23It was the existence of the aiúa that led to their discovery – well, their existence and that of Jane. Jane gave them so many things – instantaneous travel, complete control of the ansibles… and, as the fading imitation of Peter had discovered, time travel. Jane and Ender could go into the Outside and come back Inside before they had left. The Hive Queen – and eventually the humans themselves – had made more bridges, more computer-people.
Technology continued to advance.
The humans eventually learned to make more of the Spacetime Machines by themselves, and the Hive Queen, Grego, and Olhado discovered a tricky way of bending reality, compacting space to make rooms (or, in their case, spaceships) seem bigger on the inside. Valentine insisted on renaming the Spacetime Machines, calling them Time and Space Travelers. Grego corrected her, saying that they were Time and Relative Dimension in Space Travelers.
They relocated to another planet, bursting with red grass and silver trees, and named it Gallifrey.
Ender's next discovery was vital. He realized that if they managed to route energy combined with a modified version of the descolada throughout the body as they died, they could heal the body and preserve the aiúa. The only drawback was the inability to retain the body's same shape, as he discovered after a fatal accident in the mountains of their new home. Valentine had barely believed that it was him, and then gathered Quara and Novinha to see if they could design a better way.
The only thing they could think of, it turned out, was to write the regeneration-machine's code into their genetics and give themselves an improved system. They finally settled on a bicardiovascular system with improved immunities and respiratory backup. Using the genetic slicer version of the descolada, they changed each and every human on the planet (not that there were many) to this new and improved species.
Technology continued to advance.
The planet, it turned out later, was inhabited – by their descendents. Their many-times-great-grandchildren convinced them to go back in time billions of years, and the no-longer-humans complied. Very little changed – they had been out of contact with the Hundred Worlds and the Starways Congress for a few years by then.
Nobody was sure who had first suggested taking new names – after all, it was argued, they were almost new people, weren't they? So they joked around, and created the three-name system, by which Ender was firstly Andrew Wiggin, then Ender, then Omega. (He had chosen the name, he said, because of the pecking order of wolf packs, and because something on his first journey into the Outside had reminded him of wolves.) Grego had decided on Rassilon, which, he said, sounded like something from a legend.
One day, Quara looked out of the TRDST (annoying name, Ender/Omega thought), and said it was more like a vortex than an outside.
Technology continued to advance.
After a while, it was noticed that they hadn't aged in a while. Novinha found a genetic quirk in one of the Gallifreyans that had accidentally been transmitted and amplified, causing a ridiculously long natural life. Coupled with their regeneration, they were almost immortal.
Olhado noted that in an ancient Earth language, 'Gallifrey' meant 'Lord over Time.' It was, after all, why they had chosen that name for their planet. Why not tale it the full step, he asked, and just call themselves Time Lords?
Technology continued to advance.
A legend was born in the stars, the future, and a computer named Jane.
Technology continued to advance, was advancing, will advance, had advanced.
A small boy was born, one who would one day take the title of the Doctor.
Years(decadescenturesmillenia) later, just past his twelfth regeneration, he de-aged himself and used the Chameleon Arch to hide.
Ender took off for battle school.
Time is a circle, they say. Inevitable. Interconnected. Always.
Technology continued to advance.
Andrew/Ender/Omega found a pocket watch.