Scherzo ( audio story ) Publisher ' s summary . Once upon a time . . . There were two friends , and together they travelled the cosmos . They thwarted tyrants and defeated monsters , they righted wrongs wherever they went . They explored the distant future and the distant past , new worlds and galaxies , places beyond imagining . But every good story has to come to an end . With no times or places left to explore , all the two friends have now are each other . But maybe that ' s one voyage too many . Maybe they ' ll discover things they ' d rather have left undisturbed . . . hidden away in the suffocating , unfeeling , deafening brightness . Once upon a time . Far , far away . Plot . Part 1 . After being exiled into the Divergent Universe , the TARDIS makes rapid beeping noises , scaring Charley . Charley searches for the Doctor within the TARDIS and finds him lying on the floor . He is actually hiding and asks Charley to hide with him behind the console from whatever ' s on the other side of the door . However , nothing is behind the door . The Doctor explains that he is hiding from the inevitable feelings of pain , fear and death but should confront them . The Doctor then asks who Charley is , thinking that she is an hallucination . The Doctor says that Charley is safe and wouldn ' t " betray " him . The Doctor steadily rises on his feet in pain . The Doctor explains that Time Lord s have many different senses than a human and that his sense of Time itself is being eradicated from him because they are in the Divergent Universe — a place where time goes by with no way of retrieving it , causing the Doctor to ask Charley how can she live like this . Charley tells him that it ' s the way it works for humans and he ' ll get used to it " in time " . The Doctor remarks that the TARDIS feels it too for it can ' t function in a universe where time is lost . Charley sees the TARDIS doors opening , revealing nothing but darkness . The Doctor explains that the TARDIS is slowly disappearing seeing how it serves no purpose . Charley tells the Doctor that he shouldn ' t stand by and do nothing about it . The Doctor then remarks that he ' ll stand and watch it happen like a captain going down with the ship . Charley asks the Doctor if they can explore the new universe , but the Doctor thinks that the darkness is better than what awaits for them in the uncharted universe . Charley tells the Doctor to take her hand and they are attacked by a very bright light . Charley can ' t see in the light and listens to the Doctor ' s voice until they meet . The TARDIS suddenly vanishes away from them . The Doctor sadly remarks that now that the TARDIS is gone , the rest of their lives will be spent with time running on with no way of going back , thanks to Charley . The Doctor sceptically tells the Charley that she wanted to explore the Divergent Universe , so now is the time . They decide to walk away from where they are , but the light doesn ' t seem to fade . The Doctor deduce s that their eyes won ' t adjust to the way this universe works since their bodies aren ' t made for this world . The Doctor tells Charley to smell anything and Charley tells him that it ' s dusty and faint , but now getting stronger . The Doctor says that there is nothing to smell , but Charley ' s brain won ' t accept it . The Doctor tells Charley to feel for anything , but Charley only feels the Doctor ' s hand , seeing how the Doctor is all she has in the world . Charley hears something in the distance — the sound of the TARDIS engines . The Doctor warns Charley to not let go of his hand , but Charley trips and falls . Suddenly , to Charley ' s eyesight , the light starts to fade and believes that the TARDIS is guiding them . Charley then sees that she tripped over a body . The Doctor examines it and finds that its organs are exposed and it has no limbs , surmising that it ' s some sort of amoeba . Suddenly , the organism makes a noise that seems to say " help " . It repeatedly says " help " , but then lowers its voice as its body is decomposing . Suddenly , the light reappears , rendering Charley and the Doctor ' s eyesight useless . Charley decides that the TARDIS is blocking out the light to help them and they should find a way to get back inside the TARDIS and go somewhere else that ' s not so bright . The Doctor says that it ' s a good plan , but there ' s one problem — they ' re going to die in this universe . There is no escape from the Divergent Universe and they are going to die in a world they were never born in and never meant to exist in . Charley then says that no matter what happens they ' ll be together since she came back for him . The Doctor angrily tells her that he wants to die alone , but Charley betrayed that . Hurt by his words , Charley walks away from the Doctor in tears , telling him to leave her alone . The Doctor tells her to follow his voice , but Charley asks why he would care . The Doctor apologises and Charley returns to him , depressed and takes his hand . Charley asks what they are going to do now and the Doctor answers that there is nothing to do except keep walking . Part 2 . As the two continue walking , Charley hums " Frere Jacques " , for something to keep her going . Charley then asks the Doctor why he hasn ' t talked to her for a while , but he remains silent . Charley then rants that the Doctor won ' t say anything and they are in a world where she can only hear , not see . Frustrated , Charley decides to keep humming Frere Jacques and ignore the Doctor . The Doctor then interrupts and asks how long it ' s been since he talked to her . Charley guesses half an hour , but the Doctor says 32 hours and 40 minutes and explains that Charley ' s perception of time doesn ' t work and that it may have been longer than 32 hours . Charley is not hungry , thirsty or tired because she hasn ' t even thought about it . Charley can ' t even feel his hand , despite the fact that the Doctor is still holding on to it . The Doctor ' s senses failed five hours ago , and he has been counting his own hearts beating to calculate the time , hence why he was silent towards Charley . Realising this , Charley asks the Doctor if he ' s angry with her , but he refuses to answer . The Doctor casually asks aloud how long it would take to lose his senses entirely , and states that she shouldn ' t have come here . Charley insists that she couldn ' t leave him and the Doctor says that they may have made a mistake , stepping into the light . The Doctor and Charley wonder if they really are dead and this is a delusion of the afterlife , but another possibility is that someone is keeping them alive . The Doctor and Charley decide to continue , but the Doctor requests to do it silence since he doesn ' t have anything to say to Charley . As they continue , they both hear Frere Jacques being hummed . The Doctor tells Charley to stop , but she tells him that she isn ' t responsible . The Doctor decides to speak out to whoever is doing that and introduces himself . The humming stops , and the Doctor assures the being to not be afraid , as they mean no harm . Soon , the humming starts again and the Doctor realises that it understands them . The humming stops again and the Doctor asks if it ' s still there . Suddenly , the being says " help me ! " Charley says that they ' ll help it , but then it says " help you " because it ' s only taking words and probably doesn ' t know what help is . Then they hear both their voices , which are saying words from earlier . The Doctor deduces that the creature ' s words aren ' t its way of communication . The creature ' s imitation of the Doctor and Charley begins to overlap , much to Charley ' s irritation , and she tells it to stop . Silence follows , and Charley asks if it ' s still there . The Doctor and Charley wonder if it ' s another amoeba like the one they saw earlier , or if it ' s the one thing that killed it , but it didn ' t want to harm them . The Doctor then realises that the words of the creature didn ' t matter , but its tone and emotion , and doesn ' t respond to meaning . Charley recalls that the creatures ' words were " I love you " and asks the Doctor of he loves her back , but the Doctor dismisses this , saying that she ' s missing the point . Charley laughs to herself that the creature got the point rather than the Doctor , but the Doctor says he was trying to understand the nature of where they are . Sceptical , the Doctor asks if Charley loves him and the Doctor asks what love would ever do to him . In tears , Charley asks if the Doctor meant he loved her in return and the Doctor coldly responds that whatever part of him said that he loved her is gone . Angered , Charley tells him to never say those words again if he doesn ' t mean them because those words are too precious . The Doctor understands and wonders if something is trying to control them where they are . The Doctor sees that music may be the only thing they can use left for their senses . The Doctor and Charley walk in a rhythmic like pattern to see if anything helps , but Charley still hears nothing . The Doctor can still hear his hearts beating , so whatever is out there is using whatever sound they ' re making against them . The Doctor sees that it hasn ' t done anything to harm them and might as well be curious like a child with a new plaything , leaving two options – oblige to it or try to resist it . Charley seems to go for an obvious choice , but the Doctor reminds Charley what a child would do to a toy that doesn ' t entertain them anymore . Suddenly , the brightness fades and Charley collapses , suddenly feeling tired : their senses are now returning , and Charley hasn ' t slept in a long time . The Doctor takes off his coat and wraps it around Charley for comfort and the Doctor decides to look around more . The Doctor comes across a wall , but it seems to be curved like a tube and made of glass , and beside it he finds another body . It appears to be the same species as the one they saw earlier , but the Doctor wants to dissect it to find out more . The Doctor opens it up and sees that it is the same species but more advanced and an evolution compared to the earlier body . Suddenly , they hear a whooshing sound . Charley thinks it ' s the TARDIS , but the Doctor feels a bite on his neck : the creature is hungry . Charley decides to hum Frere Jacques to distract it . Then the Doctor is free and the creature is gone . The Doctor then realises that the creature isn ' t using sound as a weapon , but the creature itself is sound . Soon , Charley feels energetic because her senses are now fading once more as the brightness returns . The Doctor then gives Charley a piece of meat from the body he dissected and tells her to eat it . Charley is disgusted and doesn ' t feel hungry because her sense of hunger is insignificant . The Doctor insists that she must eat it , or she will starve to death . Part 3 . After eating , the Doctor and Charley decide to applaud and give the creature a sense of appreciation . The Doctor learns that whenever it performs it learns something new and if the creature is humoured , the brightness would fade and their senses will return . Charley then says that this place isn ' t so bad so long as the creature keeps them well fed and it seems to care for them . The Doctor jokes that , if forced to choose between travelling in time and space and spending the rest of his life walking and listening to a creature that would nibble on his neck on occasion , he would choose the former , but the latter ' s a close second . The Doctor then tells Charley that despite the now friendly environment , she will never see her family again , or even her own species , and will never fall in love , marry or have children with someone . If they are going to spend the rest of their lives in this world , the Doctor tells Charley to not let them regret missing her universe . Charley takes out her brooch , something her grandmother passed down to her mother and now to her . Charley vowed that she would pass it down to her children and sadly states that she won ' t be able to pass it down to anyone . Charley then feels that her senses are returning because she ' s feeling frightened . Suddenly , Charley can ' t find herself to let go of the Doctor ' s hand . As they both struggle , the Doctor realises that their hands are fused together , seeing how that everything else around them is evolving , so are they . Charley panics and tries to free herself , but the Doctor , who is now mentally fused with her as well , calms her down . The Doctor sees that the creature is not responsible for this and sees that evolution is accelerating in this universe and someone is observing the evolving development until they arrived . The Doctor and Charley realise that them making noises such as talking and the sound of the TARDIS engines are teaching the creature how to talk . Desperate to find a way out of this environment , the Doctor walks away , but Charley stops him and reminds him that they ' ve been walking for weeks and possibly months at a time , lowering his mental enthusiasm within her . In defeat , the Doctor is calmed down and Charley feels it . The Doctor then has an idea and orders Charley to push her hand into his . She obeys and their arms are now fused . As this happens , their senses are shared and can now see through the brightness . The Doctor and Charley look through the glass of the tube they are in and to the Doctor ' s realisation and horror , they are not in a tube or a corridor ; they are in a glass ring , meaning that they have been walking in circles all this time . The bodies they saw were one of the same and were differently made every time they came across it . As the Doctor realises this , he lashes out and yells at Charley , saying that this was all her fault because , had it not been for her , he would have had the rest of the universe to explore . Charley argues that he took her onboard his TARDIS in the first place , but the Doctor angrily responds that the Time Lords have a theory that all his companions are " memento mori " - meaning that they are reminders of death and that no matter how powerful one was , death was inevitable . As every companion left the Doctor , he wondered if they had a point in his lives until Charley , who was supposed to die and didn ' t expect to care about Charley , seeing that as a mistake because he put her first before the Web of Time . The Doctor rants that he sacrificed himself to save her life so she would live her life without fearing the consequences of the paradox ; now that she ' s with him , his sacrifice was pointless and he is in the Divergent Universe for nothing . Charley reminds the Doctor that they love each other and she couldn ' t bear to leave him behind . The Doctor scoffs , saying that her love for him has killed her as well and he doesn ' t want to see her again for she will be a reminder that he have failed . Charley profusely apologises in tears and the Doctor wishes that he had never seen her . As they finish their words to each other , Charley emotionlessly hands the Doctor her brooch so he can cut open the next body for another meal . The body is revealed to have a face — Charley ' s face . The Doctor deduce s that it ' s evolving again and now it has copied a face . Charley is disgusted and decides not to eat it , choosing starvation . They hear the creature ' s voices nearby and it is wondering why they won ' t eat . The Doctor realises that the creature has been slicing open the body ' s throat to reach its vocal cords , hence why it was nibbling on the Doctor ' s neck earlier . The creature begins to gnaw at the Doctor ' s throat again , and the Doctor orders Charley to cut his throat with the brooch . Charley is reluctant , but the Doctor is confident that the creature won ' t let him die . Charley cuts the Doctor ' s throat and the creature makes a loud noise . . . Part 4 . The sound suddenly dies without a trace . The Doctor ' s throat is still cut , but he is still able to speak . It becomes apparent that the creature is trying to ensure the safety of the Doctor ' s vocal cords . Every time the creature came by , it was trying to devour what it could from them and absorbed noises from them and never intended to hurt them in the first place . Charley wonders if they should continue giving the creature what it wants and let it evolve into an adult as it now has the mind of a child . Suddenly , the creature devours another creature and the Doctor realises that they are being " out - evolved " . The sound creature is evolving further than the others and because all other creatures will be behind on the evolution process , it will devour them . The Doctor and Charley ' s shared hand suddenly turns into stone , as they are now behind in the evolution process . The Doctor tells Charley that they are falling behind on evolution and must complete the process of them merging into each other . Charley pushes herself into the Doctor and together , they become a new being . Charley wakes up to find herself in what seems to be the drawing room at her parents ' house . The door opens and something stands before her . It has the voice of the Doctor , telling her that she summoned him and is calling her " Mama " . The figure reveals itself that it is Charley ' s daughter and Charley always wanted a daughter and hand the brooch over to her . Charley gladly hands the brooch over to her " daughter " , but it then says that Charley is getting old , meaning that she ' s being out - evolved and won ' t be needed anymore . Charley is prepared to accept this , because she now has a daughter and someone to pass down the brooch to keep the tradition alive , until the figure states that it doesn ' t understand how it could wear the brooch . Charley demands the brooch back , but the figure insists that it ' s grown up and deserves it . Charley takes the brooch , saying that it ' s not old enough to have it and is not ready to die yet . Charley boasts that she is an original and has no daughter and will never have a daughter . The figure ' s voice suddenly becomes big and demonic , but Charley holds her ground and tells it to go its room without any supper . The Doctor wakes up to find himself in the console room of the TARDIS , and he is enlightened to travel anywhere else . Suddenly , a figure with Charley ' s voice appears and reminds him that he gave his life and his world to save everything including Charley . The figure encourages the Doctor to die for Charley and it . The Doctor responds that he gave up everything for not just Charley , but the universe a chance to give Charley a full life . The figure taunts the Doctor , by saying that he gave up everything just for one girl and not anybody else . The Doctor calls out to the figure and says that it ' s not Charley . The figure then claims that it ' s a representation of all those who have travelled with him , but the Doctor dismisses this and asks how the creature got in to his head . The figure answers " through his ear " with a snark and thanks the Doctor for giving it the sounds it wanted to fully understand him . The Doctor then says that the figure ' s birth was a mistake , as it killed off an entire species , but the figure counters him by asking why it should be the Doctor who will live on rather than it . The figure then tempts the Doctor , saying that he gave his life so Charley could live on , and that she ' s not even part of his family and has done this many times . It asks the Doctor if he was prepared to sacrifice everything for Charley ' s sake because if life meant so much to him , why would he want to defeat the creature . Only one of them can live on and whoever it is has to be gripping on to life itself the most and the figure confidently refuses to give up . It taunts the Doctor , saying that he is willing to die for anyone , and dares him to die once again for the universe , Charley and all those who he travelled with in the past and " discarded " . As figure states these words , the TARDIS disappears and the real Charley appears and tells the Doctor not to do it , but the creature tells Charley to stay out of it and let the Doctor make his own choice . After everything the Doctor has seen for a thousand years , exploring the universe with freedom and savouring the memories of every adventure , it would mean nothing if the Doctor would sacrifice himself again . The Doctor declares that he loves Charley and he is willing to die so another will live . The creature is delighted to hear this , but Charley objects and says that this is not the same thing . Charley then tells the creature that she is part of the Doctor ' s body and she is refusing to let the Doctor lose to the creature . She angrily tells the creature that she ' ll burn in the R101 or be executed by the Time Lords , but will live on . Whatever happens , Charley lets the Doctor live . In agony , the creature lets out a pained cry and begs Charley to give her the brooch so it can live . She stands up and says that she ' ll never have a daughter because the doors to that possibility will be forever closed and instead , she ' ll hand it to the Doctor , accepting that she will die for him . The creature screams again and fades as the Doctor and Charley emerge triumphant . The Doctor tells Charley that they can evolve further and see where it could take them and be part of the universe rather than explore it . He shatters the glass tube , but Charley wants the Doctor back and doesn ' t want everything . All she wants is the man who had everything and was willing to give it all up just for her . The Doctor confesses he needs her too and he can ' t be alone . He orders Charley to separate from him and they find themselves separate from each other ' s bodies . The Doctor finally thanks Charley for saving his life as he saved hers . He hands her back the brooch , but Charley doesn ' t need it anymore because that was her previous life in the regular universe . The glass wall is broken and the Doctor and Charley are prepared to step outside and ready to explore whatever is outside the glass tube . Charley tells the Doctor to take her hand as they step outside .