The Doctor:

I lept up from the floor, breathing hard as I started spinning, trying to get my bearing and work out where I was. "What is it? What's happening?" And then I fell out.

"Oh, my God! I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming." A girl asked, running towards me and helping me to my feet.

"What happened?" I asked her confused as to why I was here. There was something I was missing, something so, so important. "I was."

The girl shook her head, leading me to the sofa. "Careful now. Oh! Oh, mind yourself! Oh, that's the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what's your name then, sweetheart?"

What was my name? "The Doctor, I think. I was, er. I don't know, what happened? How-" I gestured the area, wondering how I got here.

"You got chosen."

That sounded ominous. "'Chosen for what?"

"You're a housemate." What? "You're in the house. Isn't that brilliant?!"

Another young person, male this time, in a t-shirt is not amused. "That's not fair. We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks, I've followed the rules, I haven't had a single warning, and then he comes swanning in."

Then dark-skinned young lady in the pink shirt joined in. "If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am. You watch me, I'm going to paint the walls."

"Would the Doctor please come to the Diary Room?" Well, that was me, so I should probably play along for the time being, at least until I found out what I was missing, so I went along with it and walked through a door with the stylised eye on it and sat in a comfy chair. "You are live on channel forty four thousand. Please do not swear."

I stared at the screen for a moment. "You have got to be kidding." And then I proceeded to mouth off.

Then I went back out and I looked around everywhere with the sonic, wishing that the thing I was missing would show up, so I knew what to do. "I can't open it."

"It's got a deadlock seal, ever since Big Brother five hundred and four when they all walked out." the first girl told me, not sure why I didn't understand what was going on. "You must remember that."

I ignored her, and moved to the two way glass. "What about this?"

She shrugged. "Oh, that's exoglass. You'd need a nuclear bomb to get through."

"Don't tempt me."

That made her smile a little, before glancing at the camera and back. "I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world, but you must've been watching. Do people like me?" Well, she seemed alright at the moment, quite sweet. "Lynda. Lynda with a Y, not Linda with an I. She got forcibly evicted because she damaged the camera." Made a note of that, it got me intrigued. "'Am I popular?"

There was no way to let her down gently. "I don't remember."

Her face fell. "Oh, but does that mean I'm nothing?" No one is nothing. "Some people get this far just because they're insignificant. Doesn't anybody notice me?"

"No, you're, you're nice. You're sweet. Everybody thinks you're sweet." I smiled, looking at her for a moment.

Lynda smiled. "Oh, is that right? Is that what I am? Oh, no one's ever told me that before. Am I sweet? Really?"

"Yeah. Dead sweet."

"Thank you."

"It's a wall. Isn't there supposed to be a garden out there or something?"

Now she was looking at me like I was mad. "Don't be daft. No one's got a garden anymore. Who's got a garden?" She gasped, moving quickly after me. "Don't tell me you've got a garden."

"No, I've just got the TARDIS." The TARDIS! "I remember."

"That's the amnesia!" Lynda grinned. "So what happened? Where did they get you?"

"We'd just left Raxacoriofallapatorius. Then we went to Kyoto. That's right, Japan in 1336, and we only just escaped. We were together, we were laughing, and then there was this light. This white light coming through the walls, and then. And then I woke up here."

The girl nodded. "'Yeah, that's the transmat beam. That's how they pick the housemates."

"Oh, Lynda with a Y. Sweet little Lynda. It's worse than at. I'm not just a passing traveller. No stupid little transmat gets inside my ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means this isn't just a game. There's something else going on."' I looked at one of the Eyes on the walls, which we all knew were cameras. "Well, here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. I'm getting out. I'm going to find my daughter and my friends, and then I'm going to find you."

And I kept working before we were all called to the sofa, and even then, I kept working, getting a look from my 'housemates'. "Doctor, they said all the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've got to."

I did what I wanted, when I wanted, thanks. "I'm busy getting out, thanks."

Lynda kept pushing. "But if you don't obey, then all the housemates get punished."

"Well, maybe I'll be voted out, then." Wishful thinking. I hated reality tv.

Strood rolled his eyes and I felt like punching him. "How stupid are you? You've only just joined, you're not eligible."

"Don't try anything clever or we all get it in the neck."'

And then a computer voice came overhead, and it sounded like the stupid thin woman, Davina something or other as I sat down, bored. "Big Brother House this is, Davina Droid. Crosbie, Lynda and Strood, you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is." Insert too long dramatic pause here. "Crosbie!"

"I'm sorry! Oh, I'm sorry! Sorry!"' Lynda said over and over, hugging her tight.

And Strood did the same, even though I could see the relief that it wasn't him. "Oh, it should've been me. Oh, that's not fair, Crosbie love."

The Davina voice came back. "Crosbie, you have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you." There was then a lot of heartfelt goodbyes, not. "Crosbie, please leave the Big Brother House."

A door to a short white corridor opened, with another door at the far end. Well, that was simple enough. "Bye, then. Bye, Lynda."

Crosbie and Lynda made an arch, and Crosbie walked through. "I don't believe it. Crosbie."

"It's only a game show." I reminded them, and they all looked at me. "She'll make a fortune on the outside. Sell her story, release a record, fitness video, all of that. she'll be laughing."

"What do you mean, on the outside?" Lynda asked me.

"Here we go."

Lynda and Strood ran back to the sofa to watch Crosbie on the screen, where I was still waiting. "What are they waiting for? Why don't they just let her go?"

"stop it, it's not funny."

Davina droid started talking again. "Eviction in five, four, three, two, one."

A beam came down from the ceiling and hit Crosbie. After a few moments, she vanished in a puff of smoke. Now my attention was completely on end. "What was that?"

"Disintegrator beam."

Lynda was full of tears. "She's been evicted. From life."

I started pacing, furious with the whole idea. This was ridiculous, all this just for a bit of fame, for getting that little bit of money. "Are you insane? You just step right into the disintegrator? Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?"

"You're talking like we've got a choice!"

Wait, what? "But I thought you had to apply."

"Don't be so stupid. That's how they played it centuries back. The one rule is that you have to be 18 to play any of the games." Jace... 3 years, luckily, but where was she?

Lynda gave me a long hard look. "You get chosen whether you like it or not. Everyone on Earth is a potential contestant. The transmat beam picks you out at random. And it's non stop. There are sixty Big Brother houses running all at once."

This was beyond ridiculous. "How many? Sixty?"

"They've had to cut back. It's not what it was."

Oh, I'd say they should cut back completely, it was televised execution because on the whim of some voting member of the public, someone was selected to die. "It's a charnel house! What about the winners? What do they get?"

"They get to live."

Come on! "Is that it?"

"Well, isn't that enough?"

"Jace is out there, my 15 year old daughter. She got caught in the transmat. She's a contestant, or something, because if she's not old enough, what would they do to with her?" They looked blankly at me. "Time I got out. That other contestant, er, Linda with an I. She was forcibly evicted for what?"

Lynda frowned. "Damage to property."

I smiled and got out the sonic again. "What, like this?" And then the camera was in pieces. Fantastic.

Then I paced for about 10 minutes before the Davina voice came back. "The Doctor, you've broken the House Rules. Big Brother has no choice but to evict you. You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you!"

"That's more like it. Come on, then. Open up!" I shouted, running right to the door.

The girl and boy stared at me in disbelief. "You're mad! It's like you want to die."

"I reckon he's a plant." Strood said smugly. "He was only brought in to stir things up." Yeah, because that was the real reason.

"The Doctor, please leave the Big Brother house."

I ran right in, still shouting at it. "Come on then, disintegrate me! Come on, what're you waiting for?" It was taking forever, and I had a 15 year old to find. "Disintegrate me. What are you waiting for?"

"Eviction in five, four, three, two, one."

The machine shut down. "Ah, ha! I knew it! You see, someone brought me into this game. If they'd wanted me dead, they could've transmatted me into a volcano, and they'd have left Jacey alone. They want me alive!" Then I started to scan the next door. "Maybe security isn't as tight this end. Are you following this? I'm getting out!" I opened the far door and then Lynda opened the one into the main house. "Come with me."

"We're not allowed!" Strood shouted, and I wanted to hit him.

But Lynda, oh, Lynda... "Stay in there, you've got a fifty fifty chance of disintegration. Stay with me, I promise I'll get you out alive. Come on!"

"No, I can't. I can't."

"Lynda, you're sweet." I told her again, really, truly meaning it. "From what I've seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?" I held out my hand, and Lynda took it and we ran out into, into somewhere I really remembered. "Hold on. I've been here before. This is Satellite Five. No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth."

I opened another door and we went through. "No one's called it Satellite Five in ages." Lynda told me, looking around at the size of the place. "It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a hundred years."

"A hundred years exactly." I remarked, looking at a com panel. "It's the year two zero zero one zero zero. I was here before, Floor one three nine. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea, well, to make Jace eat tea." Getting that girl to eat more than a banana was like pulling teeth, but she was slowly putting on weight.

The girl was staring at me. "A hundred years ago? What, you were here a hundred years ago? With your 15 year old daughter."

"Yep!"

She blinked but left it. "You're looking good on it."

Oh, it was too tempting. "I moisturise. Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy. The place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?"

"I don't know." Lyn admitted. "I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."

"I had two friends travelling with me, as well as Jacey. They must've got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games. And none can be played by anyone under the age of 18, because we haven't reached maturity by that point." And Jace wouldn't really until she was around 75.

"Like what? What came?"

Lynda thought for a moment. "Well, there's ten floors of Big Brother. There's a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there's all sorts of shows. It's non stop. There's Call My Bluff, with real guns." Gross. "Countdown, where you've got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off." Just join the army. "Ground Force, which is a nasty one. You get turned into compost." Become a gardener. "Er, Wipeout, speaks for itself." Lovely. "Oh, and Stars In Their Eyes. Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded." Crap, if Jace was there... She'd lose everything that was her, her synesthesia.

"And you watch this stuff?"

"Everyone does." She shrugged. "How come you don't?"

Easy one there. "Never paid for my licence."

Her hands went right to her mouth in shock. "Oh, my God! You get executed for that."

"Let them try." I grinned, holding up my trusty sonic screwdriver, which was a bit redundant now Jace could control sound, but hey.

Lynda shook her head a little. "You keep saying things that don't make sense. Who are you though, Doctor, really?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Well, it does to me. I've just put my life in your hands." Ah, guilting me into it, brilliant.

"I'm just a traveller, wandering past. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life. I didn't even expect Jace, she, she just sort of happened. I didn't know I had a daughter, not until recently."

"So, if we get out of here, what're you going to do? Just wander off again? Look after Jace?"

I nodded. "Fast as I can."

Lynda hesitated for a moment. "So, I could come with you?"

"Maybe you could." I smiled.

"I wouldn't get in the way." This girl was absolutely lovely, I'd love to have her with us.

"I wouldn't mind if you did. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y." I grinned up at her, then got to my feet. "But first of all, we've got to concentrate on the getting out. And to do that, you've got to know your enemy. Who's controlling it? Who's in charge of the satellite now?"

"Hold on." She ran over to a light breaker and turned it on, bringing up a massive sign in lights. Bad Wolf Corporation. That same phrase, ever since we picked up Jace, following us and following us, and she'd even drawn one a few times, a wolf that had been following her. "Your lords and masters." Or maybe my daughters.

DW

We moved on and got onto a massive viewing platform, the same one that Adam had passed out on, and Lynda was dead impressed. "Blimey! I've never seen it for real before. Not from orbit. Planet Earth."

"What's happened to it?" I asked her, seeing that it was coated in thick smog, and pollutants, and everything was wrong with it, like the planet was dying, being choked from it's own fumes.

She shrugged. "Well, it's always been like that. Ever since I was born. See that there? That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breath outside." So it was being choked by its own fumes, great.

"So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?"

Now she nodded. "Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here."

This was beyond stupid. They were zombies, just following the latest trend! "The Human Race. Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of." Then I had a thought. "Mind you, have they still got that programme where three people have to live with a bear?"

"Oh, Bear With Me. I love that one!"

"And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath." I laughed, then went serious again. "But it's all gone wrong. I mean, history's gone wrong again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don't understand. Last time I was here I put it right."

"No, but that's when it first went wrong." Lynda told me. "A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels, they just shut down overnight."

I nodded, knowing that much. "But that was me. I did that. Me and Jace."

"There was nothing left in their place." What? "No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell."

"Oh, my." I breathed, starting to go through some giant harddrive. "I made this world."

I kept working for a while, when Jace turned up, in a completely new wardrobe so obviously he was on a clothes programme. "Hey, handsome. Good to see you? Any sign of Jacey or Rose?"

"Can't you track her down? I'm working on my daughter."

He looked through his vortex manipulator, that I made sure didn't really work. The sonic noise it emitted would have constantly given the sound sensitive one a migraine. "She must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded. And Jace must be the same, she's only got one heart so I can't find her."

Shaking my head, I stood up. "She has two. The second heart doesn't start beating until you're 21, when your ageing slows. If I can just get inside this computer. She's got to be here somewhere."

"Well, you'd better hurry up. These games don't have a happy ending."

"Do you think I don't know that?" I glared, knowing full well they could both be dead already.

Jack handed over his wrist computer. "There you go, patch that in. It's programmed to find her."

"Thanks." Then he started flirting with Lynda. More than a little distracting. "Do you mind flirting outside?"

"I was just saying hello!"

And? "For you, that's flirting." Then I hit the side of the panel, not getting through anything. I needed Jace, to be able to find Jace. She could see what wires did what by their direction, their colours, and she could change it. I'd been teaching her. "It's not compatible. This stupid system doesn't make sense." I threw the VM to Lynda and kicked the console as Jack took off the front plate. "This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television. This station's transmitting something else."

That got Jack worried. "Like what?"

"I don't know. This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me and Jace. Someone's manipulated her entire life, like they were making bad things happen so I'd find her. It's some sort of trap and Jace and Rose are stuck inside it." I kept working, trying furiously to find at least one of them, and eventually I did. "Found Rose. Floor four oh seven."

Lynda gasped. "Oh, my God, she's with the Anne Droid. You've got to get her out of there."

And then we were running, all of us, getting in the lift and I sonicked it to go at rocket speeds. "Come on, come on.!" I ran out again after, looking at all the doors. "Game Room Six, which one is it??"

"Over here!" Lynda called and I ran to the door panel, trying to get it open.

Jack hefted his home made gun. "Stand back, let me blast it open."

"You can't. it's made of Hydra combination." It was going too slow! "Come on, come on, come on." And then it opened. "Rose! Stop this game!"

But it was still going, and she'd just lost. "Rose, you leave this life with nothing."

"I order you to stop this game!" She ran towards us, but was shot just before she reached us. And then I felt empty, so, so empty.

I just let the guards drag me out, through the process of questioning, mug shots, and then we were just moved into a room. If Rose was gone, what hope did I have of my little street girl, my amazing Jace? But I had to keep trying. "Let's do it." I told Jack, and he lead the fight out, knocking two guards out and I threw one into the wall before I grabbed the sonic and headed out, going for the control deck. "Floor 500."

"Okay, move away from the desk!" Jack shouted, getting all the staff together in the right place. "Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clear. Stand to the side and stay there."

"Who's in charge of this place?" I asked a girl who was wired into something, and she looked in pain. "This Satellite's more than a Game Station." The girl kept counting. "Who killed Rose Tyler? Where is my daughter, where is Jaclyn Smith?!"

"All staff are reminded that solar flares-"

Could she not hear me? "I want an answer!"

"Occur in delta point one."

"She can't reply." A man said, and I turned to face him, still holding the gun. "Don't shoot!"

I rolled my eyes and threw it at him. "Oh, don't be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot." A proximity alarm went off. "Captain, we've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits."

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

"You." Back to the guy holding my gun. "What were you saying?"

This guy was a blubbering idiot. "But I've got your gun."

And? "Okay, so shoot me. Why can't she answer?"

"She's er. Can I put this down?"

Come on! "If you want. Just hurry up."

"Thanks." He put it down, looking relieved. "Sorry. The Controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain. You're not a member of staff so she doesn't recognise your existence."

"What's her name?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known." Oh the poor thing. All those numbers.

Jack called over from the panels. "Door's sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes."

"Keep an eye on them." I spotted a door I wanted a look at, feeling something tugging me towards it and went over, carefully scanning the door. It was humming with even more energy, sonic energy. Jace.

A worker shook her head. "That door's broken, it doesn't open." But I shot her a silencing look.

Opening it, I saw that she was huddled in a corner, her eyes red rimmed and she was shaking. "Doctor!" She cried, leaping right up and hugging me tight and I picked her up, checking her over and kissed her long blond curls. "I, I was so scared, I couldn't hear anything, this, this room... it's shut off... I was alone, and I thought you were gone..."

"I'm here... I've got you Jace... My Jace..." I wiped her eyes and pulled her out, letting her wear my jacket again, trying to stop her shivering. "Jack! I've got her, she's alright!"

Jack grinned and hugged the girl quickly before nodding. "She's too young, didn't want the attention of putting a 15 year old in. Hey, you're good, Jacey Moo."

"That stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station." A worker said quickly, and I looked around at the guy who'd told me about the Controller. "I think you're right. I've kept a log. Unauthorised transmats, encrypted signals, it's been going on for years."

"Show me."

One of the women stepped forward. "If you're not holding us hostage, then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified."

I raised an eyebrow, holding my daughter close as she shook. "That's the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day."

"That's not our fault." She protested. "We're just doing our jobs."

"And with that sentence you just lost the right to even talk to me. Now back off!"

And then the power dropped, and Pavale stepped forward. "That's just the solar flares. They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet Earth gets a few repeats. It's all quite normal."

"Doctor. Jace."

"Doctor?" The woman said, and we didn't look her way.

"Whatever it is, you can wait."

But she kept pushing. "I think she wants you."

"Doctor and Jace? Doctor? Jace? Where's the Doctor and the Seer?" What? Seriously? The Controller knew her name.

I pulled her forward and stood in front of the woman. "We're here."'

"Can't see. I'm blind. So blind. All my life, blind. All I can see is numbers, but I saw you. The both of you."

Jace sniffed, wiping her eyes. "What do you want?"

The girl was still staring sightlessly, but I had a feeling she could see us, even if she was unfocused. "Solar flares hiding me. They can't hear me. My masters, they always listen but they can't hear me now the sun, the sun is so bright."

"Who are your masters?"

"They wired my head."' She told us, evading the question. "The name's forbidden. They control my thoughts. My masters. My masters, I had to be careful. They monitor transmissions but they don't watch the programmes. I could hide you inside the games, inside a room without signal, a Faraday Cage."' Why Jace lost the colours, nothing could get in. "Knew that you would find me."

I glared at her though, thinking about Rose. "My friend died inside your games. And that room hurt Jace." My Jace stared at me though, looking desperately for Rose, but she was gone.

"Doesn't matter."

That made me lower my voice and growl. "Don't you dare tell me that."

"They've been hiding. My masters hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth so, so, so many years. Always been there, guiding humanity, hundreds and hundred of years."

Jace's anger broke, making her shout. "'Who are they?!"

But the girl was just going. "They wait and plan and grow in numbers. They're strong now. So strong, my masters." We asked again, but she still didn't reply. "But speak of you, my masters, they fear the Doctor. Of the daughter of colour."' That was a good name for her.

"Tell us, who are they?" But then the power came back on and she started counting again. "When's the next solar flare?"

Pavale was the one who answered. "Two years time."

Jace sighed, hugging her arms around herself. "'Fat lot of good that is."

"Found the TARDIS." Jack called, running back out from a room.

My little girl shook her head. "We're not leaving now."

"No, but the TARDIS worked it out. You'll want to watch this. Jace, could you stand over there for me please?" She hesitated, and I didn't want her out of my sight for the moment. "It'll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can. Everybody watching? Okay. three, two, one."

And then he shot the disintegrator beam at her, and she vanished in a puff of smoke. "You killed her!" I screamed, going for him, but he hit another button and she appeared a few meters down, disorientated. "Jace!"

She shook her head, and I caught her before she fell, hugging her. "What the hell was that? Doctor?"

"It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system. People don't get killed in the games. they get transported across space." Jacks face lit up. "Doctor, Jace, Rose is still alive!"

We all hugged, and Jace smiled for the first time since I found her. "She's out there somewhere."

"Doctor, Seer." We looked at the Controller. "Coordinates five point six point one"

What? What was she doing? "Don't, the solar flare's gone. They'll hear you!"

"Point four three four. No, my masters, no! I defy you! Stigma seven seven" And then she was gone.

Jace stared, her eyes bright and blue, like the ocean on a summers day. "They took her."

And then we got into working out the rest of the transmissions. "Look, use that. It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions."

Jack smiled at the man, and held out his hand. "Nice, Thanks. Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."

"I'm Davitch Pavale."

"Nice to meet you, Davitch Pavale."

Jace rolled her eyes. "There's a time and a place."

The random woman got our attention. "Are you saying this entire set up's been a disguise all along?"

"Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago." I agreed, my daughter moving to sit on my lap as she used her hands as a sonic, little bursts of coloured light coming off them. My smart girl. "Someone's been playing a long game, controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations."

Then Jace found something, moving her hands away, though they were still emit a low sonic noise. "Click on this. The transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system."

"There's nothing there."

But I saw what she meant. "It looks like nothing because that's what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission there's another signal. Jace can feel it, see it. She can see any signal or sound."

Pavale frowned. "Doing what?"

I shrugged. "Hiding whatever's out there." I kissed Jace's hair, still so happy she was safe, and that we had a chance at getting Rose back. "Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner. There's something sitting right on top of planet Earth, but it's completely invisible. If I cancel the signal..."

A large flying saucer appeared on the holo-viewscreen. Jace zoomed out to reveal a lot, lot more of them, and I was glad that she didn't recognise them, recognise the ships that destroyed the planet that was half hers, but they would forever be seared on her heart, hearts.

"That's impossible." Jack told me, and I knew he must know them too. "I know those ships. They were destroyed."

Jacey frowned and looked up at me, and I stroked her cheek. "Obviously, they survived. Jace, you're so young..."

"Who did?" Lynda asked, and I'd almost forgotten she was there, she'd been so quiet. "Who are they?"

"Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them." Jace's eyes got bigger and bluer as she recognised the tone in my voice, the same way I'd spoken about the last one.

"Daleks?" She whispered, and I nodded as the screen was hijacked, showing a Dalek.

"I will talk to the Doctor."

Calm, turn the rage into sarcasm. "Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!"

" The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."

Jace raised an eyebrow, then clicked her knuckles. That was my pet hate, but oh well. "Oh, really? Why's that, then? I'm Jace by the way. The Doctor's daughter."

They paused for a moment. "We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated."

"No."

Everyone looked at us as we spoke together, both having the same thought. "Explain yourself."

"We said no."

The Daleks were confused. "What is the meaning of this negative?"

Jace shrugged again. "It means no."

"But she will be destroyed."

"No!" I shouted, getting to my feet with her and holding her close. "Because this is what we're going to do. We're going to rescue her. We're going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then we're going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky as a late birthday present to my daughter!"

"But you have no weapons, no defenses, no plan."

We both smirked. "Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death. Rose?"

She lifted her head a little. "Yes, Doctor, Jacey?"

"We're coming to get you."

And then we went right to the TARDIS, Jace working the controls, her blue eyes furious as she went. Oh, my little girl... But Jack and I were working on the extrapolator, getting it up just in time "We've got incoming!"

"The extrapolator's working. We've got a fully functional forcefield." Jack paused, grinning at my Jacey. "Try saying that when you're drunk."

Smiling, I kissed her head as I passed her, taking over the reins. "And for my next trick." We materialised around Rose, and Jace yelped as she saw the Dalek too, making me leap to action. "Rose, get down! Get down, Rose!"

It fired and missed, before Jack took it out with his modded gun. "You did it. Feels like I haven't seem you in years." Rose breathed as Jacey hugged her tight, like she wouldn't let go. They were so close, it wouldn't be fair to take them away from each other.

"I told you I'd come and get you." I grinned, hugging her next, my arm proudly on my daughters shoulder. She may not call me dad, or even like being part Time Lord, but no matter what, she was everything to me and I wouldn't change her at all.

"Never doubted it."

Jacey gave a little smile, letting me wrap an arm around her and hugging me. "I did. You all right?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Not bad, been better." She shivered. "Got locked in a Faraday Cage for about 6 hours, and trust me, that is not fun when you see sound,"

Then Jack called over. "Hey, don't I get a hug?"

"Oh, come here!"

"I was talking to her, the cute one." But he hugged Rose anyway. "Welcome home."

She smiled, hugging and holding on. "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again."

"Oh, you were lucky. That was just a one shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk."

And then Rose looked at me. "You said they were extinct. How comes they're still alive?"

"One minute they're the greatest threat in the Universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space." The Captain pointed out, and even Jace looked at me, her beautiful blue eyes filled with worry.

"They went off to fight a bigger war. The Time War" Jack stared. "I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake." I looked solely at Jace, telling her part of her history. "My, our people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing."

Her voice was barely a whisper as her adrenaline started fading. "There's thousands of them now. We could hardly stop one. What're we going to do?"

"No good stood round here chin wagging, love." I smiled, kissing her hair before leading her out. "The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbours."

They all shot at us on sight, but the shield was still up, going out a good three metres, making me grin. "Is that it? Useless! Nul points. It's all right, come on out. That forcefield can hold back anything."

"Almost anything."

I didn't even look at the imbecile. "Yes, but I wasn't going to tell them that. Thanks. Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me and my daughter? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?"

"They survived through me." I looked over to see something I really wished to never see, never again after it had my wife executed, and broadcast it. Our best weapons developer. Elina...

"Jaclyn, Rose, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks."

"You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive."

Jace narrowed her eyes, and I saw her turn the colours off. "we get it."

The rest of the Daleks told us to button it. "I think you're forgetting something. I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me, and my daughter is just the same. So if anybody's going to shut up, it's you! Okey doke. So, where were we?"

"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."

That... That was horrific. "So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead."

"That makes them half human." Rose pointed out, and they didn't like that.

"'Those words are blasphemy."' The other Daleks echoed. "Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek."

This wasn't good. "Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?"

"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks!"

I moved Jace behind me, backing towards the TARDIS. "They're insane. Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad. But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going."

But they didn't like that and we had to strengthen the shield before getting back to Floor 500, where the walls were made of gold. "Turn everything up. All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!" Jace shouted, getting to work herself, just touching things to get them to work. Sonic.

"'What does this do?" They still had to question her?

"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board. How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"

He seemed dejected. "Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programmes."

Oh, this wasn't good. "And the planet's just sitting there, defenceless." I spotted a familiar girl. "Lynda, what're you still doing on board? I told you to evacuate everyone."

"She wouldn't go."

"Didn't want to leave you and Jace."

But then the woman who refused to say her name spoke up. "There weren't enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn't be here. We've got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero."

Then fleet started moving towards us, leaving me no choice. "Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"

"You've got to be kidding."

I beamed at Jack. "Give the man a medal."

"A Delta Wave!"

"'What's a Delta Wave?"' Rose asked, while Jace was still blocking a lot of things, boosting shields.

"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed."

I nodded, pausing for a moment. "And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!"

Lynda grinned at me. "'Well, get started and do it then."

"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days?" I glanced at my daughter, still working on something. "How long till the Fleet arrive, Jay?"

"Twenty two minutes."

Shit.

I got to work, and she turned around a little later, clicking her fingers again. "We've now got a forcefield so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading."

Pavale frowned. "Do they know about the Delta Wave?"

"They'll have worked it out at the same time." Jack said, shrugging a little. "So, they want to stop the Doctor. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."

"Who are they fighting?"

Jace smiled a little. "Us." Not a chance in hell, you were staying where I could see you.

"And what are we fighting with?"

Jack knew that one. "The guards had guns with bastic bullets. That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."

"There's 6 of us."

And Rose wasn't going either. "Rose, you can help me. I need all these wires stripping bare. Jace, you're 15, and the only one who can keep ramping up the power on the shield."

"Right, now there's four of us."

"Then let's move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." Pavale and the woman headed out, Lynda following. "It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye."

Jace hugged him, and I didn't think she'd let go. "Don't talk like that. The Doctor's going to do it. You just watch him."

"Jacey Moo Smith, you are worth fighting for, my amazing little friend." He kissed her forehead, wiping away a tear. "Be good." Then he looked at Rose. "Thanks for the view, Rose." He kissed her, before moving to me. "Wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward." And now I got a kiss. "See you in hell."

He left and my daughter looked at me. "He's going to be all right, isn't he?" But I couldn't say. Because I didn't know.

DW

"Suppose." Rose said after a little while, when Jace had gone around and started building up power where I told her to.

"'What?"

"Nothing." Pause. "No, I was just thinking. I mean, obviously you can't, but, you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?"

Oh, I wished it was that simple. "As soon as the TARDIS lands in that second, I become part of events, stuck in the timeline."

"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that"

But then there was a though, a way to ensure my little girl saw another dawn. "There's another thing the TARDIS could do. It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella in 1989."

"Yeah, but you'd never do that."

She was listening, not that it surprised me. She was a colourful Magpie, she was drawn to it. "No, but you could ask. Never even occurred to you, did it? To be selfish just this once."

"Well, I'm just too good."

The machine beeped. "Delta Wave's started building. How long does it need?" Jace pointed to a console and I ran over before sighing. And made a decision. "Rose Tyler, you're a genius! We can do it. If I use the Tardis to cross my old timeline. Yes!" I ran into the TARDIS and they both followed. "Hold that down and keep position. Jace, listen to what the TARDIS tells you."

"What's it do?" Rose asked, as Jace started moving around, but the console was off.

I smiled, looking at how beautiful my little girl was, and knowing that I was doing the right thing for her. "Cancels the buffers. If I'm very clever and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart"

"I'd go for the first one." She laughed, her eyes lighting up a little.

"Me too. Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!" I ran out, stopping in the midst of my tangle of cable, looking back at the TARDIS. And then sent them home.

I got back to work, but not even Jack telling me it was the right thing to do could help me, thinking of her being raised by Mickey, or Jackie, instead of following what she was comfortable doing of her own people. That and the Delta Wave would have killed her. And he still trusted me, though I was killing the Earth.

But there was something else that I needed to ask the 'God of all Daleks'. "Now, you tell me, God of all Daleks, because there's one thing I never worked out. The words Bad Wolf, spread across time and space, everywhere, drawing me in, but only since I found Jace, and she's been seeing it for even longer. How'd you manage that?"

"I did nothing." Now was not the time to be modest.

"Oh, come on, there's no secrets now, your worship."

But he was still denying it. "They are not part of my design. This is the Truth of God."' Bad Wolf...

I blocked them out, and kept working. But they breached Jace's shield eventually, though she wouldn't know it took them another 10 minutes to just work out the colour frequencies, before taking 5 to shatter it. Because she was amazing, and there was nothing she couldn't do. "Jack, how're we doing?"

"Four nine five should be good. I like four nine five."' Anne Robinson as a robot. Well, she was already mostly plastic. She may as well be an auton.

And then Lynda came through, telling me that everyone on floor zero was dead. "Lynda! What's happening on Earth?"

"The Fleet's descending."' She told me, and it sounded like she was crying. "They're bombing whole continents. Europa, Pacifica, the New American Alliance. Australasia's just gone." There was a pause. "I've got a problem. They've found me."

No, no... I've already lost Jace and Rose, not Lynda... "You'll be all right, Lynda. That side of the station's reinforced against meteors."

"Hope so!" The girl laughed a little through her tears. "You know what they say about Earth workmanship."

But it didn't work and they got her. And she screamed, just once, before she was gone too. And Jack was the only one left. "Last man standing! For God's sake, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!"

"Finish that thing and kill mankind." The Emperor mocked.

"Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!" And then he was gone too. I was glad Jace wasn't here.

"It's ready!"' Just as I was surrounded by Dalek's. "You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."

"I am immortal."

Nothing was. "Do you want to put that to the test?"

There was a small amount of glee in his voice. "I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator. Where is your daughter to see you kill like you killed your people?"

"I'll do it!" I warned, but I knew I couldn't, not knowing Jace would think of me in the wrong way. I wasn't a hero, I was a killer, and she deserved better than me.

"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?"

I couldn't throw the final switch. "Coward. Any day. A cowardly father who loves his little girl."

"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness."'

Shaking my head, I dropped the trigger. "And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?"

But I wasn't even that. "You are the heathen. You will be exterminated."

"Maybe it's time."' I closed my eyes, but something incredible was happening. The TARDIS.

I turned to see it, and the doors opened showing my little girl, standing silhouetted by golden light, snaked with her colours, her eyes just like how Rose drew them on her birthday card, and her voice was humming around her, singing in scarlet waves. "What've you done?"

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me."

But that was only the half of it. "You looked into the Time Vortex. Calliope, no one's meant to see that."

The Daleks shot at her out of fear, but her hand stopped it, the colours ebbing into her, before smiling, just a little. "'I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here, to the alley where the Doctor first saw me, and before that to keep myself from harm."

"Jacey, you've got to stop this." I told her. "You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn."

Her eyes found mine, burning blue through the gold. "I want you safe. My Dad. Protected from the false god." Dad...

The Emperor was still smug over himself. "'You cannot hurt me. I am immortal."

"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space, every sound and every thing. Every single atom of your existence and the energy holding together, and I divide them, cancelling out the wave." The Daleks started disintegrating in small bursts of colour, the energy holding them together fading out. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."

"I will not die. I cannot die!" But then he was gone too, leaving just us.

"My Jace, Calliope, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go."

Tears trickled down her face and I wanted to wipe them away, but her skin was too hot to touch. "How can I let go of this? I bring life."

"But this is wrong!" I told her, my hearts breaking as I knew what I had to do. "You can't control life and death."

She shook her head. "But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?"

"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault."

Her eyes burned through so many colours before staying their usual blue. "I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be, its so much more than it was, the colours are attacking me, every sound... it hurts, daddy..."

"That's what I see, my baby girl." I smiled, so glad that I had her. "All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad? Come here."

"It's killing me." She cried.

I took her in my arms, holding her so close and absorbed the energy, and her eyes closed. "I think you need your dad." Holding her like a baby, I took her pain, took her breakages, and watched her skin heal completely, no scars, and no mis-healed bones. And then, I let go of the energy.

She slept for a while in the TARDIS, and I knew that Rose was probably panicking back on Earth. But I needed my daughter to understand who we were, why our race were so mighty. And then there was a small gasp as she sat up from the jump seat, looking at me. "What happened? Doctor?"

"Don't you remember?" I asked, a little upset that dad had gone again.

Her blue eyes frowned, darkening a little. "It's like there was this singing. M, my voice, red and powerful."

Close to the truth. "That's right. You sang a song and the Daleks ran away."

"I was at Rose's. No, I wasn't, I was in the TARDIS, home, and there was this light. I can't remember anything else"

I looked at my skin, slowly darkening. "Jace Smith, Calliope. I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."

She smiled at me, getting to her feet. "Then, why can't we go?"

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will." I laughed, shaking my head. "But not like this."

That made her confused. "You're not making sense. Doctor, what are you saying?"

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement, because I will still ground you." That made her smile a little. "But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with-" I doubled over in pain.

"Dad!"

Backing away, I sent her a warning look. "Stay away!"

Her eyes filled with tears again. "Dad, tell me what's going on."

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying."

"Can't you do something? Dad, please..." She was so scared, my little Jace.

I nodded at her, ready to explain. "Yeah, I'm doing it now. Us Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go-"

"Don't say that."

But I had to, because I wouldn't see her again, my little girl. "Calliope, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I." And then I was gone, but I was still me. I was the Doctor, my body was taller, thinner. I could feel my body changing. "Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona."