TRUST YOU TO LAND THE TARDIS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ONLY BIT OF LAND...
THE SURFACE AREA IS 98.65% WATER. IF IT WAS THE ENTIRE PLANET IT’D BE A GREAT DEAL MORE...
ON A PLANET THAT’S 98% WATER!
SQUISHY. DON’T WORRY, JUST ONE MORE DUNE. I’M SURE OF IT.
DARK TIDE By Jon Wesley Huff
Part One but i got a little cynical around dune four or five.
you know i actually believed that when we started-had no reason not to, really--
what have you done to that poor beach ball?
it was subbing in for your head around dune eight.
do you hear that? Do you Smell that?
Well, better him than me, i suppose --
lucie miller, i promised you the best beach resort this side of the spanali arm and--
oh. that’s not right.
HOLD On...
Annnnd here we go again.
you have, i take it, noticed it’s a city...
a city composed completely of water?
well, yeah. “well, yeah?”
seen a lot of this sort of thing no, i just where you’re figured it was... from then? you know... alien water... or something.
alright, what is “not right” with it?
Water is water Lucie, no matter where in the Universe you are...
So you’re saying it’s... impossible?
Impossible? No, not at all.
BUT everything I can think of To create this sort of effect...
would require some sort of artificial edifice to make it work. I can’t see evidence of anything of the kind.
Except when it isn’t water, of course. Well That clears that up, ThEN
Beyond that though... where are the Bland bungalows?
I thought you said this was the BEST beach resort in the... WHATEVER Arm.
Tell you what, Doctor. we could stay up here on top of this dune all day guessing... or maybe...
where are the markets selling the soulless ephemera that tourists so crave?
It is! The ephemera doesn’t come as soulless, NOR the Bungalows as bland as here on Arkal!
Not my sort of thing, mind you, but I thought you’d enjoy it.
I think I was insulted somewhere in there.
we go down there and ask?
Lucie Miller, I like your style! With the possible exception of that hat.
says the man so, my son, wearing a what day-dream is frock coat to it today? the beach.
Piloting a space freighter?
i only ask so that i can explain to the quorum...
sailing a skipper to the fourth City? exploring the gelfoy trench?
on which one you’d like to crush today.
oh yes, quite dramatic. you know...
CLAP CLAP CLAP
you might have made an excellent actor.
which dream, father? I suppose that depends...
why the gahrman’s son has shirked his duty... AGAIN.
i’ll add that to the list of things i might have been..
you’ll just have to settle, then...
for being the most important-coming Wait-towards us LOOK! from the dunes..
could it be? after all this time...
what if the tourists are gone...
...don’t have much AND it looks very well worn.
because theY’re not wanted here.
that’s the advantage of the direct approach, lucie...
on behalf of the citizens of third city...
i, gahrman panka welcome you!
the immediate REsPO--
But their technology is sufficiently advanced enough that this is AFTER I last visited here.
OFFWORLDERS! uh... doctor... the closer we get the more I’m wondering...
deep below...
GLITTERING
waves free
mind
listen
ache puddle
-Hnff-
why couldn’t they have a
lucie, that’s--
well, actually that just might be a good point.
-Hnff-
OY! i mean, how much uh... farther your...
come to think of it.
gahrman-ness.
water lift or something.
oH not much farther! only about ten stories more...
GLITTERING
ache
mind
listen
...wiped out in the civil war. or used as raw material for the war effort.
All because your ancestors wanted to live on the surface?
the tourists fled, of course.
some people are just...
they never came back.
afraid of change, i suppose.
GLITTERING mind
listen
hiya.
kyril, isn’t it? mind if i join you?
starting to talk politics back there...
i know the feeling. i’m sorry i snuck away and left you to my father.
pouty? ungrateful? whinging? the esteemed gahrman over there seems to think so. maybe Okaaaay, he’s right.
no worries, compared to our usual welcome... well, i feel like bLOODY royalty.
fish boy has daddy issues.
not exactly the words i was going for. well, except for the bit with the endless stairs.
what about you? for a boy with a penthouse view you seem a little...
sorry, lucie. now i’m being bitter and whiny.
Felt like your life was closing in on you? like all the... possibilities...
it’s all right, i’ve been known to have a good whinge now and again.
listen
but don’t tell the doctor i said that. i’d never hear the end.
listen
ha! okay, it’s our secret. it’s just... have you ever felt...
had suddenly dwindled into one oppressive, suffocating reality?
but then...
and again, this is just between us.
then i met the doctor and i started to feel...
well, the opposite. like anything was possible.
are you meant to take over from your father? Family line and all that? No... At one time maybe...
So, Basically... ‘Life’s just a bunch of old rubbish?’ SUre, i’ve been there...
sometimes it’s irritating. like when we’re being chased by aliens and/or locked up.
but my father gave up on that a long time ago. my future is decided.
Gllrrkk! bl-glrrkkk
but... sometimes it’s... fantastic.
and i’ve no say in it at all.
BLWRBB BLWWRRBB
kyril, why’s everything wibbling like jelly!
! H S O O SPLO
oh no. Lucie - run to the--
to be continued...
Story and Art ©2008 Jon Wesley Huff. Doctor Who is © 2008 British Broadcasting Corporation. This is an unofficial work of fan fiction and has not been licensed by the BBC or BBC Worldwide. If it is felt this work infringes on this copyright please contact jonwesleyhuff@gmail.com and it will be removed immediately.
LUCIE!