Yours is No Disgrace

Chapter Eight

It's time to ease the thoughts we set for ourselves;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.

Corridors flashed by Sarah's eyes and she pelted at full tilt through the Gallifreyan capital, trying to keep up with the Doctor's longer stride. Startled guards and unfailingly old-looking Time Lords jumped out of their way as they flew past.
At last, the Doctor slowed, almost skidding to a stop. Engin and Spandrell narrowly avoiding crashing into Sarah and the Doctor as they stopped outside the entrance to the morgue.
The place was dark, and eerily quiet. The Doctor crept forwards, his eyes and ears alert. Spandrell followed him, peering into the cold, darkened room. It wasn't long before they spotted something.
"Hildred!" Spandrell gasped in horror. The Doctor turned and saw the tiny figurine dressed in guards' livery lying at Spandrell's feet.
"We're too late..." The Doctor said as he cast his eyes over the other bodies in the room, trying to find the President's. Trying to see if there was still...
"Yes, Doctor," A harsh, rasping voice hissed quite suddenly, "You are all far too late."
Spandrell and the Doctor both span around to face the entrance.
"Sarah!" The Doctor gasped. The decaying figure of the Master stood in the doorway; one skeletal hand clutching at Sarah's arm while the other held a staser trained on her.
"I know of your foolish affection for these humans, Doctor," The Master rasped, "So I know it is unlikely you would do anything to harm her, so I suggest you stay where you are."
The Doctor froze, his face a mask of mingled fury and concern. Spandrell, however, ignored that directive, and dove at the creature that had been attacking his home world.
"Spandrell, don't!" The Doctor cried. Too late, the Master's hand whipped out and shot him down.
The Doctor's gaze travelled up from Spandrell's limp body to Sarah's face. Sarah trembled, her teeth clenched together to prevent them chattering, but her eyes were determined, unafraid. He wished he could take her hand, protect her, and keep her safe...
But that wasn't an option just now, and she was strong, stronger than anyone else could ever know.
"What is it you want?" Engin demanded, sounding shaken.
"I want you to go to the President's body and retrieve the Sash of Rassilon, old man - and no tricks from either of you, or the girl dies."
"Don't do it, Engin!" Sarah yelled at him. She knew, somehow, that they simply couldn't let The Master get hold of that Sash. It was an ancient and powerful technology, and Sarah had seen through past experience that letting an evil being like The Master control it would be a very bad idea.
Engin, however, had grown up on Gallifrey, had seen the Sash worn on countless ceremonial occasions but had never associated it with any practical use - to him, it was simply a pretty bauble. A symbol of the presidency with no more use than a human King's crown. Engin hobbled over to the Presidents body and unclipped the golden Sash.
The Doctor reigned in his fury with a considerable effort, torn between the desire to protect his world, and the desire to protect Sarah. The only thing he could do was reach out briefly to touch Sarah's mind, project some reassurance as he watched the grandfatherly old Time Lord hobble over and hand over the Sash.
"This won't work," The Doctor said, "You'll release a force you cannot possibly control or contain."
"I am quite aware of that, Doctor," The Master replied, the fixed, skeletal grin giving him a horribly pleased look. "That is why I cannot allow you to interfere." Again, the staser moved, drilling the Doctor with a bright point of light before anyone in the room could move.
"Doctor!" Sarah screamed, trying to tear away from the monster that held her securely in its vice-like fingers.
"Oh, no, my dear. You are not going anywhere, except with me." He pointed at Engin, who stood frozen, his lined face numb with shock. "You are to stay there, and you try to follow me, I'll kill this fair rose." With a gurgling chuckle, the Master tugged on Sarah's arm. Struggling all the way, Sarah was pulled out into the corridor.

Sarah watched with outright disgust as he sealed the doors, her skin cringed away from where the decaying fingers clutched her bare forearm, her face twisted in revulsion, not only at the physical appearance of the thing before her, but at the sort of mind that could be capable of the horrors he had perpetrated.
He had kept them moving quickly, down musty, unused corridors that were covered in dust and cobwebs. On the occasions where they did encounter someone, the Master had no problems with shooting them immediately, reducing their bodies to the size of children's dolls. Their screams still echoed over and over in Sarah's ears.
The maze-like nature of the place was enough to send Sarah dizzy, but he seemed to know exactly where they were, until at last they arrived outside the great Panopticon hall. The place was just as silent and cold as it had been when Sarah visited it earlier, but now there was a peculiar sense of foreboding in the air, and the feeling raised goose bumps on Sarah's skin. She felt nausea rise in her stomach again as she caught another look at the decomposed face of her captor. The only thing that kept her from terrified paralysis was her knowledge that, despite what the Master obviously wanted her to think, the Doctor was still alive. She could feel the tiny little pulses of his warm presence along their link. She drew on that, used it to calm herself as she closed her eyes, forcing the terror and nausea away.
The Master chuckled again, a horrible gurgling sound like something drowning.
"I see that you aren't too fond of me." He said, moving in front of her. Sarah opened her eyes, and glared at him, defiance and rage written clearly in her eyes. The Master merely laughed, "I'm sure I can change that..."
Something in the Master's gaze altered slightly. His voice changed from the harsh rasp, to a gentler, almost sonorous tone.
"Listen to my voice, child, I am the only thing you can hear...the only voice that matters...." Sarah frowned as she felt something flutter at the outer edges of her mind. It flickered like birds wings for a moment...a voice trying to gain her attention. But it wasn't loud enough. It simply seemed to lack the power it needed to force her to obey.
"I am The Master, and you will obey me!" The Master roared, frustration in his voice. It was impossible! No human should be able to resist his superior will!
Sarah scowled at him, her eyes clear and unclouded by the attempted hypnotism.
"I will never obey you." She hissed back.

The ringing in his ears was beginning to get quite annoying. Shame really, as he was having such a nice dream. He and Sarah were sat on a beach in the Maldives, drinking Mai Tais and...
Sarah?
Yes, something about Sarah...she was in trouble. And that ringing wasn't ringing; it was a voice, calling his name...
"Doctor? Can you hear me?"
The Doctor opened his eyes and sat bolt upright. His brain jump-starting instantly.
"Sarah!" He cried, scrambling to his feet.
"The Master has her." Engin informed him, sympathy written in his wise old eyes.
"And we're sealed in." Spandrell added. The Doctor looked around, checking all the doors.
"What's going on here, Doctor?" Spandrell asked, "What exactly is the Master up to?"
"He's trying to gain access to they Eye of Harmony, so he can gain a new regeneration cycle." The Doctor replied absently as he examined a small blocked-off service shaft.
"But that's impossible! If anyone tried to access the Eye they'd simply be sucked into the black hole!" Spandrell protested.
"Not if they were wearing the Sash. It's a shield, a technological masterpiece that prevents its wearer from being sucked into the nucleus of the Eye...but if the Master succeeds in what he's attempting..."
Engin's face drained of colour, "If he succeeds in destabilising the Eternal Dynamic Equation...then Gallifrey..." He stopped, the horror of the concept overwhelming him.
"Then Gallifrey, and a hundred other worlds in this sector, would all be destroyed." The Doctor said, whirling on Spandrell angrily, "And none of this would have happened if you has listened to me in the first place...now Sarah is in terrible danger."
A minor earthquake suddenly wracked the whole room. It shuddered through the floor and walls, raining plaster and dust down from the ceiling and knocking loose the boards that blocked the service shaft. Spandrell looked at the Doctor in disbelief as he clutched at a column for support.
"Our entire world is about to end, and you're most worried about that girl."
The Doctor moved to the service shaft and pulled the last obstructions out of the way before turning to glare at Spandrell. The look in the Doctor's bright blue eyes was like none he'd even seen before; it was enough to send chills down the Castellan's spine.
"Listen to me, Spandrell," The Doctor said in a quiet, deadly voice, "Until Sarah is safe, the rest of Gallifrey can burn for all I care."
Spandrell stepped back as the Doctor disappeared up the tiny shaft, feeling troubled and confused.
"Good luck, Doctor." Engin said quietly.

The Be Continued...