Alright, Dear Readers... Today I submit for your perusal another pre-renegade tale of the Doctor and the Master. This time I've set the story in their early days at the Academy, when they were both about eight (give or take).
Theta isn't in this one much... It's mainly about Kossei making a new friend, in his own inimitable way.
Side note: Invoras is the Rani. I know there are novels which have named her Ushas but that name didn't really work for me... Yes, I know, I promise I won't rename all the characters. ;)
Credit goes out to my sister IncomingAlbatross for the name Invoras and for the original Gallifreyan Field Trip concept, which we came up with together. :) And, as always, for support and feedback. Thank you, sister!
You Never Forget Your First
The first time Kossei ever hypnotized someone was on a class trip to Earth.
"Explore," Lord Borusa had said. "But maintain a low profile. We are here to observe the culture only."
And with that, he set them loose on the world. The tiny Time Lords and Ladies scattered in all directions.
Kossei looked around dubiously.
Observe the culture, their teacher had said...
Well, he'd be happy to if he could find any culture here to observe.
Earth was a Level 5 civilization, just barely past Level 4. As such, it was predictably grubby and underwhelming. The primitive natives milled about, headed to and from their various meaningless tasks.
How long did humans live again? Two, three decades?
You'd think they'd be in more of a hurry to get something done...
Kossei quickly concluded that this was an utter waste of his time. Whoever had planned this trip had made a mistake. There was nothing of note here whatsoever.
In the six seconds it had taken Kossei to complete this assessment, Theta had already vanished. Kossei's new friend had a tendency to wander off, physically and intellectually. He was fun to hang out with but... Unfocused.
Although, oddly enough, he'd sometimes get to the answers as quickly as Kossei.
Kossei couldn't understand how Theta did that...
Theta was definitely the most interesting of Kossei's new classmates.
If Theta were here now, maybe they could find something fun to do together. Kossei knew Theta would find his way back eventually, but until then Kossei had nothing to do. He walked to a nearby bench and sat down, kicking his feet in sullen disdain.
Kossei was bored.
"Hello!" Kossei glanced to his right to see a little girl with blond pigtails.
He frowned at her and looked away again, uninterested in whatever mundane conversation she was attempting to initiate. "Hello, human." He felt the slight tickle in his mind as the time capsule's telepathic field bridged the language gap between Gallifreyan and whatever primitive grunts this girl called a language.
She smiled and sat down on the bench next to him. "What's your name?" she asked brightly.
He sighed, preferring to be bored in his own company than bored with this small-minded child. "Go away now," he sighed.
"Are you here for school?" she persisted. "I am! My class is right over there, see?" She indicated a group of human children clustered together thirty feet away. Kossei could hear them chattering nonsensically from this distance.
Uninteresting.
"Then you should probably be over there with them, shouldn't you?" Kossei asked pointedly.
"What school do you go to?" the girl inquired.
Would she never take a hint?
"Prydon Academy," Kossei responded dryly and waited for her predictable ignorance of what that meant.
As expected, the little girl looked puzzled. "Where's that? Is that in London?"
Kossei snickered, vindicated. "No."
"How old are you?" she asked.
What significance could that possibly have?
"Older than you," he shot back.
"Well, I'm seven and a half next month," she informed him. This, of course, meant nothing to Kossei as he had no idea of Sol's orbital period. "So are you eight?"
Kossei couldn't be bothered to translate her planet's years into Gallifreyan years, or figure out where she was in her lifespan so he could make an accurate comparison. It really was a meaningless question at the end of the day... Humans lived like mayflies and had no concept of temporal relativity.
So he just shrugged. "Sure. Why not."
The little girl giggled. "You're weird."
Maybe it was the boredom, maybe the little girl's ceaseless questions, but Kossei finally looked at her, really looked. She was small, with pale skin and deep blue eyes. There was a fragile, ethereal beauty to her as if she wasn't quite present on the physical plane and might vanish in an instant, like smoke on the wind.
Kossei engaged his Time Lord senses, assessing, evaluating. Time Lords were naturally telepathic and although Kossei had never interacted with a human before, he could sense the girl's curiosity. She met his scrutiny openly, unafraid. He looked into her eyes and saw... Something...
Something interesting.
Nothing extraordinary in terms of intelligence, knowledge, experience, but... Something searching. Something so desperate... Seeking. Reaching out.
Instinctively, Kossei reached back, put a hand to the little girl's temple, connecting to her mind. She stiffened, her isolated human consciousness unaccustomed to telepathic contact.
"How... How are you doing that?" she asked in open wonderment. "You're inside my head."
Kossei smiled ever-so-slightly, concentrating on maintaining the link. "Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm amazing."
He travelled about inside her memories, turning stuff over, sifting, peeking around corners. Thoughts about her father, her classmates, small dreams and hopes and anxieties...
Disappointing.
"Not much in here, is there?" he asked rhetorically.
"Stop it, you're messing everything up." She was frowning at him now. Not frightened, just annoyed.
Kossei quirked an eyebrow at her, amused. "You're saying there's some sort of order to all of this?"
"Well, I think so..." She was hilariously unsure.
He took stock of her thoughts and memories. A small task.
"Here, I'll fix it for you," he announced. Swiftly, deftly, he organized everything according to a more appropriate system: like with like, all easily accessible. He broke the connection, satisfied with his work. "There, that's better, isn't it?"
She blinked, adjusting. "I... I guess so?"
"We learned how to do that with our own minds at the Academy," he explained. "Useful, right? This way you can learn more things without forgetting something else to make room. It's all about efficiency, really."
Kossei had done very well in that class.
The girl rubbed her head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Are you... Magic?"
"Magic?" A primitive's assessment of a Time Lord mind. He shrugged. "No... But you can think of it that way if you'd like."
"Who are you...?" Still curious, but with just a hint of fear now.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he informed her loftily.
"I might." Her gaze was steady, questioning, still searching for that same something.
Almost surprised at himself, Kossei found himself answering her. "I'm from another planet," he told her.
He watched closely, curious as to how she might react. Kossei knew that Earth had no contact with the rest of the galaxy, at least formally speaking. He had half-expected this little human to dismiss his claim outright. But although her blue eyes got a bit bigger, she didn't seem to disbelieve him.
"So, you're an alien?" she asked him in a hushed tone.
"Well," Kossei corrected her matter-of-factly, "to me, you're the alien."
She glanced around, scanning their surroundings. "Where's your spaceship?" she wanted to know.
"Over there." Kossei pointed towards the time capsule he'd arrived in with his class. It was camouflaged, of course, currently disguised as a concrete pedestal with a shiny informational plaque attached.
She squinted in the direction Kossei had indicated. "I don't see it."
"You're not supposed to," he confirmed smugly.
"You mean it's invisible?" she asked, amazed.
"Not exactly."
Humans had such tiny minds. How did they function at all?
But this was still a lot more fun than he'd been having a few minutes ago.
"Any other questions?" he asked with a superior smile. He couldn't even hazard a guess as to what she might come up with next.
She seemed to be thinking. Kossei waited patiently for her slow mental processes to draw to their conclusion. "Can you take me into space?" she asked finally.
Kossei suppressed a snort of laughter at that idea. The thought of a Time Lord bringing a primitive alien from a backwards planet like Earth into space? With the vast knowledge gap between their two respective civilizations? He couldn't imagine that would play out well...
Not that anyone would ever have a reason to do something so absurd.
"I don't think so," he said. "No."
"Why not?" she demanded, clearly taking offense at his tone.
"Well, for one thing," Kossei informed her, "I don't think my teacher would approve. Actually," he realized, "I probably shouldn't even be talking to you. We're only supposed to observe."
The little girl's eyes widened fearfully. "What would they do to me, if they found out?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Her eyes darted about, as if there were invisible aliens hidden all around her. Which, in a sense, there were. "Would they kill me with lasers?"
Kossei shrugged noncommittally, as if the question was unimportant. "No, probably just wipe your memory."
Or nothing at all, more likely.
Non-intervention often ended up meaning non-action in Time Lord society.
"But what if I want to keep my memories?" she asked with just the slightest tremble in her voice.
Kossei smiled at her wryly. "Well, you wouldn't have much say in the matter, I'm afraid."
Humans. So many questions... So much unearned entitlement.
Were they all this high-maintenance?
The girl took a moment to process his answer, her face scrunched up in discomfort. "Would it hurt?" she asked Kossei.
He thought about that for a moment. "Probably not," he concluded. It wasn't a question he really knew the answer to, but he understood the general concept. "But if it did, you wouldn't remember," he added reasonably.
A change came over the girl's behavior. Her breathing quickened slightly, and Kossei could see the pulse pounding beneath the pale skin of her neck. She swallowed, her eyes falling downwards. He could sense the vague distress radiating outwards from her mind, her thoughts racing.
Her emotions were so pure, so blatantly uncontrolled. This was new to Kossei. On Gallifrey, everything was slow, balanced, regimented almost. Time Lords were taught from a young age of duty, self-control... This human child was ruled by her emotions, could not hide them, had no concept of how to even begin to manage her obvious physical stress response.
Kossei found her total lack of mental control refreshing.
And fascinating.
"Does that frighten you?" he asked softly, his eyes boring into her.
She looked up, trying unsuccessfully to hide the fear in her expression. "I guess... A little," she admitted.
Her mind was seeking again, crying out for guidance, for purpose, for certainty. A voice to quiet the confusion.
Kossei looked into her eyes and felt compelled to answer that call.
He lifted her chin, holding her gaze with his own. "Don't be afraid..." he commanded, his tone soothing. He filled her mind with that one thought, pushing all the other flitting, chaotic emotions to the side, drowning them out. She responded immediately to his will, her eyes glazing over as she entered a trance state. "You must trust me," he told her.
"Trust... you," she repeated dreamily.
Kossei listened as the aimless chatter of her hopes and worries died away into silence. Mind a blank, will subdued, all critical thinking suspended, she hovered in a limbo state between sleeping and waking... Unconcerned about the future, unaware of the passage of time...
Placid. Receptive.
Simply waiting.
With a thought, Kossei reached into her mind, brushing aside the cobweb veil of her defenses. He held her mind in his own. It fluttered, like a little bird. Feebly, ineffectually, but so alive. He smiled, enjoying the sensation of another creature so tiny, so dependent.
He tightened his grip, carefully, quieting her.
Her struggling ceased and she was still.
The girl slept.
"Kossei." Kossei looked up to see Borusa standing next to him. "Who taught you how to do that?"
"No one..." Kossei answered truthfully. "It was..." Wondrous? Thrilling? Life-changing? "Easy," he concluded.
Borusa touched the girl's head, gently. She didn't stir, eyes staring complacently ahead into space. "Impressive," he conceded. He stood back, regarding Kossei inscrutably. "She is yours to command now. What would you have her do?"
Kossei considered this. He'd hypnotized this human on a whim, not knowing what he was doing, not with any sort of plan in place.
He could just let her go... Release her back into her Level 5 society, let her continue on with her brief existence...
But...
"What can I have her do?" he wanted to know.
Borusa raised his eyebrows, his expression remaining impossible to read. "Nearly anything, depending on the subject. The more complex, the more foreign to the subject the commands are, the more likely they are to fail," he elucidated. "Personally, I would suggest keeping it simple. But whatever you choose, be sure your instructions are clear."
Kossei nodded, weighing his options. So many possibilities... He would have preferred a chance to map out a goal in advance, time to plan, to think. But that ship had sailed and now, unprepared, he had to choose a course of action.
He decided on the obvious route.
He turned his attention back to the girl. "Can you hear me?" Kossei asked his subject.
"Yes," she confirmed.
He chose his words carefully, taking his time. "You will forget our conversation. You will put it out of your mind. You met a boy, the interaction was unremarkable. Do you understand?"
"I met a boy," she responded automatically. "Nothing strange happened. I don't remember the conversation."
"Good," he concluded. Kossei realized he didn't know how to end this process. "What do I do now?" he asked his teacher.
"Wake her," Borusa said simply.
Kossei nodded. Of course. "In a moment you will wake. You will not remember any of this but you will remember your instructions."
"Yes," she responded again, obediently.
Kossei considered for a moment. He could feel the order in her mind now, no thoughts other than those he had implanted. Satisfied, he snapped his fingers. The girl's eyes closed and her head fell forward a bit. Then she woke with a start, seeming slightly confused.
"What... What were we talking about?" she asked, one hand moving to her forehead.
Kossei smiled a friendly, reassuring smile. "Nothing important." Perhaps he should have instructed her to wake after he had left? Or had her mind construct a false memory of a suitably inane interaction...? Next time. "You should probably go back to your friends now," he suggested.
"Yeah..." She got up from the bench, started moving towards her classmates, then turned back. "What was your name?"
Borusa touched Kossei on the shoulder and spoke quietly so that only he could hear. "Remember, Kossei: names have power."
Indeed they did. Names had a special significance on Gallifrey. It would certainly be unwise to share his real name... But he didn't know any human name to give her instead.
Kossei quickly came up with a solution.
"I told you my name," he said. "Don't you remember?" Kossei reached out once more with his mind, holding her gaze as he prompted her mind to find its own answer.
"Oh... Yes," she said vaguely, her eyes locked with Kossei's as her imagination concocted a believable fiction. "It was... Harry, wasn't it?"
Kossei released her again and smiled approvingly. "Yes, that's right." he answered. "Harry."
Harry... What kind of a name was Harry?
A thought struck him - names have power - and for some reason he asked, "I didn't get your name?"
"Oh!" She introduced herself with a smile and a little wave. "I'm Lucy Cole."
Kossei smiled back at her. "Nice to meet you, Lucy Cole."
For some reason, she still hesitated. "Will I see you again?" she asked uncertainly.
Kossei couldn't imagine any scenario where that might come about. "Probably not," he replied with an air of finality. "Goodbye, Lucy."
"Goodbye, Harry." Lucy turned away and walked back towards the rest of her class, picking up speed as she got closer.
Kossei watched as she mingled with the other human children, laughing and talking about small human things.
"That was very well done, Kossei," Borusa said. He seemed genuinely impressed, which was unusual for Lord Borusa. "You obviously have a talent in this direction."
"Can I learn more about how to do that?" Kossei asked, watching Lucy's blond pigtails disappearing into the distance as she moved off with the rest of her class.
"It will be covered at a basic level," Borusa confirmed. "But hypnotism is a somewhat archaic discipline. There isn't much call for it these days outside of -" Borusa paused for just the briefest of instants "- certain specific circles."
"Why is that?" Kossei wondered out loud, still staring after Lucy, though she and her class had disappeared from sight. "It seems... Very useful."
"It can be," Borusa agreed. "But remember, Kossei, our own people have far better mental defenses than any human. And even most humans would be more resistant than that child. She seemed... Remarkably suggestible."
The wheels in Kossei's brain were turning, smoothly, inexorably, as he considered the ramifications of his new discovery. The potential was... Tremendous. "But there must be ways to overcome that resistance?" he asked distantly, preoccupied with his mental calculations.
"With discipline and practice, perhaps. Temporarily." Borusa stiffened suddenly, eyes locked on the time capsule as one of Kossei's classmates ushered a small human towards it. "Invoras! No!" She froze guiltily, and Borusa moved off to handle the situation.
Discipline and practice.
Kossei was not surprised at his teacher's response. There was always a way... It was just a matter of finding it. And if hypnotism wasn't something which would be covered at the Academy... Well, then Kossei would just have to learn about it on his own.
He felt confident that he was fully capable of doing that.
Kossei's train of thought was interrupted by Theta's return.
He ran up to Kossei, holding something in his hands, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to share his discovery with his friend. "Kossei! Look, look what I found!"
Kossei set his musings aside for later, curious about what had gotten his new friend so excited. "What is it?" Kossei asked, examining the item that Theta held out to him with both hands. It seemed to be some piece of foreign machinery.
Theta looked down at the object in Kossei's hands, grinning from ear to ear as he shook his head. "I don't know!"
Kossei shot him a sideways glance, not sure what to make of this answer. Had he just asked the wrong question? "Alright... Well, what does it do?"
Theta looked up, still grinning. "I have no idea!" He said it with such delight, as if this lack of information was the best news ever.
Although Kossei was thoroughly confused by these responses, he couldn't help smiling at his friend's enthusiasm. But he had to ask, "If you don't know what it is, or what it does... Why did you pick it up?"
Honestly, his new friend really was very strange sometimes...
But he was also endlessly entertaining.
Theta had taken the object back now and was turning it over and over, his face serious as he tried to read its secrets. "It looked interesting... Let's figure out what it's for." He sat on the bench next to Kossei, never looking up from his toy. "Do you think they have any tools in the ship?" he asked, trying to pry open the corners of the device with his fingers. "I want to see what's inside this."
"Theta, let me see that?" The situation with Invoras resolved, Borusa had appeared again. He took Theta's mysterious Earth object. "Where did you find this?" he asked.
Theta paused, staring around the plaza. "I don't know, uhhh... Over there somewhere?" He pointed vaguely to his left, then turned to look behind him. Kossei was amused to see that Theta was clearly just guessing. He had no idea whatsoever of where he'd gotten the object. "Or over there...? Hmm."
"Put it back, please," Borusa instructed with deliberate patience, handing the item back to Theta.
Theta sighed, staring at his toy regretfully as Borusa walked away.
Kossei nudged his friend slightly. "Come on, we can go put it back together."
Theta sighed again, still turning the object over slowly in his hands.
Kossei wanted to cheer his friend up. He was no fun when he was sad. "Hey," he pointed out, "maybe where you found it is a clue to what it's for."
Theta perked up, pleased with this idea. "Oh! That's a good point."
"I know it is," Kossei said. "Come on. You came from that direction so we'll start there."
"Are you sure?" Theta asked. "I thought it was over that way..." He indicated an obviously random third direction, trailing off as he got distracted by his find again.
"Yes, I'm sure," Kossei replied condescendingly.
Honestly, how hard was it to remember where you'd just come from? Theta could get lost between a door and a hallway...
Theta got up off the bench, looking at his machinery instead of where he was headed and started wandering off the wrong way. Kossei, shaking his head, took his friend by the shoulders and set him back on the right course. Theta barely even seemed to notice.
As maddening as it was, Kossei had to chuckle at his friend's obliviousness. Theta really was sort of a mess...
It was kind of endearing, really.
"What did you ever do before you met me?" Kossei had to ask, baffled but smiling.
Theta looked up briefly, then back down again, still examining his toy. He shrugged wordlessly.
"Well, don't worry, Theta..." Kossei said, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder. "You have me now." He paused to guide Theta around an obstacle which he was about to walk straight into. "I'll take care of you," Kossei promised.
He meant it. Theta was smart and quick and... Oddly incomprehensible. He was entirely unlike anyone else Kossei had encountered thus far in his short life. And although they'd only just met, Kossei could already tell that a lot of his job as Theta's friend would be looking after him.
Because Theta needed so much help.
But with a little guidance, some hard work and dedication, Kossei felt sure Theta could achieve his full potential.
Lucky thing they had met, Kossei thought, because he was exactly the person to provide that guidance.
But as Kossei walked on with Theta, he found the wheels turning in his brain again, wondering, lining up different scenarios, calculating possible outcomes...
Kossei regarded his highly-distracted new friend with a steady, analytical gaze. His curiosity whetted by his experiment earlier, he already craved more information.
He needed data.
He needed to try that again...
The impulse was too strong for Kossei to resist. He reached out with his mind, stealthily, sounding out Theta's defenses.
Theta absently lifted a hand as if swatting away an insect... Then looked up at Kossei, eyes narrowed, questioning.
Kossei just smiled and shrugged, utterly unashamed at being caught.
Theta returned a enigmatically knowing glance, a strangely grown-up look for such a small child. Then he lifted one corner of his mouth in a cautious, incomplete smile to his friend before going back to his borrowed toy.
So Borusa hadn't been wrong.
Finding subjects on Gallifrey wouldn't be easy.
Kossei suddenly realized he shouldn't have been so quick to reject Lucy's request to go into space. As ridiculous as it had sounded at the time, having a willing human subject to practice on would have been extremely valuable...
He shrugged off the regret. There had to be other ways. There always were.
For a start, Kossei was certain he could convince Theta to play along with at least a couple of mental experiments... He knew that Theta's thirst for knowledge was at least as strong as his own. And after all, it's not like anyone was going to get hurt.
And he just had to know more.
Another though struck Kossei: maybe he could teach Theta some of what he had learned today. Kossei immediately liked this idea. It would be nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off of.
Kossei congratulated himself privately on finding Theta that first day at the Academy. It was early days, but Kossei could already see that they made an exceptionally good team. Their personalities and skill sets paired surprisingly well... Theta's creative lack of focus was perfectly offset by Kossei's penchant for planning ahead.
Together, he was sure they would overcome more obstacles than they ever could have conquered alone.
Kossei pictured the future... A future where he and Theta would work together, accomplishing magnificent things...
He liked what he saw.
He was sure Theta would too.
The End
Author's Note: Yep! So that was a little Lucy Saxon meeting Kossei when they were both kids. Surprise!
Thank you for reading. :)