Prologue
The grey-haired man turned from his book as a console light blinked to life. The red light cast stark shadows onto the walls of the chamber.
"Oh, what is it now?" he said before walking down the few steps from the bookcase to the offending section of the console.
The man hesitated more than a moment once he was in front of the blinking light, his eyes narrowed in concentration, lips pursed with indecision.
"What is it now?"
There was nobody else in the room, yet he acted and behaved as if he was not alone.
"Am I to have no time for myself? Even I need a holiday you know."
His hand hovered over a nearby switch when the light stopped blinking. He brought his hand to rest on the console. A finger stroked along part of the console frame.
"Good," the man exhaled. "Can't have been that important then. Now if I can get back to my books—"
He stopped in mid-sentence, and his hand dove into an inner jacket pocket, returning with a small leather note holder. A quick flick of the wrist and it opened to reveal two pieces of white paper, one in each side of the holder.
He stared at the six words appearing on the paper.
The piece at the top said, Doctor come quickly. The bottom, we need yo.
"We need yo," he muttered. "What does that even mean? Oh, aha. We need you. Of course, you do."
He tapped the note holder absent-mindedly against the fingers of his other hand. A distant look in his eyes, his mouth moved with rapid, unheard words.
"Doctor." The voice jerked him back to the moment and spun his head around to stare at the speaker from where it came. "Doctor," the voice continued. "Come quickly, I need your help here."
"Young human female," he stated. "Agitated, but not in a panic. I wonder what her problem is."
He stood gazing at the speaker for a few more moments as if he could determine more about the person uttering the words.
Then, without warning, the main lever on the console activated of its own accord. A familiar thrumming began, and the great discs at the top of the central column began to rotate.
"No," he wailed. "What? How is this possible? No."
The man dashed to the control lever to reset everything, yet it appeared to be locked in place.
His head bowed down until it came to rest on the console frame. "Not again," his voice pleaded. "Why are you doing this?"
"Doctor, come quickly," the female voice once more came from the speakers. It repeated twice more before he lifted his head from the console to turn his face to the ceiling.
"Okay," he said. "You win again. I just hope this isn't a waste of my time."