Chapter 10

Melbourne, Australia

December 2005

The Master walked into Peri's office, noting that the back of her chair was facing towards the door. There was a crystal tumbler on the desk with a light amber colored liquid intermingling with ice cubes. Peri wasn't one to drink often so the alcohol on her desk indicated that she was having a hard day. He smiled slightly as he thought of how he'd occasionally teased the scientist, slowly drawing her closer to his circle of loyal followers. She wasn't the only one he'd been influencing loyalty from but she certainly was proving to be the most interesting.

"Holiday blues?" he questioned, moving towards the desk.

The chair swiveled smoothly around. Peri looked tired. "No. Not holiday blues. You know my most recent project has been to bring Timothy Wooglin into the fold. I enjoy the work but it can be tiring."

"Ol' Timmo not being cooperative, is he?"

"He's being as cooperative as the fly that gets closer and closer to the sticky pads of a Venus Fly Trap. Can taste the sweetness but leery of the danger. When they're intelligent it's more difficult to fool them completely."

Harry picked up her drink and sipped at it. "Hmm," he commented haphazardly. "Well, I'm sure you're doing a fine job."

"I am," she agreed. His eyes widened slightly at her somewhat uncharacteristic immodesty. "I've been doing this a long time, Harry. I'm simply very good at molding their behaviors to what Lothos expects. He's almost ready to enter stage three conditioning."

He smiled at her words as he took a big swallow of the scotch. "Good scotch," he murmured. Putting the empty glass back on the desk, he sat on the corner to give her his full attention. "I love it when you show me your more Machiavellian side. No one ever said that women couldn't master Machiavelli's techniques just as well as his 'prince.' In fact, I think women can be even better at applying them."

"Why, thank you. I think that's the nicest compliment you've ever given me." She paused. "We've got him drugged and have put him into one of the rooms on the lower level. He'll awake tomorrow and then I really start my work." She smiled. "And really, this is my favorite part of the whole process."

As she spoke, the Master elegantly and quickly moved, physically trapping her in her luxurious leather chair before taking her lips possessively, effectively silencing her. His hands supported her head tightly to reinforce his appropriation of her. One knee begged to go between her legs while the other provided support to prevent him from falling.

For the briefest of moments, her thoughts continued down the path she had been extolling and her teeth bit against his lips, drawing blood. As he pulled back suddenly, her face fell slightly, slight fear in her eyes as if unsure of his response to her maiming action. Unable to speak, she blinked, awaiting his reaction.

The Master, startled by the sudden pain on his lips, banged his leg against the desk behind him. Tentatively, he licked at the wound she had created, his eyes unreadable for a long moment. "You bit me," he stated, disbelief tingeing his words.

"Yes," she answered tentatively. "It's not that I didn't enjoy your kissing me, but it probably wasn't the best..."

"You bit me!" he interrupted her loudly, his eye blazing.

Again the fear reached her eyes. She knew this wasn't the time to push. "Yes," was all she said this time.

Raising his hand to his lip, he again examined the small wound, the Gallifreyan healing response already beginning. Slowly, a smile started to form on his lips. "You're feisty!" he commented. "I like that!"

Seeing he wasn't about to discipline her, she rose from her chair, move forward to him as he leaned back against the desk. "I'm glad, Harry." The two had seduced each other several times over the last year and a half although it had never gone farther than serious groping. She had figured that both of them had needed the release. Although the man had finished her drink, Peri had drank enough that her behavior was not as cautious as it had been before with their other encounters. Right now, the kiss and the biting had turned her on. She pressed herself against him seductively. "I want you," she stated, her voice almost a purr.

"Really? Is that what you want, Dr. Periwinkle Langford?" He reciprocated the action, pushing her gently back into the chair. He again crawled into position over her, taking his rightful place of dominance.

"Yes," she said breathing in the scent of him. "You are the most exciting man I've ever known. Brilliant, debonair, handsome..."

"You make me sound like Brad Pitt," the Master joked. "Well... except for the brilliant part."

"Brad Pitt is a petulant child in comparison to you, Harry." She began to unbutton his jacket and to run her hands around his torso eagerly. "I like a strong man and I've never been with anyone that turns me on the way you do. Yes, it's you I want," she said as her hand left his torso and centered on a much more sensitive spot, caressing him.

He grinned broadly at her actions. "You keep this up... you're going to have me too soon."

She slowed her movements at his words. "Then take me at your own speed, Time Lord. Take me any way you desire. I'm yours." She paused considering the words. "Time Lord. What does that mean exactly? It sounds sexy."

He smiled almost whimsically at her choice of words. "Sexy, huh?" he murmured, moving an inch closer to her, his hands slowly moving up her sides and pulling out her blouse from her skirt as they went. "I can see all of time and space. And I have had many lives. That means is... I'm over thirteen hundred Earth years old. And I still have another eleven lives left."

"You're over thirteen hundred years old?" she questioned, stunned that anyone could live to such an extensive age.

"Does that really matter? Are you intimidated by..." He chuckled slightly at his own upcoming phrase. "...an older man?"

"No... but... thirteen hundred years... and all of time and space? You can see the future? Know what everyone is going to do?" She pulled slightly away from him, considering the ramifications of such a powerful being.

"Not exactly," he corrected her, trying not to be too disappointed by her pulling away from him. "More like... I can see the many possibilities the future presents. And I can see so many possibilities concerning you, Periwinkle Langford."

She licked at her lips. "What do you mean? What do you know?"

He looked deeply into her eyes. "This is a pivotal moment in your life. Your whole future will be determined by your choices from this moment on."

She swallowed tightly. "I don't understand. What choices? What do you want me to do?"

He came closer to her, moving so that he was able to capture her eyes in every movement. Looking deeply into those eyes that spoke so plainly to him, he whispered conspiratorially, "Do you trust me?"

She nodded as if afraid to voice her feelings.

He grazed his hands through her hair, not removing his hypnotic gaze for a long moment as the tips of his fingers stopped and found her temples. As he found the information he'd been looking for in her mind - the firmly set loyalty to him - a smile crept to his face before he forced her against the nearest wall, taking possession of her mouth. This time she melted into him, trying to say with her body and mouth what she couldn't say with her words.

Finally breaking physical contact, the Master watched her catching her breath, he himself unaffected by the extended kiss. "My bedroom? Or do you prefer this wall?"

"Either," was her answer. "I just want you in every way."

With a lecherous smile at her affirmation, he quickly reached up and ripped her blouse open, sending buttons in every direction before forcing it off of her shoulders as he gave her a bruising kiss. She continued to follow his every lead, the two in what might have appeared to be a dance full of energetic lust. As he started to work the waistband of her skirt, her glazed eyes opened lazily. Immediately afterwards, she pulled back from her lover and yanked her clothes around her, her eyes once more darting.

"Don't stop on my account. I was quite enjoying the show." There was a small hint of excitement in the tone from the disembodied voice.

The Master turned abruptly at the sudden interruption, his eyes finding and glaring furiously at the node in the ceiling, the bright red light, which had been dark until now, giving away the presence of his semi-human partner.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded with an angry shout.

"I was coming to see about Peri. There appeared to be some confusion in her feelings. Imagine my surprise to find you are schooling her as well."

Peri had remained silent, not sure what actions she should take at the moment. Allowing the two partners to work it out seemed the better part of valor.

"How I choose to maintain relations with my assistant is none of your business, Lothos. You knew full well that I was neither in my office nor my suite," the Master berated as he straightened himself out, all interest in Peri's ministrations being overridden by the interruption. "The least you could have done was knocked."

"And how, pray tell, could I do that? I don't have a hand to knock. I guess I could have asked one of my minions to do it but then there would have been another person who knows what the two of you are doing and that can lead to some nasty rumors about the Prometheus Institute's CEO, hmm?"

The Gallifreyan didn't dignify Lothos' taunting with a verbal response, glaring once again at the node. Taking a breath, he turned to Peri. "Straighten yourself," he ordered. "Apparently, recess is over."

Looking from the Master to the light in the ceiling, she nodded. Realizing that she would no longer be able to button her blouse, due to the lack of buttons, she decided that the camisole she'd been wearing under her blouse would have to do. She took off the blouse and pulled on her jacket, buttoning it so the top of the camisole was showing. It certainly didn't present an executive level dress but it was better than trying to explain what had happened to the shirt. "I think it would be best if I confirmed that all the right tools are available in the dungeon area." With that, she started towards the door. Before reaching it, she turned. "I'll see you at five, Harry? You mentioned dinner?"

"Yes," he replied, retrieving his jacket and slipping it on. "Dinner. See you then." Although neither had actually mentioned dinner plans, he wasn't about to go against her suggestion. In fact, he found it rather invigorating of her to open up another opportunity to explore further.

Ignoring the sub-conversation, Lothos's voice called out to the woman, "I'd like to put Mr. Wooglin on a new project as quickly as possible."

She turned. "I thought he was to work with Teddy Sloan on completing the dampening field."

"More pressing issues have come up."

She was about to respond when she saw the Master's signal. The Time Lord had flicked his hand at her, telling her without words to be on her way. Quickly ascertaining that he wanted to handle this situation, she reiterated, "Well, I'll be down on the dungeon level." With that, she walked out of the door.

Waiting until the door was closed, the Master tucked his hands into his trousers, focusing on Lothos. "More pressing issues?" he sneered. "I thought the telepathic dampening field was at the very top of the projects list."

"Well, it was and it's still a top priority," Lothos answered. "But we also need to have some new technologies we've found in a safe in one of the sub basement rooms examined. I figure Wooglin might be the right person for that job."

"Oh, that's all just fine and dandy!" the Gallifreyan replied angrily. "Let's just ignore that I've been on a short leash for the past six months and that only after over a year of being stuck in this building. A coffee shop and a fountain are all I can visit outside. You take Theo off of the dampening field project for a whole month. You absconded the new recruit to do something I am far more qualified to do. You snatch my assistant when I need her in my lab. You prevent me from doing much more than tinker with children's toys. And to top it all off, you invade my privacy on a regular basis!"

"Perhaps you would rather I had left you where I found you instead of using a great deal of time and resources retrieving you?"

"Which I have repaid a thousand times over! Pi is well on its way at becoming a reality. I've given you telepathic dampening technology for this whole building. I've restructured Prometheus to run far more efficiently, making it a viable means of raising funds for your project. I've upgraded your security on both ends. I've broadened your abilities to move around this complex." He paused dramatically. "I have literally given you technology that the Earth won't see for another three thousand years. In return, I ask for so very little. Just the ability to move freely about the Earth, a little privacy when I am in more intimate circumstances, and an equal share in taking over this planet. But every time I wage a minor complaint, you throw out the same cliché of threatening to toss me back where you found me." He glowered ferociously up at the light. "I am a very patient man but there is a limit to that patience and you've passed it with a speed that would rival Mario Andreti! I have had it! I'm supposed to be your partner, not your prisoner!"

Lothos paused a beat. "You feel you're a prisoner, do you?"

The Gallifreyan screeched in fury, kicking at a nearby piece of furniture as he reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a thin cylinder before aiming it at the node and pressing a button on the device. The node sparked violently for several seconds before the red light went completely black.

A moment later, a second node lit up. "What was that all about?" Lothos demanded.

The Master, hearing Lothos' voice once again from the alternate node on the other side of the room, turned rapidly, anger etched on his face. "What do you think?!"

"I think you're acting like a petulant child!" the disembodied being responded.

"If I'm being treating like a petulant child, I might as well act like one!" the Time Lord replied vehemently. He started pacing the room, breathing quickly as a result of his highly-charged emotional state.

"And I suppose you feel I'm being unfair to you."

The Master huffed a false laugh. "This isn't about fairness. It's about fulfilling your end of the bargain! That portable telepathic dampening field was supposed to be ready before the plans for the satellites were put in production. Dr. Langford was supposed to be my personal assistant in all matters. And we are supposed to be equal partners!"

"We're moving forward on the satellites, the portable telepathic dampening field is close to finished, I haven't pulled Dr. Langford for any other duties save breaking Wooglin in, and we are partners."

"Bullshit!"

"Such language."

"I can say it in several others not of your world if you want. The meaning is the same! You've been using me!"

"As you have been using my hospitality." Again there was a pause. "I don't appreciate your trying to turn my employees."

"Turn your employees into what? Bullfrogs? Newts? Can't turn them into fairy princesses, that's for sure."

"Funny. Very funny. But not the type of thing one would expect from a 'superior being.'" The light darkened slightly. "No. I mean, why are you trying to influence my employees to betray their loyalty to me?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the Master grumbled, resuming his pacing.

"Oh, really. Then what were you saying to Marta Johansen?"

The Gallifreyan frowned in confusion at Lothos' question. He had tried to hypnotize Marta at one time, had spoken to her about the need for her to be loyal to him. But he'd also made sure that Lothos was nowhere near to overhear the conversation... or so he thought. The ever-present nodes were dark at the time. Perhaps someone had overheard his speaking to Marta and conveyed it to Lothos. Or perhaps Marta herself had told the entity if she was strong enough to break his hypnotic influence. Either way, it was a case of his word against someone else's and he wasn't about to allow his work over the last nine months be ruined by some measly little human.

"I've said loads of things to Marta," he answered. "You have to be a little more specific."

"Oh, I can be very specific." A moment later, the screen on the wall in Peri's office lit up, showing the Master speaking towards the audience, relaying the exact words he had spoken to Marta.

The Time Lord swallowed slightly as he watched himself speak, knowing exactly the circumstances and fully aware that it wasn't some false video conjured up by the disembodied entity. "Where did you get that?" he finally asked, forcing himself to remain composed.

"Do you really think I allow these petty humans to maintain their existences totally on their own? They owe me their lives, even their souls, and so I make sure I can see and hear what my property is experiencing whenever there's a significant shift in their physical readings. It was one of the first technologies I discovered in this building."

"They're bugged? You bugged them? All of them?"

"Yes," Lothos answered proudly. "They're bugged and the building's wired to catch them in any situation I may wish to review."

"Does that include Peri?"

"Yes. Of course. She is mine."

The Master decided at that moment that Peri would not be a spy, voluntarily or not, for Lothos. He knew that the megalomaniacal entity wouldn't just free her so he would have to take the matter into his own hands. It wasn't that he really cared about the woman all that much, he told himself. He just really didn't like being spied on, especially when he was trying to take over the world with cunning and deception. He also really disliked the idea of being the star of Lothos' own private pornographic film collection... supposing he had one. But in order to prevent any further interference from meddling computers - highly advanced with human neurons or not - he had to get her away from the building, something he couldn't do at the moment. "I will complete the temporal dampening field myself, Lothos. That way you won't have to use any more of your precious human resources. Just have the current work sent to my lab and I'll obtain what I need from stores. And I want Dr. Langford back in my lab immediately. Have someone else break in Wooglin. I'm sure you have plenty more talented recruiters in your employ."

If the node could have blinked, it would have been doing so now. "You'll complete the dampening..."

"Since you won't do it in a timely manner, yes. I'll do it all, just like I've had to do everything I wish done since I wound up on this backward planet," the Time Lord growled. "And then we can finally get down to the whole reason you pulled me out of the Eye in the first place, namely the promotion of Pi and the eventual taking over of this rat hole."

"Let me point out you have other duties to attend to."

"What duties?" the Gallifreyan asked with sarcasm. "I'm not one of your employees, Lothos. I can do as I please with my time. And with Peri Langford, for that matter, since you made her my personal assistant." He turned to exit the room. "You got a problem with that, tough. I'll be down in my lab."