Tegan looked both ways, making sure the corridor was clear before continuing. Other than to direct her where to turn, the Doctor had passed the last several minutes as a silent lump on her back. For all the chaos that had surrounded them when she and Doctor had made their way to the transmitter, the base was positively peaceful. "Don't know why I bother, really," Tegan muttered, growing tired of the quiet. She waited for him to ask.

"With what?" the Doctor finally acquiesced, sounding as though he'd just woken up.

"Checking around the corners. If the Master wants us to find him so badly, he's hardly going to order his guards to kill us or anything."

"No, but he might order them to capture us."

"Same difference."

"Not really. If we get captured, we'll be meeting the Master entirely on his terms, putting us at a much greater disadvantage than if we found him ourselves. Considering we're pawns in his game already, I don't think it'd be wise to play into his hands any more than we already have."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Kind of you to say so."

"Well, that's me, sweet and kind to a fault."

Unexpectedly, the Doctor snorted into her shoulder.

Tegan smirked to herself, glad the Doctor was still in good humour. "What was that for?" she demanded anyway, pretending insult.

"Er, nothing. A tickle in my nose. Sorry."

"Oh, so now I'm your kerchief as well as your packhorse? You really know how to flatter a girl."

"I said I was sorry."

"Not half as much as I am. Time Lord bogeys better wash out, Doctor."

"Tegan!"

She was about to summon up a sharp retort, when she discerned the sound of footsteps and voices up ahead. A bolt of panic shot up her spine. "Rabbits!"

"In there!" the Doctor hissed.

Tegan looked and saw a door on the other side of the corridor. It was slightly ajar, and appeared dark inside. She dashed over to it, pushed it open and darted inside. She closed the door quickly and stood off to the side, in case her ankles or feet might be visible beneath the door. Glancing around, she noticed the room was some sort of pantry. She heard the footsteps outside grow steadily closer.

"Tegan?" the Doctor murmured.

"What?"

"Do you mind?"

Tegan realized that she had been pressing up against the wall, squashing the Doctor. She took a step forward and felt the Doctor relax. "Better?" she asked softly.

"Shush!" the Doctor ordered.

"This thing weighs a ton!" one of the voices outside complained audibly.

"It weighed a ton the first time we carried it. It's at least two or three by now," another voice added, sounding suitably strained.

Tegan could feel her heart begin to drum. Just keep going, mates, she urged silently.

o0o

The Master grinned. Just him and the Doctor, as it should be! He remained a bit puzzled by the Doctor's inexplicable survival, and still more by his curious bout of post-regenerative amnesia. But then, this particular incarnation of the Doctor did seem generally more effete and inept than his predecessors. Still, he'd expected the Doctor to put up more of a fight, and it was not the Master's intent to now look a gift-horse in the mouth.

The Doctor smiled back, but it was a hesitating, uncertain grin.

The Master stepped back to his computer and pulled up the program he'd been running. The monitor screen filled with numbers and symbols. "Does this look familiar to you?" the Master asked, stepping aside so the Doctor had an unobstructed view.

The Doctor pulled his brows together and blinked. "No."

"Are you sure, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at him with innocent befuddlement. "I don't know. I don't think so. Why did Nyssa want to kill me? Why would she have wiped my memory, as you say?"

The Master was only mildly disappointed. He hadn't expected the Doctor to give him what he wanted, and he had prepared accordingly. He put on his best friendly smile and waved dismissively. "Never mind about the girl, Doctor. It is more important that we repair the damage that she's done. Come and sit."

"You know, it's strange," the Doctor mused, his attention once more on the computer, "If you and Nyssa hadn't told me I'd lost my memory, I'd never have known it. I don't even miss it. Can something really be lost if it isn't missed? And how can one miss something he doesn't remember ever having in the first place?"

"A fascinating philosophical question, Doctor. But you have more important things to think about."

The Doctor rubbed his temples and smirked. "I seem to do quite a bit of thinking. And walking. And talking, as well. I confess, it's all rather tiring."

"Then by all means, have a seat, Doctor," the Master suggested, indicating the chair with the electrode cap attached to the top. He could feel prickles of impatience forming at the Doctor's indolent behaviour.

The Doctor eyed it curiously, and walked over. Instead of sitting down, he leaned over to inspect the electrode cap hooked to the back of the chair. "You know, I think this is the most amazing thing I've seen all day. It's so tremendously complicated and pretty, with all the wires and metal bits," he exclaimed excitedly, glancing at the Master, "What is it?"

"I'll tell you, after you sit down," the Master answered with considerable restraint.

The Doctor looked puzzled. "But I can look at it much more closely while I'm standing, don't you think?" He walked around the chair, evidently to examine the cap from another angle. "It's the same all around, isn't it? It's covered in all sorts of complicated things, but they're all the same complicated things on every side!"

"Doctor—"

"Funny how something can look ordered and disordered at the same time like that."

"Sit DOWN!" the Master finally barked.