The Long Game- Part 3
The Doctor pulled up a schematic on a monitor. The Historian looked over his shoulder and pointed to the pipe. "Plumbing!" She grinned.
The Doctor nodded and waves Cathica and Rose over. "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?" Cathica frowned.
"But there's something wrong." The Historian frowned.
Cathica sighed "I suppose."
Rose looked over. "Why, what is it?"
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channelling massive amounts of heat down."
The Doctor nodded at Cathica. "All the way from the top."
Rose stared up. "Floor five hundred."
The Doctor leant back. "Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."
Rose nodded. "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?"
"You read my mind." The Historian smirked.
Cathica shook her head. " You can't. You need a key."
The Doctor looked at Rose and the Historian. "Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override two one five point nine."
The monitor showed them 215.9976/31, and Cathica looked at him with wide eyes. "How come it's given you the code?"
" Someone up there likes me." He muttered.
***** *****
"Come on. Come with us." Rose pleads with Cathica as they stood outside a lift
"No way."
"Bye then!" The Historian grinned.
Cathica huffed at them. " Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." she headed off into the station.
The Doctor shrugged and look to Rose and the Historian. " That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us."
The Historian linked an arm between the pair and looked to the lift. "How it's meant to be." She sighed.
***** *****
The Historian was the first one to step out of the lift and look around the room... it was freezing. She looked to the Doctor and Rose. "Well, one things for sure... the walls certainly arent made of gold."
The Doctor looked to Rose. "You should go back downstairs."
"Tough."
He looked to the Historian for help, who shrugged. "Girls spoken, Doctor. Shes staying."
The walked deeper into the room, seeing people sat behind desks... but they looked almost frozen in place... and a man in a dark suit watching over 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 three, 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 gasped when she saw Suki at one of the desks. " Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?"
The Historian shook her head. "Rose, shes dead."
"She's working."
" They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets."
The man gasped and grinned. "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?"
The Doctor shook his head. " It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on."
Suki grabbed Rose's arm, as two others grabbed the Doctor and Historian. The man glared down at the Doctor and Historian. "Tell me who you are."
The Doctor shook his head. "Since that information's keeping us alive, we're hardly going to say, are we?."
"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."
"And who's that?" The Historian asked sarcastically.
" 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." A strange growl rang out in the room... " Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client."
The Historian looked up, seeing a large, terrifying lump on the ceiling. "What in the sweet hell is that?" She glared at him. "That... thing is in charge of Satellite 5?"
" 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 Historian, Doctor and Rose had been placed in a hefty set of manacles each, "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."
Rose frowned at him "So all the people on Earth are like, slaves."
"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"
The Doctor scoffed at him. "Yes."
"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"
" Yes."
"You're no fun."
"Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am."
He smirked and looked to the Historian. "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."
"Not really, slavery isnt something I usually celebrate." The Historian glared.
"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. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."
The Historian, Rose and Doctor spotted cathina in the back of the room, behind the man in front of them.
Rose frowned at him. "What about you? You're not a Jagrabelly-"
" Jagrafess." The Doctor and Historian hissed.
" Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."
" Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well."
Rose frowned."But you couldn't have done this all on your own."
" No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself."
The Doctors eyes locked onto the man. "No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?"
"Three thousand years."
The Historian smirked. "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."
"But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?"
He snapped his fingers and energy surges through the manacles. The Historian watched Rose push against them harder than the Timelords... she caught the Doctors eye who glared ahead, nodding slightly. "Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler. That's the Historian. We're nothing, we're just wandering."
"Tell me who you are!"
"I just said!"
"Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly-" he stopped as The Jagrafess growled slowly.
"Time Lord."
The Historian frowned. "What?"
"Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in their travelling machine... with his long lost wife, so happy to have his love back... Oh, and their human friend."
The Doctor scoffed, avoiding the Historian "You don't know what you're talking about."
" Time travel."
The Historian sighed at him. "Someone's been telling you lies."
"Young master Adam Mitchell?"
The Historian groaned as he was on a monitor, using the broadcasting chair... with a portal in his head. "Dammit."
Rose gasped. "Oh, my God. His head!"
The Doctord eyes widened as he yelled. "What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything."
He grinned and turned to the three. "And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Historian, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T A R D I S. Tardis."
The Doctor glared "Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first."
"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key."
The key rose from Adam's pocket as the doctor glared towards Rose. "You and your boyfriends!"
"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing."
The Historian glared. "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."
Just then, the key fell onto the floor. "What's happening!?" He looked to the monitors "Someone's disengaged the safety. Who's that?"
A new face appeared on the monitor. "It's Cathica." Rose grinned
The Doctor grinned along with her. "And she's thinking. She's using what she knows."
"Terminate her access."
"Everything we told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it. Look at that."
(The Historian smirked as the ice around the room began to melt. "Getting hot in here isnt it?"
"I said, terminate. Burn out her mind."
" Oh no, you don't. You should have promoted me years back." Cathica glared on the monitor.
Then, the consoles exploded and the dead operators collapse. Alarms sound in the rest of Satellite Five. Rose pushed her way out of the manacles.
"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano." The Historian grinend.
The Jagrafess growled loudly. " Yes, I'm trying, sir, but I don't know how she did it. It's impossible. A member of staff with an idea."
Rose grabbed the screwdriver from the Doctors pocket and looked at him frantically. "What do I do?"
"Flick the switch! Oi, mate, want to bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!"
The Doctor fell out and used his screwdriver on the Historian, the three of them running back to the lift as fast as they could.
"Actually, sir, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll resign. Bye, then!" He tried to follow the three out, but Suki grabbed his ankle, pulling him to the floor.
The Jagrafess exploded, the Historian was hit by some ice, but managed to fell through the doors with the Doctor and Rose, clicking her fingers to close Cathica's portal on her head...
***** *****
The Doctor sat beside the Historian on floor 139 as a nurse tried to persuade her to let her stitch up her head. "Oi, she said no. Beat it."
She rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "You dont have to keep saving me. But thank you."
"Don't mention it." He grinned.
She leant back against a window and sighed. "What a day. Met a strange lump on the ceiling, and blew it up."
"The Jagrafess." The Doctor said as he looked over to her. "It certain knew a thing or two about us."
She nodded. "Right? How did it know we were married?"
"Not exactly what I meant."
The Historian sighed and wiped her forehead with the towel she was given. "This isnt exactly the place to talk about... anything is it?" She huffed. "In the middle of the Station?"
Before he could reply, Cathica was looking over them. The Doctor looked to 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."
" Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal."
Cathica looked to Adam. "What about your friend?"
" He's not my friend."
Rose huffed and headed towards them. "Now, don't."
Adam sighed. " 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? You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge."
The Historian stood up and took hold of Adam's shoulder. "Come on!"
***** *****
The Historian folded her arms and looked out at the house. Adam's eyes widened. "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 frowned. "Is there something else you want to tell me?"
"No. What do you mean?"
The Doctor picked up the Doctor machine on a table and frowned at Adam. "The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world." He pointed his sonic at it and it exploded... "That's it, then. See you."
" How do you mean, see you?" Adam asked.
"As in goodbye."
"But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens."
"Like this?" The Historian smirked as she clicked her fingers, his head opening up.
"Don't." He huffed.
The doctor smirked. "Don't do what?" He clicked again.
"Stop it!"
Rose stepped out. "All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it."
"Thank you." Rose smirked and clocked her fingers. "Oi!"
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."
The Historiann turned to Adam. "The whole of history could have changed because of you."
"I just wanted to help."
The doctor shook his head. "You were helping yourself."
"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-"
"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. Good luck."
"But I want to come with you."
The Doctor shrugged before going in the TARDIS. "We only take the best. We've got Rose."