Carl Ryan: 21 years old male student, Oxford University, physics.
Date: August 17^th, 1996.

Training for a PhD at Oxford University in physics.

Shaana Lepreis: 39 years old female Skuman, Chief Technician of the Humol Dalek Empire planet of Calley.
Date: July 3^rd, 2595.

Duties include inspecting arriving/departing craft for various aspects of safety, primarily to make sure their weapons systems are safe and off-line. Responsible for the overall operations of technical equipment on Calley.

During inspecting the weapons systems of the HDE ship Pelza, it's Omnicron Accelerator malfunctions, causing spacetime disturbances. Carl Ryan is in the wrong place at the wrong time; the backlash from the weapon hits him. His DNA is mixed up with that of Shaana Lepreis, who was standing in front of the Accelerator when it malfunctioned. He finds himself a Skuman and female, on the surface of Calley. His clothes are shredded by the backlash, rendering him (or her, as he becomes) naked. He is, to put it mildly, lucky to be alive.

His DNA has been altered enough by the backlash to make him (from hereon down to be referred to in a female context) the genetic sister to (the now-deceased) Shaana Lepreis. Carl appears in the middle of a forest (called the Viba Enclave). The sudden change in location and appearance disorientates her, to put it mildly. Her sudden appearance is detected by a nearby Dalek (the suddenly-recalled-from-off-duty planetary Security Commander, Alhpa, in fact). The Dalek is, fairly understandably, rather perturbed by the sudden appearance of a life-sign from out of nowhere, especially regarding the destruction of the Pelza in orbit around Calley. When Carl is confronted by the Dalek, she is, equally understandably, frightened. The Dalek notices Carl's emotional state (not to mention her state of undress), realises she's telling the truth and summons help.

Carl is taken to the planet's main security centre at the capital, Shaker City. There she comes into contact with beings like the one she has become (later, she learns, called Skumans), which shakes her up even more. Carl manages to piece together where - and when - she is, and she is devastated by the revelation.

An identity check is run on her. This picks up on her being genetically related (by virtue of the backlash from the Omnicron Accelerator) to Shaana Lepreis, who's last assignment was inspecting the systems of the Pelza. Shaana was an only child, which complicates matters somewhat, especially for Carl, who isn't given any time to plan how to adapt by this discovery. At this time, though, Carl hasn't told the story about how she arrived on the planet to anyone, and nobody would believe her anyway even if she did.

Now it has to be pieced together how Shaana Lepreis has managed to gain a sister from out of nowhere. There are no logs of the Pelza remaining - though designed to withstand nearly any conventional manner of the ship being destroyed, the log computers were shredded throughout spacetime by the backlash from the Omnicron Accelerator (indeed, nearby ships suffered severe damage from the spacio-temporal backlash). It means there are no clues available from the Pelza. From the after-effects of the ship's destruction, though, they come to the conclusion that it was probably due in part to the malfunction of the ship's Omnicron Accelerator. This gives them a lot of disturbing questions that need answering, so they ask Carl about her background. What she tells them upsets them.

Now it has to be decided what to do about the transformed Carl. Shaana's family have only just been informed about her death, but they don't know if it's a good idea to tell them about what happened to her genetic material. Shaana's father, Alberto Lepreis, is the planet's First Minister, making things even more problematic.

The Security Commander considers asking Skaro to declare a state of emergency on Calley, due to possible further after-effects of the Pelza's Omnicron Accelerator malfunctioning that have not been foreseen. This turns out to be redundant, as the Black Dalek himself has been ordered to Calley to investigate the situation, and to take control if necessary. The Security Commander explains his predicament to the Black Dalek. The Black Dalek tells the Security Commander to do nothing until he arrives - the First Minister has been told the same.

When the Black Dalek arrives, he calls a meeting with the Security Commander, the First Minister and the planet's Praesilidum member (who has returned to Calley with the Black Dalek early from a routine meeting because of the emergency). To the Security Commander's dismay, the Black Dalek very bluntly tells the First Minister about the situation regarding Carl Nees and his daughter's DNA. The Black Dalek equally bluntly tells the Security Commander the First Minister should have been informed of the situation regardless before he had to get involved. The Security Commander is summarily dismissed from his position by the First Minister, and one of the Black Dalek's team is temporarily assigned to the role.

The Black Dalek's job is to ensure that there are no harmful aftershocks as a result of the Pelza's destruction. He notes that, aside from the initial blast, there have been no reported after-effects, something which he finds worrying, as does the scientist who devised the Omnicron Accelerator some 300 years ago. The scientist, well in his 400s, is dying of disease brought on by his old age, but he has insisted on coming with the Black Dalek to help the investigations, having pointed out that nobody on the squad assigned to the Black Dalek has the knowledge of the Omnicron Accelerator that he has.

Alberto visits Carl. He is upset about not just how his daughter died, but how someone else was affected by her death. Carl is somewhat bemused by Alberto's visit, but when she learns about how Alberto's predicament is linked to her situation, she is most upset.

Of course, the question is what is to be done now. Alberto tells Carl that he now considers her his daughter, and so he and his wife (Shaana's mother, Lizbelle) will do all they can to help her. Carl will have to adopt a new identity due to what has happened. She decides to take the name April Lepreis (henceforth to be referred to as such). April is assigned a tutor to help bring her knowledge up to the present day.

Copyright 2001, Stuart Moore.
Daleks created by Terry Nation.
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