The Tardis materializes, and the Doctor, Layla, and Rose step out. Rose has asked the Doctor if he could tell her some of the information of where they landed so she could use the knowledge to impress Adam.
The Doctor knew that Rose wanted to impress Adam, and he didn't have a problem with telling her some facts so she could do that. He didn't want Layla left behind with Adam, so he told him that they were doing safety checks, something they 'always' did. Load of crock, but he doesn't need to know that. He is just glad that Adam seems more focused on Rose than Layla. He sees that Adam does have some interest towards Layla, but the Doctor thinks her rare beauty intimidates him slightly, and he is more comfortable with Rose's common beauty.
The Doctor looks around to get an idea of where they are and what he can tell Rose that she can use on Adam. "So, it's two hundred thousand, and it's a spaceship. No, wait a minute, space station, and er, go and try that gate over there. Off you go." The Doctor was hoping that Rose would take Adam and go exploring on a 'date' so he can be alone with Layla for a little bit. Get to know her better and just spend time with her.
"Two hundred thousand?" Rose didn't want to look like an idiot if she got it wrong.
The Doctor nods his head. "Right."
Rose gives him a smile and opens the Tardis doors. "Adam? Out you come."
Adam comes stumbling out and his jaw drops and eyes widen. He was just stunned. "Oh, my god."
Rose gives him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Layla and the Doctor are sniggering behind his back at the facial expressions he is making.
Adam is looking around, taking everything in. He is amazed that he is here and that this was even possible. "Where are we?"
Rose claps her hands together and like a tour guide, starts telling him the information she got from the Doctor. "Good question. Let's see. So, er, judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year two hundred thousand. If you listen…" She pauses for a second and stays quiet.
Adam stays quiet and listens to the sounds around. "Yeah."
"Engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station." She pulls her collar of her t-shirt away from her neck. "It's a bit warm in here. They could turn the heating down." Layla nodded and fanned herself, glad that she wore shorts and a tank top. The Doctor was heated, but not for the same reasons as the girls, of course, Layla's outfits always make him feel heated.
"Tell you what - let's try that gate. Come on!" Rose grabs his hand and pulls him to a metal gate and opens it to show a massive viewing window showing the earth. "Here we go! And this is... I'll let the Doctor describe it." Not having any more information to give to Adam, she pawns the rest of the lecture off onto the Doctor.
The Doctor steps into the spotlight, glad to be able to share his knowledge to his companions and tag-along. "The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is, planet earth at its 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." The Doctor doesn't get to say anymore because they all heard a thud as Adam faints. He looks towards Rose with a smirk. "He's your boyfriend."
Rose's face is twisted into a sour expression, eyebrows drawn together and mouth pursed. "Not anymore."
Layla just shakes her head at Rose, poor Mickey Mouse, but looks towards Adam and snickers in amusement. "Anyone else think of a fainting goat just now?"
Xxxxxx
They get Adam conscious and standing up. He looks a little out of it and looks like he is about to have a meltdown. The more he looks around, the more overwhelmed he gets. The Doctor opens his arms wide. "Come on, Adam. 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…" The Doctor was cut off as a man rushes by knocking Layla into the Doctor. He catches her and glares at the man.
"Hey you arsehole! I'm not afraid to take arse and kick names!" Layla shouts at him, but it didn't make a difference because there suddenly were a lot of people bustling around, opening up food vending stations and serving customers at their counters. People pushes each other and shouting all around. Rose started to snigger at Layla's threat but then looks bewildered at the sudden hustle and bustle of the crowded area.
"Thank you very much indeed. Somebody there? That's great. What do you want, love? Alright, keep moving. I'll be with you lot in a minute. Here you are. One at a time. What now. What was it? Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos. Do you want a drink? Oi, you, mate. Stop pushing. Get back. I said, back." The nearest food vender is saying rapidly.
The group of time travelers all look around, three in confusion and one still looking overwhelmed. Rose raises a brow at the Doctor and gives him a smirk. "Fine cuisine?"
The Doctor grimaces and rubs his chin as he looks around. He looks at his wrist. "My watch must be wrong. No, it's fine. It's weird."
"That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Rose still smirks as she talks to him mildly mocking.
Layla looks at Rose and raises her brow, his history would be more UpToDate than ours. Besides, with the trouble he usually gets into, something is wrong since he was so confident about what he was saying. "Maybe their version of manners is different than ours? Cultural difference or what is considered manners? Like the spit gift from Platform One?" Layla sends Rose a playful smile and she gives her a look of disgust as she remembers that wonderful 'gift'.
The Doctor just to hums and look around. "No, something's wrong. My history is perfect."
Adam stops his gaping and points out something the others didn't notice. "They're all human. What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?"
The Doctor's head swivels around seeing that Adam is right, there were no other species besides humans. His eyebrows are furrowing trying to figure out what could be wrong here. The Doctor wants to investigate, but he doesn't want Adam to tag along. A thought hits him, I could benefit from this. "Good question. Actually, that is a good question. Adam, me old mate, you must be starving."
Adams face pales and looks like he is about to hurl. "No, I'm just a bit time sick."
The Doctor puts his arm around Adam and leads him over towards the food vender. "No, you just need a bit of grub. Oi, mate – how much is a kronkburger?"
"Two credits twenty, Sweetheart. Now join the queue." The vender snarked.
The Doctor pats his pockets, knowing that he doesn't have money. "Money. We need money. Let's use a cashpoint." He walks them over to a futuristic ATM. He uses his sonic screwdriver on it and it produces a plastic stick. The Doctor then hands it over to Adam, who looks at it in confusion. "There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets."
"How does it work?" Adam questioned logically.
It was a good question, but the Doctor wanted to lose him quickly. Plus, he can get Rose to go with him on a 'date' and then he will be alone with Layla for a little bit. He puts his hands on his hips and taps his foot. "Go and find out. 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." The Doctor gives them a puzzled expression. "Or is that just me?"
Rose snorts, but looks at Layla and wiggles her eyebrows to her. Layla has a smile on her face as if remembering something. The Doctor catches the look and plans to ask her about it. "Stop asking questions, go and do it. Off you go, then. Your first date." He pushes Rose and Adam on their back to go and mingle.
Rose turns around and shakes her finger at him. "You're going to get a smack, you are."
Layla looks at the Doctor and wipes a fake tear from her eye. "They grow up so fast. Wish we had a camera, to mark their first date together for the scrapbook."
The Doctor snorts, but remembers the looks Rose and her exchanged. "What was that look Rose gave you about?"
"Oh, that? Well, when I went to visit my foster sister, the little girl I told you about, it was my first time crossing the pond. While I didn't use the wrong verbs, there was a small language/cultural barrier with certain words that got mixed up and learning the exchange for the money took a bit. The eyebrow wiggling was because like you, I ended up kissing a stranger, but I got a good date out of though." Layla wiggles her eyebrows at the Doctor.
Understanding what she means, the Doctor gives her a smile, but it is slightly strained. He knows she has had relationships before him, but he doesn't want to think about them if he can help it. He is kind of a possessive person naturally. What is his, he wants to keep. But the bond makes him more possessive, especially over her, even with her not knowing about it.
Before the Doctor can get to upset over it. He distracts himself with asking more about her life. "What state did your foster sister and her family move to? Did you enjoy it?"
"Lily, that was my foster sister's name, and her parent's moved to Maine. It was nice there. Is has gorgeous coastlines and the forests were so beautiful. Long stretches of the ocean and miles of wildlife, very peaceful and quiet. Nothing like London. I was able to stay with them a week before I had to go back for financial reasons, but it was fantastic. It was great seeing her too; she was so happy and healthy. I was very thankful towards her parents for taking her in, helping her, and loving her."
As she was talking, she had a soft and fond smile on her face as she recalled the memories and the Doctor enjoyed seeing the look on her face. "How often do you talk to her?"
"We email often, I had a lot of explaining to do when we were gone for that year, but she accepted the excuses I gave her and wasn't too mad. She is thirteen now too, so she is at that age where she is struggling with coming from adolescents and is now a teenager. You know, things all kids have to go through when growing up." Layla had nudged him when she mentioned the missing year and smiled when he gave her a sheepish look. The Doctor was happy that his mess up didn't ruin her relationship with her foster sister. Maybe one day he would get to meet the girl who put such a soft smile on her face.
Someone bumps into the Doctor causing him to stumble into Layla. Catching himself and Layla before they crash to the floor, he turns and scowls at the guy, but it also reminds him that something is wrong with this station. He holds out his hand to her. "Feel like investigating with me?"
She gives him a grin and grasps his hand, and feels a pleasant tingle. "I thought that is why you got rid of Adam, can't stay out of trouble, can you?"
The Doctor sighs as he touches her. He tightens his hold slightly and gives her a smirk. "Who me? Never." He looks around and sees a pair of smartly dressed young women. He pulls Layla over towards them and stops them from walking past. "Er, this is going to sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?"
The women look at each other and then turn towards him with different expressions. One in derision and the other in politeness. The black female scoffs at him. "Floor one-three-nine. Could they write it any bigger." She points to the wall that has a large 139 painted on it
The Doctor tilts his head to the side and puts on an expectant expression. "Floor one-three-nine of what?"
The black female sneers at him. "Must've been a hell of a party."
The white female that smiled at them politely gives them a soft smile. "You're on Satellite Five."
The Doctor plays dumb again. "What's Satellite Five?"
The black female scoffs again. "Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" Wow, she is really not a people person, Layla thought, but was holding in a chuckle at the expressions the Doctor is giving them to get information. He is insanely cute. She feels very fond as she looks at him at this moment.
The white females face lights up. "Hold on, wait a minute. Are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?"
The Doctor smiles, perfect now we can get information easier, and holds up his psychic paper. "You've got me. Well done. You're too clever for me."
The white female gives a big smile. "We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion."
Her colleague's attitude does a total one-eighty and pastes a smile on her face. "Right, fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to floor five-hundred, I'll do anything."
Layla squeezes the Doctor's hand seeing that he is about to say something, but she wants to add to their cover. "Right, first, what are your names, for paperwork of course." The Doctor looks down at her in approval and looks at workers expectantly.
The white female shakes Layla's hand. "I'm Suki."
"And I'm Cathica." The black female replies.
"Next question, what happens on floor five-hundred?" The Doctor asks, wanting to know why they wanted to get to floor five-hundred so badly.
Cathica looks at him with her eyebrows raised. "The walls are made of gold. And you should know that Mr. and Mrs. Management."
Layla looks at her slightly confused and then at the Doctor who is resolutely avoiding her eyes, but then she remembers that she and the Doctor are holding hands, and that could have led to the mistake. The Doctor feels his cheeks warm up, because of his bond with Layla, his mind struggled with the titles when he showed them the psychic paper. "Of course, I was just testing to see if you knew it. Anyways, let's move on. Show us what you do."
"So, this is what we do." Cathica walks over to a wall monitor. "Latest news, sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space Land seventy-seven closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant." Layla has to hold in a snort at the last piece of information. Something must be really wrong if they believe that a giant head in a fish tank can be pregnant.
"I get it. You broadcast the news." The Doctor now knew what Satellite Five did, but that still doesn't explain what is wrong with this time period.
Cathica's fake politeness slips for a moment and she looks at them haughtily. "We are the news. We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. Six-hundred channels."
Xxxxxx
"All staff are reminded that the canteen area now operates a self-cleaning table system. Thank you!"
Rose sits down at the table that Adam had picked and hands him a drink she had bought. "Try this. It's called Zaphic. It's nice, it's like a, er, Slush Puppy."
"What flavor?" Adam looks at it warily.
Not really knowing, Rose takes a drink, its good but… "Sort of beef?"
Adam's mouth drops open. "Oh, my god. It's like everything's gone, home, family, everything."
Understanding what Adam is going through she takes out her phone and hands it to him. "Here, this helps. The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?"
Adam nods his head. "Yeah."
Rose smiles at him encouragingly. "Phone them up."
He just looks at the phone 21st century phone confused. "But that's one hundred and ninety-eight thousand years ago."
"Honesty, try it. Go on." Rose doesn't blame him for not believing. She didn't at first either. She can't wait to see his reaction.
"Is there a code for planet earth?" He is so out of his depth here. It is odd to him to not be the cleverest in the room.
Rose just shakes her head. "Just dial."
He types in his mum's number and puts it to his ear and hears it ringing. No one answers and it goes to the answering machine and he leaves a message, surprised that it worked. "It's er. Hi. It's me. I've sort of gone traveling. I met these people and we've gone traveling together. But, er, I'm fine, and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye." He hangs up and looks at Rose in shock. "That is so…" He is cut off by an alarm sound off.
xxxxxx
An alarm sounds and everyone around is rushing to grab their things and leave. The vendors quickly close up shop as well. The Doctor looks around and sees the lovebirds and waves them over. "Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over Here!"
Layla turns and just happens to see Adam pocketing what looks like Rose's phone. Her eyebrows scrunch together and she purses her lips. She has a feeling that Rose let him use it to show that he can still call home, like she called Jackie on the end of the earth adventure, but why would he keep her phone? Seems dodgy. I'll have to keep my eyes on him.
Seven people are seated at an octagonal desk around a central chair with wires coming out of it. The Doctor, Layla, Rose, and Adam stand to one side observing what they do. Cathica goes towards the chair in the middle and faces towards the time travelers. "Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided, or robot, - my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni, 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." Suki gently interrupts.
Cathica sneers. "Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go." She settles into the chair. She takes a deep breath and focuses for a second. "And engage safety." The seven around the desk hold their hands over palm print indents on the table in front of them. Lights start to come on around the room. Cathica clicks her fingers and a portal opens in her forehead. The seven put their hands into the palm print indents. "And three, two, and spike." A beam of light shines into the portal in her forehead.
The group of time travelers look on in fascinated disgust. "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 explains as he walks around the display.
"But they are not actively reporting, anyone could tell them something and they would report it as accurate because they are not fact checking, right? The who 'beyond bias's' thing, no human will ever be that." Layla pointed out a flaw to the system this era seemed to have.
"If it goes through her head, she must be a genius?" Rose asked.
"No, 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. That is also the problem, Layla, anything could be a 'fact'." The Doctor was rubbing his chin as he thought about the ramifications of them still using this technology in this time period.
Rose looks towards Adam and sees that he looks like he is about to get a sick. "Do you want to get out?"
While grossed out about seeing the woman's brain, the thought that she becomes the computer is awesome. "No. No, this technology, it's amazing."
The Doctor, having heard him, shakes his head sharply. "This technology's wrong."
Rose gives him a grin. "Trouble?"
"Oh, yeah." He gives one back and looks towards Layla.
"Fantastic!" They can't ever seem to go anywhere without getting into trouble, but Layla doesn't regret it. I always have fun on these adventures. Plus, the Doctor showing off his intelligence is hot. I love it when he is always spouting off information and showing how clever he is.
The flow of information stops abruptly as Suki pulls her hands towards her chest. Cathica's portal closes and she sits up. "Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway. What was that for?"
"Sorry. It must've been a glitch." She tries to play it off, but Layla can see a trace of fear in her eyes.
"Oh." Cathica pouts, upset that she can't seem to blame Suki for something.
"Promotion." A wall lights up with the word and several employees look towards it with hopeful faces.
Cathica has her hands clasps together over her chest, desperate. "Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh god, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name."
"Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to floor five-hundred."
Suki's eyes widen and her jaw drops. "I don't believe it. Floor five-hundred."
Cathica stomps her foot in frustration, like a child. "How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you?"
Suki shrugs her shoulders. "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 has her arms crossed tightly over her chested and a disgruntled expression on her face.
Rose was confused, she leans towards the Doctor and whispers. "What's floor five-hundred?"
"The walls are made of gold." He replies without looking away from Suki.
Layla reached over and grabbed the Doctor's hand and squeezed it, and for some reason, she feels a tightness in her ease. "Doesn't it seem a little dodgy that she gets shocked, looks scared, then gets promoted?"
The Doctor was pleased that she is reaching out to touch him more and squeezes her hand back. "Yeah, it is dodgy."
Xxxxxx
Suki finishes gathering her things and gets ready to head off towards the lift. "Cathica, I'm going to miss you." She turns towards Layla and the Doctor. "Floor five-hundred, thank you."
"We didn't do anything." the Doctor denies.
"Well, you're my lucky charms." She leans over and gives both of them quick hugs.
While the Doctor and Layla are talking to Suki and Cathica, Rose is talking to Adam. "Come on, it's not that bad."
"What, with the head thing?" Adam points towards his forehead.
Rose shrugs. "Yeah, well, she's closed it now!"
However, a thought niggles in his mind, maybe I can use the future knowledge to my advantage? "Yeah, but. It's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to... If I could just cool down. Sort of acclimatize."
Rose furrows her eyebrows. "How do you mean?"
Adam shrugs nonchalantly. "Maybe I could just go and sit on the observation deck. Would that be alright? Soak it in, you know. Pretend I'm a citizen of the year two hundred thousand."
"Do you want me to come with you." Rose asks reluctantly, she is starting to somewhat regret bringing him along, she wants to go with the Doctor and figure out the problem with him and Layla.
Adam somewhat panics. "No, no, you stick with the Doctor and Layla. You'd rather be with him. It's going to take a better man than me to get between you two. Anyway, I'll be on the deck."
Happy that he will be fine on his own, but wanting to give him a place to go in case he still can't handle it, she takes out her Tardis key and hands it to him. "Here you go. Take the Tardis key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much."
Adam slightly laughs. "Yeah, like it's not weird in there." He turns and leaves with a huge grin on his face.
However, his interaction with Rose didn't go unnoticed. Layla had seen Rose give Adam the key to the Tardis and frowned. So, now he has the phone and the key. This isn't good. I'll think on it and then decide what I want to do about it. She is also still bummed that she never got a key, but she hasn't said anything about it to the Doctor. It's his ship and he decides who gets a key to his home, not her.
Xxxxxx
Rose comes back to the Doctor and Layla to hear Suki exclaim. "Oh, my god, I've got to go. I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!" She gets into the lift and the door closes.
Cathica sneers in derision and jealousy. "Good riddance."
The Doctor's eyebrows raise high on his forehead as he looks at her. "You're talking like you'll never see her again; she's only going upstairs."
Cathica waves her hand carelessly. "We won't. Once you go to floor five hundred you never come back." The Doctor and Layla look at each other grimly. How does she not see that being dodgy?
They walk back through the cafeteria. "Have you ever been up there?" The Doctor asks her.
Cathica shakes her head. "I can't. You need a key for the life, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few. Look, they only give us twenty minutes for maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?"
The Doctor sits in the broadcast chair and fiddling with the buttons. Rose is leaning against the head rest and Layla is partially sitting on the chair and the Doctor's legs. The Doctor doesn't even look at Cathica as he continues to play around. "But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?"
"I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That's medical. That'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 pauses for a second and makes a realization. "You're not management, are you?"
The Doctor gives her a sarcastic smirk. "At last. She's clever."
Cathica was ready to wash her hands of these three. "Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."
"That's clear." Layla mutters and the Doctor snorts.
"Don't you even ask?" The Doctor was exasperated with Cathica.
She was confused. "Well, why would I?"
"That is what a journalist does, Cathica, the research and ask questions to get answers." Layla says in a 'duh' like fashion.
The Doctor nods his head towards Layla. "You're a journalist." Then he switches directions trying to get her to use her brain and think and realize there is a problem here. "Why's all the crew human?"
The confusion doesn't go away for Cathica, it only seems to increase at the change in direction. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"There's no aliens on board. Why?" The Doctor continued to play with the buttons on the chair like a child. Layla smacks his hand trying to get him to stop. She doesn't want a stream of information to beam into his face and damage him because he was playing around.
She shrugs. "I don't know. No real reason. They're not banned or anything. I suppose immigrations tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats."
The Doctor raises his brow. "What threats?"
"I don't know all of them. Usual stuff." She repeats like she has been told there were threats, but not what the threats were. "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 lots of little reasons, that's all."
"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor mocked.
Cathica narrowed her eyes. "Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."
The Doctor snorts at her willful ignorance. "I can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."
"It's cutting edge." She argued.
"It's backwards. There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago." The Doctor waved his hand carelessly, basically saying she should have known this already.
"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose cuts in.
The Doctor narrows his eyes in thought. "It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empires stunted. Something's holding it back."
Cathica crosses her arms, very put out with the whole conversation. "And how would you know?"
The Doctor finally stops playing with the buttons on the chair and looks her in the eyes. "Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"
Cathica swallowed harshly. "…Ninety-one years ago." She says softly.
Xxxxxx
The Doctor leads them to the computer cupboard and uses his sonic screwdriver on a pair of double doors. Cathica is pacing back in forth wringing her hands together. "We are so going to get in trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off."
"Layla, Rose, tell her to button it." The Doctor says as he messes around with some wires. The girls both look at her at the same time with the same face then get back to work.
"You can't just vandalize the place. Someone's going to notice!" She whisper-shouts.
"Cathica, that's kind of the point, we want to go to floor five hundred, what better way to get there than to be invited, right Doctor?" Layla sends a grin to the Doctor. He sends her a proud grin in return and nods his head.
The Doctor has a goofy grin on his face as he is tearing through the wires in the cupboard with glee, he yanks on a set of wires and it rips out and he looks at it in confusion wondering why it came out. Layla seeing his face and figuring what he is thinking, laughs at him. The Doctor, hearing her laugh, looks down and realizes she is laughing at him, and stuffs the wires back into the nest of other wires, ignores it and moves on.
Cathica is frustrated, she doesn't know what to do or why she is even here, you know what, screw this. "This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work."
"Go on, then. See you!" The Doctor waves cheerily to her.
She stomps her foot and turns around and comes back. "I can't just leave you, can I!"
Rose pulls her shirt away from her again and fans at her face. "If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?"
Cathica shrugs. "I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine."
"Something to do with the turbine." The Doctor repeats back in a mocking tone.
Cathica throws her hands up in the air. "Well, I don't know!"
The Doctor points at her. "Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question. And Layla is pointing out the flaws in your system."
Rose smiles smugly at the praise. "Oh, thank you." Layla just gives a big cheesy grin and a thumbs up.
"Why is it so hot?" The Doctor ponders.
Cathica looks at them with wide eyes and shakes her head. "One minute you're worried about the empire and the next it's the central heating!"
"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." The Doctor pulls out a screen from the nest of wires and sees the schematic on it. "Here we go. Satellite Five, pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout."
"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange, and you're looking at the pipes?" She complains but looks at the schematic anyways.
"But there's something wrong." The Doctor tries one more time to get Cathica to think with her brain and see the problem.
"I suppose." She agrees grudgingly.
"Why, what is it?" Rose asks. She is handing Layla the leftover wires and Layla is stuffing them back into the cupboard carelessly, they never really pick up after themselves.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channeling massive amounts of heat down." She murmurs as she continues to look at the screen.
The Doctor smiles proudly, happy that she is finally thinking. "All the way from the top."
"Floor five hundred." Rose adds on.
The Doctor nods. "Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose looks at him coyly.
"You can't. You need a key." Cathica protests.
"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override 215.9976/31."
Cathica's mouth drops open. "How come it's given you the code?"
The Doctor looks up at the security camera. "Someone up there likes me."
Xxxxxx
The group walk towards the lift and before they get there Layla grabs the Doctors hand and pulls him to a stop. She made up her mind and she decided she was going to make sure that Adam wasn't doing something stupid. "Doctor, there is something I want to check out while you are going upstairs, it shouldn't take long and then I can head up and meet you there, but it is imperative that I check something out, it could be important."
The Doctor frowns and is not happy about Layla wanting to go off on her own where there is trouble around this station, but he has faith that she can take care of herself. "Alright, I trust you to take care of yourself. Come up when you can and be careful." He lets go of her hand and pulls her into a tight hug. He resists in giving her a kiss to the top of her head and let's go. "See you soon." He stares after Layla as she walks off to go search for Adam.
The Doctor turns around and him and Rose get in the lift. Rose looks towards Cathica. "Come on. Come with us."
She shakes her head. "No way."
The Doctor gives her a big grin and wiggles his fingers. "Bye!"
"Well. Don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." She storms off in a huff.
"That's her gone. Adam's given up and Layla is checking on something. Looks like it's just you and me." He gives Rose a stiff grin.
Rose smiles up at him happily. Finally, I get some alone time with him. "Yeah."
The Doctor nods his head jerkily. "Yep." I wish Layla was here.
Xxxxxx
The Doctor and Rose step out of the lift and look around seeing the room covered in frost and it's freezing. There is plastic hanging up all over and extremely quiet. The Doctor looks at Rose. "The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs." I hope whatever Layla needs to do takes a longer than what it will take us, something's not right up here.
Rose gives him a smirk and walks past him. "Tough." The Doctor just stares after her in exasperation, but follows after her towards a door that was open and light was spilling out from it.
They walk in and see a man standing there already looking at them. "I started without you. 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 and the other one, 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?"
Rose looked around the room and sees the people and skeletons working, but then she notices someone familiar. "Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" She turns towards the man. "What have you done to her?"
The Doctor looks at her sadly, he too seen Suki and the skeletons, but was able to piece together what Rose didn't. "She's dead, Rose."
Rose's brows furrowed. "But she's working?"
The Doctor nods his head in agreement. "They've all got chips in their heads, and the chips keep going, like puppets." He finishes in disgust.
The editor claps his hands together with a big smile on his face. "Oh! You're 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?"
Realizing that staying here would be dangerous, the Doctor decides a strategic retreat is necessary and holds his arm out for Rose to lead her out. "It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on."
Unfortunately, for the Doctor he is grabbed by a couple of the dead zombies behind him, and Rose was grabbed tightly by Suki. The smile slides off the editor's face as he looks at the Doctor. "Tell me who you are."
The Doctor's lip curls up and snarked. "Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?"
The editor casually puts his hands behind his back and looks at the Doctor calmly. "Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."
"And who's that?"
"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…" Before the editor can continue, he is interrupted by a growl.
The editor nods his head apologetically. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He makes a gesture for them to look up towards the ceiling and when they do, their jaws drop and eyes widen. On the ceiling they see a giant brown lump hanging, with a very nasty set of teeth on the end of a pseudopodium.
Rose looks on in fear and disgust. "What is that?"
The Doctor however looks incredulous, so this is what screwed up this time period? "You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?"
The editor looks offended on the creature's behalf. "That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." The editor puts on a happy smile. "I call him Max."
Xxxxxx
Layla has been all over on this floor looking for Adam and she hasn't seen him anywhere. Either he wasn't on this floor, or she kept missing him. She has been asking people and describing him too. A thought had been in her mind for a while and she was hoping she was wrong, but she was starting to think she was going to have to look into it. She walked up to an older man using one of the computers.
"Excuse me sir, may I ask you a question really quick? I'm new to this station."
The older man looks at her kindly. "Of course miss, what can I do for you?"
"To use the computer, do you have to have one of those chips? You know to get information about the past and such? Or can you use it without the chip?"
"You can only use the computer for about five minutes without the chip, after that you have to get the chip and there are two types, one goes in the back of the head, and it is used for computers like the one I am on, the other is type two and that is the full spike like what the journalists use, it's where your brain is the computer. Floor sixteen is where you get the chip though, it is a simple process. Is there anything else?"
"Nope, you answered exactly what I needed, thank you sir. Have a great day."
Layla walks off and the thought she had is starting to sound more plausible. Adam had Rose's phone and the credit stick. He thinks he is so clever; he is 200,000 years into the future, and he knows he is going back to his home soon. It isn't hard to assume that he would take some future knowledge back to his time period to use to his advantage, severely affecting the future. I just hope I'm wrong and the wanker isn't doing what I think he is doing.
Layla walks towards the elevators and goes to floor sixteen. Getting off and unknowingly goes to the same lady that Adam went to when he got his chip. Figuring that it would be hard to get information, Layla tries to think up of a story to see if Adam had been here and when.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I was wondering if you could help me?"
"Yes, what are you needing?"
"See, I am looking for my brother. He said he was going to get a chip and then he was going to bring me the credit stick so I can get mine done, but I haven't seen him, and I didn't know if he had been down here yet. His name is Adam, roughly my height, dark brown hair, brown eyes. Has he been here?" Layla crosses her fingers and hopes that the lady will work with her.
The lady certainly remembers Adam, and definitely remembers the credit stick that has unlimited credit. If this girl is looking to get a chip, she could talk her into getting the type two as well, but she has to find her brother first. "Of course, miss, I can help you. He actually just left about ten minutes ago. I am assuming he went back to the floor he was originally on. I will be glad to help you with your chip when you do get your credit stick, I was the one to do your brothers."
"Oh, thank you ma'am! You have been a big help! I will go look for him right now." Layla turns around and speed walks the fuck out of there. She goes back up to floor 139 and starts to recheck all the rooms that have computers first and doesn't see him, the longer it takes to find him though, the angrier she is getting. That fucking twat waffle is going to get popped in the nose. Not seeing him in any of the regular computer areas, she checks the type two computer areas next, planning different ways to maim Adam.
xxxxxx
The Doctor and Rose are zombie-handled into a pair of hefty manacles and chained up. The editor then does what all bad guys do, he monologues. "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, all the people on earth are like, slaves." It wasn't a question; Rose had made it a statement.
The editor tilts his head up and rubs his chin. "Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
A growl came the Doctor's throat. "Yes."
The editor whines. "Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"
The Doctor just narrowed his eyes. "Yes."
The editor pouts at this. "You're no fun."
The Doctor surges forward as much as he can in his captive state and snarls at the editor. "Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am." I don't mind being in bondage, but only for Layla, and in private.
The editor however isn't afraid and claps gleefully. "Oh, he's tough, isn't he? But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."
Rose decided to try to get more information from the man. "You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must have noticed."
The editor nods his head in agreement with her. "From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it. 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." He sneers in derision. "They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."
The Doctor and Rose happen to see Cathica behind the editor's back at the same time and hold back their smiles. They try to draw her attention to the ceiling. Rose looks up as she asks. "What about you? You're not a Jagrabelly."
The Doctor also pointedly looks up as he corrects Rose. "Jagrafess." He looks back at Cathica to see if she understands. He sees her looks up and her eyes widen.
Rose nods her head towards the Doctor. "Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."
The editor simply shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well." Of course, it always comes down to money, the Doctor thought.
"But you couldn't have done this on your own." Rose was trying to figure out who was really in charge of this operation and stall while the Doctor finds a way to save them.
The editor agrees. "No, I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself."
Some pieces of the puzzle are fitting together for the Doctor he knows what to ask to hint towards Cathica what she needs to do to save them. "No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?"
The editor, not seeing a problem with the question, has no issue with answering. "Three thousand years."
The Doctor smirks. "That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system." He looks towards Cathica and sees her face light up, but she doesn't leave yet.
The editor gives the Doctor a hard look. "But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?" The editor doesn't give them time to answer before he snaps his fingers and energy surges towards the manacles shocking the Doctor and Rose painfully.
The Doctor can handle the pain, but he doesn't want his companion to be hurt grunts to the editor. "Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler. We're nothing, we're just wandering."
But it doesn't seem to be what the editor wanted, he turns off the electricity and raises his voice at them. "Tell me who you are!"
Rose is breathing heavily in pain, but doesn't answer, and the Doctor is also breathing heavily but looks bewildered. "I just said!" What's the point of asking if you won't accept the answer?
The editor glowers. "Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…" He stops talking for a second when the Jagrafess growls. The editor gains a gleeful smile and that smile makes the Doctor worry. "Time Lord."
The Doctor's hearts drop and his eyes widen. "What?"
"Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in his traveling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago." He runs the back of his fingers across Rose's cheeks gently.
While the Doctor doesn't have any feelings towards Rose other than friendship, he still feels bad about what happened with the Dalek adventure and how he was happy that Layla had been the one to make it past the bulkhead and was safe from the Dalek. He tries to get rid of the guilt by being a bit more protective of her now though. "Get away from her!"
What he doesn't realize though, is that Rose was misinterpreting why he was acting like that. She was thinking that he was acting like that out of jealousy, that he doesn't want any other male to touch her like that and it made her very happy, even if she was disgusted being touched by this man.
The editor stops touching Rose and looks towards the Doctor and the Doctor tries to get back on topic. "You don't know what you're talking about."
The editor just smirks smugly, knowingly. "Time travel."
The Doctor looks around shiftily, how does he know this? "Someone's been telling you lies."
The editor snaps his fingers and a screen pops up. "Young master Adam Mitchell?" On the screen shows Adam on a broadcasting chair with a portal on his forehead open and information streaming from him painfully and him screaming.
Rose looks like she is about to get sick. "Oh, my god. His head!"
The Doctor's lip curls and his eyes narrow. "What the hell's he done? What the hell's he 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 you S. Tardis."
The Doctor gives him a fierce look. "Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first."
The editor gives a careless shrug. "Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." On the screen they show the Tardis key rising in the air from Adam's pocket.
The Doctor's mind freezes for a second on two things. One Rose gave her key to Adam. And two, how does he know Rose did? Because he realizes that he forgot to give Layla her key to the Tardis. Oh my god, she probably thinks I don't trust her or something. In his anger at both thoughts, at Rose and himself, he turns to Rose and snarls at her. "You and your boyfriends!"
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing." The editor said ignorantly.
"And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't 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." The Doctor wasn't looking at the editor though. He was looking at Cathica and is happy to see her nod her head and run off.
The Jagrafess snarls and the editor looks panicked. "What's happening?" They look towards the screen with Adam and see Layla come running up to him with a face of fury and snatch the key out of the air, at the same time, Cathica had disengaged the safety from Adam releasing him from the stream. They see her reach out and grab Rose's phone from his hand and put it in her pocket. Seeing that the stream was no longer flowing to Adam, they see Layla snap like Cathica did during her demonstration and see his portal close. They all then wince when they see her slap him so hard, he falls off the chair and give him a smirk. The Doctor is feeling a mix of emotions. Happy that she is safe, gratefulness that she has the key, and arousal at her look of fury and the smirk she gave to Adam. Her fury was enticing, and again, he feels like he needs to live in cold water.
The editor was still panicking trying to figure out who disengaged the safety. He pulls up the image on another monitor.
"It's Cathica!" Rose is happy that she was helping them.
The Doctor nods his head approvingly and proudly. "And she's thinking. She's using what she knows.
The editor goes to one of the zombies. "Terminate her access."
"Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it. Look at that." The Doctor was just rubbing it in the editor's face, especially when the icicles started to melt. "It's getting hot."
The editor goes up to Suki. "I said, terminate. Burn out her mind."
On the screen that is still pulled up with Cathica, they can hear her snarky reply to their attempt. "Oh no, you don't. You should have promoted me years back." The consoles around the zombies explode and all of the dead operators collapse. Alarms sound in the rest of Satellite Five and people are starting to panic.
"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano." The Doctor says happily.
The editor looks up towards the Jagrafess. "Yes, I'm trying, sir, but I don't know how she did it. It's impossible. A member of staff with an idea." He takes the chair that Suki had sat in and types away trying to correct the problem.
Rose was able to get out of her manacles and runs over to the Doctor. She rummages through his pockets, not feeling him flinch from her touch, but enjoying touching him at the same time and looking for his sonic screwdriver. She finally gets it, but doesn't know how to use it. "What do I do?"
The Doctor is just glad she stopped touching him like that. "Flick the switch!" He looks towards the editor. "Oi, mate, want to bank on certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!" Rose gets the Doctor free and he takes his screwdriver back and they run for the broadcast avoiding chunks of ice as they Fall from the ceiling. They hear the Jagrafess growling as they run. They make it up to Cathica and the Doctor snaps his fingers closing her portal and they quickly leave.
Xxxxxx
The Doctor, Rose, and Cathica make it back down to floor 139. They see many people injured and being helped and groups of people talking. The Doctor is looking around looking for Layla, but directs his statement towards Cathica. "We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions you'll manage."
"You'll have to stay and explain it. No one's going to believe me." She knew for a fact no one would. A giant booger monster with teeth thing controlling the human empire? No way would they take that seriously.
The Doctor just waved her off. "Oh, they might start believe a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal." The Doctor's face lights up as he spots Layla in the crowd but darken as he sees her dragging Adam behind her. Though he is internally gleeful as he sees the darkening purple handprint on his face.
Cathica happens to spot them at the same time too. "What about your friend?"
"He's not my friend." He gives Rose a side eye, silently blaming her for this problem.
"Now, don't." She tries, but doesn't have anything to really stand on because it is both hers and Adams faults.
"I'm all right now. Much better. And Layla has the key. Looks it's... It all worked out for the best, didn't it? You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge…" Adam tried to push the blame off but stopped when both Layla and the Doctor's faces darkened even further than they already were. The Doctor had grabbed Adam by the arm and both he and Layla had pushed him inside the Tardis. Rose follows them inside.
The Doctor pilots the Tardis, and in his anger, it is a quick flight. He then grabs Adam again and pushes him out the door. The girls follow him out. Layla stands beside the Doctor giving him support and Rose leans against the Tardis doors.
Adam looks around in wonder as he realizes he is home. "It's my house. I'm home! Oh, my god, I'm home! Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."
The Doctor looks at him with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw. "Is there something else you want to tell me?"
Adam looks around shiftily. "No. What do you mean?"
"Everyone is entitled to being stupid, Adam, but you are really abusing that privilege." Layla said flatly.
The Doctor walks over to the answering machine where they see that it has three new messages. The Doctor points to it. "The archive of Satellite Five. One second of these messages could've changed the world." The Doctor points his screwdriver at the defenseless answering machine and causes it to explode. He walks back towards Layla. "That's it, then, see you."
Adam cocks his head to the side and tugs on his ear. "How do you mean, see you?"
"As in good bye." The Doctor looks at him like he is an idiot.
"But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens."
The Doctor smirks nastily. "What, like this?" He snaps his fingers and it causes the portal in Adam's head to open up. Layla sniggers in amusement.
Adam glares. "Don't." He snaps his fingers and it closes.
"Don't do what?" The Doctor snaps his fingers again and it opens again.
"Stop it!" He closes it again.
"Alright now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it." Rose cuts in. Layla looks over with her eyebrow raised, but the Doctor doesn't look at her, still somewhat miffed at her.
"Thank you." Adam says gratefully. Rose snaps her fingers and the portal opens. "Oi!"
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." She laughed and it helped some the Doctor lose some of the anger towards her, but not all of it.
Adam closes the portal again. The Doctor looks at Adam seriously. "The whole of history could have been changed because of you."
"I just wanted to help." He tries to play off.
"You were helping yourself." The Doctor scoffs.
"And I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am, but you can't just leave me like this." He pleads.
"Yes, I can. Cause if you show that head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen. Good luck." The Doctor gives him a big grin.
"But I want to come with you." He pleads.
"I only take the best. I've got Layla and Rose." The three travelers go into the Tardis and leave Adam to his fate on earth.
Xxxxxx
The three-time travelers are in the Tardis and there is a sort of tension. The Doctor takes them into the vortex to rest for the night. Layla is looking at the Doctor warily. She can tell that he is upset. She can see it in the lines of his face, the stiffness of his shoulders. She looks at Rose and she is smiling away not noticing anything wrong. Layla had already given Rose her phone back before they dropped Adam off so she is playing with it right now, but she hasn't given her the key back. She goes to the Doctor and hands him that. He looks at her. His eyes are dark and his face blank. He grabs the key and nods his head in thanks.
He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a different key though and hands it to her. His face cracks into a soft grin. "Sorry it is so late. I meant to give this to you a while ago, but it was one adventure after another and I forgot."
Layla takes the key and looks it over. Her heart lurches in happiness. She looks it over and realizes it looks different than the one Rose had, it had strange markings on it, markings she has seen on the monitors of the Tardis that the Doctor can read but that the Tardis doesn't translate. "What does this mean, Doctor?" She shows it to him and when he looks at it, she can see his eyes widen and his cheeks redden.
"How about a game. It means something in my language. If you can guess what it means, I will tell you if you are right or not. If you get it right, you win a prize, you have three tries. If you lose though, I get a prize. Deal?"
Intrigued by the idea. "Deal. Is it my name?" They shake hands and both sigh softly at the touch.
The Doctor shakes his head. "Nope." Popping the 'p' and gives her a grin. "Two left." He isn't sure what he will ask for as a prize, but obviously it will have to deal with her. Depends on where they are at in their relationship, maybe he will save it for down the road.
"So where to next?" Rose asks excitedly.
The Doctor looks at her blankly for a few seconds. "Nowhere right now. We are going to take a break for now. Rest and recharge. You humans need your sleep and to relax. Haven't slept since before the Dalek and that was a lot of running and then we took Adam to Satellite Five."
"But, I'm not tired!" Rose complained.
"That's just the adrenaline, Rose. Once you come down from that, you'll crash. You need to let your body and muscles relax. Besides, I want to go for a swim and relax in the pool. Wanna join me, Rose? Doctor?"
"No, I guess I will go explore the Tardis, see what rooms there are here." Rose pouts. She turns to the Doctor. "Can I have my key back?" She holds out her hand.
The Doctor looks at her with hard eyes and walks towards her. He goes to hand her the key and when she tries to take it, he doesn't release it. She looks at him puzzled. But now that he has her attention he lets go and lets her have the key. "This is the key to my home, Rose. The only thing I have let of my planet, my people. Don't give it away to anyone. I give them out to people I trust, not to everyone."
Rose looks down at her feet unable to look him in his eyes. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't." He dismisses her and goes to the console. Rose walks out of the room to go exploring, but not as excited as she once was.
Layla pats the Doctor on the shoulder gently. "So, what are you going to do? Did you want to join me for a swim or are you going to do something else?" She was really hoping he would, she would love to see him in just his swim trunks.
The Doctor swallowed hard at the thought of Layla in a swim suit and being in water. His hearts sped up at the image his mind presented. It would probably be safest to avoid the temptation unfortunately. "No, there are some repairs that I need to do around here." He wasn't looking at her, so he didn't see the look of disappointment that crossed her face, if he had, he probably would have changed his mind.
"Alright that's fine. Have fun breaking, I mean fixing the Tardis." It's a shame he isn't joining me. But after thinking about it, it is probably for the best. I may not be able to keep my hands to myself if I were to see him with only swim trunks on. Her body heats up as she thinks about what he would look like under his clothes. I hope the water is cold.
"Oi!" But he turns away to hide a smile as he hears Layla laugh and the Tardis hum in amusement.