Time Rewritten

Chapter 17

They arrived in Arcadia, the Doctor having landed them on one of the Guard Towers, and the first thing Rose noticed was how quiet it was. One could almost imagine that there wasn't a war raging. Almost.

"Arcadia. Gallifrey's second city. Protected by four hundred sky trenches," the Doctor lectured as they exited the Tardis.

"Those sky trenches?" Rose asked, pointing to the hundreds of towering columns surrounding the city.

"Yes. They form a shield over the atmosphere protecting from aerial invasions. They have never been penetrated." His voice took on a faraway tone as he stared up into the sky and his brow furrowed, as though something were bothering him.

"But?" she gently prodded.

He snapped out of his reverie. "One could almost say it's unsinkable."

She blinked at the thinly veiled reference to the Titanic. "You think they'll be breached?"

He sighed. "I'm finding that in this war, things that I thought were impossible have been proven possible."

She tried to think back to what little the Doctor had told her about the war, but she couldn't recall if he had ever mentioned Arcadia. Though this Doctor seemed to have a sense of foreboding about this place and she had to agree with him on this one. The tranquility and pretentious sense of peace seemed rather fake, unreal.

"What about Gallifrey? Is it protected by those sky trenches?"

"Yes, the whole planet is protected by a quantum force field."

She nodded, somewhat relieved that Gallifrey was protected, but she knew that those sky trenches would not protect Gallifrey from annihilation at the Doctor's own hands. She shivered, remorse flooding her. The profound guilt he must have suffered knowing he had killed his own race, his own people. She looked over at her current Doctor. Yes, his face showed the strain of the war, but it held none of the heaviness that her first Doctor carried with him. Nothing would ever ease his conscience from what he did.

"So what now?" she asked, hoping he hadn't noticed her shift in mood. Thankfully, he was watching the city below them, the people milling around and going about their day to day business.

"We are to meet up with the General and go from there."

"Rassilon didn't give you any other orders? Just told you to come here?"

"In a nutshell, yes. They consulted the Matrix and noticed a few...red flags...concerning Arcadia. He was concerned and asked me to come and keep a watchful eye over things."

"And you don't think it's a trap?" Rose asked as they started walking towards a door.

"No." At her skeptical look he elaborated, "I think after the whole Moldox incident, he has decided that we would be a bigger threat if he made enemies out of us. So he's trying to make nice."

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Which works both ways."

Rose grinned. The Doctor certainly was no fool. He didn't trust Rassilon, but he knew he had to be in his good graces to get information. "Sneaky."

He grinned back. "I try."

They entered the elevator that was behind the door and descended downwards. They came to a large room where there were soldiers in bulky rust red armor with Gallifreyan symbols set on the shoulders. Some soldiers were fitting other soldiers with helmets with red tinted visors covering the eyes. Rose startled as one soldier cried out in fear. The soldier fitting him with the headgear was instantly at his side, reassuring him.