Romana was working in the TARDIS, the ship that the she traveled space and time in, along with her fellow Gallifreyan, the Doctor.
She looked at the circuits for the directional navigator carefully, both with her eyes and with that certain sense of temporal acuity only Time Lords share. The white light of the console reflected off her shiny maroon frock's silver decorations. K-9, her trusty dog thatsh wasn't a dog, sat a few feet to her right, constantly watchful for a chance to help its Mistress. Overall, besides the sound of the humming TARDIS, it was rather quiet...
"It'sfar too quiet!" Romana suddenly shouted, stomping her red shoes on the TARDIS floor (and accidentally kicking one of the Doctor's yo-yosto the center of the floor).
The Doctor, who was sleeping in one of his 4 bedrooms somewhere furtherdown, briefly turned over, and muttered something about how Romana would figure whatever it was out. Then he fell promptly back to sleep.
Romanas folded her arms. K-9, sensing his Mistress was in distress, zippedover to her.
"Whatis the problem, Mistress?"
"I'mfeeling an emotion, K-9. It's hard to describe. I am annoyed by allthe quiet," Romana said.
K-9went into his databanks to find the solution.
"Areyou afraid of danger?"
Romanathought.
"No,"she decided, "that's not it. I'm actually somewhat relieved to havea break."
"Lonelinesscould be the problem. Are you in need of companionship?" said K-9.
Romanasmiled at that.
"No,you and the Doctor give me all the companionship I require," shesaid, petting her dog's head.
K-9thought some more about the question. Then it swiveled from right toleft quickly. That was its version of shrugging.
"Ibelieve you are suffering from boredom, Mistress."
"Boredom?"she said. "I...have never heard of the concept."
Awhirring noise came from K-9, then it said "To be bored is: to bewearied by dullness, tedious repetition, unwelcome attentions, etc.Citation: Dictionary.com as of Nov 17--"
"Thankyou, K-9," Romana interrupted. She began to pace the TARDIS floor,a finger on her chin.
"Wenever had boredom on Gallifrey," she said, pondering. Suddenly shestopped pacing, and then ran, stricken with panic, to K-9's face. "Isthis boredom contagious? C-could I pass it to the Doctor? Is itcommunicable to synthetic lifeforms like yourself?" she asked.
K-9clarified "It is a mental state, not a disease, Mistress. You neverhad times where there was nothing to do, or no activity, onGallifrey?"
"Well...no.I suppose this 'boredom' you speak of was the normal state of affairson Gallifrey. It never bothered me before, but ever since I startedtraveling with the Doctor..." She frowned.
Romanastood, tapping her feet and lost in a combination of deep thought andindecision. Then her eyes opened wide as she got an idea. She startedrunning around the console, pushing buttons.
"Ihave a plan!" she said, a dimply grin forming on her mouth. "I'llset the TARDIS to help me find the most bored person in the universe,and ask her advice on how to cure boredom!'
"Perhapscontinuing work on the console would help cure the boredom?"offered K-9 as the ship started to move through the vortex of timeand space.
"Icould fix the TARDIS in my sleep during post-regenerative madness,"Romana said off-handedly.
