Joan glanced between them and decided to break the deadlock. Her poor old heart had been filled with joy at Smith’s declaration. Astonishing as it was that he really had once been some kind of cosmological wizard, his decision not to take it all up again had been vast. A grand sacrifice for her, a big gesture that, in her emotions now, made him every inch her husband.

‘I say,’ she began, ‘could I have a go with this magic object?’

Smith looked at Tim. ‘What do you think?’

‘Just don’t put it too close to your head.’ Tim handed Joan the Pod slowly and suspiciously, shivering slightly as he let go of it.

Joan took the Pod in her hand. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t run away with it.’ She felt it react, in some odd way, to the new touch. Then she closed her fist round it and closed her eyes. ‘Arthur,’ she whispered. ‘Oh my God, Arthur.’ Then, with a cry, she let go of it.

The Pod fell to the ground. Joan took a step back from it. ‘I saw Arthur, my husband, as he died. And then I felt the Doctor in the sphere. His opinion of it. He was so distant, so… cold. It was as if he was watching that death in my mind, but from such a height. Oh, John, I’m afraid of him, I’m so afraid of him.’

John held her, patting her arm. ‘I’m quite scared of him myself. It’s odd that you saw Arthur. On the way here, I kept seeing images of Verity. It’s like she’s in the Pod’s memories, but also in my own. I remember our courtship, how we kissed on the rocks in the moonlight. But she’s in the glimpses I get of my other past. Why should that be?’

Tim picked up the Pod again. ‘I don’t know. But, please, answer my question. If you don’t want to use the Pod, why do you want it back?’

Smith decided to tell the truth. ‘I want to give the Pod to those attacking us, since it’s all they want. We don’t need it. Then they’ll go away and stop killing people.’

Tim stared at him, his expression pained. ‘I wish⁠ — I wish I could agree’⁠ — he suddenly stuffed the Pod into his blazer pocket⁠ — ‘but I can’t. I won’t let you do that. It isn’t right.’

‘Timothy, let’s talk about it, work it out⁠ —’ Smith grabbed the boy’s shoulders urgently.

A blast of blue light silently exploded the ground between them. Timothy and Smith stumbled backwards, both looking in horror in the direction of the blast.