"Charlie. Charlie!"

The Doctor was yelling at him when Charlie finally came around.

Charlie shook himself awake, and immediately discovered that he couldn't move. His body was tightly bound to a rock, lengths of nylon straps – or some other futuristic material which was proving to be far tougher than ordinary rope - tying him down alongside the Doctor. He tried to wriggle free, but he could barely move his arms. The most he could do was awkwardly nudge the Doctor's sleeve with his hand.

The Doctor was encouraging him to try and move, but Charlie insisted that it was impossible. Those two agents really knew how to tie a knot.

"Why does this always happen?" Charlie groaned.

"Why does this…? It doesn't always happen!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"It does! We're always getting shot at and tied up."

"Look, I've told you a million times not to exaggerate."

Charlie rolled his eyes. Trust the Doctor to be making jokes even in the direst of situations.

"You know what," the Doctor muttered, after a having given up on all his usual escapology tricks. "I think I was mistaken about the true intentions of those agents."

"How so?"

"I think we're both at odds trying to protect this cat," the Doctor explained.

"You mean we're on the same side? They're not rogue agents?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe they're not rogue agents. Maybe they are, but they want the cat for different reasons."

The Doctor sighed.

"They still tied us up!"

Charlie caught some movements in the trees around them. At first, he thought the agents might have come back to finish them off.

"I feel like we're missing part of the bigger picture," the Doctor mused, glaring into the middle distance.

As Charlie followed his gaze, he saw what he had been catching glimpses of out the corner of his eye.

The agents hadn't killed them – they'd left something far more efficient to do the dirty work for them.

"Ah. Charlie…?" the Doctor whispered, his voice turning grave.

"I've seen them," Charlie hissed back, struggling even more vigorously against the restraints. It did not help him at all; the bonds were cutting into his wrists.

Three dinosaurs, which Charlie identified as 'maybe velociraptors', were approaching them; inquisitively nuzzling the two of them, catching their scent.

"Okay, don't panic," the Doctor assured him, "We needn't really be worried unless they're female."

Charlie groaned again, letting his head drop back against the rock in despair.

"They're female, aren't they?"

"Naturally," the Doctor sheepishly admitted, "But don't worry, I can work something out."

The Doctor made a strange screeching noise, which scared the life out of Charlie. He peered at him, bemused.

The raptors screeched back. Inches from one of the creature's jaws, Charlie was blasted with the rancid stench of decaying meat. He grimaced, trying and failing to twist away from the predators.

"Just our luck," the Doctor growled. "They're not into us at all. They've got the hots for each other."

"They're what?" Charlie exclaimed, "How can you…?"

"I speak dinosaur," the Doctor informed him.

"But… you… what?"

"Not feeling conversational, are we?" the Doctor cooed at the deadly creatures, as though they were merely uncooperative budgies or something. "Feeling a little peckish, are we? Yes, I thought as much."

Charlie prayed that something miraculous would come along to prevent his horrific demise at the claws of these prehistoric beasts. Those razor-sharp talons, which wouldn't look as scary when he saw them in a museum in a few million years' time, could very easily rip him apart right now.

He turned his face away from the snapping jaws of the raptors, and found his eyes lock with the kitten's icy blue irises.

She must have been hiding close to them this whole time, keeping to the thick patches of grass, unnoticed by both the agents and the raptors.

She spoke to him, her voice once again jumping straight into his mind.

I believe you are as honest as the Lords of Genaux.

"Good! I hope that's good," Charlie spouted, throwing the kitten a frown.

Despite allegiances, despite the web of mistrust woven around you, I believe your intentions are pure, child of the Earth. Your brave heart wanders the stars, for your world no longer ties you there.

Charlie bit his lip, losing the kitten's meaning as the words tumbled into his head.

I will help you if you help me.

Charlie nodded. "Yes! I will!"

Then it is time to stop running, Charlie. I will see you, in time.

With that, the cat vanished in a familiar haze of glowing particles.

"Quickly!" the Doctor urged. "The Time Ring!"

In a panic, Charlie scrabbled at the Doctor's sleeve, trying to uncover the device that could get them both out of here. It was fortunate that they had been tied up so close together, otherwise the Doctor would have had no chance to reach the time travelling bracelet by himself.

"Turn the big dial ninety degrees clockwise, then press the button."

"This dial?" Charlie queried, pointing at one of several brass dials divided by intricate carvings, all roughly the same size.

"I don't know!" the Doctor hissed. "I can't see! Hurry up!"

"Okay, okay!" Charlie almost shouted, struggling to twist his hand into a position where he could work the controls of the device.

Finally he managed it, straining his thumb to stab the activation button, and hold it in place against the device – if he wasn't touching it, he might be left in the past, as a dinosaur's lunch.


The world fell away. The stars swirled around in the vastness of space, accelerating as the millennia passed - so fast that they became white lines arcing through the night sky.

The plastic bonds that had been strapped around their arms and legs began to smoulder, and burn up as they travelled billions of years into the Earth's future. It was a worrying sight.

When their speed began to drop – thankfully marking the end of their journey, Charlie was alarmed to see the vague shape of the Earth roll past them – they had overshot!

Charlie braced himself, his anxious thoughts as the Time Ring dropped them somewhere – they could end up dying in the vacuum of space.

His fingers slipped away from the Doctor's wrist, and he fell face first into a hard floor.

"Was that meant to happen?" Charlie asked, keeping his eyes clamped shut as he stumbled unsteadily to his feet. He wasn't quite ready to take in his surroundings just yet. He needed a few seconds to recover, to push back that nauseating feeling.

"I… think so," the Doctor uttered, his voice laced with uncertainty. "The rope must have lost contact with the Time Ring."

"That could very easily be one of us, though."

"Try not to think about it," the Doctor advised.

When Charlie finally opened his eyes, they were flooded with a glittering array of sparkling gemstones.

They were in a grand hallway, with walls of a solid emerald material, that sparkled in the undiluted sunlight. The black stone under their feet was intricately patterned with precious metals; the lavish entrance meticulously polished. It held that art Deco grandeur Charlie might compare to the iconic interior of a place like the Empire State Building.

Deep set scorch marks at intervals in the floor whispered of the many spacecraft that landed here, fusion drive impellers leaving traces in the expensive flooring.

Behind them, the chamber was open to the elements.

Charlie couldn't help but grin as he hungrily absorbed the sight of the Earth looming over them, delicately draped in a blanket of cloud.

"Oh, this is unreal…" he muttered.

This was an extremely opulent hanger, although currently devoid of any spaceships.

The kitten miaowed loudly at him. She had been stood waiting here for the two of them to arrive.

Come. We are as safe here as we have been this entire journey.

"We're not safe here. Got it," Charlie acknowledged.

"Who are you talking to?" the Doctor was glaring at him with a perplexed look on his face.

Charlie gestured at the kitten, a rather sarcastic expression throwing the Doctor a 'who do you think?' kind of a look.

"Ah! Have you two been chatting this whole time? That rather explains a lot."

"Seriously?"

"Sorry, I've only been half paying attention. You seemed to have it covered." The Doctor gave him a quick thumbs up, just in case his approval hadn't come across verbally. "You've been doing very well, I have to say."

"Well. Okay. Thanks, I guess," Charlie mumbled awkwardly. "Do you know where we are?"

"We appear to be in the Earth's upper atmosphere, somewhere above the southern hemisphere," the Doctor conjectured, thrusting his hands into his pockets as he strode towards the hangar doors to have a look outside.

"And I'd say we were in a roaming city."

"A roaming city?" Charlie queried.

"Yes. It's a cross between a city and a spaceship. Basically, someone's parked their house in your planet's orbit."

It is the Empress' throne room, the kitten told him.

"So it's… yours?"

The Doctor frowned, once again wondering who Charlie was talking to. His gaze softened when he spotted the kitten looking up at the boy.

"You're the Empress - is that right?" Charlie guessed.

The kitten didn't respond, and instead began to stride across the vast emerald chamber.

The Doctor shrugged; they followed her to the other side. There were no exits to the flight deck, aside from the one which led out into space, so Charlie wasn't really sure where they were going.

"There's no door," Charlie pointed out, as they stopped on a tiled section of the floor adorned with circular mosaic patterns.

The Doctor grinned.

It took Charlie a moment to fathom the meaning behind the Doctor's expression.

Was he mocking him? Teasing him? No - encouraging him to look closer, work out for himself what the Doctor had already concluded.

Charlie looked down at the circular patterns they were stood upon - which dredged up a half forgotten memory of a lucky escape he had experienced with the Doctor.

"Wait… are we standing on a lift?"

"Very good."

Moments later, there was a hiss; the circular plates parted from the floor, and began to ascend.

"Go on," the Doctor urged Charlie. "You like your physics. Tell me how these work."

Charlie thought for a moment, initially stumped. Throwing the kitten a puzzled glance didn't prompt her to help him out.

"I'll give you a clue..." the Doctor added, "The proper name for this piece of technology is a convection elevator."

"Oh, convection." Charlie nodded enthusiastically. "Hot air's less dense than cold air? So it works on the same principle as a hot air balloon, then?"

"They're far more comfortable than your average elevator."

The thermal disc smoothly came to a stop, and clicked into its new home on the upper floor; a glittering corridor, richly carpeted in an alien fabric.

That wasn't the first thing the time travellers noticed, however. That honour went to the six agents surrounding the elevator, each suited and booted like men in black (sans sunglasses) - and armed with heavy duty blaster rifles.

"Okay," the Doctor sighed, "Hands up who wasn't expecting that."

Charlie shot him a scathing look.

Neither of them raised their hands, which kind of answered the Doctor's question.

A tall man stepped out of the shadows, a cruel smirk dancing across his features.

A long, dark coat hung over his wiry shoulders, slung open to show off his immaculate three-piece suit. Dark eyebrows built like railway bridges overshadowed his gaunt, tired eyes. Those eyebrows might have been sharp enough to contend against the Doctor's in a duel. His hair, slicked back against his skull, made him look like a budget Bond villain.

It occurred to Charlie that the man must have been waiting behind a statue or something in order to make a dramatic entrance.

Now he had imagined that, it diminished the man's towering presence somewhat.

"Ah, there you are," the man drawled. "I want to thank you for bringing our beloved Empress back to us."

"Who's this half-wit?" the Doctor asked Charlie, quietly – but not so hushed that it was out of the man's earshot.

"That's agent Mendath," Charlie whispered back. "You know, the guy who sent us on this mission in the first place?"

The man knelt down, and revealed his perfect white teeth in an unconvincing smile as he reached out to the kitten.

"Come on, Empress," he sang. "You're safe now."

Mendath's voice set Charlie on edge. Something about the man's insincere tone was making him anxious.

"I really hope we haven't gone to all that trouble to return a missing cat," the Doctor remarked.

The kitten looked very wary. She was not that keen on approaching Mendath - she hid behind Charlie's leg instead. Her eyes were brimming with mistrust as Mendath straightened himself up again.

"Something's wrong, Doctor," Charlie muttered, "This doesn't feel right. My palms are itching."

"You've probably eaten something funny."

"No, I don't think we can trust them."

"Doctor," Mendath growled, his hoarse voice declaring that his patience had run out. "You're going to uphold your end of the bargain. Deliver the kitten to me."

"Mendath was the bad guy all along," Charlie grunted - the sudden revelation hitting him square in the chest. They had trusted this man from the start, but he was merely using them to do his dirty work.

"Well, I could have told you that," the Doctor replied.

"What? When?"

"It was obvious as soon as I looked at him," the Doctor explained. "Did I not say?"

"No!" Charlie hissed in disbelief. "How is it obvious?"

"He's wearing black."

"So are you!"

"This is navy blue!"

"I resent you referring to me as a 'bad guy'," Mendath snarled, interrupting the Doctor and Charlie's gentle spar, "when I have the interests of the Empire at heart."

Charlie stepped forward, bunching his hands into fists, ignoring the armed guards in the moment.

"How can you say that when you clearly want to hurt your Empress?" Charlie yelled, to the mild surprise of agent Mendath. "How can you say you have anyone's 'best interests' at heart when you're planning a murder?"

"That's rather presumptuous, don't you think?" Mendath replied calmly. "Although I confess, you are not mistaken in some of your beliefs. I do want this feline bureaucrat permanently removed from power. The agency's official position now is to replace the Empress. But that cannot be done until the old one has been eliminated. So hand her over to me."

"No!" Charlie spat.

Mendath held his gaze for a moment, before lazily dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

"Detain them. These two will be arrested, found guilty of treason and executed."

The agents were about to obey their orders, when something quite strange happened.

The kitten jumped in front of Charlie, and stood up on her hind legs.

The same blue glow that always signalled a sudden time travel engulfed her, orbiting her with pulsing lights.

Her figure rose up, and the tiny kitten transformed into a young woman, extravagantly robed and bejewelled.

The Empress' eyes were still blue, unchanged from the cat's form, now emphasised by her striking feline features.

"Woah…" Charlie uttered, gobsmacked.

She took a step towards agent Mendath, whose face had frozen in a mask of resentment, and hissed a single word:

"No."