Chapter Twenty-four -
"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you." Suki said once they had reached the lift that would take Suki to Floor 500, and to her death. They had walked with Suki to her dorm where she packed a small bag that held her most important items, stating that once she got the Floor 500 they would supply her a new wardrobe. Afterwards they had quickly stopped off at a special kiosk (this one not rusted or broken down and one that people seemed to avoid) where Suki was given her key to Floor 500. "Floor 500. Thank you." Suki said smiling at Rose and the Doctor.
"Why are you thanking us? We didn't do anything." Rose told her.
"You're my lucky charms." Suki told them.
"Well, than, come here. Give your 'lucky' charm a hug. I'm in the mood to hug everyone." Rose told her before pulling Suki into a tight hug, knowing that this would be the last time. She let Suki go and forced on a smile as the young woman hugged the Doctor awkwardly. Rose laughed when the Doctor let Suki go before he quickly pulled Rose into a hug and quick kiss on the lips. Once the Doctor had let go of Rose, she quickly walked around the Doctor to Adam (whom she had saw mentally freaking out off to the side). "Come on, it's not that bad." Rose whispered to him.
"What, with the... The head thing?" Adam stumbled out nodded towards Cathica who was silently glaring at Suki in jealousy.
"Yeah, well, she's closed it now." Rose told him, not seeing what the big deal was.
"Yeah, but..." Adam started before sighing and shaking his head. "It's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to..." Adam stopped and sighed once more. "Ah, if I could just... Cool down, sort of acclimatize." The wording Adam had used to try and get alone to send a message about the future to his mother had never made sense to her. What could he possibly do to help himself to 'acclimatize' himself that he hadn't already seen or done could do?
"How do you mean?" She asked him.
"Maybe if could just go and sit on the observation deck." Adam suggested. "Will that be all right? Soak it in, you know. Pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200,00." Even back then, when she had first gone through this (before she knew what his plan was) this excuse had sounded flimsy and weak. But, then again, at the time she didn't think that there would be any harm in letting Adam wander around by himself, even thought to let him borrow her TARDIS key, not realizing the danger she would be putting her and the Doctor in at the time. However, she knew better now. She would allow him to wander alone and be stupid enough to get the door to his brain in his forehead, but she would be keeping the TARDIS key way from him.
"Should I come with you?" Rose offered, a hopeful light flash through his eyes before he hid it.
"No, no, you stick with the Doctor." He told her. "Not like he'd let you out of his sight, especially if you're with me." He told her with a smirk nodding his head towards the Doctor who was still with Suki and Cathica and yet was watching them like a hawk. "Probably thinks I'm gonna steal you away." Adam winked at her.
"If you can't even handle this Satellite, you're not gonna be able to handle me." Rose told him, eyes flashing Gold as Bad Wolf brushed the surface of her mind. Fear suddenly flashed through Adam's eyes, his human brain comprehending that there was a predator around, but not realizing what or where the predator was, just that it was there.
"Yeah, yeah. I think I'm starting to understand that it's gonna take a better man than me to get between you two." Adam told her fear fully, Rose smirked at him dangerously.
"The only man that can come between me and the Doctor as another version of the Doctor." Rose whispered to him making sure that the Doctor couldn't hear her.
"Right, anyway..." Adam said, wisely choosing not to comment on her last statement, hopefully assuming that she was talking about a different Doctor from either the past or future (which technically wouldn't be too far off). "I'll be on the deck."
"Right, well, come get you when we're ready to head off. Don't wander off and get lost, and if you do decide to wander off and get lost, keep my mobile on you so that we can phone you." Rose told him before watching him walk off.
"Oh, my God!"" Suki cried catching Rose's attention. "I've got to go, I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry!" She grabbed her bag and took off into the lift as Rose made her way back over to the Doctor and Cathica. "Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!" She cried out as the lift doors closed.
"Good riddance." Cathica muttered under hear breath.
"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." The Doctor said.
"We won't." Cathica told him gaining a confused look from the Doctor. "Once you go to Floor 500, you never come back." The Doctor's confused look quickly turned into one of concern. "Right, best get back to the office." Cathica sighed out before turning and walking back towards her office.
"Have you ever been up there?" The Doctor asked, taking Rose's hand in his before following Cathica.
"Can't" Cathica said. "You need a key for the lift and you only get a key with a promotion. No one gets to 500, except for the chosen few."
"Have you been to any other floor than this one?" The Doctor asked as they entered her office.
"Look, they only give us 20 minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?" Cathica asked as she began to check over the equipment.
"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" The Doctor tried again as he moved to sit in the main chair receiving a hard stare from Cathica, either from his continued questioning or him sitting in her chair.
"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived." She told them. "That's medical, that's when I got my head down. And then I... I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat, and sleep on the same floor, and that's it, that's all." She said before realization sat in. "You're not management, are you?"
"She's finally using her brain. She's clever when she does that." Rose said with a smirk causing the Doctor to chuckle.
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." Cathica hissed at them.
"Don't you even ask?" The Doctor asked.
"Why would I?" Cathica snapped out.
"You're a journalist!" The Doctor pointed out. "Why's all the crew human?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asked slowly and Rose could see she was going over everything that was happening, mentally fighting with herself. Part of her was defending everything that was happening the other was whispering that something was wrong.
"There's no aliens on board. Why?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. No real reason." Cathica began defending. "They're not banned or anything."
"Then where are they?" The Doctor asked. Cathica looked away in thought, her mental fight becoming harder.
"I suppose Immigration's tightened up. It's had it, what with all the threats." She defended though Rose could see the doubt beginning to grow.
"What threats?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know, all of them, usual stuff." Cathica defended weakly as she tried to fight off the doubt and suspicion. "And the price of space warp double, so that kept visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see?" Rose could see Cathica beginning to panic, wanting to get rid of all of her doubts and questions that were beginning form, wanting to go back to being blind about the whole situation, but not being able to. "Just lots of little reasons, that's all."
"Adding up to one, great big fact. And you didn't even notice." The Doctor taunted, having also seen Cathica's mental war.
"Doctor, I think, if there was any sort of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything." Cathica hissed.
"Not if Satellite Five is the one causing the conspiracy." Rose pointed out receiving a shocked and terrified look from the woman.
"Rose is right. We're not part of the conspiracy so we can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology." The Doctor told her.
"It's cutting edge!" Cathica defended.
"It's backwards." The Doctor told her. "There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago!"
"So, what you think's going on?" Rose asked the Doctor as she watched Cathica's mind going over everything she knew once more.
"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think." The Doctor told her. "The Great and Bountiful Human Empire is stunted. Something's holding it back."
"And how would you know?" Cathica asked.
"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years." The Doctor told her, fear flashed through Cathica's eyes at that. "When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" The Doctor asked, having seen the flash of fear.
"91 years ago." Cathica whispered.
~Replay~
"We're so gonna get in trouble." Cathica hissed at them while the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to on the door to the mainframe, pulling Cathica's attention from keeping watch to them. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, we'll get told off."
"Rose, love, tell her to button it." The Doctor growled as he focused on bypassing the lock.
"Sorry, he get's like this when he's focused on something." Rose told Cathica with a small smile.
"You can't just vandalize the place, someone's gonna notice." Cathica hiss and Rose raised an eyebrow at her before making a show at looking around the main hub area. With the way this place looked, no one was going to question a few loose wires from a wall. The Doctor got passed the lock on the door to the mainframe and pulled it open, taking a look at the wiring before diving in. He quickly began pulling at wires and connecting wires to different places.
"This has nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work." Cathica stated, her fear taking control.
"Go on then, see ya!" The Doctor cried as he handed a group of wires to Rose for her to hold.
"I can't just leave you, can I?" Cathica groaned, her need to know and understand what was happening taking over once more as the Doctor took the wires from her before motioning to the wires on the ground that were getting in the way.
"If you wanna be useful," Rose growled at her, as she quickly pulled all the loose wires out of the way, "get them to turn the heating down, it's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?" She complained, unzipping her top a little more in hopes to cool off a little.
"I don't know, we keep asking. Something to do with the turbines." Cathica told her.
"'Something to do with the turbines'." The Doctor mimicked her in annoyance as he began to tug at a grouping of stubborn wires.
"Well I don't know!" Cathica cried causing the Doctor to turned to glare at her.
"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica." The Doctor told her before motioning to Rose. "Now looking at my beautiful, smart, and clever Rose." Rose couldn't stop the blush that appeared on her face. "My Rose is asking the right kind of questions."
"I do try." Rose said. Was this how the TARDIS felt whenever the Doctor praised and bragged about her to his companions?
"Why is it so hot?" The Doctor asked as he continued to struggled with that stubborn grouping of wires.
"One minute you're worried about the Empire, and the next minute, it's the central heating." Cathica cried out in confusion.
"If there is one thing to be learned here by you, Cathica, it is this: Never underestimate plumbing. It is very important. It can tell you more about a building that the people working in it. Plus, it'll never lie to you to try and save it's arse." Rose told Cathica before laughing at the Doctor when he accidentally ripped the grouping of stubborn wires in half. He gave her a 'whoops' face before shoving the wires away before finishing connecting the wires he needed to. The screen on the mainframe flickered before showing them the layout of the plumbing for Satellite Five.
"Here we go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." The Doctor told Cathica as he showed it to her as he stepped down from the mainframe.
"This is ridiculous." Cathica breathed out as they all took a good look at the layout. "You've got access to the computer's core. You could look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange..." Cathica looked at them in confusion. "...And you're looking at pipes?"
"But there's something wrong." The Doctor told her. Cathica looked back at the layout, her eyes taking in everything.
"I suppose." She muttered, refusing to accept what she was seeing.
"Why? What is it?" Rose asked her, wanting Cathica to explain it to her so that she, herself, would start to accept it.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters. All working flat out. Channeling massive amounts of heat down." Cathica explained in a whisper before glancing upwards.
"All the way from the top." The Doctor agreed.
"Floor 500." Rose said as Cathica turned to look at them in shock and fear as her mind began to slowly accept what they were showing her.
"Something up there is generating tons and tones of heat." The Doctor said.
"Well, I don't know about you," Rose started with a smirk, "but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?"
"You can't, you need a key." Cathica told them weakly.
"Key's are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." The Doctor said motioning towards the mainframe. "Here we go." He leaned between Cathica and Rose and began to type into the mainframe. "Override 215.9." The screen finished putting in the code before he could even finish, alerting Rose that the Editor was watching them and had given them the code.
"How come it's giving you the code?" Cathica asked as the Doctor turned around and looked at the camera just above them.
"Someone up there likes me." He said.
"Best not keep them waiting then." Rose said taking the Doctor's hand and lead him and Cathica to the awaiting lift that opened the second they got near. "Come on, come with us." Rose said as she and the Doctor entered the lift, even though she knew that Cathica was meant to wait down here before she came to save them.
"No way!" Cathica hissed.
"Bye!" The Doctor said with a smirk as he waved at her with his free hand. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice let Rose know that he knew that Cathica wouldn't stay down here for long. That they had awoken her curiosity and that she would eventually cave and make her way up to Floor 500.
"Well, don't mention my name." Cathica told them. "When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." Rose wanted to inform Cathica that she was already involved, that she had been seen on camera with them. Cathica glared at them before turning and stomping away.
"That's her gone, Adam's given up, looks like it's just you and me." The Doctor told her as the lift doors shut while pulling her closer to him, wrapping his arm around her waist. "As it should be." He told her huskily.
"Down boy, we've got a mystery to solve and then Adam to drop off at home first." Rose told him with a smirk. She watched as his eyes narrowed before glancing at the quickly raising numbers deep in thought. "Don't even think about it, with out quick those numbers are going up, we'll make it to Floor 500 long before you can get your fingers into my nickers." The Doctor pouted alerting Rose that she was right, he wouldn't have the time. "What do you think we'll find up there?" Rose asked, hoping to get his mind back on the situation they were in.
"I have no clue." The Doctor said, "But, from the looks of the plumbing, your little joke about the walls being made of 'cold' instead of 'gold' might actually be right." A minute later the lift sounded, alerting them that they had made it to their destination before the doors opened to show a frozen waste land. The Doctor released her hand to carefully walk out of the lift. "I think you should go wait downstairs with Cathica." He told her and Rose glared at him. She was not going to allow him to send her way.
"Tough." Rose growled at him as she made her way out of the lift before slipping and sliding her way down though the room, feeling his his annoyed look on her back as she did so. "Shit!" Rose cried as her foot gave way and she found herself on her arse.
"This is why I wanted you to wait downstairs." The Doctor muttered as he helped her up before wrapping his arm around her waist, keeping her steady, as they made their through the room.
"A few bruises on my arse isn't going to hurt me, hell, I'm sure you've given me worse bruises on my arse and thighs during sex." Rose told him with a smirk.
"Sorry." The Doctor mumbled looking ashamed.
"Hey, now. None of that, if I was bothered by it don't you think I would have mentioned it before now?" Rose asked.
"It's not right for me to hurt you in anyway. I promised myself, swore not to hurt you." The Doctor muttered to her.
"Doctor, look at me." Rose ordered as she forced them to stop walking so that she could have the Doctor's full attention. "I don't mind a little bit of pain during sex, I actually like it. The pain grounds me. It helps me know that, when we're having sex, that I'm not dreaming. That it is really, truly happening." Rose told him truthfully.
"Yeah?" The Doctor asked. "You dream about me? Dream about having intercourse with me?" Rose laughed lightly at his wording.
"Of course! Since the moment I first saw you." Rose told him. It had been true, after the first time she had met him her first time around, she had had a dream about him (of course it hadn't been a wet dream, those dreams had come later). The Doctor smiled wildly at her. "Right, not lets get this meeting over with so that we can go drop Adam off at his parents, and then we can celebrate having the TARDIS to ourselves again."
"Sounds like a plan. I like that plan." The Doctor said with a nod before beginning to help her through the room once more.
"I started without you." The Editor said the moment they had stepped into the room he and his army of zombies were. "This is fascinating." He said with a laugh. "Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire." Her and the Doctor began to walk examine the work station and the people 'working' there. "Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two... You don't exist." The Editor gave another chuckle. "There's not a trace. No birth, no job, no license. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"
"Talent." Rose told him before her eyes were drawn to Suki's body. "Suki! Suki!" She heard herself cry before her body rushed over to the woman that she knew was dead. Bad Wolf needed her to over here so that she could be easily caught, giving them away to catch the Doctor. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?" Bad Wolf forced her to ask.
"I think she's dead." The Doctor informed her.
"But she's working." Bad Wolf made her comment.
"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets." The Doctor explained.
"Oh!" The Editor cried out is excitement. "You are full of information. But it's only fair we get some information back. Because, apparently you're no one." He said with a chuckle. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you, Rose, come along." The Doctor growled out before turning and tried to leave, only to get caught by two of the 'workers'. Rose shot up to try and help him, only to get caught by Suki.
"Tell me who you are." The Editor demanded as the Doctor was forced to turn around and face the man while Rose was dragged over to him.
"Since that information is keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor growled out.
"Well, perhaps my Editor-In-Chief can convince you otherwise." The Editor said with a smirk.
"And who's that?" The Doctor asked. The Editor smirked and made a show of glancing around before leaning in and stage whispered to her and the Doctor.
"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." The Editor informed them before loud growling and snarling sounded, echoing off the walls making it impossible for one to locate the sound if they didn't already know where to look. Rose flinched and had to keep herself from looking up at the beast attached to the air vent above them, knowing she wasn't supposed to know it was there.
"Yeah." The Editor said looking away from them as the growling and snarling continued. "Sorry! It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He snapped his fingers before pointed up at the beast. Rose looked up and looked at the mass of melted worm like creature with rows and rows of sharp teeth, like a shark.
"What is that?" Rose asked.
"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor asked as they were manhandled into manacles.
"'That thing', as you put it, is in charge of the human race." The Editor said causing the Doctor to look at him in shock. "For almost 100 years, mankind has been shaped and guided. His knowledge and ambition, strictly controlled by its broadcast new. Edited by my superior, you master, and humanity's guiding light, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max." Rose began to wonder when Cathica would get there, if she was gonna get there.
"That fear of being caught by non-humans is the reason you've closed the boarders." Rose hissed at the Editor.
"Create a climate of fear, and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis." He told her with a proud smirk. "The right word in the right broadcast, repeated often enough can destabilize economy. Invent an enemy. Change a vote."
"And all the people on Earth become slaves?" Rose growled out.
"Well, now, there's an interesting point." The Editor said with a wide smile. "Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
"Yes." The Doctor growled out.
"Oh," the Editor whined, "I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm gonna get? 'Yes'?"
"Yes." The Doctor growled out once more causing the Editor to laugh.
"You're not fun." The Editor told him.
"Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am." The Doctor told him darkly.
"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?" The Editor taunted with a chuckle. "But come on! Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."
"You can't hide something on this scale without anyone noticing." Rose told him.
"From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains." Rose flinched in disgust when a large glob of slobber from Max landed on her shoulder, she liked this shirt and now she had to bin it. "I can see the smallest doubt and crush it." Rose felt Bad Wolf shifted in her mind and the image of Cathica flashed through her mind. Had Cathica made it up? Or was Bad Wolf warning her that Cathica had decided not to follow her curiosity?
"And then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs," movement behind the Editor alerted Rose that Cathica was there, "and all over the surface of the Earth, like they're so individual. When, of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."
"What about you? You're not a Jagrafess. You're human." Rose said hoping to keep the Editor distracted.
"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well." The Editor hissed at her.
"You couldn't have done this all on your own." Rose said.
"No!' The Editor agree with a chuckle. "I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also the Jagrafess needed a little hand to, um, install himself." Rose looked back up at the Jagrafess before looking at Cathica, over the Editor's shoulder, to see that she was looking at it as well in shock.
"No wonder, creature that size. What's its lifespan?" The Doctor asked his tone letting Rose know he was fishing for information for Cathica.
"3,000 years." The Editor informed.
"That's one hell of a metabolism, generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life-support system." The Doctor informed Cathica gaining her attention.
"You see, that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." The Editor said before snapping. The manacles on them activated and began to shock them with enough electrical current to hurt them without killing them. "Who are you?" Rose tried to stop her scream of pain, she really did. The Editor snapped again, and the electricity stopped.
"Leave her alone!" The Doctor begged. "I'm the Doctor! She's Rose Tyler! We're nothing, we're just wandering!"
"Tell me who you are!" The Editor demanded snapping once more. Rose screamed in pain, closing her eyes, hiding the glow in her eyes when she felt Bad Wolf rise to the surface to protect her. The Editor snapped again, cutting off the electricity causing Rose to sag, the only thing keeping her up was the pole the manacles were attached to.
"I just told you!" The Doctor yelled.
"Yeah, but who do you work for?" The Editor asked. "Who sent you? Who knows about us?" He raised his hand to snap again. "Who exactly..." He froze, eyes becoming unfocused. Adam was in the chair. "Time Lord." He breathed out.
"What?" The Doctor asked in scared confusion and Rose fought back a flinch knowing how much information Adam knew about the Doctor, about the Time War, from the bunker in Utah.
"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords and his traveling machine. With his little human whore from long ago." (Whore?! Did Adam really see her as a whore?! Oh he was going to wish the Doctor would throw him out of the air lock once I'm done with him! She screamed and ranted in her mind) The Doctor growled dangerously, baring his teeth, at the word 'whore'. His growl deepened when the Editor pet her.
"Don't know what your talking about." The Doctor growled out.
"Time travel!" The Editor his as the Doctor fought against the manacles to try and get in between her and the Editor as he pet her once more.
"Pet me again, and you're going to regret it." Rose growled, her eyes flashing at him.
"Someone's been telling you lies." The Doctor growled pulling the Editor's attention from her back to him.
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The Editor taunted snapping. A screen appeared in front of them to show Adam in a chair, a door to his brain open as a beam of condensed information streamed into his head. Rose wanted to feel pleasure at his pained screams, but she couldn't.
"Oh, my God, his head." Rose muttered.
"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Doctor asked shocked at the absolute stupidity of Adam's actions. "They're reading his mind, he's telling them everything!"
"And through him, I know everything about you." The Editor taunted with a smirk. "Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've see in your T-A-R-D-I-S. TARDIS!"
"Well, you'll never get your hand's on it, I'll die first!" The Doctor growled, and Rose was happy that she didn't give Adam her TARDIS key this time. That it was safe around her neck.
"Well, die all you like, I don't need ya. I know where the key is." The Editor said. Rose's eyes narrowed when she saw the Editor look at her neck. She growled when he began to walk over, and knew he was intending to take her key.
"Touch me and I'll kill you." Rose threatened him gripping the bars connecting her manacles to the bar, ready to donkey kick the Editor should he get too close. "I won't let you get this key without a fight! And even if you somehow managed to get the key from me, she wouldn't let you in anyway!"
"That's it Rose, no more strays!" The Doctor growled out glaring at the image of Adam.
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind form ever developing." The Editor said as he reached over to try and take the key. Rose raised her legs, and with all of her might, kicked the man square in the chest causing him to grunt and stumble back, falling onto Suki and the desk. "Do that again, and I'll kill you." He hissed at her as she dropped her legs back to the ground.
"Rose." The Doctor warned and Rose glanced over at him to see he was looking at Cathica. "Once you get my TARDIS no one's gonna stop you. Because you bred a human race which doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold." The Jagrafess began to growl and snarl as Cathica turned and ran towards a chair that Rose had spotted on their way to the editing room. Minutes later there an alarm started going off.
"What's happening?" The Editor asked turning his attention to the control panel. Rose watched, through the screen still up, as the beam in condensed information streaming into Adam's mind stopped. "Someone's disengaged the safety." He snapped and the screen changed from showing Adam slumped on the chair to Cathica. "Who's that?" The Jagrafess began snarling and growling and the Editor began running along the control panel.
"It's Cathica!" Rose cried out happily.
"And she's thinking." The Doctor said proudly. "She's using what she knows."
"Terminate her access!" The Editor ordered.
"Everything we told her about Satellited Five, the pipes, the filters, she's reversing it!" The Doctor said before nodding at the ice on the walls that were starting to melt. "Look at that. It's getting hot."
"I said, terminate her." The Editor growled. "Burn out her mind." Cathica began to fight back with her mind, causing the control panel to spark and the Editor to fling himself away form it. The satellite began to shake and shiver as Rose's manacles unlocked. She quickly pulled her wrists form them before searching through the Doctor's bigger on the inside pockets of his leather coat, looking for his screwdriver to unlock his manacles.
"Left inside pocket!" The Doctor told her. "Hurry! She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool, and now it's sitting on top of a volcano!" The Doctor told her with a nervous laugh.
"And let me guess, it's volcano day." Rose said as she found the screwdriver. The Jagrafess growled and snarled and hissed angrily as she quickly clicked through the settings trying to find the correct one. She really needed to get the Doctor to give her her own screwdriver.
"Yes, I'm trying, sir!" The Editor cried out. "But I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of the staff with an idea!" Rose found the setting and began to unlock the Doctor's manacles as the Jagrafess began to lash out at them.
"You know, if I had my own screwdriver, I wouldn't have had to waist time finding yours and you'd be out of these manacles by now." Rose told him as the left manacle unlocked.
"I'll see about getting you one once we get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor told her as she started working on the right manacle. "Oi, mate! You want to bank on a certainty?" He called to the Editor as Rose unlocked his right manacle. "Massive heat in a massive body," he took her hand, "massive bang! See you in the headlines!" They ran out of the room, not once looking back. They jumped over pillars that had fallen from the shaking, dodged calling icicles, and splashed through puddles of melted snow and ice as they made their way to Cathica.
There was a loud 'pop' sound and Rose knew that the Jagrafess had exploded as they got to Cathica. The Doctor snapped his fingers closing the door to her brain and stopping the stream of information. Cathica looked at her and the Doctor with a small smile. "You saved us, thank you." Rose told her softly.
~Replay~
"We're just gonna go." The Doctor told Cathica. They had made it back to Floor 139 that had been in chaos. Rose glared at the boy as he waited patiently by the TARDIS that the Doctor had moved when she had when in search of the boy. His face bruised from the multiple slaps she had given him upon finding him. "I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage."
"You'll have to stay and explain it." Cathica told him urgently. "No one's gonna believe me."
"Well, they might start believing a lot of things now." The Doctor told her. "Human race should accelerate. All back to normal." Rose, with the help of Bad Wolf, shoved the urge to tell the Doctor that that's not what was gonna happen.
"What about your friend?" Cathica asked glancing over at Adam.
"He's not our friend." The Doctor growled at her before standing up, taking Rose's hand and stormed over to Adam. It was his turn to give him a piece of his mind.
"I'm all right now." Adam said, cowering away. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge." The Doctor grabbed Adam by the back of the neck with a dark and dangerous growl. "Ow! You're hurting me!" Adam whined as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS.
"A whore is she?" The Doctor asked as he threw Adam into the TARDIS.
"What?" Adam asked as he fell to the ramp.
"You think my Rose is a whore? Just because she won't sleep with you?" The Doctor growled as he picked Adam up by the collar of his shirt and all but threw Adam further up the ramp.
"Tell me, Adam, how exactly does me not sleeping with you make me a whore?" Rose asked as she leaned against the door watching as the Doctor picked Adam up and tossed him onto the captain's chair and pinned him down by rope that suddenly appeared.
"You better be thanking what ever God you believe in that nothing seriously hurt my Rose because of the idiotic stunt you pulled." The Doctor growled before turning towards the console and began to plug in coordinates.
"Wh-where are you taking me? What are you gonna do to me?" Adam asked fearfully.
"To a place you'll never be able to cause anyone any more trouble than you already have." The Doctor growled slamming down the lever to dematerialize them. The TARDIS purposefully made the ride feel rougher than it actually was to heighten up Adam's fear. The landed what a heavy 'thud' and the Doctor ripped Adam from the captain's chair and ropes.
"No! Please! Think about this! You don't have to do this! I've learned my lesson!" Adam cried as the Doctor forced him down the ramp. "Rose! Rose! Talk to him! He'll listen to you! Please! I'm sorry! I was angry! And hurt! I didn't understand why you would choose him over me! I'm sorry!" The Doctor opened the TARDIS and threw Adam out causing him to scream in fear before where they actually taken him registered in the boy's mind.
"It's my house. I'm home." Adam whispered in confusion before he laughed in relief as Rose followed them out. "Oh, my God, I'm home!" He looked at the Doctor. "Blimey. I though you were gonna chuck me out of an airlock."
"Oh, believe me, he wanted to. You'd be floating in space, dead, if it weren't for me, the whore." Rose growled at him.
"Is there something else you want to tell me?" The Doctor asked, glaring at the boy. Fear flashed through Adam's eyes.
"No." He quickly said before catching himself. "Erm, what do you mean?" The Doctor stormed over to where the answering machine was and picked it up. It was obvious that the Doctor had figured out the reason Adam had gotten the door to him brain installed. "The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could have changed the world." He sat the machine back down before destroying it with his screwdriver, effectively destroying the message. "That's it, then. See ya." The Doctor quickly made his way back over to Rose and the TARDIS.
"How do you mean, 'See ya'?" Adam asked.
"As in, goodbye." The Doctor growled out turning to glare at him.
"What about me?" Adam asked in confusion honestly expecting them to keep him because he now had a door to his brain. "You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens."
"What, like this?" The Doctor growled out before snapping his fingers, causing the door to Adam's brain to open.
"Don't!" Adam growled out, snapping his figures, closing the door.
"Don't do what?" The Doctor taunted, snapping his fingers, opening the door.
"Stop it!" Adam demanded, snapping his fingers and closing the door.
"All right now, Doctor. That's enough. The two of you could go on forever like this and nothing would get solved. Now you promised me a night on Apollonian for music and relaxation!" Rose hissed out glaring at the Doctor.
"Thank you." Adam told her, Rose glared at him before snapping her fingers, opening the door. "Rose!" He cried out in betrayal.
"Well, aren't I just a silly, little whore?" Rose asked, her glare deepening. Adam gave her a tight lipped look before snapping the door closed again.
"The whole of history could have changed because of you." The Doctor told him darkly as he took Rose's hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"I just wanted to help." Adam told him.
"You were helping yourself." The Doctor said.
"And I'm sorry. And I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am." Adam begged. "But you can't just leave me like this."
"Yes, we can. 'Cause if you show that head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds." The Doctor informed him. "You'll have to lead a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. And Rose was right, this is the worst kind of punishment that a guy like you could have for the rest of your life. Have fun." The Doctor said before opening the TARDIS door and began leading Rose inside.
"But I wanna come with you." Adam told them.
"Well tough, because we only take the best, and you're far from the best. You are the worst." Rose told him before quickly entering the TARDIS with the Doctor right behind her.