The Evil and the Deep Black Sky

"Omega was tired of living in the shadows."

Writer: Richard Dinnick
Format: Short Story
Released: June 2017
Printed in: Myths and Legends 04

Featuring: Omega

Synopsis

Gallifrey. The first test of entering the Time Vortex. Is this finally the time for space engineer Omega to rise up and get the credit he deserves? Will he eclipse Rassilon and set forth a new age and enable them to truly earn the name of Lords of Time?

Verdict

The Evil and the Deep Black Sky was another terrific little adventure from the Myths and Legends collection of short stories. This one saw a second consecutive tale without the Doctor and that was absolutely fine as it took us to Gallifreyan history with Omega. That in itself was great enough but then this was one of the very first tests on Gallifrey that turned the planet into the centre of Time Lord technology. Omega was entering the Time Vortex and in doing so became the first being to be within it. The test was really good and I liked how there was almost an air of surprise that the test was successful. Omega could communicate from within the Vortex and wasn't feeling any adverse effects from being inside it. Everything was fine and that made the implications of what had been achieved realised. The basis of time travel and spatial materialisation was now possible. I thought the writing of Omega was actually very good and seemed to have remnants echoing his on screen appearances in The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity. The illustration supplied with the story depicted Omega at this point in history as reminiscent of what we saw in the former televised story which was intriguing to me given how far removed the story must have been from the events read here. Karidice was a lovely character and she filled the 'companion' role for Omega really well. She was incredibly interested in the experiments of Omega and she clearly had a great deal of respect for him which was good to see. One element of this adventure that I really liked was the lack of authority felt towards the Time Lords. They had not yet mastered the ability of time travel and left them without much of a purpose compared to how we know them during the life of the Doctor. It was really intriguing to read of a primitive style Gallifreyan society.  Once Omega was in the Vortex, things started to shift in terms of orientation but Omega was adamant that he was not brought out. The appearance of a Chromovore changed all that though, and this was where the lack of Time Lord authority was most evident. It knew more about the nature of the Vortex than Omega and that was just really intriguing to think about. The dialogue between Omega and the Chromovore was really good and I liked how confident the latter was in not feeling any kind of fear to what threats Omega could make. However, Omega quickly tricked the Chromovore into feeling the full wrath of a black hole and it's radiation. That would prove catastrophic but the event would also see Omega master spatial movement by taking the whole experimental base into the Vortex, rather than just the occupant of the proof suit. It was a pacy ending and a really quick story but one that I very much enjoyed. It was a lovely snippet into Gallifreyan history and whilst I had no idea about the myth this story was based upon, this was a great little story.

Rating: 8/10