Chapter 18: "Now we go to Trenzalore."
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." - Winston Churchill
"Doctor," River lurched up from her chair, incredulous that he was there.
"I know, you're surprised to see me," the Doctor commented, moving forward. "Likewise." He glanced around. "I have to say, this isn't exactly an improvement on your last accommodations, is it?"
"It's fine," River said distractedly. "How did you get here? Please tell me you didn't go and do something stupid."
"Of course not dear," the Doctor protested. "I just hitched a ride with some new alien friends – the ones who kidnapped you as it happens. We had a far from illuminating conversation and then they transported me here, to talk to you."
"To me," River repeated, her eyes going to the book.
"How far have you gotten?" the Doctor asked curiously, attempting to edge around River so he could get a look at the book himself.
"Far enough to know that you shouldn't read that," River countered, stepping into his path.
"What, the message is only good if you deliver it?"
"I'm not sure it's a message you want to hear," River admitted. "From what I've already read, I don't think I want to convince you to play along either."
"Because if I do a key part of it involves my death," the Doctor said casually. "Already knew that part, sweetie. The universe wants me dead and it seems using the Teselecta wasn't a permanent solution."
"You're not buying into this, are you?" River frowned.
"Course not," the Doctor denied. "They believe it though, our Kelad friends out there in the real world, and as long as they do, anything we come up with has to be tied into the same."
"That's true," River sighed. "What happened back at the Library?" she asked, in an obvious attempt at delay.
"I can't say for sure but I think Madam Kovarian and her lot were ousted by the Kelad," the Doctor replied.
"I saw her, Madam Kovarian," River offered.
"Inside Charlotte's world?"
River nodded.
"I bet that was fun," the Doctor grinned, having a fair idea of what River might be capable of in the illusionary world she'd lived in for more than two years.
"I shot her with my blaster, kicked her dead body, and then, when she came to, I tied her to chair," River shared, smiling.
"Go you," the Doctor congratulated.
"Part of me hopes she'd trapped there now but I wouldn't wish her on the others," River admitted.
"Well, don't plan a rescue trip back just yet," the Doctor advised. "As soon as they finished transferring you from the Library the Kelad pulled up stumps and left. It's entirely possible some of the clerics survived. If she brought any of her Silence minions with her as well, one of them would have protected her return. Sorry honey, she'll probably be back, creating havoc across the galaxy as usual."
"Pity," River commented, "although I did think at the time it would be nice to blast her again in a more permanent fashion."
"I'll see what I can arrange, once I get you away from here," the Doctor promised. He eyed her intently. "Show me the book River."
She shook her head stubbornly.
"Do you think they would have allowed me to be here with you if they didn't intend for me to read it?" the Doctor took another step closer. River stood her ground so they were toe to toe, their eyes locked. "River," he warned.
"Oh fine, read the damn thing," River capitulated abruptly. "You're never happy unless you have your way."
"River," the Doctor protested. "Is that really how you see me?"
River turned away, her shoulders slumping. "We just never catch a break, you and I, do we?" she turned to face him, her eyes mournful. "We never really stood a chance. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd let you save me that day instead of insisting that you change nothing."
"But then all your memories, none of them would survive," the Doctor reminded her.
"I know," River said gently. "And you wouldn't be here, my love."
His hearts might not be real as such, not within this illusion, but he felt them lurch just the same, a smile breaking out and encompassing all of him. She'd called him her love again, his two favourite words from her lips, followed only by 'spoilers' and 'sweetie'.
"You look like a giddy school boy," River said irritably. "What are you grinning about?"
"You've forgiven me," he said, still smiling.
"There's no point in holding a grudge, particularly when you were only doing what you thought was best," River took a visible breath and let it out slowly, shaking her head. "We've both made mistakes."
"Perhaps, but mine are far more consequence laden than yours," the Doctor defended.
"It's not a competition sweetie," River said, amused. The smile dropped away as she continued. "Sometimes I feel like nothing we did would have mattered anyway. Whatever happens next was already locked into place, so far in the future that nothing we've done or haven't done could have influenced it. Even Demon's Run and Utah weren't enough to be visible to the Kelad and whoever else is controlling events."
"Surely you're not giving in that easily," the Doctor put his arm around her shoulders, finally sure that if he touched her she wouldn't respond with a slap or worse. He hugged her bracingly as he turned them both to face the innocent looking table with its innocuous book waiting for a reader to return. "Not you, Professor River Song, former bulldog to any mystery that crossed your path. Come on, let's read it together."
He looked around for some kind of control system, but found nothing. "Another chair would be handy," he called out, sure that they were being monitored.
A second chair appeared beside the first.
"Right, so let's see what we have," the Doctor proposed.
They read in silence, the only sounds periodic agreements that each was finished with a page so that the next could be revealed.
The book was beautiful in its creation, each page a work of art with its Gallifreyan symbols etched in gold print. Even though it wasn't the real deal – the Doctor wondered if there was an actual copy that he could touch and hold or whether this was all the Kelad had – being this close to something from his home planet stirred the memories. He found himself feeling more and more nostalgic as they continued.
The other interesting thing was that neither of them got tired. They could read and read, for hours on end without stopping to rest or eat or do any of the things people usually had to do.
"It's one of the strange side effects of being consciousness alone," River told the Doctor when he thought to comment on it. "Ordinarily your mind will conjure up all the usual signs and symbols that you're leading a real life, unless your subconscious sees things differently."
"So we're both in a hurry to get this finished," the Doctor concluded.
"I suppose so," River agreed, already turning her attention back to the page before them.
He watched her for a few moments until she cleared her throat pointedly, reminding him that he was supposed to be keeping up. He could have done this the Time Lord way, at super speed, but it wouldn't be the same and he'd have to go back, find and reread all the salient points anyway. Since River's maximum reading speed wasn't anywhere near as fast as his, he'd adjusted his pace accordingly.
Eventually they reached the end of the book. River closed it slowly, turning it over so the front cover was facing them. "What do you think?" she asked. "Is it a genuine history of Gallifrey?"
"Perhaps," the Doctor allowed. "It's true that Rassilion and Omega were the first Time Lords and I have seen rumours suggesting they were part of a Triumvirate who between them set up the foundations for Time Lord Society as we know it now, as the book suggests." He shifted back in his seat, his expression thoughtful. "At the time they were desperately needed. The cult of Pythia kept all but a few oppressed. Life was very difficult for the average Gallifreyan. When Rassilon took control it was like a breath of fresh air sweeping the planet. Suddenly there was progress and equality and growth – that Pythia cursed us; that their freedom came at the cost of their ability to procreate naturally was hardly commented on."
"And this third founder of the Time Lords?" River queried. "Was anything specific said about him?"
The Doctor hesitated. "Not by name. The book mentions The Other though … I know of him," he admitted. "When I first borrowed the TARDIS –"
"Stole," River corrected.
"It was a mutual felony," the Doctor reminded. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," he smiled at River, "when I borrowed the TARDIS and she borrowed me, I didn't have a plan for when I was going and certainly not where. Time travel was strictly controlled through the Eye of Harmony. Rassilon and Omega created it together using the Hand of Omega – he was perhaps the most brilliant Gallifreyan there ever was. The Hand was the tool he also used to create the black hole that gave Gallifrey the ability to master time. Rassilon was the one who used it to create the Eye, so that he could prevent anyone travelling back into Gallifrey's past. He grew to a power so vast because he alone had control of the Eye."
"So it could be true, what the book suggests about the restrictions on time travel," River proposed.
"I think so, yes," the Doctor allowed. "I always believed Rassilon alone understood the risks to our people should one of us go back and alter any aspects of our own past. The stories tell of Omega willingly sacrificing himself to create the black hole. There was never anything to even hint that he was misled by Rassilon to do so on the belief that he'd survive the process. Instead it cost him his own life. If Rassilon was responsible, anyone travelling back and returning with evidence would have resulted in him being removed from office."
"You said you'd heard of The Other," River prompted him.
"That first journey in the TARDIS, I discovered that the Hand of Omega followed me on board," the Doctor revealed. "It overrode the locks that prevented the TARDIS from travelling back into Gallfrey's past, allowing me to travel a long way, into the Old Times. There I came across a young girl, wandering the streets of the city. Her name was Susan. She said she was the last child to be naturally born on Gallifrey. She was also The Other's granddaughter."
"And she knew you," River stated confidently.
"She did," the Doctor frowned. "How did you guess?"
"You must be a descendant of one of the original Triumvirate," River replied. "It explains a lot actually. How you were able to use The Moment to time lock the entire planet and end the Time War, how you could even steal a TARDIS in the first place, and why it's always you who seems to be at the centre of any time paradox events."
"The genetic material within the loom is donated by every Gallifreyan," the Doctor countered. "After so many eons it's unlikely any one person could be woven from the material of a single Gallifreyan. What's more likely is for the Loom to have gathered together a small part of all three original creators of Time Lord society, and even there it's only a very small chance. We can't even be certain that Omega or Rassilon donated to the Loom in the first place."
"If the loom operates randomly," River allowed, "but maybe it doesn't. Susan recognised something familiar in you – there must be a reason for that."
"You're suggesting some higher power was controlling the Loom the day my mother requested a son be weaved?" the Doctor laughed. "This is why you're so fond of archaeology and why I find it to be nothing more than amusing fiction."
"We'll see," River gave him that look of hers, the one that said she knew more than he did and had no intention of sharing. "Did Susan say what happened to her grandfather?"
"She wasn't there to see it," the Doctor replied. "She wasn't a Time Lord herself, just an ordinary Gallifreyan. The Other sent her to the space port, intent on her leaving the planet completely to keep her safe. He never knew that she never made it, and she never found out what happened to him. Again, it's rumour only that he threw himself into the Loom to contaminate the weave in the hopes that one day someone would be woven to overthrow Rassilon." The Doctor scowled. "And before you say it, yes I'm aware that for all intents and purposes I did defeat Rassilon, or at the very least render him inert. It was a joint effort from many Time Lords also disenchanted with his dictatorship approach to ruling the planet. I was chosen to activate The Moment simply because it was believed that I alone had the greatest chance of making it work and would be able to live with the consequences."
"Have you completed your review of the book?" The Leader's voice was a harsh interruption.
"Yes, for what it's worth," the Doctor reported, glancing around them even curious to see some visible sign that the Kelad were watching. "What now?"
"Now we go to Trenzalore."
Author's Note:
I've relied on the Doctor Who wiki for information about Gallifrey and the Doctor's first outing in the TARDIS - supplimented to fit in with the plot for this story. So if something doesn't fit with accepted knowledge of old Doctor Who I probably changed it for a reason :)
Thank you to those who've reviewed the last few chapters - I'm focussed on editing and posting but will try to find time for replies once this is complete. Cheers!