Thank you great people for your awesome feedback! It made me happy. Our little adventure without Adam.
"You sure you don't regret not taking that pretty boy with you?" the Doctor asked Rose in a mock as they both walked out of the TARDIS.
"Yeh." Rose nodded while smiling fondly at him.
"Looks like it's just you and me then." The Doctor smiled at her.
"Yeah," she agreed.
"Good."
"Yep." And they locked each other gazes for a moment.
"Right." The Doctor turned away a bit. "So, it's two-hundred thousand, it's a spaceship - no, wait a minute - space station, and, er... let's go and try that gate over there. Off we go." The Doctor began to walk towards the gate.
"What, you not gonna say more?" Rose raised an eyebrow. "And it's a bit warm in here. They could have turned the heating off."
"What else you wanna know?" he asked innocently. "You are not an amateur anymore, are you? The thing about time travel, is like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book. You've got to throw yourself in, eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers - or is that just me?" He looked at her questioningly. "Come on, let's not waste time, tot!" the Doctor said playfully while going ahead of her.
"Right." Rose laughed. "Hold on... Did you just say tot?" Rose called out for him, following in his tracks.
Once they went through the gate and gone upstairs, a big glass window appeared before their eyes with the Earth as the main view.
"This is..." Rose gave him a meaningful look.
"The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Planet Earth is at its height, covered with megacities, five moons, population 96 billion, the centre of a galactic domain that stretches across a million planets and species," the Doctor exclaimed proudly.
"Impressive." Rose smiled at him.
"I am impressive. I know." The Doctor grinned, proud of himself.
"I was talking about the Earth." Rose chuckled.
"Oh. But I'm too."
"Just go!" Rose couldn't help but laugh out loud now. She pushed him towards the exit to where the food counters where. Obviously, the Doctor was still unaware of the situation there, so started to blab about good manners and stuff.
"Let me tell you. You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era's got fine food, good manners-" He was cut short by a loud signal of the food courts' opening hours.
Everyone was rushing about, buying fast food, shouting through each other. It was one big mess. Like in the market.
"Out the way!"
"Somebody there?"
"Keep it moving."
"One at a time! Now what was it?"
"Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos."
"Oi! You, mate! stop pushing," the vendor chided one of his customers.
"Fine cuisine." Rose nodded sarcastically at the Doctor.
"My watch must be wrong." He checked it in concern. "No, it's fine. It's weird." He looked around.
"That's what you get for showing off." Rose pointed at him in a smirk. "Your history's not that good."
"My history is perfect," he shot back.
"Well, obviously not," she sang in a voice through her teeth. The Doctor frowned.
"And they're all human, Doctor," she said in a calm voice now.
"Of course they are human," the Doctor said in bewilderment.
"Million species. What happened to that?" She raised an eyebrow in question.
"Ah." The Doctor came to a realisation. "Good question. Actually, that is a good question," he agreed and looked at Rose, who was smiling at him happily. "You have something in mind?"
"Well..." Rose began slowly, not looking at the Doctor. "Since we're already here. And the fine cuisine turned out to be..." Rose gestured to the food courts. "Kronkburgers, chips..." Rose looked up at him.
"You wanna sit around and eat chips here?" the Doctor asked her in a frowned surprise.
"Why not?" Rose asked innocently. "Come on." Rose dragged the Doctor to the court.
"We gonna need money. You stay in the queue, I'll be right back," he said and walked towards the ATM.
Quickly enough, after the Doctor got his money from the cash machine, he walked back to Rose, who was already getting their order and he just had to pay. Once they have decided on the table to sit on, they sat down and started eating between the small conversations.
"You know, smiling expression suits you a lot more than frowning," Rose said lightly.
"I don't frown." He tried to deny while at the same time frowning.
"That!" Rose pointed at his face, laughing and nearly choked up on her food.
"It's how my face looks like. Nothing can be done." He looked away from her, clearly offended.
"Just smile!" Rose teased him.
"What, like this?" He gave a huge fake smile, which looked quite crazy as his eyes popped out a bit.
Rose began to hysterically laugh.
The Doctor continued to frown.
After Rose calmed down, she asked. "So, what's our plan now?"
"I don't know. Must go around, blend in. Maybe something interesting will pop up." He grinned at her. Rose spotted Suki and Cathica, moments later, and pointed at them.
"We could try asking them?" Rose said nonchalantly.
"Good thinking." The Doctor nodded proudly at her. He then stood up and walked towards the girls.
"Erm, this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?" the Doctor asked as he approached the girls.
"Floor 139." Cathica pointed at the written numbers. "Could they write it any bigger?"
"Floor 139 of what?"
"Must've been a hell of a party," Cathica said in a mock, eyeing him.
"You're on Satellite Five," Suki answered simply.
"And what's Satellite Five?" the Doctor insisted.
"Come on. How could you get on board without knowing where you are?" Cathica looked him up sceptically.
"Look at me. I'm stupid!" The Doctor shrugged and then smiled widely.
"Hold on, wait a minute." Suki looked around nervously. "Are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?"
"You've got me." The Doctor nodded. "Well done! You're too clever for me." Showing them his psychic paper.
"We were warned about this in basic training," Suki said in an understanding voice to Cathica.
"Right, fire away, ask your questions." Cathica seemed to be not that affected.
"Oh, I'll. But me and my colleague..." He pointed at where Rose was sitting. After seeing them, Rose waved at them with a grin. "Were just having a bit of a break of our own. Would you care to join us?" he asked lightly.
"I suppo-se...that's alright," Cathica said warily, as they began walking towards the table with Rose.
"Hello." Rose greeted them warmly.
"Hi. My Name is Cathica and this is Suki. We hear you are together with the management."
"Yep." Rose nodded. "Now, sit, go on."
The girls glanced at each other for a second, but soon decided to join them.
They talked about their motives to join the company and some other stuff, when the topic about the floor 500 came up.
"If it gets me to floor 500, I'll do anything," Cathica stated in confidence.
"Why? What happens to floor 500?" the Doctor asked her with full attention, while Rose picked a chip from his plate.
"The walls are made of gold," Cathica said in an obvious voice.
"Want one?" Rose offered the chip to the Doctor, lightly waving it into his face.
"No. You take it," he refused it lightly and the next moment directed his attention back to Cathica.
"This is what we do," Cathica continued, glancing at both of them. "Latest news. Sandstorms on the New Venus Archipelago, 200 dead. Over on the Bad Wolf channel, The Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant."
"De Faze o Boe ish pregnad?" Rose asked with full mouth, taken by surprise and choked up on her food. She started coughing and the Doctor just rubbed her back.
"That's why I tell you, don't speak with your mouth full," he chided lightly.
"Are you two-" Suki gestured to the both of them.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"You are married, aren't you?" Suki stated.
"Wha-?" Rose began to say, but now clearly was losing air.
"I told you, tot," he said and the next moment hit her back with a force that Rose's eyes just popped out and she let out a very very faint sound. "...am okay..."
"Right then." The Doctor looked back at their guests. "I get it. You broadcast the news."
"We ARE the news," Cathica stated. "We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. 600 channels - all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere."
And then an alarm broke off, informing the end of the lunch break.
"I guess it's time we show you how we work." With that, the group made their way to one of the "white rooms", where the information was being channelled. What they didn't know at a time was, that the Editor was already starting to keep an eye on them.
"Now, everybody behave, we have a management inspection." Cathica started, standing in the middle of the room next to the black chair. "How d'you want it, by the book?"
"Right from scratch, thanks," the Doctor answered and looked to Rose, grinning.
"OK. So! Ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor 500, and, please, do. Now, please feel free to ask any questions." She walked to lay down on the chair.
"Here we go. And. Engage safety." Everyone in the circle placed their hands above the engraved palms.
"And three. Two. And spike!" And soon a light blue blast came through a hole in her forehead to the object above their heads.
Rose looked at the sight in blank expression as she was thinking. Cathica was a clever woman, and they surely will need her this time round too, as she doubted the Doctor will manage to not get in trouble and suppress the urge to not check the floor 500. Although, the upcoming promotion was one thing which had to be taken care of by Rose's hands.
"Compressed information," the Doctor began. "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 repeated her previous words automatically.
"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it." He began walking towards the circle and Rose close behind. "There's too much. Her head'd blow up! The brain's the processor. Soon as it closes, she forgets."
"And the people round the edge?"
"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. And that's what I call power."
The next moment Suki was shocked by the power coming through the engraved palms. She jumped in surprise.
"Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway! What was that for?" Cathica shot at Suki.
"Sorry. It must've been a glitch." The woman looked a bit lost herself.
Rose looked at the Doctor meaningfully. He just shrugged.
"PROMOTION!" A woman's voice could be heard in the room and soon a blue screen was present on the wall.
Cathica was praying it to be her, but soon enough the computer revealed the promotion for - "Suki Macrae Fantrell. Please proceed to floor 500."
"I don't believe it!" Suki stood up, clearly mesmerized by the sight.
"How did you manage that?" Cathica asked, blaming.
This was it.
Rose walked up to Suki and placed her hand on her shoulder. "I'm terribly sorry, but there must have been some kind of mistake here," Rose said in a business like voice.
"A mistake?" the woman asked her in disbelief. "I know I cut the contact too soon, but there must have been a glitch, as I said. Certainly it's not a mistake about my promotion, right?"
"I'm sorry, but it is exactly that." Rose tried to comfort the girl. The Doctor came from behind her. He leaned to whisper into her ear.
"What are you doing?"
"She made a mistake and was promoted. It's not logical," Rose whispered back. The Doctor thought for a moment about what Rose just said.
"True. All this technology is wrong. There is something going on here." The Doctor frowned a bit at a thought. Then the screen blinked once and the promotion for Suki was erased.
"What? Where did it go?" Suki walked towards the screen to touch it. Rose just smiled in understanding.
Seconds later a new message appeared on the screen. "Management is requested to be present at floor 500." Rose looked up at the Doctor.
"Trouble?" Rose teased him.
"Oh, yeh." He beamed at her. "Come on, you lot!" He urged everyone to follow him through the doors towards the lift.
Suki was still in a foul mood as they reached the elevator. "I can't believe it was all just a joke."
"No, it was not. You were great down there." Rose tried to comfort her. "But there's something going on here, and we got to find out what."
"You are not management, are you?" Cathica stated.
"At last! She is clever," the Doctor exclaimed while buzzing his sonic at the electronic controls near the elevator.
"I knew it. Look, whatever it is. I don't wanna have any part in this." Cathica put her hands in defence. "I don't know anything."
"Don't you even ask?" the Doctor shot her a question.
"Why would I?"
"You're a journalist!" he exclaimed. "Why's all the crew human?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica replied.
"There's no aliens on board. Why?" Rose asked in the Doctor's place.
"I dunno, no real reason. They're not banned." Cathica shrugged.
"Then where are they?" the Doctor insisted.
"Immigration's tightened up," Cathica said. "It's had to, with all the threats." She started wondering whether that was really the truth.
"What threats?" the Doctor narrowed his brows at her.
"I dunno, all of them. Usual stuff." Cathica seemed to start to doubt her knowledge.
"There is certainly something going on out here, and you didn't even notice." He sneered at her.
"Doctor, I think if there was any sort of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."
"I can see better." The Doctor gave her a meaningful look, as he opened the case with the cables.
"This is nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work." She began to walk off.
"Go on then, see ya!" the Doctor said nonchalantly.
"I can't just leave you, can I?" She went back to them.
"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down, it's boiling." Rose told her while holding some cables. "Can't they do something about it?" Roast the monster.
"We keep asking. Something to do with the turbines." Cathica paced about.
"Something to do with the turbines," the Doctor and Rose sang in synchrony and that made them look at each other for a moment.
"Well, I don't know!" Cathica cried out.
"Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica." The Doctor faced her now. "Now, Rose, look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of questions." He looked at her approvingly.
"Oh, I thank you," Rose said lovingly.
"One minute you worry about the Empire, the next it's the central heating!" Cathica clearly missing the point.
"Oh, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing is very important." The next moment he showed the monitor to his team. "Here you go. Satellite 5. Pipes and plumbing."
"And there is something wrong." Suki walked up to the monitor, previously only silently observing.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts. Ice filters. All working flat out. Channelling massive amounts of heat down," Cathica stated.
"All the way from the top," the Doctor said.
"Floor 500," Rose added. "Don't know about you, but I feel I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose said teasingly to the Doctor.
"We can't. Only you both were called out." Cathica still tried to argue.
"And we are running late," the Doctor sang. "It's just codes." And he began to buzz with his sonic screwdriver.
"I'm coming with you," Suki announced.
"You are not a regular journalist yourself either, are you?" the Doctor asked her in wonder. She just smiled at him with a more mature smile than her usual.
"If you get in trouble, don't involved me!" Cathica turned abruptly and walked away.
And the three of them got into the lift, all the way up to floor 500.
"The walls are not made of gold," the Doctor said sarcastically once they stepped out the elevator. "You should go back downstairs," he said to Rose, but could be meant to Suki too.
"Tough." Rose just dismissed him. Oh, this unpleasant place. She hoped that Catchica would get up here in time, if Suki wouldn't be able to override the system herself.
"I started without you," the Editor stated, when he saw the three of them present in the room. He faced them up, turning from the monitors in front. Rose tried to keep her head down, to not see what was staying above their heads.
"This is fascinating!" He shook his head in amusement."Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. But you two...You don't exist." He laughed gesturing to Rose and the Doctor. "There's not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?" Then he faced Suki. "Although...I got to thank you for brining the liar to me." He beamed at Suki.
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other in surprise. "Oh. She did not tell, did she?" The Editor nodded in fake understanding. "Let's look at the facts then, shall we?" And with a snap of his fingers, a screen in the middle of the room appeared, showing Suki's real identity to be Eva Saint Julienne, last surviving member of the Freedom Fifteen.
"Mmm, self-declared anarchist, is that right?" The Editor mocked her.
"Who controls Satellite Five?" With those words Suki took the gun from...who knows where and pointed dangerously at the Editor. He seemed to look stunned for a second, but soon burst out laughing.
"There's the truth!" he exclaimed, still laughing.
"The Freedom Foundation has been monitoring Satellite Five's transmissions. We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated. YOU are lying to the people!" Suki stated in a cold voice.
"Oooh, I love it! Say it again!" The Editor challenged her, mocking.
"This whole system is corrupt." Suki made a step closer to him.
"Be careful!" Rose shouted back and that made Suki face the pair, who now were holding their hands up in the air too.
"Why are you holding your hands up like that?" Suki asked them in bewilderment.
"Ah. Well. Not very comfortable with guns." The Doctor made a pointed glance at the "thing" in Suki's hand.
Suki seemed to understand the meaning. "Right." But soon was back facing the Editor.
"Who do you represent?" Her voice soft, but firm.
"I'm merely a humble slave. I answer to the Editor In Chief," he said nonchalantly.
"Who is he, where is he?"
"He's overseeing everything. Literally everything. And I'm sorry. It may interest you to know that this is NOT the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire." He started to whisper to them. "In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live."
A growling sound echoed inside the room.
"Yep. Yep." He started a conversation of his own. "Sorry! It's a place where humans are allowed to live, by kind permission of my client." And he snapped his fingers, pointing upwards.
Rose grimaced at it. The sight was as unpleasant as the last time. And it was too big of a creature for Rose to mess up with. She had to put her faith in Catchica and it was killing her to not being able to do anything more reasonable.
"What is that?" Suki asked, pointing a gun at it.
"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" the Doctor asked in bewilderment.
"That "thing", as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost 100 years, mankind has been shaped and guided." The Editor explained. "Edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." He paused and chuckled at his last words. "I call him Max!" Rose and the Doctor just smiled nervously at that.
Then his face became stern once again. "Now then, I have provided you some interesting information, but it's only fair we get some information back. Because, apparently, you're no-one." He laughed. "It's so rare, not to know something." He shook his head in disbelief and amusement. "Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter, cos we're off." The Doctor just dismissed him nonchalantly. "Nice to meet you." He nodded to him. "Come on." He tried for the exit, but soon was stopped by a couple of deadly hands. And Rose at the same time too.
"Tell me who you are!" the Editor cried.
"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor shrugged.
"Release them!" Suki threatened the Editor, pointing a gun at him.
"Oh, I'm so scared!" He laughed in her face. "I just know the perfect way to subdue your guts," he said softly and before Rose or the Doctor could see or do anything, the men holding them both hit them on the back of their necks, making them unconscious. The last thing they could hear was Suki's horrified screams.
The second Rose woke up, she quickly glanced over to the "working" people on the computers and saw Suki as one of them.
Stab.
"They killed her..." she said softly.
"I'm sorry." Was all the Doctor could say.
"Now now, she can finally be of some use to her master. Not so bad of a fate then, is it?" The Editor played innocent.
"All those people are just slaves to you." Rose spat her words. She was angry. So angry - at herself the most. She saved Suki just to kill her again. If only she could have made her stay downstairs. She closed her eyes in self loathing. She understood how the Doctor felt all those times, when he took responsibility of all the people all those other times.
It hurt.
"Well, now, there's an interesting point." The Editor disturbed her thoughts. "Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
"Yes," the Doctor answered.
"Oh, I was hoping for a philosophical debate." Disappointment could be heard in his voice. "Is that all I'm gonna get? "Yes"?"
"Yes." The Doctor didn't pay much attention to him.
"You're no fun." He laughed darkly at the Doctor.
"Let me out of these manacles." The Doctor pulled his hands up a bit. "You'll find out how much fun I am."
"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?!" The Editor chuckled.
"You can't hide something on this scale, somebody must've noticed," the Doctor stated.
"From time to time, someone, yes." the Editor started pacing about the room. "But the computer-chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt. And crush it!" he exclaimed with a victorious grin, which made Rose shoot him a deadly look. "And then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth, like they're SO individual."
From the corner of his eyes, the Doctor saw Catchica appear on the other end of the room.
The Editor bragged some more about his long term money investment.
"Also the Jagrafess needed a little hand, to, erm, install himself."
"No wonder, creature that size." The Doctor looked up to it once again. "What's its lifespan?"
"3000 years."
"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, stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life-support system," the Doctor ended sarcastically while looking at Cathica from time to time.
"But THAT'S why you're so dangerous." The Editor pointed at the Doctor. "Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." He snapped his fingers and the electrical surge ran through the both of them.
"Who are you?" the Editor continued.
"Leave her alone!" the Doctor pleaded in desperation, when he saw Rose's pain. "I'm the Doctor. She's Rose Tyler, we're nothing, we're just wandering."
"Tell me who you are!" the Editor insisted, whining like a kid.
"I've just said!" the Doctor shot back.
"Alright then. I guess I have to use our outdated method here. Don't tell anyone about it, okay?" He chuckled, like feeling a bit embarrassed. "It could contaminate our reputation." He snapped his fingers and a video recording of the TARDIS materialising came into view.
The Doctor looked at the screen in bewilderment. "Oh, I though you were clever, Doctor. Although, we see everything with the chips, you better think twice if you want to hide something in the base of the world's news," he said, sneering. "We got cameras, of course!" he exclaimed. "But nobody knows it. It would be embarrassing." He laughed nervously. "And it takes time..." he continued. "I hate wasting time."
"Hm...interesting. A machine. What is it called?" He turned his head to the Doctor.
"It's just a blue box." The Doctor tried to dismiss the subject.
"WRONG ANSWER! Now, punishment time." The Editor laughed and with a snaps of his fingers Rose got another electro wave, not reaching the Doctor.
"Rose!" The Doctor looked frantically at her. "Leave her alone!" he shouted back at the Editor.
"Then answer my questions!" he cried. "It's always the girls, right? Poor little creatures, so easy to manipulate their mates through them." He shook his head.
"TARDIS!" the Doctor yelled out darkly.
"Good. Very good." The Editor clapped his hands, letting the electrocution stop for Rose, then looked back on the screen. "Time travel." As the words of Doctor himself from the video, echoed in the room.
"Are you human?" he asked in a sweet voice.
"Yes," the Doctor said simply.
"Mm." The Editor pressed his lips together. "I think you are not." He shrugged and snapped his fingers again to start Rose's torture.
"Stop it!" The Doctor looked in horror. "I'm a Time Lord!"
With another snap, the electric waves stopped. "Let's not play such games again, shall we?" the Editor warned him, as he walked towards Rose to caress her cheek. She turned her head away.
Rose was panting heavily. Clearly this time round she was getting way more electricity run through her than the last time. At the same time Cathica was already preparing for override.
"Someone has disengaged safety." The Editor went to look at the monitors as an alarming sound gone off.
"Who's that?" he asked in disbelief as Cathica's image appeared before him.
"It's Cathica," Rose exhaled in relief.
"And she's thinking!" The Doctor beamed at the sight. "She's using what she knows!"
"Terminate her access!" The Editor was getting nervous.
"Everything I told her about Satellite Five, the pipes, the filters, she's reversing it! Look at that. It's getting hot." He looked back at Rose and they both smiled at each other.
"I said, terminate! Burn out her mind!" The Editor still tried to escape his fate.
Everything was soon sparking and making alarm sounds scream throughout the room. The whole building was shaking.
The Doctor's manacles came loose first and as he got out, he pulled his sonic screwdriver out to get Rose free. She staggered a bit. She was still quite dizzy from the shocks and the Doctor had to help her to keep steady.
"I'm alright," she said faintly. "You get Cathica out." The Doctor tried to protest, but Rose interrupted. "Go!" With a more commanding voice. And at that the Doctor ran towards Cathica to get her head closed, with him snapping his fingers.
"Okay. I can do this," Rose muttered to herself, trying to keep steady on the ground, waiting for the Doctor to come from the room next door. "I have had worse in Pete's World." She laughed at her words. "Pete's World. It sounds nice." She smiled at her last words and fainted.
When she woke up, she found herself laying in her bed. In the TARDIS. She stretched and made a move out of the bed. It seemed she was not feeling as weak anymore. She went towards the console room and found the Doctor there, fiddling with some controls, just to make himself look busy. When he saw her, he smiled gently at her.
"Feeling alright?" He eyed her a bit.
"Yep," Rose said with a p. "We are already in the TARDIS," Rose stated, looking around.
"As you can see," the Doctor answered absentmindedly.
"I keep missing the good stuff," Rose joked with a disappointed voice.
"If you wouldn't get in so much trouble, maybe you wouldn't," he sang.
"Oh shut it. You were in the same mess, mister." She pointed a finger at him, making her way to him.
"You are not the one who had to drag me all the way to the TARDIS," he said half-blaming.
"Oh." It then dawned on her. "Thanks." She bit her lips nervously.
"You are welcome!" he exclaimed, not meeting her eyes, resuming his work on the console.
Pause.
"So, what's happened to Cathica?" Rose asked softly.
"Stayed behind to inform the world about the whole situation she has witnessed." The Doctor turned to face Rose, who was standing not far from him, leaning on the console.
"She was a great woman," Rose stated with a smile.
"Yeh, she was...Alright then. To our next adventure!" He grinned at her. "Ready?"
"Always," she said, giving him her most beautiful grin.
to be continued...
Would be great to hear what you thought of this one... :P