Prologue
The Doctor, Romana and Adric were heading back towards the TARDIS, with Lazlo close behind them – Romana in deep inner turmoil. She didn't want to leave the Doctor, not now after all this Time, but she knew that the Time Lords would punish her if she didn't return to Gallifrey. But she also didn't want to go back to those ancient, dusty, indolent Senators; a life of politics was never going to satisfy her – that was part of the reason she'd been excited to carry out the Search for the Key to Time.
She was confronted with two terrible choices; leave the Doctor now to help the Tharils liberate themselves, or leave him now to be sucked back into a tedious life of Gallifreyan politics. Either course of action would mean saying goodbye to the most incredible Time Lord ever known – and there was no denying it now; she'd told him when they'd arrived in E-Space. But Romana didn't know which would be taking the easy way out.
She could try and persuade the Doctor to keep running, like he had always done. But the question remained – did he have the guts to do so? Had the Time Lords put him through so much that he didn't have the heart to make a stand against them anymore? Was he truly prepared to give up now, of all times?
"Get inside," the Doctor instructed both Romana and Adric, the latter not needing to be told twice. But Romana hesitated. The Tharils needed her to help them.
But is it my knowledge of Temporal Mechanics that they need? She wondered. If so, then...
"Doctor," Romana spoke up, "could you give me K-9?"
"Whatever for, Romana?" questioned the Doctor suspiciously.
Romana just turned and inclined her head towards their Tharil friend. As she did so, she locked eyes with Lazlo – and after a few moments, he indicated his understanding. The Doctor had evidently caught on as well, so he handed K-9 to Lazlo.
"K-9 has the information you need," Romana told him. "If you get him working again, he can help you..."
Lazlo nodded, and Romana headed into the TARDIS, sorrow threatening to overcome her. She couldn't go back to the Time Lords! She didn't belong with them...
*DW*
After the Doctor had entered and subsequently dematerialised the TARDIS, he could only look into Romana's eyes...and he could see the tears building in them. How could he let the Time Lords take her away now? If they had known anything about Romana, they would have known by now that she didn't take orders from anyone. What gives the indolent idiots the right to decide her destiny? He thought contemptuously.
But he couldn't decide her path for her either – he had learnt that very quickly and without difficulty. Yet the Time Lords had the nerve to try! They were supposed to be Lords of Time, not Lords of Fate or Destiny.
"Doctor, please!" Romana broke into his train of thought, the tears now cascading. "I can't go back! I don't belong with them anymore! I haven't since we first started travelling together! Don't make me go!" Her plea was now a desperate one. But the Doctor couldn't answer. He was too embroiled in his own frustrations with the Time Lords who put both him and Romana through this.
Romana evidently decided that she wouldn't get a word out of him, so she made for her room. It was clear that he wasn't prepared to fight the Time Lords again. What did they do to him? She thought tearfully. If I knew...
But she had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to get that out of him – he was too stubborn...too sealed off...too compartmentalised. It was now that Romana realised why the Doctor saw so much in Humanity – Humans possessed more courage than most Time Lords of the Rassilon Era could ever hope to have. However, the rebellious streak the Doctor possessed seemed to have been crushed. This was it...this was the end of Romana's life with the most incredible Time Lord the Universe has ever known...
