Last Time on Doctor Who:
"I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"
"Ashlee."
"Nice to meet you, Ashlee. Run for your life." I looked back to see the top floor blow up.
"I want you to explain everything." I told him sitting on the arm of the chair.
"There's a war going on! They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?" he asked us.
"No." we said.
"But you're still listening." he walked away.
"Really though, Doctor. Tell me – who are you?" I asked once more. This time, the Doctor stopped and turned to me.
"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy." Clive showed us the full photo.
"The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quiet believe it because everything looks like it's standing still, I can feel it." He took my hand in his.
"Going further back, April 1912." He went and brought us a photo album trying to convince us that this was the same Doctor we had just seen just moments ago. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to a man in a suit, the Doctor.
"The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…"
"1883. Another Doctor. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."
"Who's that?" I asked.
"Death"
"That's who I am. Now, forget me, Ashlee and Rose Tyler."
"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" I asked him.
"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."
"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"It's alien."
"Yup."
"Are you alien?" I finally spoke up from my spot.
"Yes, is that alright?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I said quickly nodding my head.
"I've got no A Levels. No job... No future."
"You could come with me." I looked at him and put my hands in my pockets.
I swung across the gap over the Consciousness kicking the plastic men holding the Doctor into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all.
"This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
"Is it always this dangerous?"
I grinned at the Consciousness before going in and closing the door running to the console as the shaking started up with us leaving the London Eye.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I can't."
"Did I mention, it travels in time?" He grinned and went back in leaving the door ajar. I turned to Mickey.
"Tell Rose, thanks." I told him
"Thanks for what?" he asked me.
"She'll know." I ran into the TARDIS with a broad smile on my face.
"Right then, Ashlee Tyler - you tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. What's it going to be?" he grined at me.
"Forwards." I told him and he pressed a few buttons.
"How far?" We hadn't even gone anywhere and I was excited.
"One hundred years." I said picking a random number. He pulled a lever and turned a knob. The engines lurched then stopped after a few seconds. My smile never left my face.
"There you go, step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century." he said to me grinning at me.
"You're kidding."
"That's a bit boring though, do you want to go further?" he asked, but I bet he knew my answer.
"Fine by me!" I challenged him. He started the engines up again and when we stopped, he looked at me.
"Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the New Roman Empire."
"You think you're so impressive." I said teasingly to him.
"I AM so impressive!" He mocked pain on his face.
"You wish!" I challenged once again.
"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go." he reved up the engine and pumped a lever furiously. "Hold on!" he told me. The TARDIS hurtled us forward. When it stopped it made a small pinging noise.
"Where are we?" I asked excitedly. he just gestured toward the doors. "What's out there?" I asked, my smile growing larger if possible. He just gestured again and I stepped outside. I found myself in some kind of wooden room. The Doctor followed me and with his sonic screwdriver, opened the shutters of an enormous window. We went down the stairs and find ourselves looking down on the planet Earth.
"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day... hold on... he looked at his watch. "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world." He grinned at me as I stared in awe at the view.
"Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite." a computer said over the intercom. The Doctor and I were walking down a corridor.
"So, when it says 'guests' does that mean people?" I asked him, suddenly thinking about who we might meet.
"Depends what you mean by people." he told me, was their a debate on that somewhere?
"I mean people. What do you mean?"
"Aliens."
"What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?" I asked looking around. The Doctor started to open a door with his sonic screwdriver.
"It's not really a spaceship. More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn." he told me, grinning again.
"What for? Why would someone want to watch something so beautiful burn?" I asked him, voicing my thoughts.
"Fun." He said as we entered a large observation gallery. "Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich."
"But, hold on, they did this once on 'Newsround Extra' - the sun expanding - that takes hundreds of years." I told him looking at my home. One problem, it still looked the same as when I left. Had we really traveled into the future?
"Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" He pointed out of the window at tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun." he explained to me.
"The planet looks the same as ever. I thought the continents shifted and things." I said looking back at him.
"They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!"
"How long has it got?" I asked. It almost sounded like I was talking about a person. I had always felt connected to the Earth, felt random bits of pain for no reason only to see someone chopped down a tree or an archeologist had used an explosive for a dig. The Doctor looked at his watch.
"About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted." his grin never left his face.
"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?" I asked looking back outside.
"I'm not saving it. Time's up." I looked at him and saw him watching me.
"But what about all the people?" I said thinking of my mum and Rose.
"It's empty! They're all gone. All left." I looked back to the window, and I realized somthing.
"Just me then." I said.
"Who the hell are you?" I turned to see a blue man talking to us.
"Oh! That's nice, thanks." The Doctor grinned while I looked in shock at the man.
"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!" He started freaking out.
"That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!" The Doctor flashed a small leather wallet at the man. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Ashlee Tyler. She's my plus one. That all right?" The Doctor asked him.
"Well... obviously." the Doctor grinned at him. "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. Enjoy." The Doctor nodded at him and he walked off. The Doctor showed me the wallet he flashed at the man and it was blank.
"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." He put it away.
"He's blue." I said still staring at the mans back.
"Yeah." I looked at the Doctor.
"Okay." I nodded my head at him. The blue man was now speaking through a microphone at the other end of the suite.
"We have in attendance, the Doctor and Ashlee Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions." he clapped his hands and a lot of little blue people started scurrying around.
"Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The three walked through the doors. "There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank-you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon." I just stared at bewildered at the blue man and the three trees. "And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme." I heard the Doctor chuckling at me but I couldn't look away from them. "The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you! Cal 'Spark Plug'. Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light." After every name a new alien entered the room. The trees walked over to us.
"The Gift of Peace." she took a cutting and handed it to the Doctor. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."
"Thank you!" He gave it to me. "Yes, gifts... erm..." He cleared his throat and started feeling his jacket for something to give them as a gift. "I give you in return, air from my lungs." He blowed gently onto Jabe's face, who closed her eyes breifly.
"How... intimate." She said once she opened her eyes.
"There's more where that came from." The Doctor told her flirtasiosly.
"I bet there is..." I just gave him a look.
"Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Bo." A huge head in an equlally huge jar was wheeled through the doors when the Moxx of Baljoon approched us.
"The Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor greeted.
"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva." He spit at me and hit my face. The Doctor just laughed.
"Thank you very much." I just rubbed the spit off of me. Next, the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approched us.
"Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs." He breathes heavily over all of them.
"A gift of peace in all good faith." was all the first one said as he held out a large silver egg, which the Doctor takes, throws up into the air, catches, and handed it to me.
"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human." I stared at the sliding doors, hoping to see something familiar. Instead what I saw when the doors opened looked like a vertical trampoline made of human skin being wheeled in. It had eyes and a mouth and wore lipstick. "The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."
"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am." Cassandra told everyone, I was just shocked at what I saw. "Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the two men in a white body suit who wheeled her in sprayed her down with a canister. "Truly, I am The Last Human." I crept foreward for a good look at her, I didn't see much. From her back I could just look right through her. "My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil. I have come to honour them and..." she sniffled a little. "...say goodbye. Oh, no tears." the man in white wipped her eyes. "No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself - the last remaining ostrich egg." One of the staff came in and displayed the egg to the room. "Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils." I looked confused at her, what legend said that? "Or was that my third husband?" I rolled my eyes and made my way back to the Doctor. "Who knows! Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" she laughed and mumbled to herself for a few seconds before continuing. Behind her, a large jukebox was wheeled into the room. "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." I looked amazed at her. Where did she get her information? "Play on!" One of the staff pressed a button and the jukebox started playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I watched the Doctor bop around to the beat.
"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." I was at a loss and felt very ocerwhelmed. Everywhere I looked was an alien, but no one like me, no real human. She left the gallery running the other way. When I got to another part of the ship I just stared out the window at Earth and the raging sun. I jumped when another one of the staff came into the room, this one female.
"Sorry, am I allowed to be in here?" I asked her. She just looked at me uneasily.
"You have to give us permission to talk." she told me and looked at me expectantly. I just felt unsure about having to give permsions to speak.
"Uh... you... have permission...?" I said unsure if I was supposed to or not.
"Thank you! And, no. You're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere." she answered my previous question.
"'Kay." I watched her go to a panel in the wall and enter a code.
"What's your name?" I asked her.
"Raffalo."
"Raffalo?" I asked, making sure I pronounced it right.
"Yes, Miss. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance." She knelt before an air vent. "There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Bo suite. There must be something blocking the system - he's not getting any hot water." she explained to me.
"So, you're a plumber?" I asked making sure I got her job title right. Some people were very picky on that.
"That's right, Miss."
"They still have plumbers?"
"I hope so! Else I'm out of a job!" I laughed with her.
"Where are you from?" I asked making conversation.
""Crespallion." Not like I knew what that was.
"That's a planet, is it?" I asked.
"No, Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56. And where are you from, Miss? If you don't mind me asking." she asked.
"No! Not at all. Erm... I dunno, a long way away... I just sort of, hitched a lift with this man. I didn't even think about it... I don't even know who he is... he's a complete stranger... but something about it just seems, right..." Raffalo looked at me worridly as I snapped myself out of my thoughts.
"Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!" She walked away from the window only to be stopped by Raffalo.
"Thank you, Miss. And thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate." I smiled at her.
"'Kay. See you later." I just walked to a viewing gallery and sat. I watched the Earth float in space throwing the egg up in the air.
"Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes." The computer announced.
"Oh, thanks." I put the egg down and turned my attention to the cutting of Jabe's grandfather and picking it up.
"Hello! My name's Ashlee. My sister's name is Rose and that's a sort of plant. We might be related..." I looked back to the window realizing what I just did and put the plant down. "I'm talking to a twig."
"Ashlee? Are you in there? Aye aye!" I watched the Doctor sit on the other side of the stairs. "What do you think, then?" he asked me.
"Great! Yeah... fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper..." We laughed before pausing for a bit. "They're just, so alien." he looked at me questioningly. "The aliens. Are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien." I tried explaining.
"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South." I laughed at the joke.
"Where are you from?" I asked curiously.
"All over the place." I just gave him a look on his answer.
"They all speak English." I commented.
"No - you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain - translates."
"Who are you then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?" he just sat up and looked away from me.
"I'm just The Doctor."
"From what planet?"
"Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!"
"Where are you from?!"
"What does it matter?"
"Tell me who you are!"
"This is who I am, right here, right now, alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"
"Yeah, and I'm here too because you brought me here, so just tell me!" he just got up and walked down the steps away from me.
"Earth Death in 20 minutes. Earth Death in 20 minutes." The computer announced. After a few quiet moments, I got up and waked down the steps towards the Doctor.
"My mum once told me, it's not where you're from the defines you but what you do with the time given. I think she stole that from a movie." I laughed and got my mobile out. "Can't exactly call for a taxi... there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!" I laughed again.
"Tell you what..." He took my phone from me. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery..." he took off the back of my phone.
"Is that a technical term, 'jiggery pokery'?" I asked him, flirting a bit.
"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?"
"Nah, I failed hullabaloo." I told him.
"Oooh." he fit a new battery into the phone then handed it back to me. "There you go." I took it back and looked at him uncertainly. He nodded at me and I got my mum's number onto the screen and puts the phone to my ear as it rangs.
"Hello?" I heard my mum answer.
"Mum?" I looked at him in shock.
"Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now? Oh, this blue top's falling to bits! You should get your money back. Go on! There must be something, you never phone in the middle of the day!" I laughed at her comment. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing! You all right, though? How's Rose?" I asked her.
"Why wouldn't I be? Rose is out job hunting. Where are you?" she asked me.
"I'm out with a friend. What day is it?" I asked her.
"Wednesday. All day. You got a hangover? Oh, I tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later." I laughed a little.
"Yeah, um, I was just calling 'cause I might be late home." I told her. I wanted to at least try and tell her about being gone without going into detail.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No! I'm fine! Top of the world!" I said looking out at the view and the Doctor, who just laughed.
"Was that a man I heard? Are you being safe?"
"Mum, really?"
"Oh, alright then, love you." I lowered my mobile, stunned.
"Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill." The Doctor told me.
"That was 5 billion years ago. So... they're dead now. Five billion years later, my mum and sister are dead." I said slowly to myslef.
"Bundle of laughs, you are." Right after the Doctor spoke the ship shuddered. I started to fall but the Doctor caught me and held me in his arms. "That's not supposed to happen..." he told me grinning
As we walked into the suite I over heard the Mox of Ballhon talking to the Face of Bo.
"...this is the Bad Wolf scenario..."
"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." He fiddled with a control panel next to the door. "What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines - they pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?" I turned to see Jabe next to me.
"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." She told him
"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor asked her.
"I don't know... but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And your wife." She gestured to me.
"She's not my wife." He told her.
"Partner?"
"No."
"Concubine?"
"Nope." Jabe looked at me.
"Prostitute?"
"Whatever I am, it must be invisible, do you mind? Tell you what, you two go and pollinate, I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson." I told him insulted by all she had called me. I walked towards Cassandra.
"Don't start a fight." He offers his arm to Jabe. "I'm all yours."
"And I want you home by midnight!" I said watching them go. The Doctor just grinned at me.
"Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes." The computer announced.
"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy. Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice." She told me watching the sun. "I had such fun." she sighed.
"What happened to everyone else? The Human Race - where did it go?" I asked her.
"They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky."
"So, you're NOT the last human." I clarified.
"I am the last PURE human. The others... mingled." she said disgusted. "Oh, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them? Mongrels." She whispered the last bit to me.
"Right. And you stayed behind." I said.
"I kept myself pure." She clarified to me.
"How many operations have you had?" I asked her.
"708. Next week, it's 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Rose. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out." She told me staring at me.
"I'd rather die." I told her honestly.
"Honestly, it doesn't hurt-" she started but I interrupted her.
"No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you - a bitchy trampoline." I told her.
"Oh well. What do you know." she looked back to the view.
"I was born on that planet. And so was my mum, and so was my dad and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking." I walked out of the room as fast as I could. As I walked down a corridor I saw the Adherents of the Repeated Meme coming from the other end. I smiled at them the first one stoke me to the ground, knocking me out.
When I woke I heard 'Toxic' playing loudly and a massive headache. I rubbed my head to try to get rid of the pain.
"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending." the computer announced. I sat up in alarm as I watched the sunfilter descending. I ran to the door and knocked on it frantically.
"Let me out!" I called out as the computer announced the sunfilter was descending.
"Let me out! Let me out!" I tried calling again.
"Anyone in there?" I heard the Doctor ask towards the door.
"Let me out!" I told him.
"Oh, well, it would be you." He said.
"Open the door!" I told him.
"Hold on! Give us two ticks!" He told me.
The room around me was burning.
"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending." The computer told us. "Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising." the computer announced and I sighed with relief.
"Sunfilter rising... Sunfilter descending."
"This is just what we need. The computer's getting clever." He said.
"Will you stop mucking about!" I commanded him.
"I'm not mucking about, it's fighting back!"
"Open the door!"
"Hang on!" I ran down the stairs and flattened myself to the floor as much as possible.
"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising." I sighed in relief and ran towards the door. "Earth Death in 5 minutes." I opened the door and hugged him tightly.
"Hey you, trying to tan?" He asked me.
"Nah, I heard pale is in." I told him smiling.
The Doctor and I walked into the suite as Jabe was talking to everyone, announcing what we had learned.
"The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one." Jabe told everyone.
"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." Cassandra told her dummies. The Doctor took the metal spider out of Jabe's hand.
"Summon the Steward!" The Moxx of Ballhon said.
"I'm afraid the Steward is dead." Jabe told him. Everyone gasped in shock at this discovery.
"Who killed him?" he commanded.
"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Bo! He invited us!" I looked at the Face of Bo as he shook his head. "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!" Cassandra shouted loudly.
"Easy way of finding out. Someone bought a little pet on board." he showed everyone the spider. "Let's send him back to Master." he placed the spider down on the floor and it scuttled along to Cassandra and looked up at her. She looked shifty for a moment, but the spider moved on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.
"They're the one's who knocked me out and put me in that room." I told the Doctor silently.
"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra commanded.
"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it..." the one in front tried to strike him but he caught it and ripped his arm off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." he ripped out a wire from the arm and all the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled on the floor. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" he nudged the spider with his foot. "Go home!" the spider ambled back to Cassandra.
"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." I just looked at her like she was crazy. "At arms!" the two bodyguards with canisters on either side of her rose their canisters.
"What are you going to do, moisturize me?" The Doctor mocked her stepping back slightly.
"With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face." Cassandra told him.
"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" The Doctor told her.
"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." Cassandra revealed to him.
"Five billion years and it still comes down to money." I said.
"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, child. Me. Not you." Cassandra told.
"Arrest her!" The Moxx of Ballhon commanded.
"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." Cassandra told us.
"Earth Death in 3 minutes." the computer announced.
"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby, burn."" Cassandra told us.
"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe told her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but... I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders - activate." There were a series of explosions around the ship. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings." she and her bodyguards teleported out.
"Heat levels rising."
"Reset the computer!" The Mox of Ballhon suggested.
"Only the Steward would know how." Jabe reminded him.
"No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Ash, come on." we left the room heading for the maintenance corridor.
"Earth Death in 2 minutes. Earth Death in 2 minutes."
"Heat levels - critical. Heat levels - critical."
The Doctor and I reached the ventilation chamber.
"Oh. And guess where the switch is." He said and I looked on the other side of the three large fans. Sure enough it was there.
"Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising." He pulled a lever down and the fans slowed.
"External temperature - 5 thousand degrees." As soon as he let go of the lever, the fans sped up again. I pulled the lever down again and held it. He had to make it across, no matter what.
"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place." He told me, looking worriedly at me.
"I know." I told him, sweat already running down my face.
"You'll burn."
"Then time it perfect." We grinned at each other and he ran back to the fans.
He grins at her and runs back to the fans.
"Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - hazardous." he dodges the first fan and ran underneath. When he got to the second one he looked up at it.
"Shields malfunctioning. Shields malfunctioning." The Doctor was still standing before the second fan, and looked back at me. I was sweating like a pig and breathing heavily and my hand felt like it was on fire. "Heat levels - critical. Heat levels - critical." The Doctor dodged under the second fan. "Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising. Planet explodes in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4..." The Doctor dodged the third fan. He ran to the switch, pulling it up.
"Raise shields!" he told the computer/
"...1" I removed my hands and looked down at them. They would probably scar horribly. When the Doctor made his way back to me he looked at my hands.
"I can help them heal but I don't know if I can stop the scaring. I'm sorry." I smiled at him.
"I knew what that might do, I'm fine.
INT. VENTILATION CHAMBER
The Doctor walks back through the fans. We made our way back to the suite. The Doctor looked extremely angry about something, I just wish I knew what it was.
"You all right?" I asked as we entered the suite.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one - teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two - this feed must be hidden nearby." he walked over to the ostrich egg and broke it open. The teleportation feed fell out and he picked it up. "Idea number three - if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." he twisted the feed and Cassandra appeared before us in the middle of her gloating.
"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces." She looked around. "Oh."
"The Last Human."
"So. You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the er... the human club." she said flustered at the thought of what could happen.
"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." The Doctor told her.
"That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."
"And creak?" The Doctor interrupted her.
"And what?" she asked him.
"Creak! You're creaking." he told her. I looked at her to see her skin tightening. Her eyes became bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter.
"What? Ah! Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" she panicked, covered in red blotches.
"You raised the temperature." The Doctor reminded her.
"Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Doctor!" she begged.
"Everything has its time and everything dies." I told her.
"I'm... too... young!" She exploded as we watched. We left the room after that, watching everyone leave. I walked to the window and stared at where my home once was. I went back to the Manchester Suite which was completely empty apart from me. I stood at the window watching the Earth burn with a very vulnerable and sad look on her face. I just watched the rocks fly past the window. I turned around when I heard the Doctor's footsteps as he came to stand beside me.
"The end of the Earth. It's gone. And we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years... all that history and no one was even looking. It's just..." I felt my eyes stinging with unshed tears.
The Doctor held his hand out to me. "Come with me." I took his hand and we walked to the TARDIS together. When I opened the doors I looked around at the crowds, seeing them differently now that I had just yesterday.
"You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." I looked at the sky. "My planet's gone." I looked at him. I got from the last time we spoke he didn't like talking about his home very much. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time." he looked at the people around us.
"What happened?" I asked him.
"There was a war. And we lost."
"A war with who?" I didn't expect an answer to this question, he was already telling me so much. "What about your people?"
"I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own because there's no one else."
"There's me..." I said softly. He looked down and me and I smiled at him
She smiles at him.
"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?" I looked at him then at the people walking by us. They were safe and oblivious to the worlds around them, could I just go back to that?
"I don't know. I want..." I smelt the air "Oh! Can you smell chips?" I asked looking back at him, a small smile playing on my lips.
"Yeah. Yeah!" he laughed at me.
"I want chips." I told him and I knew that we both knew I wasn't going anywhere.
"Me too." he said smiling at me.
"Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, and you can pay." I said hitting his chest lightly.
"No money." he told me, grin still on his face.
"What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me." He seemed a lot happier now, that was all I had wanted. "We've only got five billion years before the shops close..." We walked down the street together laughing. I held his hand a laid my head on his shoulder.
I was only the beginning for us, and I hoped it would never end.
Next time on Doctor Who:
"Now, you've seen the future - let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?" the Doctor asked me.
"What happened in 1860?" I asked.
"I don't know. Let's find out." he pulled a lever down. We heard screaming. We looked at each other and the Doctor grinned.
"That's more like it!" he tossed the newspaper over his shoulder. A blue mist zoom around.
Who's your friend?" I asked looking at the older man.
"Charles Dickens."