Up a Tree (p.24)
"What are these things?" Amy yelled as she ran. They dodged past trees, pushed through ferns. Her heart pounded in her ribs like a razor blade. Panic edged her vision.
She could see the others scattering out of the corner of her eye, being chased by floating red demons. There was yelling, the occasional crack of electricity, and burst of machine gun fire.
Get away, get away, get away. It's behind you! Her body yelled at her, urging her on faster. The Doctor and Rory ran beside her, she could see the red light reflected on Rory's face as he looked behind them.
She ran faster.
"Some sort of energy creature," the Doctor said. She felt his hand on the small of her back, pushing her forward. She flinched and sprinted faster, lungs laboring, shock and adrenaline searing through her veins.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bill attempt to hide by ducking between two boulders. Her ghost kept right after her. She scuttled out the other side on all fours. The ghost followed.
Darvish took a swipe at his with his war ax. The bolt of electricity blew him 20 feet across the jungle floor.
Others ran, or fought, or tried to hide, but the ghosts were relentless. Amy lost track of them as her eyesight narrowed on her own path, her own survival.
"Twisted Trees!" a voice yelled in her head.
Above them the three Trelwins swung along in panic, trying to outrace the demonic apparitions. Zeke waved a long arm and disappeared into a trio of jungle trees.
"Follow Zeke!" the Doctor yelled over the drumming in Amy's ears. Her mouth tasted metallic. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
The Doctor pushed them forward and she and Rory put on a desperate burst of speed. They ran, flat out for the trees, going so fast they had to circle around them to slow down. The Doctor grabbed her and Rory by the arms and practically threw them up into the conjoined boles as they whipped around the edge.
He jumped up into the joined boles after them, panting. They all stared, eyes wide, sweating, hearts pounding, the Trelwins reeking of tar as they clung to the insides of the boles above them.
The apparition curved around the bole, pursuing them, less than ten feet away, and kept going.
It swept on past the tree as if it didn't see it. The ghost's attention diverted and immediately latched onto a section of the mat of ferns, advancing. Jute popped up out of the grasses where he'd been hiding, and took off running, the apparition glided after him, silent, relentless, glowing red and humming like a live wire.
"That's interesting," the Doctor said, in an analytical tone.
"What is going on!" Rory yelled, then stifled himself. "Why did that thing just go on by, and what are they?"
"Is that thing going to come back?" Amy asked. The hysterical edge to her voice had the Doctor whipping around to stare at her. Her eyes were dilated, her hands were shaking. He looked at Rory, Rory's eyes were dilated too, he was jittering, clearly still on an adrenaline surge.
The Doctor reached forward for Amy's face, she flinched back with a frantic look. "What are you doing?" She sounded scared. Amy was never scared.
"I just need to check something," he said softly. He gently laid his fingers against her temples. He looked in her eyes. Then drew back. "Thought so."
"What?" Rory asked, looking like he wanted to jump in front of her and protect her from him. The tar fear stink of the Trelwins washed down around them.
"Amy, give me your ipod," the Doctor held out his hand for her ipod, already digging in his jacket pocket with his other hand.
She handed it over, earpieces still attached to her ears. He pulled out a small leather case, and unzipped it to reveal a collection of tiny tools, like lockpicks.
"What about your sonic screwdriver?" Rory asked.
"Erik still has it," the Doctor said distractedly, popping open the back of the ipod with one of the tools.
"What are you doing?" Amy demanded nervously.
The Doctor looked up in her face, she was still juddering, she and Rory still on edge. "You're not just frightened, you're panicked," the Doctor said.
"We have reason to be!" Rory almost yelled, he immediately looked outside, scanning for ghosts.
"It's not just normal fear," the Doctor said. "Those 'ghosts' are emitting enhanced beta brainwaves."
Rory glared at him. "They're making us scared?"
The Doctor nodded, and started fiddling with the ipod. "I think we figured out why the only survivors of this place were considered mad. Beta brainwaves are just normal daily thinking brainwaves, a bit random and scattered, but normal. But enhance them enough and they cause panic and paranoia."
"Can you fix it?" Amy asked.
He grinned up at her. "Piece of cake. Just requires an adjustment in the frequency..." his voice faded off as he bit his tongue and concentrated on his task. "There!" He snapped the case shut and handed her ipod back to her. He reached out for Rory's.
"Why don't I feel more relaxed?" Amy demanded, in her more usual demanding tone.
The Doctor grinned at her to hear it, adjusting Rory's ipod. "They're not aiming it at you anymore, it takes a bit of time to come down." He snapped Rory's ipod closed and handed it back.
Rory tucked it in his belt. "So why did that thing stop following us?" he asked. They could still hear occasional screams and zaps in the distance.
The Trelwins crawled down closer to them, the fug of tar stink starting to waft away in the breeze.
"The trees," the Doctor said, patting the sleek gray bark behind him.
"Huh?" Amy stared up and around at the twisted boles rising around them. Three smooth barked jungle trees, all rising from the same root, all twisting on their boles.
"The trees are twisted because they're sitting on a microvortex, that's how you can find them. I'm assuming the added electromagnetic interference is shielding us from the ghost's perception somehow."
"How did you know?" Rory asked.
The Doctor pointed up. "Zeke."
Amy and Rory looked up at the three Trelwin clutching upside down to the boles above them.
"If the monster's minions find you, find a twisty tree," the Doctor quoted. It sounded like part of their legend.
"They have been talking to us!" Amy declared.
"Yep!" The Doctor grinned and rubbed his hands in glee.
"How is that possible?" Rory asked. "I thought Trelwin were mute."
"They are," the Doctor said, tilting his head to look out between the boles, keeping a watch out for ghosts or other monsters.
"Then how..."
The Doctor whirled a finger at the air. The leaves rustled in the trees, punctuating the sudden silence beyond them. "The vortex again. It naturally increases Alpha and Theta brainwaves, increasing a meditative state. A side effect of that can be telepathy."
"But I thought you just said we were panicked because of beta brainwaves. That's hardly meditative," Rory complained.
"No, that was something aimed at us by the ghosts. Which I don't think are ghosts at all," the Doctor said in an affronted tone.
"Then what are they?" Amy asked, sitting down on a burl on her bole and crossing her arms.
"Guards," the Doctor said. "Or sentinels. You saw the way they were lined up, like an electric fence."
"A fence that attacks people," Rory snorted.
"What better way to keep people out?" The Doctor rubbed his hands. "And there's nothing more interesting than something saying, 'Keep Out.'"
Amy groaned.
"You think there's something in there?" Rory asked.
The Doctor shrugged. "Why else guard it? Besides, that's where the crash lane ends. We have to get in there, if only to see if there are survivors."
Amy rubbed her face. "And I suppose we have to do that now, while the 'guards,' she made parenthesis with her fingers, "are out chasing the others."
The Doctor nodded.
"What about our friends?" Rory asked, jerking a thumb upward at the Trelwin.
"They'll come with us. Whatever is going on in this Zone is their problem even more than ours," the Doctor reminded them.
"You and Rory go," Amy said. She turned and looked out at the disturbingly quiet forest. Either the ghosts had chased everyone so far away they could no longer be heard, or they were hurt. "I'll go find the others. They may need help. I saw Darvish get zapped."
She looked back at the Doctor. "If the ghosts are still chasing them, then they need to know about these trees, and if they're being panicked, they'll need their ipods fixed too."
"Wait a minute," Rory said, lifting up his ipod. "If you changed the frequency on these things, does it mean they are no longer protecting us from the monster?"
"'Fraid so," the Doctor said, scratching the back of his neck. "I can only program them for one frequency at a time. Like a radio," he explained. He held up a hand when it looked like Rory would protest.
"I don't think that will be a problem, Rory. If the 'monster' were going to attack us to keep us out, it would have already. Why bother when it has its guards to do that for it? Just remember to keep your mind on what you're doing. And no vengeance," he pointed a finger sternly at Amy.
"No promises," Amy retorted. "But right now, we need to get everyone back together. See who's okay. You two are going to need backup, whatever you find in there."
"Then why don't we all go get everyone?" Rory said.
Amy shook her head and settled her backpack on her shoulders. "You two need to get in while you can. This may be our only chance. We'll follow when I find the others. Now show me how you did that adjustment thing."
-----
The Doctor showed Amy how to adjust the ipods to block the beta waves, and handed her his toolkit. "Be careful!"
"You too." She grabbed Rory by the back of the neck and gave him a hard kiss. "Don't get zapped."
She started to crawl out of the trees between the boles. "Wait! How are you going to find them?" Rory asked.
Amy jerked her thumb upward. The Trelwins had grown bored with the talk and taken up guard positions, watching for danger beyond the boles.
"Nelda!" Amy thought. The white Trelwin turned to look down at her.
Amy turned and grinned at her boys. "I don't think we'll have any problems. Nelda can find them for me. And there are plenty of twisty trees to hide in."
She looked back up and hand signed to Nelda. "Stay with me."
Amy jumped down out of the trees, looked all around, then started trotting back to where she'd seen Darvish fall.
-----
"I should have gone with Amy," Rory said as he followed the Doctor back through the woods, trusting that the Doctor had been keeping track of their direction when they'd fled.
"She has Nelda, and she'll soon find the others, she won't be alone," the Doctor said. "Besides, she's right. We need to get in while we can."
Rory scowled and followed the Doctor around the edge of a redwood. The Doctor stopped. Rory bumped into his back.
He looked up.
The towering ghost swiveled and glared down at them. It lunged forward, screaming like a train whistle.
They both screamed, and took off, in opposite directions. They saw their mistake and darted back together, conveniently splitting and running around the ghost. It changed direction without changing momentum and sailed after them, hissing and crackling like atoms being split on a laser.
"I thought you said the ipods would block us so they couldn't see us!" Rory yelled, running.
"It only blocks the beta emissions!" the Doctor yelled back. They dodged back and forth through the ferns, backpacks bumping.
The ghost kept coming, smooth, relentless, it reached down for them, claws out, flaring red, screaming like a tea kettle. Rory covered his head with his arms and kept running, trying to hide behind his backpack.
Chitchi flashed down out of the trees behind them, drawing the ghost's attention as they dove for the bark of the nearest twisty tree.
The advancing ghost stopped, just short of their tree, and hung there, motionless. The top of the young tree rattled and they looked up to see Chitchi perched among its small branches, his ribcage billowing with fear and exertion.
The ghost hung still, seeking, but without turning somehow.
Gradually it faded to white, again looking like the harmless, elegant elvin figures they'd first seen. It glided serenely away, back toward the line it had come from.
A hiss sounded behind them. Rory whirled and lashed out with the machete, beheading a snake with pure adrenaline response. Sweat beaded on his skin, his insides shook. "What is it with this place!"
-----
They snuck back to the location where they'd first seen the fence, tiptoeing through the ferns, keeping an eye out for more ghosts. The Trelwin swung along overhead.
When they reached the area where they'd originally found the fence, Zeke and Chitchi dropped down into the ferns beside them. The Trelwin were stinking of tar, obviously reluctant to approach the ghosts, staying together, huddled on the ground. Rory didn't blame them, they didn't have ipods to block out the beta wave panic.
But they were there, determined. The Doctor looked down at the brave, terrified aliens, then off toward the glow they could again see through the trees. He looked back down at the huddled Trelwin, and made a "whooshing" sign with his hands, like a bird taking off.
They turned and fled, swinging back up into the trees and away.
"What did you tell them?" Rory asked, wondering if being partially telepathic made it easier to read sign language.
"I sent them to go help Amy," the Doctor shrugged at him, with an understanding twist to his mouth. "It's hard to face your own monsters."
-----
The "electric fence" had been restored. The apparitions hovered in white resting mode, evenly spaced, with no gaps in the fence.
Rory took comfort from the fact that if the ghosts were all here, at least they weren't chasing Amy.
"So much for sneaking in," he said. "How are we going to get through now?" he asked.
"Dunno," the Doctor said thoughtfully, studying the line, plucking at his lip.
The Doctor and Rory watched as one of the fluffy creatures tried to hop between the apparitions. It bounced off the air with a zap.
It wailed and scampered away, trailing a smell of fried feathers.
"What are those things called anyway?" the Doctor asked.
"Dunno," Rory said, "Shale said they were 'Nuisances,' but I don't know if that was a name or just an opinion." They stared at the fence in silence, the ghosts hanging pale and still, leaves blew across the boundary.
"So, how are we going to get through there?" Rory asked.
The ghosts didn't seem to be paying them any attention. They all looked asleep.
The Doctor stepped cautiously out from under the twisted tree they'd been hiding under. The ghosts didn't react.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered up, cocking his head and looking them over. He walked down and studied the next one. They weren't identical, there were subtle differences in each one they looked at.
"Do you think they're alive?" Rory whispered. "Or," he looked up at the nearest apparition, it was slightly shorter and stockier than the other two they'd examined, the face broader. "Once were?"
"Biology or artistic license?" the Doctor said. "I don't know." He picked up a stick and threw it between the apparitions. Rory flinched and prepared to run.
"One thing I do know," the Doctor said, as the stick sailed through unimpeded. "I don't think they can see."
"They saw well enough when they were chasing us!" Rory protested.
The Doctor shook his head. "If they were using vision they would have seen us in the tree, microvortex or not. And they wouldn't have been able to see Jute in the grass." He plucked at his lip then started rummaging through his pockets. "Give me your life support unit."
Rory unclipped it and handed it over. The Doctor kept rummaging. Coat pockets, shirt, pants, he frowned. "I gave Amy my tool kit." He pulled out a half crumbled cookie and glared at it. "And even I can't adjust electronics with a Jammy Dodger." His mouth twisted wryly. Then he shrugged and stuffed the cookie in his mouth and started scanning the ground, looking for anything useful, munching.
"What about our medical kits?" Rory said. "They might have something you can use for tools." He detached his backpack and started rummaging through it.
"Brilliant idea, Rory!" The Doctor thumped him on the back. Rory opened up the small white box and riffled through the bandages and ointment.
"What about this?" He held something up.
"Tweezers! Perfect." The Doctor grabbed them, gave them a couple of snaps then started prying open the back of the life support unit.
Rory carefully repacked his medkit and stowed it, keeping an eye out for danger, his machete laying on the dirt beside him. Somehow he'd kept hold of it during all their earlier panic. "What exactly are you doing?" he asked, as he struggled to reattach his backpack.
The Doctor looked up from digging in the innards of the device, a smear of jam on the corner of his mouth. "Um? I figure our glowy friends here probably work by detecting lifesigns. If I can just readjust the electrical output of our revival units, change the cycle, I might be able to simulate the microvortex effect that keeps us hidden in the trees."
"You can do that?"
"It's all electricity, Rory. In fact, it's not unlike how the Monster turns people off."
Rory grimaced. "So, if this works, that means we should be able to slip right between them."
"That's the plan." The Doctor snapped Rory's unit shut, and started working on his own.
-----
"All right, let's try this," the Doctor said, starting to step forward.
Rory laid a hand on his arm, stopping him. "I'll go first. If I get fried, they'll still need you to deal with the monster," he said.
"That's very brave of you, Rory."
"Yeah, yeah." He took a deep breath. "Get ready to pull me out."
He held a hand out in front of him and walked cautiously between the ghosts, feeling at the air in front of him. He stared up at the apparitions, but they didn't move. There was no resistance, no forcefield.
He walked several steps and then stopped, inside the fence. He turned. "It worked!"
"Of course it worked, don't sound so surprised," the Doctor said arrogantly.
Rory laughed in relief. "Toss me my machete." He'd not wanted to risk taking the metal through an electrical field.
The Doctor tossed the large knife through the fence, Rory yelped and dodged as it almost fell on his foot.
"Sorry," the Doctor said, grimacing. He straightened his jacket, hiked his backpack higher, and stepped between the ghosts. They completely ignored him.
"So, we're invisible?" Rory asked as the Doctor joined him, grinning.
"To them, yes. Fun huh?" He slapped Rory on the back. "Now let's go see what's so important that it needs a fence of spectral bodyguards."
"Wait," Rory said. "How will the others get through?"
-----
The Doctor found a post-it note in his pocket. He wrote a note with the stub of a pencil and attached it to Rory's spare life support unit. They set the unit on a broad leaf and shoved it back through the fence with a long stick.
"There!" the Doctor said, dusting his hands off with satisfaction.
"That will get one of them through," Rory said. "But what about the rest?"
"They can toss the unit back through the field and come through one at a time," the Doctor said, nonchalantly. "I left instructions." He waved at the unit.
They turned and stared into the interior. It was wide open in here, broad ground of brown dirt, high trees looming overhead like a cathedral, the occasional giant boulder. And intimidatingly gloomy farther on.
Rory clasped his machete tighter. The Doctor clapped Rory on the shoulder without quite his usual bonhomie. He gripped tight for a second.
"Let's go see."
-----
Behind them, the Doctor's note fluttered in the breeze. Then peeled off and floated away.
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