The Doctor's Guardian

Lesson on Gallifrey

Kyré and the Doctor sat at a round table fixing up the broken model of Gallifrey. The Doctor had offered to teach her about his home, so while they were fixing the model, the Doctor had a holographic globe projected above the table.

"So where did you grow up?" Kyré asked as she glued another piece to the model. The Doctor tapped the globe and it zoomed in on a small city. "Right about..." he looked around then pointed to a house with a giant tree in the backyard. "Here."

"This was your house?"

The Doctor nodded. "And the Guardian lived," he pointed to the house on the left with the blue door. "Right here." The Doctor turned the hologram around so the tree in his backyard was facing them. Kyré saw a small treehouse up in the branches. "The Guardian and I used to come here everyday after we got home from school."

"What was school like for you?"

"We had an Academy that we all went to. At age eight, children were required to attend. For most, it was like a boarding school and they didn't see their families for months. But the Guardian and I lived close enough that we could walk to and from our homes every day.

"What did they teach you?"

The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "For the most part, it was like any other school. They taught us regular things like mathematics, grammar and science. But they also taught is different things. Galactic history, and advanced astronomy. Sometimes they trained like soldiers. And at the very beginning, before you even entered the Academy, they took you to gaze into the Untempered Schism."

"What's that?"

"We'll it's basically a gap in the fabric of time and space. They take you, and you just look. Some are inspired, some run away, and a few to mad. Long story short, it's a rite of passage to enter the Academy.

"Eventually, you would graduate and get on with your life. But a select few were chosen to stay in school and were trained to become a Timelord."

"Weren't all people on Gallifrey Time Lords?" Kyré asked.

The Doctor chuckled. "No, that's a very common mistake. A Timelord is actually a rank in the Gallifreyan military. They're the equivalent to the US Delta Force."

"You were a soldier."

The Doctor nodded. "Of sorts. The Guardian and I both were. Well she was technically a Timelady."

They sat in silence for a moment and then Kyré spoke up again. "What exactly was Gallifrey like?"

The Doctor leaned back in his chair and sighed. "It was beautiful," he said, "You would wake up every morning to the sun rising in the burnt orange sky over the shining silver forests. It was as if time itself was rushing through the universe and then decided to stop and enjoy a single planet."

As he spoke, Kyré listened intently, with a look on her face of that of a child listening to a fairy tale.

"As a child, it was very peaceful and calm. We were the masters of the universe. We has so much power and knowledge that we didn't need to get involved with anyone else. We just lived our lives in peace."

"That sounds wonderful," Kyré said. "Maybe we could go there some time."

A sad look came to the Doctor's face and he shook his head. "I would take you there if I could, but it's gone now. It's all gone."

"What happened?"

"In the last great Time War, my people fought the Daleks. During the last days of the war, everything was becoming hopeless. The a daleks had invaded the last stronghold. The city of Arcadia. And defeat was inevitable. Then, a man known as the Renegade came forward. He stole a weapon and destroyed the Daleks. But in the process of victory, Gallifrey was lost."

"I'm sorry." Kyré said. She sat there in silence, not knowing what to say or do. Then she smiled slightly. "I guess this whole thing makes you like Superman." she said. "The Last Son of Gallifrey, Protector of the Universe."

The Doctor smiled slightly. "Last of the Timelords."

"Hang on," Kyré asked. "When you said Gallifrey was lost, did you mean destroyed or lost?"

"Literally lost."

"Well then it's still out there somewhere." Kyré said, "You're not really the last one."

"Perhaps," the Doctor said, "But I've only met two others. One of them wasn't even from Gallifrey. And they're both long dead."

Kyré reached over and gave the Doctor's hand a comforting squeeze. "That doesn't mean you should give up. You shouldn't ever give up. Not on yourself or on others."

The Doctor chuckled slightly. "The Guardian said something like that to me once. You two could have been good friends."

Kyré smiled and glued the last piece to the model. "There. All fixed."

The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and soniced the model. "Now it won't break again." he said. Kyre attempted to hand him back the model but he didn't take it. "Why don't you keep that." He said, pushing it back into her hands. "You have more use for it than I do."

Kyre took it and held it carefully.

Suddenly, the TARDIS jolted forcefully and sent them both tumbling to the ground. "What was that?" Kyre exclaimed, making sure that the model was still safe.

"No idea," the Doctor said with that goofy grin of his plastered on his face. "But lets go find out!" He pulled Kyre to her feet and they ran out to the control room.