part 6
Composed by Jay O the McIntyre grieg, HTMLed by Lith O the Skye Rael grieg
The Doctor grabbed frantically for a handhold as he fell. Would all his previous lives flash before him? The drop was more than long enough! His wildly flailing hands found a tree branch. He swung into it, bruising his ribs. Joel, falling next, grabbed his leg. Ace caught the next tree branch down. Maxx missed the tree, and kept falling. His claws slashed at lower branches, until finally he managed to wedge a claw into a lower tree trunk. Ace's bag and ladder, falling, bopped him on the head. He managed to stick an arm inbetween ladder rungs, and caught it. "Climb down!" Maxx called to the others, and began using his claws to lower himself. "Easy for him, he's got claws," said Joel. "But I'm no monkey." "Neither am I, but we must get down," replied the Doctor. "So grab hold of the tree, and let go of my leg!" Mike Nelson woke up. He didn't know where he was. He was hanging from the ceiling, wrapped in Christmas tree lights. The lights were on, blinking in that random, annoying, headache-inducing way that such lights have. He could see where the lights were plugged into the wall. He wiggled around, trying to swing over to the plug. Gone was now using a white Isz to hold up his head. The stranger was walking off towards the Labirynth. "I'll see to the new human, and set up the toys for the Doctor's arrival," he said. Gone nodded absently. His alliance with the stranger was purely to get Maxx out of the way, so he could continue to work on Julie. His ally had no style or sense of theatrics, he felt. As soon as the Maxx was finished, so too would the alliance. And in any case, Gone was convinced that the Maxx, at least, and maybe this "Doctor", too, needed a little more pushing. He gave the isz a command to head for the crevasse. Maxx got down after about five minutes of climbing. Surrounding him was the splattered remains of the Isz the Doctor had tricked into walking over the edge of the crevasse. He didn't know who this Doctor was, but he was impressed by him. Perhaps he was a sorcerous rival of Gone. Ace clambered down. "Hey, Maxxie, can I have my bag back?" He handed it over. As she was rolling the ladder back into it, he asked, "Who is this Doctor you travel with?" Ace looked at him somberly. "I know he's a time traveller, and a crusader against evil. But what I don't know about him could fill several libraries. I think nobody really knows him." Joel arrived at this point. Hands on knees, he tried to get his breath back. "Then...(wheeze)...why do you....(pant)...travel with him?" "Because she knows that I do good, and because she wanted to see some of the Universe," the Doctor answered, clambering down. "Now Maxx, you said this crevasse was dangerous?" "Yes," Maxx replied. "Even the airwhales fear to come here. I know that the Jungle Queen keeps some of her great cats here, but beyond that it's a mystery to me." "Probably why the bad guys put their base on the other side," Joel muttered. "Indeed," said the Doctor. "Let's get going." Mike finally managed to reach the plug. He yanked it out, and the power died. But he was still hanging there. So he began to unravel the wire from the socket end he had just unplugged. Gone reached the other side of the crevasse, and the isz began to carefully climb down that side. The stranger reached the Labyrinth. He stepped into his secret entrance, and uttered a word of command. The various games and toys activated themselves. "This time, Doctor, you will die. And I will take your TARDIS and rule the Universe!" The stranger, the Celestial Toymaker, threw back his head and laughed.