Doctor Who: Big Finish - Short Trips [017] - The Centenarian by Ian Farrington

Author:Ian Farrington
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
Publisher: Big Finish
Published: 2006-06-29T22:00:00+00:00

First Born

Lizzie Hopley

An Adventure of the Fifth Doctor,

with Adric, Nyssa of Traken and Tegan Jovanka

… quantum mechanics governs the behaviour of transistors and integrated circuits, which are essential components of electronic devices such as televisions and computers. It is also the basis of modern chemistry and biology… I think computer viruses should count as life.

Professor Stephen Hawking, 2005

A swift set of equations translated into synaptic data. Messages reached their terminals and relayed information to the corresponding limb. The organism reached out and made contact with the reflective surface.

The perceived image was two-dimensional and reversed. Light reflected sense data, which was interpreted back within the cortex and welcomed with a surge of heightened activity. It was the first time it had seen itself.

The respiratory action of the host organism slowed – the intake of air momentarily suspended. This was a chemical reaction to the perceived image of itself. Nerve endings tingled their response through the spinal column to the cortex and the data slid back into mathematical form. This was feeling, it calculated. How it felt to have a home.

Dimensions shifted around the organism. The environment was changing again. Calculations quickened to catch up. It fired a string of equations to the motor neurones. The organism turned away from the reflective surface and headed for the nerve centre of the larger machine.

‘Adric?’ Tegan could have sworn she’d seen a figure pass the open doorway to her room. She loved being ignored – especially by a teenager.

She turned back to her compact and finished the colour on her lips.

Why did she bother making such an effort? She supposed it was habit.

It’s not as if anyone ever commented. ‘That’s a nice jacket, Tegan,’ or ‘That colour really brings out your eyes.’ Besides, whatever she did, Nyssa always managed to top it. She pursed her lips. She’d gone slightly outside the lines. The compact snapped shut in her hand and she stuffed it into her bag. Who would notice? Who would care?

Tegan glanced round at the featureless room, feeling the stillness sap her energy. Another day – another journey through infinity.

The Doctor was bent over the control panel when Tegan entered the console room. The monitor was stubbornly displaying a yellow breezeblock wall.

‘Earth, London, 1950.’ Nyssa’s voice was predictably impassive.

Visions of fog and Teddy boys flashed through Tegan’s mind. Her face fell.

‘Are you sure?’ The Doctor let out a small explosion of defeat, his eyes fixed on the readout. Adric was at his shoulder. A stab of guilt shot through Tegan as she saw the eagerness on his face. How did Adric always manage to look so keen? Here she was, apparently back on her own home planet, and she couldn’t muster up an ounce of enthusiasm.

‘We should go and take a look,’ suggested Adric keenly.

‘Nineteen-fifties Earth,’ said the Doctor, sounding a little stumped.

‘How did we end up here?’

Nyssa shook her head. Tegan let out a loud, deliberate sigh. ‘I thought you were in control of this thing.’

‘Of course I am, Tegan,’ the Doctor replied swiftly before leaning in closer to the console.

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