Suki stands in the lift waiting for it to stop, clutching the strap of her bag. She watches the floor numbers increase as she reaches the Floor 500. The door behind her opens and she turns around, from inside the lift she looks about the new room noticing frost covering everything. Suki slowly walks to the door of the lift stopping and bending down to pick up a duffel bag.
Suki walks off the lift and looks around confused, when the door closes. She rushes to the door and tries to open it, to no success. She takes out a torch from her bag and turns it on. She makes her way deeper into the room, behind some shredded plastic curtains she finds a corpse with its forehead hole open and other skeletons seated around it, just like in the broadcast area down on the Floor 139.
She backs out of that room and notices a bright light slowly emerge from an opening doorway. She walks to the door and takes one last look around the room before entering the light. Walking into a room Suki is met by the Editor and some frosted computer operators. She turns her torch off and the Editor waves to her. Suki carefully makes her way up to the man.
"Who are you?" she asks.
"I'm the Editor."
"What's happening? There are bodies out there. What's going on?"
"While we're asking questions, would you please confirm your name?" the Editor snaps his fingers and a hologram lights up showing Suki.
"My name is Suki Macrae Cantrell. I was born 199 apostrophe 89 in the Independant Republic of Morocco." the hologram says.
"Liar." the Editor says.
"Hobbies include reading and archaeology. I'm not an expert or anything, I just like digging." hologram Suki informs them.
"Liar." the Editor snaps his fingers again.
"I want to work for Satellite Five because my sister can't afford university.." the hologram says, as the Editor holds his watch and shakes his head, Suki looks back up at the hologram a little worriedly. "And the pay-scheme is really good..."
"LIAR!" the Editor snaps his fingers again this time to turn the hologram off. "Let's look at the facts, shall we?" he snaps his fingers and another hologram appears in front of them. "Ah, hidden behind a genetic graft, but that's still you. Eva Saint Julienne, last surviving member of the Freedom Fifteen." he continues as Suki puts her hand subtly into her handbag searching for something. "Mmm, self-declared anarchist, is that right?"
Suki pulls out a gun "Who controls Satellite Five?" she aims it at the man, who raises his hands.
The man starts to laugh and claps his hands "There's the truth."
"The Freedom Foundation has been monitoring Satellite Five's transmissions. We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated. YOU are lying to the people."
"Oooh, I love it! Say it again." he laughs.
"This whole system is corrupt." she takes a step forward still aiming the gun at the man "Who do you represent?"
"I'm merely a humble slave. I answer to the Editor In Chief."
"Who is he, where is he?"
"He's overseeing everything. Literally everything. If you don't mind, I'm gonna have to refer this upwards." he points up towards the ceiling.
"Grrr!"
"What is that?" Suki asks now pointing her gun at the creature on the ceiling.
"Your boss. This has always been your boss. Since the day you were born." the Editor informs her. Suki shoots at the creature as it lowers itself towards the screaming woman.
___________
Adam walks over the little bridge and enters the observation deck. He looks around first to make sure no-one sees him before he places his hand on a palm print on a vertical console.
"Give me access." he says and the machine makes a noise. "Give me..." he starts before removing his hand from the console as if he had experienced an electrical shock. "I can learn anything." he smiles.
He turns his head to make sure no-one is coming and places his hand back on the console. "Let's try, erm, computers. From the 21st century to the present day, give me the history of the microprocessor." the computer scans and shows him the history of the microprocessor. "Oh, my god."
___________
"Look they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?" Cathica asks the three, as they enter the broadcasting room.
"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" the Doctor asks taking a seat on the middle chair, as Rose and the Captain walk up to the chair, Rose rests her hand on the head rest.
"I went to Floor 16 when I first arrived, that's Medical, that's where I got my head done and then I... I came straight here." she writes on a clipboard. "Satellite Five. You work, eat and sleep on the same floor, that's it. That's all." she kneels down to check a station. The three look at the woman. "You're not management, are you?"
"At last, she's clever." the Doctor says looking at the now standing woman.
"Yeah, well whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." Cathica says.
"Don't you even ask?" the Captain asks her.
"Why would I?"
"You're a journalist!" the man says.
"Why's all the crew human?" the Doctor asks.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asks.
"There's no aliens on board. Why?" he asks.
"I dunno, no real reason. They're not banned." she tells them.
"Then where are they?" the Captain asks.
She pauses for a second to think about it "I suppose immigration's tightened up... It's hard to, with all the threats." she says.
"What threats?" the Doctor asks.
"I dunno, all of them. Usual stuff. The price of spacewarp doubled, so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Fice collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, y'see? Just lots of reasons, that's all." she says continuing to walk round the room and making notes on her clipboard.
"Adding up to one great big fact. And you didn't even notice." the Captain states.
"Captain, I think if there was any sort of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything." she tells him.
"We can see better." the Doctor informs her. "This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."
"It's cutting edge!" she exclaims.
"It's backwards. There's a great door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago." the Captain says, the Doctor nods along in agreement.
"So, what d'you think is going on?" Rose asks the two men.
"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude the way people think. The Great and Bountiful Human Empire's stunted, something's holding it back." the Doctor says.
"And how would you know?" Cathica asks him.
"Trust me, humanity's been set back about 90 years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" the Doctor asks.
"91 years ago." Cathica responds. The Captain and Doctor nod their heads.
___________
"Mum, Dad, keep this message, okay?" Adam says through the mobile phone he kept.
___________
"Whatever you do, don't erase it." his voice can be heard through the answering machine and the small dog rushes over to the side table. "Save it, you got that?"
___________
Adam takes the phone in his other hand and turns back to the console, placing his free hand on it. "The microprocessor became redundant in the year 2019..."
___________
The little dog stands on its hind legs listening to the man "..replaced by a system called SMT - that's Single Molecule Transcription..."
___________
The screen flashes with the words 'Floor 16' on. "No, no, no, no, no! What are you doing? Come back, come..." he kicks the machine "Why are you doing that? What's Floor 16? What's down there?"
___________
A lift opens to Floor 16 and Adam walks out, he looks around and sees there are a bunch of desks with people sitting at them. Noticing a free desk he looks back to see if anyone was going to talk to the person on the other side of the desk.
He walks up to the desk "Sorry, erm... Floor 16, that's, erm... What do you cover?" he asks.
"Medical non-emergency." a nurse tells him.
"Right! Wrong floor. I'm having technical difficulties, my screen keeps freezing, locking me out." he tells her.
"No, that's medical. There must be something wrong with your chip." the nurse tells him.
"Yes. Yeah, of course, yeah. I haven't got one." he says.
"No wonder you can't get a screen to work. What are you, a... student?" she asks.
"Yes. Yeah, I'm, erm..." he takes a seat on the chair. "I'm on a research project... from the University of Mars."
The nurse rolls her eyes "The Martian Boondocks, typical."
"Yep!" he smiles.
"Well, you still need chipping." she says going back to work.
"So, does that mean, like... brain surgery?"
"That's an old-fashioned phrase, but it's the same thing, yes."
"Oh. Okay. Never mind... But if I get a chip, that means I could use any computer?" he asks.
"Absolutely. You'll have to pay for it. They've stopped subsidising."
"Oh, right, sorry. Wasting your time. Thanks." he says standing up from his seat and as he starts to walk away he puts his hand in his pocket and takes out the card. "Hold on." he turns around. "Can I use this?"
"That'll do nicely." she smiles.
___________
Adam is sitting in an operating chair as the nurse walks over to him.
"It all comes down to two basic types. Type one, the head-chip." she pushes the man back in the seat and puts a circular device above his head. "inserted into the back of the skull, one hundred credits. There's the chip." she says walking over to a tray and shows him the chip. "Tiny, invisible, no scarring." she puts the chip back down. "Type two is the full info-spike."
"Oh, erm, that's the..." he points to his forehead "thing."
"That's the one. It does cost 10,000." she tells him.
"Oh, well, I, erm, I couldn't afford it then."
"Not at all. Turns out you've got unlimited credit." she says showing him the card he had given her.
"No, but I.. well, I couldn't have it done. I mean... that's gotta hurt, hasn't it?"
"Painless. Contractual guarantee."
"No, my...my mate's waiting upstairs, I can't have major surgery." he laughs.
"It takes ten minutes. That sort of money buys very fast picosurgeon."
"No, but I... I couldn't though, no."
"Type one, you can interface with a simple computer. Type two, you ARE the computer. You can transmit any piece of information from the archive of Satellite Five, which is just about the entire history of the human race. Now... which one's it going to be?"
___________
The Doctor and Captain use their sonic screwdrivers on a pair of double doors.
"We're so gonna get in trouble." Cathica says to herself, as she keeps watch. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, we'll get told off." Cathica whispers to the two men.
"Rose, tell her to button it." the Doctor says.
"You can't vandalise the place, someone's gonna notice." Cathica says. The two men get the door open.
___________
"I don't understand. We did a full security scan. Those men were there when we found Suki Macrae Cantrell. There were no indications about them. And yet here they are. Clearly acting outside the parameters." the Editor says walking and crouching down beside the newest computer operator, Suki. "Fascinating."
"Grrr!"
"Yes, sir! Absolutely! At once." he says to the creature above him. "Check them." he tells Suki. "Double check them, triple check them, quadruple." he tells the other operators.
___________
"This is nothing to with me, I'm going back to work." Cathica says starting to walk away from the three.
"Go on then, see ya." the Doctor says. The Captain waves at the woman.
"I can't just leave you, can I?" she stops and turns back round.
"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down, it's boiling." Rose says looking through the wires.
The Doctor uses his screwdriver to scan the wires, as the Captain tries to see if he can find any useful in the mess of the mainframe.
"What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?" Rose asks Cathica.
"I don't know, we keep asking. Something to do with the turbines." she says.
"Something to do with the turbines." the Doctor mocks.
"Well, I don't know!" she says.
"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica. Now look at Rose is asking the right kind of questions."
"I thank you." Rose says smiling.
"Why is it so hot?" he asks.
"One minute you worry about the Empire, the next it's the central heating." Cathica exclaims.
"Oh, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." the Captain says, as the Doctor rips out some wires.
___________
"Security scan complete." the computer says.
"Well, who are they?" the Editor asks.
"They are no-one."
The man laughs "What does THAT mean?"
"They are no-one."
"What, you mean they have a fake ID?" he asks.
"They have no identification."
"But everyone's registered. We have a census for the entire Empire!"
"They are no-one."
"What? They don't exist? Not anywhere?" he asks the computer confused.
"They are no-one."
"What about the blonde?"
"She is no-one."
"ALL of them?!" he chuckles nervously. "Well, we all know what happens to non-entities. They get promoted." he says placing a hand on the shoulder of one of the frosted computer operators. "Bring them up."
___________
"Here we go. Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." the Doctor shows a screen with the layout and steps out of the mainframe doorway to let Cathica have a better look at the screen.
"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You could look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange... And you're looking at pipes?" she says looking at the screen glancing back at the two men.
"BUT... there's something wrong." the Captain says pointing at the screen.
"I suppose..." she looks back at the screen.
"Why what is it?" Rose asks.
"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts. Ice filters. All working flat out. Channelling massive amounts of heat down." she says.
"All the way from the top." the Captain adds.
"Floor 500." Rose says.
"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat." the Doctor says.
"Well, I don't know about you but I feel I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose says.
"You can't, you need a key." Cathica says.
"Keys are just codes. And we've got the codes right here." the Captain says as the Doctor makes his way to the screen.
"Here we go. Override 215.9." the Doctor says.
"How come it's giving YOU the code?" Cathica asks.
"Someone up there likes me." the Doctor says looking up.
___________
The Editor watching the Doctor say this laughs.
___________
Adam looks at himself in a mirror and touches his forehead.
"I told you it was painless. No scarring, you see?" the nurse says, Adam nods. "Perfect success."
"How do I... activate it?" Adam asks.
"It's a personal choice. Some people whistle. I know one man who triggers it with 'Oh, Danny Boy'." she says and Adam looks over at her. "But you're set on default for now. That's a click of the fingers."
"So you mean I just...?" Adam starts.
"Click." the nurse shows him how to click.