THE REBEL FLESH
edited as of april 22nd, 2020
In the TARDIS console room, as loud music played on the speakers, the Eleventh Doctor looked from where the monitor flashed between 'positive' and 'negative' and to where Amy and Rory played darts. Rory stood across the dartboard and carefully aimed the said dart to it before throwing it. Watching it come in just below the wire, the corners of his mouth raised in a small smile.
Amy looked from the dart and back at Rory. "46. Rubbishy, rubbishy, rubbish," she chided, setting down the clipboard of scores.
"Hello, it's a double top," he corrects her, pointing to his dart before moving out of the way as she began her turn.
"Wrong side of the wire, mister," replied Amy as she aimed her dart.
"You're red."
She laughed as she winked to help aim. "No, I'm not. Stop trying to put me off." Just about to let go of the dart, Amy's heart stopped when a puffy-eyed brunette with flushed cheeks appeared in front of her- wearing grey pajama pants and a green shirt. Charlotte's eyes widen, seeing the dart pointed at her nose.
"Charlotte!" Exclaimed Amy, catching the Doctor's attention from the console- where he turns off the music and the pregnancy scan. "I almost killed you!" Amy finally took in her flushed face. "Are you alright?"
"Wha- Oh, um, yeah, yeah. I'm good," Charlotte stammered, rubbing a hand across her face. She feigned a smile and looked between Amy and Rory. "Now, when are we?"
"Question is, when were you?" The Doctor asked, seeing her state.
Charlotte turns over to him, crossing her arms over her chest as her teeth pushed together. With a puff of air and a roll of her eyes, she moved away from the two and walked up to the console, only to purposefully stand on the opposite side of it. Amy and Rory, who were onlooking this interaction, looked over to each other equally confused.
"Charles Dickens?" He guessed, only knowing he was correct when she nodded.
"Alright, what happened?" Amy questioned them, walking up to the console with Rory following. Getting no response, she immediately turned to the Doctor, "What'd you do?"
"He didn't do anything... It's more of my fault, anyway."
The Doctor shook his head at her. "No, no. Nothing was your fault. Nothing. I said what I said, and I regret it."
"You were just saying the truth," replied Charlotte. While she tried to seem okay with what the Doctor said, he noticed her eyes downcast to the console as her right hand fiddled with it uselessly. "I should have more of a plan."
"Okay, okay..." mumbled the Doctor to himself before turning to face Rory and Amy. "How 'bout, while we-" he pointed from himself to Charlotte- "talk, I drop you two off for fish 'n' chips? Take your time. Don't rush."
Rory seemed to peak up at 'fish 'n' chips.' "Could we have some context? I'm really confused on what's wrong."
"I did something."
"That 'something' wasn't your fault, and you couldn't do anything to stop it," the Doctor responded, raising his eyebrows at her for emphasis but her opinion remained unchanged; the Doctor really didn't trust her and all the deaths she's seen here could've had a different outcome if it weren't for her.
"They couldn't be vaguer..." Rory whispered to Amy when he joined them at the console, Amy nodded- neither had seen the two act so indifferent to each other, even Amy found them less friendly than with Vincent van Gogh!
"Yeah, fish 'n' chips is good," Amy tells the Doctor. "But when we get back, you two better be all good."
"Come on, Pond, you know us, always tip-top."
Amy was about to reply, but a loud horn blared before the TARDIS began to fly around wildly on her own. With a shout of surprise, Charlotte held onto the console for dear life while her feet slid down the floor as the TARDIS tilted about.
The Doctor, struggling to hang on just as much as them, tried to stop the TARDIS. "Solar Tsunami!" He shouts over the noise. "Came directly from your sun! A tidal wave of radiation. Big, big, big!" He held down a lever as they continued to be thrown around.
Rory, unlike the three that held onto the console, holds a railing for support, "Oh, Doctor, my tummy's going funny..."
"Hold it in, Rory!" Charlotte shouted back at him as she tightened her grip on the console and pushing her feet to the floor.
"Well, the gyros are dissipated. Target-tracking is out." With much effort, the Doctor pushes down a lever but nothing happens and the TARDIS continues to be pushed through the Solar Tsunami. As they hurtle dangerously close to Earth, the Doctor looked to everyone wide-eyed, "Assume the position!"
As Amy moves to sit down in a chair with hands covering the back of her head, Charlotte follows her example and kneels beneath the console. Seeing Rory looking around in confusion, Charlotte looked up from underneath her hands. "Get down!" She yelled up at him. Rory obliged, kneeling onto the ground covering his head as the TARDIS crash-landed. As the ship settles, Charlotte looks up slowly as she pants from the rough landing.
"Textbook landing," the Doctor, who already stood up facing them, comments.
"For a very, very bad landing," grumbled Charlotte as she stood up from beneath the console.
---
Just minutes later, after Amy and Rory grabbed their light-jackets and Charlotte put on a pair of shoes and slid on her green windbreaker, they all left the TARDIS to be met just outside of a medieval monastery that resided on an island. On top of a spire, the monastery's weather vane spun around.
"Behold!" Exclaimed the Doctor as he stepped out of the TARDIS but quickly grew underwhelmed by the sight. "A cockerel. Love a cockerel. And, underneath, a monastery, 13th-century." Charlotte stepped out and looked up at the rusting weather vane as it squeaked from spinning around.
Finally, Amy stepped out and closed the TARDIS door. "Oh, we've gone all medieval."
"I'm not sure about that," says Rory, hearing something in the distance.
"Really? Medieval expert, are you?"
He shook his head. "No, it's just that I can hear Dusty Springfield."
Charlotte, hearing the music too, raised her head trying to find where it was coming from. Finding nothing, she followed the couple as they stopped beside the Doctor as he crouched in front of a hole in the ground that exposed a pipe running through the middle.
"These fissures are new," he tells them. "The Solar Tsunami sent out a huge wave of gamma particles. This was caused by a magnetic quake that occurred just before the wave hit."
"Well, the monastery's standing," said Amy as she looked up at it.
The Doctor takes out a small snow globe from his pocket, shaking it. "Yeah, for now..." he muttered, sliding the snow globe back into his pocket.
Crouching on the other side of the ground's hole, Charlotte spotted words written on the pipe's side. '"DANGER Corrosive,"' she read out loud, pointing to the words.
"Ah, it's a supply pipe." The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan of it. He looks at the results. "Ceramic inner lining. Something corrosive. They're pumping something off this island, to the mainland." Sliding the screwdriver back into his pocket, he stands up.
"My mum's a massive fan of Dusty Springfield," Rory adds, still hearing the music playing far away.
"Who isn't?" Said the Doctor as Charlotte stood up beside the hole. "Right, let's go. Satisfy our rabid curiosity." He then rushed up the wooden stairs at the side of the monastery with everyone else following after him.
As they walked through the courtyard, Charlotte heard a bird's chirp echo throughout the area. The music also became louder as they neared the source. "So, where are these Dusty Springfield-loving monks, then?" Amy asked the Doctor while they continued their voyage through the old church.
Taking out the sonic, he began scanning down. "I think we're here. This is it."
"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Rory questioned him. "We've never been here before."
"We came here by accident," Amy added as he began climbing up another, smaller, set of steps.
Finally finished with the long scan with the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor turns over to them. '"Accident?" Yes, I know. Accident.'
"Ah! Ow!" Exclaimed Rory, shaking his hand after touching one of the pipes that ran beside the stairs.
"Acid. They're pumping acid off this island." The Doctor told them as Amy looked at Rory's hand. "That's old stuff. Fresh acid? You wouldn't have a finger."
Charlotte not-so-lightly kicked his foot. "You aren't helping," she tells him.
The Doctor was about to say more, but an alarm caused all of them to look around as an electronic voice alerts on the monastery's intercom, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert."
"There are people coming," warned the Doctor, looking down at the sonic his face screwed up. "Well, almost."
"Almost coming?" Questioned Amy.
"No, almost people." Seeing no one moving, Charlotte waved her hands. "Come on!" At her word, almost all of them followed after her down the monastery's corridor.
Rory instead hesitated to move down the corridor with them, staying at the top of the steps. "I think we should probably go..."
"Come on!" Amy shouted to him as they continued down moving down.
"I'm telling you, when something runs towards you, it's never for a nice reason." Amy runs back over to Rory, pulling him by the arm, she finally drags him with her.
---
As the alarm continued to blare, Charlotte led the group into a dim room only lit by window alcoves. However, those windows were blocked by harnesses occupied by people in orange jumpsuits sleeping.
"What are all these harnesses for?" Asked Amy as they rushed in the room.
Rory looked at the harnessed people in confusion. "Uh, the almost people?"
"What are they? Prisoners?" Amy guessed. "Or are they meditating, or what?"
"Well, at the moment, they fall into the 'or what' category," said the Doctor as they regrouped, ready to head down another corridor when the same electronic voice from earlier spoke again.
"Halt and remain calm," it ordered them.
Still all grouped up, the Doctor looked back and forth from the three of them. "Well, we've halted. How are we all doing on the calm front?"
Rolling her eyes, Charlotte mumbled a few incoherent words at him. Then, three people in orange jumpsuits walked into the room- a brunette man, an older-looking guy, and a dark haired woman with bangs. Both of the men held advanced lances in the direction of the group as they approached.
"Don't move!" Jimmy, the older man, orders as he points his lance at them.
"Stay back, Jen," advised Buzzer, the brunette man, as he keeps his eyes pointed at the group. "We don't know who they are."
"So let's ask them." Jennifer, or Jen, said back at him. "Who the hell are you?"
"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Charlotte, Amy, and Rory and it's all very nice isn't it?"
Amy, who's been looking from the people in the harness and the people standing in front of them, quickly realized they were completely identical. "Hold up. You're all- what are you all, like, identical twins?"
Before they could answer, another man and woman enter from behind them wearing red acid suits. "This is an Alpha-grade industrial facility," the woman, who seems to be in charge of this crew, caused their heads to turn as she spoke up. "Unless you work for the military or for Morpeth Jetson, you are in big trouble."
"Actually, you're in big trouble," the Doctor corrects her. Moving forward, he pulls out the psychic paper and she takes it in her hand.
Looking from the paper and back up to him, she raised an eyebrow. "Meteorological department, since when?"
"Since you were hit by a solar wave," he replies.
"Which we survived."
"Just, by the look of it. And there's a bigger one on the way."
"Which we'll also survive," she answered easily. Glancing over to the man she entered with, she says, "Dicken, scan for bugs." Charlotte sighed at that. Of all names, she just happened to be in the same episode of a Dicken right after meeting Charles Dickens.
Dicken held up a scanner. "Backs against the wall," he orders. "Now." Following his command, Charlotte held up her hands as the four of them backed up.
"You're not a monastery," the Doctor realized as they backed up to the wall. "You're a factory. 22nd century, army-owned factory."
"You're army?" Amy questions as Dicken prepared the scanner.
Cleaves, the woman in charge, held back an eye roll at the accusation. "No, love, we're contractors and you're trespassers."
Pointing the scanner to the four of them, Dicken began scanning. Just a moment later he lowered it and looked back to her. "It's okay, boss."
"All right, weatherman, your I.D. checks out. If there's another solar storm, what are you going to do about it, hand out sunblock?"
Stepping forward, the Doctor nervously laughed as he took the psychic paper back. Looking over to Amy, she laughed just as cautiously. "I need to see your critical systems," he tells her seriously.
"Which one?"
He kept quiet for a moment as he thought for the right answer to give, "You know which one."
After taking off the acid suit, Cleaves began leading them through the Monastery with Charlotte walking alongside her. Unlocking a metal door she reveals the Flesh Room; a room with an open tank of bubbling liquid that was set on a raised platform with a tub set in front of it around the size of a person laying down. Charlotte, resting her elbows on the edge of the vat, looked over to watch as the white liquid bubbled up.
Across from her, the Doctor bent down to inspect it closely. "And there you are," he whispered down to the flesh.
From across the vat, the brunette gave an annoyed eye roll.
"Meet the government's worst-kept secret- the flesh. It's fully programmable matter," Cleaves told them as Charlotte nodded along. "In fact, it's even learning to replicate itself at the cellular level."
"Right..." responded Amy, nodding her head but not quite getting what she said. "Brilliant. Lost."
"Okay..." Cleaves drew out. "Once a reading's been taken, we can manipulate its molecular structure into anything, replicate a living organism, down to the hairs on its chinny-chin-chin. Even clothes, and everything's identical- eyes... voice."
"Mind, soul," the Doctor adds on to what she said
She looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Don't be fooled, Doctor. It acts like life, but it still needs to be controlled by us from those harnesses you saw."
Blinking rapidly, Rory turns over to her. "Wait, whoa, oh, hold it. So... You're flesh now?"
"I'm lying in a harness back in that chamber," she said simply, catching all their attention. "We all are, except Jennifer, here." Glancing over to Jennifer, Charlotte saw her give a small smile as everyone else glimpsed at her from being mentioned. Cleaves continues, "Don't be scared. This thing? Just like operating a forklift truck."
"You said it could grow," the Doctor reminded her. "Only living things grow."
She looks over at him. "Moss grows. It's no more than that. This acid is so dangerous, we were losing a worker every week. So now, we mine the acid, using these doppelgangers, or 'gangers.' If these bodies get burnt or fall in the acid..."
"Then who the hell cares?" Interrupted Ganger Buzzer, looking over at Jennifer. "Right, Jen?"
Jennifer looks around sheepishly before speaking, "Well, the nerve endings automatically cut off, like airbags being discharged, except we wake up and get a new ganger." As she said this, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver.
"It's weird, but you get used to it." Ganger Jimmy shrugged.
Cleaves looks over to Jennifer. "Jennifer, I want you in your ganger. Get back to the harness." Nodding, Jennifer quickly left without a word.
Everyone's heads turned over to the Doctor as he pointed the sonic down at the Flesh, beginning to scan it.
"Hang on," said Ganger Buzzer, looking over at him. "What's he up to? What are you up to, pal?"
As the Flesh bubbling increased from the Doctor's interference, Charlotte took a step back as the Doctor struggled tearing his arm away from the Flesh. "Stop it. Ah!" Breathing heavily, he finally was able to pull his arm and the sonic away from the vat. Sliding the screwdriver back into his tweed jacket, he looked down at the Flesh with burning curiosity. "Strange. It was like, for a moment, it was scanning me." Hesitantly, the Doctor reached out to touch the Flesh with his palm.
"Doctor," Cleaves warned him.
His palm set on the liquid. Groaning, he tried to move his hand but it seemed to be glued to the liquid itself as he couldn't pull away at all. As his face screwed up from the struggle, Charlotte's eyebrows pushed together in deep worry. "Doctor, leave it alone," She urged him as he tried to fight off the liquid, "Get back!"
"Ahh! Ah! Gah!" With a shout, he finally released his hand from the vat. "I understand."
"Doctor, are you all right?" Asked Amy, worriedly looking over at him.
"Incredible," he answered in between his heaves. "You have no idea. No idea. I mean, I felt it in my mind! I reached out to it and it, to me."
"Don't fiddle with the money, Doctor."
Bewildered at her, the Doctor looks over to Cleaves. "How can you be so blinkered? It's alive, so alive." He looks around at the rest of the crew to get his point across. "You're piling your lives, your personalities, directly into it." As lightning begins crashing outside, the Doctor takes out the snow globe again. "It's the solar storm. The first waves come in pairs- pre-shock and full shock- it's close." He put the globe back in his pocket and stepped away from the vat.
"Buzz, have we got anything from the mainland yet?"
Ganger Buzzer frowned as he shook his head. "No, the comms are still too jammed with radiation."
"Okay, then we'll keep pumping acid until the mainland says stop." Cleaves turned to look over at the Doctor with a smirk. "Now, why don't you stand back and let us impress you."
Just a moment later, they all surround the tub placed in front of the vat as the flesh starts to be poured into it quickly. Charlotte, watching silently beside Cleaves as the flesh filled up half of the tub, noticed a pale nose poke out from the liquid and then the mouth and eyes. Slowly, the pale, slimy and undefined face reaches above the flesh... the mouth stretched open, and the eyes widened. And finally, with a gasp, Jennifer sits up straight in the tub- her face now completely defined, wearing the orange jumpsuit, and her hair even tied up in a ponytail.
"Well, I can see why you keep it in a church," says the Doctor, breaking the silence. "The miracle of life."
"No need to get poncey. It's just gunge," remarked Buzzer, looking over at him.
"Guys, we need to get to work," their leader ordered them, and they complied immediately.
Helping the newly formed Granger Jennifer jump out of the tub, Jimmy tells them, "Okay, everybody. Let's crack on."
Another crack of lightning caused them to pause whatever they were doing for a moment and look up. The Doctor looks around at the crew, "Did I mention the solar storm? You need to get out of here."
"Well, where do you want us to go?" Jimmy questioned him with a chuckle. "We're on a tiny island."
"Well, I can get you all off it."
Ganger Cleaves walks behind the Doctor to stand alongside her crew. "Don't be ridiculous," she tells him. "We've got a job to do."
Taking the snowglobe out of his pocket again, he scrunched up his eyebrows. "It's coming." Right after his word an alarm blared loudly, catching everyone's attention as the Doctor returned the snow globe to his pocket again.
"That's the alarm," said Ganger Jennifer, clearly becoming worried as her eyes widen.
"How do you get power?"
Cleaves glanced at the Doctor, "We're solar and we use a solar router. The weather vane."
"Big problem."
Jimmy calmly looked from the Doctor and back to his leader as she continued to work beside the emptied tub. "Boss, maybe if the storm comes back, we should get underground." He looks around at the crew, for any help in convincing her, but all of them stayed quiet. "The factory's seen better days. The acid pipes might not withstand another hit."
Once he ends, she straightens her back. "We have 200 tons of acid to pump out. We fall behind, we stay another rotation. Anyone want that?" The crew looked to each other with wide eyes.
"Please," said the Doctor, grabbing her by the crook of her elbow and pulling her to the side. "You are making a massive mistake here. You're right at the crossroads of it." As he continues, speaking just loud enough for them to listen in, Charlotte watches with her arms crossed from where she stands beside Rory. "Don't turn the wrong way. If you don't-" he points a finger at her. "If you don't prepare for this storm, you are all in terrible danger, understand."
Looking up at him, she clenched her jaw. "My factory, my rules," she whispered, walking away to stand with her team. Watching as she walked past, Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"I need to check the progress of the storm." He snapped his fingers at Jennifer. "Monitoring station."
Jennifer, who was caught off guard from being asked, hesitated to answer him. Watching from the sidelines, Charlotte got second-hand annoyance at the demanding snaps.
Snapping his fingers again, the Doctor grew impatient, "Monitoring station!"
"Three lefts, a right, and a left. Third door on your left."
He gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you," he tells her before walking out with Amy and Rory following behind him and with a hesitant Charlotte following after her two newfound best friends: Amy and Rory.
---
As the storm draws closer and the sky turns a bleak orange, the four enter the monitoring room- a circular room with a set of instruments and screens placed in the center. With the storm growing dramatically, the instruments were already sparking up as the Doctor rushed forward to them.
"The wave's disturbing the earth's magnetic field. There is going to be the mother and father of all power surges," he shouts to them as the storm practically causes the room to shake. "You see this weather vane, the cock-a-doodle-doo? It's a solar router, feeding the whole factory with solar power. When that wave hits..." He looks back at them. "Kaboom. I've got to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose." As he begins dashing away, he stops in the doorway to chuckle to himself. "I never thought I'd have to say that again." Looking at Amy, he snaps his fingers, "Ah. Amy, breathe." And, without any other word, he leaves them.
"Yeah!" She shouts back to him. "I mean, thanks, I'll try. Aren't you going to go with him?"
Charlotte shook her head with a frown. "Nope."
With Amy leading them, they leave the monitoring room together and head back to the Flesh room. As some of the lights spark slightly from where they hung on the walls, the storm continued to rage- being the only thing Charlotte could hear as she ran through the corridors and still the only noise she could make out when the finally reached the room.
Now, standing one beside the other at the front of the room, alone as the crew left before they came back, Charlotte looked between them. No words coming out of her until a large crash from outside brought all of them down to the floor with a shriek, the back of their heads hitting the ground hard and easily knocking each of them unconcious.
---
Charlotte blinks her eyes open. For a moment, as she woke up on the cold ground, she forgot where she was before instantly remembering the recent events. With a groan, she turned her head to the left to see Amy coming to and Rory on her left doing the same. All of them, laying on the ground, screwed up their faces from the pain their fall caused.
"For lack of better word- ow!" said Rory, causing Charlotte to snicker before quickly cutting off from the pain it caused.
---
Once standing up, and Charlotte taking a flashlight out from her windbreaker ("-always be prepared, Amelia, always-"), they made their way through the darkened corridors. Finding their way to the Harness room again, they entered to see the crew getting out of their harnesses. Buzzer, however, needed support from Jimmy and Dicken.
"I feel like I've been toasted," snarked Buzzer as Charlotte, Amy, and Rory rushed over.
Jimmy glances over at them with worry. "What the hell happened?"
"The Tsunami happened," Amy told him. "You're hurt."
"Well, it feels like the national grid's running through my bones, but, apart from that..." Buzzer was cut off as his face recoiled in pain.
Adjusting his arm around the man, Dicken says, "I hope the meter's not bust. I still want to get paid."
"Why-y-y?" Jennifer, standing separated from everyone else, wails as she holds her head in her hands. Seeing her, Charlotte took a step forward before Rory nearly bolted to Jennifer's side- and, knowing he'd do a great job, she took a step back to stand beside Amy.
Rory stood in front of her. "Jennifer! Jennifer. Hi," Lowering her hands, her face covered in tears, she looked up at him shakily. Resting his hands on her shoulders reassuringly, Rory looks down at her kindly.
"It hurt so much," she sobs.
He pulls her into a hug as she continues to let it all out. "Hey, hey, it's okay. It's over," assures Rory as she tried to swallow down her sob.
"I couldn't get out of my harness," Jennifer tells him as she pulled out of the hug, but still held onto his arms tightly.
"Shh-shh-shh."
Gulping she looked up to him, "I... I thought I was going to die."
"Welcome to my world," said Rory, pulling her back into a hug as she let out the last of her cries. Looking over her head, he spotted Amy giving him a proud smile as she overlooked.
Charlotte nudges her with a grin. "You're a lucky lady," she tells her as he continues comforting Jennifer. Amy hums in agreement, just as the Doctor and Cleaves ran into the room. Her smile dropping, Charlotte faces the two as they rejoin them.
"Doctor, look, these are all real people," said Amy. "So where are their gangers?"
As the Doctor takes a quick cursory glance around the room, Cleaves answers her question, "Don't worry, when the link shuts down, the gangers return to pure flesh," she reassures her. "Now, the storm's left us with acid leaks all over, so we need to contact the mainland. They can have a rescue shuttle out here in no time."
Anyone was cut off from saying more as, further away, they all hear Dusty Springfield playing once again. Raising his head at the sound, Jimmy's eyebrows furrowed. "That's my record... Who's playing my record?"
"It's the gangers," Charlotte replied bluntly as she turned to the sound of music, trying to catch where it was coming from.
"No, it's impossible." Shaking her head, Cleaves looked around, trying to find another explanation herself. "They're not active- cars don't fly themselves, cranes don't lift themselves, and gangers don't-" but, as she looks in the direction of the music, her argument fell flat.
---
Through the thick, plastic strips hanging in the doorway, Charlotte walks into the dining hall. Where, set on a turntable, a record that was once playing sat still in the player. The long dining table also looked to be used, with food covering it and a short pyramid of cards, and all of the drawers and cabinets in the room opened wide- seemingly searched beforehand.
Going over to the record, as everyone else walks in, and the crew looking around in shock, Charlotte quickly spotted what she was looking for written on the center. "It's Dusty Springfield," she confirmed.
"No way," said Buzzer as he walked in.
"I don't..." Cleaves looks around. "I don't believe this."
"They could've escaped through the service door in the back," says Jimmy, pointing over to the said door.
"This is just like the Isle of Sheppey."
The Doctor sits down at the head of the table, his elbows resting on the edge as he looks at a house of cards curiously. "It would seem the storm has animated your gangers," he says.
With her nose scrunched up, Cleaves looked around the mess of a room. "They've ransacked everything."
"Not ransacked, searched," he corrects her.
"Through our stuff?"
"Their stuff," responded Charlotte.
From where he stood, holding a picture up from the table, Jimmy looks away from it and down at the Doctor. "Searching for what?"
"Confirmation. They need to know their memories are real."
Scoffing, Buzzer moved to stand in front of him. "Oh, so they've got flaming memories now."
The Doctor hardly bats an eye to him, but replies easily, "They feel compelled to connect to their lives, yeah."
Standing further apart from the group, Cleaves clenched her jaw as she tried to correct them once again, "Their stolen lives."
"No, bequeathed," said the Doctor, giving her a sharp look. "You gave them this. You poured your personalities, emotions, traits, memories, secrets- everything. You gave them your lives. Human lives are amazing. Are you surprised they walked off with them?"
"I'll say it again," began Buzzer, "Isle of Sheppey. Ganger got an electric shock, toddled off, killed his operator, right there in his harness. I've seen the photos. This bloke's ear was..." His hand raised to his ear, trying to mimic what he saw.
From what he said, Jimmy crossed his arms. "Even if this has actually happened, they can't remain stable without us plumbed into them." Turning over to Cleaves, he tried to see any sign of agreement from her, but saw nothing. "- Can they, boss?"
His boss looks around, staying silent as she looks back at Jimmy, only to shrug her shoulders. "I guess we'll find out," she says.
In worry, Charlotte looked over to Jennifer as she gasped loudly. Almost immediately, Rory went to her side. "Are you okay?" He asked her, "Do you need some water?"
With a hand at her stomach, she glanced around the room as everyone looked at her. "I feel funny. I need the washroom." She then runs out of the dining hall and to the washroom.
"I'll come with you," called Rory, following after her.
Standing beside her, Charlotte looks over at Amy. "Again, lucky lady," she whispered to her with a teasing grin. Rolling her eyes, Amy lightly hit her arm while she simply mocked pain and chuckled. Dicken, who stood to the right of Amy, sneezed loudly and apologized right after.
The Doctor, who was casually watching their interaction, turns back to the table in front of him. Leaning forward in his seat, he scrutinized the house of cards made in the mess placed on the table.
"That's me," Buzzer tells him, looking down at the pyramid. "It's good to have a hobby. So, what, my ganger did that, all on its own?"
The Doctor looked up to him. "Who taught you this?"
"My grandad."
As he answers him, the Doctor remains calm, not wanting to further anger the already very confused man, "Well, your ganger's grandad taught him to do it, too. You both have the same childhood memories, just as clear, just as real."
Everyone looks to Buzzer as he tries to take in this information thrown at him by the Doctor. With his nose flared at the thought of his ganger being just the same as him, he glared his eyes as he glanced at the people watching him. "No," he snapped, pushing down the cards and began pacing back-and-forth.
"They're scared, disoriented, struggling to come to terms with an entire life in their heads." The Doctor looks around the room, trying to find one of the crew members that seemed to be agreeing with him. But, as he looked around at them, they looked to each other unsure of how to handle this situation themselves.
_______
Next up: The Rebel Flesh Part Two (Anger and Gangers Part Two)
A/n: writing this kinda made me appreciate this episode more ngl. also I love rory.
GIF FROM lecompanion ON TUMBLR