Soon...
“Now everyone
behave,” the newswoman, Cathica said. “We have a management
inspection. How do you want it? By the book?”
“Right from
stratch, thanks,” the Doctor answered.
“OK. So, ladies,
gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot – my name is Cathica
Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write
to Floor Five Hundred praising me and please do. 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, that's
the law,” Suki said.
“Yes, thank you,
Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go.”
Cathica sat in a central chair. “And engage safety...
The other newspeople
place their hands on scanners around the edge of the chair. Cathica
clicked her fingers and a portal opened in her forehead.
'Okay...' Felicia
thought, 'that's quite obvious...'
“And three, two
and spike...” A stream of light started streaming into Cathica's
portal.
“Compressed
information, streaming into her,” the Doctor explained. “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.”
“If it all goes
through her, she must be a genius,” Rose commented.
“Nah, she wouldn't
remember any of it. There's too much. Her head'd blow up. The brain's
the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets.”
“So, what about
all these people around the edge?” Rose asked.
“They've all got
tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they
transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the Empire beams
out of this place. Now that's what I call power,” the Doctor
explained.
“Quite advanced,”
Felicia commented.
“But not as
advanced as it should be,” the Doctor commented.
“Supposed to be
old hat?” Felicia asked.
“Yes,” the
Doctor answered.
“But it's
amazing!” Adam pointed out.
“But it's wrong!”
the Doctor objected/
“Trouble?” Rose
asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
Suki pulled her hand
away as if stung by an electric shock. The information beam shut down
and Cathica's portal closed. “Come off it Suki. I wasn't even
halfway. What was that for?”
“Sorry, it must
have been a glitch.”
“Oh,” Cathica
said.
“Promotion,”
a tannoy said as a wall lit up with the word.
“Come on. This is
it! Come on,” Cathica said. “Make it me. Come on, say my name,
say my name, say my name.”
“Promotion for
Suki Macrae Cantrell. Pleae proceed to Floor Five Hundred.”
“I don't believe
it. Floor five hundred!”
“How the hell did
you ,manage that? I'm above you,” Cathica objected.
“I don't know. I
just applied on the off chance and they've said yes.”
“That's so not
fair. I've been applying to Floor five hundred for three years.”
“What's floor five
hundred?” Rose asked.
“The floors are
made of gold,” the Doctor snarked.
Soon, they were over
near the lift. “Cathica, I'm going to miss you. Floor five hundred,
thank you.”
“I didn't do
anything,” the Doctor said.
“Well, you're my
lucky charm,” Suki said.
“All right I'll
hug anyone,” the Doctor said.
Adam and Rose
wondered off, and then Suki went into the elevator.
“Good riddance,”
Cathica said.
“You're talking
like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs,” the
Doctor said.
“We won't. Once
you go to floor five hundred, you never come back,” Cathica said,
leading the Doctor and Felicia back to the cafeteria.
“Have you ever
been up there?” the Doctor asked.
“I can't. You need
a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one
gets to five hundred except the chosen few,” Cathica explained.
“I see,” the
Doctor considered.
…
“Look, they only
give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?”
Cathica complained.
“No,” Felicia
commented.
“What she said,”
The Doctor said,” You've never been to another floor? Not even one
floor down?” he asked as he sat in the broadcast chair.
“I went to floor
sixteen when I first arrived. That's medical. 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. You're not
management are you.”
“You guessed it,”
Felicia said.
“Yeah, well,
whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything,” Cathica
said.
“Don't you even
ask?” the Doctor asked.
“Well, why would
I?”
“You're a
journalist,” the Doctor pointed out. “Why's all the crew human?”
“What's that got
to do with anything?”
“There's no aliens
on board. Why?” the Doctor asked.
“I don't know,”
Cathica admitted. “No real reason. They're not banned or anything.”
“Then where are
they?” the Doctor asked.
“I suppose
immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats,”
Cathica answered.
“What threats?”
the Doctor asked.
“I don't know all
of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that
kept the visitors away...” Cathica said.
Felicia interuppted.
“That doesn't explain it all,” she said.
“There's lots of
little reasons, that's all,” Cathica continued.
“Adding up to one
big fact, and you didn't even notice,” the Doctor said.
“Doctor, I think
if there was any kind of conspiracy, Sattelite Five would have seen
it. We see everything.”
“I can see
better,” the Doctor returned. “This society's the wrong shape,
even the technology.”
“It's cutting
edge,” Cathica retorted.
“It's backwards.
There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out
years ago.”
“So, what is going
on?” Felicia asked.
“It's not just
this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's what people think.
The great and bountiful Human Empire's stunted. Something's holding
it back.”
“And how would you
know?” Cathica asked.
“Trust me,
humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Sattelite Five
begin broadcasting?”
“Ninety one years
ago.”
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