The Slitheen Excursion

by Simon Guerrier

  ‘What is it?’ asked June.

  ‘There’s going to be a storm,’ he told her. ‘I want to check these things will cope.’

  June gazed up at the red sky again. Yes, it did look a little angry. And there were dark clouds on the horizon. She felt a moment of terror.

  The Doctor produced his magic wand and began buzzing at the boat’s mast and moorings. It had little effect.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll fix it. Go and find someone to talk to. Take your mind off it.’

  June’s stomach gurgled with fear as she left the Doctor to his work. She sat unsteadily down beside the portly bloke, who looked wan and ill. ‘Feeling seasick?’ she asked him.

  He grinned. ‘Hardly. It’s a hangover. Should have watered down the wine. My own silly fault.’

  ‘I’m June,’ she told him, extending her hand.

  ‘Deukalion,’ he said, taking her hand and kissing it. His dark beard felt rough against her fingers. But his eyes were bright and young – he couldn’t have been much older than her.

  ‘You’re not a soldier,’ she said.

  ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘My fighting days are long past. But the kingdom needed someone to send and they thought it might as well be me.’

  ‘What did you do?’ she asked.

  ‘I didn’t do anything!’ he protested, then he clutched his head in both hands. ‘Ow,’ he said. ‘I am never drinking again.’

  ‘What did you do?’ she asked him again.

  ‘I dared to suggest a king was wrong on a matter of principle,’ he said.

  ‘A matter of principle,’ said June sceptically.

  ‘Yes,’ said Deukalion. ‘The queen can snog whoever she likes on her birthday. That’s one of those things about queens.’

  ‘And you were one of the people she snogged.’

  ‘I might have been,’ said Deukalion. ‘And then the masters said they wanted people to compete for his glory. And I got volunteered.’

  June laughed. ‘I bet you did.’ Deukalion beamed at her. And behind him the sky was black.

  ‘Doctor!’ she cried as the boat lurched sickeningly underneath them. The sea that had been so perfectly calm now churned with dark power. A great wave clattered over the side of the boat, soaking those sat up by the prow. It began to patter with rain, fat globules smacking hard against June’s skin.

  ‘Everybody keep down,’ said the Doctor, struggling to the front of the boat, brandishing his magic wand. Just the way he took command made June feel a hundred times less terrified. ‘We’ve got to—’

  But his words were lost to the awful roar of the rain now lashing down. The boat smacked hard against another huge wave and tipped almost at a right angle. Then the wave had passed and they slapped down hard onto the water. The force knocked the Doctor from his feet, sent him slithering back towards where June and Deukalion were kneeling.

  ‘Ow,’ said the Doctor. He grinned. ‘This is more like it. A proper sailing trip!’

  Despite her terror, June grinned back at him. His features were lit up by electric blue lightning, the crash of thunder right on top of it. They turned quickly round to see the mast of one of the other boats sparking into flame. Soldiers screamed, and one fell into the water. June thought she saw Alyon on that boat. The lightning flashed again and the sail was ablaze.

  Their own boat suddenly lifted and dropped sickeningly as the waves crashed against them. June clung on to the Doctor, lungs raw where she’d been screaming.

  ‘It’s all right!’ he yelled, barely audible over the storm. ‘We’re going to be all right!’

  And then a wave smashed so hard into them that the boat was turned right over. June fell through the air and then through cold, dark water.

  SEVEN

  THE COLD SEA embraced June, held her tight. It weighed upon her, tried to stop her thrashing her arms and legs. She fought against it, no idea which way was up or down. Water clogged her nostrils. Sound rumbled dumbly all around her.

  She struggled to remain calm, looking into the dark, murky depths for anything that could help her. Cargo floated past her head: a sword, a helmet, a sandal. She kicked in the other direction, making for the surface.

  June burst from the water, wheezing in the air. Rain lashed her face and a great wave grabbed her, lifting her high into the angry night. Thunder rumbled and men cried out. As the wave peaked and began to fall, she looked down on the wreckage of boats and people. Not one boat remained upright.

  The competitors could not swim. She saw one man struggling in the water, his arms wrapped round a torn-off piece of wood. June kicked her legs and swam to him. Her progress was better after she’d yanked off her shoes and socks, swimming in bare feet. But when she reached the man he tried to fight her off, instinctively protecting the wood that kept him floating.

  ‘It’s all right!’ she shouted to him over the noise of the storm. ‘I can swim. I just want to help.’

  The man turned to her. It was Deukalion. His eyes were wide with fear. He tried to reply to her but couldn’t get the words out.

  ‘It’s OK,’ she told him. ‘It’s going to be OK. We just have to find the Doctor.’

  Another wave rolled underneath them, and Deukalion let out a low moan. June reached for him, grabbed his shoulder, then tucked her arm gently around his neck. She had learnt lifesaving at school and remembered the manoeuvres. Deukalion tried to fight her off, but the water had sapped all his energy. He surrendered to her, nestling the back of his head in her shoulder.

  ‘Try and lie out flat,’ she said, gently in his ear. She trod water, keeping them afloat and stable. Deukalion’s breath became more regular.

  ‘We’re . . .’ he wheezed. ‘We’re going to die.’

  ‘I’m not going to let that happen,’ she said. She looked all round, searching for anything that might help. The sea churned around them, lightning flashing in the dark. And the light picked out two faces in the water. June whooped and waved with her free hand. The second time the Doctor saw her and waved back. He too had someone in tow.

  June waggled her legs as best she could and carried Deukalion slowly over towards the Doctor. It seemed to take for ever, the waves working against them. June had to swim backwards, dragging Deukalion after her, so she couldn’t see where she was going. She kept being slapped in the face by water rebounding off Deukalion, and he did nothing to help her. She wanted to let him go just to wipe the hair back from her face. But she resisted the temptation screaming inside her. Painfully slowly, they made their way through the water.

  ‘OK,’ shouted the Doctor. ‘You’re going to have to reach his hand.’ June couldn’t see where he was, but he sounded close. Something clonked down hard on her head, stunning her for a moment. She relaxed her grip on Deukalion, sank down into the water. The wetness on her face and eyes brought her to her senses. She struggled back up, grabbing Deukalion, who was struggling from her grip.

  ‘Sorry, sorry,’ she heard the Doctor calling. And then Deukalion let out a cheer. He stopped struggling, and she ducked round, moving his head to her other shoulder so she could see what he had done. He held his arm aloft, out of the water, linking hands with another man also lying in the water. The other man must have clonked her on the head as he reached for Deukalion. June glimpsed a familiar spiky quiff on the far side of the man’s shoulder.

  ‘Doctor!’ called June, her voice high and raw.

  ‘Hello!’ he said cheerily, ducking his head round that of the man he’d saved so he could see her more clearly. He wore a ridiculous, wide grin, his eyes open wide. ‘Knew you’d be around here somewhere.’

  ‘You don’t lose me that easy,’ she told him. ‘What are we going to do?’

  The Doctor glanced all round. ‘We’re passing through the storm, I think. Just got to keep together. Calm waters coming up.’

  June swallowed, the seawater full of salt. ‘I can’t see anyone else,’ she said.

  The Doctor’s smile faltered. ‘No,’ he said. ‘If we can find some
thing for you lot to cling on to, I can go for a look . . .’

  ‘There isn’t anything,’ she said.

  The Doctor held her gaze, an awful expression on his face. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, there’s only us.’

  They rode out the storm together. The Doctor asked them all questions, keeping them awake. June felt comfortable in the water, as comfortable as sitting by the fire with Actaeus, the same warm contentment flooding through her. She felt the numb ache in her muscles and knew she need only relax her grip of Deukalion to slip away into the water’s embrace. It would be easy, and she so wanted to sleep . . .

  ‘Oi, June, it’s your turn,’ called the Doctor. ‘First kiss.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Deukalion, his head nestling in her shoulder. ‘I had to tell you mine.’

  ‘All right, all right,’ said June. ‘First proper kiss was with a boy called Jonathan. At a bus stop, when we were fourteen.’

  ‘Hah!’ laughed Vik, the man the Doctor had rescued. ‘I got married at fourteen.’

  ‘That late?’ asked the Doctor.

  ‘My second wife,’ said Vik.

  ‘I had two wives,’ mused Deukalion. ‘But both at the same time.’

  ‘How did that work out?’ asked June.

  ‘Oh, it was good,’ said Deukalion. ‘Until they found out about each other.’

  They drifted on, chatting about nothing. June could almost have enjoyed it. The rain died down to a drizzle and the waves slowly levelled out. June told them about Bruno and Melissa, the boyfriend and best mate she had run away from. Vik offered to hunt them down for her. Deukalion said that, if she wanted, June could be his third wife.

  ‘I think we’re coming out of it,’ said the Doctor.

  June looked up. Dark cloud gave way to bright blue sky. The sun pressed warm against her face.

  ‘This isn’t so bad,’ she said.

  ‘Um,’ said Deukalion. ‘We’re still in the middle of the sea.’

  June glanced round. The water reached to the horizon all round them. But when she turned back to the Doctor he wore a stupid grin.

  ‘Oh, brilliant,’ he said. He nodded his head, indicating the far side of where Vik lay in the water.

  June kicked, bobbing out of the water high enough to see over him and Deukalion. To where the two square-sailed boats awaited them.

  June hauled herself into the first boat, to find two people already lying on its floor. She recognised the woman from the barbecue the night before. She had a great speaking voice, like a proper actress, and had told a story about a clever owl. Her name was Herse. The man introduced himself as Polos.

  Vik and Deukalion clambered up into the boat. June watched the Doctor climb into the boat just across from them. He hunted around, waving his magic wand at various bits of it, then kicked the central mast in frustration. It only hurt his foot. He muttered something angrily, then saw June watching him and grinned at her with embarrassment. Deciding the other boat offered them nothing, he dived neatly overboard to join June and the others.

  For a long time they just lay there in the boat, soaking and exhausted under the sun, spreading their clothes out to dry. But the Doctor lay looking out to sea, his eyes searching for any other movement, for any other survivors.

  ‘We could go back,’ June said to him, after she’d recovered a bit. She found it difficult to move, her limbs aching from all that time in the water. Yet the horror of all the people they’d lost weighed down on her.

  ‘How?’ said the Doctor dejectedly. ‘This boat’s sitting perfectly still on the water, ignoring the current underneath it. I could get out and kick and it wouldn’t make any difference.’

  ‘But you’ve got your magic wand.’

  The Doctor withdrew the device from his pocket. ‘It’s a sonic screwdriver,’ he said. ‘But the boat is deadlock sealed. They don’t want us wandering off.’

  ‘So we just sit here?’ said June.

  ‘Until they decide they’ve waited long enough for survivors.’

  ‘But all those people!’ said June. She thought of Alyon, and all those who’d sung stories. All of them were gone.

  ‘Think of it this way,’ said the Doctor. ‘We’re way back in your past, so these people had been dead for centuries even before you were born. Like watching early films or something. You see the people, you hear them speak, but they’re already gone.’

  June watched Deukalion, Vik, Herse and Polos. She couldn’t think of them like that. They were alive here and now. She shared their exhaustion and pain. The Doctor saw her expression and smiled sadly.

  ‘No,’ he said, putting an arm around her. ‘It doesn’t work like that, does it? I’m sorry.’

  ‘You read history,’ she said quietly. ‘You read about a time when the average life span was 25 to 40. Or you read the statistics for children dying young. And you think people must have been different back then. That they must have got used to it.’

  ‘You saw Aglauros,’ said the Doctor. ‘You never get used to it. Each death wears you down. You keep pressing on. Struggling to survive, to build something better. Whatever the odds against you. Indomitable.’

  June didn’t feel very indomitable. She lay back in his arms, watching their other shipmates sprawled out under the sun. There were only six of them left now to face the dreaded Slitheen.

  EIGHT

  WHEN JUNE AWOKE, the two boats were gliding swiftly over the water. Sore and exhausted, she joined the Doctor at the back, looking out over the barely discernible wake.

  ‘Feeling better?’ he asked.

  ‘Not really,’ she told him hoarsely. ‘Told you I got seasick.’

  ‘Seems smooth now,’ he said, eyes on the calm water.

  ‘Yeah,’ she agreed. ‘But it was before. That storm came out of nowhere.’

  ‘That’s what I was thinking,’ said the Doctor. ‘And then there are all these earthquakes.’

  ‘It happens round here,’ she said. ‘All over Greece and Turkey. Even in our time.’

  The Doctor nodded. ‘Mmm,’ he said. But he didn’t seem convinced.

  Maybe it hadn’t been an accident. June shuddered at the thought – why would anyone inflict something like that on them? She left the Doctor to his dark thoughts.

  June’s clothes were pretty much dry, if stiff from drying in the sun. Her money and student ID card had mushed in her wallet. It shouldn’t matter, she knew, but it hurt her. These ruined bits of paper were all the proof she had of where she came from, of her real life.

  Determined not to cry, she joined the others, watching over the curled prow of the ship for wherever they were heading. They comforted each other, telling more of the stories they’d shared round the camp fire – who they were, where they came from, the things that were important. Deukalion hugged his sides, looking pale and sick. Herse had her arm round Polos, the man who had rescued her. He came from a town on the coast of Boeotia, he told them, and learnt to swim as a child.

  The sun passed above them and behind to the left. June couldn’t remember which direction that meant they were heading in. But at last a dark line appeared on the horizon. June called the Doctor over, and in the seconds it took him to join them, they were looking at a long coastline of rocks and trees. Their exhaustion gave way to excitement.

  ‘Where is this?’ asked June, but the Doctor didn’t answer. He pointed at the long grey buildings at the top of one high cliff.

  ‘It’s a stone building,’ said Polos, amazed. ‘Look at the size of it. Like the old stories! They must be safe from the earthquakes out here.’

  The Doctor said nothing, his eyes narrowed as he watched. The boats came to rest on the thin crescent of beach at the foot of the high cliff. They tumbled out onto the hot, fine sand, soft between June’s bare toes. She collapsed forward, lying face down, just glad to touch dry land. The Doctor sat down beside her.

  ‘No one’s here to meet us,’ he said.

  June looked up and around. The beach filled the shallow inlet in the cliff, but they we
re cut off by deep water from which poked jagged rock. There didn’t seem to be any way off the beach but for the boats they’d just arrived in. A line of green on the cliff wall showed how far the tide came in to the beach. It reached well above their heads.

  ‘Oh no,’ she said as she sat up. ‘We’re not out of this yet, are we?’

  ‘I think they like to keep us guessing,’ said the Doctor.

  Deukalion, Vik, Polos and Herse wandered round the crescent of sand, stretching their legs and exploring. But they could see no way off the beach, either. They came back to the Doctor and June, plumping down in the sand.

  ‘We’re playing someone else’s game,’ said the Doctor. ‘We wait for their next move. But remember, we’re in this together.’

  They sat waiting all afternoon. The tide washed up towards them, each time coming an inch closer. They moved back up the beach as the sea claimed it, until their backs were up against the cliff. The tide lapped around their ankles, pulling at them as it fell back. Each time it returned it had a little more strength.

  ‘Just keep together,’ said the Doctor. ‘We can get through this.’

  ‘I can’t swim,’ said Deukalion. He glanced round at June. ‘Can we do what you did before?’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ June told him. ‘Just do what the Doctor tells you.’

  The sea splashed against her shin, then sucked around the back of her knee. Even when the tide withdrew, water still covered her ankles.

  ‘Um,’ said June. ‘Doctor. Have you got any ideas?’

  The Doctor was gazing out to sea, a strange smile on his face. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I don’t think that storm was meant to happen.’

  June blinked at him. ‘What?’ she said.

  ‘It doesn’t make sense. I mean, what was it meant to achieve?’

  Water lapped against June’s thigh. ‘Doctor, now isn’t exactly the time.’

  ‘But doesn’t it bother you?’ he said. ‘Because if the storm hadn’t happened, what would we be doing?’