Author's Note: Third chapter done, woo! I finally finished editing this one, also i'm probably going to slow down a bit with writing and editing chapters. I mean i say that but I've already started on chapter 4 (: Enjoy!
As usual constructive criticism is welcome along with any tips you have for me to help make my writing a little better, i'll admit i'm not an expert and the last time i properly wrote something was around a year ago.
I woke up slowly, finding myself wrapped in the softest blankets I had ever felt and laying in the most comfy bed in existence.I burrowed myself further into the blankets and for a moment I completely forgot where I was, but I honestly didn't care. That was until the blankets vanished. My eyes shot wide open and I quickly got up out of bed, only to find myself in a strange room, the bed was against an almost black wall, with what looked like space painted on top of it. The other three walls were painted white and the floor had a nice oak wood, the bed had a white sheet on top and the pillows were a dark blue, I imagined the blankets would probably be the same colour. On either side of the bed sat a small square oak side table. To my right was a wooden corner desk with one of those spinny computer chairs, the desk had what looked like a little round projector on it and a clear keyboard embedded in the wood. Next to the desk was a small bookshelf filled with various types of stories. After I had taken in my surroundings the blankets were dumped on my head. I quickly pulled them off and threw them back onto the bed stomping my way over to the door that was directly in front of the bed on the opposite wall, ready to tell the Doctor to give a stern talking to the tardis, I yanked the door open only to be met with a solid wall of Doctor.
"Ah, I see you're finally up!" He was looking down at me and bouncing on the balls of his feet with a huge grin plastered on his face.
"Well I am now thanks to the tardis, what do you want?" I quickly raised my hand to my mouth to cover it while I let out a yawn.
"Well Rose want's to take her new boyfriend to somewhere he'll never forget, so I figured, why not randomly-" I quickly slapped my hand over his mouth in the hopes of getting him to shut up.
"You talk way too much, d'ya know that? Especially when I've only just woke up, you're going to give me a headache!" Scratching my head for a moment, I glared at the Doctor "Now if I take my hand away, promise not to say anything?" He nodded and I slowly pulled my hand away from his mouth "Okay now, I'm going to close this door, turn around, hope there's a bathroom in here, take a shower and get changed. Then and only then will I make my way to the console room okay?" He nodded his head again and the big grin was on his face again.
As I closed the door I could hear him muttering about me obviously not being a morning person, I mean, no shit sherlock. I turned around spotting two other doors to the right of the room, walking over to the closest one I pushed open the door and I was met with a nice clean modern bathroom. I quickly stripped out of the clothes I had been in since I got here and took a shower. When I got out I found a nice pile of clothes sitting on the toilet lid for me, quickly drying off I got changed into a plain grey t-shirt, navy blue skinny jeans, a pair of combat boots that had a fluffy lining in them and a dark purple zipper with a hood on it. After I had finished changing I headed out of what I assumed was my new room and wandered off to find the console room
I met up with Rose on route to the console room, we didn't really say much, just a hi, how was your morning type of thing. When we finally reached the console room Adam was already there with the Doctor, the latter half of the two telling the first half to stop touching things. It was kinda funny to be honest, and I would have probably laughed or even snorted at the scene like Rose did. But I was not a morning person. Especially if I had suddenly been woken up. I grumbled a hello to the Doctor and Adam while the Doctor flipped a few switches and hit a few buttons sending the tardis off to it's destination. Grabbing onto the railings at the side as the tardis begun shaking, after a few moment's my grip tightened as I tried not to fall over when the tardis finally landed.
"Alright Adam, good man!" The doctor slapped Adam's back, causing him to wobble a little "Rose, Dani, with me! Adam stay put until we deem it safe enough to come out. Okay?" He strolled out the door, quickly followed by me and Rose.
We walked out into what looked like a little dead end area with a giant number 5 to the immediate right of the tardis. Then again, it could have been the letter S, I wasn't too sure.
"So!" The doctor clapped his hands startling me slightly as I was too absorbed in looking at the decor "It's two hundred thousand, and it's a spaceship," He paused for a second and tilted his head "No wait a minute." Standing up a little straighter he looked over to Rose and grinned "Space station! And er, go and try that gate over there" He pointed to a gate on the right that led to some stairs "Now, off you go!"
"Two hundred thousand?" Rose asked, making sure she got it right.
The doctor nodded as he leaned against the tardis with a grin on his face, wiggling his eyebrows at Rose "Two hundred thousand"
"Right." She walked over to the tardis door and knocked on it, opened it slightly and poking her head in "Adam? Come on, out you come" Walking off a little as Adam came out of the tardis, his jaw near enough hitting the floor.
"Oh. my. God." Adam looked around, trying to take in everything at once.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it, look at Dani for example, it's only her second trip and didn't even bat an eyelash!"
"Where are we?"
I walked over to the Doctor and tried to hold my laugh in but it came out as a snort, and it didn't help when the Doctor elbowed me in the ribs giving me the look that was pretty much the universal 'be quiet'.
"Good question. Let's see, so uh, judging by the architecture, " She made a thinking face for a second, I was honestly trying not to laugh, really I was. "I'd say we're around the year two hundred thousand, and if you listen," Putting a hand to her ear to signal listening.
"Yeah?"
'Damn, he's just slurping this up.'
The Doctor elbowed me again and I gave him a funny look, wondering what my poor ribs did to deserve it this time.
"Engines. We're on some sort of space station." Pausing for a moment Rose looked at us, the Doctor giving the go ahead silently with his eyes "Yeah, definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here Dani isn't it?" I nodded slightly "They could do with turning the heating down. Tell you what, Let's try that gate over there, come on!"
Rose led the three of us to the gate and up the small stairs, they opened up into a small-ish room with a giant window and a view that took my breath away, It was beautiful. The Earth was just sitting there, waiting to be looked at.
'Reminds me a bit of platform one...ugh'
The Doctor sent me another funny glance again.
'I swear sometimes I think he can hear my thoughts, which I wouldn't be too surprised if he could, gotta keep those bad boys in check then.'
"Here we go! And this is- You know what, I'll let the Doctor describe it." Rose smiled slightly as she walked further into the room, both me the Doctor and Adam following.
"The fourth great and bountiful Human Empire. And there it is." The Doctor pointed with his head to the planet in front of us, my eyes couldn't stay off it "Planet Earth at its height. Covered with Mega-Cities, five moons-" I threw him a funny look
'Five moon's, seriously?'
"-population ninety six billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle."
I heard a thud and my head whipped to the right only to see Adam on the floor, unconscious.
Nice.
"He's your boyfriend." The doctor said, not looking away from the planet but he had a smirk on his face.
"Not anymore"
I just sighed at the pair of them, walking a little closer to the glass as I softly pressed my hand against it. I could see the Doctor in the reflection, the smirk having turned to a soft smile, while Rose was looking at him, almost with a knowing look in her eyes.
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After having woke Adam from his beauty sleep we headed towards the cafeteria on the floor we were on, and after a few minutes of walking around we finally came across it. It was a wide and spacious place, although it looked a bit run down in some areas, it was mostly just meh.
"Come on Adam! Open your mind. You're going to like this. Fantastic period of history. The human race at it's most intelligent-" The doctor tried to duck the incoming attack but failed, getting slapped in the arm by Rose, yeah she knew the implications behind that one "Ow! As I was saying, Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners-"
"Out of the way!"
A man on a bike suddenly passed me at speed nearly hitting me and throwing me off balance causing me to fall right into the Doctor, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder in protection as the place suddenly got swamped by people in like 5 seconds, not even caring who was in their way. The entire place came to life, with people and the smell of food. Speaking of which, my stomach took that moment to let itself be know. The Doctor just looked down at me clearly amused and let go of my shoulder as he rooted around in his pockets, pulling out a nutrients bar and handed it to me.
"That should tide you by for a bit, I doubt the food here would agree with you" I was about to protest when suddenly the smell of burgers filled my nostrils and I gagged slightly having to cover my nose with my arm, I looked up to the Doctor to find a self satisfied smirk on his face. Grumbling a thanks under my breath, I opened the bar and starting to nibble on it.
Rose had wandered over to a vender, taking a peek at what was inside "Fine cuisine?" She raised her eyebrow at the Doctor while we watched the scene at the vendor unfold.
The Doctor raised his arm "My watch must be wrong." He tapped it a few times with no results "No, it's fine. It's weird."
"That's what comes of showing off. Your history isn't as good as you thought it was, might want to brush it up a bit."
"Oi, my history is perfect." The doctor sent a half hearted glare at Rose.
"Well, obviously not."
Adam decided it was the perfect moment to speak up "They're all human. What about the million planet's, the million species? Where are they?"
The doctor looked at Adam dismissively "Good question." He paused for a moment to look away, when suddenly his head snapped back to Adam "Actually, that is a good question." He grabbed Adam by the shoulder, steering him towards the food vendor "Adam, me old mate! You must be starving"
"No, i'm just a bit time sick."
"No, you just need a bit of grub. Oi mate -" The doctor shouted over to the vendor "How much is a kronkburger?"
"Twe credits twenty, sweetheart. Now join the queue!" The chef said, a little more grumpily towards the end.
"Money. We need money." The doctor patted down his jacket for a few moments and then sighed "Let's use a cashpoint then."
"Attention all staff. All coverage of the Glasgow water riots being transferred five through nine"
The Doctor manages to find a cashpoint and pulls out his sonic screwdriver, fiddling around with the settings for a minute and then aiming it at said cashpoint, a long thin plastic strip popped out of the machine and he passed it to Adam who took it, almost looking like he was afraid it would bite him.
"There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets, they rot your teeth!" He started to steer me away from Rose and Adam just as I finished the snack, scrunching up the packet I put it in a nearby bin.
"How does it even work?"
The doctor turned back to Adam slightly and sighed "Go and find out." He waved Adan off, trying to get him to leave " Stop nagging me. The thing is Adam, time travel's like visiting paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go and do it, off you go then. Your first date!"
Rose started laughing at the Doctor's stupidity "You're going to get a smack, you are" She pointed at him and turned around, walking off to wherever they were going.
The Doctor turned to me and grinned "So! It's just you and me now, what do you say we get up to a little bit of investigation?" His eyes had a little spark of mischief in them and I couldn't help the laugh that burst out of me, causing his grin to get wider and the spark in his eye to intensify. He grabbed my hand, winding our fingers together and pulled me off towards two women, who I remembered were Cathica with a c and Suki. We approached the two women who were now looking at us curiously.
"Er, okay this is going to sound a bit daft but-"
"Where exactly are we, like exactly."
"Oi," The doctor nudged my side, with a playful frown on his face "Don't go cutting me off mid sentence!"
I just stuck my tongue out at him and smiled,
"Floor one three nine," Cathica pointed to the giant numbers above us and both me and the Doctor looked up at it before bringing our attention back to the two women in front of us "could they write it any bigger?" Cathica responded sounding pretty fed up with us already..
"Floor one three nine of what?"
"Must have been one hell of a party" She said a little sharply.
'Well someone got out the wrong side of the bed this morning….speaking of which i need to pull the tardis up for that stunt she pulled earlier'
The doctor nudged me again causing me to look at him, this was getting ridiculous, I needed to talk to him about the whole 'can you read my mind' thing.
"You're on Satellite Five." The woman I knew as Suki finally spoke up.
"What's satellite five?" The doctor tilted his head slightly to the side while I tried my hardest not to make a cooing noise, because that was just adorable.
Cathica replied, sounding more and more annoyed with the both of us "Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?"
"Well, have you seen his ears? He's stupid that's why." I threw a smirk at him and he just sighed.
"Hold on, wait a minute," I saw a glimmer of recognition in Suki's eyes just then " Are you a test? Some sort of management test or something?"
"You've got us. Well done. Too clever for us, right Dani?" The doctor looked at me, pleading with his eyes to just play along.
I let out a sigh and said in the most bored and calm voice i could muster "Yeah, we're impressed."
The doctor tried to elbow me in the ribs but I moved out the way just in time, throwing him a glare in response. He just shrugged and continued on like he hadn't just tried to elbow me, again. He pulled out his psychic paper and showed the two woman in front of us, while I just looked at the little black wallet strangely.
The Doctor must have taken that as a 'what the hell is this' rather than the 'what the hell, there's nothing on it' look I was actually pulling because he leaned towards my ear and whispered "Psychic paper, shows them whatever I want them to see." He smiled at me before standing up straight, focusing on the two in front of us again, slipping the psychic paper back into his pocket.
"We were warned about this in basic training." Suki said "All the workers have to be versed in company promotion."
Cathica just sighed "Right then, fire away. Ask your questions. If it get's me to floor five hundred i'll do anything."
'Oh I doubt that cathica with a c.'
"Why, what happens on floor five hundred?" The doctor innocently asked, genuinely confused about why floor five hundred was such a big goal.
"The walls are made of gold-"
'No they're not~'
"And you two should know, Mister and Misses Management. So, this is what we do," Cathica walked over to a screen in the wall and pointed to it "Latest news, sandstorms on the new venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space lane seventy seven closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe just announced he's pregnant."
My eyes strayed over to the Doctor who just shrugged halfheartedly.
'I have got to bring up the whole face of boe pregnancy thing later'
"I get it, you broadcast the news." He deadpanned.
"We are the news. We're journalist's. We write it, package it and sell it. Six hundred channels, all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole Human Empire without it going through us."
The doctor sighed and looked over to me, clearly bored of her explanation "Couldn't have just said news broadcaster, could they?" He mumbled it under his breath, but I still managed to hear him and elbowed him in the ribs. Serves him right for doing it to me. "Alright, show us how you lot do your thing then."
I looked over to where Rose and Adam were sitting, chatting away. I heard an announcement being made but I wasn't paying enough attention to hear what it said. About a minute later when an alarm went off and everyone around us seemed to rush off in every direction clearing the floor, making the place pretty much empty. The Doctor shouted Adam and Rose over "Oi! Mutt and Jeff, Over here!"
I noticed Adam pocketing Rose's phone but I didn't say anything, I just shook my head and sighed. Rose was so going to tear him a new one at some point. They headed towards us as the Doctor nodded for Cathica and Suki to show us the way, the four of us trailing behind.
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We followed Cathica and Suki into a room and my eyes were instantly drawn to the middle, the walls and floor were mostly white with all the object either grey or white. It looked like some sort of surgery room. Although I guess when you think about it, the place did have to be pretty sterile, what with brain's being exposed and all that. The four of us waked up to the small railing in front of us, both the Doctor and me leaning on it.
The room we were in had a chair in the middle, with an octagon shaped table going all around it with space for seven people. Actually the entire room was an octagon shape. The chair in the middle had wires coming out of it and a giant laser thing hanging above it.
"Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection taking place." Cathica addressed the people in the room and then turned to the Doctor "How do you want it, by the book?"
"Yes, right from scratch, thanks."
Cathica nodded and turned back to the group of people situated around the table "Okay, so. Ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot - My name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. 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 the company policy."
I nudged the Doctor and stood on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear "She's got a right gob on her doesn't she?"
The doctor tried to hold back the laugh but it came out as a snort and Cathica turned around to face us with a questioning look on her face, but her attention was quickly drawn to Suki.
"Actually, it's the law."
"Yes, thank you Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go." She walked over to the chair and settled down in it "And, engage safety."
The people around the room put their hands above the hand shaped indents on the table in front of them and the room began to light up. Cathica raised her hand slightly and snapped her fingers, a small hole opening in her forehead. All the people around the table lowered their hands into the handprint things as I tried to suppress a shiver when I saw her brain.
"And three, two, and spike!"
A beam of light shot out from the weird thing above the chair and straight into the little hole in her head.
"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." The doctor was staring intently as the beam of light, a weird look of mixed confusion and something else i couldn't pinpoint crossed the Doctor's face.
Rose looked to the Doctor and then to Cathica in the chair "If it all goes through her, then she must be a genius right?"
"Nope" The doctor stepped away from the railing and started to make a slow circle around the room "She wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much, her head'd blow up. The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."
Rose started to follow the Doctor around the room "So," She said as she pointed to the people around the table "what about all the people round the edge?" She crouched down in between two people, watching intently at what they were doing, which looking at it, it wasn't much.
"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit all six hundred channels. Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. Now that's what i call power." He finally made his way back around to where me and Adam were standing, leaning against the front of the railing.
I looked over to my right when I saw Rose walking up to Adam but the Doctor quickly pulled my attention away by rooting around in his pockets for a few moments before pulling out a modern looking phone, it took me a moment to realise that the phone was mine.
"How did you get that?" I quickly took it from his outstretched palm and unlocked it, checking that it was okay. It was surprisingly still full of power.
"It fell out your pocket when I picked you up off the street." The doctor looked directly into my eyes, as if searching for an answer "How did you end up with a phone that's not due out until 2015?"
I sighed and slipped it into my back pocket on my jeans, looking up at the Doctor "I'll explain later...I need to talk to you about something anyway and well, it'll explain the phone."
The doctor just nodded in acceptance as I tuned into Rose and Adam's conversation.
"-this technology, it's amazing."
"This technology's wrong." The doctor said, standing up a little straighter.
"Trouble?" Rose threw the Doctor a questioning glance.
"Oh, yeah."
Suki suddenly ripped her hands away from the scanner thing or whatever it was in front of her and shook them a little. The other people in the room lifted their hands too and the bright light going into Cathica's head shut off.
"Come off it suki! I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?" Cathica sat up and glared at Suki.
"Sorry, it must have been a glitch or something."
Cathica sighed as a voice came over the tannoy.
"Promotion"
The wall in front of us lit up with the word, it must have been a monitor of some sort or a projector. I didn't really know though, traveling around space and time was still new to me.
"Come on-" Cathica stood from the chair and stared at the words on the wall "This is it. Come on, oh god.. Make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say it please." She chanted it over and over again, crossing her fingers.
"Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to Floor five hundred"
Suki's name flashed across the wall and she let out a gasp of air.
"I don't believe it. Floor five hundred!"
"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!"
"I don't know. I just applied on the off chance and they've said yes!"
"That's so not fair! I've been applying to Floor five hundred for three years!" Cathica crossed her arms and sent Suki a glare.
Rose looked towards the Doctor and whispered just loud enough for him to hear "What's Floor five hundred?"
Still looking at the wall I replied a little airily "Apparently the walls are made of gold."
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We were standing by the lift next to Suki who had her bag packed and ready to go. I felt my chest get a little heavy because as much as I wanted to prevent her death, I couldn't exactly stop her going without becoming instantly suspicious. It was almost as if the Doctor could sense how sad I was feeling, as he took my hand and squeezed it gently. I looked up to him and gave him a small smile showing i was ok.
Suki let out a little laugh "Cathica, i'm going to miss you." She turned towards us and smiled "And you two, Floor five hundred, thank you."
The doctor let go of my hand and crossed his arms over his chest "We didn't do anything."
"Well, you two are my lucky charms."
"All right, I'll hug anyone."
Suki stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around the Doctor, and he wrapped his arms around her in return. She pulled away from the Doctor, who just smiled down at her with that big goofy grin of his. I could hear Rose talking to Adam on my right, the Doctor was too absorbed in saying goodbye to Suki, which let me slip away and over to Rose who had just finished talking to Adam who was now currently walking away.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to give him the key?"
"Yeah, he's fine. I just gave it to em so he could get back in if he needed to." Rose looked over to the Doctor and Suki "Speaking of, you got a key yet? I would've imagined him giving you one by now, considering."
"Nah, not yet. I don't exactly mind, he'll give me one when he's ready." I sighed moving towards the Doctor again.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Rose muttered as she followed close behind.
"-Can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!" Suki shouted just as the lift doors closed on her, taking her up to her doom.
I held back the tears that were suddenly threatening to burst free, quickly wiping them away from my eyes just as Cathica huffed.
"Good riddance."
"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs."
"We won't. Once you go to floor five hundred you never come back."
"Now isn't that just a bit ominous." I muttered as we made our way back through the cafeteria area.
"Have you ever been up there Cathica?"
"I can't. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few." Cathica trailed off letting out a sigh.
"Look," Rose began speaking "I'm going to go off and find Adam, make sure he's okay. See you later Doctor?"
"Yeah, be careful Rose and don't get into trouble." The doctor gave her a pointed look and she just laughed, turning around and walking off in the direction Adam went.
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Both me and the Doctor had followed Cathica back to the newsroom, him asking her a whole bunch of questions on the way back. After having listened to him ask question after question Cathica finally snapped at him.
"Okay, look. They only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest already?"
"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?"
The doctor walked over to the chair in the middle and sat down, laying back slightly. He just couldn't help himself from touching things could he? I walked up behind the chair and leaned my arm on the back.
Cathica sighed "Okay..so maybe I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That's the medical floor. It's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite Five. You work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She paused for a moment, looking back and forth between us both and something seemed to click in her mind "You're not management, are you?"
"Took you long enough." I mumbled quietly under my breath.
"At last. She's clever!"
"Okay, yeah well. Whatever it is, don't involve me! I don't know anything." Cathica shrugged and looked away from the Doctor for a second.
I looked down at the Doctor's head and I couldn't help myself from pulling his ear. He pushed my hand away and sent me a glare but his attention was drawn back to Cathica.
"Don't you ever ask?
"Well.. why would I?"
"Cath.. can I call you Cath?" I asked as she subtly nodded her head in reply "You're a journalist yeah?" I paused for a moment, making eye contact with the Doctor, I was pretty sure we were thinking the same thing "Why's all the crew human?"
The doctor just smiled at me, proving my point.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica folded her arms and scowled at me.
"There's no aliens on board Cath, think about it. Why is that?" I looked her in the eyes for a few moments before she looked away and shrugged.
"I don't know. No real reason." She paused, looking around the room "They're not banned or anything."
The doctor responded just as I took in a breath of air, not letting me reply. "Then where are they?" He threw a smirk at me, cheeky git knew exactly what he did.
"I suppose immigration's tightened up." Cathica shrugged "It's had to, what with all the threats."
The doctor sat up a little, staring more intently at Cathica "What threats?"
"I don't know. All of them? Usual stuff. 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? Just lot's of small stuff, that's all."
"All adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice."
"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would've seen it. We see everything."
'Apparently not'
"I can see it better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."
"It's cutting edge!"
"It's 's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out year's ago."
I grumpily stared down at the Doctor for a few seconds, covering my mouth as I yawned "So, what do you think is going on then?"
"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude Dani. It' the way people think. The great and bountiful Human Empire's stunted. Something's holding it back."
"And how would you know that Doctor?" Cathica placed a hand on her hip, looking at the Doctor and trying to figure him out.
"Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"
Cathica's face turned a little white for a moment before she replied "Ninety one years ago."
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The doctor was pacing back and forth before pulling out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it towards a door, I stood next to him rubbing my forehead, the stress of yesterday was slowly catching up with me and making me even more snappish.
"We're going to get in trouble! You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off!"
"Dani, tell her to button it"
I let out an annoyed sigh as I leaned against a nearby wall "Seriously Doctor? I'm not your bloody messenger!"
The doctor just looked at me for a moment, worry spreading across his face but it passed too quickly to really be sure.
"You can't just vandalize the place. Someone's going to notice!" Cathica exclaimed as the door finally opened.
He started fiddling around with things inside the cupboard, touching things he probably shouldn't be touching but where was the surprise there.
"This is nothing to do with me." Cathica started pacing not far from us "I'm going back to work."
"Go on then, see ya!"
Cathica let out a groan as she turned to face the Doctor again "I can't just leave you mucking about can I!
"You know Cath, if you really want to be useful you should get them to turn down the heating. It's boiling in here." I wiped my forehead, getting rid of the sweat that had gathered there "Ugh, i'm going to need a shower when we get back. Can't they do something about it? It's like a sauna times ten in here."
"I don't know. We keep asking, said it was something to do with the turbine."
'Turbine, my arse..'
The doctor turned to me slightly "Something to do with the turbine." He said mockingly, tilting his head side to side a little.
"Well, I don't know!"
"Exactly. I give up on you Cathica! Now, Dani. Look at her. Dani is asking the right kind of questions!"
I just snorted in response 'yeah cause knowing what to say is asking the right thing..'
"Why is it so hot?"
"One minute you're worried about the Empire, and the next it's the central heating! Make your mind up!"
"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important."
As the Doctor kept messing around in the little cupboard, the thoughts that I had been having finally surfaced. Not for the first time I wondered how I even got here and then there was the fact I was apparently a Time Lord? I mean one doesn't just wake up a different species, I technically did but that's not the point. Maybe all this time I had a second heart and never noticed it? Or maybe it had grown to compensate me having been thrown into another universe. Another universe. Yeah, I'd have fun explaining that one to the Doctor later on, not.
And all the death. That Dalek, those guards, all those people. Gone. And now Suki. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and quickly wiped them away, sniffing a little. There had to be some way that I could save people without it affecting anything or ripping the universe apart because someone who should have been dead was well, alive. I had to save someone, anyone. I noticed the Doctor looking at me from the corner of his eye again and I instinctively tipped my head down to look at my shoes, my long hair falling in front of my face. I hated people seeing me upset.
There was a sudden rattling noise coming from where the Doctor was standing and he swiftly pulled out a monitor, using his sonic screwdriver on it and bringing up schematics of what looked like the entire pipe system.
"Here we go! Satellite Five's pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." He said with a smile on his face.
Cathica walked up behind the Doctor, looking over his shoulder at the monitor "This is absolutely ridiculous! You've got access to the computer's core, you can see the archive, the news, the stock exchange and you're looking at pipes?" She said with a fown on her face.
"But there's something wrong!"
She shrugged in response "I suppose, yeah."
I leaned off the wall and stepped up to the other side the Doctor, looking over his shoulder at the schematics. There was something wrong, I mean I knew what it was but if I didn't have the knowledge I did, I doubt I could have told you what was wrong.
I frowned "Huh, what's wrong with it?"
"The ventilation system." Cathica said, "Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channeling massive amounts of heat down."
The doctor shifted slightly, looking at me and then back to the monitor "All the way from the top."
"Floor five hundred?" I asked sounding a bit unsure.
"Yeah, something up there is generating tons of heat and it's being filtered down through the system."
"Which is why it's so hot yeah? Well, I think it's time we take a little trip upstairs, what do you say Doc?" A small smile made it's way onto my face as the Doctor grinned in reply.
"You can't though, you need a key!"
I just snorted at Cathica's comment while the Doctor pointed his sonic at the monitor again.
"Key's are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." He messed around for a few more seconds before a bunch of numbers appeared on the screen "Here we go. Override two one five point nine!"
"How come it's given you the codes?" said Cathica, clearly confused.
"Someone up there likes me." The grin on his face got a little wider as he looked at me "Let's get going shall we?"
I nodded my head as the Doctor packed away the monitor and wires, closing the cupboard door. We made our way towards the lift a little ways off and got in, Cathica though, stood outside looking at us like we were nutters. Which I mean, you had to be a little nutty to adventure with the Doctor.
"Come on Cath, come with us." I bounced on the ball's of my feet for a second before I felt the Doctor's hand on my shoulder essentially stopping me from moving.
"Ha, no way!" She shook her head violently back and forth.
"Bye then!" said the Doctor, waving at Cathica.
"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just please don't involve me!" She turned on her heel and stomped off in an unknown direction leaving just me and the Doctor in the lift. He pushed the code into the panel to the left, taking my hand in his as the doors slid shut.
"So that's her gone, Adam and Rose have given up. Looks like it's just you and me."
"Yeah."
"Good."
I nodded my head slightly and squeezed his hand in response as the lift made it's way from floor to floor. I scuffed my boot on the floor for a few seconds before settling it back down.
"So, are you alright then? You looked a bit sad earlier." He asked, turning his head and looking at me.
"Yeah, just. I don't know. I was thinking about stuff." I looked down at my boots again, they had suddenly become very interesting to me.
"Alright." He paused for a moment, looking away "If you ever want to talk about it, i'm here."
Nodding my head in response I let out a sigh. It was actually quite nice, him offering to be there for me. Considering he was pretty awkward when it came to people being sad, he didn't quite know how to comfort them. Then again, that was the way he was portrayed in the show and this was reality, I just hoped he wasn't offering out of some duty to feel like he should care. A moment later the lift stopped and made the little ding noise as the doors opened, I instantly let go of the Doctor's hand so I could rub my arms. It was a lot colder than I thought it would be.
"The walls are definitely not made of gold." He looked over to me where I was currently shivering "You should really go back downstairs Dani, it's too cold up here for you."
"Well tough. I'm staying right here."
He grumbled and took off his jacket, handing it to me "Here, this should keep you warm, it's got a heat source lined through it."
I took the jacket from his outstretched arm and mumbled a thanks, slipping it on and instantly heating up "You know, i'm never going to want to take this off now. It's so warm!"
He just laughed at me and shook his head "Pick out a jacket once we're back on the tardis and i'll get it lined for you. Come on then, let's see what's going on here."
He lead the way through the ice filled room while I pretty much followed him like a lost puppy. We looked around for a few minutes before finally coming across the main control hub where the Editor and the corpses were.
"I started without you, sorry. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two. You don't exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"
I looked around the area and spotted Suki. My hearts leapt into my mouth and I suddenly felt very sick.
"Suki! Suki?" I walked a little closer to her, part of me hoping that it still wasn't too late "Hey, can you hear me?" I put my arm on her shoulder trying to rouse a response but there was nothing "What the hell did you do to her?!"
The doctor let out a pained sigh "I think she's dead Dani."
"But, she's still working."
"They've all got tiny chips in their head, and the chips keep them going, like puppets."
My face contorted in sadness.
The Editor spoke up with glee in his voice "Oh! You are full of information! But it's only fair we get some information back, because apparently you're no one. It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on Dani!" The doctor turned to leave.
I quickly went to follow him as I felt Suki grab my arm tightly, I winced from how cold her hand was and looked at her, not seeing the Doctor being grabbed by two others.
"Tell me who you are."
"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?"
"Well perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."
"And who's that then?"
"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live."
There was a growl from above us and both our heads snapped upwards, there attached to the ceiling was what I could only describe as a giant blob with a gaping hole and teeth. I couldn't even see any eyes on it either.
"Okay, you mean that giant blob thing is in charge of this place?" I shivered, trying to pull my hand free from Suki's grasp but quickly gave up as her hold wasn't slacking, in fact it was just getting tighter.
"That blob thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race."
I tuned out of what the Editor was saying, not really wanting to pay attention to whatever rubbish was coming out of his mouth, my eyes slid around the room, trying to find some easy way to escape but coming up empty. I didn't remember how this ended so I was extremely nervous.
"-I call him Max."
'Oh, of course I tuned in just as he decide to tell us what he named it.'
"Now, chain these two up for me." The Editor motioned to the zombie-people.
They shoved us around for a minute, hooking us into this weird thing that looked like it could be used as a coat hanger but was actually a set of heavy manacles. The thing had wires coming off it too. Once they had finished, I looked to my left, watching the Doctor try and struggle against them trying to get out. He quickly gave up, realising the only way out was if we got extremely lucky.
"Create a climate of fear and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote.
"So, what you're saying is, everyone on earth are slaves." I raised an eyebrow at the Editor.
"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
Both the Doctor and I replied at the same time "Yes."
"Oh, I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"
"Yes." We both replied again, the Doctor giving the Editor a deadpan stare.
"You two are no fun." The Editor sighed, looking at us as if he was disappointed.
The doctor suddenly pulled at his manacles again as he clenched his jaw "Let me out of these manacles and you'll find out how much fun I am then." he said, anger lacing his every word.
The editor looked at me and smirked "Oh, he's a tough one, isn't he?" He then turned his focus back to the Doctor "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."
"How can you hide something on this scale though? People must have noticed something wrong." I bit out, getting more frustrated the longer I was here.
"From time to time, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it instantly. Then they 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."
I was about to reply when I spotted something behind the Editor, tilting my head slightly to see what it was. It was Cathica sneaking by and I had to think fast to distract the Editor.
I said the first thing that popped into my head "So, how did you do it then? You couldn't have done all this on your own yeah? You must have had help from someone."
"No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself."
I snorted at that and mumbled under my breath "No wonder."
"What's his lifespan then?" The doctor asked, staring up at the big blob.
The editor replied quickly "Three thousand years."
There was silence in the room for a few moments before the Doctor piped up again "That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of this creature and channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive." He paused for a moment, his eyes going back to the Editor "Satellite Five is one big whopping life support system."
"This is why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown."
The doctor stayed silent, staring directly at the Editor. Said Editor who had made his way over to us suddenly snapped his fingers and electricity surged through the manacles, causing us to yelp out in pain.
"Who are you?" The editor asked, sounding impatient.
"Leave her alone! I'm the Doctor," He shouted and nodded towards me "And she's Danielle Wicker. We're nothing, we're just wandering."
I let out a sigh of relief as the electricity passed, leaving me drained of energy and still in pain. I could still feel the excess currents running through my body with every breath I took. It wasn't pleasant.
'Note to self, avoid getting electrocuted in the future if at all possible'
"Tell me who you are!" The editor shouted suddenly, making me jump slightly.
"I just said!"
"Yes but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who know's about us? Who exactly-" The editor stopped talking, a look of surprise flashing across his face as the giant blob growled loudly, causing me to flinch from how loud it was.
"Ah, Time Lords."
A look of pure confusion and a hint of fear crossed the Doctor's face "What?"
In the background I saw Cathica looking at us, she looked torn between helping us and running away. I couldn't exactly blame her, she was probably a little bit terrified.
"Oh, yes." The editor looked very smug all of a sudden, I didn't like where this was going "The last of the Time Lords in their travelling machine. One but a child compared to the other. " He raised his hand, rubbing it along my cheek and I flinched back in response "Oh, and with their little human girl from so long ago."
"You don't know what you're talking about." The doctor scoffed, trying not to show how worried he was.
"Time travel."
"Someone's been telling you lies." said the Doctor as he narrowed his eyes at the Editor.
I let out a grunt as I shifted my weight, the Doctor's eyes snapped to mine, I could see the silent question, asking if I was ok. I numbly nodded as my eyes drooped a little.
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The editor took a few steps back as a holo-monitor appeared in front of us, showing an image of Adam in one of those chairs, screaming with a beam of light going to his head.
I let out a long frustrated sigh, Adam. What an idiot. I had hoped that with Rose having followed him this whole situation could have been avoided. Apparently not.
"What the hell's he done? What has that idiot gone and done? They're reading his mind! He's telling them everything!"
"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T.A.R.D.I.S. Tardis."
"Well, you'll never get your hand's on it. I'll die first!"
"Never say never Doctor" I mumbled sleepily as I watched the tardis key slip out of Adam's pocket and rise up in the air.
"Die all you like, I don't need you Doctor, I've got the key!"
"Rose and her boyfriends!" He frustratingly shouted at thin air, probably hoping somehow that she had heard him.
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing" said the Editor, as he spread his arms out a little, that smug look still on his face.
'Anyone going to tell this smug little shit that he would need to know how to fly it? Adam didn't even know how to fly the tardis and i'm pretty sure she wouldn't budge for anyone that wasn't the Doctor.'
"And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't even bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold." said the Doctor, as he kept glancing towards where Cathica was standing.
The giant blob snarled and snapped its teeth as Cathica turned around and walked off, now out of our view. We stood there for a few minutes before a very confused look crossed the Editors face, and I knew then that Cathica had decided to help us by essentially plugging herself into the system.
"What's happening?" The editor looked around the room at the monitors, getting more confused "Someone's disengaged the safety." The editor snapped his fingers, an image of Cathica was on screen now "Who's that?"
"It's Cath!" I shouted as my attention was drawn to the screen.
A smile spread across the Doctor's face as he replied "And she's thinking, she's using what she knows!"
I heard the Editor off to the left of me telling Zombie-Suki to terminate Cathica's access as the Doctor continued on talking.
"Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it." He paused for a moment, looking around the room as the ice slowly started to melt away "Look at that! And it's getting hot!"
The editor shouted, drawing my attention to him "I said, terminate! Burn out her mind!"
The console suddenly exploded causing all the zombified people to collapse, some falling onto the table in front of them and another few falling out of their chair as an alarm pierced the air. The entire station began shaking and I felt the manacles around my wrists loosen a bit which let me wriggle my way out of them, turning to the Doctor and began trying to pull them off him.
"She's venting the heat up here, the Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano!"
I heard the Editor talking behind me but I tuned him out as I rooted around in the jacket pockets, trying to find the sonic screwdriver.
"Inside pocket, the one on the left," He whispered as I stuck my hand into the inside left pocket.
Psychic paper. No. Weird alien gizmo. No. Banana, why am I not surprised? Nope.
I finally felt the sonic and grabbed it, pulling it out of the pocket and flipping the switch and aiming it at the manacles, finally getting the Doctor out of them. I had completely ignored what the Doctor and the Editor was saying. I turned from the Doctor just in time to see Suki grab the Editors foot and watch him fall over onto the floor with a thud. I felt the Doctor grab my hand and I turned to him grinning. He pulled me out of the room just as a giant chunk of ice fell, missing us by a few inches, we ran towards the broadcasting chair Cathica was in as the whole space station kept shaking, throwing me off balance a little but still managing to stay upright.
I could hear the Jagrafess growling and snarling just as we made it to Cathica's side. The Jagrafess exploded as The doctor snapped his fingers and the little door in Cathica's head shut. The shaking stopped a moment later and the tree of us made our way towards the lift and headed inside. I bent over, placing my hands on my knees as I breathed in and out deeply.
"You ok Dani?" The doctor asked softly as I stood back up straight only nodding my head in response.
I went to move forward a little when suddenly the whole room began to spin and my legs gave out from underneath me, the Doctor quickly rushing forward and grabbing me, tucking his arms under my legs and lifting me up bridal style. I huffed in response but didn't say anything as I felt my eyes drooping once more.
"It's alright Dani, go to sleep. You're okay now."
The soft whispers of the Doctor's voice was the last thing I heard before promptly passing out.