The Companion

“What do you mean ‘Not on Earth”?” asked Harry once the TARDIS had landed.

“Because we’re not on top, are we?” said the Doctor, grinning.

“Aren’t we?” Harry asked.

“Nope, we’re over twenty-one kilometers beneath the surface!” said the Doctor.

“But how is that possible? Surely we’d burn to death down here,” I cut in.

“Well that’s the genius of it really. You see, an entire civilization of Homo Reptilia live down here and have for millions of years. They’re currently hibernating of course; they’re not due to wake until 3020. I’d say they’ve been asleep for five years given that we’re currently in the year 2025,” said the Doctor, double-checking the monitor.

“That’s quite something but it still doesn’t explain why its safe for us,” I said.

“Well, to be honest… I don’t really know.”

“That’s new,” said Harry, chuckling.

“What?” said the Doctor.

“Something you don’t know.”

“There are a lot of things I still don’t know. Like why these cracks have reappeared, for instance. So I suggest you take a step outside,” said the Doctor.

“What makes you so sure that it’s safe?” I said.

“So now you decide to take the safe path? You know a friend once said it was ever so dull.”

“Well we are near the center of the Earth…”

“We’ve barely scratched the surface and besides, I’ve visited before. I assure you, you’ll be fine.”

“If you say so,” I said before heading towards the doors. With Harry close behind me I opened them and looked out to see what appeared to be an underground cavern of rock and soil. Roots were hanging from the ceiling and despite the current environment; it was hard to believe that we were in fact deep in the Earth’s crust.

I walked out into the small cavern with Harry. We didn’t know quite what to do with ourselves so we just stood there looking around while the Doctor made his way past us and over to one of the walls where he reached into his inner pocket, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to scan the wall in question.

“What are you doing, Doctor?” I asked, walking over to him.

“Scanning for any traces of this crack. I saw one here before and… well…”

“Well?”

“A friend was erased from reality here on this spot.”

“Oh sorry.”

“No its ok. He came back but as a Roman… and plastic. But then I rebooted the universe and so everything restored.”

“Well, that’s… good then.”

“Yes… it was,” said the Doctor. I could detect a hint of guilt behind his words.

“Can we have a look around, Doctor?” Harry asked.

“I can show you the city if you like. But you won’t see any Silurians because, as I said, they’re sleeping.”

“Lead the way,” said Harry and with that the Doctor walked over towards a tunnel off the cavern. I walked up beside Harry and slipped my hand into his before we followed.

“Well this has been a nice date,” I said, giggling as I realised it could pass for one.

“It has indeed. Who would’ve thought we could go to space, World War II, a different planet and to the center of the Earth in one night? Is this or is this not the best date I’ve ever taken you on?” said Harry chuckling.

“Hey! This was my idea! If I hadn’t told you exactly what was happening you wouldn’t have come in the first place. You probably would’ve thought I was cheating or something ridiculous.”

“Didn’t I tell you before that I trusted you?” he said, taking his hand from mine and instead he slipped his arm over my shoulder.

“Keep up you two!” called the Doctor who was a little further ahead in the tunnel.

“Slow down!” I called back jokingly.

“Honestly,” I heard the Doctor say to himself in exasperation.

“I suppose neither of us can really take credit for this date since it was his idea after all,” I said, gesturing in the Doctor’s general direction.

“That’s true… but it has been nice. We haven’t been able to do this kinda thing for a while,” said Harry, rubbing his hand up and down on my arm.

“We’ve never been able to do this kinda thing ever,” I corrected him.

“You know what I mean,” he said.

“Well yeah… I uh suppose that’s one of those sacrifices we have to make. But you know I’ll always support you, though.”

“I know, babe… and I’m incredibly thankful. You don’t often come across people like you who are willing to put up with this kinda lifestyle.”

“Well… I mean… I love you, Harry,” was all I could really say.

“I love you too, Kylie,” he said, smiling down at me. I grinned right back at him before calling to the Doctor.

“How much further?”

“Its just up ahead,” he called back and as he did so he turned to see the distance between us. “Oh, honestly, could you two be any more slow?”

“Sorry, Doctor,” I said, giggling.

“He can be a grumpy old fart sometimes,” said Harry laughing.

“Sometimes… but he’s good really,” I said.

“Yeah, he is.”

“Come on! Its just around the corner!” called the Doctor.

Harry and I looked at each other momentarily before grabbing each other’s hands and running up to where the Doctor was.

“I hope you two weren’t talking about me again,” he said. “Its embarrassing.”

“No, we were just enjoying our little date,” I said, grinning.

“This is not a date. It’s a serious investigation concerning the survival of your world and possibly the universe and why are you looking at me like that?”

“As serious as this matter seems to be, at least try and keep that light-hearted youthfulness, Doctor. I enjoy it much more than having you be too serious.”

“Ok, fine, call it whatever you like. It’s been a while since I’ve had two lovebirds around,” he added as an afterthought.

“Much more like it,” I said.

“Yes… well… do you want to see the city?”

“Didn’t you say you were going to show us?” asked Harry.

“Well come on then,” he said, before turning the corner just ahead. Harry and I followed and as the view below came into sight we let out a simultaneous gasp. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before and an incredibly advanced style of living given the environment. Looking out over the ledge that we were stood on we saw what appeared to be a large city built over orange molten rock so that the cavern in which we stood was given an orange glow. Around what must have been the buildings, large leafy plants were growing.

“How can the plants grow in this environment?” I asked the Doctor.

“Thermal energy,” he replied.

“This is incredible! I’d never have thought there was an entire civilization living down here. What’s up above?” asked Harry.

“Cwmtaff, Wales. Just a small industrial town. Or what used to be an industrial town anyway. The drill they had is long since gone,” said the Doctor.

“What was the drill for?”

“Well originally they believed there were new minerals in the soil due to blue grass on the surface and so, naturally they went drilling for them. Unfortunately the drill threatened the survival of this ancient race living beneath the earth and so the Silurians fought back.”

“What drove them into hibernation?” I asked.

“Originally it was because they believed that a planet was heading straight for a collision with the Earth. This is what drove them underground. Five years previously a large number of this civilization were woken by the approaching drill. A lot of things went on involving hostages and a potential war. I, of course, tried to persuade the humans and the Silurians to come to some sort of agreement regarding who lived on the surface. As I’m sure you’ve picked up, the Silurians were the previous owners of planet Earth. Anyway, it seemed that the humans weren’t ready for another race to live on the surface alongside them and so the Silurians were driven into hibernation once more for another thousand years.”

“That sounds… I do feel sorry for them,” I said.

“Yes, well, they’re a good race overall but obviously there are some who are a bit more… violent,” said the Doctor.

“What kind of race were they?” asked Harry.

“They were very advanced for their time and extremely intelligent but I have a hunch that that wasn’t exactly what you were asking.”

“Not exactly, no. What did they look like?”

“Well… to put it plain… they were lizard men… and women.”

“By lizard men do you mean…?”

“They’re skin resembled that of a lizard. Basically they’re reptilian humanoids although you do get different variations.”

“I can see both points of view, to be honest,” said Harry.

“Yes, well, that is a good quality, Harry,” said the Doctor.

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Harry.

“I choose my companions with great care,” the Doctor added. “But we should be getting on, one more stop and then I’ll get you home.”

“We’ve really enjoyed this, thank you, Doctor,” I said as we began to make our way back down the tunnel.

“It has been fun, hasn’t it? I’ve missed this,” he said and I could see a grin forming.

Notes