Time and Relative

Я всё-таки дочитала!

Шикарная, шикарная, шикарная книжка. Вот насколько две телосовские новеллы про Восьмого почти мимо меня прошли и я для себя решила, что NA и EDA всё-таки лучше, и насколько эти две про Первого всё это напрочь опровергают.
У меня ещё ни на одной докторовской книге до этого не выступали слёзы, тем более два раза. И Боже, как передана обстановка! Всё-таки книга - лучший жанр для передачи именно таких мелочей и характеристик времени. В серии такого обычно всё-таки не увидишь, там несколько другое главное.
И мрачно, конечно. Столько смертей.
Ох, не знаю, что ещё сказать. Из разряда must read, мне кажется.

В общем, события происходят уже в то время, как Доктор и Сьюзан обосновались на свалке. Бедная Сьюзан мучается в школе, Доктор про неё перманентно забывает и копается себе в ТАРДИС (хотя её там только и Будкой и называют).
У обоих амнезия: Сьюзан ни своего имени не помнит, ни дедушкиного, ни планеты, откуда они прилетели. Всё только в общих чертах, и когда она начинает об этом думать, у неё сразу начианает болеть голова. Откуда провалы в памяти так толком и не объясняется (хотя, может, всё-таки объясняется - если считать это реакцией организма на нарушение таймлордовских законов). В общем, странное из Echoes of Future Past теперь уже совсем не странное, а даже относительно каноничное. Правда, там это объяснялось ТАРДИС.

У Сьюзан одноклассники - Джон и Джиллиан (отсылка к "внукам" из TV Comic, с которыми Первый путешествовал =) ).
У Джиллиан проблемы с грамматикой, но определённо с лидерскими качествами девушка, у Джона очки и его зовут марсианином.

Опять навыдёргивала кучу цитат.
Да, вся книга по сути - это как бы дневник Сьюзан.

Gillian started calling John ‘the Martian’. She says he looks like the Mekon, Dan Dare’s enemy in The Eagle, which annoys John because the Mekon (apparently) is Venusian.

___

I live under the name Foreman like Winnie-the-Pooh lives under the name Sanders. It’s written up on the gates of the junkyard. I don’t know where it comes from, and I only started using it because Grandfather needed two names to put on the forged documents.

___

The British government likes nothing better than telling people what to do for their own good. And the British people like to grumble, ignore the Men from the Ministry and make do with cups of tea.
Since we’re here, I suppose Grandfather and I are honorarily British. We both like tea, and I suppose we grumble and know better than officials too.

It could have been a lot worse. We could be honorary Americans. I expect we’d be noisier, smile more and have guns.

___

Если что, она пишет, так сказать, проецируя всё на школьные реалии, потому что иначе думать не получится из-за головы (там ещё дальше будет).
My worst fear: the Truant Officer has come to take us Home! I was in a panic, for Grandfather. I thought I knew what the Masters would do to him.
After our trial, I wouldn’t be allowed to remember him or he me. It would be as if we weren’t related. No, it would be more than that: we wouldn’t be related. The whole of time and space would shift, so that we both still had lives, but separate and different, lived by the Rules.

___

Grandfather still has missing parts in his mind and memory. Whenever people ask his name, he gets out of saying it. Lately, he gets out of being in situations where people might ask his name. I should know Grandfather’s name, but I don’t. It’s as if he had a name once but it was taken away, not just from him but from everyone.

___

Memories are like newspapers and magazines. You can’t keep them all, but you can cut out the articles and pictures to put in a scrapbook. Only it’s not your choice. It’s like someone else does the cutting and pasting. They put in things you’d rather leave for the dustmen and throw away things that would have been useful or your favourites.

___

There are times when Grandfather doesn’t know me or himself. He arrives at the end of a sentence having forgotten how he began it, and then gets flustered. He tries to cover his lapses with bad temper, but I see how they hurt him. I can feel his frustration and pain.

___

Доктор с существом разговаривает.
'And so you wish to rid yourself of this infestation, my friend,’ said Grandfather. ‘What do the pests call themselves? Human beings? Clearly, no loss at all to the greater scheme of things. Prior right of occupation, in this case, is certainly on your side. We shall see what can be done, my dear fellow. I regret having caused you any inconvenience. It’s not my place to get in the way, not at all, not at all.’

___

Их история, опять in school terms
Because of persistent talking-back in class, a Teacher wanted to give Grandfather a million Lines and the Cane. Grandfather appropriated School equipment (the Box) without a note from the Groundskeeper, and bunked off Double Geog, persuading me to ditch Games and come along with him for a half-holiday. We’re off the grounds, and the Truant Officer is on the case. We’ve been on a spree of rule-breaking: smoking behind the bikesheds, running in the corridors, stealing from the tuck-
shop, laughing in Assembly, appearing improperly uniformed. If we get hauled back to School, it’ll be worse than Detention.

There’s one last rule Grandfather hasn’t broken. A big one, a defining rule that is written into his (my?) brain, like the impulses that keep the lungs breathing and the hearts pumping. The primary rule says we mustn’t meddle. We live outside time and space, looking in, observing, noting, taking an academic interest. But we do not meddle. The theory is that it is all none of our business. We accept no blame or credit. We
know everything but affect nothing.

Here, I can admit this: I am a rebel. Like Arthur Seaton. Like Lawrence of Arabia.

I don’t think I believe in rules at all. Even – especially – the primary rule.

I think meddling is an obligation.

___

И хоть здесь Master не в этом смысле идёт, но у меня всё-таки стойкое ощущение, что речь идёт именно о нём. Ведь что там в The Dark Path было, перед всеми этими событиями с уничтожением планеты, его же посылали как раз за Доктором охотиться?
В общем, почему бы и нет.
I was haunted by the half-memory of a particular Master, the Truant Officer. When they were in class together, he was everything Grandfather wasn’t. They were the Teacher’s Pet, awarded Gold Stars, and the Class Dunce, stood in the corner. At Home, the Truant Officer was highly regarded. He dressed smartly and knew the Rules by heart. His reports were covered with orderly ticks. His Box was full of silver cups, awarded for punctuality, self-discipline and meritorious conduct. He was a chap on the rise, a stickler for the Rules, a Good Man to have On the Team, in line for the Headship. When Grandfather ran away, our folder would have been turned over to the Truant Officer for action. He was after us and wouldn’t give up until we were caught and Punished. His career depended upon catching us, on not letting there be any exceptions to the Rules.
We would get Detention. And the Truant Officer would become Head.
In my dream, I saw his face, smiling blandly through a neat black beard, cleverness sparkling in his cold, cold eyes. I heard him laugh, and for a moment remembered everything.

___

His (our?) conditioning was so extreme that the crime, even the contemplation of the crime, invoked its own punishment – creating the fog-patches, blotting memories, shutting down whole aspects of personality.

___

Когда Малкольм предлагал Доктору взять свою любимую игрушку, только чтобы он заставил Холод уйти, я в первый раз чуть не расплакалась...

___

А вот тут пробило на "хи-хи"
The Box shifted. It dematerialised then materialised again, seeming to waver but not disappear. In between, Grandfather went to Pluto in the Far Future. He claimed an uneventful trip, but I later checked the log and saw he needed five goes to get there, hopping around the solar system and the centuries, and more than a dozen shots to get back to Foreman’s Yard an instant after departure.

___

Сьюзан и Джон:
‘I still don’t understand how the Box can be a spaceship.’
‘It’s not. It travels through time and relative dimensions.’
‘In space?’
‘Well, yes.’

___

Самый-самый конец =)
Back in the Box, with Grandfather.
He’s annoyed. On his trip to Pluto, he broke something serious. Grandfather hasn’t tested it yet, but he believes the Box won’t follow a course set for it.
‘It will go where it wishes, at random, whimsically,’ he said, grumpy.
I think the rule in Grandfather’s head is broken. He won’t follow any course set for him either.
‘Typical,’ I said.
‘Nonsense, Susan. I’ll have it fixed in no time.’