Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor, the TARDIS, Rose or any of the characters, planets, technology etc that appear in Doctor Who. I wish I did but who doesn't?

Chapter Summary: The Doctor decides to search for the mysterious blond man, thinking he has something to do with the dead man. Rose does some shopping and makes a new friend.

Chapter Three: In Search Of Answers

'I don't understand,' Rose huffed as she followed the Doctor.

'Nothing new there,' he snapped over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes. 'Thanks for that,' she called dryly. 'I mean, why are we running?'

'Trying not to get caught by anyone in authority!' He skidded to a halt and she almost crashed into him.

'I realise that,' she said, stepping back. 'Why are we running in this direction?'

'I want to speak to that man,' he said shortly, looking around intently. 'I'm sure he disappeared into this direction.'

'What man?' she asked, trying to catch her breath.

'There was a man, dressed in black. He was watching, he didn't seem bothered by what was going on. That makes me suspicious.'

'Why?'

'Why?' He turned around and treated her to an incredulous look. 'What do you mean? Because it is, that's why.'

'It was only a question,' she said sulkily.

'Come on.' He started walking, trying to look inconspicuous and succeeding perfectly. Rose skulked along behind him, still taking in the sights. Even the horror of the sight they had just witnessed wasn't enough to curb her interest in the city. And the shops.

'Stop ogling the sights,' the Doctor said without looking around. 'We have work to do.'

She pulled a face at his back and, still not looking around, he said, 'And stop that. It makes you look above five years old.'

'You know, you have work to do,' she pointed out. 'I didn't even see this guy you're talking about.'

'Then shut up and let me work,' he said testily.

Rose shook her head. 'You are in a seriously bad mood, you know that?'

He wrinkled his nose, looking irritated and said, 'Why don't you go – shop, or something?'

'Shop?'

'Isn't that something you humans like doing?' he asked.

She folded her arms. 'This is a 'go away while I go poke around' hint, isn't it?'

'Yeah, it is.' He gave her a plaintive look. 'Go on, go enjoy yourself. I'll call you when I find something.'

'Oh, all right,' she said reluctantly and then smiled as he tossed something to her. 'Is this money?'

'Yeah, go enjoy a shopping trip,' he said. 'Just stay out of trouble!' he yelled as she shrugged and walked away. He sighed, seeing she was annoyed. However, sometimes it just didn't do to have anyone around, especially when he was likely to be getting himself into some serious trouble. Besides, humans liked shopping, didn't they? He had some vague recollection that Rose has occasionally referred to 'retail therapy' although he wasn't exactly certain how spending large sums of money that you probably didn't have on things you probably didn't need constituted as therapy. Then again, he'd never pretended to understand humans.

Now. Down to business. The Doctor looked around, making sure he wasn't being watched and went in search of a computer.

Rose's irritation with the Doctor sending her off with some pocket money vanished quite quickly. The sheer amount of shops and people were enough to keep her interested, even if she hadn't had any money to spend. Since she did, she decided to spend as much as she wanted, never mind the Doctor. And if he actually noticed how much he had spent, she could point out that he had left her behind. That would probably shut him up.

So she spent an enjoyable couple of hours trying on clothes, shoes and buying a few things. A couple were presents; things for her mum, Mickey and so on. She got herself some lunch, although she wasn't entirely certain what to get, so she just got several items and sat down on a bench to try some of them.

Unwrapping the neat box of food the man on the food stall had made up for her, she regarded the contents dubiously. None of it was remotely recognisable, at least not to her, and although she was familiar with using chopsticks, the single serrated skewer was not something she was familiar. She poked suspiciously at something that looked like a purple tentacle and wondered what on earth she had got herself into with this. Not only did she not have a clue what she was eating but she also didn't have a clue how to eat it. Not wanting to look stupid, she took her time poking at the contents of the container, trying to figure out how to eat the damned stuff.

The Doctor had acquired a computer. Acquired in the sense that he had pick-pocketed someone, very quickly and skilfully, and had then retreated to a dark corner of Circle Three to use the thing. After a little bit of twiddling with the sonic screwdriver, he worked out how to use it, how to get past the passwords the owner had secured it with. Unfortunately, the previous owner hadn't reckoned on a mind like the Doctor's and it took him only a matter of minutes to get into the tiny, hand held computer. It wasn't much more than a personal organiser, good for checking bank details, messages and so on, but for most people, it wasn't much use otherwise. However, the Doctor wasn't most people and, with a bit more twiddling, he found what he wanted.

'Access to the Network,' he said happily, out loud. The Network was similar to the Internet, but was limited. For one thing, it contained only factual information, mainly about everything that was going on in the planet's system at the time. It contained news reports, statistics, lists of who was who in the city, flight timetables, space shuttle timetables, and so on. Hacking into the Network was easy enough for the Doctor and it wasn't too hard to find what he was looking for. He found a report on the dead body that he and Rose had witnessed dying, which was reported as being alleged terrorist activity.

'Millions of years later, it's still the number one excuse,' the Doctor muttered and continued his search. There was little else on the dead man, and nothing solid.

He changed tactics and started searching through lists of important and influential people on the planet. He was certain that the blond man he had seen knew something; he had been the only person there who hadn't been shocked or horrified, or even a little surprised. He had looked as if he had expected or known what was going on.

When he couldn't find anyone of any importance who matched the man's description, the Doctor gave that up, deciding that he should try another tactic.

He started looking for anything unsual in the past few months, checking all the news reports for other incidents similar to the one that he and Rose had witnessed.

It made uneasy reading.

There had been a lot of similar incidents recently.

Most of them had been covered up.

Now was probably the time to meet up with Rose again. They had work to do.

Rose had spent enough time poking aimlessly at her food. She was hungry, didn't want to just toss it in the bin. Tentatively, she stabbed at a bright green ball of some weird substance and eyed it as she lifted it out of the container.

'Having fun there?' an amused voice asked. She looked around. There was a man stood opposite her, smiling with obvious amusement.

'This is kind of new to me,' she said apologetically.

'First time visitor?' he asked, sitting down beside her. 'I wouldn't have recommended the Tivelli takeaway, myself.'

'No? What's wrong with it?'

'Damned difficult to eat, that's what.'

Rose laughed and examined him. He was tall, thin, with spiky blond hair that had black streaks running through it, turquoise eyes and a faint smile. He was very cute, she had to admit, and the amended that thought. Way above 'cute' and heading into 'gorgeous' and 'sexy' territory. She was glad she had dressed up a little bit for this excursion.

'So, how would you recommend I try and eat this?' she asked him.

'In private.' He grinned and she realised that he was teasing her. Even better, he was flirting with her. 'Actually, it's not too bad. Just use the skewer – there's no specific way to eat this stuff unless you're at some big fancy dinner.'

'What is this stuff, anyway?' she asked, putting the green ball in her mouth.

He blinked and said brightly, 'So, you're from off planet, right?'

'You can tell?'

He nodded. 'I've lived here for years, of course I can tell. You're a human, right?'

'Yes,' she said slowly. 'And you're not?'

His smile was slightly bitter. 'Half,' he said after a moment. He seemed to expect her to comment upon this and when she didn't, he added, 'I'm a hybrid.'

'Yeah?' she said with some puzzlement. 'And?'

He looked genuinely thrown by that comment and was about to say something when a commotion broke out behind them. There was shouting and yelling, the voices raised and angry. People in black uniforms were heading their way.

Rose looked at her new friend who had gone white. He got to his feet and was looking over the heads the crowd at the approaching black uniforms. He looked angry.

She looked in the direction he was, trying to see whatever it was he was looking at. When she turned around again, he was gone.

'Where'd he go?' she demanded aloud, bewildered. He had just melted into the crowd, had simply disappeared.

Her mobile rang. She answered it. At the same moment, she got up and strolled nonchalantly out of the way of the commotion, trying to keep from being noticed. It worked. No one paid any attention to a tourist on a phone. The people in the black uniforms were pushing people out of the way, shouting and shoving, and people were yelling back, stepping away or even running away.

'Hi,' she said. 'You found anything, Doctor?'

'Not exactly,' he said down the phone. 'But I have found something interesting, it might be related to this distress signal but it might not be.'

'Hence the not exactly. You want me to come and find you?'

'We'll meet at the entrance of Circle Three,' he said.

'I have no idea where the entrance is anymore.'

'There are signposts everywhere,' he said impatiently. 'Fifteen minutes. I'll see you there.' He hung up.

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