Post by Fitz Kreiner on Jul 29, 2009 10:57:59 GMT
5
The Thing That Should Not Be.
The Thing That Should Not Be.
Jess followed the Doctor in what seemed like a daze. There was certainly something wrong and Tom had spotted it when they arrived. She almost felt guilty for mocking him especially now that he’d disappeared. There had been something bothering him since they’d got into the base and with what Miles had said it had started to bother her. She was worried that he had disappeared in the same way that the others had. She’d voiced the idea of a transmat beam or something similar to the Doctor, who had smiled at her pleased with her thinking but told her that the residue energy of a transmat beam would have caused a glow that they would have seen.
Several tense minutes had gone by as they had walked, well more jogged, from the mess deck to the Gravitron control. Jess’s heart definitely did skip a beat when she saw a familiar silhouette on the far side of the dome. He was stood, arms folded as though hugging himself and staring out of the dome. Tom was stood stock still seemingly oblivious to the bustling technicians around him.
“Thank Gods,” she muttered louder than she’d realised as the Doctor turned round to her and smiled, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder and nodded in agreement. Jess swallowed as she realised that similar thoughts must have gone through his head. He’d obviously noted the same change in Tom of late as she had, maybe more. That could have been what they were talking about before she arrived in the console room earlier.
With an obvious spring in her step, Jess bounded round the desks into the dome. She always felt a relief whenever she found Tom or the Doctor safe and sound after those moments where she never knew. After all, in the past seven months, these two men had become her best friends. Reaching Tom, she looked at him; he still seemed oblivious to everything, staring out of the dome. One of his arms was wrapped around him his other arm raised to his mouth and he seemed to be chewing absently on the skin around his nails.
“Hi,” he said in an almost detached tone that didn’t strike Jess as the real Tom.
“What happened to you?” Jess asked, placing a comforting hand on Tom’s arm.
“I didn’t like it in there. Was getting rather suffocating, just needed a bit of space.” Tom replied. He’d finally turned to look at her. His eyes were still wide and almost pleading before turning back to their old look.
“You should have said,” she said lightly, trying to make light of the situation. “The Doctor is going to have a look at this science place. You gonna come?” Jess smiled as she saw the old look of adventure flash across her friend’s eyes. A look she recognised. “We might get to play with something all advanced and funky!”
Nodding, Tom turned and walked with Jess to the other side of the Gravitron control room to where the Doctor and Miles were waiting. It was a short walk to the science research department, down a short corridor. The corridor reminded Jess of a train carriage; it was about a similar width and the double doors were opened and closed with similar controls to both open and close the doors. The corridor was lit by a series of strip lights along the top ridge of the corridor.
Another pair of double doors sat in the middle of the corridor to the left, leading to other places of the base. As well as the doors, there were a series of black, soft rectangular windows, at least Jess assumed they were windows, with the darkness of the outside and the light from the corridors it had turned them into almost like mirrors.
The Doctor and Miles were a couple of paces ahead, the Doctor asking Miles technical questions about the base, questions that went way over Jess’s head. Instead, she was more concerned about Tom. He’d seemingly returned mostly to his old self since she’d found him in the dome, but she still worried. He was more than a friend to her sometimes, and had saved her life on several occasions. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to repay that, although she had been a help to the Doctor in saving Tom’s life when she’d first met him.
The hushing sound of the far doors opening broke Jess out of her train of thought and she looked up, catching a glimpse of the research lab that lay within. White coated technicians were working within, wearing simple shirts and trousers rather than the casual base uniform that Jess had seen all the other people wearing.
*
“Yes, yes thank you. No problem, speak to you when we have more data, Gia.” Doctor Johan Fritzel cut off the radio link to the International Space Control science department and turned back to Professor Alexis Wolfe.
The stern woman, head of the Moon Base Research and Development Unit was stood over him, her half moon spectacles on the end of her nose. The sleeves of her white coat rolled to her elbows and her blonde hair tied into a bun on the top of her head. She was rather a formidable sight, she certainly reminded Fritzel of his former school mistress who had terrified him when he was seven.
“Well?” She asked finally, raising an eyebrow and placing her hands on her hips as she waited for Fritzel’s reply.
“Gia Kelly is back at ISC with all the data ready for the first T-Mat testing between the Earth and Moon.” Fritzel said, taking the radio headset from his head and placing it round his neck. “As soon as all the new data is inputted into the systems back on Earth, the cubical will be operational. We hope within the next two days.”
“Good to know,” Professor Wolfe said, turning away and looking to the large cubical that stood in the corner of the room, surrounded by machinery.
The T-Mat was the pride of Professor Wolfe’s development team. She had started working on the principals of matter transmission when she was still on Earth developing neurological and technological developments. It couldn’t be said that she wasn’t an intelligent woman, having distinctions in many fields of science. She had helped all the teams in her unit and with their development. The T-Mat was nearing completion now, and there were rumours going around some of the technicians that Wolfe had pushed it so much because she knew that it would be a huge development and her name would go into the history books. It was always the head of the team, not the smaller people who got their names in history.
Leaving Fritzel working at his computer, Alexis walked over to her other main project; the neurological prosthesis. This was another of Professor Wolfe’s so called Aids to Humanity; the development of linking micro-circuits and computer chips into the cerebral cortex and nervous system and to artificial limbs and organs. It was also a more secret project, the results of which had yet to be revealed on Earth. The work was going towards helping in the cure of many diseases and organ replacements or transplants.
The science had been developed at the start of the twenty first century, and Wolfe remembered reading about it whilst still at university and had been inspired. Although she would never admit it, she had received some help from an almost miraculous benefactor. Once both the T-Mat and fully functional and workable artificial limbs and organs were unveiled to the general public, Wolfe had no doubt that she would be hailed as a saviour to the people.
The door to the Gravitron control opened, bringing Professor Wolfe out of her reverie and she turned to see who was coming in. Doctor Miles, head of the Gravitron project was walking from the joining corridor accompanied by three civilians. The tall, bald shape of Miles was unmistakeable, but the other three people were rather bizarre. The man who entered with Miles had shoulder length brown hair and clothes that looked like they were from the early twentieth century. The two who followed looked just as bizarre, the girl looked as though she had a mixture of styles, that Wolfe remembered reading that young people wore at the end of the twentieth and early twenty first century. The young man was the same, although his eyes were darting about the room in a mixture of astonishment and anxiety.
Wolfe looked back at the first man; he had a look on his face like that of a child who had just been taken to a candy shop. He immediately started darting from desk to desk, looking over peoples shoulders at the data and information on their computer screens and picking up the experiments and prototypes, turning them over and over in his hands before pulling a magnifying glass out of a pocket and examining them.
Turning to face Miles, Wolfe saw that he had a similar look of bemusement on his face as he watched the strange man. The young girl and man who had come in with them were stood together looking at one of the T-Mat power couplings. She was sure she heard the term ‘Star Trek’ come from the girl.
“Doctor Miles, would you please explain this interruption?” Wolfe asked eventually, her Californian accent coming through heavier with her clear annoyance.
“Professor Wolfe,” Miles said loudly, causing the strange man to stop and turn round and smile broadly. “This is the Doctor, and his assistants. They’re here from Armstrong to help with the problems that we’ve been having.”
“How do you do?” the Doctor smiled, offering his hand to Wolfe, who ignored it looking back at Miles.
“What problems have we been having?” She asked.
“The power outages and fluctuations,” Miles replied, “surely you can’t have missed them?”
“We’ve not had anything like that down here,” Wolfe said looking over to where Tom and Jess were now handling some of the T-Mat workings. “Will you put that down please, this isn’t a toyshop; it’s delicate work.”
When Wolfe had turned back to Miles, Jess stuck her tongue out as Tom put the equipment down.
“Well, I’m sure you can’t deny you don’t know about the Space Madness cases that have been afflicting our staff,” Miles started.
“Your staff; not mine,” Wolfe said, folding her arms and cocking her head to her left shoulder. “I fail to see why you should bring civilians into a private area.”
“Because, Professor Wolfe,” the Doctor spoke calmly and softly in a tone that somehow grabbed Wolfe’s full attention. He didn’t seem to be intimidated by her crass demeanour. “Whatever is affecting the Gravitron crew could very easily spread to your people, especially in such an enclosed environment as a Lunar Base. And also, I’d be very grateful if you would grant me the leniency to check to see whether any of your projects could be causing this condition. I do have full authority as this is a matter that could affect all of Armstrong and Earth as well.”
“This is preposterous,” Wolfe scoffed, looking round at the technicians who were now watching the exchange. “If there were any projects here that were causing this so called Madness then surely we’d have had the first cases, but all my people are fit and healthy. And besides, we’re working to things that are beneficial to humanity. You want to stop that?”
“Oh no, not at all,” the Doctor smiled. “I’m all for the T-Mat project, oh, and by the way, your reconstitution alignments are point three degrees out, and I needn’t tell you what that means.”
Wolfe looked astounded as she turned to the technician that the Doctor had just been looking at. He turned back to his computer and typed a few commands in before turning round and confirming what the Doctor had said. Turning back, Wolfe saw that the Doctor was smugly stood gripping his lapels.
“Very well,” she sighed. “But you have to work within my confines. You cannot overstep your mark or you will be shown the door, is that clear?”
“Crystal,” the Doctor smiled, before looking past Wolfe and walking over to another desk.
Wolfe watched as his two strange assistants walked over to him, almost like sheep following a shepherd, she thought. Her lips turned down into a scowl, she turned back to Miles. The Welshman had a faint sheen of sweat on his bald head.
“I’m holding you personally responsible for those three people, Doctor Miles.” Wolfe said, pointing at his chest and staring over the top of her glasses.
“I’m sure they’ll respect your boundaries, Professor,” Miles nodded. “The Doctor is a very intelligent man and has already repaired a problem that had developed on the Gravitron.” Silently, Miles was glad that the Doctor had played along with his bluff that the Doctor and his friends were from Armstrong. He was putting a lot of faith into this Doctor, but there was certainly something about him that said; ‘trust me’.
*
All the smiles had gone from the Doctors face as he approached the desk. Something about this lab was bothering him and it wasn’t just the miscalculations in the T-Mat data. Some small hints were giving away that there was a technology at work that was more in advance of late twenty first century Earth, only he didn’t want to voice his concerns out loud and in earshot of either Wolfe or Miles.
“What’s wrong?” Jess’s voice came from his left shoulder as he examined another screen of data.
Taking a quick glance around, the Doctor spoke in a quiet voice. “There’s something very wrong here, I can feel it. All this is Earth technology, but some of it is a touch more advanced than it should be, as though someone is giving some influence to the development here.”
“You mean the transporter thing?” Jess asked looking back to the T-Mat cubical. “I thought that was meant to be really advanced stuff?”
“It’s only when you’re sending to outside a specially adapted cubical that it can become tricky in the reconstruction. It’s not the T-Mat that’s the main concern. They’ve got a few things wrong, but they’re easily fixed.”
“What is it?” Jess asked.
“Hey, look at this,” Tom’s voice came from round the desk, somewhat louder than the Doctor and Jess’s conversation.
Walking round to where Tom was stood, Jess’s eyes widened in amazement. He was holding what could only be described as a robotic arm, seemingly lightweight, but durable. The fingers and wrist were perfectly jointed and wires and what looked like small hydraulics were positioned about within the metal which made up the arm.
“Cool, it’s like the arm out of Terminator,” Jess said grinning.
“It’s essentially the same thing,” the Doctor admitted. “It’s a prosthetic arm.”
“I didn’t think they were that advanced, we have them in my time,” Jess said turning to look at the Doctor.
I don’t think it’s just the arm,” the Doctor mused. “There’s what looks like neuron-wave receivers in the electronics of the arm. I would imagine that this gets wired directly into the central nervous system of the patient and also connected to a chip that would be implanted into the brain.”
“You’re remarkably well informed, Doctor.”
The voice made the three travellers turn. Professor Wolfe and Miles were stood just behind them, the Professor with her arms folded and eyebrow raised. She was giving clear signals that she wanted them to leave the room now.
“I would appreciate it, that if you want to interrupt our research and work, if you can come back tomorrow at a pre-arranged time so that we can work around you.” She said.
“Certainly, Professor,” the Doctor smiled, taking the arm from Tom and passing it to the Professor. Taking his pocket watch out of his pocket he glanced at it. “Shall we say; you let me know what time you want me in tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours this afternoon, base-time?”
Wolfe nodded before turning and walking away. There was certainly going to be no verbal goodbye from her.
“Well then, Patrick,” the Doctor said, clapping his hands together and turning back to the door. “It seems we may have to impose on you a little while longer. I do hope that’s not a problem?”
“Not at all, Doctor,” Miles smiled. He was starting to like the Doctor, especially the flippant way he dealt with that battleaxe Alexis Wolfe. “I’ll see if I can rustle you up some digs.”
“Ooh, Space hotel,” Jess grinned to Tom, “This place is getting better all the time.”
“Hmm,” the young Time Lord replied. He was still staring after Wolfe, or more precisely; the arm. “I think the Doctor’s right; it’s something in here.” He said to her quietly. “I can feel it.”
“Aw, come on,” Jess said, trying to lighted Tom up again by grabbing his arm as they followed the Doctor and Miles back to the main base. “Space digs can’t be bad though, can they?”
Pausing briefly, Tom looked at Jess, a small smile playing across his lips. “Just you wait till you see them,” he said softly.
*
From her office, Professor Alexis Wolfe watched Miles, the strange Doctor and his two assistants leave her unit and head back to the Gravitron section. She was glad that they were gone. The Doctor could be a problem for her time table. She had hoped to have the T-Mat up and running by the week’s end and then concentrate on the rest of her projects.
“Report.”
It was the voice in her head; sent directly from her benefactors to the chip that they had implanted into her head.
“We might have some problems.” She thought, sending her thoughts back through the chip.
“Elaborate.”
“Some Doctor, I didn’t catch his name. He seems to possess a great technical knowledge, he knows about the prosthetics and their operation. He’s apparently from Armstrong to help out the Gravitron base.”
“Observe and report. We need to know who he is.”
“I understand.” Wolfe waited for another order or bit of technical details but nothing came. Never mind, she would find out something about this Doctor for her benefactors. After all, they had the ability to give her everything she wanted.
