65. The Doctor's Companion is...
1. The Boy.
Alyssa is in the Tardis Console room with the Doctor when, unexpectedly, a small boy of about four years old walks into the Console room from the corridor. He's wearing simple, ancient tribal style clothing.
"Hello," Alyssa says welcomingly, "Who are you?" She wonders where he's come from but welcomes him first!
"My name is John," the boy replies, but becomes shy and gravitates to the wall.
Alyssa approaches and crouches down near John. "Where have you come from?" she asks, glancing suspiciously up the corridor. . No-one was expected to be on board the Tardis except her and the Doctor.
"Be careful!" the Doctor warns her. Many possibilities whirl around in his head.
The boy runs to Alyssa and hugs her. "Nana," he says.
Alyssa's confused. "Doctor, it's as if he knows me!"
"And do you know him?"
Alyssa chooses to indicate rather than to say that she doesn't know him, to avoid eliciting feelings of rejection in the boy.
"Is that the Doctor?" the boy asks.
"Yes, that's the Doctor," Alyssa says gently.
"Do I still have to touch the Doctor?" the boy asks uncertainly. .
This puzzles Alyssa, but the Doctor can think of several reasons why such contact shouldn't happen, many of which are disastrous. .
"No, no, no," he blusters. "That really won't be necessary!" .
Alyssa looks at the Doctor in surprise. Surely this is a positive approach! .
The Doctor positions himself on the opposite side of the Console from the boy. Clearly, he isn't going to permit this contact without a lot of resistance! .
Alyssa turns to the boy and decides he needs something to play with or a game to play.
"Tardis, do we have a game to play?" she asks.
The Tardis produces a game like Rummikub from a small aperture on the Console. .
Alyssa retrieves it and opens the box. Small tiles scurry around, setting themselves up for a game (ref. 1).
"Have you seen this game before?" Alyssa asks the boy.
"No," the boy replies, amazed at the moving tiles.
"You can play with the tiles if you like," Alyssa says to try to gain some time for herself to speak with the Doctor.
She leaves the boy with the game tiles to play with and goes to the Doctor. "What's wrong with you?" she asks quietly. "Surely you can let a child touch you?" .
"Yes, but he said, do I still have to touch the Doctor," the Doctor says. "He's been set up."
"But who by?" Alyssa asks.
"Good question! But if he's been set up just to touch me, then why? What's going to happen if he does?"
"Like ... what might happen?"
"If ... I just don't know, but whatever it is, it might break something important!"
"Like what?"
"Whatever the problems, we appear to have a new companion!" the Doctor asserts, appearing to avoid her question. Explaining all of the many unfortunate scenarios flooding his mind would take a lot more time than they have! .
The Doctor wants to change the subject.
He looks at the boy. "Where would you like to go, in all of time and space?"
The boy looks up from building a tile tower on the floor. "I'd like to go to see Gallifrey."
"Well, erm," the Doctor splutters, "maybe. Anywhere else?"
The Doctor's wondering how this unknown boy knows about Gallifrey, and what he knows about Gallifrey! Is he the Master, trying to gain access to Gallifrey before trying to overthrow it? .
The boy looks at Alyssa. "I'd like to see Tinsel, your home planet."
Alyssa smiles. This seems like a nice thing to do, and she might see how her father is while they're there. She's totally bemused how the boy knows about these things. .
"Yes, how about it, Doctor?" she asks.
"Alright." The Doctor's on it, pressing buttons, then he stands holding the dematerialisation lever.
"You want to go to Tinsel? Final answer?" He breaks into a smile at last. He likes a bit of showmanship. .
John looks at Alyssa and sees her smiling. "Yes," he says, with a little giggle.
The Doctor pulls the dematerialisation lever, and the grinding noise starts. The boy instinctively covers his ears against the awful noise. .
Instead of going to Alyssa's family home, the Doctor has chosen to go to be near a shopping centre on Tinsel. He wants to know what the boy is used to, so that he can gauge how best to cope with the boy. The clothes suggest unfamiliarity with civilisation.
"Okay, so out there is the planet Tinsel. Let's see if you like it!"
He strides to the Tardis door and opens it. "Let's go out and enjoy the day!" he says jovially.
They step out of the Tardis into a lovely day. The town can be seen not far away, and a pleasant stream is running nearby making a pleasant babbling sound.
"The shops are that way, the countryside is this way," the Doctor says. He presents the choice to the boy.
The boy glances at the town but feels shy of fulfilling his curiosity. He hugs close to Alyssa. Then, seeing the countryside, he trots towards it quite happily.
The Doctor steps to Alyssa. "He's not used to towns," he says quietly. It's little enough information, but the Doctor hopes to build on it.
They follow John along an old track into the woods. It becomes increasingly overgrown as they stray further from the town, and visitors to the path become less welcomed.
"There's something here," John calls out.
A moment later the Doctor arrives by his side with Alyssa.
A lone Cyberman stands immobile before them. Alyssa gasps. .
"What is it nana? You drew something like it once for me."
Alyssa has a sharp intake of breath. It seems increasingly obvious that this boy has somehow known her later in her timeline. It feels creepy to her. The Doctor's used to it! .
"I'll check it out," the Doctor asserts. He swipes his sonic screwdriver either side of the standing Cyberman. A moment's focus on the revealed information and he has his diagnosis.
"Very strange. It's almost out of power!" he says. "But their power pack will last for decades! Usually!" .
"Maybe it was nearing the end of its tour of duty when it was posted here?" Alyssa proposes.
"Yes, possibly." Other possibilities flood through the Doctor's mind.
"How long has it been just standing here?" Alyssa asks. "It's only down the road from my family home!"
The Doctor's sonic screwdriver emits a tone, and he looks at it.
"Just four years!" he says. "So, why was it posted here, and when? One possibility I recall was when one of your friends stole something from the Cybermen's treasure vault!" (Ref. 41.)
"What? Has he been there ever since?"
"It's quite likely he was transported down here, and the transportation failed on the way back up! The others mustn't have missed him!" .
"What do we do with him? Do we just let him rust away?"
"Yes. He's not doing any harm. Any attempt to move any part of him might result in a Cybermen's battle fleet appearing shortly! Ideally, we should plant more thick bushes around here to keep people out, but I don't suppose that'll happen!" .
A rusty creak emanates from the Cyberman.
"Look out, Doctor, it's waking up! Run!"
The Doctor takes a mere step away from the Cyberman and smiles, still looking at the Cyberman.
"What's your mission, I wonder?"
Alyssa pauses mid turn to look back at the Doctor. She physically shields the boy from potential armed assault. The boy peers past her; he doesn't want to miss anything! .
Meanwhile the Doctor appears to be relaxed and taps on the Cyberman's chest.
"Fallen asleep, there?" He's trying to get some sort of normal Cybermen's response.
Finally, the Cyberman speaks. "Awaiting transmat!"
The Doctor laughs. "I'm sorry, all the others have gone long ago, and they've forgotten about you!"
"Incorrect. You may not interfere with my task! Delete!"
"I'm not interfering at all!" the Doctor says. "Can I assist you?" He appears to be extremely nice to the Cyberman.
Alyssa picks up on this. "Doctor, why ..." She avoids completing the question to avoid going against the Doctor's tack, in case it matters.
The Doctor glances at Alyssa and smiles, pleased that she's learnt something - political antennae - noticing what's happening and reacting accordingly.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" the Cyberman asks, haltingly.
The Doctor knows that all Cybermen have at some time been Human. They all have something of a Human side, buried deep down inside, remnants from before they were re-programmed, if only he can get through to it.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Alyssa, and the boy is called John."
"Two of you are approximately the same age," the Cyberman says, returning to its precise-sounding voice.
"What?" the Doctor says, startled that the Cyberman should have such installed equipment to detect this, but then, contemplating that the boy must be much younger than Alyssa.
The light goes out of the Cyberman's eyes.
"Oh bother, he's out of power again," the Doctor says.
"What did he mean - two of us are nearly the same age?" Alyssa asks. There's no way I'm anything like your age, Doctor.
The Doctor retrieves his sonic screwdriver again and scans Alyssa, then reading out the result. "You're Thirty-One years old; human."
He knows his own age is over four thousand years old, having regenerated many times.
Gently he turns to the boy, John, and scans him. He whistles when he sees the result.
"What is it, Doctor?" Alyssa asks.
"I'll tell you in a short while," the Doctor says.
Alyssa's most put out. She really wants to know now but resists the temptation to try to force an answer.
The Doctor smiles. There's something else Alyssa's learnt! .
What's unusual about their ages?