I want to thank all my devoted readers! You are what keeps me going with all my stories. While I love everything I wright your reviews keep a smile on my face and your ideas just might end up in one of the chapter.
Sanura Bey
After our encounter with the Dalek and adding Adam to our team, the Doctor wanted to surprise us with our new destination. When the TARDIS stopped its whirring, the Doctor, Rose and I stepped out.
"So, it's 200,000, it's a spaceship... no wait a minute, space station, and uh... go and try that gate over there. Off you go!" He told us, leaning against the TARDIS motioning to a door.
"200,000?" Rose asked him, making sure that she'd heard him right.
"200,000." he confirmed for her.
"'Kay." She told him walking back to the TARDIS. I leaned against the time machine next to my Doctor and laughed at his raised eyebrows. Rose opened the door and called to the boy inside. "Adam? Out you come." Adam soon stepped out with his mouth wide open catching flies.
"Oh my God." He said, turning making sure he saw everything.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." I told him.
"Where are we?" He asked us.
"Good question. Let's see. So, um... judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000." Adam nodded at Rose''s words and mumbled an okay, still boggled by the sites. "If you listen... engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down... Tell you what - let's try that gate. Come on!" She walked to the gate the Doctor had pointed out to us earlier and didn't wait for us before walking in herself. The Doctor grabbed my hand and we followed Adam and Rose into the other room.
"Don't worry she'll need you soon enough." I told the man at my side as we walked.
"What makes you think I'm worried?" He asked me.
"Oh, come on. You like impressing us with your knowledge and the wonderful sites and you know it. But sometimes a woman's touch is needed to impress a man." I told him smiling. "Rose just want's to impress her new boyfriend just like I impress you."
"And what makes you think you impress me?" He asked me with a joking smile.
"How else could you put up with me for so long?" I asked him.
"Because, believed it or not, I like having you around." he told me as we walked in Rose and Adam were staring out a large observation window at the Earth below us. "Here we go! And this is..." She paused as she got her first real look at the Earth. Adam held onto the rail tightly, as though he needed help to stand. "...I'll let the Doctor describe it." Rose said, staring awestruck at the view.
"The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is. Planet Earth at it's height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons - population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species - with mankind right in the middle." The Doctor told us. We all stared down at our home then Adam fainted with a girlish sigh. None of us turned around to look at him.
"He's your boyfriend." I reminded Rose.
"Not anymore." She told me as we continued to admire the view.
"Come on, Adam. Open your mind." The Doctor told him as we walked around, the Doctor's arm around my shoulders and my hand in his. "You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent - culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners-" A man bumped into us and turned back to face us, giving us a rude look.
"Out of the way!" He demanded and the station suddenly sprang to life around us. Food stalls were set up and people bustled past the four of us to queue up all talking around us.
"One at a time..." A chef called out. The stall keepers took their customer's orders as the Doctor looked around bemused at what was going on around us. "Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back." I looked at the people and the food they carried then turned back to the Doctor.
"Fine cuisine?" I asked him
"My watch must be wrong." He told me checking his watch. "No, it's fine... weird."
"That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Rose told him as we walked around a little.
"My history's perfect." he told her.
"Do you remember what was supposed to be Naples 1960 turned out to be Cardiff 1969" I asked him.
"We did eventually go to Naples 1960." he reminded me.
"Yes and we got chased by the police because they thought you kidnapped me." I reminded him.
"They're all human. What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?" Adam asked, bringing our attention back to this station.
"Good question. Actually, that IS a good question." The Doctor said jovially putting his other arm around Adam's shoulders. "Adam, me' old mate, you must be starving."
"No, I'm just a bit time sick." Adam told him.
"Nah, you just need a bit of grub." The Doctor told him then turned to the chef. "Oi, mate - how much is a cronk burger?"
"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue." he told him going back to his job.
"Money. We need money." The Doctor said running off. We followed him to what I guessed was a kind of ATM machine. "Have to use a cash point." he told us. The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver to the cash point and what must have been some futuristic version of a credit card falls out. The Doctor grabbed the metal strip looking item and handed it to Adam.
"There you go - pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets." he said, walking away a little.
"How does it work?" Adam asked him.
"Go and find out!" The Doctor told him, turning to him. "Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers." I laughed at him, remembering an incident where that happened and my reaction. "...or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" The Doctor said shooing him away.
"Have fun on your first date." I picked at Rose.
"You're going to get a smack, you are. Don't forget your own date." She said before following Adam. I looked at the Doctor smiling and he grinned at me. We walked around a little bit and his grin faded into a thoughtful look. He walked up to two women who were walking past us, chatting.
"Erm... this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell me where we are?" The Doctor asked them indicating to both of us.
"Floor 139... could they write it any bigger?" One of them asked us indicating to large letters and numbers saying FLOOR 139.
"Floor 139 of what?" I asked them
"Must've been a hell of a party." The first woman said looking to the two of us.
"Oh, you're on Satellite Five." the second woman told us smiling.
"What's Satellite Five?" the Doctor asked them.
"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" the first woman asked him.
"Look at me, I'm stupid." he says smiling at her.
"Hang on, wait a minute - are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?" the second woman asked us. The Doctor and I looked at each other and decided to go with it.
"You've got us. Well done. You're too clever for me." he said showing them the psychic paper.
"We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion." the second woman quoted.
"Right. Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500 I'll do anything." the first woman told us fixing herself up.
"Why, what happens on Floor 500?" I asked her.
"The walls are made of gold. And you should know... Mr. and Mrs. Management. So... this is what we do." she said leading us towards multiple screens. "Latest news... sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day... space lane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Bo has just announced he's pregnant."
"Oh, I get it. You broadcast the news." I said looking at the small screens.
"We ARE the news." the first woman told us as the second woman smiled at us. I smiled back at her as the first woman continued talking to us. "We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. 600 channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going though us." An alarm sounded over the intercom and everyone began to abandon the area.
"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!" The Doctor called to my sister and Adam. Rose beamed at us and immediately got up from their spot to join us, followed closely by Adam.
The six of us were soon joined by several others in a room, where the news casting took place. There was a chair in the middle of raised octagonal platform in the middle of the room, around which the other staff members were sitting cross legged. In front of them were pads on which to place their hands. The Doctor, Rose, Adam and I stood leaning against some railings at the side of the room. The first woman stood in the middle of the octagonal platform addressing the room.
"Now. Everybody behave. We have a management inspection." She turned to us. "How do you want it? By the book?"
"Oh, right from scratch, thanks." he told her grinning. She turned away and the Doctor and I turned to smirk at each other.
"Ok, so - ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot - my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a 'C', in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please... do..." I smiled at her and watched the Doctor give her a non-committal jerk o f his head. "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy." she said turning to smile at us.
"Actually... it's the law." the second woman said smiling at us as well.
"Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm... don't show off for the guests... here we go." she said irritably to the woman then laid back on the chair. "And... engage safety..." the staff around her held out their hands over their hand pads each of the eight walls around us lighting up at their actions. Cathica clicked her fingers and a door on her forehead opened, revealing her brain. My face scrunched up in disgust at it, good thing I hadn't eaten. The staff around her placed their hands down on the pads in front of them and closed their eyes. "And 3... 2... and spike." From the contraption over the chair, a blue light spiked down into her brain, flowing information into her.
"Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain IS the computer." The Doctor explained to us.
"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius." I said looking at the information flowing.
"Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up." The Doctor told me as he began to walk around the room. I walked in the opposite direction from him as Rose and Adam stood by the door. "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."
"So, what about all these people round the edge?" Rose asked as I knelt down by Suki.
"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place." he said completing his circuit around the room and leaned on the railing next to Adam. "Now, that's what I call power."
"You alright?" Rose asked Adam.
"I can see her brain." Adam said, pointing out the obvious to us.
"Like I said Adam, you'll get used to seeing weird thing." I told him.
"Do you want to get out?" Rose asked him.
"No... no. This is technology, it's... it's amazing." he told us.
"This technology's wrong." The Doctor told us and I immediately looked at him and smiled.
"Trouble?" I asked him.
"Oh yeah." he told me smiling at me and my smile grew. I was glad something was going wrong, it would have been boring if it hadn't.
"You would be excited for trouble." Rose told me. I turned to her and her smile gave her away, she was excited also. Suddenly there was a slight shuddering sound and Suki twitched. Suki then gasped and lifted her hands off the pad as though she has just received an electric shock. The other members of staff were forced to lift their own hands too and the lights in the walls turned off. The compressed information stopped streaming into Cathica and the door in her head closed as Suki rubbed her hands, breathing heavily.
"Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?" Cathica asked, irritated that they were stopped.
"Sorry, must've been a glitch..." Suki told her as Cathica got off the table. A loudspeaker then sounded in the room and a projection sprang to life on the wall opposite us.
"Promotion."
"This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name." We looked at Cathica with mild concern over her praying just a tad too hard. "Say my name, say my name..."
"Promotion for... Suki Macrae Cantrell." Suki's name flashed on the projection and her mouth fell open while Cathica looked at the screen like she'd been gutted. "Please proceed to Floor 500." Suki stood quickly as she continued to stare at the projection.
"I don't believe it... Floor 500..." she said awestruck.
"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!" Cathica said.
"I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance... and they've said yes!" Suki said looking at us.
"That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!" Cathica whined.
"What's Floor 500?" Rose asked us.
"The walls are made of gold." The Doctor and I said at the same time.
After Suki gathered her bags we met her by the lift to say goodbye. The only person not with us was Adam who was a little ways away staring at us.
"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you! Floor 500..." Suki said sincerely to Cathica before turning to the Doctor and I. "Thank you!"
"We didn't do anything!" I told her smiling.
"Well, you're my lucky charms!" She told us hugging me.
"All right! I'll hug anyone!" The Doctor said. She giggled at him then let go of me to hug him. I watched as Cathica looked anywhere but at Suki. Rose then walked up to me, I hadn't even noticed her leave us.
"Can I have your TARDIS key?" She asked me.
"Sure, are you and Adam going back?" I asked her.
"He's going to walk around for a moment and go back to the TARDIS if it gets too much." I gave her a look, I didn't know him well enough to trust him with the key.
"Don't give him the key." I told her trusting her with my key. She ran off to Adam and I turned back to Suki.
"Oh, my God, I've got to go, I can't keep them waiting-" I smiled at her as she picked up her bag and rushed to the lift. "I'm sorry!" She smiled as the lift pinged open and she stepped in. "Say goodbye to Steve for me." She said looking at Cathica. Rose joined us and we smiled at her as the lift closed. "Bye!" We waved cheerily at her and Cathica looked away sourly.
"Good riddance." She said and I turned to her.
"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." I reminded her.
"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back." Cathica told us. I looked at the Doctor then at the closed lift. Cathica began to walk away and we followed her through the canteen area.
"Have you ever been up there?" The Doctor asked Cathica.
"No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few." Cathica told us.
We wandered into the Spike room followed by Cathica.
"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?" Cathica asked us.
"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" I asked her as the Doctor settled himself in the chair on the platform. I leaned over him, laying down slightly on his stomach and Rose leaned against the back of the chair.
"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived, that's medical, that's when I got my head done, and then I - I came straight here. Satellite Five - you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She said eyeing us. "You're not management, are you?" she asked us, already knowing the answer.
"At last! She's clever!" the Doctor said smiling at me.
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." Cathica told us.
"Don't you even ask?" Rose asked her, giving her a confused look. Humans have always been curious so why not now?
"Well, why WOULD I?" She asked checking things off her clipboard for maintenance.
"You're a journalist! Why's all the crew human?" I asked her bringing up Adam's point earlier.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asked me.
"There's no aliens on board. Why?" I asked her.
"I don't know - no real reason, they're not banned or anything." she told me and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her.
"Then where are they?" I asked again.
"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what, with all the threats." She told us.
"What threats?" The Doctor asked her.
"I don't know... all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see... just... lots of little reasons, that's all." Cathica told us.
"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor pointed out.
"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything." She told him.
"I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology." The Doctor said messing with the chair.
"It's cutting edge!" she said looking around the room.
"It's backward! There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago." The Doctor told her.
"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose asked him looking at both of us.
"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back." The Doctor explained to us.
"And how would you know?" Cathica asked him.
"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years - when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" The Doctor asked her.
"91 years ago..." The Doctor nodded at her and she looked away from us thoughtfully.
"We're SO gonna get in trouble." Cathica said as the Doctor scanned the side of a door with his sonic screwdriver with Rose and I behind him. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off."
"Ashlee, tell her to button it." He told me and I rolled my eyes at him.
"You can't just vandalize the place, someone's gonna notice!" Cathica whispered to us. The Doctor wrenched the door open and continued to mess with the mainframe. "This is nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work." She told us walking away.
"Go on then! See ya!" The Doctor said not stopping in his task. Cathica stopped and came back to us and I rolled my eyes.
"I can't just leave you, can I!"
"If you wanna be useful, get 'em to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?" I asked her.
"I don't know, we keep asking - something to do with the turbine." Cathica told me.
""Something to do with the turbine"." The Doctor mocked her.
"Well, I don't know!" Cathica said, I just might start calling that her catch phrase.
"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Ashlee and Rose - look at them." Rose and I turned to each other smiling. "They are asking the right kind of questions."
"Oh, thank you." Rose said turning back to him.
"Why is it so hot?" The Doctor asked Cathica.
"One minutes you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica said looking around making sure no one was coming.
"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." He said as he snapped some wires. He looked at me signaling that he hadn't meant to do that and went back to work. When the Doctor successfully manged to hack into the mainframe, he turned the screen to us.
"Here we go - Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." He moved so Cathica examined the screen
"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange... and you're looking at pipes?" She said turning to look him bemused.
"But there's something wrong." He said looking at the screen. She turned back to it and took a good look.
"I suppose..."
"Why, what is it?" Rose asked as she and I looked at the screen trying to see what was wrong.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... channeling massive amounts of heat DOWN." Cathica told us looking up.
"All the way from the top." The Doctor said.
"Floor 500." Rose said.
"Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat." I said looking back at the man at my side.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose asked us.
"You can't, you need a key." Cathica reminded us.
"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." The Doctor said gestured to the screen, tapping a few keys. "Here we go - override 215.9."
"How come it's giving you the code?" Cathica asked him and he looked up at at security camera.
"Someone up there likes me."
We stood in front of the lift doors as they opened. Rose, the Doctor and I stepped into it waiting for Cathica.
"Come on, come with us!" I said beckoning her in.
"No way!" She told me.
"Bye!" The Doctor waved at her.
"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!" Cathica told us stalking off.
"That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just the three of us." The Doctor said looking at the two of us.
"Yeah." I said.
"Good." he told us, smiling.
"Yep." Rose and I agreed. The Doctor slotted a card into the controls and grabbed my hand as the doors closed.
When the lift reached Floor 500 the Doctor stepped out with Rose and I behind him slightly.
"The walls are not made of gold. You two should go back downstairs." The Doctor told us looking around.
"Tough." I told him walking by him with Rose behind me. The Doctor joined us momentarily as we walked. In one area there was a man watching screens, people working in front of him.
"I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but YOU three... you don't exist!" he told us laughing as he turned to look at us. "Not a trace! No birth - no job - not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?" Rose rushed from my side quickly and I tried to go to her but the Doctor held me back.
"Suki! Suki!" Rose knelt next to Suki and shook her but Suki didn't respond. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" She turned to the man in front of us. "What've you done to her?"
"I think she's dead." The Doctor told us and I turned to him quickly.
"She's working..." I told him looking back to her.
"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets." He told me.
"Oh, God." I said looking at the men and women around us.
"Ohhhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one." the man laughed again. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?" He asked us.
"It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you." He told him turning to me and Rose. "Come on." Two of the Worker Drones restrained him while another grabbed me. Rose jumped up to help but Suki's corpse grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Tell me who you are!" the man demanded of us.
"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor asked him.
"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise." the man said, smiling at us.
"And who's that?" I asked him.
"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 man told us and a roar sounded around the room. "Yeah- sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He snapped his fingers and pointed upwards and we followed with our eys to see a creature on the ceiling. It was a huge, slobbering lump of an alien with a mouth full of sharp, snapping teeth.
"What is that?" Rose asked nervously.
"You mean, that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor asked the man in front of us.
"That 'thing' - as you put it - is in charge of the human race." My eyes widened as I looked at the man. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior - your master - and humanities guiding light - the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." The creature roared at his name. "I call him Max." he told us smiling. "Lock them up." The Drones holding us led us to a device that had just enough room for all of us, of course, and locked us in the manacles. "If we create a climate of fear... then it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy... invent an enemy... change a vote..." The man listed off.
"So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves?" I asked him and he turned to me.
"Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?" He asked me, smiling slightly.
"Yes." the Doctor and I answered.
"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?" the man asked us.
"Yes." The Doctor answered him and he laughed.
"You're no fun." the man told him.
"Let me out of these manacles - you'll find out how much fun I am." The Doctor threatened him.
"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?" the man asked looking at me. "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit." the man told the Doctor.
"You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must've noticed." Rose said to him.
"From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain... I can see the smallest doubt - and crush it." he told her grinning. "And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs 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." He told us.
"What about you? You're not a Jagra... uh... a..." I couldn't pronounce the name.
"Jagrafess." The Doctor provided.
"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human." I pointed out.
"Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well." He told me.
"But you couldn't have done this all on your own." Rose said.
"No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to um... install himself." he told us.
"No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?" the Doctor asked looking up at him.
"Three thousand years." the man answered.
"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's one great big life support system." I looked at the Doctor, wandering what he was getting at.
"But THAT'S why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." he said giving us a small laugh. He then clicked his fingers and the manacles sent an electric shock through us.
"Who are you?" the man asked us again as we grimaced in pain.
"Leave them alone. I'm the Doctor, they're Ashlee and Rose Tyler, we're nothing, we're just wandering." The Doctor tried convincing him.
"Tell me who you are!" The man demanded again.
"I just said!" The Doctor told him.
"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly-" He stopped talking and smiled at us.
"Time Lord." I looked at him in shock.
"What?" The Doctor asked him. How did he know? We didn't say anything to give ourselves away did we?
"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago..." he rubbed my cheek gently and I turned my head away roughly trying to get as far away from him as I could.
"You don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor told him.
"Time travel." he told him.
"Someone's been telling you lies." The Doctor told him.
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The man asked clicking his fingers. A projection of Adam writhing with pain and shouting popped up. We could see a door in his forehead and compressed information flowing into him.
"Oh, my God - his head!" Rose said, as we stared at him.
"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Doctor asked as we watched the projection.
"They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!" I said.
"And through him, I know everything about you. 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 seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S - TARDIS." the man told us watching Adam.
"You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first." The Doctor told him.
"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." He told us. The TARDIS key levitated up from Adam's pocket. The Doctor looked to me and I looked to Rose.
"You and your boyfriends!" He told her looking back at the projection.
"I told you not to give him the key!" I reminded her.
"Today, WE are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing." the man told us, smiling.
"And no-one's gonna stop you. Because you've bred a human race that 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 Doctor said. Soon an alarm went off.
"What's happening?" The man asked looking at the screens. "Someone's disengaged the safety." He clicked his fingers and the projection changed to show Cathica with compressed information flowing into her brain. "Who's that?!"
"It's Cathica!" Rose said smiling.
"And she's thinking. She's using what she knows!" The Doctor told us.
"Terminate her access." The man ordered.
"Everything she knows about about Satellite Five - the pipes - the filters - she's reversing it! Look at that..." I pointed out looking at the icicles as they began to melt. "Its getting hot."
"I said, terminate!" The man said frantically placing his own hands over Suki's. "Burn her mind." All the screens suddenly exploded with sparks and the Drones fell lifeless to the floor. Satellite Five shuddered and all the alarms went off. My manacles suddenly came undone and I went to the Doctor and tried to find his sonic screwdriver as the man holding us captive tried desperately to sit all the dead workers up.
"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 us laughing as the Jagrafess was roaring violently.
"Yes! Uh... I'm trying, sir but - I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of staff with an idea-" The Jagrafess roared at him angrily. The man pushed Suki's body aside and tried to operate the computer himself as I looked for the screwdriver.
"What do I do?" I asked him once I found it.
"Flick the switch!" He told me. I did as he said and a small explosion went off nearby making me jump. I used the screwdriver to release his manacles then turned to Rose as the Doctor started talking to the man holding us captive.
"Oi, mate - wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang!" he told the man as I freed Rose. "See you in the headlines!" he said as we ran for it. The three of us ran across Floor 500 the Doctor and I running hand in hand as we avoided huge lumps of snow falling from the ceiling. The entered the Spike room, the information still streaming into Cathica, the Doctor clicked his fingers and the door in Cathica's head closed. She looked up at the Doctor and I and we smiled down at her. We quickly ran to the lift and back down to the lower floors.
When we got downstairs everyone was recovering from the commotion in there own way. The Doctor, Cathica and I were sitting at a table in the canteen area while Rose leaned on the bar behind us.
"We're just gonna go. We hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage." I told her
"You'll have to stay and explain it - no-one's gonna believe me." Cathica told us.
"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal." The Doctor told her smiling.
"What about your friend?" Cathica asked us looking in another direction. We followed her gaze to Adam who was loitering by the TARDIS.
"He's not our friend." The Doctor told her. He then stood up and marched to him menacingly. Rose and I followed him close, just to make sure he didn't do anything real cruel to him.
"Now, don't-" Rose started trying to help Adam, but it wouldn't help.
"Don't bother Rose." I told her as the Doctor ignored her as we advanced on Adam.
"I'm all right now. Much better. I've got the key." Adam said showing us the key. "Well, it's... I know..." He laughed nervously while looking at us. "It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" The Doctor took the key off him, grabbed Adam's shoulder, and unlocked the door of the TARDIS. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because YOU were in charge-" Adam said as the Doctor shoved him inside.
"I'd shut up if I were you Adam, it's not going to help you in the long run." I told him walking behind the Doctor up to the console. The Doctor sat Adam down on the seat close by and started piloting his ship. When he passed by me he gave me a hard look and the key back. I wasn't to give this key to anyone else, I understood that and I would remember this moment.
"Ashlee, I'm sorry." Rose said trying to make up for giving Adam the key.
"I trusted you, Rose. I trusted you with the key to the Doctor's home, my home." I told her not looking at her. I knew it would be strange to have her in here now for a while. When the Doctor landed where he was going he grabbed Adam's shoulder again and steered him out of the TARDIS with us following with Rose closing the door behind us.
"It's my house! I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home!" Adam said laughing while the Doctor glared at him. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."
"That option is still open for debate." I told him and the Doctor held my hand to calm me down. He'd betrayed all of us by pulling his little act.
"Is there something else you want to tell me?" The Doctor asked him.
"No. Um... what do you mean?" Adam asked him. The Doctor let go of my hand and walked over to the telephone and picked it up.
"The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world." Adam watched as the Doctor put the phone down and took out his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor pointed it at the phone and blew it up getting rid of anything that could damage history. "That's it, then. See ya." The Doctor said walking back to the TARDIS.
"How do you mean, 'see ya'?" Adam asked him.
"As in 'goodbye'." The DOCTOR explained for him, making sure he knew we were leaving.
"But... what about me? You can't just go, I've got my head - I've got a chip type two, my head opens." Adam told us./
"What, like this?" The Doctor clicked his fingers, opening Adam's head.
"Don't." Adam said angrily clicking his fingers and closing his head.
"Don't do what?" The Doctor asked clicking his fingers again.
"Stop it!" Adam demanded closing his head once more.
"All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it." I told him and he backed down.
"Thank you." Adam said to me. I glared at him and he backed down slightly.
"You used my sister's trust in you against her. If I were you, I wouldn't talk to me at all." I told him as Rose clicked her fingers.
"Oi!" Adam said looking at the younger woman.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Rose told him snickering. Adam closed his head again and tried giving her a look before glancing at the rest of us.
"The whole of history could've changed because of you." The Doctor told him.
"I just wanted to help." Adam said, trying to pull one over on us.
"You were helping yourself." The Doctor told him and he looked slightly guilty about it.
"And - I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am - but you can't just leave me like this." Adam said, trying to force the Doctor to take him with us but that''s not how my Time Lord worked.
"Yes I can. 'Cos if you show your head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. Good luck." The Doctor said opening the TARDIS door.
"But I wanna come with you!" Adam tried once more to beg.
"I only take the best. I've got Ashlee and Rose." He told Adam walking into the TARDIS with me right behind him. "Are you alright?" he asked me.
"He used Rose and I trusted her not to hand the TARDIS key over, but she did. How can I trust her after that?" I asked him.
"She's your sister. You'll trust her again." He told me making me smile at him. I leaned against the console as he stood in front of me smiling. "I heard you tell her this is your home, what about your flat with your mum?" he asked me moving closer to me.
"I never really fit in at home or anywhere until I met you. So I consider this my home, I mean if you don't mind or anything." I told him looking at my feet. I saw his feet walk in front of mine and looked up to him.
"How could I mind?" He asked me smiling. I smiled at him and hugged him tightly which was returned quickly. Rose then boarded the TARDIS without a backward glance at Adam. The Doctor and I released each other and I walked over to her while The Doctor started the engines.
"You going to be okay?" I asked while I hugged her close.
"I thought I could really trust him with something important. I'll be fine, where to next?" She asked as she and I made our way to the console and the Doctor.
"How about we just sit in the vortex for a while?" He asked us as he danced around the console.
Next time on The Doctor's Girl:
"Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for." he told us standing up and starting the TARDIS engines up.
"The day my father died... I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy, it's just an ordinary day." Rose said looking around. Dad got out of his car, unaware that a car had just rounded the corner and is headed straight towards him.
"Oh, God. This is it." The Doctor had his arm around me.
"He can't die on his own." The driver threw a hand over his eyes and I watched as the driver hit my dad and watched the vase fall to the floor and smashed. Lying on the road, twitching. "Can I try again?" The three of us stood just out of sight around the corner, watching the first set of ourselves standing on the curb.
"Oh, God. This is it."
"Rose! No!" The Doctor and I called after her as Rose ran past the first set of us and knocked our father out of the way of the oncoming car and they tumbled onto the floor. The creatures slammed themselves against the walls and windows.
"I did it again. I picked another STUPID ape." The first set of us looked at each other bewildered for a few seconds, then disappeared.
"But it's not like I've changed HISTORY." she said trying to convince him she did the right thing.
"Rose - there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. The whole world's different because he's alive." I told her. A man didn't listened and tried to run for it and the creature swooped down on him, covering his body with his wings. The bride tried to run into the church
"Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound." The Doctor explained.
"Get in the church!" The Doctor shouted at her. I followed his gaze to see a bat like creature appeared, bearing down on her as she screamed.