The Doctor and The Nightingale {1}

rise of the cybermen 5.3

The Doctor and Nova had caught up to Rose and Tate. The street was crowded with civilians, officers, and soldiers. Nova proceeded to ask Rose about where Mickey might have gone, and Rose was able to give her an answer. "Mickey's mum just couldn't cope. His dad hung around for a while, but then he just sort of wandered off. He was brought up by his gran. She was such a great woman" Rose smiled as she reminisced about Mickey's grandmother. "God, she used to slap him! And then she died. She tripped and fell down the stairs. It's about five years ago now. I was still in school"

"I never knew" The Doctor piped in.

"Well, you never asked"

"You never said"

"That's Mickey. I suppose I, we just take him for granted. Do you think she's still alive, his gran?" Rose looked to The Doctor for an answer.

"Could be. Like I said, parallel world, gingerbread house. We need to get out of here as fast as we can"

There was a beeping sound and everyone came to a still stop, including the policemen. The Tardis team also stopped, but they stopped in confusion. "What's happening?" Tate asked.

"They've stopped" Nova stated the obvious. The one thing that was the same about everyone that stopped was the earpieces they were all wearing. The earpieces all started flashing. Nova took a closer look at one of the earpieces. "It's the earpieces. Like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together"

Rose's old phone began beeping again. She unzipped her pocket and reached in it to grab her phone. "It's on my phone. My old one, that is" She explained, staring down at it. "It's automatic, look. It's downloading" The Doctor put on his glasses and peeked at Rose's phone. "Is this what they're all getting? News, international news, sports, weather"

"They get it direct. Downloaded right into their heads" The Doctor said.

"TV schedules, lottery numbers"

"Everyone shares the same information" The Doctor took Rose's phone. "A daily download published by Cybus Industries" The next download was Joke. Everyone started laughing and then they went about on their business. "You lot, you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade"

"Oi, not my lot" Rose corrected The Doctor. "Different world, remember"

"It's not so far off your world. This place is only parallel" The Doctor shrugged, continuing to look through Rose's old phone.

"Wait a minute, how come my old phone gets all this stuff, but the Stark phones aren't?" Rose looked to Nova for an answer this time.

"Stark phones are protected" Nova answered. "No unauthorized networks are allowed to connect to it. If it's not approved by Tony, it won't connect. Cybus Network is unauthorized"

"Oh, look at that" Something on Rose's phone peaked The Doctor's interest. He showed the others. "Cybus Industries, owners of just about every company in Britain, including Vitex. Mister Pete Tyler's very well connected" Rose looked at The Doctor with big eyes and a sweet smile, practically pleading to go see Pete. The Doctor sighed in defeat. "Oh, okay. I give up. Let's go and see him" He tossed the phone back to Rose.

______

The Doctor, Nova, Rose and Tate had found the Tyler residence. They were hiding in the bushes as they were watching a bunch of cars pull into the driveway. There was a party going on tonight. Rose knew what for. "They've got visitors" The Doctor commented.

"February the first. Mum's birthday" Rose added. "Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party"

"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look" The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper. "And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside"