The Other Tyler - rewrite

Well It's Not Gold

Rose and Mei peered over the Doctor's shoulder as he sonicked a set of doors to access the mainframe. The blonde had no idea what he was doing, and though Mei was intelligent, she really didn't know what he hoped to achieve either. Cathica stood off a few feet just as clueless, playing a very reluctant watch dog.

"We're so gonna get in trouble," she muttered, turning to glare at the three time travellers.

Mei barely glanced her way as she crossed her arms, and asked, "Is this – whatever this is – meant to take this long?"

The Doctor replied with a glare, though the playful glint in his eye was hard to miss. It made both Rose and Mei grin cheekily at him. No it wasn't meant to take that long, they had both realised that, but it was funny to tease him.

"You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off!" Cathica insisted.

Sighing, the Doctor commented without looking up, "Mei, Rose, one of you tell her to button it.

"Button it," the sisters chimed, also not looking at the woman.

Cathica huffed, almost stomping her foot like a child before saying, "You can't just vandalise the place. Someone's going to notice!"

Ignoring her, the Doctor jerked the door open and leaned inside, starting to fiddle with the wires. Rose and Mei flinched back every few seconds as things sputtered, but there was a small glint of excitement in the brunette eyes. She kind of hoped to see some sparks.

"This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work," Cathica announced when she realised the three of them weren't going to listen.

"Good riddance," Mei muttered under her breath while the Doctor called out a cheery goodbye.

Rose grinned and opened her mouth to speak when Cathica came storming back over, "I can't just leave you, can I?!"

The blonde scoffed, annoyed she had been interrupted and commented with bite, "If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?"

Glaring, Cathica replied, "I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine."

Scowling at the woman for the attitude toward her sister, Mei vaguely heard the Doctor mock Cathica, but her attention was directed to the hand delicately placed between her shoulder blades. Even as annoyed as the Doctor was with the woman, and distracted by his work, he could easily calm Mei's anger.

"I give up on you, Cathica," he commented, "Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question."

Preening, Rose replied, "Oh, thank you."

"So why is it hot?" Mei asked, peering at the Doctor and the screen in front of him as he brought up the plumbing schematics.

In disbelief, Cathica stated, "One minutes you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!"

"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important."

Mei gave the Doctor an incredulous look as he yanked out a bunch of wires and gave her a sheepish look. She debated asking, then lifted her hands in surrender and shook her head. 

"You know what, I don't even wanna know." Her eyes then caught on to what the Doctor had found, "Hold on, why are the cooling ducts and ventilation and ice filters working flat out to channel heat down the way?"