"ARGHU! Send this long night to its grave! Deliver me from the cold. My bones ache. My belly rumbles. I desire hot flesh to console me! ARGHU! Send me hot flesh!" The great voice roared through the shadows of the forest, startling the small night creatures. Scurryings and chitters spoke their fear. They knew that terrible sound. IT was abroad in the darkness, seeking, and nothing was safe. They trembled and shrank back from the noise. Thumping feet shook the earth, their passage earthquakes to the tiniest. Foliage was ripped from branches and tossed aside, shredded by the passing creature. Suddenly the great beast halted, head atilt listening to a sound never heard before. Strange sound, a little like the wheezing he made when he had a chest infection. Or like his groans when he awoke stiff and sore from sleeping on damp hard ground.
He rushed forward toward the sound. A sliding stop, clutching the trunk of a tree at the edge of a clearing. There it was. There in the centre of the clearing, steam rising from it was a…a thing! A blue thing with blue starlight flashing on its top. A blue thing. Not a plant, not a rock, not an animal. Nothing like it appeared before. Eyes blinking the great creature waited. Though there was nothing in the forest to fear normally, his wariness of this strange thing kept him still. In a few moments there was a sharp creak and an opening appeared in the blue thing. Then, wonder of wonders, an odd animal came out. The creature rejoiced. This was the hot flesh he had sought to ease the passage of the night. But still he waited, watching but now ready to pounce. It stood glancing about but not fearfully. |
"It should be afraid," he thought. "Am I not prowling the night? A stupid animal. But large enough. I can feast on that for several days." The strange animal moved away from the blue thing, striding fearlessly toward the side of the clearing where the great creature stood hidden in the bushes. Then it paused, as if sensing something. Turning around, it seemed to be searching for something. Thinking it might be about to run back into the blue thing, the creature seized the opportunity and grabbed the animal around the chest. It squirmed and cried out, its head reaching barely up to the middle of his chest. He noticed that the animal was covered in an odd skin. It felt a bit like the pelt of an ormalu; soft and smooth, but it was so loose. Was it about to moult? There were other layers on its front and down its legs of different texture, lighter in colour than its upper pelt. As he held it against his chest, he realized it was speaking words. Not squealing or chittering or growling like the other animals of the forest. He listened to its voice for a moment. "Please let me go. Please, if you release me, we can discuss this quietly and calmly. I mean you no harm!" That amused the creature and he rumbled in his laughter. "But I mean you harm!" At that, the animal ceased its struggles and began to tremble, then went very still. "Why? What have I done to you that you would want to harm me?" It twisted in his grasp again so that its eyes stared up at him. The creature blinked. His prey had never questioned him before. "But you are … food. I crave hot flesh and," with a shake of the body he held tightly, "here you are." The animal smiled, broadly and sweetly, its teeth clearly in evidence. "But I am not food! I am the Doctor! How do you do?" He leaned back from it a little, puzzled. "No, food. Odd food but food." It shook its head. "Afraid not. If you let me down I will prove it." He was so surprised by the conversation he almost let it go. "This forest and everything in it is food. Mine or for the other animals that are my food. " |
It looked at him with interest. "And you are?" "I am?" "Your name." "I don't have a name. Animals have names. Pingdons or harthans or scaldanans. I," drawing himself up and speaking in a booming voice, "I AM!" "What do you call others like you?" His great head shook. "There are no others like me." The animal's face made a sad smile. "Oh, how lonely for you." "Lonely?" He did not understand what the animal was speaking about. "Who do you talk with? Share stories of your life with? Discuss the weather or the hunting? All sorts of things." Another shake. "No one. No animals talk." A pause. "Except you." A broad smile again. "Well, you and I could talk; I would enjoy that. You must have much to relate." When the great creature blinked at the animal uncertainly: "Not having anyone to talk with." A frown. "There must have been someone at some time. Not likely you would have developed speech without someone else to talk with. And then there is the matter of your creation. Other creatures of your kind that produced you. Assuming that your were not cloned. But if you were cloned, someone would have to have done it and from another of your kind. I mean, how often is a unique species with only one member ever created. Oh, occasionally a variation of an existing species…" A pause and then another smile. "So you see, there must be others like you." The animal beamed at him. "That is good news isn't it?" Without thought, distracted by the flow of words coming from the mouth of the animal he still held, the creature nodded. "Could you put me down now?" The creature set the animal on its feet but kept a grip on one of its upper limbs. It brushed at its strange dark pelt with its free hand. |
"There, that's better." It took a breath as if about to launch into another long tirade. Before it could, the creature put a hand over its mouth. "Do you always talk so much?" A shy grin. "Afraid so. Others have wondered whether it was a sign of nerves, but I don't think so. More like a reaction to excitement in a new situation. When there is a whole raft of new ideas or issues to discuss. Do you find yourself chatting more in particular situations?" He thought a moment. "Yes. When I want something. When I am angry." "Do you talk at other times?" "No." "Hmm. Interesting. Do you…" The creature felt another rumble in his belly. "Enough. I need food now. Be quiet while I eat you." The animal's face got pale. "But I don't want to be eaten." "You have no say. Be quiet." "But, but … won't you miss all the chats we could have?" "Chats?" A sharp nodding. "Yes. All those words I know you want to speak. Why, we could talk for hours. Take your mind right off food and being cold. Everything." "But I need hot food." "Well, nothing simpler. Do you like tea? I could get you a nice cuppa…lots of hot tea …in no time at all. Shall I? Then you would be warm and your stomach would not rumble and we could talk." "Where is this … tea?" The animal pointed to the blue thing. "In the TARDIS." "And you would go in there and bring it out." "Yes." |
"No. You would hide in there away from me. The same way the scaldanan dives into its deep burrow." Head tilted to one side, "Yes, I suppose you could consider the TARDIS to be a deep burrow. Never thought of it that way before but not a bad analogy. Of course, the TARDIS moves around. Maybe more like the shell of a tortoise that trav ..." The creature's big hand covered the animal's mouth again. "Be quiet! So I will not let you run into your burrow. I will eat you. Some now and some later." He pulled the animal's left arm toward his mouth. It began to squirm again and he had to uncover its mouth to grip it with both hands. As soon as his hand lifted away, it started to speak quickly. "Wait, wait. You could come with me into the TARDIS. Keep a hold of my arm while I made the tea." Its voice was desperate. "Could I? No, I would not fit into that thing with you." A grin. "You would you know. Come on, what do you have to lose? If I am lying, you will still have me. And it is cold out here. Quite comfortable in there. No wind, no dampness." The creature wavered, curious about the blue thing, intrigued by the idea that they could both fit into such a small thing. And just a little too tired of the dark, cold night. The animal seemed to sense his indecision and coaxed softly. "Come in and see. You'll love it." The animal moved toward the blue thing, drawing the creature along. As they reached the blue thing, the animal drew something from its pelt and touched it to the side of the thing. An opening appeared; light stronger than the two moons above fell out into the clearing. He could feel the warmth of the place flow over his feet. Though he peered in from his position, he could not see much. He hesitated on the threshold and even backed up a step. With a warm smile, the animal extended his free hand with some sort of dried leaf in it. "Jelly baby?" It rattled the dried leaf at him encouragingly. With a grunt he took the leaf and crushing it into a ball, shoved the whole thing into his mouth after a preliminary sniff. For a few seconds he ruminated over it. |
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Outside dry, largely tasteless but inside…hmm, sweet like branagtree gum. Chewy like the gum too. He relaxed as he ate, no longer holding the arm of the animal. The animal started to make an odd noise, its mouth open wide. Rather like a jikabird, a loud ha ha sound. Its eyes were all crinkled up, its breath all gasps between the ha-has. It finally said, "Oh, you weren't supposed to … here, let me get you some tea to wash all that down." It darted away into the interior of the blue thing. The creature ran after it, roaring. For about ten feet, he raced and then he stopped and blinked and stared. He was standing at the edge of a large clearing. He blinked again. Must have gone through the back of the blue thing. But I do not recall seeing anything like this in the forest! He backed up a step and then with a low growl, strode around the clearing glaring at all the odd things. Touching surfaces, smoothing over hard edges. He focussed at last on the great structure in the middle of the clearing. It had arching things like branches of a tree around a central shape as if a large mushroom was sprouting up a column of water bur water that did not flow. He poked the water tower and withdrew his fingers when the surface vibrated under his touch. Need to see this closer. As he began to climb up on the big mushroom, a cry startled him and he leapt back. "No! Please, no! Don't touch anything on the console!" The animal had reappeared from wherever it had gone. It was carrying a flat board with other odd things on it. The creature backed away from the mushroom and glared at the animal. It spoke again. "I am sorry for raising my voice, but she does not like to be climbed on. Even I have to cajole her should I need to reach up to the top of her central column." "She?" |
The animal's face got pink and it looked down. "Ah, well, I … in a manner of speaking she. Let's say that there might have been negative consequences if you had pushed the wrong buttons. Here," lifting the board up, "tea. Come and sit." It turned away and moved toward some rocks in odd shapes, sitting down on the smaller of the two. The creature moved toward the other rock but when he sat on it, found it to be much softer than a rock. There was an audible groan from beneath him and he stood up again and stared at the rock. "Don't worry. The settee is solidly built, even for fellows your size. Please, sit. Do you want milk or lemon in your tea? Sugar?" The creature had no idea what the animal was talking about. "I suspect that black would be the best start." It poured a steaming liquid into a hollowed out shape and extended the shape toward him. "Careful, it's hot." The creature took the shape into his broad palm and noted its warmth. He sniffed cautiously. Made from plant matter of some sort. When he noticed the animal sipping some of the liquid, he concluded it must be all right. He brought the shape to his lips and tasted it. A soft humpt of discovery and he drank more. It did make him feel all warm inside. In a moment he emptied the hollowed shape. The animal smiled at him and poured more hot liquid into the shape he held. "There is a choice: bread and butter or biscuits. Please help yourself." The creature stared at the two piles of things the animal gestured to. He grabbed several of the white things covered in a yellowish substance and after touching his tongue to one, shoved the whole handful into his mouth, enjoying the slightly sweetish, oily smoothness contrasted with the soft texture of the white part. "Ummpt." And he took the remaining pieces and pressed them together before chewing at the ball they made in the palm of his hand. The animal blinked once and then smiled. "Bread and butter is rather nice, isn't it? Luckily, I prefer the biscuits. Now, as we are relaxed here together all comfortable and friendly and civilized … nothing like a cup of tea to bring out the best in people ... what shall we talk about?" |
Bits of bread and butter falling from his lips, "Tell me what sort of animal you are." "Oh, yes. I am a Time Lord … from Gallifrey?" with a glance that asked but doubted the great creature had heard of it. "I am glad you have stopped thinking of me as food." "Didn't say that." The entire plateful of biscuits disappeared into the creature's large mouth and he crunched them, using his back grinding teeth rather than his front and side tearing teeth. "Oh. But could you eat someone you have sat down to tea with?" "What difference is there in that? I have sipped at the same pool of water as the ormalu or the farnwan. I eat them. Where is Gallifrey? Deeper in the forest?" "No, much farther away." The creature finished eating the crunchy things and burped. "Hmmm. Now I am warmer but I am still hungry. Are you ready to be eaten?" He knew he should raise up from the odd rock and grasp the animal but he was comfortable where he was and only moved a little forward. The animal drew back. "No! But surely you wish me to, to … tell you of my travels through the universe. A good adventure?" Its eyes were wide and encouraging. The creature did not know what the universe was but he had enjoyed the hot liquid and the other things to eat the animal had given him. He could always eat the animal later. For now, he was willing to delay that to hear about the universe. "Adventure? Yes." It sighed. "Good. Sit back. Get comfortable. This could be a long one." There was a strange expression on the animal's face. Eyes wide, breathing faster, tongue running over lips but it did not speak. After a few moments, the creature half rose. "No adventure?" It raised its hands in a placating gesture. "Yes, yes. I wanted to select the best one. Ah yes." The animal's voice altered and took him away. |
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