Official Eighth Doctor

Double the Trouble (pt. 3)

A/N: I created the Gromslin.

Apparently there was a massive problem with this black opal mine. The owner, a horrid slimy thing the Doctor called a Gromslin was short on workers. No one wanted to work in this mine; there were low wages for extremely dangerous work, and no one was willing to risk life and limb for five credits a year.

So this Gromslin thing had taken Charley and the Doctor prisoner, saying that he was going to use them as workers. The Doctor immediately set about at getting them freed, and Charley was the first one to get out of her manacles.

But just then, the Gromslin had come back and Charley had to run. Which was what had brought her to her present situation: running for her life in a collapsing mine and stumbling across not one, but two Doctors.

She had assumed the Doctor was behind her while she was running, but she didn't know for sure, and the mines were so confusing. Maybe the Doctor had gotten left behind and she had turned full circle, and the first one that she'd found was the real one.

Or maybe he was some kind of an evil twin.

Whatever the case, she had to figure out who was who, and fast. She turned to the first one. "Doctor," she cried, "how do you travel?"

He smiled, and the second one shouted, "No, Charley, that won't work! The clone of me has all of my memories. He's essentially me, but evil!"

The first Doctor smiled wider. "Yes, I'm afraid that silly clone is quite right. But it's okay, isn't it Charley? You know which of us is real."

"Yeah," panted she, "I do."

Turning to the second one, she beckoned furiously. "Come on, we've got to get back to the TARDIS before this entire thing caves in!"

And there they were, in a race for their lives in a deserted mine, being chased by an evil clone. The entire thing seemed odd, in retrospect, but then again, what had she done with the Doctor that wasn't odd?

They got to the entrance of the mine, and the clone was now joined by the Gromslin, who oozed a trail of slime behind him as he walked next to the clone.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Cover your ears, Charley!" he shouted, as more rocks fell in the distance. He aimed the screwdriver at a particularly large stalactite hanging from the ceiling above the Gromslin and the clone.

A crack appeared in the stalactite, growing and growing, until it fell from the ceiling with a sharp crack, landing smack on top of both the Gromslin and the clone.

Charley stared. But the Doctor grabbed her arm. Leaning forward, he whispered, "Run!" She took his hand, turned to the exit, and ran out just as the mine completely caved in.