The Doctor And I

The Hungry Earth - Something Is Under The Ground

The Doctor's POV-

"Bailee!" I shout rushing forward, jumping over holes to get to her as she sunk down to the level that the ground creeped up over her ankles.

"Doctor, help me. Something's got me. The ground's got my legs." She cries, almost in hysterics.

"I've got you." I reassure her, taking her hand in mind, which made her relax ever so slightly. I look over my shoulder to see Nasreen pull Mack free, and the minute his foot left the ground I shouted over at them.

"Your drill, shut it down. Go! Now!"

I feel Bailee's hand slipping, its cold and clammy. Her piercing blue eyes meet mine and I see fear welling up behind them. "Don't let go."

"Never." I reply, not quite talking about the current situation anymore. Bailee goes quiet, still sinking, when she starts wriggling again.

"Doctor, what is it, and why is it doing this?"

"Stay calm. Keep hold of my hand. Don't let go." I repeat her words.

"Can you get me out?" She asks, still moving, trying to release herself. She had sunk down to her thighs.

"Bailee, try and stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand. I'm not going to let you go." I say, but our grip is failing, and her hand is slipping through mine.

"Doctor, it's pulling me down. Something's pulling me." The earth comes up to her waist now.

"Stay calm. Now, hold on till they can just shut down the drill."

"What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there." Bailee panics as the dirt covers her shoulders.

"Bailee, concentrate. Don't you give up."

"Wait- I just want to say -" but she's cut off as the earth covers her mouth, and then seconds later, the top of her red hair.

"No. Bailee! Bailee, no!" I scrabble in the dirt, before reaching for my sonic screwdriver and scanning the soil in any attempt to

"No! No! No!" I kept scanning the soil, thumping my sonic screwdriver when it didn't show any signs. "No! No. No! No. No. No. No" I repeat, as Nasreen and Tony run in.

"Where is she?" Nasreen asks, looking around. I look at her and I can almost feel the desperation in my eyes as I turn to face her.

"She's gone. The ground took her."

I go to the storeroom and sit down as Tony, who said he prefers to be called Mack, and Nasreen look at their equipment.

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Mack asks.

"It's not quicksand. She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in. It wanted her." I tell them.

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen asks in disbelief.

"You said the ground was dormant. Just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped." I say.

"That's right." Mack confirms.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back."

"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling? Doctor, that is ridiculous." Nasreen huffs.

"I'm not saying that, and it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right. Oh, of course. It's bio-programming." Realisation dawns on me. "Oh, it's clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?"

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets? You're not making any sense, man." Mack complains, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up. The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack." I continue after the brief interruption.

"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?" Nasreen asks. My ears pick up the sound of their drill. But I have better things to focus on.

"Stop your drilling. Okay, so we find whatever's doing the bio-programming, we can find Bailee. We can get her back." But then something that has been niggling at the back of my mind hits me at full force. "Shush, shush, shush. Have I gone mad? I've gone mad."

"Doctor." Nasreen trues to interrupt, but I silence her.

"Shush, shush. Silence. Absolute silence. You've stopped the drill, right?"

"Yes." She confirms.

"And you've only got the one drill?"

"Yes."

"You're sure about that?" I double check. This time Mack answers.

"Yes!"

"So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling? It's under the ground." I say, and they listen.

"That's not possible." Mack whispers, hearing the low rumbling sound of the drill. I whip out my sonic screwdriver and sonic the nearby computers.

"Oh no, what, what are you doing?" Nasreen asks, trying to stop me. I explain.

"Hacking into your records. Probe reports, samples, sensors. Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look. So, we are here and this is your drill hole. Twenty one point zero zero nine kilometres. Well done." I say, slightly impressed at their achievement.

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time."

"Why here, though? Why'd you drill on this site?" I ask curiously.

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years." Nasreen explains excitedly.

"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen. Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up." I break the news, as the deep sensor readings resolve themselves on the screen, resembling what an ant farm looks like. "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."

"No, no, we've surveyed that area." Mack says, but the confidence isn't in his voice.

"You only saw what you went looking for." I tell him gravely. Nasreen turns to me.

"What are they?"

"Heat signals." I say, but then take a closer look. "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?" I ask, incase an evacuation is likely to be of help.

"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in." Mack informs me. Good.

"Grab this equipment and follow me." I command. Nasreen questions.

"Why? What're we doing?"

"That noise isn't a drill, it's transport. Three of them, thirty kilometres down. Rate of speed looks about a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Should be here in ooo, quite soon. Twelve minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now." I grin at Mack and Nasreen's dumbstruck faces and stalk out of the room confidently.

~
A/N

Hey guys - I hope you're having good holidays!

I don't really have much to say here to be honest sorry xD

So if you liked this chapter then I hope you'll consider leaving a vote or comment because I really appreciate it :)

-TimeCanBeRewritten_ Xx