'The Museum of London… Backstage Pass,' thought Rose. That was one thing in traveling with the Doctor that was almost always guaranteed; whenever there was something fascinating to see, they were granted a closer look. However, this part of traveling could also be somewhat dull. The Doctor was attracted to museums. Rose liked museums, too, but after viewing a few hundred, they started to lose their appeal.

Rose looked around the large back room. There were several tables lined up, each covered with an assortment of artifacts. The next day, the museum was opening a temporary exhibit of Pre-Spanish Era Artifacts concentrating on pottery and gold works. Accepted as specialists with orders to inspect the collection, the Doctor and Rose were immediately shown to the back room. The museum curator was enthusiastically pointing out the prized pieces of the collection to the Doctor who seemed equally excited. After the sixth piece, Rose wandered ahead to have a look on her own. They weren't there to see it all. They were looking for one thing in particular.

Just a few tables ahead of them, Rose found what they were seeking. It was a small gold sphere supported by three thick tiny legs. Its sides were decorated with circular, decorative carvings and a red oval stone covered its top. The entire sphere could easily be held in her cupped hands. Rose bent over to get a better look. It was stunning, but it didn't look out of place to her. She was expecting to see some sort of language on it, anything that would suggest it didn't belong here, but it didn't look suspicious to her at all. She wondered what the Doctor saw that she didn't.

"I found it, Doctor," she announced.

"Excellent!" he said with a grin. "Any unusual marks?"

"Not that I can see." Rose tilted it back to get a look at the bottom and it suddenly started vibrating in her fingers. "Doctor…"

"Shh," the Doctor hushed her. "Something just… What just…?"

"Something just happened. This thing just-" Rose stopped talking when she looked up and saw what the Doctor was concerned about. The curator stood mid-step next to the Doctor, completely unmoving. They both looked around and found two more employees stopped halfway through a motion. "Doctor… Please tell me this isn't my fault."

"Why? What did you do?" the Doctor finally walked over to her and looked at the ornament in her hand.

"I touched it and it vibrated. The stone on top opened like it's on a hinge, and then everyone stopped. Please tell me that's a coincidence."

"Try putting it down."

Rose set it back on the table, but nothing happened. "It was me, wasn't it? Do you know what it is?"

"I haven't a clue. I just knew it didn't belong in this collection. The designs and the way the stone is set didn't belong in that era and if it was found in that archeological site, then someone or something was there that shouldn't have been," he explained.

"Yeah, but loads of people must have touched it. Archeologists and the people that restored it. Why did it do something when I touched it?" she asked anxiously.

"Oh… That's a very good question with a very bad answer," the Doctor responded with dread.

"You don't mean…"

"It only responds at the touch of a time traveler."

"Like time lord or dalek stuff. It doesn't look like either of them. What is it?"

"I have no idea, but I think we should find out." The Doctor picked up the small spherical box and started for the door. When they exited the back room and walked into the museum, Rose felt even more miserable. Absolutely everyone in the museum was frozen in place and so were the people she saw out the windows.

"How many people were affected by this?" Rose asked the Doctor. When she opened the door, it didn't close behind her. Time hadn't just stopped for people; it was everything. It takes a second for a door to swing shut. As fast as car engines work, the motions still take time. Time was paused. Nothing moved except them or things they manipulated.

Once outside, Rose saw that not one single person was moving and every car was stopped.

"I have no idea how far this spreads, but my guess is the entire planet."

"The whole planet?!" Rose was feeling more miserable by the second.

"Well, all but a few. Anyone with artron energy should be moving around like us."

"That really doesn't make me feel any better."

They arrived at the TARDIS and the Doctor snapped his fingers to open the door, but nothing happened. "Well, that's not good."

"The TARDIS has loads of artron energy. She shouldn't be having any trouble, right?"

"You try," the Doctor instructed.

Rose snapped her fingers and it opened. She looked at it curiously and then entered. The moment the Doctor tried to follow, the door slammed shut.

"Doctor?" Rose called through the door.

"Come back out. Looks like we're not going to be able to ask the TARDIS for help."

Rose went back outside and stared at the round golden box in confusion. "That thing is so powerful that the TARDIS won't let it inside?"

"Appears so."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to go inside and see what I can find out. Think you could hold this for me?"

Rose was reluctant to take the ornament back, but did as he asked. The Doctor rushed into the TARDIS and Rose took a moment to examine it again. The stone on top was lifted like a lid and she had a peek inside. She didn't see anything. There was just a small rectangular hollow spot. She had expected to see some kind of mechanics, but there was nothing.

The Doctor reappeared looking overwhelmed. "Nothing."

"What does that mean?"

"I can't look up anything outside of this date. I tried to connect to the time vortex, but I couldn't. I even tried to fly into the time vortex, but it's not possible. Time has stopped. It's not just Earth. Time through the entire universe has stopped."

At first Rose was angry that he tried to fly off without her, but any thoughts concerning that vanished at the utterly horrifying news that she had broken time itself.

"So what do we do? How do we fix this? Could we just break this thing? Would that work?" she asked frantically.

"We couldn't chance that. If we broke it and it didn't fix this mess, we'd have no way of repairing it at all. It's a weapon that freezes time using artron energy. What if we just take that energy away from it?"

"Can we do that?"

"Only one way to find out…" The Doctor took the artifact back into his hands, closed his eyes in concentration, and slowly breathed in. As he pulled in a breath, Rose watched as visible blue energy streamed from the little box into the Doctor's mouth.

The sound of chatter and blaring car horns startled Rose and she quickly looked around. Everyone was moving again. Car engines were running like they'd never stopped and conversations continued like there had been no pause.

"It worked," she said in amazement. "It actually worked! Doctor-"

Rose's smile fell away. The Doctor hadn't moved. His eyes were still closed and his lips were slightly parted. The artifact was still open in his hands. Whatever had halted time, was now stopping the Doctor.

Rose gripped the sides of her head as she tried to think. What was she supposed to do? She had absolutely no idea what to do. She needed help, but the only one that she knew could help was the Doctor… who couldn't.

She wanted to go into the TARDIS to do research and see what she could find, but she didn't want to just leave the Doctor outside. He absorbed whatever energy was in the box, so she was certain that the TARDIS wouldn't let him in. Even if she would, Rose would have to leave the spherical box outside unprotected. If someone were to take it…

She needed help, but she had no idea where to turn. And then a thought occurred to her.

"Oh, please be alright," Rose told the Doctor. "I'll be right back out."

Rose rushed into the TARDIS and appeared less than two minutes later with her mobile to her ear.

"Sarah Jane? Sarah Jane, this is Rose Tyler. We have a problem."