Just Like Old Times

Chapter 5

Jamie listened intently as his Doctor tried to explain what exactly had happened to Jo and his other self. It sounded like a bunch of complicated nonsense at first, but now he was finally beginning to understand. The Brigadier himself gave the impression that he found it quite preposterous but in the end decided to hear the Doctor out.

"So, wherever they are, Miss Grant and my other self, we can't contact them," the Doctor finished grimly. "That's the problem with antimatter. You can see the effect but never the cause. It's like being punched on the nose by the invisible man."

"Then what is this stuff?" the Brigadier asked him. He still appeared rather dubious, but not quite as much as he had earlier.

"The invisible man. Antimatter."

"But I thought you said that matter and antimatter couldn't meet without an explosion."

"Yes, that's right."

"So, it shouldn't exist here, but it does," the Brigadier mused, seeming to catch on.

"Yes. Awkward, isn't it? As far as I can see, there's only one explanation."

"Yes?" the Brigadier prompted him. Jamie met the Doctor's gaze, regarding him expectantly as well.

"Well, this stuff, or whoever sent it, is cleverer than we are." The Doctor frowned in apparent disappointment. "Unfortunate, isn't it?"

The Brigadier paused for a moment. "And there's nothing that even you can do?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," the Doctor replied, his voice a bit awkward. "We can make sure it stays harmless for a start."

"Oh, that's a relief," the Brigadier deadpanned. "Look, can I leave you to get on with that? Those other things are still outside. I must contact Geneva."

Jamie caught the Doctor giving him a nod, but the other man was already out the door. The Doctor then started digging into his pockets as if he were searching for something.

"I think the strain's been a bit too much for him, Doc," Sergeant Benton said.

Jamie nodded. "Aye. What are we gannae do now?"

The Doctor seemed to think it over for just a split second. "Keep it confused. Feed it with useless information," he told them. "Hmm. I wonder if I have a television set handy."

He continued searching while Jamie shared a look with Benton and shrugged.

Having walked quite a ways, the Doctor and Jo had only found a desolate landscape stretched out for miles before them.

That reality had quite abruptly changed, however, once they caught sight of something markedly out of place among their bleak surroundings. Nearing it, the Doctor found it to be a very familiar-looking water cooler and computer unit.

"Hm, that's odd," the Doctor muttered.

"Hey, surely that's the water cooler from outside the lab," Jo piped up. "And what's this?"

"Well, that's the Brigadier's computer," the Doctor replied. Another familiar object then came into view. "Look, this is the lab door."

"It's locked!"

"Well, it says 'No Admittance'," the Doctor reminded her, unable to suppress a cheeky grin as he caught Jo rolling her eyes. Nearly bumping into the coat hanger, he quickly sidestepped it and headed towards the workbench, spying Doctor Tyler's weather balloon box on top of it.