Once outside the Tardis, I got a better look of the storage room we materialized in. Other than spacesuits, there were what appeared to be military uniforms. They had no name-tags or anything, so I gathered they didn't belong to anyone in particular.
"Something on your mind?" the Doctor asked me.
As an answer, I picked up one of the jackets and put it on.
"Ah, trying to blend in." the Doctor deduced, "Clever."
"Well..." I replied, "I thought at least one of us shouldn't look like a walking anach..."
I stopped talking. I didn't know what was happening, but somehow I felt like I was drowning, even though there was no water nearby.
"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked, clearly concerned, then he smacked his forehead, "Blimey, I forgot to check the air."
Even if I could say anything at that moment, what do you say to someone who forgot to see if the atmosphere is remotely breathable?
The Doctor helped me back inside the Tardis, where breathing became much easier. As soon as I had regained my breath, the Doctor explained what happened: "I should have seen this before. The atmosphere is breathable, but it's too dense for your body to handle."
"Now you're telling me." I wasn't sure whether to complain, or be relieved, so when I said this, it sounded like I had no real feelings about the situation.
"Hang on." the Doctor said, after which he rummaged through his pockets.
After a while, he found what he was looking for, and gave it to me. It looked like a sort of small plastic cup, with a plastic tube attached to it, which split itself into two more tubes.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's technology that will be invented a thousand years in your future." the Doctor explained, "It's developed to help you breath under water."
That would explain its form, I thought to myself. Those two tubes I described would have to go in my nose, and that plastic cup would go in my mouth, close enough to my throat, but I still didn't quite understand something: "How will this help?"
"You know that water has oxygen? And that the air you breath has hydrogen as well?" the Doctor asked, to which I nodded, "This device is supposed to filter whatever the user is breathing, so he'd breath only that which he needs."
"So you're saying that with this thing on, I should be able to breath normally?" I asked.
"Yes." the Doctor smiled, "However, it won't help you against the air pressure, so the moment you feel tired, you better return here."
It sounded risky, but if I didn't take risks, I wouldn't get to see anything either. I put the cup in my mouth, stuck the tubes in my nose.
We finally managed to leave the Tardis and that room without any problem. Still, even when out of the room, there was still just the one question: "So, where to, Doc?"
"The bridge, I'd reckon." the Doctor answered.
"And which way is that?" I wondered.
"I don't know, we only just got here." he sounded more amused than annoyed, "Though, since you're pretending to be one of its crew, I'd say it should be easy for you to find out."
He was referring to the jacket that I was wearing. I looked at it myself, and decided he was right. As I looked, I noticed a word that was sewn in one of its shoulder pads.
"Galactica?" I read out loud.
"Must be the name of this ship." the Doctor said.
"Well, at least we know that much." I said, as I started to make my leave.
Along our way, we came across quite a few people. Most of them were too busy to either notice us, or even to listen whenever I tried to ask them something.
"Are you lost?" I turned at the sound of that voice.
"Yes, we are." the Doctor answered.
The man smiled: "Happened to me the first time I got here."
"We're looking for the bridge." I said.
"The bridge?" the man seemed genuinely surprised, "Why would a cadet need to be at the bridge?"
Given that I was wearing their jacket, without any stars or stripes that would indicate a rank, and since he didn't know me, I understood why he thought I was a cadet. Unfortunately, that didn't help me to come up with an answer.
"The commander summoned him." the Doctor answered, pointing to that breathing machine I was using, "You see, he has this condition that might make working here a little difficult..."
"Say no more." the man understood, "Even sick, you want to do your part on fighting the Cylons."
In order to pretend to know what he was talking about, I had to force myself not to raise an eyebrow at the sound of the word "cylon". Fortunately, the Doctor was frivolous enough to help: "The Cylons? Of course, anything to help."
The man then explained the way to the bridge, upon which I thanked him: "Thanks, er..."
"Apollo." the man said, "Captain."
With this we walked away.
"This is interesting." the Doctor whispered.
"Why?" I asked, "What's a Cylon?"
"A reptilian race..." the Doctor explained, "... who built a race of robots. Those robots eventually end up destroying them, claiming the Cylon name as their own."
I scoffed: "And I thought this guy John, who I met in California, was paranoid about his visions of the future. Looks like his vision came true here."
"What's curious about these Cylons, however..." the Doctor continued, "... is that they've been seen many times throughout the universe's history. Whether it be many years after the last ship was destroyed, or even many millenia before their reptilian fathers evolved."
I agreed with the Doctor, that was curious: "Think they developed time-traveling technologies?"
"Why do you think they would built a time machine?" the Doctor asked, "As machines, they think logically."
"So?" I still didn't see the problem.
"They're programmed to conquer, not to explore." the Doctor explained, "And even if they decided to use a time machine to conquer, they'd soon enough realize they'd create a time paradox that their brains are unable to handle."
In my mind I was trying to make sense of what he was saying. One well known time-travel paradox is that if you travel back in time to prevent something from happening, you're basically taking away the reason why you traveled in the first place, so you don't travel, don't change anything,... it's confusing to even think about, so I gather that a robot would short-circuit at the the mere idea.
"I see, I think." I replied, just as I realized something else, "Wait: so we're inside a ship that travels through time, by the sounds of it these people are at war with the Cylons, the Cylons are spotted throughout time..."
The Doctor nodded: "We better get to the bridge as soon a..."
He didn't finish his sentence, as he had to stop me from falling down.
"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.
I looked at my watch: "Two hours? We've been walking for that long?"
"I better get you back to the Tardis now." the Doctor said.
