Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

Utopia

The Doctor and the Artist worked on piloting the TARDIS, bringing her to a gentle landing in 2008 Cardiff at the Roald Dahl Plass. "Cardiff!" the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Cardiff?" Martha questioned. That was a bit anti-climatic, a box that could travel to anywhere in time and space, and they'd arrived at a place she could get to easily herself.

"Nothing wrong with Cardiff, Martha." the Artist said, "It's a nice city in your time. Always good for a couple of hours chilling out."

"And it's build on a rift in time and space." the Doctor added, "Just like California an' the San Andreas fault. But the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then we need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop." Martha realised.

"Spot on." the Artist smiled, "The TARDIS needs a top up after that palaver with the Weeping Angels. And I'm still cross with you for that." she told the Doctor pointedly. During their time stuck in 1969, Martha had worked in a clothes shop while the Artist had found work in a garage with a supervisor with wandering hands.

"I said I was sorry!" the Doctor moaned. When he'd found out about that supervisor, suffice to say, he was not happy and that supervisor had found himself facing the Oncoming Storm!

"Should only take 20 seconds this time." the Artist said, checking the scanner, "Looks like the rift's been active recently."

Martha suddenly realised something. "Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you two?" she asked.

"Bit of trouble with a Slitheen." the Doctor admitted.

"Now that's an understatement." the Artist remarked, "That was a while ago for us, back when he was a big-eared Northerner." she explained to Martha. She'd explained to Martha about regeneration shortly after Lazarus, when the human had became a full-time companion, just in case either Time Lord had to regenerate.

The Doctor checked the scanner. "Finito. All powered up." he said, then he looked at the monitor and saw the unmistakable figure of Captain Jack Harkness running frantically towards the TARDIS. The Doctor hurriedly started the TARDIS up.

"In a hurry, are we?" the Artist remarked, having not seen Jack.

Before the Doctor could answer, the console sparked and the TARDIS lurched violently, sending all three of them crashing to the floor. "Woah!" Martha exclaimed, "What's that?"

The Doctor pulled himself up and looked at the monitor. "We're accelerating." he said in surprise, "Into the future. The year one billion, five billion, five trillion, fifty trillion, what?! The year 100 trillion!"

"That's impossible!" the Artist said, joining him to see for herself.

"Why? What happens then?" Martha asked, wandering why both Time Lords seemed so surprised.

"We're going to the end of the universe." the Doctor and the Artist said together in serious voices.

———————————————————————————

The TARDIS stopped with a thud. "Well, we've landed." the Doctor said.

"So what's out there?"

"I dunno." the Doctor shrugged.

"Ooh, say that again, that's rare." Martha remarked.

"No Time Lord has ever come this far." the Artist told her in a serious, worried voice. "We should leave, right now." she told the Doctor.

"How about we give it at least five minutes?" the Doctor replied. The TARDIS had brought them here for a reason, so he felt it would be prudent to at least have a look around.