Chapter 25

"What've You Done?"

"I don't want to calm down, Father!" Jason protested as he paced the King's private sitting room like a caged lion.

Aaron was in the process of mixing a mild sedative into some tea and was not about to take no for an answer. He threw an angry scowl in his son's direction before turning his attentions to the still shaken Tegan. "Please drink this, Miss Jovanka," he said gently, "it'll help settle your nerves."

Tegan gave him a watery smile, accepting the cup and slowly sipping the soothing mixture it contained.

"Now, you!" Aaron snapped in the obvious tone of a displeased parent. "Drink this." He held out the cup to his inflamed offspring, receiving an equally hostile glare in return. Jason had no intention of being sedated, no matter how weak the dosage.

"Don't worry," Turlough said quietly to the King, "I'll get him to drink it."

Aaron gave him a dubious look before surrendering the cup. He then went to the open French doors and stared out into the night. The only change from earlier that day was the armed guard stationed just outside on the veranda.

Turlough walked over to the pacing Prince, thinking a little emotional blackmail might be in order. He took him by the arm and stopped him in his tracks. "Jason, you really do need to calm down," he said quietly, receiving a fierce look in response. Undaunted, he went on. "You don't want your emotions to get the better of you—again—now do you?"

Jason opened his mouth to protest, only to close it again. Turlough was right, unfortunately. "No, I suppose not," he said, keeping his voice equally low. "It's just…I feel so frustrated! All this waiting, and not knowing. It's getting on my nerves."

"I think that's why you're supposed to drink this," Turlough replied, indicating the cup that was still in his hands.

Jason looked down at it and nodded resignedly. "I really prefer coffee, y'know," he muttered before finally drink ing the sedative.

The journey to the detention area had been a vague blur to the Doctor, who was still reeling from the shock of what he had seen on the balcony. Somehow, he and the Master had exchanged places. But how? What had happened in that singular, remarkable cave?

The Time Lord sat despondently in his square prison cell, a force field at the door effectively keeping him in. He could easily have deactivated it, if he had his indent kit. But that was in one of his coat pockets. The coat the Master now wore. The Master! When did he arrive on the scene? No one suspected he was anywhere near Tel-Shye that morning and by evening the entire Palace Guard was out in force looking for him. Assuming, of course, it was still the same day.

The Doctor was afraid to contemplate what might have happened while he was so neatly and conveniently out of the way. There were so many questions, and he was having a terrible time concentrating in order to find the answers. A movement at the door broke into his disconnected train of thought and he looked up, seeing himself standing in the doorway.

"I don't know how you managed this," he said as he rose to his feet, "but I'm going to do every thing in my power to reverse it!" Well, that sounded an empty threat, the Doctor thought, feeling as if he were talking to himself in a mirror. The image smiled sadistically back at him.

"Power?" laughed the Master. "You have no power. Even as we speak the arrangements for your ultimate demise are being set into motion." He paused to allow his adversary time to absorb this delightfully horrifying piece of news.

"What've you done?" the Doctor asked, not really wanting to know the answer. After their many centuries of opposition, he had a healthy respect for the deviousness of his rival's intellect. If the Master had set him up, which, of course, he would have done, the Doctor knew he would need every shred of information he could gather in order to plan his counterattack. The only problem at present, and that was extreme, was the fact that the effects of the drugs were robbing him of his most effective weapon. His ability to think his way out of a deadly situation.

When Jason had more or less returned to normal, he suffered a severe attack of conscience. How could he be so selfish? Thinking only of himself when it was obvious Tegan desperately needed reassurance. He was talking quietly with her when a knock came at the door and Captain Devron entered, bowing to those present. He crossed to the King and they exchanged a few words before going outside. A few minutes later, the King returned alone.

"The Master has been captured," Aaron announced. "And, as he has already been convicted of crimes against the Empire, I've ordered a formal hearing to be held immediately."

"Immediately? You mean tonight?" Turlough was incredulous. Things certainly moved along on this planet when they wanted them to.

"It was the Doctor's suggestion, actually," the monarch went on to explain. "Apparently he witnessed the Master's arrival and passed the suggestion along."

Tegan and Turlough exchanged a look of mutual disbelief.

"I can't say I blame him," Jason injected bitterly. "How many times has that butcher tried to kill him?"

Seeing the Prince's face darken, Tegan feared the worst and touched him on the arm. He looked down and smiled, readily understanding her concern. Patting her hand gently he whispered, "I'm still in control, don't worry."

"The Doctor needn't fear for himself any longer," the King was saying. "The Master will not escape justice a second time."

"Too right," muttered Jason, having picked up yet another idiom. He excused himself and swept from the room.

Watching him go, Tegan wondered if the Doctor had remained separated from the rest of them in order to head the Prince off when the Master was captured. But then, how could he have known they would find him? And so quickly?

Finishing the last of her second cup of tea, Tegan thought about suggesting that a vat of it be sent up to the Doctor. This sudden lust for revenge was not just surprising; it simply wasn't like him at all.

"What have you done?" the real Doctor demanded again.

"I?" the Master asked innocently. "I've done nothing. But it seems the last time the Master was on this miserable little planet he was convicted of a few, shall we say, indiscretions?"

"As I recall they were some of the most reprehensible of crimes, none the least of which was the near destruction of the entire Alterran Empire."

Taking his adversary's remark as a compliment, the Master inclined his head before continuing with his litany. "Alas, before final sentence could be carried out, the cad escaped. But now that he—or should I say, you—have been recaptured, a formal hearing is to be held so that justice may be carried out at last."

"A hearing? When?"

"Immediately."

"Immediately?" The Doctor was as incredulous as Turlough on this point. "You mean tonight? At this hour?"

"In all modesty," the Master purred, "I fear I must claim responsibility on this point. There's nothing so satisfying as the swift and sure hand of justice decisively handing down appropriate retribution."

Speechless, the Doctor stood staring open-mouthed at his sworn enemy. He was good and trapped now.