He didn’t look happy.
Peri tried not to grin at the puzzled expression on his face as he studied the dizzying array of knobs and switches in front of him.
“So what is it this time?” she asked. “Dimensional stabilizer on the fritz again? Or are we stuck in yet another chronic hysteresis?”
“Don’t be absurd, Peri,” the Time Lord snapped, not bothering to look up from the console. “You know very well I fixed the short circuit in the dimensional stabilizers last week. And we’ve only gotten stuck in one chronic hysteresis this month.”
“Well, you more than made up for that when you spilled tea on the TARDIS console,” she pointed out. “We were nearly sucked into a parallel universe! I still flinch every time you eat lunch in here.”
The Doctor flushed slightly, whether in anger or embarrassment Peri couldn’t tell. “Yes, well,” he said at last, “we hit some rough solar winds. The cup slipped. Anyway, it’s not the TARDIS malfunctioning this time. Something outside is deliberately pulling us off course.”
“What sort of something?” his companion wanted to know.
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, when you figure it out, let me know, huh? I’ll be in my room.”
The Doctor nodded absently, brushing his blond bangs out of his face with one hand while hitting a few seemingly random switches with the other.
As she walked down one of the many long corridors of the ship to her room, Peri marveled again at how normal it seemed to talk about things like chronic hysteresis and dimensional stabilizers. It hadn’t been so long ago that she was just a normal American college student with normal worries like grades and boyfriends. Now here she was, traveling the universe with an eccentric, but cute, Time Lord from a planet called Gallifrey. But not in a space ship. That would be too conventional for the Doctor. No, he had to travel in a rickety old time machine called the TARDIS fighting bad guys and visiting people like Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth. The First, of course. She had even meet Albert Einstein while he was working out his Theory of Relativity at Oxford. She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but the Doctor had given him a little help at the tricky parts…
Just as she was about to open her bedroom door the ship gave a rough lurch and the cloister bell started ringing, its low, painful tolling alarming her all the more. As soon as she got her balance back Peri spun around, darting back up the corridor. “Doctor! Doctor, are you alright?!”
He was picking himself up off the floor, looking dazed when she burst through the inner door.
“What happened?!” she demanded, helping him the rest of the way to his feet.
“Uh… we seem to have materialized,” he said simply.
“It isn’t usually that rough!” Peri pointed out hotly.
“My dear Peri, it’s no use blaming me!” he shot back, returning her accusing glare. “It was a forced landing.” He waved a hand in the general direction on the control console to make his point.
The American was less than sympathetic. “It always is,” she muttered darkly. “Isn’t it about time you took some lessons on flying this thing?”
“I beg your pardon! I’ll have you know, young lady, that I’ve been piloting this ship around the universe for well over five hundred years now!”
“It’s quality that counts, Doctor, not quantity!”
He pursed his lips in annoyance and turned sharply back to the console, drawing a deep breath in order to calm down. “Let’s see where we are, shall we?” he finally said, trying to sound cheerful. He flicked a switch and the scanner hummed into life, displaying the outside world on the screen.
“Well, that’s not so bad,” Peri remarked, looking at the seemingly pleasant, grassy screen. “No Daleks or Sontarans at any rate.”
“Mmmm,” he mumbled, studying the screen thoughtfully.
“You don’t sound happy.”
“Well, something has to be out there. We didn’t land here by ourselves, you know.”
“True. So do we go outside or not?”
The Time Lord nodded and pulled the door lever. The exterior doors swung open and he threw his companion a sideways glance.
“Ladies first?” Peri asked.
Drawing a deep breath, the Doctor straightened. “Not this time,” he replied and led the way out.
The two time travelers stepped slowly out of the ship, glancing around themselves cautiously. Peri shot a quick glance back at the ship. It still startled her every time she walked out its vast interior to find the incongruous shape of a British police box. That’s dimensional transcendentalism for you, she thought, or at least, that’s what the Doctor had called it. She was just about to remark on this when she heard a horribly familiar laugh floating from behind the TARDIS. Then the owner of the laugh appeared.
“Oh, no. Not him again,” Peri groaned. It was the Master. Not the nicest guy in the universe. Actually, Peri thought he was a thug. He was obsessed with taking over the world. Which particular world was completely immaterial, of course.
The Doctor coughed quietly. Keeping his voice low so the Master couldn’t hear, he said softly, “On Earth, do you usually do as I do in these situations?”
Not taking her eyes off the alien weapon in the Master’s hand, Peri asked, “What’s that?”
“Run!!!”
"Go on! Run!" the Doctor yelled, giving her a quick push in the opposite direction to get her started.
"Doctor, wait!" the Master shouted after the fleeing figures.
"Oh, right," Peri muttered. "We're just going to stand around and wait for him to shoot us." She had to struggle to keep up, the Doctor’s long legs taking him strides ahead of her within seconds.
"Save your breath for running," the Doctor snapped, grabbing her hand and dragging her along behind him.
By the time the Doctor stopped his companion was gasping for breath, clutching her aching sides and stumbling every few seconds. They both sank to the ground for a rest, breathing heavily.
"I..I thought he was dead!" Peri exclaimed as soon as she could speak. "The Master, I mean. I saw him burned to a crisp on Sarn!"
The Doctor sighed. "I was sure he'd finally had it," he said quietly.
They sat for a several minutes, catching their breath and getting their bearings. "Well," the Doctor said finally, rising to his feet, "let's keep moving. He'll catch up sooner or later. And we need to find someone who can tell us where we are."
I don't think we're on Earth," Peri observed, glancing up at the purplish sky overhead. She then looked over at the strangely shaped trees dotting the countryside. They had odd looking flowers growing all over them instead of leaves.
"No," the Doctor agreed.
They continued walking away from the ship, studying the strange alien shapes and listening to the eerie sounds. By far the oddest thing about the planet was the sky, which had been steadily changing colors. First it had been a purple, then it slowly turned red. Now it was working its way toward what looked like an orangish yellow.
"I wonder what causes that," Peri said, watching the sky in fascination. She stumbled over a root and the Doctor had to grab her arm to keep her from falling.
"Watch where you're going," he advised sternly. "The last thing we need is for you to sprain your ankle."
They walked for another half hour without seeing a single living thing save for the occasional seven-winged bird flittering through the trees.
"Do you think there are any people on this planet?" Peri wondered. "Besides the Master, I mean."
The Doctor shrugged. "I've only run across a few habitable planets in my time that had no sentient life forms."
Peri sighed and tried not to think about the fact that every step they took would have to be repeated--in the opposite direction.
Quite a while later they both heard a strange growling sound. Startled, the Doctor whirled around, his sharp eyes scanning for the source. "What was that?!" he hissed.
"My stomach," Peri said, somewhat embarrassed. "I'm starving.”
"Oh." The Doctor gave a small smile, relaxing visibly. "Sorry." He dug through his pockets, coming up empty before glancing around, looking for something safe for them to eat. "Let's see if there's any fruit on those trees over there," he said, gesturing to a wooded section a hundred or so yards away. "Then, if the Master decides to pop up, we'll have a bit of cover."
When the foot sore time travelers reached the trees they found plenty of strange fruit hanging in bunches like grapes. They looked like an odd mix between pineapples and bananas. The Doctor took a timid bite of one trying to decide if they were poisonous or not, concluding they were safe enough (at least for now.) He and Peri started digging in.
Just as the Doctor was about to suggest that they start off again, the world suddenly went dark. He stood perfectly still for a few seconds, too shocked to move. Finally he cleared his throat. "Nice sunset, don't you think?" he remarked dryly.
"Sunset?" Peri asked, startled.
She waited patiently for a reply, but none came. The Doctor was lost in thought, presumably trying to decide what this changed.
"Do you think we could sneak back on the ship while it's dark and, you know, leave?" she asked hopefully.
"What would be the point?" the Doctor finally replied. "We were forced here in the first place. If we tried to leave we'd just be pulled back."
Peri sighed in despair. The planet seemed nice enough but she couldn’t shake the constant feeling she was being watched. It was rather unnerving. She sat down leaning back against one of the trees to wait until the Doctor decided what to do. They couldn’t walk around in the dark. There were too many roots and holes and things to stumble over. And in spite of the Doctor’s claim to have an unerring sense of direction, she knew they would probably get lost.
Absently, she started whistling the theme song to "Hogan's Heros". The TARDIS had a complete collection of the “vintage” TV shows in the viewing room--along with a show she’d never heard of called "Survivor". According to the data bank, it had been quite popular in the year 2000. When she got home she'd make a fortune betting on who would be kicked off the island.
With a jolt, Peri suddenly realized someone was whistling along with her. At first she thought it must be the Doctor. Then she realized the sound was coming from all around her. She broke off in mid whistle, frozen in fear.
"Doctor!" she finally managed to rasp. "Doctor do you--"
"I hear it," he assured her in a hushed tone. "I think it's the trees."
“What do you mean, 'You think it's the trees'?!" she gasped in disbelief, scrambling over to where he was seated.
"Shh! Listen," he hissed.
Slowly, she realized he was right. The trees were whistling! "Wh...what makes them do that?" she asked in an awed whisper. She felt the Time Lord shrug next to her. "I'm not sure."
Just as she opened her mouth to reply the world fell out from under her.
She heard the Doctor give a sharp cry as they plunged into darkness, the ground seeming to swallow them whole. The last thing she heard was the sound of the trees whistling overhead.
It seemed to Peri as though she had fallen forever.
It was probably only a few seconds, in reality, but in the complete darkness that surrounded her everything seemed to slow down. The only way she knew she was actually moving was the wind rushing around her, snatching at her clothes and causing her stomach to lurch sickeningly.
She and the Doctor landed in a heap on the vine-covered floor. She managed to scramble away and scramble to her feet, but when she turned to help the Doctor she realized that her legs were hopelessly tangled in the thick vines.
“Are you all right?” the Doctor finally managed to gasp. He’d had all the wind knocked out of him when her knee had accidentally slammed into his stomach when they landed.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, sitting down to try and free her legs. The vines seemed to wrap themselves back around her ankles as soon as she to pulled them off. She squinted down at the offending plants, trying to get a better look at them in the semi darkness. “Oh, my gosh!” she gasped, fighting the impulse to scream. “Doctor? Doctor!”
“What?”
“The vines! They…they’re moving!”
“What?”
Digging into one of his numerous pockets, the Time Lord produced a torch and flicked it on, turning its beam of light on to the pile of vines. To his astonishment he saw them slithering around like snakes, wrapping around anything they touched.
Throwing a quick glance in Peri’s direction, he said quietly, “Let’s get out of here, shall we?” Flicking open a pocketknife, he cut one of the vines wrapped around his leg. It gave a strange screeching sound and immediately slithered away. A few more cuts were all that was needed for the rest of the vines to get the message and leave them alone.
Pulling Peri to her feet, the Doctor moved quickly in the opposite direction.
“My dear Peri, as a botanist you should already know that plants are alive,” the Doctor remarked aridly.
“You know what I mean. They’re...well intelligent. Hostile!”
“Mmmm,” the Doctor mumbled, pausing to inspect the strange colored moss growing on the tunnel walls. As he reached out to touch it, it moved quickly away, causing Peri to shudder again. This was really strange and she found herself wished she were back in the TARDIS. She followed silently after the Doctor, watching the light from his torch reflecting off increasingly dense vegetation covering the walls. Eventually it became a solid tunnel of moss and brightly shaded plants that moved out from under their feet as they walked.
“Why do I never have enough sense to wear practical shoes?” she wondered dejectedly, just as they reached a dead end.
“End of the line, it seems, Peri,” the Doctor informed.
His companion sighed heavily and flopped down on the ground, barely giving the moss beneath her time to scurry away. “What now?” she wanted to know.
The Doctor shrugged noncommittally. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, a section of moss across from them receded, revealing a hole in the rock. He exchanged and uneasy glance with Peri.
“Won’t you step into my parlor…” he muttered darkly. With a sigh, he gestured towards the small opening. “Shall we?”
The time travelers stepped into the passageway, the wall closing behind them.
“I think we all saw that coming,” Peri muttered darkly.
“Brave heart, Peri,” the Doctor said absently, studying a bright green substance covering the walls.
“It’s much lighter in here,” Peri observed in bewilderment. She glanced around, looking for the source of light. There were no windows or lamps.
“Phosphorescence,” the Doctor explained, flicking off his torch and returning it to his pocket. The green slime on the walls immediately compensated for this, glowing brighter. “A rather unusual kind,” he observed mildly. “It seems to have been molecularly designed to keep the passageway at the same lighting level.” He glanced over at his young companion, her skin now tinted a bright green in the alien glow. “Let’s keep moving, shall we?”
After only a short time they came to yet another dead end. Peri sighed heavily and waited, expecting another hole to open in the wall, revealing yet another long, dank tunnel. She heard the wet, sucking, squishing noise the moss made when it moved and sighed again, turning around. What she saw made her gasp in amazement. It was a nine foot high grand entrance, with moss and flowers busily arranging themselves into breathtaking patterns around the edges. Further on was a vast cavern with immense and beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, the result of millions of years steady water droplets. Huge waterfalls were spilling purple water into pools that never seemed to fill despite the tons of water being dumped into them. Peri assumed that there was a hole somewhere in the bottom. An underground river, perhaps. The most staggering thing about the cavern, though, was that every single inch of space, save for a small walking path that was being cleared as they watched, was covered in plant life. Huge flowers twice her size were grouped into every conceivable corner. The same kind of brightly colored moss that had lined the tunnels they had just come from covered every available surface. Ferns the size of houses were clumped together around the edges of the cavern. There were things she did not even know how to describe other than “spiral” hanging from the ceiling one hundred and fifty yards above her head.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed at last, barely daring to make a sound. She was afraid it might all come crashing down around their ears if she so much as coughed.
“Enter,” a voice that was a strange mixture of a hiss and thunder intoned. The word echoed slightly in the huge space.
The Doctor and Peri exchanged another uneasy glance.
“I sssaid enter!” the voice repeated, suddenly sounding angry and dangerous.
“Well, we’ve come this far,” the Doctor said reasonably. Peri nodded, following after him. They made their way carefully along the path, trying to avoid stepping on the mushroom-like creatures that hopped about at their feet. As far as Peri could tell they were heading towards a kind of gazebo structure. Not surprisingly, it was, made of vines, and was situated near the middle of the cavern. As she neared the gigantic structure Peri realized the floor was good five feet above the ground. She turned to look for the Doctor, who was lagging behind, as usual, studying yet another strange kind of plant. Before she could call out to him she heard a strange, dry, rattling sound and turned to see thick vines springing from the ground in front of the gazebo. She watched in amazement as the vines wound themselves tightly around each other, forming a perfect and solid looking set of stairs within seconds.
Peri tried to hide her amazement, being slightly annoyed when the Doctor slipped past her and climbed the stairs with an infuriatingly casual air of calm about him. She followed much more timidly, testing each step before she put her full weight on it.
The inside of the gazebo was more shaded than the rest of the cavern and Peri stood stilla few seconds, letting her eyes adjust before moving again. Whatever it was that had spoken to them was undoubtedly BIG. Real big. Looking around cautiously, she could make out nothing more than the Doctor’s dark form in the gloom.
“Hello?” the Doctor called.
Silence.
“Looks like more waiting,” Peri sighed and sat down, leaning her back against one of the “walls.”
“Mmmm,” the Doctor mumbled in agreement, sliding on his half-frame glasses to more closely inspect one of the many leaves growing from the vines.
“Maybe we weren’t supposed to stop here,” Peri suggested. “Maybe the path goes farther into the cavern.”
Before the Doctor could reply, Peri gasped and turned sharply to her left. She stifled a scream as she jumped to her feet. A few inches away, seeming to look up at her from the floor, were three huge, yellow, cat-like eyes peering intently at her. The middle one blinked and she felt her throat tighten. “Doctor!!” she croaked.
The Time Lord turned sharply, his mouth dropping open as an immense creature seemed to grow out of the floor.
“Actually,” the creature hissed out in a voice like controlled thunder, “You’ve come to exactly the right place. The ‘end of the line’ asss you might call it.”
Peri stared in horror at the massive creature towering over her. It must have been twelve feet tall with at least fifty thorn-like tentacles slithering all around it. Strange red flowers grew everywhere and at what appeared to be its head were three huge, yellow eyes. But by far the worst thing was its mouth. It was huge with long, pointy, green teeth and a snakelike tongue. Peri turned away as it flicked out towards her, feeling suddenly very sick.
The creature eyed the Doctor carefully. "Ssso, Time Lord," it said, hissing over S’s in every word. "I sssee the Master managed to bring you to usss at last. I may let him live after all."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the mention of the Master’s name. He then flashed a charming grin. "I take it we were expected?"
"Ahh, a sssince of humor. That isss rare for one in your position."
As the creature spoke, Peri was having her own problems. Vines had suddenly erupted form the wall and were now holding the two time travelers fast against it. She struggled, only to have more spring forth to add themselves to the others, holding her even tighter. She sighed in frustration and blew an annoying hair out of her eyes.
"Don't struggle," the Doctor hissed between his teeth as the huge plant turned. From the opposite side of the gazebo, the Master walked smugly up to join them.
"There he is," the evil Time Lord announced, gesturing grandly in the Doctor’s direction. "Just as you commanded."
"Yesss. You have done well," the plant creature hissed back.
The Master flashed an evil smile, bowing slightly. As soon as the creature turned away his face returned to its usual contemptuous scowl.
"Look, just who are you and what do you want?" Peri demanded angrily. She immediately regretted having spoken. The creature turned to face her, studying her with its three horrible yellow eyes.
"I am King Leiden, ruler of thisss planet. I require the Doctor's assistance," the creature hissed in reply.
"You certainly have an original way of asking," she spat back.
At that moment a group of plants to their left started shaking and screeching in a way that reminded Peri of an alarm. The King turned one of its eyes towards them, keeping the other two firmly fixed on his two prisoners. "If you will excuse me," he said finally, "I have sssome urgent business to attend to. I am sssure the Master will be glad to inform you asss to why you were brought here."
I'm sure," the Doctor muttered with a resigned sigh. To his astonishment, the huge plant suddenly vanished, seeming to have been sucked into the ground, a group of moss quickly filling in the area of bare dirt he had left behind. The Time Lord exchanged a look of mutual amazement with his companion.
"Don't worry," the Master said with an evil chuckle. "You'll soon get used to it."
"Where's he gone in such a hurry?" the Doctor asked mildly.
"Oh, I set up a little organic time bomb a mile or two from here. Should keep him busy for a while."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Why?"
"I couldn't bear to here that pompous old weed tell, 'the story of his race' one more time. It takes him hours as he drags out every pitiful little 's'. I'll just give you the quick potted version-- no pun intended -- without all the 'by the will of the Gods,’ nonsense."
Peri thought these were the least melodramatic words she had ever heard the Master utter.
"About a hundred years ago,” the Master began slowly, “the two planets closest to this decided to use it to grow all their food. It was uninhabited, you see, and it allowed them to free up vital land on their own, overpopulated worlds.”
“Sounds a familiar story,” the Doctor remarked.
The Master glared at him a moment before continuing with his story. It had taken ten years to turn the entire planet into the ultimate environment for growing all kinds of food. Unfortunately, after only thirty years later, the two planets declared war on each other. This went on for fifteen years. With no end in sight, the scientists on one world developed a formula that turned anything containing chlorophyl into a thinking, reasoning, hostile being. They planned to drop bombs containing the formula onto the other planet, transforming the plants. The problem? They didn’t know if they would be hostile to animal life. The solution. Use the planet that had been used to grow food. It had been abandoned when the war broke out, making it the perfect testing ground.
The bombs were dropped and the scientists waited for the full effects of the chemicals to take hold. Unfortunately, they did not realize one of the bombs failed to explode on impact, the chemical inside dripped onto a single plant. The King. When the scientists arrived to assess the effects of the formula, they discovered too late how successful they had been. The plants killed them and then went on to use their ships to completely obliterate all animal life on both of the warring planets.
The Doctor and Peri shared a stunned silence for several seconds as they took this in.
“Wait a second. Are you saying a few vegetables with captured space ships managed to destroy two entire civilizations?" Peri asked skeptically.
The Master met her gaze steadily. "The people of those planets made exactly the same mistake you are making. They underestimated them."
"That's all very interesting," the Doctor broke in, "but it doesn't explain what you're doing here. Or why you need us."
"I came here simply out of scientific curiosity," the Master replied.
The Doctor snorted his disbelief. "In other words, you've figured out a way you could use these plants to take over the galaxy."
The Master eyed him coldly before giving a small smile. “You know me so well, Doctor,” he purred. "I don't see why you shouldn't know. Isn't it obvious? How easy would it be to find out the formula, mass produce it and then drop it on every world with lovely green plants? Then all one would have to do is simply sit back and let their own vegetation destroy them. After that, one simply takes over."
"I think you're making the same mistake as the people who created these creatures. You're underestimating them, too," Peri said, staring at the madman before her with amazement. Here he was calmly contemplating murder on a grand scale. It was almost inconceivable to her. Of course, for him, it was probably the sort of thing he planned every day.
“My dear Miss Brown, no one need die so long as they obey me,” came the condescending reply.
"So what went wrong?" the Doctor asked suddenly, hoping to stop the battle of insults that was threatening to begin.
"My dear Doctor, what makes you think that anything went wrong?"
“You didn't need to make friends with this King to get the formula. All you had to do was get a few of the plants and analyze them," came the reasonable reply.
"Yes, well, my TARDIS is presently a bit inaccessible. As is yours."
The Doctor’s eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me you knew all about this planet and it's inhabitants before you came here? And yet you still materialized your TARDIS and walked out, knowing full well the plants would know you were here the instant you arrived?"
The Master looked a little stung at this. "I happened to have materialized in an area that was supposed to be free of the formula. Where the bomb didn't explode, making the King. Unfortunately, I did not take into account the fact that the ground water had also become contaminated...”
“Making the plants there just as sentient as those on the rest of the planet," the Doctor concluded. “How very careless of you.”
The Master responded with a dark look.
"Well, that just leaves one thing unexplained," the Doctor went on. "What do you want with us?"
The Master chuckled evilly his face brightening. "The plants on this seem to be as ambitious as I am. All the ships the scientists brought here were destroyed in the battles that followed, leaving the plants stranded.”
“What a shame,” Peri injected, receiving a quelling look from the Doctor.
"Why didn't they simply figure out how the ships worked and build their own?" the Time Lord asked logically.
"They couldn't use the same technology to build their own ships," the Master informed. "You see, when the two planets turned this world into an agricultural dream, they removed all the mineral wealth. There is no metal of any kind on this entire planet."
"Then how can they possibly expect to achieve space travel?"
"They plan to grow a ship," the Master replied, watching the Doctor expectantly for a reaction.
Taken aback slightly, the Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise. "It has been done before," he observed slowly, "but only with the use of technology that relied heavily on certain types of metal."
"Exactly! Which is where you come in, my dear Doctor."
"Oh really? Why me?"
"As I remember from our time at the Academy together," the Master said with a satisfied look on his face, "you did quite well in the study of complex plant biology.”
“I might’ve done,” the Doctor replied evasively. Suddenly realizing what his rival was driving at, he said, “You don’t seriously expect me to help these plants grow a fleet of space ships to take over the galaxy with?"
"Of course not," the Master said, throwing the Doctor completely.
The Doctor stared at him in bewilderment , not sure how to reply.
"The plants don't want space travel,” the Master then informed.
"Then what has this whole conversation been about?" the Doctor exploded in frustration, now at the end of his patience.
“Perhaps I should rephrase that," the Master said, dragging out the suspense as long as he could. "They don't 'just' want space travel."
"Then what do they want?" the Doctor exploded again.
The Master grinned like the Cheshire cat about to pounce on a mouse. "They want Time Travel. And you, Doctor, are going to help them get it." His grin faded, his voice hardening as he added, "Or they'll kill you."
