Finally though they had to leave. The Doctor and Hannah slipped away quietly to the TARDIS, finding it exactly where they had left it. The Doctor offered to help Hannah sort through Claire's possessions but Hannah wanted, needed to do it by herself. She did however give the Doctor one of Claire's favourite necklaces; something to cherish.
The tearful Time Lady punched in the dematerialisation codes into the TARDIS' systems and they were off once more into the colourful void of the vortex. Carefully she put the gold chain around her neck and closed the clasp before tucking the jewellery under her blouse.


The TARDIS flew through the empty wastelands beyond time and space, its course pulled this way and that by the time winds. Its occupants still coming to terms with all they had lost.


Hannah woke up screaming once again. She had dreamed about losing Claire again. She pulled the sweat soaked sheets off her skin and started to sob her heart out once again. Finally she cried herself to sleep only to wake up screaming a few hours later. Finally she had enough and she pulled on her discarded knickers, an old baggy t-shirt and her slippers before going in search of the kitchen. She hoped some warm milk would help her sleep and maybe some brandy too, if she could find any.


Inside her own room the Doctor put down the paintbrush and palette. She had listened to Hannah's screams and cries and it made her hearts break to feel her pain but she knew that Hannah needed time by herself otherwise she wouldn't be able to get it out of her system. She couldn't let her young friend be alone any longer though. Removing her painter's cape she stripped down to her briefs before pulling her pink silk dressing gown tight around her waist and ruffling her perfectly brushed hair up into a ghastly knot that would take hours to untangle.


Hannah found the milk and poured it out of the carton into a saucer. She sat on the mahogany table while waiting for it to heat up. The trick was to catch it just before it started to boil then let it cool down. If you boiled the milk then it tasted awful. She looked up when the Doctor entered the kitchen and smiled weakly.
"I heard you moving around," the Doctor explained weakly "and I could do with some company. Hot milk toddy? Looks delicious. Is there enough for your silly friend as well?"
"Of course Doctor," Hannah replied. "Just enough for two people."
"You know I'm always around if you need to talk," the Doctor said. "That's what friends are for."
"I know Doctor, there's so much I want to say to you, I don't know where to begin," Hannah tried to explain her feelings to the Doctor.
"Just say the first thing that comes to mind," the Doctor encouraged.
"Why do I feel like she's still here? Just hiding out of sight? I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and she's going to tell me it was all a practical joke."
"It's only natural Hannah when you love someone, they become a part of you to a certain extent. Just as you become a part of them, it's like having a leg cut off and still feeling it itching." The Doctor put her arm around her companion's shoulder and comforting her as she broke down into tears once more.
"Does it get better in time?" Hannah wept onto the Doctor's shoulder. "Does the pain ever go away?"
"Physical pain yes, emotional pain usually. Just the feelings of love and happiness remain and the cherished memories of course. Trust me, they're the ones you want to keep anyway." The Doctor glanced at the ceiling. "So many memories." She whispered to herself. "So many faces."
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"The milk is boiling over."
The Doctor took the pan of milk off the stove and placed it in the sink. "There's more milk in the fridge." She said to Hannah.
"There's no need Doctor," Hannah smiled. "I'm feeling better now."


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction.


The two women trekked across a seemingly endless sea of sand. The Doctor was curious as to where all the sand had come from; there was hardly any silicon oxide on the TARDIS's readings.
Hannah was forced to strip away her heavy coat, which she was sure she wasn't wearing when she had left the TARDIS and continue on in her skintight rubber outfit. She stopped; she had most definitely not put on a rubber outfit this morning, or a heavy coat. It was a Vampiros Lesbos T-shirt and her third favourite black denim jeans. "Doctor, something's defiantly wrong here. Something's changed my clothes; I wasn't wearing these clothes an hour ago. I'm not complaining about the outfit mind you, just the fact something weird is going on." She hoped that clarified her position somewhat.
"Yes, I think something is amiss." The Doctor stopped walking. "This is strange beyond reckoning, there's nothing but sand for miles."
"Err Doctor, when did you dye your hair brown?" Hannah asked as she was sure it had been blonde a few minutes ago."
"Something's changing the laws of causality Hannah. I think that the future is no longer certain, only probable." The Doctor's outfit changed to a charcoal grey skirt and white blouse. "You see. The possible is becoming reality. The very fabric of reality is being undone!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"What can we do?" Hannah asked as a sandstorm blew up around them. "What's happening to us?"
"The time line is being undone, we're being torn out of history." The Doctor grasped her companion's wrists. "Hold on to me, there may be a way...out...of..." Reality came to an end.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction.


They trekked towards a large lake of deep sapphire blue. Hannah stripped down to her bathing costume and jumped into its cool waters, and then she remembered she didn't put on a costume under her regular clothes.
The Doctor joined her companion in the refreshing water. She preferred to simply paddle about near the edge rather than immerse herself completely. "This is fun." She commented to Frieda, suddenly curious as to why her name seemed wrong.
Frieda splashed the Doctor with water and laughed. "You're right Doctor, this is great fun." I've gotten that brief fling totally out of my system. She swam closer to the Doctor. "You have great eyes you know, they're so deep and full of mysteries."
"Are you ok Frieda?" The Doctor asked her attractive companion. Would it be so wrong to kiss her she wondered. She took her companion in her arms and they looked deeply into each other eyes and then they kissed. The fabric of reality came apart once again and everything was suddenly nothing.
The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction.


They trekked over a small hill until they came to a small village of steel and glass. Something caught Hannah's wrist briefly, stinging her. She felt bad, her insides churned around and she found a seat to sit down on.
The Doctor fussed over her companion, examining her tongue and ear before rubbing her chin. "This is strange." She said at last. "You seem to be turning into some sort of jellyfish."
"What?" Hannah gasped in shock before gasping for water so she could breathe properly.
The Doctor picked up the jellified body of Hannah and carried her to the nearest building for help. She found that the buildings were actually large water tanks, each containing several similar creatures. She carried Hannah up the metal steps and dropped her body into the pool where she started to move around like the others. Turning to leave, the Doctor felt something sting her wrist.
Hannah watched as the Doctor started to change and she discarded her clothes and flopped inside the water with her. They rubbed their bodies together in a friendly greeting before stinging a couple of fish to death and feasting on the bodies.
They did not notice when the water started to drain out of the pool and they were sucked into the oblivion of non-existence.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction.
They started to trek towards a field of corn when the Doctor stopped suddenly in her tracks. "I've just had the weirdest feeling of deja vu." She said to Hannah. "Its as if I can sense something is wrong, but I don't know what it is."
"Sounds like my whole life story," Hannah replied. "Homosexual, string of bad relationships and then the girl who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with is taken from me. My life is one big sorry kick in the teeth, well maybe there were one or two good bits but the rest is lousy."
"Come on Hannah, you're a good person and my best friend so you jolly well stop feeling sorry for yourself and cheer up this second."
"What's the point? Everywhere I go they all point at me. Oh look at her, she's the lesbian, don't talk to her or you'll get it too. She's got HIV because she's gay and she must do drugs as well. I can't take it anymore."
"I don't judge people Hannah and I certainly do not tell people what do think or say. You just need to realise that people are not going to accept you and learn to live with it."
"What?" Hannah was shocked by the Doctor's words. "What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that the human species is not meant to be gay and it's better for everyone else if you're away from them."
"You don't mean that do you?" Hannah shouted. "Tell me you don't mean it."
"Poor little Hannah trying to play at happy families with another woman, it's a sick joke."
"I hate you," Hannah screamed at the Doctor. "I hate you."
"You should hate yourself more you freak. I had hoped that Claire would have seen the error or her ways by letting her work things out for herself. Let her realise that she was supposed to date boys but you ended up killing her didn't you?"
Hannah lay on the ground in tears, her hands over her ears. She didn't want to hear anymore. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her. Her wish came true seconds later.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction.
"This is strange," Hannah said stopping suddenly. "We've been here before."
"I know," the Doctor replied. "I'm sure we've been here before."
"What's going on?" Hannah wanted answers. "And why were you so mean to me before?"
"I'm not sure, we're in some sort of time loop I think. I think it affected my reasoning, not to mention my empathy." The Doctor popped a pink painted fingernail and fingertip into her mouth for a second before holding it up to the breeze. "Odd." She commented. "Very odd. The breeze is blowing from every direction at once."
"Is that possible?" Hannah asked.
"Only in the most dire circumstances," the Doctor replied. "Were you wearing that peach coloured skirt thirty seconds ago?" She asked Hannah while looking down at her attire.
Hannah looked down to see that her jeans had turned into a flowery skirt. "No. Black jeans Doctor." She informed the Time Lady.
"Reality is crumbling apart," the Doctor announced to her baffled companion. "The fabric of the Universe is being undone, we don't have very long left." The Doctor pointed to the spreading cracks in the sky.
Hannah screamed as shards of sky rained down on her and the Doctor then she stopped when she ceased to having to ever existed at all.

The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it," the Doctor sulked. "From now on we explore properly. This way I think." The Doctor set off in a random direction and then returned back to the TARDIS.
"Something's seriously wrong here Hannah. If we go anywhere something really bad will happen to us."
"I know, I don't know how I know that but you're right."
The two women sat outside the TARDIS and watched as the horizon started to shrink away into nothingness.
"I was right," the Doctor said. "I wonder if I can send myself a signal?"
"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.
"Try and communicate with myself. It's a long shot and I might not believe myself." The Doctor put her purple painted fingers up to her temples and concentrated. "Contact." She said at last.
"Here it comes." Hannah hugged the Doctor to stop herself from trembling.
"Close your eyes Hannah," the Doctor whispered as they were pulled into their constituent molecules.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied while looking at the bleak scenery before setting off to chat to the local. "Ah you there, good. I'm the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah, we're new in town and are looking for a place to shop. Do you know anywhere where we can get one or two items?"
"This is useless Doctor," Hannah sighed. "We can't just go through the motions, it's just not worth it." She turned to go back to the TARDIS.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop faking it. Wait a minute I'm getting something." The Doctor closed her eyes and put her orange coloured fingertips to her temples. "Contact." She muttered to herself as she established telepathic communication. "Oh my." She said at last.
"Doctor, what is it?" Hannah asked, feeling creeped out by the Doctor's actions.
"Most peculiar. I've just had a chin wag with me."
"One of your earlier selves?" Hannah asked, wondering which one it was.
"No, it was this me. Nice woman - terribly flustered though I thought. Must have been serious, she was borderline hysterical."
"What did she, you, say?" Hannah tried to bring the Doctor's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Oh some silly nonsense about the end of the world," the Doctor replied. "I wouldn't read too much into it. You know how I'm like."
Hannah did know the Doctor and she was worried. "Yes, we'd better go then. Let’s get back inside the TARDIS and get out of here."
"But we've just arrived here," the Doctor complained. "Where's your spirit of adventure?"
"It died aged seven, it was a slow cowards death when I got lost inside the shopping mall," Hannah recounted her childhood trauma to the Doctor. "They didn't find me for three and a half hours, a woman took me to the missing persons desk and the put a message out over the tannoy."
"Peri always had a way with children," the Doctor chuckled. "I think you're right, we should leave, the ground seems to be dissolving under our feet."
Hannah looked down to see her feet dissolve into a cloud of atoms before vanishing. She did the only sensible thing she could do, she screamed hysterically.
The Doctor tried to send a message to herself but wasn't sure whether she received it or not before she was gone.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "This is nice." She lied before realising the planet was familiar.
"Not this dump again?" Hanna complained bitterly. "I'm going back in my room to sulk." She turned to leave.
"Contact," the Doctor said suddenly, touching the sides of her head with her lilac painted fingertips. "We must find out what's going on here." She said at last. "Something's very wrong here."
Back inside the TARDIS the Doctor frantically read fifteen readouts at once and used all fifteen pairs of hands to punch the vast arrays of buttons. Of course she only actually had just the two hands, which slowed her down considerably.
Hannah stood; hands pushed in her jeans pockets, and watched the show.
"This is bad," the Doctor commented. "We're caught in a huge temporal fissure. There's something familiar about the phase shift distribution of the particles."
"And of course I speak fluent technobabble Doctor," Hannah replied sarcastically.
The Doctor ignored Hannah's comments and explained things simply to her. "This fissure is not a natural event, to put it simply. It has been created, by a Time Lord. I'm just trying to see if it's fingerprint corresponds to that of any TARDIS signature I know. My money's on Mortimus but the Rani and the Master are outside chances. Even the Valeyard before he, before he died." The Doctor's guilt about killing her corrupt persona came to the surface.
"Who is it then?" Hannah asked. "The Master?"
"No," the Doctor replied. "No! It can't be me. I didn't cause this, did I?"
"Err Doctor, the walls are turning see through." Hannah pointed to the roundels, where the outside could been seen through them.
The Doctor paused and looked at the view. "We don't have much time, I must tell me all of this, and she can sort it all out. Contact." The Doctor concentrated hard for a few seconds then she took hold of Hannah's hands before everything ceased to be.


The TARDIS materialised on the small planet of Pauxan Delta Three. Its arrival was totally missed by the native inhabitants so the Doctor tried again a few hours later just so they had someone to impress. The Doctor all but forced Hannah outside, into the bright sunlight. "Ok, what's going on?" She demanded.
"We keep arriving here," Hannah stated. "Then everything goes weird."
"Yes, some sort of non-repeating loop. Very dangerous. Hold on, I'm getting some sort of message from me." The Doctor concentrated as the telepathic communication was established. "We have to leave, now," the Doctor said before pulling Hannah inside the TARDIS.
"Ow, you hurt me," Hannah complained, examining the red finger marks on her wrist.
The Doctor set the dematerialisation codes and the green plasma ball burst into life, indicating that they had just dematerialised into the vortex. The huge wall sized screen flickered into life and the gasped as the green and black form of a temporal fissure enveloped the planet Pauxan Delta Three.
"That's horrible," Hannah said. "All those poor people down there."
"I know; if there was time to rescue them we would have. All we can do now is seal it up for all time. That's funny; it's not a natural formation. It's been created by a TARDIS, I wonder why?"
"Who would do that Doctor? It's monstrous, evil."
"I'll just check the phase shift distribution of the particles, that will tell us who's responsible." The Doctor's face was drained of colour.
Hannah watched the look of shock form on the Doctor's face. "Who's responsible Doctor? Who do we need to go and have a word with about it?"
"Me," the Doctor said slowly. "Me, I caused this."
Hannah felt like a hammer had hit her. "How?" She asked finally. "We never made anything like this, I would have remembered."
"Gallifrey, invaded by Cybermen. I travelled back in time to defeat them. I should have known better but I wasn't thinking straight at the time and I changed the future. Remember when Claire had been turned into a vampire by the Valeyard?"
"I don't remember what you're talking about Doctor," Hannah gasped.
"Temporal amnesia of course, the Blinovitch limitation effect too as well I expect. I'll tell you about it if we survive this." The Doctor adjusted their flight path. "Right now we have to close that fissure before it consumes anymore planets."

The TARDIS moved in closer to the fissure and began to circle it in a loose orbit. Suddenly it was nudged aside by something large. For a split second a long silver ship appeared on the screen.
"That's a Cyber Warship," the Doctor exclaimed. "It was shrouded until we hit it. Why are the Cybermen sending a ship into the fissure, it's not logical."
"Not one ship, there's another. No three more." Hannah pointed as more and more ships emerged from their shrouds.
"They're trying to slip back into the past!" The Doctor shouted. "I have to close the fissure now before it's too late.


The fissure contracted slowly but surely, the Cyber Warships at the edges being torn into atoms. However the ones at the centre seemed to pass through a sort of event horizon and out of time itself.


"Almost there," the Doctor exclaimed as the green and black cloud contracted in on itself, taking the few remaining ships with it. Inside the TARDIS sparks erupted from the mushroom shaped console and the roundels on the walls. Wires fell out of their housings on the ceiling and the hat stand fell over on top of the Doctor.
"What about the other ships? The ones that got through. What can we do about them?" Hannah picked the heavy hat stand up as best she could.
"I'm not sure, we'll have to sort all this damage out first before we can go anyway." The Doctor looked at her forlorn companion. "However I think a nice cup of tea is in order first, don't you?"
Hannah laughed as she headed to her room to find Lucky and let him have a run around and a bowl of milk if he didn't misbehave too much. She did feel a little bit better but there was a hole in her heart, a Claire shaped hole that may never completely heal.