Chapter 19: "How arrogant of me to think it did!"
"The logs of wood which move down the river together are driven apart by every wave. Such inevitable parting should not be the cause of misery." - Nagarjuna
"You'll need to let me out of here first," the Doctor glanced over at River. "My wife too, if at all possible."
"Your request is unexpected," the Leader said. The Kelad voices were all so evenly modulated it was hard to pick any inflection, but if he had to guess the Doctor would have said that the Leader was in fact surprised.
"Finally I manage to do something unpredictable," he quipped to River.
"Because of course Predictable is usually your middle name," River retorted sarcastically.
He laughed, holding out his arms expectantly and turning in a slow circle. "We're ready whenever you are," he drawled to the ceiling, the challenge laid.
"What you ask will take time. Please wait."
River's eyes shot to his. "Doctor," she swallowed, looking all at once very excited and very scared. "Do you think it's possible?"
"For them to give you your physical form back?" the Doctor finished, already shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but no, I don't. I'd have done it myself if anyone had ever developed that kind of technology. A synthetic facsimile however is entirely possible. Be prepared for something less than inspiring," he warned. "From the looks of them, they don't have a lot of imagination when it comes to all things aesthetically pleasing."
"Still, the chance to move about in the real world again," River smiled.
"I know, but remember," the Doctor said seriously, "we're their prisoners River. They're not doing any of this out of the goodness of their hearts, if they have them. They want something from us and they've learned to live by the old Earth adage that you win more flies with honey than with vinegar. As soon as we either do what they require or convince them that we never will, this cushy ride and accommodating nature they're showing us will be gone."
"I'm not stupid Doctor," River shot back irritably. "I have been around the block a few times, enough to know not to trust based on what my eyes alone can see."
"You're the smartest part human out there," the Doctor agreed, "but they also have something you've probably never wanted more. It's a fine line to walk River, and it will hurt when they take it away, which inevitably they will."
"If you really feel that way, why did you insist they take me with you when you transfer out of here?" River demanded.
"To see if they could," the Doctor admitted. "Should we survive this I wanted to know what's really possible for your future. They've already done something I would have worked a long time to achieve, by making you portable. If they can do more, then it might lead to me being able to free you on a more permanent basis."
"We are ready," the Leader interrupted again. "Prepare yourselves."
With that warning the light above them brightened sharply and they both felt that same wobbliness in the floor, the same sensation of being drawn downwards. They each closed their eyes as one.
When the Doctor opened his he found himself back in the main command area of the ship, the same soldiers at work stations, the Leader standing firm in the centre of the room.
In fact, the only discernible difference was the additional armoured figure standing beside the Doctor. There was something feminine in the shape but aside from that it was indistinguishable from all the other armoured figures in the room.
"River?" he asked hesitantly, unsure whether he wanted an affirmative answer in reply.
"Oh my God," River's voice, modulated and mechanical sounding but still recognisably hers, came out of the armour. "This is really strange."
"You should see it from my side," the Doctor muttered.
"Oh hush," River returned, turning her head from side to side while she raised and lowered her arms, testing the armour's manoeuvrability. "Not bad," she commented, shifting to raise and lower each leg in turn next. "Not bad at all."
"I'm glad you're so pleased," the Doctor said sarcastically. Turning to the Leader he grimaced. "I suppose I should thank you."
"We are aware this form does not comply with your wife's prior form," the Leader acknowledged. "We can do much but our technology does not allow for living physical matter replication. Our scientists have concluded such technology will forever remain beyond our capacity. The armour has many advantages River Song can also enjoy, despite her current non corporeal form."
"Then I'll just have to live with it," the Doctor replied. "You mentioned we were on our way to Trenzalore. How long until we get there?"
"We are still a number of hours away."
"Excellent!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That gives me the chance to convince you that what you're planning is folly."
"The true history of your people was not evidence enough?" the Leader demanded. He stepped closer, looming over the Doctor, who held his ground, leaning backwards so he could keep his eyes on the visor. Maybe there weren't eyes under the metal but at the very least the resolve in his own would be on display.
"Step back," River gently but firmly nudged the Doctor aside, "or I might start trying out commands inside this thing. Who knows what damage I could do before you can shut me off."
"My apologies," the Leader stepped back. "There is no need for threats. You must forgive my impatience. My race has been working towards these events for many years." He turned to regard the Doctor again. "Please, tell me why you believe our efforts to be foolish."
"Well, since you asked me so nicely," the Doctor smiled, "here's the thing. Am I correct in assuming that no one really knows what will happen if I go to Trenzalore?"
"You are correct - events must be lived before full certainty can be achieved."
"Then why risk it?" the Doctor challenged. "As I understand it, the saying goes that at Trenzalore no one, including me, will be able to lie, or refuse to respond once the question has been asked. Moreover, the question is something that should never be answered."
"That is one version of the prophesy, but it is not entirely accurate," the Leader replied. "The true prophesy is thus. On the fields of Trenzalore when the Eleventh ends and the Twelfth begins, truth shall prevail, and in the first question's answer will silence fall."
"Silence will fall when the question is answered," River repeated the short version she and the Doctor had both heard before.
"The error is in assuming these words mean the beginning of silence when in fact they refer to its end," the Leader revealed. "Where there was silence, afterwards there will be truth."
"Oh," the Doctor understood abruptly. "Oooh," he said again more emphatically.
"What?" River demanded.
"Nothing," the Doctor said evasively.
"You don't say ooooh like that unless you've suddenly understood something," River persisted.
"I can see why you needed more than just River to be present," the Doctor told the Leader, ignoring River for the moment. "I understand what you're trying to do but I can't condone it. Who are any of us to play with the lives of so many?"
"The true path was altered by one individual," the Leader intoned. "Should it not fall to another to return all things to their true place?"
"See, now you're getting into the realm of 'meant to be' versus the randomness of events playing out," the Doctor complained. "There are fixed points in time, usually for a reason, but everything else is fluid, as it should be. Maybe what happened back then was supposed to happen, maybe it wasn't. It doesn't matter because the consequences are far reaching."
"Doctor," River reminded him pointedly that she was still there and expecting an explanation.
"There's a long held belief that life as we know it goes through cycles of reduction followed by renewal and growth," the Doctor explained. "The first was at the dawn of time when life was nothing more than a couple of cells bumping together in a warm puddle. Since then, there have been ten cycles, making this one the eleventh."
"So the prophesy doesn't refer to you?" River cut to the chase, her relief palpable even within the bounds of a severely modulated voice.
"I know, how arrogant of me to think it did!" the Doctor agreed. "In any case, if you buy into the theory then we're in a growth cycle now that will transition into a reduction cycle at some point, nobody knows exactly when, and until now, no one has known the origin point for the transition."
"Trenzalore," River deduced.
"The fields of Trenzalore to be precise," the Doctor agreed. "It's a special place made even more so by being the origin point – clearly special enough to make it a place of ultimate truth for anyone in the vicinity. A cycle change is nothing to fear, in fact most of us probably won't notice a difference. Essentially the belief is that expansion can occur too rapidly without being checked. Errors creep in as replication repeats in on itself. Reduction cycles slow everything down, allowing time for genetic correction and recharging before the universe is ready for more growth."
"So who added the part about the question not being answered?" River asked. "Who made it sound like it was about you?"
"I don't know. Rassilon probably, although the extent of his meddling is astounding," the Doctor revealed. "If he's behind this then he took advantage of a natural biological occurrence and used it to effectively paint a giant target on my back for all time, and all because he was determined that he and only he would be the master of the time vortex. Before he put the lock on all the TARDIS's he must have done a few trips himself, one of which would have been to the future. How could he resist seeing himself as the master of everything? Instead, he must have seen himself revealed for the crook he was, time stripped of all his powers."
"Time stripped?"
"It's a similar concept to what I did to Gallifrey to ensure that at no point in time could anyone go there and undo what I did," the Doctor explained. "Only in this case at every point in time he would be reduced to an ordinary Gallifreyan. No Time Lord academy. No ruling the planet like a dictator. No grand plans to effect the Final Sanction and place himself beyond reach forever. No way to travel any when in time and reinstate himself."
"Doesn't that mean that the Time War wouldn't occur either?" River queried. "Would you even have time travel capability?"
"It's hard to say," the Doctor replied. "Rassilon wasn't alone when he advanced Gallifrey so dramatically. It might be enough for the two remaining members of the Triumvirate to be unchanged, but then again it might not. And if Gallifrey doesn't move past the Cult of Pythia and into the age of the Time Lords the consequences across multiple planets will be enormous. Life as we know it will be changed, possibly beyond all recognition."
"Am I right?" he turned to the Leader expectantly.
"You are," the Leader agreed, "but have faith Time Lord, for to reveal Rassilon's true nature does not mean the revision of eons of history as you suppose. It will be up to the others to decide how to proceed. It is our belief that they will choose wisely."
"Well, those are some pretty risky beliefs," the Doctor shot back impatiently.
"There's still one thing I don't understand," River said slowly in her thinking voice despite the Kelad alterations. "Rassilon just wanted you dead, right? So why do the Kelad believe the prophesy is more than just his way of making that happen? How is you being on the fields of Trenzalore at the right time going to reveal Rassilon?"
"She always was a sharp one," the Doctor commented to the Leader with a rueful smile, before facing River to explain. "Me being there will help because you were right River, or at least the Kelad believe as you do, that I am primarily composed of genetic extant material from just one past Gallifreyan. The Other. If my true name is spoken aloud, something I can only do with unavoidable force, the Other will surge forth from my subconscious with all of his memories intact. It'll be as if he's been brought back to life. Rassilon's plot to end me would backfire and he'd be the one destroyed instead."
"And what about you? What happens to you?"
"No idea," the Doctor shrugged. "Since it seems unlikely two Gallifreyan consciousnesses could occupy the same mental space, I suppose I'd cease to exist."
"No!" River almost growled. "Turn this ship around," she demanded of the Leader. "You're not going to Trenzalore," she told the Doctor firmly.
"Show me another way out of this and I'll take it," the Doctor replied, nodding with his head around the room to remind her just how outnumbered they were. "River, there isn't another way." The familiar words hit them both hard, harking back to other events, other times when the future seemed bleak, and hope fleeting. He stepped up to her and grabbed at her armoured arm. "These events have been chasing me my whole life. It's time to stop running," he said quietly.