Post by Fitz Kreiner on May 13, 2010 19:50:54 GMT
Day two, The Ceremony.
I’m sure that my jaw was brushing the floor as the first Drachnith pulled itself up to its full height after stepping onto the station. I’m not sure if it was getting used to a different gravity or not, but soon four others followed it through.
I bet you’re itching to know what the Drachnith look like? Well, I’ll do my best to describe them for you.
The Drachnith were about eight feet tall, taller than the Anubians, and looked almost reptilian. Their skin was a yellowy-orange in colour and seemed either leathery or scaly. I wasn’t sure which and I didn’t really fancy getting a closer look. They made the Anubians look cute! The Doctor was right about their legs, they were cybernetic and dull gunmetal grey and rather heavy looking with three metal toes, I guess is the best way to describe them. I could see thinner silver under the metal of the lower part of the legs which I thought was the real legs of the Drachnith; they were wrapped in what looked like silver metal bandages. Their thighs were metal plated as well and they all seemed to wear the same leather and metal belt around their waists with silver metal discs on either hip.
They had very clear webbed hands, a thin skin membrane between clawed fingers which clenched and unclenched as the creatures looked at us all. Their eyes were small and red with horizontal slit pupils, like cats eyes on their side. Their heads were large and flat almost triangular in shape with a thick ridge down the middle and four horns on either side. Their faces looked almost like a cross between a cat and a fish. Not a catfish, but creepy. They had what looked like whiskers or short tentacles either side of their mouths which quivered in a rather stomach churning manner. I couldn’t see a nose on any of the creatures, but they had very sharp looking large yellow pointed teeth. And there was one hell of a smell coming from them. I’m sure that the Anubians would be able to smell it, being dogs.
All were wearing a long maroon cape with orange trim at the bottom. Three of them were dressed identical, as though it were a uniform; they had what looked like grey padded body armour with maroon and black strips of cloth coming up from their belts and attached to their capes. I took them to be guards or soldiers, something of that kind, the body armour and uniforms gave it away. Although the strange thing was their arms were bare. All three of them had what looked like elaborate metal bracelets or gauntlets on their wrists with short tubes jutting from underneath with thick wires going from the wrist device to the tube. These had to be guns of some kind.
The other two looked like officials. The Doctor had said that one of the Drachnith visiting was the Drachnith Prime, some kind of leader, obviously. He was obvious to spot; he was wearing a floor length maroon and orange cloak with a large and heavy collar-piece that went over his shoulders and had a high back. Under that, he seemed to have a red tunic and what could have been a maroon and orange full length coat. There was a lot of maroon and orange here. It was the collar and all the cloaks that made me thing this was the leader. The other didn’t look so grand, he just wore the red tunic with a maroon slim fitting what could have been mesh sleeved top under it. His cloak also had an impressive collar but it was flatter and more angular. He must have been another dignitary.
There was no doubt about it, they were here and boy, were they ugly! I know I shouldn’t discriminate like that, and we were probably ugly to them as well. I watched as Rameso and Tuchaneth approached the five Drachnith and dropped down to one knee and bowed. All the guards around did the same and for once I felt almost tall. Only the Doctor and I were still stood up.
“Welcome, my lord, to Intheop,” Rameso said as he got back to his feet. “I am governor Rameso, and this is my deputy Tuchaneth.”
The less elaborately dressed of the two Drachnith who weren’t the soldiers stepped forwards and raised his arms, clenching his fists and putting his wrists together in front of his chest in a form of salute. I could hear something like hydraulics hissing when he walked.
“I am ambassador from the Drachnith Assemblage,” he hissed. They didn’t seem to have any lips and there was a strong hissing when they spoke. “The Drachnith Prime accepts your welcome.
“I regret to inform your, that the Princess Theoris has been detained by pressing affairs of state and cannot be here to greet you,” Rameso bowed again.
I carried on watching as the Drachnith Ambassador turned to look at the Drachnith Prime. There was a horrible moment when we made eye contact. I don’t know why it was horrible, it may have just been that I wasn’t quite expecting it straight off like that. It was one of those moments, our eyes made full contact and he clearly saw that I was looking at him and knew that I knew he was looking at me. I felt like I wasn’t able to stop looking as the creature as it turned towards me.
“Doctor,” I think I whispered as the Drachnith strode towards us both.
“Which of you is the Time Lord,” it hissed standing over us both. I could smell its breath, and it smelled like rotting fish.
“Ah, yes, that would be me,” the Doctor said, stepping in front of me holding his hand out, and up as well considering the size of the Drachnith. “How do you do? I’m the Doctor,” he drew his hand back. I think he was expecting the Drachnith to shake it, but it didn’t even look at his hand. Instead it continued to look at me.
“And what is this?” it asked, pointing at me. I almost felt offended at it for treating me like a thing, but then I realised that I’d been thinking of them as things mostly. And I guess if they’re not used to humans, then I am just an anonymous alien to them.
“Ah yes,” the Doctor said, cutting me off. I knew I had my mouth open and I was probably going to give the Drachnith a piece of my mind. “This is my assistant Jess, she’s a human.”
“I have never heard of the species,” the Drachnith Prime said. It still hadn’t taken its eyes off me.
I opened my mouth again to reply but was beaten again by the Doctor. “At this moment in time, their race doesn’t purport to much; they inhabit a small planet in Mutter’s Spiral. Jess is from about seven thousand years in their future. That is, their future from this point in time.”
“You have brought it from the future?” the Drachnith asked.
I couldn’t take any more. “I’m not an ‘it’, if you must, ‘she’ but I’d prefer ‘Jess’,” I said, stepping from behind the Doctor.
I looked up into the red eyes of the Drachnith. I couldn’t read the expression on its face, so I couldn’t tell whether I’d offended it or not, or whether my standing up for myself was a good thing for it. I’m pretty sure I did a comical swallow as the Drachnith Prime bent down to me and raised its hands. It clenched them into fists and then crossed them before its chest. I’d seen the ambassador do the same thing to Rameso just minutes before. I wasn’t too sure what to do back to the Drachnith so I copied the crossed hand salute thing.
“Rah,” the Drachnith roared and stood up.
For several terrifying seconds, I thought that I’d offended him, or it, somehow by copying his salute.
“I like this human,” it roared. “It has the fire of a Drachnith it its belly.”
Then, the bloody thing walloped me on my right arm, which sent me staggering sideways into the Doctor. The Drachnith Prime had turned away and didn’t really see me nearly fall. It had turned its attention back to Rameso. Fortunately the Doctor was there to help me back onto my feet properly.
“Nice work,” he said softly in my ear, “you managed to impress a Drachnith, and the Drachnith Prime at that.”
I had to smile at that. The Doctor made it seem that impressing a Drachnith is rather hard thing to do.
“You are commander of this station,” it growled. It could only be a growl the way it spoke.
“I am governor, yes,” Rameso replied, bowing. “If you and your delegation would care to accompany myself and my aids, we shall present you with the freedom of Intheop before the conference commences.”
“This is the important bit,” the Doctor whispered to me again.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Drachnith are very short tempered, this presentation and tour could test that. If the Prime agrees, then we’re off to a good start.”
“Very well,” the Drachnith growled. “Then to the conference.”
That definitely had to be a command, the way the Drachnith delivered it sounded like it was a command. Although with it being the Prime, I guess that it had to be used to giving commands rather than asking.
“This way,” Rameso said, indicating for the Drachnith to walk with him.
“So what do we do now then?” I asked, looking up at the Doctor. My arm still ached quite badly from where the Drachnith had hit me.
“Now, we follow, keep our eyes open and make sure that nothing goes awry,” the Doctor replied.
“Riiiiiiiiiight,” I said, clearly showing my sarcasm. “Because Earth-girl is going to know how Alien Conference is going to go.”
“Oh Jess,” the Doctor said softly, in a voice that was almost saddened. “You’ve got some remarkable talents for spotting when things are wrong, I’ve seen them. Use your instincts; if something doesn’t feel right, then let me know immediately, no matter how small or trivial it may seem.”
I don’t know what it is about these little speeches of his, but they make me blush, and needless to say that I blushed again when he said that. It took me several seconds to realise he was holding his hand out to me for me to take it. Rameso and Tuchaneth had already set off with the Drachnith delegation, and they were already some way ahead. Some of the Anubian guards had hung back, obviously waiting for us.
I smiled up at the Doctor and took his hand and walked alongside him. He seemed to be cheerfully pointing out things around me and talking me through what we were seeing. He either knew a lot more than he had already let on about things, or he’d learnt it all while he was out somewhere this morning or yesterday when Rameso wanted to talk to him.
I have to admit, I did miss a lot of what he was saying, I was too busy trying to look at what he was pointing at whilst keeping my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary (even more so) or any hidden snipers or anything. You never knew what to expect, there could be a disgruntled Anubian with a sniper rifle or something, just out of sight, waiting to pounce.
I kept my eye open for any trip wires or anything as we followed the procession down a series of tunnels; I guess they could be described like tunnels; long corridors of pillars with stone arches, and what looked like torches in the walls lighting the way. It eventually lead out onto a vast stage, large fire pits on both sides lighting it, with huge stone thrones set about it. The Doctor and me were pointed to two smaller chairs towards one side, with the Anubians set to one side and the Drachnith to another. Rameso took a chair in the centre, a wonderful ornate marble and gold throne. I wondered whether it was meant to have been Princess Theoris’s chair, but her not being there delegated it to Rameso.
The front of the stage was dominated with a large cloth curtain, which stretched from the large arches that formed the front of the stage. I could hear noise from behind it; it was people talking. Then it hit me, we were on a large stage, and about to be revealed to possibly thousands of Anubians. My eyes widened in shock as the curtains moved away, revealing us to them, there were tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands! It was like being on stage at a music festival. I could see at least seven different levels at the back of the vast arena, there had to be more.
“Impressive,” the Doctor said softly behind me.
“It’s big,” I said flatly. I couldn’t think of anything else to say about it.
“It reminds me of the Panopticon back on Gallifrey,” he said, “just a little smaller.”
“You have places bigger than this on Gallifrey?” I asked, and immediately knew what he was going to say back to me.
“Only on the inside,” he grinned.
It was one of those comments and grins that made me forget I was on stage in front of thousands of aliens and really relax me. I grinned back before Rameso’s voice interrupted me.
“My people,” he said, his voice echoing as though he was speaking through a microphone, although I couldn’t see one. “We welcome to our glorious city of Intheop, the Drachnith Assemblage.”
Rameso stopped as the vast crowd applauded and cheered. The noise was incredible! I’ve been to gigs and festivals where I’ve been right in the front of the crowd and been cheering/screaming/applauding myself, but to be on the stage where it happens is something else altogether.
Rameso got to his feet and held his arms up to silence the crowd. He then turned and gestured to the Drachnith Prime, who stood and walked forward. Rameso reached round and indicated for Tuchaneth to come forwards. He was holding a large marble slab with a gold and jewelled sceptre sat on it. Rameso picked it up theatrically and handed it over to the Drachnith Prime.
“So, they’ve gone to all this just to present a key or something?” I asked to the Doctor.
“It’s all about putting on a show, trying to impress the Drachnith,” the Doctor replied. “It’s psychological. Is there any need for all the fun and games of the Olympic opening ceremonies? It’s just show.”
“So they’ll hand over the key, or whatever, and that’s it?” I asked.
The Doctor just pointed to an area in the middle of the arena I hadn’t noticed before; a second stage, elevated. There was clearly going to be something happen on there. And the Doctor was right; I jumped when the pyrotechnic show started, fireworks and jets of fire, it was like being at a rock gig. Then there was the music and the dancing, acrobatics and several things I couldn’t put a name to.
I kept looking across to Rameso and the Drachnith Prime. They now had their chairs next to each other and Rameso seemed to keep leaning across to talk to the Drachnith Prime. I don’t know whether he was having much luck as he seemed to be sat in his chair watching the ceremony most of the time. The Drachnith don’t strike me as the sort to be up for small talk. I felt a bit sorry for Rameso as he continued to try to talk to the Prime. If the Doctor had been there, I imagine he’d have talked the Drachnith’s cybernetic legs off!
There were about ten Anubian females on stage, leaping and dancing about nimbly, landing on their paw toes, long streamers in each hand. The shapes that they were forming were spectacular, I had no idea how they’d done that. I’d done some gymnastics when I was younger, and had never been able to do that with the ribbons.
I shot a glance across to the Doctor, and he was sat smiling, tapping the arm of his chair softly with fingers, drumming along to the beat of the music. It was really quite something. I’ve seen some impressive things in my time, but this is like all the Olympic opening ceremonies I’ve ever seen, along with every benefit thrown in. There was what I could only assume were the Anubian equivalent of the top musicians or composers.
It then hit me; I’d not seen Tom since I left the villa that morning. He said that he would try to catch us up sometime. I had a sudden flush of panic before I realised that the amount of people who were here must have made it clear to him where the Doctor and myself would be.
Also, no one had tried to blow up the Drachnith, or shoot them, or anything else to try to kill them. But then, there was the chance that they could have put a bomb under the stage, in which case, me and the Doctor would be at risk too.
I was able to see that no one was looking our way, so I leant over to the Doctor and asked him about it.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that an Anubian who wanted to kill the Drachnith would plant a bomb here; there’s too much risk of killing innocents.” He paused as though a sudden thought had hit him. “But then there was the twin towers,” he added.
I had absolutely no idea what that was meant to mean, and told him as much, but he waved that aside.
“Is there a chance they could have then?” I asked. “I mean, put a bomb under here. If they really don’t like this, will killing the person who wants it stop them?”
“It would cause a massive war,” the Doctor agreed. “If there was a bombing and no one owned up to it, then there could be accusations and counter accusations. But it’s not the Anubian way; they’re honourable.”
“But one could not be,” I said cutting across him. I was rather worried by that point. Maybe there was a basis for my worry, or I’d talked myself into thinking it was real.
“Tell you what,” he smiled, “I’ll pop and check. Enjoy the show.”
Before I had a chance to reply, he’d jumped up and dashed off, leaving me sat there like a lemon and feeling hugely conspicuous in front of thousands and thousands of aliens. I wasn’t sure what was worse, that, or that the Doctor actually had gone looking to see if there was a bomb or something. That meant that he suspected that something was going to happen. The thought made me really nervous.
It felt like I was sat there alone on the stage for hours. My thoughts kept turning round about where Tom was, what the Doctor was up to, was there someone trying to blow us up or shoot the Drachnith and what was happening on the stage. It was hard to try to pay full attention to the acrobatics and music what with what was going through my head, but it was still really impressive to watch.
I was so distracted I didn’t even notice the Doctor sit back down beside me. “All clear,” he said softly.
I looked over at him; he was sat relaxing as if he hadn’t been anywhere, legs crossed and his bag of Jelly Babies in one hand, carefully eating them one at a time.
“There aren’t any bombs?” I asked.
The Doctor offered me a Jelly Baby, smiling as he chewed one. I carefully picked out a black one and ate it. “Nothing down there out of the ordinary,” he said.
I raised my eyebrow at him; this situation wasn’t always ordinary; space dogs and fish cats having a peace conference. It reminded me of that line from Ghostbusters; ‘Cats and dogs living together...’ and all that.
“So if there’s nothing out of the ordinary, what does that mean?” I asked.
“It means, that either the conference is going to go without a hitch,” the Doctor paused, I thought somewhat dramatically as he ate another Jelly Baby, “or later, as the saying goes; all hell will break loose.”