Lieutenant Adventures Series 16 Episode 6 5 August 2022. Cosmos Part 6.
Previously:
The Lieutenant pulled his hand out of the panel and straightened up. He heard the familiar sounds of the Time War outside, muffled. He still hated them as much now as he once had. He reluctantly headed for the door and opened it and stood staring out of the TARDIS, into the cloisters, where he had materialised, staring at an all too familiar face which was staring back. It was the Master.
The Lieutenant stood there looking at the Master for a moment.
The Master stood, hands on hips, looking back, a menacing smile creeping across his face, as he watched the Lieutenant try to work out what was going on.
The Lieutenant finally spoke. 'Why are you here?' he asked. 'This is too easy.'
'Easy?' spat the Master. 'I was looking for you, not the other way around, Lieutenant. I came here because I thought I might find you here.'
The Lieutenant stepped out of the TARDIS, slowly closing the door behind him. 'Sadly, Master, I do not think you were looking for me because I am looking for you. I caused this mess, I am fixing it,' said the Lieutenant.
'No, no, no! Lieutenant, you are slow! I am looking for you because I know this!' exclaimed the Master, wheezing with laughter. 'I want to see how you will fix this mess when I am zipping all around the Universe!' he exclaimed.
The Lieutenant's eyes narrowed. 'What are you talking about?' he asked, thinking to himself that the Master was about to do something stupid, and he would need to be very quick to catch up.
The Master grinned maniacally, showing all of his teeth before whipping a control out of his pocket and quickly pressing the button, teleporting away in a flash.
The Lieutenant's jaw dropped open as he turned and ran back into the TARDIS, yelling, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! Get back here, Master!' He rushed to the Telepathic Panel and dipped his little finger into the panel.
The TARDIS sickly dematerialised.
'Quickly!' exclaimed the Lieutenant. 'This is an emergency!'
The TARDIS performed a sickly emergency materialisation.
The Lieutenant ran for the door, almost tore it open and ran out of the TARDIS. He came to a sudden stop, he was on a seemingly deserted planet, there was nothing but beige-colour dust and rocks all around on the planet's surface. He looked up, into space, it looked peaceful, a big black canvas with billions of shining stars. He looked back down and kicked a rock and turned to look back at the TARDIS. 'I do get that you're struggling but he's not here,' said the Lieutenant, clearly annoyed.
'Shh, listen,' said Engross, telepathically to him from the TARDIS.
The Lieutenant turned around slowly again, put his hands in his pockets, closed his eyes and listened. He couldn't hear very much.
'No, no,' said Engross, again, amongst his thoughts. 'You're not hearing me like that, are you?'
'Oh!' exclaimed the Lieutenant, aloud. 'Of course!' He was communicating with Engross telepathically. He needed to reach out to the Master. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. 'Contact,' he whispered, searching for the Master.
'How did you do that?!' gasped the Master, amongst his thoughts.
The Lieutenant grinned. 'Gotcha,' he said. 'You underestimate me, Master,' he said. 'Supposedly hiding on an abandoned planet, that was a bit of a rookie mistake.'
'Perhaps,' said the Master, 'but you are slow, Lieutenant. Catch me if you can!' he yelled, laughing, breaking contact.
The Lieutenant's eyes flew open but he kept hold of the contact for a few seconds to see where the Master got to.
'Let go, Lieutenant,' yelled the Master.
The Lieutenant then lost his contact but it would be enough for the TARDIS to lock onto. He turned and rushed back into the TARDIS and dipped his little finger into the Telepathic panel. He saw the panel recognise the co-ordinates but, in the TARDIS' dying state, it took her a while to take off.
Eventually, the TARDIS sluggishly dematerialised.
The Lieutenant strolled around the console, deep in thought. He could not help entertaining the idea the Master had already left the place he was going to, after all, he had seen that the Lieutenant had clung onto the contact.
The TARDIS sluggishly and sickly materialised.
The Lieutenant patted the console. 'Well done,' he said, genuinely. He strolled to the door, yanked it open and looked around. There were people everywhere, thousands of them, all going about their business. Few had seen the TARDIS materialise and stopped to try and work out what it was.
One person came up to him, grinning, and shook his hand violently. 'Very good, sir, great trick! How did you do it?' he asked.
The Lieutenant looked him straight in the eye and felt sorry for him. 'I'm sorry but there's nothing great about that box, I really would love to sit and chat to you all about it all day but I cannot, I am looking for someone, I need to find them,' he said, firmly pulling his hand out of the person's grip and brushing past him and deep into the crowd. He recognised his location, of course, he was on the planet Midruavis, home to trillions upon trillions upon trillions of beings. He was aware the Master would have chosen this place because there were too many minds to sift through to find him, and he was right, it was a very difficult task.
The Lieutenant found a café and went in. The person on the counter asked if he was OK and he said, 'Yeah, how do you pay here, what's the currency, please? I'm not from around here, sorry,' he said, looking up and down the counter, seeing what he fancied. He was not sure he'd seen food or drink quite like what he was seeing here.
'Oh, we trade in Kogles here,' said the worker, smiling at the Lieutenant.
The Lieutenant glanced at them briefly and then kept the image for later.
The worker must have spotted his blank expression. 'Oh, Kogles are a form of telepathic currency, you can either transfer it yourself, if you're telepathic, or you can stare at the scanner which will do it for you,' they said.
The Lieutenant smiled slightly, impressed. 'Telepathic currency,' he said to himself. 'You knew I was coming.'
The worker looked confused at that statement. 'What would you like?' they asked.
The Lieutenant stopped looking up and down the counter and smiled at her. 'What would you recommend?' he asked.
The worker looked delighted at being asked the question. Our most popular combination of food and drink is Boskloren veal loops with salt 'n pepper slush,' they said, smiling.
The Lieutenant was not sure if that sounded nice or not but, finally, said, 'OK, I'll have that, please.'
'Certainly, sir, that will be five Kogles, please,' they said.
'I'd like to try manually, if that's OK,' said the Lieutenant.
'That's fine,' they smiled at him. 'Go ahead.'
The Lieutenant wandered into his mind palace and concentrated as he made contact with the worker. 'Contact,' he said.
'Contact,' said the worker. 'Interesting, you're a Time Lord.'
'I am, yes, you've heard of us,' said the Lieutenant.
'I have but most here think you're the stuff of legend,' said the worker.
'There's nothing lengendary about me,' said the Lieutenant. He transferred the Kogles to the worker.
The worker smiled. 'Got them,' they said.
Slowly opening his eyes, the Lieutenant broke contact, picked up his food and drink, smiled, and sauntered off to find a table. He took a sip of his salt 'n pepper slush and grimaced. It was disgusting. He put it down on the table and did not touch it again. he found a table for one and sat down, crossing his legs. He tasted the food. It was nice. When he finished, he sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. 'Contact,' he said.
The Lieutenant entered his mind palace, which looked like his TARDIS before the recent destruction. He waded through thoughts, looking for familiar thoughts. He got a taste of a few different thoughts as they went past, what would be for lunch, what was going on the shopping list, what time they would leave work, what time to go to bed.
The Lieutenant moved deeper into the TARDIS and he got emotions, sadness, happiness, excitement, fear, then he felt a very familiar fear, the fear of being stranded. He knew that fear but it was familiar because this was a Time Lord, another one of him. He briefly caught a glance of a worried-looking Master and he held the memory in his mind and snapped his eyes open. 'Got him!' he exclaimed out loud and rushed out of the café, not saying a thing to the worker as he went and rushing back, past people, all around, to the TARDIS and into it and to the Telepathic panel. He stuck his little finger into the panel, muttering, 'Come on!'
The TARDIS took her time in reading the Lieutenant, not reading his impatience.
The Lieutenant watched the panel slightly change colour but nothing happened.
The TARDIS struggled to dematerialised but, sounding very strained and sluggish, she eventually did and rematerialised almost on the other side of the planet, around the Master and a number of other beings.
The Master looked all around himself, starting to smirk and looking excited. "Oooh!" he laughed as the TARDIS materialised around him. The other beings started to panic.
'No, don't panic,' boomed the Lieutenant, his voice echoing all around the TARDIS. 'It's OK, you're safe in here. I'm sorry you've all got dragged along for the ride but I will take care of you,' he said. He left his place at the console and stood in front of the Master, squared right up to him.
'Fear,' said the Lieutenant, looking the Master directly in the eyes.
The Master burst out laughing. 'What?' he laughed at the Lieutenant.
'I said fear, Master, I'm not scared of you, in fact, I detected your fear. The fear of being stranded, in fact, what was all that about?' asked the Lieutenant.
The grin faded from the Master's face, turning to a very unamused look.
The Lieutenant examined the Master's expressions, starting to piece things together. His eyes narrowed. 'You weren't really...?' he asked, trying to tell if the Master was mis-leading him.
The Master's unamused look turned to anger but he said nothing.
The Lieutenant took a few steps back. 'You were stranded, weren't you?' he asked. 'You had limited teleports, didn't you? You chose here because you couldn't teleport away again, not expecting me to catch up with you so soon...but I did, didn't I? That's what happened!' he exclaimed, taking a few more steps back.
The Master's anger turned to rage and he yelled out, his yell echoing all around the TARDIS. 'It doesn't matter, Lieutenant,' he spat.
'No?' asked the Lieutenant, looking him up and down. 'That horrible noise you made didn't suggest so,' he said.
'Shut up!' yelled the Master at the Lieutenant, spittle going everywhere.
The other beings in the TARDIS sounded frightened.
The Lieutenant held up a hand towards them. 'Relax,' he said to them, 'trust me.'
'You're trapped, Lieutenant, and all your new, pesky, friends are trapped now too,' spat the Master.
'Oooh, are we?' taunted the Lieutenant, sarcastically.
'This TARDIS is mine now!' exclaimed the Master.
'Is it?' asked the Lieutenant, again, sarcastically.
The Master squared up to the console and placed his hand on the Master Lever, getting a massive electric shock. He shook and yelled out in pain.
The Lieutenant just watched and raised an eyebrow.
'You will pay for that, Lieutenant!' yelled the Master, once again, spittle going everywhere. 'I will walk out that door and away from here and you lot and no-one will stop me, clear?' yelled the Master.
The Lieutenant lowered his eyebrow. 'Crystal clear, go on then,' he said, turning and just simply watching the Master as he made his way to the door. He pushed the door and smacked into it when it failed to open.
The Master fell back a bit and turned to face the Lieutenant, pure, burning rage in his eyes. 'I'll have to kill you, then, Lieutenant, with my own bare hands or perhaps I can do it telepathically, it won't take long, one quick mind bend, melt your mind from the inside out,' sneered the Master.
'You won't,' said the Lieutenant, simply.
'Why won't I?' spat the Master.
'I've already showed you twice, I am in charge in here,' said the Lieutenant.
The Master launched forward at the Lieutenant, grabbing for his neck and the two of them fell down onto the floor of the TARDIS.
The Lieutenant winced as he fell to the ground but then delivered a nasty blow to the Master's stomach with his knee.
The Master was taken aback but he launched at the Lieutenant again and pressed down on the Lieutenant's neck.
'Engross!' spluttered the Lieutenant.
The Master didn't even register it. He pushed harder.
The Lieutenant grabbed the Master's hands, in pain, trying his best to get them off. 'Engross, dematerialise for Gallifrey!' he spluttered again.
The TARDIS sluggishly and very quietly dematerialised, Engross in control. As she did so, the console room shook violently.
The Master was caught by surprise and fell off the Lieutenant.
The Lieutenant launched at the Master and knocked him down, kneeling on his chest. He looked down at him. 'You're staying there,' he said.
'Get off me!' yelled the Master.
'Not a chance,' said the Lieutenant.
'Get off me, Lieutenant,' snarled the Master.
The Lieutenant looked down at the Master and looked him right in the eye. 'Or what?' he asked, genuinely interested.
The Master just blankly looked back.
The TARDIS materialised, emitting a nasty, high-pitched noise.
The Lieutenant winced and looked around at the other beings on the TARDIS. 'Don't worry, that is becoming normal,' he said.
The Master rolled his eyes.
The Lieutenant looked down at the Master, breathing heavily under his knee and he very quickly jumped up and dragged the Master up after him and dragged the Master along with him, out of the TARDIS and dumped him on the ground outside the TARDIS, creating a dust cloud. The Lieutenant stood, fiercely breathing, looking down at the Master in pure rage.
The Master winced as he hit the ground but looked back up at the Lieutenant burst out laughing as he struggled to get to his feet.
The Lieutenant launched forward and pushed the Master back down before he knew what had happened.
The Master collapsed again, coughing in the dust.
The Lieutenant grabbed the Master and shoved him in the Dalek casing, sitting there in front of them.
The Master landed inside the casing and looked up at the Lieutenant and started wheezing with laughter. 'Lieutenant, seriously?' he sneered at the Lieutenant. 'Are you really going to do this?' he asked.
'Yes,' said the Lieutenant, 'that's exactly what I'm going to do,' he said, shoving closed one side of the casing.
The Master grabbed the Lieutenant by the arm.
'GET OFF ME, MASTER!' yelled the Lieutenant at the Master, shaking himself free of the Master and shoving him back inside the casing.
The Master nodded slowly, looking up at the Lieutenant. 'You really haven't changed much, have you?' he snarled.
The Lieutenant ignored the Master and shoved the other half of the casing closed, sealing the Dalek, which was this Gate, around the Master.
Once inside, the Master re-entered a state of trance once again and was silent.
'That's much better!' exclaimed the Lieutenant. 'See? Not too difficult, is it, Master?' he joked, as he turned back to the TARDIS and re-entered. He almost jumped, seeing the beings on the TARDIS, he forgot they were there. 'I forgot about you,' he mumbled, blushing. He moved to the Telepathic panel and dipped his finger in the panel. 'I have no working Fast Return switch,' he said to the TARDIS, 'this is my best hope.'
The TARDIS emitted the same nasty, high-pitched noise it had made a moment ago as it dematerialised. The Telepathic panel was looking very faint.
The Lieutenant turned to face the beings. 'Sorry that I brought you all with me,' he said, 'but I am now bringing you home.'
The TARDIS emitted its nasty, high-pitched noise and materialised once again on the planet Midruavis.
The Lieutenant strode to the door and opened it. He smiled to the beings on board the TARDIS. 'There you go,' he said, 'you're home, safe and sound, and sorry again,' he said, waving out through the door.
The beings filed out of the TARDIS, not looking back.
Once they were all out of the TARDIS and he was alone again, the Lieutenant closed the door and moved back to the console and leant against it and sighed.
Just then, there was an explosion on the console and sparks flew out of the Telepathic panel.
The Lieutenant was very worried and quickly moved around to the panel and examined it.
The Telepathic panel was completely faded, it was dark and grey.
The Lieutenant's heart sank. He had lost the Telepathic panel.
NEXT TIME
Just then, there was an explosion on the console and sparks flew out of the Telepathic panel. The Telepathic panel was completely faded, it was dark and grey.
He had lost the Telepathic panel. 'Here we go, one more time, you can do it!' exclaimed the Lieutenant as he yanked the Master Lever.
The Lieutenant
Liam Hickey
The Master
Sacha Dhawan
Director
Darwin Meads
Writer
Liam Hickey
Producer
Caitlin Parker
M/S 2022
