Continuing from 'The Long Game - Part II'

✧

CATHICA WAS WHINING YET AGAIN as the Doctor worked on prying open a pair of doors with this sonic. "We are so going to get into trouble," Cathica warned them. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off."

"Lily, " The Doctor called over his shoulder. "You're the sassy one. Shut her up."

"You can't just vandalize the place!" Cathica exclaimed before Lily had the chance to speak. "Someone's going to notice!"

The Doctor laughed in delight as the doors opened, revealing a room filled with bunched-up thick wires. "Yes!" He took a step up and inside, working on the wires next.

Cathica groaned in annoyance and turned to leave. "This has nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work."

The Doctor waved her off while Rose and Lily began assisting him as best they could. "Go on, then. See you!"

Cathica sighed, turning back. "I can't just leave you, can I?"

"Look, dear?" Lily smiled at Cathica. "If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling." She turned back and paused her help. "What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?"

"I don't know." Cathica shrugged. "We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine?"

"Something to do with the turbine." The Doctor mocked then ended it with a snort.

"Well, I don't know!"

"Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica." He pointed his sonic to Lily. "Now, Lily. Look at Lily. Lily is asking the right kind of question."

"Awe." Lily grinned. "Thank you."

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Why is it so hot?"

"One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica snickered.

"Well, never underestimate plumbing." The Doctor advised. "Plumbing is very important," After a bit more work he pulled out a monitor with a schematic on it. "Here we go! Satellite Five, pipes and plumbing." He stepped out of the room which allowed Cathica a better view. "Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous!" Cathica laughed, grabbing the screen to look closer. "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?"

"But there's something wrong." The Doctor pointed out.

"Why?" Rose asked. "What is it?"

"The ventilation system." Cathica confirmed, pointing out, "Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channeling massive amounts of heat down."

"All the way to the top." The Doctor nodded.

"Floor 500." The sisters whispered in unison.

"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat." The Doctor announced.

Lily nodded and stood, patting a hand on the Doctor's back. "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 can't!" Cathica protested. "You need a key."

"Keys are just codes." The Doctor told her, holding up his sonic. "and I've got the codes right here." He pointed it to the screen and it started changing, switching through various number combinations. "Here we go. Override, two one five point nine."

Cathica's jaw dropped upon seeing the code pop up on the screen. "How come it's given you the codes?"

"Someone up there likes us." Lily smiled, looking up at the ceiling. Once the lift opened and the Doctor and Rose stepped inside, Lily waited to offer to Cathica. "Come with us?"

"No way!"

Lily went to answer but was stopped doing so by the Doctor pulling her. "Bye!"

"Well . . don't mention my name!" Cathica called out through the lift's open doors. "When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!"

Once she walked off the Doctor smiled down at Lily who stood between him and her sister. "So, that's her gone. Adam's given up," His smile grew. "You're back at my side as you should be."

"Yep." She smiled and grabbed his hand as well as Rose's giving them both a light squeeze before they headed off, the lift in motion.

✧

When the lift doors opened and the walls were rather covered in ice and not gold Lily felt oddly disappointed. "The walls are not made of gold." The Doctor confirmed it verbally and led them out into the freezing cold room. His back was to them so she couldn't see his face but rather heard the urgency in his voice as he said. "You two should go back downstairs."

Lily looked at Rose and could see that she was thinking the same thing as her so she answered for both of them. "Yeah, we should. Oh well!" Lily journeyed away, hearing the Doctor and Rose follow behind past the crunching of ice under her boots.

When she emerged in what seemed to be a control room. Lily's heart dropped when she spotted Suki- frozen and typing on a computer, sitting beside several other people the same as her. "Suki!" She rushed over to her, kneeling. "Suki! Hello? Can you hear me?"

"I started without you." Someone spoke. Lily stood back up and faced a pale, white-haired man. "This is fascinating." He was grinning ear to ear, looking back and forth between the three of them. "Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three," Lily gravitated closer to Rose, eyes still trained on the man. "you don't exist! Not a trace. No birth, no job . . not the slightest kiss." He hissed. "How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

Rose spoke up. "What have you done to Suki?"

"She's dead, Rose." Lily softly spoke.

"She's working!" Rose retorted, gesturing to her.

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets." The Doctor mused, looking over this group of zombie-like beings.

"Oh! You're full of information." The man said to the Doctor gleefully. "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?"

"It doesn't matter 'cause we're off." The Doctor grabbed Rose's arm, pulling her back. "Nice to meet you. Come along, girls."

They didn't get far as they were quickly apprehended by a group of the beings, holding them back on their arms, tight enough to bruise. "Tell me who you are!" The man demanded loudly in their faces.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?" The Doctor retorted.

"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."

"And who's that?"

"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 growl was produced from above them. The Editor nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client."

Lily's eyes looked upward, almost gagging at the sight of the hanging blob with razor teeth. "What is that?"

"You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" Rose asked.

"That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race." The Editor nodded. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." He gleefully added. "I call him Max."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

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- Kayleigh