Chapter 16: The Lies of the Mind

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Cathica gave them a tour of the station, explaining to them of their jobs and lives living on Satellite Five. They all were journalists sending out the news across the global. All six hundred channels of news, constantly being broadcasted. The Doctor started to ask more questions on the exact functions and workings of the station when the whistle went off, indicating lunch break over. The Doctor and Wanda looked around to see everyone shoving at each other from the tables and back to work. Adam and Rose were the only ones left sitting in the mess hall.

"Oi, Mutt and Jeff!" the Doctor called out to them. Both turned to him, seeing the Time Lord wave for them. "Over here." Rose bounced over brightly to them while Adam lingered at the table. Both the Doctor and Rose turned to talk with Cathica while Wanda watched Adam place Rose's mobile in his pocket. She frowned some as she eyed him carefully, seeing the plan formulating within the young man's eyes.

Cathica led them all into a large, white room. An electronic chair sat in the middle of the area with an octagon table placed around it. People sat around at each side of the table. All of them at the ready to place their hands on metal discs built into the octagon table. Standing in the corner of the room was the Doctor, Rose, Wanda, and Adam. They watched as Cathica spoke to the journalists.

"Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection," she said sternly to them. She turned to the Doctor. "How do you want it, by the book?"

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks," the Doctor said with a shrug. Cathica nodded and turned back to the room. With a few more choice words, she walked up to the gray chair and sat down on it. She laid back in it, facing upwards towards a large, white, metal orb hanging from the ceiling. Everyone placed their hands on the metal discs at her command. The electronics began to pulse as they activated. The walls around them lit up. Cathica snapped her fingers, opening a metal port in the centre of her forehead. Her brain clearly visible out in the open. They stared in shock upon seeing this. The Doctor with a more curious and confused gaze.

"And three, two . . . and spike," Cathica said calmly. The white orb from the ceiling shot a beam of light into her head while the people around the table kept their heads down and eyes closed. The observing group looked on curiously.

"Compressed information streaming into her," the Doctor began to mutter in explanation. "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," spoke Rose as she walking around the scene, gazing on with curious interest.

"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much, her head would blow up," he said. He slowly walked up around the table, studying the scene occurring. "The brain's the processor. Soon as it closes, she forgets."

"So, what about," Rose pointed around to the other journalists, "these people 'round the edge?"

"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." The Doctor stopped by the railing, leaning against it as he stared to Cathica. "Now, that's what I call power."

Rose walked back over to them.

"You all right?" she asked Adam, who seemed to look sick staring at Cathica's head.

"I can see her brain," he mumbled weakly.

Rose looked concern and worried for his health. She knew how overwhelming these things could be in the beginning. "Do you want to get out?"

Adam shook his head quickly. "No, no, this technology it's . . . it's amazing."

The Doctor stared to Cathica.

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