Chapter Two: Recruitment

The noise in the nearby, luscious green bushes of Gordon Ore Four was by far the most irritating noise the Doctor had heard in a very long time. A very, very long time.

He had explained to both Rose and Jack, shortly after they arrived at the planet, that the noise was interfering with his telepathic out waves. Something neither humans had understood, of course. How could they? Neither of them was as advanced in age or experience, or had telepathic convictions to understand such….

Rose and Jack. Jack and Rose.

They had more in common than he had first thought.

For instance, Rose had never accidentally flinched when Jack walked into a room.

And Jack had been there for Rose, doing the domestic stuff she needed doing since she came back. Shopping, talking and such. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend time with them. No, they were his companions. No, the problem was the guilt. For leaving Jack behind and for turning Rose into…well, him really. Only with a weaker telepathic range. One so small, it was expressed through second-hand feelings of joy, warmth or sadness. For a very brief moment in time, just for a short second or two. It was unlikely Rose was even aware of it.

The two anomalies, Jack and Rose, were getting on like a house on fire, which was, often, like all accidental fires started in a home.

Dangerous.

Anyway...

The problem was not the bushes themselves. No, the Doctor quite liked plants; he had a TARDIS garden full of them. The problem was the high pitched buzzing from the insects that surrounded them. These were the insects distracting him, making it impossible for him to find the TARDIS with telepathy. Something he had been using for the past eight hundred years.

This difficulty was unlikely to have increased further, if they hadn't been trying to hide from a tribe, who found human meat a prized delicacy.

Lost and hiding in a noisy, buzzing bush was not the Doctor's idea of fun.

"Doc, where the hell did you park?" stage whispered the man, not long ago a Caption in Cardiff. Of course, that had been before the fall of his comrades, two of the members of his team. He left in the TARDIS to get away for a while, then come back only five or six seconds after he had left. In a time machine, Jack could be away for as long as he needed. Fifty or sixty years should do it.

"Jack, I didn't park, I materialised. And I have no bloody idea. Get your scanner and have a look." At that remark, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"I'll look with my eyes then, shall I?" snapped Rose, seeing the first few warriors just coming into sight from behind the mass of trees.

"Got it!" cried the Doctor as the screwdriver started to buzz, "This way!" he took off in the opposite direction to one the humanoid warriors were coming from.

The thud of the bare footed tribe, their battle cries and chief chef were getting further away, as the Doctor and his companions ran.

When they got back to the TARDIS, the Doctor immediately started the sequence to dematerialize. Rose and Jack were laughing in relief. Rose was the first to stop when she realised that the Doctor had already set the controls to a new location.

"Where're we going?" asked Rose, frowning.

"It wasn't just the bugs," answered the Doctor inconspicuously.

"What?"

"It wasn't just the bugs that made my telepathic Time Lord senses go tingly." He started to explain, though still not looking at her. "I mean, yes, they helped make things fuzzy, but it was something else. Like a blackout patch. Something doesn't want to be found."

"And you're trying to find it?" asked Jack, eyebrows raised. "How?"

"I can track a telepathic being with my mind, but whatever it is, it's making everything go spinning up there. And not in the fun-at-the-fair sort of way, but the trying-to-hold-onto-your-lunch-as-you-take-round-three-on-the-dodgems kind of way." The Doctor rambled, while typing into the computer screen. He looked up. "Oh, Rose, we haven't been on the dodgems in this body, have we? Next stop."

She didn't know if he meant her new body or his.

Rose interrupted him mid rant – he could go on and on about other fairground tenderises. "So you can't track whatever it is without feeling dizzy, but the TARDIS…"

"Yes, indee dodee!" Bellowed the Doctor.

"Off we go."


The TARDIS' door opened with a loud creek that was lost in the hustle and bustle of the streets of Balla. The noise of angry bargainers (afraid of not getting their money's worth); animals carrying heavy woven brown bags of fruit (most looking like purple pineapples). Oh, quite a hectic scene. The animals looked similar to elephants, only with three extra eyes.

The weather was hot and the ground a dusty dirt path. Stall after stall selling fish, meat and strange powerful spices. Jack smelt them immediately as he stepped out of the TARDIS, following after Rose and the Doctor.

"Where are we?" asked Rose, looking up at the two blood red suns beating down above their heads.

"Balla Fourteen." Said the Doctor, grinning proudly. "The only other country on the planet Balla."

"So, what's the other country called?" asked Rose.

"Balla Fifteen."

"Ah"

"The planet Balla is split into two equal parts, one has oil rigs, which is shipped to other parts of the Universe and the other relies on a more agricultural way of life, which means they are less well off. We happen to have landed in the agricultural one."

The Doctor didn't notice Jack leave to have a look around, as he was wrapped up in his own explanation.

"The People of Balla, both countries, are ruled by a Queen. She is not given a name upon birth. They only call her 'Princess', then later 'Queen'. The only time she is allowed out of the castle is to celebrate the anniversary of her coronation."

"Poor thing, she only comes out once a year." Rose tilted her head to on side, her eyes looking at him questionly.

"Yep." Grinned the Doctor before adding cheekily. "And if that day happens to be Halloween then I think it's your mother."

"Oi!"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Jack's voice came so loudly from the other side of the market that it caught the attention of plenty of people, Rose, the Doctor and a few other people included.

A woman lay on the floor, early thirties with dark brown hair and dark skin, like most people on the planet. Huge sobs wracked her body and she seemed to be struggling to breathe. Jack bent down and carefully helped the woman to her feet.


"My son!" she cried unabashed, "my wonderful son…" the rest of her voice was lost in sobs.

"Let go of him!" bellowed Jack "Let go right now!" he was yelling at a guard, having let go of the mother to grab the heavy built man by his embroidered shirt, a costume of red and green. Another guard turned to help his friend, after shoving a boy of no more than fifteen into a horse drawn cart and slamming an iron gate shut.

"Orders from on high, ma'am," sneered the guard, talking to the crying woman. Roughly, he held Jack by the scruff of the neck, while the other guard kept his arms trapped behind his back.

"Every man over twelve is assigned to the army, rules are rules. "

"You can't do that!" bellowed Jack, "you can't!"

"Get him in the cart!" yelled the guard to his friend, still holding Jack at bay. The two of them hauled a kicking and screaming Jack into the locked cart as they had done with the boy.

"Wait!" the Doctor grabbed hold of Rose's arm as she went to help Jack. They stood just a few feet from where the commotion was taking place. "You try and help and you'll go in there too, we need to talk to someone. There's the only way to find out what's going on. Then we rush in, sonic screwdriver blazing."

They both watched the cart go farther and farther along the dirt road, carrying Jack into the distance. They watched it long after it had disappeared and even longer after the rest of the onlookers stopped watching, going back to their daily lives.

Normal occurrence, it seemed.


The man at the "Split Road Inn" was rather helpful. Well, as much as a man, who is pissed out of his head, can be helpful.

"About a year ago now, I'd say. The war." Said man, with thin white hair, whispered to the Doctor over the noise of a loud pipe organ being played. He was leaning across the bar to speak near the Doctor's face, completely unaware of the discomfort his foul ale-smelling breath.

"Civil war? On Balla?" the Doctor frowned; he couldn't remember anything like that, not at this time.

"Just Balla fourteen, sir, the Queen ran off, to the posher country, Balla fifteen."

"Right." Nodded the Doctor, "so, you all just sorta charged at the palace and killed everyone expect the Queen, who escaped." He nodded once more, "Mind if I ask why?"

"Ah, well, she had her own private army, we didn't know about, you see," the bartender's eyes widened and he nodded slightly, like a secret had been revealed.

"No, I mean... why a civil war? Why attack the Queen?" the Doctor leaned in closer.

"Well" the man started, then stopped and frowned. "I don't know it just seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Right…" the Doctor rolled his 'r' and mirrored the man's expression form moments before.

Just then the door of the inn swung open, a flash of sunlight illuminating the dark, smoky pub. The figure walked in and the door was shut once again.

"She got home alright." Smiled Rose sadly as she came to sit at the bar with the Doctor.

"Good," he replied, before turning to the man, "and now people are being recruited for?"

"War, here on Balla Fourteen, against Balla Fifteen. Their leader's the Queen. Rumour has it that she wants her throne back."

"Ok," smiled the Doctor, "so whose on our side, fighting against the Queen?"

"Some man, who ended the war, the er... 'Civil war' you called it. Though how war can be 'civil' is beyond me; no one is nice to each other" nodded the bartender proudly, "The Great Leader."

"Great." Grinned the Doctor. "I think we'll go and see him."

The bartender snorted, turned away and muttered under his breath, "wouldn't recommend it."

"Right then, lets go," the Doctor took Rose's arm and turned to leave.

"Hang on; let me have a drink first, sample the local ale." Rose said, while attracting the bartender's attention and ordering her drink.


They stood outside the palace, staring at the white brick it was made out of. It contrasted greatly with the wooden and grey brick houses they had passed on their way. Windows as tall as a man surrounded the building. They started half way along and worked themselves up. It seemed the only reprieve from the excessive white.

"Well, guess this is it" said Rose unnecessarily.

"Really?" mocked the Doctor "what gave it away?"

They walked forward. When the doors were reached and they found themselves standing on a mat, a chiming noise filled the air and the door swung open.

"Balla Fifteen invention" explained the Doctor, "a lot of this stuff must have been left over from when the countries had an alliance, back when the Queen still ruled."

They walked into a cool air conditioned white marble waiting room with a reception desk. A woman, with short spiky black hair and long red false nails, sat behind the desk. She looked up from her computer as they walked in.

"Hello and welcome to Balla Fourteen, how can I help you?" she asked with fake politeness.

"Hi, we're here to see The Leader." Smiled the Doctor, rocking back and forth on his heels

"I'm sorry, he has no appointments scheduled for today." She raised a challenging eyebrow.

The Doctors smile dropped slightly.

"Just tell him 'the Doctor, and his assistant' are here and would like to address him in regards to the war. I am certain he will want to see us." The Doctor bluffed. When he said 'Doctor' people often assumed he was the 'Doctor' of something that appealed to them. He'd let this leader bloke invite him in, and then they'd have a bit of a chat.

He ignored Rose's glare.

The receptionist put the phone down.

"Up the stairs, third floor." She smiled at Rose, in an almost sinister way.


The room was white.

Empty.

The whole of the third floor was an empty space. Cream walls, characterless and open.

Footsteps sounded, far off, but Rose couldn't see where they were coming from. She could only guess, from the sound, that they were getting closer.

The curved, black metal staircase at the corner behind Rose and the Doctor started to shudder, as though someone was climbing down.

As black pressed trousers with shiny black shoes came into view, the Doctor suddenly had a horrible thought.

"No," he breathed "no, no."

A man gracefully jumped the last step, soles like springs at the bottom of his feet.

"Hello, Doctor," The Master smiled.

"No, you not supposed to be here, you can't…Master." The Doctor's mouth moved wordlessly once or twice, before he could croak the words. "I'm in Hell."

"Not quite." Smiled the blonde, his dark red tie quite a contrast to the colourless world around them. "But one wrong move and I'll send you there."

The Doctor suddenly saw squares at the top of the wall around the edge, a pattern he had first thought to be cream walls. Square hatches, small red lights. A laser gun, each with its own sensor.

Rose began to laugh. Spluttered breath at first then full blown out cackles. Hysterically, tears fell down her face.

The Master looked at her for the first time, his eyes wide.

Bent over gasping for breath, her sobs echoed throughout the empty room.

"Rose," The Master took a step forward, suddenly shocking Rose into action. She turned around, almost in slow motion and ran back down the stairs, out the way she came.

"No!" bellowed the Master, "Don't shoot, I said don't shoot!"

He ran after her, leaving the Doctor standing there, only his head turning to follow their progress. His mouth dropped open.

Rose ran down the stairs faster than her pursuer, despite her heels. It was a skill she had never lost, running away faster than anything; even faster when the thing behind her was as repulsive as this.

She took a chance and looked behind her, seeing him not there. A much more terrifying sight than if he had been. She stopped suddenly.

In front of her, looking at her, how dare he? How dare he look like him!

A noise between a laugh and a sob broke through her lips.

"Rose… Rose, love, I didn't." he took a step towards her, touching her arm, a grotesque look of concern upon his treacherous face.

Rose shook her head, again and again, tears falling feely. It was easier to be pulled into his arms than to fight it. To fight his strong, warm, safe hold.

Expect, he wasn't safe, was he? Thought Rose Tyler, as she took a deep breath, her nose filling with snot as she realised she couldn't breathe.

He was The Master.

(Hey, just a quick reminder: this story follows my story 'OUT OF TIME'

This story is set after series 2 of Torchwood, mid series 3 of Doctor Who and at the end of series 2 the Master died on the Valiant. But there were always two Universes…)