Chapter Fifty-Four

Rose sat on the sofa with her head in her hands as she wept. No one was able to get any sense out of her and so Mickey busied himself in the kitchen making four cups of tea whilst she cried her pain and anger out. Jackie sat next to her, an arm wrapped around shaking shoulders, making soft, soothing sounds. Zoe was encompassed by the armchair, the white leather cushions nearly swallowing her frail form whole, as she tapped at her phone, annoyed and worried that the Doctor and Jack weren't answering. The Doctor always answered when she called, even when he was busy. It deeply concerned her that she wasn't able to get through to him. She took her cup of tea from Mickey with a frown pressed onto her forehead. She distractedly sipped it whilst she waited for Rose to calm down, her mind working furiously to create a thousand different scenarios that she was sure weren't as bad as what was really happening.

Eventually, once her tears ran dry, Rose calmed down with the help of a strong cup of tea to rehydrate herself. She looked as though she had been through the ringer: swollen eyes, mascara streaked face, and shoulders that slumped with exhaustion.

"Now," Jackie said once everything quietened down and everything seemed as calm as it could possibly be, "what's all this about then? Where's the Doctor an' Jack?"

Rose's mouth trembled, but she managed not to cry. "They're on the Game Station, an' they're trapped."

"What's the Game Station?" Zoe asked, setting her phone to one side and curling her tea closer to her chest.

"It used to be Satellite One," she said, wiping at her face with her sleeve. Her mascara smeared itself across her skin and her sleeve. "You weren't there the last time. It was when Adam was with us."

"Oh, yeah, brain-door guy. Blimey, that was a long time ago now." She'd completely forgotten about him. "So they're on the Game Station and they're trapped. Why? What happened?"

Rose's face twisted, and her hands trembled around her tea. "Daleks."

That one word was capable of plunging fear through Zoe like a sword of ice. Cold radiated out from her chest, and her breath froze in her throat. She could hear her heart beat heavily and slowly, the sound filling her ears as it punched at her from the inside. Sharp, bright fear overwhelmed her. It seemed that no matter what the Doctor did, the Daleks never died. They kept coming and coming like cockroaches, surviving everything that was thrown at them as though the attempts to destroy them were worthless. She didn't understand how they kept surviving, but she knew that she hated them for it. Memories of Utah, 2012, and London, 1941, swam through her.

"There were so many of them." Rose continued, unaware that her sister was stiff with fear. She felt congested and sick, but the tea in her hands helped warm her through. "Hundreds of thousands of them, an' they're goin' to destroy the Earth. The Doctor's tryin' to stop them, but I dunno if he can do it."

Jackie simply looked confused. "What are Daleks?"

"The most evil creatures in all of creation," Zoe answered, finding her voice. "They know nothing but hate, and they're the Doctor's most dangerous enemies. The War – the one that he fought in – it was against the Daleks. The two mightiest civilisations in the entire universe were pitched against each other across all of time and space. His planet and people are gone because of Dalek ambition. There's nothing left of the Time Lords but the Doctor and the TARDIS, yet the Daleks keep coming back."

Her words hung in the air like a knife over a heart, shivering with danger and despair.

"So...bad then?" Jackie asked uncertainly, and Zoe felt the strange, sudden urge to laugh at the understatement.

"Incredibly bad," she agreed, breathing out. She felt a headache brewing. "All right, Rosie, I need you to start from the beginning. You lot were in Japan when I last heard from Jack. What happened after that?"

Rose wiped at her face again. She moved free of Jackie's arm and pulled her legs up into her chest, clutching her cup of tea to her like a lifeline. She looked lost and impossibly young.

"We were on the TARDIS after Japan," she said hoarsely, "and we was all laughin' because we'd just got away from the Volsci. We'd helped to fix their ship but then they turned on us because it was, you know, the Doctor." Zoe nodded knowingly. "So we had to run. We were in the console room just laughin' at how ridiculous everythin' was and then - then I woke up somewhere else. It was this game show, like the Weakest Link, but anyone who didn't go through to the next round - they got vaporised."

Zoe sat in silence and listened as Rose told them about being kidnapped by the Daleks. A tight feeling wound itself around her chest as she listened to how the Doctor and Jack had come to her rescue and then Jack left them both with a kiss. She passed a hand across her face to swipe away the tears that pooled in her eyes. He'd gone off to die like the hero he always claimed not to be. Idiot. He wasn't dead yet though; neither of them were. Rose wiped at her face again as she stumbled on how the Doctor tricked her into getting into the TARDIS and how he'd sent her away.

Only when she finished the long and ghastly tale did Zoe speak again.

"We'll figure this out," she said with a certainty she didn't feel. "I don't know how yet but we will." She hoped that she would be able to think of something, but her mind was coming up blank. "For now, I think you should go to bed and try and get some sleep. You're exhausted, and you need rest. Maybe a bath as well? Just to relax."

Rose made a small sound of protest; her legs began to unfurl. "But -"

"Rose," she said firmly but kindly, "what's happening to them is happening 200,000 years in the future. We have time to fix this. We could spend thousands of years on finding a way to save them, and it'll be as though just a few minutes have passed since they last saw you." She smiled wanly. "Trust me - I know."

Rose's eyes darted down to her sister's wedding ring and that, if anything, seemed to help her find balance again. She swallowed and nodded before standing up. Jackie stood with her, hand on her back.

"C'mon, sweetheart." Jackie said, troubled by everything she'd heard. "I'll run you that bath an' we can clean your face up."

They left the room, leaving Zoe and Mickey behind. Mickey had been quiet through Rose's re-telling, and he looked to Zoe. "You got a plan?"

"I don't even have the inklings of one," she admitted without hesitation. "This is bad, Mickey. Really, really bad. The Daleks...they're not something to fuck around with. Someone tried once and it killed hundreds of people, and there was only one Dalek then. There's a reason the Doctor sent the TARDIS away. If the Daleks ever got their hands on it –" she shuddered at the thought of a Dalek empire with a TARDIS, "well, it wouldn't be in any way good."

"We not goin' to leave them there, are we?"

"Course not!" She scoffed, struggling to stand. "But I don't know how to rescue them yet either. I need time to think," she glanced at him, "and you need to get back to work."

His eyes darted to the clock on the wall. "Shit, yeah, I'm really late."

"Drop me off at the TARDIS on your way?" She asked him, setting their mugs on the table. "I want to have a look through the computer; see what the Doctor was doing before he sent Rose home."

"Sure thing."

She called out to Jackie to let her know that she was going to the TARDIS, and Mickey rolled her towards the lift. The weather had finally broken. The rain was coming down in a gentle, light mist that promised heavy rain later. She didn't mind though. The faint, cool wetness against her face helped to clear her mind as Mickey dropped her off outside the TARDIS, their short journey spent in contemplative silence, before he left her with a pat on her shoulder, hurrying away with his hands in his pockets and shoulders slumped under the worry he held over the fate of their friends. She gripped hold of the handle of the TARDIS and pulled herself up, using the key that she always carried with her to open the door. She dragged her wheelchair inside. She knew better than to leave something like that out for the taking, and she left it by the front door.

The TARDIS was the same as it was when she had left just a few days ago, not that she'd expected change. It was a little messier than normal though as there were thick electric cables that stretched from the panels towards the door. At the sight of them, she assumed the Doctor had at least made an attempt at trying to solve the problem before condemning himself to death.

She wondered if all Time Lords were as hopelessly dramatic as hers was: up against a wall and immediately resigning himself to death. It was tedious.

She couldn't imagine Romana being so prone to theatrics. Then again, Romana had been a politician and a friend of the Doctor, which never said anything good about one's state of mind, so perhaps she also had a touch of the odd about her as well. It was a shame they would never get the opportunity to meet. When the Doctor spoke of her, on the rare occasions that he did, his voice soft and filled with warm affection, he always made her sound as though she was someone Zoe would like a great deal.

She pushed away from the door with a grunt and took one step forward.

"This is Emergency Programme One."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. The Doctor's voice rang out and echoed around the room. A curse flew from her mouth, and her heart thundered in her chest. She stared up the ramp with wide, startled eyes and a hand clamped to her chest as a hologram flickered to life before her.

The Doctor stood at the top of the ramp facing her. He was made of light and energy, his form flickering very slightly, and his body transparent; she could see the console and the jump seat through him.

"Zoe, Rose, listen, because this is important." Holo-Doctor said, his eyes not quite meeting hers. It felt strange to look at him and not have him look her in the eye. "If this message is activated then it can only mean one thing - I'm in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no hope of escape, and that's okay, I hope it's a good death. But I promised I'd look after you both and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."

She vaguely wondered when he'd made the hologram, and how soon it was into their time together that he thought about such a scenario.

"And Zoe," her attention sharpened at the sound of her name, "I know you, and you're probably thinking, but wait, Doctor, I know how to fly this." Made after France then she thought to herself. "Well, don't. You're thinking that you'll just bring the TARDIS back to me, but you can't. The TARDIS can't ever come back for me. Emergency Protocol One means that I'm facing an enemy who should never be allowed to get their hands on this machine. I know that you understand that."

She did understand.

After everything he had told her about the Last Great Time War and the Daleks, how could she not understand?

If it was a choice between the Doctor's life and keeping the TARDIS out of Dalek hands, there was no choice to be made. The Daleks could never, ever get their hands on the TARDIS. It simply wasn't an option that she could consider.

It didn't mean she liked it though.

"So this is what you should do." He continued, and she hated that he was talking as calmly as if they were discussing the last book she'd read or where to go for dinner. "Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on, and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all - just one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Zoe; do that for me, Rose. Have fantastic lives."

His holographic eyes held hers before his form flickered and died.

Zoe could scarcely breathe. She reached out to the side and grabbed hold of the railing. Her head bowed, hair falling over her neck, and she pressed her fingers to her lips in an attempt to keep her tears at bay. It took a long time before she was able to straighten up with no trace of tears or sadness on her. All that was stitched into her skin was a quiet, steadfast determination.

She finished her walk up the ramp and rested her hands on the panel that covered the TARDIS's soul. If she concentrated hard enough, she was able to hear her song. She reached out for the ship, clumsy in her inexperience, and the TARDIS met her halfway, nudging in the back of her mind. She held tightly to the connection, afraid to let go.

"I'm not going to let him die." Zoe said out loud. "I don't know how though. I just know that this isn't how it ends for him. Are you with me?"

All the lights flared bright and powerful in response, and Zoe smiled.


Before the sun had even crept over the dark horizon, Rose awoke. The estate was still covered in a blanket of darkness that was broken only by the dim orange glow of street lamps that pierced through the thin, gauzy curtains. Tightly, she bound the covers around her, wrapping herself up into a cocoon, and she stared out of the window. In her emotional exhaustion, she'd forgotten to draw the curtains, something that never failed to fill the room with a chill in the winter. She stared miserably through the gauze-like lace and felt disappointment and regret drip through her.

She was back.

She shivered a little and pressed her nose into the edge of her duvet, warming it with her breath. It was late September, only a week after they'd left Zoe behind, and the weather that seeped into the flat was sharp and brittle. It had always been a problem as they edged into winter, for no matter what Jackie did over the years to try and stop it the weather always won out. Resenting the cold and her return to the estate against her will, she let her thoughts spiral and circle until her chest was tight with agony.

It was a surprise to her that she had actually slept. With everything that had happened, she wasn't sure that she would be able to, yet she slept without nightmares or memories creeping in to make her toss and turn. She felt well-rested if out of sorts as Rose was acutely aware that the Doctor and Jack were in danger and needed help whilst she lay in her childhood bed that was missing her sister. She turned onto her back and looked for signs of Zoe but saw nothing. It didn't look as though she had come to bed last night.

She listened to the sound of the flat around her. It was quiet with only the usual sounds that she was accustomed to filling the silence: the slow drip of the kitchen tap, the low hum of the fridge, and the occasional creaks of mattress springs when Jackie turned, always restless when asleep. It was different than being on the TARDIS where Rose felt as though she slept in a safe, warm bubble, accustomed to there silence where she could only hear the beat of her heart and the slow rush of her breathing as she fell asleep. It had been difficult at first to sleep in such silence, but she soon grew used to it and missed it now it was absent.

Anger and pain passed across her face. Her forehead creased, and her mouth pursed as she tried to keep the swell of emotion inside of her. She didn't want to cry any more.

She hated that the Doctor sent her away with only his emergency message as a farewell. It was beyond her understanding as to why he did that when she told him that she wouldn't leave without him. A small part of her hated him for sending her away, just as she hated Jack for leaving them to go off to die with nothing more than a kiss. Hot tears pressed out of her eyes and pooled in the corners. She hadn't realised it at the time but she knew it now: Jack had gone off to die. She didn't understand any of it, least of all how everything had gone so bad so quickly. All she knew was that she was angry that she was lying in bed whilst 200,000 years in the future a battle was being waged and there was nothing she could do to help.

She was stuck, trapped in a time and place she thought she'd left behind for good, and she wanted to cry at the thought of going back to that.

How could she go back to such a life after everything she'd seen and done?

She was going to be travel with the Doctor forever. She was going to spend her life exploring the universe with him, which was why he couldn't be dead: not her Doctor.

Rose hadn't even had a chance to tell him that she loved him. And she did, completely and utterly.

Her tears spilled out over onto her cheeks. She sniffed and wiped them away as crying wasn't going to solve anything. She needed to get up and go speak with Zoe. Her sister generally had a plan for everything, big or small. It was the same when they were little: Rose would want to do something, and Zoe would plan to make it happen. It was how their double act worked, and it worked well. Besides, Zoe was the smarter of the two. Rose had long since accepted that because it was a hard fact to ignore. Whilst Zoe was speaking and reading by the age of two, Rose was struggling to spell correctly by the age of five, her letters wonky and back to front; Zoe started correcting her homework when she was six and didn't stop until Rose left school with her handful of average GCSEs.

It didn't bother her any more. It had when she was little though, aware that people judged her against Zoe and found her wanting.

Travelling with the Doctor taught her that she was smart in her own way. She was clever in a unique and special way that had value. It still amazed her when she noticed something that the Doctor, Jack, and Zoe missed, and she felt more confident in herself than she ever had before. She was reclaiming the confidence that Jimmy Stone drained from her and that being Zoe Tyler's sister had kept her from fully seizing. She was smart, she knew that now in the same way that she knew that Zoe's brand of cleverness with books and equations and words was what they needed now.

If anyone on Earth could figure out how to rescue the Doctor and Jack, then it was her little sister.

She stared up at the ceiling and drew in a deep breath. She steadied herself. She could do this. She could get up and help save the Doctor and Jack. She pushed back the covers and shuffled out of bed.

She was wearing a pair of her sister's pyjamas – confused as to why there were penguins in top hats decorating them -, and she took a hair tie from the bedside table. She pulled her blonde hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head and moved out of her bedroom quietly so as not to disturb Jackie. A quick search of the flat told her that Zoe wasn't there. She pulled a pair of trainers onto her feet and tugged her jacket on before she slipped out of the flat into the cold.

It was a long and cold walk to the TARDIS that remained on the corner around the back of the estate. She huddled into her coat and hurried to close the distance, eager for the warmth. The door opened under her touch. She took comfort in the familiar hum and strange alien aesthetic of the console room.

To think that she'd once been scared by it when now it felt like home.

"Zoe?" Rose called out, shutting the door behind her. "Are you here?"

There was a brief pause as her voice traversed the rooms of the TARDIS before – "kitchen!"

Rose walked into the kitchen to find Zoe dressed in a a pair of jeans and a jumper, both of which hung loose on her thin frame, swallowing her whole and making her look younger than she was. She had her mobile tucked between her ear and shoulder as she jotted something down in a notebook. She looked up when Rose entered and gave her a smile. It didn't look as though she'd slept at all. Her hair was pulled back up off her face, a strip of purple cloth keeping it from falling into her eyes. She tapped the end of her Biro against the lined paper in a way that reminded Rose of the hundreds of times she'd seen Zoe studying. She had the same expression on her face she got when she wasn't making the progress she wanted: mildly annoyed and slightly constipated.

"I appreciate your help, Alistair, I really do." Zoe said, rubbing at her forehead. Rose put the kettle on for a cup of tea as she listened into the conversation. She could just make out the low, deep murmur of a man's voice on the other end. "No, I understand that, but the time frame just won't work for me. I don't physically have that much time to spare."

She leaned back in her chair and picked up her cup. A grimace stole across her face when she realised the coffee was cold. Rose picked up her tea and joined her at the table just as a small grin appeared.

"Well, you're not wrong." She said to Alistair. Thank you for this, and I'm sorry for waking you so early in the morning. We'll speak soon, bye."

"Who was that?" Rose asked as Zoe set her phone down and pushed her cold coffee away from her.

"Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart." Zoe replied, fists rubbing her tired eyes. "I met him after Downing Street was destroyed. He's an old friend of the Doctor's, and he used to run UNIT back in the day. He stays on as a consultant now, and I wanted to see whether UNIT could help with building the generator that the Doctor was trying to make."

Going through the TARDIS computer systems was a breeze as the Doctor had spent weeks teaching her the ins and outs of it. It helped her discover what his plan was and exactly why it was doomed to failure: he simply needed more time than he had. Unfortunately, he was stuck on the Game Station and she – someone with significantly less scientific knowledge than the average Time Lord (and human, if she was honest with herself) – was not. She couldn't make heads or tails of the Delta Wave generator. She didn't even know what a Delta Wave was and had to Google it but that hadn't helped her in any way, shape, or form; it really just raised more questions. She sent the information across to Alistair instead in the hope that UNIT's scientists could make sense of it.

Preliminary reports from their scientists, who had been roused from their beds in response to her call, indicated that it was a science far beyond where humans' understanding of science was at the present time.

Rose couldn't remember if she had heard of UNIT before. "What's UNIT?"

"They're the Unified Intelligence Taskforce." Zoe explained, covering a yawn with the back of her hand. "They operate under the United Nations, and they're charged with investigating and combating extra-terrestrial threats. They've been operating since the 1960s or 1970s. I forget exactly which, but the very, very brief experience I've had with them tell me that they're good people."

"Can they help?" She asked hopefully, but, Zoe shook her head, and her hope died as quickly as it was born.

"I sent them information on what the Doctor was doing." Zoe said with a small sigh, her body sinking under the weight of it all. "From what I can figure, he was trying to create something called a Delta Wave generator, which - as far as I can make out, and I can't make out a lot because it's well over my head - will fry the brains of anything caught in the crossfire."

Rose nodded, following along.

"But the problem is," she continued, " - and I think this is what tripped him up – is that it will fry the brain of anything caught in the wave, not just Dalek brains but humans too. You and I both know the Doctor would never do that and so he's stuck. He needs more time but he doesn't have it." She rubbed her nose with the flat of her palm, frustrated. "I hoped that UNIT would be able to help. They've got some of the best scientists in the world working for them but Alistair was telling me that those scientists have never seen anything like a Delta Wave before. They can't even guess at the science behind it. I spoke to a Dr Taylor who, excitability to one side, seems to know what he's talking about. He says that it'll take them decades, possibly longer, to untangle it enough to understand the science well enough to start working on a solution."

Worry clawed at Rose. She had expected and hoped that Zoe would have a solution in hand for them, something quick and easy, but her heart kept sinking the more Zoe talked. She wrapped her hands around her warm cup of tea and cradled it close. "Then what're we goin' to do?"

Zoe heaved a heavy sigh and tugged on her sleeves, bringing them down to cover her palms.

"I'm still working out the details," she admitted, "but I think I've got the beginnings of a plan."

Rose brightened, optimistic. "What is it?"

"There are friends of the Doctor who might be willing to help," she said thinking of Dr Liz Shaw and Zoe Heriot. The Doctor had spoken very highly of both of them, claiming them to be people, scientists, with exceptional minds. "I just need to track them down and talk to them."

"How you goin' to do that?"

"Dr Shaw will be easy enough," Zoe said thoughtfully, "as she used to work for UNIT, so Alistair can find her for me, but Zoe Heriot will be a problem. Her memories were wiped of her time with the Doctor, and she's somewhere in the future. I'll need to use the TARDIS to track her down."

"How?"

Zoe blinked at her, confused. "How what?"

"How you goin' to do that?" She asked. "The TARDIS is broken."

"She's not broken." Zoe replied with a small, dismissive wave of her jumper-covered hand. "She was just under instructions not to let you alter her flight path. The Doctor didn't want you reversing the trajectory, or accidentally sending yourself to the moon when you were fiddling with the console. He taught me how to fly her, so it's not a problem for me."

Excitement bloomed through Rose.

"Then we can go back." She said, shifting in her seat, eagerness and hope coursing through her. "We can get the Doctor and Jack!"

A small wince passed across Zoe's face. "We can't."

"You just said -"

"I said I can fly her just fine," Zoe interrupted, "but I didn't say I was going to take her back to them. It would be tantamount to suicide. I'm going to pay a visit to Zoe Heriot, maybe Dr Shaw if she's in another country, and that's it for now."

Rose stared at her with anger beginning to spark in her brown eyes. "He needs our help, Zoe."

"I know that -"

"And you're just goin' to do nothin' whilst he dies?" Rose demanded. Zoe's jaw tightened and her fingers tightened on her sleeve. "I thought he was your friend!"

"He is my friend." She said sharply. "They both are, and I'm going to do everything I can to save them, but I will not risk the TARDIS falling into enemy hands."

"It's worth the risk!"

"The hell it is!" Zoe snapped, hand slapping down on the table loudly. Rose jumped, surprised. Zoe took a deep breath to calm herself, her nostrils flaring. "Rose, you know what the Daleks are capable of. You saw it in Van Statten's bunker –"

"It wanted to feel the sun on it's face," Rose argued. "That was all."

"And how many people did it kill first?" She asked her. Rose looked down at her tea. "You showed it mercy in the end and that was a wonderful thing to do, but I've seen what one Dalek can do, and what three in orbit can do; I don't ever want to see what an armada of them can do. I especially don't want to see what they're of doing if they ever get their hands on Time Lord technology. It was bad enough when they were faffing around with 1940s tech."

"Then we'll be careful!" She protested. "We'll land close to the Doctor and – and then –"

"And then what?" Zoe asked, exasperated but not unkind. "We save the Doctor but sacrifice Jack? Sacrifice all those billions of people who live on Earth in 200,000 years? Is that what we do?"

Rose hesitated, ashamed of herself for suggesting it. "No – no, of course not, but there has to be somethin'."

"That's what I'm trying to do, Rose." She said. "I'm trying to find something to help. I'm sorry it's not quick and easy, but I don't understand even an inch of the science behind this stupid generator. What detailed information there is, is in Gallifreyan, and the TARDIS won't translate that."

"Have you asked her nicely?"

Annoyance flared in Zoe and her face twisted like elastic.

"Have I asked her nicely?" She repeated incredulously, and Rose grimaced. "Of course I've fucking asked her nicely! I've even threatened, which got me an electric shock for my troubles."

"All right, all right," Rose said placatingly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean – I'm just sorry."

Zoe leaned across the table and stretched out her hand. Rose slipped hers into it. Despite her frailness, there was a strength in her sister that she appreciated.

"I know you're frustrated," Zoe said, "and I know you're scared. I am too. But I need you to be patient whilst I figure this out. I will figure this out, but I need some time to think."

Rose nodded, quiet and sad. She wished she hadn't woken up. She wished she'd slept for just a little bit longer so as to delay this inevitable conversation.

"I just don't understand," she admitted tearfully, "the Doctor beat them before."

Zoe squeezed her hand before leaning back. "He lost his entire planet to the Daleks, and all of his people. I wouldn't exactly call that a victory."

"But if we can get to the Doctor, he can stop them though." She said because it was all so clear to her that she couldn't understand why Zoe, her smart and brilliant sister, wasn't understanding how easy it was. "He can have more time because we'll give him more time. He can save Jack and Earth and everythin' if we just go to him."

A muscle in Zoe's jaw flickered. Tension ran through her and her back started to ache with it. She needed to spend some time floating in the relaxation pool to relieve the strain her body was under.

"That's not how Time works." Zoe said, carefully patient. She tried to find the right words to explain the lesson she had learned the hard way when she was trapped in the 18th century with Reinette. "Right now, we're not part of events. The TARDIS leaving the Game Station with you on board took her and you outside of those linear events. The second we go back, the clock starts running, and we're back in the game. If - and this is a big if - we go back, then we have to go back with a solution already in hand because the Doctor can't leave as he's tied into what's happening. He's got to see it through in real time."

Judging from the expression on Rose's face, Zoe could see that she still didn't understand. Not that she blamed her. It had taken Zoe years to fully absorb this particular lesson of time travel, and it was done in a way she wouldn't wish on anyone.

"He's dyin', Zo." Rose said weakly, brushing her hand over her face to snatch away her tears before they dripped into her tea.

Zoe sighed, feeling older than she was. "I know."

"Right now, he's dyin'." She said, and, despite her efforts, fresh tears pooled in her eyes. A flicker of resentment crowded into Zoe's chest at how easy those tears came to her sister, and how she had the luxury of crying without having to provide a feasible solution. She forced those ungenerous thoughts away. " He's dyin' for us, for humans. We've got to help him."

"I am going to do everything I can to do just that," Zoe repeated, but she was now at the end of her patience. "But I have to be honest that if it comes down to a choice between rescuing the Doctor and Jack and keeping the TARDIS out of the hands of the Daleks...then the choice is clear, Rose. The Daleks will not get this ship."

Rose stared at Zoe as though she had never seen her before. Feelings of betrayal and disbelief spread out from her chest and filled her fingers and toes.

"The Doctor would do anythin' to save you." She said, her voice wavering and filled with accusation.

"I know." Zoe said heavily. "But I'm not the Doctor."


Halfway along a quiet, leafy-green street in Notting Hill that was filled with Range Rovers parked neatly next to the pavements, their bonnets shining despite the mid-morning gloom, Liz Shaw paused outside an organic farm shop. It wasn't the type of café she would have chosen for herself. The minimalist décor looked dry and dull. She preferred her local café with aged wood and plants that spilled out of hanging baskets, making her feel as though she was sat amidst a forest. She loosened the scarf around her neck, a dull, throbbing headache lingering from her recent cold, and she stepped inside. The aroma of foreign coffee filled the air: Arabic, Colombian, Ethiopia, and Sudan. The scents mingled together and made her ache for a hot, rich cup of coffee, but Patsy had made her swear off it ever since she was diagnosed with her heart murmur three years ago. The fresh, wonderful smell of coffee made her regret making that promise even if it did help prolong her life.

She stepped inside the shop and wove her way around the plethora of perfectly polished mothers searching for the best organic fruit and vegetables for their precious children to the back of the building where the café was. It was just after lunch in the early afternoon, and it seemed that the lunch rush was over. At one table there was a young man with dishevelled hair and an expensive laptop, typing urgently away on the keyboard, his novel taking shape despite his look of despair. At another table there was a handsome elderly woman whose costume jewellery dripped off her as she sipped at her tea and absently flicked through her dog-eared book. It was quiet and comforting, more pleasant than the outside of the shop indicated it would be, and it was easy to find the woman she was looking for.

Zoe Tyler was sat a table in the corner beneath an abstract painting that looked like an elephant but really could have been anything.

She didn't look at all like the image Liz had created of her in her mind.

When Alistair called that morning, waking her up and making her peel herself away from Patsy's warmth to answer the phone, to tell her that a friend of the Doctor needed her help, she'd been surprised. She hadn't seen or spoken to the Doctor since he had come crashing back into her life not long after they parted ways, his friend Sarah-Jane at his side. Not that she expected it as theirs wasn't the sort of relationship that extended outside the laboratory. She was curious enough to agree to a meeting, and her curiosity only increased when UNIT emailed reams of information about Delta Waves. Out of interest, and out of respect for her old friendship with the Doctor, she agreed to meet with his friend.

She expected Zoe Tyler to be young since the Doctor seemed incapable of choosing to spend time with anyone under the age of thirty, but she hadn't expected her to look quite so ill.

Gaunt was the best way Liz could think of describing her; hollow was another adjective that came to mind as she closed the distance between them, hand smoothing over her frizzy hair. At the sound of her footsteps, Zoe looked up from where she was writing in a notebook, and her eyes swept over Liz. There was a brief spike of self-consciousness as she felt as though she was being closely examined before Zoe's tired, ill face split into a warm smile that breathed life back into her. Liz was instantly set at ease. Zoe stood, holding onto the back of her chair for support.

"Dr Shaw?" Zoe asked. Liz nodded and a hand reached out towards her. "Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me. I'm Zoe Tyler."

"A pleasure," Liz said, shaking her hand and trying to ignore the skeletal feel of it within hers, afraid if she pressed to hand it would shatter beneath her touch. "I was surprised to receive the Brigadier's call. I haven't heard of the Doctor in some time."

"Certain things have kept him away from Earth for a while," she said with polite ambiguity but Liz wasn't of a mind to press further. "Please, sit. Would you like a coffee?"

"I wish I could," Liz admitted, "but I've had to swear off it. I'll have a cup of tea though, maybe some cake if they have it."

"The carrot cake is particularly nice," Zoe said, fingers twitching towards the small plate that held the crumbs of her own slice.

Liz nodded her acceptance, and Zoe stepped away from the table to place the order. She leaned heavily on a walking stick as she did so, giving Liz the opportunity to quietly examine her unnoticed.

Alistair had given her the rundown on the situation, and it sounded just the sort of thing that the Doctor would get himself mixed up in. He had an impossibly large penchant for attracting trouble and for getting himself into the worse possible situation he could, often dragging innocent people into the mix with him. Sometimes she missed her time with him as every day was different, and she knew that she would learn something new with him; most of the time she was just glad that her life was a little more sedate and less filled with things that tried to kill her or strand her in parallel universes.

Still, she understood the allure for someone young like Zoe.

The Doctor's life was hard to say refuse.

Zoe eased her way back over, the gentle clack-clack of her walking stick against the floor a pleasant staccato, and she looked relieved to sit down again. A small sigh slipped from between her lips, and her hand went to the small of her back, massaging a sore spot there.

"Are you well?" Liz asked abruptly, regretting it when Zoe appeared faintly surprised. Patsy was always telling her that she needed to speak less bluntly, but it was a difficult habit to break after a lifetime spent where the best way to get the right answer was to ask sharp and pointed questions. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I just – you don't look well."

She wasn't sure that was any less rude.

"I'm just recovering from an illness," Zoe explained without taking offence. "If you think I look bad now, you should have seen me a few months ago."

Her tea and slice of cake arrived with surprising promptness. The cake did look good and as long as she didn't tell Patsy then the calories didn't count.

"I was surprised to hear from the Brigadier," Liz said as she picked up her fork, "though less surprised to learn that the Doctor's got himself into some trouble. What is it this time? Silurians? Parallel universes?"

"Neither." She replied before curiosity flickered across her face. "Silurians?"

"You haven't met them?" Liz asked, deciding that the cake was very good despite how little the café impressed her. "They're a species native to Earth that pre-date humanity. They're look a little like upright reptiles."

"That is so cool." Zoe said, enthralled. "What happened to them?"

"They went underground." She said, surprised that she was enjoying sharing her bespoke knowledge. "Their scientists predicted that an asteroid – I think it was an asteroid – would suck the atmosphere away from the Earth, rendering the planet uninhabitable, so they built shelters beneath the crust of the planet so their species could survive."

"And did they?"

"It's difficult to say for sure," Liz replied.

Zoe leaned back in her seat, amazed. She looked down at the ground and wondered what slumbered beneath the Earth's surface that she hadn't known about.

"Blimey," she said happily, "you think you know your own planet but then you get your mind blown." Liz's mouth twitched at how delighted she seemed to discover something new. "But, sadly, it's not Silurians because that would be so much cooler, and possibly less terrifying. Unfortunately, it's the Daleks that are causing the problem."

Liz scraped the side of her fork gently along the plate, gathering crumbs and cream cheese together, before popping into her mouth.

"I've read UNIT reports on them, but I've never encountered one myself." She said after a moment's thoughtful silence. "From what I understand, they're deeply unpleasant and extremely dangerous."

"They're the most dangerous creatures in all of existence." Zoe said, curious delight replaced with sobriety. "I've met them twice now: once in 2012, and again in 1941. Both times I've had trouble sleeping for days afterwards. They're just...they're nightmares made real." She appeared lost in her thoughts and memories before she snapped out of it. "Do you know why I've asked to meet you?"

"The Brigadier simply said that you'd requested it," she said, "and then gave me the information you sent across to Dr Taylor and his team, but I'm afraid I'm otherwise at a loss. I'm not sure how you think I can help you."

"The Doctor has always spoken very highly of you," Zoe said but, before she could continue, Liz snorted in disbelief. A smile ticked on Zoe's face, eyes softening with amusement. "Judging from what he's like now when he's not paying attention, I can well imagine what sort of arse he was back in the day."

"A colossal one." Liz agreed, finding that she quite liked Zoe. "But he does grow on you."

"Like a fungus." She said knowingly, and Liz laughed. "But he has spoken highly of you. He considers you to be – and I quote – 'not entirely useless'."

Liz pressed her lips together, amused. "High praise indeed."

"That's what I thought." Zoe shrugged, taking a sip of her steaming coffee. "I was hoping that maybe you'd be able to make better sense of the science behind the Delta Wave generator. You've worked with the Doctor as a scientist: learned from him, observed him. I understand that you've been working with alien technology for the last twenty or years as well."

She was well-informed, Liz thought to herself, impressed, before pushing her empty plate away.

"I've had a look at what you sent across," she said, "and whilst there are elements of the process that I understand, it's not enough to help in any real way. I agree with Dr Taylor: untangling this will take years."

Zoe's face tightened with disappointment, but it was swept quickly swept by a smile, resilient in the face of overwhelming odds.

"Perhaps you could explain to me the bits you do understand?" She asked hopefully. "Or even give me an idea of where to start? This sort of science is so far beyond me that I don't even know where to start beyond asking UNIT and a few of the Doctor's old friends for help."

Liz thought that to be an eminently reasonable approach, and she mulled the questions over in her mind. "What do you know about Delta Waves?"

"Only what I've Googled," Zoe admitted without shame, never one to be embarrassed about something she didn't know. "I know that it's a high-amplitude brain wave that, in humans, is between 0.5 and 4 hertz. I also know it's got something to do with sleep, but that's really it – and I lifted all that from Wikipedia."

"Well, you're not wrong." Liz said. "And if you're looking for people to help you, then you need to speak with neurophysiologists and biochemists. They should be your first stop, but –" Zoe was jotting the information down in a small notebook, "you also need to build the damn thing. So engineers, obviously, but I've seen the Doctor's calculations and the amount of power the generator needs to create. Assuming that you'll be using the TARDIS to power the thing, then I can safely say that there's no material on Earth that's strong enough to withstand the force of it. The thing'll melt before anything even happens."

"Right, okay." Zoe bobbed her head, hand writing quickly and messily as new problems made themselves known. "That's not a problem. I mean it is a problem, but it's not a huge problem, because I have the TARDIS. I can take her where I need to go to find all of this."

That gave Liz pause for thought. "You can fly the TARDIS?"

She had once asked the Doctor to learn how to operate the TARDIS, deeply curious about the mechanics and the science, but he just laughed in her face, leaving her with the urge to toss her cup of tea over him.

"He taught me when I was sad and miserable." Zoe said, looking up with a small smile even as her hand kept writing. "He doesn't like seeing me upset."

"He sounds like he's changed." Liz murmured, wondering what sort of man he was now and whether or not he had learnt how to make his own cup of tea. "Is he – well?"

Zoe hesitated, hand pausing. "More or less. It's been a long time for him since he was with you. A few hundred years, I think. He still thinks of you though."

Something warm and happy bloomed within her, and she tried to tamp it down, embarrassed that it meant so much to her to be remembered by such a ridiculous man.

"How did you meet him?" Liz asked as Zoe kept writing.

"He was travelling with my sister." She said. "I tagged along once I finished my A-Levels."

Liz drew in a sharp breath. "That was young."

Zoe laughed, eyes sparkling. "Maybe a little, but I'm older now."

"I am curious as to how you've managed to maintain a personal life though." Liz said, and Zoe looked confused at the change in conversation. She nodded at the thin gold ring on her finger. "Your husband?"

"Oh, no." She replied, stiffening with awkwardness. Liz realised she might just have waded into something that was none of her business. Zoe twisted the ring around her finger. "I – er – I was married, um, but she died...about a year ago. So...yeah, I'm widowed now."

Mortification swept over Liz.

"I am so sorry," she apologised, "I didn't mean –"

"It's fine, you didn't know." Zoe said warmly. She set her pen down and flexed her fingers. "What about you though? Have you ever found the time for family and the like?"

"I have a granddaughter," Liz replied, "Elizabeth. She's only six, but she says she wants to be a scientist. And there's Patsy – my partner. We've been together for a while now."

"Does she know about all this?" Zoe asked, twirling her finger in the air to indicate aliens and the Doctor.

"She does." She nodded. "We work together at P.R.o.B.e."

"Helpful," Zoe replied. "My wife was – er – well, to be honest, she was an 18th century aristocrat who really adapted to the whole alien thing astonishingly well, but I knew there were times when she was out of her depth and more than a little scared."

Liz gave a slightly startled laugh. "An 18th century aristocrat?"

"Bit of a long story," she admitted, "but I got trapped in 18th century France for a few years and married her there. Nothing legal, of course, but...that didn't matter for us."

"Life with the Doctor, I suppose."

Zoe laughed. "Yeah, life with the Doctor. Ain't it something?"

Thirty minutes later, they both stepped out of the farm shop and onto the cold street. The wind was sharper than it had been when she arrived. Liz tightened her scarf about her. Zoe leant heavily on her walking stick, and concern prickled through Liz at how she was going to get to wherever home was when she wasn't with the Doctor. Zoe brushed off the concerns when spoken and pointed to a black Range Rover where a driver was waiting for her: a UNIT car had been placed at her disposal.

"I am sorry I can't be more help," Liz said honestly, "but this is a too advanced for me."

"You've been more than enough help, thank you." Zoe said honestly. "You've given me a place to start, which is more than I had this morning. Besides, it was also lovely just meeting you. I've been wanting to meet the Doctor's friends for a long time now, so I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to do just that."

Liz smiled at her easy kindness.

"I do hope you're able to solve this." She said, meaning it. "I really do. I'll keep working here and with UNIT, and if we discover anything, I'll make sure the information is sent to you."

"I appreciate it." Zoe said, shaking her hand, and her grip was strong even if she did look as though a stiff breeze would knock her right over. "Thank you again, Dr Shaw."

Liz watched her climb into the back of the car, waving off the help from the UNIT soldier, and settled in behind bullet proof glass. It pulled away from the pavement, and Liz watched it disappear down the room before it turned left. She felt a little out of sorts from such a close brush with the Doctor's life again, but she was pleased that he had someone competent and capable fighting in his corner when he wasn't able to do it himself.

He always did seem to get lucky when it came to his friends, young and pretty though they were.

In the back of the UNIT car, Zoe exhaled on a long, slow sigh. Her eyes felt dry and tight from lack of sleep, and her back throbbed miserably. She should have been using her wheelchair, but it was difficult to manage when she was alone. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat to relieve the pressure on her back, she thought on her meeting with Liz.

She was a little disappointed that the meeting wasn't more fruitful than it was. Whilst she didn't expect Liz to have the answers she needed, it felt as though she was just accumulating breadcrumbs of information in the hope of gluing together a solution. She knew that she needed to exercise the same patience she recommended to Rose, but it was hard when she didn't know what path she needed to walk. There were too many branches ahead of her and only one or two would lead her to the Game Station where the Doctor and Jack were trapped, neither alive nor dead, simply frozen in a moment in time until she started the clock running again.

Tiredness swept over her, and she closed her eyes for a brief moment, letting herself drift. She needed to lie down for a nap before she left to seek out her next port of call: Zoe Heriot. Her brain was sluggish and her body ached fiercely. She needed a nap, some food, and possibly some time spent doing a number of aquatic exercises that would help her with the pain in her back.

"Outside the flat, ma'am?" The soldier, a Lieutenant French, asked her.

His voice startled her awake. "No, the – er – the TARDIS, please. If you take the second right, it'll get you there."

"Yes, ma'am."

Lieutenant French pulled the car down the road, and she peered through the windscreen when she realised that something was blocking the way. She recognised the large yellow recovery vehicle as belonging to Rodrigo, someone who lived on the first floor of Bucknall House and dealt in cocaine along the side of his legitimate business. She could see Jackie and Mickey milling around outside the TARDIS and her heart sank.

"Here's just fine, lieutenant, thank you." Zoe said, snatching up her walking stick quickly, the door opening before the car had even stopped. "Thanks for your help today. Sorry it was boring for you."

He flashed her a smile, cheeks dimpling. "My pleasure, ma'am. Hope it all works out for you."

She shut the door firmly and hurried forward as fast as she could. Her body did not appreciate her haste and screamed out at her to slow down, but she pushed through the pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoe demanded once she was close enough that her words wouldn't be snatched away by the wind. Mickey looked guilty, a large metal hook held in his hands. Rose came running down the ramp towards them at the sound of her voice, and Jackie just looked troubled. "Rose, what are you doing?"

Rose smiled widely, excited. "D'you remember when Margaret turned into an egg?"

"Hard to forget," she frowned, "but what does that have to do with the price of milk?"

"An' the TARDIS opened up with that light and singin'?" Rose pressed on, ignoring her.

"Again, yes." She said carefully. "What's your point?"

"The Doctor's always bangin' on about how the TARDIS is telepathic an' alive, right?" Rose continued, and Zoe nodded. "An' all we need to do is make the return trip –"

"Not this again," She groaned. "Rose, I explained only a few hours ago why that's a bad idea and we can't do it."

"Yeah, well, I think you're wrong." Rose said, tugging her jumper down and standing a little straighter. "I think if the Doctor has the TARDIS then he'll be just fine and can fix everythin'."

Jackie looked between her daughters uncertainly. Zoe had fallen quiet before she passed a hand across her mouth.

"Rose –"

"We just need to get inside it." She said firmly. "The last time it opened, the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we open it, I can make contact, tell it what to do."

Horror slipped through Zoe like a knife and panic slapped at her.

"No."

"Stop sayin' no!" Rose exclaimed, angry. "You aren't in charge here, Zoe! I'm doin' this."

Zoe flung her walking stick out and used it to block Rose's path to the inside of the TARDIS.

"If you think I won't stop you from doing something so unbelievably dangerous, then you don't know me at all." Zoe said, her voice low with threat. Rose stared at her. "You are not getting in the TARDIS. The only way you will is over my dead body. Am I clear?"

"You're not –"

"In charge." She finished for her. "I heard you the first time. But I've explained to you why we can't take the TARDIS back to the Doctor without a plan in hand. I thought you understood."

"We need the Doctor!"

"We need a plan!"

"I have a plan!"

"God!" Zoe exclaimed, frustration spiralling within her. "Are you incapable of putting two and two together? You said it yourself, the TARDIS is alive!"

Rose shook her head in frustration. "So?"

"So you want to rip her open and let her drain out!" She snapped. "It's obscene, it's horrific, and I will not let you put the TARDIS through that."

"It's a ship!"

"She's not just a ship!" She yelled, her anger and frustration and exhaustion cutting her patience to the quick. "She's a living, breathing thing, Rose! She may not look like it but she is. TARDISes are grown not made, for fuck's sake. Opening her up would be like – like...using your hands to rip open my chest to prod at my heart!"

Rose barely seemed to hear her sister's words. "We have to do somethin'!"

"I – AM – DOING – SOMETHING!"

"Don't yell at me!"

"Don't be a fucking idiot then!" She yelled, unable to lower her voice. "Jesus fucking Christ, Rose. I can't believe that you want to rip open the TARDIS to what? Open your mind to her power? Do you not remember the last time one of us had an insane amount of power rocketing about through their head? Because I do, and it fucking hurts!"

"That was different!" Rose exclaimed, her hair whipped around her face by the wind. "This is the TARDIS. It won't hurt us."

"The TARDIS won't be able to help herself." Zoe said sharply. She limped forward, breathless and in pain. She stood between Rose and the door. "You are clearly too fucking emotional to be anywhere near this problem. Go back to the flat. I'll call you when I've figured something out."

"You can't just send me away like I'm a child!"

"I will when you fucking act like one." She spat, angrier than she could ever recall being. "I need to think without you constantly prattling on and complaining about how slow I'm moving, or having to keep an eye out so you don't do something as monumentally stupid as ripping the fucking TARDIS open. Now fuck off and leave me in peace."

"I'm not goin' anywhere!" Rose said, and she surged forwards to enter the TARDIS.

Zoe reacted quickly and slammed the side of the walking stick against the soft bend of Rose's knee. She cried out as she buckled, and Zoe stepped back into the TARDIS. She slammed the door shut in front of her and quickly flicked the deadlock to stop her sister from using her key. Having a barrier between her and Rose helped her to wrestle her anger back under control. A tight band of pain throbbed in her head, and her mouth felt tacky and dry. She rested her hand against the door and caught her breath. She panted like she had run a marathon.

"Let me in!" Rose demanded, banging her fists on the door. "Zoe, open this door now!"

"No!" She snapped back, petulant even to her ears. "I'm taking the TARDIS to visit someone, and you're not bloody invited!"

She grunted with the effort it took to push away from the door and made her way painfully up the ramp. Once she reached the console, she leant heavily against it as bright spots of light danced in front of her eyes, aware that she had overexerted herself. Combined with her lack of sleep, she realised that she was minutes away from passing out. Before she did so, her hands moved across the console and set the TARDIS into flight so that Rose wouldn't find another way into the TARDIS and go through with her ridiculous plan.

Zoe adjusted the dials and input the co-ordinates before she pulled the lever. The TARDIS dematerialised from the Powell Estate; Rose's shouts were swallowed by the sound of the process and she relaxed.

By the time the TARDIS landed in a crater on the moon, Zoe was sprawled across the floor, eyes closed and body finally at rest.