Alex stepped out of the Tardis first, glancing around as the Doctor joined her with Rose shortly behind.

"Okay" She spoke quietly as Rose closed the door behind them. "So, it's the year 200,000"

"It's a spaceship" The Doctor added.

"No, space station"

"Space station, right"

"And maybe…"

"Try that gate over there"

"Right, good"

"Off you go"

The two moved back to lean against the Tardis with arms crossed. Rose nodded, thinking over the information for a second.

"200,000?" She double checked.

"200,000" Alex confirmed, nodding. Rose opened the door, poking her head in.

"Adam? Out you come" She called, stepping back as Adam left the Tardis, his mouth hanging open in shock. Alex hadn't been happy to find out he'd been let on, but she knew the Doctor just wanted to make Rose happy and Rose herself didn't know any better. Maybe if she hadn't been talking to Arthur when Adam met them at the Tardis… Well, no use thinking about things that have already happened, think about what's going to happen. Adam's first trip, the big words for 'Level 139' meant The Long Game. Which meant Satellite Five. Great. She never liked this episode much, it'd be harder to remember.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it" Rose was telling Adam.

"Where are we?" He asked, still looking around them.

"Good question" Rose nodded. Alex bit her lip to keep from laughing. That girl could do a great Doctor impression when the occasion called for it. "Let's see. So, um, judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000" Adam nodded along, still looking around but glancing at Rose as she talked.

"If you listen…" She continued, making Adam stop as if he was listening for something. "Engines" She nodded. "We're on some sort of space station. Yep, definitely a space station" Alex and the Doctor shared a glance, both grinning at the girl.

"It's a bit warm in here" Rose commented. "They could turn the heating down… tell you what, let's try that gate, come on" She started off, Adam following her like a lost puppy. Alex stopped the Doctor for a second, leaning up slightly to whisper to him.

"Is this like Rose's companion?" She asked, still staring after the two. The Doctor seemed to think a moment before nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I suppose it is" He agreed, starting off with Alex following him like Adam did Rose. They found themselves in an observation deck and Alex grinned the moment she saw it, rushing over to the glass before Rose or Adam even got there. The Doctor and Rose both smiled fondly at the girl as she stood pressed against the glass, her hand up beside her head as she looked down with a grin on her face.

"Here we go!" Rose announced, Adam still making his way down, holding onto the railings for support. "And this is…" She paused a moment, stopping behind Alex to look down herself. "I'll let the Doctor describe it" She finished lamely, not knowing what to say.

"The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire" Alex spoke up, her grin clear in her voice as she stepped back slightly to stand beside Rose. The Doctor joined her on the other side, sending her a grin of his own before continuing.

"And there it is. Planet Earth at its height. Covered with megacities, five moons"

"How did it get the other four moons?" Alex asked, looking up at him.

"I'll tell you later" He promised. She nodded, returning her gaze to the planet below. "Population 96 billion" He continued. "The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species with mankind right in the middle"

Adam fainted behind the three. None of them bothered to turn around.

"He's your boyfriend" The Doctor aimed at Rose.

"Not anymore" Rose replied.

Alex laughed.

"Come on Adam, open your mind" The Doctor encouraged. He was walking between the boy and Rose with his arms over their shoulders. Alex glanced at them from her spot beside Rose, feeling left out. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, the Doctor was meant to love Rose as far as she knew. But she wasn't about to comment on it. Any and all thoughts of or attempts at love in her life so far had completely and utterly fallen apart in one way or another.

"You're gonna like this fantastic period of history" The Doctor continued, unaware of Alex's thinking. "The human race at its most intelligent; culture, art politics. This era has got fine food, good manners-"

"Out of the way" A man snapped, pushing past the group. Alex snorted in amusement as the space around them suddenly came to life. Every single person pushed and shoved their way through and one glance at the food truck that opened beside them showed it was not 'fine food'. The Doctor glanced down at her, his shocked expression enough to set her off laughing. Rose examined the food nearby for a moment before turning back to the Doctor.

"Find cuisine?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor looked around with a frown.

"That, right there, is the very definition of irony" Alex giggled, shaking her head at him.

"My watch must be wrong" He theorised, checking it. He frowned again as he looked up. "No, it's fine… weird"

"That's what comes of showing off" Rose told him.

"Your history's not as good as you thought it was" Alex finished with a teasing grin. Rose frowned at her.

"Oh, I see what he means, that is creepy" She commented. Alex laughed, knowing she was just about to say those words.

"My history's perfect" The Doctor insisted.

"Well obviously not" The girls spoke in unison.

"They're all human" Adam pointed out, not paying attention to what Alex was doing. "What about the millions of planets? Millions of species? Where are those?"

"Good question" The Doctor nodded before actually realised what he said was true. "Actually, that is a good question" His thinking face disappeared quickly as he put an arm around Adam's shoulders. "Adam 'me old mate. You must be starving"

"No, I'm just a bit time sick" He protested as the Doctor led him off to the food truck. Alex sighed, running a hand down her face.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, looking at her worriedly.

"Nothing" Alex shook her head, before groaning in annoyance. "No, it's not nothing. It's… I don't really remember this one"

"You remembered my bit" She pointed out. Alex smiled at her.

"You always had the best lines though"

Rose grinned proudly as the Doctor walked past them, mumbling about a cash point. The two followed him and Adam as he used the sonic on what looked like an ATM machine. A metal strip slid out and the Doctor grabbed up the futuristic credit card, handing it to Adam.

"There you go, pocket money" He declared. "Don't spend it all on sweets" He turned to leave but no one followed.

"Unless you like sweets" Alex added, making him turn back to frown at her. "I like sweets" She shrugged.

"How does it work?" Adam asked, examining the object in his hands.

"Go and find out" The Doctor told 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 changed double and end up kissing complete strangers" Rose laughed as Alex mouthed along the last line. "Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" He shooed the younger boy away, Rose beginning to follow but hesitating as she glanced at Alex.

"Go on then, your first date" The Doctor teased.

"You're going to get a smack you are" Rose pointed a finger at him, even while grinning. The Doctor simply grinned in return, which faded into his thoughtful look as he glanced around.

"Time for some investigation?" Alex asked, smiling hopefully. He smiled back at her before moving to stop two women who were walking past.

"Erm… this is gonna sound daft. But can you tell me where we are?" He asked

"Floor 139" The darker skinned girl told them, gesturing to the giant numbers painted on the wall. "Could they write it any bigger?"

"Floor 139 of what?" The Doctor continued.

"Must've been one hell of a party"

"You're on Satellite Five" The younger girl told them, smiling in a welcoming way.

"What's Satellite Five?"

"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" The first girl asked, looking between the two disbelievingly.

"Look at us, we're stupid" Alex said simply, gesturing mostly to the Doctor.

"Hang on, wait a minute, are you a test?" The kinder girl asked, looking like she'd just figured something out. "Some sort of management test kind of thing?"

"You've got me" The Doctor nodded, acting like he was relenting the fact.

"Well done" Alex nodded.

"Too clever for us"

The Doctor showed them the psychic paper.

"We were warned about this is basic training" The younger girl remembered. "All workers have to be versed in company promotion"

"Right. Fire away. Ask your questions" The other woman told them impatiently. "If it gets me to floor 500 I'll do anything"

"Why, what happens on floor 500?" The Doctor asked first.

"The walls are made of gold" She told them, like it should be obvious. Alex froze, trying her best to not let her shock show on the outside. Floor 500, how could she forget something like that? "And you should know" She looked over the way Alex and the Doctor were standing so close together. "Mr and Mrs Management" Alex's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock as she glanced up at the Doctor, who was doing the same.

"No… no we're- we're really not-"

"So, this is what we do" The woman led them over to a wall covered in screens and Alex followed hesitantly behind the Doctor, her head hung low to let her hair fall forward and hopefully cover her blush. She listened to the woman pointing out the news stories but frowned when she heard about the Face of Boe apparently being pregnant. She'd have to ask the Doctor about that later.

"I get it, you broadcast the news" The Doctor summarized.

"We are the news" She corrected. The younger woman smiled nervously at them and they both smiled back.

"We're the journalists" The other woman continued. "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 through us" Movement caught Alex's eyes and she looked up right into a security camera. She stared at it unblinkingly as her mind raced. That camera was looking at them. As always, whoever was in charge was interested by the mysterious Doctor. And that never ended well.

An alarm blared suddenly, breaking Alex from her thoughts as she looked to the Doctor. He gestured for her to follow as they moved to stand at the edge of the clearing crowd. Alex looked around as the food stalls closed and people rushed to get back to work, finally spotting Rose and Adam sitting at a table together.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!" The Doctor called. Alex shook her head, rolling her eyes in amusement at the man beside her. She watched then, suddenly turning serious as Adam paused before slipping Rose's phone in his pocket, then resuming to follow her over. She took another look up at the camera, not noticing they were moving until someone grabbed her hand. She flinched slightly, her head snapping around to see the Doctor watching her worriedly.

"You alright?" He asked. She paused before nodding.

"Yeah, fine" She told him. He gave a nod and started off to follow the others, tugging on her hand to take her with him. She glanced behind them once more before properly following him.

They walked into a clean white room and Alex made a displeased face at the color. There was a raised octagonal platform in the middle with what looked like a futuristic dentist's chair in the middle of that. The staff sat cross-legged at each of the sides in front of panels with divots in the shape of hand prints. There was a metal barrier around the raised platform by the door and Alex wandered over to it, leaning on it so she could take a closer look at the technology the workers were sitting in front of.

The Doctor came to stand beside her and Rose stood on her other side with Adam beside her. The older of the two women was standing in the middle to address the room.

"Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection" She told the other workers before turning to the Doctor. "How do you want it? By the book?"

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks" The Doctor told her, nodding with a smile. She turned away and Alex glanced between the Doctor and Rose, all three of them grinning at each other.

"Okay, 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. Now please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering should be open, honest and non-biased. That's company policy" She looked back at the Doctor and Co, giving them a smile.

"Actually, it's the law" The younger girl, Suki, spoke up, giving the group her own hesitant smile. Alex and the Doctor gave their own friendly smiles in return.

"Yes, thank you Suki" Cathica snapped, irritated. "Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests, here we go" She sat down in the chair, leaning back. "And… engage safety" The staff held their hands over the panels and each of the eight walls lit up as they did, making the group to the side look around. Cathica clicked her fingers and a little door in her head opened up. The Doctor looked mildly disgusted while Rose stared in shock and Adam leaned forward to get a closer look. Alex, well she was trying not to throw up as she moved to bury her face in the side of the Doctor's jacket. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her close. The staff around the side all put their hands into the panels and closed their eyes.

"And 3… 2… and spike"

"Compressed information, streaming into her" The Doctor explained. "Reports from every city, every country, every planet. They all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer"

"If it all goes through her she must be a genius" Rose commented.

"No, she doesn't remember any of it" Alex shook her head, pulling away from the Doctor but pointedly looking anywhere but Cathica. "There's too much of it, her head would blow up. She simply stores it" The Doctor gave Alex one last glance before he started pacing around the room, marking out a circle around the octagon. Rose followed him as he walked but Alex stood where she was, her arms wrapped around herself uncomfortably.

"Her brain's the processer, as soon as it closes, she forgets" The Doctor told them, examining the equipment.

"So, what about all these people around the edge?" Rose asked, gesturing to them.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their heads connecting them to her and they transmit 600 channels" The Doctor explained as Rose leaned down for a closer look at one. "Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place" Alex climbed up and swung her legs over the railing, sitting on top with her hands on either side of her to remain steady. The Doctor completed his circle and came to stand beside her on the opposite side to where Adam still stood. "Now that's what I call power" He commented.

"You alright?" Rose asked Adam, stopping beside the Doctor.

"I can see her brain" He said in response. Alex grimaced, having been trying to forget that fact. She looked upwards to keep from looking at the woman in the middle and her eyes caught on another security camera. She narrowed her eyes on it. She could swear that thing was watching her, and it was freaking her out.

"Do you want to get out?" Rose asked the boy beside her. He shook his head.

"No… no, this is technology, it's… it's amazing"

"This technology's wrong" Alex and the Doctor spoke at once. Adam blinked in surprise at them while Rose gave a flicker of a smile. The two themselves didn't even acknowledge what they'd just done, Alex focussing on the security camera while the Doctor focussed on Cathica and the piece of technology streaming the information into her head.

"Trouble?" Rose asked, sounding intrigued. The Doctor and Alex both turned to her, Alex grinning happily.

"Oh, yeah" The Doctor told her, smiling himself. Rose raised an amused eyebrow at Alex.

"You could be less happy about it" She teased the girl, who simply laughed.

"So could you" She pointed out. The girls laughed and the Doctor chuckled to himself, watching them fondly while Adam watched the scene, looking confused as to what was actually happening.

Suki suddenly pulled her hands away from her panel with a gasp, like she'd had an electric shock. Alex sat up straighter as the rest of the staff removed their hands as well, making the walls dim again and Cathica's head closed. Suki was rubbing her hands together, breathing heavier than normal as Cathica turned to her.

"Come off it, Suki" She complained. "I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?"

"Sorry, must've been a glitch" Suki responded sheepishly, refusing to look at her. Cathica stood to say something else but Alex spoke up before she could.

"I doubt Suki would have messed it up on purpose though, would you?" She asked, seethingly at Cathica then softer towards Suki, who shook her head quickly. Alex gave the older woman a pointed look, not missing the Doctor smiling from beside her. Before she could respond however, one of the walls lit up with a screen and an electronic voice split through the air.

'Promotion' The voice said over the loudspeaker. Cathica seemed to forget all about Alex and Suki as she turned to face the screen, crossing her fingers and mumbling under her breath as she prayed to be the one to get the promotion.

'Promotion for… Suki Macrae Cantrell'

The words lit up on the screen along with the voice and Suki's mouth dropped open in shock while Cathica looked physically wounded.

'Please proceed to floor 500'

Alex felt her entire being tense as she froze, staring at the screen. No… No one survived going to floor 500, that much she remembered. But how could she save the girl without making anyone incredibly suspicious ahead of time? Did she have to let her die? She wasn't sure she even could. She hadn't noticed she'd missed part of a conversation or that time had passed at all. She hadn't registered the Doctor moving to stand in front of her, talking to her until his hands fell on her shoulders.

Alex snapped out of her thoughts so quickly and forcefully that she fell forward off the bar she had been sitting on and would've hit the ground face-first if the Doctor wasn't holding her. Her mind hadn't managed to catch up and she found herself instinctively trying to fight away from him. All she knew was that someone was holding her when no one had been before, and she didn't like it.

"Alex stop! Alex, look, it's me" The Doctor told her quickly, his voice registering in her head. It was the Doctor, she was safe with the Doctor. She stopped moving abruptly and looked up, her wide eyes meeting his. "It's me, see?" He added quietly, knowing that little joke of theirs would always manage to calm her down. She managed a shaky smile before she righted herself, suddenly looking like nothing had ever been wrong as she glanced around.

The room was a lot emptier than it had been but she quickly looked away when she met the shocked gazes of the other two occupants in the room. She simply strode past them out the door, missing their concerned glances at one another as they followed.

What the hell is wrong with me…?

So I've come to a realization that I'm up to 14 (now 15) chapters and still have not put up a cover for this story. Trouble is, I don't have photoshop or anything reliable, so I could either try to make one myself (which might end up taking a while anyway) or someone could make one for me if there's no trouble? I mean, if one of you would like to (with full credit of course) Leave a review or message me if you're interested and I'll tell you who I was thinking as the image of Alex. Thanks ahead of time to anyone who wants to. Of course you don't have to want to make a cover for me to review... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, ciao.