All rights for Doctor Who are the BBC's.

Prologue:

Orion's Belt, 35,879 AD.

"Where are we?" Rose asked as the TARDIS landed on the planet.

The Doctor checked the ship's controls. "Orion's Belt," he replied. "358th century. About thirty-four thousand years into your future. A few thousands of years ago, humans arrived here for the first time. They built a few colonies on this planet, the first of which should be here."

"They're human?"

"Um… More or less." Looking at Rose's questioning look, he explained, "They were humans from Earth when they first arrived to this planet. They weren't alone, though. By this time I assume at least…" He thought for a moment, "Half of them would be partially-human and partially-alien."

"This is what Cassandra meant, isn't it?" Rose asked quietly. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. A part of her was happy that mankind has gone off to space and grew stronger, but a part of her missed the "good old-fashioned" humans.

He nodded, studying her quietly for a moment. "Mankind went to space to explore. Exploring doesn't mean just meeting races, it means interacting with them. No race could survive on its own – just like on every planet there's a specific structure in nature, it also exists in the universe. Some sort of order that must always be maintained. Monkeys evolved into humans and humans evolved into something bigger and better than they could ever be on Earth. They sped up the entire process of evolution. It's for the best."

"I know. It's just… strange." The blonde woman looked at into his eyes, slightly biting her lower lip. "Thinking that by the end of the Earth, no pure human will still be alive."

"I know." He took her hand, holding it tightly for a moment. She squeezed his hand back in gratitude. "But what is pure human, anyway? I mean, no sort of human can be called 'pure'. You think pure human is what you know because this is when mankind evolved the most, but it can't really be called 'pure human'."

"What about your people, Doctor?" She then asked. "The Time Lords. Were they never pure?"

He thought quietly for a long moment. The pain was clear in his eyes. Even in his newer, lighter form, he still wouldn't talk about his people. The pain of losing them, the guilt of destroying them all, they were just too strong for him to deal with on a daily basis. But seeing her interest, he found himself answering her in a quiet, serious tone. "The Time Lords evolved from another race. Legend says we've evolved from a race that once controlled this galaxy. This is why the Time Lords were always in charge of the universe. But as a race we haven't evolved in a long time prior to the war. I suppose we could call ourselves pure…" He paused, tilting his head while thinking, "But I don't think anybody ever thought about it that way."

"The Daleks evolved." Rose stated quietly.

The Doctor's face grew darker. "Yes, they did."

"Maybe that's why you lost the war."

"Maybe."

They stood there, in the TARDIS's control room, for another long moment. The Doctor was staring at a point in space, lost in thoughts about the Time War, the Daleks and his people, while Rose studied him quietly, wondering what thoughts and feelings hid underneath that calm attitude. He told her a bit about his people, more than once, but every time he told her anything about them, she got the impression that it was deeper than he told her.

"Well, we're here, so let's go." The Doctor turned to the door, smiling slightly.

"After you," Rose returned him a smile. She followed the Doctor as he opened the door and walked outside, looking around curiously.

The surface of the planet was dark brown. There were bits of green here and there, but as far as she could see, the brown controlled the ground. There were no sign of civilization, near or far from them. Suddenly noticing the smell of fire, Rose turned to the Doctor.

"Do you smell it?" She asked.

"The fire?" She nodded. "Yes." He seemed troubled. Rose couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. The Doctor kneeled to the ground, putting his glasses on. "The ground is completely scorched," He said quietly, examining the ground. "It's as if somebody burned the entire city."

"Who could have done that?"

"Any number of people." The Doctor got up. "Let's see if any of the other settlement still exists."

He turned to the TARDIS and Rose was about to do the same when she noticed a small iron arrow flying towards the Doctor. She shoved him away just as she felt cold metal against her skin.

"Rose?" She could hear him asking. He sounded as if he was far, far away from her, even though he was right in front of her. "Rose!"

The hum of the TARDIS dematerializing woke her up.

"Easy." The Doctor, kneeling by her side, helped her sit up. "You've been drugged. Powerful sedative."

"What happened?" She managed to ask.

"This happened." He showed her a small, silver arrow. He held it carefully between his finger and his thumb, careful not to stab himself.

"How long have I been unconscious?" She stood up, leaning against the ship's controls.

The Doctor turned to the controls. "About… five or six hours." He put the arrow down. "It's weird," He added then, staring at the controls. "According to the TARDIS, we've been away for over twenty hours."

"How is that possible? I mean," She added, "We couldn't have been on that planet for more than a few minutes."

"Something isn't right about that planet," The Doctor said quietly. "Every reading the TARDIS took is off the scale. It's as if whatever destroyed this settlement is still around, waiting for more victims."

"Are we checking it out?" Rose asked, ready to walk to the door and outside.

The Doctor hesitated. Normally he would have said yes and hurried out the door, but something seemed wrong about the planet, and he had a feeling that going outside again will do them both no good.

So he shook his head. "No. We're leaving."

Rose didn't say anything. She just held on to the controls as the TARDIS flew away. She wanted to ask about the readings, but seeing the Doctor's concerned face, she gave up and let him think. She only hoped that one day she'd know what happened there.