Unfinished Symphony-E4-The Innocent:Part Five
Prelude
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Unfinished Symphony Episode Four
The Innocent-Part Five
The Doctor waited for the Architect's objection to calling her to the stand. Turned out he didn't have to wait long.
“Objection you honor”, she declared, “I am not on trial here.”
“And I am not claiming she is”, the Doctor said, “The Architect here seems to have a personal motive for my incarceration and I would simply like her to answer some questions under oath.”
“And why would I do that?”, she said glaring at the Doctor.
“To prove this is a real trial and not simply an exercise on your part to kill me.”, he said matching her glare.
She was silent for a moment as the two of them stood there, daring the other to blink first.
“Madame Architect, I cannot force you to give testimony since you are the prosecuting attorney, but if the Doctor wishes to insist on calling you, you would have to be replaced.”
“That won't be necessary”, she said, still not taking her eyes off the Doctor, “I am more than willing to prove to him the validity of these proceedings.” She walked up to the witness stand, pulling the inducer on herself.
The Doctor looked back at his friends, he wondered how long he could keep her occupied here. He was sure this whole situation was a setup, but to prove that he was going to need proof. And if Tosi and Sarah couldn't find it, then he was out of ideas.
“I am waiting Doctor”, she said crossing her arms.
He took a deep breath and began his questions.
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Tosi and Sarah Jane appeared in the companions room in a flash. Sarah began to move towards the door, hoping they hadn't changed the locking mechanism for some reason. Tosi stood right where she was and examined her hand slowly, “I was just transmatted.”, she said distantly.
“Yes”, Sarah Jane said pulling out her sonic screwdriver.
“They broke down my molecular structure and rebuilt it somewhere else”, she marveled.
“That's how it normally works”, Sarah said as the door popped open.
“Do you think they are the same molecules?”, the android asked looking to Sarah.
“What?”. She said pulling her head back into the room from looking outside.
“Do you think I am made of the same molecules I was or do you think they use new molecules? And if they are new, am I still me?”
Sarah closed the door and walked over to the confused droid, “Tosi, are you ok?”
Tosi looked up, her electronic blue eyes shone into Sarah's, “I am not sure. What is ok?”
Sarah smiled and took her hand, “The Doctor needs our help, are you going to be able to help him?”, she asked softly, but she needed to know now if she needed to abort or not.
Tosi cocked her head slightly, “You are worried I may not be able to complete my task”, she stated it as a fact and not a question.
“Are you reading my mind?”, Sarah said pulling back unconsciousnessly.
“No Sarah Jane. This body does not possess telepathic abilities, but I am still programmed to read and understand body language. You are unsure how to proceed due to my vocal questioning.”
Sarah sighed, “I just need to you to focus Tosi”, she explained, “I know you are new to being in a body, but we don't have a lot of time.”
“I understand”, Tosi said nodding, “We should proceed.”
Sarah Jane paused for a moment and then moved towards the door. She didn't have much choice but go through with it. She just hoped the newly created android could hold it together long enough to get the information and save the Doctor.
As the ventured out into the hall she couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.
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“Ok then”, the Doctor said, “How long have you been in charge of the Shadow Proclamation?”
“Time has no meaning in here”, she answered, “I have been here since the beginning.”, she replied.
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head, “So a long time?”, he guessed.
“Long enough”
“Very well”, he relented, “And how did you come to be involved with it?”
“I was one of the founding members”, she said with a bit of pride.
“Really?”, he said surprised, “How did that come about?”
She paused and the lights on the inducer flashed, “I was part of a coalition of people who found Galactic Law far too lenient in dealing with harsher crimes.”
The Doctor rolled this around in his head, “Did you feel this way because of something specific?”
“I always found Galactic Law less than adequate.”
He smiled, “Yes but you didn't answer my question, was there some event that led you to embrace the creation of The Shadow Proclamation?”
Again she was silent and the lights flashed faster, “Yes”, she hissed.
“Madame Architect, it would be easier if you just answered the whole question instead of drawing it out. What was the event that led you..”
Again she was quiet as the lights increased in tempo, “The destruction of my home world.”
The Doctor sighed, “Madame, you aren't telling the whole truth...now come on.”
“You destroyed my planet!”, she finally said almost screamed, “You were responsible for destroying my planet and they let you get away with it.”
She sat there and panted as the Doctor tried to find any words to say.
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Sarah Jane and Tosi made it to the TARDIS in good time. Again the police box door opened for her as she got closer, the android followed her in and gaped at the doorway.
“It's...”, Tosi began.
“...bigger on the inside”, Sarah said as she pulled on her hand, “Get inside!”
“...a stable tesseract bound to a space time vortex manipulator”, Tosi finished still looking around the room.
“That too”, Sarah said walking to the control panel, “Ok baby”, she said to the TARDIS, “We need you to knock out the cameras again...can you do that?”
The monitor flashed some symbols and then the text scrolled across, “-Temporal inversion bubble activated:duration 30 minutes-”
“Yes!”, Sarah exclaimed, “We're good, come on!”
Sarah made her way back to the door and noticed Tosi standing, staring at the control panel.
“Tosi what is it?”, Sarah said trying to get it's attention.
“It's alive”, she said as if she was gazing on a deity.
“Yes”, Sarah moved up and tried to corral her towards the door, “You will have more than enough time to get to know her later. We have less than 30 minutes before the cameras turn on again...come on.”
Tosi didn't resist being led out, but she never stopped gazing at the control panel in completely and utter awe.
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“I did what?”, the Doctor asked holding his breath.
The Architect tried to compose herself but it wasn't working, “You saved the planet Nardin III.”
“I did?”, he said out loud, “Wait, I did. It was during my 2nd regeneration.”, he remembered it distantly. A race of pre-space faring aliens were stranded on their planet as their sun was about to go prematurely nova. They had begged him to do something, anything to save them. He had found there was some kind of link with their sun, a sub space inversion that was draining the power at an exponential rate. When he had tried to shut it down the link had connected itself to the TARDIS and threatened to pull the Doctor along with the rest of system into its impending implosion. He was barely able to infuse the energy link with a burst of Arton energy from the TARDIS, causing the link to feedback with more energy than it could handle. He had never found out where the link came from.
Until now.
“Your race made that link?”, he asked shocked.
“It was the only way to sustain our sun!”, she said with anger flaring in her eyes, “It was dying, what were we supposed to do?”
“Not kill another race!”, he said just as outraged, “The Nardians were a peaceful people, what were they supposed to do?”
“They hadn't even achieved space flight yet”, she countered, “What use were they to the universe as a whole? My people were creators of art and literature, they were one of the first founders of the 4th quadrant. Were we supposed to just roll over and die?”
“How about picking a star that didn't have a planet of innocent people around it?”
“We tried!”, she yelled this time,”We tried damn you”, she said quieter. Her shoulders slumped and her head down, “It was the only star within range that fit the same gravimetric readings as our own. If we had another way...”
“Then why not leave the system? Surely if you could create a subspace link you could move a planet's population.”
“And leave our home?”, she said sounding shocked, “The birthplace of our very existence. Our planet was the center of culture and learning in that entire galaxy. Surely you jest.”
The Doctor just stared at her as if she had grown another head, in a low “voice he said, “The Arton energy supercharged your sun.:
“It went from Red Giant to a Supernova in a matter of days. We were barely able get 2 percent of the population off planet in time.”, she sounded like she was broken, talking from a great distance away.
“And you appealed it to the Galactic Federation...who found you were at fault.”, the Doctor sounded sad as he laid out the events in his head.
“They said we were aggressors. They explained that you were responsible for the link's feedback and that they had found your actions in completely legal under Galactic Law. They saw the small pocket of people that were left of my race and dared to blame us for our own demise.”, she looked up at him with angry red eyes stung with tears, “Where were they when our sun was cooling? Where were they when it was going supernova?”
“Did you ask them for help?”, the Doctor interrupted.
She didn't so much as look up at him, “Of course not, we had the situation under control. There were people who would have used our dilemma as a chance to strike back at us when were vulnerable.”
“So you didn't ask for help but then condemn them for not helping?”, he asked in a shocked voice.
“They were only there after we had died.”, she said ignoring his question, “And even then....they made us feel like common criminals.”, her voice trailed off quietly. Her mind obviously lost in the past.
“No”, the Doctor said, “Not common at all”, he said going back to his podium, “You were very special criminals that had threatened a race that didn't even know you existed. That is something completely different.”, his voice was controlled but there was a hint of anger behind the words, “So you got together with even more malcontents that had found themselves at the wrong end of galactic law and decided to make your own gang, is that it?”
She just glared at him with venom in her eyes. If looks could kill the Doctor would be regenerating right now.
“Let's move on”, the Doctor said not even looking up at her.
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Sarah and Tosi arrived at the Architect's door in good time.
“Let me get this open”, Sarah Jane said as she pointed her lipstick container at the door, “And you can do your thing.”
“There is a life form coming down the hall”, Tosi said looking off into the distance.
“How close?”, Sarah Jane said concentrating on the door.
“They are rounding the far corner, they will be here in approximately 30 seconds.”
Sarah Jane looked up to her for a moment, “You can head someone walking all the way down the next hallway?”
“This body has exceptionally fine audio receivers.”
The door popped open, “I would say so, inside!”, she said ushering the android inside. She closed the door softly behind her and then locking it with the screwdriver, “I don't know if they are going to check in here, but get started with that”, she said gesturing towards the computer, “And let me worry about this.”
Tosi nodded and walked over to the Architect's desk, the computer was in standby and Tosi could hear its processors whirr. She could sense the computer the same way she used to be able to sense thoughts. As she sat down behind the desk she willed the screen on, bring up the Architect's desktop and loading her presets. She touched the screen as she searched the system.
“Anything?”, Sarah asked from the door.
“I am tracking the documents now...I have found them and am running a timestamp search for when she got them.”, Tosi's conscious sped through the system, backtracking the files to their origin, in a sense going backwards in the computers timeline to find out where they came from. She followed the trail and hit an odd wall, “Oh”, she said reflexively.
“Oh good or oh bad?”, Sarah asked.
“Oh as in the files didn't come from anywhere.”
“What?”, Sarah asked, watching the Judoon life sign on her watch move past the door. She walked over to the desk, “They had to come from somewhere.”
“I agree”, Tosi said still scanning, “But the source of the files came from within the computer itself.”
“How can that be?”, Sarah half asked and half wondered out loud.
“I am attempting to find out”, Tosi said concentrating harder. She took a reading of the source's signature, the point of origin from where the files came from. She then sent out a pulse throughout the system, looking for any traces of that same signature. It was the same concept of scanning a room for a particular thought process, except it was all digital. “There was a communication”, Tosi said aloud, “But again, the Architect was communicating with something from within her own system.”
“Is the computer sentient?”, Sarah asked.
“No”, Tosi said quickly, “It is a simple trinary state computer, sophisticated but in no way alive. But there are traces of something in here...”
“My watch said there was some kind of cybernetic thing detected, could it be that?”
“There are traces of some kind of cybernetic entity yes, I am scanning to see...”, and she paused.
It happened so fast that it wasn't even visible by the human eye. In less than a picosecond a flash of energy rushed through the system and out of the monitor, making contact with Tosi's hand. All Sarah saw was the android go silent and then tense up. She remained motionless for about three seconds.
In that time an epic battle was fought.
Tosi was under attack on a million different fronts. Every single data port and sensor input was suddenly overwhelmed with foreign data. She instantly closed off all external systems, but it was too late. Something had moved from the computer into her, and it was trying to consume her. Reacting instantly she began to section and partition her own database, creating stop gaps for the intruder. Data moats that it had to be bridged before it could overtake her.
In the time that took Tosi worked.
She began to reinforce her core programming, completely sealing her memory and personality subroutines from the rest of the system. She could tell whatever this thing was, it was smarter and stronger than she was. Instead of wasting time in a battle she couldn't win, she generated phantom forms in the datastream to buy her some time by fighting the entity. She encrypted her own being and then began to shut it down, part by part. By the time the thing reached her central processor, she would be completely compressed and sectioned off. She hid the parts throughout the entire system, packets of Tosi that would blend in with the operating system, until it was safe to come out.
She saw her illusions begin to deres as the last of her consciousness split apart. Whatever this thing was, it was the source of the files and that meant it had it out for the Doctor. As her core programming went offline, she just hoped there would be another time to tell him so.
“See what?”, Sarah Jane asked. Tosi said nothing and she had to ask again, “Tosi...are you ok? What did you find?”
The android pulled back its hand as the computer system deactivated itself. The droid turned its head to look at Sarah and said in its perfectly modulated voice, “There was a cybernetic entity in the system Sarah Jane Smith.”, and it stood quickly, “But it's not there any more.”, walking out from behind the desk Tosi said, “We should get back to the courtroom. Before they notice us missing.”
Sarah Jane stood there for a moment confused, “Did you find where the files came from or not?”
Tosi bowed slightly in a forgiving manner, “I'm afraid not, this was a dead end it seems.”
Sarah looked to the computer and back, “Nothing more you can do?”
“Not from here”, Tosi said.
“Alright then let's go, see if the Doctor has any more tricks up his sleeve.”
They left as quietly as they came.
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“So that is why you started the Shadow Proclamation but it doesn't explain why come after me”, the Doctor said.
“Because you broke the law Doctor”, she said simply.
“Oh come on”, he said, his voice going higher, “You can't actually think that.”
She simply blinked and said, “Of course I do, why would I prosecute you if I didn't think you guilty?”
The Doctor paused at that for a moment, “Because you want me to pay for the destruction of your home world.”
“I admit it would bring me great pleasure to see you die, but you are still guilty of genocide.”
“You believe that?”, he asked her.
“Completely”, she said with all confidence.
“And how far would you go to prove that?”, he asked.
“What do you mean by that?”, she asked offended.
“How far would you be willing to go to prove I committed the crime?”, he said, his voice getting angrier.
“You did commit the crime Doctor, I don't need to do anything to prove that.”, there was no sign of the inducer was forcing an answer, no sign she was in discomfort.
“You actually believe I did it.”, he said, not asking.
“Why else would I have charged you Doctor?”
And the Doctor's mind reeled...he had been so sure this had been manufactured by her he honestly didn't know what else to ask. The look in her eyes...she really did think he did it.,
And for the first time since the trial started, the Doctor thought, “What if I did to it?”
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Sarah and Tosi ran to the TARDIS.
The watch indicated there were several Judoon doing patrols now. Either they were on to them or it was some form of shirt change. Either way they needed to get lost, and fast.
As they ran into the atrium she noted they had less than 5 minutes before the TARDIS' bubble vanished and the cameras started working again. Her watched beeped, three Judoon were on their way to this room. They had less than a minute to get inside.
As Sarah Jane made her way towards the call box the door opened as usual. She felt a sigh of relief slip from her mouth as she saw the safe interior of the control room. She saw the squad about to turn the corner, this was going to be close. And as soon as they reached the doorway, the door suddenly came rushing towards her and slammed shut.
Sarah felt herself collide with the door as the shock tripped her up. She pounded on the door, her watch ringing even louder as they got closer.
“Come on!”, she said jiggling the door, “Let us in!!”
But the TARDIS remained closed and locked.
“I don't understand”, Sarah Jane said turning to Tosi, “It let us in before.”
Tosi cocked its head and said, “TARDIS' can be fickle creatures.”
Sarah examined her for a moment, wondering when the android learned the word TARDIS instead of stable tesseract. But it was all for naught for almost instantly she heard the loud, “Fo no ho!!!”, as the squad found them.
Sarah found herself still staring at Tosi as they came to arrest them. She thought the android had blue eyes, when did they start glowing red?
To be continued....