Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, South Dakota, a sculpture made by Gutzon Borglum and later by his son Lincoln. Four of the US presidents were there in the following order - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
But then the Master had invaded the Earth. During the period of the invasion, the Master hadn't just organised his agents into doing the leg work, he'd created " monuments " of his rule. Statues were made of him as he was at that moment in his life. But the ready made statues - the Nelson memorial statue in Trafalgar Square, London, that now bore the Master's face, so did the Sphinx in Egypt, the Statue of Liberty. Every single major landmark with a face now bore the Master's current face.
Mount Rushmore was no exception.
Martha and Romana had travelled from San Francisco, now they were doing to meet a contact here close by. But they'd arrived early, so they took a look around. Then they saw the faces carved on the mountain.
Romana shook her head at her fellow Time lord's egotism, " Egotist."
Martha pointed at the faces, " Are those the Master's previous regenerations ?"
One face was clearly Harold Saxon's, but two of the faces were bearded, one had a slightly demonic quality about the eyes, the face, even carved in the rock the eyes seemed to burn, almost as if even in spirit it was still powerful. The other bearded face was more….insane, it had a more aristocratic appearance to it, but the madness in the eyes was more pronounced. One of the faces seemed….burnt, the skin was corrugated, and even Martha could see the decay. Martha was sure the Master himself had carved himself into the mountain, he'd certainly caught the insanity for them. The decayed one scared Martha more, one of the eyes seemed half open whilst the other was wide open, and blaring with madness that was immortalised in the rock of the former monument.
Romana caught her looking at it, " Yes, they are the Master's previous regenerations." she pointed at the first face, the one with demonic features, " That one is what the Master was when he first arrived on Earth. He fought the Third Doctor for a long time." she pointed towards the decayed one, " Susan told me about that one. She'd destroyed a device of incredible power, the energy destroyed it, and the Master's body. At that point the Master couldn't regenerate since he'd used his previous lives up."
" Is that what happens to Time lords who're careless with their regenerations ?" Martha asked, turning to face Romana.
Romana sighed, " Put it this way, regeneration is like plastic surgery - albeit, more intense, and it's a natural process. There's no going back with it, every time a Time lord regenerates there's a mental shock because the brain is literally torn apart by energy before being put back together again."
Martha looked away, looking wry, " Humpty dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty dumpty had a great fall. all the kings horses, and all the king's men couldn't put humpty together again."
Romana had heard that one, " Yeah, just like that. That's actually a good and accurate analogy," the Time Lady added, " That's what happens when one of us regenerates too often. It wouldn't surprise me if the Master's passed that point already."
" Who's the second bearded one ?" Martha asked, drawing attention back to the statue.
Romana looked solemn, " That, Martha, used to be another person. Consul Tremas of Traken, to be exact. The Master's regeneration cycle had been exhausted, and he fought the Doctor on Gallifrey, but the energy he gathered wasn't enough, not for a new one. But it was enough to keep him alive long enough to hide near another powerful energy source, and he just bided his time. When his plans were exposed and defeated, the Master stole Tremas' body, killing the man."
" He killed a man for a his body ?" Martha asked in horror.
" Yes. The Master's driven to survive, at any costs. He certainly showed that side during the Time war." Romana added, looking angry.
For the next hour neither spoke, but Romana broke the silence, which surprised Martha. Romana wasn't one to talk often.
" I was a student when the Master first attacked Gallifrey, I told you and Sarah that. The fact he did it made me ill, to think that a member of my race, my society, would freely and happily steal our energy…." Romana shook her head then she carried on, " Some of my friends, typical Time lords now I look back, believed we would be better off if the renegades were hunted down and vaporised. But I didn't agree, I thought there must be something more to the universe than Gallifrey."
" How did you feel when you left ?" Martha asked quietly.
Romana chuckled, " I thought it was exciting, but I heard that I would be travelling with the Doctor. By the time of his second visit the Doctor had attracted quite a lot of attention. Rumours of his deeds circulated around the planet, the way he'd sacrificed his third life to stop the Great one, a giant spider, from mentally controlling the universe…it was incredible that one of our own would do something like that."
Romana took a sip from her flask, " Hearing about these things made many Time lords start to see the universe differently. Let me tell you a story…it was a long time ago…."
"…..when the Doctor was in his third life. He was currently exiled to Earth for interfering in the affairs of other races. He had been finishing off from his first meeting with the Daleks in that body….."
1970s, UNIT H.Q, back in time
The Doctor was sitting alone in the TARDIS lounge. It was the only place he could get any reasonable peace and quiet from people like Jo Grant and the Brigadier. He needed time to think, and to do that he needed to be alone. He needed to wrap his head around the recent events.
The meeting with the Daleks, and seeing what they'd done to the Earth had brought back many memories of the Daleks mainstream invasion of Earth. But seeing those people, old and as young as 3, wearing rags, as thin as rakes, hauling buckets of minerals, being bullied by Human collaborators made him sicker than his first incarnation had when he'd seen the mine in Bedfordshire. The return of the Daleks had shocked the Doctor, but then again his second self shouldn't have written them off during that mess with the humanised Daleks.
The Daleks were like cockroaches, they always came back. They certainly did that with his first life, coming back on Earth, during that Chase from Aridius all the way to Mechanus, that mess with Mavic Chen and the Time destructor. The Doctor needed to make new priorities, first of all he needed to work out a way of restoring his TARDIS back to full working order, which wasn't going to be simple with their programming of the dematerialisation computer, a problem that he'd discovered during that business with the Axons. Ironically, the dematerialisation circuit wasn't an issue anymore, thanks to the Master.
The Doctor made a face at the thought of his old enemy. The Master was presently imprisoned on that island, but the Doctor knew it wouldn't last. The Master was no average criminal, he would find some way of getting out, either by accident or by subterfuge. It would happen, and the Doctor had made it clear to the Brigadier that the Master shouldn't be treated like a common thug, that he was a Time lord, that he could think himself into a plan to get himself out and regain his freedom. As usual, the Brigadier hadn't listened to him, even though he knew enough to know the Doctor was right.
But more pressing was where the Master had hidden his TARDIS. The Doctor had spent 3 weeks searching for it, both in Devils' end and in other places, but he hadn't had much luck. The Doctor hated that aspect about chameleon circuits, they always made it difficult for another Time lord to recognise another of their races time machines.
The Doctor was so engrossed in his troubles that it took him a while to hear the familiar and heartbreaking sound of a TARDIS, only this one was much smoother. The Doctor turned, and saw at once that ridiculous and pompous member of the High council, the one who'd warned him about the Master when the former had arrived on Earth for the first time in time for the second Nestene invasion.
" Ah Doctor, good of you to be present." he smiled, only there was a shadow in his eyes.
The Doctor rubbed a hand over his eyes, " This isn't a good time, you'd have thought being a Time lord would've granted you a sense of timing."
" It's going to have to be, I'm afraid. There won't be any of that - how do those humans say it ? Ah, yes, any chit chat. Another old friend is on Earth."
The Doctor caught the other Time lords face, noting the expression and realising it was far from good news.
" Who is it ?" he asked quietly, images of the Rani or the Meddling Monk springing to mind, but the Time lords reply took him by surprise.
" Athena."
Back in the present.
" Who's Athena ?" Martha asked curiously.
Romana sighed, " Athena was a Time lady, a prodigy. She had incredible mental powers, mathematical prowess that could literally reprogram suns and the cosmos. She'd been locked up, " for her own good " it was said. But people like the Doctor wasn't so sure. It didn't help that her powers changed…."
1970s.
" Athena ?" the Doctor whispered, recalling the quiet and troubled Time lady who'd attended the academy the same time he had. Because he was an outcast as well, they were kindred spirits. But they'd lost track of one another.
" What about her ?" he added to the other.
Without his signature and irritating smirk, the Time lord looked solemn, " She has escaped Gallifrey, Doctor."
" You mean escaped being locked up, called a freak by her own kind, abandoned and alone don't you ?" the Doctor sneered; Athena wasn't like normal Time lords, that was why she'd been abused for so long. Instead of having a TARDIS, Athena could literally cross the distance with her mind, something the Time lords had been trying to gain for centuries, but the Doctor somehow knew it wouldn't happen. He knew when something was best left alone, but it was a pity the other Time lords couldn't see that.
Athena's mental abilities were also beyond amazing and bordered dangerously close to dangerous, she could literally shatter moons, cause solar storms, accelerate time around herself. The Doctor had lost track of Athena years ago, but he'd tried looking for her because she hated Gallifrey, more than he had. She hated the Time lords for what they'd done to her, for never leaving her alone. All Athena wanted, truly wanted, was to be left alone, to have a nice and quiet life somewhere else. But the Time lords still persecuted her, more than they did him.
The Time lord wasn't having that, " Now see here -"
" No, you see here, you listen to me, Athena is harmless when left alone, I tried arguing that case, but the council wouldn't listen to me. She's running because she's frightened. Why can't you simply leave her alone ?"
The Time lord ignored the question, and carried on as if he hadn't been interrupted, " Athena is on Earth, Doctor. She knows you're here. When she makes contact, call us and we shall take care of it."
" Why should I do that ?" the Doctor asked.
The Time lord smiled, " Because if you don't, then your freedom will never be restored."
" Maybe Athena and I will travel together. She has that ability." the Doctor informed him. " Don't ever bribe me with my freedom again, "
With the smile still on his face, the Time lord told him, " Athena may not be in any condition for that, Doctor. Her powers are killing her."
" How ?" the Doctor breathed.
" We don't know."
The Doctor had been around Time lords long enough to know when they lied, and this one was, besides he wasn't very good at it.
" What did the council have those scientists do to her ?" he asked. " Tell me !"
The Time lord didn't reply, instead he disappeared. The Doctor cursed.
The Brigadier walked into the lab the next morning, followed by Captain Yates, a sheaf of folders in her arms, " Doctor, we've just got a report of strange creatures attacking people in London,"
The Doctor looked up from his work, " What kind of creatures ?"
Ever since the visit from the Time lord, the Doctor had started paying more and more attention to anything abnormal.
" That's just it, we don't know. There was no warning, but there was a small report of a woman being harassed because of her strange clothes.
" Strange clothes ? Do you have a description, or at least a picture ?" the Doctor asked frantically.
Surprised, the Brigadier turned to Captain Yates, who was just as surprised, " Show him the picture, Captain."
Yates handed the Doctor a photograph. It was quite grainy, but the Doctor could see that it was enough. The woman was dressed in long, flowing robes of what he could tell in a black and white photo as scarlet robes. He also recognised the pattern.
Yates couldn't help but comment, " Strange outfit."
That comment was enough to set the Doctor off, " Captain Yates, those are Time lord robes. That woman is a Time lady from my planet. And If I were you, I'd keep your stupid Human comments to yourself. Athena deserves more than that ? Where is she ?"
" Athena ? You mean you know her ?" the Brigadier asked, taken aback by the vehemence from the Doctor.
The Doctor closed his eyes, " Yes, I do. She attended the same academy I did when we were younger. Where is she ?"
Yates, still reeling from his telling off, cleared his throat, " We didn't get a positive report, but she's said to be in Tower hill."
" How do you know this woman, Doctor ?" the Brigadier asked as he, the Doctor, Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates sat in a UNIT jeep, speeding all the way to Tower hill.
The Doctor sighed, " Like I said Brigadier, me and Athena attended the Time lord academy on Gallifrey. We were outcasts, not seen as true members of our race."
" Why not ?"
" It's complicated," The Doctor said in a drop it voice. But the Brigadier wanted answers. The Doctor admitted, " Me and Athena….we weren't like the rest of our people. We weren't interested in sitting back and letting everything come to us. We wanted change, especially Athena. The way her instructors treated her…..she was gifted, I can tell you that, but she didn't really care about learning. But somehow she was able to pass her examinations. But her mental abilities enabled her to do things no one else could."
" Why would she be outcast for that ?" Yates asked.
" Why do humans shun people for unusual talents ?" the Doctor shot back, " The more advanced a culture, the more prejudicial it becomes. The Time lords have been the same for ten million years, which is how long they've been around, keeping an eye on everything."
" Ten million…." the Brigadier was staggered by the figure.
The Doctor nodded at him, understanding his disbelief. He could scarcely believe it himself at times. But he changed the subject back to Athena.
" Athena can rewrite reality, time, space and matter, its all hers to control. The Time lords can do that, but with technology, not the mind. She was considered a freak back home, it didn't help matters that certain people experimented on her for their own ends."
" Experimented ? Your people would do that ?" the Brigadier asked in horror, sympathy for this woman filling him.
The Doctor sighed, " The High council denied it, but I know them better than they think. The double dealing back stabbers…."
It took another 20 minutes before the jeep arrived at the destination. And they all noticed the differences. Tower hill now looked grander, almost as if someone had replaced the monument with a medieval castle out of their own fantasies. What looked like dragons were over flying the tallest tower, with dark grey clouds overhead. It reminded the UNIT people of the fairy tales they'd heard when they were children. The Doctor noticed that the police and even some soldiers were holding people back.
The Doctor shook his head in bemusement as he studied the new additions, " Typical Athena, she always one for mythology."
" How do we get there ?"
The Doctor looked the Brigadier straight in the eye, " No, I am going in there. Athena knows me, and she knows I wont hurt her. If you go in there with big booted soldiers, then the results will be severe. I mean it Brigadier, Athena is like a child. But I can help her."
Almost on cue, a dragon came swooping down and breathed fire all over the place. But the flames didn't even reach the ground. Of all the UNIT people, only the Doctor wasn't surprised. Nor was he startled by the dragon landing in front of him, and speaking to him.
" Come to me, Doctor."
The dragon bent its head down and the Doctor got on its back before anyone could stop him.
As the dragon flew, the Doctor had to admit he was amazed by the way the creature, illusion or not, flew with beating wings, and yet there was little or no sensation.
The dragon deposited him in what looked like a park, with a swing and a slide. A woman wearing long robes was sitting on the swing, her eyes wide and slightly mad under the power she held inside her.
The Doctor walked over to her, pity filling him. Athena looked like she was on the verge of collapse, she looked physically sick, and the scope of the reality illusion around him was breathtaking.
" Doctor." Athena said in greeting, her voice trembling under the power of her mind.
" Athena," the Doctor said neutrally with pity lacing his tone, knowing his old friend was reading his mind, but he wasn't going to try and block her, not when she had the power to shred his mind to ribbons and then shred them again.
" Did you like my dragon ?" Athena asked, smiling like a childlike adult.
" I enjoyed the ride, thank you. What did they do to you ?" the Doctor asked, hoping to find out what the Time lords had done this time.
Athena was silent for a moment, her bulging eyes narrowing in both anger and fear, " They wired me into a TARDIS matrix, hoping to use the matrix to contain my powers making it easier for them to experiment on me. It didn't work as they'd hoped, they were too arrogant. I absorbed the matrix in my brain, doubling the strain already on my mind. I spent the last year trying to control it."
" You know you can't do that," the Doctor protested, " The TARDIS matrix is 11 dimensional, the power would not just kill you, it would overwhelm you."
" They knew that, but they didn't care. They weren't helping me, really. They were turning me into a weapon, Rassilon knows whyyyyy !" she finished with a cry, golden light escaping from her mouth. The Doctor moved forward, racking his mind for any clue of how he could help her, but he came up with nothing.
" Stay back !" Athena choked out, more artron energy leaving her body.
Still choking, Athena shook her head, " I'm dying, Doctor. There's nothing you or I can do about that. Frankly, I don't want to be saved."
" You can't mean that !" the Doctor snapped, hating the Time lords for the evil they'd put her through, but knowing there was nothing he could do.
Athena sent him a look, and the Doctor quieted.
" Don't be naïve, you know I'm dying. Frankly I'm tired, tired of life and being hurt and hunted by the Time lords, my own race and being shunned by everyone, including my family. I'm tired of it Doctor, I can't go on." tears trickled down her face.
" But you can't die," the Doctor insisted, hoping to change her mind. But he knew it wouldn't happen.
Athena closed her eyes, allowing more tears too be squeezed out, " I can't go on." she repeated, before opening her eyes.
" I suppose they told you, my powers are killing me. My brain is shutting down under the stress, we weren't meant to do this, the adding that matrix to my troubles makes things worse. I can't regenerate, my body energy's burnt out and added onto my pain."
The Doctor shook his head, knowing he couldn't win.
" What do you want me to do ?"
" Sit with me," more tears from the Time lady. " I'm scared."
Athena conjured another swing, and the Doctor sat down on it, finally realising why his old friend was conjuring so more and altering reality. She was trying to commit suicide.
The Doctor accepted the reality he could do nothing, so he held out his hand, offering it towards Athena. The Time lady stared at it before giving her own hand over to him.
On the outside, everyone saw the tower return to normal, the dragons and ominous clouds vanish. Every change, every creature that Athena had created had faded.
The Brigadier was about to order them to storm the place, when Benton pointed, " Look sir. It's the Doctor."
It was indeed the Doctor, the Brigadier saw, recognising the cape. He was carrying a woman, wearing long flowing red robes.
The Doctor's face was sorrowful.
It didn't get any better, the Brigadier was outside UNIT HQ, watching the Doctor as he set fire to the pyre he'd built for Athena. When the Time lord walked back over to him, the Brigadier asked.
" Why burn her body ? We could've buried her."
The Doctor shook his head, " No, a Time lord body's a miracle. There are empires out there," he added looking up into the starry sky. " that would tear a planet like this for one cell. I'm not letting that happen to Athena."
The Brigadier went silent when he saw the Doctor's resolve.
Back in the present.
" The Time lords weren't happy when they heard about Athena, but there was nothing that they could do about it." Romana said, gazing into Martha's brown orbs. " He never found out the full extent of the experiments carried out on Athena."
Martha shuddered, wondering how any one from a supposedly civilised race could do that. As she did she wondered about the Master, and his role in the War with the Daleks. The Time lords seemed prone to prejudice and making mistakes that were costly.
She only hoped this latest one with the Master wouldn't kill her race.