From: pih@doc.ic.ac.uk (Paul Ian Harman) Newsgroups: alt.drwho.creative,alt.ql.creative Subject: Doctor, Samuel Beckett (Part Six) Date: 11 Jan 1995 13:45:49 -0000 Organization: Dept. of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK. Message-ID: <3f0ned$ohf@oak64.doc.ic.ac.uk> ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Doctor, Samuel Beckett ---------------------- or A Leap in Time -------------- by Paul Harman ============== Part Six ~~~~~~~~ "So, Doctor, what is it to be?" Chancellor Flavia asked. Sam was very quietly panicking. What should he say? He presumed he should say yes, but... where was Al when he needed him? "Can I have a few hours to consider? I've been a little... busy lately and haven't had much time to myself to think. I..." Sam stopped talking and placed his hand against his head. "Doctor, are you feeling alright?" the Chancellor asked. "Er... no, I fell a little drowsy." he replied. Chancellor Flavia placed her gloved hand over his forehead. "Hmmm... you seem alright. I'll have the guard take you to a place of rest." "Thank... you, that would be most... kind." Sam replied. He felt as if his head was burning, as though he was coming down with a fever. "So, Gooshie, if I were to do this..." said the Doctor, fiddling about with some loose wires inside Ziggy's circuitry, "then we should be able to, ah." A little smoke curled up from Ziggy's control panel, and the Doctor swiftly connected the wires back up as they were before. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Al asked. "Of course I do, Brigadier." "Admiral." "Sorry, Admiraaaaaagh!!!" the Doctor said, and clutched the left-hand side of his chest again. "It's this body... so much pain!" he managed to say, before passing out once more. Two of the on-site nurses rushed over and took the Doctor into one of the surgery rooms. "I hope he's going to be alright," Tina said. "So do I, otherwise we might never get Sam back." Al replied. "Gooshie, do you know what he's trying to do?" "Sort of," Gooshie replied. "He's trying to create a holographic mock up of his so-called central console, so that he can explain to Doctor Beckett how to bring the craft back here. The problem is re-writing Ziggy's control code and re-wiring the curcuitry so she can display any object, not just you, Al." "Why can't I just go there and show him what to do?" Al asked. "Two reasons. One, we cannot project a hologram into the TARDIS, because of the energy field protection it has. Two, we can only sustain a one-way projection, so although he would be able to see you, you wouldn't be able to see anything. The plan is to project the holographic console right outside the TARDIS, and show Sam which switches to use etc." "I see. Well, do you know enough to continue without the Doctor's help?" "I can write the software and handle the wiring, I suppose, but only the Doctor knows how his console is set out. Without him... I just don't know what we can do." Sam lay on a comfortable couch, somewhere in the guest quarters in the Capitol on Gallifrey. His time was split between trying to work out what he would say to Chancellor Flavia when she returned, where the hell Al had got to, and why he was feeling so awful. He had removed the large jacket and pull-over, and was left in shirt and trousers. But he was still rather too warm for his own liking. He was busy going through his physiological brain to discover a potential medical reason. Some time had passed, and he had learnt a few worrying things about the body he was in. Most worrying of all was that his skin colour was a little redder than usual - high blood pressure? He put his hand to his chest to check his heart rate, and nearly stopped them altogether. Them. He had two hearts! No wonder he was feeling very odd... he had leapt either into a medical marvel, or into an... alien. And given how bizarre everything had been on this leap... He heard a strange grinding sound, and a tall pillar appeared in the room with him. A tall bearded man, dressed in black, seemed to dance from behind the pillar and came to greet Sam. "Doctor, at last I've caught up with you!" he said, almost in a jolly mood. "You're _such_ an elusive fellow, we never get time to talk." "Er... hello," Sam said. "It's been... a long time." Al, where the _hell_ are you? "...and Borusa was only telling me the other day that you had returned, and after his regeneration we were looking for a new President." "Borusa... I don't quite remember. Regeneration, I don't quite follow you..." said Sam, realising as he did so that he had said the wrong thing. "No, I'm sure you don't." said the Master. "Look into my eyes, look deep into them." Such was the commanding tone of his voice, that Sam was forced to look at the newcomer's face... "Well, that's about all I can do, I'm afraid." Gooshie stood up, and dropped the screwdriver on to Ziggy's control panel. "It's all up to the Doctor now." As he spoke, there were sounds of movement in the recouperation suite, and a few moments later the Doctor came out. He seemed to be in a very bad way. "Must have TARDIS... need Zero room... Hologram..." "Here, Doctor, sit down!" said Gooshie, wheeling a chair underneath the Doctor and pushing him up to the console. The Doctor began tapping at the keyboard quickly, summoning all his energy to enter the design of the console into Ziggy. "Who are you?" "My name is Samuel Beckett." "What are you doing in the body of the Doctor?" "I am a traveller in space and time. I swap bodies with people and from there I resolve mistakes which were made in the past." "That's very noble of you. Where is the Doctor's TARDIS." "I don't know..." "TELL ME!" The Master stared harder into Sam's eyes, and shook him by the shoulder. "I can't explain! I don't know this place very well." "Never mind, you can take me to it. I can do without someone else wandering around the continuum righting wrongs, destroying my plans." The Master seemed to summon some strength from within himself, sat Sam up and stared directly at him. Sam tried feebly for one last time to break his gaze, but to no avail. He was caught, and under the Master's will. "Here is what I want you to do. You will carry out my instructions to the word..." ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Paul `Ozymandias' Harman : pih@doc.ic.ac.uk -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- +-+-+-+-+-+ The amazing changing quote currently stands as follows: +-+-+-+-+-+ "No answer to a straight question - typical politician." - Tom Baker, The Deadly Assasin