Doctor Who – The Daughter
by Becky Miller
Doctor Who is owned by the BBC. This document is made for entertainment purposes only. No infringement intended.
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Please respect the creative rights of the author.
Becky Miller 2005.
Guess what
Rose, Mickey and the Doctor were on their way through time and space in the TARDIS, his time travelling space ship, disguised as a blue police telephone box. Rose was his latest companion, a blonde nineteen year old girl from 21st century Earth, London, and this time he let Mickey, her somewhat annoying boyfriend, come along too.
He was explaining Mickey how the psychic paper works, in theory. The Doctor demonstrated by playing psychic paper Pictionary.
‘Rose, think of an object, person or place and tell me but don’t let Mickey hear. I will try to make it appear on the psychic paper. And then Mickey can guess what you thought of.’ he said enthusiastically. Rose whispered, all giggling, something in the Doctor’s ear. He showed the paper to Mickey and a drawing started to appear as if by magic.
‘Is it a molecule?’ Mickey asked unsure. Rose shook her head. He was close but it was not what she meant. ‘If you want me to say what kind of molecule it is..., I don’t know. I give up.’ Mickey said sadly.
‘It’s Brussels, Belgium, I was thinking of.’ Rose said.
‘It doesn’t look like a city at all!’ Mickey said confused.
‘Brussels is famous for its statue, the Atomium. You were close though, it is a statue of a molecule.’ the Doctor explained. They laughed at Mickey’s easily made mistake.
‘Can I try to think of something now? You two guess what it is.’ Mickey suggested enthusiastically.
‘Here you go. Give it a try!’ the Doctor cheered and put his spectacles on in order to see the picture more clearly.
‘Is it a car? No a train?’ Rose guessed.
‘Is it an Ood?’ the Doctor suggested.
‘We’ve never seen an ... Ood?’ Rose said to him.
‘Oh, you haven’t. Sorry.’ the Doctor apologised.
‘Keep concentrating, Mickey. I see numbers coming up through your picture.’
‘I am not thinking of any numbers. I would have better things to think of than numbers.’ Mickey said concentrating on the piece of paper.
‘I don’t see numbers.’ Rose said, ‘And I wasn’t thinking of them either.’
Both Rose and Mickey look at the Doctor, suggesting he was the culprit himself.
‘Stop drawing, Mickey.’ the Doctor said and took back his wallet.
‘I couldn’t draw properly with you two babbling about numbers anyway.’ Mickey said agitatedly.
The Doctor observed the piece of psychic paper closely, but neither Rose nor Mickey saw any number appear on it.
‘What numbers are they?’ Mickey asked, but he got no reply, not even a glance.
‘Do you know what they mean?’ Rose asked the Doctor. He did manage to answer her.
‘What they mean?’ he repeated, as if it were a stupid question to ask, ‘They’re just numbers, large ones, small ones, all different.’
‘Yeah, like a code. Maybe it has a message.’ Rose explained.
‘They seem to be random.’ the Doctor said amazed.
‘If someone wants to send a message, why bother using numbers. If they’d just use words we could read it straight away.’ However obvious this might seem, Mickey did have a point.
‘Exactly!’ the Doctor exclaimed and looked intrinsically at Mickey. He never liked the way the Doctor looked at him through those thick rimmed spectacles. It felt as if he could look right through him and see what he was thinking. Mickey smiled slyly and the Doctor continued.
‘Straight to the point! But... maybe that someone doesn’t want any odd person to read it, hence the code. Let’s crack the code!’
The Doctor punched the numbers into the TARDIS computer and started using calculations and algorithms to find the key for the coded message
‘If it is a message at all…’ Mickey remarked.
‘The numbers have formed a series which is repeating itself.’ the Doctor noticed peering at the computer screen.
‘Which means they are not just random numbers,’ Rose said and while she did Mickey sighed. He knew how the two were like. From now on, Rose and the Doctor would be focussed on unravelling the hidden message behind the code, if it was a message at all. Mickey was sure it’d be a dead end and they were wasting time they could spend on an alien planet or somewhere in a different time, the future perhaps.
‘Exactly.’ the Doctor agreed.
‘And that there is a hidden message in those numbers?’ Rose continued her train of thought.
‘Yes.’ the Doctor answered, without taking his eyes off the screen, pushing buttons and flicking switches.
‘So what does it say?’ Rose asked.
‘I don’t know.’ the Doctor said frustrated and looked at Rose who obviously was disappointed.
‘I’ve tried substituting the numbers with letters but the alphabet doesn’t have enough characters. Then I tried different languages which use many more characters but nothing sensible came from that either...’ the Doctor explained hastily.
‘What if they really are numbers, like a telephone number?’ Rose suggested.
‘There are far too many digits for it to be a telephone number.’ Mickey remarked with a sigh.
The Doctor turned to Rose, his eyes widened behind his glasses and a broad grin slowly appeared across his face.
‘Rose you’re brilliant!’ the Doctor exclaimed happily.
‘Don’t tell me it IS a telephone number.’ Mickey said with disbelief. He couldn’t think of anyone with such a long telephone number. It would simply be unpractical.
‘No, but it could be Space-Time-co-ordinates!’ the Doctor said and took off his spectacles.
‘Oh, I see the connection.’ Mickey said cynically.
‘It works the same like co-ordinates on Earth. Longitude and latitude, together they give an exact fixed position.’ Rose explained to Mickey. He’d got the idea alright, but he still didn’t quite see how the telephone number would lead to this. He didn’t bother to ask any more.
‘Still that doesn’t solve our problem. I don’t know where the code begins, which leaves an endless, well...rather large amount of possibilities, scattered far and wide across the universe and across Time.’, the Doctor said and disappointedly slumped down on the ragged looking seats near the control column.
‘So, now what? We just stop? Forget about it?’ Mickey said to the Doctor. He was annoyed that he had followed them through this whole train of possibilities and that he just gave up now without any further effort. Like a child who suddenly loses all interest in a toy.
‘We can’t possibly go to each of the possible places and ask around if anyone sent a message. You were right, Mickey. If someone wanted us to come, they should have just spelled it out. HELP, how hard can it be.’ the Doctor snapped back at Mickey. He was frustrated that he wasn’t able to crack the code. He walked away, opened a hatch and jumped in the gap. He started tinkering on some of the TARDIS’s systems.
‘And then you just give up...’, Mickey said disapprovingly, but he got no reply. Mickey’s comment did strike a chord in the Doctor, though, but he wouldn’t admit it.
Rose was now left with two cranky men. She didn’t know what to say to either one of them to cheer them up. So she turned away and began to tidy up things. Back home when she’d had words with her mother she would do the same in her own room to keep herself busy and stay out of the way from mom for a while.
She found Mickey’s MP3-player and the Doctor’s tie lying about between the TARDIS controls. The Doctor was chucking out an assortment of mechanical parts from the gap he was crouched in and Mickey took off his coat and let it fall on the ground beside him. This made Rose tick.
‘Why do you always make such a mess? I am tired of cleaning up behind you!’ she bellowed and threw the coat with the other coats and bags, where it belonged. Mickey looked startled and the Doctor stuck his innocent looking face out of the gap to see what the commotion was about.
‘Both of you!’ Rose said angrily, which caused the Doctor to quickly duck back down in the gap again.
When Rose had calmed back down again, the Doctor decided to give unravelling the code from the series of numbers another try. Casually he went over to the computer and started investigating the possible co-ordinates.
He recognised a strand of numbers resembling the place co-ordinates of Earth. He figured he could use the remaining numbers for the exact time and location. Even if it wouldn’t be the solution to the code, at least it would be a nice trip. He fed the new co-ordinates into the TARDIS and he fanatically started pushing buttons and pulling levers.
‘Hey, where are we going?’ Mickey asked who was still playing with his cell-phone. Rose came hurrying over to see.
‘Earth, somewhere around the 20th or 21st century.’ the Doctor said proudly. ‘I’ve made an educated guess. Hold on!’
Rose and Mickey take a trip
The TARDIS had landed and Rose was the first one out the door, Mickey followed shortly. Both carefully looked around to determine where they had ended up.
The TARDIS was parked in a woody field behind a golf course. They could sneak through an alley which led to a bigger street. Byrd crescent was the street name. Rose memorised it so she would know where to find the TARDIS. It definitely looked like the 21st century, the early beginning of the millennium. It was a hot and sunny day. It looked to be mid summer.
‘We should look for a paper.’ Rose said to Mickey. The Doctor joined them and the three went for a stroll. They walked out the street and turned onto a bigger road called Castle Avenue.
‘Definitely 21st century.’ the Doctor said as the cars whizzed by.
‘Make a guess, Doctor. What place and date do you think it is?’ Rose asked the Doctor. ‘It doesn’t look very different from home. I’d say we are in Europe and the year would be about 1990.’
‘Mmm, well. I think it’s already after the millennium. UK. Summer. Yes, 22 august 2013. Cardiff.’ the Doctor said, who was closely observing their surroundings as they walked along.
‘How do you do that?’, Mickey asked the Doctor with awe. He held up a paper he’d found on a bench near a bus stop. ‘He has the date exactly right, you know. But we are not in Cardiff. This is a local paper; it says “Penarth Post.” ’ Mickey said holding up the paper to show Rose who was just as amazed at the accuracy as Mickey was.
‘Oh, my mistake, I saw Cardiff marked on the front of that bus, but that does not necessarily mean it was already there. Not bad though, don’t you think?’ the Doctor explained part of his trick. By just observing the surroundings closely you can tell a lot about the place you are. The Doctor had much experience in this, since he travelled to unexpected places all the time, so he knows what to look for. Rose tries to learn, but she could still use some practice.
‘Look here. An article in the paper says they are having record high temperatures all week. The weather forecast warns today will be the hottest summer day in years.’ Mickey summarised.
‘Yeah, it’s hot alright.’ Rose remarked while she took off her vest and tied it around her waist.
‘Oh and “people are advised to stay indoors, out of the sun, or to find other places to cool down like pools or recreational waters.” Also “people are strongly requested not to wash their cars fill garden pools or water their lawns because of water shortage.” They are really serious about this.’ Mickey quoted passages from the newspaper.
‘Here we are walking across boiling hot Tarmac in the blazing sun. Mickey and I are already overheated and you, Doctor, don’t have a drop of sweat on your forehead.’ Rose remarked. ‘Aren’t you affected by the heat?’
‘Oh no. My boiling point lies a lot further than yours.’ the Doctor said jestingly. He gave her a generous smile.
‘Hey, Penarth is a coastal town, isn’t it? We could cool down at the beach.’ Mickey suggested.
‘Yeah, I’d fancy a swim.’ Rose said enthusiastically. She and Mickey looked at the Doctor, awaiting his opinion.
‘No, thank you. I don’t need cooling down.’ he said.
‘Oh, come on Doctor. It will be fun.’ Rose tried to persuade him. She pulled his sleeve to urge him along.
‘No. You guys go spend the day at the beach, I will return to the TARDIS to find out who sent the massage.’ the Doctor said determinedly.
‘I have my cell-phone with me in case you need us…’ Rose said reluctant to separate from the Doctor.
The Doctor stood his ground and Rose and Mickey walked on to the beach. It was only a five minute walk. The Doctor returned, back up the street, through the alley, to the field where he had parked the TARDIS out of direct view.
On his way he took the psychic paper from his pocket and looked on it to see the code once more, but the paper remained blank. He began to doubt whether the series of numbers was a message at all.
Disappointed he entered the TARDIS and just as he stepped inside, something hit the door hard. Concerned, the Doctor peered back outside but he saw no-one. His eye was caught by something white lying in the grass. As he looked more closely it proved to be a golf ball. A player had hit the ball in the wrong direction and it flew past the course into the next field behind, straight against the TARDIS. First he scanned the TARDIS’s panels for any dents and stroked her caressingly. Then he picked up the golf ball and casually threw it back towards the golf course. The ball flew for yards and plonked clean into the 9th hole.
‘Hole in one.’ the Doctor said with a satisfied grin and finally went inside.
Meanwhile Rose and Mickey casually walked to the beach. They had stopped by a convenient store to buy themselves a bathing suit and Rose also bought an inflatable mattress. Armed with plenty of bottles of water they were ready for a day at the beach.
‘I don’t understand, Mickey. Why wouldn’t the Doctor come with us? He is usually eager to do such things. Going out and about and fool around. Why did he change attitude like that?’ Rose was thinking aloud.
‘I don’t know. Maybe he has more important things to do.’ Mickey replied.
‘Without us?’ Rose said with disbelief.
‘Maybe he can’t swim.’ Mickey jested.
‘Do you think? No, I’m sure he can swim.’ Rose defended the Doctor.
‘Have you ever seen him swim?’ Mickey asked her.
‘Uhm, no. Not really…’ Rose said considering. Disappointed that Mickey might be right she fell silent for a while.
The woman in the TARDIS
Earlier that day, Rose had made a big point that she was tired of cleaning up after the two men all the time. The Doctor decided that this was a good time as any to clean up the TARDIS a bit. There were also some small defects that needed fixing.
As the Doctor begins to tidy up, he notices the numbers were appearing on the psychic paper again. He lets the TARDIS perform some scans, but it doesn’t turn up anything of interest. He is annoyed that he has travelled to the right time and place and that he still can’t find who or what is sending these numbers.
‘Why don’t people just send clear messages.’ he said annoyed. Aggravated he throws his wallet in a corner. He continues cleaning and tinkering.
After a while the Doctor had accumulated a big bunch of things to throw away. He gathered them up and left the TARDIS to throw the old stuff with the garbage. He walked a few blocks when he found a garbage container and dumped the waste in there. Walking back to the TARDIS, his hands buried deep in his pockets, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunshine.
When the Doctor stepped back inside the TARDIS, he opened his eyes wide with surprise. He saw a woman snooping around, and it wasn’t Rose. Just to be sure, he reached for his sonic screwdriver, a handy little device the size of a large screwdriver that emits high frequency sound waves.
The woman turned around casually. ‘Oh, hello there!’ she greeted the Doctor happily and gave him a big smile.
‘Hello!’ the Doctor greeted her back in his rather unique enthusiastic fashion. He wondered how she could have possibly gotten inside the TARDIS while he was away. The TARDIS only obeys Time Lords and only people who are allowed to enter by them can use the key to open the door.
‘How did you get in?’ he asked her.
‘The door was left open a crack.’ she answered him.
The Doctor doubted her honesty because he was absolutely sure he had closed the door behind him, but he did not dwell on the matter. He was curious why the woman wanted to get inside the TARDIS so badly and what she was looking for. She was obviously not very amazed by the strange inside of the ship. She had more of an eye for the owner, the Doctor himself. She didn’t take her deep dark brown eyes off him for a split second.
She had the Doctors wallet in her hands.
‘So you got the message?’ she asked rather joyfully.
‘Yes, well...message, I don’t know if you should call that a message, it was more a series of numbers--’ he hurriedly said as he walked further inside. ‘Do you know who sent it?’ he asked her, getting back to the point.
‘I did. Of course.’ she said.
‘Of course...’ he mumbled while he slowly walked around the control column.
‘She has changed, hasn’t she?’ the woman said, still keeping her eyes on the Doctor. She was referring to the TARDIS. This was a sign that the woman knew a lot more than an average passer by. She seemed to know a lot about the TARDIS and about advanced technology, a bit too much for his liking. He wondered whether she was friend or foe.
‘Who are you?’ he asked sternly.
‘Don’t you ever get tired of being asked that question, Doctor?’ she quietly replied. Apparently she knew a lot about the TARDIS, the Doctor himself and who he is and what he does.
The Doctor still had his suspicions about the woman but he didn’t show. He looked at her, in her eyes. There was something about her, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
He was beginning to suspect she was a kind he had expected never to see again.
‘I am a Daughter.’ the woman said after a short pause, confirming the Doctor’s suspicions. Still he couldn’t believe she had just said that. He was not at all pleased. He gave her his familiar stern look with his eyes wide open and his brows frowned.
‘What?! Oh, no. You can be a great many things but you are no Daughter of the Time Lords.’ the Doctor said sternly and slowly.
‘I am. Can’t you see? Don’t you feel?’ the woman said. She approached him and laid her hands gently on his cheeks. They closed their eyes for a moment. That was when the Doctor felt. She was one of his kind.
‘Tell me your name.’ the Doctor demanded.
‘Lynne. And yours?’ she asked back, with a bit of a smile.
The Doctor couldn’t believe it. If she really was who she claimed to be, a Daughter of the Time Lords, he would no longer be alone anymore. Was it possible, that others had survived the Time War too? Maybe a few, but the chances that they would meet were incredibly small and yet here she was… He was so overwhelmed by the thoughts, that he totally forgot the question she had just posed him.
‘Sorry, what did you say?’ he asked after he came back from his thoughts.
‘I call myself Lynne. Tea?’ she answered him.
The question surprised the Doctor a bit but he could really use a cup of tea now indeed.
‘Yes. With—’, he started.
‘I know how you like your tea.’ she said and set off to make some.
‘And she knows her way around the TARDIS too.’ the Doctor thought to himself. ‘But then again, so does Rose...’
All evidence so far pointed at this woman indeed being a Time Lord, but the Doctor still thought it too good to be true. And how does she know how he likes his tea? He barely knew that himself after his recent regeneration.
Meanwhile Rose and Mickey were having a great day out on the beach. Rose floated on an inflatable mattress and Mickey swam around in the water. They were enjoying the warm sunrays tanning their skin. Rose thought of the Doctor.
‘This is great, isn’t it Rose? Some relaxing time for ourselves.’ Mickey cheered.
‘It would be better if the Doctor were here too.’ Rose said sadly.
Mickey sighed and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe she was still thinking of the Doctor. She should be enjoying the sunshine and her boyfriends company, but Mickey felt as if he was dumped for a much, much older alien man in a pin striped suit with goofy shoes and weird spectacles. He didn’t want to upset Rose, so he kept calm and quiet about it.
‘What would he be doing right now? Do you think he is bored, waiting for us?’ Rose asked him.
‘No, I think he has invited the entire neighbourhood to a “fantastic” party in the TARDIS. They’re all getting drunk and dance until they drop.’ Mickey said teasingly.
‘Mickey?!’ Rose called agitatedly, but she did get the message.
‘I don’t know what he is doing. How am I supposed to? Come on, cheer up!’ Mickey said and splashed a wave of cold seawater all over Rose. She toppled off her mattress straight into the cold water and screamed, but then she laughed.
Mickey was right; she should have some fun, even without the Doctor.
The Doctor and Lynne were having tea in the TARDIS. They had made themselves comfortable on the chairs near the control column that looked like the back seat of a trashed car.
‘You look like you are not glad to see me. I am really glad you are here, though.’ Lynne said as she gave the Doctor his cup of steaming hot tea.
‘It’s because I want to know more, about who you are and what you are doing here. Why did you send the numbers? What were they meant for?’ the Doctor asked her, because he was still puzzled about the meaning of all this. He took a sip of his hot tea, just how he liked it best.
‘I sent the numbers because I need help. Apparently you do not recognise me.’ Lynne said gravely.
‘I am sorry, I don’t remember much of the past.’ the Doctor replied.
‘Well, it was a long, long time ago. I still remember you, though. You have changed.’ Lynne said.
‘How many times have you regenerated already?’, she asked him boldly. It wasn’t a very appropriate question to ask a Time Lord. She knew, but posed it anyways.
‘Nine. I changed, my TARDIS has changed.–Everything has changed.’ he said sadly, staring into his tea cup. A small silence fell.
‘I got stuck here by accident. At first I tried everything to get back to Gallifrey, but my efforts seemed futile. I had no resources. I couldn’t stay hidden forever, so I decided to go out and integrate into human society. I took a job at a utility repair company. I’d take tools and parts to try and fix my ship. That was 28 years ago, in 1985.’ she told the Doctor.
‘Your ship? Don’t say you have a TARDIS too?!’ the Doctor asked happily. His sad mood had gone like lightning.
‘Yes, of course. Maybe you could help me fix her. I did manage to keep her alive all these years.’ Lynne said hopefully.
‘I will help you fix your TARDIS if you tell me more about yourself. Where is it?’ the Doctor said and jumped up from the seat, plonked his mug down on the console somewhere and went to get his coat.
‘Okay, but it is over in the city. We could go by bus.’ Lynne said.
‘No problem.’ the Doctor said. He held up his wallet with the psychic paper and smiled.
Lynne smiled back and followed the Doctor out.
The truth revealed
‘It says police box. Your TARDIS doesn’t look particularly camouflaged. What is a police box anyway?’ Lynne asked as they walked to the bus stop on Castle Avenue.
The Doctor explained what a police box was and why it still looked like one, despite the TARDIS’s ability to adapt to it’s surroundings.
‘How does your TARDIS look like then?’ he asked her.
‘Oh, it is a penthouse on top of an apartment building, but the Council has plans to tear the old building down. They declared it inhabitable and so I had to move. For appearance sake, you know.’ Lynne said. She and the Doctor got on the bus to Cardiff without any problems. Public transport is truly great for getting about easily.
‘So you now live in Penarth.’ he concluded.
‘Yes. That is a recent development. It started about two years ago. I heard about strange and disastrous accidents, such as the killer shop dummies and then there was the Sycorax who declared war with the world at Christmas. I got a heart attack seeing all those people on the roof just in front of my door.
‘Anyway, there were rumours about a man who chased them off; A time traveller. That is when I began digging to find out more about who he was.
‘Recently I found a company that had lots of information about all the alien encounters and about you. They offered me a job six months ago, and Torchwood pays for my new apartment too. Though, recently they make me work overtime a lot.
‘Anyway, here we are. This is our stop.’ Lynne was quite a chatty lady. Once she started talking she was hard to stop.
‘Torchwood? Isn’t that in London?’ the Doctor wondered, while he stood gazing up at the apartment building, with his hands in his pockets, as usual.
‘They have a department here too. It’s that big glass building over there.’ she pointed eastward to a slim and tall glass office building only a few blocks away from where they were now.
They were in front of Lynne’s apartment building. It looked quite old and uninhabitable indeed. Most windows were broken and wooden boards blocked the doors and ground floor windows.
‘We can get in through the back.’ Lynne said and showed the way.
Lynne’s TARDIS looked just like a penthouse. It wasn’t even much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. It looked just like a proper house, with rooms, a kitchen and cupboards. It looked like a TARDIS too, though. There were lots of cables everywhere and some computer screens and lots of other technology the Doctor seemed to recognise. He was amazed how homely Lynne’s TARDIS looked.
Lynne started up some of the systems by pushing buttons and turning knobs. Lights began to flicker and a soft humming came from the walls. The Doctor looked around all the systems shortly. His eyes wide open and a smile stretched over his face. Then he crouched down and pulled a hatch loose from the wall. He started tinkering with the cables inside.
‘Lynne, could you….’ he gave her directions to assist.
Together they worked on fixing Lynne’s TARDIS all afternoon.
Rose and Mickey returned from the beach. They arrived at the TARDIS all giggling and still wet from the water.
‘Were back!’ Rose called as she pushed against the police box door. ‘It is locked.’ she said disappointedly to Mickey.
‘You have a key, right?’ Mickey asked. Rose confirmed and unlocked the door with the key the Doctor had given her, but it meant the Doctor himself was not inside.
‘Where could he be?’ Rose wondered aloud. ‘Do you think he found anything about the numbers?’
Mickey shrugged. He had no clue and he knew Rose was not really expecting an answer. They changed into dry clothes.
‘Don’t worry, Rose. I am sure the Doctor can take care of himself.’ Mickey assured her as he rummaged his backpack for a dry clean T-shirt. At that moment Rose heard voices outside, one of which she recognised too well. It was the Doctor and he was with a friend, a woman.
‘Oh, he has taken good care of himself all right. And someone else as well.’ she remarked. She went to the door to peek outside.
The Doctor had his coat and jacket over his one arm and the woman on the other arm. They stopped just as they came out of the alley. Rose got the impression the woman had seen her spying on them. The woman spoke a while with the Doctor and they said goodbye. The woman returned through the alley while the Doctor walked towards the TARDIS with the biggest smile on his face Rose had ever seen. He had his eyes closed but he still seemed to walk straight to the TARDIS without any difficulty. Rose went back inside.
‘Hello Rose, Mickey. How was your day at the beach?’ the Doctor asked as if nothing had happened. Rose noticed he had also loosened his tie and collar.
‘Hi!’, Mickey called from the bottom of his backpack. Rose was not very pleased and it showed.
The Doctor walked right past her, hung his coat and jacket on the hat stand and slumped down on the sensible chairs. His smile was still there and he dreamingly stared out in front of him.
‘And what did you discover?’ Rose asked the Doctor quite suddenly, waking him from his daydream.
‘Hm? Yes. I found the person who sent the numbers. They were sent asking for help to get back home.’ the Doctor explained.
Mickey was still looking for his T-shirt, he scolded. Rose approached the Doctor.
‘It was her, wasn’t it?’, she said softly. She looked him straight in the eyes. ‘The woman you were talking with just then.’
‘Yes. Her name is Lynne and she has a time machine, but it was broken and now she is stuck here. I helped her fix it. Beautiful thing…that time machine.’ the Doctor replied.
Mickey finally found his shirt.
‘So, where are we going next?’ he asked the Doctor enthusiastically.
‘We’re staying here for a while. Until I’ve finished repairs to Lynne’s time machine.’ the Doctor answered radiantly.
Rose sighed and Mickey could see she was jealous of this woman called Lynne.
‘Oh, and of course nobody told me about this Lynne and her time machine. Why would you, I am just the tin dog.’ Mickey said.
‘You two were at the beach. Enjoying yourselves I assume.’ he replied, ignoring Mickey’s outburst.
‘Yes, we did, actually. Didn’t we Rose?’ Mickey said.
‘Yes. We had a “fantastic” time!’ Rose said trying to sound sincere. She did have fun, but she didn’t want the Doctor to know she had missed him. ‘He obviously didn’t miss me.’ she thought.
‘We’ll need to go out and grab a bite to eat, then.’ Mickey said. ‘It’s a good thing they still use pounds in 2013!’
Psychic paper premonition
Next morning, Rose found the Doctor already, or, still wide awake and rummaging around the TARDIS.
‘Good morning, Doctor. I see you’ve cleared up the place.’ Rose said while she brushed her straight blond hair.
‘Mornin’ Rose. I had some time to spare and it wasn’t a big job, really. And with some music, even cleaning can be fun.’ the Doctor said jubilantly.
‘You’re going to continue to fix Lynne’s time machine today. Can we come? I’d love to see how her time machine looks like. ’ Rose asked.
‘Yeah, sure. I could use the help.’ the Doctor agreed.
‘Mickey will be here in a minute.’ she replied.
Mickey had to hurry to find his shoes, because the Doctor was eager to leave. When looking for his shoes he found the Doctor’s wallet.
‘Hey, your wall—’, he said but the Doctor and Rose had already gone.
‘Close the door behind you, Mickey!’ he had called to him, when they left.
Rose and the Doctor were already in the alley when Mickey left the police box in a hurry.
‘I arranged to pick her up at her apartment and then go to the time machine together. Yesterday she told me this is her day off.’, the Doctor said.
A few blocks later the three arrived at Lynne’s apartment. The Doctor rang the doorbell but there was no reply. He tried knocking the door, but nobody answered.
‘She’s not home.’ Rose stated the obvious.
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and unlocked the door.
‘Should you be doing that?’ Rose asked but it was futile. They were going in.
They entered the living room and were surprised to see the entire room turned upside down. (Now by that I mean a mess, not the furniture on the ceiling.) The room was a mess. It looked like an elephant had trashed the place, but of course it had been a group of people who had done this. It was an obvious sign of trouble.
‘What happened here?’ Rose exclaimed.
‘Someone took her, but where?’ the Doctor said and put on his glasses to look for clues around the room.
He looked between the smashed furniture and on the notepad near the telephone.
‘Erm, guys!’ Mickey called. ‘Does this mean anything?’
He held up the psychic paper. Pictured on it was a thin tall glass office building. The Doctor recognised it immediately.
‘Torchwood!’ he yelled and rushed out the apartment. Rose and Mickey followed in his wake. The Doctor was running towards the city centre, but Rose and Mickey couldn’t keep up.
‘Doctor! Wait! Where is that building?’ Rose shouted between breaths. ‘It isn’t all the way in the city is it? We can’t keep up.’
‘Yes. It is, but were nearly there!’ he said and slowed down slightly.
‘What’s going on? Who else knows about Lynne and her time machine?’ Rose asked the Doctor when she caught up with him.
‘I don’t know, but that building is where she works. She showed me yesterday. That’s where she is!’ the Doctor said firmly.
‘You go ahead then, we will catch up.’ Rose said and the Doctor hurried off.
Mickey had just caught up with Rose.
‘What’s the hurry?’ Mickey panted heavily, resting besides Rose.
‘I don’t know, but I get the feeling he knows more that he’s told us. This Lynne seems to be very –important.’ Rose said.
Together they set off jogging after the Doctor.
The Doctor finally arrived at the entrance of the building. He slowed down, straightened his jacket and went inside through the big swirling doors. He entered a big hall, which was busy with people. There was a reception, which he passed straight away, and some corridors.
He picked one and walked on nonchalantly, but as soon as he turned a corner he was halted by security guards checking identifications. The Doctor wasn’t drawn back by that, he had just the thing to get past them without a fuss.
‘Who are you? Show me you ID.’ the guard demanded. The Doctor reached in his pocket to get his wallet.
‘Smith.’ he said, but then he choked. He didn’t have his wallet with him. How was he going to get himself out of this mess?
‘Smith, what? You’re authorisation, Sir.’ the guard said sternly.
‘I’m—’ the Doctor stuttered.
‘He’s with me.’ Mickey said as he and Rose came around the corner with the wallet held up high. ‘It’s all right, let him through.’ Mickey flashed the wallet to the guards who fell for the psychic paper trick straight away.
‘Well done, Mickey!’ the Doctor cheered when they were out of the guards’ hearing range.
Patchwork
‘So, where are we going?’ Mickey asked the Doctor.
‘Did you know, Mickey? This is the second time you’ve asked that particular question in two days. Maybe you are developing a case of Parrot Brain. Are you feeling all right?’ the Doctor sneered in a funny way. He held his hand on Mickey’s forehead, pretending to feel his temperature.
‘Doctor.’ Rose said sternly bringing them back to more urgent matters.
‘36th floor. Up we go!’ the Doctor said and led the way.
‘Why 36th floor? There is nothing on the paper.’ Mickey asked and held up the wallet to show.
‘Give me that. –Because that is where her office is. Lynne told me herself yesterday.’ the Doctor said and took the wallet from him. ‘Definitely Parrot Brain.’ the Doctor said to Rose. ‘How do you put up with him?’
‘Well, I am used to hang around with weird people. I seem to attract them somehow.’ Rose replied as the three entered an elevator. It took them up to the designated floor within thirty seconds.
The Doctor went over to the first office and opened the door without knocking.
‘Hello. Could you tell me where I can find Lynne Reed’s office?’ he asked straight away. There were several people sitting round a table with notebooks and file folders in front of them. All were looking surprised at the Doctor, who had just interrupted their meeting.
‘Lynne, yes. It’s office num—’ a woman answered, but she was interrupted by a man, probably her boss.
‘I am sorry, but we don’t have a Mrs Reed working here. You must be mistaken.’ the man said powerfully as he stood up, revealing his full towering length. The woman who had just spoken bowed her head down. She looked like she was guilty of making a grave mistake.
‘Lynne Reed.’ the Doctor stressed. ‘Come on, think hard. Anyone?’
The woman looked at him sadly but was afraid to speak.
‘Mister …?’ the man said, meaning to find out the name of the intruder to their meeting.
‘Yes.’ the Doctor replied looking him straight in the eyes with an innocent expression.
‘I have to ask you to leave now, Sir.’ the man said sternly.
‘Okay, sorry for the trouble. Bye.’ the Doctor said, looked around the room once more and left the office. He leaned against the corridor wall with a thoughtful face.
‘And?’ Rose asked hopefully. The Doctor sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.
‘The woman inside seemed to know Lynne, but the gentleman, I think he is their boss, said he didn’t have a Mrs Reed working in his staff. He was hiding something.’ he said gravely. He thought hard about what they should do next.
‘Right! Rose, you go looking in these offices for Lynne or anyone who might know where she is. Mickey, you find a computer we can use without being seen. See if you can get into the company files.’ the Doctor ordered.
‘What will you do?’ Rose asked him.
‘I…will wait here until the board meeting is over and get the woman alone for a moment. She seemed to know more than she was allowed to tell. Maybe she will tell me then.’ he answered.
They all agreed to their tasks and dispersed. The Doctor went to sit in the waiting area at the end of the corridor while Rose went by all the offices on the floor to find any clue about Lynne. Mickey set off to find a computer that he could crack without being noticed.
While he was waiting, the Doctor thought about Lynne. He wondered who would want to abduct her and most importantly why. Who else knew she was not from this world or was it because of a very different, to the Doctor unknown, reason. He was determined to find her.
All this time he believed to be the only survivor of the Time Lords after the Time War, but now he had met her, another of his kind and he was not letting her go.
He also remembered Lynne didn’t know about the ending of the Time War yet. She had told him that she left Gallifrey long before that. She went observing in her TARDIS, just like he used to do himself. When she tried to return to the planet, she bounced off a time rift and ended up in Cardiff, 1985. The Doctor knew that the time rift was caused by Gallifrey being destroyed. Together with many other worlds, the planet, and the whole star system with it, was sucked into a black hole vanished into darkness. It was impossible to return to their home planet, not now and not in the past either. He wondered if he should have told her straight away back in the TARDIS, but he felt it wasn’t the right time to tell her, nor could he find the right words. Now, he’d had plenty of time to think it over and he convinced himself he would tell her as soon after he found her.
The board meeting was over and the corridor filled with people going to and fro. The Doctor looked if he could find the woman he wanted to speak to. He spotted her coming out of the boardroom but unfortunately the tall bossy man approached her.
‘Ah, Mr Patchwork.’ the woman said unpleasantly surprised.
‘Miss Silitoe.’ the towering red haired man said with a chillingly cold voice. ‘Would you join me?’ he asked as he called for an elevator going down. It was no question. She seemed to have no choice but to go with her boss, Mr Patchwork.
The Doctor’s chances of speaking to Miss Silitoe in private were gone.
Level up
‘Doctor!’ Mickey called to him from behind. He poked his head around the fire escape door.
‘You’ve found a computer?’ the Doctor asked hopefully as he swirled around to face his companion.
‘Even better, a whole room full!’ Mickey boosted. The Doctor followed Mickey up several flights of stairs.
‘This floor seems to be closed for renovation, so no peeping toms. I reconnected the computers to the network and I did find something of interest, but I keep getting locked out.’ Mickey said.
‘Good work, I might be able help you with that last little detail.’ the Doctor said and disappeared underneath the table. He ripped off the casing from the computer terminal and used his sonic screwdriver to bypass the security protocol. ‘Now you should have clear access.’ he said to Mickey from below.
‘Yes, Jackpot!’ Mickey cheered. The Doctor popped his head back up, complete with black rimmed spectacles.
‘Lynne Reed. She used to work on the 36th floor, for a Mr Patchwork. All her files were deleted only yesterday,’ Mickey said intrigued. ‘by the same Mr Patchwork.’
‘Look up Mr Patchwork’s files.’ the Doctor said and Mickey did so.
‘He began working here as a janitor, now he is boss of a whole department. Only a few weeks ago, that’s odd.’ Mickey said.
‘That’s exactly what we need, something odd. Mickey, if you had to hide something in this building where would you do it?’ the Doctor asked him. The question took Mickey by surprise. He didn’t know what the Doctor was aiming at. Still, he pulled up a schematic of the building and studied it carefully.
‘The basement…?’ he said somewhat unsure.
‘The basement!’ the Doctor exclaimed. He took off his spectacles and jumped to his feet. He went out to the hallway and called an elevator. Mickey joined him in the elevator going down.
‘Hey, where are you going?’ Mickey called out all of a sudden.
‘I’m sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear enough for you; the BASEMENT.’ the Doctor said to Mickey, almost spelling it out for him and exaggeratedly pointed to the floor.
‘I mean, what about Rose? Shouldn’t she come with us?’ Mickey asked.
‘No. Why? You think I forgot about her, didn’t you. Well, if you want to be with Rose so badly, then go!’ he said angrily. He didn’t want to debate with Mickey any further right now. He wanted to find Lynne as soon as possible.
‘All right I will!’ Mickey said angrily. He waited until elevator stopped and went out to catch the next one up, back to Rose.
The Doctor continued on down to the basement. The last few people left the elevator on the ground floor. He pushed the lowest button, marked B and soon the elevator took him down slowly.
Down under
The basement wasn’t as dark as the Doctor had expected. There were some small high windows and ample lighting. It smelled a bit dusty and mouldy, though.
‘Just as a basement should smell.’ he thought.
There was a door leading to the fire escape on the right and another one to the left. A long corridor lined with pipes and tubes stretched out in front of the Doctor. He took the door a little further up the corridor to the left.
He entered a large room that was buzzing with activity. There were groups of scientists, busy working with computers and on experiments on one side of the room and there were curtains along the length of the opposite wall. Some of the curtains were drawn. It looked like some sort of experimental laboratory.
‘Torchwood, alright.’ The Doctor mused. ‘Easy access, though. Well, can’t hurt to have a wee look around.’
A group of scientists were standing near a curtain, listening to a professor explaining his experiment. The Doctor joined the group inconspicuously. A few moments later, a mobile went off. Everyone looked annoyed, but no one picked up. They all looked at each other like school children unwilling to take the blame, when the Doctor realized it was his. He put on his most disarming smile and the scientists resumed listening to the professor.
He answered the call. It was Rose.
‘Yes, I am in the basement. You should come down to see, there’s lots of interesting research being done here.’ the Doctor told her rather enthusiastically. Rose spoke to him.
‘No, I haven’t.’ he answered sadly. Rose spoke again.
‘Yes, I will.’ he concluded the call.
‘Sir, you know you are not allowed to use your mobile here.’ a voice said from behind, which the Doctor had heard before today. He turned around with an innocent school boy face like before and saw Mr Patchwork had addressed him.
‘Ah, we meet again. You have strayed far, looking for your friend. Mr…?’ Patchwork said and tried to ask for his name again.
‘Reed. Lynne Reed. Doctor.’ the Doctor said purposefully confusing Patchwork, though without success.
‘Yes, we have many people with that title here, doctor. I am not good at remembering names anyway. Maybe I should introduce myself properly to you. I am chief executive Jeremy Patchwork.’ the man said sinisterly with his cold voice.
‘Quite a laboratory you have here Mr Patchwork, not bad for a former janitor.’ the Doctor quipped, though his face was very serious.
‘I had hoped you would give up your quest more easily but now you’ve come so far, I will show you what you were looking for. Follow me, please.’ Patchwork said slyly.
The Doctor followed Patchwork to an adjacent room. It was smaller and there were three scientists sitting behind a desk with all sorts of measuring equipment, discussing their theories. When the Doctor looked further into the room he was shocked.
A glass panel separated the room in half and on the other side of the glass was Lynne. Her lifeless form was perched on a chair. The Doctor was deeply saddened by the sight of Lynne being treated like a lab rat.
‘Lynne…’ he whispered as he put his hand to the glass that prevented him from reaching her. ‘You are treating her like a lab rat, an experiment! You can’t do that. It’s wrong!’ the Doctor turned to Patchwork angrily, but the man didn’t pinch.
‘Yes, Doctor. She is an experiment and since you have arrived she has become even more interesting.’ Patchwork said coldly with a deviant glint in his eyes.
‘Why are you doing this? Let her go!’ the Doctor demanded.
‘Now before you get any funny ideas to do stupid things, I have to warn you. I have taken precautionary measures. This wall is made of armoured glass and I have plenty of well armed security guards in and around this building and they are authorised to take any necessary action, because, as fellow scientist you will agree, Doctor, I don’t want such an interesting and unique experiment walking out on me.’ Patchwork told him. A devilish smile appeared on Patchwork’s face.
‘Wake her up. Start measuring and don’t forget to record the results.’ Patchwork said to the scientists behind the desk.
The scientists frantically set to work behind their computers and slowly Lynne began to stir. She lifted her head slowly and drowsily. She was trembling all over and her hair hung sadly across her tired face. She hadn’t spotted the Doctor yet.
‘Lynne!’ the Doctor yelled and slammed his fist to the glass, but Lynne didn’t react.
‘It is sound tight, Doctor. She cannot hear you.’ Patchwork said and took a quick look at one of the computer screens, ‘but you can hear her, I see.’
It was true, what Patchwork said. The Doctor did hear her. It was a faint voice asking for his help, but he didn’t see her lips moving. She was just drowsily staring at the concrete floor in front of her.
‘Telepathy, Doctor. Very interesting. Especially because you seem to be the only one who can hear her. I’d like to find out what your special connection is.’ Patchwork said joyously. He was looking forward to this next experiment.
Patchwork cued one of the scientists, shortly after the glass wall started to slide upwards. It opened slowly and Lynne became aware of the Doctor’s presence. She looked up at him hopefully and even a faint smile found its way through her sad expression, but when she saw the Doctors sad eyes it disappeared again. He came rushing to her as soon as the glass had slid up high enough for him to duck underneath.
‘Lynne. What has he done to you?’ the Doctor said as he carefully brushed her hair out of her face. Lynne didn’t reply, not even telepathically. The glass wall was lowered again but the Doctor did care. He remained crouched at Lynne’s side, while she began to cry silently.
The lonely one
‘Doctor? It’s Rose. Are you okay?’ Rose said through the telephone. She paused a while as the Doctor spoke back. Rose smiled slightly at his enthusiasm.
‘Have you found Lynne yet?’ she asked him.
‘Oh, well. We’re coming down to you. Be careful.’ she said. Again she smiled kindly. She hung up the phone and turned to Mickey.
‘He is still in the basement. He says he found something interesting, but still no sign of Lynne.’ she told him while they walked to the elevators.
They called an elevator, but the first elevator that opened its door was going up. They let it pass. The second elevator, going down, was so full of people that they couldn’t possibly fit in. They had to let that one pass too. The third time was, as they say, a charm. They went inside and pushed the lowest button, marked B.
The elevator moved down but only two floors. More people joined them. Then another floor down, again people wanted to join them in the elevator. All the way from the 36th floor down they had stopped on almost every floor. Rose was growing impatient.
‘Why do all these people have to use the elevator now?’ she complained.
‘Maybe because it is six ‘o clock and they’re all going home.’ Mickey suggested, while he was pushed against Rose even further by some people who tried to fit in the elevator as well.
Rose was relieved when all the people left the elevator once they reached the ground floor. Now only she and Mickey stood in the elevator which took them down to the basement slowly.
When the doors opened, Rose and Mickey lingered in the elevator for a moment. What they saw resembled their idea of a basement quite well, but somehow they had expected to find something different. Maybe Rose expected the Doctor to wait for them there, but there was no one. They stepped out of the elevator.
‘Did the Doctor tell you were exactly in the basement he was?’ Mickey asked cynically but he was also worried that they were not in the right place.
‘No.’ Rose said while she walked decisively to the door on her left. Mickey knew better than to question her actions, so he followed her without protest.
They entered the large research centre filled with busy scientists. They were blown away by the vastness of the place and they wandered along a bit, looking out for the Doctor.
Just as Rose wanted to take a peek behind one of the curtains, Mickey pulled her on her sleeve. There were two guards coming their way and it was clear they were unwanted guests. Rose and Mickey hurried away but the guards picked up pace and came after them.
‘Halt! You two are trespassing! Stop!’ the guards called out to them and as they did they readied their rifles.
‘Oh, shit. They’ve got guns!’ Mickey called. Quickly Rose and he went back through the door towards the elevator. Frantically Rose pushed the call button for the elevator, but the guards were already coming. Quickly they ran up the fire escape stairs, but as soon as they reached the ground floor, they were being awaited by another two guards.
The guards arrested Rose and Mickey and escorted them back to the research laboratory. They were led into an adjacent room. There they met Patchwork first. Then they saw Lynne and the Doctor on the other side of the glass wall.
Rose was astounded, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The Doctor was just sitting on the floor opposite to Lynne. They were talking and apparently they were having a good time at it.
Now after more than a year of travelling together, not many things the Doctor does surprised Rose anymore, but this was the least thing she would have expected him to do in a hostage situation. An angry feeling grew deep inside her, fuelled by the jealousy Rose felt towards Lynne.
She was also afraid. Afraid of what would happen next. She and Mickey were trapped in a secret basement with armed guards all around them and the Doctor locked behind a thick wall of glass– Rose tried to stay calm nonetheless.
‘What are they doing? Having a picnic?!’ Mickey said when he saw the Doctor and Lynne talking unaware of him and Rose right there looking at them with guns pointed against their backs.
‘So, you two were also snooping around? And by the looks of it, you know them too.’ Patchwork said chuckling as he pointed at Lynne and the Doctor. ‘I wonder… are you two telepathic too?’ he added.
Coincidentally Lynne looked their way, straight into Rose’s eyes. She alerted the Doctor who came rushing to the glass immediately. He put his hands flat against the glass and said something, but no sound came through the glass. Rose slowly put her hand against the glass too.
‘Ah, how…touching.’ Patchwork said, ‘Put them in there too. It is already late and I have other things to do. We will look into them deeper, tomorrow.’
The glass wall slid up and the guards pushed Rose and Mickey forward. They held their guns at the ready making sure the Doctor wouldn’t try to escape.
Nevertheless, the Doctor stepped past Rose and approached Patchwork. He got a rifle in his stomach for this, but he composed himself quickly and addressed the red haired man.
‘Look, Patchwork. You don’t want them. They’re no good to you, poor specimens. The boy’s got Parrot Brain Syndrome. And she, well, she’s just his girlfriend. Can you imagine?’ the Doctor said trying to keep Mickey and Rose from being imprisoned too. ‘You have what you want, why bother with them?’
‘I don’t believe this!’ Mickey scolded. He had enough of the Doctor ridiculing him, but Rose calmed him down quietly.
Patchwork responded with a simple evil laugh just before the glass wall slid down again. He posted the two guards at the door and left the room followed by his scientists.
‘Nice, now we are all cooped up in here!’ Mickey said angrily. He slammed his fist on the table in the right corner.
‘Don’t be angry, it has no use.’ Lynne said and slowly approached him. She had difficulty walking, but she did anyway. Mickey was planning to sit on the chair behind the table, but instead he offered it to Lynne. He hadn’t seen Lynne before, only heard of her. She seemed to be a very nice woman. He could see why the Doctor liked her so much and also why Rose was jealous of her. ‘Now she has someone to be jealous of too.’ he thought, looking at Rose standing on the other side of the room face to face with the Doctor.
‘Rose…’ the Doctor said but didn’t continue when he saw the look in her eyes. A stern but sad look, almost disappointed.
‘She is a Time Lord too, isn’t she?’ Rose asked him. She was almost sure of it, but still she hoped for him to deny it. There was a tense pause as they looked in each others eyes. The Doctor began to nod slightly.
‘I think she is one of my kind, yes.’ he said gravely. Rose’s eyes began to water.
‘So now you won’t be lonely anymore.’ Rose said sadly and a short but heavy silence fell.
‘Rose…I am not alone, I have you.’ he said softly.
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(Pages 1-37 show above.)