Vader stood and looked from his phone to the stone arch before him. It looked oddly familiar even though he'd never seen it before... but he thinks it's the carvings. He'd seen markings like it somewhere, he just couldn't place where. He's been to so many worlds, it's hard to keep all the alien scribblings strait. But something about it gave him the willies and something else drew him to it... which was pretty typical of ancient Force stuff actually. And this thing is very very ancient, older than the Sith or the Jedi.
Whatever this thing was, the Emperor wanted it badly enough to quarantine the entire planet. And that meant when he caught wind of it he wanted to know what it was too... because anything that was hidden from him was dangerous. Nothing he'd found in the records here had told him what it was exactly... 'door to a world between worlds' wasn't very specific. But it was spooky and it reminded him too much of the breach he and Palpatine had made between realities. Especially after he had succumbed to the temptation to touch it and it went all weird.
Vader looks at his phone again and decides what he has to do.
I have something you need to see. It's important otherwise I wouldn't contact you.
From the Doctor's perspective, it had been some time since the argument with Vader. Almost enough time that he had nearly forgotten all about it. Nearly. And almost. Not that he and Vader connected all that regularly to begin with. Different universes being a thing.
Still, the text took him a bit by surprise. And he debated about how to reply. Ultimately, he decided not to. Replies were time consuming and unnecessary. If he showed up, the TARDIS would give him away and a lack of response was reply enough.
He was going to ignore the text. In fact he succeeded in ignoring it. For about ten minutes. But curiosity got the better of him. After all, Vader didn't want to see the whole multiverse collapse. And this could be that important. And that's not something Vader would fabricate.
The Doctor huffed to himself, approached the console and traced the text message back to find Vader's time and location. Then he engaged the level, sending the TARDIS to Vader's location. Upon arriving, he set the parking break and slowly opened the door, trying to peek out to see if it was safe first.
Vader doesn't bother to turn around when he hears the TARDIS materialize and the door very softly creeks open. He stays focused on the doorway and lets the Doctor decide when to come over. There's still no trust and that's fine... totally. He doesn't miss it at all.
The archway sits in the center of a large excavation, equipment off and research stations all abandoned. The whole planet is currently abandoned, with only Vader and now the Doctor and the TARDIS to occupy it.
Before the Emperor found it, it had been one of countless lost temples that had changed hands over and over again over the millennia before being forgotten for whatever reason... now it surrounds the excavation as an ugly pile of rubble, desecrated because it got in the way. The archway and it's generous to call it that, looks more like a lopsided squished doughnut with a hole just large enough for someone to step through. It was once a boulder with a natural hole through the middle, but some long lost civilization carved it into something more decorative.
The only light comes from the overly large moon and the bright yellow light coming from the carvings on the stone. Vader might have accidentally woke it up... and activated it. But he closed it again until the Doctor could give his opinion. So, that's a thing.
No one and nothing tried to attack him, so that's a good start. He looks over at Vader and only gives a nod. Might not be safe to speak, after all. Then he exits the TARDIS, pulls the door closed behind him, and sees the structure that Vader had obviously wanted him to see.
"Look at you. I haven't seen the likes of you in a very long time."
Well, that just sounded impressive. Fact was, he couldn't be certain he was seeing what he was seeing. The TARDIS translation circuits were having trouble with ruins on the machine - but then different universes, she couldn't be expected to translate everything here. She sometimes struggled with their Basic, and Hutenese was right out.
The Doctor went closer to the machine approaching it with hesitancy. He didn't want to get too close, and yet, he wanted to touch it.
The Doctor steps closer to the machine, but stops just shy of touching it. He hears Vader's statement about time. "It's been months for me."
He can listen and explore at the same time. He takes another few moments before turning around. "In simplest terms? It's like a gateway. To other places. I don't know what the runes say, so I can't say for sure if it will work or where it would lead, but in my universe, that's what it's called."
He watches the Doctor as he examines the 'gateway' as he calls it. There's something almost enjoyable in the cautious curiosity but it's tainted by regret and left over butthurt.
"The temple record here apparently called it 'The world between worlds'... whatever that means."
Nothing weird ever gets a straightforward name.
"I can't read it, but I can activate it."
Vader moves to stand directly in front of the gateway and reaches out, letting his hand hover just above the surface. Slowly, he moves his hand over it, eyes closed and careful not to touch anything. He reaches out and listens, letting the Force guide him to the right symbols and what order to touch them. As he does, each changes from gold to blue, until the last one is activated and the whole thing switches blue.
"It's open. I can feel... something. But I can't see anything."
Something 'other', something very much like what he feels when the TARDIS is around. Which is a big part of why he asked the Doctor here... maybe he can see something through a Time Lord's eyes that he can't through the Force.
Was he supposed to wait for the Doctor's okay? Oops. There's a good chance he wouldn't have listened anyway... he wants to know what it is and why the Emperor wants it so badly.
"So, time and space stuff?"
He watches closely as the Doctor examines this thing and when he pulls out the glasses he feels a curl of darkness twist in him. It's an unexpectedly powerful reminder of the trust that was lost. And what it felt like to do something for someone else, just because.
"That's uh...." He drifts off a moment, looking intensely at the gateway "That's not exactly good is it?"
Vader tries to refocus on the conversation and not the whatever it is and it's increasingly strong presence in the Force.
The Doctor nods. "Time and Space stuff. As far as I can tell anyway."
He spends a few more moments scanning and thinking. "Your universe is quite different from mine, though. But, I'd say in the wrong hands it would be very not good."
The Doctor takes off the sunglasses and pockets them. Then he finally turned to Vader. "How did you find it?
"Huh?" he was busy thinking of the 'very not good' bit and almost missed the question.
"There are people more loyal to me than to the Emperor... and Storm Troopers tend to gossip." Vader focuses back on the Doctor once again. "Tk:8008's cousin told him that he was being reassigned after... " Insert helpful air-quotes here "...The Lothal Disaster and this planet was totally safe because it was quarantined."
He pauses to take a drink. And no, he isn't telling you if it's caf or decaf.
"Obviously, 'totally safe' and 'quarantine' don't exactly go together... so I looked into it."
The Doctor doesn't need the details about the rest. He wouldn't like them anyway. And besides that, the whatever-it-is is being very distracting. There's a sort of vibration, like when you hum but without the sound.
"Hear? No. I feel something. There's an energy here. But, it's the wrong sort...."
He cuts off and looks back to the TARDIS.
"Oh, that could be very bad."
He rushes into the TARDIS to check settings and information. He doesn't close the door, he was too focused on checking readings. "Nothing. Well, not nothing, but stable. That's... That shouldn't be."
He's rather confused now. And starts to make his way back out.
Vader sighs inwardly and follows the Doctor towards the TARDIS... not intending to enter, but he would like to know what's going on. So maybe standing by the doors would be okay? The Doctor allowed him to do that before. He makes it almost to the door before stopping dead in his tracks.
"It's voices..." He's sure whatever the Doctor's talking about is important, but he definitely hears something like voices now. He just can't quite make out what they're saying.
Without waiting for the Doctor, Vader turns back toward the gateway. If he can get right up to it then maybe he can hear what it's trying to say. He has to know what it's saying.
The Doctor is still focused on the monitors. Slightly distracted. "Well, if the same TARDIS tries to occupy the same space at the same time, it creates a time ram. Which could punch a hole in the side of the universe. That sort of bad..."
He hears Vader mention voices and he looks up. And sees Vader walking toward...
"No, wait! Don't! You don't know what might happen."
On the plus side, he has enough residual respect for the Doctor to sort of listen to him, on the down side it's not enough to keep him from resisting the pull of the gateway entirely. Vader reaches out and pokes at the space within the opening and watches as the empty space ripples. It's like looking at water... if water didn't reflect anything.
"That's so weird."
Weird but not dangerous... maybe if he stuck his hand in?
The Doctor huffs and runs a hand through his hair. "I think you're being an idiot. You know nothing about it. Who built it? Why is it in this specific location? Why does it draw you towards it?"
Too many questions and not enough answers for the Doctor's taste.
He stops and thinks about the the Doctor's questions. Vader has gotten pretty used to not knowing what's going on when it comes to Force stuff... but the Doctor likes to have all the answers to all the things.
"It's a vergence in the Force." Vader knows he can't really answer the Doctor's questions, but he can share what little he does know.
"It's a place of great power, where the Force is unusually strong... and it's focused right there." He points to the empty space he just poked.
He doesn't know who first found it or why the Jedi eventually abandoned it. He's not even sure that's really important. What's important to him is that it's there and he can hear something trying to say something.
"Well, yes, it does take a great amount of power to transport from one location to another. Especially if time is involved. So, power is hardly unexpected. I mean, that's what it seems like to me, but I can't translate these runes and the TARDIS can't either. So, I'm not sure I can tell your more than that."
He shrugs. It's interesting and he wants to do something with the information, he just doesn't know what to do with it.
He gives them another look over... they hardly seem like they would qualify as writing as far as he's concerned. Basic might not be the most elegant writing system, but at least it looks like writing. But this just feels like stalling to him. It's there, the Doctor said it was stable enough and he can still hear something on the other side.
"If we had an archaeologist we could ask them, but I threw the only skilled enough one I know out of an airlock and then left her to burn up on a crashing prison ship."
Even if she survived that, he still wouldn't trust her within a thousand parsecs of here. But he didn't actively try to kill her the second time! He's at least not backsliding to wanton murder. Though he'd deny it has anything to do with the Doctor... he just didn't feel like making sure she was dead.
"I mean, it's a door... you walk through it. That's how doors work."
He takes another drink and tries to ignore the muffled voices and the temptation to just walk through and leave the Doctor behind.
The Doctor shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not. But I was married to an archaeologist for a long time, I picked up a thing or two along the way."
He approaches the door again. "Writing on any machine or near any door rarely has no meaning at all."
He's trying to not be insulting. But in his head he's begging Vader to thing about every door that had writing near it and if that writing was important or not (at least for the first time it's seen).
Vader crosses his arms, in part as an expression of his displeasure and in part because it just feels better on his arms. Durasteel gets heavy after a while. The Doctor would probably be exasperated knowing how many such mysterious doors he's just strolled through. A thought he finds slightly amusing.
He offers a slightly manic grin. "Same thing I ever do when I see a door."
He approaches it and looks around. Of course, it's not an actual door, so he stays close to the edge. He waves his hands along the stone work to see if he could sense a specific place. He doesn't so he raises his hands and finally knocks.
Vader isn't expecting anything the Doctor does to have any effect... but he's very definitely wrong. Whether it's because of the Time Lord thing with time or the fact that forcy things like this invariably have some sort of low level sentience, it responds. There's a brilliant blueish-white flash of energy. In its wake the once muffled voices become more distinct and he's aware that he's hearing-hearing them, not just sensing them.
He still can't quite make it out, there are too many voices speaking over each other... some sound familiar but not all. Vader looks from the Doctor to the thing and back, his head tilted slightly in curiosity and surprise.
More often than not Forcy things don't like him much nowadays. Light Side stuff especially, but meh... what can you do? It's not actively trying to repel him, even with all the Jedi influence here. There's still plenty of 'unwelcome' vibes from the temple ruins itself, but not the whatever-it-is. It's not exactly welcoming or unwelcoming... it just is.
"It is." Close enough anyway. "It doesn't sound like a go away either."
Vader can still feel it almost beckoning him/them through the Force. Not an invitation or a temptation exactly, but in a 'mysterious power' and 'hidden secrets' way. He looks around... a tiny backwater part of the galaxy and a temple razed to the ground just to expose this.
"Whatever the Emperor wants with this thing is probably on the other side."
Had he mentioned the Emperor was behind whatever was going on here? He can't remember with all the distraction from the whatever-it-is. Whatever.
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ninetydegrees
For Doctor #12
on 2019-07-15 08:26 pm (UTC)Whatever this thing was, the Emperor wanted it badly enough to quarantine the entire planet. And that meant when he caught wind of it he wanted to know what it was too... because anything that was hidden from him was dangerous. Nothing he'd found in the records here had told him what it was exactly... 'door to a world between worlds' wasn't very specific. But it was spooky and it reminded him too much of the breach he and Palpatine had made between realities. Especially after he had succumbed to the temptation to touch it and it went all weird.
Vader looks at his phone again and decides what he has to do.
I have something you need to see. It's important otherwise I wouldn't contact you.
no subject
on 2019-07-15 11:11 pm (UTC)Still, the text took him a bit by surprise. And he debated about how to reply. Ultimately, he decided not to. Replies were time consuming and unnecessary. If he showed up, the TARDIS would give him away and a lack of response was reply enough.
He was going to ignore the text. In fact he succeeded in ignoring it. For about ten minutes. But curiosity got the better of him. After all, Vader didn't want to see the whole multiverse collapse. And this could be that important. And that's not something Vader would fabricate.
The Doctor huffed to himself, approached the console and traced the text message back to find Vader's time and location. Then he engaged the level, sending the TARDIS to Vader's location. Upon arriving, he set the parking break and slowly opened the door, trying to peek out to see if it was safe first.
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on 2019-07-16 12:27 am (UTC)The archway sits in the center of a large excavation, equipment off and research stations all abandoned. The whole planet is currently abandoned, with only Vader and now the Doctor and the TARDIS to occupy it.
Before the Emperor found it, it had been one of countless lost temples that had changed hands over and over again over the millennia before being forgotten for whatever reason... now it surrounds the excavation as an ugly pile of rubble, desecrated because it got in the way. The archway and it's generous to call it that, looks more like a lopsided squished doughnut with a hole just large enough for someone to step through. It was once a boulder with a natural hole through the middle, but some long lost civilization carved it into something more decorative.
The only light comes from the overly large moon and the bright yellow light coming from the carvings on the stone. Vader might have accidentally woke it up... and activated it. But he closed it again until the Doctor could give his opinion. So, that's a thing.
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on 2019-07-16 05:37 am (UTC)"Look at you. I haven't seen the likes of you in a very long time."
Well, that just sounded impressive. Fact was, he couldn't be certain he was seeing what he was seeing. The TARDIS translation circuits were having trouble with ruins on the machine - but then different universes, she couldn't be expected to translate everything here. She sometimes struggled with their Basic, and Hutenese was right out.
The Doctor went closer to the machine approaching it with hesitancy. He didn't want to get too close, and yet, he wanted to touch it.
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on 2019-07-16 03:26 pm (UTC)"It's only been a week or two."
It's only then that he realizes that the Doctor hardly seems to notice he's even there and is instead focused on the thing in front of them.
"Oh... right... well, what is it?"
Right, he's just going to focus on what's at hand. Let the past die and all that kind of Sith advice stuff.
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on 2019-07-16 05:53 pm (UTC)He can listen and explore at the same time. He takes another few moments before turning around. "In simplest terms? It's like a gateway. To other places. I don't know what the runes say, so I can't say for sure if it will work or where it would lead, but in my universe, that's what it's called."
no subject
on 2019-07-16 07:04 pm (UTC)"The temple record here apparently called it 'The world between worlds'... whatever that means."
Nothing weird ever gets a straightforward name.
"I can't read it, but I can activate it."
Vader moves to stand directly in front of the gateway and reaches out, letting his hand hover just above the surface. Slowly, he moves his hand over it, eyes closed and careful not to touch anything. He reaches out and listens, letting the Force guide him to the right symbols and what order to touch them. As he does, each changes from gold to blue, until the last one is activated and the whole thing switches blue.
"It's open. I can feel... something. But I can't see anything."
Something 'other', something very much like what he feels when the TARDIS is around. Which is a big part of why he asked the Doctor here... maybe he can see something through a Time Lord's eyes that he can't through the Force.
no subject
on 2019-07-16 08:54 pm (UTC)But by the Doctor’s tone Vader can probably tell he doesn’t see it that way. He tries to stop Vader from... well too late.
He pulls out his shades and tries to scan what he can see.
“Like the vortex, but not like it at all. Fascinating.”
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on 2019-07-16 10:03 pm (UTC)"So, time and space stuff?"
He watches closely as the Doctor examines this thing and when he pulls out the glasses he feels a curl of darkness twist in him. It's an unexpectedly powerful reminder of the trust that was lost. And what it felt like to do something for someone else, just because.
"That's uh...." He drifts off a moment, looking intensely at the gateway "That's not exactly good is it?"
Vader tries to refocus on the conversation and not the whatever it is and it's increasingly strong presence in the Force.
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on 2019-07-17 07:08 am (UTC)He spends a few more moments scanning and thinking. "Your universe is quite different from mine, though. But, I'd say in the wrong hands it would be very not good."
The Doctor takes off the sunglasses and pockets them. Then he finally turned to Vader. "How did you find it?
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on 2019-07-17 10:05 pm (UTC)"There are people more loyal to me than to the Emperor... and Storm Troopers tend to gossip." Vader focuses back on the Doctor once again. "Tk:8008's cousin told him that he was being reassigned after... " Insert helpful air-quotes here "...The Lothal Disaster and this planet was totally safe because it was quarantined."
He pauses to take a drink. And no, he isn't telling you if it's caf or decaf.
"Obviously, 'totally safe' and 'quarantine' don't exactly go together... so I looked into it."
The Doctor doesn't need the details about the rest. He wouldn't like them anyway. And besides that, the whatever-it-is is being very distracting. There's a sort of vibration, like when you hum but without the sound.
"Do you hear something?"
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on 2019-07-18 03:49 am (UTC)He cuts off and looks back to the TARDIS.
"Oh, that could be very bad."
He rushes into the TARDIS to check settings and information. He doesn't close the door, he was too focused on checking readings. "Nothing. Well, not nothing, but stable. That's... That shouldn't be."
He's rather confused now. And starts to make his way back out.
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on 2019-07-18 05:13 am (UTC)Vader sighs inwardly and follows the Doctor towards the TARDIS... not intending to enter, but he would like to know what's going on. So maybe standing by the doors would be okay? The Doctor allowed him to do that before. He makes it almost to the door before stopping dead in his tracks.
"It's voices..." He's sure whatever the Doctor's talking about is important, but he definitely hears something like voices now. He just can't quite make out what they're saying.
Without waiting for the Doctor, Vader turns back toward the gateway. If he can get right up to it then maybe he can hear what it's trying to say. He has to know what it's saying.
no subject
on 2019-07-18 07:41 am (UTC)He hears Vader mention voices and he looks up. And sees Vader walking toward...
"No, wait! Don't! You don't know what might happen."
He's probably too late. He usually is.
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on 2019-07-18 04:16 pm (UTC)"That's so weird."
Weird but not dangerous... maybe if he stuck his hand in?
"I think it's safe... ish."
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on 2019-07-18 05:53 pm (UTC)Too many questions and not enough answers for the Doctor's taste.
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on 2019-07-18 11:39 pm (UTC)"It's a vergence in the Force." Vader knows he can't really answer the Doctor's questions, but he can share what little he does know.
"It's a place of great power, where the Force is unusually strong... and it's focused right there." He points to the empty space he just poked.
He doesn't know who first found it or why the Jedi eventually abandoned it. He's not even sure that's really important. What's important to him is that it's there and he can hear something trying to say something.
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on 2019-07-19 02:43 am (UTC)He shrugs. It's interesting and he wants to do something with the information, he just doesn't know what to do with it.
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on 2019-07-19 07:05 pm (UTC)He gives them another look over... they hardly seem like they would qualify as writing as far as he's concerned. Basic might not be the most elegant writing system, but at least it looks like writing. But this just feels like stalling to him. It's there, the Doctor said it was stable enough and he can still hear something on the other side.
"If we had an archaeologist we could ask them, but I threw the only skilled enough one I know out of an airlock and then left her to burn up on a crashing prison ship."
Even if she survived that, he still wouldn't trust her within a thousand parsecs of here. But he didn't actively try to kill her the second time! He's at least not backsliding to wanton murder. Though he'd deny it has anything to do with the Doctor... he just didn't feel like making sure she was dead.
"I mean, it's a door... you walk through it. That's how doors work."
He takes another drink and tries to ignore the muffled voices and the temptation to just walk through and leave the Doctor behind.
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on 2019-07-19 09:04 pm (UTC)He approaches the door again. "Writing on any machine or near any door rarely has no meaning at all."
He's trying to not be insulting. But in his head he's begging Vader to thing about every door that had writing near it and if that writing was important or not (at least for the first time it's seen).
Sorry for taking so long!
on 2019-08-12 12:53 am (UTC)Vader crosses his arms, in part as an expression of his displeasure and in part because it just feels better on his arms. Durasteel gets heavy after a while. The Doctor would probably be exasperated knowing how many such mysterious doors he's just strolled through. A thought he finds slightly amusing.
"What do you wish to do?"
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on 2019-08-13 07:38 am (UTC)He approaches it and looks around. Of course, it's not an actual door, so he stays close to the edge. He waves his hands along the stone work to see if he could sense a specific place. He doesn't so he raises his hands and finally knocks.
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on 2019-08-13 07:37 pm (UTC)He still can't quite make it out, there are too many voices speaking over each other... some sound familiar but not all. Vader looks from the Doctor to the thing and back, his head tilted slightly in curiosity and surprise.
"Well that's... different."
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on 2019-08-14 02:48 pm (UTC)He frowns a moment trying to listen. "Doesn't exactly sound like an invitation to enter, though. Is that what you were hearing before?"
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on 2019-08-15 02:33 am (UTC)More often than not Forcy things don't like him much nowadays. Light Side stuff especially, but meh... what can you do? It's not actively trying to repel him, even with all the Jedi influence here. There's still plenty of 'unwelcome' vibes from the temple ruins itself, but not the whatever-it-is. It's not exactly welcoming or unwelcoming... it just is.
"It is." Close enough anyway. "It doesn't sound like a go away either."
Vader can still feel it almost beckoning him/them through the Force. Not an invitation or a temptation exactly, but in a 'mysterious power' and 'hidden secrets' way. He looks around... a tiny backwater part of the galaxy and a temple razed to the ground just to expose this.
"Whatever the Emperor wants with this thing is probably on the other side."
Had he mentioned the Emperor was behind whatever was going on here? He can't remember with all the distraction from the whatever-it-is. Whatever.
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