The Terrible Manussa (short story)

Persis is from the Patrexes chapter
She refers to the Celestial Intervention Agency as "the Celestials." Few speak of them, and she finds only small, oblique references to them in the Rothe Tower library.
Space-Time Control logs TARDISes on and off Gallifrey.
Kroshen is a Prydonian cardinal and a temporal classics master.
Persis graduated with a double first.
Former members of the ST-ST, the Special Time-Space Troopers, wear tight black hoods and elongated collars.
Manussan crystals are manufactured in anti-grav environments on the moon of Grey-Eye, where the gravity is artificial.
The Mara is described as an "interstitial creature," and is known to Persis as "a huge snake-like creature of legend, [...] a powerful being of temptation, fear and hatred that is said to live in the dark places of the mind.
Manussa is queen of her planet in the Scrampus system, its empire beyond, and is her species' religious leader, after simply being head of the cult known as the Union of the Snake. It becomes the only religion on G139901KB after she outlaws all creeds and converted all temples to Mara worship.
Manussa possesses a fork tounge and hair made of real snakes. The crystals give her control of time energy, able to trap people in temporal stasis or time loop them, which her people dub "tempetrification."
The Time Lords for-see a time when Manussa's planetary time-loop weapon could freeze entire planets in time, spreading her empire across the galaxy, and causing incalculable damage to the time-space continuum.
In a similar manner to TARDISes, time rings lock onto suitable environments for materialisation.
Persis has a personal camouflage device with a wardrobe circuit.
Officers and soldiers of the Manussan Strike Force wear snakeskin uniforms.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

When Persis thinks they're on a space station, the Doctor tells her: "This is no space station. It's a moon!" This is an inversion of the famous quote from Star Wars: A New Hope concerning the Death Star - "That's no moon. It's a space station."
This story is based on the Medusa mythology.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Persis looked into the Untempered Schism when she was eight. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
She first heard of the CIA in connection with the Shakri. (TV: The Power of Three)
In Persis's time, the ability to time loop an object has eluded the Time Lords. (TV: Image of the Fendahl)
Persis is given a time ring to complete her mission. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
The option of assassinating Manussa is left open to Persis, and she refers to this act as "the ultimate sanction." (TV: The End of Time)
The Sixth Doctor claims he's trying to "tie up some loose ends," presumably referring to his past encounters with the Mara. (TV: Kinda, Snakedance, AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake)