Omake: Origin Story
Ross McLean was the interim director of the National Film Board of Canada. He was not, it should be said, an espionage agent, so when an Officer Smith of the RCMP showed up in his office and asked him to interview somebody under the guise of making a documentary, he felt distinctly nervous about the whole thing. That's why he was dragging his friend Sydney along.
"I'm a film editor, not a director or a writer, Ross," complained Sydney.
Ross waved that away. "I know, Syd. I just want somebody to come along with me. When an officer of the Criminal Investigation Branch asks you do something like this, you do it."
"The war's over, Ross," said Sydney.
"The Germans and the Japanese may have been defeated, but you know everybody's up in arms now over Stalin and the Communists." Down in the United States, there was some senator using the House Un-American Activities Commission to hunt down supposed Communists. Anybody targeted ended up blacklisted whether or not they were actually guilty of anything. Things weren't as bad in the Commonwealth countries, but it still paid to be prudent.
The two men were driving out to a suburb of Toronto to interview a Marvin Blechly. Supposedly, the man claimed he had been abducted by aliens. Ross thought the whole thing was absurd, but there must have been something of interest if the RCMP was interested. When they arrived, Blechly looked for all the world like a typical pensioner. He was well-mannered, and had served with the Canadian Army during the Great War, before coming back and working as a librarian.
"Mr. Blechly, my colleague and I would like to talk to you about the claims you made that you were abducted," began Ross.
Blechly looked askance at them. "You'll think I'm crazy."
Sydney winced in sympathy, and said, "Just tell us the truth as you remember it, sir. We're with the Film Board, and somebody thought there may be a story here worthy of a documentary."
Blechly sat back and sighed. "Well, I was driving home late. My daughter Gladys and her husband had invited me to dinner, you see. Named her after her grandmother, you know? It was wet and rainy, I remember. I must have passed out somehow, because when I woke up..."
Loki looked at his latest test subject. He wasn't terribly impressed, but it was important to take random samples as a baseline. The worldwide conflicts that the humans had recently had may have jump-started their evolution again, so it was worth doing some additional research. There was no telling where the solution to the Asgard's genetic degradation may come from.
Marvin woke up to a bright light shining in his face. His body felt numb, and he couldn't move his head. He found he could move his eyes and speak, however. "Here now, what's the meaning of this? What's going on here?" A...being...moved into the range of his peripheral vision. It was shorter than a man, and had a pale grey skin and bulbous black eyes. It's head seemed disproportionate to its body, and it was completely hairless...and apparently completely naked and genderless, as well.
It spoke to him. "Do not be alarmed. I am simply probing your biological development. You will be returned unharmed after I am done."
That was somewhat alarming. "Hey, I didn't give you permission to probe my...er...development!" he sputtered.
Loki frowned, then sedated his subject. As humans developed, they seemed to get more and more disruptive. He would have to be more cautious in the future. Maybe he should keep them sedated for the duration? Maybe he could use clones so he could keep them for longer periods? He would consider it. Regardless, he quickly finished his scans and returned his subject to the holding room while he prepared to process the next subject.
Ross stared at the old man. "So...you were kidnapped by a grey alien who experimented on you?"
The man glared at Ross. "I
told you that you would think I'm crazy!"
"What happened next, Mr. Blechly?" interjected Sydney.
"Well, I woke up in a room. There were maybe a dozen other people in the room. One was an American corporal, but there were a bunch of other folks, and most of them didn't speak English. One looked like a Chinaman. There was a young Italian girl...maybe about seventeen? There were even a couple of Negroes. One of them spoke French and told me he was from Senegal. Nobody knew how they got there or even where we were," said the old man.
"Then the alien just dropped you off back in Canada?" asked Ross.
"No, what happened was that somebody rescued us..."
Daniel Jackson was not happy to find an Asgard vessel cloaked in orbit over this Earth with human life signs on board. He knew exactly what that meant, and he knew who the culprit was. He looked at the scan results. Something about the holding cell on Loki's ship was making it difficult to get a lock onto the occupants. He looked over at Sarah. "I'm going to have to go over there and get them."
She looked concerned. "All right...but be careful, Daniel."
Jackson used the ship's teleporter to appear outside the holding area. He pulled out a device that the Family had just started handing out. It was a very versatile little multitool that was capable of a remarkable number of functions. His immediate use was to open the lock on the door to the room. What appeared to be a simple wall panel slid aside, and he walked into the room, much to the surprise of the occupants.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," he began, "my name is Doctor Jackson, and I'm here to rescue you." He had to repeat himself five times in different languages before everybody understood what he had said. "Come this way. I have to get you outside this cell." The group followed him outside the room, and he asked, "Is this everyone?"
"There was another man...I think he was from Australia?" said the American soldier. "He disappeared when the alien brought back the last person," he said, gesturing at Marvin.
Jackson frowned. "All right, you folks stay here while I go retrieve your fellow prisoner." He was going to have...words...with a certain meddlesome Asgard while he was at it. He pulled out his multitool and used it to open another door in the direction of the ship's labs.
"What's that do?" asked Marvin, curious.
Jackson glanced over at him. "It's a very useful, versatile tool. It can function as a lockpick, a blowtorch, a microscope...even a screwdriver," he said in explanation. "Just stay here. I'll be back in a moment."
The prisoners waited for about fifteen minutes, at which point Jackson came back with a middle-aged Australian man dressed in a business suit. "I'm going to teleport all of you to my ship. Don't panic." There was a flash of light, and then the group of them were in another room. There was a red-haired woman waiting for them there, and Daniel introduced them. "People, this is my companion, Sarah. If you'll give us a moment, we'll see about returning all of you back home again."
Marvin waited as, one-by-one, each of the prisoners left to be returned home. Finally, it was his turn. He was led outside by the Doctor, right beside his car, which was luckily parked safely by the side of the road. He turned back to thank his rescuer, only to open his eyes in shock. The man's spaceship was small...smaller than a city bus. "How did we all fit in THAT?" he asked, shocked.
The Doctor smirked. "It's bigger on the inside."
"Aren't you worried you'll be seen?" asked Marvin, looking around for other traffic.
Daniel shook his head. "Don't worry, there's nobody around. Even if there were, the ship can camouflage itself. Well, I have others to bring home. Good luck!" With that, the man went back into his ship, which disappeared. Marvin finished driving home, then called his daughter to tell her what happened.
Ross looked at the man. "So...some kind of Doctor rescued you with a magical screwdriver, then brought you home in a spaceship that was bigger on the inside than on the out?"
"As I said, I know it sounds crazy," said Blechly in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Thank you for your time, sir," said Sydney, grabbing Ross' arm and pulling him out the door.
On the drive back to the office, Ross was complaining. "Well that was a waste of time. The man's off his nut."
"It was an interesting story, at least," said Sydney. It admittedly wasn't a very plausible one.
Ross scoffed. "If I want speculative fiction, I'll buy a comic book."
* * * * *
In 1963, Sydney Newman needed an idea for a show to bring in a family audience. He had moved to the UK and joined the BBC, and they needed a show to bridge the gap on Saturday night between
Grandstand and
Juke Box Jury. A sci-fi serial seemed like just the thing...
rofl: This is hilarious, it's amazing how close the Doctor's portrayal is to Daniel. I love the bit about the origin of the Sonic Screwdriver.
