COMPASSION

“How did you get in here?” The Doctor was startled; the TARDIS was hovering in the middle of nowhere. Well, it wasn’t quite nowhere, nor was it quite the middle. It was nowhere enough that people couldn’t just walk in, even if the TARDIS door hadn’t been locked, which it most certainly was. “Who are you?”

“I….” said Sam. He had no idea who he was or how he’d gotten “in here” or even where “here” was. There were certainly no clues in the room, if indeed it was a room. It didn’t look like any room he’d ever seen; it looked like… he wasn’t quite sure what it looked like. Further complicating matters was the startling difference in this leap: there had been no exchange. He and the original owner of the aura were now sharing it. He was not alone in his borrowed body.

“Who is he, Kamelion?” The Doctor had caught on. “Hold on. Don’t let him control you. You have a mind. Hold on, and tell me who he is, and what he is.”

“He is a time traveler, Doctor.”

“Well, obviously! But where is he from, what’s his name and why is he here, and why is he trying to take over…. Start over. Where is he from?”

“He is from nineteen-ninety-nine.”

The Doctor was annoyed. “That’s a when, not a where.”

“He is from New Mexico. Or Indiana.”

“What, Earth?”

“Last time I looked, Doctor.” Turlough had entered the room and was watching and listening with alacrity. “What’s Kamelion doing out here?”

“Being possessed,” said the Doctor, calmly, although a tiny smile was forming where a frown had been. He was staring at Kamelion.

“Right,” scoffed Turlough. “I think his head actually could spin….”

“No, in the most literal sense. Someone is taking him over, possessing him. This is most fascinating! Now shush, I am trying to find out… everything!”

“I’m not the one who’s….” Turlough shushed. What was the point of arguing?”

“Am I inside a robot or is a robot inside of me?” asked Sam, fighting not to be suppressed.

“You’re not possessing Kamelion deliberately?” The Doctor was surprised.

“Kamelion? The robot?”

“You’re not! You’re trapped!” declared the Doctor, running to the robot and grabbing him by the shoulders. “How can I help you?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know! This is making me crazy!”

“Kamelion, can you expel him? Safely, I mean?”

“Where would he go, then?” wondered Turlough. “Could he take over one of us?”

“Sam!” cried Al, stepping out of a rectangle of light that closed up behind him and vanished. “Sam, there’s no one in the waiting room! Wow, what is this place?” The Doctor, still gripping Kamelion’s shoulders, was looking back and staring at Al. “Uh oh. Sam, I think this guy can see me!”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, a little put out at being referred to as “this guy.” He let go of Kamelion and turned to look Al up and down. “You’re a hologram! From where are you being projected and by whom?”

“Okay,” said Turlough, leaning against a roundel. “I will assume you are talking to someone who is actually here but invisible and that you have not gone mad. I’ll be here if you need me.”

“I’m in New Mexico,” said Al, in an unusual moment of candor. “I am projecting myself. I watch over Sam. This is not right. This issonot right. You’re not a child and you don’t seem to be dying, so may I assume, pardon me for asking, that you’re insane? No, if you were insane you wouldn’t know that, right?”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, if that’s what that was.” The Doctor looked from Al to Kamelion and back again. “I don’t suppose you could tell me what is going on?”

“Al, help me!” Sam was desperate.

“Hang in there, Sam! We’re gonna work this out!” To the Doctor, he added, “This has never happened before. Usually Sam, that’s Doctor Sam Beckett, he kind of… changes places with someone who needs his help, or someone close to someone who needs his help. He takes on the aura of whoever that is, and lives that person’s life until the problem is solved. Then he leaps out…”

“Leaps?”

“… we call it leaping. He leaps out and into someone else’s aura and, well, we’re hoping one of these days he leaps back home and stops leaping altogether, but it seems the universe needs him….”

“Sounds familiar,” murmured the Doctor.

“Anyway, it looks like he leaped into some kind of robot and the robot didn’t go anywhere so both of them are sharing an aura.”

“Ah,” sighed the Doctor, “I can explain that. Kamelion is a shapeshifting robot. He thinks someone is trying to take him over… and it sounds as if he’s right.” He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know, though, if I should encourage him to do what… what do you call the owner of the aura?”

“Um, the host?”

“I don’t know if he should do what the host usually does or expel the leaper.”

Al choked. “Oh, no, don’t expel him. I don’t know what would happen to him! I don’t know if he would even survive!”

“Kamelion, listen to me. Stop struggling for a moment. I want you to let this person…”

“… Sam.”

“… this person Sam take you over. It’s okay.”

“May I say something?” asked Turlough, with somewhat exaggerated politeness. “What happens to Kamelion if this Sam takes over?”

“Oh,” said Al, “he just goes to the waiting room in nineteen-ninety-nine. Boy are they in for a surprise. I don’t think they’ve ever had a robot in there.”

“Did you hear all that, Kamelion?” The Doctor looked Al up and down once more. “It’s all right. Let go. You can come back later.” To Al, he added, “He can, right?”

Al nodded. “I wonder what he’ll look like,” he mused. “Like Kamelion or like himself.”

This took the Doctor aback. “He’s regenerating? He’s a Time Lord?”

“Time yes,” said Al, “Lord, no.”

Kamelion let go and Sam stood briefly in his place, then sank to his knees. “Al… am I a robot or myself?”

“Robot,” said Turlough.

“Sam,” said the Doctor.

“Robot,” said Al, “but I can tell it’s you. Why can you see Sam? And who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor. This is Turlough.” Turlough made a noncommittal gesture.

“Well, he is definitely Sam. Gooshie says Kamelion has arrived in the waiting room and he’s never seen a robot cry before.”

“Doctor?”

“Not now, Turlough.”

“But Doctor… we’ve landed.”