Day 121

There are good days, ...

ooo

"Master?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Have you ever been at the rooftop of VOR's building?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

ooo

"Stars, it's beautiful here!"

"It's average."

"Oh, come on, Master. Why would like to stay indoors, when we have such nice weather? Sun, light wind, blue sky..."

"Which surprisingly matches to your dress."

"It was unintentional!" she objected. "Tell yourself what you want, you were staring at laptop for hours and practically begging for a distraction. (Yyyy, your eyes are red from that work) So, you have it, sit next to me and relax."

Master sighed, but took his place next to Doctor on small bench. The time lord would never admit it aloud, but he really needed a few minutes of peace, plus - his female companion seemed also overjoyed by the change of scenery and oblivious that he was watching her.

"Why are wearing it?"

"Huh?"

"Your earning." Master traced with his fingers the jewellery on her ear. "I don't recall that you have ever had it in any of your past regeneration."

"I like it (Probably, it's style of my current self)."

"Really?" he looked at Doctor not convinced. "It isn't a tracker, I've checked it. It isn't a bomb or a gun, because that wouldn't be you. If you ask me - It'd be a great hideout for poison... Or is it a camera? Or some recording device?"

"No, no way, never, no and no. Wait a minute, you were also found of jewellery. The reason is the same."

"If you mean Saxon's ring..."

"All right, I see that for you everything must be practical."

"In our job, it certainly must, Doctor."

"But some things are just nice and simple. No hidden motives, no lies. Only the pure form. They deserve our admiration, don't you agree?"

"Maybe."

"See?" she smiled.

"Still. You may install there a hidden camera. It would be very useful."

They giggled. Neither of them noticed, when both time lords joined their hands.

Day 123

... but there are also very bad days.

ooo

"Where is the breakfast?" Doctor asked, while entering the kitchen and sitting opposite of Master at the table.

"It will be delivered soon."

"I'd like pancakes with a lots of strawberry jam and... WHAT... WHO IS THIS!?"

"Great," Master complained. "you've broken your plate, glasses and you've made mess on the table. I hope that you''ll clean it later."

"She..." Doctor pointed at the young woman, who appeared in the room, carrying a tray with sandwiches and cups of coffee.

"It." Master corrected. "Relax, it's just a Serve-R, it has brought our food."

"But... but ..."

"Yes, it's a converted human in white uniform. Calm down, put the chair at its place and sit down. Good. Questions?"

"..."

"The Doctor in shock, that's a delightful view in the morning." He showed his teeth. "But surely, you should have realised that we couldn't just store them and leave standing in the dark. Especially, when our subjects don't need to eat, sleep or get sick. Sever-Rs are capable of doing simple tasks like preparing the food and so on. Moreover, they can work in factories of our choice (When they're uploaded with sufficient program)." The devil leaned in her direction. "Do you know that each of them is connected to VOR's network? Thanks to that they can quickly process our wishes or locate a particular wayward employee. However, all within a reason and if a person has adequate accesses. Of course, you have none."

"Serve-R?"

"Yep, the name not fancy enough? I may need to think about new one." Master sipped his coffee. "All right, it's time when you say 'there are people, not some servers.' No? Nothing?"

"It's Yaz's sister."

"Is she? What a funny coincident."

ooo

They're everywhere. They are cleaning the floor in the main corridor, repairing broken CCTV in the building or provide refreshments.

It was too much. Doctor could barely concentrate and was only following Master where needed - VOR's headquarters, elevator, meeting room, corridor, staircase. Serve-Rs became a new addition to the lifeless environment on Earth. Fortunately, her jailer decided to have their apartment empty. Before she noticed, it was already the late evening and the time lady was very cold. Maybe because of that she was standing in front of him in only her underwear?

"It was Sonya. Yaz' sister." Doctor 'woke up', while laying on the bed and having Master kissing her spine. "My friends, do they know?"

"No."

He eyed her with this specific glare, which promoted an adequate response if she wanted to spare Yaz, Ryan and Graham from knowing the truth.

"Thank you."

Day 124

"What are you doing, Doctor? It's 2 am."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Sitting alone in the living room won't help. Next time switch on the light. I wouldn't want to kill you by accident."

"You could have brought anyone." her voice was raspy, probably due to hours of crying. "Millions of people... you chose Sonya on the purpose. Why?"

"Because you can't forget your role, doll."

"It's not just her, do you realise how many familiar faces I saw in the building!?" Master forced her to stand up. "Ouch, that hurts!"

"And I have a few more hidden in cupboard!" he shook the time lady by her shoulders "Don't push it and behave! Or would you like me to drag you to bedroom and explain everything once again? On top of it, do you want Sonya to visit her sister? Better, maybe I could organize a meeting with Kasaavin or Barton? They would be so thrilled to have you alone for a few hours. I can also play with one of your converter pets. What do you say, Doctor?"

She could get angry, stay silent, demand to set people free, point that he was wrong and his plan was full of flaws... In the end, Doctor had only one solution, which wouldn't make the situation worse - She let her body become weak and curled on the floor.

"I'm tired." Master stated after a long minute. "If you want to mop here, then do as you wish. I'm going to sleep."

When he was gone, at last Doctor allowed herself to sit up and brush all tears from her face. The day was awful, however it was clear for her that the whole project with Serve-Rs appeared also to remind Master that he couldn't afford himself to have a good day.

Day 127

Furthermore, there are days, which are hard to differentiate.

ooo

I'm sure, Doctor thought, that it should be dark in the middle of night and I should be dreaming about yellow-pinkish daleks playing in the golf... Or something like that. Did Master forget to switch off the light? The time lady opened her eyes and raised the head from pillow. No, he didn't.

"Master, Master wake up!" she shook his arm.

"What...?"

"Did you see it?"

"Yes, a Kasaavin. Have you recognized which one of them it was?"

"No, it vanished too quickly. What was he doing in our bedroom?" Master didn't reply. "Please don't lie down now. It's serious, are they watching you? Is it me? Has something wrong happened?"

"Hush, all is fine." he said, while making Doctor put her cheek against his chest. "Rest."

The time lord may avoid commenting the precarious topic, but she audibly heard that his two hearts were beating too rapidly for 'normal' circumstances.