The suit was magnificent. It was cast in a metal alloy that was almost bronze in appearance and consisted of a suit, boots, gauntlet and helmet. Over the suit, Omega wore a robe made from a green-blue synthetic material that served as an additional level of protection – similar to the chainmail worn by ancient warriors. The idea that this was armour pleased him and had played no small part in its design. Rassilon was always portrayed as a great warrior, and Omega wanted to emulate that. Over his head and the robes, he pulled on the chest piece. This added a third layer of protection to the vital organs, and its geometric design reflected that of the helmet – each a triangular shape.
When he stepped from the changing room, the crew were on their feet and started applauding as he made his way towards the dematerialisation chamber. He smiled at them all, especially Karidice who operated the door control, sending a portion of the curved wall sliding open. Omega put his helmet on and, with a brief wave, stepped through. He turned around as the door closed behind him.
‘Omega? Can you hear me?’ It was Karidice. Her voice was entering the chamber via a speaker, giving it a slightly deeper tone.
‘Yes!’ Omega called. ‘Proceed to system checks.’
Karidice started calling out the name of each station that had a control position on the Internal Vortex Activity experiment. The Time Lord at those stations then gave a confirmation of their mission readiness: black hole power drain, event horizon flight control, dematerialisation and rematerialisation regulators, vortex monitoring – everything had to function perfectly or the undertaking would be aborted. Omega listened with mounting excitement and a little trepidation as each Time Lord confirmed the functionality of their stations: ‘Go for IVA.’
Finally, it all came down to one switch. Emsical, the young Time Lady at dematerialisation regulation looked at Karidice eagerly.
‘Go Demat!’ she called.
Emsical nodded and pulled down the large lever.
In the chamber, there was a strange sound almost like gusts of wind, rising and falling. Omega faded in and out from the rest of reality. This was the first occasion a Time Lord had entered the time vortex in any capacity: a pioneering moment and one Omega tried to live in the moment, soaking in the magnitude of what he was doing. And then he was gone.
Karidice watched the internal monitors carefully as he disappeared.
‘Switch to vortex monitoring,’ she said.
A Time Lord technician called Ralics duly operated the controls, and a screen at the back of the room lit up. They all turned to stare at the strange swirling eddies of the time vortex. While this was not the first time they had seen the vortex – they had been examining it for years – it was the first time they had ever seen a living thing within it. Omega was floating in the centre of the screen, like a diver in the ocean, an almost imperceptible stasis halo in place around him.
‘Can you hear me?’ Karidice asked.
There was a moment of silence, and a few anxious glances were exchanged across the control room. Then, with a slight reverb on his voice, they heard Omega.
‘Receiving you at 100 per cent!’
A few of the Time Lords cheered.
‘How is the reciprocal?’ Omega asked.
‘Reciprocal seems steady at 93,’ Karidice replied. She leant forward to the microphone. ‘What’s it like?’ she asked. ‘Subjectively, I mean.’
In the vortex, Omega looked around him. ‘Magnificent,’ he said. ‘Nothing can prepare you for the majesty of the environment.’
Karidice turned to the vortex monitoring station. ‘All good?’ she asked.
‘IVA is stable,’ reported Ralics. He smiled. ‘Readings could not be more perfect.’
Immediately, an alarm sounded on one of the panels. It was event horizon flight control.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Karidice urgently.
‘Orbit is deteriorating by 0.01. Reason unknown,’ the engineer said.
Omega’s voice cut across the control room. ‘What is the status there?’
Karidice ignored her superior for a moment. ‘Unknown?’ she said. ‘What readings do we have?’
Before the Time Lord could answer, another alarm started to buzz at vortex monitoring. Ralics was staring intently at his monitor.
‘Well?’ There was a definite note of alarm in Karidice’s voice now.
‘Status!’ Omega repeated gruffly.
Ralics shook his head. ‘Unknown, but it’s a large space-time event.’
This represented just too many unknowns. ‘Cease the IVA, bring him back!’
She turned to the vortex screen and spoke into her throat mike: ‘There’s something in the vortex with you,’ she said. ‘It’s destabilising our orbit. I’m pulling you back!’
‘Negative! Negative! What is the orbit differential?’
‘It is 0.01 but we are deteriorating,’ she said.
‘Safety parameters are at least 0.05!’ Omega said crossly. ‘You are not to terminate the IVA. Do you understand, Karidice?’
‘But Omega, the crew! The station! You yourself are in danger. We do not know what the cause of the instability is.’
‘Monitor it, then!’ he shouted. ‘The readings I am collecting are invaluable! If the orbit decays by more than 0.03, then terminate. But not until then. Do I make myself clear?’
Now it was Karidice’s turn for silence.
‘Deterioration now 0.02,’ reported the engineer.
Karidice shook her head. She was about to argue with Omega when she saw something on the screen. They all saw it: a huge distortion in the vortex. It was twisting the swirling patterns to give itself shape and form. At first it was difficult to see in its entirety but then it showed itself: a vast winged being – almost like a bird of prey.
‘Remat! Now!’ shouted Karidice.
The rematerialisation process was operated and Omega was pulled back aboard the space station. He threw open the door of the chamber and emerged, wrenching his helmet off in fury.
‘How dare you!’ he screamed at Karidice.
She simply pointed at the screen. ‘Look,’ she said.
Omega was about to loose a tirade against his assistant but then noticed the screen. He stared for a few seconds. ‘What is that?’
‘We don’t know,’ Karidice said icily. ‘That is why we pulled you out of the vortex!’
Omega was crestfallen. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘Of course you are right.’ He looked around the Time Lords at their stations. ‘I apologise,’ he said.
Everyone was looking at him except the engineer, who was gazing steadfastly at his monitors. Omega noticed and moved across.
‘My Lord, our orbit is still worsening. It has reached 0.04 now.’
‘We need full power to engines,’ Omega said. ‘Redirect power from the Heart of Messina!’
The space station began to vibrate. They had been maintaining a very precarious orbit as close to the black hole as possible to draw energy from it without falling into it. Now that orbit was destabilising, they were falling towards it. They had a safety margin of 0.05 but no more.
A high-pitched whine let them know the black hole power was now online.
A nervous few seconds passed and the engineer looked up from his console. ‘Stable at 0.04.’
Omega nodded in satisfaction but before he could say anything, the ship began to shake violently.
‘Space-time disturbance!’ reported Ralics.
‘We’re not interested in the vortex now,’ Omega growled.
‘My Lord, it isn’t in the vortex,’ Ralics said and operated the screen. ‘It is off the port bow!’
They all looked at the screen. The star field outside looked normal at first but then everyone began to see the shape of the creature against the pinpricks of light. It was huge – almost the same size as the space station itself. Now it looked like the being was wearing some form of helmet, its eye slots glowing white.
As they watched, transfixed by the mysterious organism, it re
ached out an arm towards the hull of the Time Lord craft.
Karidice asked for the status of the shields and was told they were fully operational, but the creature’s feathery digits came through the force field as if it wasn’t there. The huge transparent hand then penetrated the ship itself, reaching inside all the way to the control room.
Omega was now standing between Ralics and Karidice, stunned and outraged by the events transpiring. It was clear this creature was extremely powerful, but they had no idea of what its intentions were. The Time Lord tried talking to it, but the translucent digits simply continued their exploration of the control room, coming to a halt over the engineer.
Karidice started to move towards him, but the creature squeezed its fingers together, closing over the top of the engineer’s head. There was a blinding implosion of light and the engineer lay dead, his ability to regenerate clearly stopped by whatever method the being had used to kill him.
‘No!’ Karidice shouted and was at the fallen Time Lord’s side in seconds. The creature snatched its hand away from the control room and then seemed satisfied to just float in space close to the station, watching.
‘We leave,’ Omega said. ‘Now.’
One of the respected Healers rushed into the room in her white tunic and red jerkin, examining the dead engineer. She shook her head at Karidice. Omega immediately began issuing orders to the crew to plot a course past the monster outside. Then Ralics pointed out that they were already at full power and were barely maintaining a stationary orbit. The creature seemed to be preventing them from leaving.
‘And our only option for escape is over the event horizon towards the black hole,’ Karidice said.
Omega looked at the dematerialisation chamber and passed a gauntleted hand across his chin. ‘Not our only option,’ he said. ‘We can use the chamber.’
‘But only you have the suit, my Lord,’ Karidice said.
‘You misunderstand,’ Omega said with a slight smile. ‘I do not intend for us as individuals to enter the vortex. I am proposing we reverse the vortex chamber’s alignment, radiating the stasis halo outwards not inwards.’
‘You mean to take the station into the vortex?’ Karidice asked.
‘I do,’ Omega said. ‘And we need to do so with haste.’
So the Time Lords hurriedly worked to alter the chamber and the computer programs so that the same mechanism that had sent Omega into the vortex would do the same for the entire ship. It took them several hours and all that time Omega helped with the most menial of tasks and the hardest calculations, coaxing the best from his crew with one goal in mind: to save his ship, his experiments and his crew from the alien intelligence that had already claimed one life.
As the different stations reported ready once more, Omega stood in the engineer’s place, operating his control panel. He needed Karidice doing what she did best – control in-flight operations.
She looked at him, forced a reluctant smile and then gave the order: ‘Go for IVA.’
Again, the young Time Lady called Emsical took hold of the large handle and looked at Karidice. This time, though, her enthusiasm had been washed away by fear and uncertainty.
‘Go Demat,’ Karidice said quietly.
The strange wheezing, groaning sounds that had earlier filled the dematerialisation chamber now filled the entire control room, echoing through the station. The Time Lord craft began to fade in and out of reality and finally disappeared.
The creature now roared in anger and faded from view.
‘Space station stable,’ Omega said. ‘The stasis halo is protecting it admirably.’
He was about to issue orders for the navigational team to begin their manoeuvring when the station shook once more. The vibration was accompanied by a sickening twist of the vessel’s internal dimensions. Everything seemed elongated for a brief moment and then snapped back to reality. Omega knew it was the creature. This time, however, it was not a translucent giant that appeared or a feathered hand. A white figure the same size as Omega now stood in the control room.
‘You cannot escape,’ it said in a deep, booming voice.
‘You killed one of my crew,’ Omega said angrily. ‘For no reason.’
‘How can a being as small as you in power and intellect possibly understand my reasoning?’
‘What do you want?’
‘I feast on time,’ the being said. ‘For I am a Chronovore. Anything touched by the vortex is a delicacy to my palate and you are something new!’ It laughed.
Omega turned and walked to the only weapons locker on board. It contained two staser pistols. He removed one and turned, pointing it directly at the alien.
‘Leave my ship,’ he ordered.
‘Threats?’ the Chronovore sneered and began walking across the chamber. He was making for Karidice.
‘Stop!’
The creature ignored him and Omega squeezed the trigger. The bolt of energy hit the Chronovore in the back, but the weapon had no effect.
The creature turned back to Omega. ‘You would kill me?’ it asked. ‘Then I will repay the compliment.’
With no further warning, the Chronovore reached out and snatched at Karidice, catching her a blow to the head. Now she too fell to the floor.
‘No!’ Omega rushed across the room and lifted the head of his fallen friend. Her pale blue eyes were still open, staring blindly up at him. Omega looked at the Chronovore.
‘Please,’ he said. ‘This is senseless.’
The creature regarded the Time Lord for a moment and then turned, taking on the form of a female humanoid. ‘You brought this on yourself,’ she said. ‘And I will feed for I am hungry.’
‘If you need sustenance from time, you are overlooking the best source on this station. It is not the crew. See for yourself.’ Omega walked over to the dematerialisation chamber. ‘It is in here.’ He opened the door, and stood back. A white void pulsed within.
The Chronovore approached and sniffed the air. ‘You know you cannot destroy me.’
‘I just want to give you what you want so you will leave us.’
The humanoid nodded and stepped forward. Omega threw himself at its back, thrusting the creature into the chamber and slamming the door.
‘Safety controls off!’ he shouted ‘Black hole power now!’
In the chamber, the Chronovore was immersed in the raw radiation from the black hole and cried out in sudden in agony. ‘You will die!’ it screamed and then vanished.
Straight away Omega put his plan into operation. Entering the time vortex allowed the station to move in space without being on the spatial plane. The pilots navigated the space station towards the space-time event of the black hole and then across the maelstrom to the far side. Only then, when they were several million miles from the event horizon, did Omega order their rematerialisation. They had escaped both the monster and the cosmic whirlpool of the Heart of Messina. But the cost had been too high.
Before they returned to Gallifrey, they had services for the engineer and Karidice. Omega gave his friend’s eulogy, extoling her virtues but also vowing to his fellow Time Lords that he would never again place their lives in danger in order to pursue his dream of time travel. He would rather sacrifice himself than lose any more friends.
JORUS AND THE VOGANAUTS
JORUS STOOD PROUDLY on the bridge of the Vogo. The ship was the finest his race had ever built; an interstellar craft possessed of such beauty it had captivated the entire planet of Voga. An elegant and streamlined hull, twin spatial-torpedo launchers, a pair of huge solar sails, and on the stern a carving of their god of wealth and good fortune, after whom the ship was named. Around the captain, the golden surfaces of computer panels hummed and glowed as the pilots and navigators guided the ship through the void of space.
‘We are approaching the farthest point, captain,’ said Collig. He was the senior pilot, his silvery hair cut short to reveal the dome of his grey-brown head – as was the fashion. His deep-set eyes and large, protruding feat
ures were the same as the rest of the crew: all good, Vogan qualities.
Jorus was staring at the holoscreen that displayed a three-dimensional image of their environs into mid air at the centre of the bridge. ‘Very good, Collig,’ he replied. He returned to the captain’s chair, positioned above and behind the rest of the command deck, allowing a smile to flicker on his face. This was indeed a landmark, he mused – if such a statement could be used to describe a breakthrough in space travel.
The farthest point Collig was referring to was the outer asteroid belt of the Voga system. No Vogan space ship or probe had ever been beyond it. That was part of the reason why tens of thousands had attended the launch of the Vogo, cheering the brave crew off on their mission of exploration and discovery. The ‘Voganauts’ the media had dubbed them.
‘We are about to make history,’ Jorus said. ‘Ready on intra-space engines.’
Collig reached forward. His hand hovered over the lever that would take the Vogo from speeds measured in familiar distances to those that were almost unfathomable.
‘Now!’
Collig operated the engines and the ship seemed to blur slightly. Jorus was pinned back in his seat momentarily before the inertia inhibitors kicked in. As the greyish-white blur of intra-space reflected from the holoscreen on his face, Jorus finally allowed his smile to show.
Almost immediately, a two-tone alarm sounded, sending the bridge crew into a panic. Jorus recognised it straight away but the junior pilot, Mishar, confirmed its designation.
‘Intra-space misalignment! Dephase collision!’ she said.
The Vogo was swinging dangerously off course. If it deviated too much, the ship would hit the side of the artificial wormhole that the engines had created, and that would be catastrophic. The Vogo might even be destroyed. Jorus rose quickly from his chair and came down to the pilots. He placed a hand on Collig’s shoulder.
Doctor Who: Myths and Legends Page 7
