Part Sixteen – The Dream Lord

Soundtrack:

"Torchwood Nightmares" - Deceptive Dreams by Epic Score

~Torchwood~

"Okay, now this is getting ridiculous," Viera muttered as she dragged her mind back into a wakeful state. "Dreams within dreams within dreams. What did you knock me out with?"

The guards on either side of the door in front of her didn't reply. They didn't react at all, in fact, even when she started testing the straps that trapped her against an upright platform. She had been captured along with the Doctor and Saxon when they landed on Earth by a bunch of stiff-necked military types who were claiming to be the new Torchwood. They hadn't seemed interested in Amy and Rory, so at least those two had gotten away. It was too bad that Saxon had already been transferred to a new body- and a Time Lord one at that- or else he might have escaped too.

Whatever gas Torchwood had used to knock them out must have been something else because Viera's drugged sleep had been full of unusually vivid dreams. They were fading beneath the harsh, bright lights of the laboratory she found herself in.

"Where'd you take the others?" she asked. She got the silence she expected in reply and tried once more to wriggle enough to loosen even one of the straps before she gave it up as impossible and started looking for another way out. The guards were the only option she could think of, and neither of them seemed likely to be sympathetic. "Why am I here? You can't just kidnap someone without consequences. I'm an American citizen." No response, not even annoyance. "Don't I at least get a phone call? A lawyer? You know we've worked with Torchwood before. If you would just call Jack-"

The door slid open as she was talking. The man who walked in was dressed exactly as she would expect an agent in a secretive military organization to dress.

"Our branch does not answer to Jack Harkness," the man said, derision dripping from his tone. "No do we 'work with' non-human entities. As far as we are concerned, those two aliens are trespassing on our planet and must be made an example of. And you- Well, you're a bit more interesting aren't you?"

He'd walked closer as he was talking, and the way he was looking at her made her skin crawl.

"You might actually prove helpful. You see, the reason we've had so much trouble with invasions in the past is that our technology has simply not been as advanced as the aliens'. Our weapons don't have enough energy output to allow us to go toe to toe with them. But I believe that you can change that."

"You want me to help you make stronger weapons?" Viera asked skeptically. "That's not really my sort of thing."

"Oh, we don't need you to volunteer," he said with a slow, sly smile. "We just need you to survive long enough to be useful. See, we built this facility over a natural phenomenon. A tiny wormhole in the fabric of reality. There's something similar in Cardiff."

The rift, Viera thought, her heart sinking. Oh, I don't like the sound of this.

"Now this phenomenon gives off massive amounts of power- just the sort of thing we need to power the next generation of weapons- but the energy isn't in a form we can use. Our equipment burns out too quickly. Which is where you come in."

"I can't do anything with the energy from the rift," Viera said. "I can't handle it any more than your machines."

"Oh, I don't think that's true. See, this platform is part of a much bigger machine. When the rift energy passes through you, it will feed into the equipment at more manageable levels and then into power cells we can actually use," the agent- or mad scientist- said, gesturing to the thick bundles of cables that stretched above the platform and disappeared into the ceiling. Then he shrugged, smiling again with cold, cold eyes. "Admittedly, it will still eventually kill you, but you can die at peace with the knowledge that you are helping to defend your home world."

"You- You're mad. You can't seriously-" Viera started, but the agent wasn't listening. He was already walking towards the massive computer that took up one whole wall of the room. Viera felt a flicker of deja vu, then the agent hit a switch. The power of a rift flooded through her and there was no room to feel anything but the burning flood.

"These are the precious humans you fought for so hard?" Saxon asked the Doctor. The Master jerked against the straps that held him down; his glittering eyes followed the scientists that were setting up for whatever experiment they had in mind for them. "These are the people you risked your lives so many times to save?"

The Doctor had no answer to that. Sometimes he loved humans, their vast potential, their curiosity and wonder, but there were other times he wondered why he ever bothered returning to Earth. Still, he had more important things to worry about than the Master's taunting questions. It didn't bode well that they had been separated as soon as they arrived at the facility.

"Where is Viera?" he asked, his voice and expression entirely without even a glimmer humor. "What have you done with her?"

"That's no concern of yours," one of the scientists said. They converged around the two Time Lords, setting electrodes in place on their chests and IV needles into their arms. They were careful not to meet the Master's eyes, and the Doctor wondered just how much they knew about what he could do. "We have other matters to focus on."

"Like what?" Saxon drawled, clearly unimpressed.

"Like your physiology. It really is quite remarkable. Two hearts. A respiratory system capable of complete bypass, if I'm not mistaken," another scientist mused, studying the results of a scan on one of the computer screens. "We can learn a lot from you. And there's no better way than finding out how your systems react to stress and adrenaline. If we can learn to make ourselves more efficient, there will be no end to what we can accomplish."

"Don't be ridiculous. If you want to learn things, you ask questions," the Doctor said.

"Oh no," the scientist agreed, calm and cold even as he smiled. "We would have to be able to trust you not to lie, and we can't do that. Besides, there's just no substitute for doing things yourself. Let's begin, shall we?"

It was not a pleasant experience for either Time Lord, but worse- at least for the Doctor- was the moment that they heard a scream from outside their laboratory, muffled by the closed door. It could have been someone else, anyone else, but somehow the Doctor knew who it belonged to.

"Viera," he hissed through gritted teeth. He struggled to focus on the strap he'd been working at through the haze of the adrenaline the scientists had pumped into his system. His hearts were racing dangerously fast. "Stop. Whatever you're doing to her, stop it!" he shouting at the scientists in sudden fury. He forced down the emotion- or tried to- but it was impossible to sound anything resembling calm. "Leave her alone. She's one of you. She's human!"

But they ignored him, all of them. The only answer he got was the Master's low, laughing derision.

"Your precious humans. Still think they're worth it? Everything you risked for them?"

The Doctor never got the chance to answer. It was almost a relief when birdsong swept through the room and drowned out the sound of screaming.