simon_doctor | (no subject)

(no subject)

Simon's in his quarters, flipping through the encyclopedia.

The entries on "hypnosis" made for interesting reading, and he's got a short list of concerns to bring up next time he talks to Roland.

In the meantime, he's back to looking up the names Eddie gave him. Up right now is "Gilead." Which (even with the search edited to remove irrelevancies like direct Biblical quotes) has yielded a fairly large heap of related entries.

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There comes a rapping at the good doctor's chamberdoor. "Simon?"

"Come in," calls Simon, setting down the encyclopedia.

The Shepherd pokes his head inside. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"No, not at all. I was just ..." He eyes the electronic pad. "Probably about to drop it in any case.

"So, ah ... I hear you've found the madhouse."

"Yes, I found myself in Milliways yesterday afternoon. I met a fellow there named Deschain--someone you know?"

He glances at the encyclopedia. "Can I ask what you're working on?"

"Roland Deschain? Yes, he's the one who mentioned you'd been there. He said, ah ... that you seemed to be a smart man, and to tell you who could be trusted."

Book raises his eyebrows. "And who can be trusted?"

A pause. "That would depend with what, I imagine, but ... we've found friends there."

By we, it's fairly clear he means himself and River.

"Roland and his people. They call themselves gunslingers. There's ... a good deal more to that, and to why they've taken an interest in us, and I think they would probably explain it better than I can.

"Let's see, there's also the head bartender, Bernard Wrangle. And Crowley." A pause, and a tiny smile. "I think Kaylee wanted to introduce you to him.

"And there's an extremely violent young woman called Faith, and a woman called Kitty who can move through things."

"Aha." Book looks like he might say more...

and then he doesn't.

"As for what I'm working on ..." Simon grimaces. "At the moment I'm looking for any references to the name Gilead."

"Wasn't it a nation on ancient Earth-that-was? I'm sure there's a verse in the Shenjing that refers to it. How did that catch your interest?"

"Apparently it was also a nation where sai Deschain is from, and Eddie -- he's one of the gunslingers --"

(and that's true in a broader sense, even if not precisely accurate at this point)

"--had an idea that there might be some ... connection, between their world and ours."

A pause.

"In particular, to do with the Academy. And the people who helped me get River away from it."

Book hmms. "So you thought you might find some clue by researching the name? Has anything turned up?"

"Nothing useful." He shakes his head. "And I'm not sure how likely it is that anything useful will turn up. I mean, everything about the Academy is classified, and those people are ... well, not to put too fine a point on it, criminals. They're not exactly going to have a listing on the stock exchange."

"And even if you could find them again, would you really want to?" Book shakes his head. "You'd be opening a real Pandora's Box--putting you and your sister and perhaps all of us in real danger. What would you hope to accomplish?"

For a moment Simon doesn't say anything.

Then: "There are other kids there."

There's a long silent stretch. "Ambitious."

Simon smiles, a little ironically. "For a motley coat."

Book's answering smile is rueful. "Could be motley coats are the best ones."

"Handy thing, a machine like that."

Simon turns it in his hand, and sighs. "Often. But I'm not sure how useful it's going to be in this case."

Book hesitates. "If you're finished with it for the moment, do you suppose I could borrow it? There're some things about the community where we're putting down this evening I'd like to know before I have any service--never a good idea to take the pulpit unprepared."

"Of course."

He hands it over.

"Were you planning to hold services tonight, then? Does the captain know?"

Book pokes at the machine, either familiarizing himself with its workings or looking up something that has caught his interest--or perhaps both at the same time. "He knows I'll be getting off at port, yes. I may have neglected to inform him where I'll be passing the evening."

"Yes, here it is."

Simon looks curious.

"Can I ask what you were looking for?"

"The quotation in question. That sort of thing nags at the mind until you've looked it up, you know."

Book smiles...well, bookishly, the smile of a bibliophile gloating over a cross-references. "It's a fairly appropriate one, too. 'Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there.'" He recites it as he slips out of Simon's room, with an answering beep from the encyclopedia as he powers it down.

Simon's head comes up sharply.

"...What did you say?"

But the door closes on his question, and if Book hears it at all, he doesn't return to answer it.

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