They walked together to the blue police
box. Merry could feel the spring in his
step as he walked. It seemed he was on a
grand adventure and Merry began to capture his infectious enthusiasm. As they approached the box, the Doctor stuck
his left hand into a pocket and pulled out an odd shaped key. He stuck it into the lock, turned they key
with a click and pushed open the door.
Merry stepped inside and stopped in her
tracks. She had seen many movies about
space ships, but nothing she had seen or could have ever dreamed could have
prepared her for what she saw inside that police box. In the center of a very large room was a
hexagonal control panel. In the center
of the control panel was a tall glass tube that went up into the ceiling. It emitted a blue glow. Everything had an old fashioned steam-punkish
feel to it, but with a futuristic twist. Merry wasn’t sure what to think or
do. She felt a hand on her back. It gently pushed her further inside the box.
“It takes some getting used to,” the
Doctor said. He closed the door behind
him and bounced down the steps. He went
to the hexagonal console and began to turn knobs and flip switches.
Merry felt a slight movement, as if
someone on the outside had just shoved the box.
Two glass panels inside the large central glass tube began to go up and
down and a sound unlike anything Merry had ever heard began to hum. It was rhythmic and rather hypnotic.
Merry slowly approached the center
of the room.
“It’s alright. Come on over,” the Doctor held out his hand. Merry went closer. He took her by the elbow and brought her
right up to the controls. “See here,
this is the navigation controls, here is the accelerator, the regulator,
compass, and the emergency brake. This
thing is the time rotor and here’s a clock, in case you want to know the local
time, and well, there’s a bunch of other knobs and switches that do stuff.”
Merry looked over the console in
amusement as she watched the Doctor walk around flipping more switches and
turning more knobs. She took a moment to
look around the rest of the room. It was
filled with candles, book shelves, dark mahogany drawers, several globes, a
coat rack, a large collection of ticking clocks, a couple of unusual ferns and
a piano.
“You have a piano in your
spaceship?” she asked.
The Doctor looked over in the
direction of the piano. “Yes,” he said,
“I like good music. Do you play?”
“No,” Merry chuckled. “Do you?”
“I can,” he said. The Doctor flipped one final switch on the
console and then he walked over to the piano.
“Would you like to hear?”
“Yes, please,” Merry said. She stood beside the piano. The Doctor lifted the lid and began to
play. The notes were sweet and clear as
a bell. The piano was a beautifully made
instrument and the TARDIS provided perfect acoustics. The song was soft and slow and slightly
melancholy.
“That was beautiful, Doctor,” Merry
said when he had finished.
“Thank you. It’s an old Gallifreyan lullaby.”
“Gallifreyan?” Merry asked.
“That is where I’m from,
Gallifrey. I used to sing it to,” the
Doctor abruptly cut himself off. “Well,
here we are!” He hopped off the piano
bench and bounced back to the center console.
The humming machinery had stopped and everything was quite still. “We’ve made it to Weyk.”
Merry quietly closed the piano
lid. She walked up and stood alongside
the Doctor. He was watching a stream of
information on the monitor overhead.
“Doctor,” Merry said quietly, “as a
parent who just lost her children, I recognize the look in your eyes just
now. You’ve had children and lost them,
haven’t you?” Merry watched a tear fall
down the Doctor’s cheek. She took his
arm in both of her hands. “I’m so very
sorry.”
“Thank you,” he whispered. “It happened a long, long time ago. Most of the time, I don’t think about
it. Time is wonderful like that. It does heal.
Oh, the pain never really goes away, but it does get easier. You’ll find this out too, one day. I’m afraid your story has hit me rather close
to my hearts and that is why I want to help you find peace.”
Did he just say hearts, she
wondered.
Merry couldn’t help herself. She flung her arms around the Doctor and
hugged him. The gesture surprised him at
first and then he hugged her back. He
smelled just like his handkerchief and immediately, Merry felt calm.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his
shoulder. They released each other and
looked into each other’s face. His smile
grew wide.
“Shall we go?” he asked.
Merry returned the smile and
nodded. He took her by the hand and led
her to the door. He pulled the door open
and Merry stepped out.
Merry was starting to get use to the
stream of surprises that one seemed to encounter with this Doctor, but somehow,
she figured when the doors of the TARDIS opened, she would see her tree lined street. But, this was not her street. They were inside a building; a large, finely
decorated building.
The Doctor stepped out behind Merry
and closed the door to the TARDIS. He
quickly surveyed the environment and decided which direction to head. Merry followed him. It wasn’t long before they arrived at what
Merry guessed would be a reception desk in an office building. Behind the desk sat a humanoid creature. It was just like Peter had described – larger
head, lightly greenish tint, and eight fingers.
“Good afternoon,” the Weyk said as
the Doctor and Merry approached the desk.
“Good afternoon,” the Doctor
replied. “I would like to meet with your
mayor.”
“I’m afraid he is rather busy and in
a meeting right now. May I have your
name please?” the receptionist asked.
“I’m the Doctor and this is Merry,”
he answered.
“The Doctor? Are you really?” The receptionist stood up, “Wait right here,
please.” The Weyk walked out.
The Doctor began to rock on his
heels and whistle. Merry was amused by
the complete casualness he displayed.
She, on the other hand, was feeling slightly overwhelmed. She was standing in an alien building and had
just seen and heard an alien speak.
“Wait just a moment Doctor,” Merry
said after a sudden thought. “What kind
of trick are you playing on me?”
The Doctor looked shocked and hurt,
“What do you mean?”
“When Peter saw these Weyks in the
back yard, he said they spoke another language that he could not
understand. He had me memorize the
words, which I could not understand.
Well, until now. When I think
about it, a few of those words are slightly familiar,” Merry trailed off in
thought for a moment before she remembered the trick the Doctor was playing on
her. “I understood the receptionist when
she spoke. She spoke English.”
“No, no,” the Doctor smiled, “you
are only hearing English. It’s the TARDIS;
it translates languages for you, in your head.
You are hearing them speak English and they will hear you speaking
Weykver. That is what their language is
called. I would never trick you like
that.”
The door the receptionist had passed
through opened and a man stepped through it.
He quickly walked up to the Doctor, put his fist on his chest and
bowed. The Doctor did this also.
“You are the Doctor?” the man
asked. “You don’t look a thing like I
expected.”
“Well, it’s probably the shoes. I changed them quite recently,” the Doctor
answered.
“No sir, I mean, well, forgive me,
but my father met you years ago. He
described you very differently. I suppose
you are not the same person.” The man
looked a little disappointed.
“Your father, he was Mayor Drem,
right?” the Doctor quietly asked.
“Yes,” the Mayor was surprised.
“Oh yes, I remember meeting
him. He was a good man,” the Doctor
said.
“Indeed sir. You are the same man then?” the man asked.
“I am. I changed clothes. Got rid of the scarf.” The Doctor grinned.
Merry was puzzled, but she was
getting used to that as well. Everything
about this Doctor puzzled her.
The man turned to Merry, “Welcome
Human. It has been a long time since one
of your species visited us. I’m Mayor
Dremkers.” He bowed to Merry.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,
Mayor,” Merry said. "My name is Merry."
“Now, if you would both follow me
please,” the Mayor said, turning to the door and passing through it. The Doctor and Merry followed. They went through a series of long halls
before the Mayor opened another door and led them into a large room. It was a conference room like one would find
in any office building on Earth. It had
a long table, chairs, glasses and water on the table, and several landscape
paintings on the walls. The biggest
difference between this conference room and one on Earth were the Weyks who
were sitting around the table. They all
rose from their seats when the Doctor and Merry walked in. The Mayor walked to the head of the table and
sat down. The Doctor held out a chair
for Merry. She sat down in it. The Doctor sat next to her and finally all
the others in the room sat back down into their seats.”
“Fellows,” the Mayor addressed the
room, “This is the Doctor, whom you all heard my father, Mayor Drem speak of,
and his assistant, Merry.”
Everyone in the room looked at the
strangers and nodded their heads. The
Doctor, who seemed quite use to this kind of thing smiled and waved a hand. Merry felt her cheeks go red at all these
aliens looking at her. She smiled.
“Doctor, we are meeting today to
discuss the terrible plague that has overcome our people and is quickly killing
them. We have had many such meetings and
so far and have come to no avail.” The
Mayor was grave. “We have done
everything we can think of. We sent
troops of our best men and scientists into the furthest reaches of space,
hoping to find a cure. Every one of them,
who have returned, has come back empty handed.”
The people around the tabled nodded
their heads again. “Quite frankly,” the
Mayor said dismayed, “we have exhausted all of our ideas and resources.”
“Excuse me, if I may,” Merry
spoke. She was terribly nervous
addressing the council of people that sat around the table. She didn’t know their protocol or if aliens
were allowed to speak at all. When no
one objected to her speaking she continued, “I would like to know, what is
inciver?”
The group around the table looked
astonished and began to whisper to each other.
“How do you know of inciver, Human?”
another man at the tabled asked.
This man was smaller than the Mayor
and his hair was blacker. Merry was
amused that each head of black hair she saw sitting at the table each had a
single streak of a bright color in it.
The Mayor’s was a turquoise blue and the man who had just spoken to her
had a streak of emerald green. She
wondered if they dyed their hair according to their rank or office in society.
“One of your ships came to Earth and
my husband spoke to your people,” Merry explained.
One of the other men in the room
stood up. “Earth? I went to Earth. I’ve actually been there twice.” He reached
into a pocket and pulled something out in his fist. He opened his fist in front of Merry. She laughed and cried at the same time when
she saw in his hand, a small white button.
“Peter’s button!” she said.
“You were the one who met Peter when he was a child and then returned
several months ago, but more than 20 years later.”
“Yes, that was me. He was such an eager child. I was so happy to find him again all those
years later. He remembered me, I
believe,” the man was quite excited.
“He most certainly did. He was thrilled at having seen you,” Merry
laughed.
“Did you bring him here with you?” the
man asked.
“No, I’m afraid he died. Caught your sickness, I believe.” Merry’s voice lowered. “Still, I know that he was very, very happy
at having seen you again.”
The man’s head hung low, “I’m
sorry. He was my favorite encounter with
an alien in all of my space travels.”
“Excuse me, Human.” The green
streaked haired man said. “I’m sorry to
hear of your husband’s death. He told
you about the inciver?”
“Well. It’s rather difficult to explain. Your ship came and they spoke with each
other,” she motioned to the man who was holding Peter’s button in his hand, “and
you said the word ‘inciver’ several times.”
The man nodded sadly. The Doctor watched the interactions between
Merry and the Weyks with great interest.
As much as he loved humans, they were always a little funny when it came
to space travel and aliens from other worlds.
He knew that when they Mayor first spoke to her, she was nervous and
afraid, but now she was holding emotional and complex conversation with them. He was very impressed with her.
“What is inciver?” Merry asked.
The green streaked man sat back into
his chair. “Inciver is a plant. We believe it is the cure we seek. Sadly though, no one can find the plant. It is not to be found here and we have found
it nowhere else in our travels.”
An alien plant. Merry was disappointed. She knew about a few herbs and plants back on
Earth, but even then, she only knew a few.
There was no way she could know about an alien plant. The meeting didn’t last much longer. Everyone had run out of ideas and no one had
new information to discuss.
“Doctor,” the Mayor approached him
and Merry. “This is Gweri, my
Deputy. He will show you around. Thank you for coming here, although I’m not
sure what you can do for us.”
The Mayor turned and left. Merry noticed that Gweri had a streak of
orange in his black hair. Gweri bowed slightly and said, “Follow me,
please.”
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
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