Vignette 26: Jamie McCrimmon, Leela, the Second Doctor, and the Fourth Doctor; part 2 of 2
When Jamie next awoke, he found himself strapped to some sort of stretcher. He also quickly realized that he couldn't see a thing—he seemed to be covered by some sort of sheet.
Baffled and concerned, he tried to call out to Leela, hoping that she was nearby, but his mouth was gagged.
After several minutes of fruitless struggling, the Scot stopped his efforts, trying instead to pick up what information he could about his surroundings from just trying to listen. He could hear the scientists conversing among themselves, discussing how he and Leela seemed to have normal brain activity despite the "obvious" signs of brainwashing.
"There is only one thing we can do," the lead scientist said. "We must demand that the alien menaces undo the damage they have done to this young man. Have you found the young lady?"
"Negative, Sir; she disappeared into one of the stairwells. There's no telling which floor she might have gotten to by now. We'll have to monitor the security footage and see if she has a planned route."
Jamie's heart skipped a beat; Leela had escaped the scientists! There was hope for him—and the Doctors!
"What about this one?" another scientist asked.
Jamie felt one of the scientists poke at his covered arm.
"As I said, the Gallifreyans may be the only ones able to undo the brainwashing they've done to him. We'll see to that now."
Jamie froze as he heard a door opening; the next thing he heard was the furious ranting of both his Doctor and Leela's Doctor.
"Now see here!" Jamie's Doctor snapped. "I protest vehemently against the way I've been treated!"
"Besides that, we haven't eaten since yesterday," Leela's Doctor added.
They both protested as they were forced into chairs and tied down.
"We have no quarrel with you!" Jamie's Doctor said. "We only came here to stop the Dalek from harming anyone!"
"What you heard, Alien, was the pathetic cry of an insane Dalek," the lead scientist said. "We managed to get some information from that thing before its mind gave in to our questioning—and among that information was the fact that the Dalek's greatest enemies are the Time Lords. We knew we had to get our hands on one for study—to defend against an inevitable invasion."
"Are you quite sane?" Leela's Doctor asked. "Our people have no desire to do anything with yours."
"Indeed," Jamie's Doctor sniffed.
"Yet, you two came here," the head scientist pointed out. "And imagine our surprise, though, when we saw that the both of you had taken humans captive."
"And we've told you for the umpteenth time—they are not our captives!" Jamie's Doctor retorted. "And I am insulted that you would ever presume as such!"
"If you spared a moment to put your brain cells together long enough to ask them, they would tell you that they chose to travel with us," Leela's Doctor added.
"They told us that," the scientist said. "And they attacked us!"
"Did we mention that one is a Jacobite rebel, and the other is a survivor of a failed survey team that turned feral?" Leela's Doctor intoned.
"So that's your scheme?" a second scientist asked. "You kidnap the savages of our species and brainwash them to serve you and turn against us?"
"How dare you…!?" Jamie's Doctor fumed.
"How dare you?" the head scientist countered. "How dare you, Sirs, take advantage of the most depraved of humanity and turn them against their own kind!? This has gone on for long enough—and we demand that you undo whatever it is you've done this instant!"
Jamie flinched as the bright lights of the room struck his eyes; the scientist had pulled the sheet off of him.
"Jamie!" both Doctors exclaimed.
Jamie tried to turn his head to look at them; he was now able to see that the Doctors were not only tied down to the chairs, but they had several electrodes attached to their faces and wrists that were projecting graphs on a nearby monitor.
"Let him go!" his Doctor demanded. "You claim that he belongs with his own kind, and yet you treat him like this!?"
"This is a necessity," the scientist said. "He must be rehabilitated. What exactly did you do to him to make him turn against his own kind?"
Both Doctors glared at the head scientist.
"If you do not tell us," the scientist sneered. "Then we will have no choice but to perform brain surgery on him to return him to tabula rasa. …Why does that upset you? Surely, you did the same to him to get him into this state?"
He began to inspect Jamie's head, trying to look for the "scars" of the "operation." A new figure in a lab coat joined the others through the front door; this figure also had a surgical mask obscuring its face. Jamie assumed that this was going to be the surgeon who would be probing around in his brain.
"Alright!" Jamie's Doctor suddenly exclaimed. "You're right about us—you're absolutely right! I used an ancient but highly effective strategy to win Jamie's loyalty! Are you satisfied!?"
Jamie's eyes widened in disbelief. It couldn't be true—it couldn't possibly be true!
"And I did the same to Leela," her Doctor added. "Well done, Gentlemen; your tenacity has revealed the truth at long last."
The scientist now turned towards the Doctors, listening intently.
"Go on," he said, silently motioning for the others to take notes. "What did you do?"
"I used a method that has been practiced across the galaxy for thousands of years," the Doctor said. "It's subtle—so very subtle—but effective."
"What is it?" the scientist asked.
"Kindness," Jamie's Doctor responded. "And love."
The room was utterly silent; none of the scientists could form a reply.
"Diabolical, isn't it?" Leela's Doctor deadpanned.
Jamie, relieved at this current turn of events, suddenly realized that his could move his arms and legs again—the ropes that had been holding him down had been severed. He looked up to see the surgeon now cutting his gag with a scalpel.
His eyes widened.
"Leela!?" he mouthed, as she removed the gag.
Her eyes silently instructed him to be quiet.
An alarm suddenly blared, and the scientists quickly filed out of the room, one of them instructing Leela to stand guard over the prisoners.
Jamie immediately got to his feet, and he and Leela set about freeing the Doctors at once.
"I like the new look," Leela's Doctor said. "Or, at least, I would if it didn't remind me of those ghastly folks."
Leela smirked, pleased with her handiwork; Jamie merely embraced his Doctor once he was free.
"Like I said," his Doctor said. "Subtle… but effective. Now, then… I daresay we should depart from here at once."
"Aye, I'm all for that," Jamie said. "It's a lucky thing that the alarm went off."
Leela's Doctor glanced at her, arching an eyebrow as her smirk widened.
"I don't think luck had anything to do with it," he said. "Leela?"
"I came across a Dalek—one that was at death's door," she said. "Its weapons had been removed, and it had been chained to the wall. I replaced its weaponry with a few scalpels I found and set it loose."
Outside, in the hall, a garbled cry of "EX-TER-MI-NATE" repeated over and over again as the insane Dalek twirled past the door. The scientists were chasing it down, but didn't dare approach it for fear of the scalpels.
"In its current state, I shan't expect it to last more than a couple hours, if it's lucky," Jamie's Doctor assessed.
"Oh, good," Leela's Doctor said. "Then there's no need to feel guilty for letting them deal with it for the next two hours?"
"No," Jamie and Leela chorused.
The matter settled, Jamie's Doctor saw to using the Stattenheim remote control to get them back to where Leela's Doctor had left his TARDIS. After expressing a wish to see Jamie again in a more pleasant situation, Leela's Doctor left with her.
"They'll be alright?" Jamie asked.
"Of course," his Doctor said. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"They'll be in danger," he said. "From that… Earth for the Earthlings Society. We have nae seen the last of them; they'll be after ye—and they'll try to 'rehabilitate' me, or whatever it is they were planning." He sighed. "Now I know how ye feel. All the times the Time Lords looked down on me for being a human… They were right."
"No, they weren't," the Doctor insisted. "We both have reasons to be ashamed of our people; in this case, it's for the same reason—that our people refuse to see the importance of the lives of others. Now, then… How about we continue on our way and prove them all wrong?"
Jamie looked to the Doctor and managed a smile.
He could live with that.