3. The Master's Apprentice is Tracked Down.
"Where did that dratted companion get to?" the Master storms.
He has lost a few companions recently. The most recent had been called Meran.
As with all of his companions, the Master had given Meran a tracker box. Of course, he didn't tell Meran its true purpose. Just a pretty trinket box! …With a few capabilities to assist being found again.
The Master's Tardis produces a SlintQuake as he lands in a small park at the end of a short road leading to the Town Hall on planet Slint. This is an Earth settlement planet, still in its infancy even after five decades, but then the years are slightly shorter there!
The Master's Tardis is in bad need of maintenance, but it gets him to his destination, and he hardly notices.
The Master steps out of his Tardis holding a tracker box detector. He despises the equipment - it looks so femma, it might fall apart any moment. He walks up the road and approaches a small bungalow. Door-to-door street calls have never been a part of the Master's repertoire. A trash can nearby receives the pitiful detector he has been holding.
A loud booming sound from the door surprises the Master as he knocks on the door. He isn't used to knocking, but it suits his purpose in his surprise entry.
Meran answers the door. Then he wishes he hadn't and tries to close it before the Master gets in. He knows that would be futile and the Master would just blow his door away, maybe his house, too.
The Master faces him in his hallway.
"Ah, Meran," the Master thunders. "You cheated me!"
Meran quakes in his shoes. He knows the Master. To be on the wrong side of the Master has to rank as one of the worst situations in the universe, imminent demise on the event horizon of a Black Hole might be worse. His mouth goes dry, and he certainly can't speak.
"We last saw each other on Earth, in Dresden, you left me in the hands of the Gestapo. You just left; walked out on me!"
Meran can see no possible escape here. The Master fills his hallway with his presence. Meran just wants the Master out of his house, and out of his mind, so that he can lead an ordinary life.
"I do not permit any companion to get away with anything like that," the Master continues. He lowers his voice, but this increases the threatening value. "Now, I will give you a choice of how you will die.
"I think you will agree that both choices are imaginative!" the Master continues. "Firstly, on a lonely, freezing rogue planet with no star. I was left there once. I escaped, but for you there will be no escape!"
The Master pauses for a moment for the full drama of his threat to sink in before he continues, "Or secondly, you will be left lonely on an insignificant planet just before its Sun explodes to become a Red Giant star and almost engulf the planet. Its name is Earth."
Meran has certainly heard of planet Earth. He is Earth descended. In his schooling, he learnt that one day the planet would be almost engulfed by its Sun, four or five billion years in their future. He still can't speak. His mouth is totally dry, his tongue has become swollen and he feels like it almost fills his mouth.
The Master observes Meran. "I see you would prefer Earth? Silly choice! One minor consolation would be that you would rejoin your ancestors as their remains would also be on the planet. I will take you there to die. We will arrive just three minutes before Earth death!"
The Master escorts Meran to his Tardis and he all-too-soon finds they are on the surface of Earth.
There is an observation station called Platform One above Earth for galactic tourists to watch as Planet Earth dies (ref. TV episode "The End of the World"). It is one of many observation platforms.
Aboard the observation station the tannoy system calmly says, "Earth Death in Three Minutes."
As the Master opens his Tardis door, the heat hits them. Meran has a gut feeling that he will be joining his ancestors rather soon.
"Where are we on Earth?" Meran asks, hoping to delay having to go out into the scorching heat.
"This sandy desert used to be Swindon," the Master says. "I won't stay to see your inevitable demise in a few minutes' time when the Sun explodes further to become a Red Giant. The temperatures here will rise to a million degrees in a particularly large Solar Flare," he laughs sonorously. "Cook well!"
But the Master has another purpose to his task here.
The Master returns a phone that Meran was carrying when they first met. The Doctor had upgraded it to make and receive calls across the universe.
With that, Meran exits through the Tardis door in the heat of the Sun. He turns and rattles the door, but it is locked. He moves into the shade from the Master's Tardis. The Sun is now big and red, far bigger and nearer than the Sun on his home planet.
Inside the Tardis, the Master laughs loudly and watches the Console monitor to see what Meran will do. "Welcome back to Earth, Doctor! And your doom!"
Meran phones his friend Ommera to tell her of his plight. "Ommera? the Master has put me on Earth. When? He says three minutes before Earth death, whatever that means."
The phone whistles and the comms break up. The phone screen shows No Signal, then goes black as the electronics fail. The proximity of the solar flare impacts on many systems.
Meran looks hopelessly at his dead phone. What a failure! And what a time for it to fail!
"What does Three minutes before Earth Death mean?" Meran asks himself.
It is certainly uncomfortably hot. The scorching air rasps in his throat as he stands in the shadow of the Master's Tardis.
What can Ommera do?