Mae and The Doctor

7 - The Trichechus

Faintly, I hear a man's voice calling out, "Mae! Mae, where are you? Are you okay?"

Then I hear clanging like boots on metal.

"Mae," his words clearer and closer now, "where are your glasses?"

My eyes open, and I stare at the backside of the Doctor who's crouched looking on the floor - for my glasses, apparently. Lifting my hand to my face, I try to remember what happened. The TARDIS...

"The TARDIS," I say it out loud. Quickly, the Doctor spins around to look at me.

"You can talk," he says, "Good." He continues his search for my glasses.

Everything's really fuzzy; because I'm slowly regaining consciousness and I don't have my glasses. Carefully, I push myself up into a standing position. Strands of hair fall into my face, and I pull a bobby pin off the waistline of my skirt to pin it back.

A blurry Doctor comes up to me and holds out something, saying, "I found your glasses."

I reach out my hand, staring at where I think his face is. His hand wraps around mind as he gives me the glasses. Smiling my thanks, I shove them up onto my face.

"Shall we?" The Doctor holds an elbow out to me. Happily, I take it and grin.

We walk out through the doors, and I get excited remembering where we are. As we walk out, my face falls. It's pitch black; no sun, no lights, and I get a shiver up my back despite the warm temperature. Beside me, I feel the Doctor tense up.

"Doctor," I say breathlessly, "where are we?" Slowly, our heads turn to look at each other.

Suddenly, in the light of the faint glow of the TARDIS behind us, I see his eyes glint.

"Let's find out," he says. Then we carefully move forward. There's nothing to trip on, which I find odd and very unsettling.

I raise my arm, pointing, "Look!"

There's a small light not too far ahead. The Doctor pulls me along, and I smile. Very close to the light now, I realize it's a candle. My hand reaches out slowly to take it, but I stop.

"Glass," I whisper. "This is a house; there's a candle inside so they can see, because they don't have any other source of light."

"Good eyes, Mae," the Doctor says, and I hear a smile in his voice. "So where's the door?"

My shoulders rise and fall quickly as I stare through the window at the candle. I feel the Doctor shift - he's moving forward - and he knocks right beside the window.

We wait. Then I notice movement inside the house. It's difficult to see its face, but it stares out the window. The Doctor and I wave, and I add a polite smile. The figure moves away, and I hear locks undoing nearby. Glancing over to my left, where I heard them, I nudge the Doctor.

A door opens, and the figure gestures for us to enter. Cautiously, I look to the Doctor, and we go in.

"Thank you," I hear the Doctor say. Once we're inside, I can see that most of the place is illuminated by candles. It seems we've entered the living room - three 2 person red couches and a brown coffee table. Behind the couches is a poorly made hole where a door should be; it's tall and very wide and leads into what looks like a kitchen.

"Please," the figure says, "sit." It - he - has a deep and authoritative voice. The Doctor and I take a seat on the couch that doesn't have its back to the "doorway". When I see the creature take a seat on the other couch, I notice it takes up the entire thing; I also notice that it's a manatee. No - that  can't be right. It's a manatee but with legs and sturdy arms and thumbs; the only manatee features it has, really, are its face and thickset body.