The examination of the control systems inside the Vault’s antechamber had been disappointing, at least from Null’s perspective.
Zoe had done her best, but much of the information she had read out to him was fairly routine. Although the tiny girl claimed that she would be able to operate the keyboards and displays (they weren’t too large for her to handle,) Null had hesitated. All he really needed was an overview of the Vault’s status which, thankfully, Zoe’s search had supplied. Still, he had hoped that there might also be something more immediately useful. {An operator’s manual or instruction book would have been helpful!) Still, he had been reluctant to allow her to meddle with those systems that he did not recognize himself.
“Why not?” Zoe’s response, as Null had come to expect, was straightforward and to the point.
“Because I don’t want to risk setting anything in motion unintentionally, Zoe.”
“That’s hardly likely, is it? With all the safeguards and security measures here, I mean. Someone has obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure that kind of thing can’t happen! Look, Null, I’m not about to just hack my way through these systems - I just want to open some of these screens up to see what they say.”
Null was unable to find any fault with that suggestion so, ignoring the discomfort, he had assisted Zoe to reach those controls that she wished to examine. This too, proved frustrating at first. “It’s no good,’ she had said after her third attempt, ‘I can’t get past the opening screen on this one either! The menus are accessible, but they seem to be in some sort of code. I wish the Doctor was here!” Null, deciding that they were not likely to get any further, had withdrawn his hand from the antechamber and placed the tiny girl on the deck once again.
Although complaining would serve no purpose, Null couldn’t help sighing. “It is a shame that everything in there is too small to be compatible with my wrist comp - that would have made things so much easier!” For some reason, this seemed to interest Zoe, and she had asked him to explain exactly what he meant. He had leaned forward to place the wrist bearing the pad before her, demonstrating as he spoke. “I can access quite a lot of the ships control systems through this. Most of them, actually. Anything that I wish to make a record of, or store locally, I can load into this chip… but I very much doubt that it would fit any of the ports in there, unfortunately.”
To his surprise, Zoe had started to shake her head, looking at it thoughtfully. At her request, Null held out the removed chip for her to examine more closely, and she started to make measuring motions with her hands. “You may well be wrong there, Null! I saw an odd blank area on one of those desks in the chamber. I could see no reason for it at the time, but it could well be intended to receive one of these. I’m pretty sure it would fit… if I can work out how to access it!
‘Well, it’s worth a try at least, don’t you think?”
Null had to agree that he did, and it was with a renewed sense of enthusiasm that he assisted Zoe back into the antechamber.
Naturally, the experiment hadn’t turned out to be quite as easy as it had initially sounded. For a start: the chip, although no larger than one of Null’s thumbnails, proved to be quite an armful for the diminutive Zoe. Then, as she balanced precariously upright in the palm of his hand, Null had to twist his arm into quite an uncomfortable position to reach the desktop that she had selected. With his hand level with the panel’s surface, Zoe had been able to stretch across the desk to examine it more carefully.
Although he didn’t really have the best view of her progress, Zoe had kept up a helpful narrative. “Okay, Null, it looks like I was right about this blank area matching the size of your comp chip, but I can’t see any immediate opening switch. I’m going to put the chip down on your hand so that I can stretch further up the panel.’ And a little later. ‘Right, I think I’ve found it! There is a concealed keypad under here… if I can just lift this away… Got it!
‘Um, I don’t suppose you know the, er… the combination do you, Null?” He had thought for a moment, then slowly enunciated the code with which he had opened the Vault’s door in the first place. He was rewarded with a delighted cry from Zoe. ‘Yes! That’s done it! A panel has just drawn back to show a recess that must be for your chip!’
As she had knelt down on his palm to retrieve the chip, Null found himself warmed by Zoe’s next words. ‘Of course, this must mean that you were always intended to play a part in unsealing the Memories! Think about it, Null - here is a port designed to accept your chip - and you told me that only you had that code! Now then, tell me what I need to do to start the information transfer.” Null explained to her that all she had to do was make sure that the chip was correctly aligned; matching up the male/female nodes with those inside the port. The chip would do everything else, as he wanted a full memory dump - not specific information. It really wasn’t that long before he was able to retrieve the triumphant Zoe, freshly flushed with success, and inform her that they were heading for his flight deck.
It had been the work of mere moments to lock the Vault down again, but Null also took the time to make sure that neither entrance - door or ceiling hatch - into the area could be opened without his personal code. He didn’t honestly think that any intruders would be able to access the relocked Vault, but it would be even better if they were unable to get anywhere near it!
As Null carried her back onto the flight deck - where this whole adventure had started for Zoe - she found herself automatically looking into the rear corner. “Hey!’ she yelped in alarm, ‘where’s the Tardis?’ The giant pilot looked a bit confused for a moment, then he smiled broadly down at her. With just a couple of paces he brought her round to see the familiar - and oddly reassuring - sight of the battered blue police box, nestled incongruously in the pilot’s seat. ‘What did you put it there for, Null?” She asked, giving him a look that she hoped conveyed her discomfort at this peculiar circumstance.
Evidently it did, because he looked a little embarrassed as he popped her onto the opposite armrest. “I am sorry, Zoe, I didn’t know what it was - I was going to examine it more carefully later. I thought it might be… it doesn’t matter what I thought - I shall put it back on the floor!’ Knowing just what was contained inside the paradoxical blue box, Zoe was suitably impressed (and not a little flabbergasted!) when her large friend picked up the Tardis in both hands. Before returning it to the floor he took a moment to examine it once more, then turned a very confused expression her way. ‘This is your spaceship? Where are the engines? And you say three of you travel in it? I’m sorry, Zoe. You are indeed very small, but I would have thought it would be a bit of a squeeze - even for little people like you!”
Zoe rolled her eyes. She didn’t entirely understand the Tardis’ operating principals herself, but she didn’t want Null to know that. “Just put her down carefully please, Null. The Doctor would be most upset if anything happened to his ship - and he is the only one of us that can fly it!” The pilot nodded and carefully set the Tardis down next to a giant space helmet beside the chair. Taking great care not to dislodge Zoe from her armrest, the pilot seated himself; then gently placed her in the crook of his arm, before flicking the switch that brought his seat towards the master control board.
Oddly - despite the bizarre circumstances - given the gentle, almost protective care with which the giant spaceman habitually treated her, Zoe caught herself fighting back tears. She was reminded of times when, as a toddler, she had found the distance yet to travel just too much for her little legs. Her father, that trusted rock of safety and security, had always known just when she needed to be swung up into his arms, or onto his shoulders. The unexpected memory was almost overwhelming but, luckily, Null broke her out of it. “This Doctor, your friend, I take it that you have known him a long time?”
Startled from her reverie, Zoe gave the question serious consideration before answering. “Actually, Null, I haven’t really known him or Jamie very long at all. We’ve practically only just met, but it feels like we have been together forever - I couldn’t tell you why. I just know that I believe in him - he is a very special person - and Jamie would rather die than abandon a friend.” Null regarded her with deep gravity, obviously considering her words very carefully, then he sighed.
“Perhaps it was a mistake to leave your Jamie with the reptile-things, I really can’t say. He sounds like someone I should like to meet, and the Doctor… I find your trust in him deeply moving, and if he is as remarkable as you believe, then I would very much like to solicit his assistance. I promised that we would seek them out, Zoe, and I will keep my word: but please continue to be patient with me - there are one or two things I wish to attend to first. Then we shall find your friends.” He began to reach for his wrist comp, but belatedly realized that his small passenger might be something of an encumbrance in her present location.
Seeing Null dither, Zoe immediately realised his predicament.
To save him the embarrassment of admitting his oversight, she brightly volunteered, “I can sit on the control board if that’s more convenient, Null! I wouldn’t be in your way, would I?” The pilot smiled at her again, surprising Zoe by giving her a grateful wink, so she made her way along his arm to hop onto the tilted surface. At first she thought that she would have to kneel instead of sitting, remembering how close she had come to sliding off before: but then Zoe realized that Null’s tummy - now snugged up against the console - would make a perfect back-rest. By the time she had settled herself comfortably, Null was already slotting the comp-chip into a port in the desk.
“I’m going to copy over the data that you collected for me, Zoe, but we can see just what we have in a moment. First, I want to show you this…’ He tapped at a blank monitor that rose in the center of the board and it blinked into life. It showed a schematic diagram of something, with several scrolling read-outs at the edges of the screen. Before Zoe could begin to read them, Null explained. ‘This was what led me to find you, Zoe. This is the area of my ship where we met, and it shows some damage to the hull structure. This blurry haze must be those reptilian creatures. Apparently their small size confused the shoddy sensors at my disposal.”
“Can you zoom out and see if there are any more of them elsewhere in the ship?” Zoe asked.
“It probably won’t do much good, Zoe, but it can’t hurt to look.’ Null manipulated a few controls, causing the entirety of the ship to be shown, then rotate rapidly to be examined from all angles. Zoe felt as if she was flying around the vessel, but only saw one blinking red light. Even when Null altered the view, so that it looked like they were zooming through a wire-frame ships interior, no alerts were flagged until the magnification returned them to the original view. ‘It’s as I suspected, Zoe. This vessel was just a bulk cargo freighter before being converted, we were told. I think that whatever sensors were retained after it was gutted, well, I expect they were calibrated more for people my size. They are good enough to detect damage to the hull, but not much more than that.”
“Well, if that’s the case,’ Zoe commented, ‘then that blurry effect must be approximating a quite a lot of little life-signs!”
“I believe that you are correct, Zoe,’ agreed the pilot, ‘and it follows that the breach in the hull was their means of entry.”
“Of course!’ exclaimed Zoe excitedly, ‘An airlock! But that means that they are intelligent… sentient… and they must have their own spaceship!” Although she couldn’t actually see Null from where she was seated, Zoe was sure that she detected a hint of guilt in the pilot’s reply.
“Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with you, Zoe. In many ways I regret my hasty actions. However, they are still not welcome on my ship. Instead of them being some strange alien infestation, I must now consider that they are invaders and respond accordingly. Although…’ he hesitated, tapping the screen once more, ‘I am sure that this reading is a little smaller than before. Perhaps they are following my instructions to leave.”
“Leave? But what about Jamie and the Doctor?”
Null was silent for a few moments, then he switched off the screen and retrieved his comp chip. “Perhaps the data can wait a little longer, Zoe. I had intended to just seal off that section of the ship and void the atmosphere originally, but the situation is much too complicated for such a simple solution now. Brace yourself, Zoe.” Before she had time to ask Null to explain himself, Zoe felt herself falling backwards, as the bulwark of his belly disappeared. Luckily she hardly fell any distance at all, as the pilot had already prepared himself to catch her when he activated the seat release.
It was still unexpected, not to mention undignified, so Zoe felt quite within her rights to complain. “You could have given me a little more warning, you know!”
Null apologized as he stood from his seat, then gently dropped her into his former place. “If you could just wait here a moment, Zoe, I want to put my gloves and helmet back on.” Zoe couldn’t help wondering if this was a precaution - in case he decided to vent some atmosphere after all - but she didn’t quite believe he would be so cruel.
Still, she couldn’t restrain herself from asking. “Why do you need them? The air in your ship is perfectly breathable!”
He paused in lowering his helmet into place. “Ah, I can see how this might look! No, Zoe, I have no intention of carrying out my original plan. As skilled a nurse as you have proven to be, I just don’t wish to be shot by those lizard-men again!”
“But you said that they were no worse than insect stings!”
“I don’t deny it, Zoe. But consider this - do you enjoy being stung by insects?”