Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Seventy-Four: Partners in Crime

TW// Talk about dieting, diet pills

—

Just as we had hoped, the lights in the corridor outside have been switched off. The Doctor motions for me to leave the cupboard first with a mock bow. I fix my hair and try to smooth down by suit. "What's our best bet? I mean, Foster'll likely have her office under tight security even at night."

"Don't worry, I've got a plan."

It takes me longer than it should to realise what exactly that is. Following him up onto the roof, I hesitate when he clambers into the window cleaners' gondola suspended at the edge by a pulley system. "You're joking," I nervously say.

He beams back at me, offering out a hand to help me in. "Dead serious. Come on."

There isn't much else to do. Muttering curses under my breath, I climb into the metal basket. With a little prompt from the sonic, it starts to lower with a jolt. We stop outside what must be Miss Foster's office with at least fifty feet between us and the busy motorway below.

I rest a hand against the glass and peer through. Light suddenly pours into the room as the door is opened. Grabbing for the Doctor, I duck out of sight. He takes out a stethoscope and presses the drum against the window.

My ear rests against the side. The voices from inside are faint but I recognise Penny Cooper's shouts. "You can't just tie me up! What sort of a country do you think this is?"

Miss Foster's simpering tone is clear even from here. "Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. Believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale."

"So come on then, Miss Foster," she snaps. "Those pills, what are they?"

I don't catch the rest. We're too far away. Cautious not to draw attention to myself, I move up enough for my ears to be unobstructed by the walls of the gondola. "Officially," I hear her answer with an infuriating degree of arrogance, "the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."

"What do you mean, 'a body'?"

Wondering the same thing, the Doctor and I lean closer. She sighs as if disappointed. "I am surprised you never asked about my name — I chose it well. Foster, as in foster mother. And these... are my children?"

At Penny's cry of disgust, it becomes clear that listening is no longer enough. We both slowly stand to get a look at the small, chubby creature that has been placed on the desk. It is silvery in colour with a saturated gloss on its skin. Waving a flabby hand at her, it grins to show a single tooth poking out of its fatty gums. "What the hell is that?"

Miss Foster walks around her desk, stopping in front of the chair that Penny has been tied to. "Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat."

The Doctor swats my shoulder. I try to ignore him and keep my focus on the conversation but he does it again. My irritated response doesn't get a chance to form as I follow his stare over to the door across the room — more specifically, the redhaired woman peeking through its window.

Donna Noble's jaw drops. "No," he murmurs.

She mouths something, probably our names.

"That's not..." I whisper. "She isn't..."

Her excitement overflows into another silent shout, "Oh... my... God!"

"How?"

"It's me!" she replies, pointing to herself.