Chapter Eleven
Once the Doctor got ahold of the book, he was beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. Mulder and Scully shared his happiness when he reverently carried the ancient leather bound book back to their table.
"The ancient wisdom of my people," the Doctor said in a hushed voice, "most of it kept hidden from the general population and here it is at last. I've been looking for this book ever since Gallifrey was destroyed. Thank you for suggesting I ask for it here."
Scully blushed and shyly told him you're welcome while Mulder patted her back. The Doctor opened it and both Mulder and Scully leaned in. They noticed that it was written in alien script and Mulder frowned.
"I thought you said your TARDIS translated everything," he said to him.
"It does, except for Gallifreyan. I asked her not to translate Gallifreyan just in case I needed to write or say something personal. It's a privacy thing," he said while they nodded in understanding. "Let's see…look at the index here and see if…aha! Here it is."
The Doctor turned the pages searching for the page numbers he needed. Mulder's heart lurched when he turned to it and they noticed that pages had been torn out of the book. The Doctor stared at the jagged edges of the torn pages in shock. His shock turned into anger and he breathed heavily through his nose trying to keep his temper in check.
"Wait, why would they sell people a damaged book?" Scully asked.
"They do buy old books if they have an interest in them," the Doctor said to her. "Obviously they had an interest in this book since it comes from a vanished civilization but either they didn't check the book for missing pages or they figured the value of the book outweighed the damage. Damn."
"Back to square one," Scully said sadly while the Doctor looked through the rest of the book.
The Doctor went through the book and stopped when he got to the back cover. Mulder and Scully noticed there was some writing on the inside back cover, however it was in English and they could see it was someone's name and address. The Doctor stared at the writing with barely contained anger but his anger faded slightly when Mulder suggested that the owner of the address might have the missing pages. The Doctor stared at the address which belonged to a Gibbon Bomma of the planet Telox in the Carrion Galaxy.
"I know Telox, it's a very hostile, war-like place," the Doctor said to them. "War has been going on and off for millennia with them and their neighbors. I also know they have been searching for the secret to time travel which may explain why this book ended up there."
"And let me guess," Mulder said. "The pages that tell you how to build this void crosser are the ones that are ripped out."
"Yup-ah," the Doctor said. "But he's left his address and as distasteful as it is that he's defaced and torn the pages out of a valuable book like this, we still have a way to find out who he is and if he has what we need. So if you're ready, we'll continue our search on Telox."
Mulder and Scully nodded. The Doctor walked back to the desk and paid for the book with his credit stick, telling Mulder and Scully as he did it that missing pages or not, the book still should be in his hands. After taking the cart back up to the front, they waved goodbye to the man at the front before heading back to the TARDIS.
Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor programmed the address into the computer and they were off again.
"We need to be careful because Teloxians are suspicious of strangers, comes from years and years of unceasing war with their neighbors."
"You mean, we might get mistaken for spies," Scully said.
"Yeah, quite possibly," the Doctor said. "And they have very nasty ways of executing people which is why we need to stick together as much as possible. Hopefully, we can be on and off the planet in a short period of time after talking to this Gibbon."
"If he'll let you have the missing pages," Mulder said.
"He better let me have them," the Doctor said with steely eyes. "They're mine to begin with since this book belonged to my people. If he's thinking of building a void crosser to escape his little war torn planet, he better think again. I can help him relocate if he wants to leave but I'm not having him hop around universes, mucking things up."
"What about protection? Do we use guns?" Scully said.
"No," the Doctor said firmly. "We use our wits. We don't need guns. Besides, these people are so gun happy anyway that the moment they knew you had one they might arrest you then and there for being a spy or an agitator so it's best to appear unarmed. So if you are carrying guns, you better leave them here."
Mulder and Scully glanced at each other. They reached into their coats, pulled their guns out of their holsters and put them down on the jump seat.
"Good. Don't worry, I never carry a gun and I've lived for over 900 years. We'll find what we need when we need it. I just don't want to put you lot in danger, especially since Teloxians look for any excuse to kill people."
"Charming," Scully said. "Nice to know we're going somewhere where the locals are friendly."
"Yeah, but this isn't the first time we've been around hostile people," Mulder said.
"Yes, but I make it a point not to get around those hostile people on purpose if I can help it," Scully replied.
"Just relax. You both are seasoned FBI agents, I have faith you can take care of yourselves out there," the Doctor said. "I wouldn't have asked you to travel with me if I had doubts. Ah, here we go…" he said when the TARDIS powered down and shut off.
They walked to the door and went outside. They landed near a small town at night. The buildings were no more than three stories high and made of cement. The houses were two and three stories high and made of wood and brick. All buildings were rectangular without much ornamentation on the outside. The houses seemed to be mainly brown, black or white, nothing too fancy. To Mulder, it looked like a very boring small town as the three of them walked along the pavement. The Doctor kept glancing at the address he had copied onto a slip of paper and checking it against the numbers on the buildings around them. While they were looking, the Doctor stopped beside a large cement building to check the addresses. The building had a large picture window and when Mulder and Scully looked inside, they saw the interior of a bar with alien patrons sitting at the bar and at tables drinking. There was a TV mounted over the bar and from their vantage point they could see someone being dragged along by two reptilian guards dressed in tight blue leather outfits. The man was a human and he was dressed in what looked like white scrubs, his long brown hair whipping around him while he jerked his head and body back and forth in his attempt to escape his captors. Mulder, curious, walked into the bar.
"Mulder," Scully said.
She and the Doctor watched as he walked over to the bar and stood quietly in front of it, watching the footage on TV. The Doctor and Scully went inside and came up beside him, watching while the man was shoved into what looked like a large upside down Perspex test tube. The caption at the bottom of the screen indicated that the man was going to be executed.
"This is a televised execution?" Scully said to the Doctor.
"I told you, they're very brutal here," the Doctor said to her. "They take their executions very seriously."
"Yeah, but what's his crime?" Mulder said.
"Spy."
They looked at the bartender. He was tall thin dangerous looking man with a dueling scar down his left cheek and a blind left eye. His long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and when he opened his mouth, they could see yellow teeth along with a few missing ones.
"He's a spy, caught him trying to steal secrets from the government offices," he said to Mulder. "Want a drink, mate?"
Mulder scanned the bottles of booze on the shelves behind him but didn't see anything he recognized. He politely declined before turning his attention back to the TV screen. Scully noticed him leering at her and she quickly averted his eyes when he chuckled. Then his eyes settled on the Doctor and they narrowed as he examined him. The Doctor didn't notice his scrutiny while he kept his eyes on the television screen. By now the man was inside the test tube and was slapping his hands on the sides frantically while he screamed out he wasn't a spy.
"Did he even get a trial?" Mulder asked.
"Um…yes, if you use a very loose definition of a trial," the Doctor replied.
They watched while the test tube began to fill up with water.
"They're gonna drown him?" Scully asked the Doctor.
"No, far worse, they're gonna boil him alive," the Doctor said grimly.
Mulder took Scully's hand when she reeled from that. She stared at the screen in silent shock while the man continued to pound on the sides. The water filled up to his neck and then stopped while the man begged for his life. Then nothing happened, except Mulder could tell the floor of the chamber was getting hot because the man kept lifting his feet and trying to tread water in the limited amount of water. Then slowly, they noticed the water beginning to bubble and the floor began to grow redder and redder. Scully finally turned away when the water began to fully boil and the man screamed in agony. The Doctor gave her a sympathetic look while she stepped outside to get away from it. A moment later, Mulder turned away and shook his head.
"Sickening," he said to him.
"I know but that's the way things are here," the Doctor said.
"Is he even guilty?" Mulder asked.
"Probably not," the Doctor said to him. "Paranoia is rampant here and anyone could be a target."
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to delay us. We can go on now, I've seen enough," Mulder said.
The Doctor patted him on the shoulder. They headed out of the bar and stopped short when several men dressed in blue leather outfits similar to the guards stopped them.
"You!" one of them said, pointing to the Doctor. "You're under arrest for spying. You will come with us or we'll be forced to kill you right now."