Chapter 1: The Lady of Space

"Time is very slow for those who wait;

Very fast for those who are scared;

Very long for those who lament;

Very short for those who celebrate;

But for those who love, time is Eternal."

- William Shakespeare

I'd never understood the expression of 'ear-splitting headache' until the moment I crashed head-on into a time machine.

I know that seems kind of silly, but the expression does indeed rain true.
In fact, everything split out from around me like shattering glass.

My mind went white with pain as I was bombarded with millions upon millions of colors, sounds, and data. It filled me up to the point that I thought I was going to explode.
People, places, sounds, noise, war, terror, happiness, pain, love, loss. All of these things churned in and around me, tangling through my essence like some kind of turbulent storm.

Too much…It was too much. My conscious expanded violently in an attempt to compensate for this sudden onslaught of information, but it eventually ruptured and imploded, so that I was left to sort myself back out in an eerie kind of silence, once all of my jittery neurons had calmed down.

When I came too, I felt something solid beneath my fingers. It took me a few moments to process this as my senses were still far too shell-shocked for me to make out anything, but the solidity beneath me was the first thing I noticed. As was an odd kind of fuzzy ringing in my ears.

Something solid…Something solid but still humming faintly like the distant drone of a bee.
I was already well enough aware that something in my ascension had gone horribly wrong, but some ignorant, hopeful part of my mind still wished to believe that I had made the dimensional jump successfully.

The next thing to switch back on were my ears, although this process was considerably slower and less abrupt than my transition back to physical touch was. The latter already sent my body into a jittery panic as I wasn't supposed to even have a physical form anymore. Back to the head thing, I think my mind was trying to patch itself back up because my brain felt like it was made of cotton, but I was still conscious enough to make out the sounds of voices surrounding me.

"I think she's waking up," the voice of a young girl exclaimed.

"Good, so the transfer was successful," a second voice, older and grimmer replied. "Come away from her, Susan. She has probably had quite the shock."

"Will she be alright?" the first voice, Susan, inquired.

"We shall see," the second replied as it was at that time that I got full control of my motor skills again.
Forcing the stuffy feeling from my mind, I willed myself back into clarity and slowly opened my eyes.
I was lying on a hard but oddly warm surface with two faces peering down at me with a steadily growing curiosity.

It was obvious from their appearance that they were the two who had been examining me during my slow ascent back into consciousness as one was an old man and the other a young girl.
The girl was small and fairy-like with large, dark eyes and a scruffy mop of short, dark hair. She was dressed in a very simple cotton dress. As for the old man, his face and hands were lined with age, his hair powder white and thinning above the forehead. His nose was hooked almost like a bird's beak; his fingers were long and seemed to constantly be fumbling with something. He was dressed in a black frock coat with gaudy checked pants and a long scarf.

"There now, see?" the old man reassured Susan. "She's quite alright."

"What-?" I croaked out the simple question, my voice felt scratchy and thick. "What's happened?"
I tried to lift my head, but it felt oddly heavy, like it was replaced with a bowling ball. I fell back against the floor with a groan.

"Easy now," the old man knelt down beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Whoa, hot hand! Hot blood!
With a cry, I jumped back and, despite the crashing in my head, I skidded into a sitting position and jumped away from him. The old man watched me intently as I leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"W-What is this?" I struggled to keep my voice even. "What are you?" I paused trying to gather my bearings as I squeezed my eyes shut.
That funny ringing noise was back as well as an odd sort of pounding in my temple. In fact, the pounding was everywhere: beating under a kind of flesh that felt like it was stretched far too thin over my organs. The pounding ran throughout my body, stretching out from my core. It felt metallic and freezing, like ice water pooling under my skin.

No… I snapped my eyes open again. I stared down at myself. Little could be seen for a long, black overcoat had been hastily thrown over my form, but there was something definitely physical underneath it. At the sight of this, my heart plummeted into my stomach.

"Why does it feel so cold?" I whispered, a building dread coating my words.

"I'd imagine you are not used to the form the TARDIS gave you," the old man replied simply, "It will take a while to adjust."

Form….Adjust? No, no it couldn't be…

But it could. My dread only ran deeper as I slowly raised my hands to hold them in front of my face: long, thin bones, muscles, and tendons all encased in a withering kind of flesh, white like milk and covered in kneaded wrinkles.
This body was shriveled and old. Perhaps dying for all I know!

Everything about it felt so horribly wrong: the cold, the pounding of blood that coursed through my veins, this wrinkled flesh that had replaced my smooth porcelain skin. My body, my beautiful body, had been lost, disintegrated, and there was no other-dimensional form I could take.

I was too dignified to scream; I had lost enough of my dignity already, so I let out nothing, but an anguished cry, stunted by tightly gritted teeth.

"No! What is this?" I cried, staggering to my feet. My legs trembled under my own weight, feeling thin as toothpicks. Useless! Useless and weak! "What is this useless flesh? I am not this! I am divine!"

"You are no more a god than I am," the old man stated as he drew Susan into his chest; the young girl seemingly frightened by my outburst.

But, is that really saying much? What you are, what you could only be…There is no other creature that you could possibly be.

"What have you done?" I whispered; my voice tight with barely concealed rage. "What have you done, Time Lord?!"

The man raised an eyebrow at my words. "So, you are aware of what I am?" he mused calmly, despite my furious gaze scalding his form.
Releasing the young girl, he slowly walked over to me, far too close to for comfort. I stood firmly rooted to the spot; wanting to step away, but my pride would not permit it.

"You know what I am, and I know what you are," he continued.

I laughed grimly in spite of myself. "How can you? I am trapped within this feeble human flesh," I demanded, my teeth grinding together as I spoke.

"It is written all over your essence, and it was revealed in its blinding glory when you first entered my TARDIS."
Here, the old man paused to gently brush his finger along the scape of my jawline; running the single digit delicately over every grove in this oddly aged skin. "You are so beautiful," he whispered; his voice seemingly thoughtful.

"How dare you lay a hand on me?" I spat, stepping back this time from revulsion. Of all the creatures in this heavily polluted universe, I had to be dumped into the lap of a Time Lord?!

I can't say I was really thrilled about it, not in the slightest. It was no secret that our two races didn't really get along. We weren't sworn enemies or anything, us Lyall just weren't too fond of how nosey the Time Lords were; their constant inter-dimensional meddling and the invasion of our personal space that this usually entailed. We were both prideful races, ancient and self-indulgent. We were destined to clash, like rubbing two pieces of sand paper together to coin a human simile.

"You have no right to speak such a word as 'beautiful' towards me after what you have done!" I continued to scream, waving my arms in the air in a fit of almost hysterics. The Time Lord calmly stepped back from me. "Speaking of which, undo it. Undo it now!" I continued, gazing around the odd white platform we were all standing on.
Platform…No bridge. That's it; it it's more like the bridge of a spaceship, but different in some ways. It was impossible to describe.

"What do you mean by 'undo,'" the Time Lord asked.

"You heard me," I turned back to him. "Your Time Machine has disrupted my ascension and left me stranded in this false form. Release me, and let me be on my way. Or have you perhaps desired to take me captive from the beginning? I have heard of Time Lord nobility but also of their slimy greed."

"I have no intentions to hold you here against your will," the old Time Lord insisted, taking off his Astrakhan hat to wipe his sweaty brow. "None whatsoever, I assure you. As for releasing you, I am afraid I can do no such thing."

At his words, I curled my hands into fists and started shaking so great was my rage. Where did this Time Lord think he had the right?

"What do you mean you cannot undo what has been done to me?" I cried, my voice slightly shrill.

"As I said, what has been done to you was not my own doing but rather that of the TARDIS," the Time Lord replied.

"TARDIS…You keep saying that. What does it mean?"

"It's the name that was given to the time devices of the Time Lords," the young Susan, who had previously been standing off to the side watching the exchange between myself and her elderly companion, suddenly piped up. "TARDIS is a word built from the initials. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. See? It's quite clever."

As she spoke, Susan gestured behind me to what looked like the central console that seemed to control this bizarre device they called the TARDIS. As I turned to face it, I immediately felt a strange kind of pull towards it: something was pulsing within the depths of this ancient creature and the waves it gave off were old and familiar to me.

They were me.

I was in the TARDIS!

"That's me," I whispered, my anger momentarily subsiding.
Now feeling rather numb, I walked up to the console, gripping the coat tightly around my otherwise naked form. The control panel was shaped like a large disc that had a kind of pump in the middle that shot straight up to connect to the ceiling. Surrounding the center were dozens upon dozens of brightly colored buttons, knobs, pulleys, levers, as well as computer systems and other odds and ends I couldn't be bothered to identify. Slowly, I placed my hand on the TARDIS surface, not caring that the old man and the girl named Susan were watching me intently.
"That's me," I repeated, "I'm in the TARDIS."

"So, it would seem," the Time Lord stated, striding up beside me. "While the TARDIS traveled throughout the Time Vortex, your spiritual energy collided with it."

"Anima" I interrupted him. "Our spiritual energy is called Anima."

"Right. As I was saying, while you were spread out across the face of the universe, your core essence was passing through the universal stream on which the TARDIS rides, like a river, towards its destinations through time and space. Said core collided with the Heart of the TARDIS and dragged the rest of you with it." He paused to look at me. "I can imagine that wasn't a very pleasant experience."

I scowled, fuming slightly at the look of condescending sympathy in his eyes. Young eyes despite his otherwise heavily-aged appearance.

"Why did the TARDIS pull me in then?" I demanded. "A withering old Time Lord like yourself would have no use for me and I, a Lyall, would have no use for you."

"I couldn't begin to understand," the old man replied with a shrug. "The TARDIS is a device that is not easily comprehended. It does what it feels is right for the good of its passengers and, as it can exist at any point along the universal time line, we may not know the extent of its true intentions until much later."

"I don't care to ever know," I snapped back. "I shall continue my ascension on to my people. If you cannot free me from the TARDIS, than I will force it to do so."

"I wouldn't do that," the old man advised but it was too late.
Susan shrieked as I thrust my hand into the center of the time machine's console, gathering what little of my Anima remained in this withered form and sent it spiraling down through the complex inner workings of the TARDIS.
As soon as I did so, I regretted it.

It happened all over again. I was immediately thrust back into the turbulent hurricane that was the horrors of existing all at once. I felt like my body was being pulled in a million different directions, my mind loosening its hold on the here and now as everything was bombarding me, absorbing my essence. I became immense in size but impossibly small at the same time.

No, no, no, no! It's too much; make it stop!

I screamed as I was violently jerked away from the console and everything receded back to normal; it took a few moments, but my mind eventually smoothed itself like calming waves after a storm.

The old man had me around the waist and was carrying me towards a chair. He promptly put me down. I found that I was trembling, and my cheeks were burning in what I could only imagine to be a blush of embarrassment.

God, I hate having skin. I squeezed my eyes shut; refusing to look at the two Time Lords standing before me.

No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. I can't be stuck in here, stranded in the chasms of the universe while the rest of my people left this plane and moved on to the next! I needed to leave somehow. I needed to find a way to free myself from the TARDIS.

"As I predicted," the old man pulled me from my musings. "You are buried within the depths of the Heart of the TARDIS; your central core has now been fused with it. It would be nearly impossible to free you from it. I am afraid, my dear, you are not going anywhere for a long time."

"What are you to say that?" I demanded, jumping back to my feet. "How dare you make such an arrogant proclamation to me? I will escape this place and be rid of you both. I will rejoin my people in this next world as I was meant to!"

"That wouldn't be possible," Susan replied hastily. "Didn't you hear what my grandfather said? You are a part of the TARDIS. It gives you flesh, so that you may exist outside it, but your core remains within the machine. You are too heavily woven into this universe. You exist everywhere at once. There is no way you would ever be able to pass on in this state."

I felt like I'd been smacked. I wanted to smack back, but I was too stunned to do so as I staggered away from the Time Lord and Lady. Swaying from shock, it felt like a lead brick had dropped on my head.

No, no, no, no, NO!

I shrieked as I slammed my fists into my head, feeling shaggy salt and pepper hair growing out of my scalp like brittle straw. "This cannot be happening. I cannot be stranded as this…this thing! I cannot be lowered to this state! I am a Lyall!"

"The oldest race in the universe," the Time Lord mused. "I am sorry. Truly. You must believe that I am. I wish I could free you, but there is nothing I can do for you."

"Do not show me pity," I spat, advancing towards the old man. "You arrogant, self-indulgent simpleton!"

"Do not speak to my grandfather that way!" Susan cried.

"Grandfather?" I'd missed her calling him that the first time. "Aren't you a little old to be having grandkids, Time Lord?" I inquired of the old man with the young eyes.

"Aren't you a little crude and brash for a Lyall?" he immediately shot back.

"I have no desire towards civil interactions with the likes of the useless Time Lords or any of the other mongrels that pollute the universe of the Lyall!" I snapped in response.

"Grandfather, there must be some way to free her from this state," Susan cried. "It will be entirely too unpleasant for all of us if she were to remain."

Her grandfather sighed. "Believe me; I agree with you, Susan; but I do not know all of the secrets of the TARDIS. Perhaps, one day, this beautiful Lyall would be able to leave this place, but I do not know when that would be."

"It will be one day very soon," I declared, tightening my hold on the coat around my shoulders before turning swiftly on my heel and stalking towards the door that seemed to lead deeper into the inner workings of the time machine.
What little knowledge I had of these Time Lord machines was that they were immense in size. If perhaps I traveled far and deep enough into the device, I could uncover the secret to freeing me from this cursed prison and my intolerable jailers.

"Where are you going?" Susan called as I turned to leave.

"Nowhere you need to concern yourself with," I replied sharply. "It is as you said: the TARDIS holds many secrets. Perhaps, I might find the key to my escape from your wretched presence."

"What an utterly unpleasant woman," I heard the old man murmur to his granddaughter. "As it would seem, beauty is only skin deep."

"I heard that, Time Lord," I snapped, "and you can stop degrading me with all of this 'beautiful' nonsense. As if I need to be told Lyalls are beautiful."

"What are we to call you?" Susan then asked.

I stared at her. "What?"

"If what my grandfather says is true, and you will remain here in the TARDIS then we must call you by something."

"I will not remain trapped in this place for long," I replied sharply. "Even if I did, you would call me nothing. My name is sacred, even amongst my people; I will not allow it to be tainted by touching your lips."

"There must be something to address you by," Susan pressed. "Perhaps a nickname?"

I scoffed at the thought. The old man, meanwhile, looked thoughtful. "Tell me, of which lineage are you? I understand that the Lyall people are divided into various groups depending on abilities and familial relation."

I scowled at him. "If you must know, I am of the Eternal Lineage."

The old man's face crinkled into a smile. "There now, that wasn't so hard."

"Eternal? As in, to live forever?" Susan inquired.

"My family name has come to mean that," I admitted.

"I know!" Susan exclaimed. "How about Terna?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Terna?"

"Yes, it's a play on the name Eternal. Eternal, Terna. Get it?"

I replied with a heavy sigh.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," the old man exclaimed.

"I do not recall asking for you opinion, Time Lord," I snapped back.

"Doctor" he replied.

I paused. "What?"

"If we are to call you 'Terna', you ought to know what to address us by," the Time Lord explained. "My granddaughter has taken the name Susan," he gestured to the young girl. "And I am known as the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?" I demanded.

"Just the Doctor."

"That is utterly ludicrous," I stated flatly, turning once more to exit the room, but the Doctor stopped me yet again.

"I don't want to later find out you have been messing with my things while you wander the TARDIS inner workings," he called to me, causing me to pause on the threshold. "Despite how unpleasant you are, you are still a guest on my ship."

"And what shall you do if I do mess anything up?" I demanded as I snatched an antique magnifying glass from the TARDIS console. Best to be armed just in case; a normal object would do and my Anima will do the rest. "Nothing. A Time Lord is but a flea to the might of a Lyall. I doubt you would be a hindrance to me even in my current state. Now, goodbye and good riddance."

"I do hope you realize that I am sorry for what has happened to you, Terna. Truly I am," the Doctor continued on, but I stopped listening as I vanished into the bowels of the mysterious TARDIS.

Thus begins the adventure of a lifetime for both the Doctor and myself. On the day I met him, I never would have expected what would come from it. As the Time Lord said, the true intentions of the TARDIS are often not revealed until much later…

A/N: "Arrogant, self-indulgent simpleton!" Truly, love at first sight. And yes, Terna is a bit of a bitch, but that's subject to change in the future. After all, we have a long way to go. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!