Chapter 23

A Changed Man

Prince Jason was horrified by the news of what had happened during his absence. He went straight to his friend's room, finding the impostor sitting out on the balcony. "Doctor, I just heard what happened. Are you alright?" he asked as he came out the door.

The Master sighed, willing himself to remain calm. He had to keep the Alterran from scanning him at all costs. His scheme held a part for the boy, but it was much too early to expose it. He smiled weakly and tried to sound cheerful. "I'm much better, thanks. That little concoction of your father's has done me a world of good."

Jason studied the man before him in uncertainty. Having already heard his father's concerns, he had to agree, even from this cursory examination, something did not feel right about his old friend. They should be trying to keep him from charging after the cause of his own disappearance. Instead, the Doctor was extraordinarily docile in the face of so inexplicable an occurrence. His companions had not mentioned noticing anything unusual and, after all, they did know him better than anyone in this regeneration. Then again, Jason and his father had been collaborating for decades and their combined intuition was extremely accurate.

"If you're feeling up to it, Doctor, we'll be having tea on the veranda later," the Prince invited. "I know it's kind of late, but they held it up for me."

The Master smiled engagingly. "I think that's just what the doctor ordered," he replied, thinking this sounded inane enough to be a comment made by the Doctor.

Jason was suddenly serious and took a step towards the Time Lord. "Look, let's drop the small talk, Doctor. This is me. Can't you see—?" Before he had the chance to finish his sentence, the pretender was on his feet and moving away from him.

"Jason, I'm fine," the bogus Doctor said insistently. "Just a bit tired, that's all. All I need is a bit of rest and I'll be back to myself in no time." With that, he vanished into his room.

The Prince stood staring after him, completely thrown by the abrupt departure. He was already aware of the Time Lord's adamant refusal to be scanned, and, not wanting to upset his friend further, Jason had decided not to push the issue. But after what he'd just seen, he was having second thoughts.

Prince Jason had scarcely gotten to the bottom of the main staircase when Turlough appeared. "How's he doing?" he asked.

The Alterran threw a glance in the direction of the Doctor's room and shrugged. "Better—he says," he said unenthusiastically. "We'll see. I think he's coming down to join us in a bit."

"Good," Turlough sighed. "Now let's go tell Tegan. She's been driving me mad the whole time you've been up there. Maybe she, at least, will feel better."

The Master arrived on the veranda last of all, wanting to make a grand entrance. He received the warm greetings with the greatest of humility, taking a seat beside Turlough. Jason was relating the events of his visit to Krystos, telling of how his report on the encounter with the Master on Carna had been received with the greatest of skepticism. That is, until he mentioned the Doctor's involvement. After that, the report was accepted without further questions or alterations. Many of the Senate Nobles remembered the clash between the Doctor and the Master during the coronation of Aaron's predecessor, the culmination of which had left a large section of the King's residence in the Royal Palace in ruins.

The memory of this devastating defeat caused the Master to grind his teeth. The Doctor would thwart his plans no longer, he thought gloatingly. Very shortly his rival would be put to death at the hands of his own friends. The irony of this caused the Master to chuckle.

Overhearing the laugh, Turlough mistakenly thought it was due to Jason's further comments. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Doctor. I can't help feeling that this is my fault. I…I never should've left you alone!" he moaned guiltily, feeling an unusual attack of conscience.

The pretender studied the repentant young man, thinking on how he had planned on killing him had he chosen to stay with the Doctor. With a placating smile, he said, "It's not your fault, Turlough. You couldn't've known anything would happen."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

You must be joking! "Of course not," the bogus Doctor said mildly. "Now do stop fussing. I'm already beginning to feel more like my old self again." He smiled at his own private joke.

In the Crystal Cavern, the eyes of the real Doctor fluttered open, his head swimming from the joint effects of the mind-bonding process and the drug the Master had administered. He tried to rise, only to find his limbs felt as heavy as lead and his movements extremely sluggish.

"Drugged," he noted with a grunt.

Still unaware of the fact that he no longer inhabited his own body, the Doctor sat up slowly expecting to hear the Master's taunting laughter at any moment. To his surprise, the room remained hauntingly silent. He shook his head to clear it, realizing too late that this was a mistake. The room tilted at a wild angle and then started to spin out of control. He fell back to the floor, unconscious.

"Cedric tells me you wanted to see me, Doctor," Shadra cooed politely as she entered the Time Lord's room.

The impostor turned to face her with an Alterran energy gun in his hand, one of the few weapons capable of killing the members of the almost invulnerable race. Before the shocked Baroness could cry out, the Master fired and she went rigid, her eyes staring blankly into space.

The Master turned to the bedroom door beside him. "Come out," he ordered.

Cedric appeared at the door, his face just as devoid of emotion as the zombie-like noblewoman.

"It's almost time for you to play your part, Cedric," the Master grinned villainously. He turned his gaze back to the frozen Shadra, adding, "There's nothing like a little misdirection to make things interesting."

Shadra was roughly brought out of her trance to find herself in a circular enclosure being threatened and coerced by the man she thought to be the Doctor. She was confused as to why he would kidnap her, and terrified at the way he was maliciously threatening her with a deadly weapon. After forcing her to return to her true form, he went on to horrify her further by attaching wire filaments to her tendrils. By the time he finished, she was completely enmeshed in them, connected to the walls and floor of the cage-like enclosure and barely able to move.

The Master locked the door to the enclosure and then switched on an energy barrier, surrounding the metal prison with an eerie blue glow. This would inhibit Shadra's ability to transmute, trapping her inside the cage as well as making it impossible for her to escape the web.

"Please, why are you doing this?" she begged for what seemed the hundredth time, pulling in vain at the wires the pierced and entangled her flesh.

The Master stood silently before her, having said almost nothing the entire time he was connecting her into his web. He knew the grip of fear would tighten around her the longer he remained silent. As an added deterrent, he had used a free running electrical cable to inflict painful shocks whenever Shadra pulled away from him. After a few applications of cable, she eventually submitted to the undignified operation being performed on her.

Now that the horrible procedure was completed, Shadra only wanted to know the cause of the Time Lord's malicious behavior. "Doctor, please, why are you doing this?"

"I require your crystalline molecular structure to channel the power of the Crystal Cavern," came the succinct reply.

Astonished by the fact that she had finally received an answer, Shadra stopped struggling. It didn't make any sense but at least it was an answer; and the flat businesslike tone was a welcome change from the frightful snarling she had been getting. In as even a tone as she could manage, she said, "I don't understand."

"That isn't necessary at this point in time," the Master replied crisply and turned, crossing to a mas sive L-shaped computer in the corner of the room. One end of the unit began almost directly across from the enclosure, covering the wall and wrapping around the corner to continue along the far end of the room where a transmat booth stood. Shadra guessed that this was how she had been brought to…to…wherever this is. She returned her attention to her captor and the computer that looked to her as if it had been spliced together from odd parts.

The Master was busy adjusting dials and checking gauges while his captive took in her surroundings. He gave a satisfied grunt and moved back to the main control terminal. Giving the readings a quick glance, he flipped the main switch, activating his gruesome metal creation.

The same instant, Shadra shrieked as power suddenly flooded through her. Some hurried corrections stabilized the energy flow, leaving the Alterran female stunned and hanging limply in the web. The sapphire blue crystals encircling her body glowed dimly, growing brighter as she recovered from the shock.

"Please, why are you doing this?" Shadra whimpered, now very close to hysteria. "Wh…why do you hate me? Doctor, please! I don't understand!"

The Master fixed her in an icy stare. "There is but one thing you need to understand," he said coldly. "I am not the Doctor. Thanks to your people's wonderful KaRoon-Tar, I've taken possession of his body quite permanently."

"KaRoon-Tar!" Shadra gasped. "The mind-bonding? But…you're not Alterran. If you underwent the process, you'd switch places with whoever…" Her voice trailed off as the horrifying truth struck her. The evil persona standing before her was not the Doctor at all.

Hesitantly, she asked the inevitable, "Who... are you?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," her captor said with a bow. "I am the Master."