DOCTOR WHO
NO GOOD DEED
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
The planet Gallifreyan was a polished jewel in an ocean of decaying stars. For the few remaining explorers and inhabitants of an ever dying universe, it was a marvel and a tragedy to behold.
It was tragic in the sense that a planet once revered for how well it had maintained the fragile civility across the time/space continuum, was now looked upon with scowls and doubt, for its people, it's inhabitants, had fallen so far from grace, even before the planet left it's graceful home in the constellation of Kasterbourus and took up residence at the end of all things
But there was something to admire about it still. The curious ships now and then would enter the atmosphere and glide across it's burning orange skies, taking note of how the golden citadels towered across the domed capital. The pilots of these ships would wave to the villagers who existed on the wilder outskirts of the planet, bringing joy and interest to so many younglings who toiled as well as played in the fields.
Simple pleasures were what eluded the most elite of the Gallifreyan, Time Lords all, saddled with old duties that seemed to matter less and less considering where they were.
But neglecting the ways of old to embrace an all together brief paradigm would not be wise, not when all of history could be preserved for the next phase of existence.
For history to be made, even if it were but just the writing of the final chapter, history had to remain intact.
''How goes the vigil?'' asked one such Time Lord determined to ensure time was again of the universe's essence.
''Time remains in a state of temporal flux General'' the captain of the guard replied, watching the flash frozen doings on Trap Street remain flash frozen in time.
''How much longer does the time zone have before the window closes?'' The General asked.
''Difficult to say, the readings sometimes detect a rhythm from the subject's capsule, but then it takes off on an altogether different tangent...'' noted the Captain.
''No doubt a result of meddling with the recall device'' The General replied.
''She will only reach out to us when she feels there has been time enough'' responded Ohlia of the Karn sisterhood.
''Time is not some travel inn where you can check in and out. Clara Oswald knows the stakes'' The General replied.
''I know all too well what The Doctor did to raise those stakes, so does she'' said Ohlia, ''Nevertheless, she is accustomed to life living on the edge of destruction''
''Don't speak in such black and white terms'' replied The General.
''We have seen what a greyer shade can do to us'' said Ohlia.
The two were swiftly interrupted by another of the Gallifreyan guard.
''General, the prisoner has arrived at the capital''
The General and her troops made the long walk from the chrono observation lounge across the wild nectar parks of the planet where the autumn leafs shone bright with regenerative life which replenished them to summer green.
To the left and right of them, Gallifreyan couples were seizing advantage of this most romantic of moments. Many were setting off to escape through history or to explore it one last time. Each of them, man and woman, stored their most cherished memories and messages into small holo cubes, and bid farewell to their long-term partners in a special Gallifreyan commitment ceremony where they pledged eternal ownership of their loved one even as they distanced themselves from them. No vow to return, but a vow to always hold one another to their twin hearts until the day they did.
The General envied the faith her people had in these customs, for she could share none of it.
The guards made their way over to the transduction barriers, where the path was made clear for a prison capsule to materialize within the capital.
As the capsule opened, a rough, unshaven guard with a damaging scar across the upper right of his lip emerged, behind him in chains was a well dressed man draped in a black overcoat with a devilish goatee and an insincere smile.
''General, such a pleasure. Last I saw you, you were working as a man every night and day'' the man uttered.
''Well you'll find those days have shot past me'' said The General.
''Oh I don't doubt it, after all I've heard'' the prisoner continued
''Lord Master...you are aware of why you've been brought forward'' replied the General.
The Master raised an eyebrow. The General beckoned to her guards behind her, signalling them to remove his handcuffs.
''Summon the capsule'' she instructed to the transduction officers via her com-link.
A wheezing groaning sound echoed across the capital, and before the gathered time lords, the form of a long smooth golden column shimmered into view.
''My TARDIS'' The Master replied.
''In working order you'll find'' The General responded.
''You're letting me go?'' said The Master.
''More like we're sentencing you'' The General replied.
''I don't follow you'' The Master said, most confused.
''Neither you nor The Doctor were ever capable of following us in line. You always sought great amusement in eluding us and our rules'' The General continued.
''Is this what this is...I'm to amuse you? And how? By having me go after The Doctor again? I know what he did, to you in particular, but I learned my lesson from my experiences on the Death Zone, anything I do for you ultimately costs me my freedom, my time, and my patience''
''You should count yourself fortunate that Rassilon was in one of his more merciful moods when he was awoken in the Death Zone and dismissed you''
''It's ironic that he said my sins would find punishment in due course...when his biggest sin was creating everything I became''
''Everything you let yourself become'' The General remarked, ''The drums were controllable, with the right help, the right forms of meditation. Cho-Jee offered, but you did not want the help''
''I've had to come to terms with the fact I was truly lost even before the drums'' The Master revealed, ''Do you seriously think a little of your method goes with madness? Other things had happened to me before then, places that I'm too hurt to recall, kindly mentors turned to savage ones through the luck of the regenerative draw altering their personalities.''
The Master steadily approached The General, advancing towards her with fire in his blood shot eyes. The guards raised their weapons, The General instructed them to stand down'
''You think you know war?'' The Master said, ''Nothing you say or know matches the war within, or the war nearest to my hearts, so before you make your fancy speeches about how there's so little time left, that we're all borrowing from it before reality slips from our grip and we all become history to some other dimension's record books...know this, there will be no deed from me that will ever atone for my mistakes or yours. Not one. Especially no good deed. I would sooner kill myself than resort to that''
The Master, having said his piece, nudged his way past the General and headed towards his TARDIS. As it dematerialized, The General led her guard back to the chrono observation lounge where Ohlia greeted them.
''Is it done?'' Ohlia asked.
''I feel like I've condemned us rather than preserve us'' The General replied.
''The Time War taught us that even the changing face of history must be documented...for change is the very essence of our reality''
''I only hope this method yields greater results''
''The rhythm of four is no more...across many lifetimes, he will find in due course that a calm will claim his soul, and he will seek out a good man to inspire that soul''
''And in doing so, establish that good man's link with the very problem that perplexes us now'' The General revealed.
''And think of the lives that problem has touched on her own path to destiny, how many lives saved, how many souls, a good man's influence is to be thanked for how Clara Oswald has turned out...we prepare for her end as we prepare for all things to end, but every now and then, if we invite the notion, we can permit things to begin''
The General smiled.
No good deed comes without hope, witness, or reward.