Looking at them as his olive-green scales duly reflected the lights above, Ollie held out his hand as Paul took it, shaking it as he welcomed him before shaking Taylor's hand afterwards.
An inherent friendliness for a Silurian, Paul played it by ear as he spoke to Ollie.
Relieved to see Paul, Ollie spoke highly of him as he showed his lab to him and Taylor, while talking about the eternal darkness that lingered for what felt like years.
Felt like having a reunion with an old friend, the way Ollie made it seem, though given the nature of the Doctor, it didn't come as a shock.
Meeting acquaintances of different Doctors proved a valuable asset in an uncertain environment.
Seeing him with a different face wouldn't be out of the ordinary for someone like Ollie.
Always exceptions to the rules, of course, but having a friendly face to help give an idea what's going on was as good as any, Paul felt.
"We're hoping you could tell us more about the darkness, sir," Paul gestures towards Ollie as he watched the Silurian walk around the table to the whiteboard behind it filled with equations.
Holding up the black marker, Ollie explains that he doesn't think it was environmental, some sort of pollution, anything of that nature.
"As you're aware, something like an extended period darkness for any amount of time would result in something like temperatures dropping, however as we've been experiencing this, the temperature remains normal, it's unusual," Ollie wrote down another set of equations as he spoke to Paul and Taylor.
Glancing at each other, Paul then goes, "How's this possible?"
Sighing as he went around to another part of the laboratory, Ollie answers that he wasn't sure, he ruled out thick clouds that have become seated in the area, yet the disappearances of the stars and the moon are questionable.
"I'm sure you met the Jabberwockies, quite the characters they are, I've had them go surveying for me for my research, but they haven't noticed any difference in the tides. It's unbecoming, Doctor," Ollie explained how he had the Jabberwockies help him with his theories and all said similar things about the tides being unchanged despite the moon's absence.
Ruling out clouds and the moon somehow orbiting away from the planet, it left Ollie with more questions than answers.
"Have they found anything unusual during their searches?" Taylor inquired what the Jabberwockies found in their attempts, but Ollie responded that they haven't reported back finding anything.
It is difficult to do so when there's animals that evolved to see better in the dark than people.
If only that's the worst thing to come out of this whole thing!
Baffled, Taylor exhaled, "It's improbable for animals to fundamentally change in that short amount of time. They would adapt, yes, but the way you're telling us, it's though they underwent some sort… evolution."
Especially since it doesn't seem that the natives and Ollie have adapted to the changes.
"I thought so to, my dear, I was as baffled as you are, but it's though we saw evolution before our very eyes!" Ollie remained in disbelief as he showed Paul and Taylor his research notes that he started when the darkness became prominent.
The progression of the darkness started off subtle enough nobody noticed it.
It began with sunrise being delayed by a minute.
At the end of the year, sunrise went from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM.
From then on it kept progressively becoming darker for longer periods until they hadn't seen the sun for years.
"And this started after the storm, correct?" Paul gestures as he went through the timeline Lordon and Ollie gave him.
Nodding, Ollie affirmed that it didn't start until after the storm, but as he said, the progression was slow enough nobody noticed until it was too late.
"Couldn't even say it was the storm that did it, I checked the radar, everything, it was your typical storm," Ollie summed how he went through everything only to find nothing gave him the answer he needed and here he was incapable of providing an answer to his superiors.
That said, he had been busy trying to help the natives any chance he could, trying to come up with a way to keep the lights on, inventing new sources of lights that wouldn't cut into resources for the Jabberwockies during their daily scavenging.
With the way things are, Ollie suspects it'll become increasingly difficult in the near future, if they don't do something.
"If my math is correct, we'll have to consider moving people to another part of the city. I know the officials won't like it, but we have no other choice. Might have to start sooner or later, I can't be certain what the future may bring with the animals evolving the way they are. If we don't offset the population sooner than later… I'm afraid, Doctor," Ollie paced around the lab as he worried.
It's an uncomfortable conversation, but they're going to face it sooner than later, and if things remain as is, Ollie feared what the animals will evolve further into something that they have no hope of defending against during the crossings.
Already the Jabberwockies are telling him how some are developing the ability to glide silently and try to snatch grown men and women from the ground.
Given what Ollie's noticing, it won't be long until those gliders easily picked them up without fail.
"Don't worry, me and my dear Taylor will take care of it, Ollie," Paul patted Ollie's shoulder as he comforted the distressed Silurian afraid of the rapid evolution of the wildlife.
Ollie helped retrieve everything that he hoped would help Paul and Taylor find things he missed and stop the darkness.
With that, the couple went to work looking through everything Ollie wrote down and assessed since it happened, he was thorough in investigating every avenue possible, but like Ollie, they're stumped as they thumbed through the pages of documents Ollie wrote.
All points led to them believing that some sort of device is in use, one that Ollie couldn't pick up with his laboratory, so they asked Ollie if there was anyone responsible for keeping an eye on satellites and anything else.
Ollie pointed them to the quick-tempered yellow skinned Oskar who wasn't pleased seeing the two coming through the doorway.
Took Ollie reminding him of his poker debt before Oskar simmered down and was willing to discuss the matter with Paul and Taylor.
"Ever since it happened, I haven't been able to get so much as a radio signal, it's been hell trying to raise the Jabberwockies whenever they're out scavenging," Oskar reveals the difficulties using his equipment due to the persistent darkness blocking out the signals and causing issues with the interface.
"And this didn't start until it started getting dark?" Paul glimpses to Oskar as he went over to look at the equipment himself while Taylor glimpses at the screens above that showed inaccuracies due to the interferences caused by the darkness.
Nodding Oskar says that everything was working before, only when the sun finally stop rising was when the equipment stopped working properly.
Believe Oskar, since it started, he tried everything getting the equipment to work, but it all failed.
Nothing was wrong with the equipment, Oskar tried obtaining second opinions and they all said the same thing, the equipment didn't become faulty, there was just heavy interference.
From what, Oskar can't say.
"What have you ruled out?" Paul inquisitively asks and Oskar replied that he ruled out the usual suspects, getting second opinions there just to be sure he wasn't overlooking something.
Pointing up at the screens, Oskar said, "I don't believe the interference is coming from the darkness, there's something out there that's causing it, but I don't know where it would even be, much less what it looks like. Jabberwockies don't like straying far from the beaten path, so I can't get them to look for me."
Sharing looks with Taylor, Paul mustered, "What if we help you, Oskar?"
Snorting at this, Oskar pointed at him, "You have any idea what's out there, now? One wrong move and you're dead."
While it was a nice gesture, Oskar remained pragmatic as he warns that because he can't get a handle on the interferences long enough to find where it's coming from, Paul and Taylor risked running into one of the evolved beats that can see through the darkness.
"Trust me, I've tried," Oskar exhaled sharply.
