"I guess they use memory worms as well," Benna whispered in the Doctor's voice after she (he?) and Clara found themselves in a TARDIS-type corridor. "Remember, when we robbed the most dangerous bank in the galaxy?"
"Don't tell me you planned it here too," Clara whispered.
"I did not. Come on, I'm eager to become myself as well, and this poor little nitwit wants to be left alone - her brains are going to be fried if it goes on wrong."
Only the fact that Benna was going to get all the pain held Clara from slapping him - or her.
"Two minutes till beginning."
That was an earthly, but odd sight: Benna was staring at the large wristwatch - now concentrated, then having no idea about what was taking place. She understood everything, apart from those little enigmatic symbols and moving metal arrows. The mind in her head kept all secrets to himself.
"Are you sure it's here?" Clara asked without need.
"I am. I reached you through a time warp right here," the Doctor replied with Benna's mouth. "I already sense its becoming prominent... No six-letter words, kid! Not now!"
"Doctor," Benna's real voice followed.
"You cheater."
Clara knew that time-travelling rarely took place without a grand shake, but this time this shake (and it was without the outer cover - without the TARDIS) was too grand. When the time came, the feeling was as if she was squeezed through a very very narrow crack, and the bells of Notre Dame rang in her head when it was over.
Benna didn't feel any better. And the Doctor in her head must've not paid attention to her being overloaded with his presence.
"We're going to rob a lab this time?"
"We haven't robbed that bank, we've taken something which belonged to us and was our reward," the Doctor's voice replied. Now the three living beings in two bodies were in the middle of a wide corridor, which smelled with antiseptics and chemicals. How stereotypical for a lab, Clara thought. "I'm going to find the way to me and return, and then we're out of here. At least now we know how to get here... now it's about figuring out the time of getting into different eras..."
Clara suddenly imagined the writing on the ventilation covers in Karabraxos Bank: NO ENTRY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
"Aren't there cameras here?" she whispered, glancing around.
"I'm covering both of us," was the reply. "While we're together, the DNA-oriented devices spot only me. Cleverest things are often the most stupid, y'understand?"
Finally good news: he's not going to leave me alone for now, Clara thought to herself. After some endless minutes of tip-toeing, Benna's head turned from side to side, and the Timelord inside her quietly cursed.
"Bloody hell, that's the trouble with inside compass. It's not a road search device."
"You could've sworn less," Clara murmured. Benna's grey eyes stared at her with a typical Doctorish expression:
"Then search for the way by yourself!"
"Oh please!" Clara snapped. Benna's mouth curved, having formed a horseshoe-shaped line tips down, and she muttered - in her voice - a short word which made the second entity in her really unpleased. Clara guessed that this word was 'TARDIS', and the Doctor didn't want to be left behind right now.
After an 'endless while', as she called it to herself, Benna stopped and pressed her fingertips to the closest wall. The corridor was over, and they two were in front of a safe-like door.
"Yes, it's here," the Doctor's voice whispered. "It is here. But... Houston, we have a problem."
"Which?" Clara replied in a low voice.
"You two will have to stay unguarded and exposed for I don't know how long."
"What?"
"In this condition," Benna's forefinger twirled in the air, imitating some kind of cloud, "I should be able to get through the door. All in all, I am nothing but a cloud of atoms now. But as soon as I'm gone to reunite with my physical cover, you're going to show yourselves."
"Are you sure your body is not brain-dead by now?"
"I'm the Doctor, alien, from the future, with two hearts and... twenty-seven brains!"
Clara couldn't help but smirk. But further on it was not about smirking: Benna released a long exhale, a cloud of golden dust floating out of her mouth and nose, wobbled and would've fallen if Clara didn't catch her.
"Cla-rah?"
"You all right, Benna?"
Benna grabbed her head from both sides:
"Doctor?"
"Not anymore. He's going to get to us as soon as he can."
Benna nodded, and her hands latched to Clara's shoulders when howling of alarm filled the corridor which turned red.
"The best thing we can do now is hide," Clara whispered, wildly glancing around. "If we run away, we might be caught and not meet the Doctor... if he's okay."
"Doctor..." Benna muttered, attempting to ignore alarm in order to catch the sound of steps or flaps. She had often used this trick, and it had helped her not to be caught by castle hosts. Its core was ignoring all the background noises - pitter-patter of rain, howling of wind and all - and concentrating on catching something unusual. Like steps. Benna wasn't ace at this, but she could differ one person's steps from others'. But now it wouldn't work - faint pain pulsing in Benna's head did not allow her to fully concentrate. And this was seen.
"Stop squealing, Benna!"
Benna bit her upper lip: she was so keen on hearing that forgot about her own voice - something like wounded dog's howling was heard from her.
"Cla-rah, ow!"
"Sssshhhh... What we can do now is avoid all those cameras, so we can't be found for more," Clara whispered. "See, they are turning to sides. We are just to get under them while other cameras look at different sides..."
But then there was a woosh, and the surroundings were gone again.
