Chapter 48

The Lady In The Cage

The Doctor moved cautiously down the passageway. It was not very long, but it was narrow and dark. Not a good combination, he thought uneasily. He was in no mood for surprises, which was unfortunate. The instant he emerged from the tunnel, he was greeted by a terrified scream.

The horrified Time Lord stood silently at the entrance, his revulsion being equaled only by his rage as he gazed at the captive Alterran cruelly stretched out and interwoven into the wire filaments as if she were a piece of circuitry. The Doctor could see the Master's hand in this. Shadra was being used in a similar manner as Adric, who had been suspended in a web of Hadron power lines and used to lure the Doctor into the space/time trap of Castrovalva shortly after his last regeneration.

"So this is how you planned to harness the power," the Doctor muttered angrily. Shadra screamed again, and he raised his hands, slowly approaching the enclosure. "It's alright," he said, keeping his voice low and soothing, "there's no need to be frightened. I'm not going to harm you."

The Time Lord's calming words induced the reverse effect. The excitement of hearing Jason's voice had driven all thoughts from Shadra's mind except rescue and the sudden appearance of the Doctor both angered and terrified her. He was still the Master as far as she knew, and she thrashed violently among the wires in bitter frustration, believing the Prince had been used to deceive her into thinking a rescue was forthcoming.

"Shadra, please, calm down," the Doctor said gently as he drew closer. His foot touched the free running cable the Master had used when connecting her into the cage and he looked down at it in bewilderment, causing Shadra to panic.

"No! You keep away from me!" she screamed.

To their mutual astonishment, the Doctor was suddenly lifted off of his feet and flung forcefully back against the wall. It was as though an invisible hand had simply swept him aside. The force of the impact left him stunned and he dropped to the ground in an undignified heap.

Shadra immediately stopped struggling. In her terror she had completely forgotten about her newly acquired powers. She glared vengefully down at the motionless figure, wondering what she should do first for appropriate retribution.

The real Master was already dealing with the Doctor's retribution, and came out from under the central control console, slamming a fist down on it and cursing the Doctor's infuriating foresightedness. He had been so busy trying to figure out why his TARDIS had so suddenly dematerialized that he failed to notice the stacks of paperwork had vanished. That is, until that very moment, his eyes falling on the lone sheet of paper and decanter on the table across the room. His eyes narrowed at this additional piece of meddling by his enemy. He stormed over to the table, snatching up the note, which read as follows:

blockquoteMy dear Master,

I thought you should know I destroyed all the papers you stole from Professor Turner. My apologies if, by some chance, I destroyed anything that wasn't from the Institute. But (knowing you) you probably shouldn't have had it anyway.

You may find yourself a bit stiff, as I got a few rather nasty cuts and bruises when I was forced to jump through that window. And just in case you're a bit out of sorts for having been thwarted so masterfully by yours truly yet again, I left you a marvelous herbal restorative that will do wonders for your disposition.

And good luck with the console. I hope you enjoy untangling all my little alterations as much as I enjoyed untangling this little scheme of yours.

The Doctor/blockquote

The Master changed through three shades of purple as he read the message, finally crumpling the paper in one hand and hurling the decanter across the room with the other. The container shattered against the far wall sending glass and liquid in every direction. "Next time, Doctor," he growled between clenched teeth. "Next time it will be you who is shattered!"

The scream that greeted the Doctor had also echoed through the Crystal Cavern, causing Jason grave distress that was only heightened when Shadra no longer answered his calls. He turned to the Doctor only to discover that he was gone. The entrance to the computer center was standing open and the Alterran exchanged a mystified look with the Doctor's companions before returning to his human form and leading the way into the tunnel.

The group stopped short upon reaching the far end. The sight of the imprisoned noblewoman caused all of them to fail to notice the Time Lord lying senseless on the ground just behind them.

"It's just like Adric," Tegan gasped, giving voice to the Doctor's original observation.

Turlough started toward the cage, only to be grabbed back so forcefully by the Prince that he almost fell to the ground.

"Sorry," Jason said quickly, looking over at the enclosure. "That barrier's the wrong color. It's supposed to be blue for stun force. That one's violet. The color of a high energy suppression field." Turning pointedly to Turlough, he added darkly, "And those kill."

Turlough shuddered and took a cautious step back.

The Doctor stirred and groaned as he regained his senses, the pain in his head being first followed closely by his bruised shoulders where they had made contact with the wall. He tried to pick himself up off of the floor, only managing to get to a sitting position. He leaned back against the painfully hard surface still dazed.

"Doctor!" Tegan gasped as the three friends finally registered the fact that, considering he had entered first, the Doctor had been conspicuous by his absence in the room.

Jason knelt beside his friend, fearing he might still be suffering ill effects from the process. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not sure," the Time Lord replied, equally puzzled. He looked inquiringly at the trapped Baroness. "Did you do that?"

"Yes!" she hissed. "That, and a lot more."

The Doctor's bewilderment soon gave way to amazement as the heavy gold collar suddenly floated in to the air, an invisible hand wrenching off the medallion. The collar was flung into the transmat booth, shattering the enclosure and shorting out the Master's abominable circuitry modifications. The floating medallion was then propelled straight at the Doctor, who dove out of the way just seconds before the missile embedded itself into the wall behind him.

"Now see here," the Time Lord said indignantly as he climbed to his feet. "There's no call for any of this—"

"Silence, Time Lord!" Shadra commanded.

The Doctor was instantly immobilized, looking as if he had just been turned to stone.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Tegan cried. "Why are you doing this to the Doctor?"

"He's not the Doctor," Shadra responded forcefully.

"Oh no," Turlough moaned. "Here we go again."