The dematerialisation column stopped moving. They had landed. Rose looked at the Doctor. He looked at her. Together they walked towards the door.
They walked out into a giant multi-storey car park, except the cars were not cars, but different spaceships. The TARDIS had landed itself beautifully into a space. "Not bad", remarked the Doctor. "The old girl can still pull off a good landing occasionally."
"Great", replied Rose. "Where are we?"
"In the car park for the Great Shop of Gratia. If you would like to proceed, we may."
"Whatever", was the reply. Off they walked.
They came to a door with a sign "To Shop" on it. "Through here", the Doctor instructed. Rose stepped through the door and appeared in the biggest room she had ever seen. It didn't look like a shop however, more like a reception, with a large desk and lots of small green chairs. There was a giant clock showing the time, date and year above the desk, but it was in a language Rose did not understand. Around the room where hundreds of what she assumed were lifts, and against one wall where many funny-shaped, grey pads on the floor. "Where are we?" she queried, again
"You like saying that today, don't you? We're on the ground floor of the Great Shop of Gratia, in the arrivement lounge."
"The arrivement lounge?"
"You really are full of questions today aren't you? This planet is over 200,000km across with hundreds of countries. If you live on the other side, it's not exactly five minutes to just nip over to the shops, with this being the only one. Therefore, every house is fitted as standard with a teleportation unit. When they need something, they just stand on it, and zip, here they are. Look…" Rose turned to see where he was pointing, to the wall opposite them. As she watched, one of the pads situated there glowed blue, until a person carrying many bags and a list appeared. She then hurried off towards the lift, muttering.
"They're…green?" questioned Rose
"They're…alien", was the reply. "Don't worry, you'll probably see some humans here, we're far enough in the future for your species to have left that little rock you call home."
"Good, I think. It's just, you know, it's hard to get used to seeing people, who aren't…"
"The same as you? I know what you mean, everyone has it."
"They're just so small, and bright green. They actually are little green men!"
"And women. Now come on." He dragged her towards one of the hundreds of lifts. As they crossed the giant room, the Doctor began to look around. He stopped, right in the middle of it, and Rose walked straight into him, as well as some other shoppers. "Sorry, sorry", she apologised. "Doctor, don't do that!"
"Sorry, it just seems" he paused, "different here." He thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "I'm just getting paranoid in my old age. It's been ages since I've been here, it could have changed. Yeah, last time was 3042, and this is…" He looked up at the giant clock above the desk, "3045?" He considered this for a moment, and then shook his head again. "No, I'm just being stupid. A lot can happen in three years. Yes, a lot can happen…" He continued across the room, Rose following.