THIS TIME ROUND: SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK'N'ROLL by Paul Gadzikowski DOCTOR WHO series characters and concepts copyright BBC tv Bernice "Benny" Summerfield copyright Paul Cornell and/or Virgin Publishing THIS TIME ROUND concept by Tyler Dion, after Kielle "Sot," shouted Ace. "Slut," shouted Benny. Susan served Benny her third beer. Ace was still nursing her first scotch and soda. "Where do you get off, judging me?" Ace said, still shouting over the Friday night crowd. "It's not that, really it isn't. I just don't understand *how* you can do it." "You just tell the bloke 'yes'." "I mean so frequently -" "You just tell a lot of blokes 'yes'." "- so casually. I mean, there's supposed to be a threshold level of intimacy first, isn't there? I mean, I sort of have to have that. Do you really feel that with all of them?" "Maybe I think people would be a lot nicer to each other if intimacy were a casual thing. Maybe I'm doing what I can against repression in my way, just like the Doctor does, even if I don't get it to work out every time, just like the ... never mind." "You're saving the universe by boffing it?" "Maybe. I may be wrong, but at least I'm taking action instead of falling off barstools with my mind blown." "Altering your mind for temporary purposes is just like altering your body for temporary purposes. When your leg is uncomfortable, you move it, don't you?" "Aw no, you're lecturing. I can tell because the slurring stopped." "Artificially altered mental states are a classic means to spiritual enlightenment." "What, you get sick on beer and you tell me it's a spiritual experience?" "Almost everywhere in the universe but C.E. Earth it's acknowledged that certain drugs enhance spiritual perceptions. Or psychic, if that's your buzzword. The space gypsies in the NAs, and that native American officer on RETURN OF THE SON OF STAR TREK -" Benny waved at the crossover poker party, where Chakotay wasn't in fact in attendance this week. "- even have machines that induce the mental state without the ingestion of metabolic poisons. But I think that's cheating. I think there's a certain kharmic obligation to risk a few brain cells when you're at it. Just like the risks the Doctor takes." "So you're saving the universe by getting sopped." "Well, saving me, expanding my own perceptions. Whether I'm saving the universe depends on how good a prosthleziter - prothels - on whether or not I can convince other people or not ..." The Doctor came into This Time Round, visually scanning the crowded tavern. Susan spotted him from behind the bar and waved him over. "Benny got Ace drunk," she told him when he was close enough to hear over the crowd, "and Ace took Benny upstairs." "How long ago?" "Only a few minutes," said Susan, sliding the ginger beer she'd been drawing across the top of the bar to him. "Have a seat." The Doctor took the ginger beer but didn't sit down. "What's new on the jukebox?" THE END I'm reminded of the Jules Feiffer cartoon, the rich old suit sitting in the overstuffed men's club chair: "The values kids have today - 'sex and drugs and rock'n'roll'. Give me old-fashioned values ... wine, women and song." -- http://members.iglou.com/scarfman Paul Gadzikowski DOCTOR WHO, STAR TREK [including T*R*E*K] and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER fanfiction - Bedivere's scarfman@iglou.com Round Table - Cartoons - Archy the Cockroach - Something new every week! (Except maybe during summer) Be nice to other people - they outnumber you 5.5 billion to one.