MISSING - The Long Game Chapter Two

Jazmine smiled at the duo, but jumped slightly as Suki gasped, pulling her hands off the console really quickly. It seemed as if she had been electrocuted, which in turn caused the other six people to lift their hands off the console and the information beam to shut down. Cathica closed her portal thing, and looked towards the woman with a, quite frankly, pissed off look.

"Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway. What was that for?" Jazmine and Rose shared a look, a smirk falling on their faces as they watched the two. Suki shrugged, looking a bit put out.

"Sorry. It must've been a glitch." Cathica lost the look, guilt falling on her face instead.

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence, which was quickly broken by a sudden voice speaking.

"PROMOTION." The Tannoy exclaimed, a wall behind the group lighting up with the words. Cathica looked ecstatic.

"Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh God, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name." She chanted, her fingers crossed and her eyes glued to the screen. Rose snorted lightly.

"Why's she so desperate for a promotion? Bet it's no better than down 'ere." She whispered to Jazmine, who shrugged back.

"Maybe here it's worth something." Rose smiled lightly. She loved how rational, smart Jazmine could be sometimes. It made her vision of the world widen in almost the same way the Doctor widened it. And she loved it.

"PROMOTION FOR SUKI MACRAE CANTRELL. PLEASE PROCEED TO FLOOR FIVE HUNDRED." The Tannoy exclaimed. Suki's face lit up with excitement while Cathica's dropped into disappointment.

"I don't believe it. Floor five hundred." She sounded awed, as if she really couldn't believe it. Jazmine smiled, patting her shoulder.

"Congratulations." She wished the girl, earning a bright smile in return and a hug.

"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you." Cathica sounded bitter, and it made Jazmine frown.

"I don't know," Suki shrugged, "I just applied on the off-chance and they've said yes." Jazmine gave her an encouraging smile while Cathica's frown deepened.

"That's so not fair. I've been applying to Floor five hundred for three years." Jazmine frowned again. Well, this work place hardly seemed fair. Rose also looked confussed.

"What's Floor five hundred?" Jazmine spun to look at the Doctor as Rose asked this, and it clicked from their earlier conversation.

"'The walls are made of gold.'" They quoted in sync, giving each other a quick grin out of amusement. Rose still seemed confused, but followed the group over to the lift. Suki was busy saying goodbye, but Cathica didn't look impressed what so ever.

"Cathica, I'm going to miss you." She hugged the girl, earning a half-hearted hug back. She spun to the Doctor and Jazmine, grinning at them as she hugged Jazmine again. "Floor five hundred, thank you."

"What do you mean, thank you?" Jazmine asked, pulling away in confusion. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"We didn't do anything." He wrapped his arm loosely around Jazmine's waist, earning a small look of acknowledgement from Suki, which he ignored.

"Well, you're my lucky charms." Jazmine giggled, earning a small grin from the Doctor before he let her go to hug Suki.

"All right. I'll hug anyone." He agreed with a grin. Jazmine glanced back to Rose, who was talking quietly to Adam a bit away from them.

"ALL STAFF ARE REMINDED THAT THE SIXTEEN FORTY BREAK SESSION HAS BEEN SHORTENED BY TEN MINUTES. THANK YOU."

Jazmine watched Adam leave, something in his hand as he left. Suki grasped her attention back by fretting slightly.

"Oh, my God, I've got to go. I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!" The lift doors closed in front of her, and Cathica snorted.

"Good riddance." She said bitterly, causing Jazmine to frown.

"She's you friend." She reminded the girl, who in return snorted.

"Some friend she was." The Doctor picked up on that, causing him to frown.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." Cathica looked at him as if he were stupid.

"We won't. Once you go to Floor five hundred you never come back." She stressed, before leading them back through the cafeteria area. The Doctor, again, grasped Jazmine so she would be able to keep up before questioning Cathica about Floor 500.

"Have you ever been up there?" He asked, gesturing upwards. Cathica gave him a stupid look.

"I can't. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few."

Back in the newsroom, the Doctor was still questioning Cathica.

"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?" The Doctor shook his head, determination on his face. Jazmine smiled fondly at the look. And, she wasn't going to lie, she loved that look.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" He sat down in the broadcast chair, leaving Jazmine to stand to the side kind of awkwardly. He did pat the arm of the chair, but Jazmine simply blushed in response and decided not to.

"I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That's medical. That's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She eyed the duo, noting the way the Doctor grinned at Jazmine's blush, while also listening to Cathica speak. "You're not management, are you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. One which the Doctor grinned at Jazmine, but Jazmine noticed the sarcasm behind it. He threw his arm in the air loosely.

"At last. She's clever." He said sarcastically, earning a disapproving, albeit amused, look from Jazmine.

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." She crossed her arms as if that signified that the conversation was over. Poor girl, Jazmine thought, she doesn't know that the Doctor decides that.

"Don't you even ask?" He questioned.

"Well, why would I?" Cathica asked, looking confused as if that thought had never even crossed her mind

"You're a journalist." The Doctor snorted.

"Doctor!" Jazmine smacked his arm gently. "What he means is, your payed to ask questions, why not question about your work place?" There was no answer.

"Why's all the crew human?" The Doctor asked instead. He grasped Jazmine's hand, giving it a quick squeeze before returning to look at Cathica patiently.

"What's that got to do with anything?" She asked, looking confused still.

"There's no aliens on board," He said slowly, making Jazmine smack him again, "Why?"

"I don't know," Cathica sounded flustered. "No real reason. They're not banned or anything."

"Then where are they?" He pressed. Cathica looked physically flustered, clearly trying to answer.

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats." The Doctor's eyes narrowed on hers.

"What threats?" Cathica threw her arms in the air.

"I don't know all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away." It then seemed as if something clicked in her mind, "Oh, and the government on Chavic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see. Just lots of little reasons, that's all." She answered, sounding stressed.

"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor accused.

"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything." Cathica sounded so sure, that it made Jazmine smirk from behind her hand. Humans, she thought fondly before frowning. I am human...

"I can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology." He patted the console just for emphasis, which made Cathica frown.

"It's cutting edge." She defended, sounding exceptionally insulted.

"It's backwards," The Doctor said gently, "There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago." Rose stepped forwards, looking at the Doctor intently.

"So, what do you think's going on?" Jazmine nodded.

"You think someone's messing with the Earth?" Jazmine questioned.

"It's not just this space station," The Doctor nodded, "it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful Human Empire's stunted. Something's holding it back." Cathica scoffed.

"And how would you know?" She questioned rudely.

"Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years." He rubbed his chin before looking at her, "When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" Cathica frowned in thought before looking at him intently.

"Ninety one years ago."

...

SORRY! I'm so sorry that this chapter is so short and I've been MIA for so long! I AM SORRY!

For the past three weeks, I've had mock exams in school (kill me now-.-). An exam in every subject I took and, I'm gonna be honest, I did rubbing in every single one. I don't know, since the teachers are being idiots and not giving us the results. But, whatever. Meh.

I've got an English GCSE in January too. Meh.

Anyways, Merry Christmas guys, I'm off school now (going out tomorrow tho, so this excludes then) and hoping to upload pretty soon, possibly every day up until Christmas. My pressie to you guys.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas guys! Hope you get everything you wanted!

Next update: HOPEFULLY Sunday (thats my plan, but it may or may not fail if my mum makes me revise. PLZ NO!)

AND, I'm hoping that I will finish this episode then aswell. I have an extra chapter planned inbetween Fathers Day and the Empty Child, (;-]) and I'm hoping you all like it. I'm a bit 'meh' with it, since I'm not at all sure on it. I wrote it ages ago, when I was writting the first chapters, so I'm going to upload it and stuff, and hope you all like it. :-)

LOVE YOU GUYS!

- Seren12 x