The Doctor, Jenny, and Mickey continued through the corridor, steadily getting closer to the Source. They walked in silence for a while before, once again, the subject of Rose and the Doctor's relationship was brought up.

"So, you and mum travel together," Jenny spoke up. "But yet you say, you're not together."

"Because we're not," the Doctor said. "We're friends, that's all."

"Right," Mickey smirked. "You guys just can't go out and just say you're 'more than friends'. Is it because you're not the same species? Are there laws against it?"

"Mickey, I have half a mind to drop you off in a black hole once we get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor gave him a glare. In return, Mickey put his hands up in mock surrender and smiled idiotically.

"So what's it like, the traveling?" Jenny asked after a giggle.

"Oh, never a dull moment," Mickey replied. "It can be terrifying, brilliant and funny, sometimes all at the same time. I've only been here a bit, but Rose said she's seen some amazing things. Whole new worlds!"

"I'd love to see new worlds," Jenny said blissfully.
"You will!" Mickey said. "Won't she, Doctor?"

"Hm?" he turned back to look at them, his gaze flicking up from the semi-transparent map in his hands.

"Do you think Jenny will see any new worlds?"

Jenny glanced up at the Doctor with hope in her eyes, eagerly anticipating his answer. Slowly a smile started to form at the corner of the Doctor's mouth and he said, "I suppose so."

"You mean," Jenny grinned and glanced to Mickey and then back to the Doctor. "You mean you'll take me with you?"

"Well, we can't leave you here, can we?"

Jenny's face lit up with joy and she jumped forward, wrapping her arms around the Doctor in a tight hug as she cried happily, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Then pulling back she smiled, "Come on, let's get a move on!"

With a happy grin, she skipped away down the hall, the Doctor's eyes following. A father-like instinct sparked in him and he called out, "Careful! There might be traps."

"Kids," Mickey grinned as he and the Doctor watched Jenny scamper away. "They never listen."

The two walked after her at a leisurely pace, while Jenny still scouted up ahead. Glancing over to the Doctor, Mickey smirked when he saw him with a stern look upon his face.

"Oh, I know that look," he said, pointing to the Doctor who glanced at him. "I see it a lot round our way. Blokes with pushchairs and frowns. You've got dad-shock."

"Dad-shock?" the Doctor pulled a face.

"Sudden unexpected fatherhood," Mickey clarified and gave the Doctor a small punch to the arm. "Take a bit of getting used to."

The Doctor glared at him and then glanced away.

"No, it's not that."

"Well what is it then? Having Jenny in the TARDIS?" Mickey smirked. "What is she gonna do, cramp your style? Like you've got a sports car and she's going to turn it into a people-carrier? If anything it's already that what with me and Rose."

"Mickey, I've been a father before," the Doctor said.

"What?"

"I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else."

"I'm sorry," Mickey looked down at his feet. "I didn't know. Rose mentioned that you told her some, er, stuff about your past. But hardly anything. Does she know?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Mickey asked. "I thought you told her everything. You talk all the time, but you don't say anything."

"I know," the Doctor smiled faintly. "It's just… When I look at her now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it. I just don't know if I can face that every day."

"It won't stay like that," Mickey said. "She'll help you. And Rose'll help you. You know she'll never leave."

"But when they died that part of me died with them," the Doctor glanced at Mickey. "It'll never come back. Not now."

Mickey frowned and then smiled, "I'll tell you something, Doctor. Something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong."

Rapid fire sounded from behind them and Mickey and the Doctor glanced behind in that direction. Soon Jenny returned back to them, slightly out of breath but a smile on her face.

"They've blasted through the beams again," the girl said and then grinned, "Time to run again. Love the running! Yeah?"

"Love the running," the Doctor agreed as a smile spread on his face. They took off down the main tunnel, the Doctor pulling into the lead. The walls seemed to narrow a bit before opening up to reveal a closed room. No other tunnels led out from it and there seemed to be no doors.

"We're trapped!" Mickey squeaked.

"Can't be," the Doctor ran up to one of the walls. "This must be the Temple. This is a door."

Withdrawing his sonic screwdriver, he pulled a panel off the wall to reveal a maze of wires. Using the device and his fingers he attempted to open the hidden door.

"And again," Mickey spoke pointing to where a plague rested portraying a series of numbers. "We're down to one two now."
"I got it!" the Doctor smiled when he opened the panel even more to reveal a few buttons. Shouts sounded from down the tunnel.

"I can hear them," Jenny alerted him.

"Nearly done!"

"These can't be a cataloging system," Mickey continued to talk to himself.

"They're getting closer," Jenny had a slight nervous tremor in her voice.

"Then get back here!" the Doctor called to her.

"They're too similar," Mickey was now having a conversation of his own. "Too familiar."

"Not yet," Jenny said to her father.

He growled angrily at her, "Now!"

A loud buzz sounded from the panel and then the wall slid aside to reveal small door.

"Got it!" the Doctor cried happily. The three ran through the door, the Doctor making sure both of his companions were safe.

"They're coming," Jenny said nodding behind her shoulder where indeed the soldiers were chasing after them. "Close the door!"

The Doctor didn't need her to say it twice. With a buzz of the sonic the door slid back into place, locking out their pursuers.

"Oh, that was close," Jenny said with a smile.

"No fun otherwise," the Doctor grinned in return. Nodding to his friends, he went deeper into the strange looking temple. In fact, it didn't look like a temple at all. More like the tunnels they'd been running through before, just bigger, a lot bigger, and having hundreds of floors. Where they stood now they could see the whole of the place.

"It's not what I'd call a temple," Mickey voiced what they all were thinking.

"It's more like," Jenny started.

"Fusion drive transport," the Doctor finished. "It's a spaceship."

"What, the original one?" Mickey asked. "The one the first colonists arrived in?"

"Well, could be," the Doctor looked around the ship. "But the power cells would have run down after all that time. This one's still powered-up and functioning. Come on."

He motioned to his crew and then the three traveled up a flight of stairs beside them. They reached the second floor and were making their way across when they noticed someone cutting their way through a door on the other side.

"It's the Hath," Jenny said. "That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out."

The Doctor turned and ran over to where a computer was stationed, hooked up the ship.

"Look, look, look , look," he smiled as he put on his brainy specs. "Ships log." Words popped up on the screen and the Doctor began to read them to his companions. "First wave of Human/Hath co-colonization of planet Messaline…"

"So it is the original ship," Jenny realized.

"What happened?" Mickey asked with a frown.

"Phase one, construction," the Doctor continued to read. "They used robot drones to build the city."

"But did they mention the war?"

"Final entry. Mission commander dead. Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and humans have divided into factions," the Doctor said and turned to Jenny. "That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other. Start using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war."

"Two armies who are now both outside," Jenny put in.

The Doctor was about to speak when Mickey called out, "Look at that."

The man was pointing to a screen which displayed more of the numbers similar to before. 60120724 was typed out.

"It's just like the numbers in the tunnels," the Doctor mused.

"No, no, no, no. But listen, I spent six months hacking into Hounslow Library, don't ask, I had my reasons, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat," Mickey grinned. "I'm good with numbers. It's staring us in the face."

"What is?" Jenny said.

"It's the date!" Mickey turned to them with a pleased smile. The Doctor's eyes widened and he went up by Mickey as the man explained:

"Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America."

"Oh!"The Doctor smacked his head. "It's the New Byzantine Calendar!"

"The codes are completion dates for each section," Mickey pointed out. "They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built."

"Yes," the Doctor grinned to him. "Oh, good work, Mickey. Maybe you aren't an idiot after all."

"Yeah, I've been trying to tell you that," Mickey smirked. "But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was sixty twelve o' seven seventeen. Well, look at the date today."

"O' seven twenty four," the Doctor read. "No..."

"What does it mean?" Jenny piped up.

"Seven days," the Doctor turned to her.

"That's it," Mickey said. "Seven days."

"Just seven days."

"What do you mean seven days?" Jenny was at a loss.

"Seven days since war broke out," the Doctor told her in confused amazement.

"This war started seven days ago," Mickey nodded. "Just a week. A week!"

"They said years," Jenny knit her eyebrows together.

"No, they said generations," Mickey explained. "And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines—"

"They could have twenty generations in a day," the Doctor finished. "Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Oh, Mickey you are a genius!"

He clapped the man on the shoulder.

"But all the buildings, the encampments," Jenny struggled with this new information. "They're in ruins."

"No, they're not ruined," the Doctor told her with an excited grin that he always had when he discovered something new. "They're just empty, waiting to be populated. Oh, they've mythologised their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Come on."

With that said, the three took off deeper into the spaceship, heading for the Source.