“Anything you want to tell us, Doc?”

            The Doctor eyes were bleak. “John was right. Ifan’s DNA comes from Ianto Jones. But that’s only the beginning. Whoever cloned him did extensive modifications using a second set of genes. Probably a third of his DNA has been altered and there are signs that if he hadn’t run there would have been more done.”

            “Could we sort out who the other DNA belongs to?” Gwen asked.

            “In most circumstances, no. This wasn't just a matter of splicing in a new sequence, the changes are much more intrinsic than that. This time, though…” The Doctor looked at John. “You knew.”

            “Yeah. That’s why I insisted we find one of you. I wanted a second opinion.”

            Ifan rapped sharply on the table. “Could the rest of us get enlightened, please?”

            “It’s alien DNA, Ifan. Some of the most alien I’ve ever seen.” John tapped his wrist band. "And the Time Agency database could not identify it."

            Andy whistled. “So that’s why you pressed the panic button. But Ifan looks perfectly normal!”

            “Not every alien looks like a weevil, Andy.” Jack’s voice was dreadful in its evenness. “Whose DNA, Doc? And don’t tell me you don’t know. You look like the weight of the world has landed on you again.”

            “It’s Time Lord DNA, Jack.”

            “But you’re the only… No. No. No. No. No.”

            “I’m sorry, Jack.”

            “He’s dead. We burned him to dust on that beach.”

            “I know. But Ifan is carrying his DNA.” The bewildered look in the Doctor’s face made everyone in the room uneasy. “He must have planned it even while he believed he would win.”

            “You said if I hadn’t run they would have kept changing me,” Ifan said. “Until what?”

            The Doctor took a deep breath and seemed to shake whatever haunted him. “Until you could carry a Time Lord’s consciousness, Ifan. Some of those things you remember as tests were actually conditioning your mind to accept its own destruction.”

            “It couldn’t have been very good conditioning,” Kathy objected. “Ifan ran.”

            “They made a mistake. A Time Lord cannot enter an undeveloped mind. The easiest way to handle that is to activate some portion of the clone’s original personality and memory and use it to develop its new consciousness. Ifan shows three periods in which he was, to some degree, Ianto. The last one was a week before he escaped. Ianto must have found a way to plant a message in Ifan’s subconscious.” The Doctor laughed. “The plan came to pieces because the Master underestimated Ianto Jones.”