Chapter Six:

The Rage of the gods

Keonu dove into the water, grabbing the limp Piper and jettisoned up. He gasped for breath.

“Nani!?” he called, hastily examining the choppy water.

Nani poked her head out of the water and gasped.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Nani called back.

 .

“Nani! Keonu!”

Puani and the Doctor screeched to a halt as they made it to the edge of the beach. Nani and Keonu spotted them and swam as quickly as they could towards the shore. The treacherous waves had past them, and the sea calmly pulled back, but the people inside the sea were not. The Doctor and Puani rushed into the water to retrieve their children, splashing hastily, knee deep. When they reunited with the kids, Keonu saw the Doctor’s eagerness and concern, breathlessly handing the unconscious red-head over to him. Puani fell to her knees and clutched her children tightly, trying her best not to cry. Still holding her son and daughter, she watched as the Doctor pulled his niece further onto the beach.

 .

“Piper, Piper!”

The Doctor examined Piper and felt her pulse.

“She’s not breathing!”

He gently pinched Piper’s nose and began performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on her. Puani pulled her children back to give them space.

“What’s he doing mother?” Keonu asked breathlessly.

“I…I don’t know” Puani replied, uncertain.

The Doctor’s eyes were widened with alarm, and he was shaking. He slowly panicked more and more when he was seeing no results. He kept going, pressing each side of Piper’s chest to get her hearts beating again.

“Come on, come on!” He shouted.

He repeated the process again.

“Don’t do this to me Piper, don’t do this!”

Once again, he breathed oxygen into her lungs and thrusted the palms of his hands into her chest.

“Come on Piper!” He shouted desperately, “Come on!”

 .

Finally, after once last attempt, Piper’s eyes flew open. She took a short breath and began hacking water out of her lungs. She coughed violently, shivering from wetness and cold. Her uncle let out a large sigh of relief.

“Piper!”

He clutched her face and pushed wisps of hair away.

“Piper, can you hear me?”

Piper opened her eyes again after a long few seconds of clearing her throat of water. She took a deep, weak breath and fixed her gaze of her incredibly concerned uncle before her. At last, she croaked with a smile,

“Uncle Doctor…”

With those words, the Doctor pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

“Oh thank god!”

The secureness and the warmth of his hold made Piper instantly feel safe.

“I…I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.”

The Doctor couldn’t help but chuckle and smile. “Piper, don’t you dare be sorry!” He repeated with a whisper, “Don’t you dare be sorry!”

He gave her a kiss on the forehead, and held her close. Piper rested her head on his shoulder. She glanced at her friends, who watched their visitors with tired, but grateful expressions. She smiled weakly, then buried her head in her uncle’s chest. The Doctor looked over at Keonu.

“Thank you” he mouthed, sincerely.

Keonu smiled and nodded.

 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

 

Piper had been given a towel and a fire started straight on the shore. The Doctor’s suit once again was soaked. He only removed his suit coat and tossed it into the Tardis. He rarely left Piper’s side the rest of the day. Their Hawaiian friends sat quietly around the fire with them, with looks of shame and guilt. When the Doctor saw that Piper was settled in, he stated with suspicion:

“You knew this was gonna happen…”

Silence.

The Doctor continued: “You knew the sea was dangerous, and you let your children in there anyway.”

Nani and Keonu glanced at their mother, uncomfortable, waiting for their mother’s reply.

“We…we thought it was over…” Puani stumbled.

“What was over?” The Doctor asked, “When did situations like this start?”

“A few moons ago. The tremors would start, and then the waves would nearly swallow the ones who surfed at sea,” Puani explained, “We thought the gods were angry with us. Our chief decided to throw a luau, to show our gratitude for their blessings. We even burned the best of our food supply!”

“Why didn’t you tell us that before?” Piper asked.

Puani looked at her children again before responding, “We thought…perhaps you were messengers, dressed as humans to inspect the condition of our tribe. We didn’t want to show worry or ungratefulness.”

The Doctor and Piper exchanged glances. The two timelords had been expecting this misunderstanding, though they had also hoped that it could be avoided.

“Well, we are not gods, or their messengers” The Doctor clarified, “But that doesn’t mean that we won’t help you.”

Puani raised her head in surprise. “If you are not from the gods, then how can you help us?”

“Just trust me,” the Doctor responded, and winked, “I’m really good at helping.”

 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

 

Piper crept up the stairs. She was fully refreshed, having a long shower to get all the sand rinsed off and bereft of salt water smell. She now dressed in her normal sleeveless, four pocketed khaki jacket, a long sleeve black shirt instead of a tank top, khaki shorts, black leggings, and tennis shoes. She heard a clang of something fall, which sped her climb. When she got to the Tardis control room, she saw four large contraptions, almost completely crowding the console board. There was another clang. Piper’s eyes furrowed.

“Uncle Doctor?”

 .

Suddenly, the Doctor’s head popped up from behind one of contraptions. He had his black rimmed glasses on. His former thinking face burst into a smile.

“Ah, there you are Piper!” he exclaimed cheerily.

“What are you doing?” Piper asked.

“Well, until I figure out what’s been causing those tidal waves, I’ve got to give the tribe something to protect them” the Doctor responded.

“But isn’t that…You know, a breach of protocol?” Piper wondered, “ ‘Don’t give ancient civilizations future technology’ kind of thing?”

“That’s why I’m going to hide them.”

He picked up a remote from the console board and pressed a button. The contraptions suddenly fizzled out of existence. Piper raised a finger.

“Ah! Cloaking!”

“Cor-rect! I’ve programmed them to trigger when certain readings of activity are processed. Once the phenomenon is over, they’ll just-“ the Doctor made a proofing sound effect with his lips and snapped his fingers, “-Poof! Turn right off! The natives will never know what causes it!”

“Force field generators!”

“Right on!”

The Doctor pressed the button and the devices popped back into view.

“And we’ll place one for each point around the area of the beach?”

“Correction: I’ll be placing them,” the Doctor informed, “I need you here to make sure everything’s running properly.”

Piper’s hearts sank.

“Are you sure you can’t just use your screwdriver to find out if they’re working? I can help you get it done much faster!”

“Sorry Piper, my sonic screwdriver can’t do everything,” said the Doctor, then he added with a shadow of his worry face washing over, “Plus, you’ll be safer in the Tardis.”

Piper frowned. She could already guess the real reason why she wasn’t going to help. “Oh, that’s why…”

 .

The Doctor looked back up from his work. He frowned as well. He stood up, putting his glasses away, and walked up to her.

“Hey…”

Piper reluctantly looked up at him.

“This isn’t just because of what happened, Piper. You really will be a big help watching the readings from here.”

Piper glanced down at her feet again. She wasn’t so sure.

“I guess…I know, it’s just…You’re not…going to end up like my mum, are you?” She asked slowly, and calculated.

She looked back up at her uncle’s face, “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m learning so much!”

“No. No, I know.” The Doctor cupped her face with his hands. He smiled sadly and sighed, “Believe me, I’m doing my best. I just don’t…” his voice trailed off.

“Don’t want to lose me again?” Piper wanted to say.

She smiled, understandably. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his waist, and held him tightly. The Doctor returned the hug, and rested his head on hers. He sighed again, and closed his eyes. Piper did the same.

“You won’t lose me Uncle Doctor. I’ll make sure of it.”