Peri shook her head. Somehow the aroma of a well cooked beef meal filled the air and made her stomach rumble. If she concentrated, there was the smell of red wine in there as well. She wasn’t sure how that was possible, but she had seen a kitchen of sorts near the bathroom. The book in her hand was forgotten in the new mystery at hand.

She hadn't smelled anything so rich since she left California, she decided. The thought made her stomach ache in remembered homesickness. After her father died, her mother had often cooked for just the two of them. It had formed a close bond between them that had been severed when her mother had started dating Howard. The thought of a home cooked beef stew made her mouth water with memories as well as taste.

“Good Lord, what will he have in this place next? The Four Seasons Hotel?” she asked no one. Her voice echoed in the corridor the sterile empty white of which contrasted with the feeling invoked by the warm homey smell of what she was sure was beef stew. She tucked her novel under her arm and trotted down the hall towards the fragrance.

As she turned the corner into the kitchen she saw Tegan busy stirring a pot on the old-fashioned stainless steel and cast iron stove. Peri stopped and adjusted her weight, waving her hand towards the stove. “That wasn’t here yesterday, was it? I know I’m not crazy, Tegs.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Tegan agreed. “You might not be crazy, but hell if I’m not feeling insane at times.”

Peri put down her book on the table and sighed. “I guess that’s why you’re cooking?”

Tegan nodded. “Familiar things and all that,” she responded as she tasted from the spoon. “Cripes, it makes me feel normal.”

With a frown, Peri sat down in the chair. She leaned forward, her chin in her hand. The novel was set on the surface of the table and quickly forgotten. “But you’ve been traveling with the Doc, living this life for what…”

“Close to five years,” Tegan offered.

“Isn’t it familiar yet?”

Tegan sighed as she rubbed her hands against the back of her butt. Peri watched as Tegan’s dark auburn hair, pulled back tightly into a wicked pony-tail, twitched as her friend tilted her head. It looked like she was thinking. And uncharacteristically she answered quietly.

“Frighteningly so.” Then she shook her head and turned to her friend. Peri could see the wan coloring of her friend’s face and the slight puffiness of her cheeks. Her eyes appeared wide, almost eerily so, like she was looking into her worst fears.

Peri was out of her chair and reached out to touch the woman’s arm gently. “Tegs?”

Tegan seemed to see her and turned her gaze to Peri’s. “I don’t feel normal…”

**

“Doctor?”

Peri saw his familiar cricket boots sticking out from under the console. They twitched as if their owner was busily adjusting something with weight. There was the clatter of metal against the floor as if he had dropped a tool. Then there was a sigh, a grunt and a clear: “Yes, Peri? We’re…ah…still in flight. We should be at our next destination very soon. It’s a peaceful little planet. I took Tegan there once. You both should be rather happy. Definite change from our last destination, eh?”

“That’s good, Doc-“

“Could you hand me the spanner?”

Peri came forward, sitting down on her knees next to the console. She saw the information on the computer screen in front of her and recognized it as a collection of the work on the scripts the Doctor had found a month previously in Babylon. With only a glance at it, she lowered her head under the console. She handed him the spanner. “Doctor…”

“Shouldn’t take me long to adjust the temporal circuits. It isn’t necessary for our movement now. No worries. We’re simply moving on a spatial vector.”

Peri rolled her eyes. The Doctor’s feet twitched again and he bent his knee to use the leverage to adjust something. There was a slight squeak as he attempted to brace his feet against the floor. She raised her voice in an attempt to get his attention.

“Doctor…it’s Tegan.”

There was silence as his movements stopped. And then he slid out from under the console quickly, nearly causing Peri to spill backwards in response. The Time Lord sat up and squinted at his young companion, appearing slightly out of breath. Peri could see the confusion in his eyes. He puffed a few breaths and then with his face scrunched in thought, he asked:

“What about Tegan?”

**
“Wow.”

The word summed up all she saw.

“I thought when you said we were going to a medical establishment that it would look like a hospital…or something.” She glanced about the place with a sigh. “But I hadn’t had expected something this…grand.”

“Hmm,” the Doctor muttered. Peri heard him sigh and shift behind her. “Yes, well…in a human sort of way this is considered grand.” She turned and watched him as he tilted his chin to look at the soaring arches. He puffed a breath. “It’s quite run-of-the-mill in Gallifreyan terms.”

She frowned. “Run-of-the-mill? There’s more like it around here?”

The Doctor edged past her, his broad shoulders taking up her vision range. It was enough to draw her gaze away from the buildings. “Ah, well, Peri…this…IS…Gallifrey. There’s quite a lot about it that’s run-of-the-mill in Gallifreyan terms. Now stay close. We have a particular place to be.”

“But…Tegan said that Gallifrey and you don’t get along.”

The Doctor looked back at Peri. His eyes were shadowed and didn’t tell her much about his state of mind. But then again, the person that could tell more than she could was rather mute at the moment.

“They’ll help her?” Peri continued before the Doctor could answer the first question.

“I hope so,” he muttered. “I certainly hope so.”

Before he turned away, ushering the mute Tegan by his arm at her back, Peri saw a flash of something like uncertainty in his eyes. And she knew that coming to Gallifrey was the last option in a basket empty of options for helping their friend. He wouldn’t have brought them there if it hadn’t been the only option that remained to them.

And that thought made her shiver.

She followed him down the steps. If her eyes weren’t fooling her, she guessed they were marble, or at least something marble like. The steps descended and reminded her of a sweeping wave that settled on the shore of pale grey grass. That lawn, strange as it was in color, was properly manicured and stretched in perfect lines, like a grid, as far as she could see. They seemed even to continue after interruption by the buildings.

Her gaze turned upward to stare at the soaring structures that she assumed were buildings. Achingly tall, taller than anything she had seen in Chicago or New York, they stood in proud metallic splendor. Their sleek lines were only interrupted by grey and white vegetation that hung like jewelry. Gold and silver, copper and brass, the spires seemed liked spears pointed at heaven in defiance. And against the dark orange sky, they were objects of extreme utilitarian beauty.

The sight wasn’t different from the other places they had been in the last few weeks. Those worlds had been vast and advanced. They had dealt with aliens, humanoids and a sort of weird cybernetic kin of the Gallifreyans. But something was different here; Peri thought it was the possibility that these Time Lords would be able to help Tegan more than the others had. And unlike the other places, Peri felt like a stranger here, an outsider.

She congratulated herself on her intuitive abilities, but she didn’t have any idea why she felt uneasy in this instance. And that worried her.

She rushed down the rest of the steps and reached out to enclose Tegan’s arm in her hands. The Doctor glanced over at her with a grimace.

“Where do we need to go here?”

He slowed and drew up short as two males approached them. Then with an explosive sigh, the Doctor responded. “Well, Peri…from here on in, we have places to be at definite times. And the Time Lords won’t let us forget our schedules.”

**

The past two weeks had made Tegan’s silence a familiar, yet unwelcome presence. Peri felt even more alone as she slid into the comfortable, modernistic seat she had been offered. Tegan was lowered, dumbly, to sit in the seat next to Peri.

“I realize that I have certain…responsibilities…” the Doctor said strongly.

“I’m not quite sure you understand the depth of your responsibilities,” Lady Thalia responded hotly.

“I assure you, I do,” the Doctor stated as he slid his hands into his pockets. “But currently there are things that have a higher priority. And as I understood it from my negotiation to return to Gallifrey, there would be no talk, no discussion of my governmental involvement or indeed the lack thereof until Tegan here has been attended to.”

Thalia’s gaze traveled to Tegan. Peri moved closer to her friend and she also glanced at her. Out of the gentle Gallifreyan sunlight, Tegan looked normal. Her long hair Peri had washed and braided it down her back that morning. Her skin was as clear as usual, the freckles plain on her nose and dusting her cheek were quite visible without her makeup. But at Peri’s touch, Tegan turned her head silently to look at her.

The brown of the iris looked dead; there was no recognition in the sight. She frowned and glanced up at the Doctor and then to Thalia.

Thalia sighed in response. “There are things that need to be attended to, Doctor.”

“I won’t argue that point.”

“Not the least of which will be the information that was found in your TARDIS data banks upon approach to Gallifrey.”

“Rassilon’s beard, you still delve through private information?”

“It is procedure.”

“It’s barbaric,” the Doctor grunted. “Ah, well, then again, the lack of honor for privacy is more than expected. Gallifrey hasn’t changed in several millions of years, why should I have expected change in the last few hundred?”

Thalia’s eyebrows arched in response. “The questions of what you have researched…”

“Do need to be addressed,” the Doctor said hotly. “But it remains that my first priority here is my companion.”

“Look,” Peri interjected. “Tegan’s been nearly unresponsive for a couple of weeks. The Doctor’s taken her everywhere he knows to; this is the last place he has.”

“Peri-“ the Doctor sighed. He rubbed at his temple. She could tell that the Doctor didn’t have his heart in making her stop.

“We haven’t even had a diagnosis,” Peri continued. She shook her head. “Hell, we don’t have a clue what is going on. We’ve tried everything. Can’t we set aside this governmental business and get down to the bottom of what’s going on with her?”

“And you are?” Thalia said quietly. It was a warning tone. Peri reacted by giving a grin. The older blond woman responded by tilting back her head to look down her nose at the girl.

“Ah, this is my other companion, Peri Brown…from Earth, like Tegan,” the Doctor stated. He flashed a wide boyish grin. “And she is quite right in describing the situation. Lady Thalia, you are still acting in my stead as President of the High Council. As I have been informed, you have done a quite excellent job in all matters governmental. I have no qualms of having you remain as you are until the situation with my…”

Thalia turned and swept out of the room in a wake of gold and amber material. Peri watched her leave the room with stunned silence. Once the door shut on the guards and the President, the Doctor blew out a powerful breath and rocked back on his heels to stare at the ceiling.

Peri groaned. “Well, that went well, didn’t it, Doctor?”

He bit his lip. “Spectacularly, if you must know, Peri. It worries me. However, Thalia is rather empathetic at times, and it might not be that hard for us to get Tegan what she needs.”

Peri sighed. “And if they can’t…”

The Doctor squatted by Tegan and tilted her head back so that he could look at her face. He smiled and touched her cheek. “Chin up, Tegan…Peri…we’ll figure this out.”

**

“The silk is just to die for, don’t you think, Tegs? That bed last night was heavenly.”

The Doctor walked at Tegan’s side, his arm about her waist and her hand in his. Peri walked easily next to them. Peri had kept up a constant conversation since they had left their suite that morning. Tegan had been unresponsive, as usual, until they passed a man in full headdress. She had winced as if in pain and had hit on the Doctor’s arm.

“Tegan?! What is it?” The surprise was clear to hear in his voice; Peri reacted in the same manner. Tegan hadn’t looked to recognize either one of them for nearly two weeks. “Tegan?”

She hadn’t responded to her name. The same blank, painless, fathomless expression inhabited her face, making her look childlike and lost. She simply kept patting the Doctor’s arm rhythmically until he caught the hand in his. Then she moved closer to him.

His demeanor had changed, Peri thought as she slipped behind them to allow another Time Lord to pass. In the last few days, he had become protective of Tegan. Their last port of call had yielded no answers. He had carried her from the last physician. Where he had been clipped previously, he was almost gentle.

And hilariously, she knew that if Tegan had been coherent, she wouldn’t have allowed that complete reliance. The Doctor must have understood the thought in her head for he turned to contemplate her. “Don’t worry, Peri, Tegan will be back quite as she was: arguing with me constantly.”

“Of course she will,” Peri voiced confidently.

The Doctor gave her a grin as they stepped through the arches and into the medical establishment. Here as out in the courtyard, marble was the main fixture. But additionally, there were crystalline walls and half-walls. Everything was a cool and light beige color with hints of gold peeking out everywhere. “Jeez, talk about monochromatic,” Peri said quietly. “Tegs, you’d better start talking soon and tell these Time Lords they need color.”

A woman stood from behind the largest crystal pedestal in the middle of the room. She was dressed in a red and orange dress that reminded Peri of a school uniform. In the overall golden hue of the room, she was a shock of color that drew a glance. “Ah, Doctor! You’ve arrived.”

“Yes, yes, Kiran, we have,” the Doctor responded as he shook her hand. “And this newest regeneration suits you, I might add.”

“Thank you! The physicians are ready for you and your companion.”

“Companions,” Peri corrected. She shifted her weight and stared at the woman as she fought the urge to cross her arms over her chest. She was damned if she was going to let any Time Lord physician around Tegan without her being there. A small voice in her head told her not to trust her hosts. It was only a slight uneasiness, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

Kiran looked down at the listing while the Doctor frowned. “No, they have only allowed the afflicted and the Doctor to be in the room.”

“That’s…” Peri began in a hot voice.

“That’s unexpected,” the Doctor interjected.

Thalia stepped around the corner of the wall with a physician in tow. Kiran scrambled and tightened and to Peri looked like she was standing at attention. With a frown, she opened her mouth. Thalia held up her hand to head off the exchange. “It is what is necessary. We have questions, Doctor, and based on your previous tenures on Gallifrey, we know that you will more than likely leave without answering them.”

“I gave my word,” he bit out.

“And your word has been questioned in the past, Doctor. Either you or your companion may accompany Tegan into the physicians but the other must remain here to answer our questions. Or she may not be attended to. The choice is yours.”

Peri sighed agitatedly. “Are these people always like this?”

The Doctor grimaced. “Always, I’m afraid. Still…” he winced as Tegan’s hand squeezed his. He glanced over at Peri. “Would you like to go with Tegan into the physician?”

“After last time? After the terrors she had?” Peri responded. “I was able to calm her, but you were the only one to get her out there. And I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, not that it was really an answer.” She frowned and shook her head. “I want to go, but I wouldn’t know the first thing of what they were talking about.”

“Hmmm,” the Doctor said as he released Tegan’s hand and slipped his hands into his pockets. “Lady Thalia? Would I have your word that Peri would not be coerced? That she would be asked questions and if she has no answers, it will be left to me to address them?”

“We aren’t torturers,” Thalia responded as she lifted her chin.

“I can handle them,” Peri reassured the Doctor. She leaned close and gave her friend a wide smile. “I’ve handled worse…remember our last adventure.”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “Yes, well…I can guarantee that the Lady President will not address your marital status.”

“Yeah, and she doesn’t have tentacles like that last guy. You go ahead with Tegan. I don’t much like it, but you’re up on the medical stuff. I’m not. I’ll answer what I can.”

The Doctor smiled. “That’s it, Peri. That’s the spirit. And I’ll be back as soon as possible with Tegan.”

“And I’ll deal with these guys.”

The Doctor nodded and reached for Tegan, gently leading her down the corridor behind the physician. Peri slowly turned to address the Lady Thalia. The Lady President sighed and extended her hand to show her down the corridor in the opposite direction. Peri quickly caught up with the President as she moved down the hallway, avoiding the guards as they marched along side.

“Will she be all right?”

Thalia glanced over at Peri in surprise. “Do you think us barbarians, child? I assure you that your friend will receive the best medical attention that our culture can give. If we cannot find out the source of her illness, no other race will be able to either. You will see. We have the best medical knowledge in the known universe.”

With a sigh, she tried to fight down the feeling of intimidation and remembered how Tegan would respond. It put a smile on her face and lifted her chin. “You Time Lords don’t do anything by halves, do you? Except maybe fashion design…”

**

She was no sooner comfortable in the chair she was given then a pile of plastic, reminding her of the communiqués from Sylvana and on the Doc’s ship during their military experience. It made a loud splat in the sterile quiet of the conference room. In agitation, she glanced up at the guard that had slapped it down. “Is that in English or at least Italian? I can’t read anything but those….oh and a smattering of Slyvanian…”

Thalia grimaced. “It has been translated to your native tongue, girl.”

Peri slowly slid the material over to where she could see it.

Pertaining to the knowledge of the Federation and it’s existence beyond the second expansion, a dissertation.

With a low whistle, Peri frowned. She had seen something very similar to this on the computer console in the TARDIS a month ago. It was the information that the Doctor had been compiling for the past few months. She didn’t know what was so problematic about it; the Doctor had said that societies followed the same paths that species did in evolution. The origins of neither the Federation nor any other society were implicated in the existence of the scripts, but the Doctor hadn’t been overly comfortable with the possible evidence concerning his own race, his own language, his own existence. So, like everything else he was curious about, he studied the situation into exhaustion.

She didn’t tell this to Thalia, though. Instead, she simply said: “Yeah, interesting, isn’t it?”

“What do you know about it?” Thalia asked politely. “The Doctor has compiled quite a bit of information. I understand that he found information about this Federation, the Hydronian Federation on Sol 3.”

“He found…” Peri began. She wanted to cautiously give out information to these people. There was the possibility that the Doctor didn’t want anyone to know anything. But then again, why was he putting together all that information? “He found some written texts back…in ancient history…on my planet.” She glanced at the guards.

Thalia frowned and then waved her hand. The guards backed out of the room to stand outside the glass partition. When the door had shut, Thalia swept her gown back and sat down in the chair across from Peri.

“You don’t like the guards,” Thalia stated.

“I don’t like people with guns when I don’t have one myself,” Peri responded lightly. “And quite frankly I don’t understand why they have them anyway.”

The Lady President leaned forward on the table and speared her with a strong stare. “What has the Doctor said about these Scripts?”

Peri glanced at the pile in front of her and then back up at the woman across from her. “He’s written it in this paper of his, I’m sure.”

“But what has he said?”

Peri sighed. “Look, he’s said a great many things in the last year and a half. A lot of them I take with a grain of salt…he’s a hell of a name dropper.”

Thalia’s face tightened. “Peri…” she lowered her voice. She sighed and then folded her hands as if in prayer in front of her lips. “What the Doctor has related, or failed to relate and has simply written in this report puts me in a difficult and possibly dangerous position.”

“You’re looking for cover your ass protection?” Peri asked as she tried to not smile.

“I’m looking, as you have so eloquently put it, Peri, for what sort of information is out about this particular societal evolution that the Doctor has and probably will be discussing in the future. It involves and could possibly debase most of Gallifreyan history.”

“You’ll have your eyes opened?” Peri responded. “The Doc has a habit of doing that to people.”

Thalia leaned forward. “The eyes of society will be opened and questions will be asked. In most instances this is an encouraging and edifying situation. However, the last time something like this occurred on Gallifrey, my dear girl, there was a bloody revolution. Gallifreyans don’t like to have their world and self-view altered. Intellectual arguments combined the philosophical thoughts about the origins of our society lend themselves to coups here. The last time this happened, many were killed. It is, I believe, the sole reason the Doctor left Gallifrey.”

“Gosh,” Peri breathed.

**

Recording of patient number 20303
Patient: Terran female, aged 26 standard Sol 3 years
Name: Tegan Jovanka
Overall health: Very Good, physical symptoms Nil
Observations:
Appears psychological in origin.
Non-responsive to most stimuli, including name, and familiar surroundings
Eyesight appears effected. Patients optical cortex is operational, possible interpretative issue of neural input.

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed as the physician read what was recorded. “Ah, she’s been steadily decreasing in the amount of external visual stimuli to which she is responsive.”

The physician nodded as he recorded that fact. “What about physical responses? Reflexes?”

“Hmmm,” the Doctor said as he tapped Tegan on the knee. Her leg moved slightly. “Yes, yes…that hasn’t changed it seems. She has been giving the same amount of response to the physical world in a physical manner now for two weeks.”

“No rigidity?”

“None.”

“Body processes?”

The Doctor looked up into Tegan’s eyes and smiled gently. “She still has the ability to eat and to eliminate waste. That hasn’t been affected. She sleeps, she moves…”

“But there is no…”

With a sigh, the Doctor looked over his shoulder at the physician in agitation. “Yes, yes…as I have been telling you for the past hour. The only thing that seems truly affected is Tegan’s…psychological…make-up. She is almost catatonic in nature. As if in a fugue state constantly…” he looked back at Tegan and shook his head slowly. “And has been for the past two standard weeks.”

“Yes, we understand that, Doctor…” the physician continued. “Though the questions I’m asking, if answered honesty and completely, could help us to find an answer in conjunction with the results of her psychological exam. Which we shall undergo momentarily…”

The Doctor stood and moved around to stand behind Tegan. Her spine straightened and he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The man nodded and then turned to the keyboard again. “She is mentally uninvolved?”

“Nearly constantly. She reacts to very few stimuli and there is no set pattern to that which she does.”

The physician nodded. “And what was the last action she had where she seemed mentally involved as well as physically?”

“Ah…” the Doctor cleared his throat. “That would be when she was involved in a standard greeting action from her planet approximately a week ago.”

“A handshake?” the physician asked.

“A kiss.”

The physician hummed and tapped away. “Humans do have rather interesting interactive measures, don’t they? Did you confer with the party with whom she had been interactive? To what extent was she involved? Superficially?”

“No,” the Doctor muttered. “She wasn’t involved superficially at all…the kiss was rather...”

“Yes?”

“Yes, well…it was wonderful.”

The physician stopped and glanced up at Doctor and then frowned. He returned to typing when he received only an open and vacuous expression from the other Time Lord. “I see. Very well, I think that ends the question process. If you would, please slip the connectors on her head over the occipital lobe. Thank goodness humans have similar brains to Gallifreyans, even if they only have explored a small part of it.”

The Doctor placed the electrodes on Tegan’s head and then gently cupped her cheeks in his palms.

“This will take a few minutes and then I shall take this interview material, the results of the psychological and physical examinations to the Board…”

“And we’ll possibly have our answers in the morning,” the Doctor stated. “Yes, well…things haven’t changed here at all in years, have they?”

**

“I don’t…”

Thalia rubbed at her brow. Peri shook her head as she continued to look at the papers “There’s a great deal of information here.”

“Gallifrey’s history is very long. Our race has been around since the beginning of the second expanse; our culture has been active and in various stages of evolution for the better part of 1000 millennia. That equates to a…”

“An extremely large book,” Peri breathed. She sighed. “But I can’t give you any more information than what is in the Doctor’s report. You’d have to ask him about ideas…”

“…and conjectures, yes,” Thalia responded. “Has he talked to anyone about the information?”

“Only Tegan and I,” Peri stated.

“Well at least there’s that,” Thalia sighed and sat back in the chair. The door behind her opened and a guard stuck his head inside.

“Lady President, the Doctor and his companion are back at their suite and he is inquiring about Lady Peri”

Thalia nodded. “Inform him Lady Peri will be sent back with no delay, but that he is not to leave his suite. Please send a squad to guard the door of the suite. No entrance and no exit without permission and please accompany Lady Peri back to the rooms.”

Peri sat back in the chair and crossed her arms petulantly. “He’s not going to like being a prisoner.”

“And he has every right to feel that way,” Thalia said she rose. “But that does not change the situation. He has left me with little choice until he answers for his theories and for the existence of this information. That is all I require from you at this moment, Peri. Return to your suite.”

The girl frowned as the door closed on the President of the High Council. “Good God, Doc…what have you gotten us into now?”

**

The door opened slowly to reveal the suite as she had left it. The guard that escorted Peri was very gentlemanly in her estimation. But gentleman like or not, she wasn’t too thrilled that she knew that they couldn’t leave the room.

The guard shut the door which left Peri staring at it, holding the rather large book of Gallifreyan history. Then the image of Tegan the last time she had undergone testing flooded her mind’s eye.

A crash of the book to the carpet accompanied Peri’s frantic scrambling for the interior doors. She opened the first one to reveal nothing. Her steps quickened to the next door, nearly running for the other room. When she reached the next portal, she threw it open. Expecting to see a panicked and visibly upset, yet infinitely quiet Tegan in a terror on the bed, she burst through and into the interior.

Peri stopped dead.

Her friends stood in front of the wide window against the burnt orange sky. The Doctor’s lips were on Tegan’s and her friend seemed to be not overly involved, but not overly disinterested as well. At the sound of the door ricocheting off of the wall, the Doctor drew back and glanced at Peri.

She could see the sheepishness in his expression and the shadowed look to his eyes.

“Ah…Peri…” he began and lifted one hand from Tegan’s shoulders to rub at his neck.

With a sigh, she gave him a grin. “Did she like it? Did she react?”

“Hmmm,” was the non-committal reply. He cleared his throat and then gave her a smile. “A little I suppose. Wasn’t entirely a reflexive move,” he clarified. He gently escorted her to the stuffed chair in the room and when she was safely seated he turned to Peri. “Now…how did the meeting with Thalia go? I gather she wanted to corner you about the information on our most recent Earth visit and the scriptures.”

“You hit that nail on the head, Doctor,” Peri responded as she collapsed in the chair opposite Tegan. “She seems to think you’re going to undermine the whole of Gallifreyan society. Since when did you become that big of a rebel?”

The Doctor gave a wide grin. “Ah, well…Peri…we all have our youths, don’t we? But she does have a point about the information.”

“We can talk about it in a moment,” she responded. She stood and moved over to Tegan and brushed her hair gently behind her ear with one finger. With a sad smile, she brushed under Tegan’s right eye. A small, single tear stayed on her skin. “How did it go with Tegan today? Did they have answers? Please tell me they did.”

“They will tomorrow,” the Doctor replied. He leaned forward and speared her with a long glance and then looked down at Peri’s finger. “They will. They have to.”

Peri sighed. “Did she…”

“No, she didn’t have terrors this time,” the Doctor said gently. “She actually was very, very calm.”

With a wide smile, she patted Tegan’s knee. “That’s my Tegs.” Peri turned the smile on the Doctor. “And your experiment with her? Did they mention something about that?”

“Experiment…ah…ah, no,” the Doctor muttered, sudden understanding bringing a rose tint to his cheeks. “It was the last time I catalogued a response. Never mind….”

“It’s all right, Doctor,” Peri reassured as she returned to her chair. “I’ve seen worse…I did live with my parents, you know. And I don’t much mind two people who care about one another showing it. It’s a great deal better than a shouting match any day of the week.”

“Yes, well…” the Doctor blinked and then rose to pace to the window. “I do hope that Thalia didn’t give you too much of a…”

“Roasting? I might be young, Doc, but I have fought and I’ve been told that I have some stubbornness. Tegs taught me well in that. It wasn’t all that big of a deal.”

“You couldn’t have had a better teacher…” the Doctor went to pace back to his chair. Tegan’s hand reached out to catch the edge of his sleeve. He stopped immediately and sat down along side her. “She wanted to know to whom and about what I had talked.”

“Again, perfectly dead on.”

“Yes, well, Peri…I am older than I look,” he responded. “Call it the wisdom of the ages. I’ll admit to you that I kept you deliberately in the dark with my research after I released that we would have to come to Gallifrey. I wanted you to be able to answer honestly that you knew nothing.”

She frowned. “Doctor…information like…”

“Ah well...I know this planet and this society, Peri. And I wish to have you protected. It was the best I could do.”

“You must be a bitchin’ chess player. But…”

“But?”

“She told me it had happened before.”

The Doctor hissed a sigh through his teeth. He held Peri’s gaze for a moment longer and then glanced down at his arm and Tegan’s hand which rested there. “It has happened before…” he said quietly. Then louder, he continued: “And with a great deal of…death, Peri.”

Peri opened her mouth but saw a look of pain cross the Doctor’s face. She might have questions, but she wondered at the Doctor’s demeanor. Although she had learned, especially of late, that when the Doctor didn’t want to discuss something, his normal taciturn streak would become pronounced. In the past month, when discussing Tegan’s condition after a particularly harrowing terror episode, he had abruptly turned away from Peri and had disappeared for a day. He had also appeared to have one temper flare after another, but was never truly mean.

Still, the change in his demeanor at that moment left her not wanting to press the issue. There would be time enough to have her questions answered in the future after one worry was removed from their minds; after Tegan was healed. Peri turned her attention to her friend as she fought the urge to cry. The sadness of separation from Tegan was beginning to wear on her.

“Shall I help you with Tegan?” Peri simply asked.

“I’ll take care of her this evening,” the Doctor responded lightly. “Although in the morning…”

Peri nodded and with a sigh, rose. “Then I’m going to retire to the room that Tegan and I have. I’ve got a bit of reading to do.” She bent to give Tegan a kiss on the cheek and then left the room to leave the Doctor with his obvious worry.

**

“I do rather think that Peri would prefer to be with Tegan,” the Doctor muttered into the vidcom. He leaned forward to place his hand firmly against the wall. “Thalia, they are friends. Is there no way to gain her entrance with us tomorrow morning?”

The visage of the Time Lady gentled a little. “There is a great deal of worry in your face, Theta. How grave is the health of your companion?”

“Ah, well…physically she is extremely healthy for her age and species. Her illness appears…almost…spiritual.” The Doctor replied. “The morning will bring a decision on it, however. It’s beyond my ability.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “The fact remains that I do think it would help Tegan to have the both of us with her.”

“Humans and their need for society,” Thalia mused. “But I have known you long enough to know that there is a two pronged reason behind your request.”

“Does it matter?” he asked hotly.

“You wish to keep Peri from being questioned by me, don’t you?” Thalia allowed a small smile.

“I wish you to not question her, yes. She knows nothing of Gallifrey, its history or its dark times. It is a pointless exercise.”

Thalia leaned forward. “The information in these scripts that you purport them to contain-“

“Language and positioning…I don’t believe in coincidence, Thalia.”

“Having the information…”

“I don’t believe in ignorance of self, either. Thalia, leave her alone. Let Peri come with Tegan and me tomorrow.”

“You know what the information has done in the past, Theta. You-“

“Ah, yes…” he replied as his voice grew harsh and tight. “Yes, I do remember what information like this did for us in the past.”

“Ignorance is best in things of this nature.”

The Doctor sighed. “I gather you will not allow Peri with Tegan and me tomorrow.”

“It will be discussed.”

“Then if this is the answer, I think this conversation is at an end. Good evening.”

He reached over and viciously turned off the vidcom. Then he rocked back on his heels, viciously sliding his hands into his pockets. “Ah, Tegan…sometimes I don’t understand this planet. Don’t they know that it isn’t the information, but rather what you do with it that is the problem?”

With a grunt, he turned and faced his companion who sat, wrapped in blankets on the bed. He retreated to the bed and contemplated her with a gentle smile. “I wish I knew what was wrong with you. What’s the matter, hmm? You laid your hand on me repeatedly today and pulled on my sleeve. You don’t want me to leave you, I know. I know you intensely dislike Gallifrey. There was no other recourse, though. I have a feeling you are withdrawing more and more, Tegan.”

She stared through him, he felt.

“The silence is going to start worrying me. The TARDIS is rather quiet,” he joked. Then after a sobering moment, he continued. “We will get through this, I promise you. You will be quite as you were. There’s no other answer for this, you know. You don’t have a choice.”

He gently covered her and led her to lie back on the bed. After a few seconds, he turned off the light and leaned over to give her a little kiss. “Sleep well.”

**

Gallifrey: A History, pg. 1.

Out of the vast dark of the new expanse, the system of Kastoborous was brought forth. Upon the cooling and solidifying of the planetary material, life was brought forth on the eighth planet in the system. This planet was Gallifrey. The natural pressures were such that evolution occurred at a rapid rate. There were no false or unrealized branches. Bipedal life was finalized in less than ten million years from the last global environmental upheaval.

Such was the beginning of the oldest society in the Second Expanse.

**

Peri blearily stumbled along the corridor in the morning. The Doctor had procured something like coffee for her and it warmed her palms. When they slowed their frantic pace upon entering a lift, she rested back against the wall. As it began to rise, she was confronted through the glass with an amazing sunrise in the orange sky.

“What did they say?” Peri asked for the fifth time that morning. “Didn’t they say anything? Didn’t they give you any idea?”

“None.” The response was clipped and hurried.

“It’s a good thing she slept with you last night, Doctor,” Peri commented in an attempt to keep the conversation light. “You don’t like to undress her regularly. It was quicker this way.”

The Doctor looked down at his companion, still half asleep as he carried her. Tegan’s hair was slightly awry, but she was completely attired. “Yes, well…” the Doctor cleared his throat. “I suppose you do have a point with the efficiency of the matter.”

“And will they let me in this time?”

“They will. That topic was the conversation in part this morning.”

“And that worries you?” Peri pressed. “Hell, Doctor…”

The Doctor adjusted Tegan in his arms and nodded. “To admit you into the physician without a fight would mean that Thalia thought it necessary for you to be present.”

“Bad news?”

“Good news rarely draws a crowd on Gallifrey.”

The response was monotone, dead. Peri frowned in worry and stared straight ahead at the doors. When they had left the suite that morning with their guard detail, it had been hurried. She assumed it was on the Doctor’s part to find an answer to what ailed Tegan. But now she dreaded their arrival at the medical wing. Still, the doors opened fairly quickly and they walked down the hall at a fast gallop.

“You want the answer to what’s wrong with her regardless of the implications,” Peri commented quietly.

“Yes. Don’t you?” he asked. “I realize that it might be a slight shock to us, but knowledge is power, Peri.”

Peri clasped Tegan’s hand as they were admitted to a small comfortable office with modern furnishings. Everything seemed to be glass and crystal and metal. Cold and impersonal yet beautiful, it reminded her of the whole planet.

**

“Are you sure?”

Peri watched the Doctor as he paced the office. Tegan was seated next to her and Peri’s arm was around her friend. There was something frantic in the way that the Doctor covered the ground.

“Spiritual separation was the only thing that made any sort of sense in the way of things, Doctor,” the physician responded. “It was concluded upon with the committee last evening.”

“Have you employed the central computer?” the Doctor asked tightly.

“Of course.”

The Doctor sighed heavily and stopped his pacing to stare out the window. Peri rubbed Tegan’s shoulder. “But we have an answer, that’s a good thing, right? Now we can do something about it. At least it isn’t lethal…” she commented. The last statement was directed at her friend. He had faced away from her.

The conversation continued around her as if she hadn’t spoken.

“You are well aware of the implications of this diagnosis. Spiritual separation, in her instance, has been ongoing for too long now.”

The Doctor’s head inclined. Peri could see his fist as he formed it in the tight material of his trousers. There was silence and then a simple question: “How long?”

“With the amount of catatonia and disembodiment it will be, in my estimation, the matter of standard weeks. Possibly as much as six, as little as three weeks.”

Peri felt tears beginning to prick at the back of her eyes. The sting was bittersweet. “How long for what? What are you two talking about?”

The Doctor turned slowly and looked at Peri. Then his gaze traveled to Tegan and stared at her for a long moment. Then he crossed the floor and stopped just feet from her. “Ah, Peri…spiritual separation is a condition in an individual where their consciousness and individualism slowly bleeds away. As it deepens and more of the personality is bled, the will to live-“

“The will to live?!” Peri nearly cried. “Are you saying that she’s…that she’s going to…that…”

The Doctor laid a hand on Peri’s shoulder. His sigh and a nod answered her question. “That is the implication and prognosis, Peri.”

“But that’s- how…we have to do something!”

The physician contemplated her. “There is nothing to do in these instances, child. Often it is advised to allow the individual the dignity of an early demise-“

“You’re going to kill her?!”

“No, Peri, we aren’t,” the Doctor said quietly. He knelt in front of Tegan and clasped her shoulders in his hands. She couldn’t explain what she saw in his eyes. It was equal measure resignation, pain and sadness.

“Doctor-“

“We won’t,” he repeated. “That is not an option.”

The physician sighed. “It may be the only humane option.”

With a growing sense of agitation and panic, Peri began to cry. “Humane?”

The Doctor squeezed Tegan’s shoulders. “She had had her soul removed from her body by a Joiba over a year ago. There was a soul bridge formed by another of that race. I was informed that it was whole and intact.”

“It is possible that the soul bridge was dislodged recently,” the physician mused. “For her to have survived that long after such an occurrence, the bridge would have to be whole and intact. Do you know where this Joiba is now?”

The Doctor bit his lip and shook his head firmly once. “No. No, no, but there must be something that can be done.”

“You know as well as I do that we are unable to heal a soul, Doctor. If we were able to, we would be able to adjust personality mishaps after the twelfth regeneration and our life spans would increase.”

Peri, through her tears, watched as the Doctor’s eyes closed in pain. “I made her a promise,” he stated, quietly, barely above a breath. “Trium?”

The physician started. Apparently, Peri thought crazily, that must have been his name and he was unaccustomed to being called it. “Yes, Theta?”

“I wish to ask something of you: a favor on our house.”

The physician nodded. Although the Doctor wasn’t facing him, he took his silence as a positive response. “Allow me into the archives…”

“We went through the entire…”

“You know my methods of research,” the Doctor pressed.

The physician contemplated his friend silently. “It might be able to be worked out.”

“Do so?” the Doctor implored.

The physician nodded. “I shall see what I can do,” he muttered and rose and walked out the door. Peri cried silently, allowing the Doctor to hold Tegan.

“What will that do?” Peri asked when she was able to take a breath. “Books? Doctor, we are talking about Tegan.”

“I’m going to find a way to help her,” the Doctor stated quietly. There was a menacing turn to his voice. “The rest of Gallifrey can hang. There has to be something that can be done. If not here, then somewhere. There has to be an answer… ”

**

Gallifreyans do not subscribe to a religious tenet, rather relying on science and fact for our dogma. There are, as with any society, those that disagree. These people have been weeded from our society and have been removed. Strength comes in our similarity. The main proponent of the dogma of similarity was the Lord Rassilon. This great figure will be discussed in depth in the next chapter: The Age of Enlightenment. It was during this time that the Great Separation occurred.

Prior to the Great Separation, the culture of Gallifrey encountered numerous hurdles. Constant wars with the Great Vampires and upheaval due to both environmental and cosmic interactions had caused great pressure to rapidly increase our research into the areas of civil, mechanical and cosmic engineering, biologic sciences of all types, chemistry, and geophysics, theoretical and applied physics.

--A History, Gallifreyan Society.

**

“What are you doing?”

Peri glanced up in shock at the tone of the Doctor’s voice. The bass of his voice cracked and she couldn’t tell if it was from strain or anger.

“I’m reading to Tegan,” Peri explained carefully. “Just like I told you I was going to do this morning.”

The Doctor sighed and stalked into the room. His long legs covered the area quickly and easily. His cricketing costume looked ghastly in the muted orange light filtering through the windows. He slowed about ten feet from her and glanced down at Tegan. Peri had wrapped her up tightly in a blanket; the woman’s skin had been cold to the touch. Now she sat resting back against the couch, her legs spread forward on the ground.

“Has she…”

Peri shook her head. “Nothing, Doctor. What about you? How goes the research?”

“Ah, well…” the Doctor grumbled as he squatted and reached to tuck the blankets more firmly about Tegan. “I’m reading through texts from before the Great…” He stopped and looked at Peri. “Yes, well, suffice it to say, I’m looking through information from way before my time.”

Peri lifted up the heavy book and showed him the cover. “It’s okay, Doc…that’s what we’re reading.” Peri let the book fall back to the ground in front of her lying figure with a sigh of relief.

“Good heavens!” He twisted to lift the book away from her. He looked down through his glasses at the spine. “Thalia gave you A History? Whatever for?”

Peri shrugged. “To understand, I think. That isn’t what’s important now.”

“Very true,” he agreed as he sat down next to Tegan, across from Peri.

She bit her lip. “I know that look, Doctor. You’ve got something going on you don’t think anyone will like or agree to, don’t you? Come on, out with it.”

“I have an idea, just a thought, Peri,” he confided.

Peri sat up and completely faced her friends. “You’ve been researching almost a week…”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “I know. And I know you think I’ve wasted time, but it was necessary. There is a possibility of helping Tegan.”

“And you haven’t told me?” Peri nearly cried.

“Only a possibility, Peri, but it’s a chance I do believe is worth taking.” He rubbed at his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. “We’ll be leaving tonight.”

His voice had fallen in volume so hers did as well. “To where?”

“The wilderness of Gallifrey.”

**

Peri followed the Doctor into their room (she had ceased to think of it as the Doctor’s room as he seemed to have Tegan with him more than not those days). “There should be a variety of clothes here that will suit our purposes,” he was saying. “I won’t need to change, but you and Tegan will…”

“Why?” She asked quietly. She traced his steps and sat down on the bed where he had placed Tegan. With a sigh, she gave Tegan a kiss.

“Well, Peri,” he began. His voice was muted as he dug through the wardrobe. “Gallifrey is a rather cold planet, hence our rather lower body temperatures. And whereas I shall be very comfortable, you and Tegan will feel as though it is…” his voice trailed off. “Peri? What…”

Peri finished adjusting Tegan’s collar. “What?...Oh! She hates not getting about on her own power. I have to believe she’s in there somewhere, Doctor, like a coma victim. And you know how she hates to be dependent. I’m just giving her some encouragement. What do you have for her to wear?”

The Doctor hummed under his breath and dug through the wardrobe again. “I know she doesn’t like it when I carry her, but we don’t have a choice at the moment. She’s losing the ability to move about under her own power. And ah, there isn’t much to choose from here, Peri. I’m afraid you and Tegan will be wearing Time Lord robes.”

“Those restrictive things?” Peri turned up her nose. “What are you doing with those in here?”

“Ah, well…they always hope I’ll conform and wear proper clothing,” he responded as he pulled out two robes and returned to the bed with them. “Hurry up, Peri. You’ll have to change. I’ll take care of Tegan.”

“Hurry up?” Peri nearly laughed. “Doctor, that’s the first funny thing you’ve said in a month. With you it’s always wait, wait, and then hurry up.”

He watched silently as Peri rose. His voice was quiet. “We have to sneak out, Peri. And it has to be during the night shift and the earlier during it, the better.”

“Sneak, why?”

“To go into the wilderness is considered treason.”

Peri frowned. “For moving to another part of the planet?”

“For going where those who are considered undesirable reside,” he corrected. Then he sighed and straightened his spine, gave her a little smile.

“You’ve been there before! Very much the rebel, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been there several times. And well, I thought you knew that about me, Peri.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know you as well as Tegan.”

The Doctor slowed his agitated movement and contemplated her. “Yes. She and I have been together a very long time.” His hands landed gently on her shoulders. “I realize this is hard on you. I hadn’t realized that you and she were personally so close. This trip will be dangerous for all of us and there’s no telling that the Shobogans can help us.

Peri’s eyes closed. “You aren’t going to leave me behind, Doctor. Tegan and I are close. She’s like the sister I never had. She’s shown me more loyalty and support than I have deserved and I refuse to leave her when I can help her. Hell, I’m closer to her than my mother.”

With a sigh, she opened her eyes. “With her, it’s like my childhood with my mom after Dad left. Except I know Tegan will always be there for me. Mom and I grew apart, but with Tegan I know that isn’t going to happen.”

As the words left her mouth, she swallowed. It was happening with Tegan. She was growing more distant as the days passed. She had cried herself to sleep each night; Tegan was with the Doctor and she felt safe in releasing her sorrow. A year under attack, wet and dirty in a jungle, had brought her closer to Tegan than any other friend she had ever had. She remembered her friend crawling through brush and bartering away her clothes, her shoes, anything she had to get medicine for her when she was injured and ill.

She remembered Tegan laughing and getting her to laugh as well about jungle rot when their clothes were rotten and wet. She remembered Tegan teaching her to shoot when she was healed. She remembered her friend fighting for her, yelling for treatment, protecting her with her own body, forcing her to have hope and tucking her into her pallet at night when the day was done.

No other friend had done what Tegan had done for her. She wouldn’t abandon Tegan; Tegan wouldn’t abandon her. It was a pact made in the worst of times that Peri planned on honoring in the best of times.

Peri swallowed back sudden tears and blinked.

The Doctor nodded. Glancing up into his eyes, Peri could see what it was about him that had Tegan so entranced, and momentarily wished she knew him as well as Tegan did. After a long moment of silence, he spoke. “Run along, then, Peri. I’ll get Tegan ready. We have to move.”

**

It was a silent run through the Citadel. The Doctor had shed his coat, opting to carry it wrapped about Tegan. Peri hitched up her long robe and ran barefoot behind her taller, faster friend. The only sound that echoed around them in the sterile silence of the corridors was the flutter of material from her skirt.

She skidded around a corner and plowed into the back of the Doctor. He had stopped abruptly.

“Ah, Thalia…”

Peri glanced around her friend. She expected to see guards with guns and the Lady President barring the way. Instead, it was only Lady Thalia, stoically standing in front of an exit. The woman shifted her weight and lifted her gaze to the Doctor.

“Theta…”

“I’ve done this before, Thalia,” the Doctor said tightly. “You know that. Surely you remember Academy.”

“You are the Lord President,” Thalia replied. “The law in this manner is clearly delineated and will affect more than you…”

The Doctor sighed and bounced Tegan in his arms to readjust her weight. “Yes, well…if I don’t take Tegan to the Wilds, it removes all hope…”

“It’s a slim hope.”

“It’s hope nonetheless,” the Doctor whispered. “Don’t stop me, please.”

“She may die before you find them. The trip would be useless.”

“Tegan would want this,” Peri piped up. She stepped to the side and flanked her friends. “She’d do it for us…”

The Doctor glanced at Peri and his nod was imperceptible. “I’m going, Thalia. I won’t let you stop me. I made a promise to her and she is a close friend. Step to the side or call the guards, but either way I’m still going with Tegan.”

Thalia sighed.

“You can arrest me later,” the Doctor stated tiredly. “Arrest me as soon as I return, but don’t let me fall short on this.”

Peri could see the coldness seeping into the Time Lady’s eyes and into the firm set of her mouth. And then next words from the Doctor made her brain jump into gear. “You’ll have to kill me, Thalia,” the Doctor said forcefully. “That’s the only way I won’t attempt this. They have the spiritual knowledge…”

Peri hissed a breath and then added her voice to the Doctor’s. “I’ll stay here if it’ll help.”

Two sets of eyes turned to her. Peri lifted her chin. “Collateral or something like that, right? The Doctor has to go, Lady President. He has to. Even if that hope is paper thin, he has to go. Please? Please, Lady Thalia, don’t sentence Tegan to death…”

Thalia sighed again and lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not a murderer, child.”

“Peri…”

She laid her hand on the Doctor’s arm and glanced at Tegan’s form, lying still in his arms. “Go. I’ll stay here. You won’t leave me on Gallifrey. I don’t much like being treated like a deposit, but I can’t carry Tegan. You know this place, I don’t. I have to stay here. I can handle this.”

“It’s more than that,” the Doctor grunted. “When I return, if you help me in this manner, you will be held in the same contempt of the law. You will be prosecuted like me.”

Peri sighed and blinked. With a smile she contemplated Thalia. “Will I be a prisoner?”

“You will not be allowed free movement about Gallifrey and when the Doctor returns, you will be jailed and prosecuted with him as an accessory,” Thalia clarified. “You will not be harmed or hurt or legally prosecuted without the Doctor on hand as I’m sure you will name him as your representation. But it will not be an easy time, child.”

Before the Doctor could say anything, Peri continued. “Go, Doctor. Take Tegan. I’d rather have her in one piece than avoid getting legally prosecuted.”

The Doctor turned to her and hummed quietly. “Thalia?”

“Yes, Theta?”

“Is this exchange acceptable for you?”

Thalia blew out a breath. “I don’t want to kill you.”

“Typical,” he muttered. “You don’t want to kill me with your own hands but will be quite happy to turn me over to the law that will. You never change, Thalia.” The Doctor met Peri’s eyes. “Don’t say anything. Don’t allude to anything. I’ll be back as soon as I’m able. Are you sure?”

“I can handle this,” Peri said confidently.

With a frown, the Doctor turned and without another word skittered by Thalia and into the access tunnel beyond. Peri joined the Lady President at the door as cold air washed over her face. She could tell a door opened from within that led outside. But there was nothing to see.

“The Doctor is foolish and foolhardy, child,” Thalia stated quietly. “He could be put to death for this.”

Peri grunted. “He’s done a lot and been called foolish, but he’s the best man I know.”

**

And into the third age, the final age of our Non-Enlightened Time, Lord Rassilon was born. He was brought forth in an Ancient House of Nobility and excelled in the academic sector. It is well known that Rassilon was one of the main engineers of time travel; together with Omega and the Other, he engineered the use of a black hole as the main source of power for the Eye of Harmony. Once this was accomplished, and time travel was a firm reality, Gallifreyans were elevated to Time Lords.

But Rassilon was also a civil engineer by association. He alone realized the implications of his new discovery. As the custodians of Time, as the only ones capable of doing so in the Universe, he realized the need to have only those capable of handling such a responsibility in such a position. Genetic loom weaving became the societal accepted method of reproduction. With this form of reproduction sanctioned, it became easy to control overpopulation, and to control the interweaving of genes. Genetic control of desirable characteristics on a grand scale became easy. Gallifreyan society evolved at an unprecedented rate. Rassilon also entered into the genome of those Gallifreyans who had attained educational excellence, the ability to extend their lives through regeneration.

And finally, he exerted his control over the education system on Gallifrey. Limitation of those able to enter the Academies of the Citadel was measured by birth rank and House Loom. In order to handle the pressures of Time Travel and custodianship, he added classes in emotional control, cosmic logic and changed the understanding of ethics to account for these pressures. It was at this time that those Gallifreyans and Time Lords who still wished to believe in the spiritual basis of illness and life and who exonerated emotion in place of logic were removed from the society and placed into the wastes of Gallifrey.

--excerpt from A History, Gallifrey

**

The Doctor climbed a hill with a huff of breath and stood at the climax. Cold wind blew over him and his charge and he subconsciously tightened his arms to wrap Tegan more in the folds of his coat. The bright colors of the Prydonian Academy nearly glowed neon orange and brilliant maroon in the sunrise. It made him give a rueful smile. “A tad different than the last time you wore my colors,” the Doctor whispered. He began down the other side of the hill, leaning back to keep his balance.

“The Shodoghbans, Tegan, are a rather lively bunch. You would fit in wonderfully,” he confided. “Although I have several amongst them that I call friend, it has been years since I was able to join in the festivities out here. In fact, I do believe it has been since my Third Incarnation.”

There was no answer to his conversation and no movement to show that she had even understood or heard his voice.

He bounced her gently to readjust her weight. “Come on, Tegan,” he urged, barely above a breath. “Hold on. I will find you help, I promise.”

He leaned into the next hill, trudging up it with a steady and constant step. “I refuse to give up on you. And I know you refuse to give up as well. Not after you have made the decision to stay with me, Tegan…”

**

Peri settled into the chair and frowned. There was rather a large spread of food in front of her on the table. “If this is being treated as a prisoner, I want to be caught doing more wrong,” she confided sarcastically.

Thalia raised an eyebrow. “Even our prisoners are treated with a measure of respect, child.”

“I’m not a child,” Peri pressed. She picked off a piece of fruit. “And since I am a prisoner and I have been released under your mentorship, what do you have planned for me?”

“Simply education and understanding, Peri,” Thalia confided as she too took some food.

“Education? Like how it is that simply going outside and into the Wilderness you’re accused of treason? I’d like to know why that is illegal. You know…if I’m going to be accused of a crime, I’d like to understand it.”

“To understand that,” Thalia said. “You have to understand the structure of this society.”

“Yeah,” Peri agreed. “But I’m willing to spend my time doing it. It would get my mind off of Tegan and what may or may not be happening and, no matter what the Doctor thinks, I like learning.”

Peri watched as very little emotion crossed Thalia’s face. She was beginning to realize that these small emotions needed to be noticed and catalogued. Little else would be revealed by the woman. Against the bright orange of the day that filtered through the window, the woman looked thoughtful. Then she looked unsure. Peri pressed the issue. “It’s not the knowledge, but what you do with it that’s harmful,” Peri echoed the Doctor’s earlier words to her.

“Very well,” Thalia said. “I shall send for additional information and you will be allowed to peruse the information here in my suite. I will extend Presidential Privilege to allow you to read the information as usually it is only visible to those in governmental positions…”

“What? Doesn’t the populace know the laws?” Peri asked incredulously.

“They know only what is necessary. It was a decree from Rassilon that this be so and has worked for untold millennia. I will allow it, but be prepared, child, I do believe you will not like the information you are given…”

“Lay it on me,” Peri stated. “I’ll deal with the repercussions later.”

Thalia nodded once and popped a piece of fruit in her mouth.

**

The night was settling like a woven blanket over the landscape when the Doctor, his eyes squinted into the wind, spotted the dotting of lights on the land. “Ah, Tegan,” he commented to his comatose companion. “I believe we’ve found our friends.” He smiled widely, adjusted his companion and quickened his pace.

He was tired. Even a Gallifreyan body had its limits when it came to physical exertion. Tegan didn’t weigh much in his estimation, but ten hours of carrying her had taken its toll. Finding the camp afforded his mind a holiday because he had found his quarry and possible salvation for Tegan; his body was pleading for the break.

As he neared the camp, he was greeted with guards, frowns and pointed, sharp spears. It was a familiar greeting, but terribly grated on his nerves.

The Doctor stopped and drew up to his full height. “Good evening? Ah…” He lifted an eyebrow as a spear was pointed in his face. “Ah, I come in peace. I’m known to your leader, your chief, Devon. I come to beg help.”

“What help does a Time Lord need of a Shobogan?” The reply was laughed. The spear didn’t move, so the Doctor didn’t think the humor was all that humorous to all involved.

“I don’t come here as a citizen of Gallifrey, nor as a Time Lord. I come here as a citizen of the Universe. I come for help that isn’t available anywhere else. I come for my companion here…” the Doctor painfully lifted his arm to tilt Tegan’s face toward the Shogobhans. “And for her life.”

“A Time Lord requesting medical help from us? Wonders never cease!” The Doctor could see the hunter’s face. It was dirty and lined from hard work and the elements.

“Still, I request that you take me to your chief,” the Doctor said tiredly. He always disliked his greetings at this camp. They had never changed and all it was doing was to take time away from help that Tegan could be receiving. “Now, would be nice,” he added, a sigh in his voice.

The guard pulled his spear away the Doctor’s face and ushered the Time Lord forward. “Don’t attempt any trickery, Time Lord. Our chief is merciful, but I am not.”

“Yes, yes…” the Doctor replied as he began to walk forward again. “And you’ll kill me at the first sign of trouble, I’m sure.”

As they walked along, the Doctor sighed. “They never change, Tegan. Everyone is suspicious. Not that I blame them. Devon will set it right, I have no doubt. Brave heart….”

**

He had forgotten how cold the bare ground of Gallifrey could be. Still, he sat on it, easing Tegan down between his legs to lean back against his body. He was careful to keep as much of her torso off the ground as possible; cold for him was frigid for her. The Doctor sighed as he settled into a relaxed pose and faced Devon.

The chief hadn’t changed. He still showed the effects of age on his face. Although he had never been given the gift of regeneration, he had the long life-span of a Gallifreyan. Devon was his age; he had been raised in the hallowed halls of the Lungbarrow house. They contemplated each other along side the fire.

Next to the chief sat a large bear of a man. Although Gallifreyans ran the gamut towards shorter, this male was almost overbearingly large. His face held what the Doctor was sure Tegan would call laugh lines. In the dark of the night, it was almost impossible to tell the color of the irises. As the fire flared, the orange and yellow light illuminated his face and showed his gaze intent on the flames.

Devon was the first to speak. “She is a friend, Theta?”

“Yes.”

As the logs crackled, the Doctor shifted his weight. Tegan lulled closer to him, her warmth seeping through his jumper and trousers to warm his body. She was no longer able to support her weight or to keep her posture.

“You are a Time Lord.”

It was a statement; there was no room for argument in the tone of the voice. The Doctor had not dealt with a Tsektsek previously. Although he had spent numerous hours and countless days running the Wilds with Devon and days with the clans, he had had little time or energy to spend with the Spiritual Leaders of the Shagobhans and opted to leave the camps early to avoid them. Something in the Tsektsek’s voice made him bristle; there was a lack of respect to which he was unaccustomed.

“Ah…yes,” the Doctor said.

“And she?”

“…is not,” he replied hotly. With a weary hand, he wiped at his brow and attempted to cool his temper. Devon hissed a sigh next to him.

“Theta…a show of temper won’t help you here.”

“Yes, yes…I know,” the Doctor sighed. “But you see: time is of the essence…”

“We do not rule time here,” the Tsektsek said. The Doctor squinted through the smoke to the man. A pair of bright blue eyes shone back in the aged face of the spiritual leader. “But you seem not to rule your emotions.”

“Ah, well…” The Doctor gave a small shrug and his shoulders whined from the abuse. “Borusa always did say that I should have paid more attention in emotional detachment class.” He gave a small smile.

The Tsektsek narrowed his eyes. “But you are still detached.”

The Doctor’s smile disappeared. Devon leaned near the Doctor and brushed back Tegan’s hair from her brow. “She is...Terran?”

With a nod, the Doctor agreed. “And a rather ill one. Devon, Sir…Tsektsek…I’ve come to ask for help for my companion. Her illness is of a spiritual basis.”

The spiritual leader leaned forward so that his entire face was illuminated by the firelight. The shadows about his eyes made him look eerie. The chuckle that pressed from between the old man’s lips reminded the Doctor of an old electrical engine attempting to start. “You have a belief in that, Time Lord?”

“Quite,” he replied. “I do, rather.” Before either man could start laughing, the Doctor continued. “I’ve seen her soul pulled from her; I’ve seen it returned. I’ve felt the lack of life. It was done previously with a Joiba…”

“A Joiba?” Devon’s eyes widened. The Tsektsek grunted. Apparently, the news of a Joiba had interested him.

“But something has dislodged the soul bridge…” the Doctor continued as he raised his voice to talk over the astonishment and comments of the two men with him. “She is spirit depleted and life is bleeding from her-“

The Doctor stopped talking as the Tsektsek rose and walked around the blaze. He knelt alongside him and lifted Tegan’s arm, sniffing at her skin. Then he reached over and eased his arm under Tegan’s shoulders and lifted her away from the Doctor’s chest. Her head lulled back lifelessly, her seemingly sightless eyes stared to the Gallifreyan heavens. If not for the gentle rise and fall of her chest, he would have thought her dead. He swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. He narrowed his eyes as the Tsektsek leaned close to his companion and heard him inhale harshly.

“There is no odor,” the Tsektsek pronounced with a nod. “Her spirit is nearly gone.”

The Doctor blinked. He wasn’t sure which was more alarming to him: the idea that the Tsektsek could smell the lack of her soul or that her spirit was nearly gone. Almost reflexively he tightened his arm and brought Tegan back toward his chest. Her head rolled back, her cheek came to rest on his sweater. The spiritual man hummed in concern.

The old man sank to the ground and contemplated the Doctor. “She will die soon. All life will leave her.”

“Is there….anything you can do for her?” the Doctor asked. His voice cracked.

The Tsektsek squinted and put his hand on the ground between them. “No.”

“What?!” The Doctor gaped. He could feel a streak of unsteadiness and anger pounding through his veins.

“I can’t help her, Time Lord,” the Tsektsek stated. “But you can.”

**

Peri sighed. She had decided on the Eye of Orion just a couple of months past that luxury was only as good as it was enjoyable. And one couldn’t enjoy luxury if one was a prisoner, because one wasn’t choosing to enjoy it. She had always hated being force-fed anything.

Still, at least she had the choice to view the out of doors. The landscape, she had to say, was absolutely breathtaking and the vantage point from Thalia’s suite of rooms afforded an excellent view. She pressed her hands against the pane of glass (or at least she thought it was glass). The book on Gallifreyan history lay open on the table. It was interesting, but she was worrying about Tegan and the Doctor.

A part of her wondered if she would know if Tegan ceased…if she…died. She hoped so.

“A vigil will not help them, Peri.”

It was the use of her name that made her turn, interested, to the door. Thalia stood there in a plain gown. Gone were her Time Lord regalia. The fashion reminded Peri of a medieval dress with low neck overdress and a high necked undergarment. It was beautiful and looked wonderful on the aging blond. “I can’t help worrying. You don’t sound convinced that the Doctor may be successful.”

“The Shagobhans, no matter what the Doctor says or does with them, can’t help your friend,” Thalia said gently. She entered her rooms with a regal sweep of her gowns. The chair that she slipped into looked like a piece of crystal and she wore the seat like the crown jewels. “They believe that illness can be adjusted through spirituality; they believe that illness is the body’s response to faulty or bad influences on the spirit. There is no logic in this; therefore it has no grounds.”

“Oh, and everything that exists in the Universe has logic, I suppose. Look, it doesn’t matter if you believe it or not; when it comes down to it, the only thing that matters is that the Doctor thought that going to these people could help Tegan.”

“The Doctor is a maverick.”

“He’s our friend, maverick or not,” Peri stated hotly. Then she turned back to the table and eyed the book. “I can understand where the Doctor disagrees with you people…”

Thalia gave a small smile as she picked up a data pad. “The tenets of our culture are echoed throughout the cosmos, child. You see things in our history that are found in your own. History, so long as the cultures and the basic nature of the individuals in the society are the same, will repeat itself.”

Peri had to agree with that. “But the Doc, and hell, me too, don’t completely subscribe to those things. In this society or any society…”

“Theta always was a tad bit naïve in the face of situations. He has notions of eternal good. Obviously that has never changed,” Thalia commented. She glanced up at Peri. “But no matter what the Doctor says he doesn’t agree to…” She put down the data pad. “Have you never wondered what his drive is to act in the way he does? His motivation, child, is based in the trying to rectify perceived wrongs that have been done…”

“By who?” Peri asked with her mouth dry.

Thalia’s voice responded in a dead tone. “By his own kind.”

**

The Doctor gazed down at Tegan. He had relinquished her to two women and they had attended to her. She lay wrapped in his coat and animal skins near a small smoldering fire. The air about them was smoky; the smoke was desperately trying to find its way out of through the small hole in the ceiling. Tegan’s eyes were closed and her hair, now in disarray on the furs, was like a deep auburn halo.

“You are close to her.”

The Doctor’s eyes closed as he sighed. “Of sorts, Devon,” he replied.

“If what the Tsektsek says is true, Theta, you will have to help her….”

“Ah, well…”

Devon sighed heavily. “No one else is capable, only one who knows her well.”

The Doctor watched as women began to bathe Tegan’s face gently with scented water. “What he is suggesting…” the Doctor swallowed and he shook his hands out of his pockets. “What he is suggesting is in direct opposition to my education which as you know…”

“Is in direct opposition to what you are.” Devon nodded. “It will remove your ability to remain separate…you will become…involved.”

“Ah, yes, the absolute ultimate in intervention, personal involvement,” the Doctor added. He tilted his head. “Will it help her?”

“It has been done here before. There is a firm possibility that it will do what is needed.”

The Doctor closed his eyes in thought. “To undo my emotional detachment, Devon...”

“The Tsektsek will need your thoughts and your memories and the positive power inherent in your emotions to tie into Tegan’s spirit. I don’t entirely understand the methods, but I do know the situation. Trust him.”

After a moment and a sigh, the Doctor nodded.

**

The cool air of the night washed over his body. He was stripped to his waist and the air felt good on his body, like coming home after a long time away. The trousers he wore were not his own. They were made of soft material like a skin. He lifted his chin as the Tsektsek approached.

“Your name?”

“One I have chosen,” the Doctor commented. “Doctor.” He shifted his weight.

“You must cleanse yourself.” The Doctor concentrated his gaze past the Tsektsek to the pool of steaming water beyond him. He inhaled and nodded. He understood the theoretical and religious basis for immersing in water. It was more symbolic then physically necessary. “You must also purify your spirit and your mind.”

The Doctor inhaled and blew out a breath. His eyebrows lifted. “The purification of the mind I do know how to accomplish, but…spirit…”

“Do you believe the spirit exists?”

“I believe individuals exist,” the Doctor intoned. A little louder, he continued: “I believe that individualism exists and if an explanation for individualism is the existence of spirit or soul…”

The Tsektsek clucked his tongue and leaned close to the Doctor. “Logic has no place in emotions.”

“Ah, exactly,” the Doctor responded as he turned his gaze back to the man.

“Do you deny the existence of emotions?” the Tsektsek pressed.

With a swallow and a little smile, the Doctor replied: “I have been asked that before. No, I don’t deny their existence.”

The Doctor drew himself up to his full height as the Tsektsek folded his hands in front of his lips as if in thought. “Do you consider them a weakness?”

“There can be strength in them,” the Doctor answered after a few minutes of thought.

“Do you fear them?”

The Doctor frowned and rolled the thoughts around in his mind as though tasting them. “Rubbish.”

The Tsektsek contemplated Tegan as she lay on the ground. She was in a small nest of furs and skins. “I am unable to reach her now, Doctor. She has drifted beyond my ability to find her. But through you, through your knowledge and kindred personality with her, I can track her and bring her back.”

“Yes, well…” the Doctor said quietly. “I’ll be a bridge.”

“Succinctly: yes.”

“Ah,” the Doctor muttered as he closed his eyes tiredly.

“Do you trust me, Time Lord?”

“What you are outlining will require me to douse my emotional detachment.”

“Yes. It won’t work without you allowing the emotions. It will be your positive emotions that will be a directional beacon for me. You must make them strong and directed and you must concentrate. That is why you need to cleanse yourself and meditate…”

The Doctor grimaced and allowed his hands to fall lifelessly at his sides. He took a deep breath and released the breath slowly, watching the steam rising from the pool. “Emotions…”

“If you want to help your friend, Time Lord, it is the only way,” the Tsektsek’s voice was low, barely above the wind blowing around them.

The Doctor opened his eyes and gazed at Tegan and then lifted his gaze to the spirit man. “Very well…”

**

Thalia led Peri through the corridors. Occasionally Peri would lag behind, her eyes drawn up to the soaring architecture overhead. Then she would run to fall into step behind her hostess/jailer.

“Where are we going?” she asked. She slowed again as they passed under another arch. It was immense and breathtaking. “Is that steel?” she breathed.

“We don’t have steel here, Peri,” Thalia corrected as she continued to walk nonplused. “It is a metal alloy containing elements that you don’t have on Earth. Indeed, out metal has malleable properties that allow for the fluid angles you see. Do keep up, girl.”

Peri frowned and caught up effortlessly. “Where are we going?” she asked again.

“I have Council meeting. You will be there as my guest.”

“That’s…unusual,” Peri said. She glanced at Thalia. The woman’s face held no emotion. “Are you sure you want an outsider?”

“Once in the Council room, you will be removed from your TARDIS translational circuit. You will be unable to understand the meeting.”

Peri rolled her eyes. “Then it holds no purpose for me.” She continued to walk with a frown on her lips. After a moment, she turned her gaze back to Thalia. “But that’s not the point. You want me to be on…display or something like that, don’t you?”

“It is unimportant to you, Peri,” Thalia remarked. She slowed to allow a door to open for her.

“Oh, I think it’s very important to me,” Peri nearly shouted. “If you’re using me for something, the least you could do is let me know what.”

Thalia gave a very wry smile. “I know that with the Doctor’s return there will be a rather large problem. There always is when he returns. In this instance, his use for Gallifrey will be gone. Your friend will dead. He will, therefore, not abide by the rules that have been set down for him. He never does. He will try to leave. With the current information that he has, that could be very dangerous to control here on Gallifrey. We must discuss a way to neutralize his threat.”

“Listen to yourself,” Peri muttered. “You make it sound like he’s an Enemy of the State or something. He’s not, you know.”

“How little you know of him,” Thalia said.

“I could say the same for you,” Peri muttered. “But it would fall on deaf ears.”

**

“Center your thoughts…”

The voice was deep and strong. The Doctor lay with his head on the cool ground, his body naked, floating in the warm, steaming water. It heated his muscles, relaxing them completely. Boneless, he stared at the heavens. As a youth he knew the presence and location of every star overhead. He picked RU783 in the skies. It was a bright pinpoint of light above his head; it was the flagship star of the Mutter’s Spiral. He centered on it; he centered his thoughts, allowing them to drift away into nothingness, going into a light trance. The only thing that penetrated his mind was the voice of the Tsektsek.

“Good, good…breathe deeply…”

Darkness and calm. Darkness and calm…peace and quiet and darkness and calm…warmth…

“Look within yourself…find the barrier…you will know it when you see it…”

Light corridors, he could see the miles of corridors…stark white like the TARDIS…miles and miles of corridors…behind doors were his memories…memories of adventures…memories of friends long past…places…bodies…minds…personalities…futures…

Wandering, walking…floating down the corridors…stark white growing blinding…doors closed…containing…and then he stopped as though he had run into an invisible wall…

“You’ve found it. Concentrate on it, allow it to condense…solidify…see it in all…”

Shimmering, glowing, the air began to condense, it became blue, and then green and then slowly black. It looked like muddied steel, strong and thick. To the wall, to the ceiling, it cut him off from the rest of the corridor. It was a swatch of black in the stark white…

“…all its glory. Now concentrate on it, concentrate on knocking it down.”

The Doctor gasped and his voice was forced from his throat like a breath of wind raspy and tight.

Pressing his hands against it, feeling it cold and hard, like ice beneath his palms. Leaning into it, putting his weight against the construct, feeling no give. It was old, almost as old as he was. Thick and high and cold, so very cold.

“Create a crack in it, make it weak. Show it your emotions…confront it with their existence; destroy it with the logic of their existence…”

The Doctor inhaled and arched his back in almost pain.

“Concentrate on your emotions, the positive emotions, happiness. Find one person, find one instance and concentrate on what you feel…”

Emotion. He could only feel muddied, indignant anger at situations, at the enormity and injustices of an impersonal universe. Hands pressed hard against the wall. Drawing back, contemplating the wall…he had to break it down, for Tegan. He was her hope. It was his fault…the Joiba, their travels, their situations had put her in that trouble.

Emotion. Feeling as though someone was digging about in his psyche with a spoon, feeling hollowed out. Emotion wasn’t logical, it wasn’t scientific…logic was his basis…it had to be…he couldn’t be a Time Lord, or travel without it. Impersonal, he had to be impersonal, emotions were the ultimate in intervention…

Emotion. But he was an individual, his emotions were what set him apart from others. Logic unified, emotions diversified. Positive…he could travel…he wasn’t interfering because he felt something on an individual level…he couldn’t…logically he had to…no…no logic…he couldn’t.

The wall was hard.

Positive…the Universe was too big. One person, one instance…he could feel in conjunction with one person, one instance….it wasn’t interference…it wouldn’t nullify him…one person, one instance.

Tegan.

A smile, a simple smile…the look on her face in the dim of night in the dark dankness of a jungle…plants and rain…he had wanted to say to her why he wanted her to stay…he had wanted to see that smile again…wanted to feel her touch, and enjoy the way her mouth opened, the way her eyes sparkled… He had felt happy, the electric touch of her skin against his…he felt passion…seeing her on the step above him clad in his colors…pride…ache…want…need…

…what is this emotion?

The wall, the corner started to crack. He embraced all the feeling, the emotion, the pride, the ache, the need, the want, the emotions…the love…he embraced it, owned it, pulled it into himself, he saw himself laughing, and then felt the prickling at the back of his throat, the pressure to cry…he embraced it all, accepting it into his person.

The crack widened. Moaning, he reached out to pull on the wall, putting his hands into the crack, he yanked on it. It came off, crumbling in his hands…he had to knock it down…it was his fault…he had to set Tegan right. His fault…a Time Lord’s fault…he wanted her whole, he wanted her whole and with him…

The wall crumbled as he released a growl and yell of sheer anger at its existence…he wanted the positive emotions and it was separating him from them…

…and it lay, ravaged, at his feet.

**

He felt a pair of hands at his shoulders. They were dry where he was wet. Blinking, he opened his eyes to see Devon above him.

The skies hadn’t changed, only lightened with the approaching day. But he felt weighted, pained, yet strangely lightheaded at the same time. “Ah, Devon…good morning…” He tried to rub his eyes, but found that his fingers were wet with his tears. “Good heavens…” he muttered.

Devon squatted by his friend. “You were rather…”

The Doctor cleared his throat and squinted. “Yes, well…apparently I was…I feel…”

“Different?”

“Ah…yes. That’s a good word for descriptive purposes. Different.” The Doctor slid forward in the water and rose out of the pool to gather his trousers lying in a puddle of cloth nearby. He kept his eyes averted until he was dressed. “Where is Tegan?” He had immediately noticed her absence.

Devon rose and contemplated him with a small smile. The Doctor frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Ah, Theta…this regeneration is like the you I knew…”

“Yes, well…that has very little to do with the situation at hand,” he responded as he leaned forward to glare at his friend. “And it certainly does not answer the question asked: Where is Tegan?”

“She is being prepared for the next step of this process; she is safe.”

The Doctor tried to relax his arms to get them to drop to his side. “What the blast do you mean I remind you of my first regeneration…”

Devon began to laugh. “Listen to yourself, Thete. Tegan is fine. There is no reason to glare at me.”

With a quirk of his lips, the Doctor shifted his weight and sighed to release the sudden tension in his shoulders.

“It’s like this, you know,” Devon explained as he joined his friend. “You shall feel a rather limited influx of emotion, like a very unsteady oscillation, for a short period of time. Very soon, it will iron out, Theta.”

The Doctor grunted and then cracked a smile. “Wonderful. Excellent!” He rubbed his hands together and then gave his friend a small laugh. “Very well, then. What is the next stage of this process? I do believe time is still of essence.”

**

At the very beginning of our passage into time and space, we, as a society, realized that there were several life forms which inhabited the myriad of worlds. As we were often able to see all outcomes and all timelines at all nexuses, we Gallifreyans were able to see the futures of all possibilities in a planet’s timeline. As Gallifreyans were able to therefore engineer a planet’s outcome so that it was most beneficial for both the planet and for the galaxy and for Gallifrey, they did so. Futures were thereby removed from the realm of probability and were cemented into the being.

Bipedal form was the most suitable form determined able to carry intelligent cerebral ability. It was also the only form with whom Gallifreyans could interact without causing pain or fear. Therefore, and in an effort to have order and to engineer outcomes of an unbiased positive outcome, Rassilon decreed that the galaxy should be seeded with genetics that would finalize them into the bipedal form. The decree became known as the Fifth Law of Rassilonian Genetic Engineering.

Excerpt from A History: Gallifrey.




The door gave way and banged open under the force of her hand. Peri stormed into the main room of Thalia’s suite and threw the heavy book of Gallifreyan history to the couch. Thalia barely glanced up from her reading. Peri hadn’t been happy about the meeting earlier that day and the sight of the reclining Time Lady only made her angrier. She could tell she was being used as a pawn, but scowling and moving about, trying to argue had only resulted in her being forcibly held to her chair. They were going to use her against the Doctor, she knew it.

“Theta always said humans were a rather passionate race,” she commented. “And that anger is an easy emotion not to control.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful, isn’t it?” Peri commented as her voice shook. She pointed to the book. “I’d rather have my emotions, thanks, than submit myself to the ethics I just read.”

“Ah, I see you’ve reached the portion dealing with genetic engineering,” Thalia said as she turned another page. When Peri didn’t answer right away, she glanced up at her. Peri could swear she saw icicles in the blue of the Time Lady’s eyes. “You have a problem with what you have read, child?”

“You could say that, yeah,” Peri muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m pretty sure what I’ve read is a tissue of lies. After all, I know from Howard that history is simply the story of the winner. History is biased. Though why on Earth…” she talked louder at the small smile of amusement on Thalia’s lips. “Why anywhere someone would want to admit that they have engineered outcomes like that…”

“Gallifreyan history isn’t biased,” Thalia said carefully. “We are incapable of stating anything but scientific proven fact. And the actions of our past have allowed the Universe to continue as it has for untold millennia without collapsing…”

“I read about your bloody past. And it was bloody. Hell, before you traveled in time and space, you weeded out and fought and killed, if you were able, just about anyone who didn’t agree with you bunch.” Peri frowned. “And the fact might not be biased, but hell if the position from which you view those facts, isn’t…”

“Don’t argue trifles with me, child,” Thalia sighed. “Yes, of course, we have our troubled past. So does every other culture in the Universe, child.”

“Yeah, but every other culture seems to have been planned and ordained by you! Why would it surprise anyone that we’re following in your footsteps? We don’t have a choice in the matter, do we?”

“Do you dislike your bipedal form?”

“What’s that got to do with it?” Peri nearly cried. “It wasn’t like we had a choice.” She was horrified to feel tears on her cheeks.

Thalia shook her head and returned her eyes to the book in her lap. “When a race like ours is confronted with being the custodians of the Universe and all time and all space within that confine, it’s hard. We had to engineer ways and means to insure that the outcome was manageable, Peri. The Universe would have destroyed itself before the Earth completely formed otherwise.”

“On a high and mighty platform, aren’t you?” Peri wiped at her eyes fiercely. She tried to keep her voice steady.

“And we don’t know the outcome of most of the Universe,” Thalia added. “We have drawn bounds to make sure that the future, when these cultures are able to join with and interact with Gallifrey on an individual level, isn’t controlled. That would change our own future and one future must remain intact to ensure that there is a standard in the Universe.”

“And you’ve removed all possibility of that future going wrong.”

“No, we’ve reduced the chance of failure by an exponent of 6.”

“And someone died and left you God, I suppose,” Peri spat.

Thalia sighed and lifted her eyes from her book. “It is your mythology, child, which has created God in your image. Don’t you think that’s telling? If a society can create a creator fashioned in their image in order to show that it is, indeed, the correct, preordained form and the pinnacle of life in a world, don’t you think you would have done the same in our place? In essence, by your very beliefs you have shown that you would.”

“But we’re engineered that way,” Peri cried. “We’re engineered to follow in your footsteps.”

“And you would call this situation a Catch 22, I believe,” Thalia commented conversationally. “Yes, it is circular logic, child, but only when you consider time and space to be linear. Continue reading, you will see…”

“But I don’t want to continue reading,” Peri said hotly. “I’m glad I’ve done something illegal by this system. I’m glad I disagree with it. I’m glad I travel with the Doctor. If we followed your rules, that would make us the same as you. I hope you find me guilty, at least I’ll be happy knowing that by my standards, I’m right.”

Thalia nodded. “I thought you would say that, child. And it is your right to feel in any manner that you choose. But if you continue reading, you will understand about the Doctor. The truth might surprise you.”

Peri shook her head and twisted, sweeping out the door.

**

Sometime in the night Peri returned to the room and picked up the book. Cursing, she went back to her room wiping tears from her eyes as she went. Maybe she could understand the Doctor better and feel better about herself in the interim.

**

The Doctor felt a lump form in his throat as he entered the smoky, dingy dome and saw Tegan lying practically motionless. There was very little movement to her, only the very slight rise and fall of her chest let him know that she still lived. He raised his eyes slowly to see the Tsektsek standing near Tegan. The man was mixing a collection of plants in a bowl.

“I gather,” he quietly began, his voice hoarse in the closed confines of the dome. The smoke had little to do with the catch in his throat. “I gather that you aren’t serving dinner,” he joked as a wide smile materialized on his lips.

The Tsektsek glanced up at the Doctor and grunted. “You know very well that I am not.”

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow and sighed. “For a man who was adamant that I get in touch with my emotions, you don’t have a very profound sense of humor.” He tried to slide his hands into his non-existent pockets and the smile faltered.

As the Tsektsek continued to mix his plants, the Doctor sat next to Tegan. With a somewhat shaky hand he brushed her curls from her brow. There was no movement from her, not even the batting of an eyelash. “I’d welcome an argument, Tegan,” he whispered.

“We shall have to begin, Time Lord,” the Tsektsek intoned. The Doctor nodded slowly and adjusted his weight. The spirit man finished pressing the herbs and gathered his bowls. “The herbs I have mixed are used to help liberate the mind, to allow both a journey within and without…”

“Hmm…of the phylum Redorium, then…”

“The exact,” the spirit man admitted. “You are familiar?”

“Quite,” the Doctor stated with a wide smile. Then with a chuckle, he continued. “I’ve never quite had the pleasure. In the cities, it is an illegal substance.”

“It would be considered illegal by them,” the Tsektsek mentioned. “But what we will attempt would be impossible without it.”

“And it will have strange effects on my physiology…”

The Tsektsek settled cross-legged in front of the Doctor and held out the bowl. He had added water to the mixture and the Doctor raised his eyebrows as he took the bowl in his palms. “There is no other way, Doctor. It will allow you to soul walk; to see what is hidden; to find your friend.”

The Doctor sniffed the water and lifted his gaze to the Tseksek. “And my so needed emotions?” His voice shook. He couldn’t tell the exact reason why his voice betrayed him and he found he didn’t quite like the weakness he heard in his voice. The anger at his own reaction surfaced for only a moment and then was submerged into a pit of mild depression. He shouldn’t be thinking about the pressure to reveal his emotions; he should be thinking about Tegan.

“You will be the beacon for her.”

“How will she know it’s me?” the Doctor asked tightly.

The Tsektsek sighed and nodded to the Doctor. He became aware of his body language and looked down at his hand. Tegan’s small pale hand was enclosed in his larger, darker one. “She will know, Doctor, if she knows you. And if she has any tie to you, any friendship, you will find that she will flow to you like water down a concentration gradient.”

The Doctor’s eyebrow quirked and he swallowed. “We have a…tie. One that I believe both she and I rather like.”

“Then she will know, Time Lord…” the Tsektsek returned as he pulled himself up to his full seated height.

**

Surreal.

As the herbs began to work on his system, the Doctor felt lightheaded. He closed his eyes. “Rather like the feeling when there’s little oxygen…” he muttered, although he wasn’t certain his voice was audible to those around him. He wasn’t sure there WAS anyone around him. He felt out of himself and yet sure of his placement in the Universe.

Darkness and yet strangely light, the landscape swirled and then…

He could see himself below, lying next to the fire, his face turned toward the warmth. Tegan lay to his right, her hand still enclosed in his grip. Her black curls melded with his blond hair as he turned his face toward her. A warm feeling bloomed in his gut as he watched his actions, the squeeze of his hand, the interlacing of their fingers, the way he nudged her brow.

Then came the realization that he was viewing himself from without.

He lifted his gaze from the floor and past the Tsektsek who sat nearby, muttering under his breath. There was an urge to leave the dome and he did so, seemingly floating out the door and into the wilderness beyond. As he passed the spirit man seated on the ground, the man looked up and directly into him.

The Doctor continued out the door and beyond into the cold landscape. There was no wind on his face; he could feel none of the subtle unsteady nuances under his feet. He walked, he felt, for hours. Until he approached a high hill. Following his instinct, he climbed the hill. And stood, staring out at the heavens.

There was no sound to alert him. He simply followed the feeling to glance to his side. A distance down the hill crest he saw a familiar silhouette. In contrast to what he felt, he could see the wind blowing her hair. The long wavy onyx waves flowed and seemed to caress her back. He had never seen it loose; she always wore it tightly braided. He found, in the blink of an eye, that she was facing him.

He flowed toward her, but she covered the distance quicker, seemingly moving in a split second to approach him. The suddenness of her appearance drove a breathy response from his lips and he ejected a “Tegan.”

Her lips split in a wide smile. “Doc?” she breathed.

He didn’t have to wait long and he was thoroughly surprised when he thought he could actually feel her physical body as she stepped into an embrace he didn’t know he had offered. Still, the physical touch of her body and the feeling of her lips quivering against his skin made him smile.

He waited a moment and lifted her head from his chest. The feeling of her hair between his fingers and the weight of her skull cradled in his hands was as he remembered. As he had with his travel, he followed his instincts. He held her head and felt for her lips with his. The feeling electrified his nerves and made his arms tighten. It was more than the physical, he could feel his need and want to simply crush her to him thrumming through his veins.

Soon, her hands had slipped about his neck. And he allowed her to draw a breath.

She smiled a sigh as he rubbed his thumbs into her cheeks and down to her chin. “I have missed you,” he confided.

“I had hoped you would come,” she said. He noticed tears in the corners of her eyes and he gave her a sad smile.

“Did you think I would leave you?”

“I didn’t think you could find me. Rabbits, Doc; where am I? I’ve been here…forever…” she blinked up at him and brushed her hair back. “I’ve been sitting here, on this hill, just looking out there…”

The Doctor turned his head to look out at the landscape. There was nothing beyond the hill. It was simple, empty, endless blackness. Tegan sighed again. “It seemed I had spent enough time here. I’ve been looking at nothing for as long as I could remember, Doc. It was time to move on…”

“On? On where?” he asked tightly.

“Out there,” Tegan muttered. His arms crushed her to his chest. “Somewhere, something is better than sitting here forever. I figure I had to do something, go somewhere.”

The Doctor grimaced. “Do you feel you still have to go?”

“I’d much rather…” Tegan began and looked up at him. “Cripes, I don’t think I have a choice, do I? I’m dead, aren’t I?”

“No,” he replied tightly, a lump forming in his throat. “You aren’t dead. You’re…separated from us, from your body. You…ah…need to make a choice whether or not to come back to yourself.”

With a sigh, she shook her head. “I don’t want to die. I’m not ready to do that, but I thought I was left to this…”

“You’re not,” he commented strongly.

Tegan nodded tiredly. “I thought I was all alone for the rest of time until I saw you and that light…”

“What light?” he asked as he gave her a short easy kiss at her brow.

“All around you,” she replied. “Like your aura in the rainforest and in South America…all golden and red. I could see you coming over the hill, but I didn’t know it was you. Before I saw that, I was further down, a little closer to the valley…trying to figure out how to cross…”

“And?”

“I walked towards it. I had a feeling something was different.”

The Doctor smiled into her hair and nodded. “You found me.”

“Cripes, Doc…you were like a search light in the dark. How couldn’t I find you?” she laughed. He warmed to the sound.

“So if I’m not dead…” Tegan whispered. “What the hell am I to do to get re-attached?”

“Yes well…I’m not that much of a miracle worker, Tegan. I’m afraid that my expertise only extends to serving as a beacon for lost ships. We shall have to find a friend of mine who can help you. Can you walk?”

“It’s all I have been doing here, Doc. A little bit more won’t kill me…”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he murmured. He released her and traded the embrace for her hand. Then, carefully, but with infinite deliberation, he led her back away from the hill and towards the dome in the far distance.

**


The understanding of history is that it occurs in cycles. Therefore if one wants to influence the occurrence of history, and plant the seed to change the cycle, one must put forth information to change the course of the cyclic flow. Therefore, it was determined early on to control the flow of information to society in an effort to do just that. Any theories which existed about the theoretical ties of Gallifreyans to pre-Expansion societies was removed from history books, ethics were presented with a different facts, religion and spiritualist thought was squelched. This was deemed necessary by Rassilon in order to construct a sound and strong society.

The information was kept in the proper hands of those able to handle those facts until the beginning of the Third Age. It was determined that there was a weakness in the genes used in the Lungbarrow House of the Pyrodonian Academy which resulted in students not reacting in a manner proper for Time Lords. Upon the issuance of the age old information, the students reacted by investigating different avenues and using their ability to access the restricted information. This was not what was expected. The information enraged the students and caused them to disseminate the hidden facts to those unable to handle the change in history. They gave the information to those without emotional detachment. Those non-Time Lord factions began an attempt to have a coup.

It was put down by the Pantoptican police with great loss of life.

Those genes were removed from use in the looming in Lungbarrow house.

Excerpt from Gallifrey: A History.

**

Peri bit her lip and put down the book with a sigh. It was midnight or at least the Gallifreyan rendition of it. She had been reading for hours, but this final part of the book made her, finally, put down the volume.

Great loss of life…

The release of information…

Lungbarrow…

Prydonian…

It had to be the Doctor.

He had helped to release the information to those who truly needed to hear it and had helped to cause a revolution.

And then he had become President of the very society that he had tried to help change?

Peri closed her eyes in confusion.

**

The Doctor blinked his eyes open. He felt heavy as if he had fallen to the ground under gravity far beyond his ability to handle. He couldn’t move his arms and couldn’t feel his hands. But then there was a tickling at his cheek.

Dark hair moved against his cheek like curls of night. Then it struck him that the hair was moving because the person who owned it was moving.

Tegan was awake.

The Tsektsek stood over the two of them with a smile on his face.

“It is done, Time Lord. Your friend has been returned to you.” With those words and a slight nod, the spirit man walked from the dome and left them in peace and solitude.

“Please tell me,” came Tegan’s raspy, almost painfully tight voice. “That everything was just a bad dream.”

The Doctor tightened his arm around his friend and began to laugh almost helplessly. He had never felt such a need to release emotion before in his life. Thankful, he allowed the laughing until it hurt.

**

Peri frowned as she contemplated the gathering of the soldiers outside her door. They were beginning to watch her closely. She had noticed that that morning. Thalia seemed to change her view of her as well.

She was becoming a threat to her. Call it woman’s intuition, Peri thought, but she could sense that Thalia perceived her differently. She was becoming less of a child and more of a possible spanner in the works. The thought made her smile.

But then there was the flip side of the coin. If they were watching her closely, it meant that they expected the Doctor back soon. She didn’t know Gallifrey; she didn’t know how long it took to travel to the Wilds or to come back. They did know those things. So that meant that the Doctor was done with helping Tegan.

That meant it had worked, or it hadn’t.

With a sigh, Peri turned and sat in the chair and waved to the Capitan of the Guard with a large smile on her face. They were getting prepared and so would she.

**

“I’m starved.”

The simple words made the Doctor smile widely. He passed Tegan the meat and watched as she pulled several pieces onto her plate. She took a bite and continued her conversation. “Are we really on Gallifrey?”

“Ah, yes…” the Doctor responded as he leaned back on his arms and watched his companion eat. “Yes. You became unresponsive approximately two weeks ago. This was our last chance and indeed, our last choice to get you help.” He looked and widened his smile as he saw Devon observing them. “Of course, we had come here for help in the medical centers of Gallifrey. I hadn’t considered the Wilds…” he sighed as he glanced back at Tegan. “But I am glad I did.”

“Where’s Peri?”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “Well, on Gallifrey, it’s considered treason to wander into the Wilds. She stayed behind as a…well…” he intoned and waved his hand. “A bargaining chip for my return.”

Tegan winced. “Cripes, Doc…”

“There was no choice in the manner,” he defended. “When we arrived here, you were near…”

“I wasn’t going to come back,” Tegan said. “Rabbits, I didn’t realize that it was that close…”

“Yes, well…we’ll go back for her, Tegan. She’s in no physical danger and they won’t prosecute her or question her until I’m back within the confines of the Capital City.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but yawned instead. The Doctor reached out with one hand to rub at her shoulder and then to brush back her hair. “We won’t be heading back for a day, Tegan. You’ll need strength…”

“Hell’s teeth, Doc…Peri…”

“We’ll have to work around guards. I can guarantee there will be a great deal of running and a great deal of rushing about, Tegan. If you aren’t rested, you’ll be a liability,” he commented. “And you did just come back to your body…”

“And that spirit person said I’ll need a day or so to completely rest within myself, I remember,” Tegan grumbled. “I feel like I’ve been asleep for a month and yet I’m tired as hell.”

“Then let’s find you a place to sleep,” the Doctor responded. He adjusted his weight on his elbow and gave her a wide smile. “They have very interesting ideas of beds out here. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s rather like a nest for two.”

Tegan frowned. “You’re going to share with me? Doc, I don’t quite feel up to that…”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” the Doctor said gallantly.

With a tired yawn, she nodded slowly. He could tell she was too tired to think. He simply wanted to find her a place to rest and have her in one piece before he moved her. In the past, he had always felt protective in as much as the logic of who better to protect than a Time Lord. But this time, he wanted what was best for her simply because he cared. It was a new take on the situation.

He smiled for her and rose, rubbing her shoulder as he did so.

**

“You’re Tegan.”

She was weak and walked with the man she had been introduced to by the name of Devon. He had offered his arm and as the Doctor had trusted him to take her where the Doctor was, she trusted him too. She was too tired to argue much. “Yes, I’m Tegan and a friend of the Doctor. I know you’re Devon, but what are you?”

“Thete had said you were rather straightforward in manner.”

“He was being kind,” Tegan admitted with a weary, sad smile. “I’m a mouth on legs.”

Devon smiled and patted her hand as they walked. They passed a series of dome shaped houses. There was smoke coming out of the tops of them and it appeared that although it had been dark for hours, most of the inhabitants were just beginning to bed down. “This is…very different from the Gallifrey I know. The Doc has never really showed me this part. I mean I saw the Zone…”

“Ah, yes, I had heard that,” Devon responded. “The Doctor, or Theta as I know him, used to come out here to visit occasionally.”

“Well, you’re certainly not like the Time Lords I’ve met.”

“Ah, my dear, that’s simply because I’m not a Time Lord.”

“But you’re Gallifreyan,” Tegan argued.

“Why the Doctor travels with Terrans as often as he has, but hasn’t shared any of our history is beyond me, I’m afraid. Yes, Tegan, I’m a Gallifreyan. I attended Academy with the Doctor. To be a Time Lord, you must have the gift of Rassilon bestowed on you at graduation from the Academy. I’m afraid I never attained that level of education as the Doctor has.”

“An old school chum, then?”

“Exactly, Tegan,” he stated. “A little before graduation, I left the cities for the Wilds. The Doctor graduated from the Academy and left soon after.”

Tegan nodded wearily.

Devon nodded to the dome where he was leading her. “Theta is rather emotional at the moment, my dear. He has had his emotional detachment removed. I say this to prepare you. He might have small emotional swings, but nothing to alarm you.”

Tegan gaped at him, but the Gallifreyan patted her hand again and waved his hand towards the dome. “Let him tell you about the situation, Tegan. We shall see you in the morning. It’s rather a long night here on the Gallifrey. He has called a village meeting for tomorrow morning with the elders. I shall see you there.”

**
The Doctor greeted her at the door and slipped his arm around her waist to escort her inside. There was an exchange between Devon and the Doctor, but Tegan barely paid it any attention. She ached, especially in her chest over her breast bone. She rubbed at the area as the Doctor led her to a little nest of furs.

“Tegan?”

The Doctor’s voice was gentle with a catch in it. “It’s my chest, Doc, it aches. Are you sure that your people didn’t attempt something like open heart surgery or anything?”

He chuckled. “No, I assure you they didn’t.” He gently touched the center of her chest. “The Tsektsek reattached your soul at your Chakra, one of which is your chest, your breastbone. The pain isn’t too bad, is it?”

“Just like having a chest cold, Doc,” Tegan groused. “Rabbits, I wish it had been…”

“Ah well,” he began as he rose to turn down the lights. “I wish it had been just a cold.”

She watched him as he moved about the dome. He looked at home in the felt like trousers and cool cotton shirt. She got a glimpse of the subtle shadows in the white of the cotton before he doused the light.

“Devon says that you’ve had your emotional detachment removed.”

“Ah…”

Tegan rubbed at her chest and watched as he turned in front of the one remaining light. It lit him from behind and made a silhouette of soft gold around his body. “What did he mean, Doc? Emotional detachment, you said, was there because you were a Time Lord. Because you couldn’t travel in time without it, right? I’m sure I didn’t make up most of that…”

“He means that I’ve, ah, had my emotional detachment removed-“

“Like flipping on and off a light switch; just like that, Doc?”

“No, Tegan. It wasn’t like just flipping on and off a switch. Emotional detachment is a part of the education of a Time Lord, akin to, for lack of a kinder and gentler term, brain washing. Emotional detachment is an erection of a block in the mind of the Time Lord to help hide and submerge emotions. I went through the training and erected my barrier with a few of my emotions intact.”

Tegan opened her mouth, but the Doctor approached and sank down on the other side of the nest. In the blink of her eye, he laid his finger on her lips to quiet her. “It is necessary for time travel. Trust me, I’ve know that it is. And its removal was necessary to get you back, Tegan. That light you saw in the landscape was me. It was created by my emotions.”

“But does that make you not a Time Lord any more?” she asked.

He smiled. She could see that much in the dim light from the moon. It struck her suddenly that she knew nothing about the environment of Gallifrey. Did it even have a moon? “No, I’m still a Time Lord. Time Lord is a level of educational attainment and the bestowing of Rassilon’s gift. I’m a Time Lord because I regenerate.”

“And Devon?”

“Devon is a Gallifreyan and a very old friend of mine,” the Doctor clarified. “He decided on a very different path in life and I respect his decision. We attended Academy together.”

Tegan blinked. “Cripes, I think I’m a little slow on the uptake right now. Doc…this means you’re going to have problems traveling. Can you travel at all?”

“Once back in the TARDIS I can undergo the proper ‘programming’ and reassert my
emotional control. I assure you: I’ll be quite as I was.”

“You’re very calm about it,” she whispered. “You always told me it was what…”

“Kept me apart and able to function, yes, Tegan. I would appreciate it if we wouldn’t dwell on this…”

She shook her head. “Angry?”

“What the blast do you think I’d be feeling?”

Tegan reached out to touch at his shoulder. “Easy, Doc…”

He picked up her hand and pressed her palm against his cheek. “I’m sorry, Tegan. I’m not used to these fluctuations. I can see where it would affect my upper thought processes.”

“Rabbits, now you know how I feel a lot of the time,” she commented, tiredly.

He nodded. “I think I understand your reasons for the way you act, now, Tegan. I think I understand your emotions too.”

The words were said quietly with a sense of privacy about the conversation. There was a tender undertone to his words, a breathy quality to his voice which made her toes curl, even as tired as she was. In the dark, she could see his eyes twinkling. And the touch of his hand on her neck was a welcome and warmer than the surrounding air. Passion, she thought in the cloudy haze that sleep and familiarity spun; that’s what I hear in his voice.

She didn’t expect, but she welcomed the touch of his lips against hers. There was the easy pressure he had always used, but now there was the thumb under her chin and the nudging of her nose with his. There was gentle pressure to open her lips and the gentle offering of his tongue.

It was several minutes before he drew away slowly and his thumb rubbed gently at the skin under her lip.

“Open your eyes, Tegan,” he said hoarsely.

She hadn’t realized that she had closed her eyes. As she blinked them open, she saw his eyes kindly gazing into hers. A small smile tilted his lips. Just the look on his face let her know there was a discussion brewing between them. Tired as she was, she still attempted to start the conversation. “Doc…”

“You’re tired, Tegan, and deservedly so,” he replied as his hand slipped under her hair.

“Doc…”

“Ah, well, there’s always tomorrow,” he said tenderly. “We will talk tomorrow, after you’ve slept.”

Tegan sighed agitatedly. “I wish you weren’t always right. I am tired, but…”

“I’ll be here in the morning, Tegan,” the Doctor reassured. “And I’m going to be right here all night. Sleep. Let your soul completely heal. Brave heart, don’t worry.”

Tegan frowned and gave into his lead weakly. She was too physically tired to do much and she still ached. But her mouth still worked and she used it. As he laid her down and covered her with the skins, she commented. “Rabbits, Doc…” She could hear the usual uptight tone in her voice, but she was too tired to fight.

She fell asleep under the warm furs with the Doctor sitting along side her, strong in his silence.

**

Peri lifted her chin tiredly as Thalia entered the common room in the suite.

The Time Lady stopped short and contemplated the woman who sat at the table. Peri knew that Thalia considered her a child, much like the Doctor did. Although from the Doctor it was sort of an acceptance of their age difference and not anything derogatory. Though the look from the Lady President was not one of acceptance; it was more of a look that a parent would give a child who was misbehaving. She didn’t like it.

The apple and biscuit of some sort lay untouched in front of her as the Time Lady sat across from her.

“Is the food not to your liking?” Thalia asked conversationally as she picked up the napkin to lay it across her lap. “I was told that your food was a Terran delicacy.”

“The food is just fine, thanks,” Peri said as she pushed plate away. “I just don’t have an appetite.”

“Hmm,” Thalia hummed. And then she began to eat. After a moment, the Lady looked at Peri and shook her head. “You read more last night, child. The book was gone this morning.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“And?”

“That’s why I’m not eating.”

Thalia took another bite. “What facts do you need clarification about, dear?”

“The Doctor left Gallifrey?”

“A very long time ago, Peri. Reasons for why he did are his alone.”

“But he’s still a Time Lord?”

“Of course, he is, child,” Thalia smiled.

“And he’s your President?”

“Yes,” Thalia drew out the word with a hint of interest. Peri noted that it was the first interest she had shown in the conversation yet. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, if he left this planet and it had anything to do with figuring out all that stuff and then he came back and became President?”

Thalia set down her fork and leveled a stare at Peri. “And this bothers your appetite?”

“Of course it does,” Peri nearly cried. “That’s like finding out that Superman is a wanted criminal. How could he come back here?”

“Peri, he was gone for hundreds of years…”

Peri rose and looked around at the glitter and pomp and circumstance around her. She looked down the shiny table where crystal and metal melded in an almost sensual art form. She looked at the pretty, brilliant fruit with the aromatic meat.

“Beauty is only skin deep,” she whispered. “I don’t understand why he came back at all…” Peri said louder as she walked towards the door. “I’ll be in the room. Please have my meals sent there. I would prefer to eat alone.”

**

And the Doctor, quietly sitting in the night, his arms around his knees, staring out at the wilderness through the window, wondered the same thing. He wondered why he had never tested the boundaries of his emotional detachment before; part of him regretted having to possibly reinstate it in his psyche. It was probably the last part of his training that he still accepted and embraced because it suited his purpose. It made it easy for him to move through his life, to cut ties without being crippled by pain. He could say goodbye to places, people, situations and work his way through Time and Space while telling himself all the while that he was not truly interfering because he wasn’t personally involved.

Could he honestly say that?

He glanced at Tegan who slept peacefully by his leg. He knew what he felt now, had felt it, when he had been told that she may or may not recover. Could he say that simply because he repressed the emotion, had hidden it behind his erected barrier, that they didn’t exist? If what he felt for Tegan, for any of his companions, was only an inkling of what lurked beyond his own barrier, then how could he say he wasn’t involved? Could he deny their existence? Was he a contradiction walking?

He leaned his head back against the side of the dome. Could he bury not only the feelings he had for Peri and Tegan now, back behind a barrier, but behave as he had before? He could almost taste the protection and the anger at Peri’s treatment and could physically feel the powerful emotion of having Tegan back with him. And he could understand a great many things about what Tegan had said to him about her own emotions.

He looked at his hands and let the cool air of a Gallifreyan night flow over his face.

**

“Are you sure this will work?” Tegan asked.

The Doctor reacted to her tone and lifted an eyebrow. His gait was steady and slow which allowed her to keep up with him. “You are feeling rather like your old self, aren’t you?”

Tegan gave him a scowl. “I’ve got a headache,” she said simply. “But are you sure this will work?”

With a hum, he slipped his arm around her waist to help her walk faster. She followed his lead, quickening her pace as much as she was able. He nodded. “You didn’t sleep nearly enough in my opinion. And yes, I’m sure that this will work, Tegan. It has to. As I see the situation, this is the only way that I can get Peri out of the Capital City without getting caught. It is a way they will not be expecting.”

“And if you do it, Doc, you’ll be a hunted criminal, won’t you?” She asked. His hand tightened on her waist.

“Yes, but I have dealt with that situation previously. I assure you I can live with being a criminal.”

“They’ve hunted you before?” She asked, surprised.

The Doctor leaned back as he crested the hill and went down the other side. Tegan felt him gently ease up some of the speed. Tegan was glad it was a cold planet. She was sure that if it had been warm, she would be exhausted by now. “Yes,” he said simply. “Yes, they have.”

“Care to share?” she pressed.

He opened his mouth and gave her a glance. “Yes, well, Tegan, they don’t allow Time Lords to leave Gallifrey unless there is a mission or a reason. I have neither by their standards.”

“Rabbits, but you’re their President…”

“Again, very true,” the Doctor stated as he gave a chuckle, “I am their President. And I am a wanted criminal in most cases. They overlook that situation when it is to their advantage.”

“Cripes…” she sighed with agitation. “You’re avoiding the conversation. You’re not answering the question.”

“Maybe you aren’t asking the right question,” he stated. She went to argue with him and he embraced her waist to bring her body in flush with his.

“Damn Time Lord,” she hissed. “I’m not sure I like you with this sort of reactions.”

“That wasn’t what you said this morning,” he teased. He sighed as they reached the bottom of the hill and sobered. “Once, a long time ago, I left Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS. You know that much already. It was right after my graduation from the Academy. I couldn’t stand the lifestyle here. Devon and I are wanted criminals in different ways. Dissenters are not…well thought of.”

“Why does that not surprise me,” Tegan said, lightening up a bit. “But there’s more to that story.”

“Quite a lot more, Tegan,” he said seriously. “Going forward with the story, I ran with Susan and then with various others until I was captured by the Time Lords while dealing with the War Lord. My companions were taken from me; I was exiled to Earth. The accounts were set to zero; I was to help the CIA out whenever it needed me and eventually, I was given my freedom once more.”

Tegan nodded. “Doc,” she said gently. “I do know that much. It’s what happened before you left Gallifrey…and if you don’t like them so much that you left them like that, why do you adhere to some of their…”

“Some of their culture…?” He asked. Then he stopped walking at the top of the next hill. He led her to sit and sat beside her. “Time to rest, Tegan. We have all day to get back.” He sat beside her and crossed his legs. She almost wearily leaned into him. “Tegan, does the length of time you’ve been away from Earth change the fact that you have Scottish ancestry? That you celebrate Christmas? That you talk with an Australian accent?”

She took his point immediately. “Hell’s teeth, Doc, but I like my Scottish heritage and my family. I like Christmas…”

“But if I showed you reasons not to believe in them, to adhere to them…would you give them up easily? What did you adhere to on Sylvania? What kept you yourself despite of the pressures?”

Tegan sighed. “My belief in myself and where I came from,” she agreed.

“I can’t pick and choose my heritage, Tegan. I can try to change situations. Which is easier to do? Force change from the outside, or lead change from the inside?” At her sigh, he smiled. “I knew you were going to ask. And I am a Time Lord. Sometimes I have to look at the heart of the society and believe the best in it in order to believe the best in myself.”

“Rabbits,” Tegan commented.

He nodded. “Yes, well…the Scripts that I found were enough to make me question quite a large bit and dug up some very old graves. External information to an internal problem. I expect they will be prosecuting me for holding onto a confirmed truth,” he commented. “And I really would rather not deal with that situation, Tegan. So yes, I will separate myself from the culture again and adhere to what I believe are the ideals of my society.” He looked at her affectionately. “As I suppose you always will adhere to the utopian image of good human nature.”

Tegan frowned and folded her arms around her legs. “I can understand that, I suppose. If you can’t be true to yourself, who can you be true to?”

“My sentiments exactly.”

She nodded and touched at the strange grey grass.

He shifted a little and looked off to the horizon where the gleaming spires of the Capital City rose. “You can accept that of me?” he asked quietly.

“Of course,” she said without hesitation. “I’ve gotten to know you, Doc. I know that one of the things I can always count on is you to be true to your beliefs. Even as Supremo, you did. Albeit with a little more arrogance than usual…”

He chuckled. “And you even said you loved me in the heat of that…”

“Hell’s teeth, you frustrated me into that admission,” she admitted a little loudly.

With a nod, he remained silent. He opened his mouth and took several deep breaths. “If I were to say I was passionate about you, Tegan, and then reassert my emotional detachment, leaving you standing with the knowledge, but no reciprocation…it would hurt you. I understand that.”

Tegan was taken by surprise. She gasped a breath and glanced at the Doctor. He was watching her closely. She had to remember that although he had his emotions, he was still the computer minded Time Lord she had always known. And the one she loved.

“And if I were to never say it, you would still care about me in a vacuum…I, now,” he punctuated the word with a nod. “Now I know what that could possibly mean to you, how it would make you feel. And all of this makes me regret that I didn’t…interact….more with my companions.”

Tegan struggled. She had wanted to hold her cards to her chest and figure out a nice thin line to walk. Part of her had been angry with herself that she was unable to walk away from him, even though she knew he would never be able to reciprocate. She knew she needed the reciprocation. But recently she had found she wanted the relationship with him, regardless.

He was looking to her for guidance in the situation; he was new to this emotion thing. But he would have to get his emotions detached again. They couldn’t travel without it. And she would be left holding the bag. And quite simply, as tired as she was, she wasn’t sure she could handle that. She felt fragile.

She knew she would fight being fragile.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Cripes, Doc. You care about me. I know you do. Everything that you’ve done, this spirit thing, deconstructing your own psyche…”

“Yes, well…” he cleared his throat. “I suppose…I…do, in fact…that is I rather…I suppose that behind the barrier…that maybe…rather…I suppose actions speak louder than words, but words are necessary…I do…”

Tegan reached up and covered his lips with her fingers. She shook her head. It was a spontaneous reaction, but she gave into it and trusted her intuition in the matter. To soften the action, she leaned in and pressed a kiss against his pliable lips. “Don’t…”

“Tegan,” he sighed exasperated.

“Don’t.” She repeated. “That’s an order, Supremo.”

She felt her heart melt at his words and if she wasn’t sitting, she knew she would have to find a place quickly to collapse. He was a dangerous man with emotions, and an even more dangerous one with words. With a sigh, she tried to draw a deep breath. She hadn’t thought that his words could have surprised her, affected her in that manner. She knew he cared and a small part of her was angry that it hadn’t had been enough.

But what could she do…they were going to have to run for their lives in a matter of hours. All of this would have to be thought over later. And she hoped her heart wouldn’t go cold from the future she knew was coming.

She gave him another kiss and rubbed at his cheek. “We should get going,” she said, simply. “Cripes, we’ve got a long way to go.”

He brushed his hand down her cheek. “Ah, yes…we do, don’t we?”


**

Peri had slept lightly the night before, but regardless, after retiring to her room in a huff, she remained alert. She paced the floor, arms crossing and uncrossing over her chest. The Doctor had been gone for almost three days. From what he had said to her before he left, she was under the impression that the people he was looking for were close. At this point, she thought, the situation with Tegan had to be over with one outcome or another. The Doctor would be coming back.

And whether or not the situation with the Doctor turned her stomach was irrelevant. She couldn’t remain on Gallifrey; she knew that the Doctor wouldn’t remain on the planet either. He wouldn’t be prosecuted if he could help it. And no matter what she thought of him, she knew he wouldn’t leave her to languish in a place he wouldn’t remain himself.

She also knew that, somewhere in his personality, Supremo still lurked. He would have a plan.

And, like Tegan had helped to train her to do, she was prepared. She had to be. Either Tegan was alive or dead and either way, the Doctor would be leaving the planet.

Peri wondered if the death of Tegan would affect the Doctor as deeply as it would her.

“Hell,” Peri whispered. She felt tearing in her eyes and wiped at them viciously. She couldn’t cry and fall apart or she would never get out of the situation.

“I know he’s going to do something, but what?” She huffed and paced another round in the room.

**

The Doctor stood motionless within a stone’s throw of the entrance to the Capital City. Tegan was agitated and fidgeted often, crossing and uncrossing her tired arms over her chest. “Where are they?”

With a sigh, the Doctor lifted his eyebrow and rolled his neck. “Brave heart, when has one of my plans fallen through…”

As she opened her mouth to remind him, he continued: “Recently?”

Tegan nodded. “All right, you do have a point…”

He turned, but before he could say anything to Tegan he saw people approaching. He smiled and waved his hand towards the throng. Tegan sighed and uncrossed her arms. “The cavalry has arrived.”

“Yes, well…I admit it does look rather bleak without the shininess of technology, Tegan,” he admitted.

Tegan shook her head. “I know better,” she replied. “I know we can do it without guns and…”

“The shininess of technology…” he continued and gave her a smile. “But you feel safer with a gun.”

“Too right,” she admitted. She joined him and stood very close to him. “I didn’t lose that in my soul holiday. And those people of yours do have firearms. I’ve seen them use them. I just don’t like the fact that the only person who will be in danger is you.”

“Tegan,” he said as the people drew nearer. Tegan could see the people from the village and several others she had never met in the throng. “Yes, well…it isn’t acceptable for you to take on risk in this instance.”

She groused. “Doc…I’m not letting you…”

“It’s not a question of let or not let, Tegan. You’re still recovering. You’re still weak. Besides, as my lieutenant, I need you in a place to help keep the plan organized and moving.”

“Bloody hell,” Tegan muttered. “In other words, you’re relegating me to the sidelines and putting yourself into danger. Again. At the expense…”

The Doctor turned to her and she could see anger in his eyes. “At the expense of knowing that you are safe. Do you hold me responsible for that, Tegan? You do it with me all the time. You try to make me safe. I want you safe.”

“You need me.”

She said it concisely and pointedly. He seemed almost startled by the force in her voice.

“I’m going with you,” Tegan continued and kept his gaze trained with hers. “You never stay out of trouble; I need to go with you.”

“Tegan…”

“Hell’s teeth, Doc...” she said as she heard Devon coming up behind her. “They think like you. Hell, they are like you and Devon; they think just like you. You need the support and a…different…angle that they might not think of…”

“She has a point, Thete,” Devon said quietly.

“Yes,” the Doctor said tiredly as he rubbed his neck. “Thank you, Devon.”

Tegan gave the old friend a smile. “And I do have the military training, Doc. You seem to have forgotten that point.”

“Ah, well…Tegan, so do the Citadel Guard.”

“And how is that different than our life lately?” She pressed. “I haven’t done anything criminal here. We have that in our favor.”

He grunted exaggeratedly. Devon turned to gather the rest of the village elders and the Doctor leaned down to stare into Tegan’s eyes. “All right, Tegan. All right. But if there are any firefights or anything violent, I want you to get to safety. I won’t lose you after just getting you back. Am I understood?”

She reacted to the sadness in his voice…

His voice whispering to her as the sun crested the horizon. His fingers entwined with hers, their palms together as she used the leverage. Slow and gentle, like the rising sun. “I treasure this…” said so quietly that she barely heard it. His eyes dark and blue and infinitely warm in the cold morning. His touch was infinitely gentle, his fingers curling into her hips to lead her in their primitive dance. And the joy on his face made her quake inside…

“Slow, Tegan…” he whispered. “Easy.”


“Cripes, I’m not a child, but the point is understood,” she said quietly and half hated herself for the perceived weakness. But if it allayed his new fear and allowed her to stay with him and get Peri. …

She humorously wondered where her smart, sensible younger self who always looked for safety for everyone had gone. Probably on extended holiday, she thought.

The Doctor looked heavenward and nodded. She could see the easing in his facial expression and the thankful glint in his eyes. After waiting what seemed a lifetime to see emotions in the familiar countenance, she worried about their existence. She worried about him.

“We are ready, Theta,” Devon called from the group of collected elders.

With a large, blinding smile, he twisted to look at his gathered group of villagers and ex-Time Lords. Tegan slowly retraced her steps down the hill, following behind her friend. Her arms were crossed over her chest. The pain was slowly receding from her body; she felt at ease in her mind once more. That situation allowed her to concentrate on the immediate action at hand.

The group was ragtag, she decided. Men stood, empty-handed and unarmed. Women gathered, some wore gowns that appeared threadbare and old. She looked at her own gown, bright orange and scarlet; she knew what the colors indicated. There were few that wore that combination in the group. So that meant that not many had gone to the Doctor’s College. Their number was quite impressive for such short notice. But there were no weapons among them. No knives, no guns, no clubs, no…anything.

With a frown, Tegan crossed her arms over her chest.

The Doctor began to speak. His voice rang clear and loud and she knew it could be heard in every corner of the large crowd. She listened to the plan; her interest rose as she heard an intricate and well-planned strategy. As it had been when the Doctor was Supremo, she saw the powerful charisma and the natural leadership that drew people to him like flies and gave them their trust. She felt complete trust in what he was saying. But with his emotions, he became a leader in all ways. When he wanted to be persuasive, his belief in the righteous path became clear.

Devon seemed to materialize at her side. “He has seen military life, has he not?”

“Quite a lot of it,” Tegan admitted. “Too much, if you ask me.” She glanced around at the crowd. “I know why the Doctor and I are doing this, Devon; we have Peri to get and a TARDIS to find in order to leave….”

“But why are we doing this?”

Tegan shook her head. “I’ve tried to understand. I know the plan he is outlining has little or no combat in it, at least on our side… How we could plan for what the other side will do… But it does put you all in danger. I know the Doc thinks there might be danger…”

“Call it peaceful protest, my dear girl,” Devon smiled. He nodded to the City. “There are reasons this society is polarized which go much deeper and go much longer than any such similar interaction on your Earth. Our numbers out here in the Wilds increased drastically several centuries ago after a similar occurrence here at the Capital City. Peaceful protest is what we do well. In the quiet, the truth can be heard loud and clear. We are looked upon as unenlightened, as dregs of society. But in showing that we can be cohesive,” he counted the points off on his fingers as they continued. “Strong, willing to listen to the truth, and above all, civilized, allows those within the society to possibly question.”

“And that’s what you want?” Tegan asked tightly. “Why not simply broadcast this truth?”

“That was what was done the last time, my dear,” he said quietly as his eyes trained back on the Doctor. She followed his gaze and watched her companion speaking clearly and concisely with an earnest expression on his face. “And it ended with horrendous outcomes which should have never occurred. No, no…we have to try this in a different manner.”

Tegan bit her lip. “Hell’s teeth… no weapons…” she whispered. “There was combat last time, wasn’t there?”

Devon nodded. “I believe your people would call it a bloodbath.”

At that moment, the Doctor finished speaking. In the silence that followed, the different elders and chiefs of the villages nodded in sequence. Apparently, this was a finally vote of some sort and it was unanimous.

Instead of looking encouraged by the outcome, the Doctor looked resigned.

**

The door slid open silently. The Doctor was the first one to cross the threshold, Tegan’s hand held firmly in his own. One by one the people followed them; she knew with their number, they would still be crossing the threshold when she and the Doctor reached this arena.

Although she followed numbly along, her mind was moving rapidly through the information Devon had verbally given her and the Doctor had confirmed by his reactions.

“You don’t anticipate trouble in these outer…sectors…do you?” she asked, her voice more harsh than she wanted.

“Ah, no,” he returned with his voice as quiet and as clipped as her own. “No, there won’t be any cause for general alarm within the City until the crowd gathers in the Center.”

“But it’s treason to go to the Wilds…”

“It isn’t treason to come back in,” he said. She knew there was a small smile on his lips that she couldn’t see. “No, the only thing these people will be in trouble for is their beliefs and their possession of knowledge. They have renounced their citizenship of Rassilon’s Gallifrey; so long as they agree to leave once this is over, they will not be tried by his laws.”

“That makes some sort of weird sense,” Tegan admitted. “Rabbits, Peri isn’t a member of Gallifrey…how…”

“Yes, well…” he whispered. “I had to sign a waiver for you and she when we landed on Gallifrey to get you medical help.”

“Rabbits.”

“Quite,” he agreed. “But with these people, Tegan…Devon, the elders, the rest, it isn’t the law they need to be worried about; it’s the protection of that law.”

“They’ll kill them?”

“Probably not…if this situation is handled correctly, they should be only manhandled a bit,” he said as he drew to a stop. He glanced up and down the corridor and then turned in another direction.

“Devon told me there was killing…”

“The last time the situation wasn’t handled correctly,” the Doctor said, a sudden strong emotion entering his voice. “And a very high price was paid. I won’t have it paid again; enough has been given. It was the elders idea to add their cause to mine. And, well, the lesson has already been learned…”

Tegan felt his fingers tighten on hers, their palms pressed flat against each others. It was like he was gripping her hand as a lifeline. “You saw it last time.”

“I did.”

“People you knew were killed.”

“They were.”

His voice was so tight that she feared it would break. She tried to find words to say. She never had been any good with giving comfort; she opted more to give strength. As she found a lack of comfort in her words, she squeezed his fingers in return. “Horrible.”

“Yes, well…” he continued. “I hope you understand why I wish you out of harm’s way if something does happen, Tegan. It isn’t a frivolous request.”

She glanced up at his profile. In the dim light, he looked worn but resolute. His mouth was a straight tight line and his jaw muscles were strained. Tegan sighed and kept up her pace, increasing it to walk by his side. “I won’t let anything happen to me or you,” she said with conviction. “Not on your lives…”

He chuckled suddenly and glanced down at her. “That’s the Tegan, I know,” he admitted. “Making promises you can’t hope to keep.”

She took strength and tugged on his hand. “Anyway, who says that history has to repeat itself…right now? Come on, Doc…you’ve got a world to take on.”

**

The Center, as the Doctor had called it, was unbelievably huge. Where she had thought that the Temple of Nanna was something to be in awe over; this room was immense, endless and left her in wonder as to how it was built. She trotted alongside the Doctor; his pace had quickened as they entered the room. The others had done the same. It seemed many were jogging to what seemed to her as points on the compass.

Marble floors met metallic walls, fountains joined plants. It seemed tranquil. But the tightness in the Doctor’s grip, the painful way he squeezed her fingers, let her know that he expected it to change. His clipped pace reminded her of a military march.

“When are they going to start to read it?” she pressed.

“As soon as enough people get into the room,” he answered. “Keep up, Tegan.”

Devon joined them as they crossed the floor. Tegan hoisted her gown with her free hand. She could hear the flutter of fabric behind her as they charged across the space. “Where are we going in here?” she hissed.

The Doctor grimaced. “Well, Tegan. Look at the ground. Do you see the object pattern etched into the floor? Yes? Of what does it remind you?”

She shrugged as she looked down. “It’s the same as that clasp on…” she released the skirt to touch at the metal at her waist. “On the dress.”

“Right,” he said. He sighed; apparently he had thought that she would continue to put the facts together. “The clasp is my College emblem.”

Tegan twisted as she continued to charge across the floor. “Hell’s teeth…they’re all going to their…”

“Their college or their family’s associated college, yes, Tegan,” he admitted. He came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a huge etched symbol in the floor. Tegan’s skirt swirled about her legs and created a breeze which kissed her legs. He glanced at her as she settled and frowned. “Rest as best you can, Tegan. Once the confusion starts, we’ll be leaving.”

Tegan glanced about as many others poured into the large space. They seemed to know to exactly where they had to walk and went with little confusion and problems. Tegan took back her hand from the Doctor, smoothed down her skirt and tried to look presentable.

In silence, scores and scores of people sorted and presented themselves on the several etchings. The etchings were arranged in a half-circle on the floor. Many gathered behind the Doctor, and Tegan felt they were the leaders of that College. She stepped even with her friend and lifted her chin. She felt like the part of an army again.

“Doc…”

“I see them, Tegan.”

Ahead of them, on a dais not far from where they stood, several Time Lords entered. They were in full regalia. Among their number, Tegan immediately noticed Thalia. She frowned. The gold of the dress set her apart from the others with which she stood. “She certainly enjoys being the President, doesn’t she?” she asked sarcastically out of the side of her mouth.

“You noticed that, did you?” the Doctor replied. His eyes scanned the dais. “Keep an eye out for Peri. I don’t doubt that Thalia will bring her along.”

Tegan nodded. She looked away from her friend to look at the other side of the stage. “And what is this dissertation you and these people are going to read?”

The Doctor smiled and pulled a rather large stack of paper out of the satchel that had been placed next to him on the ground. “Ah, that would be the completed analysis work on the Scripts we found.”

“About the Federation and…”

“Gallifreyan evolution, yes. I do believe that it’ll set the old crowd on their ears.”

Tegan shook her head. “Always were a bit of a rebel, weren’t you?”

“Always.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “Are you sure this is ‘handling it properly’, Doc? What if there are more lives lost? What if our lovely hosts react to it? Don’t you think…”

He patted her hand and gave her a look that she felt seared her to her soul. “It won’t happen again, Tegan. I promise you.”

Tegan didn’t have long to wait. With a classic and characteristic clearing of his throat, he began to read. His voice was clear and concise.

But in the undertone she heard hesitancy, a softness that betrayed to her a lack of conviction what he was doing. He believed in what he was saying, but he hoped he didn’t have to read what he had in his hand. She felt he was reliving the past.

After about ten minutes, Tegan was able to tear her eyes away from the Doctor and to the dais again. There were many more Time Lords gathering. The Doctor glanced up and seemed to stop, his mouth hanging open. His eyes were sad and deep, too sad for her. She reached out and laid her hand on his arm. He tensed at her touch and then eased. He slowly lowered the papers and his arms.

Another voice joined his cause and rose out of the silent group. A woman in a startling gown of lavender and blue was speaking. The eyes of everyone on the dais followed to the new reader All eyes except one set. A woman in a silver gown stood on the stage. Her hands covered her mouth, but Tegan recognized the large pixie eyes above the tanned fingers.

Peri.

**

Peri had seen Tegan standing next to the Doctor almost as soon as she had entered the room. A bubble of happiness that bordered on giddiness leapt to her throat. She held in the laugh of joy at the last moment and covered her mouth with her hand to keep her smile under wraps. Tegan was alive and healthy! Peri found she was ready for almost anything at that thought.

She had seen her friends. That meant that Thalia knew they were there. And the guards at her back would guess at the ringleader and under Thalia’s influence be able to pick out the Doctor in the crowd. She knew their only hope was to run for it. She removed her hand from her mouth and signaled to Tegan with the hand movements they had perfected in the jungle. She quickly told Tegan about danger, guns and running, and waited for instructions.

**

The Doctor reached for her hand as another speaker began to read. “Do they all have your writings, Doc?”

“All, yes, “ he said quietly. “We have shared it. Quiet,” he urged. “And see.”

“Peri…”

The Doctor gave an imperceptible nod. “Ah, yes, I saw her as well. Somehow we shall have to retrieve her.”

With a grimace, Tegan surveyed the dais and then the number of people standing on it and standing between her and the stage. Then, she met Peri’s eyes. As the next male voice droned on reading the information, she touched at the skin under her right eye and then touched her left shoulder. Peri nodded slowly as she straightened her gown’s skirts. “Taken care of, Doctor,” Tegan whispered back.

He glanced down at her in surprise, but kept his face mostly poker straight. She could tell by the tensing of his fingers that he was getting ready to run. She didn’t know how he expected to make a run for it in a room where no one moved. The Time Lords were quietly intent on what was being read.

Suddenly there was a hitch in the voice of the reader and the words began to run together. It seemed to Tegan that he wanted get everything out; it seemed he was worried about being stopped. As the words were spoken faster and faster, the gathered group of Time Lords grew agitated.

The sight of familiar uniforms in red and gold heralded the arrival of the Citadel guard. Tegan frowned; she could see the guns clearly in the hip holsters. As another line was read, the Doctor took a step back into crowd. In the next breath, the guards marched off the stage and into the gathered Shogobans.

A harsh tug to her right had her stumbling through a group as it went toward the guards. As she ran to keep up with the Doctor, she glanced over her shoulder. The crowd was converging, like a vortex in a whirlwind, on the guards. There was no scuffling or fighting. It was a condensing, a quiet, silent protest where the crowd formed circles around the reader.

“Will they be hurt?”

“I sincerely hope not,” he said earnestly. “I advised the elders in a different direction, but, ah, what they have chosen is their path, Tegan, I’ve simply given them a tool. And I have faith that they will learn from the past.”

“Don’t you worry about…what happens if…” she was out of breath as they cut through another section of people. The stage was near. Peri was where Tegan had told her to stand. Peri’s brown eyes twinkled in happiness, but there was little time for a greeting. The Doctor simply reached out for Peri with his other hand, enfolding her wrist in his fingers. Tegan smiled widely at her friend.

“Conversation will have to wait, Tegan,” he admonished as he quickly strode under a large arch with a huge etched version of the Seal of Rassilon. Tegan glanced up at the image as they jogged under it. It was massive and metallic and was set into marble. Made of two cold materials, she found that, in the blink of an eye, she needed to shiver. It reminded her of the whole planet.

Peri’s hand closed over hers. Tegan glanced at her friend. Somehow the younger woman had taken her arm from the Doctor’s grip. She kept up the pace, however, and fell into step with Tegan as they began to run.

The Doctor appeared non-pulsed by Peri’s latching onto Tegan. He swung Tegan ahead of him like a sling. “Run, you two. I’m right behind you. Peri, you know the way…”

“Yeah, I do,” Peri returned, her voice harsh and her tone biting.

Tegan wasn’t talking. As their pace quickened, she felt her breath burning in her chest. Her legs moved of their own accord, but she felt like hot pokers were sticking her in her breast bone. She clutched at her chest with the hand that wasn’t held by Peri as the two of them ran in tandem down the corridor.

The Doctor’s heavy footfalls sounded behind her. “Don’t stop, Peri….” He encouraged. “Run, Tegan. They won’t ask questions. Thalia knows whose work they are reading.”

Tegan’s eyesight blurred and she struggled to take breaths. She and Peri were running at top speed through the cold, bright corridors. She knew why the Doc was running behind; he knew from what quarter any problems were going to occur. He was covering them, offering up the target wanted so they wouldn’t fire on the rest of them.

Peri turned right and pulled Tegan with her. As the Doctor flew around the corner after them the wall at the end of the last corridor exploded into a shower of sparks.

“They’ve found us,” Peri shouted.

“And they know where we’re going,” Tegan breathed.

At the last moment, the Doctor reached and clasped the both of them and pulled them down an access tunnel. He grabbed both girls about the shoulders and crept back into the shadows. They waited there, quiet as several people in uniform ran past them.

“Your friends, I believe,” Peri whispered.

The Doctor grimaced in the dark. “Ah, well…I seem to have that effect on people if you haven’t noticed, Peri.”

When the sound of footsteps died down, the Doctor stepped back out into the corridor. He ushered his two friends out into the corridor and back the way they had come. Tegan stumbled after her two friends, tired and pained. After about four rambling steps, she collapsed into the wall.

“Tegan?!” Peri hissed as her hands clasped her friend’s waist.

“She’s weak, not ill…” the Doctor commented. He reached down and picked up Tegan in his arms and held her against his chest. “She’s healed, Peri. Go. Run. Lead the way.”

Peri stumbled and began to run again, the Doctor’s steps pounded after her. Peri remembered the first day she had been on the planet and all the days that Thalia had escorted her, under guard, around the Capital City. She twisted and turned, running at full speed.

With a smile and a shout of happiness, Peri stumbled into the time capsule berth. The Doctor came after her. He raced for the abnormal blue box form in the middle of the cool metallic time capsules. With a grunt, he braced Tegan against the door and reached for the key on a string around his neck.

“I thought they took your key from you!” Peri said.

“Ah, well, Peri…I always kept a copy with Devon…you never know. Right. Here you go, open the door, please?”

Peri twisted the key in the lock and nearly fell in the door. The Doctor turned and entered as gunfire impacted the side of the capsule.

Inside, Peri knelt on the floor to hold Tegan, who was still awake, but weak. The Doctor shouted at them to brace themselves, pressed the dematerialization switch on the console and pulled several cords from underneath the panel at the same time. The TARDIS was thrown into turmoil; the interior lighting switched to an ugly orange; the console room floor sloped. Peri and Tegan braced their console to keep from being thrown across the room.

“What’s happening?” Tegan demanded as strongly as she was able.

“We’re straining the time barrier around Gallifrey. If we followed a provided path, they would be able to bring us back.” The Doctor replied. With a smile, he shook his head. “I would prefer not to deal with that at the moment. We’re going in an unordinary way.”

The floor began to shudder and twist. Peri felt as though the world was an oil slick, swirling and colorful. She felt strong arms around her and Tegan as the Doctor joined his friends huddled on the floor.

“Shouldn’t you be at the wheel?” she asked.

“No one can control the TARDIS right now,” the Doctor shouted over the growing din. “Not even me, I think. She’ll find a place to take us that will satisfy her needs after this trip. The strain will cause problems in the programming.”

“How long?”

The Doctor gritted his teeth and shrugged. “It’s not an exact science, Peri. Hold on!”

Peri put her head down and felt Tegan’s reassuring hand in hers. Everything swirled and shuddered, tossed and turned until suddenly it was over.

**

“Where are we?” Peri asked, quietly.

Tegan gave a slow smile. “He won’t have a bloody clue.”

As had often been the case in their travels, the Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS. The girls stepped through the acrid smoke to the door. Outside was a beautiful spring day.

“As Tegan so succinctly put it, Peri, I haven’t a bloody clue,” he chuckled. “But freedom does have a rather wonderful smell and taste, doesn’t it?”

Tegan felt the familiar and very welcome touch of his hand as one landed on her shoulder. The matching one landed on Peri’s shoulder. “I know we have a great deal to talk about, you two…in different ways. Peri, I believe you have some questions for me. And Tegan…” he sighed. “Yes, well, we do have a great deal to talk about…but at the moment, I think we all need to rest.”

With a rueful laugh, Tegan agreed. Need to talk, Doc? That’s an understatement. Aloud, she said: “I, for one, want answers about what happened. You won’t escape that easily, Supremo. You might be a strategist, but I’m stubborn as hell. But…I suppose it can wait…for now.”

The Doctor chuckled again.

“Can we find out what happened on Gallifrey? After that meeting?” Peri asked quietly. Tegan nodded.

The Doctor lowered his head and then nodded. “I wish to know as well. I shall certainly see what I can do about that. But at the moment, I think that we need to rest.”

Peri gave Tegan a smile; it seemed that neither one of them needed to talk at the moment. Peri was glad to have her back, as her hug betrayed, and Tegan was glad to be alive.