Doctor Who_ Last Man Running - Chris Boucher [67]
The light that came from behind them and poured under and over and round them took Leela totally by surprise. In one smooth movement she pulled her knife, turned and dropped into a fighting crouch, but there was nothing there except a fat hungry glow blowing past her like a fire burning through grass. She was angry with herself that anything could creep up on her like that, and she was surprised that she felt no heat from the passing flare. There was no one in the passage behind them and nothing to show that the flame had gone through. She turned to watch it roaring silently on, leaving the light steady, unshadowed and unchanged. She found she wanted to follow it and see where it went.
In the distance, the ball of fire blazed and passed out of sight, leaving a strangely familiar figure coming towards them. Leela recognised the physical shape and the stride and the impractical outfit long before she could see the face.
Beside her, the Doctor seemed blithely unaware that the Doctor was coming towards them.
‘Leela?’ the Doctor called as he approached. ‘Is that you?
More to the point: is that me?’
‘Who is that?’ the Doctor beside her asked. ‘Do you know him?’
‘You mean you do not recognise who he is?’ she said.
‘I don’t think so.’ He looked down at himself. ‘Though he does seem to be wearing the same sort of clothes as I am.’
‘He is wearing the same face as you are,’ Leela said frowning. She could see that they were twins. Could he not see that? And if not, why not?
‘He has the same face as I have. Really?’ he said. ‘That’s going to be a problem. I think you’d better kill him. Or give me the knife and I’ll do it.’
Leela sheathed the knife. The other Doctor stopped a few paces from them and stood watching them both. ‘Uncanny,’
he said finally. ‘Does he think like me? I wonder. How much of what I know does he know? Not enough, obviously, otherwise why did he bother with me?’
‘Are you a ghost?’ Leela asked.
‘You know better than that,’ the other Doctor said. ‘There are no ghosts, only the fear of ghosts.’
‘What are you, then?’
‘I’m the original of him. Are you the original Leela?’
‘Give me the knife,’ the Doctor beside her said.
‘I’d rather you didn’t,’ the other Doctor said. ‘He’s probably stronger than I am. He certainly looks a lot healthier.’
‘He’s dangerous,’ the Doctor beside her said. ‘Kill him, or let me kill him, but don’t listen to what he says.’
‘But you do not kill, Doctor –’ Leela began.
‘Where are you going?’ the other Doctor asked.
‘Don’t tell him!’ the Doctor beside her hissed.
She still did not like to be told what to do. ‘The TARDIS,’
she said guardedly.
‘The light takes you to it,’ the other Doctor said. ‘I expect you’ve felt the urge to follow as it passes.
Leela was uncomfortable and a little afraid. She did not understand this and she did not know what she was supposed to do next. ’Where are you going?’ she asked because she could think of nothing else to say.
The other Doctor smiled. ‘I was coming to look for you and to try to find the control room for this complex.’
‘You are not worried about the TARDIS?’
‘Not as worried as he is.’
She looked at the Doctor beside her. ‘The Doctor?’
He shook his head. ‘The runner,’ he said. ‘And he’s not the Doctor, I am. He’s a clone. Well a sort of clone. Actually I think he’s less than a clone but technologically he may be rather more impressive.’
Keeping her distance from the other Doctor, Leela stepped away from the Doctor she had been standing beside.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked. ‘We’re together. I released you. The electrostatic charge? Don’t you remember?’
‘She doesn’t trust you now,’ the other Doctor said.
‘I can speak for myself,’ Leela said. ‘I do not trust you either.’
‘That’s good,’ he said. ‘Under the circumstances that’s very good indeed, Leela.’
Leela bristled. ‘I do not need your good opinion.’
‘I don’t understand,’ the other Doctor