"Oookayy," The Doctor said as he walked to the TARDIS door and I followed him. We both got out and I closed the door, "So, it's two hundred thousand, and it's a spaceship," He said, "No, wait a minute, space station, and um, go and try that gate over there."
I nodded, "Okay. Two hundred thousand?" I asked. "Two hundred thousand," The Doctor repeated and I opened the door, "Adam?" I called and Adam walked out. "Oh, my God," He said. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," I said with a smirk. "Where are we?" He asked.
"Good question. Let's see. Judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year two hundred thousand. Now listen. Engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station," I repeated The Doctor's words. Adam continued to look around and I glanced over his shoulder at The Doctor as he crossed his arms across his chest and he winked, giving me a thumb up.
I smiled and looked around, "It's a bit warm in here. They could turn the heating down. Tell you what - let's try that gate. Come on," I said and led the way to the gate and I opened it. The three of us stepped up onto the stairs and looked through the window to see Earth. "I'll let The Doctor explain this one," I said.
"The Fourth great and bountiful Human Empire," The Doctor explained, "And there it is, planet Earth at it's height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population ninety six billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle."
With that, Adam fainted and I closed my eyes, sighing. "He's your boyfriend," The Doctor said. I reopened my eyes and shot him a look, "Shut up, he isn't my boyfriend." I kneeled down at Adam's side and shook his shoulder, "Adam, come on."
... ...
After Adam finally woke up, we went to look around at the space station. It had a central hub with three wheels turning. "Come on, Adam," The Doctor told him, "Open your mind. You're going to like this. Fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners."
"Out of the way!" A man called as he rushed past us. A whole bunch of food kiosks opened and people were rushing. "This is fine cuisine," I said sarcastically. "My watch must be wrong," The Doctor said and looked at his watch, "No, it's fine. It's weird."
"Maybe your history's not as good as you thought it was," I suggested. "My history's perfect, Sam," He said. "I say otherwise," I teased with a smirk. "They're all human," Adam pointed out, "What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?"
"Good question," The Doctor said, "Actually, that is a good question." He wrapped his arm around Adam's shoulder, "Adam, me old mate, you must be starving." He started to led him away and I looked around the place. "It's not bad," I muttered.
"Sam," The Doctor called and I walked over to them. The Doctor took out his Sonic Screwdriver and scanned a machine before taking out a card and gave it to Adam. "There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets," The Doctor said. "How does it work?" Adam asked.
"Go and find out. Stop nagging me," The Doctor whined, "The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go and do it."
I giggled, shaking my head and Adam started to walk away. "Off you go, then. Your first date," The Doctor said. I smirked, "You're going to get a smack. And you know, I think of you as my first date," I said before walking away with Adam, "See you later."
... ...
"Try this," I told Adam as we sat on a table and I hold a drink, "It's called Zaphic. It's nice, it's like a, um, Slush Puppy."
"What flavour?" He asked and I took a sip. "Sort of beef," I said. "Oh, my God," He said and I smiled. "It's like everything's gone, home, family, everything." I pulled out my phone, "Who's back home, your Mom and Dad?" I asked. "Yeah," He said.
"Call them," I said as I handed him my phone. "But that's one hundred and ninety eight thousand years ago," He said. "Honestly, try it," I said, "Go on." He dialed a number and his eyes grew wide.
"It's um. Hi. It's me," Adam said, "I've sort of gone travelling. I met these people and we've gone travelling together. But, um, I'm fine, and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye," With that he hang up and looked at me, "That is so -"
He was cut off by some kind of whistle that went off and everybody got up. "Oi! Mutt and Jeff!" We looked over when we heard The Doctor, "Over here." I smiled and got up, quickly followed by Adam.
"Where have you been?" I asked. "You'll see. Come on," The Doctor said and he started to led us away. We went into a newsroom and saw a few people sitting there on the floor in circle and a black woman stood in the middle, "Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection," The woman said before turning to The Doctor, "How do you want it, by the book?"
"Right from scratch, thanks," The Doctor said. "Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot, - my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni," The woman, Cathica said and turned again to us, "That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor five hundred praising me, and please do. Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That's company policy."
"Actually, it's the law," A short blonde woman said. "Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go," Cathica said before she went to sit on a chair, "And engage safety."
Everyone put their hands out in front of them and then the room started to light up. Cathica snapped her fingers and a portal opened on her forehead. Everyone put there hands on the panels in front of them. "Three, two, and spike," Cathica said and a beam of light went into the portal on her head.
"Compressed information, streaming into her," The Doctor explained to me and Adam, "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," I said. "No, she wouldn't remember any of it," He said, "There's too much. Her head blow up. The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."
"What about all these people round the edge?" I asked. "They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. Now that's what I call power," He said.
Adam took a step back and turned around, breathing heavily. I sighed and went to his side, "You all right?" I asked. "I can see her brain," He said. "Do you want to get out?" I asked. "No. No, this technology, it's amazing," He said. The Doctor walked up to the us, "This technology's wrong," He said. "Trouble?" I asked, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "Oh, yeah," He confirmed with a smile.
We turned back to the others as Suki took her hands off, soon followed by everyone else and the process stopped. "Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway. What was that for?" Cathica asked. "Sorry. It must've been a glitch," Suki said as Cathica got up from the chair.
"Promotion," The intercom said and a screen appeared on the wall. "Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to Floor five hundred."
Suki's mouth dropped and then she stood up. "How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you," Cathica said. "I don't know. I just applied on the off chance and they've said yes," Suki said.
"That's so not fair. I've been applying to Floor five hundred for three years," Cathica said. "What's Floor five hundred?" I asked The Doctor with a frown. He frowned as he looked between the two women and he spoke,
"The walls are made of gold."