I've had this idea in my head for a Lonnnng time! As always reviews are appreciated, and I don't own Doctor Who.

The Last of the Time Lords.

The End of the Universe.

" Cardiff!" Romana announced when the TARDIS materialised with a thump.

Martha Jones, Romana's present human companion, repeated the word in disbelief. " Cardiff?

Romana, now in her fifth incarnation, smirked at Martha, enjoying her human companion's surprise, not at all dismayed that she was being incredibly slow, but then again she was human, and they rarely thought outside the box, particularly the ones who applied themselves to one field of knowledge. It was pathetically simple to surprise Martha, and whilst Romana liked her, liked her a lot, she did find Martha's comparative slowness to new horizons annoying. Romana was a tall thin woman, with long dark hair in a ponytail, blue eyes, wearing a simple shirt and jacket, and black slacks and boots. " Ah," she said infuriatingly, " Cardiff's actually built on a rift in time and space, like California on the San Andreas Faults. The rift in this case bleeds energy, energy the TARDIS needs for fuel. You didn't think I use unleaded nuclear fuels to travel, did you?" Romana walked around the TARDIS controls, adjusting them to absorb the flow of temporal energy. A Mark 5 TARDIS, this was the last example of Time Lord technology in the universe, just as she was the Last of the Time Lords. The TARDIS console was shaped in a traditional hexagonal shape with neatly laid out controls and displays with the time rotor, glowing a warm green colour, in the centre. The thought of the TARDIS and herself as the last examples of their races filled Romana's hearts with sorrow. She remembered how her First incarnation had believed the Time Lords to be indestructible, and how her third incarnation had set out to prove it, only to find herself way out of her league when the Time War had begun in earnest. Then there was...him...the best thing she'd ever known in her lives.

" Shouldn't take long," she said to Martha to take her mind off the past, " Just a couple of minutes." Romana looked up curiously, studying the readings from the scanner. The readings were way off. " The rifts been active." She added thoughtfully.

Romana was curious about why the rift was active, it had been as calm as a pond when she'd last been here. She was tempted to leave the TARDIS after she'd refueled her, but she decided to wait for the time being before making her decision. The thought of Earth culture and some good old fashioned tea came to mind. Martha's voice broke in on her thoughts as she realised something herself. " Hold on, they had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?"

Romana smirked as she remembered Blon Fel Fotch Passameer Day Slitheen, how the rift had nearly torn the TARDIS apart and she'd been regressed to her childhood. The memory also brought uncomfortable memories of Rose Tyler, who never learnt anything about the dangers of space time travel, and later ripped open the TARDIS when her fourth self tried to destroy the Daleks. Memories of her regeneration, then her recovery and the mess with the Sycorax invasion came to mind. Everything leads to another. Romana thought to herself about the way she'd been after the war. She'd been a basket case, barely able to pull herself together, for the first and only time she felt alone, cut off from her people. It had taken a lot of effort for her to recover, and in that time she'd repaired the TARDIS, and started looking for other Time Lords. There was always the chance someone may've survived, albeit in a chameleon fob watch, and was just waiting. But after a few desperate, agonising years of nothing, Romana had given up, and slowly accepted the horrible truth. She was the Last of the Time Lords. There was no one else. Romana had been willing to accept travelling alone, then she met Rose, then Adam Mitchell the little bastard who hadn't lasted long after his little stunt to try and change history, then Jack Harkness. The thought of Jack and what had happened to him made her hearts clench with guilt. Then Rose had gone and made her regenerate when she stupidly took in the Time Vortex, and then Martha...Martha was someone that Romana could easily see as someone her first life had been like. Martha, whilst intelligent and good company, could sometimes get on the Time Lady's nerves because she couldn't stop pushing things into a humans's point of view, and would inevitably stumble because something was beyond her comprehension. Martha did make the effort, Romana had to admit that, she only hoped the human would accept not everything had an equivalent in Time Lord terms. Romana snorted as she remembered how, one night, Martha had made her try and explain the TARDIS and how she worked. Martha left with her brain trickling out, and Romana smirking her pants off.

" Bit of trouble with the Slitheen, nothing I couldn't handle. Long time ago," Romana added, coming back to reality, hoping her offhandedness was putting Martha off asking stupid questions. " Lifetimes." She added, becoming uncomfortably nostalgic. " I was a different girl then." She added, tugging on her ponytail, remembering her fourth selfs short hair, walking around the puzzled Martha.

A few moments later, Romana straightened out examining the readings. " Finished, all fired up and ready to go," Romana stopped. The scanner screen was showing a familiar man rushing towards the TARDIS, a man wearing a long, navy blue overcoat that looked like it came from World War 2, running towards the TARDIS.

Romana's time senses froze as she saw how time flowed around him. It was Jack Harkness. Swallowing, she dematerialised the TARDIS, trying to get away from her friend who'd become immortal...The TARDIS jolted, and then the sound of the time rotor sped up as the TARDIS accelerated into the future. The jolt had thrown Romana and Martha to their feet, and they struggled to get up in the bucking TARDIS.

" What was that?" Martha asked before she screamed when sparks rained down on them. Romana somehow managed to keep her balance, even as the TARDIS seemed to threaten to shake herself to pieces. She managed to grab with one hand the scanner, pulling it round into her line of sight. The yearometer reading was flashing before her eyes, the numbers changing and increasing with each blink, and it was so fast even Romana had trouble following it.

" We're accelerating into the future. The year 1 billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What?" Romana gasped in astonishment; never had any TARDIS in history travelled so far into the future. Under normal conditions, the TARDIS should just glide there, but in this case it was like being inside a barrel going over niagra falls. Romana's astonishment grew, as did her apprehension. " The year 100 trillion? Impossible."

" Why? What happens then?" Martha asked, her voice showing excitement at the prospect of seeing another point in time, but also apprehension; she could tell that Romana was astonished by the turn of events, and the year meant nothing to her.

Romana wanted to deny it, but the Time Lady knew she couldn't. Turning to Martha, she uttered the words she'd never expected to say to anyone since the Time War had ended. " We're going to the end of the universe."

The TARDIS rematerialised, landing with a jolt. Romana and Martha straightened out. " We've landed." Romana said. She knew she was stating the obvious, but the Time lady didn't know what else to say, not after a journey like that.

" So what's out there?" Martha asked, her voice in a whisper of pent up excitement.

" I don't know."

Romana had answered honestly. The Time Lords had taken superficial observations from their own time, but they'd never actually bothered to send any expedition into the future to find out what was happening, and what would happen. Privately Romana believed the Time Lords, so frightened of change, and any kind of change threatening their dominion over time, were terrified that one day they would find the universe collapsing all around them. There were theories across the whole universe about the way the universe would eventually collapse, but no one had come here to check.

Martha chortled, knowing that Romana was uneasy but not understanding the reasoning behind it. " Say that again. That's rare." She said with a smirk.

Romana turned her ice queen stare on Martha, freezing the girl with a start and the smirk fell off her face as easily as paint to a heat ray, and Romana watched as Martha went from amused to painfully uncomfortable; all of her incarnations had possessed the ice queen mentality of the first Romana, and it had never changed since. Oh, the other Romanas may have different stares, but the end result was the same.

" I'm serious. Not even the Time Lords came this far." Romana nodded decisively, " We should leave. We should go, really, really go." Then her eyes met Martha's, and she smiled before running over to the doors, grabbing her long coat as she did.

Romana had been to many places, materialised in places that looked uninviting, but there was always life there, and the knowledge there was life elsewhere in the universe. The End of the universe on the other hand was the opposite. The TARDIS had landed in a rocky valley in the pitch black, but there was no light in the sky signifying stars, and the ground might have been ash. There were a few plants, but they looked like they were dead already. Romana looked around straightening her coat, trying to get her bearings before looking back at the TARDIS. Shaped like a London 1960s police telephone box, the TARDIS chameleon circuit had been programmed to land like that. Romana had done it to remember her best friend, whom she was sure had died in the Time War. When Martha stepped out and closed the door, she looked around before she cried, " Oh, my god." Running towards a man on the ground. Romana followed behind her, slowing down in nausea as she saw who it was. Martha checked his throat, feeling for his pulse. " Can't get a pulse. Hold on, you've got that medical kit thing." Martha got up and ran into the TARDIS. Romana followed her run out of the corner of her eye. Medical kit thing? She thought irritably. Can't you humans ever stop adding the word thing to what you do not understand? The medical kit in question was one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the universe, and the last examples of an almost extinct species. Martha should have more respect for them.

Romana moved closer to the body, shaking herself out of her irritated thoughts, and started looking down into the face of her old friend, wishing they'd never separated on these circumstances.

" Hello again. Oh, I'm sorry." She added the last part because it was true.

The TARDIS door banged open, and Martha shot out, pushing Romana out of the way. " Here we go. Get out of the way."

As Martha got down to examine him, she took out a stethescope and tried to get a heartbeat. " It's a bit odd, though, not very 100 trillion. That coat's more like World War 2."

" He came with us."

" How do you mean? From Earth?"

Romana looked speculatively at the outer shell of the TARDIS before looking back at Martha and the man she was tending. " He must've clung onto the outer shell of the TARDIS." Romana shook her head, amazed that he would do something so stupid since he knew the possible dangers. " All the way through the vortex. That's very him." She shrugged.

Martha took the stethoscope out of her ears, looking up at the Time lady curiously, " What, do you know him?"

Romana nodded, not even denying it, how could she after this attempt at suicidal stupidity. " Friend of mine. Used to travel with me."

Martha looked down at the still face and body, seeing how gorgeous this guy was. " But he's...I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He'd dead."

As if on cue, like there was a god in the universe left that wanted to prove Martha Jones wrong, the man suddenly gasped loudly, grabbing onto Martha, who screamed in shock. " Oh, so much for me. It's all right, just breathe deep. I've got you." Martha said, sending the last part to the handsome stranger.

The man smiled roguishly, and Romana closed her eyes briefly. " Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" He added, stroking Martha's chin. Martha flushed, and smiled automatically. " Martha Jones."

Jack's smile grew bigger. " Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."

That's it, Romana thought. " Oh, please. Don't start."

Jack sighed, the flirting over. Romana had never been fooled by Jack, she was immune from Jack's flirtatiousness.

" I was only saying hello." He protested exasperatedly, and Martha realised that this sort of thing must happen between them occassionally, and she wondered how this guy knew the cool and aloof but kind Time Lady.

" I don't mind," She said looking into Romana's cool, but amused face.

With Martha's help Jack stood up, and Romana saw he was wearing a backpack. Some mattress to wake up on. For a while both of them didn't say a word, until Jack said. " Romana."

" Captain."

" Good to see you."

Inwardly Jack cursed himself. He'd waited for decades to meet Romana again, and that was the best thing he could say to her?

Romana smirked, " And you, same as ever. Have you had work done?"

" You can talk." Jack retorted, gazing over Romana's new appearance, but he knew that if he started flirting then the Time lady would just shake her head, roll her eyes and walk away and ignore him completely.

" Regeneration." Romana said briefly not bothering to go into too much detail. It was in the past, literally, and it didn't matter much now. " How did you know this was me?" She asked pointing at herself, eyes fixing Jack with a questioning stare.

Jack gestured towards the TARDIS, not commenting on her new appearance, but Romana was not surprised. The Time Agency had probably encountered species that had properties that were similar to regeneration, or Jack had heard something on his own travels about Time lords, either way he didn't ask and she wasn't in the mood to give a lecture on Time Lord biology. " The police box sorta gives it away. I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."

If Jack was hoping for an explanation he was disappointed. Romana's face, totally deadpan and in full ice queen mode, said simply, " Did I? Sorry, busy life, moving on."

Jack wasn't satisfied, but he knew the previous Romana well enough to know she wasn't going to answer straight away, so he changed the subject. " I just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler."

Romana had been wondering when Rose would crop up, but luckily she had good news. She'd known that sooner or later she would need to meet Jack, and then the reasons behind her abandonment of him would come out, but she would tell him.

" Oh, no. She's alive."

" You're kidding!" For a moment Jack was afraid that Romana had done something to make Rose hide, but she wasn't that cruel.

Romana nodded, a smile on her face. " Parallel universe, safe and sound. With Mickey, and her mother."

After a hug celebrating Rose's safety, Romana reluctantly hugging back was something Jack and Martha definitely noticed, the trio left the area of the TARDIS, trudging into the distance. Since they didn't know where they were, they had no destination in mind, so they were wandering aimlessly. Romana was looking around, soaking up everything she was seeing, but all she was seeing was death and decay. The universe was collapsing, and there were probably very few races or planets left in the universe, but if there were any then they were dead, leaving only basic life, but that too would die out eventually.

As they walked, Jack was telling Martha what was happening, bitterness in his voice. " So there I was, stranded in the year 200,100, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and she goes off without me, but I had this." He said, looking pointedly at Romana's back with a look that could freeze molten lava, then he cheered up, and showed off his wrist strap. " I used to be a Time agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. She's not the only one who can time travel."

Romana took offence to that, feeling her Time lord pride rise up to defend their honour in the face of one of the most crudest and most hazardous time travel methods in existence. " Oh, please. That's not time travel." Smugness seeped into her voice as she remarked. " It's like I've got a sports car, and you Jack, ended up with a space hopper."

Martha laughed.

Jack didn't find it funny as he admitted, " Okay, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, best place to find Romana, except I got it wrong." He tapped the manipulator again. " This thing burnt out, so its useless."

Romana couldn't resist smirking, " Told you." She chirped.

Jack's exasperation broke out at that, " I had to live through the entire 20th century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me."

That would've been tricky. In all her travels, Earth had never been the chosen spot for her landings, and her first and second incarnations had never truly been on Earth frequently enough aside from visits that were nowhere near Cardiff, unless Jack felt like a walk to Brighton, or even to Paris, and then she spent the majority of her 2nd incarnation in E space before returning home. Her third incarnation had spent her entire life on Gallifrey, preparing for the Time War. Her fourth life had been short, and her fifth life rarely arrived on Earth long enough for anyone to notice. But Romana was stunned by the massive undertaking Jack had gone through, and for so long.

Martha worked something out along the lines Romana's own thoughts were going through. " But that makes you more than 100 years old." She said, looking at Jack like she was afraid she was wrong.

" And looking good, don't you think?" Jack chuckled falsely; clearly he was as unhappy about his longevity as Romana was sometimes; it was painful knowing that she was going to spend the rest of her life, all of her future lives alone and she had many more of them left, with no Time Lord presence in her head to keep her from going insane. It was unfair, she was the last of her kind, and she was destined to go through her remaining lives, all 8 of them, and she would never hear another Time lord again. Jack was moaning about it, but at least he had a species, and it was a miracle humans didn't hear themselves inside their minds the way Romana did, otherwise they'd go as mad as she sometimes did when she fell into depression at hearing nothing. Jack carried on, " So, I went back to the time rift, based myself there, ' cause I knew you'd come back to refuel, until finally, I get a signal on this detecting you and here we are." here Jack pointed at his backpack with his thumb, furthering Romana's curiosity about what was inside it, and wondering how he would know she would even arrive in Cardiff in the first place at a certain time. The TARDIS could last on a refuel from a temporal rift for a number of years, depending on the purity of the energy, and as long as the TARDIS didn't overexert itself in travelling.

Martha had her own questions. " But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Romana?"

Romana really didn't want to get into this conversation just then, not until she was ready. She was still coming to terms with her own actions as it was.

" I was busy." She replied, but she winced as she realised that Martha wasn't going to stop prodding, and with Jack being bitter, Romana was going to have to answer some very nasty questions she didn't even want to contemplate.

Martha's voice became accusing, not helped by Jack's own pointed stare. " Is that what happens, though, seriously? You just get bored of us one day and disappear?"

Jack's voice was also bitter, " Not if your blonde."

" Oh, she was blonde! What a surprise!"

That was it, Romana's patience snapped, but not for Rose. She wanted to stop this foolishness before it got out of hand. " ENOUGH! Alright, you want to know, do you? No, Martha, you're the fourth person I've travelled with that was human. Rose, a guy called Adam, who I did drop home because he tried changing history, Jack, and yourself. I don't get bored of you, you get bored of travel with me. I speak from another friends experiences."

Jack remembered her stories of a Time lord who'd shown her the universe, but Romana had said he was dead. He suddenly felt bad, it grew worse.

" Jack," she said turning to him, pity in her eyes. " I left you because you're immortal. You can't die, and that's wrong. I'm barely holding back my disgust at seeing time freeze around you. To a Time lord, you're a freak." Without another word, she left the two gawping humans.

The trio stepped close to what looked like a chasm. What looked like roads, windows or doors, were carved, or sculptured into the rocky walls, was a city. It was all dead, of course.

" Is that a city?"

Romana nodded in agreement, " City or a hive or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Like it was grown. But look," she pointed at the roads. " There, that like, pathways or roads. There must've been life here, some sort of life anyway."

Martha whispered, unable to believe that something could kill an entire city, clearly forgetting New, New York. " What killed it?"

Romana's answer was simple, and yet succinct. " Time, the greatest destroyer." It was strange, hearing a Time lady say those words, that expression, and Romana, used to seeing life wherever she went, couldn't describe how empty she felt just looking at this future. Everything's dying now. The great civilisations have died out." Romana looked up, pointing at the empty night sky. " This isn't just night. All the stars have burnt up, faded away. Nothing, no solar systems, no red giants...nothing."

" They must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack said, also looking around before he twisted his head round to face Romana.

Still looking up at the sky, Romana considered what Jack had said. It was more than likely that worlds like that would probably be long since dead, and worlds with life still trying to cling to survival as it shook itself free, then it made the chances of life more realistic. Then again, maybe the atmospheric shell had been thrown over this world, and there was no life here except for the three time travellers.

" Martha and I, maybe. Not so sure about you Jack." Romana looked into Jack's eyes, holding them for a good minute before looking down to gaze on the city in front of them, not really caring about the jab at his immortality. " But what about the people?" Martha asked." Does no one survive?"

" I suppose we have to hope life will find a way." Romana replied.

Jack pointed downwards, down towards a figure who was running away from a band of others, who looked vaguelly human but more savage. They were crying out, " Human!"

" Is it me, or is that a hunt? Come on!" Romana shouted, rushing down towards the man they saw. As they ran, Romana vaguely heard Jack say, " Oh, I've missed this!"

Romana, Jack and Martha were running towards the man, and he was rushing to them, the creatures behind him. When they met, Romana could see the man was on the point of collapse, and was sweating profusely and he was running on pure adrenaline. Jack reached out, " I've got you. I've got you."

The man, with an unshaven face and a thin form, shook his head, breathless and gasping in relief at the stop, gasped out." We've got to run. They're coming!"

As if on cue, the people following came closer, waving torches. As they got nearer, Romana saw that they were either tatooed, pierced with studs, or were tatooed like their leader was, but they all had sharp teeth and a hungry look in their faces, almost animalistic.

Jack unholstered something, and Romana saw a gun. Unlike another Time Lord she could name, Romana didn't mind weapons but she didn't like them used. Besides, pacifism wasn't going to save them. Still holding on to the man with one hand, her other hand reached into her jacket pocket, and she pulled out her sonic screwdriver and pointed it at them. The sonic screwdriver emitted a massive sonic boom that echoed throughout the near airless place, and sent the savages reeling backwards. Jack took aim with his gun, and shot at two of them who dropped.

Martha too had gotten a good look at them, stunned by their savagery. " What the hell are they?" No one answered her, the man was too tired to speak, and Romana and Jack had never heard of them. Finally the man shook himself out of his stupor to say, " There's more of them. We've got to keep going."

Romana hoped she had the answer. " I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far. It's over there." She turned her head, only to see a band of the savages running from that direction, cutting them off from the TARDIS. " Maybe not." Romana said.

The man said just as the grinning tatooed form of the savage leader came closer, practically licking his lips in hunger. " We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe."

" Silo?"

Jack said decisively, " Silo."

" Silo for me." Martha held up her hand.

They set off running in the direction the man was running in before he cannoned into Jack. They were followed closely by the savages, and they could hear their yells and screams as they followed.

Finally they came to a road that lead down to a set of gates and fences with searchlights on them. The man shouted breathlessly at the men guarding the perimeter. " It's the futurekind, they're coming! Open the gate!"

The guards held up their weapons, and one called out, " Show me your teeth!"

Romana looked back, the so called futurekind was gaining rapidly on them.

The guard repeated his order, " Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!"

The man they'd helped said to the three time travellers, " Show him your teeth!" Jack gritted his teeth together, followed closely by Martha and Romana. The guard nodded, shouting, " Human! Let them in! Let them in!"

The futurekind were gaining on them. The gates opened, and as they got through, the same guard repeated, " Close! Close!"

Through the gates, one of the guards fired his weapon, stopping the futurekind in their tracks. The leader spoke in a grunting, gravelly voice, moving from side to side like he was drunk or hyped up. " Humans. Humani. Make feast."

The guards voice was like steel, " Go back to where you came from." Romana could see he was on edge, and one provocation from the leader would see his body ripped apart by bullets. The leader and his people were either stubborn or stupid as they came nearer. " I said go back! Back!" He held up his gun, pointing it directly into the face of the leader.

" Kind want you." The leader said. " Kind hungry." The leader then seemed to give up, and he threw his hands back, waving the guards away. They walked away from the gates. The lead guard turned to face the people he'd let in. " Thanks for that." Romana told him.

The guard nodded briskly, clearly used to doing what he'd just done. " Right, lets get you inside them." The man they'd helped fell into step next to the guard. " My name's Padra Fet Shafe Cane. Tell me, just tell me. Can you take me to Utopia?"

The guard nodded, " Oh, yes, sir. Yes, I can."

Romana and her friends had introduced themselves, and Romana had said she was a scientist. Now she was trying to wrangle for the TARDIS to be brought into the silo. It was quite like an old missile base on Earth, and all the people here looked as hagard as Padra.

" It's like a box, a big blue box." She was saying to the lieutenant, the man in charge it seemed. " I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The lieutenant made his assurances, and tried to get away, but Padra had his own concerns. " I'm sorry, but my family were heading for the silo. Did they get here?" He looked around himself desperately. " My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone."

The lieutenant said apologetically, " The computers are down, but you can check the paperwork. Creet!" He called. A little head peeped out, a little boy with long curly fair hair, looking at the lieutenant curiously. " Passenger needs help."

The boy came out, carrying a clipboard. " Right, what do you need?" he asked with the same professionalism as a man twice his age.

Padra hurried over, bending down to check the board.

The lieutenant turned to face Romana, curiously. " A blue box, you said?"

Romana sighed. It was always remarkably difficult to explain a TARDIS away to a non Time Lord. " Yes, big, tall, wooden, says police on it. You can't miss it."

The liutenant could see he wasn't going to get anything else, so he said. " We're driving out for the last later collection. I'll see what we can do."

" Thank you." Romana replied in relief as the lieutenant left, but she'd seen something in his eyes, like recognition...

Meanwhile the boy and Padra came up from their debate about where the rest of Padra's family was. " Come on."

As they left, Romana the others followed; they needed to know the layout of the place, and when better then now?

Martha, who couldn't believe that a little boy could handle paperwork, just couldn't resist. " Sorry, but how old are you?"

The boy, Creet shrugged, either because he didn't know or because he thought the question was dumb. " Old enough to work. This way."

As they walked deeper into the silo, Romana thought about the shantytowns she'd seen on her travels. They'd been like a palace compared to them. Everyone was cramped together in groups, clearly families. Creet was shouting, " Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane. I'm looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane"

Padra added, " The Shafe Canes, anyone?"

" Anyone?" Asked Creet, before calling out. " Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane. Anyone know the Shafe Cane family? Anyone called Shafe Cane?"

" It's like a refugee camp." Martha remarked.

Jack couldn't help but comment, leaving out his brain as always in Romana's opinion. " Stinking. Sorry. No offence. Not you." he added apologetically at a couple as they walked past.

Romana chortled. " You see, humans. The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into a cloud of gas and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental human."

Creet called out again, " Kistane Shafe Cane. Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?"

Finally, a woman's voice said, " That's me."

Padra called out, " Mother!"

The woman gasped, then rushed towards them, crying, " Oh, my god!" Romana and Martha watched the happy reunion with a smile before Romana took out her sonic screwdriver and starting to pick the lock of a bulkhead she'd seen. It seemed that family love had survived, afterall. Jack, on the other hand, had walked over to a man, and said in his usual style, " Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?"

Romana's voice cracked like a whip, " Stop it. Give me a hand with this."

Jack hurried over to where Romana was, and she'd given up when Jack appeared. " It's half deadlocked," she told him patting the door, " see if you can override the code." Romana and Jack went to work on the door, " Let's find out where we are."

Suddenly the door slide open, and Romana almost went flying in surprise when she realised she was standing on the edge of a silo. " Whoa!" Jack said, hands shooting out and grabbing her before she fell to her death.

" I've got you," Jack said.

Romana nodded, " Thanks." And she meant it.

Jack smiled wryly, " How did you cope without me?"

Martha gaped with awe, " Now that is what I call a rocket."

Towering over them, and going down Omega knew how far down, the rocket was massive. Connected to the rocket were walkways, thin and narrow paths meant for single file inside. Romana scrutinised the rocket. It's outer hull looked like some parts of it were old and rusted, yellowy, but blue in some places, like the ship had been made from scrap. That wasn't difficult, there were some races that did that, or had, as the case may be.

" They're not refugees, you were wrong Martha," Romana said in realisation, joining the clues together. " They're passengers."

Martha remembered what Padra had said to the guard the let them in, " He said they were going to Utopia."

Still looking up at the rocket, Romana commented, " The perfect place. 100 trillion years and its the same old dream." If it was a dream then where did the rocket come from? Looking down, Romana scrutinised the engines. They looked different from what she recognised about rocket design. " Do you recognise those engines?" She asked Jack.

Jack scrutinised them himself, running the design through what he himself knew about rocket technology before he shook his head. " Nope, whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot though."

Romana sniffed the air. He was right. It was quite hot, too hot. If it was a chemical rocket then the exhaust would turn them to crisp. " Boiling," she agreed. Romana pulled her upper body out of the doorway, deciding they'd seen enough. Jack worked on the door panel to lock it again, like they weren't even inside.

" If the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?" Romana asked curiously.

At that moment, a tall lanky man with short close cropped brown hair appeared. He had a big nose, and big ears. He came over with a smile on his face. Romana took in his dress; Edwardian costume, with a waistcoat and a cravat. He looked hopefully at Martha, " Romana? The scientist I've heard about." He spoke with a Northern accent.

Romana held up her hand, drawing his attention, " That's me." She replied, wondering what the significance was.

The strange man grinned at her, and grabbed her hand before the shaken Romana could do anything about it, pumping it and crying, " Good! Good! Good!" then dragging her by the hand, the man started running, crying " Good."

Romana turned her head to face the others, who were running behind them, somewhat confused, and she said, " It's good, apparently."

The man lead them inside what looked like a laboratory, jam packed with all sorts of junk that looked like it should all be at a tip, but Romana knew better than to say that. The man lead Romana to a piece of equipment, and started jabbering. " This is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's past its best, but it works."

Then he rushed over to point to another bank of equipment, " And over here is the Footprint impeller system. Do you know anything about end-time gravity mechanics?"

Romana frowned, temporal mechanics at the most basic never changed, although the end of the universe predicted changes to gravitational anomalies. From her perspective it was hypothetical, since Time Lords never bothered to gather any knowledge at this point in time, so her knowledge of temporal mechanics was purely academic. " I know one or two points," she replied calmly, but slowly.

The man gestured hopelessly at it, " I can't get it to harmonise properly. "

Romana nodded, looking over the equipment. " And this feeds into the rocket?"

The man nodded. " Yes, except without a stable footprint, we'll never reach escape velocity." Romana had heard of propulsion systems that used gravity to push an object into escape velocity, the tricky thing was that planetary gravity meant that the system would need to have a good degree of stability. The man carried on, " If only we could harmonise the five impact patterns," Romana frowned even more; this system wasn't making any sense to her, and she was a Time lady with years of experience in strange technologies. She'd never heard of a five impact pattern before. " and unify them, well might yet make it." He finished, looking and speaking hopefully at the system, like there was a solution but he couldn't find it yet. " What do you think, Romana? Any ideas?"

Romana looked at the equipment, seeing the hopeful face of the man in front of her, before she shook her head, feeling sorry for him and annoyed she couldn't find anything to add. " Well, not a clue." She said apologetically, looking sheepish.

The man frowned, looking like a little boy that had been told Santa wasn't real, " Nothing?"

Romana carried on, " I'm not from round these parts. I've never seen a system like this before. I'm sorry." She added again, seeing the man's sadness. It was like the universe had fallen on his shoulders the way he hunched over.

The man hastened to say it wasn't her fault. " No, no, I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help..."

Martha had opened Jack's backpack, which had been placed on the ground next to a table, and she'd taken out a jar with a hand inside it. " Oh, my god." She said, looking like she'd come face to face with Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, and considering what was inside the jar, Romana couldn't say she blamed her. She put the hand on the table, saying to Jack. " You've got a hand. A hand in a jar. A hand, in a jar, in your bag."

Romana and the strange man came over, Romana sitting down so then she could peer more closely at the hand. At first she was looking at it bizarely, when she saw a mole on it, a mole she knew...because it was identical to one she had on her own hand! She checked her hand, and saw it, comparing the two together, and saw the fingerspan of the hand in the jar, and the one she had. Identical.

She looked at Jack. " That's mine! Where did you get it?"

" I did say I had a Romana detector." Jack replied.

Romana shook her head in disbelief. " Where the hell did you get it? What, were you standing beneath that bloody Sycorax ship or something?"

Martha put her hands on hips, " What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them."

Romana sighed, " Long story. I lost my hand, Christmas day in a swordfight. I regrew it." Romana's expression darkened as she remembered fighting the Sycorax leader with swords, and she'd been knocked down, and the bastard had sliced her hand when she was disorientated. Looking at the hand brought back the memory of the flash of pain, then nothing.

" You regrew it?"

Romana smiled, enjoying rattling Martha's cage, " Yes, I did. Hello!" She mockingly waved at Martha.

The man looked at her curiously. " Might I ask, what species are you?"

Romana wasn't offended with the question. " Time Lord. Last of." When the man looked like he didn't know what that meant. " Heard of them?" No. " Not even a legend, or even a myth?" Romana sighed. So much for the Time lords being infinite. Even here they were forgotten, but that was to be expected since when they'd even been around before the war they had been only spoken of in tales. It was still disappointing.

Romana changed the subject, " Sorry, but where are we. We arrived here by...accident."

The man didn't seem offended. " Malcassiro. The homeworld of the Malmooth. That city outside was theirs, the conglomeration. Before it died, and so did they, all except one of my assisants, Chan Tho, who's working with my other assistant, Magister on the footprint mechanism downstairs," his voice dropped in sadness. Clearly he'd known some of them, and was sad that none had survived. " Then we took refuge here."

Martha was still looking at the hand. " You grew another hand."

Oh, get over it. Romana thought angrily, starting to lose her patience with Martha. You constantly regrow your skin, blood and hair, now that's annoying, finding all those hairs in the bath, like we've got a very hairy cat.

" It only happens under weird conditions. Its still my hand." Romana said, hoping Martha would drop it. The problem with Martha was if she saw someone who looked human, she tended to ignore the fact said person was alien. Just because pathetic humans couldn't do something with their biology didn't mean the same could be said for Time lords.

Jack looked at the man, who still hadn't introduced themselves. " What about the beastie boys outside?"

" We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself, but its feared that's what we'll become. Unless we reach Utopia."

Romana leant forward, " And Utopia is...?"

The man became exasperated. " Every human has heard of Utopia. Where've you been?"

" Not human remember." Romana said, ignoring the two humans who'd travelled with her, though Jack had merely hitched a ride.

Leading them over to a computer, he said, " Over and over again, the call came. " Come to Utopia." Originating from that point." He pointed on a dot on the screen.

Romana didn't take her eyes off the screen. " Where is that?"

The man said, " Its far beyond the Condensate wilderness. Out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs."

The names meant nothing to Romana, but since she was 100 trillion years outside her comfort zone then she was supposed to be surprised. " Calling us in, the laat of the humans scattered across the night."

" What do you think's out there?" Romana asked, trying to keep her cynicism which had been a staple in her personality since her first incarnation. She found it hard to believe something that convenient would just suddenly appear.

The man shrugged, but Romana couldn't blame him. How could he possibly know?

" We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven. That's where this place comes in. The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve Mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself." He pointed at the screen. " Perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But its worth a look, don't you think?" He smiled at Romana.

She smiled. " Oh, definitely." She pointed towards the screen. " The signal's not automatic, its modulating. Good sign, someone's out there. And its a navigational matrix, so you can travel without the star to guide you."

The man nodded, then he clapped his hands together and said briskly. " Well, enough chat. If you could close the door on your way out, I can get back to work. I'm rather busy."

" That rocket's not going to fly, is it? This Footprint mechanism, isn't working, is it?"

The man retorted stubbornly, " We'll find a way!"

Romana's voice was brutal in its truthfulness. " Your stuck on this planet. You haven't told them, have you? Those people out there, waiting, they're convinced they're going to fly."

" They should live in hope."

Romana smiled. " Quite right, too. And if I must say, sorry but I don't know your name." She added looking him over.

The man jumped, realising she was quite right. In his haste, he'd forgotten to introduce himself. " Yana. Professor Yana."

Romana smiled. " Well, Professor Yana, this new science is beyond me. But all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any timeframe, must be a circuit which reverses the boost." Romana picked up a cable with a box thing attached, and said, " I wonder what would happen if I did this," she took out her sonic screwdriver, and buzzed it over the device she was holding. An alarm started blaring, the system came on line. Yana couldn't believe his eyes. " It's working! But, how did you do it?" He asked her in awe.

Romana smiled again, loving the man's energy. " I'm brilliant."

So, what do you think?