Parched [5/?]

[erthechilde]

‘I tolerate this century, but I don’t enjoy it.’

DISCLAIMER & OTHER WARNINGS

As Peter led Dr Smith back to where Olivia and Rose waited, he tried to make sense of the mystifying spat almost walked in on.

Something about translation circuits and delayed biological reactions, and then Rose yelling at Dr Smith about being alien and not understanding feelings. Minus the first part, he had had heard worse insults than “alien” and witnessed far more explosive domestic disputes.

Hell, he and Olivia had had those disputes.

He just wished he’d come in earlier, caught more important information and less of the personal details. Perhaps a bit more context for the conversation would have helped him figure out who they were - CIA or not, they were acting odd.

He’d be thinking shapeshifters if Fringe Division hadn’t already dealt with the ones that remained, and if experience hadn’t taught him that they worked alone.

Then again, life often survived, no matter how strange the life. If Dr Smith and Rose Tyler were shapeshifters left over from Bell’s attempt to create his own universe, it wouldn’t be easy to find out. Once upon a time, a quick prick of the finger would have done it - silvery mercury blood instead of haemoglobin. But now, it would take knocking them out and performing surgery to extract the memory discs from their spines to tell for sure.

‘Oi, you, Bishop!’ Fingers snapped in front of his face and he was wrenched from his thoughts to stare up at Dr Smith who watched him with exasperation. ‘Not the best time to get lost in your thoughts, is it? Honestly, the attention span you lot have…’

‘Did you want something?’ Peter interrupted, annoyed. Shapeshifter or not, he didn’t like Smith. The man was impatient and obviously utterly impressed with his own self-proclaimed brilliance.

‘Forgot to ask - did your side find anything?’ he asked as the re-entered the study. Rose continued to glare at him like she wanted nothing more than to slap him, and then abruptly turned red and looked away.

No friggen way are they shapeshifters, Peter determined with finality. Their behaviour was anything but mercenary. The CIA consultant possibility became less likely by the moment.

Dr Smith paused as they crossed the threshold, and then made a face like he had smelled something unpleasant - or, more unpleasant than the lingering odour of dehydrated rotting corpse.

His eyes flashed disapprovingly at Olivia.

‘You shouldn’t be working a case like this while pregnant,’ he told her bluntly. ‘S’dangerous.’

There was a ringing silence in the room, shock registering not only on Peter’s face but on Olivia and Rose’s as well. Olivia recovered before all of them, though, shooting a sharp glance at Peter. ‘Really?’

‘Don’t look at me, I didn’t say anything,’ he protested, then rounded on Dr Smith. ‘How the hell did you know that?’

Dr Smith rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, Rose interjected hurriedly, ‘Sorry, he does that sometimes. It’s sort of this Sherlock Holmes trick, and he doesn’t realise it might be rude to use it on people.’

Something appeared to pass between them - tacit agreement to put whatever they were arguing about aside for the moment, if Peter were to guess - and Smith nodded almost imperceptibly. Then he was grinning at Olivia in a disarming yet false way.

‘Simple enough deduction to make, even without the way you and Mr Bishop here have been talking to each other. Can’t miss that, especially not with these ears,’ he declared. ‘There’s the puddle of vomit at the end of the drive that none of the medical examiners swabbed for particulates. So it’s not related to the case, but it had to come from somewhere and you’re the only one who’s been here for the freshness of it. You were sick. And you weren’t sick last night when we met, so I assume you’ve only been getting sick in the morning, so -’

‘Now you’re being rude on purpose,’ Rose interrupted.

Olivia opened her mouth to say something, seemed to decide better, and said, ‘I don’t care how you know. It’s none of your business and has nothing to do with the case, so if we could get back to work?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘I called the lab and mentioned Dr Parker to Walter. He recognised the name. He said she was Bell’s assistant.’

‘The one he spoke about?’ Peter asked.

‘Yeah. But that was all he remembered. He doesn’t recall anything else.’

‘Well that could change in the next five minutes or the next five months. Either way, we can’t exactly wait around for him.’

‘Exactly. Which is why I had Astrid run a check for us. Apparently Dr Parker was fired from Massive Dynamic almost twenty years ago and -’

‘Hold on, Massive Dynamic?’ Dr Smith spoke up. ‘That’s the name on the keypad. Is that some sort of organisation?’

Peter and Olivia stared at him in disbelief.

‘Are you kidding?’ Rose snorted. ‘They’re one of the richest companies in the world, even I know that. There was a big thing about them on the news last time I was home.’

‘Obviously they’re not important if I’ve never heard about them,’ Dr Smith retorted.

‘Guess you’ve never heard of Donald Trump or the Kardashians either,’ Peter joked.

Dr Smith looked puzzled. ‘Should I have?’

Peter blinked.

Alien is right, he shook his head. He had always thought Walter was the only one so completely disconnected from the world. Though Walter’s disconnection was due to insanity - he wasn’t quite sure what Smith’s reason was.

Olivia’s eyes were narrowed and her lips drawn into a thin line. Peter knew she was filing this away. Rose piped up nervously, ‘Sorry, he’s a bit hopped up on himself a lot of the time. Most of the time, actually.’

‘We hadn’t noticed,’ Peter put in.

‘It turns out,’ Olivia interjected, putting them back on track, ‘that Parker suffered some sort of fall-out with her former employers. She couldn’t get work anywhere except on the scientific team of a food company.’

‘Let me guess - they make energy bars,’ Peter suggested.

‘Exactly. And from what Astrid found out, it wasn’t exactly the best job in the world. No benefits, they were making money off her without giving her credit, and she wouldn’t complain because it’s the only place that would hire her. Fast forward to the announcement of a merger and hundreds of people being let go -’

‘And she figures she’s on the chopping block.’

‘Well, they couldn’t keep her even if they wanted to,’ Smith pointed out. ‘Pharmaceuticals is close enough to bio-weapons in some places. They couldn’t be associated with her.’

‘So what’s this got to do with Dr Stark?’ Rose asked.

‘He and Dr Parker worked together. And both were on the list of people being let go,’ Olivia said.

‘Do you generally keep a safe full of confidential files on your work-colleagues?’ Smith questioned.

‘You sure you’re CIA?’ Peter snorted.

‘Last time I checked, CIA training involves destroying information, not hiding it,’ Smith rolled his eyes. ‘Holding on to information, that’s usually down to wanting protection from something or someone. Maybe the file we found was insurance of some sort.’

‘What, from Dr Parker?’ Rose questioned.

‘Or he was blackmailing her,’ Peter suggested.

‘There must be something in there that threatened her, because there’s barely any information related to her work in any of the checks Astrid did,’ Olivia said. ‘Every record that turned up only related to the company she worked for.’

‘But she’s obviously involved in this whole mummification bacteria thing, right?’ Rose asked. ‘’D’you think she created it?’

‘Only way to find out for sure is to track her down,’ Peter put in.

‘I’ll put out an order that she be brought in for questioning,’ Olivia said. ‘In the meantime, we need to find out if there’s anything else on her besides what’s in thee files.’

‘And how d’you propose doing that?’ Smith inquired.

‘I’m going to speak to Nina Sharp. She’s still acting head of Massive Dynamic, and probably knows more about this than what’s in the files.’

‘I’ll come with,’ Smith announced, and though the words were innocuous they sounded like a command.

Olivia noticed this too because her eyes narrowed. ‘There’s no need. Besides, they don’t let just anyone walk in and I don’t have time to make sure you’ve got permission to be there.’

‘Don’t need it,’ Smith brushed off, already heading out the door and calling over his shoulder. ‘Rose, you head back to the lab with Peter, make yourself useful there. We’ll be back in a tick.’

He ducked out of the room, and Rose’s fists clenched and twin spots of angry red appeared on her face.

Trouble in paradise? Pete wondered.

Smith poked his head back into the room. ‘Sorry, how do we get there?’

Olivia pursed her lips and glanced over at Peter. ‘See you back at the lab?’

He tensed.

He still didn’t want Olivia going off with someone who might be dangerous, and it remained on the tip of his tongue to insist they all go together.

Then again, splitting them up might mean getting the truth about what was going on. Of the two, Smith would be the more difficult one to break, so it stood to reason Olivia be the one to deal with him. That left him with Rose.

Should be easy, he thought grimly but forced a smile. ‘Yeah, sure.’

· Φ ·

Sitting in the passenger seat of the car Agent Farnsworth had lent Peter that morning, Rose realised that she’d become rather spoiled by the cavernous space of the TARDIS. At least in the timeship, if she didn’t want to endure unwelcome scrutiny, she had an infinite number of rooms to disappear into, including her own.

As it was, driving back to Harvard with Peter was uncomfortable for more than the awkward silence.

She couldn’t believe the Doctor had left her behind. He’d practically made a run for it! And the way he’d told her to head back to the lab, like she was some kid who needed to be foisted off on a babysitter!

She shouldn’t have said anything to him, shouldn’t have opened her stupid mouth!

Her cheeks still burned with shame at the fact she’d broken down and admitted her problem to him. She had tried so hard to be mature, to keep him from such an embarrassing problem. All he’d had to do was seem hurt that she didn’t trust him, and she’d given in.

Oh, he’d acted like it was nothing but some silly human quirk and pretended like he didn’t care, but the minute he’d spotted an escape, he scarpered.

Granted, she was relieved that nothing was wrong with her, but the whole incident had put her completely out of her element.

And the Doctor, thick as he was, hadn’t even noticed!

Noticing would mean paying attention to domestics, so of course he hadn’t noticed.

She felt like an idiot.

Worse than that, she felt hurt, and a bit abandoned. If her outburst hadn’t bothered him, he would have insisted she come along with him.

Maybe he thought that would be too hard for me to get through without bollocksing up, she seethed. Less likely to blow up at him in the middle of getting important information, right?

To be honest, at this point she wasn’t sure who she should be angrier at - herself or the Doctor.

‘Hopefully we’re getting back early enough to beat rush hour,’ Peter blurted suddenly, breaking the heavy silence in the car. ‘It’s be a pain in the ass if we got stuck.’

‘You haven’t seen traffic until you’ve been stuck on the M25 and had to go to the toilet,’ she replied, glum as she stared out the window. She remembered a particularly unpleasant trip with Mickey that she had forced him to never repeat to anyone ever.

‘Yeah, been there,’ Peter chuckled. ‘Both the London thing and the stuck on the M25 thing.’

‘Hm.’

She crossed her arms and shifted in the seat, trying to find a bit of comfort. She sort of hoped he’d take a hint from her tone of voice and not try to make any more conversation.

‘You shouldn’t worry about it.’

Apparently the Doctor wasn’t the only thick one.

‘Worry about what?’ she asked.

‘Smith. He’s a smart guy and all, but even the smart ones can be clueless. Guys, I mean.’ Rose stared at him now, puzzled at what he was going on about. ‘Whatever he’s done or not done, you don’t need to hold it against him.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Hey, I get it - workplace romances are hard, especially when they involve someone you’ve known for a while. Eventually you figure out the right balance of professional and -’

‘We aren’t together,’ Rose informed him bluntly.

‘It’s okay, I’m not judging-’

‘No, really, he’s just my mate.’

‘I dunno, that conversation you two were having was a bit intense for “mates”.’

‘Oh my God!’ Rose exploded. ‘What is it wif everyone? My mother, my best friend, my boyfriend - everyone thinks I’m shaggin’ the Doctor, and I’m not! And even if I was, it’s so not your business!’

‘Oh-kay,’ Peter heaved out a breath, eyes returning to the road stretching out before them. ‘Time for a subject change.’

‘You fink?’ she snapped.

‘Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just… trying to make sure you’re okay.’

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

He chuckled. ‘Guess you weren’t joking about preferring dead bodies to Walter’s lab.’

‘Dead bodies I can handle, trust me,’ Rose sniffed, thinking of the walking dead and homicidal window shop dummies. ‘It’s only a bit more disturbing than some of the things I’ve seen. But there’s just something about rotting food sitting next to a jar of brains that… ugh.’

She shuddered.

‘Really?’ Peter looked impressed. ‘Dehydrated corpses are kind of hard for most people to process.’

‘Most people haven’t seen suits made out of human skin.’

‘What?!’

Rose winced, realising she had just slipped up, and hurried to cover up her lapse without giving much away.

‘Yeah, er, it was this… case the Doctor and I worked on. Obviously I can’t tell you the details about it. Classified -’ That was what spies said, right? ‘- But there were these people, yeah? And they skinned other people and then wore ‘em.’

Peter swore. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah, it was… pretty horrible. I remember the smell more than anything.’

‘And your mother’s okay with you seeing all of this?’ Peter demanded. ‘If it were my kid…’ He trailed off, with a shake of his head. ‘Yeah, I don’t have a clue what I’d do, if she’s anything like… anyway. Can’t imagine your job’s easy on your mom.’

‘It’s not,’ Rose admitted. ‘Mum… she hates it. But it’s my life, and she knows it’s important. I mean… me and the Doctor, we save the world every day. Or try to. And I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can.’

‘Some life,’ he whistled. ‘I guess she’s at least used to you doing amazing things, though. Even before you met the Doctor.’

‘Yeah, not really,’ Rose snorted.

Peter shot her an inquiring look. ‘Really? Because, I mean, Cambridge. That’s pretty amazing.’

‘Oh. Oh, yeah, that. It’s really not that big a deal,’ she said, shifting uncomfortably and looking back out the window.

‘Couldn’t have been easy for you,’ Peter pressed. ‘The only kid in a room full of adults?’

Rose wasn’t sure how she was supposed to answer that. It occurred to her then that Peter might be trying to pump her for information. Why had she agreed with the Doctor’s idea of them splitting up?

Best way to lie is to tell the truth, she reminded herself.

‘It wasn’t,’ she agreed. ‘It’s sort of… suffocating, really. Bein’ different. I mean, all my mates couldn’t wait to drop out of school and get a job and I… I wanted something different. But, it’s like, wherever I went - even when I was with people who wanted the same things I did, they always looked down on me. Cos I’m off a council estate. I never really fit in anywhere.’ That sounded sufficiently vague, didn’t it? ‘D’you know what that’s like?’

‘Actually, I do,’ he surprised her. ‘When Walter Bishop’s your father…well, it wasn’t always that great, especially when I was a kid. You never really leave behind where you come from.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Rose sighed. Sometimes she worried that no matter how far away the Doctor took her from the Powell Estate, she would never really escape it.

‘So why did you choose time travel?’

‘Huh?’

‘Why choose time travel as a field of study,’ he clarified. ‘I bet it’s hell trying to get grants for something that’s more speculative science than anything else at this point.’

She did not understand what he was talking about.

‘Well, the Doctor helps a lot with that. He, er, knows a lot of people,’ she deflected.

‘He know a lot about time travel too?’

‘Oh, the way he goes on, you’d think he invented it,’ Rose grumbled. ‘Course, does that mean he bothers telling you about what time travel does to the human body? Oh, no, slips his mind! “Sometimes messes with the biochemistry of lower species,” he says. “Should regulate once it gets used to the background radiation”. Seriously?’

Peter looked like he wanted to say something, but Rose soldiered on angrily.

‘I mean, if it came down to radiation, he should’ve said something right away! But no, it’s all “didn’t think it was important” and other utterly unhelpful rubbish! Then, he gets stroppy cos I’m upset ! But it’s supposed to be common sense, yeah? Anyone would be upset if they found out they were being radiated the whole time and no one told them!’

Peter was staring at her now, and Rose realised she had gone a bit off topic.

Panicked, she backtracked, trying to bring her angry rant back to the question he had asked. Or at least in the general vein.

‘I mean… yeah… no one would be interested in time travel if they figured it was doing something to their bodies without their say-so, yeah?’ she prompted. ‘And he knows all that biology stuff, he’s supposed to share it with me… Not expect me to just know it myself.’

‘Yeah…’ Peter trailed off.

He looked confused, which she decided to take as a victory. Perhaps he’d stop asking her questions now.

Just in case, she decided to change the subject herself.

‘So, you and Agent Dunham are together, right?’ she asked.

‘I - what?’

‘It’s a bit obvious, the way you two look at each other,’ Rose went on. ‘You don’t talk to each other the way I figure FBI is supposed to - all official and threatening. You’re close. Sort of like me and the Doctor, only different. You say a lot to each other with your eyes. And when the Doctor mentioned that bit about her being pregnant, you looked a bit protective.’ She paused, the ramifications of that hitting her. ‘Is that allowed? An FBI agent being pregnant?’

‘I doubt the rules are very different between our agencies,’ Peter remarked mildly.

‘I guess.’ She had no idea what those rules were. ‘But aren’t you bothered? Her being on cases like this, with… dried up mummies and killers and stuff?’

‘Hey, you know what? Let’s listen to the radio,’ Peter declared, reaching forward and turning the dial. Loud, classic rock began the blare through the stereos, and Rose concluded that their conversation had ended.

Thank God, she said, relaxing back in her seat for the first time since getting into the car. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up.

The rest of the drive passed in silence.

· ΘΣ ·

Although she was now officially the head of the Fringe Science Division, Nina Sharp maintained her offices at the Massive Dynamic Headquarters. She’d told Olivia it was a matter of the place being habit with her, but they were both aware of the truth. Nina had no intention of simply letting go of the business she had controlled for so many years.

That, and some days Olivia suspected the security at Massive Dynamic were more intensive than anything the FBI offered.

Which was why she was more than a little amazed at how easy Smith managed to get past said security.

A quick flash of his billfold had the security team hurrying to get him a lanyard and soon the two of them were strolling down corridors after Nina’s assistant. Along the way, Smith peeked in to rooms they passed and she heard him mutter incomprehensibly to himself.

‘… nanolaser surgical technology, years to early… psycho-gustatory alterations shouldn’t even be possible at this stage…’

The more he noticed, the more his scowl grew.

Thus it surprised her when, upon reaching Nina’s office, he adopted a cheerful expression and shoved a hand in front of him before Olivia introduced him. ‘You must be Nina Sharp - I’m the Doctor. You’ve got a lot of technologies here you shouldn’t have.’

Nina Sharp may have been a small woman, but she projected a daunting image if you didn’t know her. Olivia had seen leaders of Fortune 500 companies struggle to meet Nina’s intense gaze and even hardened soldiers like Broyles be intimidated by her presence. There was very little that unbalanced the woman that, in this timeline, had raised Olivia and her sister Rachel. Although Olivia didn’t actually remember much of that childhood, she suspected Nina cultivated that image - blood red hair, immaculate designer clothing and unnerving calm - on purpose.

None of that appeared to matter to Smith. In fact, he seemed as unbothered by Nina as she was by him.

‘Doctor?’ Nina echoed, glancing at Olivia in expectation of an explanation but not seeming the least bit ruffled by the new face.

‘Dr Smith is a CIA pathologist consulting with Fringe on the case I called about earlier,’ Olivia explained, frowning at her companion for his utter lack of tact. ‘That’s not the reason for our visit.’ She refocused on Nina. ‘We need some information about an individual employed by Massive Dynamic several years ago. Specifically, one of William Bell’s former assistants.’

‘Ah,’ Nina said. ‘I never thought I’d be revisiting that case again.’

She gestured for Olivia and Smith to take a seat. Olivia did, but Smith continued to stand, crossing his arms and looking expectant. Nina didn’t comment on it although her gaze became very cold whenever it fell upon him.

Arrogant prick, Olivia thought. She desperately wanted to figure out this guy’s issue, and would take no small amount of pleasure in locking him away once she did.

‘By now I’m sure you know that William didn’t trust many people,’ Nina began, ‘Besides, on occasion, myself and Walter, he kept his cards close to his chest. Walter had several assistants over the years, but William couldn’t tolerate them. He only ever had the one, and even that was early on when he was just starting out.’

‘Simone Parker,’ Olivia supplied.

‘She was a brilliant biochemist. But where William and Walter were always motivated by the need to push boundaries, their love of discovery - she was only ever driven by greed.’

Olivia shuddered. She had experienced an up close and personal version of what William Bell’s drive for pushing boundaries meant.

‘She wanted to use her discoveries in pursuit of power,’ Smith put in, sounding unsurprised. ‘It’s an old story.’

‘Quite,’ Nina said tightly before continuing. ‘From what William told me, she invented several biochemical compounds that she intended to sell to the military. Defence contract matters and overseas black op missions. Compounds like cloud condensation that could strip flesh in seconds, dust spores that could grow to suffocating size and then shrink again…’

‘The very best of human depravity then,’ Smith disdained.

Even though she didn’t like him, Olivia happened to agree with the man’s disgust. She had worked professionally with Nina for years but it still chilled her, the ease and apathy with which the older woman spoke of human casualties.

‘From a neutral strand point, she was a genius,’ Nina went on, ignoring Smith. ‘The problem was, while she excelled in creating such concoctions, she never managed to find a cure for them. No fail-safes.’

‘That would’ve made it impossible to secure military funding, then,’ Olivia realised. ‘They’re not going to invest in something that can harm their own.’

‘Exactly. Which brings us to the work I believe you’re here to speak to me about. Dr Parker created a formula which could effectively make water a de-hydrant.’

‘So anyone who consumed it would only get thirstier,’ Smith mused. ‘Like the concept of Greek fire, only internal.’

‘Exactly.’

‘And without an antidote…’ Olivia trailed off.

‘Ah, well, that’s the thing. Apparently she managed to create an antidote for her creation this time,’ Nina explained. ‘She had entered talks to sign it over to the military.’

‘A yes, the era of biological warfare,’ Smith scorned.

‘I’m sure I don’t know exactly what their interest is. We’re only a private company, you understand,’ Nina deflected, ‘but I suspect they wanted to use it for interrogation purposes. I imagine it would cut down on the need for long, tortuous months of withholding food and water to a suspect and the associated mental stress their interrogators would endure.’

‘Wouldn’t want torturers to have bad dreams at night,’ Smith said through gritted teeth. ‘Honestly, the lengths you lot go through to avoid responsibility for your actions…’

‘I can assure you, Dr Smith, in this case, responsibility was taken,’ Nina retorted. ‘William discovered the lab animals Dr Parker had been testing were rejecting the antidote. Parker insisted she was close to perfecting it, that it wouldn’t matter if a few days passed while she put the finishing touches on it. So long as she had the funding to do so, she was confident. But William chose to inform a contact of his in the military.’

‘I bet Dr Parker wasn’t pleased about that,’ Olivia remarked.

‘No. The day after they turned her away, she confronted William - only to discover he had fired her. He had no choice, really, whether he supported her research or not. Ethical concerns aside, the legal proceedings would have done a number on the company’s stock.’

‘I imagine it would be hard to get a job after that,’ Smith remarked.

‘Even if it weren’t, William personally made a few calls. You understand, it was too dangerous to have someone of Dr Parker’s brilliance and… questionable ethics - allowed access to the kind of technology she needed to continue her work.’

‘Considering Bell wasn’t exactly the most ethical man in the world, that’s saying something,’ Olivia remarked.

‘She disappeared after that,’ Nina said. ‘We rarely keep tabs on former employees, but I heard through colleagues that losing her employability led to her marriage failing. There may have been a substance abuse problem as well.’

‘So you pretty much ruined this woman’s life,’ Smith noted.

‘I’d say all of that counts as motive,’ Olivia said, getting to her feet. ‘We can have her brought in for questioning - maybe even get a warrant to search her house.’

She needed to make a call to Broyles.

· Φ ·

The Doctor didn’t bother following Agent Dunham from the room, instead continuing to watch the redheaded woman behind the desk expectantly.

Nina Sharp didn’t disappoint.

‘Dr Smith, do you know how many members sit on the board of Massive Dynamic?’

‘No clue.’

‘Thirty-one. I’ve met every single one, regularly play golf with three of them and have an annual lunch with the rest. Imagine my surprise when my secretary notified me that one of our board members, a Dr John Smith, had arrived with Agent Dunham today,’ she said pleasantly. ‘Never mind I’ve never seen you before in my life, but we don’t have a Smith employed anywhere within our company at present.’

‘But you let me in here anyhow,’ he pointed out with a smirk.

‘Well, you were with Agent Dunham - but I was also curious. Either you’re a very stupid industrial spy or you’re trying to get my attention. Either way, it seemed best to deal with you face to face.’

‘A fan of the direct approach myself,’ he approved.

‘You should understand that the minute you walk in here, your face was circulated through a highly advanced facial recognition software,’ she went on, smile not wavering. ‘There’s no information on you anywhere.’

‘Guess it’s not that advanced.’

‘Our security technology rivals the most advanced government and private systems in the world. If you don’t show up in those, you don’t exist. As for whatever you used to trick your way in here, it didn’t leave a trace.’ She paused and then smiled in a predatory manner. ‘It was only once I made a short phone call to a contact of mine at UNIT that the pieces fell into place. Doctor.’

There was a loaded pause, and then the Doctor scowled at that. He dropped his false accent and groused, ‘Lieutenant General Gonzales, was it?’

Her smile widened.

‘Yes, and she is in fact waiting for me to call her back should my suspicions as to your identity prove correct. As I understand it, UNIT prefers to keep tabs on you when you decide to make an appearance.’

And there it was. A not-so-subtle promise that if he made her life difficult, she would make his life equally difficult. The last thing the Doctor wanted just then was for UNIT to get involved to early. He was having enough trouble dealing with the bureaucracy of the Fringe division - at least he had the freedom to work because they didn’t know who he was. If UNIT stepped in…

Well, it wouldn’t be pretty under normal circumstances, but these were Americans after all.

Still, the Nina Sharp wasn’t the only one who could draw a line in the sand.

‘The last time I checked, UNIT’s focus is on extraterrestrial incidents, not brassed-off former employees playing mad scientist,’ he told her. ‘They won’t waste their time on something that isn’t their jurisdiction. Even if they did… well, not only would their bumbling ensure a murderer walks free, but it would severely jeopardise Agent Dunham’s investigation. Possibly her safety.’

Sharp’s eyes flashed, and he knew his warning had hit home.

‘If you intend to harm her in any way -’

‘I’ve got no interest in hurting anyone,’ the Doctor cut off what he had no doubt would be an impressive threat. ‘Quite the contrary. But no, that’s not what I stuck around to talk to you about.’

Sharp raised an eyebrow and then made a gesture for him to continue.

‘You have several pieces of technology that shouldn’t be here,’ he told her. ‘Perception filter technology, to name one. That’s years beyond what should be possible, as are isomorphic locks and the energy cells powering that cybernetic prosthetic of yours.’

Sharp flexed the fingers of said appendage. ‘I’m glad you think so. Innovation is our goal after all.’

‘But it’s not simple innovation, is it?’ the Doctor prompted. ‘It’s technology that’s out of time, taken without the discipline it took to create it in the first place. If you don’t deal with, it could become dangerous.’

‘All technology is dangerous until people learn to use it properly,’ she replied easily. ‘You wouldn’t be the first to express those concerns.’

‘I’ll be the first who puts a stop to it, though,’ he promised darkly. ‘If your friend at UNIT didn’t tell you that, I’m sayin’ it now. And unlike you lot, I’m not bothered by lawyers or fancy pieces of paper, either.’

‘Hm… you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job, would you?’

The Doctor snorted at that. ‘Why would I need a job? I’d be rubbish at a job.’

Sharp raised an eyebrow. ‘I can imagine. Tell me, how do you think it will impact… whatever you’re up to… once Agent Dunham realises you’re not CIA?’

He smiled tightly to her. ‘Do yourself a favour. Get rid of the technology that shouldn’t be here before I step in.’

‘Is that a threat, Doctor?’

‘Don’t much bother with threats, me,’ he remarked mildly. ‘Consider this me serving notice on you. I think it’s fair to give you time to get your affairs in order, don’t you?’

‘And if we don’t?’

He shrugged cheerfully. ‘Then I guess your friends at UNIT didn’t tell you all that much about me either. Or what it means that I’ve never heard of Massive Dynamic before.’ He wiggled his fingers at her. ‘Bye!’

He strode away, his smile fading as he went.

First a man from outside of time, and now technology that shouldn’t exist in this era? Someone had definitely been mucking about in things they ought not to be. And he needed to sit down and have a chat with that “someone” as soon as possible.

The Doctor remained preoccupied as he headed out of Nina Sharp’s office and down the featureless corridor to where Agent Dunham was on her mobile.

He was missing something, and he knew it. There was something about this whole situation that was lingering outside of his notice, and no matter how many times he went over it in his head, there was no logical explanation for it.

He was probably overthinking it, really. Sometimes - though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, least of all Rose - he got stuck on the bigger picture and missed the most obvious. Innocuous little clues or facts that humans seemed to notice by default.

Maybe he should have brought Rose along after all.

Then again, she’s in a stop for some stupid human reason and probably would have spent the whole interview glowering at me, he thought with contempt.

Almost immediately, another part of him chided him for being unfair. Rose was never petty like that, and whatever her personal feelings, she always put them aside to help save the day.

Should head back to the lab and pick her up, he decided. It wasn’t like he was having a very productive time of sorting the mess out himself.

He was sure that the anachronistic observer was directly linked to Massive Dynamic’s access to future technologies. Worse than that, he had to have been doing it for years now, because much of the machinery and tools the Doctor had seen could only be developed with future technology to begin with. If that was the case, the Parker woman had only been able to develop her little science project due to advances the company shouldn’t have had in the first place.

Which brings us right back to people mucking with time when they shouldn’t be, the Doctor reflected angrily.

The whole thing had the potential to cause more problems for the human race than a few isolated, “freak accidents”. It might utterly destabilise the timelines and maybe even collapse a section of reality.

In fact, he was surprised it hadn’t happened already. He could practically taste how weak the dimensional walls were. It was as if someone had been forcing their way through parallel universes, something that had been dangerous enough before the Time War. Now that those universes were locked away from the primary one, trying to travel from one to the other could collapse everything.

Considering he had the only ship left in the universe to traverse universes, there was a worryingly high probability that at some point in his future he might do something incredibly stupid.

‘Dr Smith.’

He glanced up to see Agent Dunham watching him, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Honestly, was that the woman’s permanent expression. For a wonder, she didn’t ask him why he had lingered in Nina Sharp’s office.

‘There’s a warrant for Dr Parker being drawn up for us,’ Dunham told him. ‘We need to pick it up before we bring her in. It’s a quick trip to headquarters.’

Something that I intend to put off as long as possible, the Doctor thought grimly. A tour of the FBI premises was not high on his list of priorities.

‘You deal with that. I’ve got to pursue this Observer angle further,’ he answered. ‘Orders from on high, you know.’

Dunham seemed surprised. ‘But there’s no indication he’s involved in the restaurant deaths or that of Dr Stark. In fact, he wasn’t even at Dr Stark’s residence as far as we can tell.’

‘Doesn’t matter. That’s bit I’ve got to investigate. Would’ve thought you lot would be glad I’m not stepping on your toes. Isn’t that what you’ve been worried about this whole time?’

‘I just don’t see the point in allocating resources to following a lead that’s not going to pan out,’ Dunham said carefully, though he suspected she couldn’t care less what the CIA did with their resources. If she still believed he was CIA. ‘He doesn’t travel in conventional ways, if you know what I mean. No paper, electronics - if it weren’t for showing up in the odd picture, we wouldn’t have any trail to follow for him.’

The Doctor’s eyes widened at that.

‘Say that again,’ he commanded.

Dunham stared at him as if he had lost his mind, and then slowly said, ‘The Observer doesn’t leave a trail. Not a conventional one, anyhow.’

‘Hah! You’re right!’ he crowed. ‘Oh, Olivia Dunham, you are fantastic!’

He hurried past her and toward the elevator.

‘Wait! Where are you going?’ Dunham demanded, hurrying to catch up with him.

‘You’ve given me an idea!’ he explained as the doors sprang open, turning to look at her. His frame blocked her from getting in with him. ‘I need to check with the “agency” before I can follow up on it. And you’ve got loads to do too, I imagine. I’ll meet you back at the lab - tell Rose I won’t be long!’ He stepped back and the doors started to close. ‘You should take the stairs. Exercise is good for foetal development!’

Her angry retort was cut off by the doors sliding shut.

· ΘΣ ·

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