LITOIRCi Lockup

The Doctor bowed respectfully.  'It is a great honour to meet you, sir.  All the galaxy acknowledges your genius.  You are the only man alive who can help me.'

Mollified by the flattery, Solon spoke less harshly.  'Help you?  In what way?'

The Doctor indicated the hovertrolley.  'This young lady is my dear friend and companion.  Only you can save her arm - and her life.'

Solon examined Peri's wound, and the Doctor examined Mehendri Solon.

The Solon he had known in another time - the Doctor's past and Solon's future - had been a very different man.  Older, broken down by a series of disappointments and failures and completely mad.

This was another Solon, still relatively young, untouched by failure, a brilliantly successful man at the height of his powers.  But the seeds of that other Solon could be seen in his face and in his manner.  The vanity, the arrogance verging on megalomania, the hint of underlying weakness in the mouth and chin.

The Doctor was well aware of the dangers of contacting someone whose timestream he was later to cross with such dramatic effect.  But the risk - any risk - was worth taking to save Peri.  The Doctor's simple plan was to get Peri healed and then quietly disappear.  By the time the Solon of the future met the Doctor's previous incarnation, he would have completely forgotten the stranger and his wounded companion.  Peri's would be just one more in a long string of successful operations.  With any luck, the temporal interference involved would be minimal.

Solon finished his preliminary examination.  'There is a chance, just a chance, of saving the arm and the girl if I operate at once.  But it will not be easy.  The operation will be long and complicated, consuming many hours of my valuable time.  Why should I give her priority when there are so many demands on me?'

'Because I'll wring your neck if you don't, you conceited little swine,' thought the Doctor.  But he didn't say so.  Instead he said humbly, 'Because you and you alone can achieve success - and thereby prove your greatness once again.'

Solon seemed to find the answer satisfactory.  He turned to the orderly.  'Take the girl to surgery and have her prepared.  I shall operate at once.'

As the orderly took Peri away, the Doctor said, quite sincerely this time, 'I can't thank you enough.  What are her chances of a full recovery?'

Solon frowned.  'Hard to say.  There has been a delay - and if the saliva of the creature that attacked her was toxic, which is very probable, there's a grave danger of infection.'  He shrugged.  'Say, 65 per cent.'

The Doctor couldn't help looking disappointed.  'So low?  Even in the hands of the greatest surgeon in the galaxy?'

Solon gave him an affronted glare.  'In anyone else's hands she would have no chance at all.'  He turned and followed the hovertrolley.

The Doctor watched him go, wondering what to do next.  He was tempted to go back inside the TARDIS and jump forward a week or two.  But the Blinovitch Limitation Effect made such short temporal time hops very tricky.  He might reappear months later, Peri would think he'd deserted her.  No, he'd have to sit out the wait in subjective time.  Should he wait in the TARDIS or seek some kind of accommodation?