Happy-Fun Splorey Times

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor, true to form and quite negating his earlier plans to keep a low profile, had decided to explore the city on his own. Also true to form, he was gawking like a natural born tourist fresh off the farm.

Well, if guys fresh off the farm kept up running commentary under their breaths about every single culture they recognized. And if they recognized quite a few, had an apparent habit of internal monologue, and occasionally ran over to point a buzzing little blue stick at seemingly random objects.

He was completely fascinated.

He was also bound and determined to get to the bottom of all this mess and get his TARDIS back. Now.

Ooh, look at that!

Comments

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor took a quick look around again, thinking. "Well, sort of depends, doesn't it? Could be a museum, though a war ship's an awfully strange place for one of those, could be places of worship for all their soldiers. Who knows? Might just have very strange ideas of interior decorating."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"One thing's for sure, they really do have a kinda Carmen Sandiego thing going on. I'm surprised they didn't stick the Eiffel Tower in here. If those are the real things, they can not only pull people from anywhere, but things as large as whole buildings. But if they're that powerful, why do they NEED an army?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Weak bodies, strong technology? Really couldn't say. Though you don't see any of whoever they are around here, do you? Unless Stacy is 'them,' in which case she's a bit big to do in-atmosphere battle. No, so far it's mostly humanoids, all in top condition. There has to be a reason for that."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Soldiers. Or... not. Slaves? There's more useful things for people than fighting. They might just be going for 'skilled, brainy, and able-bodied' because they'd be the most useful slaves. Skilled workers. Slaves or soldiers. Or both, technically, if they're forcibly conscripting us. You need more than soldiers to win a war. Inventors, doctors--the medical kind--technicians. Brains and brawn." A pause. "Diplomats. Spies. If you can, you use someone else, so that the casualties mean nothing--all your people are still alive."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"The real question..." comes a being stepping around the corner, apparently having overheard no small part of their conversation, "is why they want us here."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

Jaime whipped around, alarmed, and the armor started forming on his fist, at the very list.

That...

Was a very interesting getup.

But people judging on appearances had gotten him shot at, so he wasn't going to make the same mistake. He looked to the Doctor.

"You know this guy?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor looked as well, raising his eyebrows at the approaching figure but offering no other hint of alarm.

He glanced at Jaime. "A bit. Ran into each other earlier, wandering around. Didn't quite catch the name, though."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"We did not exchange them," he explains. "I am Scorpius." He eyes Jaime's hand. "You will not need that."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

Jaime started at him for a moment, and then the scary fist went away.

"I'm Jaime."

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Ah, well, that'd be why, then." The Doctor grinned, to all appearances care-free. "I'm the Doctor."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"Tell me, Jaime, Doctor... have you considered why they have brought us here?"

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"To use us, most likely. Somehow."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"Precisely. But to what end? And for whose benefit?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"From what the AIs have said, I'm assuming we're supposed to be some sort of army. Not all soldiers use guns, after all."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"And no army has only soldiers. Why they grabbed is what we're trying to figure out," he said, looking around at the buildings, trying to find...something that stuck out, something that didn't fit.

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"The skills of those present may be of importance as well. And I find it noteworthy just how many humans there are present thus far."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Not all human, but looks like humans and aliens that have lived on Earth." Like Starfire.

He pointed.

"That building doesn't look like a temple or church," he said, walking towards it.

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor followed Jaime; exploration was his reason for being here, after all. "Let's just settle on 'humanoids' for now, shall we? With the tentative label 'battle experience?' Lots of trigger-happy people around, it seems."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"I have not lived on Earth, though I have a familiarity with its existence." He turns to look at the building, taking in its appearance on several levels. "And while I am not a soldier, per se, I am not without some raw skill in that area."

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

Going through the doorway of the building was like walking into an Escher painting. The staircases and walkways seemed meant to defy gravity and bled into one another.

"Weird."

Jaime trotted ahead experimentally.

What? You never learned about anything just looking at it.

After a second, he standing on a staircase, positioned horizontally compared to the way the Doctor and Scorpius were positioned.

"Very weird."

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stood there, staring and gaping at the horizontal Jaime. Slowly, he grinned. "Oh, that is so neat. That is... that is neat, that is."

And then he was off, turning a couple corners until he was standing on Scorpius' ceiling. "So neat."

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

Scorpius sighs. Children, both of them.

"Yes, yes, simple experiments in gravimetrics and dimensional perceptions. That is nothing compared to what has been required to reach across multiple universes and possibilities to gather us all. The very fact that they have gathered us all means they must have mastered a very potent weapon indeed."

His eyes narrow.

"Wormholes."

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor put his glasses on to get a better look around. "Well, or something else entirely. Wormholes, I mean, they're a bit, well, simple aren't they? Just sort of giant spacetime... toilets. Yeah, I mean they're dangerous and weird, but using them's not very sophisticated, is it?"

[leather-bastard.livejournal.com]

"Not...!" He starts to hiss, then clears his head. "Doctor, have you considered the applications of controlling a wormhole?" He steps towards the Doctor, joining him on the ceiling, one hand grasping his other wrist behind his back.

"Beyond the ability to move massive armies over vast distances in the blink of an eye. Beyond the ability to travel to infinite possibilities of reality in order to find new technology and duplicate it within your own universe." He looks around, taking in the room.

"Suppose I opened a wormhole here in this room... and it connected to the inside of a sun."

He gestures around him. "As impressive as this vessel is, it would be gone in an instant. As would all its inhabitants."

He points to Jaime, but he's still speaking to the Doctor. "Would Earth... the entire planet, in one scorching instant of nuclear bombardment... have any defense against such an attack?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

In an instant, the Doctor switched from affably wonder-filled to serious. "Yes, yes it would have a defense. Me. And in other universes, others like me."

"Oh, this is so much easier in my own universe, where people actually know what 'Time Lord' means. I actually know quite a bit about wormholes, as it happens. You see, I learned their uses at school as a child. Trust me, there are much, much more efficient ways to destroy a world or ship."

He made a face. "And transferring technology between realities is really, really a bad idea. Just trust me on that one."