Rewriting is taking a while because i stuff to do
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The tunnel got stranger the farther she went.
At first it was still recognizably part of London's maintenance network. Old pipes ran along the walls, cable bundles disappeared into metal conduits, and every few meters somebody had painted numbers or maintenance markings onto the concrete. Most of it looked exactly like the sort of place where underpaid workers spent ten hours fixing something nobody aboveground knew existed.
Then she found the first patch where time had gone slightly wrong. A droplet of water fell from a pipe in front of her. It stopped halfway to the floor.
Engineer stopped too. The droplet trembled in place for perhaps half a second before shooting upward and disappearing back into the pipe it had fallen from.
She stared at it with her time sense; she could see the physical "time barrier" or threshold where the loop begins and ends. Another drop came down.
This one reached the floor normally.
"Huh, so this is what being in a time loop is like." Her Omni-Tool opened a small diagnostic window.
[Localized Temporal Recurrence Detected.]
[Loop Duration: 0.47 Seconds.]
[Instability: Minor.]
Engineer crouched and moved one gloved finger through the space where the first droplet had reversed. Another drop came down, but a little purple energy came out of her gloved finger and looked like it was fighting something before winning? Because this water drop reached the floor normally.
"So glad my fingers didn't start exploding. Good start." The System responded immediately.
[Testing unknown temporal distortions with exposed extremities is not recommended.]
The Omni-Tool mapped the distortion and added it to a growing three-dimensional model of the tunnels. Several more temporal irregularities appeared farther ahead, most of them tiny, although one was large enough to distort a section of pipe across two positions at once.
That bugged her. Not because it was immediately dangerous but because whatever was causing it was getting stronger. She continued forward, slowing whenever she heard movement behind her. UNIT had not noticed her disappearance yet, or if they had, nobody had entered the tunnel after her.
That would change. She knew it would. UNIT was not stupid. Engineer had probably bought herself a few minutes at most, and she intended to use every second of them.
Her Omni-Tool produced another chirp. A signal had appeared beneath the temporal noise. Engineer raised her wrist. "Come on."
She adjusted the filters manually, stripping away ordinary electrical frequencies that kept getting in the way first, then isolating the distortion produced by the temporal loops. Something remained underneath.
Her expression flattened. "Cybermen, please don't be the drone being the cause of this!"
[Known Technology Family: Mondasian / Cyber-derived.]
[Configuration: Unknown.]
Engineer looked farther down the tunnel. "Well, so far this might be my fault hopefully not and just bad timing, but think of the good side more technology, but more important, some kinda time travel."
She had wanted alien technology. She had wanted something interesting. She had not specifically asked for Cybermen.
There should have been some kind of cosmic customer service department where she could file complaints about technically correct wishes.
Cybermen technology was meh outside of that infinity upgrading program, but the Mondasian version was mostly life support systems, the emotion clip, and that weird laser thing on top of their head
Her Omni-Tool continued scanning while she walked.
The Cyber signal did not resemble a complete Cyberman. There was no stable power signature, no movement pattern, and none of the communication traffic she would expect from an active unit.
Instead, there were dozens of smaller signals. Others changed position without physically moving.
She frowned. "Are you building something? I'm betting some kind of portal gateway." The tunnel opened into an old junction chamber.
Three maintenance passages split away from it, although the central route had partially collapsed sometime in the past. Rusted signs hung from one wall, and somebody had left an ancient toolbox near a ladder that disappeared upward.
The Engineer barely looked at any of that. A piece of metal sat near the opposite wall. It was silver, small, and didn't look like something a human from 2006 would make.
She approached carefully, looking at the corner in case some Cyberman poked out she would not get jumped if she said anything about it
It looked like an ordinary mechanical fragment until her Omni-Tool identified the material.
[Cyber-Alloy Fragment.]
She crouched. The fragment had been cut rather than broken. The edges were too clean.
The Engineer touched two fingers against it and immediately received another scan. Residue covered one side: industrial lubricant, human steel dust, and a trace of Cybernetic assembly nanomaterial.
She stared for another moment.
"Someone's feeding you scrap." That made more sense.
Cyber technology did not need to start with a full Cyberman. Enough damaged components, some functioning programming, power, raw materials, and time could become a serious problem very quickly.
She pocketed the fragment. The System dinged.
[Resource Acquired: Cyber-Alloy Fragment x1.]
A noise came from behind her. It was followed by several pairs of boots.
The Engineer froze, then sighed. "There they are."
She looked around. The chamber offered several hiding places, but her attention settled on the ceiling, where a thick maintenance beam ran above the junction.
Her smile returned.
"No."
[No?]
"I have a better idea."
She super jumped, caught the beam, then easily pulled herself upward, swung one leg over it, and flattened herself against the metal just as the first UNIT soldier entered the chamber below. 'Add to list to do in the future: make sure I add retractable claws to my gloves.'
Engineer looked down. There stood five soldiers, two technicians, and the commander. They were efficient, which was annoyingly sensible.
One soldier checked the side tunnel while another swept a torch across the collapsed route. The commander stopped near the center.
"Anything?"
"Nothing."
Engineer smiled above them. She was getting good at this. One technician lifted a scanner.
"I'm getting another spike."
"Direction?"
He rotated slowly. Engineer's eyes followed him until the scanner pointed toward the passage she had been using.
"Down there."
The commander nodded.
"Move."
Engineer quietly shifted along the beam, but her Omni-Tool made a tiny electronic chirp that echoed. Everyone below stopped.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, you traitorous little bastard," she mouthed. The UNIT technician slowly looked upward, and his flashlight followed.
Engineer stared directly down at him with her eyes glowing in the dark. For one second, nobody moved, just staring at each other. Then she gave a small wave.
"Hello there."
Three weapons came up. Engineer rolled sideways off the beam and dropped behind a concrete divider before anyone could get a clean aim.
"Hold fire!" the commander shouted. "You, stop!"
Engineer leaned around the corner.
"I am stopped."
"You entered a restricted operation."
"No, really?, I didn't notice that when I entered the tunnel."
"You bypassed an armed perimeter."
"That sounds much worse when you phrase it properly."
The commander walked toward her while the soldiers kept their weapons ready.
Engineer considered running. She could probably disappear deeper underground, but that would put UNIT behind her while Cyber technology waited somewhere ahead. It seemed like an excellent way to get shot by allies while being attacked by robots.
The leader started talking again while she was thinking. She reluctantly stepped out and raised both hands. "There. Cooperative." She let out a huff
One soldier stared at her. "How were you on the ceiling?"
"Beam." She corrected without thinking; she was busy coming up with a plan to beat a doze cyberman without becoming a one-time bomb if she regenerated
Wait, now she's thinking about it: what happens to her if this body dies completely? This body is just basically an avatar to pilot around, and most importantly, what happens to her consciousness after they die
Lucky her thinking process is so fast, plus a little timey wimey, that she still didn't understand 1 sec in the world would be like hours to her: 'Hey, system, what will happen to me when I die before you know my Jesus Christ moment?'
[Well, for the first question you're physical body would literally disappear, but it will leave behind a time scar in that area that causes cumulative damage to reality]
[And for the second question, when a Time Lord/Tardis experiences permanent physical death, their consciousness is typically moved into the Matrix on Gallifrey, which is a panotropic computer network and micro-universe built from time essence. Time Lords wait in there before resurrecting a new physical body]
[Please note that the Matrix is like a TARDIS and is fully sentient and can make plans to take people out if needed]
WTF, we literally get uploaded into the Matrix…you know what, I'm not surprised that Time Lords get a Digital Afterlife that they made sound so like them; probably think they too good for a normal afterlife.
"What?" The soldier's answer brought her back to the present. She remembered there were soldiers with guns aimed at her. Hmm, I wonder if Time Lords in the Time War are bulletproof
"I was on the beam. The ceiling would have been considerably harder." god she loves her new mind makes remembering soooo much effortlessly
The engineer confidently raised her Omni-Tool. As the weapons adjusted in response, she quickly lowered it again. "Relax; it's just a computer."
"How can we be sure it isn't also a makeshift weapon that could easily kill us?"
"Point taken, but there's no need for concern. If I wanted to hurt you…" Her eyes glowed fiercely, and purple cracks stretched across her face. "w̵̱͍̥͇̝͇̠̦͕̠̥̯̼͖̻̄͝ő̷̧̮̟͎̔̓̀̀̋̋̏̃̈́̚͝u̶̙̰͓̟͉̤͚̗̭̼̹̯͕̬͉̓̈́͘l̷̟͊͛̊̀͗̆̔̌̑̑̾̇͂̚͝d̴̢̧̨͎̪̜͙̫̬̩̪͌͆͑̇ ̵̢͚̟̞̯̙̼̤̭̙̪̫̉͑̀̊͂͋̆͂͂͛̏̍̕͝ͅh̷̛͚͎̘̼̦̻̹̰̜͂̈̽́͐̓͊̿̚͠͝ȃ̷͚̜̞̭̼̦͛̃͜͝͠ͅv̸̖́̈́̑̒ë̸̖͕͍́͗̾ͅ ̸̫̜̤̙̱̬̄̃́͌̇̈͌̈̊̽͠d̶̲͉̯̠̈́̐͜ȍ̷̬͚̆ͅṋ̴̢̢͉̲̪͍͉̬̈́͆͆͗̒͆͐̈́̄̋̒͠ȅ̶̡̡̨̙̤̼͖̭̭̣̯̐͊͐͂͝ ̷̢̨̛͎̻̺̖͎̫̲̫̩͔̰̲̑̊̌͑̈́̔̆̀̓͆̕s̸̘̜̪͇͆̋̾o̶̲͚̤͉̙̮͍̦̬̲̤͔̿͌̏̈́̈́̎
̸̧̡̧͍̝̗͉͚̜̰̫̽͐̈͂͋̄͒͐."
Oops, the time lord ego took over for a moment, and now they're shaking and moving their fingers anxiously to their trigger. She pointed with her other hand toward the tunnel, trying to distract them before they put bullet holes in her. She was sooo now determined to find a way to become bulletproof, even if it meant regenerating into an alien-like being.
d̶̠̬̗̝̪̼̻͉̞̦̤̈̔́̎̂̎͘̚͝u̵̢̧͓̺͍̬̜͚̥̝̳͛͂̉ͅͅͅm̷̢̡̻͖͎͉͓͉͓̤̯͇̔̀̊̔̇͐̓͂̀̏͘̚͜ͅb̶̧̢̨̫̤̞̬̳̹̮̫̼̾̈́͜ͅ ̷̨̮͉̿̽̃̈́̑̏̔͋̾̈́̅͘̕̕p̷̢̮̪̹̥̟̅̐̅̈̒r̶̳͉͔̟̮̜͈̠͔̠͈̮͓̩͋̂̈́͠͝ͅį̶̦͎̣̱͚̮̻̠̞̭̫͉͑̀͐̎͝ͅm̷̛̝͖̪̦͎̋̈́̒̂̆͗ī̶̧͓̰̫͈̞̑̒͜͝ţ̴̯̭̩̬̥͇̘̳̥͇̞̮̃̓͂̿͂̃̄̎̅͠ͅĩ̴̢͓̰̤͚̜̖̖̹̳͓̗́͐͗̀͋̓́̒̚͝v̶̗̤͖̗̻̰͚͍̹̊͘ę̵͍͉͓̤͖̗̀̂͋͛̀̓͘ ̷̢̢̪̥̟͇͓̹̳̞̺̓a̶̧̨͍͔̫͖̟̰̘͓̭̥͎͉͌͂̊́̒̕͝͝͝p̴̡̢̛͍̖̞̲̜̘͇̯̠̩̤̺̋͋̌͐̆͊͝ͅĕ̷̬̼͓̦̦̼̩̞͕͕̘̺̥̏̽͑͊̓̾̄̈́͊̅͘s̴͙̖̐̈́
"There's Cybermen technology down here," she said, hoping that would change the conversation. The commander's annoyance disappeared beneath something much more focused.
"You're certain?"
"Eighty-seven percent when I first picked it up. Higher now."
The technician raised his scanner. "We don't have a positive Cybermen match."
"You wouldn't." She rolled her eyes wanted this conversation to be done with already
The little human frowned. I'm betting he'll say something like that's impossible
Engineer pointed toward the device. "Your readings are being corrupted by temporal recurrence."
"Temporal what?" the technician said dumbly
"Tiny. time. Loops," she said slowly for them
The soldier who had stared at the beam looked between them. "You mean time travel?"
"No. Think more like parts of the tunnel repeating half a second because somebody spilled temporal gibberish into the local environment."
"That explanation is impossible ." Ah knew it damn i really need friends; I'm in my head much these days
"It made perfect sense." Well, to me it does. The commander interrupted before they could continue.
"Show us." Engineer blinked.
"What?" engineer said absent-mindedly, not expecting him to believe her or for him not to arrest her because she knew she alien weirdo compared to normal humans, but to fair humans are boring
"You clearly know something. Show us."
She had expected considerably more arguing. UNIT was rapidly ruining her assumptions about government organizations. "Okay doky."
Engineer activated her Omni-Tool properly. Orange-gold light unfolded above her wrist into several layers of holographic screen information. The nearest soldiers tensed again but did not raise their weapons this time. She brought up the map. "Here."
Several small violet markers appeared along the route they had traveled.
"These are temporal loops."
The UNIT technician stepped closer, careful not to crowd her, but his attention remained fixed on the Omni-Tool in her hand. He tilted his head as he studied the shifting display, and one hand moved toward it before he caught himself and tucked it back against his vest.
"How are you detecting them?" he asked. His tone had changed from cautious suspicion to genuine technical interest.
"Chronometric displacement between overlapping local states."
His eyebrows lifted as he leaned closer to examine the readings scrolling across the display. "You built that?"
Her expression brightened, and her shoulders straightened with unmistakable pride. She drew the Omni-Tool slightly closer to her chest, pleased that someone had finally asked the right question.
"Yes. I thought this was the first time I'd spoken to a smart human."
The technician glanced from the device to her. "Recently?"
"Very," she replied, nodding once.
"How recently?"
She shifted her weight and looked briefly to the side before meeting his eyes again. "Do you want the answer that makes me sound competent?"
The technician folded his arms. "No."
"About three days."
His arms slowly unfolded as he looked at her, then at the Omni-Tool, and then back at her. "That thing can detect temporal displacement?"
"It can do lots of things."
"You built a handheld device capable of detecting temporal displacement three days ago?"
Her lips twitched upward. "I had a productive weekend."
The technician stared at the Omni-Tool, his expression caught between disbelief and professional concern. After a moment, he looked back at her. "What else does it do?"
She perked up and began listing its functions. "Atmospheric analysis, energy-spectrum detection, localized dimensional mapping, electromagnetic scanning, basic molecular analysis, remote system interfacing, short-range spatial measurements, radiation detection, encrypted communication, and, technically, it can make perfect toast. That was an accident."
The technician slowly raised his head. "Toast?"
"The best toast."
His expression became more serious as he pointed at the device. "How did you accidentally give a temporal scanner a toaster function?"
She opened her mouth to answer, but the UNIT commander, who had been standing beside them with his hands planted firmly on his hips, rubbed two fingers against the bridge of his nose.
"Cyber signal."
Both of them turned toward him. The technician straightened, while she glanced down at the Omni-Tool and cleared her throat.
"Right."
She lifted the device and moved her thumb across the controls. The technician stepped back, though his attention remained fixed on the display.
"We can discuss the toast later."
"We absolutely can," he replied, giving the Omni-Tool one last look.
Her grin returned as she turned toward the source of the signal. She liked this one.
Engineer shifted the Omni-Tool in her hand and flicked her thumb along the edge of the display. The first set of readings collapsed inward, lines folding over one another before vanishing. A second pattern surfaced beneath the temporal interference.
Several thin signatures appeared.
They split apart, crossed, and changed direction so quickly that the display struggled to keep up. Each time one of the lines seemed to stabilize, it fractured into two or three new traces.
The UNIT technician leaned back, startled by the sudden change, then immediately forward again. His attention had been caught by the shifting lines, and he no longer seemed aware of anything else in the tunnel.
"This is what I detected underneath the temporal noise," the Engineer said.
She turned the display toward the others, angling it so both the technician and the commander could see. Her voice took on a more focused, technical edge.
"It isn't one complete Cyber unit. There are too many independent signatures, and they're changing too quickly."
The commander stepped closer. Her gaze moved across the display, following the patterns even though most of them clearly meant more to the technician than to her.
One signature vanished.
Another appeared behind it.
The commander's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"
Engineer's thumb hovered over the controls. She watched the readings flicker for another second, her expression tightening with concentration.
"I don't know yet."
The commander frowned and folded her arms.
Engineer glanced up at her, then smiled.
It was a small smile, almost apologetic.
It did not improve the commander's expression.
"That," the Engineer said, lifting the Omni-Tool slightly between them, "is why I came down here."
The commander slowly turned his head toward her. "You could have told us."
Engineer shrugged, shifting her weight onto one leg. "You wouldn't have let me through."
"No."
The Engineer gave a small nod, as if the commander had just helpfully confirmed her entire argument.
"Exactly."
The commander's jaw tightened. "That does not make trespassing acceptable."
"It makes it efficient."
The commander stared at her.
The Engineer stared back, her expression calm and faintly amused.
Neither of them moved.
The tunnel hummed around them. Somewhere deeper underground, machinery groaned behind the walls, followed by a faint metallic scrape that made two of the technicians glance toward the darkness.
Engineer did not look away from the commander.
Off to the side, one of the technicians suddenly coughed into his fist. It might have sounded convincing if his shoulders had not twitched at exactly the wrong moment.
The commander's eyes slid toward him.
The technician immediately lowered his head and became intensely interested in his equipment.
The Engineer pressed her lips together, fighting a grin.
Definitely a smart human.
The commander looked back at her and released a slow breath through her nose. She uncrossed her arms and pointed toward the tunnel behind them.
"Fine. You stay where we can see you."
The Engineer's eyebrows climbed.
She pointed at herself. "I'm coming?"
"You already infiltrated a secured UNIT operation and found information our equipment missed." The commander gestured toward the surrounding tunnels, then back at the Engineer. Her tone was clipped now, but there was a reluctant practicality beneath it.
"At this point, I'd rather have you walking in front of me than discover halfway through this operation that you've been crawling through the ventilation system."
The Engineer considered that.
She glanced toward the ceiling vents. One of them rattled faintly, as if the tunnel itself had overheard the accusation.
Then she looked back to the commander.
"That is probably wise."
The commander immediately raised one finger and pointed it at her.
"You follow instructions."
"Mostly."
The finger remained exactly where it was.
The commander's voice dropped into a warning growl.
"You follow instructions."
The Engineer opened her mouth, ready with another argument, but stopped when she took a closer look at the woman's expression.
Her lips pursed.
"Fine."
"If I tell you to stop, you stop."
"Within reason."
The commander's eyes narrowed. Engineer shifted the Omni-Tool into her other hand and lifted her free palm in a placating gesture.
"There are circumstances where stopping would objectively be the worst option."
"Stop means stop."
"What if something is exploding?"
"You stop."
The Engineer blinked. "While it is exploding?"
The commander did not move. "Yes."
The Engineer glanced toward the tunnel ahead, then back at her. "What if the explosion is moving toward us?"
"You stop."
"What if stopping causes another explosion?"
The commander paused.
For the first time, her certainty faltered.
The Engineer leaned forward slightly and raised one finger.
"See? Now we're establishing useful parameters."
Behind them, the technician abruptly found another reason to cough. This time, he turned away completely, shoulders shaking.
The commander didn't even look at him.
"You are going to be a problem, aren't you?"
The Engineer gave her a pleasant smile and tucked the Omni-Tool against her hip.
"I prefer 'unexpected technical asset.'"
"You're a problem."
The Engineer started walking, then glanced back over her shoulder.
"That works too."
The commander watched her for a moment before motioning for the others to follow.
"Keep her in sight."
The technician fell into step beside the Engineer, still trying not to smile.
"Do you always argue with commanders?"
"Only when they're wrong."
The commander looked over her shoulder. "I can hear you."
Engineer continued walking. "Then you know I wasn't arguing."
The technician made a strangled sound that was almost another cough.
The commander pointed toward the darkness ahead. "Both of you. Quiet."
Engineer followed, extremely pleased with herself.
The group continued deeper. Now that she was officially unofficially attached to UNIT, the Engineer had a better opportunity to watch how they worked.
The soldiers did not cluster unnecessarily. They rotated positions and checked corners without turning every doorway into a theatrical military operation. The technicians stayed protected while remaining close enough to examine anything strange.
She approved.
She also quietly copied several of their communication frequencies.
Her Omni-Tool displayed a notification.
[Encrypted Communication Protocol Detected.]
[Attempt Decryption?]
Engineer glanced toward the commander walking ahead, then selected YES.
The System did not comment. "Hypocrite," she whispered.
[I did not recommend the action.]
"The button was enabled."
[You built the interface.]
"Fair."
They reached the next temporal disturbance. This one affected an entire section of wall. A rusted maintenance plate alternated between being attached and lying on the floor, with each state lasting less than a second.
Engineer raised the Omni-Tool as the display flickered again. The scattered signatures had begun moving in the same direction.
Toward them!
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Word count 3,503; working on my dialgoue