*two and a half years later*

The Games and Caitlin ran through one of the many corridors within the spaceship they were in, in hopes of finding the TARDIS. Even though there seemed to be no end to it, they eventually found the red telephone box standing at the end of the corridor on their right. “Did you really have to press that button?!” asked the Games, as the sections behind them quickly started to seal off and burst into flames. “In my defense it was quite big and very red!” replied Caitlin, quickly opening the door of the TARDIS and going inside. The Time Lord didn’t lose any time to make his way towards the console. “That was fun!” commented the girl, as she sat on one of the nearby seats around the console level and crossed her legs. This was soon met by the Games’ somewhat sarcastic expression. “Was it? It appeared more troublesome than fun to me.” he said. “You know what they say. Everything has a price.” They had been travelling almost non-stop for a solid one a half years now. They had already managed to solve the decaying problem of Caitlin’s modified regenerative cycle. As for her intuitive aptitude, she had gained a fairly good control of utilizing it, being able to even fly the TARDIS without any help now. Yet, there was something small that bothered the Time Lord. He hadn’t been able to pinpoint it, but his consciousness was almost screaming at him to notice it soon. While he was thinking about those, Caitlin had already stood up and appeared right next to him. “Sooooo… where to next?” she asked with a poke on the Time Lord’s right cheek, after which he took a step back. “Who knows, Caitlin? Who knows?” said the Games, as he configured the scanner to activate the randomizer.

“Randomizer?” “Yes.” confirmed the Time Lord and pushed a lever down, making the TARDIS take off. To their surprise, however, their flight would last awfully short. “Well that was brief.” The Games returned to the scanner and tapped on it several times. It didn’t show where they were exactly, but the coordinates were different from their previous location. “Are you sure we travelled at all? With such a short trip, I bet there isn’t anything much to explore or learn about.” said Caitlin, looking disappointed. Even if that was the case, she wanted to go out and take at least a glimpse at their new location. It broadened her mind every time she did so, or that’s what she chose to believe in. “Yes. The environmental checks indicate that we have travelled.” Confirmed the Games. Afterwards, the duo shortly went outside. They were standing in the middle of the dark; the open door of the TARDIS illuminating whatever the light from the interior hit. Taking out his sonic screwdriver, the Time Lord used it to activate the lights. Revealing the chamber they were in, he seemed to have triggered an alarm along. Though it ceased to bother them further, two creatures appeared. They were both bigger than them in size, had seven limbs, whose arrangement made the creatures heptaradially-symmetrical. “What are those?” whispered Caitlin as she watched them flail their limbs silently. They were staring at them, and she could feel the creatures doing the same. For a brief moment, she turned around to look at the Time Lord and recognized a sign of terror upon his face. “I don’t know.” The Games was feeling terrorized. By the mere fact that he was unable to recognize the species that were standing before them. “I’m pretty sure you are aware that I know almost every possible creature we can encounter, one way or another. But these two… I have never seen their kind.” he explained before continuing to try to communicate with them.

“Who are you?” As if the creatures were deliberately trying to surprise them even more, they gave out nothing but gibberish mumbles the duo couldn’t understand. “I can’t believe this.” uttered the Games under his breath. “What happened?” urged Caitlin, but before she got an explanation she figured out what had happened. The Games had told her how the TARDIS could translate every language there was out there, with three exceptions: Circular, Modern and Old High Gallifreyan. Those three would automatically not be translated. Other than that every language the inhibitants of the TARDIS were exposed to would be understood by them naturally. “For the TARDIS not to translate… they must be ancient.” remarked Caitlin, as she took several steps towards the creatures. She looked them with awe, feeling that they were remarkably inspiring. “Maybe they know some other ancient languages.” suggested the Games and started to ask the same question or a similar one in ancient languages he knew of. “Swabol re wux?” he said first, using a language that was used at the oldest galactic trading route. He didn’t receive a passing reply. “Tur cin teith?” he tried second, this time showcasing a dead language that used to be spoken by many others well before he was even born. But again to no avail. “Sum iea qulygo?” he spoke third, and continued with the other languages he knew. As he continued, Caitlin had sat on the ground, watching the movements of the creatures. She figured a certain pattern in their actions, and made a mental note of it. She progressed further while the Time Lord gave up using words and decided to utilize his telepathic powers instead. He failed to get a successful result, yet coincidentally at the same moment Caitlin managed to crack their language using her intuitive aptitude. “I did it. I can understand what they are saying… with enormous difficulty nonetheless.” she said with happiness, also bringing a faint smile on the Games’ face.