Doctor Who Forgotten Suns Chapter Twenty Five

It was one of the strangest conversations that Jamie had ever taken part in, as he and Zoe alternately took turns translating.

Not only was he still mystified by the process itself - he didn’t feel as if he was talking any differently - but Palasar’s story had to be broken down into small parcels, which made it hard to follow at times. Fortunately, Null had been very patient, and seemed to have accepted the unseen presence of Palasar’s Clade Commander in good grace. After a while it had all fallen into a pattern for Jamie, and he was able to enjoy the alien woman’s explanation - she spoke with great enthusiasm, and he found this rubbing off on him.

As Jamie came to understand it, the Oortelians had been a spacefaring culture for a very long time, first colonising their home star system, then heading out for other stars. Until now, they had encountered no other sentient life. At least (and this was where Jamie got a little confused,) not living. Apparently they had discovered evidence of another culture having existed in the distant past, and this had been a major inspiration to Oortelian civilisation.

Palasar didn’t spend too long on this part of the tale, explaining that she merely wanted to provide some background, so that Null could get some idea of the kind of people they were. She personally believed that he would be much more interested in how they had come to find - himself! From the evidence discovered, the Oortelians had long believed that there must have been a race of giants at one time, and that they had travelled the stars. When Null’s ship had eventually been discovered, a mission was sent out to investigate - a mission that Palasar was very proud to be part of!

At this point she had once again apologised for their intrusion into his ship, explaining that they had honestly believed it to be a derelict - an impossible relic from eons past. Null had grown quite concerned at this, asking just how far in the past they believed his vessel to be from. Unfortunately, as they had no ‘common points of reference’ (Zoe explained this to Jamie later) nobody was able to arrive at a satisfactory answer.

The next revelation - that Null’s ship seemed to be at the center of a ‘time bubble’ or something - alarmed not only Jamie, but Zoe and Null as well. Of course, none of them would have known anything about it, he reasoned, what with them being inside it! (Whatever it was.)

Unfortunately, Jamie was quite unable to follow the resultant discussions, particularly when Palasar began relaying some further information from the Commander on the other ship. There was a lot of confusion and nonsense - as far as Jamie could tell - until Palasar finally announced, “Clade Commander Silandor believes that Thadokta would be a great deal of help to us here, Jamie. Can you fetch him, please?”

Only now realising that he had totally forgotten about the Doctor, Jamie started to walk towards the Tardis, just as the little man himself backed out of the door. It was almost as if he had been listening in. (But then, Jamie mused, if the scanner is working…)

Initially, the Doctor’s face was creased with concern, but on seeing the young Scot approaching he forced out a huge grin. “Ah, Jamie! Just the chap! I’ll be needing Zoe’s assistance as well, my boy, bring her along would you?”

Zoe looked puzzled, but began to walk towards them also, until Faramandar smoothly took her by the arm to halt her. He tried to mitigate his approach by being very polite. “Excuse me, friend Zoee, please wait one moment. Thadokta, I am not trying to imply anything here, but I believe that I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t ask. You are not planning to leave us in that ‘ship’ of yours, are you?” If Zoe had expected any help from Null, it was not forthcoming, as he apologetically echoed the Ghost First’s concern.

Trying his best not to look too sheepish, the Doctor closed the Tardis door behind him and walked over to the group, skirting round Null’s leg. If he was surprised to see the pilot sitting so close to the Tardis, he disguised it well. “Not at all, everybody! As a matter of fact, I have made excellent progress in accessing Null’s records, and I believe that I may be able to provide a more convenient means for you to talk to each other - without myself or my friends here getting in the way, as it were! However,’ he continued, craning his head back to look at Null’s visor, ‘I will need your assistance, Null, as well as that of my companions. But before I get to that...’ he hurried on, glaring at Faramandar until he released Zoe. The Doctor nodded his appreciation then approached Palasar, asking, “Tell me, my dear, is the Commander able to see and hear me?”

“Er, yes, Thadokta, in fact…”

“Never mind, my dear, I just want to talk to him, and offer some advice… please excuse me.’ He adjusted his gaze until he was talking directly into her visi-com. “Clade Commander Silandor, I have made a few interesting discoveries already, and I believe that there is much more to come. I would like to be able to explain all of this not only to Null, who actually knows less about the contents of his ship than you may imagine…’

He paused, fixing the device’s lens with his most significant stare. ‘Something to do with ‘operational security’ and ‘need to know’, I believe… perhaps you are familiar with those concepts?

‘No matter, I strongly believe that it would be in the best interests of all parties if everyone’s best minds were presented with this information - at the same time. I think you understand me… Thank you, my dear!” He said finally, looking back to the bewildered Specialist and gripping her shoulders in appreciation.

Suddenly full of energy, the Doctor whirled round and ushered Zoe towards Jamie, but directed his explanation to the giant pilot. “Now then, Null. As I was saying, I will need your help with the next stage in decrypting those files, and I will have to ask you to trust me. I need to talk to my friends inside the Tardis. As a show of good faith, I shall leave the door open. Additionally, I would like you to take off one of your gloves and place that hand through the door - I promise that there is room enough - and I will explain everything once we are ready to proceed.”

The pilot’s blank visage swung in Zoe’s direction, so she nodded as confidently as she could, sure that he was asking for her opinion. She felt a great swelling of pride as, without offering any protest, Null began to tug off one of his gloves.

“Oh, one more thing, Null!’ the Doctor offered casually, as if he had forgotten a minor detail, ‘it would be a really good idea if you keep your helmet on, visor down, at least for the time being!” Then without offering any further explanation he bustled Jamie into the Tardis. Zoe remained outside just long enough to guide the hand that Null offered through the door. She felt it was the least she could do in the face of his unquestioning trust.

A fairly lively discussion had been taking place in the Tardis.

As soon as she had guided Null’s fingers to a comfortable position, gripping the inside of the Tardis’ entry, Zoe whirled on the Doctor. “You weren’t really thinking about just leaving, were you, Doctor?” she demanded hotly. Jamie was fairly interested in the answer as well, leaning towards the Doctor with exaggerated attention.

For a moment the scruffy little man just regarded his friends thoughtfully, bouncing the splayed fingers of each hand against the other. Then he sighed, tapping his tented fingers against his chin. “Well, I won’t lie to you, Zoe, the thought had crossed my mind…’ he suddenly had to wave his hands and talk over her incipient protests, ‘…but only briefly ! Please hear me out, my dear, and you too, Jamie. You see, I actually have made some progress in deciphering Null’s records.’ He indicated a hodge-podge of cables and wires (and other, unidentifiable, gubbins,) connecting Null’s comp-chip to the Tardis console. ‘However, from what I can gather so far, I’m afraid that the situation we find ourselves in is… well, it’s much more complicated than I could ever have imagined!”

“Oh aye?’ asked Jamie, exchanging a cautious glance with Zoe, ‘so what did ye’ bring us in here for then? I cannae work yon Tardis magic, even if Zoe can.”

Waving the comment aside, the Doctor continued. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Jamie, I don’t expect you to. No, I said I needed both of you to help me - which is the truth - but mainly because I can’t be in three places at once! Allow me to explain…’ Patting the console affectionately, the Doctor quickly added, ‘not forgetting your contribution, of course!’ before clasping his hands together in a scholarly fashion. “Now then, we have a few issues to address, but I think that the first priority is to do something about the language problem. We really don’t want to be stuck here forever translating, now do we? So, I have decided to employ the assistance of the Tardis’ telepathic circuits.”

Jamie snapped his fingers in realisation as he heard this. “Of course, Doctor! All we have to do is bring Palasar into the Tardis, no? Then she will be, er… I’m sure that the Tardis will be able to… Och! You know what I mean, Doctor… then Palasar will be able to speak giant space alien as well, am I right? She’s a canny lass!”

Looking a little pensive, the Doctor nibbled a fingernail as he considered his reply. “Um… Not quite, Jamie. Oh, I totally agree with you, don’t get me wrong! Palasar is a lovely, charming, and intelligent young lady, but… I don’t actually want any of the Oortelians inside the ship, under any circumstances.”

“Eh?’ asked a puzzled looking Jamie, before asking indignantly, ‘Why not?”

“Well, there are two reasons, actually. From the Oortelians that I have met, I believe them to be an exceptionally intelligent species. I won’t go into details just now: suffice it to say that all they seem to need is the suggestion of the possibility that something is, um… possible… Well, anyway, let’s just say that I would prefer not to have them in here, alright?’

The Doctor actually looked a little angry as he said this, possibly aware that he wasn’t making himself very clear, and he seemed almost grateful when Zoe spoke up.

“You said there were two reasons, Doctor. Does the other one make any more sense?”

The Doctor cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed, then nodded firmly. “Yes, indeed I did, Zoe. In fact, Faramandar made my second point for me a little earlier, when he questioned the veracity of your own translating…”

“Aha!’ Jamie barked suddenly, rocking back on his heels and crossing his arms over his chest in triumph, ‘So you were listening in on the Tardis scanner, then!”

"Well, of course I was, Jamie!’ the Doctor replied sharply. (Evidently his patience was getting a little frayed at the edges!) ‘I only turned it off when I came to collect you two! Never mind that… As I was about to say, Zoe…. If we were able to give one of these Oortelians the ability to converse with Null, that individual would be placed in a position of great power. I’m not suggesting that Palasar is anything less than honest, Jamie, but there could well be more unscrupulous individuals involved, those who might want to take advantage of the only conduit of communication, do you see?”

“I havnae got a clue whit ye’re blethering about, Doctor.” The Highlander answered, as honestly as he could.

Zoe, who had found herself distracted by the sight of Null’s huge fingers drumming absently against the doorway’s interior, threw herself back into the conversation. “What the Doctor is trying to say ( and not making a very good job of it went unsaid!) Jamie, is that if only one person can talk the same language as Null, then there is no way he could know that his words were being translated truthfully. Even if that person was totally honest, others might force them to alter - or even add - statements supposedly made by Null, just to further their own agenda.”

“Precisely, Zoe! I couldn’t have put it better myself!” agreed the Doctor, but Zoe was too busy looking puzzled to pay him any attention. She was following her own line of reasoning. “But the only way we could be sure that this wouldn’t happen would be to have a lot of the Oortelians given the ability to understand him, but you have already made it quite clear that none of them will…’

Her eyes widening even further than usual, Zoe did a double-take in the direction of Null’s hand, then broke into self-deprecating laughter as she turned back. “I’m sorry, Doctor, you’ll think me very foolish… but for a moment there I thought you were actually suggesting…” She trailed off as she realised that the Doctor was regarding her quite seriously.

“That we attempt to give Null the ability to speak to the Oortelians, Zoe?’ He finished for her. ‘Yes, that is precisely what I am suggesting! At least we can be sure that he won’t be lying to himself, can’t we.”

“But that’s completely absurd, Doctor!’ Zoe protested in disbelief, ‘There’s no way he could fit through the door!”

“Ah, now, there you are wrong, my dear - there is still a lot that you don’t know about my ship. For example, that door is not actually a door.”

Feeling a little hurt that the Doctor would make fun of her like this, Zoe was alarmed to hear a petulant, sulky tone in her own voice as she replied, “Now you’re just being silly, Doctor! When is a door not a door?”

Jamie, who had been following all this with the uncertain fascination of a man who has just discovered a half-eaten slug in his porridge, took the opportunity to join in at this cue. “Och, Zoe! Even I know that one! It’s as old as the hills! A door isnae a door, when it’s ajar, lassy!”

“No, Jamie,’ the Doctor said very quietly, ‘in this particular case, a door is not a door when it’s a Trans-Dimensional Interface.”

“Ah,’ said Jamie, rallying magnificently, ‘well, that would have been my next guess, right enough.’ He nudged Zoe - who was still not looking very happy - with a companionable elbow, confiding cheerfully. ‘You see? It’s obvious when you think about it, is it no’, Zoe! It’s a Trans… it’s a Trans… it’s one of them things what he said! Aye?” The young Scot was delighted to see his elfin friend break into a smile, rolling her eyes at him with deliberate exaggeration.

Turning an equally exaggerated frown on the Doctor, Zoe demanded. “You are really going to have to explain that one, Doctor!”

The Doctor looked mournfully at his friends and intoned, “And I will one day, Zoe, I promise. But it is very complicated, and we just can’t spare the time… Just look around, do you really believe that you are standing inside a Police Box? Of course not! We are in another dimension, separated from the reality outside by a perceptual interface. It is just a little less jarring on the nerves when presented as a recognisable artifact.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve cleared that up, Doctor!’ Jamie huffed, distinctly annoyed by all this gibberish, ‘why do ye’ no’ just call it a magic door and be done wi’ it? But even so, yon giant wouldnae fit into this room now, would he?”

“Oh dear…’ the Doctor mused, almost to himself, ‘This is why I try to avoid explanations, d’you see, Zoe? Actually, Jamie, the Tardis can reconfigure her internal dimensions with almost infinite variability, should she be of a mind to: but I don’t think that we can afford to attempt it just now, anyway. If it was just our pilot friend that we had to explain things to, I may have been tempted - but with Oortelian observers present, we would probably cause more problems than we solved.”

“So why bring it up in the first place?” Zoe asked, now almost as confused as Jamie, and becoming increasingly frustrated and annoyed.

“Ah!’ exclaimed the Doctor, beaming once more, ‘now, I’m glad you asked me that, Zoe! You see, my people have the ability to transfer vast amounts of information to each other telepathically…”

“Null isnae one o’ your people, Doctor.” Jamie interrupted redundantly.

“Well, of course, I am aware of that, Jamie. But I was wondering if I might be able to combine that ability with the Tardis’ own talent for languages… possibly to ‘boost’ Null’s - susceptibility, as it were. I mean, maybe he could absorb the Tardis’ influence - without actually having to travel inside her!”

“Would that work?” Zoe asked skeptically.

Once again the Doctor looked a little pensive, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t actually know, Zoe. You do understand that I have never tried this before, don’t you?”