‘No.’ Smith handed Hadleman his umbrella. ‘Take this. If it kills me, give it to Bernice, tell her to carry on.’

‘But who’s she?’

Smith didn’t answer. He stepped on to the bridge and walked forward, his hands reaching out to grasp Timothy’s.

Through the barrier.

The fires stretched all the way to the horizon. The ground was blackened and steaming. In the distance stood a vast statue, a little girl with a balloon, made of crystal. Its head stood amongst the slight grey clouds.

Smith looked up at the burnt orange of the sky. ‘I know this place,’ he said.

‘While you’re with me, you do,’ Timothy told him. They were standing amongst the flames. ‘The barrier is two perceived frames of time, different ones, put next to each other. I’m not sure what that means, I was just told it. But a sort of… rubbing between them, that’s what hurts people who go through it. Unless they’re something called a Time Lord. They can just walk straight through. That rubbing is also what lets us do this.’

‘What is this place? Is it hell?’

‘It’s one possible future. This is the Doctor’s home. This is Gallifrey.’ A great singing was echoing across the landscape. Smith watched as a parade passed by down a narrow valley, a series of robed individuals hanging from poles, strung between a row of marching figures. The captors were all different, of many races, some humanoid and some not, of many sexes and sometimes both. They were all clad in fine costumes, with exotic weapons hanging from their belts. They sang a gorgeous, complex song as they hauled their captives between the burnt canyons, towards the foot of the statue. ‘Who are they?’ asked Smith.

‘The children of the Aubertides, the ones who took on the biology of the Gallifreyans. Every regeneration buds, every new individual can regenerate twelve times. They’re a vast army now, united and loyal to their family. They used the Doctor’s TARDIS to land on the planet, and did what nobody else had managed to do⁠ — took the Citadel by force. The Time Lords on the poles are the High Council, the ones in charge of the place. Does this make sense to you?’

‘No. Yes. I don’t know.’ Smith shook his head furiously, as if to clear it. ‘They can do this because they got the Pod?’

‘Yes.’

‘But this is a distant world, nothing to do with me, or Earth, or anything I know. And you said this was one possible future. These Time Lords might fight them off, or perhaps we could warn them, or perhaps⁠ —’