From: jfy@cis.ksu.edu (Joseph F. Young)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Reposting of "Stories of Nyssa" PART 6 of 8 by David E. Woon
Followup-To: rec.arts.drwho
Date: 17 Dec 1992 22:28:08 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University, Dept. of Computing and Information Scienc
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: crucis.cis.ksu.edu
Summary: Part 6 of Stories of Nyssa by David E. Woon
Keywords: Nyssa, Story, repost

This story was originally posted around February this year...


------------------------------------------------------------------------
   This is the SIXTH episode in a series.  Please address comments or
     requests for further information or the previous episodes to:
            ng436@pnlg.pnl.gov   (or)   ng436@traken.pnl.gov
  --  David E. Woon  --  Molecular Science Research Center -- PNL --
            --  Alumnus of Michigan Tech University  --
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                     PUNTING ON THE STREAM OF TIME
                            by David E. Woon


BACKGROUND:

In the previous story we met the character of David Ramsey.  It is
necessary to review his background he is going to be travelling with
Nyssa.

He holds a doctorate in physics from a small midwestern school, Michigan
Technological University, which is located in the Upper Peninsula of
that state.  The school is found in the town of Houghton, in the middle
of another peninsula, known as the Keweenaw.  David has roots there
which go deeper than his eleven years of residence; his grandfather and
family had lived in the area in the 30's and built a cottage on the
southern shore of Lake Superior.

Nyssa was drawn into meeting Dave by a strange coincidence: he had
written a group of stories about her which were fairly accurate.  To
him, she and all of the Doctor Who universe were fiction, at least until
she walked out of her TARDIS and into his office one evening.  Later on,
their time stream converged together with another one in which the
Doctor's universe was completely real.  In this alternative reality a
slightly different Nyssa and Dave had met each other and had then
proceeded to encounter an intriguing alien who called himself a sprite
and claimed to be a scout for the peaceful race known as the Threno-
danians.  The two time streams merged into one complete stream, and it
is soon to sweep Nyssa and Dave into new adventures, whether they desire
it or not.

Dave and Nyssa have found a common bond growing between them.  This new
series of stories explores a different form of companionship that has
rarely been seen in the television series, but one which, it is hoped,
has a certain potential for new perspectives and motivations.

One final bit of detail: this encounter with David Ramsey has led both
Nyssa and Dave to the realization that Nyssa's TARDIS must surely be
capable of more than motion through space and time.  As a Type-60*
TARDIS, it is also able to travel down paths which lead into the realms
of the imagination.

They are now proceeding toward a rendezvous with the Doctor, an event
both he and David are looking forward to with anticipation.


------------------------------------------------------------------------


SCENE 1:  The Amalgam pub

(The Doctor's Amalgam sits alone.  The Master's Amalgam will not be
 coming in anymore, and he is mourning the loss of his friend.)

(An unknown Amalgam enters with Nyssa's.  He is tall, and although it is
 not overtly apparent, every subtlety we see in him reflects an immense
 sense of antiquity.)

(They sit down at the same inglenook in which the Doctor's Amalgam is
 sitting in and staring from.)

R.  We have come to be with you.

(He puts his large reassuring hand on the shoulder of Doctor's Amalgam,
 who focuses enough to recognize his company.)

D.  The Amalgams of Rassilon and Nyssa...  Thank you for coming.

R.  The Master's Amalgam has done what none of us have ever needed to do
    before, to give up his own existence in the interest of the one he
    served.  He deserves our grief.

D.  The Master will not consider this in his best interest.

R.  Nor will he realize how large a loss it is to us, and to the Time
    Lords, to lose his memories.

N.  Aren't his experiences all safe in the Matrix?

R.  Only the externals.  The lifelong memories of his knowledge, per-
    spectives and motivations and how they interrelated with those of
    other people, all that is gone.  In spite of his twistedness, it
    is still a great loss.

(As the scene progresses, the Doctor's Amalgam loses his despondency.
 Like the Doctor himself, conversation helps allow the emotions to
 subside.)

D.  An Earthling would say, what good is a photograph if you don't know
    the story behind it?

N.  I think I understand, sort of.  (She wants to change the subject.)
    Are you aware that Nyssa has picked up a companion?

D.  No, I hadn't heard.

R.  This is no simple companion.

N.  I'm sorry, I'm still new to the application of connotations.  I know
    the theory quite well, but it is harder to make out the distinctions
    than I though it would be.

D.  You mean that this companion is more than a companion?

N.  There is already strong affection between them.

R.  It could lead to an interesting situation.

D.  I can think of several possible ramifications.  None of which Rassi-
    lon exactly planned for.

R.  It is even more complex than you know.

D.  How so?

R.  This individual has crossed the imaginary plane.

D.  Oh, my.  We thought that was impossible.

R.  We should have known better.  After all, where are we?

D.  The best theory I've heard is that this place is derived from us
    much in the same way as we are derived from the Time Lords.  It's
    your theory, in fact.

R.  But I've come to question it lately, or actually, to extend it.  I
    think that in being derived from ourselves it is founded just over
    the edge of imagination.  After all, we are not as real as we
    appear.

D.  Perhaps you are right.

R.  Perhaps.  But this person...

N.  His name is David Ramsey.

R.  This person has come from a place which no one in our universe had
    conceived of, a place to which we had existed only as fiction.

D.  Does that mean that our universe is derived from theirs?  That we
    were imaginary all along?

R.  That does not appear to be true.  Both universes coexist as alter-
    native realities; there was, in fact, another David Ramsey in our
    own universe.

N.  But a different Nyssa met each of them.  Where did the second Nyssa
    come from?

D.  Are there two of each of them?

R.  Not any more.  Their individual time streams converged.  A myster-
    ious second Nyssa...

N.  Who had the same memories as mine...

R.  Jumped from someplace and met Ramsey.  The time streams combined,
    and they are now in our universe.

N.  The second Nyssa had a TARDIS which is not like any from our uni-
    verse.  It was already capable of travelling along the imaginary
    axis.

D.  That explains how she crossed the imaginary plane the first time,
    but it tells us nothing about where she came from.

N.  She had most of the same memories.  I felt myself pass through an
    abruptness when the streams converged.

R.  What was different?

N.  Recent events, mostly.  She was aware that her TARDIS could travel
    into imagination, but she didn't know how to use it.  Somehow, the
    TARDIS itself chose to seek out David Ramsey.

R.  You should know everything that TARDIS knew.

N.  There was a moment after the convergence when the two knowledges
    were intermeshing, and I think some of each was lost or misplaced.

D.  Hopefully, you will be able to find it again.

R.  This is all very remarkable.  I wonder what will come of it.

(A very perceptive observation from the Amalgam of Rassilon.  I wonder,
 too.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 2:  Nyssa and Dave, Nyssa's TARDIS, en route to Orion

(What we have here are two people who have some things in common and
 have been brought together by uncommon circumstances.  Although they
 each have an honest interest in each other, the relationship is still
 young.  They have very different backgrounds: Nyssa is a citizen of the
 galaxy and has seen some of the universe's nastier aspects, while Dave
 is a provincial who knows more about the failings of his own people
 that those of the cosmos.  One big point in their favor is that neither
 have had the deeper sort of relationship which theirs promises to
 become, and both want it to succeed.)

(The previous storyline also provided some details about the difference
 between Dave and Nyssa's respective time senses.  Nyssa, as a Time
 Lord, tends to see time from outside as a semi-detached observer. Dave,
 on the other hand, has seen time only from the inside, but has the
 means to glimpse through its depths without actually having to travel
 any distance.  He sees history as a sweeping whole, while she sees it
 as a series of events.)

(We start in a corrider of the TARDIS.  She opens a door to a room; we
 note that he has a box of assorted items which he has brought with
 him.)

N.  Here is a room which you may use.  I'm sorry that it hasn't much
    character, but I haven't had much of chance yet to collect odds and
    ends.

D.  It'll be fine.  I have a few things which I can use to personalize
    it.

N.  My room is at the end of the corridor.  I'll show you some of the
    other rooms.

(He leaves the box on the floor and follows her.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 3:  the world of Beta Orionsis 5

(The Doctor has already arrived on this pleasant world.  He has been
 wandering barefoot along the beach and is now throwing stones.  Some-
 times to skip them, sometimes just to throw them, but ocassionally
 to floommph them [more on this later]).

(Nyssa's TARDIS materialises close at hand and its occupants emerge.)

(Now I've got to find a letter to use for David Ramsey.  D is out, so
 I'll use R [Ramsey and Rassilon will never appear together in the same
 scene {oh, yeah?}].)

N.  Hello, Doctor!

D.  Hello, Nyssa.

N.  This is Dr. David Ramsey, though he doesn't like using the "Dr."; he
    claims that he keeps forgetting that he's earned his Ph.D.

D.  Pleased to meet you, sir.

R.  And I'm quite glad to meet you, Doctor, after all I've seen and
    heard of you.

D.  Nyssa told me a few brief things in her communique, and I must admit
    that I am quite intrigued.  To come from another reality into this
    one!  You're going to have a hard time explaining this.

R.  Ummmm...

N.  Doctor, he doesn't know how it happened.  It looks like it was more
    my fault.

D.  But you claimed to have to have no idea how you ended up with a
    different kind of TARDIS.

N.  It's a mystery to me.

R.  I'd been thinking about this new variation on a TARDIS, so I wasn't
    completely surprised that Nyssa's was so equipped.

D.  But TARDIS's aren't real in your universe at all.

R.  Maybe that's why the one I encountered came with something extra.

D.  No, I think we will find that cause and effect are lurking behind
    this somewhere.

N.  Maybe we can use this TARDIS to find out more about its own ori-
    gins.  What were you doing before we arrived?

D.  Just strolling about, throwing a few stones.

(He picks one up and throws it so that it is spinning very fast in a
 plane perpendicular to the calm water.  When it hits the surface, it
 floommphs rather than splashes.  Dave is overjoyed to discover he has
 something so trivial in common with the Doctor.)

R.  You floommph rocks!

D.  Hmmm?  Oh, the sound.  A nice bit of physics.

R.  It reminds me of the sound a good diver makes when he makes a rip
    entry through the surface.

(He throws a stone that also floommphs.)

R.  I find that it works with both overhand and underhand throws.

(He does whichever he and the Doctor didn't do above.)

D.  I never tried that variation.

(But he promptly does.)

(Nyssa is a little surprised at this exchange.  Her she has brought to-
 gether two people who are of fundamentally different backgrounds, and
 they are exchanging floommphing secrets like old friends.  What else
 can she do but pick up a rock and try to floommph it?)

D.  It has to hit the surface spinning very fast and cut through it like
    a knife.

(She tries again and her second attempt is a true floommph.)

(The scene ends with the three of them floommphing rocks.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 4:  The Doctor's TARDIS, the control room

(Dave is looking at everything avidly.  He walks around the console,
 looking at the rotor, the controls, the viewscreen.)

R.  It's incredible to actually be here.  To see THE TARDIS from inside
    and know that it isn't a set.

D.  I find it a thoroughly amazing..

N.  Why, Doctor?

D.  To you, we're fiction come to life.  To us, you're the manifesta--
    tion of an omniscient storyteller.  You've seen my adventures and
    know them as accurately as the Matrix.  There are things you know
    about us that the Matrix doesn't know.

N.  I'm glad he knows what he knows about me.  He understands me without
    having to be told.

D.  I suppose there would be benefits as well.

N.  What are you worried about?

D.  Does his universe predetermine ours or is does it simply observe
    ours?  Are we a figment of his imagination?

R.  I couldn't be here if TARDIS's weren't real.  A TARDIS entered my
    universe.  Nyssa says that it wasn't one from this particular
    universe, but that just means there are other independent time
    streams besides mine and yours.

N.  And anyhow, we're forgetting that there was a David Ramsey in our
    universe which met a slightly different me.  The rest of me came
    from a third universe with the different TARDIS.  Then all three of
    us came together -- the two Daves from the first and second streams,
    and the Nyssa and her TARDIS from the second and third streams.

R.  I wonder if the other two time streams continue to exist or if the
    entire streams merged?

D.  I should think that it was only portions which merged.  Nothing
    happened to me or to the rest of this universe.

R.  It's sort of a knotty problem.  We could check though, to see if
    my universe is still present.  We have Nyssa's TARDIS, after all.

N.  Let's try it.  Are you going to come with us, Doctor?

D.  Only if you promise not to introduce me to myself.


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 5:  The Doctor, Nyssa and Dave in Nyssa's TARDIS

(Dave is working at one console with the Doctor close at hand, and Nyssa
 is standing on the opposite side doing other things.)

D.  What an interesting set of controls.  How do you know how to use
    them?

R.  Have you ever picked up something and discovered that you just had
    the knack for it?  I have an intuitive understanding.  I know that
    this bank of controls affects our position along the imaginary
    axis.  This lever controls stability, this one starts an automatic
    search for a place of interest, and so on.

(He activates the last one.)

N.  I pointed him to that console and he got us back here as if he'd
    been doing it all his life.

R.  It's spooky.  I shouldn't know what I'm doing, but I do.

D.  It's as much a mystery as how the second Nyssa came from the third
    stream into the first and met you without knowing how to use the
    controls.

R.  Well, we're on course for my stream.  Nyssa has tied in the time
    controls so that this board will direct the TARDIS to the place I
    have in mind.  It will be several hours.  Would either of you be
    interested if I go down the kitchen and whip together a pizza or
    something?

D.  Pizza?

N.  You know what a pizza is!  Please, Dave.

R.  OK

(He leaves.)

D.  He's an interesting individual, a bit hard to read.

N.  He's a private person.  I met him in the most vulnerable way he's
    ever met anyone, and I've seen parts of him he scarcely dares to
    write about in notes to himself.

D.  I've seen enough to understand your affection for him.  Does he...?

N.  I know it hasn't shown up much, but he's as fond of me as I am of
    him.  Both of us are a bit unsure how to act.

D.  That's understandable.


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 6:  Several hours later

R.  We should be ready to materialise.  Don't become visible or there
    will be what you might call a "fine how-do-you-do".

D.  Where are we landing?

R.  England, about ten years before I left Earth.

(The TARDIS lands, but the spatial rotor stays in motion to indicate
 that it isn't quite within the time stream.)

R.  Turn on the viewscreen.

(It comes to life and shows that they have arrived during the filming of
 "The Black Orchid."  We are near the large English home used during the
 filming.)

N.  It's us!

D.  Fascinating.

(We see the cameras and crew, as well as the entire regular cast.)

D.  No, Nyssa, it isn't us.

R.  You're right.  In my world, Nyssa was played by an actress named Sarah
    Sutton, and that Doctor is Peter Davison.  Adric is Matthew Water-
    house and Tegan is Janet Fielding.

N.  On that trip I met a girl who looked just like me...

R.  Sarah Sutton played both roles.

D.  This isn't the same as meeting oneself.  But it's close.

N.  I understand now why you find all this disconcerting, Doctor.

D.  I wonder what would happen if we did materialise.

R.  Do you think there would be any harm?

D.  Only if Nyssa herself went out.  They wouldn't recognize you or me.

R.  Nyssa, have us materialize so that we can walk on the set without
    them seeing your TARDIS.

(She does so.  Her TARDIS appears, but out of current sight. It looks
 very much like a large case used for packing cameras or other equip-
 ment.)

N.  I wish I could come along.

D.  You would be too hard to explain.

R.  We can go forward in time and show up after the date when Sarah
    Sutton left the show.  They'll mistake you for her, but no one will
    suspect the truth.

(Dave and the Doctor exit and are shown leaving the open case.  They
 move up to where they can unobtrusively watch the filming.  The
 current Doctor [the real one], by the way, has returned to wearing
 fairly undramatic clothing.)

(After a bit, the actors take a break.  John Nathan-Turner wanders off
 with Matthew Waterhouse and Janet Fielding.  The Doctor marches right
 up to Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton.  We see that Dave is a bit
 concerned about what the Doctor might say.)

D.  Hello, Mr. Davison, Miss Sutton.

(He shakes their hands, although they are a bit wary.  Who is this odd
 stranger who has shown up out of nowhere.)

R.  Umm....

D.  Excuse me, this is my assistant, David Ramsey.

R.  I'm not sure this was such a good idea.

D.  Nonsense.  (To the actors.)  David suggested that we introduce our-
    selves, but he would never have done it without me.

P.  And you are?

D.  I'm the Doctor, of course.

R.  Oh, no!

(Davison and Miss Sutton react as anyone would, especially considering
 the occasional slightly batty individual who inevitably shows up where
 a show like "Doctor Who" is involved.  They are on the verge of calling
 for assistance in having the intruders removed.)

R.  Think fast, Doctor.

D.  Ah...yes.  As I recall, in the context of what you would call this
    "story", you prevented yourself from being arrested by showing the
    local constabulary your TARDIS.

S.  And yours...

D.  Right around there (pointing).

P.  It would be interesting if true.

(The two actors wander over to the case and all four enter one by one.)

(We flash inside to see Sarah Sutton seeing the real Nyssa.)

S.  Oh, my.

N.  Goodness.

P.  It really is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!

(The two Nyssa's approach close enough to touch hands.)

P.  I never dreamed that we were imitating reality.

D.  Not quite imitating.  Apparently, my life and the fictional one you
    are portraying have essentially the same details.

P.  If I'm the fifth Doctor, then which one are you?  Something out of
    the future, I suppose?

D.  I'm the eighth one.

P.  Eighth.  So you actually once looked just like myself?

D.  As much as Nyssa and your Miss Sutton resemble one another.

(The likeness is exact except for the age difference, of course.)

S.  Peter, this isn't all insanity is it?

P.  I don't think so.

N.  We're quite real.  The Doctor and I happen to come from an alterna-
    tive reality.  David is from yours.

P.  From where?  You sounded American.

R.  I am.  Actually, if this is 1982, then there is another one of me
    over there right now studying metallurgy at a school in the state
    of Michigan.

P.  Then you're from the future and they're from a different reality?

R.  Yes.  I won't see any of Doctor Who for about six more years, then
    I'll see about 20 year's worth in the course of two real years.  I'm
    a great fan.  I think I enjoyed your protrayal of the Doctor the
    most, and that includes the men who will follow you as well as Hart-
    nell, Troughton, Pertwee and Tom Baker.  I also liked Sarah Sutton
    as Nyssa, and missed her quite a bit when she left the show.

P.  Well, thank you.

S.  The two of you are the Doctor's companions?

D.  No, they're travelling separately.  This is actually Nyssa's TARDIS.

P.  How can that be?

N.  I've become a Time Lord.

P.  You know, this is an awful much for someone to absorb all at once.

D.  Mr. Davison, I agree.

R.  You see, they're as shocked to meet their counterparts as you are.

P.  I don't suppose that we could travel with you for awhile?

S.  The Doctor being a companion to the Doctor?

P.  You have to admit it would help me to understand my role better.

R.  You do very well already.

D.  I wouldn't want to alter your interpretation.

P.  Well, after this, I will certainly be able to play you with more
    conviction.  Sarah, we should get back to the set before someone
    starts looking for us.

S.  We wouldn't want them to find us.

P.  It was a pleasure to meet you, Doctor.

D.  Likewise, Doctor.

(They smile at each other and then the two actors depart.  As soon as
 they're outside, Nyssa activates dematerialisation circuit.  We see
 Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton watching.)

P.  I suddenly feel incredible cheerful.  You don't suppose John would
    believe us....

(Sarah Sutton is shaking her head slowly.  She is already unsure she
 really saw the real TARDIS, Nyssa and Doctor.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 7:  Beta Orionsis 5, outside the TARDIS's

R.  I was concerned there for a moment when you admitted that you were
    the Doctor.

N.  Anything could have happened.

D.  If these people were playing us, they must believe in what they're
    doing.  At least a little bit or they wouldn't want to pretend to be
    me and you.

N.  They'll believe it a little bit more now.

D.  David, I don't suppose you could build me the proper circuitry to
    convert my TARDIS to add this capability?  I can think of dozens of
    imaginary circumstances I'd love to investigate.

R.  Sorry.  I haven't any idea of the physics involved.

D.  Maybe it's better this way.  If you do work it out, let me know.

(The Doctor says good bye to Nyssa and shakes Dave's hand. then enters
 his TARDIS and dematerialises.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 8:  The Amalgam Pub, the Amalgams of the Doctor and Rassilon

D.  The Doctor, Nyssa and Dave have all crossed to Dave's universe and
    back.  They visited the place where they were filming one of the
    Doctor's earlier adventures.  This is getting out of hand!  He
    introduced himself and brought two actors into Nyssa's TARDIS.

R.  You're worried about the Doctor?  I wonder if they have the smallest
    glimmer of what it is they're playing around with.

D.  Do you think it's dangerous?

R.  I haven't a clue.  We have no facts upon which to base any reason-
    able conjectures.  Perhaps Trefusis would know.

D.  Do you think he would consult with us?  He can be very stubborn
    about getting involved with anything where he might overly determine
    the outcome.

R.  We can only ask.

D.  Then we must find Givens and have him ask Trefusis to consider coming
    by to chat.


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 9:  Nyssa's TARDIS, Dave and Nyssa

(Dave can be D. again.)

N.  Where are we going to go now?

D.  I thought we'd try to find another parallel universe.

N.  What sort of place?

D.  Perhaps another television series from my world.  Actually, I'm
    divided between stepping in on "Star Trek" or "Remington Steele."

N.  Why more television?

D.  I don't know.  It doesn't really matter.  Is there some place you
    want to go?

N.  No, not really.

(Dave disappears.)

N.  Dave?  Where are you?

(He's gone.  He's ceased to exist on Nyssa's plane of existence.)

(Nyssa looks around for a bit, then dissappears as well.)

(The TARDIS follows shortly thereafter, as see from an external shot. It
 should be seen hurtling through space when it vanishes.)


          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


SCENE 10:  The Amalgam pub

(This should be impossible, but that was before the existence of Nyssa's
 new TARDIS.  We have Nyssa, Dave, Trefusis, Givens, and the Amalgam of
 Rassilon.  Trefusis is in charge.)

(Dave and Nyssa and the TARDIS are seen to appear one by one [Dave and
 Nyssa outside the TARDIS, of course].  They are mystified.  The others
 are already seated at a table, so Nyssa and Dave join them.)

(N = Nyssa, D = David Ramsey, T = Trefusis, G = Givens, R = Rassilon's
 Amalgam, assuming they all have speaking parts.)

N.  Trefusis?  What's going on?

T.  I'm sorry, my dear, I thought it best to intervene.

(Nyssa notices that Dave has a very lost look on his face.  He's feeling
 like he's been drawn into something which is too big for his mind to
 deal with.)

N.  David, this is Trefusis and Givens, the ones you wrote about.  I
    don't know who the others are.  I don't know where we are, either.

T.  This is the plane of the Amalgams.

N.  Oh.  I didn't know they had their own plane.

T.  Up until this moment, no Time Lord was aware of its existence.
    Givens and I, er, found it a long time ago.

G.  Trefusis, you may as well tell them the truth.

T.  All right, Givens, if you think it's best.  Actually, we founded
    it.  A long, long time ago Rassilon started the traditions on
    Gallifrey and became the first Time Lord.  This is his Amalgam, by
    the way.

R.  Pleased to meet you, Nyssa and you as well, Dr. Ramsey.

N.  Rassilon's Amalgam?  How can his Amalgam still be alive?

R.  Although Rassilon died in the depths of time, I will live on as long
    as his TARDIS continues to exist.

N.  The first TARDIS still exists?

R.  Yes, and its position is the best-kept secret in the universe, since
    no one but myself can know where it is.  But we are digressing.

T.  Rather, but I'm always tantalized by that bit of information.  I
    haven't run across the TARDIS of Rassilon since his death, and I've
    been around.  I've even looked for it a bit.

R.  Did you know Rassilon?

T.  Certainly.  He wouldn't have solved the problem of breaking out of
    or back into the chronistic manifold without me.  I question that
    decision every once in a while.

    Later on, Rassilon discovered that the TARDIS needed an artificial
    intelligence of its own or time travel would be impossibly complex.
    Computers weren't enough; it required the ability to synthesize.
    Hence, the chronic nebuliser and so on.  Each TARDIS needs to be
    imprinted with the psyche of a Time Lord.  You already know that
    under normal circumstances, this means that only that Time Lord can
    really control that TARDIS.

    Rassilon couldn't foresee that the intelligence of the TARDIS would
    be able to manifest itself as this pseudo-being called an Amalgam,
    but he was pleased to meet his.  It meant that travelling in a
    TARDIS is more like travelling with a TARDIS.

    He was unaware that these Amalgams had no place to go when they
    weren't visible.  I gave them a place.

N.  None of this sounds very plausible.

T.  I don't think so either.  Givens, if you hadn't insisted on the
    truth, I wouldn't be in this mess.  You explain it.

G.  You've explained it well enough.  Just as we created an enormous
    time bubble for the Attic of Eternity, we also created a bubble
    which is generally only accessible to Amalgams.

N.  All right.  At the beginning you talked about intervening.  What's
    really going on here?

T.  The Amalgams have been aware of your use of the imaginary circuits
    in your TARDIS, and they feared that there could be some danger.
    They consulted me with this information, and I summoned this
    gathering.

N.  Do you mean to say that there is danger?

T.  Not necessarily danger.  But I must warn you of an aspect of your
    travels that you cannot be aware of.

D.  Frequent crossings between realities can erode the barriers which
    protect universes from each other.  Potentially hazardous inter-
    actions may then follow.

T.  Quite right.  But will you tell me how you know that?

D.  It's....

(He closes his eyes suddenly and then shakes his head violently.)

N.  Dave, are you all right?

D.  For a moment, it almost all fell into place.  I thought I saw a
    future me, and those words came into my mind.

T.  Most interesting.  Have you experienced this sort of thing before?

D.  Not like this.

T.  But you have felt as if you were looking forward and backward at
    a multiple of former and future you's?

N.  (To David.)  That's what you were talking about that evening at your
    cottage.

D.  Yes.  Trefusis, I've been seeing like this for ten years.

T.  You are becoming one of the unchained.

D.  Like a Threnodanian?

(Trefusis looks across at Rassilon.)

T.  This gathering does not appear to have been necessary.  They already
    know about barrier erosion, unchaining and Threnodanians.

R.  They know more than I do.

T.  I suppose you can also tell us where Givens came from.

(We wait to hear such a pronouncement, but it doesn't arrive.)

T.  Too bad.  He would like to know.  You wouldn't have any idea where
    Rassilon's Amalgam has hidden away the first TARDIS, would you?

D.  I don't know very much.  We happened to encounter a sprite, and he
    told us about the Threnodanians.

T.  A sprite?  Do you realize that the sprites are almost as elusive
    as the Threnodanians themselves?

N.  How could we know?

T.  I'm sorry.  I'm not used to people stealing my wind.  Let me think a
    moment.  If A, then B, and if not C, then D.  Ah.  I understand.
    The sprite most likely showed himself because he saw that you are
    becoming unchained.   I gather that it is a disoriented process, but
    greatly eased if the one under metamorphosis is somewhat aware of
    where the process is taking him.

G.  Trefusis, you're not being very clear.

D.  What do you mean that I'm becoming unchained?

T.  You know what unchaining is: your mind is becoming free to wander in
    time.

D.  More free than it has been?

T.  Far more so.  You can understand the controls for the imaginary
    circuits because of it.  You see flashes into the future which carry
    an increasing degree of conviction.  The sprite wanted to set you
    into the path where you would believe that this is real and not the
    onset of madness.

D.  I've been a bit afraid of some of what's been happening to me.

N.  Where does it end?  Does he end up as a disembodied mind that is
    aware of its entire existence as if it were all the present.

(Nyssa is becoming concerned that perhaps David is going to be taken
 away from her, and they have just started.)

T.  There's no telling how far his unchaining will progress, but his
    mind will never become disembodied.  He may never experience any-
    thing more than the current level of unchainedness.

D.  Is there anything else we need to know?  I feel like thinking for a
    while.

T.  It would appear that you know or will be given the proper under-
    standing to avoid destroying the entire space-time continuum by
    cross-reality travel.

D.  Then I think we should be leaving.  It was good to meet all of you.
    Is it all right with you if we leave, Nyssa?

N.  Certainly, Dave.

R.  I hope you won't mind if I ask that you never reveal the existence
    of this place to anyone else.

N.  Not at all.  We understand.

(A confused Dave and concerned Nyssa enter her TARDIS and disappear.)

T.  I wonder what will become of them.

R.  Do you have any ideas?

T.  You want a prediction about what might come out of love between a
    Time Lord and one who is unchained?  I can only speculate and most
    likely, I will be completely wrong.

R.  I'm still curious.

T.  If it works, I can see them reaching into some of the truly bizarre
    aspects of reality out on its very edges.  I'm an ancient explorer,
    and I've only seen one part in 10,000,000,000,000 of all that
    reality has to offer.  The places they could go....  If they can
    make it work.


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SCENE 11:  the sitting room in Nyssa's TARDIS

N.  David, what can I do?

D.  I don't know.  I can't focus my thoughts.

N.  Don't try then.

D.  My head is so full.  I can hardly hold one idea long enough to con-
    sider it before ten more take its place.  Some of the ideas must be
    coming from past and future me's, too, because they come as quick
    intuitive insights that quickly stop making sense.

(Nyssa comes and sits closely beside him on the sofa.)

D.  Thanks.  Your nearness helps.

N.  I'll do whatever I can.


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-- 
Joseph Young, Systems Programmer
KSU Department of Computing and Information Sciences
Manhattan, Kansas 66506  FAX: (913) 532-7353  Phone: (913) 532-6350   
Internet: jfy@cis.ksu.edu  UUCP: rutgers!depot!jfy