The glow vanished as abruptly as it began, leaving the other two limp and exhausted on the floor. As they began to stir, Tegan's bubble-shaped force field became briefly visible as a charge of green energy flared inside its boundaries, vanishing almost instantly. Instead of screaming in pain, however, Tegan stiffened into immobility, frozen into position, her hands still raised in mid-swing, fists clenched, mouth open.
"What did you do to us? What did you do to her?" Kyris demanded, staring at Tegan as he struggled to his feet. There was no residual pain, just a feeling of being drained, without the energy to do more than stand. Ace, too seemed none the worse for wear as she picked herself up off the floor and plodded determinedly toward the other woman's prison.
She prodded the invisible surface, meeting the same resistance Tegan had, hissing slightly as the static discharge zapped her fingertips. "Tegan?" Ace called, but the other woman remained frozen, staring directly at the spot Ace and Kyris had just occupied. The place they'd been attacked and inexplicably released. "Tell us what you did!" Ace shouted, glaring angrily at the ceiling. Her energy appeared to be returning, and Kyris felt his own reserves coming back. So whatever the Master had done, it had only been temporary. A way to punish them, perhaps, or a simple demonstration of power.
"You'll discover what I've done to you when the time comes." The Master's voice was dismissive. "As for Tegan, I'm simply insuring that she is unable to make good on her threats. I intend for her to give birth to that child, and I intend to take over his body once it reaches the proper maturity."
"You plan to just wait in the TARDIS memory banks until Tegan's son is a grown man?" Kyris sounded incredulous.
The Master's cold laughter rang out again. "There will be no waiting. I've immobilized her in order to put the second part of my plan in motion. The one I intended for our dear Miss Jovanka from the start." Another burst of energy filled the force field bubble, causing Ace to stumble back as the static charge became painful to the touch. The bubble filled with a fine blue mist that lingered for several minutes, emitting a faint sizzling sound. During those minutes, Tegan remained frozen, but Ace and Kyris could just see through the mist, enough to realize her body was changing.
As they watched, horrified, her hair and nails grew longer, her breasts seemed to enlarge, but their attention was riveted to her abdomen. It expanded rapidly, pushing her blouse up, while her knit skirt was stretched out and finally forced down around her hips. As the blue mist evaporated, Tegan's eyes blinked, her hands lowered, and she stumbled to her knees, staring down at radically altered body in horrified disbelief.
"What have you done?" she cried, terror etched into every feature. "What's happened to me?"
"Merely advanced your pregnancy by several months," came the Master's reply. "You're now approximately six months along. In a few hours, when I've recharged the temporal energies I'm using to age you, I'll advance it even further, until you're into your ninth month. Then, when the baby is born, I'll age him to the appropriate point and have my consciousness placed into his body."
"We'll find a way to stop you." Ace's voice was full of impotent fury. There was no one to attack, nothing to destroy, and her fury grew as she realized the full extent of her helplessness.
"How?" The Master's voice turned mocking. "Short of destroying my TARDIS, which would not only be suicide but would also, I assure you, be impossible, you can do nothing to stop me. Nothing. Although I'm sure Tegan will be grateful for your assistance once she goes into labor--"
There was the jangle of electronic chimes, which seemed to startle the Master as well as the other three. "What?" was all he had time to ask before another disembodied voice rang out, artificial yet vaguely feminine in nature.
"Suitable host body located. Transfer process begun, as per parameters indicated in initial instructions."
"What? No, I order you to stop!" The Master suddenly sounded frantic. "TARDIS, cancel transfer process immediately! Stop! I command y--!" His voice abruptly cut off. At the same moment, the force field surrounding Tegan disappeared and she stumbled back to her feet.
"Transfer process complete. Mental energies of subject 'Master' permanently installed in suitable host body. Awaiting further instructions."
Kyris moved to stand next to the console. He reached hesitantly for the TARDIS controls, stunned as they respond obediently to his commands. "I'm just finding out where we are," he mumbled. The view screen sprang to life, showing what appeared to be a meadow of some sorts, with a few trees in the distance. "It's the moon of a gas giant in a system not too far from Gallifrey." He sounded incredulous.
Ace moved closer to Tegan, reaching hesitantly to touch her shoulder. "Are you all right?" When no answer was forthcoming, she shook the other woman lightly. "Tegan, are you hurt?"
"Hurt," Tegan repeated, sounding dazed. "No, not hurt. Not in pain. Just six bloody months pregnant now." A laugh was building in her throat, and Ace half-raised her hand, fearful of hysterics. Not that Tegan wasn't entitled, but they all needed to keep their heads right now. Fortunately, Tegan bit the laughter back down, took a deep breath and looked at Kyris. "What just happened?"
"Exactly what the Master originally planned when he installed the program in the first place," he replied, also sounding dazed. "The TARDIS located a suitable body and transferred him." He looked over at the two women, a grin spreading across his face. "I guess he forgot to reprogram it when he changed the plan, never put in a failsafe or cancelled the original orders. Sloppy of him."
"Serves him right," Tegan muttered in response. "He was too bloody busy toying with us." Her gaze kept moving toward her stomach, then away, as if she could barely stand to look at herself. And she probably couldn't, Kyris guessed. The Master might be gone, but the legacy of pain he left behind lived on. Literally.
"So where did he go?" Ace demanded. "He doesn't get away that easily." She still looked mad enough to spit nails.
Kyris' gaze shifted involuntarily over to the smashed computer before he forced himself to look away. "I don't know," he admitted. "There doesn't seem to be any record of where the TARDIS sent him, not here." He worked the controls, then shook his head. "I can't tell, not yet. But I'll keep looking."
"It's my fault." Ace looked and sounded remorseful. "I'll bet that thing I smashed could have told us where the TARDIS sent him." She blew a heavy sigh and pressed her fingertips against her temples. That damned temper of hers; when would she learn to control it?
"I'm going to try and access the data from the main console, the one he reconnected," Kyris offered comfortingly. "He can't have just vanished into nowhere--"
"As long as we're rid of him, I don't care where he ended up." Tegan's tone was vicious. "I hope his TARDIS decided an Australian rancher's favorite sheep was the perfect body for him."
Kyris started to tell her he doubted the Master would have been that sloppy in setting his parameters, but stopped himself well before the words made it past his lips; now was not the time for either humor or literalism. "He has a lot of crimes to pay for," was all he did say.
They all looked up as an alarm suddenly blared. The view screen went blank, then returned to its original view, with one notable difference: a blue police call box, Earth, circa 1950s, now sat squarely on the grass. Ace gave a whoop of delight and raced out of the auxiliary control room, heading straight for the main TARDIS door.
Tegan was frantic. "He can't see me, not like this!" She tugged uselessly at her too-tight clothing. "Kyris, I have to get to my room, I have to hide this!" Her hands hovered over her distended abdomen, not quite touching it.
He frowned. "Hide this? You mean your pregnancy? Why?" He was honestly bewildered.
"Because I have to. I can't let him see me like this," she repeated angrily. She made her way across the room, walking awkwardly, not quite sure of her new center of gravity. She brushed her bangs, now practically down to her nose, out of her eyes. She stared at her much longer nails with real distress. "I have to...to cover this up." She sounded frantic.
"Tegan, we can't hide your condition from my father." Kyris kept his voice calm, soothing, and, he hoped, free of pity she would no doubt curse him for. "If nothing else, Ace will have filled him in on all the details before he gets past the main console room. You can get changed, of course, but there's no point in hiding anything. No one's going to blame you," he added, zeroing in on the main reason for her sudden panic. "No one's going to condemn you. The Master used you, he was going to use your baby, so he's the only one to blame."
Tears welled in Tegan's eyes. "I know," she whispered. "I just don't know if I can face him, not just yet. I promise I'll meet you in the console room later, but right now I really need some time to myself, to get adjusted to this." She indicated her altered physical condition with a vague flutter of her hands. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she looked down at her stomach in renewed panic.
"What is it?" Kyris asked, hurrying to her side.
"I think the baby just moved," Tegan replied. She closed her eyes, then snapped them open almost immediately. "I have to get to my quarters," she mumbled. "I have to find something that'll still fit." She vanished down the corridor, while Kyris debated the wisdom of going after her. In the end, he decided to give her the time she requested, and set off instead to find Ace and his father.