The Fourth Match

[realitymods]

Characters: The TARDIS, Sorin, Spectators
Location: The Coliseum.
Time: Two days after the last fights.
Summary: The fourth of the death matches.
Warnings: Character death warning.

Apparently having brightened up, the man had tipped his hat up so that his face was no longer in shadow, so that his smile was open and clear. The hourglass awaited his command, and he drummed his fingertips on the side of it. “In contrast to the prior pair, these two are natural enemies. They might not yet know it, but what is, is. Please welcome Sorin and the TARDIS to the arena.”

The man patted the hourglass with a hand, like patting a dog on the head, and the sand fell, counting the seconds off. The killing could start again now.

Comments

[realitymods]

"I didn't expect any visitors today." The shields were up again, and Weber slipped his card back into his pocket. He walked back over to his customary seat, straightening out his clothes before sitting again.

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"None at all?" Damon asked, eying the empty throne. He didn't dare to sit in it though, as the Doctor had. Instead, he remained standing. "Oh, and I just realised...I never got your name, the last time we spoke," he admitted, a bit sheepishly.

[realitymods]

"And you never will." Despite that comment, Weber was back on his feet again, bowing to Damon with flourish. "Caleb Weber." He rose, his hat dropping neatly back on his head. "Will you sit?"

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

Damon bowed politely in return. "Of course," he replied, sitting in a normal seat next to Weber's. "Is that really the Doctor's TARDIS?" he asked, his tone sad and awed at the same time.

[realitymods]

"So the lists said. Remind me to steal one of those one day." When Damon was seated, Weber took back his place, careful to keep space between them. "You're a technician, aren't you?"

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"I am, yes. Is there something technical you need assistance with?" Damon asked curiously. He noted the space between them, but made no comment on it.

[realitymods]

"No, not at all." With an audience of only one, Weber's voice had softened from the projected confidence and showmanship. "Just curious."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

Damon nodded. "I do hope the TARDIS survives. The Doctor will be devastated if she doesn't." So would he, but he kept that to himself. It would just be one more traumatising thing to add to the long list he'd accumulated lately, and there were more important things to worry about than his own sanity.

[realitymods]

"There's little point in hope when nothing can be done with it." Weber's fingers briefly touched at the fabric over his throat, and he smiled. They say her body was the jar. "But if it helps you through. He's a vampire, you know. Her opponent."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

Damon tensed -- he thought he'd felt something wrong. "I didn't know there were vampires here. Is he the only one?" He hoped so, for everyone's sake.

[realitymods]

"No." Clearly, Weber's people had no problem with blood-sucking undead. "But I haven't kept count."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

Damon looked terrified for a brief moment, but then he attempted to calm himself. The Doctor would have told him if he was really in danger, wouldn't he? "I see. ...How do you know all this?"

[realitymods]

Weber politely paid no attention to Damon's fear. He pulled on the finger of one of his gloves. "Your people's Matrix records everything, doesn't it?"

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"Essentially, yes. Do you have a similar system?" Weber's gesture reminded Damon that he was still wearing his own gloves -- sometimes he forgot he even had them on. But he didn't bother removing them.

[realitymods]

"Essentially, yes. But even the all-knowing can't be all-aware." The gloves were a Victorian design, leather, snatched up some time ago. Indeed, half of Weber's clothing seemed to have been stolen from Lord Byron, and the other half looked like they'd come with a complimentary sarcastic comment from Oscar Wilde. "So I can know whatever I want about you, but I don't."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

Damon filed that bit of helpful information away for later. "What about your superiors? Is there a way to find out more about them? I can't help noticing the empty throne." He doubted Weber would tell him anything, but it couldn't hurt to try.

[realitymods]

"Now, Damon. I know enough of Gallifrey to know you'll know that higher ups don't want anything known about them." Weber paused, considering his last sentence with a half-grimace. "That word is becoming meaningless. Not one of my best."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"Which word?" Damon asked, blinking. "What do you mean?"

[realitymods]

"'Know.' But I can't say what I mean, though I try to mean what I say." He let out a theatrical sigh. "Oh the tangled webs we weave."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"I have noticed that, yes." In a way, it was one of the things he liked about Weber. "And speaking of things...earlier, you mentioned that if I don't like how something is run, I ought to change the programming -- and that you were better with machines than the people behind this event."

He paused, considering his next question carefully. "Does the Machine as a whole have a technician, of sorts? Someone who knows how things work?"

[realitymods]

"That's an interesting question. What do you do if you find advanced alien technology and no one left you the manual?" Weber stretched out his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Do you think something this powerful could be ruled by even one with a mind like your people's? If the Machine has a technician, its technician owns no Machine."

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"Is the Machine itself sentient, to some degree?" Damon wondered, wishing he could see for himself how it worked. "Or operating on some sort of automatic program?"

[realitymods]

"I've tried very hard not to get far enough into it to know," said Weber. And though Damon could not see it, Weber's silver blood was proof enough of that.

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

"Is there anyone who has? There was a man who explained the black hole to me, but I never got his name. He said it was an energy gauge, and the Machine pulls energy from us, particularly when we have black blood." He glanced down at the match again. "That's why people are being forced to die, isn't it?"

[realitymods]

"Oh, you met Shay." The short, sharp laugh was enough to make it clear that there was no love between them. "Do be careful around him. He likes nice boys and creative violence."