The Doctor entered the reception area with the rest of the science team. As they all stood at one end of the table he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, grimacing.
"What's the matter?" Pam whispered.
"I don't like these shoes," he said, looking at the brown loafers they'd made him put on. "No good for running."
"Are you planning on doing a few laps round the banquet hall?" She asked incredulously.
"Planning? No. I never plan to be running. It just sort of... happens." The door at the far end of the room opened, and the senator and all the members of the science team perked up and paid attention. "Here we go..." he muttered.
The Siborean entourage came through the door at the opposite end of the room. They were mainly humanoid, dressed in all black, but with a dark grey pallor and creases in their skin, with a single line of coarse hair running from the right temple and wrapping around to the back of the left ear. They looked like they were about 100 years old, like they'd stepped right out of a black and white movie. Of course age was a funny thing across species; there was every possibility none of these guys were older than twenty. Most likely they were somewhere in between.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the one in the lead said, "I am chancellor Vitak, representing the Siborean Procurement Council." He stepped forward and raised his hand in a sort of greeting.
The senator stepped forward and mirrored the gesture. "Senator Colin Wellsby, representing the presidential science team."
"We received your invitation. Nevertheless, the ambassador has remained aboard our ship, as agreed upon," Vitak said. "Your team will meet with him aboard our vessel."
"We understand," the senator replied. "We simply thought he might wish to get to know the colonists and the science team before we opened formal negotiations tomorrow," he said. "We meant no disrespect."
"Understood," Vitak replied. "I will relay your message. He may choose to attend the reception this evening, but I would not... cease breathing."
"I think the expression is, 'I wouldn't hold my breath'," the Doctor chimed in.
"Don't speak out of turn," the senator said, agitation apparent in his voice.
"On the contrary," Vitak said. "We appreciate honesty above all else. If we have made an error we would much prefer to know."
"Your wisdom is outweighed only by your generosity, chancellor," the senator replied, in a tone that was so overly sweet it made the Doctor sick to his stomach. He didn't like all this - all the games, the spin, the keeping up of appearances and the pandering. It would be so much easier and so much better if they'd just lay all their cards on the table. Unfortunately that wasn't how negotiations worked.
There were two other Siboreans behind the chancellor but none of them ever spoke a word. In fact, apart from the Doctor's statement, nobody else said anything apart from the chancellor and the senator until the very end of the meeting. He made a note to try to talk to them after the meeting.
"You did say you would pass our invitation along to the ambassador?" Melissa said. "Only we'd love to see him at tonight's function."
"As I said, I will tell him, but I find it unlikely that he will deviate from our prior agreement and come down to the planet."
"I see," she said, turning around and following the others through the door. "If that's the way they want to play it... fine," she said through clenched teeth and a scowl, probably thinking that nobody had heard her. But the Doctor had, and he vowed to keep a closer eye on her.
Evening of the Second Day
"Quinn! C'mon, we're gonna be late!" the Doctor called from the console room. He circled the console twisting dials that didn't need twisting, checking readings that didn't need to be checked, just looking for something to do.
"I'm coming! It's impossible to find something to wear in this wardrobe," she called back.
"There must be five thousand outfits in there!"
"Yeah, sure, but not many are formal attire, and it seems like you haven't got a maternity section," she replied. "Why do you have so many womens' clothes, anyway? I know they're not all yours cause the pictures you showed me from when you had your renewals..."
"Regenerations," he corrected.
"...they were all guys. And you just don't strike me as the cross dressing type. Kurt did, you not so much. So what is it?"
"Well, it is a fully stocked time capsule. You've got to be prepared to stop in any time period and blend in, after all. That plus all the odds and ends that others of my friends have left behind..."
"You keep girls' clothes when they leave? That's creepy."
"What d'you want me to do, give them to the Salvation Army?"
"I suppose not. Now, how do I look?" She stepped out through the door into the console room, wearing a simple black dress. A wide strap covered each shoulder, and the pleated fabric came to about knee length. She'd opted for a single string of white pearls around the neck to complete the look.
He smiled. "Very nice, very elegant," he said.
"It's a little tight around the middle," she said. "We're going to have to fill that wardrobe out."
"We will. I promise. After this, shopping trip. You and me. Ooh! The fifth moon of Panlamax! That's where I'll take you. They've got shops built right into the treetops. A whole shopping complex right on top of the biggest forest in fifty light years. Of course, the main population is insectoid in nature so it might be hard to find something for someone who's less than eight feet tall but... Idano. We'll try the kids section."
"You just make some of these up, don't you?"
"Me? Tell tales? Never."
"Come on, let's go. You didn't want to be late."
They stepped out of the TARDIS into the square. "Will Daniel be joining us?"
"I think so," she said. "I told him to meet us up ahead."
"Still just a tour guide?" he asked with a hint of warning in his voice.
"A tour guide who's a scientist," she said. "You'd like him. He's mapping out storm systems all over the planet. He says that tropical storms form in cold water and in a tenth of the time necessary on this planet. We actually flew out to see one."
"One of the senators said something about a hurricane on the east coast," he replied. "Interesting."
They'd been walking for about a block when she spotted him off in the distance and waved to him. "That's him," she said. "Be nice," she added quietly as he approached them.
"What? I'm always nice."
"Yeah, right."
"What? What?!"
"Just... ssh."
"Hi," Daniel said, coming up to meet them and, unsure of what to do once he got there considering the awkwardness of their encounter over the ocean earlier, shaking both of their hands.
"Daniel, this is the Doctor," she said. "Doctor, Daniel, Daniel, Doctor."
"Hello," they said at the same time, neither looking the other in the eye.
"Way to keep it awkward, fellas," she said.
Both of them stood with their hands in their pockets, still not saying anything else. The Doctor broke the silence first. "Right. Well. Capitol's this way. C'mon."
Quinn rolled her eyes. He wasn't happy unless he was taking charge of some situation or other. She fell into step behind the guys, letting them talk.
Only they didn't talk. They seemed content to take the whole journey in silence. After another block Quinn had had enough. "Daniel, you should tell the Doctor about your research," she said in a way that made it abundantly clear that it wasn't a request.
He cleared his throat. "My parents started the research," he said. "Weather patterns are abnormal on this planet, and nobody knows why."
"Really? Abnormal how?"
"Storm systems are supposed to be trackable. We ought to be able to predict weather patterns 7-10 days in advance at least, but around here, storms form in a fraction of the time. A clear day can turn into a hurricane in an hour. The first warning you get about a tornado is when it rips through the residential district. And we've seen extreme weather where humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature aren't the right conditions."
"What d'you mean?"
"I mean tornadoes in the snow, hurricanes in the arctic regions..."
"And all forming faster than they should be?"
"Yeah."
The Doctor was intrigued now. "The speed at which a storm system forms," he said, eyes darting around but not looking at anything as he was now lost deep in thought, "they're faster than anywhere else on record?"
Daniel nodded. "Especially for a planet of this size."
"By what factor?"
"Almost 11 to 1."
"And is that a constant?"
"No. It was as low as 5 to 1 when my parents started. But the rate has been increasing steadily and it seems to be the same no matter what kind of storm we're talking about."
"Standard deviation?"
"Plus or minus twelve hours."
The Doctor let out a long, slow whistle. "That's not long considering the time scale we're discussing."
"No. It's the biggest mystery on the planet."
"Hm," he said. "I'd like to look at your data sometime... if you don't mind, that is."
"No, of course not," he replied. "I'd love an objective outside look!"
"Consider it a date," he said. "Tomorrow, we'll find a time," he said.
Quinn rolled her eyes behind them. It was almost too easy. All you had to do was get the nerds talking science and they'd be friends for life. Who said knowing how to manipulate high school psyches wouldn't ever come in useful?
The two of them probably could have swapped technical terms that nobody else would ever understand all night if they hadn't arrived at the capitol building right around that time. The Doctor flashed their invitations and they were ushered inside, handed beverages and served a variety of appetizers. The Doctor made a face as he snatched seven crab cakes from a passing server and put them on his plate.
"What's the problem now?" Quinn asked him.
"I prefer a buffet table," he said. "Just waiting for a server to come by - or not - with what you want... it's chaos. It's worse than chaos, it's unknowable. It's like... Schrödinger's Serving Tray."
She rolled her eyes as she switched the champagne she'd been handed upon entering with an ice water from another server. "I just don't think you're happy unless there's something to complain about."
"That's not true. I enjoy things without complaining a lot. It's just, there's less to complain about if you can have a crab cake when you want it. Oooh! The senator!" he said, waving to the government official and walking over towards him.
Daniel stared after him, open mouthed. "He sure can change the topic quickly, can't he?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I don't know what's worse... not being able to understand everything he says, or being able to."
"Wow. That is a scary thought."
"Yeah. I'm getting there though."
They followed him over to the small group he was talking to. Despite being only a few seconds ahead of them he was already talking and gesturing animatedly.
"...which is why I think it'd be a shame if your people and theirs couldn't come to an agreement," he was saying.
Quinn didn't get what he was talking about. They knew, both of them, that this wouldn't work out at all... but then again, the Doctor had said that he couldn't say for sure whether the Siboreans were actually responsible until he'd seen their ship and technology firsthand. But the conversation that came moments later made her realize that was exactly the information he was fishing for.
"That is what we hope for as well," said one of the two Siboreans, neither of which he'd introduced her or Daniel to. "No planet we have ever encountered before has had such an abundance of the mineral. We hope the benefit we would reap will be paid by the resources we are prepared to provide."
"Mm-hm," the Doctor said. He moved in closer. "'course, if a mutually agreeable arrangement couldn't be reached, well... I suppose an advanced race like yours could easily take what it wanted by force, now, couldn't it?"
The man's expression grew confused, as if he were unsure if the Doctor were suggesting a course of action, or accusing him of something. He took a sip of his drink and said, somewhat cautiously, "You speak like a member of the War Council."
"War Council?"
"Yes. The Procurement Council would never authorize such measures as you suggest, Mr. Smith."
"The Procurement Council, the War Council... just how many councils are there on Siborea?"
"Every major aspect of our society is decided upon via council," he said. "No council overlaps with another, and the decision of the council is final unless opposed by nine others."
"Sounds susceptible to groupthink and manipulation," the Doctor said.
"Not at all. By restricting decision-making to a group of no more than 10, we are allowed to make decisions quickly. Our people are not polarized on major issues, and we do not sputter endlessly in debate and circular speech. The council meets, a decision is made, and action is taken. It is quite freeing."
"Yeah, until someone comes along to take advantage of the situation."
"How do you know who's who?" Daniel asked, and all eyes turned to look at him. He swallowed. "What I mean to say is, if everyone on your planet is in a council, but only one... how do you know who's in and who's not?"
The man smiled. "Not everyone is involved in a council. And most are governed by the council representative of their village or settlement on the planet. The planetary senate on the other hand consists of ten councils, including the War and Procurement Councils. They make planet-wide decisions and off-world policy. And," he said, running a hand over the curved line of hair running diagonally around his head, "each wears their hair as the badge of office."
The Doctor's face lit up in spite of himself. "You style your hair differently depending upon your governmental branch? Oh, that's new. I never get tired of this galaxy. Never."
"If you are truly interested in understanding our ways and our government, Dr. Smith," the Siborean said, not noticing the eye roll and glazed look on the senator's face, "I would be happy to tell you about our governing process in detail."
"I'd love nothing more," the Doctor said with a grin.
