A subtle glimmering smothered the room, edging its way from the window and stealing across the floor like an assassin sneaking up on its target. The faint light crept up behind the corridor's only visible occupants and slid around them, suffocating the walls while the footsteps grew nearer.
The clouds in the night sky shifted a touch more and the glimmer of the full moon passed through the furious rain and managed to reach to the end of the hallway. The Doctor and
Amy surveyed the scene in wonderment as a dark figure rounded the corner. A tall, ominous being emerged from the shadows, dressed in a shady cloak that hid its face except for two eerie red dots peering out from underneath a menacingly tall hood. Its steps were a dance of delicate motion that created the illusion of a floating garment.
It reached one of the elevators just as its doors opened and a familiar face tore out of the lift like he was trying to get away from something. The moonlight struck the face of a defeated, demoralized and desperate young man. Cole realised he had run straight into the path of his apparent chaser and tripped on his own shocked feet. Before he could crawl away, the gliding cloak was upon him.
Neither the curious creature nor the beaten bellboy appeared to be effected by the presence of two bystanders intruding on the confrontation. Amy figured that they were as good as invisible; another glitch or anomaly of the hotel. The Doctor didn't figure, but knew. A ghastly, raspy voice slithered out from under the black hood. Amy shuddered at the sound of it while the Doctor watched on eagerly.
''My lord,'' said Cole, ''you are in your true form. Why?''
''I cannot stand being a body of flesh for any longer than I must, but to stray from the point of our meeting would be to carelessly dispose of seconds,'' said the cloaked figure.
''You have seen too much. A situation that would not have been worthy of my time had you stayed the course. I informed you that to betray my trust would be a betrayal of the life you have left in you.''
''Please,'' sobbed Cole, his voice higher and weaker than whatever version of him the Doctor and Amy had encountered, ''I beg of you. Spare me. I didn't mean to, I just wanted her to be safe.''
''The whispers you secreted from your heinous lips weren't carried far before the mouths that could expel them were sewn shut by the Reaper's touch,'' hissed the figure with the scent of self-importance on his breath.
''Y-you k-killed the Steads?'' stuttered Cole. He slanted his eyes almost up into his skull to glance at the figure from his knees, but immediately regretted the decision once the devil's eyes connected with his own. He bowed his head further towards the ground.
''I am afraid your time has come,'' said the Reaper. ''Though I cannot deny you have been useful. The energy you have acquired has been sufficient, but the ship is not yet fully stabilised.''
''So spare me, my lord. Let me help you finish!''
''Your betrayal requires punishment, yet I admit I cannot continue this job alone. Even with the raxillion. Do not fear, I am not going to harm you.''
This time, Cole looked directly to the Reaper and was not afraid. Instead, he was embraced by hope.
''You-you're not going to hurt me?'' he beseeched.
''I am not going to harm you. Your physical self will not be affected in the absorption. I cannot promise that it will not hurt.
''No,'' pleaded Cole, ''please, you said you would never!''
''The influence of truth,'' the Reaper hissed, ''is no match for the persuasion of lies.''
The creature stretched out a robe-coated arm. From the hem emerged, not a hand, but a wisp of smoke that reached out like smoke from a cigarette. Cole scrambled to his feet and attempted to run away but the smoke shot after him and promptly caught up, wrapping itself around his legs and tripping him.
Amy and the Doctor watched on in horror as Cole was bounded by silky grey ropes and held up in mid-air. His skin turned pale and shone with a deathly white glow that travelled from his body, amidst the murky grey echo of an arm and into the thick black cloak, disappearing into the dark abyss like an animal retreating to its den.
The miraculous but unearthly sight came to a hasty stop and the soulless body of Cole dropped to the floor like a rock. The monstrous smoke recoiled back into its nest. Like a firework exploding in the sky, the enigmatic being in the mantle warped into a fiery star. When the sparks disappeared, what was left was a perfect clone of the corpse on the floor.
The creature had taken the life force of Cole.
The replica hoisted the original onto its shoulders and hurtled him into a nearby storage closet. The scene dispersed, the moon vanished, the guests reappeared and the lights came back on. The Doctor and Amy were left standing there, staring blankly at the cupboard.
''What was that?'' asked Amy, stupefied.
''A recording,'' said the Doctor, slowly regaining his composure. ''of something that happened while the hotel was still standing. Played back to us like the hotel has a DVD feature.''
''How did you come to that conclusion?'' asked Amy, puzzled.
''Process of elimination,'' said the Doctor. ''They weren't ghosts because they didn't see us, but they can't be real like us either, otherwise Cole would have fallen straight through the floor. Whatever that thing was must have survived the meteor.''
''How do you know he got away?''
''You heard his voice, you tell me.''
Amy was confused and it showed on her face, but she quickly realised what the Doctor meant.
''The Cole we met in the lobby!'' she exclaimed proudly. ''He's a copy of... himself?''
''So it would seem,'' said the Doctor.
''What about Daniel and those dogs?'' Amy enquired.
''What about them?'' wondered the Doctor.
''Well they must have been here before the meteor too,'' Amy theorised. ''Unless they just wandered in off the field one day and started playing house with a supernatural smoke machine.''
''Doesn't seem too likely, does it?'' said the Doctor. ''Then again, 'likely' doesn't really apply to anything around here. Now, he mentioned the Steads were killed, but Simon-''
''Simon Stead. He's still alive!'' interrupted Amy. ''Well, kind of. So-''
''So what we just saw happened after today,'' said the Doctor. ''I mean, the day that's being projected around us right now. I think it is only one day.''
''It's only using one day of the hotel's memory?'' asked Amy.
''Exactly,'' said the Doctor. ''It would explain why everything was reset this morning. The memory ran out.''
''So if it's only repeating one day,'' said Amy, 'which day is it?''
''By the looks of things outside, not long before doomsday.''