The Doctor stood next to little Amelia Pond looking at a three or four foot long glowing crack in her bedroom wall. Raising his eyebrows the Doctor could only think, 'well, that's interesting.'

Turning his focus to the child standing next to him he smiled reassuringly and said, "You've had some cowboys in here, haven't you! Well, not actual cowboys though that can happen. But anyways, this wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So," he asked turning back to the girl's wall, "Where's this coming from?"

He strode forwards, whipping out his sonic screwdriver in what he believed to be a dramatic fashion, and began scanning the mysterious crack in Amelia Pond's wall. Eyes widening me muttered, "Wibbly- wobbly timey-wimey," facing the little girl one more he asked, somewhat rhetorically, "You know what the crack is?"

She stared at him in confusion for a moment before asking, "What?"

"It's a crack!" The Doctor went on, rambling one more, "But I'll tell you something funny, you knock this wall down, the crack would stay put; because the crack isn't in the wall."

He grinned down at her as she asked, looking a little lost, "Where is it then?"

"Everywhere! In everything! It's a split in the skin of the world! Two parts of space and time that never should have touched, pressing together right here in your bedroom wall!" The Doctor carried on in a combination of wariness, shock, and amazement. "Can you hear anything? Sometimes, from the crack?" He asked her intently, he needed to know if anyone was on the other side.

Amelia Pond stared up at him with wide eyes before stating, "Sometimes, a voice comes from it."

The Doctor frowned, 'this was probably bad very, very bad.' Just after he finished that thought the small bedroom was filled with a low growling noise and some murmuring from the crack. Moving forwards he pressed his ear to the crack hearing an automated voice repeating the phrase "Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Prisoner Zero?" The Doctor repeated with furrowed brows. 'There had to be a prison on the other side of Amelia's crack. But where was the prisoner? Was it in a vaxilo-'

Ponds voice cut through his thoughts asking, "Prisoner Zero has escaped? What's that mean?"

Looking her in the eye the Doctor explained, "It means there's a prison on the other side of this wall. Or, at least the crack in your wall; and they've lost a prisoner, you know what that means?" The redheaded girl opened her mouth to say something but the Doctor cut her off, "It means you need a better wall. The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. That or…"

Looking worried Amelia Pond asked him, "Or what?"

"Well," He began, scratching awkwardly at the back of his head, "You know when grown-ups tell you everything is going to be ok and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?" The girl nodded, "Everything is going to be ok."

Taking her hand the Doctor backed up to the other wall and used his sonic screwdriver to fully open up the crack. In a matter of moments the bedroom was flooded with white light and the automated voice loudly called out with an alarm sounding in the background, "Prisoner Zero has escaped. Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Hello? Hello?" The Doctor called out, "is anyone- oh!" He cut himself off suddenly as a giant blue mechanical looking eye moved to peer through the crack; before anything could happen the crack quickly snapped shut, some energy shooting outwards as it did so, reminiscent of the Master's unstable body with it's leaking life energy.

Frowning at the thought the Doctor reminded himself 'that's being fixed by the zero room right now. That at least is no longer a concern.' Putting a smile on his face he glanced down at little Amelia Pond he told her, "There, you see? Told you it would close, good as new!"

Ceasing her gawking at her wall Amelia looked up at him with wide brown eyes asking, "What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?"

"No, I think that was Prisoner's Zero's guard. Whatever it was it sent me a message. Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message it does." The Doctor spoke as he reached for a pocket in his now ill-fitting clothes until the alarmed sound from the TARDIS's Cloister Bell wafted loudly in from the garden.

A surge of panic flooded the Doctor, 'the engines must be phasing! It was going to burn! And the Master was in there unconscious!' He bolted through the hall and down the stairs, for a moment he thought he saw a flash of something out of the corner of his eye but quickly disregarded it as he ran out to the garden.

As he sprinted the Doctor shouted to Amelia, "I've got to get back in there! The engines, it looks like their phasing! It's going to burn and the Master's still in there!"

Panting as she ran after him she called back, "But it's just a box. How can a box have engines? And who's-"

"It's not a box, it's a time machine!" The Doctor yelled.

Skidding to a halt in front of the TARDIS the ginger girl exclaimed in amazement, "What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"

The Doctor turned sharply back to the child "Not for much longer if I can't her stabilized! Quick hop into the time vortex should do it."

Before he could turn Amelia Pond piped up, "Can I come?"

'Ohhhh, that would be a very bad idea. Not only was the TARDIS and the Master in danger but the Master was a potential danger, as much as he didn't like it the Master could possibly harm Amelia. He didn't know for sure if the drums were gone or not now that the signal had been broken and even without them he wasn't sure if the Master would be… all right… mentally, and could possibly be a danger to both himself and others. But…' the Doctor thought, 'I could… come back for her later, once things are going a bit better… and it would only be a few minutes for her…'

Focusing once more on the girl the Doctor quickly told her, "Not safe in here. Not yet, five minutes. Tell you what; give me five minutes. I'll be right back."

She frowned saying, "People always say that."

"Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me! I'm the Doctor!" He exclaimed before running into the console room, immediately taking off into the vortex.