"The Hunt for the Doctor" - Part Two

 

Part Two

            Silurians. Or “Homo reptilia,” as I’d like to call them.

            I’ve dealt with their lot many times before. And, every time, I’m caught in the middle of a war between them and their counterparts, the Homo sapiens. The only difference now, here in the world of “Craig of the Creek,” the Homo sapiens were actual apes – bestowed with genetically enhanced intelligence that made them act and even talk like their human cousins. They were led by a chimpanzee named “Caesar,” who had a cold, hardened glare in his eyes that shook my soul, looking into them.

            Craig first encountered Caesar and his ape clan at the same time he first met Neas and his father, Aznavorian (who was in her “Rania” regeneration). The apes and the Silurians were victims of the interdimensional rift, randomly arriving in Craig’s world through a hole torn into the infinite D.C.

            From what Craig told me, the apes and the Silurians warred right from the start, refugees of other worlds fighting for the sanctuary of the creek. Had it not been for Neas (with a little help from Craig) and the peace he managed to bring between them via treaty, Craig’s world would’ve certainly been overtaken.

            But, now, that peace treaty has been broken. Whether it was an ape or a Silurian who broke it had been the cause of the new dispute. The Silurians were capable of peace but also treachery. As far as the apes, Craig told me how loyal they were but would have more than enough reason to betray the treaty.

            “It was an ape!” declared the Silurian leader, whose name I caught as “Hinlema.”

            “Apes do not go back on their word,” Caesar countered (even his deep, raspy voice was chilling to hear).

            “Neither do Silurians!” Hinlema hissed.

            They were about to tear each other apart right there and then in front of all the children of the creek. Luckily, I stepped in between them. “Okay, okay! It’s clear one of you has a mole,” I discerned.

            “A…mole?” Caesar grunted in confusion of the term.

            “It means ‘traitor’,” Craig translated for me. “Someone doesn’t want there to be peace between you guys.”

            “Who’d be fool enough to break the treaty?” Hinlema inquired. “Certainly not a Silurian!” That last crack made Caesar and a few other apes growl in offense, their grips tightening on their sharpened spears.

            To Hinlema’s inquiry, I reassured, “That’s what I’m going to find out.”

            “And I’ll find out with her,” Craig volunteered, firmly planting the base of his staff in the ground as he did. I can see why Neas admires this brave lad so much.

            It seemed the Silurians did just as much, considering that Hinlema said in response to Craig’s volunteering, “We trust you will find the traitor, Craig of the Creek.” She then looked at me judgmentally and added, “As for you, Doctor…your reputation has been a curse to our people. Be warned – if the traitor is not found, the fault will not lie on Craig of the Creek…but on you!”

            Her judgment was harsh but fair. I’ve failed to help the Silurians a few times in the past. There was only one I could think of that I truly succeeded in helping, but she was in Victorian London solving mystery with her wife and a potato man.

            Before Craig and I set off on our investigation, I instructed Ryan, Yaz, and Graham to take Neas’s coordinates to the Power Rangers and give them to E.T., the only other person who could pilot my TARDIS to their specific dimension. It still impresses me how that little alien can do it – in the infinite dimensional corridor of all places!

            Once Craig was alone with me, he seized the moment in asking me about Neas. “Doctor? Was Neas dying when I last saw him?”

            His question struck me with surprise.

            The best I could tell him was, “Yes, he was…if he looked the way you described.”

            Craig wasn’t too disappointed. He knew a little about regeneration when he met one of Neas’s successors – a young English brunette named “Maureen.” In fact, he brought her up when he assumed, “So, the next time I see Neas, he’ll be Maureen?”

            I merely shrugged and told him, “I guess so. I’m not all that keen on Neas’s personal timeline and where you fit in it.”

            Nonetheless, Craig understood. “It’s O.K. He…I mean, she made me a promise,” he recollected with a hopeful smile. I remembered the promise he was talking about – the one Maureen made to him after our adventure on Abydos. It gave him the reassurance he needed to continue looking to Neas as his special friend from beyond the stars.

            We suddenly heard movement within the nearby foliage. Someone was watching us. I instructed Craig to get behind me; instead, he maintained a firm stance in front of me, as if to protect me from whatever or whoever was peeping in on us. I blindly aimed my sonic, even though it wouldn’t have done much good (for one, I was surrounded by wood…yeah, I know, I really need to work on that feature).

            “Show yourself!” I challenged our mysterious watcher.

            “You would not want that,” a voice in the foliage grunted. It sounded much like Caesar’s, only twice as daunting.

            “We’re not afraid of you!” Craig warned.

            “Oh, little human…neither are we of you,” another voice said from the foliage. This one was feminine and hissed like a Silurian.

            Craig and I were tailed by two figures.

            They stepped out in the sunlight with guns pointed right at us.

            As I suspected, one of them was a Silurian while the other was an ape with a scar over his right eye.

            It was safe to say that we found our traitor…or traitors.