Genesis Of The Doctor - A Doctor Who Story

06 - Tea

Returning from the museum the girl and boy removed their disguises and rushed back into the main dormitory area. Entering the room they were surprised to see the Corsair and her friend The Rani settled down around their regular table. In contrast to their usual impeccable appearance both Time Lords were rather dishevelled and grimy – their clothes showing evidence of wear and damage.

"It's not often we get visited by the gentry," observed the girl. Noticing their appearance she added, "Why do you two look such a state?"

The Corsair answered, "We went on another field trip today; our new world is all grown up!" She went on to tell them stories of her classmates' exploits while on their field trip away, which for them had lasted many days. The girl yawned loudly throughout. Finally the Corsair paused, "I thought I'd bring you something to try that we picked up from the inhabitants."

On the table, laid out on a cloth, were a ring of small, round, yellow cakes and next to them a bulbous brown vessel with a handle, a spout and four blue and white cups. The Corsair took the vessel and poured a steaming brown liquid into each of the cups, then stirred in another white fluid and what looked like sugar. "Drink it," she said.

"Is it safe?" the girl asked, looking over at the boy who had already started drinking his.

"That is amazing!" he exclaimed, "I love it; it's really lifting my mood!"

The girl suspected that this show of excitement was designed to impress the Corsair but she had to admit that she felt the same thing. "Yes, it's pretty good," she allowed.

"I know!" gushed the Corsair, "According to our guides it does a special something to the Gallifreyan metabolism. It's called a 'tea' and you are supposed to take it with these little cakes. You should try it with more sugars – it will blow your mind!"

"Can you get more?" the boy asked.

"We're going back tomorrow. It will be a few centuries later for the inhabitants but if they are still making it I will see what I can do for you. We're not really supposed to take things as I'm sure you'll appreciate but The Rani has big pockets." The Rani winked at the girl and smiled conspiratorially. This was met with a disapproving scowl.

The Corsair continued, "It's amazing; the inhabitants look so like us that they could pass for Gallifreyans. We've been able to move freely among them without needing to disguise ourselves at all."

"Which is presumably why they picked it as a training planet," observed The Rani ruefully. "You're both overdue taking the Rebirth and will be Time Lords yourselves soon. Then perhaps you will get to see it for yourselves if it remains a field trip destination."

Later, in their quiet dorm room, the boy said, "Well, we need a destination and that place the Corsair visited sounds ideal. Stealing the coordinates won't be hard either - we just need to access the machine they use to program the time rings and get them directly from there."

"Ideal? Based on what? That tea stuff?" asked the girl. "Can't we do some more research and try somewhere else? That place will be crawling with Time Lords on field trips."

"For some of its history it is but they never revisit the same place too many times for fear of polluting the timeline. Plus we'll blend right in."

"And you like the tea."

"And I like the tea. We haven't got any better ideas and we're fast running out of time. I don't want to end my life during my Rebirth, I want to stay as I am and so do you. We've got to get out of here before they make us do it."

Certain Gallifreyans are taken from their families as young children to start on the path to becoming Time Lords. When they come of age they undertake the "Rebirth" and choose their "True Name", changing from a base Gallifreyan to become a new enhanced being; a 'Time Lord'.

The process imbues them with telepathy, a psychic empathy field and time sensitivity. Physically they gain a binary vascular system with a second heart, enhanced strength and a physiognomy hardened to allow travel through the Time Vortex without requiring that they travel within a time capsule.

The most fundamental change is the ability to regenerate their entire bodies should they become mortally wounded or suffer from old age. The process renews their bodies with a complete physical replacement, effectively making them immortal, but there is a catch: For all its gains, each and every regeneration process requires a complete rewriting of the host body, every cell, every organ including the brain. The memories remain but the personality is fractured and altered, creating a different person and destroying the original.

Even for the first regeneration during the Rebirth the original personality is lost. It is that that the pair were running from and they only had a few days left in which to make their escape.