TARDIS Technical Index

Main Space Time Element

(aka The Heart of the TARDIS)

Main Space-Time Element

This power source appears to be a fist-sized block of circuitry with a red fluid filled cylinder attached. It is considered to be one of the "Hearts" of a TARDIS (like a Time Lord, a TARDIS has two). The fluid filled cylinder attached to the heart is the main cut-out stack which acts as a control on the space-time element. The Element is located inside the console in the Control Room. (The other Heart is the copy of the Eye of Harmony, which is located deep beneath the console - at the other end of the Time Sceptre). Orbital Artron Energy from the Transpower System is stored in the Main Space Time Element (aka the Heart). The energy in the TARDIS's Heart is the soul of the TARDIS. The Heart of the TARDIS also contains Huon particles.

The Time Lords invented Huon Energy for their time travel technology. Huon Particles need something living (like a TARDIS) to catalyse inside. Catalyzed Huon Particles magnetize to other Huon Particles drawing them across Time and Space. They also turn the Dynamorphic Generator's energetic muons into counter-magnetization thrust. When inert, Huon Particles are safe, but if given a chance to catalyse in a sentient being, they become deadly. Billions of years ago the Time Lords wiped out virtually all Huon Particles (outside of their TARDISes) and Fluon Radiation in the cosmos by unravelling their atomic structure. Fluon Radiation can be used to amplify and purify Artron Energy. It is possible that Huon Particles generate Fluon Radiation. The energy of the Heart can also be used to neutralize anti-time.

Using the magnetism of Huon Particles the energetic muons created by the Dynamorphic Generators are accelerated into counter magnetization thrust. This energy is released through the Heart's space-time portal into the Vortex to push the TARDIS through the 5th Dimension. This makes the Space-Time Element is an essential component for Vortex travel.

The Recall Circuit is part of the Main Space-Time Element. Remote operation of a TARDIS drastically reduces the life span of its Space-Time Element. This problem can only be solved with a Stattenheim Remote Teleport Control. A replacement Element must be coded to match the specific Type of the TARDIS's Time Rotor.

Exposed circuitry where the main time-space element should beEven a minor temporary glitch in the Heart will trigger an Emergency Materialization. When a TARDIS has materialized, the Element is easily removed, but removal in flight requires deactivating several safety systems in the corridor outside the Secondary Control Room. If the Element's cut-out is even partially detached while in flight the Time Column will jam (possibly causing the TARDIS to leave the Time Spiral) and the internal dimensions will start to destabilize. If this should happen the operator should immediately activate the safety cut-out or a TARDIS will begin to break up from Armageddon Dimensional instability. Repairing a partially detached cut-out is a time consuming process. If a breach were to occur in the force fields surrounding the Heart (say if the Time Column came all the way out of the console), the released energy would be enough to blast an unprotected person to atoms in seconds.

If one gazes into the heart (without first activating the safety systems) one sees not only the Heart of the TARDIS, but also the Space-Time Vortex. The TARDIS will be able to directly understand the viewer's thoughts and emotions by converting them into the language of Time itself. It is the only way for a being to have complete rapport with the soul of a TARDIS. The energy of the Vortex would give the viewer power over Time, Space, and the Vortex. They would be able to use the Power of Creation to alter all of History with a thought. Ideas and concepts that are strongly believed in can spontaneously become real through the use of orbital energy. A single being (or
even an entire species) can have its biological nature instantly changed
by altering its morphic field. This has been referred to as the Bad Wolf Scenario.

Morphic fields are created by the crystallization of history through observation by a conscious mind. The shape and nature of every lifeform in the universe is influenced by the morphic field of that species. The Artron Energy created by a living being creates the morphic field as a sort of collective psionic aura which acts as a species equivalent to an individual's biodata. The longer a particular species has been around the stronger its morphic field. These fields build up over several generations (probably as a side effect of the crystallization of history caused by observation).

Such manipulation requires a living organic mind capable of adapting to the irrational changes caused by the alterations. If the viewer was not equipped with symbiotic nuclei they would become one with the Vortex - a dimension of pure thought with a complexity that borders on sentience. They would be under the direct control of the Vortex. If a Time Lord absorbed the power they would become a vengeful god.

Unfortunately it is also incredibly dangerous to look into the Heart. Every time the TARDIS 'speaks' to the viewer it runs the risk of altering the subject's biodata, possibly reversing the ageing of a viewer, turning an adult into an infant. The viewer will also be exposed to all the artron energy flowing through the Heart and into the Vortex - irradiating them with a lethal amount of energy. A Time Lord can funnel most of this radiation back into the TARDIS and burn up the rest with a regeneration. However a member of a lesser species would find themselves slowly dying. But the danger goes beyond that of the individual. Because morphic fields don't follow the normal laws of space and time such changes are difficult to control or limit. Ripples can be generated that would randomly effect species in different star systems. If the field is strong enough it will influence the evolution of other life forms, even species who are thousands of light years away.

A TARDIS can "catch" anyone who dies by entangling their time stream within time fields created by the Heart of the TARDIS. Using morphic fields, this allows a TARDIS to bring those who die back to life. By manipulating the victim's morphic field they can be fixed or locked down at a specific point in time before they died. There are several ways this can happen. The most likely situation occurs when a TARDIS is accidentally positioned obliquely between two irrational time interfaces. It can also occur if the TARDIS systems are pre-set properly (though this would constitute a violation of the Laws of Time). A third possibility requires someone to gaze into the Vortex in the Heart of the TARDIS (aka the Space-Time Element) gaining power over Space and Time.

People resurrected using the power from the Heart of the TARDIS are effectively immortal. If killed by, say a bullet to the brain, they will quickly recover. They can never stay dead because their physical being is anchored into history itself. They might also be able to heal others. Because they are fixed in time they are seen as an obscene violation of the Laws of Time such that it takes a significant effort of will for either a TARDIS or a Time Lord to knowingly interact with such a person.

Color Key

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  • The TARDIS Technical Index is copyright Will B Swift.
