The Kuricam fell to the floor, and as it picked itself up, Romana noticed a crack right across its lens. Its legs were shaking more than ever–with anger now, not just at the weight of its body. ‘Resistance will not be tolerated,’ it said defiantly.
A young female Roman soldier bent down and searched Titus' body. Eventually, her hand found his radio. She spoke into it: ‘Bomber Command, do you read me? General Titus has fallen. The manipulators of reality will pay for this outrage.’ She paused, taking a deep breath.
The Doctor, as if suddenly realising what she was about to do, rushed over to her. Hands outstretched, he tried to grab the radio from her. But he wasn't fast enough. ‘No, wait–‘
‘Bring this place down,’ finished the Roman. ‘Leave nothing standing, and no one alive.’
‘Don't!’ cried the Doctor angrily.
Romana rushed over to join him. ‘Why would you do that?’ she asked the female soldier. ‘We can end this peacefully, not with bloodshed!’
‘From the moment the Cavalier came to us for aid,’ the Roman soldier explained, ‘we knew that were destined to die. As he explained, our existence is wrong The Zeronaughts have warped and twisted us for their own ill purpose. We are willing to give our lives to end theirs. Now, soldiers, charge! For Rome!’
‘For Rome!’ the soldiers echoed in a mighty roar.
The Romans moved forward as a unit, pushing past the Doctor and Romana, drawing their swords, ready for battle.
The single Kuricam, bureaucratic and ridiculous yet undeniably brave, jumped up onto the woman's shoulder. Its broken lens glowed with a blue light, as it readied itself to re-join the battle.
The Zeronaughts advanced as well, leaving their workstations for the first time to defend their place of work–their home. Their clenched fists glowed with improbably potent energy. Nil stood firm at the front, while Zilch cowered at the back. He was only a scientist; he had never signed on for this.
The Doctor, Romana, the Cavalier and K-9 all dived out of the way as the two armies clashed. The clang of steel against metal sliced through the air, while distant, terrible rumbles could be heard from outside.
‘Please, all of you, listen to us!’ cried Romana, shouting to be heard over the chaos. ‘Stop this! We have to leave now, or we'll all be killed!’
K-9's ears twitched nervously.
‘It's all right, boy,’ said the Doctor reassuringly. ‘Even if no one else is, we are leaving.’ Apparently noticing the look of horror on Romana's face, he continued, ‘There's nothing else we can do. I'm sorry. Everyone, to the TARDIS!’
The Doctor led his friends across the chamber, dodging rubble that fell from the ceiling, swords that were thrust out of the crowd, and bursts of energy that flew past them. The battle raged all around.
He fumbled for the TARDIS key, eventually finding it. K-9 trundled in first as the door was unlocked. But when the Doctor looked around for the Cavalier, he was nowhere to be seen. ‘Cavalier?’ cried the Doctor.
‘Where are you?’ asked Romana.
They watched as, out of the chaos, Nil the Calculator stepped forwards, with the Cavalier in his grasp. The Zeronaught's hand shone with a terrible light: he was going to kill the Time Lord.
‘Hand him over,’ said the Doctor. ‘There's no need to kill him.’
‘You brought down our empire,’ said Nil, ‘and this man helped you. Together, you challenged us. There is every need to kill him.’
The Doctor's steely façade cracked. ‘Please. Don't, I beg you. Just don't.’
The Zeronaught held his glowing hand against the Cavalier's hearts, and the Time Lord cried out in pain. Nil chuckled at the screams, and then decided to stop torturing his prisoner. He seemed to have more to say.
‘Our machine lies in ruins, as everything we have ever worked for crumbles around it–around us. Tell me, Doctor, what happens when it completely shuts down?’
‘The Zeronaughts hold on reality is broken. Time snaps back into place. Everything you wronged will be righted. Rome becomes ancient again, and all the other changes that rippled out of that are undone. It's as simple as that. If a stone is never dropped into the water, there aren't any ripples. Normality resumes.’
‘And we die,’ finished the Zeronaught grimly.
The Doctor nodded sadly. ‘I'm sorry. You were brilliant men. You could've done wonders for the universe. You just chose the wrong path, that's all. It's all about decisions. Please, as your last act, don't make another bad one. Let the Cavalier go.’
Reluctantly, Nil threw the Cavalier forward, into the Doctor's arms. The Cavalier could barely support the weight of his own body; his legs buckled beneath him.
‘Into the TARDIS, you two,’ the Doctor ordered.
Romana helped the injured Cavalier inside. He was still wincing, as if the pain had never stopped, even when the Zeronaught had released him.
‘I may be willing to let your friends live,’ said Nil, as his fist glowed brighter, ‘but you, Doctor, destroyed everything we have worked so hard for. You cannot survive past this day. Say your prayers.’
The Doctor smiled darkly. ‘You worked out all the answers to the big questions. You know the secrets of the universe, the truth about the Creators and the Destroyers, and God himself... Why would I pray?’
The Zeronaught raised his hand, ready to kill.
The Doctor closed his eyes, ready to die. ‘My friends are safe,’ he said. ‘And you are not. At the end, then, I can be happy.’
But suddenly, a harsh white light hit Nil the Calculator from behind, killing the glow of his hand and knocking him to the floor. The Doctor squeezed an eye open, daring to look.
The Kuricam leapt up onto Nil's back, and nodded at the Doctor. ‘He will be arrested and punished. Justice will be swift. We will take him from this place. Death is not a valid excuse.’
The Doctor smiled and nodded back. ‘Quite right too.’
‘Curse you, Doctor!’ cried Nil, unable to move. ‘But know this: soon–sooner than you think, Time Lord–you will fall.’
‘I understand. Everything ends.’ The Doctor looked at his own hands. They were not as young as they once were; he saw that they were old man's hands, and suddenly he became aware that he was looking at them out of old man's eyes. ‘Yes, I suppose... It's about time.’
With that, he Kuricam and the Zeronaught disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The Doctor took a final look at the chaos, and the few remaining Romans who still fought against the black-clad scientists. He glanced over at the Zeronaughts' machine, as it shook violently and smoke poured out of it. It was broken, useless, failing.
He gave a sigh of relief: this was all going to end. The false reality that the Zeronaughts' had created would buckle under the weight of its own improbability without the machine in place to sustain it. Time would revert back to how it should be. Technologies would return to their own time, and all would be well once again.
The Doctor stepped inside the TARDIS.
~~~
In the control room, the Doctor was surprised to see the Cavalier on the floor, clutching his chest in agony. Romana was knelt down, examining him. The Doctor joined her.
‘What happened?’ he asked, alarmed.
‘I think that Zeronaughts' energy,’ Romana said, ‘had already started to kill him. A lot of damage was already done to his hearts. Maybe enough damage to–‘
‘No!’ said the Doctor, grief-stricken. ‘Cavalier, hold on! Do you hear me? What can we do? Romana, help me! What do we need?’
‘I need...’ said the Cavalier, like it was painful to even talk. ‘I need, Doctor... to go home. To see it, one last time, before I–‘
‘Don't say it,’ said the Doctor'
‘Nothing lasts for ever.’ The Cavalier winced. ‘It all ends.’
‘But not this,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Not us...’
Romana was at the console, programming in co-ordinates. It was clear that she didn't want to go back, but they had to. Though the Doctor might refuse to admit it, this was to Cavalier's final wish–his last request.
‘To Gallifrey,’ she said sadly, under her breath.
Romana watched with tears in her eyes as the Doctor carried his old friend, the Cavalier, out of the TARDIS. As if sensing that something was wrong, the time machine had been strangely compliant during the flight, and had brought them to Gallifrey with no turbulence, no delays, no complications.
K-9 remained inside the police box, now wired up to the console to restore his power after recent events had left him weak. He would be back to normal in no time at all. The same could not, however, be said of the Cavalier.
The TARDIS had landed at the summit of the snowy Mount Solitude. Snowflakes tumbled majestically out of the sky, already beginning to settle on the roof of the police box. The Doctor placed the Cavalier down on the snow-capped field of deep red grass. Romana knelt down beside him and checked his condition. Despite the warmth in the air, as the first sun was setting and the second was rising in the south, the Cavalier was shivering; his hearts were beating rapidly, trying to keep his body going, desperately clinging onto life.
He didn't want to die. But then again, no one ever did.
The Doctor hadn't spoken in a long while. Romana looked up at him, but didn't expect to see a tear run down his cheek. He so rarely told her what he was really feeling that it unsettled her to see such an open display of emotion. He usually acted so strong and tough. But it was exactly that: an act.
While Romana felt terribly sad at the death of the Cavalier–a great man whom she had only met that day–she supposed that the Doctor must have been feeling a hundred times worse than her. This was, after all, one of his oldest and closest friends. He may not have spoken to him, or even about him, in a very long time, but Romana could still picture the look of delight on the Doctor face when his friend's name had been mentioned, when he thought that he might get to see him again.
The Cavalier summoned just enough strength to turn his head to the side. Between this mountain and Mount Solace in the distance was the Citadel of the Time Lords. A smile crept out across his face. Though they had expelled him and forced him to live a life of exile, it seemed that the Cavalier was still happy to be near to his people in his final moments.
Finally, the Doctor spoke out. ‘Don’t die,’ he said, as his voice cracked. ‘Can you remember all those days we spent together in our youth? We were only a few decades old. Hold on to those memories. Sitting on these hills, in the shadow of the Citadel, you and me and the rest of the gang. The Corsair! Remember him? And her, sometimes? And the Master, always causing trouble! Some things never change, eh?’ He smiled at the beautiful, distant memories. ‘We dreamed of this life, Cavalier, to go sailing out among the stars, to see the great wide universe in all its majesty. And we made it. We lived the dream. Don't wake up now, not yet. Stay with me.’
‘You know the rules, Doctor,’ replied the Cavalier. ‘Those silly old rules. Thirteen lives, and that's your lot.’
The Doctor looked over at Romana. He seemed so lost, so helpless. He seemed expectant, like he was waiting for her to speak up, to confirm what he was thinking. They were so in sync, and were having the same thoughts, coming up with the same ridiculous plan.
‘I think... It's not a biological restraint,’ Romana said, trying to sound confident when she really wasn't. But it was what the Doctor wanted to hear–what he needed to hear. ‘Your body could survive indefinitely. The limit is imposed and maintained by the Time Lords. Without them there to monitor the changes, to uphold the rules of regeneration, then you could, in theory, live for ever.’
The tears began to clear from the Doctor's eyes, as hope filled his face. ‘Hear that?’ he said to the Cavalier. ‘I could talk to the others at the Citadel. They'd listen to me–I'm the Lord President! They might let me make an exception, for you.’
The Cavalier winced in pain. Romana took hold of his hand, willing him to fight it, to stay strong. ‘I'm an exile, Doctor. As far as they're concerned, I'm already dead.’
‘Let me try!’ the Doctor said desperately.
The Cavalier shook his head. He cried out in pain–such terrible pain.
Suddenly, Romana pulled her hand away, as the Cavalier's skin burnt hers. He was hot to the touch. A warm glow illuminated his skin, as an intense white light shone out from beneath his skin, from deep within. His body was capable of saving itself, and it was determined not to relinquish its hold on life.
But the Time Lords had other ideas: in an instant, the light died away. The Doctor stared down at the lifeless body of his friend. Romana wiped the tears from her face, only for them to be replaced seconds later.
The Cavalier was dead.
‘The regeneration was beginning,’ said the Doctor, not taking his eyes off the body. ‘The process had started, before it was cut short. He could have saved himself. He could have lived again. A fourteenth body and so many others afterwards...’
He looked up at Romana, and his face was streaked with tears. ‘He's dead because of them.’ He jabbed a finger in the direction of the Citadel. ‘You see now why I left? You see why we're never coming back? They think they have the right to control life and death, to decide who lives and who dies. And that's wrong!’
Romana reached out and took the Doctor's hand. They both held onto each other, so tight.
‘It's just you and me, Romana,’ said the Doctor, forcing a sad smile. He looked so old and tired, and so alone. He let go of her hand. Romana opened her mouth to say something–anything that she thought might comfort her friend–but the Doctor spoke up again first.
‘Can you get the TARDIS ready?’ he asked, regaining his composure. ‘We'll be leaving in a moment. I want a few minutes alone with the Cavalier. Is that okay?’
Romana wouldn't refuse. She nodded, picked herself up off the grass, and headed towards the TARDIS. When she reached the doors of the police box, she turned around and saw the Doctor sobbing gently over the Cavalier's body. She didn't hear what he was saying, and she respected his wishes enough not to ask. If he wanted her to know, he would tell her.
He never did.
~~~
Romana had busied herself at the console, waiting for the Doctor to return. He was gone for some time. Hearing the creak of the door, she looked up and saw the Doctor, covered in snow, wandering back into the control room. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding eye contact with her.
He absent-mindedly flicked a random switch on the console, and exhaled loudly, as if that might relieve the tension and the pressure. Romana thought about making the first move, wondering if she should speak up. But she struggled to think of what she should say–what she could say–to a man who was still emotionally raw from a tragic loss.
‘K-9's in the games room,’ she said feebly. ‘He's waiting for you. He said, after the day you've had, he might even go easy on you.’
‘Are we just going to leave the Cavalier out there?’ asked Romana. It was indiscreet, but she couldn't contain her worries any longer.
‘The snow will bury him. His body will become part of the natural world, part of the magical landscape of Gallifrey itself. Untainted. Uncorrupted. It's better than handing him over to the Time Lords. Where he is, he can rest in peace.’
The Doctor threw a lever, and the scanner screen peeled away to reveal the view outside, of the Cavalier's body now half-buried in the snow.
‘This view,’ he said. ‘I'll never forget it.’