Previously: Was it beyond the realm of possibility that someone in this room, male by the sound of the voice, was telepathic, like the TARDIS? With all John had seen in the past couple of days, not much could be impossible anymore.

The breaker started to conduct the heat that the fans would have normally held back. John winced as he felt burns start to form on his hands.

"My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth, before its time."

John squeezed the Wolf's hand, at that moment, never wanting to let her go.


Interlude: On Telepathic Creatures

John was lost. Well and truly lost.

He had been searching the halls for what seemed like hours, though it probably wasn't more than one, attempting to find the Wolf after he'd woken up that morning.

It had been a few days since the incident on Platform One. As the Wolf had promised, his hands had healed completely by the time he went to bed that night, leaving no signs that he had ever been injured in the first place. John was relieved. As a surgeon, he needed full use of his hands. Any loss in dexterity could have been disastrous to his chosen career.

The next day, the Wolf had taken John to a market place on another planet so that he could have an introduction to aliens that did not involve mortal danger. He had really enjoyed himself. He and the Wolf had toured the stalls, not buying, just looking, and the Wolf had explained anything that John held up to her for inspection that he didn't recognize. Which was pretty much everything he saw.

John had also enjoyed watching the aliens walking past him, going about their business. It was fascinating to him to see all the different species. There had been cat-people, some orange humanoids at least seven feet tall, even some aliens walking along on all fours, only standing on two feet to do some haggling at the stalls.

The Wolf had seemed to be having fun as well, getting pleasure in seeing him so enamored with the people around him. Even the city was beautiful – glistening roads and tall buildings made of bamboo like rods, but stronger. The hardest thing for him that day had been when they had stopped to eat at a roadside café. The Wolf had ordered for John, promising that he would like it. John still didn't know what he had eaten, but it had tasted fairly good, so he let it go without asking what it was, too afraid to find out.

The two of them had spent the entire day at the market before retiring back to the TARDIS. The next day, they had stayed on the ship, and the Wolf had kept her promise to start showing him his way around the infirmary. John was like a kid in a candy store with all the cool gadgets she had lying around in that room. The Wolf had equipment thousands of years ahead of Earth, from all kinds of planets, and John felt like he could never begin to remember what everything in the medical bay did, although he was having great fun trying.

The Wolf was happy to show him around. She seemed glad to just have the company and someone to talk to, and maybe to show off a little to. John quickly learned that she was an incredible genius, light years ahead of him, and not just because of her being more experienced than him, for all she looked over a decade younger. Either way, she didn't seem to mind spending the day in, though with her energy, John was sure the Wolf would want to be on the go again soon.

But right now, he just wanted to find her.

John was starting to get the feeling that the TARDIS was testing him. Like some sort of initiation. He stopped to send a glare up at the ceiling. "You know, I could start referring to you as just a space ship or vehicle again," he threatened.

The lights flashed, sending him into complete darkness for a few seconds.

"Or," he amended quickly, "we could both be nice, and I'll keep treating you like the living being you are, and you keep the lights on and things in some kind of order?" Accepting the TARDIS was alive was one thing, her actually changing her insides around was something else. Although John didn't understand why he was surprised. The Wolf had said she could do things like that. The TARDIS changed things inside his head, why shouldn't she change how she looked? It was just bloody frustrating. John called the TARDIS a few choice names in his head.

He groaned as he hit another hall with no doors. "Are you reading my mind?" he accused. The lights flashed once. "Is that a yes?" They flashed once more. "Alright. Any chance of me getting out of here someday?" One flash. "Soon?" There was no answer. John groaned again, banging his head against the wall, trying to think of a way to placate the sentient ship.

"Okay, look. Sorry. I promise to be nice, and not threaten you anymore, although I seriously doubt I could do anything anyways. Could you please show me where the Wolf is?" John asked. He felt a little silly asking the ship for a favor, but he seemed to be out of options.

Apparently, that was all the TARDIS was waiting for, as suddenly, a path of lights appeared under the walkway, leading down a hall before leaving his line of sight. John sighed in relief. "Thanks girl." The lights flashed once, and John thought he could hear a hum in the background.

The path the TARDIS made led John to the library, though it was far away from where it had been the last time John had seen it. His shoulders slumped in relief when he saw the Wolf reclined on a couch, reading. He plopped down next to her, causing her to look up from her book.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a while," she observed, going back to her page.

John rolled his eyes. "Talk to your ship. She's been leading me in circles for the past hour. I don't think she's too impressed with me."

The Wolf raised her eyebrows. "Have you seen your room? The old girl loves you. She was probably just testing you. She likes to do that to new companions. I don't know why, she doesn't tell me. I wouldn't worry too much about it. She probably won't do it for long, given how much she already likes you," the Wolf assured him.

"You can actually talk to the TARDIS, and she answers back?" John asked, fascinated.

The Wolf shrugged. "Not so much as in words. It's more feelings and nudges. Sometimes, in an emergency, she can speak to me. We've been together a long time. Even if she rarely takes me where I want to go, she takes me where she thinks I need to be. She's home," she said simply.

"So when she does talk, it's telepathic, right?" The Wolf nodded. "Are there other telepathic creatures out there like the TARDIS? Like, they can have whole conversations inside their heads?" he asked.

"Sure, a fair few," the Wolf answered easily. "Most of them are friendly enough. There's one planet where the population's language consists entirely of singing telepathically. Kind of like whales on your planet, but in their minds."

"Were there any species like that on Platform One?"

The Wolf thought for a moment then shook her head. "Not that I know of. There were a couple races I hadn't met before, but I haven't heard that any of them are telepathic by nature. Why?"

"I don't know, it's weird," John tried to explain. "After you and Jabe left, and I had that talk with Cassandra, she made me angry, and I just wanted to get away from everyone."

The Wolf chuckled. "I can imagine she had that effect on most people."

John smiled in return, then got back to his concern. "But as I was leaving the room, someone called me by name. Told me to stop."

The Wolf set her book down on the end table and sat up to pay closer attention to what John was saying. "Do you know who it was?"

John shook his head. "No. It sounded male, but that was all I could figure out. I looked around, but no one was talking to me out loud, or at least, I didn't see any mouths moving. And the only people on that Platform who knew my name were you and the Steward. By then, you were off with Jabe, and the Steward was in his office."

"What exactly did this voice tell you John?" the Wolf asked intently.

John tried to remember. "He said my name, told me to stay. He said that there was erm, danger if I left, and that – you would need me." He shook his head. "That was it. I figured there wasn't any harm in sticking around, as long as I stayed away from Cassandra, and a few minutes later you showed up." John thought back to that day. "Although, Cassandra and those Adherent robots did stare at me a lot after that – like they were expecting something."

The Wolf looked thoughtful. "It almost sounds as though this creature knew what would happen before it did. I suppose it could be a product of time travel; they knew us but we don't know them yet."

"That happens?" John asked.

The Wolf gave him a grin. "More often than you would think." She shrugged. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Sounds like whoever they were had your best interests in mind. I wouldn't be surprised if Cassandra had something nasty planned for you since you pissed her off."

John chuckled. "She did seem the type to hold a grudge." The Wolf laughed softly.

"Ah, well." She changed the subject. "What do you say for the next trip? New planet, or Earth? Past or future?"

John grinned. "I don't care. It's up to you."

"How does Naples 1860 sound?"

"Fantastic." His answer was greeted with laughter.


A/N: Up next, I will not be writing The Unquiet Dead. Instead, I will be attempting an original episode. It will be based in late 19th century America, and will have a villain from the Seventh Doctor's era making a return. See you next week!