The excavation had already yielded its share of mysteries when Lord President Chronotis arrived with Lady Chronotis, joining Lord Conundrum, Lord Serpentine, Professor Maltheus, Lord Darkfyre, and Lord Wilde at the dig. Their latest discovery was unlike anything they had expected: a vast chamber hidden deep within the mountain, known only as the Hall of Gifts. Dust lay thick across every surface, suggesting thousands of years of abandonment, yet nothing had decayed. No walls had crumbled, no artifacts had rusted, and nothing appeared broken. It was as though the entire chamber had simply been waiting for someone to return.
Inside, the group found a strange collection of artifacts, carvings, symbols, coins, a massive star map, and exhibits that appeared to document exchanges between civilizations. Lord Darkfyre quickly noticed the recurring symbol of the Tree of Life, appearing in different forms throughout the complex, suggesting cooperation between species. Professor Maltheus discovered something particularly intriguing: two pedestals dedicated to an exchange of music. Nearby, Lady Chronotis noticed a depleted memory crystal, and when music was played, the crystal briefly came to life.
That discovery became the focus of their investigation. Professor Maltheus explained that the crystal might contain memories, but recovering them would require a telepathic or empathic connection. Lord Serpentine bravely volunteered first. His attempt was weak, however the crystal suddenly brightened and revealed a fleeting image of diplomats from different species gathered together in celebration, raising glasses in a toast. It was only a fragment, but it was enough to raise an unsettling question. Who were these people, and why had this moment been erased from history?
Lord Darkfyre attempted to improve the image, followed by Professor Maltheus, Lord Serpentine again, and Lord Conundrum. Each attempt revealed slightly more. Lord Darkfyre noticed that one figure appeared to bear a symbol connected to the four seals they had encountered elsewhere in the ruins. Professor Maltheus managed to sharpen the image further, while Lord Conundrum’s attempt produced no improvement. Finally, Lady Chronotis stepped forward. She admitted that since her regeneration she had been struggling to regain her balance and feared her telepathic abilities might not be what they once were. Her attempt proved that fear justified, producing another disastrous result.
Rather than give up, Professor Maltheus proposed something different: a telepathic chorus. One by one, the group placed themselves in contact with the crystal. Lord Serpentine, Lord President Chronotis, Lord Wilde, Lord Conundrum, Lord Darkfyre, Lady Chronotis, and Professor Maltheus all joined the attempt. This time, their combined effort succeeded. The memory became clearer, revealing a gathering of diplomats and what appeared to be an alliance between Gallifrey and another, now-lost species. Yet the archives contained no record of such an alliance. Not even the Matrix seemed to remember it.
The implications were chilling. Lord Wilde pointed out that the species in the image were unknown to him, while Lord President Chronotis questioned why Gallifrey would deliberately conceal such an event. Lord Darkfyre noted that the memory’s restoration was especially troubling because other evidence in the embassy appeared to have been erased from the timeline itself. Lady Chronotis wondered if their exploration was somehow causing fragments of the lost history to unravel and return. Professor Maltheus went further, suggesting that the entire constellation associated with the mysterious species may have been removed from existence.
Then they found the evidence that made the theory considerably darker.
A book sat upon a podium, almost completely blank. Only its final page contained anything at all. Its message was brief and ominous: “If they ask, tell them we never existed.” Nearby, a diplomatic terminal demanded authority, while another empty podium appeared to contain the registry entry for a gift that had been returned. When Lord President Chronotis touched the plinth, the ancient system suddenly recognized him.
GALLIFREYAN AUTHORITY CONFIRMED.
The chamber itself seemed to acknowledge the current President, despite having supposedly been sealed away for millennia. A message suggested that whoever had created the chamber had once hoped the Hall would never be needed. The discovery raised an even greater possibility. The system might be connected to the Matrix, and the mysterious missing gift could be tied directly to the secret history they were uncovering.
Lord Winters arrived during the investigation, quickly becoming fascinated by the artifacts and the implications of the evidence. His theories suggested that the embassy and its contents may have been deliberately removed from time rather than simply destroyed. If the timeline had been rewritten, perhaps the original information had been hidden rather than deleted. Lord Winters proposed that the missing records might still exist somewhere within the Matrix, concealed under something utterly mundane. Lord Conundrum even considered whether the Daleks, with their vast databanks, might unknowingly possess records of what Gallifrey had erased.
The question of the missing constellation became the next great mystery. Professor Maltheus had managed to calculate its probable coordinates from the ancient star map, despite the immense difficulty of accounting for billions of years of galactic drift. With Lord President Chronotis’s approval, the group decided to travel there and see what remained.
Inside Professor Maltheus’s TARDIS, the group prepared for the journey. The gothic interior suited its owner perfectly, and even the tension of their mission could not prevent a little humor. Professor Maltheus brought up the ancient star map and revealed the missing constellation exactly where it should have been when the map was created. For one brief moment, it seemed they had found their path into the forgotten past.
Then the TARDIS began to struggle.
As they attempted to travel to the constellation’s present location, alarms sounded and the room turned red. The ship could find no landing coordinate. Professor Maltheus detected temporal interference, describing the situation as a possible time loop, time lock, or something even stranger. When he attempted to trace the coordinates backward, there was nothing. No planet. No constellation. No evidence that the region had ever existed at all.
It had not simply vanished. It appeared to have been removed from time itself.
Lord Serpentine wondered if they could travel further into the past. Lord Winters questioned whether the presence of the Lord President might somehow override an ancient deadlock. Lord Darkfyre cautioned against assuming that Gallifrey itself had been responsible. Lord President Chronotis remained wary, refusing to unlock something when they still had no idea what might be waiting beyond it. As the TARDIS returned them safely to Gallifrey, the mystery had become something far more dangerous than a forgotten archaeological discovery.
Back at the Academy, the group began to consider their next steps. Lord Wilde offered to search the archives again, despite knowing they contained no obvious record of the alliance. He believed the artifacts themselves might provide clues. Lord Darkfyre volunteered to examine other species’ archives. Professor Maltheus suggested that another temporal power might possess an untouched record, although many possible sources had long since disappeared. Lord Conundrum considered the possibility of obtaining Dalek data, while Lord Winters continued to argue that suppressed information might still survive somewhere, hidden rather than destroyed.
The dig team would continue excavating the buried embassy. There was still a locked room they had been unable to open, and its deadlock appeared to require authority beyond the present group. The possibility that a former High Council had deliberately sealed the embassy, erased an entire constellation, and hidden an alliance from history began to look less like speculation and more like a conspiracy.
And perhaps the most disturbing possibility of all remained unanswered. If an entire species had been erased from history, who had ordered it?
Why? And what had happened to the gift that had been returned?
Lord President Chronotis decided that the answers would not be forced. Not yet. He would search the records of his predecessors. Lord Wilde would examine the artifacts. Lord Darkfyre would pursue outside archives. Professor Maltheus would continue working with the mysterious coordinates. And somewhere in the shadows, the possibility of accessing Dalek databanks remained.
As the others departed, Professor Maltheus returned to his TARDIS for some much-needed rest. Lord Serpentine left to attend to his own ship, while Lord Winters departed with one final collection of theories. Lord Conundrum remained intrigued by the possibilities ahead.
At last, Lord President Chronotis took Lady Chronotis’s arm, and together they left the Academy. The Hall of Gifts had given them no easy answers. Instead, it had given them something far more dangerous.
A memory of a history that Gallifrey had desperately wanted forgotten.