The California Contingency

Don't worry, they're nonlethal.

“Wait a second.” I said, eyeing my rescuers. “Zack, are you a Time Lord?”
 He shrugged.

The California Contingency is an in-progress Self-Insert Fic detailing the story of two humans and their friend who might be a Time Lord on a quest to save the future. It's set in the Whoniverse, though no unoriginal characters occupy the main roles, and it drops the space-horror aspect of many of the canon stories for a straight-up adventure that occasionally verges on an Action Comedy. Can be found here.

Bored Ordinary High School Student Meredith Foster finds her normal life shattered when an alien resembling a lump of Jell-O blasts its way into her classroom and takes her prisoner. She gives it a pseudonym in an effort to escape, but the fake name only makes matters worse, and she's knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, she finds herself imprisoned on an alien ship, only to be promptly rescued by two of her old friends from school - Zack Thompson and Dallas Kean. Things quickly get complicated when it's revealed that Zack is in possession of a working TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver, but he dodges all questions about his identity and plunges the three of them into 1911. They board the steamship S.S. California and set out to prevent the aliens, identified as the Helaran, from killing all of mankind. Along the way they meet Irene Norton and Jenny Plum, and the five of them work together to uncover a convoluted plot to brainwash humanity. Unfortunately, the Helaran aren't planning on giving up easily...

(Note: As befits a story involving Time Travel, some tropes pertain to events that haven't happened yet.)

Tropes used in The California Contingency include:
  • Action Girl: Meredith/Mary grows into one as the story progresses; Irene counts as well.
  • Alien Abduction: The start of the plot. Meredith/Mary is abducted because of her friendship with Zack.
  • Alien Invasion
  • Anatomy Arsenal: One of the Helaran's most lethal attributes is their ability to create sharp-edged limbs out of their gelatinous bodies.
  • Badass in Distress: Our heroes are captured by the Helaran near the middle of the story, and only with the help of the comic relief do they escape.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: The Helaran, again.
  • Clockwork Creature: Sent after Irene and Dallas to distract them from the meeting with the Rose family
  • Cool Boat: The S.S. California
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Meredith/Mary's Shock Collar - esque restraint, Dallas and the Belasian neurotoxin
  • Curse of Babel: The captured Helaran scout does this on purpose to foil the protagonists.
  • Despite the Plan: The original idea was to talk the Rose family out of dealing with the Helaran, but when that fails Dallas and Meredith/Mary send messages forward in time to enlist their friends' help in stopping the aliens.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: Meredith/Mary and Dallas in 1911, Irene in 2011.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Dallas and Edmund, Meredith/Mary and Irene
  • Long Game: The Helaran plan to brainwash humanity into being okay with being eaten... via So Bad It's Good/Horrible pop music. They plan everything out up until Ke$ha.
  • Sapient Ship: Zack's TARDIS. She apparently likes Metallica and Sylvia Plath.
  • Time Travel: Something of a given with a TARDIS involved in the action.
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