For Abed

[highfunctioning]

The reappearance of Amy Pond had made Sherlock question everything he'd thought he knew about the Sphere incident. He re-interviewed many of his fellow passengers, ran blood tests on anyone who would submit to them [extracting more than a pint from Amy herself before John stepped in for 'medical reasons'], and today he was re-examining the hub, where the Sphere itself had first appeared.

He was crouched low, checking the floor panels for any sign of erosion or change, and heard a familiar voice narrating his actions from the walkway above him.

"Hello, Abed." He called without looking up. Far from an irritation, Abed's presence was fortuitous, as he'd been on Sherlock's list of interviews, and he wouldn't be put off if Sherlock continued with what he was doing as they talked.

Comments

[6seasonsandamovie]

"Again we find Sherlock Holmes reexamining the place where the Sphere first appeared, in a vain attempt to find any more evidence of its existence," Abed narrated, then let the silence stretch for a few seconds, during which he zoomed in on the consultant detective, and Sherlock addressed him.

"Hello, Sherlock," Abed answered, channeling all too much Sherlock, which meant sounding way too much like him as he answered.

[highfunctioning]

Sherlock stood and fixed Abed with a hard look, and got an equally hard one in return. It created a sort of infinite loop of Sherlock assessing Abed assessing Sherlock. Which wasn't actually going to get the anywhere. He cut to the chase.

"Have a minute?"

[6seasonsandamovie]

Abed doesn't even think he's giving Sherlock a hard look. He's just watching him over the camera/communicator, that's all. He doesn't even really realize how long they're doing it for, because it doesn't strike him as strange at all, and he's happy to get the footage.

But then Sherlock speaks up, and Abed considers for a half second. Everybody has a minute on the station. "Give me one," he answers, and stops the recording to get moving. Give him one to get down the one floor to meet Sherlock in the Porta Ianulis, turning the recording back on when he gets to the hub.

[highfunctioning]

Abed had offered his unique perspective only when he thought it was appropriate, like during the madness associated with the Sphere. He had come to Sherlock and tried to explain the nature of the manifestations, as well as the 'only way' to end them. Sherlock had filed the information away for use after he'd wrung every last bit of information about Moriarty from his own mind, but of course that time had never come.

It was time for another run at Abed's store of knowledge.

"Amy's reappearance doesn't have anything to do with the Sphere, does it?" It was barely a question.

[6seasonsandamovie]

"Not that I know of, no," Abed answers, which is the best he can do. He'll add narration to this segment later on, but it's best to focus on the conversation for now. "Those that died during the movie never did come back. I'm not sure how she still died when the Sphere never existed in the first place, but." He shrugs. He hasn't figured that one out yet, and he isn't sure he ever will.

[highfunctioning]

The whole ordeal had become mind-warpingly unclear to Sherlock as time passed, and it's a small comfort to know that Abed didn't have an inside track on that either.

"Any thoughts you'd like to share about how likely we are to see the return of Jane Shepard?"

[6seasonsandamovie]

Abed shrugs, but it's a small, steady, one-shouldered shrug, so it doesn't disturb the camera. "I've never seen or read anything about this station, and there isn't enough data to estimate a statistic likelihood. At least I didn't come across any references to dead people arriving from earlier in their timeline when I went through the Minotaur archives."

[highfunctioning]

Yet here she was, undeniably Amy Pond, just like the woman in the morgue. Sherlock had done every test at his disposal to check, and the systems on board also seemed satisfied with her identification, having transferred all of the first Pond's files and information into the second Pond's mobile.

Without any discernible link, Sherlock moved on to his next thought.

"Anything in the archives about inhabitants electing to remain on docking ventures?"

[6seasonsandamovie]

"Not that I found," Abed answers. "Our experience so far shows that whoever controls our comings and goings isn't prone to giving us a choice as far as the occurrence and timing of our return go. It might change, but." Shrugging really isn't practical when you're filming, so it's a quick purse of his lips instead. "We won't know until it happens, and even then we might not."

[highfunctioning]

Sherlock had assumed as much, but it didn't dampen his determination to escape the ship.

"You've probably got a better knowledge base for science fiction tropes than anyone else on board, and clearly if the situation were to be viewed as something formulaic it would fall into the science fiction category, so would you care to offer a hypothesis as to how we might best frustrate the aims of whoever is pulling the strings, as it were?"

[6seasonsandamovie]

"I believe we're here for entertainment," Abed answers, even if believe is a bit of a strong word. It's his favorite theory, anyway. "Big Brother: Multiverse Edition. If we're being watched through a regular surveillance system, disabling it would be the best way to frustrate the producers. But then they might just kill us all."

He was clearly going with a Big Brother closer to the one in Nine's season of Doctor Who than the twenty-first century version from his own world.

[highfunctioning]

Sherlock didn't find any of the station's inhabitants very interesting, so Abed's theory doesn't strike him as likely, but his priorities were so rarely shared by anyone that it might have made perfect sense.

At any rate, Sherlock had never considered it might be as simple as disabling the surveillance equipment. It bore consideration.

"Provoking them into a mass extermination would only be hastening the inevitable."

[6seasonsandamovie]

"Everybody dies eventually," Abed agrees, and doesn't, but he's not missing Sherlock's point so much as making one of his own. "I'm enjoying what happens before that, though."

Even here, but then again, this is a little like a dream come true for him.

Okay, more than a little.

[highfunctioning]

"Yes, I know." Sherlock absolutely understood, because up to the death of Amy Pond, he had been enjoying the strangeness as well.

But things had changed. The callous extermination of two of their fellow captives had convinced Sherlock that he didn't want to see the endgame. Because it looked increasingly like the endgame had them all in the morgue. Which wasn't tragic on its own [as Abed so rightly pointed out, everybody dies] but Sherlock didn't like to lose.

"But I rather think the fun's over."

[6seasonsandamovie]

"That really depends on your definition of fun," Abed points out, because after the little visit of Jim Moriarty right out of Sherlock's mind, he feels as if he has to. But he doesn't want to argue, and instead he asks, "What's your preferred theory about our presence here?"