The kitchen door creaks as I venture into the hallway of the little cabin, and I wince at the sound. I sense someone behind me, and sigh. Of course Hazran would see me. I attempt to hide the mugs I am holding underneath my coat, and quickly abandon when I realise that is never going to work. "Have you seen Gazron?" she asks me.

"Nope," I reply. Strictly speaking, that isn't a lie. I haven't seen her today. At least not yet.

"Really. Hmm." I glance down at the two mugs in my hands sheepishly. "Tell her I want to talk to her," she says sternly, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Not sure whether to nod or attempt an excuse, I simply give her a cheeky grin and dash out the door.

"Hey, Gaz." I push the leaves aside to see her, perched on a log, smiling expectantly.

"Hey, Alit." I hand her one of the mugs and she takes it gratefully. A moment of silence passes, each of us relishing the warmth in our hands amidst the chill of the forest. Gazron sighs and pushes a strand of light brown hair from her face. "Is Hazran still looking for me?" she asks tentatively.

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Dammit." An edge of frustration creeps into her voice. "Why is she always picking on me?"

"She says you keep scaring the little kids."

"Yeah, I know what she says. But I don't get why she doesn't want me to tell them about the cybermen."

"Most of them don't remember floor 507. We should try to keep it that way."

"We shouldn't forget. Not after everyone we left down there-"

Her words slip into the background as their image swims before me. Impassive, unrelenting, empty. And Bill, emotion stripped from her words, but she's dead now and they're coming to make me like her she's dead she's dead she's dead –

"Alit!" Gazron's hand is on my shoulder, and I bury my head in her arms, breathing in her familiar scent, breathe in, breathe out like she taught me, until I feel safe once more, and all is still. "I'm sorry," she's saying, repeating the phrase over and over again. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry, I know you still have nightmares, I shouldn't be talking about this again-"

"It's fine." I cut her off, "You're right. We shouldn't forget."

Gazron chews her lip uncertainly. "I don't know. Maybe it would be better."

"Gaz, just a minute ago you were all pissed with Hazran for thinking that."

"I know, but-" she looks down. "I hate to see you hurting." For a moment I can see it, written all over her face, just how much she cares about me. And it breaks my heart.

Then she puts her wall back up, and the moment passes. She draws in a shuddering breath. "Are the nightmares-" she hesitates- "are they really that bad?"

"Yes," I admit after a pause. "I know it's been years, I know I should be getting over it, but I can't stop wondering- you know- how long we have."

"Nardole doesn't seem to know. But a while yet, I think."

"Guess we just wait here until then." There's no reply. "Right?"

"Alit…" An inexplicable wave of dread washes over me. "You know what Nardole told us about floor 1?"

"The machine the doc-" The name catches in my throat as the memories flash at the back of my mind- "The machine that Nardole came here in….?"

"Yeah. Well… I've been thinking, and if we could get up there-"

"We can't leave this floor, Gazron. The further up the ship we go, the less time we have to live."

"But think, Alit. If we can only get to there, we can leave this spaceship. Go anywhere."

I eye her uncertainly. Leaving this floor, let alone the spaceship, seems impossible. I look out across the landscape. This is all I've ever known. Fields, cabins and the ever-present fear of the cybermen. But staring into Gazron's eyes, they are alive with the stars, and mad dreams of freedom. I am mesmerized. And, for some reason, scared. "I have something to show you." She stretches out her hand and smiles at me. And not knowing what it may mean, I take it.

It's evening now as the trees rush past. I'm not quite sure how Gazron managed to steal a horse without anybody noticing, but if anyone could do it, it's her. She's steering, navigating across the landscape with ease, and I sense she's done this many times before. This is further away from the lift than I've ever been, further than I've ever dreamed to go. Hazran and Nardole are probably going crazy with worry right now - but it suddenly all seems so far away.

We've been travelling so long, the trees and fields and lakes seem to all merge into one. But on the horizon, I can see a glimpse of metal. Metal?

Metal bodies and metal feet stomping and empty eyes-

The horse slows to a halt and I am jolted back to the present. I slide down from the animal's back, stumbling a little as my feet find the ground. I can scarcely believe what is in front of me. There's a sheet of silver slicing through the forest, stretching further than I can see on either side, and fading into the sky above. Gazron walks over to a large opening in the wall, a window I think, looking through with awe on her face. I join her-

And my breath is stolen away from me.

I've always known we were on a spaceship, but it had always been one of those facts of life that was simply there, that I just accepted. When Nardole came, it took on a little more meaning, when he explained the time distortion and Mondas and the black hole. Except I never really thought about what it meant. To me, the concept of endless space, the idea of a whole universe outside never seemed real. But now I can see it all.

The distance we have travelled shrinks to nothing compared to the endless lights dancing in front of me. Is Mondas out there somewhere? How many people are out there living their lives? Would they be look, feel, live like us? Questions and emotions and possibilities flit through my mind, infinity staring me in the face, and it overwhelms me, tears my mind apart.

It's beautiful.

Silently, I take Gazron's hand. We stand there together as the sunlight fades and night draws in. I'd always thought that the dusk here was beautiful, but now I see it for what it is. Artificial, flat, lifeless. I am fixated on the window, lost in the starlight. I think back to Gazron's words. "We can leave the spaceship. Go anywhere." Suddenly, I can see why she would risk everything for that.

Go anywhere. I can't comprehend it, I can't even begin to try. I tear my eyes from the window. "Are we going back?" I ask Gazron, unsure of what I want the answer to be. She brushes a strand of hair from my eyes. "Not yet," she whispers. "We'll stay here until morning." We settle down alongside each other, curled up amidst the grassy floor. It's strangely comforting, feeling the warmth of her body next to mine, hearing the rhythmic inhaling, exhaling of her breath. It reminds me that I'm not alone.

There are no nightmares tonight.

Sunlight forces its way under my eyelids, and I groan. My back is stiff, I can't feel one of my legs, and my side is frozen. As poetic as it felt last night, sleeping on the ground outside probably wasn't the best idea. I raise my head groggily and look up, bleary-eyed. Gaz is feeding the horse, patting its forehead and murmuring softly to it. She looks up as I haul myself off the ground. "Morning, Alit."

"Morning."

Gaz straightens up. "We should probably get going soon. Face Hazran's wrath." She smiles in defiance, somewhat unconvincingly.

I take one last look at the window, still numb to the sheer scale of what I am looking at. "Can we come back soon?"

"Of course," Gazron is facing stubbornly away from the window, head tilted unnaturally to avoid being captivated by the view once again. "Let's go." There's a pang of regret underneath the indifference she's trying so hard to maintain. Then she helps me up onto the back of the horse, and start our journey back.

I'm trying so hard to forget about all the worries, but they still gnaw away at me. Hazran's furious and disappointed voice is plaguing my imagination. We're about fifteen minutes away now, and I try to let go of my apprehensiveness. I lean backwards into Gaz, her arms around me as she holds tight to the reins. I have such a strong urge to just ask her if we can go back, stay out there forever, just us - but my rational side won't let me. Instead I savour the moment I am in now, pressed up against her body, for once feeling safe; feeling wanted.

We're 10 minutes away when we hear the screech of an alarm.

The sound seems to awaken a deep-rooted terror in me, an unshakeable dread crawling into my stomach. My mind goes numb, thoughts and logic and decisions slowing to crawl. "Shit," I hear Gazron choke out behind me, panic seizing her as I sit in disbelief. This isn't happening. It's not meant to be now. Not for years, decades even. But that alarm can only be sounding for one reason.

The cybermen are coming.