CHAPTER 2
In the Cloister Room, Michelle and the Doctor are at their consoles. On Michelle's screen, alphanumeric bits of information flashed by. There appeared to be major chunks of data missing – blocks of blank space.
"This isn't good. I think whatever hit the Vico set up an E-M pulse that flashed through their computer banks."
The Doctor agreed. "Nearly eighty-three percent of the records have been lost."
"And all of their sensor logs." Michelle sighed. "Let's use what we got from our own sensors. Call up the structural analysis and the surface scans…"
The Doctor keyed in the appropriate commands – the alphanumeric data was replaced by an Okudagram of the wrecked Vico. As they studied the information… "Michelle, as a child, did you ever experience a traumatic event?"
"You're wondering about Joshua?"
"Yes."
Michelle thought for a moment, remembering. "I was trapped in a fire once, when I was five. It only took about two minutes before my parents found me and pulled me out. And nobody got hurt. But I tell you – that was the longest two minutes of my life. And it was more than a month before I would let my parents get out of earshot. I absolutely needed to know they were there."
"Joshua no longer has that kind of support."
"Yeah…" Michelle said sadly.
In the library, Nita was slowly walking past a beautiful painting of a multitiered, very alien-looking temple. She was carrying a tablet, reading. "Dara and her brother found themselves in the land of Tagas…" Nita continued her slow pacing. "…where the ruler, Elamos the Magnificent, had proclaimed as law: No children will be tolerated within the Great Kingdom."
Joshua was working with a 24th-century equivalent of an erector set, adding to a large, one-metre-high model of the edifice depicted in the painting at the front of the library. He was ignoring Nita entirely, his tablet on the floor next to him. His manner was intensely focused.
Nita continued. "When Dara saw the proclamation, she just laughed, saying 'How magnificent a ruler, to be frightened by the likes of us…"
Nita paused near Joshua, seeing that the boy was still working on his model. "Joshua, we're done with sculpture for now," she said gently.
Joshua somewhat manically added another piece to the temple. "It's not finished."
"We'll come back to it later. Why don't you pick up your mythology book and follow along?"
"But it's not finished." Joshua increased his efforts – which resulted in a somewhat lopsided addition to the model. It only made him more agitated.
Nita looked at him for a moment, then glanced across the room to the doorway.
Carolyn was watching from the doorway. The look on her face said 'what can we do for this boy?'
In the Console Room, Michelle was showing the Doctor a monitor that displayed a surface scan diagram of the Vico. "Magnetic residual analysis confirms that the Vico was attacked inside the Black Cluster. The graviton wave fronts pushed the ship to where we found it."
The Doctor was looking at the information on the monitor. "No sign of staser burns on the hull."
"No. The torsional stress levels point to a disrupter-style weapon.
The Doctor nodded. He touched the console and a colour pattern overlay appeared on the graphic. "Fracture points indicate that the energy burst came from a range of less than three thousand metres." The Doctor paused as he considered this. "That's a strategy consistent with a cloaked vessel. Sontaran. Or Dalek… But we're quite a distance from either of their territories. The Jagaroth have outposts in this sector. The attack on the Vico is consistent with their battle tactics – and their level of technology."
Michelle nodded in confirmation.
The Doctor thought about this. "But what would they have been doing inside the Black Cluster?"
It was a question neither of them could answer. The Doctor started to walk along the back perimeter of the control room, Michelle walking with him.
"The boy described a boarding party, with helmets and staser rifles."
"A boarding party?"
The internal door opened and Carolyn stepped out, within earshot.
Michelle continued. "I don't think that's likely…"
The Doctor motioned Carolyn over. "Carolyn…"
Carolyn did so as they paused near the door. The Doctor nodded to Michelle to continue.
"There was absolutely no evidence of anybody coming on board the Vico. We would have found a transmat field trace. Or if somebody had used the entry ports, we would have found an electrostatic differential in the docking latches. We didn't. Maybe he's got an active imagination."
The Doctor half turned to Carolyn. "Or he's lying."
"I don't know. His level of emotional trauma is very high."
"Why wouldn't he tell us the truth?"
"He's still in shock… it's hard to know what's going on in his mind."
"I'll check the sensor readings again… but I'm almost sure we won't find anything." Michelle left into the corridor.
The Doctor started to peel off toward the console – but Carolyn stopped him. "Doctor – wait a moment."
The Doctor stopped.
"Doctor – I think you should spend some time with Joshua."
"I don't understand."
"I'm worried about his behaviour… And what you've just told me doesn't make me feel any better. Doctor, you're the only one Joshua's reached out to… because you rescued him. We can use your relationship with him to help his recovery."
"Would Joshua also be more inclined to tell me the truth about what happened?"
"That's a possibility."
"I'll proceed with the child as you suggest. Exactly how shall I proceed, Carolyn?"
"Just be with him. You're a presence he trusts. That's what he needs most right now."
Joshua was sitting alone at a table in the Doctor and Nita's quarters. He was using the 'erecter set,' building the Dokkaran temple he was working at in the library. He worked too quickly, agitated, and the result was a model that looked pretty sloppy.
There was a knock at the door. Joshua glanced up. Didn't answer it. He turned back to the model. There was another knock.
"What?" Joshua called impatiently.
The door opened, revealing the Doctor, who stepped inside. Joshua was glad to see who it was. "Doctor."
"Hello, Joshua. May I come in?"
"Yeah."
The Doctor stepped inside. He reacted to Joshua's tabletop creation, moving closer. "I see you are attempting to recreate the Dokkaran temple of Kural-Hanesh."
"Isn't it great?!" Joshua was hyperenthused. "See, there's the big archway Nita told me about. That's where everybody came in."
The miniature city was on the whole unbalanced – the building leaned precariously.
"That's where they stood. And that's where the altar was – by the big windows." Joshua smiled proudly. "What do you think?"
The Doctor was about to speak then caught himself. "Do you wish a frank evaluation?"
Joshua nodded. The Doctor considered for a moment, arrived at his honest opinion, innocently offered – "It lacks the harmony that characterized this particular temple and Dokkaran culture in general."
Joshua looked crushed. "You hate it." He knocked over the tower-like structure he was struggling with earlier.
The Doctor reacted. "I don't hate it."
Joshua was upset. "I can't do anything right."
"You are making an unwarranted extrapolation. I was merely offering an aesthetic analysis of this particular model."
Joshua manically put together more pieces but it just made things even messier. "I told you." Joshua again made an attempt. It didn't work. He threw down what was in his hands.
The Doctor studied him for a beat. "Joshua…?"
Joshua didn't look up. "What."
"May I suggest a different approach?"
No answer, but Joshua was listening.
"You are attempting to construct the upper tiers before you have completed the lower."
Joshua looked up at him.
"Observe." The Doctor began to build a model of a building, constructing the foundation as Joshua watched.
"Michelle to the Doctor."
"Doctor here." The Doctor continued working on the model.
"I need your help with the shield modulators."
"I will join you in a moment, Michelle. Doctor out."
The doctor stopped working. Joshua reacted.
"Michelle requires my assistance." The Doctor moved to go – but stopped when he saw the disappointment on the boy's face. The Doctor paused, turned back to the model, and at Doctor Speed, quickly finished the construction – much to the boy's delight.
"Incredible." He looked at the Doctor with admiration. "How come you can do that?"
The Doctor started for the door, Joshua tagging along. "I am able to exceed human capacity both mentally and physically."
"Time Lords are better than humans?"
"'Better' is a highly subjective term. I don't, for example, possess the ability to express emotions as humans do."
"No emotions? You mean you can't be happy or sad?"
"I can, but I can't express it the way humans do."
"Why not?"
"My training helped me to suppress those conditions."
They went out the door into the corridor.
"Can we build something else later?"
"That would be acceptable."
"Bye."
"Goodbye." The Doctor turned and Joshua watched him walk down the corridor. Joshua maintained his stare for a few silent beats. Then he went back inside.
Inside his quarters, Joshua turned back to the model city, considered it for a moment. He turned away and went to the mirror hanging on a nearby wall. He stared at his reflection. Then made his face utterly impassive. "I am able to exceed human capacity…" He tilted his head in imitation of the Doctor, watching the result in the mirror until he got it right. Again, his voice was an imitation of the Doctor's. "That is correct…" Another head tilt, as – in his own mind – boy became Time Lord…
