After a recent adventure, the TARDIS console sends out sparks, knocking the Doctor and Luke Morgan to the floor. The Doctor is astonished that they are accelerating towards the future, ending up at the year100 trillion— the end of theuniverse. The TARDIS hurtles through thetime vortex... Somewhere else, ahumanoid facewith fangs turns and announces that "humansare coming!"
In a desolate area,a humanis running from theBeasts of the Outside. Within his laboratory, ProfessorToatlnotes that there is movement on the surface: a "human hunt". His assistant, a pig-faced alien calledHobnob, asks if she should alert the guards. Toatl tells her not to, as they can't spare them. Toatl is asked for a progress report over theradiobut evades it by having Hobnob answer. While she speaks, he is unable to focus due to the sound of a distant voice in his head. Chantho gains his attention to show him that the surface scanner has now detected the TARDIS. He remarks, "It would seem something new has arrived..."
The Doctor tells Luke that he doesn't know what is outside — none of theTime Lordsever came this far. Gleeful at seeing the unknown, they leave the TARDIS. Outside, they find Jenny on the ground. While Luke rushes back into the TARDIS to get a medical kit, the Doctor apologises to his unconscious Daughter. Luks returns and, after examining her, says that Jenny is just unconscious, and Jenny then takes a deep breath and sits up, grabbing a shocked Luke by the arms. Jenny immediately begins flirting with Luke, and an annoyed Doctor tells her not to.
The Doctor and Jenny greet each other tersely. Luke is surprised to learn that Jenny is his Daughter. As they explore the planet, Jenny tells the Doctor and Luke that she had lost her TARDIS, and brought a vortex manipulator to help her find it. However it malfunctioned and sent her to the end of the universe, in the middle of the sky, where she fell from. The Doctor's TARDIS must've sensed her in danger and come to help.
The trio come across a city-like conglomeration. When Luke asks about humanity's fate, Jenny spots the man running from the Beasts of the Outside. Jenny catches the man, and pushes him towards the Doctor, drawing her service revolver, firing it into the air, scaring the Beasts. The Doctor plans to head for the TARDIS, but they are cut off by more Beasts. The four head for "theShelter".
They approach the gates, with the Beasts closing the distance. The guard yells at them to show their teeth, admitting them to the Shelter once they show their normal human teeth. A soldier fires an assault rifle at the Beasts to force them back. The leader of the Beasts reluctantly orders his minions to fall back; they retreat a short distance where they can keep watch on the Shelter. The man asks the soldier if he can be taken to"the Salvation", which the soldier happily responds to affirmatively.
Professor Toatl learns that the Doctor, who claims to be a scientist, is in the Shelter, and rushes upstairs to find him. The Doctor asks for the men to help retrieve the TARDIS. The Doctor is happy when he discovers that humans have survived to the end of the universe, remarking that though they "spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas", they revert to the same form eventually.
Jenny flirts with a female refugee, with the Doctor once again telling her to stop. Jenny helps the Doctor open a deadlock seal, and the door opens to show a deep rocket shaft, into which the Doctor blindly steps and nearly falls down before Jenny and Luke yank him back. They see a large rocket in the shaft, with neither the Doctor or Jenny recognising the engines. The Doctor muses on what "the Salvation" can mean if the universe is collapsing.
Toatl arrives, dragging an amused Doctor away, followed by Luke and Jenny, but the four pass awomanwhom nobody notices baring her teeth, revealing her to be one of the Beasts. Back in the lab, Jenny immediately flirts with Hobnob while Toatl shows the Doctor all the machines within the rocket. However, the Doctor can't help, as the technology is unknown to him. Toatl enquires as to the Doctor's species, and the Doctor is saddened that the Time Lords are no longer remembered in this time.
Hobnob reveals that, like the Doctor, she is also the last of her kind, theHobnobs, and Toatl says that this was originally the Hobnobs homeworldNobiabefore the humans took refuge. In response to Jenny's query about who the "Beastie Boys" upstairs are, Toatl tells them of the Beasts of the Outside, which in themselves are a myth. It is feared that they are what the humans will become unless they reach the Salvation.
Toatl shows the Doctor the co-ordinates of the Salvation, supposedly a project of the Salvation Foundation to find a way to save mankind from the end of everything. Toatl once again hearsthe distant voice in his head. The Doctor surmises that the rocket will not fly, but Toatl hasn't told the others to keep them from losing hope. Impressed by this, the Doctor applies what knowledge he has and uses thesonic screwdriverto get the system working. The passengers board the rocket, the outside guards secure the gate against the Beasts and retreat into the Salvation, and the Doctor, Toatl, and Jenny work to speed up the launch process.
The Doctor notices that some of the wires are odd looking, and Toatl tells him they are crafted from gluten extract. The Doctor remarks that Toatl has built the system of "food and string and staples", calling him a genius who would be revered in a different time. Toatl admits wistfully that some admiration just once would have been nice. The Doctor has also realised that Toatl must stay behind to launch the rocket, which the Professor admits — Hobnob has refused to leave, and he considers himself too old for the Salvation, instead, wishing for death. A message comes over the radio that the TARDIS has been found. The Doctor gleefully remarks he may have a way for Toatl to go too, though Toatl barely hears him, for as he looks at the picture of the TARDIS, the voice in his head grows louder.
The Doctor uses the TARDIS to provide extra power. Toatl tells the Doctor of the voice in his head and how it is growing louder as if it is getting closer; he says that he has heard it all his life. Groskeicommunicates with Toatl, who gives him instructions as the communication line fails and then gets Luke to reboot the system every time the picture goes. Groskei sendsBolkinto the couplings room, which is flooded withStet radiation, to enable the launch with a gravity footprint. The female Beast damages the system, and Jenny and Toatl furiously try to correct the radiation levels. Bolk is vaporised by the radiation. Jenny then reveals that she has been working on a project with Stet radiation ages ago, and she made herself completely immune to it, so she can go into the room without dying.
The Doctor and Jenny race down to the couplings room — ordering Groskei to board the rocket — and Jenny enters the couplings room — unlike her predecessor, she just winces instead of disintegrating. As they watch the process, Luke tells Toatl and Hobnob of the Doctor's ability to travel throughtimeandspace. Toatl hears new voices in his head, including the reverberating word "TARDIS".
Jenny rattles off some of her adventures in space and time, which Toatl hears, and hears of more words such as "Time Lords", "Daleks" and "Time War". The Doctor points out that Jenny has the potential to meet other incarnations of herself across time — and that he might still be around in this time — joking that "it's the only woman you're ever gonna be happy with". As Jenny says that this regeneration is a cheeky one, "regeneration" is another word added to those reverberating around Toatl's head.
Toatl is in tears, remembering stories of time travel from the old days that he never believed. He pulls out afob watch, remarking that he was always late with time and the watch never worked. Luke is shocked, recalling the Doctor havinga similar watchwhich he used to become human. He asks where he got it, and Toatl remarks that he was found with the watch, "an orphan in the storm", on the coast of theSilver Devastation. Toatl says it is broken, and Luke asks how he could know if he has never opened it. Luke turns over the watch and findsGallifreyaninscriptions on it.
Luke rushes to find the Doctor, having inadvertently piqued Toatl's interest in the watch. The countdown for launch begins. Luke tells the Doctor of the watch, and the Doctor dismisses the idea as impossible. Jenny says her and the Doctor may not be the last Time Lords, and Luke says it should be brilliant news — though the Doctor says it depends just which Time Lord Toatl is. The Doctor yells at Luke, desperate to know exactly what Toatl said.
As Toatl inspects the watch, malevolent voices call to him from it, demanding that he open it. Jenny remarks that the end of the universe is the perfect place to hide, and if the TARDIS sensed another time lord alive then it would go find them, and the Doctor recalls the name of a DVD he saw in the Doctor Who world: "Trial of a Time Lord" — for which "Toatl" is an acronym — and the Doctor realises who the Professor is, and the Professor opens the watch. A burst of golden energy swirls into his face and radiates through the laboratory, which astonishes Hobnob. The rocket launches and the Beasts watch in frustration as it leaves. Hobnob tries to speak to Toatl, but the look in his eyes has changed — they are now dark and sinister.
Toatl deliberately closes all the doors, barring the entrance of the Doctor, Luke and Jenny to the laboratory, then coolly opens the front gates, allowing entrance by the Beasts to the Shelter. Hobnob frenetically attempts to reason with him, but he fails to yield. She holds a gun to Toatl to try to stop him, but he advances on her with high-voltage cable in hand. As the Doctor and the others try to get back to the lab — having to double back after running into the Beasts — Toatl blames Hobnob for never asking about the watch. Hobnob begs "the Professor" for his forgiveness, but he shouts that it is not his name — merely a disguise so perfect he forgot his own identity. When a terrified Hobnob asks who he really is, he replies, "I... am...the Valeyard," before electrocuting her with the cable as the Doctor, Luke, and Jenny reach the lab and try to get in. As the Valeyard pulls the cable from the TARDIS, he accidentally gets electrocuted. Jenny finally smashes the control panel to open the door, but the Valeyard retreats into the TARDIS, putting the catch on the lock to prevent the Doctor getting in with his key as well as deadlocking it against the sonic screwdriver.
As the Doctor shouts desperately that everything's changed, Jenny and Luke struggle to close the lab's door against the Beasts. Fatally injured, the Valeyard fumes on being old and unstable, and then proclaims that if the Doctor can be young and strong, so can he. With a deranged wail, the Valeyard explodes in a spectrum ofregeneration energy, his eyes glow violently, and he changes into a younger form, collapsing to the floor as the pain of his regeneration overwhelms him. The Doctor stands outside his TARDIS aghast and helpless while Luke and Jenny desperately block the Beasts from gaining entrance.
Now as a new, even more psychotic version of himself, the Valeyard springs up from the TARDIS floor. Laughing in triumph, the Valeyard uses the TARDIS' intercom to speak to the Doctor — sarcastically remarking about his past propensity to tell the Doctor his plans and remarking that he won't do so this time — and Luke realises that she knows his voice. The Doctor begs him to stop, to which the Valeyard demands that he use his name. The Doctor then says, "Valeyard... I'm sorry." The Valeyard pauses and shouts, "Tough!" as he prepares the TARDIS for launch. The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver and stops the launch momentarily. The Valeyard overrides it and gleefully bids the three a sarcastic goodbye. The TARDIS dematerialises as the Doctor looks on in horror, while the Beasts pound at the door...
TO BE CONTINUED...