Post by Fitz Kreiner on Jun 3, 2010 16:02:52 GMT
Day five, Anubis.
Tom’s revelation was a thought that hadn’t occurred to me. I didn’t want to think about a war fleet waiting for us. It was bad enough to think about the large Drachnith ship that was following us. Still, Tom had said that with the star drive, we’d arrive at Anubis in forty minutes, and that was a good twenty minutes ago.
We’d sat in silence since he said that there could be a fleet waiting for us. Tom’s story had taken up some of the time. Tom was keeping a close eye on the controls and trying to fly the ship, and Theoris was popping between the cockpit and the rest of the ship where the Anubians were. I was trying not to think all the negative thoughts that kept popping into my head. The main thoughts were in regards to the Doctor and the Drachnith.
After a while, I noticed a small star in the window was starting to get bigger and bigger. I then noticed that the movement of space around us was slowing down. We were approaching Anubis! At first it was just a silver speck, but it soon became a disk, getting larger and larger. I could see blue, white, orange and green. I took the blue to be sea, white to be clouds and the orange and green to be land. It was alien to when I’d first seen the Earth from space, but it was equally impressive.
As we got closer, I could start to make out the land masses. I didn’t see any moons or anything as we approached. By the time the planet had filled the screen, we’d slowed to what seemed like a crawl, although we were probably still going several hundred miles per hour, considering the speed we’d had to have been going.
“Land ho!” Tom shouted into the back, in his pirate voice again.
It didn’t take long for Theoris to appear back in the cockpit. “Can you land this ship?” she asked.
“I can get us to the surface, but land isn’t the term I’d probably use,” Tom replied. I think his joke was lost on Theoris. But then, it didn’t exactly make me smile either.
“What about calling them, y’know, hailing frequencies?” I asked. “Just in case they think we’re Drachnith and going to attack.”
“Yeah, good point,” Tom said. “Your people have any radios or stuff like that?” Tom asked Theoris.
“Transmission equipment, of course we do, we’re not savages,” Theoris replied. I could tell that she wasn’t getting along with Tom. I think his attempts at humour were lost on her, and he hadn’t built up two days of trust having shared some personal moments with her.
“I don’t think he meant it like that,” I said, leaping to his defence. “It’s just, we’ve not seen anything yet that could be transmission equipment.”
Tom looked round and gave Theoris one of his best stares. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you see if you can get in touch with your father? We need to warn him,” he said.
I think Theoris accepted this. She leant over us to the control panel and hit some of the controls. I couldn’t see what it was she was doing, but the main screen flickered from the picture of the outside space to a picture of a really grand room. I’d thought the rooms on Intheop had been grand, but this was a whole new level of grand. It was absolutely beautiful, the architecture was something else.
I could try to describe it but I don’t think I could do it justice. It was almost like a picture of heaven, the throne room for the most important person in history. And sat on the throne was clearly the Pharaoh Theodihad. His robes were gold and had the most beautiful embroidered designs I’ve ever seen. The throne looked like it was pure gold too. I also recognised one of the other Anubians I could see; Rameso. He’d escaped the destruction of Intheop. Then my eyes fell onto the other figure. I could barely contain my delight; the Doctor.
I didn’t know that I’d called out his name until he looked up and out of the screen, as if he were looking right into my eyes and said;
“Hello Jess. So good to see you again.”
“My daughter,” the Pharaoh Theodihad said getting from his throne and walking forwards.
“Father,” Theoris said. I could hear the joy in her voice.
“There we are Theodihad, I told you that Tom and Jess were the right people to look after her,” the Doctor said patting Theodihad on the shoulder. He had to reach up quite a way to do that though.
“As much as I hate to break up this little reunion, I may have a problem here,” Tom said.
I didn’t like the tone of his voice. His jolly tone had gone, and in its place was a severe and serious one. I wondered whether the Drachnith were with us, or something. I looked around the control panel for any red blinking lights or screens that showed masses of space ships behind us, but I couldn’t see one. The only lights flashing were a couple of green ones and one blue one.
“What is it?” the Doctor asked.
“I’m not sure I can get this ship down,” Tom replied.
I looked at him shocked. He’d lifted off and got us out of the Drachnith mother ship and now he was saying that he couldn’t land. I almost felt like hitting him for that, if he started something he should have known how to end it. But then, I’ve noticed that the Doctor will do something very similar. It must be a Time Lord thing. I chose to live with them, I could have left before now, but I haven’t, so I have to take the rough with the smooth. But then, they both more than make up for these moments.
“You can’t make a landing?” Rameso asked from behind the Doctor and Theodihad.
“I can make a landing, but I can’t guarantee how many pieces we arrive in,” Tom replied. He looked at me and mouthed ‘sorry’. It was another one of those instances where it seems as though he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“We can help you the Imperial Landing strip,” Theodihad said. He looked off screen and gestured to someone I couldn’t see.
The Doctor looked up out of the screen and directly to Tom. “Tom, I believe you can do this, I trust you to land that ship safely,” he said.
I looked from the Doctor to Tom. They were almost staring directly into each other through the screen. I didn’t know whether they were having another Time Lord moment, but I could see the sincerity in the Doctor’s eyes. He trusted Tom implicitly to land the ship, and it then fell into place for me; he had trusted in Tom to get me and the princess to safety, get himself caught somehow and then get out and if we got caught, get us out too. It was as though he knew what was going to happen. He’s done that before as well!
I could see the look on Tom’s face as well. He was starting to realise that the Doctor knew that he could do it. Whether the Anubians had tractor beams that would help us down or not, I don’t know, but suddenly I felt a lot better. I’m sure I’ve said before, I always feel a certain level of safety around the Doctor and Tom, and I was feeling that safety now, neither of them would deliberately put me in any danger, and I know Tom would protect me with his life. At least, I get that feeling.
“What about the Drachnith?” I asked. There had been that niggle at the back of my mind.
“Our sensors do not detect any other Drachnith vessels in the proximity of Anubis,” Rameso said.
“But they’re gonna be behind us, you’ve got to get your ships ready to stop them,” I protested. I didn’t want to see the Drachnith destroy any more Anubian cities, whether they were in space or on a planet.
“We’ll talk about that later, Jess. Just get down to the planet first,” the Doctor said.
I was going to reply to that when the screen went blank. I looked at Tom, and he gave me a look that said he’d disconnected the video link. I knew then that he was preparing to try to land the ship. The seats we were sat in didn’t have any seatbelts, which worried me slightly. I just hoped we wouldn’t be thrown out of the window when we stopped.
“You’d better get back there and tell your people to hold on tight. This may not be the most dignified landing,” Tom said looking round at Theoris.
I looked at Tom. “What about us?” I asked.
Tom looked at me. I got another reminder about how brilliant his eyes were. They were like blue diamond’s boring into me. (How poetic?) It was one of his looks which made me feel as though everything was going to be alright. He reached out and took hold of my hand.
“Trust me,” he said smiling.
I did, but there was something really getting to me. “But, you said you weren’t sure you could do it,” I said. I was feeling a slight panic building up in me.
“I’m wasn’t. I’m still not,” he admitted. “But I’m gonna give it a bloody good go. I got us this far, I’m not gonna yet you or the Doc down.”
I found myself grinning madly at that. Tom let go of my hand and started working at the controls and I looked forwards myself at the window. I could see us moving towards the planet now, the land masses seemed to get bigger and bigger. I soon became aware of seeing an orange glow around the window.
Looking over at Tom, I saw the concentration in his eyes. There were several beads of sweat on his brow. I wiped my own forehead and found that I was sweating too. It was then I noticed that it was getting warmer in here. I realised with horror what the orange glow was; I’d heard the stories about the shuttles having a heat resistant base to survive re-entry, and how comets and meteors could burn up in an atmosphere. That was what was happening to us; we were burning up!
“Tom?” I said looking over at him. I’m pretty sure that my voice was cracking under the stress.
“I know,” he said without looking back at me.
He was now wrestling with one control. I was looking back to the window, wishing I could do something to help when we burst out of a layer of clouds and I saw the ground below. It was still far below, a dizzying distance, but we were so much closer. We’d done it!
I could see a large stone city underneath us as we circled round. I knew instantly that was where Tom was aiming us. I could see a huge building below us. Compared to all the others, it was massive. It had to be either a temple or the Pharaoh’s palace. It couldn’t be anything else. There was a large wide road going up to it on one side and on the other, there was another large flat area, with towers and spires rising up. I guessed that was the landing area.
“Hold on tight everyone,” Tom shouted above the roar of the engines.
They were making a noise now that, quite frankly, scared the hell out of me! If I was on an aeroplane and the engines were making that noise, I’d be strapping a parachute on.
“Are we going to crash?” I shouted above the noise.
“Not if I can help it,” Tom shouted back, almost laughing. There was an odd glint in his eye when he looked across at me briefly. “It’s gonna be bumpy though.”
Ok, now he actually was laughing. A deep and jolly laugh, as though he’d just heard the funniest joke of his life. He’s got an infectious laugh, even to the point where I found myself grinning to the point of laughter, gripping the chair so tightly I probably left fingerprints.
He wasn’t joking about the bumpy landing; the ship jerked down so roughly I was almost thrown through the window. At the very least, I was thrown onto the control panel before being pushed back into the chair by what I took to be G-force. As well as the sound of the engines, which seemed to be dying, I could hear another sound that really worried me; almost like twisting and buckling metal, a horrible screeching sound. I could still hear Tom’s laughter over the top of that, it was almost manic. Then the shuddering and noise stopped and I found myself laughing too. We’d made it!
“You did it!” I cried.
I didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but that’s how it came out. I was really worried several times on our way down that we wouldn’t make it, at least not in one piece, or without injury.
“It seems so,” Tom said finally, after he’d managed to stop laughing. I could see the look of relief on his face.
I could see Anubians out of the cockpit window now, carefully walking towards the ship. There was a small group approaching and I recognised the figure leading it; the Doctor. He was already waving at us.
“Come on then,” I grinned, hitting Tom playfully on the arm as I jumped up from the chair.
I wasn’t expecting to fall flat on my face on the cockpit floor. I was wondering what the hell had happened when I felt Tom lifting me back to my feet.
“Steady now, after a landing like that, you don’t want to rush it,” he said.
He helped me through to the main section of the ship. Already the door had been opened and the Anubians were starting to walk down the ramp onto their home planet. Theoris had waited for us and was smiling. She was full of congratulations for Tom. I was still a bit dizzy. I think the exertion had been a bit much, I was dimly aware of Tom saying something about ‘Grav-plating’. I guessed that there had been a malfunction in the artificial gravity or something; that would certainly explain why I felt about ten stone heavier.
As we reached the door, I could smell the air of Anubis; it was so sweet and fresh, such a difference to the heavy oily air of the Drachnith ships. Already it was making me feel better. I could feel myself getting lighter and it getting easier to walk as we made our way down the ramp. By the time we reached the bottom, I was able to walk by myself again.
“Jess!” I heard the Doctor cry.
I looked up to see him bounding across the landing area towards us. His curly hair was bobbing about manically around his head and there was a huge grin on his face. I just had time to take that in before he grabbed me into a huge bear hug and lifted me up and swung me round. Just when I’d got my bearings he’d gone and got me spinning again. I staggered back slightly when he let me go, just in time to hear him shout out Tom’s name and try to do the same to him. That was rather amusing as Tom is taller than the Doctor, who gave up on trying to pick him up and instead just hugged him. I could see the bemused look on Tom’s face, it was rather funny.
“My daughter,” I heard an Anubian cry.
I turned round to see Pharaoh Theodihad walking towards us, his arms held wide. There was a female Anubian behind him, who I took to be his wife. Theoris was walking towards her parents, clearly they were all relieved to see each other, and it was really touching to watch. So much so, I didn’t notice the Doctor behind me put his hand on my shoulder until we were already walking towards them.
“Pharaoh Theodihad, allow me to introduce my two friends, Jess and Tom,” the Doctor said. He may have been behind me, but I could hear the smile on his voice.
Theodihad stopped and looked at us both before doing something totally unexpected. He dropped down to one knee and bowed his head to us.
“I am indebted to you, Lady Jess, Lord Tom, for saving my first daughter and doing all you could to save my people,” he said before getting to his feet.
“Erm, it was our pleasure,” I said, rather lamely.
“Then come, I shall see you are admirably treated,” he said.
There was going to be no arguing with him as he turned away and started walking back to his palace temple thing. The Doctor was leading us on after him. While we were walking, I looked back at the ship which had brought us here; the underside looked all bucked and twisted. It looked like it had been a worse landing than it felt. There were Anubians still around the ship, some of them helping those who had escaped with us.
“Doctor, we have to do something,” I said. I was still hugely worried about the Drachnith following us that I nearly forgot to ask the Doctor how he’d got here before us.
He gave a short laugh before explaining. “I could see that the talks were breaking down before they had begun. The Drachnith were playing for time for their main force to arrive. Those on the station were a scouting party and when their force arrived they knew exactly where to go. The Drachnith Prime seems to like to lead from the front. After I saw the two of you, I went to help Rameso send a call to Anubis, but the Drachnith had got there before us. We managed to get a few people together and get to the TARDIS. The old girl actually did very well in getting us here without a problem.”
“Isn’t that cheating?” Tom asked.
“I’ve never been one for rules,” the Doctor said winking at me.
“But what about the Drachnith? They’re coming here to start a war,” I said. I was still hugely worried about them. I knew they were up there closing in on us.
When the Doctor didn’t reply, I looked up at him. He had a worried look on his face. That always worries me in return. I got the feeling he knew full well that when the Drachnith arrived they would kill a lot of people needlessly and he desperately wanted to avoid that, but at the same time he had said that we weren’t meant to interfere.
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” he said finally. His voice was low and soft now; I could hear the heaviness to it. “We could leave straight away, let things go the way they should; or,”
“Or?” Tom asked after several long seconds of silence.
“Or, we break the Time Lords cardinal law of non intervention and try and stop the coming war,” he said.
I felt that horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. He knew that there was a war coming, and he knew there was a chance that he could end it all but he wasn’t sure whether he should or not. I think he knew that he could, but whether he should was tearing him apart.
“You said we shouldn’t get involved,” I said eventually. “If you know what’s going to happen, you can’t change it can you? I mean, it’d change everything else, like what happened with the Krynyyl? If there’s meant to be a war and we stop it, we could change the history of Earth couldn’t we? If the Anubians go to Earth because of the war and influence the Egyptians and we stop that war, we destroy Earth, don’t we?”
“There could be any number of reasons the Anubians go to Earth, Jess,” the Doctor said, stopping us and looking at me with his sad eyes. “I don’t know what’s going to happen here today, or tomorrow, so I don’t know whether we should stay or go. I don’t know whether we can save any more lives, or whether the lives we’ve saved will have done anything.”
It was that which scared me more than anything; I’d spent all this time thinking the Doctor had landed at this time deliberately because he knew of the conference on Intheop, but now he was admitting that he didn’t know the time and he didn’t know what he could do to help. And if that worried him, it terrified me.