Martha gazed at the captain. 'You can't do anything to hurt us now,' she said.

'Yeah,' said Captain Florence. 'Can't beat ya. Might as well come to this 'ere party.'

Martha, Captain Florence, Jocelyn and Stanley made their way to the lift. As it took them down to the hangars where the capsules awaited, Captain Florence turned to Martha.

'The canner-peas,' she said quietly. 'You're gonna 'ave to show me what to do.'

Martha grinned at her. 'Don't worry,' she said. 'Everything's going to be fine.'

Music played all through the Brilliant, lively, poppy stuff. On the bridge and in the passageways, the Balumin taught badger pirates how to dance. Captain Georgina, Thomas and the rest of the human crew were no better at the complex dance steps. Gabriel and the other robots tried to serve drinks and nibbles but got grabbed by the dancers and made to join in.

Martha made her way through the laughing, chatting, dancing party and headed for the cocktail lounge. Mrs Wingsworth was regaling Dashiel with tales of her adventures aboard the pirate ship, and he tried not to be rude about getting up when Jocelyn walked into the room. Martha watched Mrs Wingsworth gape in astonishment at such terrible manners, then turn to the badger woman sat next to her and continue with her story.

The Doctor stood behind the bar, busy making milkshakes. 'Martha!' he said.

'Hiya!' she said, sitting on one the tall bar stools. He handed her a glass of pink and yellow milkshake.

'Haven't done this in ages,' he said. 'And they've got really good ice cream!'

She was happy just to sit there and let him make drinks for everybody. The party tumbled all around her, wild and mad and fun. And far too full of different people.

'The Brilliant,' she said to the Doctor. 'You made it bigger on the inside.'

'Well,' admitted the Doctor, scraping chocolate sprinkles onto six milkshakes all at once. 'A bit. The maths works out. If you're not using time, you can stretch space around.'

'Right,' she said, not needing to understand him. 'And you're gonna tell me how you made their guns stop working?'

'That was good, wasn't it?' said the Doctor. 'I left a note for Gabriel earlier. Said the guns were being used on the passengers, and wouldn't it be better if their power was used for something else.'

'So when the Brilliant came back it used the power in the guns?' said Martha.

'Aw,' said the Doctor. 'There's only a tiny bit of power in a gun. So it didn't need the extra energy. But since the Brilliant was warping stuff anyway, it seemed like a good idea.'

'Right,' said Martha. 'And you didn't break us out of the loop. You just extended it.'

'Yeah,' said the Doctor. 'I was in the TARDIS and the problem wasn't to get us out of the time loop, it was fixing the gap. Which the TARDIS could do with a little bit of effort, warping space and time a bit until things lined up nicely. Soon as you hit a point where the numbers balance out, the loop takes over for itself. And while I was at it I extended the loop so it lassoed the pirate ship in with us. So we're in it, the pirate ship's in it and so's everything in between. And now it's a complete loop, it will just run and run for ever.'

'But there was a delay,' said Martha. 'Before, people came back if you just looked away.'

'Yeah,' said the Doctor. 'That's because the loop was broken and the Brilliant was always trying to fix it. Now if they die or they run out of canapés they'll all come back in one go. Every hour or so.'

'Which is why you wanted to know the time,' she said.

'Yeah,' said the Doctor. 'We were just coming up to the end of the hour when Captain Florence shot me. Another few minutes and I'd have had to wait for the next go round. Which would have looked less clever. Now. Make yourself useful.'

He had loaded a tray with tall glasses of milkshake, each glass festooned with straws and paper umbrellas. She gathered up the tray carefully and he pointed to the table of mouthless men in leather aprons and Bermuda shorts, all looking slightly uneasy. She guessed that, like the badgers, they'd never been invited to parties.

While the mouthless men drank their milkshakes – using the straws provided – Martha watched Archibald giving lessons to other badgers on which canapés were best. She went to join them, kissed Archibald on his hairy cheek, and took one of the cheese and pineapple sticks from him.

He grinned at her. 'This is Toby,' he said. 'An' Oliver and Patrick. They're learnin' about blinis.'

Martha shook the paws of the three badgers, then nodded at the female badgers who watched her with fascination. 'Who are the girls?' she asked Archibald.

'Er,' said Archibald coyly. 'Tha's Zuzia and Kitty Rose,' he said. 'They don't say much. They jus' watch us and whisper.'

Martha watched Zuzia and Kitty Rose whisper to one another, and then giggle like teenage girls. Archibald, she realised, was something of a hit.

SEVENTEEN

Later, Martha's watch said three in the afternoon but it felt like late at night, maybe even into the next day. She had fallen over while teaching the badgers how to do the Conga, she had slow-danced with Archibald and then surrendered him to Zuzia, and she'd been the Doctor's assistant when he'd done card tricks in the cabaret. All in all, she was exhausted. So she sat in the cocktail lounge, sipping her hydrogen hydroxide and watching everyone else enjoy the party.

The Doctor slumped down in the chair beside her, a stupid grin on his face. 'Isn't this...' he gestured at the happy throng of tentacled Balumin, badger-faced former pirates, mouthless men from the engine room and the rest of the starship's crew. 'Isn't it just...' But he couldn't quite think of the word.

'Brilliant?' Martha suggested.

'Yeah!' said the Doctor laughing. 'That's exactly what this is.'

'You want to stay, do you?'

His grin faded, and in his eyes there was that terrible alien loneliness. He tried not to show it when he turned to her. 'Nan,' he said, all false cheer and ease. 'We'd get bored. Well, I'd get bored. And that'd be boring for you. So yeah, we'd both get bored. What I said the first time.'

'Doctor,' she said seriously. 'What about everyone else?'

'What about them?'

'They might get bored, too?'

'What?' he said. 'On a ship with everlasting cheese and pineapple on sticks?'

Martha held his gaze, saying nothing. She knew he knew better than that. It was just that sometimes he needed reminding.

'OK,' he said at length and got to his feet. Then he climbed unsteadily onto the chair beside her, and started clapping his hands. 'Attention!' he called. 'Oi, you 'orrible lot, lend me your ears!'

The noise of the party died down and people came in from the ballroom to hear what he had to say.

'Speech!' called Mrs Wingsworth.

'Speech!' agreed Captain Georgina, who looked a little tipsy and was wearing a paper hat.

'Speech!' joined in the rest of the party. The Doctor let them work themselves up a bit before calling for some quiet.

All right, a speech,' he said, and earned a massive cheer. 'The party here never ends,' he said – again a massive cheer. 'And there's nobody who can tell you otherwise,' he went on. And then, after a dramatic pause, he added, 'except you.'

The party-goers glanced round at each other nervously, not sure what the Doctor meant.

'Me and Martha,' he told them. 'We're leaving. In an hour.'

The audience booed good-naturedly.

And when we're gone,' said the Doctor, 'that's it. There's no way out of here. You stay here for ever.'

The background rumble of chatter died suddenly away. Everyone stood transfixed by the Doctor.