What’s in a name?

[Ace McShane]

Shrugging, Ace understood The Doctors meaning and smiled a little when he met her gaze. “Learned from the best.”
Leaning forward Ace picked her cup back up she took a sip out of it and waited for The Doctor to finish his looking through the packet.
Ace nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking…well, sort of.” Her theory had been very close to his but not the same. “I was thinking maybe someone was trying to change humanity form of interaction with technology.”

She started to a get a little animated about it. “The human species interaction with technology is terribly analog, I think.” And she knew this could be possibly a bit of a stretch. “Someone trying to focus their evolution turn to digital?”

[Deleted]

Well, his theory had basically been that humanity had gotten even stupider than he'd ever credited as possible. That or the invasion taskforce was completely moronic, which was possible. Regardless, here's hoping Ace was right on that score. That would make things more interesting.

"You know.. in the course of natural events, evolution is completely random. It's not to explicitly better a species. It just only works if it's useful or completely irrelevant but spreads. This.. well. I certainly couldn't call it useful." Which did lend some credence to her evolution theory. Intentional metamorphosis like the supposed improvement of the cyberiad was so much more calculated. "But would that make these test subjects gone wrong? Or just.. escaped?"

There was a low, cold feeling at the idea of the atrocities these people were being put through.

[Ace McShane]

She agreed, it wouldn’t have exactly been useful, but she would admit, not out loud, but to herself, it could have, down the road been useful, but in the form, it was now it was nothing more than deadly.

"But would that make these test subjects gone wrong? Or just.. escaped?" Ace tapped her fingernails a little on the cup of tea, thinking it over.

“Possible, a bug in the code?” she looked at The Doctor and shrugged “What’s the old coder's song.” Singing along to 99 bottles of beers “something, something, 99 bugs in the code on the wall, take one down patch it around 3000 bugs in the code on the wall?”

Something inside connected Aces head connected “…do you still have access to UNITS databanks through your TARDIS?”

[Deleted]

"Possible," he acknowledged. The Doctor had learned over the years not to underestimate the absolute stupidity of people in large group. Humans, in particular, could get quite creative with their absolutely horrible ideas.

The Doctor drained his cup, grimacing a little, before setting it down. "NARDOLE!" The Time Lord spun on his heel, about to go searching for his jailer/assistant only to find that he hadn't left the room. Had, in fact, picked up the photographs as soon as the Doctor set them down. He'd just been too focused to notice. "You really need a bell."

"I've not seen anything like this either, sir."

"Right, well, do us a favor. Pull up the human genome project, and see if you can't retroengineer what happened here? Ace and I will be a bit busy on our own line of investigation."

"You won't be going anywhere, will you?" How did he make such a seemingly innocuous comment sound so threatening.

"I won't be leaving the planet. Don't get your knickers in a twist," the Doctor snarked, pushing himself around the desk by his fingertips before grinning wildly to Ace. "Come on, Bring your tea." Then after a beat he realized he might not have actually introduced them. "Oh, right. I've never been good at first thing's first. Ace, this is Nardole. Nardole, this is an old student of mine. Look, she's all grown up and Time's Champion! Now, Don't. Let. Me. Down." He told the cyborg pointedly, then whirled right back to the door of his TARDIS excitedly.

[Ace McShane]

The Doctor wasn’t kidding, Nardole really did need a bell or something, she hadn’t even noticed him coming in, and she prided herself on over the years of fine-tuning her senses to detect that sort of thing. Hell, it had gotten her through the Time War.

“Don’t worry Nardole, I’ll make sure he stays planetside.” She said with a small smile "Come on, Bring your tea."she started to inquire as to way but stopped when The Doctor actually did a proper introduction between Nardole and herself, "Oh, right. I've never been good at first thing's first. Ace smirked a little bit “Lovely to meet you Nardole.”

Ace tilted her head a little in a small bow as if to say hello “Don’t worry, heard nothing but good things.” She shot The Doctor a glance as if to say be nice. Before getting up with cup in hand and following The Doctor over to the TARDIS doors.

“Oh, speaking of first things first.” Reaching up Ace lightly slapped his arm when she got over next to him “You told me I should call Romana Fred first time I met her at the academy do you realize the hell you got me put through the first month.” She said jokingly.

[Deleted]

Nardole didn't particularly looked convinced by Ace's words. It wasn't that he thought the woman was uncharitable in any sense. He even made a polite comment about it being nice to meet her as well - even if it was a bit strained. No, what he didn't believe was that she'd heard nothing but good things.

Unless she was deaf, which she didn't appear to be.

Nardole gave her a tense smile and huffed a little about staying planetside and in this time as well, no unnecessary risks, before the two bustled off into the TARDIS leaving him behind.


The Doctor was seemingly oblivious, turning dials and swiping other switches as Ace came in. He startled visibly at the slap, looking to her with the wide eyes of a deer.

"You told me I should call Romana Fred first time I met her at the academy do you realize the hell you got me put through the first month.”

"Didn't you have fun?" He didn't look the least bit remorseful, judging by the growing grin on his face.

[Ace McShane]

"Didn't you have fun?" Ace rolled her eyes when The Doctor said that “Not the point, but yes I did.” it hadn’t really occurred to her to look around yet, but her eyes finally caught up with her brain and Ace stepped back a little, looking up at the top of the time rotor. Reading the names as they circled past.

Some of them she recognized, some of them she didn’t. One, in particular, caused Ace to stop and look down her hearts filling momentary with the pain of missing someone before she managed to push it aside and return her attention to the names.

“Well,” nshe nodded towards the names “At least in some form or another we’re all still here with you Professor.”

[Deleted]

How was it not the point? The Doctor wasn't precisely confused by her statement, it just rang so illogically to him that he immediately discarded the concept as not worth dwelling over. There was no need to start a debate, not when there were things running around and cannibalizing people into instant messengers. If whatever was causing this was human in origin and not named the Iris Project, he'd be disappointed. A little bit, anyway, it was an odd balance. Appreciating the adrenaline, living for the adrenaline, and loving the solution, but also being done with the world at the same time.

Ace had wanted UNIT databanks, so the Doctor turned the screen towards her. Anything that wasn't purely on paper, she had access to now. He wouldn't press her to reveal what she was looking for anymore than he was going to explain precisely when and where he was taking them. It would ruin the magic, and be far too boring besides. Ace could keep up.

The Doctor tucked his hands into his pockets, watching the pulse of the Time Rotor and definitely not getting distracted by Ace's comment.

"My friends have always been the best of me," he said slowly, words heavy with the weight of years. "Even the ones I don't remember."

Perhaps them even more so. You try living up to a song.

[Ace McShane]

She nodded her head in thanks when The Doctor turned the screen towards her “Much appreciated.” "My friends have always been the best of me, even the ones I don't remember." the corner of Aces mouth twitched a little in a small smile while she fished out the small screen she’d nicked from UNIT, laying it on the TARDIS console, opening the bag that contained it and pulling out the screen.

There was still circuitry attached to it like it had been hastily pulled out of the corpse's body, as well as what looked like a tiny bit of a memory core. Ace stopped, “Umm, yeah on second thought might actually wanna make sure it’s ok with you before plugging in random bits of circuitry into the TARDIS.”

[Deleted]

The Doctor inspected the equipment curiously, lowering his glasses back onto his nose to examine it more thoroughly without getting in Ace's way.

"Is there a risk of it infecting the TARDIS?" He shuddered, remembering the pop up virus Jo had accidentally brought on board once. "If she lets you, then there's probably no harm in it."

[Ace McShane]

"Is there a risk of it infecting the TARDIS?" Ace stopped for a minute, she hadn't considered that flipping the little bit of circuitry in her hand for a moment thinking it over and looking at the console in front of her weighing her options.

Ace would rather she be able to plug it into something, a little less vital to their needs but right now she didn't have any other options.

Looking up at the time rotor as it moved up and down she made a clicking sound with her tongue "Well, here goes nothing then yeah?" plugging the bit of circuitry into the TARDIS. There was a shudder, then some sparks, then black "….Umm. "