25. Earth Death in Three Minutes.
1. The Master's Anger.
The Master is in his Tardis Control room. The Control room is a dull, uninteresting light grey. It hasn't been repaired or cleaned in years; unless he makes his Tardis look like something else, but even then the dust lies thick in the corners and the need for repairs is still very apparent.
He is waiting for a message that an unknown person has told him would be of interest. He drums his fingers on the console. "I hate waiting. I hate being kept waiting." His impatience is increasingly evident as he thumps his Tardis Console!
A light starts flashing on the Console indicating an incoming communications message.
He reaches across and presses a button to receive the message.
A Dalek voice is heard. It taunts him. "Do you remember Gallifrey, you spent so much effort destroying it?" The Dalek voice laughs at him. "You re-used some of the population as super Cybermen who could regenerate. That's all gone. Wiped out with your particle bomb. You wiped out your own invention!" More laughing is heard, taunting him. (Ref. TV episode "The Timeless Children".)
The Master winces at the taunt. Maybe it was partly taunting at an early age that had taught him to hate? It certainly wouldn't do any good!
The Dalek laughs at him. "Gallifrey is restored! You can't even destroy your own planet properly when you intend to!"
"Restored?" the Master yells. "In what way is it restored? I left it in devastation. Ruins! Nothing lived!"
The Dalek laughs again, this time more sardonically, much to the Master's disgust, indicating the Master's intention has not perpetuated as he would have expected. "Ha, Ha! Rebuilt. And we can't get near it!" This is more to the point. This must be why the Daleks are telling him this.
The Master thumps the communications button. The communication ends instantly. The button has had enough and lets the Master know that it didn't appreciate being thumped yet again by pinging off to a recess somewhere, under all the accumulated dust.
The Master is furious. Gallifrey has been restored? Rebuilt? "I must see this for myself."
He plans to go on an ordinary, low key, visit in his Tardis. Just to see the ruins...
The Time Vortex takes his Tardis to Gallifrey, but as it starts to materialise a new force grips it. He is flattened against the floor as his Tardis is accelerated with a massive repulsion force.
After what seems like an eternity, the acceleration diminishes. The Master stands up and inspects his bruises. An alarm is sounding as he approaches the Console.
The speed is said to be near the speed of light! "Why?" the Master cries out. (Ref. 16.)
Gallifrey has certainly kicked him out! If he paused to think about it he might recognise cause and effect. After all, he destroyed Gallifrey, why shouldn't they kick him out...
The Daleks have learnt that laughing at people can goad them into doing silly things that the Daleks can then take advantage of. They don't have much humour themselves, though. Here, they are hoping that the Master will break into Gallifrey for them.
What is happening on Gallifrey? (Ref. 9.)