Vortex manipulator
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A vortex manipulator was a form of basic time travel used by the Time Agency of the 51st century. It also had many other abilities.
History
Although it was generally used by the Agency, The Family of Blood stole one to follow the Doctor around the universe (DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood)
Time Agents were given a vortex manipulator. Jack Harkness had his manipulator housed in a Time Agency wrist strap. (DW: Utopia) The TARDIS controls include a vortex manipulator. (DW: Attack of the Graske)
The manipulator in the TARDIS was likely a different device than the Time Agency's manipulator.
After Rose Tyler as Bad Wolf resurrected Jack Harkness after his extermination by the Daleks. (DW: The Parting of the Ways) Jack used the manipulator to teleport from the Game Station, 200,100 to Earth, 1869. (DW: Utopia)
When Jack, the Doctor and Martha Jones were being attacked by Futurekind on Utopia in the year 100000000000000, although Jack told the Doctor his Vortex manipulator hadn't worked for years, the Doctor reactivated it with his Sonic screwdriver, and transported them to Earth, 2008. DW: The Sound of Drums) Later, after they defeated the Master, the Doctor deactivated the manipulator before Jack made his way back to the Torchwood Hub, saying that he couldn't have him with a time-travelling teleport and he "could go anywhere". (DW: Last of the Time Lords)
Captain John Hart used a manipulator to reunite with Jack (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and then take him to 27 A.D.. Gray used his manipulator to take control of the Weevils in Cardiff. (TW: Exit Wounds)
When the Daleks relocated Earth to the Medusa Cascade and invaded it, Jack used information from the UNIT Project Indigo (based on Sontaran teleport pod technology) to reactivate the teleport function on his vortex manipulator. He then telelported to find the Doctor, arriving just after the Doctor was shot by a Dalek, who Jack then killed. (DW: The Stolen Earth) After the Daleks were defeated, the Doctor deactivated the manipulator again, saying "I told you, no teleport". (DW: Journey's End)
Jack immediately shooting the Dalek after teleporting suggests that he saw it coming, meaning the manipulator may show you where you teleport before you arrive.
Jack's method of reactivating the manipulator suggests that vortex manipulator technology may derive its origins from earlier Earth-based projects such as Project Indigo.
Time Field timeline
After hearing that she was in search of time travel, the salesman Dorium met with River Song in The Maldovarium bar to offer her a Vortex manipulator that was, according to him, "Fresh off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent". As payment Song offered him a Callisto Pulse which could disarm Micro-explosives from up to 20 ft. When he enquired as to what kind of micro-explosives the pulse could disarm she responded by saying the kind that she had just put in his wine. He was then forced to give her the Vortex Manipulator. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
The vortex manipulator was used to transport the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion of the TARDIS. After being brought back by Amy, the Doctor gave the vortex manipulator back to River Song who used it to time-travel or teleport away.(DW: The Big Bang)
Abilities
The main function of a vortex manipulator was to transport the user through time and space using teleportation and time travel via the Time Vortex. (DW: Utopia, The Sound of Drums, et al)
The exact range of a vortex manipulator is uncertain; under normal conditions, one model could allow travel of a distance of nearly 200,000 years (although in this instance, said manipulator was burned out as a result). (DW: The Parting of the Ways, TW: Everything Changes) Following modifications with a sonic screwdriver, it could allow travel from the End of the Universe to 21st century Earth. It could transport multiple people if necessary, so long as they had some sort of physical contact with it. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
In general, manipulators seem to be a somewhat unreliable form of time travel, especially when compared to a TARDIS. Former Time Agent Jack Harkness' admission that he was unable to reach his intended destination when returning to Earth's past (DW: Utopia) supports this, as does his later surprise that a trip back from Malcassairo at the end of the Universe using the same (albiet upgraded with a sonic screwdriver) model brought them back so close to when they left. (DW: The Sound of Drums) However, when the universe was a fraction of it's former size, a vortex manipulator was able to facilitate multiple precise jumps with no apparent difficulty- although admittedly, the distances and time differences involved were a great deal smaller. (DW: The Big Bang) Given that the same manipulator was apparently able to reach the first planet in the universe (DW: The Pandorica Opens) it's possible that Jack's specific model was unreliable, and Vortex manipulators in general were capable of time travel on the same scale as a TARDIS.
Presumably, the vortex manipulator created some sort of shield to protect the user from the side effects of an unprotected journey through the vortex. This did not, however, prevent the infliction of considerable discomfort for the user. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
In addition to transportation, vortex manipulators had several other functions. These included:
- Communication between users, listening to radio broadcasts, including storage of messages. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, DW: The Sound of Drums)
- Projection of holograms. (DW: The Empty Child, TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Fragments)
- Tracking of life signs. (DW: Bad Wolf, Journey's End)
- Remote control of electronic devices. (TW: Everything Changes, Exit Wounds)
In addition, vortex manipulators were very resilient, and one was able to survive a bomb that would destroy a Human. (TW: Children of the Earth: Part Five) A vortex manipulator also survived the explosion caused by Big Bang Two. (DW: The Big Bang)
The Doctor considered it very primitive compared to a TARDIS, describing his TARDIS as a "sports car" to Jack Harkness' "space hopper". He also described it as "cheap and nasty time travel, very bad for you", and that he was "trying to give it up". (DW: The Big Bang)
When traveling through time with a vortex manipulator the user seems to use both the teleport function and time travel function depending on where they want to go. For example, when the Doctor, Martha and Jack traveled from the End of the Universe, they left from an alien planet and ended up on Earth. This indicates that the manipulator likely has a long teleport range. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
Owners
- Captain Jack Harkness (DW: The Empty Child)
- Captain John Hart (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
- Gray (TW: Exit Wounds)
- The Family of Blood (stolen) (DW: The Family of Blood)
- Mairwyn (Mexico, Time rift flotsam)
- Dorium (from dead Time Agent) (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
- River Song (acquired from Dorium) (DW: The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang)
- The Doctor briefly borrowed this from her (DW: The Big Bang)
