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.
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'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