Seo was already at the far side of the room, pacing in front of the wall, staring at it from different angles — walking close to it, then jumping back further, crouching low then jumping high. Even tried to cross her eyes.

"What...?" Kardeni began.

Seo's eyes lit up, and she ran over. "There! Right there!" She thudded a fist down on a section of the wall, and the room rumbled. A series of clicks and groans and mechanical whines surrounded them, as a quarter of the wall in front of them slowly turned and folded outwards, revealing a dark, hidden alcove.

The lights clicked on inside the alcove.

Seo ran inside, staring in wonder at something that looked almost like a crystal city, splayed out before them — except every building and tower was connected. Beautiful, glistening spires of not-quite-glass held a flowing supply of not-quite-water, which was — in different areas — flowing, dripping, boiling, and condensing.

"What is this thing?" Seo asked.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse. "Human technology." He returned to his work on the chair. "A system that's a good half-century out of date."

Kardeni stepped inside. "It's a Mark 12." She squatted down beside one of the towers, squinting at it. "Mr. Hoyer used to use them all the time, when we first started. But we decided it'd be more secure to get rid of the old systems and store all our data in the Battle TARDIS." She pinged it with her fingernail. "I don't know why this is still here."

"But what is it?" Seo said, crossing her arms.

"Nearest analogy to your world," the Doctor said, climbing on top of the chair and yanking off the top, "it's a secure server. Very secure. Popular with government folks, spies, and — of course — criminals." He pointed the sonic screwdriver over his shoulder and buzzed it at the machine. "Supposedly hack-proof. Well, unless you're me."

The liquid inside the machine changed color, suddenly rushing through the small crystal city at twice the speed. Boiling areas changed to cooling areas. Condensation areas turned into mini-whirlpools. Flashes of light began to appear inside the liquid, more and more frequently, and then a series of holographic bricks appeared on the floor around them.

"How did you...?" Kardeni asked.

The Doctor stuck the sonic between his teeth and shoved his hands into the interior of the chair, adjusting the internal mechanisms. "Flubum huffun whuffum!"

Seo had clearly long-since decided to ignore him. She picked up one of the holographic bricks with her hands and stacked it on top of another one. The rest of the holographic bricks followed suit, flying through the air and assembling themselves into a pattern.

The bricks turned black and — superimposed — was the following message:

User Andrew Lantro authorized

Other User, Craig Kardeni, currently unavailable.

Continue erasing all data tagged Zeera? Y/N

"But that's..." Kardeni selected the 'No' option, then watched as the text swirled together and then exploded into an array of stars surrounding them. She began tapping on the stars, and each swelled beneath her hand into a full-fledged record. "But why would they...?"

Everything in the database was about Zeera Kardeni. Her birth certificate — a fake, the original supposedly 'misplaced'; transit records and school profiles — blanked or erased; census data hacked and altered. And scattered throughout were panicked messages, sent back and forth between Craig Kardeni and Andrew Lantro...

"Holy shit. No one remembers a Zeera Stenner attending preschool where it says she did..."

"Just came back from Liron-2. Can't find any records of her before age 9. Then, suddenly, bang! Like she appeared out of nowhere."

"There's nothing. Everything's been doctored or altered or lost. I'm starting to think this crazy conspiracy theory might be right after all."

Kardeni's eyes narrowed. "But this is absurd!" she shouted. "I remember growing up! I remember my sixth birthday, when my parents took me to the beach and a SeaBurc threw up on me. I remember sitting on the roof watching trans-temporal fireworks while eating a whole plate of stuffed teartaras when I was 8." She bunched her hands into fists. "I had a life before I was 9! I'm sure of it."

"Threw up on you?" The Doctor looked up. "Do you have a spring birthday?"

Kardeni nodded. "Why?"

"Oh, well, they do that in the spring," the Doctor said, getting back to his work. "Mum spent weeks trying to wash the smell out of my hair. Lovely beach the rest of the year, though." He buzzed at the chair with his sonic screwdriver. "They're not called SeaBurcs, by the way. Nor is that food called 'stuffed teartaras'. I can give you the recipe, if you're interested."

"That isn't funny," Kardeni said.

"I didn't mean it to be," the Doctor replied. He thumped his hand against the chair. "Memory implantation on this thing's almost non-functional. Most of your early memories are probably mostly intact. Few words switched round, here and there. Few faces altered. Most things unique to Gallifrey obfuscated or suppressed."

Kardeni turned around and glared at him. "I am not Bivazeer. I'm not your friend!"

"Do you remember looking into the untempered schism when you were eight?" the Doctor asked.

"No, I don't," said Kardeni, pointedly. "What even is an untempered schism?"

"Big thing," the Doctor said. "Very bright. You can see the whole of time and space through it. Absolutely terrifying."

Kardeni hesitated, as a spark of terror ignited in her eyes.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Oh, well, that reaction's very telling. Isn't it, Zeera-Bev?"

"A vague, indistinct memory of something bright and scary?" Kardeni shook her head, incredulously. "My son Greg was in a school play when he was eight. He was blinded by the stage lights, forgot all his lines, and ran offstage in terror. Are you saying he's a Time Lord, too?"

"No," the Doctor said, shoving his sonic further down into the chair and buzzing it on a very low frequency. "And you're right — there are plenty of fireworks displays and weak-stomached birds all over the universe."

"Thank you!"

"It's just that," the Doctor went on, "when you combine it with your name, your ability to speak fluent Gallifreyan with a native Gallifreyan accent, your recognition of me, your ability to hear the TARDIS, your dreams, your reaction to Biv's real name, your inexplicable knowledge of Time War battlefields, your ability to ace Denoring's test without a sweat, and... I could go on like this all day." The Doctor buzzed at a different section of the chair. "Basically, you're batting a perfect 'Time Lord'."

Kardeni turned back to the data. "I'll prove I'm human!" She began tapping on things at random, searching for something. "Craig and Andrew will have spoken to Jules. He was at the hospital with my parents the day I was born."

"Jules?" Seo asked.

"The family friend I told you about," Kardeni said, still tapping at stars, "who took me in after my parents died." She grinned, as she found the star she wanted. "There. Jules conversation." Tapped on it.

The sound of a recorded call cut through the air around them.

"...Jules," Lantro was saying. "And yes, he says he was there the day the Stenners' child was born. He can verify her existence."

"Thank you!" Kardeni said.

"Whose existence?" Craig's voice asked. "Zeera's or Ashley's?"

"Ashley's," Lantro said. "I asked about Zeera, and he said he didn't know what the deal was. As far as Jules is concerned, the Stenners left for Liron-2 with one child and came back with a different one. He asked the Stenners about it, but they never explained it satisfactorily. They just told him that, for Zeera's sake, he should pretend that Ashley never existed."

"And the psychiatric files?" Craig asked.

"Disappeared." Lantro sighed. "Look, Craig, you're married to the woman. Has she ever mentioned an Ashley Victoria Stenner?"

Kardeni's face went white. "Ashley...?" She shook her head. "No. No, they're mistaken. That doesn't make any sense."

"No," Craig admitted. "It's fucking weird is what it is. Did you get the fob watch?"

"Jules didn't have it," Lantro said. "Said he'd never seen anything like it before. I checked all the places he thought her parents might have stashed it. Nothing."

Craig gave a long sigh. "It has to be somewhere, Andy! You proved that."

"You never miss a chance to remind me that this is all my fault, do you?" Lantro said, dully. He sighed. "Fine. Fine! I'll go back to Liron-2 this weekend. Look again."

"And if you see any Time Lords," Craig said, "remember..."

"...bullet through each heart," Lantro confirmed. "And don't stop shooting until they stop regenerating." There was the sound of a gun charging up in the background. "Oh, yeah. Trust me. I'm not letting anyone — Time Lord or otherwise — touch her again. One operating arena from hell was more than enough."