Behind Constant's Name

For the next few hours, Constant watched the video records from the time probes he had gone back in time to bury and receive signals from. He thought about what had recently transpired at the same time…Fluttershy did seem certain that Jethrek could be more than he was. He stopped reviewing the probe records and switched to historical records on the Daleks. He recalled reading somewhere that the Doctor had unwillingly helped them run an experiment on their own kind to find out what makes them superior to humans. He looked at that historical record. "Too bad I can't do that to Jethrek," he thought to himself, "Goodness, I should have taken my mother's advice to take genetics as my focus...given the genetic modifications she made on me before I was born. To think that all I know about the subject is what I need to know to understand myself." He kept watching and watching, moving on to other records of the Daleks. Finally, he stopped. "That's it," he thought to himself, getting out of his chair.

Jethrek woke up from the noise. "Report."

Constant sighed. "I've taken what Fluttershy said into account. I’m going to salvage what I can from your travel machine.”

That caught Jethrek’s attention. “Why?” he asked.

“I can use the parts to make another one for you. It won’t have ALL the features yours had, but it’ll at least let you move around…I’m not sure what else I’ll put in.”

“You would grant me mobility?” Jethrek asked, the tone in which he asked it made Constant imagine a face that said “Are you serious?”

“It’ll give me something to do,” Constant said, “I’m an engineer, remember?”

Jethrek said nothing. Constant simply smiled and walked away to do what he promised.

For hours, he studied the remains of Jethrek's travel machine, as well as records that the Monitor had somehow collected during the Time War about the current design. Obviously, the emergency temporal shift system was unsalvageable, since Jethrek attempted to use it to escape in a universe that was not compatible, so he put that system aside for disposal, probably to reprocess the metals for something else.

He then started organizing the parts into three categories;

1: parts that he would use,

2: parts that he would not use,

3: parts that he might use, and if he did, would modify to be less powerful, i.e., weapons.

After organizing the parts, Constant started making a list of what to make from scratch for the new travel machine, including two grab arms to replace his weapon and suction manipulator. It then occurred to him that if that was all Jethrek had, he wouldn't be able to defend himself that well. He decided to worry about that later.

He then realized that not all the materials he would need would be available to him from the Monitor alone. He would have to go out and get some. "Unless..." The Monitor still had a complement of torpedoes. If he was to dismantle them, he could use the materials that remained to make what he needed.

With all this in mind, he started drawing out plans for the new travel machine. The outer shell would have a shape close enough to the original to hold Jethrek...It was a travel machine, so obviously it would be mobile…it would fly…it would have to have an alternative form of sensors, save for the visual scope, of course...He found that the visual sensor was still intact, so he decided to add it as it was to the new travel machine. After drawing out the plans, he started disconnecting and cutting out components needed for the suit. He was glad to have his laser screwdriver for that.

Jethrek got impatient. He tried to wiggle himself out of the life-support system but to no avail. He saw Constant enter the room with the weapon parts he was going to dispose of. “What are you doing?!” he demanded, startling Constant.

Constant caught the one warhead that fell off the pile he was carrying. “Be CAREFUL, JETHREK!” he yelled back. “Are you just LOOKING TO BLOW YOURSELF UP?!”

“I wish I could die anyway,” Jethrek stated.

“Excuse me?” Constant snarled, “I’m doing you a favor. Don’t waste it.”

When Constant went back to the main control room, he put the warheads down and checked the power levels. His plan was to drive the Monitor off-planet to the edge of the solar system. Thankfully, the Monitor had gathered enough power to do just that and return back, so he set a course and executed it. At the edge of the solar system, he set a timer on the warheads, opened the entrance, and threw them out. He got some distance to make sure that they all went in the explosion…

BOOM!

Thankfully they all did. That ensured that no one could use them should the situation have arisen. All that was left now were the propulsion tubes for the torpedoes. There was enough metal to ensure that Constant didn’t have to go out and mine for metal from Earth.

After returning the Monitor to Golden Oaks Library, Constant took all the materials he needed and started cutting, drilling, wiring, and building. He put up with Jethrek’s ranting through the whole construction operation. Days passed, and all his hard work paid off. Three things were left, and they were installing the operating system in the onboard computer, as well as the life support system and the speech processor. But in order to do that, he would first have to study how the original computer worked, which he did.

Sometime later, Constant was pushing the new travel machine to the lab to be programmed. Jethrek woke up to see what Constant had made. "What is that?" he asked.

Constant turned the machine’s head towards Jethrek and lit the speech indicator as he spoke in his tonality. “This is your new travel machine.” The new travel machine was crude, but it was close enough on the outside to the average design of the Dalek travel machine. One of the most noticeable differences was that there were no sensor spheres on the body, but rather "bowls" that worked like satellite or radar dishes that sunk into the body. Another was that the speech indicator was not two lights mounted like antennae on the dome, but rather a single light in a translucent section on the top of the dome.

“I will be traveling in THAT?” Jethrek asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Constant said, “so be glad I made this, otherwise you won’t be able to move at all. I just need to install the main speech processor, the life support system, and the operating system in the suit.”

Jethrek paused… ”Very well,” he said, his eye rolling up in doubt.

Constant rolled Jethrek's life-support container close to the console where he would program the suit. After connecting wires from the suit to the speech processor in the container, as well as the life-support system, he quickly wrote the operating system. Having finished that, he connected a cable from the computer he was using to the travel machine. The machine’s onboard computer beeped to life as it received the operating system. “Are you ready?” he asked Jethrek.

"You may proceed," Jethrek replied.

"Alright,” Constant said, “I’ll remove your speech processor first.” So he did, and installed it in the appropriate place in the machine.“Now comes the tricky part,” he said, “Hang on, now.” He took Jethrek out of the container and put him on a table. He quickly removed the life-support components from the container and installed them in the machine. He looked to Jethrek… ”Okay,” he said, “Here goes nothing, as I have heard humans say…” He picked him up gently. “The life support system IS online,” he said, “Once I put you in the machine, adjust yourself so you can receive from it again.”

Once Constant put Jethrek in the suit, he wiggled to get seated properly. He blinked once, looking at Constant… ”I am receiving life support now,” he said, his speech indicator lighting up with each word.

“Good,” Constant said, “Now, let’s see if it’s comfortable for you.” He sent the command to close the machine via the computer he used to program it. “Okay,” he said, “How is it?”

Once again, Jethrek paused...After 10 seconds he finally spoke. “Adequate.”

“Adequate is good enough," Constant said, "Now let’s run a diagnostic. Try turning the visual sensor.”

The head turned in both directions and looked up and down. “Visual sensor functioning properly.”

“Okay,” Constant went on, “Now propulsion. I gave it variable speed control, so take it easy as you roll forward.”

Jethrek rolled forward, slowly at first, speeding up gradually. He stopped near the door to the hallway and rolled backward. He then tried turning in all 2-dimensional directions. “2-dimensional propulsion is acceptable,” he said, “Can this casing elevate?”

“Yes,” Constant replied, “you should feel the control for that near your third left tendril. It also has a variable speed control, so be careful.”

“I shall test it,” Jethrek said. Like his test with the 2-dimensional propulsion, he started slowly and sped up gradually. He decelerated his ascent near the ceiling and descended slowly. “Acceptable,” he said.

“Now the arms,” Constant said.

“Arms?”

“I gave you two grab arms, each with three fingers. Try them.”

Jethrek looked down at his arms, extended them, and opened and closed the grabbers. “Where is the weapon system?”

“Oh yeah,” Constant said, “About that…I redesigned your machine so you can have interchangeable accessories. The weapon I will make for you is one of these accessories. It will not be lethal, however.”

Jethrek looked to Constant. “Non-lethal?!”

“You will be able to stun whoever threatens you…or even paralyze them, but that’s it.”

Jethrek didn’t say anything for about 3 seconds…”Is there a self-destruct command?”

“No,” Constant replied, “Besides, you’re just starting your new life.”

“A life you are forcing on me,” Jethrek said, turning his head away from Constant.

“It’s still a life!” Constant snapped at him, “Like it or not, we’re both trapped in this universe! If you really want to go out there and interact with others, especially the ponies, you’ll need to learn to go beyond the thoughts of hatred and superiority that always run through your mind! So far, I have found no means of returning us to our own universe! It may take years…Centuries even.”

Jethrek looked to Constant again. “And once we return? What will you do then? Kill me?”

“I don’t know,” Constant replied. “If we do find other Daleks, I’ll probably send you to them and run.”

“Run?”

“Yes, run.”

“Even at the risk of me exposing everything I have seen here?”

Constant paused. How could he have missed that? All this time working on this project and he had forgotten that they were enemies… “There went my good mood,” he said. “I made this suit for you so we could work together. Right now, all that matters to me is getting home. Back to our own universe.”

“And you would trust me to work with you?”

“Yes, Jethrek, I would,” Constant replied walking toward a console and typing into it, "For some reason, despite all the hatred that I have toward you, I would trust you to work with me. We may be enemies, but even you can't deny that we have the same personal objective."

Jethrek was once again at a loss for words. Why was Constant helping him? Why go through the trouble of making him a new travel machine? Why limit his functions? All these questions ran through Jethrek's mind. However, as Constant said, he could not deny that he wanted to get back to his own universe as well. "Correct," he said at last.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Constant said. "Also, I installed a remote transmitter in there, so if your suit runs low on power, just activate it, and I'll come to help you. It has it's own power source which is separate from the rest of the suit."

"Where is it?" Jethrek asked.

"It's a small box with a flip cover below your front two tendrils," Constant replied, "So just open it and press the button when you find yourself in danger which you can't get out of by yourself." He finished typing in the code he needed. "Okay. Now I've given you access to some of the Monitor's systems, but only some. You can review the probe records for one, and you can perform maintenance if need be. However, you'll find that other systems only respond to my touch, so don't try to steal this vessel for yourself."

"Noted," Jethrek said, "You said it has a temper."

"Right," Constant confirmed, standing up, "Anyway, come with me."

"Where are you taking me?" Jethrek asked.

"Somewhere you can practice moving and flying," Constant replied. When they arrived, it was indeed a large room. It was completely empty, with a few support beams here and there. "This is the largest room in the Monitor. There is absolutely nothing in here. No obstacles save for the support beams. I think it's the perfect place to practice using the propulsion system in your travel machine."

Jethrek went ahead and looked around. "Affirmative," he said, expressing his approval of Constant's idea.

"I'll set up a charging station as well," Constant added. "You'll need it if you're going to keep your systems running. I still haven't figured out how to make the power system charge by itself like the original."

"Very well," Jethrek said, turning his eye stalk toward Constant, "I will give you instructions on how to make it self-charge at a later time."

Constant nodded. "For now, practice," he said, "I'm going to continue watching the probe records for a while, so if you need something, there's an intercom panel here."

"Noted," Jethrek said as he turned to practice navigating in his new travel machine.

Constant smiled. He didn't know why he was smiling, but he decided to smile nonetheless.

The next afternoon, at Golden Oaks Library, Spike was nervously tapping his foot as he waited for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to arrive. He knew what he was going to tell them, but the problem was how. They had been working on their project about that meteor for several days now, and had been making good headway, but now he was going to close the project on them. He gulped. "I just hope they don't take it too hard," he said aloud.

"I'm sure they won't," Twilight replied, "Applejack told me that Apple Bloom already saw what was going on before our meeting last night."

"Well that kind of solves the problem," Spike said, "but even you know that nopony would believe any talk about aliens unless they were talking about novels or comic books."

Twilight smiled. "That's true, Spike. Don't worry, I'll help you if they take it harder than expected."

"Thanks, Twilight," Spike said, smiling. He walked to a table and sat down, again thinking about how he was going to break the news to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. His train of thought, however, was stopped suddenly, when he heard the door open. He panicked, thinking that it was the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were coming in. When it turned out to be Rainbow Dash, Spike sighed with relief.

"What's up, Spike?" Rainbow Dash asked after hearing Spike's sigh.

Spike looked to Rainbow Dash again, a bit nervous. "Well, uh...I'm still trying to think of how to break the news to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle that what they saw wasn't a comet or a meteor."

"Oh," Rainbow Dash said. Suddenly, the full meaning of Spike's words hit her. "Wait---What?!"

"It wasn't a comet or meteor," Spike said again, "It was a..." He looked out a window to make sure no one was close enough to hear what he was saying, and then directed Rainbow Dash away from the door. "It was an extraterrestrial vehicle."

"An extra-terrestra-what, now?" Rainbow Dash asked, confused by the term.

"He means an alien ship," Twilight whispered.

Rainbow Dash took a moment to take in what was said. Not believing it, she fell on her back, bursting into a fit of laughter. "Come on, you're kidding, right? There's no such thing as aliens!" She continued to laugh until she saw the dull look on Spike's face, and Twilight rolling her eyes. Her laughter died down. "You...You weren't kidding?" Spike simply shook his head in response.

"You should have come to the meeting, Rainbow," Twilight said, "The owner of the ship is in a tight situation."

Rainbow Dash stood up quickly. "A real alien?" she asked, "Real? This is not some fad that someone made to get attention? The genuine article?" Spike nodded at each of these questions. "Oh my gosh!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "This is big! Bigger than Daring Do running from a pack of jacka---!"

Twilight, who was just behind Rainbow Dash putting books away, turned around quickly and covered her mouth with her hoof. "Quiet, Rainbow Dash," she said quietly, "This is SO big that we cannot announce it to all of Equestria! If anypony else heard you, there will be unnecessary panic!"

"Yeah," Spike whispered in agreement, "a few science fiction stories I read agree with Twilight's statement. If it goes public, there will be so many different opinions that Constant will be in danger of being captured along with his ship...and his companion as well."

"'Constant'?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What kind of a name is that for an alien?"

"Don't ask me," Spike said, "He said that it was his name."

"Now I know you're pulling my leg," Rainbow Dash said.

Spike sighed, and walked closer to Rainbow Dash and whispered. "If you look outside, you'll find that there's an extra branch on the Library. It's not a branch. It's Constant's ship in disguise.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked out the same window through which Spike first noticed the extraneous branch. "That one?" Spike looked where Rainbow Dash was looking and nodded. "Can I talk to him?"

"He likes to keep to his privacy," Twilight said, "He implied that we should limit contact with him."

"He also said that we should act as if he never existed," Spike added, "We can't tell anyone about what we just told you."

"Too late," said a voice behind them. Spike's face turned blue as he recognized the voice at once. It was Sweetie Belle, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo behind her. "So, I guess we went on a wild goose chase with our project, huh?"

"Yeah," Spike said, nervously scratching his head, "I was going to tell you once you came."

"Oh?" Sweetie Belle asked, "And why couldn't you have come to the treehouse and told us?"

"This is very sensitive information," Twilight replied, "If it spread beyond those who know, the consequences would be severe."

"What a let-down," Scootaloo sighed, "I guess we can definitely cross 'meteorologists' off our list of things to try."

"Don't worry about it," Apple Bloom said, "There's still a lot of things we can do toward earning our cutie marks!"

"Yeah, but this was going to be exciting," Sweetie Belle countered, "To think that the meteor we saw was actually a---"

"SHH!" Spike shushed, "Not so loud!"

"Sorry," Sweetie Belle whispered, "A UFO."

"Ah, don't worry," Rainbow Dash said quietly to the three fillies, "I'm sure you'll get your cutie marks one way or another. It may or may not be as awesome as the way I got mine, but you'll get them."

"Anyway," Spike said, "I think I should fill you in on what happened."

"It might lighten the mood," Apple Bloom said, "Besides, I have my own bits to fill in too."

"Just don't let it go beyond the walls of this library," Rainbow Dash added, "Otherwise Constant will be in big trouble."

"'Constant'?" Sweetie Belle asked, "What kind of a name is that?"

"That was my question too," Rainbow Dash agreed.

Spike told Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders about what was discussed and explained in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. But little did they know that there was more behind Constant's name than they could ever suspect.

Jethrek had finished trying out the propulsion systems on his travel machine and left the empty room. He heard a high-pitched whine sound echoing the halls, and went to find the source. When he reached the lab, he found that Constant had several battery packs set up on yet another contraption he was building. "Is this the charging station?" he asked.

Constant looked up to see Jethrek's eye stalk pointed directly at him. "Yes, it is," he said, "I made a few more energy cells for your machine, too. I recommend that if you're going to come back and go out and do something in a hurry, that you just replace the cell."

Jethrek examined the new structure. "It is designed to extract my power cells?"

"As well as connect you to the Monitor's power before it does," Constant confirmed, "This ensures that the life support system as well as the OS still run while the cell is being replaced."

"I see," Jethrek said. He was impressed but did not want to admit it. "It will be useful to me until you build the self-charging power cells that my suit needs."

"Good," Constant said.

Jethrek continued to watch as Constant tested the extraction arms on the charging device. Deep down, he was thinking. While he did want to try to take the Monitor for himself, he knew that keeping Constant in charge would be the better option considering that all the higher functions were under his control.

"Constant," Jethrek said, "May I ask a...personal inquiry?."

Constant stopped. He looked to Jethrek. "Go on."

"Why were you given your name?" Jethrek asked.

Constant was astonished by the question. "Why are you asking now?" he asked.

"I was sent to retrieve plans for 'Project Constant'," Jethrek explained, "The Daleks believed that it was a weapon that the Time Lords were developing."

Constant sighed. "No, Jethrek. It's not a weapon."

"Then what is 'Project Constant'?" Jethrek asked.

Constant stood up and walked to Jethrek's old life support container, thinking. He decided to disclose the information because it's true nature would not be a threat to the Daleks, nor would it be a weapon against the Time Lords. "You're probably wondering if it was a coincidence that I got the name 'Constant',' he said, "It wasn't. 'Project Constant' is me," .

"You?" Jethrek asked, his eye stalk raising a bit to look at Constant's head. "I do not understand."

Constant turned to face Jethrek. "You know that every time a Time Lord regenerates, that he or she changes, right?"

"I am aware of that," Jethrek replied.

"I'm an exception," Constant said.

"Explain."

Constant sat down. This was going to be a long day-and-night combination of explanations, given he had already given a lot of information to six ponies at Sweet Apple Acres. "My mother believed that there was a way to prevent a Time Lord from changing completely when he or she regenerates. She ran hundreds of simulations by computer to test her theories, and they all proved that by re-sequencing genetic patterns to something more...repetitive, the only thing that would change during regeneration was the state of age of that person."

"State of age?" Jethrek was confused.

"You know how every person withers as time passes?" Constant asked.

"Yes," Jethrek replied.

"Well, that's all that would change," Constant explained further, "Every identifiable physical feature of a Time Lord with this genetic resequencing would remain the same. The change that my mother was looking for in every simulation is that the person would turn back to a younger state."

"So you are the result of the experiment?" Jethrek asked.

"Well, I'm not sure," Constant said turning back to the console he was working at, "This is my first life, so I'm not sure whether the experiment will prove successful or not."

Jethrek looked to his old life-support container. "'Project Constant'," he said, "I understand now. It would not have been useful to the Daleks."

"No it wouldn't have," Constant said, "It was nothing more than genetic cosmetics...so to speak. However, if it was something else, say, enhancement of strength, maybe, I'm sure you would have reconsidered."

"Affirmative," Jethrek confirmed, "Has anyone else been genetically modified in the same way?"

"No," Constant replied, "After the council saw the results, they told my mother to discontinue the project. So if it does succeed, I will be the first and last Time Lord to remain as I am." Jethrek just stood there, with nothing more to say. Constant looked to him. "Any other questions?"

"Negative," Jethrek replied, "You have provided all the information I need. If we ever return to our universe, and I reveal this information to the Daleks, I am sure they will lose interest."

Constant looked to Jethrek. "I'm not sure whether or not to call that comforting. After all, isn't it true that when Daleks find that something is not useful anymore,they destroy it?"

"That is correct," Jethrek replied.

"What also concerns me is that you may not be useful to them anymore," Constant went on, and Jethrek looked to him. Constant could only speculate that Jethrek felt true surprise for the first time. It became more likely to him when Jethrek did not say anything for about a minute. "Jethrek?"

"I should have activated my self-destruct mechanism sooner," Jethrek said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Jethrek," Constant said, "but consider this: if you did that, what kind of lessons would you learn from your past experiences? You wouldn't have that chance, would you?"

Jethrek pondered what Constant had said. "No."

Constant nodded. "It will take time for you to rethink your life up to now. When we get back to our universe, I'll---" He was interrupted by his console beeping. He turned to it and input a command to find out what the trouble was. "Temporal anomaly detected," he said, "Jethrek , go to that console, and use your knowledge of basic commands to link with Probe 7. I'll link up with Probe 8."

"Affirmative," Jethrek said, rolling up to said console. Using his grab arms, he pressed the appropriate keys to input the command. Together, they scanned the area between the two probes until they pinpointed the exact location of where the anomaly was. "We have found the coordinates of the anomaly," Jethrek said, "We must now investigate the cause."

"Agreed," Constant said, "But first, let's see if we can identify what kind of anomaly it is." He looked at the section of the map where they found the anomaly. "It looks like it's in the residential area of Ponyville." The graphics showing the anomaly suddenly disappeared. "It's gone. Jethrek, scan for residual traces in that area."

"I obey," Jethrek said.

"We're not on a Dalek ship, Jethrek," Constant said, "'Affirmative' or 'Yes sir' will do."

"Noted," Jethrek said. He used the console to do as Constant told him and the map showed the residual trace they were looking for. "Residual trace found," Jethrek reported.

"Analyze it," Constant said, "I'll do the same."

They scanned it using all methods possible, or in Jethrek's case, those methods permitted by Constant. When they finished, Jethrek checked for references in the computer databanks. He backed away from the console at the results found. "Constant, I have referenced the trace with all known time travel vehicles. The closest match, at seventy-eight percent probability is---"

"A type 40 TARDIS, right?" Constant asked, having received the same results on his console.

"Correct," Jethrek replied. There was a long silence as they looked at each other. "Only one person is known to possess such a vehicle," Jethrek said at last.

"I know," Constant said, his tone dark. He stood up, and walked to the hallway to get to the main control room. Jethrek hesitated at first, taken aback by the cold expression on Constant's face, and then started to follow him. When Constant reached the main control room, he did an even deeper scan of the residual trace. It showed that it was not the result of a shift between two universes, but rather two points in time. To Constant, that could only mean that the owner of the type 40 TARDIS arrived in this universe before him. He set up a link between probes 7 and 8 and established a visual link between them. The sight of a blue box was enough to tell Constant what he needed to know. His eyes squinted deeper as his mood turned darker. "So, you haven't had enough, huh?" he thought, "You had to bring your shenanigans here too, didn't you?..."

"Warrior."

Author's Note:

On the subject of "critical events", I believe that the events in every episode of MLP:FiM are critical events. Lessons are learned, experience helps to better understand those lessons, and they both help to prevent mistakes in the future.

For the most part, Constant will only be watching these critical events. There will be VERY FEW instances where he will get involved, if any.

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