"I don't..."

Thalia rubbed at her brow. Peri shook her head as she continued to look at the papers "There's a great deal of information here."

"Gallifrey's history is very long. Our race has been around since the beginning of the second expanse; our culture has been active and in various stages of evolution for the better part of 1000 millennia. That equates to a..."

"An extremely large book," Peri breathed. She sighed. "But I can't give you any more information than what is in the Doctor's report. You'd have to ask him about ideas..."

"...and conjectures, yes," Thalia responded. "Has he talked to anyone about the information?"

"Only Tegan and I," Peri stated.

"Well at least there's that," Thalia sighed and sat back in the chair. The door behind her opened and a guard stuck his head inside.

"Lady President, the Doctor and his companion are back at their suite and he is inquiring about Lady Peri"

Thalia nodded. "Inform him Lady Peri will be sent back with no delay, but that he is not to leave his suite. Please send a squad to guard the door of the suite. No entrance and no exit without permission and please accompany Lady Peri back to the rooms."

Peri sat back in the chair and crossed her arms petulantly. "He's not going to like being a prisoner."

"And he has every right to feel that way," Thalia said she rose. "But that does not change the situation. He has left me with little choice until he answers for his theories and for the existence of this information. That is all I require from you at this moment, Peri. Return to your suite."

The girl frowned as the door closed on the President of the High Council. "Good God, Doc...what have you gotten us into now?"

The door opened slowly to reveal the suite as she had left it. The guard that escorted Peri was very gentlemanly in her estimation. But gentleman like or not, she wasn't too thrilled that she knew that they couldn't leave the room.

The guard shut the door which left Peri staring at it, holding the rather large book of Gallifreyan history. Then the image of Tegan the last time she had undergone testing flooded her mind's eye.

A crash of the book to the carpet accompanied Peri's frantic scrambling for the interior doors. She opened the first one to reveal nothing. Her steps quickened to the next door, nearly running for the other room. When she reached the next portal, she threw it open. Expecting to see a panicked and visibly upset, yet infinitely quiet Tegan in a terror on the bed, she burst through and into the interior.

Peri stopped dead.

Her friends stood in front of the wide window against the burnt orange sky. The Doctor's lips were on Tegan's and her friend seemed to be not overly involved, but not overly disinterested as well. At the sound of the door ricocheting off of the wall, the Doctor drew back and glanced at Peri.

She could see the sheepishness in his expression and the shadowed look to his eyes.

"Ah...Peri..." he began and lifted one hand from Tegan's shoulders to rub at his neck.

With a sigh, she gave him a grin. "Did she like it? Did she react?"

"Hmmm," was the non-committal reply. He cleared his throat and then gave her a smile. "A little I suppose. Wasn't entirely a reflexive move," he clarified. He gently escorted her to the stuffed chair in the room and when she was safely seated he turned to Peri. "Now...how did the meeting with Thalia go? I gather she wanted to corner you about the information on our most recent Earth visit and the scriptures."

"You hit that nail on the head, Doctor," Peri responded as she collapsed in the chair opposite Tegan. "She seems to think you're going to undermine the whole of Gallifreyan society. Since when did you become that big of a rebel?"

The Doctor gave a wide grin. "Ah, well...Peri...we all have our youths, don't we? But she does have a point about the information."

"We can talk about it in a moment," she responded. She stood and moved over to Tegan and brushed her hair gently behind her ear with one finger. With a sad smile, she brushed under Tegan's right eye. A small, single tear stayed on her skin. "How did it go with Tegan today? Did they have answers? Please tell me they did."

"They will tomorrow," the Doctor replied. He leaned forward and speared her with a long glance and then looked down at Peri's finger. "They will. They have to."

Peri sighed. "Did she..."

"No, she didn't have terrors this time," the Doctor said gently. "She actually was very, very calm."

With a wide smile, she patted Tegan's knee. "That's my Tegs." Peri turned the smile on the Doctor. "And your experiment with her? Did they mention something about that?"

"Experiment...ah...ah, no," the Doctor muttered, sudden understanding bringing a rose tint to his cheeks. "It was the last time I catalogued a response. Never mind...."

"It's all right, Doctor," Peri reassured as she returned to her chair. "I've seen worse...I did live with my parents, you know. And I don't much mind two people who care about one another showing it. It's a great deal better than a shouting match any day of the week."

"Yes, well..." the Doctor blinked and then rose to pace to the window. "I do hope that Thalia didn't give you too much of a..."

"Roasting? I might be young, Doc, but I have fought and I've been told that I have some stubbornness. Tegs taught me well in that. It wasn't all that big of a deal."

"You couldn't have had a better teacher..." the Doctor went to pace back to his chair. Tegan's hand reached out to catch the edge of his sleeve. He stopped immediately and sat down along side her. "She wanted to know to whom and about what I had talked."

"Again, perfectly dead on."

"Yes, well, Peri...I am older than I look," he responded. "Call it the wisdom of the ages. I'll admit to you that I kept you deliberately in the dark with my research after I released that we would have to come to Gallifrey. I wanted you to be able to answer honestly that you knew nothing."

She frowned. "Doctor...information like..."

"Ah well...I know this planet and this society, Peri. And I wish to have you protected. It was the best I could do."

"You must be a bitchin' chess player. But..."

"But?"

"She told me it had happened before."

The Doctor hissed a sigh through his teeth. He held Peri's gaze for a moment longer and then glanced down at his arm and Tegan's hand which rested there. "It has happened before..." he said quietly. Then louder, he continued: "And with a great deal of...death, Peri."

Peri opened her mouth but saw a look of pain cross the Doctor's face. She might have questions, but she wondered at the Doctor's demeanor. Although she had learned, especially of late, that when the Doctor didn't want to discuss something, his normal taciturn streak would become pronounced. In the past month, when discussing Tegan's condition after a particularly harrowing terror episode, he had abruptly turned away from Peri and had disappeared for a day. He had also appeared to have one temper flare after another, but was never truly mean.

Still, the change in his demeanor at that moment left her not wanting to press the issue. There would be time enough to have her questions answered in the future after one worry was removed from their minds; after Tegan was healed. Peri turned her attention to her friend as she fought the urge to cry. The sadness of separation from Tegan was beginning to wear on her.

"Shall I help you with Tegan?" Peri simply asked.

"I'll take care of her this evening," the Doctor responded lightly. "Although in the morning..."

Peri nodded and with a sigh, rose. "Then I'm going to retire to the room that Tegan and I have. I've got a bit of reading to do." She bent to give Tegan a kiss on the cheek and then left the room to leave the Doctor with his obvious worry.

"I do rather think that Peri would prefer to be with Tegan," the Doctor muttered into the vidcom. He leaned forward to place his hand firmly against the wall. "Thalia, they are friends. Is there no way to gain her entrance with us tomorrow morning?"

The visage of the Time Lady gentled a little. "There is a great deal of worry in your face, Theta. How grave is the health of your companion?"

"Ah, well...physically she is extremely healthy for her age and species. Her illness appears...almost...spiritual." The Doctor replied. "The morning will bring a decision on it, however. It's beyond my ability." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "The fact remains that I do think it would help Tegan to have the both of us with her."

"Humans and their need for society," Thalia mused. "But I have known you long enough to know that there is a two pronged reason behind your request."

"Does it matter?" he asked hotly.

"You wish to keep Peri from being questioned by me, don't you?" Thalia allowed a small smile.

"I wish you to not question her, yes. She knows nothing of Gallifrey, its history or its dark times. It is a pointless exercise."

Thalia leaned forward. "The information in these scripts that you purport them to contain-"

"Language and positioning...I don't believe in coincidence, Thalia."

"Having the information..."

"I don't believe in ignorance of self, either. Thalia, leave her alone. Let Peri come with Tegan and me tomorrow."

"You know what the information has done in the past, Theta. You-"

"Ah, yes..." he replied as his voice grew harsh and tight. "Yes, I do remember what information like this did for us in the past."

"Ignorance is best in things of this nature."

The Doctor sighed. "I gather you will not allow Peri with Tegan and me tomorrow."

"It will be discussed."

"Then if this is the answer, I think this conversation is at an end. Good evening."

He reached over and viciously turned off the vidcom. Then he rocked back on his heels, viciously sliding his hands into his pockets. "Ah, Tegan...sometimes I don't understand this planet. Don't they know that it isn't the information, but rather what you do with it that is the problem?"

With a grunt, he turned and faced his companion who sat, wrapped in blankets on the bed. He retreated to the bed and contemplated her with a gentle smile. "I wish I knew what was wrong with you. What's the matter, hmm? You laid your hand on me repeatedly today and pulled on my sleeve. You don't want me to leave you, I know. I know you intensely dislike Gallifrey. There was no other recourse, though. I have a feeling you are withdrawing more and more, Tegan."

She stared through him, he felt.

"The silence is going to start worrying me. The TARDIS is rather quiet," he joked. Then after a sobering moment, he continued. "We will get through this, I promise you. You will be quite as you were. There's no other answer for this, you know. You don't have a choice."

He gently covered her and led her to lie back on the bed. After a few seconds, he turned off the light and leaned over to give her a little kiss. "Sleep well."

Gallifrey: A History, pg. 1.

Out of the vast dark of the new expanse, the system of Kastoborous was brought forth. Upon the cooling and solidifying of the planetary material, life was brought forth on the eighth planet in the system. This planet was Gallifrey. The natural pressures were such that evolution occurred at a rapid rate. There were no false or unrealized branches. Bipedal life was finalized in less than ten million years from the last global environmental upheaval.

Such was the beginning of the oldest society in the Second Expanse.

Peri blearily stumbled along the corridor in the morning. The Doctor had procured something like coffee for her and it warmed her palms. When they slowed their frantic pace upon entering a lift, she rested back against the wall. As it began to rise, she was confronted through the glass with an amazing sunrise in the orange sky.

"What did they say?" Peri asked for the fifth time that morning. "Didn't they say anything? Didn't they give you any idea?"

"None." The response was clipped and hurried.

"It's a good thing she slept with you last night, Doctor," Peri commented in an attempt to keep the conversation light. "You don't like to undress her regularly. It was quicker this way."

The Doctor looked down at his companion, still half asleep as he carried her. Tegan's hair was slightly awry, but she was completely attired. "Yes, well..." the Doctor cleared his throat. "I suppose you do have a point with the efficiency of the matter."

"And will they let me in this time?"

"They will. That topic was the conversation in part this morning."

"And that worries you?" Peri pressed. "Hell, Doctor..."

The Doctor adjusted Tegan in his arms and nodded. "To admit you into the physician without a fight would mean that Thalia thought it necessary for you to be present."

"Bad news?"

"Good news rarely draws a crowd on Gallifrey."

The response was monotone, dead. Peri frowned in worry and stared straight ahead at the doors. When they had left the suite that morning with their guard detail, it had been hurried. She assumed it was on the Doctor's part to find an answer to what ailed Tegan. But now she dreaded their arrival at the medical wing. Still, the doors opened fairly quickly and they walked down the hall at a fast gallop.

"You want the answer to what's wrong with her regardless of the implications," Peri commented quietly.

"Yes. Don't you?" he asked. "I realize that it might be a slight shock to us, but knowledge is power, Peri."

Peri clasped Tegan's hand as they were admitted to a small comfortable office with modern furnishings. Everything seemed to be glass and crystal and metal. Cold and impersonal yet beautiful, it reminded her of the whole planet.

"Are you sure?"

Peri watched the Doctor as he paced the office. Tegan was seated next to her and Peri's arm was around her friend. There was something frantic in the way that the Doctor covered the ground.

"Spiritual separation was the only thing that made any sort of sense in the way of things, Doctor," the physician responded. "It was concluded upon with the committee last evening."

"Have you employed the central computer?" the Doctor asked tightly.

"Of course."

The Doctor sighed heavily and stopped his pacing to stare out the window. Peri rubbed Tegan's shoulder. "But we have an answer, that's a good thing, right? Now we can do something about it. At least it isn't lethal..." she commented. The last statement was directed at her friend. He had faced away from her.

The conversation continued around her as if she hadn't spoken.

"You are well aware of the implications of this diagnosis. Spiritual separation, in her instance, has been ongoing for too long now."

The Doctor's head inclined. Peri could see his fist as he formed it in the tight material of his trousers. There was silence and then a simple question: "How long?"

"With the amount of catatonia and disembodiment it will be, in my estimation, the matter of standard weeks. Possibly as much as six, as little as three weeks."

Peri felt tears beginning to prick at the back of her eyes. The sting was bittersweet. "How long for what? What are you two talking about?"

The Doctor turned slowly and looked at Peri. Then his gaze traveled to Tegan and stared at her for a long moment. Then he crossed the floor and stopped just feet from her. "Ah, Peri...spiritual separation is a condition in an individual where their consciousness and individualism slowly bleeds away. As it deepens and more of the personality is bled, the will to live-"

"The will to live?!" Peri nearly cried. "Are you saying that she's...that she's going to...that..."

The Doctor laid a hand on Peri's shoulder. His sigh and a nod answered her question. "That is the implication and prognosis, Peri."

"But that's- how...we have to do something!"

The physician contemplated her. "There is nothing to do in these instances, child. Often it is advised to allow the individual the dignity of an early demise-"

"You're going to kill her?!"

"No, Peri, we aren't," the Doctor said quietly. He knelt in front of Tegan and clasped her shoulders in his hands. She couldn't explain what she saw in his eyes. It was equal measure resignation, pain and sadness.

"Doctor-"

"We won't," he repeated. "That is not an option."

The physician sighed. "It may be the only humane option."

With a growing sense of agitation and panic, Peri began to cry. "Humane?"

The Doctor squeezed Tegan's shoulders. "She had had her soul removed from her body by a Joiba over a year ago. There was a soul bridge formed by another of that race. I was informed that it was whole and intact."

"It is possible that the soul bridge was dislodged recently," the physician mused. "For her to have survived that long after such an occurrence, the bridge would have to be whole and intact. Do you know where this Joiba is now?"

The Doctor bit his lip and shook his head firmly once. "No. No, no, but there must be something that can be done."

"You know as well as I do that we are unable to heal a soul, Doctor. If we were able to, we would be able to adjust personality mishaps after the twelfth regeneration and our life spans would increase."

Peri, through her tears, watched as the Doctor's eyes closed in pain. "I made her a promise," he stated, quietly, barely above a breath. "Trium?"

The physician started. Apparently, Peri thought crazily, that must have been his name and he was unaccustomed to being called it. "Yes, Theta?"

"I wish to ask something of you: a favor on our house."

The physician nodded. Although the Doctor wasn't facing him, he took his silence as a positive response. "Allow me into the archives..."

"We went through the entire..."

"You know my methods of research," the Doctor pressed.

The physician contemplated his friend silently. "It might be able to be worked out."

"Do so?" the Doctor implored.

The physician nodded. "I shall see what I can do," he muttered and rose and walked out the door. Peri cried silently, allowing the Doctor to hold Tegan.

"What will that do?" Peri asked when she was able to take a breath. "Books? Doctor, we are talking about Tegan."

"I'm going to find a way to help her," the Doctor stated quietly. There was a menacing turn to his voice. "The rest of Gallifrey can hang. There has to be something that can be done. If not here, then somewhere. There has to be an answer... "