"Jasmine?"
His mellifluous voice filled the stillness of the cavernous chamber. There was no answer. Unhurriedly now, he strolled to the vault and inspected its contents calmly, the drawer marked "Anthropos". It too was open, and empty.
The Master gave a slight sigh, standing there alone, dwarfed by his cavernous surroundings.
"Well. That's it, then." He shook his head slowly. "Humans!"
--------------------
The viewscreen was filled with the sight of Feigle sniggering joyously at the sight of the Doctor's shocked, strained face.
"Well now, Doctor, what's the matter? You seemed quite certain of your superiority last time we met. Of course, so was the Master, and I've already killed him. Could it be you're worried about your friend? Well, don't be. She's perfectly safe, for the moment. See."
The image swung around, and showed Jasmine lying sprawled face down in the centre of the corridor, head twisted awkwardly to one side, cheek squashed into the carpet. The Doctor's fingernails dug deep into his palms at the sight of Feigle's hand gripping her hair to drag her up and show her face to the monitor. Her eyes were closed, her mouth hung loosely open, and she didn't respond when he released his hold and let her head fall back heavily onto the floor.
It was as if his vocal cords were stretched tight as piano wire. He could barely whisper the words:
"Leave her alone."
The picture reverted to Feigle's gloating face, the lips drawn back from his teeth in a contorted parody of a smile.
"That's really up to you, Doctor. Ha! I should have done this in the first place. I went along with the Master's plan, let him play his games so you could play yours in return. The two of you are a joke, so in love with your own cleverness you're more interested in showing off than winning. Well, the games are over now. The girl dies, right now, unless you tell me where I can find Issius Treed."
"Issius?" replied the Doctor mechanically. "I met him once, years ago. I've no idea where he is now."
"Ooh, that's a shame. So let's see what else we have in the magic bag, here." He scrabbled around in the pouch at his belt and retrieved a second pressure hypodermic, the clear yellow liquid visible swilling inside through its transparent sides. "Ah. Chemistry's a hobby of mine, you know. Poisons mostly, of course. Now this is concentrated stigrius extract. I'm fairly certain this dose is plenty to kill a single, fairly small human. Shall we try it?"
The viewscreen showed the point of the hypodermic plunging unhesitatingly towards Jasmine's shoulder.
"Stop!"
"Ah, suddenly remembered something about Treed, have you?" said Feigle with a sneer. "That's good. Of course, right now you're thinking up a lie to tell me. Best be careful, Doctor. I've already found out a great deal of information about Treed's new life and identity. I hear something I know to be untrue..." He held up the hypodermic clutched in his sweaty fist. "You don't get a second try."
The Doctor was silent, gripping the edges of the table with whitening fingers. Feigle basked in the joy of his situation and then began to count:
"Five, four, three..."
"All right, all right!" The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke as if every word was a physical effort. "Issius Treed is on Ephrium. He's working as a research meteorologist at the planetary ecological institute. He's taken the name Fraxus Pentin."
He bowed his head weakly, while Feigle's grinning mouth gaped wide in triumph.
"Thankyou, Doctor. I think you're telling the truth. Now beg me not to kill her."
The Doctor closed his eyes, his head hanging down.
"Please don't hurt her."
"Beg me on your knees."
The Doctor's mouth spasmed violently, but immediately he dropped to the floor.
"Please, General, I beg you not to hurt her."
Feigle's frenzied, excited giggle rang around the room.
"Wasn't so hard, was it? So I win again, and perhaps this is something you'll remember in future. Gifted amateur you may be, but I'm a professional, and you're out of your depth. Now, I'd love to stay and chat but there's someone I have to go and kill."
The picture on the Doctor's screen swayed sideways as Feigle drew back his arm, then there was a blurred movement and the image exploded against the far wall into a hissing grey nothing.
--------------------
The Doctor's coat streamed out behind him as he sprinted full tilt down the corridors, heedless of the ongoing sounds of battle from remote corners of the station. Without pause or caution he tore along the shortest possible route, never slowing until he recognised a familiar set of doors and a side passage, and Jasmine's prone body lying motionless in the centre of the floor.
Still twenty feet from her he decelerated to a walk, deep lines of suppressed panic etched across his brow and dragging their way down his face. He drew nearer slowly, reluctantly, as if she was something to be feared.
Jasmine lifted her head.
"Ohhh... ow! That little freak. Where did he go?"
"Jasmine!"
The word came out as a breath of relief. Her eyes focussed on him and a dazzling smile danced across her face.
"Doctor!"
In a second she was in his arms, her face buried against his chest, her hair brushing his cheek. The Doctor closed his eyes, held her, and knew that whatever else might happen, for this one moment everything was right.
Briskly he placed his hands on her shoulders, pushed her back to arms' length.
"Right, that's enough of that. We have to stop Feigle. He's about to jump on his space yacht and head off to kill an old friend of mine."
Jasmine grinned mischievously and held up her hand to display the black plastic rectangle concealed in her palm.
"He'll have difficulty. I've stolen his key card."
He stared in astonishment for a moment, then his head fell back in a whoop of laughter. His hands pressing warmly into her shoulders, he looked deep into her sparkling dark eyes, the relief and gratitude flooding through him. Then he found his gaze drifting, just a little, over her shoulder to where the hypodermic Feigle had threatened her with lay discarded on the floor.
It was quite empty.
Jasmine looked up in concern at the low animal moan of pain that escaped the Doctor's lips.
"What's wrong?"
Instantly he looked down into her eyes, smiled. Stroked a curl of hair from her cheek and memorised every detail of her young face.
"Nothing," he said. "Nothing's wrong."
He folded his arms about her and held her close.
"We'll go away somewhere," the Doctor said. He kept his voice warm and steady while the tears streamed down his cheeks. "The Eye of Orion. Agrathus. You liked it there, didn't you? Or wherever else you want. For as long as you want. You've earned it, Jasmine. I'm so proud of you. And..." He squeezed his eyes shut as if he could lock out the pain. "And I love you so much."
He held her until her body grew limp and heavy in his arms, and he fell with her, down onto his knees. Tenderly he cradled her head against his shoulder.
"It's all right, Jasmine," he whispered. "It's quite all right. You won't be alone, I'll never leave you. Just as I've always said. While there's life... there's...."
He sank his face into her hair.