Free Doctor Who by Kate Orman

building.
    Peri had been furious at being left out of the Doctor’s doings yet again, while a mere interloper like me had been permitted to sit by his side and take notes. But a few moments after I left Bob’s house, he called back with new instructions.
    His hacking had two purposes: one, obviously, was to snatch Swan’s email and scan it for information about the item the Doctor wanted. The other was to keep her distracted long enough for a couple of amateur thieves to try to snatch that item out from under Swan’s nose.
    Peri was doing her level best to enjoy their little adventure. Since Swan would recognise Bob’s car, they were obliged to park in a near-empty strip mall lot a few blocks from the TLAbuilding. They walked through echoing near-darkness, slipping behind the row of offices into trashcan land. Peri wore camo gear: a pair of black trousers and a dark sweater under her black coat. Bob had reminded her to wear sneakers instead of high heels. He had simply wrapped a black leather jacket around himself, skinny legs sticking out underneath in their faded jeans.
    Peri was somehow unsurprised when Bob picked a lock at the back of the TLA building. His amateur locksmithing had begun as a way of getting a closer look at the university’s mainframes when they were wastefully idle in the middle of the night.
    In her travels Peri had navigated many a labyrinth, cave tunnel and corridor of power. She steadied herself with a hand against the wall and followed the tiny beam of Bob’s torch. The building had the unnerving quietness of any place missing its usual crowds – like high school after the school day was over, thought Peri. At least if anyone else was around, they were sure to hear them coming. They tiptoed up the fire-stairs to the first floor, then opened doors until they found someone’s office. Bob looked longingly at the terminal. ‘Better not risk it,’ Peri said. ‘We don’t want to mess up whatever the Doctor is doing.’
    He nodded and reached for the phone, but Peri had already picked it up. No-one had deigned to tell her the numbers for the loop-around pair, so she’d simply watched Bob dial the number in his study.
    The high tone stabbed into her ear. Peri sat down in the chair belonging to whoever worked in the cramped room. It was actually kind of hard to do. In real life, she thought, you’d never just go into someone’s office and sit at their desk. Bob seemed pretty comfortable, running his flashlight along the shelves to check out the collection of computer manuals. ‘Don’t takeanything!’ Peri said, alarmed. Bob snapped off the light and sat down on the edge of the desk.
    They sat there for a while. The only sound was the squeal-pause-squeal of the phone. ‘Bob,’ whispered Peri, ‘have you ever been in jail?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Have you ever been in trouble at all?’
    â€˜Worried about getting caught?’ She wanted to grab him by the hair and shout, ‘Of course I am, you moron!’ but instead she just nodded. ‘Don’t be. What we really have to worry about is what Swan will do if she finds out who we are.’
    â€˜We’re burglars! Can she really do worse things to us than put us in prison?’
    â€˜To the police, we’ve got things like rights and privacy,’ said Bob. ‘And they don’t have enough manpower to spend all day making our lives hell. Swan’s hobby is picking on people who’ve annoyed her.’
    â€˜Well, how?’
    â€˜Cancelling your driver’s licence,’ said Bob. ‘Killing your phone and your computer. Wrecking your credit rating. Sending pizzas to your house. Or taxis. Or ambulances.’
    â€˜She can do all of that?’
    â€˜The right computers can do all of it. Get into them, and you can borrow their power for yourself. I’d much rather tangle with the Feds than Sarah Swan.’
    Peri looked