On the SS Madame de Pompadour in the 51st century, the Tenth Doctor has returned from a party in 18th centuryFrance where he is irritated to find that his humancompanionsRose Tyler and Mickey Smith have yet again wandered off, confiding his frustrations with Arthur the horse. His attention, however, is soon drawn to a rip in time, distinct from the time windows on the ship. From the rip, a humanoidhand is seen to emerge from a figure who asks for the Doctor to "grab on" as they "can't hold..." before quickly shattering as the rip closes. Bewildered by what has just occurred, the Doctor determines it to be "not good" but notes that it is something which needs to wait as he hears from a distance that his companions are at the mercy of the Clockwork Droids, promptly rushing off to rescue them.
During the Year of the Slow Invasion, the Eleventh Doctor is bored and tries to kill time by doing anything, musing on the briefness of the humanlifespan and the paradox of Amy and Rory, who can hear him, simply sitting there. As the Doctor ponders while riding the lawn mower, the portal appears behind his back, the hand again calling for help. Lost in thought though, the Doctor pays the portal no mind and it soon disappears, the Time Lord continuing on as if nothing happened.
On the Mondasian colony ship, the Twelfth Doctor, Missy and Nardole take the elevator down to Floor 1056 to rescue Bill Potts, when the portal reappears, the Doctor remembers it from the SS Madame de Pompadour. After scanning it with his screwdriver, he asks Missy if she wants to save Bill or the person that wants to reach them with the portal. Missy answers that she wants to save Bill as she is the one that is afraid of her. The Doctor stores his screwdriver back inside of his pocket and they go to save Bill. The portal will wait.
Missy remarks that there's something about lifts "that just makes you want to pull out the ribs of those around you one by one", which she refers to as an "arts and crafts project".
The Twelfth Doctor remembers seeing the hand reaching through a portal on another ship where time was "out of sorts". Ironically, the same incarnation of the Doctor was not able to remember the spaceship in TV: Deep Breath.
The first issue of this story takes place during TV: The Girl in the Fireplace. Rose and Mickey don't appear directly. However, speech bubbles belonging to them can be seen.
The third issue of this story takes place during TV: World Enough and Time. Erroneously, Missy is drawn wearing a brown outfit here rather than the dark purple one seen in the episode.
