Death looked at them all, sniffily. ‘You deal with me again, raven Time Lord, possibly for the last time.’ She put a hand on Smith’s shoulder. ‘This one belongs to me, now. I told you long ago, Doctor, that I would take a life from you in return for that of your companion. Our business is now concluded.’

Smith shivered at her touch. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’ he asked.

‘Another owl for Lord Rassilon?’ the Doctor asked.

‘That is not for you to ask,’ Death replied.

Verity kissed Smith’s forehead. ‘It’ll be fine. Bloody Eternals think they own the universe. They don’t know everything.’

Death began to fade, and Smith with her, the man looking around himself in wonder.

‘Give my love to Time and Pain,’ said the Doctor.

‘If it wasn’t for Time, I would never entertain you.’ Death glared at him. ‘But you cannot let family down.’

She clicked her fingers.

The Doctor opened his eyes.

Joan was standing in front of him, staring at the ring on her finger. ‘When⁠ — whatever that was⁠ — happened, the ring saved me. I could feel it, protecting me, holding me here like a sort of anchor.’

‘Good.’ The Doctor went to the bank of controls, and pulled a long electrical cord from it. He peered at the globe where the two timeframes spun around each other, then hopped over to where the Pod lay, still in August’s dead fingers.

‘That poor man,’ Joan whispered. ‘He must have turned against his fellows at the last moment. He gave his life for his conscience.’

The Doctor bit his lip, pulling the Pod from the cold hand. ‘Yes…’ He connected the Pod to one end of the cable, and the timeframes to the other, then hit a few switches. The timeframes faded and he spun the Pod in triumph. ‘Good, that’s Hoff in the Pod as well. Now…’ He pulled the cloth from the vortex disc, and reset the controls, so the butterfly tunnel spun off in another direction. ‘The Monks of Felsecar guard some of the most dangerous artefacts in the universe. I’m sure they’ll appreciate another item for their collection. Who knows, maybe one day they’ll let those two out.’

‘Why, John, what do you mean?’

The Doctor winced again, secretly. ‘Nothing. I’m still confused.’ He tossed the Pod into the vortex, and watched it spin away into the distance. Then he switched off the cabinet. ‘Shall we go?’

‘Where?’

‘About three hundred yards away. Out of range of the self-destruct mechanism.’

‘Oh,’ said Joan.

From the diary of Prof Bernice Summerfield

In the clearing in the forest, I watched as the woman walked up to John Smith and whispered something in his ear.

She vanished soon afterwards and Smith turned and walked away into the darkness.