The Long Game part 2. Please please let me know what you think in the comments.
"What do you mean, you don't come back?" Rose asked.
Zuri sighed. "Spoilers. I can't interfere with this timeline, it has to happen just so."
The Doctor thought he caught her tearing up, but for her sake, ignored it for now.
"If she's preserving the timeline we can't ask." He turned to Cathica. "Have you ever been up there?"
The woman looked at him strangely. "No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get that with promotion. No one gets to Floor Five hundred except the chosen few."
The four of them walked back into the spike room.
"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?"
The Doctor was insistent however. "But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" He sat in the chair, Rose leaning on the back of it. Zuri stood awkwardly as close to the door as she could.
"I went to floor sixteen when I 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." Cathica narrowed her eyes. "You're not management are you?"
"At last! She's clever." The Doctor crowed.
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."
Zuri piped up from her spot by the door. "Don't you ever ask? You're a journalist, that's part of the job. To ask hard questions, get the hard answers."
"Why's all the crew human?" The Doctor added.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica was confused.
"There's no aliens on board, why?" He prompted.
"I don't know- no real reason, they're not banned or anything."
The Doctor looked around theatrically. "Then where are they?"
Zuri watched the woman become more and more confused, as she realized that she didn't know.
"I suppose immigration's tightened up, what with all the threats."
"What threats?" Zuri nudged.
"I don't know, all of them. Usual stuff... And the price of space warps doubled, so that keeps people 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."
"Adding up to one great big fact," The Doctor watched her closely, "and you didn't even notice."
"Doctor, I think if there were any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."
"I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology-"
"It's cutting edge!" Cathica protested.
"It's backward! There's a great big door in your head, you should have chucked this out years ago!"
"So what do you think is going on?" Rose asked.
"It's not just this 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."
"And how would you know?" Cathica mocked.
"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"
Cathica looked shocked. "Ninety-one years ago..."
The Doctor had gone hunting, and found an access door to the mainframe. He scanned it with the Sonic, Rose and Zuri watching over his shoulder.
Cathica glanced around worriedly. "We're so gonna get in trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off."
"Rose tell her to button it." The Doctor didn't even look up.
"You can't just vandalize the place, someone's going to notice!" The woman hissed.
She was ignored as the Doctor pulled the door open.
"This has got nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work," Cathica stated firmly.
"Go on then, see ya!" The Doctor didn't seem surprised.
Zuri shook her head at him, still watching him intently, trying to figure out what he was doing.
"Well I can't just leave you, can I?"
"If you want to be useful," Rose interrupted, "Get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?"
"I don't know, we keep asking. Something to do with the turbine."
"'Something to do with the turbine.'" The Doctor mocked.
"Well, I don't know!"
"Exactly. I give up on you Cathica. Now Rose, look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of questions. Why's it so hot?"
Zuri had enough, slapping the back of his head as Rose preened. "Doctor. Not everyone is a plumbing and heat expert. If they asked, and a licensed plumber told them the turbine was busted, shouldn't they believe him?"
"One minute you're worried about the Empire, next it's the central heating!" Cathica interrupted his response.
"Well never under estimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." A handful of wires snap off in his hand.
The Doctor finally into the mainframe. "Here we go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing, look at the layout." He angled the screen so the others could see.
"This is ridiculous. You've got access to Satellite Five's computer core. You can look at the archive, the stock exchange... And you're looking at pipes?"
"Somethings wrong," Zuri stated.
"I suppose." Cathica trailed off as she studied the schematics.
"Why, what is it?" Rose asked.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... Channeling massive amounts of heat down." She glanced up at the ceiling.
"All the way from the top." The Doctor added.
"Floor Five hundred," Rose commented.
"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."
"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 grinned.
"You can't, you need a key." Cathica pointed out.
Zuri sighed. "We have one. Override two one five-point nine. Someone up there wants us to come, and it won't be pleasant."
The Doctor looked up from the screen, where sure enough there was a code. Zuri's eyes were clouded and her lips tight. Preserving this timeline must be harder on her than he'd thought. He pulled her into a hug as he stood.
The three time travelers headed into the elevator.
"Come on, come with us," Rose asked Cathica.
"No way."
"Bye!" The Doctor just waved, but Zuri gave her a knowing look.
"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." She stalked off.
"That's her gone." The Doctor turned to the girls. "Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us."
"Yeah." Rose nodded.
"Good." He continued.
"Yep."
"Nope," Zuri spoke up. "Mitchell hasn't given up. He's making his own discoveries and choices." Her solemn tone killed the vibe.
The Doctor took both girls hands as the doors closed.
When they stepped out, it was not to golden walls, but massive sheets of ice. Zuri shivered, and the Doctor turned to them.
"The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs."
"Tough." Rose strode forward, giving him no choice. He shrugged out of his jacket, draping it over Zuri's shoulders. It swallowed her, but she was warm.
They wound their way around several frozen spike rooms until they came upon a bank of screens. A man with frosty white hair was scanning them, and spoke without looking up, "I started without you. This is fascinating." He turned to face them. "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!"
Zuri glared before casting a cautious look at the ceiling. She skimmed the area and stepped away from the 'workers'.
"Not a trace." The man, the Editor, continued. "No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"
Rose caught sight of Suki sitting at one of the screens. "Suki! Suki..." Rose knelt beside her but got no response. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?" She demanded.
"She's dead Rose," Zuri spoke softly. "They've all got chips in their heads, the chip keeps working. Puppets, all of them."
"OH! You're full of information." The Editor laughed. "But it's only fair, we get information back because apparently, you're no-one."
The Doctor nodded.
"It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter." The Doctor tried to pull the Editor's attention away from Zuri. "Cause we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on." He tugged at Rose's arm and reached for Zuri, but several of the 'workers' grabbed the three of them.
"Tell me who you are?" He persisted.
"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor snarked.
"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."
"And who's that?"
The Editor smirked. "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."
A snarl echoed through 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 straight up.
There was a massive creature attached to the ceiling, snarling and slobbering. It looked like a blob with fangs.
"What is that?" Rose asked, nervous.
"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor was incredulous.
The Editor looked peeved. "That 'thing' as you put it, is in charge of the human race. 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 humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe."
The Jagrafess roared.
"I call him Max." The Editor thought himself clever.
The Doctor smiled sarcastically and nodded, while Zuri sighed.
The trio was placed in black cuffs, strapped to a cross between a dolly and something electric.
The Editor kept rambling, falling into the trap of pride that befell many a villain. To tell one's plan before its completion, was to ensure its downfall. "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..."
"So all the people on Earth are like slaves?" Rose asked.
"Well now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
Zuri and the Doctor both growled. "YES."
"Oh, I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"
"Yes." They repeated.
The Editor laughed. "You're no fun."
"Let me out of these manacles," The Doctor encouraged, "You'll find out how much fun I am."
"Oh," The Editor began pacing slightly like he couldn't keep still. "He's tough, isn't he. But come on, isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."
"The only thing I'm admiring here is how amazingly stupid you all are," Zuri muttered. She took the opportunity while the focus was off herself, to dig in the Doctor's jacket, which she still wore, for the Sonic.
"You can't hide something on this scale." Rose butted in. "Somebody must've noticed."
"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. And 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."
Zuri knew that by now, the Doctor had spotted Cathica lurking around the corner, listening.
"What about you?" Rose asked. "You're not a Jagra...uh...a..."
"Jagrafess." The Doctor helped.
"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess, you're human."
"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well." The Editor sassed.
Zuri found the screwdriver, but she couldn't quite catch it with her fingertips.
"But you couldn't have done all this on your own." Rose insisted.
"No," he sighed. "I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to er... install himself."
"No wonder, a creature that size." The Doctor looked up, hoping to alert Cathica of the ceiling's inhabitant. "What's his lifespan?"
"Three thousand years."
"That's one hell of a metabolism, generating all that heat." The Doctor continued. "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 just one great big life support system."
"But that's why you're so dangerous." The Editor laughed. "Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." He gave a snap, and electricity surged through the cuffs, causing Zuri to cry out.
"Leave them alone! I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler, and that's Zuri. We're nothing, we're just wandering."
"Tell me who you are?" The Editor ignored Zuri crying, and so missed her triumphant hiss.
"I just said!" The Doctor protested.
"Yeah, but who do you work for, who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly-" He cut himself off. "Time Lord."
"What." Shock colored the Doctor's face.
"Oh yes. The last of the Time Lords, in his traveling machine. Oh, with his little human girl from so long ago... And you, the girl who changed her face." He turned to Zuri but was interrupted.
"You don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor bit out.
"Time travel." The Editor crowed.
"Someone's been telling you lies."
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" A projector popped up, showing Adam in one of the spike rooms. He was writhing and screaming, as information streamed out of the new door in his head.
"Oh my god, his head!" Rose cried.
"What the hell's he done?" The Doctor yelled. "What the hell's he gone and done?"
Zuri hung her head, this episode had to happen to trigger the Bad Wolf timeline. She couldn't interfere, no matter how much she wanted to.
"They're reading his mind, he's giving them everything!"
"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is 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."
"You'll never get your hand on it. I'll die first."
"Die all you like." The Editor shrugged. "I don't need you, I've got the key." The projection showed a key, floating out of Adam's pocket.
"You and your boyfriends!" The Doctor howled at Rose.
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing."
"And no one will stop you," Zuri spoke over the sound of her unlocking the cuffs with the screwdriver.
"Because you've bred a race of humans that doesn't bother to ask questions."
The Doctor piped up. "Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll trot right into the slaughterhouse if they're told it's made of gold."
Zuri subtly pointed the Sonic at the Doctor's cuffs. An alarm sounded, and she took the opportunity to buzz his cuffs. He reached while the Editor's back was turned, pointing and zapping Rose's cuffs.
As the Editor tried frantically to reverse what Cathica was doing, the three snuck out. They found her in a frozen spike room, reversing the heat flow, overheating the Jagrafess. The Doctor clicked his fingers, closing the door in Cathica's head, and she smiled. The four of them piled into the elevator and sent it down.
"we're just gonna go. I hate tidying up. Too many question's. You'll manage." The Doctor informed Cathica.
"You'll have to stay and explain this." She protested. "No-one's gonna believe me."
"Oh, they might start believing all sorts of things now. The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal."
"What about your friend?" She eyed Adam, who was leaning on the TARDIS.
"He's not my friend." There was a menacing vibe to him as he marched towards the TARDIS.
"Now don't..." Rose began, but he continued marching.
Adam looked sheepish and nervous when we approached. "I'm all right now. Much better. I've got the key." He held it up as proof. "Well, it's- I know..."
He laughed nervously again. "It all worked out for the best, didn't it?"
The Doctor snatched the key back and shoved Adam into the TARDIS.
"You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge-"
Zuri glared. "What did I say when we started, Mitchell? Don't wander off."
The Doctor sent the TARDIS spinning through the vortex, and the ride was surprisingly smooth given how aggressive he was with the controls.
The four of them stepped out of the TARDIS into a living room.
"It's my house!" Adam was shocked. "I'm home! Oh my god, I'm home!"
The Doctor and Zuri glared at him.
"Blimey, I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."
"Is there something else you want to tell us?" The Doctor asked coolly.
Adam squirmed. "No um... What do you mean?"
The Time Lord merely picked up the answering machine. Adam paled.
"The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world."
The Doctor pulled out his Sonic and zapped the phone box. It sparked and smoked, while Adam hung his head.
"That's it then, see ya!" His voice filled with false cheer, the Doctor turned to leave.
"How do you mean, 'see ya'?"
"As in 'goodbye'." There was no humor in his voice.
Adam stuttered. "But, but what about me? I've got my head... a chip type two, my head opens!"
"What like this?" The Doctor held no sympathy as he snapped his fingers, making the door in Adam's head open.
"Don't." The boy was getting angry as he snapped it closed.
"Don't do what?" Snap.
"Stop it!" Adam closed it again.
"All right now, Doctor," Rose interrupted, "That's enough, stop it."
"Thank you," Adam sighed.
Snap. Rose had clicked her fingers.
"OI!"
Snickering, Rose apologized.
Having had his fun, the Doctor was stern again. "The whole of history could have changed because of you."
"I just wanted to help." Adam tried.
"You were helping yourself," Zuri interjected. "Not the human race, not even your country, yourself."
"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."
"Yes I can," The Doctor stated. "'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." He opened the TARDIS door.
"But I want to come with you!"
"I only take the best. I've got Zuri and Rose." The three piled into the box, and Rose gave Adam once last teasing look as his mum came in the door. Then they were off into the vortex.
"Right then, Zuri, you wanted to check on your Artron levels." The Doctor was bustling around the console.
"Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about them. And what they are doing to me." Zuri caught the look between Rose and the Doctor. "It's alright, Mitchell already let slip I'm going to regenerate."
The Doctor sighed. "And how do you feel about that?"
"Well, I'm not exactly gonna look forward to dying now am I? I don't suppose you can tell me how many times..?
"The look on your face says no. Right, just tell me this, if I die right now, will I have enough Artron energy build up to regenerate?"
The Doctor pulled out the Sonic and scanned her. "No. You're developing some more Time Lord esque traits, but you haven't got the build-up required for change yet. Be careful, and try not to die."
"Of course, it's my main thing, don't die." Zuri sighed, leaning heavily on the railing. "It's been a long few days, Doc. Can I get a nap and then we discuss the danger level of my life?"
"Of course! Sleep, it will help the energy do its job. I'll be here when you wake up, even if it's a different me."
Zuri nodded and followed Rose back towards the bedrooms. This life was exhausting, and she would take the sleep while she could get it.
Up next... Let's Kill Hitler