Continuing from 'The Long Game - Part I'

✧

LILY, WHO HAD BEEN STARVING SINCE ALMOST DYING BY DALEK, walked up to where Adam sat with a tray of several food options after asking if Adam was allergic to anything. "I may have used up most of the money, but they didn't cut me off so I'm sure there's a bunch left." She sat in the steel chair across from him and placed her red tray on the metal table. "Now, I know it's not 'fine food'-"

"Reminds me of diner food." Adam brought up, eyeing all that Lily purchased.

"Exactly!" Lily beamed, handing him back the currency which he pocketed. "Okay!" She surveyed all that she had on the tray. "I found a little something for everyone. Taste tested everything beforehand to just be safe." Lily started listing off the food items while pointing at them. "Ro loves chips so I got these that seem to taste like pepperoni from a pizza. Peanut butter noodles for you-" She picked up the bowl and placed it in front of him along with some cutlery. "Strawberry shortcake-esk shake for myself. Gummy candies for the Doctor which I'm hoping he'd enjoy. Oh!" She exclaimed. "How could I almost forget? These are called Klinks." She handed him one of two wrapped, small butter cookies. "I've been told they're kinda like a fortune cookie. They only had two left so don't tell the Doctor and Rose." She winked.

Adam rested his elbows on the tabletop and lifted the cookie to his eyesight, examining it. "Can this thing really tell the future?"

Lily shrugged, already tearing open hers. "There's only one way to find out."

Adam grinned and went along with Lily's excitement. "I'll go first." He volunteered himself and broke the cookie in two, taking out a slip of paper. He read. "Your mind will soon be opened in a way you never thought was possible."

"Hey!" Lily gestured around them. "Look at where we are! You're doing that right now."

"Yeah, that's pretty accurate then." He chuckled and nodded to her cookie while popping pieces of his own in his mouth. "You're next."

"Okay," Lily cracked hers in half and put the cookie down on the tray before reading her paper. "In the near future, you will learn the truth of who you are from the mouth of the person you trust the most."

Lily's smile fell.

"Wow," Adam broke the silence, finishing his cookie. "Eerie."

"Very," Lily took a second to reassess before crumbling up the paper and tossing it to the side. "Anyways, try the noodles. You said you're fond of peanut butter, right?" She asked, taking a long sip out of her straw. The cup that held her shake was clear which helped show off the pink and had a dome-shaped lip. It was honestly heaven to Lily. She already asked the vendor for the recipe so she could recreate it in the TARDIS kitchen.

Adam obeyed and took his fork to wrap the noodles around. He brought it into his mouth and chewed. Lily eagerly awaited his thoughts. "It's not bad." He responded but didn't take another bite.

Lily noted this. "What's wrong?"

"It's just like everything's gone." He put down the fork and slumped down, running his fingers through his hair. "Home, family, everything."

She felt empathy for him- recalling her first-ever trip and how isolated it all felt. A light bulb went off in her mind. Lily put her cup down to take her phone out of the pocket of her jacket, which was nestled next to her shake recipe. "Here, this helps." She hands it over to Adam. "The Doctor fixed it up for me. Got a mum and dad back home?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah."

"Phone them up."

He blinked. "But that's one hundred and ninety-eight thousand years ago."

Lily giggled, recalling how she reacted when the Doctor asked her to call home. "Just dial like you would normally." She picked her cup back up. "Go on."

So, he talked to the answering machine that answered and she watched with curious eyes, finishing off her shake. When done he hung up and looked down at it in awe. "That's-"

"Lost for words?" Lily playfully widened her eyes. "I know."

An alarm then sounded and the people around them started clearing off their tables. Simultaneously, vendors closed up shop and Lily guessed lunch break was over while Adam scarfed down the rest of his noodles.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff!" Lily followed the sound of the Doctor's voice and saw him standing a ways away with Rose and two unknown women. "Over here!"

Lily tossed her now empty cup and took her tasty gifts for the Doctor and Rose left Adam, jogging over to them. "I brought sustenance." She cheered, giving Rose the chips. "These are for you. I had like three already, they're so good. And," Rose had already eagerly eaten two chips by the time Lily showed the package of gummy candy. "Thought you'd enjoyed these." Lily smiled, remembering how fond the fourth Doctor was of the same snack. Not much seemed to change as he thanked her with a large grin- pocketing the candy for later.

✧

After Rose finished her chips, which she adored maybe as much as Lily had her shake, they followed the women to a room. The room was almost entirely white and had six people sitting crisscrossed around an octagon-shaped desk with a chair in the middle, connected to wires. The four of them observed safely to the side behind a metal bar.

"Now, everybody, behave." A dark-skinned woman announced who was standing next to the chair. "We have a management inspection." She turned to the Doctor and Rose. "How do you want it, by the book?"

"Right from scratch. Thanks." The Doctor winked at Lily, whose face must match how confused she was.

"Okay," She replied and looked back to the crew sitting around her and addressed them. "So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided, or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni." she looked over her shoulder with a wide grin. "That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please do." Rose smiled and gave her a nod. "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That's company policy."

"Actually," A light-skinned woman interrupted with a sweet tone."It's the law."

"Yes, thank you, Suki." Cathica snapped at her and Lily felt bad for Suki, who now looked down at her lap. She lifted herself into the chair. "Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go. And engage safety." The six people, which included Suki, placed their hands on the palm prints the desk had. Lights flashed on and lit up the room. With a snap of her fingers, a circle opened up on Cathica's forehead, displaying her brain. Lily was a bit disturbed as well as fascinated. "And three . . two," Cathica counted down. "And . . spike."

A beam of light shot through from the orb on the ceiling into her brain. The Doctor left the bar and moved closer to get a better look. "Compressed information, streaming into her." He explained, captivated. "Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer."

Lily followed behind him. "If it all goes through her, she must be a genius."

"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it." He told Lily. "There's too much. Her head would blow up. The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

Rose had now left the bar herself and was now kneeling to study Suki closer. "So, what about all these people round the edge?" She asked, directed towards the Doctor.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels." He paused back at the bar after making a full circle and leaned back on it, carefully avoiding Adam who hadn't left his spot. "Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. Now that's what I call power."

Lily saw Adam and strolled back to him. "Do you wanna get out?"

"No." He said, eyes still focusing on the light stream. "No, this technology, it's amazing."

"This technology is wrong." The Doctor corrected.

"Trouble?" Lily sent him a smirk, Rose rejoining her side.

He gave her one in return."Oh, yeah."

When Suki pulled away suddenly, the information beam began to shut down. Cathica sat up while the portal closed. "Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway!" She whined. "What was that for?"

"Sorry." Suki apologized, rubbing her hands. "It must've been a glitch."

One of the walls now displayed a screen like a projector was pointed at it. On the top read 'promotion' and that seemed to really excite Cathica. "Come on." She had her eyes closed and started bouncing on the heels of her feet. "This is it, come on. Oh god, make it me." She begged to the ceiling. "Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name . ."

"Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell." A voice sounded. Lily looked over at Suki who was just as shocked as Cathica. "Please proceed to Floor 500."

"I don't believe it." Suki slowly stood up. "Floor 500."

"How the hell did you manage that?" Cathica demanded. "I'm above you!"

"I don't know!" Suki protested with a surprised smile. "I just applied on the off chance and they've said yes."

"That's so not fair!" She complained. "I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!"

"What's Floor 500?" Lily asked.

Rose leaned over to mutter in her ear. "The walls are made of gold."

✧

As Suki said goodbye to Cathica, the Doctor, and Rose, Lily pulled Adam to the side as she could see he wasn't getting any better. "I get it's a lot and most of the time that's an understatement." She looked over at Cathica and scratched an itch on the back of her neck. "Her head's closed now?"

"Yeah, but," Adam started, carefully speaking each word. "It's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to cool down? Sort of acclimatize."

Lily tilted her head. "How do you mean?"

"Maybe I could just go and sit on the observation deck." He suggested. "Would that be all right? Soak it in, you know, like you said? Pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200,000."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Lily offered.

"No," He rejected her. "No, you stick with the Doctor. You'd rather be with him." Lily could hear the disappointment in his voice but didn't think of commenting on it. "It's going to take a better man than me to get between you two. Anyway, I'll be on the deck."

Still feeling bad, Lily took out her TARDIS key and handed it to him. "Take the TARDIS key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much."

"Yeah, like it's not weird in there." He joked before walking off.

Slightly stunned by what just happened Lily headed back over to the group and informed them. "Adam's going back to the deck."

"All staff are reminded that the sixteen forty break session has been shortened by ten minutes. Thank you."

"Oh, my God, I've got to go!" Suki exclaimed. "I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me." She backed into the lift. "Bye!" She called out and waved before the door closed.

"Good riddance," Cathica muttered with her arms crossed

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're talking like you'll never see her again." She nodded her head. "She's only going upstairs."

"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back."

"Have you ever been up there?" Lily asked as they all, minus Adam, headed back to the newsroom.

"I can't," she replied. "You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few." Once they returned to the same broadcasting room, Cathica sighed. "Look, they only give us twenty minutes of maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?"

"But you've never been to another floor?" The Doctor asked as he took a seat in the broadcasting chair. "Not even one floor down?"

"I went to Floor 16 when I arrived. That's medical." Catchica replied, writing down on her clipboard as she talked. "That's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat, and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She looks up and narrows her eyes at the three of them. "You're not management, are you?"

The Doctor grinned. "At last! She's clever."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me." Cathica backed up. "I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?"

"Well, why would I?"

"You're a journalist!"

"Why are all the crew human?" Lily brought up, leaning on the chair with a hand on her hip.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica turned to her.

"There's no aliens onboard. Why?"

"I don't know," Cathica admitted. "No real reason. They're not banned or anything."

"Then where are they?" The Doctor added.

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats."

"What threats?" Rose asked from where she sat balancing on the metal bar.

Cathica sighed. "I don't know all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see. Just lots of little reasons, that's all."

"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor pointed out.

"Doctor," She lowered her clipboard. "I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."

"I can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."

"It's cutting edge!"

"It's backwards!" He countered. "There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago."

"So . ." Lily added. "What do you think's going on?"

"It's not just this space station... " The Doctor replied. "it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful Human Empire's stunted. Something's holding it back."

"How would you know?" Cathica challenged.

"Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"

Cathica slightly widened her eyes, as realization dawned on her. "Ninety-one years ago."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

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- Kayleigh