"Stop!"

The nurse, who had dropped metal trays, more than likely because she had caught sight of my gun, froze in place, her hands raised in the air. Slowly I lowered the gun, but didn't bother to put it away altogether, mostly because I already had questions about this hospital, and its lack of other patients apart from the obvious. The nurse didn't say anything, instead staying where she was and eventually lowering her arms when I lowered the gun. She seemed harmless enough, though then again I was still a little suspicious of the fact that she had more than one metal tray with food, when there were no other patients as said before.

"Sorry, I'll leave you to your work," I said bluntly as I backed to the door again, putting the gun back in the holster so to make it certain to the woman that I wasn't going to shoot her, for now. The tone of my voice hopefully telling the woman that she better not follow after me, since it was important for the story to be told, so I didn't mind having to do whatever I had to too get it done. The nurse nodded slowly, kneeling down on the floor to pick up the trays as I entered back into the room, locking the door behind me.

"That was quite some noise; you didn't get in any trouble did you?" She cocked her head to the side as I moved back to my seat, picking the old blue book up from the cushion of the chair before sitting back down again, giving her a quick shake of my head as I turned the pages back to where I had placed the bookmark beforehand. My small shake of the head seemed to be enough for her, but all I could think about now was the familiar weight of the gun and holster on my hip, a physical reminder that I would have to do anything necessary to continue to story for her, no matter the costs. Meaning that if that woman did come back… It was going to be something I had to deal with despite myself.

"Now, where were we?"


When Lorrie woke up again, she thankfully didn't seem to be in the nightmare anymore, but at the same time she wasn't in the laboratory either. In fact, as she could see from the roundels on the wall next to the bed she was apparently lying on, it was more likely that she was somewhere in the Master's TARDIS. Looking over at the other side of the room she was greeted with several bits of what looked like medical equipment, and other strange bits of machinery surrounding them as well. And since Lorrie was lying down on a bed with what looked like other bits of wires and machines that pinged connected to her, that she drew the conclusion that this had to be the TARDIS' version of an infirmary.

The Master was there to; the teen could only just contain her sarcastic excitement at that prospect. At least she would if her nerves weren't to busy playing keep away at the constant replay of her nightmarish experience, which also caused her hands to shake. It was at this time that the man finally noticed she was awake, and paced over to her bedside, his expression somehow looking indifferent, yet at the same time she got an air that he was strangely curious of her condition, only for his benefit of course, not her's. Just to be somehow childish in the face of it (because she knew well enough how much that annoyed him) she looked away from him as he spoke, not missing this time around, that there was a small tray of still steaming tea and what looked like biscuits.

Tea and biscuits seemed to be a constant thing with the Master. As if whenever she did something apparently that fitted his approval, or at times for absolutely no reason that she could really think of in that moment, he would often present her with the warm drink and food as some kind of prize. This was good enough for her sometimes, since the guards and other officials of the building they had been staying at weren't all that up to the task of feeding them both whatsoever, (though she seemed to be the only one of the two ever bothered by this action, since apparently the Master could survive on energy from a sandwich that he ate a week ago, at least that was what he said, she had a hard time believing him) but right at that moment it both annoyed and comforted her. It comforted her in the effect that she at least knew that the Master wasn't still mad at her for yelling at him, but that exact same reasoning, along with the fact that she was so damned hungry but didn't want to eat it since that would only somehow please him, it annoyed her at the same time.

"Are you aware that your heart nearly stopped altogether from fear and shock?" No, she definitely had not been aware of that, and made sure that the surprised look on her face when she turned back to him told him of that fact. Lorrie attempted to breath slower to calm herself, the pinging machine next to her having gone up an annoyingly loud notches at the news, but thankfully it climbed back down again at the continuation of her calming breaths. Was the reasoning behind the tea and biscuits? That he was somehow trying to comfort her after the fact that she had nearly horribly died from an experiment that he had punished her with? No… that didn't sound Master enough to her.

Did he just want to mess with her head so she did think just that and would forgive him for his actions? Now that sounded more like him, and Lorrie found that it was easier to believe that than the other guess. So if she did drink the damned appetizing drink, maybe he would think that she did believe that? Using that excuse, Lorrie allowed herself to take a sip of the tea, not at all surprised that it was still the same best tasting drink she's ever had. Damn him and his apparent need to take over the world, he could have been an excellent tea maker.

"I get a feeling that you might not answer this directly, but what was that machine you wired me up to? How does it… project images like that?" She had to keep reminding herself that they had just been images, just creations of the machine and nothing more. But she could still feel it at times, the tightness in her throat from how harshly the metal man from her childhood nightmares had been squeezing it, even the coldness of the blood on her face. But when Lorrie reached up to touch the cheek, of course there was nothing there, and she would scold herself, saying that she was being ridiculous, it was only a nightmare… nothing more.

"'It' was my creation, a living mind is inside that metal shell, it can drain the evils of a person, and if I so chose to, kill them with their own fears of those evils at the same time," Well, at least he explained that whatever that thing was, it was apparently some kind of living creature inside that oddly shaped metal exterior. But for the rest of the explanation, Lorrie found it a little strange and of course, mystifying at the same time. 'Drains the evils of a person' what was that supposed to mean? At least the last part of it, 'killing them with their own fears' made some kind of sense, at least it did to her now thanks to a firsthand experience.

"So you nearly killed me? Why not finish the job, or is there something else that you want to torture me with?"

"Yes to your first question, and to the second, I'm afraid I will still need you and unfortunately your never waning attitude to further my experiments and investigations of my creation," The pinging machine raised again, and Lorrie attempted to shift a bit aways form the Master, she didn't care then how much she might have to fight, and tried not to think on how that might not work, but she was not going back in that machine if she could help it. Her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking as one of them tried to search for something she could use as a weapon should he try to force her again, something to level the playing field so to speak.

"I am not going back in that machine again, you'd have to kill me first, at least it wouldn't be as inhumane as that damned machine of yours," Again he was amused, as he usually was whenever she tried to disagree with him or meekly asked a question on something she didn't fully understand. It was as if he was often swollen with pride in his own apparent higher intelligence in contrast to her asking the smallest of things. In this case he was just amused by her little refusal, especially if, as she could tell by him slightly shaking his head at her 'antics', that it was more than likely not going to happen.

"That will not be necessary; all I need to know is your recent experience with the machine. Obviously the intent of it using the fear to kill works, your physical reactions being obvious in that regard. But I need to know of the mental effects. Tell me, how do you feel now of one of those guards going in your place of the machine testing?" Her first response wanted to be that he shouldn't be testing on anyone, that if he wanted the dammed thing tested, he should do it himself. But of some reason all she found in that feelings place, was nothing at all apart from the fact that she no longer cared what happened to those guards, the guilt was gone.

"I… don't care; I don't feel guilty about it… not anymore," There was no frown on her face, because she just didn't care about it too feel sadness about that fact. But what did upset her, was much more a selfish reason than that, that she didn't care about them, but more for the fact that she felt a little less human as a result of that lack of guilt. As if there was something in her that she should feel sorry about, instead of the self pitying the fact that she couldn't feel sorry. And now there was confusion added on top of that, just wonderful.

"Hmm, no doubt the machine trying to take out what it considers at the time, evil emotions. However, guilt doesn't really sound all that evil as an emotion… could also afford to take more than just one 'evil' emotion at a time…" He started pacing, again ignoring her completely as he had been doing all of that day beforehand. Lorrie laid back in her actually comfortable medical bed despite the wires in her wrist and nose that connected to the pinging machine, and turned back to the small plate of tea and biscuits to at least silence the painful grumbling in her stomach while she assessed the new situation that had been done to her by the Master.

On one hand, she had been subjected to some of her worst fears and what she considered apparently evil facts inside of her, all because she rightfully snapped at the Master for what he had been doing and the deaths he had been causing and he reacted by punishing her with that horrifying nightmare. On that hand, it was possibly the worst thing he could have ever done. Then on the other hand, there was the fact that after that near death experience of a nightmare, the machine (in its early drafts of operation by the way, which would explain the weird reaction it had on her) had apparently took away the 'evil' emotions that gave her nightmares before. Meaning that, the guilt of other's deaths no longer really bothered her as much as it use to in the past. All she cared for now was seemingly her own survival, and there was no doubt that she knew that was something she was meant to be thinking about.

What a birthday gift that turned out to be.

"Is there a sleeping aid in this tea?" The Master actually stopped in his pacing and unlike what she had been originally expecting, he answered her.

"No, not this time,"

There was a brief period of silence before:

"Why not?" Lorrie wasn't sure if she was still going to have nightmares over the death of others, which for some reason she felt would be worse since she no longer felt guilt nor the thought that she deserved it, but she liked not to take chances sometimes, since the sleeping medicine he often put in her tea (which happened whenever it suited him and didn't bother ever telling her about it when he did) seemed to keep those things at bay.

After a small moment, the Master walked over to one of the cabinets on the wall and searched through it, finally brining out a small bag of powder and walking back to her bedside and pouring it into the cup. Lorrie feels somewhat grateful for a moment, and leans forward to drink the tea, but then stopped for a moment and looked back to him, the obvious question written in her expression. There was a part of her that eventually started to doubt that he would poison her, since it had been six months into their stay in China and she was still alive so there had to be something she was doing right. But all the same, she liked to make sure when it came to this sort of thing (when she was aware of it in any case).

"It's not poison, powder is only easier to be infused into the tea," He seemed a small bit exasperated, but all the same hid the reality of it very well. Which wasn't unusual, she always only seemed to get the smallest catches (whenever she did get the chance to see it, which was not very often) of his emotions at a situation, unless of course he was annoyed or felt superior by something since he was all up for showing those emotions. Lorrie decided however that was enough for her, and drank the rest of the tea before lying back down in her bed. It took a few moments before it would take effect, so she decided, just mainly out of nowhere, to try again with the poem she remembered from when they first arrived in China (at least she didn't know that at the time). However, it was still a little vague in her mind, but she still tried to recite what she knew to herself, leaving a small pause after every verse to try and remember what came next, but of course she still got caught on that fourth line.

"Because I could not stop for death,

He kindly stopped for me,

The carriage held but just ourselves…"

"And Immortality," The Master eventually broke the silence between them and finished, Lorrie finally drifted back to a nightmare-less sleep.


When she woke up on what was apparently the next day, she was alone and oddly enough, covered in a blanket that she hadn't had the day before. Lorrie looked over at a small bedside table that was now next to her temporary bed, where a small tray of fried eggs and a note were waiting for her. Rubbing at her still sleep filled eyes, she reached over the bed and gently picked up the note, noting the fancy and impressive handwriting that seemed to glide across the page. And of course the fried eggs tasted great, just like the tea. How was it he could be so great at all these things, cooking, writing and even science, but all he apparently wanted was to take over the world of all things?

The fact that he might not be human often popped into her head, what with the whole bigger on the inside 'TARDIS' that apparently transported across from one side of the globe to another, and it was apparently meant to be broken. Then there was the way he acted, the total effect that he cared nothing for other lives, (but on the same note she no longer did as well, but that was because of him), the cold and calculating ways he did managed to kill others was not only intelligent in a sick way, but over complicated when it came to how he would go about it. But all the same, still with all this evidence she was finding it hard to believe, even though she knew (what with firsthand experience with the Nestene and Autons) that aliens had to exist.

All the same, Lorrie knew that human or not, the Master was dangerous and she shouldn't have snapped at him like she did the day before, not because she had been wrong whatsoever about the subject, but more that despite her own knowledge that she shouldn't have done that. Lorrie looked back to the small note that she held carefully in her hands, reading over the neat handwriting with a small mite of confusion with what it was apparently telling her. After reading it once more and eating the last of her fried eggs, Lorrie took the note with her as she got out of the bed and wandered out of the infirmary, trying to find her way back to her room.

It was a good fifteen minutes before she did find her room, and was had to convince herself that the hallways of the TARDIS hadn't moved in a way to lead her back to her room, because that just sounded crazier than everything else that she had experienced before to her. Nevertheless Lorrie opened her bedroom door and went inside, the room no longer being bare of her belongings, since at some point during half the year of living in China, the bag she had shoved everything into, finally ripped at the bottom. Really it could be a sign of her old life and self finally caving in and accepting the new world she now had to survive in.

The bedside table was stacked with the books that had been beforehand unfortunately squished at the bottom of the now ripped old bag, so the spines of the books were now frayed from the action. The books were a sense of comfort to the teen, since she would often, when the Master didn't want or really needed her in the laboratory of the Chinese building, (mostly just to make his story to Chinese officials more efficient since there was now someone else to 'back it up'), stay in the room for a few days at a time, just reading the books. Because it was either that or lying on the bed, staring silently at the still bleach white ceiling above her bed.

Her room had been changed in the strangest ways, the bedside table and a closet being added once when she left the room and seemingly returned to a completely different one. Complaining about that was on the end of her list, since it was nice to be able to hang her clothes somewhere instead of all over the floor. Lorrie opened her closet and looked over the clothes inside, deciding that all the clothes in there really didn't fit with what the Master apparently wanted her to wear, despite whatever her opinion might say to the contrary. Looking over the note once more, the teen had to resist the urge to really roll her eyes at the 'mystery' he seemed to still be incorporating with his wording.

Will be landing in Switzerland at 900 hours

Wear something appropriate

Master.

"Appropriate sucks," Lorrie mutters, but all the same places the note back on her bedside table before looking back at the closet, before walking out of the room again. The teen vaguely remembered, during the time before they had landed in China and she was helping him to 'fix' the TARDIS, him mentioning something along the lines of a TARDIS Wardrobe, and guessed that what he figured was appropriate, would be somewhere in there even though there might not be female clothes in there. Again there was the feeling of the hallways moving around, but this time tried to both ignore it, but at the same time let herself wander in the hopes that she would somehow end up there by this strange feeling.

The might-be twisting hallway stopped at a dead end of a door, which looked very different from the others as this one was a doubled door seemingly made of dark varnished wood, which shined in the almost clinical light of the rest of the TARDIS. When she opened the door, she was not surprised to see the largeness of the room that seemingly went on forever. What she was a little surprised to see however, was the whole sections that were seemingly dedicated to female clothing. There were shirts, dresses, pants and skirts of all sorts of different colors, shapes and definitely sizes.

Already this seemed to be one of Lorrie's favorite rooms.

Whether there were other females that had lived in this TARDIS before her or not, Lorrie decided that that really wasn't that her business and instead went ahead and started looking through the clothing for something to wear.


"Could we skip ahead to the end of the year? Since it seems that there is more going on there?"

I look up at her, but she seemed very adamant to get to the better action moments, I smiled a little despite myself and gave in.

"Alright, alright, here's the skip ahead of time,"


The trip to the TARDIS' wardrobe had settled her with quite a few new outfits that she decided to keep on hand. One of the outfits that she had adored the most was the light blue short dress and cream winter coat. In fact it was the very first outfits that she wore again when they finally left Switzerland at the end of the last six months of testing and apparently finally perfecting the machine, 111 convicts apparently having been 'fixed' by this machine that she had called the killer Keller machine, after his chosen disguise name of both himself and Lorrie. This was a name that the Master himself apparently liked and gave to the machine when she first referred to it.

Lorrie looked back in the mirror that had been for some reason placed in her room, trying to make herself smile at the reflection without it looking completely weird or wrong. Her emotions had seemingly eroded over the months since she had been strapped up to that damned machine that was now being kept somewhere in the TARDIS for the short trip from Switzerland to England. There was no guilt, no shame, she felt very empty, but at the same time as she remembered from when she first met the Master, that was exactly what she had wanted, to stop feeling, to lock it all up then throw it away. Now that she had, it was all empty inside her, nothing but the fake smile and relief of emptiness that she had left to feel.

She didn't care even in the smallest bit for the fact of the other occupant, apart from that damned machine, that had joined her in the very captive stay in the Master's TARDIS before they even went to Switzerland. This was a rather attractive Chinese woman who was a Captain in the service of the security building they were in, her name being Chin Lee. When Lorrie first met the Captain, she had been worried for her well being, hoping that she wasn't going to be too roped up I this, or killed. But now, well it was easy to guess what she felt now, since her emotional standards had been emptied six months ago.

After a little while Lorrie moved away from the mirror and sat back on her bed, convinced that no matter she did the smile was still going to look fake to everyone who saw it. England was somewhere she was a little worried to return to, since if her six month stay and watching the soldiers in their day to day actions in the over security filled building had told her anything, it was that the military was always watching, no matter what country. Returning to England, felt like returning to UNIT's all Seeing Eye, just waiting to catch her.

Considering that when the Master was caught, Lorrie knew well enough that she was also going to be judged in the same regard as him in a court (whether or not they let a court actually see them), as a terrorist or mass murderer. So it seemed more logical to her that she stick with the Master until she either A, found a way out on her own without UNIT, or B, possibly died in an isolated incident or was killed by the Master while still being at least unknown to the public as anything other than a normal orphaned teenager who had done nothing of note her whole life. No one needed to know the part she had played; they didn't even need to know that she existed in relation to all of this.

And the only way she could be sure of that was by sticking by the Master. So really it was more like she was shooting herself in her own foot while trying to escape. Lorrie ultimately stood from her bed after those thoughts of self preservation, and again left the room as she allowed herself to seemingly walk endlessly through the hallways of the TARDIS as they eventually led her to the console room. As she entered, the Master only looked up once from the controls on the console to acknowledge her existence before focusing his attentions back on 'piloting' the TARDIS. Chin Lee was standing on the other side of the room, carrying the same glassy eyed and unaware but focused look that she remembered from his hypnotized victims.

"We are now back on England soil Miss Sanford, and will be setting the Keller Machine into its new home within the next few days, then my plan will finally be able to go into full effect, with the added help of Captain Chin Lee of course," That reminded her of the Captain's presence again, and she exactly remembered the part that Chin Lee was going to play. Apparently there was something akin to a peace conference taking place at the same time that the Keller Machine was being set up and Captain Chin Lee was going to do something there, and there was also something about a British nuclear gas warhead or missile that was also having a relation to that and… really Lorrie hadn't been paying all that much attention when the Master was talking about it, apart from what he had wanted her to do.

Of course though he was vague in that, she was used to that part of him by this point, so she just stuck with the whole 'follow what he said until she could possibly get away' plan that she had for herself. So when the three of them left the TARDIS and for some reason both she and Chin Lee were made to climb into a fancy black limo that was waiting for them outside, she didn't question it, since it didn't really involve her, and to be honest she didn't actually want to know all that much on where it had come from. The Master was apparently going to arrive to their destination, Stagmoor Prison to be exact, in his own TARDIS while she and Chin Lee, in order to keep with the facade, went in the limo and said that he would arrive shortly after them.

The few days that were spent in the prison with the Master (or as he called himself Professor Keller), setting up that damned machine was a hell. For one reason, it was an all male prison, and not one of the prisoners was the slightest bit shy of telling her how much of a man they were. Lorrie liked to think on the fact that none of them, not the guards or prisoners alike, were aware that she was only seventeen years old, and that if they did know, they would leave her be. But then again that might have been her trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But aside from the awkward and at times terribly untactful flirting that she certainly wasn't the slightest bit fond of (and they would be punished by the guards if they were going too far so she wasn't all that worried about them to be concerned for her safety), it really was something she felt she could just live through all the same, if only wishing that the days spent there would go faster in order to leave the male populated sinkhole and finally move on to the next part of the plan. But of course, as it all ended out that was the one place where she spent most of her time in while the Master's plan just went down the drain. And to make the experience that much better, the Doctor and UNIT eventually got involved, quicker than possibly the Master expected, but they still got involved.

Joy.


It started when they returned to the prison for a second time, The Master once again donning the facade of Professor Keller, and Lorrie having to play the part of his assistant/niece of Amanda Keller who was apparently meant to look twenty-one. Captain Chin Lee had been at this time discovered by UNIT and was out of harm's way, though really Lorrie would be lying if she said she had cared in the slightest(again, all guilt and emotion for others being supped form her mind) since meeting the woman. There was also an apparently strange matter of the fact that the Keller machine had been killing innocent people left and right with their own fears, and was now out of control to the point that the Master, as Emil Keller, was sent in to control it again and put it to rights.

For some reason when they finally got to the prison again, the first thing the Master wanted to do instead of seeing to the wayward machine, was to meet the man that was next up for processing, a man named Mailer or something along that lines. When first walking into the man's cell it didn't take more than a few seconds for her to immediately dislike him and his scowl he sent every which way. He certainly didn't look like a criminal to her, but then again most people don't look the part their assigned in life in her opinion, everyone had to be untrustworthy somehow, no matter how open faced.

Both she and the Master didn't take long in taking the prison over, Mailer helping them at the suggestion of being free. The reason the riots and take over didn't take long would possibly have to do with the noxious gas that the master let through what seemed like self made smell bombs. Lorrie assisted in the takeover, since that was apparently being asked of her in that moment, though was finding it hard to see through the gas mask that the Master had, at last minute, stuffed over her nose and mouth. All the same though the place was quickly taken over before the Scientific Adviser of UNIT, which turned out to be the Doctor, was due to arrive.

Apparently, just to add to the little reunion, Miss Grant was also somewhere in the prison, as disclosed to her when Mailer informed both her and the Master that the UNIT assistant and a medical doctor of the prison were locked in the lowest cell together. Lorrie was then apparently meant to wait with the Master in the prison Warden's office until the Doctor arrived, no doubt for dramatic effect, but then again how could she blame him for wanting to add a little of that to his plan, it was his plan after all. In any case the Doctor eventually arrived at the prison now controlled by the Master. The Doctor being hijacked by Mailer after not being on the land of the prison for more than a few seconds, and then forced the rest of the way to the Warden's office, where she and the Master were waiting.

"Yes, I thought as much," Was apparently the greeting that the Master was to receive after one year of absence from England and the not-Doctor (who Lorrie was annoyed to see it still was, as she had been stupidly hoping for some reason in her now emotionally diminished mind that the real Doctor had somehow taken his title back). The not-Doctor then took a seat, apparently still not having noticed, or perhaps purposely ignoring, Lorrie's presence despite the fact that she was sitting right across from him and attempting to stare him in the eye, if only he would return the gesture to make it a full attempt. The Master and not-Doctor chatted for a little while, if anything it seemed more like friendly banter than an actual discussion on the current situation of an over taken prison and the whereabouts of Miss Grant, well at least it was until the Master pulled out a gun, effectively killing whatever mood that was close to good that had been going on at the time.

"You'll do nothing, or else I'll put a bullet through both your hearts,"

Both Hearts? Lorrie ignored the rest of the conversation for a while as she mulled over the obviously intention plural word, after all, she had lived with the dangerous man for a year now, and he certainly hadn't ever flubbed anything he had said to her or anyone else before. It was a nagging coincidence at the back of her mind, stretching back what now had to be nine years. To the time that she was held close to the Doctor, the real Doctor, when he was running to save not just their lives but the day as well. She remembered her head being held tightly against his chest, where she knew, despite how crazy it had been when thinking back on it, that she had heard two heartbeats.

It was a coincidence; it had to be… this man couldn't be him, somehow the Master had to be mistaken in him having two hearts, and he had to be mistaken… otherwise...

The Master and the Doctor continued on their apparently new found witty banter of the circumstances while she was left to her thoughts, though of course their continuing conversation eventually drew her interest as it went on.

"You want to be careful of that Machine of yours you know? One day it might end up killing you,"

"My dear Doctor, it won't harm me, I created it. But recently I must admit it has developed a mind of its own, hence my need for your assistance, while I attended to some business of my own,"

"What business would that be?"

"I intend to steal UNIT's nuclear missile the Thunderbolt and then release it on the peace conference of course, the world will be shredded apart by war, and I will step out from the ashes to claim it for myself, instant control."

"Well, that seems a little too simple and effective a plan to be yours. Until of course the Keller Machine is brought into the equation, so how does it fit into this plan?"

"Any that were left to oppose me, were meant to meet with the Machine as per my control,"

"How the blazes did you even get that thing under your control? It's just a lump of cells you cobbled up yourself into a somewhat living being, both telepathic and basic, so there is no doubt it couldn't have any want to control the Earth,"

"Well of course not Doctor, but it does need that which all life springs and depends on,"

"Oh?"

"Sustenance. This creature just happens to have a rather insatiable appetite on the minds of humanoids, more directionally, that of the evil brainwaves if you don't mind my trivializing. But I managed, after a few experiments of course, to somewhat curtail that hunger for my purposes. At least, for the most part until recently of course,"

"And those few experiments, people you used, which if I remember correctly, were added up to at least over a hundred? What happened to the ones that didn't succeed to the fullest extent of what was meant to take place?"

The Master smiled thinly and for the first time in their conversation turned to Lorrie, who had been listening silently while this was all going on.

"Why don't you look over Miss Sanford yourself if that is your query?"

Lorrie looked up at the mention of her name, and was surprised to see that the attention was now completely on her, and it made her completely uncomfortable. The Doctor was staring right at her, particularly, and at last, in her eyes, but of course now that she wasn't prepared for it, it bothered her. She remembered the last time he had asked her to look him in the eyes, and how much she hated that experience because of all the before locked away emotion that she had felt in that one moment. But of course, now when she did the same thing, she felt only the smallest whisper of that. But a whisper was still enough to hassle her.

Standing slowly from his chair, the Doctor moved to her side, until he was eventually kneeling to her level by her chair, all the while not breaking eye contact once as he delved into the pockets of his velvet smoking jacket, and pulled out a small torch. This whole instance was now really starting to bother her and she wanted nothing more than to get away from him, the whispers of locked away and for the longest time thought destroyed emotions that she did not want to feel were getting louder with every motion he seemed to make, even the smallest of gestures. However, no matter how creased in worry his expression seemed to be, the Doctor nevertheless kept his voice calm as he spoke softly to her and after a second hesitation, she eventually answered his questions.

"Lorraine Sanford, it certainly has been a while hasn't it my dear? How old are you now?"

"Si-seventeen," She always had to remind herself how old she was now, but then again forgetting her birthday that year seemed like too good an opportunity whenever she managed to think about it.

"Mhmm and can you tell me where you and the Master have been for the past year?" Lorrie looked quickly to the Master, who had his common blank expression, so she decided to answer truthfully.

"We were in China for the first six months while he created the Keller Machine and found Captain Chin Lee, and then we went to Switzerland for the rest of the year to get the other test subjects and the opportunity to come back to England."

Now was when he finally used the flashlight, shining it in her face and especially in her eyes as his questions continued, unaware of the growing distress of Lorrie as the light began to quickly bother her.

"The Master says the machine has changed you in some way, do you happen to know how?"

"I can't… feel…" She seemed hesitant at first, so naturally the Doctor prompted her further.

"What is it you can't feel?"

Her reply was unfeeling of any emotion as she spoke. The unintended coldness of it, the blank factual state of which she listed the emotions, he could do nothing more than believe her.

"Guilt, worry, sympathy, joy and pain, I no longer feel these things for other people. They're nothing to me; whatever happens to them doesn't concern me anymore,"

The Master spoke up from his position in the room.

"And what does concern you in that regard Miss Sanford?"

"Myself, self-preservation,"

The Doctor however, seemed still a little unconvinced if not completely disturbed the rest of the time.

"But feeling all those emotions, those impulses for others isn't evil, why would the machine feed on positive impulses?"

"The machine didn't know that at the time unfortunately, all it did know then was how to feed on impulses or brainwaves of humanoids, it took some directing to understand which were meant to be evil and which weren't." The Master murmured from his seat as the not-Doctor still didn't leave Lorrie's side, and instead only looked more concerned as he moved to look closer into her eyes, at least that was what Lorrie had thought he was doing, until his hand came out of nowhere and touched her temple. At first it just creeped her out and she was about to tell him to get off her, when suddenly she got the strangest feeling in her mind, in the only way she could describe as the feeling of someone else being in there and peering around.

Lorrie's eyes eventually flickered closed as the feeling continued, which really didn't help anything, in fact it possibly made the feeling worse since now she could practically see his influence mulling through her head, apparently looking over things in search of whatever it was he was looking for. It took a little struggling but eventually she started to mentally catch up with him, and was ultimately frightened to see that he was now sifting through her memories, not looking at any of them ultimately, which didn't really start to terrify her until he was looking at the last memory she wanted to revisit, much less have someone else see it.

It was the incident of the Keller machine, her incident.

"Get off me!"

Her hands grabbed at the not-Doctor, struggling to rip the hands off of her temples, the presence in her mind. Finally he let go of herm and she took the moment and ran with it, and that was meant literally as she attempted to run out of the room altogether. The not-Doctor also apparently took this moment to cause some noise of his own, knocking down the desk in the middle of the room to confuse the Master before running out the door, somehow running ahead of Lorrie who was already attempting to get outside. The armed prisoners immediately started not only shooting at the not-Doctor, but strangely enough at Lorrie as well, and Lorrie, who was already confused and upset at reliving a nightmare in her mind, followed the not-Doctor as he managed to find safety.

Nonetheless the armed prisoners never seemed to stop coming, so eventually they both had to take refuge in the last place either of them wanted to be, but at least it was somewhat safer than getting shot…possibly.

They both ran for the room containing the Keller Machine, where the Master was apparently waiting.

"I knew you would both come here," He said smugly as he walked from the side wall where neither of them had seen him, Mailer following in the room not a second later, a very dangerous looking gun in his hands. The Master then took the gun from Mailer, and had the lackey prisoner handcuff the not-Doctor to the Machine's chair, apparently no longer needing to wire him up to said Machine. Apparently the Master was planning on having this not-Doctor control the Machine, and in order to do that he needed to know just how long the not-Doctor could hold out against it. There was a little device that the Master had used to control Chin Lee and at the same time use the Keller Machine through her somehow to kill others, and now for some reason he was pinning it to the not-Doctor's neck and apparently turning it against the man so that his experience would be worse, which didn't really make sense to Lorrie since he obviously wanted the not-Doctor alive, doing that would obviously kill him.

But then again, why should she care?

"Oh I really would love to stay around and watch your nightmares Doctor-"

"Then why don't you?" There was a brief look on the Master's face, one that almost be put down to the effect of him really not wanting to stay here when the machine started up. It only seemed that way of course, he hid it still very well, if that was what he was thinking, Lorrie still had no idea. The teen would be obviously and absolutely lying if she had said that she would voluntarily stay in the room while that Machine was switched back on. In fact that was the last thing she ever wanted, and was completely ready to run out of the room as soon as she could. Again, self-preservation, it didn't even occur to her anymore the danger that the not-Doctor was in.

"I have other business as you know, will you excuse me. Come along Miss Sanford," Not sparing the now obviously doomed man another glance, Lorrie hurried out of the room behind the Master, flinching slightly as the all the lights of the room were shut off before she exited. The Master, maybe to be extra effective, placed a wooden beam after she exited, the teen already beginning to hear the horribly familiar blaring of the machine, which was quickly followed by the not-Doctor's voice, shouting out in terror, no doubt trying to fight off the imaginary fears that were now attacking him.

However all apparently was not going exactly to the Master's plan in that moment, since the blaring of the machine was now starting to affect not only the armed prisoners, but Lorrie and strangely enough, the Master somewhat as well. The teen grabbed at her head, strands of brown hair shooting out from the gaps of her tightening fists around her ears as she tried in vain to block out the horrible cacophony that the Machine was creating. It was all too familiar, and felt all too sudden and soon to Lorrie to ever hear that noise again, especially what with the Doctor mentally pulling the memory of her experience with the Keller machine up in front of her very eyes.

Perhaps that was a little bit of the reason why she shouldn't have been so surprised to see the metal man again.

"I can't be able to see you again," She muttered crazily under her breath, glad that the other prisoners around her were too busy having their own mental problems to see her reactions, "I don't feel guilt anymore-"

"That doesn't mean that you're not still afraid of me," It donned Farrell's voice for this occasion apparently, his face replacing the blank metal slate of eyes and square boxed mouth. Though everything else she both subconsciously and otherwise remembered of the metal monster, the handles on the sides of its head and the strange almost-human-but-not-quite feeling about it remaining just the same. The figment of her fears and apparently still lingering 'evil' impulses looked over to the blocked door that the not-Doctor was being tortured behind, its large metal head then cocking back at her as it continued to talk.

"I think he might need your assistance," It hummed, neither her nor the figment of her childhood nightmares noticing the Master walking past and opening the door himself until the wooden beam crashed on the floor. There was a moment's hesitation as she looked back to the not really there metal man, the question not really needing to be said, since she figured that it would know that already, if it had a thinking capacity, or a even real brain. Why should she do anything? Wasn't as if she cared and that this man, and he obviously wasn't the Doctor so why bother?

"Self preservation Lorraine Sanford, if he is the Doctor, which we both know you are starting to believe, it will do you no good if he dies when you could have helped him."

Of course, how obvious.

Lorrie moved quickly after the Master as he went back into the darkened room, the noise growing louder at their entrance as she struggled to just reach up and switch the lights back on. The Master was busy at the main console that was apparently meant to control the Keller Machine but quickly moved to the unconscious form of the Doctor and pulled a stethoscope from what assuredly could not have been the proper sized pockets of his jacket. He listened to the Doctor's heartbeat for a moment before strangely enough he starting to rub on one side of the other man's chest.

For a moment Lorrie wondered if she should leave them to be alone…

At least until the Master gestured for her to stand next to him before quickly shoving the stethoscope in her hands, and made the strangest request of her.

"Check his heartbeats, quickly, I need to know if the other has restarted or not,"

"What?"

"Just do as I say!"

Deciding it best not to argue, Lorrie quickly shoved the ear buds into her ears and placed the metal disk of the stethoscope on one side of the Doctor's chest, hearing the familiar if not erratic heartbeat that everyone was meant to have. After a few moments the Master then moved his hands away from the other side of the man's chest (which she was a little appreciative of considering it was making her feel very awkward) so she could apparently listen there. Lorrie placed the metal disk on the other side, expecting to hear the usual lack of anything since there heart was supposed to be on the other side.

Except instead of that, she heard another heartbeat. It was faint and not slightly as erratic as the other, but it was definitely there. Lorrie took the stethoscope's ear buds out of her ears, and gently leaned her head on his chest, trying to ignore the tickling of the frills in her face as she heard the same thing she had always thought she would never hear again after that one fateful day nine years ago.

A double heartbeat.

"It can't be…"

But it was, and now she had to accept what was now fact.

This man was the Doctor.


After helping Mailer to take the Doctor to his new cell with Miss Grant, Lorrie was ordered by the Master to stay with them, for what reason the teen wasn't sure but all the same she was away from that Keller Machine, therefore it couldn't be all that bad. At Miss Grant's prompting the teen eventually helped her to get the unconscious Doctor onto a bed, then retired to sit on the chair by the bed's side while Miss Grant sat on the other. Some time (which included Miss Grant going off at one of the guards and a medical doctor's visit for the Doctor) later, the Doctor eventually started to stir.

"Doctor!" Lorrie jumped, and watched as Miss Grant started saying the Doctor's name, and trying to get him to eat some kind of pill, at least until he stopped her.

"Wrong metabolism Jo, it would probably kill me,"

Lorrie watched as the older woman placed the little pill back in the bottle, and placed it on the table. Keeping that in mind, the teen turned back to the Doctor as he started going back to sleep. In a moment of action in which Lorrie wasn't really sure what she was doing, she leaned forward on his bed just as he started to fall back into sleep, and started talking to him, sounding more rushed and unsure than she really felt. He looked at her strangely at her question, but all the same the teen didn't really care, and instead just wanted the answer she was looking for.

"Wait, you're the Doctor right, you really are the Doctor?"

"Of course I am my dear, who else were you expecting?"

The teen leaned back and sat back in her seat as he drifted off to sleep, nodding slightly as she finally accepted that this was the man she had been waiting for and yet at the same time, had been pushing away and hating (at least at the time that she cared) for any action of his that accidentally effected her. Now that Lorrie knew and accepted the truth, she knew that usually she would probably feel extremely sorry and be apologizing profusely for her behavior, but all the same there was nothing there now where she kept those feelings, just an empty hole of what should be humanity.

A short time after the Doctor had finally drifted off to sleep; Lorrie silently got out of her seat and moved over to the cell door, knocking harshly on the rough metal. The guarding prisoner looked at her a little suspicious, but Lorrie made it very sure that she was allowed to leave the cell and wanted to go and see the Master. For some reason of course he didn't believe her and went off to check with Mailer or whomever. Meaning that for a little while longer she was supposed to be sticking around with the other occupants of the cell. Lorrie looked back over at Miss Grant for the first time in a few minutes to see what they were doing.

Miss Grant was lying her head on the Doctor's velvet fabric covered shoulder and the slight shaking of the older woman's shoulders telling her that Miss Grant might be crying. Lorrie looked around the rest of the room after that as she apparently had the decency to be or look somewhat awkward by the situation that was going on not that far away from her. Her eyes again caught the small pill bottle that was on the table. Moving slowly so as to not gain their attention, Lorrie moved to the table and slipped the little bottle into her jacket pocket.

The guarding prisoner returned and allowed her to leave, the both f them not saying anything of the sight of Miss Grant and the unconscious Doctor. Moving quickly through the hallways and staircases of the, at this time, seemingly never ending prison to the Warden's main office where she knew the Master was going to be, because she didn't actually need to live with him for a year to know that the Master liked to be in places of authority, he just always seemed to have that air about him. After some time of walking though the prison she finally got to the office, where the prisoner finally left her on her own. Lorrie entered the office alone, and was a little surprised to see the sight that she did.

"Master?" She whispered to the figure that possibly couldn't be the Master at the desk of the office, but all the same that hairline, beard and suit hadn't belonged to anyone else she knew at this point. The reason Lorrie felt that this person couldn't possibly be the Master however, was more to the fact that he was looking… weaker than she had ever seen him before. One hand covered his face from her sight, the fingertips rubbing consistently at his temple while on the reverse end he was muttering inconsistently under his breath. His other hand however was being parallel with its opposite, tapping a four timed beat on the glossy wood of the desk rather harshly.

It was hard to hear what he was saying, since the taping of his hand was louder than his quieted mumbles. Every once in a while though she did hear the smallest of snippets that would rise above the rhythm, and even then they weren't words that livened her spirits any at the Master's current condition. In fact it made her feel just that much worse since at this moment, it became obvious to the teen that there was something seriously wrong with this already dangerous man that she was stuck with and had been stuck with for more than a year.

"Never ending… in my head… the drums…"

"Master?" Lorrie took a chance to move closer, despite her mind screaming at her to turn and run with everything in her body because now it was certain that this man who had been terrorizing her on a mental level was crazy himself. But all the same for whatever reason she moved closer and whispered his pseudonym of a name to get his attention and perhaps stop him in his crazed mutterings that were really starting to scare her somewhat and hopefully stop the damned drumming rhythm he was doing with his hand because it was making her feel worse and she wanted that to stop more than anything. Lorrie was now standing in front of the desk, one hand slowly creeping forward and stopping the tapping hand.

His other hand immediately landed on hers, causing Lorrie to jump and try and move away, but of course her hand was trapped now in his very painfully tight grip. Still that didn't mean she didn't try to get away, struggling roughly against the hand but found that she couldn't get away. He didn't look up at her for a little while, but when he did she could see the insanity in his eyes that she had never, for some reason, seen before this point. I was only for a few moments, long enough for her heart to race to infinity before he finally let go and seemed to assemble himself back to some form of normalcy.

There was no apology, not that Lorrie was expecting it, and instead he informed her that they were going to be leaving the prison again very soon and to be ready. Lorrie just went with it and nodded in agreement as her own reasoning began to answer for his actions instead, just to give the unusual situation a much needed answer. And the first reasonable answer that came to her mind in the moment was that the Keller Machine had finally affected him like it had so many others, meaning that now the damned machine was going crazy and attacking left right and center.

Lorrie found it easier to just make the excuses, since it made moving on just as easy.


And move on she did, trying to not struggle and just let the events happened as they passed to make this pass just that much faster. And thankfully it all moved quicker than she had ever thought it could when she tried not to think of what was going on around her. Before Lorrie knew it both her and the Master was standing behind one of the most powerful chemical weapon missiles in Great Britain, threatening to fire it directly at the World Peace Conference, effectively starting a World War. And while the teen would like to ask why the Master didn't just skip the whole evil mind machine business (the dreadful thing thankfully being left behind back at the prison to probably deal with later) and skip directly to taking the missile by force, nevertheless Lorrie held her tongue since it would make the Doctor coming in and stopping the Master in the nick of time that much faster.

Eventually after a little bit of a wait, in which the missiles were armed and now aimed and ready to fire at the Conference. The Doctor finally turned up to the meeting that the Master had apparently foreseen and arranged. There were a few moments of the usual banter she steadily had to grow accustomed to in the face of the danger around them, and was finding easier and easier to ignore, at least until she saw the Doctor pull out what seemed a little too much like a Chameleon Circuit. And of course Lorrie would know the circuit when she saw it, since she had been forced for the better part of a year in China to assist the Master in fixing the defective one they ha form the previous run-in with the Doctor.

In fact, the teen was still certain that the damned circuit was still in the Master's TARDIS, meaning that this was the real deal, the Master's actual Chameleon Circuit.

Lorrie watched as the important circuit was handed to the Master, and wondered that if she still cared for others, if she would have felt a wave of dread from the prospect of him being able to go anywhere else outside of the planet, to spread his evils in other places, and would possibly be dragging her along with him. But all the same, any wonderings she might have had were thrown out the window when suddenly a man she remembered being referred to as a prisoner that had survived the damned machine and was changed in some way, and in his hands was the last thing she ever wanted to see today. It was the Keller Machine, non-functional at that moment, but all the same she didn't like the thought of it being here or near her again.

Suddenly the Doctor knocked the Machine out of the man's hands, and watched as it suddenly went haywire, the Master and Lorrie crumpled immediately to the ground as the Doctor ran past, no doubt to disarm the missile. But whatever he was really doing Lorrie still wasn't completely aware of as all she felt in that moment was the pain she felt while she was curled up on the cement of the runway leading to the warehouse that was housing the deadly missile. The sensation of heated pain flashing through her mind so bad it caused Lorrie to cry and scream out for assistance, but received no aid for what seemed like the longest time, but was actually just minutes.

The Doctor returned, and Lorrie knew this as she saw his shoes running past her crumpled form, yelling to Miss Grant, who was also apparently there, that the missile was apparently going to self destruct any moment. Fear raised in her stomach at that, which combined with pain was not making her feel any better. Suddenly, just as she was sure that Miss Grant, the man and the Doctor were long gone, she felt a hand suddenly grabbing at her arm and pulling her up to her feet, but the pain was making it hard to not crumple to the ground. Eventually she managed to look up and saw that it was the Doctor, telling her something that was hard to hear over the pain, but still she managed to figure out that he wanted her to go with him.

For a moment there was a part of her that knew she should go with him, but all the same, whether it be the year long belief that he wasn't the Doctor or the fact that she didn't know where going with him was really going to take her, or it might be the whole agonizing pain in her head, she wasn't sure, but all the same she decided against his offer, and pushed his grip away, instead running over to the left behind police bus that the Doctor had used to get there, where the Master was running to at the same time.

The teen climbed in the back, just as the van took off down the runway, the Doctor and Miss Grant apparently escaping from the warehouse via a helicopter, while the prisoner that was with them was run over by the Master in his attempt to get away. Lorrie was just about to let herself fall back to sleep, but the sudden explosion of the deactivated missile caused her to jump back awake. Thankfully the van was too far away to really be effected by the explosion, but was close enough to make Lorrie's ears painfully pop from the pressure, but all the same it was something she could live with if it meant she was still alive.

"Where are we going?"

He doesn't look away from the wheel, but all the same was polite enough to answer.

"Back to the prison to pick up the TARDIS, then once the Chameleon Circuit is refined to the console; we're going to anywhere else in the universe than back to this undeveloped mud planet. So sleep well Miss Sanford, since it will most likely be your last night on Earth." The dramatic flair was always something that Lorrie found the Master could do without when answering a straight question, but all the same she did as he suggested and laid back on the seats of the police van, not once forgetting the small pill bottle that was still in her pocket and digging into her side somewhat as she fell asleep. She didn't have a plan for what she would do with those pills just yet, but all the same she kept them on her person, just in case.


"And we'll stop there for today, after all, I think I've been here a little too long," In fact I was pretty sure that it had been a whole night shift that I had been here and reading the story to her. I was exhausted, so much so that I could practically feel the weight of the bags under my eyes. There was also the fact that if I didn't leave now, I didn't know what might happen, in the matter of whether or not the Hospital was going to let me visit her ever again. After all, that nurse knew I was here and had been here longer than I was meant to, plus she also knew I had a gun and wasn't afraid of using it. That factor alone made me wonder on whether or not she would tell the higher ups about me, or if she was too afraid to.

"Well then dear, I think you should go now if you want to leave without being caught. There are usually no Nurses or Doctors around during this time, but not for very long," I nodded in thankfulness to her and stood from my seat, the shifting of the weight of the gun against my hip as I stood up not going unnoticed. Thankfully she didn't know yet that I was carrying a gun, and I hoped to keep it that way, so that she would still trust me enough to let me in and listen to the story written in the blue book that I was holding so tightly in my hands.

"Thanks, I'll be back tomorrow, so we can continue the story then, goodbye." I slowly opened the door and looked out before finally bidding her goodbye and slowly closing the door behind me. Thankfully she wasn't wrong in the fact that there strangely weren't any Doctors or Nurses around here at this time of the day, but again I still heeded the fact that she had said that the hallways weren't empty for long and moved quickly to the car park were thankfully my car apparently still was, and exactly the way I had left it. However, I noticed something in the car park that was a little concerning, at least for a moment as I walked closer towards it.

It was just spray-paint on the ground of the car park, and at first I was just expecting it to be some kind of teenage gang tag that apparently the person was too lazy to spray on the wall somewhere else in the hospital where it wouldn't have bothered anyone. At least I was thinking that until finally I noticed what had been apparently recently sprayed across the old concrete near my car. It was really a little more than a strange message, and I wanted to be convinced that it wasn't anything important, that I should just ignore it, but then again I remembered the warning I was given before entering the hospital for the first time:

"Expect the unexpected, not everything is as it seems, so keep on your guard for everything that seems weird, since it might just try to kill you."

Still it was a little difficult to take the last part of the warning seriously, especially with the fact that the only weird things I had seen so far was the lack of other patients in the hospital, the notes in my windshield, the knocking on her door and this spray paint on the ground. Hardly the type of things that were going to end up killing me, but all the same I decided to do as I was warned in the beginning, and stay on my guard. So I decided to take what was written on the concrete with more seriousness than I figured other people that were walking to their car at the end, or rather if I wanted to be time wise, beginning, of the day.

Watch Your Head.

I'd like to think less of it, but I'm no fool, at least I can't afford to be while I'm here. I kept walking after a while and reached my car, all the while feeling eyes peering at my back, and especially, my head. By the time I reached the car door and was grasping the cold metal of the door handle in my hand, I started to believe that that message meant nothing. And continued that thought as I kneeled down to tie a shoelace, at least that was until a bullet suddenly crashed through my car door window, shattering the glass all through the inside of the car and missing me and my unwatched head by mere inches.

I ducked lower and quickly drew my gun from its place on my hip, feeling the weight of it now in my hand as I quickly ducked around and behind my car, waiting with batted breath for anything that might happen next. I waited there for a long time; my breath eventually began to slow when I realized that there might not be any more bullets. But still I moved slowly, opening the other side of the car and getting, all the while trying to avoid the shattered glass that shone in the early morning light across the car seats. Quickly I grasped the key from my pocket and shoved it into the ignition, and whilst I turned that damned key I was left with a few moments to pray that my earlier suspicion of not getting shot again had been right, and I was not going to die here, with my mission not even close to half complete and as an easy target cause I was too busy trying to get my damned car started because the engine had been left to the cold all night to watch for any obvious signs of my shooter or even try to fight back.

Thankfully the engine started, the purring under my feet causing me to breathe for the first time in a few minutes of fear as I quickly pulled out of the car park and defiantly broke more than one speeding limit law as I got the hell out of there for the day. As soon as I knew I was safe I knew there were only two things I needed to focus on now, the book and the bullet that was still in the car somewhere. The book, which had been in my pocket the whole time, was thankfully still there and completely unharmed and I found the bullet after pulling over on an abandoned road, keeping it in the hidden chest pocket of my jacket to look over and analyze later.

This wasn't going to be the last attack, this I knew for certain.

But what I didn't know was certainly still a very long list, and it was growing longer with every visit I made to that hospital.

Enough queries, it was time I tired to find some answers.


Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.