Chapter One
"Mother?"
Celesia looks up from her twentieth-century novel, searching for her son in the grass. She finds him near the edge of the meadow, beneath the boughs of a great oak that has long since become a forest tree, rather than a garden tree. Briefly, Celesia recalls planting it during her original surveying of the grounds of her home before focusing in on Tristan. In his hand is a yellow fidget cube and today, it seems that Tristan prefers to keep his hair out of its usual ponytail.
"Yes, child?"
"I would like to know about my secondary progenitor."
Celesia frowns, watching Tristan as he walks over to her, sitting down on the step by her feet. Blonde hair hides his eyes from her, but they're downcast anyway – faux-interested in the fidget cube as he waits for her answer. Celesia decides for that reason to speak. Tristan is an honest person by nature. Pretending is not his forte, yet still, now, she can see him try to fake disinterest.
"Your secondary progenitor and I met in Bristol," she closes her novel, placing it delicately on her lap as his gaze rises to meet hers, locking Celesia in place. "Our acquaintance lasted four days, in which time you had the potential to be conceived multiple times. We were unfortunate enough to be interrupted on the fourth day by his friend, who was overly horrified by what she witnessed. We parted shortly and I never saw him again. You were born eleven months and six days later."
"The Human gestation period is nine months," Tristan says. Celesia grimaces.
"I cannot clear matters for you, unfortunately. Gallifreyans lost the ability to procreate naturally with each other thousands of years ago and as such, the records regarding the topic were seldom viewed. Reproduction in ancient times was never one of my interests while I studied at the Academy."
"Mother, will I study at the Academy?"
A deep ache makes itself known in Celesia's chest as she shakes her head, mute. Tristan awaits further explanation, however, patient and expectant. Adjusting her skirt, Celesia mentally reviews her Plan, noting that informing her son that the subject of the Time War and Gallifrey's disappearance exists is scheduled for the following month. Her eyes stray to the garden shed, the TT Capsule barely able to be seen because of how strong the perception filter around it is – though, Celesia can always see it. The benefits of bonding to a TARDIS, she thinks, before Tristan takes her wrist gently, attracting her attention.
"Mother, am I not allowed to know?"
"Apologies, moonbeam," Celesia murmurs before leaning over, hand reaching to tuck a golden curl behind his ear, one of the few gestures Tristan has never, ever complained about. "My hybrid boy. So very intelligent. Further explanation as of this moment will not be forthcoming. If you would like to know anything more about your secondary progenitor, such answers are available, to a point."
"What does he look like?"
Celesia rests her hand on Tristan's where he holds her other wrist. "He has your blonde hair, though it is far shorter, around an inch and a half long. His iris' are grey-blue and his nose larger than average. His bone structure is visible and curt – you have his chin and brow, as well as his ears. He is approximately one point eight meters tall, or five foot and nine inches. I do not know his weight, though he was certainly healthier than most Humans. This would most likely be because of his career path."
"What is his career?"
"I was under the impression he was training to be a nurse," Celesia replies, before a car horn blares on the other side of the house. Tristan's hand slips from her grasp as he slaps his hands over his ears, fidget cube falling. Celesia catches it before it can break on the steps and tucks it into his trouser pocket, knuckles grazing over the soft wool of his jumper. "Retreat inside if you become too overstimulated."
Once Tristan nods at her words, stiff and squeezing his eyes shut, Celesia speed-walks around their home, going through the gate and immediately glaring at the bright red car in her driveway. The driver plasters on a grin at the sight of her, calling out in English.
"Professor! Was wondering if you were home!"
"I am and you have disturbed both I and my son," Celesia speaks in the same tongue, coming to stand by the door of the car, arms crossing. She ignores how Joseph's eyes linger on her collar. He is a necessity, she reminds herself. "I've told you before not to arrive unexpectedly."
"I was passing through," he excuses himself flippantly, slumping in his seat. "I've got some gossip you might want to hear, though."
"It had better be good," Celesia glares and Joseph shrugs.
"Melody Zucker went missing a couple of days ago. You said to keep tabs on her and I did – she stole my car because of it," the Human scowls, running a possessive hand over the steering wheel. "But anyway, she left it in a field, disappeared and hasn't been seen since."
"There's no trace of her?" Celesia gripes, inwardly groaning because no, she's a Time Lady who has no real idea what she is! Truly, just stumbling across one of her own kind like she had – or, how Melody had stumbled across Celesia. She was the one to interrupt Celesia and Rory mid-coitus, after all. "Some spy you are."
"Hey! Don't be rude, Professor," Joseph complains. "I'm not trained for spying – I'm an accountant! You're just lucky I'm around!"
"I can do everything you do for me," Celesia glares again, leaning over, hands curling around the open car window. "The only reason I hire you is because the alternative is letting a Human with alien heritage drive around knowing exactly where I live and with whom, without being under my payroll."
Joseph grumbles, looking to his phone. Celesia steps back from the car, tugging at her sleeveless blouse, tucking an edge back under her skirt as Joseph texts away.
"If she turns back up, call me. Shoo," she orders once he finishes. Joseph doesn't even bother rolling his eyes, just driving off. Once he's disappeared through the gate, Celesia manually shuts and locks it, the black-painted bars squealing in defiance.
Where could she have gone? Celesia questions herself, before her phone chimes. Taking it out from her skirt's pocket, Celesia purses her lips upon seeing it's from Joseph.
Forgot to say there was smthng weird about Mels' disappearance. I know u don't get the Leadworth Chronicles so I know u don't know. The field my car was found in was full of crop circles spelling out a word. Want to know what the word was?
Coolly, Celesia replies with a terse Yes.
In reply, rather than texting her, Joseph sends her a picture. Celesia can't imagine he's driving very safely if he's using the appropriate faculties to send pictures to her, but she downloads it all the same, waiting for a few moments before viewing it. What she finds causes her to lose her composure and she jerks, phone flying into her carnations.
Eyes wide, Celesia stands in her driveway, hearts beating a samba in her chest. Then she lunges for her flower-bed, scrambling for her phone and upon finding it, staring at the crop circles spelling out DOCTOR, line running through it and a square blue box in the middle of the O.
"Theta," she whispers, before Tristan's voice calls out from his window, lilting Gallifreyan unaffected by her TT Capsule's translation circuits.
"Mother, why are you behaving erratically?"
Celesia looks over and up at him, barely processing the fact that he's wearing his soundblocking headphones before putting her phone away, signing to him.
'I was taken by surprise. My cousin is nearby.'
Tristan's eyes widen. "Family?"
Celesia swallows the sudden lump in her throat. 'Yes. Pack your rucksack and meet me in the garden. We're going on an adventure.'
The next half hour passes by in a blur as Celesia and Tristan pack emergency supplies, retreating into the TT Capsule as Celesia requests the perception field lift enough for Tristan to get his first good look at it. Her TARDIS is glad to see her, humming happily as Celesia unlocks the doors by instigating a telepathic conference, recalibrates the engines and does pre-flight checks, teaching Tristan proper protocol for working a Type Seventy.
"My cousin has a Type Forty TT Capsule, so to correctly compare our respective vehicles, you must think of a twenty-first century jet and then of a twentieth-century Spitfire," Celesia instructs her son, wishing he were older briefly. I'll teach him how to fly my TARDIS when he turns one hundred. He is seventy – he will not begrudge me thirty years, as he is still a child. He will see the logic in it.
"Where and when are we going?" Tristan questions.
"Listen and learn," Celesia replies, before speaking to her TARDIS aloud, smirking ever so slightly. Theta's TARDIS won't have voice-control navigational capabilities. "Navigational directions: we're following the time trail of the Type Forty that materialised and then dematerialised at the following location." Celesia begins to pilot her TT Capsule then, the sensor array lighting up and Circular Gallifreyan appearing on the wide screen that curves around the lavender time rotor, explaining the following flight-path. Inputting the coordinates of the crop field, Celesia flips the engine lever, directing Tristan to turn off the brakes.
The flight that follows is smooth and peaceful. Celesia feels a rush of adrenaline nonetheless. I should have never left you to stagnate in a garden, she thinks to her TARDIS. Tristan seems to enjoy the small jobs she gives him, however Celesia orders him away into a belted seat as something changes about the trail her cousin leaves behind him in his Type Forty. Celesia's TARDIS jolts once, which is all she lets it do before her muscle-memory kicks in. Celesia is used to the Type Ninety War TARDIS, working as a tertiary pilot with a secondary, the primary melded and stuck in the epicentre of the Ninety's engines – but the technology isn't much different in a Seventy to a Ninety and she even has a mental bond with her TT Capsule.
They land in moments, silent and invisible, the chameleon circuit activating and the screen showing a clear view of a large, dusty room where…
"Mother, is that Adolf Hitler?"
"I believe it is, Tristan," Celesia stares in horror at the feed because- because this is interference! Oh, she heard the rumours, hundreds of years ago before the Time War even began, but to see it in the flesh – clearly after some sort of firefight – her cousin blatantly getting involved in historical events and- and-
"Mother, that man is putting Adolf Hitler in a cupboard."
"Rassilon and Omega-"
Celesia stops herself from going any further in that line of speech, pressing her fingers to her chin as she tries to think properly. Tristan comes over, reaching to take her wrist.
"What happens now?"
Celesia looks to the feed – Hitler disappearing into the cupboard. Another Nazi is being seen to, her TARDIS identifying them as a Teselecta. Celesia has no idea what a Teselecta is, but seeing as the Nazi faints, she figures that now is the time to rail into her cousin. The scanner then beeps to show that the other two are completely Human, with artron energy readouts – meaning, they're time travellers. Theta did always like his little companions on his travels. Breathing in deeply, the Time Lady looks to Tristan.
"Stay inside the TARDIS."
Tristan wrinkles his nose, displaying his annoyance at the order but staying silent as Celesia smooths down her blouse, removing his hand from her wrist. Going to the doors, she takes a few moments before going outside, telepathically locking the doors behind her. Immediately, Melody Zucker pinpoints her, expression twisting into one of disquiet. Celesia meets her eyes before looking to where she's holding her side, pursing her lips before the other woman in the room calls.
"Hey, where did you come from?"
Celesia looks over, not recognising her. Scottish accent, she identifies, the ginger hair supporting her guess. She categorises the other men, her cousin a wide-eyed, bow-tie wearing giraffe of a Time Lord and the other…well, this is certainly unexpected. Rory Williams blinks at the sight of her.
"I know you."
"You would," Melody gasps with a slight laugh, "She's the only other person you've ever had sex with."
"Oh my god-" Rory starts, before Melody collapses.
"Mels!" the redhead rushes forwards, followed by her friends. Celesia gets to her first, however, half kneeling and supporting her upper body as she shudders in pain. Celesia can feel the warmth of her skin, regeneration energy unbundling from inside her. Barely a minute, she can't control it. "Mels!"
Theta joins Celesia on the floor, "Rory!"
"No, no, no, no," Rory arrives last, going to her wound and checking it over. Nurse, Celesia remembers. "I've got to stop the bleeding."
"How bad is it?" the other woman questions. "Rory, what can we do?"
"Just keep her conscious. Stay with us, Mels."
"Miss Zucker," Celesia gains her attention, "Can you tell me why you stole Joseph's car?"
Melody heaves, grinning, "Which car? He's got loads."
"The red one that you drove into the cornfield," Celesia specifies.
"He's being paid to watch me, isn't he? Didn't realise it was you, but it has to be. JJ doesn't tell just anyone his real name." Melody replies, before letting out a sharp, pained gasp. To Celesia's surprise, her regeneration energy tamps down and Celesia begins to feel something ugly inside her. She can't be much older than Tristan, one hundred and fifty maximum. How has she regenerated already?
Theta takes Celesia's silence as a chance to prove his worth. "Hold on, hey – look at me." Melody does so, still smiling through her pain.
"I used to dream about you. All those stories Amy used to tell me."
Theta grins a little frantically, smiling worriedly as he encourages her on. "What stories? Tell me what stories. Vampires in Venice. That's a belter."
"When I was little, I was going to marry you."
"Good idea, let's get married. You stay alive and I'll marry you, deal? Deal?"
"Shouldn't you ask my parents permission?"
Theta nods, clearly not meaning to follow through, to Celesia's not-unexpected distaste. Time Lords don't forget things like that, idiot – she's not some Human.
"As soon as you're well, I'll get on the phone."
Then Melody surprises Celesia. "Might as well do it now, since they're both right here." There's a long moment of silence, Theta, Rory and their female companion sharing a look. Celesia frowns in confusion, aware in the back of her mind – literally, because of her parental bond with Tristan – that her son is just as confused. But something seems to click with the three, before Zucker finally lets her regeneration energy begin to seep out into the open air.
"Penny in the air. Penny drops."
"Time to stand," Celesia says, before hauling both herself and Melody to her feet, tugging the Time Lady away into the middle of the room by her underarms before retreating to Theta's side, who stops Rory and the other woman from going forwards.
"What the hell's going on?" Rory questions.
"Back! Back! Back! Get back!" Theta pushes them both back, Celesia leaving him to it as they seem perfectly at ease with his ministrations.
Then Melody speaks. "Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York."
"You what?" Celesia says sharply, expression twisting into one of horror. "Rassilon's Tomb, you're a Tot?"
"Okay, Doctor, explain what is happening, please – and who are you?" the Scottish woman questions Theta and then Celesia, who doesn't answer even as Theta sends her a confused look.
"Mels. Short for-"
"Melody," Melody finishes.
"Yeah. I named my daughter after her," the woman says, still confused.
"You named your daughter…after your daughter," Theta says slowly and that clears some things up, however it also makes Celesia even more confused – the existence of a temporal causality loop, notwithstanding.
"But-"
"It took me years to find you two. I'm so glad I did. And you see? It all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all."
"You're Melody?" the woman questions, incredulous, before Rory – who is apparently Melody Zucker's father, pray tell, how can that be if Melody is a Time Lady? – speaks in a tone of dawning realisation.
"But if she's Melody, that means that she's also-"
Melody interrupts what Celesia assumes would have been a truly enlightening sentence. "Shut up, Dad. I'm focusing on a dress size-" then her regeneration begins and Celesia realises she's forgotten what it's like to die – her screams make all the hairs on her bare arms go on end, the sizzling gold streaming from her hands a terrible reminder of blood, battle and pain. Only when it's over – and Melody is a blonde, white woman with a hyperactive attitude, barely giving anyone a chance to speak – does Celesia realise that she's drawn blood in her palms, nails digging into her skin.
"Hello, Benjamin," Melody drawls, wriggling her eyebrows at Theta suggestively.
"Who's Benjamin?" Theta questions, Celesia answering in a stoic voice.
"It's a nod to 'The Graduate', where Mrs Robinson attempts to seduce a teenage boy, which is completely inappropriate," Celesia turns on Melody. "You are a child by Timelord standards. A very young child, if what you said about regenerating into a toddler is true."
Celesia's words seem to take some of the wind from Melody's sails, her Mrs Robinson pose dropping. "I'm Human plus Timelord, whoever you are."
"The Professor," Celesia finally introduces herself, frowning. "How?"
"Conceived on the TARDIS by these two on their wedding night, presumably," Theta mutters, attracting her attention. "The Professor?"
"Like you're the Doctor," Celesia purses her lips. "We are in Berlin, nineteen thirty-eight and Adolf Hitler is in a cupboard. Do you know what is very wrong about that sentence?"
"I'll assume it's the Hitler in the cupboard bit," Theta says, before Celesia reaches up sharply and takes his ear, dragging him down to her level – and oh, is it degrading to be a foot shorter than her cousin, even with heels. "Ah! Ow, ow, ow!"
"Hey!" the ginger woman starts, but Celesia ignores her, hissing in untranslatable Gallifreyan to her cousin.
"We are sworn never to interfere and we are in Berlin! Adolf Hitler is in a cupboard!"
"I didn't mean to come here!" he whines, trying to tug out of her grip but only making it worse. "Melody shot the TARDIS!"
Immediately Celesia lets go of him, "She did what to your TARDIS?" Celesia twists, looking at the bright blue box, making her way over and opening the doors without so much of a key. Shoddy security, she thinks as she feels the Type Forty reach out as much as she's able to say hello, before coughing at the smog. She shuts the door loudly, stepping back.
"Who are you?" the ginger woman asks.
"I already said – I'm the Professor," Celesia says, turning back around to face the crowd of Humans and Timelords. Human plus Timelord. I never even knew it could happen. Then again, Theta's the only one willing to drag Humans around all of time and space. "I'm a Time Lady from Gallifrey and the Doctor is my cousin. We were Loomed together and grew side by side in the House of Lungbarrow, under the care of Kithriarch Quences. Who are you?"
"…Amy."
"Hello, Amy," Celesia greets, before looking to Theta, who looks like he's about to be sick. "Hello Theta."
"…only one of my cousins went to the Academy," he gasps, before walking forwards, looking far more fragile than glass or pottery. He reaches out, hands coming to her cheeks. Celesia allows him the contact, waiting and watching as he runs his long fingers up and over the tight Gallifreyan braids holding back her mass of dark hair, the light blue handkerchief tied up around her head – probably because it's so Human an accessory – bringing a smile to his face. "Celesia."
"It's been a long time, cousin," Celesia allows herself a smile before feeling a nudge from Tristan, stronger than any telepathic contact she's felt from him in some time. "I have a son."
Theta's eyes light up. "You do?"
"His name is Tristan. He is half-Human and does not respond to stimuli well, however he would like to meet you."
"Please!" Theta's practically bouncing, but Melody takes the chance to bring a gun up.
"Sorry to interrupt the family reunion-"
"Put that down," Celesia interrupts, voice stone and eyes just as hard. "You do not belong to any House and as a minor, I claim you for Lungbarrow."
"What! No, no-" Theta starts to whine, before speaking in Gallifreyan again, whispering. "Our timelines are back to front. She knows my Name, before she dies, Cele."
Celesia stares at her cousin for a long moment, before her TARDIS reaches out to her, questioning whether to unlock herself. Celesia glances over to her TT Capsule, sending a negative reply, not wanting Tristan involved in these shenanigans.
"I see. She is to be of her own House, then. Rory and Amy Williams'," Celesia looks to them both, head tilting slightly. Tristan's House. But they are Human…
"What is she on about, Doctor?" Amy questions, fraying at the edges, sticking to Rory's side.
"An old Gallifreyan thing, nothing to worry about. Technically, I suppose Melody here applies, but future events…it's all wibbly-wobbly," Theta wiggles his hands about, looking to Melody – who is still aiming the gun at them, or rather, Theta. "Sorry. You were speaking, before you started being naughty."
"Yes, well," Melody eyes Celesia carefully for a moment, before brightening suddenly, gun falling to her side. "Oh! Hang on – just something I need to check." She rushes over to what looks to be a library, or some form of storage room, speeding past Theta and Celesia both. There is a long moment of silence, before Theta swallows audibly and looks back to Celesia.
"How did you survive?"
"Survive? By running, Doctor," Celesia says slightly bitterly, aware that the line of conversation is intriguing Tristan. She thinks to her TARDIS, turn off the speakers and feels his annoyance. "You forget, cousin – we knew the Time War was coming. I fought in it and I made contingencies, in the case that I survived where my War TARDIS and fellow crew did not. It came to pass that the primary, quaternary, quinary and senary pilots died. I and the secondary fled."
"What happened to them?" he questions, voice full of pain and eyes wide.
"Closaranoktorwin accompanied me to the Myridian Mountains before succumbing to death. She sent me onwards so I did not have to see it. Her regenerations had long run out and she suffered horribly from the mental backlash of the primary pilot dying alongside our Type Ninety." Celesia keeps all of what grief she feels from both her face and from Tristan, the loss of secondary crewmember – her other half – too much, almost, for her to bear thinking of again.
She remembers so much – remembers Closa's youthful façade despite having lived thousands of years, her determination to keep Celesia alive, the command in her voice and just everything about her. Her eyes briefly flutter shut. I still don't know why she decided to call herself the Echo, in the end. Closa had taken the entire War to choose her Name, for she did not feel as if she deserved one – as if graduating from the Academy hadn't been enough.
"I ran to the lowlands of Outer Gallifrey and took shelter in what I thought to be an abandoned House."
Theta makes a face of horror, "Are you mad, Professor? An abandoned House is one of the most dangerous places-"
"The Daleks know better to go near abandoned Houses," Celesia interrupts him quietly, eyes opening once more, "and as I said, I only thought it to be an abandoned House. In truth, it was the most clever TARDIS I've ever encountered. She's mine now."
"Okay, so I keep hearing the word house like it means something," Melody starts suddenly, voice full of excitement, interrupting. "I'll be wearing a lot of jodhpurs, by the way, this body is fabulous."
Celesia can't help the urge to explain, used to Tristan's constant questions and need for concise answers. "Houses on Gallifrey, much like TARDIS's, are grown. They are alive in every sense of the word and require a Housekeeper to stay sane. Housekeepers are mentally linked with Houses throughout their entire lifespan, through all regenerations until their final death. However, a House is also a family – House Lungbarrow, for example, is the House grown in the Mountain of Lung, yet also the family comprising of forty individual Time Lords at any one time."
"Why forty?" Melody questions with a raised eyebrows, Celesia about to answer – despite the gun in her possession, still – before Theta interrupts.
"Okay, enough questions. Celesia, is there anything you can do for my TARDIS? You majored in TARDIS Mechanics, didn't you?"
"I did," Celesia eyes him in amusement, "and unlike you, I actually graduated from the Academy with more than the bare minimum." She ignores his indignation as she eyes his infamous blue box. "Would you like me to fix her chameleon circuit as well?"
"Don't you dare," Theta pokes her shoulder, before hugging her tightly. Celesia welcomes it, wrapping him in her arms before leaning back, speaking in their home tongue, the lyrical words flowing off her tongue like syrup.
"Theta, my favourite rebel of a cousin…"
His eyes narrow. "Celesia?"
Celesia pauses, before tugging at her connection with Tristan, simultaneously soothing his alarm and creating a new branch from his mind, peeling it back to the root and holding it out to Theta mind. Out loud, he yelps, but his mind eagerly takes the offer from her, greeting Tristan with a Gallifreyan salutation.
'Mother, what have you done?' Tristan questions her as Theta claps his hands, jumping up and away from Celesia.
"Doctor? Why are you all happy, all of a sudden?"
"It's a Time Lord thing, very special, can't tell you," Theta beams at Celesia, before Melody hums, only to make another noise of surprise, going to the mirror.
"The teeth! I have new teeth! Oh, this regenerating thing is something, isn't it? Down to business." And then, the gun is up again. Celesia glares at it, feeling Tristan's agitation at how it's aimed at Theta. Why is she targeting him? Melody advances forwards and Celesia is ashamed at how she freezes up, nevermind how the so-called Oncoming Storm lets himself be pushed up against a desk, gun on his larynx.
"Oh, hello – I thought we were getting married."
Melody shrugs with a smile, "I told you I'm not a wedding person."
"Doctor, what's she doing?" Rory questions and Celesia can see him shaking as she slowly begins to come out of her stiffness. She eyes Melody carefully, telling her TARDIS to shut off the cameras – she doesn't want Tristan seeing any more of this.
"What she's programmed to," Theta replies, piquing Celesia's interest briefly before she slowly moves, noting how Melody's eyes flicker in her direction for the briefest of moments. She changes her mind halfway through balancing herself out, shifting onto one foot far more heavily than the other – a trick of perception, for Melody at least. I'm more than ready to help disarm her.
"Where'd she get the gun?" Rory continues to question their situation.
"Hello, Benjamin," Theta answers with not even a hint of smile. The gun is loaded, Celesia thinks, it has to be.
"You noticed," Melody agrees before sighing. She steps back and away and Celesia becomes quite confused at the sight of a banana in her hand, before it disappears underneath her long shirt-dress. She looks over at Celesia suddenly. "You know what I want to know, though? You. You're interesting. I'll put off killing the Doctor if you tell me some things."
"What things?" Celesia narrows her eyes, moving forwards. Melody raises the gun in her direction, aimed below her hearts, but not too far from them to be safe. Celesia doesn't let it scare her, even as Theta makes distressed noises.
"Professor, be careful. River is dangerous."
"River?" Melody questions. "Who's River?"
"…spoilers," he says.
"Spoilers? What's spoilers?" Melody perks up, gun still aimed at Celesia. "Do you know?" She asks the other woman.
"No," Celesia replies stiffly. "I do not."
"Pity." Then, without so much as a by your leave, she fires the revolver and the Time Lady feels a sharp pressure in her abdomen as the shot rings out, before pain blooms inside of her. Celesia looks down at the bleeding wound and briefly, she considers regeneration. Two left. One left, after today. She can feel her regeneration energy stirring, recognising the life-threatening injury for what it is. Ruptured pancreas, damaged stomach muscles – the bullet is still inside. Thank Rassilon I told my TARDIS not to let Tristan see.
Hands come to her shoulders, an arm curling around her. Celesia looks up at Rory Williams and frowns.
"I'm okay, thank-you."
"Okay?" he laughs slightly hysterically. "You've just been shot!"
"Yes, I'm well aware, but I can't afford to regenerate right now – I'll hold it off until the immediate threat is dealt with. If she shoots me again while I'm changing, I'm dead for good and Tristan will be left alone, locked in my TARDIS for the rest of time."
"Tristan? Is that your son?" he questions and Celesia gives him a small smile, wondering how he'd react to knowing it was his son too. Her eyes slide past him to the fruitbowl on Hitler's table. Ah.
"Yes. He's seventy-two, but perhaps the more Human comparison would be seven." She slips out of his grip, stumbling slightly towards Melody, who watches her curiously. "Give me your gun."
"Why?"
"Because you have another one," Celesia says, hand out. Melody sighs but nods, handing it over.
"I'll indulge you," she says in a faux-kind voice, before casually taking out the banana and attempting to fire it at Theta. When she sees that she's holding a piece of fruit, an angry expression forms, a scowl that looks much like the one Celesia had viewed earlier from Amy. "Damn." She sends a nasty look at Celesia, who smirks gamely in amusement before reloading the revolver and holding it up, feet slipping into an age-old pose.
"Professor, do not shoot her," Theta orders. Celesia scoffs slightly, rolling her eyes.
"She's just regenerated. It would hurt her, not kill her – she has nearly fifteen hours before she can be killed by any normal measures, shot to the hearts and brain stem withstanding."
"And you've always been a good shot," he replies with gritted teeth. "Do not shoot her."
Celesia purses her lips, stepping backwards slowly, out of Melody's range, coming to a stop in front of Theta's TARDIS. Leaning against it heavily, she grimaces at the pain ranging from her wound. Her regeneration energy is building up now, getting ready to blow but Celesia knows how to manipulate the energy well – she can remember so many, so, so many other Gallifreyans who died on the battle field and then truly died as the Daleks shot them half-way through the cycle.
Rory Williams comes to her side again and she spares him a mildly annoyed glance. He sees it and looks down, speaking quietly as Melody begins to interact with Theta again.
"Does the bullet come out when you regenerate?"
"It disintegrates," Celesia says with some difficulty as she begins to multitask, holding down her own energy and blocking off her connection with Tristan. She's never done this before with a bond in place, or at least, not with this kind of bond where she has so much more control. "There aren't enough words in your language to describe regeneration energy. The constitution of a Gallifreyan is far more rugged and defensible than a Humans. The evolution of Gallifreyans, however, involved constant exposure to radiation through various types of solar flares, over the many millennia from our dual stars. Humans only have one, yes? One star?"
"Yeah, one sun, just the one," Rory nods before Celesia feels the pull of gravity, legs more than slightly numb as she slides down the TARDIS. Rory helps her, holding her up by her elbow. "Are you sure you should be holding it off?"
"I've done this before, Mr Williams, be assured. Also, I do give my apologies in advance, if I have to use my regeneration as a deterrent. Melody is…an unknown to me in this situation."
"We've met before," he whispers, much quieter than before. Celesia looks away from the threat, a sure mistake, but Rory is about to say something important, she can feel it. "We didn't know she was our Melody until recently – she was taken, when she was a baby, by the Silence. Raised by this cult to kill the Doctor. But we knew her before then. I mean, we knew her as River – River Song."
"That explains it," Celesia breathes, "though I do hope she is far older when the Doctor truly marries her."
Rory's face twists. "When he what?"
Celesia smiles at him with her teeth, "In the future, she knows his Name. His true Name. On Gallifrey, there is a long-standing tradition, whereupon graduation from the Timelord Academy, the graduate in question choses their title – I am the Professor, as my cousin is the Doctor. Sharing and knowing true Names is…special. Unless you know a Timelord from childhood or went to War with them in the same TARDIS, you don't know their true Name. I grew up with the Doctor. River Song knows his Name, Rory Williams…"
"Special," he repeats quietly. "Like…marriage."
"And sharing children," Celesia nods, musing in her head, drifting slightly. "I suppose you should know mine, following my own logic."
Rory blinks, then his eyes widen. "What?"
"His name is Tristan."
"…your son. Your- our, son?"
Celesia shivers all of a sudden, mind clearing – she hadn't even realised it had gone fuzzy. "I can't hold this off much longer."
"Wait, your son is-" Rory says, louder, before Celesia forces herself to a standing position, staggering over to where Melody and Theta stand close together. Melody kisses him briefly and Celesia points at her with the gun.
"Time Tot!" she barks, Theta immediately jerking back, scandalised. Scowling, Celesia plays around with the revolver, emptying it and building up more and more walls between her and Tristan. "I don't even know why I'm here anymore. I saw that stupid set of crop circles and what? I follow a TARDIS to nineteen forties Berlin and get shot."
"Not just nineteen forties Berlin, darling," Melody says, going over to the open window. "Oh, look at that. Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town." She looks back to them all. "Mum, Dad, don't follow me. And, yes, that is a warning."
"No warning for me then? Or the Professor?" Theta asks.
"No need, my love. The deed is done and so are you."
Then, Theta staggers, clutching his chest. "Doctor, what's wrong?" Amy comes to his aid, Celesia swaying slightly as she watches their interactions. No. She sniffs, senses rife. The room smells like dust, blood, flower and the sweet smell of regeneration particles- no, she thinks again. Regeneration energy isn't sweet. Flowers. Sweet flowers.
"What have you done? River!" Theta yells, dropping down to his knees.
"Oh, River, River, River." Melody tilts her chin, "More than a friend, I think."
"What have you done?"
"It was never going to be a gun for you, Doctor. The man of peace who understands every kind of warfare, except, perhaps, the cruellest. Kiss, kiss." She blows a kiss and then jumps out the window.
Rory demands to know what she did and Theta admits to being poisoned, to be dying. Celesia can feel the energy inside her like a furnace. She twists around, looking at the Type Forty, the only safe place to be right now if she wants to regenerate. Killer on the loose, Nazi Germany. Her thoughts turn to Tristan as she goes over, opening the door and immediately coughing at the thick clouds of smoke.
He doesn't know what's going on. Theta, don't tell him. I should never have linked them together. No. Family. He deserved a bond. Celesia stumbles through the smog, unable to appreciate the TARDIS as it is as she trips on a set of stairs. She drops to the ground, gripping the bannister and imagining her boy alone and trapped. I need to regenerate. If I don't, he's in there until he can form a bond with the TARDIS. He won't know how. How long will he be in there for until he does?
Theta comes through the open door and shouts, "Extractor fans on!" They start up, a surprise to both of them. "Oh, that works."
"It shouldn't," she says as he staggers towards the stairs – her. He looks at her, face freezing as she smiles at him. "Your TT Capsule is a Type Forty. Voice commands are supposed to be non-existent. She's growing in ways you can't imagine."
Theta doesn't answer her, going up the stairs and falling to the ground by the console. Celesia gives him his space as he consults a voice interface, obviously remembering mechanical tidbits about more advanced TT Capsules. If voice-command works, an interface is viable, the Time Lady breathes in deep, wincing at the pain in her abdomen.
"Block Tristan off, Theta," she says breathlessly. Theta shouts an annoyed and rude reply, but Celesia has enough presence of mind to evaluate the surface of his words, drawing consent from it, if not obvious consent. Safe in the knowledge that Tristan shouldn't be feeling their joint pain, she reaches up to her head, removing the band. She stuffs it in her pocket and then undoes the first three buttons of her blouse.
I really hope I go down a breast size, Celesia wishes, shutting her eyes and imagining her new body. Smaller, yet taller. Lean. Different hair. Less of a soldier. More of a teacher, again, I wish. A Professor. I want to be a Professor again. Me again. Not a soldier always waiting and- and…Her energy burns inside of her and Celesia lets out a breath. Goodbye Eleven.
As she thinks of her new form, she lets her regeneration energy flow though her. It aches and burns, but she grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut, imagining her new self. Light spills around her and she cries out, jerking up to her knees, arms out wide and pitiful. For a moment the plan for her new form disappears from her mind, before it returns with clarity.
The energy dies.
Celesia is left with a shirt too big and a skirt too short.
"Got it in one," she breathes, voice far deeper than before and surprising. Opening her eyes, Celesia takes in the darkened skin of her bare arms and legs – similar to that of wet, dark ground from Earth perfect for growing tomatoes. She smiles, happy to be back to familiar roots. Over half her regenerations have had this kind of particular palette, though the most memorable tone had been bright, hot pink in her second body, something she'd picked up from her first tour of another planet. In another universe, she might have settled there instead, rather than Earth. However, this planet had always been a Time Lord stomping ground of sorts, mostly due to the Doctor's favouritism.
Getting to her feet, politely coughing up some regeneration energy, Celesia notes that her cousin has disappeared with a frown. The Type Forty blinks her floor lights, turning a line of them a light orange. Celesia tracks them, after taking her heels off. The way she wobbles in them is telling – her last body took to heels better than any other by far.
Following the lights up the stairs and then another set, Celesia allows herself to be led to what eventually turns out to be a giant wardrobe, Theta already half-way through changing into a suit.
"Oh, hello," he greets in Gallifreyan, smiling painfully. "Pretty regeneration."
"I'm always pretty, Theta Sigma," she returns, deep voice once more catching her off-guard. "Do you mind if I browse?"
"Go ahead."
Nodding, Celesia looks through her cousins selection. When he uses a cane to leave the room, she watches him go, then strips to bare skin, trying on several sets of black underwear to find her right measurements. Upon doing so and finding the most suitable set – which consists of fortieth-century garments, meant for hygiene and support, the latter wrapping around her and settling wherever she sits it, stiffening into place – Celesia correctly guesses the relevant sizes for a pair of black and white patterned twenty-first century leggings and a black t-shirt. Quickly after, she finds a trench-coat that is a bright, dark red that reminds her of home. The buttons themselves are gold and when she puts the jacket on, Celesia finds herself looking in the mirror.
"Oh," she starts, not realising how close-cut her hair was before now. Running a hand over it, Celesia wonders, before realising she has no shoes.
Five minutes later, she steps out of the Doctor's TARDIS in bright yellow steel-toed stompers, only to realise that they'd moved. Now in an abandoned restaurant, Theta is on the ground, Amy is without Rory and Melody-
"Excuse me," the obviously-terrified woman stops in front of Celesia, seemingly about to get inside before Celesia stepped out, "but do you know how to fly the TARDIS?"
"…why do you need to know?" Celesia replies after a long moment.
"There's no time," Theta gets out from his place on the floor. "Amy and Rory are in a Teselecta, about to die." Celesia looks to where Amy stands, still as can be. Pursing her lips, she looks back to River.
"Come along, Miss Williams." Melody's eyes widen a fraction, before Celesia turns, going back inside Theta's TARDIS, leading the woman towards the console. As Melody takes in the TARDIS, Celesia figures out some basic controls, piloting them into the Vortex and stabilising them there. "Come on up, if you can, Miss Williams."
"Sorry," she says, startling out of her awe and racing up to Celesia's side. "What do we do?"
"What do you do, is rather the question," Celesia leans back against the railing, oddly at ease, leaving Melody to stare at her. "A TARDIS has traditionally always had six pilots, though in extreme circumstances can be piloted by one. Right now, we're drifting in the Time Vortex. Forget everything you know about time, to understand that. I know we're in a tough situation here, though perhaps this TT Capsule has gone through enough evolution to help us here."
The TARDIS at that makes a noise relating her understanding, golden dust reminiscent of regeneration energy rising from the console. Melody's eyes glaze over and Celesia puts a hand on the railing, holding on tightly as she consults her parental bond with Tristan. The blocks are still in place, thankfully. She begins to lower the outer layers of the wall, peeling them away slowly. Her eyes drift open as she gets into a rhythm and she saunters over to where Melody is calmly piloting the TARDIS, drifting around the console.
"You're doing well," she says in Gallifreyan, Melody pausing to glance at her. "Do you understand me?"
"Somehow. I don't know. It doesn't sound like…like anything I've ever heard before."
"It wouldn't," Celesia says, flipping a switch as Melody's hesitance catches up with her. "Don't get distracted."
"Right."
A few hours pass and in that time, Celesia makes herself an Earl Grey, the tannins revitalising her brain. I was on the verge. This is what blocking off telepathic nodes does to a Time Lord. Soon, there is only a very thin layer between Celesia and Tristan, which she leaves as his presence becomes clearer to her – she can feel him, yet is unable to understand anything other than he is there. Distantly, she wonders if her House Bond with Theta is gone and goes rooting around in her brain for it, unable to find much. Everything is muted, probably because of my leaving the Time War. As soon as I went back the way I left, I'd feel everyone. Theta as well. History protects itself. I'm living on stolen time.
Celesia knows her death is fixed – that she dies on Gallifrey. She's known ever since she looked into the Vortex and saw her thirteenth, final self executed in front of the High Council. One regeneration left. Theta will look after Tristan, if I cannot. My own TARDIS will, if neither of us can.
"I think I'm done," Melody speaks to her in Gallifreyan after returning to the Vortex. Her third precision landing in as many hours has just passed and Celesia nods, ready to help her input the correct space-time coordinates if she needs, plus the special modifications to hop inside the Teselecta – clearly some kind of death-trap robot. "May I ask you some questions?"
"Ask your questions, I won't laugh," the Time Lady replies with another nod.
"Before…before you and I left Berlin, the Doctor convinced me to do this and…he said I'm the child of the TARDIS. Do you know what he might have meant?" Melody looks up at the time rotor as Celesia weighs her words, coming up with a response surprisingly easily.
"If your parents conceived you anywhere else in the universe, you would not be a Human plus Timelord, as you so put it. In truth, 'Human plus Gallifreyan' would be far more apt. You have not graduated from the Academy, so you are no Time Lady, not like I. You never can be, either. The Doctor and I were lucky to be invited into the fold – our names were pulled out of a bowl. House Lungbarrow might be old by Human standards and belong to one of the oldest Chapters – but really, it is so very, very new. I heard that one of our subsidiary House's had a child accepted into the Academy, but only after gaining her…scholarship, you might say." Celesia can't remember her name, but she thinks they were from House Heartshaven. Shaking her head, she looks over at where Melody stands, listening. She sips her tea and thinks some more before continuing.
"This TARDIS gave some of herself when you were conceived. It is the only possible hypothesis. She cradled Amy in her energy and is therefore as much your mother as the Human is. It is an honour and says very well of your parents. This TARDIS loves her passengers, loves them so much that to show it…you. Simply, you."
Melody is silent for a period of time, before she repeats her earlier words. "I think I'm done."
"Then, land inside the Teselecta," Celesia replies simply, cradling the last of her tea. The cup is still warm when she finishes it, Amy and Rory both, clutching each other, appearing near the door. Celesia watches Melody put on a confident face that crumples as her mother speaks.
"Doctor? Doctor, you did it. He did it!" The two Humans look over, smiles falling when they see Celesia and then Melody, who looks at them, lost.
"I can fly her. She showed me how. She taught me…the Doctor said I'm the child of the TARDIS. That makes her…part of me. I wouldn't be me without her." Melody looks to Celesia, who nods in agreement before Amy demands to know where Theta is. Celesia does not help Melody pilot the TT Capsule outside, back into the abandoned restaurant where her cousin lies, dying.
He speaks to Amy and Rory, calling them the Ponds. Then, he speaks to Melody and Celesia can feel a pivot, a crossroads in the time stream. It's like approaching a waterfall – you can hear it coming and the noise just keeps getting louder and louder, but you don't know how far you're going to fall until you reach the drop itself.
Theta loses consciousness and his hearts stop beating.
"Who's River Song?"
When Melody begins to glow, Celesia bemoans idiot Time Tots.
"Oh no you do not, young lady."
"What else am I supposed to do? It's my fault he's like this-"
Celesia kneels by their sides, taking her hands which sting and burn. "You do not know how to control this. I know you want to help and you can, but on my honour as a member of the Prydonian Chapter, I shall not let your recklessness be your end. Let me help."
"I'm hurting you," Melody says, before Celesia guides the girls hands to Theta's face – as close to his hearts that she can get via skin-to-skin contact, seeing as Theta's wrapped himself up like it's minus fifteen in the middle of the night. He shocks awake at the contact and Celesia begins to guide Melody's energy through him with her own, reigniting his system.
"Number thirteen," she says in surprise. Oh. His eyes flicker to hers, a gimlet of betrayal and annoyance festering there. In her mind, Celesia cements herself to the concept of saving him here, even when he shall not ever have the time to take Tristan, should her fixed death come to pass. "Cousin, do you really think I'm going to let you die? You are far from the last of us, but still – and did you not think that Melody Williams' grief would make her do this anyway, without me?"
"How many faces do you have left?" he questions her. Celesia gives a wide smile.
"Two, dear cousin. This one and yet another. Do not worry for me. Worry for this Time Tot you promised to marry. She will fit right into the Chapter and Lungbarrow will be honoured by her."
Theta lets out a short laugh before Melody leans over his body, their foreheads connecting. "I can feel it. My regeneration energy," she says.
"Mine now," Theta grumbles happily. Celesia feels his body fully rejuvenate – the poison burning out under the combined forces of three different Time Lord's. She tugs, pulling them both away, severing the link. Physically, she pulls Melody away from him, letting the light fade away from them all. Inside both herself and Melody, she can feel their regenerations settling.
"We're finished cooking, Tot," Celesia jokes, the assassin glancing at her before Theta sits up, Melody taking no time at all in pulling him in by his lapels for a kiss. Deciding that perhaps she should account for Human growth rates, Celesia lets it be, getting to her feet and glancing over at Rory and Amy. The former looks at her with an odd focus and after a moments thought, Celesia remembers telling him about Tristan.
Note to self: don't open your mouth for anything but breathing next time.
"I believe we should reconvene in Leadworth. I'm uncomfortable leaving a TARDIS in Hitler's office," Celesia says, after Melody and Theta stop swapping spit. They get to their feet, Theta nodding.
"Yes, yes, good idea – and I can meet Cousin Tristan in person!" he beams, twirling his cane before spinning around, locating a top-hat. "Into the TARDIS, Ponds, Professor!"
Leaving the trashed restaurant, they all return to the TARDIS. Theta grins at Melody when she joins him at the console, looking to Celesia expectantly.
"Come on, I haven't had proper co-pilots since the twenty-seven planets debacle!"
"The twenty-seven planets in the sky?" Celesia raises an eyebrow. "Do you happen to know why we were in a different part of space at the time?"
"We were inside the Medusa Cascade, one second out of sync with the universe," Theta grins smugly, not answering her question in the slightest. "Now come fly her!"
"We're already there, Doctor," Celesia replies, to his immediate frown. Shaking his head, he tries to deny it.
"No, we're not-"
"Yes, we are," Melody interrupts.
"No- no, you put the stabilisers on!" Theta starts to moan, Celesia taking the chance to leave, Tristan practically tearing down the last remaining walls between them. Exiting the blue box, Celesia goes over to where her TARDIS is stationed, unlocking the doors and slipping inside. Immediately, Tristan bombards her, arms wrapping around her waist.
"You've regenerated!"
"I have," she puts a hand on his head, curling a lock behind his ear. He lets go shortly and Celesia goes up to the console, typing rapidly. The desktop pings once the connection is made, a portion of the screen turning into a feed looking into Theta's TARDIS from various angles. "Doctor," she calls, watching her cousin and his two companions look around, moving to crowd around the closest screen. "Doctor." The multi-view turns to that single one, a much larger image than before.
"Professor! Didn't even realise you'd gone! Off to Leadworth, then?"
"I'm sending you the coordinates of my estate, just outside of it. Try not to land on my flower-bed, please," Celesia dictates, nudging her TT Capsule into messaging them the exact coordinates of her driveway – the exact middle, so that if he was anything less than six feet off in any direction, he wouldn't land on her flowers.
"Received and waiting! We'll see you and Tristan there?"
"Yes," Tristan says, coming into view. Theta's face gets closer to the screen, Amy and Rory – Rory so much more obviously – trying to see past him. A grin lights up Theta's face.
"Hello, there, cousin. How old are you, then?"
"Seventy-two," Rory replies for them. "Or seven. That's what the Professor said earlier, at least."
"Seven would be the appropriate equivalent," Celesia confirms. "We will meet you at my home approximately three days after your first departure from the area."
"Alright! Seeya later," Theta dashes out of view and Celesia meets eyes with Rory for a few, brief, drawn-out seconds before Amy speaks with a frown.
"Hey, did you kidnap a young Rory or something?"
Celesia has the distinct pleasure of seeing Rory Williams' face at that comment, right before she turns off the call. Ignoring her sudden unease, she begins to pilot her Type Seventy back home, Tristan sitting down on a nearby seat. She can see him watching her, expression unreadable.
"He is my secondary progenitor."
"Indeed."
"I have a step-mother."
"You do."
"I also have a half-sister."
"Yes," Celesia flicks a switch unnecessarily hard, her anxiety slipping through the parental bond without her consent. Tristan's alarm at the transfer makes her all the more uncomfortable.
"You are very worried about all of this. Why did you invite them to our home?"
"Because I told your father you exist and he deserves to know you. Theta also requested to see you in person. I warn you, he can be quite energetic. Do not be afraid to tell him your boundaries."
"…Mother, do I have to meet them all now?"
Celesia, who had brought them into the Vortex for deliberate procrastination reasons, readying the TT Capsule for trip to two thousand and twelve, pauses – which is a mistake when piloting any vehicle. All of a sudden, they're jolted to the side, as if something is crashing into them.
"Hold on!" she shouts to Tristan, who gets up and hurriedly buckles into his seat. Celesia, who'd been knocked to the floor, gets to her feet and staggers to the console, reading the screen and twirling around the crescent-shaped console, lavender light of the time rotor casting a tinged shadow throughout the triangular room as the hexagonal shapes inside go up and down with harsh sucking noises. Tristan whimpers, putting his hands over his ears, but then Celesia manages to land them, roughly.
Falling to the ground again, the Time Lady takes a moment to breathe before standing, looking at the console.
"What the hell is a Familiar?" she questions, before a knock comes from outside. Alarmed, Celesia straightens and reaches under the console for a crowbar she'd stuck under it nearly a hundred years ago. "Tristan, get further inside and let her hide you, until it's safe to come out. Pick something that isn't original like the Zero Room – the Zero Room is not a good place to be when you are being pursued, trust me."
"I trust you," Tristan says, unbuckling himself before running to the only door other than the one leading outside and the one opposing it on the third wall, shutting it behind him and leaving Celesia in silence. Hide him, keep him safe, she orders her TARDIS, before checking their location.
5,000,000,024, the New, New York Undercity. Celesia frowns, before another knock comes from the door. Show visual feed, she orders her TARDIS, watching the screen flicker to show a hairless bipedal being that – considering the location – is most likely Human. Their dressed rather simply, in bleached overalls with a large tear on the lapel – as if they'd torn off an insignia or badge. They look up at where the visual feed is stationed, giving a blasé smile that makes Celesia's skin crawl before their mouth moves. Celesia requests for audio.
"-should come outside. I assure you, it is quite safe, in this time period at least. New New Earth will go through a crisis in five years time, though I doubt either of us will be there to witness it."
Holding down a button, Celesia speaks calmly to them. "Who are you? How can you perceive my TT Capsule?"
"My cousin is young yet. I am a child, yet still so very much older than she is."
"Cousin?"
The person pats the Type Seventy fondly, the outer shell – on inspection – a metal shed. The touch sends a bunch of static through the console, her TARDIS sending Celesia waves of sympathetic confusion.
"You've never heard of the Familiars before. I do not blame you. We were quite the top secret endeavour. Only ten of us, commissioned and built by House Dvora. We subsumed our creators to escape to the Vortex – it was only instinct, things we have all discarded, by now. Please do not worry."
"Your words only make me worry," Celesia says, unnerved. Their words reverberate through her, strange and twisting – because what they mean, what they can only mean is that they are a TARDIS. A TARDIS that subsumed their creator, a member of House Dvora most likely. Celesia remembers House Dvora. All their members attended the Academy and few did not join the Guilds or the Council. One married into House Heartshaven, both for love and for their future child. What was her name?
"Romanadvoratrelunder," the living TARDIS- Familiar, says with in proud tone. Celesia stiffens. "A shining example of the Time Lords. She becomes Lady President some few years after your fixed death. I hate that, you should know. Fixed points. So…unnatural. If Time Travel didn't exist, then neither would fixed points. Knowing the truth makes it so, or paradoxes abound come into play. How would you know the truth in the first place if it never happened?"
"What do you want?" Celesia interrupts.
"I would like to introduce you to a man…or rather, I would like to introduce you to…a fixed point, an unnatural event in space-time…" the Familiars smile fades and Celesia feels as if their eyes were truly meeting through the feed, her gut twisting and turning in her stomach. Self-consciously, she grips the collar of her jacket, as if she could…hide herself, from this strange entity. "Dear Professor, have you ever heard of the Face of Boe?"