Winter Light
by Julio Angel Ortiz

‘And you!’ the Queen cried, standing and pointing at the Doctor. ‘You killed him!’

A look of shock painted itself on to the Doctor’s face. ‘Me?’ he gasped. ‘I beg your majesty’s indulgence, but with respect you are mistaken.’

‘Since you appeared, our beloved Counterpane has been under assault from this Concept Addict of yours. Lives have been lost, and you have been attempting to thwart the construction of our Tower, which symbolises everything we believe in!’

‘But, Ma’am, I can assure you-‘

‘You can assure me of nothing! We know of your lies and deceit. If only we had seen through your web, my beloved husband could still be here!’

The Doctor stepped forward. ‘I can assure you, Madam, I did not kill the king! Let me help you-‘

‘No! You’ve “helped” us enough, Doctor.’

Ruby stepped forward, nudging the Doctor on the elbow. ‘Doctor, now might be the right time to get out of here!’ she whispered.

The Doctor turned around and was about to respond, when the guards assailed him. Five men jumped on the Doctor, pulling him to the ground, grabbing his arms and twisting them around his back.

‘Is this really necessary?’ the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

Ruby stepped forward, and as she did a guard turned and backhanded her. Ruby flew across the throne room, losing her grip on her book. She hit the ground hard, slamming the back of her head on the floor.

‘Take them away!’ the Queen cried. ‘They are to be executed without delay!’

‘This is rather lovely, isn’t it, Doctor?’

The Doctor looked up at Ruby. He was seated on the floor, back to the wall and knees tight to his chest. His hands were flat against the cold, grimy stone floor. The Doctor shifted slightly where he sat, and brushed his hands together as he tried to get some of the dirt off. He looked around their cell, and sighed.

‘It never is quite what I expect, you know.’

Ruby’s face became quizzical. ‘What do you mean?’

The Doctor waved a hand in the air. ‘This. These prisons I keep getting thrown into. It happens enough, you know. I half-expect it the moment I land somewhere.’ He took in a deep breath. ‘You know, I actually wonder what their prisons will look like, on these worlds that I keep landing on.’

A brief pause passed. ‘And?’ Ruby asked at last.

‘They are always all the same. Dark. Wet. And dirty.’ The Doctor rubbed his earlobe. ‘It is as if there is just one architect for prisons, and he is going all over the universe designing them for different cultures.’

‘I can’t believe that you’re waxing philosophical about prisons.’

‘And I cannot believe you still have your book.’

Ruby looked down at her lap. She had almost forgotten that she had. ‘Oh yes. I was amazed they actually let me pick it up before we left.’

The Doctor smiled. ‘They were too busy beating me down to notice. But I am glad to see you managed to hang onto it.’

‘Well, I’m even more surprised that we haven’t escaped yet, Doctor.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘All in due time, Ruby. There are a few things that we need to figure out.’

Ruby tilted her head to the side, curious. ‘Such as?’

‘Well, if there is one constant that I have found in my incarcerations, it is that prison time is great for doing a lot of thinking.’

Ruby tutted. ‘But how is that going to help us escape?’

The Doctor rolled his eyes. ‘Ruby, really. You should know by now! We need to know what we are up against before just running off and confronting it.’ He looked down at his shoes, tapping them against the floor, and biting his lip. ‘We need a plan.’

Episode Three:

Inwardly, Ruby sighed. She took a look around at her bleak surroundings, and then let her gaze wander over to the cell window. Beyond the charcoal bars, she could see the Tower being built in the town, the shattered sky all around it.

All around it.

‘Doctor, could you come here by the window?’ she said.

The Doctor stood and walked over to Ruby. He bent down slightly and gazed out the window, towards the Tower. Ruby lifted her index finger and pointed it towards the edifice.

‘Is there… well, do you think there’s anything unusual about it?’

The Doctor paused, his eyes darting about the scenery. He stood silent for a very long time. ‘The fractured sky,’ he said at last. Ruby nodded.

The Doctor tapped his chin, deep in thought. ‘The fractures seem to centre around the Tower. That is disconcerting.’ The Doctor turned from the window and began to pace around the room. ‘The Tower is supposedly being built by these people as an act of defiance against their God. Since we have not been inside the Tower, there is no way for us to say for certain something inside is causing the sky to fracture. That would, nonetheless, be my intuition. And somehow, these people have not noticed, or do not care.’

The Doctor spun around and faced Ruby. Ruby jumped at this sudden movement, letting out a small, mousy cry of surprise. ‘Now,’ he continued, ‘this Concept Addict comes into play. It does not seem to be an entirely intelligent being. It has only one function. To rob people of their core perceptions of concepts.’

The Doctor turned back to the window, slowly running his fingers up and down the bars. ‘But why?’ he said, moving his hand and tapping his finger against his chin. ‘Why steal something like concepts? And if this being does so to understand the concepts it steals, then how would it understand to attack these people?’

Ruby curled her lip and thought for a moment. ‘You tell me,’ she said at last.

‘I believe there is someone is behind all this. Some external force pulling strings and yanking this murdering abomination about like a puppet. Somehow he or she has tricked the queen and murdered the king.’ The Doctor stepped back towards the window again, staring at the Tower. ‘But the question remains: who?’

Ruby stood alongside the Doctor. ‘We won’t find out in here.’

The Doctor looked down at Ruby and smiled. ‘You are quite correct, my dear Ruby.’ He turned back towards the cell door. ‘I think the time has come for a spot of escapology.’

‘And just how – exactly - do you propose we do that?’ Ruby asked.

The Doctor looked at the cell door. ‘I think that I have an idea.’

Prison Guard Toben had been on duty for thirty minutes when he heard the screams coming from cell number nine. Toben decided to ignore the screams. He had heard of various escape attempts, some of them involving screaming prisoners, faking exotic and dubious deaths, or complaining of food poisoning, broken limbs, radiation sickness, or some other bizarre ailment. Once, a man had screamed for help claiming to have been decapitated. A few of the newer guards would occasionally fall for such a charade, and would suffer severe discipline - and ridicule – as a result. At times, the latter was worse.

Toben began to think differently when the smoke began to permeate the air around him, gliding past his nose and down the hallway. As this piqued his curiosity, the screams began to die out, and Toben heard a horrible death rattle. Slightly concerned, but still wary, Toben decided to investigate.

He headed down the hall and was promptly at cell block nine. When he came within view of the small cell door window, all he saw was flames.

‘Dear God!’ he cried, quickly jamming his hand into his pocket, looking for the keys to the cell. In his frenzy, he dropped his weapon. At last, he pulled out the key ring and began fumbling to find the right key. When he did, he attempted to slide the key in, only to jam it against the door in his haste. He went to try again quickly, when another scream - this time female - could be heard from the cell, and the smoke began to billow from the little opening with greater force. Toben focused, thrust the key back in to the hole, and opened the door and rushed inside.

In the smoke and heat, he failed to see the foot jutting across the doorframe and lurched over it, sprawling across the cell. With a sickening crunch, his head connected with the far wall and Toben crumpled to the floor, his world turning black, his last horrified thoughts being of his fellow guards pointing and laughing at him.

The Doctor stood over the prone form of the unconscious guard, checking the man’s injuries.

‘Hmm. A nasty abrasion to the cranium, but nothing too serious,’ the Doctor muttered. ‘But he will be fine in the long run.’

Ruby was standing behind him, holding his jacket in her hands, on which sat the smouldering remains of The Wasteland. She looked crestfallen as she gazed at the charred tome. ‘It was a good book.’

The Doctor looked back at her. ‘I shall get you an original first edition as soon as we get out of here. I promise.’ He gently took the jacket from her arms and slid the book off, allowing it to fall to the floor. He quickly stamped out the flames, and then studied his jacket, shaking his head when he saw the burnt mark.

‘I suppose I shall also have to make another trip to the tailor,’ he said.

‘I’m sure that you’ll have no problems finding a replacement.’ Ruby laughed, which died out as she looked down at the floor. Then, beneath her breath, she said, ‘I really did like that book.’

‘I am sorry, Ruby, but it was not as if the prison offered a library service. Then I could have burned another book to fool the guard.’

Ruby perked up. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. You did a great job. I expected nothing less, of course.’

‘Thank you, Ruby.’ The Doctor looked outside of the cell. ‘But right now, we have to make a little trip to the Tower…’ His voice tailed off as his eyes came to light on something sticking out of the guard’s pockets. He reached down and pulled out the papers and held them aloft. ‘Old High Gallifreyan.’

‘From your destroyed planet? Why would they be here?’

‘I have no idea.’ The Doctor stuffed the pages in his pocket. ‘When we get back to the TARDIS I shall check their authenticity. For now we shall continue on to the Tower.’

I am old. Somehow, somewhere, in a different life, my name was Ruby. And I was young. I wasn’t perhaps the most beautiful, or most well figured, but I was certainly me. I was certainly someone with whom people got along. Whom some people loved. Some may even still remember me. Oh, wait. Don’t be silly - they’re all probably dead.

Just like I will be, soon.

Poor Doctor. What a burden I must have been for him, for all of these years since we were stuck in this strange forest, this dark place of winter and dead trees. At first, it was almost exciting, like a vacation. We found the wooden cabin, which was rather large, thank God. I had never seen a cabin quite like It - almost as if it were tailor-made for us. But it didn’t matter. In those first few days or weeks, we made the best out of it, just waiting to leave. After all, the TARDIS was there with us, sitting behind the cabin. With it, we could travel anywhere, to any time. It was our gateway to all of creation.

And yet, it was different somehow. As it sat there, it seemed… well, dead. As dead as the trees all around us. As dark and foreboding as the veil that lay beyond the trees. And it wouldn’t let the Doctor back in. At first, he showed little concern, though I think he was just putting on a brave face for me. It did bother him, I could tell. And as the weeks turned into months, he had a certain desperation that he quelled by chopping firewood. Oddly enough, we never had too much, and we never had too little; there always seemed to be wood to chop. Perhaps it’s just my old age; after all, I am dying.

I can feel it; I can feel it in every breath, in every fibre of my brittle bones, and in every time I am about to open my eyes, fearing that I, at last, would be unable to do so.

Death approaches; fierce, predatory, without caution.

We never ventured beyond the darkness of the forest. Once, the Doctor tried wandering off. I didn’t see him for five days. They were the scariest five days of my life. I could never sleep. I would stay by the window, waiting for him to return. And if he didn’t return, I would think to myself, then what happened to him? What got him? And a deep, intestine-gnawing fear would grip me, forcing me to be sick… almost. What chance did I have against something that could kill the Doctor? It was horrible; the most alone I had ever felt in my life.

And all I could think of during those five days was how I wish that I could be home. Back, safe and sound in my own bed. Maybe I would still be dying alone, in some strange bed somewhere, but it had to be better than this. Better than waiting for the Doctor to return, feeling as though I was the only thing left in the universe. It was horrifying. I wanted to be home, secure, where there were no creatures or Towers or evils; only quarters and canteen at UNIT HQ, my menus, my mundane, unexciting way of life. Somewhere I would at least be safe.

He did return, at last. He was different, somehow. I don’t want to say terrified, but he was changed. He said that, no matter how far he had walked, it was the same. Forest, winter, dark. He had walked for two-and-a-half days. It was madness; we were stuck on a dark world of trees and snow and dead leaves.

The days passed strangely after that. Tea, card games, stories. Sleep. Enough time to sleep.

Like I am about to now.

To sleep, to be buried out there with the snow and leaves and other dead things.

Somehow, it’s fitting. To die here, in this place of solace and damnation. We chose this, didn’t we? We wanted to muck around with the universe and Time and people’s lives. Was there a cruel God out there, laughing. Maybe this place was hell. Maybe this is what hell is. Not fire, not brimstone, not other people.

Maybe hell is dying alone.

‘I wonder how long before anyone notices we’re gone,’ Ruby said, looking around as the Doctor fiddled with the computer panel.

‘It could be hours. Or minutes. Or maybe it is too late,’ the Doctor said, deftly moving his fingers across the interface.

It’s almost like playing a piano, Ruby thought. It’s just easy for him.

They were huddled within a tiny alcove beside one of the Tower entrances. The Doctor fiddled for a few more moments, and then the panel beeped.

Nothing happened.

‘Doctor, I thought that you were a computer whiz.’

The Doctor feigned a hurt expression. ‘Ruby, really. It is not as if every system across the universe conforms to one standard.’ He patted his chest lightly. ‘It takes an adaptive and intuitive mind such as mine to figure out these systems. It just takes time and patience.’

‘Right.’

The Doctor turned back to the panel. He manoeuvred his fingers over the controls again; pressing several keys in the process, and was greeted with the same beeping as before.

‘What was that you were just saying?’ Ruby said slyly.

The Doctor stood there silent for a moment, tapping his foot on the ground as he gazed at the control panel.

‘Doctor?’

‘Hmm?’ he said absent-mindedly.

‘We have a visitor.’

The Doctor lifted his head up and saw there was a man standing there. He was dressed in simple slacks and buttoned shirt; he did not appear to represent law enforcement, Ruby noticed.

‘Excuse me,’ he said. ‘May I help you?’

‘And you are…?’ the Doctor said, his voice deepening with an air of authority.

‘Dorian. What can I help you with?’

The Doctor smiled and clasped his hands together. ‘Ah, a fellow technophile! Wonderful news, wonderful news.’ He stepped over to Dorian, who moved back a little.

‘What,’ Dorian stammered, ‘are you two doing here? Are you two part of the Tower Project?’

‘Are you?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Of course.’

The grin widened on the Doctor’s face. ‘Really?’ He stepped up to stand near Dorian, sliding his arm around Dorian’s shoulders. ‘I am terribly fascinated to know why you have such advanced computer systems in this tower in the first place.’

Dorian was on the ground before the Doctor completed his sentence.

‘Doctor?’ Ruby asked, concern seeping in to her voice.

‘Just an old trick,’ the Doctor said. ‘Venusian Aikido - the merest pressure in the right place on the back of the neck, they are out for an hour or so.’ He began to root through Dorian’s wallet. ‘Ah,’ he said at last, removing a card. The Doctor moved back over to the control panel and slid the card through the access reader. There was a different beep, this time, and the doors opened.

‘See?’ the Doctor said. ‘An intuitive mind, and what not.’

‘Of course, Doctor,’ Ruby said, smiling. ‘Of course.’

They hurried down the hallway, stopping when finding another computer panel. The Doctor began to fiddle with the controls, and the display lit up with a map of the building. ‘I was serious about one thing, though,’ the Doctor said. ‘Back there, with Dorian.’

‘What is that?’ Ruby asked.

‘Computer systems,’ the Doctor said. ‘Why does a Tower, which is supposedly being built in defiance to God, need advanced computer systems such as this? Rather like using a nuclear reactor to power a single lightbulb!’

Ruby thought for a moment. ‘To analyse something?’

‘Maybe,’ the Doctor said. ‘It makes no sense.’ Then, his face exploded into a smile. ‘Ah-ha!’ he cried, jamming his index finger onto the display. ‘Here: this is where we want to go.’ The Doctor took off at a fevered pace down the hallway.

Ruby followed, struggling to keep up. ‘What is it you’ve found?’ she asked between ragged breaths.

‘There is a large, round chamber at the centre of the Tower,’ the Doctor said. ‘It spans several stories. It must be for something, maybe some sort of energy core. Whatever it is, it must be what is fracturing the sky. And hopefully it will provide us with a clue as to what has been going on here.’

They reached what appeared to be large lift. The Doctor pressed on the computer panel, and within moments the door opened. The Doctor entered at a frantic pace, and Ruby soon followed suit.

‘Up we go,’ the Doctor said, setting the coordinates on the computer panel.

Ruby felt nothing for a few moments. The lift appeared to be dead. ‘Doctor,’ she began, ‘we aren’t moving.’

‘Yes we are.’

‘But I don’t feel a thing!’

‘This Tower is huge. The elevators need to move very quickly to make it feasible to get around in this place. I would assume that there are inertial dampeners in place to make it feel like we are not moving, when in fact we are moving very, very quickly. Be thankful, considering the alternative would require for them to scrape our bodies off of the walls.’

Ruby gulped loudly.

A moment passed, and suddenly the doors opened. The Doctor and Ruby stepped out on to the walkway in front of them, leading out to the enormous chamber before them.

The cathedral-like structure contained a subtle red-orange glow, emanating from the core some way down the walkway. As they stepped forward, Ruby could see that the chamber stretched a fair way upwards, with catwalks criss-crossing each other, and giant crane-like arms moving blocks and other debris. Looking ahead, she saw what appeared to be a huge, cylinder-shaped computer, which appeared to be as high as the chamber itself.

They found no one around, until they approached the supercomputer. There, they found two technicians sitting at a console, working the controls. There was another man, in dark robes, standing behind them. None had noticed the Doctor and Ruby. Above the technicians, built in to the computer, was a large monitor screen.

‘You’re the queen’s “advisor,” are you not?’ the Doctor said, a hint of acidity in his voice.

The robed man turned around. ‘Yes,’ he said, his face betraying a restrained calm. ‘To her, I am known as Koras.’

The Doctor looked at Koras for a moment, his eyes narrowed. ‘You are also her liaison to the Tower construction?’

Koras smiled, holding back a laugh. ‘No, not really, Doctor. But, then again, I am not really what I appear to be.’

Cue pipe organ, thunder, and lightning, Ruby thought to herself.

The Doctor looked around. ‘This is quite an accomplishment. But it does not explain the computer systems. Why would this Tower need such advanced technology?’ The Doctor looked over Koras’s shoulder. ‘And one that is not even of human design?’

The smile disappeared from Koras’s face.

‘You tried to have the queen execute us, did you not? And you probably had the king killed, and created this monstrosity that has been killing people.’

Koras said nothing.

‘So who are you… really?’ the Doctor said.

Koras’s smiled. ‘Very well, Doctor.’ He reached up, and grabbed his face. To Ruby’s horror, he began to rip it off.

As the face came off, so did the rest of the body. Ruby’s eyes followed the newly discarded flesh as it was thrown to the floor, like a snake’s moulted skin. Ruby fought back the urge to vomit when she looked back up, and saw Koras again. Saw who he really was.

Koras’s new form was entirely alien. He was somehow taller, standing perhaps seven feet. Koras’s head was angular, shaped like a rectangle with large, black eyes. He had slits for nostrils, and a thin, wide mouth. His skin was pale, like an off-white. Koras’s arms were long and lanky, hanging awkwardly from the rest of him. His hands had three thick fingers, one of them obviously a thumb. This contrasted with his wide torso. Ruby, at first glance, mistook his new shape as bulky. In fact, from the side, she saw he was quite thin. His legs jutted out like an afterthought from the rest of his body. Koras waved his hands from up to down, indicating his new body.

‘This,’ Koras said, ‘is my true self. My real name is Rodenza.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Rodenza. An impressive trick, I must say. However, I am afraid that I am not familiar with your species.’

‘But we know of you, Doctor.’ Rodenza’s voice was light, ethereal. ‘We are a species who like to keep to ourselves. We do not like making ourselves known to others.’

‘Hence the mask and games?’ the Doctor said.

‘You could call it that.’

‘But you are entirely willing to manipulate a culture for your own ends?’ The fury was rising in the Doctor’s voice.

Rodenza tutted. ‘Please, Doctor. Your weak morality is typical of the races we encounter. We put aside such things long ago. We do only what we must in order to ensure our continued survival.’ Rodenza interlocked his thick fingers. ‘As well as keep an eye on other time actives such as yourself.’

The Doctor’s head recoiled as if Rodenza had punched him. ‘What are you saying?’

Rodenza smiled. ‘You have been watched, Doctor. And much closer and longer than you realise.’

The Doctor took an angry step forward. ‘Enough games, Rodenza! Just what are you doing here? Why have you manipulated these people into building this… this Tower?’

Rodenza smiled. A hard chill went down Ruby’s spine upon seeing it. It was so… unnatural. ‘This,’ he said, sweeping his broad arms upwards towards the computer core, ‘is a temporal-metaphysical engine.’

Ruby’s head tilted in curiosity. ‘A what?’

‘Nonsense,’ the Doctor said. ‘Temporal metaphysics is just a theory. Nothing more.’

Rodenza shook his head. ‘Ah, but that is where you are mistaken, Doctor. It is not a theory. I can make it possible.’

‘Impossible!’ the Doctor cried. ‘It is just a dream. If this is the best you have, then I am not worried.’

Rodenza nodded his head slowly, and turned back towards the towering computer. He began to press several of the keys. ‘Doctor,’ he continued, ’could we at least agree that no object in this universe has the ability to manipulate reality and time.’

‘Agreed,’ the Doctor said. ‘No object, no.’ Just an event liked the forced regeneration of a prolific time traveller, he added to himself.

Rodenza spun around, a finger on his hand raised. ‘But,’ he said, ‘what about an object from a previous universe?’

Ruby shook her head. ‘You’re not making any sense. Doctor, do you know what he’s talking about?’ She turned to look at the Doctor, but the look on his face stopped her cold.

The Doctor’s face was as hard as stone. ‘I think I have an idea, Ruby. And I do not like the sound of it.’

Rodenza smiled. ‘Oh, yes, you do know what I am talking about, Doctor. This universe is just one in a series. When one dies, a new one is created to take its place. The ultimate cycle of renewal, spanning countless billions of years. But it is possible for a few objects to survive between universes.’ Rodenza paused. ‘And what happens, Doctor, if an object survives from one universe into the next?’

The Doctor looked down at his feet, then around the room, thinking of his old companion, Alf. ‘Then that object is not subjected to the same laws of physics as the current universe.’

‘Correct. And that is what I have done.’ Rodenza pointed at the computer core again. ‘At the centre of this giant computer is small fragment left over from the previous universe. Quite simply, it is a small gem, with exquisite colour. I do not believe the colour even exists in this universe. And when I found it on a dead world at the edge of the universe, I knew of what it was capable.’ Rodenza began to pace before the computer. ‘So I came here, disguised myself as a human, and slowly gained their trust, until I could influence the royalty to begin building this Tower.’ Rodenza allowed a beat to pass. ‘Humans can be so easily influenced.’

‘And what will you do, Rodenza? What will you do with your new creation?’ the Doctor asked sardonically.

Rodenza turned and face the Doctor and Ruby. His eyes narrowed into a disturbing glare. ‘I will reshape all of creation in my image! I will set the universe ablaze and burn the old order of things, to make way for my new rule!’

The Doctor said nothing for a moment, and then at last in a whisper; ‘How typical.’

Rodenza waved off the Doctor and turned back to the computer. ‘There is nothing that you can do, Doctor.’

‘And this Concept Addict? You created it? Will it be a part of this new rule?’

Rodenza shook his head. ‘Don’t be so inane, Doctor. The Concept creature was merely a test, a means to an end. I wanted to see if the engine worked. And it did.’

‘I cannot allow you to continue with this, Rodenza,’ the Doctor said, taking a step forward.

‘You’re too late, Doctor,’ Rodenza said. ‘I would not reveal my plans to you so easily otherwise. I have already activated the engine.’

The monitor screen lit up, and Ruby felt dizzy at what she saw.

On the screen, she saw a view of Counterpane, as if seen from a distance. The fracture in the planet’s atmosphere erupted, turning the sky into a black and red monstrosity. The buildings seemed to decay and twist. The earth turned a dull brown, the grass withering and dying. In a moment, the view from the screen closed in quickly on the city streets. People were running in fear. As Ruby shifted her eyes to see what they were running from, her hand involuntarily clasped over her mouth.

There was an army of Concept Addicts running through the streets, attacking people, draining their minds. Bodies were everywhere. Men, women… children.

Ruby turned away from the screen.

‘Unable to stomach the new order?’ Rodenza asked mockingly.

Ruby turned to face Rodenza, her eyes full of tears and hate. ‘You call that a new order? It’s slaughter, plain and simple!’

‘Rodenza, you must stop this madness!’ the Doctor cried, taking another step forward.

Without warning, a bolt struck the Doctor in the chest. He flew back, his feet swinging out from under him, and landing on his back. Ruby cried out and ran to the Doctor’s side.

‘Doctor!’

The Doctor was rubbing his chest, brushing away some of the smoke that was coming off. ‘I am all right, Ruby,’ he said weakly, ‘but where did that energy discharge come from?’

Ruby looked back, and saw Rodenza standing there, one hand raised, palm out, facing towards the Doctor. ‘I believe from our friend over there,’ she said.

Ruby helped the Doctor to his feet, though he almost crumpled back to the floor. Ruby tried again, and this time the Doctor was able to stand, though still weak.

‘There is nothing you can do to stop the new order, Doctor,’ Rodenza said, lowering his hand. ‘It begins here on Counterpane. Soon, the universe will follow in its wake.’

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but was cut short by a familiar groaning and wheezing sound. The Doctor shot a glance backwards, and saw the TARDIS materialising. Ruby’s eyes widened.

‘The TARDIS?’ Ruby cried. ‘But how is that…‘

‘No time, now, Ruby!’ the Doctor cried. ‘Get inside, now!’

The Doctor grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and began to move her towards the TARDIS. Over his shoulder, the Doctor could see Rodenza raising his hand again, and then lowering it.

‘Where do you think you can hide, Doctor? Inside that box?’

The Doctor removed the TARDIS key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He ushered Ruby inside, and glanced back at Rodenza.

‘I will not let you get away with this, Rodenza.’

Rodenza smiled. ‘You already have, Doctor.’

The Doctor entered the TARDIS and slammed the door shut.

‘Doctor!’ Ruby cried, as the Doctor stumbled into the console room, and then slumped over the controls. She ran to his side and helped him up again.

‘Apologies,’ he said. ‘I am still very weak from Rodenza’s blast.’

‘How badly hurt are you?’ Ruby asked. ‘Do you need me to get you anything?’

‘No,’ the Doctor replied. ‘We need to stop Rodenza.’

With great effort, the Doctor stood up straight, and patted Ruby on the shoulder.

Ruby smiled weakly, and then looked around the console room. ‘Doctor,’ Ruby said suddenly, ‘why did the TARDIS materialise in the Tower?’

The Doctor checked the controls on the console, and after a few moments spoke. ‘Ah, that is interesting.’

Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘Do I really need to ask “what”?’

The Doctor looked up at Ruby. ‘When Rodenza reformed Counterpane to his twisted liking, he actually made it slightly smaller. The TARDIS attempted to compensate for the change of coordinates.’ He paused. ‘And materialised in the computer core.’ He tapped his chin. ‘That would really have been a problem if we had not been in the computer core when this happened. We would never have known.’

‘But what now? How do we stop Rodenza?’

The Doctor let out a loud sigh. ‘I do not know! His temporal-metaphysical engine has the ability to alter time and space. He can use reality as his block of clay.’ The Doctor pointed at the view screen. ‘Look at what he did on Counterpane.’

Then the Doctor stopped dead.

‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘Look at what he did on Counterpane!’ The Doctor began furiously to work the controls. ‘I have an idea, but I have no way of knowing if it will work.’

Then, the Doctor grabbed his chest in pain, and punched in a few final keys on the TARDIS console, before slumping to the ground.

Ruby ran to his side. ‘Doctor! Doctor, what’s happening? Doctor, can you hear me?’

The Doctor’s face was pale, his hand curled into a fist as he grabbed at his chest. The TARDIS began to shake violently, the lights flickering. Ruby was thrown to the floor, and she tried to crawl over to the Doctor.

She saw that he had passed out. Or was dead.

Ruby’s heart sank. She was going to die. She just knew it.

All around her, the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising engulfed the room, loud and full of fury. The TARDIS shook more violently as the sound increased, threatening to explode Ruby’s ears. Ruby placed her hands over her ears, praying for the end to come.

Suddenly, everything exploded in to a void.

The Doctor was sitting in the living room when he heard the sound of the TARDIS materialising. Within seconds, he was out the door and around the back. Time seemed to slow down as he attempted to round the building, for the TARDIS to come into view.

At last he saw it. The light on top of the TARDIS was glowing, and the Ship was making its familiar sounds. He rushed up to the TARDIS and removed the key from his pocket. He slid it into the hole and turned the key.

The door unlocked. It opened.

Without missing a beat, the Doctor turned and ran into the cabin. He crashed past the table and furniture, storming into Ruby’s room. Her body was still. For a moment, the Doctor paused, looking down at her body, his face plastered with a frown.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Ruby was still alive.

The Doctor gently placed his arms under her, raced her out the door, and around the back of the cabin. He saw the light still lit atop the TARDIS, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He moved to the TARDIS entrance, and stopped to look back. He scanned the cabin, the chopped wood, and the darkness in the forest. Then, turning for the last time, he leapt into the darkness of his ship’s interior.

Ruby slowly awoke, her head a swirl of pain and light-headedness. She looked around the room.

She was lying on the floor of the TARDIS console room.

She sat up quickly, and saw the Doctor lying across from her. Ruby crawled over to be beside him. She shook him on the shoulder. ‘Doctor,’ she said.

He moved slightly, and then groaned. Ruby smiled a little, and it grew the more the Doctor regained consciousness. ‘Ruby,’ he said, relief in his voice.

‘Doctor, what just happened?’ Ruby said, concerned. ‘I remember being here, in the TARDIS with you when you passed out, and then also being old…’

The Doctor shook his head, rubbing his temples. ‘Yes, let me think.’ He paused. Then, after a moment, he whispered ‘Rodenza.’

Ruby’s jaw fell. ‘Yes, Rodenza! He had transformed Counterpane, and you did something at the controls… and then we were in that forest.’

The Doctor slowly nodded. ‘Yes, I remember now.’ He turned to Ruby. ‘We were inside the TARDIS the whole time.’

‘What?’ Ruby cried.

The Doctor stood and began to work on some of the TARDIS controls. ‘Before I passed out, I realised something.’ He looked over at Ruby, who got off the floor and stood by the Doctor. ‘I realised something when Rodenza reshaped Counterpane and the TARDIS re-appeared in the Tower core. Rodenza had unlimited power through the temporal-metaphysical engine, but it was limited by the size of the universe that he was in. It almost sounds academic, until I realised that I could use this against him, thanks to the TARDIS.’

‘How so?’

‘Since the TARDIS is its own separate dimension, I took a chance and materialised the TARDIS around Counterpane, in effect giving the planet its own room. This way, Rodenza’s powers would, for the meantime, be limited to only Counterpane.’

‘But something went wrong?’

‘Not necessarily,’ the Doctor said, glancing down at some readings. ‘But the changes Rodenza made were taking its toll on the TARDIS. To protect us, the Ship ejected us in to a “quiet” room inside of it.’

‘The forest?’ Ruby yelled in disbelief. ’That’s quite a room!’

‘Yes Indeed.’ The Doctor smiled indulgently, patting the console. ‘This old girl can do amazing things!’

‘But we aged there, Doctor. We… I… grew old. Did that really happen?’

The Doctor rubbed his forehead. ‘Well, it would appear some of the residual energy from the temporal-metaphysical engine seeped into the room. The thing with temporal metaphysics, is that you can customise reality to exhibit its own unique properties, both in time and space. The TARDIS used this to her advantage in the forest, knowing that it would take a long time for her to heal. But once you are removed from that environment, you revert back to your original state. Almost as if your temporal clock resets itself. That is why you are young again.’

Ruby looked down at the console. ‘And what of Rodenza? And the Tower?’

‘We cannot leave it in his hands. That is why we are taking a little trip.’ ‘To where?’

The Doctor smiled. ‘Oh, just back in time. To the Big Bang. Well, just before it, really.’

Ruby’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what are we going to do there?’

‘You will see.’

Ruby heard the TARDIS materialising. The Doctor worked the controls again, and then she suddenly felt a small jarring motion. The TARDIS then dematerialised. ‘What did you do?’

The Doctor turned to Ruby. ‘I just ejected the Tower into space, or rather, into the void, just before the Big Bang. That should destroy it and that fragment from the previous universe. I do not think that it would survive two Big Bangs.’ The Doctor chuckled.

‘And now?’

‘Now,’ the Doctor said, ‘we return Counterpane to its rightful place.’

‘Please, accept our apologies, Doctor,’ the Queen said. ‘We have been most foolish.’

The Doctor smiled. ‘No need to apologise, your majesty.’

Ruby looked around the throne room. ‘What will you do with Rodenza?’

The Queen’s face twisted in to a look of anger. ‘We will deal with him, my dear. He must answer for his crimes.’ Her voice lowered a little. ‘For those that we have lost.’

Ruby gave her a sympathetic smile, but said nothing.

The Doctor clapped his hands together. ‘Well, we must be off, Ruby.’ He turned to the rest of the court. ‘Take care of yourselves. Perhaps I will drop by and visit you again.’

‘Please do,’ the Queen said.

The Doctor nodded, and headed for the TARDIS, parked by the entrance to the throne room. He opened the door, and then reached out his arm, bowing slightly before Ruby. ‘After you, madam.’

Ruby laughed. ‘And who says chivalry is dead?’

They both laughed as they entered the TARDIS and closed the door. Soon, the room was filled with the healthy wheezing and groaning sounds of the TARDIS dematerialising.

Unbeknownst to anyone in the throne room, in the back behind the crowd, a man-like shape watched on as the TARDIS vanished.

‘Almost there, Doctor. Just a few more pages, old friend.’