Annie found herself lying in a field of red grass beneath a bright orange sky. She stood up and looked around, confused, not remembering how she'd gotten there. She turned to see a woman in ornate red ceremonial robes approaching her. The woman appeared to be middle aged with brown hair in a short boyish haircut. "Who the hell are you?" Annie demanded.

"Who I am is not important," said the woman, calmly.

"Where the hell am I? Where's my sister? Where's the Doctor?"

"They are safe," said the woman. "You are with the Doctor for a reason."

"OK, you know so much, then drop the cryptic crap and talk to me straight," Annie demanded.

"Time can be rewritten. Adam was never supposed to die."

"How do you know about Adam?" Annie asked angrily. "Who the hell are you?"

"You are with the Doctor for a reason," said the woman as she turned to walk away.

"Wait! Wait, come back here," Annie called after her, but the woman ignored Annie's protests. "Wait…"


Annie woke with a start, disturbed by the vivid dream. She looked around the room a few times to reassure herself that she was still aboard the TARDIS and not on some strange planet of the mysterious oracles. She was mildly surprised at herself at how quickly the TARDIS had become her benchmark for normality.

She tried to go back to sleep and found she couldn't. It wasn't just the dream. She was still bothered that she had been subject to mind control. She didn't remember anything that happened from the time that she entered Father Mungo's antechamber until she suddenly found herself standing over Lana with a broadsword. The idea that she could've hurt her sister with no control or memory of it had shaken her much more than she was willing to admit to anyone. Lana was her anchor; Annie didn't want to think about an existence without her in it.

She decided to take a walk and stretch her legs. She wandered into the console area and down the stairs beneath the glass floor. She sat in the swing and started running her fingers over the various wires, cables, and couplings, running through her mind what she thought each one might do. She started singing softly to herself while she explored, "Topeka" by Ludo. "I found God in a catalytic converter in Topeka on a Monday night…"

"What do you think you're doing?" asked the Doctor as he came down and found her.

He startled her so much that she yelped and fell backwards out of the swing, landing with a thud on the floor. "Son of a monkey's seabiscuit! Isn't it past your bedtime?" she demanded.

"I could say the same about you," the Doctor countered.

"I wasn't doing anything," said Annie defensively. "I was just looking. I mean…I like working with machines, gadgets…I was trying to see how it works."

"Well let me show you," said the Doctor excitedly. He came up behind her on the swing and guided her arms to one on the thick cables. "This connects the temporal navigator to the dimension compression field which is powered by this receptacle of arton energy…"

Annie paid close attention, fascinated by the various functions. After several minutes of long, complicated, rambling explanations, the Doctor stopped and asked, "Well what do you think?"

"I think she is one sexy machine," said Annie sincerely and in awe.

"Yes she is," said the Doctor with a child-like grin as he lovingly patted a beam. "Do me a favor, though, and don't mess with her if I'm not around."

"Why not?" Annie huffed. She very much wanted to have a look when the Doctor wasn't standing over her.

"Because she's very delicate," said the Doctor firmly. "And because she's my ship and I say so."

"Fine," said Annie with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, knowing even as she said it that she would probably ignore him the first chance she got.

"Why don't you tell me about your sister then?" said the Doctor casually.

"Why do you ask?" said Annie, immediately suspicious.

"Oh, just curious, get to know you sort of thing," said the Doctor.

"She's a Libra and enjoys long walks through well-stocked libraries," said Annie sarcastically.

"Oh, well thanks," said the Doctor, matching her sarcasm. "Try to have a nice conversation with you…"

Annie paused for a moment, and then said quietly and seriously, "Don't piss her off."

"I rather thought that was you," said the Doctor, surprised.

Annie rolled her eyes at that. "Well don't do that either. It's just with Lana…well, have you ever seen a fireworks show?"

"Of course I've see a fireworks show," said the Doctor indignantly. "I helped invent fireworks in 10th century China."

"Well we're like fireworks," Annie explained. "But I'm more like a bottle rocket. One short fuse, for one small firework. I might snap and punch someone in the face, but then I'm done. Lana's more like the grand finale. She has a long burning fuse that can be stopped well before anything goes off, but once she does there is no stopping her until she's done."

"I'll keep that in mind," said the Doctor. "But you should get to bed though…new adventures tomorrow and all that. I promise not to drag you out before your coffee again, but I don't want to wait all day for you either. Go on then, off you pop."

Annie went to bed and found that her conversation with the Doctor had been enough of a distraction to take her mind off the events of the day and she was now able to sleep.