Doctor Who_ Wooden Heart - Martin Day [28]
‘Are you OK?’ asked the Doctor.
‘I’m fine,’ said Martha. ‘Though if I’d been in there on my own…’
The Doctor turned to Saul. ‘Thank you,’ he said simply. Saul bowed silently. The Doctor turned Martha away and whispered urgently to her. Jude had to strain to hear his words.
‘It’s just struck me,’ the Doctor whispered. ‘Those monsters might be the least of our problems…’
Martha and the Doctor walked back to Petr’s home in silence, the Doctor having lapsed into brooding introspection, Martha aware of the pain in her hands and arms. Actually, now she came to think of it, her inner ear was throbbing again, as predicted by the research station’s machines. She felt rather dejected and sorry for herself as she slumped on some cushions in the main living area of Petr and Kristine’s house.
Kristine must have picked up her feelings as, within minutes of Martha’s return, Petr’s wife stood in the doorway, somewhat nervously, with a small, steaming bowl of liquid in her hands.
‘Hello,’ said Martha, forcing a brightness of tone into her voice that she did not feel.
‘You’ve hurt yourself,’ said Kristine simply. ‘Saul told me.’ Kristine bent down, the bowl still in her hands, and for a moment Martha thought she was expected to drink the strange, swirling fluid. Instead, Kristine took out what looked like long, supple slivers of bark, and used these to dab the liquid onto the scratches on Martha’s hands. Martha felt a strange heat spreading into the cuts – it wasn’t unpleasant, and reminded Martha of unexpected sunlight on a crisp winter’s day. Within moments the pain was gone. The scratches were still visible, but already the skin seemed to be closing together to seal the wounds.
‘Wow,’ said Martha. ‘That stuff really works!’
Kristine smiled her usual demure smile, though she seemed puzzled by Martha’s surprise.
‘I feel fine,’ said Martha. ‘Even my ear’s better now!’ She thought of her years of medical training, and the difficulty conventional therapies sometimes had in dealing with even relatively minor problems. And yet here Kristine was, able to administer aid easily and swiftly.
The Doctor bent down to look – Martha hadn’t heard him come into the room. ‘I’m still gobsmacked,’ he admitted. ‘The things we can do in this world, the effect it can have on us…’
‘The pain seems real enough,’ said Martha, still staring at her hands.
‘Yeah,’ said the Doctor. ‘That’s what worries me…’ The Doctor and Martha followed Kristine into the kitchen. They watched Saul, Petr and Kristine move silently around the room. Despite the lack of space, there seemed to be a distance between them all, even if the ‘banquet’ they were preparing was intended to draw the two brothers together. Doubtless their disagreements about exploring further into the forest had come to a head when Petr and Kristine’s son had disappeared; the grief and mourning had in turn forced a wedge between Petr and his wife. Petr seemed to be a diligent leader, well used to tackling other people’s problems and working for the good of the entire community. Now he was trying to mend a rift within his own family, and the extra weight that this put on his shoulders seemed almost too much to bear.
Martha watched Petr and the others as they chopped vegetables and skinned rabbits. The three barely spoke – the house was silent but for the crackle of the fire and the noise of blade on chopping board – and the Doctor was forced to lean towards Martha so that he could whisper in her ear.
‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ he said, an unusual urgency in his voice. ‘We’ve got to get back to the Castor.’
‘Why the rush? You were the one who wanted to explore.’ She glanced around, her own voice becoming a whisper.
The Doctor paused for a moment before continuing. ‘We think this place… snapped into existence this morning