Chapter Four

The noise from the mine echoed around the surrounding area, the metal of the pickaxe against the tough stones producing a loud clanging which was even heard through the thick ear muffs that each of the miners had to wear as standard. It was no wonder that many of them developed problems with their hearing, and the dust created by the splitting stones played hell with their lungs. Frederick Wells wanted to retire, he thought as he sat in the corner of the mine, on a tall metal stool, watching his men hacking into the wall. He was all ready. If today proved to be pointless, like yesterday, and the day before, and every day for the past four weeks, he had his notice written, and he was going to buy a goat, or something.
Outside, Chapivosh rolled over, his eyes snapping open.
“Have we missed it?” he growled, looking over at Ophamech who remained propped up, looking over to the mine entrance. He knew they had to wait until all the workers left, until the sun was nearly setting. It wouldn’t be long now, it was already midday.
“No.. 6 hours left”
“Jeeze, this planet is so dull..” Chapivosh grunted, standing up and stretching, kicking aside the odd device they had brought with them “And I’m STARVING. What do we have to eat?”
Ophamech shrugged, pulling out a packet of dessert pellets and handing them over to his boss, who snatched them instantly, pouring the whole bag into his mouth as Ophamech watched.
“That was all we had..”
“Then we’ll have to get something else later..”

The Doctor glanced up at the sky with a soft sigh, before glancing over at Donna, who sat on a striped deck chair .
“Now THIS is what I wanted..” she smiled, lowering her sunglasses that she’d managed to remember to bring until they sat below her eyes and she could look directly at the Doctor. He wondered, briefly, why she had sunglasses. Then again, with her entire wardrobe in the TARDIS, it was especially hard for her to NOT have a certain item of dress. The Doctor raised an eyebrow
“Where did you get a deck chair?”
“It was inside the hut..” the Doctor shook his head, pulling his sonic screwdriver from out of his pocket and scanning the area for what must have been the millionth time.
“Found anything yet?” Donna asked, placing her sunglasses back over her eyes and leaning back slightly. The Doctor glanced over to her
“You’ll burn, you know, and I’m not rubbing Aloe Vera over your skin when you do”
“I’ll take that as a no, then” the corners of Donna’s mouth twitched, almost forming a smile before the Doctor looked over at her.
“I can’t work it out..” he stopped short, looking over to Zina as she returned. Over the past few hours, she had informed the local.. well Donna could only think of them as ‘police’ but officially, they weren’t.. and had returned home for breakfast with her father. She didn’t, after all, want him to know that she’d run away the previous night, nor did she want him to know she had been the one who found Salah’s broken body.
“Everything ok?” Donna asked the girl as she walked towards them, before instantly regretting it. “Sorry, stupid question, but, I meant.. at home” Zina smiled softly at Donna before nodding.
“Dad’s gone to work, after work he’ll… well.. that’s not important” she shrugged. What she hadn’t wanted to say was that when her father got home, she’d be taken to live with her future ‘husband’, a man she hated, no matter how much money he had.
“Well.. about time we..” the Doctor started before his eyes spotted something covered by the grass. Frowning, he knelt down and brushed aside the long strands of green which covered what he thought might be a clue.
“Footprint.” Donna said as she knelt down beside him, having previously gotten up from the deck chair as he spotted it. In a hushed voice, she continued to speak to the Doctor “Alien?”
“Could be.. Looks like it could also be a random footprint from a random animal”
“Can’t you check?”
“Watch me” he grinned, scanning the muddy footprint with his sonic screwdriver, a smile on his face. He held the small instrument up to his ear and nodded “Alien”