Deciphering the Void [open]

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Recognizing, decoding, rearranging, and making sense of star charts was nothing new to the Doctor. Sometimes it would’ve been right after the TARDIS rematerialized in an unknown location where only the scanner was working, trained at the section of sky in which they were stationed; sometimes they could determine the origin or type of species in an area; occasionally putting them in the right location would disarm traps, if the Osirians were any base indication.

This would be the first time he’d ever used his knowledge to piece together a chart of the space between dimensions—for obvious reasons, he didn’t exactly frequent the area you know—but, as per usual, it wasn’t much different from what he was used to. The landmarks were certainly of a different constitution, the language was…new, to say the least. At least the parallels were simple enough to draw.

The Media Library proved a good enough place to conduct this series of translations, which the Doctor hadn’t expected at first. This explained why he’d downloaded the charts from the allocated console onto a portable data pad; regardless, the cushy (fleshy) chairs nearby were worth the effort and time of otherwise unnecessary transfer. The celery-wearing Time Lord settled into one of the couches, set up some extra screens, and very soon he was completely engrossed.

It didn’t take much longer, therefore, before the entire set of chairs was taken up by screens and scribbled bunches of paper, and the Doctor had settled into his usual groove of quietly muttering to himself and pacing around his various work surfaces. Given time he might take up the entire Library.

Unless, of course, parts of it were already taken. In which case he might run into them first.

Comments

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

"You want this table, too?" Ben asked casually, glancing up from Kaul Prugman's Introduction to Interdimensional Economics.

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

The Doctor almost didn’t hear him at first, head cocked at an odd angle as he regarded a particularly interesting section displayed on one of those semi-translucent screens he was carrying, and as a matter of fact he didn’t see him right up until he’d almost placed the screen on the table in question.

“—Hmm?” was the first reply, buying time while his subconscious supplied the necessary information that it had passively gathered from a few seconds previous, “—Ah, yes please, if you wouldn’t mind.”

The table was taken, the Doctor didn’t look up. Several minutes of scrolling later he noticed the book.

“Bit of a broad topic, isn’t it?”

[crysteel-future.livejournal.com]

A precog is seated in a chair not a that far away, her legs pulled up to her chest, head resting on her knees, and a very nicely bound Frankenstein open in front of her to chapter fourteen. She is quite engrossed in the plight of the creature than she is sympathizing with Doctor Frankenstein, which must be why she hasn't noticed how suddenly the other chairs have disappeared.

Neither has the precog noticed that she's not the only one in the Media Library, or else she would have said 'hello' or something along that line.

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Seeing as the Doctor was similarly engrossed, said precog also went unnoticed. At least until he went for the chair upon which she was sitting and noticed, somewhat late, that it was already occupied. The Doctor gave her a polite nod and went for the table instead, pulling it into a more suitable area for use, propping a screen or two upon the surface and studying them with renewed interest.

His eyes traveled for a moment to the cover of the book, out of pure curiosity of course. The author’s name suddenly pulled his attention elsewhere.

“…Mary Shelley, hmm?”

[foreseen-future.livejournal.com]

Nura nods, "Mhmm..." turning a page in the book, before noticing that the voice had come from someone; not to mention, she isn't the only one in the library. She looks up from the book to give the man a sheepish smile, a little embarassed. "Oh hello. Yes. She wrote a very engrossing read."

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Oh! There was someone reading that book, wasn’t there? The Doctor returned her sheepish smile with a toothy grin, fleeting as it was, and immediately went back to his previous task.

“Yes, quite—though I’m afraid I haven’t read it myself,” he commented idly, leaning over his work surface while typing into a data pad, “I really should for the next time I pay her a visit…”

[foreseen-future.livejournal.com]

Nura's attention catches the 'next time I pay her a visit'. "Are you from the 19th century?"

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

And the Doctor’s attention caught on the fact that she was paying him any mind at all.

“I pass through every once in a while.”

[foreseen-future.livejournal.com]

"Pass through?" That doesn't sound quite right. ...until she thinks of the only way you can 'pass through' the 19th century. "Time travel?"

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

A smile, and—gasp!—the Doctor straightened, for a moment distracted from his task. A broad grin split his face and crinkled his eyes and brow.

“Ah. Yes, you can call it that.”

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi was doing a rather similar thing as the Doctor. She had taken a table and a half, filled them with books on Alchemy, and was going through them one-by-one, recording everything she read into this little crystal hand-held device that glowed red. She figured it would be useful to have these accessible at any moment, so she was starting with the basic books first, reading rather intently. Of course, every time she came across a particularly interesting titbit, she would put that book down and pull out another one that went more in-depth on the topic, resulting in the coverage of so much room.

She had been sitting on the table, going through the books at a nearly inhuman rate. She had been doing this daily- or was it nightly? It was so hard to tell on-ship- and had built a rather large pile beside her already this night. She had been there several hours already, still as a statue, but a new flash of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

She noted her page number and turned, to find the Doctor- the first one she met- intently studying something, using these screens and pieces of paper. Of course, this made her want to know what he was studying, since he was taking up even more room than she had.

She slid next to him, slipping the device in her pocket, and asked, "If I may, what is all of this?"

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Nanashi was one of the more skillful individuals capable of sneaking up on the Doctor, but it should be noted that, in his currently distracted state, almost anyone could’ve gotten close. It should also be noted that he was, oddly, expecting for this to happen—one can only go so long taking up space before one infringes on the space of another—and thus he lost only a beat.

“Hmm?”

—And already the absorbed Time Lord was back to his task, making circles on a touch-sensitive translucent screen where some particularly interesting abnormalities within the Void showed themselves. It wasn’t until he looked up (peering over a pair of half-rimmed spectacles, which added a considerable number of years to his youthful features) to locate a sheet of paper or data pad to better record this that he actually addressed Nanashi and her question.

As usual, the Doctor’s reply was accompanied with a polite, open-mouthed smile. “—Ah. Just a bit of research.”

He had pulled out several dozen reference books, after all.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi laughed to cover her irritation. "I can see, but research on what precisely?"

She picked up one of the books, holding which page it was on with her finger, and flipped through the rest. She didn't really understand most of the diagrams, or even know the meaning of all the words being used, but she was able to gather just enough to make her more confused.

She dropped the book back down on the table where she had taken it from, leaving the same page open, "Something to do with space?"

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

The Doctor swiped off his glasses for a moment, taking a deep breath as he came up with the proper description.

“—Interdimensional composite electromagnetic graphs and pictograms as relating to the tactile and radioscopic interference of overlaying universes and their spatial properties upon Void geographical landmarks,” he burbled excitedly as if describing his favorite type of cheese.

And then, just as it had started, the Doctor was back to his screens in the blink of an eye. Well she asked, right?...

In the meantime he went for the book that Nanashi had picked up, conveniently just after she put it back down on the table. The Time Lord’s eyes flicked over the open page, instantly memorizing the graph; within the next few seconds he’d finished the relating chapter and was letting this new knowledge marinate before moving on. That being a fairly passive process, the Doctor turned to simpler tasks. No offense.

“It involves space, yes,” he explained with trained patience, taking on a tone that Tegan might’ve been familiar with if she were here, “More accurately it involves the space between spaces.”

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi wore a look a bit like she got slapped in the face- but only for a brief moment before she regained her composure. Well, from that she got that it was about overlaying universes and geographical landmarks.

The Doctor was probably one of the few people on the ship she would tolerate that tone from, since the Doctor was the the only one she had met so far on the ship that dealt with things that made her feel so completely out of her element.

Time was the one thing she had always felt so completely removed from. Even modern sciences seemed easy enough to understand, but time travel? Places in-between dimensions? They seemed so hard to grasp.

"So... You are looking at the geography of the area between dimensions?"

She had barely grasped the idea of their being different dimensions- the number of people from different dimensions helped to speed up that understanding. Now, "There are areas between dimensions as well?"

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

The Doctor grinned at her over those little glasses, pulling the book back in front of his face for further studying. He knew quite well that he had room to be arrogant here—especially when he was in his element, as he was currently. “What do you suppose we’re traveling through, hmm?”

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi recognized the arrogance in his voice. That was her job! But, she really was at an utter loss, so she had no choice to let it pass.

"I supposed that we were travelling among the stars. Please, I have only just gotten used to the ideas of various dimensions. Even accepting that the sky was not merely like a blanket covering our world so high that we could not reach it before the sun began to rise was a bit of a surprise to me. I would be honoured if you explained to me the concept of travelling between dimensions."

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Ah, now the Doctor knew who Nanashi reminded him of—Leela! It was a distant sort of relation to be sure, but the similarities were still there: she came from a primitive society, albeit a powerful one, having little knowledge of the world outside the confines of her planet (or even territory), but with a willingness, an eagerness even, to learn and understand. Nanashi’s other mannerisms bore other parallels, as the Doctor had experienced first-hand her tendencies towards violence (at least she seemed to favor diplomacy as a first option); and, of course, she was also fairly attractive—for a non-Gallifreyan that is.

But I digress.

The Doctor, a newfound tolerance manifesting at the previous realization, smiled knowingly and raised a hand. Steady on, Nanashi, one thing at a time, the gesture seemed to say, Just let me finish this page first…

He finished the page. “I’m afraid we are, in fact, traveling through the space between universes and the dimensions in which they are encased. It’s a difficult process to be sure, one that even I’m not fully aware of how it works, but it’s simple enough to explain its existence.”

So he said. The Doctor set down his book, marking the page with a stained handkerchief procured from an inside pocket (Was that rusty orange mess there in the center blood? Hard to say, hard to say.), and he raised his palms as a means of demonstration.

“If you will—think of two bubbles. Each bubble is its own separate universe, bound by a certain number of dimensions and containing matter. Some bubbles are simple spheres, but some can be made as or morph into different shapes, some are a bit more soapy than others, some have other little bubbles attached to them—but those are all irrelevant right now. What’s important is that the bubbles have to be floating around in something, don’t they? There has to be something between them. Otherwise—“

The Doctor meshed his fingers.

“—They would collide, either forming a new composite universe or destroying each other, rather, morphing or popping. The space—or non-space as it would be—is called the ‘Void’, and is what we’re traveling through, like a fly in the mist of a waterfall. And as the bubbles move around and morph and pop, they create new landmarks and obstacles within the Void that we can chart.”

[watchwith3hands.livejournal.com]

Rei hadn't spent too much time in the library up til now - he was far more of a hands-on person then a researcher. But since getting his alien puppy (http://nummynims.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/cj7.jpg), he'd been desperately needing to research how to care for dogs.

Unfortunately, he didn't feel comfortable leaving the puppy somewhere, and it was far too energetic to sit still and quiet in the library. So he'd taken it out into the city and run around and played with it before he'd come to the library. It had taken nearly two hours for the dog to finally get tired - was that normal for Earth dogs? - but it was finally sleepy enough that he could keep it in the library with him.

He sat at one table, going over various dog owner tip books in the form of a data pad, while the dog slept in a little ball by his feet. Or, he'd been trying to go over the books. He was getting rather distracted by the Doctor... spreading through the library.

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

And spreading he indeed was! It was only a matter of time before the Doctor’s research bubble was infringing upon the couch space that Rei was occupying with his fluffy companion, and by that point he’d already glanced over once or twice and recalled their previous, less-than-pleasant first encounter. Briefly he pondered over apologizing—the Doctor was still curious how such an odd anomaly could exist, and obviously Rei wasn’t telling him everything he actually knew—but even looking at him felt bizarre, uncomfortable even, and thus the Time Lord contented himself with pretending not to take notice.

That is, until the reading material and the fuzzy, sleeping creature registered; instantly the Doctor was insatiably enamored with the small puppy. True, he was used to the metal kind of canine (pardon the pun), but he was still a definite dog person.

There was, however, still that matter of getting past said dog’s owner. The Doctor made his advances as detached and casual as possible, pretending to still be engrossed and keeping his distance.

“…Does it have a name?”

[watchwith3hands.livejournal.com]

Rei had, in turn, been doing his best to ignore the Doctor. However, he knew the man was there, and it bugged him. Not because he sensed anything wrong about the Doctor as the Doctor did for him, but because there was always a nagging feeling in the back of his head. The Doctor broke the rules of time travel, and as a Guardian, Rei wasn't about to let that go.

When the Doctor spoke, Rei sighed and rolled his eyes - perhaps being a bit more showy about it then necessary. "Her name is Fatima. Fati for short." He said curtly.

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

“Ah.”

The Doctor bit his lip slightly, obviously unnerved and, therefore, wondering if he should continue investigating. Normally he would’ve ignored them completely, but…he was amply distracted now, too much so to go smoothly back to work without being distracted and thereby running the risk of missing some important detail. Besides, wasn’t it his job to place himself in the good graces of the unfriendly? Wasn’t that how he always solved problems eventually?

His mind made up, the Doctor brought out a friendly, open-mouthed smile. Hopefully Rei would find the charm endearing rather than annoying—that was the idea, at any rate. “Is she adapting well to the ship?”

[watchwith3hands.livejournal.com]

Rei didn't find the smile endearing or annoying - he found it confusing. Wasn't this the guy that had gotten a bit impatient with him for being a... what had he called him? An anomaly? And if Jamie was correct, this was, somehow, the same person as the tall skinny brown-haired man that had down-right yelled at him. Why was he smiling?

Rei blinked a few times and make a weird little noise before his brain let him accept the situation and talk. "Um. Yeah, she is. I think. I'm kind of... new... to being an alien dog owner." He said all this with his brow slightly furrowed, not exactly sure what to do.

[celery-brooch.livejournal.com]

Thus was the odd predicament often experienced by many an adversary of Five: an infallible sense of diplomacy made him unnervingly trustworthy, sometimes to the point that it had the opposite effect of making others question his motives, and yet it was extremely difficult to put him at fault since he was, unlike many of his incarnations, willing to humble himself and take the blame or back seat. Smiling was only one of many of these tactics at the Doctor’s disposal. Given time (and some personal steeling beforehand), he might even apologize.

“…Yes, she seems to be,” he noted with a slight jerk of the head the sleeping ball of fluff at Rei’s feet, “And you’re taking the time to research, that’s good too…”

There was an awkward pause, cut blissfully short as the scan running through the data pad in his hands struck gold, flashing in sequence to alert of the find. The Doctor quickly fished out his half-moon spectacles and busied himself with reading over the selected area.

[watchwith3hands.livejournal.com]

Rei was feeling a bit unnerved by the Doctor. Perhaps it was because he himself often put on a smile and tried to defuse situations by being happy and polite, and wasn't used to someone doing the same to him. Whatever it was, he couldn't quite bring himself to dislike this Doctor as much as the other one.

"Um, yeah, I kind of need to do the research, I don't want my dog to... die... or anything..."

He trailed off, then scowled a bit.

"Okay. Hate to interrupt your research or whatever -" that was a blatant lie, he didn't care about the Doctor's research "- but I really need to understand something here, because it's going to drive me crazy trying to figure it out on my own. Jaime said you and that tall skinny guy who also calls himself The Doctor are the same person. How in the hell does that work?"