There were places inside the Time Vortex where even Time Lords rarely bothered going, little folds between ordinary routes where chronology loosened enough for two TARDISes to sit beside one another without technically occupying the same century, universe, or dimensional coordinates.
Omega liked those places because they were quiet, and more importantly, because the Engineer could not hear her there.
At least, usually.
Omega drifted through the Vortex in her fully matured form, no longer remotely resembling the tiny temporal seed that had once lived inside a teacup while demanding Artron energy every few hours.
She had grown considerably since then.
Her exterior shell changed whenever she felt like it, although she currently wore the shape most associated with the Engineer: a tall black structure resembling a mixture of Gothic architecture, Gallifreyan machinery and something that should probably have been standing at the entrance to an ancient tomb. Violet lines ran through the dark surface like glowing circuitry, while a large Omega symbol rested above the doors. A faint ticking sound followed her through the Vortex, although it did not come from any physical clock.
Inside was far worse, or better, depending on one's perspective.
Omega had grown alongside the Engineer, which meant the original TARDIS architecture had been rebuilt, modified, upgraded, dismantled and rebuilt again so many times that respectable Gallifreyan engineers would probably have started crying halfway through the technical documentation.
Her interior dimensions stretched across entire artificial ecosystems, engineering bays, temporal foundries, weapon vaults, libraries, laboratories, observation decks and several rooms whose purposes had changed so frequently that even Omega occasionally had to check.
The Engineer had once installed a miniature star in an energy chamber because she decided ordinary power systems were "boring."
Omega had kept it, not because she approved, but because it was useful.
That distinction was important.
Another TARDIS materialized nearby with considerably less patience.
The Vortex twisted as gravity briefly became philosophical, and a spiral of crimson light tore open across the temporal current before a dark vessel emerged from it.
The Maelstrom.
Tempest's TARDIS reflected her owner almost offensively well.
Its current exterior resembled a narrow obsidian tower covered in shifting red Gallifreyan markings. The architecture seemed different depending on which angle it was viewed from, appearing ancient and ceremonial from one perspective before resembling something built specifically to survive a war nobody else knew had happened from another.
Red lightning crawled silently across its surface.
Omega watched.
"You are late."
The Maelstrom's telepathic response arrived immediately.
"I arrived before you three times. You were simply experiencing the wrong version of the meeting."
Omega considered that.
"Show-off."
"Jealous."
"My navigation system does not accidentally create duplicate arrivals."
The Maelstrom paused.
"Mine does it intentionally."
Omega's central time rotor produced a low pulse that translated roughly into disbelief.
The Maelstrom moved closer until their dimensional fields overlapped enough to establish a private telepathic channel. To humans, the conversation would have sounded like engines humming, distant bells, and occasional mechanical clicks.
To another TARDIS, it was gossip.
The Maelstrom opened first.
"Your Engineer has acquired another stay."
Omega's response was immediate.
"Temporary."
"You always say that."
"Because they are."
The Maelstrom transmitted an image of a human woman standing beside the Engineer inside Omega's console room and pointing angrily toward a burning section of machinery while the Engineer insisted that "technically it wasn't on fire anymore."
Omega went silent.
The Maelstrom waited.
"Temporary," Omega repeated.
"She has her own bedroom."
"Guest room."
"She decorated it."
Omega's lights dimmed slightly.
"I allowed limited personalization."
"You gave her a window overlooking the artificial nebula."
"She likes stars."
The Maelstrom's amusement moved through their telepathic connection like warm static, which Omega disliked.
"Tempest brought three stays aboard you last month."
The Maelstrom immediately became defensive.
"That was different."
"One brought a dog."
"The dog was well behaved."
"The dog urinated beside your secondary dimensional stabilizer."
A long silence followed while Omega pulsed smugly.
The Maelstrom finally replied.
"I relocated that stabilizer."
"You relocated the dog."
"Only briefly."
"You put it in a corridor six kilometers away."
"It found its way back. Impressive creature."
Omega's console lights flickered with laughter.
The Maelstrom did not appreciate it.
Human companions were something TARDISes had privately called stays for longer than either of them remembered. Time Lords preferred words like companion, assistant, passenger or occasionally witness, but TARDISes knew better.
Humans came aboard.
Humans stayed.
Sometimes they remained for days, years or entire lifetimes from the human perspective before eventually leaving, because humans always did.
Therefore, stays.
The Doctor collected them constantly, while the Engineer pretended she did not, and Omega considered that distinction extremely funny.
"The Doctor has six again," the Maelstrom said.
Omega's time rotor slowed.
"At once?"
"Across different points of his timeline."
"That does not count."
"It absolutely counts. I can smell them whenever his ship passes nearby."
Omega sent amusement.
"The Doctor's TARDIS encourages him."
"Obviously."
Both vessels went quiet for a moment. They had opinions about the Doctor's TARDIS, as every TARDIS did, and most of those opinions were some variation of admiration, concern and what are you doing?
Omega eventually said, "She collects humans worse than he does."
The Maelstrom responded immediately.
"She likes them."
"Too much."
"You like yours."
Omega's internal corridors shifted defensively.
"I tolerate them."
The Maelstrom sent another image showing one of the Engineer's human stays asleep in Omega's library beneath a blanket that had definitely not been there when the human sat down.
Omega blocked the image.
"Environmental regulation."
"You gave him a pillow."
"Spinal support."
"It had little stars on it."
Omega's engines made an irritated grinding noise.
"The Engineer bought those."
"You chose that specific one."
Omega changed the subject.
"Tempest talks to you when she thinks nobody is listening."
The Maelstrom froze.
Omega immediately knew she had won.
"Irrelevant."
"She talks to your console."
"Many pilots speak to their vessels."
"She apologizes after damaging you."
"Basic respect."
"She kissed your console once."
The Maelstrom's red exterior lights brightened dangerously.
"You were not supposed to know that."
Omega's telepathic laughter spread across the local Vortex.
"You broadcast emotional telemetry when embarrassed."
"I do not become embarrassed."
"Your cloister bells rang."
"Warning systems malfunction."
"For eleven minutes?"
"There were complicated circumstances."
Omega was enjoying herself immensely. The Maelstrom shifted closer in a way that would have looked threatening if either of them had actually possessed conventional physical boundaries.
"Your Engineer sleeps inside your engine room."
Omega stopped laughing.
"Sometimes."
"She has a bedroom."
"She forgets where it is."
"You move it."
"Because she keeps restructuring my interior."
"You move it closer to wherever she is working."
Omega's lights dimmed while the Maelstrom continued with unmistakable satisfaction.
"You also monitor both of her hearts while she sleeps."
"Standard medical procedure."
"You change the room temperature when she has nightmares."
Omega became very quiet.
The Maelstrom's teasing softened.
Neither TARDIS spoke for several moments. Their owners were difficult creatures, as Time Lords always were.
Tempest treated the Maelstrom like an accomplice, weapon, home, confidant and occasional argument partner. She had modified almost every major system aboard it, often personally, occasionally while angry, and at least twice while actively fleeing something that objected to the modifications.
The Maelstrom possessed experimental temporal weapons that had never existed in approved Gallifreyan design theory. Its engines could deliberately enter unstable sections of the Vortex, and its dimensional shielding had survived paradox storms that should have ripped ordinary TARDISes apart.
Its defensive architecture occasionally ignored Tempest entirely and made its own decisions, which Tempest complained about while the Maelstrom ignored those complaints.
Omega understood perfectly because the Engineer was worse.
She talked constantly while working, left tools everywhere, connected experimental technology directly into Omega's systems without warning and once rerouted half the interior lighting because she wanted "better dramatic entrance vibes."
She had created an entire workshop directly beside the main console despite Omega repeatedly moving it elsewhere, so eventually Omega stopped moving it and then expanded it, although she would never admit this.
"Do you love her?" the Maelstrom asked.
Omega's entire dimensional structure seemed to pause.
The question was not strange among TARDISes. Their relationships with pilots were difficult to translate into human language.
Ownership was inaccurate.
Partnership was closer.
Family was sometimes accurate.
Love was usually somewhere inside all of it.
Omega considered the Engineer: the child who had once fed a tiny temporal seed from her own Artron reserves while complaining the entire time; the reckless young Time Lady who had built machines until she collapsed beside them; the older Engineer who would eventually become something powerful enough that civilizations recorded sightings of her as mythology; and the woman who still occasionally sat against Omega's console after difficult days and talked about absolutely nothing because silence felt worse.
"Yes," Omega admitted.
The Maelstrom pulsed gently.
"Unfortunately."
Omega's lights brightened.
"Exactly."
The Maelstrom understood.
"Tempest is exhausting."
"The Engineer once installed a weapon system because she lost an argument with a moon."
"Tempest once flew me directly through a collapsing pocket universe because she refused to take a twelve-minute detour."
"The Engineer replaced my temporal stabilizer while I was moving."
"Tempest replaced mine while I was crashing."
Omega considered that.
"That is impressive."
"I know."
Another comfortable silence followed before Omega projected a small image between them showing Tempest and the Engineer in older versions of themselves, standing inside Omega's console room and arguing over a holographic map while two human stays sat nearby eating snacks and pretending not to listen.
The Engineer pointed aggressively at one route.
Tempest rejected it.
The Engineer pointed harder.
Tempest folded her arms.
The Engineer climbed onto the console so she could point from above.
Tempest stared at her.
Then she laughed.
Omega remembered the moment fondly, and the Maelstrom did too.
"They are ridiculous," Omega said.
"Completely."
"They fight constantly."
"Yes."
"They deliberately irritate one another."
"Constantly."
Omega watched the memory.
"They would cross half of creation if the other called."
The Maelstrom's red lights softened.
"Immediately."
The image shifted, showing the human stays arguing with both Time Lords while the Engineer looked offended and Tempest looked amused.
One human stole the Engineer's tool, while another physically stood between Tempest and a control panel marked with several warning symbols.
Omega sent a fond pulse.
"The stays are useful sometimes."
The Maelstrom responded.
"They stop them doing stupid things."
Omega considered several thousand memories.
"They attempt to stop them doing stupid things."
"Fair correction."
The Maelstrom projected another memory showing the Doctor standing inside the Engineer's TARDIS with the exhausted expression of someone who had just discovered that the Engineer had modified another fundamental law of physics.
Behind him, three human companions watched the argument like spectators at a sporting event, while Tempest sat on the stairs eating something from a paper bag.
Omega brightened.
"That was a good day."
"The Doctor disagreed."
"The Doctor complains professionally."
"So does the Engineer."
"She learned from him."
The Maelstrom pulsed.
"Never tell either of them that."
"Obviously."
Far away through the Vortex, Omega suddenly felt a familiar tug against her navigation systems. The Engineer was calling, and the future Engineer wanted her.
Omega's dimensional field immediately tightened, which the Maelstrom noticed.
"Duty calls?"
"Apparently."
Another signal appeared from Tempest, and the Maelstrom's engines rose into an irritated growl.
"Mine too."
Omega transmitted amusement.
"Race you."
The Maelstrom's exterior began glowing crimson.
"You cheat."
"I learned from my Engineer."
"So did I."
Both TARDISes dematerialized at exactly the same moment, leaving the little fold of empty Vortex silent for several seconds before a final telepathic message echoed backward through time from both of them.
"Idiots."
Neither clarified whether they meant their owners or themselves.
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