ULTIMATE Doctor Who Book of Randomness (COMPLETED)

Series 7 Episode 9: Hide (Part 5)

P.O.V: Palmer

I looked out the window through the pouring rain. I heard a strange noise, but where were they?

"Did you see where he went? I could hear an engine but I can't see any lights." I asked Emma, but she was focused on something else. There was a bright flash of lighting, and I saw the reflection of a screaming figure behind me.

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P.O.V: The Doctor

We've gone back some number billion years, the Earth is still cooling. In my bright orange suit, I exited the Tardis and snapped a photograph of the outside.

"Back off. Hot suit. Hot, hot, hot." I quickly shut the door and hopped inside.

Clara peered on the monitor above the console. "When are we?" she asked. Great question.

"About six billion years ago. It's a Tuesday, I think." I answered, taking us back a little earlier than that.

We continued through the life cycle of Earth, heading through the times and snapping one photo per time. We finally approached the end of Earth, a barren, dead wasteland.

I glanced at Clara. "Back in a mo. Are you all right?" I prepared my orange suit once more and prepared to step outside.

"Totally. Peachy keen." She said simply. A little too simply.

"Okay then. Well, don't press any buttons or pull any levers or make any funny faces. Actually, don't move. Stand completely still. Don't breathe. Well, you can breathe, but shallow breaths." I exited the Tardis and took a photo. The ground was devastated, with a bit of roof and old chimney lying on the ground. The air shimmered in the immense heat. I returned back to the Tardis, shutting the door quickly behind me. Clara's face was staring straight ahead, almost depressed looking.

I patted the Tardis console with my hand. "Oh. What's wrong? Did the Tardis say something to you? Are you being mean?"

She shook her head slowly. "No, it's not that. Have we just watched the entire life cycle of Earth, birth to death?"

"Yes." I said simply, taking off my orange suit.

She finally looked at me, her eyes filled with emotion. "And you're okay with that?"

"Yes." I said simply once more. What was the big deal?

She hesitated. "How can you be?"

I smiled at the Tardis. "The Tardis, she's time. We. Wibbly vortex and so on."

She broke eye contact and shook her head, quicker this time. "That's not what I mean."

I paused. "Okay, some help. Context? Cheat sheet? Something?"

"I mean, one minute you're in 1974 looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you, I haven't been born yet, and to you I've been dead one hundred billion years. Is my body out there somewhere, in the ground?" I paused again. I could see where she was coming from, but how was different than any other time?

"Yes, I suppose it is."

"But here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you, I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing." I looked at her, deeply this time. She needed to understand that's not the way I felt about things. About who I travel with.

"No. No. You're not that." I told her. She was getting a little upset now.

She stepped down from the console down the stairs, at my level. "Then what are we? What can we possibly be?"