“I don’t like this,” muttered Amy at one point.
“Do any of us?” asked the Doctor.
“Should we really trust the same person that gave Eggman the means to split the universe apart?” asked Amy.
“Okay, to be fair to Miss Tarae,” conceded the Doctor, “we BOTH told him how bone-headed it was to roboticize a TARDIS.”
“Gallifrey calling Thanakian Ship,” Romana said to a screen. “Thanakian Ambassador, come in please.” A horrifying monster appeared on the screen. “Ah, there you are. This is Romanadvoratrelundar, Romana for short, Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords and duly elected spokesperson for Gallifrey. It is my understanding that Miss Tarae told you that we can accept refugees.”
“That was the impression,” replied the monster, the Thanakian Ambassador, “but, forgive me for saying this, all we see is rubble and ruin. Under better circumstances, we would help you rebuild your world.”
“Yes, well, that’s thanks to one of our number learning the truth about our past and throwing a tantrum. I understand the Rutans are after you lot?”
“They have ravaged our planet! We cannot hold against them! If the Rutans are not shown that the universe will stand together, they will commit worse atrocities than the Daleks just to destroy the Sontarans!”
“That doesn’t sound like what we saw of their timeline,” said Romana, “but, then again, we haven’t been able to see ANY timeline as of late. …I sympathize with your plight, but, as you see, we’re not in a place to accept refugees.”
“Gallifrey, we beg you! All we ask is a place for our chief executive so that we may coordinate a plan of campaign!”
“…I’ll see what can be done if anything CAN be done,” sighed Romana.
“We are grateful,” replied the Thanakian Ambassador. Romana switched the call off and went off to find Rassilon. Much as she hated the former Lord President Eternal right now, Romana needed the advice of a previous ruler.
As the call went on, Miss Tarae and Amy were in a room alone. The Doctor and Lurra Rus had just gone for a cup of tea. “…What ARE you doing here, Miss Rose?” asked Miss Tarae once the silence was uncomfortable for her.
“Helping Rassilon restore Gallifrey, like the Doctor promised,” replied Amy. “Gotta admit, the work’s coming along nicely…although, I’m not an engineer, more of a muscle-.”
“You want to see me destroyed,” observed Miss Tarae.
“…I don’t want you to pull a Toymaker,” corrected Amy, “and turn the universe into your playground. There IS a distinction. And, given what few interactions we’ve had, well…not the best first impression, gotta say.”
“…Even if Gallifrey were restored, I’d still be alone,” muttered Miss Tarae. “An outcast from my people.”
“Only because they probably know your nature, probably not as well as the Doctor, granted.”
“…Indeed. …Miss Rose, do you know who is the nearest non-Time Lord that I have to a friend?”
“Nope.”
“…You.”
“Me?!” Amy was taken aback at that! “But-!”
“We have been through a lot in our few interactions, have we not?” asked Miss Tarae. “We are both women forging our own destinies. You said so yourself, you’re not an engineer, but your intellect lies not in that! It lies in bringing peace and prosperity to everyone! We have that much in common!”
“We’re not friends, Miss Tarae,” reminded Amy.
“No, we’re not,” conceded Miss Tarae. “…But I often think that, in some strange branch of history, we might have been. Fate has made us allies, Miss Rose! Imagine what we could achieve together!”
“You’re dangerous.”
“All beings of destiny are!”
“Beings of what?” laughed Amy. “Destiny? Before I met the Doctor, I was a heroine that lived her life in a linear pattern. Maybe I have a different perspective on fate and destiny.”
“You do, yes,” replied Miss Tarae. “But you are one of the Elite of Mobius! It was YOU that organized a successful resistance against Dr. Eggman when he was playing with the Phantom Ruby! The same resistance that freed Sonic from prison and led to the final victory in that campaign! The Doctor doesn’t pick her friends from the Rabble! I think Rassilon and Romana are like us! We CAN achieve great things!”
“You can’t have four supreme beings, Miss Tarae, by definition.”
“I always thought it was a question of destruction! …But I see now that the constant fighting just cancels out any gains. If we can work together-!”
“To what end?” asked Amy. “Like I said, I don’t know you as well as the Doctor, but I know you well enough! I know your nature!”
“…Your people had abandoned the death penalty long before your birth, yes?” quizzed Miss Tarae.
“…Yes,” replied Amy, not sure where Miss Tarae was going with this.
“…Why?”
“…Well, because, deep down, we all hold life to be sacred. We believe that even the worst criminal could be rehabilitated.”
“Precisely!” Amy blinked as she realized what Miss Tarae was driving at.
“You…think you’re a reformed character?” she asked.
“Not yet, Miss Rose,” replied Miss Tarae. “But I HAVE been given a new chance and I intend to take it!”
“The Doctor introduced me to a saying the humans have; a Dalek can’t change its bumps.”
“I am not a Dalek!” snarled Miss Tarae. “Unlike those monsters, I have always been in control of my destiny!” Her face softened and she looked away, holding her forearm. “I have…misused that power. …Done terrible things.”
“…But now you’re going straight?” asked Amy.
“…I understand your skepticism,” replied Miss Tarae. “All I ask is that you judge me by my actions.”
“Don’t worry, we all will,” snarked Amy.
As Amy and Miss Tarae talked, Susan approached the Doctor. “Ah, Susan!” greeted the Doctor. “Excellent! I’ll need some with-.”
“Grandfather, I just learned why Miss Tarae did what she did,” interrupted Susan.
“…She did a great many things, Susan,” replied the Doctor. “You’ll have to-.”
“I’m talking about the Timeless Child, Grandfather! About you!” The Doctor paused her labors. Susan wasn’t going to let this go. “…They didn’t change your original bio-data, did they? Rassilon and her former friends?”
“…No, they didn’t,” sighed the Doctor.
“Then there’s a very real chance that…”
“…Yes, Susan, barring any fatal damage between regenerations, you very well could have endless lives like me.”
“…Does this mean that, even if and when we restore Gallifrey, we’ll live beyond its final end?” The Doctor didn’t want to hear that question, but it was one that played in her mind. She already hated the fact that she would outlast her companions, but this…this was far more horrible. An immortal among immortals. And with Susan having the potential to regenerate endlessly like her grandfather…
“…Susan…I don’t know,” the Doctor finally sighed. “…But this time, we’ll be there for each other if and when that time comes.” The Doctor finally gave Susan the long-overdue hug she needed.
“They’re still waiting,” Rassilon said to Romana.
“Well, Rassilon? Your advice?” asked Romana icily. Lurra Rus sighed.
“Perhaps,” interjected the Twi’lek, “you two could fill me in on what’s going on between you two? This feels like unresolved trauma and the engineer in me wants to get that out of the way before it turns into something that ends badly like it did between me and my parents.”
“…To begin,” said Romana, “the Time Lords were at war with a race called the Daleks. It was known as the Last Great Time War at its conclusion.”
“You fought those monsters across time and space?” asked Lurra Rus.
“Exactly,” replied Rassilon. “And I went mad with power, deeming myself a god as the Emperor Dalek did.”
“And it was because of her madness that I crafted an assassination plot,” continued Romana. “It failed and I was exiled into that pocket dimension with all of Gallifrey’s archives to be an archivist. So, why DID you bring me back, Rassilon? Needed to set yourself up as a god again and needed a historian?”
“…Atonement, somehow,” replied Rassilon.
“Atonement?!” scoffed Romana. “What, do you regret being a madman?!”
“Well, after travelling with the Doctor on a quest for the Key to Time, wouldn’t you?!” snapped Rassilon.
“You’re lying!” accused Romana.
“Ask the Doctor or Amy! Look it up in the TARDIS! You’ll see I’m telling the truth!”
“She is, Romana,” called the Doctor’s voice. Everyone turned to see the Doctor and Susan approaching. “Before Miss Tarae did all this to Gallifrey, I exiled Rassilon. She managed to make it time travel capable, but bumped into the Black Guardian, ordering her to retrieve the Key to Time.”
“The Guardian said that order was overrunning the universe, making it stagnate and eventually fall into chaos,” continued Rassilon.
“Something you’d think the Guardian of Chaos and Destruction would want,” said the Doctor, “but, apparently, the Guardian needs to dictate how that’s supposed to go down.”
“And if I didn’t get the Key within six incarnations, I’d be her plaything forever,” Rassilon went on. “I wasted five incarnations to make my bowship time travel capable, then I found the Doctor.”
“After that, we went on a hunt for the segments, found them all…and Rassilon grew along the way,” finished the Doctor.
“…I learned that just because the rest of the universe is not temporally sensitive,” said Rassilon, “it doesn’t mean its suffering is less real. …But it’s a struggle every day. I still don’t know if I’ve fully changed.”
“So how did you get out of that situation?” asked Romana.
“Well, remember the end of our quest for the Key to Time?” quizzed the Doctor. “Where the Black Guardian posed as the White before we figured it out and stopped him?”
“Yes, that’s why we had a randomizer installed in the TARDIS,” replied Romana.
“Well, the White Guardian was doing the same,” explained the Doctor.
“Turns out it was the WHITE Guardian that sent me on that quest to teach me a lesson,” explained Rassilon. “At least, according to her, I passed her test, but…”
“But you’re not sure if you fully believe that,” said Romana.
“No,” admitted Rassilon lamely. “I suppose that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, to restore Gallifrey.”
“You could just start over elsewhere,” remarked Romana.
“I don’t have a choice!” retorted Rassilon.
“…You do, actually. But you chose an option that served Gallifrey over you.” Romana drew herself up to her full height. “Understand that I have not forgiven you for your past sins, but I can see you’re attempting to repent as best you can.”
“…Whose idea was it to clear the air now?” asked the Doctor.
“Lurra Rus,” replied Rassilon. “She correctly figured that not addressing it would be bad for Gallifrey in the long run.”
“Good work, Lurra,” praised the Doctor.
“Well, I didn’t want the mistakes of my past to be repeated,” replied Lurra Rus.
“…Speaking of resolving things for the good of Gallifrey, we’d better make sure Amy and Miss Tarae don’t kill each other,” said the Doctor as she headed off.