A/N: Hello! I'm here again. I've some good news for you. I've managed to write almost all chapters of this first series. Yay! *standing ovations* I'm so happy!

Then to your reviews. I'm happy of them of course and I hope you won't quit posting them because I say this. I noticed one thing in them. Pretty many of them actually. You keep asking about Doctor/Sierra romance. It won't happen. At least not in this fic. Naturally, she will get a proper crush on him during time(series 2 actually) like majority of the companions but there won't be romance. I give a green flag for Nine/Rose and Ten/Rose and so does Sierra. Then there will be some flirting with Jack. *cough*Just flirting? *cough*

Other questions will be answered during time. I don't want to spoil this fic. ;)

Anyways! Let's get on with the story itself then.


7. Kinda Long Game

Sierra sat on the captain's seat in the console room, looking at her Vortex Manipulator. The Doctor had bandaged her leg some time ago and given her something for the pain. She still felt a bit weak but it didn't stop her of observing the watch. Something was wrong with it. She wasn't sure what it was but it felt different. More… alive.

"Rubbish… It's just a wrist watch. I left it here only for a couple of hours…"


Unbeknownst to all three of the time-travelers, something had happened in the TARDIS while they had been all around the Base in Utah. Sierra had indeed left her wrist watch Vortex Manipulator a top of the console. According to her it was sometimes a bit too heavy and she didn't want to wear it all the time. So the watch had been left behind. But while everyone had been out, swirls of gold streams had filled the console room, rising from the depths of the console itself. And after a while narrower, bluish streams had risen from the watch too, dug up by the golden ones. The streams weaved together and rushed inside the watch then. The screen of the watch glowed and flashed for a while before settling down.


Sierra frowned at the watch but shrugged then and clasped it around her wrist. She could feel something pulsating inside it. She would investigate it later. Now she had more pressing question in her mind.

"Doctor… The Dalek said I was not human? How's that possible?"

"Ah, excellent question. The thing is, you see, that you are human but not the same than Rose or Adam." The Doctor said. To Rose's look he added. "Yes, I scanned him too. Just to make sure. Anyways. You – if you want to use the term – work on a different frequency than them. And depending on the equipment you may or may not be detected as human."

"Oh… I see." Different frequency? Well, Sierra was from another world, was she not?

"Doctor, where are we going?" Rose asked at the console as the Doctor… danced around it, pulling levers and flipping switches at the same time. Adam was just staring the process.

"You'll see. Hold on, we are landing!" The Doctor grabbed the console and the TARDIS lurched. Sierra gripped the back of the chair and winced when her leg moved painfully. Rose gripped the railing while Adam had flown on the floor. The girls laughed merrily at his misfortune. After all it was always bound to happen to everyone sooner or later.


The TARDIS materialized. When she stopped whirring, the Doctor and Rose step out. Sierra limped after them.

"So, it's 200 000, it's a spaceship... no wait a minute, space station, and uh... go and try that gate over there. Off you go!" The Doctor said. He leaned against the TARDIS, waiting.

"200 000?" Rose asked.

"200 000."

"Awesome." Sierra grinned but winced again. She leaned against the TARDIS. "Although I can't do much exploring with this leg."

"'Kay…" Rose said slowly. The Doctor grinned and raised his eyebrows. Rose giggled as she opened the TARDIS door and called inside. "Adam? Out you come."

Adam stepped out with his mouth hanging open. "Oh my God."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Rose laughed.

"Where are we?" the boy asked quizzically.

"Good question. Let's see. So, um... judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200 000." Rose put up a show to impress the boy. Adam nodded and mumbled. "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!" Rose grabbed Adam's arm and dragged him to the gate and opened it. The Doctor followed her into the room beyond, helping Sierra in process.

"Say, Doctor… would you take a look at my Vortex Manipulator later? There's something funny in it." Sierra asked.

"Sure."

"And no destroying it." She warned him. She remembered well what the Tenth Doctor did to Jack's 'Space Hopper'.

"Of course not."

They arrived to an observation deck. Beneath them they can see the Earth.

"Here we go! And this is..." Rose continued to Adam but paused then at the sight of her home planet. The boy was taking support from the railing.

"Yup a bit different than the previous time we saw it from this angle." Sierra smirked and hopped closer to see better. The Earth was truly magnificent sight. The blue planet. A gem in the space.

"Yea... I'll let the Doctor describe it." Rose said slowly as she took in the sight.

"The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is. Planet Earth at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons - population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species - with mankind right in the middle." The Doctor told them.

"Called also Sol Three." Sierra added. Adam fainted with a girlish sigh. None of the time-travelers bothered to even turn around.

"He's your boyfriend." The Doctor said to Rose.

"Not anymore." The blonde said. Sierra laughed.


They were walking along the deck in floor 139. The Doctor was explaining them about the era.

"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-"

A man pushed past them. "Out of the way!" He said rudely. Floor 139 suddenly sprung into life around them. Food stools were set up all around them and people bustled past the four of them to queue up. There was much chatter.

"One at a time..." A chef from his food stall told his customers. The Doctor looked bemused. "Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back." The chef yelled to a spiky-haired man. Rose examined the fast food behind the cases and turned to the Doctor.

"Fine cuisine?" She questioned.

"My watch must be wrong." The Doctor mumbled and checked it. "No, it's fine... weird."

"That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Rose snorted.

"My history's perfect."

"Well, obviously not..." Rose teased him.

"Or then something must have happened to change the course of history. For example…" Sierra turned to Adam who voice the exact though she had been thinking.

"They're all human. What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?" The boy asked.

"Exactly, just like the Doctor said this is the point of time when human race is spreading across the universe and forming raltions with other species… So where are the other species here?"

"Good question. Actually, that is a good question." The Doctor put his arm on Adam's shoulders. "Adam, me' old mate, you must be starving."

"No, I'm just a bit time sick." The boy shrugged.

"Nah, you just need a bit of grub." The Time Lord turned to the chef. "Oi, mate - how much is a cronk burger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue." The chef answered.

"Money. We need money." He walked to the cashpoint nearby. "Have to use a cashpoint." The Doctor held the Sonic Screwdriver to the cashpoint and a credit card fell out. It looked like a metal strip. The Doctor handed it to Adam.

"There you go - pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets." He told and walked away.

"How does it work?" The boy called after him.

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 and Sierra laugh. Adam just stared at him, brow furrowed.

"...or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" He shooed the boy away. Adam turned and walked into the crowd. "Off you go then! Your first date." The Doctor told Rose. "And keep an eye on Sierra too."

"Hey! I don't need babysitting!"

"Yes you are after your previous stunt. And you are injured. Anything could happen."

"I wouldn't be injured if those soldiers hadn't been firing at me… If you hadn't ordered them to fire at the Dalek…" Sierra mumbled and limped after Adam.

"You're going to get a smack, you are." Rose muttered. The Doctor grinned and walked away.


Sierra sat down with a sigh. Her leg was throbbing again. Rose sat opposite her.

"You okay?"

"Nope. Well, I'm fine but my leg hurts. I would've wanted to follow the Doctor and find out the answer to my question. Or Adam's question. Although I already know something…"

"Like what?"

"This is the Satellite Five. All news going on the Earth and in the space go via this place and are then sent to the Earth to the people."

"Whoa, quita impressive."

"But. There is always a 'but'. This also a place where the information can be tampered and -." Sierra got interrupted when Adam came back with the food.

"I wasn't sure what to take so I asked what the chef would recommend and got these. I hope you like." He shrugged and placed a metal tray on the table.

"Food!" Sierra grabbed the nearest burger and after unwrapping it, took a big bite from it. Rose laughed. "What? I'm starving."

"All staff are reminded that the canteen area now has self-cleaning tables. Thank you!" Came from the loudspeakers. Adam was sitting at a crowded table opposite Sierra. Rose had stood up and was offering him a paper cup.

"Try this. It's called 'zaffic'. It's nice. It's like a - um - slush puppy." Rose told the boy.

"What's a slush puppy?" Sierra frowned.

"You don't know?" Adem asked, incredulously.

"I'm not from England, I don't know all your terms." Sierra pouted.

"Where are you from then?"

"Finland."

"And that's…?"

"Don't you know? A kinda small country in the northern Europe, between Sweden and Russia. That's the place where Nokia originated from and… Angry Birds!"

"Angry Birds?" Rose repeated.

"And mobile phone game from Rovio Entertaiment. It was published… 2008?" Adam explained.

"About that time yeah. It's one awesome game." Sierra grinned.

"So that's from Finland… I thought it was from Japan or something."

"You can't be serious…"

"So…What flavour?" Adam changed the topic back to the drink Rose had been offering to him.

"Um..." The blonde tasted it. "Sort of, beef?"

"Beef?" Now it was Sierra's turn to repeat.

"Oh, my God..." Adam mumbled. Rose laughed and the boy shook his head. "It's like everything's gone. Home - family - everything."

Rose looked at him with concern. She took her phone out of her pocket and gave it to him. "This helps... The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home? Your mum and dad?"

"Yeah."

"Phone 'em up."

"But that's one hundred and ninety- eight thousand years ago."

"So? That phone is zapped." Sierra took a sip from her drink. It tasted like ginger, garlic and soy. A bit like to wok food. No too bad.

"Honestly, try it. Go on!" Rose was still holding the phone out for Adam who finally took it.

"Is there a code for planet Earth?" He asked.

"Just dial!" Rose laughed. Adam did.


After the phone call Adam was much brighter and also astounded. "That is just-."

An alarm rang. Everyone started to abandon the canteen area, but Rose and Adam didn't know what to do. Sierra got on her feet with another sigh. Here they'd go again. The Doctor was seen through the crowd a short distance away.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! And miss Limpy. Over here!" The Doctor called. Sierra glared him after hearing her nick-name. Rose in the other hand got up immediately and joined him. Sierra limped after her and took support them from the Time Lord. Adam paused for a moment, holding Rose's phone but pocketed it then. The three teens joined with the Doctor and two ladies with him. They all were led to a room called the Spike Room.

They were now joined by several others in the room. Sierra looked around in interest. There was a chair mush like the dentist's chair in the middle of the room, around which the staff were sitting cross legged. In front of them were pads on which to place their hands. The Doctor, Rose, Sierra and Adam stood leaning against the railing at the side of the room, although Sierra was sitting on the railing. One of the women they had met at the canteen area, Cathica, was in the middle of the octagonal platform. She was obviously the one in lead of this section.

"Now. Everybody behave. We have a management inspection." Cathica told her coworkers and addressed then to the Doctor. "How do you want it? By the book?"

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks." He replied and Sierra snorted. No one noticed it though. Cathica turned away. The Doctor and Rose smirked at each other.

"Ok, so - ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot - my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a 'C', in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please... do..." The woman told. "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 turned to smile at the Doctor. The Doctor nodded.

"Actually... it's the law." One of the people on the floor corrected. For some reason Cathica got irritated by that.

"Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm... don't show off for the guests... here we go." Cathica walked to the chair and laid down. "And... engage safety..."

The staff held their hands out over their hand pads. Each of the eight walls light up as they did so. The 'management' looked around. Cathica clicked her fingers, and a door in her forehead opened, revealing her brain. The Doctor and Sierra looked mildly disgusted, Rose alarmed, and Adam leaned forward slightly trying to get a better look. The staff placed their hands down on the pads and closed their eyes.

"And 3... 2... and spike." A blue light spiked down into Cathica's brain, flowing into her.

"Compressed information, streaming into her. 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." The Doctor told the teens.

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius." Rose mused.

"Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up." The Doctor began to walk around the room, circling the octagonal platform. Rose followed him. "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

"So, what about all these people round the edge?" Rose asked.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place." The Doctor returned to the front of the room and leaned against the railing again, next to Adam. "Now, that's what I call power."

Rose walked back to Adam.

"You alright?" She asked.

"I can see her brain." The boy said.

"Do you want to get out?"

"No... no. This is technology, it's... it's amazing."

"This technology's wrong." The Doctor said. Sierra nodded next to him. Rose and Adam looked at them.

"Trouble?" Rose asked.

"Oh yeah." The Time Lord smiled to her. Rose smiled back in a satisfied sort of way.

"Were you already afraid that we wouldn't get in any troubles?" Sierra teased. Rose didn't get a chance to reply when there was a slight shuddering sound, and Suki twitches. She gasped and lifted her hands off the pad like she had just gotten an electric shock. The other members of staff were now forced to lift their own hands too, and the lights in the walls turned off. The compressed information stopped streaming into Cathica and the door in her head closed. Suki was rubbing her hands and breathing heavily.

"Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?" Cathica glared.

"Sorry, must've been a glitch..." Suki said quietly. Cathica stood up. Suddenly a loudspeaker sounded over the room and a projection sprung to life on the wall.

"Promotion."

"This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name." Cathica downright prayed. The time-travelers looked at her with mild concern. "Say my name, say my name..."

"Promotion for... Suki Macrae Cantrell." The words flashed on the projection. Suki's mouth dropped open. Cathica looked gutted. "Please proceed to Floor 500."

Suki stood up and stared at the projection like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I don't believe it... Floor 500..."

"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!" Cathica yelled to Suki.

"I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance... and they've said yes!" Suki was excited.

"That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!"

"If I were you I'd be happy to stay here, sound and safe." Sierra told her but no one listened except the Doctor who frowned.

"What's Floor 500?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"The walls are made of gold."

"Everyone wants to go there but no one has actually told what it's like in there." Sierra said.

"Why not?" Rose was puzzled.

"Because no one comes back once they have gone up."


The Doctor, Rose, Sierra and Cathica stood by the lift to say goodbye to Suki.

"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you! Floor 500..." Suki babbled and said then to the Doctor. "Thank you!"

"I didn't do anything!" He lifted his hands up.

"Well, you're my lucky charm!"

"All right! I'll hug anyone!"

Suki giggled as the Doctor hugged her. Cathica was looking pointedly and stubbornly anywhere but at Suki. Sierra in the other hand looked at her sadly. Suki was another one she wouldn't be able to save.

"Oh, my God, I've got to go; I can't keep them waiting-." Suki picked her bag. "I'm sorry! Say goodbye to Steve for me." She stepped into the lift. The Doctor and Rose smiled.

"Good luck, Eva. I wish I could help you." Sierra called, her hands deep in her jeans pockets. Suki gave her an alarmed and confused look. The lift doors closed.

"Bye!" Suki said one more time and waved to them. The Doctor and Rose waved back cheerily. Cathica looked away sourly.

"Good riddance." The woman said.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." The Doctor stated. Yes, he remembered what Sierra had told them but he wanted to hear it from the locals too.

"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back."

The Doctor looked at the closed lift doors, brow furrowed. Then he turned around and followed Cathica to the canteen area.

"Have you ever been up there?" He asked.

"No. 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."


They entered to the Spike room.

"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?" Cathica asked, obviously annoyed at them and the lack of promotion.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" The Doctor asked and settled himself comfortably in the 'spiking chair'. Rose leaned on the back of it and Sierra sat down on the platform.

"I shouldn't be walking this much." She sighed.

"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived. That's medical, that's when I got my head done, and then I - I came straight here. Satellite Five - you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." The woman eyes them suspiciously. "You're not management, are you?"

"At last! She's clever!" The Doctor clapped his hands in joy.

Cathica just looked at them but said then. "Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?"

"Well, why would I?"

"You're a journalist! Why's all the crew human?" the Doctor almost cried in expiration.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica frowned.

"There's no aliens on board. Why?"

"I don't know - no real reason, they're not banned or anything."

The Doctor looked around the room theatrically. "Then where are they?"

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what, with all the threats." Cathica tried to find reasons.

"What threats?" Sierra arched her eye brows. the woman in front of them was completely lost.

"I don't know... all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away..." The three watched her intently. "Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see... just... lots of little reasons, that's all."

"Adding up to one great big fact. And you didn't even notice." The Doctor pointed out.

"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."

"I can see better: this society's the wrong shape. Even the technology." The Doctor told her.

"It's cutting edge!" Cathica argued.

"It's backward! There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago."

"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose interrupted.

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire is stunted. Something's holding it back."

"Sierra you said that this is the place where the information can be tampered, remember? Back at the canteen area." Rose turned to look at the other girl.

"Yeah, when something is concentrated on one place the possibility of the thing getting tampered and modified somehow is bigger. My guess would be that the big things here. The big controlling things are going on in the floor 500. The place with the walls of gold. The place everyone wants to go but no one comes back to tell what is in there. Something is in there and the workers are kept up there to keep it in secret. Who knows are they even alive anymore…" Sierra explained. "Which means that Suki is in danger."

"Are you going to do something then?" The Doctor looked at her.

"Yeah, back in time a bit and bringing her here then." Sierra made a move towards her watch but before she could touch the screen, the narrow light blue and wider gold streams bursted out. She looked at them and when they touched her, she was gone. There wasn't even the 'zap' sound anymore.

"That was different." The Doctor mused.

"What was that?" Cathica asked. "And how would you know about all this?"

"That was time-travel and trust me: humanity's been set back about 90 years - when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"

"91 years ago..."

The Doctor nodded. Cathica looked away thoughtfully.


Sierra got on her feet and looked around. It was freezing in there.

"The walls are definitely not made of gold…" She muttered and walked towards the voices she could hear in the eerie silence.

"Ah, hidden behind a genetic graft, but that's still you. Eva San Julienne. Last surviving member of the Freedom Fifteen! Hmm, self-declared anarchist, is that right?" A male voice said. The Editor. Sierra stopped by the door way, out of their range of sight. Suki was pointing a gun at the Editor. Her voice had changed from what it had been at the lower floor - it is now harsh and cold.

"Who controls Satellite Five?" She demanded. Looking shocked, the Editor raised his hands slowly in the air. Then he bursted out laughing and lowered them.

"There's the truth!" He cackled.

"The Freedom Foundation has been monitoring Satellite Five's transmissions. We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated. YOU are lying to the people." Suki told him

"Ohh, I love it. Say it again."

"This whole system is corrupt." Suki took a step towards him the gun ready. "Who do you represent?"

"I'm merely a humble slave. I answer to the Editor in Chief."

"Well, who is he? Where is he?"

"He's overseeing everything. Literally everything."

Suki narrowed her eyes.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to have to refer this upwards." The Editor clicked his fingers and pointed upwards. The roaring voice was heard from above. Shivers went down Sierra's spine. Suki immediately pointed her gun at the ceiling instead of the Editor.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Your boss. This has always been your boss. Since the day you were born." The Editor told her. Sierra bolted out from her hiding place right on the moment when the creature bore down on Suki. Suki screamed but Sierra got a hold on her and the streams embraced the two, sending them away.


Golden streams appeared in the middle of the Spike Room and revealed Sierra and Suki. The woman was clinging onto the girl and shivering.

"Sierra, Suki." Rose ran to them. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine but I think Suki is a bit traumatized." Sierra pried Suki's hands off her shirt gently. "Hey, Eva, we are safe. We are back in the floor 139." She whispered to the woman who opened her eyes and looked around the room in confusion.

"But… How? I…" She stuttered as she saw the Spike Room, Rose, the Doctor and Cathica.

"What was in the floor 500?" Cathica asked.

"A giant creature. It was called the Editor in chief." Suki answered.

"Who called it that?" The Doctor continued the question stream.

"The Editor. He was a human though. I don't know. There were frozen people too."


After some planning they were off, walking towards the control room of the floor 139. Cathica was anxious.

"We're so gonna get in trouble." The woman said. The Doctor was scanning the side of a door with the Sonic Screwdriver, Rose and Sierra standing behind him. Cathica went over to him while Suki was checking their back in the case someone would come to snoop their doings.

"You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off." The woman continued.

"Rose, tell her to button it." The Doctor said.

"You can't just vandalise the place, someone's gonna notice!" Cathica whispered. The Doctor just wrenched the door open and went to mess around with the mainframe. "This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work." Cathica began to walk away.

"Go on then! See ya!" The Doctor said cheerily. Cathica stopped.

"I can't just leave you, can I?"

"If you wanna be useful, get 'em to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?" Rose suggested.

"I don't know, we keep asking - something to do with the turbine."

"'Something to do with the turbine'." The Doctor mocked.

"Well, I don't know!"

"I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose - look at Rose." Rose turned round, smiling. "Rose is asking the right kind of questions."

"Oh, thank you." Rose said and Sierra snickered.

"Why is it so hot?" The Doctor voiced the thought that was going on in their heads.

"One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica huffed.

"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important."

"It was freezing in the upstairs. In the floor 500." Suki remembered suddenly.

"Really? Interesting… Let's see…" The Doctor had now successfully managed to hack into the mainframe. He turned the screen to Cathica and Suki.

"Here we go - Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange... and you're looking at pipes?" Cathica huffed, bemused.

"But there's something wrong. And confirming what Suki told us."

"I suppose..."

"Why, what is it?" Rose frowned.

"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... channeling massive amounts of heat down." Cathica told as she observed the computer screen.

"All the way from the top." The Doctor stated.

"Floor 500." Sierra nodded.

"Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat. My guess is that it's the creature you saw, the Editor in chief." The Doctor said.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose asked.

"You can't, you need a key." Cathica protested.

"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here. Here we go - override 215.9."

"How come it's giving you the code?"

The Doctor looked up at a security camera. Sierra followed his gaze.

"Someone up there likes me." He said.

"I think that someone wants to meet us." Sierra laughed.


The lift doors opened on Floor 139. Rose, Sierra and the Doctor stepped into it. Cathica stopped outside. Suki stood next to the woman.

"Come on, come with us!" Rose told them.

"No way!" Cathica said.

"Bye!" The Doctor waved.

"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!" She stalked off.

"I'll stay with her… Just in case. And two down here is better than one. I doubt I would be may use anyways… The bullets doesn't work on the creature." Suki said and went after Cathica. "Good luck." She called over her shoulder.

"The same for you Eva." Sierra waved.

"And thank you Sierra."

"That's them gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just you two and me." The Doctor said to Rose and Sierra.

"Yeah." Rose smiled.

"I think this is how it's supposed to be. Just us three." Sierra stated. She whole-heartedly agreed with that opinion. Adam was just a waste of space who couldn't understand the importance of not modifying the timelines. Jack was nice and he could've stayed with the Doctor but someone was needed to protect the Earth and watch after the Rift and Cardiff 24/7. Mickey in the other hand… Sierra didn't really have an opinion on him. He had his strengths and faults.

"Good."

"Yep." Rose agreed. They grinned at each other. The Doctor slotted a card into the controls, and grabbed Rose's hand as the doors closed. Sierra looked at their hands for a second and didn't say anything.

"By the way, Sierra… Why did you call Suki Eva?" The Doctor asked as the lift went upwards.

"'Cos that's her name. Eva San Julienne. Last surviving member of the Freedom Fifteen, self-declared anarchist. I heard it while waiting for the right moment to rescue her."

"What's Freedom Fifteen?" Rose asked.

"Hmm… What did she say… 'The Freedom Foundation has been monitoring Satellite Five's transmissions. We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated.'" Sierra quoted.

"But you also called her with that name a moment before she went to upstairs." The Doctor pointed out.

"Ah… That's because the long and-…"

"…'complicated story that you are not telling us'. Yeah, we know." Rose grumbled.

"Well, yeah. But think that maybe I…" The doors opened and interrupted Sierra. The Doctor stepped out and the girls followed him.

"The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs." The Doctor quipped as he observed the surroundings.

"Tough." Rose replied.

"As if." Sierra muttered and strode onto Floor 500. The coldness numbed the pain in her leg slightly and made it easier to walk. The Doctor watches her for a moment and followed then with Rose.

They found themselves in the Editor's room, where he was watching the screens.

"I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three... you don't exist!

The Doctor and Rose looked right back at him. He laughed. Sierra scoffed and looked upwards. There is was. The EiC. The wobbly mass of something.

"Not a trace! No birth - no job - not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

"Well, how far did ya look for? Last 91 years only? You should've looked even further. Beyond the last 18 000 years." Sierra smirked. Next to her Rose noticed the frozen people at the screens and rushed over to one of them, a young male immediately.

"Hey, you okay?" The blonde kneels next to him, but he did not respond. "Hello? Can you hear me? What've you done to them?"

"I think they're all dead." The Doctor said gravely.

"He's working..."

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets."

"Ohhhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one." The Editor laughed. The Doctor merely nodded. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you." The Doctor addressed to Rose and Sierra then. "Come on." He was about to leave but two of the Drones restrained him. Rose tried to get up, but the frozen corpse grabbed her arm. Sierra took a step back and reached inside her backpack she had turned into a belt bag this time. She caught a wooden handle and was ready to pull the rest of the object out and fight.

"Tell me who you are!" The Editor yelled.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor said sarcastically.

"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise." The Editor smiled in a sinister way.

"And who's that?"

"A thingy that slightly resembles the Nestene Consciousness, except with teeth." Sierra answered and backed next to Rose.

"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." The Editor continued to smile. Some angry noise was heard. "Yeah- sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He snapped his fingers and pointed upwards at the creature in the ceiling. It was a huge, slobbering lump of an alien with sharp, snapping teeth.

"What is that?" Rose asked nervously.

"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor asked.

"That 'thing' - as you put it - is in charge of the human race." The Editor told them. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior - your master - and humanities guiding light - the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max."

The Doctor smiled sarcastically and nodded.


Cathica and Suki were walking fast along the corridors of the floor 139. After a short stop at the hacked computer, they headed to the lift. The floor 500 was waiting for them.


The Doctor, Rose and Sierra had been restrained with manacles. Sierra muttered loudly about her hurt leg. Thankfully she still could reach into her bag. She had let go of the wooden object and was now searching for her laser knife.

"If we create a climate of fear... then it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy... invent an enemy... change a vote..." The Editor was explaining.

"So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves." Rose accused.

"Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"

"Yes." The Doctor said.

"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, for example in the ancient Greece and Rome there were many slaves. Some of them were treated badly, some well. Some got whipped, some were taught to read. All of them didn't even think themselves as slaves, yet they all were. Only when their master decided to free them, they were no more enslaved." Sierra told. The Editor laughed, right at her face.

"You're no fun." The man said. Yep, he was insane.

"Let me out of these manacles - you'll find out how much fun I am." The Doctor growled.

"Oh, he's tough, isn't he. But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."

"You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must've noticed." Rose pointed out.

"From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain... I can see the smallest doubt - and crush it." The Editor grinned.

"Freedom Foundation and Eva. You gave her the promotion so you could turn her into a lifeless robot, a puppet and then one more person of the resistance would be out of your way." Sierra said in disgust but smirked then. "Too bad I managed to save her."

In the room behind them the lift doors opened and Cathica and Suki stepped out. Suki had her gun ready. The two women could hear the Editor talking to his prisoners.

"…And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual."

The Doctor spotted the two out of the corner of his eye. "When of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."

"What about you? You're not a Jagra... uh... a..." Rose struggled with the word.

"Jagrafess." Sierra said helpfully. She had finally found her knife.

"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well." The Editor shrugged.

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own."

"No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to um... install himself."

"No wonder, a creature that size." The Doctor remarked. Cathica, still hiding, spotted the Jagrafess on the ceiling. Suki had been staring it the whole time. "What's his life span?" The Time Lord asked in interest.

"Three thousand years."

"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. Which's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs - Jagrafess stays cool - stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system."

"But THAT'S why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." The Editor laughed and clicked then his fingers. The manacles sent an electric shock through the three. "Who are you?"

The Doctor grimaced in pain. "Leave them alone. I'm the Doctor, they're Rose Tyler and Sierra Adler. We're nothing, we're just wandering."

"Tell me who you are!" the Editor shouted in manic rage.

"I just said!"

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly-?" He stopped. The Doctor looked at the Editor, who was smiling now, questioningly. "Time Lord."

"What?" The Doctor managed to cover his shock just barely.

"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago..." The Editor was downright giddy. Giddy and manic at the same time. That wasn't a good combination. He touched Rose's face gently but she jerked her head away roughly. Sierra glared at him. She was angry, especially to Adam.

"You don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor said.

"Time travel."

"Someone's been telling you lies." The Doctor was also angry but he was also scared.

"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The Editor snapped his fingers once again and a projection of Adam, writhing with pain and shouting, the compressed information flowing into him, appeared in the air.

"Oh, my God - his head!" Rose gasped.

"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Doctor was mad.

"He wanted to know as much as possible about the future of humankind and went downstairs, floor 16, to get the chip or whatever installed into his head so he could get an access to the computers. With Rose's phone he's been sending it to home, to his answering machine. But as the information goes to one way it also goes to another." Sierra said dully.

"So they're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!"

"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S - TARDIS." The Editor giggled.

"You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first."

"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." They saw how the Key slowly floated from Adam's pocket and dangled in front of his face.

"You and your boyfriends!" The Doctor shouted to Rose.

"Today, WE are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing." The Editor danced around the room.

"And no-one's gonna stop you. Because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold." The Doctor snarled.


Cathica, who was still listening with Suki, seemed to reach some sort of understanding and decision. She turned around and pulled the other woman with her.

"What now?" Suki whispered.

"I need you to watch my back." Cathica entered the broadcasting room on Floor 500. She tossed the rotten corpse off the chair, and sat down in the vacated seat herself. "Disengage safety."

The walls around them light up. The heard the alarm going off in the Control Room.

"Maximum access. Override Floor 139." Cathica instructed the system. "And... spike!" The information flowed into her.


"Someone's disengaged the safety." The Editor was panicking. He clicked his fingers - the projection shows Cathica, the compressed information flowing into her brain, and Suki standing next to her. "Who's that?!"

"It's Cathica!" Rose recognized.

"And Eva!" Sierra grinned.

"And she's thinking. She's using what she knows!" The Doctor exclaimed happily.

"Terminate her access." The Editor told to one of the corpses.

"Everything I told her about Satellite Five - the pipes - the filters - she's reversing it! Look at that..." The icicles were beginning to melt. "It's getting hot."

"I said, terminate!" the Editor yelled and placed his own hands over the corpse's. "Burn her mind."

"Oh no you don't. You should've promoted me years back." Cathica said and all the screens suddenly exploded with sparks, and the Drones fell lifeless on the floor. Rose's manacles came undone. Sierra pulled out her knife and cut her own.

"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano." The Doctor was explaining as the girls untangled themselves. The Jagrafess was roaring violently. The Doctor laughed.

"Yes! Uh... I'm trying, sir but - I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of staff with an idea—." The Editor was telling the Jagrafess who roared angrily. The Editor pushes a corpse aside, and tried to operate the computer himself. Rose fumbled in the Doctor's jacket pocket for the Sonic Screwdriver, while the Jagrafess roared and snapped at them menacingly. Sierra tossed the knife to the blonde.

"Use this. Just push the button and be careful." She instructed and pulled the object with a wooden handle out of her bag. It was a cricket bat she had found one day while exploring the TARDIS. She swung the bat at the Jagrafess and managed to hit it on the face. The alien backed up a bit but resumed snapping.

A small explosion went off nearby, causing Rose to jump.

"Rose, hurry!" The blonde fumbled with the knife but got the blade out eventually. She cut the Doctor free.

"Oi, mate - wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang!" The Time Lord told the Editor with a huge grin on his face. He freed himself just as lumps of flesh started falling off the Jagrafess. Sierra shielded herself with the bat and smacked the lumps away.

"See you in the headlines!" The Doctor said cheerily and they ran. The body of the Jagrafess starts to pulsate horribly, glowing red.

They ran across Floor 500, avoiding the huge lumps of snow falling from the ceiling. Or in Sierra's case, hitting them away. They entered the Spike Room of the floor and found Suki helping Cathica off the chair. They all ran to the elevator.


They were sitting at the canteen area of the floor 139. The Doctor and Cathica were sitting at a table with Suki and Sierra, while Rose was leaning on the bar behind them.

"We're just gonna go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage." The Doctor explained.

"You'll have to stay and explain it - no-one's gonna believe me." Cathica pleaded.

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal. And you have Suki helping you."

"Eva." Suki and Sierra corrected simultaneously. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Although I think I'll go with Suki from now on. I got used to it after all and everyone knows me by it. But I can still contact the Freedom Foundation to help us in this." The woman smiled to Cathica. "By the way, are you a member of Freedom Foundation? You knew my name after all." She asked Sierra.

"Nah. I just happen to know things. A lot of things. Some things that I'm not even supposed to know and some things I can't change. But there's still things I can." She smiled to the woman and stretched her leg. "Ouch, I almost miss the upstairs. It eased the pain." She grimaced.

"Where did you get the bat?" Rose asked.

"Ah, I found it from one room in the TARDIS. This belonged to Fifth I guess. I would have wanted a wooden baseball bat but in the end this worked better." Sierra tapped the cricket bat on the bench next to her, leaning against the table. The Doctor watched at her for a moment but didn't say anything. Rose in the other hand was puzzled who the hell was 'Fifth'.

"What about your friend?" Cathica asked suddenly, eyeing Adam who was leaning against the TARDIS.

"He's not my friend." The Doctor said, standing up and marching in Adam's direction.

"Now, don't—." Rose started but the Doctor ignored her.

"Don't bother Rose. He screwed up and bad time. He doesn't need our sympathies." Sierra said and got up too, taking support on the table. "I guess I'm banned from walking for a long time…" She sighed and limped after Rose and the Doctor. "Bye." She waved to the two women.

"Bye, Sierra." Suki waved back. They all could see how Doctor shoved Adam inside the TARDIS, ignoring him completely.


While the Doctor was lecturing Adam at the boy's home and Rose just watching, Sierra rested her leg and sat on the captain's seat. The cricket bat was leaning against it at her hands reach. She once again was looking at her watch. It had worked on its own accord, taking her to exact place she needed to be, even without coordinates. Just like…

A hum from the center console interrupted her thoughts. Sierra looked up.

"No way…" The golden streams bursted out from the console and the blue ones from the watch. She could just watch them to dance around each other and the console room. The TARDIS door opened and the Doctor stepped in with Rose. They stopped dead at the sight.

"Wha-?" Rose started but the Doctor shushed her. A grin spread on his face. The first happy grin after Adam had been shoved in to get him here.

"Fantastic." The streams faded away. Sierra was staring the ceiling in bewilderment.

"Doctor… Is this what I think it is?"

"Yup. TARDIS gave a little gift to it." The Doctor walked closer, bouncing in the way. The TARDIS hummed contentedly. Rose followed him, completely confused.

"So that's why I didn't need coordinates." Sierra more asked than stated.

"Yup. Although for some occasions they are needed. Even I use coordinates with this girl." He started working with the console and they were dematerializing. "But long story short, TARDIS bonded with your watch. It is also and sentiment being now, needs refueling from the Rift time to time or then you just leave it here, on the console for couple of hours."

"I see. I better name him then." Sierra nodded.

"Him?" Rose repeated.

"Yup. Let me think… It's a watch in the other words a time piece. What about… Timmy?" Sierra looked at the watch and from her delighted expression, the Doctor judged that the Vortex Manipulator agreed with her. "By the way… If something happens to TARDIS, does it also affect Timmy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Paradoxes, manipulating, other universes…" Sierra trailed off, thinking about Father's Day, The Sound of Drums and Pete's World.

"Possibly. And while we are talking about stories… Do you have something to tell us?" The Doctor asked and flipped another switch. "You said something like that at the elevator."

"Oh, yes. I need to tell you something. About me… You see, when I said I was from the future, it wasn't the whole truth…"


A/N: Dun dun duuunn! Nihihihiii! Cliffie, huh? What did you think about the chapter overall? Let me know, the next chapter comes next Tuesday/Wednesday.