"Doctor Smith, I presume," Reynolds called loudly. "That is what
you are called on this planet, isn't it? In this era at least."

"I prefer just Doctor, thank you," the Doctor called. He slipped his
hands into his pockets. A sudden pinching to his arm had him
glancing to his side. Tegan was there, gripping his skin in a vice-
like hold. He patted her hand. "Easy now, Tegan," he encouraged.

"He's a…a…"

"Duplicate. Yes, Mrs. Jones, I believe that's an adequate but not
quite accurate term for what I am."

"A clone on the sub-molecular level," the Doctor retorted, his eyes
wide. Turlough could feel another scientific lecture approaching and
rolled his eyes. "A genetic graft on an existing chromosomal
framework of the basic bipedal form. Ingenious, but not quite to
Gallifreyan standard. At least we've been able to engineer the
bioelectronic field to hold and maintain the soul. Something I doubt
the Daleks would want to do even if they could."

Al, despite his obvious fear, gaped at the Doctor and stumbled over
next to him. After two unsuccessful tries at speech, he gutted
out: "But that's impossible."

"For twentieth century Earth, definitely," the Doctor agreed. "The
whole idea is quite mad, isn't it?"

"But it isn't impossible for the Dalek Empire, Dr. Pendrall,"
Reynolds chuckled. "Thank you for the most excellent lecture,
Doctor. I understand from my predecessor that you do excel at
lecturing when given the chance. If you're quite finished, however,
I would advise you to surrender."

"Surrender?" Penny called out. She brushed back her hair. Tegan
appreciated the sour frown on the girl's face. "You've the guns.
You make it sound like we've a choice." She turned to Tegan. "What
is it with the British? Surrender, indeed."

The Doctor ignored the interaction. His mind was otherwise
occupied. "The Brigadier here; he is unharmed, I hope?"

"Yes, for now-"

"Ah, of course," the Doctor nodded. He whipped his hands out of his
pockets to motion to the guards. "Of course. And now that you have
us? As my new friend Penny has pointed out, we obviously don't have
a choice and have, for all intents of purpose, surrendered."

"You can't be serious," Tegan hissed at his elbow. "You can't
surrender."

"Hush, Tegan," he reiterated and raised an eyebrow at Reynolds. "I
would love to take the opportunity to ask some questions-"

"I'm sure you would, Doctor. Your curiosity is galactically known.
Unfortunately, there is little time now to engage in an educational
conversation."

"I see," the Doctor replied, his tone very downtrodden. To Turlough
the Time Lord looked like a boy who had had his candy taken
away. "Of course. And I suppose you will be imprisoning us?"

Reynolds gave a curt nod as he walked around the table that held the
Brigadier. "Very astute, dear Doctor. You and your friends will be
imprisoned here until we've procured your method of transfer to the
Dalek fleet."

"Ah, very good," the Doctor said, leaning forward. "The time
corridor is-"

"Quite operational although-"

"You're having problems with the energy, I would suppose. Up to now
you've only been able to transmit information down it to Earth." The
Doctor bit his lip and glanced around at his friends. "You've had
little time to perfect it. We are to be the guinea pigs so to
speak. If we can pass through, then the Daleks can return, yes?"

Reynolds smiled widely. "You understand your purpose well. We never
waste an opportunity." Turning, the man glared at the surrounding
guards. "There are no other ways out of this room; guard them from
the corridor." As he walked toward the door, he addressed
Pendrall. "You'll find that your computer password has been
rescinded and that all of the technology herein is non-functional.
Expect to be moved in the hour."

The Doctor stood facing the door, his shoulders back and his head
reared. As the door slid shut, leaving the friends in the room, the
silence was disrupted by loud conversation.

"That is simply wonderful," Penny voiced, turning to Alfred. "You've
led us back into prison, Doctor whoever you are." Tegan was
surprised the girl didn't stamp her feet. "What can you hope to
accomplish here?"

Alfred sighed and joined Turlough as the boy freed the
Brigadier. "Penny, please. Relax, lass."

"Relax? We're back into the fire. We skipped the damn frying pan."

Tegan whipped around to face Penny. Her grip on the Doctor's arm was
still intense and he could feel her shaking, but when she spoke, her
voice held some of her old strength. "I haven't seen you give a
better idea."

"I did," Penny nearly yelled back. "I said not to come back this
way."

"Stop bickering," Turlough stated, as if very tired. "You can argue
later, you two. Brigadier, are you all right?"

"Never been better, Turlough. You all took your time getting here,
however."

"Glad to hear it, Brigadier," the Doctor called, rubbing his neck.
He moved towards the table and leaned heavily on its surface as he
stared at his old friend. "Have they processed you in any way,
Alastair? Have they-"

"Hooked me up to that brute of a computer? No."

"Ah, good. That means that they haven't had the chance to copy and
use your life's memories," the Doctor said, checking the old
soldier's eyes. "Hmm, it seems all is in order. Good, good."
Straightening, he addressed Penny. "We are exactly where they wish
us to be. The object, like a good chess game or an excellent cricket
game, is to use complacency to our advantage. They'll be complacent
that we're here, correct? That gives us an advantage. A chance to
throw a wrench into the works so to speak."

"And what on Earth can you hope to accomplish locked in a laboratory
with guards with guns at the door? We can't even properly use the
computers," Penny croaked out. "I don't understand what we're doing
here."

"I assure you," the Doctor retorted, bending to look in her
eyes. "Using the computer won't be a problem. And I intend to use
it."

"But Smith…" Pendrall voiced. "They've…"

"Rescinded your password. That doesn't mean the Doctor can't get in
to the mainframe." Turlough walked forward and clicked on the
computer with a smile. Within moments, a prompt was blinking on the
terminal. "But what you hope to-" he shook his head.

The Doctor sat down at the terminal and placed his spectacles on the
end of his nose. He glanced at Turlough over the top of them and
gave his companion a look. "Oh, Turlough," he began
disappointedly. "Think. This is a military biological research
station. They've been doing work a vaccine for the Movellian virus."

Turlough nodded once curtly, giving the Brigadier a sideways
glance. "We could change the structure of the vaccine?"

Al Pendrall shook his head. "The work was completed yesterday. The
commander of this base-"

"A duplicate if Turlough can be believed," Penny interjected.

"-took the vaccine to have it tested. I dare say it will work,
though," Pendrall grimaced. "Sometimes I wish that I wasn't such a
perfectionist with my work."

"Hmm. Don't blame yourself for a job well done," the Doctor stated
affectionately. "It does make this situation much worse than I
expected, however." He shifted in the chair and began to experiment
with different key strokes. His eyes narrowed. "The basic structure
of three administrative levels for the program mainframe still
exists."

"That's all well fine and good," Tegan said, her voice heightened
from the beginning of panic. "Doctor, if you're through with the
Magical Mystery Tour of that computer, I think you should get what
you need and we should get out of here."

"For once," Penny murmured. "I agree with her."

"What do you need?" Turlough asked.

"Well, if the vaccine was already made and has been tested, it can be
either isolated or reproduced from subjects. Destruction of the
information on chemical and biological composition is useless then.
What we need is the research on the virus itself."

Pendrall frowned. "You'll need primary administration level. I hid
the files on that work in a hidden folder in under my heading. They
can't get in there, but neither can I. If you get to the primary
level, I can give you the password-"

"Excellent, Pendrall." The Doctor began to tap quickly on the
computer. He bit his lip as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

Penny laid her hand on Tegan's arm and took her a small distance away
from the others. "Your friend is insane, you know."

"He's never led me wrong; I've never come to harm with him," Tegan
narrowed her eyes in anger. "The Doctor's quite all right, you'll
see."

"He'll never get in that computer mainframe. It's been created and
challenged by the best programmers in both the States and Britain-"

"Eureka!" the Doctor called loudly, before the Brigadier warned him
to be quieter. "We're in, Pendrall."

Al raised his eyebrows in surprise and glanced at the Doctor with new
found respect. "You must be Smith. Only he would have been able to
get into that computer that quickly. Move aside. Penny, girl, get
me two disks. You'll have that information in a moment, Smith."

The Doctor bounced out of the chair with a flourish. "Make two
copies, Pendrall. It's always best to have a duplicate."

Tegan shook her head at his poor humor and crossed her arms as he
drew alongside her. He suddenly leaned down and stared in her
eyes. "Are you all right?" he pressed. He could see that her
coloring had paled and her hands were shaking.

With a weak smile, she gave the age old answer. "Of course. I'm
indestructible."

"No. You're not," he said with a lifted an eyebrow.

"If you must know," she said with venom. "I feel like my ears and
eyes are in a tunnel and my heart is pounding. I thought I left this
all behind. I nearly screamed when those men pulled guns on us."

He nodded, as though he had expected the answer. "Stay with me,
Tegan. I promise I'll get you home safe and sound. Just keep
thinking about that, all right?"

"Done, Smith," Pendrall called out. He held up two sets of
floppies. "What do you want to do with them?"

"You take a set, Pendrall and give me the other. I trust," the
Doctor said as he took a set of disks and slipped it into his
pocket. "I trust that you'll know what to do with them-"

As he spoke the door in the corner of the room slid open. A sole
humanoid entered the room, holding a gun. "We have orders to
transfer you to the transmit chamber. Move!"

"Ah, wonderful. You'll have tea there? Hmm?" the Doctor asked. He
put his hand at Tegan's back and urged her towards the door. He gave
a glance to Turlough and Al, saving a nod for the Brigadier. As he
passed Penny, he took her arm. "Come along, you two," he said
jovially.

As they entered the corridor, the Doctor back pedaled slightly. His
sudden move made the others crowd in close to him. Then suddenly, he
shot forward and grasped the gun of the nearest guard. He caused the
man to teeter, unbalanced. At the same time, Turlough pressed hard
on Tegan's back and Penny's arm to get them to move in another
direction. He reached behind himself in the next breath to grab the
Brigadier's arm. "With all due respect," he whispered
harshly. "Move, sir."

The Doctor released the gun suddenly and the guard fell back against
the wall. He twisted and grabbed Tegan's hand and Penny's arm as the
two girls ran in the other direction. After two strides, he passed
them, dragging them behind him as he sprinted around the corner.
Turlough shoved the Brigadier ahead of him as the man called
out: "Of all the cheek, boy!"

Al was the last one out of the room and Turlough, in a sudden fit of
heroism, stayed behind to usher the man along. A fleeting thought
that Pendrall reminded Turlough of his father flew through his mind,
but the gun that appeared under his nose stopped him from doing
much. The Trion officer watched as his friends ran away from him and
sighed. Al panted next to him. "I don't suppose that if we say we
surrender, it'll stop you from using that thing," Turlough commented
as he straightened his tie.

**

"Keep your heads down," the Doctor muttered as he ran. Penny
grimaced from the vice-like strength in the man's grip. She heard
running feet behind her and prayed that it was the others instead of
the guards. A sudden gunshot to the ceiling over their heads
deadened that hope. She gasped, but the sound was overwhelmed by a
quiet moan from Tegan. Glancing over at the other girl, Penny saw
one of Tegan's hands fly to her head and heard her muttering under
her breath.

"Tegan," the Doctor shouted. He dropped Penny's arm and shouted to
the Brigadier who Penny was surprised to see was right behind
them. "Take Penny, Brigadier. Run for the perimeter. You'll see my
coat in the Eastern quarter."

Another shot whizzed over their heads and Penny shot ahead of both
the Brigadier and the Doctor, her white lab coat flapping behind her
as she ran. "You don't have to tell me twice," she yelled.

The Doctor released Tegan's hand and slipped his arm around her
waist. He grabbed her other hand and somehow kept the both of them
running. His voice was harsh to drown out the sound of her
mutterings. "Run, Tegan."

"No, no. Not again," Tegan whimpered, struggling to back out of his
arm while he kept her sprinting forward. "No more guns."

"Run, Tegan," he chanted, trying to overwhelm her moans. He could
hear her struggling to take deep breaths as the door ahead of them
bounced open against the outer wall. Two steps later, he followed
the Brigadier out the door, half-dragging, half-carrying Tegan.
Another shot hit a tree near them and it was the last thing Tegan
heard or saw for a long time.