Chapter 2
Spinning through the vortex, the TARDIS was still several hours from rendezvous with the mysterious entity which UNIT had christened The Ship.
The Doctor, Nita and Ace were sitting in the library.
"My immediate concern is with Timothy Elder. UNIT considers his unique abilities crucial to our mission. Yet he seems to me… unstable."
"Well, according to his medical records and psych profile, he's very high on the ESP scale. A sort of prodigy."
"A prodigy? In what sense?"
"In most Human telepaths their gifts develop at adolescence."
"They're not born reading minds?"
"No. Except… for some reason that no one understands, occasionally a human child is born different."
"How 'different'?"
"Born with their telepathic abilities 'switched on'. Most telepaths born like that never lead a normal life."
"The noise of other people's thoughts and feelings must be… overwhelming. Incomprehensible… especially for a child."
"And painful. Early diagnosis and special training helped Tim adjust – but he has some problems."
"You mentioned a hospitalization…"
Ace nodded. "For stress. Repeatedly, throughout his life."
"I always wonder… what holds one person together through that kind of struggle, while another goes under?"
"Yes, well, he's evidently done more than 'hold together'. He's the indispensable man – UNIT's finest specialist in communication with unknown life-forms."
"It looks like the more unusual a life form is, the better he likes it. His personal file shows that he's gravitated toward assignment that isolate him from other humanoids."
The Doctor, Nita and Ace were standing around the console.
"Professor, I'm picking up an unusual echo from the navigational sensors."
Nita looked up from her panel. "There is something there, Doctor, tracking us – matching our speed and heading. Something which doesn't fully register on our instruments."
The Doctor consulted another panel. "Since there is no know natural phenomenon capable of travel through the vortex, there are but two possibilities: either it is a sensor malfunction, or it is another ship, following us covertly."
"It's not a sensor malfunction."
The Doctor walked toward the main viewer, concerned. "Agreed."
"A Sontaran ship? With their cloaking device, we shouldn't pick them up at all."
"Unless they're pulling so much power for something else that they can't fully cloak."
"Like what?"
Nita shrugged. "Ask the Sontarans… if it is the Sontarans."
"Nita, please continue monitoring the precise position of the echo – at any sudden change in its behavour, let me know."
"Ok, Doctor."
Timothy Elder was sitting in his room. The lights were low, he was lost in the depths until:
"Come in," he said this a moment before there was a knock on the door and Ace entered. Timothy didn't look to see who it was. "How're things in the land of the living?" Then he turned to look at her, smiling.
"I thought you might be lonely. No one sees you, except the Doctor."
"Lonely? I can hear everything that everyone on this ship thinks. No one besides you seems to be missing my charming…"
"You want them to dislike you. Why?" Ace interrupted, annoyed.
Timothy turned away. "Because I'm not a nice guy?" he asked, sarcastically. "Okay… because they scare me. Too many minds, Ace. I can't shut them out… never could learn. All their love, their hates, their fears. It's like a tide that never ebbs. I could drown."
"I remember."
Timothy smiled in remembrance. "You understood… at least a little… how I felt. I see you finally found a place to fit… people to care about."
"And you're still looking."
Timothy stood and began to pace. "Then there's Gharusa Prime. I've got enough doubts about my… reliability… without having to listen to Nita's, and the Doctor's…"
"What happened there?"
"I thought everyone knew…"
"No. What happened to you?"
"Maybe… I got too involved with the Gharusans, with their point of view. It happens to me. I wanted everyone to get along. I could have warned Delamar more forcefully."
"So after that, you ran away? The last I heard, you were the only Earth delegate assigned to Chandra Five."
"Beautiful creatures, the Chandrans. Their minds are glacial. They have a lovely three-day ritual for saying "hello." Peaceful, untroubles people…"
"Unlike humanoids?"
"Well, except for your friend the Doctor. I like him. He's… restful."
Ace tried vainly to suppress a smile. "I believe your impression of the Doctor is probably unique."
"Yeah? Well, having to get to know someone, just once, has its appeal. I mean, talking to them, instead of getting it all at once up here…" Timothy tapped his forehead. "…whether I want it or not."
"But you accepted this mission. You could have stayed on Chandra Five."
"How could I not? Think of it, Ace. This intelligence that swims naked through space like a fish in the sea. Totally alien, mysterious… not like us at all. Ancient. And alone. So lonely, for so long," he said quietly, as if to himself.
"How can you know that? Tim?" asked Ace, concerned.
Timothy looked away toward the wall, as if looking at the stars outside. Ace's eyes widened as she sensed the truth, from his silence.
"You're in contact with it. With The Ship. Aren't you?"
"No… well… yes. A little. Not quite on a conscious level."
"But we're still light-years away. That must be impossible… even for you."
Timothy shrugged. "Impossible for me. Maybe not impossible for The Ship."
The TARDIS dematerialized. Ace, the Doctor and Nita were around the console. They were preparing for first contact with the Alien. The Doctor looked at the read-outs on the console.
"We've reached the outer regions of the Beta Stromgren system. On course for orbital intercept of The Ship, E.T.A. eighteen minutes."
"Astrophysics report shows that the star's rate of collapse is increasing…it could go supernova within the next few days."
"We are receiving relayed sensor data, from the Mars Probe… including visuals."
They looked at the main viewer, where the curve of the supergiant star filled half of the screen. The Ship swept majestically into view, shimmering with the silver iridescence of an otherworldly fish. As it sailed past the viewer, the fire of its engines could be seen. The Doctor gazed transfixed at the alien image on the main viewer.
"Magnify."
The image of The Ship became larger.
"Remarkable." He thought to the TARDIS, "locate Timothy Elder."
An image of Timothy Elder walking along the corridor en route to the Console Room flashed in his mind.
"Of course."
Nita frowned over her security board. Timothy entered from the corridor.
"Doctor…"
The Doctor walked over to stand by Nita. "Problem, Nita?"
"Doctor, I'm reading a wave front of ionized particles preceding the object which is tracking us."
The Doctor nodded. The Cloister Bell started ringing. "On screen."
On the main viewer, a Sontaran Battlecruiser uncloaked.