Chapter XCVI
Martha
Martha entered the laboratory again, absolutely stunned by what she had just seen. Him holding her hands like that, kissing them, that was not what you did with a friend – but with a lover. So they actually were together? But Mira would have told her, wouldn't she? There she thought they were getting closer, but obviously, she had been wrong.
"You're alright?" Jack asked quietly bending his head from behind over her shoulder, making her jump.
"I'm fine," she said, trying to sound as if in fact nothing was wrong.
"But where's the Doctor though? Thought you asked him to come back in?"
"Yes, but.. well, seems they're busy," this time she couldn't help to sound how she was feeling: pissed.
Essentially, it was none of her business. But Mira could have really told her that they were together. Or that she had a crush on him. Wouldn't have been a big deal, would it?
"Oh," Jack said and, now that he had walked around her, looked at her compassionately. "You too? It sucks, I know."
They looked at each other for a moment until she heard the door opening. The Doctor stepped in, followed by Mira. She saw how the other woman quickly averted her eyes as she looked at her. At least that much decency she had left, she thought. She really should have said a word. Just one word, then she would have stopped flirting with him, stopped hoping he would, at some point, finally recognise her and most of all she wouldn't feel that stupid now.
"Ah, Doctor!" Yana said, "It looks like they found this blue box of yours."
Though there was no need to actually point it out as they had already put the TARDIS in the laboratory on Jack's request.
"Brilliant!" the Doctor yelled and patted the wooden hull affectionately. "Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out. Extra power. Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro feeds."
All eyes were on Yana now, but from the looks of it the old man hadn't heard a thing. His eyes were distant and he was holding his head with one hand.
"Chan Professor, are you all right tho?" Chantho finally asked and approached him.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Just get on with it," Yana waved her concerns aside.
Probably he was just tired she thought. It was a lot of work for someone of his age, and who knew for how many weeks and month, or even years now.
"Connect those circuits into the spar, same as that last lot. But quicker," Jack said, preventing her from thinking about Yana any longer – and about the Doctor and Mira.
"Oh, yes, sir," she replied and walked over to another one of the circuit racks.
Chantho followed to help her, but as they started working, her attention was drawn to Yana again.
"You don't have to keep working. We can handle it," the Doctor said to him quietly.
"It's just a headache. It's just, just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head," Yana replied.
"What sort of noise?"
"It's the sound of drums. More and more, as though it's getting closer."
"When did it start?"
"Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour. Still, no rest for the wicked," Yana replied and got back to work again, ending the conversation.
" How long have you been with the professor?" she turned to Chantho.
"Chan seventeen years tho."
"Blimey. A long time," she replied, and, coming to think about it, almost her whole life so far.
"Chan I adore him tho."
"Oh right, and he-"
"Chan I don't think he even notices tho."
"Tell me about it," she mumbled.
Seems it was the same everywhere. The poor assistant, never seen, but doing most of the work. Well, the actual work, not so much the thinking. And seventeen years? Was that where she was seeing herself in seventeen years from now on? Still travelling with the Doctor, him never seeing her?
"Chan but I am happy to serve tho," Chantho replied.
Well, maybe it was enough for Chantho, but not for herself. And with that it was end of topic, at least for her. They continued with more lighter talk, mainly evolving around Chantho's weird speech-patterns. Then, finally, they were finished. She was just about to ask for more work, when one of the screens lit up. She walked over to it, peering at it from the side, standing next to Yana.
"Systems are down. Professor, are you getting me?" a man named Atillo, according to the writing on the screen, asked.
"I'm here! We're ready!" Yana replied. "Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch."
But before Atillo could answer, his face disappeared and was replaced by static noise.
"God sake!" Yana swore. "This equipment. Needs rebooting all the time."
"Anything I can do?" she asked. "I've finished that lot."
"Yes, if you could," Yana said and pointed at the keyboard. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes."
"Certainly, sir. Just don't ask me to do shorthand," she replied.
"Are you still there?" Atillo asked, his face back on the screen.
"Ah, present and correct. Send your man inside," Yana said. "We'll keep the levels down from here."
Levels? Levels of what, she thought. Sounded dangerous enough though, so probably some sort of radiation.
Next they could watch a guy in a protective suit entering the chamber with the couplings.
"Where is that room?" the Doctor asked, peering over her shoulder.
"It's underneath the rocket," Yana explained. "Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet? Never heard of it," the Doctor replied.
"You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here," Yana said, but just at this very moment an alarm sounded. "It's rising. Naught point two. Keep it level!" Yana yelled, his head turned to Jack.
"Yes, sir," Jack replied.
She watched how the man in the chamber, bathed in red light as if to emphasise just how dangerous it was in there, finished with the second coupling. Suddenly the lights flickered, and a few terminals rebooted.
"Chan we're losing power tho!"
"Radiation's rising!" the Doctor, who had rushed over to another terminal, yelled.
"We've lost control!" Jack said.
"Jack, override the vents!" the Doctor yelled.
But it was too late. They all could see on the screen how the protective suit suddenly dropped to the floor, as if it was empty – the poor guy had just gotten disintegrated. She just stood there in shock for a moment – how could that be? She knew a bit about radiation sickness, but she had never heard that something like this could happen that fast – he had been fine a few seconds ago.
"We can jump start the override!" Jack yelled, and as she turned her head to him he was already holding the ends of two live cables.
"Don't! It's going to flare!" the Doctor tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Jack had already connected both endings, resulting in a flash of blue light, electrocuting him. He instantly fell to the floor, most likely dead. She rushed over to him, at first not even realising that she didn't pay attention to the still live cables.
"I've got him," she said and tried to find a pulse.
"Chan don't touch the cables tho," Chantho said and carefully put them aside, giving her a moment of shock at the prospect of almost having electrocuted herself out of carelessness.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Yana said as she started with resuscitation – again. Poor Jack.
"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" the Doctor said, just standing behind her and not helping – again.
"Without the couplings, the engines will never start. It was all for nothing," Yana replied.
"Oh, I don't know. Martha, leave him," the Doctor said and grabbed her arms from behind.
"You've got to let me try," she said. "What's the matter with you today?"
"Come on, come on, just listen to me," he said and pulled her away from Jack. "Now leave him alone." He finally let go of her and turned to Yana. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Well..."
Just then Jack gasped and returned to life – again. She jumped, but then she could do nothing but stare at him in amazement, a smile on her face.
"I think I've got just the man," the Doctor completed his sentence.
"Was someone kissing me?" Jack breathed and looked around.
Oh well, she certainly wouldn't mind kissing him.
Doctor
He rushed into the control room next to the chamber with the couplings, closely followed by Jack.
"Lieutenant, get on board the rocket!" he said to the man operating the controls, "I promise you're going to fly."
"The chamber's flooded," the man replied.
"Trust me. We've found a way of tripping the system," he explained. "Run!"
Humans. Sometimes they could really move a bit faster he thought, but his thoughts got interrupted by the sight of Jack starting to undress.
"What are you taking your clothes off for?" he asked irritated.
"I'm going in."
"Well, by the looks of it, I'd say the stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh," he said, looking at Jack and suddenly he realised that Jack knew that he knew – or, more precise, had known all along. They were both just babbling to avoid what was going on between them since Jack had clung onto the TARDIS. In fact, ever since he had run from him.
"Well, I look good though," Jack replied. Then, much more gravely, he continued, "How long have you known?"
"Ever since I ran away from you," he replied quietly. "Good luck."
He watched how Jack entered the chamber. He would have done it himself, but even he couldn't survive the radiation in there. He might have never heard of this particular kind of radiation before, but now he could see with his own eyes – not on the screen via camera optics with almost the same limited visible spectrum as human eyes - how powerful and destructive it was. He wasn't even sure he would have enough time to regenerate before it killed him dead.
Apart from that, he really didn't feel like regenerating. Certainly not now. He really liked his current self, and Mira seemed to like it as well – and with humans so weirdly fixated on appearances and looks, who knew how things would work out with a new regeneration. He believed – or at least he wanted to – that if anyone would be able to handle it then it was her, but there was another factor. He couldn't say how his personality would change. Sure, he would still be him, but a part from him died every time he regenerated – just to be replaced by something – someone – else. And, probably for the first time, he was actually afraid of dying.
He caught Jacks look on him and realised that he had been staring at him all the time without really seeing him.
"When did you first realise?" he asked, looking through a small window in the bulkhead.
"Earth, 1892," Jack replied, the strain of his task clearly showing in his voice. "Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin. In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew."
That was madness, he thought. Dying like this, and then coming back to life, as if nothing had happened – it shouldn't be. He could accept Mira – she was far from being a fixed point, as she could die – she just didn't age. Though there was something weird about her as well, just as he had told her shortly after meeting her – she seemed to be frozen in time, her very cells constantly renewing, never ageing, but nothing that made him almost sick from looking at her as it was with Jack.
"That's why I left you behind," he finally replied. "It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong."
"Thanks."
"You are," he said and shrugged. "I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the Tardis reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you.
"So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?" Jack said with a lob-sided grin and looked up at him again.
"I never thought of it like that," he replied, grinning as well.
Was it just that? Prejudices? Maybe he just had to get used to it. To Jack. Wasn't it – at least partially, his fault?
"Shame on you," Jack said.
"Yeah."
"Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?"
"Rose," he simply said.
"I thought you'd sent her back home."
"She came back," he replied. "Opened the heart of the Tardis and absorbed the time vortex itself."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"No one's ever mean to have that power." Oh, Jack had missed so much, basically everything that had happened to Rose. Now that he thought about it, it seemed ages ago when he, in his previous regeneration, had kissed her. "If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was human." And yet he could see it in his mind as if it had happened just a moment ago. Rose, her eyes glowing golden. Suddenly he felt sorry. Sorry for everything that had happened after that, everything that had – for some reason – went wrong. Well, in fact, Mira had happened as well – and yet it wasn't that simple. It wasn't her fault, and for nothing in the universe he wanted to change anything. It wasn't even guilt he felt – rather grief as he realised just how much Rose must have loved him. Love. This abstract word he doubted anyone in this universe really knew the meaning of.
"Everything she did was so human," he continued, and he not only meant the act of bringing him back to life, but everything after that. She was just human, and probably it had only been him hoping she was more than that. "She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."
"Do you think she could change me back?" Jack asked.
"I took the power out of her," he replied, looked down for a second and rubbed his neck. "She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."
"I'm sorry."
"Well, guess it's for the best. Her parents are there – both of them – and Mickey. Didn't quite work out here."
"What?"
"I've already said you only know part of the story," he replied.
"Oh yeah. Well, who's she then? Mira? When did you meet her?"
"Shortly after I left you," he replied.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Who is she? She's the reason why things with Rose didn't work out then?"
He didn't reply, but obviously that was as good an answer as any for Jack.
"Martha said she's older than she looks. Is she human though? Or is she – is she like you? Time-Lord?" Jack continued.
"No, no," he replied, shaking his head. "She's human. Just human."
"Then who is she?"
"Jack, listen, why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Right, where are my manners. Excuse me."
He watched Jack working at the last of the couplings.
"Do you want to die?" he asked him.
If they were at Q&A already, the could just cut right to the chase. After all Jack was human himself, and they just weren't made for being immortal. He knew of Mira's ambivalent feelings regarding this topic, especially after she had tried to make it clear to Lazarus. But at least she could die if she ever wanted.
"Oh, this one's a little stuck," Jack said as if he hadn't heard him.
"Jack?"
"I thought I did," Jack finally replied. "I don't know. But this lot," he looked up and smiled at him. "You see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic."
He was right. And he only wished Mira could see it as they both did. Everything wasn't lost indeed, not even now. It was the time in between that mattered, wasn't it? The way, not the outcome in the end. Though he could understand how hard it must be to feel the universe itself dying, with most stars and galaxies already gone. He knew how much stability and strength she drew out of being able to feel the universe how she did – not just knowing how it all was connected, but actually feeling it on an almost intuitive level.
"You might be out there, somewhere," he replied.
"I could go meet myself."
"Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with."
"This new regeneration, it's kind of cheeky."
"Hmm," he said and had to smile again.
"Yes!" Jack yelled as the last coupling finally snapped into place.
"Now, get out of there. Come on!"
Mira
They could watch the conversation between Jack and the Doctor on the screen, only pausing when Martha had to reboot the monitor again. She couldn't help but to feel sorry for Jack. Eternal life seemed all one could wish for – and yet it turned into a curse faster than most would expect. Surviving his own death multiple times was one thing she definitely didn't admire – she wondered what would happen with him and the radiation – and another thing was being absolutely unable to die. At first it had seemed great, even to her – being truly immortal, but who could say if she would reach a point in her life when she would just be tired of it all? Well, at least she had a way out. Jack didn't. Maybe he would die of old age eventually, even though he seemed to have not aged much the last hundred years.
"We lost picture when that thing flared up," Martha just said. "Doctor, are you there?"
Oh, and there certainly was a funny talk with Martha ahead. That was why she had wanted to talk to her. It would come out eventually, and it tended to be the worst possible moment.
"Receiving, yeah. He's inside," the Doctor replied.
"And still alive?" Martha asked.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor replied enthusiastically.
She only wished she could be half as enthusiastic. Instead she still felt stunned and empty, and found it increasingly hard to focus – or even trying to do so. As if she lost all motivation to do anything.
"But he should evaporate. What sort of a man is he?" Yana asked.
"I've only just met him" Martha replied. "The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are."
"At least you have a home, Martha. Don't think of yourself as a stray dog. You're here by choice, aren't you?" she said to Martha, most of all to make her feel a bit better though she was afraid it would come across all wrong anyway.
"He travels in time?" Yana, who stood behind them, asked astonished.
"Don't ask me to explain it. That's a Tardis, that box thing. The sports car of time travel, he says," Martha replied.
They listened to the conversation between Jack and the Doctor, and unease grew between her and Martha. But then something else caught her attention.
Something was wrong with Yana, more wrong than usually, making her turn around. He had his back turned to them, his eyes fixed on the TARDIS. As she stepped next to him she could see tears streaming down his eyes. Why was he crying? It was not grief, not even actual sadness – shock? Maybe. If only it wouldn't be so hard to focus.
"I never understand half the things he says," Martha murmured and turned around. "What's wrong?"
"Chan Professor, what is it tho?" Chantho had approached them as well.
"Time travel," Yana said, staring into space. "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked."
"Time travel? When has there been time travel?" she asked alarmed and watched how he pulled something from his pockets.
She caught a glimpse of it and the blood just froze in her veins. It was a fob watch. For a second she could see the reverse side before he covered it in his hands. Was that Gallifreyan writing?
It couldn't be. The Doctor had said that he was the only one left. That he would feel if there's someone else. But would he? Even if they were hiding here, at the end of the universe, being completely human? He hadn't noticed anything so far, so Yana must appear as human to him as he did to her. Or had he just found that watch and it wasn't his?
"Time and time and time again. Always running out on me," Yana continued, his voice chocked with tears.
"Can I have a look at that?" Martha asked.
She could feel that Martha knew as well; that she was as alarmed as she herself.
"Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me," Yana said, sniffed and tried to crack a smile.
"Where did you get it?" Martha asked.
"Hmm? I was found with it."
"Found with it? How so?" she asked.
"An orphan in the storm. I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this."
"Have you opened it?" Martha said and she caught her eyes for a moment.
She shook her head at Martha, hoping she would understand and not pursue this topic. If he hadn't opened it yet, they should really wait for the Doctor to come back.
"Why would I? It's broken," Yana replied and handed the watch to Martha.
"Oh, then better not open it before it falls apart, hm?" Martha stammered after they had exchanged another quick look.
"Why would it fall apart?" Yana replied. "It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know."
She watched as Martha finally turned the watch over and they both could clearly see the inscriptions now. The same as on the Doctor's watch.
"Does it matter?" Yana asked as both of them remained suspiciously silent for a moment.
"No. It's nothing," Martha hurried to say. "It's. Listen, everything's fine up here. I'm going to see if the Doctor needs me."
With that said Martha hurried off. At least they still understood each other – and Martha was still drawing the right conclusions, not blinded by hatred and jealousy as Rose had been. Just, unfortunately, she had handed the watch back to Yana instead of keeping it.
Martha
She rushed into the control room completely out of breath from running the whole way and yelled, "Doctor, it's the Professor. He's got this watch. He's got a fob watch." She stopped at the Doctor's side and tried to get his attention, but he continued working at the control panels. "It's the same as yours. Same writing on it, same everything."
"Don't be ridiculous," he simply said.
"I asked him. He said he's had it his whole life," she said. "Mira thinks the same!"
Well, she hadn't actually talked to Mira about it yet, but she had seen the look on her face and how she had been shaking her head at her.
"So he's got the same watch," Jack threw in.
"Yeah, but it's not a watch. It's this chameleon thing!"
"No, no, no, it's this, this thing, this device, it rewrites biology," the Doctor said and finally looked at her. "Changes a Time Lord into a human."
"And it's the same watch!"
"It can't be," the Doctor denied it, just as an alarm started.
"That means he could be a Time Lord," Jack said, much more enthusiastic than the Doctor. "You might not be the last one."
She didn't understand it. Why did he instantly dismiss the very possibility that there might be someone else alive? That he might not be that lonely after all?
"Jack, keep it level!" the Doctor said.
"But that's brilliant, isn't it?" she asked and realised how sad she sounded. Sad for him, sad because he obviously couldn't be at least a bit happy about it all.
"Yes, it is. Course it is," the Doctor replied. "Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them. They died."
Which one? What was that supposed to mean? If there are only two left, would it matter?
"Not if he was human!" Jack replied.
Suddenly she was grabbed at her arms, and the Doctor yelled at her, "What did he say, Martha? What did he say?" With an expression in his eyes she had never seen there before – and frankly, hoped to never see there ever again.
"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it. Like that perception filter thing," she stammered.
"What about now? Can he see it now?" the Doctor asked, the same expression on his face but at least he had let go of her arms.
"If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide," Jack said. "The end of the universe."
"Six, five," the computer counted down, but she hardly heard it.
"Think of what the Face of Boe said. His dying words. He said-"
But she was interrupted as the Doctor flipped the last switch. The room was filled by a horribly loud noise and the Silo seemed to shake in it's very structure. That must have been the rocket engines. Although it sounded more as if the whole thing had just exploded. It seemed to take forever for the sound to grow fainter, and then she wasn't quite sure that it wasn't just her ears damaged.
" Lieutenant, have you done it?" the Doctor yelled into a phone. "Did you get velocity? Have you done it? Lieutenant, have you done it?"
"Affirmative," the answer came after a few seconds of static. "We'll see you in Utopia."
"Good luck!" the Doctor said and hung up.
Then, as he was just about to run out, the doors suddenly slammed shut. As she turned to him, he was staring into space, his eyes wide in utter disbelief.
"He's opened it," he whispered.
Mira
She only hoped Martha would return with the Doctor in time. She had been feeling bad about all this talk about Utopia, but she hadn't seen this coming. On the other hand, she had been too distracted, too pre-occupied with everything going on here, too stunned by the dying universe. Now she watched Yana with the watch in his hand, gently tracing the carvings. She didn't even care how this could be possible, neither did she think it was a good thing that there was obviously another survivor of the Time War; though she couldn't quite explain the latter. And most of all, Yana must not open this watch. She could feel what – who – was trapped inside it, and though it was not evil in itself, there was something bad, something mean and vicious about it.
"Chan Yana, won't you please take some rest tho?" Chantho asked reluctantly.
"Yes, why won't you get some rest? I'll try and see if I can repair the watch-" she said and tried to snatch it from his hands.
Then a few things happened almost at once. He opened it – the sheer force of the mind trapped in there and now reuniting with Yana almost knocked her out – and next thing she felt was him pushing her away, sending her flying through the room. She hit a locker with her back, driving all air out of her lungs. For a moment her vision was gone and all she could do was desperately grasping for air. A scream reached her ears, most likely Chantho.
"Chan Professor, what are you doing tho?" were the first words she could understand, but they still sounded as if she was under water. "Chan open the control room doors again, please tho!"
Had he locked them in now?
"You think you can lock them in just like that? They'll get out anyway," she gasped.
"Not to worry, young lady. As one door closes, another must open. Chantho, stay were you are, I'm only saying that once," Yana replied and continued working on the control panels.
He only threw her a quick look, and all his warm, absent-minded, flaky, old, and lovely human self had vanished from them. Now they were cold, mean, and alien – nothing human left in them.
"Chan you must stop tho. Chan but you've lowered the defences. The Futurekind will get in tho!"
She still tried to get back on her feet – her legs felt pretty weak and tingly, as if she had hit more than one nerve on that locker, but she didn't seem to be injured, as Chantho suddenly had a gun in her hands.
"Chan Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you. You're destroying all our work tho."
Yana slowly turned around and as he spotted the gun, an almost satisfied look appeared on his face.
"Oh. Now I can say I was provoked," he said, grabbing for a live energy cable – the same sort that had electrocuted Jack earlier. "Did you never think," he continued, "All those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?" The last words he had shouted, glaring at Chantho in rage.
"Chan I'm sorry tho. Chan I'm so sorry," Chantho whimpered.
"You, with your chan and your tho driving me insane," Yana said between gritted teeth.
"Chan Professor, please!"
Oh, if she would only shoot. She had no idea what sort of weapon that was, but if it wasn't a Disintegrator or a plasma gun, it should be save to hit his legs or something. But then again there was a good chance Chantho would miss him all together, judging from how her hands were shaking.
"That is not my name! The Professor was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am," Yana yelled at her.
"Chan then who are you tho?"
"I am the Master," he replied, and before Chantho had a chance to shoot, he threw the cable at her, killing her instantly.
Cold blooded murder and definitely no self-defence. He had planned to kill her anyway. Now I can say I was provoked, that had been his words. So no excuses for him. He had just reshuffled the pack, and definitely not in his favour. Not that that would justify murder from her side, neither did she intend to kill him, but now she had no doubt that he had to be stopped. She let go of the corner of the table where she had been holding onto and slid back to the floor. Should he think he had finished her as well.
She watched how he walked over to the jar with the Doctor's hand, picking it up and caressing it, all with his back towards her. She slowly started to crawl over to Chantho's dead body, taking the gun from her hands. The Doctor, Martha and Jack were banging on the door from the outside. It would be too late until they got in.
He wanted the TARDIS, what else? His only way out from 'The End of the Universe', and he clearly wouldn't ask for permission or a place as a passenger. He now removed a small circuit board from one of the hardware racks, looking at it in contempt, mumbling, "Utopia", and headed towards the TARDIS, disconnecting the power cable, leaving the jar inside, then continuing to work on the controls.
"Open the door, please! I'm begging you, Professor. Please, listen to me," the Doctor yelled through the door, but Yana – the Master, she corrected herself – ignored him. They were really not much into names, were they?
Then, as she had just gotten up and lifted the gun, he turned around. It would take him only one fast step to get inside the TARDIS.
"Just open the door, please," she heard the Doctor again.
For a second the Master just stared at her as if not believing what he was seeing. She couldn't let him get away and take the TARDIS with him. There was a chance she would kill him, but that was a risk she had to take. She aimed and shot just as he started to move again, hitting him full instead of just his arm which was furthest away from the TARDIS. He didn't immediately disintegrate, nor was there any other visible sign of him being hit, as she would have expected from a high-energy weapon. He wasn't even immobilised, only staggering.
Just then the control room door finally opened, and before she could fire another shot after Yana, the Doctor was in her way – but too late. After looking at each other for a long second, the Master slammed the TARDIS door in the Doctor's face. She lowered the weapon and watched how he tried to open it with the key, but in vain.
Behind her she could hear how Martha and Jack were trying to close the laboratory door. The Futurekind were coming, she could feel them, feel their aggression and hunger.
"I'm begging you. Everything's changed!" the Doctor yelled at the closed TARDIS door. "It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!"
But instead of an answer a golden light filled the TARDIS from within, making the windows gleam. She had no idea what was going on – the Doctor all the more, judging from the look on his face.
"Doctor! You'd better think of something!" Jack yelled, and she ran over to help them keep the door shut as the Futurekind were sticking their hands in already.
"Now then, Doctor," a voice which wasn't Yana's came out of the TARDIS. "Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello," he continued as if to try it out.
What had happened? Had he changed? Had she wounded him enough to force him to regenerate?
"Anyway," the Master continued, "Why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think."
"Hold on. I know that voice!" Martha yelled.
"Where from?" she asked, but Martha was too busy to reply.
"I'm asking you really properly," the Doctor yelled. "Just stop. Just think!"
"Use my name!"
"Master. I'm sorry," the Doctor whispered.
So he knew him?
"Tough!" the Master replied.
"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Jack yelled.
And it was true. It were just too many. She hit with the grip of the weapon after hands trying to grab her, but yeah, it was more a matter of seconds than minutes.
She could hear the TARDIS starting to dematerialise. Well at least they wouldn't be stuck here for too long she thought and hit after another hand. The Doctor meanwhile pointed his Sonic at the TARDIS and a nasty sound could be heard from inside the time ship.
"Oh, no you don't! End of the universe. Have fun. Bye, bye!" was the last they heard from the Master before the TARDIS finally vanished.
OneWhoReadsToMuch, djmegamouth, bored411, heroherondaletotherescue, Rosealyn, Serendipity989: Thanks for leaving a review :-)
Serendipity989: I try to update every two weeks or so, though it took a bit longer during the last year due to moving country and stuff – took a bit longer to get settled than I'd expected.
