REVELATIONS
NINETEEN
The Doctor woke from troubled dreams into an even more troubling reality. He was so cold – his body, his heart, his mind were frigid. There was no further stocktaking – there was nothing left to inventory – there was nothing left at all besides hopelessness, anguish and self pity. Well, those three things and… he calmed his hearts and listened… and a very low, almost inaudible hum...
He paused, his eyes still closed, thinking. Something had changed. Was it good or bad? There was no way to know for sure until he looked. But did he want to look? Did he want to know? He wasn't sure. He didn't think so. He was so tired… so tired and so very cold.
The hum continued; steady, unwavering. Not necessarily an unpleasant sound.
He rubbed the crust from his eyes with his fingers and then pressed his hand into the skin of his face, trying to wake himself up more fully. It was difficult. Painful. The drugs made him feel mostly not there, mostly asleep, mostly dreaming…
He opened his eyes, pulled the blanket around his body, and with great difficulty, and a decided lack of grace, stood.
In front of him, on the wall, was a small video screen. Placed on the floor beneath it appeared to be a sort of chair, obviously crudely made but not an unreasonable attempt.
It was the monitor that was making the sound. It held the image of his captor, who seemed to be observing him in the same way he was looking at it. There was a series of odd sounds, again not necessarily unpleasant, and then what was clearly a computer generated voice. It said, over and over the same word, or was it a phrase?
It sounded like:
Ven k'atesh
The Doctor listened for a long time and finally raised a hand up to near his head, palm facing outwards, fingers curled ever so slightly.
The voice stopped.
He pointed at himself and said, "Doctor."
He repeated the word several more times.
The creature, his jailor, Ven k'atesh, raised one of its upper appendages in an approximation of The Doctor's signal.
"Doctor," the computer voice said.
"Rose," it then added.
"Jack."
"Help."
"What."
"You."
"Why."
"How."
"Me."
"When."
"No."
"Who."
The Doctor's head started to swim. He sat down heavily on the chair, relieved to find it sturdy.
"Stop," he said and raised his hand back up in the air, palm facing outward.
The voice stopped.
'This is going to take some time,' The Doctor thought.