Worth A Thousand Words

Chapter Five

'I never asked – who are these Daniels people anyhow?' Rose asked as the Time Rotor finally stopped moving and the TARDIS came to a rest.

'No idea.'

'What? I thought you were friends with them!'

'Never met anyone named Daniels before,' the Doctor revealed cheerily. 'It's why I arrived a few days earlier, so we have time to track 'em down and make nice.' He glanced at his watch. 'We've arrived five days before the Titanic is due to set sail.'

'You sure about that this time? Because the last two landings we were too early and then too late...'

'Well, you know what they say about stopped watches,' the Doctor retorted, brushing aside her good-natured teasing and his own annoyance over the truth of her words. 'Don't worry, I had a chat with the TARDIS while you were down for the count, and our ETAs should be a bit more accurate now. There's a part that needs to replacing, but I've finagled it into behaving itself. For now. After we finish up here, though, remind me to head to Calufrax for some voolium – and don't forget, because I'm liable to. Paralysingly dull planet, so it's likely to slip my mind.'

'Right, cos now I'm your secretary?'

'Companion, remember? Comes with certain responsibilities – and benefits, if you know what I mean.'

'Hm, gotta admit, the health package is pretty impressive,' Rose pretended to consider, glancing down at her leg.

'There we go,' he grinned. 'Well, go on – go get dressed and we'll be off.'

She started for the door and then turned around.

'Hold on, mister – you've got to get changed too.'

The Doctor snorted, 'Not going to happen.'

'But in the picture, you were dressed like the people in this time period.'

'Just because you saw that, doesn't mean that's how it went,' he told her. 'You were right, the other day. When you guessed I wore a perception filter. I don't always need to use it, but it comes in handy occasionally.'

'I bet,' Rose deadpanned. 'So what will other people see?'

'Depends on what they expect.'

'Sort of like the psychic paper?'

'Yes. But not exactly,' the Doctor agreed. 'Psychic paper is more complex. A perception filter is more like a dull gloss. Sort of blurring the information being sent to your visual cortex. Nothing more than an optical illusion.'

'All right...' Rose agreed hesitantly.

'I can show you, if you don't mind the TARDIS involving herself.'

'You mean go into my head? Like with the translation circuits?'

'In this case, yes, because you already see past it. But only if I have your permission.'

Rose deliberated for a long moment and finally nodded. 'Okay.'

The Doctor relayed the message back to the TARDIS that she ought to dim Rose's awareness of his perception filter for a moment. 'What do you see?'

Rose blinked, appearing startled. 'It's a bit... hard to describe. It's like, I'm looking right at you, but my eyes sort of want to look away from it.'

'Try to see it from the corner of your eye.'

Rose squinted.

'It's sort of like... from the picture. You've got one of these...' she gestured ineffectually at his neck. 'S'like a scarf or something?'