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.