Forest of Chaos - (4 Parts)

[Niceguy]

THE FOREST OF CHAOS

PART ONE

The idyllic silent of the forest was broken by the sound of a wheezy siren as the Tardis materialized. Although there was not a living creature for miles, the forest was aware of its newest visitor and looked with a sense of cautious curiosity at the blue metallic structure and it's strange marking - "Police Box." Its curiosity developed the slightest hint of suspicion as two figures emerged from the strange object.

This first a was tall man, with wildly curly hair and wearing a scarf so long that dragged upon the ground as he walked. The second was a young female, with dark brown hair and fair skin. After looking around for no more than a second she rolled her eyes and assumed a posture which indicated her annoyance towards the first.

"I though you said this was London?" Sarah Jane Smith asked in exasperation.

"Well… We got the time right. I'm sure of it. The must be something amiss with the temporal calibration unit." The Doctor's explanation did little to comfort his companion.

"So you're saying 'Right time, wrong place'. But with the temporal calibration unit not working how could you possibly know that?"

Now it was the Doctor's turn to get annoyed "Look, I don't need a temporal calibration unit to know what time it is! Position is a function of velocity and time. So we were going in the correct direction, but for too long... Or not long enough. I guess we won't know until I can fix that temporal calibration unit."

"So wh- *sniff* where ARE we then?" Sarah raised her finger to her nose, rubbing it gently to ward off growing a tickle as she said this.

The Doctor looked around with a puzzled look on his face before breaking into a huge grim as he turned back to his companion. "I have no idea! Let's look around shall we?"

She managed as nod as she closed her eyes, and took a deep sharp breath. "Heee-eeeshew!" Her sneeze echoed through the quite wilderness, startling the Doctor.

"My word, Sarah. You startled me!"

"*sniiiiiff* You know, 'bless you' is a bit more traditional." Sarah shot back, rubbing her runny nose with the back of her hand.

"I've never understood that one. As long as I've known humans, I just never understood that odd custom."

"Well, I suppose it… heh… hah… hayeeeshOOO! *sniff* I supposed it came from the belief *sniff* that your soul momentarily leaps from you body when you sneeze."

"Medieval poppycock! You don't believe that superstitious nonsense! Do you?"

"*sniff* No…" She paused again, to rub her nose. "I don't, but it's still nicer than… heh… hah… heeeyaaaaaSH-SHOO!"

"Yes, I suppose it is!" he remarked before she could finished her thought. But then, seeing how much distress his companion was in, he added, "Bless you. Shall we?" He motioned into the dense wood.

"*sniff* OK." She conceded.

They pressed on through the dense foliage, unable to find a trail, stopping just often enough to get their bearings and be sure that they could find their way back to the Tardis. The silence of the forest was eerie, only broken every few minutes by another of Sarah's sneezes.

"Something's strange." The Doctor observed as he stopped.

"Heeaash-shoo! *sniff* What's that?"

"Well, it's so quiet."

"Heh… HeeYAASH-oo! *sniff* You're right."

"I mean I can't hear a thing except for…"

"HAAAASH-SHOOO!"

"Look, must you keep doing that?"

She looked at him incredulously. "*sniff* Yes, I'm afraid I must! *sniff* If you find it annoying, you might consider for a second how I'm feeling! You could be the slightest bit more… sens… sitive… heh…hah… HAAASHOO! *sniff*"

"At the moment it would appear that you are quite sensitive enough for both of us."

"Very funny."

"Look over there!" The doctor said, pointing farther on as he quickly changed the subject.

The two travelers pushed through a thinner area of brush before coming to an overgrown clearing. Sarah almost screamed when the doctor pulled back the last few vines. Tangled in the underbrush, and overgrown with long this vines that seemed to find their way into every crack and crevice was the body of a Dalek. It was obvious after a moment's inspection that not only was it not operational, but it appears to have been that way for some time, possibly many years.

"It's OK Sarah. It's dead."

But Sarah just stood there shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't care. I'll never be able to get over the sight of those things. What's it doing here?"

"At one point I would say… dying." The doctor crouched down for a closer look, clearly fascinated. "Look at this… the vines comes strait out of the ground, wrap around the cylindrical metallic casing, and then find their way into the gap under the dome mechanism… I can't tell for sure but it looks like the kept growing inside the containment unit! And they're the same vines that tangled up him mobility unit!"

"So? If he died there…"

"Sarah! This didn't happen recently! And look at the rest of the growth! These vines only grow RIGHT HERE. So unless he was ordered to stand here until the vines grew up all over him, this all had to happen fairly quickly! I mean… individual Daleks might not be the most adaptive of foes, but they do move faster than the grass grows. Even if his tracks got tangled in the underbrush, one of his companions would have helped him… unless… they were all tangled…" He thought to himself for a moment, a grave look coming over his face. "I think that there might be some very dangerous species of flora on this planet." He looked at Sarah and, seeing that she was also growing quite worried, smiled. "Well, at least you've stopped sneezing!"

"Huh? Oh *sniff*, well I guess I had taken my m-mind… off… it… heh… HEYA-AHShoo! *sniff* Thanks for reminding me anyway."

"Sorry. Let go a bit farther in, shall we?"

The pressed on a bit and found several more Daleks in the same condition as the first. Their treads were tangled up in vines that appeared to grow out of the ground, right underneath them. The vines then grew along the walls of their containment units finding their way into the cracks under their swiveling, domed heads; apparently continuing to grow enough on the inside to suffocate or strangle them.

They left the Dalek resting sight to try to find some higher ground. On the way they came to another clearing and were shocked by another nightmare form the past that they couldn't see through the thick brush until they were practically on top of: Not ten meters away sat a Sontaran Space Pod.

(Cue freaky music, end of part one)

[Niceguy]

THE FOREST OF CHAOS

PART TWO

As they left the Dalek resting sight, they tried to find some higher ground. On the way they came to another clearing and were shocked by another nightmare form the past that they couldn't see through the thick brush until they were practically on top of: Not ten meters away sat a Sontaran Space Pod

"Well now this is interesting." The doctor said to his stunned companion.

She shook her head. "This is too much. First Daleks and now Sontarans?"

"Well… The Dalek was dead. Done in by… well... something. If word got out that there was something here that the Daleks couldn't deal with... well, a race of military scientists like the Sontarans might want to check into it. It doesn't look like he's here at the moment. Let's have a look around, shall we?" The Doctor's broad smile left little doubt in Sarah's that this was a rhetorical question. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand and sniffed mightily as she followed the doctor into the clearing.

Much to her surprise the Doctor walked right past the craft and into a narrow crack in the craggy cliff rising just behind it.

He looked back at her with almost childlike enthusiasm. "I'll bet there a communications beacon somewhere around here. And it should have his either his mission log or his orders or possibly both recorded on it! Come on Sarah!"

She paused just long enough to sneeze again and then followed the Doctor into the crevice, holding her fingers firmly against her runny nose.

"I found it!" The Doctor called. "And I was right! Here are the mission orders!"

"*sniff* Doctor…?"

"It's simple really. Once you've figured out one Sontaran device the rest are fairly easy."

"*SNIIIIFFFF* DOCTOR?"

"They're all designed the same way, you see." She still hadn't gotten his attention.

"DOCTOR!"

"I'm sorry Sarah. We're you saying something?"

"*sniff* Well I'm sure if Harry were here he'd had an antihistamine tablet or something right in his bag, and it's probably too much to hope that you'd have something like that in your pockets but… *sniiiiff*… I don't suppose you'd at least have a spare handkerchief on you?"

"Well… I suppose…" The Doctor started emptying the numerous, seemingly bottomless, pockets in his trousers, waist-coat and trench coat. After a minute he produced a piece of folded cloth, trimmed with lace. "Ah! Here we go." He offered it to his suffering companion. "Though I don't know what that has to do with…"

*PLBPLTBTPLTBLT* Sarah blew her profusely running nose into the dainty fabric.

"SARAH! That belonged to Lady Jane Grey I'll have you know!"

She held it out, as if to offer it back to him. "Do you want to return it to her then?" she asked, with a victoriously sarcastic gleam in her eye.

The Doctor looked at her with a combination of confusion, amusement and disgust as he shook his head, raised his eyebrows and quietly said, "No."

Feeling much better Sarah smiled and pocketed it. "Good! Well, it's mine now then. So what's the mission?"

"The mis… Oh, the Sonataran! I have no idea. I couldn't really concentrate with you yelling at me like that before. Now let's see…"

After twisting a few dials, the ugly, broad, dome-shaped and roughly humanoid head of a Sontaran came into view on the screen. He identified himself as Shtaag, but it didn't matter to Sarah. To her they all looked, sounded and acted the same, which is not surprising since the entire race were all cloned from the same being - General Sontar. The mission orders were that Shaial, she assumed that was the one who come her in the craft the just passed, would gather biological samples of the flora of this planet and transport viable seedlings back their home-world for further study.

"Doctor," Sarah sniffed, as her nose was starting to run again, "Why would the Sontarans be looking for plant samples."

"I don't know… Although if there was something capable of slowing the Daleks to the point were they died in place…"

"But surely they couldn't use that as a weapon? A distraction maybe… *sniff*"

The Doctor just looked at her, smiling.

"*sniff* What? *sniff*" Her eyes began to narrow slightly.

He just kept looking at her. He thought he detected the slight twitch in her cheeks.

"*sniff* Wha… Wh… hah… haaaah-TCHOO!"

"I thought so." He laughed, as she dug the handkerchief out of her pockets. "You seem to be a bit distracted anyway."

"Yes. I've felt like this almost from the moment we set foot outside of the Tardis. I must be allergic to something here. Or everything here."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's an auto-immune disorder that humans sometimes have. I've never had one before but... Our bodies react to benign substances as if they were dangerous and try… to… heh… hah-haaAAASH-OOO!"

"Oh I see. You're not in any danger are you? Should you go back to the Tardis?"

"I can cope with it for now, thanks. *sniff* Really it's more annoying than anything else…"

"I can understand that." The Doctor muttered to himself.

"But I'll let you know if it gets any worse. If I should suddenly collapse and stop breathing you might do well to notice and take action."

"Like what?" He looked at her, with a stupidly amused grin on his face.

"Well, SAVE ME, for a start!" She said as she punched him in the arm.

The Doctor's smile grew even broader. "Sarah! I'm only kidding around with you. You are in good hands. I'm the DOCTOR, and I haven't lost a companion yet. Well, I mean some have gotten lost, but none have died."

"Thank you, that's very reassuring. *sniff* I assume we should clear out then? Look for… I don't know. What?"

"A city." He said, in a serious tone.

"What, here?!"

"Yes. Look over there." He pointed to the cliff face about half a mile away, facing the one they were now standing under. "Look at the formations at the top."

"*sniff* They look like overgrown ruins." Sarah replied glumly.

"Well… maybe to you. But I can make out a working windmill, and even a few structures that might be livable."

"*sniff* But how will we get up there?"

"If I'm right, there will probably be some steps or some kind of access tunnel in the cliff face. Come on!"

Sarah was completely miserable as they made their way back through the forest to the opposite cliff face. Her sneezing was almost constant and she had a hard time keeping up with the Doctor's brisk pace. She really wished he'd slow down. She was terrified she'd get lost and at this point she hadn't the slightest idea how to get back the Tardis or, at this point, even the Sontaran ship. After an hour of exhaustive hiking and allergic suffering they finally reach the open lowlands as the foot of the mountainous cliff.

"You could have gone a little slower!" Sarah shot fiercely as she plopped down on a nearby rock and blew her nose again.

"Well I though it would be worse for you while we were in there. That's why I tried to get through as quick as we could."

'So he does care,' Sarah thought to herself, smiling.

"You know I don't think Lady Jane treated it quite that way." He said, pointing with a smile at the now soiled and soggy handkerchief.

Sarah laughed despite herself. She was overcome by the image of 16th century English royalty having a good blow, followed by the Doctor carrying around a snotty hanky in his pockets for a good hundred years or so. "Well…" she started, in better humor now, "*sniff* I'll bet you never dragged her though some godforsaken place like this!"

"No, indeed I haven't."

"I do wish were wandering around in a rock quarry. We always seem to run into whoever we're looking for in places like that."

"Like those two over there, you mean?" The Doctor said evenly, pointing behind her.

Sarah gasped as she turned around at the sight of the two ragged looking children, armed with primitive spears, which had just snuck up behind them.

(Cue freaky music, end of part two)

[Niceguy]

THE FOREST OF CHAOS

PART THREE

"I do wish were wandering around in a rock quarry. We always seem to run into whoever we're looking for in places like that."

"Like those two over there, you mean?" The Doctor said evenly, pointing behind her.

Sarah gasped as she turned around at the sight of two ragged children, armed with primitive looking spears, who had just snuck up behind them.

"Hello!" The doctor called out to the in a friendly manner. "I don't suppose you could help us? We seem to be lost and…"

"You shouldn't be here!" The older of the two boys interrupted curtly.

"Well, that's fine. Could you take us to your shelter?"

"The elders know of your arrival. We've be sent to wait for you. The forest is dangerous. Come with us. We'll take you to a safer place."

As they followed the two youths, Sarah suddenly remembered that most of the time when they stumbled upon someone in a rock quarry, or indeed any other out of the way place, they didn't tend to be the friendliest sorts. She worried that the boys' idea of a safer place might be some manner of prison cell. They were approaching a tunnel cut into the cliff face. She could see stairs, climbing upwards, inside just beyond the entrance. 'He was right again, damn him.' She thought to herself before the tickle returned to her nose.

"haaaAAACH-TCHOO! *sniff*" She looked up and the two boys were now eying her suspiciously. Clearly startled, they brandished their speared as if prepared to defend themselves.

"Oh, it's OK!" The Doctor jumped in. "Her body is reacting to some benign substance by ejecting her soul from it every few minutes. Is that about right Sarah?"

"*sniff* Close enough."

The two boys, now over their surprise, resumed their previously more relaxed posture. "You two need to come quickly. The elders must see you."

They ascended the stairs for some time. When they emerged, Sarah was amazed to see that the Doctor was right again. While the basic architecture of the city on the plateau did in fact resemble an overgrown ruin, it was full of people. She got the impression that at one point there was technology here approaching or even surpassing that on earth during her time but that most of it no longer functioned. Most of the villagers seemed to occupy themselves on growing food and raising water from the broad, deep gorge in the middle of the village square that appeared to go far considerably deeper into the ground than the distance they'd just ascended. They were lead to the largest building in the village - a crumbling, overgrown structure that resembled an ancient temple. Inside they were greeted by a man whose face was that of an old man, with wise eyes and stark white hair, but whose body resembled that of a well muscled youth, in peak physical condition. The woman next to him had the same kindness in her grandmotherly face and the same white hair, tied back in a pony tail. And like the first figure, her body also appeared young, strong and wiry. Her hands looked as though they could shape wood by themselves as if it was clay. Only the third figure had a body that resembled the age of his face. He sat in a chair against the wall, apparently asleep. The overgrowth covering the rest of the structure seemed to come in through the wall and floor and envelop the old man. He was sufficiently covered that the travelers could not see his hands or feet. It almost appeared as thought he had taken root. The older woman stepped forward to welcome them.

"We are glad to see that you made it though the forest. It can be a dangerous place, if you are perceived as a threat."

"Yes, the young scouts you sent to retrieve us had mentioned that," the Doctor answered. "Am I right in assuming that you do not perceive us threats then?" He offered giving a hopeful smile.

The older man answered. "You misunderstand. It is not the two of us, nor even the village, that would perceive you as such. It is the forest itself."

Sarah would have laughed, had it not been for the many strange and unbelievable things she had seen in her time with the Doctor. She thought it best to clarify the situation before there could be any perception of doubt. "So you're saying that the plants here are sentient? *sniff* We have seen that before, but not on so grand a scale."

Seeing the "Where do you come from" question already forming on their faces the Doctor decided to go ahead and fill them in. "We're travelers, you see. We're not from this planet, or even this time period. My name is the Doctor and this is Sarah."

As surprising as this news would have been to a more primitive species, these two appeared to accept it strait away. Then they remembered that they had not yet introduced themselves. "I am so sorry," the old man started. "I am Fregar and this is Yolda. Our dormant friend over there is Gorak. We make up the village council, and are our people's representatives in all dealing with the forest."

Now it was the Doctor's turn to be surprised. "Dealings with… You mean you have a sort of treaty with it?!"

"In a way yes, but it wasn't always like this," Yolda told them. "You see, not too long ago, just before those boys that brought you here were born in fact, we were what you might consider a rather advanced civilization. While it is true that we lacked the ability to travel to other planets, we had advanced enough to know that there were others that were occupied. We also made regular trips to our moon. We had unlocked the secret of genetics and had sustainable sources of energy. Our cities almost covered the globe, and that was the problem: We were fast running out of open arable land to grow food, and raise flocks."

Yolda was interrupted by another of Sara's sneezes. She assured the old woman she was OK, after which Fregar took up the story.

"Our scientists then had a plan that would transform the uninhabitable portions of this world into rich, fertile land. They began doing genetic experiments on various plant species to make them able to survive, even thrive, in the most hostile environments. The way it was supposed to work, we would be able to terraform the desserts and other wastelands and have food and fodder for a lifetime."

"So what happened?" The doctor asked, in a low, serious tone.

"The experiments worked far too well." Yolda answered, looking regretful. "The modified plants grew out of control. Although they thrived in the most hostile environments, they were still more inclined to seek out the most favorable places."

"Couldn't you contain them? I mean, they can only grow so f-fast… aaAAHTSHOO! *sniff* excuse me."

"My dear," Fregar started, "The forest didn't just grow in the ground. The experiments were done on the Moon of this planet."

"The moon? *sniff* but surely you couldn't mean…"

"Yes. The plants left the moon under their own power. They had grown hearty enough to survive both the vacuum of space and the heat of atmospheric reentry. As they reached through the void, their spores and pollen and fertilized seeds spread through the sky, so that upon landing they would cover ever square inch of the planet. And where they landed, they grew quickly. A critical mass was established before we even knew what was happening. The vines and roots and tendrils brought down our cities down within weeks. Anything strong enough to poison them would have killed us as well, and fire… well fire makes the forest angry. You… don't want to try that."

"When did the Daleks come?" the Doctor asked in the same low, serious tone as before. Sarah was not sure why he seemed so particularly glum in hearing this story.

"Right about the time that this village was reaching viability again. There were only a few small settlements left. Those that lasted made peace with the forest. We manage its growth within the boundaries of our villages, and take only what we need to survive. In return, the forest keeps the water level high enough for us to draw from our well. But the forest perceived the threat from those robotic monstrosities almost immediately. As they tried to make their way from their landing site, the forest grew up right in their path, using it's vines and tendrils to hold them in place and break down their machinery. They and their ship were pulled to pieces."

"Why didn't the forest harm us?" The doctor's question was punctuated by another loud sneeze from Sarah. "Well, aside from…" He cut himself off upon catching her sharp gaze.

"Because it has not yet come to view you as a threat. The Daleks could barely hide their malice. And this other alien – yes, we know about him too – he has yet to do anything but observe, so far."

"*sniff* How would the forest perceive him removing samples of it?"

"Well, now that's hard to say," Yolda picked up. "I suppose it would depend on his method… and on his purpose. Why would he want to take samples?"

Sarah was about to answer when another sneezes overtook her so the Doctor stepped in and answered in a low and serious tone. "We think he wants to use this planet's flora as a weapon."

The two elders looked at each other in horror. "Why?" asked Yolda. "How?" Fregar followed.

"The Sontarans are a militaristic race. Every bit of research they do in meant to either enhance their own military capabilities, or to discover more about the weaknesses of there opponents." The Doctor paused for a moment as he considered the old man's question. "I assume they would work to develop a way to weaponize the spores and then release them on an unsuspecting planet, turning it's flora into something sentient and aggressive, like what you have here."

The two elders sat in stunned silence for a moment, maintaining their looks of indignant shock. Fregar spoke first. "That would be a terrible weapon! Over 99% of our population was wiped out by the forest! Any planet attacked in that way would be left utterly uninhabitable!"

"I don't know at that…" the Doctor answered, "Your lot manages to survive."

"But we have made a peace that few could. And we make sacrifices that few would be willing to. And look at how quickly the Daleks were brought down. Have you ever known them to have trouble colonizing hostile planets?"

"No. I haven't." The Doctor's tone was far away and almost dream-like, as he recalled the countless planets that had been overrun by the Daleks. "Few races or environments offered them any resistance at all. And yet on this planet they were dismantled in a matter of hours."

"*sniff* But would… hang on… going to sneeze… *sniff* Sorry, went away. Would the forest allow him to remove samples for that purpose? Doctor, you remember Zeta Minor don't you?"

"Yes. I wonder…"

"Well, it would depend on how he went about harvesting them." Yolda offered. "If he tried uprooting trees and pulling weeds and vines right out of the ground, I can assure you that he wouldn't last long. Or be too quick to try again, if he survived."

"IN THAT CASE…" three of them jumped at the loud, gruff voice that called from the doorway, behind a disrupter pistol that was already leveled. "PERHAPS THE GOOD DOCTOR WOULD BE WILLING TO TEST OUT THE HARVESTING METHODS!"

(Cue freaky music, end of part three)

[Niceguy]

THE FOREST OF CHAOS

PART FOUR

"*sniff* But would, hang on, going to sneeze… *sniff* Sorry, went away. Would the forest allow him to remove samples for that purpose? Doctor you remember [the planet of evil] don't you?"

"Yes. I wonder…"

"Well, it would depend on how he went about harvesting them." YOLDA offered. "If he tried uprooting trees and pulling weeds and vines out of the ground, I can assure you that he won't last long. Or be too quick to try again, if he survived."

"IN THAT CASE…" three of them jumped at the loud, gruff voice that called from the doorway, behind a disrupter pistol that was already leveled. "PERHAPS THE GOOD DOCTOR WOULD BE WILLING TO TEST OUT THE HARVESTING METHODS!"

The Doctor was the only one who didn't seem surprised.

"So you're the unfortunate pawn who got this assignment. It won't succeed you know." His tone almost sounded amused, and the small grin on his face seemed to irk their recently arrived adversary.

"SO YOU SAY! BUT I HAVE A FEELING THAT, SHOULD MY METHODS PROOVE INEFFECTIVE, A SCIENTIST OF YOUR CALIBRE COULD FIND A MORE EFFECTIUVE SOLUTION!" If Sontarans had salivary glands, Sarah imagined that she'd be able to see the spittle flying from his mouth, given his angry and aggressive tone.

"And why would I help you?"

"BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T I'LL DESTRY THIS ENTIRE VILLAGE! EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD WILL DIE! DO YOU WANT THAT?!"

"Far worse would happen if you succeeded."

"DO YOU THINK I'M BLUFFING, DOCTOR?!"

"No." The Doctor said evenly. "But if you did kill them, I definitely would not help you. And if I did, everyone else you'd kill would be on my head anyway. On the other hand…"

"HAAAHTCH-TSCHOO!" Sarah was so distracted by the Doctor's and the Sontaran's banter that she had completed forgotten about her itchy nose. Because of this her sneezed was quite a bit louder than expected, and nearly doubled her over. When she looked up she was greeted by the Doctor's wide, almost googly eyes.

"My word Sarah!"

"*sniff* Sorry…" She said sheepishly, seeming embarrassed.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Apparently out of patience the Sontaran fired his disrupter pistol twice, its glowing red beam killing Yolda and Fregar instantly and eliciting a startled scream from Sarah. The Doctor was furious, now yelling down the barrel of the Sontaran's still leveled pistol.

"Now see here! You didn't have to do that, I was going to help you, after all! There was no need to go and…"

"SILENCE!" The Sontaran boomed. "YOU WERE WASTING MY TIME, DOCTOR! NO DOUBT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO SABOTAGE MY MISSION." For a split second the Sontaran caught a look of surprise in the Doctors eyes. "YES. I KNOW ABOUT YOU. IT IS NOT OFTEN THAT OUR PLANS GO AWRY, BUT WHEN THEY DO IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE MORE OFTEN THAN NOT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. I CAN'T SAY I EXPECTED YOU, BUT I DO KNOW ABOUT YOU… AND YOU METHODS. NOW LET'S GO!"

"No." The Doctor tone was firm.

"WHAT?!"

"I said no." From the quiet, matter of fact tone of the Doctor's voice one would never know that a militaristic alien who had just killed two people was now pointing him gun at him.

"If you must kill everyone here then do it. And you can start with the two of us. If the alternative means allowing you to develop a biological weapon capable of defeating even the Daleks, then I'll have no part of it."

"You would sacrifice your life, and those of everyone else here?" If Sontaran's could whisper, this might be would it would sounds like. The alien was clearly taken off guard by the Doctor's attitude. "Do you doubt I would do it?"

"No. And I don't doubt that many others will die, but I promise you: If you harm anyone else, I will never help you. Even if I am left alive."

As the rage seemed to build in the Sontaran's eyes, Sarah firmly rubbed her itchy nose, not wanting to be the one to break the tension. But to all of the surprise it was Gorak, who woke from what seemed like his eternal slumber in the back of the temple to break the impasse."

"go… doctor. their… spirits… are in… the forest now… you will not be harmed… but… he… will not… succeed."

Just as the Sontaran seemed on the verge of vaporizing his third victim of the afternoon the Doctor quickly took the hint. "All right! All right. Let's go. Shall we?"

Sarah led the way as they left the Temple, followed by the Doctor and then the Sontaran, who was no doubt keeping his weapon trained on the Doctor. As soon as they stepped outside Sarah was hit with panic. There was far more pollen in the dry air outside, and she had grown somewhat accustomed to the cooler, moister air inside the temple. That, combined with the sun in her eyes as they walked from the relative darkness inside, felt as if it set her nose aflame.

"*sniff* ahh… *sniff* oh my… * sniff* Haah… Heh… Haa-AAAH-THCO! HAAAHCTH! Hetchoo! Hetchoo! Hecth!"

"STOP THAT NOISE!" Boomed the Sontaran. She couldn't see him, and hoped he wasn;'t yet aiming at her.

"I can't… hah… HAAATCH-tshcoo! can't help it… haaaAAASHOO! *sniff* I'm…"

"You see her soul's…"

"Oh do shut up, Doctor! Ahh… Haaaahhh… *sniff* Hmm. *sniff* I'm OK now."

"The foliage had this effect on her, you see?" The Doctor informed the Sontaran, almost nonchalantly. "If you brought this stuff to her planet, you could… I don't know… maybe annoy everybody to death…"

"I CAN COPE WITH IT! IT'S YOU I NEED ANYWAY, DOCTOR." He looked over to Sarah. "JUST DON'T GET IN THE WAY. YOU'VE ALREADY EXHAUSTED WHAT LITTLE PATIENTCE I HAVE!"

"*sniff* OK." Sarah replied, meekly.

The trio continued into the Forrest.

There trek was mostly silent, which meant to Sarah that the Doctor was probably trying to think of a plan. The Sontaran seemed content not to make any small talk, but seemed to be slightly distracted by Sarah's sneezing every few seconds. She felt miserable, but figured that it kept the Sontaran distracted then it would be that much better for the Doctor. She only hoped that it wasn't distracting him. Banking on that, she made no effort to keep quite, or even cover. Even so she didn't dare let her sneezing fits slow them down any. She didn't want to push her luck quite that far.

After about an hour's journey they came to a small clearing where the Sontaran had apparently set up three different machines, ostensibly for the purpose of uprooting small samples of saplings without disturbing the larger trees nearby. Surveying the three designs, the Doctor was impressed with none of them. He motioned Sarah towards the first one. The Sontaran sat back, and let them get to work without a word. He seemed to assume that if the Doctor had any questions, he'd ask.

"So… What's the plan?" Sarah whispered expectedly.

"I have no idea." The Doctor replied, quietly, while pretending to figure out the controls for the extractor. "I couldn't concentrate at all with you sneezing like that. I know you can't help it, but did you have to be so loud? Not very ladylike at all."

Sarah let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "So what are we going to do?"

"Here, take this." He said handing he a small device. "It's a tracker and if you follow the arrow it will take you back to the Tardis. I'm going to start this machine, which has no chance of doing anything except disturbing everything around here, and, in the chaos that is sure to follow, we run!"

Sarah was extrememly disappointed. "*sniff* That's your plan? *sniff* Run? Every time… *sniff* Every… hang on…" she put up one finger and turned her head away from the Doctor and sneezed strongly, although as she was now feeling self-conscious, not as loudly as before. "Sorry. *sniff* Every time we run, we always end up getting caught again a minute later!"

"Well… it might buy us some time, so that I can think of a better plan!" His smile annoyed her, but she figured it was as god a plan as any, so she just rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

The Doctor hit the red button on the machine and as he predicted, chaos ensued. The machine itself was quite loud, with rotating tillers that dug into the ground rather aggressively, even before the Doctor let go of the controls. The machine spun and whirled and ripped into everything in sight. The same vines that crushed the Dalek scouts seemed to spring up everywhere. Sarah froze for a second before the Doctor pushed her, yelling, "Run!" She made a mad dash for the Tardis barely breaking through the vines that began to wrap themselves around her ankles.

The machine was tangled up in seconds, but continued to run, cutting though many off the vines that tried to ensnare it. The Doctor had just about untangled himself when the Sontaran tackled him. They wrestled for a bit, fighting off the vines at the same time, before the Doctor finally broke free and ran for the Tardis himself.

He arrived, almost out of breath, to find Sarah waiting. She looked awful – her eyes were now quite swollen and her nose was bright red, and running profusely. Lady Jane Grey's handkerchief was soaked through. "Don't worry Sarah! We'll be gone soon… enough…" He patted down his pocket's, and he had many, but his looked was once of profound disappointment tinged with the slightest bit of panic.

"*sniiiiiiffff* heh… What?" Sarah asked, seemingly at the end of her strength.

"My key." The Doctor said in a low voice as he placed his hand on the Tardis door which, of course, was locked.

"No."

"I afraid I don't have it." He looked positively grim.

"No. No. You're joking! *sniiiiffff* heh… Tell me you're joking!"

"I'm not." He shook his head.

"I SUPPOSE YOU NEED THIS!" The Sontaran's booming voice startled both of them that time. He emerged for the forest, looking rather the worse for the wear, with several visible lacerations and his uniform in tatters.

"Ah yes! That's it! Thanks you so much…" The Doctor reached out his hand. 'You must be joking…' Sarah thought. The Sontaran, now clearly on the verge of murderous rage, only brandished his pistol even more aggressively, if that was possible, and yelled at the Doctor.

"YOU WILL COME BACK WITH ME! AND IF YOU MAKE ANY FURTHER ATTEMPT TO SABOTAGE MY WORK HERE, I WILL KILL YOUR FRIEND! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

The Doctor's eyes darted back and forth. Sarah could tell he was working something out. The he winked at her.

"Oh no you will not!" he cried as he threw himself at the Sontaran, making sure to deflect the pistol away from them. The suddenness of the attack startled the Sontaran, who fired his weapon instinctively. The blast flew into the forest, eventually hitting an old, large tree, splintering it and setting it on fire. The forest reacted immediately. Vines flew up around the Sontaran, barely allowing the Doctor time to jump away. Within a few seconds the alien was completely covered and being pulled down, INTO the ground. In less than half a minute, he was gone.

"*sniff* What…? *sniff* What just happened?"

"What I expected would happen if he fired that weapon of his. That's why he didn't shoot me before, when we tried to escape. Or why he didn't shoot you earlier. They're nearly psychotic, but they aren't suicidal, the Sontrans. He must have taken Gorak's advice to heart."

"So let's go then, shall we?"

"But Sarah… I still don't have my key!"

She took a step back and turned away from him, partly in exasperation and partly because she felt another sneeze coming on. As had happened countless times already she was doubled over by yet another powerful sneeze. She stayed that way for a moment, bent over at the waist, Lady Jane's now drenched handkerchief held firmly over her raw and irritated nose. As she slowly opened her eyes, she caught the glint of the sun coming off of something in the underbrush, near where the Sontaran was now interred.

"Doctor? Over there…"

"Hmmm?" The Doctor had given up of the key and was deep in thought, trying to figure out on an alternative way to break into that which he knew it was impossible to break into. "Sarah! That's… You've found my key!" He quickly went to work untangling it from the underbrush.

Sarah smiled triumphantly before being doubled over by another sneeze. "Great! Then can we PLEASE get out of here?"

The Doctor smiled broadly as he opened the door for her. Shortly after the pair of travelers entered, the siren on its roof began to glow and admit its wheezy tone as the Tardis dematerialized.

(cue freaky music... End)

[count tiszula]

Wonderful! There's nothing like a good Whofic! I particularly enjoyed the historical hankie. Especially as I'm now sure that Lady Jane Grey [ as played by Jane Asher was it; well, it is now in my mind] enjoyed lots of really sneezy conditions; though beheading was perhaps a slightly extreme treatment, hoho.... I expect she sneezed all over Bloody Mary and contagion passed with the succession; stop me, someone.

Anyway, such hankies could be a type of time-travelling portkey...........oh dear.