Councillor Romana glanced at Rose, apparently noticing her for the first time.
"Who is your friend?" she asked.
"Hmm?" The Doctor answered, absently, evidently still taking in Romana's news about the Master. "Oh...that's Rose. She claims an acquaintance with my dimensional doppleganger." He winked at Rose, "Actually, rather more than an acquaintance, I think."
"Sounds interesting. You'll have to tell me all about it," said Romana, airily. She stood up, resplendent in her glittering, high-collared Gallifreyan robes. "But I expect you'll want to see the Master first."
"Him? No, not at all. What a tedious way to spend an evening. I've far more important things to do."
"Such as?" asked Romana.
The Doctor stood as well, and took her arm. "Why...dinner with an old friend. Yes, a very old friend. A very, very, very old friend. Speaking of which, how old are you now, Romana? Four hundred? Five? Oh, don't say six, six is such an awkward age..."
"I am two hundred and seventy-three, thank you very much," she sniffed, pulling her arm away.
"Are you really?" he asked. "Marvelous! I say, you don't look a day over three-thirty..."
Romana scowled and the Doctor teased, all the way to the Official Dining Room. Rose thought she was going to be sick. At first she felt a flash of jealousy; but said to herself, "He isn't my Doctor, he's someone I've just met."
At dinner, Rose began to have great sympathy for Mickey. She now understood very clearly why he had chosen to stay in a parallel universe full of Cybermen rather than listen to Rose and the Doctor enjoy private jokes and laugh about old times. Occasionally she would ask questions, and was very graciously answered. But Romana and the Doctor seemed always to smile at her with an air of indulgent condescension. Rose felt like a little girl at the grown-ups' table.
Presently, Romana and the Doctor left off reminiscing and began to discuss more recent matters.
"Tell me about the contagion," asked the Doctor.
"It started at the Academy," Romana answered. "The whole archeological team was suddenly taken ill. Well, naturally, we assumed something had gone wrong with the temporal calculations, but then we caught the Master trying to steal the shield of Rassilon. He confessed to using a bio-weapon to cause chaos so that he could get into the artifact room. He has thus far been reluctant to provide us with the antidote, despite our best efforts to...ah...persuade him. So far, no one has recovered, and half have died."
"Died?" The Doctor leaned forward, his eyes wide. "You mean--died, then regenerated."
"No," said Romana. "Died. Fifty per cent mortality--at least, maybe more. Shocking. That's why we were going to summon you. But then, as I said, we caught the Master and the outbreak ceased. You showed up anyway. Perfect timing, as per usual."
"I'm so terribly sorry," said the Doctor. "It sounds as if you've had an awful time."
"Yes, quite." Romana yawned, suddenly.
"Are we keeping you up?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes, I should think so," said Romana, rising. "It's been chaotic lately. I hope you don't mind if I beg off early."
"Not at all," said the Doctor. "I'll walk you back to your rooms." He stood, and put her hand in the crook of his arm. This time, she didn't resist.
Rose, watched them leave. Then, not having anywhere else to go, she started after them, though keeping a great distance. She didn't particularly want to hear what they were discussing. They stopped at what must have been the entrance to Romana's apartments, and continued to talk. Rose wandered away; then became aware of a commotion at the other end of a long, marble hallway. "Anything's better than this," she thought, and headed towards the noise.
A Gallifreyan guard was standing in the middle of the corridor, moaning. His semicircular flanged helmet was askew, and he was flapping his robes like a gigantic bird. His eyes were wild and staring. Rose recognised him as one of the guards that had been stationed outside Councillor Romana's office.
"Are you all right?" Rose asked. "What's the matter?"
"They've come!" he cried, pointing into the air. "Daleks! They're everywhere. They're killing all the Time Lords! There's no escape, we're doomed!"
Startled, Rose looked about, but all she could see was an empty corridor. "There's no Daleks here. No Daleks at all. It's just us. You're safe. You're having a nightmare or something."
"Exterminate!" he cried. "Exterminate...EXTERMINATE!" He collapsed, insensible, into Rose's arms. His helmet fell off with a clang. She lowered him to the floor.
"Help!" she cried. "I need some help! Someone's just collapsed! Help! DOCTOR!"
Immediately she heard the sound of running feet. She turned, expecting to see the Doctor. Instead she came face to face with a group of people dressed in what looked like white space suits.
"Biohazard team," a muffled, electronic voice said to her. "Stand aside."
They bundled the fallen guard onto a stretcher, then sealed him into some sort of white vehicle that then whirred quietly down the corridor.
"Did you touch him?" asked one of the space suits.
"Er...yes," said Rose. She felt suddenly cold.
"Rose! Rose!" The Doctor came skidding up the corridor. Several of the white space suit team blocked his way.
"Took you long enough," Rose called to him. She shivered.
Space suit man pulled out a long, glowing probe and waved it in front of her body. Then he turned away, abruptly, and moved towards the Doctor. At that moment, she was overcome with fatigue. She sank to the ground. She became dimly aware of a conversation.
"Do you know her?"
"Yes," said the Doctor, "She's--"
"Human?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't stand a chance."
"What?"
"Look," said the metallic space suit voice. "Fifty per cent mortality for Time Lords. She's got a primitive immune system. She'll be dead in a few hours. We can't take her to to hospital, it's too crowded, we're in Triage. We can only admit someone who've got a chance at survival."
"But...can't you...can't you help her at all? She's just a child!" cried the Doctor.
There was a quiet conversation she couldn't hear. Then: "We're going to have to seal this area off."
She opened one eye. The space suit team was creating a sort of hard barrier around her, closing her in. "Doctor!" she gasped. "Don't let them leave me here! Doctor!"
"Rose, I'm going to--"
Just then, another team of white space suits jogged by. She heard the Doctor say, "Hey, where are you going? Councillor Romana's apartments are that way! No--wait!" More footsteps, and his voice trailed away. Then, nothing.
She was sealed in. If ever she had needed any proof that this Doctor was absolutely not her Doctor, this was it. He had left her here alone, lying on a marble floor, to die.