he Doctor stared at the small read-out screen on the console until the
numbers and letters seemed to break down into their component points of green.
His mind whirled with lightening thoughts. The quandary seemed endless, but as
a walker in eternity he had enough time to consider the implications to the
full.
Fate had provided him with the pretext that he had shied away from for so
long. He tried to consider the chances of the TARDIS having picked out this
planet from the billions of others in the cosmos, and it struck him rather like
a single grain of sand in a huge, deep beach. Such thoughts as that hurt his
mind.
He cancelled the screen display with an impatient stab of the cancel
control, and he began to probe the memory banks of the TARDIS. He had never
before been sufficiently interested to observe the causes of something that he
knew far too well. He saw entropy of the strangest kind: a number of relatively
small developments multiplying through the centuries to the final, evil
conclusion.
He looked up at Tegan walked into the console room, her beauty providing a
breath of fresh air. 'Turlough wanted to know whether we've landed anywhere
interesting.' she said lightly, trying to peer over the Doctor's shoulder.
'It depends what you mean by "interesting"...' The Doctor cleared
the screen, and turned to face her, his smile very hesitant. 'If you mean
"interesting" referring to knowledge, this planet has that in
abundance. But a very dark form of knowledge...'
'What do you mean?'
'I am going to perform a task here that will change the future. I doubt I
will succeed, but I feel I must attempt to change this planet's development,
even if only fractionally...If I do succeed, I might provoke a great response
from the Time Lords.'
'Where are we then?'
The Doctor shook his head slightly, 'I do not want to say too much...I
don't want to make you a partner in crime.
