The Doctor pushed the last button on his console, and took time to survey his and the TARDIS's handiwork. Ever since restoring Gallifrey and destroying the Daleks for good, the Doctor had been taking time off to make a change. With Romana as the president of Gallifrey, the Time Lords had resumed their role of watchers, never interfering. The Doctor was allowed to choose his reward for saving Gallifrey and destroying the Daleks, and he chose only to be left alone. He told them to let him do his thing, travel the universe, and help out when asked. Romana's response was only that the Doctor be available if she needed his help, allow advancing civilizations to advance naturally, and to avoid fixed points in time as much as possible. He agreed.

Things were quiet, however, so he decided to take the time to redecorate, and expand, his TARDIS.

The control room was noticeably brighter, now, with an off-white color, and, while still two levels, much smaller. The time-rotor no longer reached up to the ceiling, but instead sunk into the console, coming out in flight. The console itself was controlled both by buttons and by touch-screen controls. The viewing screen was back in the TARDIS wall, and was much bigger. The Doctor also got his round things back. So many of them. It gave the walls a very honeycomb look, like the TARDIS was when he first found her. He was very happy about that. That was his main goal… getting back the round things. He still didn't know what they were or what they were for, but he loved them.

The Doctor started exploring. He passed by the armchair next to the console and headed to the lower level. It was a bit darker under there because of the shadow of the console. Down here, the console itself was bigger, because in order to repair it, you had to step inside. The Doctor did just that, to survey his and the TARDIS's handiwork. Together, they had made the set-up much more organized. Now wires and knobs and electrical bits were color-coded and mapped. The Doctor knew where everything was, even if he didn't quite understand what everything was for. He had finally fixed the navigation, as well. Now the accuracy of his travels was assured.

The Doctor exited the console and headed into a corridor. Yet another thing he was particularly proud of was the installation of an inter-TARDIS navigation system. Now, no matter where a room ended up, you didn't have to worry about losing it; just follow the walls. The TARDIS will tell you where to go… if she wants to. "We did well, didn't we?" the Doctor mused as he patted the wall of the TARDIS.

From a room down the hall, a ding was heard. "Aha! It's ready! Can't wait to see if my programming took!" The Doctor nearly ran into his work room, where his new sonic screwdriver had just finished uploading. This room was more disorganized than the rest of the TARDIS, but that was okay. It was the only room without the round things. Instead, the walls and ceiling were all chalk board, so he could work out his calculations. There was a desk in there, a Gallifreyan computer, and lots of tools. Some tools from Earth, but many more from Gallifrey.

In this room, he had been tinkering with his previous self's screwdriver for quite some time. He removed the extension and claws, which he felt were cumbersome and pointless, and shrunk it a bit in size. It was a teeny bit wider, however, to make room for an actual read-out screen, which flashed information and programming in Gallifreyan.

The programming he was excited about was rather hefty, so he wasn't sure if it would work. He had backed up the screwdriver's initial programming because this new programming would mean the loss of a lot of the old stuff. The Doctor wanted to use it to get more control of things at a quantum level. One feature of the programming he created was its ability to work on wood. That was his main goal. But it also allowed him to do more specific experiments with matter at lower levels. And, ideally, actually allow him to see the quantum world as it is when it's not being viewed.

Of course, the space needed for the program meant that, at a normal level, the sonic was back to being less of a weapon and more of a scientific instrument again. Now he couldn't use the sonic to defeat enemies unless such defeat required quickly building a cabinet around them to trap them in. Or unless those creatures were quantum creatures, the existence of which had only been hypothesized by Time Lords, but never discovered.

The Doctor picked up his new sonic screwdriver and surveyed the screen. "Well, it looks like the new program installed fine. No faults, no hiccups. So let's test it."

The Doctor pointed the sonic at the desk. "Now… let's see what one of the atoms looks like". He pressed the sonic's only button, and suddenly, one piece of the desk started to zoom in. The image surrounded the Doctor and kept zooming in until the electrons and nucleus of an atom came into view.

"Calcium!" the Doctor exclaimed. "It's incredible!" The electrons whizzed and zoomed around him, unaware of his presence. He noted how often one electron would pop up in different places at once, and how others would disappear and reappear. He, watched, mesmerized, for a few more minutes, before deciding to zoom in to the nucleus. He pressed the button again, aiming his sonic at the nucleus. Suddenly, he was inside it. His work room, at this point, was gone from his view entirely, as he watched a dense clump of protons and neutrons vibrate together. This wasn't as exciting as the cloud of electrons, so he decided to zoom in on a proton.

Now things were getting interesting. The Doctor was now inside the quantum field of the proton. Inside, the three quarks were holding the proton together. But between them, virtual quarks and antiquarks were everywhere and yet nowhere. It was amazing how empty and yet how active this place was. It was a contradiction. It did not fit into reality, and yet is was very real.

The Doctor mused about the possibility of going smaller. How far in would he have to zoom to see the Higgs field itself? But the sound of the TARDIS phone ringing brought him out of his reverie, reminding him that he was still in the TARDIS.

That could only be Romana. No one else has the new number. The Doctor had gotten a new number on the TARDIS's phone. Why is she calling me? "Answer the phone, on speaker." That was another change he was proud of. The phone was voice controlled, and he had wired it into the TARDIS's telecom system, letting the conversation happen wherever he happened to be in the TARDIS, without having to hold a receiver. He didn't understand why he hadn't thought of doing that before.

"Hello, Doctor."

"Hello, Romana! I'm sure your calling with an emergency of some kind, but you would not believe what I'm seeing right now! You know that new program I told you I was developing for my sonic? It works!"

"Well perhaps you'll get a chance to show me soon. There's a threat on Terra. It needs to be controlled, or it could become a problem for the whole galaxy, if not the universe."

"And you need me to deal with it?"

"I thought you'd enjoy the chance to go to Terra, Doctor."

"I can go to the earth any time I like. What's the emergency?"

"I'd rather tell you in person."

"In person?"

"You'll need to come pick me up. Myself and a few of the Guard will be coming along."

"The Guard!? I don't want them in here!"

"Doctor…"

"… why?"

"You'll understand when you get here. Now, please, I need you. Set your coordinates for the…"

"…the Citadel. Got it, Romana. I'll be there shortly."

"Thank you."

Romana hung up, and the Doctor pressed a button on his sonic, zooming back out of the desk and closing the presentation. He made his way back to the console room, up the stairs, and to the console, where he pulled up the saved coordinates and made his way to the Citadel, where Romana was waiting for him.