The new TARDIS did not shudder with a grinding, grating sound when it took off; instead a soft vibration was swinging in the air, coming and going with the pulsating lights of various dashboards and panels.

Rose frowned. 'Are we moving?'

'Oh, yes,' the Doctor said, staring at a screen before him. 'We're tumbling through the time vortex.'

'She's so smooth.'

'I reckon that's how a TARDIS sounds normally.' He tilted his head. 'A bit dull, isn't it? None of the usual hullabaloo. Takes the fun out of it, sort of.'

Right on cue, the room trembled as if struck by a giant hammer. Rose clutched at a half-finished railing sticking out of a wall, as gravity began pulling at her from random sides. She squealed as the floor slipped away from underneath her feet.

'Oh, that's so much better!' the Doctor shouted, laughing madly. He circled round the centre column, reaching for several buttons and levers, one of which he pushed with his shoe. The expression on his face was one of pure delight.

'You got it under control, then?' Rose shouted, desperately holding on.

'She's a curious one,' the Doctor replied, 'a bit cheeky perhaps, a bit reckless, but that's how you know you have a good TARDIS, I assume.'

'You assume?'

The shudder intensified, and the sound coming from the control panels switched to something irregular that rang alarm bells in Rose's head. But the Doctor was laughing: 'Fine, fine! Cancel the Moon!' he said. 'Pikoola it is!'

Rose saw his legs dangling upward as he clung to a handle with one hand, slamming down a lever with the other. The next moment they landed with a loud bang. Gravity shifted again, dropping them to the floor.

'We made it,' Rose panted.

'Oh, you doubting Thomas,' the Doctor laughed. 'Come on! Let's see what's got her so excited!'

'Wait!' Rose said, urging the Doctor to stop. 'Shouldn't we scan around first? So we don't fall into a black hole or something?'

'It's fine!' he said, waving her along as he made for the triangular door. He opened it and climbed outside toward what appeared to be a blue midday-sky. Smiling, Rose followed him.

They were walking on the surface of a new world. The weather was slightly overcast, just like it had been at home, and the green meadow where the TARDIS had parked itself was rich and surrounded by a forest of thin-trunked trees. Next to her, the Doctor spread his arms wide. 'Aaaaah,' he enthused, 'the smell of a new biosphere!'

Then his expression turned a little sad.

'What is it?'

'Oh, it's nothing.'

'Just say it!'

'Well,' the Doctor sighed, 'I used to know where I was from the moment I set my foot down on the surface of a new world. I told you on the first day we met, remember? I used to feel it all. Gravity, speed, the molten streams in the planet's core. I used to be able to feel a world, with all its celestial power.'

Rose gave him a sad look; he wasn't the only one who was missing his old self. She went to hug him, but he was already talking again. 'See, it used to be that I could feel right away whether we were on Pikoola or not.'

'Wait –this isn't Pikoola?'

The Doctor's voice turned thoughtful as he glanced around. 'Well, the TARDIS says so.' He pondered for a bit before turning and crawling back inside, and then he re-emerged a minute later, his brows furrowed deeply. 'OK, it definitely is Pikoola, but it's also not Pikoola. I mean, it can't be Pikoola, even though it very clearly is.'

'What's wrong?'

'Well, for one, Pikoola is completely uninhabited by intelligent life.'

Rose looked about. Now she could see what he meant; small pillars of what looked like chimney smoke rose above the forest's canopy. A settlement, Rose thought. 'There's people here.'

'And they've been here for quite a while.' The Doctor pointed to a spot above the forest's canopy. 'There's a castle on the hill.'

Rose squinted until she found it, perched on a small green mound, miles in the distance. 'How d'you think that's possible?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'I don't know. New universe, anything's possible. Here be dragons, and all that. Well, not literal dragons, of course, but you know. Anything could be here.'

'Bloody hell!' Rose exclaimed with a start, backing away from the strange animal that had just walked around the TARDIS. The creature was somewhere between elephant and anteater, with a fat belly, stompy grey legs, and a long and slender head that swivelled slowly side to side. 'Anything you say?'

'Blimey!' the Doctor said, looking rather confused.

'What it is?'

'I haven't the foggiest. Never seen this species before in my life. Not a native to Pikoola, that's for sure. Which one's the head?'

It was only then that Rose noticed a striking similarity between the head of the creature and its tail. It lumbered past them, its tail head regarding them with bored eyes. A fly buzzed nearby, and a long tongue shot out, snatching it out of the air. 'So it's got two heads, then?' Rose asked, pointing.

'Don't be daft,' he said. 'Evolution can't create a creature with two heads and no bum. Every creature needs a bum. Well, most creatures. This one certainly does, that's just logical.'

'New universe,' Rose argued.

'Same rules,' he countered.

'Bet you a fiver.'

'Alright,' he said, reaching for his sonic screwdriver. 'Ah.'

'Maybe the TARDIS can scan it?'

But the Doctor scratched his head. 'Don't wanna use the TARDIS on this one. Because what if it actually is impossible? A paradox creature of sorts. She can't handle paradoxes yet, it could send her back into grumpy mode. Remember grumpy mode?'

'Her hedgehog-phase? Yeah, I remember.'

'If only we had a sonic…'

That gave Rose an idea. She lifted the hem of her black top, revealing a belt with several small, inconspicuous pockets. To an untrained eye, it looked like any regular belt, except each pocket was waterproof and held a piece of the latest military-grade equipment. She opened one of them and pulled out a small, flat, tricorder-like gadget.

'Torchwood?'

Rose nodded. 'As long as we don't have sonics, I figured I should bring some equipment of my own.'

The Doctor beamed at her. 'Look at you, going all Lara Croft.'

'Next time put that on my space suit.'

'Alright, go on then, Miss Croft. Which one's the head?'

Rose scanned the slow moving creature with the device and soon lit up with a triumphant smile. 'Two heads.'

'You sure that thing is working properly?'

Just then, a tongue jabbed from the other head-like appendage, catching another fly. Rose grinned at him. 'Looks like I'm not your sidekick anymore, eh?'

But the Doctor's expression wasn't amused, he was worried. 'Something is wrong, Rose. Very wrong. Maybe it's just this planet.' He looked deep into her eyes, his voice grave and serious. 'Or maybe it's the entire universe.'

'Blimey,' she said, mimicking his dramatic voice.

They both broke into a grin as the excitement took hold of them, and together, they set off toward the nearby settlement.


The Doctor's face contorted into a grimace of utter confusion. 'What are humans doing here?'

'Maybe we're in the future?' Rose suggested.

'Humans shouldn't reach Pikoola until a couple thousand years from now.'

Yet here they were, regular humans dressed in shabby clothes made from smudged leather or torn linen. The settlement had a medieval look; the Doctor hummed and hawed as they walked past homes made from stone and wood, watching the villagers give them curious glances. Their faces were thin, their figures slender, sometimes bordering on brittle. 'They're starving,' Rose said.

'They're not exactly miserable, though,' the Doctor commented, and Rose found that he was right. As her gaze wandered, she met not a single suspicious look, but instead a number of friendly smiles, which she returned awkwardly. Further ahead, children played with wooden sticks for swords. Laughter chimed from somewhere close, and they walked past a smith teaching his son, who seemed eager to learn. The entire place had an air of easiness.

The happy picture was just slightly undercut by a series of signs with ominous messages. 'Beware of the punishment. Accept the punishment,' Rose read. 'What d'you think?'

'I'm thinking it's good to see that the translation circuits of the TARDIS are working. I expected everything to be gibberish on our first couple trips.'

'I'm thinking greedy tyrant king.'

'But then why aren't they unhappy?' the Doctor countered.

Rose loved to see him so invested. It occurred to her that the Doctor was the Doctor only when he was out here, solving mysteries and fighting evil. Last month they had flown to Calais for a change of scenery, and it was on that trip that Rose finally figured out the Doctor's greatest weakness: Waiting.

There is a lot of waiting on airports. In the queues, at the gate, in the plane. Midflight, Rose had compared him to a monkey in a cage whose favourite toys were dangling outside the bars, just out of reach.

Now however it was as if she'd travelled through time – and not the usual way. Two and a half years she'd waited – and trained and fought and sacrificed – just to do this bit again, walking side by side with him through some exciting new place, chasing a new mystery. The feeling quickened her heart and made her chest feel light, and she found herself grinning without any apparent reason.

As they walked on they reached a market street. People were selling metalwork, overpriced food, and clothing. 'They've lived here for centuries,' the Doctor said thoughtfully. 'But how's that possible?' He went straight up to a short spice merchant with a bushy red beard and a friendly smile. 'Good day to you, traveller. May I-'

'Excuse me, where's your spaceship?' the Doctor interrupted.

The man squinted. 'My what?'

'Your spaceship,' he insisted, gesturing wildly in front of the man's face. 'Big flying thing your ancestors used to come here? It ought to be about somewhere.'

The merchant gave Rose a look that told them everything they needed to know. 'Never mind,' said the Doctor, and he strode onward. Rose followed him, grinning unabashedly.

The Doctor kept asking people unsuccessfully until Rose called him over, pointing at what appeared to be the town hall. 'I think I found the spaceship.'

'Blimey,' the Doctor said, hand scratching the back of his neck as he approached the entrance to the brick-walled building. It was flanked by two triangular shapes of white metal coating with sleek, black edges. Dots of screw nuts traced along the spot where each plate had been fixed to the structure underneath.

'Looks like the wings of a space shuttle,' Rose said.

'Not just any space shuttle,' the Doctor muttered, walking closer to inspect it. 'These wing parts have been salvaged from the Andoria. A rocket ship sent to the Jupiter Moon Europa in the late twenty-first century.'

'How can you know? Different universe, remember?'

'Says it right on the plaque, here.' He pointed at a small inscription on the left wing.

'Oh. So did they come here with that?'

'It's impossible. Says here it was crewed by seven people. That's not enough to start up a civilisation. Also, Pikoola isn't exactly in the neighbourhood. If the Andoria missed Europa and kept going for six hundred thousand years, then it could just have accidentally hit this world, but in that time mankind would have already been here using much faster modes of travel.'

'But she clearly made it here.'

The Doctor nodded absentmindedly. 'Gives the building a good look, too. Maybe we should try the Mayor next.'

'Doctor.' Rose pointed to another sign. "Donations to the King," it said, written in tall black letters on a huge square made of wooden planks that was fixed to the side of a bell tower, visible from afar. 'On the other hand,' the Doctor said, eyes narrowing on the sign. 'Better get some context to this place first. Don't want to get locked up for having a tie. Not again.'

The market square was filled with people. Carts lined the sides, laden with goods of all kinds: sacks of grain, piles of fruit, stacks of leather. 'That's quite a handsome donation for that king,' the Doctor commented with a sceptical glance, already smelling the injustice. 'Seems like a large portion of their goods.'

'Told you. Greedy tyrant king.'

'But they really, really don't seem unhappy,' the Doctor noted.

The sound of a commotion reached them, and they turned their attention to the centre of the square, where a throng of baying people had formed a circle. Rose didn't hesitate; with a few steps she had climbed one of the carts and was peering over the crowd. A moment later she was beaming. 'You've got to see this!'

When the Doctor followed her onto the cart, his eyes almost fell right out of his face.

There was another one of the anteater-elephant-hybrids. But this one was mounted by a young, red-haired girl and an equally young man.

A man with large feathered wings growing out of his back.

'It's an angel!' Rose rejoiced.

The wings were pure white and absolutely impressive, like the wings of a giant eagle, spanning some three metres to every side.

The girl and the angel were facing away from each other, each riding one of the creatures' sets of shoulders. The man was stroking the head on his end of the animal, patting it again and again, whispering to it, while the red-haired girl did the same with the head on her side. It was a game, Rose realised; they both gave it their best to persuade the creature to go their way, while the crowd cheered them on. 'Doctor, you never told me angels were real!'

But the Doctor's expression had grown even more confused. 'He's not an angel, he's an Illanti. And he shouldn't be here either.'

But Rose wouldn't let him dampen her joy. 'First trip, and we get to see an angel.'

The Doctor was looking around, reading all the signs in the market square. "Donations to our forgiving saviour," read one. "Fear the punishment," warned another. 'Why is there a punishment if you are being forgiven?'

The Doctor strode off to ask the nearest person – a middle-aged woman who pulled a small wheeled wagon, laden with sacks of grain. He was in her face right away, gesturing at the signs. 'Excuse me, what exactly are you being punished for?'

The woman gave him a look as if he was joking, but her expression quickly switched to a patronising smile. 'Another one. From what part of the Dale are you, then? The Shattered Spines?'

The Doctor nodded, and the woman shook her head. 'How come everyone in the Dale wants to witness the Punisher so badly, yet none of you care to learn about the history of this place?'

'Just appalling. But that's why I'm asking. What's the sin you're being punished for?'

She sighed. 'Our sin was mistreating the angels,' she explained, pointing to the Illanti boy. 'The gods have sent Felgorn to punish us. But the angel-king is forgiving, and protects us with his magic.'

The Doctor nodded slowly. 'That makes perfect sense.' He leaned back and folded his arms. 'And if I were to have a word with that punisher, where would I best go about looking for him?'

The woman's answer was cut off as the sound of bells filled the air. Everyone in the square flinched and turned toward the bell tower in the middle of the settlement. The woman's face dropped, and in a matter of moments they were surrounded by chaos and panic.

Suddenly everyone was running, screaming names, and picking up children and goods off the street. 'He's coming!' a terrified villager shouted. 'The Punisher is coming!'

'Let him come!' another one replied, pointing at the Illanti boy. 'The king won't let him near his kin!'

But the Illanti boy didn't seem to share the man's opinion, as he exchanged a panic-stricken look with the girl. He jumped from the two-headed creature's back into the air and flapped his wings. 'Listen to me!' he yelled, 'You must all get to safety!'

'We are safe!' the man argued. 'The king–'

'The king doesn't know we're here!' the Illanti shouted back. As if on cue, a second Illanti rose from the crowd, floating to his fellow angel. This one was taller and more impressive, wearing an elegant metal armour plating instead of common linen clothing. He grabbed the wrist of the Illanti boy and there was a short exchange of tense words, ending as the boy tore free, and shouted: 'I'm not leaving her!' He shot down after the red-haired girl, who was trying to scatter the people and force them to seek shelter. The other angel scowled and rose to the sky with a strong flap of his wings, heading for the castle on the hill.

Rose and the Doctor exchanged a look. Her eyes grew wide, focusing on something behind him. 'There!' she shouted, pointing at a crooked column of black smoke that hung low in the distance, fat and ugly, like a scar in the sky. It wasn't far away.

The Doctor quickly climbed onto a carriage, from which he made his way up to a pile of crates – only to slip when reaching for a rooftop. 'Rose!' he yelped, dangling from the ledge. His sudden blunder elicited a brief smile from her, and she quickly went to boost him.

Once he had found solid footing on the straw-covered rooftop, the Doctor scanned the horizon for something punishing.

The street was almost empty, but the bell tower chimed ahead, the sound of it so deafening and alarming that it sent adrenaline rushing through Rose. She had an urge to leg it, but that bit was usually preceded by the Doctor telling her to run, and the Doctor was still calm, and very much not afraid.

In fact, his face lit up with surprise at whatever he was seeing out there. Then he even started to laugh.

'Should we run?' Rose shouted.

'Mind you, that's quite a convincing projection,' the Doctor mused, smiling.

A thunderous roar rolled in the distance, giving Rose the chills. 'What is it?' she shouted.

'Remember earlier when I said, here be dragons?'

Rose was suddenly very concerned. 'Doctor, is there a dragon?'

'Well, it's not a real one, obviously. But, mind you, all those details… Whoever's behind it did a hell of a job! You've gotta study real-life animals for a long time to get a hologram that looks this lively.'

'Are you sure it's a hologram?'

'Don't be daft, Rose!' the Doctor shouted back. 'There are no dragons in the universe. Well, none that look like that, at least. Evolution can't create anything like that, not anywhere in the universe!'

'This isn't our universe!' she shouted back.

A guttural roar spread across the land: mighty, deafening, and very, very close. The Doctor suddenly looked thoughtful.

'Do we run?!' Rose shouted again.

The Doctor turned and jumped from the roof, and Rose didn't need to ask again.

They absolutely legged it.