The Doctor and Clara stepped out onto the man built platform. They gazed around at the masses of people milling around and talking over each other, the clatter of their shoes on the metal grating and the speed they were all rushing made Clara quite dizzy with the confusion. She grabbed The Doctor's hand as they were swept along with the crowd. As usual nobody questioned the sudden blue Earth police box.
'Doctor!' Clara called as she struggled to keep hold of his hand. 'What is this place?'
'I don't know, Clara' He called back as he took of running on a sharp left. Clara almost flew off her feet but the Doctor held on to her tightly and carried on running. Soon they entered a clear space and stopped to catch their breath.
'You know I love the running, but I'd really like to take a break once in a while.' Clara panted, bent over with her hands on her knees but The Doctor wasn't paying attention to her, He already had his screwdriver out and was scanning all the plant life in the area they had found themselves in. Clara looked around properly for the first time. There were interestingly cut hedges and pot plants, fake grass covering the metal grating she had seen when they arrived. But what captivated Clara was what she saw on the other side of the balcony running along the side of the platform.
'Doctor...' Clara murmured.
'I know' He grinned and spun around to meet her gaze. 'It's amazing isn't it?'
'Why, how and who would do this?' Clara stammered.
'That's what we're going to find out.' He turned and smiled lovingly at her amazement. 'C'mon Clara, you have seen a sun explode before haven't you?'
'Yes, but not like this' She said quietly as she walked slowly to the railing. She gazed at the marvel before her. The massive waves of super heated gas were frozen before her. Clara stretched out her arm and turned to The Doctor 'Can I touch it?' She whispered.
'I'm sure you can, Clara. I'm not sure you should though.' The Doctor grinned.
'Oh you think you're so funny.' Clara laughed and shook her head, withdrawing her hand.
'Basic time stop...' The Doctor began muttering under his breath as he fiddled with his screwdriver. 'Quite a stable one, very effective. I would say this has been paused for around...' He counted on his fingers comically then finally looked up and raised his voice 'This has been paused for about two hours.'
'Is it safe?'Clara asked, backing away from the railing.
'Yes, perfectly.' The Doctor replied, reassuringly. 'But the question isn't whether or not it's safe... because it clearly is, the question is why it's frozen and why are there all those people there.' He gestured behind him. Clara thought for a second. 'Well, it's pretty amazing isn't it. Just thinking aloud here.' She said, waving her hand and beginning to pace a little. 'We can see these things any time we like because we're time travellers. But ordinary people wouldn't be able to fly away and see it...'
'Until now.' The Doctor chimed in, finishing Clara's sentence for her. 'So someone is taking advantage of that fact... All those people... This is a business. Harmless enough I suppose.'
'Until you start tampering with the natural course of events.' Clara pointed out. 'All the sudden solar flares you were talking about this morning, Doctor. The people behind this little project must be behind that too. Think about it, you have this cool idea to set up a platform with front row seats to see the star explode but soon enough, you've exhausted all the exploding stars for the next couple thousand years. So what do you do?'
'You begin tampering with stars to get the audience, the money and the attraction. This is ridiculous, if this becomes a big enough problem, these people might start using stars that provide a systems light, and more stars may die before new ones can be born to take their place. This is bad, Clara. Very very bad.'
'Well, it's simple isn't it?' Clara asked cheerfully. 'We stop them.'
---
OKAY I'M SORRY IT'S REALLY SHORT BUT IT'S THE BEST I COULD DO PLEASE DON'T KILL ME
