(no subject)

[goodtaste]

An alternate reality? Well, it's not the strangest thing I've heard. If we can create technology that enables the user to enter the mind, it does not take any great stretch of imagination to believe that someone has developed the technology to enter other worlds. I may not agree with them on the... fictional nature of my existence, but that is irrelevant at this time. What matters is that I have been brought here, to New Moore, and with no apparent hope of returning to Whispering Rock.

There must be a reason. There is always a reason. I could not gather any information from the minds of these scientists, aside from the fact that they hold fast to their beliefs that we are all fictional. They are severely deluded. Unlike liars who set out with the intention to deceive, those who suffer from delusions genuinely believe the deception themselves. In fact, they believe in it so strongly, it could make a sane person question their own perspective. It is an extremely dangerous state of mind.

But no matter. There is much to learn about this place. I must take care to control my curiosity about these scientists until I know more about the cage in which we have been placed. As interesting a subject as alternate realities may be, I have no particular desire to stay.




Besides, they could at least have given me a lab.

Comments

[goodtaste]

But if I so happened to pass you on the street, and you so happened to tell me how you were able to visit a woman that is long dead... well, an answer for an answer seems only fair...

locked//timelordy security

[icanbuyafez]

Hypothetically speaking, of course, where might I happen to bump into you within the next fifteen minutes or so?

locked//timelordy security

[goodtaste]

I'd imagine if I wanted to be found, I would be standing near a major landmark. For instance... the police station?

Actionspam

[icanbuyafez]

"On my way."

The TARDIS appears outside the police station about 60 seconds later, the doors fall open, and a few seconds later the Doctor hops out.

[goodtaste]

Sasha had been leaning against the side of the police station with his hands in his pockets, casually waiting to see this "Doctor" stroll within view. Beside his head, a cigarette and lighter floated in mid-air, drifting closer and closer together until one could ignite the other. He didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't a big blue box; so naturally, when he heard something whirring within mere feet of his location, he turned his attention from the cigarette to whatever was coming his way.

Sasha put his hand to his head and tried to read the box, or whomever was inside it; and even then, it didn't work. He caught glimpses of things, but nothing more. Faces young and old. A box bigger on the inside than out. Red grass. Orange skies. Something very old, and very lonely.

By the time he gave up, the lighter had all but burnt his cigarette to ash.

He was about to approach the door of the TADRIS and give it a tentative knock when it opened on its own.

"... Doctor?"

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor tuns to face Sasha, and extends his hand. As ever, every motion is imbued with far more energy than is necessary.

"That's me! Sasha, I presume?"

[I'd think they could probably both sense the other had telepathic abilities if they shake hands.]

[goodtaste]

"Correct."

Sasha took a step back as the Doctor reached out to shake his hand and sized him up a bit. Just seconds ago, he thought he had sensed the incoming presence of someone much older than the man who stood before him. Could he have been wrong? Was it something about the big blue box that threw him off? He had summoned the Doctor for answers, but thus far all he had were more questions.

Taking another second to recompose himself, Sasha took the Doctor's hand and gave it a firm shake...

[ Works for me. Do you use plurk or AIM, btw? Could help to plot/get your permission on certain things before I reply. ]

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor's mind was still a little more open than usual from his experience with Ed, so a slight connection was made the instant the two psychics touched. He could feel the potential in Sasha immediately - and not just for telepathy, but a great deal more.

He was falling towards some sort of organized cube, but as he entered it began to open. He saw flashes of memory, filtered and distilled so he only saw snapshots: a woman, from the eyes of a small child - and then a headstone decorating her grave. Though the emotions had been repressed, the pain and loss were were simply buried, not gone. They were as strong as ever, strong enough to lose yourself...

Before he could go any further, the Doctor propelled himself out of Sasha's mind and slammed the door shut, severing the connection. He had had enough of pain and loss over the last few days - he didn't need to share in someone else's again, and that someone else definitely didn't need to share in his, especially when the contact was unintentional.

[goodtaste]

A handshake was all it took for Sasha, who was no longer even trying to read the Doctor's mind, to be allowed one unsparingly chaotic glimpse inside of it. The images came flooding back faster than he could process them. A schism, a rift in time so vast it could drive one mad. A man who was constantly changing, dying and being reborn over and over again. Beings of all sorts, none of them human. People. Places. Planets. A crack in the wall. The girl who waited.

Even those images he'd managed to linger on left his mind as he broke away. When Sasha snatched his hand back from the Doctor, all that remained was pain, sadness, and self-loathing. Feelings so profound that he could hardly believe they had come from the mind of a man who introduced himself with big smiles and wide, dramatic gestures. In all his years of espionage, Sasha had never met anyone quite in this way.

He took another minute to steady his mind.

"Well then, Doctor," he began, slowly and cautiously, "It seems we have more to discuss than dead women and tacky lamps."

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor takes a moment to close his eyes and refocus, build up his mental defenses again. He loved new people, but all the same, he hoped it was a while before he met another psychic.

"Yes. Yes, it would seem we do. I think both of our original questions were just answered, but regardless - why don't you come inside the TARDIS? The proper answer to your question is easily found within."

[goodtaste]

"The TARDIS?" Sasha repeated, looking dubiously at the police box. For all he knew, it could be a trap; but the surest way to find out would have been to read the Doctor's mind, and he wasn't about to try that again. He would just just have to take his chances.

"Alright, then. After you."

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor took another moment, and then all his boisterousness and energy was back, and he grinned. From what Sasha could still feel from him, it was assuredly just an act, but it was one he was very good at. He even occasionally fooled himself.

"All right then. And off we go!" he said cheerfully, as he then spun on the spot and dashed back into the TARDIS.

[goodtaste]

Strange... and yet, not as strange as some of the people he had met. The ill-fated agent Cruller instantly came to mind. However, unlike Cruller, the Doctor's personality swaps were not the result of an irreparably fractured psyche... at least, not that Sasha knew of, anyway. For all he knew, the Doctor was just a mad man with a box.

"Go? Go where?" he asked, but for some reason found himself following anyway. "Do you intend to leave the island in a police box?"

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor's voice is strangely muffled and distant for someone who should be within a couple feet of Sasha.

"Well, I'd like to, but unfortunately she's grounded. If there's anywhere on the island you'd like to go, though, we can do that."

[goodtaste]

A box that can travel from one place to another can't even leave the island? Well, that was odd. But to Sasha, the TARDIS' inability to transport them away from New Moore said nothing about the Doctor's failures and everything about the nature of the island. Everyone in this island was being held captive. By what, he didn't know; but it was obviously something powerful. And obviously something that required investigating.

"Very well then," he said, taking hesitant steps towards this mysterious traveling blue box. "Take me elsewhere. The location doesn't matter, as long as we're no longer at the station. I want to see what this 'TARDIS' can..."

And then he stepped inside.

And paused.

And he looked around at the impossibly spacious interior of the TARDIS, complete with more levers, buttons, and panels than could reasonably fit into an ordinary police box. Sasha took another minute to look around before he exited the TARDIS and circled around it, making sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Nope. It was definitely...

"Bigger on the inside," he thought aloud. Sasha was willing to believe that he was in an alternate reality, trapped by some invisible force on an island. But a box that was bigger on the inside? That was proving to be beyond him.

[icanbuyafez]

"Do you like her? She's gorgeous, my old girl. We've been all the way from the beginning to the end of the universe, outside it entirely, and even in alternate realities."

The Doctor grins.

"So, Sasha, does this answer your question?"

[goodtaste]

"You're a time-traveler," he concluded, although he didn't sound too sure of that. "But no ordinary time-traveler. You have a mind like nothing I've ever seen before. Could it be you've simply seen that much in your travels? No. The level of activity occurring in your brain suggests something more. It's almost... not human."

Finally, it dawns on him. Sasha re-enters the TARDIS.

"What are you?"

[icanbuyafez]

"A difficult question, to be sure. How would one simply describe humanity?

I'm a timelord, from the planet Gallifrey. As you noted, I am a time traveler, and I am 909 years old.."

[goodtaste]

Sasha was slowly coming around to the idea of a non-human entity (that looked very human, but hey, it takes all kinds). A non-human entity being hundreds of years old? And having traveled through all of time and space? That would need more time to process.

For once, all he could do was stand there and look on with an utterly baffled expression; and when he finally spoke, he said...

"I see," in a way that made him feel dumber than he had ever felt before.

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor smiled.

"Don't worry, everyone gets a little overwhelmed at first. It's perfectly understandable - timelord civilization developed billions of years before humans evolved on Earth, and in close proximity to the untempered schism. We're a little ahead of the curve."

[goodtaste]

"The Untempered Schism...?" he asked, only to retract the question. "Nevermind. I believe that's enough questions for today."

Sasha rubbed his temples with one gloved hand, careful not to let his ever-present sunglasses slip.

"Alright, Doctor. Let's see this TARDIS in action."

[icanbuyafez]

The Doctor gives a slightly mischievous grin. "You asked for it."

Ten seconds and a few buttons and levers later, the traditional TARDIS noise is heard as the whole ship shakes and rocks back and forth. Seconds later, it's over.

The Doctor walks over to the Door and opens it. "After you."

Outside, they were on the slopes of the mountain, about a kilometer from the rim of the volcano. They were facing the city far below; it looked tiny compared to the island, which was itself dwarfed by the view of the ocean surrounding them.

[goodtaste]

No sooner had the TARDIS started making its usual noises than Sasha clung to the nearest thing he could find and braced himself for impact, which... never came? Huh. Well, that was relatively painless.

"Does it always make that noise?" he asked, watching the Doctor cross over to and open the door. Sasha had expected to see another building―maybe the apartments, or some other mundane structure―but when he stepped out and saw that they were looking at New Moore from above...

"Ah," he said, the noise sticking to his mouth even as he uttered it. Sasha knew he was dealing with something he had no knowledge of whatsoever, and he couldn't help feeling like a fool. But even then, he would have been lying if he said he wasn't at all interested in knowing more.

[icanbuyafez]

"Every time! Brilliant, isn't she?"

He followed Sasha out, sounding faintly bored with their current surroundings.

"I'm afraid this is about as fantastic as it gets around here. Usually, on a first trip, I'd fly out to the Medusa Cascade or the Pillars of Creation, the formation of the Earth or the year 5 billion on New Earth. But the volcano is about as spectacular as it gets around here - unless you'd like to see the island from even higher?"

[goodtaste]

New Eart– no. And no more questions. Sasha had a feeling he didn't want to know the answer.

"In a minute, maybe," he replied, straying a few paces away from the TARDIS to look around. As he walked, his cigarette and lighter floated up from out of his coat pocket; once lit, the cigarette rose up to meet his mouth. Only at that point did Sasha bother to put in the effort of lifting a hand to hold it.

Getting a better view of the island could wait. First, he needed a smoke. Badly.