4. The Meeting.
The Doctor and his currently favourite family have arrived in a washroom in a building on planet Telee that Trevon had referred to the previous day.
Devyon decides it's his moment for a quip.
"Hey, Doctor," Devyon quips, "now we can all say we've been on Telly!" .
The Doctor smiles and looks at Devyon. "The other planet is called MyDreams! So, you've all been in My Dreams!" .
Simeon's more concerned they don't affect the outcome of the meeting. He's heard of many incidents where a Tardis-borne visitor has put their foot in it.
"Doctor, won't we mess everything up just by being here?"
"Really, don't worry, Simeon," the Doctor urges. "It'll all be fine."
They cloak the Tardis and head to the obvious auditorium.
"We should blend in better here, among the crowd," Chloe says as they take some seats near the back.
A hush arises near the front of the auditorium, where a large screen shows those participating on the other planet, MyDreams.
"There's Trevon! On the left," Devyon claims.
Rectangular areas start appearing all over the large screen, each with a group of people in it and a label showing their location. There's still a large area at the bottom of the screen showing the auditorium on MyDreams.
"It's like a large Zoom call," Alyssa says.
"With a large camera image all across the bottom," Simeon says.
A presentation personage appears on the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, please clap and cheer when our new leader appears in the middle of the screen. Let's give him the best support we can, enthusiastically! Let's listen carefully to what the other leader says, too, and think carefully about it! Weigh it up. The decisions made today will affect all of our futures."
"He seems to be a cheer leader," Alyssa says. "Getting people in the right mood."
"It's what they all need," the Doctor says. "They've been stuck out in the countryside for far too long."
A larger rectangular box in the middle of the screen is filled with a large man. This must be their new leader to replace the awful Blue Guardian!
A big cheer and shout goes up in the auditorium.
An adjacent larger box populates with another man who must be the leader of the other planet.
Initially boos are heard, but the local presenter does his best to appease those present.
The Doctor turns to Simeon and smiles. "Is this alright for us not to influence proceedings?"
Simeon smiles briefly and nods. He's still on edge as they're still actually present.
"Why are we on Tellee, not on MyDreams?" he asks.
The Doctor just smiles again. Alyssa had been very persuasive, she'd just wanted to be on Tellee, and he doesn't want to drop her in it with Simeon! But he'd had other thoughts about just where they should preferably be.
"We don't want to bump into Trevon, do we?" The Doctor smiles. "Oh, we're missing it!"
"... We now have a decision to make." The Tellee leader is speaking, having outlined their predicament. "We can either stay here with large numbers of us dying before our time, or we have the technology to move everyone to another unpolluted planet. Expensive, but do-able! Well, everyone that matters!" .
The Doctor grimaces at this. Everyone matters!
The Tellee leader looks to his left as if to look at the MyDreams leader on-screen on the right of him.
"Do you agree, MyDreams?"
The MyDreams leader looks to his right, as if to look on-screen at the Tellee leader.
"Yes! We have to agree! We, too, are dying before our time! We, too, have the technology! The big issue is..."
Both leaders face the audience and speak in a rehearsed unison.
"We must inhabit the same other planet!"
The Tellee leader continues. "We've seen the other planet, Marsh, for a long time, and sent envoys there to assess and ready the planet for people to go there. It won't be easy, but it's far better than just sitting here letting people die."
The MyDreams leader resumes. "So, we've called everyone we can to be present here for a vote."
The Doctor shares his concern with his family. "Their other planet, Marsh, isn't too unlike their own planet and didn't need much adjustment. They'll still need significant protection there from the atmosphere, and what they do won't last long! What would you do if you were them?"
His family are all too relieved they don't have to take such a decision for themselves.
The Vote.
"We shouldn't vote either way," the Doctor says. "It's a principle we should try to adopt – not to influence decisions either way, then it doesn't matter whether we were here or not. Second reality when we have visited will have the same outcome as the first reality before we visited."
"How are they voting?" Devyon asks. "Will it be a show of hands?"
"No, they have to look left or right according to which choice you want," the Doctor says. "It's probably best to look down so their counters can't tell! It should count as an abstention."
An instruction comes from the stage. "Three, two, one, vote!"
Most of the Doctor's family are looking at the Doctor at the time. .
"Oh, dear, I think we all voted!" Devyon says. "I don't know which way we voted, though!" .
"It may not matter unless the count is close," Simeon says hopefully.
"I recall the timelines said it was a landslide!" the Doctor says casually. He's really not worried! "I just wanted to see what happened and how it happened!" .
"That's alright, then," Alyssa says. "But earlier, we learned about two awful leaders who are now in a cage between these two planets. What can we do for them?"
It seems an innocent enough question, but the Doctor isn't pleased!
"What, them? The Universe needs them to be locked away!"
"Surely we should help them?" Devyon weighs in.
The Doctor finds himself surrounded by his family, most of whom are demanding that he rescue beings he knows are extremely bad for the Universe.
He thinks for a moment. Maybe there's a way for these beings to prove their worthiness to be citizens of the Universe or not...
How might someone prove that they're worthy to inhabit the universe?