Chapter IV
The Master's Secret
The Doctor entered the room, the Master behind him, his shrinking device aimed at his back. Inside the room a plastic bubble reclined on the wall, its side lined with various wires and tubes. The plastic was only slightly transparent, but it was clear to both Time Lords that Colonel Andred was inside, apparantly unharmed but unconscious.
The Master broke the tense silence. "It seems the Cybermen have gained a cruel streak from their meetings with you, old friend." That term made the Doctor cringe, since indeed his worst enemy was once a good friend. The Master continued. "It was fortunate for them that I was ... that I joined their cause. Behold, Doctor, a Time Lord's torture chamber." With this the Master moved toward a control console, his attention still on the Doctor, his arm still holding his weapon. The Master operated several controls, and the cocoon began to glow. The screams from inside told the Doctor that his friend had been given quite a rude awakening. Through the semi-transparent plastic the Doctor could almost make out the flashes of artificial lightning lashing out at the young Time Lord within.
The "demonstration" lasted for several minutes, at the end of which the Master deactivated the device. The cocoon became dark to the point that the Doctor could not see inside it. This situation was remedied when the Master threw a switch near one side of the cocoon. The bubble opened, revealing a man unconscious yet again. The Time Lord was no longer young, however. His clothes tattered and smoldering, they still looked like they no longer fit well. Indeed they didn't, for the body inside was of a much older man than the one who had summoned the Doctor and his wife out of their retirement to combat the combined forces of his three greatest enemies. Yet, it was Andred.
"Forced regeneration, Doctor," the Master interjected. "The machine is designed to precisely damage a Time Lord's body nearly to the point of death, at which time our own physiologies take over. Oh, it took quite an amount of computation to fine-tune it so it wouldn't kill instantly. I think, though, my two experiments with it have been quite successful."
"Two!" the Doctor said, hoping against hope he did not know who the other experiment was. His worst fears were confirmed, however, when the Master pointed to a screen behind the Doctor's back. The woman on the screen was also unconscious, but still apparantly alive. Her face and figure were rounder, fuller. Her hair was now a dark brown, shoulder length crown on her head, but the clothes were one of two indicators (the other being that unknown way Time Lords can recognize each other even after a regeneration has occurred) that the woman was Romana!
The Master approached behind the Doctor, his weapon still drawn, as though his arm had never moved. "Your darling wife came through her ordeal far better than your friend there, Doctor. I wonder how she will take another treatment?"
At this the Doctor spun around and landed a fierce chop on his adversary's gun hand. The sheer force of the Venusian Aikado move was enough to wrench the gun from his hand, but the Doctor noted that the arm was indeed made of tougher stuff than he anticipated. Grimacing with pain he nonetheless managed to stomp on the shrinking gun, breaking the internal workings into several unrepairable pieces. The Doctor turned, grabbed Andred's now frail body, and bolted from the room. The form of the Master moved as if to pursue him, but stopped short. He stood motionless for several seconds, then turned and walked back into the control room. He operated the scanner-on control. The only response was a dark screen with a slightly lighter shape in the foreground, followed by a rasping voice. "No, my servant. You are needed to lead our troops to Gallifrey." The screen blanked, and the Master directed his TARDIS toward his home planet. Almost as an afterthought he directed a group of Daleks on board to search for the two escaped prisoners.
The Doctor roamed the corridors of his enemy's TARDIS with the old man who was Andred. Several times Andred wanted to get his old friend to return to his TARDIS and let him, with still several regenerations left, continue the search for the third member of their party, but every time he saw that angry look in the Doctor's face, he quietly turned away and continued on as fast as his new body could carry him. Being an old man physically, Andred was forced to make frequent rest stops, and the Doctor stayed with him, ever anxious to find his beloved Time Lady. After the third rest stop in an hour, Andred was sent back to the Doctor's TARDIS while the Doctor continued on.
The Doctor cautiously strode through corridor after corridor, searching for the room he had memorized from the viewscreen, the room that held the regenerated body of his wife. Anger and despiration, though, many times override caution, as the Doctor was about to find out. He passed an intersecting hall and was about to continue on when he felt a metal hand pull him violently into the intersecting corridor. He was about to lash out with the Venusian martial art he had used frequently during his third incarnation when the metal arm pushed him against the side of the wall. In the darkness of the hall the passing Dalek patrol took no notice of the Time Lord nor his strange rescuer. The Doctor felt the arm taken away from his chest, and he turned to his rescuer, whispering, "You are rather friendly for a Cyberman, aren't you?" But the Cyber-rescuer was gone. After checking to ensure the Daleks had safely passed by, he continued his search, this time more attentive to any sound his ears could pick up.
The Master had finished his communique to the Supreme Dalek, the Cyber-Leader, and the Sontaran fleet commander insructing them of the invasion plans. He then set his TARDIS in motion, making sure not to dematerialize so that his troops could follow. This done, he glanced at a chronometer on the console. "Time to recharge again. Blast this body." Operating a lever on the console, a section of the control room wall slid away, revealing a room with a strange table at its center and electrical generators around the walls. The Master turned a switch near the foot of the table, sat down on the table, and reclined. When he had fully laid down the machinery surrounding the table began to hum. His body was bathed in a slight glow.
The Master slept. As he slept, he dreamt. He dreamt of his early life on Gallifrey, of the fun he and his best friend used to have, of the mischief he would cause, many times with his friend's help. In his dream time passed quickly. He saw himself change. He grew a goatee, which spread into a slight beard, pointed almost demonically at its end. He saw his friend change, too. He was soon dressed very formally, almost like a dandy. His hair was fluffy and white. He had become the Doctor, his worst enemy. This was the Doctor and the Master as they had first met after both had left Gallifrey. Time continued to pass in this vision, and the Master envisioned himself in the shell of a body that was his last incarnation, the end of his dozen regenerations. He saw himself merge with Tremas of Traken, stealing his body, usurping his will. Then he saw the end of that body as well. He experienced once again the pain caused by the reawakening of Tremas' psyche within their shared body, desperately trying to free itself from the Master's grip. Despite the Master's once-indominable will, Tremas reversed the merging, and the two separated. Tremas, an ancient man himself, died instantly. The Master had been returned to the burnt-out husk of himself that he had been when he first attempted to take over Traken. He saw himself retreat to his TARDIS, desperately searching for the key that would allow him continued existence.
In his slumber he imagined the mysterious one. He saw his unknown benefactor cloaked as himself, in black, for that is how he had always seen him. The being lifted the dying shell of the Time Lord and carried him off. The Master once again experienced his first glimmer of consciousness after the ordeal. He could feel that the body he was now inside was more powerful than he could have ever imagined. He heard the voice inside his head, demanding subservience for the price of the new body. He felt again the pain the other inflicted when he arrogantly refused, and he again felt the relief when the pain stopped with his vow of loyalty. His dream showed him the surroundings of his salvation ... a room filled with the best Cyber-technology, Sontaran cloning equipment, and Dalek machinery which once turned humans into Daleks, modified to implant the soul of a Time Lord into a hybrid body, a cross between Cyberman and cloned Gallifreyan.
As the Doctor searched for Romana, Andred took up another search ... the search for the familiar police box that brought the trio to the Master's TARDIS. After shuffling down a flight of stairs he was able to dimly recognize the corridor he now entered. He could just barely remember that this was the way to the TARDIS. He froze in his tracks as a Cyberman appeared in front of him. Realizing that his now aged body had no hope of overcoming such a creature, his first thought was to attempt to flee. He whirled to see the Dalek search party approaching. Looking frantically, the newly regenerated Time Lord realized there was no escape. He turned back toward the Cyberman and noticed it frantically motioning toward him. Andred cautiously approached the silvery figure, which quickly seized his hand in a cold grip, firm but deceptively gentle for a Cyberman, and dragged him down the corridor. Andred felt himself quickly tiring, but gave one final burst of speed when he saw the blue shape in front of him. The Cyberman produced an oddly-shaped key, fitted it into the door lock and turned. The TARDIS doors opened, and the two figures raced inside. The doors closed just as the Dalek patrol came into view.
Inside the more pleasant control room Andred could just stop and stare at the metallic man. Surely Cybermen wouldn't spare a Time Lord. Then he noticed that the creature was a bit shorter than he had imagined his kind to be. His doubts that this was indeed a Cyberman were confirmed when two hands lifted a fake Cyber-mask from the head of a young woman. She placed the helmet on top of the stationary central column and looked about in wonderment. Andred could just barely hear her ask herself where the scanner was. Obligingly the Time Lord moved toward the control and activated the viewscreen. The two witnessed the Daleks move past the police box and continue their search down the corridor. They both stood there, realizing how lucky they had been to reach the safety of the TARDIS. Andred noticed that the woman couldn't have been older than her early 20's. Her reddish-brown hair flowed freely down the back of the Cyberman shell she wore. Her eyes shown both the curiosity of a little girl and an intelligence that would rival his own, indeed perhaps even the Doctor. Without a word she gathered her flowing hair up and fitted the helmet about her head again. After making sure it was secure she went to the TARDIS doors and attempted to open them. Realizing that they would not open by pushing at them, she turned once again to the aging Andred, who opened the doors for her. The erstaz Cyberwoman walked out of the TARDIS and down the corridor from which they had come earlier.
The Master awoke, refreshed, from his recharge/sleep to the sound of failure from his Dalek patrol. "Dalek commander reporting. The Doctor and his com-panions have not been located."
"Well FIND THEM!" the Master roared. He turned off the communications channel just as the pain inside his head began again, only this time it wasn't a dream. The voice inside his head seemed to echo inside his organic-metal skull.
"YOU HAVE FAILED ME AGAIN, SERVANT!" The Master winced in pain at the volume and tone of the voice. The voice grew softer, but perhaps even more firm. "You were supposed to be my second in command, my figurehead leader, so I would not have to enter the frey myself. Useless, bumbling fool!" The Master began to defend himself, trying to keep his anger down, when the voice continued on. "Go to the cell housing the woman Time Lord and lock yourself in with her. I am taking charge personally." The Master tried feebly to resist the command, but felt his manufactured body respond almost against his will. Realizing he could not fight it, he walked out of the control room, headed for the cell now occupied by Romana. As he left the room, the controls began moving of their own accord, almost as if an invisible hand operated them.
Chapter V
"Who is the Commander"
Story (c) 1986 Joe Sewell
Melbourne, FL
Doctor Who and related material (c) 1986 BBC England