The Doctor fell out of a spinning cupboard with a groan, slow to get up. "Oh my God!" someone yelped, and he saw a blond woman in a white jacket run over. "I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming!"
"What happened?" he managed to ask, accepting her help in standing up. "I was - "
"Careful now," she told him as he stumbled a little. "Oh! Oh, mind yourself! Oh, that's the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what's your name then, sweetheart?"
"The Doctor, I think," he replied, still trying to get his bearings. "I was, er . . . I don't know. What happened? How - "
"You got chosen," she replied simply.
"Chosen for what?"
"You're a housemate! You're in the house! Isn't that brilliant?"
"That's not fair!" someone groaned, and the Doctor looked up to see a man in a T-shirt glowering at him. "We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks. I've followed the rules. I haven't had a single warning, and then he comes swanning in!"
"If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am," a dark-skinned woman in pink brought up. "You watch me. I'm going to paint the walls."
"Would the Doctor please come to the diary room?" The Doctor looked up, hearing the voice, and obediently shuffled through a door with a stylized eye on it, and sat down in a comfy chair. "You are live on Channel 44,000. Please do not swear."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding."
***
Jessie rolled her neck around, groaning as she woke up. "What happened?" she asked groggily.
"It's all right," a male voice replied, and as she regained focus, she saw a dark-skinned man bending over her. "It's the transmat. Does your head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"
"Jessie," she replied, sitting up. "But where's the Doctor?"
"Just remember: do what the android says. Don't provoke it. The android's word is law."
"What do you mean, 'android?'" she asked. "It can't be a phone. A robot?"
"Positions, everyone!" a woman barked out. "Thank you!"
"Come on, hurry up," the man told her, helping her stand. "Steady, steady."
She stumbled a little, leaning on him for support. "I was traveling with the Doctor and a man called Captain Jack. The Doctor wouldn't just leave me."
"That's enough chat," the floor manager told her. "Positions! Final call! Good luck!"
"I'm not supposed to be here!"
"It says Jessie on the podium," the man told her, and she blinked when she did indeed see her name on the podium. "Come on."
"Hold on," she said slowly, standing next to him, seeing his podium read Roderick. "I'm going mad. This looks like - "
"Android activated!" the floor manager announced.
Jessie blanched when the robot in front of them lit up. "Oh my God," she gasped. "Android. Anne droid."
"Welcome to The Weakest Link!" the Anne droid announced.
***
"I can't open it," the Doctor muttered as he used the sonic screwdriver on the surroundings.
"It's got a deadlock seal," the blond explained, watching him. "Ever since Big Brother 504 when they all walked out. You must remember that."
The Doctor pointed to an alcove that had a picture in it. "What about this?"
"Oh, that's exoglass. You'd need a nuclear bomb to get through."
The Doctor snorted. "Don't tempt me."
"I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world," she said hesitantly, "but you must've been watching. Do people like me?" He raised an eyebrow. "Lynda. Lynda with a 'Y,' not Linda with an 'I.' She got forcibly evicted because she damaged the camera. Am I popular?"
"I don't remember," he deflected.
"Oh, but does that mean I'm nothing?" she whined. "Some people get this far just because they're insignificant. Doesn't anybody notice me?"
"No." The Doctor quickly tried to think of something. "You're . . . you're nice. You're sweet. Everybody thinks you're sweet."
"Oh, is that right?" she asked, sounding excited. "Is that what I am? Oh, no one's ever told me that before. Am I sweet? Really?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Dead sweet."
"Thank you!"
"It's a wall," the Doctor commented, knocking on the said structure. "Isn't there supposed to be a garden out there or something?"
"Don't be daft," Lynda snorted. "No one's got a garden anymore. Who's got a garden? Don't tell me you've got a garden."
"No. I've just got the TARDIS." He stopped short, memories flooding his mind. "I remember!"
"That's the amnesia!" Lynda told him, leaning on the counter towards him. "So, what happened? Where did they get you?"
"We'd just left Raxacoricofallapatorius," he replied slowly. "Then we went to Kyoto." He nodded, grinning as he remembered. "That's right! Japan in 1336, and we only just escaped. We were together. We were laughing, and then there was this light. This white light coming through the walls, and then . . . " He looked around. "And then I woke up here."
"Yeah, that's the transmat beam," Lynda explained. "That's how they pick the housemates."
"Oh, Lynda with a 'Y,'" the Doctor sighed. "Sweet little Lynda. It's worse than that. I'm not just a passing traveler. No stupid little transmat gets inside y ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means this isn't just a game. There's something else going on." He approached one of the eyes on the walls. "Well, here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. I'm getting out. I'm going to find my friends." He pointed at it. "And then I'm going to find you."
***
"Nineteen, eighteen," the floor manager began counting. "Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen. Thank you, people! Transmitting in twelve, eleven, ten - "
"But I need to find the Doc - " Jessie began.
"Just shut up and play the game," Roderick hissed to her.
"Seven, six - "
"All righty then," Jessie muttered. "What the hell. I'll play to win!"
"Three, and cue!"
"Let's play The Weakest Link," the Anne droid declared. "Start the clock. Agorax, the name of which basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard?'"
"Bread," Agorax replied.
"Correct. Fitch, in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"
What the hell? Jessie wondered as the woman hesitantly answered. "Is it Clavadoe?"
"No. Pandoff." The Anne droid then turned to her. "Jessie, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"
Jessie blinked. "One hundred," she said slowly.
"Correct." Jessie kept blinking as the droid turned to Roderick. "Roderick - "
"Bank," he told it.
"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word 'dangle' but not in the word 'gland?'"
"E."
"Correct. Colleen, in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?"
"Default."
"Correct. Broff, the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?"
"Er . . . touchdown."
"No. Torchwood. Agorax, in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word 'facetious?'"
"Vowels."
"Correct. Fitch, in biology, which blood cells contain iron? Red or white?"
"White."
"No. Red." It was her turn again. "Jessie, in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising,' the Grexnik is married to whom?"
Jessie began laughing. "How the hell should I know?"
"No. The correct answer is Lord Drayvole."
"Good God almighty," she muttered.
There was one more round, then came choosing the weakest link. And of course, the Anne droid chose Jessie. "So, Jessie, what do you actually do?"
"I just travel around a bit," Jessie replied, shrugging. "Bit of a tourist, I suppose."
"Another way of saying unemployed."
She blinked. "Um, no."
"Have you got a job?"
"Federal agent, but recently - "
"Then you are unemployed. And yet, you've still got enough money to buy peroxide." Jessie looked at Roderick and mouthed "what?" "Why Fitch?"
Jessie chewed her lip. "Er . . . I think she got a few of the questions wrong. That's all."
"Oh, you'd know all about that."
Jessie had gotten quite a few wrong, and she winced. "Well, yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch. That's the game. It's how it works. I had to vote for someone."
"Let me try again!" Fitch pleaded. "It was the lights and everything. I couldn't think!"
"In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but it's the votes that count."
"I'm sorry," Fitch sobbed. "Please. Oh, God, help me!"
"Fitch, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!"
Jessie watched in shock as a barrel emerged from the Anne droid's mouth, and a beam shot Fitch, disintegrating her. "Oh my God!" Jessie gasped.
"And we've gone to the adverts. Back in three minutes!" the floor manager announced.
Jessie turned to Roderick. "What's that?" she demanded. "What just happened?"
"She was the weakest link. She gets disintegrated," he replied. "Blasted into atoms."
"But I voted for her," Jessie whispered. "Oh my . . . " She shook her head, looking around at everything. "This is sick. All of you, you're just sick! I'm not playing this!"
"I'm not playing!" Broff shouted. "I can't do it! I'm not! Please, somebody let me out of here!"
"You are the weakest link," the Anne droid replied. Jessie watched Broff run across the studio floor, her eyes widening as the Anne droid shot Broff as well. "Goodbye."
"Don't try to escape," Roderick told her darkly. "It's play or die."
Jessie choked down a sob, putting a hand over her mouth. God. Where am I?
***
"Doctor." The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Lynda and the other two housemates, Strood and Crosbie, who were sitting on the sofa. "They said all the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've got to."
"I'm busy getting out of here, thanks," he retorted.
"But if you don't obey, then all the housemates get punished!"
"Well, maybe I'll be voted out, then," the Doctor said lightly, but he joined them.
"How stupid are you?" Strood asked, a little angrily. "You've only just joined. You're not eligible!"
"Don't try anything clever or we all get it in the neck," Lynda warned.
"Big Brother House," a man's voice announced. "This is Davina Droid. Crosbie, Lynda, and Strood, you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is - " The Doctor sat back, bored, waiting for the name. "Crosbie!"
The dark-skinned woman's face turned to horror. Lynda began crying. "I'm sorry!" She hugged the woman. "Oh, I'm sorry! Sorry!"
"Oh, it should've been me!" Strood put in. "Oh, that's not fair, Crosbie love!"
"Crosbie, you have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you," the voice said.
"I won't forget you!" Lynda told her.
"I'm sorry I stole your soap," Crosbie managed to say as the three of them stood.
"I don't mind, honestly."
"Thanks for the food," Strood added. "You're a smashing cook. Bless you."
"Crosbie, please leave the Big Brother House."
"Bye, then. Bye, Lynda," Crosbie whispered as a door to a short white corridor opened.
"Bye," Lynda replied.
The Doctor watched Lynda and Strood make an arch, and Crosbie walked through. As the door closed, Lynda held a hand over her mouth, tears in her eyes. "I don't believe it," she whispered. "Crosbie."
"It's only a game show," the Doctor told them, not understanding why they were so upset. "She'll make a fortune on the outside. Sell her story. Release a record, fitness video . . . all of that. She'll be laughing."
"What do you mean, on the outside?" Lynda asked, confused.
"Here we go," Strood said tightly.
They both rejoined the Doctor on the sofa, and the Doctor leaned back, confused, seeing Crosbie still standing there. "What are they waiting for?" he asked. "Why don't they just let her go?"
"Stop it," Lynda demanded, and he looked at her in shock. "It's not funny."
"Eviction in five, four, three, two, one."
The Doctor sat upright when a beam from the ceiling shot Crosbie, and she disappeared in a puff of smoke. "What was that?" he demanded.
"Disintegrator beam," Strood replied.
"She's been evicted," Lynda put in. "From life."
"Are you insane?" the Doctor asked, standing. "You just step right into the disintegrator? Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?"
"You're talking like we've got a choice!"
The Doctor stopped, now thoroughly confused. "But I thought you had to apply."
"Don't be stupid," Strood snorted. "That's how they played it centuries back."
"You get chosen whether you like it or not," Lynda explained. "Everyone on Earth is a potential contestant. The transmat beam picks you out at random. And it's nonstop. There are sixty Big Brother houses running all at one."
The Doctor blinked. "How many? Sixty?"
Strood nodded. "They've had to cut back. It's not what it was."
"It's a charnel house!" The Doctor turned to them. "What about the winners? What do they get?"
"They get to live," Lynda replied simply.
"Is that it?"
"Well, isn't that enough?" she asked incredulously.
"Jess is out there," the Doctor told them, narrowing his eyes. "She got caught in the transmat. She's a contestant." And she could die. He stood up, beginning to pace as his adrenaline began to pump with the thought of Jessie dying. That's not going to happen. He turned back to the two of them. "That other contestant, Linda with an 'I.' She was forcibly evicted for what?"
"Damage to property," Lynda replied.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What? Like this?"
He pointed his sonic screwdriver at a camera, and he watched in satisfaction as it exploded. I'm going to get you, Jess.
***
"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!"
Jessie winced as Colleen was the next to be disintegrated. "Going to the break!" the floor manager called out. "Two minutes on the clock. Just a reminder: we've got solar flare activity coming up in ten. Thanks, everyone!"
"Colleen was clever," Jessie told Roderick as they stepped off. "She banked all our money. And you voted for her why?"
"Because I want to keep you in," Roderick replied, and she blinked. "You're stupid!"
"Hey!" she protested.
"You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname." Still don't know who in Odin's name she is, she thought with a snort. "When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you so that you get disintegrated and I get a stack load of credits courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation."
She turned to him in shock. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "Who's Bad Wolf?"
"They're in charge. They run the Game Station."
"Why are they called Bad Wolf?" she pressed, adrenaline beginning to run.
"I don't know. It's just a name. It's like an Old Earth nursery rhyme sort of thing. What does it matter?"
Jessie turned back towards the Anne droid. "I keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Bad Wolf."
"The things you've seen. The darkness. The big Bad Wolf."
"Attention all personnel. Bad Wolf One descending."
"Blaidd Drwg."
"What's it mean?"
"Bad Wolf."
"Different times in different places," Jessie murmured. "It's like it's written all over the universe!"
"What're you going on about?" Roderick demanded.
She grinned at him. "If Bad Wolf is in charge of this quiz, then maybe I'm not here by mistake!" She looked up at the words, now more sure than ever. "Someone's been planning this."
***
"The Doctor, you've broken the House rules. Big Brother has no choice but to evict you. You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you."
"That's more like it!" the Doctor said happily, fidgeting by the door. "Come on, then. Open up!"
"You're mad!" Lynda declared, looking at him in shock. "It's like you want to die!"
"I reckon he's a plant," Strood said. "He was only brought in to stir things up."
"The Doctor, please leave the Big Brother house."
The Doctor walked into the corridor, grinning and looking around. "Come on, then! Disintegrate me!" he shouted. "Come on! What're you waiting for?"
"Eviction in five, four, three, two, one."
The Doctor grinned when nothing happened. "Aha!" he cried gleefully. "I knew it! You see, someone brought me into this game. If they'd wanted me dead, they could've transmatted me into a volcano! Maybe security isn't as right this end," he added, opening the door to the other side of the corridor. He looked up at a camera. "Are you following this? I'm getting out!" He thought for a second, then looked back as Lynda opened the door back to the house he'd been in. "Come with me," he offered,
"We're not allowed!" Strood shouted.
"Stay in there, you've got a fifty fifty chance of disintegration," the Doctor told Lynda, who was looking back and forth between them. "Stay with me, I promise I'll get you out alive. Come on!"
She swallowed, shaking her head. "No, I can't. I can't."
"Lynda," he told her gently. "You're sweet. From what I've seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?"
He held out his hand, and he gave her a small smile as she took it. When they ran out the other way, the Doctor stopped in surprise. "Hold on. I've been here before." He looked around. "This is Satellite Five. No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth."
"No one's called it Satellite Five in ages," Lynda told him. "It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in a hundred years."
"A hundred years exactly," the Doctor agreed, still looking around. "It's the year two-zero-zero-one-zero-zero. I was here before. Floor One-Three-Nine. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea."
She gaped at him. "A hundred years ago? What? You were here a hundred years ago?"
"Yep!"
"You're looking good on it."
The Doctor nodded. "I moisturize." He used his sonic screwdriver on a panel. "Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy. The place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?"
"I don't know," Lynda admitted. "I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."
The Doctor looked at her. "I had two friends traveling with me. They must've gotten caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?"
"I don't know. They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games."
"Like what?" he pressed.
"Well," she began slowly, thinking. "There's ten floors of Big Brother. There's a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there's all sorts of shows. It's nonstop. There's Call My Bluff, with real guns. Countdown, where you've got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off. Ground Force, which is a nasty one." She wrinkled her nose. "You get turned into compost. Er, Wipeout . . . speaks for itself. Oh, and Stars In Their a Eyes. Literally. Stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded."
"And you watch this stuff?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.
"Everyone does," Lynda replied defensively. "How come you don't?"
He shrugged. "Never paid for my license."
Her jaw dropped. "Oh my God! You get executed for that!"
"Oh, let them try," he growled.
"You keep saying things that don't make sense! Who are you though, Doctor? Really?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Well, it does to me," she retorted. "I've just put my life in your hands."
"I'm just a traveler, 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? Just wander off again?"
He nodded. "Fast as I can."
She hesitated. "Could I come with you?"
The Doctor considered. "Maybe you could."
"I wouldn't get in the way."
He began nodding. "I wouldn't mind if you did. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a 'Y.'" He turned around. "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?"
Lynda ran over to a light breaker. "Hold on." She flipped it, and the Doctor looked up as a sign lit up. His jaw dropped as Lynda looked over at him. "Your lords and masters."
Bad Wolf Corporation.
***
Sure, Jack hadn't minded being on What Not To Wear. He'd actually been enjoying it . . . before one of those droids had tried to deface him. Literally. He fiddled with the defabricator - it did exactly what it sounded like - and kept on talking. "Compatible systems. Just align the wave signature . . . " He grinned. "Atta boy! Got myself a gun." He cocked it expertly, then looked down at the two droids now disintegrated. "Well, ladies, the pleasure was all mine. Which is the only thing that matters in the end."
He ran out of the room, barely taking notice of the floor - 299 - as he called the lift, looking at his watch. "Two hearts . . . that's him. Which floor?"
***
Lynda's jaw dropped as they made it to the observation deck. "Blimey! I've never seen it for real before. Not from orbit. Planet Earth."
The Doctor blinked. "What's happened to it?"
"Well, it's always been like that. Ever since I was born. See that there?" She pointed over to the planet. "That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going on twenty years. We get news flashes telling us she. It's safe to breathe outside."
He looked at her in disbelief. "So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too think and you lot just watch telly?"
"Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here."
"The human race," he muttered. "Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of - " He cut off, getting distracted. "Mind you, have three still got that program where three people have of live with a bear?"
Lynda grinned. "Oh, Bear With Me! I love that one!"
"And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath."
She blinked. "Got in the bath!" she repeated.
"But it's all gone wrong! I mean, history's gone wrong again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don't understand," he murmured. "Last time I was here, I put it right!"
"No, but that's when it first went wrong," Lynda told him. "A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels . . . they just shut down overnight."
"But that was me. I did that!"
"There was nothing left in their place," she explained. "No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell."
"Oh my God," the Doctor whispered, looking back down at a Earth. "I made this world."
***
Jessie took a deep breath as Agorax was disintegrated, leaving her with Roderick, fighting for her life on a game show of all things. "That leaves Jessie and Roderick," the Anne droid said. "You're going head to head. Let's play The Weakest Link."
"Right, that's the end of tactical voting," Roderick told her. "You're on your own now."
Jessie swallowed. "Doctor, where are you?" she whispered.
***
"Hey, handsome!" a familiar voice called, and the Doctor turned in shock as Jack bounded out of a lift. "Good to see you!" He grinned and hugged the former Time Agent, deciding not to comment on the huge gun he carries. "Any sign of Jessie?"
The Doctor pulled away abruptly, hearts freezing. "Can't you track her down?"
"She must still be in the games," Jack said, his face paling a little. "All the rooms are shielded."
"If I can just get inside this computer," he muttered working at a console. "She's got to be here somewhere."
"Well, you'd better hurry up. These games don't have a happy ending."
The Doctor threw a nasty look over his shoulder. "Do you think I don't know that?"
"There you go," Jack told him, handing over his wrist computer. "Patch that in. It's programmed to find her."
The Doctor nodded, going back to work. "Thanks."
He worked for a while, then sighed as Jack said, "Hey there."
"Hello," Lynda replied.
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Lynda Moss."
"Nice to meet you, Lynda Moss."
Of all the times and places, he thought in annoyance, snorting. "Do you mind flirting outside?" he asked.
"I was just saying hello!" Jack protested.
"For you, that's flirting," the Doctor countered.
"I'm not complaining," Lynda interrupted.
Jack grinned at her. "Muchas gracias," he told her, kissing her hand.
The Doctor groaned. "It's not compatible. This stupid system doesn't make sense!" He kicked the console in annoyance as Jack took the plate. "This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated! It's more than just television. This station's transmitting something else."
"Like what?" Jack asked as they worked.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulated my entire life. It's some sort of trap." He growled, his fury rising. "And Jess is stuck inside it!"
***
"Jessie, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which ancient British city?"
Jessie winced. "Is it York?" she guessed.
"No, the correct answer is Sheffield."
Jessie cursed in her head.
***
"Found her," the Doctor announced. "Floor Four Oh Seven."
"Oh my God," Lynda gasped as they got into the lift, and the Doctor turned to her, his fear rising as her face pales. "She's with the Anne droid. You've got to get her out of there!"
***
"Roderick, in literature, the author of Luck was Jackie who?"
"Stewart," he replied.
"No," the Anne droid denied. "The correct answer is Collins. Jessie, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"
She grinned, happy. She knew this one! "Boe!" she cried. She grinned at Roderick's surprised look. "The Face of Boe!"
"That is the correct answer. Roderick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?"
"Hoshbin Frane."
"That is the correct answer. Jessie, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"
Whatacue? she wondered. "Er . . . Mars?" she squeaked.
"No, the correct answer is Lucifer. Roderick, which measurement is said to have been defines by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?"
"Would that be a goffle?"
"No, the correct answer is a paab. Jessie, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"
"Shoes."
"No, the correct answer is hats."
***
The Doctor ran out of the lift, looking around. "Game Room Six," he shouted to the others as they began running around as well. "Which one is it?"
Lynda waved. "Over here!"
She practically pounded on the controls, and Jack hefted the huge gun he held. "Stand back," he told her. "Let me blast it open."
"You can't," the Doctor replied, his adrenaline running high as he worked on the lock. "It's made of Hydra combination. Come on, come on, come on!"
***
"Roderick, in physics, who discovers the Fifteen Dash Ten Barric Fields?"
"San Hazeldine."
"No, the correct answer is San Chen. Jessie, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?"
"Reykjavik?" she guessed.
"No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura."
She closed her eyes as Roderick turned to her in triumph. "Oh my God. I've done it!" he cheered. "You've lost!"
"I'm not meant to be here!" she snapped, backing away from the podium. "I need to find the Doctor! He's got to be here somewhere! He's always here! He wouldn't just leave me!"
"Roderick, you are the strongest link," the Anne droid announced. "You will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits."
"Oh, thank you!" Roderick replied, grinning like an idiot. "Thank you so much!"
"This game is illegal!" Jessie insisted, backing further away as the Anne droid turned to her. "I'm telling you to stop!"
"Jessie!" She nearly collapsed in relief when she heard the Doctor shout her name. "Stop this game!"
"Jessie, you leave this life with nothing," the Anne droid told her.
She took that as her cue to dodge through people who kept trying to keep her from running.
"Stop this game!" Jack shouted.
"I order you to stop this game!" the Doctor yelled as well, both of them trying to reach her.
"You are the weakest link."
Jessie promptly phased through the people trying to keep her from her friends and took off sprinting as fast as she could. "The Anne droid!" she shouted as she ran, hearing the gun powering up behind her. "It's armed!"
She heard the Doctor shout her name, but over all, she heard the Anne droid take its shot. She screamed once when the beam hit her.
And then nothing.
***
A talking Doctor when he was mad made Jack already know not to mess with him.
A quiet Doctor who had just seen Jessie be disintegrated in front of him scared Jack to hell.
Oh, yes, Jack was ticked that the Anne droid had killed Jessie. He'd wanted to wring the other guy's neck, and he would've fought tooth and nail to disintegrate that droid as well. Lynda didn't even know Jessie, and even she was crying a little.
The Doctor, on the other hand . . .
The Daleks call him the Oncoming Storm, Jessie had told him once. The one thing they're ultimately afraid of. I've seen the Oncoming Storm before, and each time was because someone he cared about was in danger.
What if that was one of us, and we were killed? Jack had asked.
Jessie hadn't replied for a while, but when she had, she had sounded nothing like the trooper she acted like. She sounded like an innocent little girl. I don't know what could stop him from tearing an entire civilization apart if that meant he could get one of us back, or if we were avenged.
Jack knew that once they got out of their little jail cell, the Oncoming Storm would tear the Game Station apart.
"You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial," one of the guards told them, and Jack and Lynda looked at each other in exasperation. The Doctor said nothing, brooding silently. "You may not appeal against this sentence. Is that understood?"
The Doctor still said nothing. Then, when another guard unlocked the cell, he turned to Jack. Three words were all it took to get him going. "Let's do it."
Jack stood instantly and kicked one guard in the back, wrestling with him to drop his weapon. The other guard went for the Doctor, who simply grabbed his arm and slammed him straight into the wall, bones cracking with the force of the Oncoming Storm. Jack tossed him his sonic screwdriver, and Lynda grabbed the two guards' guns. The Doctor took one of them as Jack took back the defabricator. As they got into the lift, Jack saw for the first time the Doctor's rage beginning to take over. "Floor 500," he growled.
"For Jessie?" Jack offered.
"For Jessie," Lynda confirmed.
The Doctor nodded. "For Jessie."
***
"OK!" Jack shouted when the lift arrived, and the three walked out, weapons pointed at the controllers. "Move away from the desk! Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clear!" He pointed his guns at them all as they scooted away. "Stand to the side and stay there!"
"Who's in charge of this place?" the Doctor demanded.
"Nineteen, eighteen."
He looked up to see a woman hooked up by wires to her hair looking dazedly off as if she was being controlled. "This satellite's more than a game station."
"Seventy nine, eighty."
"Who killed Jessie Nightshade?" he finally snapped in anger.
"All staff are reminded that solar flares - "
"I want an answer!" he shouted.
" - occur in delta point one."
"She can't reply!" the head controller said, and the Doctor turned to him. The man paled and raised his hands. "Don't shoot!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot." He tossed his gun to him carelessly, then turned to Jack. "Captain, we've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits."
Jack nodded, looking relieved to be doing something. "Yes, sir."
The Doctor pointed to the head controller. "You. What were you saying?"
"But . . . I've got your gun."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "OK . . . so shoot me. Why can't she answer?"
"She's, er . . . " He lifted the gun. "Can I put this down?"
The Doctor huffed in annoyance. "If you want. Just hurry up!"
"Thanks." He quickly deposited the gun down onto a chair. "Sorry. The Controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain. You're not a member of the staff, so she doesn't recognize your existence."
"What's her name?"
"I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known."
Jack ran back up. "Door's sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes."
"Keep an eye on them," the Doctor ordered.
"But that stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station . . . " the head controller told them. "I think you're right. I've kept a log. Unauthorized transmats, encrypted signals . . . it's been going on for years."
"Show me," the Doctor told him.
As they went to the console, he heard Jack try to access some place. "You're not allowed in there!" one of the women told him. "Archive Six is out of bounds!"
"Do I look like an out of bounds sort of guy?" Jack retorted, and the Doctor cracked a small grin. He heard the doors open, and he faintly heard Jack shout "What the hell?"
"Solar flare activity in delta point zero fifteen," the Controller announced.
"If you're not holding us hostage," the woman told him, "then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified!"
He glared at her. "That's the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day."
"That's not our fault. We're just doing our jobs!"
He stood up and glared at her with enough force to make her jerk backwards. "My friend, who lived to work for her country, just died in one of your games today," he told her lowly. "I might have even gone far enough to say she was more than a friend. With that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me. Back off!"
She stumbled backwards, and the Doctor turned back to the head controller, looking up when the power flickered. "That's just the solar flares," the man explained. "They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet Earth gets a few repeats. It's all quite normal."
"Doctor."
He didn't acknowledge the voice until the woman tapped his shoulder. "Doctor?"
"Whatever it is, you can wait," he snapped.
"I think she wants you."
He looked up to see the Controller looking around dazedly. "Doctor?" she asked, and he approached. "Doctor? Where's the Doctor?"
"I'm here," he replied.
"Can't see. I'm blind. So blind. All my life, blind. All I can see is numbers, but I saw you."
"What do you want?" he asked bitterly.
"Solar flares hiding me. They can't hear me. My masters, they always listen, but they can't hear me now. The sun . . . the sun is so bright."
"Who are your masters?"
"They wired my head. The name's forbidden. They control my thoughts. My masters. My masters . . . I had to be careful. They monitor transmissions, but they don't watch the programs. I could hide you inside the games. Knew that you would find me."
"My friend died inside your games!" the Doctor snapped.
"Doesn't matter."
He growled angrily. "Don't you dare tell me that."
"They've been hiding. My masters hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth so, so many years. Always been there, guiding humanity, hundreds and hundreds of years."
"Who are they?" the Doctor demanded.
"They wait and plan and grow in numbers. They're strong now. So strong, my masters."
"Who are they?" he repeated.
The Controller kept on talking, faster. "But speak of you, my masters. They fear the Doctor."
"Tell me," he demanded. "Who are they?"
Just my luck, he thought bitterly as the power returned. "Twenty one, twenty two," the Controller began counting.
"When's the next solar flare?" he asked.
"Two years time," the head controller replied.
The Doctor growled low in his throat. "Fat lot of good that is."
Jack returned, a slight skip in his step. "Found the TARDIS," he announced.
"We're not leaving now," the Doctor told him.
"No, but the TARDIS worked it out." The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the Captain curiously. "You'll want to watch this. Lynda, could you stand over there for me, please?"
"I just want to go home," the girl whispered, even as she did what Jack said.
"It'll only take a second," he assured her. "Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can. Everybody watching?" He double checked. "OK." He stood over a button. "Three, two, one."
With a push of the button, a beam came down and made Lynda vanish. The Doctor turned on Jack in shock. "But you killed her!"
"Oh, do you think?" he retorted, pressing the button again.
And Lynda came back. She stumbled, looking around in shock. "What the hell was that?" she finally said.
"It's a transmat beam!" Jack replied gleefully, and the Doctor began to grin in understanding. "Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system. People don't get killed in the games. They get transported across space." He turned to the Doctor, grinning widely as well. "Doctor, Jessie is still alive!"
***
Jessie rolled her head, groaning softly as she came to. She froze. The Weakest Link . . . the Doctor and Jack . . . Anne droid . . . should be dead . . .
She sat up when she heard a familiar humming. She slowly turned, and she let out a piercing scream at what was approaching her. "You're dead!" she screeched, backing up quickly. "You're dead! I saw you die!"
***
"She's out there somewhere," the Doctor muttered, working furiously.
"Doctor . . . " the Controller whispered, and he looked up at her sharply. "Coordinates five point six point one - "
"Don't!" he told her. "The solar flare's gone! They'll hear you!"
"Point four three four," she continued in a strained voice. "No, my masters. No! I defy you! Stigma seven seven!"
She screamed, then vanished in a puff of smoke. The Doctor sighed as they began punching in the coordinates. "They took her."
"Look, use that," the head controller told him. "It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions."
"Nice, thanks," Jack told him, before looking at him appraisingly. "Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."
"I'm Davitch Pavale."
"NIce to meet you, Davitch Pavale."
"There's a time and a place," the Doctor muttered.
"Are you saying this entire set up's been a disguise all along?" the woman asked.
The Doctor nodded. "Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone's been playing a long game, controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations."
"Click on this," Jack told him. "The transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system."
Which was, of course, blank space. "There's nothing there," the woman said.
"It looks like nothing because that's what this satellite does," the Doctor told her. "Underneath the transmission, there's another signal."
"Doing what?" Pavale asked.
"Hiding whatever's out there," the Doctor replied. "Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner. There's something sitting right on top of the planet Earth, but it's completely invisible. If I can cancel the signal . . . "
He worked at the console, then blinked when a flying saucer flew past. No, he thought, a sinking feeling growing as the screen zoomed out to reveal several more. "That's impossible," Jack whispered. "I know those ships. They were destroyed!"
"Obviously they survived," the Doctor replied. Jess was sent to her death again.
"Who did?" Lynda asked, looking over their shoulders. "Who are they?"
"Two hundred ships," the Doctor replied hollowly. "More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them."
"Half a million what?" Pavale asked.
The Doctor swallowed. "Daleks."
***
"Alert! Alert!" one of the Daleks began screeching. "We are detected."
"It is the Doctor," another one put in. "He has located us. Open communications channel."
"The female will stand." The Dalek turned to Jessie, and she swallowed down her fear. "Stand!" it ordered.
Slowly she did, and the Daleks surrounded her as a holo screen popped up, and Jessie sucked in a breath when she saw the Doctor, Jack, the girl they had been with, and a few other controllers standing over a console. "I will talk to the Doctor!" the Dalek next to her announced.
He looked up. "Oh, will you?" he asked sarcastically. "That's nice." He waved. "Hello!"
She couldn't help but grin a little. "The Dalek stratagem nears completion," the Dalek informed him. "The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh, really?" The Doctor folded his arms. "Why's that, then?"
"We have your associate." Jessie gave a small wave and a weak smile as the Daleks all turned to her. "You will obey or she will be exterminated."
"No."
Jessie's jaw dropped as he spoke that one word with enough fury that would make SHIELD obey him at once. "Explain yourself," the Dalek demanded.
"I said no," he repeated.
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
"It means no," the Doctor deadpanned.
She gave him a smile as the Daleks tried to recover. "But she will be destroyed."
"No!" he snapped, glaring at the Daleks. "Because this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her." She smiled as she saw the Oncoming Storm begin to come out, all keen on keeping her safe. "I'm going to save Jessie Nightshade from the middle of the Dalek fleet. And then I'm going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!"
"But you have no weapons!" the Dalek replied. "No defenses. No plan!"
"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death?" the Doctor growled before looking at her. "Jessie?"
She swallowed. "Yes, Doctor?"
"I'm coming to get you."
She let out a whoop of encouragement as the transmission ended from his side. "The Doctor is initiating hostile action," the Dalek announced.
"The strategem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!" another Dalek ordered.
"The Doctor will be exterminated!"
Jessie looked around as the other Daleks took up the cry. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
May the war for Earth commence, she thought as she waited for the Doctor to come.
***
And all that's left is Parting of the Ways, a possible interlude into the epilogue, and then we're done! *takes a deep breath* Wow. I can't believe it.
It's obvious that Jessie is taking Rose's place, but I want opinions on what you all think will happen by Doomsday. It's taken a different curve already than the series, so I want your opinions . . . given Jessie and the Doctor, what do you think is going to happen through Series 2?
I've got Parting of the Ways to write. :) See ya!