The Buccaneer Chronicles:
City of Gold
By Tony Gallichan (despite interference by Keith Dunn and Adam J Purcell)
Part One - Your shadow falls on me revealing a silhouette reality.
Chapter Two - "Open the door, get on the floor..."
The Vortex shuddered. Waves of energy spiralling out in all directions. Just as it felt its mission completing, Omega felt its target slip out of reach, fading into a new path, a new track. It was of no matter. The two ships paths were locked together now. There was no way that the target could escape. It would be hunted down and terminated.
But just as the Omega class ship was about to adjust it's own time track, the others watching decided to act. Powerful they were, but trapped within the Vortex. It was there that they came upon it, escaping from there own prison on a billion to one chance, seeking a way to turn it in to immutable fact. When unshackled by the chains that currently bound them, they could walk like giants across the multiverse. There was the edge of the forest of probability and used the entire map of all the creations as their playground. Seizing the Omega class TARDIS, they wrapped it in a cloak of gossamer like probability. Dragging it through the vortex to an area where it would be more advantages to them. To an area that would turn the finite probability of their escape into concrete fact.
"We appear to have escaped our own destruction. I now await your grateful and humble thanks." Said Macfadyan, haughtily.
Smoke hung in the air of the TARDIS console room. The panels one the console appeared to have a slightly singed look to them. Actually, so did Macfadyan. He noticed Cre'at looking closely at him
"Yes?"
* I was inspecting your eyebrows. They appear to have faired better this time. * He said.
"Hmmf."
There was a groan from the other side of console room. Then, stumbling slightly, Blanche merged, covered in leaves and mud stains.
"We safe, then?" she mumbled.
"Yes, for the moment."
* Only for the moment? Are you saying that this could happen again? * Cre'at asked.
"Well it depends. There's a chance the other ship may have locked onto our time trace. If that's happened, and judging by the telemetry from the time tracker it has, then it's only a matter of time till it catches us again."
"Why is it that everything in this thing is a time wotsit? Time this, time that, time the other. I reckon your just making it up to try to impress us." Said Blanche with an evil grin on her face. Then a thought struck her. "Why are we hanging around here then? If this other TARDIS or whatever it is after us, why have we landed?" she pointed to the central column, no longer alight and moving..
"Because my poor ship needs time to recover. Don't worry, the other ship will as well, and there's no indication that it's jumped yet. Relatively speaking, we have a few days, I should think. And the longer the other ship takes to jump, the more time we have. But it will jump, believe me. We're attached. Linked together. Eventually it will be pulled to us as if attached by elastic. We are anchored, thanks to a little fine-tuning by myself, all gratitude accepted. The question is, what to do now... " He tailed off, lost in thought, a worried frown on his face.
Cre'at flicked the viewer switch and the hologram flickered into life, showing dense foliage.
* Ah. Vegetation. * He stated.
"Well, we might as well have a little look see what's out there, I suppose. It will give the Ship time to centre herself." Replied Macfadyan, rousing himself from some rather dark thoughts. He pulled the door lever and as the great doors opened Blanche shivered slightly.
Then the heat hit them.
They stepped out of the back of the Coke vending machine into what could only be described as a rain forest. The humidity was intense. Seeing where they were, Cre'at excused himself and went back inside the ship.
Macfadyan sighed and shook his head then seemed to drift off, staring into the distance as if something was bothering him.
He wasn't the only one feeling odd. Blanche was still shivering and starting to look very pale.
"I don't feel very well." She called. "Oi, Mac!!" But the Time Lord either ignored her, or was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear her. She started to move back towards the Ship. Then she stumbled and fell, her head feeling...empty. With a groan she managed to get to her feet again and staggered to the ship. Shooting Macfadyan a venomous look, she went inside. Immediately she began to feel a little better. Looking up, she saw Cre'at hovering over here in concern. She managed a smile when she saw his latest disguise. A cardboard cut out body, painted to resemble an old-fashioned big game hunter, khaki shorts and all was hung from his base. And an oversized pith helmet was atop him. There was even a flap for his cannon.
* You are broken, Blanche? *
She explained how she was feeling and added,
"But it seems a little better in here. I'm gonna stay in here, I think. Give this one a miss. Tell gitface, will you?"
* Very well. I shall return and purge you if I feel it is necessary. * And with that ominous warning, he floated out of the doors. As they shut behind him, Blanche began to feel normal again. Whatever it was that had given her the vapours, it was outside the Ship. Still, it couldn't hurt to get some rest after feeling that bad. She looked at the hologram, still projected under its arch. Macfadyan hadn't noticed the Sot'm's return. She switched the viewer off and walked to her room.
Something was wrong. Very wrong. Every fibre of his being was, well, twitchy. It was the only way he could describe it. And at the back of his mind, dark figures yelled and screamed and pointed their fingers at him.
* It has assumed an incorrect form. Again. * Stated Cre'at, pointing to the TARDIS.
"What?" said Macfadyan. He turned and looked back at the Ship. Then groaned.
"Oh well. I suppose that's usual." He took out his Stattenhiem remote rod and studied the display hologram. "Hmm, twenty first century South America. We're on Earth. Again. And I thought there was something wrong. According to this, we should be in a bustling city. But look at this place." He gestured around at the forest, "This place hasn't seen Humans before. No sign of them." He sighed. "C'mon, then. I suppose we shall have to find out what's happened.." He marched off. Cre'at followed him with a funny look. The Time Lord hadn't even shown the slightest concern over Blanche. Something was going wrong. He didn't know what, but Macfadyan's behaviour was getting odder, colder. He had noticed it for a while now. He would never have said anything, nobody had asked, but still... There might come a time when he would have to speak out.
And as they left the small clearing, eyes watched them from the bushes. Three eyes.
Deep in thought, Macfadyan wasn't really taking notice of his surroundings. So he didn't see the large pile of dung he stepped in. He did, however, smell it.
"Bugger!" He stopped to try and wipe it off, and then looked at the pile, strangely. "You know, that looks like..."
He didn't get a chance to finish. With a roar, a large dinosaur burst from the bushes across from them. It turned, smelling the air, and then with another roar, it lunged towards them.
