No Room to Swing a Cat
Had Kim ever given up hope? Probably not. But her new ally requires something from her as well – and Tegan is getting bored!
Author's mutterings: Still feeling the butterfly-effect somewhere below, but starting to feel a little more at home with the writing and posting. Do say something – anything – in the review-section if only to help me get over my nerves. Or you could just read and enjoy…
Part five
"Did you get it?"
The question seemed to catch the Doctor off guard as he came into the console room and he gazed at Tegan with that empty expression that she knew and loathed, meaning that he hardly really saw her; his mind preoccupied with something entirely different.
"The cable?" she insisted in a sharper voice. "Did you get it?"
"Erh, the cable, yes," said the Doctor hesitantly, and then he seemed to snap out of it. "Ah, the cable? You mean the beta-cords for the influx booster stabilizer? No, not quite yet."
"What were you doing then?"
"I will have you know that I was in fact helping a damsel in distress," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes. "A young lady who had injured her left foot. We came to an agreement and she promised to try and get me some vulcanized beta-cord, just the type we need for the old girl."
"When?"
"Pardon?"
"When would she get it for us?" Tegan inquired. "And what would she want in return? Gold? Advanced technology? Two dozen red roses?"
"Neither, I'm afraid," the Doctor cast a glance towards Tegan and looked a bit shy. "She just wants us, well, me, really, to help her out of here."
"Out of here? Where are we anyway?"
"Inside the imperial palace on Honshu II, it would seem," he said lightly.
"Honshu…" Tegan murmured, biting her lip. "It sounds familiar."
"It would, it is a planet, named after one of the Japanese islands in your time on Earth. Honshu. And it does have its origin and parts of its culture from Japan, even if not all the citizens here are Asian or even remotely human."
"So we're in the future then?"
"Yes, several thousand years, actually."
"But I thought that it was a crime, punishable by decapitation, to be found inside the palace of the Chrysanthemum Throne," Tegan said, remembering the old name for the Japanese Imperial throne from a romantic novel she read a few years back.
"Oh no, not here," the Doctor assured her. "No such thing, as a matter of fact. I think they would just plainly shoot us, perhaps after a few interrogations as to our reasons for intruding in the first place."
"I really wasn't concerned about how they might kill us," Tegan muttered defiantly.
"But I think we have this wing mostly to ourselves," the Doctor continued, unabashed. "The princess, a few maidens and servants and us. By the looks of the facilities right outside the TARDIS, I shouldn't say they are overrun by cleaning staff."
"Princess? Is it a Princess you have persuaded into getting us cord? And why would she need us to get her out of here?"
The Doctor explained about Kim's predicament in a few, precise sentences, including parts that Kim had not yet herself explained to him. He finished the explanation by adding: "So she really doesn't have much freedom here. I think that helping her out would be a reasonable thing to do."
"I can imagine," Tegan agreed. "Having to marry some old fart, just because of having another old fart for a father. With friends like that, who needs enemies? So, what do we do then, bring her in the TARDIS?"
"Ah, now that is the problem. She does get to play, uhm, a part in later events in history, and parts of her story is, or will become, known. According to this, she stole a small but advanced prototype spacecraft from her father and left Honshu II in that. Parts of that escape have almost made it into space legends in these regions and it could jeopardize a few things if she were to leave unnoticed in a TARDIS instead. Not to mention that she would not have removed the prototype from the palace as history otherwise would have it."
"But I thought you said that time is not fixed," Tegan offered.
"It isn't," the Doctor replied. "But I still think that this should be considered carefully. Anyway, we do have plenty of time to come up with a plan, as it will probably take her several days to actually get hold of properly vulcanized beta-cord."
"Don't say it…"
"Meanwhile," the Doctor smiled. "We wait here."
"I told you not to say it!"
o o o
Kim did not imagine that she could fall asleep after the long and peculiar chat with the Doctor, but the events of the last day and night had her in a deep, dreamless sleep for most of the rest of the night.
She did, however, wake up shortly after daybreak, with a start and the hint of a scream on her lips. The syringes… The pain…
She shook the dream off and sat up in her bed. Allindra was already at the foot of the bed, waiting and looking at her with the same, familiar and comforting smile as always.
"A bad dream, your highness?" she inquired softly as she got up.
"The usual," Kim confided. "Treatments my pretty well-tailed ass! The whole plot is about knocking me into submission, no matter what they call it."
"It will end before your marriage," Allindra said.
"Yeah, well…" Kim stumbled out of bed somewhat less graciously than she had intended as her weight on her sore foot made her fall sideways.
"Your highness!" Allindra exclaimed and came to her aid, seizing a hold of her arms, ignoring her feeble protests. "I should get a doctor, you are hurt! How did this happen?"
"I… I tried to kick at a solid wall, that's all…" Kim glanced at Allindra. "Let's not get any more doctors into this than need be, all right? It's just a bruise, I had just forgotten about it, that's all."
"Why did you kick at a wall?" Allindra asked, her dark eyes searching Kim's face for answers to another question that she dared not to ask.
"Practicing!" Kim said, her eyes narrowing. "I was practicing my martial arts and a kick came short. Or too long, as the case may be."
"Practicing. I see."
It was obvious to both of them that Allindra did not believe her, but the maid was too professional and had too much respect for Kim to say what she had really been thinking. It was unnecessary for any of them to point out that Kim truly had been suffering from bouts of mental illness. More as reaction to stress than anything else and usually following the so-called treatments. It had caused her delusions before, but it had always passed after a few days and perhaps a reduction in the sessions with Ashim's doctors.
"It will soon be over," Allindra whispered gently, starting to comb Kim's tabby hair. "And this time, it will not happen again. It will not take place at the castle."
"How do you know that?" Kim asked, just as quietly. "For all I know, Ashim may well have sent forth instructions to the count regarding how to tame this cat. Did you know that I am not to bring my own personal servants?"
"Yes, I know." Allindra was sitting behind Kim, working her hair, so she could not see the expression on the maid's face as she said this. She did have an idea… "But surely you don't think that the treatments will continue at the Matsudaira castle?"
"Who can tell…?"
"I am sorry, your highness."
The words, spoken with a quiet sincerity warmed Kim. It was nice to know that she still had a friend in this place. Actually, she realised with a start, she had two friends. Albeit the other one was quite a strange one at that, he had agreed to help her yesterday. Until now, she had almost forgotten… Those damned drugs…
"Could you arrange a meeting with one of the technicians today? Or an engineer or some such?" Kim asked after a few moments. "I need to consider my plans quite well and one of the few things that I can do, is to bring my personal instruments of music and my consoles. That I would wish to do, but I think I may require some special cables. The Matsudaira castle is old, and if this planet had not been colonised in the Space Age, I would have believed the place to be built during the Stone Age."
If Allindra was surprised by the sudden change of subject, she did not say anything. Kim discovered, much to her joy and fear, that she really loved the quiet, dignified woman like a mother or an older sister. The way they could silently share moments of beauty, of music or just of silent contemplation was a rare gift, and parting with her would be hard, but at least Allindra could return to a somewhat normal life after Kim's departure.
The maid finished helping Kim into her garments. Today she was not expected to do any official business, so she could be allowed to wear her hair in a simpler style and to don only the attire of less formal kind. This meant that she could keep her feet bare, just as she preferred, and that today could yet prove an acceptable day.
Allindra promised to request a technician, after which she departed the room, leaving Kim alone. If she had any more thoughts on the peculiar accident with the princess' foot, she kept it to herself.
o o o
Kim sat quietly for a while, contemplating her situation. She had a new ally, a peculiar man who called himself the Doctor and seemingly had arrived into the palace in a craft the shape and size of a telephone booth. However he had done this was less important than what would follow. He had agreed to help her escape this place in return for her supplying a special cable, and that was the important bit.
A special cable… Yes, but in what way special? If she was to have the imperial technicians supply it, she should probably have some better specifications than 'special cable'.
With a determined intake of breath and a stubborn grimace, she got to her feet and left her room to go to the storage room, wanting to ask about the cable and refusing to give in to her sore foot and limping.
Not that it didn't hurt, but she was too proud – or stupid – to allow this to show. Now it was daytime and she met other people in the corridors.
The code… Well, apparently it did work on her as well.
She found the storage room with little difficulty. Inside, nothing seemed to have been touched since yesterday, and in the far corner, that strange blue box was sitting as if to dare her ask how it had gotten there in the first place.
But how had it come to be here? It was, quite obviously, a craft. But surely it was far too small for any crew to travel in anything remotely like comfort – and how had it entered? Perhaps this odd Doctor had access to some sort of travel though other dimensions or some such…
o o o
"There's someone outside," Tegan said, glancing at the screen, watching the young Princess outside as she tentatively placed a hand on the seemingly frail boards of the TARDIS exterior.
"Oh, it's the Princess," the Doctor explained, getting up from a tangle of cables next to the console. "I say, you don't think she has already acquired the beta-cord? That would be awfully nice."
"She doesn't seem to be carrying any cable," Tegan noted. "And if she does, then what about that plan to get her out of here, in some prototype or whatever?"
"Well, we shall have to see about that," the Doctor admitted, taken a little aback. "But I am sure we'll think of something. Please do remember not to tell her about the prototype and all that, there's a good girl. I'll go and see what she wants."
Outside, Kim knocked the door of the box, still not quite certain about how to interpret the item and its presence here. But she was not looking a gift horse in the mouth, not the way things were going now.
After a few moments, the door was opened and the Doctor stepped out, effectively blocking her from looking into the box and quickly closing the door behind him.
"Good day to you, your highness," he said with a smile and a gesture almost but not entirely like a proper bow. "I trust that this morning finds you well? I see that your foot is better, but I really do think you should support it rather than ignore it."
"Hi," Kim said, halted by his flurry of words.
"You wouldn't by any chance have a cane? Or a walking stick?" the Doctor went on. "For support, I mean?"
"It's really no problem," Kim muttered. "Listen, I came to ask about that cable thing."
"Ah, the beta-cord."
"If you say so, yeah. The thing is, there are lots of cables, wires, things, and I would need to know what kind it is that you need."
"Ah, so you would," the Doctor smiled. "Now, what I require is a piece of beta-cord, say, seven point nine two six two five four metres?"
"Eight metres," Kim nodded, taking out a small notepad shaped like a cartoon image of a cheese to write on. "Got it. And what type?"
"It must be heavily vulcanized beta-cord with an influx capacity plug, multibeamed in a seventy-two pattern with extensions, naturally, and capable of sustaining a twenty-"
"Please!" Kim exclaimed. "I didn't get half of that. How many more specs are there on this thing? I thought it was just a cable!"
"If it were 'just' a cable," the Doctor huffed, "then I could just as well go to a local general store. If it were just another cable, then I wouldn't be intruding into an imperial palace, agreeing to the violation of at least six different laws in order to persuade you to get hold of it."
"Yeah, okay. Right then," Kim said, a little subdued by his intensity. "But what are those specs then? Couldn't you write them down? I think that would be easier."
"You only have that small pad there?" the Doctor asked, surveying the affronting item.
"That many specification? On a cable?"
"Yes."
"Oh… Well, then I guess there's nothing for it. You should come with me and speak to the tech-guy yourself. Don't you think that would be better?"
"Yes," the Doctor conceded.
"Well, there will be a technician at my quarters some time today, probably soon. You could come along and talk to him then. There's even a chance that he'd understand what you're saying about that beta-cord stuff. Better than I do, anyway."
"How true," the Doctor said. But the twinkle in his eyes made Kim bite back the fiery reply she was about to make.
"And we could have lunch while we wait," the Princess found herself suggesting. "If you don't mind a grand breakfast with amultitude of dishes, that is. They always bring me enough food to feed five individual suburbs. So I can easily invite a few extra people without warning the kitchens."
"Could that possibly include me?" a female voice broke in from the door of the box as a dark haired woman in a purple dress poked her head out, smiling sweetly at the Doctor and Kim. "I, for one, am starving!"
"Tegan!" The Doctor's voice was sharper, less pleasant, but not really angry. "I told you to stay inside."
"Not as such, you didn't," Tegan defended herself as she came all the way out of the box. "You did last night, but you didn't say anything now."
"You knew quite well what I meant," the Doctor harrumphed, but the traces of his anger were fading all the same.
"You would be welcome," Kim said hesitantly, gazing at the newcomer, wondering how the two of them managed a life in the confined space of the small box. And how the three of them would ever fit into it? Surely the engine and that influx thingy had to take up some of the room too?
"How kind!" It seemed as if she were more addressing the Doctor, telling him who won their little dispute, but Kim didn't mind. Company, any company, would be welcome.
"At least the staff of this section of the palace will probably assume that you have been let in through the tighter main gate security and thus not ask too many questions," Kim said as she stepped back, allowing her two guests some room. "But I hope you realise that it could be a little dangerous?"
"Dangerous? What, will they behead me or something?" Tegan asked with a half-smile.
"Well, not before the interrogations have concluded," Kim said gravely, but then she smiled. "No, probably not. But the guards of this place are a bit on their toes and security is rather tight. But as long as you stay in this wing and don't go too near the guards, you should be safe."
"I thought that you, being a Princess, could just order them not to do us any harm?" Tegan said and then, as a reaction to the frown from the Doctor, she added, "your highness."
"Erh, if you don't mind, could we be informal?" Kim asked, suddenly blushing slightly. Tegan found herself distracted as she noted that Kim's tail was lashing slightly – just like that of an agitated cat. "Please call me Kim, just like all my friends do. And no, if the imperial guards discover intruders here, they will act no matter what I say. But the guards are not allowed into my private quarters, only around the area. The system is supposed to be fool proof, but it would seem that you two have found a fool's way in."
"Mostly him," Tegan explained, thumbing towards the Doctor. "He found a way. Anyway, I'm Tegan."
Kim took the offered hand and smiled genuinely at Tegan. Then she extended her hand to the Doctor and said her name, inviting him to do likewise.
"I am the Doctor," the Doctor replied, pumping her hand shortly and then letting go.
"Doctor who?" Kim asked, falling into the same trap as so many before her.
"Precisely," the Doctor beamed. "And now, introductions taken care of, perhaps we should go to your quarters? I really think you should have that foot on something higher than the ground."
Kim looked askance at Tegan, who shrugged in a way suggesting that this was so very typically Doctor-behaviour. Somehow the gesture brought a smile to Kim's face and she gave up the quest for understanding this Doctor-fellow. For now.
"Well, you know the way, Doctor," she said, taking the lead. "It's a big room adjacent to my bedroom, right down here. And Tegan, don't worry about the common staff. They are not likely to alert any guards. There's an old mistrust between civilian staff and military guys in this place, and I have taken advantage off it before today."
"I'm glad to hear that," Tegan said, following as the Doctor and Kim left the storage room.
"You'll be even happier when you see the table of food," Kim assured her.
"Too right!" Tegan smiled.
Together the three of them went down the corridors, truly unnoticed and unhindered by the few servants they passed along the way.
o o o
To be continued…