The Golden Snow (RE-WRITING)

Lab Rats And Evil Cats

"What if the sub-frame's locked?" he asked.

"Try the installation protocol," Cassandra said, rolling her eyes as Rose glared at us.

"Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on," the Doctor nodded, doing as she'd said.

He pointed the Sonic at the interface, and a whole wall slid down, revealing a dark and dingy corridor.

"Intensive Care. Certainly looks intensive," he said, leading the way down it.

Rose shot me a glare and i felt Cassandra stick my tongue out before following after him. Great, as if things between the blonde and i weren't bad enough. Rose took the lead on the staircase, Cassandra following her and the Doctor behind us. The whole place was lined with green-doored cells, thousands of them.

Pausing, the Doctor leaned down and opened one, revealing a brain-dead man, covered in so many spots and rashes that i couldn't identify a single one. It was horrible, these people, they were all suffering. If my suspicions were correct then behind every door, was another person, all ill, all alone.

"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" Rose asked.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," The Doctor frowned, closing the door. He turned and stopped, staring at me.

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"You're crying."

"Am i?" Cassandra brought my hands up, wiping the tears from my face, "Maybe there was something in my eye, it's gone now."

Raising an eyebrow, the Doctor moved on, opening another door to reveal a woman, just as i had thought.

"What disease is that?" Rose asked.

"All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything," the Doctor explained.

"What about us? Are we safe?" Cassandra asked.

"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them," he told us, shutting the door again.

"How many patients are there?" Rose asked.

"They're not patients."

"But they're sick," Cassandra said.

"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm," the Doctor was incredibly angry, that much was obvious.

"Why don't they just die?" Cassandra asked and i frowned. That was horrible, how could she say that?

"Plague carriers. The last to go."

"It's for the greater cause," a cat said, appearing at the other end of the row.

"Novice Hame, when you took your vows, did you agree to this?" the Doctor demanded.

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help," she replied.

"What, by killing?!"

"But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."

Oh like that made it any better, i thought. It was the same as abortions, everyone said that the baby wasn't alive until it was twenty weeks or something, but the second it was conceived, it was alive, just like these clones.

"What's the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many?!"the Doctor demanded, moving closer to her with Rose following, Cassandra followed, staying a little farther away though.