The raxillion stopped striding across the ceiling and stood perfectly still, almost like they were in formation. Every pair of eyes was looking down on the Doctor, who was staring back at each of them in turn, beaming haughtily.

''Amy, that door over there,'' he said, signalling to one of the few exits clenched by red light, ''walk to it. They won't attack you and if they do, they'll regret it.''

''I'm assuming you have a plan, otherwise you wouldn't be smiling,'' said Amy, walking casually to the door.

''Well you know what they say.''

''What, a smile a day keeps the hellhounds at bay?''

''Well no,'' said the Doctor with humph, but carried on chirpily, ''but I like that. Did you just come up with that?''

The raxillion readied themselves to pounce. Amy saw them in the corner of her eye.

''Focus, Doctor,'' she fretted.

''Okay, open the door and wait for my signal. When it comes, wait ten seconds and slam the door shut again.''

''What's the signal gonna be?''

''Oh, you'll know.''

The Doctor whirled around on the spot and shot the sonic up into the air. The tip shone brighter and brighter until a tennis ball sized light sat on top like a lollipop. He spun it around like a lasso and it released a high pitched squeal that only grew louder. Amy covered her ears and winced. The raxillion started to whimper and scurry about, wanting nothing more than to claw at the wailing green ball of light.

''Now, fetch,'' he declared, and lashed the screwdriver towards the open door. The ball whizzed down into a dark tunnel, the noise a split second behind it echoing back into the room. In a mess of stumbling legs and thrashing tails, the dogs pelted along the ceiling and out through the door. When the last one had crossed the threshold, Amy shoved the door closed and it bolted into place.

''Aha!'' jeered the Doctor. ''Rule of the universe number sixty-three: no matter what dimension it's from, a dog will always chase a ball.''

''Well you definitely made that one up,'' Amy affirmed. ''You couldn't possibly have known they'd fall for that!''

''Rule of the universe number eleven: it's impossible to make up a rule of the universe,'' the Doctor retorted. ''Seriously there's a guidebook and everything.''

The walls all around them began to shift. As if they were made of water and a stone had been thrown into them, a ripple swam around, washing away the outlines of the doors and leaving behind a blank, bland barricade. As the wave flowed in each direction around the room, gradually making its way towards the only door left, the Doctor reacted like he was in a western standoff and blasted the door open with the sonic, seized Amelia and hurtled out of the room.

Catching their breath, once again in consuming darkness, they relaxed for a second before the Doctor lit up the tunnel with a burst of light.

''I guess we're going this way, then,'' avowed Amy, who strutted down the corridor.

...

With the malfunctioning sentient service android still clambering about and the raxillion tricked into running in the opposite direction, Amy and the Doctor walked a little less than leisurely through the tunnel. They may have been safe for now, but if the hotel had taught them one thing it was that anything could be around the next corner, or behind them, or even above.

''Sentient metal,'' the Doctor marvelled. ''I have to admit, I did not see that one coming.''

''How did that even happen?'' Amy probed.

''You saw in the black hole, those things attaching themselves to the ship… all of that irrodium. The sentience of the germs merged with the metal of the craft and voila!''

''But… that only happened to the top part of the spaceship. Weren't we just in the bottom part?''

''The tunnel we went through to get there… it felt a bit long, didn't it? Now we just need to find our way back.''

''And do what?''

''I don't know, I'm sure I'll think of something. Always do. Even when I don't. Especially when I don't. Sometimes when it's too late but never when it's too early. I come up with a plan exactly when I could have used it a few minutes ago.''

''Well… as long as you get us out of here in one piece, your timing's fine with me.''

''One piece, yes. One whole piece, I can never guarantee. Rule of the universe number one-hundred and eleven: you never know when your nose might wander off.''

They reached the end of the tunnel, but could barely see in front of them. Something bright up ahead, combined with the light of the screwdriver, was knocking their vision down. The Doctor switched off the sonic to reveal a cave-like hole in the end of the tunnel leading into a luminous white room.

Hesitantly, they snuck into the dazzlingly bright chamber and looked around from between their fingers. It was entirely empty except for a slightly darker plinth in the centre.

''Dead end?'' Amy asked.

''Looks like it,'' said the Doctor, ''but there's one way to find out. Stand back. Stay away from that platform.''

He regained the scanner from his pocket and waved it around the room, pressing the sonic to it just like in the android's lair to emit the red laser. Nothing changed until he pointed it at the podium. Transparent, watery yellow plasma floated from the panel to the roof, in a perfect cylinder.

''Now what are yo-'' the Doctor began, but was interrupted by a horrendous level of barking coming from the tunnel outside. Louder and louder it grew before three raxillion ran into view and launched themselves, one after the other, down from the roof at the Doctor. Before they reached his height, however, they were sucked into the plasma beam and disappeared with a fizzle and a whelp.

''Well, that answers that question,'' snickered the Doctor, putting the scanner in his jacket. ''Onwards and upwards!''

Without warning, he leapt into the now invisible plasma and vanished without a trace.

''Wait, Doctor, what?!'' Amy yelled into the void, but it was too late. She threw side to side and hobbled on the spot timidly.

''Oh, I am going to kill him,'' she muttered, before a resolute 'aahh' bounced around the air and Amy flung herself into the beam.

Amelia felt like an ant in a vacuum cleaner. Up she soared through an invisible pipe that pulled and pulled. Her body was dispersed like a voice travelling from one cell phone to another, yet she felt whole. She couldn't breathe, but didn't need to. What she could see of her surroundings spun into a haze, taking her with it. What little light there was shone brighter and brighter until she couldn't see anything else. Suddenly, it all stopped. The light died down and the Doctor came into focus, along with the strangest sky she'd ever seen.

Scattered throughout the mostly clear blue sky were hundreds of raging storm clouds, each with their own mesh of lightning, rain and gushing wind. Some parts of the sky didn't even have clouds, just water racing out of one edge and disappearing into another. It was as if there were holes in the atmosphere; windows to another world where a perpetual storm rattled the sky.

They were on the roof of 'The Vaconian'. It was bare except for a few satellite dishes, a small concrete box with the entrance door leaning on it and patches of the floor that were getting soaked with rain. It took Amy a few moments to take it all in.

''Poor things,'' said the Doctor, staring wistfully upwards, ''still not adapted to Earth's gravity. No ceiling to land on up here.''

''I don't… I don't understand,'' Amy stammered, struggling to adjust her eyes to the miraculous sights in front of them. The Doctor noticed her gawking at the sky.

''We're still technically in the hotel,'' he explained, ''but we're technically outside as well. The projection can't decide if it needs to show us the storm or not.''

''It's sort of… beautiful.''

''If you like that, come and look at this.''

The Doctor was standing by the edge of the roof. He turned and leant on the wall as Amy joined him. Looking down over the side of the hotel, nothing could be seen from about twenty storeys down as everything was blocked by a mass of clouds.

''Not many people have been up here,'' the Doctor went on. ''The guests weren't allowed and the staff never need to come up. Everyone was too preoccupied with the fake weather in the windows to ever notice that the real thing was much, much better.''

''All that time,'' Amy pondered, ''three hundred years and nobody ever thought to come out here and just… look. Just look at where they were standing. Where they were really standing.''

''This isn't what they paid for. They paid for fancy suites and poker. Good food and better wine. When right above them was something priceless. Freedom.''
Amy looked at the Doctor looking out into the open air. For the first time since she had boarded the TARDIS and started running, she realised that she wasn't the only one, and that they weren't just running away. They were chasing something more.

What they didn't realise was that there was something chasing them, and it was knocking on the door.