With tired legs the Doctor and Amy weren't up for more running, but with a collapsing building behind them and two halves of a ship trying to burst their way out of the ground below them, they didn't have much a choice.
The field bubbled like it was being boiled from underneath, and the only two real, live humans in the vicinity were speeding across it, putting all of their effort into not tumbling over.
The building behind them, which was not mostly silver with patches of 'The Vaconian' still showing, was rippling like a disturbed lake and rapidly losing height. It fell down from above the clouds, getting soaked up by the ground. In mere seconds, the fake hotel was gone, with a huge puddle of sentient metal being the only trace of it ever existing.
Amy and the Doctor made it past the edge of the lower deck with seconds to spare, as the two halves of the ship blasted out of the ground, sending hefty patches of grass and dirt flying up with them. Two giant black, metallic, oddly shaped ship halves that were beaten down and damaged rose up from the ground, a couple of hundred feet apart from each other.
Instead of a crumbling mess and a clear view into the decks where the spaceship had split apart inside the black hole, there were instead two undulant liquid metal walls where the ship had tried to fix itself. A long, rectangular prism connected the two halves, attached to each of the fluid ramparts; the tunnel that led from inside the lower deck to the lair of the android.
Amy and the Doctor stopped in their tracks to take in the view above them. The ships launched upwards at an incredible pace, but slowed down to make an adjustment. The two halves of the ship emanated a howling whistle as they geared up. The ear-shattering sound was followed by a hollow, ground-shaking crunch as the lower and upper deck reformed back into one whole ship at the cost of destroying the tunnel between them.
The mad man raced towards his box while the girl decided not to wait around any longer as huge chunks of metal came sinking through the sky. High above the clouds, the halves met in the bright light of the sun and challenged its rays with their own lucid blue glow that lit up like an exploding star as the two parts of the ship slammed together like two giant magnets and the craft collapsed in on itself, disappearing into another dimension.
The Doctor and Amy were flung forwards by the force of the metal shower that was pelting the ground. They stood up amidst the wreckage that was all around them. Craters and shards and dust and a strong lingering breeze.
''Where did you send them?'' Amy asked.
''Somewhere away from here,'' the Doctor replied, ''and everywhere else.''
''Good. Those guys really need a time out.''
''Now they've got all the time in their world.''
''And we've got all the time and all the space in ours.''
''Yes… all the space,'' mumbled the Doctor under his breath. He looked sadly into the air, the nine-hundred years that he was running from catching up for a brief instant. Amy seemed not to have heard him.
''Hmm?'' she inquired. The Doctor snapped out of his trance.
''What? Oh, yes. All of time and space, where do you want to go?''
Amy took a second to think about it. She narrowed her eyelids in pensive thought.
''Well,'' she finally said, ''vacation's over. Hotel turning out to be fake and disappearing completely kind of put a damper on things. Plus I've had a lifetime's worth of England. Let's go somewhere a little more alien.''
''I should warn you,'' said the Doctor, ''it's not always this tame. It gets a bit rough out there sometimes.''
''I think I can handle the universe.''
''I'm more worried about whether or not the universe can handle you.''
''Only one way to find out.''
They walked away from the mess they'd partially caused and headed back towards the TARDIS. Upon arrival, the Doctor unlocked the door and paused with a foot inside.
''There is just…'' he began, ''…one place I'd like to go first. If you don't mind.''
''After you, my liege,'' chucked Amy, waving her hand to the TARDIS door.
...
On a mesmerizingly sunny day, a big blue box unflappably materialised onto a field. The second the grinding roar of the TARDIS stopped the Doctor and Amy walked out of it and across the field with a purpose in their hearts. They had landed right next to 'The Vaconian', only it was different this time around. There was a car park.
People bustled about, driving in and out of the area through the dirt track that led away into the distance, some even flying in on air coaches. The two people who had walked in out of the phone box that nobody else had noticed. They charged coolly through the front doors.
Through the lobby with a few bumped shoulders that undeniably went noticed this time, they marched up to the front service desk and simply stood there smiling at the young blonde receptionist that was trying to keep up with the calls and the guests in line. After a few moments she saw the Doctor and Amy looking at her with curious smirks spread on their faces and stopped what she was doing to take them in.
''Hello,'' said Amy. ''When's your break?''
''Uh, um,'' stuttered Alison, ''I don't get one.''
''Hmm,'' replied Amy, ''well that doesn't seem fair. Does it, Doctor?''
''Not even slightly,'' stated the Doctor, still beaming. With his eyes never wavering from their fixation on Alison, he held up his sonic screwdriver and clicked. The drone sent the lobby into a blackout. Emergency generators kicked some power back on, but it wasn't enough to keep the workflow moving.
''Alright,'' the Doctor yelled to the masses of people waiting for service, ''everyone back to their rooms! Or the kitchen, or the games room, or the room with the little water, things, that you turn to clean your hand-''
''Bathroom,'' Amy interjected with a shake in her head.
''-or the bathroom!'' cried the Doctor. ''You'll all be sent an extra complimentary pillow mint, which you should savour, by the way. There may or may not be a poltergeist lurking the halls, depending on which year it is.''
The confused patrons hesitated to move but ultimately all slumped back away from the service desk.
''Now,'' grinned Amy to the bewildered Alison, ''fancy a coffee?''
''I've tried it. It's delicious,'' the Doctor avowed.
''I… I don't…'' stammered Alison.
''Oh, come on! You've got nothing else to do,'' exclaimed the Doctor. ''Go get your brothers to join in, have a good old family gathering. I have a feeling you three don't communicate so well.''
''How do you know-?''
''Never mind that, all that matters is the unacceptable lack of breaks you get in this job. We're here to change that; to break it down, if you will.''
The Doctor turned to Amy and chortled, but reeled his laughter in when he saw her blank face. He turned back to Alison and looked at her expectantly. She didn't know what to say.
''That's a yes,'' remarked Amy, ''Come on.''
She held out her hand.
''Where do you want to go for coffee?'' asked the Doctor. ''Because we can take you anywhere. Just for a day.''
''Anywhere you want. Anywhere in the universe,'' said Amy.
''There are cafés in every corner of every galaxy,'' the Doctor went on. ''Rule of the universe number three-hundred and five: if you're not within flying distance of a café, turn around and come back because you're going the wrong way.''
''Okay you are definitely making these up,'' groaned Amy.
''Who… who are you?'' questioned the muddled receptionist.
''Management,'' affirmed Amy, ''here to give you the work benefits you deserve. Also to tell you that I think the bellboy has a crush.''
Amy's hand was still outreached. Alison glanced at it, then to Amy, then to the Doctor, and back to Amy's hand. Shakily, she gently clasped her own onto it.
''I have every reason not to,'' she said, ''but for some reason I can't help but trust you.''
''We have that effect on people,'' Amy asserted.
Alison looked to the Doctor. He looked back with a touch of sadness in his eyes, knowing what was in her future, but grinned all the same.
''Come along, Stead. Just for a day.''