Can you hear me?
Thief!
- Let me back in! - How did you get out there?
- Seeing a friend. - I'll chop your hand off!
I say friend... We're not that close.
Please, let me back in.
Please! Let me back in fast.
You can't keep stealing from merchants in the souk.
They know where you're from.
You tell me creating happiness
is important to my mental wellbeing.
A game like this makes me happy.
Time to go back in your room. It'll be dark soon.
Have you taken precautions? Have you told everyone?
Tahira...
We have to keep everyone safe.
Nothing is going to happen, Tahira.
Of course it is. I told you to tell them.
I told the doctors, I told all of you.
They're real.
I understand they seem real to you.
You need to rest. Sleep will help.
Sleep is when they'll come.
I can feel them coming.
They'll be here tonight.
Rest well, Tahira.
Maryam. Maryam!
Over here.
I told you to lock the doors.
- We don't do that. - Get everyone out.
Oh, no.
I tried to warn you.
Don't struggle.
They like it more when you struggle.
Oh.
Here we are - Sheffield.
Is it the right day?
- It's the right day. - In the right year?
The day you asked, in the year that you asked,
at the time that you asked.
You are home.
Everyone meet back here tomorrow lunchtime?
- Yeah, yeah. - What are you going to do?
Me? Oh, yeah.
Very busy.
Busy, busy. Maintenance.
Correspondence.
Correspondence about maintenance.
Oh!
Oh. OK.
Not the exact right time - 77 minutes out. Late.
What?!
You sure you're going to be
- all right on your own? - Oh, you know.
Finally a bit of peace and quiet.
Hmm...
I could always...
Oh, nah.
Maybe I'll just nip straight to tomorrow lunchtime.
What was that?
Location for that noise.
Aleppo?
I've got time.
Sorry, sorry.
Am I late? It is the right day, isn't it?
Have you been waiting long? Am I really late?
Yes, yes, yes and yes.
Mum and Dad left hours ago.
Whitby for the night.
Did you cook?
Can you cook now?
Hi, loser.
Hey, no-mark.
What are you doing here, man?
I got your messages, didn't I?
- It's been months. - Yeah.
Me phone's been playing up.
- So, are you back? - Yeah.
Sort of.
Not really. Just a few hours.
I bought chips. You going to let me in or what?
It's not a good time.
I got chips, though!
Now, that, gentlemen,
- is a full house. - What?
Well, I've been practising, haven't I? On my travels, eh?
I've got to say, it's great to see you lads.
It don't sound like I've been missing much, though.
Nothin' at all.
I'd rather be on cruises like you.
Well, let me tell you, Gabe, those boats, mate,
they are lovely - very calm.
And how's your health now, Gray, you all right?
Good, Freddie boy, thanks. Very good.
How are you coping...
...without Grace?
Well, I have to, don't I? You know.
Travelling helps, mate, don't it?
Stops me getting stuck in the past.
Aleppo.
1380. Welcome to Syria!
Now...
Oh.
They're not here, are they?
"Bimaristan."
It means sick place.
This must be
one of the oldest hospitals in the world.
Of course, Islamic physicians were known
for the enlightened way
they treated people with mental health problems.
But what happened here?
You guys go this way...
Oh! Who am I supposed to share
all the interesting stuff with?!
Is someone there?
Friendly visitors. Visitor.
Where are you?
I'm coming to say hello.
I'm the Doctor.
I'm here to help.
Stay away!
It's all right. You're safe, I promise.
No, they took everyone.
What happened here?
- You have to get out! - Why?
Because there's one still here.
What are you?
Leave her alone!
Stay here!
Gone. That was fast.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Right, lads, ready? Here we go.
Fastest dealer in South Yorkshire.
Can you see?
Can you see it?
I'm trapped.
This is what he did to me.
Help me, Graham.
He's close.
I think you lost count.
Huh?
Goes past one...
Goes past two...
It's a screamer!
Top bins! Final seconds...
He's done it. He's a lege.
Ryan Sinclair, FIFA legend.
I've never lost it.
Oh! I've still got it.
I'll make tea.
Your place is normally spotless.
This ain't you.
Mate, you ain't been around, so don't tell me what I am.
All right.
Mate, sorry for not answering your messages.
But you ain't yourself.
I'm just finding things difficult at the moment.
Have you spoke to anyone about it?
No, and I'm not going to.
All right.
There's something else.
Promise you won't laugh at me.
I can't promise that, can I?
Last few days...
...I've been having nightmares.
Dark, messed-up stuff.
And there's this...
...bloke in them.
He keeps recurring, like he's watching my dreams,
waiting in the dark.
Oh, that's creepy.
That's not the mad bit.
But the past few days...
...I've seen him.
At night. Outside the flat. Across the hall.
In my room.
The guy that's in your dreams is in your room?
I knew you'd laugh.
Look at me.
I'm not laughing.
Mate, I've seen some weird things
while I've been away.
Things you wouldn't believe are possible.
Would you kip here tonight?
So, can you say where you've been,
where they sent you?
Madagascar.
California. Hong Kong.
- Gloucester. - Oh!
They had a thing in Gloucester.
Dad was going on about it. Something to do with Russians.
It had nowt to do with Russians.
- How's the new job? - Sacked.
- Sonya. - What?
That's the third time!
People are really annoying, and they hate being told that.
I'm just not cut out for customer services.
No kidding!
Sonya...
We can stop doing this.
Stop marking it.
I thought it was a good thing.
Yeah.
No, I just don't know whether an anniversary dinner...
I still think about it.
Do you?
I dream about it sometimes.
Sofa movie after?
What, so you can fall asleep halfway through?
I do not do that.
Idiot.
Hi.
I-I didn't know who to call. We need help.
Who are you?
What are you doing here?
What are you doing?
Hey!
Tibo!
What is your name?
Tahira.
Have you seen those creatures before, Tahira?
Not really.
Who are you?
I've never seen you here before, Doctor.
Well, my brief is quite wide-ranging.
No signs of those creatures outside the bimaristan.
So, deliberately targeting a hospital
of vulnerable people.
The place is silent. Where is everyone else?
How many people were here?
Maybe 10 or 12 patients.
I'm really sorry...
...but I think those creatures must have taken them.
Taken them where?
I've no idea,
and why they left you behind...
How long have you been here?
If it's not a personal question,
which it is.
A few weeks.
I've travelled a long way.
Seen a lot of things I wish I hadn't.
My family were killed when I was seven.
I ran. Aleppo was safety for me.
They let me in here because I wasn't doing well.
I promise to keep you safe.
We will work this out.
Ah!
Really sorry.
Message device - someone's trying to get in touch.
Just in 14th-century Syria.
Is it lunchtime tomorrow already?
I need your help.
- My mate's been taken. - What?!
Wait. Another call.
- Yaz? - Doctor,
there was a figure in our flat.
Oh, hold on.
Graham?
Hey, Doc,
I keep seeing these images of planets,
like they're being projected into my head.
Mm... Hold on.
Call merge. I'm going to get you all now,
and I'm bringing my new friend Tahira.
- Who? - I'll be there in a sec.
Ah!
They did leave something behind.
I knew it.
This will tell us something.
Come on. I'll explain on the way.
And it might just blow your mind.
Tahira, this is Ryan, Graham and Yaz.
Hi.
Tahira is from Aleppo... in 1380.
I've explained about the TARDIS and the fact
that you're from 700 years in the future.
I'm really not ready for today.
No, don't tell me that, cos you're wrong.
I'm telling you you are.
- Who is she arguing with? - The TARDIS.
Because it's telling me, quite defiantly,
that these two strands of fur do not exist,
when they're right there!
Those creatures that we saw aren't registered
in its database.
They've never existed, will never exist.
Except they must.
Cos if they don't exist, if they can't exist,
where did they come from and how?
Tell me what happened to your mate.
Some guy was in his room.
Don't know how he got in there.
It was like his fingers were detached from his hand...
...connected to Tibo's ear. It was draining
something from him.
What did he look like?
He was bald and... tattooed head.
Whoa. Same bloke that was in the flat.
And you, the psychic incursion in your head?
Someone trying to communicate with you?
Yeah, but it was a woman.
She was trapped inside this, um...
I don't know, I couldn't make head nor tail of it.
Then I saw these, um, like, planets.
They were burning,
like she was connected to them somehow.
Someone is targeting us.
Do you have any idea where those planets might be?
You get me an A-Z of the universe,
and I'll be able to stick my finger straight on...
No, I've got no idea.
Right, then, better idea.
TARDIS telepathic circuits.
- Doc... - Stop fidgeting, will you?
Ugh! Doc...
Ow! I don't like it. Are you sure it's safe?
You trust me, don't you?
Have I got to answer that?
Oi!
Is it going to hurt?
No. Probably not.
Maybe. Yeah.
- Ready? - No!
Focus on the image.
Whoa! Ouch!
Ah! We found something - we're moving.
But where?
Deep space. Distant future.
Is this what you saw?
No, nothing like this.
Then, why here?
What did the telepathic circuits
lock on to?
If they were hooked into your mind,
no wonder we're somewhere dark and weird.
Oi!
Do you even know where we are?
Half a galaxy past the Geskon Straits.
Very little out here.
No civilisations left by now.
It doesn't feel like a ship, though.
We are in geostationary orbit, and that would be deliberate,
so why here?
Are we underground? Is that why it's so dark?
The Doctor reckons we're in a building,
among the stars.
We've come a long way from home.
That's impossible. Nobody can travel across the stars.
Unless you're the Doctor.
She's basically the definition of impossible.
Oh! Control hub?
Operator activated.
Oh, now you've got something there, Doc.
- Yeah, but what? - There, look.
That is exactly what I saw,
those two objects.
This must be a monitor platform.
Observing events in this part of the solar system.
What are they, like planets?
Looks like they're falling into each other.
Colliding.
About to destroy each other.
It's an extinction event.
But they're not colliding, and they should be.
What's stopping the final collapse?
Best take a little zoom in.
Whoa! There's something there,
- between those planets. - What sort of something?
Good question.
Whoa!
The engineering required to create that
and keep it in place - bravo.
Whoever built that - round of applause from me.
Doc, can... can you magnify, like zoom in?
Why?
Well, I think there's more to see.
A tiny geo orb locked in place.
Is there someone in there?
Are you here?
Is it you?
Th-That's it!
She's trapped. That's... That's what I saw.
Doc,
- we... we gotta help her out. - Please!
Hey! Have you seen this?
This whole section is covered in fingers.
What?! Covered in fingers?
And there's a signal coming from them...
...broadcasting into that orb,
- to that girl. - I'm trapped.
A psychic signal fed by all this.
But what is it?
Ah!
This place has so many secrets to yield.
What do you reckon you've got there?
This tech is powering this platform,
powering that orb,
keeping it in place between those two planets.
And at its heart, a quantum fluctuation lock,
a sequence of changing combinations,
hundreds of billions of combinations
every millisecond...
...which would mean that orb...
...is a prison,
and she's locked in there,
fed by that signal.
A signal of what, though?
Where is Tahira?
Maryam.
Do you recognise them?
The Chagaskas.
Your worst fears,
my creativity.
There she is.
Oi, freak-hands, get away from her.
Plus, you can release all of these people right now.
And don't you ever come sneaking
back into my family's flat.
Oh, that's not good.
Do it right this time.
I won't be calling anyone.
No point.
You're weak.
You run.
Nobody's coming, Yaz.
You're alone in the dark.
Oh, no.
Sonya!
Tibo?
Where you been, man?
We waited for you. You said you'd be back.
How long you been waiting?
Our whole lives.
What's with all the fire?
The place is burning.
What place?
Earth.
And you weren't here.
I thought we were mates.
Why am I hooked up to this?
Grace...
I'm sorry to tell you, Mr O'Brien,
your cancer has returned.
What?
No, no, that can't be right.
I-I've had a check-up.
I, um...
Anyway, you're not my doctor.
This time, it's very aggressive.
Well, how...
How long have I got?
A couple of hours.
Why didn't you save me?
Uh...
Let me... Let me try again.
Now, for most people,
a quantum flux lock is unbreakable.
100 billion combinations every millisecond.
But I've got an app for that.
One sonic... connected to the calculating power
of one TARDIS.
Shouldn't take too long.
And I'm talking myself again,
which means the others aren't here.
Hello, Doctor.
I've watched you stumbling round this universe.
I presume this is all your doing.
Who's that girl in the orb? And where are my friends?
Who are you?
I go by many names.
My preferred,
my original,
is Zellin.
No.
Zellin's a mythical name, way beyond this universe.
Zellin was thought to be a god.
I blush.
You can't be.
We immortals need our games, Doctor.
Eternity is long,
and we are cursed to see it all.
The Eternals have their games.
The Guardians have their power struggles.
For me, this dimension
is a beautiful board for a game.
The toymaker would approve.
And I do like this form -
it's so... small.
To exist within molecules and atoms is fascinating.
I can shape them,
regrow,
mould my form...
...to provoke fear from humans...
...as I extract nightmares from the scared and vulnerable.
- Now, that is a good game. - Wait.
Are you transmitting nightmares?
Taking nightmares from humans
and forcing them into the mind of a girl
you've trapped between planets?
I've seen many races, Doctor,
and the humans are infinitely fascinating,
infinitely...
...pathetic.
But of course you know that.
We share the same obsession.
We are not the same.
No.
You are so much... lesser.
You know the best part of humanity?
The thing that truly sets them apart?
The cruelty of their own minds directed towards themselves.
The doubt. The fear.
The endless voices telling themselves
that they're incapable and unworthy.
Such an exquisite animal.
Built-in pain.
And the repositories of that pain - the nightmares.
I presume that's your doing, Doctor. Always interfering.
I've watched you blunder into this.
"Blundering" - top of my CV,
alongside "plays well with others"
and "excellent tap dancer in a crisis".
Almost clever!
But not quite clever enough.
You're sure about that?
Cos, look, your prisoner, she's free.
I used your own technology against you.
No, Doctor.
I used your instincts against you.
What?
I made the Chagaskas, targeted the humans...
...to entice you here.
I needed someone from this realm
to break a lock from this realm.
Only one would do.
You.
No!
You did find the right answer.
You weren't asking the right questions.
My freedom!
This platform isn't my technology.
I didn't make this prison.
She was always the more powerful of us,
the more dangerous.
That's why they imprisoned her.
I just...
...ride in her slipstream.
Release. After all this time.
I don't understand.
Let me make you.
Two creatures from another realm
descended into a universe
where they were worshipped as gods.
They saw two planets and laid a wager.
Which of them could bring a planet to destruction first?
The gods set to their game,
sowing chaos through the populations.
Wars began...
between species,
then between the planets themselves.
The gods delighted in the carnage.
It passed the time.
But slowly,
the inhabitants of the worlds grew wise,
realised what these creatures had done to them.
They unified and fought back against their so-called gods.
They set their own planets into a collision course,
and at the heart of the collision
they laid a prison.
They trapped one creature between the planets
for eternity.
The other fled,
vowing to return to release his eternal partner.
Wake up, Doctor.
Welcome back.
I hope you understand now.
I wasn't torturing her with nightmares.
I was feeding her what she needed to stay sane.
The pain of others.
But even gods need a helping hand, Doctor.
Thank you.
You won't feel a thing when this all burns.
Yes, they will.
Where now?
All those nightmares...
I loved them.
Humans?
Earth.
Let's take them all.
Yes!
Oh, come on!
What do you think it feels like for them to be such...
...tiny, ephemeral flashes of existence?
Hmm!
They feel so much.
It must burn them.
I think it does.
It's buried deep in all our memories.
In our identity.
Built on the lie of the timeless child.
Hmm.
Right. Think this will hold me, do you?
Oh!
Argh! Disgusting.
Agh!
I have just had the maddest dream.
I know. You all have.
Tranquillising psycho-extraction.
- I need to get Tibo. - We have to get
everybody safe and back to their rightful place.
Well, maybe if you stopped
messing around with those finger things...
Tapped into the bio-organic code.
Sonic does fingers!
Down.
Stay.
Good dog.
- Ew! - Could be useful.
Ryan...
Where am I?
All right, mate. Try not to freak out, yeah?
But you're on a floating space platform
in a gravitational pull between two colliding planets
halfway across the universe
cos of the guy who was stealing your nightmares
through creepy detachable fingers.
Prank?
No.
Take me through that again.
What are they?
I know why they didn't attack you.
Because they're yours.
Zellin, that man,
created the Chagaska from your nightmares.
They wouldn't kill you, they couldn't -
because you created them.
So, how do you defeat two rampaging immortals?
Answer - you don't.
Those two planets... They've spent a millennia
trying to work out how to do it.
Well, I think the motivational speech
needs a bit of work, Doc, if you don't mi...
And also a plan, by the way.
I've got plans crashing through my brain all the time.
You want a plan? Come to me.
Identifying which plan is going to work,
that's the tricky bit.
This is perfect, Zellin.
You've done well.
Take them all.
Hmm!
Billions in one go.
Gorge on their fears.
Why would we rush?
We have so much time...
...to walk in their nightmares.
We can pass eternity here...
...if we take it slow.
Of course.
I've told you, there are no bogeymen,
nothing to be worried about.
Night-night.
That's not true.
What was that?
I manifested a creature from a human nightmare.
It's calling across the time waves.
A pet?
I want to see.
Oh, nice entrance.
Welcome to Aleppo. Very beautiful city.
How are you here?
I'm that little bit smarter than you thought I was.
Now, listen to me - Earth is not your plaything.
You're wrong about humans.
They're not pathetic. They're magnificent.
They live with their fears, doubts, guilts.
They face them down every day, and they prevail.
That's not weakness. That's strength.
That's what humanity is.
- Isn't that right, Tahira? - Yes, Doctor.
Why don't you show them
how strong you are?
My Chagaska!
How can you control it?
Literally conquered her fear.
Are you... confronting us?
Yeah!
You immortals -
so entitled, so spoiled.
You never clear up after yourself.
And you should be really careful
what you leave lying around.
Sorry. I won't do that again.
Just returning your lost property.
Thanks for lending a helping hand.
- Really? - I couldn't resist.
What's your worst nightmare?
Now, Tahira!
You made my nightmares real.
Now you can live with them for all eternity.
Yes! Gods back in their box.
We need to get this back to the monitor platform...
...and all those people out of the TARDIS Jacuzzi. Come on!
Slept like a baby last night!
Good, cos you need
all the beauty sleep you can get.
Oi! Man's still looking fresh.
Oh!
What, you'll be going again?
Yeah.
But you could've told me the truth about it all.
Would you have believed me?
Nope.
There's a bit more than just the world you're seeing.
Do you know when you'll be back?
Not sure.
Well, don't make it too long.
I need my best mate.
I get a bit lost without him.
Yeah, I get that too.
Look, I've been looking at something that might help,
for my mate,
and there's something I need you to do for me -
and you can't argue.
I get down.
And I shut myself off.
And it's like I'm paralysed with it.
For days, weeks...
It's in control of me.
And I thought I'd try and do something about it.
I went to the supermarket
just so I could talk to the cashier,
you know, get back to human contact.
But I got there...
...and it's those self-service checkouts!
I haven't said that to anyone before.
I felt like it was just me.
It's not just you.
Hitchhiking?
No.
Just taking in the view?
Not breaking the law, am I?
No.
Where are you off to?
Away.
It's good there.
- Leave me alone. - Can't do that.
Why not?
People are worried about you.
No, they're not.
Your sister is.
That's why she called us.
She's worried you've left
and are going to do something stupid.
I've heard things are tough.
Getting bullied at school.
Grades have gone a bit wonky.
Parents don't get what's up.
You must be feeling pretty trapped and alone.
I'm feeling way more than that.
That's better than the other way.
What?
Well, feeling things isn't wrong.
- I don't want your speech. - I know.
Terrible thing about being older
is you have all this experience
and nobody ever wants to hear it.
Cos I know that there's so much ahead of you.
What if this moment,
where you want to run, away from everyone,
including yourself, is just that?
A moment.
What if we find a way to get you through it
and out of the other side?
I've been where you are.
Moments change.
Help's out there.
As much or as little as you need.
I'm not listening to you.
Would hard cash make a difference?
I'll make you a deal.
Look me up in three years.
If I'm wrong, I'll give you 50 quid.
I mean, I'd say more, but the pay's rubbish.
Get another job, then.
Can't. Love it too much.
But if I'm right...
...you owe me 50p.
Come on, those are good odds.
Hi. Can I help you?
Hi. You won't remember me. My name's Yasmin.
Yasmin Khan.
I flippin' do remember you.
I've got something for you.
You wanna come in?
The thing is, Doc, I worry
about getting sick again.
You know, about the...
...about the cancer coming back.
And I didn't know who to say it to,
so I thought I'd say it to you.
You know, seeing as you're a doctor.
You know, cos once...
...once you have it, it's with you the whole time.
Not quite a shadow, but...
Hey, don't get me wrong. I mean, my check-ups,
they're all fine, but it... it made me think, you know,
and, um, I thought I should talk about it,
cos those nightmares, I mean...
Well, they made me realise
that the fear is... is... is still there, you know.
I should say a reassuring thing now, shouldn't I?
Yeah, probably.
I'm still quite socially awkward.
So I'm just going to subtly walk towards the console
and look at something.
And then, in a minute...
...I'll think of something that I should've said...
...that might have been helpful.
OK.
Well...
I'm glad we had this chat, eh?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
How long is this going to last, Yaz?
Hanging out with the Doctor?
I don't know.
Is this our lives?
Going from one place to the next, ignoring home?
We're getting older, but without them.
Missing out bits of their lives.
When we're done, the Doctor can drop you off
at whatever point you want, though.
Yeah, but we'll have changed. They wouldn't have.
It's like we're living at different rates.
The Doctor said we wouldn't come back the same.
I was thinking... Frankenstein.
- What? - Did I interrupt?
Am I interrupting?
- No. - Cool.
You might need a change of clothes!
- On we go. - On we go.
Hi.
How about writing the most gruesome,
spine-chilling ghost story of all time?
Tales Of The Dead.