"Act Your Age!" -- Part One -- "The Start :-)" **** Nomad Of Norad on Mon 2-Sep-1996 5:47p: **** **** "Story - Act Your Age!" **** "Act Your Age!" The Fourth Doctor, aka Gary Wolfe, was out in his pseudoTARDIS with a bunch of guests who had been at his house for a party or something and had persuaded him to take them on a little trip. The pseudoTARDIS was a craft that looked on the inside, and for that matter the outside, like the TARDIS on the "Dr Who" TV show, not surprising, since The Fourth Doctor had taken his persona from the TV show. It looked like the TARDIS, it acted like the TARDIS, it just used a different underlying technology was all. He and Nomad of Norad had worked together on it over the years. To make the craft much larger on the inside than it was on the outside, like in the show, they'd simply created a largish pocket-dimension for the inside, and built within it a rather complete mock-up of the sets from the TV show, right down to the gleaming white walls with all the sunk-in backlit circles, the endless rooms and corridors, and of course the six-sided control console with the largish clear-plastic cylinder in the center filled with all sorts of funky plastic shapes, a cylinder which bobbed slowly up and down as the craft was in flight. They'd even managed to duplicate the time-travel aspect of the TARDIS. T4D and Nomad had, in fact, built two of the craft, one for each of them. Just for kicks, Nomad had made his look on the outside like an old Victorian wardrobe cabinet, while T4D had stuck with the London police call box shape from the TV show. So anyway, they were all out on a little trip in T4D's pseudoTARDIS, taking it for a spin. The guests had basically moved the party onto the pseudoTARDIS, drinks, finger-foods and all, and it was spread across several different rooms. Of course, the TARDIS would fly itself once a destination had been set, and so the console was left unnattended, more or less, while T4D helped prepare more snackfoods. In a different room... >CRASH!!!< "What the!" cried twelve-year-old Nathan the Fearless, Nomad's adopted son. "You got salsa all over my shirt!" "No," said seven-year-old Timothy Dalshronk, "YOU got salsa all over your shirt!" "YOU knocked the cart over!" "No, YOU knocked the cart over!" "No, YOU---" "Boys! Boys!" said Traveller. "Settle down, you two!" said T4D. Nomad walked in from another room. "Oh good grief, Nathan, can't you act your age?" "What, my physical age or my chronological age?" Nathan had been genetically created and then age-accelerated to age six, with six years of simulated memories implanted into his noggin so he wouldn't know he wasn't but days old. He was then used as an innocent pawn in a very devious plot against Nomad, which fortunately didn't pan out. "You know what I mean!" And then, suddenly, the pseudoTARDIS lurched! "What the!" said both Nomad and Nathan. It lurched again. Back in the console room, T4D arrived at the console in something of a hurry. Nomad was right behind him. "We seem to be passing through waves of temporal distortion," said T4D. "From where?" said Nomad, joining him at the console. He started around to one of the other stations, but stopped short, at the communications panel. "We're getting a distress signal!" "Hmmmm..." said T4D, looking at that panel, and then another. "Seems to be coming from the center of the distortion." He put it on speaker. "...is the starrrrstarrrrstarrrrship-p-p-p FAR STAR, we have encountered a temporal rifffft in space and arrrre exxxxxxperiencing bizzbizzbizzbizarre temmtemmtemporrporrporal disssstortions all over the ship-p-p-p-p-p..." "It would appear the signal is being distorted by the waves of temporal distortion between us and the ship," said T4D. "The signal is very weak," said Nomad, "I don't think anyone else can hear it." He glanced at another part of the comms panel. "Now THIS is wierd, the ship's ident lists it as a Roddenberry class, *mark* *four*!" "Mark *four*?" said T4D. "They're still designing the mark three!" "Yes, I just wonder how far forward that ship is from!" At that point, Traveller joined them in the console room, along with several of the other guests. "So, everyone, fancy a rescue attempt?" "Could be fun!" said Juggs. Most everyone else seemed to agree. "So, we go in then, eh?" said Nomad, manning the computer panel. "Stand by everyone," said T4D, standing at the space-time navigational panel, "here we go!" **** Traveler to Nomad Of Norad on Mon 2-Sep-1996 7:15p: **** **** **** Slowly T4D accelerated and all of the passengers leaned back against the seats as the craft accellerated! Ok you kids, any more trouble out of you and we will use you as fuel! The comment quieted the children real fast because they new NOMAD was the enforcer and he had been known to eat children as emergency rations when he was in the TARDIS cras of 94! His reputation had spread wide and far after it was known! He did not have much empathy for children and was even seen to smack his lips when in the presence of chubby children! As they pulled closer to the Rodenberry *Class* Mark* four* Juggs became excited and when she did you could feel the emanations coming from her brain cells! She was a rather plain jane in the earthly context but through the brain waves she emanated you could just feel the excitement! My cells started vibrating and I could feel the excitement then I felt the real feeling and it was Cherokee, Juggs had sensed that he was on the Rodenberry Class Mark 4 and also the Broad Of New Existensual Senses (Bones for short)was also with her mate! You could tell she was somewhat irratated as her tendacy to twist them tassells! As they pulled closer and Nomad piloted the craft closer...... **** Nomad Of Norad to Traveler on Mon 9-Sep-1996 4:04p: **** **** **** Wait a minute, wait a minute, HOLD IT!!! SKUUUUUUHHHHHREEEEEEEEAAAAACCHHHH!!!!!! Acceleration seats in a TARDIS? said the narrator, the TARDIS doesn't need `em. Let's do a remake of this scene. "Awwww nuts!" said Nathan. "Remakes are rarely as good as the original!" Trust me on this, said the narrator. So, slowly T4D accelerated towards the starship from the future. "Okay everyone," said Traveler, "into the acceleration seats." He pointed to an empty part of the console room. Well, mostly empty, there WAS an antique-style sofa over there. Everyone took a couple steps thataway, stopped short as they noticed the absense of acceleration seats, turned back around and gave Traveller a funny look. Naturally, he was pulling their legs. At that point, seven-year-old Timothy walked over to the sofa, saying, "Neeto! A baroque acceleration-seat!" He plopped down on it and started bouncing up and down, boing-boing-boing-boing! Nathan started toward him, but Traveller sidled up to him first and said, "Okay you kids, any more trouble out of you and we'll use you two as fuel!" Nathan gave him a funny look. Timothy looked really startled. Noticing this, Traveller decided to capatalise on it and added, "You know of course how Nomad here's been known to eat children as emergency rations, like that time with the TARDIS crash of `94." Timothy's eyes grew wider and wider as he heard this. "I mean, his reputaion spread far and wide after it was known. I mean, he doesn't have much empathy for children, and has even been seen to smack his lips in the presence of chubby children, so don't give him reason." At that point, eyes really wide, face turning a little pale, Timothy jumped up and ran out of the console room, down several corridors, and hid out in the bowling alley on deck 17. Nathan watched him go, and said, "Timothy, boy are you ever gullable!" And so, as they headed closer to the starship, T4D and Nomad broke out a bunch of little metal disk thingies mounted on armbands and started handing them out. "These are time-shields, they will protect you from any temporal distortions you might walk through once aboard the FAR STAR," said Nomad. "Here, Nathan, take one to Timothy. According to the sensors he's hiding down in the bowling alley." "You bringing Timothy along?" said Juggs, incredulously. "Err... No, but it's still a good precaution, just in case things go really wiggy. 'Course, being in the TARDIS we're all safe, time-shield armband or no time-shield armband." The big, hollow cylindar in the center of the six-sided console stopped bobbing up and down, went dark, and went BONG! The room they were in seemed to give a mild up-and-down lurch, like a boat fetching up against land. "We've materialized," said T4D. "Now, let's check out the situation." He went around to the scanner station, and put the sensor readings of the layout of the ship up on the big screen, which was imbedded in one wall. **** The Sysop to Nomad Of Norad on Tue 10-Sep-1996 12:39a: **** **** **** Staring at the console, T4D murmured. "Hmm. Yes! Er, no. But, of course!" "What?!" everyone shouted. "Oh, I just remembered that I left my microwave dinner in the oven. It's probably cold by now." "ugh!" everyone groaned. Looking at the console again, T4D calmly stated, "Oh, by the way, everyone's got their time shields on, right?" "Is there any particular reason you ask?" inquired Nomad. "Actually, yes," came the flat response. [Take it away, Nomad...] **** Nomad Of Norad to The Sysop on Tue 10-Sep-1996 11:47p **** **** **** "Well?" prompted Traveler. "The temporal distortions out there," said T4D, "are powerful enough that they just might punch on through into the console room here when we open the outer doors." "Yow!" said Nomad. "How far in is it likely to push?" "Probably not far," said T4D, "somewhere between five feet and... oh... maybe twenty or thirty feet. I hope." "You mean, it might push in even further?" said Juggs, taking a few steps backwards, away from the doorward part of the room. "Possibly," said T4D, "but anyone wearing a personal time-shield should be safe, anyway." "Come to think of it," said Nomad, "might be a good idea for each of us to carry at least one spare." He started digging more out of the case they were all stored in. "While you're at it," said T4D, "give everyone a comm-badge in case we have to split up." "Right," said Nomad, pulling out a second case filled with a type of shirt-mounted communicators inspired by Star Trek, except these were done up in a different motif than that of Star Trek. Naturally, they had a DrWho motif, done up as a sort of bronzy-colored round disk with a hollow-line figure-eight shape appearing on it, it was the symbol of the Time Lords, or something like that. "Here," said Nomad, "place it on the left side of your shirt-fronts, like this." He mounted it on his own shirt, right about where it would be worn were this Star Trek instead of The Adventures of the Intrepid Group (tm). He then handed out comm-badges to everyone. **** Nomad Of Norad on Thu 28-Nov-1996 5:21p **** **** **** And so the team prepared to depart the pseudoTARDIS and venture out into the starship from the future. Or were they in the future? Come to think of it, they were already inside the starship from the future, since they had, after all, parked the TARDIS inside it. "They know we're coming, right?" said Walt. "I informed them on our way in of our intent to land and help," said Nomad. "They acknowledged, and gave all sorts of thank-you's." At that point, Nathan wandered back into the console room, followed by Timothy. "That was quick!" said Traveler. "He was on his way back up here," said Nathan. "Ah!" said Nomad. "So, are we ready to venture forth?" said Walt. T4D reached for the big red lever that operated the powered double-doors. "Wait a minute!" said Nomad. T4D stopped in mid-reach, looked at him. "Come to think of it," explained Nomad, "we need someone to stay behind and watch over the TARDIS in case something screwy happens." He was looking towards Nathan and Timothy as he said this. Actually, he'd been looking for an excuse to keep Timothy safe inside the pseudoTARDIS, since, unlike what Traveler had said, Nomad was actually rather sensative about kids, couldn't bear the thought of one being harmed. Nathan caught on, though, to where he was headed with this... "OOOOoooh no you don't! I want to go with *you* guys!" "Listen," said Nomad, thinking on his feet, "there's a possibility we might get in trouble out there and need assistance, and in that case we'd need someone here to bring the TARDIS to us, or something. Beyond The Doctor and me, you're the only one here who knows how to operate the old girl. And besides, someone needs to keep an eye on the TARDIS systems, since the time distortions just might cause something to burn out or go out of kilter." "Besides," added T4D, "we need someone to lock the doors after we all step outside. Don't want just ANYone walking in, you know!" Then Nomad bent down and added, in almost whispered tones. "And anyway, I want you to keep Timothy safe. His dear, widowed mother wouldn't forgive me if I let her only son get killed on a mission, and, frankly, I wouldn't be able to live with myself, either." Nathan just stood there, looking at him as if expecting him to give in and let him come with them. "Please?" said Nomad. "Pretty please with gumdrops on top?" Finally Nathan gave in. "Okay, I'll stay with Timothy." "Good." Nomad playfully tussled Nathan's hair. Nathan grinned with amusement. "Be careful," Nomad added, "when these doors open up, the time distortions might, just might, come pushing in from the outside." He now gestured to T4D, and T4D threw the door-open lever. With a throbbing hum, two thick, gleaming-white doors, which each had three big circles sunk most of the way into them, now swung open into the console room. Beyond was a sort of ante-chamber: the inside of the London police-box outer shell of the pseudoTARDIS. The rest of the bunch now filed out the big doors, and Nathan took over at the door lever, waiting for them to all get past the inner doors. "You say that Cherokee is aboard the starship?" said Walt to Juggs. Nomad chimed in. "Would that be Cherokee from the future, or Cherokee from our point in time?" "Not sure," said Juggs, "but more than likely from our point in time. At least, that's what I sense." "Must have been caught in the time-rift like the FAR STAR was," said T4D. "Probably got sucked through it into the FAR STAR's time period and then got rescued by the FAR STAR before the time distortions got really intense." "Uh.... Wait a minute," said Nomad to Juggs. "Did you say `*sense*'?" "She's wearing one of those fancy pseudo-PSI mind-booster gadgets," said Traveler. "Bought it from some galactic mail-order company." "Peachy," said Nomad. T4D pulled open the outer doors, and they stepped out of the pseudoTARDIS and into the starship corridor outside. Once outside, Nomad asked Juggs, "So, what was it that brought Cherokee out here?" "He was looking for something, that's all I know. He was very secretive about it, but I gather he thought it was something serious." "Was it related to the time-rift, somehow?" said T4D. "Don't know," said Juggs. "We'll have to ask him when we get to him. By the way, Bones is with him, too." "Now I wonder what *she's* doing there," said Walt. "That's just what I was wondering," said Juggs.