Chapter 2: The Deathsmiths of Goth

"The Deathsmiths of Goth?" asked Romana "I suppose you expect me to incredulously insist that they're just a legend."

"The thought had crossed my mind," admitted the Doctor.

"You've been travelling with humans for too long."

"A human wouldn't even have known what I was talking about," said the Doctor.

The two had just stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the long dead world of Goth. A few kilometers distant loomed the Black Colossus, an immense ebony statue of some alien monstrosity, perhaps the Deathsmiths themselves. It was in the shadow of this monument that the great war museum stood, where the ancient weapons of the Deathsmiths lay. Even in the many centuries since their disappearance no other species has even approached the Deathsmith's mastery of the art of war. Not even the Daleks.

There was a chill in the air. Romana pulled her long coat tighter.

"You couldn't possibly have materialized a bit closer to the museum," she said.

"Well I-" began the Doctor.

"That wasn't a question," said Romana "You never did know how to pilot that thing properly."

"Who wants to pilot a TARDIS properly?" asked the Doctor.

He started off towards the museum. Shaking her head, Romana took off after him. In spite of both of them having regenerated since they were last together, she found herself quickly falling back into their old relationship. It was almost enough to make her forget about Gallifrey…

"Come on then," said Romana, catching up "I know you must be positively bursting. Out with it."

"The Deathsmiths built this museum millennia ago as a showcase for what they considered their civilization's greatest achievements. War was no mere vocation to them; it was the highest form of art. Even to the Daleks killing is means to an end. To the Deathsmiths it was a spiritual calling. They built weapons beyond the imaginations of even the sickest psychopaths, all in the name of beauty. Then one day, they disappeared."

Romana refrained from pointing out she could have told the Doctor all of this when she was a child reading fairy stories. She had asked for it, after all.

"The Time Lords weren't the only civilizations who told stories of the Deathsmiths. The Daleks had similar legends. Early in the Time War they came to Goth looking for weapons to use against us."

"Let me guess," said Romana "They found them?"

"What they found was the Apocalypse Device, one of the most terrible weapons ever built. It was the weapon which ended the Deathsmith civilization, and they destroyed every starship on the planet to prevent it from escaping."

"Escaping?" asked Romana.

"The Apocalypse Device was a synthetic creature, a pseudo-life-form whose entire purpose was the extinguishing of all life. Even a species who considered murder an art form feared what would happen if it got loose in the cosmos. I've seen what happens, and they were right to be afraid."

"So I presume we're here to tear the planet out of history to prevent this?"

"Not the whole planet, there are too many potential ramifications. We're just going to remove the museum, and with it the Apocalypse Device."

This was something Romana could get behind: targeted removal of a clear threat. She still didn't understand why the Doctor wanted to do the same thing to Gallifrey, but she was sure he'd make his reasons clear in time. If he didn't, well, he had promised he wouldn't go through with his mad plot if she told him not to, and she had no intentions of sanctioning the temporal genocide of her own people.

The ruins of the city which housed the war museum were a twisted maze of black metal and jagged stone. Still, the Doctor seemed to know where he was going. Before long they arrived at what must have been the war museum the Doctor mentioned.

The war museum was precisely what the name suggested. The walls were lined with superweapons straight from some madman's nightmare. Names like cellular disruptor and brain wave scrambler made Romana disinclined to read any further.

"Let's get this over with shall we?" said Romana, scowling at one of the exhibits.

"Let's," said the Doctor "The TARDIS beacon will require exact placement if it's to affect the museum exclusively."

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and took a reading with it.

"It looks like there's a storage room in the basement which should do nicely. Come on then Romana."

The Doctor ran off down a dark hallway. Romana took one last fearful glance at something labelled as a star extinguisher before following him.

"Doctor!" called Romana, not receiving a reply "Doctor? Perfect, he's run off already and left me alone in this place."

The hallway was extremely dark, only dim starlight from the sporadic windows provided any illumination at all. Although she would never admit it to herself Romana was a bit frightened by this place. Reaching into her coat pocket she retrieved her own sonic screwdriver and, after adjusting the settings mentally, began to use it in the manner of a flashlight.

"Doctor!" she called again, a touch of anger in her voice. That was a much easier emotion to admit to than fear.

Romana came upon a spiraling staircase leading down into deeper darkness. The Doctor had said he was heading to the basement. When she found the Doctor she was going to have words with him. It was his idea to bring her along in the first place; the least he could do was refrain from running off.

Descending the stairs, Romana called out for the Doctor again. Her own echo was the only reply. She was starting to wonder whether going off on her own to look for the Doctor was such a wise idea when her foot caught on something. Shining the light from her screwdriver onto the floor, Romana was taken aback. Lying in the hallway were the remains of a Dalek. Its exterior shell was rusted away near beyond recognition and the creature inside, the true Dalek, had obviously attempted to crawl out. It lay dead atop the rusted husk, covered in boils other signs of sickness. She had been right about the Doctor's inability to pilot the TARDIS properly; they had arrived too late.

"You're awfully quiet," said the Doctor "Is there something on your mind?"

He turned around fully expecting to see Romana behind him, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Now where has she run off to?" he asked himself aloud.