DEADLY ALLIANCES
The Doctor and Sarah found themselves swinging about in the time vortex. Like puppets suspended from strings they hovered around and both tried to cling on to the TARDIS as though it were a life raft in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Suddenly a streak of temporal lightening flashed across the vortex, striking both travellers and their ship.
The Doctor woke up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a field and when he looked beside himself he saw Sarah just waking up. What was surprising was to see that she was back in her own body. He could hear her mumbling, something about a Dino, whatever that was.
The Doctor reached up to touch his own face and was reassured to find that everything was still in place. It was a relief to be himself again. It was then with some horror that the Doctor noticed the TARDIS. It was shattered and in fragments all around him. The Police Box doors lay embedded in the ground about twenty feet away and the console was upside down in the next field where an inquisitive cow was sniffing it.
"Do you mind. That's my property." The cow looked up briefly, then continued to examine the shattered TARDIS. The Doctor smiled, in spite of their predicament. "There's nothing so English as a cow in a field," he mused.
"Ow, my head." Sarah struggled to a sitting position. "What happened, Doctor?"
He helped to stand. "We seem to have arrived back on Earth, Sarah. And back in our own bodies."
"What!" She quickly looked herself over, then back at the Doctor. "Oh, that's a relief. I thought we'd be stuck like that forever." Then she saw the broken remains of the TARDIS. "Oh, no! It can't be."
"I'm afraid so." And she could almost feel the despair in his voice. "I can't see any way out of this one."
"My dear Doctor, you do seem to be in some trouble."
They turned at the sound of that voice. Further up the hill stood a man dressed in a dark grey uniform, his pointed beard streaked with flecks of grey.
"Oh yes, it is me," he assured the Doctor, "and believe it or not, I'm here to help you."
The Doctor and Sarah exchanged glances. "Doctor, who is he?"
"Our only hope, and someone I never thought to see again," replied the Doctor. "That, my dear Sarah, is the Master."
"Thank you, my dear Doctor." Turning to Sarah, "It is a pleasure you meet you at last, Miss Smith. I had no idea what I had been missing."
"Doctor, who is. no, what is he?
"Oh Sarah, he is the most evil, devious and dangerous man that I keep bumping into. But at the same time, he is probably, on this occasion, the best person we could bump into."
"Doctor, you say the nicest things, you'll make me blush!" said the Master with that smile and glint in his eyes that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
"Do you not like jigsaw puzzles?" Laughing as he said this, that sinister chuckle that he does so well. "It's so rare that I get the opportunity of picking up the pieces."
"Who sent you here to help us and how are you going to help me get the TARDIS back together?" asked the Doctor.
"One question at a time, Doctor. I was sent here by a common friend and that is all you need to know, for now. With regard to how I am going to help you, that is an altogether more difficult question."
The Master took centre stage as he described the difficulties that they would have to face in resurrecting the Doctor's TARDIS. Several key components would have to he retrieved. While many parts of the TARDIS were in the field, as the TARDIS had been in the vortex when it had blown apart, many elements had been spread across all of space and time. They would need to be found and brought back to this field.
"But to do that we will need another fully functioning TARDIS to find and retrieve the pieces," said the Doctor.
"Precisely, Doctor," noted the Master. "Now I have a question for you. What do you think is the most important thing to me?"
"Your desire to be powerful and indestructible."
"And what do we know about the nature of TARDISes?"
The Doctor's face froze in sudden realisation as he answered. "That they are powerful and nearly indestructible."
"Yes, Doctor. Despite the sorry example of your own ship, they are. So what does your centuries of acquired logic lead you to surmise?"
The Doctor looked at the Master in awe, as what his nemesis had done became obvious to him.
"Yes, Doctor. I have merged myself with my own TARDIS so that we have become one entity. Now Doctor, Miss Smith, please step inside and make yourself comfortable. We will soon have all the components of your ship together," said the Master with a swagger.
Suddenly he opened his mouth and the gap between his lips became bigger and bigger until his mouth was open as wide as a doorway. The Doctor looked into the Master's mouth and saw a fully functioning console room inside. Apprehensively they stepped inside.
The Master was waiting for them as they entered.
"How. how can he be in here and," Sarah struggled to find the words, "well, out there?"
"A simple holo-image," the Doctor explained. "Makes it easier for us to communicate."
"Well observed, Doctor." The Master was sincere in his praise. "Well, shall we go?"
"Just a moment," the Doctor interupted. "You could at least tell me why you're helping us. I mean, this isn't like you at all."
"I take your point," the Master replied, "but the situation demands that our rivalry should take second place."
"Go on," the Doctor prompted.
"The dispersal of your TARDIS components has caused ripples in time and space. Left unchecked, their presence may cause time itself to unravel. Now, even I can appreciate the gravity of the situation, and I am willing to put aside our differences so that we can find the components, before the unthinkable happens."
The Doctor was stunned. "I see."
"Well, that's all very well," Sarah chipped in, "but how do we find these pieces?"
The Master smiled, as he began to set the controls for dematerialization. "Each component of a TARDIS carries a time signature, unique to its owner."
"Like a sort of radar?"
"A simple, but effective analogy," the Master complimented Sarah. "No doubt the Doctor has told you of the symbiotic link a Time Lord has to his TARDIS?" She nodded. "Then all we have to do, Miss Smith, is locate those components which match the Doctor's psyche."
"So, where's our first port of call?" asked the Doctor.
The Master checked the co-ordinates. His jovial manner was replaced by a frown. "This can't be right."
"What's wrong?"
"Well, according to my instruments, we've landed on Telos - to the exact moment when your second incarnation arrived."
Sarah caught the worried look between the two Time Lords. "Doctor, what does he mean?"
"Sarah, if the Master is right," the Doctor explained, "the components may have localised their dispersal to land at certain points within my own time stream."
"Well, that's all ri. " then she realised. "You told me once before about the First Law of Time."
"Right again, Miss Smith." The Master was deadly serious. "If the Doctor interferes in his own timeline, the Web of Time could unravel, with disastrous consequences."
"But if I don't recover the components from the TARDIS," added the Doctor, "I could still disrupt my future, and that of the entire universe."
His head was bowed for a moment, taking in the enormity of the situation.
"Open the doors," he decided. "Let's get on with it."
The Doctor and Sarah found themselves swinging about in the time vortex. Like puppets suspended from strings they hovered around and both tried to cling on to the TARDIS as though it were a life raft in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Suddenly a streak of temporal lightening flashed across the vortex, striking both travellers and their ship.
The Doctor woke up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a field and when he looked beside himself he saw Sarah just waking up. What was surprising was to see that she was back in her own body. He could hear her mumbling, something about a Dino, whatever that was.
The Doctor reached up to touch his own face and was reassured to find that everything was still in place. It was a relief to be himself again. It was then with some horror that the Doctor noticed the TARDIS. It was shattered and in fragments all around him. The Police Box doors lay embedded in the ground about twenty feet away and the console was upside down in the next field where an inquisitive cow was sniffing it.
"Do you mind. That's my property." The cow looked up briefly, then continued to examine the shattered TARDIS. The Doctor smiled, in spite of their predicament. "There's nothing so English as a cow in a field," he mused.
"Ow, my head." Sarah struggled to a sitting position. "What happened, Doctor?"
He helped to stand. "We seem to have arrived back on Earth, Sarah. And back in our own bodies."
"What!" She quickly looked herself over, then back at the Doctor. "Oh, that's a relief. I thought we'd be stuck like that forever." Then she saw the broken remains of the TARDIS. "Oh, no! It can't be."
"I'm afraid so." And she could almost feel the despair in his voice. "I can't see any way out of this one."
"My dear Doctor, you do seem to be in some trouble."
They turned at the sound of that voice. Further up the hill stood a man dressed in a dark grey uniform, his pointed beard streaked with flecks of grey.
"Oh yes, it is me," he assured the Doctor, "and believe it or not, I'm here to help you."
The Doctor and Sarah exchanged glances. "Doctor, who is he?"
"Our only hope, and someone I never thought to see again," replied the Doctor. "That, my dear Sarah, is the Master."
"Thank you, my dear Doctor." Turning to Sarah, "It is a pleasure you meet you at last, Miss Smith. I had no idea what I had been missing."
"Doctor, who is. no, what is he?
"Oh Sarah, he is the most evil, devious and dangerous man that I keep bumping into. But at the same time, he is probably, on this occasion, the best person we could bump into."
"Doctor, you say the nicest things, you'll make me blush!" said the Master with that smile and glint in his eyes that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
"Do you not like jigsaw puzzles?" Laughing as he said this, that sinister chuckle that he does so well. "It's so rare that I get the opportunity of picking up the pieces."
"Who sent you here to help us and how are you going to help me get the TARDIS back together?" asked the Doctor.
"One question at a time, Doctor. I was sent here by a common friend and that is all you need to know, for now. With regard to how I am going to help you, that is an altogether more difficult question."
The Master took centre stage as he described the difficulties that they would have to face in resurrecting the Doctor's TARDIS. Several key components would have to he retrieved. While many parts of the TARDIS were in the field, as the TARDIS had been in the vortex when it had blown apart, many elements had been spread across all of space and time. They would need to be found and brought back to this field.
"But to do that we will need another fully functioning TARDIS to find and retrieve the pieces," said the Doctor.
"Precisely, Doctor," noted the Master. "Now I have a question for you. What do you think is the most important thing to me?"
"Your desire to be powerful and indestructible."
"And what do we know about the nature of TARDISes?"
The Doctor's face froze in sudden realisation as he answered. "That they are powerful and nearly indestructible."
"Yes, Doctor. Despite the sorry example of your own ship, they are. So what does your centuries of acquired logic lead you to surmise?"
The Doctor looked at the Master in awe, as what his nemesis had done became obvious to him.
"Yes, Doctor. I have merged myself with my own TARDIS so that we have become one entity. Now Doctor, Miss Smith, please step inside and make yourself comfortable. We will soon have all the components of your ship together," said the Master with a swagger.
Suddenly he opened his mouth and the gap between his lips became bigger and bigger until his mouth was open as wide as a doorway. The Doctor looked into the Master's mouth and saw a fully functioning console room inside. Apprehensively they stepped inside.
The Master was waiting for them as they entered.
"How. how can he be in here and," Sarah struggled to find the words, "well, out there?"
"A simple holo-image," the Doctor explained. "Makes it easier for us to communicate."
"Well observed, Doctor." The Master was sincere in his praise. "Well, shall we go?"
"Just a moment," the Doctor interupted. "You could at least tell me why you're helping us. I mean, this isn't like you at all."
"I take your point," the Master replied, "but the situation demands that our rivalry should take second place."
"Go on," the Doctor prompted.
"The dispersal of your TARDIS components has caused ripples in time and space. Left unchecked, their presence may cause time itself to unravel. Now, even I can appreciate the gravity of the situation, and I am willing to put aside our differences so that we can find the components, before the unthinkable happens."
The Doctor was stunned. "I see."
"Well, that's all very well," Sarah chipped in, "but how do we find these pieces?"
The Master smiled, as he began to set the controls for dematerialization. "Each component of a TARDIS carries a time signature, unique to its owner."
"Like a sort of radar?"
"A simple, but effective analogy," the Master complimented Sarah. "No doubt the Doctor has told you of the symbiotic link a Time Lord has to his TARDIS?" She nodded. "Then all we have to do, Miss Smith, is locate those components which match the Doctor's psyche."
"So, where's our first port of call?" asked the Doctor.
The Master checked the co-ordinates. His jovial manner was replaced by a frown. "This can't be right."
"What's wrong?"
"Well, according to my instruments, we've landed on Telos - to the exact moment when your second incarnation arrived."
Sarah caught the worried look between the two Time Lords. "Doctor, what does he mean?"
"Sarah, if the Master is right," the Doctor explained, "the components may have localised their dispersal to land at certain points within my own time stream."
"Well, that's all ri. " then she realised. "You told me once before about the First Law of Time."
"Right again, Miss Smith." The Master was deadly serious. "If the Doctor interferes in his own timeline, the Web of Time could unravel, with disastrous consequences."
"But if I don't recover the components from the TARDIS," added the Doctor, "I could still disrupt my future, and that of the entire universe."
His head was bowed for a moment, taking in the enormity of the situation.
"Open the doors," he decided. "Let's get on with it."