"You're not the Doctor!" Donna snapped. "I know exactly who the Doctor is, and you're certainly not him."
"I beg your pardon!" the northern accent snapped. "I don't know why you think you know me, but I am the Doctor."
Martha's attempted silencing of Donna went ignored, so she dragged the woman back out of earshot. "That is the Doctor, but not our Doctor!" she whispered fiercely.
"What? There's more than one?" she snapped.
"Time Lords are different. They can …" She hesitated while she tried to think of a way to explain it to Donna. "They can change their faces when they get close to death. I think that's the Doctor that Rose first met."
"How do you know that? Did you meet him?"
Martha shook her head. "Rose has talked about her first Doctor a few times. This guy fits her description. Besides, I saw a picture of him once."
"Really? When was that?" Donna asked, fascinated by this background information.
"Jack showed me. Now let's go see if we can get him talking and find out what's going on."
They walked back over to the Doctor, who'd opened the door and gone in to investigate the quiet room within. "Doctor?"
He looked toward the two women with a suddenly quizzical look on his face. "How do you know who I am? I've never met you, have I?"
Martha shook her head. "No, but I've heard stories about you from Jack."
A familiar smile flashed across his face. "I'm surprised he let you go, then," the Doctor said. "He flirts with anything that breathes." Cocking his head, he studied them both. "You didn't know me, but you knew me. You're traveling with a future me."
"Yeah."
Looking around, he frowned. "Rose didn't come with you? She's usually in the middle of trouble, wherever it is."
"She's a …"
Martha jabbed Donna in the ribs, driving the breath from her before she could finish her sentence. "Last time we saw, she was in the TARDIS with our Doctor, I mean you."
He stared at the two of them. "If you're traveling with a future me, then why aren't you with him to figure this out?"
"The TARDIS vanished with them inside," Donna said.
"Wait a minute. I left you behind?" he asked, astonished. "That doesn't sound like me. Or at least I hope it doesn't."
"No. Not left. Vanished. Disappeared. Right in front of us, just gone."
"Oh." The three of them stared at each other. "Right then. Stick with me and I'll get you back to your right time."
Donna pulled Martha aside as the Doctor moved away. "Why did you do that? It hurt."
"Do you really think he needs to know that Rose is dead?" she hissed.
"Oh. Didn't really think of that."
"Yeah."
They caught up with the Doctor, who was leaning over the navigational computer, shaking his head. "What's wrong?" Martha asked.
"These readings don't make any sense. I was going to the Falan'i System in 25,750 and ended up here."
"Some things never change," Donna muttered. "Anyway, our Doctor said that it was the year 2948 or so."
"Well, that's what the people and things outside demonstrate, but according to the navigational computer, we're in the year 25,750."
"So, instead of being 900 years in the future, we're really over 20,000," Martha said.
"What year are you from?"
"2008," Donna said quickly.
"Then you're 23,742 years in the future."
The women exchanged a glance. That little comment eliminated any doubts that this was, indeed, the Doctor. "So, what explains the little rewind shows out there?"
"What show?" he asked, whirling on Donna.
"The people. They keep doing the same things, over and over."
"Really? Have you noticed anything else out of the ordinary?"
Martha nodded. "There's a chandelier out in the corridor that is glowing funny, and then there's this big flash before the whole show starts all over again."
The Doctor grinned brightly. "Fantastic!" He clapped his hands together gleefully. "Let's go see."
They followed him back out into the corridor. "So, where is this chandelier?"