Chapter 3: The Seer

"Now that I have a functioning body again, care to tell me what this is all about?" the alien that was controlling her body and mind asked. Ed (Donna still couldn't bring herself to think of him as the Editor) gave a secretive smile and leaned back in his chair.

"I suppose you have waited a while…" he mused, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck. It was a few days after Donna had become a prisioner in her own body, and she was slowly adjusting to her new reality.

"Oh, just a few centuries of floating about in the Void, but that just flew by." the Chi alien replied, sarcasm tingeing her words. Ed merely smirked and answered the original question.

"Although I told you when we first met that I came up with the idea for Satellite Industries, I didn't. It was the idea of the employer I work for, in fact. He wishes to control all Britain, but he needed some help to get a company started that would act as a cover. That's where I come in, seeing as I have past experience in managing a large organization. Since the company is now firmly established, I've been ordered to start planning an operation that would bring down part of the power structure that keeps the country going. And since you now have knowledge that spans that universe, I was hoping you might help me."

"You're asking me for help?" the alien asked, sounding slightly incredulous.

"Hm-mmm."

"Well, since you put it so flatteringly…it would give me a good opportunity to use some of the ideas the Time Lord's mind has gathered over the eons. I agree."

"Excellent! I knew I could count on you." Ed replied, smiling broadly. "Now, what ideas does that wonderful mind of yours hold?"

- - -

"Bloody hell…" Donna muttered a short time later, still stunned by the plan Ed and the alien had concocted. They were going to attempt to disrupt Britain's communications network, something that was sure to bring the nation to a grinding halt. By sabotaging the major news stations that broadcasted all over Britain, the government would be thrown into a state of confusion, not to mention the majority of the civilian population. Once the major television networks were down, it would only be a matter of time before radio and internet broadcasts were taken over as well.

"It's not fair. What did Britain ever do to these guys?" she mumbled, feeling powerless to change the situation. There was still the lingering question of where she got a Time Lord's mind from, but the woman was unable to answer that too. Far too many questions, not enough answers.

Ignoring the images of daily life that passed by a few feet in front of her, Donna clenched her teeth and strained against the thick ropes that held her bound in such a tasteless manner. But she was still unable to loosen them, and remained trapped inside her own body. She doubted she could free herself by next week, when the first stage of the takeover plan was set to begin. Even so, Donna wasn't the type to give up, especially when her country was at stake.

"Going somewhere?" the question jerked Donna's thoughts back into reality, and she gazed outwards to see what was going on. Evidently, some time had passed between the meeting and now, because the parking lot was in shadow and only a few employees' cars remained.

Standing in front of her was a man in a military trench coat, staring hard at Donna. Present in the shadows behind him were several other people, all standing tense as they watched the confrontation before them.

"I will be, once you move out of my way." the alien responded, sounding slightly irritated at the sudden intrusion.

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen." the man replied, showing no signs of being truly apologetic. "Do you have any idea why we're here?"

"Yes, in fact, I do." Donna imagined that her face was now smiling coldly to match the frosty tone of her voice, so frowned in silent rebellion at her captivity. "Your little group is called Torchwood, and you're the leader, Captain Jack Harkness himself. It's an honour to meet you again, sir."

Donna stared, confused. Something tugged at the back of her mind, a half-remembered dream with a man who might have been Jack, but the thought slid away as she focused on it. What was going on?

"I see…" Captain Jack muttered, and the woman saw steely resolve form on his face.

"What's going on, Jack? I thought her mind had been wiped." one of his companions asked, the voice revealing its owner to be female, and Welsh as well.

"Things must have changed between now and then." Jack replied coolly, taking a step forward and gesturing towards the building behind Donna. "Please Donna, don't be like this. This…plan that you're a part of, nothing but trouble will come out of it. Leave with us now, and I can guarantee that you will remain safe."

The alien controlling her snorted with contempt. "Of course…I should have guessed that you would find out eventually. Although, I must admit, you got here much more quickly than I expected. But I'm not the person you remember, Jack. Things are about to change, and I want to be a part of it."

"Donna…" Jack's pleading voice trailed off upon realizing that it wouldn't do any good to beg, then the man sighed. "Is there anything I can do to get you to change your mind?"

"No. Now go away and get back to your real job, Captain." Jack frowned at the sarcastic tone, but chose not to respond. Instead, he turned to the group behind him and spoke softly to them before leading them away. Donna watched them go, her mind buzzing with unanswered questions. Who were those people? And how had they learned about the plan the alien and her former boss had?

"Annoying bugs…" the alien muttered angrily as she walked back to Donna's car and slid inside. "I'll have to make sure that they won't pull another stunt like that again."

"Just you try, Sunshine! I'm sure those people will be back, and next time they'll get rid of you!!" Donna shouted in response, not caring that her comments would go unheard. Frowning, she added softly, "Whoever they are…"

- - -

"So Torchwood tried to rescue you? How noble of them." The was the next morning, and Ed and the alien were standing in the lift, chatting.

"I suppose that's way to see it. They're just irritants to me, nothing more. I want you to assign someone to keep and eye on those meddling pests until our plans are complete." the woman responded, and Donna had a sense that she was frowning in annoyance.

"Perhaps. But may I remind you that I am in charge here, and thus do not take orders from you?"

"Hmph…very well. Could you please send a staff member to keep track of Torchwood?"

"In that case, of course I will." Ed responded with a rather smug grin, then stepped out of lift as the doors opened and added, "Come with me, please. We have a visitor arriving shortly."

Curious, Donna watched intently as her body followed the human down the corridor, into his office, and sat down in a comfortable chair.

"Who is this visitor?" the alien asked, sounding just as interested as the bound human was.

"Someone who said that they could help us in any way required." the other replied, adjusting his tie slightly before rising.

"Indeed, I feel I could be of great help." a voice said from behind Donna. Gasping, the Chi family member twisted around in her seat to stare at the speaker. An elderly gentleman stood a few feet away, looking not the least bit surprised by the reaction he had just received. He had neatly combed silver-grey hair that was fading to white at the temples and his eyes were a pale blue shade. The outfit he wore was similar to something Donna had once seen in an antique clothing shop: a white button-up shirt with an up-turned collar, a cravat that was deep a red colour and covered in small white spots, a black old-fashioned jacket with matching dress pants, and a pair of modern brown leather shoes.

"Who are you?" the alien asked, sounding surprised at his sudden arrival and odd appearance.

"My name is Bilis Manger, and I believe I can help you." the elderly man replied, his calm tone betraying no emotion.

"And why would I want to accept help from another useless human?" was the snapped response.

"Bilis is no ordinary human. He has…a certain talent…that could be quite useful to our cause." Ed interrupted, earning a snort from the alien.

"I possess the ability to move from one location to another simply by thinking about it." Bilis explained, probably sensing that another rude comment concerning his species was about to be aired.

"Really…" the woman murmured, and Donna could practically hear the gears grinding as this new information was processed. "I suppose you might be of some use, then. Come sit down and we'll inform you of our latest plans."

Bilis merely nodded politely at the offer and moved to sit in a free chair. Smiling slightly, Ed leaned forward and began to outline the details of the plot they had concocted.

- - -

Donna woke up with a gasp, certain that someone had called her name. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she looked straight ahead, surprised to see that the alien who held her captive was also awake.

A sound from the corner of the room made the captor look in that direction, but nothing could be seen in the shadows. Sighing, the woman shook her head and prepared to go back to sleep.

"Sleep and forget…" a faint whisper caused her to look up again, just in time to see the oval windows vanish as the alien suddenly closed her eyes. Mystified, Donna was about to close her own eyes when Bilis faded into existence directly in front of her.

"W-what?" the woman stammered, shocked by his sudden and unexpected arrival. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but he remained silent as he examined her bonds.

"What the hell do you want?" she snarled, more frightened than angry at the man.

"I wish to help you, Donna." Bilis replied simply.

"But why? You're working with Ed and that Chi alien…aren't you?" Donna added after a moment, a thought suddenly having struck her. She recalled that during the briefing earlier that morning Bilis had frowned slightly on several occasions, but the captive human hadn't paid much attention to them at the time. But perhaps the old man standing before her wasn't quite as happy with the plot as he had appeared to be.

"You don't like the plan they have, do you?" she asked softly, still not fully getting why Bilis was here.

"Correct, although I prefer to use the words 'absolutely hate' instead of 'don't like' myself. I assume you want to know why I cam to see you?"

"Yeah. But how did you get past her mind-block?"

"Oh, that was simple enough." Bilis replied dismissively. "The mind-block was set up only to ensure you didn't escape from inside it, so there was no protection against an outside mind who wanted to get in."

"Then won't you be trapped in here as well?" Donna asked, still trying to grasp the foreign concepts that her visitor was explaining.

"Nonsense! Since I got in easily enough, I will be able to exit by the same way. The Chi Family may be good at some things, but mind techniques is not one of them." Bilis replied tartly, looking mildly insulted.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…" the woman murmured awkwardly in the silence that followed.

"It's quite alright. Now, as you may have guessed, I possess some other abilities that I forgot to mention this morning, but I won't go into detail about them now." Donna smirked, knowing full well that the elderly man had done nothing of the sort. She now suspected that it had been Bilis who had spoken right before he had appeared.

"I didn't fully explain one of my powers this morning. It's true that I can move from location to location with ease, but I can also move through time in the same way. It's like going from one room into another simply by taking a single step, which otherwise might have taken fifty or a hundred steps to accomplish. Do you understand?"

"I think so." Donna said slowly, a bit dazed by the fact that he could travel in time.

"Good. Now, to the reason why I came here: I sometimes get glimpses of different possible futures, futures that may or may not occur. Normally, I see a possible future once, perhaps twice before it becomes impossible to take place. Unfortunately, half of the futures I see now deal with the impending takeover of Britain by Satellite Industries, with the other half showing a calm, free Britain.

"Donna, I want that free Britain to be the only future that takes place. I've seen what would happen if this comany gains control of this country - I saw a similar future taking place a year ago, with devastating consequences for the entire world. That must not happen again. You may not remember it Donna, but you saved the world once, not that long ago. I need you to do it again."

"But…" Donna trailed off, not entirely sure how to respond. Her, save the world? It sounded incredible, like something out of one of her dreams. But she could tell by the intense look in the old man's eyes that he spoke the truth. Bilis believed that she could save the world again, and although the woman had her doubts, she wasn't about to let him down.

"Okay. I don't care what it takes, but I'm gonna make sure that future you saw doesn't happen." she finally said, lifting her chin up and staring into Bilis' blue eyes. "But first, I need to be in control of my own body again. Could you help me with that?"

"Of course. Unfortunately, I can't cut all the memory strings that are binding you now, but I can sever one of them." Stepping forward, the elderly gentleman removed a small knife from an inner pocket of his jacket and deftly cut one of the ropes that had helped restrained her right arm. It fell away easily, vanishing into the infinite darkness beneath their feet.

"There. Every time I visit, I'll cut away another memory string. That way, her control on you will slowly weaken, hopefully without her noticing-"

"And then I'll be able to break free and kick her out of my head." Donna finished, frowning in anger at how the alien had treated her.

"Precisely. Now, I must take my leave of you, Donna, but we will talk again soon."

"Sounds good to me! Thanks, Bilis." she replied, giving him a grateful smile. Bilis nodded in return and gave a short bow before vanishing.

Donna stared at the spot where he had stood, wishing that they could have talked longer. Sighing, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, content with the thought that she wasn't alone anymore.

- - -

Author's Notes: For those of you who aren't familliar with him, Bilis Manger is from the last few episodes of Torchwood Season 1. I've also expanded his powers a bit - the episodes in which he appeared didn't outline the full extent of his abilities, so I decided to play with them a bit.