ROMANA
Romana's eye lids fluttered, and then opened. Her sharp intake of breath sounded like breaking glass in her ears.
At first, she felt nothing, then a rush of sensations flooded her brain. One heart, weaker than the other, beating at an irregular rate. All of her limbs aching, spots on her arms, legs and back burning, and finally, the massive pressure, making it impossible to move, and difficult to take in breath.
Pain made thinking impossible. She could see only darkness, and couldn't move. She laid there for some time, trying to overcome the pain, to make sense of where she was, trying to do anything but lay there and hurt.
Finally, she was able to move her fingers. Pins and needles shot through her arm, adding yet another layer to her pain. Tentatively, she tried to move her toes. More pins and needles, but this time she was ready for them. She worked up the courage, then moved her arms, using them to push herself up onto her elbows. Her head met something with a sickening crack, and she thudded back down onto her back.
Somehow the blow helped her focus, and all of her other pain quieted to make room for this new one. She reached up and pushed against the surface above her. It came up and away from her hands with a hiss, and suddenly there was light.
As her eyes adjusted, she tried to sit up again. Her muscles were working quite well, now. Obeying most every command.
She looked around the dim room. It appeared to be a medical facility of some sort. Suddenly she thought of her misbehaving heart. Pressing one of her hands to her chest, she counted the beats. One, two, three.... One, four, two.... three. Oh dear. She was having a heart attack.
Romana's medical training wasn't extensive, and the equipment around her was unfamiliar to her. She wondered what her body would do without it's second heart. There were plenty of species that only had one heart, after all. Experimentally, she hit herself in the chest with a fist. No effect.
She pushed herself over the edge of what she now saw was some kind of sarcophagus. Her legs swung over the edge of her platform quite willingly, although she felt something tear away from the burning spots on her leg. Turning, now, she felt a pull/pinch at the base of her neck that made her cry out. A needle pulled out and clattered to the table. She put a finger to the place it left, and it came away wet with blood. She stood, and took a step away from the offending table. A step was all it took, and her body decided it didn't want any more surprises. She blacked out, and fell to the floor.
Romana awoke again. She felt remarkably better. Picking herself up off the floor, she took stock of her situation. Her limbs tingled, and her head felt fine. Her hearts, though... One two... one two... her second heart, the one on the left, was lifeless in her chest. There was a faint pain in her left arm. She walked to a wall covered in a pane of polished glass, and surveyed herself. A faint glow was coming from her chest, on the left side. Sadly, she examined this body. It would not be hers for much longer now. She was pale as a ghost, and her hair was very long and tangled. She admired the cheekbones and the strong brow. She saw burns on her arms and legs scab and heal in only seconds. There was heat coming from her now, and the yellow glow washed over her whole body. She grayed out, and fell to her knees.
New teeth. New mouth. New hands. Longer fingers, somehow. Hair, still long. Body- taller? She raised her eyes to the looking glass. A whole new girl looked out at her, but it was her. She smiled at herself. It was a nice enough smile. Her eyes, brown, her hair, rather ginger. She touched it, found it to be soft and wispy. She got again to her feet. Her body, utilitarian, she thought. Rather tall. She'd never really been tall before.
She started to think of how she used to be, who she used to be, when her situation came back to her in a rush. Rassilon had returned, and sent her away for "safekeeping." She had been put into cryostasis until Gallifrey was out of danger, and told that she'd need to resume her place as president at that time.
Rassilon had come back to Gallifrey in her time of need, and though Romana was the elected president, she had no chance speaking against a legend such as he. Rassilon was a clever politician as well, and in one deft move, took her place and made sure that the people of Gallifrey knew that he was a benevolent leader, and that she was incapable of leading during wartime. She had no chance to appeal this decision, and was shipped off that very night. Thinking back on it, she was surprised that she was actually cryogenically frozen and not just killed outright. Rassilon was no fool, and he was hungry for power. There was no way she'd be allowed to continue her presidency after the war was over.
Romana then went to the door. Had she been given a TARDIS, or sent into space in nothing more than a space skiff? Had she been sent alone? Her awakening seemed to suggest this. Perhaps there were others, though. A pilot? Mechanic? A TARDIS was meant to be piloted by a team of seven Time Lords. Surely they'd have given her at least that for companionship?
The door hissed open, and now convinced there would be others waiting as soon as she found the bridge of this ship, she cast her eyes about her room looking for clothing. She found none. There was a sheet covering the other table in the room. She snatched it, and wrapped it around her body. Then she strode out of the room.
"Hello?" she shouted, and laughed a little. Her voice sounded and felt different too. Regenerations could be so confusing...
"Hello?" she called again. No reply. The hallway she was in was dark, only the running lights along the floors were lit. She held her breath and listened. The only sound she could hear (apart from the four beats of her hearts) was a faint whoosh of air. Having no other leads, she followed it.
Lights increased, and it wasn't long before she found herself in a room that could only be the bridge of a TARDIS. Lucky day. She thought. The room was empty, though. She walked to the controls and was very glad that her time with the Doctor had taught her how to pilot a seven man TARDIS by herself. It wasn't a skill many Time Lords possessed.
She looked at the controls. She was skipping through time, seemingly on an algorithm, stopping only long enough to re-calibrate the destination. This must have been the program used to hide her from the Daleks. It seemed so simple. It also would have enabled the signal from Gallifrey to reach her if she skipped through time. The signal would surely have found her eventually. She was shocked and pleased that so much effort had actually been made to make sure that she made it out of this political exile safely. She wondered how much of this Rassilon knew.
She deactivated the algorithm, and set her course. Gallifrey, the moment that the signal had awakened her.
"Impossible." She whispered, looking at the readings on her screens. This was the place that Gallifrey should be, but there was nothing. No planet, no moons, only dust, and her familiar sun.
She fiddled with the controls again. Now, not just the time that the signal came from, but the place as well. It could only be Gallifrey that signaled her, she was quite sure of that. And it could only have been Althea, the technician who had explained the procedure to her prior to her cryostasis. Her bio-signature was the only one that could send that signal. If she was unable, her signature was stored in the Matrix, and would send the signal in her absence.
As the TARDIS flew, she reasoned with herself. It's possible that this TARDIS had a faulty location chip-set. It wasn't uncommon, and they did tend to wear down after a thousand years or so. She was probably mistaken about the familiarity of the sun as well. All suns look a bit familiar.
The TARDIS stopped again, in orbit of some planet. The TARDIS suddenly rocked with a sort of impact, and Romana was thrown to her feet. She was growing quite tired of that. Regaining her feet, she looked at the instruments. Earth? The Doctor's pet planet? Why would the TARDIS have chased the signal here?
And where was promised Gallifrey?
ASTER
The tour guide was happily talking about Tate Modern in her ear. Aster knew of the Tate, and had been excited to see it, but at this point, she couldn't even see the river anymore. Walking in the streets of her own home town, St. Louis, she felt most comfortable leaving the earbuds in and pretending to know where she was going. She knew that it was more dangerous than just asking someone, but after the reactions she'd gotten at the cafe that morning for simply being American, she was in no hurry to reach out to the locals again.
The street sign told her she was crossing Blackfriars Road, but as she had no map, that information was completely useless to her. She was also completely turned around, and had no idea which way was she was going. She considered her cell phone, but realized that she had no idea who she would call. She knew nobody in London, and her mother wouldn't be able to help. Possibly Amy, but Aster also had no idea what time it was over there. Amy could be working or sleeping, and either way, her phone would be off.
A train station! Perfect! She went into the building, and wrestled some money out of her jeans pocket. She bought her ticket and sat to wait for the train. A waste of a perfectly good morning, she thought.
It was day 4 of her two week adventure in London. No plan, really, just some walking tours downloaded into her iPod, and the whole of London in front of her. She had come for New Years, and as the last hours of 2009 ticked away, she wondered why she had bothered. It's as if she'd come halfway across the world just to prove to herself that she was alone. She could have saved money and spent New Years Eve at home, hiding in her room while her mother's bunco group got drunk on wine from a box and gambled fake money. As it was, she spent the night with her laptop plugged into it's charger, plugged into an adapter, plugged into the wall, drinking cheap champagne from room service (L14 a bottle, outrageous, and it was pretty terrible) watching first the fireworks in Sydney, then in China, then in London, looking out her window (which was quite nice, actually), and then fell asleep. Her cell phone alarm awoke her in time to wish her mother a Happy New Year, and she sent a text to Amy, then slept a bit more.
What an exciting way to ring in a new decade.
As she sat, she overheard some people talking about the earthquake from the night before. Earthquake? She thought. Curious, she went to the newspaper vendor in the station, and scanned the headlines. She picked a likely candidate up, and asked the cashier "How much?"
"Forty five P., missus." She smiled and handed the man the change. "Don't listen to a word of that, missus. It's full of lies."
Aster laughed. "Just like papers from home. Thanks! And happy new year!"
"To you too, missus. Take care."
She took her paper back to her seat and glanced again at her watch. The train was supposed to arrive in only 10 minuets. She scanned the front page of the paper, reading about the earthquake the night before. Currently the scientific community had no leads, but the editorial staff suspected it was the work of the Germans. Aster raised an eyebrow.
A strange sound made her look away from her paper. It was a whooshing sound, but it didn't sound like any train she was familiar with. It wasn't the train. She shook her head and glanced around again. Nothing out of the ordinary. She rustled her paper, and went back to reading. A woman a few years her senior came out of a nearby restroom that had escaped Aster's notice, and sat a seat away from her. Aster checked her watch. Still 8 minuets left. Plenty of time. She folded the paper and made a beeline for the newly vacated restroom.
"Wait- miss! Wait, where do you think you're going?" The red-headed lady from the bathroom was coming toward her. Aster continued walking, and put her hand on the doorknob to the restroom.
"I'm using the facilities. If you don't mind, that is." Aster flinched a little when the woman put her hand on her shoulder. The woman was taller than she was, and dressed rather oddly, in cartoonishly bright colors. Her red hair was clean, though, and she looked too well kept to be a vagrant.
"I do mind, actually. Now, young lady, please find a different-" Aster paid her no mind, and pulled the knob on the door. She stepped inside, and pulled away from this strange woman's grip. The room itself made her do a double take on the door she still held open. The international sign for a ladies rest room was on the door, but this was no ladies room.
Aster stepped further into the room. It boasted a high ceiling and marble floors. Walls of green and blue glowed like crystal all around, and there was a raised platform in the center of the room. "What the..." She reached out to touch one of the glowing buttons on the structure in the center of the platform.
"Kindly do not touch that, miss, unless you'd like to end up in the 13th century." The strange woman from before now put both hands on her shoulders and attempted to steer her toward the door she had come from. Aster deftly moved out of her grasp, and put a column between them.
"Excuse me? The 13th century? What the hell are you talking about? And what is this? Unless London's train system is branching out into space travel, I think you've got some explaining to do." Aster thought for a moment that she should just run out of here and pretend like she never saw anything, but this was the first interesting thing to happen on her great London adventure. And the door was still open, right over there. If she wanted to bail, she still had the option. She edged a bit toward the door, just to make sure.
The woman before her sighed. "Yes, of course. We're branching out. More lines to more destinations. Speaking of destinations, weren't you waiting for a train?" The woman turned her back on Aster, and started to fiddle with the knobs and dials on the console.
Aster looked at her watch. Three minuets to catch it. To go back to her rather nice hotel. She could even get room service, since she missed lunch due to being lost. Indecision froze her. She stood looking at the woman and the door.
The tinkling of her cell phone broke into her thoughts. Mechanically, she pulled it out of her pocket and used her thumb to open it. "Hello?" The woman straitened and looked at her.
"Weren't you just leaving-oh."
"Aster Langlia?" An unfamiliar female voice said.
"It's Langley, but close enough. Aster Langley."
"Oh, um, yes. Ms. Langlia, a package has been delivered for you back at the Strand Hotel. Miss, I feel I need to mention that pets are not permitted on premises without previous permission. Besides which, the size of this animal is certainly not going to be approved..." The woman on the phone made a startled noise. "We will hold this package for you, but you mustn't keep it here at the hotel."
"What... what is it?" Aster asked, a little fear creeping into her voice. "I don't have any pets, ma'am."
"The man said it was for you, but the box- oh!" Aster could hear a knocking and an inhuman screech. "Ms. Langlia, I'm going to call Animal Control if you aren't here to pick it up soon. I'm very sorry." The woman disconnected the call.
Aster hit the release button on her phone and looked at it incredulously.
"Excuse me, did you say Asterlanglia?" The woman took a step toward her.
"Aster Langley. It's my name. The lady on the phone called me Langlia, though." Aster shook her head. "Who would have sent me a pet?"
The woman sounded alarmed now. "You have an Asterlanglia as a pet? That's quite dangerous, young lady."
"No, I said my name is Aster Langley. And someone just delivered an animal of some sort to my hotel room. A big one, by the sound of it." Aster shook her head. "I don't know what I'll do with it. It's not like I can take it home."
"I should think not." The woman stepped down off of the platform towards the door. "I'm going with you to see this package, I think."
"What?" Aster moved towards the door behind the strange woman. "Why?"
She looked back at Aster. "Because the coincidence is too outrageous to be one."
ASTERLANGLIA
Cold. Dark. Hungry.
So thirsty...
Something moving. Is it mother? Cry to mother!
Something made a sound. A food sound.
Hurts! Hurts to move! Where is mother? Mother!
ASTER
The woman was sitting next to her on the train, tut tut-ing at some kind of device. It looked kind of like an impractical cell phone. It was making soft beeping noises. Aster shook her head and looked at the woman.
Aster had felt the whole time she'd been in London that her clothes made her stand out as a foreigner. Back in St. Louis, she'd see people wearing jerseys, mostly Cardinals, but sometimes Blues and Rams, and she'd see lots of people in t-shirts with bands she was familiar with. Classic rock, and that kind of thing. Jeans were baggier. Men wore their hair shorter, women wore theirs longer. People were fatter. Nobody would meet your gaze.
Maybe it was a subtle difference, but it was one that made Aster feel like an outsider. Which was funny considering that she was an outsider at home.
But this woman, dressed oddly in a bright green pea coat and darker green slacks, and a clip in her hair with green, purple and pink feathers- well, they looked like feathers, but maybe they were leaves? She didn't fit in either. In fact, she reminded Aster of a female Willy Wonka. Aster felt camouflaged sitting next to her.
As Aster was looking her over, the woman turned to her. "I'm Romanadvoratrelundar." She stuck out her hand. "What is your name?"
"Romandavot- what?" Aster put her hand in the woman's automatically.
"Romanadvoratrelundar. I suppose you can call me Romana for short." She shook Aster's hand vigorously.
"Romana. Pleased to meet you. I already told you my-"
"Good, good, thank you. Now please tell me how you came upon an Asterlanglia, and how you managed to get it to agree to be your pet. And how you got it away from it's family group. I'm most interested to find out about that. I had thought it nearly impossible." Romana glanced down at her cell phone again. It had started beeping more insistently. "Closer now."
"No, see, I'm just staying in this hotel, and-"
"Oh. Oh!" The beeping was now joined by a light flashing. "You see, they do have a very interesting biological feature of skin that is similar in density and appearance to your local diamonds. I'm sure that's partially how they got their name, you know. Aster means-"
"Star, yes. I know what aster means." Romana looked up from her device at Aster.
"Very good." She sounded way more impressed than Aster thought polite.
"Yeah, I'd think I'd know at least what my own name means. Look, what are you talking about, they look like diamonds? I've never heard of any animal like that."
"It's an unusual property of the sun on their home planet. It hides them from prey and predator alike." Romana stopped her explanation to check her beeping device. "Hm. Oh dear." She tapped it with one finger, then a moment later, hit it with the heel of her hand. "Behave, you." It continued to beep dutifully.
"We're here." Aster said, and stood. The short walk to the hotel was making Aster have second thoughts about letting this woman come along. She was clearly crazy. She had some kind of secret base in a train station. Aster started to wonder if she hallucinated the crazy room, as well. It could have been just junk and lights, right?
As she was lost in thought, Romana's device started beeping more insistently. "Closer, now!" Romana said excitedly, and passed Aster in a graceful trot. Aster started to jog to keep up with her.
"Wait, my hotel is this way-" she kept up for a couple of steps, but stopped at the corner. Romana was going one way, and the hotel was in the other. She watched Romana continue to jog away for a second, the turned back to her hotel. A little relief came over her, as she made the choice. No more craziness for today.
It was only a block or so to the hotel. When she entered the lobby, she saw it. A massive crate, nearly 7 feet tall and at least as wide as her arms outstretched was sitting next to the front desk. The lobby was deserted except for one terrified looking woman, her back pressed up against the door to the back room. There was satellite radio playing softly, but the main thing Aster could hear was a loud snuffling, like her dog used to make when looking for one last morsel of food in his bowl.
"Aster Langlia?" Aster didn't bother to correct her this time. "You have to sign this... thing. The man left it for you." She pointed at a clip board sitting on the counter. "I'm going to just, I have to-" She scuttled through the door to the back room. It clattered shut, and the creature in the box moved suddenly. Aster thought of the raptors from Jurassic Park. She gave the box a wide berth and went to the desk.
The clip board held a shipping form. In the TO field was her name (misspelled). Aster Langlia. In the FROM field, LOCKCHASE LIMITED. Shrugging, she signed it. Suddenly the thing in the box made a noise, high pitched. It sounded like a cat howling down a wrapping paper tube.
She looked at the box again. It looked pretty sturdy, all things considered. The opening was hinged, and padlocked. She spotted an invoice taped to the box. With no small amount of trepidation, she approached it. The thing in the box was now making a high keening noise, still like a cat stuck in a laundry chute. She reached out and touched the invoice. The thing moved. It shook the whole box.
Aster was close enough to smell it now. It smelled a little like the dock where her uncle kept his boat. It reminded her of the Styrofoam that the dock floated on. Mildew-y and musty, and a little like whatever that green slimy stuff was that grew on boats and the dock. It wasn't a bad smell, but it was strange. The thoughts of home and good memories calmed her a little. She reached out and peeled the invoice off of the box. The creature inside didn't move.
The invoice stated that the box contained LIVESTOCK. Seriously? She unfolded it and looked at it more closely. Same information on the invoice. LOCKCHASE LIMITED and Aster Langlia. She almost threw it away in frustration, when something caught her eye. It also said 1 OF 2.
"Must be the key." She muttered to herself and cast a look around the front desk. Had they gotten it? She thought about the creature in the box, and how it probably didn't have any food or water in there. Aster may not have been interested in keeping the thing, but she didn't want to be cruel to it.
Behind the desk, she hit the jackpot. Yet another package, this one in a soft sided mailer about the size of a large encyclopedia was hiding under the desk. This one also TO Aster Langlia and FROM LOCKCHASE LIMITED, marked 2 OF 2. "Fantastic."
She fished the multitool her uncle had given her before the trip out of her jeans pocket. After burying it in her makeup case which was buried in her luggage, she was suddenly glad to have it. She cut open the mailer, and pulled out a white cardboard box. It opened from the top, and inside was a vial of some blue liquid, a hypodermic needle, a key and a small booklet, all encased in foam. She looked at each of the items, placed the liquid and needle back in their foam divet, pocketed the key, and started to flip through the book. At first, the book looked as if it were written in some kind of programmer's code, all lines and squares, but she blinked a couple of times, and the images resolved themselves into words she understood.
"Your ASTERLANGLIA will imprint upon you the moment you accept the packing crate for your safety. Please note that only the intended recipient of the ASTERLANGLIA should sign. If another person accidentally imprints, you can re-imprint the ASTERLANGLIA with the included vial of ImprintusolTM! This process is detailed on page 29 of this booklet."
"What in the heck?" Aster blinked again. Reading this was starting to hurt her head.
"Meeting Your New Friend" the next heading went on to say.
"Meeting your new friend should be a calm and happy experience, for both you and your new ASTERLANGLIA. Try to do this in a quiet environment with no other sentient beings around. You may also want to avoid letting your ASTERLANGLIA come into contact with your other family pets until they can be introduced to one another in a controlled manner. Please remember that the creature that you chose is a PREDITOR and will behave according to it's nature.
"NOTE: MAY BE AGGRESSIVE WITH LARGE DOGS, HANDLE WITH CARE.
"Open the crate door, and call softly to your new friend. You may at this time, give it a name, and it will indeed respond to it for the rest of it's natural life! That's just one of the benefits of using ImprintusolTM instead of our leading competitors."