Chapter 6: Network
The Master came strolling into the Doctor's room, casually, as if he hadn't just disappeared for an entire day.
"Good morning!" he smiled cheerily.
"You're in a good mood," the Doctor acknowledged, somewhat suspiciously. "Where did you go yesterday?"
The Master shrugged. "I needed a break."
"From?" the Doctor demanded.
"From that junkyard you call a brain," the Master said. "It's not all fun and games trying to sort through that mess, you know."
"Oh. Well. I hadn't realized it was such a burden for you." The sarcasm in the Doctor's voice was thick.
"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for you, Doctor," the Master replied in a tone of exaggerated altruism.
"So can I gather that you're ready to help me again?" the Doctor inquired.
"When have I ever refused to lend a hand to a friend in need?" The Doctor just stared at him, making a face. "What?" the Master grinned. "I'm a very helpful person!"
"Right... So, what will you be looking for?" The Doctor knew he was missing something, but he still needed the Master's help.
He wouldn't back out.
"Connections," the Master replied uninformatively.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes at his friend's evasiveness. "But you can't do anything to counteract the neural block?"
"Not unaided, no," the Master replied honestly. "I'm afraid that's beyond even my powers, Doctor."
"Ooh, and here I thought you were the expert," the Doctor goaded him.
"I am," the Master stated confidently, unphased. "How far did you get on your own again? Maybe I should just leave you to it...?"
The Doctor gave up. "Alright, no need to be like that. Yes, I would like your help. Please and thank you."
"For you, Doctor... Anything." The Master said it sarcastically to hide the seed of truth buried in that statement.
"Your selflessness is an inspiration to us all." The Doctor's tone was equally sarcastic.
Abruptly, the Master was done with the banter. He had a lot of work to do and was eager to get started. "Ok, shut up now, I need to focus."
"Pushy," the Doctor observed.
"I said quiet." The Master's tone was anything but harsh. He knew that telling the Doctor to be quiet was a toss-up... And that was on a good day.
"Fine..." the Doctor gave in, surprisingly quickly. There was just a moment of silence, and then, "... But not because you said so."
And there it was.
"Oh?" The Master was ready to begin but couldn't resist playing along with the Doctor, wanting to see how far he would go.
"Yeah," the Doctor explained loftily. "I was done anyway."
"Course you were," the Master said condescendingly. "Now, I know this isn't your strong suit, but you're going to need to be patient. This may take a while."'
The Doctor let out a heavy sigh, like a teenager who'd been told to clean his room.
So much like another Doctor the Master had known well... Long ago.
"I'm sorry," the Master laughed. "Did you have somewhere else to be?"
"Well, I do have things to do," the Doctor said, clearly lying.
"Such as?" the Master asked amusedly. "We're stuck here with no way out. On a farm. You have cows to milk or something?"
"I'm just saying, I'm busy you know." He gestured vaguely at nothing in particular.
The Master's eyes wandered to a group of toys sitting off to the side of the room. Several had small motors attached to them and there was a half-finished propellor lying nearby.
The Doctor's handiwork was unmistakable.
"Yeah..." the Master said, staring pointedly at the toys. "I can see that."
This ruffled the Doctor enough to make him lose his train of thought, such as it had been. "Just don't take all day, that's all I'm saying."
The Master opted for the honest truth. "You know, the longer you keep talking, the longer this is going to take."
The Doctor did know that, of course, but wasn't sure how to back down at this point in the conversation. "Well, it's just that my time is valuable, is all."
"Of course it is," the Master said, making it clear he was humoring his friend.
"I just wanted to be sure you knew that," the Doctor said lamely.
The Master took a deep breath. "Well. Thank you for the reminder... This a very complex process, and it will take time regardless of whether you'd like it to or not."
"Yeah, I get that," the Doctor confirmed.
"Do you?" the Master asked.
"Yes!" the Doctor said exasperated.
"So are you done?" the Master asked, just to be sure. But also a little to rub in his victory.
"Uhm..." The Doctor had to think about it. "Yeah. Yep, I think so." One more moment, just to make sure. "Yeah."
"Alright then. Here we go..."
The Master focused all of his mental energies. He'd have to be quick if this was going to work.
He started scanning the Doctor's memories surrounding the neural block gaps, quickly collecting all the information he could find: names, dates, faces, locations... Things that didn't fit, things that were a part of the landscape.
Building a database of ways to find Clara.
Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, Strax, River Song, Missy, Ashildr, Danny Pink, Kate Stewart, Anjie and Artie Maitland... Coal Hill School, Gallifrey, Trenzalore...
"What are you doing?" The Doctor knew something was up.
That was quick...
"Looking for your friend," the Master said.
It was sort of true.
He pulled back, knowing the Doctor was seconds from shutting him down. And he wasn't done yet.
"I'm going to need to see the events leading up to the neural block, Doctor," he informed his friend.
"Ah, those memories are... Spotty," the Doctor warned him.
The Master shrugged."I would assume so, but there might be something useful there."
"Well, you're free to look," the Doctor told him.
"Thanks, I will..." the Master said, already on his way.
He checked the very end of Clara's timeline. It was incredibly fragmented... Even when Clara wasn't there the Doctor's mind had been so full of her that the events themselves were blurred.
There was a hidden street, somewhere.
Probably Earth, knowing the Doctor...
Full of fugitives.
Ashildr, now calling herself Me apparently?
Hilarious...
And they say I'm egotistical?
She had shown up as well in an earlier, fully-intact memory. It seemed the Doctor had somehow made her immortal?
Oh, Doctor... Of course you did. Will you never learn?
The actual events surrounding Clara's fate, however, were hopelessly scrambled. But the Master got the impression that something terrible had happened. And the Doctor, being the Doctor, had tried to fix it.
He had tried... Incredibly hard.
The Master couldn't quite understand what had transpired from the surviving pieces but... Whatever it was had been a horrifying and mind-blowing feat.
He'd have to ask the Doctor about that one day, once the Doctor had remembered it.
Then Gallifrey. And the neural block.
"Anything useful?" the Doctor asked dubiously.
He must have been over those days a thousand times himself.
"Very little," the Master admitted.
"Well, I did warn you." The Doctor could seldom resist a chance to say I told you so.
"Congratulations on your accurate pessimism," the Master said.
"Well, it is my mind, so..." The Doctor trailed off as he realized that was actually more insulting to himself than he had intended.
The Master chose to ignore that opportunity. He broke off the connection. "You said you want this Clara back because your memories of her are integral to who you are. How so?" This was important. He needed to understand the Doctor's motivation if he hoped to alter the course of events.
The Doctor gave an honest answer to the honest question. "There are... Things that I do, things I've learned that just... Don't make sense to me anymore." He said it with an air of sadness, his eyes wandering. "Some days I can't even remember what I'm supposed to be doing. If I listen really hard, if I go too far one way or the other, I can almost hear her, this little voice, scolding me when I've strayed off the path. But the rest of the time it's just... Silence." He shook his head. "I don't know what to do with that silence."
The Master met his friend's eyes, his face sympathetic, his pain echoing his friend's pain. He could relate. He could almost always relate to the Doctor. Everyone else in the vast Universe was just a collection of moving atoms, poised to reconstitute and be forgotten in a moment...
But the Doctor...
The Doctor's pain meant something.
Sometimes the Master perversely enjoyed it.
Sometimes all he wanted was to make it stop.
But it always, always mattered.
"Hold on, let me just check one more thing..." the Master said.
The Master connected one last time to the Doctor's mind and stepped back mentally, viewing the whole, shining galaxy of the Doctor's memories. He looked for pivotal moments. He skimmed through them, briefly, curious. Most of them he was very familiar with... After all, he'd been there himself. But there were some which he'd never seen. And they weren't all recent...
So many faces, so many adventures...
So many decisions.
The Master suddenly realized he'd missed out on far more of his best friend's life than he had ever realized...
The Plan grew a bit bigger, a bit more ambitious.
The Master overlaid the neural block map on the pivotal moments map.
"You were right, Doctor," the Master concluded. "Clara was involved in a lot of key moments in your life."
The Doctor nodded. "I can still see the gaps, so I know what I'm missing but..."
"Once you regenerate, your neural map with adjust. The gaps will close." The Master extrapolated how the map would look without any of the blocked memories. It was... Not gone entirely, but much, much smaller. Less complex. A net that was more holes than threads.
Regeneration always changed who you were, to some extent. That was just part of the deal. You adjusted, you moved one. But your core, your soul, that remained the same.
If the Doctor regenerated and this neural block took hold for good, the Master was pretty sure he'd be losing his friend forever. Because whoever walked away after that regeneration, he wouldn't be the Doctor.
Unacceptable.
"We'll fix it," the Master said, severing the connection and looking his friend in the eyes. It was a statement. A fact.
"And if we can't?" the Doctor asked, meeting his friend's gaze, his voice steady.
Somewhere in the back of the Master's mind a memory awoke: Two little boys on an English street. One of them said to the other, "Don't worry, Theta. I'll take care of you."
"We will," the Master vowed.
The Doctor eyed him, dubious, resigned.
"I will," the Master corrected himself, seeing he was in this alone. "I'll find a way."