Doctor Who: Mind and Body

Chapter 5: The Chain of Command

The Doctor steeled himself as his fingers inched towards the door's latch. Knowing the savage threat that existed beyond seemed to make those fingers fight to resist their orders, and a tense moment passed before they finally made contact. He turned to Rory. "Ready?"

Rory gestured to the two Amys in response. "What about them?"

There they stood, side by side, but crossed arms and angled shoulders suggested that each of them would rather be anywhere else than in the other's presence. The Doctor looked at the pair and shrugged.

"Stay. Talk. Swap some stories. Though given they've both got the same memories, that might get boring pretty quick. Still, that's beside the point - ladies, you're safe right here."

One Amy curled her lip at the other. "You want me to stay with her? You're out of your head!"

The other Amy sneered. "I'd rather take my chances out there than with someone pretending to be me."

The Doctor sighed, exasperated. "Yes, let's start this again. No ifs or buts, though - you're staying put. Both of you. Just don't scratch each other's eyes out and you'll be fine."

"Can't we take them with us?" asked Rory.

"That's a bit morbid, isn't it? What would you want with four eyes, apart from two sets of glasses?"

"I don't mean their eyes. I mean, them. We could, you know, look after them?"

An Amy leaned her head forward in a transparent gesture of pseudo-secrecy. "A chivalrous and totally innocent idea, I'm sure."

The other Amy looked at the two, aghast. "Oi!" she exclaimed. "If you're me, I'm you, and I know what you're thinking - so get away from my fiancé!"

The Doctor stepped in. "Okay, I can see where this is going. Change of plans - since you're not going to let this she-said-she-said thing go, you're both coming with us. Yes, I know, stupid idea, and one that'll most likely kill the four of us rather than just two-"

Rory's eyes bulged.

"-but if that's what it'll take to shut each of you up, then bring on the Bankses!" He leaned in to Rory. "Don't worry about that 'kill' stuff. Had to make it sound dramatic." A pause. "Which, I suppose it is. And I suppose they might. Anyway. Babbling won't get us out of this room, will it." The Doctor turned his attention back to the door and took a deep breath. "Come on, let's do this."

Rory looked at the two Amys, both seemingly silenced between them. He still couldn't believe it - they looked exactly the same. Exactly. Right down to the finest detail, the smallest mannerism. Everything that the original Amy was, the duplicate was, too. He let his eyes float from one to the other, making a conscious effort to avoid weighing attention too heavily on one, lest it upset the other. "Let's stick together," he said. And then, pointedly: "All of us."

Click! The Doctor flicked the latch and the pneumatic door slid open. He cautiously poked his head out into the stark white hallway, looked left then right. Nothing. No movement, no sound. Save for the ambient humming of the dim light bulbs overhead, the base was dead silent.

Even so, the Doctor's gaze remained on alert. He beckoned the three with a flick of his wrist, and they joined him at the door's threshold, muscles tensed and ready to move. "Go!" the Doctor whispered, and immediately all of them darted down the corridor, keeping their bodies close to the wall as they rounded a corner, then another.

"Which way?" the Doctor asked Rory.

"Left here, past his office," he replied.

"Past his office?"