Sorry this is late. I am alive and writing but brain got hooked on Good Omens a little too hard and it's all I've been writing lately. I have some chapters of this I'm going to post and I've finally pulled free of the Good Omens fandom to write more of it. Hopefully, I'll write other things too. I know I was working on the Marvel one as well.

hope you enjoy!

I woke up feeling a bit groggy but better than earlier somehow. My head was clearer and I didn't feel as warm as before. I felt clammy but it wasn't too bad and I shifted with a small wince as my arm throbbed. I glanced at it, flexing my hand slowly but it too wasn't as bad as it could have been and I lightly frowned. Seems a bit quick but maybe I'm just used to it?

"We've got a problem!"

I looked up at Lunn's worried voice as O'Donnell spoke up.

"They've separated."

"What?" The Doctor questioned.

"Moran and the mole guy are going after Clara," she explained before using the comms to warn her. "Clara, look out. Two ghosts are still on your case. Right behind you."

"I'm beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan."

I got up carefully, remembering how off I was before, but stayed steady with only a little headrush as the Doctor eyed the map to give Clara directions.

"Clara, there's a flood door at the end of the corridor, around the corner to your right. We'll close it from here. Listen to me. You've got to get through that door before Moran and the other ghost sees you."

"Doctor?"

"Now, O'Donnell! Fast as you can!"

"Guys, I'm nearly at my door," Lunn said.

"Now, Lunn, quickly!"

"It saw me. Oh, God,"

I went over to the comms and turned it on. "You'll be fine, Lunn."

"Asher?"

"Trust me. Cass not letting you into that ship was a good thing," I said, giving said woman a glance as she eyed me. "If the ship was the problem, the source of all this, then only the people who never went in are safe. Meaning me—"

"A-And me. Oh, my God. I-I'm okay. It didn't hurt me. I'm okay."

I moved away from the comms and faced the Doctor who was eyeing me as well but knew now wasn't the time to question things.

"Bennett, you're on again. Bennett, where are you?"

"There," O'Donnell pointed out on the security feed. "Oh, God. Look."

"Bennett, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked. "There are two ghosts just around the corner from you."

"Yes, thanks. I'd noticed," he hissed back quietly.

"The Faraday cage is across the intersection and down the corridor to your right. This last bit is down to you."

He took a breath and stepped out into view, running with the ghosts following. Pritchard's ghost met up with them as well as he spoke.

"Okay, so the good news is, they aren't split up anymore. Cue Clara!"

The Doctor grinned, slipping on his sonic sunglasses and rushing for the door to go speak with the ghosts. I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm, sitting down again and watching on the screen he was showing us as he confronted the trapped ghosts.

"We need to talk. Sorry, chaps. Just a hologram. You play a little bit too rough," he teased the ghosts who'd attacked the hologram of Clara we used to trick them.

The remaining crew and Clara stepped back in, Cass and Lunn hugging while O'Donnell punched Bennett in the arm and Clara eyed their reunion with a small frown.

"I'm fine, by the way, in case any of you were worried."

"I would say I was but I knew you had it," I offered with a small smile that she returned.

"Yeah, well, you're the one who had me worried. Feeling better?"

"A bit, yeah. Think my fever finally broke and I can move my arm without it feeling like it's going to fall off. Did the Doctor do something to it?"

She frowned a little, tipping her head. "No. All the medical stuff is on the Tardis and we only stopped by for a moment. Why?"

I shook my head, waving it off. "Just thought it was a bit fast, is all. Probably nothing."

"Cass, are you seeing this?" The Doctor asked as Lunn brought her attention to the screen O'Donnell pointed out.

"She says she can't see them properly," Lunn translated. "The glass is too thick and they're too far away."

"Open the door."

"What?"

"Doctor, you can't—"

"Do it," I said, surprising Clara and gesturing to the screen. "They can't hurt you without weapons."

O'Donnell hesitated but did unlock the door for him. He hurried in and closed it, shivering when Moran phased his hand through him.

"Cold, isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Cass?"

"She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over," Lunn explained. "They're saying, 'The dark, the score—No, the sword—the for sale? No. The forsaken, the temple."

"What?"

"Yes, she's sure. The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple. Just that, over and over."

"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man?"

"It's a riddle," I offered, not remembering everything but knowing that much. "Or, well, symbolism, isn't it? Each word represents something else."

"Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us. Excellent work, Ash."

I shrugged when the others looked at me but Bennett went to gather the maps the Doctor requested as he left the ghosts in the Faraday cage and entered the bridge. He took off his sunglasses and came over to me, brushing a hand over my forehead that I lightly swatted at.

"You're fever's mostly gone. Did you enjoy your nap?"

"I like my sleep," I lightly complained. "More so when I'm not feeling well."

He hummed. "Well, I'm glad to see you more alert. This is certainly a messy situation, as you said."

"Yeah, well… This isn't even half of it," I muttered, earning a frown as Bennett returned and spread the maps across the table in the center of the room.

The Doctor took a look at each one before nodding. "They're coordinates."

"How can they be coordinates?" Bennett questioned and he gestured to me.

"Symbolism, as she said. The dark? Space. So, whoever's following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet. The sword?" He put an apple in Bennett's hand, a ball in O'Donnell's, and a tennis ball in Clara's; moving them so they lined up.

"Orion's belt?" I tried.

"Close, no. His sword," the Doctor corrected. "The sword, the three stars—although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula—hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer."

"Different kind of sword. Whoops," I joked, earning an eye roll and a stern finger from him before he went on.

"The forsaken. The forsaken or abandoned or empty town. See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over. And every time they kill one of us—"

"It strengthens the signal. Another ghost, another transmitter," Clara concluded as O'Donnell's eyes widened.

"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub."

"Get more people down here, kill them, make even more ghosts to beam out the coordinates."

Cass started to sign. "But why are they beaming out the coordinates? Is it a distress call?"

"It could be. Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself." He paused then. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Do you know what this means? It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls, and turning them into transmitters."

"Not ghosts," I pointed out.

"Exactly."

"But what do the coordinates lead to, though?" O'Donnell asked. "To us? To the ghosts? What?"

"Ah! What the coordinates are for? That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking," the Doctor said with a grin but he only got blank stares in return. "Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?"

"The temple," Lunn said for Cass. "The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?"

"Finally. It's like pulling teeth. This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this." The Doctor pointed to a building on a map.

"A church?" Clara questioned.

"But that's…"

The crew turned to me and the Doctor glanced between us.

"What? What did I miss?"

"Well," Lunn started. "When we pulled the ship in, we brought Asher in too. Just to see if she knew anything about it and she called it—"

"A hearse," I repeated myself. "White on the inside and black on the outside with a space for a coffin in the middle. Given there was no coffin, my guess is it's in the church. Do aliens hold wakes on other planets?"

"Not usually. Find that though, and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them," the Doctor mused.

"Wait, you're not suggesting that—But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here," Bennett said.

"No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went," the Doctor hummed. "You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know, you have chosen to protect and serve," he said, gesturing to Cass, Lunn, and O'Donnell before turning to Bennett. "You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."

Cass took a second before signing. "Cass says we should go, but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay. So I, um, guess I should too."

"Well, count me in," O'Donnell said with a scoff. "Who wants to live forever anyway?"

Bennett though let out an uneasy chuckle. "Sorry, um, have you gone insane? We can go home."

O'Donnell shrugged with a grin and even Bennett couldn't help but smile a little back.

"They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts? Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."

"So, now we go fetch a coffin," I hummed, giving the crew a glance. "Any idea how?"

"Coffin."

"Hm?" Asher hummed, glancing up at the Doctor from where they were watching Bennett work with the drone submarine.

"You keep calling it a coffin."

"Yeah. Isn't it?"

"It's a suspended animation chamber," he corrected, making her brows furrow before she simply hummed. "But you keep calling it a coffin. Is that a hint?"

Asher tipped her head, thinking. "Is it? I'll be honest, I only remember maybe half of what's going on but… I still think it's a coffin."

He frowned lightly. "Perhaps it's your subconscious remembering something but not knowing what."

Asher shrugged as the Doctor continued.

"Not everyone could save Pritchard."

Asher glanced back at him, saying nothing.

"Because not everyone is a transmitter," he concluded, glancing at her. "You said the ship was the reason the ghosts were killing people but those who never went in the ship were safe. Namely, Lunn and you." He lightly poked her nose, making her wrinkle it in mild annoyance before she swatted at his hand. "There's still one thing that confuses me."

"People?" Asher teased, making him shoot her a look.

"Cheeky."

"You booped me. You deserved it."

He rolled his eyes, glancing back at Bennett as the sub approached the town. "You said, 'They'll be next if they do, then the order is mixed up.'"

She winced a bit, glancing away and letting him know that she hadn't meant to tell him that, meaning it was important.

"I'm assuming 'They'll be next' meant if someone went to save him who could be hurt by the ghosts, they themselves would possibly end up as a ghost. They could die."

She kept her gaze pointedly at Bennett as he went on.

"The order getting mixed up though… There's an order people are supposed to die in," he concluded, watching her reactions curiously. "Given what you know, I assume you're well aware of the order but there's something more to that, isn't there? You said things were complicated in this adventure. It can't be that simple. Not with a potential paradox happening."

She finally looked at him with a small annoyed frown at his questions. "The order is important, okay? That's all I can tell you."

He hummed. "Yes, but the fact that there is an order means you are no doubt running that mind of yours trying to figure out what you can do and whom you can save. I know how you work, Ash." He placed a hand on her shoulder and tipped her toward him to kiss the top of her head. "Don't stress about it too much. Just do what feels right."

She eyed him as he let her go, giving him a once-over with a light frown. "You know, I realize we end up married and all but it's still weird for you to be all… nice."

He put his hand to his chest. "I'm nice. I can be nice."

She gestured to his face. "Yeah, the eyebrows say you can't."

He brought his fingers up to his eyebrows. "But you like the eyebrows."

"I like the bluntness," she corrected. "The eyebrows just add to that."

"See?" He teased, making her smile and lightly smack his leg.

"Okay, the sub is approaching the town square. Which way is the church?" Bennett announced, drawing their gazes to the screen showing the town that the sub was in as O'Donnell gave him directions and Clara leaned over toward the Doctor and Asher.

"So, we're looking for a coffin?"

"Suspended animation chamber, more likely but yes. We'll know it when we see it," the Doctor hummed.

"Wait, I've found the church," Bennett said.

"That's it. Keep going," the Doctor said before stopping him. "Wait! What's that? Move closer. That's it. Bring it in."

The box was brought into the hangar and the group hurried out to go see it. Lunn and the others glanced at Asher as she gave it a look over.

"It really is a coffin."

"No, it's the suspended animation chamber from the ship," the Doctor corrected.

"So, the pilot could be in there," Clara pointed out as the Doctor knelt down to check it.

"There's something inside there. But it's deadlock sealed. I can't open it. It should be the pilot, it should be. So why do I think it isn't?" He glanced over at Asher. "I blame you for calling it a coffin."

She cracked a small smile as he frowned.

"More questions. Everything I solve, just more questions. I have to go back to the beginning. We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then, they try to kill us." He went for the spaceship. "Asher, you said the ship was the start of this. Those who never went in the ship weren't harmed by the ghosts."

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Bennett questioned as Asher shrugged, wincing slightly at shifting her arm.

"Lucky guess. They never tried to throw anything at Lunn or me when we ran. Only thing we didn't do was go in the ship."

"Lunn, translate for me," the Doctor called after looking at the markings on the ship, heading down and speaking to Cass. "Whenever I step outside, you are the smartest person in the room other than Asher," he said, earning a surprised look from said woman as he went on. "So, tell me, what's weird about this? I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?"

Cass hesitated before signing. "The markings on the inside of the spaceship."

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship. Yes! Why?"

"I don't think they're just words."

"They're not. They're magnets," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Magnets?" Bennett questioned. "How?"

"Well, a localized and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise. The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that?"

Lunn started to raise his hands but the Doctor cut him off.

"No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us."

"So that writing is the coordinates?" O'Donnell asked.

"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired. Clara, why don't I have a radio in the Tardis?"

"You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel," Clara answered.

"Asher thought it was cute," he said, making her flush a bit as he went on. "And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of 'Mysterious Girl' by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand. Don't you see? These words are an earworm. A song you can't stop humming, even after you die."

"Okay," Clara said, trying to get it all worked out. "So, the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber…"

"Waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up. My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death."

"Ah, question," Asher spoke up, raising her hand before she pointed at the coffin. "Who says the pilot has to be in there?"

"Sorry?" The Doctor questioned.

"The pilot. Who says the pilot of the ship is the one in there? If it's a coffin, the pilot could've just been an undertaker transporting a corpse, right?"

The Doctor stepped up to her with a frown, making her take a slight step back. "You are adamant that it's a coffin. Why does that bother me?"

"Um, because it probably says something about the state of my mental health when I think of a corpse and coffin before a fancy time capsule?"

He opened his mouth only for an alarm to suddenly go off.

"Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures," the computer announced as O'Donnell ran over to a screen on the wall.

"Oh, no. The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base."

"Cass says, close the internal flood doors. That'll contain the water in the central corridor," Lunn explained when Cass started signing instructions.

"Where's the Tardis?" The Doctor asked as O'Donnell checked.

"On the other side."

"We need to get there. It's our only way out."

"Okay. We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close."

Everyone started running as water began trying to fill the base. After a moment though, a door closed, separating the Doctor, Bennett, and O'Donnell from Clara, Asher, and the others. The Doctor too had to dive to the other side of the central corridor before he was trapped where the water was flooding and he stood at the door looking back at Clara before connecting the intercoms.

"I'll get you and the others out. Sit tight. I'll come back for you."

"Just come over here in the Tardis now," Clara urged.

"The Tardis won't go there. It won't go near the ghosts."

"You can't just leave us!"

Asher sighed, getting a small glare from Clara as the Doctor reassured them.

"Listen to me. I'm going back in time to when this spaceship landed. If I can understand why this is happening, I can stop them killing anyone else. I can save you. You trust me, don't you, Clara?"

Clara relaxed slightly, nodding before Asher spoke up.

"Keep them safe, Doctor. O'Donnell and Bennett. Even if you're not being nice about it."

The Doctor frowned but understood the warning for what it was as Bennett turned to him as they headed for the Tardis.

"Wait, you're going back in time? How do you do that?"

"Extremely well."

"You're sure they're not going to hurt us?" Lunn questioned as we headed back into the cafeteria to gather up supplies.

"They can't hurt me or you," I reminded him as Clara agreed.

"They can't get out of the Faraday Cage either."

Cass started signing then. "And you're sure the Doctor won't just leave us here?"

"He won't," I said, so seriously and truthfully that even I was a little surprised by my conviction.

Cass looked at me and slowly nodded, accepting my answer before she and Lunn looked out the windows, drawing our attention toward a figure.

"Is it Moran or Pritchard or the mole guy?" Lunn asked. "How did they get out?"

"No, I don't think it's any of them," Clara said, frowning slightly. "I think it's a new ghost."

"What does that mean?"

"It means someone died in the past," I muttered as the figure approached. "And it means we now have a huge problem."

"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no," Clara breathed as the ghost came over and revealed itself to be the Doctor.

She suddenly whipped to me then, making me uneasy.

"What do we do?"

"Sorry?" I questioned, pointing at myself. "You're asking me?"

"Well, I don't know what to do and usually when the Doctor's not around or being useless is when you kind of… take over." She threw a hand over at the Doctor's ghost. "There has to be something you know about this. Something we can do."

I held my hands up in surrender. "First off, I'm early. Very, very early. I honestly barely know you and the Doctor."

"What?" She breathed, expression falling and making guilt swim in my stomach at her sudden loss of hope at those words.

"Second," I pressed, glancing over at the Doctor's ghost solemnly. "His ghost is here because of something that happened in the past. Physically being here means there is little to nothing I can do there to stop this."

"But there… there has to be something. You have to know something," she urged, grabbing my uninjured arm tightly. "Please. Please, I can't lose him. I can't lose anyone else."

I winced, remembering that Danny had died not too long ago for her; something that not even my future self could have prevented. It's… It's not like I want to sit here and do nothing too. I looked over at the Doctor, feeling a hint of uneasiness well up in me at the sight. She's right. There has to be something. Something I can do or… or remember.

"I'll think of something," I said, reassuring her with a grimace of a smile and giving her arm a squeeze in return. "I promise."

She said nothing but nodded slowly, letting me go and moving to sit in a chair nearby; staring blankly at the Doctor. I drummed my fingers on my thigh, turning back to his ghost and trying to think and remember what I could about this adventure. Which isn't much. I'm pretty much at my limit here. I know it's a paradox thing. I know that the Doctor lives… somehow but I don't remember how and… I remembered everything the Doctor had told me on previous adventures and felt that churning in my stomach get worse. Things can change. This isn't like some linear plot that will be followed no matter what. The universe compensates. It compensates for me. I felt sick for a moment, sitting down in a chair close to the Doctor's ghost and dropping my face in my hands. This all relies on me. What I say or do could be the difference between him living or dying.

"No one's asking you to play God, Ash."

"I trust your judgment on this."

"You've always done your best to handle things the right way and... I appreciate that."

"It's hard and it won't always be easy, not even with me, but I know you do a good job. A great job just by being you."

"Don't stress about it too much. Just do what feels right."

I lifted my gaze to stare at the Doctor's ghost, feeling unsure despite the words of his past selves running through my mind. I jumped when Cass suddenly slapped at her chair to get Lunn's attention though, signing away at the Doctor's ghost.

"Cass thinks the Doctor's saying something different to the others," Lunn translated. "He's saying Moran, Pritchard, Apprentice. No, Prentis, O'Donnell, Clara, Doctor, Bennett, Cass. It's a list of all our names and when he finishes, he just goes back to the beginning again, over and over. That's it."

"Who's Prentis?" Clara questioned but I shook my head and stood.

"It's not all of our names," I pointed out. "Lunn and I aren't on the list. It's a list of those who went on the ship. It's the order."

"The what?" Clara asked before her phone suddenly rang. "It's the Doctor."

"He's alive?" Lunn said in surprise.

"He's in the past. His death hasn't happened yet," I explained, heading over as she answered; putting her phone on speaker.

"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine. So listen. The spaceship, it's a hearse like Asher said." He paused then, seeing she was upset on screen. "Clara, what's wrong?"

Clara opened her mouth but then looked at me and hesitantly, I held out my hand and she gave over the phone.

"Asher? What is it?"

"You're not gonna like it," I said quietly, glancing over at the ghost of his still standing outside the glass.

"Yes, well, I rarely do when it comes to things you say, especially when you're so serious."

"Honestly, I wouldn't tell you if I could," I admitted, heading over toward the ghost before glancing down at his face on the phone. "But I've got this nagging feeling that I have to."

He frowned and I lifted the phone to show him the ghost. "Oh. Oh, I see."

"What does it mean?" Clara asked, worried. "You said you were fine."

"Yes, well, currently… It means I die."

I gave the phone back to Clara, eyeing the Doctor's ghost once more while she tried to argue with him.

"No, not necessarily. We can change the sequence of events so—"

"This isn't a potential future. This is the future now. It's already happened. The proof is right there in front of you. I have to die."

"No. You can change things. You and Asher—"

"I can't. Even the tiniest change, the ramifications could be catastrophic. It could spread carnage and chaos across the universe like ripples on a pond. Asher knows this as well and she can't do anything while there with you, even if she wanted to… Oh, well. I've had a good innings. I've got to go sometime."

"Not with me!" Clara bellowed. "Die with whoever comes after me. You do not leave me."

"Clara, I need to talk to you just on your own," he said and she glanced at me as I pointedly stared solely at the Doctor's ghost; letting her step away and take the phone off speaker to talk.

I felt as though I was intruding. I hadn't felt it much with the Doctor but there were moments where I felt more like… an extra in a movie. Faceless, moving, and acting in the background but not actually here with the others who all had their parts to play on the big screen. I shuffled on my feet a bit, remembering again how I was the reason all of this was changing. Something. There has to be something—I jumped when my arm was tapped, Clara muttering a small apology and holding out the phone.

"He… He wants to talk to you."

I glanced at her for a moment, seeing she was very much still upset but took the phone and held it up to my ear as I looked back at the Doctor's ghost and Clara backed away to give me room. "Hello."

"Ash," he said so softly and tenderly that I felt the awkward anxiety roll through me like a chill.

"S-Sorry, um…" I cleared my throat uneasily, not sure what to say to comfort him or console him. He thinks he's going to die. Say something! "I-I know I'm not… I'm not the me you married. The one who… who… loves you, I mean but, um…" I ran a shaky hand through my hair as he let out a small sigh of a chuckle.

"Ash, you are very much the woman I married. Now or in the future or in the past. You don't have to try and comfort me. I know how much you care. I always will."

"R-Right. Course…" I fidgetted a bit. "I, um… I've been trying to think… about how to help."

"Thinking too hard, as usual, I'm sure... There's nothing you can do here, Ash."

"I know. I-I know that. I'm in the future staring at your ghost while you're in the past and there's… there's nothing I can do. Not physically but… I've been trying to remember what happens, as best I can, and there's… there's something bothering me."

"That's… promising," he offered. "I remembered you warned me about O'Donnell and Bennett. There's something more?"

"I… I think so. I don't… I don't think this ghost is you."

He was quiet for a moment. "Ash—"

"No. No, I know how that sounds," I urged, tugging at my hair a bit. "I swear I'm not in denial or anything but this ghost is different."

"I'm putting you on speaker."

I nodded and did the same, waving Clara and the others back over.

"Now, explain. My ghost is different? Different how? Physically different?"

"Um, it's a few things, actually," I explained, eyeing his ghost. "See, the other ghosts, they don't show any signs of what killed them. Pritchard isn't soaking wet. Moran isn't a charred corpse… but your coat had a tear on the right shoulder."

I lifted the phone to show him and he hummed.

"I assume I'm just saying the same thing as the others."

"No," I corrected. "You're saying the order."

"The order?" Clara questioned, making me nod.

"The list of names. Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell, Clara, Doctor, Bennett, Cass. It's a list of all the people who went into the ship and got… infected, I guess, with those words. Lunn and I aren't on the list because we're not at risk of turning into ghosts."

"Who's Prentis?" Clara questioned as the Doctor and I answered together.

"The mole guy."

"The mole-faced chap."

The Doctor's ghost suddenly phased through the glass, startling us as I hastily backed up and very nearly dropped the phone.

"Jesus," I cursed as the Doctor called from the phone.

"What's the matter? Asher, Clara, what's happening?"

"Your ghosts just walked in," I answered, keeping an eye on the ghost as I continued. "Thing is Doctor, the order doesn't make sense. Timeline-wise, Prentis should've been first, then Moran, then Pritchard. The order isn't based on who died first. It's based on who you've seen die. There's too many discrepancies. Your ghost isn't even trying to kill us right now."

"I'm not? Why am I not trying to kill you?"

"Doctor, I don't think it's you," I urged before the ghost started to move again.

"He's moving," Clara announced. "Doctor, you're moving toward the control panel."

"He's going to release the other ghosts," I breathed, passing Clara the phone and hastily grabbing a map nearby, looking it over to try and work out where we needed to go.

"He's opening the Faraday cage," Clara told him.

"Clara, I need to talk to me, now."

"Didn't you hear me? You opened the Faraday cage. The other ghosts are outside. Shouldn't we be hiding?"

"Clara, let him talk to his ghost," I said, checking over the maps. "He's got a minute. We'll need to loop around to get ourselves into the Faraday cage anyway. We need the ghosts in here to get past them."

She took a deep breath before putting her phone down on a cabinet near the ghost. "Okay. Doctor, you're on."

"Doctor," he greeted his ghost, making it turn toward him. "Such an honor. I've always been a huge admirer. This is really a delight. Finally someone worth talking to. So firstly, why are you here?"

The ghost turned away and Clara grabbed her phone again as he questioned her.

"Clara? Clara, what's happening?"

"Um… Uh, y-you've just stopped. Oh, no, wait. You've started again."

Cass began signing and Lunn explained.

"His message has changed. He's saying something different. He's saying…"

"What?"

"What?"

"What?" Lunn asked when Cass paused to understand the ghost's mouthing. "He's saying the chamber will open tonight."

"Clara, give the phone to Asher."

"What?"

"Do it. I need to instruct her on a very important matter."

Clara hesitated but handed me the phone as I took it off speaker and held it to my ear; still scanning the map.

"What?"

"Ooh, you're a bit tetchy."

"Your not-ghost just released a bunch of very angry ghosts who actually can kill us while I try to figure out whether my map is upside-down or not. I think I'm allowed to be a bit tetchy," I quipped.

"I need you to do me a favor," he said then and I stopped trailing my finger over the map. "Ash, this is very important."

"What?" I asked.

"I need you to act as though my ghost is real."

"You… believe me."

"Of course, I believe you. I don't have it all worked out yet, but I will and what you've said has given me an idea. So, once you are all in the Faraday cage, I need you to leave the phone outside. When it rings, if it's safe to do so, go out and answer it but you can't let the phone out of your sight. I need to be able to reach you. I need to know everything my ghost does, okay? I'll come back for you. I swear."

"I know," I murmured. "I know you will. Stay safe, Doctor. Keep O'Donnell and Bennett safe too."

"Even if I have to be mean," he said with a smile I could hear through the phone before he hung up and I turned to the others.

Already they were backing up toward me and once we were out the door, I took the lead.

"This way!"

"What did the Doctor say?" Clara asked as we ran.

"We need to leave the phone outside in the porthole window. Phone signal can't get through and he needs to talk to the ghosts."

She didn't look thrilled but we put the phone outside the porthole once we got to the Faraday cage and waited. I rubbed at my face for a moment, tired and starting to feel the pain in my arm again as a headache pounded away in my temples. I should've grabbed something to eat, to drink. Clara let out a gasp then, having been watching the porthole for the ghosts before speaking.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Don't you dare. Don't you dare."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Pritchard's ghost just took the phone."

"Pritchard's?" I questioned and she nodded, though I wasn't sure why I was confused by that and shook it off. "Okay, so we just go get it."

"We?" Lunn asked.

"Or, well, I could—"

"No," Clara blurted out, surprising us. "I mean, couldn't Lunn do it? He didn't go inside the ship, right?"

"Cass wouldn't let me," Lunn agreed as I frowned.

"Yeah, but I didn't go in either."

Cass started signing and Lunn signed back to explain, to which Cass sternly signed "no," something we could understand without knowing sign language.

"Listen, listen. I need—We, we need to be able to contact the Doctor and you are the only one who can do this," Clara urged and Cass looked over at me, signing away.

"Asher didn't go in either," Lunn translated awkwardly. "Why does it have to be me?"

"Because Asher is important," Clara blurted out and I frowned, taking a step toward her as she grimaced, realizing her mistake.

"Sorry, Clara, but last I checked everyone is important."

"That's not… Look, that's not what I meant, but when the Doctor's gone then, then there's only you left. I—We can't lose you both."

"No. No," I pressed with a bitter laugh. "See, that doesn't make sense. You've already said that the ghosts won't hurt anyone who doesn't have the words. They won't hurt me as much as they won't hurt Lunn. Picking and choosing which one of us goes isn't going to be a choice you guys get to make," I said, pointing at her and Cass. "See because I get it. Lunn is important to you and I'm important to Clara. You've both picked favorites and neither wants to risk the other but Clara at least, has admitted to it."

Cass frowned lightly but also looked a bit sheepish.

"Point is," I continued, "if anyone gets to decide, it's us. Honestly? I'm completely fine with going. Lunn, if you want to hang back, that's fine. This isn't about who's more important than the other. It's about the fact that the phone is gone and we need it back. I feel safe going, as stupid as that sounds, so I'll go. Everyone okay with that?"

Clara obviously wasn't and I approached her.

"I'm sorry," I offered her. "Really. I know I'm important to you but… well, I'm not even the same Asher you know. This is only the second time I've even met you, Clara, and I'm sorry if this sounds mean but… I don't have this big connection to you or even to the Doctor. I barely know anyone but after everything that's happened to me so far, I know that if there's something I can do to help, then I want to do it… even if there's a risk." I cracked a small smile. "And I'll admit I've got no idea what I'm doing and I'm a little uneasy about it but… this is new. I used to be a boring, college student, struggling with my own motivation to write up a thesis and do something with my life. Then, I was sent here, and… well, I never thought I'd be chased by aliens or hunted by ghosts. It's different and… I want to be different. I want to help, even if that means doing something out of character and seemingly walking headfirst into trouble." I paused, furrowing my brows. "Sorry, is that weird? I feel like that's a bit weird."

Clara, surprisingly enough, rushed forward and hugged me. I held my arms up in shock as she shook her head into my shoulder.

"No. No, that is…" She pulled away with a shaky smile. "That is very you."

"Oh… Okay, cool. Just thought… You know, thought it might be weird or a bit telling about…" I waved vaguely at my head. "My mental health. Really should look into therapy."

"Just… promise me you'll be careful," she urged and I nodded.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. I'm not stupid enough to think that not having the words in my head means I can't get beat with a chair."

"Asher," she pressed and I gave her a small smile.

"I promise," I replied, facing the door, taking a deep breath, and heading out into the base.