Chapter 9

Walking through the reception area to his office, the Master strode to the nearest elevator and pressed the appropriate button, inputting the six-digit access key to go down to the hidden lower levels. The elevator traveled down into the secret base under the Prometheus Institute and he walked towards the lab where the engineers were at work.

"Progress report," he ordered as he entered into the room without preamble. He glanced over at Peri, giving her a slight smile before turning his attention to the engineer approaching him.

"Dr. Saxon," Steve Milton, the chief engineer on the project, greeted with a slight hint of derision.

"Apparently, you have forgotten that Saxon is a pseudonym only used above Level A, in the Prometheus Institute proper," the Master told him, clearly annoyed. "Down here, you will refer to me as the Master."

"Of course... Master," came the response, the scientist looking at him with dark eyes.

"I came for a progress report on the telepathic dampening field generator. Have you one?"

"Of course." He walked over towards a bench. "We've been testing this system since yesterday and I believe it meets your specifications."

Before anything could be said, Lothos' presence was felt in the room. "It better, Milton," said the disembodied voice.

The Master ignored Lothos' threat and followed Milton. He looked at the piece of equipment with a frown. The object before him was a dull gray metal box, about twelve inches square, with six buttons on one side. "This is it? This is the telepathic dampening field generator you promised?"

"It's portable as you instructed so that a dampening field will be generated anywhere you go."

"And where exactly am I supposed to keep this?"

"This equipment is designed to provide a dampening field for 16.29 kilometers in any direction. It will perform the functions you have specified without interfering with any human communications systems," Milton explained.

"That didn't answer my question. What if I want to go further than 16.29 kilometers away from this thing? Am I to put it in a backpack and carry it around? Once again, it's too big. You couldn't even hide this in a suitcase. And I am so sure that it would make a great impression to the public to see Harold Saxon, CEO of the Prometheus Institute, go out in public wearing a backpack everywhere he went."

Milton's face dropped into a glare. "Your schematics were a bit hard to read. It appeared to show that the expected final product would be hardly larger than a wristwatch. While that might eventually be possible, with the current technology..."

The Master turned towards him, giving him a glare. "It is possible with the current technology, Mr. Milton. I specifically altered the schematics to allow for the current technology."

Steve Milton pushed his glasses up by the bridge he answered, superiority dripping from his voice. "Sir, I'm telling you, what you're asking for just isn't possible. You can ask for it until you're blue in the face and it won't change that reality."

The Master's eyelids dropped at the engineer's words. "Don't tell me what's possible or impossible!" he told him angrily. "I am a Time Lord! My technological knowledge surpasses yours by a hundred thousand years! The children of my world could make this in their sleep! You have to be the thickest human being I've ever met! This is the fourth time you've presented me with an atrocity and my patience can only go so far. How long have you been working on this? A year? I should have insisted on making it myself but Lothos has me working elsewhere ninety percent of the time. If this is the absolute best you can come up with, you're worthless!" He shook the box in the engineer's face. "And so is this... plaything... you've just wasted my time with!" He tossed it back onto the worktable, causing it to clatter loudly.

Taking affront at having his abilities so thoroughly disparaged in front of his team, Milton reacted poorly. "Now, see here, you can't talk to me like that! If your 'children' are so bloody brilliant, then maybe you should just put a few of them on this project instead of wasting our time!"

The Gallifreyan took several deep breaths, his fists clenching, rage rolling behind his eyes. A moment later, the rage exploded from him in the form of a hard punch to the man's jaw, causing the engineer to drop to the ground. His voice sliced like a razor blade over stunned engineer. "You are the single most annoying human being on this planet! How dare you even compare your abilities to the least of the Gallifreyan race! In comparison to them, you are nothing more than a sorry speck!"

Milton looked in wide-eyed fear up at the Master's imposing figure. "I... I..." He didn't get any further as a beam of laser light caught him square in the chest, effectively destroying his heart. His eyes grew larger for an instant before he fell to the floor, dead.

The voice of Lothos filled the room. "Master, I apologize. I do not know how such an incompetent human was placed in charge of this project. I promise you, it will not happen again." His voice focused on the woman standing beside the Master, her face calm but her eyes shocked at the development. "Look into this, Peri."

"Y... yes, Lothos," the woman replied softly. Her voice showed strength even with the shock she was obviously feeling. She turned her head to look at the Master, who was regarding the body of the engineer with a blank expression.

After a long moment, the Gallifreyan took a deep breath. "So... who is going to build my telepathic dampening field generator?" he questioned, gazing at the rest of the engineers in the room. "Anyone?"

No one stepped forward, all eyes on the body of their recent leader.

The Master sighed audibly, moving away from the body. Approaching one of the scientists, he gave him a slight smile. "What's your name?"

"Theodore Sloan, Master."

"Mr. Sloan." The Master extended a hand towards him. "Pleased to meet you."

Taking the hand of the CEO of the Prometheus Institute, he swallowed nervously. "Yes, Master. It is good to have the honor."

"So... do you have an opinion about how to build the telepathic dampening field generator using the schematics I've provided? Mr. Milton said that my schematics were difficult to read and that was why it came out looking like an oversized gray Rubik's Cube." He looked around to see a couple of smirks. "It's okay. You can laugh. It was a joke."

"Well," Theodore started, "I was thinking that, if we were to utilize the Ramorski technique, the Saniol connection could be minimized and the field would simultaneously be strengthened..." He stopped, licking his lips and looking down. "I mean, in theory that could work."

The Master nodded slightly at his words. He gestured towards the worktable. "Take a look at the schematics with me, Theo. Show me."

The young engineer walked over to the table where the schematics were laid out. He pointed to an area on one of the drawings. "Here," he said, taking courage from the manner that the Master had asked him. "This area could be optimized and enhanced causing the connection at this point," he said running his finger over to another section of the drawing, "to support the strengthening of the field." He stopped again and turned to the Master. "I think that will do what I suggested."

The Time Lord nodded again, seeming to consider his words. "You know what, Theo? That's exactly what I was hoping you would say. Because you are absolutely correct. In fact, I took that into account when making up these schematics. I wonder why Milton didn't see it."

Theodore swallowed tightly. "I don't know, Master. I guess he had other ideas. I'd tried to suggest these things to Dr. Milton but he told me that, since I graduated less than six months ago, my grasp of engineering wasn't up to par yet."

"Incompetent imbecile," the Gallifreyan grumbled. He looked at the schematics again. "Anything else you would like to suggest?"

Sloan seemed to weigh the question before answering. "Yes. I'm not sure what these symbols on the sub-drawing to the housing section are. They don't appear to be decorative and yet they don't correspond to any engineering nomenclature I'm aware of."

The Master gave a slight huff. "Let me guess. Milton thought they were decorative."

"He... um... said that they couldn't be instructions."

"Well, he could have just asked me about them instead of making assumptions. They are instructions, as a matter of fact. I wrote these schematics up in a bit of a hurry and forgot to translate some of it into English." The Time Lord tapped the one of the symbols. "Do you have a pen on you?"

Taking a pen from his lab coat, Theodore place it in the Master's waiting hand.

Clicking the pen open, the Master quickly translated the symbols, writing just underneath each one as appropriate. After several moments, he erected himself. "There you go, Theo. Take a look at that and tell me if you can make this for me."

The young engineer read through the notes and smiled. "This provides the missing link to the board requirements. With this, we'll be able to make this small enough for you to wear it."

The Master slapped him on the shoulder. "Good. That's what I want to hear. You let me know when it needs to be tested and I'll be glad to help you out with that. And don't hesitate to ask me if you have questions."

"Yes, Master," Theodore answered. "And thank you, sir."

The Time Lord gave him a nod and exited the room with confidence, Peri following. "Make sure that the body is removed quickly," he instructed a guard as he passed him.

Peri walked with the Master through the corridors and back up to the office. She followed him in and immediately began the task of making him a cup a tea, a ritual that had begun about two weeks after the man had been pulled from his confinement. The Master, quite used to the daily ritual he and Peri had fallen into, went to his desk and sat down, putting his feet up on the surface of the large piece of furniture. Within a few minutes, she came to him with a fine china cup in hand. Handing it to him, she stood to the side and waited for him to initiate any verbal interaction.

He sipped on his tea for a moment, feeling her eyes on him. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to speak or move, he turned to her with questioning eyes. "What is it, Peri? You've got that disapproving look I've come to recognize." While he could be a task master as a boss, he also knew the benefits of good employee relations, especially when trying to avoid premature confrontations with an egotistical megalomaniac computer.

She licked her lips lightly. "Steve Milton. He may not have been the best person for that particular job but I'm not sure that his death was warranted."

The Time Lord put his cup down, turning towards her and dropping his legs as he did so. "Is that what you're worried about? Steve Milton?"

"I just don't think he needed to die."

He sighed at her words. "And what do you want me to do about it? Raise him from the dead? I may be a superior being from another world but I'm not capable of bringing the dead back to life."

"I never said you were, Harry. It's just that you seemed unfazed by what happened to him. Like his life was not a valuable thing."

"What makes you think his life was valuable?"

"Because life is not something that we can just create and destroy at a whim. There is a sacredness to it."

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those religious nut jobs," Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "I thought I knew you better."

"I'm just saying that life is something that has an intrinsic value quite separate from religion."

"You really believe that?" Slowly he stood and moved to her, looking into her eyes. "You really believe that life isn't just a fleeting thing that blows away like so much dust."

"I just don't see what the point would be if that were the case. Think about it. It wouldn't make sense if the mind, the soul, the essence of a being simply was a brief light and then was gone forever."

"There is no scientific basis for a soul, Peri. That falls under the realm of faith and thus under religion. Rationally, only the extraordinary deserve to live. Survival of the fittest."

"Not everything that exists can be explained. There are some things that we simply do not know how or why they are. To paraphrase Shakespeare, there are more things in heaven and earth, Harry, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Besides, it wouldn't be efficient."

He huffed. "Don't go paraphrasing Shakespeare. I hate it when people do that. As if William Shakespeare was some sort of miracle worker. He was a playwright. That's all."

"Yes, that may be true. But the words he wrote resonate somehow. Speak to greater things."

"Greater things like 'the soul'," he supposed, his voice hinting at sarcasm. "Let me ask you something, Peri. A theoretical question. What if Steve Milton was a traitor? What if his blunder with the telepathic dampening field was a deliberate act to undermine our goals? Would he have deserved to die then?"

"That would be different. Then he would have consciously chosen to perform an act which would have grave consequences."

"So, how do you know he didn't do just that? Are you a mind reader?"

"No. I'm not. As far as I know, no one is."

"My people are. Why do you think I need a telepathic dampening field?"

"I meant that no human is telepathic. You're not human."

"True," he agreed. "But you automatically assumed that Milton didn't deserve to die, even though you had no insight into his thoughts, his motivations."

"I just don't believe that Milton was the type to have the balls to be a traitor. He was one of Lothos' most willing followers."

"So, your belief in his worthiness to live has to do with whether or not he was loyal to Lothos."

"Not Lothos specifically. What I mean is, he, like all of us, was hired by Lothos and there were certain things we agreed to. If he had been a traitor, he would have been going against what he had sworn to uphold. It would be the same for anything a person has committed themselves to."

"So, he would have been more of a traitor to himself than to Lothos." A smile formed on his face. "You have a most refreshing point of view, Peri. So, based on your argument, he didn't deserve to die." He thought for a moment. "Out of morbid curiosity... how would you have handled Milton, since you are so convinced he didn't deserve death?"

"Well, I think he should have been disciplined, of course. What he did was simply stupid and the right amount of negative reinforcement to show that stupidity isn't tolerated would have been ideal. I could have helped in doing so." She smiled lightly as she went on. "Besides, Lothos takes such joy in playing with his toys... much more joy than in destroying them."

"So I've noticed. Odd that he decided to kill Milton," the Master pointed out.

"Not really. When Lothos is upset, he can lash out and often doesn't think of the consequences in the moment. That was Milton's biggest mistake. He argued with you and that caused Lothos to believe he needed to save face. If Milton had only backed down instead of standing up to you, it's likely there would have been a different outcome. Lothos couldn't abide Steve's arrogance that he would be smarter than the CEO of the Prometheus Institute."

He hummed slightly, nodding. "True. Lothos does have a bit of a temper. And Milton has been a pain in my side since that debacle with Canterbury." He grimaced almost comically. "Probably didn't help that I called Milton 'worthless.' Then again... hard to call a fish a banana."

"Yes. I believe that was the nail in the coffin, so to speak." She sighed. "And now we need to find a replacement... again."

"Oh, I'm sure Theo Sloan will do just fine," Harry told her. A small smile played on his lips as he moved closer to her. "However... if you really want to find a replacement for Milton... I'd love to help you."

"Your assistance has been greatly appreciated since you started showing an interest in that part of my duties," she said with a coy smile.

"Not the only thing I'm interested in concerning you," he answered, bodily moving her to the nearest wall.

Over the past few months, this had become an almost weekly, if not daily occurrence. Peri had become comfortable with the way he came onto her, actually finding pleasure in the inherently inappropriate sexual tete-a-tete. She allowed his hand to stroke up her arm, feeling a tingle that was electric to her. "Which I am quite excited about, Harry. Any particular thing you have in mind today?" She felt a shiver crawl up her spine as his fingers caressed her.

He hummed for a long moment as he considered his options. Since he started his experiment in P.I.'s courtyard, he'd found Peri Langford to be a most interesting subject to say the least. She seemed to be extremely resilient against telepathic influence, a sure sign of a strong mind either with telepathic training or with natural mental defenses. However, she was also quite willing to explore possibilities, as long as it didn't interfere with her own goals. He now knew that she couldn't be influenced by the usual, more convention and time-true means he had used on other humans. She was, in his opinion, an exceptional specimen of the human species, a shining rarity in a world full of ineptitude and, as such, he had to find other means to get her to be totally loyal to him. And if engaging her sexual interests would accomplish his goals, so be it. It didn't hurt in the least that flirting with her was definitely a marvelous distraction he enjoyed and that she was extremely attractive... for a human. Perhaps he might even consider going further than just flirting.

"I can think of plenty of things to occupy our time," he responded to her question. Leaning forward, he grazed his lips over her ear for a moment. "Was there something specific that you had in mind yourself?"

"I'm sure whatever you do will drive me mad," she responded, her voice full of anticipatory passion.

"Oh, you have no idea," he whispered in her ear before pulling away, a mischievous glint in his eyes that told he knew he was tormenting her by not advancing further than taunting her with vague promises that never came to pass. He smiled as he looked into her eyes while abruptly changing the subject. He so loved seeing the frustration on her face when he did that. "Oh, by the way... that bit about Milton... I may not agree with your reasoning as to why he shouldn't have died but you did make some very valid points. I admire that in a person. Intelligence is a marvelous quality."

Peri growled slightly at the abrupt change in subject although she appreciated the fact that he had indeed listened to what she'd said. "I'm glad you said that, Harry."

"And why is that?" he questioned with interest, watching as she struggled to take control of herself once again. By the expression on her face, he could easily see that he'd rattled her world completely. He had no doubts that he could take her anywhere, anywhen he wanted and she wouldn't protest in the least... and probably wouldn't care if there were an audience.

"Because it tells me that, while you may not always fully agree with me, you are at least willing to listen and see my point of view."

"I will always listen to your point of view, Peri," he assured her even as his eyes admired her figure once again. "I can see why you were... upset... with my lack of reaction to Milton's death. It wasn't very... human, was it?"

"No. And while being human is not something I want or expect from you, I am glad when you can see something in my species that's worthwhile."

He sat on the edge of the desk, his eyes focused on her. "You, my dear, are definitely worthwhile." He looked into her eyes, holding them. "I suppose I've seen so much death that it no longer has the same impact on me as it obviously does on you. Life isn't as valuable to me as it once was."

"It is easy to become cynical when one has seen so much." She paused. "And it was Lothos who killed him, not you. As I said before, Lothos is not always the most patient being."

"No, he isn't," the Master agreed. "But I'm not Lothos. I am far more patient than him. You are extremely beautiful," he abruptly changed the subject again, folding his arms over his chest with authority.

She smiled at him, glad that his mood had shifted to make her the subject of his scrutiny once more, but choosing not to respond to those words at this moment. "No, you are definitely not Lothos," she started. "Not in any sense and I find that refreshing."

He returned the smile, noting that she didn't respond to his comment about her beauty. "I'm glad that you find me just as intriguing as I find you." He considered the conversation they'd had since returning to the office before sighing slightly. Why did he always feel as if every conversation they'd had, every little instance of bringing her deeper and deeper under his influence emotionally, resulted in him feeling... unfulfilled? Mentally, he shook off the odd sensation, just as he had before, while standing from the desk and walking around to sit at it properly. "So... what else is on the agenda this afternoon?"