Night Of The Humans Page 2

  Gesturing to Amy that she should do the same, the Doctor put his hands up.

  'Ha!' said the rifle-toting alien. 'Look at this, Charlie.

  There's only two of them. There are never usually two of them.

  We should take them back.'

  The buggy's driver climbed out from behind the steering wheel, looking from the Doctor to Amy, and then back again.

  'I don't know, Ahmed,' he said. 'They don't look like the others. Look at their clothes.'

  'They're humans. What else can they be? We should take them back to the ship. Your father'll be happy. Maybe we could use them as hostages. We could bargain with the humans.'

  The one called Charlie shook his head. 'No,' he said.

  'Humans don't bargain.'

  'Er, excuse me...' said Amy, holding one hand higher than the other.

  Charlie turned to her. 'Yes?' he snapped.

  'Well... I am human. And we do bargain. Sometimes. I mean... It depends what it's about, really, but...'

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  'Silence!' said Charlie. 'So you are humans? What happened? Get split off from one of your scouting parties, did you? Sent to spy on us? Track us down? Is that it?'

  'No!' Amy protested. 'No, we're not spies. We only just got here.' She turned to the Doctor. 'Tell them.'

  'Right, yes...' said the Doctor. 'You see... We picked up a distress signal. Which is why we're here. So you might be just the people we were looking for...'

  Charlie shook his head. 'Impossible,' he snapped. 'Our distress signal stopped working two months ago. And how did you get here exactly.? If a ship had come in, we would have seen it.'

  'Oh, you wouldn't have seen my ship! the Doctor told him.

  'It's only little. Well... On the outside. Plus, it doesn't make much of a song and dance when it turns up. There it is. See?

  Over there.'

  He pointed back in the direction of the TARDIS. Charlie and Ahmed looked to the blue box, dwarfed by its surroundings, and then at one another.

  'What is that?' asked Ahmed.

  'I don't know! replied Charlie. 'Probably more junk.'

  'Hey!' said the Doctor, offended. "That's not junk, that's the TARDIS.'

  Charlie and Ahmed shook their heads in unison.

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  'All right! said Ahmed. 'Enough with the games. You're coming with us.' He lifted up his rifle and aimed it at the Doctor, gesturing towards the buggy. 'Get on.'

  Giving the TARDIS a final backwards glance, the Doctor nodded reluctantly, and then he and Amy climbed aboard.

  Amy looked at the Doctor with a scowl. She had expected him to do more than just hold up his hands and surrender like that, but then these aliens did have a gun. A gun that was still aimed at them as Charlie began driving them through the valley and away from the TARDIS.

  'Where are you taking us?' asked Amy.

  'To our ship,' Ahmed replied coldly. Though his features weren't human, Amy knew an expression of hatred when she saw one.

  'Oh, well... this is exciting,' said the Doctor. He turned to Amy with a grin, and winked.

  Amy laughed incredulously, shaking her head. 'You're crazy! she said. 'We're actually being kidnapped and you're acting like we're on a daytrip to Longleat.'

  'Yes! said the Doctor. 'Cosmic safari. I find it helps when faced with gun-toting aliens. Say... Ahmed...'

  Ahmed turned to the Doctor and adjusted his rifle's aim.

  'Yes?'

  'I couldn't help but notice... That comet. Up there?

  Schuler-Khan? Is it by any chance—'

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  His sentence was cut off when, from high above them, they heard a colossal crash. Tumbling down one of the slopes was a flaming ball of refuse, burning fragments breaking away from it as it fell. It landed in their path, only a few feet away from the buggy, and exploded on impact.

  Charlie wrenched the steering wheel to one side and the buggy mounted an embankment with a violent shudder. Amy braced herself as best she could, clinging to the back of the driver's seat, but the Doctor was flung clear of the vehicle, rolling back down the embankment and into the valley.

  'Doctor!' Amy screamed, as the buggy came to a halt.

  Ahmed looked past her, to the ridge from which the fireball had fallen.

  'We're under attack!' He shouted, lifting his rifle and firing off several ear-splitting shots into the distance.

  Amy's eyes were still on the Doctor, who had landed perhaps six metres away from them. He was dazed, and it took him seconds to gather his senses and get to his feet, but by then it was too late.

  There were creatures coming down the hill, creatures dressed in black and dirty rags. They looked, to Amy, like hairless chimpanzees, feral and monstrous, and as they charged down the embankment they hooted and bellowed.

  She saw

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  one of them armed with a bow and arrow, the tip of which blazed with fire. The missile was launched with terrifying precision and embedded itself, still burning, in the side of the buggy.

  'Get us out of here!' shouted Ahmed. 'Quickly!'

  Charlie didn't hesitate. The buggy's engine growled to life once more, and then tore up the side of the opposite bank, the wheels skidding from side to side, struggling to grip against the unstable surface.

  Amy reached out from the back of the buggy. The Doctor was running after them, away from their attackers, but it was no use. The buggy was too fast, and all too soon the marauders were upon him with rope nets and shackles.

  'Stop!' Amy screamed. 'Please! The Doctor. We have to help him!'

  But Charlie didn't stop. He carried on driving until they had reached the ridge, and then the buggy was driving down another slope of twisted, ancient metal towards a desert of broken glass.

  'No!' Amy cried. 'We have to go back and save him.'

  From the driver's seat, Charlie looked at her in one of the rear-view mirrors.

  'Save him?' he said. 'What are you talking about? Your friend just got rescued. You're the one that needs saving.'

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  Amy didn't need to be an expert in such matters to know, just by looking at it, that the ship was a wreck. It lay half buried in a landscape of wreckages, more or less camouflaged by the torn and damaged remnants of the older hulls surrounding it.

  Painted along its side, the letters almost obscured by a layer of black grime and dust, was its name: BEAGLE XXI.

  They drove in through a small opening where the hull met the ground, and through a labyrinth of low, dark runnels, until they reached what looked like a loading bay. None of them had spoken in some time.

  Ahmed climbed off first, shouldering his rifle. He still looked at Amy with distrust and animosity, 27

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  and Amy couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze.

  'I'll get your father! said Ahmed to Charlie, before walking out of the bay.

  Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, Amy was scared.

  Terrified, even. She wondered where the Doctor could be, what their attackers could have done with him. What if they weren't attackers? What if they were just rescuing the Doctor from these aliens? What if she was the one who needed rescuing now?

  All these thoughts were still racing through her mind when Charlie, still sitting in the front of the buggy, turned around, resting with his arms folded across the top of the driver's seat.

  'Are you OK?' he asked.

  The question took Amy by surprise. He had seemed so cold, so harsh, when they were driving away from the Doctor.

  What had changed?

  Amy shrugged it off and shook her head.

  'This is crazy! she said, looking at him at last. 'I'm not even meant to be here. This is... this is just insane. I mean... Who are you? What are you?'

  Charlie looked at her quizzically, the smooth and shiny grey skin of h
is forehead creasing up into a frown. 'You don't know who we are?' he asked.

  Amy shook her head.

  'Well. My name is Baasim al-Jehedeh, but most people call me Charlie. And we are the Sittuun. If that's what you meant.'

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  'Charlie?' said Amy. 'What kind of an alien name is Charlie? And your mate, there. Ahmed. There was a boy in my school called Ahmed...'

  'The Sittuun use human names! Charlie told her. 'Our language is too complicated for human vocal chords to pronounce and includes frequencies which human ears cannot hear. It's easier for us to adopt Earth names when dealing with Humans...'

  'But Sittuun...'

  'It's the Arabic word for "sixty"! Charlie explained, and Amy thought she could see his mouth curling up into a smile.

  'Our world was first encountered by a Syrian deep-space crew.

  The first town they came across had sixty inhabitants, so they called us "sittuun". Sixty.'

  Amy thought about this for a moment, and then frowned.

  'OK! she said. 'So you lot were discovered by humans...'

  'Actually, we prefer the word "encountered".'

  'OK. You were encountered by humans.. .You use human names... But you don't like humans? And you've kidnapped me because I'm human? And now the Doctor's been captured by those... those things... I mean, what were they?'

  'You mean you don't know?' said Charlie.

  Before he could say any more, they heard the sound of marching feet in an outside corridor, and they were joined by Ahmed and another Sittuun. This one, Amy noticed, had a heavier build than

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  either Charlie or Ahmed, and along the dome of his head was a thin, Mohawk-like strip of white hair. His uniform looked military, with coloured stripes along the breast pocket of his jacket. He turned to Charlie, and began speaking in a series of high-pitched whistles and loud clicks. Charlie shrank away from the older-looking Sittuun, almost cowering.

  'I don't get it! said Amy. 'The Doctor told me that the TARDIS would translate anything people said. Anything.

  Anywhere.'

  The older Sittuun looked at her with an expression of condescension and shook his head.

  'Dad...' said Charlie awkwardly. 'Speak human, please. We have a guest.'

  'We have a prisoner, Baasim! snapped his father. He turned to Amy. 'What kind of translation were you expecting, girl?

  Vocal modulator? Telepathic field? Those things don't work on our language. Tell me... Who are you? Where did you come from? The human city?'

  'My name's Amy Pond,' said Amy. I’m from Leadworth.

  It's near Gloucester.'

  'Gloucester? What is Gloucester?'

  'It's a town.'

  'But where?'

  'Er... Planet Earth?'

  'You're from Earth? Planet Earth? You know that you're from Earth?'

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  'Er... Yes? I'm human, and I'm from Earth. Is that so weird?'

  The three Sittuun looked at one another in surprise.

  'Remarkable! said Charlie's father, his tone still hesitant and condescending. 'Well, isn't that something? She might just be telling the truth.' He turned to Amy once more. 'I am Captain Jamal al-Jehedeh of the Beagle XXI. Follow me, Amy Pond. I'd like to know how you ended up here.'

  Amy sat on the edge of a bed in the medical bay while another Sittuun, who introduced herself as Dr Heeva, inspected her for cuts and bruises. They had given her a bowl of soup that tasted strangely of chemicals but not food, and the four of them now stood around her, looking at her as if she were a sideshow exhibit or an animal in a zoo.

  'It's certainly far-fetched! said Captain Jamal to Dr Heeva. 'I mean... Time machines. Alien Time Lords. Space whales.

  Intergalactic felons. What do you think?'

  'Possibly concussion! replied Heeva. 'But she's not like the others, is she? She doesn't look like them. She doesn't talk like them.'

  'Er, hello?' said Amy, waving her hand in the air. 'I'm still here?'

  The four Sittuun looked at her with something resembling embarrassment.

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  'So! she continued, 'I've given you my life story in a nutshell. How about you lot? What are you doing here? And what is this place, anyway?'

  'This is Object 556/C.’ said Captain Jamal. 'But we call it the Gyre. It's been here for maybe three thousand centuries.

  Shipwrecks and refuse brought together by the gravitational force of the five nearest stars.'

  'Gravitational forces!' Amy said with a smile. 'That's what the Doctor said!'

  "The Doctor?' asked the Captain.

  'Her friend! explained Charlie. He lowered his voice. 'He was the one taken by the humans.'

  'Ah. I see. Well, yes, as I was saying, the Gyre has been here for three hundred thousand Earth years, at least. Growing bigger and bigger, year after year. It's only posed a problem in recent months. Ships passing near it began encountering navigational problems. The gravitational force of the Gyre itself is beginning to have an effect on the nearest planet's orbit. And then there's the comet...'

  'Schuler-Khan?'

  Captain Jamal frowned at Amy and then nodded. 'Yes! he said, sounding vaguely surprised. 'That's right. Schuler-Khan.

  Now... Schuler-Khan's orbit around Battani 045 lasts eighty-five years, and on previous occasions it has missed the Gyre altogether. But not this time. The gravitational pull has changed the comet's course and, in only a few 32

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  hours' time, Schuler-Khan will crash straight into the Gyre.

  Which is why we're here.'

  Amy sat on the bed, dumbstruck for a moment. She put down the bowl of soup and leaned forward. 'You mean to tell me you came here just to see it get hit by a great big comet?'

  Captain Jamal shook his head. 'No, not at all. We came here to destroy the Gyre. If Schuler-Khan hits the Gyre it will send chunks of debris the size of cities spinning off through space.

  There are twelve inhabited worlds within twenty-five million miles, including our own. The impact on them will be devastating. Our mission was to detonate a Nanobomb in the Gyre's upper atmosphere, thereby neutralising the threat.'

  'A Nanobomb?' Amy winced. 'That doesn't sound good.'

  'It's fine, really’ said Charlie, trying to sound reassuring. 'It releases Nanites which eat up all the metal and plastic in a matter of seconds. Eventually all that's left is atoms. The Nanites even destroy themselves.'

  'So what went wrong?'

  'We crashed,' said Captain Jamal. 'As we were nearing the Gyre our systems crashed, and then so did this ship.' He paused, looking down at the tiled floor of the med bay. 'We thought there was nothing here,' he went on. 'Ships had been passing this thing for millennia. No one thought it was 33

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  inhabited. No one thought it could be. There were no signs of life. But then we got here...'

  Dr Heeva stepped in, looking at Amy directly. 'They must have been shipwrecked! she said. 'Thousands of years ago.

  Hundreds of thousands, maybe.'

  'Who? Who were shipwrecked?'

  Captain Jamal looked up at her, his expression solemn. 'The ones who kidnapped your friend,' he replied. "The humans.'

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  The gully was dark and narrow. To either side, two walls of scrap rose up, cutting down the dark blue sky to a narrow sliver and, every so often, small fragments of metal would come tumbling down into their path, kicking up clouds of dust.

  The Doctor's wrists were bound tight in front of him with a thick and grubby length of rope. One of the humans walked behind, the tip of his spear trained right between the Doctor's shoulder blades, its sharpened point nudging him whenever he walked a little slower.

  Eventually the canyon opened out onto the edge of a vast gorge, perhaps two hundred metres across, and unfathomably deep. C
rossing the ravine was what looked, at first, like an enormous

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  metal bridge. Only as they got closer could the Doctor recognise it as a pipe, ten metres or so in diameter. It was ancient, its rusting trunk draped with creeping green vines.

  'That's the exhaust off a Proamonian dreadnaught...' said the Doctor. 'Do you know something? You could make a fortune recycling this place. You know, Proamonians only ever built their ships out of proamonium? Rarest mineral in the universe, proamonium. Only found on Proamon, funnily enough.'

  'Silence!' shouted the human with the spear. 'You do not speak.'

  The Doctor looked back to see his malevolent glare, and the human bared his teeth, grunting and snarling, and nudging the Doctor once more with his spear.

  'Ah!' the Doctor gasped. 'Easy... easy... That's actually quite painful, you know.'

  They were crossing the pipe now, the sound of their marching clanging and echoing beneath them. To either side of this makeshift bridge, the gorge descended into complete darkness, its depths enshrouded in a perpetual gloom.

  The Doctor looked around at his captors and sighed. How long had they been here, on this floating disc of space junk? They were human, he could tell that much, but he doubted any human being on Earth would recognise them as their own.

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  At the other end of the bridge they entered a murky swamp of dark green sludge, from which emerged hundreds, if not thousands, of corrugated plastic tubes, like an artificial bamboo forest. The humans, the Doctor noticed, were growing edgy and cautious, and they made their way into the swamp with slow, deliberate steps. All around them the plastic tubes dipped and swayed, chiming against one another like percussion instruments, and the stagnant breeze sang over their open necks like a ghostly choir.

  From nearby they heard a sudden heavy splash, and everybody froze.

  'Sollog! whispered one of the humans, his eyes darting from side to side.