Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [90]
'Wait, Doctor,' she panted. 'What exactly have we achieved here except holding on to our skins for a while longer? I thought you wanted to figure out what was -' Her eyes widened and she felt her cheeks redden.'Doctor, what is that in your trousers?'
'Hmm?' said the Doctor, puzzled, looking down. 'Oh, that!' He reached into the waistline of his grey trousers, and pulled out a plastic bag filled with odd-shaped bulges.
Anstaar shook her head in disbelief.'But...'
'Oh, yes, this! I couldn't just give it back to them, could I? Far too interesting to throw away the second we've laid our hands on it.' He beamed at her, and rummaged in his plastic bag with glee.
'But what did you give those monsters?' asked Nashaad, a silly smile on his face.
'A rock! Plenty of them lying around behind that probe -'
'- while we were clambering up the side of the valley.' Anstaar interrupted.'Right. But putting it down your trousers, well...'
'What?' asked the Doctor, blankly.
She stuck out her tongues at him. 'You're lucky those Kusks didn't get the wrong impression!'
The Doctor still seemed puzzled. 'What, that there was a rock in my trousers?'
Anstaar decided to end the conversation right there.
***
The images of George weren't there any more. They'd passed the room containing his body, but his visual echoes had finally subsided. Anstaar was wary of walking where they'd been, however, just in case any side effects were lurking around.
Nashaad had seemed disturbed as they had entered the grounds of the abandoned camp, but it was not until they'd passed through most of it that the fit came. He'd screamed and fallen to the floor, his legs kicking out dangerously, ploughing up earth and stones as he frothed at the mouth and convulsed. The Doctor had soothed him as well as he could while staying clear of the metal flurry below Nashaad's waist.
Now, at last, the poor man was calm again, one fist holding on tightly to the Doctor's cravat, so tightly he had to loosen it with the other hand and take it off.
'I'll be naked at this rate,' he grumbled good-humouredly.
'Nice day for it,' Anstaar flirted, then realised she was probably too old for him now. A sick feeling washed over her.
Just then something happened. It happened too quickly for Anstaar even to work out how she'd felt during it.
The ground beneath her seemed to blur, to wash away like paint in the bottom of a wet bucket. Then she realised that it was the planet itself changing, and not, thank the deity, her with it. Anstaar saw more plants retracting into the squashy surface, saw huge splits rip open in the mountainside above them. The Doctor dragged Nashaad away from a Yast chasm that had suddenly opened up, but then everything had shifted so fast she couldn't keep up. The ground trembled and shook like a jelly; a sound of collapsing buildings echoed around like endless gunfire or explosions. The moisture in the air became so heavy she almost felt she was drowning, and would've panicked if it hadn't happened so fast.
Abruptly, it was over. A strange silence settled, and she opened her wet eyes.
The world had changed. The settlement was nothing but wreckage, and the land above it was smeared with bits of the debris, nestling in the rocks like bizarre plant life. She looked for the Doctor, but he and Nashaad were nowhere to be seen.
'Doctor!' she called out.
'Could you come here a moment please?' came the polite reply from some distance away. She followed the voice round a newly formed rise of land and saw Nashaad lying apparently unconscious, perilously close to the edge of a precipice under which the world just fell away. It was the largest chasm she had ever seen, and in the setting sun it was a sight almost too beautiful and tranquil to be believable.
And there was the Doctor, hanging on to a thick tendril of root at the edge, his legs dangling above what appeared