22. Master Trek.
1. Petza.
"Who cares a monkeys about the lifeforms on Petza?" the Master storms. "They're just savages. If they get in the way, just kill them all!"
His instructions always rankle with Zeela, the Master's companion. This instruction more than most.
She had been hoping to defend the Petza tribes, maybe some last hope for their future when they might develop into a better civilisation than at present.
"Yes, sir," she stumbles her words out against her will, biting back her resentment. Why should the Master either kill off or take advantage of all free lifeforms they visit?
"We will go and fetch the Life Stones from their current resting place now and bring them back here!" the Master thunders. "No room for mistakes. No negotiations. We just do it!"
"Yes, sir," Zeela says. Surely there must be some positive side to this person, she thinks. She had been hoping to see a glimpse of positive in the Master but hadn't done so yet. She had hoped to make the Master into a better person, but increasingly she can't see how.
"Robe!" the Master bellows.
Zeela picks up the robe and checks for the usual kit the Master takes with him, his Tardis Summoner among the kit. She places his robe on his shoulders but suddenly has an idea. She deliberately omits to affix the robe ties. It will fall off, and very soon!
As they walk towards the door of the Tardis, the Master's robe falls off. Zeela quickly almost closes the Tardis door after them, leaving it open just a little. She has a plan that she might need to access the Tardis without the Master, although that seems remote.
The Master knows exactly where the Life Stones are, and their true properties. He isn't going to let an Aztec-like tribe stand in his way.
They arrive at a ridge with a view of the valley below. Zeela thinks it beautiful, but she dare not say so.
The Master turns to her. He points to a small pyramid in the valley. "The stones are in that pyramid," he says. "We just have to take them without being seen."
Typical, Zeela thinks. He always just wants to take what isn't his.
They follow a path through trees to the valley floor and approach to a place fairly near to the pyramid, unobserved.
The tribal people are milling about doing their daily duties.
"You go and get the stones while I stay here," the Master commands.
In the Master's world that seems like normal play. Unfair, but normal.
Zeela looks at the path she must tread. It seems impossible that she might get there and back without being seen. It feels like self-sacrifice time. She can see no alternative.
Zeela observes the tribes people passing by and chooses a moment to immediately follow one of them where there is a large space before the next person. She is aware that she will stand out and grabs a cloth from a pile nearby to try and conceal herself. It proves to be rather too small and she is noticed shortly, well before she has reached her target destination. The cry goes up, "intruder"! Her mouth goes dry and she can't scream out or do anything.
Large warrior-like men tie her wrists and a personage wearing a large head-dress appears from a tent nearby. She appears to be in charge.
"I am Chief. Who are you?" she asks dominantly.
Zeela is very glad of the translation provided by the Tardis, although she is very aware that the Master can withdraw this privilege at any instant and has done so before.
She has her answer ready, but not the answer the Master is expecting! "I am the servant of an evil master who wants to take your Life Stones," she says.
"Where is your master?" the Chief asks.
Zeela then finds her words cannot be understood, so she points to the Master. He is rapidly detained at knifepoint. The Master must have immediately denied her translation from the Tardis.
Zeela feels she has done her worst and the Master is doomed to stay, but there are things about the Master she knows will defeat the tribes here. She points at her own wrist ties, then at the Master. He is then tied up fully. The Chief approaches Zeela. It is a tricky moment.
Zeela points to herself and says "Zeela". The Chief understands and uses her name in whatever she says next. Zeela's wrists are untied and she is keenly aware she is being watched. Any attempt to flee now will be futile and will bring full condemnation upon her. She simply stands there and smiles as sweetly as she can. She has at last defeated the Master, if only for a short while.
The Chief approaches Zeela again but it becomes apparent to her that Zeela must have rehearsed her speech about the Life Stones and has no common speech with them. The Chief stops trying to ask Zeela anything.
The Master lunges and tries to run to the pyramid but is brought down by the men detaining him. He is rapidly tied down to the ground to ensure his captors' success.
What happened to Zeela.
When Zeela thinks she is no longer the focus of attention, she slips away, back to the tree-lined path to the ridge and then on along the path to the Master's Tardis.
She summons up her courage and pulls the dematerialisation lever. She has no idea how to program the Tardis, but she has noticed the Master always pulls this lever before the Tardis moves.
Without programming change, the Tardis simply takes her back to their previous location – near an intergalactic café on Celeron.
Zeela cautiously leaves the Master's Tardis parked there and enters the café. She has no money, no companions, no job, and she desperately wants to get as far away as possible. She is on the run from the Master; not an enviable state to be in.
She walks up to a crew from another spaceship. They are just leaving. "Can I have a lift?" she asks, trying to keep her desperate urgency out of her voice.
They have space on their spaceship, and they understand. She knows Standard-Speak and so do they.
Zeela joins the group and they take her to their next destination where they must leave her.
Zeela immediately sets about discovering her new surroundings.
Parcjak is a tourist destination due to its beauty. Many space freighters bring foodstuffs and products there for the thriving tourist industry. Maybe she can find adequate obscurity here?
Zeela starts asking for a job and soon finds one, serving in a café, after a few hours searching.
Will the Master be so fortunate?
What happened to the Master.
The Master is left on planet Petza without his Tardis or Tardis summoner, detained by a large tribe of Aztec-like warriors. They clearly mean to do him significant harm and he tries desperately to get away. His struggles attract further detaining bonds which look more and more extreme.
At last, the Chief completes her deliberations with her underlings. The fate of the Master is decided. His hands and feet are tied to a pole and he is hoisted to shoulder height to be carried through the trees to the top of a cliff by a high waterfall. He can hear the sound of falling water and fights to get free. His earlier struggles have alerted his captors to his strength and determination to escape and he has been tied up correspondingly securely. He has been silenced with a strip of cloth tied tightly over his mouth and secured behind his head. They have no doubt that he is a danger to their community.
How can the Master possibly escape? Surely this is the end for the Master?
As his captors pause near the edge of a high cliff with the waterfall nearby, the Master contemplates his next move. For him, this should be easy to escape. He is a very dangerous man to be near, yet his captors have no idea of his capabilities.
As the pole he is tied to topples towards the abyss, the Master retreats into his ring of regeneration. It is so simple, yet he still has qualms about the demise of his body. It has the two hearts of a Gallifreyan, much more difficult to kill in battle. He contemplates how he might retrieve this body; he is rather attached to it! In the end he has no choice. He completes his retreat and has to hope that the ring is found soon.
More of the Master later. The ring is lost for a thousand years, or so the stories say. The Aztec style tribes record their histories on stone tablets which in later years they will display proudly in glass display cabinets for tourists to view… Meanwhile, they are kept in a cave to prevent unnecessary erosion! It is their history after all!
