Billy bristled just a little, but this was serious. No room for egos when lives are in danger. There had to be a common point somewhere.
The accident sites appear to be normal, at least. It was difficult to get in close, but there weren't any obvious signs of an unusual situation. If he had one of his energy readers from the garage, maybe...
"I don't know exactly what kind of energy you read with your device, sir, but are there any unusual fumes? Vibrations?"
He focused on a stray antenna, visions of too many B-movie horrors in his head.
"Just Doctor. I'm the Doctor. Not sir. Makes me sound so... Not me." The Doctor shook his head as he glanced at his sonic screwdriver. "This thing? Does all kinds of stuff, but the important thing here is that whatever happened is still happening. To all of them." He made a sweeping gesture to indicate the people around them. "They're losing energy. What's the right question to ask here?"
Billy rubbed at his temple. Man, he wished it was as simple as charging in with guns blazing. But the enemy was tricky, and if left unchecked, these people could die. And that was unacceptable.
He folded an arm behind his back, bowed in thought. "...why? The goal could say something about the method of collection, which would then lead to a target?"
"Fair enough. Although I believe we should start at how, and..." The Doctor frowned and then jumped over several of the bodies scattered around until he reached a business woman on the edge. He knelt down next to her and lifted her arm, inspecting the fingers thoughtfully before holding the screwdriver up to them.
Billy followed, easily keeping pace. He stood on-edge the entire time, anticipating a fight---this threat appeared to be more of a cat and mouse game than a brawl, but he couldn't be too careful.
His gaze traveled down the woman's arm, over the suit...a wallet was loose, and a few other things. Huh.
"It's July 9th, 1994. 1:27 PM. Need anything more specific, Doctor?"
"Where is her phone? She's been holding a phone. See?" He pointed at her hand as if that was proof of anything other than that her fingers were bent, but whatever. The Doctor certainly seemed convinced. "1994. You only have those giant bricks of a phone, don't you? But that's how it's done, of course. Locks it to the brainwaves after they've traced the signal. But 1994, who even has a phone in 1994?" The Doctor indicated the room. "These dolts. Too much money and not enough time, wasting it on things that weigh more than their brains. Let's find a phone, Billy."
"Yes. They're useful, but not exactly viable for mass use yet. That's why I have this."
It was a risk, but Billy held up the communicator resting on his wrist. He was reasonably confident that his network didn't cross the one in public use at all, so he should have been safe. But if they were after energy, there was a hot source of it tucked in his back pocket.
But if Ranger energy was the target, wouldn't he have heard something by now? All questions he couldn't exactly voice, but as he set out in search of a phone, he did speak into his device---carefully, knowing a certain someone was listening.
"Guys, if you know anyone with a mobile phone, tell them to stay away from it. I'll check it out later---something weird's going on. I'll fill you in later."
Unfortunately, the wrecks had claimed a few phones, but---oh yes, digging in a glove compartment revealed one. "Hey, I've got something, Doctor."
The Doctor approached Billy, openly curious at his communicator. Huh. That technology should definitely not be here. Too early and even if it wasn't, it was just not Earth technology, not really. Now that was interesting. Very interesting.
But he filed it to the back of his mind for now, instead following behind Billy who handed him a phone. "There we go!" He used his screwdriver yet again, turning a wide smile at Billy. "I've locked on to the signal, so I believe I should go check out who's taking all that energy without asking..."
He paused for a few seconds, then he held out his hand. "How about it, Billy? Come with me."
Alarm bells rang in Billy's head. If this was anything like the usual scenario, things could get ugly. The Doctor could probably negotiate, but he didn't exactly look like a warrior.
Then again, neither did Billy. But for his sake...well, this was bound to lead somewhere interesting, and part of him now felt responsible for keeping the man safe. How that happened, he would never know.
"All right. I'll see this through," Billy agreed, sealing his fate with a handshake. "So...where to?"
"Oh, I think you'll love that part." With that the Doctor grasped Billy's hand and pulled him along as he headed back the way they'd come. There wasn't any time to waste, after all, not with that many bodies on the ground that could still be saved. Not that he ever had much time to waste, ironically enough.
When they reached the TARDIS he let go of Billy and walked straight inside, shrugging out off his coat and hanging it over the usual place. While he entered the coordinates he kept an eye on the door. He definitely didn't want to miss Billy's reaction.
Billy skidded to a halt at the entrance. A blue box? He vaguely recalled passing it by on the way in, and now the Doctor was heading inside? Was this his changing booth, like Superman's? from that ubiquitous comic book?
He followed dubiously, only to step inside a room that couldn't possibly fit inside the walls he'd seen outside. The ceiling was too high, the walls wide...and he even glimpsed a corridor to other rooms. He stepped back out to study the walls of the box again, then back inside.
"You have your own dimensional subspace?" Billy asked, eyes wide with wonder as expected. His curious gaze swept the ceiling, floors, and finally the mysterious panels. "It's a teleportation unit?"
He could've used the teleportation connection on his wrist, but that would make his otherworldly power just a little too obvious. But did it matter, if this man possessed something even more unusual?
So many questions, he'd just embrace all the oddities, starting with the fundamentals of exactly what he was standing inside.
"...huh. You are very unusual, Billy, let me tell you that. Technology you shouldn't even know about in your possession, yet more knowledge you shouldn't have inside your mind..." The Doctor eyed him, but then he just shook his head. "No. It's a TARDIS. My TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Beautiful, isn't she?"
He patted the console slightly, just as the ship started to move. "You better hold on. It tends to be quite the right. Not that this should take us long." However, while holding on to the railing with one had, he also walked over to Billy, once more reaching for his hand and this time inspecting his wrist. "Oh, you'll have quite the story to tell me when we're done here."
"She is. Time and space, huh..." he murmured. Could it be able to move through both, then? Oh, he definitely had some questions of his own. That would have to wait, though, as he soon found himself clinging to the railing. He took a breath to steady himself, then dared to look back up at the Doctor.
"Do you do this for a living, then? Fighting public menaces?"
If the Doctor wanted answers from him now, he'd hate to see the reaction if he had to start throwing punches. Hopefully it wasn't that kind of battle.
"Oh, yeah. Terrible wage though." The Doctor had turned back to the console, spinning around it as he steadied the flight and started slowing them down. "I don't really fight when I don't have to. I just help to stop it when I can, because somebody ought to. Same as you, Billy. Good to know we're not alone, isn't it?"
The TARDIS came to a standstill and the Doctor glanced at a monitor once before heading right outside, not even asking Billy to follow him. He was sure he would.
The spaceship was dark, not very tidy. Looked batter at first glance, even in this random corridor. "Huh. I think I know where the root of our problem lies..." He already started down the corridor, hoping to guess right and actually be walking toward the control room.
Billy glanced at the palm of his hand. Did he already know? On reflection, Billy was terrible at hiding his tracks, but...well, aside from Zordon blowing fumes, maybe that wasn't so bad. He was confident that they were on the same side, and what mattered was saving those people.
He followed the Doctor into the darkened ship, tensing for a fight. "What's the plan?" he whispered.
"Plan?" Huh. "I dunno. I thought I'd try just talking to the chaps. Ship's been in battle, ran out of fuel, it's not as if they'd come to this planet by choice. They're pretty advanced from you lot." He put a hand in his pocket and looked around as he kept talking. "Might be that they're not even aware of what they're doing. We could just pop in, give them a heads up and they'll be very sorry and leave. Maybe stay for tea, if you invite them."
How did he know all that right away? Billy looked around, and...sure enough, the pieces of explanation fit. He certainly wouldn't drop his guard entirely, he knew what tended to happen when he did that, but a peaceful approach would work.
He squared his shoulders and stepped up to the door, then turned back with one more question. "But isn't there a language barrier to be concerned with?"
The Doctor was actually less convinced that things would be that easy than he conveyed, but it was worth a try. He certainly wasn't planning on starting a fight and he was pretty sure of his analysis of the situation, so they could hopefully find a peaceful compromise. Probably.
"Language... Oh, no. No worries about that, the TARDIS translation program should take care of that for us." He pointed to the door. "Try knocking?"
The Doctor righted his tie, took a deep breath and then he marched right in through the door, immediately heading toward the monitors and glancing over the pilot's head for a good look.
"Well, you're not going to get anywhere with that, are you?"
The aliens, because they most definitely were that, got over their initial surprise quickly, pointing weapons at both of them.
"How did you get on board?"
"Good question. My friend and me were just strolling around near a traffic jam and, bang, here we are. So many car crashes these days. And I mean literally these days, not in the 'kids these days are so snotty' sort of way. With the energy you get from these phones in 1994, you'd not even be able to motorize a..."
He paused and turned to Billy. "What are they called? Those small tiny toy cars?"
"Remote-controlled cars?" Billy suggested, doing his very best to suppress any signs of panic. He didn't doubt that they could be killed with one wrong move, so morphing to access his own weapons wasn't an option for the moment.
"How many death, then, will it take to power your ship?" he asked, struggling to maintain a neutral tone.
"Nah, smaller than that. Whatever, we'll figure it out later." The Doctor ignored the guns as he took out his screwdriver and walked toward a machine, casually using it as he kept talking.
"A lot more than they can get by using cellphones on a 1994 Earth town. No, Billy, they're not stupid. Stranded, but not stupid. They're upgrading the signal. Extending it to television. How many people like watching television in your town, Billy?"
Billy's brow furrowed as he fought every instinct telling him to morph right this second and shield the Doctor. How could he be so calm at a time like this?
"Just about everyone," he admitted, gritting his teeth. "And if this goes on, there's another massive energy source on Earth that I'm worried about," he whispered, studying the displays. Was there a solution to be found?
The Doctor took note of Billy's whispered words, but he just lifted an eyebrow and didn't comment. First things first. "That's quite brilliant, actually, reconfiguing the algorithm like that. Simple but effective. Well done."
He gave a respectful nod to the captain, still seemingly oblivious to the guns pointed at him, which did leave the ones pointing them feel a bit at a loss. "Now I just have one question."
With that he walked over to another machine, taking a closer look. "Simple thing, isn't it, taking life energy and transforming it into fuel for your ship, with this kind of technology. But what about this?"
He held his screwdriver into a stream of energy, finding the right setting with a quick move of his hand and then something changed.
The lights brightened, the ship vibrated, no, shook, and the aliens started shrieking, shielding their eyes. Meanwhile the Doctor looked around for a moment, then he leaped over toward Billy, grabbing his hand.
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The accident sites appear to be normal, at least. It was difficult to get in close, but there weren't any obvious signs of an unusual situation. If he had one of his energy readers from the garage, maybe...
"I don't know exactly what kind of energy you read with your device, sir, but are there any unusual fumes? Vibrations?"
He focused on a stray antenna, visions of too many B-movie horrors in his head.
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He folded an arm behind his back, bowed in thought. "...why? The goal could say something about the method of collection, which would then lead to a target?"
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"Hm. Billy, what date do we have? Exactly."
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Billy followed, easily keeping pace. He stood on-edge the entire time, anticipating a fight---this threat appeared to be more of a cat and mouse game than a brawl, but he couldn't be too careful.
His gaze traveled down the woman's arm, over the suit...a wallet was loose, and a few other things. Huh.
"It's July 9th, 1994. 1:27 PM. Need anything more specific, Doctor?"
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It was a risk, but Billy held up the communicator resting on his wrist. He was reasonably confident that his network didn't cross the one in public use at all, so he should have been safe. But if they were after energy, there was a hot source of it tucked in his back pocket.
But if Ranger energy was the target, wouldn't he have heard something by now? All questions he couldn't exactly voice, but as he set out in search of a phone, he did speak into his device---carefully, knowing a certain someone was listening.
"Guys, if you know anyone with a mobile phone, tell them to stay away from it. I'll check it out later---something weird's going on. I'll fill you in later."
Unfortunately, the wrecks had claimed a few phones, but---oh yes, digging in a glove compartment revealed one. "Hey, I've got something, Doctor."
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But he filed it to the back of his mind for now, instead following behind Billy who handed him a phone. "There we go!" He used his screwdriver yet again, turning a wide smile at Billy. "I've locked on to the signal, so I believe I should go check out who's taking all that energy without asking..."
He paused for a few seconds, then he held out his hand. "How about it, Billy? Come with me."
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Then again, neither did Billy. But for his sake...well, this was bound to lead somewhere interesting, and part of him now felt responsible for keeping the man safe. How that happened, he would never know.
"All right. I'll see this through," Billy agreed, sealing his fate with a handshake. "So...where to?"
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When they reached the TARDIS he let go of Billy and walked straight inside, shrugging out off his coat and hanging it over the usual place. While he entered the coordinates he kept an eye on the door. He definitely didn't want to miss Billy's reaction.
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He followed dubiously, only to step inside a room that couldn't possibly fit inside the walls he'd seen outside. The ceiling was too high, the walls wide...and he even glimpsed a corridor to other rooms. He stepped back out to study the walls of the box again, then back inside.
"You have your own dimensional subspace?" Billy asked, eyes wide with wonder as expected. His curious gaze swept the ceiling, floors, and finally the mysterious panels. "It's a teleportation unit?"
He could've used the teleportation connection on his wrist, but that would make his otherworldly power just a little too obvious. But did it matter, if this man possessed something even more unusual?
So many questions, he'd just embrace all the oddities, starting with the fundamentals of exactly what he was standing inside.
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He patted the console slightly, just as the ship started to move. "You better hold on. It tends to be quite the right. Not that this should take us long." However, while holding on to the railing with one had, he also walked over to Billy, once more reaching for his hand and this time inspecting his wrist. "Oh, you'll have quite the story to tell me when we're done here."
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"Do you do this for a living, then? Fighting public menaces?"
If the Doctor wanted answers from him now, he'd hate to see the reaction if he had to start throwing punches. Hopefully it wasn't that kind of battle.
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The TARDIS came to a standstill and the Doctor glanced at a monitor once before heading right outside, not even asking Billy to follow him. He was sure he would.
The spaceship was dark, not very tidy. Looked batter at first glance, even in this random corridor. "Huh. I think I know where the root of our problem lies..." He already started down the corridor, hoping to guess right and actually be walking toward the control room.
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Billy glanced at the palm of his hand. Did he already know? On reflection, Billy was terrible at hiding his tracks, but...well, aside from Zordon blowing fumes, maybe that wasn't so bad. He was confident that they were on the same side, and what mattered was saving those people.
He followed the Doctor into the darkened ship, tensing for a fight. "What's the plan?" he whispered.
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He squared his shoulders and stepped up to the door, then turned back with one more question. "But isn't there a language barrier to be concerned with?"
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"Language... Oh, no. No worries about that, the TARDIS translation program should take care of that for us." He pointed to the door. "Try knocking?"
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"Excuse me? I was hoping we could offer assistance to you," he tried, rocking back and forth on his heel.
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The Doctor righted his tie, took a deep breath and then he marched right in through the door, immediately heading toward the monitors and glancing over the pilot's head for a good look.
"Well, you're not going to get anywhere with that, are you?"
The aliens, because they most definitely were that, got over their initial surprise quickly, pointing weapons at both of them.
"How did you get on board?"
"Good question. My friend and me were just strolling around near a traffic jam and, bang, here we are. So many car crashes these days. And I mean literally these days, not in the 'kids these days are so snotty' sort of way. With the energy you get from these phones in 1994, you'd not even be able to motorize a..."
He paused and turned to Billy. "What are they called? Those small tiny toy cars?"
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"How many death, then, will it take to power your ship?" he asked, struggling to maintain a neutral tone.
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"A lot more than they can get by using cellphones on a 1994 Earth town. No, Billy, they're not stupid. Stranded, but not stupid. They're upgrading the signal. Extending it to television. How many people like watching television in your town, Billy?"
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"Just about everyone," he admitted, gritting his teeth. "And if this goes on, there's another massive energy source on Earth that I'm worried about," he whispered, studying the displays. Was there a solution to be found?
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He gave a respectful nod to the captain, still seemingly oblivious to the guns pointed at him, which did leave the ones pointing them feel a bit at a loss. "Now I just have one question."
With that he walked over to another machine, taking a closer look. "Simple thing, isn't it, taking life energy and transforming it into fuel for your ship, with this kind of technology. But what about this?"
He held his screwdriver into a stream of energy, finding the right setting with a quick move of his hand and then something changed.
The lights brightened, the ship vibrated, no, shook, and the aliens started shrieking, shielding their eyes. Meanwhile the Doctor looked around for a moment, then he leaped over toward Billy, grabbing his hand.
"Run!"
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"You said they reversed an algorithim to drain that life energy? Did you just flip it back, or are we still working on that?"
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