Curristan sighed with resignation before turning to a confused Jadena. He motioned her to remain quiet before whispering in her ear.

"This is a dangerous situation, that man with the brown hair is a dangerous Time Lord, I can't allow him to know we are here. But we have to also see what he is up to and stop him. But I also can't allow you to fall into danger. You will have to stick with me closely."

"I understand, I would always trust your judgement. I promise to be careful." Jadena whispered back.

"Thank you that makes me feel better."

Curristan turned back as the man he now knew to be the Master finally broke eye contact with the other man.

"Now I want to have a full report in the next hour on the progress of our plan. We cannot allow any delay in operating the new weapon. It will bring Netrodia a new advantage and allow it to build an empire. Under my guidance of course. Now, off you go."

8

The man nodded mindlessly. "I obey, Master."

Watching the man walk away, the Master chuckled to himself. "These people have such weak minds….makes things way too easy. I hate to say it but I miss having some competition to keep things interesting."

Curristan looked intently as the Master walked out, whistling to himself. Slipping out he returned to the console. Jadena followed quickly but was confused at what was going on.

"Curristan who was he?"

Without looking up Curristan answered with a grim tone. "He is the Master, a dangerous renegade and an old friend of someone I know. He is infamous among my people. Somehow, I have met an incarnation I wasn't told about, think it's an earlier one. That makes things complicated."

Jadena frowned. "How so?"

"Well, I am basically meeting a version of the Master before I was even born, which is something. Plus, I can't even let slip future events in the Master's future or even avert them as the paradox would be absolutely catastrophic, even though the amount of damage he will do in the future would be undone."

"Ah…I am lost but oh well. Do you want me to return to the TARDIS? I am sorry I am sounding like a coward, but I am not sure how I can help."

"No no I am not judging you, I understand your apprehension. Also, I feel that the Master is too dangerous for you to be around. You have your key, make your way back as safely as possible and wait for me. Please stay safe."

"I will and thank you. I will see you when you return Curristan."

After seeing Jadena leave, Curristan could do nothing but worry. He hoped that she wasn't caught. However, he had a plot to discover and then foil, before dealing with the Master.

After another minute of typing, he finally found what he was looking for. He scanned the contents, realising that the weapon the Master was talking about was an incredibly powerful temporal weapon. Something that wasn't even close to being available in this time.

'Great, this weapon will cause massive destruction if it is operated. The only way out would be a TARDIS…that would have enough power to overcome the incredible temporal shockwaves that will tear the planet apart…'

Shutting the console down, Curristan walked over to the other side of the room to look at the papers he had noticed earlier. He could see that they were a lot of calculations, which he presumed were in the Master's handwriting.

Leaving the room Curristan decided to go searching around to look for more clues. Avoiding the Master though was a priority as he would probably kill him if he knew that someone was trying to stop him.

Finding a laboratory door, Curristan quickly soniced the door panel which made the door slide open. The laboratory opened into a decent-sized room, with several terminals scattered around. Taking a walk around, Curristan could see that the laboratory was full of advanced equipment, one particular piece too much for the current time frame.

'He has made a big effort to get this plan work…I need to break this device equipment and make it look like an accident.'

Walking over to the device Curristan began to reprogram it to overload after a certain length of time so he had time to get away. The system inside the device was definitely one of the Master's own design, but luckily it was easy enough to work through.

After several minutes there was a low hum as the device's power core began to slowly build power. Curristan felt some sense of triumph as he finally realised that he had succeeded. After disabling the failsafes, he stepped back and sighed.

'Finally, the device should destroy itself in about twenty minutes, the problem is it will cause a big explosion before dragging itself into the Time Vortex and disintegrates.'

Exiting the room Curristan quickened his step and exited into a different courtyard. He could see that the building he had exited was a smaller one in a complex.

'Let's try over there. I am sure I will find out more..'

In the building, Curristan had found that this was where the main activity had been happening. He could also hear the Master talking with another person, though it seemed that he was feeling frustrated. Sliding into an alcove, he watched the Master storm out and make his way back to where the equipment was.

'I wonder what he will say when he sees the equipment is not going to work much longer.'

The Master felt absolutely tired and felt as though his plan was not progressing as he had hoped.

'Blast these delays and setbacks. I have no time to be stopped by all these problems. I am the Master. I can do this and be off this miserable planet.'

A rumble caught his attention, followed by the sight of the roof lifting off by a huge explosion. As debris fell down, he could feel a temporal shockwave assault his senses.

'What the hell? My advanced piece of equipment has just ripped itself to pieces and faded into the Time Vortex? How has that happened?'