eri glanced around her room for what she had decided would be the last time. The perfectly smooth and white walls were still as inviting, and the strange mixture of ages and civilizations which was conjured up by the scattering of furniture still held its mysterious and exciting quality which Peri found so appealing. Yet she realised, it was time to go.

As she walked along the gleaming white corridors to reach the exit, Peri thought about the whole concept of the place, and how she was probably throwing away a million chances; throwing away the chance to visit a million planets, times and places like toys which had become bored with, with a few simple steps from an ageless blue box and back into the life she once led. She said to herself, that in this situation it was easy for her to leave home and return here. Yet, that fact would remain forever, and she could not. She also thought of one major obstacle, one thing she had to do soon which she was not going to like one bit. She had to tell the Doctor.

The Doctor was happy. The Doctor was cheerful. The Doctor was excited. The TARDIS was not. with tender fingertips and a warm smile he tried to coax her into going where he wanted her to, yet somehow she knew the dangers and perils of Sector Seventy-seven, and in particular the one jungle planet of Gestrex, upon whose soils the Doctor hoped to run about taking samples of the plant life nobody had previously dared to interfere with. Therefore, every time the Doctor tried to surprise the console by suddenly ramming a certain string of co-ordinates into the computer bank the room buckled and swayed madly, and tried to make him give up his quest.

'I will not give up!' the Doctor roared as Peri entered, two suitcases in her hands and a shoulder bag in the appropriate place.

'Doctor...'

The Doctor clung on to the console and tapped the numbers into the controls once more. 'Hold tight, Peri!' he ordered reprovingly when she had been thrown to the floor a few times. 'The TARDIS is being awkward.'

Peri didn't really want to listen to more of the Doctor's babbling, that wild and crazy talk of far and distant lands which might persuade her to take her luggage back to her room. 'Doctor, don't make this more awkward than it already is...'

'I assure you, I'm trying not to, my girl.' he said heftily and tried once again. 'I want to get there as much as you do.'

'To Earth?'

'Sorry?'

'Oh, nothing...'

'Doctor...'

'Yes?'

'I want to go home.'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

he TARDIS materialised on a busy New York street, inside its occupants stared at the scanner screen showing the busy scene.

'You realise of course, that once you walk from this door, there'll be no coming back. Not ever?' said the Doctor. The TARDIS materialised on a busy New York street and the doors opened. Two suitcases forced themselves through the open doorway and were unceremoniously dumped on the pavement. The Doctor looked up and waited for Peri to follow him out. When she did came out, there was a trickle of watery eye, make-up down one of her cheeks.

'Well, I would have thought you'd have been just a little more nice about the whole thing.'

'Nice?' shouted the Doctor to a passing dog. 'Nice? What do you want me to do, bake a cake or something?'

A fresh tear ran down Peri's cheek and she picked up the heavy luggage. If the Doctor wasn't going to be emotional, then she wasn't going to make a spectacle of herself in public. She tried to hold out her right hand. 'Well, Doctor, thanks for looking after me and all that...see you around.'

The Doctor looked down at the hand as if not knowing that he should shake it. With an ungracious sniff he turned his back and went into the TARDIS. The doors slammed shut and Peri stood looking in wonderment at the rapidly fading police box shell.

Within, the Doctor turned disconsolately from the controls and wondered what he had just done, and why. Peri had been a part of his life for quite a few years, and like a coward he had shunned all farewells when it was time for her to go. He found an armchair and sank despairingly into it. He tried to recall the past few days, searching for the reason why see had suddenly left. But it wasn't as if she'd been distinctly unhappy, or that they'd had an argument. In fact, they'd been getting along quite well...

He found himself getting up from the chair and leaving the console room, delving deeper into the TARDIS and then suddenly stopping at the end of one of the corridors, in front of a door marked 'Peri's Room - Time Lord and limeys keep out!'. He smiled slightly and turned the brass door knob.