There was a knock on the compartment door, bringing them all firmly back to reality. As one, the three of them turned to see who had entered. Evie smiled warmly when she saw that it was her grandfather. So did the Doctor.
"Ma'am?" Captain Williams called, leaning into the office. "We're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark."
Amy nodded. "Good point. Thank you, Captain Williams."
As Evie turned to the desk and began gathering up the papers she'd been working on during their journey to collect the Doctor, she noticed that he was grinning stupidly at Rory. Rolling her eyes, she carried on with what she was doing, keeping one ear trained on the conversation. She could tell from his tone that he probably had a stupid look on his face.
"Hello."
"Hello, Sir." Rory said politely. "Pleased to meet you."
"Captain Williams, best of the best; couldn't live without him." Amy informed the Doctor. He turned under the pretence of picking up her sketch of Rory. His eyes sought out Evie's and she grinned at him, winking and shaking her head slightly.
"Not a clue." She mouthed, nodding her head towards her grandmother.
"No." The Doctor laughed and then agreed out loud, holding up the drawing and comparing it to the real thing. Behind him, Evie did the same, smirking and shaking her head again.
"What is wrong?" Amy demanded.
"Amy... You'll find your Rory, you always do. But you have to really look."
She pouted. "I am looking!"
"Oh, my Amelia Pond." The Doctor said fondly, taking her face in his hands and smiling at her. "You don't always look hard enough."
"It's not easy! What with her," she gestured over her shoulder at Evie, "trying to set me up with Captain Williams all the time!"
The Doctor glanced at Evie and smiled weakly. "What's wrong with Captain Williams?"
"Nothing. Why are you older?" Amy demanded, changing the subject abruptly. "If time isn't really passing, then how can you be ageing?"
"Time's still passing for me." He said gently, turning away from them. "Every explosion has an epicentre. I'm it... I'm what's wrong."
"What's wrong with you?" Amy asked, not really understanding what he was telling them.
Evie, on the other hand, understood it completely. Her hands stopped collecting up the papers she needed and clutched the edge of the desk tightly. Their grip was so tight that her knuckles lost their colour and her fingers felt as though they were about to snap. The Doctor's words had confirmed what she'd been dreading. She didn't want to hear what his answer was going to be, but neither could she block it out.
"I'm still alive."
Unable to look into his eyes Evie brushed past her grandmother, who was rooted to the spot after the Doctor's words, and stopped in front of her father. She reached up to fiddle with his eye drive, activating it ready to disembark from the train.
"There you are, all set. Make sure this eye drive remains operational or I won't be impressed." She said brusquely. "Ma'am, need any help?"
Amy shook her head wordlessly as the young woman turned to face her. She didn't move, however, so Evie moved to activate it anyway, ignoring the Doctor's gentle hand on her arm. Then she activated her own, before gathering up the pile of papers on Amy's desk.
"Evie?" The Doctor called quietly, following her and laying both his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm messing things up. I was supposed to die… I had to. Now things are all… wrong."
"I know… I've always known… deep down." His daughter said softly, turning to face him. "I guess I just didn't want to hear it out loud… or from you. It makes it real."
"It'll be alright."
"Ma'am?" Captain Williams' voice broke through the moment and Evie was able to turn back to the desk and wipe away the treacherous tears that had filled her eyes without her permission. "We've arrived."
"Excellent!" The Doctor called cheerfully, bounding towards the door. "What are we waiting for!"
Armed with her stack of papers, Evie followed the others out of the compartment and along the train. They alighted, walking quickly through the dimly lit tunnels of the pyramid in the direction of the main operations room where Amy and River spent most of their time.
Placing a gentle hand on her Granddaughter's arm, Amy shot her a reassuring smile and Evie nodded, returning it before looking down. She refused to believe that the Doctor's death was the only way to put things back to the way they were supposed to be.
"OK… so what happens if I decide I don't want to wear this eye patch?" The Doctor asked suddenly, pulling the device off.
"You have to put it on, Sir." Captain Williams told him patiently.
The Doctor was still glaring at it, moving it further from his face. "An eye patch? What for?"
"It's not an eye patch."
"It's an eye drive, Sir. It communicates directly with the memory centres of the brain, acts as external storage."
"Only thing that works on them." Amy said. "Because no living mind can remember these things."
"You either wear it, or you forget about the Silence." Evie continued with the air of someone talking to an obstinate child. "So put it back on!"
The Doctor ignored her as they came into view of the first Silent tank. The creatures were kept suspended in water; it was the only way to prevent them escaping. It had taken several attempts to find a prison secure enough for this and they'd lost more than a few Silents in their attempts. The liquid held them suspended in a semi-comatose state and prevented the soldiers being affected.
Approaching the tank, his eye drive still in his hand, the Doctor stayed silent as Captain Williams explained the situation to him.
"The Silents. We've captured over 100 of them now, all held in this Pyramid."
"We're collecting data from them." Evie added, moving to his side and folding her arms over her chest. She regarded the creature disdainfully with her head tilted slightly to one side. "Running tests and analysing the readings to work out what's happening with time. So far there's been nothing conclusive…"
"There wouldn't be." The Doctor agreed, his gazed fixed on the creature in front of him. "Yeah. I've encountered them before. Always wondered what they looked like."
"Well, put your eye drive on and, you'll retain the information. But only for as long as you're wearing it." Amy told him firmly.
Turning to face her, the Doctor looked concerned. "The Silents have human servants. They all wear these."
"They'd have to." She agreed with a shrug.
"This way." Captain Williams commanded, ushering them further along the corridor.
The Doctor glanced at his eye drive, looking totally disturbed by the fact that no one seemed alarmed at the connection. As they made their way past further tanks containing the sinister creatures, the Time Lord put his eye drive on, instantly noticing the difference in the quality of his memory. Evie smiled at him, spotting the look of incredulity on his face and he glanced away, staring at the Silence instead.
"They seem to be noticing you." Captain Williams told him warily.
Evie glanced at her Vortex Manipulator, doing a quick check on the readings. For some reason the creatures in this sector seemed more active, their charts spiking more frequently than those in any other sector. As they passed, the Silents turned to look at the Doctor, moving more than usual.
"Yeah…" He agreed slowly. "They would."