The TARDIS
"Well?" the fifth Doctor prompted. "What's this plan? And how exactly does it involve Ace?"
"As a decoy, actually."
His fifth self blinked rapidly, the only sign of his dismay. "Ah. That was...exceedingly honest."
"I believe the word you're looking for is 'brutally'," his later self corrected. "Brutally honest."
"That too."
"Here, what's all this about decoys?" Ace broke in indignantly. She hadn't shifted position since entering the Console Room, but now she backed up. Just a step, just enough to show her unease with the sudden turn the conversation had taken.
"I thought it sounded more dignified than 'distraction,'" her traveling companion replied, noting the movement and turning to face her directly. Offering reassurance through his body language as much as his words. "I don't make this request lightly, Ace, and make no mistake; it is a request." His eyes crinkled as he smiled. Offering further reassurance.
"Well, then what do I have to do? And why can't he do it, or you?" She jerked her head at his younger self, who wisely remained out of it; Ace wasn't his companion to convince.
"Because we are going to need to concentrate very hard, using both our minds, to trap the Master the way we...want to." He almost said, "the way we trapped Peri." He and his past self both agreed on that; Ace must never hear what they'd done. Open-minded as she was, they both suspected it would still horrify her. Possibly even frighten her, if only because it infringed on the "you and me against the universe" camaraderie they currently shared; if he could do it to one inconvenient companion, she might wonder what was stopping him from doing it to another. All speculation, but solidly based. For all her sterling qualities, and she had many, Ace was still fundamentally human in her outlook on the universe. And she believed firmly that you didn't turn on your mates. No matter how dire the circumstances.
"And you need me to keep his attention while you set him up?" He nodded. "Count me in, then." Her voice was resolute.
"I object," his fifth self started to say.
"Of course you do. So do I," his later self replied. "But we both know it's the best way. To ensure he doesn't make any 'miraculous' escapes, we need to trap him in the space between one moment and the next, with him none the wiser that any time has passed at all until he's released." He waxed poetic purely for Ace's sake; the sour look on his other self's face told him that a strictly scientific description would have suited him just fine. Time to jiggle the carrot a little... "If we put a time limit on it, so his release coincides with our time limit, then the Guardians can't object." He used his most persuasive tone. "While you're both, er, indisposed, I'll be constantly monitoring for deviations from the universal norm. Just in case."
"I'm OK with it," Ace rushed to reassure the other Doctor, hefting her knapsack. "I've got a back-up plan."
"Nitro-nine," her Doctor put in dryly. "Not exactly appropriate to the situation."
His fifth self was pacing rapidly, hands in pockets, brow furrowed. "And how did I end up in this situation, exactly?" he asked, then shook his head. "Never mind." He stopped pacing and looked from one to the other. His future self appeared to be something of a manipulator, but he still balanced his actions by choosing traveling companions who felt free to voice their objections or opinions, who were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves. Ace was no pushover, and if she trusted his future self enough to allow herself to be used as a decoy, then the least he could do was offer that same level of trust. "All right. I presume you know how to find our mutual 'friend'?"
"Of course." He indicated the TARDIS console. "It's just a hop, skip and a jump away to the southern continent."
His fifth self jerked as if struck. "What, here? On Sarn? He was just burnt up--no, I suppose he wasn't," he corrected himself. "But he was certainly giving a good impersonation of a man being burnt up." A man he'd stoically watched being burnt up, ignoring the piteous cries for help. He supposed he must have known, deep down, that this wasn't truly the end of the Master. "What did happen to him then?"
"Against all logic, against all evidence, he survived, thanks in no small part to meddling on the part of the Guardians." And thanks in no small part to his ruthless bargaining with said Guardians, the Master was currently lying in a state of semi-consciousness on the other side of the planet. "Dematerialize us, if you please, and take us to these coordinates." He fished around in his pocket, mumbling irascibly until he found what he was looking for. A small notebook and pencil stub, both looking much the worse for wear. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he wanted, then presented it to his past self. Who received it dubiously, but did as he was asked.
Ace waited impatiently by the exterior door, jiggling from foot to foot and whistling aimlessly to herself. Both versions of the Doctor noted the way she seemed to avoid the left-hand side, and each sternly told himself it wasn't because she sensed anything off about it.
That would be impossible.
oOo
The TARDIS door opened on the unprepossessing landscape of Sarn's southern continent. Although geologically as unstable as the continent they'd just left, there was currently no volcanic activity, which disappointed Ace no end. "I've never seen a really good lava flow," she complained. "Thought this was the place to go."
"I'll take you to Hawaii after we're done with all this," her traveling companion promised absently. He peered around, obviously looking for something amid the tumble of rocks at the base of the hill the TARDIS had materialized on. "This way, I believe," he said, moving briskly toward the next hill, a rock-strewn slope several hundred meters away.
Ace bounded to his side, and his fifth self followed more slowly, picking his way carefully across the loose scree at the foot of the hill. It still felt odd being here; as far as the natives and former Trion political prisoners were concerned--including Turlough--he'd just left. No, he corrected himself, he and Peri had just left. Kamelion had just died. And he had intercepted a message that sent him back to Earth, depositing Peri where he found her, or somewhere quite nearby, Morocco, was it? Yet at the same time he hadn't set foot on this planet in months. Oh, how he loathed paradoxes.
His future self had paused half-way up the hillside; there, hidden in the shadows of some large, protruding boulders, was a narrow cleft from which a cool breeze was generated. "Here we are, the Master's current hidey-hole."
Ace was crouched down, trying to get some idea of the size of the entrance. "Looks like a bit of a squeeze." Her eyes lit up as she turned toward the two Time Lords. "I could blow it up a bit, make it wider!" Her hand strayed toward her knapsack.
"Absolutely not!" The Doctor's future self thundered. "You'll bring the whole thing down, and us with it."
"Just a thought," she muttered. "Since I'm putting myself in harm's way and all." She looked back at the entrance. "Shall I go first, then?"
"It should be safe enough; the Master still hasn't fully recovered, but if he sees me, or rather," the future Doctor indicated his past self by pointing the end of his brolly at him, "if he sees this me, then he'll be fully on his guard. This is a bit of a gamble, but not with your safety; only with our ability to time things properly and trap him."
"For ten years," his later self reminded him, frowning.
"Let's just concentrate on getting to him," his later self replied with a definite grump to his tone.
"Fine." There was a tinge of grumpiness in his younger self's voice as well, and Ace grinned into the darkness of the cave entrance. Seemed the Professor hadn't changed as much as she initially thought. "Since we seem to have no choice in the matter, Ace goes first."
"When we hear her talking to the Master, we'll know its safe to get close enough to access his mind. We have to be very careful to remain focused on him," he cautioned his younger self. "No delving around in each other's thoughts, eh?"
His younger self shrugged. "Of course."
"Right, off I go, then," Ace said, hefting her knapsack once again. The older Doctor reached out and deftly hooked one strap with the handle of his brolly. "Hey, what's the big idea!" Ace grabbed for it, and he pulled it closer to his side, dropping it carefully to the ground.
"Too geologically unstable," he reminded her grimly. "You should have left it on the TARDIS."
"Now you tell me," Ace muttered, but she turned back to the cave, this time inserting herself carefully into the narrow entrance. "Wish me luck!" Her words echoed on the breeze.
"Luck," both Doctors whispered softly, then glared at each other.
"Now who?" The fifth Doctor asked, and his counterpart stepped up to the entrance.
"Age before beauty," he quipped, ducking through the opening and turning sideways to ensure his ability to fit. With a grunt and a swift intake of air, he was through and gone from sight, just like Ace before him.
The fifth Doctor looked around, then followed the other two. For good or ill, they were committed to this action. Ten years wasn't a lot, but it was more than many people were given.
He just hoped he could spend as little time as possible fretting over the end of that time period.