Listen
The Doctor is on a world tour. First we see him sitting on top of the Tardis above the Earth.
"Listen!" The Doctor whispers as he gets off the top of the Tardis and gets inside, Adam is not inside as usual. "Question. Why do we talk out loud when we know we're alone? (blows out candle) Conjecture. Because we know we're not."
He writes on his blackboard.
"Evolution perfects survival skills. There are perfect hunters." He says.
He watches a lioness bring down a wildebeest.
"There is perfect defence." He continues.
A shoal of dazzling tuna, and a puffer fish inflates itself so the nasty spines stick out.
"Question. Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding? Answer. How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed?" The Doctor describes.
He puts his chalk down in an open book.
"It could be with us every second and we would never know. How would you detect it, even sense it, except in those moments when, for no clear reason you choose to speak aloud? What would such a creature want?" He describes as then asks. "What would it do? Well? What would you do?"
That last word echoes around the Tardis. The chalk is no longer where he left it. It rolls on the floor to his feet and he picks it up, then sees that what he wrote on the blackboard has been replaced by one word. Listen.
Clara has returned home, and is recalling the evening. We jump back to where she has been. Clara enters the restaurant and goes to the table where Danny Pink is sitting, wearing a pink shirt. He raises his right arm in a sort of open hand semi-salute.
"Hey." Danny says.
"Hey." Clara repeats.
She goes to shake his hand.
"Sorry." Clara says.
They exchange kisses on the cheeks.
"So the famous drink at last." Clara jokes.
"Yeah. Took a bit of time, family stuff, but here we are." Danny explains.
"Dinner, in fact." Clara says.
"Yeah, straight to dinner." Danny agrees.
"I like a man who moves fast." Clara says.
"Yeah? I might go straight for extras. Afters. Dessert." Danny tells Clara.
"Yes, I know, I know, dessert." Clara says.
"Straight to dessert."
"Gotcha."
"So, er, how was your day?" Danny asks.
"Good. You know. Teaching." Clara says.
"Yep, teaching." He agrees.
"Teaching, teaching." Clara repeats the word 'teaching'.
"Totally teaching." Danny says as he becomes bored.
"We probably shouldn't talk about work." Clara asks him.
"God, yeah." He agrees.
"Though, do you take Courtney for anything?" Clara asks.
A little later they are still laughing.
"Are you serious?" Danny says.
"She said she couldn't concentrate on her work, because my face was too wide." Clara explains.
"Wide?" Danny asks.
"I could kill that girl some days." Clara jokes.
"Me too." Danny agrees.
"And from you, that means something." Clara says.
"Sorry?" Danny picks up.
The jovial atmosphere dissipates instantly. We see Clara at home, putting her high heels by the kettle.
"I dug twenty three wells." Danny says to Clara, out of context.
"I'm sorry?" Clara asks.
"Twenty three wells. When I was a soldier. Twenty three." Danny continues explaining about when he was soilder.
"Okay. Good. Good wells." Clara tries to congratulate Danny.
"Yeah, they were good, actually." Danny says.
"I'm not doubting the quality of your wells." Clara tells Danny.
"Whole villages saved. Actual towns full of people. People I didn't shoot. People I kept safe." Danny explains.
"Okay. Point taken. Seriously." Clara says.
"So why doesn't that ever get mentioned?" Danny asks.
"I'm sorry I didn't mention your twenty three wells." Clara says.
"Excuse me?" The waiter asks.
"Sorry." Clara apoligizes.
"Er, water for the table?" The waiter asks.
"Don't you worry. He'll probably dig for it." Clara angrily jokes.
The waiter leaves with the jug of water. After a few moments, Danny laughs.
"Sorry." Danny says.
"It's okay." Clara apoligizes.
"Sensitive subject."
"Yes. Can slightly see that."
"Sometimes people like you get the wrong end of the stick." Danny says.
"People like me?" Clara asks.
In her apartment, Clara takes a sip of the hot drink she has made.
"I wasn't making assumptions about you." Danny says.
"That really is exactly what you were doing." Clara tells him.
"You were making assumptions about me." Danny says.
"I made a joke." Clara explains.
"A not-funny joke." Danny says.
"Yeah, well, do you know what I'm making now?" Clara says.
"A fuss?" Danny says.
"An exit." Clara corrects him.
Clara puts on her coat and leaves the restaurant. Danny thumps his head on the table.
The door hits something as it opens. The Doctor is sitting at Clara's dressing table. Adam is meanwhile in the Tardis.
"You just have to squeeze through." The Doctor says.
"Doctor?" Clara asks.
"Why do you have three mirrors? Why don't you just turn your head?" The Doctor asks.
"What are you doing in here?" Clara asks.
"You said you had a date. I thought I'd better hide in the bedroom in case you brought him home. Bit early, aren't you? Did it all go wrong, or is this good by your standards?" The Doctor explains as he asks again.
"It was a disaster and I am extremely upset about it, since you didn't ask." She explains.
"Fine. I need you, for a thing." He asks.
"I can't." Clara says.
"Oh, of course you can. Come on, you're free. More than usually free, in fact." The Doctor disagrees with her.
"No, it's just possible that I might get a phone call." Clara tells the Doctor.
"From the date guy? It's too late. You've taken your make-up off." The Doctor explains.
"No, I haven't. I'm still wearing my make-up." She tells him.
"Oh, right. Well, you probably just missed a bit. Come on, come on, come on, come on." He says as they both go into the Tardis. Clara is carrying her shoes.
"I haven't actually said yes." Clara reminds the Doctor.
"Yes, you know sometimes when you talk to yourself, what if you're not?" The Doctor explains.
"What do you mean by not?" Adam asks, who has joined on the conversation.
"What if it's not you you're talking to? Proposition. What if no one is ever really alone? What if every single living being has a companion, a silent passenger, a shadow? What if the prickle on the back of your neck, is the breath of something close behind you?" The Doctor explains to Clara and Adam.
"How long have you been travelling alone?" Clara asks.
"Too long without someone like me or you." Adam tells Clara.
"Perhaps I never have." The Doctor lies.
He shows her the blackboard with the word he didn't write.
"It looks like your handwriting." Clara says.
"It is his handwriting, Clara. Maybe he could have changed it after his regeneration." Adam explains.
"Well, I couldn't have written it and forgotten, could I?" The Doctor tells them.
"Have you met you? What's all this?" Clara asks.
A table strewn with books.
"Dreams. Accounts of dreams, by different people, all through history. You see, I have a theory." The Doctor explains as he then asks them.
"I'll bet you have. What theory?" Adam asks him.
"I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has the exact same nightmare. You wake up, or you think you do, and there's someone in the dark, someone close, or you think there might be." The Doctor starts to explain.
As evidenced by the little boy, the little girl, the old woman waking in their respective beds, putting on the light and sitting on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor.
"So you sit up,and turn on the light. And the room looks different at night. It ticks and creaks and breathes. And you tell yourself there's nobody there, nobody watching, nobody listening, nobody there at all. And you very nearly believe it. You really, really try and then."
A hand reaches out from under the beds and grabs the left ankle.
"There are accounts of that dream throughout human history. Time and time again, the same dream. Now, there is a very obvious question I'm about to ask you. Do you know what it is?" He asks.
"Have you had that dream?" Clara asks.
"Exactly." The Doctor says.
"No, that was me asking you. Have you had that dream?" Clara explains as she asks.
"I asked first." The Doctor says.
"No, I did." Clara tells him.
"You really didn't." The Doctor reminds him.
"Okay, yeah, probably. Yes. But everyone dreams about something under the bed." Clara says.
"Why?" The Doctor asks.
The Doctor places Clara's fingers into squidgy sections on the Tardis console.
"Just hold on tight. If anything bites, let it." The Doctor tells Clara.
"What is it?" Clara asks.
"Tardis telepathic interface. You are now in mental contact with the Tardis, so don't think anything rude." The Doctor explains.
"Why not?"
"It might end up on all of the screens. The Tardis is extrapolating your entire timeline, from the moment of your birth, to the moment of your death." Adam explains as he tries to do it in a not jokey manner.
"Which I do not need a preview of." Clara tells him, Adam chuckles.
"I'm turning off the safeguards and navigation, slaving the Tardis to you. Focus on the dream. Focus on the details. Picture them, feel them. The Tardis will track on your subconscious and extract the relevant information. It should be able to home in on the moment in your timeline when you first had that dream. And then, we'll see." The Doctor explains.
"What will we see?" Clara asks.
"What seems to be under your bed." Adam tells her, not letting the Doctor speak.
The Doctor starts the Tardis flying as he explains to Clara.
"Okay, now don't get distracted. Remember, you are flying a time machine."
Clara's mobile phone rings, and the image of Danny greeting her at the restaurant flashes into her mind. As the Doctor walks around the console to her, he passes a blackboard with lots of items chalked on it, beginning with Evolution Perfects.
"No, no. Don't you dare. No, don't. Don't, don't. Just ignore it."
The Tardis lands.
"Okay, that's good. That worked. We're here." The Doctor says.
"Sorry, I think I got distracted." Clara reminds.
"No, no, no, no, no. The date's fine. Come on." The Doctor tells her.
The Doctor leaves. Clara tugs hard to try and release her fingers from the Tardis interface. On the third try she is free to follow. Adam sniggers and then stops. Clara looks angry at him.
"Takes a bit long to get out off." Adam tells her as they leave.
"The West Country Children's Home. Gloucester. By the ozone level and the drains, mid-nineties. You must have been here when you had the dream." The Doctor explains.
"Never been to Gloucester in my life, and I've never lived in a children's home." Clara tells the Doctor.
"You've probably just forgotten. Have you seen the size of human brains? They're hilarious. Little you must be in here somewhere, with your little brain." The Doctor tells her.
"Isn't it bad if I meet myself?" Clara asks.
"It is potentially catastrophic." The Doctor says.
"So why did you bring me out here?" Clara asks.
"I was still talking. I needed someone to nod. Probably best for you to wait in the Tardis." The Doctor tells her.
"Doctor, I." Clara tries to say.
"See you in a minute. Tardis." The Doctor commands her.
"Doctor. If I had have been distracted, what would have happened?" Clara asks him.
"We would probably have ended up in the wrong place. But don't think we have, because the time zone's right. I won't be long." He responds.
"Doctor, you kind have forgot me!" Adam shouts as he runs to the Doctor.
The Doctor walks away. A young boy waves from an upstairs window. He reminds Clara of how Danny waves. Then he opens his window and calls down.
"What are you doing down there?" The boy asks Clara.
"Nothing. Er, I'm just. What's your name?" Clara says as she asks the boy.
"Rupert." The boy answers.
"Oh. Okay. Hello, Rupert." Clara greets Rupert.
"Rupert Pink. It's a stupid name." Rupert says.
"No, it isn't. I know somebody called Pink." Clara tells him.
"I meant Rupert. I'm going to change it." Rupert corrects Clara.
"Why are you awake? Are you scared?" Clara asks.
The sonic screwdriver is scanning as the Doctor walks along the corridor of the childrens home. A balding man in glasses opens a door. We hear the TV on in the background.
"How did you get in?" The man asks.
"Your door must be faulty." The Doctor explains.
The Doctor holds up his psychic paper.
"An inspection? It's two in the morning." The man says.
"When better? Do you always work here nights?" The Doctor asks the man.
"Most nights, yes." The man tells himself.
"Do you ever end up talking to yourself?" The Doctor asks.
"All the time. It's this place. You can't help it." The man says.
"What about your coffee?" The Doctor asks the man about his coffee.
"My coffee?" The man says.
We see Clara going up the stairs behind them. Adam is already upstairs.
"Sometimes, do you put it down, and look round, and it's not there?" The Doctor explain and asks.
"Everybody does that." The man tells him.
"Yes. Everybody."
The television switches off.
"Who turned your telly off?" The Doctor asks, with a Scottish manner.
"It does that. It just goes off." The man says.
The Doctor has vanished. The man looks for his mug, but it has vanished too. The Doctor walks along the corridor and takes a drink from it.
"Hmm." The Doctor thinks about it.
Clara opens a creaky door and walks along an upstairs corridor.
Rupert is sitting on the floor by the window.
"Hello." Clara greets Rupert.
"Hello." Rupert greets Clara.
"Nice room. You know, you should have more than one chair. What do you do when people come round?" Clara admires Rupert's room as she then asks him if anyone comes around.
"Sit on the bed." Rupert tells Clara to do.
"Why aren't you sitting on it, then? Do you think that there's something underneath it? Hey, everyone thinks that, sometimes. That's just how people think at night." Clara explains as she knows what Rupert may be thinking.
"Why?" Rupert asks Clara.
"Did you have a dream? A hand grabbing your foot? You have, haven't you? You've had that exact dream." Clara explains.
"How did you know?" Rupert inquires a clear answer.
"Do you know why dreams are called dreams?" Clara asks Rupert.
"Why?" Rupert says.
"Because they're not real. If they were, they wouldn't need a name." Clara explains.
"What are you doing?" Rupert asks.
Clara looks underneath the bed.
"Do you know what's under there?" Clara asks Rupert.
"What?" Rupert says.
"Me!" Clara shouts.
Clara rolls under the bed and lies on her back.
"Come on, It's perfectly safe." Clara pursades Rupert.
Rupert lies next to her.
"See? Nobody here, except us." Clara tells him.
"Sometimes I hear noises." Rupert mentions.
"It's a house full of people. Of course you hear noises." Clara reminds him.
"They're all asleep." Rupert explains.
"They're all dreaming." Clara tells Rupert.
"Can you hear dreams?" Rupert asks if the concept of hearing dreams is real.
"If you're clever enough. But they can't harm you. You know, sometimes we think there's something behind us. And the space under your bed is what's behind you at night. Simple as that. There's nothing to be afraid of." Clara explains.
The bed creaks as someone sits on it. It sags to within inches of Clara's nose. Rupert starts breathing quickly.
"Who else is in this room?" Clara asks.
"Nobody." Rupert says.
"Or that's what your thinking of." Adam mentions.
"Are you on the bed?" Clara says.
"No, I'm standing here looking at this big bulge on the bed, could it be a ailen because aliens have been in orphanages, maybe not here." Adam explains.
Clara rolls out and stands up. There is someone sitting on the bed, covered in the red crocheted bedspread.
"Hello, What are you?" Adam asks the bulge on the bed.
Clara helps Rupert stand up.
"This is a friend of yours playing a game. Playing a trick, are you, hey? A little trick on Rupert here?" Clara asks.
The bed creaks as the figure shifts, sitting up taller.
"Okay. It's not funny this, you know."
The light is switched on. Clara, Adam and Rupert turn to see the Doctor sitting in the chair flicking through a book. The figure is still covered by the bedspread.
"Where is he?" The Doctor says.
"Doctor?" Clara inquires.
"I can't find him. Can you find him?" The Doctor asks.
"Find who?" Clara asks.
"Wally." The Doctor mentions.
"Wally?" Adam asks.
"He's nowhere in this book." The Doctor responds.
"It's not a Where's Wally one." Rupert tells the Doctor.
"Well, how would you know? Maybe you just haven't found him yet." The Doctor tells him.
"He's not in every book." Rupert reminds.
"Really? Well, that's a few years of my life I'll be needing back. Are you scared? The thing on the bed, whatever it is, look at it. Does it scare you?" The Doctor asks Rupert.
"Yes." Rupert says.
"Well, that's good. Want to know why that's good?" The Doctor says.
"Why?" Rupert asks.
"Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard, I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It's your superpower. There is danger in this room and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it? Do you think he feels it? Do you think he's scared? Nah. Loser. Turn your back on him." The Doctor explains as he also gives a few words that will remind The Doctor and Clara, and even Adam later on... (I won't tell you when guys, find out and read on.)
"What?" Rupert asks.
"Yeah, turn your back on him. Come on. You too, Clara. Clara, your back, now." Adam tells her as he turns. The Doctor turns and goes to the window.
"Do it. Just do it now. Turn your back. Do it now, turn your back. Lovely view out this window." The Doctor says.
Rupert stands between them.
"Yeah. Come and see all the dark." Adam says.
"The deep and lovely dark. We'd never see the stars without it. Now, there are two possibilities. Possibility one, it's just one of your friends standing there, and he's playing a joke on you. Possibility two, it isn't." The Doctor tells everyone.
"So, plan? Plans are good." Clara asks.
"You on the bed, I'm talking to you now. Go in peace. We won't look. Just go. If all you want to do is stay hidden, it's okay. Just leave." The Doctor commands the bulge on the bed.
The figure moves up close behind them.
"Is it gone?" Clara asks.
"Don't look round. Not yet." The Doctor explains.
"I can't hear anything." Rupert says.
"Don't look round." The Doctor tells Rupert.
Rupert starts to turn around.
"Look away! Look away now! Don't look at it! Don't look round. Don't look round. Don't look at the reflection." The Doctor shouts at Rupert for trying look around.
"What is it?" Rupert asks.
The thing pulls the bedspread off, and we get a glimpse of an out of focus maybe-not-quite-human forehead and eyes.
"Imagine a thing that must never be seen. What would it do if you saw it?" The Doctor explains as he asks the other three what would happen to see it.
"I don't know." Rupert explains.
"Neither do I. Close your eyes." The Doctor says.
"What?" Rupert inquires.
"Close your eyes. You too, Clara. Give it what it wants. Prove to it that you're not going to look at it. Make a promise. A promise you're never going to look at it." The Doctor explains.
"I promise never to look." Clara says.
"A promise you will break." Adam tells them.
"The breath on the back of your neck, like your hair's standing on end. That means, don't look round." The Doctor explains.
The door slams shut.
"Gone." Clara says.
"Gone." The Doctor repeats.
"Of course." Adam tells them.
"He took my bedspread." Rupert complains.
"Oh, the human race. You're never happy, are you?" The Doctor says.
"Am I safe now?" Rupert asks.
Clara, Adam and the Doctor look at Rupert's toys. The Doctor is interested in his orange robot.
"Nobody's safe, especially not at night in the dark, Anything can get you. And all the way up here, you're up here all alone." The Doctor explains.
Clara slaps the back of the Doctor's head.
"Not again, Clara." Adam complains.
"What was that for?" The Doctor asks.
"Shut up, leave this to me." Clara says.
She has found a box of toy plastic soldiers.
"These yours?" Clara asks.
"They're the home's." Rupert explains.
"They're yours now." Clara says.
"People don't need to be lied to." The Doctor tells Clara.
"People don't need to be scared by a big gray-haired stick insect, but here you are. Stay still, shut up. See what I'm doing? This is your army." She explains, ignoring the Doctor.
Clara puts the little soldiers on guard around Rupert's bed.
"Plastic army." Adam describes the soilders.
"Sit! And they're going to guard under your bed. You see this one? This is the boss one, the colonel. He's going to keep a special eye out." Clara describes what these soilders will become as she gives him a dream.
"It's broken, that one. It doesn't have a gun." Rupert whines.
"That's why he's the boss. A soldier so brave he doesn't need a gun. He can keep the whole world safe. What shall we call him?" Clara describes the one without the gun as she asks what Rupert should call the bos soldier.
"Dan." Rupert says.
"Sorry?" Clara asks.
"Dan, the soldier man. That's what I call him." Rupert explains.
"Good. Good name." Clara kind of agrees.
"Yeah. Would you read me a story? It'll help me get to sleep." Rupert asks.
"Sure." Clara agrees to do.
"Once upon a time." The Doctor starts off the story as he touches Rupert's forehead and the boy falls back, asleep.
"The end. Dad skills." He says.
"So is it possible we've just saved that kid from another kid in a bedspread?" Clara says.
"Entirely possible, yes. The bigger question is, why did we end up with him, and not you?" The Doctor explains as he asks her why it wasn't her.
"I got distracted." Clara asks.
"But why that particular boy? You don't have any. You don't have any kind of connection with him, do you?" The Doctor asks her.
"No. No, no, no. Of course not. Why do you ask?" Clara asks.
The Doctor is working on a Tardis component.
"The Tardis was slaved to your timeline. Theoretically, there should have been some connection." The Doctor explains.
"Will er, will he remember any of that?" Clara asks.
"Scrambled his memory. Gave him a big old dream about being Dan the soldier man." The Doctor explains.
Clara starts crying.
"Are you okay?" Adam asks Clara if she is okay after starting to cry.
"Doctor, I am sorry to ask, and, you know, I realise this is probably against the laws of time, or summat. Er, could you do me a favour?" Clara asks the Doctor.
Clara leaves the restaurant, and Danny bangs his head on the table. The Doctor and Clara step out of the Tardis.
"Is that what I look like from the back?" Clara whispers.
"It's fine." The Doctor disagrees.
"I was thinking it was good." Clara thinks.
"Really?" The Doctor says.
Clara walks to the restaurant.She sits down opposite Danny, who raises his head from the table.
"Sorry." Clara says.
"Hey." Danny tells her.
Clara holds out her hand.
"Hello. I'm Clara Oswald. I'm a bit tricky, sometimes a bit up myself, and I do not like my surname, but I think that's basically everything you need to worry about." Clara reintroduces herself to Danny.
He takes her hand.
"Hello, I'm. I'm sorry." Danny responds.
"Also, I mouth off when I'm nervous and I've got a mouth on me. Seriously, it's got a mind of its own. I'm really worried it wants to go solo." Clara explains to Danny about her mouth.
"I don't know what to say." Danny tells Clara.
"Don't say anything. Or say something nice." Clara says.
"I like your name." Danny admires.
"It's a start."
"Oswald. It suits you."
"Drifting now."
"Yeah, it's better than Pink."
"No, Pink, Pink is nice. I like pink."
"You can have it."
"Ooo, a bold offer, Mister Pink."
"I meant. You, know?"
"I know, I know."
"Why can't I speak today?"
"It's that foot you're keeping in your mouth."
"Is that where I put it?"
"Anyway. Clara Pink. Too much."
"Yeah, it is a bit much."
"Mind you, Rupert Pink."
In the background, someone drops a glass and it breaks.
"Sorry?" Danny asks.
"Er, ha, ha. Rupert Pink. It's not good." Clara tries to laugh the name of Rupert Pink off.
"Rupert?" Danny asks.
"Yeah. That was your name, yeah?" Clara inquires on the name.
"Who told you that?" Danny starts to interragate Clara.
"Er, someone in the school." Clara lies.
She looks away and clucks her tongue against her palate.
"No, I haven't used that name for years." Danny tells her.
"I cannot remember who it was." Clara says.
"Are you making fun of me?" Danny asks.
"No. No, no, no. No way." Clara annouces.
"Is this a joke?" Danny inquires.
"Danny, nothing about this is any kind of joke." Clara explains.
The door to the kitchens creaks opens and a spaceman walks in.
"Where's your coat?" Danny interragates Clara some more.
"My what?" Clara asks.
"You put your coat on when you left." Danny says.
"Er, I'm really sorry. Danny. There is something I should probably be honest about." Clara explains.
"How about everything?" Danny inquires.
"Everything, in my case, is actually quite a lot." Clara explains more.
"Well, that's weird." Danny says.
"No, no, no, Where are you going?" Clara asks Danny.
"I don't do weird." Danny tells Clara.
"Don't go." Clara says.
"Then do something for me, Tell me the truth, because I know when people are lying to me. However weird this thing may be, just tell me the truth." Danny commands her to do,
"It's not weird." Clara starts to explain,
Clara sees the spaceman beckoning to her.
"Exactly." Clara continues.
The Tardis is visible as the spaceman returns to the kitchen.
"I've had enough." Danny says.
Danny leaves. Clara sighs, then heads to the kitchens while opening the door of the Tardis.She slams the door shut and talks to the spaceman.
"I am trying to have a date. A real life, inter-human actual date! It's a normal nice, everyday, meeting-up sort of thing. And I would just like to know, is there any other way you can make this any more surreal than it already is?" Clara shouts at the spaceman.
The spaceman takes off his helmet. He is a total dead ringer for Danny Pink, but with bigger hair and a fuller beard.
"Hello." The spaceman says.
"Ah, Clara! Well done, you found her. Now this is really a bit strange." The Doctor explains.
"Danny?" Clara thinks of.
"What's gone wrong with your face? It's all eyes! Why are you all eyes? Get them under control." The Doctor commands Clara.
"Er, who's Danny?" The spaceman asks Clara about who the hell Danny is.
"This is Colonel Orson Pink, from about a hundred years in your future." The Doctor explains.
"Orson Pink?" Clara asks about the name.
"Yeah, I laughed too. Sorry. Do you have any connection with him?" Adam says.
"Connection?" Clara inquires.
"Yes, maybe you're like a distant relative or something?" The Doctor maybe tries to look for any connection between Oswald and Pink.
"How, how would I know?" Clara tells him.
"Er, well, do you have any old family photographs of her? You know, probably quite old and really fat-looking?" The Doctor asks.
"I don't." Orson says.
"How did you find him?" Clara asks.
"Well, you left a trace in the Tardis telepathic circuits. I fired them up again and the Tardis brought me straight to him. So he is something to do with your timeline." The Doctor explains.
"Okay." Clara says.
"And you'll never guess where I found him." The Doctor says.
A spaceship is sitting on a rocky planet with a massive hemisphere of a sun dominating the horizon. Calling it a time capsule implies it is much smaller than it really is.
"Where are we?" Clara inquires.
"The end of the road. This is it, the end of everything. The last planet." Adam describes.
"The end of the universe?" Clara repeats.
"The Tardis isn't supposed to come this far, but some idiot turned the safeguards off. Listen." The Doctor describes.
"To what?" Adam asks what to listen to.
"Nothing. There's nothing to hear. There's nothing anywhere. Not a breath, not a slither, not a click or a tick. All the clocks have stopped. This is the silence at the end of time." The Doctor describes.
A clattering as Orson empties the contents of a locker into a rucksack.
"Then how did he get here? If he's from a hundred years in my future." Clara begins to say.
"Pioneer time traveller." Adam says for the Doctor.
The Doctor sonicks the records up on the computer.
"Rode the first of the great time shots. They were supposed to fire him into the middle of the next week." The Doctor describes.
"What happened?" Clara asks.
"He went a bit far." The Doctor comments.
"A bit?" Clara says.
"A big bit. Look at him now. Robinson Crusoe at the end of time itself. The last man standing in the universe. I always thought that would be me." The Doctor describes.
"It's not a competition." Clara tells him.
"I know it's not a competition. Course it isn't. Still time, though." The Doctor asks.
"He looks like he's packing." Clara says.
"He's been stranded for six months, just met a time traveller. Of course he's packing." The Doctor describes.
Orson enters.
"You can do it, then? You can get me home?" Orson asks.
"I just showed you, didn't I? A test flight to a restaurant." The Doctor describes to him.
"Yes, but to my family, to my own time?" Orson tells him.
"Easy. I can do that, can't I, Clara?" The Doctor says.
"He can, yes." Clara agrees.
"Is everything okay?" Orson asks Clara.
"Yeah, fine. I'm fine." Clara says.
"Do I know you?" Orson inquires.
"No. Nope." Clara tells him.
"Is she doing the all eyes thing? It's because her face is so wide. She needs three mirrors." The Doctor jokes.
"Doctor." Adam says.
"We can't leave immediately, though. The Tardis needs to recharge." The Doctor explains to him.
"Sorry. What?" Clara shouts.
"Overnight, that should do it, shouldn't it, Clara?" The Doctor inquires her answer.
"Overnight?" Orson asks after overhearing the word overnight.
"One more night. That's, that's not a problem, is it?" The Doctor tells him.
Orson's face says yes, but -
"No. No, no problem." Orson evaluates.
"It's a shame, isn't it?" The Doctor says.
"What's a shame?" Orson asks.
"There's only four people left in the universe, and you're lying to the other two. It was the first thing I noticed when I stepped in here. You must have seen it, too, Clara. You've got eyes out to here." The Doctor explains.
"Seen what?" Clara inquires.
"The universe is dead. Everything that ever was is dead and gone. There's nothing beyond this door but nothingness for ever." The Doctor reminds Clara and Orson.
"Please, don't make me spend another night here." Orson asks.
"Afraid of the dark? But the dark is empty now." The Doctor tells him.
"No. No, it isn't." Orson says.
Clara wears the rucksack, Orson carrys two metal cases. She leads him down below the time rotor level.
"You'll be safe in here. Nothing gets through those doors, I promise." Clara explains to Orson.
"And you three are going to wait out there?" Orson inquires.
"That would seem to be the plan. Wait for what exactly?" Clara says.
"Why can't we just leave?" Orson asks.
"Like he said, it's recharging." Clara reminds him.
"You didn't look like you believed him." Orson describes her.
"That's just how my face looks when he talks." Clara says.
A clear plastic box containing a gun-less plastic soldier falls from Orson's backpack when she puts it down. Clara picks it up.
"It's just a silly toy thing. A family heirloom, supposed to bring good luck." Orson describes.
"Right. Yes. Didn't do a very good job, did it?" Clara asks.
"It did. You're here, aren't you? What were the chances of you two finding me?" Orson inquires.
"Orson, do me a favour. Take my advice. When you get home, stay away from time travel." Clara commands.
She gives him the toy back.
"It runs in the family." Orson says.
"What? Sorry, what do you mean, runs in the family?" Clara asks.
"Nothing. It's just silly stories one of my grandparents. well, great-grandparents." Orson explains.
"What is it? Tell me. You asked if you knew me. It's a family heirloom?" Clara inquires.
Orson holds Dan the soldier man out to her and they hold hands around it.
"Yeah." Orson says.
"What are we doing?" Clara asks.
"Waiting." The Doctor patiently says.
"For what? For who? If everybody in the universe is dead, then there's nobody out there." Clara explains.
"That's one way of looking at it."
"What's the other?"
"That's a hell of a lot of ghosts."
The lights dim.
"Do you have your own mood lighting now? Because, frankly, the accent is enough." Clara inquires.
The capsule creaks. Words appear on the main hatch - Do Not Open The Door.
"Where did that come from?"
"It's always been there. It's only visible in the night lights."
"But who wrote it?" Clara inquries.
"Colonel Pink. Apparently, at night, he needs a reminder. Six months stranded alone, I suppose it must be tempting." The Doctor explains.
"What is?" Adam asks.
"Company." The Doctor whispers.
More slow creaking.
"What's that?" Clara whines more.
"What kind of explanation would you like?" The Doctor asks her.
"A reassuring one?" Clara whines even more.
"Well, the systems are switching to low power. There are temperature differentials all over this ship. It's like pipes banging when the heating goes off." The Doctor gives her explaintion that she wants.
"Always thought there was something in the pipes." Clara tells the Doctor.
"Me, too. Who were you having dinner with?" The Doctor pokes in.
"Are you making conversation?" Clara says.
"I thought that I would give it a try." The Doctor says.
"I told you. A date."
"Serious?"
"It's a date."
"A serious date?"
"Do I have to bring him to you for approval?"
"Well, I would like to know about his prospects. If you like, I can pop ahead and check them out."
"Frankly, you've already done enough."
What sounds like a scream makes them jump.
"Atmospheric pressure equalising." The Doctor explains.
"Or?" Clara says,
"Company." The Doctor responds.
"Why are we doing this? Why don't we just go?" Clara whines more.
"Because I need to know." The Doctor says.
"Why? About what?" Clara asks.
"Suppose that there are creatures that live to hide. That only show themselves to the very young or the very old, or the mad, or anyone who wouldn't be believed." The Doctor explains.
"Okay, so?" Clara inquires.
"What would those creatures do when everyone was gone? When there was only one man left standing in the universe?" The Doctor anwsers her question.
Bang, bang, bang.
"What's that?" Clara asks.
"Three knocks, not four." Adam points out.
"Potentially, the hull cooling." The Doctor rightfully told them.
"Potentially? Clara asks.
"Believably." The Doctor says.
Bang, bang, bang.
"Someone knocking." The Doctor finally points out.
"Three times again." Adam repeats himself again.
Bang, bang, bang.
"Yes." The Doctor says.
Bang, bang, bang. Scrape, scrape, scrape.
"Doctor," Clara whines again.
Bang, bang, bang.
"You don't actually believe all this, do you? Hiding creatures, things from under the bed." Clara tells him.
Bang, bang, bang. Scrape, scrape, scrape.
"What's that in the mirror, or the corner of your eye? What's that footstep following, but never passing by?" The Doctor recites something.
Bang, bang, bang.
"Did we come to the end of the universe because of a nursery rhyme?" Clara asks.
Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang. The Doctor sonicks the hatch to Unlocked. The mechanism starts to turn.
"That's you turning it, right?" Clara asks.
"No. Get in the Tardis." The Doctor commands.
"Why?" Clara ignores him.
"I have to know." The Doctor repeats.
"Doctor. Doctor." Clara says.
"The Tardis, now!" The Doctor shouts.
"Okay, okay. Somebody is out there. Now we know, we can leave. Oh, Doctor!" Clara tries to tell him again.
"It's a pressure lock. Releasing it could've triggered the opening mechanism." The Doctor explains about the pressure lock.
"Is there even an atmosphere out there?" Clara asks.
"There is an air shell round the ship. Why are you still here?" The Doctor explains as he then asks.
"Because I am not going to leave you in danger!" Clara shouts at him.
"Then you will never travel with me again, because that is the deal! Tardis, now! Do as you are told!" The Doctor commands
Clara and Adam run to the Tardis.
"You're an idiot." Clara says.
She goes inside.
"I know." The Doctor says.
"What's happening?" Orson asks.
"He's opening the door." Clara tells Orson.
"Perhaps they're all just waiting, perhaps when we're all dead, out they'll come a-slithering from underneath the bed." The Doctor explains to himself.
The airlock opens.
"Oh, no, no, no, not now, come on!" Clara shouts.
The scanner flickers as the air starts to leave the capsule..
"Oh! Always when it's important!" Clara annouces so more.
The Tardis jolts.
"What's happening?" Clara says.
A klaxon sounds.
"What's that?" Clara asks.
"The alarm. The air shell's breached. Stay here." Orson tells her again.
The scanner flickers on to show the Doctor hanging on to the edge of a console as the air and anything loose is sucked out of the capsule. A gloved hand grabs his wrist as he starts to slip and he is pulled to safety. A short time later, the unconscious Doctor is back in the Tardis.
"Is he okay?" Adam asks Orson about the Doctor.
"He's out cold. He'll be fine, though." Orson tells her.
"Something hit him." Clara says.
"Everything was flying out of that door." Orson explains.
"Could've been that." Adam says.
"Yeah." Clara agrees.
We still hear a group of three sounds repeating in the background.
"What was out there? What were you so afraid of?" Clara asks.
"I've been here a long time. My own shadow, probably." Orson explains.
"Yeah." Adam agrees with Orson.
Rumble. The Tardis doors move slightly.
"That's probably just the rest of the air escaping." Orson explains.
"You say probably a lot." Clara points out.
Creak, whumph!
"We are safe? Nothing can get in here, right?" Orson quickly asks.
"Probably." Clara jokes.
Air escaping. The Cloister Bell tolls. Adam goes to the console.
"Have you got a plan?" Orson says.
"Telepathic circuits. Clara left a trace in them before." Adam explains.
"So?" Orson asks.
"So apparently, that can do a thing." Clara tells them.
Adam sticks his fingers into the console.
"What, that's your plan?" Orson says.
"It's not a plan, it's a thing." Adam explains to him.
The time rotor starts to stutter.
"Okay. Come on, come on, you can do it!" Adam shouts at the Tardis.
The Doctor wheezes, The time rotor gets up to speed.
"Here we go! Come on. Come on!" Adam continues shouting.
The Tardis lands with a thump. The Cloister Bell has stopped.
"Is that it?" Orson complains.
"I don't know. I think so." Adam says.
The scanner isn't much help.
"Where are we?" Clara asks.
"Somewhere else. I hope. No, no, no, you stay and look after the Doctor." Adam commands her to do.
"You can't go out there by yourself." Orson says.
"Thing is, my timeline, it keeps on. Orson, you don't want to meet yourself. It's really embarrassing." Adam explains.
The Tardis door creaks slightly as Adam closes it. On a raised platform is a simple bed, and a child is lying curled up on their side under a blanket, sobbing as the star and/or moonlight streams down through the roof. Adam climbs the ladder to the platform.
"Rupert?" Adam asks.
She walks to the bed.
"Orson?" Adam says.
The barn door opens and we see two pairs of feet enter. The woman wears a long skirt with an apron over the top.
"Why does he have to sleep out here?" The man asks.
"He doesn't want the others to hear him crying." The woman explains.
"Why does he have to cry all the time?" The man asks.
Adam hides under the bed.
"You know why." The woman tells him.
"There'll be no crying in the army." The man explains.
"Hush." The woman says to the man.
"Don't pretend you're not awake. We're not idiots." The man tells the young person.
"Come and sleep in the house. You don't have to be alone. If you can hear me, you're very welcome in the house, with the other boys. I'll leave the door on the latch. Come in any time." The woman explains.
"He can't just run away crying all the time if he wants to join the army." The man says.
"He doesn't want to join the army. I keep telling you." The woman tells him.
"Well, he's not going to the Academy, is he, that boy? He'll never make a Time Lord." The man explains.
The Doctor wakes suddenly.
"Sontarans! Perverting the course of human history!" The Doctor shouts as he explains about the Sontarans.
"Doctor?" Clara asks.
"You're confusing me. What? Shut up, shut up. Where's Adam?" The Doctor asks. "Adam! Adam?" The Doctor shouts from the Tardis.
"Hello? Who's there? Hello?" The boy from the bed asks.
The boy sits on the edge of his bed, and Adam grabs his ankle as if by reflex.
"It's okay. This is just a dream. Just lie back again. Just lie back on the bed. It will all be okay if you just lie down and go to sleep. Just do that for me. Just sleep." Adam commands the child.
He releases his ankle and the boy gets back into bed. Adam sits on the edge of the bed and puts his hand stroking his hair gently as the child sobs to himself. He whispers into his ear.
"Listen." Adam starts to speak.
"What happened? What did you see? What's out there?" Orson asks.
Adam returns.
"What if there was nothing? What if there never was anything? Nothing under the bed, nothing at the door. What if the bigger Time Lord doesn't want to admit he's just afraid of the dark." Adam explains.
"Where are we? Have we moved? Where have we landed?" The Doctor asks.
"Don't look where we are. Take off, and promise me you will never look where we've been." Adam commands him.
"Why?" The Doctor asks.
"Just take off. Don't ask questions." Adam tells him to do.
"I don't take orders, Adam." The Doctor explains.
"Do as you're told." Adam raises his voice.
The Tardis dematerialises. The boy sits up in his bed.
"Listen." Adam continues.
Earlier, whispering into his ear. We are also shown Orson being returned home, and giving Clara a hug.
"This is just a dream. But very clever people can hear dreams. So, please, just listen. I know you're afraid, but being afraid is all right. Because didn't anybody ever tell you? Fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. And one day, you're going to come back to this barn. And on that day you're going to be very afraid indeed." Adam continues on with his speech.
The War Doctor stands in the wilderness looking at the lonely barn, taken from The Day of the Doctor.
"But that's okay. Because if you're very wise and very strong, fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly." Adam continues on more.
"Fear can make you kind." Adam says.
Clara grabs the Doctor from behind for a hug.
"No, no. Not the hugging. No, no, no. I'm against the hugging. Please." The Doctor tells Clara.
The Doctor drops Clara off and leaves. Danny's doorbell rings, so he goes and answers it.
"I am so."
"I know."
"It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed or in the dark, so long as you know it's okay to be afraid of it." Adam says.
"And I just get nervous."
"Me too."
"I don't even know what I'm nervous of."
Over images of the Doctor underlining at the word Listen on his blackboard.
"I'll show you. So, listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this. You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's okay, because fear can bring us together." Adam says.
Clara kisses Danny.
"Fear can bring you home. I'm going to leave you something, just so you'll always remember, fear makes companions of us all."
Adam leaves Dan the soldier man to stand guard as he says what the Doctor told Barbara while they were tied up in the Cave of Skulls.
A/N - Wow, this took only a week and I said I was going to finish the dinner scene by last week, but instead I was around 3 quarters of the way through, because wow. That story was fast. I mean it. I was racing through the scenes of the episode. So, there is 3 big problems that have bugging a lot of people.
1. Why will you not do Time Heist and Mummy On The Orient Express?
I think you might be outdated there. Time Heist is still going to be not done because that story needs only the four heist characters and Adam really needs a break off. Mummy is replaced with Flatline. I think Mummy would kind of fit Adam.
2. Why haven't you completed Into The Dalek, but you've gone onto Robot's Of Sherwood?
Loads of stuff happened, like viruses and that. Do you really want me to complete it after disowning after 8 times. So f*ck the people who want me to complete it.
3. Adam. What's his finale story?
Well, that's spoilers. Do you like spoilers? I don't want to reveal spoilers, because then they aren't spoilers.
But in all serious, I'll see you next time.
P.S - The Caretaker won't be straight next week, I'll be finishing my more post-poned stuff outside of before I go onto that episode, so expect it before the end of May.
BattleOfDuty - May 12th, 2015. (Damn Consertaives winning the election.)