Our group moves towards a panel. We all help - except Cathica - the Timelord to tear apart the wall, revealing millions of wires and other electrical things including a screen. The Doctor sonicking the screen in hopes to find something useful.
"We are so going to get in trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off." Cathica complains, nervously looking around.
"Rose, tell her to button it." the alien snaps, annoyed with the woman's constant complaints.
"Cathica shut the hell up or piss off." I state, looking t the woman who simply rolls her eyes.
"You can't just vandalise the place. Someone's going to notice!" the screen starts sparking causing Cathica to start panicking even more. "This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work.
"Go on, then. See you!" the Timelord responds, not even looking at her.
She spins on her heel returning to us, "I can't just leave you, can I!"
"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling." I grumble at her, Rose nods with me.
"What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?" she questions, tugging at her shirt uncomfortable with the heat.
"I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine." Cathica answers, not really thinking about it at all. How can she be so oblivious?
"Something to do with the turbine." the alien mimics childishly rolling his eyes whilst still messing with the screen.
"Well, I don't know!" she replies, exasperated.
"Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question." Doctor declares pointing his sonic at Rose briefly before returning to work.
"Thanks but Luna said it first." she answers, nudging me slightly when she noticed I wasn't really paying attention anymore.
"Why is it so hot?" he continues, completely ignoring Roses reply.
"One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica snaps, looking completely done with him. I couldn't blame her.
"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." he retorts, equally fed up. The Timelord rips off a group of wires with a sheepish look on his face. He finally manages to sort the screen, images and diagrams appear bits of information flashing across the screen. "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 pipes?" the human woman states, not seeing the reason for what we were doing.
"But there's something wrong." I point out, indicating to the plumbing.
"I suppose." she admits, looking at it closely.
"Why, what is it?" Rose questions, not understanding the images.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working full to channel massive amounts of heat down." I answer, pointing at different parts of the layout as I do. She nods understanding better now.
"All the way from the top." the Doctor adds, pointing to the top.
"Floor five hundred." Rose adds, our suspicions slowly add together.
"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat." he continues, looking excited.
"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 replies, smiling at me before holding a hand to the Doctor to help him up.
Our exit is disrupted as Cathica calls out, "You can't. You need a key."
"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override two one five point nine." the Timelord replies, using the sonic once again. The numbers 215.9976/31 flash across the screen.
"How come it's given you the code?" she questions, confused on how he did it so easily.
"Someone up there likes us." I reply, both the Doctor and I look up at the camera nearby. I had noticed it watching us when the Doctor kept frequently checking on it.
"Come on. Come with us." Rose offers Cathica as she, Doctor and I step into the lift. Rose stood on the Doctors right whilst I stand on his left.
"No way." Cathica rejects, shifting her weight with her arms crossed across her chest.
"Bye!" the Timelord exclaims with false enthusiasm.
"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." she orders before storming off in a rush.
"That's her gone." I mutter watching her walk off.
"Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us." the Timelord adds, offering me a large smile.
"Yeah." Rose answers smiling at me.
"Yup." I answer, sending her a smile back.
"Good." the Timelord replies, turning to press the lift button next to me.
"Yep." Rose and I answer in unison, the Timelord gingerly takes my hand. I snap my eyes up to him, surprised to see him already watching me intently. I smile slightly at him, internally deciding whether to reject his hold or not. I gently tighten my grip on his larger hand deciding that since we don't know if we're going to survive our trip to the 'wonderful' Floor five hundred that no one returns from or not, that forgiving him for a little bit won't hurt me.
"Are either of you going to explain to me what happened?" Rose questions from the other side of the lift, I look up to see our blonde friend leaning against the wall her arms crossed as she watches us intently. "Don't think I haven't noticed the snide comments or looks, and I have definitely noticed the significant distance between the two of you." she continues her brow raised in question.
"Nothing Rose it was something silly, I misunderstood my importance and it won't happen again." I answer quickly, removing my hand from the Timelords as I lean against the wall.
"No-" the Doctor starts but is stopped as we arrive. I ignore the pair of them before walking out into the floor, only stopping when I actually take it in. The supposed floor 500 that is made of gold turns out to be a floor covered in ice. Icicles cover everything forming walls and dangerous spikes. My companions follow me the Doctor taking a few steps ahead of me.
"The walls are not made of gold. You two should go back downstairs." the Timelord states, briefly looking back at us.
"Tough." I repy, rubbing my arms in hope of causing warmth. We walk around slightly, turning a corner to find a man with white hair looking slightly too cold for comfort. He turns to us from his position standing behind a group of people all sat in chairs at a long desk, their hands on matching green places like downstairs.
"I started without you." he informs with laughter lining his speech, looking at us with curiosity. "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?" he questions looking almost impressed. Rose slowly approaches some of the workers before catching sight of a familiar face.
"Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" she questions her, gently shaking the woman who doesn't even seem to realise she's there. Unlike the other workers Suki isn't covered in icicles, her hands though are still on the handprints.
"What have you done to her?" I demand, spinning to the white-haired man.
"I think she's dead." the Doctor answers grimly, looking between us and the man.
"But she's working." Rose denies.
"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going." the Timelord explains.
"Like puppets." I continue, glaring heatedly at the man.
"Oh! You're full of information." he excitedly exclaims, smiling creepily at us. "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." the Doctor retorts before turning to us, "Come on." our exit is interrupted as 4 other frozen dead people come out from somewhere, grabbing the Doctor and I whilst Suki grips Rose's arm tightly.
"Tell me who you are." ice-man demands, his voice still playful.
"Since that information's keeping us alive, we're hardly going to say, are we." I snip, glaring at the man as the hands holding me dig into my arms, their ice cold temperature almost burning my naked skin.
"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise." icicle dude replies.
"And who's that?" my male companion questions, shifting in his captors grip.
"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." he explains, the man is interrupted as an animalistic growl sound from above.
"Yeah." ice-man says before being interrupted again. "Yeah, sorry." he turns back to us "It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." the man then snaps his fingers pointing up. We all in sync look up the sight horrifying. An alien as large as the entire roof remains stuck to it, its head reared with sharp pointed teeth snapping at us as it growls.
"Doctor, what is that pimple looking thing?" I query looking over to the Doctor to see him fighting off a smile at my wording.
"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor questions, skipping past my query.
"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 and ambition strictly controlled by it's broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max." the ice-man informs a smug grin on his pasty looking lips.
"Oh that's nice isn't it." I sass, smiling sarcastically at the man.
The icy man smiles in reply before ordering the 'zombies' to move us, we're placed in a collection of manacles, the Doctor on my right whilst Rose on his other side. I wiggle and shake my arms in a futile attempt to get rid of the bindings.
"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 destabilise an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote." the ice-man explains, efficiently completing the villain atmosphere whilst describing his master plan to us.
"So all the people on Earth are like, slaves." Rose questions, waving her hands slightly from their bound place.
"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?" the man retorts, approaching us.
"Yes." I answer bluntly, glaring at the floor in front of me before meeting the man's eyes.
"I was hoping for a philosophical debate." the man replies, slowly approaching me. I maintain my glare as his hand reaches out barely touching my skin as he strokes the side of my face. "Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?" the man replies, mocking my answer.
"Yes." the Doctor pitches in his body tense. "Get away from her." he all but growls.
"You're no fun." the man whines, proceeding to stroke my neck and then collarbone. I am never wearing revealing clothing again.
"Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am." the Timelord threatens, shaking the manacles.
The man simply laughs before addressing me, "Oh, he's tough, isn't he." he then turns motioning to the computers with a proud grin on his face, "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."
"You can't hide something on this scale." I state, watching the man carefully. "Somebody must have noticed."
"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." he informs, proceeding to approach me again. I swear these men are going to make me a lesbian. "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." the man continues to describe his master plan, completely oblivious to Cathica stood around the corner looking at the alien in shock and disgust.
"What about you? You're not a, uh Jagra, belly" Rose queries, stumbling slightly on the species.
"Jagrafess." both the Doctor and I offer, the Timelord seeming distracted whilst I'm trying to keep a neutral face as the ice-man proceeds to stroke my face again.
"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human." Rose continues, nodding in our direction in thanks.
"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well." the man replies, rolling his eyes.
"But you couldn't have done this all on your own." I pipe in, pulling my head away from him.
"No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself." he explains, walking back to stand in front of us.
"No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?" the Doctor pitches in, looking up at the alien briefly.
Ice-man smiles slightly before replying, "Three thousand years."
"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat." I note, smirking at the Doctor who then loudly announces,
"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."
The Doctors little announcement causes the ice-man to smile happy with the Timelords display of knowledge.
"But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." he questions, clasping his hands in front of himself. "Who are you?" he then snaps his fingers causing electricity to surge through the manacles and into us. Rose and the Doctor are lucky, they left their coats on meaning their arms have a layer of fabric between their skin and the electricity. I on the other hand was stupid and had removed my hoodie, leaving my skin bare. Thankfully the electricity stops, Rose and I hang there panting whilst the Timelord snaps up,
"Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler and this is Alula Smith. We're nothing, we're just wandering." he rushes, hoping to prevent anymore electric shocks.
"Tell me who you are!" the man demands, losing his patience.
"He just said!" I snap, holding my head up to glare at the man before dropping it again.
"Yes, but who do you work for?" he demands, "Who sent you? Who knows about us?" I roll my eyes, he isn't even letting us answer, "Who exactly-" he then abruptly stops. Above us the Jagrafess growls. "Time Lord." he suddenly states, pointing at my companion.
"What?" Doc questions quickly, confused and worried on how he had the information.
"Yes. The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago." he continues stroking my face again, an excited grin on his face.
"You don't know what you're talking about." I snap, panic written on my face. Shifting away from him with no success.
"Time travel." he replies simply.
"Someone's been telling you lies." Doctor tries, worried with his information.
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" ice-man replies, snapping his fingers causing the large screen to show Adam with his head open and light beaming from him into the machine.
"Oh, my God. His head!" Rose exclaims, horrified by the boy's stupidity.
"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything." Doc rages, struggling in his manacles even more stress than earlier.
"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." ice-man boasts, smirking at us, "Tardis."
"Well, you'll never get your hands on her." I snap, struggling in the manacles. I love T too much to let some man come anywhere near her.
"I'll die first." the Timelord snaps, glaring heatedly at the man in front of us.
"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." the man states, on the screen a TARDIS key floats from Adams pocket.
"You and your boyfriends!" I snap at Rose, struggling in the manacles again.
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing." ice-man excitedly exclaims, smiling like a child on christmas.
"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 adds, hoping to provoke Cathica who was still listening in. She finally takes the initiative and disappears from the corner. Suddenly on the screen the light stops, Adams head closes and the TARDIS key drops to the floor.
"What's happening? Someone's disengaged the safety. Who's that?" ice-man panics ordering his workers to find out. The monitor changes to Cathica sat in a broadcast chair nearby.
"It's Cathica." Rose and I state, smiling at the screen.
"And she's thinking. She's using what she knows." Doctor excitedly informs, smiling in victory.
"Terminate her access." the man orders, seeing his plan crumble before his eyes.
"Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it." Doc exclaims, happy to see the man's plan fail.
"Look at that it's getting hot." I state, indicating to the melting icicles on the roof. I wince looking up at the alien who begins to thrash and cry out.
"I said, terminate. Burn out her mind." the ice-man orders fumbling now. Suddenly all of the computers spark and shatter, the 'zombies' crumble to the ground as the man is thrown to the floor. The station starts shaking. All of the sparking causes Rose and I's manacles to spark and cut out. I rapidly shrugged them off before facing the Doctor. I fumble in his pockets, pausing slightly to look back and see Suki being thrown to the ground by a frantic ice-man. Finally gripping the sonic screwdriver I press the button pointing at the manacles and thinking of them opening. Thankfully it works and the manacles spark before opening. Doc smiles gratefully at me before gripping my hand and running out of the room.
We sprint to Cathica, Doc snapping his fingers to close her head before shaking her to get her up and out. Behind us the Jagrafess explodes causing the station to rock before finally settling. We all smile at one another happy to be alive and that we saved the day once again without too many casualties.
~1~
We all stand back on platform 139, Cathica stood nearby hoping to convince us to stay and help explain.
"We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage." Doc states, smiling encouragingly at the woman.
"You'll have to stay and explain it. No one's going to believe me." she protests, looking at Rose and I for help.
"They might start believing a lot of things now." I comment, looking around as everyone helps each other tidy up since the little 'quake' they had. "The human race should accelerate. All back to normal."
"What about your friend?" Cathica questions, nodding to Adam who stands near the TARDIS. I turn around glaring at the man in question.
"He's not my friend." both the Doctor and I retort, huffing at the mention. Doc stands up before heading towards our space and time machine, Rose and I trailing behind.
"Now, don't-" Rose tries but is completely ignored.
"I'm all right now. Much better. And I've got the key. Look, it's. It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" Adma rambles, noting the dangerously angry expression on the Timelords face. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge." he tries which causes me to snap.
"You endangered the TARDIS and the Doctor. All because you wanted to know information that would change time and cause too many problems to think of. Don't even for a second blame the Doctor since Rose was the one that convinced him to let you come with us. We didn't want you here for this exact reason. We knew you were too stupid to not fuck up." I snap, pushing the man harshly back into the TARDIS, he stumbles tripping on his feet before roughly landing into the railing around the console. The Doctor quickly flies the TARDIS, barely any hiccups and bumps on the way. I roughly drag Adam to his feet before the Doctor takes him from my grip and shoves him out of the door.
"It's my house. I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home!" he exclaims excitedly, the fear on his face is gone. He doesn't even feel guilty about what he's done. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."
"I wanted to, sadly T doesn't have one." I snap, crossing my arms whilst leaning against the doorway of the TARDIS.
"Is there something else you want to tell me?" Doc questions, already knowing the answer.
"No. What do you mean?" Adam answers, playing dumb. The Timelord walks over to the phone, picking it up before turning to us.
"The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world like Al said." he states, placing it back down before sonicking the device. It sparks and explodes. Doc turns walking past Adam and back to me, "That's it, then. See you."
"How do you mean, 'see you'?" Adam questions watching the Doctor take my hand, I stand up straight from my leaning position ready to enter the TARDIS again.
"As in goodbye, adios, sayonara." I snap, pausing in against the door of T with the Doctor.
"But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens." Adam explains, hoping to get us to keep him.
Doc smirks raising his other hand to click his fingers, "What, like this? Adams, head opens, revealing his brain.
"Don't." Adam snaps, clicking his fingers to close it.
"Don't do what?" I question innocently before snapping my own fingers. Giggling as Adam's face slowly turns red from frustration.
"Stop it!" he shouts, closing his head again.
"All right now you two, that's enough. Stop it." Rose reprimands.
"Thank you." Adam says, smiling at Rose, she smirks herself whilst clicking her own fingers. "Oi!" the man exclaims. closing his head again.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Rose reasons, smiling at Adams face.
"The whole of history could have changed because of you." the Timelord informs, looking at the boy with disappointment. I squeeze his hand gently, rubbing my thumb across his knuckles.
"I just wanted to help." Adam tries to justify. I snort, shaking my head.
"No you were helping yourself." I state, watching the boy as he starts stumbling over his words.
"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 stutters, looking at us pleadingly.
"Yes we 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." the Doctor explains, "Good luck." he then moves and pushes the TARDIS door open, still holding my hand.
"But I want to come with you." Adam tries for a final time.
"I only take the best. I've got Alula. And Rose." he answers, gently tugging my hand to bring me inside, allowing Rose to say goodbye.
"I'm happy to know that you think of Rose and I as the best." I tease, the Doctor still holding my hand as he guides me to the console. He turns to me, a guilty expression on his face.
"Alula-" he starts, his sentence is interrupted by Rose who enters, she looks up to see us before awkwardly walking to the corridors.
"I'm just going to go have a shower and start food." she explains, slowly walking down the corridor. "Luna join me when you want."
Doc turns back to me, his expression still guilty. "What you said before in the lift. I think of you as a friend, please don't believe any different. I was out of line saying what I said when all you wanted to do was comfort me, I just. I don't, I don't know how to accept it when people help me because I'm better off alone. That way when my companions inevitably do leave me it doesn't hurt as much." he tries to explain, I smile at his attempts. "Please believe me, I care for you. I just don't want to be hurt again."
"Doc I'm not leaving anytime soon. I promise, and you shouldn't deny yourself happiness just because you know it's going to hurt when it ends. That's what life is, you should enjoy it in the moment and not think of how it's going to inevitably hurt in the end." I state.
"But, you grow old. You wither and die, and I have to watch that happen. Watch you slowly die or you die too early because of an adventure. Like with the Dalek. You could've easily been killed." he states, tugging his hand out of mine.
"Doc, it was my choice to go down there and get Rose through the door, I made that choice and you have no way or right to stop me from making those types of choices." I state, watching as the mans face twists in frustration.
"Al, Timelords have a way of cheating death. We change everything about ourselves, every cell changes. We call it regeneration. When I die I become a new man, a man with the same underlying beliefs and thoughts but new preferences, new likes and dislikes." he explains, I listen intently. The Timelord is finally giving something about himself albeit something we had already briefly talked about, and I'm not complaining. His description also reminds me of the old man, who was engulfed in a bright golden light before changing into the Doctor's face. Did I really have a dream about this Doctor's regeneration? What the hell is happening to me? "But humans can't do that, once you're dead you stay dead. And if that happens to you-" he starts, breaking off at the end. I chose to change the subject since he was getting so upset.
"So which person. Face are you on now?" I ask gently, approaching the man to lean against the console next to him. I just hope he doesn't realise we already had this conversation. He turns to me, tears welling in his eyes. He frantically blinks them away before answering.
"Uh, nineth. I, is it alright. I expected you to be slightly fearful or sceptical." he answers, looking at me closely. I had surprised myself with my acceptance when he originally told me but since I'm pretty sure I had dreamt of one of his regenerations it wasn't as much of a shock.
"I believe you, something tells me you're being truthful." I answer not telling him the real reason. If I did he would probably think I'm loony. I mean how many people have dreams of a time travelling aliens past? Not many.
AN: hope you liked this, please don't be scared to give any helpful criticism I try to listen ;) - Fleur