"Behold, Rio" the Doctor says opening the TARDIS doors.
"Nah," Amy says.
"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe," Rory says, I walk out looking around.
"No? Ooo, feel that, though. What's that?" I jump up and down, the Doctor soon joins.
"Ground feels strange. Just us. Wait. That's weird" the Doctor says.
"What's weird?" Rory asks.
"You two, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here. Are you two even listening to me? It's a graveyard. You promised me a beach" Amy says.
"Blue grass. Patches of it all around the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot" the Doctor says.
"Why are those people waving at us?" Amy asks pointing to two figures on the other side of the valley.
"Can't be" I say, Rory starts to wave back.
"Don't" Amy says slapping his hand, I use a pair of binoculars.
"It is. It's you two" I say.
"No, we're here. How can we be up there?" Rory asks.
"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine. Humans, you're so nostalgic" I chuckle.
"We're still together in ten years?" Amy asks.
"No need to sound so surprised," Rory says.
"Hey, let's go and talk to them. We can say hi to future us. How cool is that?" Amy asks.
"Er, no, best not. Really best not. These things get complicated very quickly, and oh look. Big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing" the Doctor says starting to drag me away.
"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy asks.
"Let's go and have a look. Come on, you two, let's see what they're doing" the Doctor says.
"If they can't get us to Rio, how're they ever going to get us back home?" Rory asks.
"Did you not see over there? It all works out fine" Amy says.
"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives? The nurse and the kissogram?" Rory asks.
"I guess. Their getting away" Amy says.
"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" Rory asks.
"Engagement ring. I thought you liked me wearing it."
"Amy, you could lose it. Cost a lot of money, that."
"Hmm. Spoilsport" she gives the ring to Rory.
"Go on. I'll catch up with you three" he runs back to the TARDIS.
"Alex, Doctor," Amy says running after us.
*Time skip*
"Restricted access. No unauthorised personnel. Hmm" the Doctor stares at it for a moment until I sonic the lock.
"That is breaking and entering," Amy says.
"What did I break? Sonicing and entering. Totally different" I say.
"Come on, then," Amy says.
"You're sure Rory will catch us up?" the Doctor asks.
*Time skip*
"What about now? Can you feel it now?" I ask looking at Amy.
"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're both on about," Amy says.
"The ground doesn't feel like it should," the Doctor says.
"It's ten years in the future. Maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels" Amy says.
"Good thought, but no, it doesn't. Hear that, drill in start-up mode. After waves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass" I say, the Doctor has a few leaves. He tries eating one.
"Oh, please. Have you always been this disgusting?" Amy asks.
"No, that's recent. What's in here? Hello."
"Who are you? What're you doing here? And what're you wearing?"
"I dressed for Rio," Amy says.
"Ministry of Drills, Earth, and Science. New Ministry, quite big, just merged. It's a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. Don't like to talk about it. What are you doing?" the Doctor asks.
"None of your business."
"Where are you getting these readings from?" I ask.
"Under the soil."
"The drill's up and running again. What's going on? Who are these people?"
"Amy, the Doctor, the Seer. We're not staying, are we, Doctor? Alex?"
"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" the Doctor asks.
"We don't know. It just appeared overnight."
"Good. Right. You all need to get out of here very fast" I say kicking some dirt around with my shoe.
"Why?"
"What's your name?" the Doctor asks.
"Nasreen Chaudhry."
"Look at the screens, Nasreen. Look at your readings. It's moving" I say.
"Hey, that's specialised equipment. Get away from it" Amy squats down by the hole.
"What is?" Nasreen asks.
"Doctor, Alex, this steam, is that a good thing?"
"Shouldn't think so. It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting" the Doctor says.
"What shouldn't?" there's a rumble.
"The ground, the soil, the earth, moving. But how? Why?" I ask.
"Earthquake?" Amy asks.
"What's going on?"
"Doubt it, because it's only happening under this room," the Doctor says, two more holes appear in the floor, then three more.
"It knows we're here. It's attacking. The ground's attacking us" I say.
"No, no that's not possible."
"Under the circumstances, I'd suggest, run!" the Doctor shouts, they do. More holes appear and Mack's foot goes down one of them.
"Tony!"
"Stay back, Amy. Stay away from the earth" the Doctor says, Amy jumps over a hole to help Mack.
"It's okay" a hole opens under Amy's feet
"it's pulling me down."
"Amy!" I say.
"Alex, help me. Something's got me."
"Stay away from it," the Doctor says.
"Doctor, the ground's got my legs," Amy says, I run over kneeling down and grabbing Amy's hand.
"I've got you."
"Ok" Nasreen pulls Mack free "don't let go."
"Never."
"Alex, what is it, and why is it doing this?" Amy asks.
"Stay calm. Keep hold of my hand. Don't let go" I say.
"Your drill, shut it down. Go. Now!" the Doctor says, Nasreen and Mack run out.
"Can you get me out?"
"Amy, try and stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand. I'm not going to let you go" I say just as our grip fails.
"Alex, it's pulling me down. Something's pulling me."
"Stay calm" I say.
"Now, hold on till they can just shut down the drill," the Doctor says.
"I can't hold on! What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there."
"Amy, concentrate. Don't you give up" I say.
"Tell Rory..."
"No. Amy! Amy, no!" I shout, Amy disappears below the soil.
"No! No! No! No! No. No! No. No. No. No!" the Doctor says, as I stay knelt on the ground, the Doctor tries his sonic screwdriver which can't help either. Nasreen and Mack run in.
"Where is she?"
"She's gone. The ground took her" I murmur.
"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Mack asks.
"It's not quicksand. She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in. It wanted her" I say.
"The ground wanted her?"
"You said the ground was dormant. Just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped" the Doctor says.
"That's right."
"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back" the Doctor continues.
"So, what, the ground wants to stop us drilling? Doctor, that is ridiculous."
"I'm not saying that and it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right. Oh, of course. It's bio-programming" the Doctor says looking at me.
"What?" Nasreen asks.
"Bio-programming. Oh, it's clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?" I ask.
"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?"
"You're both not making any sense."
"Excuse me, we're making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up. The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack" the Doctor says.
"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?"
"Stop your drilling. Ok, so we find whatever's doing the bio-programming, we can find Amy. We can get her back. Shush, shush, shush. Have I gone mad? I've gone mad" the Doctor says.
"Doctor."
"Shush, shush. Silence. Absolute silence. You've stopped the drill, right?" the Doctor asks.
"Yes."
"And you've only got the one drill?" I ask.
"Yes."
"You're sure about that?"
"Yes."
"So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling? It's under the ground" I say walking over to the computer.
"That's not possible" I sonic the computers nearby.
"Oh no, what, what are you doing?"
"Hacking into your records. Probe reports, samples, sensors" the Doctor says as I type away on the computer.
"Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look. So, we are here and this is your drill hole. Twenty-one point zero zero nine kilometers. Well done" I say.
"Thank you. It's taken us a long time."
"Why here, though? Why'd you drill on this site?" the Doctor asks.
"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years."
"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen. Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up" I say, the deep sensor readings resolve themselves on the screen.
"Oh, beautiful. A network of tunnels all the way down" the Doctor says.
"No, no, we've surveyed that area."
"You only saw what you went looking for" I say.
"What are they?"
"Heat signals. Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?" I ask.
"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in."
"Grab this equipment and follow me and the Doctor."
"Why? What're we doing?"
"That noise isn't a drill, it's transport. Three of them, thirty kilometers down. The rate of speed looks about a hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. Should be here in ooo, quite soon. Twelve minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now."
*Time skip*
"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?"
"You saw the readings," the Doctor says as we all walk towards the church.
"Who are you two, anyway? How can you know all this?" slow red lightning in the sky.
"Whoa, did you see that?"
"No, no, no" the Doctor uses his catapult to fire a stone into the air. It hits an energy shield and vaporises "energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped."
"Doctor, Alex, something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people," Rory says running up to them.
"Not now, Rory. Energy barricade, invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no one from the outside world can get in" the Doctor says.
"What? Ok, what about the TARDIS?" Rory asks.
"The what?" Nasreen asks.
"Er, no. Those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes" I say looking at my watch.
"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Rory asks.
"We're trapped, and something's burrowing towards the surface."
"Where's Amy?" Rory asks.
"Get everyone inside the church. Rory, the Seer and I will get her back" the Doctor says.
"What do you mean, get her back? Where's she gone?"
"She was taken. Into the Earth" I say, Rory turns to me.
"How? Why didn't you stop it?" he asks.
"I tried. I promise I tried."
"Well, you should've tried harder!" I flinch slightly, the Doctor places his hand on my back.
"We'll find Amy. We'll keep you all safe, we promise. Come on, please. We need you alongside us."
"Where's Mo? Is he with you?"
"This flaming door. Always sticking. I thought you were having it fixed" Mack says.
"Dad!"
"Something's happened to him, hasn't it?" the small boy asks.
*Time skip*
There is a nice stained-glass window behind the altar, but the small building is now just used for storage.
"So, we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth."
"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready" I say.
"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"
"She's telling the truth, love" Mack says.
"Come on. It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."
"Look, Ambrose. We saw the Doctor and Seer's friend get taken, ok? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it for me is the Doctor and the Seer."
"Them?"
"Us," the Doctor says.
"Can you get my dad back?" the boy asks.
"Yes. But we need you to trust us and do exactly as we say from this second onwards because we're running out of time" I say.
"So, tell us what to do."
"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring Seer and I every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find" the Doctor says.
"Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. We want the whole area covered with sensors" I add.
*Time skip*
The equipment is set up. The dots are still heading up towards the surface on the computer screens.
"Right, guys, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. We need a map of the village marking where the cameras are going" I say.
"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic" Elliot says.
"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot" I smile.
"Six minutes forty," Mack says... five minutes to go. The new CCTV array is ready "works in quadrants. Every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know."
"Good lad," I say.