The Time of Change

Reunited

The Doctor follows Malohkeh's quick stride as they make their way through the muddy tunnels, Mo tight on his heels. The three of them tread carefully over the cracks in the floor. Dimly, the Doctor registers that it is slightly warmer than it had been before they entered the court, and he pushes the sleeves of his jacket up past his wrists. They reach a holding chamber, and from a panel on the wall nearby, Malohkeh flips on the light inside. On a vertically-positioned metal table lies Elliot. The scientist opens the door to let the other two in.

"Elliot," breathes the Doctor in relief. "There you are."

Mo points at Malohkeh accusingly. "If you've harmed him in any way—"

"Of course not," the Silurian cuts across him. "I only store the young."

"But why?" the Doctor inquires, furrowing his brow.

As he moves around unhooking Elliot from the various machines, Malohkeh answers, "I took samples of the young and slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate so I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface."

The Doctor walks closer to the boy, examining his pale face and still eyelids. "You've been down here working by yourself," he slowly replies. "All alone?"

Malohkeh lets something like a sigh escape his serpentine lips. "My family, through the millennia. For the last three hundred years, just me. I never meant to harm your child," he tells Mo sincerely. Mo glances at him with dissipating apprehension, then nods.

The Doctor smiles. "Malohkeh, I rather love you," he quips. The creature returns a small chuckle as he finishes releasing Elliot from his slumber, removing the last of the wires and electrodes from his head and forearms. After a moment, the boy starts to stir. "It's safe now," says the Silurian. "We can wake him."

Elliot's eyelids flutter; his hands twitch. The Doctor steps back to allow Mo to get closer. "Come," Malohkeh urges the child. "Elliot?" Mo whispers. "Ell, it's me. It's Dad."

Finally, Elliot opens his eyes and stares at his father. It takes a moment for him to realize what has happened. Tears well up in his grassy greens. "Dad," he croaks, then immediately throws his arms around Mo. They hold each other tightly for several minutes, the father saying comfortingly, "You're safe now. You're safe."

"Where are we?" Elliot asks, wiping the tracks from his cheeks.

"Well," begins Mo, "I've got to be honest with you, son. We're at the center of the Earth, and there are lizard men."

"Hi," Malohkeh interjects, waving.

"Wow!" whispers Elliot with an amazed grin. Mo chuckles.

Now the Doctor catches the boy's eye, and he says guiltily, "Elliot, I'm sorry. I promised I'd keep you safe, but I... I took my eye off you."

He blinks at the Doctor like he is seeing him for the first time. "It's okay," Elliot says. "I forgive you if you forgive me for going for my headphones." He shakes his head. "They weren't even the good ones."

The Doctor laughs.

Malohkeh peers out the door, a noise unheard by any of the humans intruding on the moment and perking up his reptilian ears. Worry floods through him, but he remains outwardly calm. "You should get back," he tells them. "Your wife and friend will be expecting you. Go on, I'll catch up." The three men start out of the room and down the hallway, making for the courtroom where Eldane and the women are discussing Earth's future.

Ten feet away, the Doctor pauses as a thought occurs to him. Turning back to Malohkeh, he says, "I didn't tell any of you we're married. How did you know?"

The Silurian scientist gives him a wise smile. "True love is one thing that can transcend the barrier of different species, Doctor. I know it when I see it."

The Doctor nods in agreement, grinning, before jogging after Mo and Elliot. Malohkeh watches him go, then with weary movements, he leaves the chamber, switching off the light again. As he closes the door behind him, he hears a computerized female voice say in the distance, "Storage facility nineteen operational."

The warriors' room, Malohkeh thinks with a jolt of fear.