Fic: Solaris
Author: bell_jar_fics
Story: Solaris
Character/Pairing: Doctor, Rose, Jack, OC, Hints of Doctor/Rose
Era: Ninth Doctor Era; Takes place between The Doctor Dances and Boomtown.
Rating: PG-13 (To be safe)
Chapter: 17.5/30(?) (The Harvest-time Trials, part 2)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retrieve a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
Note: I'm SO sorry this took so long. I was having the hardest time with one scene. Even now I'm not completely pleased with how it turned out, but didn't want you to wait any longer
Previous Chapters
Down in the cavern, Solaris trudged along, one hand pressed up against the dampened walls. Using her psychotic abilities, she scanned over the cavern, searching for the key she had to locate to complete the trial. In the beginning, while she hadn’t found anything, it was a lot easier, but now the water level was definitely rising, and was already just above her knees. With the water constantly churning, it was much harder for her to maintain a clear idea of what was beneath its surface. It was almost like trying to see through a clouded window that was coated with dirt and sludge. Whenever situations like these came along, Solaris was unable to keep herself from wondering if they would even be an issue if her psychic training had been allowed to continue, instead of being abruptly interrupted before she’d completely mastered her ability. Then again, spending too much time wondering about what might have been never solved anything. All she could do was just make the best with the amount of control she did have.
Putting all her concentration into stretching her mind to its limited capabilities, Solaris did everything she could to visualize the walls of the cavern for any hint of an alcove, or some other small opening where the box containing the key could have been stored. However, even then, she couldn’t clearly ‘see’ what was below the water level. As a result, she never noticed that the cavern floor ended in a steep drop-off until she took that last step and fell completely below the surface. While her legs had long since gotten used to the chill of the water, having her entire body submerged resulted in an instant shock, and it was all she could do to keep from opening her mouth to shout out.
With her clothing now completely soaked, Solaris felt her body being weighed down, and she realized that swimming up to the surface was going to be much harder. In fact, with her legs and arms almost completely numb from the cold, it would probably be near impossible. Thinking fast, she blindly started groping around for some hard surface she could use to push off of.
Just as she felt that her lungs were about to burst from lack of air, her hand brushed up against the slope of the drop off. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pushed herself upward, and began her rapid accent to the water’s surface. It was only by that simple act that she finally felt it. A little below the place where her hand had fallen, there was a natural nook embedded into the rocky slope, with a wooden box stored securely inside. That had to be the key she was supposed to find, but it was too late to stop her journey up for air.
Once her head broke the surface, Solaris took the chance to regain her breath, reaching into her waistcoat pocket for Rose’s ‘super phone’ to call the TARDIS. By the time the others made it to the cavern entrance, Solaris knew she’d have the box in her possession. All she’d need then was a little help climbing out. Running her fingers over the ‘super phone’, she soon found the button Rose had indicated as the speed dial, but almost immediately after pressing it, a low rumbling sound filled the cavern. Even before she turned to the direction of the sound, Solaris could psychically sense what was coming. For some reason, the tide water was pouring into the cavern at a much faster rate then it had been a moment ago, and a large wave of water was rushing towards her fast. Solaris only had time to hold her breath before the wall of water swept over her, forcing her under again.
-----
Rose was sitting in the pilot’s seat next to the TARDIS console, but she could still hear Jack’s shout of pain ring out from the med bay, leading her to instinctively wince in sympathy. The Doctor had explained that cauterization could be quite painful, but Rose hadn’t expected Jack to cry out like that. He just didn’t strike her as the type of person who’d be easily affected by physical pain, so the fact that she could hear him shouting out now made her a little uncomfortable.
A few moments later, the Doctor and Jack returned to the console room. Even though the process had been obviously painful, Rose noticed that it had done the trick, for the nosebleed had stopped, with only a bit of dried blood coating Jack’s nostrils.
“Just be careful not to get yourself hit there anytime soon,” the Doctor advised. “Give your nose a chance to heal itself.”
“Yeah, I’ll try to remember that,” Jack agreed. At that moment, the TARDIS’ phone started ringing.
“That must be Solaris,” Rose hopped up from the seat instantly. “She must have found the key.” The Doctor, being closest to the TARDIS phone, promptly answered it, but when he brought it up to his ear, all he could hear was what sounded like white noise, before the call ended abruptly.
“Something’s wrong,” he muttered with a concerned frown, already making his way to the doors. “We’d better get down to the cavern entrance.” Exchanging a worried glance, Rose and Jack immediately followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and across the coastline. When they reached the cavern entrance, the three friends found that the cavern was almost completely flooded, with absolutely no sign of Solaris.
“Where is she?” Rose asked her friends, staring down at the water, which appeared pitch black against the cavern walls. “You don’t think she….?” The Doctor’s fist clenched instinctively. He knew what Rose was asking, but he didn’t have an answer for her. At this point, there was no telling where Solaris was inside the cavern, but wherever it was, it was no doubt filled with water. If he had to be honest about it, he didn’t see any way Solaris wasn’t in danger of drowning down there, if she hadn’t already.
As surprising for him as it was, he was actually worried about the N’renyan thief, and not just because of Rose, who had undoubtedly started viewing Solaris as one of her mates. After all, Rose was like that; always forming friendships with people no matter where they went, whether it was the servant girl, Gwyneth, from Cardiff in 1869, or that slave boy from San Kloon, Nomra, and those girls from the penal colony on Justicia. She had even told him about the plumber from Platform One, Rafallo. No, it was more than that. He’d have hated admitting it before now, but when he thought about it, they may not have gotten this far without Solaris. First, she had willingly helped Rose out of the Black Jungle, and then took the fall for her in San Kloon. She had even saved Rose from the boffer on N’ren, before saving him from a fatal fall in the Ancient Temple in Storm Canyon. He could no longer deny that Solaris’ presence had been crucial to the task of retrieving the four artifacts.
Before the Doctor could figure out what he could possibly say to Rose about Solaris’ evident fate, Jack suddenly dove down the cavern entrance, disappearing under the dark water.
“What’s he doing?” the Doctor stared after him. “There’s no telling how many openings and dead ends there might be down there. He’ll never be able to find Solaris and make it back without running out of air.”
“But he has to,” Rose insisted, refusing to look away from the water flooding the cavern. “They can’t just die down there; they just can’t!” The Doctor knelt down by her side, unable to bear seeing the worry on her face.
“Rose,” he started to say, only to be cut off by Jack suddenly resurfacing, gasping for air. To their surprised relief, a half-drowned Solaris was safely tucked in his left arm, coughing up water.
“Rose, Doctor!” Jack called up to them, treading water with free hand. “Here, take her.” Doing his best to keep his head above the water, Jack carefully passed Solaris over to the Doctor, who reached down the cavern entrance to hoist her out. Once the N’renyan thief was secured in the Doctor’s grasp, Jack went to work in scaling the side of the cavern, pulling himself out as well. Doing her part to help out, Rose offered herself as a human crutch, escorting Solaris to a spot well away from the tide line and sitting her down on a dry section of the rocky shoal.
“Just take it easy, okay?” Rose advised, sitting next to her. In response, Solaris reached into her waistcoat pocket, pulling out the ‘super phone’ and passing it back to her.
“‘Fraid it got wet,” Solaris choked out, her voice weak from swallowing too much water. “‘M sorry.”
“Forget the phone,” Rose laughed in spite of herself. “We’re just glad you’re still alive.”
“‘Ere,” the Doctor suddenly spoke from behind the two girls, as he draped his leather jacket over Solaris’ shoulders as an improvised towel and blanket. “You need to warm up. Jack said the water down there was very cold, and you were down there for a while.”
“Well worth it,” Solaris announced, revealing a narrow wooden box that she had been clutching close to her side. Wordlessly she handed it over to Rose, who opened it. Inside was a small old-looking key.
“You found it!?” Rose gaped, picking up the key in her hand.
“Don’t sound surprised,” Solaris smirked in a self-satisfied way. “Remember who you’re talking to here. But like the Doctor said, I was down there for a while. You probably need to get a move on if you’re going to beat the Umepha competing in the endurance trial.”
“Oh, right,” Rose remembered, turning to the island’s jungle. “The foot race to the center of the island.”
“You can do it,” the Doctor assured, his confidence in her visible in his face. “Remember, you’ve had a lot of practice at running. Just be careful.”
“Right,” Rose nodding, trying to sound more sure of herself than she actually felt. “See you later, then.” With one last glance at her three friends, she turned and hurried off, holding the key tight in her hand. As soon as she’d gone, Jack came up to Solaris and the Doctor’s side, his face filled with concern.
“Hey, Solaris,” Jack spoke to the N’renyan. “Tell me something. When the tide water was pouring into the cavern, did it reach that high level gradually?”
“Well, now that you mention it,” Solaris replied slowly, remembering, “the water level did rise slowly for the most part, but right after I called you guys; I don’t know, it was like a dam broke or something, because the water just started rushing in.”
“Yeah, I thought it was something like that,” Jack nodded, looking worried.
“Something you want to share with us?” The Doctor questioned.
“Well, I just was looking at the cavern entrance,” Jack explained. “It’s gotten bigger. When Solaris went down there, there was only enough room for one person to go down at a time. But just now…”
“You and Solaris managed to fit inside the entrance,” the Doctor concluded, beginning to understand what he was implying.
“Wait a minute,” Solaris held up a hand. “What are you two getting at?”
“We don’t think that the cavern filled up that fast on its own,” the Doctor clarified. “That means, someone must have purposely widened the entrance while you were down there, to make the cavern flood faster.”
“You mean, someone just tried to kill me?” Solaris paled at the realization. “Wh…why? I haven’t done anything wrong. Well, not on this planet, at least. Why kill me?”
“Why do you think?” Jack frowned. “To stop you from finding the key, and completing the trial.”
“But then…” Solaris stiffened in apprehension. “If someone just tried to kill me to stop me from completing my trial, wouldn’t they try and stop Rose from finishing hers, too?”
“Something tells me,” Jack noted, glancing over Solaris’ shoulder, “that he made the same conclusion.” Solaris turned to the direction Jack was looking in, just in time to see the Doctor disappearing into the island jungle, hurrying off after Rose.
-----
Rose leaned up against a high rocky outcrop in the center of the island, trying to prepare herself for the final stretch of the footrace. After running all the way from the coast, she was close to exhaustion, with scrapes on her arms and cheeks from low hanging branches, but knew that she couldn’t stop now. She still had to make it to the top of the outcrop, and could only hope that the Umepha competing in the Endurance Trial hadn’t already beaten her to it.
Taking a deep breath, she started to climb up the side of the outcrop, trying to ignore the stitch in her side. As a result, she didn’t immediately notice the sudden pain as sharp stones hit her legs, but when one collided with her hand, she let out a cry of startled pain. Looking up, she saw an Umepha standing on a ledge above her, pelting her with stones from a slingshot.
“What are you doing!?” Rose shouted up at the Umepha, just as a slingstone scraped against her cheek.
“You’re not going any further, Human,” the Umepha shouted, glaring down at her. “There’s no way I’m about to let you reclaim the Amulet of Nine Stones for the Anaphu. Not when they’re so close to becoming our slaves.” Before Rose could respond to these words, the Umepha fired off a rather large slingstone. It hit her hand with such force, she had to pull it back with a cry of pain. As she tried to shake off the sting, the Umepha scaled down the outcrop to a spot right above her. Glaring down at her, he reached down and began trying to force her off the outcrop.
“Stop it!” Rose cried as her feet slipped off her footholds, leaving her hanging by just her fingers.
“You’re not going to be finishing the Harvest-time Trials,” the Umepha snarled, paying no heed to her pleads. “I’ve wanted those Anaphu to be our slaves for the past nine years. You are not going to spare them from that fate, not when I’m so close to insuring it after all this time.” Rose’s eyes widened as the Umepha’s words processed in her head. Did that mean what it sounded like? Was this Umepha actually saying that he’d purposely kept the Anaphu from winning the Harvest-time Trials for the past nine years?
Rose had no time to confirm her suspicions, for the Umepha was now trying to pry her fingers off the rocky outcrop. Just as he was about to succeed, however, he let out a yelp of pain and jerked backwards, gingerly clutching his hand. As Rose looked back up at the whimpering Umepha, a movement above them caught her attention. Glancing further up, a large smile stretched across her face. The Doctor was standing on the ledge where the Umepha had first appeared, and was pointing his sonic screwdriver at the Umepha, fixing him with a furious glare, the one he usually had when he was facing down aliens like the Slitheen.
“Rose, are you all right?” he called down to her.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rose smiled. Taking advantage of the Umepha’s distraction with his hurting hand, she climbed up to the ledge to join the Doctor, who enveloped her into a tight hug the moment her feet reached level ground. “How’d you…?”
“Jack found something that indicated someone had intentionally tried to speed up the flooding of the cavern Solaris was in, in order to drown her and keep her from finding that key. From the looks of things, I reckon this is the one trying to sabotage our chances of finishing the trials.” As the Doctor spoke, he glowered at the Umepha with an expression Rose could only remember seeing on his face once before; back on Satellite 5, when Adam had shown his true colors.
“Rose, ‘urry up and get the amulet from the top of this outcrop,” he instructed in almost a growl, not taking his eyes off the Umepha.
“Doctor,” Rose reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “Just…don’t do anything to him, all right?”
“Not do anything?!” The Doctor frowned at her, a definite crease between his brows. “Rose, this Umepha just tried to kill you, and almost caused Solaris to drown.”
“I know,” Rose replied, sparing a glance down at the Umepha, who was looking rather frightened under the Doctor’s intense glare. “But…just promise me you’ll let the Anaphu take care of him. From what he said before you arrived, he’s sabotaged their chances of winning the trials for the past nine years, so they should be the one to deal with him, right?” For the longest moment, the Doctor held Rose’s gaze before looking back at the Umepha with a resigned sigh.
“All right,” he gave in. “You go and get the amulet so we can get out of here. I’ll just make sure this Umepha doesn’t run off.”
-----
Together, Rose and the Doctor returned to the coastline where the TARDIS stood waiting, with the amulet hanging safely from Rose’s neck. The Umepha was shuffling alongside them, occasionally struggling against the vines the Doctor had used as improvised ropes to tie him up. As they reached the TARDIS, they immediately saw Jack and Solaris hurrying towards them. Following close behind them was Shor.
“Rose! Doctor!” Jack cried as he and Solaris rejoined their friends, pausing to hug Rose in relief. “Good to see you’re both safe.”
“Your friends here have told me that someone tried to sabotage your chances of winning the Harvest-time Trials,” Shor said, clearly stunned by the information. “Was this true?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” the Doctor assured, shoving the guilty Umepha forward. “I think it was only this Umepha trying to sabotage us. The rest of his village most likely had nothing to do with it.” As Shor nodded in understanding, Solaris stepped forward, holding out the Doctor’s leather jacket.
“Thank you for lending it to me,” she smiled awkwardly.
“Of course,” the Doctor returned the smile, pulling the jacket back on. “It’s just good to see you’re alright.”
“So, you have claimed the Amulet of Nine Stones,” Shor noted, glancing over at Rose, who was still wearing the amulet. “If I may?” Shor held out a hand for the amulet, which Rose passed to him. A pleased smile stretched across Shor’s face as he slipped the amulet around his own neck.
“I thank each of you so much,” he spoke in gratefulness. “Thanks to you, my people have been spared from serving as slaves to the Umephas.”
“It’s been fun,” Jack replied with a grin. “So, is there a feast to celebrate, or can we just leave now with the amulet?
“What are you talking about?” Shor frowned suddenly. “I’m afraid that the Amulet of Nine Stones can never leave our island.
“But we just completed all the trials!” Rose cried in disbelief. “And Solaris and I were nearly killed! Now you’re telling us we can’t even keep the amulet for…”
“You were competing in the trials as our representatives, Miss Tyler,” Shor reminded. “Your jobs were to win the Amulet of Nine Stones for us, and you have done that.”
“You don’t understand,” the Doctor stepped in. “My friends and I came to this planet to find that amulet. Rose’s life is in danger if we leave without it.”
“Oh, come on guys,” Solaris chuckled. “Forget about the amulet. Let them keep it.”
“What?!” Everyone instantly turned to the N’renyan in shock.
“Now, we have to be reasonable,” Solaris insisted, strolling over and casually draping an arm over Shor’s shoulder. “It’s obvious that they’re not willing to part with their precious amulet no matter what we say. So, there’s no point in arguing, is there?”
“Very good; you understand,” Shor smiled at the thief.
“Oh, completely,” Solaris assured as she stepped back towards her friends. “I feel the same about my medallion. Only someone with a lot of guile could ever take it from me.” As Solaris spoke, the Doctor’s eyes were drawn to the slight movement of Solaris’ hand as she moved it behind her back, stealthily showing him that she had the amulet in her grasp. Chancing a glance at the unsuspecting Shor, he saw that Solaris had deviously swapped the amulet for her hunting trial shell necklace without his knowledge.
“So, then, Doctor,” Solaris flashed the Time Lord a roguish smile over her shoulder, covertly tucking the stolen amulet into her back pocket. “What do you say? Think we should head off for our next destination now?”
“Yes, I think leaving now would be best,” the Doctor agreed. “Right, then, everyone. Back to the TARDIS.” With everyone putting their best efforts into acting normal so Shor wouldn’t get any suspicions, the four friends turned and headed off to the waiting TARDIS. As the door to the time ship closed, Shor began to head back to his village, escorting the bound Umepha for punishment for his attempted sabotage, but suddenly stopped upon glancing down to admire the amulet. For a moment, he stared in shock at the shell necklace that was now hanging around his neck before realization came, and he spun back around with an aghast look on his face. However, it was already too late, and he watched in shock as the TARDIS slowly vanished from sight.
-----
When they were within the time vortex, Solaris tossed the amulet over to the Doctor with a pleased smile.
“Where’d you learn that trick?” Rose asked.
“Please,” Solaris scoffed. “That was nothing. It’s only one of the first techniques I learned in the Thieves Guild. Novice thieves can pull it off.” With this said, she turned to face the Doctor. “So, do you still hold the fact that I’m a thief against me?” she teased.
“Don’t push it, Solaris,” the Doctor replied with a sternness that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You knew how important this amulet was to the Anaphu and Umepha.”
“Aw, they’ll get over it.” Solaris waved away the reproach. “Bet you anything that they’ll find something else to compete over a generation or two down the line. Besides, we need that amulet more, unless you’ve forgotten.”
“She’s got a point, you know,” Jack pointed out. “We’ve come too far in collecting these artifacts for Rose’s antidote to just leave without the amulet.”
“Yes, I know that,” the Doctor nodded, this time with a smile appearing on his face. “Maybe you being a thief isn’t a bad thing after all.”
“Oh, really?” Solaris smirked, her voice filled with amusement. “So someone’s glad that I’m a thief? Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard that one.” Within the span of a few seconds, everyone had broken out laughing, laughter filled with satisfaction that there was only one artifact left to find, and relief that it wouldn’t be long before Rose’s antidote could be retrieved. Most of all, however, it was the type of laughter that only existed among friends.
As the laughter eventually died down, Rose sided over to the Doctor, smiling up at him.
“Right then, that just leaves the coronet left,” she noted. “Where exactly are we going next?” The Doctor beamed at Rose before checking the coordinates one final time. When he saw the location of the coronet, he cast Rose one of the widest smiles he could muster. “What? Where are we going?” Rose urged, growing excited from the look of the Doctor’s smile.
“Oh, Rose, trust me. You are going to love it,” the Doctor promised, pulling the lever to send the TARDIS to the last planetary destination.
Story: Solaris
Character/Pairing: Doctor, Rose, Jack, OC, Hints of Doctor/Rose
Era: Ninth Doctor Era; Takes place between The Doctor Dances and Boomtown.
Rating: PG-13 (To be safe)
Chapter: 17.5/30(?) (The Harvest-time Trials, part 2)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retrieve a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
Note: I'm SO sorry this took so long. I was having the hardest time with one scene. Even now I'm not completely pleased with how it turned out, but didn't want you to wait any longer
Previous Chapters
Down in the cavern, Solaris trudged along, one hand pressed up against the dampened walls. Using her psychotic abilities, she scanned over the cavern, searching for the key she had to locate to complete the trial. In the beginning, while she hadn’t found anything, it was a lot easier, but now the water level was definitely rising, and was already just above her knees. With the water constantly churning, it was much harder for her to maintain a clear idea of what was beneath its surface. It was almost like trying to see through a clouded window that was coated with dirt and sludge. Whenever situations like these came along, Solaris was unable to keep herself from wondering if they would even be an issue if her psychic training had been allowed to continue, instead of being abruptly interrupted before she’d completely mastered her ability. Then again, spending too much time wondering about what might have been never solved anything. All she could do was just make the best with the amount of control she did have.
Putting all her concentration into stretching her mind to its limited capabilities, Solaris did everything she could to visualize the walls of the cavern for any hint of an alcove, or some other small opening where the box containing the key could have been stored. However, even then, she couldn’t clearly ‘see’ what was below the water level. As a result, she never noticed that the cavern floor ended in a steep drop-off until she took that last step and fell completely below the surface. While her legs had long since gotten used to the chill of the water, having her entire body submerged resulted in an instant shock, and it was all she could do to keep from opening her mouth to shout out.
With her clothing now completely soaked, Solaris felt her body being weighed down, and she realized that swimming up to the surface was going to be much harder. In fact, with her legs and arms almost completely numb from the cold, it would probably be near impossible. Thinking fast, she blindly started groping around for some hard surface she could use to push off of.
Just as she felt that her lungs were about to burst from lack of air, her hand brushed up against the slope of the drop off. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pushed herself upward, and began her rapid accent to the water’s surface. It was only by that simple act that she finally felt it. A little below the place where her hand had fallen, there was a natural nook embedded into the rocky slope, with a wooden box stored securely inside. That had to be the key she was supposed to find, but it was too late to stop her journey up for air.
Once her head broke the surface, Solaris took the chance to regain her breath, reaching into her waistcoat pocket for Rose’s ‘super phone’ to call the TARDIS. By the time the others made it to the cavern entrance, Solaris knew she’d have the box in her possession. All she’d need then was a little help climbing out. Running her fingers over the ‘super phone’, she soon found the button Rose had indicated as the speed dial, but almost immediately after pressing it, a low rumbling sound filled the cavern. Even before she turned to the direction of the sound, Solaris could psychically sense what was coming. For some reason, the tide water was pouring into the cavern at a much faster rate then it had been a moment ago, and a large wave of water was rushing towards her fast. Solaris only had time to hold her breath before the wall of water swept over her, forcing her under again.
-----
Rose was sitting in the pilot’s seat next to the TARDIS console, but she could still hear Jack’s shout of pain ring out from the med bay, leading her to instinctively wince in sympathy. The Doctor had explained that cauterization could be quite painful, but Rose hadn’t expected Jack to cry out like that. He just didn’t strike her as the type of person who’d be easily affected by physical pain, so the fact that she could hear him shouting out now made her a little uncomfortable.
A few moments later, the Doctor and Jack returned to the console room. Even though the process had been obviously painful, Rose noticed that it had done the trick, for the nosebleed had stopped, with only a bit of dried blood coating Jack’s nostrils.
“Just be careful not to get yourself hit there anytime soon,” the Doctor advised. “Give your nose a chance to heal itself.”
“Yeah, I’ll try to remember that,” Jack agreed. At that moment, the TARDIS’ phone started ringing.
“That must be Solaris,” Rose hopped up from the seat instantly. “She must have found the key.” The Doctor, being closest to the TARDIS phone, promptly answered it, but when he brought it up to his ear, all he could hear was what sounded like white noise, before the call ended abruptly.
“Something’s wrong,” he muttered with a concerned frown, already making his way to the doors. “We’d better get down to the cavern entrance.” Exchanging a worried glance, Rose and Jack immediately followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and across the coastline. When they reached the cavern entrance, the three friends found that the cavern was almost completely flooded, with absolutely no sign of Solaris.
“Where is she?” Rose asked her friends, staring down at the water, which appeared pitch black against the cavern walls. “You don’t think she….?” The Doctor’s fist clenched instinctively. He knew what Rose was asking, but he didn’t have an answer for her. At this point, there was no telling where Solaris was inside the cavern, but wherever it was, it was no doubt filled with water. If he had to be honest about it, he didn’t see any way Solaris wasn’t in danger of drowning down there, if she hadn’t already.
As surprising for him as it was, he was actually worried about the N’renyan thief, and not just because of Rose, who had undoubtedly started viewing Solaris as one of her mates. After all, Rose was like that; always forming friendships with people no matter where they went, whether it was the servant girl, Gwyneth, from Cardiff in 1869, or that slave boy from San Kloon, Nomra, and those girls from the penal colony on Justicia. She had even told him about the plumber from Platform One, Rafallo. No, it was more than that. He’d have hated admitting it before now, but when he thought about it, they may not have gotten this far without Solaris. First, she had willingly helped Rose out of the Black Jungle, and then took the fall for her in San Kloon. She had even saved Rose from the boffer on N’ren, before saving him from a fatal fall in the Ancient Temple in Storm Canyon. He could no longer deny that Solaris’ presence had been crucial to the task of retrieving the four artifacts.
Before the Doctor could figure out what he could possibly say to Rose about Solaris’ evident fate, Jack suddenly dove down the cavern entrance, disappearing under the dark water.
“What’s he doing?” the Doctor stared after him. “There’s no telling how many openings and dead ends there might be down there. He’ll never be able to find Solaris and make it back without running out of air.”
“But he has to,” Rose insisted, refusing to look away from the water flooding the cavern. “They can’t just die down there; they just can’t!” The Doctor knelt down by her side, unable to bear seeing the worry on her face.
“Rose,” he started to say, only to be cut off by Jack suddenly resurfacing, gasping for air. To their surprised relief, a half-drowned Solaris was safely tucked in his left arm, coughing up water.
“Rose, Doctor!” Jack called up to them, treading water with free hand. “Here, take her.” Doing his best to keep his head above the water, Jack carefully passed Solaris over to the Doctor, who reached down the cavern entrance to hoist her out. Once the N’renyan thief was secured in the Doctor’s grasp, Jack went to work in scaling the side of the cavern, pulling himself out as well. Doing her part to help out, Rose offered herself as a human crutch, escorting Solaris to a spot well away from the tide line and sitting her down on a dry section of the rocky shoal.
“Just take it easy, okay?” Rose advised, sitting next to her. In response, Solaris reached into her waistcoat pocket, pulling out the ‘super phone’ and passing it back to her.
“‘Fraid it got wet,” Solaris choked out, her voice weak from swallowing too much water. “‘M sorry.”
“Forget the phone,” Rose laughed in spite of herself. “We’re just glad you’re still alive.”
“‘Ere,” the Doctor suddenly spoke from behind the two girls, as he draped his leather jacket over Solaris’ shoulders as an improvised towel and blanket. “You need to warm up. Jack said the water down there was very cold, and you were down there for a while.”
“Well worth it,” Solaris announced, revealing a narrow wooden box that she had been clutching close to her side. Wordlessly she handed it over to Rose, who opened it. Inside was a small old-looking key.
“You found it!?” Rose gaped, picking up the key in her hand.
“Don’t sound surprised,” Solaris smirked in a self-satisfied way. “Remember who you’re talking to here. But like the Doctor said, I was down there for a while. You probably need to get a move on if you’re going to beat the Umepha competing in the endurance trial.”
“Oh, right,” Rose remembered, turning to the island’s jungle. “The foot race to the center of the island.”
“You can do it,” the Doctor assured, his confidence in her visible in his face. “Remember, you’ve had a lot of practice at running. Just be careful.”
“Right,” Rose nodding, trying to sound more sure of herself than she actually felt. “See you later, then.” With one last glance at her three friends, she turned and hurried off, holding the key tight in her hand. As soon as she’d gone, Jack came up to Solaris and the Doctor’s side, his face filled with concern.
“Hey, Solaris,” Jack spoke to the N’renyan. “Tell me something. When the tide water was pouring into the cavern, did it reach that high level gradually?”
“Well, now that you mention it,” Solaris replied slowly, remembering, “the water level did rise slowly for the most part, but right after I called you guys; I don’t know, it was like a dam broke or something, because the water just started rushing in.”
“Yeah, I thought it was something like that,” Jack nodded, looking worried.
“Something you want to share with us?” The Doctor questioned.
“Well, I just was looking at the cavern entrance,” Jack explained. “It’s gotten bigger. When Solaris went down there, there was only enough room for one person to go down at a time. But just now…”
“You and Solaris managed to fit inside the entrance,” the Doctor concluded, beginning to understand what he was implying.
“Wait a minute,” Solaris held up a hand. “What are you two getting at?”
“We don’t think that the cavern filled up that fast on its own,” the Doctor clarified. “That means, someone must have purposely widened the entrance while you were down there, to make the cavern flood faster.”
“You mean, someone just tried to kill me?” Solaris paled at the realization. “Wh…why? I haven’t done anything wrong. Well, not on this planet, at least. Why kill me?”
“Why do you think?” Jack frowned. “To stop you from finding the key, and completing the trial.”
“But then…” Solaris stiffened in apprehension. “If someone just tried to kill me to stop me from completing my trial, wouldn’t they try and stop Rose from finishing hers, too?”
“Something tells me,” Jack noted, glancing over Solaris’ shoulder, “that he made the same conclusion.” Solaris turned to the direction Jack was looking in, just in time to see the Doctor disappearing into the island jungle, hurrying off after Rose.
-----
Rose leaned up against a high rocky outcrop in the center of the island, trying to prepare herself for the final stretch of the footrace. After running all the way from the coast, she was close to exhaustion, with scrapes on her arms and cheeks from low hanging branches, but knew that she couldn’t stop now. She still had to make it to the top of the outcrop, and could only hope that the Umepha competing in the Endurance Trial hadn’t already beaten her to it.
Taking a deep breath, she started to climb up the side of the outcrop, trying to ignore the stitch in her side. As a result, she didn’t immediately notice the sudden pain as sharp stones hit her legs, but when one collided with her hand, she let out a cry of startled pain. Looking up, she saw an Umepha standing on a ledge above her, pelting her with stones from a slingshot.
“What are you doing!?” Rose shouted up at the Umepha, just as a slingstone scraped against her cheek.
“You’re not going any further, Human,” the Umepha shouted, glaring down at her. “There’s no way I’m about to let you reclaim the Amulet of Nine Stones for the Anaphu. Not when they’re so close to becoming our slaves.” Before Rose could respond to these words, the Umepha fired off a rather large slingstone. It hit her hand with such force, she had to pull it back with a cry of pain. As she tried to shake off the sting, the Umepha scaled down the outcrop to a spot right above her. Glaring down at her, he reached down and began trying to force her off the outcrop.
“Stop it!” Rose cried as her feet slipped off her footholds, leaving her hanging by just her fingers.
“You’re not going to be finishing the Harvest-time Trials,” the Umepha snarled, paying no heed to her pleads. “I’ve wanted those Anaphu to be our slaves for the past nine years. You are not going to spare them from that fate, not when I’m so close to insuring it after all this time.” Rose’s eyes widened as the Umepha’s words processed in her head. Did that mean what it sounded like? Was this Umepha actually saying that he’d purposely kept the Anaphu from winning the Harvest-time Trials for the past nine years?
Rose had no time to confirm her suspicions, for the Umepha was now trying to pry her fingers off the rocky outcrop. Just as he was about to succeed, however, he let out a yelp of pain and jerked backwards, gingerly clutching his hand. As Rose looked back up at the whimpering Umepha, a movement above them caught her attention. Glancing further up, a large smile stretched across her face. The Doctor was standing on the ledge where the Umepha had first appeared, and was pointing his sonic screwdriver at the Umepha, fixing him with a furious glare, the one he usually had when he was facing down aliens like the Slitheen.
“Rose, are you all right?” he called down to her.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rose smiled. Taking advantage of the Umepha’s distraction with his hurting hand, she climbed up to the ledge to join the Doctor, who enveloped her into a tight hug the moment her feet reached level ground. “How’d you…?”
“Jack found something that indicated someone had intentionally tried to speed up the flooding of the cavern Solaris was in, in order to drown her and keep her from finding that key. From the looks of things, I reckon this is the one trying to sabotage our chances of finishing the trials.” As the Doctor spoke, he glowered at the Umepha with an expression Rose could only remember seeing on his face once before; back on Satellite 5, when Adam had shown his true colors.
“Rose, ‘urry up and get the amulet from the top of this outcrop,” he instructed in almost a growl, not taking his eyes off the Umepha.
“Doctor,” Rose reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “Just…don’t do anything to him, all right?”
“Not do anything?!” The Doctor frowned at her, a definite crease between his brows. “Rose, this Umepha just tried to kill you, and almost caused Solaris to drown.”
“I know,” Rose replied, sparing a glance down at the Umepha, who was looking rather frightened under the Doctor’s intense glare. “But…just promise me you’ll let the Anaphu take care of him. From what he said before you arrived, he’s sabotaged their chances of winning the trials for the past nine years, so they should be the one to deal with him, right?” For the longest moment, the Doctor held Rose’s gaze before looking back at the Umepha with a resigned sigh.
“All right,” he gave in. “You go and get the amulet so we can get out of here. I’ll just make sure this Umepha doesn’t run off.”
-----
Together, Rose and the Doctor returned to the coastline where the TARDIS stood waiting, with the amulet hanging safely from Rose’s neck. The Umepha was shuffling alongside them, occasionally struggling against the vines the Doctor had used as improvised ropes to tie him up. As they reached the TARDIS, they immediately saw Jack and Solaris hurrying towards them. Following close behind them was Shor.
“Rose! Doctor!” Jack cried as he and Solaris rejoined their friends, pausing to hug Rose in relief. “Good to see you’re both safe.”
“Your friends here have told me that someone tried to sabotage your chances of winning the Harvest-time Trials,” Shor said, clearly stunned by the information. “Was this true?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” the Doctor assured, shoving the guilty Umepha forward. “I think it was only this Umepha trying to sabotage us. The rest of his village most likely had nothing to do with it.” As Shor nodded in understanding, Solaris stepped forward, holding out the Doctor’s leather jacket.
“Thank you for lending it to me,” she smiled awkwardly.
“Of course,” the Doctor returned the smile, pulling the jacket back on. “It’s just good to see you’re alright.”
“So, you have claimed the Amulet of Nine Stones,” Shor noted, glancing over at Rose, who was still wearing the amulet. “If I may?” Shor held out a hand for the amulet, which Rose passed to him. A pleased smile stretched across Shor’s face as he slipped the amulet around his own neck.
“I thank each of you so much,” he spoke in gratefulness. “Thanks to you, my people have been spared from serving as slaves to the Umephas.”
“It’s been fun,” Jack replied with a grin. “So, is there a feast to celebrate, or can we just leave now with the amulet?
“What are you talking about?” Shor frowned suddenly. “I’m afraid that the Amulet of Nine Stones can never leave our island.
“But we just completed all the trials!” Rose cried in disbelief. “And Solaris and I were nearly killed! Now you’re telling us we can’t even keep the amulet for…”
“You were competing in the trials as our representatives, Miss Tyler,” Shor reminded. “Your jobs were to win the Amulet of Nine Stones for us, and you have done that.”
“You don’t understand,” the Doctor stepped in. “My friends and I came to this planet to find that amulet. Rose’s life is in danger if we leave without it.”
“Oh, come on guys,” Solaris chuckled. “Forget about the amulet. Let them keep it.”
“What?!” Everyone instantly turned to the N’renyan in shock.
“Now, we have to be reasonable,” Solaris insisted, strolling over and casually draping an arm over Shor’s shoulder. “It’s obvious that they’re not willing to part with their precious amulet no matter what we say. So, there’s no point in arguing, is there?”
“Very good; you understand,” Shor smiled at the thief.
“Oh, completely,” Solaris assured as she stepped back towards her friends. “I feel the same about my medallion. Only someone with a lot of guile could ever take it from me.” As Solaris spoke, the Doctor’s eyes were drawn to the slight movement of Solaris’ hand as she moved it behind her back, stealthily showing him that she had the amulet in her grasp. Chancing a glance at the unsuspecting Shor, he saw that Solaris had deviously swapped the amulet for her hunting trial shell necklace without his knowledge.
“So, then, Doctor,” Solaris flashed the Time Lord a roguish smile over her shoulder, covertly tucking the stolen amulet into her back pocket. “What do you say? Think we should head off for our next destination now?”
“Yes, I think leaving now would be best,” the Doctor agreed. “Right, then, everyone. Back to the TARDIS.” With everyone putting their best efforts into acting normal so Shor wouldn’t get any suspicions, the four friends turned and headed off to the waiting TARDIS. As the door to the time ship closed, Shor began to head back to his village, escorting the bound Umepha for punishment for his attempted sabotage, but suddenly stopped upon glancing down to admire the amulet. For a moment, he stared in shock at the shell necklace that was now hanging around his neck before realization came, and he spun back around with an aghast look on his face. However, it was already too late, and he watched in shock as the TARDIS slowly vanished from sight.
-----
When they were within the time vortex, Solaris tossed the amulet over to the Doctor with a pleased smile.
“Where’d you learn that trick?” Rose asked.
“Please,” Solaris scoffed. “That was nothing. It’s only one of the first techniques I learned in the Thieves Guild. Novice thieves can pull it off.” With this said, she turned to face the Doctor. “So, do you still hold the fact that I’m a thief against me?” she teased.
“Don’t push it, Solaris,” the Doctor replied with a sternness that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You knew how important this amulet was to the Anaphu and Umepha.”
“Aw, they’ll get over it.” Solaris waved away the reproach. “Bet you anything that they’ll find something else to compete over a generation or two down the line. Besides, we need that amulet more, unless you’ve forgotten.”
“She’s got a point, you know,” Jack pointed out. “We’ve come too far in collecting these artifacts for Rose’s antidote to just leave without the amulet.”
“Yes, I know that,” the Doctor nodded, this time with a smile appearing on his face. “Maybe you being a thief isn’t a bad thing after all.”
“Oh, really?” Solaris smirked, her voice filled with amusement. “So someone’s glad that I’m a thief? Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard that one.” Within the span of a few seconds, everyone had broken out laughing, laughter filled with satisfaction that there was only one artifact left to find, and relief that it wouldn’t be long before Rose’s antidote could be retrieved. Most of all, however, it was the type of laughter that only existed among friends.
As the laughter eventually died down, Rose sided over to the Doctor, smiling up at him.
“Right then, that just leaves the coronet left,” she noted. “Where exactly are we going next?” The Doctor beamed at Rose before checking the coordinates one final time. When he saw the location of the coronet, he cast Rose one of the widest smiles he could muster. “What? Where are we going?” Rose urged, growing excited from the look of the Doctor’s smile.
“Oh, Rose, trust me. You are going to love it,” the Doctor promised, pulling the lever to send the TARDIS to the last planetary destination.