Science!

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:01:43 GMT

"Almost ready?" she asked.

She, Romanadvoratrelundar, was standing in front of a time console that stood in front of a specialized time column, located in the Time Institute within the Citadel of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. And she was checking the time.

The time column was modified into a loop, so as to direct the time tunnel it was meant back into itself, and was surrounded by diagnostic equipment. There was one open spot, into which another Time Lord, Zeeke, was maneuvering a nexus agitation projector – a device that looked rather like a silver hair-dryer fastened to a parabolic dish, but wasn't.

"Almost done, ma'am," Zeeke said.

"Finally," Romanadvoratrelundar replied, sighing.

"I did bring it up as quickly as I could, ma'am."

"Yes, of course," Romanadvoratrelundar said. "It's only that I've had this equipment sitting here for months, half complete, while I wait for the council to review the impact assessment."

"I see, ma'am."

"Quite strange, really," Romanadvoratrelundar said, "for something they consider a technological cul-de-sac." She shook her head, failing to note that her listener appeared to have stopped listening. "Though I suppose it was only a matter of time, with the council's obsessive aversion to scientific advancement. There's a time when even the theoretical projects aren't theoretical enough."

"Well, they've got good reason to be cautious, haven't they?" Zeeke apparently had been listening. "Considering the number of Time Lords who've become rogue elements in their pursuits."

"All the more reason to promote the rational development of time technology," Romanadvoratrelundar insisted. "Leaving the field entirely to rogues and renegades harms us more than anyone. After all, how are we to effectively contain the damage they cause if we can hardly understand what they're doing?"

"I suppose," Zeeke said noncommittally. Being opinionated was something most Time Lords preferred to avoid when they could. Not that anyone was punished for speaking out; it just wasn't considered good form to be disagreeable, and when you had to put up with the same people in their various regenerations for millennia, it was good to stay off their bad sides. "Just finishing, ma'am."

"Ah, good." Romanadvoratrelundar had been hovering behind him to observe his work, checking to see that he was connecting it all properly. (He was, as best she could tell. She'd have to read up on the specifics of the technology while the Council still had the schematics unsealed.) Returning to her console, she looked over the stream of data that was coming through as Zeeke finished his job and backed away from the contraption. "Oh, do thank Tevellicos for releasing the equipment so promptly."

Zeeke nodded, but otherwise didn't bother with a response before he left. It wasn't as if Romanadvoratrelundar was really paying attention to him anyway.

"First trial series," she said, dictating into her sonic probe. "Time index 5430.63471 Rassilon Era. Experimental analysis of the effect of a standing time loop on the multidimensional parallax of the double-nexus paritcle. The nexus agitation projector has finally been integrated with the time column, and I am about to activate the equipment for a calibration test. Particle intensity will be one per cent of capacity, with an adaptive variable frequency modulation." Running the dictation through her mind and deeming it acceptable with a nod, she directed her probe at the device and switched it on.

There was, just for an instant, the slightest flash of purple-blue-green light before the device had quite calibrated itself – barely enough to be noticeable. Romanadvoratrelundar's eyebrows inched together for a moment; she checked the readings on her probe, but there weren't any. Indeed, the device's memory seemed to have been wiped completely clean.

She'd have to check that later.

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Science!