CHAPTER THREE

"Are you quite alright?"

The voice startled him, but only for a moment and only because he'd been half-asleep. He drew in a deep, cleansing breath as he stretched his arms above his head and smiled politely at the intruder. "Madame President," he greeted. "I didn't expect to see you here. Come to check up on me?"

She smiled back, comfortably, and he relaxed, reassured that she was here because she wanted to be, not because she felt she needed to be. "Coordinator Marstis tells me you've been in here for a very long time."

"A few days. And not here the entire time, not really. The Matrix isn't exactly the most comfortable place for a nap, what with all the jabbering voices that come and go."

"You seem to have found a nice quiet spot."

"D'you like it?" the Doctor asked, smiling as he gestured around the enormous, empty, grey room. It was as plain and dull as it was large, with an endless table that seemed to be littered with papers written in freehand Gallifreyan. "My own design."

"Of course it is." Romana smirked. "Your own private corner of the Matrix."

He raised a brow. "Is that disapproval I hear?"

"Hardly. Under the circumstances, I think I'd do the same."

"Dangerous words, coming from the Madame President," the Doctor smiled back. "Particularly when uttered inside of the greatest repository of knowledge in the universe."

Romana turned and leaned on the counter beside him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Coordinator Marstis said you were not yourself," she said, studying him curiously. "Though to see you now, I can't imagine why he felt that way. Taking charge of your surroundings and working yourself into exhaustion... All seems very 'Doctor' to me."

"Mmm."

He looked away from her, back to the papers littered across the tabletop. Funny, in a way. He could've conjured up holographic projections and neuropathic recording devices, but there was a certain tangibility to pen and paper that always made him feel... secure. Not unlike this place. The Matrix was a data center. To enter it was to conjure up a virtual world where the only static image was the one the user - or the person who had placed him inside - established. The Matrix was fluid and full of the voices of data recorders, designed for quick and easy retrieval of endless information. But the information he sought was neither quick nor easy to access.

The very first thing he'd done was to find an unused corner of space and construct a room for himself that was subject to the laws of five dimensional physics. It seemed a senseless gesture. It was possible to exist inside of the Matrix almost indefinitely. In here, he was an energy signature written onto a data core. He needed nothing to supplement his existence. But placing himself inside of a section in which there were things like time and space, he became subject to them. He needed things like food and, more importantly, rest. And he knew he wasn't getting enough of it.

His energy was sapped. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so simply tired. The soreness in his body - nearly a week with only catnaps here and there when he popped out of the Matrix to check a reference with Coordinator Marstis - was nothing in comparison to the exhaustion in his mind. He was having trouble thinking straight. And for him, it was an unusual feeling.

"I understand you're looking for Charlotte Pollard."

He glanced up and eyed Romana warily, searching for a measure of the disapproval he couldn't hear in her tone. But he found nothing, no hint of her reaction to that simple fact.

"Yes," he finally answered her.

"Care to tell me what you've found?"

"I have nothing to hide. Certainly not from you. But why the interest?"

She smiled. "I know you, Doctor. And let's face it - your attention span rarely lasts three hours, much less three weeks."

"Is that how long it's been?" he asked in wonder. Apparently his estimate on how long he'd been inside the Matrix was a bit shallow. "I had no idea..."

"What have you been doing in here all this time? Surely it shouldn't take three weeks to track down one unique energy signature."

The Doctor sighed. "Yes, you'd think it would be easy, wouldn't you?"

"But?"

"But it's not a simple matter of following her trail from point A to point B." He leaned back and stretched before he folded his hands behind his head. "She's all over the time continuum. It's like trying to get a complete picture with five hundred pieces of a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle."

"Why? Even if she's travelling through time, she shouldn't be this difficult to track."

"Yes, but that's just it. I don't know how much she actually is travelling in time. There's no trace of her in the Vortex - at least none that I've found. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Any place she goes where there doesn't happen to be a Tardis in range of recording, well..."

"And if she is travelling through time, you must also determine in what order the appearances go. I see."

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her watching him as warily as he had first regarded her. Perhaps, even more so. And perhaps she had a reason. He hadn't seen her, hadn't been back to Gallifrey, since she'd sent him on his chosen path with a warning never to come back. The Castellan had no doubt voiced his concern loudly. And Romana was ultimately responsible for the wellbeing of Gallifrey, and all of Time, for that matter.

He forced a reassuring smile as he spoke in a low tone. "Romana, you know that I wouldn't have come back to this universe - and certainly not to Gallifrey - if I posed any threat to the Web of Time."

"Oh, I know, Doctor. The CIA informed me the moment you returned from the Divergent Universe." She lowered her voice and continued under her breath. "And I think they knew even before then."

The Doctor smiled. "Keeping a close eye on me, are they?"

"Not particularly. No more than usual, anyway." She hesitated for a long moment, then continued in a softer tone. "Though I did hear about what happened with the Daleks."

He drew in a slow breath and folded his hands, staring blankly at the pages spread out in front of him. He'd been wondering how long it would take before that came up.

"I just wanted to say, in person, that I'm very sorry. About Lucie Miller. And about..." She didn't finish. She didn't need to do. The memories were all fresh as soon as she bridged the subject, no matter how soft her tone. As if she could see how much pain she was causing him, she mercifully stopped. "Well, you know."

"Yeah."

She lowered her voice even further as she set a hand on his shoulder, a breach of protocol and a much-needed gesture of comfort. He kept his eyes turned away from her.

"If there's anything I can do..."

The Doctor's jaw tightened, and he swallowed the lump in his throat, forcing the memories back into the darkness in his mind. Back down where they could do no harm. He was a different man now than he had been a year ago, even a month ago. This time, the Daleks had scarred him, personally and deeply. And he didn't think he would ever be quite the same.

"So she was working for the Viyrans," Romana said, finally interrupting the silence.

The Doctor drew in a quick breath, sat forward again and nodded, grateful for the change in topic. "Yes, the Viyrans. How did you know?"

"Ever since the destruction of the Amethyst Station, the Viyrans have been of some concern to us."

"The Amethyst Station?"

Romana eyed him warily. "You don't know?"

"I'll admit, I've had some trouble finding any information at all on the Viyrans. They seem to be a very secretive race."

"Indeed." She paused for a moment before explaining. "The Amethyst Station was a containment center for viruses. Late period Daleks invaded it during the latter 36th Century Carponian Era. The station exploded, releasing the viruses to spread all over the galaxy." She paused again. "You're sure you don't know any of this?"

"Should I?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she continued her explanation. "Officially, the Viyrans are neutral cataloguers - a status which protects them from intergalactic laws pertaining to the genocide of the peoples on any planets they deem infected by the diseases they're trying to contain. They're also protected by the Great Armistice treaty, which states that none may interfere with their operation.But just because they're not exterminating entire populations for personal gain doesn't mean that they're not a matter of concern to us."

"What concern?"

"The explosion at the Amethyst station caused a significant disruption in the Web of Time. All of which you had nothing to do with, I'm sure."

His eyes narrowed slightly. She was watching him for a reaction, out of the corner of her eye. But he had nothing to hide. "If I did, I don't remember it."

"Of course not," she sighed. "In any case, the Viyrans, in cleaning up the damage, may be part of the solution to the initial problem of sickness being spread across the galaxies, but their cleanup efforts do not take into account the necessity of preserving the original timeline. Reconstructions of fixed points are long and tedious, Doctor. And we've had to do a number of them to set right the cleansing efforts of the Viyrans."

"You seem to know a lot more about them than what I've been able to find," the Doctor said with curiosity. "Is that simply because I haven't looked hard enough yet?"

"You have met them before, if that's what you're asking. At least twice."

"Then why don't I remember?"

"Why don't you remember traveling with Charley as your younger self?"

"Fair point."

"The question you should be asking is whether Charley is still with them."

"You think she's not?"

"I'm not certain why she would've gone to work for them in the first place. But I can tell you she's probably not traveling in time."

"Why do you say that?"

"The Viyrans' time travel techniques - if they could even be called that - are very primitive. They use a form of trans-temporal communication with their earlier or later selves rather than any sort of actual matter transport. If Charley's energy signature is scattered here and there about the Vortex, it didn't get there on a Viyran ship."

"Hmm..."

As the Doctor pondered that thought quietly, Romana shifted her weight onto her arms and hopped up onto the table. She crossed her legs elegantly under her robes as she watched him. "How did you two become separated in the first place?"

"That's the thing; I don't really know." With a sigh, he sat back and gave her a tired glance. "She was... We got separated during a skirmish with the Cybermen. I remember that much. But then she somehow came into contact with one of my former incarnations. Sixth, I think. Though I still don't remember."

"What do you remember?"

"Flashes, voices... Like ghosts in my mind. That feeling of déjà vu, but not really knowing what triggered it."

"That's not very helpful."

"I can hear bits and pieces, fragments of conversations. A startled look on her face, a laugh. But there's something... blocking my memory. Shutting me out."

"Well, for you to be here at all, the memory must be repairing. Otherwise you'd never know it was different at all."

He was quiet for a moment, considering. Then, he shook his head slowly as he gradually put his thoughts into words. "I just... I felt it shift, long ago; I knew... I could tell something had happened. In my mind, something had happened. I was in the Tardis and..."

"The moment when she met your former self, perhaps," Romana suggested. "Given the amount of time you two spent together, her timeline may have still been linked to yours up until that point."

"But I didn't pay much attention; why bother? The timeline rewrites itself all the time to compensate for tiny changes here and there. I didn't think about it again until just a few days ago, just before I came here."

"What made you think of it?"

"I felt... memories. Just tiny flashes of memories, things I've said and done and... and her."

Romana smiled knowingly. "You I knew Charley before you met her, and you didn't even realize it."

"It's no wonder I couldn't let her die on the R-101. I would've effectively been creating a paradox. I created a paradox that jeopardized the whole of the universe in order to avoid being caught in a much bigger one - figure out that equation!"

Romana smiled knowingly. "It's never simple with you, is it, Doctor?"

"Not by choice, I can assure you. At least, not this time."

She gave a sigh, and shook her head. "I suppose you two were meant for each other."

He didn't answer. Romana turned her attention to the papers spread out on the tabletop. "In spite of all the variables, I'm still quite surprised, considering Charley's... unique time signature, that she's so difficult to locate."

"Her energy signature is dormant while she's in stasis."

"In stasis?"

"That's my best guess, given the variation in her timeline. Especially if she's not time traveling. Unless she somehow turned into a human who can live for fifteen thousand years, they're keeping her asleep." He sighed. "But just gathering information has been a hell of a task. The Viyrans and the Time Lords aren't the best of bedfellows."

"That's putting it mildly. The more we're able to avoid them face to face, the less damage done to the Web of Time. We just run about after them, cleaning up the destruction they leave in their wake. And since their work is protected by the fine print..."

"I have various pieces recorded throughout the timeline where they'vecrossed paths with a Tardis," the Doctor continued. "But even then, it's difficult to tell what order they go in or if she was there. There's only two points in all the timelines I've sifted through so far where she's actually awake and alert when the Viyrans have crossed into the data recovery field of a Tardis."

"Might your own Tardis Matrix be a better place to look for details on your parting of the ways?"

The Doctor glanced up at her. "That would mean relinking the Matrix of my Tardis to Gallifrey."

Romana laughed. "Oh, heaven forbid."

"I did it once, Romana, but those were exceptional circumstances. Besides, it's not the parting of the ways I'm looking for."

"What are you looking for, then? What, specifically?"

"I have to find the latest point in the Matrix recording where she shows up. At that point, I can pick up her trail, follow them in the Tardis. A thousand years, if I have to, until she's outside the bounds of all fixed points in the Web of Time."

Romana stared at him. He could sense her apprehension as she played out that scenario in her mind. "Doctor," she said softly, "you know as well as I do that you will not silently follow the Viyrans for a thousand years, watching as they sterilize planet after planet."

"You're wrong." He gave her a hard look. "I will. For Charley, I will."

She hesitated. "Why not simply meet them at that final point recorded in the Matrix? Then there will be no need to follow them. Your intervention would change nothing in the Web of Time and you could trace her backwards from there."

"Romana, have you seen the number of timelines I've been trying to sort through?" He closed the projection and brought up the stacks and stacks of files. "All of them fixed points. One mistake - and while potentially interfering in my own timeline, no less..."

She studied him with interest. "I just find it curious that you're not opting for the hands on approach."

"Which would be?"

"Simply asking them where she is?"

The Doctor looked away.

"If she's with them, rescue her. If she's not, find out when and where they separated."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

He sighed. It was difficult to admit and even more difficult to explain, but his reasons for putting himself through all of this had more to do with Romana than his own personal preferences. The Viyrans were powerful, and well respected among the major powers. He didn't want to run about wreaking political havoc with them when he'd used Romana's authority to gain access to what information he had. Besides that, Romana was out on a limb, trusting him to be here when the only guarantee they had that he wasn't dangerous was his own word. For once, he was trying to play completely by the rules, for her sake. And that included observance of the Non-Interference Policy, and mandated the effort he was putting into changing the recorded history of the Matrix as little as possible.

"You know, there is another possibility," she said after a moment's pause.

He glanced up questioningly.

"Integrating yourself with the mainframe itself will allow you complete access to the Matrix, including any Tardis presently gathering information, at a thousand times the speed."

"You mean integrating yourself," he corrected. "The only way to do that is with the Coronet, and the only one authorized to use that is the President."

"Well, anyone else who tried would probably be killed without the proper training on integration technique." She paused, watching him as if to make sure he was understanding her implication. "Unless, of course, he'd used it before. But that would mean he'd have to be a former president."

He raised a brow, amused by her suggestion. "I'm not sure the Council would approve, Madame President. And a breach like that wouldn't go unnoticed for long."

"Unnoticed, no. But if that individual were to work quickly, he might be well enough able to pass into the Vortex in time for it to go unpunished."

He studied her for a moment, curiously. "Why?" he finally asked, point blank. True, it wasn't a terrible risk for her. There was no rule that explicitly stated that she was at fault if some poor, suicidal soul decided to try and make use of the Coronet of Rassilon to enter the Matrix. But it was a breach of protocol, nevertheless - and one he'd not asked for.

She smiled softly as she placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Doctor, for you to spend this long sitting in the Matrix, for you to go through all this trouble..."

"But that's not your problem, Romana. It's mine."

"You're my problem, as ever," she finally stated, with the full authority of her presidential office behind her. "And you shouldn't travel alone. You really do need someone with you, to keep you out of trouble if nothing else. Charlotte Pollard is obviously the woman who has your hearts."

He was quiet for a moment, then looked away, at the mess of papers and notes.

"So find her," Romana continued softly. "For what it's worth, Doctor - and certainly not in any official capacity - you two have my blessing."

The Doctor nodded slowly. She was right, he could sort through the entire content of the Matrix in a matter of seconds if he integrated with it. It would take him days or weeks more to do it at the rate he'd been going.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Yes. And thank you." He glanced up and placed a hand over hers on his arm. "Really, thank you."

"You're welcome," she answered with a warm smile. "Just don't make me regret it."