Saga 2, Episode 1, Part 2: Omni TARDIS.
"What is this?" Gene couldn't help but marvel. As Snickersnack led them through a door, that most certainly WASN'T the hallway it was earlier. Both Piccolo and Grunt looked unphased by the change of location. Used to the idea of "Pocket dimensions".
Gene had found his way back to Hilda... mostly by accident. However, Hilda insisted he make himself useful, and join the team in an attack against a pirate vessel.
Snickersnack shrugged. "It's an Omni Class TARDIS."
Gene had heard Legends about those teleportation Vessels. Supposedly they could even travel through time. While normally he'd be skeptical about that... this was already impossible, so he could extend his disbelief a tad further.
Turning around, Gene was shocked to see a swirling vortex of energy... in a door frame... not leading back to the Bar they were in, mere moments ago.
Reaching his hand towards it, Hilda snagged his wrist. "Good way to lose your hand." She smirked. "That's a one way portal." Gene gulped and stepped away from the portal, and Hilda quickly closed the small double doors. "Don't worry, the other portals are 2-way."
She gestured around the control room. At the 7 walls, each with 6 doors, of various designs and colors. With a tower like staircase, in the center of each wall. While the wall they just came through, had a 7th door, instead of a staircase.
"This one is just directly connected to the dimensional keys," Hilda pointed at the key in Snickersnack's hand. Just before he put it back into a seal on his palm.
Looking around the control room in awe, Gene let his curiosity ran wild. Swallowing, he asked. "What's the difference between an Omni Class, and a regular TARDIS?"
"Misfit?" Snickersnack casually muttered to the Circular Console. As he continued to push buttons. "Mind giving the space cherry a crash course in how you work?"
A hologram suddenly appeared... of a beautiful older woman, with brown wavy hair. "Yes I mind, but I'll do it anyway."
Snickersnack smiled fondly, "I appreciate it all the more." As he worked at a console with Hilda, looking for the perfect place to board the pirate ship.
The Hologram rolled her eyes, and Gene realized this must be the Ship's computer... sassy little thing. "The gist is," she went too explaining. "I don't have a singular Anchor. Instead, my crew each have a key, that works on any door, that opens to a Gateway dimension. Which is in-between the infinite universe of the Omni-TARDIS, and anywhere in the 42 Cosmoses.
"You ever see 'Monsters Inc'?" A ship making ancient movie references? "With that conveyor belt of infinite doors. An Omni TARDIS has one of those. Only their is one for every door, in every universe, in every Cosmos.
"A downside, from my perspective, is you can't even Time Travel with it. You can only go to the present day, where choices are made. Not any of the infinite futures or the cemented past.
"The Gateway Dimension we are currently in, is about the size of a Skyscraper. With multiple floors, from engineering, to science labs, with each crewmen getting their own floor, as their personal quarters. Everything is self contained. So if the gateway is destroyed, the rest of the TARDIS is fine.
"Who's on your crew?" Gene asked.
The Elite suddenly stopped. "My crew is dead." he reminded.
Gene flinched, "You didn't have Time Lord's on your crew?"
"In my culture," Snickersnack was very clearly trying not to be offended. "A Time Lord is a seat of nobility. One that has too be earned. We are a combination of lords, generals, warriors, philosophers, and high priest. Gallifreyians are the species... and no, no Gallifreyian serves on our crews. Not since the last Time War... there aren't really enough of us to pair off.
"Only the Time Omnians remain... and we each have our own Console/Gateway Deck thingamajig."
Snickersnack went onto explain. Once he started he couldn't stop. Ignoring his work, in favor of explaining things. "We recruit our own team of mortals, and let them decide how we protect the Omni-verse. We serve at their pleasure, although the final call is ours... we are old, and can't really relate to mortals... so we travel with average people, to act as our conscience.
"It's rare for me to regenerate, as I just 'load', through my Gamer powers. But sometimes i have no choice but to allow it... usually dealing with fixed points and the fates directly influencing my own future...
"When my crew died... I spent a month trying to prevent it... but it was part of my own personal destiny, and couldn't be defied.
"Whenever a Time Omnian regenerates, we regress into the age we Bi-Generated. So I'm not even 10,000, biologically. hell I'm not even 3000.
"I'm only the human equivalent of 17! It's all kinds of embarrassing. Especially, after being allowed to grow up after the penny colony
"Snickers," Hilda warned, her voice a dangerous silk, and the middle-aged-boy flinched. "You're rambling, let your ship answer the space cherry's questions."
"I think I got more info then I can handle." Gene swayed, temporarily forgetting to get mad over being called a cherry.
