Post by Cornelia_Africana on Nov 19, 2005 13:24:42 GMT
There was already a huge crowd milling around the stone circle when the Doctor and his companions got there. The rumour that a child who had been taken away by the fairies fifty years ago had returned from Fairyland had spread through the village like wild fire. The Gardai were trying to clear people away with the story that of course something like that couldn’t really happen, but it was having little effect. The archaeologists from the old Manor had heard the news, too, and Francois pointed out Giles and Annikki to the Doctor. Giles turned on Francois, glaring at him, as soon as he arrived.
“Well, this certainly blasts your precious theories out of the water, doesn’t it?”
Francois did indeed look rather perplexed. “It is – if true – somewhat unexpected, I must admit.”
“What theories is he talking about, Professor?” the Doctor asked, interested. Francois had been about to explain something to Saoirse, when the hubbub in the village had distrac-ted them.
“He thinks that stone circles – megalithic monuments in general – were devices for inducing altered states of consciousness.” Giles said contemptuously. “He thinks that all the stories about encounters with the fairy folk, and so on, that you find linked to such monuments, are actually accounts of visions perceived in altered states, and that stories of spending a short time in Fairyland, and returning to find that years had passed are simply mythologised accounts of the different way the passage of time is perceived in dreams and altered states. Well, you were wrong weren’t you? This is something real. This has really happened.”
“Well, we don’t as yet know that,” said the Doctor, though he had a very strong suspicion it had. “What led you to that conclusion, Professor?”
”It was the presence of so much quartz in the stones that megalithic monuments are usually built of that gave me the clue. Knowing that quartz is piezo-electric, and that it can generate an electric current under pressure, and knowing that even a slight electric current operating on the human brain can induce an altered state, I put two and two together. I suspected that the megalithic centres were used by shamans to induce trance like states, perhaps even full-blown hallucinations, which they would interpret as travelling in the spirit world. I haven’t been keen to publicise these theories as yet though. Given how powerful, and how real, altered states of consciousness can be, I felt some concern that certain unscrupulous people” – he shot a glance at Giles here – “might use such knowledge for their own nefarious purposes. But of course, if something has really happened….”
The Doctor was quite certain that something had, but he knew that unless he could gain access to the stone circle, he could not investigate it. He noticed that Giles had taken a mobile phone from his pocket.
“Who are you contacting Giles?” Annikki asked. “Your precious friends in the UN?”
“Well, they have to know that it’s quite impossible for the project to go ahead now.”
“You have friends in the UN?” the Doctor said. “Could you ask them to put you through to UNIT high command? Tell them – the Doctor would like to speak to them.”
* * *
Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Secretary-General of UNIT, who had already received notification of the incident from the Irish government, was only too glad to hear that the Doctor had turned up. He was too old too take part in such escapades now, of course, but he knew that there would be no-one better qualified to deal with the affair than the Doctor. He had authorised the Irish government to give him complete control over the investigation, and suggested that only a token military presence be sent to the site so as not to arouse too much curiosity. Thus, the Doctor and his party were now in the command centre which had been set up beside the stone circle – not inside it – some intuition had told the Doctor that it would not be a very good idea to set it up inside the stone circle itself – talking to the boy who had apparently returned from Fairyland via the Mound. He seemed confused and could tell them very little about what “Fairyland” was like, except that there seemed to be no sun, moon or stars there, but the sky was lit up by a strange light that seemed to glow of its own accord. Indeed everything there seemed to glow with its own unearthly light, all the colours were brighter, the trees bore fruit that were like earthly fruit, and yet in some ways utterly unlike, and the Tuatha de Danaan were indeed the tall bright figures of folklore, only in their own land they were even more beautiful than in legend. But when he was asked what they had said to him, he could not remember, nor did he have any idea how long he had spent their country beyond that it had seemed like a few days and nights.
Suddenly he caught sight of the white-haired figure of O’Reilly and his face lit up. “Mr O’Reilly! I thought I recognised you..” and the next moment he was babbling away in Gaelic. O’Reilly answered in the same language, and then turned to the Doctor. “Perhaps it would be a good idea if I spoke to the boy. I remember him well. He knows and trusts me. I may be able to get information out of him that a lot of big-booted soldiers can’t.” The Doctor nodded, and soon the two were chatting away in Gaelic. The Doctor watched for a while, a puzzled expression on his face, then he turned to Katsumi: “Katsumi – how old would you say Mr O’Reilly was?”
“I don’t know – in his seventies, eighty perhaps.”
“Yes. So he’d have been a young man when this boy disappeared. He ought to have changed greatly in fifty years. Yet the boy recognised him instantaneously.” The Doctor turned to Saoirse. “How long has Mr O’Reilly lived in the village?”
“All my life – I remember him when I was a little girl. He lived here when my parents were young. My grandparents knew him too.”
“He must have changed a lot in that time. I expect your parents remember him when he was young.”
“Well, yes….why, no..” She hesitated. The sudden realisation dawned on her that for as long as she could remember, O’Reilly had been the same white-haired, kindly-faced figure that she knew now. The same figure that her parents had known. Her grandparents had told her that as children they had learned stories of the fairy folk at the knees of Mr O’Reilly – a white-haired, kind-faced figure.
A shiver went down her spine. Why had it never occurred to her before? For as long as anyone could remember Mr O’Reilly had lived in the village, exactly as he was now.
The Doctor drew Katsumi, Saoirse and Francois to him. “Look, I have to find out what’s going on here. I think the only way I can do that is to go into the stone circle itself, and see if I can meet one of the Tuatha de Danaan.”
“Couldn’t that be dangerous, Doctor?” said Saoirse. “If they’re actually aliens abducting people to some alien world…”
“Been there, seen that, done that,” the Doctor said coolly.
“Besides” Francois put in, “we still do not yet know if that is the explanation.”
Saoirse looked from Francois to the Doctor. It seemed a flicker of understanding passed between their eyes. He knows more than he’s saying, she thought. What he said to Giles outside…it’s not the whole explanation…there’s something else.”
“I’d like to accompany you, then” she said. “After all, I’ve been raised on tales of the Tuatha de Danaan all my life. I can’t let pass the opportunity to meet one of them.”
So it was that late that night, as the waning moon rose high in the sky, and the quartz crystals in the stones glittered in the moonlight, the Doctor and Saoirse stood inside the stone circle, near the entrance to the Mound, and watched as a glowing pillar of light began to detach itself from one of the giant megaliths that framed the entrance to the Mound.
“Well, this certainly blasts your precious theories out of the water, doesn’t it?”
Francois did indeed look rather perplexed. “It is – if true – somewhat unexpected, I must admit.”
“What theories is he talking about, Professor?” the Doctor asked, interested. Francois had been about to explain something to Saoirse, when the hubbub in the village had distrac-ted them.
“He thinks that stone circles – megalithic monuments in general – were devices for inducing altered states of consciousness.” Giles said contemptuously. “He thinks that all the stories about encounters with the fairy folk, and so on, that you find linked to such monuments, are actually accounts of visions perceived in altered states, and that stories of spending a short time in Fairyland, and returning to find that years had passed are simply mythologised accounts of the different way the passage of time is perceived in dreams and altered states. Well, you were wrong weren’t you? This is something real. This has really happened.”
“Well, we don’t as yet know that,” said the Doctor, though he had a very strong suspicion it had. “What led you to that conclusion, Professor?”
”It was the presence of so much quartz in the stones that megalithic monuments are usually built of that gave me the clue. Knowing that quartz is piezo-electric, and that it can generate an electric current under pressure, and knowing that even a slight electric current operating on the human brain can induce an altered state, I put two and two together. I suspected that the megalithic centres were used by shamans to induce trance like states, perhaps even full-blown hallucinations, which they would interpret as travelling in the spirit world. I haven’t been keen to publicise these theories as yet though. Given how powerful, and how real, altered states of consciousness can be, I felt some concern that certain unscrupulous people” – he shot a glance at Giles here – “might use such knowledge for their own nefarious purposes. But of course, if something has really happened….”
The Doctor was quite certain that something had, but he knew that unless he could gain access to the stone circle, he could not investigate it. He noticed that Giles had taken a mobile phone from his pocket.
“Who are you contacting Giles?” Annikki asked. “Your precious friends in the UN?”
“Well, they have to know that it’s quite impossible for the project to go ahead now.”
“You have friends in the UN?” the Doctor said. “Could you ask them to put you through to UNIT high command? Tell them – the Doctor would like to speak to them.”
* * *
Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Secretary-General of UNIT, who had already received notification of the incident from the Irish government, was only too glad to hear that the Doctor had turned up. He was too old too take part in such escapades now, of course, but he knew that there would be no-one better qualified to deal with the affair than the Doctor. He had authorised the Irish government to give him complete control over the investigation, and suggested that only a token military presence be sent to the site so as not to arouse too much curiosity. Thus, the Doctor and his party were now in the command centre which had been set up beside the stone circle – not inside it – some intuition had told the Doctor that it would not be a very good idea to set it up inside the stone circle itself – talking to the boy who had apparently returned from Fairyland via the Mound. He seemed confused and could tell them very little about what “Fairyland” was like, except that there seemed to be no sun, moon or stars there, but the sky was lit up by a strange light that seemed to glow of its own accord. Indeed everything there seemed to glow with its own unearthly light, all the colours were brighter, the trees bore fruit that were like earthly fruit, and yet in some ways utterly unlike, and the Tuatha de Danaan were indeed the tall bright figures of folklore, only in their own land they were even more beautiful than in legend. But when he was asked what they had said to him, he could not remember, nor did he have any idea how long he had spent their country beyond that it had seemed like a few days and nights.
Suddenly he caught sight of the white-haired figure of O’Reilly and his face lit up. “Mr O’Reilly! I thought I recognised you..” and the next moment he was babbling away in Gaelic. O’Reilly answered in the same language, and then turned to the Doctor. “Perhaps it would be a good idea if I spoke to the boy. I remember him well. He knows and trusts me. I may be able to get information out of him that a lot of big-booted soldiers can’t.” The Doctor nodded, and soon the two were chatting away in Gaelic. The Doctor watched for a while, a puzzled expression on his face, then he turned to Katsumi: “Katsumi – how old would you say Mr O’Reilly was?”
“I don’t know – in his seventies, eighty perhaps.”
“Yes. So he’d have been a young man when this boy disappeared. He ought to have changed greatly in fifty years. Yet the boy recognised him instantaneously.” The Doctor turned to Saoirse. “How long has Mr O’Reilly lived in the village?”
“All my life – I remember him when I was a little girl. He lived here when my parents were young. My grandparents knew him too.”
“He must have changed a lot in that time. I expect your parents remember him when he was young.”
“Well, yes….why, no..” She hesitated. The sudden realisation dawned on her that for as long as she could remember, O’Reilly had been the same white-haired, kindly-faced figure that she knew now. The same figure that her parents had known. Her grandparents had told her that as children they had learned stories of the fairy folk at the knees of Mr O’Reilly – a white-haired, kind-faced figure.
A shiver went down her spine. Why had it never occurred to her before? For as long as anyone could remember Mr O’Reilly had lived in the village, exactly as he was now.
The Doctor drew Katsumi, Saoirse and Francois to him. “Look, I have to find out what’s going on here. I think the only way I can do that is to go into the stone circle itself, and see if I can meet one of the Tuatha de Danaan.”
“Couldn’t that be dangerous, Doctor?” said Saoirse. “If they’re actually aliens abducting people to some alien world…”
“Been there, seen that, done that,” the Doctor said coolly.
“Besides” Francois put in, “we still do not yet know if that is the explanation.”
Saoirse looked from Francois to the Doctor. It seemed a flicker of understanding passed between their eyes. He knows more than he’s saying, she thought. What he said to Giles outside…it’s not the whole explanation…there’s something else.”
“I’d like to accompany you, then” she said. “After all, I’ve been raised on tales of the Tuatha de Danaan all my life. I can’t let pass the opportunity to meet one of them.”
So it was that late that night, as the waning moon rose high in the sky, and the quartz crystals in the stones glittered in the moonlight, the Doctor and Saoirse stood inside the stone circle, near the entrance to the Mound, and watched as a glowing pillar of light began to detach itself from one of the giant megaliths that framed the entrance to the Mound.
