Rose followed the Doctor out, and was dismayed but hardly shocked by what she saw. A pair of blokes in space armour were aiming their guns at the Doctor, who politely raised his hands.

"Hello", he said, smiling, his tone of voice light. "I'm the Doctor. Who are you?"

"We're the MSC", said one of the men. "This planet is a restricted area. Why are you here?"

"We came here to have a holiday", sighed Rose. "Not like that's ever going to happen."

One of the men aimed his gun at her, and cocked his head quizzically.

"Holiday?" he repeated, as if not believing either his ears or his voice.

"Yes. This is the Eye of Orion, isn't it?" asked the Doctor.

"It was", said the first man. "It's now a base for the glorious Terran empire!"

"Oh spare us the rhetoric", sighed the Doctor, who stopped smiling. "This is a neutral world, you can't just barge in and take over!"

"Well, we did," one of the troopers said.

"Yes, evidently", said the Doctor. "Would it be too much trouble for you to take us to your leader?"

The first trooper smiled menecingly.

"Why not?" he said. "The boss is probably eager to see you…"

He motioned with his gun for the Doctor and Rose to move ahead of him. The Doctor was smiling again.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Rose.

"I always like saying that!" the Doctor replied. Rose sighed.


Major General Jack Harkness was the commander of the Marine Space Corps presence on the Eye Of Orion, and a iron hard leader to boot. He was in his late thirties, with chiselled features and piercing eyes, and right now, he was studying the pair of intruders standing in his office. A youngish man, perhaps thirty two or thirty three, in an old Victorian suit, and an even younger girl, maybe nineteen, in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Who are you people?" asked Harkness calmly. He never went of the handle unless he was provoked.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose", said the man. The girl smiled.

Harkness smiled back, showing pristine white teeth. "I'm Major General Jack Harkness. Mind explaining why you're here?" he asked them quite politely.

"We're here to have a holiday", said the Doctor, equally polite.

"I'm afraid that this planet has come under temporary new management", said Harkness. "The MSC is in charge, for now."

"Mind if I ask why?" asked the Doctor, inquisitively.

Harkness' smile disappeared.

"I do mind, Doctor."

He gestured to the guards, who grabbed the Doctor and Rose.

"I was only asking," the Doctor said, "no need to get nasty..."

"Take them to the holding cells", Harkness said, ignoring him. "I've always wanted to use the mind probe."

The guards dragged the Doctor and Rose away.


"So what do we do now?" asked Rose.

The Doctor was standing by the door, pressing his ear to it.

"I have a plan, don't worry", he replied.

"Oh no, don't worry", snapped Rose, sarcasm dripping from her voice like a leaky pipe. "We've been captured by the macho military men from hell, they're going to torture us, and we don't even know WHY! No need to worry at ALL, Doctor."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit", said the Doctor, unfazed. "And you're not very good at it, I might add – ah ha!"

He dashed from the door and shushed Rose.

The door opened, and a guard came in, his gun lax in his hands.

"Come on you two", he said. "I have orders to take you to the mind probe room."

The Doctor and Rose stood up, they walked past the guard – and the Doctor grabbed his arm, flipped him over, and knocked him out.

"Great!" said Rose. "Now what?"

The Doctor threw her the guards' gun.

"It's set to stun, so you can shoot the guards, keep 'em off my back."

And with that, he headed out of the door, before stopping and turning to her.

"I told you I had a plan," he said smugly.

Rose sighed, and followed him out.


That had been three minutes ago. And since then, the Doctor had broken through three doors, Rose had shot two guards, they had gotten to the doors of the command centre itself -

And now they were pinned down by fire from about fifty guards, whose weapons were - the Doctor said - set to kill.

"Now what?" yelled Rose.

"I don't know, you're the one who watches Die Hard!" yelled the Doctor in reply. He was trying out a dozen codes a minute on the keypad.

Rose rolled her eyes. Then she jumped out. The Doctor wanted Die Hard, he'd get Die Hard.

She unleashed a hail of laserfire, that ripped through the guards, knocking dozens of them out and forcing the rest to pull back.

She ducked back into cover.

"That Die Hard enough for you?" she asked, smug as the Doctor was earlier.

He didn't reply, but Rose could see the smile. She smiled too – this would turn out alright.

The Doctor broke the last encription code, and they entered the command centre.

Harkness stood at the top of the massive structure, a small device in his hands.

"Hello, Doctor!" he called out. "Very impressive. You get here without killing anyone, and then you break at least a dozen encryption codes to break open the door."

"I pride myself on my ability to escape from detention cells", said the Doctor.

Harkness smiled.

"Well I bet you weren't expecting this," he said, and he pressed a button on the device that he held.

Rose was instantly transmatted to Harknesses side, and he grabbed her and held a gun to her head.

"Now, I think we're on better speaking terms," Harkness said, smiling.

"Let her go!!" yelled the Doctor, who was too shocked to thik of a plan.

"Lets talk, Doctor", said Harkness. "Lets talk about WHY YOU'RE REALLY HERE."

"I told you, we're here on holiday -" said the Doctor.

"LIAR!!" yelled Harkness. "Tell me why you're here, or she dies!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY!!!" yelled the Doctor, tears in his eyes. He dropped to his knees. "I don't know why YOU'RE here, so I don't know what the hell it is I'm supposed to be looking for in you're twisted reasoning, and I DON'T CARE! Just LET ROSE GO!"

Harkness looked at the Doctor, the Doctor who was abasing himself beofre Harkness' eyes. And he let Rose go.

"No one's that good an actor," he muttered. "Go back to your boyfriend, kid."

Rose ran for the Doctor, arms out stretched to hug him…

But she never got close.

At that point, almost in slow motion, a Null Time Rift opened, parallelogram shaped as ever, engulfing Rose and half the command centre. The force of it opening threw the Doctor to the floor.

Harkness ran to him, dodging the rift and ignoring the screams of his dying men.

"What the hell is it?!" he yelled.

The Doctor was too stunned to speak. She couldn't be gone, she just couldn't be...

"Doctor – Doctor, snap out of it!" yelled Harkness, slapping him around the head.

The Doctor slapped him back.

"A Null Time Rift", the Doctor said. "A hole in space and time…"

His voice trailed off, just for a second, and then, miraculously, he stood to his feet, and grabbing Harkness by the arm, he dragged him to the base's exit.


They ran to where the TARDIS stood.

"What exactly are Null Time Rifts agin?" asked Harkness, who was more than a little confused.

"Holes in space time", said the Doctor. "They are the final harbingers of the end."

"The end of what?"

"Everything", said the Doctor. He opened the TARDIS door, and looked at Harkness with a dangerous glint in his eye.

"You weren't experimenting with this sort of thing, by any chance?" he asked. His tone was perfectly even, but strained, as if he was breaking.

Harkness shook his head. This was nothing like what he was working on.

"We were experimenting with the atmosphere", he said. "The positive ions, if harnessed, could prevent civil unrest on countless worlds in the Empire."

The Doctor visibly relaxed.

"Well, it's a bit immoral," he said lightly, "but you didn't cause THIS with you're experiment."

He indicated the sky, which was filled with the Rifts.

"So now what?" asked Harkness.

"I sort this out, save the universe, and maybe even save Rose", said the Doctor. He turned to enter his TARDIS.

"Oh no…" said Harkness. "I'm coming with you!"

"What?" said the Doctor.

"These Rifts threaten the Empire, and as the only representative OF said Empire, I've got to go with you!"

The Doctor was too drained to argue, so he merely nodded.

Harkness entered the TARDIS, followed by the Doctor. If anyone had still been alive at this point to witness the TARDIS' departure, they would have heard the following exchange from the open doors.

"It's… it's…"

"Yes, yes, bigger on the inside, moving on swiftly. Sit there and shut up."

Then the doors shut, and the TARDIS dematerialised.