Doctor Who: Molten Heart

by Una McCormack

  Ryan pulled his hand back hastily. Ash kept the boat dodging through the creatures. Then something else rose out of the lava. Ryan had an impression of bulk, and teeth, and a roaring, scraping sound.

  “Lavashark!” cried Ash.

  “What should I do?” yelled Ryan, then remembered something about bopping them on the nose to drive sharks away. He lifted up his oar and whacked it, hard.

  “Don’t do that!” yelled Ash. “You’ll make it mad!”

  Sure enough, the beast lunged up, and for a moment Ryan thought he was going to lose the oar to its maw. Then the shark pulled back. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief, and then realised that the beast was only backing up to come back and hammer the side of their little boat. They rocked about, perilously. “Ash!” Ryan cried. “It’s still there!”

  “Don’t worry, Ryan, I’m on it!” shouted the Doctor. She pushed her oar down beneath the surface, and flipped up one of the jellyfish onto its flat surface. “Here,” she said. “Catch this!” She lobbed the jellyfish up into the air. Ryan stuck up his oar, and, with a flick of the wrist, sent it flying to land flat on the shark’s nose. It roared with rage, and slunk away beneath the surface.

  “Gotcha!” Ryan yelled.

  “Nice job,” the Doctor shouted back at him. “Two thousand bonus points!”

  Ryan laughed. She was right. It was like a game, but he was here, for real, right in the thick of things. Turned out those video games had been good for something after all. His reflexes were better than he thought they were. I can do this, Ryan thought. Gran, I can do this…

  And then, suddenly, the river widened out, and its course became smooth.

  They were through the White Way.

  Gently, Ash steered the little boat towards the shore. The Doctor and Ryan clambered out, and then they both fell onto the bank, helpless with laughter.

  “Doctor,” said Ryan. “That was brilliant!”

  “It was though, wasn’t it?”

  “I wish we could go round again!”

  “Me too!”

  They lay on their backs, catching their breath. Ash sat down beside them, watching them with steady, curious eyes.

  “Promise me one thing, though, Doctor,” said Ryan.

  “What?” the Doctor said.

  “Never leave me alone with a lavashark.”

  The Doctor’s face crinkled with laughter. “Cross my hearts.”

  Far, far away, Yasmin and Graham stood side by side and looked again at the Diamond City.

  “Wow,” said Graham. “It really is a sight for sore eyes!”

  Yaz was thinking of an experiment she had done as a kid. You tipped a pile of chemicals into a little plastic jar, and then crystals grew. It had seemed magical, although the teacher had been at pains to explain the process behind it. She had never imagined she had would see the same thing the size of a city. Was that how it had been built? Had they grown crystals in the same way, she wondered, but on a much larger scale? And then they fashioned them into homes, halls, streets, and walkways, and decorated them with precious stones and colourful rocks, until the whole place gleamed and shone…

  Quartz was smiling at the sight. For a brief moment, Yaz felt sympathy with him, a fellow feeling. He had shown her his home, and wanted her to be impressed – and she had been, very impressed. She imagined leading him up one of the hills around Sheffield, looking down on its slate grey buildings and the rough grass that grew doggedly whenever it had the chance. She loved her city, and she would want a stranger to admire it. She wondered what Quartz would think of it; how alien it would seem to him, under the big Yorkshire sky.

  Quartz sighed and pointed upwards. “Look.”

  Yaz looked up. High above them, in the dark of the roof of the world, at the far side of the sphere, she saw faint smears. “Those shooting stars again,” said Graham.

  “Like the Milky Way,” said Yaz.

  “Stars, but on the inside,” said Graham. “I can’t get my head around this.”

  “I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say ‘stars’,” said Quartz.

  “Lights up in the sky,” said Graham. “Hang on, that won’t make any sense, will it?”

  “Basalt used to talk about what the surface of a world must be like,” said Quartz. “Most alarming. A sphere outside our own sphere. Nothing above…” He shuddered. “How you feel safe, crawling along like that I do not know. But, no, these aren’t the kind of lights in the sky that you must be used to. This is something far more worrying. This is what Basalt was trying to tell people.”

  “Cracks,” said Yaz. “Cracks in the sphere, right above your City.”

  “Like being inside an egg shell,” said Graham.

  “But seeing those,” said Yaz, gesturing upwards, “and knowing that there are pools opening – people aren’t connecting the two?”

  “People won’t admit it,” said Quartz. “They’d rather pretend that they’re new streams of silver, or something like that.”

  “And nobody’s been to have a look?” said Graham.

  “It’s like Ash said, we stay close together. If Basalt has got all the way there, he hasn’t sent a message back.”

  “And, in the meantime, everyone’s denying the evidence of their own eyes,” said Graham. “Bad idea.”

  “And saying anything out loud can get people into trouble.” Quartz sighed, deeply. “Come on,” he said. “We can be seen easily here, and Emerald has many ways of watching people as they approach her city.”

  Reluctantly, they turned their back on the shining sight, and followed Quartz.

  “I wish Ryan had been here to see that,” said Graham, with a sigh.

  “The Doctor will be back as soon as she’s found out what’s going on,” Yaz said, robustly.

  “But how long will that be?” said Graham. “I mean, how long does it take to travel from one side of this sphere to the other? Do you have any idea? Because I don’t.”

  “Try not to make too much noise,” said Quartz, politely. “We’re trying to move in secret, after all.”

  He led them on until the path came to a dead end in front of a sheer wall of pale yellow stone. Yaz was suddenly on alert. Was this some kind of trap? Had Quartz brought them here so that they could be captured? She glanced around quickly. There was no way out other than the way they had come.

  Quartz, as if guessing her thoughts, gave a sly smile. Then he put his hand up to the smooth face of the stone, and pushed, very hard. The rock rolled back.

  “Blimey,” said Graham. “A proper secret tunnel. What’s that place called… You know, Yaz, with the stones and the rocks and those screechy little fellas? In that film of Ryan’s.”

  Yaz thought about this for a while. “Do you mean the Mines of Moria?”

  Graham snapped his fingers. “That’s it! Mines of Moria.” His face fell, and Yaz knew he was worrying about Ryan. But there was no time – Quartz gestured to them to follow, and they went through the door and into the dark.

  Not far from the river, where the Doctor and her friends had landed, there was another path, narrow and not as well kept as others they had taken. Ash hesitated by this, but then nodded, and led Ryan and the Doctor that way.

  “Where did your father say he was going next?” the Doctor said.

  “That’s the problem,” Ash admitted. “He doesn’t mention a route after this. But there’s only one way my people go after the White Way, and that’s towards the Grey Forest.”

  “Grey Forest,” said Ryan. “I’m not going to make any guesses this time. What’s it like in there?”

  “We don’t go in,” Ash said. “If people go this way, they go round.”

  “Any particular reason why?” said Ryan.

  “Why go to the trouble of hacking through a forest when there’s a perfectly good route through open ground around it?” she said.

  “Fair enough,” said Ryan, although he couldn’t help wondering whether there was a quicker way if you went through…

 
The land they were passing through was getting wilder, with strange shrubs and bushes. They were far from the rocky plain near where the TARDIS had landed, and this land was clearly much more fecund than the dry cracked land where the lava sea had been. They came over another ridge, and he saw the dark expanse of the forest up ahead. “Not far,” said Ash.

  The shrubs and bushes got thicker, and sometimes there were even bright specks of flowers. There was wildlife too; flittering insects with gem-like eyes, and small creatures that skittered away when you walked past. Nothing big, Ryan thought with relief, although the ruby rats were a problem. The thing was, they got everywhere… You sat down, and realised there was one nibbling at your finger. You jumped up, and the thing had already found its way down to scratch at your boots… And their teeth… So sharp! It made sense, he thought, if they were made of precious stones. He just didn’t want to experiment how sharp using one of his fingers.

  “These things,” he said, waving his hand to shoo another one away, “will be the death of me.”

  Ash’s eyes opened wide. Ryan was starting to get the hang of reading her expressions now. It hadn’t been easy, at first, but as you spent more time with her, you realised that what seemed to be a solid wall of, well, rock, was actually really supple. She picked up the rat that he’d shaken off, cupping it between her hands, and carried it away a little distance before setting it free. When she came back, she still had that expression of concern.

  “I sincerely hope they won’t cause your death, Ryan,” she said. “They’re certainly not dangerous for us, although I do understand that your carapaces are not quite…” She stopped for a moment, as if trying to think of a way to express herself politely. “Not quite as hardy.”

  “Carapace?” Ryan said, puzzled. “Oh! Skin! Nah, not quite as hardy, I suppose.” He shook his leg, sending yet another ruby rat dashing into the foliage. “It’s OK. That’s just an expression. Be good to get past this lot of them, though.”

  The Doctor, who had been poking around a few feet away, looked up. “Don’t you like them, Ryan? I was thinking of bringing one with us.”

  He looked at her. “You what?”

  “As a pet, you know?” She was peering down at the ground, and he realised with a sinking heart that she was trying to find one of the beasts. “Or, I should say, so I can make a proper study of them…”

  “Doctor,” he said, “they’ve got teeth.”

  “Well, so have you,” she said. “And I’ve never held that against you. Oh, hang on! There’s one!” She went dashing off, into the undergrowth, like Alice after the white rabbit. “Hey,” she cried. “Come back!”

  “Doctor!” Ryan yelled. “Don’t just run off!” He huffed. “Honestly, sometimes it’s like following a toddler around …”

  Beside him, Ash was making an odd sound, like pebbles sliding together at the start of an avalanche. Ryan turned to her in concern, and then realised she was laughing.

  “She reminds me of my father,” Ash said. “Always chasing a new idea.”

  Ryan nodded his understanding. He thought of his gran; always at the front, ready for adventure, ready to have a go. I’m trying, Gran, he thought. Trying to give things a go.

  The Doctor reappeared. “It got away. Never mind, plenty more where that came from. And look – I found something interesting.”

  She came towards them, and Ryan and Ash leaned in to see what she was carrying. For a moment, Ryan thought she had found a laptop – it was about the same size, and a steely grey colour – and then he realised this was daft. It couldn’t be, and, besides, the thing was made of stone.

  “I feel like Moses,” the Doctor said, holding the stone tablet up. “Nice man, bit beardy.”

  “Doctor,” said Ryan, gently reminding her of the task at hand, “what is it?”

  “Well, I know a message when I see one,” the Doctor said. She placed the stone tablet on the ground. “Ash – am I right?”

  Ryan knelt down to get a better look. He couldn’t see a message, only flecks of mica. He reached out to clear some of it away, but the Doctor stopped him. “Let Ash look.”

  Ash studied the stone and gasped out loud.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” said the Doctor.

  “Yes,” Ash said. “This is my father’s name, here…” She pointed to some of the flecks. Ryan was glad he hadn’t tried to brush any of it off.

  “What did he say?” The Doctor’s voice was quiet, but urgent.

  Ash looked up, wretchedly. “I don’t know,” she said. “He’s used some kind of code.”

  “Doesn’t make things easy, your dad, does he?” said Ryan.

  The Doctor rubbed her hands together in glee. “I love a good code.”

  Five

  Ryan sat, patiently, while Ash and the Doctor pored over the stone. Not far, huge and looming and whispering, stood the fringes of the forest, daring them to enter.

  Ryan stood up and walked closer to look at some of the plants. He would be the first to admit that he was hardly what you could call a gardener, but these were like nothing he had ever seen. First his eye fell on some low thick bushes at the very edge of the forest. They were not quite the right colour, for one thing; not green, but instead they had a yellowish hue, fading to dark brown closer to the ground. When he looked closely, he saw that the bushes weren’t formed from stems and leaves, but from thick brown veins that looked like they’d be squishy to touch, and which fanned out into yellow plate-sized circles. Behind the bushes were taller plants – more like trees – which glowed, faintly, pale pink, like a lamp behind frosted glass. Between the trees and the buses were long silver trailing plants, thin as cobwebs, and these too shone, like strings of fairy lights on a Christmas tree. Ryan reached out to touch one of them. He had expected something gossamer light. Instead it was tough, and wiry. He thought of the ropes that Ash had handed round.

  “Doctor,” he called back over to her. “Come and have a look at all this.”

  The Doctor came to join him. She ran her sonic screwdriver over one of the nearest plants. She was particularly interested in the wiry fibres that he showed her. “Rope,” she muttered. “Rope.”

  “Are these kinda like… mushrooms?”

  “Great guess, Ryan. Yep, these are fungi of some sort.” She stood rapt for a while, staring into the depths of the forest. “That’s amazing.”

  Ryan nodded. It was amazing, although the overall effect was just this side of terrifying, and he had a very strong suspicion about which way they were heading once Ash had got to grips with her father’s code. Again, he found himself missing Graham and Yaz. He wondered where they were, and what they were doing; whether they were seeing sights as weird and wonderful as this, and whether they were all right. Yaz, he thought, would be loving this whole business; Graham would be loving it too, although at a slightly slower pace. As for Ryan himself… He reached out to touch one of the wiry trailing plants. A smile crept across his face. Yes, he thought, he was loving all this as well.

  “How’s it going, Ash?” said the Doctor.

  Ash looked up from her task. “Slow,” she admitted. “He taught me most of his codes – I took a lot of his notes for him. But this isn’t one I’ve seen before.”

  “Did he always write in code?” said Ryan.

  “Almost always,” said Ash.

  “He’d have to,” said the Doctor. “If people found out what he was planning, he would be in trouble.”

  “I really thought he’d taught me all the main ones he used,” Ash said. “It seems not.” She sounded hurt by this, as if this meant that he had decided not to trust her. Ryan didn’t believe that was the case. He knew what protective adults looked like.

  “You’ll do it,” the Doctor said, placing one hand gently upon Ash’s shoulder. “I don’t think he didn’t trust you with his secrets, you know. I think he knew he could trust you to crack his most difficult code.”

  Ash smiled. That idea seemed to console her considerably, and she and the Doctor we
nt back to the task with renewed enthusiasm. Ryan wandered towards the edge of the forest. He peered inside at the thick tangle of interwoven plants. If this was their route (and he was sure it would be) then how would they get through? Could the Doctor’s sonic clear a path? He wasn’t sure there was enough power, although the sonic did seem able to pull off all sorts of tricks. But he suspected that hacking through this spooky place was going to involve muscle and hard work. He leaned inwards, and listened, closely. In the distance, far under this strange canopy, he heard the swish of some unknown, alien life; the call of some weird creature. Things lived in there. Things never seen before by human eyes; strange and unknown life, and all in danger from the threat that lay hanging over this world. There must be some way in and through, he thought. This incredible place couldn’t be lost for ever…

  “Ryan!” called the Doctor. “We think we’ve cracked it!”

  Ryan hurried back to them. Ash lay the stone tablet on the ground for them to see. As she spoke, she pointed at various sections of the mica runes. “This describes their route so far. We know that. They came along the White Way, just like us.” She laughed. “He took the time to take some samples from the jellyfish, and he’s left notes about the composition of a possible antidote for their sting. That is exactly like him. A hundred different projects, all at once.”

  The Doctor smiled. “Always the scientist. I do like your dad.”

  “This section explains where they’re going next,” Ash said.

  “It’s into the forest, isn’t it?” said Ryan.

  Ash looked up and blinked. “How did you guess that?”

  “Well, look at it,” Ryan said. “Huge, shady, threatening. Made of mushrooms. Where else was it going to be?”

  The Doctor nudged him. “Cheer up,” she said. “It’s like Mirkwood!”

  “Doctor,” Ryan said. “Mirkwood was full of giant spiders and an evil wizard.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said. “I always forget that bit. I only ever remember the Elves.” She turned back to Ash. “Does your father give a clue about the way through, Ash?”

  Ash shook her head. “If he and his people went deep into the forest, they’ve gone further than any of us ever have. We go round to reach our settlements.” She pondered the tablet again. A couple of ruby rats wriggled through and started gnawing at the stone. Absently, she brushed them away. “But these seem to be directions. We skirt the edge of the forest a little further, and then there’s a way through the undergrowth, almost a path…” She looked up. “What do you think, Doctor?”