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"Septimus?"
Septimus Hodge looked up from his papers. "Yes?"
Thomasina looked down at her work. "I think I just solved this equation."
Septimus wasn't sure why, exactly, that required a general announcement. "Well, don't keep us on bated breath," he said at last. "What's the answer?"
Thomasina just rolled her eyes. "Forty-two," she answered, "but that's not the point."
Septimus put down his book. "Well," he said, "what is the point?"
"This equation," she started, then frowned. "I don't even know how to explain it. It's the equation. The key behind the way the universe works."
"The Skasis paradigm," noted Dr. Smith, Lady Croom's strange new guest, as he wandered into the room. "You're a very bright young woman, Miss Coverly! The imagination required! And with such primitive equipment! The first real computer still decades off! And all-natural! No Krillitane oil used in this girl!" The Doctor had a rather frustrating habit of resorting to excessive amounts of emphasis.
Septimus' eyes narrowed. "Can we help you, Doctor?" he asked.
The Doctor just ignored him. "Do you know how dangerous what you have there is, young lady?"
"No," Thomasina answered him without hesitation. "But the vague idea I have is already enough to scare me."
"Quite right," the Doctor agreed. "Quite right! Good instincts you've got there. What you have here"--he picked up the paper in front of Thomasina, put on his glasses, and studied it--"is the means to control the very building blocks of space, time, and matter. It's a God Maker, Thomasina." He paused. "You know, I rather think you might make quite a good God. Maybe I should let you have a go at it after all."
Thomasina locked eyes with the Doctor. "I believe I can content myself with a mortal sphere of influence, Doctor."
"See?" said the Doctor, looking to Septimus for the first time since he entered. "Such wisdom! Such discretion! And in one so young, too. She'd make an excellent God, I really think she would." He sobered and turned back to Thomasina. "You're right, of course. You probably wouldn't enjoy being God very much. Still, it's a shame."
"What do I do, Doctor?" she asked him.
"Burn it," he answered, his expression turning dark. "Burn it all."
"She's been working on this project for months," Septimus objected. "Her work is all throughout the house."
The Doctor shrugged. "Then burn down the house."
"Then what?" Thomasina asked. "What shall I do then?"
The Doctor considered for only a second. "Come with me," he said.
From that point, whenever Septimus tried to describe what he had seen, people only took to calling him mad.