The Long Game: Cryptic Words
The TARDIS materialized in the corridor of a space station, the Doctor and Rose stepping out quickly while Adam helped Angel put her jacket on inside. The Doctor had taken her to the wardrobe to find a different set of clothes to wear besides the old white prison garb from Van Statten. She had selected a white tank top with tan pants and an old, crocheted, lacy, long-sleeved duster in TARDIS blue to wear over it. She'd even taken to wearing her hair back, twisted in a sort of claw clip with a bit of hair falling over it to hide the clip.
"So, it's 200,000," the Doctor explained to Rose rather quickly, "It's a spaceship...no wait a minute," he gave it one more glance around, "Space station, and uh...go and try that gate over…" he pointed ahead, "There. Off you go!"
He leaned against the TARDIS, waiting casually, as Rose looked over at him, "200,000?"
"200,000."
"'Kay," she grinned, knocking on the TARDIS door before calling out, "Adam? Angel? Out you come!"
Adam stepped out, his mouth dropping open, "Oh my God…" he breathed, taking a few steps into the station, looking around while Angel just stood in the TARDIS doorway, smiling softly.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Rose waved him off.
"Where are we?"
"Good question," Rose looked around, as though examining the area, "Let's see. So, um...judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000," Adam nodded, still mind boggled at the sight, "If you listen...engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down...tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on!" she pointed the way the Doctor had indicated before stepping past Adam, tugging him on as she led him off.
Angel leaned a bit more out the door, looking at the Doctor pointedly as she rested her head on the side of the door, just smiling at him.
"What?" he asked with a grin of his own.
"That was a nice thing for you to do," she remarked.
He eyed her a moment, realizing she knew what he and Rose had done, "How did you know?" she just continued to smile at him and he laughed, "I just like messing with humans."
Now it was her turn to laugh, stepping out of the TARDIS...only to stop short, a frown on her face.
He looked over at her, seeing her expression, "Everything alright?"
"I dunno," she muttered, "Just feels…slow…"
He raised an eyebrow at her remark, not quite sure what she meant.
"Sorry," she made a face, shaking her head before she looked up at him, "That made no sense, did it?"
He laughed at that before holding out his arm for her to take as they walked off to join Adam and Rose at the gate.
Rose smiled at them as they approached and opened the gate, leading the way into the room beyond, an observation deck that overlooked the Earth, "Here we go!" Rose laughed, "And this is..." she paused, awestruck, looking down upon the Earth, Adam holding onto a small railing for support as he joined her, "...I'll let the Doctor describe it."
The Doctor just smiled and turned to Angel, "I think we should let Angel do the honors, don't you?"
Rose nodded, "Definitely."
Angel smiled and looked at the Earth, "The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Planet Earth at its most magnificent. Covered with mega-cities, with five moons and a population 96 billion. The heart of a galactic domain which stretches across a million planets, a million species," she let out a breath, shaking her head in amazement, "And there'smankind, right in the middle. The indomitable humans."
"Perfect!" the Doctor cheered.
And then there was a sigh and a thump behind them as Adam fainted.
None of them bothered to fully turn around, though Angel did cast a worried glance back over her shoulder at the boy.
"He's your boyfriend," the Doctor smirked at Rose.
"Not anymore," she replied glumly.
~8~
"Come on Adam!" the Doctor cheered as they walked along the space station, his arm around Adam's shoulder, "Open your mind."
"But not too much," Angel warned with a laugh as she and Rose followed along, "Or you might not be able to close it!"
The Doctor laughed at that before continuing, "You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The Human Race at its most intelligent, culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners…"
"Out of the way!" a man shouted rudely as the floor they were on suddenly sprang to life around them. Food stalls opened up and people bustled past to line up, all chattering.
"One at a time..." a chef before them called as the other stall keepers began to take orders, the place becoming busy rather fast, "Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back!"
Rose glanced over at the food behind the people and turned to the Doctor, grimacing a bit, "Fine cuisine?"
"My watch must be wrong," he wrong footed a moment before checking, he hadn't corrected Angel because everything she'd said was right, or so he thought, but looking at his watch, he nodded, "No, it's fine...weird."
"Guess your history's not as good as you thought it was," Rose nudged Angel playfully.
"Our history's perfect."
"Well, obviously not..."
"But it is," Angel cut in, looking around, confused as well, "Because this is 200,000…"
"They're all human," Adam remarked, "What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?"
"Good question," the Doctor said, "Actually, that IS a good question," he jovially put his arm around Adam's shoulder again, "Adam, me old mate, you must be starving."
"No, I'm just a bit time sick."
"Nah, you just need a bit of grub," the Doctor leaned forward to the chef, "Oi, mate, how much is a cronk burger?"
"Two credits twenty, sweetheart," he answered, "Now, join the queue."
"Money. We need money," he turned and walked over to a cash point, sonic ready, "Have to use a cash point," Rose, Adam, and Angel followed him, watching as he held his sonic to the cash point and a metal strip was deposited. He took it and gave it to Adam, "There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets."
He grabbed Angel's hand and pulled her off when Adam called back, "How does it work?"
The Doctor turned around, "Go and find out! Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double, and end up kissing complete strangers…" Rose laughed as Adam stared at him, Angel just seemed bemused, "...or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" he waved the boy off, watching as he turned and walked into the crowd, Rose following, "Off you go then!" he called to her, "Your first date."
"You're going to get a smack, you are," Rose pointed warningly at him, "And I wouldn't be talking if I were you," she gave him a playful look as she gestured between him and Angel, before turning around with a laugh.
The Doctor just shook his head at her, smiling, waiting till she had disappeared in the crowd for his grin to fade, becoming more thoughtful.
"Why doesn't she want you to talk?" Angel frowned at him, slightly confused by Rose's words.
The Doctor blinked and looked at her, a very faint red color in his cheeks now, "Oh, no reason. Talk too much. That's me," he beamed at her, before taking her hand and walking off with her.
"I like it when you talk."
He stopped short and looked back at her, "Really?"
She shrugged, "You say very interesting things."
He smiled softly and continued on, just looking around for someone that might help, when he spotted two women walking past, talking, "Er...this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?" he asked, stepping over to them.
"Floor 139..." the black woman of the pair gestured to the wall over them where there was, in fact, a very large '139' carved into it, "Could they write it any bigger?"
"Probably," Angel nodded.
The girls stared at her.
"That was rhetorical," the Doctor told her quietly with a small smile.
He'd noticed, from how she reacted to things Rose and Adam said in passing on their way over, that she wasn't quite...with it...when it came to humans and interaction in general. He supposed it had something to do with being locked away for 50 years, little human contact would do that to a person. She seemed to take some things literally, get confused by certain phrases, sometimes answer questions that didn't need to be answered, like now. He thought it was highly amusing...and rather adorable too.
"Oh," she nodded, turning to the women, "Sorry."
"Floor 139 of what?" the Doctor asked, getting back to the question he'd asked before.
"Must've been a hell of a party," the black woman remarked, eyeing him oddly.
"Oh, you're on Satellite 5," the other young woman, a lovely brunette, explained with a smile.
"What's Satellite 5?" he continued.
"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" the first woman scoffed.
"Look at me, I'm stupid," he grinned.
"Hang on, wait a minute, are you a test?" the second woman asked, looking between them, "Some sort of management test kind of thing?"
"You've got us," he nodded, taking out the psychic paper to show them, "Well done. You're too clever for me."
"We were warned about this in basic training," she turned to her friend, "All workers have to be versed in company promotion."
"Right," the first woman replied, turning to the Doctor and Angel, now all business, "Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500 I'll do anything."
"Why, what happens on Floor 500?" he asked.
"The walls are made of gold. And you should know...Mr. Management."
"Are you sure?" Angel asked.
"Am I sure about what?"
"That the walls are made of gold. I mean, it could be Fool's Gold, or lead," she blinked, her gaze getting just a bit distant, "…the dead…" she frowned, "Ice?"
"What?" the Doctor looked at her, a bit concerned with where her mind seemed to be going.
She shook her head, blinking a few times before glancing at him, "Sorry, my thoughts...got away from me."
The first woman nodded, eyeing her curiously, before putting her attention back to the Doctor, sensing he was more in charge, "So...this is what we do," she walked a few feet away, towards some screens where there were various news bits playing, "Latest news...sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day...spacelane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant..."
Angel frowned and looked at the channel displaying the Face of Boe, recalling how Van Statten's helicopter had been called Bad Wolf One, she'd heard it over the loud speakers enough times during her time there.
"I get it," the Doctor cut in, "You broadcast the news."
"We ARE the news," she corrected as the second woman smiled nervously at the Doctor, "We're the journalists. We write it, package it, and sell it."
~8~
In a control room high above Floor 139, a camera picked up a view of this very conversation.
"600 channels all coming out of Satellite 5," the black woman continued, "Broadcasting everywhere."
A man with white hair stood there, watching the goings on, pondering the moment, "Something...is wrong. Something...fictional," he leaned over the shoulder of a man, covered in specks of ice, sitting before him, and pointed at the monitor, "Those people…"
"Nothing happens in the whole Human Empire without it going though us," the woman added.
"Security check," he ordered the man, "Go deep."
~8~
"All staff are reminded that the canteen area now has self-cleaning tables," a voice said over the speaker as Adam and Rose mulled about in the canteen, "Thank you!"
Adam sat at a crowded table, fidgeting, looking more than a little overwhelmed, as Rose stood next to him, offering him a paper cup, "Try this," she said, "It's called 'zaffic,' it's nice. It's like a, um, slush puppy."
"What flavor?" he asked.
"Um..." she took a sip of it, trying to work it out, before frowning, "Sort of…beef?"
"Oh, my God..." he moaned, shaking his head at how odd that was as Rose laughed, "It's like everything's gone. Home, family, everything."
Rose looked at him, concerned though completely able to understand what he was going through. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, "This helps...the Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?"
"Yeah."
"Phone 'em up," she handed him the phone.
"But that's 198,000 years ago."
"Honestly, try it. Go on!"
He took the phone, "Is there a code for planet Earth?"
"Just dial!" she laughed.
And so he did, putting it to his ear only to hear, "I'm sorry we're not in…" his mother's answering machine.
"It's on!" his eyes widened in shock.
"Please leave a message," it finished, "Thanks, bye!"
The tone sounded, snapping him out of his shock, "Hi. It's...it's me. I've sort of gone...travelling. I met these people...and we've gone travelling together. But, um...I'm fine...and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye," he ended the call gleefully, "That is just…"
Suddenly an alarm sounded and everyone started to abandon the canteen, Rose and Adam just looking around, unsure of what to do.
"Oi!" the Doctor shouted from a small distance away, "Mutt and Jeff! Over here!"
Rose smiled and quickly got up to join them while Adam paused a moment, holding Rose's phone, before slipping it into his pocket and following.
~8~
The white haired man was anxiously awaiting the results of the security check.
"Security check cleared," the computer announced.
"No, something's wrong," he stressed, "I can taste it. Tiny little shift in the information. Someone down there shouldn't be here," he looked at the monitor, showing the small group standing together, before leaning down between two staff, "Double check. Triple check. Follow them."
~8~
The Doctor, Angel, Rose, and Adam stood off to the side in a white room with what looked like an octagonal table in the middle with a reclining sort of high-tech chair on top of it. There were a few humans sitting cross-legged around the table before two pads with hand marks on them.
The black woman stepped to the middle of the platform, addressing the room, "Now everybody behave. We have a management inspection," she smiled over at the Time Lords, "How do you want it? By the book?"
"Oh, right from scratch, thanks," he nodded.
She turned away, "Ok, so, ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided, or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy," she looked at the Doctor again, "That's Cathica with a 'C,' in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please...do..." the Doctor grinned and gave a non-committal jerk of his head, "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy," she shot a smile at the Doctor, who nodded back again.
"Actually...it's the law," the second woman from before added.
"Yes, thank you, Suki," Cathica cut in, irritated, "Ok," she took a breath, "Keep it calm...don't show off for the guests...here we go," took a breath and got onto the chair, lying back, "And...engage safety..."
The staff moved to hold their hands out over their pads, the eight walls of the room lighting up in the process, the group looking around at it. Cathica snapped her fingers and a small door opened in her forehead, revealing just a hint of her brain. The Doctor looked mildly disgusted while Rose looked startled, Adam, however, leaned forward to try and get a better look while Angel, for some reason, seemed unsurprised. The staff placed their hands down on the pads and closed their eyes.
"And 3...2...and spike," Cathica called moments before the device over the chair shot a blue light straight down to her brain.
"Compressed information, streaming into her," the Doctor commented as they observed, "Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain IS the computer."
"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius," Rose said.
"Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up," he walked forward slowly, heading around the octagon, circling it as Rose and Angel followed, "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."
"So, what about all these people round the edge?"
"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her," the Doctor said as Rose knelt down by one, "And they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place," he finished his circle, coming to stand next to Angel, leaning against the railing beside Adam, "Now, that's what I call power."
"Cathica…" Angel trailed gently, eyeing the woman, "It's a very nice name. Sounds almost a bit like 'cat' in the beginning."
"You know what they say about that though," Rose sighed, getting up, "Curiosity killed the cat."
"Not always. Perhaps, one day, curiosity will lead a cat to something that could save it instead," she glanced back over at the group of people processing the news and shook her head, speaking quietly to herself, "They don't move…they never move…"
The Doctor looked at her curiously, having been the only one to hear her last muttering.
~8~
"Analysis confirmed," the computer stated, "Security breech."
"I knew it!" the white haired man called gleefully, "Which one? It's someone inside that room, which one?"
The camera shifted from person to person gathered around Cathica, "Isolating breech."
"Come on, show me. Who is it?"
The camera focused on the small group of travellers standing off to the side.
~8~
"You alright?" Rose turned to Adam.
"I can see her brain," he frowned, looking just a bit queasy.
"Do you want to get out?"
"No...no," he shook his head quickly, "This technology, it's...it's amazing."
"This technology's wrong," the Doctor cut in.
Rose looked over, "Trouble?"
"Oh yeah," he nodded, catching her eye.
Rose smiled excited.
When there was a slight shuddering sound and Suki twitched.
~8~
"That's it!" the white haired man called, pointing at the monitor, laughing triumphantly, "Yes! She's the liar," the camera focused on Suki, "Intercept and scan. Gotcha."
~8~
Suki gasped, pulling her hands off the pad as though it had shocked her. The other members of the staff were forced to lift their own hands too, the lights on the walls turning off. The compressed information stopped streaming into Cathica, the door on her head closing as Suki rubbed her hands, breathing heavily.
"Come off it, Suki," Cathica turned to her, annoyed, "I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?"
"Sorry, must've been a glitch..." she remarked quietly as Cathica just stood up.
~8~
"Her information's been tampered with," the man remarked, still watching the monitor intently, "There's a second biography hidden underneath..."
There was a sudden roaring above him and he spun around, looking up at something on the ceiling.
"Yes, sir?" he called to more roaring, "Absolutely, sir. Yeah, well, her data was encrypted so there's no way we could've found her sooner," now there was angry roaring, "Yeah. I…sorry, sir," he gave a small thumbs up, "Absolutely," before spinning urgently to one of the women working, "Get her up here. Now!"
~8~
A speaker suddenly blared in the room, "Promotion!" with a projection starting up in the wall.
"This is it," Cathica's eyes widened, gripping her hands together, praying hard, "Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name," the small group looked over at her with mild concern, but she just screwed her eyes shut and pleaded, "Say my name, say my name..." she opened her eyes, hopeful...
"Promotion for...Suki Macrae Cantrell," the words flashed on the projection as Suki's mouth dropped open. Cathica, though, looked like her world had fallen apart, "Please proceed to Floor 500."
Suki stood up and stared at the project, not sure if that had really just happened, "I don't believe it..." she breathed, her disbelief evident, "Floor 500..."
"How the hell did you manage that?" Cathica glared at her, "I'm above you!"
"I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance...and they've said yes!"
"That's so not fair. I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!"
"What's Floor 500?" Rose leaned over to ask the Doctor.
"The walls are made of gold," he said grimly.
~8~
The Doctor, Rose, Angel, and Cathica were standing by the lift on Floor 139 to say goodbye to Suki not even an hour later.
"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you!" Suki cried to Cathica, "Floor 500..." she spun around to the Doctor and Angel, "Thank you!"
"But we didn't do anything," Angel shook her head.
"Well, you're my lucky charms!" Suki smiled.
"Alright!" the Doctor nodded, "I'll hug anyone!"
Suki laughed and hugged the Doctor and then Angel as Cathica looked angrily anywhere but at her.
"Come on," Rose walked over to Adam, who was sitting a small ways away, "It's not that bad…"
"What, with the...the head thing?" he asked.
"Yeah, well she's closed it now!"
"Yeah but...it's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to...if I could just..." he struggled to find the words, "...cool down. Sort of, acclimatize."
"How d'you mean?"
"Maybe...I could just go and sit on the observation deck?" he suggested, looking at her, "Would that be alright?" she nodded, "Soak it in, you know, pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200,000..."
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked, concerned.
"No, no, you stick with the Doctor and Angel. You'd rather be with them anyway," Rose just looked away, knowing it was true, "It's gonna take a better man than me to get between you and them. Anyway, I'll be on the deck."
He got up and turned to go when Rose fumbled in her pocket, "Here you go...take the TARDIS key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much."
"Yeah, like it's not weird in there," he laughed.
Rose just gave him the key anyway. He nodded in thanks and walked off, leaving Rose standing alone, a small satisfied grin coming to his face as he walked off, not noticing Angel glance over at him as he disappeared around a corner.
"Oh, my God, I've got to go!" Suki's eyes widened, "I can't keep them waiting…" she scooped up her bag and dashed into the lift, "I'm sorry!" she shouted back as it pinged and opened, running inside, "Say goodbye to Steve for me!"
The Doctor and Rose smiled at her as the lift doors began to close, Angel smiling more sadly.
"Bye!" she waved.
The Doctor and Rose waved cheerily while Cathica looked away, sour, "Good riddance," she muttered.
"You're talking like you'll never see her again," the Doctor turned to her, "She's only going upstairs."
"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back."
The Doctor looked over at the closed lift doors with a frown. He glanced at Angel to see her eyeing it as well before they noticed Cathica had walked off. They turned and quickly dashed off after her, Rose following as well, "Have you ever been up there?" he asked.
"No," she remarked bitterly, "You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few."
A/N: So...much more of a hint to what makes Angel 'different' and 'special' in this chapter. Can you spot it? We'll find out for sure what it is (part of it anyway lol) by the end of this episode :) Also, I picture Angel to look something like Laura Vandervoort but with green eyes and just slightly less defined cheekbones. I actually had a cover of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and that's had something to do with the delay in cover, I associate her too much with Buffy and I didn't want Angel (lol Buffy and Angel) to come across as another Professor (a strong fighter and all). I mean she IS strong in her own way but it's different than the Professor, but then I remembered LV was in both Smallville and the show V as an alien and was like, why not try her as a Time Lady? :)
To answer some reviews, I am definitely going to cover the rest of the 9th Doctor episodes (from Dalek on) I won't be skipping any episodes at all, not even the Doctor-lite ones (so fair warning lol). By the time I started posting my Sneak Peeks, even a little before it, I had all of Angel's story written out, up to and including The Angels Take Manhattan :) So I will definitely never fall behind on this story...unless FF decides to block my account like it did once, that stunk so I'm going to avoid doing anything that would lead to that again lol :) And you've read my mind, Angel WILL have a nickname among the Daleks, but what it is, I won't say till we get to it :)
As for the Pyramid thing. It's my 3 episodes that I am uber-excited to post because I feel something happens in them that is important to Angel's story or shocking and things like that. The 2, is my most looked forward to 2-parter episode, mostly because of something that happens in it, or just because it's my favorite episode. The 1 is the episode that I wasn't much of a fan of for some reason or another. I just wanted to give you a look into the episodes I feel are important and the 1 that I probably struggled with because I wasn't a fan of it, in which case, if it's really bad, that's why :) Hope that explained it a little better, looking back I could have written that explanation out better.
I don't think Angel can 'read' people like she does the TARDIS, but there is something about her and how she feels about the people around her. I sort of hinted a bit at what that might be in this chapter, we'll get more of it as The Long Game goes on until it is explained at the end of this episode :) The Doctor's TARDIS...hmm...well, her family was responsible for TARDISes, who knows how many they (and Angel) took care of, our old box might have been one of them. But I won't say for certain for quite a while :) The Master, well...you'll have to see. There's something Angel will say at the end of this episode that might hint more at whether he knows her or not. And Donna...I love Donna too, we'll definitely see more of Angel's personality come out as the story goes on, but I can safely say Donna will be very important to Angel and vice versa, but I won't say why.
Jenny's 'birth' well...that would reveal whether or not she regenerates wouldn't it? So I won't say :)