Steven wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, but he had found himself sat in a hotel room with a pretty girl, eating something called 'pasta' as the clock struck midnight. He wasn't exactly handsome, but not ugly either. Most people dismissed him as a computer geek and barely glanced at him twice, but that meant that he managed to go through life pretty much able to do what he wanted without being questioned by other people. Yet, there he was, with a short ginger girl with a great laugh, who knew the Face of Boe, answering really mundane questions about where they were currently at in the universe.

"You know, I've never met anyone from Earth before." He told her as she twisted some of the long, stringy pieces of pasta around her fork. She popped it in her mouth, chewing it thoughtfully for a moment.

"It's not that interesting." She replied, "Day to day, we're all a bit dull. It isn't much different that here. We get up, go to work, go home and sleep."

"Except today I've gone to the swankiest hotel I know, with a woman who knows the greatest head in a jar in existence, and we're eating some sort of stringy, meaty dish at midnight. That's not very dull, I can tell you." He insisted and she grinned. He smiled back, he couldn't help it. If only his teenage self could see him now.

"It's spaghetti bolognese. It's my favourite all time dish." She explained. It hadn't actually been on the hotel's menu, but she'd asked them if they could make it. Being a special guest of the Big Boe Face himself, they'd been happy to oblige, although she'd spent ten minutes on the phone explaining to the head chef how to make it. He'd done a wonderful job.

"Still, it's brilliant. One of the most extraordinary things that's ever happened to me, I can tell you." He continued and she beamed happily.

"Well, there's plenty more where that came from. Do whatever you want, I'm not paying." She told him, glad she wasn't on her own. She was scared for many reasons. Firstly was that the Doctor wasn't there, and had yet to show up. That wasn't a good sign but she could write that off to Rose-Ten seeing her and flying away. Wouldn't be the first time that had happened, after all, but she didn't even have her phone on her so she couldn't call for help. Or a lift. That was Amy's fault for borrowing it before they were chased by the giant slugs that Eleven had insisted they see.

Then there was the fact Jack wanted her to stay there and investigate what was going on. And, quite frankly, she wasn't sure she even knew how to do that on her own. Sure, she'd been in this universe for a good few years now, but she'd never been away from the Doctor doing what he did. She'd helped, of course she had, but she'd never had to lead anything before. She didn't even know where to start.

"How did he even know I was here?" She mused out loud, a frown on her face. He did have incredible psychic abilities as a giant head, but he'd obviously planned for her to be there well in advance, otherwise how did she have a job?

"Who?" Steven asked, confused.

"The Face of Boe." She clarified, "I've been..." She trailed off for a moment before shrugging, "Travelling for ages. How did he know I was coming here?" Steven shrugged, trying a flat bread with garlic butter on it.

"Because he's the Face of Boe?" He said as a reply before nodding in appreciation, "This is lovely. I need to go to Earth, fast. If only it wasn't so frickin' expensive."

"Dip it in the bolognese." She told him and he did. He grinned, looking like he'd never tasted something so good in his life as he munched happily on it. Danni watched him, totally delighted by his reactions. This must be what the Doctor felt like when he showed his companions new things that to native species might have been mundane, but they found so exciting. She could see why he put up with them, it was rather amazing.

"Who do we even work for?" She asked.

"Oh." He put down his plate, rearranging himself on the sofa they'd been eating on, "It's not very interesting. They're called Diahold Systems, they provide secure data storage for large businesses who can't be bothered looking after it themselves."

"So, it's just a large building full of hard drives?" She asked, "That doesn't seem very suspicious. Do they deal with anyone dodgy?" Steven nodded.

"Most large companies are rather dodgy, aren't they? Otherwise how would they get so big in the first place?" He had a point, "It's all sent to us through this one server, which sorts it out and stores it efficiently. It's what people think is sentient, because it's polite. But it's just the programming."

"Why make a computer polite though?" She asked, chucking her arm on the back of the sofa and leaning her head against it.

"The original programmer had good manners?" Steven offered before shrugging, "It's just people overreacting."

"You think so?" Danni asked him, "You've never once wondered if all those people are right?" He shook his head.

"Nope." He replied, popping the 'p', "Because if they were, someone would stop it."

"Maybe that's why I'm here." She mused out loud, "Maybe I'm supposed to stop it." She sighed, tilting her head slightly as she seemed to stare him down, "I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm always the companion, never the Doctor."

"Who's the Doctor?" Steven asked. She smiled fondly, her eyes shining at the thought of this person.

"He's my..." She laughed slightly, "He's my everything, I suppose. This is what we do. We go around fixing things. Saving people and planets, that sort of thing. It's just, usually, I just follow his lead." The way she said it, not bragging at all, just stating it as a fact made him believe her. She wasn't showing off, she was just explaining her predicament.

"Oh, well, that puts a damper on my plans." He replied and she frowned.

"What do you mean?" She asked. He then placed his arm on the back of the sofa, reclining as if he was getting relaxed.

"I was going to ask you out, but you're already with someone." She stared, surprised, then laughed.

"Well, you got dinner and a night in my hotel room." She retorted, "Not too shabby, is it?" She stood up, stretching slightly, "I'm gonna go to bed. Feel free to borrow the couch." Steven watched as she headed into the bedroom of the, quite frankly, apartment-like suite they were in. She shut the door behind her and he turned back with a sigh.

Of course she had a boyfriend. There was always going to be a catch, wasn't there? He laid down on the sofa, kicking his shoes off as he did. And he went around fixing problems like some sort of super hero. Steven would bet every game console he owned that he was big, muscularly but in an understated way. Like something out of a comic projection. Physician by day, crime fighter by night.

Oh well, at least he'd get a chance to meet the Face of Boe. If the head had possessed hands, he would have asked for an autograph. He'd just have to settle for a picture instead. He closed his eyes and clapped his hands once. The lights turned off and he was quickly fast asleep.

~0~0~0~

Danni decided the best course of action was to do exactly what Jack said to do, so she went back to Diahold Systems with Steven the next morning, her goal to keep an eye out for anything odd that might be happening. She reasoned to herself that Jack wouldn't have upped and left for a five-day vacation if it was really, truly awful, or something he really didn't think she could handle. Maybe this was her time to shine, show that she wasn't just someone who trailed after the Doctor, relying on her knowledge of what he would be doing to help save the day. New setting, new danger, just Danni.

Steven had been a great help getting her into the right frame of mind. He had spent the walk to work chatting about inane things like television shows, and new games he wanted to try out. Normal, everyday stuff that didn't really affect her anymore. In the elevator up to their floor, which she had found out yesterday on the way out was floor 26, two people had joined them for about four floors. They'd stood their in silence, not looking at each other but when they'd departed Steven had sworn that they were sleeping together, despite one of the being in a long term relationship. Danni had been hooked, asking him about other bits of gossip he might have had. He was amused by how fascinated she was by it, but she had never had this before. She'd never had a job before being flung into this universe, so whilst it was mundane for him, it was positively intriguing for her.

She sat down behind her desk, shooting Steven a grin which he returned, and went to do her job. Typing the password made her smile, now he'd pointed it out all she saw was Theta Sigma and the Doctor always made her smile.

Good Morning D. Fielding.

It was strange, when she'd been on the system yesterday she had just seen it's replies as prompts telling her she'd done her job. Now that Steven had told her it was if it was being polite, it was as if it was talking directly to her. He was turning out to be rather useful, her own little companion. If she'd had her own TARDIS, she would have asked him along at the end of this adventure. But she didn't, and it wasn't her place to bring along new friends. Still, for now, he could be her companion. Danni Fielding and Steven... she frowned, she really should find out his surname. The screen started scrolling like it had done the day before, the little flashing cursor showing when she should start typing if she noticed anything amiss. Still, the idea that the computer was talking to her stuck in her mind as her fingers twitched over the old-fashioned keys.

Good Morning Computer.

She felt bad calling it 'Computer', but she didn't have another name for it. The moment she had hit send she had felt ridiculous. She was talking to a computer, which she knew in itself wasn't a new thing for the date she was currently sitting in, and definitely wasn't new to her, but didn't seem right for what this system was suppose to be. Maybe Steven was right, maybe it was just polite programming. It made more sense for there to be something wrong with the company than the system, Jack surely knew how awful she was with technology. When she thought back on it, the last time she'd have even done something mundane like check her emails was before she'd landed in the TARDIS. Even by her own, contemporary standards she was a dunce computing-wise. All she could confidently say she could do now was play Peggle.

It seemed like so long since she'd gone to Craig's work, but she was still the Peggle Queen.

I hope that you're well.

She had been so deep in her thoughts she had almost missed it, but the computer had replied to her greeting. She took a subtle look around, but no one seemed to be even remotely concerned or startled by whatever they were doing. Steven looked bored out of his mind, slouching in his chair so much he was almost lying down. She turned back to the screen.

I am, how are you?

Her chest was tight in anticipation, although she didn't know why. It was possible for computers in her time to reply to simple questions, why did it seem so wrong that this one might be able to as well? She supposed it was because she'd come to realise that if something seemed out of place, it usually was. And the computer having the ability to talk back seemed wrong.

Better now you're here, sweetie.

And Danni's heart missed a beat.

~0~0~0~

Saren watched out of her office window, subtly peering between two of the blinds that hung down, as Danni seemed to straighten, eyes widening at the system's latest reply. This would not do, this would not do at all.

She had known something was wrong the moment she'd received the call stating a personally recommended 'friend' of the Face of Boe was being stationed in her office and that they were to be put on Surveillance duty. The Face of Boe, whilst known pretty much throughout the universe, never really dealt with anything that wasn't of the uttermost importance. Many of his companies used their storage pools, but Diahold always dealt with the managers, the Face of Boe having too much to do to worry about things like that. So him suddenly taking an interest in them, specifically the security had immediately rang her alarm bells.

Now this 'friend', who obviously had no idea where she was or why she was there, had brought out an instantaneous reaction in the system. There had been instances where it'd began to communicate with members of staff, but they were quickly removed or distributed elsewhere. They couldn't do that with Danielle. One word back to the Face of Boe and they'd lose two thirds of their business overnight. They'd have to go at it from the opposite end. She pressed the small button on her constant companion, a tiny telephone earpiece, waiting for the person on the other end to answer.

"Charles, it's Saren." She started, standing up and heading to the window, watching the red-headed human, "The system is talking again. Take care of it." She hung up before Charles had a chance to reply, smirking triumphantly at the oblivious little girl before heading back to her desk.