"I still don't understand," Riversong said with a frown. "How did you kids even get onboard?"

Joe smirked. "The scoutmaster sent us to search the entire area. Using my Indian tracking skills, I was able to figure out generally where Nick ran off to, down here, in this cave."

He said this like it were a completely ordinary thing.

"I saw the blue box with the open door, and thought he was in here, so Harvey and I took a look around. We couldn't find him, so we went bowling and ate lunch."

"You said we're here," I said. "Where's here?"

"The Island Princess. What else?"

"This is going to be lovely," I groaned. "When we get back, the police will be searching the area. They'll have pictures of me and those kids on TV for an Amber Alert."

"Amber Alert is only for missing children," Joe corrected.

"Okay. Whatever. It's not important. The point is, they'll declare us missing and start a search."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll have forgotten about it right now," Riversong breathed.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Because two thousand years have passed. We're in the year 4000."

"That's impossible," said Joe. "If you traveled that far past the end of your life, you'd be dust!"

"Time is more flexible than that."

Without a further word, Riversong marched up to the door, threw it open, and marched out.

I followed her, stopping at the opening to stare at my surroundings.

Instead of space, I saw an enormous gray room, cluttered with dripping, steam blowing pipes connected to massive glowing canisters that vibrated everything each time their light fluctuated.

The air was thick with the smells of oil and solvents, making me wonder if I should be wearing a face mask.

I tugged on Zanie's leash.

I was standing between two giant machines lined with transparent tubes where long piston shafts slowly rose and fell, causing brilliant bursts of multicolored light as they collided with plates.

"Definitely not Health and Safety approved," Joe muttered through a multicolored scarf he'd pilfered from somewhere.

"Are you sure it's safe to breathe?" Harvey asked.

"I don't know, but if the dog dies, the air isn't breathable."

"Don't be mean to Zanie!" Harvey cried.

"Should we put her back in the..." I turned around and frowned. Instead of seeing a phone booth, I only saw a big submarine hatch leading into the room with the portholes and the Swiss Army table. "TARDIS?"

"Relax," Riversong said. "This is only the engine room. The air should be much more breathable up top."

"And where is up top?" Jenny asked.

Riversong only shrugged and marched off in a random direction.

I glanced back at the submarine hatch again. "Didn't that thing used to be a telephone booth?"

"She fixed the chameleon circuit," Jenny said with a shrug. "By the way, this means your inheritance is canceled."

"Unless the will has a chameleon circuit," I said hopefully.

"As if!"

I saw Riversong reach into a pocket, and the hatch seemed to close on its own accord.

It was warm. The machines radiated a lot of heat. I took off my tweed jacket, folding it under my arm.

"Nice duds," Joe muttered. "What corpse did you take them from?"

"The Doctor's," I said.

"Doctor who?"

"I don't know," I said. "Nobody seems to be able to tell me that one."

The forceful stamping of a lumbering giant caused me to suck in my breath.

Considering my vicinity to the creature, thus proved to be a bad idea. It smelled like several unbathed men covered in sewage.

The behemoth was a pale pasty white, with muscles as wide as a tire. It faced away from me, wholly absorbed in the operation of whatever machinery it was operating with its four fingered hands.

It had on a thick leather apron and black shorts, but nothing else on account of the heat.

I almost screamed when I saw four more of its kind working next to it.

None of them looked at me or my companions. They only focused on their singleminded purpose of machine maintenance.

It was Riversong who had the bright idea of poking one of them on the thigh.

In her defense, we were all far too short to tap the thing on the shoulder.

It didn't turn.

"Oi! Hullo there! Which way is the passenger lounge?"

The creature turned around and I screamed.

The thing had no mouth.