Doctor Who
at The End of Time
Chapter Three
Authors note:-
The reason I've taken so long with this chapter is two fold. First of all other things have gotten in my way, other stories, a new job and life in general.
The other thing I've said before; it's only when you start to pull the original apart do you realise just how much of it was total bullshit. I don't like swearing but when its necessary there's nothing like a good swear filled rant. RTD deserves a lot of credit, he proposed and made a new Doctor Who series both practical and possible. He also gathered a lot of good actors, writers, producers and crew together. The problem is he's about as competent a writer as Brannon Braga. Plot holes, logical fallacies, random out-of-character actions for no reason, idiot moves by the cast and situations that shouldn't have been in the first place.
Rewriting this thing is like pushing an elephant up hill. Just as soon as I think I've got good leverage the damn thing moves and I have to start all over again. Now I'm a fourth rate hack and admit it, but I'm still good enough to make this tripe better.
It was a prison, converted from an old castle. Large and imposing it stood there dominating the landscape. A memory of long forgotten wars, quietly reminding everyone of it's past keeping people out and it's present, keeping them in. Taking in a breath the Doctor winced. It was that all too familiar smell, with a hint of bitterness that was unmistakeable. It was him and he was close, all to close.
That meant there was a problem. There was no telling how far his influence had spread by now, or what plans he could put into motion at a moments notice. The idea of just marching inside and demanding answers didn't appeal to the Doctor. Usually he'd just make it up as he went along when dealing with one of The Master's more convoluted plans Here though the Master couldn't have had the time to put anything other than the most basic traps in place.
This was bad, at a pinch The Master was just as good as him, that meant that neither had the advantage, one way or the other.
Frowning the Doctor looked the building up and down, taking a guess at it's age and probable construction. Castles as old as this one would originally have had underground dungeons. Dungeons that the lord of the castle would have been careful to make sure he could escape. Rebellions and coupes were a way of life back then and private escape tunnels were an easy way out of your own prison if things made a turn for the worse.
The Master knew that just as he did and while it would have been blocked up and sealed when the place was converted into a prison it wouldn't be too hard to open it up. Especially if he already had free run of the place, with that hypnotic personality of his that wasn't going to be a problem.
Rather than waste an afternoon trying to find a secret exit that was probably built over more than a hundred years ago he Doctor decided to simply walk up to the front door and ask.
It worked better than expected. The guard at the door, with a tell tale glassy eyed stare, escorted him inside. There were at least a dozen more of the hypnotised guardsmen and women keeping the other prisoners in line. The Master might be a mad man but he wanted to keep a low profile and it was far easier to control the prison alone, rather than the both guards and inmates.
After a few turns down blind corridors his guard stopped at a heavy old door. 'This visitor asked to speak to the Master. He has been waiting for him.' The Doctor hid a wince. He didn't really expect to catch his rival unawares, but it might have been interesting.
His escort lead him down a flight of old and musty stairs and into a underground cavern. There, sat on what looked like a badly kept antique drawing room chair was the Master. Rather than looking at the Master the Doctor looked around. It wasn't hard to discover where his fellow Time Lord had gotten his chair from. The cavern had been used by the prison service to store whatever furniture the castle had acquired over the centuries. Part of the Doctor rebelled at the idea of storing antiques in a damp cellar, while the anarchist in him felt it fitted the Master's twisted mind perfectly. 'I like the decor.' He admitted.
'As do I Doctor. A tad draughty I admit, but then again I'm not staying that long.'
'Oh really?'
'Really.'
The Doctor looked at him for a long second. 'You actually think you're going to escape on my TARDIS?'
'Of course Doctor, how else? Now I can simply take it, or you could give it to me. I'd even be kind enough to give you a lift, somewhere not to far away of course. Just enough so you're not stranded here.'
'Where then, the ice temples of Venchair?' The Doctor supplied, thinking of the most inhospitable location within a hundred years.
The Master suddenly chuckled 'I had forgotten about that place, a nice idea. No actually I was thinking of throwing you into the time vortex but I'm flexible.'
'I bet you are.' the Doctor sighed. 'Look your mind tricks aren't going to work on me and I'm not going to just give you my TARDIS so what ace have you got up your sleeve? Or should I ask who?
The Master sat back. 'In honesty honesty Doctor, I haven't decided yet. Miss Jones's family, that Sarah Jane you're so fond of, Miss Noble, I might even look up you're our friend Jo Grant. The list is endless, you've touched so many people on this little planet it's hard to keep track.'
'I like to think it's because so many of them are extraordinary.' The Doctor's voice hardened. 'Like Lucy, the woman you murdered just to cheat death again.'
'Cheat death? Come now Doctor are we back to arguing that tired old point again?' The Master stood up. 'But you're right. Of course you almost always are. When I killed her, in my resurrection, I felt something. Something I can't remember feeling before.'
The Doctor took a step back. 'Could it have been guilt?' He wasn't accusing his old friend. Once upon a long time away the Master could have been called a good man. It might be possible for him to be so again.
'Perhaps a little bit.' he admitted. 'But that's what made it interesting. I've never enjoyed it Doctor, the killing. I've always felt it was inelegant solution, but as my problems became bigger my solutions became smaller. Case in point our most recent conflict. I lost control, as my horizon widened my vision narrowed. You saw that of course.'
The Doctor nodded, not knowing what to say.
'I killed billions, murdered them as simply as flicking a switch and achieved nothing with it. I got exactly what I put in. Now the effort I put into Lucy, that was something different. I felt her die, I savoured it. She taught me a valuable lesson, what use was all those death's compared to what her single sacrifice achieved.'
'You're resurrection.' The Doctor felt something lurch in his hearts. He had hoped that this new incarnation was sane, he was wrong. This version was worse, the insanity hidden behind a new layer of calm and ice.
'Exactly, I promise you Doctor every life I take will mean something. I will make it so. No more killing for pleasure, or because I can't see another option. I will make other options. So you see I won't need kill any of your friends, I will find another way.'
The Doctor didn't like the way he said that. 'Master, listen to me, like you said there are always options. You don't have to conquer, the universe is so big and full of wonder it is enough to witness it.'
'Doctor, please.'
'Just listen to me, I'm pleading with you. Just think, truly think. There is so much out there. You don't need to rule or conquer anyone, just live. We could do it together, travel existence as the last two Time Lords.'
'And what of the crimes? The injustice? The fate of the children you adore so much?'
'What are you talking about?'
The Master laughed. 'Haven't you ever wondered why I chose this way of life? Like you I rejected our fellow Time Lords. I saw the universe for what it was, chaotic and dark. We imposed our will on it once before and gave it structure, I will improve that structure Doctor. I will bend existence to my will and my will alone. There will be no more fear, crime or pain when I've finished. I plan to forge existence into a perfect layered jewel, facet after facet exquisitely crafted into one perfect whole. Without free will, yes, but look where we are because of it. All that pointless death and destruction, lesser races, barely more than pond scum, spreading their twisted ideas through creation. I will stop wars, stop it all.'
The Doctor felt twin icy hands of terror clutch his hearts. 'You can't be serious, enslaving the galaxy…'
'To bring peace.'
'That's not peace, it's destruction. you would annihilate anything that didn't fit in your perfect order? That's genocide at best, universal armageddon at worse! No man should have that power.'
'No man, but we are Time Lords Doctor, you know as well as I that the power is there. We need only reach out and take it.'
'The Time Lords existed to prevent that miss use. They knew that no Race should have that power.'
'They were impotent fools. Come now Doctor you know this, all that interference. The races you've saved and those you've killed, what makes you so different to me.'
'I knew where the line was, and I never crossed it.' The Doctor said defiantly. 'I have walked it, I might have even stretched it a time or two but I never crossed it. We don't have the right, we can lead by example yes, but never order.'
'Then that, along with our methods, is how we differ Doctor.'
'We differ a lot more ways than that.' The Doctor insisted when the door at the top of the stairs burst open and two small objects bounced down into the cavern.
For a moment the two Time Lords looked at them and at the same moment realised just what they were, an instant before they exploded in a brilliant flash of light and deafening sound.
Wilf didn't know what to do. His Donna, his little Donna, was ill and he didn't know what to do about it. Sylva was besides her self with worry. 'This is all his fault you know.'
'Oh not this again.' Wilf sighed
'It is, if he hadn't come into our lives Donna would be alright!' his daughter almost wailed. Wilf had helped to raise both her and Donna, but he still didn't understand either of them. Then again there were moments, like now, that he could. Sylvia was terrified by the thought of losing Donna and lashing out at the only person she could.
'Sylva, love, you know that's not fair. He's not here to defend himself and Donna chose to go with him.'
'She didn't know, couldn't.'
'That's the point.' Wilf took hold of her by the arms. 'Listen you've got to let go some time. You might think Donna made a mistake but your wrong, she got to see and do things you and I can't dream about. Remember what he told us, about people out there and the things she's done for them. Donna's a hero and just because she can't remember that doesn't mean she didn't do them.'
His daughter was on the verge of tears, but somehow held them back. Wilf was glad for that, if she started he wouldn't be able to stop. There was a uncomfortable cough and the pair of them jumped.
There was a small woman in a Doctors coat standing there with a chart. 'I'm sorry it interrupt. Sylvia Noble?'
'Yes, doctor. How's my daughter?'
The small woman winced. 'That's what I need to talk to you about. Can I see you in my office?' She lead them down one of the sterile halls, where one of the cleaning staff was busy moping something up.
A couple of turns later she opened a door and lead them into a small room, only just big enough for the old computer, a battered plastic desk and three cheap chairs. The doctor sat down and waved at them to do the same thing. 'Can I be honest with you, Mrs Noble. The truth is we have no idea whats wrong with your daughter.'
'How can you have no idea?' Sylvia barked, jumping to her feet. 'She's been here for almost two hours and now you tell me you you don't know anything.'
'Mrs Noble, you have to understand we've ran every medical test we can think of. Not only does the results not match her records, but most of them don't make any sense.'
Wilf put a restraining hand on his daughter's arm and gently pulled her back down. 'What do you mean?' he asked in as calm a voice he could manage.
He could see that the doctor was at her wits end and the last thing she needed was a distraught parent. 'We've ran blood tests, a few x-rays and a magnetic scan. The blood came back with impossible results, it wasn't even human. I guess it must have been corrupted some how. We've got another batch being tested right now. The x-rays came back blank, as if the machine was broken, but the CAT scan is what is causing the most trouble.' She showed them a chart, Wilf couldn't make much sense of it, but there was a lot of red spikes all over the place.
'I can't read this!' Sylvia wailed.
The doctor shrugged. 'Neither can we, either the imager is broken like the X-ray or…'
'Or what' Wilf asked, his voice cracking.
The doctor shot them both a look that spoke volumes. 'Or her mind is wired differently to yours and mine. That's not all, her pulse is strange, but still strong. Then there's her body temperature, it's dropped almost two degrees in the last hour alone.'
'I don't understand.' Sylvia asked, stunned. Neither did Wilf.
'It's a mystery to us too.' she admitted. 'We want to do some tests, see if it's not something she's contracted. If it is you might be infected too and with these malfunctions we don't know how bad it is.'
The door burst open and another woman came in. She had dark skin and long black hair. 'I'm afraid that's not possible.'
'Just who are you, what makes you think…'
The stranger pulled out a wallet. 'Dr Martha Jones, Unified Intelligence Task force. This is now a code nine situation, all medical records are to be given over and you are forbidden from discussing this. As far as you know Donna Noble is in perfect health.'
'You can't just come in here and order me around.'
'I think you find I can.' Miss Jones told the doctor. 'Mr Mott, Mrs Noble, I'm a friend of Donna's.'
'Really, how?' Sylvia asked, but Wilf already had an idea.
'We have a friend in common.' she said, reaching for the charts. 'We keep track of all his former companions, just to keep them safe. When Donna's name was entered into the Hospital computer we got a message and I was sent to find out what was going on.'
'Then it is all his fault!' Sylvia said, almost triumphantly. 'It's some thing that happened while she was out there, isn't it. He drags people across the universe and doesn't even think about what harm he does!'
Jones laughed lightly. 'He really doesn't get along well with mothers, does he. Of course he thinks about that, the TARDIS protects it's passengers. It improves our immune systems to the point where it's almost impossible to catch something.'
'And what if she has?' Sylvia pressed.
'Well no offence, but if she had it would already have killed everyone in this hospital twice over.'
'But you can't be sure about that!' Sylvia cried out.
'I understand that you're scared. I would be too, but blaming people won't help. You have to believe me when I say he would bend, break and fracture every law in time and space to help a friend.'
End Chapter Three
