Turlough sighed and looked heavenwards. He tried to remember the last time
that he had been not held up, beaten up, tousled about or thumped royally
when he first met someone. After a breath, he realized that it had been
before he had begun to travel with the Doctor. Sometimes he wondered if
going back to Trion might be safer that this lifestyle. But then again, he
didn't know how it would differ from the type of lifestyle that he was
living now. After all, guns, whether laser, pulse or gunpowder, all looked
the same if you were seeing them from the barrel end.
For instance, he thought, the look of this gun was just as unfriendly as any of the others he had seen. The Brigadier bustled next to him and gruffed a bit. Turlough offered him a glance and shook his head. "I wouldn't…sir," he pressed.
"Always were a coward, boy," he commented back, lowering his hands to tug at his jacket.
"No, sir…I can count. There are five of us, if the driver can be trusted. There are at least 20 of them that I can see and the guns count double points. We are well and truly outnumbered…sir."
The Brigadier put his hands back up in the air as a guard waved at his gun at him. "Right. I agree with you, Turlough."
Penny stepped forward, her chin defiantly held high. She sidled up to Turlough. "You know what's wrong with them? I mean, that's Steve Gallow. I know him…had coffee with him this morning. He would never point a gun at me."
"But his duplicate would," Turlough stated, rolling his eyes to Penny. "Have you noticed anything strange about him lately?"
"Meaning?" Penny stepped back, half behind the man. Al stepped forward to the Brigadier.
"Meaning…has he been less personable? Has he been having normal emotional responses to things…or none at all?"
Penny closed her eyes. "If you mean…has he lost his great sense of humor. Yes."
Turlough nodded. "I thought so…duplicates are very lacking in their social skills, I'm afraid. So that…and the fact that we have guns pointed in our faces gave the game away."
The Brigadier cleared his throat, but before he could speak, a soldier, his insignia depicting his Captain rank, step forward. "Enough. You are to come with us."
"They all say that," Turlough sighed. He stepped back to allow the Brigadier and Al to walk ahead of him, but lowered his hand to escort Penny, keeping even with her. "I wonder if the enemies in these adventures will ever get a better script." He muttered.
**
Tegan stood in the lobby of the building. She felt out of place in her jeans and sweatshirt. But, she mused, turning around to look out the gorgeous floor to ceiling glass panels, she probably was more in style than the Doctor. After all, he was in his cricketer's sweater, striped trousers and that hideous cream coat that she associated with him. Her smile that had edged on her face disappeared quickly. It hit her that she had bought a long cream-colored rain coat just a couple of months previous. She hadn't thought anything at the time, but as the Doctor finished his conversation and turned toward her, she wondered if she had bought it because it was the color that she associated with him. With his coat. Had she been missing him even then? Even with her marriage falling apart and her mind and emotions in shambles?
He smiled as he drew closer. "Well, Tegan," he said enthusiastically. "You are the one with the expertise in this area. I just got us a tour of the lab facility. You can act as the investigator…tell me if any of the scientists are duplicates."
She shook her head. "Doctor…"
"It will be quite all right, Tegan," he said, bending at his waist to look her square in the eye. "When have I ever led you into danger…"
Tegan opened her mouth, not allowing him to finish. "Do you want an alphabetical listing, Doc?"
"Knowingly led you into danger, Tegan…and how many times did I tell you stay in the TARDIS and you disregarded that order?" he said, not unkindly. His eyebrows rose, arcing over his eyes.
"You would have died some of those times," Tegan countered back. He escorted her to the desk where they picked up ID cards. "You always were my responsibility."
"And you definitely took that responsibility to heart," he acknowledged. "Thank you…" he told the receptionist. "Just pin it to you lapel, Tegan. And trust me, Tegan, please."
She sighed and followed the Doctor as he strolled down the corridor and into the first laboratory. He smiled, puffed his chest out. "How do you do? I'm the…" he stopped as he saw that despite his entrance, the occupants of the lab were completely engrossed in a computer program. He hummed and slipped his hands into his pockets. Tegan only gave him a moment before she walked towards the computer terminals. She had seen these small 286 models before.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice softened.
One of the scientists glanced up at her and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh…' he squinted at her ID pass. "You're one of the investigators from UNIT?"
"Yes," she offered with a smile. The Doctor stepped up and around her, glancing over at the screen. Soon, he too took out his glasses and leaned to look more closely at the computer. With a nod, he muttered. "Interesting."
Tegan sighed, but walked around the bank of screens to see. To her, what was on the screen was just scrolling mathematical script. She had seen the Doctor's Gallifreyan handwriting before, and this looked just like it. She tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. "Is that Gallifreyan? Are they receiving transmissions?"
"What?" he asked, absently. "Gallifreyan? No, Tegan, that's modern Calculus. Gallifreyan was derived from calculus, though." He looked shocked for a moment. "Did I teach you how to read Gallifreyan?"
"A little," Tegan said, shutting her eyes as the scrolling text made her eyes water. "I know how to write your name and mine…but how it relates to this…makes no sense to me."
"I'm afraid that has no relevance here, Tegan. Now…do be quiet and let me see what is going on…" The Doctor leaned forward to tap on the shoulder the scientist who had spoken earlier. "Is that a DNA model and sequence?"
"Yes…"
"Hmmm…seems to be a virus, or viriod…possibly looks as though it infects ameobiod organisms."
The scientists stopped and glanced back at him. He swallowed and nodded. "Yes, it has to be an ameoboid infectious agent…the arginine at the end…"
Tegan groaned and sighed. "You are showing off again, Doc."
"That is absolutely correct," one of the scientists hopped to his feet and held out his hand. "I'm John, John Tinholi and you are?"
"The Doctor," the Doctor answered. "Tell me…" he continued, ignoring the surprised look on the man's face. "…are you doing the work on the virus here?"
"No…this was the work that my peer was working on…Al Pendrall. He sent this disk; we got it with today's mail."
The Doctor whipped off his glasses and squinted at the scientist. "Pendrall from Cambridge? Good heavens…and where is he currently doing his work?"
"Brazil."
The Doctor spun on his heel and stared at Tegan for a moment before charging across the room and by her. As he passed, he said: "We are in the wrong hemisphere, Tegan…"
"The wrong…" Tegan gaped after him. She quickly said goodbye to the men and ran after the Doctor.
**
Tegan was still out of breath when she caught up with the Doctor. Apparently, he had had the TARDIS brought to the compound, for it was sitting in the center of the main lobby. "The wrong hemisphere, Doctor?"
"The duplicate headquarters is where the virus is, yes? That was what we both decided, wasn't it? What you saw on the monitor in there was the DNA structure and protein constituents of a virus that was not meant to be here. Virus evolve with their hosts. Currently there is nothing on this planet that would be a proper host for that. It was engineered for non- Terran lifeforms."
"Daleks?" she asked as the Doctor pulled out the key to the TARDIS.
"Daleks," he answered. With a turn of his wrist, the door to the old police box opened. Tegan glanced past him into the dark recesses of the errant time machine. To her the darkness that had always greeted her through the doors was the darkness of immensity. Although the Doctor had, repeatedly, explained that it was the darkness of vision impairment of walking across a dimensional bridge into the TARDIS interior. But this time, it was neither. A darkness reached out to her from her past and tried to swallow her. Bittersweet. Most of her great experiences occurred with this object, with this man; most of her worst, most of the most rotten times had occurred as well, in equal measure.
But it was the rotten, scared, hideous times surrounded by death, possession and pain, that woke her nights in a cold sweat, screaming, clutching at pillows, friends, lovers and husband crying out to the one man that would help her and never could.
She took a step back as the Doctor edged forward into the interior. She saw his cream coat disappear, his blond hair too. Swallowed. But she was rooted to the spot.
He reappeared seconds later, hanging out of the door, leaning, holding his hand out to her. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Tegan." The Doctor walked the several feet to her with an easy gait. "I said those words to you a long time ago, when you couldn't hear me, you know. At the cave on…"
"Manussa," Tegan finished the sentence for him.
He nodded. "And there wasn't…"
"I was possessed."
"Your physical body would have been protected while I helped with your mental invader, Tegan. There truly was nothing to be physically scared of there." He flicked his finger at the end of her nose in a friendly move from days gone by. Then he sighed and took one of her hands and slipped his arm around her waist as he escorted her toward the TARDIS. "And there is nothing to be scared of now. It is simply the TARDIS."
"I'm feeling cold all over."
"Stress, pain…there is nothing here…it is only your past…"
"It feels like my present…leave me here…"
"No. You are coming with me. I won't leave you here, Tegan. I'm not going to leave you until we can get your mind on track. It is feeding you images from the past to cripple your present. You made some pretty formidable coping mechanisms for the stress that you were under, the trauma, but I am going to have to help you overcome that. They worked well when you were in the situations, but you are out of them…the coping mechanisms…the flight or fight response…is not necessary. It isn't, Tegan."
His arm tightened as they neared the door. Then he released her, letting his hand only rest at her back.
"Like the proverbial leading the horse to water, Tegan, I can't force you to drink. You crossing the threshold will have to be your own choice. And if you do cross it, it is only a first step on a very long journey. But I will be right behind you. I believe the saying is: "I have your back.""
She stopped and stared. She could see the light around the console, looking very much the same as it had when she left. The pressure of his hand on her back was reassuring; he would allow her to run if she chose. "You promise, Doctor?"
"Brave heart, Tegan."
Taking a deep breath, trying to control her urge to run and hide, squeezing her hands into fists, fighting the waves of nausea and cold sweat, she stepped forward. As the TARDIS welcomed her, she heard the Doctor sigh in thankfulness and felt his reassuring squeeze to her hand as he took it again.
With her eyes closed, she remarked: "If you leave me for one minute, Doctor, I reserve the right to track you down and make your life miserable."
"I won't."
"You will get me through this? You'll help me, really?"
"Tegan. Tegan. Tegan."
She opened her eyes expecting to see him shaking his head in exasperation, but he gave her his patented little boy smile. As she crossed her arms over chest to yell at him, he said: "You know…I think Turlough is right…this TARDIS is not the same without you."
He closed the door with a decisive wrist flick and set the coordinates. Soon, very soon, the rotor at the center of the console began to move and Tegan had the incredible feeling of past, present and future of self colliding within her.
**
Penny strolled to the window and then back again. Turlough crossed his legs to avoid her for the tenth time. "You know, pacing won't help the situation."
"But it keeps me busy."
"He's right," Al offered, moving aside on the bench to allow his assistant to sit down.
"I don't like being held at gunpoint," she said, quietly as she sat down, looking dejected.
"You get used to it," Turlough muttered sarcastically.
"And where did they take the Brigadier?"
Turlough grunted. "I think I know…and it isn't the best answer."
Al rolled his eyes, holding his hands wide. "And being held in a 4 by 8 storage room with one window is a better one?"
With a head that felt like it weighed a ton, Turlough lifted his head to gaze tiredly at Al. "Those men that held us up were not themselves; you were right, Penny. They were duplicates. These Dalek's make duplicates to infiltrate and overwhelm governments…why not our little party as well?"
Penny jumped up and paced to the window again as Al groaned. Turlough gave them both rolled eyes. "I did tell you."
For instance, he thought, the look of this gun was just as unfriendly as any of the others he had seen. The Brigadier bustled next to him and gruffed a bit. Turlough offered him a glance and shook his head. "I wouldn't…sir," he pressed.
"Always were a coward, boy," he commented back, lowering his hands to tug at his jacket.
"No, sir…I can count. There are five of us, if the driver can be trusted. There are at least 20 of them that I can see and the guns count double points. We are well and truly outnumbered…sir."
The Brigadier put his hands back up in the air as a guard waved at his gun at him. "Right. I agree with you, Turlough."
Penny stepped forward, her chin defiantly held high. She sidled up to Turlough. "You know what's wrong with them? I mean, that's Steve Gallow. I know him…had coffee with him this morning. He would never point a gun at me."
"But his duplicate would," Turlough stated, rolling his eyes to Penny. "Have you noticed anything strange about him lately?"
"Meaning?" Penny stepped back, half behind the man. Al stepped forward to the Brigadier.
"Meaning…has he been less personable? Has he been having normal emotional responses to things…or none at all?"
Penny closed her eyes. "If you mean…has he lost his great sense of humor. Yes."
Turlough nodded. "I thought so…duplicates are very lacking in their social skills, I'm afraid. So that…and the fact that we have guns pointed in our faces gave the game away."
The Brigadier cleared his throat, but before he could speak, a soldier, his insignia depicting his Captain rank, step forward. "Enough. You are to come with us."
"They all say that," Turlough sighed. He stepped back to allow the Brigadier and Al to walk ahead of him, but lowered his hand to escort Penny, keeping even with her. "I wonder if the enemies in these adventures will ever get a better script." He muttered.
**
Tegan stood in the lobby of the building. She felt out of place in her jeans and sweatshirt. But, she mused, turning around to look out the gorgeous floor to ceiling glass panels, she probably was more in style than the Doctor. After all, he was in his cricketer's sweater, striped trousers and that hideous cream coat that she associated with him. Her smile that had edged on her face disappeared quickly. It hit her that she had bought a long cream-colored rain coat just a couple of months previous. She hadn't thought anything at the time, but as the Doctor finished his conversation and turned toward her, she wondered if she had bought it because it was the color that she associated with him. With his coat. Had she been missing him even then? Even with her marriage falling apart and her mind and emotions in shambles?
He smiled as he drew closer. "Well, Tegan," he said enthusiastically. "You are the one with the expertise in this area. I just got us a tour of the lab facility. You can act as the investigator…tell me if any of the scientists are duplicates."
She shook her head. "Doctor…"
"It will be quite all right, Tegan," he said, bending at his waist to look her square in the eye. "When have I ever led you into danger…"
Tegan opened her mouth, not allowing him to finish. "Do you want an alphabetical listing, Doc?"
"Knowingly led you into danger, Tegan…and how many times did I tell you stay in the TARDIS and you disregarded that order?" he said, not unkindly. His eyebrows rose, arcing over his eyes.
"You would have died some of those times," Tegan countered back. He escorted her to the desk where they picked up ID cards. "You always were my responsibility."
"And you definitely took that responsibility to heart," he acknowledged. "Thank you…" he told the receptionist. "Just pin it to you lapel, Tegan. And trust me, Tegan, please."
She sighed and followed the Doctor as he strolled down the corridor and into the first laboratory. He smiled, puffed his chest out. "How do you do? I'm the…" he stopped as he saw that despite his entrance, the occupants of the lab were completely engrossed in a computer program. He hummed and slipped his hands into his pockets. Tegan only gave him a moment before she walked towards the computer terminals. She had seen these small 286 models before.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice softened.
One of the scientists glanced up at her and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh…' he squinted at her ID pass. "You're one of the investigators from UNIT?"
"Yes," she offered with a smile. The Doctor stepped up and around her, glancing over at the screen. Soon, he too took out his glasses and leaned to look more closely at the computer. With a nod, he muttered. "Interesting."
Tegan sighed, but walked around the bank of screens to see. To her, what was on the screen was just scrolling mathematical script. She had seen the Doctor's Gallifreyan handwriting before, and this looked just like it. She tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. "Is that Gallifreyan? Are they receiving transmissions?"
"What?" he asked, absently. "Gallifreyan? No, Tegan, that's modern Calculus. Gallifreyan was derived from calculus, though." He looked shocked for a moment. "Did I teach you how to read Gallifreyan?"
"A little," Tegan said, shutting her eyes as the scrolling text made her eyes water. "I know how to write your name and mine…but how it relates to this…makes no sense to me."
"I'm afraid that has no relevance here, Tegan. Now…do be quiet and let me see what is going on…" The Doctor leaned forward to tap on the shoulder the scientist who had spoken earlier. "Is that a DNA model and sequence?"
"Yes…"
"Hmmm…seems to be a virus, or viriod…possibly looks as though it infects ameobiod organisms."
The scientists stopped and glanced back at him. He swallowed and nodded. "Yes, it has to be an ameoboid infectious agent…the arginine at the end…"
Tegan groaned and sighed. "You are showing off again, Doc."
"That is absolutely correct," one of the scientists hopped to his feet and held out his hand. "I'm John, John Tinholi and you are?"
"The Doctor," the Doctor answered. "Tell me…" he continued, ignoring the surprised look on the man's face. "…are you doing the work on the virus here?"
"No…this was the work that my peer was working on…Al Pendrall. He sent this disk; we got it with today's mail."
The Doctor whipped off his glasses and squinted at the scientist. "Pendrall from Cambridge? Good heavens…and where is he currently doing his work?"
"Brazil."
The Doctor spun on his heel and stared at Tegan for a moment before charging across the room and by her. As he passed, he said: "We are in the wrong hemisphere, Tegan…"
"The wrong…" Tegan gaped after him. She quickly said goodbye to the men and ran after the Doctor.
**
Tegan was still out of breath when she caught up with the Doctor. Apparently, he had had the TARDIS brought to the compound, for it was sitting in the center of the main lobby. "The wrong hemisphere, Doctor?"
"The duplicate headquarters is where the virus is, yes? That was what we both decided, wasn't it? What you saw on the monitor in there was the DNA structure and protein constituents of a virus that was not meant to be here. Virus evolve with their hosts. Currently there is nothing on this planet that would be a proper host for that. It was engineered for non- Terran lifeforms."
"Daleks?" she asked as the Doctor pulled out the key to the TARDIS.
"Daleks," he answered. With a turn of his wrist, the door to the old police box opened. Tegan glanced past him into the dark recesses of the errant time machine. To her the darkness that had always greeted her through the doors was the darkness of immensity. Although the Doctor had, repeatedly, explained that it was the darkness of vision impairment of walking across a dimensional bridge into the TARDIS interior. But this time, it was neither. A darkness reached out to her from her past and tried to swallow her. Bittersweet. Most of her great experiences occurred with this object, with this man; most of her worst, most of the most rotten times had occurred as well, in equal measure.
But it was the rotten, scared, hideous times surrounded by death, possession and pain, that woke her nights in a cold sweat, screaming, clutching at pillows, friends, lovers and husband crying out to the one man that would help her and never could.
She took a step back as the Doctor edged forward into the interior. She saw his cream coat disappear, his blond hair too. Swallowed. But she was rooted to the spot.
He reappeared seconds later, hanging out of the door, leaning, holding his hand out to her. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Tegan." The Doctor walked the several feet to her with an easy gait. "I said those words to you a long time ago, when you couldn't hear me, you know. At the cave on…"
"Manussa," Tegan finished the sentence for him.
He nodded. "And there wasn't…"
"I was possessed."
"Your physical body would have been protected while I helped with your mental invader, Tegan. There truly was nothing to be physically scared of there." He flicked his finger at the end of her nose in a friendly move from days gone by. Then he sighed and took one of her hands and slipped his arm around her waist as he escorted her toward the TARDIS. "And there is nothing to be scared of now. It is simply the TARDIS."
"I'm feeling cold all over."
"Stress, pain…there is nothing here…it is only your past…"
"It feels like my present…leave me here…"
"No. You are coming with me. I won't leave you here, Tegan. I'm not going to leave you until we can get your mind on track. It is feeding you images from the past to cripple your present. You made some pretty formidable coping mechanisms for the stress that you were under, the trauma, but I am going to have to help you overcome that. They worked well when you were in the situations, but you are out of them…the coping mechanisms…the flight or fight response…is not necessary. It isn't, Tegan."
His arm tightened as they neared the door. Then he released her, letting his hand only rest at her back.
"Like the proverbial leading the horse to water, Tegan, I can't force you to drink. You crossing the threshold will have to be your own choice. And if you do cross it, it is only a first step on a very long journey. But I will be right behind you. I believe the saying is: "I have your back.""
She stopped and stared. She could see the light around the console, looking very much the same as it had when she left. The pressure of his hand on her back was reassuring; he would allow her to run if she chose. "You promise, Doctor?"
"Brave heart, Tegan."
Taking a deep breath, trying to control her urge to run and hide, squeezing her hands into fists, fighting the waves of nausea and cold sweat, she stepped forward. As the TARDIS welcomed her, she heard the Doctor sigh in thankfulness and felt his reassuring squeeze to her hand as he took it again.
With her eyes closed, she remarked: "If you leave me for one minute, Doctor, I reserve the right to track you down and make your life miserable."
"I won't."
"You will get me through this? You'll help me, really?"
"Tegan. Tegan. Tegan."
She opened her eyes expecting to see him shaking his head in exasperation, but he gave her his patented little boy smile. As she crossed her arms over chest to yell at him, he said: "You know…I think Turlough is right…this TARDIS is not the same without you."
He closed the door with a decisive wrist flick and set the coordinates. Soon, very soon, the rotor at the center of the console began to move and Tegan had the incredible feeling of past, present and future of self colliding within her.
**
Penny strolled to the window and then back again. Turlough crossed his legs to avoid her for the tenth time. "You know, pacing won't help the situation."
"But it keeps me busy."
"He's right," Al offered, moving aside on the bench to allow his assistant to sit down.
"I don't like being held at gunpoint," she said, quietly as she sat down, looking dejected.
"You get used to it," Turlough muttered sarcastically.
"And where did they take the Brigadier?"
Turlough grunted. "I think I know…and it isn't the best answer."
Al rolled his eyes, holding his hands wide. "And being held in a 4 by 8 storage room with one window is a better one?"
With a head that felt like it weighed a ton, Turlough lifted his head to gaze tiredly at Al. "Those men that held us up were not themselves; you were right, Penny. They were duplicates. These Dalek's make duplicates to infiltrate and overwhelm governments…why not our little party as well?"
Penny jumped up and paced to the window again as Al groaned. Turlough gave them both rolled eyes. "I did tell you."