The Doctor stepped into his room; there was a large window overlooking the desert, a wardrobe, a desk, a table with two chairs, a door to the bathroom on the right and a door on the left into the next room, a hat rack, a bedside table and a large bed left of the door he came through.
There was a card on the bedside table. The Doctor picked it up and sat on the bed to read it.
'Assertive and Perceptive Detective Inspector John Smith works for Scotland Yard, he has solved many cases with his assistant Ms Murphy and still knows very little about her. He hides a terrible secret. After falling hopelessly in love with Ms Murphy he decided to turn his powers of deduction on to her, he found out about her husband and took it upon himself to get rid of him. They are now on the case of her missing husband. They have a lead that he is here. Smith tries desperately to hide his feelings and his secret from her.'
"Who wrote this?" The Doctor asksed himself. He rolled his eyes and put the card in his pocket, "I wouldn't say hopelessly..."
There was a knock at his door and McKenzie came in, "I can't believe they gave us adjoining rooms..." she blushed.
"Come in!" he said, raising his eyebrow at McKenzie, "But yes, I see what you mean. It's not like we came here together, booked a room together or even told them that we were together." he rambled, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
She raised her eyebrow at him, "Right?" she chuckled, "I guess with the psychic paper we're lucky we're even guests."
"True..." he smirked.
"So uh– Have you read yours yet?" she asked, flicking a piece of paper in her hand, "Mine's fun... The beautiful and mysterious Ms Murphy, assistant to Detective Inspector John Smith, blah blah blah... I didn't read the rest of it. Just something about my husband getting murered."
"McKenzie! I thought you said you were gonig to take this seriously?" The Doctor laughed.
McKenzie pouted, "I know... but it's so cliche! We've seen real drama out there, why would we come to somewhere that scripts it?"
"Maybe some people like knowing that nothing's going to go wrong...?"
"Oh..." McKenzie smiled, "Sorry. I'll try and play along. But if it turns out my husband is actually alive I'm not going to act surprised." she raised her eyebrow at him and he shrugged, "What does yours say?"
The Doctor thought for a moment, "The same thing really, looking for your husband." he said awkwardly.
"How do you think they put all of this extra story into this...?"
"Well, like they said. They must have a story line, then adapt it to who ever is here. Which would explain why Mrs. Marple is here."
"Clever. I guess that stops people who've read the book, ruining the story."
"Who hasn't read it though?" The Doctor laughed.
"Do you think we're going to meet him?" she asked.
"Who?" The Doctor asked.
"My Husband… Do you recon one of the actors on the ship is going to unveil themselves and try to kill me?"
"I really hope not, else these people have gone a little too far in their story telling… Although, that steward seems to have a thing for you."
"Excuse me?" McKenzie raised her eyebrow at him.
"Oh come on… Beautiful and mysterious?"
"What…? You don't think I'm beautiful and mysterious?" she pouted and fluttered her eyelashes at him.
The Doctor tried not to laugh, "All I can say is I think this trip is going to be even more exciting than I'd first thought!"
They laughed together, "With you?" McKenzie asked, "I'm gonna count on that."
He watched as they sat together on the bed, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't bear it; the way she looked at him, that Doctor. 'She should be looking at me like that.' he thought. He watched as she left the room, "I'm going to get changed, I'll meet you at dinner." he heard her say. The Doctor beamed away, unworthily. He turned to another camera, he had seen McKenzie go back to their ship earlier to collect some things, she laid out her change of clothes on the bed and unzipped her dress, he went to look away but his eyes lingered. He watched her curves, her pale skin and her intriguing tattoo. He couldn't turn away.
McKenzie walked into the dining room. The Doctor was talking to everyone; telling what appeared to be an extremely funny story. She sat down next to him.
"And that's when I said," he pulled a banana out of his pocket, "Always bring a banana to a party!"
Everyone laughed helplessly.
"Magnificent!" Brannigan grinned.
"You have some terribly funny stories Mr Smith." said Oolaina.
"Thank you," he said, "Sorry, what was your name again?"
"Oolaina." she smiled.
"Oolaina?"
"Yes." she smiled and batted her eyelids at him.
"That's a very interesting name." McKenzie chimed in.
"As is Murphy..." she said folding her arms.
"Oh... I didn't mean–"
The steward came in, "Dinner is served, everyone."
A few identical holographic waiters came in from the kitchen carrying bowls of soup. McKenzie shot a look to The Doctor, he shrugged in response.
"It looks lovely." smiled Miss Marple.
"Oh, excuse me." said Oolaina, "I ordered minestrone, this is tomato."
"Terribly sorry, Madam–" said a waiter.
"Oh don't worry. Here, have mine." said The Doctor, switching the bowls over.
"Right you are, Sir." the waiter said.
"How perfectly charming you are." Oolaina smiled sweetly.
"Yes, quite..." McKenzie mumbled.
"Professor Doyle?" asked Miss Marple, "What have you been working on recently?"
"Oh, not much really." he said modestly, "Just a few translations, rituals and the like... but I must say I'm much more interested to hear about you?" he smiled.
"Definitely!" added Brannigan, "You know, I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"I'm nobody special." she said sweetly.
"Oh come on," said The Doctor, "My assistant and I were very surprised to see you here!" he turned to McKenzie, "Weren't we?"
She stared into space, squinting her eyes at the bookshelf at something she felt she couldn't quite see. The Doctor nudged her.
"Oh yes! Of course." she said obliviously.
"Well, I just love these little trips you know." said Miss Marple, "I come every time, I love a good mystery." she winked.
"I'm sure you do." said The Doctor, he whispered to McKenzie, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah... fine, I just... I'll tell you later." she said weakly.
"If you're sure…"
"So, Detectives...?" Brannigan asked with a huge smile on his face, "Have you had any good cases lately?"
"Bran." Valerie giggled, "I'm sure you can't ask about that!"
"Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind!" he turned back to The Doctor, "We've just been on such a long journey recently, trying to see as much of everything as we can!"
"I bet..." The Doctor mumbled, "But yes, cases. Ah... let me think."
The Doctor went off into another story, McKenzie listened but drifted in and out, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
After dinner was over, The Doctor caught up to McKenzie as she went into her room.
"Is everything ok?" he asked.
"Yeah... Well, no... I don't know. I can't shake this feeling, like I'm being watched or something." McKenzie replied.
"Don't worry..." he smiled, "You're safe here."
"What, with a murderer on the loose?" she joked.
"I'll keep you safe, I promise." he pulled her into a hug, causing her to giggle.
She felt a little confused but still appreciated the closeness, "I dunno it sounds so silly. But I swear there are eyes everywhere… Someone is watching me… Maybe."
"I think you were right about your husband." The Doctor said, "I'll keep you safe from him too." he looked down at her in his arms.
"I appreciate the gesture but I mean really… Something seems off about this place."
"Look at me…" he said, pulling her head up to look into her eyes. McKenzie looked up into his deep brown eyes, something seemed wrong. Behind his eyes, something was missing. He looked cold.
"I'll protect you, from him and from here–" he leant in close to her and she immediately leaned back a little, having not expected him to make that kind of move.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Nothing– I just, do we not do this then?"
She stepped away from him, sensing something very wrong about him, "What's wrong...? There's something different about you..."
"McKenzie... It's me." he walked over to her.
"No, just... stay right there, something is wrong. You look like him, but you don't feel right."
He sighed and looked up at her, his eyes glowed and he snarled.
"Oh! Ok, definitely not you!" she ran for the door to The Doctor's room and the double ran towards her, leaping over the bed. She quickly went through the door and slammed it shut.
"McKenzie?" The Doctor asked, "What's going on? Who were you just talking to?"
She leant back into the door as something pounded on the other side.
"It's you, or a fake you... Something pretending to be you!" she stuttered.
The Doctor ran over to her and put his hand on the door knob, the pounding stopped. He looked over to McKenzie and she held her breath. He listened at the door and heard nothing. He shrugged to McKenzie. He unlocked the door, slowly opened it and looked around her room.
"Empty." he said.
"What?" she pushed past him and looked around the room, it was empty. The only Doctor was the one by her side, he looked at her, a worried look in his eyes, the right brown eye this time, "But he was here... You heard him... at the door?"
"I did. There was definitely something at the door." he led her back into his room and watched as she locked the door. Her hands were shaking.
"Are you ok?" he took her hands.
"I'm not crazy! There was something..."
"I know, I believe you." he stroked her hair and she hugged him.
"And back at dinner, I really thought I saw something there too."
The Doctor let go of her and sat down on his bed, he watched her as she paced in front of him.
"On the bookshelf, in the dining room..." The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, "And no, it wasn't a lead pipe or a rope." she interrupted him as she sat down next to him.
The Doctor shrugged.
"I thought I saw something shiny..."
"We'll check it out tomorrow, Ms Murphy? If you're sure you want to stick around."
"Of course I do, Detective Inspector." she raised her eyebrow at him, "So could I... Uh– Stick around, here, maybe?"
"Oh, of course." he went over to a chair.
"Uh, I mean like... around, you..." she moved over on the bed and patted the space next to her, "If that's ok?" she shrugged and tried not to blush.
"Why wouldn't it be?" he smiled and sat next to her on the bed.
They looked up at each other and laughed awkwardly. McKenzie lay back and stared up at the ceiling; without looking at him she moved over and curled up close to The Doctor. He put his arm around her and stroked her hair. He thought about he she must have been feeling, all that time locked away, eyes on her every move, could anyone really have followed them here? They did it before. He shook the thought out of his mind. He listened to her breathing steadily, over the days since her regeneration she seemed to be coping well with her new physiology, he thought about how long that might last and then held her tightly.
He watched them and smiled, 'Not long now...' he thought, 'She'll be mine again.' he looked over the other screens and caught a glimpse of someone choking. In shock he stared at the screen watching as the life left her eyes. He realised what had happened, in a panic he turned to the steward.
"What did you do!"
"Exactly what you told me to do. He must have switched them." the steward replied.
"Well then, go and fix it! Make it look like how it's supposed to look."
He stepped close to him, eye to eye, almost nose to nose. He growled and his eyes glowed.
"Need I remind you that Planet Link own you...? That isn't going to threaten me. Take care of her."
The steward narrowed its eyes and stepped back, he doubled over in pain, his very bones looking to free themselves from his skin. His body was changing, his skin becoming paler and his hair becoming lighter. He stood up, now a she. It was Miriam.
She changed into her maid outfit.
"That's better."
