Noelle watched intently this time as the Doctor fiddled with the console. It wasn't how she had imagined a time-machine to be, when she had ever put thought into the matter. There was no clear 'Enter Coordinates Here' labels or any sort of units marked on the dials and gauges. There was a lot of circular squiggles, however. They flashed on the monitor screens and were scrawled on post-it notes that were stuck in random places. Were they some sort of map? It was too complex to tell.

'What does that do?'

'Ah, don't touch that. It's important.'

'But what does it do?'

'It throws us into the middle of no-where if we're not careful.'

Noelle lifted her hands away from the console in a mock surrender, rolling her eyes. A whole ten seconds passed before she spoke again.

'What's that?'

'It's a Time Rotor.'

'What does that do?'

'It goes up and down and glows. Now please, I'm trying to concentrate.'

Noelle looked at her feet. The whirring stopped.

'It's connected to the lower engines. That there is the Energy Storage unit, and that next to it is the Conceptual Geometer relay. The Conceptual Geometer is for moving through time, the Spacial Geometer is for moving through space.'

Noelle looked back up at the central column. 'It goes up and down and glows.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Basically.' He pulled a lever and the whirring began again.

He turned away from the console then, leaning against it. 'So.' He said, crossing his long arms. 'What about you?'

Noelle was taken aback. 'What about me?'

'Well, who are you?'

Noelle shrugged. 'I'm nobody.'

'That would make you a first. I've never met a nobody before.'

'You know what I mean. I'm just Noelle.' She looked up at him. He had puppy eyes, but it felt like he was prising her open, purposely trying to melt her down. She folded her arms. 'I don't exactly have a spaceship.'

'We can't all be time-travelling aliens.'

Noelle blinked. 'You're an alien?'

'Yes. Gallifrey, Timelord, two hearts. Not the point. The point is-'

'Timelord? Is that what you call yourself?'

'It's a species. A very old one.' A dead one.

'So what, you're all guys? How does that... work?' She realised the way she had been pressing her fingers together may have been suggestive and dropped her hands to her sides.

'No, there are Timeladies too.'

The Tardis suddenly went quiet, the Time Rotor going still. The Doctor tipped his head back to look at the glass column.

'Are we here?'

The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows. 'Let's find out, shall we?'

He picked up the bird-cage and headed for the door. Noelle followed, struggling to keep up with his long legs and fast pace.

He waited for her at the door, pressed against it with his hand on the doorknob. Like he was preparing to burst through. 'Ready?'

He swung the door open.