The Tardis lands on space station 'Satellite 5' and the Doctor and Rose walk out before new companion, Adam Mitchell can exit. The Doctor decides to play a prank on Adam and gives Rose all the information he can assess about where they have landed. Once Adam walks out, Rose takes a look around and describes where they have landed and the approximate time. Adam is dumb-founded by the sudden culture shock. The Doctor taunts Rose that he's her boyfriend, to which Rose replies, "Not any more."
In order to gain additional information, the Doctor approaches a couple of women and asks where he is. Cathica (on the right) assumes he's stupid because the answer is obvious but Suki believes it's a training exercise. The Doctor goes along with it and assumes the role of a supervisor. He asks if they will show him around and Cathica agrees, hoping for a promotion when she demonstrates her skills.
Satellite 5 is a news station. Using implanted technology, Cathica is able to open her head and import a compressed data stream (collected from Suki and other journalists) directly into her head for presentation and documentation. Adam is at first revolted, then extremely intrigued by the amount of knowledge which can be acquired in this fashion.
The connection is suddenly terminated and Suki apologizes to Cathica, explaining it must have been a glitch. But the data process has been watched by 'the Editor' who feels something is amiss. He has double checked everyone in the room and determines Suki is not who she claims to be. The Editor orders her to be brought upstairs and a fake promotion is granted her, which upsets Cathica. Once she arrives, Suki discovers decays bodies and an Editor who has learned she is an undercover agent for the Freedom Foundation, an organization who believe Satellite Five is not all it claims to be.
While the Doctor and Rose are trying to convince Cathica something odd is going on, Adam has decided to feign homesickness. While he's away from the Doctor, Adam gets the head implant so he can store all future knowledge directly into his head for later use. Using a 'super' phone given to him by Rose, Adam utilizes his new implant to leave a 'white noise' message on his home answering machine to decipher later.
While Adam is helping himself, the Doctor has realized human society has been stunted and should be more advanced than it really is. Attempts to illustrate the point to Cathica is unheeded so Rose and the Doctor go to floor 500 to confront the Editor. Because Adam has interfaced with the news source, the Editor knows about the Doctor. He captures the pair and introduces them to the Jagrafess, known as Max. The Jagrafess has been controlling and manipulating humans for years, along with its superiors.
Meanwhile, Cathica has been considering what the Doctor was trying to tell her so she does a bit of investigating of her own. She travels to floor 500 and sees the Doctor and Rose captured by the Jagrafess and learns it needs the cold to survive. She uses her implant to access the stations environmental system and allows the floor to heat up, killing the creature. Cathica asks for the Doctors help in cleaning up but he declines; he's got bigger fish to fry.
Adam is waiting for the Doctor at the Tardis. He tries to explain he's okay but the Doctor orders him into the Tardis. Adam attempts to defend himself by saying everything that happened was the Doctors fault because he was in charge. In an instant, the Tardis lands in Adam's house. The Doctor has dropped him off at home and tells Adam he can't travel with him any more because he only takes the best. Before leaving, the Doctor destroys the answering machine which has the data stream Adam left on it from the future.
WHO: Adam Mitchell
DEPARTURE LOCATION: Earth, circa 2005
REASON FOR DEPARTURE: After deciding to help himself to future information, the Doctor kicks him out of the Tardis for good.