Fic: Hollow World, Chapter 4
Title: Hollow World
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: Takes place before Blink. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, OCs (later on). 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?
4. The Humming Room
Martha was crestfallen to hear that what she'd taken for a beautiful natural wonder was actually a warning sign. She was glad she hadn't explored the tunnels further on her own. She had no idea what she would've done if she had run into a swarm of rock-eating alien termites. Most likely the same thing the two of them did after seeing the crystal tree: back away as quickly as possible.
They returned to the first passage once again, since the Doctor deemed it a safer part of the cave. He appeared much less confused now, and he was walking steadily, seemingly all right. Still, Martha didn't miss the fact that whenever they stopped, he sought for something solid to lean on, and it was obvious he hadn't told her everything. She decided to keep a very close eye on him, to make sure he wouldn't overexert himself.
"Back where we left," the Doctor noted, nodding towards the notorious cliff. "I suggest we check where the other end of this big passage goes, next. What do you think?"
"It's as good a direction as any," Martha said. She really didn't have an opinion. She didn't know a whole lot about caves on Earth, and she knew even less about alien ones - the crystal tree had made that very clear.
They kept walking past the place where they'd hit the ground, along the bottom of the chasm, into previously unexplored territory. Even though one torch and one headlamp didn't give them a whole lot of light, Martha felt much less jumpy when she wasn't all alone. She wondered whether she had only been paranoid before, or if those little glimpses of movement she had thought she'd seen at the edge of her vision had actually been petromites. Whichever the case, she saw none of them now.
Like in the other direction, both the walls soon became vertical, but the passage remained wide. While the Doctor mostly walked straight ahead, his eyes on the ground before his feet, Martha made it her task to take a look at all the openings around them. She actually found a few tunnels which sloped gently upwards. Some of them were so narrow that just the thought of going inside them made her feel uncomfortable, but none of them had the round cross section or the chiselled look that the Doctor had mentioned as signs of petromites. She pointed them out to him.
"Ah, very good," the Doctor said approvingly. "If this big passage takes us nowhere, we can try one of those."
They'd been walking for maybe ten minutes, when a third rock face appeared in front of them, dividing the passage into two narrower ones. They looked identical to Martha.
"Which one?" she asked.
"Well, this one seems closer to the right direction," the Doctor replied, and headed into the left hand passage.
There weren't many side tunnels in the passage, and after a while, it shrunk into a corridor just large enough for them to walk side by side. Then, they ran into a dead end. The tunnel widened again to form a room, about the size of Martha's flat. The far wall was different from the two others: instead of solid rock, it was a heap of boulders reaching from the floor to the ceiling, blocking their way.
Martha scanned the few recessions in the walls, only one of which looked like it might actually lead somewhere. She turned to see what the Doctor was up to, and found him sitting on the ground, the side of his head resting against the boulders. He was so still that for a moment, she wondered if he had fallen unconscious again. She was just about to ask if that was the case, when he spoke up.
"Martha? Come over here. Can you hear that?"
She crouched next to him, placing her ear close to the boulders as well. She did hear something, a low, steady humming. She had no idea what it was - it might have even been a mechanical noise of some sort, like air conditioning. She had already got so used to the deep silence in these tunnels that it was more than a bit disconcerting to hear something unknown break that quiet. It made her imagination run wild once more.
"I hear it," she told him in a whisper.
"Good," the Doctor replied, clearly not in the least daunted by the strange noise. "I was half afraid it was just my ears buzzing, that wouldn't be entirely unexpected."
"No, I can definitely hear something. Is that them? The petromites?"
The Doctor shook his head, and groaned. "Agh, I should remember not to do that. I can definitely hear a buzz now. But no, it's not them."
"Some other life form, then?"
"Can't be sure just based on the sound, but I don't think so. I think that's water. An underground river, somewhere not too far behind these boulders."
"A river," Martha repeated, trying to imagine what it would look like, and failing. The continuous rumbling sounded more like a waterfall than a river to her.
"Which is good, because if it's plain old h two o, then at least we won't die of thirst," the Doctor added practically. "If we can get to it."
"There's one tunnel in that wall which seems to go somewhere, we could try that one."
"Yes, let's..." The Doctor started getting up, his hands braced against the rocks.
"But," Martha said, placing her good hand on his shoulder to keep him down. "Now that we've stopped anyway, let me take a look at your head, all right?"
"What for? There's nothing to see. We'd better keep moving. These tunnels may be safer than some, but that doesn't mean we're out of the crystal woods."
"Just to be sure. Won't take long," she said firmly, and moved so that she could see his face. Of course, she accidentally pointed her headlamp into his eyes, sending him blinking, groaning and grimacing.
"Still light sensitive, I see," she noted.
"Will be for quite a while. Lucky coincidence that we're in a dark cave."
"And the other symptoms?"
"No worse than is to be expected," he replied vaguely, and refused to elaborate even though she asked.
She had to admit that he had been telling the truth about his head. There really was nothing to see. She combed his blood-crusted hair with her fingers, and all she could find was a patch of skin rougher than the rest. She would have wanted to check his vitals as well, but he was looking so exasperated that she decided against it. Feeling slightly less worried about his physical condition, she declared they could move on.
"Thank you, Doctor Jones," the Doctor said, in an unusually sarcastic tone, and headed for the opening she had found earlier.
The tunnel was so narrow that they had to walk in single file, and Martha didn't protest when the Doctor offered to lead the way. It narrowed even further as they went, giving her the all too vivid feeling that the walls were moving in to crush them.
The Doctor stopped and turned to look at her. "It gets a little tricky here," he commented. "I'll go and see if there's any point in both of us going through."
"Wait, what sort of tricky?" she asked, but he was moving again. As he advanced, she saw what he had meant. Ahead of her, the tunnel became so narrow that it was little more than a thin vertical crack. Somehow, standing sideways, his hands above his head, he managed to squeeze through it. It looked so small that she wondered if she could do that even if she wanted to. After all, even though he was taller, he was also, well, flatter than she was.
He disappeared from view, and she was all alone once more. This must be what a concussed Time Lord's distorted sense of time would feel like, Martha thought as she waited, growing more anxious with every passing minute - or were they seconds instead, or maybe hours?
Since there was nothing to see, she found herself paying more attention to all other senses. She could hear a soft scraping sound, which had to be him moving further into the depths, and, in the background, a low hum that was probably the sound of water they had heard earlier. It also came to her as she waited that there was a very distinct smell to this place, ancient and earthy.
She was starting to wonder if she had made a serious mistake in letting him go on alone, when the scraping began to grow louder - at first, it somehow sounded like the noise was coming from behind her, and she had to tell herself over and over again that it was an illusion, of course it was the Doctor, and it was childish and stupid to even think that it might be something else - and then, she could see the bright light of his torch shining through the narrow crack.
He stepped out, and slid down to sit on the ground, his back resting against the wall. "I found the water. Explains why the petromites have avoided this part of the cave, they don't like water," he told her, sounding out of breath, but smiling. "I'm afraid we can't reach it this way, but it's definitely there. This passage leads to a ledge overlooking the river, some thirty feet above it - it's quite a view! You should see it!"
"I think I'd better not waste our time on sight-seeing," she said quickly, relieved that there was no absolute need for her to try whether she could fit through the narrowest part or not.
They spent some time searching the room, and the passage leading to it, for other possible routes to the river, but found none. Somewhat disappointed, they returned to the point where the wide passage at the bottom of the chasm split into two, and tried the right hand passage next.
The passage went on and on, high and quite wide. It also veered to the right, a direction that was entirely unpromising, since it seemed to be leading away from both the river and the TARDIS. They had just stopped to consider whether they should turn back or keep going, when Martha heard something. Not the rumble of the river nor the dripping water from earlier, but a low mumble that she could've sworn to be a human voice. It was her turn to wonder whether it was real, or just all in her head.
"Doctor? Listen," she whispered.
He frowned. "I can't hear anything. Oh, but wait - there!" he said, his voice low but sharp. "Martha, turn off your light."
He had already switched off the torch, and was staring intently at the far end of the passage. She followed his example.
There, still quite far, but coming closer as they watched, she could see the unmistakable glow of approaching lights. She heard the sound again as well, but the distance and the echo distorted it so badly that it was impossible to tell if the voices were human, let alone what they were saying.
Martha found herself holding her breath. Even though meeting people down here would be a great help, and it was just the sort of thing they had been hoping for, her first instinct was to turn around, run away, and find a place to hide in, just in case.
The Doctor, of course, had no such misgivings. He turned on his torch again, and started walking briskly towards the people, or creatures, who or whatever they were, already shouting "Hello?" as he went. Martha had little choice but to follow him.
5. Meeting Point
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: Takes place before Blink. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, OCs (later on). 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?
4. The Humming Room
Martha was crestfallen to hear that what she'd taken for a beautiful natural wonder was actually a warning sign. She was glad she hadn't explored the tunnels further on her own. She had no idea what she would've done if she had run into a swarm of rock-eating alien termites. Most likely the same thing the two of them did after seeing the crystal tree: back away as quickly as possible.
They returned to the first passage once again, since the Doctor deemed it a safer part of the cave. He appeared much less confused now, and he was walking steadily, seemingly all right. Still, Martha didn't miss the fact that whenever they stopped, he sought for something solid to lean on, and it was obvious he hadn't told her everything. She decided to keep a very close eye on him, to make sure he wouldn't overexert himself.
"Back where we left," the Doctor noted, nodding towards the notorious cliff. "I suggest we check where the other end of this big passage goes, next. What do you think?"
"It's as good a direction as any," Martha said. She really didn't have an opinion. She didn't know a whole lot about caves on Earth, and she knew even less about alien ones - the crystal tree had made that very clear.
They kept walking past the place where they'd hit the ground, along the bottom of the chasm, into previously unexplored territory. Even though one torch and one headlamp didn't give them a whole lot of light, Martha felt much less jumpy when she wasn't all alone. She wondered whether she had only been paranoid before, or if those little glimpses of movement she had thought she'd seen at the edge of her vision had actually been petromites. Whichever the case, she saw none of them now.
Like in the other direction, both the walls soon became vertical, but the passage remained wide. While the Doctor mostly walked straight ahead, his eyes on the ground before his feet, Martha made it her task to take a look at all the openings around them. She actually found a few tunnels which sloped gently upwards. Some of them were so narrow that just the thought of going inside them made her feel uncomfortable, but none of them had the round cross section or the chiselled look that the Doctor had mentioned as signs of petromites. She pointed them out to him.
"Ah, very good," the Doctor said approvingly. "If this big passage takes us nowhere, we can try one of those."
They'd been walking for maybe ten minutes, when a third rock face appeared in front of them, dividing the passage into two narrower ones. They looked identical to Martha.
"Which one?" she asked.
"Well, this one seems closer to the right direction," the Doctor replied, and headed into the left hand passage.
There weren't many side tunnels in the passage, and after a while, it shrunk into a corridor just large enough for them to walk side by side. Then, they ran into a dead end. The tunnel widened again to form a room, about the size of Martha's flat. The far wall was different from the two others: instead of solid rock, it was a heap of boulders reaching from the floor to the ceiling, blocking their way.
Martha scanned the few recessions in the walls, only one of which looked like it might actually lead somewhere. She turned to see what the Doctor was up to, and found him sitting on the ground, the side of his head resting against the boulders. He was so still that for a moment, she wondered if he had fallen unconscious again. She was just about to ask if that was the case, when he spoke up.
"Martha? Come over here. Can you hear that?"
She crouched next to him, placing her ear close to the boulders as well. She did hear something, a low, steady humming. She had no idea what it was - it might have even been a mechanical noise of some sort, like air conditioning. She had already got so used to the deep silence in these tunnels that it was more than a bit disconcerting to hear something unknown break that quiet. It made her imagination run wild once more.
"I hear it," she told him in a whisper.
"Good," the Doctor replied, clearly not in the least daunted by the strange noise. "I was half afraid it was just my ears buzzing, that wouldn't be entirely unexpected."
"No, I can definitely hear something. Is that them? The petromites?"
The Doctor shook his head, and groaned. "Agh, I should remember not to do that. I can definitely hear a buzz now. But no, it's not them."
"Some other life form, then?"
"Can't be sure just based on the sound, but I don't think so. I think that's water. An underground river, somewhere not too far behind these boulders."
"A river," Martha repeated, trying to imagine what it would look like, and failing. The continuous rumbling sounded more like a waterfall than a river to her.
"Which is good, because if it's plain old h two o, then at least we won't die of thirst," the Doctor added practically. "If we can get to it."
"There's one tunnel in that wall which seems to go somewhere, we could try that one."
"Yes, let's..." The Doctor started getting up, his hands braced against the rocks.
"But," Martha said, placing her good hand on his shoulder to keep him down. "Now that we've stopped anyway, let me take a look at your head, all right?"
"What for? There's nothing to see. We'd better keep moving. These tunnels may be safer than some, but that doesn't mean we're out of the crystal woods."
"Just to be sure. Won't take long," she said firmly, and moved so that she could see his face. Of course, she accidentally pointed her headlamp into his eyes, sending him blinking, groaning and grimacing.
"Still light sensitive, I see," she noted.
"Will be for quite a while. Lucky coincidence that we're in a dark cave."
"And the other symptoms?"
"No worse than is to be expected," he replied vaguely, and refused to elaborate even though she asked.
She had to admit that he had been telling the truth about his head. There really was nothing to see. She combed his blood-crusted hair with her fingers, and all she could find was a patch of skin rougher than the rest. She would have wanted to check his vitals as well, but he was looking so exasperated that she decided against it. Feeling slightly less worried about his physical condition, she declared they could move on.
"Thank you, Doctor Jones," the Doctor said, in an unusually sarcastic tone, and headed for the opening she had found earlier.
The tunnel was so narrow that they had to walk in single file, and Martha didn't protest when the Doctor offered to lead the way. It narrowed even further as they went, giving her the all too vivid feeling that the walls were moving in to crush them.
The Doctor stopped and turned to look at her. "It gets a little tricky here," he commented. "I'll go and see if there's any point in both of us going through."
"Wait, what sort of tricky?" she asked, but he was moving again. As he advanced, she saw what he had meant. Ahead of her, the tunnel became so narrow that it was little more than a thin vertical crack. Somehow, standing sideways, his hands above his head, he managed to squeeze through it. It looked so small that she wondered if she could do that even if she wanted to. After all, even though he was taller, he was also, well, flatter than she was.
He disappeared from view, and she was all alone once more. This must be what a concussed Time Lord's distorted sense of time would feel like, Martha thought as she waited, growing more anxious with every passing minute - or were they seconds instead, or maybe hours?
Since there was nothing to see, she found herself paying more attention to all other senses. She could hear a soft scraping sound, which had to be him moving further into the depths, and, in the background, a low hum that was probably the sound of water they had heard earlier. It also came to her as she waited that there was a very distinct smell to this place, ancient and earthy.
She was starting to wonder if she had made a serious mistake in letting him go on alone, when the scraping began to grow louder - at first, it somehow sounded like the noise was coming from behind her, and she had to tell herself over and over again that it was an illusion, of course it was the Doctor, and it was childish and stupid to even think that it might be something else - and then, she could see the bright light of his torch shining through the narrow crack.
He stepped out, and slid down to sit on the ground, his back resting against the wall. "I found the water. Explains why the petromites have avoided this part of the cave, they don't like water," he told her, sounding out of breath, but smiling. "I'm afraid we can't reach it this way, but it's definitely there. This passage leads to a ledge overlooking the river, some thirty feet above it - it's quite a view! You should see it!"
"I think I'd better not waste our time on sight-seeing," she said quickly, relieved that there was no absolute need for her to try whether she could fit through the narrowest part or not.
They spent some time searching the room, and the passage leading to it, for other possible routes to the river, but found none. Somewhat disappointed, they returned to the point where the wide passage at the bottom of the chasm split into two, and tried the right hand passage next.
The passage went on and on, high and quite wide. It also veered to the right, a direction that was entirely unpromising, since it seemed to be leading away from both the river and the TARDIS. They had just stopped to consider whether they should turn back or keep going, when Martha heard something. Not the rumble of the river nor the dripping water from earlier, but a low mumble that she could've sworn to be a human voice. It was her turn to wonder whether it was real, or just all in her head.
"Doctor? Listen," she whispered.
He frowned. "I can't hear anything. Oh, but wait - there!" he said, his voice low but sharp. "Martha, turn off your light."
He had already switched off the torch, and was staring intently at the far end of the passage. She followed his example.
There, still quite far, but coming closer as they watched, she could see the unmistakable glow of approaching lights. She heard the sound again as well, but the distance and the echo distorted it so badly that it was impossible to tell if the voices were human, let alone what they were saying.
Martha found herself holding her breath. Even though meeting people down here would be a great help, and it was just the sort of thing they had been hoping for, her first instinct was to turn around, run away, and find a place to hide in, just in case.
The Doctor, of course, had no such misgivings. He turned on his torch again, and started walking briskly towards the people, or creatures, who or whatever they were, already shouting "Hello?" as he went. Martha had little choice but to follow him.
5. Meeting Point