Chapter Twenty-One
The Doctor, his finger poised and ready above the override switch, gave his familiar crooked smile.
"Fell for the old fake robot double bluff ploy. I'm surprised at you."
The Master eyed him from across the room as if he were a loose animal. Not a savage, dangerous animal, but one which might still give a nasty bite if not treated carefully.
"I was given to understand you'd regenerated."
"Yes, I know. Otherwise you'd have been more cautious about accepting that I was a broken android copy of my former self. A couple of strategically placed fireworks in the stitching of my coat was all it took to complete the effect."
The Master nodded thoughtfully.
"Good move, Doctor, good move. My foolish minions even carried you in past all the security screens. But unless I'm mistaken you've not had time to release the computer from my influence, so all this ingenuity has done you little good. Granted, you've freed the energy flow override, but let's talk sensibly. You're not really going to blow up this base and everyone in it."
"Why not? Better than letting you stay in control and use it to kill millions."
The Master nodded with a mocking little smile.
"Yes, yes. Very rational. Very utilitarian. But that's not you, is it Doctor? You can't look into the eyes of your friends while they are consumed by flames. You will always let these chances pass and search for a solution which hurts no one. This is why you lose."
The Doctor's smile faded and the tip of his long finger tapped the switch.
"Well, I do have another solution. One that hurts no one."
The Master looked politely interested.
"I'm all ears."
The Doctor leaned forward, a fresh intensity in his voice.
"Come with us! Travel in the TARDIS. Help us!"
Alison stared. This was a trick, surely? He wouldn't really? Not after... She looked at the Doctor's thin, serious face and her certainty wobbled. She tried to visualise them travelling with this man, pretending everything was the way it had been the day before, knowing he could turn on them any time he chose.
A low chuckle swirled round the room as the Master shook his head.
"This is your proposal? That I should take the android's place as your watchdog and lackey? Is this a joke? Did you seriously anticipate my enthusiastic acceptance?"
"Think about it." There was a note of pleading in the Doctor's voice. "Why do you do the things you do? Isn't it for the challenge? For the puzzle? For the achievement? That's what I'm offering you, the chance to pit your wits against the most dangerous enemies in the universe. Don't you want to prove you're cleverer than the Sontarans? Won't that be more satisfying than cruising around victimising helpless little primitive planets? And what's more, you won't have to do it alone, we can do it together and squabble about the best way. It'll be interesting, it'll be unpredictable. It'll be fun!"
The Master had listened closely, his smile remaining but a little of the scorn fading away. When the Doctor done he shifted on his feet and did not reply immediately. When he did, his voice was quiet.
"Ah, Doctor. You're a clever man and you make a good argument. I might even be tempted but for one thing. I don't think I could bear to see the look of triumph on your face if I accepted, nor your look of paternal pride whenever I did something you considered good. No. All things considered, I think I'm happier as I am."
The Doctor's head lowered a little, his lips souring.
"You've chosen death."
"A threat, Doctor?"
"That's not what I meant."
The Master gave a condescending little roll of his eyes and shrugged the matter away.
"Moving on, then. My proposal is that you and your friends depart the installation and let me get on with what I'm doing. You will, at least, preserve your own lives, and may make a second attempt to stop me if you choose."
"Mm, and I'm sure you'd keep your word and let us leave after I took my finger off this button."
The Master smiled, relishing the stand-off.
"You have no option."
The Doctor paused, then glanced over the Master's shoulder where his companions stood pinned in the doorway. Alison met his eyes and read the question there. She nodded without thinking.
"Do it, Doctor, Wipe the smirk off his face."
"Yes, do it!" Tom agreed with passion. "You must stop these demons!"
"Better anything than let the terra-forming begin again," Nestor chipped in. "Oh, yes, better anything. That shouldn't be done here, definitely not."
The Doctor looked directly at the Master and smiled, a lively energy coming to his features.
"You see? This is why you lose."
His palm slammed down on the switch and the room shook, the lights intensifying to a dazzling glare. The artificially generated young women grasping the prisoners stiffened and then melted away like mist into the air. The metal floor plates rumbled under their feet and a thrumming roar shivered through the entire structure. Alison felt her very bones tremble and her stomach lurch with the intense vibrations running through her body.
The Master sighed lightly, a self-mocking irony in his gleaming eyes, and spoke with a nod which was almost a little bow.
"Interesting choice, Doctor, and one which I shall leave you to make the best of. Farewell. I hope and trust we will meet again."
He slipped away through a narrow side door with such polished stealth that he was gone before Alison was aware he was moving. She shook herself into action and ran to the Doctor's side.
"Where's he off to? Should we get after him?"
The Doctor had barely glanced at the Master's exit and was already leaning forward over the control panel, his eyes intent on the data swirling over the flickering, buzzing monitor.
"Oh, knowing him he memorised the location of the escape pods as soon as he arrived. We can't worry about him now."
"Is this place really going to blow up?"
"Mm." He nodded thoughtfully. "It's likely. Nestor!"
He beckoned the little man to his side.
"I need you to be ready with the restart codes for the system, understand?" The Doctor spoke sharply, not looking round, his fingers starting to crawl across the controls. "A split second late, and people for miles around will be picking bits of us out of their hair."
Nestor's mouth formed a circular "O" of concern and Alison swallowed worriedly. The thought that her survival was dependent on the memory and reaction time of this permanently bewildered little professor wasn't a happy one. She stood alongside Tom, who watched with a fixed expression of tightly-wound fear, almost envying his total lack of understanding of the peril they faced.
But the Doctor didn't flinch or hesitate. His quickened breathing was just barely perceptible in the rise and fall of his coat lapels as he spoke quiet, calm instructions to Nestor, his fingers a blur on the controls. Nestor seemed to draw strength from him and after a stumbling start he started to operate separate panels with some assurance, speeding up, even a trace of a smile on his face as his recollection of how to do this flooded back to him. The noise and vibration built steadily, individual instruments and controls bursting into spitting flame as they overloaded, but the work didn't cease. Alison felt the floor tremble under her boots until she was sure it would cave in beneath her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then, hardly daring to believe it, felt the vibrations subside, just a little. The noise faded, the room settled, the painful brightness of the readouts in the control panels dimmed to normal.
Wisps of smoke rose from the machinery in the room. The Doctor stood back from the controls and straightened his coat. He looked over at her primly.
"I wasn't worried. Who said I was?"