The Time War: Rebellion

Four

The man looked at me for a long time, and then looked down.
"Rassilon's claim that he'll know whether you have the Other or not is a bluff. It has to be, not even Rassilon has technology capable of tracking a Type 70 TARDIS. He said it to scare you. In other words, you're free to do what you want with a very advanced TARDIS. I'd just recommend staying away from Gallifrey for a few millenia."
He looked at me as I took this in. I slowly nodded and said "But what about you? What will you do?"
"Well, not a lot's changed for me," he replied. "All that's happened is I gave a Time War refugee a nice light show and showed him how to really fly a TARDIS. All I'm gonna do is go off and do what I always do."
"And what's that?"
"Save a few more people, do my best to make sure a planet isn't too destroyed, or annoy the War Council a bit more. Same old, same old."
Suddenly, a thought came to my mind.
"I've seen legends, met legends, and influenced legends. Name any far-flung myth, that was probably me."
"You said you were a legend."
He nodded.
"I've been told to find the Other-"
"No. I am not the Other. The Other really is a myth. There is no way the Other is real."
"But Rassilons real, and I hear that Omega-"
"The Other is a story! A fairytale! He is nothing but fiction, used to entertain those of us that try to find truth in nonsense! The origins of Gallifrey are hidden even to me, but I know that there was never anyone called the Other there when they activated it. Do not question this, and do not believe in silly stories such as that. There is as much truth in the Other's existence as there is in the Three Little Sontarans."
It was so unexpected. Up until then, he was so calm, so sophisticated, almost gentle. But he had suddenly exploded in a fit of rage. There was a fire behind his eyes.
We sat in an awkward silence for a while. I looked at the floor, whilst he fiddled with his device.
"What did they activate?" I asked.
"What?"
"What did they activate?"
He had slipped up. I saw annoyance flash in his eyes, but then tired defeat. He sighed.
"Millennia ago, there were two Time Lords: Rassilon and Omega, one a revolution leader, one a remarkable engineer. They were both the two Time Lords with the most power. It was up to them to decide how a lonely planet would grow. The future of Gallifrey was in their hands. There was... a device. A machine. A thing of immense power. Capable of creating immensities and destroying even more. In the wrong hands, this could destroy the whole of reality. This thing was called the Moment. One day, it all came down what Rassilon and Omega were going to do. Now. these two didn't agree on a lot of things, but they agreed that their society should be maintained by genetic looms. This was both the main source of population growth and the main method of population control. There were a few others, too: Apeiron, Pandak, Eutenoyar, and, as some believe, the Other. But they weren't there when Rassilon and Omega actually activated the Moment, to create the looms and restore order to the planet after the Time of Chaos. They activated the device, and... Well, no-one knows. Afterwards there were organic looms, the ones we were all grown and born in. There was a surprisingly peaceful society, very different to the one now. You see, back then, Rassilon was not a power-hungry maniac hell-bent on winning this War. He, and Omega, were just like you and me. Normal Gallifreyans. Well, normal as a rebel leader that managed to overthrow an army of extremely accurate seers that ruled the planet. But anyway, that basically is the story of the origin of Time Lord society."
I had an uncountable amount of questions, but doubted he knew many of the answers. One he might know the answer to, though, is what Rassilon's current aim was. Why did he want the Other?
"My guess is he wants advice on how overcome the Daleks. They're the Time Lords' main enemy. Everybody else will be irrelevant in the end. Just look at the Zygons."
The Zygons' home planet had been destroyed in the first days of the Time War. It is unknown what became of the few survivors.
"But why the Other? Why is he so important?"
He sighed again, and said, "The legend of the Other says that he was the one that made a weapon. Something more powerful then even the Moment. Something capable of disintegrating entire species with the push of a button. However, there was something even more terrifying about this weapon. It not only wiped out whole species, it obliterated... Everything about them. All traces of them was wiped from the whole of reality. It twisted time to ensure that their race never even existed. If Rassilon got hold of this weapon, he would extirpate all Daleks. Ever. They would never have existed. Not only would this have disastrous consequences for time itself, but after getting the Daleks out of the way, he would eradicate everything else. Any species he didn't like: boom, they would be gone. He would be the ruler of the entire universe. If that happened... Well, with him in charge, sooner or later we won't have a universe to live in."
I swallowed. I understood the seriousness of this. Rassilon finding the Other would be catastrophic. The destruction he would cause would be total.
"We have to stop him."
I don't know why I said it. But in a way, I do. I didn't mean to say it, but I meant it. Rassilon could not get hold of this weapon, and I had to prevent him from getting it.
"You've got to be joking." The man laughed, and shook his head. "Currently, even without this weapon, Rassilon is one of the most powerful people in the universe. We have as much chance as stopping him as an baby Adipose has of destroying a Dalek."
"But you're a renegade Time Lord. You know how they work, Rassilon's weaknesses."
"Rassilon has no weaknesses. He is the Lord High President of Gallifrey: any weaknesses he may have once had have been completely wiped from his conscious. Please, just believe me, there is no way we can stop him from getting the Other, one way or another."
I shook my head.
"Take me back to my TARDIS."
He sighed once again, stood up and walked back towards the blue box. I followed him inside and he pulled what looked like a bicycle pump attached to the console. There was the wheezing noise. The time rotor moved, and in a few seconds we had landed. He was right on one thing: he could show me how to pilot a TARDIS correctly.
I pulled open the doors and stepped into the now cooler air of the grassy plains. I hurried towards my own ship and pushed open the rough bark doors, which were now thankfully unlocked. Reaching the console, I purposely pulled the take off lever and suddenly we were in flight.