The Galactifrey Chronicles

Chapter 1 Tea With The Tinkerer

Astro was spinning in a whirlwind of light and energy. This portal was different to ones he had encountered before. He was jolted around and spun upside down and every which way for several minutes until the portal stopped, but Astro, who was not on any solid land, did not. He fell. Down and down he went until, crash, Astro landed in a large pile of rubble. He sat up and rubbed his head, dizzy from the whole ordeal. He took a moment to catch his breath and check for any signs of injury, but by some incredulous feat, he was unscathed, though a little dirty from where he had landed, which was… where, exactly? He looked around at his new surroundings, and his eyes were met with rundown buildings comprised of grungy looking bricks, dotted with the odd air conditioning system, and decorated here and there with graffiti. He noticed the flickering neon lights and hanging lanterns casting shadows on old sodden cardboard boxes and scraps of metal, and he saw corrugated iron awnings jutting out over the top of windows, some of which were hidden behind security shutters. Despite the initial appearance, it wasn’t completely uninviting, there were homely comforts, too, like string lights draped across the buildings, and plants growing out of chipped pots and hanging off the wall brackets in rusted tin cans. There were cushions from an old sofa, arranged in some sort of makeshift bed and covered with tattered blankets, and there were trinkets that had been pieced together using rusted screws and bolts.  Astro picked himself up from where he sat and clambered over the piles of junk he found himself amongst, making quite the racket in the process. Cling, clang, Astro stumbled over an old paint tin, sending it rolling towards the makeshift bed.  Beep, boop, the bed said.. wait, what?

‘Did that bed just… beep?’, Astro said to himself as he cautiously neared closer to it.
Something under the blankets stirred, causing Astro to jump back in surprise. Unsure of what was about to come out of those tattered rags, Astro looked around for something that seemed remotely useful in case he needed to defend himself, and spotted a rather large wrench. He swiftly grabbed for it and readied himself as the moving pile of fabric made some more curious beeping sounds. 
“Who’s there?” Astro nervously called. “Who’s there”, a distorted robotic voice mimicked. “Language detected: Merlopian”, a clearer, feminine voice spoke as the tattered blankets fell away, revealing a robot with mismatched parts and some kind of computer monitor as a head. He was wearing half a tattered coat which covered one arm, and his white pixelated eyes were the only images on the otherwise black screen. They blinked a couple of times, surveying Astro, before the robot spoke once again, this time in a more casual, yet still robotic voice. “Hello, I am Mac. You must have fallen through the Portal. You are on Galactifrey.” Astro lowered the wrench, “Galactifrey?!” Astro was confused. In all the stories he had heard of Galactifrey, it was full of beautiful, giant cities with stunning, towering buildings, not this grungy vision he saw in front of him.

“Yes.” The robot replied a matter-of-factly, without picking up Astro’s confused expression. With a squeak of his mismatched joints, Mac slowly made his way over to a bench and began delicately preparing some kind of tea. He grabbed two mugs and pinched some dried leaves out of a tin while he heated a kettle on a single burner. In one mug he poured the heated water, and in the other he opened a tap on a large vat of oil and let it trickle into the mug. He offered the watery infusion to Astro, and sat on a chair made of cardboard and blankets, gesturing to Astro to sit on a floor cushion next to him. Astro obliged and sipped his tea, which was surprisingly good, with floral notes and a strong but lovely aroma. He realised this robot would have been drying his own plants to create these infusions. ‘What an interesting hobby for a robot to have!’, he thought to himself, as he watched Mac, not sip his own tea - of course, he didn’t have a mouth, but gently pour the infused oil into his joints.

Astro felt a gust of cool wind and shivered, so he reached for his satchel to find his cloak but he realised with a start that his satchel was missing! He jumped up as Mac made some startled beeps and spilled a little of his oil.  “My satchel! I must have lost it through that crazy portal! Mac, can you help me find it please?” Astro said in distress.  “Mac will help small creature, if small creature helps Mac?” The robot asked, and before Astro could reply, he slowly got up and walked over to a large object covered in tarps which had been stitched together with cables. He propped up the front of the tarp with a long metal pole, revealing to Astro some kind of broken spaceship.  “Small creature help Mac fix spaceship!” Mac said, as his pixelated eyes became happy arcs. “And Mac will help small creature find his satchel!” Stunned, but with little else to lose, Astro agreed to help Mac. “Alright then, where do we start?”

Chapter 2 The Frey

Mac the robot picked up a bag and started walking down the alley from where he and Astro had just had tea. His joints squeaked and he moved slowly, and it was obvious from his mismatched parts that Mac had repaired himself many times with whatever he could salvage from the junk pile Astro had fallen into. 
“Small creature follow Mac now”, the robot summoned. 
Astro stood up and shivered from the cool breeze flowing through the alley, he sure did wish he had his cloak from Merlopia, or his coat from Palkias, but they were both in his satchel which was lost somewhere in the portal that had transported him here from Basteon. He breathed a heavy sigh, and realised how much he missed his friends back home, and his new friend, Celeste, from Basteon. It was the first time he had truly felt homesick. Mac had noticed Astro’s hesitation and sauntered back to a box full of fabrics. He deliberately rummaged through and pulled out a heavy woollen shawl, knitted with multicoloured yarn. 
“Small creature is cold, take this, stay warm”, Mac said as he handed the shawl to Astro, who eagerly pulled it over his head and wrapped it around his shoulders, basking in the coziness of the soft wool. 
Astro followed Mac who had already began to walk back out of the alley. 
“I’m Astro, by the way”, he said as he realised he had not yet introduced himself. “Where are we? And how on Soliara are we meant to fix that spaceship?”
“Small creature fell through Portal into The Frey. It is Lower District of big city on Galactifrey,” Mac explained. “Broken spaceship need parts, parts that are not common here. We go to Sefaal, he help us.”
Mac lead Astro for some time, passing a lot of similar buildings to the one where Mac lived. The residents of The Frey had all put their homely touches on their spaces. Astro and Mac passed one such cozy hovel decorated with all manner of old instruments and vinyl records, another had half finished artworks and various sizes of paint tins and brushes scattered around. Astro realised nothing here was new. Everything was old, tarnished, recycled. These humble localities were nothing like the grandiose stories Astro had heard of Galactifrey. He never thought about the fact there would even be a rundown, forgotten area of such a magnificent place.

Finally the pair reached some kind of marketplace. It was bustling with all sorts of beings, both robots and life forms from all over the Galactiverse who had found themselves here one way or another, some set up in little shops, selling all manner of things, and some there perusing the wares of the stalls.
A creature with a long nose and hunched back was selling exotic looking fruits. A robot with little green lights for eyes was set up with different sizes of cables and plugs. Each shopkeeper they passed greeted Mac with such enthusiasm, it was apparent he was well known in these parts, and well respected. 
“Mac help fix droids and technology.” He said to Astro, as he happily returned the waves and greetings from everyone around.
Eventually they reached quite a large shop nearer to the back of the marketplace that stretched back through the building where there was a large doorway framed by a rolled up security shutter opening out into a yard filled with scrap parts from all sorts of technology.
Ding, Mac rang the little bell on the counter and after a few moments a plain looking robot with quite rusty and scuffed looking parts whom Astro presumed to be Sefaal came to attend. Mac didn’t say a word, but he rummaged through his bag, pulled out some sort of battery, and presented it to the shopkeeper while gesturing ‘up’ with his robotic hand. 
‘Again?’ Sefaal replied in a monotone and very distorted voice, and by the way they stared at Mac for a beat and tilted their head, Astro sensed disapproval. Despite their judgement, they accepted Mac’s gift and headed out towards the back of the shop with a series of disgruntled beeps. 
They navigated the maze of salvaged scraps in silence until Sefaal lead them to a large air duct leading upwards and opened a heavy metal hatch which let out a blast of pressurised steam. Mac slung his bag over his back, eagerly climbed in, and clung onto the ladder attached to the side of the tube, before reaching a limb out to assist Astro while he did the same. 
Creeeeak, BANG, Sefaal closed the door behind them as Mac and Astro began to climb.

Chapter 3 The City

“Where are we going?” Astro asked, clinging onto the ladder for dear life.
“Mac and Astro need to visit the Upper District for parts to fix spaceship”, replied Mac, as his joints creaked and squeaked with each movement, making the ascent up the air duct a slow and noisy one. There were dim lights hanging along the ladder of the duct, barely lighting the way, and it was cold. Astro was grateful for his shawl, but his paws were beginning to get stiff as he hauled himself up each rung, and the duct seemed never ending. Finally, just as Astro felt that his limbs could possibly fall off, Mac stopped and pushed up a maintenance hatch that allowed daylight to pour onto Astro’s face. Mac hauled himself up and out into a small alley framed by large, tall buildings before giving Astro a hand to do the same. He knew that The Frey was underground, but it didn’t truly hit him that all who dwelled there lived in perpetual darkness. An entire city shrouded by steel beams and sheet metal, a hidden city that was never mentioned in the grand stories of Galactifrey. While Astro was lost in thought, Mac had knelt down to rummage in his bag, pulling out a small oil dispenser which he used to lubricate his squeaky joints, and a long, hooded cloak which he wrapped around himself and pulled up the hood, half covering his face.

‘Astro and Mac are Outsiders, Astro can go around unnoticed, but Mac needs to stay hidden. Old robots like Mac are not welcome in The City’.

He lead Astro to the end of the alley and drew his cloak tighter around his metal limbs before stepping out of the passage, revealing the stunning skyline of Galactifrey. Astro was struck with awe, all the stories he had heard could not measure up to the sight he beheld in front of him. Buildings of all shapes and sizes, some gleaming with chrome, reflecting the purple hue of the skies Astro had only heard about from travellers in passing. He wondered if they knew the dark side to this magnificent city.

They ventured on, deeper into the city, Mac constantly on alert and sticking to the shadows. A whoosh above them from the Monorail sent a gust of wind billowing out the fabric of Mac’s cloak as he hurried on until they reached a stone stair leading down.

“Before Monorail, there was the Subway”, Mac explained as he lead them both down. “Mac used to work on the Subway system, but just like Mac, the trains are old and forgotten.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, crouched down to Astro, and pointed at the old, rundown train, sitting at the station, waiting for passengers that would never board. “We need the control panel from that train for spaceship, but cameras too fast for Mac. Astro can slip past.”

Astro studied the cameras, their blue lights lighting their path to catch any unwelcome prowlers. A system set in place long ago and never disabled, forever surveilling the empty passages of the Subway. He noticed their pattern. The one on the left would move constantly, but slowly, while the two in the middle would hover at their apex for a few seconds as they panned widthways, giving a few seconds of opportunity to slip between the three without being spotted. But then there was the fourth camera, constantly flitting between the door of the control room and the door of the train. Astro would need to time this perfectly. ‘One, two, three, four’, he counted the seconds in his head between the cameras movements. He puffed up his chest, it was now or never. Astro carefully manoeuvred past the first camera, then the second and third, and finally the fourth. Astro jumped onto the train just as the blue light began to shift towards him, but in his haste, he stumbled. He scrambled to push himself further into the train, his heart pounding in his chest. He flicked his tail back just in the nick of time as the light shone on the space where he had been lying moments before. 

“Phew!’ Astro exclaimed to himself as he walked to the drivers’ compartment. This train was old, but the technology of Galactifrey has been unmatched for thousands of years, so he went in expecting a large, obvious control panel, and instead found a small, dainty glass panel with some symbols he didn’t understand. He carefully pried it from its setting and tucked it under his arm before making his way back through the surveillance cameras. ‘One, two, three, four,’ he recited again, making sure he got his head around the pattern in reverse before carefully sneaking his way back to Mac, who was topping up his joints with oil again.
“I got it!” Astro held up the control panel to Mac, who took it and carefully placed it in his bag.

“Well done, small creature, now we get the next part!” Mac replied as he slowly stood up, re wrapped himself in his cloak, and headed back up the stair, Astro by his side with new confidence after his success.