Transmission 1 ✺ Voice ✺ "People of the universe, please attend carefully..."

[andyouwill]

[This will be a new voice to most of you: cultured almost to the point of absurdity, like a Shakespearean actor trying to prove he's not drunk, but currently very genial.] People of the Tranquility, good day.

I see there has been some discussion about what to do with these "mask" objects that have been gifted to, or forced upon us.

[The Master took one look at his own hanging on his door, and immediately put a handkerchief over it, before hacking together a very strong perception filter. It is now in a box, under the same perception filter, in an egg, in a duck, in an iron chest, in his closet. It's not that he was shocked by it: he has a very clear sense of who and what he is, and is proud of what others might consider his bad qualities. But it wouldn't do to give warning to everyone who happens to pass his door.]

If you wish to keep yours you are of course welcome to do so. But in lieu of or perhaps before seeking to destroy a mask, I'd be pleased if you'd consider allowing me to examine it. I have conducted several tests on my own mask in an attempt to determine its exact composition and nature, and I would welcome more sources of data.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Meanwhile, the Doctor gets pinged with an image file, in familiar Gallifreyan handwriting.]


[Trans. - Hypothesis: the Celestial Toymaker?]

Comments

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[fraud]

soooo how are we talking here this examining thing?

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[andyouwill]

I am somewhat hampered by the equipment available here, but I have devised tests to determine their chemical composition, as well as time signature and temporal multiversal resonance.

If you were amenable, I might wish to attempt to destroy it in order to see if the mask that replaces it is indeed the same object or merely a copy.

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[fraud]

well mine looks like paper a little. i don't really want to destroy it, i just want to see what it's made of. can you try that? the paper, that is. just figure out what it is without taking it apart or destroying it or whatever.

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[andyouwill]

I can certainly try, Mr...?

video

[backwardscompatible]

[well someone knows that voice, and is pinged by testing strange artifacts. She's cheerful and assured as ever]

What sort of tests were you thinking of?

video

[andyouwill]

Professor Song. A pleasure, once again.

Nothing unseemly, I assure you. Merely a few procedures to attempt to determine the material composition of the masks, as well as their time signatures and temporal-multiversal resonance.

[He just wants to figure out what they are and how they're working, okay. Also to make note of people's secret inner nature, because that's valuable info.]

Re: video

[backwardscompatible]

Then why don't we work together? I am an archaeologist, you know. This is probably as close to my specialty as I'm going to get on board.

[There's not a hint of suspicion or anything other than friendliness in her voice]

permavideo

[andyouwill]

[gentle amusement] I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble, Professor.

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[the_infiltrator]

Have you had any luck?

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[andyouwill]

That would depend on how you define "luck" in this case. Having had only the opportunity to examine my own mask as yet, I am loathe to draw any conclusions.

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[the_infiltrator]

I'm sure you'll have volunteers soon. I can go get masks if they don't.

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[andyouwill]

A most considerate offer, Miss Reese. I do appreciate your enthusiasm.

Let us see what we may gain from willing offers. I shall let you know, shall I?

[diziet_sma]

Examine how?

[andyouwill]

The science department is somewhat primitive by my standards, but I have been able to locate or assemble equipment for a battery of tests involving atomic absorption and emission spectroscopy, sonically induced dielectric impedance analysis, fourth and fifth dimensional resonance, and relative time signature. Just the basics, really.

[voice]

[wolfdreamer]

What sort of tests will you do?

[voice]

[andyouwill]

Nothing terribly dramatic. I have located tools which I hope will allow me to learn more about when and how the masks were made, and of what materials. I am particularly interested in how the trick of the masks reappearing on their doors when they are destroyed is accomplished.

[voice]

[wolfdreamer]

[A little pause, and then he says, quietly:] I think it must be some magic, that they reappear as they do. I have heard of science and technology, but these masks are-- different.

Have many pledged their masks to help you?

[voice]

[andyouwill]

[Tolerantly] 'Magic,' my dear young man, is a word that says very little while implying far too much. I have been called a magician at times, and I am certainly a scientist. If these masks are magical it still remains to be seen what sort of magic animates them, and by whose devising.

Several have been kind enough to offer their masks for examination, but I welcome others. The more information I have, the better I shall be able to seek out patterns.

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[meddler]

Now, do you really think that I'm going to let you do that, all by yourself?

[ "Saner" Master or no, the Master was never ever meant to be trusted.

But as for that other thing...

Now, that was an interesting thought. But, he didn't quite like the idea of a Guardian, much less that one, interfering in the affairs of... well everything. Something about it didn't quite sit right.

But, as he replies, there is one thing that is also on his mind. ]

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[andyouwill]

Your charming friend Professor Song has offered to assist me.



[Trans.: He does like to be present during some games, does he not? This "Smiley" would seem to be our setting's main antagonist.]

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[meddler]

[ Translation: I don't know.

Because, it could be entirely possible that things weren't what they seemed. And the captain and engineer were rather suspicious. ]

voice;

[sharp]

Sorry, I made the Doctor lock mine up. And, to be honest, I'd like to keep it that way.

[ it doesn't mean she's not curious, however. ] But what sort of things have you found out so far?

voice;

[andyouwill]

No doubt a sensible precaution, though I am sorry not to have access to possible data.

As yet I have only had the opportunity to examine my own mask, so I am reluctant to draw many conclusions. But, [confidingly] as one friend of the Doctor to another, I will say that its materials really ought not to have been available to anyone to use for such a purpose.

voice;

[sharp]

It looks like a creepy doll mask. I think that's all the data you probably need from mine.

[ Probably not, but she's not too keen on letting it out. ]

Not ... available? What do you mean by that?

voice;

[andyouwill]

I had in mind less descriptive and more quantitative information. But of course I won't press you if it makes you uncomfortable. [He'll just see if he can break into wherever the Doctor's got it stashed, because now he's a bit curious.]

As for my own mask, it was made - or appears to have been made - from materials unique to a section of my own timeline, during the course of which they could not have been taken without my knowledge. Quite a mystery.