Going Native

I have been working with Morr to try to find a way to reverse the effects of the nano-genes on my body. So far, we've had no success, and, so, lacking an actual face and being in constant agony, I have begun wearing an analgesic mask at all times. I'm told the appearance is... somewhat disconcerting.

While Morr and I were in my labs in Bifrost, we felt the engines engage on their own. Honestly, this isn't all that unusual an occurrence for Bifrost, so I wasn't terribly surprised by it, so, to determine where we were headed, Morr and I made our way to the console room.

About the time we arrived, the dematerialization circuit ground to a halt and Bifrost was still.

The scanners showed we'd materialized on a lush, jungle world, teeming with thick forestation and millions of species of wildlife ranging from insects to huge beasts which would even give Bast a fright.The scanners also indicated two very surprising things.

First, almost as though by design, this world's sun was going to explode within the planet's next rotation.

And, second, three clicks from our location... was another Time Lord.

So, Morr and I set out and I sent Ziggy and Bast ahead to scout. The jungle was difficult to navigate, I admit. I relied more on Morr's peculiar skills that I'd care to confess. I'm not sure how many hours we hiked, hiding from predators where we had to. Eventually, I received a psychic message from Bast that she had found a structure and we moved to meet her.

When we arrived, what struck me first was... well, I can best describe it as a scarebeast.

Hanging on a wooden cross was the armour of a Gallifreyan soldier, a commander by the rank insignia. It had seen better days and had obviously been worn by someone who'd seen heavy combat. Beyond the armour was an impressively built and clearly sturdy arboreal shelter. Clearly, this was the home of our errant Time Lord.

However, before we were even able to take a step toward the shelter, our attention was seized by an arrow embedding itself in the armour we had just been inspecting. Turning toward it's point of origin, we saw her.

She was clearly a Time Lady, but she was dressed in the skins of animals and wielding a bow. On her shoulder sat some kind of local bird of prey. From the look of her, she'd been living here a while.

It took some time to ease her away from turning us into kebabs, but, eventually, we got her talking, while urging her to come with us. Even then, she refused to leave her bird behind.

Her name was Spinavadevka. She'd served as a commander during the Great Time War. At some point during the war, her capsule had been struck by, what she assumed to be a dalek weapon and she'd lost control of the craft. It spun out of the vortex and had no power at all.

It crashed on the world on which we found her.

Over time, she found there were no other living things of higher intelligence. She was alone. And, without any functioning Time Lord technology, she had to make due.

Through her military training and sheer force of will, she'd managed to survive there for over 130 years.

Eventually, she grew to like it, preferring its simplicity over life in the military.

She'd even trained her bird as her companion. Hitchcock was his name. I'm told there's some amusing reference to that name for Terrans.

We managed to convince Spin to come with us, since that world was doomed and towed the hulk of her powerless capsule with us. (Honestly, convincing her to come with us was mostly due to Morr's skills and the two of them have since kind of adopted each other as sisters)

So now, Spin is one of us...

I do not look forward to trying to convince her to wear formal robes for meetings of State.

Losing Face

I... don't know how long I've been alseep.

I...

I'm sorry... the pain is unbelievable...

Let me try to recount...

Some time ago, I was approached by The Sentinel. His companion had died. No... That's too simplistic. We Time Lords are nothing is not a complicating factor in the Multiverse...

No, she wasn't dead. Her body was, but she had survived. There had been an implant in her brain that allowed her to interface with the computers in his capsule. When her body died, her mind uploaded into those computers. She was alive, though... formless.

The Sentinel approached me because of my expertise in nano-genetic design. He asked me to design and create a batch of nano-genes to make the preserved, though dead body of Kara viable once more, so her mind could be downloaded back into it.

It was... a complicated request. Restoring life to dead tissue, on a small scale, using nano-genes is simple enough, but a fully grown human is a far more difficult task.

Belgium, this hurts!

I am nothing, if not... up to a challenge, and so... I began my work.

The first phase of creating nano-genes of this complexity is to program them to simply not accept the concept of death. The nano-genes will then prevent any kind of catastrophic damage... death... dismemberment... But not repair anything further at that point. Once that is accomplished, a second batch much be created and programmed to repair physical damage to the body.

Here's the rub...

BOTH batches must be introduced into the body at once in the proper ratio. If the first batch is introduced first, they will mistake the second batch for a fatal infection. If the second back is introduced first, they will repair the damage, but not restore viability and the first batch will not recognize the body as dead.

The last thing I recall is a warning on the control panel of the nano-gene chamber. The rest has been relayed to me by Ziggy.

The nano-gene chamber in which I was growing the first batch exploded, setting me on fire. I was, obviously, rendered unconscious. Ziggy violated his normal protocols of staying off comm channels and called for medical help and I was brought into the recovery tank in Vanishing Point's infirmary.

I've been there, since.

I... SHOULD have regenerated.

I WISH I'd regenerated.

But, it seems I can't.

When the tank exploded, my cells were saturated with the nano-genes. They are preventing catastrophic damage to my body. I can't die and my body can't, then, regenerate properly.

The nano-genes WON'T, however, repair the damage from burning.

The pain is... maddening...

And most of my flesh is charred.

My face is... mostly gone.

I can't be seen like this.