From whofic.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cameca stopped abruptly in the doorway of the TARDIS, so abruptly that the Doctor walked right into her and nearly tripped over. He started mumbling complaints before he realised that this was the first time Cameca had seen the TARDIS, inside or out, and that it would take some time for her primitive mind to accept the apparent contradiction. He prepared himself to wait patiently, and to endure the barrage of questions, but Cameca merely squinted around the console room, took a step back to view the doorway from the outside, and continued into the ship.
The Doctor frowned. Where were the questions, the exclamations, the denial? She came from a society even less advanced than Barbara and Chesterfield, so surely the concept would be harder for her to accept?
Silently the Aztec wandered around the room, reaching out to feel the material of the roundels, coat hanger and armchair. She made one full circuit of the room, watched by the travellers, before approaching the central console. Susan wore a concerned expression on her face, as did Barbara, but Ian seemed more curious to see her reaction, perhaps hoping it might validate his own initial disbelief at the ship.
Cameca’s eyes travelled over the various controls, before she turned her attention to the four travellers. “So this is the abode of the gods. It is wonderful indeed.”
Ah. That would explain her silent acceptance of the situation: her belief that they were gods and servants of the gods meant she knew she would never understand what her eyes told her. She could accept such incongruity into her world view because she knew she could never hope to understand the workings of the gods.
This was something of a blessing, but also something of a curse. The Doctor really should enlighten her. Soon.
The Time Lord closed the doors behind them and began setting the controls. He ignored the doubt clawing at the back of his mind; the doubt that Cameca would regret leaving, or hate them for lying, or both. That she’d stop loving him. He gave himself a mental shake. “Yes, yes, this is called the TARDIS, my dear. It’s our means of transportation.”
“This…” - clearly there was no word in her vocabulary to fit what she was seeing — “…is your means of travel?” Her eyes gleamed. “That I should be blessed with such knowledge is beyond expression; beyond thanks.”
“Well my dear, I don’t doubt you’ll grow used to it in time.”
Susan drew Cameca into a conversation just as Barbara sidled up to the Doctor. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the two had contrived such a thing.
“Doctor, you have to tell her,” Barbara began, in an undertone. “She has a right to know, even if she doesn’t understand.”
“Hmm? A right to know what, my dear Barbara?”
She sighed in exasperation. “The right to know that we’re not gods, that we’re not taking her to the underworld, or the land to the west, or any of the other afterlives they believed in. She also has the right to know she can never go home again.”
“In time, my dear, in time.”
“Doctor, you know as well as I that the longer you tell a lie, the harder it is to confess to the truth. Tell her now, or I’llhave to.”
The Time Lord drew back, furious at the quietly uttered threat. “You will dono such thing Miss Wright. That lady ismy responsibility and I shall inform her of her situation at a time and place I see fit.”
Their voices were rising now, and it was pretty obvious that Ian at least was eavesdropping, but Barbara wasn’t backing down. “We are all each other’s responsibility here, Doctor, and it’s not fair on her to let her continue in ignorance!”
