Eventually, through the dark—as the only light source was their torches—they came to plaza of lava, there were metal and stone struts connecting concentric circles. In the centre of this plaza were enormous mounds with alien controls that Amy and Rory couldn't understand.

Among these struts and mounds were three colossus blobs of mud.

'Oh, you're Maxari! I love the Maxari!' exclaimed the Doctor.

And then to Amy and Rory: 'Mud-based people, they used to be tiny things, smaller than us, called the Morax, but overtime they grew into country-sized people. Those compression suits are keeping all of that in.'

Then to the present Maxari: 'Are those compression suits mould-able?'

'Of course! I can look like anything I want,' said Hoxasi.

'Do they not hurt?' asked Amy.

'Only if you keep them on for long.'

'And I suspect that little line of metal down your middle is how you detect the vibrations and heat?'

It was. While the Doctor got excited about the compression suits, Amy and Rory were brought to the rest and refreshment area, it was also just a muddy cavernous area with mounds of mud with warm spots glowing and pulsing.

Both of them took off their coats and Amy fanned herself.

'Will you need any refreshments?' asked Various Hadji.

'Got something to cool us down, yeah? A fan or just water?'

'I can try.' Various Hadji pulled a zip from their forehead all the way over their head, down the neck and back, and stepped out in their true form. Also a giant mud blob. They moved themselves over the mounds.

'I'm going to scan you for what out ship can determine is safe. Is that okay?'

'Yeah, yeah, just go ahead,' said Amy, making sure she didn't sound as annoyed as she was, she also tried not to look at Rory in case he gave her a look that would make her break her cool, but she caught his eyes, and he was staring like a happy puppy. She tried really hard not to smile back and maintain her cool demeanour. He kept staring, so she had to ask, 'What?'

'I love you.'

The sincerity of such a human thing was so very strange in this alien cavern, she blurted out a laugh before controlling herself at seeing Rory's broken, confused look. 'Sorry I wasn't expecting it. I love you too.'

The ground beneath them vibrated and glowed with a mild heat then disappeared. They followed Various Hadji as they continue to play around with the machine before handing them both glasses of iced water.

Upon drinking it they grimaced and smacked their lips.

'What's in this?' asked Rory.

'Taste's funny, like city water.'

'I added mineral compounds that are good for humans. Is it pleasant?' asked Various Hadji, their mud body changing heat. Amy assumed this was the equivalent of embarrassment, but in fact it was pride.

'Yeah, yeah. It's fine. Very healthy, I'm sure. Rory?'

'For my first alien water? Spot on,' he said, added an 'okay' hand gesture, unsure if Various Hadji could register this.

'Good! I have other activities to do, but if you need anything else, I'll be around.' And with that they slunk off, dipping a few stray blobs of self into the lava.

'Amy! Rory! Look at this!' called the Doctor, excited as usual.

They drank their water as they heeded his call. They went to the centre of the enormous plaza, confident walking across the stone struts, as wide as a road for them. Though the thoughts of lava so close were worrying Rory a little.

The Doctor was indicating a mound.

'It works based off heat and vibration. These fellas have crashed through time, just a little blip. Probably attracted to the time-sensitive ores in this planet. But, but, but, they have been using the tectonic plates to stabilise and energise themselves. Isn't that cool? Bad for the planet, but cool!'

'Cool, yeah,' said Rory.

'Bad for the planet, but cool, yeah,' said Amy.

The Doctor nodded. 'But obviously they can't keep doing that because... well, because we know that's just not how things are done. But what we can do is get them home.'

The Doctor was enjoying this, Amy could tell, there was a dilemma with an easy fix. This was her Raggedy Doctor saving the day. 'Back home, like back to their original time?' she asked.

And by asking she could see that he faltered, he broke a little.

'Really? How?' asked Hoxasi, the only one still in a compression suit.

'Our ship can travel in time,' said Amy very simply, still caught up in her fairy tale hero to acknowledge he faltered.

The entire crew stopped what they were doing, they had spots of warmth growing over them, some glowed, some changed colour (although hard to tell in the orange and red glow of lava). Rory knew they were watching the Doctor, Amy's imaginary friend who was an impossible alien with impossible abilities. If anyone could save them, he could.

'Well, yes, but it's a bit more tricky than that. Time-space travel, Pond. Let me explain,' and he used the sonic on the mound that Amy guessed was a computer terminal.

The glowing heat among the mud shimmered and pulsed, the Maraxi understood, each changing colour and cooing in comprehension or confusion. The pilot who had been lying over it was the most vocal in the noises of surprise.

'So, we can't get home?' asked Hoxasi.

'I'm sorry no,' said the Doctor, he put his hand on the shoulder of the latex suit. 'But I'll do all I can to make your lives easier.'

'Well, this throws this in the river then!' shouted Various Ortax, they threw aside their device and stormed off down a corridor.

'Officer Ortax, get back here now!' called Hoxasi.

'We're lost in time and space, you're not the Forward Leader any more. Bite me!' Ortax shouted back.

Hoxasi addressed those present, 'We are not lost. We are just late.'

'Excuse me, Forward Leader. Excuse me, I'll be relieving myself,' said Second Forward Dosa.

'What?! No, you will not, you are my Second Forward. You are the only one qualified. I will not stand a mutiny.'

'No Forward, I meant to... relieve myself.'

'Oh... yes. Sorry. As you will.'

Second Forward Dosa found Various Ortax out of their compression suit, writhing and lashing about in anger. The glowing of heat hurt but she braced herself, attempted to cool herself and poured herself over the upset Officer.

Eventually Ortax was calmed.

They communicated with heat signals and slight vibrations, this resulted in a simplistic language that did not give great room for flourish and artistry. This is not uncommon in space-faring cultures, with such spread it is harder to relay large information.

An approximate translation of their words would follow as such:

Dosa: 'Calm down.' However, it had no patronising quality that is often found with that phrase. Ortax took it as the soothing it was and adhered to it.

'My family!'

'All our families.'

'I knew the risks; they said it was safe—others made it home safe. What will we do now?'

'Get clearer hearts and then set up more than just survival protocols. This planet is young with masses of new thermal energy. Start new families.'

'It's not like they can be replaced, you ass.'

'No, they can't. They won't be forgotten either. But if there's no way home, we set up camp here and make the most of it. I'm sure with the alien's help we can get home. The ship isn't too badly damaged.'

Dosa didn't want to give the false hope of telling Ortax that the alien was an authority on time-travel. They had all studied the theory, but clearly it was not as they had imagined.

'I just want to go home, Dosa.'

'Second Forward Dosa, Officer Ortax.'

'I meant it. I quit. Dosa. Ortax. Hoxasi. Nono. Hadj. Tem.'

Dosa gave the equivalent of rolling their eyes and humoured the distressed officer. 'Then, do me one last favour and return to your quarters, civilian. We will do what we can. We will see our families again.'

Ortax slunk off through the tunnels while Second Forward Dosa stayed in the toilets and increased their body temperature (with the aid of ship equipment) and expelled molten metallic slag into the depository.

On their return journey to the hub/bridge, they contemplated the rumours of alien species with a binary vascular system who waged a war across time against the Daleks. Ever since their culture had developed time-travel, the minor jumps that it was, there had been people in the shadows and proclamations of defunct timelines.

The Doctor had said something about time-sensitive mineral ore on the planet. If that were the case, they should be mining it and brining it back for further research and to prevent these catastrophes from happening again.

And yet, it had been six-thousand years (four decades in a human lifespan equivalent), they would have figured it out, understood what went wrong and stopped it from happening. Surely.