'Eppur si Muove'
2. Without Great Wonder
The church bells ringing out over Siena, competing, melodious chimes pealing into a clear blue morning, were joined by an ancient grinding, wheezing noise, the sound of the universe being torn apart and stitched back together.
On the Piazza del Duomo, in the corner beside the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala, a strange blue box began to appear from thin air, slowly fading into existence as the light atop it glowed in time with its oscillating existence. Eventually, with a resounding finality, it appeared in the piazza, a solid presence, wooden and deep blue.
The box, garlanded with the words "Police Public Call Box", sat there for a moment, as the bells of Siena continued to chime.
Finally, the doors of the box swung open, and a tall, broad-shouldered man, dressed entirely in black, stepped onto the piazza, followed by a willow-thin young woman with curly light brown hair and pale, freckled skin. She wore a yellow sundress and a light, knitted woollen jacket. The man looked around, examining their surroundings.
"Pisa!" he proclaimed, throwing his arms up. "A beautiful city. Absolutely beautiful. You know, in all the universe, I think Italy has got to be one of my favourite ever places."
"That doesn't look like the leaning tower to me," the woman said, nudging her friend and pointing towards a tower that was decidedly less round and decidedly less leaning than the famous Pisan landmark.
"No," the man said, his face falling.
"That's oh-for-two now, Doctor," the woman teased, her lilting Australian accent tinging her words with gentle humour. "Where are we now, then?"
The Doctor turned to his friend, and offered her a smile. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Well, I did just ask you the question, didn't I?" she said, throwing a gentle punch against his shoulder. "Or do you want me to figure it out for myself?"
The Doctor's face lit up. "You know what, Sophie, that sounds like an excellent idea."
Sophie Freeman lifted an eyebrow, somewhat confused, but decided to play along for now. "All right, then… well, that noise sounds like church bells. The sky is blue, and I'm breathing, and the buildings look sort of familiar, so I'm guessing that we're on Earth."
"Never make that assumption, Sophie," the Doctor said, "there are countless planets in this galaxy alone that resemble your homeworld, and many more that have been terraformed to resemble it. In this case, however, your assumption is correct. We're standing on Earth."
Laughing despite herself, Sophie nodded, and then went on. She sniffed the air. "Is that… horse manure?"
"Yes, it is," the Doctor said, grinning. He was beside himself with glee for some reason, and Sophie couldn't figure out for the life of her why. "It certainly is."
Sophie looked around, and she had to admit that wherever they were, it was impressive. Quite apart from the tower she'd pointed out to the Doctor, which loomed large over the city, there were tall, brick buildings all around them, and numerous narrow alleyways spidering out into the urban sprawl around them. They were standing in a wide, stone city square; banners hung from windows, brilliantly, splendidly coloured.
"Middle Ages," she said.
The Doctor nodded. "Close enough. Would you like me to put you out of your misery?"
"No," Sophie insisted, "let me get this. I remember that tower. I've seen it in a movie before…" she paused, as though searching her memory, before she exclaimed "Aha! Siena! Italy."
"Bingo!" the Doctor said, and help up his hand, which Sophie high-fived. "Good job. If I had to guess, I'd say we've landed in the 1630s or 1640s. Siena, like you've already correctly guessed. For centuries already Siena has been a centre of trade, science, politics. At this time the city is a part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany."
"Tuscany!" Sophie repeated. "I've always wanted to come to Tuscany!"
The Doctor nodded, and nudged Sophie, indicated that they should walk together. "It's a beautiful part of your planet."
"I can't believe we're in the seventeenth century," Sophie said, shaking her head as she looked around. "I've always loved Renaissance artists and scientists. I used to sit in the Art History section of the library at uni just to soak up the beauty of the prints on the walls of reading room."
"Well, my original plan was to meet Galileo when he was working in Pisa," the Doctor said. "Maybe we could have even witnessed his famous experiment, dropping the cannon balls from the tower. We're a few miles and a few decades off that little adventure, though. Maybe next time."
"So what's the plan?" Sophie asked, and she looked around. "And where is everyone?"
"You've already answered your second question," the Doctor told her.
Sophie froze, and thought back. "Church bells! They're all in church."
"Exactly," the Doctor nodded. "We've landed on a Sunday morning, I'm guessing. A very religious time and place, even with all the scientific advancements surrounding them. I'm sure there are a few non-Catholics and irreligious folk around, but not many of them would have risked being seen walking the streets during the middle of Mass. I'd say it's the summer, most likely June or July, judging by the ambient temperature. Doesn't feel much like an August. And I must say, that's unusual for me, arriving on a Sunday."
"You don't like Sundays?" Sophie asked, laughing.
"Not usually, no," the Doctor agreed, as they resumed their walk. "Boring, most of the time."
"Because everyone's in church?" Sophie teased.
"Some times," the Doctor admitted. "You know, we could still meet Signor Galilei, if you're interested."
"Really?" Sophie asked, perking up.
"Oh yeah," the Doctor nodded. "He would have been in Siena around this time. Under house arrest, of course, after having been accused of spreading heretical ideas and insulting the Pope."
"I'm really in Renaissance Italy, aren't I?" Sophie said, shaking her head in wonder. "I mean, I'm really back in time. An alien planet is one thing, but to be standing in history?"
The Doctor grinned. "It's great, isn't it?"
Sophie nodded vigorously. "It really is! New Tokyo was an amazing place, you know, before the bots and the crazy computer trying to kill us all, but this is just something else. I mean, all of this has happened. It happened long before I was born, centuries before I was even a twinkle in my mum's eye, and now I'm standing here. On a street in Italy. In the seventeetn century! I never thought I'd even leave Newcastle."
The Doctor smiled. "How does it feel?"
Sophie thought for a moment. She was equal parts nervous and exhilarated, her heart in her throat pounding at a thousand miles an hour, her stomach down around her ankles. The ground beneath her feet felt unreal, and her every nerve was tingling. At the same time, she felt perfectly at peace, relaxed and happy. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt. All she said was "Incredible."
The Doctor folded his arm over her shoulder and hugged her to him. "This is why I travel with friends, you know? What you're feeling right now… I've seen so much of this universe, Sophie. Alien skies and ancient times. I've bathed in the xtonic rays of a brilliant sun on the surface of a world of diamonds. I've done it all. But being with you, with people like you, experiencing history with you, makes it all seem new again."
Sophie grinned and hugged him back. "Thank you, Doctor. Look, I know I was a bit weird after we left New Tokyo, but I really am grateful."
"It's not always safe," the Doctor said, "and I'm sorry about that."
"I don't care," Sophie admitted. "It's better this, better running for my life and seeing strange things, then living that life I had."
"A life less extraordinary is not something to be sniffed at, Sophie," the Doctor said. "All the people living in this city have their stories to tell, their own adventures. Every single one of them will be long dead by the time I meet you in 2011, but that's besides the point; the point is, they lived. They mattered. You mattered, even before you met me, even when you were living that 'boring' life."
Sophie smiled. "Thank you, Doctor." They'd reached the end of the city square, which Sophie realised she'd be better off calling a piazza. "Okay, then, back to my first question. What's the plan here, Doctor?"
"Well," the Doctor said, looking around. "We could do the touristy thing, see the sights. Or we could just go for a stroll."
Sophie nodded. "Sounds all right to me, as long it's just a stroll."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" the Doctor asked, arching an eyebrow. "I hope you're not suggesting anything untoward."
She couldn't help but laugh in response to that. "Me? Suggesting something untoward? Never! All I'm saying is, I'd like it if we didn't end up fighting leeches or crazy computers or whatever else it is you do."
"I can't promise that," the Doctor said, "but I will try my best. Let's see if we can find Signor Galilei, shall we? I'm sure he'd make for an interesting conversationalist."
Sophie grinned. "Sounds fantastic!"
By now, they were walking down one of Siena's many tight, winding streets. It was shadowy, though by no means dark, and the church bells had quieted. The only movement came from the pigeons roosting beneath the eaves of the buildings that rose up either side of them, and cats slinking through the shadows. The lane had a distinct smell to it, an unpleasant one, but there was something so thrilling about walking the streets of the quiet city, just the two of them, that made Sophie grin ear to ear.
"You mentioned Galileo was under house arrest, Doctor," Sophie said, hoping to prompt him into a better explanation.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor nodded. "You see, he got rather embroiled in the controversy surrounding the theory of heliocentrism."
"Yeah, I know that bit," Sophie said. "The idea that the Earth revolves around the sun."
"The Pope, Urban VII, asked Galileo to write a book that would explore both sides of the argument, but he wasn't happy with the finished product," the Doctor explained. "He had Galileo arrested and tried, and under threat of torture had him abjure himself of all his works."
"Eppur si muove," Sophie quoted.
"'And yet it moves!'" the Doctor translated. "I doubt very much he would have actually said that during his trial. The Pope was already annoyed at him; that last little insult would have pushed the old man over the edge."
"It's a romantic story, though," Sophie countered. "Old Galileo, forced to recant everything he'd ever said, muttering one last bit of resistance against the religious establishment."
"Romantic, maybe, but not at all that factual," the Doctor said. "Galileo was–well, is–very much in favour of the religious establishment. He's a very religious man, a committed Catholic, and he never intended his work to go against the teachings of the church. Quite the opposite, in fact. He simply saw science and faith as two separate arenas for two separate areas of life, which, I suppose it is fair to say, was a fairly radical view for this time and place."
Sophie shook her head. "I'll be honest, Doctor, I've never been one for religious faith."
"Nor have I, for the most part," the Doctor agreed, "but every now and then I encounter something that'll make me question the things I believe. Quite apart from that, there's always something to keep faith in, I find."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," the Doctor said, and he smiled. There was something in his Cheshire grin that told Sophie he wouldn't be any more forthcoming than he had been already.
They'd reached the end of the street, which opened onto another piazza, this one centred around a rather impressive marble statue, behind which stood an enormous church, rearing up into the clear blue sky. From within they could hear the priest rumbling on, the chanting of the congregation echoing throughout the piazza. Sophie thought she could detect traces of incense on the air.
"Shall we go in?" the Doctor asked her.
"A Mass in Renaissance Italy?" Sophie said, grinning. "I'd love to!"
She started to head for the church, moving perhaps a little too quickly. She didn't see the young woman walking across her path until she'd almost run into her.
"Watch out!" the Doctor said, taking Sophie by the arm and pulling her back.
The girl was only a little younger than Sophie, about seventeen or eighteen, with curly, flyaway black hair tied beneath a bonnet. She was wearing a simple cloth dress, and was carrying a large basket full of red apples, each of them shining in the sunlight that filled the piazza.
"Oh, I'm sorry, signorina!" the girl cried, but Sophie waved off her apologies.
"Don't worry about it," Sophie said with an apologetic little smile. "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."
"Quite all right," the girl said, and Sophie realised she was avoiding looking either her or the Doctor in the eyes. "I should be on my way."
"Shouldn't you be in church? It is Sunday morning, after all," the Doctor said, suddenly adopting a chiding tone. At Sophie's eyebrow, arched in surprise at his attitude, he shrugged. "When in Rome, Sophie. Or Siena, as it were."
"Oh, no, signor," the girl said, shaking her head, "my family is not permitted to set foot in any church, for any reason whatsoever."
Sophie was taken aback. "Why's that?"
The girl looked surprised at Sophie's ignorance. "Because of our religion, signorina. My family is Jewish."
"Oh, cool!" Sophie smiled, and said to the Doctor, "You know, there's a synagogue not too far from my work back in Newcastle."
"Yes, but Jewish places of worship are few and far between in this era," the Doctor said, before turning back to the young woman. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Sophie."
"Francesca," the girl said with a smile of her own, looking the Doctor and Sophie in the eyes for the first time. "If I may be so bold, why aren't you in church?"
Sophie laughed, but the Doctor immediately answered "Oh, we're travellers. Just arrived from Rome."
The girl's eyes widened. "Rome?" she repeated, her voice hoarse. "Forgive me, signor. Signorina. I must be off. Good day to you."
With that, she was off, still cradling her basket full of apples. She disappeared down a side street and was gone. "That was odd," Sophie said after Francesca left. "Also, since when are we from Rome?"
"What was I going to say?" the Doctor said "That we've just landed in an transdimensional time ship on our way from New Tokyo? Or that you're an Australian? These people barely have any idea that Japan exists, let alone that an alien planet will one day be named after its capital, and Australia was only sighted a scant few decades ago. No one in Europe has any idea what it is, and it won't even be given that name for centuries yet."
"New Holland and New South Wales and all that, I know, I know," Sophie said, "but what about us being from Rome had her so spooked? You saw her when you said we were from Rome, she practically ran away."
The Doctor shrugged. "It may just be a matter of her religion."
"I can't imagine it's an easy time to be Jewish," Sophie said.
"They have it better here in Tuscany than they do in most of Europe, even in places that are relatively close by, like Rome, for instance," the Doctor said, "but no, it's not an easy time to be Jewish. Science and knowledge and wisdom are advancing all over Europe in leaps and bounds, but Italy is still the centre of the Catholic Church, and for all the learning and art it finances, the church is still, to say the least, conservative in many ways."
Sophie nodded. "I suppose so."
"Coming from a secular society like yours, it must be difficult to understand," the Doctor said, "but here, the church is everything. Even when he was lambasted and humiliated and called upon to tell the world that everything he'd argued for was wrong, that he was a liar, Galileo fought tooth and nail to be able to attend Mass again."
Sophie looked to the the church, its beautiful archiecture and its promise of a taste of history, not to mention the invitations of the chanting and the hint of incense on the air, beckoning her inside. Somehow, though, it felt hollow to her now.
"Look, Doctor, it's not that I don't understand faith," she assure him, "it's just that I don't share it. I would like to experience a Mass, you know, being back in time, but I also don't want to be a part of something like that… as though I were watching an exhibit in a museum. You know?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do."
Sophie thought for a second. "Wait, so Galileo won't be at Mass now, then?"
"No, I suppose not," the Doctor said, nodding. "Even after he was granted the right to hear Mass and take the sacrament, that right was limited to religious holidays…" he trailed off as he understood Sophie's meaning. "Ah, I see! You think we should go and visit him now."
"Well, if everyone else is in church," she said, smiling, "isn't it a great opportunity for us to go and say hi?"
"It is indeed," the Doctor agreed. "If I remember my history, and I always do, Galileo would be a guest of the Archbishop of Siena at this point."
"A guest?" Sophie asked. "I thought you said he was under house arrest."
"Oh, Sophie," the Doctor chided, his tone friendly, "if you're going to travel with me, you'd better become familiar with all the various euphemisms for 'prisoner'. You'll be hearing quite a lot of them."
Sophie laughed, remembering their encounter with Security Division on New Tokyo. "I'll bet," she said.
The Doctor went on. "Besides, 'guest' isn't too inaccurate a term. The Archbishop, Ascanio Piccolomini, was a supporter and admirer of Galileo. By all accounts, he was very comfortable here."
Sophie nodded, impressed as ever by the length and breadth of the Doctor's knowledge. Still, she had a point to get across and she wasn't going to let him distract her any more than he had. "All right then, where do you think we'll find the Archbishop?"
"On a Sunday morning? Church. Of course. But it's not him we're looking for, it's his house, which, as you've pointed out, is the house in which our soon-to-be friend Galileo is languishing under house arrest. By the way, you might want to put the hood of your jacket up."
"Why?" Sophie asked, confused.
"Because it wouldn't do for you to be seen running around on a Sunday without your hair covered."
Sophie sighed as she pulled the thin hood of her jacket onto her head. "Okay, fine. Where's old mate's house, then?"
"Right there," the Doctor said, pointing across the piazza to a rather grand old home, three stories high, with a high metal gate across the front doors, a pair of brightly-uniformed, pike-wielding guards stationed outside.
"How do you know it's his?" Sophie asked, but the Doctor had already started walking towards it.
"It's big enough, it's grand enough, and there's something important enough inside to station two armed guards at the entryway," the Doctor said as Sophie struggled to keep up.
Just a few moments later they'd arrived at the house, but one of the guards stepped forward to bar their way.
"Don't mind us," the Doctor said, "we're just here to visit Signor Galilei."
The guard beheld the pair of them with something like morbid fascination in his eyes. "No one is permitted to visit the prisoner without the express written permission of His Excellency, Ascanio Piccolomini, the Archbishop of Siena."
"Ah!" the Doctor said, and began to pat the pockets of his coat, mumbling under his breath "Written permission, written permission…"
The guard tensed, obviously unimpressed by the Doctor's antics.
"Here we are," the Doctor announced, handing the man a small leather wallet, inside which Sophie knew lay the psychic paper, one of the Doctor's favourite toys. It enabled the Doctor to show anyone who saw it whatever he wanted, or, in the absence of any express direction from him, whatever they needed to see in order to allow him to progress unhindered. "Written permission."
The guard opened the wallet, and his face fell as he read it. He looked to his comrade, and briefly showed the man the psychic paper. The other guard looked just as shocked.
"Of course, sir, of course," the first said, going to open the gate. "Right this way."
Sophie and the Doctor were ushered through, and up the stone steps through the gaping, impressively carved stone doorway. The guard joined them, opening the inner door for them and letting them into a rather majestic foyer. With a high ceiling and surprisingly well lit, the foyer featured a rather grand rug on the floor, and religious frescoes on all four walls. A staircase of most impressively carved wood led up to the second story, and a corridor led further into the house.
"If you'll wait here, signor e signorina, I shall go and collect Signor Galilei," the guard said, and he disappeared up the stairs.
"What did the paper say we were?" Sophie asked the Doctor, surprised by the sudden shift in the guards' attitudes.
The Doctor checked it. "Special envoys of the Pope, it seems."
Sophie let out a long, low whistle. "Ritzy."
"Yes, well," the Doctor sniffed, "don't ruin our newfound secret identities with your Australian vernacular, if you please."
"Spoil sport," Sophie teased, as the guard reappeared at the foot of the stairs.
"If you'll please follow me," he said, "Signor Galilei awaits you in his chambers."