Erin Ptah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ptahrrific) wrote2009-03-13 05:08 pm
ptahrrific) wrote2009-03-13 05:08 pm
Entry tags:
Fake News/Doctor Who: George's World, part 5
Title: George's World (5/5)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nothin' you haven't seen before.
Series: The Colbert Report, Doctor Who
Spoilers: New Who S3, TW S1
In which our heroes are united, and pull the world back together, and there is general brilliance and cleverness all round.
Table of contents here.
George's World - Part 5
When they turned the final corner, Stephen's first thought was that they had run into a crowd.
His mind had trouble just piecing the scene together. He and George were facing a wall that looked like a window; only the Doctor's hand pressed against the pane showed that there was glass there at all.
On the other side was a decagon of mirrored walls, reflecting a kaleidescope of Time Lords spiraling off into infinity. The weird thing was, they weren't all the Doctor. At a quick scan Stephen guessed there were maybe a dozen different figures, from a blond in beige to a grandfather in black.
They were all in the same pose, though; and when the Doctor grinned and waved, the whole crowd imitated him, the gesture displayed by a million iterations of men at every conceivable angle.
Hi, Stephen! he said, the phrase recognizable enough even though Stephen couldn't hear a thing. Looking down, the Doctor grinned more broadly still (if that were even possible). Hello, George!
"Hi!" said George brightly, though his gaze kept darting behind the Doctor's legs, as if looking for someone. "Is that the Doctor?" he asked, tugging on Stephen's hand.
"The one and only," replied Stephen. Although, given the panoply visible in the mirrors, he wasn't quite sure that was true.
⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔
Stephen turned a corner and nearly walked into a crowd.
A moment later, he realized that it was just a vast circle of brilliantly lit mirrors. And, more importantly, that between two panes of endlessly reflected figures was a darkened panel containing only two.
Stephen froze, not daring to get his hopes up. If it was just another afterimage....
Then the boy on the other side of the glass caught sight of him and lit up, mouth outlining the word Daddy!
Stephen sprinted across the room in three bounds.
⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔
After the initial rush of silent delight, George, his hands still pressed against the mirror-that-wasn't-a-mirror opposite Stephen's, looked up and said something that looked like I told you so!
Stephen followed his gaze, and got his first look at his alternate self in realtime.
The teenager in the not-mirror replied to George too rapidly to be lip-read, then nodded a greeting to Stephen before turning back to the Doctor. There was a tension in his bearing that Stephen remembered all too well; but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as he had been expecting, even with the Doctor nearby.
Also, the younger Stephen's eyebrows were going all over the place. Occasionally he even raised a hand to push an arch higher, an angle more pronounced.
"What are you doing?" asked Stephen warily, once he realized the Doctor's face was doing the same thing (though he never seemed to need his hands).
"Talking," replied the Doctor matter-of-factly. "Sound isn't getting between the two of us, but photons are. So we're using Delphon. Stephen signs it like a native, which is absolutely staggering when you think about it. Very tricky language, Delphon."
"Yes, yes, I'm brilliant," snapped Stephen, though he did take note: The other me is learning things. And this man approves. "What are you saying?"
The Doctor's eyebrows twitched one last time, then he turned his full attention on Stephen. Opposite them, the alternate Stephen dropped into a crouch, put a hand on George's shoulder, and started talking — probably explaining the same things. "We're at the epicenter of this little phenomenon. It doesn't extend far — odds are the effects only reach as far as this building. Is it closed off, by the way?"
"How did you know?"
"That's usually what humans do when they run into something they can't understand. Wonky reflections and a whole chunk of space come unstuck in time? That fits the bill. Besides, we're the only ones in here." He tapped the blue-tipped metal wand, which Stephen had only just noticed he was still carrying, against his bottom lip. "It's actually very straightforward if you look at it five-dimensionally."
"Are you saying you can fix it?" asked Stephen, eyes darting to George. (Still fine.)
Though he made no move to close the distance between them, the Doctor smiled down at Stephen in a way that felt like a reassuring hand. "Told you I'd rescue your son, didn't I? Whether you let me or not."
"About that...." Stephen bit his lip, then looked in the not-mirror again.
The other Stephen was watching him now, both of them kneeling to be on a level with George. When their eyes met, the teenager shifted cautiously, raising an eyebrow in pre-emptive defense as he sized Stephen up. His hand never left George's shoulder.
Stephen gave him a nod of approval.
Turning back to the Doctor, he asked, "Did you rescue him too?"
"Working on it right now." Before Stephen could protest that this wasn't what he had meant, the other man continued. "But I'm going to need your help. No physical contact necessary," he added quickly.
Stephen was dubious, but he chanced it. "What would I have to do?"
"Not a lot. Thing is, it'll be a lot easier to synchronize the two areas if there's a point of reference between them. Say, an identical sound pattern. Say, if two people recited the same speech at the same time."
⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔
"...and to the Republic for which it stands..."
The corridor around them started getting very bright.
"...one Nation, indivisible..."
George was shivering. Without missing a beat, Stephen put an arm around his shoulders.
"...with liberty and justice..."
The whole world whited out.
"...for all!"
⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔
George ran straight into his father's arms.
"You didn't have to worry, sir," declared the younger Stephen. "George was in good hands."
The older Stephen actually laughed, his own hands clasped tightly around his son. "I'm sure he was."
The younger version let himself smile before addressing the Doctor. "Did Jack come back all right?"
"He'll be fine. Back at the TARDIS, and all in one piece."
"We better hurry, then. He'll be coming back to life any second now."
"Good call," said the Doctor. "You want to run ahead? We'll catch you up."
Once the teenager had taken off down the corridor, the Doctor smiled fondly after him and started walking. Behind him, he heard the alternate Stephen follow.
"Landed the TARDIS in a South Carolina orchard," he remarked without looking back. "Left the door open while we went out to get some peaches, and when we came back, there he was. I did my best to shoo him away, but he was determined to come with."
"Makes sense," muttered Stephen, matching his pace. "I'm sorry I...jumped to conclusions, earlier. I...."
The Doctor waved it away. "Say no more."
It was George who spoke next. "Daddy? Are we gonna be late meeting Other Daddy?"
Stephen gasped. "Oh, no," he moaned. "How long have we been in here? They're probably worried sick by now."
The Doctor thought about asking whether 'Other Daddy' meant Jon Stewart, but he decided against it. If this universe's Stephen was friends with its Jon but involved with someone else, it would only make things needlessly awkward. Instead, he winked at George. "Not to worry, young man. Did I tell you my ship travels in time?"
He was counting on the usual exclamations of awe and wonder, so he was profoundly disappointed when the boy just looked worried.
"Aw, come on!" he protested. "I'm offering you time travel. Doesn't that sound cool?"
"It's awesome!" exclaimed George. "But...are you sure I'm tall enough to ride?"
⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔ ⋅ ⇔
"So, basically, while I was dead I missed all the fun," summarized Jack.
He had only gotten a whirlwind introduction to this universe's Stephen, complete with charmingly adorable son, before the TARDIS had taken a short hop back in time (as far as it could manage with the amount it had charged) and let them out again. The action was apparently long over, leaving nothing for the three of them to do but sit around and wait while the ship charged.
("It'll go much faster now, though," the Doctor observed. "No wonder she had a hard time finding power when we got here. There was already another one of her in the area, hogging it all.")
"There's got to be something else we can do here," protested Stephen. "More timey-wimey things to unsnarl? Schemes to thwart? Dictatorships to overthrow?"
Tongue between his teeth, the Doctor poked at a display. "Doesn't look like it. Scans are picking up no other temporal anomalies and only minimal alien life on the whole rest of the planet. Looks like George's World is incredibly lacking on that count."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "So we're calling it 'George's World' now?"
"Good a name as any, isn't it? I suppose we could call it 'Stephen's World', but that would only cause unnecessary confusion."
"Well, let's get out of it soon, anyway," said Stephen. "It sounds boring. We can get out, right?"
"Once we're all charged, it'll be easy to retrace our steps. Still can't fathom how we got here, though. This reading doesn't make any sense."
Jack leaned over his shoulder and peered at the console. In the middle of the complex circles of Gallifreyan was printed a single English word: Quetzalcoatl.
"Might just be a glitch," he offered. "Hey, we're in an amusement park, right? You think we have time to pick up some cotton candy before we go?"
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nothin' you haven't seen before.
Series: The Colbert Report, Doctor Who
Spoilers: New Who S3, TW S1
In which our heroes are united, and pull the world back together, and there is general brilliance and cleverness all round.
Table of contents here.
George's World - Part 5
When they turned the final corner, Stephen's first thought was that they had run into a crowd.
His mind had trouble just piecing the scene together. He and George were facing a wall that looked like a window; only the Doctor's hand pressed against the pane showed that there was glass there at all.
On the other side was a decagon of mirrored walls, reflecting a kaleidescope of Time Lords spiraling off into infinity. The weird thing was, they weren't all the Doctor. At a quick scan Stephen guessed there were maybe a dozen different figures, from a blond in beige to a grandfather in black.
They were all in the same pose, though; and when the Doctor grinned and waved, the whole crowd imitated him, the gesture displayed by a million iterations of men at every conceivable angle.
Hi, Stephen! he said, the phrase recognizable enough even though Stephen couldn't hear a thing. Looking down, the Doctor grinned more broadly still (if that were even possible). Hello, George!
"Hi!" said George brightly, though his gaze kept darting behind the Doctor's legs, as if looking for someone. "Is that the Doctor?" he asked, tugging on Stephen's hand.
"The one and only," replied Stephen. Although, given the panoply visible in the mirrors, he wasn't quite sure that was true.
Stephen turned a corner and nearly walked into a crowd.
A moment later, he realized that it was just a vast circle of brilliantly lit mirrors. And, more importantly, that between two panes of endlessly reflected figures was a darkened panel containing only two.
Stephen froze, not daring to get his hopes up. If it was just another afterimage....
Then the boy on the other side of the glass caught sight of him and lit up, mouth outlining the word Daddy!
Stephen sprinted across the room in three bounds.
After the initial rush of silent delight, George, his hands still pressed against the mirror-that-wasn't-a-mirror opposite Stephen's, looked up and said something that looked like I told you so!
Stephen followed his gaze, and got his first look at his alternate self in realtime.
The teenager in the not-mirror replied to George too rapidly to be lip-read, then nodded a greeting to Stephen before turning back to the Doctor. There was a tension in his bearing that Stephen remembered all too well; but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as he had been expecting, even with the Doctor nearby.
Also, the younger Stephen's eyebrows were going all over the place. Occasionally he even raised a hand to push an arch higher, an angle more pronounced.
"What are you doing?" asked Stephen warily, once he realized the Doctor's face was doing the same thing (though he never seemed to need his hands).
"Talking," replied the Doctor matter-of-factly. "Sound isn't getting between the two of us, but photons are. So we're using Delphon. Stephen signs it like a native, which is absolutely staggering when you think about it. Very tricky language, Delphon."
"Yes, yes, I'm brilliant," snapped Stephen, though he did take note: The other me is learning things. And this man approves. "What are you saying?"
The Doctor's eyebrows twitched one last time, then he turned his full attention on Stephen. Opposite them, the alternate Stephen dropped into a crouch, put a hand on George's shoulder, and started talking — probably explaining the same things. "We're at the epicenter of this little phenomenon. It doesn't extend far — odds are the effects only reach as far as this building. Is it closed off, by the way?"
"How did you know?"
"That's usually what humans do when they run into something they can't understand. Wonky reflections and a whole chunk of space come unstuck in time? That fits the bill. Besides, we're the only ones in here." He tapped the blue-tipped metal wand, which Stephen had only just noticed he was still carrying, against his bottom lip. "It's actually very straightforward if you look at it five-dimensionally."
"Are you saying you can fix it?" asked Stephen, eyes darting to George. (Still fine.)
Though he made no move to close the distance between them, the Doctor smiled down at Stephen in a way that felt like a reassuring hand. "Told you I'd rescue your son, didn't I? Whether you let me or not."
"About that...." Stephen bit his lip, then looked in the not-mirror again.
The other Stephen was watching him now, both of them kneeling to be on a level with George. When their eyes met, the teenager shifted cautiously, raising an eyebrow in pre-emptive defense as he sized Stephen up. His hand never left George's shoulder.
Stephen gave him a nod of approval.
Turning back to the Doctor, he asked, "Did you rescue him too?"
"Working on it right now." Before Stephen could protest that this wasn't what he had meant, the other man continued. "But I'm going to need your help. No physical contact necessary," he added quickly.
Stephen was dubious, but he chanced it. "What would I have to do?"
"Not a lot. Thing is, it'll be a lot easier to synchronize the two areas if there's a point of reference between them. Say, an identical sound pattern. Say, if two people recited the same speech at the same time."
"...and to the Republic for which it stands..."
The corridor around them started getting very bright.
"...one Nation, indivisible..."
George was shivering. Without missing a beat, Stephen put an arm around his shoulders.
"...with liberty and justice..."
The whole world whited out.
"...for all!"
George ran straight into his father's arms.
"You didn't have to worry, sir," declared the younger Stephen. "George was in good hands."
The older Stephen actually laughed, his own hands clasped tightly around his son. "I'm sure he was."
The younger version let himself smile before addressing the Doctor. "Did Jack come back all right?"
"He'll be fine. Back at the TARDIS, and all in one piece."
"We better hurry, then. He'll be coming back to life any second now."
"Good call," said the Doctor. "You want to run ahead? We'll catch you up."
Once the teenager had taken off down the corridor, the Doctor smiled fondly after him and started walking. Behind him, he heard the alternate Stephen follow.
"Landed the TARDIS in a South Carolina orchard," he remarked without looking back. "Left the door open while we went out to get some peaches, and when we came back, there he was. I did my best to shoo him away, but he was determined to come with."
"Makes sense," muttered Stephen, matching his pace. "I'm sorry I...jumped to conclusions, earlier. I...."
The Doctor waved it away. "Say no more."
It was George who spoke next. "Daddy? Are we gonna be late meeting Other Daddy?"
Stephen gasped. "Oh, no," he moaned. "How long have we been in here? They're probably worried sick by now."
The Doctor thought about asking whether 'Other Daddy' meant Jon Stewart, but he decided against it. If this universe's Stephen was friends with its Jon but involved with someone else, it would only make things needlessly awkward. Instead, he winked at George. "Not to worry, young man. Did I tell you my ship travels in time?"
He was counting on the usual exclamations of awe and wonder, so he was profoundly disappointed when the boy just looked worried.
"Aw, come on!" he protested. "I'm offering you time travel. Doesn't that sound cool?"
"It's awesome!" exclaimed George. "But...are you sure I'm tall enough to ride?"
"So, basically, while I was dead I missed all the fun," summarized Jack.
He had only gotten a whirlwind introduction to this universe's Stephen, complete with charmingly adorable son, before the TARDIS had taken a short hop back in time (as far as it could manage with the amount it had charged) and let them out again. The action was apparently long over, leaving nothing for the three of them to do but sit around and wait while the ship charged.
("It'll go much faster now, though," the Doctor observed. "No wonder she had a hard time finding power when we got here. There was already another one of her in the area, hogging it all.")
"There's got to be something else we can do here," protested Stephen. "More timey-wimey things to unsnarl? Schemes to thwart? Dictatorships to overthrow?"
Tongue between his teeth, the Doctor poked at a display. "Doesn't look like it. Scans are picking up no other temporal anomalies and only minimal alien life on the whole rest of the planet. Looks like George's World is incredibly lacking on that count."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "So we're calling it 'George's World' now?"
"Good a name as any, isn't it? I suppose we could call it 'Stephen's World', but that would only cause unnecessary confusion."
"Well, let's get out of it soon, anyway," said Stephen. "It sounds boring. We can get out, right?"
"Once we're all charged, it'll be easy to retrace our steps. Still can't fathom how we got here, though. This reading doesn't make any sense."
Jack leaned over his shoulder and peered at the console. In the middle of the complex circles of Gallifreyan was printed a single English word: Quetzalcoatl.
"Might just be a glitch," he offered. "Hey, we're in an amusement park, right? You think we have time to pick up some cotton candy before we go?"
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Such an adorable story. :D
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Thanks!
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This story was very sweet.
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Thanks.
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And I'm rather wondering what the "minimal" alien life in George's Wold is...
Anyway, great fun: everyone is adorable, and I love the Stephens reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Because of course they would. ♥
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Well, they still have Gorlock. And nobody's quite sure about Michael Jackson =P
Thank you!
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"But...are you sure I'm tall enough to ride?" Awwww. Oh George, you'll get taller eventually. (And meanwhile Other Daddy can enjoy not being the shortest man in the room.)
Quetzalcoatl OH NOT AGAIN XD Brilliant. I think "A pissed-off Aztec god did it" should be this fandom's "a wizard did it".
Yay for happy endings. I was trying to work out what the speech would be before I scrolled down (can't use anything from the show...) The pledge of allegiance is perfect.
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...darnit, I just lost an hour. (TVTropes-As-Black-Hole aside, that's exactly the trope in play here, and I may need icons.)
Thought about using the Nicene Creed, given how well he's speed-recited it before, but obviously went with the Pledge. Glad you liked!
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"But...are you sure I'm tall enough to ride?"
Aww, George.
This was adorable. ♥.
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Thanks =3
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Earlier, when George was referencing super heroes, he didn't include Tracy. Does she just not pass super human muster in George's eyes or is that referencing
In celebration of the recent influx of all of the Georgieness, I made a sketch. So here's a deformed and inexplicably tall George, waving goodbye to his new friends and being slightly pulled by his daddy's disembodied hand, the owner probably anxious to get back to George's other daddy and siblings:) Wonder what will transpire during that meeting...
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The Stewart-Colbert quartet evolves over the years (as hinted in that fic), but Tracey is never out of George's life entirely, so this is just a classification thing on his part. She's the only one of the four who doesn't travel the world; therefore, she's not quite as awesome.
IT'S SO CUTE. I love it to bits. Lookit his little shoes! And the holding of Daddy's (disembodied) fingers! And the expression! ♥
"Jon, we just met a couple of time-traveling aliens." "...Stephen, honey, have you been mixing your meds?"
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