Chapter 1
In the time capsule's control room, Nita and the Doctor were staring at Jamie. Jamie looked a little woozy, unsure of his bearings, then he seemed to shake it off and he moved toward them with a plan of action. His left arm was in a sling and he had one or two cuts and bruises visible.
"Thank you, friends." He quickly stepped up to the console and they made room for him. "We've got to get Mattlin out of there."
"Someone else's pattern is still in the buffer?"
"Aye. Frank Mattlin. We went in together. Something's wrong… one of the inducers has failed." He addressed the Doctor, "Boost the gain on the matter stream."
The Doctor worked a nearby panel.
"Come on, Mattlin… I know you're still in there…" He worked for another moment, then his face fell as he saw something on the console. "It's no use… his pattern's been degraded by fifty-three percent… he's gone."
"I'm sorry."
Jamie wearily ran a hand across his face. "So am I… he was a good lad."
After a quiet beat, Nita moved forward to break the moment.
"I'm Nita Llewcotts, companion of the Doctor."
"The Doctor… I shoulda known. I thought I recognized you, we've met before, haven't we? Where's the Doctor, then?" He shook Nita's hand. "How long have I been missing?"
Nita exchanged a look with the Doctor. "Well…"
"Doctor." Jamie turned around at the sound of Michelle's voice. "I have restored life support. The oxygen levels will return to normal shortly."
Michelle notices that Jamie is looking at her.
"Jamie McCrimmon… Michelle Forbes."
"Hello."
"Hello."
"Jamie… perhaps there are few things we should talk about."
Nita, Michelle, Jamie and the Doctor entered the TARDIS. Jamie was fascinated by everything he saw here… like a kid in a new and unimagined lolly shop.
"We should probably get you to the sickbay. Carolyn will be able to…" Nita trailed off as she realized that Jamie wasn't paying attention.
"You've redecorated… I don't like it…"
Nita smiled a little and turned to the Doctor quietly. "Doctor, I think our guest is going to have a lot of questions…"
The Doctor grinned. "I'll take care of him, Nita."
Nita glanced at the Jamie again and she and Michelle left. Jamie had now moved to the roundels set into the wall. He pulled off a covering panel and scrutinized the interior. The Doctor was a little concerned, but didn't stop him as Jamie poked around.
"What have ye done to the duotronic enhancers?"
"Those were replaced with isolinear chips about forty years ago. It's a lot more efficient now."
Jamie began to reach in and move something, but the Doctor stopped him. "Uh… be careful there. That's an EPS power tap."
"Ah."
The Doctor closed the panel and then gestured to the door as they headed for the corridor. "You were saying earlier that you were on your way to 18th century Earth when you had a time engine failure."
They entered the corridor. Jamie's eyes were continually scanning every inch of the corridor. Occasionally he stopped to examine something.
"That's right. We had an overload in one of the power transfer conduits. The Captain brought us out of the vortex, we hit some gravimetric interference and then there it was, as big as life." He pointed out at something on the wall. "Is that a conduit interface?"
"Yeah. Uh, big as life… the Dyson Sphere, right?"
"Aye, that's what he called it. Can you imagine the engineering skills needed to even design such a structure…"
"I know, it's pretty amazing. What happened when you first approached it?"
They moved down the corridor.
"We began a standard survey of the surface. We were just completing the initial orbital scan when our power coils suddenly exploded. The ship got caught in the sphere's gravity well, and down we went."
Jamie's face clouded over a little as he recalled the crash. "Mattlin and I were the only ones to survive the crash."
"What made you think of using the materialization pattern buffer to stay alive?"
"We didna have enough supplies to wait for a rescue, so I had to think of something."
"But locking it into a diagnostic cycle to keep the signal from degrading, and cross connecting the phase inducers to provide a regenerative power source… it's brilliant."
"I'm afraid it was only fifty percent brilliant… Mattlin deserved better."
The Doctor tried to shift the subject back to something Jamie could get excited about. "I think you're going to like this TARDIS, Jamie. She's made some pretty incredible advances in the last eighty years."
This does perk Jamie up a little.
"Aye, from what I can see you've got a fine ship here, Doctor, a real beauty. In fact, I must admit to being a little overwhelmed."
"Wait until you see the Holodeck."
In the sickbay, Jamie was sitting on one of the biobeds and Carolyn was running a medical device over his injured arm. His bruises were already gone. The Doctor was nearby.
"You've had a hairline fracture of the humerus. It'll ache for a few days, but it should be fine."
"Thank you."
Carolyn glanced up at him and couldn't help but smile.
The Doctor moved over to Jamie. "How are you feeling?"
Jamie looked back at Carolyn. "I don't know. How am I feeling?"
"Other than a couple of bumps and bruises, I'd say you feel fine for a man of a hundred and forty-seven."
"I don't feel a day over a hundred and twenty."
The Doctor gave Jamie a polite smile, but didn't join in the bantering. "I must say I was more than a little surprised to find you aboard that time capsule. I didn't realize that the Time Lords were physically transporting you back to your own time."
Jamie's smile faded just a little.
"No, they had intended to erase my memory and return me to the respective point in time when I first entered the TARDIS. I'm not sure exactly how they had intended to do that, but something went wrong, and I was held as a prisoner on Gallifrey. I escaped and stowed away in a Time Capsule heading for Norpin Five, prepared to settle down there."
"I see. Well, I would very much enjoy the opportunity to discuss our adventures at some point. I have good memories of our time together and I hope you do too."
"I'd be happy to."
"Good. I look forward to it. But for now, we need to begin a full spectrographic analysis of the Dyson Sphere. Again, welcome aboard, Jamie. I have to get back to the control room to start that analysis."
Jamie's face lit up at the word. "I'd like to help."
"Jamie, the first thing you're going to do is get some rest. You've had quite a shock to your system and I don't want you to push yourself too hard."
The Doctor interceded before Jamie could protest. "We're pretty busy right now, anyway, Jamie. But I'd be happy to give you a tour of the TARDIS a little later, when Carolyn says it's okay."
Faced with uniform resistance, Jamie acceded, resigned. "Aye."
The Doctor left.
Carolyn smiled at Jamie. "I'll show you to your quarters."
Jamie managed a weak smile… clearly disappointed.
In Jamie's quarters, Carolyn was pointing out the features of the room to Jamie. "This is the food replicator, and your computer terminal."
Jamie was looking around the room in astonishment. "Good Lord, woman… where have you put me?"
"These are standard guest quarters, Jamie. I can try to find something bigger if you want."
"Bigger? In my day, even the Doctor wouldna had such quarters on his TARDIS."
Carolyn smiled politely. "The Holodeck, the galley, and the gymnasium are all at your disposal. The computer can tell you how to find them. Just use one of these communication panels if you need anything."
"You know, these quarters remind me of a hotel room I once had on Argelius… oh, now there was a planet… everything a man could want, right at his fingertips. 'Course on my first visit, I ran into a wee bit of trouble…"
"Uh, excuse me, Jamie… but I have to get back."
Carolyn's polite smile had never left her face, but Jamie suddenly realized that Carolyn really wasn't interested in hearing his stories and Jamie's cheerful exuberance faded. "Ah… well then. Thank you."
Carolyn left. Jamie looked around the room for a moment. His smile faded away completely. He sat down, glanced around again. He looked suddenly lost as he realized that he had nothing to do, a man very much alone in a giant room aboard a vast and new ship.