Chapter 33

"What The Devil's Going On?"

Turlough was blissfully unaware of the fact that Tegan was currently stalking him. He was more concerned with the Doctor who had been gone for far too long in his opinion. What if he's in trouble? Had another attack or something? Turlough was just heading for the inner door when a voice broke into his thoughts, telling him that it was he who was in trouble.

"Turlough, are you in there?" came Tegan's angry voice through the door.

"Oh, no! Not Tegan!" Turlough gasped, suddenly close to panic. She mustn't find the Doctor here. Not like this! He started towards the doors hoping to cut her off, but he was too far across the room. Tegan came storming into the console room before he even reached the control console.

"There you are, Mister Compassion-In-The-Night," she growled. "What's the big idea, Turlough? As if things aren't bad enough already, now you go and pull a stunt like this!"

Turlough groaned. He could not tell the ranting Tegan the real reason for the theft, and was completely unprepared for this sudden confrontation. His mind, infuriatingly, had gone blank, leaving him incapable of coming up with any plausible excuse. He tried the simplest route. "Sorry."

Tegan's jaw dropped open. "Sorry! Is that all you've got to say for yourself? Sorry?" She stormed around the room beside herself. "Why didn't you just ask the Doctor to open the door for you? Or was that too easy?"

"No. Tegan, you don't understand—"

"Too right, I don't understand!" she snapped. "So you're just going to tell me."

"I can't!"

Tegan stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him. "You're as bad as the Doctor. I think the pair of you have gone completely round the bend."

"The Doctor?"

"Oh, come on, Turlough! You know exactly what I'm talking about. He's been acting really strange—even for the Doctor. He practically bit my head off last night, and this morning he's trying to act as peacemaker."

"Peacemaker? For what?" Turlough was getting totally confused trying to follow Tegan's logic.

"He was trying to keep me from killing you for stealing my key to the TARDIS!" she roared.

Turlough felt all the blood drain from his face at the thought of the Master knowing what he had done. He and Tegan were safe as long as the Doctor remained out of sight, but should the Master find out where he was…

"You didn't tell him, did you?" the young man demanded fearfully.

Tegan was completely thrown by Turlough's sudden change in manner. It wasn't like him to be rattled at the thought of the Doctor learning he had provoked her yet again. "No, I never got the chance," she said in a more normal voice. Seeing a look of relief flood over his face, she demanded, "Turlough, what the devil's going on?"

As if on cue, the Doctor entered via the inner door speaking as he came through. "No luck, I'm afraid, Turlough. I couldn't find—Oh, dear." He stopped dead in his tracks, almost walking straight into the horrified Tegan. Anticipating her reaction he sprinted to the console and hit the door lever.

Turlough managed to forestall Tegan's flight and the double doors swung shut a split second before she reached them. She thumped on them with her fists and then whirled around, angry and terrified. "Open this door!" she demanded.

Unable to watch the torment of his companion in her vain efforts to flee from him, the Doctor stood leaning on the console, his head lowered. Now what do I do? How do I explain this? He looked over at Turlough who gave him a don't-look-at-me shrug. Thanks a lot, Turlough.

Drawing a deep breath, the Doctor straightened. He looked sadly over at his panic-stricken companion, hating the fear he was instilling in her. He raised his hands in an attempt to calm her. "It's alright, Tegan. I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to sound reassuring, but the rich, velvety tones of the Master's voice could take on such a menacing edge.

"How did you get in here? What do you want?" Tegan started to tremble and the Doctor instinctively took a step forward to comfort her, only to add to her panic. "You keep away from me!" she screamed, shrinking back against the doors. To her amazement, the Time Lord retreated.

The Doctor turned pleadingly over to Turlough, who sighed heavily. As if he weren't in enough trouble with Tegan already, he thought. "It's alright, Tegan," he said as he crossed to her. "Honestly."

"Alright! Turlough, have you gone completely mad!" the aghast Tegan cried. "He'd kill the Doctor as soon as look at him." Her voice hardened as she added, "And here you are, nice as you please, all very cozy." She stared hard at Turlough. Originally he had been the servant of the Black Guardian, his mission being to kill the Doctor. With the White Guardian's assistance, he was able to break the contract, after which Turlough had asked to stay on. Was it possible, Tegan thought, after all the Doctor had done for him, Turlough had actually changed sides? Again?

"It's not what you think!" Turlough protested, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He turned to the Doctor, who was still standing at the console and taking in the exchange with keen interest. "I'm not handling this very well at all, Doctor."

"You're doing fine," the Time Lord replied mildly, knowing that Turlough's calling him by name would induce an immediate reaction from Tegan.

"Doctor!" She grabbed Turlough by the shoulders and shook him. "Turlough, snap out of it! That's the Master!"

"No. I'm not," the Doctor stated categorically. "As difficult as this may be to believe, Tegan, I'm not the Master. I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, right. You're the Doctor," she spat sarcastically. "Don't tell me, let me guess. You've just regenerated into the Master's double."

"If it were only that simple," the Doctor sighed mournfully.

Tegan could feel herself becoming very angry and looked as if she were about to explode when Turlough intervened, insisting that she "shut up and listen."

A servant had removed the breakfast tray and broken cup from the Doctor's suite, the intrusion having been tolerated by the Master with visible effort. Only minutes after the servant had gone, he was interrupted yet again by Prince Jason, who brought the latest report on the fruitless search of the area.

"Doctor, you know as well as I do the Master won't be found after all this time. He's much too good at covering his tracks." With an exasperated sigh, the Prince added, "I think we were just lucky to've caught him in the first place. He must be long gone by now."

"Well…I'm sure that's a possibility," the Master replied, his brow furrowed in feigned concentration, "but I seriously doubt it. Please, don't take this the wrong way, Jason, but I can't picture the Master coming all the way to Tel-Shye for the sole purpose of murdering—as he would see it—an insignificant aristocrat. Surely he must have broader plans and Shadra was simply a…diversion."

The pretender watched as an anguished expression spread across Jason's face, an indication that the arrow had found its mark. The Alterran's blue eyes turned icy cold with hatred and the Master began congratulating himself on yet another brilliant job of manipulation.

"If he's here, Doctor, we'll find him. If we have to turn over every rock on the planet!" With that, the Prince swept from the room.

The Master laughed as soon as Jason was gone, pulling the TARDIS key from his pocket. "No where to hide, Doctor," he intoned.

Turlough had talked himself out to the unconvinced Tegan. "You don't really expect me to believe that fairy tale, do you?" she said acidly. "You know perfectly well he's a master hypnotist —and liar."

The Doctor groaned inwardly, his eyes going to the ceiling. Leave it to Tegan to finally remember one of her warnings at just the wrong time. Now anything personal he might try to relate to her would be believed to have come from Turlough.

Tegan was trying to reason with the frustrated young man, believing him to be under the Master's control. "Just listen to yourself. The Doctor's not the Doctor, he's the Master. And the Master's not the Master, he's the Doctor." She took a deep breath. "Oh, now I'm getting confused."

"How do you think I feel?" the Doctor asked mildly.

"I don't care how you feel!" she spat back venomously.

"Tegan!" Turlough admonished.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. Obviously Tegan was not going to believe anything they told her, and they had already wasted too much valuable time trying to convince her. The question now was, what should he do with her? The most logical solution, of course, was to keep her imprisoned in the TARDIS, but this was unthinkable to the Doctor. His face darkened further as other, equally unpleasant solutions came to mind.

The ominous look sent a chill down Tegan's spine, and speculations as to its cause were terrifying at best. She had forgotten until that moment that she was still trapped in the console room.

Apparently sensing her panic, the Doctor came to the most humane decision he could and pulled the door lever. The double doors swung open behind his astonished companions. "No tricks," he assured. "You're free to go."

Tegan eyed him suspiciously. "Just like that?"

"Just like that. The fact that you don't believe me doesn't change who I am, Tegan. I said I wouldn't hurt you, and I've no intentions of keeping you a prisoner, either."

Turlough was aghast. He could not believe the Doctor was going to let Tegan just walk out the door to probably bring back every guard in the Palace. Not to mention the Master! Unlike the Doctor, he had no qualms about keeping Tegan a prisoner in the TARDIS. "Are you mad!" the young man exploded.

"No," the Time Lord grinned. "I'm the Doctor."