Chapter CXXI
Doctor
It was a nice day in London. He was walking down the streets with Mira, heading towards Adipose Industries. Something sketchy was going on there, he had read it in a newspaper he had found in the TARDIS library. Mira had wondered for a moment how a recent issue of a newspaper could end up in the TARDIS, then she had shaken her head, laughed and called herself stupid and said that she would never get fully used to that. He had smiled as well and showed her the whole section of Earth's newspapers, dating far into the future from the point in time where they were now. He had a certain suspicion where he could find her in the next future, once they were back in the TARDIS. It would take her a while to go through all of them.
"You should have brought a jacket," he said as he saw her wrapping her cardigan tighter around herself.
"There's a lot of things I should have brought," she replied. "Deflector shield, coms, weap-"
She stopped as he gently nudged her. "You're right, it's freezing. Next time I'll bring a proper jacket. It's just that... open the door and just see what's going on thing."
"Open the door and see what's going on thing?"
"Yes," she replied. "No proper preparation, nothing. Totally throws me off. I'm a creature of habit."
"What?!" She might be a lot of things, most of all unconventional, but a creature of habit? Not really.
"But I am. Checking my equipment, doing pre-flight checks, making sure the shields are up..." Now she nudged him. "Checking the weather before getting out. Habits are good. Will save your arse when you don't have time to think."
"I think that's it," he changed the topic and stopped. Adipose Industries headquarters, a tall, glass fronted office building. "Let's find a way in."
The walked around the building until they reached a fire exit. He took a quick look around and the lock proved no challenge for his sonic. A little bang followed by sparks flying, and the door was open. They made it all the way to the basement before they came across the first guard. He flashed his psychic paper at him, introducing him as John Smith from Health and Safety and his assistant Mira.
"You know, next time you're my assistant," she said as the guard was out of sight.
"It would be my pleasure, Ms Rhodan," he replied, smirking at her, taking a step back. Not that she had a habit of slapping him, but one never knew.
"What are we looking for anyway?" she said.
"Don't know. Anything?"
They went up and walked through the building until they reached a lecture hall. He opened a door next to it and pulled Mira in. It was a projector room, and through the glass in front of the projector they could see anything going on in the lecture hall. A blond woman was giving a presentation, standing on a stage in front of the huge, white screen. He waved his psychic paper to the guy in the projector room, explaining once more that they were from Health and Safety. He couldn't hear what was spoken in the lecture hall, only the voice over to the video being played.
"Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesised mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule," the narrator explained. "The mobilising lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter-"
"We have to get closer to that blond woman," Mira whispered in his ear. Well, that could be done.
As the presentation was finished, they left the room again.
"There was something weird in there," Mira explained as they were walking through the building again. "That woman. I don't know what though, she was too far away and there were too many people around her."
"Do you think she's not from here?" he asked.
"Maybe."
They entered an open office space, probably a call centre. At least everyone seemed to be on a phone call, trying to sell off those capsules. He went into one of the cubicles and held his psychic paper in the face of the woman working here. She was also on a phone call.
"John Smith," he said quietly. "Health and Safety. Don't mind us." Then he picked up a golden pendant which was shaped like one of the pills.
"It's made of eighteen carat gold," the woman explained, looking at him but still being on a phone call. "And it's yours for free. No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make an exception, no." Then she hung up and beamed at him.
"See, can we have a printout of your customer list?" he asked.
"Sure, I'll send it to the printer."
"That's the printer there?" he asked and got up, looking over the walls separating the cubicles.
"By the plant, yeah," she replied.
"Brilliant," he said and sat down again.
Just as he wanted to get up and walk over to the printer, the blond woman entered the space, accompanied by two guards.
"Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention," she said. And everyone stood up, apart from him and Mira, who had plugged at his sleeve to keep him down. "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone's good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it." And she left again, the guards following her.
"Anyway, if you could print that off. Thanks," he said and wanted to get up again. But this time the woman held him back, handing him a piece of paper.
"Oh, what's that?"
"My telephone number," she replied.
"What for?"
"Health and Safety. You be health, I'll be safety," she smiled.
"Oh," Mira said before he could think of something. "I think you got something wrong here. Didn't she, John?" She took his hand and pulled him up, not letting go of it. "But thanks for your help." She pulled him away and to the printer.
"Thanks," he replied and tried to find the customer list, but there was nothing in the printer. That was weird, he had seen her printing it. So he went back and asked for another copy.
Mira
She had told him that the blond woman was an alien, as well as the guards, which only proved that something was indeed wrong. Apart from a magic pill that seemed to dissolve fat without any effort whatsoever. It was dark by the time they had reached one of the addresses on the customer list and the Doctor knocked on the door. A middle aged man opened. He didn't look like he needed to lose a single pound, but maybe he was taking those pills for a while now.
"Mister Roger Davey?" the Doctor asked. "We're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions."
Mr Davey asked them in and she sat down on the couch in his living room, whilst the Doctor was pacing through the room.
"I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos," Mr Davey explained when asked about his experience with the pills.
"That's the same amount every day?" the Doctor asked.
"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."
"What makes you say that?" the Doctor asked.
"That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time."
"What wakes you up at that time of night?" she asked.
"Let me show you," Mr Davey replied, and they followed him outside "It is driving me mad," he said, looking up at the burglar alarm. "Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."
"But with no burglars?" the Doctor asked.
"Nothing. I've given up looking."
"Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?" the Doctor asked.
Why did he ask that? Did he think something went in through the cat flap? A cat? But not bang on the same time every night. Indeed, Mr Davey had a cat flap, and they went back inside to the kitchen door.
"It was here when I bought the house," he explained. "I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person."
"No, I've met cat people," the Doctor said, crouching down and examining the cat flap with his sonic. "You're nothing like them."
"It's that what it is, though? Cats getting inside the house?" Mr Davey asked.
"Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well," the Doctor replied, seeming as if knowing exactly what was going on.
"Like what?" Mr Davey and she asked as one.
"The fat just walks away," the Doctor replied.
Not really, she thought. Was he being literal or did he mean something else by it? She had to ask, but not here in front of Davey. The Doctor seemed to have the same idea. He told Davey that that was all and he brought them to the front door.
"Well, thanks for your help," the Doctor said. "Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so."
Just then something started to beep and the Doctor pulled a device out of the depths of his coat-pockets which she had never seen before.
"Oh. Got to go. Sorry," he said and sprinted off so fast that she had a hard time following him.
"What is that?" she yelled but got no answer. It seemed to be some sort of locating device. Maybe they would now find out what it was all about. It seemed to be a bit wonky though as he had to hit and shake it a few times when the beeping got weaker.
"I'm locating it," he finally replied, after changing direction a few times.
"Locating what? The fat that got out of the cat flap?" she asked, not really meaning it.
"Exactly!"
Then she heard the sound of a speeding car. A black van approached them, rotating lights on its roof. And the Doctor had nothing better to do than to jump on the road right in front of it.
"NO!" she yelled, but he had already jumped aside as the van passed him, horning. He started to run right after it. "Are you suicidal?" she yelled and followed him. The van went around the corner and suddenly the Doctor stopped, probably realising that he had no chance to follow it on foot.
"I almost had it, it's in that car!" he said, anger and frustration in his voice.
She admired his self control for not swearing, she surely would have.
"What? What's in the car?"
"But you said it before," he replied and looked at her, brows raised. "The fat. Come on, we have to analyse that pendant."
...
They were back in the TARDIS, the Doctor analysing the pendant which was lying on the console, with a magnifying glass. She leaned over it next to him.
"Oh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for human fat cells."
"Great, and so what does it do? What would aliens want with human fat? And how does it just walk away?"
"I don't know," he replied and stuffed the pendant in his pocket. "Let's find out."
…
It was the next morning and they were back at Adipose Industries after the Doctor had relocated the TARDIS a bit closer to the building. They took the same way in as before, and then the Doctor opened the door to a storage locker. "Perfect," he said and pulled her in, locking the door with his sonic.
"Well, I do appreciate the thought, but what are we actually doing here?" She looked around. The space was tiny, just enough room for the two of them.
"What thought?"
"Never mind," she shook her head and smirked. Probably he didn't know what two people who were into each other were hiding in storage lockers for in a workplace normally. "What are we doing here?"
"We're waiting for everyone to leave. Never thought about hiding somewhere and wait for the place to close? Like at school, or a library?"
"Wait? It's early morning! They're not going to close for hours! We could have come in the afternoon!"
"Oh well," he shrugged. "I had to re-park the TARDIS. I didn't want to be too late. By the way, I don't think we're going to get bored." He shifted some of the stuff and then opened a sliding wall in the back of the storage room. Behind it was a huge device, glowing in a green light. "There we go!"
"What's that? A computer?"
"Probably. Let's find out."
…
They had tried to hack into the alien computer, but to no avail. Finally the evening arrived and she could sense that the building was getting emptier.
"It'll take a while to check the whole building," she told as they were heading upstairs.
"Is that woman still here?" he asked.
"Yeah, but she's hard to locate. I can give you a rough direction though."
"I don't think we have to check every office," he replied. "Let's check the roof."
"The roof?" But she followed him. Then, on the roof, he went to a cradle suspended on ropes.
"What's that for?" she asked. "Maintenance?"
"Window cleaning," he replied. He went into it and hold his hand out. "If you want to see what's going on inside..."
"Oh no," she shook her head. That thing didn't really look stable. And not that she didn't trust technology of the early 21st century, but – no, she didn't trust it. Not that far at least.
"You want to wait here? Not peeking into windows? Come on, it's safe."
She sighed and hesitated for a moment. Of course she wanted to see it. "Fine."
Donna
It had almost been too much for her nerves. But luck had been on her side for once when she had been hiding in the lady's restroom for the people to leave in the evening. Instead of her they had found Penny, that woman who had asked all the questions at the presentation yesterday. She had recognised her voice. It looked like she hadn't been the only one getting the idea of hiding her. Though she had preferred it to be the Doctor. It was him she was doing all this for after all. Her grandfather was right, she wasn't one to give up.
She had briefly considered to leave and to not tempt fate again. But, as she was here now, she could as well follow through with it. She knew where they would most like have taken Penny. To Ms Foster's office. So she went there as well. She sneaked into the secretary's room, where she could hear what was spoken inside the actual office.
"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life," Foster said.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Penny asked. She didn't sound frightened, and Donna admired her for that.
"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."
"What do you mean, a body?"
"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children."
She had mustered all her courage whilst Foster had been talking and got up far enough to see through the little round window in the door. There it was, standing on the desk, the same little creature she had seen in Stacy's home.
"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?" Penny asked.
"Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat," Ms Foster replied, got up and walked around her desk towards Penny.
"But I don't understand."
"From ordinary human people."
She didn't follow the rest of the conversation. She had turned her head to follow Ms Foster with her eyes, and whilst doing so, she had looked over to the window. There he was. The Doctor. Outside of the window. He had seen her as well.
"Donna?" he mouthed to her.
"Doctor? Doctor!" she did the same in return.
"But what? What? What?" he mouthed back.
Then a head appeared next to his. That pale, skinny woman was still with him. Mira was her name. She had hoped so.
"Oh my god!" She mouthed to both of them now. She had completely forgotten why she was here and about the people in the room between her and the Doctor.
The silent communication between her and the Doctor went on for a moment longer until she noticed that Mira was pulling on the Doctor's sleeve and finally nudging him, gesturing her to move down as well.
"What?" she mouthed to them, but then she realised it.
Ms Foster was staring back and forth between her and the Doctor and Mira.
"Are we interrupting you?" she asked.
"Run!" she saw the Doctor yell, and she was sure that this time he actually yelled. He didn't have to tell her that twice. She ran to the staircase and up towards the roof where she hoped to meet him. But she didn't have to go up all the way. Halfway she met the Doctor and Mira. First she hugged him and then Mira.
"Oh, my God. I don't believe it," she yelled. "You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?"
"Yeah, thanks, Donna. Not right now," he replied.
"The guards are coming!" Mira pointed out the obvious.
"Just like old times!" the Doctor said and they ran up the stairs.
Indeed, just like old times.
"How did you find us?" Mira asked.
"Well, I thought, how do you find the Doctor?" she explained whilst running up the stairs and out of the door onto the roof. "And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up." The Doctor put his weird device to the door and went over to the window cleaner cradle he had been on. "So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax."
"That wasn't a hoax," Mira said.
"Oh, it wasn't?"
"Nah, it was a space ocean liner from another planet."
"What do you mean, the bees are disappearing?" the Doctor, who had been working on the control box of the cradle, asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "That's what it says on the internet. Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look." She watched how he got into the cradle.
" In you get!" he said.
"What, in that thing?" she asked.
"Yes," Mira said from behind her. "Move. We don't have time!"
"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again," she replied.
"No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."
Fine, she thought, she had come that far, now she would go all the way. Besides, Mira was nudging her from behind. God, that woman had pointy fingers.
As soon as she was in the Doctor started to lower the cradle. It went fine for a while, but suddenly it dropped. She screamed and held on to the railing for dear life. After what it seemed like an eternity, the cradle suddenly stopped again with the Doctor's help.
"So she does have a sonic device? I thought that's Time Lord technology?" Mira asked.
"Not now, Mira," the Doctor replied. "Hold on," he looked around. "Hold on. We can get in through the window." He pointed his device at the glass, but nothing happened. "Can't get it open!"
"Well, smash it then!" she said, grabbing a spanner and started to hit the glass.
"Not like that, Donna," Mira said and took the spanner from her.
She had to admit, Mira was putting way more effort into smashing the window, and, most of all, was hitting the glass with the rather pointy end of the spanner, but it didn't help. Was that bullet-proof glass? Then she could hear a nasty sound from above. She looked up and saw a flame on the cable like from a cutting torch.
"She's cutting the cable!" she yelled. Right at this moment, the cable snapped. The cradle tipped and she suddenly found herself flying. Before she knew what happened, she grabbed onto something. The end of the cable with a piece of steel attached to it, perfect to hold on to it. But for how long? She looked down, only to realise that this had been a bad idea.
"Donna!" Mira and the Doctor screamed.
"Doctor!" she yelled back.
"Hold on!" he yelled.
"I am! Doctor!" she replied. What was he thinking, that stick thin alien? That she would let go of it?
Doctor
He was trying to pull Donna back up, but he couldn't get enough grip on the cable.
"Doctor!" Mira who was still in the cradle, yelled. "She's going for the other cable!"
He looked up. Not good. He aimed for Foster's hand with his sonic. The blond alien winced in pain and let go of her sonic device. It came falling down, and before he could hold out his arm to catch it, Mira had bend backwards, holding onto the cradle with one arm and extending the other.
"Mira! Careful!" he yelled, but she caught it. Without falling down herself.
"Blimey, you're flexible," he said as she handed him the sonic device.
"See now what I'm doing all that Yoga for?"
"Are you done chatting?" Donna yelled at this moment. "I'm still hanging here in case you've forgotten!"
He hadn't forgotten. How could she think that? He opened the window in front of him with Foster's sonic device and climbed in, yelling down to Donna, "I won't be a minute!" He helped Mira in after him. Then they ran downstairs back to Foster's office and over to the window where Donna was hanging.
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" the woman Foster had been questioning asked, still tied to the chair.
"What are you, a journalist?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Well, make it up."
He saw how Mira started to untie the robes the woman was shackled with. He opened the window and grabbed Donna's legs. She started to kick at him in panic.
"I've got you. I've got you. Stop kicking!" Finally, he had pulled her inside.
She pulled her clothes straight, looked at him and said, "I was right. It's always like this with you, innit?"
"Oh, yes!" he beamed at her. "And off we go."
They ran to the door and was almost out as he got stopped again.
"Doctor!" He turned around again and saw that Mira was still trying to untie the knots.
"Sorry!" he said and soniced the ropes which fell to the floor. "Come Mira! And you, do yourself a favour. Get out."
Finally they could continue. He definitely had to exchange a few words with that Ms Foster. And it seemed it would happen rather sooner than later, for they met her and her two guards as they were running through the call centre open office space.
"Well, then. At last," Ms Foster smiled at them.
"Hello," Donna and Mira said as one.
"Nice to meet you," he beamed at her, "I'm the Doctor."
"And I'm Donna."
"Mira."
"Partners in crime," Foster said, looking at the three of them. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."
"Oh, yes," he patted his pockets until he found it, and pulled it out. "I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek." He turned it in his fingers, examining it, then holding it under Donna's nose. "It's kind of sleek."
"Oh, it's definitely sleek," Donna replied.
"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?" he asked.
"Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."
"A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates," he stated.
"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost."
"What do you mean lost? How do you lose a planet?" he asked, slightly confused, taking it quite literally.
"Uhm," Mira said and he turned his head to her. She smirked and scratched her neck. "Well... They wouldn't be first to manage that."
Right, he thought. They had lost Earth at some point, hadn't they?
"Politics are none of my concern," Foster replied. Well, so they hadn't literally lost it. "I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."
"What, like an outer space super nanny?" Donna asked.
"Yes, if you like."
"So," Donna continued. "So those little things, they're, they're made out of fat, yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her."
She was good, he had to admit. Not quite like he remembered her.
"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."
"What about poor Stacy?" Donna asked.
He had heard enough. "Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law," he said, suddenly all serious.
"Are you threatening me?" Foster asked.
"I'm trying to help you, Matron," he replied. "This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."
"You should listen to him," Mira added.
"I hardly think you can stop bullets," Foster just said, and the two guards took aim.
Maybe a deflector shield wasn't that bad, he thought. Though he wasn't sure if it was working against bullets or just blasters. He would have to check with Mira on that. But now they needed a more immediate solution.
"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on," he was playing for time. And, indeed, the guards hesitated. "One more thing, before dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"
"No," Foster replied, slightly annoyed now.
"Nor me. Let's find out," he said and did just that. He really had no idea, but it was the only thing he had come up with. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had a rough idea what would happen, and the actual effect surpassed his expectations. The resulting noise as he activated both devices was rather loud – for him. For the humans and Foster it was agony. They grabbed there head in pain, and it even shattered a glass wall next to them.
"Come on!" Donna yelled at him after pushing his arm. She seemed to be able to handle the noise a bit better than Mira. But she was right, it was enough. He stopped, pulled Mira with him and gestured Donna to follow him, back to the storage room they had been hiding in earlier.
Mira
They were back in the storage room – after the Doctor had thrown out a ladder and some mops to make room for Donna. Her ears were still ringing a bit from the noise he had produced, but at least they had not been turned into sieves.
"Well, that's one solution. Hide in a cupboard. I like it," Donna said.
"Oh, it's not just a cupboard," she replied as the Doctor opened the sliding wall again.
"I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building," the Doctor explained. "Triple deadlocked. But now I've got this," he hold up the sonic pen, "I can get into it." He studied the machine again. "She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy. Mira, you wanted a deflector shield? Here we go!" Then he held two wires together.
"Deflector shield? Where?" she asked.
"Outside. Don't want those two guys getting too close. Just enough to stop them. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?" The last sentence he had spoken to himself. He then started to rip out some cables and rewire them.
"Need help?" she asked but didn't get an answer. So she and Donna just watched him.
"You look older," Donna said after a while.
They both stared at her.
"And you look skinnier," Donna now said to her.
"Thanks," she and the Doctor finally said as one, both a bit perplexed.
"So, you're still... travelling together? The two of you?"
"Yup," the Doctor said in her stead. "Well, there was someone else for a while. Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good. She's gone."
"Well, it was both of us who destroyed her life," she added. After all it had been her sacrificing Martha. Martha had been murdered because of her refusal to surrender. It didn't really matter that the year had never happened. She hadn't known how things would turn out. She had sacrificed Martha's life.
"You never told me where you're from," Donna said to her now. "You're not an alien?"
"Technically not," she sighed, and then, as Donna was looking at her, waiting for an explanation, she added, "I'm human, born on Earth. But in another universe. I'm stuck here."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Donna said. And then, after a few moments of silence, asked, "What about Rose?"
"Still lost," the Doctor replied. "I thought you were going to travel the world?"
It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about Rose. And neither did she.
"Easier said then done," Donna replied. "It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."
"What offer?" he asked.
"To come with you," Donna replied.
"Come with me?"
"Oh yes, please."
She wouldn't mind Donna to come with them for a while. Donna really wasn't into the Doctor. Not in that way at least. Sure, that could change over time, but she didn't think so. And she was funny, and direct, and, though sometimes seemingly a bit slow, at the same time rather resourceful, if only half of the things she had done to find the Doctor were true.
"Right," the Doctor just mumbled.
To her it was clear that Donna wouldn't just accept no as an answer. And she herself wasn't too sure what to do. It was true, they had ruined Martha's life. But Donna wasn't Martha. She had said herself that her life as it was was not what she wanted. Not like Martha who had had her whole future in front of her. Donna was stuck in jobs she didn't like and in a rather boring life. And she was sure that Donna was old enough to grasp the consequences of giving up everything and just following the Doctor. Suddenly the computer started to beep. "Inducer activated," it announced.
"Oh shit," she said. "Does that mean what I think it does?"
"I don't know what you think," the Doctor replied. "But you might be right. She's started the programme."
"What?" Donna asked, looking back and forth between them.
"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis," the Doctor explained, working frantically on that machine.
"And that's when they convert-" Donna started.
"-Skeletons, organs, everything," the Doctor finished. "A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal." He pulled the pendant out of his pocket and pulled it apart, then wired it into the machine. "This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat."
Suddenly the machine seemed to power up and the frequency of the beeping sound increased. "Inducer increasing," it stated the obvious.
"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor yelled. "She's doubled it. I need. Haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!" He started to change settings on the computer, but nothing happened.
"Is there anything I can do?" Donna asked.
"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you." He stepped back from the machine, a defeated look on his face. "Got to double the base pulse, I can't."
"Doctor, tell me. What do you need?" Donna asked intently, like a secretary talking to a totally stressed out manager.
"I need a second capsule to boost the override," he yelled, "but I've only got the one. I can't save them!"
She should have taken another capsule at the office, she thought. Big mistake. But just then she saw Donna holding something up out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, and so did the Doctor. Another capsule! The Doctor plugged it in, and then the whole thing shut down. Just like that, no sparks or anything. Just a tiny bit of smoke. They smiled at each other, but before anyone could start the inevitable hugging, they could hear a loud and somehow massive sound.
"What the hell was that?" Donna asked and was looking up as was she and the Doctor. Somehow they all knew it came from above.
"Sounded like a spaceship," she replied. "A big one." She didn't know for sure as it had sounded nothing like the ships she knew, but there was no other explanation for it. Nothing from Earth at this time should sound like that. Apart from that, one got an ear for ship's engines over time, even if one had never heard that particular one before.
"Fine," Donna replied as the Doctor had remained silent. "When you say nursery you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill."
"Nursery ship," the Doctor confirmed.
Suddenly the computer lit up again. "Incoming signal."
Indeed, some voice was announcing something. She tried to listen, but it was very quiet.
"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna asked.
"Hang on," the Doctor said. "Instructions from the Adiposian First Family." He listened for a while. For her it was still incomprehensible. "She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post. Oooh. Oh." He looked at them. "We're not the ones in trouble now. She is!"
And he ran off, she and Donna following him, up to the roof. And there they saw it. All the Adipose flying up in rays of light towards the space ship.
"What you going to do then? Blow them up?" Donna asked.
"They're just children," the Doctor replied, hands in his pockets. "They can't help where they come from."
"Oh, that makes a change from last time," Donna replied, and it took her a moment to realise that she meant the Racnoss Empress and her children. "Someone has done you good. Was it that Martha or you?"
"Well-" she started, but got interrupted by the Doctor.
"Both I think. Martha. She fancied me. But mostly I think Mira," he said and took her hand. "It's never wrong to be compassionate. And she is."
"Think you're giving me too much credit," she replied.
"Does he?" Donna said. "I told you to stay with him. He needs you. I was right."
"I just punched a man in the face recently," she replied and smirked. "Unprovoked. Tell me how compassionate that is."
"You did what!?" Donna asked and looked her up and down. "I'm sure he deserved it somehow."
They watched the Adipose floating by for a moment. Some of them started to wave at them and they waved back.
"I'm waving at fat," Donna said.
"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works," the Doctor replied. Then Foster came into view. "There she is!" They ran to the edge of the roof. "Matron Cofelia, listen to me!
"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor," she replied, stopping in front of them, still hanging in the air. "And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon."
"Oh, why does no one ever listen," he turned his head to them, and then, addressing Foster again, "I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"
"What, so that you can arrest me?"
"Just listen. I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice."
"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children," Foster said with all the self certainty anyone could have.
"Exactly!" the Doctor said. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore."
And just as if someone had waited for him to say that, the ray of light suspending Foster disappeared. For a second she was still hanging in the air, then she fell all the way down, screaming. She and the Doctor looked down, whilst Donna was pressing her face against his chest and him laying an arm around her. Again, she had a hard time feeling sorry for her. Foster had just been willing to kill one million people, and hadn't listened to the Doctor trying to warn – and save – her. No, she wasn't overly compassionate. She was an empath, but that didn't equal compassion.
They watched the space ship take off, and then went down, leaving the building.
Doctor
They were walking down the street which was roped off by police. He took Foster's sonic pen out of his pocket and watched it for a moment. He considered giving it to Mira, but then again, it was quite inferior in comparison to the technology he was used to, so he binned it. They would find something more appropriate.
Then that woman from earlier was walking past them. Or more like hopping past them, still tied to the chair.
"Oi, it's you again," she said and stopped in front of them. "You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for... for... madness." And off she hopped.
"You see, some people just can't take it," Donna said as they were all looking after her.
"No," he confirmed.
"Another life destroyed," Mira muttered under her breath. But he could hear from her tone that she wasn't really being serious.
"And some people can," Donna smiled at him. "So, then. TARDIS! Come on." She took his arm and pulled him away before he had any chance to protest. What had he gotten himself into now? He wasn't sure if he could deal with Donna and Mira together in the TARDIS. They seemed to get along a bit too well.
They reached the alleyway where he had parked the TARDIS. He still wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Donna to come along. True, he had just offered Astrid to come along, but that had been different. Or had it?
"That's my car!" Donna suddenly yelled and pointed at a blue, small car. "That is like destiny," she said and opened the boot which was full of suitcases. "And I've been ready for this." She started to unload the boot. "I packed ages ago, just in case. Because I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather. He goes anywhere. I've gotta be prepared." She had stuffed various bags into his and Mira's arms. All topped by a hatbox.
"You've got a, a hatbox," he said.
"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready," she replied. "I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she-"
"What sort of injections?" Mira asked, looking just as dumbfounded as him.
"So you're not getting sick?" Donna replied. "What's that universe like where you from? Stone age? And you?" She now turned to him. " You're not saying much."
"No, it's just." Oh he hated it. He put the bags down, and so did Mira. "It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS."
"You don't want me," she replied and her face fell.
"He didn't say that," Mira replied in his stead, and he didn't mind that she was speaking for him.
"But you asked me," Donna said. "Would you two rather be on your own?"
"No," he hurried to say. "Actually, no. But the last time, with Martha, like I said, it, it got complicated. And that was all my fault. I just want a mate."
"You just want to mate?" Donna yelled probably as indignant as she could get.
"I just want a mate!"
"You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Donna was still yelling.
"No he's not going to mate with you Donna!" Mira tried to get his point across, taking his hand and interlacing her fingers with his.
"We just want A mate," he tried it again.
"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense," Donna replied, at least not yelling that loudly any more. And there they went, the quiet days in the TARDIS. "I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing. Oh!" She seemed to realise something, staring at him and Mira. "You two? No! Really?"
"Yes, Donna. Him and me. So no mating here, okay?" Mira grinned.
"There we are, then. Okay," he smiled at her.
"I can come?"
"Yeah. Course you can, yeah. We'd love it," he replied.
"Oh, that's just-" She went over to him and for a moment it looked as if she was about to hug him, but with a quick glance at Mira she stopped. "Car keys. I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute." And she ran off.
"Well then," Mira said. "That's sorted."
They started to carry Donna's luggage into the TARDIS, and, just as they were done, she returned.
"Off we go, then!" She said and closed the door behind her.
"Here it is," he started to explain, leaning against the console. "The TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside-"
"Oh, I know that bit," Donna interrupted him. "Although frankly, you could turn the heating up."
"See?" Mira said. "I told you it's cold in here. At least for us humans."
He looked back and forth between them, shaking his head. "So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?" He flipped some switches on the console, preparing the TARDIS for going into flight mode.
"Oh, I know exactly the place," Donna smiled. "Two and a half miles that way."
And then, after flying past Donna's grandfather and waving at him, they went off into space.
That wasn't the most exciting chapter to write, even though I quite like the episode. But it's mainly about the Doctor and Donna meeting, and no real conflict or anything. I feel that the next episodes have much more potential though :-)
NicoleR85, OneWhoReadsTooMuch: Thanks for leaving a review :-)
