MISSING IN ACTION

Chapter 12

On the surface of the planet, River continued to try undoing the bonds confining her to the boulder. She kept her eyes peeled on the ugly whirling maelstrom that was the Howling. Not all that far away, stood an old mining transport. It resembled an oversize troop carrier, with big windows in the front. It was covered in rusty metal, and operated on caterpillar tracks, like a tank or a bulldozer. The machine was big, bigger than a motor caravan, but smaller than your average low budget holiday cottage.

On board, was Altaar and his Dalek robots. Since he was somehow was able to control the Howling, Altaar had little to fear from it. River was fairly certain he was there to ensure that they died. If not by the Howling, than by Dalek death ray.

Rory, as usual, wasn't happy. Through the left side of her helmet, River could just about make out Rory grumbling about death by wind.

"Look at it this way, sweetie", she said with mock cheerfulness, shouting at him through her helmet. "At least with the Howling it'll be quick. Much better than death by Slugwort. Takes them as much as fifty years to fully digest you."

"Erm—not exactly talking about that kind of wind, River." She heard him whinge. "Knew I shouldn't have had a curry for lunch. Don't these spacesuits come with any ventilation?"

River couldn't help but grin. Yet, her smile abruptly faded as she spied the Howling turning, shifting its now more compact bulk directly towards them. It had stopped trying to attack the structure where the Doctor and the others were. She supposed that meant that the Doctor had successfully managed to get the shielding to work. The problem was, that Altaar was apparently going transfer all of his anger at the Doctor towards the two of them.

"Why is Altaar doing this?" She heard Rory shout. "I mean, what did we ever do to him?"

River told him she guessed the man was a bit beyond the benefits of a good psycho-analyst.

"You mean he's doolally." Rory snorted. Yes. I kind of noticed that, River."

"As the Doctor always told me, Rory, you can't reason with the unreasonable." River nodded. "Altaar's kid's meal isn't only shy a few chips and a beverage, it's missing the cool toy as well." Smiling, she added coyly, "Which is a shame. Because I do like a man with a nice...toy"

"Ah, not quite sure how to follow that." Rory said. He was thankful she couldn't see him blushing.

"You're blushing, aren't you?"

"Who? Me? Not blinking likely! Men don't blush. No, River. I am most definitely not blu—" he heard her clear her throat pointedly. "...oh alright, yeah. I am. Don't tell Amy though, OK? She'd never let me hear the end of it. If we get out of this alive, I mean. Er—obviously." Rory said.

She glanced nervously at Rory. He was wriggling around, also trying to loosen the thin steel cables which kept his back firmly pressed up against the large rock. Like herself, he didn't seem to be having much success. Then, River saw him suddenly go completely still.

"Wait." He shouted. "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"I think, if I push hard enough with my feet, I can shift this whole rock backwards." Rory told her. "Then these cables may loosen enough so I can get free."

"Or, alternately, you may end up facing your death bum first." River reasoned.

"Oh. Right. Never thought of it that way." Rory paused briefly and gave it some thought. "That would be very undignified, wouldn't it?"

Suddenly, the two of them saw the Howling turn back towards the main building. In a heartbeat, it once again elongated and grew taller. As it did so, the whirling winds that made up the Howling grew perceptibly stronger. The two of them could only watch as the Howling charged the old mining headquarters. Like a conjurer's trick, the building was instantly engulfed by the creature. Then, it was gone. Leaving nothing but a rising, churning cloud of dust and stones behind.

"Oh my God!" River gasped.

"No! Amy!" Rory screamed. "No! Doctor, what have you done? Not Amy!"

"They're gone, Rory. And I am so very sorry. Just know that if the Doctor couldn't save her, then there was nothing anyone could do." Were all the words a distraught River could find to say to him. She wished she could say all the things she wanted to. But there was that whole spoilers thing getting in the way again.

"The Doctor was supposed to protect her. He was supposed to take us home, after this. For her mum's birthday. Oh God, oh god, oh, god." He groaned. "What am I going to tell her mum? What am I saying? How the hell am I even going to get home now, to tell them?"

"Rory. We're still alive. You and me. Just focus on that." River said quietly.

She looked at the empty place where the building had been. The Howling had shrunk again, whirling over the dust as if unsure what to do next. And so, for once, was River. She felt lost all of the sudden, am emotion she hadn't felt in a very, very long time.

A tear fell from her eye, as River said softly, "The best man I've ever known is gone."

"Actually, no. Not gone. I'm standing right behind you." Came the Doctor's somewhat muffled voice from behind River's boulder. "Don't turn around! I don't want Altaar to know we've escaped...at least, not yet, anyway.."

"Oh, I hate you sometimes!" River said.

"You don't. But I do like you're persistence in saying that. Shows spunk." The Doctor told her.

"Spunk?" River said.

"Never mind that, Doctor." Rory interrupted. "Where's Amy? Is she alright?"

"She's fine. She's safe, Rory. Amy is in the TARDIS, keeping an eye on Margatha."

The Doctor had managed to sonic off the bonds that held them to the rock. But, he frowned when he realized that their feet were manacled together. That meant he was going to have to reveal his presence sooner than he wished to. It wouldn't give them much time to sprint away to the TARDIS. It was parked behind the rock formation, beyond the eyes and ears of Ataar and his Robo-Daleks.

"Spunk?" River repeated indignantly.

"Move on, River. No time for that now. Things to do, you know how it is. Busy, busy me." The Doctor told her, as he cautiously scuttled forward, crouched low so not to attract any attention—though that might be hard, seeing as was now in plain sight.

Squatting in the dirt, he aimed the sonic at River's manacles. He was wearing his old red space suit and a battered yellow helmet. It was taking longer than normal to operate the sonic screwdriver, due to the heavy black gloves he was wearing. Even so, he continued babbling on as he worked. As if they were all hanging out at the beach, instead of being hunted down by a madman.

"You know, sometimes I feel like an outer space fireman. Always having to save somebody. I once had to save Lana Turner. She was having trouble breathing while we were dancing one night at the Copa del Rio Club. The poor woman nearly passed out."

Despite their pending doom at the hands of the Howling or Altaar's Daleks, Rory found himself asking the Doctor, "What happened?"

"Oh, she finally slipped out of it." He paused, shifting over from River to Rory, to sonic his manacles. "Turned out her girdle was too tight."

Rory rolled his eyes. Leave it to the Doctor to make bad jokes at a time like this. And he fell for it. River smirked. She'd known there was a punchline in there, somewhere. The more dire a situation was, the worse the Doctor's joke's got.

"Doctor, much as I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation, I think we may be having some company." River informed him.

"Well isn't that typical! Always someone self-important little busy-body coming along, trying to cut into a private conversation. Don't you hate when that happens at dinner parties? Next thing you know, Altaar will be showing us pictures of his kids and bragging about his new sports car." The Doctor grumbled. He too, had spied the mining transport rumbling towards them.

As Rory's manacle sprang free, the transport came up to around ten meters from the rock formation. Unable to go further, in powered down. A minute later, the loading ramp came slamming down, sending up yet another cloud of dust. Down the ramp came the three robot Daleks. Though their eyestalks were dead, it didn't matter that they couldn't see. Altaar was sitting there, looking through the transports' front window, holding the control device.

The Doctor stared at what he came to call the robo-Daleks. Even lifeless, they still made him shudder with dread. No matter how many times he'd faced them down and defeated them, they would always haunt his nightmares.

The four Daleks came towards the three of them. As they did so, their weapon arms were raised.

"Into the rocks!" The Doctor shouted. "We've got to get to the TARDIS. Now shift!"

River and Rory sprinted for the jumble of boulders and the low rock formation. Yet, even as they did so, two of the Daleks sent their death rays towards the rocks. River was pushing Rory ahead of her, when she heard the Doctor grunt with pain. Looking behind her she cried out the Doctor's name. He was lying face down in the dust and stones.

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