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The Doctor and Saibra were heading along the corridors, trying to stay ahead of the Teller. Without looking at her, he asked. “Aren’t you going to ask me?”
She shot him a look that he missed. “Why did you lie? Those hypo things, you know what they are.”
The Doctor nodded as he looked up and down the corridor to make sure they were safe. “An exit strategy - of sorts. How did you know I was lying?”
“I've had a lot of faces, I find them easy to read.”
“Quite a gift.”
“A gift??” Saibra interrupted him before he could finish.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. After all, he saw it as a good thing. “Got us in here.”
She held up her gloved hand. “Mutant gene. No one can touch me. If they do - I transform. Touch me, Doctor, and you'll be looking at yourself. I am alone.”
“Why?”
“Could you trust someone if they looked back at you out of your own eyes?”
The Doctor frowned for a moment. He glanced up and down the corridor and then found a corner. He gently took Saibra’s upper arm and then guided her in that direction. Once they were situated he nodded to her glove and held up a hand. “Show me.”
Saibra was confused. Didn’t this man understand what she had just said? He could read the confusion on her features. “Please….”
The Doctor, he was trying to figure out if he could learn something more about himself. He still didn’t know why he had this face, nor if he was a good man. He hoped he would get some kind of answer by looking at himself.
Saibra sighed but removed one of her gloves and held out her hand to the Doctor. He hesitated a moment, but reached out to take her hand. He tilted his head as he considered the transformation. No matter how much he travelled or how often he saw similar things, watching the actual transformation was always an extraordinary experience.
“Whoa…”
His own face looked back at him, slightly confused. Saibra released his hand as she replied, with his voice. “That’s not what people usually say.”
The corners of his lips twitched as if he wanted to smile. “I’m not people.”
Now, he had the chance to study himself, to look at himself through his own eyes. He tilted his head again, but didn’t have words to communicate what he was seeing.
Saibra was familiar with the expression. Although usually people were less fascinated by her ability, she knew in general what he was thinking. “You want to ask me what I see, but I still see things as me. So, the real question is: what do you see?”
The Doctor stuttered for a minute. “I don’t know.”
“Look harder.”
The Doctor took her advice. He thought about it for a long time before he responded. He lifted his hand to touch the face that looked like his. “May I?”
Saibra nodded. So the Doctor lightly ran his fingers over the features that looked like his own. It was an amazing thing. But he was no closer to answering his question. He didn’t know if he was a good man or not. He lowered his hand. Suddenly, they heard the cry of the Teller again and he looked around. “We should get going. Need to stay ahead of the Teller.”
Saibra didn’t argue with him, nor did she press for what he had seen when he looked at himself. But she knew he was different from anyone she had ever encountered before. She transformed back to herself and followed him down the hall.