FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER 3

QUESTIONS AND...DEFINITIONS

---

They surrounded us and moved us through the crowd, which parted to let us go, but not without a lot of looks, both hostile and wary, thrown our way. We were led down streets which were very clean. No vehicles barred our way, but then with their mode of teleportation, or whatever it was called, and stuck on a planet in the middle of nowhere (literally), why would they need any? I did seem to notice that a lot of their clothes and items seemed...borrowed, like it didn't belong here but came from different cultures. I mentioned this to Rusty, but he seemed more preoccupied with trying to find out how to get out of our predicament, his orderly mind going through scenarios and possibilities, and discarding them as each one appeared unlikely, given our circumstances. So, I decided to ask someone about it later on.

We crossed many streets and passed many building, obviously heading downtown until we came to a building with a sign that read Security. The doors opened before us, and we were ushered past a security guard, with a name badge that indicated he was Corp. Llagro, who looked at us with some alarm for a split second, then resumed his official demeanor.

"Who are they?"

"They are strangers that claim they are from outside Void Space. I've brought them in to have them interrogated. Is Captain Zendi available?"

"Let me check." The guard picked up a phone and pushed a button. "Sir, this is Corp. Llagro at the security gate. 3rd Level Yved is here with strangers here to be interrogated. Yes, sir that's correct. No, sir, they aren't Cheshire. He says they claim to be from outside Void Space. That what he said, sir. Right away, sir."

He turned his attention back to Suo. "Captain says to get them to him ASAP."

"Very well. Thank you." Turning to us, he growled, "Let's go."

We all marched through the dark hallway, which was drab gray. Trying to be friendly, and to calm down Rusty, I said, "Very nice building you have. Nice and clean, but could do with a bit of color. I think a dark blue would do nicely. What do you think, Rusty?"

He rolls his eyes. "Um...I don't think it really matters, Murphy."

"Oh but it would help to put prisoners at..."

"Silence, you two!" Suo snarled.

We keep silent and continue marching on. We turn a corner and reach a large room with table with various machines, an intercom box and some computers. There are wires of all colors connected to them and leading down to some chairs. Suo opens the door and motions us to sit in the chairs and closes and locks the door behind us.

I look rather skeptical at what are obviously interrogation chairs. "Um, don't you have any other chairs? Louis Quinze for me and a nice sofa for my friend, perhaps?"

"Doctor, sit down...NOW!"

"Well, really, Mr. 3rd Level Silencer. No need to be so officious. I'll sit...but I won't be comfortable."

Other Cheshires arrive and grab Rusty while I sit in the chair. "Hey, what's going on? Let GO of me!" Rusty starts struggling against his captors, but I try to calm him down.

"Rusty, RUSTY! Such commotion. It's all right. Don't fight."

"But..."

"But nothing. It's OK. The sooner we show them we're friendly and can be trusted, the sooner we're can find a way out of this...place."

Rusty finally calms down, but gives a snort, showing he's not entirely convinced.

Suo comes and attaches some of the wires to my arms and head. He motions to some of the technicians and they start up the machinery and computers. They start typing away and look at the screens and then each other, then one of them, a light brown Cheshire with white rings, nodded to Suo.

"OK. I will ask you a few questions. You better answer me truthfully."

"Truthfully. Always. I'm always truthful. Well, I say always, I am most of the time...unless I have to lie...which isn't often. But I..."

"ENOUGH. Just answer the questions."

"Oh, very well."

He looks at a screen near him. "What is your name?"

"Murphy Slaugh...also known as the Doctor."

Suo eyes narrow. "THE Doctor? I've heard of you before in our raids. Where are you from?"

"Well, depending on your point of view, from either a planet called Earth or the planet Gallifrey."

"Gallifrey, you say?" Turning to the technicians, he tells one, "Deniz, look into 'Gallifrey' and 'The Doctor' and tell me what we've learned about them."

"Yes, sir," Deniz, a white Cheshire with grey stripes, answers and starts frantically typing away. She looks through several screens before speaking.

"'Gallifrey, constellation of Kasterborous. Class IV planet. Home of the Time Lords. They invented, then regulated time travel in regular space. Their planet was involved in something called...,'" she scrolls a few lines down, "'...the Time Wars, a war with another race...the Daleks. Planet was destroyed in the war along with the Daleks.'" She stops and scrolls through some more entries before continuing. "'The Doctor', renegade Time Lord. Stole of their time machines and took off. He was convicted of Interfering in Time and Genocide. Found innocent on both accounts due to his intervention. Has been offered Lord President on numerous occasions, but turned it down.' Sir, it says the Doctor was responsible for fighting the Time War on Gallifrey and caused it to blow up to destroy the Daleks. And there are references to him on many planets...though accounts of his appearance differ." She stops and looks back up at Suo.

"Time Lords, huh?" He looks back at me and frowns. "Why are you here?"

"Well, personally, I think that is a philosophical question. Maybe it's to help others, but it could be..."

He gets angry and slams a paw the table. "Do NOT play games with me, Doctor! This is serious. Your very lives COULD depend on the answers. Why are you here PHYSICALLY? What brought you here to Void Space?"

*Sigh* "Oh, very well. As I explained earlier, Rusty and I were in my spaceship when..."

"Spaceship? What spaceship? No spaceship can navigate Void Space. There is no "space" here to travel through. And we are outside normal space. Not to mention we would have detected it long before it landed."

"Well, I hardly like to spread the word..."

Rusty, hearing that, snorts and mutters, "That'd be the first."

"...but it's actually a TARDIS," I continue, giving Rusty a cursory glance, before looking back at Suo.

"A WHAT?"

"A TARDIS. T A R D I S. Time And Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a time machine, but it CAN move through space, so I WAS speaking the truth...ish. In any case we were orbiting this one star, Cardoni. It is...or rather, WAS...a G class star. We were just minding our own business, and reading an interesting book when the star collapsed into a black hole. I managed to use the emergency escape button..." Another snort from Rusty. "...Fine. *ahem* RUSTY pushed the emergency escape button. This caused the TARDIS to somehow escape the black hole before we got to the singularity, but only by escaping normal space and time."

Suo raises one eyebrow, then looks at the readout. He calls out to the technicians. "Are you sure this equipment is working properly?"

"Yes, sir," they call out. "Everything is functioning normally. According to what we're seeing, the subject is telling the truth, however...crazy it may sound."

"Hmm...well, maybe we'll get more out of the Doctor's companion. Put him in the chair."

"NO!" Rusty roars and struggles against his captors. He manages to throw a few of them off being bigger and stronger than they are, but sensing the futility of his fighting, I call out, "Rusty, no! It's all right. They won't hurt you. Will they, Suo?"

"No...we won't hurt him...just yet," he says.

"Good enough. Rusty, just go with them peacefully. Think of them doing a polygraph test on Earth. That's all. Don't cause any trouble. After all, where could we run TO? Remember, we're on THEIR planet, in Void Space, wherever and whenever that may be."

"Are you sure about this, Doctor?"

"Yes, as sure as I usually am."

"Well, if you say so," he replies and, with one last snort, calms down a bit, allowing them to lead him to another chair, and hook him up with sensors. Suo starts the process again.

"Name?"

"Rusty Blackmist Clydesdale."

"Planet of origin?"

"Earth"

"Earth? But NOT also from Gallifrey?"

"Nope. Just plain ole Earth."

Turning to the computers, Suo inquired, "Deniz?"

She types some more and reads, "Earth, also known as Terra, 3rdplanet of the system of Sol, in Galaxy X4J19, also known as Milky Way Galaxy. Class III, planet. Major lifeform there is human. Technology: negligible. They do not have interstellar flight capability." She frowns and reads down before continuing. "It seems one of their kind, a Lewis Carroll, had seen one of us tried to warn others about us. An advance force went down and took care of the discrepancy. We changed the details to make it harmless and told the publisher it was one of his stories." She looks back at Suo.

I look at him and tilt my head, frowning. "What do you mean, Lewis Carroll saw one of you and tried to warn others? Who are you? And where is this, by the way?"

"Since our existence has already been made known and there's no one you could tell, I don't see any harm in telling. This is Chessis. And we...are Cheshires."

"What? WHAT? You are the Cheshire cats that Lewis wrote about? You...you don't look anything like his Cheshire cats."

"Like Deniz mentioned, on one of our raids, he caught a glimpse of us. We managed to capture him and eliminate him. Then we discovered his story and changed some details around to erase all evidence of our true existence."

Rusty listened to our conversation, turning from Suo to me. He asks, "So, the Cheshire cat's smile a work of fiction?"

At this question, all of the Cheshires turn towards us and simultaneously grin at us...but not in a good or humorous way.

Rusty turns to me, a bit shaken. "There is that Cheshire grin, Doctor...though not quite in the way I imagined."

"Yes, I have to agree, Rusty." I suppress a shudder and ask, "So, how did your planet end up here in the Void, or as you call it, Void Space?"

"Well, the scientists could probably explain it a lot better than I can, but, from what I understand, we were doing some phasing experiments when our sun inexplicably went nova. There was something about a phase bubble and it interacting with our sun. The result was what we refer to as The Splintering. Something about this caused our planet to break up and be transported out of normal space. The travel caused everyone to pass out. When we awoke, we found our sun back as it was, and it and our planet were now in Void Space."

"I see."

"And now, I have a few more questions for your companion, if you don't mind."

"Oh, very well."

Suo leans down and looks straight into Rusty's eyes.

"What are you doing with the Doctor?"

Looking straight back without any fear, he replies, "I'm a friend of his. He said we could see the universe and travel to other times." He shrugs his massive shoulders. "I was just curious to see if he could live up to that." Looking around, he says, "Never thought we'd travel to nowhere and at no time."

"Are you part of an advance force?"

"From Earth? Are you kidding? You heard Deniz. We don't have interstellar capability. I'm here alone with the Doctor."

"I see."

I pipe in, "So, since we've amply demonstrated that we are completely harmless and alone, we're free to go, right?" I start pulling off the sensors.

"Actually, no. You still know of our existence. We can't let you go because of that. Until we know what to do with you, I'm afraid we'll have to keep you for a while."

"What!?" Rusty shouts. "But you can't just keep us prisoner."

"Oh, can't we? Guards! Take them away and lock them up!" Several hefty Cheshires came, grabbed Rusty and I, shackled and chained us, and led us out of the building.

Though Rusty still struggles vainly, his strength overpowered by the many Cheshires, I calmly walk along with the Cheshires, trying to make casual conversation. "So, where are our new accommodations? Is there room service?" But the guards do not answer and continue leading and pulling us along. We go through several streets and enter a smaller grey building. Once inside, one of the guards, sign us in and talk to the warden, then lead us into an elevator that gets cramped with all of us in it. The lowest button, which reads B3 (which I take to mean Basement 5) is pushed, and I swallow, realizing that we are being taken deep underground. The elevator slowly makes its way through the shaft until it reaches the bottom and the doors slide open.