Veritas in Temporis

[Shuren]

Veritas in Temporis



Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire, through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities... a never ending journey.

[Shuren]

The Days of Future Past Arc

With a sigh, the Games slid the last bit of his paperwork across his desk. It was a normal day on Gallifrey and a certainly busy one for the Lord President. Though he didn’t mind that at all; having seen wars and conflicts no matter which incarnation he was, he had come to appreciate any kind of normality he could get. But of course, that didn’t apply to travelling randomly with his TARDIS. “Let’s roll, Handles.” said the Games with a smile once he was inside. He walked around the console and adjusted the flight settings; only to stop several seconds later after noticing the TARDIS hadn’t even moved yet. He moved over to where Handles was and knocked on its head two times. He quickly used his sonic screwdriver on the Cyberman head to realize it was working perfectly fine. Perhaps it was his wording that had confused the thing. “Take her off, Handles.” he reinstated his words and received a reply this time. “Affirmative.” said Handles. “Gee, I should install a colloquial phrase databank on you.” thought the Time Lord as he walked around the console and activated the randomizer through the scanner after setting the flight time into an hour. Now his destination could be anywhere in anytime, but he would still have his break from his last encounter. He was feeling open to surprises and this was probably the best way to do it. Sliding his hands into his coat’s pockets, he nodded after glancing at the time rotor moving up and down and made his way to the interior. He paid a visit to the kitchen first, to prepare himself a cup of tea. Afterwards he went to one of the workshops to finally put a databank chip together for Handles so it could understand all of his commands. For about forty minutes, he worked non-stop. But once that was over, Handles’ voice would be heard inside the room. “Security breach imminent. Time fissure forming.” it said through the comm. By the time the Games had reached the console room, it would make yet another announcement. “Target vessel identified as friendly.” Upon hearing that, the Games instinctively raised his eyebrow, wondering how the Cyberman head had concluded to such a result. “How so?” he asked. Though the answer he was about to receive would only leave him more surprised.“Target vessel is identical.” replied Handles, as the sound of a TARDIS dematerializing echoed across the console room.

It was, just like Handles had said, his TARDIS disguised as its signature red telephone box. Soon after it landed somewhere next to the coat rack near the entrance the door opened and a man stepped out. “Oh, this is ancient.” he said, as he straightened his bowtie. Even though he was much older than the fifth incarnation standing across him in amusement, the Eleventh Games seemed to have softer features. He had light green eyes and light brown wavy hair that was stylized as a comb over parted in the right. He was wearing a blue coat that reached his knees and underneath it was a brown, tweed wool suit and matching pants. The latter was open in the front, revealing the saffron colored vest and plain, white, rounded collared shirt beneath it. “Rude. Who are you again?” said the Fifth Games in response, looking somewhat annoyed by the eleventh’s incarnation’s remark, deeming him ancient. Though he did like the idea that he had lived up so far. The eleventh incarnation, on the other hand, didn’t say a word. Instead he crossed his arms and made a facial expression as if he was saying “come on, man”. “Number six?” asked the Fifth upon this reaction, having no idea that he was far from wrong. “Eleven. Believe me, six has much better things to do.” said the Eleventh, thinking about how much trouble said incarnation was going through. “Why did we regenerate so much?” interrupted the Fifth, certainly doubting if it had been any good that he had acquired his current powers. All he knew was that he was able to regenerate indefinitely, without having to change that is. But apparently he had changed at least half a dozen times more. “Things… happened.” replied the Eleventh.

This was his predecessor’s first time interacting with a future incarnation. For him, it had already happened twice. And both times he had gone through enormous difficulties, not to mention the role Rassilon had played in both. There was no need for him to tell all that to the person who had just somewhat managed to block him from his thoughts. “Anyway, why are you here again?” asked the Fifth with a nod, after understanding that he wasn’t going to get a better explanation.“I was searching for some help with something. It’s basically a two-man job. Then I found your TARDIS as the closest trustworthy vessel and remembered the time we had interacted.” explained the eleventh incarnation. His face started to look worried for some reason, which would double with the Fifth’s next statement. “Fine, I’ll help you. What are we going to do next?” he urged before getting a reply that would mostly disappoint him. “I… uhh… don’t remember.” replied the Eleventh, while scratching the back of his head. “I just remember meeting you and being off to somewhere.” he continued, trying his best to remember what they did. “Are you kidding? How can you forget this?!” spat the Fifth, while motioning his hands around him and signing at their surroundings. “Well, obviously you weren’t paying enough attention either!” yelled the Eleventh, somewhat. His memories consisted of the Fifth’s so his attention right now and what he remembered were directly proportional. Except for the fact that for him all of this had taken place hundreds of years ago, so his brain could have also archived all the unused information. Luckily for them, after several minutes of mumbling on their own the Eleventh would remember what they were going to do. “Okay I remember now. There is this big marketplace on Earth, in London. Old Spitalfields. It’s always very crowded, but recently people just stopped going there…” he said, as he stood up from where he sat cheerfully. Yet, he couldn’t finish his sentence thanks to his past self cutting him midway. “That could be due to…” interrupted the Fifth, but the Eleventh didn’t let him continue same way he did. “…as if the whole place never even existed.” he finished, finally, forcing an expression of wonder and surprise upon his predecessor’s face. “Oh.” he thought, without actually saying anything. Well, at least they had a destination now. Moving over to the console, the Fifth quickly reentered the coordinates while the Eleventh reset the flight adjustments.

[Shuren]

The flight was going well until an alarm sound echoed inside the control room. The lighting changed and turned into a red as the interior theme suddenly changed into blue neon from copper. Both of the incarnations of the Time Lord looked around carefully until their gazes met. “Desktop is glitching.” remarked the Eleventh, somehow remembering this happening. Not only were they in close proximity of one another, the eleventh incarnation had also materialized his TARDIS inside the Fifth’s. So naturally the TARDIS was trying to compensate for both of them somehow. Another alarm went off shortly afterwards but this time the fifth incarnation seemed determined to put an end to it: he was feeling weirdly disturbed by this desktop theme, as it had reminded him of Rassilon. For his future self it could have been a nice change of scenery but for him those events were still fresh. Running around the console, he quickly stopped in front of the mechanical panel. “The friction contrafibulator.” he thought and quickly pulled a small lever down. The console room reverted back to its copper theme and the alarm was deactivated. “There, stabilized.” he said and tried to put on a smile, which lasted for a strong two or three seconds. The eleventh incarnation didn’t require any memories to understand the fake smile that his predecessor was using to try to cover up his newly surfaced depression. Instead of dwelling on that matter, as he knew it was going to turn out just fine somehow, the Time Lord checked his bowtie and initiated the landing sequence quickly. “And parked. London Borough of Tower Hamlets.” he declared while turning the invisibility feature of the Ship on. Afterwards the duo made their way towards the door and opened it. They were high in the sky, hidden from the sights of the people down below. They were right above the marketplace, which was quite big in size. Though there was something odd with it: of all the people that were on the streets, none of them bothered to even look in the direction of Old Spitalfields. “Ah, you see that? The people are just circling around the complex, unconsciously.” said the Eleventh, turning his head to his past self, who was examining the area curiously. And how could he not? He could figure out what was causing the humans to behave so strangely as if there was a giant gaping hole that prevented them from walking through the marketplace, but even then it was his first time seeing it being applied on such a wide area.

“A perception filter.” he said with a nod, and quickly returned to the console. He approached the scanner and using Handles made a scan. His eyes grew wider as he got the results, which he shared shortly. “Apparently there is a Nestene Consciousness trying to sprout.” he paused before continuing, realizing that he didn’t need to be reassured. “It needs to be blocked.” he concluded. The eleventh Games nodded in agreement. “Blimey, we are going to need a phial of degenerative potion.” The eleventh incarnation scratched the back of his head; he knew that the Fifth, currently, didn’t know how to brew the potion he had mentioned. So he had to do it all by himself, not to mention how tricky of a potion he was going to make. He could use some help even though he didn’t essentially require any. “That’s not all.” said the Fifth in a more surprised tone than before. “Handles scanned a humanoid lifeform inside the marketplace.” He finished his sentence with a questioning look. It would be impossible for a regular human to take notice of a perception filter without being mad aware of its placement. However, the person wasn’t identified as a human at all. So naturally there was something interesting was going on. “Alright. How about this? You investigate where exactly the Nestene Consciousness is located at, where it transmits the perception filter from and who it is down there. You let me know what you find out and I’ll travel with the TARDIS to end the Nestene. Afterwards I will pick you up and we will go our separate ways.” suggested the Eleventh, to which the Fifth agreed with a simple nod. He kneeled and grabbed an earpiece from under the console, so they could maintain their contact.

As the Eleventh made his way towards the interior parts of the Ship after taking the stairs from the main console level, the fifth incarnation would simply jump outside from the door. Luckily nobody really noticed him, and he landed softly by slowing his descend through the exertion of his regenerative powers, used as propellers in the opposite direction. He was standing in the middle of the entire site now. Taking out his sonic screwdriver, he slowly pinpointed the source of the perception filter. Or at least tried to, since it took him twenty minutes to realize that the filter was the entire cover above him that acted as a roof. Finding the creativity of this impressive, he continued to scan for the Nestene’s activity. Eventually he discovered that the creature was, despite being hundred meters below the surface level, quite ready to emerge and begin an invasion at full scale with its plastic pawns. He needed to act fast and relay the information to the eleventh incarnation. But just at that moment a rumbling noise came from the other side of the market. Quickly making his way towards it after confirming the humanoid being he had scanned earlier was in the same direction, the Fifth made a slow approach, as he got closer. He was curious to see what kind of a creature he was about to find out. What he was about to see was far from extraordinary; nonetheless it was sufficient enough to surprise him. It was a woman. Just a regular woman. She had stumbled upon one of the nearby boxes and fell down along with other things. She was shorter than him, had wavy brown hair and seemed to be in her twenties. She was wearing a simple light green shirt (that wasn’t revealing at all) and skinny jeans accompanied by pale red flat shoes. As the Time Lord made his presence clear, the girl stood up from where she had fallen. “Sorry. I was just looking for… shoes.” she said as she dusted herself off. She continued as the Games raised an eyebrow. “I heard there were shoes on sale!”

[Shuren]

The Time Lord stood there motionlessly, baffled because of what he had heard. He didn’t know what was so wrong about this girl in front of him: the fact that she had somehow made her way through the perception filter or the fact that she had not been recognized as a human despite clearly being one. He could have thought about the possibility of the scanner being faulty, but that couldn’t have possibly been the reason. Coupled with Handles’ monitoring, one could say the scanning function had neared perfection. There was definitely something that caused this girl not to be identified as a human, and the Games was pretty sure that it had something to do with this unusual vibe she was getting from her. His thought scattered away when the eleventh incarnation spoke to him through the earpiece. “Hey, I inserted the degenerative potion and set everything up. There will be an explosion in about three or four minutes. Be sure to get out.” said the Eleventh. The fifth incarnation had linked his sonic’s readings with the TARDIS, so anything he found out would also be seen by his future self. And it appeared that he had used his time very well; the destruction of the Nestene Consciousness was about to occur just before it could spread out and begin invading this vulnerable planet. “Also take your earpiece off. Or it’ll fry your ear. They don't even go down silently, do they?” added the eleventh incarnation before switching his own earpiece off. Complying to his request, as he knew the high pitch noises of the dying Nestene Consciousness would make his earpiece explode, the Fifth took it off and threw it away. Afterwards he turned around to face the girl, who had gone back to searching for shoes.

“You need to get out of here, this place is going to blow up soon.” said the Fifth Games after patting her on the shoulder. Of course, he would need further explanation to make his claim credible. But it turned out that it wasn’t going to be necessary, as plastic figures started to crack the ground and emerge much like zombies. The ground started shaking and cracking. The pseudo-invasion that was about to happen had begun earlier than the Games had anticipated. Seeing that the girl simply nodded. “Ah okay.” she said in agreement. “We have to get to Katie! We can be safe that way too.” she added, before rushing into the group of Autons that had emerged. She simply ran without coming into contact with any of them but still maintaining a steady course. “There is somebody else in here?” thought the fifth incarnation. Knowing he was the immortal one around, he realized that he was almost obligated to help. “Okay, let’s go get her quickly.” he yelled from behind her as he started to run behind the girl. Catching up to her shortly, together they ran until they stopped at the other side of the marketplace. They were in front of a shop opening that had the sign “square pie” above its entrance. And next to it was a hut. A small metallic hut that was painted to look like it was made of wood, though the Games could feel the material very well. The girl quickly opened the hut and stepped inside. The Games did the same; though unlike her he would take a moment to check his surroundings. “What is this place?” he asked as he turned around himself. The interior wasn’t really big, at all, leaving him disappointed as he was used to stepping inside his TARDIS in such situations. There were several panels that he didn’t know of and a small opening on the ground in the middle, with two chairs on both sides of the hut. The doors closed by themselves after he directed his question. “It’s Katie. I told you we would be safe.” replied the girl in return, and pressed on a button that started to shake the hut.

As he couldn’t see the outside, the Games thought they were being shaken by the ground, the Autons or possibly the explosion that was destroying them. So instead of questioning that he decided to address this ridiculous situation. “This is Katie?!” he exclaimed sarcastically. That moment he realized that he had misinterpreted the girl’s words. She had said that they needed to get to Katie, not get her. He would also try to understand why a person would name a hut Katie, but he was too busy trying to keep his balance. “Okay this is a misunderstanding, you need to let me out.” he said before falling to the ground. “Sure!” said the girl in response. The shaking stopped and the ground settled. “Go out, we should be in London now.” she continued, getting a weird out expression from the Time Lord in return. Taking her word, the Time Lord opened the doors and stepped outside. There was only one problem: they weren’t in London. They were in Dublin instead, but of course he didn’t know that since he had never been there before. So he was naturally prompted to ask. “Where… are we again?” he said in confusion while looking around. They were on the back courtyard of a big facility, surrounded by tall but not threatening walls on the top floor. The girl soon joined him as well and came to notice her mistake in entering their destination to the hut. “Oh shoot! I must have travelled to my previous location rather than the coordinates. I’m sorry, we are in Dublin.” she explained. This bothered the Games: he had no earpiece or nothing that he could use to communicate with his future self or Handles. For now, he seemed to be stuck on his own. Unless the girl could use that weird hut again. “Can you take me back?” he asked, seeming very impatient about hearing the answer, which wouldn’t really do any good. “I can’t, it has to recharge. It will take about an hour or two.” said the girl while looking down. She was also quick to notice how restless and annoyed the Time Lord looked right no. It was as if he had missed and opportunity that was inside the palm of his hand. She wanted to cheer him up somehow. “But don’t worry, I’ll give you a city tour.” she said with a smile and poked the Time Lord’s shoulder. Normally, the fifth incarnation wouldn’t really be the type take up such an offer. But not doing so would also lead him to dying of boredom in a planet that always seemed to be slow. To him at least. With a nod, he followed her lead and walked towards the building.

[Shuren]

After entering the building and taking the transparent elevator, it wasn’t very hard for the Games to notice how big it really was. The building had more than 20 floors, and each floor also seemed to be very wide. It was possible to see specific labs for different purposes on each floor. So without a doubt it was a corporation that was established for scientific purposes. But just to be clear, the Time Lord was going to ask the girl. “What is this place?” he said, still looking around to gather every small detail he could spot. Despite being impressed with everything around him there appeared to be two problems: one, some of the experiments his eyes caught a glimpse on were more advanced than Earth’s technology at this time period. Not more advanced than the girl’s hut, but still. Two, they were heading towards the front exit. “It’s the main building of my research facilities.” replied the girl. The Games believed that anything was possible at this universe, but from the appearances he could comment that it was questionable for a person in her twenties to own such a facility. Again, her family could have been rich but in that case she definitely wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of going elsewhere to but shoes on sale. “Your?” he asked, his voice reflecting a tint of doubt in his tone. “Yes. I founded it, thanks to my savings and whatever family wealth that was left to me. We research and develop new technologies. Somebody needs to pace the world up a bit, right?” replied the girl cheerfully.

By the time she had finished her sentence, they had already arrived at the ground floor. Stepping outside they exited the building and started walking on the streets of Dublin. “That’s quite impressive. Even that ‘Katie’ of yours. I wouldn’t ever imagine seeing a vessel like that. Especially not here.” remarked the Games, hiding his tabs about the girl’s vessel for now. He wanted to ask her how she had even come up with the mechanics of her hut. Since it seemed to be using materialization and dematerialization in space for travelling, he could say anywhere in space was within her reach. Much like it was with his TARDIS. On the other hand, he also knew that the physics and engineering science hadn’t developed on Earth that far yet. After passing through busy streets, the Games continued. “You are from around here then?” he asked, all the while listening to the people around him. A traveller like her could be from anywhere but there were several things he had noticed on his way that indicated this was, in fact, her very own dumpster. “Yeah, this is my hometown basically. How'd you figure?” replied the girl. “You seem to know your way around. Plus, you have quite the accent.” nodded the Games. He had noticed the slight expression of the local dialect by just being around people. It was also easy to notice that the girl wasn’t any different. Plus, they had gone through some confusing alleyways. He wouldn’t expect a stranger to find his way around at all. “Well, I grew up here. Can’t really help it!” said the girl with a laugh. Several minutes later they arrived at a park. It was situated on a river and had a wonderful location due to being en route to the botanical gardens. The river running through seemed to be creating a lovely riverside walk for people. Plus the fine selection of trees, a beautiful flower garden, the pedestrian bridges made it a pleasant place to be at. In front of them was a small sign with the name of the park on it. It stated “Griffith Park”.

As they entered and started walking along the river, the Time Lord realized that he hadn’t even asked the girl’s name yet. “So then, what is your name?” he asked, immediately trying to fix his mistake. “Caitlin Serana Bell. I know, it’s a lame name.” replied the girl. The Games couldn’t help but like her name. And there was a simple reason for that. Despite having seen the name Serena quite a number of times on Earth, the name Serana was unique as it was also of Gallifreyan origin. It wasn’t a popular name but his people would still occasionally use it. “Oh it’s a wonderful name. I like it a lot actually.” he stated, while preparing himself to hear the counter question. “Thanks. What’s yours?” The Games didn’t reply for a moment. He tried to decide whether to take the long approach in explaining his title or just skipping directly towards the introduction part. He decided to do the latter. “Oh, I’m the Games.” he replied. “Not very trusting are we?” laughed Caitlin, not particularly minding him not giving his name. Though he wouldn’t expect him to do so after asking her name either. “It’s not that. My people tend to use aliases as they progress further with their lives. It’s like a promise you make to yourself, which you try to hold always. It's a cultural thing.” said the Games in response, which made Caitlin stop from walking. She continued soon, however. It was just that what the man right next to her had said sounded very very familiar to what she had been told about his mother. She decided to share that. “My father told me that… that my mother used an alias when they first met, quite like you. She later came up with a surname to live here.” she explained. The Time Lord’s response was almost immediate. “Really? What was her surname?” Caitlin waited several seconds before answering her. For some reason she was trying to examine all of his facial expressions, as if she was trying to deduce what he was going to think next. “Deranger.” she said quickly. This made the young man burst into laughter. It wasn’t his fault, Deranger didn’t really sound like a surname one would prefer to use. “That’s… quite a surname. Did she like making people insane?” he asked jokingly. “Not really. I was told that it was a derivation from her title.” replied the girl.

[Shuren]

The Games, for the first time, started to seriously think whether Caitlin was an offspring of a human and a Time Lord. Or in this case, Time Lady. Because he did know of a renegade Time Lady who had ran off from Gallifrey. She had committed a crime against the High Council after her request for a new regenerative cycle was denied. Since she didn’t want to take her punishment, she had gone into hiding. Nobody ever found out where. And in time, her records had gotten messy too. At least that’s what the Games had thought when he had the chance to take a look at her file, randomly. But one entirely and almost irrelevant thing connected all of these together: the said Time Lady was known as the Ranger. For her, such a ridiculous surname actually reminded her of her home, which pretty much justified her reason for choosing it. “I see.” he remarked shortly. He was going to try to get more information on Caitlin’s mother, to become sure. Though in several seconds he found out that he didn’t need to put any effort into that. “She died two years after my birth, in an accident. My father said she could normally survive anything but even that had a limit and it was the end of her time.” continued the girl with a nod. She had just recently found a regenerative factor inside her body as well, but never activated it. Instead she had modified it accordingly so she would just heal without changing her DNA. Even then, she didn’t know what the limit was that had caused her mother to die. She could only assume that she, too, had the same limit.

“Your mother… doesn’t sound like she was from this world at all.” commented the Games, trying to keep it calm after hearing about what was so obviously a regeneration. At this point, Caitlin stopped once again. She looked around to see there was nobody in their close proximity and got closer to the Time Lord in order to whisper. “She wasn’t. She was from a far away planet called Gaffilrey. Or at least that’s what my father heard. My mother never really liked talking about it, he said. Mentioned it only once. Can you imagine?” she said silently. “I never told this to anybody before, for some reason I feel like I can share it with you though. A total stranger! You must think I’m nuts, eh?” she finished with a laugh, her tone also returning to its regular volume. Though she seemed a bit more cheerful now, the Games was the opposite. “Caitlin, let’s sit down for a bit.” said the Time Lord calmly, leading them to a nearby bank. The girl looked a bit anxious about this but she complied and sat along. Afterwards, the Games looked around and carried on. “I know where your mother is from.” he explained and turned his head to face Caitlin. “I’m from the same planet. Gallifrey.” The girl stood still for a minute, as several questions flooded her mind. First of all, he had never really asked the Games what he had been doing at the marketplace. She had arrived there with her vessel, so the perception filter hadn’t applied to her. But what about him? How had he appeared there, also knowing there would be an explosion after their departure? Not to mention how unfazed he was after travelling with ‘Katie’. Sure, he had said the name of the planet wrong but it was also highly possible that her father had mentioned it incorrectly. He had heard it only once, after all.

“How?” That was the only thing she was able to utter, her eyes fixed on the Time Lord’s. “I was investigating the unusual inactivity at the Old Spitalfields Market. I arrived with my ship, found out the hostile alien activity, and I put an end to it. That’s why I was there.” Reasoned the Games briefly. And in all honesty, that was more than enough for Caitlin to believe in him. She couldn’t really put it into words; there was just a different aura around him. He was different than ordinary people. To indicate her belief, she nodded. “I can take you there, Caitlin.” said the Games suddenly, slowly placing his hand on the girl’s left forearm. This offer was most definitely unexpected. But considering all she had achieved in her life it was also unnecessary. “No, no. My home is here. My friends, my work… everything.” she explained and gently pushed the Time Lord’s hand away. The Games felt disappointed at this. A clever person like her was choosing a planet so very much below her level over Gallifrey. “But you clearly don’t belong, do you? I mean, this is a level five planet and you invented a machine that can teleport anywhere. That’s way beyond Earth’s technology of this era. And you are only in your twenties too. That sort of intelligence-” he spoke, but he was cut off mid-sentence. “Forties.” uttered Caitlin, receiving only an expression of confusion from the young man. “What?” She straightened her back and sat properly once again. “I’m forty six years old. I slowed down my body clock so I wouldn’t age.” The Games had nothing else to say. And the truth was, neither did Caitlin. She had slowed her body clock down but she also knew that even without doing so, she would age much slower than her peers. Just like it had been the case with her mother, as she was told. Perhaps she could live a hundred years and by then most of the things that tied her would have long become dust. Not that she had lots of things to tie her to this planet anyway. “I... guess I really don’t belong here.” she declared silently and leaned back.

[Shuren]

“Alright, take me to Gallifrey.” spat Caitlin after several minutes of dead silence that embraced both of them. Hearing that the Games sported a smile, knowing the girl had finally accepted her Gallifreyan ancestry. Yet there was still one problem that seemed to be present. Or rather, not present. “I will. But first you need to get me to London. My ship is there.” said the Games. Without his TARDIS there really wasn’t a way he could take anybody, even himself, all the way over to Gallifrey. “Okay.” Caitlin’s reply was short, though what she did next was enough to make the Time Lord question her actions. She had started running all of a sudden in the direction they had come from. “Where are you going?” asked the Games. “Back to my labs. We need Katie to return to London.” replied Caitlin. Her answer had conflicted with her previous statement, and realizing this she stopped. At that time the Games had already got up and closed the distance. “But you said it had to recharge.” said the Time Lord, feeling amazed. Compared to his TARDIS, Caitlin’s vessel was very primitive. Though somehow she was able to charge it enough for a one-way trip in a short amount of time. For the current era on Earth, it could revolutionize travelling. However, it could also lead to quite grave consequences. He had to warn her about “Katie”s potential sometime. “Oh, yes. But not if I put the entire building’s power into it!” said Caitlin with much excitement. “I didn’t want to halt all the other work within the building. Plus, giving a tour is very fun!” she explained, so the Time Lord wouldn’t have to question why they hadn’t done so from the beginning. The duo rushed back to Caitlin’s building. Once they were inside, the girl took out her cell and made a call. As the other person picked up, she spoke.

“Candice, please shut down all the labs for two minutes and reroute all the power to my office please. Thank yooooou.” Ending the conversation with somewhat of an exclamation, the girl continued leading the way as they took the stairs. As they advanced towards the top floor, each level of the building shut down one by one. Caitlin’s personal quarters, on the other hand, was almost overflowing with energy. Or at least that’s what it looked like once they were there. The duo entered the small hut, the Games just standing at one corner hoping it would all go smoothly while Caitlin had occupied herself with entering the coordinates. “Right, here we go!” she yelled, and pressed a button, making the Games wonder where she had gotten all of this positive energy from. Maybe she was simply excited to be travelling to a different planet that inhibited her equals. The humans were so much inferior, after all. That aside, the hut started to shake and dematerialized. Several minutes later it would make its appearance back in London. They were presumably several hundred meters away from the Old Spitalfields Market, which was gathering lots of attention due to the explosion that had occurred. The fire department, the police, civilians… Some were busy working with the disastrous incident that had happened, some were devastated that their favorite marketplace had gone through what they thought was an attack and some just didn’t care, as if there still was a perception filter. It’s how humanity was, in a way. “We are back in London. Finally.” uttered the Games as he stepped out. “Katie” had been parked on the side of a dark alleyway, the perfect place for it to gather no attention whatsoever.

“What are we going to do now? Hope your ship is not too far away from here.” asked Caitlin as she followed the Time Lord outside and locked the hut’s door. “Oh don’t worry, that’s the easy part.” said the Games with joy and took out his sonic screwdriver. He used it on the air, signaling his future self to come and pick him up. Several seconds later, his red telephone box materialized several meters in front of them. “That’s your ship?! It’s barely enough to take both of us in at the same time. I don’t want to be squished by you!” shouted Caitlin, urging the Time Lord to sign her to keep it quiet. Afterwards he simply patted on her back as an encouragement. “You won’t be. Just go inside.” he said, and stepped inside himself after leaving the door narrowly open. Seeing the lights coming from the interior made Caitlin raise an eyebrow; this didn’t seem like a ship, but it didn’t seem like an ordinary phone box at all either. Slowly she approached the TARDIS and opened its door wide to step inside. Once she had, she found herself awestruck. “Oh my god.” she spoke silently. “How is this possible? It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!” she yelled and took a moment to go outside again and run around the phone box before entering it once more. “Is this an illusion or some sort of trick?!” she demanded to know. The Games, who was standing at the console level speaking with the eleventh incarnation turned around to reply after his own discussion with the latter regarding the incidents that had occurred had come to an end. “No, it’s actually a concept we call dimensional-” he said, but he was cut off by Caitlin. “…transcendentalism?” said the girl, as if she was asking a question “Sorry, just a wild guess. I ramble like that sometimes! That would make a good name though.” she continued while scratching her head. The fifth incarnation seemed surprised by this while the eleventh was basically unfazed. “No, you were correct the first time.” said the Games. “Uhm… Excuse me for a second. Do enjoy the view.” He turned around to face his future self. “Hey. This is…” he said. This time he wasn’t cut off, but instead he had had his sentence finished in perfect synchronization. “Caitlin. I know.” replied the eleventh Games, with an audible tone. This gathered Caitlin’s attention, naturally. “How does he know me, Games?” she demanded to know, curious about how a total stranger she had never seen before could know her name. Had he been spying on them? It seemed like the only possible explanation to her. But if that was the case, why hadn’t he used the TARDIS to come get them earlier? “Long story, I’ll explain it all in a bit.” replied the Fifth in return.

[Shuren]

The Eleventh continued once he had his predecessor’s attention back. “Listen, this will sound very bothersome but… you can’t take her to Gallifrey right now.” His words surprised the Time Lord, prompting him to immediately ask. “What? Why?” Although his tone was lower, so Caitlin wouldn’t hear them this time, an expression of disapproval and disappointment could still be sensed from his tone. “Gallifrey… well, your Gallifrey will undergo two major threats in the future. And the first will occur the next time you are there. You can’t risk Caitlin’s safety by taking her there. You need to travel until you know you can return.” explained the eleventh incarnation. “That doesn’t make any sense. How can I can ever go there again knowing my return will start a disaster. This is just not… fair. I promised her.” said the Fifth, his attitude still the same. “You will know. And you will keep your promise. Just not now. Trust me.” The Eleventh Games placed his hand on the Fifth’s shoulder, though this had little to no effect. “How can you be so sure?” asked the fifth incarnation, angrily. But the man didn’t respond. Instead he walked down the opposite side of the console level leading to one of the open spaces on the lower level. As he made his way towards his TARDIS, the Fifth Games realized that his future self was anticipating Caitlin’s arrival so he had moved his Ship elsewhere to allow the girl more space for wandering around. He opened the door of his TARDIS and peeked inside. By this time the Fifth had also joined him, but was strictly staying outside without even looking. “Are you done interrupting your past yet? I’m starting to get bored!” A voice came from the inside, which the Fifth identified quite fast. Despite sounding slightly different and without an accent, he could say that it was Caitlin’s, who was waiting inside for the eleventh incarnation to be done with what he had to do and return. “Yes, yes just a tiny bit left until I’m done.” he replied before closing the door once again. “You just have to be patient.” As he had made his point, the Fifth Games nodded in agreement. “Alright. I’ll take her elsewhere then. Perhaps be a runaway for a while.” he suggested, before coming into a realization. “This wasn’t a two man job was it? You just needed to patch up your past and my present.” he said, eying the Eleventh’s gaze. “Good observation. That said, it’s time for me to go now.” said the eleventh incarnation. Just as he had expected, his past hadn’t disappointed him. Having seen through his acting and white lies required some skill to say the least. “Okay.” said the Fifth, extending his hand for a handshake. “It’s good to know that my future is in safe hands.”

To his surprise, however, his future self refused his gesture. “No need for that. We will meet again.” he lied. It was true that they were going to meet again, he could certainly remember it having happened. But the real reason he had refused a handshake was because of him fearing a possible occurrence of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. He didn’t want a dangerous energy to discharge by two temporal versions of the same person coming into contact. “Once things start to become problematic, I’m afraid.” He finished before his predecessor could ask when they would encounter each other again. Seeing the worry in the fifth incarnation’s eyes, knowing he already had a lot on his plate with everything going on for him psychologically, he reassured him once again before stepping inside. “Don’t worry, you’ll handle it. She will help too.” The Games returned to the console level, where Caitlin had sat on one of the nearby comfy seats, as the eleventh incarnation’s TARDIS dematerialized. Pulling down a lever, he dematerialized the TARDIS as well as it entered the Time Vortex. Watching the time rotor move up and down with absolute joy, Caitlin couldn’t hold her question for too long. “Does your ship have a name?” she asked. “Yes. It’s called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It can travel anywhere in time and space. As for that guy, he was-” The Games had thought it was to be expected that the girl would ask about the eleventh incarnation next. However, his intention of saving her from the trouble would also be countered by her initiative of coming to a conclusion on her own. “You from the future?” This kind of spooked the Games as he wasn’t expecting the girl to guess a correct answer like that. First she had named the dimensional transcendentalism concept correctly and now she had made a deduction that was unnaturally fast. “…yes.” he muttered. He wanted to know how she had come up with that, which was sensed by Caitlin. “Given how he knew me, I guessed he had spied on us. Though if that were the case, he would have helped earlier too I believe. That was the only explanation I could come up with until you said this… TARDIS, could travel in time.” she explained. Receiving nothing from the Time Lord and feeling like the atmosphere between them was getting colder, Caitlin laughed to break the tension. Yet, it would barely affect the Games. He took his sonic screwdriver out and used it on the girl. He scanned her from tip to toe and flicked his screwdriver to extend its claws. Taking a look at the readings, he would surprise the girl as much as he was. “You are not normal.”

[Shuren]

“What? What do you mean?” asked Caitlin, urging to know what the Games was saying. She had merely made assumptions on this and that and being considered abnormal because of it seemed absurd to her more than how confusing it was. Before she got a reply, the Time Lord used his sonic on the console. All of a sudden the duo’s surroundings shifted and merged into a brighter room as they transported into one of the laboratories within the TARDIS. Grabbing several cables and seemingly running it along the girl’s spinal cord, chest, head and some other parts, the Games quickly made his way to the monitor and activate it. “I need to run some tests. Stay still.” he said after glaring at Caitlin over his shoulder. And she did. She didn’t move a single inch even though not knowing what was going on was killing her. Two rings rose above from the ground, each being about 4 meters in diameter. Caitlin was standing in their middle as they started to turn round and round in different directions around her, all the while projecting a blue colored light on the girl. “Amazing.” remarked the Games after several minutes. He had several documents opened on the screen now, displaying various information about Caitlin’s body. Though this remark of pure amazement soon triggered Caitlin’s ready-to-explode curiousness. “What is it?! Please don’t keep me in suspense!” she shouted while breathing heavily. The rings running around her stopped and slowly integrated back into the floor. Turning around, the Games let out a sigh knowing what he had to do. He was hoping that he could show the girl everything rather than telling her about it. But now that he knew they couldn’t go to Gallifrey, he had to make sure Caitlin understood the terminology. Signing her to sit as well, he took a seat on a nearby chair. Caitlin did the same with a stool she found and waited for the Games to begin. Unlike what she expected, however, the Time Lord started with an explanation: an explanation of his planet, its origins, inhabitants and their physiologies, the story of its people and the story of his own. Once he was done, which didn’t take as long as he thought it would, since Caitlin was following along brilliantly, he went on with what he thought was so different with her.

“You are a human-Time Lord hybrid. You’re like a regular Time Lady in some ways, inferior in some others and superior in the rest.” he said. Although it was highly unlikely to encounter one, it wasn’t impossible for a human-Time Lord hybrid to come into existence. However Caitlin truly wasn’t like any other of her kind. “First of all, you also have a regenerative cycle within your body. Normally undergoing one of those would rearrange your DNA completely. But your mechanism is a bit different. Your regeneration would, from what I can see here, heal your wounds but not change your DNA.” explained the Time Lord. Although it was a common trait among hybrids to possess the ability to regenerate, the girl somehow had the healing mechanism only. If she engaged in regeneration, she wouldn’t change at all. And from the looks of it, she had managed to find that out herself without actually experiencing it first hand: she hadn’t grown a second heart yet. The second heart would be grown during a Time Lord’s first regeneration. Although the Games found having only one heart utterly disgusting, he concluded that it was a minor detail. “Yes, I made it that way actually. I didn’t like the idea of changing. I quite like myself as I currently am, so I modified my regenerations after discovering my cycle!” said the girl, confirming the Games’ thoughts. How she had managed to modify her own body to that extent was beyond him, but he didn’t question it. He felt like he was open to any surprises nowadays. Yet, there was one issue that he had to address. No matter how it seemed like she had small vanity issues much like his third incarnation, Caitlin’s only mistake was her lack of understanding on her physiology. “Thing is, Caitlin…” started the Games while leaning back on his chair and crossing his legs. “…many people think that Rassilon inserted these with such qualities to limit us Time Lords. Sadly, that’s not the truth. The alteration of the DNA sequence is a protection. The repair mechanisms decay the DNA each time, that’s why it’s reorganized all over again with each regeneration. To minimize that risk to zero.” he said. He turned around on his chair to face the screen behind him again to glance at the display. “As you might have figured out we have a set of twelve healthy regenerations. For you that should be five or six. Any more and you would theoretically die during the process.”

Hearing that suddenly worried Caitlin. She had always wanted to expand herself, unconsciously aware that the world she had been living in was restricting her. Now that she had the means to do so, the only thing she feared was death. Or more accurately, dying too soon. “That sounds bad. Can’t we fix that?” she asked, hoping what she was about to hear next would comfort her somehow, at least to an extent. And it actually did. “Maybe we can. I lifted the limit for myself. So it’s doable. But you are not a pure Time Lady so… I don’t know. We can certainly try though.” The Games finished with an assuring nod, the last thing he needed was having to give psychological support. Especially when he was just newly recovering from his predecessor’s trauma. “Moving on, you somehow managed to elongate your body clock. You age even slower than a normal Time Lord. I’m impressed.” said the Time Lord with a smile. Given perfect conditions, Caitlin could outlive several incarnations of a normal Time Lord when it came to aging. Again, the Games wondered how she had managed to do that but that wasn’t his priority for the time being. “Well thank you!” replied the girl with a slight bow. Though her happiness wouldn’t last very long, since the Games was only getting to the most interesting part.

[Shuren]

“And the most crucial part… your brain and genetic coding.” he said while standing up from where he sat. “What about them?” asked Caitlin with curious eyes, watching the young man take his sonic screwdriver and use it on the air. Soon a projection of a brain appeared between them. Though it was different: Caitlin had seen a human brain before, and had even examined it thoroughly in fact. What she saw in front of her had subtle but noticeable differences. “See, your brain has almost the same capacity as a Time Lord’s. But the way it functions is entirely different. You have this ability of… remembering from your ancestral DNA. Like, there are archives of knowledge accumulated by your ancestors inside your genes and when you see something foreign you just access the piece of information you need. Unconsciously.” explained the Games before using his sonic screwdriver again. Doing so revealed a white colored path on the projection. It was an extra connection of some sort.

“Not only that, you also seem to possess the ability to derive that knowledge even further by combining it with others and tying them together. So in a way, you can possibly understand anything without having prior experience on it that would otherwise be required. An intuitive aptitude, as one could say. It’s what makes you the genius you are.” he finished and gave Caitlin several moments to process everything in. Though unlike his anticipations the girl’s main problem with these new findings would not be her brain’s difference from other humans, but rather what she could do with it. It just didn’t make any sense. “But how can I have an ability? To be honest I didn’t have the slightest idea that something like that could be the reason for my intellectual capabilities until this moment. And you say I don’t even know when I’m using it.” she spat, somewhat annoyed that her intelligence could be what she could consider ingenuine. “That’s the problem Caitlin. You don’t really seem to be able to control it. Unlike having total control over your ability it’s more like you have sparks that activate it.” The Games’ reply triggered another possibility in the girl’s mind: what if she could control those sparks instead? “Can I train or something, to have better control?” she asked, full of hope. “Most certainly. You are now aware of your ability so you will be more conscious of how it works the next time you make use of it. The more you are exposed to the universe, the better you will be able to control it.” answered the Games. His response made Caitlin smile and stand up from her seat as well. “That should be all for now.” Said the Time Lord, concluding their discovery session with a small flick of his sonic that deactivated the screens and displays he had used. Caitlin on the other hand used this time to detach all the cables and cords that had been running around her body. “Grand! Let’s go to Gallifrey now, we are going to have a whale of a time I bet!” she remarked in joy. All these delays had made her even more interested in going there. However, she was far from realizing the weight of the Games’ encounter with his future self. Slowly walking over to the girl, the young man looked down before speaking.

“About that…” he said and faced Caitlin, as she turned around to do the same. “…uh, we can’t really go to Gallifrey now.” Being caught off guard with that piece of information, the girl’s expression slowly became more and more… blank. “What? Why?” Even though there were lots of clever lies he could tell her, so she wouldn’t think that travelling with him was too dangerous, the Games decided to be truthful instead. Lying to her at this stage of their companionship could also have greater influences to what they would become in the future. “I learned just recently that there are… will be some events going on there. I simply can’t risk your safety. I know I promised you and I will keep it, just not today.” he said, his face sporting an expression that could be called a disappointment. “That’s a bummer.” replied Caitlin. As late as it was, that made the Games realize that the universe had much more to offer than just Gallifrey. Not being able to go there had felt like their journey’s end, but actually it was just the beginning. “But, I can still take you to other planets.” he muttered with a grin. What he said didn’t really surprise Caitlin, since she had figured out that if there was a habitable planet out there, there could also be many more. Nonetheless, to keep the excitement flowing she played along. “…other planets?” she asked rhetorically. “Well of course. It’s such a vast universe we live in, there are many fantastic places to see and discover. I have seen lots but… so far none with this face.” Smiling, Caitlin suddenly turned around and ran towards the exit of the lab they were in. “What are we waiting for then?” she yelled happily, with the Games running after her since he didn’t want her to get lost inside the TARDIS.

[Shuren]

*two and a half years later*

The Games and Caitlin ran through one of the many corridors within the spaceship they were in, in hopes of finding the TARDIS. Even though there seemed to be no end to it, they eventually found the red telephone box standing at the end of the corridor on their right. “Did you really have to press that button?!” asked the Games, as the sections behind them quickly started to seal off and burst into flames. “In my defense it was quite big and very red!” replied Caitlin, quickly opening the door of the TARDIS and going inside. The Time Lord didn’t lose any time to make his way towards the console. “That was fun!” commented the girl, as she sat on one of the nearby seats around the console level and crossed her legs. This was soon met by the Games’ somewhat sarcastic expression. “Was it? It appeared more troublesome than fun to me.” he said. “You know what they say. Everything has a price.” They had been travelling almost non-stop for a solid one a half years now. They had already managed to solve the decaying problem of Caitlin’s modified regenerative cycle. As for her intuitive aptitude, she had gained a fairly good control of utilizing it, being able to even fly the TARDIS without any help now. Yet, there was something small that bothered the Time Lord. He hadn’t been able to pinpoint it, but his consciousness was almost screaming at him to notice it soon. While he was thinking about those, Caitlin had already stood up and appeared right next to him. “Sooooo… where to next?” she asked with a poke on the Time Lord’s right cheek, after which he took a step back. “Who knows, Caitlin? Who knows?” said the Games, as he configured the scanner to activate the randomizer.

“Randomizer?” “Yes.” confirmed the Time Lord and pushed a lever down, making the TARDIS take off. To their surprise, however, their flight would last awfully short. “Well that was brief.” The Games returned to the scanner and tapped on it several times. It didn’t show where they were exactly, but the coordinates were different from their previous location. “Are you sure we travelled at all? With such a short trip, I bet there isn’t anything much to explore or learn about.” said Caitlin, looking disappointed. Even if that was the case, she wanted to go out and take at least a glimpse at their new location. It broadened her mind every time she did so, or that’s what she chose to believe in. “Yes. The environmental checks indicate that we have travelled.” Confirmed the Games. Afterwards, the duo shortly went outside. They were standing in the middle of the dark; the open door of the TARDIS illuminating whatever the light from the interior hit. Taking out his sonic screwdriver, the Time Lord used it to activate the lights. Revealing the chamber they were in, he seemed to have triggered an alarm along. Though it ceased to bother them further, two creatures appeared. They were both bigger than them in size, had seven limbs, whose arrangement made the creatures heptaradially-symmetrical. “What are those?” whispered Caitlin as she watched them flail their limbs silently. They were staring at them, and she could feel the creatures doing the same. For a brief moment, she turned around to look at the Time Lord and recognized a sign of terror upon his face. “I don’t know.” The Games was feeling terrorized. By the mere fact that he was unable to recognize the species that were standing before them. “I’m pretty sure you are aware that I know almost every possible creature we can encounter, one way or another. But these two… I have never seen their kind.” he explained before continuing to try to communicate with them.

“Who are you?” As if the creatures were deliberately trying to surprise them even more, they gave out nothing but gibberish mumbles the duo couldn’t understand. “I can’t believe this.” uttered the Games under his breath. “What happened?” urged Caitlin, but before she got an explanation she figured out what had happened. The Games had told her how the TARDIS could translate every language there was out there, with three exceptions: Circular, Modern and Old High Gallifreyan. Those three would automatically not be translated. Other than that every language the inhibitants of the TARDIS were exposed to would be understood by them naturally. “For the TARDIS not to translate… they must be ancient.” remarked Caitlin, as she took several steps towards the creatures. She looked them with awe, feeling that they were remarkably inspiring. “Maybe they know some other ancient languages.” suggested the Games and started to ask the same question or a similar one in ancient languages he knew of. “Swabol re wux?” he said first, using a language that was used at the oldest galactic trading route. He didn’t receive a passing reply. “Tur cin teith?” he tried second, this time showcasing a dead language that used to be spoken by many others well before he was even born. But again to no avail. “Sum iea qulygo?” he spoke third, and continued with the other languages he knew. As he continued, Caitlin had sat on the ground, watching the movements of the creatures. She figured a certain pattern in their actions, and made a mental note of it. She progressed further while the Time Lord gave up using words and decided to utilize his telepathic powers instead. He failed to get a successful result, yet coincidentally at the same moment Caitlin managed to crack their language using her intuitive aptitude. “I did it. I can understand what they are saying… with enormous difficulty nonetheless.” she said with happiness, also bringing a faint smile on the Games’ face.

[Shuren]

“Brilliant. Ask them what they are.” Caitlin did as she was told and asked the question, making noises that could not be understood. Apparently she had also managed to speak their language. The creatures replied in a similar tone. “They say they are Septuarins.” The Games stood frozen. Septuarins were basically one of the more scary units of the Gallifreyan folklore. One used to scare kids and teenagers, to be precise. “What does that mean Games?” asked Caitlin when she failed to get any reactions from the Time Lord. “It’s complicated Caitlin.” said the Games, as he took several steps forward. “Septuarins are, as far as I had known until now, mythical creatures from legends. They are said to be the messengers of annihilation. And one particular aspect to their unique physiology is how they can induce their own characteristics on others.” he finished.“So they manipulate your personality? That’s evil!” commented Caitlin, unconsciously leaning her body back as if she had been disgusted by the piece of information she had been presented. Though soon she would learn that it was only the tip of the iceberg. “It’s more than just that. They perceive time differently than others and strive for a deterministic universe where free will is exercised by not affecting the outcome of events.” The Games took a short pause as Caitlin turned around to face him. She was still crouching, but her interest had been piqued beyond any comparison at that moment. “In the stories, they are portrayed as beasts that are said to have remembrances of the future. Interacting with them for too long would enable somebody to know their future before it happens. It makes their life a collection of fixed points in time. It becomes a life without possibilities or chances.” explained the Games, not being able to help himself but remember his memories as a child in the House of Dorian. His mother would often tell the story of “the Enraged Time Lord” to get him and his siblings to be good children. It was the tale of a Time Lord who had turned his back on Gallifrey and vowed revenge, seeking the help of the Septuarins to do so, yet becoming their plaything in the end. A shiver brought the Games’ senses back as he urged to return.

“We better go. Now.” he turned around and walked towards the TARDIS, feeling quite sure that Caitlin was following. He was wrong. “But we just arrived! I want to learn more about them. Only a bit wouldn’t hurt.” said the girl. She had already reverted back to her previous position and started talking to the Septuarins in their language. The Games couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but he didn’t like the idea of allowing Caitlin to harm herself like that. “That’s insane, why would you risk your future like that? Come on, let’s go.” he said with a more serious tone, but the girl didn’t listen to him. Instead, she disobeyed in an equally serious manner. “No. I will learn more.” she said and continued talking to the creatures. This not only angered the Games, but also worried him. There she had gone again, for some reason blabbering about learning more. Had he perhaps heard that unusually a lot lately? “Don’t you understand? The more you talk to them, the more you will see into your own future. That’s dangerous foreknowledge!” His tone was not only cold now, but also loud. He had tried to be more intimidating on the girl, in hopes of having her come back with a feeling of submission. But instead she just pretended that he hadn’t said a word. Annoyed and angry, the Time Lord decided that he had had enough. Walking towards her quickly, he stopped behind her and extended his hand. “Caitlin…” he uttered as he gently grabbed the girl’s right arm. This made Caitlin glare at him over her shoulder, displaying a mad expression upon her face. “I SAID NO!” she yelled. And following her exclamation, she continued yelling in the Septuarin language. This made both of the Septuarins extend their long limbs and hit the Games. He was instantly sent away flying, and only managed to stop once he hit the TARDIS first and the walls of the chamber second. He tried to stand up, but could only lie down on the ground for several seconds, whizzing in pain. His ribs had suffered several fractures, as had his skull. His right arm on the other hand had been broken in two different places, and his right leg three.

“I need to learn more.” whispered Caitlin to herself in a barely audible tone. Though she also knew what was about to happen next. The Time Lord’s injured body parts had been engulfed in golden yellow regeneration energy, healing the damage his body had received. Soon afterwards, he was able to muster enough energy to stand up. Looking up at Caitlin, he noticed that she had gotten ready before him: she was ready to command the Septuarins to attack him once more. But before she could, a Dalek energy blast hit the girl squarely on her back, making her collapse on the floor after screaming in agony. The same happened to the Septuarins. “What the hell?” The Games rushed to check Caitlin. She didn’t seem to be regenerating, which actually bothered him. He had identified the energy blast that had hit her and the Septuarins as the trademark shooting of the Dalek Gunstick. Yet, it hadn’t been lethal. Clenching his fist, as he knew Daleks didn’t have the verb spare in their dictionary, he took and offensive pose while checking his surroundings. His hands were covered in his regeneration energy, ready to be shot, However, that wouldn’t be necessary. “Good riddance eh?” said a voice from afar, its source getting closer each second. As the lad made his appearance from the opening across the other side of the chamber, the Games relaxed his posture. It was none other than one of his former companions, Gray.

[Shuren]

“What did you do to them Gray?” asked the Games, completely ignoring the fact that his friend happened to be there. Instead, he seemed to be more focused on the Septuarins as well as Caitlin’s situation. “That’s not a nice way to greet somebody, man.” replied the young man, jokingly. Though his relaxed attitude would soon vanish after seeing the Time Lord’s serious, almost angry expression. “Chill, okay? I just knocked them out. I don’t use the extermination setting unless it’s a Dalek.” he explained. Not that the Games wouldn’t believe Gray but just to be sure, he placed his index and middle fingers on the girl’s wrist to check her pulse. Figuring that she was only unconscious and nothing else was wrong with her, he let out a sigh and stood up. “I didn’t know you had another setting than the extermination duo.” With a smile, he briefly hugged his former companion. He was quite sure that it hadn’t been the same for him, but for the Games it had been long years since he had last seen of the young man. “Anyway, what are you doing here?” While the appearance of his friend, as well as its timing, had been very convenient, the Games knew that there was one thing that made Gray travel at all. Yet, he was unable to make a connection between that particular reason and the current situation they found themselves in. “I could ask the same to you.” replied the young lad.“What do you mean?”

“You don’t know? Dude, we are inside a spaceship that’s laying a huge force barrier outside. Oh, and it’s crawling with Daleks. All waiting to penetrate the defenses.” explained Gray. That cleared up the questions the Time Lord had inside his mind. Though he had no idea how the Septuarins could have anything that could attract the Daleks, them being messengers of annihilation made it sensible for the latter group to have made an arrival. He guessed that was a title the Daleks would willingly fight for. As for Gray, as long as the Daleks were present, so was he. But from the looks of it, his temporal shift had somehow brought him inside this spaceship directly. “Who’s the chick?” he mumbled, glaring over the motionless body. “That’s Caitlin.” answered the Games. “Aaand what’s her deal?” Gray wasn’t stupid; he knew that for the Games to have a companion, it would have to be a person of extraordinary qualities. Otherwise, there wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t be able to do himself. At least that had been his experience from his previous travels with him. “She is a very unique hybrid: part human, part Time Lord.” “Hahahah, that’s a fucking rare combination.” laughed Gray at the end of his sentence once more. He had heard a tale from the Games about a one-way metacrisis human-Time Lord hybrid. That person had ended up dying, as his intellectual capacity hadn’t been enough to cope with that of a Time Lord’s. Yet, this unconscious girl was different. She had genes that allowed her to be a hybrid. Not to mention she had been one for the entire duration of her life. A perfect middle ground for both species, to say the least.

“Even more so. She is a genius. She has the ability to understand complex mechanisms without requiring training. An intuitive aptitude as I call it. She even decoded those creatures’ language, as a lingual extension of her ability.” continued the Games, just as Gray had started to wonder if being a hybrid was all she had to offer. “Yeah, but… why go crazy all of a sudden?” he asked calmly. “She is the opposite of crazy, really. But given the circumstances I’m actually surprised she didn’t snap before. Being clever isn’t easy; she can look around her and connect things. Things I can’t figure myself. It’s a lonely feeling, Gray, having everybody around you being so annoyingly slow.” He looked at Caitlin’s face and extended his right hand to caress it. But before he made contact, he retracted his hand back. “Caitlin used to have poor control over her ability. We trained as we travelled to improve it, and she did. She eventually perfected her control but ultimately became well aware of her own capabilities as well. She had even been talking about learning more at a disturbingly increasing rate.” finished the Games, now looking at his friend instead. Meanwhile, Gray had listened everything with a weirded out expression. And how could he not? All the things the Time Lord had explained reminded him of his younger self. Back when he was unable to control his anger; so much so that he couldn’t tell if he had really blocked the Dalek inside his head. “That’s a hunger, Games.” he uttered. “What?” questioned the Time Lord, fearing the fact that it was someone very damaged that could relate to Caitlin’s condition.

[Shuren]

“She has a hunger. The same way I do. You see, I have an unusual capacity for hatred. For her, that’s being clever.” Taking a short pause, Gray walked towards the Septuarins and kneeled next to them. “I used to be different before I met you all those years ago. After blocking the Dalek inside my head, I was in a continuous search for fighting. The more I killed, the less difficult it became for me to kill. It almost became instinctual.” He spoke as he used his left hand to scan one of the Septuarins. Their genetic data had an entry within his databanks, which was surprising. But he wasn’t going to complain about it. “How did you fix that?” asked the Games, making the young lad laugh in response. Once it was over, he would continue. “I didn’t. You can’t fix something that is coded in your very DNA, man. I did, however, overcome that instinct by sheer willpower. I still do. It’s a constant battle inside my conscience. But in the end the better side suppresses the other… or something like that.” He made his explanation in such a confident way; as if what they were talking about had been so obvious from the very beginning. “So it’s not a permanent fix.” reassured the Time Lord, to which he received a nod as a no. And to his surprise, that wouldn’t be all. “It takes only a bad moment to snap. Just one bad moment. That’s why you ought to keep an eye on her.” explained the young lad. He knew the conflict he was talking about very well. Even though he had gotten rid of the Dalek that had been placed inside his head for good, it had become a part of his nature to be violent.

“And you too, apparently.” commented the Games, thinking that this revelation also meant Gray had to be put in check from time to time as well. Though unlike what the Time Lord thought, he was different from Caitlin. Being aware of his situation and having accepted it had made it unbelievably easy for the young lad to move on with his life in the right direction. “Don’t be stupid, dude. I do the same thing every day. I slay the Daleks. You two, on the other hand, travel. You discover. You learn. She learns. At least I know if I’m doing the right thing or not, she doesn’t. That explains precisely why she attacked you, don’t you think?” The Games nodded silently. “Yes, I see your point.” he replied. “So what are you gonna do about it?” asked Gray. This took a sigh out from the Games. There were lots of options to choose from but at the same time most weren’t just viable. “Not sure. But I’m certain I’m nearing the end of my time with her. Too bad, I wanted to show her so much more.” Gray sensed a slight sadness, or more accurately disappointment. Although he didn’t know what, he was certain that it was an indication of a predicament that restricted his friend’s courses of action. “Why can’t you?” “My eleventh incarnation said we would meet again once things started to get problematic. I think this is it.” And in all honesty, the Games couldn’t think of a more problematic situation than this current one. For sure he could just wait for the Eleventh to come and let him know it was time, yet that was not how he wanted things to go. “Don’t you guys have solutions for things like these in Gallifrey?” said Gray, unaware that part of what the eleventh incarnation had said involved the Games’ planet as well.

“He also said Gallifrey would be facing a major threat the next time I headed there.” informed the Games, which, for Gray, made his presence inside this spaceship more sensible. He could guess that this wasn’t the first of his random travels either. “Ah. You have been delaying your return, haven’t you?” The Games nodded as a yes, making Gray wonder how long it had been since he had started travelling. “I still have lots of things to do. But I don’t think I can let her come along anymore. Not like this. I will leave her somewhere safe and pick her up once things settle down.” Caressing the girl’s hair once, the Time Lord placed his hands beneath Caitlin and lifted her. He walked to his TARDIS while carrying her; if anything he was certainly not going to leave her inside this eerie spaceship with the Septuarins. “God knows when.” commented the young lad, knowing from experience how erratic travelling with the Time Lord could get. They entered the console room and the Games placed Caitlin on one of the nearby seats. Afterwards, he took the Ship off. “Doesn’t matter. You will be coming along.” said the Games in return, surprising his friend. Gray was about to open his mouth and speak, but the Time Lord could already guess what he was intending to say. He would probably try to tell him how I couldn’t come along and needed to travel very specifically instead. He was well aware of his cause and his determination; Gray would even travel to the ends of the universe if he had to. But that literally wasn’t a problem. “I have a time machine, Gray. I can always drop you back here, whenever you want. I can’t see a drawback.” he said, not letting the young lad have the first go. Extending his hand, he waited for him to shake his hand. “What do you say?” Gray looked at the Games first, then at the moving time rotor, and then back at him again.

“Alright then.” he said and gave him a solid handshake. Minutes later, the TARDIS landed inside a white corridor. The Games was the first to exit, followed by Gray. “Where are we?” The young lad continued to look around in mixed feelings of wonder and suspicion after asking his question. The corridors were bright due to the sunlight, and extremely silent. Though it wouldn’t be correct to say empty, since there were rooms with inhabitants everywhere as well as people walking back and forth through the entire area. They were all carrying an insignia of a green moon on their uniforms, from which Gray understood they were inside a hospital since that was the universal symbol for hospitals. “Sisters of the Infinite Schism. It’s the greatest hospital in the universe. Couldn’t think of a better place to leave her.” replied the Games. After making sure Caitlin was placed in her unconscious state safely, that being not just for her but also for everybody around her, the duo returned to the TARDIS and left. There were lots of things they had to do.

[Shuren]

The Games continued his travels with Gray, and Holly, a human they met during one of their journeys, and eventually returned to Gallifrey. There, he learned of a prophecy called the Return, which apparently was causing his timeline to come to an end. The core belief of the prophecy stated that justice would prevail when “he” returned and that “he” was one of the only two left of his kind, trying to return to his home planet to defeat his only enemy and take back what was stolen from him. After thorough investigation, the trio learned that the prophecy referred to the return of Rassilon. This shocked the Games beyond belief, since he thought he had killed Rassilon as his fourth incarnation, and caused his metabolism to make him regenerate without control. The Sixth Games gathered a council of all of his previous incarnations and took their advice. Together they came up with a plan: they intended to open an untempered schism and enter the Time Vortex, so they could merge with it and use its power to erase Rassilon from time altogether. Though during their fight against him, it was Holly that went into the Time Vortex. Gray followed after her before the untempered schism closed. Holly emerged with the Vortex’s powers but before she could effectively end Rassilon, she decided to rescue Gray instead. Gray on the other hand was stranded in his own past, and was joined by Holly, who lost her powers right after arriving at the scene. Together they watched a child Gray plea for help to a stranger, with the stranger sadly refusing to help, which would inevitably cause Gray’s parents to fail escaping from the Dalek camps. Surprisingly that person turned out to be the third incarnation of the Games. Vowing revenge on the Games because of this, Gray and Holly returned to Gallifrey using Gray’s Temporal Shift. They joined Rassilon, who had used the opportunity to steal a Battle TARDIS from the Cloisters. Together they escaped and formed an army that held strong forces, like the 501st Cyber Legion. Their joined armies waged war against the Gallifreyan Army, whereas Gray was leading the assault on Gallifrey itself. As the Time War raged, the Gallifreyan forces ultimately started to dominate, which forced Rassilon into fleeing. Unlike him, however, Gray’s own army of Daleks was holding up well since they found a way to bypass the Sky Trenches and as such Gray continued to fight on the fields of Gallifrey.

The fight was progressing fiercely above Gallifrey. Countless Dalek ships were constantly making their ways from the main fleet to Gallifrey’s orbit, trying to enter the planet by passing through the Sky Trenches. Though that had proved itself to be quite impossible, the battle between the Gallifreyan Army and Rassilon’s allied forces in space was still enough to take its toll on both sides. At one moment the main fleet, itself, closed in on the planet. This urged the Games to make an appearance; to show them this kind of approach wouldn’t work. Plus he could just feel who was going to be there waiting for him. And he wasn’t surprised. Hundreds of Daleks, waiting right outside the Sky Trenches, some constantly trying to break through and failing. In front of them was Gray, who happened to be standing still. The Games and Gray stared at each other; they were both standing on one side of the aerial defense layer. The reason for the enemy party’s presence was quite clear for the Time Lord; they were waiting for a chance to make an ambush. Little they did know, however, that one of the improvements the Games’ previous incarnation had made to the Sky Trenches included letting the firepower out from the inside. Not only that, any particular beam that passed through it would be empowered by the Sky Trench. Though they could not control that in the past, it wasn’t the case anymore. The Games was hovering in the air by constantly releasing regeneration energy from beneath his feet. Standing all alone, he raised his hand and swung it down. Immediately after that, countless beams of energy fired from down below. The Daleks that were hit would disintegrate due to the strengthened status of the attacks. Seeing that he was the one being ambushed now, Gray quickly signed to retreat. Yet, he couldn’t help but yell his lungs out in anger.

“I’m going to kill you, you bastard!” he shouted at the Games. After this, both he and the Time Lord moved closer to the Sky Trench. Several seconds later, they were separated by about a meter only. Despite having lost so many soldiers that day, the Games could figure out why Gray was trying to get revenge. Having lost his entire family himself, he could relate to the feeling. And that was precisely why he wanted Gray to redeem himself the right way. “Listen Gray. Just listen and think! I had already met you before I came across you as a child. If I had saved you I would have altered your future and never met you as you were then. It would have been a paradox!” he explained desperately. He knew he was partially at fault for not trying more, but it was definite that a paradox of that intensity would be dangerous not only for him but for the entire reality. “I don’t care!” yelled Gray. “But you should! You do know that time travel needs to be delicate and precise. I didn’t have a choice. But you do. You can put a stop to this madness. Countless people are dying in the heart of the battle every second and you can end it.” “I said I don’t care!” he yelled once again. There wasn’t even a single second of consideration before he said those words. It was as if he was doing it reflexively, which obviously angered the Games as well. “Then you are lost!” he declared, before turning back and returning to the surface.