Post by Fitz Kreiner on May 28, 2009 11:42:46 GMT
It was not a scream of terror. Not after all the things that she’d seen in the past six months. Ok, it was kind of scary to see what you thought was one of your close friends turning out to be an alien replica. It wasn’t a long term friend, or a new friend, however, it was a friend with whom she had practically lived with for six months or so. They had got to know each other very well, shared stories and adventures, and even faced death together. And now, here she was, facing death alone, death at the hands of what could only be a replica of her friend.
Jess knew that she hadn’t screamed just in terror. It wasn’t like her to just scream, but here she was, strapped down to a chair by live electric cables and facing death from an alien killer. Not just a normal alien killer, but one that not just resembled, but was identical to her travelling companion. This facsimile would just shoot her dead and when anyone else came in; they would find them aghast at her death. The perfect alibi. She didn’t even know if the Doctor had guessed whether this Tom was real or a copy.
As she stared up into the cold dead eyes that now looked nothing like the lively and sparkling blue eyes of Tom, the missing pieces of the jigsaw dropped into place. She didn’t want to die; she couldn’t die, not yet. Not sure what to do; she screamed.
Her eyes wide in the fear and shock, Jess wasn’t even aware of the sound on the gun shots until she had seen the facsimile of Tom jerk slightly and turn around. It was then she spotted the bullet holes, smoking in the backing of his open waistcoat. She had a saviour. She craned her neck to see a UNIT private, one she hadn’t seen before; she didn’t even know his name. He had his rifle levelled and pointed directly at the Tom facsimile.
It was then Jess spotted that the fear was greater in his eyes than in hers. No doubt she’d already seen many other aliens than this soldier. He was pointing his weapon at the facsimile and shouting something, although what he was shouting was lost to Jess as the adrenaline had already flooded her system.
Strapped, as she was to the chair, Jess could only watch as the facsimile fired its weapon and the private was thrown back, his smoking corpse crumpling into a heap.
“I’ll come back with you to the Master,” she pleaded as the facsimile turned back round. “Please, there’s no need to kill me.”
Ignoring her, the facsimile coldly advanced on her. Jess squeezed her eyes closed, fearing the inevitable; the inevitable that seemed a long time coming. She opened her eyes as she heard a cry and a scuffling sound. There was a dark figure on the back of the Auton, wrestling it awkwardly. She watched as the facsimile fired, its bizarre energy weapon missing all targets and causing a computer to explode in a cloud of smoke.
As Jess watched, the facsimile threw the figure wrestling it off its back, and swiped up with its arm, apparently catching the figure painfully as they cried out and fell in a crumpled heap in the corner of the room. Jess’s eyes were still fixed on the facsimile as it turned back to face her, its weapon still trained and raised to her.
“Tom, what are you-?” The Doctor’s voice tailed off as the facsimile turned round.
“Doctor, watch out, it’s an Auton.” Jess cried from where she was.
“Yes, yes I can see that.” The Doctor said softly. “Alright, what do you want?”
“The Master decree’s that you must die.” The facsimile said flatly.
“You first,”
Jess heard the voice before the realisation sunk in; it was the same as the facsimiles. That mean it could be only one person; Tom. He was the one who had wrestled the Auton and had been thrown off its back, now he was stood holding what looked like a bulbous gun with a small flame at the end.
She felt the heat before it came to her that the strange gun that Tom was holding was a small compact flame thrower. A torrent of orange flame engulfed the facsimile into a giant pillar of flame. Jess saw Tom’s face through the shimmering of the heat haze; it was fixed in a scowl and a look of pure malice. She hadn’t seen that look on his face since the Daleks. Angry, yes, but not that angry. The look scared her slightly, but on the other hand, it was comforting that it was because she had been placed in such danger; he was looking out for her in his way.
Jess broke out of her train of thought when she saw the facsimile take another step forwards. Thick black, acrid smoke curled out of the flames and the choking smell of burning plastic filled the room. The material that had made the facsimiles hair crackled and singed away, leaving a melting plastic facade.
Another burst of flame made the facsimile stagger back as the alarms sounded again. Jess almost cried out again as she found herself hit by a spray of cold water. She looked up to see that the sprinkler system had come on, and the water was starting to douse the flames that were licking up the facsimile. Glancing over to Tom, she saw that this wasn’t deterring him. He took another step towards the facsimile, engulfing it with another burst of orange flame, his mouth a grim line.
Jess was vaguely aware of the Doctor shouting something over the sound of the alarm and the flames. Quite what the Time Lord was saying, she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if Tom had heard quite what the Doctor had said, as he doused the facsimile with another burst of flame. Trying to take another step forwards, the flames still licking over the Autons body, the facsimile crashed to the floor.
Choking on the noxious fumes that were belching out of the black smoke coming from the facsimile, Jess looked up as the Doctor stepped forwards, with a fire extinguisher in his hands and doused the flames. After several more long seconds, the alarm died away, leaving an echoing ring and with a clunking, the sprinklers shut off.
Jess breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she realised that the imminent danger was over. She was astounded by the speed at which it had all happened. The Doctor and Tom must have only just got back for them to have arrived in the nick of time. Tom was still clutching the flame thrower, his knuckles almost white as he gripped it. He was still staring at the charred, blackened remains that were once the facsimile. They were barely recognisable as a humanoid figure any more.
Putting the fire extinguisher down, the Doctor stepped forwards and put his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “It’s ok,” he said softly, taking another step forwards to Jess.
Seemingly coming round, Tom turned and put the flame thrower down on a table, which now had a small puddle because of the sprinklers, and came towards Jess too.
“Are you ok?” he asked, his face a picture of concern.
Jess could merely nod in confirmation, her mouth suddenly dry as a bone. All she could do to ask for help in getting out of the chair was flex her hands and look down at the plastic arms of the chair. The thought of the plastic arms coming to life suddenly made her shudder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have you out of here in a jiffy,” the Doctor smiled up at her, from where he was crouched beside her chair.
Grabbing hold of the wires, the Doctor tugged at them with force, pulling the phone line out of the wall and one of the PC towers to turn before the wire came loose. Unwrapping the wires from round Jess’s arms and waist, he collected them all together in one hand and casually threw them to the corner of the room. Still a bit shaky, Jess got to her feet, with help on either side by both the Doctor and Tom.
Finally finding her voice, Jess looked from the Doctor to Tom. “Are you sure you’re the real you?” she managed feebly, looking at Tom.
Nodding, Tom patted himself down with his free hand. “Yeah, it’s me alright. I don’t think Autons feel pain.”
“Nor do they bleed,” the Doctor added, looking at Tom’s forehead. A small trickle of blood ran from where the facsimile had caught him with the edge of its gun tube.
“Can somebody please tell me what in the name of hell is happening here?”
The trio looked up at the sound of the voice. Captain Morris was stood in the doorway, still clutching the charred and shattered remains of the Doctor’s device, which the Time Lord had thrust upon him when he’d heard Jess’s scream.
“I think a lot of us have a lot of explaining to do to everyone,” the Doctor admitted, looking at the shattered remains that Morris held before looking back to Jess. “And, erm, I think I owe you a new CD and CD player,” he added sheepishly.
Stepping into the lab, Morris put the shattered device down on the desk beside the flame thrower and glanced down at the molten Auton, nudging it with the toe of his boot.
“Well, I’m waiting,” he said, looking up, before the trio all began to speak at the same time causing Morris to hold up his hands, cutting them off. “Whoa, one at a time for God’s sake; Doctor, you and I have just returned from the mission together so with all due respect, I think we can wait. First of all, I want to know what that mess is and why the fire alarms have been raging.”
“That,” Jess said, kicking the plastic mess, “is an Auton. A copy of Tom.”
Morris glanced over to Tom who nodded in agreement. “I hate to say it, but that was who came back from the factory after our visit.” Tom admitted as the four other occupants of the room turned in surprise.
“You’re joking, yeah?” Jess asked. “It wasn’t you who met Kel and I in the pub?”
“Oh,” the Doctor shook his head sadly. “I somehow doubt he is, a facsimile will have an exact memory print and is indistinguishable from the real person, as we can all bear witness to. Not even I noticed the difference. I think we should hear from you first, Tom.”
Morris looked at Tom closely, through narrowed eyes. “And why should we trust you now?”
Tom gingerly touched the gash on his forehead, feeling the blood on his fingers. “That’s why,” he said. “Autons are plastic, and don’t bleed. Time Lords, on the other hand, do. And we can recognise another of our race when we come face to face with each other. Or at least, we should be able to. I’m still learning that ability, and the Master is an expert of disguising himself. It took me a while to spot him, but he was at that factory, going by the name of Bernard Rogers.”
“Then why didn’t you spot that?” Morris asked turning on the Doctor. “Don’t tell me you’re being biased because of your history with him?”
“No, not at all Will,” the Doctor protested. “I didn’t spot him because I was concentrating on Lemaitre. It seems the Master has played us all for fools. Me particularly, and I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to point that out when we meet.” The Doctor stopped and turned back to Tom. “Please, do go on,” he urged.
Nodding, Tom continued. “Well, he took me down into a security area, as soon as that happened, the facade dropped. He had Autons working down there. They hooked me into one of their machines and put an Auton in another. I guess I blacked out, but when I came round, I was wearing one of these boiler suits and the Auton, well, it was like looking in a mirror.”
Jess finally took the opportunity to look at Tom properly for the first time. He wasn’t wearing the clothes he had been, but the maroon boiler suit she’d seen the Autons wear. She guess that clothes weren’t that easy to copy in plastic and that they had redressed the facsimile in Tom’s proper clothes. The boiler suit wasn’t a good fit either, it looked rather baggy on Tom’s frame and he looked as though he’d been up all night too.
“I didn’t wanna keep cooped up in that place,” Tom continued putting a comforting hand on Jess’s shoulder. “And I got the feeling that I wasn’t the only one there. I think they got the driver who took us there too.”
“Whoa, wait,” Morris interjected, holding his hand up again, cutting Tom off. “Are you saying that there are members of my staff and that my own men have been replaced by this man?”
Tom nodded grimly. “And I somehow doubt that his facsimile’s stop at being limited to UNIT personnel. Anyway, his human lackey, Lemaitre, was rather sloppy. It was after he’d dropped off the clichéd breakfast of bread and water I managed a breakout. Don’t ask how, I don’t quite know how I did it myself, but I got out, and that’s when I saw Jess across the yard being frogmarched by Lemaitre and two Autons. Then some chap came out of nowhere and they ran off together, jumped in a taxi and drove off. I managed to grab a car and follow, ploughing over an Auton in the process.”
“He’s right.” Jess cried, having been shuffling her feet anxiously since Tom had started talking again. “I worked it out; I know what the Master is up to.”
“How do you know that?” Morris asked.
“And more to the point, what were you doing there with the Master?” The Doctor asked; a deadly look of seriousness and concern across his face.
“I thought you’d be proud,” Jess replied, the hurt evident in her voice. “I worked off my own initiative, I’ve found out the Master’s plans and I confronted him. I was on my way out to find someone and I bumped into him, literally, outside.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” the Doctor protested, stepping forwards and placing his hands on Jess’s shoulders and looking into her eyes. “I am very proud of you. Hugely proud of you, I just worry, that’s all, especially when the Master is involved. You remember what happened last time.”
“Yeah, but he couldn’t hypnotise me this time!” Jess grinned, “Did you know, the Master isn’t fond of nursery rhymes?”
The Doctor grinned. “I had heard that before. So what did you find out?”
Jess turned round to the desk she had been sat at most of the night. It was all as she’d left it before she’d had her run in with the Master. Picking it up, she shook the water from the sprinklers off. The ink had run a bit, but it was still legible. Turning back, she walked to the Doctor and Morris and stood between the two of them, showing them the paper.
“I got a bit bored last night so decided to do a spot of research, y’know; initiative and off my own back.” Jess smiled and looked up at the Doctor and then to Morris. “Anyway, out of all these names that were killed by the Master and the Autons, they all seem to have been replaced by total unknowns. I’ve researched the names of their replacements in whatever job they have and they’re not in “Who’s Who” or anything like that. In fact, in some places nothing at all is known about them.”
The Doctor grinned and put his hand on Jess’s shoulder. “That’s my girl,” he grinned before turning to Morris. “You know, Will, I’m rather surprised that your bods didn’t figure all this out.”
Morris opened his mouth to protest, but the Doctor had turned back to Jess again, who was continuing with her explanation.
“The only one who doesn’t fit the pattern is this guy,” she pointed to the name on the list, “James Duncan, new head of the police, but the rest, army, navy and politicians and so on. They’re facsimile’s. The Master admitted as much nearly when I spoke to him. He’s going to use them to take over the country. I mean, if the army aren’t going to stop him, and politicians are behind him then who’s to stop him.”
Jess stopped and breathed out, pleased with herself and looked up at the Doctor. The smile had gone from his face and was replaced by a frown. Morris was also wearing a similar expression, while Tom’s face remained strangely neutral as he nodded in both understanding and agreement.
“I believe we’re up a certain creek without a certain instrument.” He muttered.
“No, not necessarily Tom,” The Doctor smiled, “We do have the Master’s TARDIS after all.”
“Erm, I don’t know about that,” Lovatt’s voice came from the door, causing all the occupants to turn. “Someone’s nicked the truck it was being held in.”
Jess knew that she hadn’t screamed just in terror. It wasn’t like her to just scream, but here she was, strapped down to a chair by live electric cables and facing death from an alien killer. Not just a normal alien killer, but one that not just resembled, but was identical to her travelling companion. This facsimile would just shoot her dead and when anyone else came in; they would find them aghast at her death. The perfect alibi. She didn’t even know if the Doctor had guessed whether this Tom was real or a copy.
As she stared up into the cold dead eyes that now looked nothing like the lively and sparkling blue eyes of Tom, the missing pieces of the jigsaw dropped into place. She didn’t want to die; she couldn’t die, not yet. Not sure what to do; she screamed.
Her eyes wide in the fear and shock, Jess wasn’t even aware of the sound on the gun shots until she had seen the facsimile of Tom jerk slightly and turn around. It was then she spotted the bullet holes, smoking in the backing of his open waistcoat. She had a saviour. She craned her neck to see a UNIT private, one she hadn’t seen before; she didn’t even know his name. He had his rifle levelled and pointed directly at the Tom facsimile.
It was then Jess spotted that the fear was greater in his eyes than in hers. No doubt she’d already seen many other aliens than this soldier. He was pointing his weapon at the facsimile and shouting something, although what he was shouting was lost to Jess as the adrenaline had already flooded her system.
Strapped, as she was to the chair, Jess could only watch as the facsimile fired its weapon and the private was thrown back, his smoking corpse crumpling into a heap.
“I’ll come back with you to the Master,” she pleaded as the facsimile turned back round. “Please, there’s no need to kill me.”
Ignoring her, the facsimile coldly advanced on her. Jess squeezed her eyes closed, fearing the inevitable; the inevitable that seemed a long time coming. She opened her eyes as she heard a cry and a scuffling sound. There was a dark figure on the back of the Auton, wrestling it awkwardly. She watched as the facsimile fired, its bizarre energy weapon missing all targets and causing a computer to explode in a cloud of smoke.
As Jess watched, the facsimile threw the figure wrestling it off its back, and swiped up with its arm, apparently catching the figure painfully as they cried out and fell in a crumpled heap in the corner of the room. Jess’s eyes were still fixed on the facsimile as it turned back to face her, its weapon still trained and raised to her.
“Tom, what are you-?” The Doctor’s voice tailed off as the facsimile turned round.
“Doctor, watch out, it’s an Auton.” Jess cried from where she was.
“Yes, yes I can see that.” The Doctor said softly. “Alright, what do you want?”
“The Master decree’s that you must die.” The facsimile said flatly.
“You first,”
Jess heard the voice before the realisation sunk in; it was the same as the facsimiles. That mean it could be only one person; Tom. He was the one who had wrestled the Auton and had been thrown off its back, now he was stood holding what looked like a bulbous gun with a small flame at the end.
She felt the heat before it came to her that the strange gun that Tom was holding was a small compact flame thrower. A torrent of orange flame engulfed the facsimile into a giant pillar of flame. Jess saw Tom’s face through the shimmering of the heat haze; it was fixed in a scowl and a look of pure malice. She hadn’t seen that look on his face since the Daleks. Angry, yes, but not that angry. The look scared her slightly, but on the other hand, it was comforting that it was because she had been placed in such danger; he was looking out for her in his way.
Jess broke out of her train of thought when she saw the facsimile take another step forwards. Thick black, acrid smoke curled out of the flames and the choking smell of burning plastic filled the room. The material that had made the facsimiles hair crackled and singed away, leaving a melting plastic facade.
Another burst of flame made the facsimile stagger back as the alarms sounded again. Jess almost cried out again as she found herself hit by a spray of cold water. She looked up to see that the sprinkler system had come on, and the water was starting to douse the flames that were licking up the facsimile. Glancing over to Tom, she saw that this wasn’t deterring him. He took another step towards the facsimile, engulfing it with another burst of orange flame, his mouth a grim line.
Jess was vaguely aware of the Doctor shouting something over the sound of the alarm and the flames. Quite what the Time Lord was saying, she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if Tom had heard quite what the Doctor had said, as he doused the facsimile with another burst of flame. Trying to take another step forwards, the flames still licking over the Autons body, the facsimile crashed to the floor.
Choking on the noxious fumes that were belching out of the black smoke coming from the facsimile, Jess looked up as the Doctor stepped forwards, with a fire extinguisher in his hands and doused the flames. After several more long seconds, the alarm died away, leaving an echoing ring and with a clunking, the sprinklers shut off.
Jess breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she realised that the imminent danger was over. She was astounded by the speed at which it had all happened. The Doctor and Tom must have only just got back for them to have arrived in the nick of time. Tom was still clutching the flame thrower, his knuckles almost white as he gripped it. He was still staring at the charred, blackened remains that were once the facsimile. They were barely recognisable as a humanoid figure any more.
Putting the fire extinguisher down, the Doctor stepped forwards and put his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “It’s ok,” he said softly, taking another step forwards to Jess.
Seemingly coming round, Tom turned and put the flame thrower down on a table, which now had a small puddle because of the sprinklers, and came towards Jess too.
“Are you ok?” he asked, his face a picture of concern.
Jess could merely nod in confirmation, her mouth suddenly dry as a bone. All she could do to ask for help in getting out of the chair was flex her hands and look down at the plastic arms of the chair. The thought of the plastic arms coming to life suddenly made her shudder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have you out of here in a jiffy,” the Doctor smiled up at her, from where he was crouched beside her chair.
Grabbing hold of the wires, the Doctor tugged at them with force, pulling the phone line out of the wall and one of the PC towers to turn before the wire came loose. Unwrapping the wires from round Jess’s arms and waist, he collected them all together in one hand and casually threw them to the corner of the room. Still a bit shaky, Jess got to her feet, with help on either side by both the Doctor and Tom.
Finally finding her voice, Jess looked from the Doctor to Tom. “Are you sure you’re the real you?” she managed feebly, looking at Tom.
Nodding, Tom patted himself down with his free hand. “Yeah, it’s me alright. I don’t think Autons feel pain.”
“Nor do they bleed,” the Doctor added, looking at Tom’s forehead. A small trickle of blood ran from where the facsimile had caught him with the edge of its gun tube.
“Can somebody please tell me what in the name of hell is happening here?”
The trio looked up at the sound of the voice. Captain Morris was stood in the doorway, still clutching the charred and shattered remains of the Doctor’s device, which the Time Lord had thrust upon him when he’d heard Jess’s scream.
“I think a lot of us have a lot of explaining to do to everyone,” the Doctor admitted, looking at the shattered remains that Morris held before looking back to Jess. “And, erm, I think I owe you a new CD and CD player,” he added sheepishly.
Stepping into the lab, Morris put the shattered device down on the desk beside the flame thrower and glanced down at the molten Auton, nudging it with the toe of his boot.
“Well, I’m waiting,” he said, looking up, before the trio all began to speak at the same time causing Morris to hold up his hands, cutting them off. “Whoa, one at a time for God’s sake; Doctor, you and I have just returned from the mission together so with all due respect, I think we can wait. First of all, I want to know what that mess is and why the fire alarms have been raging.”
“That,” Jess said, kicking the plastic mess, “is an Auton. A copy of Tom.”
Morris glanced over to Tom who nodded in agreement. “I hate to say it, but that was who came back from the factory after our visit.” Tom admitted as the four other occupants of the room turned in surprise.
“You’re joking, yeah?” Jess asked. “It wasn’t you who met Kel and I in the pub?”
“Oh,” the Doctor shook his head sadly. “I somehow doubt he is, a facsimile will have an exact memory print and is indistinguishable from the real person, as we can all bear witness to. Not even I noticed the difference. I think we should hear from you first, Tom.”
Morris looked at Tom closely, through narrowed eyes. “And why should we trust you now?”
Tom gingerly touched the gash on his forehead, feeling the blood on his fingers. “That’s why,” he said. “Autons are plastic, and don’t bleed. Time Lords, on the other hand, do. And we can recognise another of our race when we come face to face with each other. Or at least, we should be able to. I’m still learning that ability, and the Master is an expert of disguising himself. It took me a while to spot him, but he was at that factory, going by the name of Bernard Rogers.”
“Then why didn’t you spot that?” Morris asked turning on the Doctor. “Don’t tell me you’re being biased because of your history with him?”
“No, not at all Will,” the Doctor protested. “I didn’t spot him because I was concentrating on Lemaitre. It seems the Master has played us all for fools. Me particularly, and I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to point that out when we meet.” The Doctor stopped and turned back to Tom. “Please, do go on,” he urged.
Nodding, Tom continued. “Well, he took me down into a security area, as soon as that happened, the facade dropped. He had Autons working down there. They hooked me into one of their machines and put an Auton in another. I guess I blacked out, but when I came round, I was wearing one of these boiler suits and the Auton, well, it was like looking in a mirror.”
Jess finally took the opportunity to look at Tom properly for the first time. He wasn’t wearing the clothes he had been, but the maroon boiler suit she’d seen the Autons wear. She guess that clothes weren’t that easy to copy in plastic and that they had redressed the facsimile in Tom’s proper clothes. The boiler suit wasn’t a good fit either, it looked rather baggy on Tom’s frame and he looked as though he’d been up all night too.
“I didn’t wanna keep cooped up in that place,” Tom continued putting a comforting hand on Jess’s shoulder. “And I got the feeling that I wasn’t the only one there. I think they got the driver who took us there too.”
“Whoa, wait,” Morris interjected, holding his hand up again, cutting Tom off. “Are you saying that there are members of my staff and that my own men have been replaced by this man?”
Tom nodded grimly. “And I somehow doubt that his facsimile’s stop at being limited to UNIT personnel. Anyway, his human lackey, Lemaitre, was rather sloppy. It was after he’d dropped off the clichéd breakfast of bread and water I managed a breakout. Don’t ask how, I don’t quite know how I did it myself, but I got out, and that’s when I saw Jess across the yard being frogmarched by Lemaitre and two Autons. Then some chap came out of nowhere and they ran off together, jumped in a taxi and drove off. I managed to grab a car and follow, ploughing over an Auton in the process.”
“He’s right.” Jess cried, having been shuffling her feet anxiously since Tom had started talking again. “I worked it out; I know what the Master is up to.”
“How do you know that?” Morris asked.
“And more to the point, what were you doing there with the Master?” The Doctor asked; a deadly look of seriousness and concern across his face.
“I thought you’d be proud,” Jess replied, the hurt evident in her voice. “I worked off my own initiative, I’ve found out the Master’s plans and I confronted him. I was on my way out to find someone and I bumped into him, literally, outside.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” the Doctor protested, stepping forwards and placing his hands on Jess’s shoulders and looking into her eyes. “I am very proud of you. Hugely proud of you, I just worry, that’s all, especially when the Master is involved. You remember what happened last time.”
“Yeah, but he couldn’t hypnotise me this time!” Jess grinned, “Did you know, the Master isn’t fond of nursery rhymes?”
The Doctor grinned. “I had heard that before. So what did you find out?”
Jess turned round to the desk she had been sat at most of the night. It was all as she’d left it before she’d had her run in with the Master. Picking it up, she shook the water from the sprinklers off. The ink had run a bit, but it was still legible. Turning back, she walked to the Doctor and Morris and stood between the two of them, showing them the paper.
“I got a bit bored last night so decided to do a spot of research, y’know; initiative and off my own back.” Jess smiled and looked up at the Doctor and then to Morris. “Anyway, out of all these names that were killed by the Master and the Autons, they all seem to have been replaced by total unknowns. I’ve researched the names of their replacements in whatever job they have and they’re not in “Who’s Who” or anything like that. In fact, in some places nothing at all is known about them.”
The Doctor grinned and put his hand on Jess’s shoulder. “That’s my girl,” he grinned before turning to Morris. “You know, Will, I’m rather surprised that your bods didn’t figure all this out.”
Morris opened his mouth to protest, but the Doctor had turned back to Jess again, who was continuing with her explanation.
“The only one who doesn’t fit the pattern is this guy,” she pointed to the name on the list, “James Duncan, new head of the police, but the rest, army, navy and politicians and so on. They’re facsimile’s. The Master admitted as much nearly when I spoke to him. He’s going to use them to take over the country. I mean, if the army aren’t going to stop him, and politicians are behind him then who’s to stop him.”
Jess stopped and breathed out, pleased with herself and looked up at the Doctor. The smile had gone from his face and was replaced by a frown. Morris was also wearing a similar expression, while Tom’s face remained strangely neutral as he nodded in both understanding and agreement.
“I believe we’re up a certain creek without a certain instrument.” He muttered.
“No, not necessarily Tom,” The Doctor smiled, “We do have the Master’s TARDIS after all.”
“Erm, I don’t know about that,” Lovatt’s voice came from the door, causing all the occupants to turn. “Someone’s nicked the truck it was being held in.”