HOMECOMING

From the observation window, Susan looked out across the vast city of Gallifrey. There had been times when she thought there would be no city to look down on. Rubble instead of gleaming towers. Riots instead of calm. But that was long ago in the past, in that period known as the Dark Times.

Susan turned away from the window, not wishing to speculate on what might have been. In spite of the bright future ahead, there was still much to do, in her role as President of Gallifrey. She sat at her desk, and began sifting through a huge pile of reports. This was the boring part, sifting through the masses of paperwork. Even a President couldn't escape that monotonous task.

An intercom light flashed, and Susan turned to it, grateful for the distraction. "Yes?"

"Apologies, Madam President," came the voice of her secretary. "But we have a situation."

"I am rather busy," said Susan. "Does this 'situation' really warrant my time?"

"Ordinarily, no. But this is a special case." There was a pause.

"Go on," she prompted.

"A transmat capsule has just landed in the Capitol. A Type Forty, to be precise."

The intended dismissal was replaced by curiosity. "So, my grandfather has returned?"

"No, Madam President," her secretary replied. "The one currently in use by the Doctor is at this moment travelling through the vortex."

At this statement, Susan's curiosity piqued. "Are you saying that another Type Forty is also in operation?"

"Not exactly. I think it would be advisable for you to see for yourself."

"I think I'd better had." She crossed to her door, which slid open at her command. She walked alongside her secretary as they covered the relatively short distance to where the transmat capsule stood. "Well, spit it out," Susan insisted. "What did you mean by 'not exactly?'"

"According to security, all the correct protocols were observed," her secretary explained. "Initially, it was thought that the Doctor had returned, but a cross-check revealed that his TARDIS was travelling through the vortex at the exact moment that this one materialised. But the bio-signature of this capsule is the same."

"Another incarnation, then."

The secretary shook her head. "All incarnations of the Doctor are at various stages of involvement relating to states of affairs on other worlds."

Susan hated this double-talk. "If you mean he's out there saving the universe, just say so!" An expectant crowd had already gathered around the transmat capsule, but its shape was unmistakable. The tall blue box with the words 'Police Public Call Box' emblazoned across each of its four outer walls. "So, if this isn't the TARDIS…"

"I can't explain it properly," the secretary said. "While there are inconsistencies, it is clearly the TARDIS. But all known Laws of Time indicate that it shouldn't be here."

"Then someone hasn't read the rule-book." Susan hid her concern well. "So, we have a situation?"

"Yes, Madam President." The crowd parted as Susan stepped up to the capsule.

Castellan Spandrell waited for her orders. "One life-sign has been detected, Madam President, and is still inside the capsule. Do you wish me to force it open?"

"Have all the standard procedures been enforced?"

"Yes, Madam President," Spandrell assured her. "The transduction barriers have been re-aligned, so there is no escape route."

"Then there shouldn't be any need for force." Susan touched the outer shell. It felt the same, but somehow different. She stepped back and addressed the closed door. "You might as well come out. Your TARDIS is now immobilised, so you can't dematerialise. And I'm sure you must have a good reason for coming here in the first place."

The Castellan was cautious. "Is it wise to be so direct?"

"Spandrell, I've always found that addressing a problem directly is usually the best option. Plus, our choices are rather limited." Any further discussion was curtailed, as the door to the TARDIS swung silently open. Susan waited expectantly as its lone occupant stepped out.

She was tall and slim, with shoulder-length brown hair, and wore a crumpled trouser suit, with a faded rose in her lapel. The young woman took in her surroundings. "So, this is Gallifrey. I'd always wondered what it was like." Then she turned to Susan, and their eyes locked in mutual recognition. "Oh, my. It's you."

Though they had never met before, Susan knew at once who this stranger was. She also recognised the impossibility. "It is you," she realised. "But this can't be."

"Madam President, what's wrong?" Spandrell asked.

With an effort, Susan shifted her gaze away from the woman and turned to him, her voice trembling. "Castellan, I want you to find Medic Varllan and Co-ordinator Engin and bring them both to my chambers, immediately."

He heard the urgency in her voice. "What is it, Madam President? Do you know her?"

Susan's reply was guarded. "Possibly. I just need some clarification," she glanced back to the woman. "It could be that our visitor and I may have much to talk about."

"Madam President, this is most improbable," Engin began.

Susan could sense a 'but' coming up. "But?"

"But it's true. The bio-data records confirm it." He stared at the young woman, now seated facing him in Susan's private chambers. "She is who she claims to be."

Medic Varllan had also completed her examination. "There are some deviations from recognised DNA, but yes, she is Gallifreyan."

"What are the deviations, Varllan?"

"Primarily, there are traces of human cells in her biological make-up. Aside from that, everything else is as it should be."

"Thank you." She studied the two of them intently. "You understand this must go no further than these four walls."

"Of course, Madam President," Engin replied for both of them. "Not that anyone would believe it."

Susan nodded. "Even so, the less people know, the better for those concerned."

"Understood." Elgin and Varllan took this as their cue to depart.

Once the door was closed, Susan shared a look of uncertainty with Spandrell, before addressing the woman. "So, you are Susan Foreman."

The woman smiled. "I'm from a different time and place, but yes, I am."

"As am I," Susan pointed out.

"Yes. This is going to be very confusing."

"I'm confused already," Spandrell admitted. "Are you saying that you're a future incarnation of the President?"

She smiled at him. "More like a distant relative, if you can accept that."

Susan studied the young woman before her. In Earth terms, she was a few years younger than herself, and while she was undeniably Gallifreyan, her human side was more to the fore, presenting a more relaxed persona. "Susan, I…"

"Oh, Suzie, please."

"I'm sorry?"

"Suzie," she repeated. "That's what grandfather always called me, and it seems to have stuck."

"I see." So this Suzie had a grandfather too. "And I take it he was a Doctor?"

"That's right," Suzie replied. "He was a bit dotty, but I loved him so much."

Again, the past tense. "You talk of him as though…"

"Yes." She bowed her head. "He died suddenly, after a short illness. I thought he could go on forever, but then his heart gave out."

Spandrell was surprised at this. "Why didn't he regenerate?"

Suzie glared at him. "Because he was human, that's why." Tears glistened her eyes as she searched for a handkerchief. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed by all this."

"I rather think we both are," Susan assured her. "Look, why don't you tell me the whole story. Right from the beginning."

Suzie took a moment to compose herself. "You have to understand that I only found out some things just recently." She dried her eyes before continuing. "The Gallifrey I was born into was very different from the one you know. It was a more flexible age, when there were hardly any restrictions on time travel.

"My mother left Gallifrey when she was young, and arrived on Earth in the mid twentieth century. The idea was to inter-relate with another species. It seems she met someone, who she later married. But when she fell pregnant, my father didn't want to know, so she had to bring me up on her own for a while, until her uncle offered to take me in. He became my grandfather.

"I didn't think that inter-relations were possible between Gallifreyans and humans," Spandrell observed.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Susan told him. She turned back to Suzie. "Please, go on. Tell me about your grandfather."

"He was an eminent scientist in his younger days, and had always been fascinated with the idea of time travel," she went on. "Whether it was my Gallifreyan upbringing I don't know, but when grandfather decided to build a time and space machine, I was able to help. I was only seven or eight years old at the time, but I instinctively knew things that he could only guess at. His fellow scientist, he called me. Anyway, grandfather concentrated on the practical side, while I sorted out the telekinetic theories and trans-dimensional engineering."

"Creating a TARDIS from scratch." Susan was impressed. "But all that knowledge inside you. Surely your grandfather must have questioned it at some stage?"

"I suppose he must have wondered," Suzie answered. "But the question never came up. I think he just accepted it, and we got on with things. Even Barbara never said anything, though her head must have been spinning at times."

Susan pulled up at this. "Barbara?"

"My elder half-sister," Suzie explained, "and a bit of a ladies man. Well, that's how it all started really. The travelling, I mean. Barbara had invited her latest boyfriend, Ian, round to our home. Grandfather took him into the TARDIS – I made up the name from the initials. Time And…"

"…Relative Dimension In Space – yes, I did the same," Susan confessed. "Go on."

They shared a look of understanding before Suzie went on. "Well, Ian couldn't believe it, how the inside was bigger than the outside. He thought it was all a trick of some kind. Then Barbara waltzes in, cool as you like, and kisses him. He got pressed against the main dematerialisation lever, and we were off before grandfather had had a chance to set the controls. We ended up on some alien planet and got involved in a battle between the two dominant species, Daleks and Thals they were called."

"I've heard of them," Susan confirmed. "So, what happened afterwards?"

"Well, it was a few years before we got back to present day Earth, and by that time I was in my early twenties. Barbara had left to marry Ian, and my cousin Louise didn't hang around for much longer. So it was just me and grandfather. The endless travelling had all become too much for him, and because we'd been so close, I nursed him through his last years."

She paused, and Susan knew this would be the hardest part for her to relate. "He hadn't been in the best of health for a while. There were good days and bad days, but gradually the bad days took hold of him. It got so bad that he had to be confined to bed. I couldn't believe that someone with such a zest for life was being cut down in his prime." She wiped away a tear. "So, one day, when he was at his most lucid, he told me about my past – where I had really come from.

"I wasn't sure whether to believe him at first. It might have been the ramblings of a dying man. But he gave me the key to a bureau he'd kept locked for years, and told me that all I needed to know was stored there. "You have a right to know, Suzie," he told me. "You deserve to know the truth."

"I was still doubtful, but I went ahead and unlocked the bureau - and it was all there. Legal papers confirming my adoption, and letters from my mother explaining all about where I had come from – I knew her handwriting, so the letters couldn't have been faked. And my scientific knowledge, coupled with what was contained in the letters, began to make sense. I'd sensed that I wasn't like the other children, and now I understood why.

"Grandfather died a few days later. Everyone came to the funeral – Barbara, Ian and Louise were there, of course. But he'd been such a popular figure in the community that everyone in the village turned out for him. It was a beautiful service, but such a hard day to get through. Afterwards, when everyone had gone and it was just me and grandfather, my mother showed up."

"After all this time?" Susan gasped. "Why hadn't she been in contact before then?"

Suzie shrugged. "Something to do with the social climate. There was still a stigma against single mothers at the time, so I think she was worried about too many questions being asked of her. But I didn't care. I was just so glad to see her, and we talked for hours, catching up on all those lost years. She couldn't stay, of course. Something about bending the Laws of Time."

"Yes, I suppose Gallifrey has been guilty of not being so enlightened as it is now," Susan admitted. "So that was the last time you saw your mother?"

Suzie nodded. "But before she left, she gave me several rolls of parchment – my legacy, she called it. And when I turned to thank her, she was gone.

"Among the documents were a series of astral charts, giving me precise co-ordinates for a return to Gallifrey. That made me think. I'd been so entrenched in Earth culture for many years, that I wasn't sure if I wanted to uproot myself. Why would I want to find my natural home? As far as I was concerned, Earth was my home."

"Oh, I understand, believe me," agreed Susan. "Certain places can get to you like that, but what finally changed your mind?"

Suzie felt in her jacket pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope, handing it to Susan. "My mother told me that if I ever decided to return home, that I should give this to you. She said I would know you when we met – something to do with Gallifreyan genetics."

Susan turned the envelope over in her hands. There was an unbroken seal across the flap, the design of which she recognised. She showed it to Spandrell, who silently confirmed her unspoken question. It was the Seal of Rassilon. "And you've no idea what's inside?"

"None at all," Suzie told her. "It was that, together with a healthy dose of curiosity, that finally persuaded me to make the trip back to Gallifrey."

"Quite a mystery," said Susan. "Let's see if the opening of this envelope answers a few more questions." Breaking the seal, she pulled open the flap to reveal a folded sheet of paper. It was a letter addressed directly to her:-

My dearest Susan,

If you are reading this, then I imagine it will be something of a shock to realise that it is your half-sister who is with you now. I gave birth to you both, in what were entirely different circumstances.

You cannot believe the number of times I wish I could have told you the truth, but as is normal practice in Gallifreyan society, once the loom has been spun, there can be no physical contact between parent and child until the age of Prydonian Ascension, and that time has yet to be conferred.

However, be assured that I love you both as only a mother could love her own, and that one day we shall be together in the House of WesserStone, our ancestral home.

Be true to yourself, and to others.

Aerane.

Susan read the letter twice over, before handing it back to Suzie. Her half-sister gasped as she took in the contents, with Susan only guessing at the feelings she was experiencing. Feelings that she herself was quickly becoming accustomed to. A sense of wholeness and of belonging.

Suzie at last looked up, tears of joy in her eyes. "I knew there was a connection between us, but I never dreamed just how closely bonded we were."

"And I now know my mother's name," said Susan. She felt overcome with a sense of joy, as she rose from her seat to embrace her half-sister. They held each other for what seemed a lifetime. No words were needed.

Finally the two women looked across to Spandrell, who also seemed to have a lump in his throat. "I must apologise, Castellan," said Susan, recovering some of her composure. "This must be unsettling for you."

"Unsettling isn't the word I'd choose, but it will do for now," he assured her. "But what happens now? Yes, you have found each other, but this revelation is bound to send shock waves through our society."

Suzie sighed. "Oh, do you have to put a dampener on things?"

"No, he's right," Susan realised. "There could be serious repercussions. My political opponents are very good at making something out of nothing. If they find out about this, they will have a field day."

"Why? I can't be that much of an embarrassment."

"It all comes down to rules of lineage and title," Spandrell explained. "The constitution clearly states that the ruling President should be unimpeachable and have no secrets or, as the Earth term has it, any 'black sheep in the family.' Your arrival could be perceived as such an admission, and damage the President's credibility."

"Oh, this is stupid," Suzie exclaimed. "You can't seriously believe that."

"I only tell you what will be reported," Spandrell told her. "That doesn't mean that I would necessarily accept it. But look at it from other people's points of view – you're of mixed parentage, born outside of the loom. I have no problem with that, but my opinion alone would not be enough to placate the whole of Gallifrey."

"Spandrell is only looking out for our best interests," Susan insisted. "Believe me, he's seen enough political upheavals to last several lifetimes."

"And this would be complicated at best," he warned. "An unusual precedent has been set here, and I'm not sure how the various chapters would react ."

"In other words," Suzie noted, "we have a situation."

"My thoughts exactly." Susan looked to the Castellan for guidance. "What would be the worst case scenario?"

Spandrell shrugged. "At best, you would be deposed from office, though you would be given the right of appeal. At worst, you would both become exiles, cut off from your own people without friends or support."

Suzie laughed without humour. "Some homecoming this is turning out to be."

Susan, meanwhile, was deep in thought. "Now that's a phrase I haven't heard in a long time." She saw her half-sister's puzzled look. "When grandfather and I first left Gallifrey, that was also under a political cloud. He'd spoken out against the old regime, and became an outcast because of his allegedly radical views. In the end, he could see no other option but to leave."

"Taking you with him?" Suzie guessed.

"I was the only one he trusted, and it was the same for me," she replied. "But the TARDIS we chose was a pretty standard model, and we left in such a hurry that grandfather didn't have time to set the controls properly. So we drifted from place to place, without any set destination in mind." She smiled. "I think secretly, he rather preferred it that way."

Suzie was clearly envious. "Sounds idyllic."

"Oh, we had a few close calls, as I'm sure you did in your travels, but yes, it was more exciting than staying here on Gallifrey. At least we were out there, exploring the universe. The point is, we had become exiles. Even if we'd managed to return home, the political situation wouldn't have changed. And now things seem to have come full circle."

"Madam President!" Spandrell realised what Susan meant. "You can't seriously be considering abandoning your position?"

"And why not? I can't see any viable alternative, not while there are still people blinded by their own prejudices. Black sheep of the family, indeed!"

"But your responsibilities…"

"Castellan, I am fully aware of my responsibilities," Susan pointed out. "I'm also very much aware of how unrewarding being a President can be. You know how hard it's been for me to instigate changes to the constitution."

"People are always resistant to change," Spandrell admitted. "Even when such changes can only benefit them in the long term."

"Then you, of all people, can understand how impossible my life has become." Susan pleaded with him. "Spandrell, I don't have a life anymore, just endless rhetoric and red tape." She nodded to her half-sister. "Suzie had made me realise what I'm missing. I want to get back out there with her, back among the stars. I want my life back, if only for a short while."

Spandrell considered for a moment. "You realise I cannot possibly condone what you ask, but neither can I stop you, if it is what you both want."

"Hang on." Suzie had been following this debate intently. "Am I missing something, Susan, or are you applying to be one half of a time travelling duo?"

"If you'll have me," Susan replied hopefully. "Remember, our mother's letter said I should be true to myself. I can think of no other way to apply that. And I rather think Spandrell, in his own way, has given us his blessing, so there's nothing to stop us. What do you say, Suzie?"

Her eyes widened at the possibilities. "Okay, you're on."

The earlier tension was now broken, as they all shared a brief moment of understanding. Susan was the first to raise the important question. "Now, how best to go about this? We don't want to arouse any undue suspicion."

"I could arrange for your TARDIS to be transducted to this room," Spandrell suggested. "I know people in the transduction bays who can be relied upon to keep their mouths shut."

"It's a good idea, but a missing TARDIS would still attract attention," Susan reminded him. "Unless…"

Spandrell kept a watchful eye on the expectant crowd as the President escorted Suzie back to her TARDIS. Since her arrival, there had been speculation all around the Capitol as to her identity. Suggestions that she was a close friend of the President were left unconfirmed, and Spandrell had given no substance to such tittle-tattle.

He waited as the two women exchanged a brief farewell, before Suzie entered her TARDIS. The sound of dematerialisation echoed around the Capitol as the ship faded away to nothing, with nothing to suggest that it had ever been there in the first place.

By the time he had delivered the President back to her chambers, Suzie's TARDIS was already waiting. "It worked, then?"

"You both played your parts to perfection," he told them, smiling. "Now, hurry, Madam President. Your transport awaits."

Susan threw off her Presidential robes, revealing a white shirt and dark slacks beneath. She grabbed a hastily packed holdall, and paused only to give Spandrell a kiss on the cheek. "Look after things while I'm gone, won't you?"

He just managed not to blush. "As far as anyone else is concerned, you're still in office, and I'm your official spokesman. Now go!"

Susan winked at him, laughing and joking with her half-sister, as they entered the TARDIS. Suzie hovered in the doorway. "Thank you, Spandrell. You're the best."

"The best what?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

She smiled. "The best of all." The door closed behind her, and with a sound not unlike that of a regular Type Forty capsule, the TARDIS dematerialised.

Yet again, Gallifrey was without its President. There would be questions, of course. But Spandrell would give nothing away, and any persistent callers would be given short shrift, and be directed to Medic Varllan for an immediate check-up.

With a tear in his eye, Castellan Spandrell gazed out from the observation window into the night sky. "The two of them, on the loose in a TARDIS," he mused. "Somehow, I don't think the universe is quite ready for them."