"Rose!"

The Doctor shouted as he watched reality disappear around him, as though the universe were slowly dissolving, and he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet vanish. He fell through nothingness, finally feeling his hands hit something solid. Jumping to his feet, the Doctor found himself standing in a large control room, where he could see panels with buttons and switches, plus something that looked like it might have been a television screen. Busy taking in his surroundings, he almost didn't notice the people standing around staring at him, pointing and whispering in his direction.

"What?!" he said, having a closer look at the faces of the people all around him. "No… that's not possible… How can you be here?"

"I believe we could ask the same of you, sir. Who are you?"

The Doctor looked around. These people, he recognised them, he knew them and yet… it was impossible. They were dead. He had seen them die, all of them, perishing in the flames. Barely able to think over his disbelief and astonishment, he started to answer.

"I'm… I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor? Interesting name. Doctor who?"

"Nothing, just the Doctor. And… Who are you?"

"We are Time Lords, of the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. And, if I may, how did you get onto our ship?"

The Doctor could hardly believe what was being said. How many times had he wished there were others like him? How often had he sat alone in the TARDIS and silently grieved for his family and his people and his home, lost forever long ago? To see them standing here now, majestic and stoic, albeit a bit confused and wary, was an impossible dream come true.

"Well, it's kind of a funny story…" he started, trying to think of how to tell them who he was. "I'm actually, well, I'm a bit of a Time Lord myself…" He trailed off, causing confused faces to sweep around the room.

"What do you mean, 'a bit of a Time Lord yourself'? Are you, or are you not?"

So he told them. The whole story, how he was from another universe, that he had gotten here trying to stop Daleks from taking over his universe, and how he was the half-human, half-Time Lord result of a severed hand and leftover regeneration energy. His mouth moved faster and faster when he realised he didn't have to pause after every sentence and explain some complicated bit of science or illogical fact of time. He became so wrapped up in telling his story, so giddy at the chance to talk to others like him, that he went into many unnecessary details and side tracks. When he was finished, the Time Lord he had been talking to looked at him curiously. He suddenly realised just how long he had been talking since he arrived in the control room, and what he had left behind moments before appearing there.

"But now, I have to get over to that Dalek ship. They're holding someone hostage, her name is Rose, and I need to save her. Will you help me?"

"Well, yours is a rather fantastic story, I must say. But I'm sorry, but there is no chance that your friend could still be alive if she's been with the Daleks for as long as you say." The Time Lord that had first spoken to the Doctor looked almost patronising. "We will destroy the fleet, as we intended, then return to Gallifrey. There is no possibility of saving your friend now." Whatever he claimed, the Doctor could tell that his story had not been believed.

"Well, you don't know Rose. She's alive on that ship, I know it, and I'm gonna get her back. I don't need your help." With that, the Doctor whipped around and ran out of the room, not knowing exactly what he was searching for, but hoping against hope that he would find what he needed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key that Rose had worn around her neck for years. The light from it pulsed slightly, as if it were encouraging him, and the key let off a steady warmth. Not knowing if he was being followed, he wandered sneakily along the corridors of the ship, heading for one of the storage bays. If these people really were who they said they were, who he was almost positive they were, then Deck 6-Acorn-D would have what he was looking for. He found the door to the bay and pulled out his sonic screwdriver to open the door. The lock held for a moment, but then popped open and he slipped through into the dark room beyond.

Holding the screwdriver high to activate the floating orbs that lit up the area, he walked down the steps that lead from the door the deck's floor. Scattered around the room were various boxes, crates, and piles of equipment, all labeled with the beautiful swirling symbols of Gallifreyan. His heart went from racing to jogging to a crawl as he moved around the room, surveying the Time Lord materials and not seeing what he was looking for. When he had circled the room for the 10th time with no results, he heaved a sigh of defeat. Moving back to the stairs, he started climbing, but stopped after a few stairs. The key in his pocket had suddenly become hotter, sending him a message, keep looking. The Doctor stopped in his tracks and turned slowly on the spot. Then he noticed a dark line of things under the stairs. He scrambled over the railing and dropped in front of a bulky pile covered in tarps. His brain not daring to hope as much as his heart was, he grabbed the tarp at the end and pulled. A row of shining metal cylinders gleamed in the light from the globes.

"HA! Knew I'd find you! Old friends. How are you? Oh, you are bea-utiful!" He pulled the TARDIS key from his pocket and held it up to the first cylinder in the line. Nothing happened. His brow furrowed, he hopped to the next object in the line and did the same. Nothing. Moving down the line, he held the key up to each cylinder, and each time the key remained warm but had no other reaction. He finally reached the last three cylinders in the line. These three were different; each one had a sign attached that read "Damaged - Needs Repair". The one closest to him had details of a jammed door, and the one after that needed a new pair of brakes. The last on in the line said "Chameleon circuit malfunction". Holding his breath, the Doctor held the key up to the side of the object. The key flashed brightly in his palm and the metal seared his skin. He let out a whoop and inserted the key into the lock. A door swung open and the Doctor disappeared inside the metal capsule. He had never felt more at home. He stepped into a large circular room, with columns around the walls and a round control console in the very centre of the room. Walking up to the controls, the Doctor fell into a routine that was almost second nature to him: this button, that lever, set the place and go! He heard a familiar, comforting wheezing sound emanating from the room itself, and the ground started to shake as the Doctor was on his way.

As Rose had watched the Doctor disappear, she could hear Daleks behind her coming closer and closer, their cries of "EXTERMINATE!" echoing off the walls in the long, narrow corridors of the spaceship. Stopping to watch only for a second, she started running through the hallways, looking for a good place to hide. It felt like the ship went on forever. Finally, stopping to catch her breath, she saw a small door ajar at the end of the corridor. Running to it, Rose slipped through and found herself back in the control room where she had been held captive. That's odd, she thought to herself. There's nobody in here. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any Daleks anywhere else for a while, either.

Rose had an uneasy feeling about this silence, like the calm before the storm. She was just starting to wonder whether something worse was about to happen when the screen on the control panel blinked and came to life. Although the image was slightly fuzzy, Rose could still make out a room similar to the one she was in, but with people standing all around. And, taking a closer look, she noticed that one of those people was the Doctor.

"Doctor!" she cried out, but it was obvious from his lack of acknowledgement that he couldn't hear her. And, she realised, she couldn't hear him, either. "Only a video link, eh?" she muttered to herself, her elation at seeing the Doctor starting to crumble away into disappointment. "Fat lot of use you are," she told the screen.

And she watched. There wasn't anything else to do stuck on the ship, and just seeing the Doctor was a comforting feeling, even if Rose couldn't communicate with him. She watched as he spoke to the people all around him, going on for what felt like hours. Then, finally, he turned and stormed out of the room.

"That's more like it," Rose commented. "Finally realised that I'm still stuck here, have you?"

Rose peered over her shoulder to make sure no one was coming, then began to push buttons on the control panel. She was no expert on alien technology like the Doctor, but working at Torchwood for the past few years had brought her past her helpless sidekick days. She scrolled through the Daleks' files and statistics of drone production and energy harvest, all things she had heard discussed when she sat prisoner in this very room not hours before. She was flipping through various security camera footage when she heard a noise behind her. Whirling around, she saw a dark shape approaching. Before she could think to run and hide, the shape materialised into Dalek Bas.

"YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE ENEMY. YOUR PLOT TO CEASE RISE OF THE DALEK EMPIRE WILL NOT PREVAIL. WE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU AND THE TIME LORDS!"

"Time Lords?! What are you…" Rose stopped talking as her eyes floated to the screen, which had stopped on footage of the ships she had seen earlier. The swirling symbols. The enemy of the Daleks. The TARDIS key. Everything was making sense to her now, and she felt a surge of hope in her chest as she remembered the Doctor rushing out of the view of the video.