Chapter Nine
The Doctor and Laura staggered out of the Time Vortex and into the T.A.R.D.I.S console room. The Time Lord had programmed it so they arrived just after their past selves had left; luckily none of the scientists had come back to the ship yet so they were alone.
The Doctor, wearing the stolen glasses from earlier, studied the console; checking for clues to what The Master was planning. Laura watched as the Time Lord rose from the console; sighing and stroking his beard.
"Something's not right…"
"What's wrong Doctor?" Laura asked the Time Lord.
"Nothing important," The Doctor replied. "It's just that I can't find anything on the console…well what's left of it."
"What if the problem didn't originate from the console?"
"That's what I was thinking but there are very few places in the ship that this sort of thing could have happened."
"Well where are they?"
"Well there's the secondary console room, the eye of harmony…the eye of harmony; the eye of harmony that's it!"
"The eye of what?"
"The Eye of Harmony," The Doctor replied, whipping off his thick framed glasses; they reminded him of the ones he donned in his Tenth Incarnation. "It's how the T.A.R.D.I.S draws its power. I think The Master has used my T.A.R.D.I.S' Eye of Harmony to do something to himself...I have no idea what, but I think investigating it should wrap this mystery right up!"
"Well let's go then," she smiled. The two of them ran across the console room, being careful of the thick cables which trailed along the floor, and towards the first corridor which led off to the labyrinth that was the T.A.R.D.I.S.
The Doctor led the way down the twisting and winding corridors and towards the Eye. He wished at that moment he had kept the same desktop theme as his Eight Incarnation; that way he could walk straight towards the eye of harmony and forgo all the running.
They finally arrived at a huge set of old fashioned doors. With a shove; The Doctor pushed them open and stepped inside the large room. It was rather gothic with stone steps leading up to another level which then went into another part of the ship while in the centre was the large dome which covered the eye but it seemed a lot dirtier and less bright than last time; the room felt dead.
"Is this it?" Laura enquired; sounding a little bit disappointed.
"Yes it is," The Doctor replied; walking towards the large dome structure. His eyes scanned the area; he didn't need ocular aids to see that the Eye had been used for a disastrous purpose.
Laura couldn't see what had gone on but The Doctor knew perfectly well what he'd done and it scared him. "The Master's an idiot!" he shouted. "A genius idiot!"
"Why?"
"Because I know what he's been trying to do!" The Doctor said. "I know what he's been planning."
The Master buzzed with energy as he entered the T.A.R.D.I.S, his clothes were stained with crimson blood, with a chalice filled with the Elixir in one hand. The Master had killed the Sister's after finding out their recipe; now he knew how to recreate the potion he didn't need their help any more.
After slaughtering them with a single knife, his preferred method of brutal murder, they had lying around; The Master had left to consume the drink inside the T.A.R.D.I.S.
The golden cup felt cold in his hands as the steam rose from the surface of the liquid. He slowly raised the container to his lips and took a sip. It tasted bitter and zesty but he kept on drinking; glugging down the chemical until he had completely finished it.
The Master gagged and dropped the cup, feeling the energy building up inside him, and staggered into the wall. He coughed repeatedly as the regeneration energy moved about on his skin and began to increase.
He began to feel hot until suddenly he pushed out his arms and felt the light pour off him like a sparkler. It kept going and going until the sensation stopped and The Master collapsed to the floor with a headache and a cold sweat. He panted and began to smile.
He was a Time Lord again!
Slowly he rose to his feet and looked about the console room; it looked too clean, he had to destroy the ship and send it to Earth but not yet. He was going to kill the last T.A.R.D.I.S slowly in the most painful way possible since he wouldn't need it anymore after his plan was complete. The Time Lord needed to move fast; the more active the cells were the better!
He'd formulated the plan quite quickly after his escape; after being sent back into the Time War and killed, he began to think about God-hood and the power that Rassilon wielded. The Master wanted to steal Rassilon's power glove and use it for his own purposes but he knew he couldn't; so he speculated in his final moments what was more powerful. Then it came to him; the Time Vortex and more specifically the power source of Galifrey and all of the T.A.R.D.I.S' the Eye of Harmony. When one absorbed the power of the Time Vortex they became a God before dying in agony.
But then The Master realised the truth. They were swallowed up by the raging energy but what if the person had enough energy within in them to balance the equation and keep what, would have been, a war within a person at bay? The answer to this great problem was regeneration.
After regenerating a Time Lord's body was raging with cells for the next few hours; so all The Master had to do was regenerate and absorb the Time Vortex but that wasn't enough; he'd need more than one regeneration he would need all of them! The Master had to use up all his regeneration cells in a last ditch attempt to claim his place as ruler of the universe!
The Master arrived at the Eye of Harmony; buzzing with energy, ready to start the process that would change his life forever.