The Eye of Harmony Copy

(aka the other Heart of the TARDIS)

One of the Hearts of a TARDIS (like Time Lords a TARDIS has two) is a massive energy collector that is a mathematically constructed copy of the Prime Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey. In modern times it is often referred to as an Eye of Harmony (which can cause some confusion). These Eye copies can be found on all TARDISes after the Type 24. The Eye's iron-like Containment Sphere is located beneath the Cloister Room.While the Prime Eye's Containment Sphere is 10 km in diameter the TARDIS's sphere only about the size of a house.

Artron Energy created by the Prime Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey is broadcast into the Space-Time Vortex. This energy travels though the Vortex's Time Contours. Attached to a TARDIS's Containment Sphere is the Receptor Antenna, which collects artron energy using chronon transduction. The naked singularity at the Heart of a TARDIS is directly linked to the Space-Time Vortex, and uses Chronon Transduction to collect the energy.

This creates a link between a TARDIS's Eye and the Prime Eye on Gallifrey. The TARDIS's Heart then emits the beams of Artron Energy to power a TARDIS. The Eye is equipped with a Flux Comparator to ensure a steady flow of energy. The Eye also serves to slowly vent the potential energy stored from dematerialization. This Hawking Radiation is leaked from the Eye's event horizon. As long as the Prime Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey remains in existence, a TARDIS's energy source will never stop producing power.

The closer one gets to the Heart of the TARDIS, the stronger the dimensional "pressure" gets. This "pressure" can have minor effects on the nervous system. If someone were to actually look directly into the Heart, while it was transducting energy from the Prime Eye of Gallifrey, their consciousness would be destroyed by the intense blasts of Artron Energy, leaving only a mindless body behind. Like the other Heart of the TARDIS, the Main Space-Time Element the Eye can, under the right circumstances, restore the dead back to life. For more information see the entry on the Main Space-Time Element.

Since the Heart of the TARDIS is a copy of the Eye of Harmony, it can also serve as an temporary independent power source if the Prime Eye of Harmony is out of range (see Noosphere Parameters) or has been disabled. However the fuel supply of this Copy Eye is not unlimited. Given that the iron sphere that holds the Prime Eye is about 70 million times as big as the one holding a TARDIS's Eye it is possible that the Heart of a TARDIS has only 1/70,000,000 the fuel capacity of the Prime Eye. A fully fueled TARDIS can travel at least 200 trillion years without completely exhausting the fuel supply. In any case, it appears that the Copy Eye is capable of supply independent power for at least a few years.

Without the Prime Eye of Harmony a TARDIS would eventually have to refuel itself. Fortunately the Eye's Receptor Antenna is also capable of collecting temporal energy from temporal instabilities, fault-lines running between dimensions, scars on reality, or rifts in time and space that found throughout this Universe. Time Rifts make the best fuel source. Such a rift occurs when two or more dimensions are pressed against each other creating a rift or a scar like an earthquake fault line. The TARDIS can drain off the energy created by the competing forces. Depending on the current energy level of the rift it can take a few minutes to a few days for the TARDIS to power up completely. The energy collected by the copy Eye is stored it in the TARDIS's other Heart (aka Main Space-Time Element) located in the Console. A TARDIS's Emergency Procedures will automatically try to divert any large explosion or energy release that occurs inside the TARDIS into its Eye of Harmony. It should be noted that fuel collected in this Universe can only be used in this Universe. Should a TARDIS that relies on scavenged fuel travel into a parallel universe it would be without power unless a source of Gallifreyan energy or a local temporal anomaly could be found. If any of the TARDIS's small Power Cells retain power, they can be charged up if the operator donates a dose of artron energy equivalent to 10 years of their life. Once the cell has finished its recharging cycle (about 24 hours) and powered back up, it can be used to give the TARDIS five minutes to attempt a space-time jump.

Should power from the TARDIS's Heart be unavailable, the TARDIS will have to rely on the Ancillary Power Station for emergency energy.

Color Key

The following color code is used:

• Black: For information from the TV Series, including Dimensions in Time, and 1996 TV Movie.
• Blue: For information from the Novels and Audios including Target, Virgin, BCC, and Big Finish.
• Green: For information from 'licensed' reference sources such as the Technical Manual, Doctor Who Magazine, and the Role Playing Games.
• Red: For information from unofficial sources -The Faction Paradox series, behind the scenes interviews, author's speculation, and popular fan belief.

Copyright Will B Swift

You visited the Whoniverse at 3:27 am BST on Sunday 12th October 2008