"Bells theorem!" he thought, and then wondered why.
One of the ape creatures appeared to be in a position of authority. The human recognised the creature as an orang-utan, but something troubled him. Apes should not wear clothes, nor should they be able to talk!
"I think we should begin experiments immediately," the orang-utan said. "You tell me, Cornelius, that he was found at the bottom of a deep crater, unconscious but unharmed. You tried to take samples from him to test but your instruments broke."
A chimp moved forward. This, the stranger reasoned, must be Cornelius.
"Yes, Dr. Zaius. He has shown little or no sign of intelligence since we brought him here. He appears to understand what we say, but that is all."
"Do you have any views, Zeera?" asked Zaius.
"I do not believe prodding and poking this poor creature will do any good. We will not be able to find out why his skin is different from that of other humans. It just is!".
At that moment the door swung violently open. A surly looking gorilla entered.
"Urko! What is the meaning of this?" demanded Zaius.
"I have just been told you have a new spaceman," he growled.
"We don't know if he is," Zeera replied acidly.
"I know he is," snapped Urko. "Another human saw him falling from the sky!".
"Burke and Virdon came in some sort of flying vessel. We found no traces of one near him!".
"I do not care. I do not want the same trouble with him as I have had with Burke and Burton!".
"May I remind you I am head of the Council!" stormed Zaius.
"The Council have over-ruled you. You have until noon tomorrow to do any experiments you want to. Then I have authority to destroy him."
With that, Urko left, slamming the door behind him. Zeera could barely contain her anger.
"Gorillas only seem to want to kill things!".
Cornelius did his best to soothe her.
Zaius raised one eyebrow and gazed at the human in the cage.
"I agree with Urko about Burke and Virdon. I don't about this one. The only thing different about him is his skin. I do hope he doesn't escape. We could learn so much from him in the future!" he said pointedly.
Aboard the Lord of the Isles, Belverdere was serving dinner in the Georgian dining room of Craigmillar. Magus sat at one end of the table, Drathro at the other.
"What makes you think President Watt is in the Delta Quadrant?" asked Drathro. "After all, the initial theory was that he was killed near Jupiter!".
"No body was found. They found Santiago, or bits of him," replied Magus unconcernedly as Belverdere served Brown Windis soup. "Bear this in mind. James Watt senior's body could not be harmed by anything. It could not be dismembered or compressed. There was a theory prevalent at one time that a Frankenstein creature may be able to kill him but it is unlikely."
"That would explain why Servalan was involved in that plot!".
"It wouldn't have worked. Frankenstein creatures usually wind up wanting to live with their own type. I couldn't tell you how many live on Monstron now!".
"As you were saying?".
"I have studied I.S.N. tapes of the explosion. You couldn't get access to them once Servalan was in power, unless you knew the right people and had the right amount of cash. Luckily, I do and I did. In the aftermath of the explosion some of the debris was caught in Jupiter's gravitational well. That debris was never recovered."
"Obviously," replied Drathro, as Belverdere took the remains of the soup away and brought in Beef Wellington, together with a nice bottle of Chablis.
"This is the '69 I requested?" asked Magus.
"It is, sir," replied the butler.
Drathro looked smug.
"I believe 2069 was not a good year for Chablis!".
"1969 was," replied Magus. "This is a 1969!".
"How do you get so many fine wines?".
"I own a vineyard!".
"Where?".
"Portugal!".
"Where in Portugal?".
"You misunderstand, my boy! It is Portugal!".
Magus drained his glass and began his Beef Wellington.
"You were explaining to me your theory of how President Watt got to the Delta Quadrant," said Drathro with some asperity.
"Ah, yes," replied Magus vaguely. "Where was I? Oh, the Jovian debris!".
"Well?".
"Bear this in mind. James' body could not have been destroyed in that explosion. He had survived far worse. No cavourite was found on the ship. The explosion, although violent, would not have sent his body too far away. Also remember that the Soul Hunter could not find his soul."
"Which means he did not die,".
"Precisely. As an old friend of mine and ancestor of Spock's once said, when you have eliminated the impossible, what is left, however improbable, is the truth. I believe James Watt was among the debris caught in the gravitational pull of Jupiter."
Belverdere took away the Beef Wellington. They ate desert in silence, then adjourned to the drawing room for port and a pipe. It was Drathro's experience that both helped Magus to think.
As he sat down, with Tabby curled up on his lap and his dogs at his feet he continued.
"One of James' abilities was the ability to control his own molecular density. It was a habit of his, almost a reflex action. It was to increase his density as high as he could. Bear in mind, dear boy, that this is only a theory. Awfully good bottle of the Old Tawney, this!".
Drathro sighed. It had taken him two hours to get this far. He would see it through.
"As it stands," he said. "James Watt has been caught in the gravity well of Jupiter."
"Very well. We have also established that as a reflex action James would have increased his density as much as he could. The explosion carried him into Jupiter's gravitational pull. Jupiter is primarily a gaseous planet, but at its core the gases exert a tremendous pressure. Another feature of James is that he exerts very little friction at high speeds. I believe he plunged ever onwards to the core of Jupiter, unaffected by the great atmospheric pressures. He was only stopped when he collided with the core of Jupiter, which is a vast diamond. His forward motion arrested, something had to give in. In this case James Watt was shot from the atmosphere like a cork from a champagne bottle, his velocity increasing as he moved nearer to the surface of the planet. Once more in the void of space nothing could have stopped him unless he recovered."
"Why didn't he?".
"One minor news item a few weeks after was the sudden course change of Comet Tiberius Claudius 42 after a collision with an unknown body. The comet had been passing Jupiter, heading towards the Gamma Quadrant, when it suddenly altered course and speed, heading towards the Delta Quadrant. I believe it was James Watt who hit that comet. He was plunged deep into its icy interior. The ice suspended his vital functions. I have plotted the trajectory of that comet. I know almost exactly where to look!".
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