//------------------------------// // 1.0 - Prologue: The Call // Story: The Silence of the Time Traveler // by Nolamancy //------------------------------// There was a green hill. There was a green hill, in a land so far away. Even time itself forgot its exact location. I floated there many years ago, lost in a sea of infinity; barely alive as I washed ashore. I struggled to breathe, and there she was. Her face. Her beautiful face. More beautiful than words can describe. A face that had hope, laughter, happiness, and so much more. Floating on the night breeze. As I watch her on the night sky, I see a pattern that stirs something in the back of my mind. I reach for it... but I pull away at the last second. I don't want to go yet. I follow her voice I float among those stars; laughing, euphoric, free from all care. It feels like an eternity, yet so much longer. Floating away, towards that green hill. "Konrad." We float in the wind, careless of the world around. There is light, but we can't see it; we don't care. There are screams, but we can't hear them; we don't care. There is pain, but we can't feel it; we don't care. "Konrad." On our way to that green hill, we stop. We don't know why, but we are scared. Something is coming. Something terrifying. Even the devil would be afraid. We look at each other; even without a coherent face, we can sense the fear in each other's eyes. "Konrad." The world turns red. We start to panic; terror spreads through both of us. I look around, and I see a red nothingness; soaked with fear. I look back towards her face, and I see horror. I see her, but in so much pain; everything being stripped away. It permeates my soul with absolute terror, beyond anything I can describe. So much fear, so much death, so much pain... "DEL'TEC NARR, A'BASSA!" [ASM: Wake Up, Knucklehead!] A high pitch scream filled the room. Where it anyone else, Ka would have thought it originated from a little girl that decided to be cliche when something scary arrived. But as it stood, there was only one person he could think of that could make a scream that high-pitched. And that was despite the fact he had quite a baritone voice. After a moment, silence had returned. "Seriously," Ka sighed as he shook his head, "You need to be better about getting woken up in the middle of a nightmare. I mean, even my shriek isn't that high-pitched..." "Nor is it the first time you've heard it," a slightly shaky copy of his voice replied, "But I'm pretty sure you let out yours MUCH more than I do." Ka lifted a finger to respond, only to put it down when he realized that he didn't have a rebuttal to that. After a moment of silence, the voice spoke up: "Ka," the voice asked inquisitively, "Why am I on the ceiling?" Ka, who was looking at the now-empty bed in front of him, turned to look up towards the ceiling. It was there he saw him; the one and only Konrad. Time traveler, serious child, and base pattern for himself. He sighed at the sight before him, before taking a deep breath in preparation for his micro-belittlement. "Because you forgot to change back to your normal form again. Not that I can blame you, given the fact that you were basically running for the equivalent of 2 marathons non-stop while carrying that child. Speaking of which, she's fine. I patched her up and dropped her off at her home. They give their thanks, as well as a small bottle of Tesellion Brandy. I also parked the TARDIS in Bekka De Narr, so no need to worry about those Graffiti artists. Speaking of which, what did you ever do to piss them off, anyway?" "Maybe it was because I replaced their spray paint cans with air horns?" Konrad replied with a meek, but devilish smile. "That would explain those newspapers. But how do you even accomplish that?" Ka muttered to himself. "Um, Ka..." Konrad began to ask as he looked down (or was it up since he was on the ceiling?, "How... do I, um... get down? Wait, why am I even still on the ceiling?" "I took precautions ever since the last time when you SERIOUSLY MESSED UP YOUR BACK AND I HAD TO DO THAT SPINAL REALIGNMENT SURGERY," Ka finished with a slightly accusatory tone. "I retrofitted your bed to be able to properly absorb a fall from the ceiling without inflicting serious harm no matter how you fell. I mean seriously, why did you choose this mattress? I get that it feels wonderful, but it isn't designed to safely absorb the inertia from a fall. Then again, what am I saying? It's a bed, not a safety net. Anyway, as to why you are still up there, I put some grab straps so I could have a conversation with you in one of your few vulnerable positions. You get very grabby when you are startled awake. It's also one of the few times it's easy to get straight answers from you. Plus, Sanny thinks you're cute when you're clinging onto the ceiling with a horrified look on your face." "Of course she would..." Konrad muttered as looked at his hands, realizing just how tightly he was gripping the straps; his knuckles were turning white. As he slowly relaxed his hands and released the straps, he fell back towards the bed. True to his word, the absorption system made the impact almost unnoticeable. While Ka was known to play the occasional trick, he would never joke around when it came to life or limb (figuratively or literally). "Anyways, which nightmare was it this time?" Ka asked. As he sat up, Konrad remained silent for a moment before he responded quietly, saying only two words: "Green Hill." "I see..." Ka responded quietly. After a moment, he started to say something, only to be cut off by Konrad. "I know what you're going to say, Ka. You're going to say that I need to let go of the past, that I need to let go of her. Do you think I haven't tried? Do you know how hard it is..." Ka put a finger on his lips, shushing him. "Actually, that wasn't what I was going to say. At this point, I've kinda just given up on giving you that talk. I was going to explain why I woke you up." "By the way, your timing on that was impeccable," Konrad interrupted. "You woke me up right before the worst part." "...Anyway, there are two reasons why I woke you up. The first and main reason was that you have been asleep for the past 18 hours. Seriously, when was the last time you slept?" "I sleep every night, what are you talking about?" Konrad said with a sheepish look on his face. "That's not what I mean," Ka sighed. "When was the last time you slept slept? As in dreamt?" "23 days..." "I'm sorry, what was that?" "23 days." Ka whistled. "No wonder you why you were so kaput. You normally go 7 and can barely last 10 without proper sleep. Just because your body is resting does not mean your mind is. What was the first thing you learned in Mental Stability Training?" "Sleep is the most important necessity that is often overlooked," Konrad responded timidly. Ka nodded. "Anyway, I would continue to lecture you, but there are... more pressing matters at hand..." "Meaning?" "Sanny is in the kitchen... making breakfast..." Konrad's eyes widened immediately. "Oh, cra..." Before he could finish, a loud explosion rang through the halls of the TARDIS. Multiple alarms started to go off, ranging from fire to depressurization and everything in between. "Goddammit," Ka muttered under his breath. Konrad took a deep breath. "SANNNNNYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" The kitchen was destroyed It wasn't like the last times, either. It was completely gone. "Welp, there goes the last of our repair resources." Konrad sighed. "I'll have to put in an order for more. Also, we now need more food as it has all mysteriously disappeared." "I wonder where it all went," Ka responded, turning his head to eye Sanny with a suspicious look. Sanny looked down, trying to hide her face. But despite her best efforts, Konrad was still able to pick up her trademark I-Know-I-REALLY-Screwed-Up-But-Don't-You-Dare-Try-And-Belittle-Me look. "What did you even do, Sanny?" Konrad asked her, somewhat flabbergasted. "You managed to destroy the entire kitchen. It looks like the site of a terrorist bombing." Sanny sighed, before looking up: "Well, I was kinda bored, so I decided to try and make you breakfast. I was thinking a classic: scrambled eggs and sausage. I put the sausage in the deep fryer..." Konrad interrupted her: "You normally make sausage in a frying pan, not a deep fryer, Sanny," he said as he buried his head in his hands. "It sounds like you are trying to make carnival food or something. Though to be fair, deep-fried sausages don't sound bad. I'm just not sure if they would be good. I would have to try them to be sure. But seeing as that won't be happening for a while..." "Are you two trying to give me a heart attack with your attempts to raise your cholesterol?" Ka groaned, trying his best to keep his composure. Sanny chuckled for a moment, fulfilling her schadenfreude with Ka's anguish, before continuing. "So, yeah, I put the sausages in the deep fryer. They popped a bit but weren't too bad. Ever since my last time in the kitchen..." "Where you burned off all your hair and I had to treat your head for second-degree burns?" Ka interrupted. Sanny shot him an angry look, before continuing. "Yeah, ever since then, I've kinda sworn off using the stove to cook anything. So I decided to try cooking the eggs in the microwave since it's the proper way to cook those burritos. The egg kinda... exploded..." "And since eggs by themselves wouldn't destroy the kitchen, you Sannied it," Konrad interrupted. Sanny looked at Konrad with a bewildered look. "Sannied?" "Konrad and I came up with a term for what happens when you get enamored by something," Ka explained. Sanny stared at them with a blank look on her face. After a moment, she shook her head and returned to her story. "Anyway, you know what my life was like before I came here; explosives were kind of my thing. Well, it was more fire, but explosives were also good fun. So I decided to see what else I could explode in there. I've heard that C4 was an explosive..." "Yup, she Sannied it," Konrad muttered. "Wait, what? Where did you even get C4?" "Remember that riot on Ottowa Solstice?" Ka answered. "But that C4 block was massive. How did that even fit in the microwave?" "Well, it was kind of a tight fit.." Sanny responded, "...but after some shoving, I managed to get it in there. I set the timer for 6 minutes then just stepped back. Next thing I know, I woke up to Ka treating me." "...Well, that would explain why it looks like a terrorist bombing; it basically was," Konrad sighed. "But, wait," Ka interrupted, "C4 is normally inert to microwave radiation. How did it get set off?" Sanny thought for a moment. "Well, there was this round thing with a large red crystal on it..." "She left the detonator in," Konrad said, burying his face in his hands. "And, of course, the detonator was a class 721482; the ones that are set off by specific patterns of microwave radiation. Just like the startup pattern on this specific model of microwave..." "Why did you leave it in there?" Ka asked, "You know you aren't supposed to put metal in the microwave." "I thought it was a part of it, but not the thing that actually set it off," Sanny replied innocently. "I thought it was like some peace gift in case a cease-fire was called so that all the work getting it to the place wouldn't be for nothing and they wouldn't need a designated person..." Ka promptly started banging his head into the wall. "Sanny, can we talk elsewhere?" Konrad asked her. "I have a feeling that Ka is going to be a while before he finishes." Sanny looked at Konrad, who was leaning on the main console and staring into space. Her head was a blender of emotions. What was he going to do? Would he lock her in her room? Would he banish her from the TARDIS? Would he condemn her... "Sanny. Stop." "Huh?" Sanny looked up at Konrad, who was looking at her with a worried look. "I might not be Helastar, Sanny, but I can tell you're starting to Sanny-ify this whole situation. It's not healthy to think about the worst-case scenario all the time. Sanny stood there for a moment, mulling over her options. The logical part of her brain was running through possible responses. If she started yelling to defend herself, it would probably turn into a shouting match; Konrad was known far and wide for his voice. If she stayed silent, Konrad would probably start becoming increasingly frustrated. If she stormed off, he would probably chase her; demanding to get an answer out of her. If she… The irrational part of her brain was sick and tired with the logical’s stalling, so it decided to take action. She sank to her knees and began to cry. It wasn’t the noisy, attention-grabbing kind of cry that you might expect from a toddler. No. It was a silent cry. She barely even made a sound. The only thing that showed she was crying was the fact that her eyes were starting to drip. She didn’t even know why she decided to start crying. All she knew was that the minuscule part of her brain dedicated to logic was hysterical. “Are you insane?!?!?!” the tiny little voice in her head started yelling out. You’ve gone and blown any chance you might have had to save yourself! She could care less about what would happen. She just wanted to cry. Through her bleary eyes, she made out the shadow of Konrad kneeling down in front of her. And then he did something no part of her brain could have predicted. He hugged her. He held her with a soft firmness that prompted her to return the hug. And she didn’t want to let go. Because this hug made her feel something that she had rarely felt before. She felt safe. She didn’t know how long he held her there, letting her cry into his shirt (though his shirt was starting to get quite damp). But it felt like she had just let out every pain of hers; every sadness, every fear, every regret. As she cleared her eyes, she looked up to his face. It wore a gentle smile, something which she didn’t really see Konrad having. He always seemed so… upbeat. So immature. So childish. To see him so caring; kindness literally radiating from his body (was that a caretaker thing?); it felt wrong. Not that she cared much right now. “You better now?” Konrad spoke up softly. Sanny wasn’t expecting him to act this way. This was an entire side of him Sanny had never seen. No, that wasn't true. She had seen it before, but it was never this prevalent and she had taken it for granted. After pondering his question for a moment, she slowly nodded her head. Konrad helped her to her feet and brought her to one of the benches surrounding the main console. They were… surprisingly comfortable. Actually, she had never sat in any of the chairs surrounding the main console. Though given the fact she spent most of her time in the core room, this was excusable. She sat there for a few minutes, debating whether she should speak up first. Then again, what would she even say? This was foreign territory for her; she had never exposed her emotions like this before. So, she decided to wait for Konrad to speak up. She didn’t have to wait long. “Do you know why you started crying?” he asked her gently. Sanny didn’t even know where to begin, so she just shrugged. “Was it because you were scared of what I might do due to recent events?" She instinctively wanted to say yes. All she wanted to do was to cut this conversation short as quickly as possible. She wanted to just run away and hide, especially when she was as vulnerable as she was right now. But something just nagged at her. Something she wanted to know. Hell, she didn't know what was bothering her. The Paranelli were... astonishing to her. She grew up believing that in order to survive, you had to be strong. No matter how tough things were; however much pain you had to endure, you had to keep a strong appearance. To do otherwise was a death sentence. But the Paranelli didn't have the same problem with predators that they had. Sure, they occasionally had enemies, but nothing that threatened them on a day to day basis. They were the opposite, really. Excessive strength was frowned upon; it often indicated that the person was not someone you would want to be associated with. Weakness, on the other hand, was encouraged. It was better to explore your weaknesses; understand why they are your weaknesses and build around them. Sometimes weaknesses could be turned into strengths. Other times they told you your limits. And it wasn't just the Paranelli. Even the Arianoks, a species that was just as much a dragon as she used to be (if not even more so). They had the legend of the Abbasaul; how the weakest of the herd often became the strongest of leaders. Maybe even he, the mate of whom she cared so... "Sanny?" Konrad's voice snapped her back to reality. And after considerable thought, she slowly shook her head. She was pretty sure that wasn't it. At least, mostly... Konrad looked at her for a moment; she could have sworn she saw actual recognition in his eyes (she would seriously have to talk to Helastar about Caretaker abilities again). "Was it because you felt useless?" ... Damn. How did he do that? How was he able to find out the problem on the second try? Wasn't the saying 'Third time's the charm'? She was the nail, and he just hit her on the head with a jackhammer. It didn't even seem right. And yet it made perfect sense. And as she began to think about it, she started to realize just how accurate he was. It went back to before she even came on board; watching helplessly as her mother shuddered out her last breath from a disease she couldn't prevent. A disease someone else had to save her from. And ever since then, she was helpless where her life took her. Cooking had been her last hope, and it seemed she couldn't even do something as basic as that anymore. The least she could do was work out a nod as the tears started to flow down her face once more. She had never cried this much before. Back home in her... original form, she couldn't even cry. And as she sat there, letting out her sadness for a second time, she began to see something in him that she didn't see before. It was beyond just recognition of her pain. It was understanding. He knew what her pain felt like. He knew what she was going through. And the Caretaker part of him probably just made that understanding even stronger. Maybe this is why people liked the Semi-Dragon Counselors so much; they could understand what other therapists couldn't. It just came at the cost of having no secrets. And as Konrad held her there, he said something that surprised her, and yet expected at the same time. "I'm sorry." As she looked into his eyes, she saw something she did not expect. It was... like a tendril. A link, rather, of emotion. Stretching from his heart to hers. Well, she didn't see it in the traditional sense of the word. And yet she did. It was strange. Is this what it's like to be a Caretaker? She had heard from Helastar that Caretakers can sometimes share their abilities, consciously or not. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it. But the link didn't just let him see her emotions. It also worked the other way. And even though she couldn't differentiate much of what she saw, she could see his mood, his emotions; hell, she could even hear his heartbeat... Wait, no. That was just Ka banging his head against the wall. Was he okay? And while she couldn't make out much, she could make out one thing very clearly. He felt guilt. A guilt that was consuming him. It was almost overwhelming everything else. It was strange. The shared Caretaker abilities allowed her to see how this guilt was formed. It was just a worry for her for a while. But when she began to cry not too long ago, it started to evolve into guilt; guilt and/or failure to help her. But there was more. Something that couldn't be seen over that link. So she asked The Question™: "Why?" Konrad tilted his head in confusion. Sanny sighed. He really was oblivious sometimes, wasn't he? "Why am I worth it to you? What about me makes you care so much?" Konrad was silent for a moment; staring off into space for what felt like an eternity to Sanny (AKA 28 thumps of Ka's head) before he finally responded. "Sanny, the two of us have had to deal with nearly identical circumstances. We both lost what we called our lives due to a disease that might as well have been created by Garratatt Bassell. We've both had our lives transformed by a civilization greater than what we could have imagined at the time. And we both are prisoners to what gave us our new lives." Konrad paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. In that moment, Sanny noticed that a lot happened in his head. A lot of information got put in storage while much more was pulled forth and processed. Sanny was actually kind of impressed at the speed and efficiency of this process; much more streamlined than what her mind felt like half the time. It was probably a necessary trait of Time Travellers; you often have to create cover stories on the fly with little background information and build off of them even when new information contradicts what you have built so far. Konrad looked at Sanny with a slightly concerned gaze. "I'm bleeding, aren't I?" Sanny, understanding the context thanks to the link, nodded her head. Konrad closed his eyes; concentrating. And after a few seconds, the abilities seemed to fade away. Sanny was kind of disappointed; she like seeing how his train of thought worked. But she also understood that he had some memories that he didn't like to remember, let alone let anyone else see. You can induce memories to resurface through a link like that, and not having training with these abilities can lead to some... unfortunate incidents. "Anyway, where was I? Right," Konrad muttered to himself before he continued. "It can take a while to find your place, Sanny. It most certainly did for me, however that's a story for a different time. I know you want to feel like you have a place, but you can't have a place if you don't even know what you are and are not good at. Take some time; slowly approach things before you dive into the deep end. Because while I encourage you to explore, I'd rather not have to clean up another mess of this magnitude. Okay?" Sanny took a deep breath; processing everything that was just said before she nodded in acknowledgment. "Now with all that said, I think it's only fair to say that you are hereby banned from the kitchen without our express consent and supervision." Sanny pouted. "Do I have to be?" Konrad's expression firmed up. "No action is free from consequences, Sanny. Some actions just have positive consequences as opposed to negative ones." "Can I at least have a rice cooker and a blow torch?" Konrad chuckled. "Okay, Sanny. You can have a rice cooker and a blow torch. Because despite being completely inept in the kitchen, you somehow make the best frozen burritos with those two items. How you manage that is beyond the abilities of my comprehension. But if we have another incident, then you will have to give up one of those items." "I presume you are referring to the blow torch?" "What? No. I was referring to the rice cooker. You and electricity is a dangerous combination. I honestly trust you enough with a blow torch given the fact that you used to work with what was essentially a scaled-up, magnesium-based version on a daily basis. But I still am unable to fathom how you were able to give your scalp second-degree burns with an induction cooker." Sanny sighed. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" "Worry about Ka more than me. I have other things I won't let you live down." Sanny chuckled. He was back to his normal, chaotic self. Had it not been for the last half hour or so, she would never have expected him to be so caring. Now, she realized that he just chose not to care unless he needed to. And those Caretaker abilities of his helped refine that decision down to a near-perfect level. As she thought about what had just happened, things went quiet. Abnormally so. She couldn't figure it out at first, but then it clicked. "Um, Konrad?" "Hm?" "I think Ka has finally stopped." ... ... "You're right, and it's about damn time as well. I just hope he hasn't given himself an aneurysm or something. He really doesn't know when to stop sometimes." "Back to reality, we go?" Sanny poked. "Along with the horrors that await us," he poked back. The two of them walked back to the unfortunate scene that was the kitchen. "You know," Ka said as he turned to face them, "I never understood why some people self-inflict harm on themselves when they struggled to understand something. Then I met Sanny..." "And now you can't stop," Konrad finished. "Understatement of the year," Ka snorted. "I think I might actually indulge in that bottle of Tesellion Brandy." "Do let me enjoy it to the fullest with you, Ka." "As long as you switch back to your normal form." "Oh, right. I got wrapped up in the fact that the kitchen kinda disappeared. Before I forget..." Konrad trailed off as he started sifting through the menus on his watch. After a moment, he activated something. A blue glow enveloped his body. While not too much of his physical appearance change, his muscles seemed to lose the tone they had. As the glow faded, Konrad took a deep breath... And promptly started wheezing. "I think we should move back to the Main Console," Sanny interrupted. "That breathing doesn't sound healthy." "Agreed. I would have warned you about changing here if you didn't insist on jumping the gun all the time," Ka scolded. Konrad was too focused on breathing. Once the three of them got to the main console, Ka grabbed an inhaler, which Konrad graciously took. After his breathing calmed down, Sanny asked him a question: "I've never understood, why do you insist on going around in an imperfect body every day when you could easily just have a body that just works all the time?" "It's a couple of things, Sanny," Konrad responded. "Perfection is imperfect. If I were in perfect health all the time, I could blow my cover. People tend to get suspicious of the person who never gets sick or has any ailments. Having a condition that affects you enough to mildly hinder your day-to-day activities without preventing you from doing your job efficiently is one of the greatest covers you can have. After all, what god would want an imperfect body?" "Hold on, you two," Ka interrupted, "I'm getting a call from Dispatch. I'll take the call and let you two continue your conversation, okay?" Konrad nodded, prompting Ka to disappear in order to take the call privately. Being an AI had its perks sometimes. Sanny frowned a bit. "I thought you hated being thought of as a god." "I do, Sanny. That's another reason why I add imperfections to by forms. It reminds me that I am alive, even though I've lived a damn long time. It's easy to forget that when you essentially live forever. Having imperfections reminds you that you can be just as fallible as everyone else. It's why so many time travelers choose a minor ailment that they apply to almost all their BSPS forms; not only is it a reminder, it is a signature feature. It shows everyone that they are able to do their job despite having an obstacle. As they say, Improvise, adapt, overcome." As Konrad finished, Ka reappeared. "So what'sour assignment this time, Ka?" Ka thought for a moment; still running through all the information he had been given. "Well, dispatch decided to give us a hella doozy of an assignment." "Define 'hella doozy'." "Well..." Ka pulled up the assignment details on the main console. Konrad skimmed through the information; there was a lot to process. "Ka, who sent me this assignment?" "Galdrovonni." "Remind me to whip his ass when I next see him for giving me an absolute demon of an assignment." "Noted." "Sanny, you better sit down and help us. There's a lot to go through." Sanny, who had been quiet for the most part, simply nodded. She was still processing everything that happened today. How could this day get any more interesting? Sanny thought as she pulled up some of the information to start sorting. ... Aaaaand I spoke too soon.