Fic: Rumour, Painted full of Tongues
Title: Rumour, Painted full of Tongues
Author: John Elliott
Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde, Rani
Rating: All ages
Word count: ~270
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the BBC.
"Anything interesting in the paper?" Clyde asked.
Rani threw the tabloid aside. "Just another story about what's going to happen in the Professor X specials."
"And?"
"This time they reckon Violet's coming back for the grand finale."
"She got killed off."
"I know, but that's what it says."
"Don't waste your time." Clyde leaned over, picked up the paper, and turned to the sports pages. "It's just rumours."
"Even rumours have to come from somewhere. I wonder where?"
Sarah looked up. "Oh, all sorts of places. Reading between the lines of press releases, footage from people's camera phones, stumbling across a piece of paper that someone's dropped. And of course, sometimes you get to talk to someone on the inside. We'd usually call them an 'informed source'."
*
Somewhere, deep below the headquarters of the Global News Syndicate, the Entertainment correspondent of the Daily Views placed his palm on a scanner. Two huge steel doors slid ponderously aside, revealing a pitch-dark room beyond.
Repressing a quiver of anxiety, the intrepid newshound took a few paces into the darkness.
"Any stories?" he asked. "That Professor X article went down a treat. Got any more stuff like that?"
In the blackness, a hideous mechanical voice answered him.
"I heard you call, my capatain! Neeeheeee!"
Slowly, the lights came up, revealing a loathsome tentacled creature twitching in the shattered remains of an armoured travel machine.
"In the next but one special," Dalek Caan continued, "the Professor nearly tells Wanda he loves her. But before he can spit it out, the Xyrons burst in and grab her! Neeeheeeheee! I like this game, I do, I like this game..."
Author's notes: Well, someone's got to be responsible for the mixture of accurate prediction and journalistic insanity about Doctor Who. By the way, I'd prefer not to be spoiled, so if you do want to discuss this story please don't refer to any real-life equivalents of Dalek Caan's articles.