The Other Tyler - rewrite

Vinegar and Hannibal

Mei pulled herself up onto the table and rubbed her head, watching the Doctor and Indra place the prime minister's body back it the cupboard it fell out of. Indra then sat down a few seats along the table across from Harriet and Rose moved toward her sister with an uneasy expression.

"Are you alright?"

"My head hurts," Mei admitted, "And with what happened earlier . . . I'm scared Rose."

"Don't be," Rose pulled her older sister into a hug, "Once we're out of here, talk to the Doctor, he might know what's going on."

"Right!" the Doctor said, causing the sisters to pull apart, "What have we got? Any terminals? Anything?"

"No. The place is antique," Rose told him, "What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"

"He's too slim, they're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans," he told her, then frowned when he saw Mei cringe and rub her head once more.

"But the Slitheen are about eight feet, how do they squeeze inside?" the auburn haired girl asked, looking up at him.

"That's the device around their necks, compression field, literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a big exchange."

With a small chuckle, Rose said, "Wish I had a compression field, I could fit a size smaller."

"Excuse me, people are dead!" Harriet stated in a firm voice, "This is not the time for making jokes."

With a sheepish look, Rose apologised, "Sorry, you get used to this stuff when you're friends with him."

She indicated the Doctor who looked up from where he and his sonic screwdriver were scanning the walls with a small pout, making Mei laugh. Harriet looked between them uncomfortably.

"Well, that's a strange friendship."

"Harriet Jones, I've heard that name before, Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?" the Doctor asked, wandering over to stand by Mei, resting a hand on her knee when she rubbed her temples yet again.

"Huh! Hardly," the older lady commented.

"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones," he looked as though he was struggling to remember something and Mei put her hand over his.

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now, the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs."

"Hasn't it got like, defence codes and things?" Rose asked, causing her older sister to scowl, "Couldn't we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em?"

"You're a very violent young woman" Harriet commented.

"Oh believe me, I've told her so," Mei sighed.

"I'm serious! We could!"

"No, we couldn't," the older Tyler argued, "For one we need the release codes kept by the UN, and for another, you would end up killing a majority of England!"

"Harriet Jones," The Doctor continued to think, moving to scan the mantelpiece, "Keep talking."

"Me?" Harriet asked, he nodded so she did as told, "The British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN."

With a scoff, Rose commented, "Like that's every stopped them."

"Exactly, given our past record, and I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN." The Doctor looked deep in thought. "Is it important?"