Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [35]
‘See it?’
‘You remind me of my great-uncle David. There was this look about him.
He’d seen bad action in the war. He never talked about it, and when I was older, after he was dead, I realised that was because, to survive, he’d done things no one should ever have to do. You don’t talk about it either, do you?
Especially not to her.’
In the dim light, the Doctor’s eyes were brighter than they ought to have been, as if they contained their own light. He still didn’t say anything. Ethan dropped his own eyes, poked a finger at his soaked beer mat. ‘I lied to you.’
The Doctor shifted slightly and crossed his arms. ‘Yes?’
‘I did see something that night.’
‘Really?’ The Doctor’s tone was neutral. ‘You were the only one.’
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The Algebra of Ice
‘I gathered that. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I thought probably I was hallucinating.’
‘Tell me now.’
Ethan hesitated. ‘It’s difficult to describe. It’s as if there were lights – no, that’s wrong. It was dark. Pitch dark. Is that how it was for you?’ The Doctor nodded. ‘Absolutely black. But I saw. . . well, I suppose lines is the best description. I don’t know how I could see them. They must have been white.
They. . . ’ he thought for a few seconds ‘. . . gleamed.’
‘Like moonlight?’
‘No. Harder, if that makes any sense. Like the darkness was harder. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then, when it was over, they were gone.’
‘And you haven’t seen them since?’
‘No. But I haven’t had a headache since either. They might have been a migraine symptom.’
‘But your headaches haven’t caused anything like this before.’
‘No.’
The Doctor chewed thoughtfully on his lip.
‘Was it. . . them?’ said Ethan. ‘Did I see them trying to come through?’
‘Yes, I think so. Or at least you saw what the human eye could make of them.’
‘Why didn’t anyone else see anything?’
‘Mm.’ The Doctor chewed his lip some more. ‘Tell me, do you ever have odd visual experiences? Not seeing things. Distortions.’
‘Yes,’ said Ethan puzzledly. ‘How did you know?’
‘What are they like?’
‘Well, it’s really only one thing. Sometimes what I’m looking at sort of smears, like a rapid pan-shot in a movie where the scene goes out of focus. Then it snaps back. Only if I’m watching something that’s moving it’s as if I,’ again he searched for the right words, ‘skipped a beat. Missed out a split second.’
‘What do your doctors say?’
‘That it might be epilepsy. Only you can’t test the brain for epilepsy unless the person is actually having a fit. Which doesn’t coincide very often with being in the examination room. There’s no other evidence, though. I don’t have grand mal, I don’t fall down or anything like that.’
‘And you don’t “miss time”?’
‘Only that split second.’
‘Does this happen often?’
Chapter Eight
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‘Fairly regularly.’
‘And it’s not caused by the headaches.’
‘It happens without them.’
The Doctor regarded him speculatively, as if making a decision. Finally he said, ‘I’m not clear on whether I can tell you this – I can’t remember exactly when it was worked out on Earth – but I don’t think there’s any harm. The human eye, which mine also essentially is, doesn’t take in information continuously.’
‘What?’ said Ethan, still back with the when-worked-out-on-Earth part of the sentence.
‘The eye –’
‘No, hang on. That part about you couldn’t remember whether we’ve discovered this eye thing yet.’
‘Oh yes, that would be confusing. I travel through time as well as space.’
‘Oh really?’
‘That’s why it’s Time and Relative Dimensions In –’
‘Let’s just get back to the eye, all right?’
‘As you wish. The eye doesn’t take in information continuously but in discrete frames, rather like a movie camera. A film has to run at 24 frames a second for motion to look smooth. Our eyes receive from 19 to 25 “frames” – that is to say, snapshots of what we’re observing – per second. The question is,’ he leaned forward, ‘ what’s in the gaps between the frames? ’
Ethan wasn’t sure how much more bizarre information he could process. The Doctor was looking at him as if he expected an answer. ‘Aliens?’ he said