IDChapter13

The next morning Jon was up before anyone, now that he was Gallifreyan again he really didn't need much sleep. He started coffee and breakfast in the galley, and before long Rose traipsed in carrying a sleepy Arianna, and they all sat down around the counter and munched thoughtfully.

"Where are we off to now, Daddy?" Arianna asked, breaking the silence.

"The Gliese 581 system. I want to see what else is hanging around that planet, hopefully no more Krillitanes, but we should find someone who might be able to shed some light on this universe's Shadow Proclamation, or whatever passes for galactic government here. So, Arianna, what can you tell us about Gliese 581?" He smiled as he asked, knowing how she loved to show off her schooling.

"Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star located aproximately 20.3 light years from Earth in the constellation Libra. The two most interesting features of its system are the two planets, Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d. 581c currently appears to have a runaway greenhouse effect and may not be habitable by humans, but 581d appears to be habitable - by human standards."

"And why do you make the qualification of 'by human standards'?"

"Because other life forms enjoy a broad range of environments that, while not suited to humans, make the definition of 'habitable' much broader that what Earth scientists consider it to be."

"Very good, Arianna." He beamed at her. "What do you think we'll find there?"

"Well... in the other universe you said Gliese 581d was primarily a mining colony, some agriculuture existed but it was mostly to feed the miners and support the space station where the commerce took place. So, if this Gliese 581 system at least roughly parallels the other, we may find several species on the space station who can provide us with the information we're looking for."

"Very good, Sweetie, now since you're finished with breakfast, why don't you go over to your workstation and start today's lessons?" Rose suggested.

"OK Mummy!" Arianna sprung from her seat, and after kissing both her parents, ran off to her lessons.

"You didn't shave this morning." Rose observed.

"I thought I might grow my beard back for you." Jon grinned.

"You don't have to do that for me," she smiled, pleased nonetheless.

"I know," he teased, "but I know how much you like it when I do this," and he walked over behind her seat and rubbed his prickly chin gently up and down the side of her throat.

"Stop it!" She batted him away, laughing as she felt the goosebumps rise, and slid from her seat to turn and embrace him.

"Rose, there's something I wanted to ask you," Jon said softly, deciding this would be as good a time as any to broach the subject that had been on his mind ever since he realised they could use the Krillitane oil themselves.

Rose lifted her chin to look into his eyes and and smiled, "Ask me anything."

Jon took advantage of the chance to kiss her softly, then began.

"Well... I feel like we may be back to square one, so to speak, with our 'forever'. I can regenerate again, and you might be able to, we do know that you can heal very quickly, but we don't know for certain that you can regenerate. I want to spend the rest of my lives with you, Rose Tyler, so I thought you might want to consider using the Krillitane oil one more time, and become fully Gallifreyan, so that we can be sure we have our 'forever'."

Rose hesitated before answering him. Truthfully, those thoughts had occured to her as well, but she had put them aside because she didn't want to think about them. "But what if I do that, and I change? Or what if it doesn't work? How are we going to test it?"

"I can help you control your thought processes and help you filter out the DNA that causes the change. Or not. It's a very useful defense mechanism, you know. Being able to change your appearance so your enemies don't recognize you comes in handy sometimes, especially since regenerations don't always go smoothly. It can buy you some valuable time in a tight situation."

"But you gave that up for me," Rose said somewhat sadly.

"I can always take it back. We've got several gallons of oil in that sprayer." Jon smiled. "It's up to you, Rose Tyler. Think it over. It's too risky to 'test' it, but it's also risky not to try it, and I don't want to take a chance on losing you - ever."

"There's nothing to think about, really. It's what I've always wanted, deep down." Rose thought again about her mum's premonition, years ago, about how she would wind up changed, another person. Then she thought of something else.

"Wait a minute. Didn't you tell me once that your species was sterile?"

"Mostly," he agreed, "that's why we loomed our children. Conceiving and giving birth naturally almost never happened."

"Well, we're going to have to fix that, too. No baby of mine is going to be 'loomed'!" Rose stepped back and placed her hands on her hips for emphasis, looking Jon firmly in the eye.

"I think that can be arranged." He grinned broadly. "When do you want to get started?"

They decided to do it that day. First they sat down with Arianna and explained everything to her. She nodded gravely, understanding the seriousness and complexity of what they were about to do, but also understanding why they wanted to do it.

"Now we'll all be the same!" She was delighted, if a bit apprehensive.

Arianna was then stationed in the cockpit to keep an eye on things and alert them if anything out of the ordinary happened along their route. Jon and Rose went back to the bunk area and sat down together on the edge of their bunk and took each other's hands. Jon had measured out for each of them roughly the same dose of Krillitane oil that had enabled him to alter his DNA. Since he had to establish a link with Rose and telepathically walk her through the procedure, he wanted his own capablities to also be at their maximum. They each took their dose of oil, then sat and waited.

"Concentrate on the timelines for now," Jon instructed Rose. "When they become clear to you, that should be a good indication that the oil took effect."

Rose nodded and closed her eyes, breathing slowly in through her nose and exhaling through her mouth, clearing her mind and singling out her barely-developed sense of timelines. They sat perfectly still like this for several minutes, when suddenly Rose's perception of the lines sharpened and her eyes flew open.

"I can see them!" she exclaimed.

"What do you see, Rose?"

"This was meant to happen," she sighed happily.

"Right then," Jon grinned, "Let's get to it."

He took her face in his hands and leaned forward so that their foreheads met, and they opened their minds to each other. Rose gasped as they did, it was so much more intense than when Jon had shown her his life years ago. It felt so right, so free. A door opened and she went through it, not walking, not floating, but somehow moving. In the 'room' she saw formulas, chemical structures, and DNA strands. She felt Jon guide her to the right ones, and she examined them. She saw into them, and understood what each did, how it worked, and what it had developed from. She realised that in many ways, the strands of DNA looked very much like timelines. She felt Jon's chuckle as he felt her mind grasping the concepts and embracing them. She was awestruck by the magnitude of the universe that was opening inside her own mind. It's all so beautiful, she thought. It is, she felt Jon agree, and this is just the beginning, there's so much more. She felt his joy at her discoveries, then felt him nudge her into getting to work. She felt her body changing as they worked through the process of adapting her DNA.

When they had finshed, they gently separated their minds and Rose sat back and opened her eyes to what seemed like a new universe. She could see the timelines plainly now. Suddenly, she was able to remember being the Bad Wolf.

"I can see everything, all that is, all that was, all that ever could be." She grinned at Jon. "That's how it's going to be now, and no, it doesn't drive me mad."