Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures [004] - Timewyrm - Revelation by Paul Cornell

Author:Paul Cornell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426203605
Publisher: Doctor Who Books
Published: 1991-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

8

It’s A Wonderful Life

‘You don’t go into battle to die for your country, you go into battle to make the other bastard die for HIS country.’

General George S. Patton

Emily had sat down in a pew, tired, and was playing with the baby. It seemed to respond to the rhythm that Saul was producing and was moving a hand vaguely in time.

‘I’m sure it’s a message from someone,’ Emily mused, glancing up at the church’s rafters. ‘But the poetry seems so vague. If you’re going to signal someone, why wouldn’t you say what you wanted to say in straightforward terms?’

Peter jumped up, much to Trelaw’s surprise, and slapped his forehead with quite frightening force. ‘Because the medium is the message!’ He started to pace excitedly, almost lecturing to the church’s reluctant passengers.

‘It’s like the SETI programme. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, reverend. Bit redundant in the light of all this, but still. Those lads over in California aren’t really looking for ‘take us to your leader’. They’re after the right style of medium, a powerful, focused transmission. What it actually says is probably incomprehensible anyway. That’s what’s happening here.’

‘You mean that we’re being signalled by aliens?’ Trelaw realized as he said it that the prospect was now one that he regarded as completely plausible. This lifestyle was getting to him.

‘No, no. What I mean is, it isn’t the words that are important. It’s the way they’re being communicated.’ Peter snatched up his sketch, a wild chart of bouncing lines. ‘And I can see what the pattern is too. I hadn’t thought of it in these circumstances. This is a chaos equation at work.’

‘Chaos equation?’ asked Trelaw, not expecting to understand the answer.

‘Yes. A totally irregular pattern that takes on complex cycles of regularity. Like this poetry. There’s some sort of structure in there, but it’s impossible to fathom totally.’

‘That’s why it seemed to be an excerpt from a much bigger body of work,’ exclaimed Emily. ‘I read that book about chaos that you lent me. A chaos equation never ceases, does it? The poem would go on for ever.’

‘The words aren’t very important, then,’ Peter triumphantly let his notebook fall on to a pew. ‘The rhythm’s the thing. Saul,’ the mathematician screwed up his eyes and concentrated. ‘Take a look at this.’

Saul hummed in concentration. ‘I can see the equation,’ he rumbled. ‘But I have no mathematical knowledge beyond simple counting. What am I to do with it?’

‘Just feed in values at one end, and the values that come out the other – use them for the number of syllables in the line. And do it quickly, eh? This isn’t my field, I’m an old-fashioned topographer, I have trouble keeping this in mind.’

‘Yes,’ Saul sang triumphantly. ‘I see! A moment…’

The assembled humans looked at each other, puzzled.

‘I have signalled back,’ the church explained. ‘I did not employ words but simply sent a carrier wave, as it were, out with the same complicated beat.’

‘Any reply?’ Peter was looking smug.

‘Yes. More of the poem.

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