Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Fundamental Human

"Cardiff!"

"'Cardiff'?"

At Martha's disgruntled echo, the Doctor hurriedly raises a hand in his defence. "Ah, but! Thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California on the San Andreas fault... but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."

She laughs, following him around the console as he starts up the process with various buttons and dials. "So it's a pit stop?"

"Exactly! Should only take twenty seconds."

"Oh."

He pauses at the sound of my voice. A crease forms between his eyebrows as he sees me curled up on the seats. "Everything all right?" he gently asks.

I hurriedly offer a smile. "Just thought we'd get more time here, is all. I mean, we haven't been here since..."

I don't even need to finish my sentence. He knows what I mean — the last trip we went on with Jack before we were dragged off to Station 5 before it all went wrong. But while I expect him to offer some form of comfort, he tenses up and looks for anything else to talk about. Something on the screen catches his eye. "The rift's been active."

"Wait a minute," Martha says. "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple years ago, was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with a Slitheen. A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man, back then." Sighing wearily, I curl up into an even smaller ball, wrapped up in the Doctor's trench coat. He presses a few more buttons, his hand brushing against my back as he passes. "Finito, all powered up."

He frowns at something on the screen but just as quickly breaks into a smile when he meets my gaze, pulling the launch lever.

The console crackles and sparks. A sharp jolt almost knocks me from my seat.

Jumping up, I race over to the others. They stare at a scan of the Vortex outside, flickering with undiscernible Gallifreyan characters. "What's that?"

"We're accelerating, into the future. The year one billion... five billion... five trillion... fifty trillion! What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible!"

Alarmed, Martha and I look at him. "Why, what happens then?"

"We're going to the end of the universe."

With one last flash of electricity, we come to a stop. The ship becomes strangely quiet.

"Well... we've landed."

She gulps, her gaze fixed on the door. "So what's out there?" she asks, fearfully quiet.

His answer — "I don't know" — is not something we hear often. I have learned to be wary when the Doctor is out of answers. It is unlikely that we'll be faced with anything short of terrifying.

Martha can feel it too, that uneasiness. She forces a chuckle, "Oh, say that again. That's rare."

"Not even the Time Lords came this far," he continues. I know the look of fear in his eyes well. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really... go."

Then, shooting us an excited grin, he leads the way out of the Tardis.

The world outside is cold and dark. Jagged cliff faces and rocky slopes stretch for as far as the eye can see. The only form of vegetation is the dried shrubs dotted sparsely around us. I look up and see no stars in the sky. I shiver, huddling his coat closer around me for something to remind me of home.

"Oh my God!"

Following Martha's shout, I turn. My heart stops.

A body lies not that far ahead.