Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Thirty-One: Our World

Setting the phone back into its cradle, I groan. I'm certain I have never spent so long talking to someone so boring. My feet kick up on the desk but I realise too late, scrambling to grab the picture frame knocked from the edge. It slips through my finger. I curse under my breath, carefully picking it up. Only a few cracks run across the image, separating Mickey's grinning face from mine. A stronger word comes to mind.

"Long morning?"

Sending a playful glare towards Jake, I set the frame back down on the desk. "'Long' doesn't begin to cover it. The latest Home Secretary is quite possibly the least interesting politician I've ever met. Even all of his scandals are boring. Please, give me something good to think about."

He shrugs, fidgeting with the ring now circling his finger. It is still new. "Well, Mac's thinking of getting us a dog," he begins, a small smile playing on his lips.

I do my best to engage, reciprocating his soft tone. "That's sweet. You two should really come for dinner again, my flat's been far to empty lately. Seems like we never have the time to just hang out."

His humour fades. It's easier for him to read me than I thought. "Worrying about Mickey?"

I don't bother to look at the picture again. "Knowing him, I have a good reason to worry. We can't even call him though. Thought those discs would do us some good."

"It has," he assures me, a little impatient. "Come on, don't you go putting yourself down over that. It's a brilliant bit of tech. Five years ago, you were convinced it couldn't be real. Now Mickey's back home — his real home."

A pang of jealousy hits me. If I didn't have so many responsibilities, I'd be right there with him. "Not for the right reasons," I mutter. "You know, apparently it's all my fault."

"What is?"

I sigh wearily, seating myself on the edge of the desk. This job has been weighing on me more and more. It never gets any easier. "Those factories. Every single Cyberman in the world vanishes and suddenly everyone thinks I'm to blame. Five years in and I'm getting calls from all over telling me to fix it — as if that's not what I've been trying to do. I mean, what happened to all the praise after last year? I was a 'global hero'! Our new President's got the press breathing down her neck and she keeps looking to me to solve it. Feels like I did one good thing and now I'm stuck being everyone's go-to nag."

A quiet laugh catches my attention. Seeing my frown, he shakes his head, still smiling. "That's what happens when you agree to lead the one good defence this place has got against the weird and the wacky."

"Is that what we're calling it now? Oh, and don't let UNIT hear you say that. Kate still hasn't completely forgiven me."

A rattling sound can be heard in our pause. I try to ignore it at first but it grows louder and louder. The room starts to shake.

Catching my jar of sporks before they can topple off the desk, Jake leads the way out of the office. It's not just us, it's the entire building. The sirens begin to wail. "What the hell?"

I manage to stop a technician rushing by. Panicked, she points to the other end of the open plan floor, to a dead-end corridor filled with monitors and cables. "The sensors are picking up massive energy readings. It's happening again."

This is not like the other times, though. Brief tremors and spikes have been occurring for the past few months but this is worse. Much worse.

"Jake, get the team together. Order an evacuation." He nods. Running back to my office, I grab the phone. The shaking has stopped by now but the chaos continues as employees race for the stairs. Finally, the ringing stops. "It's happening."