewarned, she bunged a rock at the wall, only to see it flash red and disintegrate.
“More technology? Something isn’t right here at all.” After debating with herself whether to go back and try to help Leela and The Doctor she instead started searching the nearby undergrowth for any more of the boxes The Doctor had unearthed previously. Perhaps if she could damage one it would leave a break in the wall.
It took her maybe twenty minutes to find and break into one of the sonic disruptor beacons. The wall showed no signs of changing even when she pulled out half of the cables. She was still hunched over the box when a space suited figure walked through the barrier and pulled her back through with it.
The next few hours were a blur; she woke occasionally and was interrogated in candle lit control rooms. The snatches of conversation she overheard noted how physically different she was from anything her uniformed captors had been expecting.
The third time she woke she had been strapped to a table in something not unlike an operating theatre. There was a dull throbbing around her that suddenly dropped out to be replaced with an alarm. Somehow she was sure The Doctor would be involved as she once more faded into oblivion.
“Wake up Sarah!” The Doctor insisted. She rolled over and moaned at him.
“Just a couple more minutes Aunt Lavinia.”
“There are no more minutes little one.” Hissed Leela. The teasing worked, forcing Sarah to open her eyes at the warrior woman. “You must come with me. The Doctor has to face Xoanon and we must defend the cave of god.”
“Defend?” Sarah worried. She pulled herself from the operating table and stumbled into Leela’s arms. “I hope that doesn’t mean what it sounds like.”
“Just keep the Tesh back from the room while I sort out that megalomaniacal doppelganger.” The time lord spat. Leela handed Sarah a Tesh gun and showed her which gun fired its invisible bolts.
“You better be asking me to knock out the lights or something.” Sarah grumbled.
Outside the cave (which turned out to be a bulkhead door with computer core stencilled on it) Leela and Sarah took up positions allowing them to watch both entrances to the section.
“You smell of fear, little one.”
“Please call me Sarah, you wouldn’t want me shooting you first eh?” she giggled in reply. It was good to hear Leela join in.
“Fear and beasts. As though your defences lay in the wild woods.”
“I suppose in a way he does.” she thought of Harry, trapped in the null environment aboard the TARDIS, waiting for his friends to come back with the cure. If she or the Doctor died here, would he ever know what had become of them? How long would he wait until he risked leaving the room, becoming all wolf for the final time?
She did her best when the time came, aiming carefully at the walls or the feet of the Tesh sent to stop the Doctor. She even yelled a sorry down the corridor at the one who fell screaming to the floor.
The walls around them changed from a soft white light to a pulsing red colour. The Doctor stormed from the room behind them.
“It's one thing after another with this place.”
“What’s happening?”
“Xoanon is the most powerful computer ever designed, and it’s utterly insane. It has decided that if his followers cannot stop me, it will destroy the ship.”
“Destroy the...” Leela started to ask.
“Atomic regulators in the engine room, I have to get down there and diffuse them before I can deal with Xoanon.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Sarah urged, running for the nearest stairwell.
-
In the Engine room the doctor sets to work, making rapid progress. Suddenly Leela abandoned her guard post by the doors, turning instead to aim her disruptor at the Doctor. In a trance she intoned the phrase “destroy and be free.”
Sarah stepped in, knocking the Gun away and struggling Leela to the ground. Outside the room there comes a cacophony of clattering as Tesh and Sevateem alike try to break into the room and complete the hypnotic command.
Just as the Doctor succeeds in stopping the overload of the engines the lighting changes back to its pale white.
“What are you doing?” Leela asked Sarah, pushing her as if she were a doll.
“I was stopping you from trying to kill the Doctor.”
“Why should I wish to see him dead?” Leela frowned confused.
“It was Xoanon’s last ditch gamble, to set everyone nearby against me. Sarah wasn’t affected of course, far too much travel with me for that.” He grinned broadly at her.
“So turning off the engines stopped Xoanon?” Sarah enquired.
“No, no something else has happened. Shall we go and see?” he beamed.
The something else turned out to the village shaman, Neeva. Having been betrayed by Xoanon, he had decided to take his own meaning from the phrase Destroy and be free.
The Doctor found what was left of him the Computer Core, alongside a wrecked Disruptor canon.
Xoanon was successfully rebooted, with the kinks in its personality ironed out. Once it was back online it seemed ever more eager to please, talking to anyone and everyone.
The Doctor still passed an override control to the remaining heads of both factions.
Sarah, in the brief time she was left alone with the computer, asked hurriedly whether it knew of a source of Th-1789 K beta.
“That is an extremely rare mineral but it has been known to be found more plentifully in the Arglinium cluster and the desert worlds of Arridus, Solnarium and Frenzek Minor.”
Sarah nodded, a ray of hope blooming in her.
She waited until The Doctor was leading the way back to the TARDIS to bring up the subject. He nodded morosely as his only reply.
“Why would you need to find rocks?” Leela enquired.
“It's a very special rock, with healing properties. And we have a friend who needs a lot of healing.”
“I know many unction’s of my tribe; it is a skill necessary for the hunt.” Leela admitted proudly.
“I don’t think Harry will take to kindly to being wrapped in leaves, do you Sarah?” The Doctor grinned happily to himself. Sarah punched his arm.
“That’s not fair Doctor, Leela was only trying to help.”
“Why are you following us anyway?” The Doctor continued irritably, ignoring Sarah.
“You need protection from the monsters.”
“Those were projections of Xoanon; they won’t be any more trouble.” He turned away and stalked into the tree line. Sarah put out a hand to Leela in support.
“I’m sorry about that, he gets like that sometimes, usually when he thinks he’s outstayed his welcome.”
“Then he is a very silly man.” Leela took Sarah’s hand and followed after the time lord. They came upon the TARDIS shortly afterwards. The Doctor had just unlocked it and turned back to the girls as they arrived.
“Come on Sarah. Goodbye Leela.” He intoned, turning his back on them both and entering the Police Box.
”I want to come with you!” the warrior called after him. His head poked back out through the doors. Sarah was smiling at him, buoyed by the warrior’s enthusiasm.
‘I’ve no need of anymore of your strays Sarah!’
“Strays! I like that...” she raised a hand to poke at him and Leela took the opportunity of the distraction to run inside the TARDIS.
“Come out of there!” The Doctor yelled, disappearing inside after her. Sarah followed, the grin fixed to her face. As the door closed behind her The Doctor’s voice could still be heard, “Don’t touch that!”
The light on top of the Ship flashed into life and the TARDIS slowly faded back into the vortex.