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If anyone had asked Graham what he expected he’d be doing once he’d finished travelling with the Doc, he would honestly say that clambering around islands off the coast of the Andaman Sea had not been on his list.
And, well, as a rule, people don’t ask, because no one knows enough to actually pose the question in the first place – but his point still stands. He had rather reckoned that he’d end up puttering around Sheffield, looking out for Ryan and playing cards with the other ex-bus drivers. But that all got thrown out the window the moment that the Doctor pressed a couple of blue envelopes into his and Ryan’s hands. And then again, the moment that he’d seen something on the internet about gravel creatures in Korean quarries, troll invasions in Finland –
The moment Ryan had turned to him on that hilltop, and pulled that psychic paper out of his pocket, still in the blue envelope the Doctor had placed it in. The moment he’d grinned at him. And Graham –
Well, he’d grinned right back, hadn’t he?
Because whilst he hadn’t expected none of this – not the Doctor, not the adventure, and certainly not travelling all over the place and chasing the wildest of rumours – he wouldn’t change it for the world.
Hm.
Maybe he’d change how bleedin’ humid it is.
Or how much clambering there is.
His knees aren’t exactly what they used to be, and he’s not getting any younger.
“Oi, Ryan, son, wait up a minute, will you?” he puffs, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. Ryan stops, turning, his t-shirt sticking to his back with sweat. He’s not exactly having an easy time of it either, stumbling his way over the uneven terrain – but despite it all, he’s grinning.
“What’s wrong, Gramps?” he teases, eyes gleaming with mischief. “Can’t take the pace?”
“I’ll show you what I can take in a minute,” he parries, not quite able to stop the amused smile that tugs at his lips. “Besides – thought I’d stop for a moment and take in the view, if you don’t mind.”
He’s only mostly joking – because, cor blimey, they’re surrounded by some stunning scenery. He’s never been to Thailand before – which, admittedly, is not much of a surprise, considering he’d barely ever gone outside of the country before the Doctor crash landed in his life. But since he and Ryan stepped out of the TARDIS on a more permanent basis, they’ve been to all sorts of places. Korea, Finland, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Gibraltar, the extremely exotic heights of Edinburgh –
And now, they’re scrambling around the Phi Phi islands because there’s been strange and worrying reports. Tour boats full of tourists going missing, and then local fishing boats too. Unnatural noises coming from the caves – inexplicable lights in the water. The news has been playing it off as nothing to worry about, desperate to maintain the influx of foreign travellers. Noises can be explained away by unruly tourists playing pranks. Lights in the water – a new species of bioluminescent plankton, perhaps?
But the missing people?
It doesn’t add up. There’s clearly something very strange going on.
And Ryan and Graham are here to get to the bottom of it.
They’ve been speaking to locals – that universal translator thing that had been put in their necks back when the Doc had accidentally teleported them all into deep space had ended up coming in handy, even if it didn’t help with anything written down. But that’s fine – they just need to be able to talk to people in fluent Thai to get more on what’s actually been going on here. And if all the signs just look like a bunch of squiggles to Graham, well, he’ll live.
They’d paid a local lad a few hundred baht to a ride on his longtail boat, taking them as close as he dared to where most of the disappearances seemed to be happening. From there, they’ve been on foot, clambering over the jagged shoreline, the Andaman Sea stretching out on their right. The ocean beside them is scattered with towering limestone pillars, covered in vegetation and reaching monolithic up to the sky. Graham’s never seen anything quite like them – it’s gobsmacking. He’s gotta say, he understands why so many folks come down here as tourists – and, possibly, alien creatures that like to eat boats, if that’s what’s going on. Although maybe said creatures are more interesting in the food source than the vista, gorgeous as it is.
“Come on,” Ryan says after a few minutes, turning around to start moving again. “We’re almost there, now, I reckon.”
“Yeah, reckon we must be,” Graham says, glancing back at his grandson and beginning to carefully make his way over the rocks once again. He’d taken a look at the map they’d been using only a few minutes ago, and if he’s reading it right, then they’re almost at the epicentre of where most of the disappearances have been taking place – right near a large cave that the tour boats often stop close to for people to explore. There’s been no trips out here in over a week. “Should be just around this corner!”
Ryan gives him a thumbs up – and then nearly loses his balance, but he rights himself quickly enough, before moving around the corner. By the sound of his gasp, Graham reckons the cave has got to be pretty impressive – only then, he shouts –
“Hey!” Ryan calls – to someone, something, and Graham quickens his pace, scrambling around to see – “What are you doing?”
He rounds the corner just in time to see, over Ryan’s shoulder, that standing in the shallower water just beyond the entrance of an enormous cave, is –
A man wearing a leather jacket?
“Stay back!” the man barks, voice stern, and his accent catches Graham completely by surprise with its northern warmth. The man holds out a hand, palm flat and faced towards them – stop! – but he flashes them a smile that looks far too strained at the edges. Of all things, Graham can’t help but think, it reminds him of the Doc.
“You can’t be here,” the man continues. “You should head back from where you came.”
“It’s ok, we know,” Ryan says, all brash confidence that, a couple of years back, Graham didn’t think he’d ever see in him. But off Ryan goes, boldly clambering over the last of the rocks and moving towards the man, hand already going to his pocket to pull out his psychic paper. “See, look – we’re meant to be here.”
Graham crosses the distance behind him, also retrieving his own psychic paper from his pocket – and also focusing very carefully on clearing his mind, and picturing the sense of what he wants this man to see. Once you’ve got the knack of it, it’s not too difficult – but, thankfully, him and Ryan had tried them out on each other first, and quickly discovered that if you let your thoughts wander at all when holding it out, you’d end up with something about sandwiches on it rather than what you actually wanted. Ryan, in particular, has gotten very good at it, and usually people take whatever they see on the paper as gospel. Which is why Graham feels a flash of surprise when this man’s expression twists from guarded curiosity into sharp suspicion, carefully hidden behind a shark-like smile.
“Ah. I see,” he says, and it would sound almost jovial if he didn’t also sound like a predator cornering its prey. He turns to look at Ryan, and then Graham – and there are glaciers in his eyes that send ice fractals spreading across Graham’s skin, despite the stifling heat. “In that case, why don’t you start by telling me where you got your hands on a psychic paper?”
His tone drops from faux-friendly into dangerous with barely a flinch, sharp as a knife-edge.
“Uh,” Ryan fumbles, clearly taken aback. “I – uh – I don’t know what you mean, but –”
“Yes, you do,” the man snaps back, fierce, before he quirks his head, considering them – and oh, that smile again. Once more, Graham can’t help but think of the Doc – in those moments when she flicked from being all wonderous about the universe to being downright terrifying in the face of some injustice. Or just at them, on the bad days, for asking too many questions. “I’m assuming you’re the ones responsible for this all too, then? Think you were all clever, hm? Coming back like this, pretending not to know anything?”
“Whoa, hey, no listen, mate –” Graham starts, alarmed – but the man cuts him off, staring right at him with gaze as furious as an arctic storm.
“No, you listen,” he snaps, that mercurial smile still tugging at his lips. “You’ve made a big mistake. Because you’ve taken my friend, and if you think I’m going to let any harm come to her –”
“No, hey, wait,” says Ryan, firm, and there must be something in his voice that makes the man stop and turn back to look at him. “We’ve not got nothing to do with this, alright? We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Graham says, coming up to stand right beside Ryan and putting a hand on his shoulder – partly in solidarity, and partly so that, if need be, he can pull him out of the way of danger. Just in case. “We’re here to help.”
“And we can help you find your friend, too,” Ryan adds, urgent.
The man stares at them for a moment – guarded, but there’s an uncertainty in the set of his shoulders, in the look in his eyes as he considers the two of them. But as he opens his mouth to speak, before he can get a word out, there’s a shout and a splash! from inside the mouth of the cave. It’s not long before the shape of another person comes into view – a person that Graham instantly recognises, even though he’d only met the man twice. But then, he had rather left an indelible impression.
“I think I found something!” shouts none other than Captain Jack Harkness, wading through the shallow water towards the three of them. Beside him, Ryan reacts immediately, glancing back at Graham as if to confirm he’s seeing the same thing, before turning back to the other man in the water.
“Jack!” he says. “Captain Jack – it’s us! Ryan and Graham!”
But as Jack approaches, Graham can see the frowns lining his face, confusion palpable as the man seems to try and place their faces – and fails. But that’s not the only thing that’s off – Jack’s face looks young. Much younger than when they’d met him before, and decked out in just a t-shirt and shorts, rather than the thick, military coat that he’d been in before.
“Jack, do you know these people?” the other man asks, turning to the captain, and he manages to make the question both an accusation and a judgement on his character at the same time, whilst also managing to sound overwhelmingly fond. Jack does bat an eyelid, and immediately shakes his head, shrugging.
“Never seen them before in my life,” he says – before a smirk tugs at his lips as his gaze wanders over the two of them appreciatively. “Kinda wish I had, though. Very nice.” He sticks out his hand immediately, completely the opposite of the other man, who is now folding his arms across his chest. “Captain Jack Harkness – although apparently you already know that, so I’m willing to guess that my reputation precedes me –”
“No, but we know you,” Ryan insists. “We met you –”
“Yeah, twice,” Graham adds, figuring that maybe adding a few more details will convince them. “Though, granted, you looked a bit older – and you was flying a spaceship that you’d stolen, only you weren’t actually looking for us but –”
“Whoa whoa, hold it there,” Jack cuts in, urgent. “You must be from my future, then, which means I can’t know anything. Your past is parts of my life that I haven’t lived yet.”
Graham looks at Ryan with a sigh, and his grandson’s expression mirrors exactly how he feels.
“Right, time travel,” Ryan says, sounding tired. “’Course it is.”
“Blimey,” Graham mutters. “Does my nut in, that does.”
The other man in front of them seems restless, suddenly, and turns to look at Jack, clearly deciding to ignore them for now. “You said you found something?”
“Yeah, Doc,” Jack says, gaze snapping back to meet his with a glimmer of urgency. “Like some kind of scrap of a spaceship hull, but I couldn’t figure out what type it was –”
“Hang on,” Graham interjects, heartrate quickening suddenly. “Did you just call him ‘Doc’?”
“As in the Doctor?” Ryan adds, suddenly staring at the man in the leather jacket, like he’s seeing him in a whole new light. Graham knows the feeling – suddenly, all the ways in that this man had made him think of the Doc click into place, and, oh, all those comments she made about being a man before –
“You know me?” the man – the Doctor says, staring back at them suddenly, eyes narrowed. But his gaze is less suspicious than before. Rather, it’s more like being examined through a microscope. Graham doesn’t care for it much, but he decides not to take it personally – he has, after all, seen his Doctor level that look at various other people before. And, blimey, it’s weird seeing echoes her in this not-quite-stranger’s face.
“Yeah, Doc,” Graham replies, the nickname slipping out before he can think about it. “You’re the one who gave us these.”
He holds out his own copy of the psychic paper – and he watches as the man in front of him considers it, gaze unreadable. Beside him, Jack looks at it too.
“You know him, then?” Jack says, frowning at the two of them. “In the future?”
“We travelled together – only he, uh –” Ryan starts, gesturing to the Doctor, “…looks a bit different now.”
Something about that – maybe the fact that they know the Doctor can change how she (he? They?) looks, not that Graham’s ever seen it – makes the Doctor’s eyes light up. He gives a friendly smile to both of them that seems almost at odds with his previous expression – although there’s still an edge to it that Graham can’t quite parse.
“I guess that makes us friends, then,” he says. “Friends I haven’t met yet.”
Graham can’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it does.”
“And we can help you find your other friend – the one you said were missing,” Ryan cuts in, and Graham nods fervently in agreement.
“The more of us the better, eh?” he says. “Tell us what happened.”
For a moment, there’s a flicker of hesitation – like whoever their friend is, she’s someone far too important to them to risk with the whims of people they’ve just met. But then the urgency of needing to find her quickly trumps that, and the pair of them explain. They’d detected some bizarre readings, and had followed them to this location. Their friend – Rose, her name is, and that rings a bell that Graham can’t quite put his finger on – had been taken not long after they’d arrived, and they’ve since been trying to follow energy readings, any evidence of where she might be. But the trail has since gone cold – besides the wreckage of what appears to be a spaceship that Jack had just found within the cave.
“What about the TARDIS?” Ryan asks. “Can’t you use it to find her? Get to her?”
The Doctor’s face softens further – clearly, that had been the right thing so say, only further confirming that they really did know the Doctor, further down the line.
“No,” he says. “I’ve tried already – but it’s like something’s interfering with the signal.”
“We’re pretty sure there must have been some kind of crashed craft here, though,” Jack says. “Maybe more than one – but something is intact enough, operational enough to give out some kind of energy readings, even if we can’t pinpoint exactly where it is.”
“Hang on a minute,” Graham says, a sense of anticipation growing in his chest. “Rose ain’t the only one that’s gone missing though.”
The Doctor frowns at him, gaze intense. “What do you mean?”
“It’s been happening a lot – all last week, boats going missing. That’s why we’re here, investigating and that,” Ryan says, as Graham reaches around to his back pocket and pulls out the map from his back pocket, opening it out. They’ve been using it to record all the information they’d got out of the locals, as well as using it to make sure they don’t get completely lost. Scattered across the area, all within a certain radius of the very spot they’re standing in, are numerous dots, all marking where a boat went missing. And annotating each one is the time and date of the disappearance.
“’s not all accurate, ‘course – best we could do, considering people don’t know exactly what happened to some. But it’s –” Graham cuts off abruptly as the Doctor snatches the map right out of his hands without even giving him a glance, already examining their scribbles with a gaze so intense that Graham half expects him to burn a hole into the paper. And there must be something that he sees in it, because suddenly there’s a smile creeping across his face – exponential and daring and brash, and oh, if Graham can’t just picture the Doctor he knows, standing before the face of exceptional odds and just grinning them down.
The Doctor looks up, glancing between all three of them, eyes alight.
“How do you feel about getting your feet wet?”