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Chapter One: Doctor Who?

Dori opened her shipboard Omnicom. “Hello, Mr. Vakk. I hope you are home. I will be coming for a visit in about twelve hours, with your approval.”

“Dori, please,” Ulu Vakk answered, his holographic image appearing on the screen. “Of course you have my approval. And my invitation. And please, don’t call me Mr. Vakk. Call me Doctor Vakk.”

“Seriously, Ulu?” Dori replied. “Well, it’s about time!”

“Yup. Last month I was awarded my doctorate in Physics from the University of Lupra, with an emphasis in Optics and Chromodynamics. And in eight weeks, you can call me Professor Vakk. I’ll be teaching at the University of Beta Antares on Dhor.”

“U-BAD? Well done, Dr. Vakk. I will be properly intimidated to be in the presence of such distinguished company.”

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit,” Ulu asked. “Or, to speak in the vernacular of the Khunds, ‘Whadya want?’”

“You offered once to tutor me in the ways of the Emotional Spectrum. The time has come for me to learn, I think, and as you are the greatest expert in color in the known Galaxy, I appeal to you.”

“I believe you will be very interested in one of my recent acquisitions,” Ulu answered. “I have an aeroport on the roof of my building now, so you can come directly here.”

* * *

One wall of Ulu Vakk’s apartment was entirely filled with an ancient bookcase filled with ancient books.

“These are not originals,” Ulu explained. “But they are excellent, fine-grained physical reproductions of the originals. My intention is to ultimately get them translated and digitized, and into decent research condition. But this is what ought to interest you.” He pointed to a set of nine slender volumes, all bound in luminous colors of the rainbow. “I’m doubt you have ever learned ancient Malthusian, but the titles read, in Interlac:

The First History: Of The Butcher, the Red Entity
The Second History: Of Ophidian, the Orange Entity
The Third History: Of Parallax, the Yellow Entity
The Fourth History: Of Ion, the Green Entity
The Fifth History: Of Adara, the Blue Entity
The Sixth History: Of The Proselyte, the Indigo Entity
The Seventh History: Of The Predator, the Violet Entity
The Eighth History: Of Nekron, the Black Entity
The Ninth History: Of The Chosen, the White Entity

“Fascinating, But how am I supposed to read them, if you haven’t got them digitized or translated?” Dori inquired.

“Ah, well, yes, that,” said Ulu. He took down a device from the shelves that looked remarkably like it had once been one of his own LaForge visors. However, a remarkable number of chips, wires, and antennae were attached at apparently random spots and angles. “It’s my own invention,” he said.

"Obviously," said Dori.

The modified visor directly accessed the linguistics mainframe on Weber’s World, and used the language database to translate any text to Interlac in more-or-less real time. Dori, however, still had a hard time understanding much of the books, even with the translation. She occasionally would ask Ulu for help at some particularly sticky part, but most of the time, he would just shrug his shoulders, or point her to an obscure article on Philosophy in the Encyclopaedia Galactica.

* * *

Dori had rented a small one-bedroom in town on a short-term lease agreement. Still, she was at Ulu’s apartment bright and early every morning, and seldom left until late at night.

“You know, you could stay here,” Ulu offered. "It would save you the commute."

Dori looked up at him, startled at the unexpected offer.

“I mean, in five days, when I’m leaving for Dhor," Ulu amended. "After that, you could stay here.”

“Where has the time gone?” Dori asked rhetorically. “No, I’m just about done with the Encyclopedia of Histories for now. But do you have a few minutes now?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Ulu, setting aside his packing. “What is it?”

“I think I’ve more or less figured out where my powers come from. You were right: it seems I somehow channel the emotional spectrum. My parents always thought it was some mutagenic effect from trace amounts of Pluridium—although I have found any evidence that Pluridium has mutagenic effects. When I’m angry, I can manipulate a Red aura, which usually manifests as heat. Fear manifests as a yellow force-field. Green, or Will, is kinetic energy, and we saw on Blax that pure will, uncontaminated with other emotion, can create solid energy constructs. When I am feeling unusually hopeful, my blue aura stimulates and energizes everything around me."
“And around the time I married Irv, my powers seemed to fade away for a while. I realize now that it’s because I was in love with Irv: real, true, intense love that overpowered all my other emotions. I was literally walking around in a purple haze all the time. There may be some energetic power particularly associated with the me and the violet aura, but I also perfectly content: I never really wanted or willed anything, so there was never any particular manifestation of that power. After Irv passed away-- well, my powers didn't immediately return. I imagine its because I was in something of an emotional shutdown at the time. But after Niedrich and his followers got me exiled from Earth... well, I stewed for weeks, and then got angry—really blazingly angry—and that jump-started the rest of my emotions and my powers came back stronger than ever.”
“The more intense my emotions, the more powerful and diverse the effects of the auras: I’ve levitated objects with the red aura, for example, when I’ve been really worked up.”
“What disturbs me most, though, is that I’ve channeled the black aura twice, which is associated with death: that is, but other people’s death. It is very, very creepy, and I would gladly never experience it again as long as I live. Expressing my emotions through color is so natural to me: it's just the way I am. But I would gladly give up all the auras and colors to break my link with that blackness of death.”

“You have other powers—or at least, characteristics,” Ulu Vakk noted. “Your charismatic field, for instance.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too,” said Dori. “It’s not like I have some pheromonal attractant, like Geeqouans. I think what happens is that my aura reflects other people’s own emotions back at them, so that they see me as like them, and therefore likable. Most people like themselves, and they like others who are like them.”

“There is something else, too,” said Ulu. “You probably haven’t noticed it, but… look.” He took off his visor, and ran his hands though his hair. Dori noted threads of gold and silver highlighting his usually coal-black locks.

“This is how I look naturally,” said Ulu. “It’s a little vanity that I color my hair, but with my powers, it’s effortless. But the fact is, I’m getting older, and a little bit of gray is creeping in. But anther fact is,” he looked at Dori intensely. “I’m over a decade younger than you, and you’re not.”

“I’m not what?” said Dori, not knowing whether or not to be offended.

“You’re not getting older,” said Ulu. “At least, not noticeably. I’ve talked to Dag and Staq about it, and they agree. Your appearance hasn’t changed appreciably since we went up against the Earthman's Justice League nearly fifteen years ago. Take a look at the holos from the Society pages from years before then. You were in a lot of them back then, you know. Then take a look in the mirror. It’s the same young woman. You haven't aged a day in two decades, Standard.”

* * *

“What kind of a freak are you?” shouted her father. He was drunk. He was usually drunk on Seventhday night. “You’re more than twice the age now your mother was when she died, and you still look like a little kid!”

* * *

“Dori? Dori, are you OK?” asked Ulu. “I didn’t mean it as a criticism, I mean, you…”

“No, no, I’m fine, Ulu,” Dori answered. “I knew that. I knew about the aging. Or not aging. I feel older but…”

{“ I should look a little older”} she thought. {“ I'm nearly fifty, for Grife's sake.”}

“…but I’m not sure how that ties into the emotional spectrum. Thank you so much for listening, Ulu. I think I'm done here, but I’m sure I’ll want to take advantage of your library again,”

Five days went quickly. Ulu spent a lot of time packing; it was hard deciding what to take and what to leave behind. He was sure that he would be sending belongings back and forth between Dhor and Lupra for the entire semester. In the end, he took none of the uncataloged books. Back in her leased rooms, Dori was packing, too. She seemed to had brought more than she remembered, or had she really acquired so much new stuff on her visit to Lupra?

“Can I talk to you again?” Dori asked Ulu, the morning of the last day.

“Sure, I’ve got some time before I have to leave for my flight.”

“There are is something that's been bothering me. Something else else I learned as a child. I think it's from an old book of Fairy Poems. It really disturbed me the first time I heard it, it’s like a short nightmare on paper, and I've never forgotten it:”

‘Three rings for the Elven Kings, Under the Sky
Seven rings for the Dwarf Lords, in their Halls of Stone
Nine rings for the Mortal Men, Doomed to Die
One for the Dark Lord, on his Dark Throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie
One Ring to Rule them all
One Ring to Find them
One Ring to Bring them all
And in the Darkness Bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie’

“Seven colors. Add black and white, and that's nine colors. Nine entities. Nine lanterns. Nine rings, given to mortal ring-bearers. Is there One Ring that rules them all? And if it’s real, where or what is Mordor?”

"Ash nazg durbatuluk
Ash nazg gimbatul
Ash nazg thrakatuluk
Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul"
Ulu recited. We learned that in Grammar School.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “On First Semester Break, you and I will go and talk to Sodam Yat.”

“In the meantime,” said Dori, “While you’re working, what I need is some socializing. I wonder what Myke-4 Astor is up to these days?”

Professoer Ulu! I like that. And having the Lord of the Rings referenced is a nice touch.

Ulu coloring his hair was also a nice touch by the way.