Sleep…who needs sleep? Seriously I just need to get a bit more out and maybe my brain will let me go to bed! Happy Mother's Day to all as well.
As previously stated, I do NOT own either Babylon 5 nor Doctor Who. The first portal that opens to either world though I will be first in line!
The Randomizer on the TARDIS has brought the Doctor and Romana to Babylon 5. The Doctor is trying to figure out why the coordinates are impossible with what he knows of human history while Morden's masters, the Shadows, have noticed the arrival of the Timelord.
The TARDIS
"Doctor." The tone of voice immediately told him to keep plucking away at the wiring beneath the console. K-9 was still coughing occasionally, but he would get to him in a moment. Right now, the impossible read out was more worrisome.
If the Randomizer had made it so they could no longer tell where or when they were, it would be dangerous to dematerialize.
"Doctor." Romana was holding her hands on her hips or he would be having tea with a Sontaran.
The Doctor poked his head out of the panel he was working on to indeed see the blonde haired Romana standing firmly in the doorway to the inner halls of the TARDIS. She had cleaned up and changed clothes, although he thought she had been rather fetching before.
Now she wore a simple sweater with cloth pants, both of a dark color, he also thought he could make out a pale color of blouse poking above the sweater collar.
He smiled wide.
"I think you look fetching with that outfit Romana, just give me a moment to see what is wrong with the readouts." He ducked his curly haired head back to safely plying the circuits of his dear old thing. He had only applied the sonic screwdriver when he felt the stare.
He often wondered why his companions mastered this particular technique, saying without words to explain what had gone wrong. This time though, he was fairly certain he was not at fault.
The connections all checked out and everything was working perfectly, but the readout was wrong, the technology was wrong, and humans had no business being near Epsilon III in the 23rd century.
Using one end of his scarf to dab at the sweat on his brow, he closed up the panel and ran the readings one more time.
Relative time Earth standard 2259.
"Well, Doctor?" Romana was less angry it seemed. She saw the readouts and knew as well as he this was wrong.
"I have checked, several times, and the TARDIS is working perfectly. The Randomizer is also working perfectly, so I am left with 3 possible conclusions." He moved around and opened the scanner.
"We are on a human space station that was heretofore undiscovered that was missed by the Dalek invasions." One look told him that was wrong. The technology just in sight told him this station was a decent make for early space exploration, maybe a century after it began.
Running a few local scans he found no signs of things that should be there and a great many he did not know.
"Option 2, we are, despite being in working order, in some kind of recursive timeline that should not be here." Romana arched an eyebrow at him at that highly unlikely scenario. Technically speaking a paradox or other temporal event should have triggered half the alarms on the TARDIS and on Gallifrey.
The Doctor agreed that was unlikely but it was on the list. The final option made him swallow in concern. He ran the flight log on the scanner for the last option.
The data was flying at a speed he was used to, but really he was looking for the marker, and he found it.
There was an anomaly during vortex flight and the Randomizer had overridden the normal safety protocols of the TARDIS. He had made a horrifying mistake.
"Option 3, we have slipped between dimensions to an unknown anomaly and are literally in alternate time." The Doctor looked grimly at Romana and saw the fear in her eyes.
Normally, excursions into alternate time were only done as needed and at the careful control of Gallifrey or the High Council. Timelords had not been unknown to never return from such trips as some timelines had galaxies where nothing but death reigned.
Given the TARDIS was still working meant a high likely hood that the pathway was still open, but if it was natural they had to find it quickly. If it was unnatural, then they had to find the source and then attune the TARDIS for the return flight as they healed the rift in space and time.
"That readout says it was a level 1 anomaly Doctor, not even worth bothering, so why did the TARDIS fly into it?" The stern edge was back and this time it was his fault.
"I think we will need K-9 for this Romana, help me finish repairing him." Smiling his toothy grin, he turned from her and quickly diverted the conversation to their other companion. He had not lied, he really did think they would need K-9. They needed information desperately.
Alien Sector
Kosh was conflicted. There was much during this time that had him feeling as such. The secrets he kept from Delenn, Sheridan, and even his own people to an extent easily explained such feelings. This time, however, he was conflicted because an ancient accord between the enemy and the Vorlon could be invoked.
He had felt the disturbance and his ship confirmed that one had arrived if not precisely where. A Timelord was on Babylon 5. It had been billions of years since they were here last, and that had been when weapons of terrible power had been created that ruptured time and space.
They had thought themselves beyond reproach and even they had thought to stop the use of such weapons. It had been a surprise when the seemingly weak humanoids arrived in their variety of ships.
The Vorlon and the Shadows had learned that there were races beyond powerful in certain arenas. The Timelords had given them a stern warning and then negated the weaponry they had all created. The First Ones had sworn to keep to that accord.
Kosh knew why they might be here, but his understanding of the agreement meant the Great Machine on Epsilon III might need to act sooner than expected. Things were not ready, Sheridan and his crew were not ready.
Why was the Timelord here? Would the coming war actually be averted in a way none expected and what would that do to the last 1000 years of history?
He donned his encounter suit and went in search of the Timelord. It was agreed that the Vorlon would be the emissary if they ever returned.
If there was any sign of nervousness, none of the races on Babylon 5 would notice.
The TARDIS
It had taken Romana only a few moments to confirm the Doctor's analysis of their situation. The near disaster this should have been had been avoided somehow, but they could not be sure how long this would last.
The Doctor had gotten K-9 up and running very quickly and even now they were collating data from this space station while not drawing attention.
She read the summary they had pulled from the public records and she felt the hair rising on her arms.
The station was called Babylon 5, apparently the previous stations had not quite made it. This one had already been the center of several upheavals and was constantly on the edge of war these days. It was practically made for the Doctor to arrive.
Oddly, she could read the various text of alien languages in the Babylon 5 database. She accessed the TARDIS records and found an ancient entry on a major temporal event. This alternate timeline apparently had nearly caused a cataclysm with their technology, but none of the current races should have it should they?
She cross referenced the TARDIS entry with Babylon 5 and found a match, a single word: Vorlon. The entry from Babylon 5 was laughably scarce, but the TARDIS database was much more helpful.
A telepathic race of quasi-energy creatures. They could not block how they were seen by other races but this was a draining experience as the mental projection eventually would make them have to hide and recover for a time. Their natural appearance was something like creatures of earth that swam in the ancient seas.
"If they are still here, they would be incredibly more advanced, but then what is causing the anomaly?" She saw the scans from the vortex, and nothing there, aside from it being there, was cause for concern. It was being generated by an artificial paradox of some kind, but the readouts indicated it was well within safety margins.
"That must mean the current timeline only exist because something was taken from here to the past or future." Given the low level of the anomaly, it must be to the past.
"Got it!" She looked up and moved the loose strands behind her ear as the Doctor brought up the readouts again. It was not the station, but the planet it was in orbit of that was the source of the anomalous readings.
She saw the problem however.
"Doctor, we are too early, why didn't the TARDIS take us to where the anomaly was being affected by this planetary installation?" She saw his own confusion but then it cleared.
"Level 1, cursory examination without contamination. This is as close as we could get." Surprise nearly crossed her face. The Doctor usually only had a passing familiarity with analytical procedure.
Confront him with power mad conspirators or Daleks and he was a genius, almost mad she would say, but as with the Randomizer, safety protocols only came to him after it was too late to fix it.
"So we are done then? We can head back?" She was almost disappointed. This place was a curiosity to her and the Black Guardian was no doubt confused as to where they could possibly be.
"Don't be silly! It would be the height of rudeness not to take a look around, besides we are expected." She was very confused until she looked up at the scanner. A human male was standing outside the TARDIS.
He was almost nondescript if not for seeing the TARDIS. He should not be able to do that. The readouts blinked at her. Flipping a switch revealed he was not alone. Some sort of multi-legged creatures with triangular heads were out there. The 2 beings seemed to suddenly blend again, as if aware the scanner settings had changed.
She consulted the TARDIS database again. The name that came up this time was almost a paragraph of symbols. How would she pronounce that? She also did not like what she saw on this entry. They were as old as the Vorlons, so why were they not in the Babylon 5 database?
"Doctor, he is not alone out there." She saw him donning his long coat and plopping the hat on his head.
"Of course he isn't, otherwise how would he have come straight to the TARDIS?" He moved to the console and then paused. It was odd to see him be cautious, but the circumstances were tenuous at best.
"K-9, keep an eye on the TARDIS for now." She saw the little head droop as the antennae stopped swiveling, but he was advanced technology for this era. It would be dangerous to have him wander out for now.
The Doctor flicked the switch and then headed out to see their guest.
Morden thought that if anyone but his Masters had brought him here, it would be a joke. There was a beat up old blue box with "Police Box" in colloquial English on it. How it got here was a mystery but they had insisted on following what they called 'the disturbance' to its source.
Now they stood in front of it and it was something of a let down.
Then the door whipped open and the tallest man he had ever met emerged with a petite woman in tow. It was a night and day comparison at best.
Morden thought the blonde, elfin featured woman would blend well with the Lurkers or the Zocalo. In other words, she would be a simple traveler. The man on the other hand may as well be holding a sign saying 'I am insane' in bright letters.
He wore an impossibly long multicolored scarf with a long coat over pleated pants and boots with a cardigan. His hair curled in all directions and the inane toothy grin spoke of a man with no sanity left to Morden.
"Pleasure to meet you and your friends, I am called the Doctor and this is Romana. How do you do?" Morden was surprised at the friendly tone but his blood froze. How did they know he was not alone?!
He was stunned when they appeared next to him. They never did this unless it was needed. They also never did it in a public place like Down Below.
There were quick and sharp sounds flying in the air and Morden was not getting any of it. They were clearly agitated about something and he was not part of it. This slightly annoyed him, but he assumed he would be asked to convey messages here.
The 2 people seemed unconcerned with what they heard and after a point, the one calling himself the Doctor seemed to lose the smile.
"Doctor, they think—" whatever the woman Romana had been about to say was stopped by a hand from the Doctor.
"You seem well informed of what we are, but I am afraid I am not here for you. We will simply take a look around this place and confirm what my TARDIS has detected. Once we are satisfied we may inform you when we leave. Is that satisfactory?" Morden felt the hair rise on the nape of his neck.
They could understand the Shadows?!
What was more, the insane tone had been replaced with a commanding voice. Where he had judged the woman as being in charge, he now felt the Doctor was. He also felt something from his Masters he had never felt before, fear.
They made a quick response and then vanished back under their cloak. They then left him with the strange people.
The Doctor looked at the human in front of him. He had clearly not followed the conversation but expected to be involved. Clearly he was some kind of subordinate of the creatures. They also rubbed him the wrong way but their message had been clear enough.
"Welcome emissaries of Gallifrey. We are pleased to see you and assure you we have kept to the accord. The Vorlon are also here and can confirm this for you. Please come with us and we will show you all that has happened since you were last here."
The tone is hard to pick up from more complicated alphabets like theirs, but the clear hatred of Vorlon got through to him. He also knew danger when faced with it and those creatures reeked of it.
It would be best if they never learned this was an accident. Also what was this accord they spoke of?
Mentally shrugging, the Doctor smiled at the human who stared coldly back, and then he took Romana to the closest lift. They needed somewhere more lively and also, they needed to get a better idea of who they just met.
He likely would never get to come back here again, so it was time to see this impossible station, Babylon 5.
