ONE

 Let me take you back to events of a couple hours ago, before the Doctor and I found ourselves up to our necks in our latest peril… I dived out of the TARDIS doors and felt the solid ground under my feet, leaving an imprint on the surface as I breathed in the air of my latest alien planet. I smiled at the Doctor, absolutely speechless as I gazed at the startling beauty it was as though we’d stumbled upon our very own Eden, reminiscent of a prehistoric Earth. The silvery sun sparkled softly in the azure sky though more like a moon than the fiery mass of Earth’s sun. I could quite clearly see the mountains and was certain I could detect the sea somewhere on the horizon. The TARDIS had landed beside a gushing river, where salmon like creatures dived in and out of the gentle under current. I patted the Doctor’s arm and pointed nervously at the huge beasts on the other side of the river; they were a cross between a bull and a wildebeest grazing nearby. The Doctor shrugged uninterested, I guess they looked docile enough. There was the reassuring sound of birdsong and pretty winged creatures as I began taking lots of photos. It’s my life’s ambition to one day mount an exhibition of my intergalactic time travels, though I’m not quite certain the Doctor would approve…We continued exploring, well I followed the Doctor’s manic long legged strides and attempted to keep up. The whole planet was teeming with life; however there was no sign of humanoid life, no buildings or any evidence that there had ever been a civilization on this planet. The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver aloft as he scanned for advanced technology and frowned thoughtfully. I took this as my cue to run on ahead across the rich verdant grass, continuously examining the bizarre and hopefully benign creatures and plant life.

 “Where did everybody go?” The Doctor murmured perplexed. “It just doesn’t add up…”

 “Yeah you would have thought some race would have colonized this planet. I’m no expert Doctor but surely there’s everything here to live off…”  I joined in enthusiastically, still capturing images on my digital camera with edgy and artistic abandon.

 “Well that’s the whole point Anna; there was a civilization here once. I’m picking up traces of Terraforming. This planet’s atmosphere was once altered and given the ingredients to be inhabited by humanoids.” The Doctor raised an eyebrow and whistled with exaggeration. “This environment has even been destroyed and then the Terraforming reasserted itself again. But that was a heck of a long time ago…So long ago that the planet’s slipped out of history and doesn’t have a name anymore…”

 “But there’s nothing here, no ruins, no monuments…” I glanced around in astonishment.

 “Time and Nature took care of that… I wonder what happened here? It’s the seventh planet in the Cassius system. But I can’t keep track of everything that goes on. It’s a big, old Universe, with too many galaxies and their planets. But it’s got my attention now…Oh.”

 But I was only half listening to the Doctor’s rambling deductions as I continued to wander on, obsessed with being the first one to find some proof of a civilization, as though it had become a mission statement. I began to scramble up a hill, with the determination of an explorer and the firm belief that there must be something beyond “them there” hills. There was a vast expanse of flat land but I should have waited for the Doctor because I could not see the surface properly, it was concealed by waist high grass, as it blew in the wind it sounded like the tide rolling back and forth.

 “Anna… Don’t go wandering…”

  I really should have listened to the Doctor. I had only moved a few paces before I lost my footing and instead of expecting to land flat on my face, I found myself tumbling down a crater sized hole in the ground!…An almighty scream of “Doctoooor!!!” tore from my lungs as the law of physics took hold and I began to fall helplessly with gathering momentum down an endless black void…

 The overriding and consuming thought as I plummeted was- “This is it…This is how my life’s going to end.” But then I suddenly stopped falling as I felt the cushioning impact of my fall being broken by nothing…As though an invisible air bag had sprung out and caught me, like I had dived and landed on a bed mattress. I could feel myself rising as I lay on my stomach; I turned my head and looked up. In the distance I could just make out his expression, the Doctor with a relieved and triumphant look on his face was standing feet astride over the opening, his sonic screwdriver buzzing energetically. I breathed a sigh of relief as I continued the ascent on my personal magic carpet towards the Doctor. I lay perfectly still, afraid of falling off. As I rose out of the gloom towards daylight I was able to see the pulsating and shimmering lights of violet energy beneath me and running alongside me like a wall, so I was on some kind of elevator. I looked up confused yet gratefully towards the Doctor, his prompt actions had saved my life.

 “Gravity platform.” The Doctor informed me in a matter of a fact tone but I saw him wipe a bead of sweat away from his brow. “A bit wobbly…It hasn’t been used for quite some time…”

 I had reached the top, I shakily got to my feet, my heart had only just stopped pounding.  

 “Thank you Doctor…” I gasped breathing a huge sigh of relief and feeling a little foolish for wandering off. “But how did you know there was a gravity platform here?…”

 The Doctor responded with a huge toothy smile as though he had the most exciting and extraordinary story to tell.

 “Budge up Anna Bailey.” I shuffled gingerly along the platform and upon seeing my camera, retrieved it from the side of the hole and slipped it into my jacket pocket. I stared expectantly at the Doctor. “We’re going underground… I’m certain our lost civilization is hiding down there, a whole other world!” The Doctor exclaimed enthusiastically, practically hopping on the spot and raring to go.

 “How far down?” I gazed at my feet, through the translucent gravity platform and into the never ending blackness.

 “I should say about seven kilometres…So roughly four and half miles…” The Doctor nonchalantly confirmed by checking the readings on his sonic screwdriver.

 “But what are the people doing down there when there’s this beautiful planet, just lying up here empty?!” I was completely gob smacked and yet I could feel the first stirrings of curiosity taking hold. The Doctor’s enthusiasm and sense of adventure had reached me. But then the first sinister misgivings began to play on my mind. “What if it wasn’t safe down there? Or maybe the underground dwellers just wanted to be left alone?” But before I could form any coherent argument of caution, the Doctor had started the gravity platform on its juddering descent.

 “Why are they down here? That’s what we’re going to find out. Brace yourself Anna!” There was a look of determination on his animated face, I was confident that the Doctor’sbrilliant mind was doing overtime, preparing himself for every eventuality.

 I clutched the Doctor’s arm for support as we steadily began to make our descent, the only form of illumination was the sonic screwdriver and our gravity lift. The entrance grew smaller until it was only a tiny pinprick of light, I think it was too late to mention that I suffered from claustrophobia. Just before I had embarrassingly fallen, the Doctor had explained that he had picked up high readings of advanced technology coming from underground and traces of life forms. The Doctor pointed out all the technological engineering that had gone into making this underground tunnel and reckoned there were numerous ones dotted about the planet’s surface. After a few minutes I loosened my hold and began to enjoy the ride. I was floating weightless in the air, what a brilliant way to travel. The Doctor stifled a yawn, why did he have to do everything at such a frantic pace?

 But then again he did have a point… I had to admit the journey was dragging as in the dim light I glanced over expectantly at him, sounding just like a kid on a playground swing.

 “Can we go faster?”

 “I thought you’d never ask.” The Doctor grinned back, an even bigger kid than me as he changed the setting on his screwdriver.

 I let out a yell of pleasure feeling my hair rise up like a tiny parachute as we whizzed down the rest of the way to the secret underground city.