by Becky Miller
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?' Ros
e 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