AN: Hello and welcome back! We have reached bad wolf…. How will things pan out? Who is bad wolf? Well…. Read and find out.
Big thanks to Vivere Memento who put up with my frantic questions about what kind of gameshow Rebecca could win.
Chapter Twenty-Eight : BAD WOLF
Rebecca woke up, blinking a few times to adjust to the light, and slowly sat up, dizzied, and began looking around. This certainly was not her bedroom and it wasn't Jack's either. The stark white three walls and then the fourth one of glass were confusing to her… where was she?
She spotted someone walking down what she assumed was a corridor and knocked on the glass.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"The Game Station… You're in 'Countdown.'" The man said.
"I'm in what?"
"Countdown, the bomb diffusing show… you've never watched it? Granted you probably won't be able to after this…" This can't be good. Shit.
Rebecca shook her head and the man let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry about this." He quickly walked away and left Rebecca standing at the edge of the cube.
"Contestant number three: Rebecca, are you ready?" a computer asked. And Rebecca didn't think she would ever be.
The Doctor woke crouched inside of a cupboard, the Doctor stood up, and the room was spinning and spinning. He began frantically feeling the walls.
"What is it? What's happening?" And suddenly he found a door and fell through it, flat on his face to the floor, where he found himself in a brightly colored room.
"Oh my God!" A woman said rushing over to him. "I don't BELIEVEit! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming!" The Doctor tried to pull himself up, but he struggled being very disoriented.
"But what happened? I was..." the woman pulled him to his feet.
"Careful now... oh!" The Doctor's legs gave way and he fell flat on his face once more. He could picture Rebecca and Rose laughing at him had they been there. "Oh! Mind yourself! Oh, that's the transmat. Scrambles your head - I was sick for days." He tried to push himself up again, and the woman helped him to stand.
"You all right?" the Doctor let out a grunt, finally stabilizing himself. "So! What's your name then, sweetheart?"
"The Doctor, I think. I was er... I don't know, what happened? How—"he looked to the woman for help.
"You got chosen." She nodded and grinned.
"Chosen for what?"
"You're a house mate. You're in the house! Isn't that brilliant?!" she laughed happily.
"That's not fair." A man's voice said, as he and another woman sat on a couch in front of a TV.
"We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks, I've followed the rules, I haven't had a singlewarning, and then he comes swanning in." he gestured to the Doctor who was still very confused.
"If they keep changing the rules, I'm gonna protest, I am. You just watch me, I'm - I'm gonna paint the walls." The second woman said. The Doctor glanced around the house, open mouthed, furrowed brow, bemused. A camera on the ceiling followed him. Big brother's voice rang out.
"Would the Doctor please come to the Diary Room?" the Doctor looked at the ceiling trying to find the source of the voice, and turned around to see a silver door with an illuminated eye on the side awaiting him. He opened the door and plopped himself on a bright red chair.
"You are live on channel forty-four-thousand. Please do not swear."
"You have GOTto be kidding."
Rose found herself lying on the floor of a darkened room, in a beam of light, beginning to regain consciousness. She looked around.
"What happened?" she asked groggily to the black man crouched beside her.
"It's all right... it's the transmat. Does your head in." Rose looked around at her surroundings, blinking trying to take it all in. "Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"
"Rose. But... where's the Doctor?"
"Just remember - do what the Android says. Don't provoke it. The Android's word is law." The man warned.
"What d'you mean, android? Like... a robot?"
"Positions, everyone! Thank you!" the manager called out.
"Come on. Hurry up!" the man said helping Rose to her feet. "Steady, steady..."
"I was travelling. With the Doctor, my friend Rebecca and a man called Captain Jack...? The Doctor wouldn't just leave me..."
"That's enough chat! Positions! Final call!" the Floor Manager called out from her position next to an inactive robot, which was being attended to by technicians. The robot was on a platform surrounded by six podiums, several people milling about.
"Good luck!" the manager said leaving. Rodrick smiled and looked at Rose.
"But I'm not supposed to behere."
"Well, it says Rose on the podium..." and it did, her name lit up on one of the podiums and she stared at it. "Come on!" He ran up and climbed up behind a Podium that said "Roderick." Rose soon followed and took a place behind her own podium.
"Hold on... I must be going mad." She looked around. "It can'tbe. This looks like the—"
"Android activated!" the Android sprung to life, raising her head.
"Oh, my God. The Android. The Anne... Droid."
"Welcome, to 'The Weakest Link'!"
Meanwhile, Jack found himself in a white sterile room, lying on a chair. "Here we go again. We've got our work cut out for us Zu-Zana." A female robot said.
"I don't know Trine-E - he's sort of handsome. That's a good lantern jaw." Zu-Zana said.
"Lantern jaws are so last year."
"Sorry... nice to meet you ladies, but where exactly am I?" Jack asked blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the light. Where was he?
"We're giving you a brand-new image." Trine-E said.
"Oh, hold on, I was with Rebecca, my girlfriend, the Doctor- Why, is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" he asked in alarm.
"It's all very twentieth century - where DIDyou get that denim?"
"Little place in Cardiff... it was called 'The Top Shop'. My girlfriend picked it out. I like it." He said proudly.
"Oh - design classic." Zu-Zana said gliding around him.
"But we're gonna have to find you some new colours. Maybe get rid of that 'Oklahoma Farm Boy' thing you've got going on..." Jack stood up in front of him and faced them, hands on hips, indignantly but at a loss of words.
"Just stand still and let the Defabricator work its magic."
"What's the Defabricator?" they didn't answer him, but instead they demonstrated. A beam of light hit Jack's clothing and it disappeared. "Okay... Defabricator. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?" he said seemingly unbothered.
"Absolutely!" Trine-E and Zu-Zana said together.
"Ladies..." he said glancing down at his body, a smug smile spread across his face. "your viewing figures just went up."
_
Back at the Big Brother House, the Doctor was attempting to Sonic open a door to escape.
"I can't open it." He said to the girl following him around.
"It's got a deadlock seal. Ever since Big Brother Five Hundred and Four when they all walked out...?" the Doctor didn't answer as he began sweeping the room for any other possible exits.
"You MUSTremember that."
"What about this?" he asked referring to the mirror in front of her.
"Oh, that's exoglass. You'd need a nuclear bomb to get through."
"Don't tempt me." He said under his breath as he scanned the edges of the exoglass.
"I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world, but you must've been watching. Do people like me? Lynda with a Y, not Linda with an I - she got forcibly evicted because she damaged the camera." The Doctor nodded, uninterested.
"Am I popular?" Lynda asked.
"I don't remember." He said indifferent to the topic, caring much more about escaping.
"Oh, but does that mean I'm nothing? Some people get this far just 'cos they're insignificant. Doesn't anybody notice me?" he looked at her with a touch of pity.
"No... you're... you're nice. You're sweet. Everybody thinks you're sweet." He grinned.
"Oh! Is that right? Is that what I am? Oh, no-one's ever told me that before. Am I sweet? Really?"
"Yeah. Dead sweet!"
"Thank you!" Lynda grinned, touched to think that people thought she was sweet. The Doctor looked over to one of the so-called windows which were solid black.
"It's just a wall - isn't there supposed to be a garden out there?" he walked toward it, Lynda following.
"Don't be daft. No-one's got a garden anymore. Who's got a garden?" she let out a gasp. "Don't tell me you've got a garden!"
"No, I've just got the TARDIS..." he examined the wall, before an epiphany hit him and he spun around him.
"I remember."
"That's the amnesia! So what happened? Where did they get you?"
"We'd just left Raxacoriofallapatorius. Then we went to Kyoto, that's right. Japan in 1336, and we only just escaped...We were together, we were laughing, and then... there was this light..." he remembered a bright line shining through the walls of the TARDIS, Rose reaching out to him, scared and bewildered. His first reaction to grab her. Rebecca and Jack trying to reach each other. "The lights coming through the walls , and then…And then I woke up here."
"Yeah, that's the transmat beam. That's how they pick the housemates."
"Oh, Lynda with a Y... sweet little Lynda..." he began pacing into the room. "It's worse than that." He stared into the mirror . "I'm not just a passing traveller. No stupid little transmat gets inside my ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means... this isn't just a game. There's something else going on." He took a step closer to the camera in the mirror. Well! Here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. I'm getting out. I'm gonna find my friends. And then I'm gonna find YOU." He placed his finger against the lens. Now only to get out of here.
Back at the Weakest Link set, the Floor Manager was counting off for the start of the show. "17... 16... 15... thank you people, transmitting in 12... 11... 10..."
"But I need to find the Doc—" Rose said to Roderick who was at his podium.
"Just- shut up and play the game!"
"All right then. What the hell? I'm gonna play to win!" she said with a smile. She might as well if she was stuck there.
"3, and cue!" the manager called out.
"Let's play 'The Weakest Link'! Start the Clock!" the Anne Droid said.
"Agorax - the name of which basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?"
"Bread."
"Correct. Fitch - in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"
"Is it... Clavadoe?"
"No, Pandoff. Rose, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"
"One hundred!" she said pleased that she had gotten it correct.
"Correct. Rodrick –"
"Bank."
"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word 'dangle' but not in the word 'gland'?"
"E." he said after a moment's thought.
"Correct! Colleen - in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?"
"Default."
"Correct. Broff - the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?"
"T- Touchdown." Broff stuttered out.
"No - Torchwood." Rose laughed, but Broff's expression was genuinely distraught.
"Agorax - in language, allfive examples of which type of letter appear in the word 'facetious'?"
"Vowels."
"Correct. Fitch - in biology, which blood cells contain iron - red or white?"
"Um... white." Rose giggled and Fitch looked as if someone had kicked her puppy.
"No, red. Rose - in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising', the Grexnik is married to whom?"
"How should I know?" she laughed at the absurdity of the situation. How was she supposed to know half of this stuff.
"No, the correct answer is Lord Drayvole"
"Rodrick - in maths, what is nine squared?"
"Eighty one."
In the Countdown studio, Rebecca had backed up to the corner of the room when a platform rose from the ground.
"You have thirty seconds on the clock, starting now." A computer's voice said. She immediately ran towards the table to see a bomb and a set of pliers, nothing else. Immediately she started scanning her memories. She had read about this before, she knew she had. She took the pliers and then cut the necessary wires and the clock stopped. She let out a sigh of relief. Six seconds left. That's when she started hearing the sounds of explosions… She felt sick, how could people be doing this?
"We have a survivor. Contestant number three, please exit your cubicle to come and collect your prize." A door appeared in her glass cube and she quickly exited. She walked in the direction she had seen the man go in a few minutes before. She cautiously entered the next door way to find someone working on the main frame.
"Ah! Congratulations on surviving. Here is your prize!" The man from before said. He handed her a silver stick.
"What's this?" she asked taking the stick.
"That my friend is ten thousand credits. Enjoy. If you make a left down this next hallway you'll get back to the teleportation room and you can be transmated back to Earth. The beam doesn't work on command so you can wait in the lounge and watch some television while you wait. Enjoy." Suddenly the door closed in front of her and she shook her head. She took the hallway left and found a supply closet instead of the teleportation room and quickly ducked inside to see if she could find anything helpful.
Film, bombs, pliers, fake fuse wires, paperwork, pens, and an assortment of other secretarial supplies but then she saw a gun. A rather large gun. More of a laser blaster actually, and she looked at it for a hard second. The Doctor would disapprove… but she had literally just survived a test in bomb disposal, she feared what else was going on here and she'd hand it over to Jack who was a much more capable shot then she was, although the riflery lessons River had given her would come in handy. She quickly grabbed the gun and made her way into the lounge.
She reached the lounge and found her eyes quickly scanning the screens looking for her companions when she spotted Jack in a robotic version of What Not to Wear and she was quickly on her way up to level 157 where Jack was.
Back in the What Not to Wear Studio, Jack was admiring himself in the mirror, flexing his muscles. He was now wearing black leather trousers and a white vest.
"It's the buccaneer look. Little dash of pirate and just a tweak of President Schwarzenegger." Trine-E told him.
"Nah, not sure about the vest. What about a little bit of colour to lift it?" he asked. It was just so bland.
"Absolutely not. Neverwear black with colour. It makes the colour look cheap and the black look boring. Now, let's talk jackets." Zu-Zana said.
"I kinda like the first one..." he said gesturing to a longer coat on the rack. It reminded him slightly of the coat he had worn when he had first met Rebecca in the forties.
"No, that's a bit too much Hell's Angel. I think I like the shorter one." He shrugged into the Jacket and looked in front of the mirror.
"Look, waist length, nice and slimming, shows off the bum." Zu-Zana said patting Jack's bum.
"Like the Jacket. Don't think my girlfriend will appreciate the groping."
"Once we've got an outfit, we can look at the face. Ever thought about cosmetic surgery?" Trine-E asked.
"Well, I've considered it, yeah. A little lift around the eyes... tighten up the jaw line... what do you think?"
"Oh, let's have a BITmore ambition..." she took a cap off her forearm to reveal a chainsaw. "Let's do something…cutting edge."
In the weakest link studio, the Anne Droid had begun the elimination and had asked Rose about herself as she held up a sign that said Fitch"So, Rose. What do you actually do?"
"I just travel about a bit. Bit of a... tourist, I suppose."
"Another way of saying 'unemployed'."
"No."
"Have you got a job?"
"Well... not really, no, but—"
"Then you AREunemployed! And yet, you've STILLgot enough money to buy peroxide. Why Fitch?"
"Uh... I think she got a few of the questions wrong… that's all." Rose glanced over at Fitch, who was looking down, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Oh, you'd know all about that."
"Well yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch... I'm sorry... that's the game. That's how it works... I had to vote for someone" Fitch ignored Rose, silently sobbing and Rose was confused. It was just a game wasn't it?
"Let me try again, it was the lights and everything - I couldn't think." Fitch begged the Anne Droid.
"In fact, with three answers wrong, Broffwas the weakest link in that round, but - it's votes that count."
"I'm sorry. Oh, please... oh God, help me!" Fitch begged. She looked around at her fellow contestants. Rose looked at her unsure of what was going on, Roderick looked away and Broff, who was apparently the weakest link was sobbing into the board he was holding up. Rose looked up at the Anne Droid.
"Fitch - you are the weakest link. Goodbye!" the Anne Droid opened her mouth and a gun protruded from it and in less than five seconds, a thick fast bolt of gold light fired and hit Fitch who suddenly disappeared. The Gun retreated back into her mouth and all anyone could see was smoke.
"And we've gone to the adverts. Back in three minutes..." the Manager said.
"Wassat? What's just happened?" Rose asked Roderick confused.
"She was the weakest link - she gets disintegrated." He said, wiping his board clean. "Blasted into atoms."
"But I voted for her. Oh, my God. This is sick." Her words rang out around the silent studio and everyone stopped to stare at her. "All of ya, you're just sick! I'm not playing this—"
"I'm not playing!" Broff said whimpering, terrified. "I… I can't do it." The Anne Droid turned to him slowly and Broff leapt off of his podium and attempted to make a run for it.
"I'm not- please, somebody let me—"
"You arethe weakest link." The Anne Droid Said, firing at Broff, who disappeared mid run. "Goodbye." Rose stared open mouth, shocked and disgusted, as the Anne Droid's gun retreated back into her mouth. Roderick shuffled at his podium uncomfortable.
"Don't try to escape. It's play... or die." He said to Rose.
Back at the Big Brother House Lynda, Strood and Crosbie had gathered on the sofa in front of the TV.
"Doctor, they said ALL the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've gotto." Lynda told him.
"Busy getting out, thanks." He muttered, standing at one of the doors, trying to open it with his sonic screwdriver.
"But if you don't obey, then ALL the housemates get punished." He begrudgingly accepted that and joined the other three on the sofa, shutting off the screwdriver.
"Well maybe I'll be voted out, then." He mused.
"How stupid are you? You've only just joined, you're not eligible." Strood sneered at him.
"Don't try anything clever or we all get it in the neck." Lynda warned the Doctor.
"Big Brother House - this is Davina Droid." A voice came over the intercom. Lynda, Strood and Crosbie all grabbed each other's hands and Crosbie grabbed the Doctor who sat back in the sofa and rolled his eyes.
"Crosbie, Lynda and Strood - you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is..." there was a long, tense pause and the Doctor rolled his eyes again, fiddling with something in his pocket.
"... Crosbie!"
Crosbie gasped and instantaneously, Strood and Lynda were all over her.
"I'm sorry! Oh, I'm sorry! Sorry!" Lynda told her.
"Oh, it should've been me, that's not fair... oh, Crosbie love..." Strood said. The Doctor simply relaxed back in the chair, stretching, resting his hands behind his head.
"Crosbie, you have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're gonna get you!" Crosbie, Lynda and Strood all leapt to their feet and rushed to the door.
"I won't forget you." Lynda promised her.
"I'm sorry I stole your soap."
"Oh, I don't mind, honestly." She hugged her.
"Thanks for the food, you're a smashing cook." Strood said kissing her cheek and giving her a hug. "Bless you." The Door slid open to reveal a small narrow, gleaming white room beyond, ending in a door.
"Bye, then... bye Lynda..." Crosbie said scared.
"Bye..." Crosbie walked into the room and waved at them until the door slid closed.
"I don't believe it. Poor Crosbie..." Lynda said quietly crying.
"It's only a game show, she'll make a fortune on the outside! Sell her story, release a record, fitness video, all of that... she'll be laughing!" The Doctor said.
"What d'you mean, 'on the outside'?:
"Here we go..." Strood said as he and Lynda dashed back to the sofa and sat down. The Doctor let out another sigh and relaxed again. There were a few tense moments as Crosbie stood in the room still waiting.
"Well, what are they waiting for? Why don't they just let her go?"
"Stop it, it's not funny." Lynda said tearfully, turning her attention back to the TV.
"Eviction in... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!" And with a golden bolt of light, Crosbie was disintegrated. Lynda and Strood stared at the screen distraught and the Doctor shot up and stared at the screen.
"What was that?"
"Disintegrator beam." Strood said. He didn't fully understand.
"She's been evicted…From life."
"Are you INSANE? You just step right into the disintegrator? Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth DYINGfor? "
"You're talking like we've got a choice!" Lynda said.
"But I thought you had to apply!"
"Don't be so stupid. That's how they played it centuries back." Strood said.
"You get chosen whether you like it or not! Everyone on Earth is a potential contestant. The transmat beam picks you out at random. And it's non-stop. There are sixty Big Brotherhouses running all at once." Lynda explained frustrated.
"How many? SIXTY?" the Doctor asked shocked.
"They've had to cut back. It's not what it was." Strood said dejectedly.
"It's a CHARNELhouse! What about the winners? What do they get?"
"They get to live." Lynda answered.
"Is that it?!"
"Well, isn't that enough?!" the Doctor stared at Lynda for a moment before striding across the room.
"Rose is out there. She got caught in the transmat. She's a contestant. Time I got out. That other contestant - Lynda with an I - she was forcibly evicted for what?"
"Damaged property..."
"What, like this?" he said pointing his sonic screwdriver directly at a camera destroying it.
"The Doctor - you've broken the House Rules." Big brother said. "Big brother has no choice but to evict you." The Doctor punched the air in triumph. "You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're gonna get you!"
"That's more like it! Come on then, open up!" he said getting up and dashing towards the door.
"You're mad! It's like you WANTto die!" Lynda said rushing after him.
"I reckon he's a plant! He was only brought in to stir things up!" Strood said. The Doctor quickly dashed into the white room the moment the door opened.
"The Doctor - please leave the Big Brother house."
"Come on then, disintegrate me! Come on, what're you waiting for?" he said looking impatiently and expectantly at the disintegrator.
"He is, he's mad. He's bonkers." Linda said.
"Disintegrate me!"
"Eviction in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Nothing happened.
"Haha! I knew it! You see? Someone BROUGHTme into this game. If they'd wanted me dead, they could've transmatted me into a volcano."
"They want me alive—"Maybe the security isn't as tight this end." He said looking mockingly up at the camera. "Are you following this? I'm getting out!" The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the lock at the door swings open. Then the door leading back into the House also swung open. Lynda popped her head through and the Doctor looked back at her.
"Come with me."
"We're not allowed!" Strood called from the couch.
"Stay in there - you've got a fifty-fifty chance of disintegration. Stay with me - I promise I'll get you out alive. Come on!"
"No- I can't, I can't..."
"Lynda, you're sweet. From what I've seen of your world, d'you think anyone votes for sweet?" Lynda saw the logic in this and after a moment's hesitation followed him out.
"Hold on... I've been here before. This is Satellite Five!" he said. He opened up a door to the side room and they stepped in and he fiddled with a control panel.
"No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth." They left the room again and the Doctor tested the walls with his sonic screwdriver.
"No one's called it Satellite Five in ages. It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a hundred years."
" A hundred years exactly. It's the year two zero-zero/one zero-zero. I was here before. Floor 139. Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then... had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy - gave 'em a hand - home in time for tea." He said checking his watch.
"A hundred years ago?" Lynda asked skeptically. The Doctor placed a hand on a touch sensitive pad to open a door, with no luck. "What, you were here a hundred years ago?"
"Yep!"
"You're looking good on it..."
"I moisturize." He looked at his sonic. "Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy... the place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?" He tried another door.
"I dunno. I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."
"I had three friends travelling with me. They must've got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?"
"I dunno. They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games."
"Like what?" he said turning to give her his full attention.
"Well, there's ten floors of 'Big Brother'. There's a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there's all sorts of shows. It's non-stop. There's um... 'Call My Bluff'... with real guns... 'Countdown', where you've got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off... 'Ground Force', which is a nasty one... you get turned into compost. Erm... 'Wipeout',speaks for itself... oh! And 'Stars In Their Eyes'. Literally,stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded."
"And you watchthis stuff?"
"Everyone does. How come you don't?" she said with a shrug.
"Never paid for my license."
"Oh, my God! You get executed for that!"
"Let them try." He said holding up his Sonic screwdriver.
"You keep saying things that don't make sense. But who are you though, Doctor? Really?"
"Doesn't matter." He said moving onto the next door.
"Well, it does to me... I've just put my life in your hands."
"I'm just a traveller, wandering past. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life."
"So... if we get out of here, what're you gonna do? Just... wander off again?"
"Fast as I can." He told her as I studied a lock.
"So... I could come with ya." She said tentatively, smiling at him, waiting for his answer. The Doctor looked up from the lock and studied her properly.
"Maybe you could." He told her. He and Rose kept getting closer and closer and that wasn't the best idea. The curse of the time lords, he'd have to watch her wither and die. But maybe he just needed some space from her and Lynda could help provide that.
"I wouldn't get in the way." She promised.
"I wouldn't mind if you did. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y." he said and she smiled cheerfully.
"But first of all, we've gotta concentrate on the getting out. And to do that, you've got to know your enemy - who's controlling it - who's in charge of the satellite now?"
"Hold on..." she ran to the opposite end of the room and pulled down a lever, illuminating huge letters on the wall that said "BAD WOLF CORPORATION."
"Your Lords and Masters." She told him and the Doctor gazed up at the letters in wonder and confusion.
Back in the What Not to Wear Studio, Jack was trying out a new outfit. "No. I'm just not getting this. It just too safe - too decent. And you'd never keep it clean." Jack said swishing a racket around in pure white, tennis garb.
"Stage Two ready and waiting!" Zu-Zana said
"Bring it on, girls!" he stood once more in front of the defabricator until he was naked in front of them once more.
"And now it's time for the face-off!" Trine-E said.
"What does that mean? Do I get to compete with someone else?" he asked punching an invisible opponent as if he were boxing.
"No, like I said - face... off!" She held up her arms and revealed that one arm had needles on the end of each of her fingers and the other a chain saw. Jack stared at it mildly surprised.
"I think you'd look good with a dog's head." Zu-Zana said, snipping the enormous scissors that replaced her forearm.
"Or maybe no head at all. That would be so outrageous."
"And we could stitch your legs to the middle of your chest." Rebecca came in at that moment and the doors opened and the two robots turned around.
"Nothing is too extreme. It's to die for."
"Sorry Ladies, he's pretty hot the way he is." Rebecca said and then without a second thought, fired the gun at both of them, blasting their bodies away. Rebecca looked up at Jack and realized he was naked and quickly covered her eyes as her cheeks began to flush.
"Uh… Sorry! Didn't realize you were indecent!" she said turning away. Jack let out a laugh.
"You never cease to amaze me Rebecca. That… that was hot." He told her.
"Shut it and get dressed" she said with a blush. "We still have to find Rose and the Doctor and at the rate that we're going I'm afraid for their lives." He quickly threw on a pair of leather trousers, a tee shirt and a leather vest and slipped into a pair of shoes. He found his vortex manipulator and strapped it onto his wrist.
He went over to Rebecca. "You can open your eyes now I'm decent." He told her. "Although you can see me indecent anytime you want." He said with a wink as she blushed again. He took out the compact laser deluxe he had hidden in the soul of his shoe, which hadn't been defabricated and patched it into the defabricator, and set it up as a gun.
"We already have a gun Jack."
"Doc'll need one and you don't like guns."
He took the gun from her hands and slung it over his shoulder, and then brushed back a piece of her hair, and kissed her hard, one hand firmly on her waist and one cupping her face. Rebecca's hand immediately went into his wonderful hair and the other on his back. She gasped for air when he released her, struggling to catch her breath after the dizzying kiss.
"Gotta find Doctor and Rose." She said slightly breathlessly. He smiled at her before consulting the device on his wrist and frowned.
"Room's shielded. How'd you find me?"
"TV lounge. I won my game and was sent to the transmat lounge to be sent back to Earth and while you waited you could watch TV and I'd know your face anywhere." She said putting a hand up to his cheek. "Come on, I can get us to the lift. Maybe the hallways aren't shielded." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the lift.
Jack stopped in front of the lift. "Two hearts," he said reading off his vortex manipulator. "But which floor."
"56." Rebecca said after a moment, counting all the floors in between the Doctor's signal and where they were. She put her hand on the touch pad and opened the lift. The two then walked hand in hand inside and hit the proper button waiting to reach their destination.
"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" Rodrick averted his eyes, and another contestant, Colleen is gone.
"Going to the break! Two minutes on the clock." The manager said "Just a reminder - we've got solar flare activity coming up in ten." Rose sighed, tired of the game. She looked to Rodrick.
"Colleen was clever, she banked all our money. Why'd you vote for her?"
"'Cos I want to keep you in! You're stupid! You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname. When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you. So that you get disintegrated, and I get a stack-load of credits. Courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation..."
"What d'you mean? Who's Bad Wolf?" Rodrick turned to her incredulously.
"They're in charge. They run the Game Station."
"Why are they called Bad Wolf?"
"I dunno, it's just a name. It's like an Old Earth... nursery rhyme sort of thing- what does it matter?
"I keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Bad Wolf." She thought back and she remembered Gwyneth back in Cardiff, the team in Van Statten's Lair, back in Cardiff with the Slitheen, Graffitti on the walls of the TARDIS, the Face of Boe had been on the Bad Wolf Channel when they visited satellite five.
"Different times... different places like it's written all over the universe..."
"What're you going on about?" Rodrick asked.
"If the Bad Wolf is in charge of this quiz, then... maybe I'm not here by mistake. Someone's been planning this..."
Another round of the game got Agorax, another contestant booted.
"That leaves Rose and Rodrick - you're going head-to-head... let's play 'The Weakest Link'."
"Right, that's the end of tactical voting... you're on your own now." Roderick said, not even looking up. Rose looked panicked, hoping silently that the Doctor would find her soon.
The Doctor and Lynda had emerged onto an Observation desk "Blimey! I've never seen it for real before! Not... not from orbit. Planet Earth..." Lynda said as they stood in front of a window observing the Earth, the whole planet had turned grey and ugly with only a few patches of light here and there.
"What's happened to it?"
"Well, it's always been like that. Ever since I was born. See that there? That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breathe outside."
"So, the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?"
"Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here."
"The Human Race. Brainless sheep. Being fed on a diet of... mind you, have they still got that Programme where three people have to live with a bear?"
"Oh, 'Bear With Me', I LOVEthat one!" Lynda said delighted.
"And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the—"
"Got in the bath!"
"But it's all gone wrong. I mean, HISTORY'Sgone wrong. Again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire - I don't understand. Last time I was here, I put it right."
"No, but that's when it first went wrong.A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels - they just shut down overnight."
"But that was me. I did that."
"There was nothing left in their place. No information. The whole planet just froze. The government - the economy - they collapsed... that was the start of it. One hundred years of hell."
"Oh, my..." the Doctor said staring at he wasted planet. "I madethis world."
"Hey, handsome! Good to see ya! Any sign of Rose?" Jack said as he and Rebecca emerged from the lift.
"Can't you track her down?" the Doctor asked.
"She must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded." Rebecca told him. "I couldn't hack into the mainframe before because I didn't have computer access. I can try now."
"If we can just get inside this computer... she's GOT tobe here somewhere." He said aggravated as he attempted to hack into the software.
"Well, you'd better hurry up. These games don't have a happy ending." Jack told the Doctor.
"You think I don't know that?"
"Doc, take a breath. I'll do this, if you have any tips pipe in." Rebecca said as she gently removed the sonic from his hand and began fiddling with the computer.
"There you go. Patch that in. It's programmed to find her." Jack said handing Rebecca his vortex manipulator.
"Thanks." She told him with a smile as she began to patch in the software.
"Hey there!" Jack said to Lynda.
"Hello!"
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Lynda Moss."
"Nice to meet you, Lynda Moss!"
"D'you mind flirting outside?" the Doctor snapped.
"I was just saying hello!" Jack protested.
"For you, that's flirting." The Doctor grumbled.
"I'm not complaining." Lynda said.
"His girlfriend might." Rebecca said. Jack turned to her.
"Hey… I really was only saying hello." He told her with a quick kiss.
"I know." She said with a sad smile. Suddenly the system beamed.
"It's not compatible." Rebecca said surprised.
"This stupid system doesn't make sense." The Doctor said gently pushing Rebecca out of the way. "This place shouldbe a basic broadcaster. The systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television... this station's transmitting something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulating my entire life. It's some sort of trap and Rose is stuck inside it. Rebecca when did you first notice Bad wolf popping up?"
"I don't know… Platform one I think the Moxx of Balhoon said something about the Bad Wolf scenario. It was after Rose started traveling with us though…" suddenly the vortex manipulator beeped.
"Found her! Floor 407!"
Lynda gasped with horror. "Oh my God she's with the Anne Droid you've got to get her out of there!" Suddenly the four of them were in the lift rushing towards floor 407.
"Rose, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which Ancient Britain City?"
"Is it York?"
"No, the correct answer is Sheffield."
"Rodrick, in literature, the author of 'Lucky' was Jackie who?"
"Stewart."
"No, the correct answer is Collins."
"Rose, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"
"Boe! The Face of Boe!" there was a few second silence. Rodrick and the Anne Droid both stared at Rose.
"That is the correct answer. Rodrick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?"
"Hoshbin Frane."
"That is the correct answer. Rodrick is in the lead by one. "Rose, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"
"Um... is it... Mars?" Rose asked clueless.
"Nope, the correct answer is Lucifer. Rodrick, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?" Rose glanced over at Rodrick and knew he didn't know.
"Would that be a goffle?"
"No. The correct answer is a paab. Rose, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"
"Shoes." She said firmly although it was a complete random guess.
"No. The correct answer is , in physics, who discovered the Fifteen-Dash-Ten Barric Fields?"
"San... Hazeldine. "
"No... the correct answer is San Chen." Behind the door of the studio, the four of them were trying to get in."
"Stand back, let me blast it open." Jack told him.
"Can't, it's made of Hydra Combination." The Doctor said pushing his sonic screwdriver to the touch sensitive pad.
"Rose, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?" Rose's last question and she had no idea.
"Reykjavik...?"
"No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura." Rodrick had won.
"Oh, my God! I've done it! You've lost!" he said gloating.
"But I'm not meant to be here. I need to find the Doctor, he's got to be here somewhere- he's always here! He wouldn't just leaveme!"
"Rodrick, you are the strongest link, you will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits."
"Oh, thank you, thank you so much."
"This game is illegal! I'm telling you to stop!" Rose said strongly although she was terrified.
"Come on! Come on!" the Doctor urged the screwdriver. Rebecca simply laid her hand on the door and it opened and the four of them ran it.
"Rose!" the Doctor called out.
"Rose, you leave this life with nothing—" the Anne Droid said.
"Stop this game!" Jack called out
"I order you to stop this game!"
"We're live on air!" the floor manager cried out as the Doctor ran across the floor as fast as he could, Rose running toward him.
"Does it look like I care that we're on the air? STOP THE GAME!" Rebecca screamed at the Floor manager.
"You are the weakest link."
"Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!" Rose called out, running towards him. The Anne Droid turned her head and the disintegrator beam hit her squarely in the back and with a scream, Rose was gone merely feet away from the Doctor leaving a pile of dust.
"What the hell did you do to her?" Jack yelled. The Doctor crouched down to the pile of dust that had been Rose. Everything else got tuned out, and he stared at where she had been… broken and hollow. Rebecca rushed over to him and tried to put a hand on his shoulder but he pushed her away.
"Back off!" Jack said brandishing his gun at the floor manager and Rodrick.
"I need security and I need it here right now! It's this lot..." A security guard quickly appeared behind the Doctor.
"Don't you dare touch him! Leave him alone! He just lost everything!" But the guar pulled the Doctor to his feet and placed a gun to his head. The Doctor didn't even resist, he just let him do it, continuing to stare at the pile of ashes.
"You killedher! Your stupid freaking game show killed her." Jack yelled as he was being taken. Rebecca struggled against the guard.
"You watch where you put your hands on her!" Jack told him.
"Sir, I'm arresting you under Private Legislation Sixteen of the Game Station Syndicate." The Security Guard said to the Doctor. He remained silent even as they moved and he was slammed roughly against a gate as he was being searched. The security guard wrenched the sonic screwdriver was wrenched from his pocket. The Doctor then was turned around to face the guard who brandished it in his face.
"Can you tell us the purpose of this device, sir?" The Doctor didn't even look up at it. The four were sat down on a bench in a prison cell as they were being interrogated. Rebecca was between the Doctor and Jack, resting her head on Jack's shoulder and holding his hand. She desperately wanted to mourn the loss of a friend that she couldn't save.
"Can you tell us how you got on board?"
"Just leave him alone—" Lynda told the guard.
"I'm asking HIM. Sir? Can you tell us who you are?" the Doctor was still unresponsive. "Come on we're taking mug shots."
The Doctor stood against the wall and the camera took a picture of him from the front and then from each side, the same occurring for Rebecca, Jack and Lynda.
"You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial, you may not appeal against this sentence." Jack, Rebecca and the Doctor made no acknowledgement to the statement, but Lynda shifted uncomfortably. Rebecca had a million questions running through her head. How do we get out of here? What do we do when we do that? Who's behind this? How do we tell Jackie what happened?
"Is that understood?" None of them responded as the Security Guard went to gate and opened it.
"Let's do it." The Doctor said to Jack and suddenly, the two men were punching and kicking their way out of the gate, tossing guards aside, knocking them out before taking their weapons. Jack looked to the two girls.
"Lynda are you comfortable carrying a weapon?" he asked her. She instantly shook her head 'no.'
"I can take it Jack." Rebecca said. He gave her a questioning look.
"You hate weapons." He told her.
"I also hate feeling helpless so hand it over." He immediately relinquished the weapon and gave it to her. "Thank you."
"Come on we gotta get to Floor 500" the Doctor said leading them back to the lift. The four exited and entered the control room where Jack immediately took charge.
"Okay! Move away from the desk! Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clears!" The staff scattered as the Doctor strode toward the Controller.
"Stand to the sides. And stay there." Rebecca told them.
"Who's in charge of this place?" the Doctor asked the controller, woman as the hard drive, brandishing his gun at her.
"... 18... 19... 20..."
"This Satellite's more than a Game Station."
"79..."
"Who killed Rose Tyler?" he asked angered.
"All staff are reminded that solar flares—"
"I want an answer!" he ordered.
"... in delta point one."
"She can't reply." A male programmer said, the Doctor abruptly swung the gun around to the staff, making all of them flinch.
"Don't shoot!"
"Oh, don't be so thick. Like I was ever gonna shoot." He tossed defabricator to the male programmer. "Captain, we've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits."
"Yes, sir!"
"You - what were you saying?" the Doctor asked the Male Programmer .
"But... I've got your gun." He said nervously.
"Okay, so shoot me. Why can't she answer?"
"She's, um...Can I put this down?" he said gesturing to the gun.
"If you want, just hurry up."
"Thanks. 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."
"What's her name?
"I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known."
"Door's sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes." Jack called over.
"Keep an eye on 'em."
"But that stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station - I think you're right. Unauthorized transmats... it's been going on for years. " Suddenly Jack's vortex manipulator beeped.
"Show me" the Doctor said.
"Jack, what is it?" Rebecca said walking over to him.
"Something in Archive 6." He said looking over at the wall.
"I'll check it out."
"Be careful gorgeous." He said giving her a quick peck.
"I always am." She went over and laid a hand on the touch pad.
"You're not allowed in there! Archive Six is out of bounds!" A female programmer said coming up from behind Rebecca.
"Do I look like the kind of girl who obeys the out of bounds sign?" she said raising her gun a little bit. The programmer backed up a bit and Rebecca opened the door. She smiled, there in the middle of the room was the TARDIS. She quickly removed the key from her neck and unlocked the door, entering the console room. The TARDIS gave her a comforting hum as she entered.
"Hello Old girl." She said patting the wall. She looked over the handrail and found one of Rose's jackets, and could feel the tears welling in her eyes. The TARDIS gave her a comforting hum and she looked up at the console which had revealed the structure of the disintegrator beam used and that of a transmat side by side.
"What on Earth?" she asked as she compared the two, finding them identical. "Old girl you are FANTASTIC!" she said grabbing her gun and running out.
"Solar-flare activity at delta point zero..." the Controller said.
"If you're not holding us hostage, then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified." The Female Programmer said to the Doctor.
"That's the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day—"
"That's not our fault, we're just doing our jobs."
"And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me. Now back off." He said disgusted. One of the screens in the room turned to static and the sound of power winding down rang out.
"That's just the solar-flares. They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet Earth gets a few repeats. It's all quite normal." The Male Programmer said.
"Doctor..." the Controller called out feebly.
"Doctor?" The Female Controller said louder.
"Whatever it is, you can wait."
"I think she wants you." She said pointing to the Controller.
"Doctor..." the Doctor hurried and stood before, she stared at him blindly. "Doctor...? Where's the Doctor?"
"I'm here."
"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?"
"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..."
"Who are your masters?"
"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 programmes. I could hide you inside the games."
"My friend died inside your games." The Doctor said coldly.
"Doesn't matter."
"Don't you DAREtell me that."
"They've been hiding. My masters, hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth... so, so, so many years... they've alwaysbeen there. Guiding humanity, hundreds and hundred of years—"
"Who are they?"
"They wait. They plan and grow in numbers, they're strong now. So strong, my masters—"
"Who are they?"
"But they speak of you. My masters, they fear the Doctor."
"Tell me! Who are they?" he said stepping forward. The Controller gasped as the power flicked back on and she returned to counting as she had before.
"20... 21... 22..."
"When's the next solar-flare?"
"Two years time." The programmer answered.
"Fat lot of good that is."
"Doc, I found the TARDIS!" Rebecca said entering the room.
"We're not leaving now."
"No. But the TARDIS is Fantastic and worked something out for us. Now if you'll excuse me sir." She said to the programmer taking his now vacant seat. "You'll wanna watch this." She said hitting a few buttons on the keyboard.
"Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?" she said pointing to a spot on the floor.
"I- I just wanna go home."
"It'll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can?" Rebecca promised as Lynda complied with her request and stood in the empty space.
"Everybody watching? Okay... three, two, one— " and suddenly she hit a button, and a disintegrator beam shot down from the ceiling and hit Lynda, leaving nothing but smoke behind.
"But you killed her! You disintegrated her!"
"Oh that kills people now does it? Oh I'm in the wrong, aren't I?" she said sarcastically. "No it doesn't. Now watch." She pressed a button and Lynda reappeared, slightly dazed but completely unharmed.
"... What the hell was that?" Lynda asked.
"It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator - a secondary transmat system." Rebecca explained. "The TARDIS showed me the structure of what they used and the actual transmat and they are identical… Do you see where I'm going with this?" the Doctors eyes lit up and Jack smiled at her.
"People don't get killed in the games! They get transported across space! Doc, Rose is still alive!" The Doctor laughed with relief and picked up Rebecca spinning her around. She laughed, overjoyed and Jack came and kissed her.
"That's amazing!"
"She's out there somewhere!" the Doctor said suddenly serious, rushing around from computer to computer.
"Doctor!" the Controller called. "Co-ordinates five point six point one—"
"Don't! The solar flare's gone, they'll hear you!" The Doctor said as Rebecca began frantically typing in the coordinates.
"Point four three four- no my masters, no! I defy you! Stigma seven seven—" she let out a scream, and the wires she was attached to fell, empty. She was gone, nothing left but a pile of dust.
"They took her." The Doctor said sadly. Rebecca began searching databases for any possible ending coordinates.
"Look, use that." The Male Programmer said handing her a disk. "It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions."
"Nice... thanks..." she said inserting the disk, never stopping her eyes scanning for proper coordinates.
"I'm Davitch Pavale."
"And I'm in the middle of something." She said continuing her search. Jack let out a laugh.
"I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this is my beautiful, intelligent girlfriend Rebecca." He said leaning down and kissing the top of Rebecca's head.
"There's a time and a place." The Doctor warmed.
"Are you saying this entire set-up's been a disguise all along?"
"Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone's been playing a longgame. Controlling the Human Race from behind the scenes for generations."
Rebecca took a device and clicked it up toward the ceiling, and an image of an empty expanse of space.
"The transmat delivers to that point. Right on the edge of the solar system." She said highlighting it with a red laser.
"There's nothing there." The Female Programmer complained.
"It lookslike nothing. 'Cause that's what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission, there's another signal..." the Doctor said.
"Doing what?" Davitch asked.
"Hiding whatever's out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner...There's something sitting righton top of Planet Earth... but it's completely invisible."
"It's not completely invisible," Rebecca told him. " there's a slight shine above it that isn't from a star."
"Perception filter. No one would even think to look for it. Fantastic. If I can cancel the signal." He took over control of the keyboard. And suddenly the space was no longer empty. A space ship filled the void, revolving slowly. The view zoomed out and revealed that it wasn't just one ship. It was a fleet of two hundred ships. "That's impossible. I know those ships... they were destroyed." Jack said."Obviously, they survived." The Doctor said in a hushed tone. Rebecca looked up at them. Who was it?
"Who did? Who are they?" Lynda asked.
"Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them."
"Half a million what?"
"Daleks." A surge of fear flooded Rebecca. Things had not gone well last time they encountered the so called 'last' Dalek and if Rose was terrified of one thing… it would be Daleks.
"Rebecca open up Comms. We're talking to the Daleks." She did as she was told and soon a Dalek appeared standing next to Rose.
"I will talk to the Doctor." The Dalek said.
"Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!" he waved at the Daleks mockingly, his fake grin fading quickly.
"The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh, really? Why's that then?"
"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated." Rose was shaking and looked up at the Doctor on the screen.
"No." the Doctor said and everyone stared at him agape.
"Explain yourself."
"I said 'no'."
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
"It means 'no'."
"But she will be destroyed."
"No! 'Cos this is what I'mgonna do - I'm gonna rescue her. 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 STINKINGDalek outta the sky!" Rose's eyes shined with pride as she smiled at him.
"But you have no weapons! No defences! No plan!" the Dalek argued.
"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death? Rose?"
"Yes, Doctor?"
"I'm coming to get you." He said with a smile before he clicked the line shut. "Well come along," he said to Jack and Rebecca. "We have to go get Rose."
AN: So yeah… here's the chapter I hope the next one will be up end of this week beginning of next.
So are you all sad to see Matt Smith go? Let me know what you think.
Favorite, Follow, Review.
Lots of Love, Emma.
