7
"Well, that was interesting." The Walker said.
"Yes, and I wasted time polishing up my diplomatic skills. Bloody useless there." The Doctor growled. He moved to the console, tapping the main keyboard.
"So," Jenny said, dropping into the console chair, "three challenges, right?"
"Yup. Get an army, win a battle, find a hidden nexus and put it out of commission. Three challenges to save the planet. They get their chance to play soldiers, and maybe they don't rip the planet apart. Well," he said brightly, "I've been in worse spots. Now all we have to do is…"
He turned at a small alarm trill from the console. He glanced at the main monitor, which displayed external camera view. Outside, a young man was calling.
"Hello? Sir?"
The Doctor sighed. "Back in a tick."
Stepping down the ramp, he opened the door, then bent to match the outlines of the simulated tent that was their camouflage. Poking his head out, he smiled up at the thin young man in his black suit. "Oh. Hello!"
The young man cleared his throat. "Sir, Lord Winfrey invites you to enjoy his hospitality." Bending over, he held out a card. The Doctor took it, glanced over it and smiled up again.
"Yes, well, my thanks to his lordship, but, you know, awfully busy and all that. Lots of archeology to do. Give him my regards." He moved to pop back into the simulated tent, when the sound of a throat being cleared stopped him.
"The Lord wished to extend you an invitation to dinner tomorrow night. Would you be amenable?"
The Doctor glanced up. "Ah…fraid not."
"Then a ball for you and your daughters? The Lord will be hosting a ball at his home next Thursday. May I convey your interest to his lordship?"
"Nope." The Doctor said shortly. "Now, working on something, good day." And he pulled back under the TARDIS camouflage.
"What was that?" Jenny asked as he pushed through the door.
"Oh, lord of the manor come to invite his new English neighbors to dinner. Don't think he'll be back."
"Oh. 'Kay."
"Now, back to business. If I'm right…yep, she did it again. All the details dumped into the TARDIS computer. So…" he ran his eyes over the data. Jenny matched pace with him, reading over his shoulder.
"She's keeping her promise so far."
"Yes." Her father replied absently, "setting the battle ground right inside their pocket universe…and setting up spatial interface wormholes all over this island to get people there…s'pose they don't want to waste their time moving their troops." He snorted derisively.
"Troops. Most advanced species in the universe and what do they want to do? Play soldiers. Play games with people's lives." he ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. "They're going to put on a war just to settle an argument. To amuse themselves, more than anything. Like kids in nursery school." he sighed.
There was a small sound, and the Doctor turned."What are you doing here?" he snapped.
Ramble smiled slightly."The Lady sent me to return. We begin our search today."
"I'd assumed as much. And you're not out recruiting?"
"It is my place to form the gates between this world and Home. We place a gate here for your use. I had wished to show it to you."
"Thanks, but I'm not so blind that I can't see a basic spatial interface. Now do push off."
Ramble cocked his head, and then shook it. "No. I shall stay."
The Doctor glared at him."Fine. Then stay out of the way."
By the end of the hour they'd gotten through the information the TARDIS had been given.
"So." the Doctor said, dropping into the console chair beside Jenny, "Three days to gather troops, three days to fight it out, and three days to find this nexus and put it out of commission.
"Three days is pretty insufficient time to raise, train and equip an army." Jenny said dubiously.
"I have a feeling they'll be finding people who are already equipped." the Doctor replied. "I specified this island, but that could include any segment of this island's timespan. And that's if they stick to the rules, which is a big if."
"We keep our word." Ramble said mildly.
"I'm sure." the Doctor replied without looking at him. "There are always battalions getting lost during wars." he said. "Or else…"
The proximity alarm trilled once again.
"Oh, now what?" the Doctor growled. He tapped the buttons to bring up the external view. Outside, Inspector Burnstied was calling the Doctor's name.
The Doctor glanced at his daughter, rolling his eyes, before striding out to meet the man."Hello Inspector." he said, standing.
"Doctor," the sandy-haired man said, "Glad you're here. We're in need of a medical man. I apologize for the imposition, normally this would be the work of the county inquest, but since the inquest has been somewhat overwhelmed of late and you happen to be here, perhaps you could lend a hand."
"Oh? Lend a hand with what?"
"Signing the death certificates. There's been murder done."
…
The bodies had been covered in sheets. The Doctor lifted it, and studied the corpses by the light of the inspector's lantern.
"Found these lads late in the afternoon." the inspector said, "From what I have been given to understand, they were set upon by their comrades. Seems some Army fellows have been in town recruiting, though why they'd want these Irish sots in the army I don't know. From what I know eighteen other men have left the village. I'm guessing there was an argument, and the others set on them. Did them quite thoroughly, from the looks of it."
The Doctor glanced up scornfully. "And where would a bunch of starving country boys get six-inch long knives?"
The inspector shrugged. "Farm tools are often quite sharp."
The Doctor shook his head, and turned his eyes back to the corpses. Both of them had slit throats, and one man was slit open down the chest as well.
"Well, cause of death is obvious, isn't it? But I think you've got the wrong culprit. Nobody around here would slit somebody open during a scuffle. Come to think of it, do you know anybody strong enough to do it? Split the breast bone and everything?"
"If you're strong enough to slaughter a cow you're strong enough to kill a man." the inspector said calmly. "Now, if you'll just come along with me to the pub, we'll get this sorted out."
The people still in the pub seemed to shrink at the entrance of the inspector. "All right, all of you." he roared, "There's two men murdered and eighteen gone. What do you know of it?"
Silence.
"I know that one of you's seen something. Come on. Out with it!" When no one spoke, he began to stride through the crowd, picking people at random to question. The Doctor frowned after him. When the English are good, they're great. But when they're not…
With an annoyed glower, he took a seat at the bar. Half an hour later, the inspector sat beside him.
"Well, that's that sorted."
"Oh?" the Doctor said blandly.
"Yes," Burnstied cleared his throat, looking smug. "Seems that the recruitment chaps were going around, and offered a bonus if all twenty men joined up at once. Should have known better, really. Well, the way I see it, the two men who refused recruitment robbed the others of their bonus, so they set upon them and killed them. Simple enough. Ah, girl, stout here. Bloody expensive at the moment too."
"Oh yes. It's simple." the Doctor muttered. Mentally he was kicking himself. Because he hadn't foreseen what the Eternals were capable of, those men had died.
"Well, we'll have them rounded up soon enough." The inspector was saying, "Just send a wire to the Army offices and they'll be arrested the moment they show up. They may have turned bandit, though. Just wanted you to be on your guard, with your young daughters here and all, if there are any men on the roads."
The Doctor nodded, resisting the perverse urge to tell the man that one of his 'young daughters' could take out six men in under five minutes and barely break a sweat.
A shock of fear made the Doctor glance up.
"If you please, sir." Mary said, setting down the stout glass, "Is William among the missing? William Ford?"
"Yes, girl." the inspector said dismissively, "He's one of the ones that scarpered. We'll have him in the end though."
"Oh sir," Mary said, coming around the bar, "You mustn't put his name to the list. William would never do such a thing as that. He's a good Christian lad, and-"
"And that's all I need to hear from you." Burnstied said sharply. "Go on. Be off with you."
"But sir-"
"Be off before you feel the back of my hand!"
Mary bowed her head, shot a quick, terrified glance at the Doctor, and hurried away.
"I'd like it," the Doctor said icily, "if you never spoke to a lady like that again in my presence."
"I'm sorry, sir." Burnstied said stiffly, "But you can't treat these Irish the way you would civilized people. You have to have a firm hand."
"You know, I've heard that from other people." The Doctor said, his voice harsher than he'd expected. "Mostly tyrants and bullies."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, sir." the thin man rose. "If you'll sign those death reports, I'll be on my way."
Brusquely, the Doctor scrawled down a signature.
"Thank you, sir. Good night sir."
The Doctor watched the man go. Leaving money on the bar, he too strode out.
"Ramble." He called, entering his ship. The man appeared directly in front of him."Yes?"
"I want to see where your soldiers are being taken. Now."
"Of course." The Eternal said. "I had wished to show you the gate."
The Doctor blinked. Ramble was dressed in a perfect nineteenth-century suit of green. "Nice suit. You've put a trigger mechanism on each wormhole, right?"
The Eternal nodded. "Follow."
Then they were standing on top of the hill. All four of them. Jenny, back in jeans and a t-shirt, glared at Ramble. "You could at least give us some warning before you do that."
Ramble blinked. "And yet, I was asked not to speak into your mind."
"You could make an exception for that." The Walker said. She was dressed in a frilly white thing with a corset, and after a millisecond the Doctor recognized 1840's chemise and drawers. By nineteenth century fashions, the Walker was half undressed. She must have been getting out of her nineteenth-century clothes when she'd been grabbed.
"Since it could prove useful to know when one's about to move." The Walker finished. Jenny snorted, setting the tool she'd been holding down in the grass.
"Walker, do you want to run back inside and…" the Doctor began delicately. He was a little surprised at how embarrassed he was for her, since she was still wearing more fabric than she did on a regular basis.
"That would probably be wise." she said, looking down.
"Very well." Ramble said. And they were gone.
"Next time he does that, I swear I'll…" Jenny muttered to herself, raising a fist. The Doctor shook his head."There's no point in hitting him, Soldier. Besides," he added after a moment, "If anybody's going to hit him, it'll be me."
And then they were back, the Walker dressed in jeans and a black ribbed t-shirt that complemented her dark bob.
"Now we shall go." Ramble announced. Striding to the western side of the circle, he touched one stone, then a second and a third. There was a ripple in the air indicative of warped space. Then Ramble stepped forward, vanishing. With a shrug, the Doctor followed.
"Whoa."
At first glance, the place was the same bit of hill top they'd just left. But the stones here, when the Doctor glanced back, were carved with designs. And the road was gone.
Most disconcertingly, there were no timelines here. The pattern of constant cause and effect that was constantly changing, as basic a component of his vision as seeing in color, was gone.
"The timelines…" the Walker breathed.
"Seems we're the only ones who follow cause and effect around here." The Doctor replied.
"Weird." Jenny said softly.
Ramble didn't seem to notice their discomfort. He took a deep breath, and smiled, then turned to them.
Come. We must be going. The words in their minds were accompanied by a clear picture of a trail through the trees.
"Hey," Jenny whispered, as they walked, "That was almost clear telepathy."
"I 'spect being back in his native habitat helps him focus." The Doctor murmured back, "And I 'spect a lot of things will be different here. You noticed that the gravity's lighter?"
"A little, yeah. Light's weird too."
The Doctor nodded. Though the light was bright and warm, no sun showed in the sky. The light seemed to be diffuse, omnidirectional, as if every blade of grass was giving off its own luminosity. Though it wasn't disconcerting, it did leave the Doctor with a sense of being displaced. The colors were too bright, too vibrant.
For a moment, Ramble paused, glancing back up at the hill.
You should move yourselves from that place.
"Why?" the Doctor asked.
In response, Ramble looked at him. A wave of uneasiness tightened his gut, along with a vauge sense of frustration, of wanting to know and not being sure.
You asked me not to speak into your mind, but this I cannot put into words. That hill makes me feel these things.
"I'll bear that in mind." The Doctor said. Ramble nodded, and walked on.
Soon they were standing on a high, weather beaten hill overlooking a plain. Down below them, near the foot of the hill, a camp had been started.
"Well, you don't waste time, do you?" the Doctor said. "The Lady's here, I expect. I need to have a word."
Ramble nodded.
I will…" find her." He finished aloud. He gave the Walker a small smile. "I must remember to use words more often." When he smiled, the Walker thought, he was really rather charming. He was always attractive, but his face seemed more…real, when he smiled.
"Come. The Lady awaits." he said, and turned away.
Moving through the camp, the Time Lords studied the milling crowds. And there were crowds. The Doctor had been right; men and women from every time period were walking through the camp. Here a tenth-century man was showing someone from the thirty-first century how to throw a javelin. There soldiers from the seventy-sixth century Nationals were trying to set up a tent.
At the center of the camp, a pavilion that might have been made from gossamer was set up. Inside, the Lady stood over a table, clad in a dress so light a green that it came close to white.
"Doctor?"
"I need to talk with you and your counterpart for a moment. Something to do with the rules."
The Lady nodded. "Very well."
They were standing on another hill that ran like a backbone down the valley.
"You called?" the woman smiled at them.
"Our judge wishes to speak." the Lady said quietly.
"Yes." the Doctor said, stepping forward. "Now if I remember right, you swore that you would ask every man honestly when you recruited, no tricks and no force used. I just wanted to mention, the line 'join up or we kill you' counts as forcing people."
"And what do you mean?" said the feline woman, all innocence. The Doctor looked her in the eye. "Oh, I think you know. Now tell your men; if someone turns down the chance to join up, you let them go. You don't touch a hair on their heads. Or you forfeit one of the challenges. Get it?"
"But they die so easily." The woman said.
"Then you better as hell be careful." Jenny growled, unable to contain her anger any longer.
Slowly, the woman turned to her. "And who are you, child?"
Jenny met her gaze and held it. "Jenny."
"But what is your name?" the feral woman asked. There was a gasp. Jenny felt a compulsion coursing through her to tell the woman who she was. She wanted to know something. Everything. Jenny fought to raise her mental shields against the onslaught. Whatever this woman wanted, she wasn't going to get what she wanted. She held the gaze, her blue-black eyes burning.
"That's my name." she ground out. "Jenny"
"Enough of this." the Lady said, and the force battering at Jenny's mind was gone.
"Very well." the other woman said languidly. She smiled at Jenny.
"The name I use is Maeve, little Jenny. And I shall be careful. Yes. Very wary indeed. As should you be."
With a laugh, the woman was gone.
"My Lady!" Ramble exclaimed, "She-"
"Peace, Ramble."
"But she asked for the child's name!"
"And she did not take it. Be comforted."
"I'm not a child." Jenny added. The Lady smiled at her with an expression that clearly said 'yes, you are.' Then the smile faded. She looked at her long, white hands. "And yet to try such a thing…she is a bold one. Always was. Sadly, impatient as well." then she straightened.
"You have made your point, Doctor. I take it, as do we all. Thanks to you for the reminder."
"Any time." the Doctor said.
And they were back at camp.
"Feel free to wander, and to see our preparation." the Lady said. Then she was gone.
"Would you like me to be a guide?" Ramble asked.
"At the moment, I think I'd rather get back to my TARDIS." the Doctor replied, "Does the same trigger mechanism work on this side?"
"It does. I must scout the field now. Would one of you wish to travel with me, and know the lay of the battle?"
Jenny started to speak up, but her father caught her eye and shook his head.
Why not? I'd like to know the strategic situation.
I don't think you'd better be around this lot too much. Your mental shielding isn't strong enough.
I held off that woman.
I did, actually. And it put me in a sweat, even with your help. Not a good idea.
"Walker, you want to go?" he said aloud, "We could use some reconnaissance. Take pictures if you would."
"Me?" the Walker said, startled.
"Yes, why not? Ramble, drop her back off at the TARDIS when you're done, why don't you."
"Of course." said Ramble, nodding. Then they were gone.
"She's going to bite your head off when she gets back." Jenny said as they walked. The Doctor shrugged carelessly.
Jenny watched men checking over their blast-pistols. The aiming method they used wasn't very accurate. She'd have to get down here again and give them a hand. In fact, first chance she got she wanted to come back here and check out their training routines. She'd be a little hampered without using timelines to double-check her trajectories, but she managed for four years without a problem.
The conversation on the hill wouldn't stop replaying itself in her head. It was unnerving that she'd felt that woman's attack even through her father's shielding. She was so bloody strong.
And she had wanted Jenny's name.
"Father?"
"Hmm?"
"Why's she so worried about my name? And why did everyone freak out about it?"
Instead of answering, the Doctor turned to her with an unreadable expression. "Tell me Jenny, what's special about Gallifreyan? About the language, I mean?"
Jenny cocked her head, puzzled. "It describes things accurately and concisely." She said slowly, "what it is, texture and makeup, not just a sound that symbolizes the thing like most languages do."
"Exactemente." the Doctor replied, "So what if somebody, oh, one of the people who helped to choose your genetic material, watched your Looming and looked down your timelines while you were being formed, say, somebody described a person in Gallifreyan?"
"If you did that," Jenny said distantly, "then that name would describe everything about you." She looked up, meeting her father's eyes. "It would say who you are. Right down at the genetic level."
"Correct again." the Doctor said, nodding encouragement.
"And that would be a huge tactical disadvantage." Jenny continued, her eyebrows rising. "If an opponent knew that they'd know all your strengths and weaknesses, your genes even."
"Hence, the use of titles." the Doctor said.
"Like The Doctor!" Jenny said, looking up sharply to meet her father's eyes. "Or The Walker!"
"Yep. Rani, Dancer, Sunwatcher—good man, too bad you didn't know him—or the Master, even. Can't forget him, can I? Those sort of titles. Even the older names were actually titles. Vassilorin – "
"The Friend." Jenny translated.
"And Rassilon-"
"The Designer." Jenny said.
"Exactly. Still who we are, just not all of who we are. Only person that ought to know your name is yourself and a parent. Very occasionally somebody you love, but that's only after you've been together a century or so, if then. Now Eternals, their language is even more precise and more telepathy-based than ours, and that's saying something. If you describe somebody in their language, you describe everything they ever were and everything they'll ever be. In all dimensions. Essentially, your name is a schematic of you. Not something that you want many people knowing, that kind of detail. Leaves you far too vulnerable to being meddled with. And absolutely the height of rudeness trying to find somebody's name. Rather obnoxious of them really."
"Yeah." Jenny said. She stared out. "Father?"
"Hmm?"
"Do I have a name like that?"
The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "I suppose you could. I wasn't given the chance to go through the proper procedures when you were born, so I didn't exactly give you a proper name-name. I can if you want."
Jenny shrugged. "No thanks. I think I like not having such an obvious weakness." Then Jenny felt her father freeze beside her. He was staring, shock and the barest hint of anger in his eyes.
"What are they doing here?"