Post by thereviewer on Mar 1, 2020 16:51:44 GMT
So my friend has been out of town and I hope to be back to the Adventures of Kanya either next weekend or the following weekend. In the meantime, I thought I’d occupy you with another couple of prequel stories to my new arc coming soon which could explore Kanya’s life before our first adventure. This chapter is about how Kanya discovered what happened to Gallifrey post-Spyfall Part 2. Time-wise, it takes place prior to the events of Orphan 55 and is a few months after Aya Douglas opened the chameleon arch and became Kanya.
Kanya had not been prepared for this. She had seen her home devastated three times. Once by the Master, Once by Morbius and his Cyber-Army, and then by the Time War.
She had put off going home for quite a while. Part of her reasoned that with abandoning the Time Lords during the War, she would take her time before returning. She had made a promise to Cam after all; she would try to find someone to travel with. The process had been hard and most people had rejected her. Those that did only had one or two brief adventures at most before being traumatized or broken.
Some things were such that not even a Time Lady could fix them. The effects of the War were still felt throughout the universe, and while most people blamed the Doctor, Kanya’s hands weren’t entirely clean either. But it had been her choice to fight in the war, yet it never occurred to her that not everybody wanted her protection.
Kanya held onto her faith though. She’d made a promise to Cam and she didn’t want to break it.
But all that changed when she’d received a message from the Doctor. The Master had returned with some hair-brazen scheme to conquer the Earth.
But that wasn’t what made her drop what she was doing and head to the coordinates of Gallifrey which the Doctor had sent her.
Gallifrey was demolished. Burned and broken. The hot ground scorched her toes through her boots, and she almost seemed to be choking on the crispy air. She couldn’t tell as it was getting difficult to find her breath.
Everything she’d hoped to see after opening the Chameleon Arch had been taken from her in the blink of an eye.
Kanya heard something beeping in the distance. Squinting, she finally saw the item; a Hypercube. Too late, as it conked her on the head before flying and attaching itself to the TARDIS console.
Suddenly the holographic systems kicked in and an image appeared before her. It was a gentleman with short brown hair and an impish face. He wore a black suit and tie like every Earth Politician. But behind his eyes, Kanya could see the man who had helped smuggle herself off Gallifrey. The man who had before nearly brought Gallifrey and the Web of Time to its knees.
The Master.
“Ha!” The suited Master declared, “You awoke in time! How’s the new body, Kanya? You can tell me when you get down here to Earth. I’ve got a mutual friend who is dying to see you!”
The hologram ended and the image morphed into a woman with messy black hair in a plum-colored jacket and skirt. A black boater hat with fake fruit was placed on top of her head and she carried an umbrella under her arm.
A female Master. Kanya mused, I suppose that might mean in a few years I could have a male incarnation. It technically already happened that one time with Lee.
Kanya found her current incarnation to be beaming with a million thoughts zigzagging all around in her brain. She noted how she could have sudden mood swings going from pleasant to rude on a moment’s whim. She figured it was either because she was suffering from long-term leftover Regeneration, the inability to get used to her incarnation before The Master had made her into Aya Douglas, or simply because she was feeling the emotionally draining weight of her actions during the Time War coupled with the fact that her home had been lost.
“Well hello, Kanya!” The female Master called in a Scottish accent, “So happy you’re awake! Listen; I’m reformed now, but for some reason nobody wants to chat with me. Why don’t you come down to Nomrest. I’ll bring the picnic and we can swap stories. Or I can try to kill you again. Your choice, really. TTFN.”
The image morphed again into a young dark-skinned man with a five o’clock shadow wearing a formal tuxedo.
“Hello, Kanya.” He greeted with an Indian accent, “If you’re receiving this, you’ve seen Gallifrey. I guess I had it in me to destroy everything after all.”
Kanya’s fists balled up in anger.
Why?! Why did he do this?! Why did he help me only to take everything away again?!
“I had to do it though.” The Master insisted, “When I learned what the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey had done. The secret of The Timeless Child.”
Kanya suddenly felt a searing pain in her head. Like someone had just stuck a hot needle into there and electrocuted her brain. Images of a young girl standing before a weird monument.
Kanya gritted her teeth and looked at the holographic recording once more. The Master smiled softly. Was he mocking her? Showing sympathy to her pain?
“You see it, don’t you?” The Master asked, “It’s buried deep within all our memories, in our identity.”
He sighed deeply.
“I’d tell you more,” He admitted, “But it wasn’t easy for me. So why should it be for you? Just know there are now four of us out there. You, me, The Doctor... and Billixus.”
Billixus. That was a name Kanya had not heard in a while. Since recovering her memories, she had recalled that she, Bob, and Billixus had been sent on a mission during the War to infiltrate a Dalek prison camp. Billixus had ousted them in return for having his life spared and was last seen leaving in his TARDIS for places unknown.
“I have plans for The Doctor.” The Master continued, “Plans that do not concern you. I suggest you stay out of this. As I stated when last we spoke, I still have the highest respect for you, but I will not hesitate to kill you. This is my one warning to you. Even though I know you will ignore my warning, I honestly wish that you surprise me by not showing up. As for Billixus, I let him live because he has fallen into a deep depression without you. Killing him would be a mercy killing. He should suffer like I did upon learning the secret. Long and slowly.”
The Master straightened his tie before speaking again.
“But should he learn of your survival,” he warned, “He will not hesitate to rip the universe in half if it meant killing you or making you suffer. Now I wish you goodbye, Kanya.”
With that, the hologram faded out.
It now became clear to Kanya that this had been recorded prior to The Doctor’s message, as the fellow Time Lady mentioned foiling the Master and imprisoning him again within another reality.
But this was now. Gallifrey was gone, and following a quick scan on her console, there was nobody left alive. She couldn’t tell who was who, but she had a feeling that there was the slightest chance that her people could still be alive. After all, The Master has spared her, The Doctor, and Billixus, so it stood to reason that perhaps there might be a few more individuals alive.
But therein lied the other big question; what was the Timeless Child, and why did it trigger those memories?
“I think I’m going to have to look for some answers.” Kanya noted out loud, “Cam, could you...”
She stopped herself suddenly feeling depressed.
“Oh, right.” She noted, “You’re not here. It’s just me on my own. Again.”
She didn’t understand why people couldn’t look at her the same way after the War. Yes, she’d done terrible things, but at the same time she’d saved lives.
But at what cost?
She’d made sacrifices of civilizations and realities to try and help end the war, but she ultimately just gave up and left it all behind. Locking herself away to be awakened now. Now she was forced to deal with the fallout of her decisions which she was quickly discovering had left most life-forms in ruins.
Kanya sighed, canceling her current course in the navigational system. She wasn’t ready to think about her people just yet. That could wait for another day. Besides, she was certain The Doctor could always look into it.
“Okay.” Kanya said aloud, “It’s just you and me again, dear.”
The TARDIS beeped as if it were annoyed.
“Yes, I’ll find someone.” She assured the ship, “For now, how about something a bit more... I dunno... more.”
The console center column moved up and down as Kanya began flipping switches and throwing levers.
One day, she promised, I will come back. Yes, one day. When my life doesn’t feel so dark.
Had Kanya known what the future held in the days that would come, she might’ve stayed on her home world. She would have sat upon the burned ground of Gallifrey to think about sad stories of the death of Gods.
Kanya had not been prepared for this. She had seen her home devastated three times. Once by the Master, Once by Morbius and his Cyber-Army, and then by the Time War.
She had put off going home for quite a while. Part of her reasoned that with abandoning the Time Lords during the War, she would take her time before returning. She had made a promise to Cam after all; she would try to find someone to travel with. The process had been hard and most people had rejected her. Those that did only had one or two brief adventures at most before being traumatized or broken.
Some things were such that not even a Time Lady could fix them. The effects of the War were still felt throughout the universe, and while most people blamed the Doctor, Kanya’s hands weren’t entirely clean either. But it had been her choice to fight in the war, yet it never occurred to her that not everybody wanted her protection.
Kanya held onto her faith though. She’d made a promise to Cam and she didn’t want to break it.
But all that changed when she’d received a message from the Doctor. The Master had returned with some hair-brazen scheme to conquer the Earth.
But that wasn’t what made her drop what she was doing and head to the coordinates of Gallifrey which the Doctor had sent her.
Gallifrey was demolished. Burned and broken. The hot ground scorched her toes through her boots, and she almost seemed to be choking on the crispy air. She couldn’t tell as it was getting difficult to find her breath.
Everything she’d hoped to see after opening the Chameleon Arch had been taken from her in the blink of an eye.
Kanya heard something beeping in the distance. Squinting, she finally saw the item; a Hypercube. Too late, as it conked her on the head before flying and attaching itself to the TARDIS console.
Suddenly the holographic systems kicked in and an image appeared before her. It was a gentleman with short brown hair and an impish face. He wore a black suit and tie like every Earth Politician. But behind his eyes, Kanya could see the man who had helped smuggle herself off Gallifrey. The man who had before nearly brought Gallifrey and the Web of Time to its knees.
The Master.
“Ha!” The suited Master declared, “You awoke in time! How’s the new body, Kanya? You can tell me when you get down here to Earth. I’ve got a mutual friend who is dying to see you!”
The hologram ended and the image morphed into a woman with messy black hair in a plum-colored jacket and skirt. A black boater hat with fake fruit was placed on top of her head and she carried an umbrella under her arm.
A female Master. Kanya mused, I suppose that might mean in a few years I could have a male incarnation. It technically already happened that one time with Lee.
Kanya found her current incarnation to be beaming with a million thoughts zigzagging all around in her brain. She noted how she could have sudden mood swings going from pleasant to rude on a moment’s whim. She figured it was either because she was suffering from long-term leftover Regeneration, the inability to get used to her incarnation before The Master had made her into Aya Douglas, or simply because she was feeling the emotionally draining weight of her actions during the Time War coupled with the fact that her home had been lost.
“Well hello, Kanya!” The female Master called in a Scottish accent, “So happy you’re awake! Listen; I’m reformed now, but for some reason nobody wants to chat with me. Why don’t you come down to Nomrest. I’ll bring the picnic and we can swap stories. Or I can try to kill you again. Your choice, really. TTFN.”
The image morphed again into a young dark-skinned man with a five o’clock shadow wearing a formal tuxedo.
“Hello, Kanya.” He greeted with an Indian accent, “If you’re receiving this, you’ve seen Gallifrey. I guess I had it in me to destroy everything after all.”
Kanya’s fists balled up in anger.
Why?! Why did he do this?! Why did he help me only to take everything away again?!
“I had to do it though.” The Master insisted, “When I learned what the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey had done. The secret of The Timeless Child.”
Kanya suddenly felt a searing pain in her head. Like someone had just stuck a hot needle into there and electrocuted her brain. Images of a young girl standing before a weird monument.
Kanya gritted her teeth and looked at the holographic recording once more. The Master smiled softly. Was he mocking her? Showing sympathy to her pain?
“You see it, don’t you?” The Master asked, “It’s buried deep within all our memories, in our identity.”
He sighed deeply.
“I’d tell you more,” He admitted, “But it wasn’t easy for me. So why should it be for you? Just know there are now four of us out there. You, me, The Doctor... and Billixus.”
Billixus. That was a name Kanya had not heard in a while. Since recovering her memories, she had recalled that she, Bob, and Billixus had been sent on a mission during the War to infiltrate a Dalek prison camp. Billixus had ousted them in return for having his life spared and was last seen leaving in his TARDIS for places unknown.
“I have plans for The Doctor.” The Master continued, “Plans that do not concern you. I suggest you stay out of this. As I stated when last we spoke, I still have the highest respect for you, but I will not hesitate to kill you. This is my one warning to you. Even though I know you will ignore my warning, I honestly wish that you surprise me by not showing up. As for Billixus, I let him live because he has fallen into a deep depression without you. Killing him would be a mercy killing. He should suffer like I did upon learning the secret. Long and slowly.”
The Master straightened his tie before speaking again.
“But should he learn of your survival,” he warned, “He will not hesitate to rip the universe in half if it meant killing you or making you suffer. Now I wish you goodbye, Kanya.”
With that, the hologram faded out.
It now became clear to Kanya that this had been recorded prior to The Doctor’s message, as the fellow Time Lady mentioned foiling the Master and imprisoning him again within another reality.
But this was now. Gallifrey was gone, and following a quick scan on her console, there was nobody left alive. She couldn’t tell who was who, but she had a feeling that there was the slightest chance that her people could still be alive. After all, The Master has spared her, The Doctor, and Billixus, so it stood to reason that perhaps there might be a few more individuals alive.
But therein lied the other big question; what was the Timeless Child, and why did it trigger those memories?
“I think I’m going to have to look for some answers.” Kanya noted out loud, “Cam, could you...”
She stopped herself suddenly feeling depressed.
“Oh, right.” She noted, “You’re not here. It’s just me on my own. Again.”
She didn’t understand why people couldn’t look at her the same way after the War. Yes, she’d done terrible things, but at the same time she’d saved lives.
But at what cost?
She’d made sacrifices of civilizations and realities to try and help end the war, but she ultimately just gave up and left it all behind. Locking herself away to be awakened now. Now she was forced to deal with the fallout of her decisions which she was quickly discovering had left most life-forms in ruins.
Kanya sighed, canceling her current course in the navigational system. She wasn’t ready to think about her people just yet. That could wait for another day. Besides, she was certain The Doctor could always look into it.
“Okay.” Kanya said aloud, “It’s just you and me again, dear.”
The TARDIS beeped as if it were annoyed.
“Yes, I’ll find someone.” She assured the ship, “For now, how about something a bit more... I dunno... more.”
The console center column moved up and down as Kanya began flipping switches and throwing levers.
One day, she promised, I will come back. Yes, one day. When my life doesn’t feel so dark.
Had Kanya known what the future held in the days that would come, she might’ve stayed on her home world. She would have sat upon the burned ground of Gallifrey to think about sad stories of the death of Gods.