Silence had once again fallen between the two as one digested the words the other had spoken.

Jack took a deep breath before speaking. "So, something unstoppable, where do we start?"

The Doctor blinked and started at Jack. "Where do we start? Didn't you hear what I said? I said I don't think I can stop. I don't even know what it is yet, it's just darkness."

"Like that's ever stopped you. Since when has the impossible stopped you?"

The Doctor stood up suddenly and uttered words that Jack thought he would never hear.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Of course you want to, you always want to. Why wouldn't you?" Jack replied, but there was doubt gnawing at him as he said it.

"What if it's meant to be? What if I'm interfering in a fixed event and I can't interfere?"

Jack watched as he began pacing the kitchen, every muscle tensed. "It can't be a fixed event, I'd know if there was an inter-universe war."

The Doctor stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe, possibly, it's just I can't see it, whatever it is and that scares me Jack."

Jack shifted in his seat. That was a combination of words he never wanted to hear from the Time Lord.

"Well it must be something, it can't just be darkness?"

The Doctor went to speak but an alarm suddenly rang out.

"That's a distress signal!" he said and dashed out of the kitchen, followed by Jack a few seconds later.


The Doctor danced round the console, pulling levers and throwing signals.

"Cotrassi, outer most planet in the Chadra system, message says they're under attack, quite a coincidence, don't you think?"

Jack could only nod in agreement as the TARDIS lurched as it changed direction.

The TARDIS landed and the door opened a few seconds later.

"We should be right outside Beltrassa, the capitol," the Doctor said as he stepped out.

He had his back turned to the outside, so he couldn't see his surroundings. He did however smell something that definitely didn't smell like wood smoke.

He turned slowly and was confronted by a scene of devastation.


That had been an hour ago, a very long hour.

Jack was following the Doctor, who was picking his way across destroyed or half-destroyed buildings.

He was scanning the rubble with his sonic and muttering to himself.

"Anything?" Jack asked as the Doctor stopped on a pile of rubble.

"Nothing, no signs of radiation, neutron or morphic residue, nothing. It's like the whole city just fell down."

"What about the people?" Jack said picking up a piece of debris and finding it was a plate of some kind.

The Doctor swept the sonic across the rubble. "Again, nothing, it's like they never existed. What could do that?" he said, kicking at the rubble.

Jack walked further up the ruined building and stopped. "Maybe that did," he said.

The Doctor walked the few paces and joined Jack, looking at where he was pointing.

Below, in a crater that might have once been a building, it sat, still sleek but smoking.

"Looks like they put up a fight," Jack said.

The Doctor huffed out a breath of air in response and began climbing down the side of the crater.

"No bothering to scan for signs of the enemy then," Jack said and carefully began his own descent.

"Oh you are beautiful, deadly but beautiful," the Doctor was saying as Jack joined him.

He was running his hand over its smooth black surface.

"Err, do you think you should be doing that?" Jack asked, keeping a wary eye on the Doctor and the sleek shape.

"Hmm," the Doctor said, but carried on doing the same thing.

"The touchy thing, not a good idea."

"Nah its okay, I think it's dead. I really would like to get inside. Can't tell who it belongs to, no markings."

Jack walked round the ship and back to the Doctor. "No door, no seams either, it's some piece of work. You don't recognise it at all?"

The Doctor shook his head. "There must be a do..."

He was cut off by falling through an opening that had suddenly appeared under his hand.

Jack reached for him but missed by a couple of inches and when he grabbed for him again.

He nearly lost a hand as the doorway disappeared.

"Doctor!" he cried, not knowing if the Doctor could hear him. He was relieved when he heard the Doctor's voice, muffled but there.

"I'm okay, but there doesn't seem to be a door this side either. I'll just go and see if there's a flight deck or something."

"No Doctor!" Jack yelled, but only receding footsteps replied. "Don't," he said.


The Doctor moved away from where the door had been a few moments ago and moved further into the ship.

The walls were bare, apart from the odd panel of blinking lights and the occasional symbols, which the Doctor didn't recognise.

As he moved towards what he hoped was the flight deck that feeling began to rise again. He fought it down and finally found what looked like a flight deck.

"Looks fairly standard, there must be a button for a door."

He was about to take a wild guess when the whole flight deck shuddered...the ship was powering up!


Jack had been searching for the door himself when the whole ship shuddered and the sound of engines firing up...the ship was powering up!

He stumbled back as dust began to rise from underneath the sleek shape and it began to rise.

It was taking off and taking the Doctor with it!