Doctor Who: Changes in Time and Space - Chapter 35 - Part 3

The Doctor, Rose, Felicia and Cathica approached the Floor 116 mainframe. “We are so going to get into trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off.”

“Felicia, Rose, one of you tell her to button it.”

“You can't just vandalise the place. Someone's going to notice!”

Soon, they had gained access to the mainframe. The Doctor was busy examining the hardware. “This has nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work,” Cathica said.

“Go on, then, see you,” the Doctor said.

“It is a bit hot hereabouts,” Felicia said.

“You could get them to turn the heating down. Something wrong with the place?” Rose said. “Can't they do something about it?”

“I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine,” Cathica answered.

“Something to do with the turbine,” the Doctor said sarcastically.

“Well, I don't know!” Cathica retorted.

“Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose, Felicia, they are asking the right kind of questions,”

“Oh thank you,” Rose said.

“Why is it so hot?” The Doctor asked.

“One minute you're worried about the Empire, and the next it's the central heating.”

“Never underestimate plumbing,” the Doctor said. “Plumbing's very important.” He then brought up a screen with the schematics of the station. “Here we go. Sattelite Five, pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout.”

“This is ridiculous,” Cathica objected. “You've got access to the computer 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 insisted.

“I suppose,” Cathica allowed, looking at the schematic that the Doctor had brought up.

“Why, what is it?” Rose asked.

“The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channelling massive amounts of heat down.”

“From floor five hundred,” Felicia said.

“Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat,” the Doctor added.

“We need to find out what's up there,” Felicia added.

“I agree,” Rose said.

“You can't,” Cathica objected. “You need a key.”

“Keys are just codes,” the Doctor said. “And I've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override two one five point nine.”

“How come it's given you the code?” Cathica asked.

“Someone up there likes me,” the Doctor answered.

“Come on. Come with us,” Rose offered Cathica.

“No way,” Cathica objected.

“Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me,” Cathica said. She then left.

“That's her gone. Adam's given up. Look's like it's just us three,” the Doctor said.

“Yeah,” Rose said.

Soon, they stepped out onto Floor 500. “The walls are not made of gold, you should go back downstairs,” the Doctor snarked.

“Tough,” Rose aid. They then found the Editor...

“I started without you,” the Editor said. “This is facinating. Sattelite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth Certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three, you don't exist. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?”

Rose tried to gain Suki's attemption.

“What have you done to her?” Felicia asked, after Rose failed to do so.

“I think she's dead,” the Doctor said.

“She's working,” Rose pointed out.

“That doesn't mean she's alive,” Felicia said.

“They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets,” the Doctor said.

“Oh, you're full of information,” the Editor said. “But it's only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you're no one. It's rare not to know something.”

“It doesn't matter, because we're off,” the Doctor said. “Nice to meet you.”

Suki grabbed Felicia's arm.

“Tell me who you are,” the Editor said.

“Since that information's keeping me alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?” the Doctor stated.

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

There was a sound above them. “What was that?” Felicia asked.

“It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire,” the Editor said. “In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live.”

There was another sound above them. More of a snarl. 'I don't like the sound of that,' she thought.

“Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by the permission of my client.”

“What is that?” Rose asked, looking upwards.

Felicia matched Rose's gaze “Not good at all,” she commented.

“You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?” the Doctor asked.

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

Soon, the three were manacled. “...Create a climate of fear, and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilise an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote.

“So all the people on Earth are like, slaves,” Rose said.

“Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered.

The Editor sounded disappointed. “Oh, I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered.

'Yes,' Felicia thought.

“You're no fun,” the Editor added.

'Not if you're enslaving the human race!' Felicia thought.

“Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am.”

“Oh, he's tough, isn't he. But come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit.”

“There's nothing to admire about it!” Felicia said, quickly.

“You can't hide something on this scale.” Rose said. “Somebody must have noticed.”

“From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it!” the Editor answered. “Then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual, when of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing.”