Words with Enemies

Chapter Five: The Test

By Gale Force

Date: Relative Earth Time, November 3, 2017

Location: Orbiting above the planet Proxima, Proxima Centauri, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea

I.

"AA," mused Amelia. "PAHOEHOE."

Two words for two different types of lava.

Amelia looked through the photos she'd taken at Kilauea the previous day. There'd been TEPHRA, and TUFF. There hadn't been any MAAR, though – a crater filled with water to become a lake. MAARS occurred in places like Alaska, not in Hawaii.

Amelia looked up from her smartphone to watch the Doctor. He was puttering around the TARDIS console.

On the large television screen was the image of a planet. Not Earth – although it was blue as if it had oceans and there were white specks of clouds everywhere. The continents weren't the same.

"Proxima," the Doctor announced, gesturing at the screen. "Only about a billion years old. Water, land, but no life forms over single cell."

"PROTOZOA?" asked Amelia.

"PROTOZOA," agreed the Doctor, pointing at her. "And what's the plural of that?"

Amelia grinned. "Trick question, Doctor. There is no plural to that. Whether it's one or many, it's all PROTOZOA."

The Doctor smiled, then turned back to the TARDIS console.

"Well, we're about to put the PROTOZOA planet in a time loop."

"You've decided on doing it to…Proxima…instead of Earth?"

"To test the Spinners, yes. They are my design but I had them built at Planet Queue, so I want to make sure they'll work properly. I'll deploy them around Proxima, and activate them. Then, we'll travel, oh, 100,000 thousand years into the future, and see if the Spinners are still operating."

"And if they are?"

"Well, that'll be proof enough that the Spinners work. Then…I'll move on to the next planet."

"And look for the next Perfect Day?"

"Precisely."

Amelia bit her lip. She said nothing, but she felt a bit of hope. The Doctor was giving Earth time. And while there was time, there was hope.

"Well, Doctor," she said at last, "I don't want to get in your way. I think I'll go to my room. I want to get in a bit more studying."

"Okay. It'll take me a couple of hours to deploy the Spinners. I'll give you a shout when they're in operation, shall I?"

"Yes, do."

Amelia went to room to drop off the Dictionary. She stood undecided for a few seconds, and then opened a closet door and drew out her swimsuit. She had a lot to think about, and swimming always helped to clarify her thoughts. As she swam lap after lap with mechanical precision, her mind would be free to roam and think…

But when she turned, her eye caught her TARDIS guidebook on her dresser. She had started keeping notes in that book when she'd first become a companion of the Doctor, after she'd realized that the TARDIS was actually a sentient being that seemed to like to play practical jokes on its inhabitants – moving around certain rooms so that they'd have to be searched for.

Amelia stared at the book…there were so many rooms in the TARDIS…and one of those rooms was a computerized library. There were books on shelves in it, of course, but there were also thousands of electronic books in files and a database of information on every planet that the Doctor had ever visited…

Amelia tossed her swimsuit onto the bed and hurried out of her room, heading for the Library.

Once there, she sat in a comfy chair in front of a large computer screen and said, "Computer. Show me fixed points in history for the Earth. Starting from the beginning of time. I mean…Earth time."

Text started appearing on the screen.

The first piece of text said, 4 Million BC (Earth standard time). Jagaroth space ship explodes. Amino acids activated and become functioning cells, leading to all life on Earth. The Jagaroth race banks in this spaceship were destroyed, resulting in the extinction of the Jagaroth.

The image of a Doctor appeared on the screen – one with curly hair and what looked to be an extremely long, multi-colored scarf wrapped round his neck. Of course, thought Amelia – the TARDIS probably had scanners everywhere. Its translation circuit translated both spoken and written language. Perhaps there was a recording circuit as well, that recorded images of everyone the Doctor encountered…

The image on screen was speaking, "The Jagaroth are a vicious, callous, warlike race whom the universe won't miss…."

Amelia stopped the scroll of text.

If the Doctor put the Earth into a time loop, would he do it before the Jagaroth space ship blew up? He'd have to go back 4 million years…and if the Jagaroth spaceship didn't blow up, there'd be no life on earth…but if the earth were in a timeloop, no, that would be okay, Amelia suddenly realized.

The Jagaroth ship could blow up and create life on earth, and the Jagaroth race would be destroyed. So there'd be no Jagaroth left to invade earth…

But that was the thing…there were other aliens who visited Earth throughout all its long history. If the earth was in a time loop, what would happen to those aliens? If they landed on planet earth – would they be caught in the time loop, too? Trapped forever on Earth on that particular day?

There were so many ramifications to what the Doctor was planning to do…for some reason he wasn't considering them.

Well…Amelia took a deep breath. He'd have to be made to consider them.

She nodded sharply. She'd be able to talk sense into the Doctor. She had to!