Entry One: Video Entry

[themountie]

[The camera turns on to show what appears to be an actual cabin in the woods, quite small, but complete with a roaring fire blazing in the hearth. The man holding the camera is wearing full Mountie regalia, including a Stetson hat, and looks pleased as punch.]

My thanks for the accommodations, Admiral. It's rather more space than I need, but I'm sure I'll finds ways to fill it.

[There's a bark from offscreen, and the man raises an eyebrow and says, quite pointedly:] No. Not with Krispy Kremes. We don't even have a Krispy Kreme on board, as far as I know.

[He turns his attention back to the camera, clearing his throat.] I beg your pardon, everyone. My name is Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP. I first came to the Barge-- well, that's not important right now, but I'll be here as a warden for the time being. I'm very much looking forward to it. [Horrifyingly, this appears to be genuine.]

Comments

[themountie]

[Fraser is overall a pretty cool-headed person, but to those who know him well, he has a few facial tics that tend to give him away. Narvin's casual revelation gets an eyebrow raise, a licked lip, and an earlobe scratch, which means that Benton Fraser is puzzled as all hell.]

Non-human.

[timesbureaucrat]

That's correct. We're not all homo sapiens here, you know.

[At least he didn't say "apes."]

[themountie]

I see.

[Pause.]

...You do look rather like one, though, sir, if you don't mind my saying so.

[timesbureaucrat]

It's more accurate to say that you look like a Gallifreyan. We evolved our present form about a billion years before humans did.

[themountie]

I see. [He carefully considers this for a moment, weighs the options, and decides to give Narvin the benefit of the doubt. Why not?]

I don't suppose you know anything on the topic of abduction, then? My friend was abducted by aliens as a child. It left quite a mark on him, I think.

[timesbureaucrat]

We discourage such things. Gallifreyans can be put on trial for abducting humans, under the non-intervention clause. [That means you, Doctor, with your abductees companions.] But Earth isn't a protectorate planet, so it's up to your own law enforcement agencies to deal with abduction cases.

[themountie]

I'm afraid we don't have much in the way of legal process for such things. And, unfortunately, the court of public opinion is rarely kind to victims of such a thing.

[timesbureaucrat]

Humans, on the whole, seem to prefer to pretend that they're the only intelligent life in the universe. Even when evidence suggests otherwise. I suspect a wide-spread inferiority complex.

[themountie]

It's certainly a puzzle, Coordinator. I'd argue that the rational mind prefers to accept what it can see, but then how does one account for religion?