Part 5 - My Long Sleep

My “life” began very different from a typical Timelord. I was simply the SASTAP’s main computer. An artificial construct integrated into the organic components that makes up the inter-dimensional superstructure of every TARDIS. All of the major experimental systems in my construction required *huge* amounts of energy to maintain. The calculations were unimaginable, and frighteningly unpredictable. So I was integrated into the organic portions of my structure and allowed to expand upon the rudimentary consciousness present in all TARDISes. This gave me substance – imagination, random thought, and even basic emotions (although without the typical physiological response that organics experience).

I developed a relationship with the team of Timelords who worked on my construction. As they turned on one system at a time, they helped me grow into a sentient being able to interact with my universe in the most basic of ways. I was given a simple holographic interface inside the console room, a projection using technology millennia old.

I was almost complete. I had had several successful test flights. In the first (and only) time I met my “father,” Rassilon himself was among several Timelords I didn’t recognize. All seemed deeply serious, and I could sense the fear in their minds. They piloted me to a remote region of space, on the very edge of the known universe. There I could see through my sensors the remains of a huge fleet of Gallifreyan ships, broken and battered. Many were actually impaling huge space faring creatures, giant winged monsters lying dead in space.

There were two still alive. One seemed alert, healthy, and deadly. But it hadn’t seen us yet, we had emerged from the vortex in the form of a piece of wreckage, and this creature was clearly preoccupied. It was assisting another of its kind, clearly injured. One of the Timelords at my console completed the Telepathic interface, and began controlling the exterior.

He shifted my exterior form into a long, spear shaped piece of Gallifreyan living metal. The ship instantly shot out towards the literal heart of the larger, stronger being. He turned. He knew what was going to happen. But I wasn’t just another ship, and he had no way of knowing that. He turned to face me, to battle me. I was faster. I stabbed into his chest. As I felt his mind reach into mine, I saw his injured partner disappear into what looked like a…. hole… in space. His mind was so powerful – I had never experienced anything like it. The last thing I remember before waking up imprisoned in an organic body here was seeing five Timelords at the console frantically pounding controls. The sixth – the one who had controlled my exterior during the attack – lay in a heap on the floor. His skin seemed to be changing… growing white and pale. My own vision seemed to be going foggy, and the brightness of the console room suddenly seemed painful. Then… blackness.