This was a bad day.
The TARDIS—as a being that existed everywhen—had experienced many bad days; but this was one of her least favorite.
Today was the day that could change everything—there were so many ways the day could end. But the one thing that did not change was that by the end of this day, two of her passengers would die.
Worst case scenario, two of her passengers would die, and the third would be written out of existence.
Best case scenario two of her passengers would die, and the third would still exist.
But there were so many little different possibilities running around, it was impossible to determine which path, which course of history, would be written today.
The TARDIS did not like not knowing what was going to happen.
For now, though, she would have to sit back and wait, watch the events unfold, and pray for the safety of her Wolf, Thief, and their Captain.
This was a very bad day.
Once, a very long time ago, the Doctor had managed to get himself trampled by a something resembling a miniature elephant—miniature in that it was smaller than your average elephant, but still large enough that it left him sore for days and gave him the worst headache he had ever had the misfortune to experience.
This was worse.
He groaned, and pulled himself to his feet, trying to remember what had happened—had he finally taken Jack up on that drinking contest?
As he stood (he was in some sort of small cupboard, that was new), the room began to spin around him—which did not help his headache at all. "What is it? What's happening?" He muttered frantically, a bit slurred, as he felt the walls, trying to stop the spinning. One of the walls gave way unexpectedly, and the Doctor fell through and landed flat on his nose (and squished it flat, he was pretty sure).
There was a female somewhere over his head shrieking in surprise, something about "them" never saying that he was coming. "But what happened? I was…" he trailed off. What had he been doing? He tried to pull himself upright, the woman helping, and ended just falling on his face again (his nose was definitely flat at this point. He made a mental note to try and fall on his ears next time).
The girl was rambling on now about a transmat beam. But that couldn't be right…the Doctor was pretty sure he'd been on the TARDIS before coming…wherever this was. A simple transmit beam wouldn't be able to penetrate his TARDIS!
He finally managed to get to his feet, and was relieved to notice the pounding in his head was dissipating.
"So what's your name, then, sweetheart?" The girl asked him, smiling kindly at him.
"The Doctor, I think," he muttered groggily, not sure how he felt about being called sweetheart. "I was, er…" he trailed off, trying to force his mind to penetrate the fog in his brain and remember what he'd been doing before all of this nonsense started. "I don't know, what happened? How-?" He looked helplessly at the girl.
"You got chosen," she explained, her voice far too chipper.
The Doctor waited for a moment, waiting for her to give him a better explanation than that. "Chosen for what?" He prompted after it became clear that she wasn't going to clarify on her own.
"You're a housemate!" She exclaimed, grinning as if this was the best news he could ever possibly hope to get. "You're in the House! Isn't that brilliant?"
Two other voices started complaining from the couch, and the Doctor realized there were more people in "the House" than he thought. He tuned out their complaining, looking around the room instead, and taking stock of his resources. Which were minimal. And where the hell were Rose and Jack? If this was their idea of a joke…
"Would the Doctor please come to the Diary Room?" A pleasant but oddly mechanical voice asked, causing the Doctor to stare up at the ceiling in confusion. A door appeared behind him, drawing his attention. Hoping for a way out, he went through the door, and found himself in a small room with a plush chair.
"You are live on channel forty-four thousand; please do not swear," the same mechanical voice informed him.
The Doctor thunked down into the chair. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered with raised eyebrows.
Rose groaned, trying to curl into a smaller ball where she was curled up on the floor. Her head hadn't hurt this badly since she was first shoved into this body. Why did her head hurt? Had Jack convinced her to drink with him? He had been after that for a while…
She lifted her head slowly, looking around the dark room. "What happened?" She groaned blearily.
"It's alright," a man who was crouched next to her assured her, watching her. "It's just the transmat, does your head in."
Rose pulled herself into a sitting position, frowning. Transmat. That couldn't be right.
"Get a bit of amnesia," the man continued. "What's your name?"
"…Rose," she responded after a moment. Even her name had taken a moment to come to the forefront of her brain. "But…where's the Doctor? And Jack?" She muttered, looking around as if expecting them to jump out of the shadows.
The man ignored her and carried on with his own train of thought. "Just remember, do what the Anne Droid says. Don't provoke it. The Anne Droid's word is law."
"Android?" Rose asked, confused. What the hell kind of place had she landed in?
"Positions everyone! Thank you!" An unseen voice called out.
Rose looked around, alarmed as everyone (she hadn't even noticed there were other people in here!) began rushing about. The man hauled her to her feet, pulling her in the direction the others were going.
"I was traveling… with the Doctor and, and…Jack. They wouldn't just leave me…would they?" She murmured as she was led along. Maybe they had. It wouldn't have been the first time…
"That's enough chat!" The voice from earlier called. Rose was able to see him this time, though. He wore a head set and carried a clipboard, looking like a manager at a television station. "Positions! Final Call!"
Rose was led over to a set of six podiums, all surrounding a raised platform where an inactive robot was sitting, technicians surrounding it. "But…I'm not supposed to be here…" Rose muttered, rubbing her head.
"Well, it says Rose on the podium," the man who had been helping her commented.
Rose frowned and looked at the front of the podium she'd been positioned behind. And it did in fact say Rose. The man hurried to stand behind his own podium, which proclaimed that his name was Roderick. Rose wandered back behind her own podium. "I must be going mad…" she murmured to herself. Well, it had always been a matter of time.
Rose looked slowly over the set—she really was in a television studio. "Hold on…" she muttered, taking in the podiums and the robot, the penny finally dropping. "This looks like…but it can't be…"
The android sprang to life in front of her.
"Android. Anne. Droid," she whispered.
"Welcome, to 'The Weakest Link!'" the Android shouted.
Rose wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or put her head through her podium.
As it turned out, houseguests who were evicted were incinerated rather than simply released. The Doctor had been a bit surprised at that particular revelation, but the other houseguests just shrugged it off as completely normal.
He'd been dropped into a mad house.
On the Brightside, his memories had finally returned. His main goal now was to find Rose and Jack. He was especially worried about Rose; she hadn't been herself since Raxacoricofallapatorius. She'd been…quieter. Slower to smile. And she always had this look on her face…it was a look that scared the Doctor quite a bit, because he knew that look.
It was the look of someone who understood themselves far too well; the look of someone who knew exactly what they were capable of, and was ashamed of it. It was a look he'd worn quite frequently.
But that look on Rose…it reminded him that he still knew next to nothing about the woman he'd chosen to travel with. Most of the time he just thought her a kind, passionate woman with a knack for surprising him; he hated being reminded of the darker side she harbored, mostly because that dark side reminded him that he'd put his trust in a woman he didn't know.
And why did he trust her? She'd saved his life a few times, sure, but he'd saved hers, too. He'd watched her kill a dalek in cold blood (not that he wouldn't have done the same, but still), and the hatred she'd harbored for the Slitheen had been concerning. Certainly she leaned towards some violent tendencies that he wasn't comfortable with.
But then she'd grin at him and damn it all if that smile didn't make him willing to put his life, and the lives of others, into her hands.
He needed to find her.
Working through a hunch (a hunch that had about a sixty percent chance of getting him vaporized, which was better odds than usual), he managed to get out of the Big Brother House and out onto the satellite that it sat in. He brought Lynda, the girl who'd helped him when he'd first woken up, with him. She was sweet, and would've been dead meat in that house.
As he looked around the satellite, his eyes widened as he realized he'd been there before. "This is Satellite Five!" He exclaimed in realization. He went through a side door, and made his way to a control panel, working on it with his sonic screwdriver. "No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth," he said conversationally, not actually paying much attention as he worked.
Satisfied with the control panel, he left the room and went back out to the main one, testing the walls with his screwdriver.
"No one's called it Satellite Five in ages," Lynda commented, watching him with interest. "It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a hundred years."
The Doctor absently told Lynda about his time on Satellite Five as he worked on getting another door open. She in turn told him about the different shows that were broadcasted from the satellite, and a bit about her culture as well. Apparently one could be executed for not having a license for the telly now. Which, of course, did not fit in with any of the history he knew—and he knew all of it.
"Who are you though, really, Doctor?" Lynda asked curiously.
"Doesn't matter," the Doctor said simply, moving on to another door. None of them wanted to open, and he was starting to get annoyed.
"Well it does to me," Lynda persisted. "I've just put my life in your hands."
"I'm just a traveler, wandering past," he muttered, examining the lock on the new door. Maybe setting sixteen would work… "Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life." He wasn't even entirely sure he believed that last part anymore.
"So…" Lynda started hesitantly. "if we get out of here, what're you gonna do? Just…wander off again?"
"Fast as I can." After he'd found Rose and Jack, of course.
"So…I could come with ya," Lynda suggested tentatively.
The Doctor paused, and turned away from the lock to consider her. She was sweet, she really was, but was she up for the kind of life he led? And did he really want that many people on the TARDIS?
On the other hand…Lynda was simple, he could understand her. Sweet girl, just wanted to see more of the world than she already had…maybe just a slight thirst for adventure…simple. There was nothing simple about Rose, nothing easy to understand. And Jack…well, there was nothing simple there, at any rate. It might be nice to have someone along that he didn't have to constantly play mind games with.
"Maybe you could," he allowed with a small smile.
"I wouldn't get in the way!" She exclaimed brightly.
"I wouldn't mind if you did," the Doctor grinned, growing fonder of the idea. "Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y."
Of course, Rose and Jack would still be there, too, Lynda would just be his…distraction. His dose of normality and simple. Yeah.
The Doctor finally managed to get one of the doors to open, and let them out onto an observation deck. But the Earth was wrong, so very, very wrong. The whole thing was grey and dark and ugly; there were only a few splotches of light, and they were few and far between. As he talked with Lynda (and he may have angrily called her species Sheep) he finally came to realize that the world, her world, had been like this for a century. Ever since the news disappeared one day, and no one knew what to do.
"Oh my," he whispered in horror, staring down at the dying planet. "I made this world."
"Hey handsome!" A familiar voice called. The Doctor tuned, and watched Jack come strutting towards them, grinning. "Good to see ya! Any sign of Rose?"
The Doctor stared at him for a moment, debating whether or not he should ask about the large gun Jack had strapped to himself, before deciding now was not the time. "Can't you track her down?" He demanded. Jack had found him, surely he could find Rose?
Jack shook his head. "She must still be inside the games; all the rooms are shielded."
Something wasn't right. If he could get out, and Jack could figure a way out, Rose would have been able to find a way out, too. But she hadn't…that was a bad sign.
He turned to the computer fiddling with it angrily and trying not to panic. "If we can just get inside this computer…" he muttered, hitting the computer a couple of times for good measure. "She's got to be here somewhere!" For all his complaining about Rose, he was worried about her, especially now that he knew she hadn't broken out of her game yet; Rose was better at escaping than even him!
"Well, you better hurry up," Jack said unhelpfully. "These games don't have a happy ending."
"You think I don't know that?!" The Doctor snapped, his panic bleeding through for just a moment.
Jack looked at him for a moment, considering, then slipped off his vortex manipulator and handed it to him. "There you go." The Doctor snatched it, and turned to the computer. "Patch that in. It's programmed to find her. Her biology is unique enough that it shouldn't take too long to find her."
"Thanks," the Doctor muttered, attaching wires to the manipulator and making a mental note to break the device before Jack could break history. Again.
"Wait," the Doctor paused, and straightening, running through Jack's statement before turning to look at the man, who was flirting with Lynda with a Y. "What do you mean her biology is unique enough?" Jack froze. "Why do you know anything about her biology?" He wouldn't make eye contact now. "She told you, didn't she?"
Jack sighed, and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Said something about me needing to know sooner and it wasn't time for you yet," he muttered.
"Sorry what?" Lynda asked, frowning.
The Doctor ignored her. "Why do you get to know sooner?" He demanded.
"Do you really think now is the time, Doctor?" Jack snapped.
The Doctor blinked, then nodded in agreement and turned back to the computer. The system beeped after a moment, and the Doctor hit the computer angrily. "It's not compatible!" He growled, glaring at the offending piece of technology. "This stupid system doesn't make sense."
Muttering to himself, he ripped the front of the computer away to reveal the circuitry, and started trying to patch the manipulator directly into the system. "This place should be a basic broadcaster. The systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television… this station's transmitting something else…" he muttered, thinking aloud as he worked.
"Like what?" Jack asked curiously, watching him work.
"I don't know!" The Doctor growled, annoyed with everything and everyone.
After a lot of work (and cursing. Definitely a lot of cursing.) the Doctor let out a triumphant yell as the manipulator beeped and started giving him information. "Found her!" He cried, pulling the manipulator away and tossing it to Jack. "Floor 407!"
Lynda's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god! She's with the Anne Droid!" She shouted frantically. "You've got to get her out of there!"
The Doctor needed no more encouragement than that, and took off running. He had no idea what an Anne Droid was (though it sounded somewhat familiar), but Lynda's fearful reaction was enough to convince him that whatever it was, Rose was in very serious, very immediate danger.
The raced into a lift, the Doctor tapping his foot impatiently as the lift climbed at speed that was matched only by the inhabitants of Nethion 6. Who were slugs.
The doors finally opened and the Doctor raced out. He could hear a robotic voice in the distance, and he thought he heard Rose's voice. "Game Room 6, which one is it?" He yelled frantically.
"With two votes, Rose, you have been eliminated."
No no no no no…
"This one!" Lynda yelled.
The Doctor barreled towards her, the screwdriver pointing at the door before he even got there.
"I earned all of our money that round!" Rose yelled from behind the door, fear in her voice. Oh, Rassilon, no… "You're cowards, every last one of you!" Rose screamed.
The door flew open and the Doctor ran inside. "You are the weakest link, goodbye!" The Anne Droid (which made sense now) was saying as they burst in. Their entrance, however, was enough of a distraction for Rose to be able to dive out of the way of the beam.
The Anne Droid turned to face the Doctor, and he stared at it as its jaw unhinged, revealing the barrel of the disintegrator beam. "Watch out!" Rose yelled, running towards him.
It was as if the whole world had suddenly gone into slow motion. The Doctor tried to run towards Rose, to get out of the path of the beam, but both Rose and the Anne Droid were faster. The Anne Droid fired, and Rose leaped in front of him, taking the beam and turning into a pile of ash just a few feet away from him.
The world seemed oddly silent, save for an odd buzzing in his ears. He slipped his fingers through the ash that used to be Rose (and when exactly did he take those few steps forward?) unable to believe it was true (and when exactly had he fallen to his knees?), unable to believe that she was gone.
He spent an eternity by that pile, trying to believe what he'd just seen. Rose was dead. And there was nothing he could do to bring her back.
He became dimly aware of the rest of the world when a guard hauled him to his feet, pressing a gun to his head. His small eternity had apparently only been a few seconds; not nearly long enough. He and the other two (what a surprise that there are still multiple people in the world) were led away, and the Doctor allowed one tear to fall, before forcibly changing the gears in his head—hiding the sense of loss behind a storm of rage.
They would all pay.
He remained silent as they were questioned, booked, and locked in a cell. He exchanged one look with Jack, and then stared at a wall, waiting. There was no need to rush anymore.
When a security guard finally came to open the door to their cell, the Doctor turned to look at Jack. "Let's do it."
The Doctor walked behind Jack as he cleared a path, knocking out the security guards, and securing weapons; the Doctor even grabbed a gun, and actually debated using it for a moment.
Back into the lift and up to Floor Five Hundred. 'Where the walls are made of gold,' the Doctor thought bitterly. Perhaps he'd paint them red.
He took a deep breath before the doors opened, quelling his anger somewhat; Rose wouldn't want him to be a murderer, not again.
Jack took charge, becoming the voice for their little group. "Okay, move away from the desk!" He ordered, brandishing his gun. "Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clears!"
The staff scattered, and the Doctor made his way towards a woman with wires connected to her, her eyes blank. He decided he would try later to muster up some righteous fury for the way she'd been treated; he had other priorities at the moment.
"Who's in charge here?" He demanded, his gun pointed at her. The woman stared blankly ahead, reciting a countdown. "This satellite's more than a Game Station," the Doctor insisted. Still nothing but count down. "Who killed Rose Tyler?" He finally growled.
"All staff are reminded that solar flares—"
He interrupted, sick of her unrelated monotone responses. "Answer me!" He bellowed.
"…in delta point one." She finished.
"She can't reply," a programmer spoke up timidly, watching the Doctor and his gun nervously.
The Doctor swung around to face the programmer, the movement of his gun making them all flinch.
"Don't shoot!" Another programmer yelled desperately.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh don't be so thick," he grumbled. "Like I was ever going to shoot." No need to mention he had considered it. He tossed his gun to the programmer who had first spoken up, who caught it automatically, still looking terrified.
"Captain, we've got more guards on the way up, secure the exits," the Doctor ordered brusquely, looking away from the programmers. Jack responded in the affirmative before running off. The Doctor turned back to the programmer. "Now, you were saying?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"But…I've got your gun," the programmer pointed out, horribly confused.
The Doctor sighed in annoyance. Stupid apes. "So shoot me. Why can't she respond?" He demanded.
The programmer hesitantly put the gun down before answering. "Sorry, um, the Controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain; you're not a member of staff so she doesn't recognize your existence," he explained nervously.
"What's her name?" The Doctor asked, turning to face the controller now.
"I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known."
The Doctor was finding that the righteous anger he had put off before was coming to him much easier now.
"Door's sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes," Jack called over.
"Keep an eye on 'em," the Doctor called back without looking.
"But that stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station—I think you're right," the programmer spoke up hesitantly, as if unsure that the Doctor was the right person to be telling his concerns to. "Unauthorized transmits…it's been going on for years."
"Show me," the Doctor ordered, following the programmer to a computer. They looked through files for a few minutes before the screens started flickering with static and the power turned itself off, emergency lights providing the only illumination. The programmer explained that it was only the solar flares, and the Doctor resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He wanted, no needed, to keep moving. Anything to keep him from remembering that he failed yet another companion, that yet another life was added to his list of casualties. From remembering that it had been Rose.
"Doctor…" a voice called.
He turned, his eyes locking onto the Controller, who was calling to him. He hurried over to her.
"Doctor? Where's the Doctor?" She asked, her milky eyes still staring blindly ahead.
"I'm here," the Doctor told her, eyes glued to hers.
"Can't see. I'm blind. So blind. All my life, blind. All I can see is numbers, but I saw you."
"What do you want?" The Doctor prodded, forgetting to be patient.
"Solar-flares hiding me. They can't hear me—my—my masters, they always listen but they can't hear me now. The sun... the sun is so bright..." she trailed off, her voice quiet and dreamy, almost as if she wasn't completely present. The Doctor doubted very much that she was.
"Who are your masters?" He asked, a worrisome feeling in his stomach. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to be good.
"They wired my head, their name is forbidden. They control my thoughts, my masters... my masters, I had to be careful. They monitor the transmissions but they don't watch the programs. I could hide you inside the games." She seemed intent on not answering any question directly.
"My friend died inside your games," the Doctor informed her coldly. He was more than willing to place the blame of Rose's lost life on this woman. She'd brought them here, after all; chosen where they would be placed. If she'd only left them alone, or even just placed them in the same game…
"Doesn't matter."
"Don't you dare tell me that," the Doctor whispered dangerously, his rage returning to the surface.
"They've been hiding," the Controller continued, heedless to the Doctor's rage and hurt. "My masters, hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth... so, so, so many years... they've always been there. Guiding humanity, hundreds and hundreds of years—"
"Who are they?" The Doctor demanded, cutting her off. He had no time for her cryptic messages and hints.
"They wait. They plan and grow in numbers, they're strong now. So strong, my masters—"
"Who are they?" The Doctor persisted, cutting her off again.
The Controller suddenly turned her sightless eyes to him. "But they speak of you," she whispered. "My masters, they fear the Doctor."
"Tell me!" The Doctor yelled, stepping closer to her. "Who are they?!"
The lights flickered back on, and the Controller looked ahead again. "Twenty, nineteen, eighteen," she counted down, voice flat.
He turned to the programmer who'd he spoken to earlier. "When's the next solar flare?" He demanded angrily.
"Two years' time," he responded, still staring at the Controller.
"Fat lot of good that is," the Doctor muttered, turning away.
"Found the TARDIS!" Jack called, appearing from a side room.
"We're not leaving now," the Doctor glared.
"No," Jack agreed, grinning madly. The Doctor wanted to hit him. "But the TARDIS worked it out," Jack unceremoniously shoved a programmer from his chair. "You'll wanna watch this!" He called cheerfully.
The Doctor turned reluctantly to watch. They should be planning, or hacking into something. Not…whatever this nonsense was.
"Lynda, could you stand over there for me, please?" Jack asked kindly, pointing to an empty bit of floor. After a moment, Lynda moved to comply, and stood away from the others. "Everybody watching?" Jack asked, glancing around before turning to the computer. "Okay, three, two, one…" He pressed a button and the familiar (hated) disintegrator beam came down from the ceiling and vaporized Lynda, leaving behind another pile of ashes.
"But you've killed her!" The Doctor yelled, outraged. It was not enough for him to lose his best friend, apparently; now he had to have the life of that poor innocent girl on his conscious as well. He'd kill Jack, he would.
"Oh, do ya think?" Jack asked, grinning. Before the Doctor could even open his mouth to threaten Jack's life, Jack had pressed a button on the computer again, and Lynda appeared next to the Doctor, completely unharmed.
"…What the hell was that?" Lynda groaned, clutching her head (okay, mostly unharmed).
The Doctor stared blankly at Jack, not daring to hope.
"It's a transmat beam, not a disintegrator," Jack explained, standing up. "A secondary transmat system." Oh, Rassilon, he was actually saying it. It was possible, no, she was… "People don't get killed in the games! They get transported across space! Doctor," Jack paused, and grinned so widely he threatened to split his face in two, "Rose is still alive!"
The Doctor laughed, choking back a sob, and threw his arms around Jack's neck. Rose was alive. Alive. Alive.
He pulled away from Jack and ran to the consoles, dashing about with renewed energy. "She's out there somewhere!" He yelled, sonicing the consoles, trying to find his Rose.
"Doctor!"
His head jerked up, turning to the pained face of the Controller. She was fighting for control, jerking herself away from the manipulation of her masters, and it was killing her. "Coordinates five point six point one!" She gasped out.
The Doctor frantically typed them in, unwilling to give up any information Rose. "Don't!" He called as he typed. "The solar flare's gone, they'll hear you!"
"Point four three four—" she gasped and cried out in pain, her milky eyes darting this way and that as she battled some unknown, unseen enemy. "Oh, no, masters, I defy you!" She yelled, her voice cracking. "Stigma seven seven-!" She was cut off by her own scream, and by the time the Doctor looked up, she was gone, nothing left but the wires she'd been hooked to and a pile of dust.
"They took her…" he murmured. He took a minute to mourn for the poor woman who had never known freedom, before getting to work to find Rose.
The programmer that had been helping them since the beginning proved to be even more useful as he gave Jack as disk of all the unauthorized transmats, in hopes that they would be able to get the final numbers for the coordinates from them.
Jack, of course, took the opportunity to start flirting.
"There's a time and a place!" The Doctor called in annoyance. Now that he knew Rose was alive, his primary focus was to get her back in one piece. Whatever they were dealing with, they were obviously dangerous, and he didn't want Rose with them any longer than necessary.
The Doctor explained to the others in the room his theory that whoever was doing all this, had been doing it for a long time; starting with the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone was manipulating humanity, and he wanted to know why.
"Click on this," Jack said as he handed a small device to the Doctor. The Doctor obediently (which was a first) did as he was told, and an image of space materialized above their heads. A map, the Doctor realized.
"The transmat delivers to that point," Jack explained, pointing. "Right at the edge of the solar system."
"There's nothing there," a female programmer protested.
"It lookslike nothing. 'Cause that's what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission, there's another signal..." The Doctor explained, staring up at the empty spot.
"Doing what?" Their programmer asked.
"Hiding whatever's out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner..." he trailed off for a moment, thinking. "There's something sitting right on top of Planet Earth... but it's completely invisible. If I can cancel the signal…" he pressed a few buttons on the computer before looking back up at the map. His eyes widened. It couldn't be…
"That's impossible," Jack protested angrily, but the Doctor heard the fear. "I know those ships…they were destroyed!"
"Obviously they survived," the Doctor whispered, horrified as he took in the over two hundred Dalek ships sitting at the edge of the solar system. That was what had Rose.
He had to get her out of there.
He ran to the computers, typing commands furiously as he worked to establish a communication link with the ship where the transmat signals went. In minutes, he had an image up on the main screen. What he saw made his blood run cold, but also made him breathe a sigh of relief.
His Rose (when exactly has she become his?) was stationed in between three Daleks, and looking downright furious.
"I WILL TALK TO THE DOCTOR!" One of the abominations yelled.
Sarcasm or anger; decisions, decisions. "Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!" Sarcasm it is, then. He waved at them mockingly before letting the grin fall from his face.
"THE DALEK STRATEGEM NEARS COMPLETEION. THE FLEET IS ALMOST READY. YOU WILL NOT INTERVENE," the Dalek ordered, apparently oblivious to his sarcasm. Ah, well. Anger was more satisfying anyway.
"Oh really?" He asked coldly. "Why's that then?"
"WE HAVE YOUR ASSOCIATE. YOU WILL OBEY OR SHE WILL BE EXTERMINATED."
Rose glared defiantly at the screen. The Doctor watched her for a moment before his eyes flicked between the Daleks.
"No," he said simply. Rose seemed a bit surprised, but her glare didn't wavier; probably thought he was choosing the greater good over her or some such nonsense. Well, she was in for a surprise…
"EXPLAIN YOURSELF," the Dalek commanded after a pause.
"I said no," the Doctor repeated.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NEGATIVE?"
"It means no."
"BUT SHE WILL BE DESTROYED!" Obviously this Dalek didn't know him very well.
"No!" The Doctor snapped, standing from his computer chair and glaring at them. "'Cause this is what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna rescue her," he informed them. A corner of Rose's mouth lifted in a smirk, which was all the encouragement he needed. "I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek Fleet, and then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek outta the sky!"
"BUT YOU HAVE NO WEAPONS! NO DEFENCES! NO PLANS!" The Dalek protested, either in fury or confusion; it was hard to tell.
The Doctor grinned madly. "Yeah. And doesn't that just scare you to death?" He paused for a moment, then looked at Rose. "Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm coming to get you." He terminated the communication link, and ran for the TARDIS.
I'm back! Did you miss me? I'm going to try and get the next one up tomorrow, promise.
Anywhoo, thanks for all the lovely comments while I was away! It's great to know there are people out there who actually enjoy this. Thanks also to those who favorited and reviewed!
Until next time!