The Doctor picked up one of Sarah's shoes and examined it closely, fingering the curve of the heel and scowling at it thoughtfully. "Donna, come here," he said. She looked up at him questioningly. "I need your dress. And your shoes."

Donna's eyes went wide and she backed off a step.

"Come on, come on, come on," the Doctor said impatiently, waving her over to him. She cautiously approached him, then stood with an anxious frown as he tuned the sonic to a laser-like setting, bent down and used it to cut several small pieces from the hem of her sapphire gown. "Shoes," he said, and she put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she took off one shoe, then the other, and handed them to him. He twisted the sonic's controls, molded the bits of soft fabric to the backs of her shoes and zapped them with a frequency that caused the two materials to bond to each other. "See if that helps." He handed the shoes back to her and she slipped them on.

The Doctor laughed softly as her face told him how much it helped. He picked up Sarah's shoes and molded some more of the fabric to their backs, then handed them to her. "Like moleskin!" she said as she tried them on. "Oh, much better. I think I could actually walk in them now." She stood up, dusted herself down as best she could, and ran her fingers through her hair again. "A bit of a campfire and some hot coffee and this could almost be fun." Donna gave her a look that plainly doubted her sanity at that comment. Sarah grinned. "You ever been camping, Donna?"

"Fell asleep by a bonfire on the beach once," Donna said thoughtfully "Woke up freezing in the wee hours with the tide coming in. Does that count?"

The Doctor had been scanning a blade of grass from root to tip while they talked. "No coffee, sorry," he said. "And no campfire. But maybe..." His words trailed off as he retuned the sonic to an intense, narrow cutting beam and used it to sheer off one big grass blade at ground level. He trimmed away the top half, where it thinned out, and then cut down the middle of the thick bottom part. Peeling the tough outer rind away to both sides, he scooped out a bit of the gelatinous core, reset the sonic to scan it, then gave it an experimental sniff and taste. He scooped out some more and handed it to Sarah Jane, who looked at it dubiously. "Lots of moisture. Some nutrients," he assured her. He plopped some into Donna's hand. She looked at it, then rolled her eyes at Sarah, who shrugged.

"I've eaten stranger things," she said as she took a bite--or more of a slurp--of the gooey substance. It wasn't as bad as it looked, or as bad as she feared it would be. It wasn't coffee--and it wasn't eggs and bacon--but she was thirsty and hungry enough to enjoy the sensation of eating something, anything, and the moisture felt very welcome on her dry throat.

Three giant grass blades later, they all felt refreshed enough to start hiking. The Doctor checked their direction with the sonic and again led the way, but at a gentler pace this time, and with frequent rest stops. The pink sun sank in the sky and the light dimmed, but again, before it could come close to being full night, a new sun, this one with a bluish cast, rose.

"They can't all be suns," the Doctor said as he held up a hand to shield his eyes and squinted at the new celestial object through his fingers. "No planet could orbit three different suns. Two must be moons. Big, bright moons, but still. Moons."

They walked and rested and walked and rested as the blue sun-or-moonlight shone down on them. The Doctor sliced open grass blades for them at each rest stop, and they ate the gelatinous inner goo gratefully. It didn't offer much in the way of calories, but it staved off the dehydration that would have otherwise stopped them--at least, the humans--in their tracks in short order.

When the lavender moon (or sun) appeared again, they slept. When the pink sun (or moon) reappeared, they got up and started the routine all over. Their world contracted to walk-rest-eat-sleep-repeat in a recurring cycle of lavender, pink, and blue light. At first, the walks were short and the rests were long. But gradually, the blisters scabbed over and started to heal, muscles toughened up in response to constant use, and they found themselves able to go further and further before needing a break.

"What do you suppose they call a day on this planet?" Sarah mused during one rest stop, peering up at the sun (or moon) above. "The time it takes for one sun to cross the sky? Or all three?"

The Doctor looked up at the sky as well and pooched out his lower lip. "They might not even have the concept of day here. Since it never is night. Day is just...what it is. Always."

Sarah blinked a few times, trying to get her head around that idea. "So when the New landed on Earth, it might have been the first time it ever saw night," she said softly. "And stars."

A smile lighted up the Doctor's face. "Imagine that," he said, equally softly, his eyes drifting out of focus. Then his and Sarah's eyes met, and they shared a moment of wonder at the infinite variety of the universe.

"Little green sod," Donna muttered darkly.

* * *

"This wasn't the way I planned to lose ten pounds," Sarah said during another rest stop as she pulled her ever-more tattered gown away from her stomach, checking how loose it was getting. "But it is working."

Donna looked down at herself and smoothed the fabric of her dress tight over her bodice. "And I've gone down a cup size, at least," she said.

Sarah laughed. "Always the first place women lose weight. Not fair."

"Yeah, well, will make the running easier."

Sarah raised her eyebrows and grinned. "I never had that problem." She looked down at herself. "I think that's the real reason Harry liked it when I put on some weight." The grin suddenly disappeared as she thought about Harry.

"You're worried about him," Donna said softly.

Sarah nodded. "I just keep thinking....what if he was teleported here with us." She looked around at the dense grass that shrank their world to a matter of feet in each direction. "We could have been right next to him and never known. What if...." She trailed off.

"I did look for him," the Doctor said in a low voice.

Sarah reached out for him immediately and gave him a hug around his shoulders. "Oh, I know you did. I'm not saying... Just... well, what if he was teleported somewhere else? All by himself." She squeezed her eyes tightly shut for a moment, then opened them and stiffened her spine. "I just have to stop thinking about it." She took a deep breath. "Nothing I can do."

* * *

"If we ever do find water on this Godforsaken planet," Sarah mused to the sky as she lay back in the grass the next time they stopped for a sleep break. "I'm going to jump straight in."

"Better let me check for crocodiles first," the Doctor said mildly. She propped herself up on one elbow and gave him a look. He grinned crookedly. "Or other things that might find you tasty."

She lay back down. "I'm too filthy to be tasty," she said. "Nothing could stand me. I can't stand me," she added, rolling her eyes. "I'd be perfectly safe."

The Doctor's grin grew. "They might like the extra flavor."

"Mmm," Sarah moaned. "I don't." She waved a hand in front of her face. "Don't get downwind of me."

The Doctor pulled a dismissive face and puffed out a breath. "I got used to the smell of humans long ago," he said. "Don't worry about me."

Donna and Sarah both sat slowly up and stared at him.

"What?" he asked, suddenly wary.

"The smell. Of humans." Donna repeated emphatically.

"Yeah," the Doctor said shortly, looking ready to bolt into the grass. "What?" he asked again.

"We. Smell."

"Of course you do. Everything does."

Donna and Sarah exchanged a horrified look, then turned back to stare at the Time Lord.

"Even when we're clean? Which we are so not at the moment," Sarah admitted.

"Well, yeah," he answered. "Then you smell like...clean humans. Which you are so not at the moment," he confirmed.

"Ooh." Sarah gave a little squeak of a moan, mortified beyond words.

"What?" he asked again, eyebrows furrowing. "You said so yourself."

"That doesn't mean you have to agree," Donna explained as if to a three-year old.

He blinked at her, mouth slightly open, for a second. "You want me to lie?"

"Yes," she said, immediately and emphatically.

"Ah." He stared at her. "Donna. You smell like a rose."

"Thank you," she said with a nod of acknowledgement.

The Doctor looked at Sarah. "Do you want me to lie?"

She laughed helplessly, shaking her head. "I want a wash. Since you asked."

"I know you do," he said. "Wish I could give you one." Her eyebrows shot up, and he backtracked. "I mean...give you a bath." Her eyebrows went higher. "I mean...a place...an opportunity...for a bath," he finally managed to blurt out.

"So it does bother you. The way we...smell," she said, screwing up her face at the last word.

"No. Not at all." He smiled and his eyes grew thoughtful. "Takes me back a bit, if you must know. Reminds me of Jamie and Victoria."

"Who were they? Dirty people?" Donna asked.

The Doctor gave a short laugh. "By twenty-first century standards, I suppose they were. Jamie travelled with me for, oh, yonks. He was from the eighteenth century. And Victoria grew up in the nineteenth century. No daily showers for either of them."

"Victoria," Sarah mused. "You called me Victoria once."

"Did I?" He scratched the back of his neck and wrinkled his brow, searching his memory. "I was so absent-minded back then." His eyes widened. "Oh! Right. You were wearing one of her dresses."

"Did it smell?" Donna asked.

Sarah laughed. "Not that I recall. Not when I put it on anyway. By the end of the day, it wasn't so fresh anymore."

"Well," the Doctor said, drawing the word out. "It was a long day. Fighting mummies and robots, teleporting to Mars and Egypt and all."

Sarah laughed again. "True."

Donna looked from one of them to the other. "Mars?" she finally said, looking at Sarah, a question in her tone. Sarah nodded and Donna turned to look at the Doctor. "So you are..."

"No," he interrupted firmly. "I was just visiting."