Inside the TARDIS

While in flight there is a knock on the TARDIS door. The Doctor goes to investigate and discovers a cube of light outside. When beckoned it flies into the Console Room, whizzes about and then hits The Doctor in the chest.

This is a hypercube - a form of communication for Time Lords - and The Doctor discovers that this hypercube contains a distress call from a Time Lord called The Corsair. Tracing the source of the call to a rift leading outside the universe, and thinking that he has discovered a member of his own race, The Doctor deletes part of his TARDIS to generate enough energy to cross through the rift.

The TARDIS materialises on a solitary asteroid, a virtual junkyard, but the TARDIS immediately shuts down, as The TARDIS loses power, and its matrix then suddenly disappears. Along with his travelling companions, Amy and Rory, The Doctor starts to explore the planet and they soon get to meet its strange inhabitants, Auntie, Uncle, a green eyed Ood (who Auntie and Uncle call ‘Nephew’) and an excited young woman named Idris who starts kissing and fawning all over The Doctor. Auntie and Uncle apologise for her actions claiming that she is mad. Idris then asks if there is an ‘off switch’ and instantly falls asleep. She is then carried away by Nephew so that she can get some rest.

A Knock at the Door

As they start to explore some more The Doctor, who wants to find and help any possibly living Time Lords, sends Rory and Amy back to the TARDIS, on a fool’s errand, before heading towards the distress signals. But as soon as Amy and Rory enter the TARDIS the doors become locked and a strange green cloud starts to emanate from the ground around the TARDIS.

With his travelling companions out of the way, The Doctor follows the distress signal and discovers a cupboard full of hypercubes. Upon further investigation The Doctor discovers that Auntie and Uncle are constructs made up of body parts from other beings, including Time Lords, which found their way to the planet. He also discovers that those on the planet are under the control of a giant sentient asteroid, called House, which can interface with other technology around it. House purposely led The Doctor here and ripped out the TARDIS’ matrix, initially in order to consume it for energy, but upon learning that The Doctor is the last Time Lord, and therefore no more TARDISes will ever arrive, House decides to transfer itself into The Doctor’s TARDIS and escape from the rift. As the TARDIS dematerialises Amy and Rory find themselves trapped inside as House sends the TARDIS hurtling off in the direction of the bigger, energy-rich universe so breaking connection with The Doctor who is left stranded on the asteroid.

I've Got mail

Without House’s support, Auntie and Uncle die, while The Doctor is surprised to learn that Idris is a similar vessel but presently holding the TARDIS’ matrix personality. Idris, as the TARDIS, and The Doctor come to realise they selected each other hundreds of years prior when The Doctor fled Gallifrey. Idris further reveals that House has stranded many TARDISes before on the planet, and that this universe only has hours left before it collapses, while Idris’ body only has minutes before it too fails. The Doctor and Idris therefore work together to construct a makeshift TARDIS from the junked parts. When it is completed Idris infuses the mechanical bits with a part of her inherent matrix energy. The makeshift TARDIS then dematerialises and they begin to chase after The Doctor’s TARDIS.

Meanwhile aboard The Doctor’s TARDIS, House threatens to kill Amy and Rory. Rory though quickly claims that House needs entertainment, and killing them quickly wouldn’t be fun - so buying them some time. They head for the TARDIS corridors but House starts playing with their senses as they try to flee through the corridors. He separates Amy and Rory and then tricks Amy with a number of mind-games involving a fake Rory aging, trying to attack Amy and eventually dying, before the real Rory finds her.

As they get close to the TARDIS, The Doctor discovers that House has raised the shields of his TARDIS. They need to be lowered so that The Doctor and Idris can enter. Idris therefore sends Rory directions to a secondary control room where he and Amy are then able to lower the TARDIS shields without House’s interference. This allows The Doctor to land the makeshift console in the secondary control room, The new console though lands on Nephew, who had been sent by House, to kill Amy and Rory, blasting him into atoms.

Idris Greets The Doctor

As House prepares to break through the rift, The Doctor suggests that he deletes 30% of the rooms in the TARDIS for power. But House also deletes the secondary control room. But The Doctor expected this and the TARDIS safety protocols transfer them all to the main control room, where the dying Idris is able to release the TARDIS matrix back to where it belongs so deleting House from the TARDIS.

The last bit of the TARDIS matrix, still in Idris’ body, has a last conversation with The Doctor - though she will always be his TARDIS, they will never be able to talk like this again. Idris’ body then disappears as the TARDIS matrix is fully restored.

As The Doctor starts installing a firewall around the matrix, to prevent the recent events from happening again, Rory asks The Doctor what was meant by the last words Idris said before she died: ‘The only water in the forest is the river’ - but The Doctor cannot answer him.

Wanting to be alone in the main Console Room The Doctor quickly remakes Amy and Rory’s room (the old one having been deleted by House) and then sends them off to search for it. With them gone, The Doctor begins to whisper to the TARDIS to see if there are remnants of Idris left and is rewarded when a lever, on the console, pulls itself.