Doctor Who Forgotten Suns Chapter Two

In a dimly lit and starkly utilitarian corner, an area that seemed to hold no special significance…

The sepulchral silence was suddenly assaulted. An invasion of sound that could be interpreted as the battle challenge of some ethereal leviathan - perhaps clawing its way through dimensional barriers - was accompanied by a small flashing light, above an intermittently flickering rectangular shape. As this sonic attack reverberated its warning to all and sundry, a tall blue box faded in and out of existence. Then - with a final thump of solidity - the Tardis anchored itself to reality.

Almost immediately, a wall of thick white smoke billowed out from between the Police Box and the blank metal wall it was now facing. The sound of a meaty collision was followed by a muffled Gaelic curse, then a choked voice cried out. “Mind your heid, Zoe! There’s something right in front of the door - Ooof! ”

“Yes, you, you daft fool! Can we get out of this smoke, please? I can’t breathe, and I can’t see a thing!”

“Dinnae fash yourself, Zoe,’ Jamie said, trying to sound reassuring, ‘we just need to get out from behind the Tardis. Hang on tae me, lassy!” There followed the sounds of scrabbling struggle, accompanied by more complaints; then the figures of the two companions coalesced out of the roiling banks of smoke.

As they staggered further out of this choking miasma, Jamie and Zoe alternately waved away smoke, or doubled over coughing; simultaneously trying not to lose their grip on each other. After several more stumbling steps, they reached reasonably clearer air. They paused to gasp in much needed breaths, still choking slightly. Zoe dabbed at her eyes with the sleeves of her utility suit, as Jamie bent over to rest his hands on his knees. “Heaven’s!’ Zoe exclaimed, slowly regaining her equilibrium, ‘that was much worse than the first time - and I thought that was bad enough!”

“Aye’, Jamie agreed with deep feeling, now taking in great lungful’s of the fresher air, ‘I would no’ like to go through that again in a hurry!’ He grinned up at Zoe ruefully before standing upright, rotating his arms and upper body experimentally. ‘I feel like I’ve got bruises on ma’ bruises!”

Zoe laughed in a sudden release of tension. “You can say that again, Jamie! It was rather like being in a spaceship crash simulator…’ she grinned up at the young Scot ironically as she rubbed her bottom, ‘but without the safety straps!”

Jamie’s admiration for the petite girl’s resilience and bubbly personality increased - he couldn’t imagine how Victoria would have coped with such an experience! Apart from her wildly mussed hair, Zoe appeared to be none the worse for wear. Even her outfit from the space station was immaculate - must be woven from some futuristic space-cotton, Jamie mused. “Well, I dinnae ken what that is, Zoe,’ he quipped, ‘but I’ll no’ being trying to find out any time soon! If the Doctor hadnae managed tae land the Tardis when he did…”

Jamie broke off in mid-sentence and suddenly gripped Zoe’s arms, as they simultaneously came to the same horrified realization.

“The Doctor!” They shouted in unison.

As they turned back towards the Tardis, Zoe was surprised to note that she could only just see it, a vague shadow in the smoke and gloom. They must have fled further than she had thought. Jamie, not so given to rational observation, simply charged back towards the noxious cloud, yelling for the Doctor. He only narrowly avoided being clobbered across the head for his troubles.

The Doctor was emerging with his handkerchief clamped firmly across his nose and mouth, and his eyes screwed tightly shut. He was swinging his free arm around with abandon, only risking an occasional peek through one eye to see if he was clear of the fumes. Jamie leapt aside with alacrity, and then grabbed the little man by the shoulders as he passed; mainly to prevent the Doctor from hitting Zoe as they approached her. As Jamie brought him up short, the Doctor removed the dubious protection of his handkerchief from his face, instead using it to wipe his streaming eyes. “Oh Zoe! Oh Jamie! Oh My Giddy Aunt! That was quite exhilarating, wasn’t it?”

Then he collapsed back into Jamie’s arms, and passed out.

Fortunately, the Doctor wasn’t unconscious for too long.

Jamie had lugged him further into their dim surroundings, too concerned for the Doctor’s welfare to notice just where he was going. Zoe, looking very worried indeed, had insisted that Jamie hand over his jacket. With it she made a cushion for the Doctor’s head; remarking that she had never seen him look so still. True, it had been very unnerving to see the Doctor’s face - usually so expressive and animated - looking so pale and lifeless. However, although it had seemed much longer, it was only a matter of moments before he yawned hugely and stretched out his arms, as if awaking from a satisfying nap.

As the Doctor sat up, Zoe couldn’t prevent herself from asking if he was alright, and he answered with a huge smile. “Never better, Zoe! The recuperative benefits of a little snooze can be quite remarkable, I so often find! Ah, thank you, Jamie, most kind.” He added, as the brawny young man offered him a hand up.

With the Doctor on his feet again, Jamie retrieved his jacket and shrugged it back on. “I’m sorry, Doctor, I thought you were right behind us.” He apologised, feeling very guilty.

“Not to worry, Jamie! I just had to double-check that the Tardis had activated her self-repair circuits, after the clever old thing managed to land us here… I must have got a little turned around in the confusion! I’m the one who should apologise.’ He looked contritely at Zoe’s still concerned expression and added, ‘I’m terribly sorry if I alarmed either of you.”

“Now!’ He exclaimed suddenly, causing Zoe to jump as he clapped his hands together firmly, ‘let’s find out where ‘here’ actually is, shall we?” He peered about with an expression of enthusiastic interest, but this slowly dropped from his face to be replaced by puzzled confusion. “Hmm… I’m not quite sure what to make of this. I have a rather unpleasant suspicion though - I do hope I’m wrong…”

Jamie and Zoe were also looking about for the first time since escaping the Tardis, having been somewhat preoccupied previously. Now that the door to the police box had been closed by the Doctor, the smoke was dissipating quite rapidly; and either their eyes were adapting to the gloom, or the light level was increasing very slowly. They were looking out across what appeared to be the deserted bridge of some type of vessel - they were standing at the back. There was a central chair some distance in front of them, with a curved instrument panel fronting it, and beyond that were several more. However, these were all facing panels that were built directly into the walls, which also curved round as if to center attention on the first seat.

“Well I dinnae fancy meeting the Sassenach that sits in that chair!” Exclaimed a slightly stunned Jamie, breaking their silence.

This seemed to stir Zoe from a shocked trance, and she turned to the Doctor. “Are we on a spaceship for giants ?” She asked him in wide-eyed incredulity.

“Hmm?” He enquired in response, still deep in thought. “Oh, I’m sorry, Zoe. Yes, it does look rather like a spaceship control room, doesn’t it? Although we could just as well be on a submarine… or in some kind of underground installation… But ‘giants’, Zoe? I’m not too sure about that!”

Jamie had been slowly covering the distance towards the central chair, which he guessed Zoe would have probably called a ‘pilots’ seat’; but he turned back with a disbelieving laugh when he heard this. “You’re no’ being serious, Doctor!” He gestured up at the huge shape looming in the dimness behind him, ‘that thing wasnae made to be sat on by the likes of us!”

Zoe agreed as she walked towards him. “Yes, Doctor! If that’s a pilots’ seat - and it certainly looks like one to me - then the pilot must be huge!”

The Doctor glanced back over his shoulder at the Tardis before replying. Now mostly clear of smoke, his time machine looked disconcertingly small tucked away in its corner. He got the uncomfortable impression that the ship was trying to hide. “In comparison to ourselves, Zoe, yes - very much so. However, I’m just a little worried that it might actually be us that have been reduced in size.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Doctor! That’s preposterous!’ replied a startled Zoe, ‘Whatever do you mean?”

“Aye,’ Jamie chimed in with his support, ‘I dinnae feel any different.”

“Well, you wouldn’t, Jamie… None of us would.’ The Doctor replied, strolling over to join them in examining the oversized seat. ‘But I have actually experienced just such an occurrence as I’m suggesting… once before…’ Checking that he had their full attention, he began to explain. ‘It was fairly early on in my adventures, when I was travelling with my granddaughter. Ian and Barbara were there as well. They were the first people I had ever, er… allowed aboard the Tardis, other than Susan, of course.”

This peaked Zoe’s interest. “Susan?’ she asked, ‘You called me Susan back in the Tardis, Doctor.”

He blinked at her. “Did I really, Zoe?” His curiosity seemingly genuine.

“Aye, you did Doctor! Just after you banged your heid!” Jamie confirmed helpfully.

After nodding thoughtfully at his young friend for a moment, the Doctor turned back to Zoe, smiling gently. “Well that explains everything, doesn’t it, Polly! Obviously I was momentarily discombobulated!” Zoe was on the verge of protesting once more, when she noticed that his smile had turned into a cheeky grin, and there was a distinctly naughty twinkle in his eyes.

Rolling her own eyes at Jamie, Zoe let out an exaggerated groan, then smiled back at the Doctor - quite pleased that he felt well enough to tease her. He had evidently enjoyed his little joke as well, but quickly returned to his explanation. “Anyway, as I was saying: Ian and Barbara were from your own planet Earth; fairly equidistant between your two time periods, as it happens. They were always pestering me to take them home, and to their own time. I did try for quite some time actually, but you at least know what the Tardis is like, Jamie…”

He jabbed Jamie’s chest with a finger for emphasis. “It’s not as if I could just drop them off at their parent’s house - for a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake - at a moment’s notice, is it!”

“You do seem to have a little trouble with the steering now and then, Doctor. Aye.” Jamie replied with a perfectly straight face.

“Yes, well, we needn’t dwell on that, need we,’ the Doctor said with a surreptitious glance at Zoe, ‘the relevant thing is that I did manage to get them back one time - but we were all reduced to the size of insects. Very small insects, in fact! Oh, the circumstances were much different, of course - I won’t trouble you with the details - but we had quite a time of it, I can tell you!”

“So how did you get back to your normal size then?” Asked a very dubious looking Zoe.

“Oh, that was all sorted out when we managed to get back to the Tardis!” he replied, airily waving off her skepticism.

Jamie was now indignant, in addition to being confused. “Well, that’s nae problem then, is it? We just wait for the smoke to clear, then get back in the Tardis!”

The Doctor looked up at him glumly. “I’m afraid it’s not quite as simple as that, Jamie. You were in there, you heard those terrible noises that started up during the second disturbance. The Tardis was in deep distress! More so than I have ever heard before. Her temporal engines must have been under an enormous strain - in fact, I’m almost surprised that she managed to materialize at all. No, I fear that she won’t let us back in until she is good and ready. For the moment, Jamie… Zoe… I’m afraid that we are stuck here.”

Archivist First Valmik was finding it increasingly difficult to curb his impatience.

The young woman was giving a perfectly adequate and, admittedly, fairly brief recap of events to date. But was it really necessary? He already knew how long the Indigo Flame’s journey here had taken! Hadn’t he been aboard her the whole time, for Oortelia’s sake?

And as for the Visi-Sphere presentation so far; well… while he was willing to concede that the technology was quite impressive, they had been shown nothing new yet. It simply showed the Ship of the Ancients - and yes, he firmly believed it was just that - as it could be seen from any view-screen onboard. (Albeit in three dimensions.) In fact, Valmik had even looked upon the ship with his own eyes, having taken the trouble to book time in the observation blister; but that had proven most unsatisfactory.

Silandor’s ignorant insistence on taking up station so ridiculously far from the object of their quest, had made it all but impossible to see! (Unless that was the intention - Valmik would not put it past the Commander to be running some kind of subterfuge!)

As if that wasn’t galling enough, whenever any members of this learned audience offered to share their superior knowledge with the girl on stage, Silandor promptly shot them down in his customarily rude and obnoxious fashion! Blast the arrogance of the man!

In his pig-headed ignorance, he simply refused to show due respect to the experts and thinkers behind this voyage of discovery. He seemed blissfully unaware that ‘his’ mission only existed because of them! Silandor clearly considered himself the most important man aboard; an assumption diametrically opposed to the Archivist First’s own understanding of the situation.

Suddenly Valmik noticed that the representation within the Visi-Screen had changed and, cursing inwardly for allowing himself to be distracted by his own resentment, he leaned forward in his seat to pay closer attention.

Palasar found, much to her surprise, that she was actually enjoying playing the role of knowledge-sharer. True, there had been some uncomfortable moments during her initial summary - these ‘very, very clever people’ were a little bit scary.

They seemed completely unable to resist shouting out extraneous information; or suppositions and speculations superfluous - at least as far as she was concerned - to the purposes of her oration. Fortunately the Clade Commander had been there to forestall these interruptions, advising them all in his usual forthright manner that this was ‘merely a report on progress made to date’. The ‘undoubtedly important speculations’ of the enclave members would ‘only slow down these proceedings’ - and he was sure that they didn’t want that to happen. In fact, he had been unusually restrained and polite, Palasar thought.

Now she was approaching the meat of her demonstration. Information that had previously been treated as ‘sensitive’; and she could sense an elevated level of attention from her audience. Up until now the Visi-Sphere had simply displayed a representation of the ‘derelict’, as most of the command crew referred to the strange ship in private - out of ear-shot of the civilians.

It really didn’t look all that impressive, bereft of any points of reference, any indication of scale. Just a dirty grey-green metal hulk; perhaps vaguely reminiscent of the large aquatic mammalian prey-beasts, once so prevalent in the oceans of the home world. The main bulk of the vessel was just a rounded brick shape, flaring out at the rear to - it was assumed - enclose the propulsion systems. More interesting, to Palasar and her crewmates at least, was the stream-lined blister that almost seemed to have grown - or possibly been extruded - from the ships prow; then extended spine-like along the dorsal surface. Still, she thought, nothing had been shown that they weren’t all familiar with by now.

No. What had grabbed everyone’s attention was when, at Palasar’s instruction, Tec-Op Imanol manipulated the controls on his pet! Suddenly a representation of the Indigo Flame was alongside the ugly hulk, and there could not have been more of a contrast. The war mantis was sleek and threatening; her streamlined curves and imperatives totally arbitrary in a space-borne craft. Her resemblance to an oceanic hunter/killer beast was purely down to aesthetics; and the innate desire of her creator’s to impress.

Next to this ‘Ship of the Ancients’, that desire was quashed quite effectively. The massive vessel was at least three times the size of the Flame and; even in the illusory confines of the Visi-Sphere, her apparently total lack of interest in the war mantis was daunting - to say the least. “As you can see, Honoured Elders,’ Palasar announced into the silence, ‘it is one thing to ‘understand’ in intellectual terms - but the Ship of the Ancients has been an enigma to us - even since we approached sensor range of its postulated location.”

Seeing that she had her audience enthralled, Palasar indicated to Imanol that he could follow her voice cues from this point on. Indigo Flame promptly vanished from the sphere. “The first puzzle that we encountered was, initially, put down to a malfunction in our sensor arrays. It is known from primitive visual records - received from probes sent out by our predecessors - just what our objective looked like. Although it was not possible to determine the size of the vessel, members of those enclaves specializing in Astrophysics, Orbital Mechanics, and other such subjects…’

Here Palasar paused to offer a slight bow of respect towards her audience, and was pleased to see some blink their nictitating membranes in acceptance. (Surely it couldn’t hurt to acknowledge the part that these proud people played, after all.) ‘…expertly managed to calculate and predict the location that the der… that the Ship would occupy by the time we could… intercept. However, on reaching the anticipated sensor contact range, all that our instruments read was a void in space. Like nothing we had ever encountered before.” Perhaps superfluously, the Visi-Sphere now showed visuals of these sensor readings as Palasar spoke, but no-one was paying them much attention - instead listening intently to her words.

After all, this information had been kept from them previously, suddenly what she was saying was new! “It was decided at this time to, ah… ‘limit’ the access of non-military personnel to the telemetry…” Clade Commander Silandor suddenly stood from his seat and interrupted her.

“Naturally, that was my decision, and I stand by it. Whilst I accept full responsibility for keeping you all in the dark, I make no apology for it. Specialist Third Palasar’s report may well give you the impression that I was overcautious; indeed, perhaps I was. But I trust that you will understand why I acted as I did, and put behind you the frustration that you justifiably felt at the time.’ Having said his piece, Silandor resumed his seat and folded his arms across his broad chest, clearly indicating that he neither invited - nor expected - a response. ‘Please continue, Specialist.” He allowed, tilting his head towards her.

“Thank you, Commander.” Palasar said, to cover her slight disorientation at the interruption.

She decided to draw everyone’s attention to the Visi-Sphere, indicating it with a wave. “As you can see, all the information was recorded, and you will have full access to study it at your leisure. After this briefing, which I will try to keep as short as possible.’ This statement seemed to meet with the approval of most of the audience. Some angry and affronted faces still lingered, but Palasar felt slightly more confident as she continued. ‘However, as we came into visual range it became clear that the sensors themselves were not at fault. The ship was quite evidently there - it just didn’t register on our instruments.’

Palasar waited until the murmurs of surprise faded. ‘It was as if she was shielded somehow, so the decision was taken to send a small party to conduct a physical examination…”

“You put people on that ship without informing us!” Startled by this enraged outburst, Palasar turned to see Archivist First Valmik on his feet - quite literally shaking with rage. Thankful that her preparations had included acquainting herself with each enclave’s First, Palasar replied more calmly than she might have expected.

“Please, Honoured Elder, resume your seat and I shall endeavor to explain…”

“This is outrageous!’ he interrupted again, taking a step forward, ‘You have - assembled here before you - some of the finest minds in the Oortelian Hegemony! You did not think it prudent to even consult us before taking such precipitate action, Silandor!” Valmik addressed this last to the Commander, as he came to stand beside Palasar.

“I can understand why you feel angry, Archivist First, but I will not have you haranguing a member of my crew.’ Silandor motioned Palasar to take a step back, then continued speaking in a tone that, although quiet, commanded attention ‘I believe I have already explained my reasons for keeping you ‘out of the yolk’, as it were - perhaps I was not clear enough. As you have just heard, we had encountered an unknown situation…”

“But surely that is why we should have been informed - and included in studying it!” Valmik exclaimed, refusing to be intimidated by the larger man.

To Palasar’s surprise, the Clade Commander began nodding in agreement. “Although you may find it hard to credit - I have come to that conclusion myself… With the benefit of hindsight. However, I was dealing with events as they occurred. The safety of everyone on board this ship had to be my first priority. We now know that this area of space, and the Ship we have travelled so far to find, appear to be no more dangerous than everywhere else in space. Perhaps we could have made progress faster with the assistance of the great minds gathered here…’ (The Archivist First looked as surprised at this admission as Palasar felt.) ‘Still, that egg has been cracked - does it really benefit us to brood on it?”

He sighed. “Specialist Third Palasar, here, has spent quite some time preparing this presentation in chronological order, to lead up in a coherent fashion to what I am about to tell you.’ The Commander smiled at Palasar, and she nearly fainted when he addressed by name instead of rank. ‘My apologies, Palasar. I suspect that you wanted this to be a surprise for your audience - but I believe that it will prevent further outbursts if I give them the news right away.” Raising his voice, Silandor addressed the amphitheater.

“We will be ready to send an exploratory team into the Ship of the Ancients tomorrow.”

The room fell silent but for the stand-by hum of the Visi-Sphere. No rustling of fabric as people shifted in their seats. No coughing or clearing of throats. Nobody even seemed to be breathing! Looking immensely satisfied at the shock he had inspired, Silandor leant down and spoke quietly into Valmik’s tympanic membrane. “Now: if you would like to hear of the events that led us this momentous juncture - I believe that my Specialist has a presentation that may be of interest to you all.”

Nodding numbly, Archivist First Valmik stumbled back to his seat. After a moment, he cleared his throat and addressed Palasar directly, “Ah, yes… Ah… Specialist. Yes, please, if you would be so kind - do continue.”