Time and Space with My Best Friend

by StrikeMoonstone9387

When the Doctor and Rose answer a plea for help in Utah, 2012, they meet Siani Jones, a blind Archivist in Henry van Statten's museum. However, there is more to this young woman than meets the eye. First in the 'The Belle of Gallifrey, The Converging Wave and The Herald of Dreams' series. Series 1 - Special - Series 2. Female Ianto Jones/ The Doctor.

3. The Long Game

Note: In case it was unclear, I have played with the episode order a bit. In my universe, Episode 8 'Father's Day' is set before Episode 6 'Dalek'. I wanted Rose to be faced with a person who had just as much reason to change the past as she did but refused to do so because of the consequences it could have.

More importantly, before I go any further, I want to make it known that I have not had contact with anyone who is visually impaired, aside from people who wear glasses (most of my family wearing glasses, myself included). To that end, I do not want to offend anyone if my descriptions aren't accurate. If you feel that I should change certain parts to make my portrayal of Siani (the blind character) more accurate, please don't hesitate to message me and I will try to do the best I can. Preemptively, I'm sorry if I do offend anyone, it is not my intention to do so.

Please, read and review.

The Long Game

200, 000

Satellite 5, Orbiting Planet Earth

The TARDIS materialized in a small, secluded corner with a peculiar wheezing sound that Siani assumed was normal; the funny thing about the noise was that it seemed familiar somehow, but the memory just out of reach. The feeling was the same with the TARDIS itself, familiar but unable to say why or how.

After leaving Utah, 2012, each of them had showered and changed into fresh clothes. The Doctor was dressed in his usual outfit, with a fresh dark green jumper beneath his leather jacket. Siani was dressed in another green sari, more of a metallic forest green in shade with a sleeveless blouse of the same colour, the drape pleated and pinned to left shoulder*. She had a small set of matching bangles** on each wrist and a pair of green and white diamond earring studs** in her lower ear piercing while the upper two piercings had white diamond studs. She had retied her hair into her usual bun** after brushing the thick locks out and had adorned her face with her usual light dusting of powder, a line of black kohl along her waterline and a forest green bindi** between her eyebrows. On her feet were a pair of matching 4" heeled strappy sandals**. She had inadvertently matched with the Doctor, something that had sent Rose into peals of laughter the moment she had seen them; the younger blonde was dressed in a red and black zip-up top and a pair of black trousers over black 2" heeled boots. Rose also had her hair tied in a high pony with a few strands left loose to frame her lightly made up face (mascara, blush and lip gloss), a set of rings on her middle fingers and thumbs, a watch on her left wrist and a pair of silver hooped earrings.

"Doctor, can I speak with you for a moment outside?" Rose asked as soon as the wheezing stopped, glancing pointedly at the door.

He looked at the younger of the two blondes sitting on the jump seat with a small frown. "Sure." He said with a small, confused frown, nodding.

"Be back in a mo." Rose said to Siani.

"Okay." The blind Welshwoman replied absently, busy unclenching her fingers from the tight grip she had on the railing. Despite this, her face was lit with wonder and amazement as she listened to the TARDIS humming in her mind, regaling her with an ancient and timeless tune.

"So where are we?" Rose asked as soon as they'd exited the TARDIS.

"It's 200 000, and it's a spaceship." He replied in a quiet voice, unsure if Siani had a heightened sense of hearing as a result of her blindness. "No, wait, space station." He corrected himself, glancing around. "And, uh, go and try that gate over there." He pointed to a gate off to the side. "Off you go." He said, moving back and leaning casually against the TARDIS.

Rose grinned. "200 000?" She asked in confirmation.

"200 000." The Doctor replied, grinning brightly. He loved watching his Companion's expressions when they experienced new things; in the time since the War, it was a reminder of her reactions, the wonder and amazement she always felt no matter how long she would travel, as though it was the first time she was experiencing it.

"Right." Rose muttered softly, turning slightly and opening the TARDIS door. "Siani? Out you come."

Siani promptly exited the TARDIS with her cane out, the strap looped around her wrist, and tapping out the path in front of her. Her face brightened and lit up with wonder the moment her heeled feet touched the station floor, hearing the sounds and smelling the scents that surrounded them. "This is… amazing." She breathed, a breath-taking smile crossing her face.

"I know, yeah?" Rose agreed, feeling giddy and excited. She wondered if this was how the Doctor felt when during her own first trip with him, to Platform One.

"Where are we?" Siani asked curiously, lightly tapping her cane against the floor in front of her and listening to the responding sounds. She frowned thoughtfully, cocking her head to the side. "I hear… engines?" She asked, frowning in confusion.

Rose and the Doctor exchanged impressed looks at the blind woman's words. The Doctor nodded encouragingly, and Rose turned back to Siani. "Okay, so, er, judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200 000." She said before pausing and listening carefully. "And you were right, the sound is definitely engines. We're on some sort of space station." Rose glanced around, nodding. "Yeah, definitely a space station."

"It feels a bit warm." Siani remarked, fanning herself with her free hand.

"Yeah, they could turn the heating down." Rose agreed, tugging at the collar of her top. "Tell you what – let's try that gate over there." She said, nodding to the gate the Doctor had pointed out to her. "It's about… uh, I'm not sure how to measure the steps." She admitted, completely out of her element.

"Turn right and it's 15 steps straight." The Doctor said, moving to stand next to the blind woman. "But I can guide you, if you'd prefer, Siani." He offered, knowing that it was a big change for her.

"Thank you, I'd like that." Siani accepted gratefully.

The Doctor gently took her free hand and hooked it around his elbow, feeling her tighten her grip once she had a proper hold. Rose ran over to the gate and opened it, waiting for the Doctor and Siani to catch up with her before leading them through and up the steps behind it. On the other side, they were met with a massive viewing window that took up most of the deck.

"Here we go!" The young blonde Londoner said cheerfully. She stopped in front of the window with the Doctor coming to stand next to her, Siani on his other side. "This is…" She faltered, unable to accurately describe the magnificent sight before them to someone who wasn't able to see it. "I'll let the Doctor describe it." She said, remembering how he had been able to help Siani only a few minutes earlier.

"The Fourth great and bountiful Human Empire." The Doctor declared proudly, Siani still holding his arm. "And there it is, planet Earth at its 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."

"Amazing." Siani breathed with wonder. "And the Earth, itself? Does it still look like it does in the 21st Century or have the continents changed yet?"

"No, it's too soon for any real noticeable continental change." The Doctor replied with a smile. "On the surface, however, the mega-cities are visible like tiny, dark grey coloured masses against the swirl of whites, blues and greens. The tops of the higher buildings are more prominent, though." He described further.

Rose watched as he continued to describe the sight before them, Siani prompting him with question after question that he patiently responded to. It was as though he had experience speaking with and explaining things to someone with a visual impairment, the way he showed her what he and Rose could see but without making her feel as though she was missing out on not being able to see with her own eyes.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by the Doctor calling her name. "Yeah?" Rose asked, looking away from the window she had turned back to. She was surprised to see the Doctor and Siani at the gate, the Time Lord looking back in her direction.

"Come on, we're going to go say hello to the locals." He told her nodding in Siani's direction, the blind Welshwoman already on the other side of the gate and patiently waiting for them. "You okay?" He asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rose reassured him cheerfully. "Let's go meet the locals and explore." She chirped, shaking her head and pushing her thoughts on her friend's behaviour. She resolved to ask him about it when she got the chance, hoping he would be able to tell her and not brush her off like he usually did when she inquired about his past.

The Doctor frowned slightly as Rose joined them, wondering what had the young girl so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed him and Siani move or that he had called her name twice before she finally responded. Brushing it off as a reaction to seeing the future planet Earth, similar to how she had been when he took her to Platform One, he led the two blonde humans through the station, one arm around Rose's shoulders while Siani had a hold of his other elbow in lieu of using her cane which she was folded up and hanging from her wrist.

"You're going to like this-fantastic period of history." The Doctor said, grinning brightly. "The human race at its most intelligent - culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners…"

"Out of the way!" A man yelled rudely, interrupting the Doctor and pushing past Siani. She stumbled into the Time Lord, who steadied her quickly before she could fall.

"I think we have different definitions of the term 'good manners', Doctor." Siani said dryly.

A bell rang and suddenly, the deck was bustling with activity where only seconds before, there had been no sign of life aside from the time travellers. People appeared from seemingly nowhere, opening up food vending stations and serving the customers that had begun queuing up.

The Doctor looked on, completely taken aback while Rose snickered at his expression. Siani had her head cocked to the side, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Thank you very much indeed." A chef said to one of his customers. "Somebody there?" He called.

"That's great. What do you want, love?" Another said to a customer. "All right, keep it moving." He called to the crowded queue of customers in front of his stall. "I'll be with you lot in a minute."

"One at a time." Another warned his queued customers. "What now, what was it? Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos." The vendor turned and got the order ready, turning back to his customer. "Do you want a drink?" He asked. He held his finger up in a 'one moment gesture to the customer before turning his attention further down the queue. "Oi, you, mate. Stop pushing!" The vendor shouted to a tall man with spiky, platinum blonde hair who was pushing and fighting with another customer. "Get back. I said, back." The spiky-haired customer reluctantly moved back when his attempts to argue yielded no results.

Rose slipped between the customers and looked at the posters attached to the front of the vending stalls. "Fine cuisine?" She asked, looking back at the Doctor with a frown.

Siani wrinkled her nose at the blend of scents. "It smells like fast food restaurants." She remarked.

"My watch must be wrong." The Doctor said. He looked at his watch with a frown. "No, it's fine." He looked back at the hustle and bustle that surrounded them, the noise blending together discordantly. "It's weird." He murmured.

"That's what comes of showing off." Rose teased with a grin. "Your history's not as good as you thought it was."

"My history's perfect." He argued defensively.

"Well, obviously not." Rose muttered under her breath.

"Everyone here seems human." Siani remarked, once again frowning thoughtfully. "Where are the aliens? The millions of species, beings from the millions of worlds?" She asked.

"That's… a good question." The Doctor said, looking around at the crowd once again and seeing what Siani had noticed.

"Hang on, how can you know that if you can't see them?" Rose asked, confused.

"I can see auras." Siani revealed. "I knew you weren't human, Doctor, the moment you and Rose walked into van Statten's office because of your aura; it isn't like a human's." She admitted, facing the direction she could sense the Doctor in. She didn't notice him looking at her in shock and surprise, his blue eyes wide.

"What are auras?" Rose asked curiously, looking at Siani and also missing the Doctor's stunned expression.

"They're like a light that shines from the soul. From what I understand, all souls have a unique aura, though I'm assuming that individual Races have a specific feel to theirs that's exclusive to them alone." She explained as best she could.

"That's basically what it is." The Doctor said in a slightly high-pitched voice, drawing the girls' attention to him.

Siani frowned, hearing the change in his voice. "Doctor, you okay?" She asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied with a grin. "But you must be starving." He said, changing the subject.

"No, I'm good, thanks." Siani refused politely.

"No, you just need some grub. And you need to keep your strength up for the baby you've got at home." The Doctor said. He turned and stepped up to a vendor. "Oi, mate, how much is a kronkburger?" He asked.

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart." The chef replied with a fake smile. "Now join the queue." He said, pointing to the impossibly long line of customers waiting to be served.

"Money. We need money." The Doctor said, turning back to Siani and Rose. "Let's use a cashpoint." He led the girls to a Credit Five cashpoint and used his sonic screwdriver on it.

"What's that?" Siani asked, hearing the gentle buzzing of the device.

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor and Rose replied in unison.

Siani laughed lightly. "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'this could be a little more sonic'?" She asked rhetorically.

The Doctor shot a grin in her direction even though she couldn't see it, once again struck by how much she reminded him of her; that had been exactly what she had said when he showed her the screwdriver once it was built. Siani looked completely different but behaved so similar to her. Even the powers and the ability to see auras was the same.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when the machine produced a slim, silver stick. The Doctor picked it up and took Siani's hand, dropping the credit stick into her outstretched palm. "There you go, pocket money." He said. "Don't spend it all on sweets." He warned.

"How does it work?" Siani asked curiously, curling her fingers around the stick. "Or are we supposed to figure it out on our own?"

"That's exactly what you're supposed to do." The Doctor replied with a grin. "The thing is, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook; you've got to throw yourself in – eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me?" He asked rhetorically. He shook his head and turned back to Rose and Siani, both girls giggling. "Off you two go!" He urged. "Oh, and stay together, both of you." He added, becoming serious.

The Doctor shot Rose a meaningful look, gesturing pointedly in Siani's direction. Rose nodded reassuringly, understanding his silent request to not let the blind girl be on her own; they had no idea how this time period would react to an obviously visually impaired person, seeing as it wasn't quite the era of good manners as the Doctor had previously thought.

Siani, not noticing the exchange, nodded in response to the Doctor's order. "Shall we go?" She asked cheerfully, unfolding her cane.

Rose carefully looped Siani's free hand through her arm the way she had seen the Doctor do it. "We shall." She said theatrically before bursting out in a peel of laughter, Siani's own bell-like peels mixing in a second later.

Rose guided Siani to a pair of open seats at an otherwise full table before going to the nearest vendor and ordering some food, the kronkburger the Doctor had previously asked the price of with a side of pajatos and a drink. Taking the food back to Siani, the pair deciding to share since neither were particularly hungry at the moment, Rose described the food to the blind girl; the kronkburger was a variation of a beef burger, the meat more red-toned in colour than the 21st Century girls were used to while the pajatos were a blue-coloured version of chips. All in all, it wasn't too bad, taste-wise, but neither were too eager to get anymore than what they had.

'All staff are reminded that the canteen area now operates a self-cleaning table system. Thank you!' A voice announced over the tannoy.

"Try this." Rose said after several minutes of eating in silence, filled only by the noise of the people around them eating at a rapid pace. She placed the drink cup in Siani's hand. "It's called 'Zaphic'." She explained to the older blonde's questioning glance. "It's nice, it's like a, uh, Slush Puppy."

"What flavour?" Siani asked; she had become rather picky in her drink tastes since she began breast-feeding Carwyn. She didn't know why, but had decided to listen to her taste buds after a particularly violent round of puking.

Rose took the cup back and took a sip through the straw. "A sort of… beef?" She replied questioningly.

Siani stared in the direction of her voice, gaping incredulously. "I never thought I'd miss Chinese take away." She said after a moment, shaking her head in amazement.

The comment set Rose off into peals of laughter, joined a few moments later by the older girl. "You get used to it." Rose reassured her once she had calmed down a bit. "This helps." She admitted, pulling her mobile out of her pocket and holding it in front of Siani. "My mobile." She added belatedly. "The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Phone your sister; talking to them or sometimes just hearing their voices on the machine helps much more than you realize."

"And you can phone home even though it's 198 000 years ago?" Siani asked, part hopeful and part incredulous.

"Yup." Rose replied cheerfully. "Honestly, try it. Go on." She encouraged, putting the mobile in Siani's hand.

The older girl hesitated for a moment before dialling her home's landline. She took a breath and put the mobile to her ear, suddenly nervous and anxious as she waited for the call to connect, hearing the line ringing.

"Jones residence, Meghan speaking." An American accented voice answered the call.

Sinai's eyes widened at hearing her live-in nanny/ Registered Nurse's voice. "Meghan, it's Siani." She said, barely managing to keep her amazement out of her voice.

"Hey, how you doing?" She asked curiously, the sound of her puttering around the kitchen and the soft music of Carwyn's portable cradle echoing in the background. "And before you ask, Carwyn is doing great. He's an angel, like always and currently sleeping like one. And Rhia's having a good day; she was asleep when I checked in on her and collected her breakfast tray ten minutes ago." The American woman reported cheerfully. "And Carwyn also had his mid-morning milk, finishing most of his bottle. By the way, you are still pumping regularly, right? It's important to keep doing so to encourage continual nipple and breast stimulation and protect your milk supply."

"I'm doing good. That's great, especially that Rhia's having a good day. And yes, I'm still pumping regularly." Siani responded in order of the report and the question put to her by the RN. "Thanks for everything, Meghan."

"You're welcome." Meghan chirped. "So, what's the call for? By the way, we heard about van Statten's disappearance and the museum being closed down. It was all over the news for the past two days. Is that why you called? You're still there, helping with the shut-down procedures and paperwork?"

"Not exactly." Siani said slowly, thinking rapidly to explain the situation without giving away the time travelling; she took note of the time reference Meghan had given and assumed that it had been at least two days since the events at van Statten's museum. "I'm hitching a lift with some friends; they're visiting from the UK for a few weeks and are taking a road trip through the state. I should be home in a few days at the latest, but call me if anything goes wrong with Rhia or Carwyn. I'll figure out a way to get home as immediately as possible." She paused for a moment, trying to think of anything she had forgotten.

"You can give them my number." Rose supplied helpfully, taking a sip of her drink.

Siani nodded. "My mobile needs to be upgraded, so take down the number of the mobile I called you from." She said. "It belongs to a woman named Rose. Just ask to talk to me if you call."

"You're hitching a lift with some road tripping friends, your phone's out of commission so call this number rather than yours and you'll be home in a few days, or sooner if things go south here." Meghan repeated. "Got it. Repeat the phone number for me just to make sure."

"Hold on, I'm passing the mobile to Rose." Siani said, handing the device to the younger girl.

"Hello, Meghan?" Rose asked in greeting. "This is Rose." There was a pause as she listened to what was being said. Then she delivered a string of numbers before pausing again. "You're welcome." Rose said cheerfully. "Here's Siani." She handed the mobile over once more.

"You got it?" Siani asked, holding the mobile to her ear.

"Yeah." Meghan replied. "Listen, you have fun and be safe."

"Thanks." Siani said. "Bye."

"Bye." Meghan replied before cutting the line.

Siani ended the call on her end as well before passing the mobile back to Rose. "Thank you." The blind Welshwoman said gratefully. "You were right. Talking to them really helps. And thank you for giving her your number." She said sincerely. "I can't say how much that means to me."

"You're welcome." Rose said with a gentle smile, covering the older girl's hand with her own. "I know it can be a change… and a bit of a shock as well, I suppose. So, don't hesitate to come to me if you need to call home at any time, yeah?"

"Yeah." Siani replied, nodding a smiling beautifully.

An alarm sounded, startling them both. They watched/ listened in surprised confusion as everyone around them immediately began packing their belongings, the vendors closing up their stalls as well, and leaving the deck just as quickly as they had arrived.

"Oi, you two! Rose, Siani!" The Doctor called from behind them.

Rose turned towards his voice and saw him waving them over. She waved to him in acknowledgement and turned back to Siani. "The Doctor wants us to meet him." Rose explained, picking up her drink. "He's behind us, a few feet away."

Siani nodded and got to her feet, unfolding her cane and hooking her other hand around Rose's elbow as an added precaution. Rose led the way to the Doctor, joining him and the two, young and pretty women he was standing with.

"Siani, Rose, this is Cathica and Suki. Cathica, Suki, this is Siani and Rose." He introduced the four women to each other. "Cathica and Suki are journalists here on Satellite Five." He explained, at the same time telling them where they had landed.

"Hello." A gentle and sweet voice greeted them warmly.

"That's Suki." The Doctor whispered helpfully in Siani's ear, earning an understanding nod.

"Hi." A slightly rougher and more standoffish voice said.

"That's Cathica." He said.

"Charmed to meet you." Siani said sweetly, smiling in the direction of their voices.

"Charmed to meet you, too." Suki replied.

"Where do you want to start? With the newsroom?" Cathica asked, focusing more on the Doctor than either of his Companions.

"Sure." He replied, nodding.

"This way, please." She said, turning and walking down the corridor.

Rose guided Siani as they followed Cathica and Suki, the Doctor on the blind woman's other side and quietly describing their surroundings to her. Cathica led them into the newsroom and gestured to them to stand behind one of the two double-barred railings. As the Doctor continued describing their surroundings, Rose looked around the almost sterile room, sparsely furnished and mainly themed white in colour.

The most interesting thing about the room was the equipment set up in the middle of the room; there was an octagonal desk around a central chair, several wires connecting both parts to each other. Each desk space had a pair of almost gel-looking palm-print pads and above the chair was a light fixture connected to a black metal base attached to the ceiling.

Suki took a seat at an open desk, six other people already seated at the other spaces and waiting patiently.

Cathica, the only one of the journalists not seated, took a step forward. "Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection." She said with a warning note to her voice. She turned to the Doctor. "How do you want it, by the book?" She asked.

"Right from scratch, thanks." He replied, nodding.

Siani frowned slightly at the other woman's so obvious attempts to impress them. On either side of her, Rose and the Doctor exchanged small smirks, noticing the same thing.

Cathica turned to her colleagues. "Okay." She said. "So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot, - my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni." She turned to her observers. "That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please do." The Doctor nodded as the woman continued, "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That's company policy." She smiled at her observers.

"Actually, it's the law." Suki pointed out helpfully, a gentle smile on her face.

"Yes, thank you, Suki." Cathica snapped, wiping the smile off the other woman's face. "Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go." She settled into the central chair. "And…engage safety." Her seven colleagues held their palms out over the palm-prints in front of them. Lights began coming on around the room with a rhythmic sound. The trio of time travellers glanced around briefly, trying to get their eyes to adjust to the sudden change in the brightness level; Siani was first, being more surprised at the shock of the sudden change against her unseeing eyes, with the Doctor and Rose succeeding one after the other a few seconds later. They turned back to Cathica just as she snapped her fingers purposefully. A portal opened in her forehead with a quiet 'snikt' and her seven colleagues put their hands into the palm-prints one after another. "And three, two… and spike." A stream of shimmering ice-blue light shone directly into the opening.

Rose stared at Cathica in slightly disgusted horror, trying not to throw up the food she had just consumed.

"What was the 'snikt' sound?" Siani asked.

"She has a portal in her head and the sound was it opening." The Doctor explained. Siani's expression became just as horrified as Rose's at the explanation. "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."

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius." Rose mused softly, moving past her initial reaction to focus on what was being said.

"How does her head not explode from it all?" Siani asked, more concerned for the woman than she was interested in the new things she was being told.

"She doesn't remember any of it." The Doctor replied, moving out from behind the railing and walking around the octagonal platform. "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

"That's good." Siani said softly to herself. She turned in the direction of the Doctor's voice. "What about the people you said were sitting around the platform edges?" She asked curiously.

Rose made a sound of agreement, curious about the same thing. She walked around the platform edge and stopped between two of the journalists, crouching between them. Neither employee reacted in any way to her presence.

"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." The Doctor explained, completing his circuit around the room. "Now that's what I call power." He said, leaning against the front of the railing.

"Who monitors the journalists?" Siani asked curiously. "Who ensures that there is no bias, that they follow company policy and the law?" She asked, reiterating what both Cathica and Suki had mentioned.

"Floor 500." The Doctor replied, beaming at her.

"I can see her brain." Rose muttered in disgust, joining them at the railing once more.

"Okay, outside of a medical situation, a medical class or the telly, that's just wrong." Siani said, shaking her head. "At least, for me." She added, realizing that things might be different in 2001st Century.

"Not just for you." The Doctor said heavily. "Even for this time period, the technology's wrong."

"Trouble?" Rose asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Oh, yeah." He replied, grinning down at his beautiful and feisty Companions, both looking excited and eager.

Suddenly, there was a slight shuddering sound and Suki twitched slightly. She gasped and pulled her hand away from the pads as though she had been given an electric shock. The other six journalists slowly lifted their hands from their pads, the lights shutting down as the information stream cut off.

Cathica's portal closed and she blinked rapidly a few times to reorient herself. "Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway." She snapped in annoyance, sitting up in the chair and turning to the other woman. "What was that for?" She demanded to know.

"Sorry." Suki replied weakly, cradling her palm with her other hand. "It must've been a glitch."

"Oh." Cathica sighed in disappointment, getting up from the chair.

'Promotion!' A voice called over the tannoy.

Everyone turned towards a projection that lit up one wall, the word 'Promotion' also lighting up as it was spoken.

"Come on! This is it. Come on! Oh God, make it me. Come on, say my name." Cathica prayed under her breath. The Doctor and Rose glanced at her in mild concern while Siani cocked her head to the side, just as concerned as her friends about the strange behaviour. "Say my name, say my name…"

'Promotion for… Suki Macrae Cantrell.' The tannoy announced. Suki's jaw dropped in shock while Cathica's shoulders slumped in disappointment. ' Please proceed to Floor 500.'

"I don't believe it." Suki breathed in awe, slowly standing up. She stared at the projection that had her full name written in large, luminescent letters. "Floor 500!"

"How the hell did you manage that?" Cathica demanded angrily, rounding on the smaller woman. "I'm above you!"

"I just applied on the off chance." Suki replied softly, not seeming to mind the anger directed at her; though whether that was because she was used to Cathica's personality or whether she was too stunned by her promotion was anyone's guess. "And they've said yes!" She squealed excitedly. She turned back to the rest of the room's occupants, a bright smile forming on her face.

Cathica crossed her arms. "That's not fair." She said petulantly. "I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years."

Siani leaned towards the Doctor. "So this Floor 500…" She started to ask.

"It's where the walls are made of gold." The Doctor replied, nodding.

Siani and Rose both looked at him incredulously, wondering what that meant. It sounded like complete nonsense to the two 21st Century humans. And that was coming from one who was blind, had been found wandering the streets of Cardiff with complete amnesia and then spent the following ten years living atop a Rift in Time and Space that ran through the city.

Everyone left the Newsroom one after another, each person congratulating Suki before leaving, until eventually only she, the Doctor, Cathica, Rose and Siani were left. Suki hurriedly left the room with Cathica following her, heading in the opposite direction from the other journalists. The Doctor, Rose and Siani followed after the pair, the blind Welshwoman with her hand hooked around the Time Lord's elbow as she tapped their steps with her cane. After a short detour to Suki's quarters where she packed a bag, the small group made their way to the lifts.

Suki set her bag down in front of the lift as soon as they reached. "Cathica, I'm going to miss you!" She said sincerely before turning to the Doctor. "Floor 500! Thank you!" She said gratefully.

"I didn't do anything." The Doctor admitted, shrugging lightly.

"Well, you're my lucky charm." Suki said with a sweet smile and an excited laugh.

"All right. I'll hug anyone." The Doctor said with a cheerful grin. Siani pulled her hand away from his elbow and gave Suki a tight hug that she returned with equal fervour.

"How are you holding up?" Rose asked Siani quietly, angling her body towards the older girl's while keeping her voice low so their conversation could remain private.

Siani paused for a moment, thinking on her answer. "It's a lot to take in." She replied honestly.

"Do you want to go back to the TARDIS?" Rose asked. "I can take you back if you want to get away from it all." She offered sincerely.

"No, I'll be alright." Siani declined politely. "I just need to get used to it and the best way to do that is to push through. Like visiting Paris, yeah?" She asked with a grin, referring to what the Doctor had said some time earlier.

Rose laughed. "Yeah." She said, nodding.

'All staff are reminded that the 1640 break session has been shortened by 10 minutes. Thank you.'

"Oh, my God, I've got to go!" Suki cried, drawing Rose and Siani's attention back to her. The Doctor, Siani and Rose looked on in amusement as Suki grabbed her bag, Cathica watching with a bitter expression on her face. "I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry!" She cried over her shoulder, hurrying towards the lift. The bell dinged and the doors slid open. She stepped inside and turned around to face the small group gathered to send her off. "Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!" She called as the doors slid closed.

"Good riddance!" Cathica muttered under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the closed lift.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again." The Doctor commented, crossing his arms over his chest. "She's only going upstairs."

"We won't." Cathica revealed. "Once you go to Floor 500, you never come back."

The Doctor, Rose and Siani all frowned at the news, not liking the sound of it. Cathica turned and walked away, the time travelling trio quickly following and catching up with her.

"Have you ever been up there?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"I can't." She replied bitterly. "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."

The trio of time travellers followed Cathica into the Newsroom. The Doctor spent the entire walk peppering the journalist with question after question about the Satellite and the company that ran it. "Look, they only give us 20 minutes maintenance." Cathica said, picking up a clipboard. "Can't you give it a rest?" She asked in tired annoyance.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" The Doctor probed, sitting on the central chair and making himself comfortable. Rose leaned against the back of it, her arm on the headrest while Siani perched on one of the railings.

"I went to Floor 16 when I first arrived. That's medical. That's where I got my head done, and then I came straight here." Cathica replied, making a few notes on her clipboard. "Satellite Five - you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She said, shrugging lightly and kneeling next to one of the lower seats.

"Convenient." Siani intoned dryly.

Cathica turned to look up at them, abruptly standing up. "You're not Management, are you?" She asked softly in realization.

"At last! She's clever!" the Doctor exclaimed, sarcastic and condescending.

Rose stifled a laugh behind her hand while Siani smiled sweetly in Cathica's direction.

Cathica paused, looking between the travellers. "Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." She said firmly after a few seconds, turning back to her work.

"Don't you even ask?" Siani asked curiously, following the sound of the other woman's progress around the room.

"Well, why would I?" Cathica asked with a shrug, not pausing her maintenance sweep.

"Because you're a journalist." Siani replied slowly. "You're supposed to ask questions. It's how you get to the bottom of a story." She turned towards Rose and the Doctor. "Isn't it? Or have things changed and I did not notice?" She asked.

"Nope. That's what journalists are supposed to do." The Doctor replied. He couldn't help but notice how Siani had referred to their time travelling without actually giving it away. He turned back to Cathica. "Why's all the crew human? He asked.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asked.

"There's no aliens on board." He elaborated. "Why?"

"I don't know. No real reason. They're not banned or anything." Cathica replied uncertainly, her tone becoming less abrasive.

The Doctor looked around the room theatrically while Siani frowned in Cathica's direction. Rose looked on, a similar, narrow-eyed expression on her features as well. "Then where are they?" The Doctor probed.

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats." Cathica replied, stumped at first before becoming defensive at the second statement.

"What threats?" The Doctor probed.

"I don't know, all of them. Usual stuff." Cathica replied with a small shrug of her shoulder. "And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away... Oh, and the government on Chavic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see." She looked lost, continuing to give the reasons she had believed in so completely, at least until that day. Cathica paused for a moment. "Just… lots of little reasons, that's all." She said finally, becoming defensive once again and returning to her work.

"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor said, making the woman turn to him.

"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it." Cathica said, her tone holding a glimmer of smugness. "We see everything."

"I can see better." The Doctor countered. "This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."

Cathica's hackles rose at the jibe. "It's cutting edge!" She ground out through gritted teeth.

"It's backwards. There's a great big door in your head!" The Doctor pointed out. "You should've chucked this out years ago."

"So, what do you think's going on?" Rose asked, expertly preventing him from pissing off their guide any more than he already had.

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think." The Doctor replied with a frown. "The great and bountiful Human Empire has been stunted. Something's holding it back."

"And how would you know?" Cathica asked with narrowed eyes.

"Trust me - humanity's been set back about ninety years." The Doctor said. "When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" He asked.

"91 years ago." Cathica replied softly.

"That certainly solves part of the mystery." Siani stated blandly.

The Doctor stood in front of a panel of double doors that hid Satellite Five's mainframe. Siani could hear the gentle buzz of the sonic screwdriver despite the din of whit noise that surrounded them; she and Rose stood a few feet behind the Doctor, the younger blonde watching what he was doing while the blind woman waited patiently.

"We are so going to get in trouble." Cathica muttered keeping a lookout even though there was very minimal foot traffic passing by them. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off." She hissed.

"Rose, Siani, on of you tell her to button it." The Doctor ordered over his shoulder, not looking away from what he was doing.

"You can't just vandalise the place." Cathica hissed worriedly. "Someone's going to notice!"

The Doctor continued to blithely ignore her, pulling the door open and letting out a satisfied sound. He looked at the mare's nest of wiring and began poking and prodding at them. Some of the wires sparked as he had his fun, Rose gently nudging Siani a few steps out of range of the sparks just to be safe.

Cathica looked at them, wringing her hands in worry. "This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work." She said finally, turning around and walking away, her heels clicking with each step.

"Go on then, see you!" The Doctor called to her without looking away from what he was doing.

Cathica stopped in her tracks and threw her hands up in frustration. "I can't just leave you, can I!" She cried, turning back to them.

"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling." Rose said in irritation. She tugged at her collar for a moment before bending down and picking up the bundle of wires that were hanging out of the cupboard. "What's wrong with this place?" She asked, turning to look at Cathica over her shoulder. "Can't they do something about it?"

"I don't know. We keep asking - something to do with the turbine." Cathica replied, waving her hand dismissively.

"Something to do with the turbine." The Doctor repeated mockingly.

"Well, I don't know!" Cathica exclaimed angrily, glaring at the Time Lord's back.

"Exactly!" The Doctor exclaimed, turning around and looking at Cathica. "I give up on you, Cathica. Look at Rose and Siani." He gestured to the two blondes near him. "They're asking all the right kind of questions."

"Oh, thank you." Rose said with a smile.

Siani ducked her head bashfully at the compliment. At the same time, she was somewhat surprised at being mentioned and also wondering what she had asked that had been noteworthy to the alien.

"Why are their no aliens on board? Why is it so hot?" The Doctor asked.

"One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica exclaimed, raising her hands in frustration.

"Poor maintenance is unforgivable." Siani commented sagely.

The Doctor glanced at her in awe. Sensing his eyes on her, she blushed lightly and ducked her head shyly. Both the Doctor and Rose couldn't help but notice just how young she looked when she did that and were reminded that she was only 25 years old.

"Right." The Doctor agreed. "Plumbing is very important." He pulled at a bundle of wires. It snapped. "Oops." He said sheepishly.

Cathica made a sharp sound of horror and distress, wringing her hands nervously once again.

Rose groaned and shook her head. "Siani, can you hack s into the mainframe?" She asked the older girl. "Like you did at the museum?"

Siani shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry. That entire system was one that I knew, even the computers that I had used to do the hacking. This is something entirely new. If I had my laptop or PDA, I might have been able to give it a shot, by interfacing my device with the mainframe and then hacking in, but…" She trailed off with an apologetic shrug, but her point was made.

Rose sighed disappointedly. But she couldn't help noticing that it was the first time Siani hadn't been able to do something that she had done while in Utah. It was a stark reminder that the woman was severely disabled, because for all that Siani used her cane and their aid in moving around, she didn't really act like she was blind.

The Doctor continued working, a part of him impressed at the news of Siani having hacked into van Sttaten's system, for whatever the reason. He knew how complicated and protected that system had been. But, like Rose, he too was vividly reminded that Siani was at a severe disadvantage when it came to their travelling. He wondered if it would be right for her to continue travelling with them, if he should extend the offer to her once their agreed one trip was over.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts when he succeeded in getting into the mainframe, jerry-rigging their access to a monitor. He pulled up the Satellite's schematics. "Here we go." He said, showing the screen to Cathica. "Satellite Five - pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange…" Cathica said, looking at the screen. She turned back to them in confusion. "And you're looking at pipes?" She asked in disbelief.

"But there's something wrong." The Doctor said leadingly.

"I suppose." Cathica conceded slowly, turning back to the screen.

The Doctor described what was on the screen to Siani, helping her understand what was happening.

"Why? What is it?" Rose asked, looking at the schematics and not seeing the problem.

"It sounds as though the ventilation system is working perfectly, but instead of channelling the cool air throughout the Satellite, it's only channelling massive amounts of heat down." Siani explained, drawing her conclusions based on what she had been told. "Is that right?" She asked.

The Doctor beamed at Siani, though she didn't notice. "Yep." He said, nodding. "All the way from the top."

"Floor 500." Rose deduced.

"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat." The Doctor said, nodding.

"I'm not one for parties, but it feels like we're missing out on one we should attend." Siani remarked. "Up for gate crashing?"

"I'm in." Rose said, grinning eagerly and excitedly.

"You can't." Cathica said, shaking her head. "You need a key."

"Key are just codes and I've got the codes right here." The Doctor said, taking the monitor back from Cathica. "Here we go – override 215.9."

"How come it's given you the code?" Cathica asked in surprise.

The Doctor looked up at the security camera mounted above them. "Someone up there likes me." He said with a shrug.

"Or they don't." Siani refuted dryly. "This has all the hallmarks of a trap; I hope you realize that."

"I know. isn't it brilliant?" The Doctor asked, shooting her a grin as he hooked the wires back into their previous places.

"You're completely mad." Siani said incredulously.

The Doctor grinned at her again, closing the cupboard doors and sonicking it locked once more. "Come on. We're got some gate crashing to do." He said cheerfully, loosely taking Siani's hand and giving her the option of pulling away. She didn't; instead, she tightened her hold and interlocked their fingers.

He led the way towards the nearest lift, Rose falling into step on his other side while Cathica trailed behind them. The journalist muttered under her breath the whole way, wringing her hands nervously. The lift doors opened as soon as they approached and the Doctor, Siani and Rose walked in without hesitation.

"Come on. Come with us." Rose said to Cathica, noticing the exotic-looking woman stop outside the lift.

"No way!" She replied adamantly, shaking her head.

"Bye!" The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." Cathica snapped before stalking off.

"That's her gone." The Doctor remarked casually. "Looks like it's just the three of us." He said, glancing to their blondes standing on either side of him.

"Yeah." Rose chirped cheerfully.

"Good." The Doctor said.

"Yep." Siani said with a grin.

The Doctor smiled at them and inserted the access card into the control panel. He took Rose's hand and squeezed Siani's gently as the doors slid closed and the lift began its ascent.

It took several minutes, nearly four hundred floors was a lot of distance to cover even for an advanced lift. Siani let go of the Doctor's hand and wrapped the drape of her sari around her body, tucking the end into her waistline to keep it from becoming a hazard in case they were faced with trouble. She then began fiddling with her cane, folded and hanging from her wrist.

"Siani, you okay?" The Doctor asked, looking down at the tiny Welshwoman.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied a little bit too quickly. She could feel the Doctor and Rose's disbelieving gaze on her and sighed. "Just antsy for some reason. The closer we get to Floor 500, the worse it gets, like there's something up there that shouldn't be there." She shook her head. "I don't know. I've had this feeling on and off since we left the TARDIS, but it's more intense now."

"Well, we know there's something wrong about this place." Rose said.

"Oh, I could really use a coffee right about now." Siani muttered, letting out a breath.

Rose laughed. "Me, too." She agreed.

"Tea's better." The Doctor claimed authoritatively. Siani and Rose both looked at him incredulously as the lift came to a stop and the doors slid open. The three of them exited the lift and stopped abruptly, the Doctor and Rose looking around at their surroundings. The room was covered with ice and snow, Rose and Siani both shivering and their breaths coming out in short puffs. "The walls are not made of gold." The Doctor said quietly, more for Siani's sake since she wasn't able to see their surroundings. He turned back to look at the two shivering blondes. "You both should go back downstairs." He said.

Rose straightened her shoulders as much as she could while shivering. "Tough." She said, stalking past him purposefully.

"Something you should know about me, Doctor – I'm not one to turn back when I'm told to." Siani said firmly, walking past him.

"You know me, Theta. I'm not one to turn back when I'm told to." The Doctor stared at Siani's back with wide eyes. That was almost the exact same thing she had said to him so long ago. 'What is going on?' He wondered. 'Why does Siani remind me so much of her? More than anyone else ever had.'

"Feels like someone left the window open." Siani said deadpanned, drawing the Time Lord from his thoughts.

Rose snorted softly. If Siani decided to stop travelling with them once their agreed trip was over, she would definitely miss the older woman's ability to defuse the situation with a dry, witty comment. "I don't suppose you're any good at tea?" Rose asked, glancing at Siani as they walked through the room, taking in the ice and snow that covered every surface. "Duck, overhead wires." She said quickly as she herself ducked under the mentioned overhanging.

Siani did as she was told, feeling the wires brush the back of her head as she ducked under them. "I'm decent enough, I suppose." She replied to Rose's question.

Rose glanced at the Doctor. "Her coffee is brilliant." She all but gushed. "You've got to try it. We could do with something warm after this." She glanced at Siani, who was walking beside her with her cane unfolded as an added measure against the icy and snowy surface. "Especially you, Siani."

Siani smiled and nodded. She was quite used to people being protective of her, if not because of her blindness than because of her having an infant child at home.

"I'm sure there's something in the kitchen that we can…" The Doctor began before trailing off, his attention caught by something off to the side. Rose followed his gaze and noticed fresh footprints that were certainly not theirs. "Where do you suppose that goes?" The Doctor asked, a note of challenge in his voice.

"There's a path?" Siani asked, drawing her conclusion from his question.

"Of fresh prints." The Doctor confirmed.

"Let's find out where they lead." Rose said with a grin.

The Doctor grinned and set off, Rose and Siani following behind him. Siani shuddered involuntarily, keenly aware of the utter stillness of their surroundings and unnerved by it. Rose took her hand and held it tightly, assuming that she was feeling disconcerted by their surroundings. The Doctor noticed Siani's reaction as well as Rose's response to it but didn't comment on it. He had a feeling that Siani was far more sensitive to the Seen and the Unseen than even she realized, as a result of her living on the Rift for so many years. Not only was there the Rift running through Cardiff, but the city also bordered the Lost Lands, the Realm of the Fae who existed both inside time and out of it. The Time Lord was beginning to suspect that Siani may be Fae-Friend if not a Chosen One; Fae-Friends were those select individuals who weren't Chosen Ones but were under the Fae's protection just as the Chosen Ones were. They were those individuals who respected and loved all that surrounded them with an unrivaled ferocity, who protected others with unparalleled determination and who were aware of both the Seen and the Unseen.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when he reached a short flight of steps, a control room of sorts at the top. "Steps." The Doctor said. "Three up and then there's a landing. It seems to lead to the main control room, but I don't know if there's any more stairs."

Siani made a sound of understanding and the Doctor climbed up the stairs. The two women climbed up behind him, the metal stairs clanging loudly signalling their approach. Rose took Siani's hand and placed it on her shoulder, giving the blind woman space to move while making sure she wouldn't fall behind.

"It leads straight into the control room." Rose whispered quietly as the Doctor stopped on the landing. She and Siani stopped behind him, both just on his right, and the three of them took in their surroundings.

There was a man with pale, almost wax-like white skin, paler than even Siani's snow-white skin tone, and white hair that nearly blended in with his face. He was wearing a sharp suit and was watching the various screens mounted on the walls. Directly beneath the screens was a row of people sitting at a long table, each of them with small screens in front of them controlled by the palm pads they each had their hands on.

As the Doctor described their surroundings to her, Siani's sightless eyes fell on the wax-like gentleman and she shuddered lightly, unsettled by the utter wrongness of his aura. She shuffled closer to the Doctor without realizing it, pressing herself against his side with a quiet whimper.

The Doctor glanced down at her, seeing her sightless gaze on the pale man and her unsettled expression. "What is it?" He asked in a quiet whisper.

"That man. His aura is wrong." Siani whispered urgently. "Something's very wrong."

"I started without you." The man said, interrupting the quiet conversation. The man chuckled lightly. "This is fascinating!" He said excitedly as the Doctor, Rose and Siani took a few steps forward. "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 laughed at his own words, a wheezy sort of sound that had Siani cringing and burrowing further against the Doctor's side. The Time Lord took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly, interlocking their fingers. "Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?" The man asked in almost genuine curiosity.

Rose looked at the people sitting at the consoles, trying to analyse what she was seeing. Each person seemed just too still, their skin tinged blue and covered with frost, as though they had been out in the cold for a very long time without moving. Her eyes widened when she noticed the woman on the far end and rushed over to her. "Suki! Suki!" She called out, crouching beside her. She grabbed Suki's arm only to pull back immediately, startled by the ice-cold temperature of the woman's skin. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" Rose asked frantically. There was no response from the woman and Rose turned to face the man. "What have you done to her?" She demanded, looking up at him from her vantage point crouched beside Suki.

"I think she's dead." Siani said quietly, looking very unsettled. "I think they're all dead." She said, running her unseeing gaze over the seated people. "Their auras show no signs of life or vitality."

Rose frowned, looking back at Suki and her posture at the computer console. "She's working…" Rose muttered in confusion.

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. " The Doctor explained bitterly. "Like puppets."

"Or zombies." Siani half-whispered.

The Doctor made a sound of agreement.

"Oh! You're full of information!" The man said with a sound of over-exaggerated awe and amusement. "But it's only fair we get some information back," He said, becoming serious. "Because apparently, you're no one. It's so rare not to know something." He chuckled lightly. "Who are you?"

"Doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you." The Doctor replied. He turned away from the pale man, guiding Siani along with him. "Come on." He called to Rose.

Rose shot one last look at Suki and rose to her feet, turning to follow the Doctor. Suki reached out and grabbed her arm while two other 'zombies' grabbed the Doctor and one grabbed hold of Siani's shoulder. The grip used to hold her wasn't as tight as the one holding the Doctor or Rose, evidently not being seen as much of a threat because of her blindness. Siani stayed docile, allowing herself to forcibly face the wax-like gentleman and biding her time for the right moment to present itself; there were too many unknowns for her to successfully fight back.

"Tell me who you are!" The wax-like man insisted.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I." The Doctor retorted.

"Well, perhaps my Editor-in-Chief can convince you otherwise." The man said, smiling at the still struggling Time Lord.

"And who's that?" The Doctor asked.

"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire." The man said in a conspiratorial whisper, whom Siani was assuming to be the Editor of Satellite Five. "In fact, it's not actually human at all!" He continued with a chuckle. "It's merely a place where humans happen to live." There was a growl and a snarl echoing around them as a creature spoke, sounding angry. "Yeah." The man mouthed, 'Sorry' to the travelers as he listened to the growls, turning away slightly. "Yeah." The Doctor and Rose exchanged confused looks, Siani sporting a similar expression on her own face, as the man turned back to them. "Sorry, it's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He pointed upward, prompting the three travelers to look up as well.

Siani and Rose both let out small screams while the Doctor looked horrified.

"What is t-that?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"That's what I've been sensing." Siani said in horror. She shuddered involuntarily. "That's what is wrong with this place."

"You mean that thing is in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor asked incredulously.

"That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the Human Race." The Editor corrected. "For almost 100 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."

"That's a bit of a mouthful." Siani quipped.

"I call him 'Max'." The Editor stage-whispered, grinning at the unseeing woman. He snapped his fingers and a few zombies came up to the travellers with a set of connected, hefty manacles, attached to a wired device.

Hearing the sound of the manacles being dragged across the icy floor and deducing what was going to happen, Siani unfolded her cane and brought it down sharply against her captor's side. There was no reaction, not even the reflexive loosening of the man's grip. Siani's unseeing eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, yeah. They're dead." She breathed in remembrance, cursing herself for forgetting and giving away her trump card as another zombie joined the first and held her tightly.

"I don't understand." Rose said in confusion. "Why didn't he release you when you hit him? Shouldn't it have been reflexive or something?"

"They have no control of their muscles." Siani explained.

"Precisely." The Editor confirmed. "Nice try, though." He added. "I never would have suspected that you knew how to fight, what with your disability." He said delicately. Siani raised an eyebrow at the phrasing but didn't respond to it. "The chip can lock them like that, keeping the grip tight." The Editor continued the explanation, reaching out and taking Siani's cane, tossing it aside. It clattered against the iced floor and rolled away, out of Siani's telekinetic range - she needed to know where it was, at least the general area and any obstacles in her path, in order to be able to draw it back to her.

Rose glared at him as she was shoved, none too gently, towards the Doctor and Siani. The zombies locked them into the manacles, keeping the travellers' arms bent with their hands by their shoulders.

"How did you manage this?" Siani asked curiously. "Unless… of course." She breathed in realization. "You created a climate of fear." She concluded. "Doing so would make it easy to keep the borders closed. With the borders closed, there is no new information being brought in except for what is provided by you."

"Exactly! It's just a matter of emphasis." The Editor said cheerfully. "The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilise an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote."

"So all the people on Earth are like, slaves." Rose guessed.

"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?" The Editor asked philosophically.

"Yes." The Doctor and Siani replied in deadpan unison, Rose nodding in agreement.

"Oh." The Editor said with a slight pout. "I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?" He asked.

"Yes." The pair replied again, in deadpan unison and glaring at him fiercely.

The Editor chuckled lightly. "You're no fun." He said.

"Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am." The Doctor growled, his hands clenched.

"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?" The Editor remarked to Siani and Rose, though his intermittent giggles showed just how little he thought of the Time Lord. "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit." He said.

"You can't have something on this scale, somebody must have noticed." Rose argued logically.

"From time to time, someone, yes" The Editor conceded, walking away from them. "But the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt," He spun on his heel, his hand raised, "and crush it." He finished, clenching his hand into a fist. A nasty, cruel smile crossed his pale white face.

"And those who can't be convinced are 'promoted'." Siani added.

"Precisely." The Editor confirmed. "And the rest just carry on, living the 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." The Editor commented with a shrug.

"And what about you?" Rose asked. "You're not a Jagra, uh, err, belly…" Rose stumbled over the pronunciation.

"Jagrafess." Siani supplied helpfully before the Doctor could.

"Jagrafess." Rose repeated. "You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Well, simply being human doesn't pay very well." The Editor snarked, sneering.

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own." Rose pointed out,

"No!" The Editor said with a chuckle. "I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to, um," he lowered his voice to a whisper as he finished his sentence, "install himself."

"No wonder, a creature that size." The Doctor said, glancing up. "What's his life span?" He asked in a slightly raised voice.

"3000 years." The Editor replied.

"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 - it stays alive." The Doctor stated.

"And Satellite Five becomes one great big life support system." Siani finished dryly.

"But that's why you're so dangerous." The Editor said, pointing to the Doctor in particular. "Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?" He asked again.

All three travellers remained stubbornly silent. The Editor sighed and snapped his fingers. Electrical energy surged through the manacles; it was sharp and piercing, like thousands of white-hot needles stabbed everywhere, into every pore, every inch of skin. All three gritted their teeth, adamantly refusing to give into the pain and give their sadistic captor the satisfaction of their screams.

Suddenly, the energy stopped abruptly, and the three travellers were left reeling. Each of them panted for breath, sweat beading their foreheads despite the frigid temperature of the room. Despite the energy no longer piercing through them, the ache still lingered.

"The thing about those manacles," The Editor began, picking up a remote and holding it loosely in his hand. "Is that even though they're connected… they're not." He imparted. "If I hit this button," He paused for a moment and pressed the mentioned button. The lights on Siani's cuffs glowed a deep blue, the only warning she had before the electrical energy danced over her, her entire body tensing at the currents. "The blind girl gets it." The Editor added needlessly. Siani gritted her teeth, refusing to let out a sound of her pain. "Ooh, not quite as delicate as she appears, is she?" The Editor commented with a sadistic grin. "But, it actually has another setting, too – the level of pain. The one she's on is a four. What about moving it up to six?" He didn't wait for a response; of which he only got a rather fierce glare from the blind girl he was actively torturing while the Doctor and Rose struggled against their bonds. He turned the dial on the remote and the still dancing energy currents increased in number and frequency.

Still, Siani refused to make a sound, clenching her hands and gritting her teeth, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. For several long seconds, the only sound was the energy currents dancing over her body until it stopped suddenly. Siani gasped for air, reeling from the pain. Sweat poured down her face despite the frigid temperature of the room, several strands of her hair coming loose from her bun and clinging to her cheeks and neck.

"I must say, I'm impressed." The Editor remarked casually, running his pale, icy gaze over Siani's body. He lingered over the expanse of her stomach and arms not covered by her sari and her heaving chest as she panted for breath. "Not many people, actually no one, has ever been able to keep quiet at that level. But, what if I dial it up to an eight?" He wondered aloud, his free hand hovering over the control.

"Leave her alone! Please!" The Doctor cried out, unable to bear watching the sweet young woman experience the pain again. "I'm the Doctor, she's Siani Jones and that's Rose Tyler! We're nothing, we're just wandering!" He cried desperately, rushing to get the words out. Anything to prevent Siani from having to go through that pain again.

"Tell me who you are!" The Editor roared.

"He just said, you piece of shit!" Rose snapped angrily, glaring at their captor.

"Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us?" The Editor pressed.

"We're just travelling!" The Doctor cried.

"Liar!" The Editor shouted. "How does the eighth level sound?" He asked, pressing the activation button and turning the dial.

At the sudden return of the electrical currents and the increased level, Siani wasn't able to hold back her cries of pain. They soon turned to screams that echoed over the walls, tears streaming down her face, mixing with the sheen of sweat that covered her. She clenched her hands tightly, her manicured nails digging into the tender skin of her palms, breaking the thin layer and drawing blood as she thrashed and kicked about reflexively.

"Still no response?" The Editor asked calmly. He turned the dial again and the blue lights on Siani's cuffs turned red, the currents increasing in frequency and number once again. The Editor had turned the level to the highest one possible – ten.

"Please, stop it!" Rose screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Please! Siani!"

Siani's screams slowed as did her thrashing, but more because her vocal cords and her body was tiring. If it hadn't been for the manacles holding her twitching body up, she would have been slumped on the ice-covered floor.

"Please stop!" The Doctor screamed desperately. Siani wasn't going to last much longer and he knew it. "I'm a Time Lord! The girls are from the 21st Century! No one knows about you! No one sent us! We're just travelling, I swear!" He blurted out desperately.

"Time Lord?" The Editor repeated disbelievingly, looking at the Doctor. "They died out when the Last Time War ended." Nonetheless, he turned off the machine.

"Siani!" Rose cried desperately.

Siani coughed weakly; she was pale, clammy and panting for breath. The fabric of her clothes stuck to her body as did her hair that had come entirely undone from her thrashing, the pins she had used to hold the thick locks scattered across the ice-covered floor. "I'm okay." The blind girl gasped weakly, offering an equally weak smile in the direction of Rose's voice.

"I'm the last." The Doctor explained desperately. "I escaped in my TARDIS and now I just travel."

The Editor stalked forward and stopped in front of Siani. He ran his ice-cold hand over her sweaty and clammy cheek, as though she were a child or a pet. Siani turned away from him weakly, grimacing at the feel of his touch against her skin. "A Time Lord and his little human girlfriend from long ago." He taunted. He turned to Rose. "And this is her sister, I suppose. Yes, I can see the resemblance." He commented, inspecting both blonde girls. "And they really are from the 21st Century! That would mean… yes, you must have a time machine." The Editor concluded, turning back to the Doctor. "You have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you know, what you've seen in your TARDIS."

"You'll never get your hands on it." The Doctor growled, his gut clenching at the though of this cruel and greedy man getting his hands on the TARDIS. Even still, seeing the consequence, he could bring himself to regret revealing everything to try and save Siani; the blind girl was still panting, though not as heavily anymore. "I'll die first." The Doctor declared.

"Die all you like." The Editor said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I don't need you, any of you. I've got the key." The Doctor and Rose could only watch in horror as the key floated out of the young Londoner's pocket and dangled in front of them. "Today, we are the headlines." The Editor said, spreading his arms victoriously. "We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing."

"Where is the key?" Siani asked Rose urgently in a whisper.

"Right in front of us." Rose replied in the same whisper.

Siani frowned in concentration, slowly and inconspicuously drawing the key towards Rose.

"And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a Human Race that doesn't bother to ask questions." The Doctor said with a sneer, drawing the Editor's attention to him; he had noticed the side conversation between Rose and Siani and guessed that the blind girl was going to try and use one of her powers. He just needed to keep the Editor occupied. At the same time, he hoped that Cathica, who was lingering in the shadows, could understand what he was trying to say. "Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughterhouse if they're told it's made of gold." He spat, looking past the Editor and catching Cathica's gaze.

The exotic-looking woman met his gaze, a determined look crossing her face. She turned and strode off purposefully, her head held high and her shoulders back.

Siani gritted her teeth, sweat pouring down her face as she concentrated on the key. The task took more effort than ever because she was severely weakened from her previous torture, but she continued, slowly but surely bringing it closer to Rose.

"Almost." Rose whispered, the key now only inches away from her.

"I don't think so!" The Editor snapped, whipping around to look at the key dangling in front of Rose. He noticed Siani's expression, the concentrated frown and guessed that she was the one moving it. "You are really far more than you seem, aren't you?" The Editor asked, chuckling in amusement. He pressed the activation button on the remote and the lights on Siani's cuffs turned red as the electrical energy danced over her body, the level still at ten from the previous time.

Siani screamed in agony, her concentration broken and the key clattering to the ground. Her body twitched reflexively, still not having the energy to thrash like it previously had.

"Siani!" The Doctor and Rose shouted in unison, struggling fruitlessly against their bonds.

An alarm sounded, blaring through the room and drowning out Siani's agonized screams.

The Editor turned to zombies working at the console. "What's happening?" He questioned two of them. "Someone's disengaged the safety." He snapped his fingers and an image appeared on the hollo-monitor – Cathica, sitting in the broadcast chair as the beam of compressed information streamed into her mind. "Who's that?" He asked indignantly.

"That's Cathica." Rose breathed in surprise.

"And she's thinking." The Doctor added. Between them, Siani moaned, the currents still dancing over her twitching body. "She's using what she knows!"

"Terminate her access." The Editor told Suki frantically.

"Everything I've told her about Satellite Five." The Doctor explained. "The pipes, the filters-she's reversing it. Look at that!" He gestured to the icicles hanging around the room, all of them melting. "It's getting hot."

"I said 'terminate her'!" The Editor growled to Suki. He put the remote down on the console, unintentionally turning off the electrical surge dispensed by the manacles. The Editor covered Suki's hands with his own, taking over control of the computer. "Burn out her mind." He growled.

"Oh, no you don't." Cathica growled on the screen. "You should have promoted me years back!" She declared, curling one hand into a fist and slamming it purposefully against the armrest.

The massive monitors on the screen beeped insistently in warning before sparking, the consoles on the table below exploding in a shower of sparks. The Editor was thrown back from the force of it while the dead operators collapsed against the table, completely lifeless as though their strings had been cut. The entire station quaked, the alarms blaring, and the monitors' beeping became more and more insistent. Rose's manacles came loose and she slipped out of them, the entire station shuddering and sending the lifeless corpses to the floor.

Rose picked up the TARDIS key and pocketed it before it could get lost in the chaos. The Jagrafess roared angrily as the Editor frantically tried, and failed, to get the operators to sit upright.

"What's happening?" Siani asked weakly, leaning heavily against her manacles, the only thing keeping her upright.

"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 explained.

A few feet away, the Editor frantically tried to convey the situation to the Jagrafess, trying to rationalize why he couldn't stop it. By the sound of the creature's responding garbled noises, resembling shrieks and growls, he didn't seem too impressed with the Editor.

Rose ignored him in favor of turning to the Doctor and rummaging through his jacket pockets. She pulled out the sonic screwdriver and held it gingerly. "W-what do I do?" She asked frantically. The Jagrafess roared and snapped menacingly at them.

"Flick the switch!" The Doctor replied loudly so he could be heard over the chaos.

Rose flicked the switch and the screwdriver buzzed to life. She aimed the screwdriver at the manacles holding the Doctor, jumping slightly when a nearby explosion startled her. For a few tense seconds, there was only the sound of the alarms blaring through the Satellite and the angry roars of the Jagrafess above them. Rose managed to get the cuffs loose enough for the Doctor to slip out of them before turning to Siani.

The Welshwoman's head lolled against her shoulders; her energy completely spent. Rose frantically worked on undoing the cuffs, the Doctor holding his arms out and ready to catch Siani as soon as she was free.

"Oi, mate, want to bank on a certainty?" The Doctor called over his shoulder to the Editor, who looked at him. Rose managed to unlock one manacle and began working on the second. "Massive heat in a massive body – massive bang." The second cuff unlocked and Siani slumped forwards, the Doctor catching her before she could hit the floor. "See you in the headlines!" The Doctor called, sweeping the barely conscious Welshwoman into his arms.

He turned on his heel and ran out of the room. Rose followed suit, pausing long enough to grab Siani's cane when she saw it by one of the chairs. She quickly caught up with the Doctor and they ran across Floor 500, avoiding the massive chunks of ice and snow that fell around them, the Doctor hunched protectively over Siani. They ran into the Floor 500 Newsroom Cathica was in and found her sitting on the broadcast chair, her eyes closed with a peaceful expression on her face and her portal open.

"Close the portal." The Doctor told Rose, unable to do so himself because he was carrying Siani.

Rose nodded and snapped her fingers. As the portal closed, Cathica opened her eyes and looked at the travellers. Her expression became concerned when she saw Siani in the Doctor's arms.

"She'll be okay." The Time Lord said before Cathica could ask, seeing where her gaze had gone. "She just needs some rest."

Cathica nodded. Rose held out her hand and Cathica took it, allowing the blonde to help her off the broadcast chair.

"Come on." The Doctor said, turning on his heel and running out of the room.

Cathica and Rose followed after him, all three of them continuing until they reached the lift before stopping. Cathica called the lift and when the doors opened, she set the level for Floor 139, taking them back down.

Dawn rose over Mother Earth below while on the Satellite, the Doctor sat beside Siani who was leaning tiredly against him, across from Cathica in the canteen. Rose leaned casually against the table, watching the people all around them helping each other, the able-bodied ones helping those that needed it. The past few hours had been spent providing first aid to the injured and though everyone was confused to what had happened, there was an almost unified effort across the Satellite to help each other.

"We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions." The Doctor said, turning to Cathica. "You'll manage." He added reassuringly when Cathica made a sound of protest. He had spent the past few hours answering the Journalist's questions, explaining everything to her while Siani rested, dozing as she leaned against him, her long, golden hair hanging loosely down her back.

"You'll have to stay and explain it." Cathica insisted. "No one's going to believe me."

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now." The Doctor reassured her. "The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal."

Cathica sighed and nodded. The Doctor got to his feet, carefully lifting Siani into his arms and holding her protectively, as though she were something precious. She was much better than she had been, still tired, but with the colour once again returning to her cheeks. She needed more rest and plenty of food and drink but would be back on her feet within a few days. For the moment though, the Doctor had refused to let her walk on her own and insisted on carrying her until she was recovered. Rose laughed lightly at Siani's protests, as had Cathica, both women advising the blind Welshwoman to just go with it, that not many women can say they had their own personal Doctor who would willingly carry them everywhere. Siani rolled her large, expressive jewel-coloured eyes at the comment but let it go, accepting the assistance with a sweet smile and a soft 'thank you'.

"Bye, Cathica." Siani said with a sweet smile, waving in the direction of Cathica's voice. "Good luck."

"Bye." Cathica responded. "And I'm sorry for being rude to you earlier." She added sincerely.

Siani cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently, not having a clue what the Journalist was talking about.

"Never mind." Cathica said, shaking her head and laughing lightly. She turned to Rose. "Bye and thank you, for everything."

"Bye." Rose said, pulling the taller woman in for a brief hug before letting go and stepping back.

The Doctor smiled at Cathica before turning on his heel and walking back to the TARDIS. Rose followed behind him, Siani's cane swinging from her wrist as she whistled softly. Reaching the magnificent blue box, Rose opened the door with her key and went inside, holding the door open for the Doctor.

Her mobile rang just as she was closing the door behind the Time Lord. "Hello?" Rose said, answering her mobile.

"Hi, is this Rose?" A female voice asked from the other end in a distinctly American accent. "Siani Jones' friend?"

"Yes." Rose replied, nodding as the Doctor gently set Siani down on the jump seat.

"It's Meghan, her live-in nanny/ RN. Can you give her the phone, please? It's important." Meghan said urgently.

"Yeah, sure. here she is." Rose replied, walking to the jump seat. "Siani, Meghan's on the line. She wants to talk to you. Says it's important." Rose said, putting the mobile in the blind girl's hand.

Siani frowned in confusion, a glimmer of fear on her face as she held the phone up to her ear. "Hello? Meghan?" She said nervously. "What's wrong?"

"It's Rhia; the good day's become bad. She's been taken to the hospital." Meghan said without preamble. "You need to come home, now. It's bad. Really bad." Siani's unseeing eyes widened and the mobile slipped from her suddenly slack fingers. "Siani! Siani!" Meghan called through the mobile when there was no response.

Rose quickly caught the mobile before it could hit the ground, the Doctor watching in concern from where he was standing by the console, piloting them into the Vortex. "Meghan, it's Rose." The blonde Londoner said briskly, moving to stand beside the Doctor and putting the mobile on speaker. "What happened? Siani's become completely still and not reacting."

"Listen, wherever you guys are, you need to bring her home immediately." Meghan said. "It's Rhia, she's been taken to the hospital. The doctors all say that she doesn't have much time left and Siani needs to be here."

Rose looked at the Doctor and he nodded in response to her silent question. "We're on our way." Rose said before ending the call.

The Doctor flipped a lever and sent them hurtling through the Vortex. Rose moved back to Siani and sat next to her, putting her arm around the older girl comfortingly.

Links (on Pinterest):

*Siani sari - .ca/pin/474566879479510663/

**Siani's bangles are the same as the previous episode, except in a different color (forest green)

**Siani's earrings are the same as the previous episode, except in a different color (forest green)

**Siani's hairstyle is the same bun as the previous episode

*Siani's bindi is the same as the previous episode, except in a different color (forest green)

*Siani's shoes are the same as the previous episode, except in a different color (forest green)