Tricks
Jenny sighed.
"How long have we been in here?"
Her father glanced aside for a second, his long frame stretched out on the cot.
"Oh…four hours, twenty minutes, thirty-six seconds."
"And why are we in here?"
He sat up slowly on the cot, wincing at the pain that shot through the shoulder that had been dislocated. Jenny had popped it back into place, but it was still a bit sore.
"Welllll, Sontarans may not have much for brains, but they have a rather good memory, 'specially for enemies, meaning me, and so the minute they saw me, pow! Lobbed in the cell, back to Sontar to be executed. Rather rude of them really, since we weren't doing anything to them this time, and last time they rather asked for it. And the time before that."
"What did you do to them?"
The Doctor glanced at her. "Which time?"
Jenny rolled her eyes. This was so like him. They'd been on Retesa to get a few foodstuffs, a really simple trip. And this was where they ended up.
"And why did you let them put us in here?"
"Because it was easier." He said, resting his head on his arms. The cot was short, and his long legs kicked off the edge. Jenny leaned her lithe body against the bars.
"Easier than fighting the four of them? They were tiny."
The Doctor rolled onto his side, leaning on his elbow, looking at her calmly.
"They might have been, but their percussion weapons weren't. What they did to my arm was a warning. Sontarans are better armed and crazier than any species I know, and I'm pretty sure that being called small and funny so often has given them a complex. And they always have backup. You can't fight Sontarans, Jenny. It just isn't practicable."
Jenny stared back at him impassively, her arms crossed. "Then what do we do?"
Her father gave a grin that was almost child-like.
"Outsmart them. That's the easy part."
"And how do we do that?"
He lay back. "We wait. For now."
Another hour passed. Two. Jenny counted the ceiling tiles. Three hundred and seventy six. She braided her hair. She unbraided it. She was bored. Bored, bored, bored. And annoyed. She wanted to fight.
There was a sigh behind her, and the Doctor sat up.
"I'm getting tired of all this waiting, you know." He reached into one of his pockets, eyes unfocused as he felt around. He pulled out a teacup, set it down. Pulled out several coils of something. A box of something that rattled. A bottle. And a small red ball on a long string. He grinned.
"Ah. Just the thing. Knew it was in there."
Jenny leaned forward, interested. "What's that?"
"A yo-yo. It's a toy from Earth. And I'm pretty good with it, if I do say so myself."
He got it moving. Up, down, up, down. Then he held his hands apart, flipping the yo-yo through his fingers. He played Static. Then Thin Ice. He played the Double-or-Nothing trick. Then the Confusion, letting it roll along its own strings. A few more tricks. It was boring. So the Doctor got creative. He let time slip and slide around the toy. The yo-yo dropped like a stone through a time-dilation. It moved slowly, as if the air around it had congealed. Then the yo-yo balanced in a temporal splice, making it appear to be in two places at once. Jenny lit up like an electric bulb. She must be interested in the games.
"You want a turn with it?" he asked her.
"Something changed. What'd you do?"
He glanced up sharply-then smiled, trying to remain casual. "Just a game. What'd it look like to you?"
"Hunh?"
"What did you see?"
Jenny considered, her face remote.
"I saw the ball in two places. But one of them wasn't really there…or it was… first it was the one on top that was-real, then it was the one on bottom."
The Doctor nodded, projecting a sense of calm. Inside he was glowing with excitement. Is she seeing Time? She's seeing it. Nobody who couldn't see time flows would have noticed.
"Mm-hmm. You're seeing a time-splice."
Jenny left her stance at the door, stepping over to drop cross-legged beside her father, watching the toy float in midair.
"Show me how to do that."
The Doctor glanced at her.
If she can see it, maybe she can learn…but where do I start? How do I start?
He let the yo-yo roll between his fingers.
Right. How did they teach me this in the Academy?
Through temporal-drift theory conveyance. Which she doesn't have the background to understand that's out.
Her eyes were wide and bright, expectant. He sighed to himself.
Okay, drop that. Practical lesson.
"Right." He flicked his wrist, moving the yo-yo up and down, up and down.
"You can see it moving, right?"
Her eyes were riveted on the toy. "Yes."
"Describe it."
She glanced up at him, puzzled.
"Describe everything you see. Every detail."
Jenny's eyes moved with the yo-yo for a moment.
"It's red, with black bands…the paint's a little shiny and it catches the light when it goes down…and the string is white and you can see it vibrate when the ball comes back up."
"What else?"
Jenny glanced at him, then back at the yo-yo.
"It's slower at the bottom, then it speeds up…and when it moves it sort of, mmm, leaves a line in the air. It's…it's like a ripple, like…like a trail."
"Yes? Describe that."
Jenny narrowed her eyes, studying. "It's like the light is reflecting off the ball, but the ball isn't there…sorry. Sounds weird."
The Doctor let his attention show through his shield. His eyes were intent as he watched his daughter study the toy. "Oh no, Jenny. It doesn't sound weird. In fact it sounds very very right. I see that all the time. You're supposed to see that."
"Supposed to?" Her eyes moved with the yo-yo, enthralled.
"Yes. That's its time signature. What you're seeing is the object, where it has been, and where it's going to be. You're seeing it move through time. Now, I want you to focus. Where's the yo-yo?"
One long finger extended. "Right there." She said, in a tone conveying 'isn't that obvious?'
"But what about here?" he froze the moment at the top of the arc, "Or here?" He froze another moment. Jenny met his eyes, puzzled, as he continued to explain.
"You can see it. You know it exists. In actuality it's in all these places at the same time. Look closely. The universe likes things to be in one place in spacetime, so an object tends to be forced to move in one direction. But it's like I said; time has currents and eddies. It moves every way. Moments exist side by side, right on top of one another in the continuum. You just have to reach out and choose the moment you want to see."
"How?"
He smiled.
"Watch. Carefully."
He lowered his mental shields just enough to let her see the workings. Moving as slowly as he could, he focused on a moment when the toy was halfway up its string.
There.
And there it was, both moments visible in the continuum, the yo-yo both halfway up its string and at the apex of its roll. He let his concentration relax, and the yo-yo snapped back to the present. Jenny's eyes were huge in her pale face.
"Can I do that?"
He smiled, letting his shields return. "Soon, maybe. With a little practice."
I hope.
Both of them looked up at the loud clump of boots in the hall. A low, grating voice rang out.
"The enemies of the Empire will be executed for their crimes against Sontar!"
The Doctor glanced back at Jenny, quirking an eyebrow.
Ready for a little exercise?
She grinned at him.
Oh I'm ready!
An hour later, they were in a shuttle, the Doctor piloting their way back to Retesa and the TARDIS. The shuttle was cramped. The Sontarans, he was sure, were going to put out a bounty on him. Again. He smiled to himself. How many bounties did they have out on him? It was actually rather funny. He leaned sideways, trying to get his long, lean frame into a more comfortable position. It hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd thought it would to get loose and on their way. The Sontarans were breeding against intelligence again, most likely.
Shifting again, he glanced over at Jenny. She was sitting back, relaxed and easy. She was so different when she wasn't fighting. He actually felt rather sorry for the Sontarans who'd gotten in her way today. In one hand she was playing idly with the yo-yo. Every once in a while she'd get it rolling, then narrow her eyes at it, concentrating so hard that her mind surged with energy. But the yo-yo didn't take much notice. His lips quirked. Well, give it time.
Time. Today she'd shown some sign that she could see Time. A little fear had melted away in his mind when she'd described what she had been seeing. She had the ability. The potential. He'd been so afraid that she was missing that essential part of herself.
He smirked when she started to try some of the tricks he'd been doing.
"Hope you're going to untie those knots."
She shot him a wave of annoyance.
It was a two hour trip back to Retesa. Jenny played with her new toy the entire time.