Chapter Ten

"Noooo!"

The clone had managed to find the Chinese restaurant that Sheldon usually frequented. They went inside, only to find that the Daleks had scared everyone away. Burnt Chinese food was in pots and pans on the stove and the burnt smell hung thick in the air. Sheldon followed the clone as he walked through the kitchen, his face crestfallen.

"I need my dumplings!" the clone said. "This is so not fair! If I find the Daleks, I'll enslave them and make them make me some dumplings."

"You do know there are more pressing issues here," Sheldon said.

The clone spun around and glared at him.

"Yes, Cooper, I know that, but the thing is you gave me your Asperger's Syndrome when you touched me and I have this insane need to follow set patterns that you set down years ago and it overrides my need to go save our friends. I'm well aware that they're in danger but I…need…my…damn…DUMPLINGS!"

Sheldon sighed as the clone stared at the half burnt food.

"Maybe I can cook some, except I'm not an expert at cooking dumplings," the clone muttered.

Finally, the clone threw up his hands.

"Bloody hell, I'm stronger than this impulse. I'm just going to have to ignore it. I need to find a way to stop the Daleks. I'll shove my need for dumplings to the back of my brain and grit my teeth and sally forth to fight the foe. Come on, Cooper, we have to get back to the TARDIS."

"Wait!" Sheldon said, holding up his hand.

"Yes?" the clone said.

"Shouldn't we find Penny since we're here in Pasadena?" Sheldon said. "I mean, she is a friend. Besides, Leonard would kill me if he found out we were here and didn't take her with us."

The clone thought about that a moment and then nodded.

"Good idea, maybe she knows how to cook dumplings," he said. "Come on, Shelly, let's get going!"

"Do not call me Shelly," Sheldon said as he and the clone ran towards the entrance of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Penny was in her apartment, trying to calm her shaken nerves. For the moment, the Daleks seemed to have left but she was terrified that they would come back. She had hid in her bedroom listening to the terrifying robotic voices screaming out exterminate and the screams of the dying until she thought she couldn't take it anymore. As she walked to her kitchen to pour a cup of tea, she gasped when someone knocked on the door.

*knock, knock, knock.* Penny. *knock, knock, knock.* Penny. *knock, knock, knock.* Penny.

Penny frowned. The person was knocking like Sheldon but it wasn't Sheldon's voice. She tentatively approached the door as the person continued the three knock, name calling routine.

"Yes?" Penny said when she reached the other side of the door.

"Penny, it's Sheldon, open the door," Sheldon said through the door.

"Sheldon? Doesn't sound like your voice," Penny said.

"That's because I'm not knocking," Sheldon said. "Open the door."

Penny opened the door and saw a thin man with tousled brown hair standing there. Behind him was Sheldon. Penny looked out but couldn't see anyone else.

"Sheldon? I thought you were in London. Who's this and where are the other guys?" she asked Sheldon.

"Never mind the questions," the clone said, shoving her aside and coming into her apartment. "I'm hungry for dumplings. Can you make me some?"

Penny stared at him.

"I'm sorry?" she finally said.

"Dumplings, woman, do I have to repeat myself? I realize you work at the Cheesecake Factory but surely you had to have some sort of basic intelligence to get hired there and cook the food. I require dumplings and I want some right now. Will you make me some?"

"Whoa, first off, I don't even know who you are and secondly, the world's been invaded by robot things and your mind is on dumplings?" Penny said in disbelief.

"He's my clone, sort of," Sheldon said, coming up beside her. "He apparently absorbed some of me when he was created and since this is the day we eat Chinese food, he wants dumplings."

"Correct," the clone said. "Now…can you cook me some?"

"Um…no, I don't know how to cook dumplings," Penny said.

The clone threw up his hands in frustration.

"But…I have some leftover dumplings in the fridge from the other night," Penny said.

She gasped when the clone seized her arms and gave her a crazed look.

"I must have them!" he said, staring at her intently.

"Okay, sure, go and eat them."

"Halleluiah, peace from the mental torment at last!" the clone said, running towards the refrigerator.

"Okay, Sheldon, what is going on here?" Penny said, turning to him. "Where are Howard, Raj and Leonard and who is that?"

"I told you, he's a sort of cloned version of myself," Sheldon said. "He grew out of an alien hand that was on a time machine and he absorbed some of my DNA when I touched the jar the hand was housed in."

Penny stared at him in shock.

"Sheldon, did you get hit on the head really hard?" she finally said.

"No, Leonard did, at least he did awhile ago," Sheldon said.

"What? Where is he?" Penny said, alarmed.

"Oh, he and the others are prisoners aboard an alien spaceship piloted by the trash can robots and in all likelihood, they might be dead by now."

Sheldon noticed the horror on Penny's face and realized what he just said.

"There, there," he said, awkwardly patting her shoulder. "I'm sure Leonard died a valiant death."

Penny walked over to the clone who was now warming up two dumplings in her microwave.

"I'd rather have fresh dumplings but this is better than nothing at all," the clone said to her as she walked up.

"Look, who are you?" Penny said to him.

"You didn't hear Sheldon just now?" the clone said.

"Yes, he gave me some crazy explanation about you being grown from a hand in a time machine and absorbing his DNA, what is that from, Star Trek, or something?"

The clone gave her a withering stare for a moment. Then the microwave dinged and he turned his attention back to the dumplings. He flung open the door and Penny watched as he wolfed down the dumplings.

"Ahhhh, bit dry but at least I'm satiated for the moment," the clone said, setting the bowl down on the counter. "Now that that's sorted, I can get back to business. Come along," he said to Penny.

"Come along where? I don't even know you," Penny said.

The clone sighed.

"Look. You're not the most brilliant thing that ever lived so I'll cut you some slack," he said to her. "You are going to come with us in this time machine because we have to go rescue your friends and mine. I needed dumplings and I got them so now I can go back to thinking up a strategy for rescue. Now, you wanna stay here and get attacked by Daleks or do you wanna come with us?"

Penny looked at Sheldon.

"I'd choose the come with us option if I were you. The trash can robots will kill you on sight. Course if Leonard's dead, you might choose the whole romantic movie cliché of not wanting to live anymore. Which I wouldn't do but then again, I'm brilliant and the world would be bereft if I died and…"

"Forget it; I'm coming with you, just so you two will shut the hell up about the dumplings and time travel!" Penny said, hurrying to get her coat.