Project Indigo, later known as the Indigo Device, was UNIT's first experimental teleportation device developed in 2009.

Overview[]

The prototype was experimental and had no coordinates or stabilisation, but fortunately was able to tap into the user's thoughts to choose a destination. After Jack Harkness told Martha Jones about the teleport basecode, she was able to properly use it. The prototype was activated by pulling two cords on the straps attaching the device to the user. (TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008). / Journey's End ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)

By 2025, UNIT appeared to have perfected Project Indigo which was now referred to as the Indigo Device. The user was equipped with a chip to bio-sync it to up to them and make the software respond to them. This device was smaller and came with a yellow and blue button for activation rather than the cords of the prototype. The yellow button acted as a short-range teleport, transporting the user across the room, while the blue button transported the user to their destination which appeared to be programmed ahead of time into the device. (TV: The Reality War ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)

History[]

It was reverse-engineered from Sontaran technology which was left behind following their failed invasion of Earth in that year.

The first person to successfully field-test the prototype was Martha Jones during the Dalek invasion later in 2009. Prior to this, Jack Harkness warned Martha against using it given its experimental nature. He told Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones it had no coordinates or stabilisation. (TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Though trying to get to an Osterhagen Station, she was instead briefly diverted to Atlantis by a temporal crisis. She took notes of the coordinate, but then immediately activated Project Indigo again, thinking to herself that "there's no place like home". (GAME: Lost in Time ^[+]Doctor Who video games (Eastside Games, 2022).)

This worked, with Project Indigo tapping into her mind and taking to her mother's house, "the place [she] most wanted to be". Martha later used the device again, to teleport herself to the vicinity of the Osterhagen base in Germany, where it was discarded by the door of the detonation control chamber. (TV: Journey's End ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)

Jac used Project Indigo to rapidly transport Jo Jones, Rani Chandra and Rio from the Amazon jungle to UNIT's base at Gibraltar. (AUDIO: The Turn of the Tides ^[+]Nina Millns, Protectors of Time (The Eighth of March, Big Finish Productions, 2022).)

On 23 May 2025, the Fifteenth Doctor had Rose Noble and Melanie Bush outfit Ruby Sunday with an Indigo Device and programed the destination coordinates using Mel's tablet. After the Doctor took down the Threshold protecting the Rani's Bone Palace, Ruby used the Indigo Device to transmat into Conrad Clark's room which was later revealed to be the Doctor's TARDIS in disguise. Unable to talk Conrad down, Ruby used the short-range transmat function to move across the room and retrieve Desidirium before using the baby's powers to wish Conrad a happy life and then to end Conrad's World. Ruby presumably returned the device to UNIT after being transported back to UNIT Tower in the TARDIS. (TV: The Reality War ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)