Author's Note: Just FYI, during the Doctor and Romana's search for the Key to Time, they ran into someone named Princess Strella, who wound up being an exact double of Romana's first incarnation.

Interesting that she is an exact double of Romana's first incarnation, while Astra (whom we're seeing, right now) is an exact double of Romana's second incarnation...

Enjoy!

"So. Tell me. Who are the 'Pacifists'?" the Doctor asked, as they headed to the palace.

Seo acted as if she'd never heard the term, before. "Pacifists? I don't know what you…"

"Back in that Dalek base, you asked Narvin if I was a Pacifist," the Doctor said. "And he said no. I thought you meant pacifist with a lowercase 'p'… but after speaking to Queen Astra, I'm beginning to think differently."

Seo said nothing.

"They're a group, aren't they?" the Doctor said. "And since Queen Astra seems to know all about Daleks and Time Lords… I think I can make a fairly accurate guess about which war they're trying to prevent."

Seo gestured around herself. "You haven't figured out where we are, have you, Doctor?"

"Atrios," the Doctor said. "Twin planet to Zeos."

"And the furthest outreach of the Olitzitz War," Seo added.

Ah.

Now, this was starting to make more sense.

"Atrios and Zeos were fighting their own war, at the time," Seo said. "An atomic war. But the Zeons got caught up in the larger conflict. They programmed a computer to automate their war against Atrios, and then headed off, to fight for the Olitzitz. It… didn't go well. There are no Zeons left, Doctor. Not a single one."

"Meaning the Zeons left Atrios fighting against nothing but a battle computer, lingering on an abandoned planet," the Doctor said. "Yes, I remember that." He cleared his throat. "So Queen Astra is, indirectly, a victim of your Olitzitz War?"

"All the Pacifists were affected by the Olitzitz War, in one way or another," Seo said. "Most fought on the front lines, like me. Many saw their worlds almost or completely destroyed. All have sworn never to let it happen, again."

"You fought on the front lines?" The Doctor cast her a sideways glance. "You told me you were just a child, during that war!"

Seo sighed. "What can I say? It was that kind of war."

The Doctor scrutinized her, closely. Trying to figure out whether or not she was lying.

He couldn't work it out.

"Liantor's father, 'Grand Statesman' Ergun, also fought in the war, towards the end," Seo said. "The moment his planet joined the war, he enlisted — even though he had to lie about his age, to do so. Too young. Way too young. He thought it'd prove he was a real man." Seo's eyes dropped to the ground. "But it didn't. The war destroyed him."

The Doctor nodded.

He'd seen this happen, time and time again, in wars.

"I only ran into him once, during the war," Seo said. She looked into the distance, almost seeing it play out, in front of her. "Part of me will always see him like that. The scared little soldier, trembling in terror on a battlefield, so sure he was going to die."

Then Seo blinked.

And snapped out of her reverie.

"That kind of war can't happen, again," Seo said. "I won't let it happen, again. You can see what it did to Ergun! What do you think it'd do to Narvin? Or even to you?"

"I'm not fighting a war for the Time Lords," the Doctor insisted. "I'm not a soldier."

Seo crossed her arms. "The Daleks' number one enemy? Don't make me laugh."

The Doctor sighed. But figured it wasn't worth arguing with her.

"Well, you Pacifists do have an admirable goal," said the Doctor, changing the subject. "Even if it's impossible."

"Just because we're not one of your so-called 'higher races'?" Seo gave him a pointed stare. "And therefore, not as intelligent or capable as you, oh supreme being?"

"No, it's just that Daleks always break any treaty they sign," the Doctor said. "So there's no way to negotiate a successful peace treaty with them." He brushed back his hair, with a sigh. "Trust me. I know."

"And yet… the peace talks are working," Astra said, as she caught up with them. Her own group of soldier escorts joined those already escorting the Doctor and Seo, as they all approached the palace. "We've delayed the war by decades, now."

"Impossible!" said the Doctor. "Through just peace talks?"

"Until the talks began to break down, yes." Astra turned to Seo, shooting her a hard, cold glare. "You shouldn't be discussing the Pacifists with Time Lords. Have you lost your mind?"

Seo shrugged. "So everyone keeps saying."

Astra's glare turned even colder. "First, you bring Narvin into the group," she said, "and now, you're blabbing our secrets to any Time Lord who happens to be nearby! You are supposed to be an impartial arbiter, working for the peace of the universe! Yet everywhere I go, I hear talk of you and the Time Lords. Working together."

"I need Narvin for the peace talks," Seo insisted. "I told you. We need one Time Lord and one Dalek. Narvin's on the Time Lord side of things."

"One Time Lord," Astra said. Gestured at the Doctor. "He makes two."

Seo dismissed this with the wave of her hand. "Yeah, but he's the Doctor. He doesn't count."

Astra's eyes still blazed with anger. "And where's the Dalek?"

Seo frowned. "Huh?"

"One Time Lord and one Dalek, you say," Astra repeated. "So far, I've seen two Time Lords. And no Daleks."

Seo grimaced. "Right. Um…"

"How could you have been negotiating peace talks between the Time Lords and the Daleks," Astra said, "with no Daleks, Seo? Tell me that!"

Seo said nothing.

She was clearly racking her brain, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"Our group has trusted you with the fate of the universe," said Queen Astra. "I've trusted you with the fate of my planet. Was I mistaken?!"

"No," Seo insisted.

"You say that," said Astra, "but I hear rumors that you're an agent of Gallifrey, rumors that you and Narvin are romantically involved, rumors that there's no record of you ever being near the Olitzitz War. Even rumors that you are the true ruler of my planet, and I am… dead." She held her head in her hands. "My memories make no sense! My mind is in turmoil. Why do I remember the Doctor, remember he saved Atrios and ended our war with Zeos, but can't remember anything else about what happened, while he was here? Why do the records show I'm dead, when I'm clearly still alive? Why do I remember the Chaos Pool, but know I never found it?!"

Seo said nothing.

"How often have you been lying to me, Seo?" Astra demanded.

"Maybe here and there, with a few little things… but I promise, I've always been honest about the big things," Seo said, as they walked through the gates and double doors, and entered Queen Astra's palace. "Really, Astra. I'm on your side."

Their footsteps echoed across the marble floors, in the front hall of the palace.

"And this 'Key to Time'?" Astra demanded. "Is that another 'little thing'?"

Seo grimaced. "Well… no. But, to be fair, I didn't actually lie about that one. I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

Astra's glare made it quite clear that this wasn't a good excuse.

"And what do you think, Doctor?" Astra said, turning to him. "Is Seo working for my people? Or is she a two-faced, manipulative liar?"

The Doctor wasn't listening, though. He was too busy scanning the air with his sonic screwdriver, trying to track down where Seo was keeping the Key to Time.

"Impressive shielding," the Doctor commented. He waved the sonic around. "With some clever scanning, I can just about get a faint reading that something's here, but can't get a fix on what or where it is."

"Doctor!" Astra snapped, grabbing the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's hands. "Is Seo lying to me?"

The Doctor sighed, irritated. How had he managed to get drawn into this ridiculous spat? "All right, then. Yes. She is. There are no peace talks. Never have been." He grabbed back his sonic screwdriver. "Happy?"

Astra stared. "No… peace talks?!"

"Thanks, Doctor," Seo grumbled. "Way to break it to her, gently."

"Well, it hardly matters," the Doctor said, brushing the whole thing off, as he got back to scanning. "Peace talks with the Daleks wouldn't amount to much. I think Seo's been rather more clever and rather more successful, without them."

The Doctor switched some settings around on the sonic, and analyzed the readings, one final time.

"Quite brilliantly clever, in fact," the Doctor muttered. He turned to Seo. "Would I be correct in guessing there's a certain Princess Strella of the planet Tara, in your group of Pacifists?"

"You mean Queen Strella, descendent of the Royal Kings of Tara, Mistress of the domains of Thorvald, Mortgarde, and Freya?" asked Astra.

"That's the one," the Doctor confirmed. He looked down at his sonic screwdriver. "Interesting. Very interesting. It's all starting to make sense."

Seo said nothing.

"Of course, you've known this, all along," the Doctor said to Seo, tucking away the sonic. "After all. You told me, yourself… you know what's killing Romana."

"I know, now," Seo protested. "I didn't, when I started. Narvin figured it out."

"When you brought him into the Pacifists group?" the Doctor asked.

"Right when the Key stopped working," Seo agreed. "I needed another set of eyes, to help figure out what was going wrong. And I trust Narvin."

Astra stopped them, both. Her fury and confusion grew, with every word they said.

"What are you two talking about?!" Queen Astra demanded. "What has Seo really been up to, on Atrios? Tell me!"

Seo and the Doctor looked at one another.

But said nothing.

"I command you to tell me the truth, Seo," Astra said. "Either you will give me the answers I require, now, and remain here as my guest, or you'll surrender your answers under forced interrogation, as my prisoner. But you will tell me everything."

Seo stared. "Prisoner?"

Astra clapped her hands, and the nearby soldiers quickly surrounded Seo and the Doctor, weapons all aimed at Seo's head.

"Wow, that turned ugly, fast," Seo muttered, raising her hands.

"You're a traitor to this planet, Seo," Astra accused. "You treated me as your puppet and forced me to dance to your every whim. You and Narvin laughed at our misfortune, as you manipulated us for the sake of Gallifrey's war!"

"What?" Seo shook her head. "Where's all this stuff coming from? Have you been talking to Liantor?"

"We Atrians will not die for your Time War!" Astra shouted. "We would rather die free, than die as slaves to Gallifrey! And if this is the final moment we can die free, I will take it." She turned to the soldier nearest her. "Poison the water supply, across the planet."

The Doctor snapped his head up, surprised. "I'm sorry?!"

"Astra, what do you think you're doing?!" Seo shouted.

The soldier, surprisingly, just gave a curt nod and went to do Astra's bidding.

Seo lunged forwards and tackled him.

Another soldier shot at her.

The bullet grazed her left arm, but slammed into the heart of the soldier she'd tackled. The soldier died, beneath her.

"Your majesty, if I may…" the Doctor began, turning the sonic on Astra.

Astra swatted the sonic away. "And now, Seo, you're murdering my soldiers and expecting me to sit back and ignore it? Well, I won't. If you kill my people, I'll kill yours." She gestured at another one of her guards. "Shoot the Time Lord."

"Astra, don't you realize…?" the Doctor began.

Seo jumped to her feet. "Countermand that," she commanded, pointing at Astra.

Astra, as if acting on her own thoughts, suddenly shouted, "No, hold fire! Don't kill him."

Then Astra frowned, and put her hand up to her head.

"I mean…" Astra said, confused.

"Send the soldiers away," Seo commanded, stepping towards Astra. "Tell them not to poison the planet."

Astra, promptly, did precisely as she was commanded. She acted as if the entire thing was her idea, in the first place.

The Doctor stared between the two.

He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"I hate having to do this to her," Seo sighed, answering the Doctor's unasked question. "My sire used to do it to me… and it scared the living daylights out of me. I promised myself I'd never do it to anyone else."

"No," Astra said, her hands on her head. "This isn't me, talking. This is… manipulation! It's a lie! It's…!"

Seo grabbed Astra by the shoulders. "Astra, calm down," she said. "Okay? I'm not going to hurt you. Just look straight ahead… like that. There you go."

Seo studied Astra, top to bottom.

"Damn," said Seo. "Nothing obviously wrong with her. She seems fine." She stared into Astra's eyes, like she was analyzing something inside of them. "Maybe it's a virus or something."

The Doctor edged forwards, carefully. "A computer virus, you mean? After all… she isn't real."

"She's real enough," Seo replied. She squinted, unable to see any clues in Astra's eyes. "I found her inside the Key to Time. Figured… she's more useful out here than in there." Seo stepped away from her, shaking her head. "Yeah, I can't find anything wrong with her, at all. I have no idea why she freaked out on us, like that."

The Doctor scanned his sonic up and down the Queen Astra.

Strangely enough… he got no readings from her.

Like she didn't exist.

"Oh, well," Seo said. She snapped her fingers. "I'll give her a reset. That'll wipe whatever-it-is from her head."

The Doctor stared, in amazement, as Queen Astra exploded into a rainbow of light and color. Then, swirling into the air, the light coalesced and reformed Astra's figure.

"Astra, are you there?" Seo asked, stepping forwards and putting her hands on Astra's arms. "Are you awake?"

Astra twitched, blinking.

"Good," Seo said. She looked deep into Astra's eyes. "Let's go ahead and reinitialize. Who are you?"

Astra met Seo's eyes. "I am nothing," she said. "I am dead. I am a matter projection of the woman who was a disguise for the sixth segment of the Key to…"

"No, you're a living, breathing person," Seo corrected. "You're Queen Astra, Ruler of Atrios and President of the Atrios Alliance. You've never even heard of the Key to Time. It doesn't exist."

"There is no Key to Time," Astra repeated.

"Good," said Seo. "Next. How did you and I first meet?"

A look of horror spread across Astra's face. "The Chaos Pool," she whispered. "I remember… the whole universe was about to shatter. I remember dying. But then, I woke up. I was screaming. I…!"

"No, no, no, forget all of that," Seo said. Kept staring into Astra's eyes. "You never found the Chaos Pool. Got that?"

"But I did," Astra insisted. "I did! And he was there." She pointed at the Doctor. "The Doctor! He was there, with a different face! I remember him!"

Seo glanced back at the Doctor, irritated that he was making this difficult for her. But then met Astra's eyes, again.

"And then I woke up, screaming," said Astra, "and you were there, with your hands glowing so brightly, and I realized I couldn't move, I couldn't even make a noise, I was trapped inside a segment and I was suffocating and my brain was falling to pieces, and no one even knew…!"

"Astra, forget that," Seo said, more forcefully. "Forget being a segment. Forget being trapped inside the Key to Time. It never happened. There is no Key to Time."

Astra began to calm. "There… is no Key to Time."

The Doctor stepped forwards, horrified. "She remembers being a segment?"

"Always," Seo confirmed. She took a deep breath. "Astra. This is how we met. You called for the Great Rebuilder, just before you departed for the Chaos Pool. You never found the Chaos Pool. When you returned home, I was waiting for you."

"I… called you," Astra repeated. "And you came and saved our world."

"That's right," Seo agreed. "And when you heard I fought in the Olitzitz War, you offered to let me join the Pacifists."

Astra frowned. "I thought… you asked me to let you join…"

"No, it was your idea," Seo said. "Not mine. Yours. Got that?"

"My idea," Astra repeated.

"Perfect." Seo stepped away, and waved her hands at Astra. "Well! Go ahead! Wake up! Go back to normal!"

Astra wavered, on her feet.

"What, where…?" Astra said.

"Feeling better, now?" Seo asked her. "Not planning to poison everyone on the planet or try to kill the Doctor?"

Astra put her hands to her head. "Of course not. I'd never…" Her breath hitched, as she remembered. "But… no! I couldn't have…!"

"What happened, to make you want to poison everyone, Queen Astra?" the Doctor asked. "What was inside that box Liantor showed you?"

"I don't know!" Astra said. "That memory's just… gone! Blanked from my head." She gestured at Seo. "All I know is… I hated her. I wanted her to suffer for what she did. I wanted to break her into tiny pieces and stomp on them. And destroying the planet… would do that, to her."

"Sorry, you were willing to wipe out your own planet, just to make her suffer?" the Doctor asked.

He glanced at Seo.

Seo seemed none the wiser. "I'd assumed it was Liantor who put her up to this, but even he's not that bad." She paused. "I hope."

In the distance, Seo and the Doctor heard the footsteps of a large number of guards.

The Doctor grabbed Seo by the arm. "Astra may have snapped out of it, but her guards didn't. If anyone saw what you did to Astra…"

He began to run, dragging Seo after him.

"I'll hold them off!" Astra called after them. "You two — find somewhere to hide!"

They raced through the palace, their footsteps cacophonous, against the marble floor. Seo yanked the Doctor to the right, as she recognized her surroundings — and knew precisely where they needed to go.

"You and I, Seo," the Doctor said, as they ran, "need to have a little chat about the ethics of rewriting people's memories."

Seo shrugged. "Why? I'm only erasing the traumatic stuff. You got a problem with that?"

"Yes, I do," the Doctor replied. "They're her memories. She should be entitled to use them however she wants. By rewriting them, you're simply… manipulating her into trusting you!"

"It's just easier, when I do it this way," Seo said. "I didn't, with Ergun, and you can see how well that turned out."

"It's still wrong," the Doctor said. "Morally wrong. I won't let you keep manipulating her like that."

Seo scoffed. "Her! Why stop at just her? I'm manipulating pretty much everyone in the Pacifist group, in one way or another. Why do you think I brought Astra back to life, in the first place? I needed a way in."

The Doctor gave her a hard, cold glare. "So this is the only reason you're saving Atrios?" he said. "To manipulate people and events, so you have a way into the Pacifists group and a good place to store the Key to Time?"

"Not the only reason," Seo said. She brushed back a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail, as she raced around a curve in the hallway. "Why? What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to make the lies stop, Seo," said the Doctor. "I'm going to make you tell all your Pacifists the truth."

Seo shook her head. "That isn't a good idea."

"The truth's going to come out, sooner or later," the Doctor said. "You might as well make it sooner."

"Not if I want to live to see 'later', I won't," Seo muttered. She shook her head. "Do you want to tell me what you were doing at the Chaos Pool, with Astra? Or are you just going to leave me guessing?"

The Doctor stumbled, at the sudden change in topic. "Sorry?" He got his thoughts and his footing back in order. "Yes. Right. Chaos Pool. Well… I was there. The Key to Time was disintegrating, and taking the universe with it. I threw the segments into the Chaos Pool, to destroy them."

"Disintegrating?" Seo considered. "So… the Key to Time has a limited lifespan, and after that, it just disintegrates and destroys the universe?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor admitted. He hadn't wanted to mention this part of the story. It was a bit embarrassing. "It was… sort of… my fault. I broke the Key to Time."

Seo's eyes lit up, with sudden curiosity. "How?"

"I assembled the Key, and paused time across the universe, even though I didn't have the sixth segment," the Doctor said. "I created a mock-up segment. There were rather pressing reasons, at the time."

"And… I'm guessing… the Key wasn't designed to work with only five segments?" Seo asked.

"Nope," the Doctor confirmed. "The segments became unstable. Nearly collapsed every dimension of time."

"So that's why that Tevin needed me to fix the segments!" Seo realized. "It all makes sense, now."

The Doctor looked at her, curiously. He still wasn't sure how she'd managed to 'fix' them.

Or what the Tevin people might want, themselves, with a Key to Time on their hands.

"The Key to Time is extremely dangerous," the Doctor warned. "It has enough power to instantly stop and start time across an infinitely expanding universe — and that is massive. I didn't trust myself to keep that power. And I'm still not convinced that I can trust you."

"What? You think I should have sold off the Key to Time to the highest bidder?" Seo grinned. "Well. Maybe I'll do that, later."

"I'm serious," the Doctor sighed. "You're a good person, at heart — but you've still got a manipulative underhandedness about you that undermines that goodness. The thought of you with absolute power… well, quite frankly, it terrifies me."

The grin faded, and Seo turned serious.

"It terrifies me, too," she agreed. "But I don't want power. I don't want to rule empires or be god of the universe or anything like that. I'm on way too many police wanted lists to benefit from that kind of publicity."

The Doctor said nothing.

"The Key to Time isn't about power, Doctor," said Seo. "Not to me, at least. It's an artifact with the ability to stop and start time, across the universe. And that means… it's my only chance to prevent a universal and temporal catastrophe."

She slowed, then waved her hand in front of a random tapestry. The tapestry shimmered, then faded, revealing a hidden door.

"Inside," Seo commanded. "Before someone sees us."

"I thought you said you were manipulating everyone around here — so it wouldn't matter, even if anyone did see us entering," said the Doctor. He tilted his head, sideways. "Or are you not actually as keen on mind control as you pretend?"

"Just because I can do something, doesn't mean I actually want to," Seo replied. "And not everyone's as easy to control as Astra." She pushed him inside. "Now, get in there."

She yanked the door shut, behind them, then re-established the tapestry disguise. She stood, a moment, by the door. Listening, to make sure no one had seen her enter.

Lucky for her, no one had.

Second Author's Note: I guess you can argue about the ethics of brainwashing Astra. I mean, it's true that brainwashing people into believing a lie is bad, even when that lie makes you happy. But, on the other hand, I'm not sure how functional or emotionally stable Astra would be, without the lie. She obviously remembers everything, and finds it difficult and traumatic. Definite PTSD.

Wiping her memory may not be the way to deal with that trauma, but considering that Seo first brought her back when Atrios was a dying world with a sick and nearly-dead population, I'm not sure they would have been able to find a psychiatrist who could deal with it any better.

You can see that the Doctor kind of disarms Seo, with his argument on morality, here, because Seo slips right back into her 'morally ambiguous supervillain' act. I noticed her doing that a lot in this story, which was interesting, because she's never done it to this extent, before. True, she does it a little with Chiara and Jim, when they warn her that she's doing something scummy, but it's different, there. Then again, there's kind of a big difference between talking to a 13-year-old and talking to a 900 year old Time Lord.

I do think the Doctor disarms Seo a lot more than she's used to. He calls her out on things she does that are morally questionable, often in a way that she can't really deny. Her playing into it is a way to brush off his accusations, but I think, on some level, it probably really does bother her.

Perhaps that's why she acts more like this, in this story, than in Dux Bellorum or Shockwave Vampires.