"What is it ,Doctor?"
"Well,it seems that the Lykoi have finished their "re going to leave the planet in two hours."
"But that's good,isn't it?They'll be gone!No more people will die!"
"For this is just a research ship,remember?Once they go back,they'll formulate a plan of then the battleships will come." replied the Doctor upon seeing the look of pure terror on Arthur's face ,he quickly added, "But don't worry-we'll stop them! Trust me, I'm the Doctor." He smiled reassuringly.
Arthur, however, wasn't reassured. "How will I be fine Doctor?!" he cried, the panic in his voice rising "There are creatures from a world about to attack ours! How can any of this be happening?!Isn't there some sort of inter-galactic police that takes care of things like this? This is madness..." He was cut short by the Doctor, who, up till this point had merely opening and closing his mouth as though he couldn't decide whether to pacify Arthur, or just let him finish his rant and let go of his emotions. When Arthur, mentioned "Inter-galactic police" however, his mind suddenly lit up with an idea and he was compelled to do the former.
"Inter-galactic police? Well of course there is one! Now why didn't I think of that?"
Arthur was confused. "Think of what?"
"Oh Arthur you brilliant man!" exclaimed the Doctor, pulling Arthur into a hug.
"Err...thank you" said Arthur awkwardly "but what exactly did I do?"
"You've given me an idea! A rather brilliant one, actually," replied the Doctor merrily. "We actually do have an Inter-Galactic police. It's called the Shadow Porclamation,and according to their laws, what the Lykoi are doing are ,all we have to do, is send them to The Shadow Proclamation so that they can be arrested, and judging by the look of this ship, and my previous knowledge of the Lykoi-that shouldn't be too hard!"
Arthur had a billion questions in is head, ranging from what species the Shadow Proclamation consisted of, to how many laws there were-but, knowing that time was short, he suppressed them and aske the one that bothered him the most- "Why shouldn't it be too hard? How can we just transport this entire ship to what I'm assuming is a completely different planet?"
"Well," and at this point, Arthur had the feeling that The Doctor was about launch into a rapidly spoken monologue about alien topics he knew nothing of, filled with technological jargon he couldn't possibly understand and the odd word or two that seemed like it had been made up by a five year old.
Arthur was not disappointed.
"Well, the Lykoi are a fairly primitive species, technologically speaking, which is why they choose planets that are either not inhabited or inhabited by an even more primitive species, like the humans,So,knowing and going by their ship, which isn't very fancy-shmancy at all, I think it's safe to assume that the S.S COSMOS runs on a fairly simple warp drive engine with a navigation system that has a pre-determined destination embedded into its ,to send them to the Shadow Proclamation, I'd just have to hack into their mainframe, replace the coordinates of Basker V with the ones of the Shadow Proclamation into its self-controlled navigational router, cover it up with an Absconderean concealer so that they don't find out what I've done and an Immobiliator for when they do-which is quite unnecessary really, because it'll already be too late by then-but just in case. Piece of cavemen? "He finished, grinning proudly at Arthur.
"Err.."Arthur was unsure of how to respond
"Well don't just stand there Arthur! We've got a planet to save! Allons-y!" and with that, he ran out of the room, Arthur hot on his heels.
They come out into the corridor again, and turned right.
"Where are we going? Asked Arthur
"To the control room"
"Right…and you're sure this plan's going to work?"
" ...well-about 65% sure"
"65%?!" said Arhur incredulously "Is that it?!"
"Well,you see, I've based my entire plan on the assumption that the Lykoi are still in their primitive age, and this isn't their advanced ,I can be wrong about this-I often get this kind of thing wrong, actually-but don't worry, I'm 65% sure I'm right."
"And that's enough for you?"
"Well, usually I don't even have a plan, so the fact that I do have one this time-even if I'm 35% unsure about it, shows that I am improving, and hence no one should criticise me."
"Right" said Arthur, too baffled and tried to try and question the Doctor any more-except for the one question that was pressing on his mind
"Doctor" he began tentatively "You're not human are you?"
The Doctor looked at Arthur, uncertain of how to respond "How did you know?"
"Well, firstly, that Lykoi said , your device-the sonic screwdriver-it's nothing like I've ever seen-it must be from another planet. And thirdly, when you hugged me, I'm quite sure I heard two hearts beating"
The Doctor chuckled "Well, you're right on all accounts Arthur" he said
"What planet are you from then?" asked Arthur excitedly
"A planet called Galifrey...I'm a Time Lord"
Arthur was visibly impressed-a Time Lord! He hadn't the faintest idea what a Time Lord was, but just the fact that he was with a being from another world (a very intelligent being at that) was awe-inspiring
He was just about to voice his thoughts, when they reached their destination
"Ah!here it is!" said the Doctor, walking into a fairly sized room, its walls made of steel panels and the front of it covered by a large screen with a console beneath console was covered with several buttons and knobs, as were several portions of the walls. There was also another door on the side of the room. The Doctor turned to the big screen and brought out his sonic screwdriver, as well as a pair of glasses that he wore right away "Right then," he said, pointing it at the screen "First, we have to get into the system…right…Now to put in the…Okay, woops, slight glitch there…okay,fixed…and now.." he murmured to himself, while pushing a variety of buttons knobs on the control panel below him. After several minutes of this, he finally took his attention away from the screen and bent down to the part below the control panel. He dislodged on of the metal plates with his sonic screwdriver to reveal an infinitely complex arrangement of wires that comprised the inner mechanisms of the console.
"Okay now," he said, peering in and inspecting the tangled mass of wires "to find the right one...ah!" He exclaimed, pulling out a red wire and a blue wire. "Now I just have to.." he muttered to himself, positioning the wires "there! All done!" he declared, straightening up and smiling widely, his hands in his pockets.
"That's it? It's done?!"Said Arthur incredulously
"Yup!" said the Doctor
"just like that? They'll go away now?"
"Oh yes!" replied the Doctor happily.
Arthur still couldn't believe it-he didn't understand how the Doctor had accomplished something so seemingly complex and impossible just by pushing a few buttons and turning a few knobs and rearranging some wires. But Arthur had learnt to trust the Doctor, even though he had spent every little time with him. And besides, it didn't matter-for the were safe! As all these thoughts went through his head, his face broke out into a wide grin.
"That's brilliant!" he cried and was about add several more aw-describing adjectives to that when he saw the Doctor's previously happy face turn suddenly into one of surprise. Arthur turned around to see what had cause this sudden change in emotions and found himself staring straight into the barrel of a gun (or what would have been a barrel had been an ordinary gun instead of an alien electronic one).He backed away slowly, the fear on his face very visible. "Doctor.." he began slowly "It; s all right Arthur, just step back slowly" said the Doctor, his eyes still fixed on the pack of Lykoi that had just entered the room from the side door and were now pointing their guns at them. The Commander stepped forth and said "Did you really think it would be that easy? We are a fairly primitive species, yes, but we are not so easily outwitted!"
"How long have you been following us?"
"Since you left the Medical Examination room. We observed you and waited for you to reveal, or implement your plan. Once you did just that, a few moments ago, we decided that it was time to put an end to this."
"You saw what I did here then?"
"Yes, and I must say-you're quite clever, and if we hadn't seen you make all those changes to the ship's systems,you might have ,unfortunately for you, we did see you, and now we know exactly what you did and have a fair idea of how to reverse it."
"Right, well you seem to have everything sorted-you have no need of us now-so, umm, we'll be off then!" said the Doctor, beginning to walk towards the door at the front of the room.
"Halt!" shouted the Commander "You cannot leave-we actually do have need of you. You see, we have sufficient knowledge and technology to be able to get past the Absconderean concealer and reverse the change you made to the navigational router. The Immobiliator, however, is beyond us. We need you remove it for us."
"Well, it's very kind of you to ask," said the Doctor, moving once again towards the door "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Doctor." Replied the Commander, "Seize the boy!" he ordered the Lykoi behind him. The Doctor and Arthur both yelled and shouted, but the Lykoi ignored their loud protests and grabbed Arthur.
"Undo what you have done." said the Commander "or the boy dies."
"No! I will not endanger the lives of 6 billion people!"
"I must remind you again, Doctor, that you have no choice!" yelled the Commander "Fix this! Now!"
The Doctor was left with no alternative. He walked slowly towards the console, his jaw clenched and his face hard as stone. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the screen. He stood there like that for a few minutes, muttering incoherently under his breath, and occasionally changing the settings on the screwdriver. Then,once he was done, he turned towards the Commander, his face grave and his eyes visibly angry "I've done what you asked me to-now let him go!" he said forcefully. "Not so fast," replied the Commander "Officer Tommen! Check the systems, make sure he isn't fooling us."
Tommen III stepped out at his command and went to the screen. He didn't have a sonic screwdriver of course, so he had to operate it manually-using the buttons on the side of the screen and the keypad below it. "He has done it, sir." Said Tommen after some time of working on the screen "I was able to get through the concealer and reverse the co-ordinates successfully. There was no hindrance"
"see?" said the Doctor "I've done what you asked me to, so .GO."
"Of course stay true to my word. Unfortunately however cannot merely let you walk out of here-you cannot know the ships location, and so I shall have to use a slightly different method of escorting you out." Said the Commander, as he pressed a button on his belt-a belt that looked suspiciously like the collar that Tom men had been wearing when he was in dog form. The Doctor realised what was happening, and began to protest, but was soon surrounded by the green gas, and fell unconscious once more.
The Doctor opened his eyes, slowly sitting up and taking a look at his surroundings. They were back in the same alley from where they had been abducted. Next to him, Arthur was slowly waking up as well. Upon seeing the Doctor, he quickly sat up. "Doctor!" he said, at first just observing his surroundings, then suddenly remembering all the things that had happened and descending into a state of panic "Where are we?..oh! We're back here…but...but the Lykoi! Doctor! They're going back! The battleships! The attack! They're going to eliminate the human race!"
"Shhh calm down Arthur!" said the Doctor coolly, holding Arthur by the shoulder and helping him up, "No one's getting eliminated!"
"But...but...you fixed it for them! You removed the...immobilia or whatever it was...and he reversed the coordinates...and...And they undid what you did! Our plan was foiled! They'll succeed Doctor!" cried Arthur, his eyes wide with fear
"Well" said the Doctor, smiling mysteriously, "Not exactly."
"Commander, our systems are fixed and ready for take-off"
"Good. Proceed with take-off, officer"
the officer at the control panel entered the command into the system and kept a check on the vital statistics as the ship took off.
"Take off has been successful, Commander."
The Commander nodded, was about to exit the room, when suddenly an image flashed up on the large screen , wait-it wasn't an image-it was a video.
"Hello there" said the Doctor from the video "If you're watching this video, then I suppose you have taken off successfully and are now on your way to Basker V-or so you think."
"Officer what is going on?!" yelled the Commander
"I don't know sir!" said the officer, pressing buttons on the panel in panic, trying to somehow switch off the video
"But you see-you're not really going to Basker V." continued the Doctor on the screen "Did you really think it would be that easy Commander? What you didn't think I'd notice you following me? It wasn't hard, really-the empty corridors were a bit suspicious, and a pack of large talking dogs with guns isn't exactly inconspicuous!
Anyways-back to the point-you're going to The Shadow Proclamation hope you enjoy it there-it's a lovely place-nice jail cells! And now you must be wondering how I fooled -it was quite don't know much about Immobilators do you? If you did, you would have known that the very point of them is that they cannot be changed. The technology was invented on my planet-we used it in our carrier ships-the ones that carried valuable information or products-so that no matter what you did to them, they would always come back. My people devised a clever way of doing this even when an enemy had captured it and changed its destination. The new coordinates would be displayed-tricking the enemy into thinking that that"s where the ship was actually going-but it was a trick. The ship would still be going to the original destination. When I installed an Immobilator in your ship, the destination had been set to The Shadow Proclamation, and that's what the Immobiliator's set to-and so that's where you're going!Clever,aren't I
Also-you don't know Earth history very well either, do you?Because if you did" The Doctor's face changed. His merry playful grin vanished, and was replaced by a serious, threatening look-the kind of look that made his enemies want to run and hide and never again cross paths with this man, this oncoming storm. "You would have heard of The would have heard of would know that I have helped this planet more times than you can imagine, from enemies far more dangerous than your puny little canine brains could ever dream would know not to even attempt to attack this planet because IT. IS. DEFENDED!"
"So...they're going to be arrested? Our plan worked!" exclaimed Arthur gleefully. They were sitting inside his house once again and the Doctor had just finished explaining the entire story to Arthur
"Oh yes!" said the Doctor, grinning "I sent word ahead to the Shadow Proclamation-The Earth is a Level 5 planet-an attempt to annihilate its entire population is illegal-they'll be arrested upon arrival."
"That's brilliant!" said Arthur, his mind flooding with relief. He let go of the breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding all this while.
The Doctor smiled at him "Well, my work here is done, it's time for me to go"
"Right, of course-you must have so many other planets to save" said Arthur understandingly
"Well,I don't know about that-but I certainly have a lot to visit!" replied the Doctor, standing up "Thank your mother for the tea, will you? Tell Mrs...Uhh...what's your last name?"
"Doyle. Arthur Conan Doyle is my full name" he replied simply.
The Doctor's eyes widened with surprise "No! You're Arthur Conan Doyle? No! I don't believe it!"
"Uhh...I assure you, Doctor, that's my real is that so shocking?" asked Arthur, confused.
"Nothing" said the Doctor, attempting at nonchalance "I just know somebody with the same name..."
"Ah, of course. And the one you know-is he anything like me? " He asked jokingly
"oh I don't know. Do you write stories by any chance, Arthur?" said the Doctor, his eyes gleaming.
"Sometimes...I enjoy writing...and I was just thinking what a marvellous story this entire incident would make!" said Arthur, his face visibly excited
"Oh really?"
"Yes! 'The dogs of Basker V'-it would make an interesting title wouldn't it?" he asked the Doctor
"Oh I don't know..."said the Doctor with a mysterious smile "I think 'hound' is a better word" he added and shut the door behind him.