[008]

[oliverplus]

[Oliver is in the library today, seated at a table with several stacks of books around him. most of the spines have to do with a variety of mythologies or with the end of the world--or the universe or time, depending on what society the book is from. he has a large volume open in front of him and is paging quickly through it, skimming for...something. unfortunately, it's an old book and he's creating a bit of a dust screen in his haste]

Weber said Pestilence, and if that rain held some sort of disease, maybe... But what does that have to do with the forcefield? Is it all even relate- [coughs, pausing in his research to sit back a bit and wave a hand in front of him in an attempt to dissipate some dust. he realises someone else is there then and blinks] Oh! Hey, I didn't--[cough]--see you there. [tries to smile through one more cough. waves his hand again; dust is so annoying]

Comments

[oliverplus]

[nods] Yeah, I talked to him. [at least that's not any more than--well, four that he knows of]

[eyes him] Sirius had a cup of tea, too. I didn't think about it when we talked, but you were carrying around a cup of tea talking about how the rain could kill. I... [sighs] Look, you don't have to do this. I won't tell anybody if you don't want it going around for some reason.

[collector]

[He looks at him for a moment, understanding. Then, very gently,] Oliver. I did not die.

[oliverplus]

[looks at him--really looks at him, right into his eyes. for the first time, he's willfully trying to use his ability and wishing Time Lords didn't block him out] You...you didn't?

[collector]

[But Braxiatel's eyes are as unreadable as ever. One of the benefits of being closed off all the time is that you're not any different when there's a particular thing you're hiding.] I didn't. My lucky streak continues. And there is, I regret, only one way to prove it.

[oliverplus]

[he wants to be relieved, but after their last conversation, he's suspicious. it adds up too well the other way] What do you mean?

[collector]

[Calmly, Brax pulls out a pocket knife. It's designed like a miniature sword, and the blade is certainly sharp enough. He offers the hilt to Oliver and holds out his other hand.]

A blood test.

[oliverplus]

What? [surprised, he puts up his hands] No, you don't have to do that.

[collector]

I promise, I heal quickly, and I have a very high tolerance for pain.

[oliverplus]

Well, still, I'm not gonna make you cut your hand! [nor is he going to cut it himself. he's terrified of the possible repercussions of inflicting injury on others, after all] I believe you. I just thought...I mean, if it did happen, I wouldn't want you to think you couldn't talk about it. [trying weakly for a joke] I'd owe you a bottle of whisky at least.

[collector]

[Braxiatel smiles, puts away the knife, and then says very directly] Actually, I did die. It was quick and painless and easy, and I worry that it upset Benny a very great deal. But I'm interested to hear what you've learned about the other people who have gone through a similar experience.

[oliverplus]

[stares] You...you what? But you said... [pauses for a moment, trying to process that] ...guess I ought to start looking for a good whisky.

[collector]

I'm more of a brandy man, really.

[He does not speak unkindly. This is simple his truth:] If you do ever come to work for me, you will have to accept that I am a very private man. A 'miserable recluse.' The name on the door. Most people who visit the Collection never even meet me. I like my solitude and I like my secrets. Bernice at times berates me for this, but she will never break me of it. And I think my right to privacy overrides the desires of others to know, don't you agree?

Now. [Brax claps his hands together and smiles, apparently finished with this particular topic.] We're looking through texts on the end of days. I'm not sure a plague is what we're looking for. You still haven't told me what you've learned from---Sirius, was it?

[oliverplus]

Brandy then!

[looks at him, considering that. it bothers him a great deal, and he can't help sounding a bit crestfallen] I...I guess so. [firmly] But you still shouldn't have to go through something like that alone.

[sighs, focusing back on the books] I don't know if it affected many people, but Weber made it sound like Pestilence would be responsible for whatever was coming, so I thought it could be related.

Not much... [frowns thoughtfully. he hadn't exactly pressed Sirius for details; he'd been more worried about cheering him up] He said he felt like he'd been hit with a spell--I guess his world has got magic--only he didn't see anyone cast it.

[collector]

Believe it or not, dying isn't a subject that has ever really concerned me.

[That is concerning, though, given what Brax has worked out so far.] Then there is something coming to us yet. Meredith and Roe implied that what we just experienced was the Machine itself, not any of its operators.

The effect without the cause?

[oliverplus]

[frowns disapprovingly. he doesn't understand how he can be so calm about it]

But they could've... [frowns] I thought maybe Pestilence started the Machine doing something. Meredith and Roe did talk about trying to stop whatever-it-was. At least, I guess I hope that was Pestilence... [reluctantly] The Doctor thinks it had something to do with the forcefield.

Uh... [scratches his head] I guess so. But something must've caused it, even if Sirius didn't know what it was. [hesitates] What about you?

[collector]

And how, exactly, does he imagine they are connected? [The scepticism in his voice masks how concerned he is that the Doctor may have come to a conclusion similar to Brax's]

[As if to prove Brax's point, he answers without any particular weight] An effect without the cause. It was an unusual death, but the accompanying sensory hallucinations - and the familiarity of the fracture pattern - made it easy enough to recall where I had come across it before.

[oliverplus]

[he's a bit relieved by that skepticism, actually. he doesn't want to think that destroying the forcefield caused more people to die] When the forcefield dispersed, the energy from it went toward the black hole. The Doctor thinks it combined with...uh...with the gravity and that weird pillar there to create the storm. [and he's hoping you've got a good reason that isn't the case]

[he isn't sure he wants to know what you mean about fracture patterns] Wait, what do you mean "come across it before"? You'd seen someone die without a cause like that before?

[collector]

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that the gravity and the pillar were created by the forcefield rather than suddenly and randomly coming into existence more than a week after the event?

Oh, no, I know the cause. I was it. I killed someone that way.

[oliverplus]

Yeah...that's a good point! But what's the storm from, then?

[blinks] Wait. You mean...you died the way you killed somebody else?

[collector]

Hard to say. We don't know much about the Machine's power source or it's will.

[Brax presses the tips of his fingers together, consciously not displaying any emotion.] Yes, the projected consciousness of a mirror creature. It's method was not dissimilar to what happened to me and, perhaps, to Sirius and Axel. At the time, the creature was making Jason believe he was in a lift filling with water. He thought he was drowning, so he would drown in a dry room. A psychosomatic murder. Fortunately for Jason, mirrors break.

[oliverplus]

Does it have a will? If it does, is it free right now and doesn't want somebody to control it? [frowns and sighs. too many questions and too few answers]

So you broke the mirror to save him. And then you... [but he can't finish that sentence] Is...that what you think it was, then? A psychosomatic murder? The Machine made people think they were dying, and...so they died?

[collector]

You're from an advanced enough time to know that even basic computers seem to have a will, generally one that isn't particularly compliant with the file you're trying to load. This Machine will have been built to a purpose. What that purpose is is another of our mysteries.

A little more than that. Even if you believe you're dying of immolation, there won't be any injuries on your skin. My body, at the least, truly was changed by the effect. I became glass. The memories became a basis for physical transformation.

[oliverplus]

...good point. So what can the Machine do that so many people want to control it?

You... [stares] That's...that's awful. [shakes his head, sickened] That can't just be some side effect. It sounds...deliberate. Someone wanted it to happen. [which is a very sickening thought on its own]

[collector]

It has drawn us in from across multiple universes, then reshaped those universes around us. It creates near-unbreakable barriers and is involved in resurrecting the dead. All of that is just to start. Who wouldn't want something like that?

It is interesting that I died as I have killed. If that is true for the others, then what a convenient coincidence that we were recently forced to kill others.

[oliverplus]

[he should have thought of some of that] Yeah...good point there, too. Especially if it can do some of that outside the Machine. And we already know it can draw people in, so that might not matter. And its purpose could be something even bigger...

Convenient!? [but he gasps as the full implications of that hit him] Oh god, the deathmatches. People who killed others... Robespierre! He could've died how I did. And Benny! Is Benny okay?