Cathica rushed off, a woman angry and full of warnings as the Doctor, Danni and Rose stood in the lift to go up to Floor 500. The golden walls, the disappearances, and the fact that amass of heat was being channelled down from the top of the satellite all signalled that everything that they wanted to know was up there, waiting.
"I think you got to her," Danielle commented from her spot between Rose and the Doctor.
"Yeah, I think I did," the Doctor replied happily. "It's about time. It'll get some curiosity running through her veins." He turned to Rose, shooting her a grin that she returned. He'd seen it in Rose, and he'd seen it in Danielle. Both women were just full of inquisitiveness that needed to be explored.
"Dangerous, you are," Rose teased and he straightened up.
"I'll think you'll find I'm quite helpful," he retorted and they chuckled for a moment before falling silent once again.
"If they're enticing people with walls made of gold," Danielle started softly. "What do you think is actually up there?"
The Doctor's face fell into a solemn frown. "I don't know," he admitted. "But we'll find out, and we'll stop it."
And that was the end of the joking around. Danielle felt the shift in the air as they fell from their happy-go-lucky personas into ones of determined duty. She felt the shift inside herself as well. If something was happening up there, something bad, then she had to help stop it too. She guessed that Rose felt the same sense of duty for her species, one that compelled her to try and save their people from whatever horrors were waiting. She had to wonder, though, if Rose felt the same need to help the jolly Northern alien who had taken it upon himself to save everyone else. No one should have to face that alone.
The doors to the elevator opened and it was obvious immediately that the walls were not made of gold. The large room they opened on was not unlike the one they'd first landed in. Large metal walls, all a bit uniform and industrial. There were stands in the middle of the room, like the food vendors down below, but the room was in a greater state of decay. Beams and wires had fallen from the ceiling, debris and dirt and dust lined the floor. And, unlike the floors below, ice covered everything because of how cold it was. Danielle wrapped her arms around herself, as did Rose, as they stepped out of the elevator.
"No gold walls," she commented with a little chatter of her teeth.
"You should go back downstairs," the Doctor replied firmly.
"Tough," Rose retorted. She pushed past him, walking into the room. The Doctor took a look at Danielle, who nodded towards the blonde.
"What she said," she replied a bit lamely before heading after the other woman. He watched them both walk off, wondering if he should send them downstairs regardless. He was responsible for them, after all, he was the one who'd brought them here.
However, he kept silent and followed them into the dilapidated room. None of them paid much attention to their surroundings after they had been discarded as a mess and nothing more. The Doctor's large strides helped him take back the lead with ease, and both Danielle and Rose were very happy to let him. Rose had first-hand experience of letting him do his thing, and Danielle was still pretty new to the entire affair. Her heart was racing, her palms very slightly sweaty, but a part of her was almost excited at finding out what was happening. She could get used to this.
That excitement fell away to dread when they stepped up to a console room. There was a man with bright white hair and a suit looking over a console where seven people were working. The room was also covered in ice, and dully lit.
The man turned to them, looking highly amused, "I started without you," he said almost apologetically. "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, you don't exist."
He motioned to the console the people were working on. Rose and the Doctor tried to work out what they were looking at. Danielle glanced and saw not much more than some statistics and some of the news being broadcasted out from the satellite. So, she left the experts to it, walking to the nearest person to them at the console. It was a bald man with white skin and blue lips. Her fingers danced out across his neck, feeling the ice-cold skin and she knew that she didn't need to take the time to look for a pulse. She started slowly to the next man in the line, this time in a jacket that made it look like he was being protected from the cold, but his skin was still icy cold. So much so that they were also faintly frosty as well.
"Suki!" Rose cried as she noticed the woman who had received the last promotion. She was sat at the end of the row of people, staring straight ahead with her hands on the console. Rose rushed over to her side, giving her a shake. "Can you hear me? Suki?"
"Don't," Danielle called over softly. "They're all dead."
Rose frowned, glancing at the console that Suki was holding onto. It had two hand ports, like the ones downstairs, and information scrolled on the monitor in front of her. "But she's working."
"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets," the Doctor spat out.
"Oh!" the man with white hair called out, sounding very impressed. "You're full of information. But it's only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you're no one," the man laughed, like it was completely absurd. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"
The Doctor turned to him, "It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you," he turned to his two charged. "Come on."
As he turned to go two more people appeared, both covered in ice, and grabbed him to stop him walking around. Suki took hold of Rose without looking from her monitor, and the man in the jacket did the same to Danielle.
"Get off me!" the red-head exclaimed angrily. "I didn't say you could touch me!"
The man with white hair chuckled. "Oh, she's feisty, isn't she?" he asked the Doctor with a grin on his face. It then dropped off. "Tell me who you are." He demanded.
"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?" the Doctor retorted, attempting to struggle free. The puppets had a strong grip on him, however, and he soon fell still.
"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise," the man offered.
"And who's that?"
The man leant in closer to the Doctor, as if to impart some wisdom. The action didn't give the Doctor any more confidence in the situation at hand. "It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire," he explained in a low voice. "In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live."
They were all surprised by the snarling and growling that suddenly filled the room, except the man with white hair, who held his finger up to his ear like he was receiving instructions from somewhere else. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry," he told the voice on the other end before turning back to his hostages. "It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client," he clicked his fingers, then pointed up.
Above them hung a giant lump of flesh, with snapping teeth and no eyes. "Oh my god, it's Jabba the Hut," Danielle breathed in horror.
"What is that?" Rose asked in a small voice, stunned by the sight.
"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" the Doctor asked, his voice a mixture of horror and curiosity.
"That thing, as you put it," the man replied, "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 its broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe," he looked at the Doctor, a grin on his face like he was talking about his dog. "I call him Max."
"Ninety-one years ago the satellite began broadcasting," Danielle pointed out and the man with white hair nodded.
"Ninety-one years of glorious rule by my client," he confirmed. He then took his attention off the trio, his face losing the grin it'd held. "Restrain them," he ordered his zombie minions.
~0~0~0~
Danielle had been quite vocal about being strapped to the back of the contraption that had been built to keep them in place. The structure was made of leftover parts from the broken room, but the manacles around their arms were very much holding them in place. She'd been strapped to the back of it, wires running down into her restraints, whilst Rose and the Doctor were side by side facing the man with white hair as he explained the very clever plan that had enslaved the human race.
"You know, you're starting to sound like a Bond villain!" She called over her shoulder at the man. "'Please, Mr Bond, you will not escape. Now, let me tell you my plan so you can't foil it.'" She mocked.
"You are the talkative one, aren't you?" the man replied and she twisted slightly to glare at him from the gap between Rose and the Doctor.
"Oh, I haven't started yet, you mother-"
"Danielle," the Doctor warned lowly. Danielle huffed, but turned her back on the man, deciding ignoring him would be a greater punishment than her berating him.
The man waited for a moment, purposefully listening for her. When she didn't speak up, he grinned, back to his victory. "You see? 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."
"So all the people on Earth are like, slaves?" Rose asked.
"Well, now, there's an interesting point," the man with white hair declared, looking rather interested in the thought. "Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
"Yes," the Doctor replied simply.
"Oh," the man groaned in disappointment. "I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?"
"Yes," the Doctor repeated with a nod of his head. He didn't have time for little jokes and playful discussions. The human race was enslaved by a giant slug of an alien, and the three people who could actually save them - okay, the one person and his two friends - were currently restrained underneath said alien.
The man with white hair chuckled. "You're no fun."
"That's not true," Danielle called. "He just hates dickhead sell-outs."
"I'm not a sell-out," the man replied, sounding insulted by her accusation. "I'm just shrewd."
The Doctor shook his manacles, getting the attention back on him rather than the irate red-head behind him. "Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am," he said with promise.
"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?" He asked Rose with a bit of a chuckle. "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. Somebody must have noticed," Rose countered, none of them agreeing with him.
"From time to time, someone, yes," he admitted, pacing away from them and towards Suki. "But the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it," he made a motion with his hand, closing his fist as if to demonstrate what he meant. "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."
"What about you?" Rose countered. "You're not a Jagra-Jagra-belly..."
"Jagrafess," Danielle helped and Rose nodded.
"Jagrafess," she finished. "You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."
"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well," the man retorted.
"Sell-out!" Danielle called out again happily. "That is the definition of sell-out. Trading in your entire species for a better wage packet is a sell-out."
"No," the man snapped before catching himself. He pointed at the trio, "No," he repeated, calmer but still pointed. "I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to, um," he lowered his voice. "Install himself. "
"No wonder, a creature that size," the Doctor admitted, looking away from the woman who had joined their conversation with no one else but him noticing, and up at the ceiling at the Jagrafess. "What's his lifespan?"
"Three thousand years," the man replied.
"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot," the Doctor theorised, and the Jagrafess roared as if in agreement. "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 Doctor shot a look over at Cathica, who looked just as horrified at the news as he had expected her to. He knew she wouldn't be able to leave it alone, that he'd tempted that curiosity in her. Perhaps she could help after all, if he could get to her to offer her a plan of action.
The man with white hair pointed at the Doctor, bringing him back to the conversation. "But that's why you're so dangerous," he said. "Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown."
He let out a little chuckle, one with no humour at all behind it before he clicked his fingers. Electricity began surging through the manacles, causing the Doctor to clench his teeth together. Rose had a similar reaction, her face grimacing in pain and Danielle cried out in pain from behind him, "Who are you?"
The electricity stopped and they all panted from the pain. He felt Danielle fall back against him, and Rose let out a little whimper. "Leave them alone," he half commanded, half begged. "I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler and," he nodded behind him, "she's Danielle Song. We're nothing, we're just wandering."
Danielle let out a little groan from behind him and the man with white hair didn't look the least bit satisfied with that answer.
"Tell me who you are!"
"He just did, you arsehat," Danielle groaned, using the Doctor's back to stand up.
"I can easily separate you," the man warned her. "Who do you work for?" He started walking closer to the trio. "Who send you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…"
He paused mid-step, hands out like he'd just had a revelation. The Doctor frowned in confusion as a look of pure happiness spread across his face. The Jagrafess above them seemed to echo this sentiment of the man motioned to the Doctor with both hands. "Time Lord."
The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat in worry and panic, but he still managed to force a look of confusion on his face, "What?"
"Oh, yes," the man continued. "The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago." He reached out to stroke Rose's face, and she flinched back from his touch.
"You don't know what you're talking about," the Doctor insisted.
"Time travel," the man replied simply.
"Someone's been telling you lies," the Doctor tried, but the man just turned to the control panel and the large number of monitors above it.
"Young master Adam Mitchell?" He said, clicking his fingers yet again. In front of them, in the air, a holographic screen appeared with Adam on it. Danielle tried to turn the best she could at the sound of his screams, but couldn't see more that a flash of light that signified that the screen was there.
"What's he done?" She asked.
"Oh my god, his head," Rose said in horror. "He's-he's got one of those holes in his head."
Danielle's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How the hell did he get one of those?"
"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Doctor exclaimed angrily. "They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!"
The was how the man in front of them knew the information. Adam had handed out everything to him. His screams said that it might not have been his intention, but she would bet all she owned on the fact that no one had forced the hole on him, otherwise they would have used him a lot sooner than now.
If Danielle's hands had been free, she would have been clenching them in anger. He'd traded them all in for a hole to his brain. She could throttle him.
"And through him, I know everything about you," the man with white hair continued. "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," he looked up as he listed off the letters that came to him through Adam, "T-A-R-D-I-S, TARDIS."
"Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first," the Doctor swore.
"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key," the man retorted and Rose winced slightly as she remembered that she was the one who gave Adam the TARDIS key. They watched it rise from his pocket on the holo-screen, and Rose knew that was all her fault.
"You and your boyfriends!" The Doctor snapped at her.
"I get it, your girlfriend is better, what do we do?!" Rose exclaimed back.
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing," the man declared, partially talking to his captives, partially talking to his master above them.
"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," he looked over at Cathica, who met his eye before turning and walking away, shocked and horrified. The Doctor barely paid her any more attention after that; if she could help, he knew she would. He just had to leave her to it.
The Jagrafess above them snarled and snapped, and the man chuckled along like the creature was telling him a fantastic joke. Danielle struggled slightly against her manacles, but it was to no avail. She wasn't going to be able to get free, and even if she could what use would she be?
And the Doctor, who Rose herself said took on the role of saviour on his own, how must he be feeling? She was terrified, and she had no doubt that Rose was echoing her feelings, but what about the man who tried to save everyone? What was he feeling now that he couldn't?
"It'll be okay, sweetie," she told the Doctor behind her, who frowned at the words. "He won't help rewrite history, that'll erase himself, won't it? Everyone knows that'd be a bad idea. It's okay, you're okay."
Even though the human race was on the brink of being completely destroyed, the Doctor couldn't help but smile at her words. A smile that only grew as an alarm started sounding out through the room and the man with white hair looked distinctly disturbed by it.
He rushed over to the console, looking at all the readouts to try and work out where the alarm as coming from, "What's happening?"
The Doctor looked down at Rose, who was looking around with confusion as well. Something was happening that wasn't supposed to be, and he knew that it was Cathica.
"Someone's disengaged the safety," the man realised. He clicked his fingers and the holo-screen turned from Adam to a woman in one of the info-spike chairs.
"What's happening?" Danielle asked from behind them.
"It's Cathica," Rose told her, surprise in her voice.
"And she's thinking!" The Doctor exclaimed happily. "She's using what she knows!"
"Rose was right, you are dangerous," Danielle teased as Cathica did exactly what the Doctor said she was. All around them the ice on the ceilings and the walls began to melt as she reversed the pipes and the filters that pointed the heat downwards into the satellite, and started warming the room quickly.
The Jagrafess was not happy. It roared and snapped as its body began to overheat, and it began to boil on the ceiling. The man with the white hair began to try and stop Cathica, but it didn't work, and whether it was Cathica defending herself or the dead journalists helping her was unclear.
As the console exploded, sending the man and his dead operators away and to the floor, Rose's manacles received just enough energy to free her. She quickly pushed them over her head and away before turning to the Doctor. She picked at the joins in his own restraints, but nothing worked. So, she reached into his jacket and pulled his sonic screwdriver out.
"What do I do?!"
"Flick the switch!" The Doctor told her and she did, holding it up to his manacles as the Jagrafess above them roared in pain and anger. He sighed in relief as they finally popped off and he stepped away from the contraption, getting himself untangled in a similar way to Rose. He glanced up at the Jagrafess, working out just how much time they had left before it came to its messy end. Enough to get out of the way, at least.
"Doctor!" Danielle shouted in panic. "Doctor! Don't leave me here!"
He almost rolled his eyes at the ridiculous assumption - he'd only stepped away from her - but knew that she was just scared. He snatched his screwdriver back off Rose then dived around the back. He saw Danielle's face, contorted in fear, instantly relaxed and he quickly undid her manacles as well.
He was surprised when she chucked her arms around his neck, pulling him down to give him the tightest hug. "Don't scare me like that!" She scolded before letting go. He held her by the arms, unsure of whether to reassure her, or teased her. Instead they just both beamed happily before rushing back to Rose.
"Oi, mate!" He called to the man with white hair, who was desperately trying to reverse the heat. "Want to bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!" And the three ran off, leaving him to deal with the explosion of his boss.
~0~0~0~
Adam was already by the TARDIS when they all arrived back down on the correct floor. Cathica wanted help, she wanted some guidance and someone to explain, not because she doubted her own ability but a habit of a lifetime is hard to kick. The Doctor didn't want to stick around, though. He had something else to take care off.
He stormed over to Adam despite Rose's half-hearted protests, who at the very least had the decency to look a bit sheepish.
"I'm all right now. Much better," he told them, as if any of them cared. The Doctor continued to glower as he closed the space between them. "And I've got the key. Look, it's…" He held up the TARDIS key, "It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" He pointed out.
The Doctor grabbed him by the shoulder, keeping silent and snatching the key out of hand. He shoved the man towards the door, where he also stayed silent as he unlocked the door.
"You know, it's not actually my fault," Adam reasoned, "because you were in charge!" The Doctor shoved him inside, wondering if he should berate him considering just how angry he was at himself and the man in front of him. A whirl of red hair pushed past him, though, and he realised his hesitance had cost him his chance.
Adam, who had stumbled at the Doctor's actions, almost fell to the floor as Danielle shoved him again. "Not your fault?" She shrieked, eyes blazing and blood running hot in her veins. "Not your fault?! You will take responsibility for your actions you slimy," she shoved him again, "stupid," another shove to get him out of the way of Rose and the Doctor, "little boy!"
"Danielle, don't," Rose started, following her in. The Doctor stepped in last, shutting the door behind them and Rose looked at the Time Lord for help. "Get her to stop it," she said but the Doctor just shot her a look. He headed to the console, leaving Danielle to vent her fear and anger on the other man.
"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone!" Adam defended.
"No, you were just looking out for your own arse!" Danielle raged. "You only care about yourself, don't you? There was no thought of anything but your own gain!"
"That's not true!"
"You got a hole in your bloody head!" Danielle snapped back. "Why would anybody get that unless they saw any sort of gain, or profit, in it?! Have you never seen Back to the Future?! Knowledge from the future is dangerous and never works out!"
They all stumbled as the Doctor put the TARDIS into flight. "That knowledge could have advanced humanity!" Adam defended. "I-I was trying to help!"
"Yourself!" Danielle snapped back. "You were trying to help yourself! Well done, your own selfishness almost cost humanity its existence! And you only care that you got caught!"
The TARDIS thudded to the ground as it landed, and the three humans stumbled again. The Doctor, still fuming at both Adam and himself, cut Danielle off in her rant and grabbed Adam by the shoulder once again. He marched the boy out through the door and into the twee living room they were now parked in.
"It's my house. I'm home!" Adam exclaimed, chuckling in surprise, "Oh, my God, I'm home!" He seemed to realise that his reaction wasn't the best, because he stopped laughing and turned to the Doctor, much more solemn. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."
The Doctor had no time for any sympathy. "Is there something else you want to tell me?"
"No. What do you mean?" Adam asked, shuffling from one foot to the other.
The Doctor just stormed over to the answering machine. He knew the human boy thought himself so clever, but a type two chip needs information to be any use. He picked up the machine. "The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world."
Adam's mouth opened and closed as he tried to figure out an excuse, but couldn't. Rose just looked at him in complete disappointment and disinterest, but Danielle was still fuming at his actions.
The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the machine, and a moment later it exploded, smoke streaming from the inside. "That's it, then. See you."
He walked back over to the TARDIS as Adam turned in surprise. "How do you mean, 'see you'?"
"As in goodbye," the Doctor replied like it was obvious.
"But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens."
"What, and that's news to you?" Danielle snapped back. "You got it installed, you saved the information, did you think it was just going to wear off?" She strode over to him, jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "You are what is wrong with the world," she snarled. "You are selfish, petty and are always looking for someone else to blame your mistakes on. You're lucky that you were dropped off home so you can keep your head down and hope to God no one watches The Addams Family around you."
His brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
She held up both of her hands, and pointedly clicked his fingers twice. His forehead opened, showing his brain to them all, then closed again. "Good riddance," she spat before turning and heading into the TARDIS. She couldn't even look at him anymore.
She'd always been a bit cynical of people. Years of bullying at school, an absent father and a barely there mother meant that while she hadn't been devoid of friends, it didn't take a lot to break her trust. She hadn't really trusted Adam, either. His reaction to being in the future, on a spaceship, just said he'd only gone to get into Rose's pants anyway. All men were alike!
No, that wasn't fair. The Doctor hadn't been like that. He'd been trying to do his best, even if he'd aimed a gun at a Dalek that had just wanted its freedom. But his intentions were honourable, they weren't entirely for his selfish gain.
"I only take the best," she heard the Doctor tell Adam. "Come on, Rose. Danielle is waiting."
Danielle couldn't help the swell of pride in her chest at the words, but kept herself from grinning. Instead, she shot him a soft smile as he entered the TARDIS.
The Doctor couldn't look at her. Not because he blamed her, but because he blamed himself for her being in danger for any moment of time. Rose wasn't to know the difference between herself and the man she'd chosen to fancy; that was one of the things that had drawn him to her as a friend, the fact that she was obviously better than she thought she was.
He should have looked after them better, and the moment that Rose joined them, closing the door softly behind her, he took them off without a word.
Rose knew that he was angry, and that she needed to apologise. But not now. She'd been in enough arguments to know when an apology would just make the situation worse. Instead, once they'd settled from the take-off, she walked over to Danielle and placed a hand on her arm.
"Come on, we'll see if you have a room," she suggested, directing the other woman to the hallway.
"Room?" Danielle asked, sounding intrigued. "Why would I have a room?"
"The TARDIS, it's a living thing," Rose explained as the Doctor watched them leave the console room. "It created me a room when I first started travelling, I'm sure it's created one for you too."
"Really?" Was the last thing he heard Danielle say before they disappeared. "You think I'm going to be able to stay?"
~0~0~0~
Sorry, I did mean to post this up a little earlier, but I still hope you enjoyed it and very angry Danielle!
Reviews :D
Guest - Here ya go, better late than never :P
scarlet rose white - Thanks sweetie! hope you liked it!
bwburke94 - Ah, I don't think I can answer this without spoiling it either way, can I? :P
bored411 - Thanks sweetie! I don't know if this chapter is sassy or just plain angry XD
.5095110 - Hope you liked it :D
serenitysaiyan - Hehe yeah, the girlfriend thing probably will pop up again! Thanks for the support, sweetie xxx
PopstarJ01 - Oh, I'm already writing some, sweetie! Keep an eye out on Tumblr :P xxx