At the very beginning of our passage into time and space, we, as a society, realized that there were several life forms which inhabited the myriad of worlds. As we were often able to see all outcomes and all timelines at all nexuses, we Gallifreyans were able to see the futures of all possibilities in a planet's timeline. As Gallifreyans were able to therefore engineer a planet's outcome so that it was most beneficial for both the planet and for the galaxy and for Gallifrey, they did so. Futures were thereby removed from the realm of probability and were cemented into the being.

Bipedal form was the most suitable form determined able to carry intelligent cerebral ability. It was also the only form with whom Gallifreyans could interact without causing pain or fear. Therefore, and in an effort to have order and to engineer outcomes of an unbiased positive outcome, Rassilon decreed that the galaxy should be seeded with genetics that would finalize them into the bipedal form. The decree became known as the Fifth Law of Rassilonian Genetic Engineering.

Excerpt from A History: Gallifrey.

The door gave way and banged open under the force of her hand. Peri stormed into the main room of Thalia's suite and threw the heavy book of Gallifreyan history to the couch. Thalia barely glanced up from her reading. Peri hadn't been happy about the meeting earlier that day and the sight of the reclining Time Lady only made her angrier. She could tell she was being used as a pawn, but scowling and moving about, trying to argue had only resulted in her being forcibly held to her chair. They were going to use her against the Doctor, she knew it.

"Theta always said humans were a rather passionate race," she commented. "And that anger is an easy emotion not to control."

"Well, that's just wonderful, isn't it?" Peri commented as her voice shook. She pointed to the book. "I'd rather have my emotions, thanks, than submit myself to the ethics I just read."

"Ah, I see you've reached the portion dealing with genetic engineering," Thalia said as she turned another page. When Peri didn't answer right away, she glanced up at her. Peri could swear she saw icicles in the blue of the Time Lady's eyes. "You have a problem with what you have read, child?"

"You could say that, yeah," Peri muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm pretty sure what I've read is a tissue of lies. After all, I know from Howard that history is simply the story of the winner. History is biased. Though why on Earth..." she talked louder at the small smile of amusement on Thalia's lips. "Why anywhere someone would want to admit that they have engineered outcomes like that..."

"Gallifreyan history isn't biased," Thalia said carefully. "We are incapable of stating anything but scientific proven fact. And the actions of our past have allowed the Universe to continue as it has for untold millennia without collapsing..."

"I read about your bloody past. And it was bloody. Hell, before you traveled in time and space, you weeded out and fought and killed, if you were able, just about anyone who didn't agree with you bunch." Peri frowned. "And the fact might not be biased, but hell if the position from which you view those facts, isn't..."

"Don't argue trifles with me, child," Thalia sighed. "Yes, of course, we have our troubled past. So does every other culture in the Universe, child."

"Yeah, but every other culture seems to have been planned and ordained by you! Why would it surprise anyone that we're following in your footsteps? We don't have a choice in the matter, do we?"

"Do you dislike your bipedal form?"

"What's that got to do with it?" Peri nearly cried. "It wasn't like we had a choice." She was horrified to feel tears on her cheeks.

Thalia shook her head and returned her eyes to the book in her lap. "When a race like ours is confronted with being the custodians of the Universe and all time and all space within that confine, it's hard. We had to engineer ways and means to insure that the outcome was manageable, Peri. The Universe would have destroyed itself before the Earth completely formed otherwise."

"On a high and mighty platform, aren't you?" Peri wiped at her eyes fiercely. She tried to keep her voice steady.

"And we don't know the outcome of most of the Universe," Thalia added. "We have drawn bounds to make sure that the future, when these cultures are able to join with and interact with Gallifrey on an individual level, isn't controlled. That would change our own future and one future must remain intact to ensure that there is a standard in the Universe."

"And you've removed all possibility of that future going wrong."

"No, we've reduced the chance of failure by an exponent of 6."

"And someone died and left you God, I suppose," Peri spat.

Thalia sighed and lifted her eyes from her book. "It is your mythology, child, which has created God in your image. Don't you think that's telling? If a society can create a creator fashioned in their image in order to show that it is, indeed, the correct, preordained form and the pinnacle of life in a world, don't you think you would have done the same in our place? In essence, by your very beliefs you have shown that you would."

"But we're engineered that way," Peri cried. "We're engineered to follow in your footsteps."

"And you would call this situation a Catch 22, I believe," Thalia commented conversationally. "Yes, it is circular logic, child, but only when you consider time and space to be linear. Continue reading, you will see..."

"But I don't want to continue reading," Peri said hotly. "I'm glad I've done something illegal by this system. I'm glad I disagree with it. I'm glad I travel with the Doctor. If we followed your rules, that would make us the same as you. I hope you find me guilty, at least I'll be happy knowing that by my standards, I'm right."

Thalia nodded. "I thought you would say that, child. And it is your right to feel in any manner that you choose. But if you continue reading, you will understand about the Doctor. The truth might surprise you."

Peri shook her head and twisted, sweeping out the door.

Sometime in the night Peri returned to the room and picked up the book. Cursing, she went back to her room wiping tears from her eyes as she went. Maybe she could understand the Doctor better and feel better about herself in the interim.

The Doctor felt a lump form in his throat as he entered the smoky, dingy dome and saw Tegan lying practically motionless. There was very little movement to her, only the very slight rise and fall of her chest let him know that she still lived. He raised his eyes slowly to see the Tsektsek standing near Tegan. The man was mixing a collection of plants in a bowl.

"I gather," he quietly began, his voice hoarse in the closed confines of the dome. The smoke had little to do with the catch in his throat. "I gather that you aren't serving dinner," he joked as a wide smile materialized on his lips.

The Tsektsek glanced up at the Doctor and grunted. "You know very well that I am not."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow and sighed. "For a man who was adamant that I get in touch with my emotions, you don't have a very profound sense of humor." He tried to slide his hands into his non-existent pockets and the smile faltered.

As the Tsektsek continued to mix his plants, the Doctor sat next to Tegan. With a somewhat shaky hand he brushed her curls from her brow. There was no movement from her, not even the batting of an eyelash. "I'd welcome an argument, Tegan," he whispered.

"We shall have to begin, Time Lord," the Tsektsek intoned. The Doctor nodded slowly and adjusted his weight. The spirit man finished pressing the herbs and gathered his bowls. "The herbs I have mixed are used to help liberate the mind, to allow both a journey within and without..."

"Hmm...of the phylum Redorium, then..."

"The exact," the spirit man admitted. "You are familiar?"

"Quite," the Doctor stated with a wide smile. Then with a chuckle, he continued. "I've never quite had the pleasure. In the cities, it is an illegal substance."

"It would be considered illegal by them," the Tsektsek mentioned. "But what we will attempt would be impossible without it."

"And it will have strange effects on my physiology..."

The Tsektsek settled cross-legged in front of the Doctor and held out the bowl. He had added water to the mixture and the Doctor raised his eyebrows as he took the bowl in his palms. "There is no other way, Doctor. It will allow you to soul walk; to see what is hidden; to find your friend."

The Doctor sniffed the water and lifted his gaze to the Tseksek. "And my so needed emotions?" His voice shook. He couldn't tell the exact reason why his voice betrayed him and he found he didn't quite like the weakness he heard in his voice. The anger at his own reaction surfaced for only a moment and then was submerged into a pit of mild depression. He shouldn't be thinking about the pressure to reveal his emotions; he should be thinking about Tegan.

"You will be the beacon for her."

"How will she know it's me?" the Doctor asked tightly.

The Tsektsek sighed and nodded to the Doctor. He became aware of his body language and looked down at his hand. Tegan's small pale hand was enclosed in his larger, darker one. "She will know, Doctor, if she knows you. And if she has any tie to you, any friendship, you will find that she will flow to you like water down a concentration gradient."

The Doctor's eyebrow quirked and he swallowed. "We have a...tie. One that I believe both she and I rather like."

"Then she will know, Time Lord..." the Tsektsek returned as he pulled himself up to his full seated height.

Surreal.

As the herbs began to work on his system, the Doctor felt lightheaded. He closed his eyes. "Rather like the feeling when there's little oxygen..." he muttered, although he wasn't certain his voice was audible to those around him. He wasn't sure there WAS anyone around him. He felt out of himself and yet sure of his placement in the Universe.

Darkness and yet strangely light, the landscape swirled and then...

He could see himself below, lying next to the fire, his face turned toward the warmth. Tegan lay to his right, her hand still enclosed in his grip. Her black curls melded with his blond hair as he turned his face toward her. A warm feeling bloomed in his gut as he watched his actions, the squeeze of his hand, the interlacing of their fingers, the way he nudged her brow.

Then came the realization that he was viewing himself from without.

He lifted his gaze from the floor and past the Tsektsek who sat nearby, muttering under his breath. There was an urge to leave the dome and he did so, seemingly floating out the door and into the wilderness beyond. As he passed the spirit man seated on the ground, the man looked up and directly into him.

The Doctor continued out the door and beyond into the cold landscape. There was no wind on his face; he could feel none of the subtle unsteady nuances under his feet. He walked, he felt, for hours. Until he approached a high hill. Following his instinct, he climbed the hill. And stood, staring out at the heavens.

There was no sound to alert him. He simply followed the feeling to glance to his side. A distance down the hill crest he saw a familiar silhouette. In contrast to what he felt, he could see the wind blowing her hair. The long wavy onyx waves flowed and seemed to caress her back. He had never seen it loose; she always wore it tightly braided. He found, in the blink of an eye, that she was facing him.

He flowed toward her, but she covered the distance quicker, seemingly moving in a split second to approach him. The suddenness of her appearance drove a breathy response from his lips and he ejected a "Tegan."

Her lips split in a wide smile. "Doc?" she breathed.

He didn't have to wait long and he was thoroughly surprised when he thought he could actually feel her physical body as she stepped into an embrace he didn't know he had offered. Still, the physical touch of her body and the feeling of her lips quivering against his skin made him smile.

He waited a moment and lifted her head from his chest. The feeling of her hair between his fingers and the weight of her skull cradled in his hands was as he remembered. As he had with his travel, he followed his instincts. He held her head and felt for her lips with his. The feeling electrified his nerves and made his arms tighten. It was more than the physical, he could feel his need and want to simply crush her to him thrumming through his veins.

Soon, her hands had slipped about his neck. And he allowed her to draw a breath.

She smiled a sigh as he rubbed his thumbs into her cheeks and down to her chin. "I have missed you," he confided.

"I had hoped you would come," she said. He noticed tears in the corners of her eyes and he gave her a sad smile.

"Did you think I would leave you?"

"I didn't think you could find me. Rabbits, Doc; where am I? I've been here...forever..." she blinked up at him and brushed her hair back. "I've been sitting here, on this hill, just looking out there..."

The Doctor turned his head to look out at the landscape. There was nothing beyond the hill. It was simple, empty, endless blackness. Tegan sighed again. "It seemed I had spent enough time here. I've been looking at nothing for as long as I could remember, Doc. It was time to move on..."

"On? On where?" he asked tightly.

"Out there," Tegan muttered. His arms crushed her to his chest. "Somewhere, something is better than sitting here forever. I figure I had to do something, go somewhere."

The Doctor grimaced. "Do you feel you still have to go?"

"I'd much rather..." Tegan began and looked up at him. "Cripes, I don't think I have a choice, do I? I'm dead, aren't I?"

"No," he replied tightly, a lump forming in his throat. "You aren't dead. You're...separated from us, from your body. You...ah...need to make a choice whether or not to come back to yourself."

With a sigh, she shook her head. "I don't want to die. I'm not ready to do that, but I thought I was left to this..."

"You're not," he commented strongly.

Tegan nodded tiredly. "I thought I was all alone for the rest of time until I saw you and that light..."

"What light?" he asked as he gave her a short easy kiss at her brow.

"All around you," she replied. "Like your aura in the rainforest and in South America...all golden and red. I could see you coming over the hill, but I didn't know it was you. Before I saw that, I was further down, a little closer to the valley...trying to figure out how to cross..."

"And?"

"I walked towards it. I had a feeling something was different."

The Doctor smiled into her hair and nodded. "You found me."

"Cripes, Doc...you were like a search light in the dark. How couldn't I find you?" she laughed. He warmed to the sound.

"So if I'm not dead..." Tegan whispered. "What the hell am I to do to get re-attached?"

"Yes well...I'm not that much of a miracle worker, Tegan. I'm afraid that my expertise only extends to serving as a beacon for lost ships. We shall have to find a friend of mine who can help you. Can you walk?"

"It's all I have been doing here, Doc. A little bit more won't kill me..."

"I'm glad to hear it," he murmured. He released her and traded the embrace for her hand. Then, carefully, but with infinite deliberation, he led her back away from the hill and towards the dome in the far distance.

The understanding of history is that it occurs in cycles. Therefore if one wants to influence the occurrence of history, and plant the seed to change the cycle, one must put forth information to change the course of the cyclic flow. Therefore, it was determined early on to control the flow of information to society in an effort to do just that. Any theories which existed about the theoretical ties of Gallifreyans to pre-Expansion societies was removed from history books, ethics were presented with a different facts, religion and spiritualist thought was squelched. This was deemed necessary by Rassilon in order to construct a sound and strong society.

The information was kept in the proper hands of those able to handle those facts until the beginning of the Third Age. It was determined that there was a weakness in the genes used in the Lungbarrow House of the Pyrodonian Academy which resulted in students not reacting in a manner proper for Time Lords. Upon the issuance of the age old information, the students reacted by investigating different avenues and using their ability to access the restricted information. This was not what was expected. The information enraged the students and caused them to disseminate the hidden facts to those unable to handle the change in history. They gave the information to those without emotional detachment. Those non-Time Lord factions began an attempt to have a coup.

It was put down by the Pantoptican police with great loss of life.

Those genes were removed from use in the looming in Lungbarrow house.

Excerpt from Gallifrey: A History.

Peri bit her lip and put down the book with a sigh. It was midnight or at least the Gallifreyan rendition of it. She had been reading for hours, but this final part of the book made her, finally, put down the volume.

Great loss of life...

The release of information...

Lungbarrow...

Prydonian...

It had to be the Doctor.

He had helped to release the information to those who truly needed to hear it and had helped to cause a revolution.

And then he had become President of the very society that he had tried to help change?

Peri closed her eyes in confusion.