"Ted Trapes." The man from the past introduces himself, suddenly feeling hyper aware of his New York accent amidst all of these new people. He shoots a glance at Kyle as the psychic suddenly freezes.
"Are you still with us?" he asks quietly, not sure if anyone else noticed.
He nods, weakly. I’m good. Just had one of my episodes. Short one, thankfully.
"Guess I might as well try to get a reading on the 'time scar' again..." and he holds up the make-shift device, awkwardly trying to adjust the dials :
But doesn't manage to synchronize the dials correctly.
"May I assist master?" asks K 9, offerings detailed suggestions which Bryce must execute.
"How should we proceed master? Explore upstairs, downstairs or speak to one of the groups of people?"
Excuse me, Bryce...I think you’re using it wrong. That round thing is a knob, not a button.
Ted stands by, watching, feeling fairly useless as the others work hard to get the device to work.
"We should speak with Neox at some point," he offers, looking toward the brigadier's office. "See if he can let us in to talk to the doctor. The other doctor, I mean." He shrugs and walks closer to the group huddled around the device. "Any luck?"
After a bit of jiggery pokery the group begins to get the hang of using the Temporal Trace Locator. It starts out making obnoxious sounding blats and buzzes. After making some adjustments, as Bryce turns it this way and that, the device emits a variety of sounds. When pointed up or directly away from the Neox compound, it buzzes like someone giving a raspberry sound or gurgles in a manner that might be mistaken for someone's stomach rumbling. But when the device is pointed toward the Neox compound, it puts out a pleasant sounding hum that gets stronger as it is angled downward (which is the precise direction of the compound, since the castle is up on a hill overlooking the compound).
Edit:
"Well, it sounds like the device is pointing us in the direction of the Neox compound. We can go interrupt the Brigadier, and ask Neox to take us to the compound, or wait until the demonstration at which point we will be taken to the compound, and do something else in the meantime. I don't have a preference - any suggestions?"
My preference is to make as few waves as possible. UNIT is barely tolerating our presence as is. Besides, it’s not like we’re in a rush. We have a time machine. If we get something wrong or run out of time, can’t we just go back and try again?
"I don't think the time stream quite works like that Mr Kyle. The Doctor knows more about time travel than anyone I know and he never reasoned thus. I do agree about not making waves though. Perhaps we should not interrupt the Brigadier. I like the idea of exploring upstairs, downstairs or both. I am sure the people from UNIT would have told us not to if they didn't want us to explore."
"Kyle, the Doctor told me that "crossing your own time stream", which means there are two of you at the same place at the same time, is 'very bad'. So, shall we wait for the demo to be taken into the Neox compound? In which case...let's go downstairs. Things are always hidden in the basement, right?" Bryce says with a grin.
Kyle follows Bryce downstairs. But that doesn’t make any sense! Are you saying that the doctor never goes anywhere in the universe at the same time as he was in a different place in the universe? That’s not possible.
Ted places a hand on his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "I think for now it's safe to assume we only have one shot at this, whether that's true or not. We need to be careful." He pats for his gun out of habit, before remembering he surrendered it when they were caught by UNIT.
Thank God we have the robot if things get too hairy.
"The basement is fine with me, but if we don't find anything useful in there we should try to get into the compound."
There are two closed wooden doors with the word "Stairs" on modern signage affixed. There is a UNIT soldier in front of each one. There is no indication of which leads up and which down.
Long ago, Kyle read an article about how a person walking with purpose, looking busy and acting like the don’t have time for your nonsense can go just about anywhere. He decided to try it.
He turns and chatters to whomever is standing next to him and briskly (but non-threateningly) marches toward the door.
..and of course he insisted I fill out the report, because “no one’s exempt from the proper process.” I’m afraid it came as quite a surprise when he discovered that in fact some people ARE exempt after all. Last I heard he was manning the artic station...alone.
He gives a polite but dismissive nod toward the guard and attempts to open the door.
Kyle follows Bryce downstairs. But that doesn’t make any sense! Are you saying that the doctor never goes anywhere in the universe at the same time as he was in a different place in the universe? That’s not possible.
"My master said my other master... Pardon, I will start again. The Doctor referred to meeting yourself, you being in the same time and place twice. The universe is extremely large and extremely old, so the probability of such an event happening by chance is almost zero."adds K 9, clearly interested in the topic. K 9 then activates his hover function to go downstairs.
The soldier steps aside to allow the group to go into the stairwell. He glances back, probably curious about K-9 but does not otherwise impede progress. The stairs lead down.
The castle is build on a rock outcrop, so the original builders could not create an extensive lower level. The stairs lead to a long room with a series of iron bars that create what appear to be holding cells. Perhaps in the past it was a dungeon. The cells are locked. Beyond the cells are small windows with bars set to prevent escape. The windows let in natural light but there are electric lights apparently powered by a switch near the door.
From the exterior of the cells it is not clear what the windows allow one to see, but the geography of the castle would make it likely that the view overlooks the Neox complex.
The locks on the cells appear to be modern replacements of the locks that were likely originally in place.
Searching the room for hidden doors, switches, etc. :
"K-9, can you scan the room for any anomalies? Like hollows where there might be hidden doors?"
Why would they remodel a dungeon they’re not using...and why would they guard an empty room?
Ted follows Kyle quickly, making sure not to spare a glance back at the guards. Very clever.
Down in the cells, Ted places a hand on the bars of the cell. "Could be they still use it, just not right now. But if we get caught snooping around where we shouldn't be, that might change." He smiles wryly as he reaches into his pocket for his pen.
Time for some good old-fashioned detective work.
He takes the simple pen apart until it's one thin, long piece, and attempts to use it as a makeshift lockpick.
"Certainly master." replies K 9 to Bryce's request. K 9 then scans the dungeons.
While no one notices anything strange or hidden in the room, Ted is able to open the lock on one of the cells, affording a better look out the window. The group can look down on the complex where the Golden Promise is apparently being prepared for launch. They cannot see anything that looks like a spacecraft, but there is a large circular patch of concrete with a zig-zag line running across the center, dividing it in half. There is an office building that would appear to house offices and research labs.
"Well, then, shall we try up?"
"There appears to be nothing further to do here"replies K 9. K 9 follows at Bryce's heel as they move upstairs.
A similar situation is encountered when the group checks out the upper level. A UNIT soldier stands in front of the door.
Kyle leads the group back upstairs, acting doubly annoyed.
”...Either upstairs or downstairs...” well obviously it’s one or the other, isn’t it? I swear I’ll have someone’s balls for this...
He barely regards the sentry on the up stairs...
And another thing, does this place not have any bloody lifts, are we expected to just clomp up these stairs like...
He trails off as they leave the guard’s earshot.
Ted follows behind Kyle, shooting a quick glance back at the soldier as they don't even respond to their group wandering wherever they please. "This place needs better security," he laughs once they've put distance between themselves and the UNIT soldier.
Organizations like this all share the same security gap. Fear of getting in trouble. If you look like the kind of person who ought not be troubled, you won’t be troubled. You don’t have mobiles yet, but when you do, it will change your whole profession! Talking angrily into a mobile while walking quickly, there’s no place you can’t walk into.
Kyle pauses for a moment Should I not have told you about mobiles? Am I changing history by sharing information to someone from the past? Oh, but Bryce is from the future...is he changing his past by sharing information with me? Are we jeopardizing our timelines by working together like this?
"I don't think you need to worry about mentioning the mobile telephone Mr Kyle. There seems to be a lot of technology that is not supposed to be known at this time and place present. Myself included."
Well, that’s a whole other thing that I’m shocked that I’m just barely not freaking out about. You’re a constructed intelligence! Are you unique in your time or are sentient machines the norm? Are humans still around or do you come from a post-humanity future where machines are the dominant life form?
Kyle has been having a very difficult day. He’s going through all the “first time companion” jitters without the oddly reassuring manic energy of the Doctor and the full weight of “travel through time and space is possible” is sort of hitting him all at once.
"I have a somewhat complicated history. The first model of me, with who I share a lot of programming and memory, was created by Professor Frederick Marius in the year 5,000 while working on the asteroid K4067. Marius had a dog on Earth, but weight requirements did not allow him to bring his real dog into space, so he built K 9, the original version of me, as a friend and companion. Professor Marius offered K 9 Mark I to the Doctor as the same weight requirements made him unable to take Mark I back to Earth. So, no I don't come from some post human time, and my original creator was human from a human society. But I was not the only artificial intelligence in the year 5,000 either." replies K 9, apparently giving the matter some thought.
Oh my god that’s even worse! You come from a time where creating machines capable of independent, artificial thought is trivial, but spaceships have weight limits so extreme that a few dozen kilos could make or break the trip?
Kyle spins suddenly and turns to look at Ted.
And you! You make even less sense! Bryce and K9 are from the future but you’re from even further in the past. Early 40s, right? You just leapt thirty years into your future and you’ve exhibited absolutely no curiosity about what’s happened between now and when you stepped into that damned box...
He trails off for a moment, a faraway look in his eyes. Then, quietly Of course! If it was a snake it’d have bit me! It’s mind control.
His eyes are a little wild now, but he’s keeping his voice down, he’s keeping it together, despite his little rant.
No no, I know, no. But stay with me here. None of you are the slightest bit bothered by a comprehensive dissembly of multiple laws of physics, let alone the vast repercussions of time travel. We know the Doctor is psychic. I’m a psychic blindspot. Consciously or not, the Doctor, or maybe the TARDIS, it could be part of the same process that allows you all to understand foreign languages, either way...people who come into contact with the Doctor or the TARDIS are psychically, I don’t know, not lobotomized exactly but something similar. You’re made to not freak out about this, and you’re not entirely capable of a close examination of the massive holes inherent in time travel. But I’m immune, you see? I’m immune because my mind is impervious to outside control, which is a whole OTHER can of worms that I just can’t even with right now.
He takes a deep breath. It’s not pertinent to our current mission, but I do need to talk to the Doctor about this later. I wonder if he even knows...
He looks better now that he’s gotten that out of his system.
The stairs lead up to a battlement tower about 75 feet across. There is a wall around it with crenelations. A large circle is painted on the stone surface with a big plus sign at the center. There are various antennae and a eight large chests about 4 feet x 8 feet by 4 feet high, padlocked along the walls nearest the Neox complex.
The view of the Neox site is better up here, allowing one to see the grounds and buildings clearly.
"Mr Kyle you seem distressed. If The Doctor and the TARDIS were here I could suggest a way of easing you disorientation. The Doctor could take me to the time and place of your future self. Of course you can't meet yourself, but I can. The future Kyle would then remember why I came and explain how your understanding of the implications of time travel improves and the coping strategies you will develop to deal with it and how effective they will prove. I would then return to "the present" and relate all this to you, which should reduce your distress. Unfortunately, neither The Doctor or the TARDIS are here. For what it is worth, contemporary English would suggest taking a break and sitting down with a nice hot cup of tea and contemporary Americans would have you enter a refrigerator... You could even combine the two."ends K 9 somewhat lamely.
"Kyle - cheese, chill down! I was just as freaked out about time-travel as you are when I first met the Doctor. It's just that the more you do it, the more...comfortable you become with it. And with the Doctor around constantly (back in the day), he'd explain things in a way that made sense...well, sort of, mostly. There's no "psychic lobotimitizing" going on here."
Kyle nods slowly at both Bryce and K-9. Yeah...yeah that makes sense. Yeah. Ok, I'm good.
He eyes the chests on the walls. Does anyone know how to pick a lock?
"When I first met the Doctor, it was rescuing a woman from an army of metal men who were trying to... upgrade her, I believe was the term they used." Ted shudders slightly at the memory of the Cybermen's makeshift factory. "Trying to turn her into one of them. Cold, unfeeling monsters. I learned then when it comes to the Doctor, it's better to stay calm no matter what we come up against."
Ted walks closer to the chests. "I don't know if my pen trick will work with a sturdy padlock like this. Let me check it out." He kneels down and tries to feel out the mechanism.
Ted masters the Masterlock with ease. Opening the chests reveals them to have aluminum pipes, lightweight fabric, such as used for parachutes, and a variety of joints and hinges. Someone eventually notices a small booklet that explains how to turn the contents of the chest into a hang glider.
Kyle roots through the boxes. Of all the things that could have been in this box...DIY hang gliders was pretty low on the list.
He looks at the glider, then out the window towards Neox, then back to the glider.
Hey...I have a terrible idea...
Sensing what Kyle has thought of, Bryce says "Kyle, why build a hang-glider to get over to the Neox building, when we're going to be taken over there for the presentation? And, do you even *know* how to fly a hang-glider??? I sure don't!"
Ted stares out the window, looking down at the Neox building. "I'm not trying to fly down there," he says matter-of-factly. "I didn't travel through time just to break my neck." He rubs the back of his neck as he says this, wincing at his own imagination.
"That said, Bryce, once we're down there we might need a distraction. Any chance we can smuggle some of these pieces in with us? Make the authorities believe someone has broken in so they are distracted?"