Questions and Answers
This page has everything you (n)ever
wanted to know about AL, the Unicorns of Alnilam, Alnilam in general, this
site, etc. If you have a question, email
me and I’ll post it and the answer here. Enjoy.
About AL ~ About Alnilam ~ About the Alnilam
Unicorns ~ About
the Other Alnilam Animals
Q’s About Alien Lisa (AL)
·
How
do you pronounce AL?
~ Say each letter separately. “A” as in the vowel sound and
“L” as in the start of “El Paso”. Same with RL (Real Lisa, AKA me). “R”, a
pirate’s favorite letter and “L” like “El Paso”.
·
AL
can understand languages of animals. What about humans?
~ AL was only able to understand foreign human or alien
languages when she was traveling with the Doctor. His time machine, the TARDIS,
translates alien languages, as well as human languages, automatically for
people who travel in it. When he died, Lisa lost this ability because she
wasn’t traveling in the TARDIS anymore. However, if someone she’s linked to is
fluent in a language (for example, German), she can use the link as a
translator (see Here’s
Hopping--Alternate Chapter by Flaming Trails). This doesn’t make her
fluent as she has to use the knowledge from the one she’s linked to to speak the language. As a result, until she’s used to it,
she’ll speak haltingly and might stumble across pronunciations. When the link
is severed for whatever reason, that languages’ knowledge disappears. Someone
she’s linked to can also use the link to understand animals if they concentrate
enough (see Musings).
·
So,
if AL can understand other languages, why aren’t some of the French words in Beyond the
Stars translated?
~ It was shown in The Girl in the Fireplace that the
word “monsieur” wasn’t translated. So, I left it as such. I think the
story would lose some of its charm without a few bits like that left in. :)
·
What
does AL feel when the Doctor regenerates?
~ That depends on how closely linked to him she is. Let’s
take the Doctor’s regenerations (and the causes of them) one at a time:
- One to Two: Simple old age.
They were just friends, so she felt almost nothing. She could sense his
weakness, however (see The Tenth Planet).
- Two to Three: Induced by
the Time Lords. They were closer friends, but the Time Lords had separated the
Doctor from AL, so all she felt was a
very vague
tingling of her extremities (see The War Games).
- Three to Four:
Radiation poisoning. They were about as close as Sarah Jane and the Doctor
were. She could feel his weakness and all his emotions
(see Planet
of the Spiders).
- Four to Five: Falling from
the Pharos Tower. Same relationship as the Third Doctor. She felt his emotions
and could almost, but not quite, hear the
voices of
his old companions and enemies. She felt the impact of the fall, plus the pain
that had to have shot through his body. She also felt tingling
in her
extremities during the regeneration (see Logopolis).
- Five to Six: Spectrox
toxaemia. They were in love. She felt everything.
The rash appeared on her skin, though not as blisters as it did on the
Doctor’s.
She felt the cramps and the numbing of his limbs, and a
lightheadedness as he fought back his impending regeneration with his
will.
Everything
inside her went numb during the actual regeneration (see The Caves of
Androzani).
- Six to Seven: Being
battered around the TARDIS as it crash landed on Lakertya. Had she’d been conscious, she would have felt slight pain by being
tossed about
in the TARDIS. Though they still cared for each other, the love fizzled with
the last regeneration, so the sensations that came from him
were weaker
in strength than they had previously been (see Time and the Rani).
- Seven to Eight: Gunshot
wounds and a medical probe through the hearts causing a massive seizure. Still
close friends. She felt the gunshots, the
anesthesia,
the seizure and numbness during the regeneration (see the Doctor Who Movie).
- Eight to Nine: Unknown.
They were in love, so whatever caused it (see The Return
for my own version), she felt everything.
Her body went numb
during the
regeneration itself.
- Nine to Ten: Absorbing the
energy of the Time Vortex. They still loved each other, so she felt everything. The vortex traveling
through the Doctor’s
body felt
like pins-and-needles, she felt his pain and his emotions, and her body went
numb when he regenerated (see Parting of the Ways and
Regeneration).
- Ten to Eleven: Radiation
poisoning. They were still in love, so she felt everything. The regeneration made her body go numb.
- Eleven to Twelve: Unknown.
They’re in love, so she’ll feel everything.
- Twelve to Thirteen:
Unknown. It all depends on how they feel about each other.
- Final Moments: Unknown. All
that is known is the Doctor’s death caused her body to lock up and she
lost her healing power (see Back to
Cardiff).
·
Was
AL linked to Data?
~ You wouldn’t call it “linked”, per se, because it
just doesn’t work with an android. However, she insists that she can feel his
emotions more strongly than any empath could and believes that, even with his
emotion chip off, he still gets a sense of what she’s feeling.
·
Can
AL pilot the TARDIS?
~ She has a very, very limited knowledge of the
controls. She can take off and land. Everything else is sheer dumb luck.
Luckily, the TARDIS herself somehow helps when the situation is dire.
Q’s About Alnilam
·
Why
is the Doctor’s TARDIS on Alnilam?
~ The Doctor’s dying wish was for AL to take it somewhere
safe. There is no safest place in the galaxy than Alnilam.
·
How
come the TARDIS can get to Alnilam so easily?
~ Well, the old girl is telepathic. She knows that,
if they’re returning to Alnilam, there’s a very, very good reason for
it.
·
What
is the difference in the Gates?
~ There are Time Gates and regular Gates. They appear as a
shimmering mist between two identical trees. The mist collects at the base of
said trees, and one simply goes through the mist and enters the new location.
Time Gates, of course, take you through time (the years vary), and the standard
Gates take you to and from Alnilam. A lot lead to Earth and a few go to other
planets (Janis Thorn’s home world, for example). There isn’t a visual
difference between the two Gates, and only Woodhorn knows which are which. Just
don’t try to ask him.
·
How
many Gates are there?
~ Unknown. Woodhorn made it his job to know. Again, just
don’t try to ask him.
·
Where
are the Gates located?
~ Very deep in the forest.
·
What’s
in the jungle?
~ Nobody knows, except for AL and a winged unicorn named
Kamelion. Kamelion lives there, and, if you were to ask AL, she’d just glare at
you and tell you to mind your own business.
Q’s About the Alnilam Unicorns
·
Does
Medicus actually wear glasses?
~ I know various illustrations of him depict him wearing
glasses, but he doesn’t actually need them. They’re just for show. The idea
originally came from this
picture my friend Ashley did for me for a very old story I’d been writing.
The story itself went belly up, but the idea of Medicus with glasses stuck in
my head, so it remains that way.
·
Who
are the Original Twenty-Three?
~ They are the first 23 unicorns I created when I was about
14 years old. They are:
- Comet, Luna, Corona and Lightning
(4)
- Orion, Rose and Lavender (3)
- Atlantis and Magma (2)
- Lead Line and Blind Spot (2)
- Daisy and Darkspot (2)
- The Ghost and the Darkness (2)
- Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon and Coco
(3)
- Mystic (1)
- Woodhorn (1)
- Polaris (1)
- Daystar (1)
- Medicus (1)
·
So,
what is Woodhorn’s problem?
~ While visiting Earth, his younger brother, Driftwood, was
killed by a human hunter. Woodhorn was devastated and, upon returning to Alnilam,
took it upon himself to protect the planet from intruders. Unfortunately for
him, no real intruders since the Warlords have been around the planet. He
usually ends up attacking AL’s visitors and she has to clean up the mess, as it
were. See his
bio for more information.
·
What
about Janis Thorn?
~ He just has issues. :) He came from a world where only the
strong survived – it was eat or be eaten – and, even though he now lives on
Alnilam and doesn’t have to worry about such things, he’s all instinct.
Everyone has learned to stay out of his way.
Q’s About the Other Alnilam Animals
·
What,
exactly, is Hooks?
~ Exactly? He’s unknown. :) Here’s a picture.
In real life, he’s a toy I’ve had since I was a baby. He looks as if he’s part
sloth (the arms), part kangaroo (the pouch), part monkey (the tail), and part
ram (the horns). He used to have blue whiskers on his cheeks, but, when I was
young, I cut them off because I didn’t like the way they looked. Unfortunately,
I cut them too close to the stitching. Really not liking the way it
looked, I covered them with masking tape, and covered them with scotch tape
(you can see this in the photo if you look carefully). I decided that they’d be
scars for the character.
~ UPDATE!
He’s all kangaroo (and is actually female, but please don’t tell him that).
He’s from the 1987 Hooks toy line made by Mattel. More of his friends can be
found on eBay. Thank you Nostalgia Critic.
~ On Alnilam, he’s a furry creature about the size of a
housecat. He’s very shy and self-conscious and blushes easily. His voice is on
the high side, he can speak English, and he’s empathic, meaning he’s sensitive
to other peoples’ feelings, especially strong emotions. He’s also mildly
telepathic; he can only read projected, or “loud”, thoughts. There’s a rumor
going around that he can change his size, but, whenever someone asks him, he
just blushes and changes the subject. He loves AL very much, and he’s very fond
of Luke Skywalker. He has scars on both cheeks, but he won’t tell what from.
~ UPDATE!
We’ll eventually find out that he’s a Kohso from the planet Tetaml. His real
name is Turkanagh, however he chooses to go by the name AL has given him.
