PARADIGM - CHAPTER TWO: THE CROWDED SKY
"Mommy."
"Yes, my baby?"
" When I grow up what will I be? "
"You will always be Mommy's little boy, my darling."
"I can see all these things, Mommy, but not what I will become."
"That is the proper way of things."
"Will I become God, Mommy?"
"Perhaps."
.
Kim was sitting on a comfortable sofa that had previously been just an abstract chrome structure of entwined tubes. The Doctor had touched a switch and it had suddenly transformed itself, flowing effortlessly into its new shape.
"I'm sorry, " the Doctor had apologised. "I've not long had a revamp in here. Haven't got all the creature comforts sorted out yet."
Off to her left another of the chrome structures had flowed into the shape of a flat-screen TV. For a moment she thought he was going to entertain her with an in-flight movie, but it showed only wispy shapes and colours, flashing past at an ever-increasing speed.
"Our journey," said the Doctor, simply.
Kim was starting to worry. "What about the speed of light?" She had read that it would take many years, even at lightspeed, to reach the nearest stars to Earth. "I could die of old age..."
"Speed of light? Pah !"
"I suppose Einstein and all the rest got it all wrong then ?"
"Naw. Spot on actually. It's just..."
" 'There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio'?"
"Good. I like an open mind. Just don't call me Horatio."
Kim sighed at his lame joke. "So how long will it take?"
The Doctor cupped an ear, leaning over, pretending to listen.
The clattering roar that had accompanied their take-off reappeared, this time with a definite descending whine. Kim noticed that the geometric shapes on the walls in this impossible place had stopped changing, locking into a new pattern. They pumped in and out of the wall, in time with the engines.
The room seemed to sway slightly and there was a thump under their feet. The wall-shapes stopped moving. On the scanner the image blurred for a moment, then resolved itself into a busy night sky.
The Doctor reached for his duffle coat. "Still alive then? Haven't aged to death?" he said, winking. He pointed to a switch on the torus.
"Your honour. "
Kim crossed to the controls and threw the indicated switch.
The external door unfolded inwards.
"Mommy, she's here."
"Where is she, sweetie?"
"The mezzanine."
"Go to her, my darling. Test her for Mommy, there's a good boy. Make sure."
The Tardis had landed on a large jutting terrace, halfway up a mountain. It stuck out into the night sky like a square, petulant tongue. Where it joined the mountain there was an open archway leading within, dark and deep.
The rich purple sky overhead was positively crammed. Moons of all sizes and colours jostled for position. Clusters of stars filled the gaps in the sky, as dense as smoke. It was undeniably beautiful and unearthly, but somewhat overpowering. As she stood on the amber rock flagstone staring open-mouthed about her, Kim almost felt the need to duck.
The Doctor studied the sky and gave Kim the thumbs up. "Nice one. Good choice."
Cautiously they peered over the low rocky balustrade at the end of the structure. A keening wind tugged at them. Below was a massively deep valley that disappeared into the darkness. Kim had a momentary dizziness and stepped back quickly.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know what to think. Is it always like this?"
"No. But this beats an old quarry any day of the week." The Doctor's brow furrowed. He jumped up and down on the spot a couple of times, reigniting Kim's vertigo. "Why are we not squashed flat?"
"Sorry?"
"The gravity here is earth-normal, give or take. Yet we have a satellite system that would do credit to a massive gas-giant. There must be fifty moons up there."
"Can't we be on a moon ourself?"
He turned delighted eyes on her. "Oh, I like it! Superb thinking. Wrong, but superb! No, we have a bit of a mystery on our hands, Kim."
"There's another little mystery you can answer for me, perhaps?"
She pointed to the Doctors chest where his T-shirt was visible through his open coat. It read 'GLASTONBURY 2035' in stark letters. "Unless I'm going mad that keeps changing."
The Doctor stuck out his chest. "Good, Isn't it? Its laden with unstable molecules. Its on 'slideshow' mode at the moment, although I sometimes suspect it is mood-sensitive as well."
"Did you make it?"
A momentary shadow flitted across the Doctor's face. "No. It was a gift. I promised...her...I would wear it."
Intrigued, Kim was about to ask more but a noise from the archway distracted them.
A file of men shuffled slowly out. About a dozen maybe. Dressed in long dark robes . They were all bald, with hawk-like features. They could have passed for monks back home, perhaps, except for their skin which was uniformly and startlingly white – not caucasian white. Parchment white.
They fanned into a semi circle, facing the Doctor and a startled Kim.
The two groups regarded each other for a moment then the newcomers began a deep, repetitive chant.
At her side the Doctor groaned. "Not chanting monks!" he muttered. "Why is it always chanting monks?"
Kim found her voice. "Why are they chanting that, do you think?"
SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...
"Perhaps they think I'm Patrick McGoohan. No? Just a thought...."
The semi-circle parted and a boy appeared from the archway. He was about the size and shape of a six-year old. The same white skin as the others but with a shock of fine hair that stood proud, as if statically-charged. He was dressed in a maroon wrap.
The boy held up his hand and the chanting snapped off.
His voice, when it came was undeniably juvenile but had a layered-quality that echoed like a twanged harp.
"I am the Childseer. Your coming to this place has been foretold. The traveller from beyond the stars."
"I get a lot of this," murmured the Doctor, out the corner of his mouth. He stepped forward. "Greetings, I am the Doctor..."
The Child pointed past him. "Not you. Her."
.
Inside the Tardis there was movement where there should have been none. The book that had been left on the central torus jittered. It vibrated. It juddered across the surface of the console until it fell onto the floor.
There was a crackle of light and the book flipped open, it's cover scorched. Pages began to flutter and turn as if driven by an unseen wind. Then it reached THE page and rested for a moment, as if exhausted.
Almost imperceptibly, a vapour snaked up from the open page...
.
"Me?" Kim was startled.
"Her?" so was the Doctor.
The boy looked up at Kim. He whispered. "The lonely one....the hesitant voyager...the Gideon."
Kim put her hand up to her mouth.
"You will face the test of the Six."
The Childseer pulled out a small opaque sphere from his sleeve and dashed it to the ground in front of the Doctor and Kim, where it shattered. A liquid pool of quicksilver formed on the flagstone.
"The Gideon will deposit a sample of her fluid in the Seerpool."
"Hold on, " said Kim, wrinkling up her nose. "What's he on about?"
"The face fluid," said the boy, with the merest hint of impatience.
"I think he wants you to spit in it," said the Doctor.
"Well, that's some kind of relief. I thought he meant...never mind. But why should I? What's going on?"
"Excuse me a moment." The Doctor led Kim a few steps backward. "Behind us is a drop of at least a three thousand feet. Chucky and his mates are between us and the Tardis. Our options are somewhat limited. I think it may be prudent to play along."
He stood aside.
Kim stepped forward hesitantly. She made a hash of the first attempt. "Sorry. A bit dry." she said, wiping her mouth. The second effort found its mark.
She stood back as the quicksilver pool began to froth. The child bent forward, dipping his forefinger into the bubbling liquid. His face began to twitch and his eyes glazed over.
The chanting resumed.
SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...SIX...
The Doctor pulled out the device from his coat that Kim had first seen back in Thamesford library. He scanned the pool with a faint blue light from the probe.
"Fascinating," observed the Doctor. "It looks like he's doing some kind of DNA test!"
.
Mommy...
Yes, precious?
She matches.
Oh that is wonderful news, my baby. Bring her to me.
.
The child held up his hand. The chanting stopped.
"You are the Six. You will follow me."
Kim turned fearful eyes on the Doctor.
"W-Where are we going?"
"Mommy wants to see you."
(END OF CHAPTER TWO)