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The last thing I remember before everything went mad was the face of my instructor. He was a young-looking man, with a large nose and brown hair. Behind him was a white medical room.
“Don’t try to speak.” He began. “If you can hear me, nod.” I nodded, hearing him loud and clear. He smiled. “When the head comes to touch for the first time, your speech centres get a bit confused.” I remember I had just been installed with a bio-cam and got slightly worried. “You’ll be fine in a bit.” He re-assured. “Do you want to try standing?” I nod. I wouldn’t be much use lying in a bed. He helped me up, and my head spun a little. “That’s it.” He grinned at me. “Should feel better any second.” He placed his hand on the side of my head, and I flinched. “What I’m doing now is fusing the grid to your neural receptors,” Somehow, I knew that was what he was always going to do. “From now on, everything you see is downloading directly into your memory. Tiny bit of your brain is now a hard drive.” That didn’t faze me. People always said I wasn’t using it. “Takes up hardly any space,” My instructor reminded. “Won’t feel a thing.” Then, I saw a more solemn expression take over his face. “Now, at the beginning, sometimes this has side effects.” A screaming Gallifreyan swum into my vision. No panting, no breathing, just screaming. Covered in dirt and screaming for me to run. “I know what the others say,” My instructor told me, the soldier dying away. “They’re not premonitions. Just hallucinations. Take a look in the mirror.” I turned, and instead of my body, I saw a burnt skeleton. Naturally, I shouted and stumbled back. My instructor must have known, because he blocked the mirror from my view. “It’s a hallucination, just a hallucination.” I was panting from fear. “It’s not real, not a premonition.” After that it’s a blank.
Until I see him put his helmet on. We’re in a lift, roundels glowing in the walls.
“Okay, this is the official stuff.” My instructor told me, buckling his helmet in. “In the event of your death, your bio-cam memories will be stripped, and uploaded to your family’s matrix drives.” It was serious. My family’s matrix drive wasn’t too big. There had never been many of us, so it was easy to store. “Anything gruesome or unsuitable for children, like actually dying, will be tinted red.” I nodded, understanding. “There’s a language filter, so it’ll cut any time you say,” Blank.
Next thing I know, I’m on a lookout just above the citadel. If I squinted, I could just about make out a woman on a cliff-side ridge.
“This is the new guy.” My instructor introduced me to a bald man with a cape. Classic General uniform. “Don’t scare him.” My instructor muttered. He probably thought I didn’t hear that. The general glanced me up and down.
“You know why you’re safe up here?” The general asked.
“Don’t.” My instructor began. He’d clearly done what he was about to do before.
“You said don’t scare him.”
“The speech scares people.” My instructor muttered.
“Almost nothing in the universe could get past one sky trench.” The General muttered. “Nothing's ever got past two.” I looked up, and saw the grim image of a dark, shimmering sky. “We’ve got 400.”
“Welcome to Arcadia.” My instructor stated. I should’ve known.
“Safest place on Gallifrey.” The general informed. “That’s no,” Blank.
Next thing I know, I’m standing at a radar dish.
“Okay, you take that one, I’ll take this one.” My instructor tells me, pointing to a control panel. It displayed what the radar saw. “He is right.” My instructor begrudgingly stated. “Nothing can get past a sky trench.” Then, he said something weird. “But if just one Dalek made it through,” He began. It didn’t need finishing. “So, you scan everything. Clear?” I nodded. “Everything you see, you scan it. You see that little speck?” He asked, pointing to a tiny part of the shimmering sky. “That bird or something. Pretend it’s a Dalek.” He gave an example. “Zoom right in. All the way in.” I did as he said, the image becoming blurred. “Use the vision stabilizers.” The image unblurred, and there I saw something. “Initialise the image lo,” He began, before dropping off. Even as it unblurred, I knew the outline. It was bronze, with gold shoulders and hemispheres. A bronze dome housed one terrible eyestalk. “That’s a Dalek.” He breathed. “That’s not possible. Lock onto it.” The Dalek flew out of frame. “I said, lock onto it!” He shouted. “That’s not a hallucination, that’s real!” He screamed. “Track it!” Then, an alarm blared, drawing my attention. I saw him run around the dish, shouting “One Dalek incoming!” That was when more came. Dalek after Dalek after Dalek. There must have been a saucer high above, their strategists plotting a path through. That was when I was shot. The image stained red, and cut out.
I sighed, having watched the video again. It was always a good thing for me. My ancestor had faced death before in the Time War. I could do that now. I grabbed a staser that someone had left in the viewing chamber and aimed it outside, ready to step out. But as I opened the door, a short man with dark skin and black hair, with an overcoat the colour of an Earth fruit by the name of plum. He slipped in, and began panting.
“Thank you.” He smiled. “Now that I’m here, in the Matrix, I need to find a way to stop that lunatic out there.” He told me. “Could you let me in?” He asked. I didn’t know why, but I was too scared to think straight. So I let him into the Matrix, closed the video. Then, I saw him scour it, as if he was just wandering about. Then, he found a file. One labelled top-secret. “I always loved these.” He muttered, probably thinking I hadn’t heard him. I saw the file appear on the screen. It was labelled ‘Project: Timeless’ “No.” The man muttered. “No, no, no.” There, on the screen was the face of an old renegade by the name of the Doctor. “No!” He threw over a pot, with it shattering against the metallic grey floor. “I was always like him, even when I was evil.” Then, with a grin on his face, he turned to me. Then, I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach. I looked down to see a brooch sticking out. “From a previous life. They tried to change. But I want to be just like the Doctor.” The man stated. “And that means I need to be me.” He finished, pulling the brooch out. Now, the pin was stained red. Then, I fell to the ground and watched as he opened the door, and walked out. After it closed, I heard screams, before I passed on.