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"The Doctor told us to stay here! If we leave, he won't be able to find us."
Tegan heard Nyssa's words, but her own mind was already discounting their wisdom. She stood in the center of the small, trembling cave staring at the ceiling, which was periodically showering the two women with dust and debris. Every so often, a jolt would rattle the chamber, dislodging larger pebbles and rocks.
"If the Doctor doesn't get that excavator thing turned off soon, this place will collapse on us and there'll be nothing left to find. We've got to go." As if on cue, another violent rattle dropped gravel on the two women. Tegan dashed forward and, grabbing Nyssa's hand, pulled her friend towards the larger of the two tunnels leading out. They knew that the smaller opening led deeper into the complex, so she hoped that the one she chose led out.
As the tunnel curved, the light from the room dimmed until it became too dark to see anything and they were forced to slow their progress to a crawl. Tegan let go of Nyssa's hand so that she could use both of hers to feel her way along the wall. "It's okay, Nyssa. Go slowly and use the wall to guide you. And step carefully."
"Right."
They crept along for a few minutes, silent themselves, though their ears and whole bodies were filled with the constant tremors. A great crack rent the air, followed by the crash and rumble of tonnes of earth. A brief blast of wind from behind them, smelling of moist rock, ruffled their clothes and hair.
"Just in time,” Tegan breathed.
"Maybe,” Nyssa stated. “It really could have been any of them. In a closed place like this, the sound will travel.” She coughed. “All the dust in the air!”
“Pull your blouse up over your nose. Come on. We have to get out." Following her own advice was difficult with her low-necked smock, and she had to devote a hand to holding it in place so she could breathe through it.
They continued their trek through the total darkness, picking up a little speed as they determined that the floor was generally flat and they gained courage that they wouldn't trip or fall into an unseen hole, but it was still slow going. Tegan began to wonder if she'd made the right decision, if she was leading her friend into an even worse situation than the one they had left.
"Tegan! Look!"
"What?" she responded reflexively, though she had already spotted what Nyssa was talking about. In total darkness, even the dimmest light is easy to see.
"It's light! We must be approaching a new chamber or something!" Nyssa's voice was hopeful.
“Oh, I hope so! But keep quiet. There might be those green squid things in there. At least all that grinding will cover us.”
The two women crept forward, stepping as light as possible to stay silent, and the growing brightness gave them some courage. The sudden cessation of the tremors and noise was almost as shocking as its initiation had been, and Tegan stumbled with surprise. Nyssa immediately dashed to her aid, whispering, “Are you okay?” but Tegan shushed her.
“Stay quiet! I’m fine.” Her voice was barely audible.
The tunnel was starting to curve, and Tegan put her finger to her lip, then pointed at Nyssa’s feet to tell her to stay there. Turning, she stepped forward, making her way slowly around the bend to see where their path was taking them. Every slight footfall sounded like it echoed for miles. It wasn’t long, however, until she was able to see that the tunnel opened to the outside. She could see sky, not the interior of yet another chamber.
“Nyssa!” she whispered back down the corridor. “Come on! This goes out.”
In a few moments, Nyssa appeared beside her and peered out. “Sky? We must be high up in the mountain.”
“No!” They jogged up the tunnel and discovered that Nyssa was right: it opened onto a narrow ledge above cliffs that dropped forty feet to the tops of the trees below. Ivy-like climbing vines covered the rock walls around and below it and extended a few feet into the tunnel. At least they had come in the right direction: a spot of deep blue near the distant river advertised the location of the TARDIS.
Staying back by the opening, Nyssa gazed around at the leaf-covered walls. "Now what? We can't get down, and the path back is unsafe at best, caved in at worst."
"And we can't stay here, either. Too easy to spot by anyone down in that forest." Tegan stepped to the edge and looked down.
"Be careful, Tegan!" Nyssa called. "We could wait just inside the tunnel. Though I don't see how the Doctor will find us here."
"Wait." Tegan moved to the right end of the ledge, right next to the wall. "Nyssa, look at this. Right here, the cliff slopes a lot more gently. We could use it like a slide. What do you think?"
Her friend joined her and eyed the descent, her expression dubious. "I don't know. It's probably still too steep."
"Well, it's covered with this ivy stuff, so it'll be padded a little bit, and you can grab onto it to slow yourself. What do you think about these plants?"
Nyssa inspected a leaf, first looking at it carefully and sniffing it before touching it with her bare hand. "It's not covered with needles or anything like that, and it doesn't smell poisonous, though that's a pretty general appraisal." She checked under the leaves and looked at the stem, then finally broke one open, smelling the broken end, then touching it to her tongue. "No, I don't think it's dangerous."
"Then I think we should try it. What do you think?" Tegan peered over the edge again and waited for Nyssa to answer. When it became apparent that Nyssa didn't want to answer and shoot down Tegan's suggestion, she continued. "We have to do something. We can't just sit here. I'll go first if you want."
"I don't want to make you do this..." Nyssa began.
"But you don't want to do it yourself. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Tegan reached out and squeezed Nyssa's shoulder. "Here I go."
Tegan sat down on the edge of the ledge, her feet hanging over the precipice. Counting silently to three, she pushed herself off and let herself slide down the ivy-covered slope. Stifling the urge to scream, she bumped painfully over rocks hidden by the leaves. She slowed herself a bit by grabbing onto the plants when she needed to, but she found she was right: the slope wasn't too steep. As she entered the forest canopy, she could see the wall broke off about four feet above the ground and she scrambled to grab plants to stop her descent in time. Though she was unsuccessful, she managed to prevent herself from shooting off the slide and instead tumbled gracelessly onto the forest floor. Though bruised and rattled by the ride, she jumped up and called upwards to her friend, "I made it! It's fine! Just slow down a lot at the end!"
She heard an answering call, and about two minutes later, shrieks and grunts told her that Nyssa was on her way down. Her friend was less successful at decelerating, and she shot off the slide, falling in a heap just short of a tree.
"Oh, that could have been bad!" Tegan breathed as she ran to help her friend. "Are you okay?"
Nyssa groaned. "I am going to ache for days!" With Tegan's help, she struggled to her feet. "Oh, I really scraped my leg here. But I seem to be fine. I hope I never have to do that again."
"Me too.” She knelt and checked Nyssa’s leg. “Yeah, that’s scratched up, but it’s not too bad. Come on. Let's get to the TARDIS and we can bandage that up." Jumping up, she took hold of Nyssa's hand and tugged a little in the direction she wanted to go.
Nyssa resisted. "Isn't the TARDIS more to the left?"
Tegan shrugged. "Maybe. It doesn't matter. Either way, we'll hit the river and we'll be able to see the TARDIS from there."
"Oh, good point." She nodded, indicating that Tegan should lead the way. "I'm so glad you knew what to do. I don't know how you can stay so calm."
Tegan puffed herself up. "I'm an air hostess. We're trained for emergency situations like this, to get everyone out of the airplane safely. And that cliff looked just like a plane's emergency slide, so I knew we could do it."
"Well." Nyssa grinned at her friend. "I know you want to get to the airport to get back to your job, but I'm really glad you're here with us. Thanks."
Smiling in return, Tegan squeezed Nyssa's hand and they ran off together through the forest towards the river.