Zo and Rose stood side-by-side beside the console, watching the Doctor work. Zo practically bounced with anticipation. She'd missed this, this thrill, more than she could ever say.

"Right then, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said, turning to the girls, "you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?" He grinned at her.

Rose looked back at Zo. "Don't you want to pick?" she asked, a slight frown on her face.

Zo shook her head. "No, I'll just pester him later until he takes me somewhere. It's your go, you choose."

Rose nodded, thinking for a moment. "Forwards."

"How far?" The Doctor returned, spinning back to the console.

Rose shrugged, as if to say 'what the hell'. "A hundred years."

The Doctor threw a switch, spun a dial, and the familiar noise started up. Rose looked up at the time rotor as they flew, watching the movement.

They landed quickly, only jerking a little bit against the console. "There you go," the Doctor said. "Step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century."

Rose's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding!"

"Oh, he most certainly isn't." Zo said with a laugh, dropping an arm around Rose's shoulder. The blonde stared at her like she had three heads, which only made Zo laugh more.

The Doctor beamed. "That century's a bit boring, though. Do you want to go further?"

Rose laughed, shaking her head. "Fine by me."

Once more, the Doctor flipped a lever and they flew. As they landed, he proudly said, "Ten thousand years into the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the New Roman Empire."

"You think you're so impressive." Rose said, laughing.

"Hey, you learn quick!" Zo said, grinning.

The Doctor looked offended. "I am so impressive!"

Both girls laughed. "You wish!" Zo said, poking him in the shoulder. He looked like he was contemplating sticking his tongue out at her, but didn't.

"Right then, you asked for it, both of you." he said, "I know exactly where to go. Hold on!" A throw of a switch, a turn of a dial, and the TARDIS lifted off.

This time the flight was bumpy, throwing the three of them around a bit before finally stilling. As Zo straightened, still laughing, she tugged on the skirt of her dress, pulling it straight.

They stood silent for a moment, before Rose said, "Where are we? What's out there?"

Zo slung her arm back around the other girl's shoulders, steering her towards the door. The Doctor followed. "That's the fun of it, Rose." she said. "You never know just what's out there."

Together, they pushed open the doors and stepped out into a wide, bright space. A set of steps, wide and shallow, descended before them, leading to a low pit of a room. The walls and floor were all tones of cream and beige, and the far wall was a window that was slowly opening to reveal space outside. Zo gaped, releasing Rose from her grip and running towards the window. "Oh my god," she breathed.

There, before her eyes, was Earth.

Zo could squeal with excitement. She hadn't been off-planet since coming to the late twentieth century, and the rush that came with leaving Earth was more than she expected.

Behind her, she heard Rose coming down the steps, slower than Zo. The Doctor said, "You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive." Zo heard his shoes hit the surface of floor behind her. "This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty-six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day-" He broke off for a moment. "Hold on."

In front of Zo, the sun flared bright red, and she instinctively stepped back.

"This is the day the sun expands." The Doctor said, "Welcome to the end of the world."

—

Zo trailed the Doctor and Rose out of the room—an observation gallery, according to the Doctor—and into a hallway. An intercom came to life above their heads, a smooth voice saying, "Shuttles and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty-nine, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."

"So, when it says 'guests', does that mean people?" Rose asked, jogging a step or two to keep up with the Doctor.

"Depends on what you mean by people," he said, turning to her.

"I mean people," Rose said, frowning. "What do you mean?"

Zo leaned forward, poking her head between them. "Aliens. He means aliens."

Rose blinked at her, but pressed right on with the questions. "What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"

"It's not really a spaceship," the Doctor answered, "more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn." He paused in front of a panel on the wall, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

Zo felt her stomach turn a little. She could accept that Earth burned and died. That was easy, especially not being on it at the time. But the fact that these people were using it as a reason to socialize—like it was something so ordinary as a solstice or a holiday—just seemed wrong.

It was Rose that asks the question: "What for?"

The door slid open, and the Doctor turned back to the girls. "Fun."

The door they stepped through led to a a large, open room dotted with three or four display cases that appeared to empty. One wall, just as in the observation room they'd arrived in, was a large window that extended to the ceiling. Zo allowed her mouth to hang open for a moment at the scope of that view. Like nothing she'd ever seen before, that was for sure.

"Mind you," the Doctor continued, "when I said the great and the good, what I mean is the rich."

"But hold on," Rose said. "They did this once on Newsround Extra. The sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years."

"Technically," Zo mumbled, her arms crossed over her chest, "it did."

"Millions." the Doctor corrected her, "but the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" He pointed out of the massive window, at several small specks floating around near Earth. "Gravity satellites holding back the sun."

Rose tilted her head to one side. "The planet looks the same as ever. I thought the continents shifted and things."

"They did," Zo interjected again. She knew this story, the tale of the Earth's change.

The Doctor picked up where Zo left off: "The Trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth." He shrugged, "But now the money's run out, nature takes over."

There was a pause for a moment before Rose spoke up again. "How long's it got?"

The Doctor looked at a watch he wore on his wrist. "About half an hour and then the planet gets roasted." He almost grinned at them as he spoke, causing Zo to shake her head rapidly. Too happy beside a girl who was facing the death of her home planet. How did he think this was a good idea? If Zo and he were alone, it would be all right, but making Rose see this was almost cruel.

Rose didn't get it the way Zo did. "Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"

He just looked at her. "I'm not saving it. Time's up."

"But what about all the people?" Rose seemed surprisingly calm, Zo thought, even as she wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulders. Rose let her.

"It's empty. They're all gone," the Doctor explained. "No one left."

Rose turned to Zo with a sad smile. "Just us, then." Zo bit her lip. She didn't have the heart to tell Rose that she wasn't actually from Earth. Besides, it would ruin the moment.

"Who the hell are you?"

The three turned to see a tall man—at least Zo though it was a man, it was difficult to tell genders with some of these species—with beautiful blue skin coming towards them. He wore long, patterned robes in a bronzy-grey colour. Zo could feel Rose start beside her.

"Oh, that's nice, thanks." the Doctor said, half-smiling at the man.

The newcomer didn't seem to realise the Doctor had spoken, looking around and saying, "But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They're on their way any second now." He was some kind of host, Zo realised, or perhaps a head butler type.

"That's me," the Doctor said, "I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation." He pulled a slim wallet out of his jacket and showed it to the man. "Look. There, you see? The Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler and Zo Parker. They're my plus two. Is that all right?"

The man looked flustered. "Well, obviously," he said. "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." He smiled, a little stiffly, and moved across the room to a podium beside the door they'd come in through.

"The paper's slightly psychic," the Doctor explained to the girls quietly, showing it to them. Zo leaned forward a bit to get a good look at it. "It shows people whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." He flipped the wallet closed and tucked it back in his pocket.

"He's blue." Rose said.

Blunt. Zo liked it.

The Doctor and Zo both nodded. "Yeah," the Doctor said.

Rose took a breath. "Okay."

The man—host? steward?—cleared his throat. "We have in attendance the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Zo Parker," he said into a small microphone set up at the podium. "Thank you. All staff to their positions." At this, a large group of people, blue like him but smaller, came from seemingly nowhere and scurried across the room to various positions. "Hurry now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along. And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute, and Coffa."

Zo shouldn't have been so surprised when three people with skin like the bark of trees stepped into the room. But she was. Even the shapes of their bodies looked like trees! She hardly noticed the host-steward saying something about an exchange of gifts, so busy was she staring at the trees.

"Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon."

Zo leaned to one side to see around the three trees. The Moxx of Balhoon, she saw, was a short, fat, blue creature that got around on a hover transport pod. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme."

Zo and Rose exchanged a glance at that announcement. "Repeated Meme?" Rose mouthed. Zo shrugged.

The Adherents of the Repeated Meme were tall creatures dressed all in black robes. Zo couldn't see their faces at all. Zo stopped paying attention then, as the group of trees came up to their small group. They were even more surreal up close.

"The Gift of Peace," the female-looking tree, Jabe, said. She swept out one hand to the tree on her left, who extended a small pot containing a twig planted in dirt out to them. "I bring you a cutting of my grandfather."

Zo raised her eyebrows. How did that even work? She opened her mouth to ask, but the Doctor stopped her with a look. "Thank you," he said, accepting the pot. He passed it to Rose. "Yes, gifts. Er," he paused for a moment. Zo could almost see him thinking. "I give you in return, air from my lungs."

And then he opened his mouth and breathed all over the trees.

Jabe seemed taken aback. "How intimate," she said, her voice low and soft. Zo tilted her head to one side, unsure what to think of her.

"There's more where that came from," the Doctor said, smiling.

"I bet there is," said Jabe as she moved away.

Rose turned towards Zo. "Was she...?"

"Flirting? I think so," Zo agreed. She wrinkled her nose, and Rose frowned.

Before either could say anything else, though, the host-steward spoke up and caught their attention once more. "From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe."

A huge glass tank came through the doors. Floating inside, brown and oddly textured, was a giant face. Zo frowned. There was something off about that.

She didn't get the chance to think on it longer, as the Moxx of Balhoon approached. "My felicitations on this historical happenstance," it said. "I give you the gift of bodily salivas."

He spat into Rose's face, and the blonde stumbled a step, her mouth falling open in shock. Zo grimaced and helped her wipe it off. "That's one of the odder things I've seen," she muttered. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Thank you very much!" the Doctor told the Moxx, who moved on rather quickly.

Following quickly behind were the black-robed guests. Zo shuddered a bit. "Ah!" the Doctor exclaimed upon seeing them, "The Adherents of the Repeated Meme! I bring you air from my lungs."

As he finished breathing on them—still weird, by the way—one of the Adherents held out a hand. Its hand was metal, which confused Zo. She had thought they were organic creatures, not made of metal. Perhaps it was a sort of a cyborg. In the hand was a large silvery-grey ball. "A gift of peace in all good faith," the Adherent said. Its voice was deep and loud. Echoing.

As the Adherents moved on, and Zo took a deep breath, the host-steward spoke once more. "And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last human." Rose and Zo exchanged glances once more, both standing up a little straighter. "The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Lady Cassandra, Zo found out a moment later, was just a flap of skin.

Maybe a couple feet wide and four feet tall, she was literally skin stretched out on a frame, almost translucent. Sure, she had a face, beady eyes and a thin nose, but.

She was skin.

"Oh now, don't stare," the skin said. Zo snorted, and the Doctor shot her a look. "I know, I know, it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am! Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturise me. Moisturise me." This was directed at two attendants all in white that stood next to her. They obediently sprayed her with some concoction.

"Truly," the skin said, "I am the last human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honour them and to say goodbye. Oh, no tears, no tears. I'm sorry." Zo doubted that thing could ever be sorry. She was milking this, it was obvious, and Zo was more than a little annoyed.

Lady Cassandra continued: "But behold, I bring gifts!" A man stepped forward, holding what looked like a large egg. "From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband?" Parts of the crowd laughed, but Zo just rolled her eyes. Rose walked towards the skin, skirting the side of the room as she did.

"Oh no, oh don't laugh," Cassandra said, "I'll get laughter lines. And here, another rarity." As what looked like a jukebox of all things, was rolled into the room, Rose walked around the back of the skin. Zo could almost see her through Cassandra. It was disgusting.

"According to the archives, this was called an iPod." Zo snorted again at Cassandra's horrible mislabeling. Oh, this was priceless. "It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers. Play on!"

On of the attendants pressed a button on the side of the jukebox, and a song Zo recognised began to play. But she didn't remember it from classical ballet training or the several orchestra concerts she had been privileged enough to attend. No, she knew this song from the oldies radio station her parents listened to sometimes. "'Tainted Love'? Really?" The Doctor smirked at her, bobbing his head to the music. "You're ridiculous." Zo told him, and went to join Rose.

The blonde was standing on one side of the room, looking very, very awkward. She simply watched the others, the packs of species she had never seen before. Zo could grasp how overwhelming that could be. As Zo neared the other girl, Rose took off in a run, heading through the open doors. Zo followed.

She caught up to Rose in the corridor. She stood at a window, staring out at the sun. Zo noticed, for the first time, that the sun was growing larger. As Zo came close, Rose turned towards her. "You all right?" Zo asked, putting a hand on Rose's shoulder.

The blonde shook her head, but didn't respond. Behind them, someone cleared their throat. Both turned, seeing a blue-skinned woman who looked like a mechanic. "Sorry. Are we allowed to be in here?" Rose asked.

The woman looked around before leaning towards the two girls conspiratorially. "You have to give us permission to talk," she informed them.

Zo smiled. "You have permission, of course," she said, Rose nodding shyly in agreement.

The woman smiled. "Thank you. And, no, you're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere."

Rose looked a little lost. "Okay."

The woman moved to a wall panel, using some tool Zo couldn't see to open it. She leaned over, squinting, in an attempt to see what she was doing.

"What's your name?" Rose asked, stepped a bit closer.

The mechanic glanced up, seemingly startled. "Raffalo."

"Raffalo?" Rose repeated. Zo sighed.

"Yes, she's Raffalo, I'm Zo, you're Rose." she said, "Now we're all introduced." She swore Raffalo giggled at her.

"I won't be long," she said, "I've just got to carry out some maintenance. There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Boe's suite. There must be something blocking the system. He's not getting any hot water."

"So, you're a plumber?" Rose asked. By now, she was standing directly beside Raffalo as she worked.

The blue-skinned woman nodded. "That's right, Miss."

"They still have plumbers?"

Okay, maybe Zo overestimated Rose's ability to handle space and time travel.

"I hope so, else I'm out of a job," Raffalo joked, grinning at them.

"Where are you from?" Zo asked. In all likeliness, she wouldn't recognise whatever name Raffalo gave her, but she found it nice to ask.

"Crespallion." Raffalo answered, and Zo frowned for a moment, thinking. She had heard the name before, but couldn't recall where from.

It was all too obvious that Rose had no idea where or what that was. "That's a planet, is it?"

Raffalo laughed and shook her head. "No. Crespallion's part of Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex fifty-six. And where are you from?" She nodded at Zo too, extending the question to her as well. "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, not at all," Rose started. She frowned suddenly, and Zo could just see it all catch up with her.

"We're from far away," Zo jumped in. "We rode with a friend. His treat, you know?"

Rose gave Zo a bewildered look, but she waved a hand, hoping she would drop it. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, we didn't even know where we were going." She shrugged. "It's quite the trip."

Rose blinked. "Anyway," she said to Raffalo, "don't let us keep you. Good luck with it." She nodded at the panel Raffalo worked at.

Raffalo smiled at them. "Thank you, Miss. And, er, thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."

"Okay," Rose said, already turned away. "See you later."

Zo grabbed Rose's arm as they left Raffalo. Her grip was not hard, just enough to make Rose look at her. "You okay?" she asked. Maybe she should have talked to the Doctor about proper first adventures before they picked Rose up, but she had no idea he would choose something like this. Showing off, he was. It wasn't fair to Rose.

The blonde shrugged. "It's just-" she stopped outside the door to a private gallery. "I don't even know him. He's a complete stranger. And really, so are you."

Zo smiled. "You've got a point there. We are strangers." She paused for a second. "But, Rose... If you want to go home, if it's too much for you...just ask. It's all right to want to go home."

Rose gave Zo a smile, small, but there, and opened the gallery door. "Thank you, Zo. I think I'm all right for now."

Zoe nodded and followed her into the observation room.

—

"Earth Death in twenty-five minutes."

The computerized voice echoed around the room. Rose sat on a ledge near the door, the plant from Jabe the tree in her hands. Zo stood in front of the open window, staring down at the Earth.

"Oh, thanks," Rose mumbled sarcastically. Zo snorted.

"Rose? Zo? Are you in there?" Zo turned as the door opened to let in the Doctor. He glanced between her and Rose, then said, "What do you think, then?"

"Great," Rose said before Zo could even think about opening her mouth. The sarcasm was stinging. "Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper." She looked down at her clasped hands, and Zo took an unconscious step in her direction. "They're just so...alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em—and they're alien."

Zo had to bite back her sarcastic reply. Rose didn't need that right now. The Doctor didn't seem to have that thought, though, as he huffed and said, "Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South."

Zo glared at him.

Rose lifted her head as the Doctor sat on the ledge across the staircase. "Where are you from?"

He shrugged. "All over the place."

"That's not an answer, Doctor." Zoe said, toning down the usual brash quality of her voice. He glanced at her, his eyes seeming to say that's not something I want to answer.

Tough, Zo thought.

"They all speak English." Rose said after a moment.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. The telepathic field, gets inside your head and translates." Zo blinked. That was news to her.

"It's inside my brain?" Both girls spoke at once, with differing degrees of incredulity.

The Doctor seemed taken aback. "Well, in a good way," he said, frowning between the two of them.

"Your machine gets inside my head," Rose said, "It gets inside, and it changes my mind, and you didn't even think to ask?"

Zo stepped closer to Rose, reaching up and grabbing the blonde's wrist. "C'mon, Rose," she mumbled. "He didn't think about it like that."

Rose slipped off the ledge, onto the floor beside Zo, and tugged her arm away. "No, he was too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South!" She shook her head. "Who are you then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?"

Right about then, Zo wished she wasn't between them. Physically, of course, because she could feel Rose's glare, but also in other ways. Zo could understand Rose, the shock, the confusion, all of it. But, she wasn't quite...normal, either. She bit her lip and ducked her head. Her hands smoothed the material of her skirt carefully, her dark skin standing out against the rosey pink.

"I'm just the Doctor," he said. Deflecting. Zoe knew what that looked like.

"From what planet?" Zo spoke up. She raised her head to meet the Doctor's eyes. She could think of several alien species that appeared more human than not, but which of those the Doctor was, she had no idea.

He just rolled his eyes. "Oh, well, it's not as if either of you know where it is!"

Rose stepped up beside Zo. "Where are you from?" she demanded.

"What does it matter?" The Doctor shot back.

"Tell me who you are!"

The Doctor took a step towards the pair. "This is who I am, right here, right now, all right?" He declared. He glanced at Zo, as if to ask where her questioning came from. "All that counts is here and now, and this is me."

Rose shook her head, turning away from the Doctor. "Yeah, and we're here too because you brought us here, so just tell us."

The Doctor was silent. Zo closed her eyes. "Doctor, please, just tell us," she said. "You can't bottle things up forever."

"Earth Death in twenty minutes." The computer interrupted. "Earth Death in twenty minutes."

Silence fell on the room for a moment, then Rose sighed. "All right. As my mate Shareen says, don't argue with the designated driver." The fight was gone from her voice, leaving only what sounded like resignation. She tugged her mobile out of her pocket, frowning down at the screen. "Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal; we're out of range."

Zo laughed. "Just a bit," she agreed.

"Tell you what," the Doctor said, coming up beside Rose. He held out a hand for her mobile, which she easily handed over. Seconds later, Zo heard the familiar buzz of the sonic screwdriver, "With a little jiggery-pokery..."

Rose snorted. "Is that a technical term, jiggery-pokery?"

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery-pokery..."

As the pair continued to talk, Zo quietly left the room. She could tell when she wasn't needed. And she certainly knew a moment when she saw one. She didn't want to get into the middle of their moment.

Wandering the halls of the Platform with her shoes off, Zo simply...thought. She finally had what she'd wanted: away from her family, traveling the universe with the one person she thought understood her. But Rose was right. On so many levels. Did Zo really know the Doctor? How could she? She'd met him once when she was twelve, for two hours at the most. She didn't know anything about him, other than his name and the fact that he wasn't human. There were people she hated that she knew more about.

It was unsettling, to realize that she knew far less than she thought. Zo would trust the Doctor with her life, no question, but was he worthy of that trust?

Her thoughts were cut off as the space station shook beneath her feet, throwing her off-balance. She caught herself on the wall, dropping her shoes to do so. "What...?" Zo frowned down at the ground as it stabilizes once more. "That's not supposed to happen."

She took two steps, paused, and grabbed her shoes before running in the direction of the main observation gallery.

—

It took Zo longer than she would like to admit to find her way back to the observation gallery. She hadn't been paying attention during her wanderings, and ended up farther away than she thought possible. After all, Platform One was rather small.

She found her day back, though, walking in just as the Doctor said, "What do you think Jabe? Listen to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty hertz. That dodgy or what?" He seemed to be speaking to the room at large, and every alien turned their attention to him.

Jabe the tree-woman shrugged. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?" Zo spoke up, more out of curiosity than anything else. She didn't know any more about machinery or engines than Jabe, but she was pretty sure something was wrong.

Jabe cast Zo a glance as the girl moved to stand at the Doctor's side. "I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your..." she paused, looking between Zo and Rose, "partners."

The Doctor shook his head. "Not like that."

Jabs frowned. "Concubines?"

"Nope."

"Prostitutes?"

"Whatever we are," Rose interrupted, "we must be invisible! Do you mind?" Jabe stared at her in shock, and Zo rolled her eyes.

"Tell you what, you two go on. Me and Rose, we'll go have a chat with Michael Jackson." Zo offered Rose her arm. The blonde took it, and the pair headed towards the large glass window were the so-called Lady Cassandra looked out.

As they walked away, the Doctor called, "Don't start a fight!" after them. The two girls ignored him.

Cassandra didn't even say hello as the pair strode up. "Soon," she said, and Zo couldn't help but wonder how she could talk at all. She had no voice box to speak of, "the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy, down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I'd have such fun."

"What happened to everyone else?" Rose asked, "The human race, where did it go?"

"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky."

Rose frowned. "So, you're not the last human."

Cassandra huffed. "I am the last pure human. The others...mingled." She said it like it was a dirty word, like it was a curse. Zo bit her lip and pretended she didn't exist.

The scorn practically radiated from Cassandra's skin. "Oh, they call themselves New Humans and Proto-Humans and Digi-Humans, even Human-ish, but you know what I call them? Mongrels."

"Right," Zo snorted. "And you've done nothing to change yourself."

Cassandra glared at her. "I kept myself pure."

"How many operations have you had?" Rose asked.

"Seven hundred and eight." Was it just Zo, or was Cassandra proud of that? "Next week, it's seven hundred and nine. I'm having my blood bleached." Internally, Zo gagged. She was having her blood bleached?

"Is that why you wanted a word?" Cassandra cast side glances at the pair of them. "You could both be flatter. You've got a bit of chin poking out." If she had fingers, Zo would bet she'd be pointing one at the pair of them.

"I'd rather die." Rose said, her voice hard as rocks. Zo nodded.

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt," Cassandra smiled a bit as she spoke.

"No, I mean it." Rose insisted, "I would rather die. It's better to die than to live like you, a bitchy trampoline."

Cassandra glanced at Zo, who nodded. "Me too," she said, "I like myself the way I am, thanks."

"Oh," said the trampoline, "well. What do you know."

Rose crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. "I was born on that planet, and so was my mum, and so was my dad. Zo's grown up just across the car park from me, and that makes us officially the last human beings in this room, cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin." She turned, as if to walk away.

"You're just skin," Zo mused. "And a little lipstick."

"Nice talking." Rose snapped. She hooked her arm through Zo's, and the pair of them strode away.

—

"Will there be a lot of people like her?"

Zo blinked and looked up at Rose. She was lost in her thoughts, for the second time that day. If she'd known that traveling through time and space would bring this many questions to ponder, maybe she wouldn't have come. "I don't know," she admitted. "I've not...been off Earth much."

"But you said you knew the Doctor." Rose stopped at the door, turning around to stare at Zo. "You don't really know what it's like? Out here, with him?"

"I do know him," Zo insisted, "I do. I just don't know what we'll see, out here, I don't know what kinds of people we'll meet or whatever. I don't know everything, Rose." She opened the door, taking a deep breath, and took a seat on the stairs leading downward. She was having enough trouble with herself as it was, she didn't need Rose to question her too.

The door hissed behind her, and Zo heard a soft scuffle as Rose slumped to the floor. They sat in silence.

—

"Sun filter descending."

Zo looked up, having been studying the floor for the past several minutes. In front of her, a black screen was descending from the top of the viewing window. Just beneath the black was a glowing line of sunlight. "Sun filter descending," the computer repeated.

Zo didn't know what that meant, but it couldn't be good.

She scrambled to her feet, rushing behind her to the door and shaking Rose's shoulder. The blonde had fallen asleep at some point. "Rose, get up!" she said as the computer repeated its message.

Rose opened her eyes blearily, then jumped. "What's that?" she asked as Zo stood and began to try to open the door.

"Sun filter's goin' down," Zo said, "Not good for us if we're hit by it." She slammed her hand on the panel next to the door. "It won't open!"

Rose stood up next to her, pounding on the door. "Let us out!" she yelled.

The computer chose that moment to remind them once again: "Sun filter descending." Zo glared at the ceiling, where she assumed the speakers were, and slammed a fist on the hard metal of the door. Stupid thing.

Rose kept yelling, and both girls continued to pound on the door, hoping to get the attention of someone, anyone. And they did, thankfully, because not a minute later Zo could hear the Doctor's voice say, "Anyone in there?"

"It's us!" Zo shouted over the noise of Rose's fist and the familiar buzz of the sonic screwdriver. "Can you get us out?"

The Doctor ignored her question. "Oh, well it would be you."

Zo and Rose exchanged a glance, then yelled in unison, "Open the door!"

"Hold on. Give us two ticks," the Doctor said, and the buzzing started again.

"Sun filter descending," the computer reminded them all. The light of the filter hit the top of the door, scorching the walls around it. Zo and Rose ducked.

A moment later, the computer declared, "Sun filter rising." Zo stood up straighter, trying to regain her breath. It didn't last long, though—the filter began descending again a second later.

"What are you doing out there?" Zo demanded. "Open the door!"

"The computer's getting clever!" he shouted. "It's fighting back!"

"Open the door!" Rose yelled. As the Doctor yelled something muffled in reply, Rose grabbed Zo's hand and pulled her down the stairs to the lower level. The sun filter was getting dangerously close to their heads.

For a tense minute, Zo and Rose huddled at the bottom of the stairs, wondering if they would die here. Or at least, that was what Zo was wondering. She wasn't ready to die, she decided. Not yet.

"Sun filter rising," the computer finally said. "Sun filter rising." The filter actually seemed to stay up this time, allowing Zo to sigh in relief.

Rose scrambled up, pulling Zo with her, and ran to the door. "The whole thing's jammed," the Doctor said. "I can't open the doors. Stay there!"

"It's not like there's anywhere we can go!" Zo yelled at him, but got no answer.

"Earth Death in five minutes."

—

Zo wasn't a fan of sitting idly. She needed action, movement, something to do. But here she was, trapped in this room with no way out. It made her a little anxious.

She paced back in forth in front of the door, which Rose sat in front of, listening to the computer tell her that the heat levels of Platform One were rising. She could do nothing to help from here. She couldn't get her thoughts organized. They jumped from frustration at her situation, to wondering about the Doctor, to hoping Rose was okay. It was incredibly irritating, to say the least.

Zo crossed her arms, raising one hand to rub at her forehead. There was too much going on in her head for her to deal with right now. Not to mention, the computer kept counting down till Earth Death, and the heat was still rising. She didn't need the computer to tell her that—she was regretting the layers in the skirt of her dress, it was so warm.

The window began to crack. Zo took a couple stumbling steps back towards Rose and the door. "Heat levels critical," the computer droned. "Heat levels critical."

"What is the Doctor doing?" Rose asked, her voice low. Zo could only shrug. Something rose in her throat—bile or fear, she couldn't tell. She didn't want to die now. Not here. Not yet. She swallowed, pushing the feeling down and closing her eyes tight. She wasn't going to die here. She wasn't.

"Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight..." The cracks in the glass grew wider, and Zo fell to the floor. Rose's arms wrapped around her, and they huddled together and waited for their own death.

The computer finished the countdown with a final-sounding "One," and Zo tensed.

Nothing happened.

Silence surrounded them for a few moments. Zo cracked open her eyes. "Exoglass repair," the computer said. As Zo watched, the glass of the window began to repair itself, the cracks disappearing before her eyes. "Exoglass repair."

Zo nudged Rose until her eyes opened, pointing forward. "Look," she said, "he did it."

If Rose burst into tears, Zo wouldn't blame her. But she didn't. Instead, she let out a breath, nodded to herself, and stood up. Outside, chunks of what used to be Earth drifted past the window.

Zo pulled herself to her feet, dusting off her dress as she did. No matter what happened next, she was going to change clothes once they got back to the TARDIS.

Rose opened the door, scowling at it, and Zo followed her down the hall. "D'you think everyone else is all right?" Rose asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"I dunno," Zo answered, "but I hope so."

They entered the main observation gallery a minute later. Not everyone was all right. As Zo looked around, she could see at least one guest missing—there was a little pile of ash in the chair belonging to the Moxx of Balhoon, and the trampoline was nowhere in sight. She took a deep breath.

Behind her, the Doctor strode into the room, drawing all eyes. Jabe wasn't with him. He cast a glance at Zo and Rose as he approached the other trees, saying something quietly to them for a moment before coming to Zo's side.

"You all right?" Rose whispered.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He grabbed Zo's hand, giving it a squeeze, before saying in a louder voice, "I'm full of ideas. I'm bristling with them." He started to move about the room, looking like he rather enjoyed having everyone looking at him. "Idea number one: Teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two: This feed must be hidden nearby." Glancing around the room, his eyes landed on the ostrich egg Cassandra had brought in with her. He plucked it from its pedestal and smashed it.

Zo leaned forward to see a tiny feed device laying amongst the pieces of the egg. Cassandra must have been smarter than Zo gave her credit for. She assumed the flap of skin was the one who teleported, but where to? And why not take others with her?

The Doctor scooped up the feed. "Idea number three: If you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and buzzed it at the feed. Seconds later, Zo's least favorite trampoline began to slowly appear in front of them.

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces..." she was saying, apparently not aware she was being teleported back. Zo crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Cassandra.

So did the Doctor. "The last human," he sneered at Cassandra.

She was clearly caught off-guard, her tiny eyes darting around the room, from face to face. "So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club."

Zo couldn't help it. She laughed at that. Everyone turned to look at her, Cassandra with a glare, but she just shrugged.

"People have died, Cassandra," the Doctor said, calmly, but with something underneath that Zo wasn't sure she liked. "You murdered them."

"It depends on your definition of people," Cassandra shot back, "and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries."

As she spoke, Zo heard another sound, quieter than Cassandra's voice, but just loud enough to be noticeable. It reminded her of old leather left in the sun for too long. A smirk grew on her face. "Take me to court then, Doctor," Cassandra continued, "and watch me smile and cry and flutter-"

"And creak?" Zo spoke up. "Cause you are. Creaking, that is."

"What?" The trampoline demanded. "I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturise me, moisturise me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" She was creaking more by the second, her skin paling as the visible veins turned darker red. She looked stretched.

"You raised the temperature," the Doctor pointed out.

"Have pity!" Cassandra cried. Zo almost felt bad for her. She may have tried to kill them all, but she was still a person. "Moisturise me! Oh, oh Doctor. I'm sorry. I'll do anything."

"Help her."

The Doctor and Zo both turned to look at Rose, who stared at Cassandra with an expression that looked a lot like sadness. The Doctor turned away, away from the blonde human, but Zo reached out a hand to her. Rose took it. "You're right," Zo said. "About everything. Including this."

"Everything has its time." The Doctor declared, "And everything dies."

"Doctor, please!" Zo said, aware of how desperate she sounded. "You're not in charge of who lives and dies." The Doctor ignored her.

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cried. Those were her last words.

As her skin burst with a terrible splat, Rose closed her eyes and buried her face in Zo's shoulder. Zo gripped her hand tighter, turning her own face away from the explosion of skin and blood. In all truth, it was disgusting.

But it was over.

—

Rose stood before the window in the main observation room, looking out at the remains of Earth. Zo stood a few feet behind her, arms crossed. She didn't want to get in Rose's way, interrupt her moment. Besides, she looked at the blonde more than the broken bits of planet. Earth didn't matter much to Zo, after all.

"Shuttles four and six departing," the computer announced. The remaining guests had been leaving in scattered groups over the last half hour or so, leaving the three time travelers alone on Platform One. "This unit now closing down for maintenance."

Zo turned at the sound of footsteps behind her. Just inside the door, the Doctor stood, his hands in his pockets, looking almost guilty. She smiled a little, tired smile, and extended a hand of invitation to him.

As the Doctor came closer to the pair, Rose said, "The end of the Earth. It's gone." Zo could sense the sadness in her voice, sadness that Zo had a hard time feeling on her own part. Yes, the death of a planet was a sad occasion, but it was far past Earth's time. Wasn't it?

"We were too busy saving ourselves," Rose continued. "No one saw it go. All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking. It's just gone."

Zo crossed the distance. "Our lives are important," she reminded Rose, her voice low. "There's a difference between near-death and disrespect."

Rose nodded, slowly. The Doctor looked between them, saying, "Come with me."

He lead them back to the TARDIS in silence. The trip was gentle this time, not nearly as rocky as Zo was used to. When the Doctor opened the door and stepped out, it was the familiar sound of London that greeted Zo. The three of them walked out onto a street in London, surrounded by people. People, just going about their lives. Something sour settled in Zo's stomach as the thought that she had seen their planet die crossed her mind. She didn't like it.

"You think it'll last forever," the Doctor said, "people and cars and concrete, but it won't. One day it's all gone. Even the sky."

Zo looked up at the sky, squinting at the blue of it. When she looked down again, the Doctor was gazing at her and Rose, a pained expression on his face. "My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time."

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"There was a war, and we lost." The Doctor said simply, shrugging a little.

Zo frowned. "A war with who?" she asked at the same time Rose said, "What about your people?"

The Doctor didn't answer Zo's question. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left traveling on my own cause there's no one left."

Zo bit her lip. "There's us?" she offered quietly. "I'm not plannin' on leaving you yet."

"You've seen how dangerous it is," he protested. "Do you want to go home?"

Zo shook her head, but Rose took a moment to think. "I...don't know. I want-" She cut herself off, turning to Zo. "Oh, can you smell chips?"

Zo grimned. "Yeah, I do. Over there, I think." She pointed forward, past where she could actually see, but in the general direction of the smell of chips. Now that she thought about it, she was hungry. The last thing she'd had to eat was the pizza with not-Mickey.

"I want chips," Rose decided.

The Doctor smiled. "Me too."

"Thirded," Zo declared. "Let's go get some chips."

"And you can pay," Rose said, pointing at the Doctor.

He held up his hands. "No money."

The girls exchanged a glance. "What kind of date are you?" Rose said, "Come on then, Zo, let's us go. Chips on me?"

Zo laughed, and hooked her arm around Rose's. "I mean, we've only got five billion years before the shops close." As the began to walk away, she turned to call over her shoulder, "Oh, Doctor, you can come too I suppose." She and Rose couldn't contain their giggles as he jogged a couple steps to keep up with them.

A grin on her face and friends at her side, Zo was just about the happiest she had ever been.

—

7983 words. Holy crap, that's a lot! Uh, does the length of this chapter outweigh how long it took me to write it?

I'll be honest, I don't even have a good explanation for why this chapter took so long, but I do hope you all enjoyed it! I've been working really hard this week to get it out today, so I'm very glad it's out!

Let me know what you think!
💛 Elspeth