3. Finding the Master.
Five clones sit beside Crystelle in her Tardis. Another prepares to carry on doing her Space Flight Navigation course. She won't benefit from the knowledge she's gleaned, but the Tardis ought to deliver them back to just after they left. They can hope!
Crystelle has explained her plan to her Tardis, although she has put a much sketchier plan to Devyon, since he wasn't taking it seriously at the time. She will explain it all later. It is very unlikely to happen just as she imagines it, however that is.
First, she must find the Master. This is likely to be tricky! But she does know where the Doctor said he was…
"Was it, Orion Five Beta Two?" Crystelle says to herself. "Or was it, Orion Two Beta Five?" She is very unsure. "He said some other name. Was it Roentgen? Oh dear. The Doctor's Tardis would know."
Her clones can't help as they only know exactly what she knows. One of them says what she suspects. "Roentgen is a unit of radiation, so it can't be that." Devyon agrees. They are both scientists of very different types.
Devyon decides he must address the Tardis for the first time. "Tardis, is there a place that sounds like Roentgen in either Orion Five Beta Two or in Orion Two Beta Five?"
The Tardis Console monitor screen displays the two Orion names at the top and a list of possible matches for Roentgen under each name at the top.
"That must be it," Crystelle says. "Rontagen in Orion Two Beta Five. Can we go there, please?"
The Tardis zizzes, pauses, then zizzes again.
Crystelle recalls the Doctor's Tardis doing this pausing. Something has been redirected somewhere.
Devyon has never seen the Master, but Crystelle has. She opens the Tardis door cautiously.
The Master is sitting with his back to them with crab company, apparently communicating with the crabs.
Crystelle closes the Tardis door quietly. The Tardis redirection has taken them to the Master. She knows the Tardis is clever! No wonder the Doctor is perturbed when they use the Voice Control, it interferes with the Tardis's own navigation! He's covering for the Tardis! It can be spot on!
It is Crystelle's turn to address the Tardis. "Tardis, can we go back along the Master's timeline a few days?"
The Tardis zizzes for a short while, then stops.
The Console monitor shows where they are along with some minor detail about the planet. They don't bother to read it. They are near a small log cabin, apparently in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere interesting, anyway!
"Now, could we go back to before the Master arrived here?" Crystelle asks.
The Tardis zizzes again.
What is Crystelle planning?
Someone's Bugging Me.
"That's rather complicated," Devyon says. "Can the Tardis keep track of all that?"
"Of course, it can," Crystelle says. "It's very clever. Besides, I've been taking my plan step by step."
"If the Tardis is so clever, couldn't it have got here in one big step?" Devyon asks.
"Very likely," Crystelle says. But underneath all this she suspects that she might just be trying to be in control.
"Now, we bug this place," Crystelle says.
"Is that why you asked me to read up about bug placement?" Devyon asks.
"I hope you know all about it now," Crystelle says smugly. She really needs Devyon to have done this work well. A lot depends on it. Just in case he didn't, she has also asked one of her clones to do this, too.
"Of course, I do," Devyon claims.
Devyon and one of Crystelle's clones go into the log cabin. They place bugs all around the room to pick up all of the Master's musings, studies, everything he does, reads or says. They also intercept communications channels. Then they retreat to the Tardis and park elsewhere, well away from the log cabin to avoid detection. And they wait.
A listening game can be boring, but Crystelle has plenty of reading material for everyone, so all of her clones can familiarise themselves with who and what the Master is and does. Everything about him is studied.
Then, when the Master arrives, two of her clones will listen to everything the Master says, and two of them will watch and observe everything that he reads. They will compare notes. It is going to be a busy time after all. They hope to learn something of his plans, at least.
She sets the other clone to continue reading more of the Gallifreyan Library contents to learn more about what the Master might do next, and why.
Is Crystelle adequately prepared? Will the Master notice her bugs? Can Crystelle keep pace with the Master?