Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to various persons and corporations that are not me or associated with me. This piece of fanfiction is written with the admiration and respect for the original work. I claim no ownership of Doctor Who's creations. No profit is made from this material, now or in the future.

Thanks to Armity for beta-read.

Requesting Connection: Agent 3099, Lost Base, time-stamp 16-03-4953/17.20.41 . . .

Connecting . . . Please wait.

Connected.

Identification and credentials requested.

Verifying . . . Please wait.

Verified: Overseer Gamma, The Lemniscate, time stamp 23-11-5108/13.49.54

Transmitting.

Agent 3099 is a man with a lot of friends. That isn't a point in his favor. The Time Agency much prefers its operatives to have enemies, if they must nurture any sort of long-term relationship at all. In time travel, relationships get complicated quickly. River Song is an excellent example of this. It's unsurprising to have learned she will have had some relationship with Agent 3099. It is another mark on that man's record. The Agency was already considering reassigning him permanently. Now a full investigation is likely. There are programmers filtering through the records of the Time Agency and its contacts in all other history-keeping branches of the Empire, such as the Great Guild and Torchwood Archives. Their best people are looking for any mention of a 'Jack' in relation to River Song or any of her aliases. So far, they have nothing. Still, the man must be considered compromised.

"Overseer Gamma!" The agent looks nervous, a slight tightening around the eyes. There is no such thing as a man without a tell. Still . . . His smile is perfect. His training is perfect. His very DNA is perfect. It will be such a waste if he has to be erased, as well. River Song has brought nothing but casualties to the Agency. Everything she touches is infected. And to think, she had shown such promise. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"We need a break-through with River Song's interrogation."

That causes a slight pause that can't be explained by the Time-delay in their connection.

"What kind of break-through, sir?" the agent finally asks. It is obvious he knows the answer and is just trying to bide time in order to think up an intelligent way of letting down a superior.

"We need to know what happened on 82-29-5107."

The agent's handsome face perfectly molds itself into a look of regret, distress, and submission. Operatives aren't taught just how to suppress emotion. There is little value in that outside of interrogation. They are also taught how to express the correct emotion. The agent is trying his best to appear regretful and distressed and submissive. There is little telling whether those are his true emotions. It is most likely, but not certain.

"She swore that she would never tell us what happened that day," the agent says.

"River Song is a known liar."

"Yes, sir. But this feels different," the agent continued on. His show of distress is so authentic that it begins to show flaws that shouldn't be there. Frustration. Anger. Weariness. Perhaps his training isn't so perfect after all. "She's willing to talk about almost anything else. We've tried to wear her down. The mirror maze. The cold treatment. The suspension bath. Then there were the truth serums, but she's had the immunizations, sir, so those were only slightly effective. My partner has even tried more . . . classic methods of persuasion. But if we go any further down that road, it'll involve forms of torture that couldn't be hidden from a telepath at sentencing. Even the threat of death isn't going to convince her."

"There has to be something that River Song values above all else."

The agent is shaking his head before he even hears the entire statement. "No. I don't think so. Maybe the Doctor, but my unit has been trying to catch him for years, sir! We've never even gotten close. River Song's made sure of that. I don't think using him as a bargaining chip is a feasible option."

"The blue book."

"What?" the agent asks.

"The blue book. Her diary. That's the key. Use it."

Now, the agent is just confused. He still hasn't worked it out. His intelligence scores are more than adequate though. He will understand soon enough. No reason to spell it out.

"We can't destroy the book. It's so tangled up in Time that any tampering with it could cause a 3rd degree paradox all on its own," the agent says and it is like watching and listening to the thought processes behind his handsome face and blue eyes. "We can't open the diary because it's slightly psychic and has been programed only to open for River Song and can sense if she is being coerced."

"Yes. But what is important about the book."

Then the agent understands. "The memories."

For a moment, it looks like he is going to give another perfect smile. It is like he has divined the answer to a riddle that has kept him up at night. Then he seems to think better of it or, at least, thinks it through more completely. His strong jaw clenches. His lip curls the slightest bit. He is some part disgusted. This is disappointing. It was their hope that transferring him to interrogation duty would harden him up. Instead, his control seems to be weakening. There is a hostility in his eyes when he looks out from the screen. A full investigation into the agent is a certainty. The Agency is on far too fragile standing already to allow for any leniency. Only ten years ago, the Agency would have been able to claim River Song was guilty of a series of unnamed events and every branch of the Empire would have accepted that as enough evidence. Now . . .

"Betray one memory or them all. Surely River Song will make the correct choice. I want a break-through, Agent."

"Yes, sir."

End Transmission

Entered into evidence:

Excerpt from:

The Interrogation of River Song

Session: 9

(This transcript has been edited to preserve Empire secrets.)

Agent 3099: Do you know what will happen to you, River, if you are found guilty?

River Song: It matters on who is judging me. You know, there's a planet in the Dunadra system that once had a civilization whose ultimate form of torture was tickling? True, they tore off the first few layers of your skin first, but still. Tickling. Adorning the walls of their ancient court house were 2D holograms depicting it. It's true. I even went back to double-check before submitting my paper.

A. 3099: Try to focus on what I'm saying, River. Would you like to know what will happen to you?

RS: I'd like to know everything. It's good to have things in common with those you love.

A. 3099: Let's talk about who is judging you right now. The Great Guild.

RS: Oooh. Who's their representative? One of the chief professors, I'm sure. Is it Doctor Charters? No, she's on paternity leave. Doctor Dahm, perhaps. He should be back from the Chaseus dig. Or . . . don't tell me. Doctor Holaday?

A. 3099: Yes. Doctor Holaday.

RS: (laughs) Oh, she'll want my head! Death sentence for sure. Good for her. Who else?

A. 3099: The Time Agency, of course.

RS: Of course. [Redacted]

A. 3099: [Redacted]

RS: All these humane procedures on the books [Redacted]

A. 3099: [Redacted]

RS: Quite right too, gorgeous. At least Doctor Holaday won't have to plead her case too hard. The Time Agency isn't one to balk at a death sentence.

A. 3099: Then there's Our Church of Supreme Authority.

RS: Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned . . .

A. 3099: Focus, River. Remember what we're talking about.

RS: I'm sorry, I seem to be having a difficult time [Redacted] Or maybe I'm just tired.

A. 3099: We're talking about the consequences if you are found guilty.

RS: I've already appeared before the only judge that matters. It killed me. What do I care if someone else wants to finish the job?

A. 3099: The last judge is from the Shadow Proclamation.

RS: (pause) Oh.

A. 3099: You know what that means.

RS: No death sentence.

A. 3099: No death sentence.

RS: Then. . . No. You can't.

A. 3099: There's really no other option. If you're convicted of all those crimes, River, it's a memory wipe for you. And even worse, a personality programmer will rebuild you as the perfect civil servant. Everything you are will die but you will still serve the Empire.

RS: I don't care about the personality programming, but you can't wipe my memory.

A. 3099: Yes, we can.

RS: No, you can't!

A. 3099: We can and we will.

RS: You don't understand, I have to remember! It's important! I need to remember! I'd love to forget these last few months, but I can't and I shouldn't. I have no idea what would happen -to him, to me, to you, to all of us- but I know it's not supposed to happen that way. It doesn't happen. I remember. I must always remember. He trusts me to remember!

A. 3099: You forget, time can be rewritten.

RS: Don't you dare.

A. 3099: There is something you can do. You can tell us what you did. Specifically on 82-29-5107. Maybe the court will show you mercy. I'll leave you to think about that.

RS: I promised I'd never tell.

A. 3099: Maybe you lied.

RS: By telling the truth? I'm getting worse than him.

see attached document: River Song's Request to the Court for Plea Bargain

TBC

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