A Strange Man in a Strange Box

2.7 A Call to Action

After a long and excessive walk, they finally arrived back at the camp. Y/n was ready to collapse on her bed, but unfortunately she didn't have that opportunity.

The sun had gone down while they were walking, so now the camp was quiet and dark. It was dimly lit only by the light coming from the fire pit. All of the women and children had gone to sleep, along with most of the men. There were just a few remaining that were still awake and standing guard over the camp area.

When the guards saw Kadj'Ar, they raised their spears in a threatening way. Torg quickly stepped forward and motioned for them to stand down. The guards reluctantly lowered their weapons, but they still stared at Kadj'Ar suspiciously.

Kadj'Ar was also looking at the hunters with some trepidation. His eyes were quickly flicking across and looking for any sign of aggression. Meanwhile his hand subtly moved to the handle of the gun that was now strapped to his leg in a holster.

"Torg, we must speak with your leader," said the Doctor.

Torg thought about it for a moment, then grunted in agreement and went into the larger wooden hut. After a minute, he came out again followed by Zorga. The old man hobbled along slowly while he leaned on a big stick for support. When Zorga saw Kadj'Ar, he frowned at him with a look of distrust.

"This rock man. Come from sky," said Torg.

"Well, he's not actually made of rock," said Y/n. "It's just his skin is grey, that's all, he's normal apart from that. Or, well, I mean he is an alien. I just mean he's not made of rocks, that's all."

The Doctor just looked at her with an amused grin. "It's fine," he said. "They are not going to understand the concept of aliens."

"Oh, right," said Y/n, and she awkwardly shuffled off to stand further back.

Kadj'Ar now stepped forward and stood proudly in front of Zorga.

"On behalf of the Traxion Imperial Navy, I apologise for the failure of our mission, and the forthcoming destruction of your civilization that our actions have set in motion," said Kadj'Ar.

Zorga looked confused, then turned to the Doctor in hope that he would explain things more clearly.

"Ah, yes, how to explain," said the Doctor, then he stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

The Doctor slowly turned around, his eyes scanning through the camp as he looked for inspiration. He needed to find a way of explaining the concept of a nuclear apocalypse in terms simple enough for a stone age man to understand.

After a moment, the Doctor's eyes settled on the campfire. Paying more attention to it this time, he noticed more details. For one thing, he could see that they had scraped away all of the grass in a large area around the fire pit. Obviously they did not want the fire to burn the grass, and so spread out of control. This was a sign that they should be aware of the idea of a wildfire burning out of control.

Certainly this part of Africa would have months where the weather was hot and dry. At those times, fires would spread quickly through the dry grass. It could be very dangerous and destructive when such fires occurred. And that could be the key to getting them to understand.

"In the sky rock there is a fire burning," said the Doctor. "It is a special fire, more dangerous than the normal fire."

The hunters all seemed worried when they heard this, and paid close attention to what the Doctor was saying. In turn, the Doctor seemed to enjoy holding their rapt attention.

"This fire burns and spreads through the wind, and it will kill anything that it touches," said the Doctor. "And it's also completely invisible. So... any questions?"

"Fire hurt," said Kol.

"Yes! That's right," said the Doctor. "The fire will hurt you all. That's why you need to leave."

"Water in valley. Fire not cross," said Zorga.

"The river, you mean?" said the Doctor. "That won't protect you this time. The fire will cross the water."

Zorga grunted, and looked around at the others to see if anyone else had any ideas.

"But the water, it could help you in a different way," said the Doctor, while deep in thought. "That river is a tributary of the Nile. It would help lead you safely northward, and away from the radiation."

"What that mean?" Torg asked.

"Flow, follow the water," said the Doctor. "It will lead you to safety."

"Always we have been safe here," said Zorga. "We take from the herds as they move through the valley."

"Ah, yes. That's the other problem," said the Doctor. "The herds of animals will die too. Either directly from the radiation, or by the famine that it will bring. There will be nothing here for you to eat."

Zorga gave a dismissive grunt, then slowly hobbled over to the fire. For a few minutes he stood staring into the flames. Silently he contemplated everything the Doctor had told him. Patiently he considered his options.

Finally, Zorga turned away from the fire and shouted with a deep and bellowing voice. "My people. Come, and listen to me."

The sounds of stirring came from the tents, and slowly the rest of the tribe began to crawl from their beds. Gradually they began to come out of the tents, and unhurriedly formed a group in front of Zorga.

"A danger is coming," said Zorga. "Sleep well, and when the light returns we must begin to move camp."

Though the danger was different this time, the order to move camp was nothing new. Usually it was to follow the migration patterns of the different herds of animals. So when they were told that the time had come to move on, the tribe was unconcerned. Instead they slowly made their way back to their beds.

Y/n yawned as she watched the last of them disappear into their tents. She wished she could crawl into bed so quickly.

"So are we heading back to the TARDIS to sleep now?" Y/n asked hopefully, as she thought of the nice comfortable beds that they had in there.

The Doctor turned around with an expression like someone who had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Ahhhh, hmmmm," said the Doctor.

Y/n just rolled her eyes at him. "So, any ideas for where we are going to sleep tonight?" she asked.

"Sleep here," said Torg, and he gestured towards one of the tents.

"Thank you. But would that mean just sleeping on some grass?" Y/n asked, but Torg had already headed off into his own tent before he could answer.

"Well, this'll be fun," said the Doctor, with a smile.

Y/n thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged. She realised that she didn't actually care where she slept at that moment. After all those hours of walking, she was so exhausted she could sleep anywhere.

When Y/n ducked her head down to enter the tent, she discovered that there were already two people inside. A man and a woman were spooning each other off to one side of the tent.

"Oh, umm, excuse me,"  muttered Y/n, as she crawled over to the empty side of the tent, but they didn't seem to care.

The bundles of grass on the floor were much more comfortable than she had expected. Y/n let out a sigh as she stretched out on top of the grass. Then she rolled over onto her side and drifted off to sleep.