At least as far as Foreman could tell, the universe was extremely large and difficult to traverse when it came to finding a singular lost item. Even if that item was something as big as an entire planet, it would always be tiny compared to the sheer size of time and space. This quickly became a concern for him when it came to the search for Gallifrey.

Unfortunately, it took him a good amount of time to muster up the courage to say a word about it to the Doctor - things seemed to go on as if they were normal for several days, always with the unspoken truth that despite having decided to head out to find Gallifrey nothing appeared to have been done.

Even Susan seemed willing to remain silent on the subject - she kept on disappearing into the hallways of the TARDIS, claiming that though she could never get lost she would love to simply walk around and experience it all. It was obvious this experience consistently allowed her to have much glee, as echoes of her laughter often entered the control room.

The Doctor, on the other hand, hadn't changed at all. Instead, he'd continued his actions of flying the TARDIS, being the sole pilot who could feel every last part of his time machine and understand it fully. Even though he was adamant about going to find Gallifrey, he didn't seem to be pushing it much.

Finally, it came to the point where Foreman simply could not ignore this glaring error that hung in the air before him - he had to bring the issue up to the Doctor. He absolutely needed to find out what was to be done about Gallifrey, if there were any plans to be made or put into motion immediately. Perhaps there was no major rush to find the planet due to how long it was gone, but certainly he wasn't ignoring it...or was he?

Foreman waited until what seemed to be the best potential moment to strike his question. Susan leaned against the TARDIS walls, her eyelids gently pressed together as she let the gentle caress of sleep begin to reach out for her but never fully take her away. She would most certainly listen as soon as Foreman spoke up, however, and if she were to listen then the Doctor would too.

"You did say we were beginning a search for Gallifrey, yes?" Foreman said, clearing his throat several times within the duration of his speech. He could feel his two hearts beginning to pulsate faster and faster, feeling as if they could begin pumping at the speed of a hummingbird's wings - this could go very ill very quickly if he was not careful.

"Why, yes, of course," the Doctor said, not even tearing his gaze away from the TARDIS console. He couldn't very well hear how fast Foreman's hearts pumped away or understand just how important this question was to Foreman.

"Well, how are we supposed to do this?" Foreman asked, furrowing his brows. "I mean, we can't very well just go randomly flying out across time and space, hoping that find Gallifrey by mere chance."

"Of course not, Foreman," the Doctor replied. "That was one of the first things I thought of when this plan first came into my mind. Here, look."

The Doctor walked over to his blackboard, the smooth surface covered on every available space with chalk scribbles. He gestured to all of the seemingly random symbols and words, looking very similar to a teacher in school - something that all three Time Lords in the TARDIS had witnessed in way or another in their extended lives.

"Now, as you can see, there's no clear path to do this. It's mostly just trial and error. Then again, mostly everything I do is trial and error, so that isn't out of the order. What makes this different, I suppose, is the fact that it's got higher stakes. Either we're successful at this, or we're not - there really isn't an inbetween."

Susan nodded several times, her face furrowed in focus as she started allowing the information to process. Foreman looked rather similar, the Doctor noticed. The two both pursed their lips slightly, tilted their heads slightly to one side, and allowed their eyelids to begin drooping downwards.

"So...what if we tried to follow a trace?" Foreman suggested. "Gallifrey didn't completely vanish when she was sent away, so she must be out there somewhere. And she must've left pieces of her behind. I mean, just look at the three of us..."

"Yes, yes, maybe," the Doctor said. "But that would require finding the traces themselves to begin with."

"If we're going to be using traces, shouldn't we just use the TARDIS herself to track them down? I mean, she has plenty of tracking devices herself, far more advanced than most things we could whip up on our own..."

"That would work," the Doctor realised. "Not only would that work, that's brilliant. Oh, yes. This is precisely why I'm glad I have you back around to help, Susan."

"It runs in the family, I suppose," Susan replied, glowing from how she'd just been so kindly complimented by her grandfather. Honestly, she wasn't very used to compliments, especially not with this new regeneration of the Doctor. He seemed rather grumpy, just as she remembered him from back in her glory days. Oh, she missed the way things had been back then - but she could beam for years on end over being back in the TARDIS again.

Despite how gleeful Susan seemed to be from this note from the Doctor, Foreman couldn't help but feel a wave of bitterness splash over him. Of course she would assume that it ran in the family, completely unaware of how she had another bit of family (far closer in relation, as well).

Obviously he didn't fit into her perfect plan of her bloodline being intelligent. Plainly put, he felt like an absolute outsider. This was the perfect duo of the Doctor and Susan, and he was just some man on the side lumped in simply because he was from the same planet.

Foreman began to forget why he'd ever decided to leap into the police box to begin with - really, what had he been expecting? He'd been craving for a better life for years on end, yes, but this was different. At least having his own scrapyard provided a stable life, whether it be particularly interesting or not. He'd tossed it all away in order to start an entirely new life, even though he didn't physically regenerate.

The answer gradually occurred to him, flowing in as if carried by a gentle stream. Of course - this wasn't really for himself. No, it was for the sake of his family, his lost family. But, of course, it was a family that would end up staying lost despite all of his efforts thus far.

If it hadn't been for Brook, he wouldn't have been there.

Then again, if it hadn't been for Brook, Susan wouldn't have been alive to begin with.

Even though she was dead and gone, she was still making quite a profound effect on him and many of the people around him. The only problem was that he was the only one who could possibly see through to it, of course. It wouldn't be so simple as for everyone to understand and comiserate with him. No, he mourned in near silence...

...and it was near silence as the three Time Lords got to work on trying to get the TARDIS to latch on to a trace. The Doctor had taken the engines and Susan had taken the control panel - the two most powerful and complicated pieces, of course. Foreman had been left with anything he could find along the walls, which didn't appear to be interactive.

His "work" consisted mostly of walking about, trying to poke and prod at anything that appeared to be changeable. It was a tedious business, but at least it wasn't very difficult. Nevertheless, he couldn't shake the feeling of being incredibly useless - if he wasn't doing much to begin with, it meant he wasn't achieving much. That was not a feeling he particularly enjoyed. It certainly wasn't the first time the emotion coursed through him and caused him to heave out sighs - but he certainly hoped it was the last.

At least he felt at ease when it came to moving about the TARDIS, hearing the barely audible echoes of his footfalls against the ground. It gave him the sense of being directly attached to something far greater - he was whipped through time and space in one of the most miraculous machines in existence, and yet all he only had to stand there and take it all in.

Even as a Time Lord who'd experienced it many times before, it put him in a childlike state of awe, wide eyed and gawking.

In this frame of mind, Foreman started to drift off into the depths of his own mind. Through this he could attempt to think of some way to rig up a pathway to a trace using the TARDIS. However much he might've learned to adore the insides of the blue box, however, he couldn't claim that he knew it very well. That was a job meant for his kin, of course.

At least giving thought to the situation at hand could be considered somewhat useful, right? Foreman hoped for that, precisely - he was indeed making a conscious effort to help track down a trace of a Time Lord, even if it involved him doing very little. Some thoughts, strange though they were, ended up popping into his head nevertheless.

It wasn't long before Foreman started to believe that he could easily fall asleep, barely bothered by a thing that occurred in the world or even the entire universe. But all it took was several words from his daughter to bring him back to the current situation.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Susan cried out. "Stop, both of you. I think I got something. I...I got a bit of help, yes, but I think I managed to make it work."

"We're locked on to a trace of another Time Lord, then," Foreman replied.

"Of course we're locked on to a trace of another - there only three of us that we know of, and it didn't end up latching on to something inside of itself," the Doctor scoffed, rushing up the stairs in order to properly see what was going on. Both men rushed directly to Susan's side, but she remained totally rooted in spot.

"Look!" she said, thrusting her finger up in a single fluid gesture over towards the scanner. As everyone's eyes flicked upwards to see what she was speaking about, they realised that the TARDIS had indeed locked onto something - and circular Gallifreyan was flickering about the screen, making it seem clear that it was related to the Time Lords.

"Susan, you've done it," Foreman exclaimed.

"I'm not quite sure of that, not quite yet," the Doctor said. "But as a start, it is certainly something we can build off of. That was just as much as I could've hoped for. I do have to ask you, Susan...how did you manage to do it? The TARDIS wasn't cooperating with me today, you see."

"Well, er..." Susan stuttered out, a flush beginning to tinge her cheeks pink. "I told you, I had a bit of help. She...the TARDIS made sure to help me out. I guess she just likes me the best out of everyone. Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, it certainly seems to be the case here!" Foreman laughed. "You managed to pull off what the rest of us couldn't - you made sure to find a way to track down a trace of a Time Lord, and get the TARDIS set in on its coordinates."

"Yes, yes," Susan replied, but already she seemed to be absentminded as she turned towards the Doctor. "Grandfather, is there something wrong?"

The Doctor didn't respond in any manner at first, not even giving a shake of his head to indicate a yes or no. It wasn't until she asked one more time he divulged an answer to her (and Foreman as well).

"The problem I see here is that it's simple."

"Hate to say it, Doctor, but something being simple isn't necessarily a problem," Foreman immediately replied, hardly monitoring the words before they ended up spilling from his lips.

"There's nothing wrong with things being easy," Susan said, agreeing with Foreman for what seemed to be the first time (at least in his eyes, he couldn't be quite sure of that).

"It's not the simplicity itself that is the issue, it's what's behind the simplicity," the Doctor began to explain.

"What do you mean, Grandfather?"

"I mean that this is too easy - it shouldn't be so simple to track down Gallifrey."

"But who ever said that we'd tracked down Gallifrey already?" Foreman added in. "Last time I checked, we certainly weren't anywhere close to achieving something like that - at least, not yet. I'm sure we will get there, one day..."

"The thing about it being so simple is that it is most likely wrong. It's most likely false. For all we know, it could just be a trap set to get some Time Lords - wouldn't be the first time it showed up."

"So what you're saying is that it all went to waste," Susan said, giving a slight purse of her lips. "None of it was worth it - I shouldn't have tried."

"No, no, no, no, that's not true," Foreman said, moving in to remedy the situation. Perhaps the Doctor didn't care what poisonous words dripped out from between his lips - but even if he couldn't act like Susan's father, he could most certainly act like a good friend. She deserved at least that much for all the hard work she'd put herself through.

"Oh, but isn't it?" Susan asked. "We all did so much work, but Grandfather's right - it's far too easy. It shouldn't be so simple to find Gallifrey."

"Hey, if we did so much work then it very well wasn't simple!" Foreman exclaimed, attempting to stretch his lips up into a smile. "I say that we go ahead and follow this trace - it might end up being something."

"Well, I guess there's not too much harm in trying," the Doctor sighed. "I suppose I'll set the TARDIS on her way, then."

"Sounds lovely," Susan murmured, allowing her head to bob up and down several times. She then diverted her focus over towards Foreman, looking softly pleased at the current situation.

"Thank you," she said. "We all put a lot of work into this, and even if it was simpler than it should've been...I didn't want to see it all fall apart, you know?"

"Oh, yes," Foreman replied. "Of course I know."