Living In Time And Space (Book Six of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

The Almost People

"Yowza?" Fitz blinked. In all of the Doctor's lives he had seen, the Doctor had never said such a word.

"You know, I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me," the Doctor grinned at his Ganger.

"Oh, you think you're so impressive," Jessie rolled her eyes.

Both turned to her. "I am so impressive!" both said at the same time.

She grinned at them. "Definitely my Doctors."

They beamed at her - then the Ganger turned to the Doctor. "Do we tend to say yowza?"

The Doctor pouted. "That's enough. Let it go, OK? We're under stress!"

When the Gangers finally broke in, Jessie was sealing the grating shut. She pulled Cleaves away, and they went through the tunnel.

"The army will send a recon team out," Buzzer said as they emerged in the hallway.

"We need to find a way to contact the mainland," Cleaves nodded.

"What about Rory and Jemma and Jen?" Amy asked looking around. "They are all out there!"

"No, this place is a maze," the Doctor shook his head. "Takes a long time to find someone in a maze. I bet you lot have got a computer map, haven't you?"

"If we can get power running, we can scan for them," Cleaves nodded, starting to cough weakly. "Be a lot quicker."

"Doctor?" Amy coughed, the others starting to as well. "You said earlier to breathe?"

"Very important, Pond," he nodded. "Breathe."

"Yeah . . . well . . . I'm struggling to."

"Acid interacting with the stone," the Doctor looked around.

"Creating an asphyxiant miasma," the Ganger nodded.

"A what?" Cleaves asked.

"Choking gas," the Doctor answered. "Extra heavy. If we can get above it . . . "

"The evac tower," Cleaves said. "It's this way."

***

"Oh," Amy wheezed when they made it into the tower. "I think I coughed so hard, I pulled a muscle or something." Jessie frowned and moved over to her, but Amy waved her off. "It's OK, it's better. It's easing off."

As the church bell began to ring, Jimmy smiled. "It's midnight," he said. "It's Adam's birthday. My son's five. Happy birthday, bud."

***

Jessie looked over the top of the console to watch the Doctors pop up back and forth. "Can you really get the power back?" Cleaves asked.

"Oh, there's always some power floating around," the Ganger Doctor answered.

The original Doctor popped up as the Ganger went down. "Sticking to the wires, like bits of lint."

"Can you stop finishing each others' - " Amy began.

"Sentences?" the Doctor grinned. "No probs."

"Yes," the Ganger Doctor nodded.

"No, hang on," Amy shook her head. "You said that the TARDIS was stuck in acid, so won't she be damaged?"

"Nah," the Doctor smirked. "She's a tough old thing. Tough, old sexy."

"Tough, dependable, sexy," the Ganger nodded.

"This is really bad," Jessie grinned, looking over her shoulder, not noticing the two Doctors messing behind the console. "I'm really enjoying this."