Maen, as that was apparently her name, needed a moment, but a faint look of understanding appeared on her face. Almost as if she decided to trust us, though she's not sure why she'd want to.
"Generations ago, the last great war ended." she explained, "The Emperor had fallen, the Empire was no more, and the Jedi could flourish again."
"Jedi..." I repeated the word, "Isn't that what one of those goons back there called you?"
Maen nodded: "We're an ancient order of knights, with the sole purpose of keeping the galaxy safe."
"You said the Jedi could flourish again." the Doctor remembered, "What do you mean by that?"
"Before the rise of the Empire, most of the Jedi Knights were wiped out." Maen explained, "The Emperor knew that we were the only ones capable of stopping him, so he devised a plot that would not only kill us all, but have people hunt us down."
"Ah yes..." the Doctor said, "I think I've heard of this before. The Emperor ruled with an iron fist over the entire galaxy, aided by his general, Darth Vader, who used to be a Jedi Knight himself. In the end, it was his own son that killed him, and thus saved the galaxy."
"So you do know our history." Maen sounded surprised.
"Only cliff-notes." the Doctor replied.
"Wait!" I just realized something, "Is this... Darth Vader related to that Vader you mentioned before?"
"Related?" Maen questioned, "They're the same!"
I was about to ask the obvious question, but Maen already knew what answer to give: "His body was cremated, but his mind is now one with the Force."
I cocked my head: "What force?"
"Thé Force!" she replied, "The very force that keeps the universe together? Don't you know anything?"
Apparently not: "And being one with this... Force, what does that mean?"
Maen rolled her eyes. She raised her hand and pointed at me. At first I didn't know what that was about, until I felt the floor moving away from my feet. I didn't know what was happening, so I looked down. Somehow, she managed to lift me off the ground, without even touching me. I didn't know what to do or what to say, but the Doctor did.
"Incredible." he said, as he took something out of his pocket. It looked like his sonic screwdriver, however this time it didn't have that star on its top anymore, and instead it had a light-bulb that flashed orange. With it, he... scanned, I think. I wasn't sure of what he was doing, so he left me distracted for a long enough time, I didn't realize I was back on my feet until I noticed Maen had let her hand down.
"What are you doing?" she asked the Doctor.
"It's quite simple really." the Doctor explained to me.
"The Jedi's are telekinetic?" I asked.
The Doctor laughed: "Not precisely. They are trained to use their minds for all sorts of matters. Telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition,..."
"Hey! What are you saying?" Maen was clearly unfamiliar with the Doctor's terminology.
"Unfortunately, as you can imagine, this would put a great strain on anyone's mind. Human or otherwise." the Doctor continued, "So rather than train themselves to do all that, they train themselves to take the necessary power from the universe itself, and then... well, you've seen the result."
"Take the power from the universe itself?" I couldn't believe it, "Is that even possible?"
"Sure." the Doctor replied, "The Tardis does something similar all the time."
"So what you're basically saying is that they connect their own minds to the universe, in order to... do what they do?" I asked.
"Quite so." the Doctor replied.
It made sense to me now. If the Jedi's connect their minds to the universe, or rather its very source, it would be possible for the mind to continue existing as part of that same source.
"Okay, I think I understand now." I said.
"Good." Maen continued, "Then you'll also understand why Vader wants us dead now."
Both the Doctor and I look puzzled.
"He's now one of the most powerful people in the universe, and wants to keep it that way." Maen continued.
"So he's killing off competition?" the Doctor asked.
"Either that, or he wants to finish what he started, but has to deal with the only ones who can stop him first." Maen added, "We're not sure. His dark powers shields his true intentions from us."
I looked at the Doctor. He had turned back to his Tardis console, where he looked at... I don't know what they were, they looked like measuring instruments, but I wasn't sure what they were measuring. Whatever they were, I could see the worried look on the Doctor's face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It sounds like I just found out the source of our problems." he answered.
"Our problems?" since we weren't native to this galaxy, the whole thing with Vader was technically not our problem. So what was the Doctor talking about?
"Before we came here, I looked at my instruments." the Doctor explained, "I noticed fluctuations in this part of the universe."
"What kind of fluctuations?" I asked.
"Did you know that if gravity was slightly different, life as you know it wouldn't exist?" the Doctor explained, "That if a certain radiation wasn't introduced to your planet, life would not even exist there?"
"What's that got to do with... whatever you're talking about?" I asked.
"These fluctuations are indicating that a change is occurring." the Doctor answered, "That something is changing the very foundations of the universe."
I was about to ask what that something is, but then I realized what the answer was. The Jedi have been using the Force for such a long time. Or differently put, they've been playing with the very power that kept the universe together. That's the rough equivalent of children playing with an A-bomb.
"What are you saying?" Maen asked, "That because Vader is part of the Force, he's now using it up too much?"
"That's the simplistic way of saying it." the Doctor replied, "But yes."
"I better alert all the others!" Maen said, as she set out to leave the Tardis.
"Wait!" the Doctor stopped her, "It's too dangerous out there!"
"But I can't warn anyone from here!" Maen said.
"Then why won't you tell us where we can find them and we'll take you?" I suggested.
"You and what ship?" Maen asked.
"Actually, you're inside it." the Doctor replied.
Maen frowned. Afraid we'd lose her confidence, I said: "Look, there's nothing to worry about. Apparently the Tardis uses the same Force as you people do."
"Didn't you just say it's dangerous to use the Force?" she questioned.
"Only if used in larger quantities." the Doctor explained, "Besides, my ship uses more power-sources than the Force alone."
"But it uses the Force." Maen reasoned, "Vader can find us if we use that... Tardis."
I hadn't thought of that. But then again, this whole Force thing was new to me, so how could I know?
"Come on, we can take my grandfather's ship!" she said as she made to leave.