Inmate 616
"So, who is this inmate you need so much help with?" The four of them were packed into a tiny 'staff only' elevator, much like sardines in a tin, only still alive, and without the sunflower oil.
"Inmate 616." Dr Rouge saw the expressions on their faces. "Yes, I know. But we use a numbering system, so it was always going to happen. Inmate 666 is actually quite a nice bloke called Kevin." She realised that she had gone off on a tangent, coughed, and started again.
"Inmate 616 is one of the most difficult I've ever come across. That's not to say that she's particularly bad, just . . ." She tried to find a suitable word. When none came, she left the sentence hanging. "We've all tried, but none of us can get through to her. She'll only answer the most basic of questions, never initiates a conversation with us, and spends most of the time that we're with her silent and staring."
"What did she do?" The Doctor frowned slightly.
"That's classified information, I'm afraid."
"Of what, I wonder." The Doctor spoke under his breath, and no one heard him.
Rory frowned too, thinking.
"But to be here, surely she must have done something terrible. Why are you so bothered about helping her?" Dr Rouge sighed and rubbed her eyes, smudging her eye-shadow.
"I think you'll understand when you meet her."
The lift pinged to announce their arrival to their desired floor. The doors slid open, and they stepped out gratefully into a long white corridor. No sooner had Rory stepped out of the lift, then the doors slid closed again, and a sheet of metal hissed down, sealing them off from retreat. He shot a look at Amy, who returned it with a slight shrug.
Dr Rouge's fore-head creased, as she saw some sort of commotion further down the corridor. The Doctor had seen it too.
"That can't be good." He'd barely spoken, before she was striding away.
The closer they got, the more they could see. Five burley men, all dressed in dark combat gear, all carrying guns, were crowded around a single doorway. They had passed several other similar entranceways, but the rooms behind were dark and empty.
"Head Guard, what is going on here?" But before anyone could answer, they saw into the room for themselves. Amy let out a stifled gasp at what she saw.
Kneeling in the centre of a blank, bare, featureless room was a girl, her head bowed and her eyes closed. She was dressed in a white tee-shirt and trousers, and wrapped around her wrists were two thick strands of pulsing, spitting blue light, the end of which were emanating from brushed steel posts in the walls.
"Good god man, turn those things off!" Dr Rouge tried to push her way into the room, but one of the men stopped her.
"Can't let you in. Board's orders." She pushed his arm away, a look of fury on her face.
"Who authorised the use of Depletors?"
"The Board did. And I am here to carry out their wishes. State your own purpose here, and then leave. This inmate is out of bounds."
"I'm Dr Rouge, here to examine her. These are my colleagues. And I am telling you to turn those things off."
"I don't take my orders from doctors." The man growled, matching Rouge's livid stare.
There was a quiet, high-pitched whine, and the light strands disappeared into nothingness. Amy turned her head slightly, and saw the Doctor putting his sonic screwdriver back into his jacket pocket.
"Inmate 616 is free! Inmate 616 is free!" The guard that had stopped Dr Rouge raised his gun, as one of the other men shouted.
"Lethal force has been authorised by the Board. Shoot to kill."
"NO!" The Doctor, Amy, Rory and Dr Rouge shouted in unison, but too late. Every man brought up his gun and fired, sending five energy pulses into the still motionless girl's chest. The tiny form was flung backwards across the room, hitting the far with a sickening crunch, before sliding down it and lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Amy put her hand to her mouth, Rory turned white, and both doctors ran into the room. The Head Guard remained outside, a smug smile etched onto his features. The Doctor knelt down at her side, and Dr Rouge felt for a pulse. When she found none, she stood up, eyes blazing, ready to lay into the men. Then, the girl gave an almighty gasp, a pale golden light entwined about her body, and her eyes snapped open. She blinked, fear crossing her face when she saw the Doctor, and tried to wriggle away.
"Sentinels, restrain legs." Blue light shot from the posts again, this time wrapping around the girl's legs. She whimpered slightly, but stayed still, watching them all, with the untrusting eyes of a beaten puppy.
"That's impossible." The Doctor murmured beside her. The gaze of her yellow and green eyes flickered over to him, but she remained silent, reproachful, untrusting.
"Sentinels, remove restraints." Dr Rouge barked the command, and the blue light faded again. The girl leant forward, as if to rub them, but then froze again, as if suddenly realising that there were still people there.
"Rory, come have a look at her, will you." The Doctor spoke softly, as a person would around a spooked animal, as he stood up and turned to face Dr Rouge.
"What are Depletors?" She scowled, as if the very word disgusted her.
"A new system; we haven't had them very long." Her face clouded, as if some important detail was being held just out of her reach. The Sentinel posts drain the very life energy out of their targets, and convert it into those restraints. If you leave someone hooked up to those things for too long, it can kill them."
"And we wouldn't want that now, would we?" The Head Guard sneered, who had stepped into the room. Seeing him, the girl again tried to retreat, despite Rory's best efforts.
"Head Guard," Dr Rouge's voice had become cold and dangerous, "I think you and your men can leave now. We have this situation perfectly under control." The man looked as if he was going to argue the point further, when suddenly, his face turned pale, and he stumbled forward, clutching at the wall to steady himself. Someone rushed to help him from the room, and the rest of the men followed suit, some apparently gratefully.
As they disappeared, the girl visibly relaxed. In was only now that Amy got a good look at her. She was thin – unnaturally so, with dark hair cut in a boyish style, revealing high cheekbones and a sweeping jaw line. But it was those eyes, set into the porcelain mask of her face, that were the most striking part of her appearance. One was golden, one was deep, dark green, and both were fixed on the Doctor.
"Are you okay?" Dr Rouge tried to sound caring, but the residual anger in her voice made the comment sound forced and fake. Those eyes flickered to the woman for a second, and the girl, after a second, nodded. Dr Rouge sighed.
"All that hard work, no doubt gone up in smoke. Those meat-heads refuse to understand that these are people too. They might be bad, but they're not all monsters. We should still try to listen."
Amy crouched down in front of the girl.
"She's just a kid. What's your name?"
"No one knows." Dr Rouge shrugged. "Or if they have, nobody's told me."
"I don't have a name." The girl's voice was so quiet, that if Amy hadn't seen her lips moved, she might have thought that she had imagined it. "It was the first thing the Board said to me when I got here. 'You have no name. You have no past, you have no future. You are nothing.' Quite the way to destroy someone's self-confidence."
"Nonsense." The Doctor grinned happily. "Everyone has a name." He gestured at Amy and Rory in turn. "These are the Ponds; Amy and Rory Pond. And I'm Dr John Smith." He kept up the pretence in front of Dr Rouge. A half smile flickered over the girl's face, but then vanished, like smoke against a grey sky.
"You're a liar."
"What?" The Doctor was taken aback.
"That's not your name. You're lying. I can see it on your face, in your eyes. And I can see what you think of me there too." They held each other's gaze, on eye level to each other. She tilted her head very slightly. "You're very quick to judge, aren't you, Doctor?" It was the Doctor who broke the silence that descended.
"Okay, you got me. But it's the name I go by."
"So you don't mind if I call you Doctor?"
"Not at all. In fact, go ahead. Knock yourself out." She smiled again, for longer this time, as if she knew something they didn't, and she was enjoying the dramatic irony of it all.
"Fascinating. Just fascinating," murmured Dr Rouge, who was scribbling notes down on an electronic pad. "She's accepted you almost immediately." Amy could have sworn that she saw the girl roll her eyes, but she couldn't be sure.
Suddenly, there was a loud, buzzing, claxon sound. Thinking that something had gone horribly, terribly wrong, Rory was suddenly back at Amy's side. Dr Rouge looked up and saw them.
"Don't worry. It's just the signal that the cells are open." Seeing their confusion, she tucked the pad back into her jacket pocket.
"We've found that letting the inmates intermingle for several hours a day has cut down on disobedience and bad behaviour here on PPX. It's perfectly safe, because of the armed guards and such."
"I could show you around, if you like." The girl said nervously, twisting the hem of her tee-shirt between her fingers. Dr Rouge frowned.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Really, I should take you to the medical wing."
"But he's a doctor." The Doctor nodded sagely. "I would imagine that he can help me if I feel ill." Dr Rouge opened her mouth, as of to continue her argument, but then her eyes glazed over for a second, and she seemed to forget what she was going to say.
"Well, okay then. Just don't get into any trouble."