Video: When Props Attack

[timesbureaucrat]

[The communicator comes on with the sound of a hard crack, like the buttons are being smacked instead of pushed. The communicator bounces with the force of the blow.

On the screen, Narvin is looking wild-eyed and hair askew. He swears in Gallifreyan and runs a frustrated hand over his head.

Well, now that the communicator is on, he might as well explain.]

One of those vile pests has got into my room. If there's an exterminator around, I would pay good emeralds to see the blasted thing put out of my misery. I last saw it disguising itself as a communicator, but where or what it is now...

[He scans the room, sees something moving out of the corner of his eye.]

No don't--! [And runs off chasing after the Prop, communicator still on, but left on the table.]

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[timesbureaucrat]

[It never occurred to Narvin to invite Visscher to sit. Or to take offence at him sitting without invitation. The social nicety just doesn't come to him naturally.]

I'm Gallifreyan, yes. A Gallifreyan with the genetic alterations set down by Lord Rassilon, including the genes governing regeneration.

About a year ago, my nuclea lingua symbiotica were drawn off. My regenerations were removed.

[frontier_doktor]

Which the Gallifreyans here also have, except you have other differences?

[timesbureaucrat]

I haven't seen a genetic comparison yet, but on the Gallifrey I came from--an alternate universe from the one I was loomed into--my DNA was found to have slight variations unlike the local Gallifreyans. It's probably caused by generations of exposure to temporal technology. Everyone on my Gallifrey is imbued with temporal radiation, even if they never fly in a TARDIS. The transduction barriers that surround and protect the planet put out strong chronon emissions.

The Gallifrey I was living on, and the Gallifrey here, they don't have temporal technology. No time tech, no chronon emissions, no temporal genetic mutations.

[frontier_doktor]

So any regenerations that they have could only be a base.

[He lifts his chin and scratches at the scruff of his beard, inadvertently looking apish despite his polite and mild demeanor.] Is it the exposure to the temporal technology that alters them, though? Because with some negotiation the fix could be simple. You could be embued with their regenerations and when you returned they would alter naturally.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin frowns a little at the beard scratching. He can't deny that it looks itchy to him, but if it itches he doesn't know why Visscher keeps it. He assumes that people with beards are trying to hide their face, but Visscher doesn't seem like a liar and a cheat like the Master is, so he wonders why Visscher is hiding.

Then the answer hits him. And he swallows his desire to criticize the beard out loud.]

It's possible that they could grant me a new set of regenerations. If they had a mind to. That sort of gift is very rare. It must be ratified by the Inner Council and is usually only offered to those who have performed an extraordinary service. Or have something the Inner Council desperately wants.

These Gallifreyans don't even know who I am. Convincing them to grant me a full new regeneration cycle could be difficult.

[But Visscher has started wheels turning in Narvin's mind now. Difficult is not impossible, and this is the best idea he's heard so far.]

[frontier_doktor]

Yes, but for the moment you're at least interesting to them. You have an edge. You can tell them about other Gallifreys.

Its worth a try. It's the easiest solution and it might be the best to pursue first. If you can get them, we can see if we can apply them here. It seems like a more difficult thing to build from scratch.

[He has a look around.] It looks as though your room is otherwise pretty safe. Perhaps the Andorian has left by now. [He stands again and fusses over himself primly.] I'm sorry that you were inconvenienced and I couldn't help you. [With the prop, anyway.]

[timesbureaucrat]

On the contrary, you've helped me tremendously, Doctor Visscher.

[Getting those regenerations will be a matter of playing Gallifreyan politics. And Narvin understands Gallifreyan politics. There's a chance it might actually work. For the first time in a long time, things are starting to look up.]