Related to my fic "Tea Time".
Thanks to Louise for beta-read.
“…and this is what we get — chased like wild animals, families broken, lots of…“
The loud humming of the motors from outside interrupted his father’s speech and they looked at each other.
“They’re here,“ said father drearily.
“I’ll hide you,“ said Turlough determinedly. “There is a room in the cellar, where…“
“Oh, don’t you see, Vislor? They take whole families. They came for all of us. You can do nothing, because they’ll take you as well.“
“And Malkon?“ He gave a short look to the corner of the room, where his little brother was sleeping in an improvised bed. “He’s only a little child, he can’t even understand all this; they can’t…“
But his father gloomily shook his head. “Unfortunately they can. They do. They take whole families,“ he repeated. Then he looked at Turlough and sighed. “I’m sorry, Vislor.“
“Yes, he’s just too little for…“
“No, I meant sorry for you,“ interrupted his father, while the sound of motors from outside went silent, suggesting they had already landed. “You’re good at technology, you could go on with your studies and…“
“No,“ spoke Turlough, frowning a bit. “Did you forget I participated in this as well?“
His father glanced at him silently with a look of apology, when a loud, rude knock on the door sounded. “I’m sorry,“ he repeated.
“Open the doors!“ A rough voice from outside shouted. “In the name of new Trion, open the door, Vislor Turlough, we know you and your father are inside! NOW OPEN THE DOOR!“
More knocking on the door followed.
“Turlough! Turlough! Turlough!“
Turlough woke up confused and sweaty, not knowing where he was at first.
“What…?“ he said, not expecting someone would answer him.
Then he raised his head and saw a silver android right in front of him. And he realized it was actually the android‘s metal voice that tore him out of the bad dream — in fact the almost exact memory of his - that was still returning from time to time.
“What are you doing here?“ He sat up on his bed rather quickly, looking at the android suspiciously, and it sounded very much like the old Trion Clansman Turlough that actually hadn’t been heard for years.
“I walked through the corridor and loud noises from your cabin suggested you might be in need of some assistance,“ Kamelion was explaining willingly. “I couldn’t do a full scan because of the unknown pattern of your mind, but according to the loud noises I assumed Mr. Turlough had bad dreams and I came to help.“ Kamelion longed to help the Doctor and all the TARDIS crew with all his silver circuits.
Turlough grimaced and laid back on the bed. “Alright. Thanks a lot, now you may leave again,“ he said sharply, still sounding very much like he had during years on Trion when he was used to give commands to almost everyone around him.
It seemed Kamelion wasn’t set to obey every order though. Or at least not every order from Turlough, because he didn’t move.
“Mr. Turlough hasn’t left his room for five days,“ he said informatively.
“And what? Are you watching over me or what?“ asked Turlough in annoyed voice, lying on the bed and staring at the roof.
“I am trying to be helpful to the Doctor and all humanoids present in the TARDIS ship,“ replied Kamelion and went on. “You should search for some entertainment.“
Turlough snorted. “We’re travelling through time and space, what more you can have? Isn’t all of time and space entertaining enough?“
“According to my analysis of your voice, it isn’t,“ replied Kamelion and Turlough would have said he was making fun of him if he wasn’t sure this type of android didn’t have a sense of humour.
“Sometimes it’s too much entertaining, that’s why I’m staying in my room, got it? Which is none of your business by the way,“ added Turlough sharply, still watching the ceiling stubbornly. “Did the Doctor tell you to watch over me?“
“I am trying to be helpful to the Doctor and all humanoids present on the TARDIS ship,“ repeated Kamelion cheerfully, not quite answering Turlough’s question.
Turlough rolled his eyes and then slowly sat up on his bed. Kamelion stood near the bed, watching him and willing to help at any time. It seemed it wouldn’t be so easy to get rid of him.
“Have you always belonged to the Master?“ asked Turlough pensively after a while. “I mean… did he make you or did he just steal you and make you work for him?“
“My memory does not contain records prior to the Master,“ answered Kamelion indifferently.
“No, of course not,“ Turlough nodded understandingly. “If he stole you, he certainly made sure there would be no possible remains of a previous time…“
A short silence followed when Turlough continued to sit on the bed thoughtfully and Kamelion stood nearby, ready to help if needed.
“Kamelion,“ said Turlough after a while, “do you know the TARDIS well?“
“I’m helping the Doctor with the stuff,“ replied Kamelion almost proudly.
Turlough looked at him like he was wondering again if an android like him could make fun of a living humanoid when it should be basically considered his master. “Right,“ he said then, slowly. “Do you know the TARDIS’ power source?“
“Yes, I have knowledge about this ship’s power source,“ answered Kamelion politely.
“Can you show me?“ asked Turlough. “I’m curious about it. I’ve studied technology and this ship is… well, you know… outstanding…“
Kamelion moved his head to the side. “There is no use for you to see the power source of this ship,“ he replied in an assured voice.
Turlough frowned. “Alright, I see, you cannot get me there… Well, never mind.“ He shrugged and stood up from the bed.
“I think you can leave now, I’m not having bad dreams anymore, so…“ he said, back in a rather imperative voice, but Kamelion obviously thought Turlough still needed his help and wasn’t about to leave.
“I have no experiences with your kind of mind, but according to a partial analysis I’ve been able to process, remaining in your room for five days in a row is a sign of not being alright. I am trying to be helpful to the Doctor and all humanoids present on the TARDIS ship,“ he repeated again. It seemed that the sentence was now his life motto.
Turlough took a breath to say something, but Kamelion hadn’t finished talking yet.
“I must help you to feel better so you won’t need to stay in your room for so many days. You need to find some entertainment for yourself,“ he closed up his speech.
Turlough rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m really glad you woke me up from that dream, but there’s nothing more you can do for me and I’m quite happy to stay in this room for a little more, so just go and leave me alone, ok?“ It came out rather annoyed and pointy, although Turlough was quite sure that even if the android was able to differentiate the tones of voice — with his “partial analysis“, whatever that actually meant — it would probably had no effect on him anyway.
“I am trying to be helpful to the Doctor and all humanoids present on the TARDIS ship,“ claimed Kamelion once again. “You have been unhappy for a much longer period than you should; I must help you.“
Turlough watched him in slight disbelief. “You are just a robot, you should obey orders from human… -oids, shouldn’t you?“ He crossed his arms, still watching Kamelion carefully. “Did the Doctor make some changes to you?“
“I know of no changes made by the Doctor. The Doctor was just checking my programs and searched for remains of the Master’s influence,“ replied Kamelion.
“And?“ Turlough raised his eyebrows in a question.
“No marks of the Master’s influence were found,“ answered Kamelion.
“Hmm… “No marks were found“ doesn’t mean there aren’t any,“ sneered Turlough. He paused and then added: “Maybe I could look at it too, I studied electronics and engineering… I’m sure the Doctor knows about this — about lots of things — much more than me of course, but you know, there could be one little detail he could have overlooked…“
Kamelion was watching him somewhat satisfied. “You seem to be interested. It raised the level of your mood and made you attracted to something. That’s good,“ stated Kamelion. “But there’s no use in another examination of my programs, that’s for certain,“ he added.
Turlough crossed his arms again. “Did the Doctor put this in your circuits? Some kind of restriction? You know, the Doctor is often wrong when it comes to safety,“ he remarked spitefully. “Anyway… You saw me being happy again, you may finally leave my room, can’t you,“ he added more emphatically and it wasn’t a question.
“You plan to return to your bed and I cannot let this happen. I must protect all humanoids on the TARDIS ship and staying too long alone in your room isn’t good for you.“ Kamelion sounded like a broken gramophone record, refusing to move out and repeating similar sentences on and on.
Turlough groaned in a low voice. “Alright, I can walk out of my room if it will make you more happy and — most important of all — if that will make you finally leave me alone,“ he growled and stepped toward the door.
Kamelion watched him carefully until Turlough stopped in the corridor right in front of the door to his room.
“Happy now?“ Snorted Turlough.
“According to your voice you are not happy,“ answered Kamelion seriously.
Turlough sighed. “No. I meant you. Are you happy now that I left the room?“
Kamelion walked out of the room and stopped next to him. “You physically moved but your psychological state didn’t change,“ claimed Kamelion with assurance.
“Get stuffed!“ Turlough muttered and Kamelion looked at him uncomprehendingly.
Turlough rolled his eyes again. “Ok, what should I do to get rid of you?“ he asked directly without any sign of politeness and before Kamelion could speak he added quickly: “And “go to the Doctor and ask him to go to some joyful place“ isn’t an answer!“
“You must go find yourself some form of entertainment. Entertainment does not always require the presence of another person but it does not involve lying on the bed for five days in a row,“ explained Kamelion willingly.
“I wasn’t just lying on the bed for all five days, you know,“ objected Turlough in an offended voice. “And someone could call lying on the bed constantly a form of entertainment as well.“
Kamelion didn’t answer like there wasn’t any speech needed to prove that Turlough wasn’t right and there was a short silence when none of them moved.
Then Turlough crossed his arms and looked at Kamelion thoughtfully. “Can you dance?“ he asked and immediately looked as he was regretting the question.
“Yes. My behaviour circuits do contain an activity called dance,“ replied Kamelion contentedly.
Turlough hesitated a bit and then asked reluctantly. “Could you teach me that?“
“The Doctor will need me in about half an hour but I can teach how to dance after he releases me.“
“And that would be when?“
“The information is not available.“
“Great. Do you think I should sit in the ballroom and wait until you show up? Or will I be allowed to stay in my own room until the right time comes?“ He couldn’t help but use a strongly sarcastic tone although he was pretty sure Kamelion would stay untouched by his virulence just like he had been so far.
“That wouldn’t be suitable,“ answered Kamelion factually. “May I suggest another possibility of entertainment that Mr. Turlough could attend to follow in the meanwhile?“
Turlough gave up. “You can try,“ he said with a sigh.
“Mr. Turlough could visit the library, the entertainment room, the music room, the swimming pool, the wardrobe room for dress up games, the Pocatoryan maze, the cricket grounds, the gallery of art of the whole universe, …“
“Ok, you can stop right there,“ interrupted Turlough with another slight sigh. “How can I get to the library?“
Kamelion looked very pleased with the success of his suggestion of entertainment. “The library is set in the corridor 81996BF. Walk this corridor, take the stairs on the left, two floors up, take the right corridor, third corridor to the right, turn right immediately after, one floor up the stairs, take the left corridor and behind the fifteenth door on the right is the TARDIS library.“
Oh, great, I surely won’t forget the way, thought Turlough ironically. “Right,“ he said aloud. “I guess you can finally leave me alone, now that I found my entertainment,“ he couldn’t resist to add wryly.
Kamelion stayed untouched by Turlough’s sarcasm this time as well. “I will find Mr. Turlough when it is time to teach him,“ informed Kamelion politely and finally left.
To teach me? Thought Turlough confused at first but then he remembered his previous question. Oh, damn, I asked him to teach me how to dance, didn’t I? What I was even thinking?
For a moment he seriously considered running after Kamelion to cancel the dancing lessons, but then he just shrugged.
Ah, whatever… First I’ll find the library and we’ll see what happens then. Maybe Kamelion will decide that I wouldn‘t need any other entertainment and he would finally leave me… Yes, that’s quite probable…
He smiled a bit and then looked around. Now, what was the way to the library?