As We Keep Running

The People in the Ground

I was fascinated by the people beneath us. "Doctor," I said, "Are you seeing them too?"

He didn't seem to notice me or the fact that human beings- or not- were directly under our feet. He was looking around at the sky, at the tall tower in front of us. Everywhere but the ground- which, of course, was the most interesting thing to see.

"Doctor," I said, bringing the volume of my voice up in the slightest bit, "Look down."

This time he did hear me, and looked at his feet just as a gorgeous redhead hit the glass beneath him before dissolving into smoke. The look on his face was hard to read. He certainly didn't seem surprised like I was, and he wasn't scared either. He seemed to be focused on the people- the things underneath us to a point that he had fallen into a sort of trance.

"Amazing," he murmured before dropping to the ground and laying on the glass, his ear pressed against the floor. "Come see this. Or rather, come hear this."

I crouched down on the ground and proceeded to lay flat, facing the Doctor. His eyes were fully closed, as if he were in another world. I took a breath and pressed my ear against the glass.

Help us...

At first I thought it was my imagination, that the voices weren't really there. But they spoke again, in a sweet, whispery chorus.

If we touch the glass, we die... But we'll be killed soon... Help us...

I jumped as a blond girl tapped the glass and faded away. "Doctor," I murmured, and his eyes opened, "Should we help them?"

Help us...

He stood up, and I followed his example. "Did you ever see the episode about the siren?" he asked, "And how it ended so happily, her being good?"

I nodded, not wanting to disrupt his train of thought. He was turned away from me.

"Not everything really ends so happily. The producer altered the true ending of that story, what really happened. They died. The crew? Dead. The captain? Dead. The boy was never there in the first place, I'm not quite sure why they ever added him, he didn't do... much. So anyways, here we are, real-life life-or-death, save a race of real people, or aliens, or whatever you want to call them, the question is..." He looked towards me. "Are you with me?"

It had been long enough that I knew there was just one answer to this question, and I knew that answer. How I managed to get it out of my mouth without screwing up the word or getting sick to my stomach is a mystery to this day, but I managed. And that moment was the moment that changed my relationship with the Doctor, that changed my life.

"Yes."