She was as quiet as a mouse, tiptoeing through the corridors, anxious to avoid any sound that may alert her quarry to her presence. The door didn't creak, the sound of bare feet on soft floor was silent, almost as if the TARDIS herself wanted to aid the endeavour. She made her way closer and closer, within an arms length, in perfect distance to reach forward and...

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Clara quickly grabbed Ashildr's shoulder and gave her a good shake, the worst alarm in recorded history. She dropped to the floor, on her knees, laughing in the sheer joy of being alive, instead of standing on a cobbled street with death literally flying towards her. Meanwhile, Ashildr leapt out of bed, scrambling for a weapon that wasn't there.

"What the hell are you playing at? I could have killed you!"

Clara smiled. "Oh, lighten up, it was just a bit of fun. Besides, I very much doubt that. Immortal, remember?" Without intending to, she lightly touched her wrist, a subconscious reminder.

"We're only a jump away from Gallifrey, you know. Wouldn't take much to drive you back..." Ashildr's face, however, betrayed her. She had found it funny, after the initial shock and brief moment of anger had passed. She'd been without any kind of company for so long, Clara's presence was relatively cathartic. And it was nice to have Clara back in the world of the living. She'd felt so guilty, for so long, for the events in the trap street. Even without her diaries, it was something she'd never forgotten.

"Anyway, time to go. Adventure beckons, right?" Clara left the bedroom as quickly as she'd entered, almost bouncing, only to poke her head around the door for a moment more. "Might want to get dressed first, before breakfast?" She disappeared again, and Ashildr looked down at her attire. A fairly thin and flimsy nightgown, made from the very finest silk of the Madrigal Flutterwing, kept in an old vault on Gallifrey that had lasted until the very end of time itself. It suited her, she thought, with flowing patterns that shimmered as she moved. Kind of clingy, though. She also had a lovely padded coat, lined with Plungboll fur, perfect if they ended up somewhere cold. Still, Clara was right. Time to get dressed, and then... time for adventure.


Once they'd eaten, healthier fare than one would usually expect in an American diner, it was time to go. They picked a destination almost at random, simply eager to see where pure curiosity would take them. The TARDIS, on the other hand, seemed to have different plans...

"Where are we going?" Ashildr struggled to make herself heard over the sound of the TARDIS engines, as well as struggling to even stand.

"What? I can't hear you!"

"Where is that? When is that?"

"What?"

The back-and-forth discussion was thankfully cut short before it became a recursive loop, when the sound of the engines stopped, the shaking ended, and the TARDIS finally stopped. The girls waited a moment, wondering who would be the first to break the silence.

"Don't worry. It's not... unusual." Clara didn't sound entirely sure of herself, but she pressed on. Someone had to take charge, after all. "The Doctor's TARDIS used to do this all the time. Usually works out okay."

"Yes, and it also usually works out dangerously. I used to keep watch over his companions, remember?"

Clara turned to Ashildr, slightly confused. "What do you mean, keep watch?"

"Didn't he ever tell you? The first time I saw him, I told him. I'd look after his leftovers." Ashildr saw the look on Clara's face at the mention of 'leftovers', and back-pedalled. "I mean, not... I don't mean that. I was... angry. And I was a lot colder back then. A lot can change in a few billion years."

"Yeah..." Clara replied with uncertainty in her voice. "You're right. A lot can change." She had to wonder though, just what had changed? It was interesting, in fact, that Ashildr had remembered her at all. Not just to the end of time, given their interactions with the Doctor, but even before, on the trap street. They'd met once, before, and it had been long before Ashildr began her journals. She resolved to ask Ashildr about that, later, and also about the 'leftovers' comment. For now, she didn't want anything to spoil the familiar sense of adventure that was starting to take over.

"Everything okay?" Ashildr looked across the console, noticing Clara's hesitation. Rather than answer, Clara simply smiled, and bounced across to the door.

"Let's see where we are, shall we?" She opened the door, and walked out, Ashildr following close behind. The TARDIS had landed in what appeared to be a maintenance corridor of some kind, with pipework and cables following the halls and metal panels everywhere. It was relatively dark, with green and red lights alternately flashing on the far side. The diner itself seemed to have shrunk to fit inside, snugly against a coolant tank that dominated one wall, and the door to the console room was now much closer to the front door.

"Interesting," said Clara. "Looks like... Le Verrier. But earlier, definitely Earth Alliance though. What does it say on the clock?"

Ashildr strolled back inside the TARDIS, taking a look at the chronometer on the console, and did the quick calculation in her head to get the relative Earth year, in AD. "Year is... 3672."

"Knew it. About a hundred years too early for Le Verrier. Still... something feels wrong." No sooner had the words escaped Clara's lips, when out of a side door came a youngish, male figure dressed in soldier's garb, with mildly Oriental features, an oversized gun pointed directly at her. The door to the TARDIS suddenly closed, with Ashildr still inside.

"Hey! Open up!" Ashildr ran across to the door, but it had already locked. She was forced to watch the unfolding events through the screens above the console, though she knew that this was basic security. The TARDIS was trying to protect her, nothing more. Even so, it was enough to make a girl very, very frustrated.

"Hands in the air! Don't move!" The translation matrix kicked in, and Clara recognised the original language as a hybrid of sorts, between French and Chinese, with a little Russian thrown into the mix. She had no idea where this was, if she and Ashildr had ended up in space somewhere, or on a planetary (or even lunar) station, or if they were on Earth itself. She knew for certain only one thing.

Trouble.