With a buzz, crack and flash her feet found ground once more. It had been a bumpier ride than usual. Perhaps it needed repairing. She looked up at the back of a very familiar brown tweed jacket and smiled. He turned and stared open mouthed at her,

"How did you do that...?" he asked. She raised her arm showing off the vortex manipulator.

"Easy..."

"Impossible," he replied raising his left arm, his sleeve slipped down slightly revealing the Vortex manipulator on his wrist. River looked at him confused, and then looked again at her wrist strap. She stood frozen and puzzled as the Doctor approached her; an intrigued expression was upon his face. Slowly he stretched his left arm towards hers, which she was still holding up. The manipulators sparked and cracked as they were brought together.

"It's the same one alright, at two different points in its time stream... funny... I seem to remember this happening somewhere before..." he looked up thoughtfully with a cheeky grin.

"Doctor," River interrupted quickly, "How?"

"I don't know... how did you get here? ... How did you know where I was?"

"I... I didn't... I just warped to wherever it was set to... and I came here" The Doctor removed his wrist strap hurriedly. She watched him in confusion, "Doctor... what are you doing? How did I get to you?"

"I brought you to me," he said simply as he turned his sonic screwdriver on to the manipulator, "This device creates a wormhole in time and space. Exactly like the Tardis does... except... by pressing the same button... you can go back through the same wormhole you came from... which is how you ended up back here... now..." he handed his Vortex manipulator to her, "Go..."

"Go?"

"Yes... go... go and give that to yourself," he replied simply, "Don't be seen... and come straight back... I don't trust the battery power on those things..." He turned back to the bars on the cell, "I need to figure out what this is..."

River let out a harsh sigh, as if her day hadn't been tough enough already. He couldn't just once appreciate that could he? But then he was the Doctor and that was just, his way. He did what needed to be done... without reason or question or a worry about anyone else... River pressed the button down firmly and vanished in a flash.

The Doctor sighed and gripped the bars to steady himself, at least she was okay. He wasn't sure he could live with her being assimilated. After a moment he'd gained more control and, wiping the onset of a tear from his eye, he pressed the button on his screwdriver and continued to work. A familiar flash of light and a sharp crack announced River's return.

"Excellent... here!" he handed her the screwdriver, "Tell me... what do you make of that?"

River examined it carefully, "Electromagnetic field surrounding this whole room. Blocking signals in and signals out," she replied efficiently passing it back.

"Yes. But. Why?" he tucked the screwdriver swiftly back into his pocket and took a step closer to the main wall pressing the palm of his hand against it, "Someone or something is concealing this prison..."

"Well... to hide you of course," River said suddenly, "Why hand over the one being capable of stopping the Cybermen?" He turned suddenly to face her,

"Why try to assimilate you? ... Why not just leave you here with me? Why not take my screwdriver? ... Why lock me away in the first place then?"

"I'm not the Doctor. I'm not the one capable of escaping a prison which technically doesn't exist. I'm not going to stand out there and save New Earth from the Cybermen. I'm just an occupational hazard to them. They need to be seen to be doing everything possible to save the people here, by appearing to give you up to the Cybermen, the people stay calm and everything goes according to plan. You escape quietly and do your... your 'thing' "

The Doctor frowned at her suspiciously, "You're good," he decided finally.

"Yeah..." she grinned changing the settings on the Vortex manipulator, "I know" She held her arm out expectantly, "Got a 'thing' in mind?" He grinned placing his hand over the wrist strap. With a press of a button they'd vanished leaving the hidden prison behind.

"Ohhh!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Fresh air!" he breathed in deeply, "Alright... now go to the Tardis," he pointed at the blue box stood proudly metres away from them.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"River..." he said in a warning tone. Her eyebrows twitched into a slight frown before she turned and ran up to the Tardis.

"Alright," he breathed resetting his screwdriver, "Where did you go...?" he pointed the screwdriver to the ground around him the grass was long and glowed as the screwdriver's light passed over it. It began to screech as he discovered what he was looking for, "Ohh you beauty!" he cried picking River's PDA out from its grassy resting place. With one last backward glance at the giant dome protected city he broke into a sprint to the Tardis and practically threw himself inside. River was waiting for him, "right then..." he tossed her PDA at her before tearing his ruined jacket off, "Use that... on that," he pointed at the console, "I want to know everything... what's floating around up there... how many ships... how many Cybermen... tell me everything" Without questioning him River rushed to the console and connected the damaged PDA to it. She tapped away glancing up occasionally to watch the Doctor repairing his damaged appearance. His fingers flicked through his hair correcting his side fringe, and then promptly repositioning his bow tie.

"River..." he demanded impatiently as he untwisted his red braces.

"A Cybership is in orbit"

"How many?" he asked

"A Cybership"

"A Cybership," he scoffed, "What do you mean 'a' Cybership?" he strode over to join her at the console, "Just one?"

"That's what I said..."

"I've met the Cybermen on countless occasions... they don't just send 'one' ship," he snatched the PDA from her hands and examined the screen. He hit it hard against the edge of the console. The screen flickered off and on but the result remained the same, "Why one ship? What could they possibly do with one ship?"

River gave him a slightly uneasy stare, she knew exactly what he was thinking; and it made her heart sink.

"Let's go and have a look shall we?" he beamed clapping his hands and rubbing them together in excitement.