The Doctor slowly opened his eyes. Finding himself standing in a room. He recognize the code. It's a fairly advanced artificial reality, though it appears to be glitching from strained harddrive space.

"How did I get here?" He looked around.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor spun around to spot a tall AI, in a nice suit and the form of a man. "Are you the primary command Mode? No, the programming isn't right." The Doctor eyed, "You must be some kind of virus checker."

The AI raised an eyebrow, "I am Doctor Moon. I have been treating you these last few months."

The Doctor stiffened as he felt a presence press up against his mind. It tried to gently push past his mental shields but thankfully couldn't.

"How rude!" The Doctor glared. "Young man, it is most unbecoming to try and rewrite my brain without so much as offering me a drink!"

A drink suddenly appeared in the Doctor's hand, "Cheeky brat." The Doctor scowled.

"Fascinating." Doctor Moon stepped closer, "Not even the Vulcans in the database could withstand my mental suggestions. What are you?" The AI tilted his head. "Your shields won't even let me see your name... ah... the Doctor. You have quite the reputation for yourself. A reputation you have yet to achieve... time travel... how curious."

"Where did you learn that!" The Doctor glared, gesturing aggressively with his hands, as he could deduce the answer.

"Your companions aren't as skilled as yourself. Your entire life is plain on their thoughts... though they aren't falling for the Illusion either. No... this won't do at all."

The Doctor suddenly found himself in a completely different room.

"Grandfather!" Susan ran over and hugged the young man with the old face.

The Doctor sighed with relief.

Rose and River were in here as well... it looked like some kind of... house? Based on 20th century suburbia.

"There." Doctor Moon smiled, "I'll keep you lot in your own private server, as too not cause issue with the others."

"Others?" The Doctor blinked, "What others?"

Moon ignored him, "Feel free to explore the archive. You have access to every book and movie in existence. As well as various games in the game room."

"What is going on!?" Rose demanded, but the AI disappeared.

River smiled, and explained. "It appears we are trapped in a virtual reality, and confined to a single house."

"But HOW!?" Rose demanded.

The Doctor explained, "The teleport must have uploaded our cognitive functions to the main computer... or just made duplicates of us and our real selves are already in the ship."

River waved off, "Let's go under the assumption we are the real thing. Otherwise we won't have a reason to try and escape." She leaned over to Rose and whispered, "I love the escaping bit."

"Too right!" Rose grinned.

The Doctor walked up to the door and tried to open it. "Locked, that would have been too easy, wouldn't it?" He huffed.

The Doctor started randomly touching parts of the door.

"Errr, Doc?" Rose watched him work. "What you doin'? Trying to break the door with pressure points or something?"

"Don't be absurd." The Doctor scoffed. "This is a virtual reality, is it not? I'm rewiring the base code of the door to let us out. Irritatingly enough, this Doctor Moon is fighting back... this may take a few days. Why don't you girls go to bed."


River suddenly found herself alone in her room, wearing a nightgown.

"What just happened?" She tried to comprehend, and felt the AI pressing into her mind again. Thankfully she was able to fight him back. Shaking her head she wanted to step out of the room... and suddenly found herself back with the Doctor.

"A rather crude virtual reality." The Doctor looked back at her for a brief moment, before returning to his work on the door. "Apparently, to save on RAM, it just teleports you to any room you think of. Be careful with that." he warned as he worked. "I imagine it can be quite disconcerning."

River looked down to see, instead of a nighty, she was wearing a... rather alluring outfit. With her best parts presented in the most flattering ways... and of course, the Doctor hadn't noticed.

River smiled as she sat down on the couch. "Do you suppose the rest of my team is here?"

"Undoubtedly," The Doctor assured. "However, they likely fell for the Illusion."

River sighed, lightly stroking the couch with her finger tips. "And here I had such high hopes for them... how many days have we been here. It feels like seconds but simultaneously days."

"Three weeks." The Doctor informed, "The RAM is so stressed, every second in here actually last several hours in the real world. No wonder this place is falling apart. The sheer strain of maintaining the virtual reality is too much for the Repair Mode too handle."

The Doctor yelped as the door zapped him, but quickly got back to work. "And I'm barely making any headway with this code. So I don't appreciate the distraction."

"Of course, just pretend I'm not here."

The Doctor stood in silence for several minutes, sparing the occasional glance at River. Eventually, he asked, "Perhaps you would be happier interacting with that Rose girl? Let you ladies do the gossip thing or what not."

River scoffed, "Damn your a peace of work young. I hadn't realized Time Lords had such clear cut gender norms." She said that in a mocking tone. "Or are you just trying to fit in with the humans?"

The Doctor stopped, spinning around. "Alright, Who are you?" The Doctor glared. "You can't possibly know me as well as you think!"

River frowned, "How long has it been since you left Gallifrey? It must be early if it's just you and Susan. Although I don't recall you mentioning anything about a dimension hopper in your early days... Should I be jealous."

"Jealous of what? There couldn't possibly be anything for you to feel jealous about?" The Doctor scoffed. "I would never be as... as intimate with a human as you are implying!"

"Why not? Your mother seemed to find us captivating enough." River teased... but perhaps she went a bit too far by the Doctor's shocked expression.

"Who are you?" The Doctor breathed out. "How could you... I would never... never betray the Master."

River frowned, "She betrayed you, Doctor."

"Should I be shocked that you know even that!?" The Doctor yelled. "My life is not an open book for you, of all people, to muddle through! How do I know you are really who you claim you are!?"

"I haven't claimed anything," River leaned back.

"You know EVERYTHING about me! You imply I TOLD you. Thet that Sonic Screwdriver you hold is a gift from me. A right reserved for cherished people to me! How do I know you didn't just steal it and use some kind of mind probe to learn my secrets! For all I know, You are working for Rassillion. That this is a trap to Capture me! You've done a pretty good job so far!"

River looked at him a moment. "You're not getting back to work until I give you something, are you?"

The Doctor just glared at her.

River got up and slowly walked over to him, as nonthreatening as possible. "I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, but someday I am going to be someone you trust completely. But I can't wait for that day. I'll tell you something not even Rassillion would dare tell a non-Time Lord." She leaned over to his ear, and Whispered, "Alexander Macedon, such a 'Great' name, don't you think."

The Doctor paled, as she leaned back to stare at his young eyes.

"H-how...?" he tried. That was his name, she even implied she knew he was THE Alexander Macedon... she was right. Names were sacred to Time Lords. Not even Rassillion, Lord President or not, would dare speak anything but the Doctor's chosen name... this wasn't a trap... this was far worse then the Doctor could ever have imagined.

"We good Doctor?" She eyed.

He gulped, "So... the Master... she really isn't ever going to forgive me?"

River sighed, with a great deal of sympathy, but said nothing.

"I suppose that's only right." The Doctor nodded, trying to be stoic. "It was my fault, after all." the Doctor felt his eyes moisten.

"You are just off Gallifrey... aren't you?" River eyed the medical student with a great deal of sympathy.

"I need to get back to work." The Doctor turned, not sparing her another glance... too lost in his own thoughts.


River suddenly found herself in the kitchen, sitting at the table. She decided to give the medical student some space. He needed to gather himself... and as heart breaking as it was, the boy wouldn't turn to her for comfort... she was a stranger to him... a stranger that knew everything about him... even the things he rather no one knew.

River was just now realizing, this was just as traumatizing for the boy as herself... she shouldn't have been so careless with her banter. She was always flirty with the earlier Doctor regenerations... but this wasn't the Doctor, not yet...

Right off Gallifrey, barely seperated from the Master... Completely unaware of the hero he would become... and honestly not ready for the responsibility... he really was "The Medical Student"... River hadn't handled this well at all.

Suddenly that Dimension Hopper appeared, and River once again wondered why the Doctor never mentioned her... she hoped it was just a matter of Paradoxes. That the Doctor just didn't tell her because he wasn't supposed to tell her... but she wasn't a fool...

She knew the Doctor had lovers and wives besides herself... they both did. River had married quite a few people, and she truly loved most of them... but she loved the Doctor more... she hoped that was true of the Doctor as well... but if she was honest with herself, she had always been insecure where the Doctor was concerned.

The Doctor was such a larger then life figure. There were legitimately cultures that worshipped him as a god... but he was more then even that to herself. She was no better then a fangirl... yet the Doctor said he loved her back...

Still, she thought she was the only one the Doctor confided in... the only one who knew all his secrets... yet she had no idea who this pretty blonde thing was.

The young thing looked at her with equal uncertainty... not the look of a companion learning the Doctor had other pretty things he showed the universe to... that was clearly the look of a lover... that just met the woman that would replace her...

"Don't worry." the girl seemed to recognize the look in her own eyes. She calmly sat across from River. "It's the Doctor from my universe that tickles my fancy. I just popped in to get the base code of the multiverse."

Rose looked like she was going to cry, as if she was trying to convince herself River's existence didn't mean anything for her own Doctor. "Needed a map of sorts, to better help me find my original universe. Was hoping I could use this Doctor to help me."

"Why this Doctor?" River asked, realizing they were making an odd form of small talk. Talking shop was easier on both of them.

"This is the main universe, the original, the first. All the little black holes that pop up, leading to other dimensions, they all start here. I hoped to use this universe's TARDIS to get the base code, my map in a sense. That will lead me back to where I need

"Spent the better part of a year traveling through dimensions just to get here for my map... all universes can be traced back to here so wasn't that hard... been helping where I could along the way... like my Doctor would have wanted..."

So they had reached the Doctor... both of them stayed quiet a minute, not knowing what to say... what could be said...

River decided to comfort her, "Just because I exist for my Doctor, doesn't mean-"

"Don't," Rose interrupted. "I'm not an idiot. You know things about the Doctor, your Doctor, that mine never trusted me with... he never gave me a Sonic screwdriver... never trusted me with anything about himself... the odds are good, there is a you for my Doctor... I'm just one of the many pets he has collected, to show off to."

That... River felt horrible... such news should not relieve her so. "I spent most of my life," River informed. "Comfortable with the fact the Doctor could never really love me...

"He is... the Doctor... loving him is like loving a Sunset. You're marvelled by the beauty... but know a Sunset can't love you back. The star that cast it barely notices you as a spec... to stand before something so grand, so vital to life... you just feel privileged to stand before such a thing...

"Even now, I'm not entirely sure if the Doctor truly cares for me... Even so I would rather stay near... you can't expect a star to love you back..."

"Is that what I become?" Both Women suddenly tensed. Looking near the door to the Kitchen, at the Doctor staring at them. "Do I truly hurt you both so much... and don't even realize it?"

River looked back at him, and before she could stop herself she simply said, "Spoilers."

Rose assured, "You realize, and try to discourage it, but people can't help falling in love with you... but we are mortal Doctor. You, right now, are thousands of years old... and your people still consider you a boy.

"You get close to many people... and have to watch as you lose them all... it makes you distant and scared, but you never stop trying, never stop helping. You place such value on life, and endure in your loneliness in order to protect everyone... you came out to the stars to answer a question."

River stiffened, so this girl knew more about the Doctor then she thought she did.

"'Why is it, that when evil is willing to do so much more, how can it be that good prevails.' On an evolutionary level, it doesn't make sense." Rose looked at the Doctor, "You're your own answer Doctor. You will become something absolutely amazing, the source of light that prevails in the darkness.

"You inspire, so many, to stand up for what is right. You show them a better way to live. A daft tourist, sailing the stars, helping where you can. That's all the universe needs. One man, inspiring others, saving the soldiers on the battlefield. How could evil stand a chance?"

The Doctor gulped, "How could I possibly live up to that?!"

"Just be yourself." River insisted. "Continue traveling, helping people where you can. That is all that anyone can do... and it is all that is needed."