Initium

Part Two

The Doctor pursed his lips, "It doesn't matter." He waved her question off and walked away to try a different door.

"Well, it does to me." She persisted, "I've just put my life in your hands."

"I'm just a traveller," He sighed, lifting his hand to another palm reader, "wandering past. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life."

"So...if we get out of here, what're you going to do?" Lynda gulped, "Just wander off again?"

"Fast as I can."

"So, I could come with you?" She asked hesitantly, watching closely for his reaction.

The Doctor nodded slowly, "Maybe you could."

Lynda perked up and smiled, "I wouldn't get in the way."

"I wouldn't mind if you did." The Doctor chuckled, "Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y." He moved away from the door and looked around the large room with a frown, "But first of all, we've got to concentrate on the getting out. And to do that, you've got to know your enemy. Who's controlling it? Who's in charge of the satellite now?"

"Hold on," Lynda murmured before jogging over to a light breaker, pulling it down. A light flickered on revealing a large sign above the elevators that read 'Bad Wolf Corporation'. "Your lords and masters."

The Doctor's breath hitched when his gaze flickered up to see the two familiar words that seemed to follow him and his companions around space and time.

•☆•

"Blimey." Lynda breathed out, stepping up the metal stairs onto the observation deck. The large window allowed them to see Earth, though it looked different from the last time the Doctor had seen it. There was a light brown fog covering the atmosphere, hiding away the green and blue that would normally glow with beauty.

"I've never seen it for real before," Lynda admitted leaning closer to the window with wide eyes. "Not from orbit. Planet Earth."

The Doctor frowned at the sick looking planet, "What's happened to it?"

"Well, it's always been like that Ever since I was born. See that there? That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breathe outside."

With furrowed brows, the Doctor turned to the blonde and crossed his arms. "So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?"

"Ten thousand channels," Lynda nodded, "all beaming down from here."

"The Human Race." The Doctor mumbled in disbelief, "Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of...Mind you, have they still got that programme where three people have to live with a bear?"

Lynda hummed happily as she smiled up at the Timelord. "Bear With Me? I love that one!"

The Doctor laughed and agreed. "And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath."

"Got in the bath!" Lynda exclaimed along with him.

"But it's all gone wrong." The Doctor changed the subject matter to the problem at hand, "I mean, history's gone wrong again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don't understand. Last time I was here I put it right." He stated firmly, he remembered exactly what happened with the Jagrafress.