“So where are you now?” Danny Pink said over the telephone to Clara. She sat watching the Doctor and the Author argue about the proper way to land a TARDIS.

“They say Chile,” Clara shook her head, “But with the Doctor you’re never quite sure.”

“They?” Danny asked and Clara realized she hadn’t told him about the Author.

“Bienvenidos a Chile!” the Author threw open the doors of the TARDIS on a landscape that was obviously not Chile, “That can’t be right.”

“See, I told you,” the Doctor began and then started in on a spiel of words Clara didn’t understand.

“Yes,” Clara sighed, “There are two of them now.”

“You can hardly stand one,” Danny laughed and Clara could only shake her head, “How are they dealing with each other?”

“They’re not,” Clara stood up and walked away from the arguing Time Lords, “It makes me wonder how the Time Lords ever got anything done.”

“Clara!” the Doctor called up to her, “Get down here. We’ve finally arrived.”

“I’ve gotta go,” Clara looked down over the railing at the two expectant faces, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Danny replied, “Be careful.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” the Doctor called and pulled open the doors, “It’s time to find a city of gold.”

The three time travelers stepped out of the blue box and into the streets of a bustling Chilean town. “Why is it so busy?” Clara asked.

“It’s Independence Day for them,” the Author answered. He and Clara were trying to avoid running into people but the Doctor just walked right through them, “Does he even know where he’s going?”

“Probably not,” Clara shook her head and the Author laughed, “Why did you want to come with us?”

“The Doctor is legendary, even for Time Lords,” the Author tried to keep up with the older Time Lord but even for an old man he walked fast, “No one’s sure whether he is a hero or a villain. I always looked up to the Doctor when I was younger though. I thought he was Gallifrey’s greatest hero.”

“Even after he destroyed Gallifrey?” Clara asked, not even bothering to look for the Doctor in the throng of humanity anymore.

“He made the decision that no one else could make,” the Author nodded, “We both know Gallifrey wasn’t destroyed though after all, don’t we?” The Author paused only momentarily before continuing. “The Doctor says you miss him.”

“Not as much anymore,” Clara sighed and stopped walking, knowing that they had lost him, “He just changed so much. He got old. He wasn’t my Doctor anymore. I didn’t even know who he was.”

“He didn’t even know who he was,” the Author shrugged, “There is a reason he picked the face he did. I don’t know what it means yet but we’re going to find out eventually. Besides, you’re good by his side. I know what it’s like to regenerate alone. Everything is new and different and you’re not even sure who you are anymore. It’s terrifying.”

“Is that why you came?” Clara asked, looking into the eyes of the younger Time Lord, “So you didn’t have to be alone anymore?”

The Author was about to respond when the Doctor split the crowd and grabbed their hands. “Come on!” he pulled them along behind him and into a house, “Clara, Author, these are the hikers I was telling you about.”

“Uh…Doctor?” Clara stared at the two ancient looking people sitting in front of them. They were both thin as rails but neither of them looked like they could have gone hiking in the last ten years, “I don’t think these are the hikers.”

“No, we are,” one of them said in an obviously English accent, “We came to visit Chile a few weeks ago.”

“But you’re so…old,” the Author crouched down in front of one of the hikers and started to study them, like they were a science experiment and not people, “You don’t look like you could walk across this room, let alone go on an expedition.”

“We weren’t old when we got here,” the other hiker responded and all three of them looked at him.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” the Doctor looked at his companions. The Author nodded and began to study them even closer.

“How could you have gotten so old in a few weeks?” Clara asked. The Doctor and the Author both seemed so oblivious to the fact that these people had just lost a significant portion of their lives.

“We have no idea,” one of the hikers replied, “We were just walking through the jungle when we came upon a ruined city. When we went into the city we were young. When we left we were…well how we are now.”

“It’s like those stories,” Clara said and the Doctor and Author looked at her, “You know, someone goes into a place and it doesn’t seem like they’ve been their long but when they leave it’s been months or years.”

“Very interesting,” the Doctor nodded and then looked at the hikers, “Now, tell me your story and don’t leave anything out. I want to know how you came to be old.”

“Well, like I said,” the hiker began again, “We were walking when we found an old-looking city. We’d heard about the City of Caesars before, of course, but obviously we weren’t convinced that it was a city of gold. Still, we decided it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.

“There was one large building in the center of the city. We assumed if there was gold to be found, it would be there. So we climbed the steps of the building and went inside. It was like a maze in there. There were so many twists and turns, it felt like we kept winding up back at the entrance.

“We were so excited at first but after a few tries we just decided to give up. We didn’t even notice each other aging, not at first. Then we noticed our movements were becoming more sluggish and we were having a harder time keeping up at the same pace.

“I looked over at her and I saw she looked much older than when we had gone in. She noticed the same thing about me so we ran for the entrance. By the time we got outside we were so old that I hardly even recognized her anymore. It took a long time to make it back and we were exhausted but now here we are. We aren’t really sure what to do anymore.”

“Are you still aging at an accelerated rate?” the Author asked and then started taking the pulse of the hikers.

“No,” the hiker looked down at him confused, “Isn’t he the Doctor?”

“That’s just what they call him,” the Author shook his head and stood up, “I don’t get it. Everything is fine. They are completely healthy. I mean completely healthy except being extremely old.”

“I know,” the Doctor nodded and frowned, “What do you think Clara?”

“What do I think?” Clara asked, looking at the Doctor. His eyebrows were raised questioningly, “I don’t know. This is new even for us.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” the Doctor looked at the hikers, “Could you give us directions on how to get there?”

“You want to go there?” one of the hikers asked, “Even after everything we just told you? No offence but you don’t exactly look like you have many years to bargain with.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” the Doctor furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Clara, “You may not want to tag along however.”

“No, I am coming,” Clara folded her arms over her chest, “I am not sitting this one out.”

“I knew you would say that,” the Doctor replied, “Come on, let’s find this city of gold.”

                                            [}{]

The three had been walking in the jungle for hours with no sight of the ancient city. Clara was beginning to think that the “hikers” may have just been a senile couple. The Doctor seemed convinced that something was actually going on though and so they pressed on.

The Doctor continually pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, pressed a button, scowled at his sonic screwdriver, and then put it away. As much as he didn’t want to admit it they were lost in an expanse of innumerable trees and without the TARDIS to fall back on.

The Author was the only one who didn’t seem concerned. He was taking in all the sights and sounds of the jungle and enjoying the new terrain. “We should get out of the UK more often,” the Author turned toward the other two and walked confidently backward.

“I travel through time and space,” the Doctor raised an eyebrow at the Author, “We have traveled to different planets and universes. How much farther out of the UK do you want us to go?”

“I mean when we’re on Earth,” the Author replied and hopped over a fallen log he shouldn’t have been able to see, “Whenever we’re here it’s always in the UK. I enjoy going to other places.”

“Well now that you aren’t stalking me,” the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver again, “I can  take your input into consideration.”

“He won’t actually take your input into consideration, you know?” Clara whispered to the Author as the Doctor beat his screwdriver against his hand, obviously not pleased with the readings.

“I know,” the Author nodded and the two companions watched the elder Time Lord getting frustrated. The Author finally sighed, “Come on, let me see it.”

The Doctor threw the Author his sonic screwdriver and then started to talk in his unintelligible Time Lord jargon so Clara decided it was time to go exploring. She walked past the two arguing men and into the jungle. It wasn’t long before the trees gave way to an immense clearing that overlooked a small degraded-looking city.

“Doctor!” Clara called over her shoulder, not looking away from the buildings in front of her.

“Not now Clara,” the Doctor yelled back, still arguing with the Author.

“I think you’re going to want to see this,” she tried again and the Doctor sighed exasperatedly.

“What is it?” the Doctor asked as he emerged from the trees and stared out over the clearing, “Oh, I see.”

The Author quickly joined them and the three searched for a way down into the city. “It doesn’t make sense,” the Doctor shook his head, looking at his sonic screwdriver, “There must be something wrong with it.”

“Why?” Clara asked as they emerged on the streets of the city. The buildings looked like they had been standing for hundreds of years, but there was something strangely modern about them. Clara frowned as she stared at the buildings which were obviously centuries old but looked like they couldn’t have been built more than 50 years ago.

“It’s telling me that we are standing in a town,” the Doctor slipped his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, “A real town that’s really being lived in. That can’t be right though; just look at it.”

“Exactly,” Clara nodded and looked at the Doctor, “Look at it. The buildings are really old but their designs are not. What if whatever aged the hikers doesn’t just work on humans. What if whatever aged the hikers is making this whole town age.”

The Author looked at The Doctor and then they both looked at Clara. “Then we need to figure out what is going on even more than we did before,” the Doctor scowled and led the way to the large building the hikers had told them about.

The three went up the steps of the building and pushed open the door. “Hello,” the Author called out, “Anyone home?”
They walked inside and it was exactly like the hikers said; there were paths branching in every direction. This building was made like a labyrinth. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it down every hallway.

“It’s a perception filter,” the Doctor didn’t seem surprised, “Something is being hidden here.”

“Aww,” the Author pouted and Clara and the Doctor looked at him curiously, “That means it’s aliens.”

“Yes,” the Doctor raised an eyebrow, “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know,” the Author shrugged and looked down each hallway, “It’s just not as interesting if it’s aliens. It’s always aliens.”

“It’s not as interesting?” the Doctor trailed off as he stared in disbelief at the younger Time Lord, “Alright. So, we’re going to have to split up. There are two real hallways. Clara, you take the Author and take one direction and I will go in the other direction.”

“How will we know which way is the correct direction?” Clara asked.

“I have a sonic screwdriver too,” The Author said, retrieving it from his inside coat pocket.

“Of course you do,” The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The Author asked.

“I don’t want to stand here and grow old while you two bicker like a couple of children,” Clara pointed a stern finger at the two Time Lords, “You should know better. Now let’s get going before I end up like those hikers.”

The Doctor and the Author looked at each other. “Alright,” The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver down one of the hallways, “I’ll go this way.”

The Author pressed a button on his sonic screwdriver and looked down a hallway opposite from the one the Doctor had gone down. “I guess that leaves us this one,” The Author shrugged and he and Clara looked down the long hallway and then at each other.