Title: Manipulation of the Mind
Author: Trustno1
Disclaimer: checks recent e-mails Nope, still not mine.
Rating: K+
Chapter II
Rose materialised next to the Doctor in an identical silver teleporter with a small gasp of surprise.
"That was better than I thought it'd be."
"Of course it was – this is the 29th Century; the first human Empire; the largest science lab this part of the Universe after that unfortunate incident on Zephloid Three. The Quevvils really didn't have a thing on this teleporter," the Doctor said, striding off towards a large brick building about a hundred yards away. Rose on the other hand, took a moment to gather her bearings after having her atoms dispersed over a distance about the size of Europe and then assembled again in approximately 0.5 seconds. They were now no-where near the jungle, and the air was pleasantly warm, with a slight breeze that ruffled her blonde hair. The building the Doctor was making a bee-line for didn't look much like a laboratory on the outside; more like an Edwardian, three storey brick school, complete with a rather large antennae and satellite dish on the roof. Odd trees were scattered around the large meadow that surrounded this building, and in the distance – maybe half a mile away – Rose could make out a series of smaller buildings, still resembling a small school campus rather than a scientific base. Casting a cursory glance over her shoulder, she gave a small start at what appeared to be half a space ship lying in the middle of a field, a couple of men wandering around and poking bits of it that were hanging down. She grinned at the resemblance to the Doctor.
"You coming then or what?" the Doctor said loudly over his shoulder. Rose jogged up to him, slipping her hand into his as she did so. The Doctor didn't seem to have noticed.
"So, this is where we're going to get the bit that the TARDIS needs, the, erm…"
"Micro-investigative-receptor to upgrade the multi-lingual-investigative chip in the TARDIS's inter-planetary scanner," the Doctor said.
"Yeah, that. And in Rose speak…?"
"It's a chip that makes the TARDIS hurry up and tell me what language a species speaks, and translates that language quickly. We're getting a bit of time delay at the moment; very inconvenient if you're being given 30 seconds to answer a question before being decapitated." He flashed her a quick grin, then whipped out his sonic screwdriver and set to work on the keypad next to the door.
"Y'know, we could try just knocking for a change," Rose suggested as the Doctor glanced furtively round the door and stepped inside.
"Nah, more fun this way." They were inside what looked like a large living room, with furniture placed haphazardly around from every era Rose could think of. An entire wall was covered with hundreds of incredibly flat T.V. screens that showed everything from views of the campus they were on, to other areas of the planet, and a couple of T.V.'s with normal looking television programmes on them. A kitchen area was set back in a far corner with something that looked suspiciously like the replicator thing from Star Trek that made food appear, in Rose's opinion. Not that she'd seen many episodes, only when she couldn't be arsed to change the channel. And through a set of sliding doors to the rear, a small, energetic looking man in his late 50's was running towards them.
"Er, Doctor?"
"Doctor!" the man yelled happily, stopping just before he barrelled into both of them and began pumping the Doctor's arm up and down, much to the astonishment of Rose. "Long time no see! How're doing? What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've fiddled something else to death and need me to replace it again," he sighed dramatically. The Doctor merely gave him the mock affronted look he had graced Rose with earlier.
"Hello, Greg. And for your information, I don't fiddle or break things – I just need an upgrade. Oh, this is Rose. Rose Tyler." His friend – Greg – turned to Rose as if seeing her for the first time. She had already decided, with his comment about the Doctor's fiddling, that she would like him, and she was won over. He had the look of a kind granddad, with excited, intense blue eyes that reminded her of the Doctor's. He couldn't keep still, reminding Rose of a kid at Christmas, or the Doctor most of the time, and looked like a very fun scientist, instead of Rose's first thought of lots of nerdy people in glasses with stern faces.
"Nice to meet you," she smiled, offering her hand.
"Very nice to meet you," he replied, smiling and raising his eyebrows at the Doctor. "London, England, beginning of the 21st Century?" The Doctor nodded. "What's a beautiful young woman like you hanging around with riff-raff like this!" Greg asked. Rose giggled at the Doctor's frown.
"Well, he blew up my place of work about two minutes after we met, took my hand and told me to run for my life. So I did," she smiled, directing all of this at the Doctor, who smiled back. Greg observed this little exchange with interest. As Rose had done with him, so he had made his mind up about the Doctor's friend almost instantly. She was young, about 20, but she looked to have her wits about her, which was confirmed with her previous comment. He particularly liked the way she gazed around the scientist's break room, with a kind of child-like awe that he often saw in the Doctor's eyes. He supposed this was one of the reasons he asked her to travel with him. If the wonder that she was looking at a massive projection of the Human Empire was anything to go by, she looked to be an attentive – and he hesitated to say 'companion' – to the Doctor, a person that never tired of anything that was thrown her way, and attacked each day with as much gusto as the last. Again, strikingly similar to the Doctor, he mused.
"So, Rose isn't your companion?" Greg asked, with a slightly confused frown. In reality, he could tell exactly what Rose was to the Doctor, he merely liked having fun, and seeing his friend getting a little flustered, if only for a moment.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Oh, well, no reason. So," he dismissed it with a clap of his hands, but not before he gave Rose a small wink. "What can I get you, Doctor?" he asked as he led them away through the doors.
End Chapter II