It had started off as a totally normal day in the TARDIS. The Doctor was talking all morning about some things he had to adjust at the console and Donna had started reading a book because she didn't understand any of his explanations anyway. She occasionally would look up when the Doctor would throw random parts over his shoulder, muttering to himself, screwdriver between his teeth and a frown upon his face.

"Everything ok?" Donna put book aside and walked up to the console. The Doctor was balancing a green orb in some kind of retainer and was enthusiastically screwing down a metal part to it.

"Yeah…wait…wait…aha!" The green orb flashed to light and the Doctor looked triumphantly to Donna. "See? Fixed." He put the orb back into the console.

"For what is it for?" Donna looked quizzically at the little blinking gem. "Well, it's a device to predict the probability of the void collapsing around us and dumping us off in a world without any time at all." Donna looked terrified. "That is possible? I mean, time collapsing around us and…" She looked at the Doctors face and stopped as she saw him fighting back tears of laughter.

"Oi, Timeboy, stop doing that!" She hit him playfully in the side,

"I'm sorry, I just…" Another fist of laughter hit him and Donna crossed her arms disapprovingly. "So?" He had caught his breath again and cleared his throat dramatically. "Donna Noble, witness the wonders of one of the TARDIS' most wonderful devices."

He pressed a button on the console and the ship was immediately cooling down several degrees. He beamed at her. "Air conditioning."

Donna was totally taken aback. "Air Conditioning?! Why do you need air conditioning in outer space?! It's not like we're on the Bahamas or something." The Doctors smile grew even wider. "Oh, you will see." And with that he hurled around the console and sent the TARDIS through space and time, always looking up to Donna grinning like a 5-year-old.

They landed with a crash that sent them flying into the bumper seat, laughing. "Oi, can't you land a bit softer next time?" Donna rubbed her back.

"But that would be no fun! Anyway, welcome to the planet of Sahanna, year 3,059,007. Slavery has been abandoned, corrupted regime overthrown and out of the ruins rose a beautiful, tropical holiday paradise!" He held out his hand to Donna. "Fancy a walk on a silver beach?"

"Silver beach?! You're kidding!" "Nope, I'm not. Well, it's not actually silver, but the minerals in the sand make it look like it."

The Doctor took a pair of Sunglasses out of his pocket, put them on and took Donnas hand. "Hey, wait that's unfair!" She turned around and ran back through the console room, leaving the Doctor at the TARDIS door. "What…? Donna!" She came back shortly after, a big pair of sunglasses on her nose. "If you have one, I'll have one, too." He smiled at her and opened the door in one swift motion. "Welcome to the beautiful paradise of Sahanna!"

At first they saw nothing but bright light. Even with sunglasses on, they had to shield their eyes against the bright sun that greeted them.

After a few moments, their sight cleared a bit and the Doctor started to walk towards great hill of…sand. Practically everywhere was sand. Not like a tropical beach, but like a desert. "That's not right…"

Donna had to run to keep up with the Doctor, who already had reached the hilltop. She was not even halfway atop of it, as the Doctor raised a hand, signaling her to stop. Donna froze at the spot, feet buried in the hot sand.

"What is…?" But she couldn't finish her sentence, as the Doctor turned around abruptly and stumbled down the sandy hill, nearly falling over. Donna thought she could make out a sound in the distance, like some sort of summing, which grew louder with every second.

"Donna!" The Doctor had reached her and immediately crouched down low, pulling her down with him. "We shouldn't be here!" All excitement was gone.

"But Doctor, what's wrong? Well, it doesn't exactly look like you've described it here…Is something the matter?" The Doctor seemed very haunted, frantically looking over his shoulder to the hilltop. "Donna, listen, I've made a mistake. I'm so sorry. I've miscalculated the year. We're in year 3,000,000. 59,007 years before the planet became that beautiful thing I wanted to show you. At this time, now, the regime is cruel and merciless and makes short work of foreigners. Especially different species."

Donna's eyes grew wide and she, too, looked up to the hilltop. "What do we do now Doctor? Let's go back to the TARDIS then and adjust the time again." Suddenly the summing sound was there again, even louder than before. "Doctor, what is that!?"

"It's them, Donna. Listen. The people on this planet are telepaths. Even if they didn't see me, as soon as I had reached that hilltop, they felt me. They know we're here, we wouldn't be able to reach the TARDIS in time…Oh god, Donna, I'm sorry."

Donna could see that the Doctor's thoughts were racing; he brushed with his fingers through his hair, making it stick up in ridiculous ways. "I don't know what to do Donna, I…I…" He looked so desperate and she didn't know why. What was he not telling her? This wasn't the first time they've met species who were not exactly friendly. But he always found a way to talk them out of tricky situations.

"Doctor, who are they? What do they want? Oi, talk to me Timeboy!" But the doctor seemed lost in his own panicked thoughts, hopefully figuring out a plan. The summing had grown even louder, reaching a stage where it started to hurt Donna's ears, so she covered them with her hands. "Doctor, can't you do something about that? Doctor?!" She put a hand on his shoulder and apparently snapped him out of his thoughts.

"There is a way…this should work…yes!" The Doctor looked Donna straight in the eyes, making her flinch a little. "I'm sorry Donna, there is no other way. Do you trust me?" "Eh…yes, of course! But what is this about?! Stop talking nonsense to me!"

A shadow appeared on the hilltop, making the Doctor panic even more. "I have no time to explain. I'm so sorry." And with that he placed his hands on Donna's temples, closing his eyes in the process. Donna felt a warm sensation sweeping through his hands straight to her brain. He opened his eyes again and took her hand. "Whatever happens, I'm sorry." "Stop saying that! And what did you just do?"

But Donna never got an answer to that, as roughly ten creatures came rushing down the hill. The Doctor yanked them to their feet, standing in front of Donna and trying to shield her from the fast approaching mop. The summing sound had changed to a screeching so loud that it hurt. In a few seconds they were surrounded by creatures, those faces where wrapped in black cloth, only their piercing yellow eyes visible.

"What…?" Donna wanted to say something, but the Doctor indicated her to be quiet. She wanted to protest, but did not come any further than breathing in, as one of the creatures stepped forward and addressed them both. As he spoke, the black cloth wrapped around his face moved as if it was alive. "You will regret that you came here, Timelord. And your … companion." He gave Donna a glance of appraisal as if he could not assign her to anything he knew. Donna wanted to celebrate the victory of an alien creature not recognizing the human race just now (which they normally did as soon as they saw her), as she felt the warmth in her head increasing to a burning hotness.

She watched the Doctor taking in a sharp breath beside her and sinking to his knees.

"Doctor!" She wanted to reach for him, when one of the creatures put a hand to her head and the hotness yielded to a piercing pain. The world around her went black.