Warning! Temporal Suspension Protocols Disengaged.” She Could Taste Blood in Her Mouth
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“Warning! Temporal suspension protocols disengaged.” She could taste blood in her mouth. Even though she was hazy and nauseous from being knocked out during the crash, the first thing she was able to sense clearly was blood in her mouth. Probably had bitten her tongue during the uncontrolled tumble in the time vortex. That the ship was in one piece and mostly operational after such event was something Romana was tempted to call a miracle. Leaning back in the pilot’s chair, she slowly focused on what her eyes could see. The left side of control console was now sparking randomly since time now finally continued to flow; several alarms were filling the cabin with noise and although it was dark, it became clear to her very quickly that she crashed into something sidewise. The questions that needed answers now were: how long had she been trapped in the state of temporal suspension, where and when she crashed and what kind of dire situation caused the suspension protocols to disengage. They were only ever meant to disengage when a retrieval team would show up to extract the pilot or in case absolute emergency that presented immediate danger. First thing first though. She needed her sonic screwdriver to release the chair harness and she needed heavy set of painkillers. Screwdriver first. The moment she moved her hand to reach into the pocket, Romana bit her tongue again and prompted more blood to trickle out due to the pain radiating in her hand. Half broken fingers. Lovely. Breathing through the pain, she managed to retrieve her sonic and free herself from the chair. Sudden rise to her feet was also a wrong move because the ship’s interior suddenly became blurry and there was pain throughout most of her torso. All of this would heal without the need of regeneration though it would be on a slower pace. She was tempted to will herself into a healing coma but apparently the conditions were not favourable for her to do that. Closing her eyes in order to get at least alleviate the headache and nausea, Romana decided to ascertain the situation. “Computer, status report.” “Primary core damaged. Secondary core operating at 67% capacity. Emergency systems operational. Temporal drive module offline. Weapon systems offline. Shield oscillator damaged, primary defence shields offline. Env-” “Stop. Is the sensors system operational?” “Sensors operating at 73% capacity.” “Then be nice and tell me where and when I am.” “Location: Earth, 75 kilometres north of island Madeira, 3063 meters below sea level. Temporal location: June 26, 2009.” Romana winced again when she jerked forward upon hearing the location, “Below sea level? Are you telling me I crashed into the ocean floor?” “Affirmative.” “Great, that’s just bloody fantastic. Any explanation as to why suspension protocols were disengaged? I am still a bit hazy but I see no rescue in here.” “Protocols were disengaged due to planetary cross-dimensional spatial transference.” “I’m sorry, what?” “Protocols were disengaged due to planetary cross-dimensional spatial transference.” “Yes, I heard you the first time. But that’s not possible, it’s a planet and it cannot move through dimensions just like that.” “Long range sensor data confirm primary analysis.” Romana sighed, “Alright, fine. What caused the transference?” “Based on the quantity of neutrino and tachyon particles in planet’s thermosphere, the transference was achieved by artificial means.” This interaction reminded her of first year learning module sessions. Mind numbing and frustrating. “Well thank you, obvious, I fell short of coming to this conclusion myself. Identify the source of these artificial means.” “Unable to comply. Long range sensors offline due to secondary core power conservation.” Biting down on her lip instead of tongue again, Romana finally moved out of the pilot’s chair in order to reach overhead bulkhead not five steps away and retrieve the medkit inside. The pain practically exploded in Summarized by © lakhasly.com her right side by the time she was sitting again. “Spleen probably.” She muttered, opened the medkit and started rifling through it. “Cellular kit, fibrometer, bone fuser, organ sterilizer, fenostin, virtanate...oh here we go, just what I need.” The small ampoules of black and teal coloured liquids looked more like biohazard waste rather than medications and Romana was not looking forward to burning sensation the teal one would cause once injected but hey, it spared her the immediate need of healing coma or worse regeneration. Once the burning sensation passed, the pain started to go away and breathing was no longer difficult. “Fingers next.” Focusing on her right hand again, she could see the small bones had shifted into odd angles under the skin and muscles; and even the tiniest of movements caused blinding pain. She supposed she should be grateful they didn’t shatter from impact. Holding bone fuser bit awkwardly in her left hand, she let the device do its job while contemplating on what could have moved Earth from its place. Not many species in this Terran time period had this kind of technology, knowledge or ability. “Warning. Incoming transmission on all standard Earth frequencies. It is a planetary aimed broadcast.” From one siege to another it appears, Romana thought. “By all means, let’s hear it.” “EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!” Back when she had only just regenerated for the first time, these words would leave her fearful and perhaps a bit frantic before getting her wits together and try to get rid of the Daleks in whatever fashion was available to her. Now, after four hundred years of continuous war with them, she would barely blink before checking her weaponry was fully charged and just return to the fight. She was worn out by war and what’s worse if the Doctor was to be believed, drastically desensitized to care as much as she once did. She was not without concern though. She distinctly remembered what she had done before she took off for yet another orbital battle and could not help but to wonder if the plan the Doctor had went wrong, leaving Daleks free to roam the universe and lay waste wherever they went. Despite the pain being completely medication dulled, it felt wrong to move around with deeply bruised and battered body. Yet Romana could distinctly remember times when she had been in even worse states but was still required to move and act. The sonic screwdriver came to life once again in her hand. There was no point in staying in a submerged, crashed star fighter while Daleks were doing who knows what to the planet so she focused on enabling the transmat and putting the ship in sort of a sleep mode until such a time when she would be able to retrieve it and effect repairs. “Warning. Diverting power to transmat system will reduce secondary core’s energy output and may compromise life support system.” “That’s fine; I have no intention of staying here anyway where I am of no use to anyone.” Romana stated. “Can you initiate ship’s restoration program after I transport out?” “All system will have to be shut down for complete restoration process.” Romana rolled her eyes. “You could have just said yes. Stars, sometimes I feel like I need to reprogram you so you can stop being so redundantly obvious.” Cross wiring controls of different systems and rerouting power to circularly supply only one was not a smart thing to do strictly speaking from engineering point of view; but there was no time for elegant solutions or triple precautions. After making sure the transmat was functional and would not teleport her to wrong place, say active volcano, Romana checked that her weaponry was indeed fully operational and charged; and tried to decide where she should go. There was the UNIT option but Daleks would have attacked and destroyed all military bases on the planet by now. Then there was Torchwood, an institution that she had misfortune to run into couple of times during her solo excursions Summarized by © lakhasly.com to Earth and briefly wondered if the Doctor was aware of its existence but she dismissed the option due to unknown variable she could not control. The easiest Doctor waiting point would be London since for some reason they preferred to visit London and British Isles when on Earth, regardless of the point in time. She was brought out of her brief contemplation by computer announcing yet another warning. “Sub-wave network signal detected.” “Sub-wave?! Humans cannot have sub-wave network, the principles of the sentient software are way beyond 21st century Earth.” “Do you wish to connect?” “Why not? I might as well get a glimpse of people using it.” Romana sat back down in the pilot’s chair and looked to the monitor on her right that came to life. The screen was split in four sections however all the faces but two were unknown to her. One familiar face talking was Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion of the Doctor Romana had come to respect and even care for. Not that the Doctor knew anything about her little run-ins with Sarah Jane in the past. The second familiar face was Harriet Jones. Who was supposed to be the prime minister of Britain but obviously was not. An alarming fact for Romana that she would be pressed to investigate but present situation called for different priorities. She could only assume other people present were also former companions of the Doctor. They were discussing the Doctor’s whereabouts and his lack of presence despite the obvious emergency going on; and how to bring him to Earth.