Chapter 41: A Paradox Waiting to Happen
Jack wasn't surprised when he was the first one to wake up. Martha had desperately needed the rest, and the Doctor and Rose… He glanced at the door. They'd desperately needed each other.
After rolling up his sleeping bag and pulling his suspenders back up, he flipped his wrist comp open and scanned through the last two hours of government reports. When he got to the end, he bit out a curse.
"What's happened?"
Jack turned towards the voice, and he smirked when he saw the Doctor was jacket-less and still tying his tie. "First contact is set for 0800 on the aircraft carrier Valiant. The President of the United States has arrived to take over from the Master." He glanced at Martha, who was just pushing herself up from the floor. "He's transferred the Jones family to the ship."
"I'm going to kill him," she said coldly.
All of the Doctor's talk about plans going awry made Jack want to do this the easy way. "What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?"
Rose joined them just as he said that, holding the Doctor's jacket and coat. "That sounds like Torchwood, Jack," she said as she helped the Doctor into his jacket.
Jack flushed. From the day he'd met her, Rose had always reminded him to be a better person. "Still a good plan," he muttered defiantly.
"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility," the Doctor said as he pulled his coat on. "I'm not going to kill him. I'm going to save him."
Jack and Martha looked at him in disbelief. That was his plan? No wonder he was afraid it wouldn't work.
But the Doctor didn't budge, and after a moment, Jack sighed and looked up the Valiant on his wrist comp. "Well, then we need to get on the Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at fifty eight point two north, ten point oh two east," he said, typing the coordinates into the Vortex manipulator.
"How do we get on board?" Martha asked.
The Doctor looked down at the Vortex manipulator. "We'll use this."
"I've already set the coordinates," Jack told him.
The Doctor shook his head. "We're not just going to use it as a teleport." He pointed the sonic at the device and reset the time coordinates, explaining what he was doing as he worked. "First contact is scheduled for eight o'clock in the morning; let's give ourselves two hours to get our bearings and track the Master down."
Jack looked down at his Vortex manipulator, then at the Doctor. "Any chance you'll leave me with a working device when we part ways?"
The Doctor ignored the question, though he filed it away in the back of his mind to think about later. "Before we go, I should give you a few instructions on your perception filters. Don't run, don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."
"Like ghosts," Jack said.
They all draped their keys around their necks. "Yeah, that's what we are," the Doctor agreed. "Ghosts."
"Are we ready then?" Jack asked. When the Doctor nodded, they all put their hands on the Vortex manipulator, and the warehouse disappeared.
oOoOoOoOo
Rose groaned when they landed on the Valiant. Teleporting was nothing like Star Trek made it seem.
"Oh, that thing is rough," Martha moaned, holding her head.
Jack groaned and cracked his neck. "I've had worse nights. Welcome to the Valiant."
"Hold on, I thought this was a ship," Martha said, peering out the porthole. "Where's the sea?"
Rose looked over her shoulder and gasped; they were in the air.
"A ship for the twenty-first century," Jack said. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."
"Come on," the Doctor said. "We need to find the Master and figure out what's going on."
"Maybe figure out what's going on first," Rose suggested as they started running through the corridors.
The Doctor shot her a wounded look over his shoulder. "Oh sure—everyone's a critic."
They heard footsteps approaching and quieted as they turned the corner. After the group of UNIT soldiers passed by without noticing them, the Doctor pointed to a door.
"This way," he said, pushing it open. "We'll be less conspicuous in the service gangways."
They'd only taken five steps when Rose heard it. She stopped running and focused on the familiar sound, trying to pinpoint which direction it was coming from.
"We've no time for sightseeing," Jack said.
"Can't you hear it, Doctor?"
He looked at her blankly for a moment, then a smile spread across his face and they both started running towards their ship.
"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha protested from behind them.
He didn't stop running. "This way."
"Trust us, Martha!" Rose said as they flew down a flight of stairs.
The sound got louder as they ran, until finally they pushed open a door and saw the TARDIS at the other end of the room. Rose didn't stop, going forward to stroke her while the other three stood in the doorway of the storage room.
"Oh, at last!" the Doctor exclaimed.
Martha finally understood why they'd been running. "Oh, yes!"
"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack asked as they walked towards the ship, and something about the way he said it stirred a glimmer of unease in Rose's heart.
She listened to their beloved ship and realised she sounded just as weak and sick here as she had from a distance. The Doctor pushed the doors open before she could offer any warnings.
The console room glowed red, and the cloister bell tolled loudly. "What the hell's he done?" Jack asked.
"Don't touch it," the Doctor snapped.
"I'm not going to," Jack promised
Knowing he just meant the console, Rose laid a hand on one of the coral struts and shuddered at the uncomfortable sensations that came through from the TARDIS. Each toll of the cloister bell sent a wave of pain throbbing through her head.
"Doctor, what did he do to our ship?" she asked. "She hasn't felt right in my head, but I didn't know…"
"Sounds like it's sick," Martha said perceptively.
The Doctor circled the centre console, which was surrounded by a cage. "It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."
"Doctor, what is it?" Martha asked.
"He's cannibalised the TARDIS."
Jack looked at the reworked controls. "Is this what I think it is?"
"It's a paradox machine." The Doctor looked sharply at Rose. "You've been able to feel her since we got back from the end of the universe?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah. I tried to find her yesterday afternoon, and then last night, she reached out for me… I think she was trying to warn me about this."
"Probably." He bent down and tapped at a gauge on the metal mesh. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight," he said, after checking it against Jack's watch.
"First contact is at eight, then two minutes later," Jack said.
"What's it for? What does a paradox machine do?" asked Martha.
"Sustains a paradox, keeps it from collapsing," Rose said automatically. What is the Master doing that requires a paradox machine? she wondered.
"Right. And I can't stop it till I know what it's doing," the Doctor added. "Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system."
Martha squatted down on the floor next to him. "Then we've got to get to the Master."
Jack nodded. "Yeah. You said you had a way to take care of him."
The Doctor nodded grimly. "We need to get up to the flight deck where all the VIPs are."
The Doctor took Rose's hand as they ran through the corridors. If something happens to me, I want you to run, he told her fiercely.
Her refusal was instantaneous, and he yanked on her arm as he turned a sharp corner. Rose, please. If he has both of us…
If he takes you, what are the chances I'll even be able to get away?
The Doctor didn't respond, but he knew she could pick the answer up easily.
Exactly. So succeed or fail, we stick together. For better, or for worse.
The Doctor didn't bother reminding her that they hadn't used human vows.
When they slipped onto the flight deck, President Winters was talking while the Master and his wife watched from seats on the opposite side of a conference table. The Doctor ignored them both. He had his key out, but before he approached the Master, he wanted to see if there was anything he could use as an alternative, if this didn't work.
His eyes lit on a digital countdown clock on the wall, and the idea that had stirred in his head when he'd seen the paradox machine percolated. He watched the numbers ticking down and realised whatever it counted down to was a year and a day away. That was a long time to wait, but at least it gave him a backup plan.
He felt Rose's eyes on him, so he carefully locked that thought down and led her, Jack, and Martha to the back of the room.
"This plan, you going to tell us?" Jack asked, sotto voce, while the President continued to speak.
The Doctor held his key up. "If I can get this around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception filter, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert." He looked at Jack. "If they stop me, you've got a key."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll get him," Martha muttered.
Rose just glared at him, and he knew she'd noticed how many redundancies he'd built into his plan, and what that meant. He winced; she didn't know the half of it.
But there wasn't time for an argument now, and they both knew it. He wrapped his hand around the key dangling from his neck and walked slowly towards the Master, while the President introduced the Toclafane.
"And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane."
He turned slightly and held a hand up, and four spheres appeared. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President-Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."
The Toclafane didn't seem impressed by the President.
"You're not the Master."
"We like the Mr. Master."
"We don't like you."
The spheres rotated positions, hovering around Winters, and the man smiled uneasily. "I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."
The Doctor had reached the other side of the room and started moving forward. The Master was still six feet away from him, but with the guards standing behind him, it would be hard to get any closer without being noticed. Even with a perception filter, he would be seen if he walked directly in between someone and what they were focused on.
The Toclafane were still flying around the President's head, stating their displeasure with the sudden substitution.
"Man is stupid."
"Master is our friend."
"Where's my Master, pretty please?"
The Doctor was only three feet away from the Master when the other Time Lord answered the call. "Oh, all right then. It's me." He sprang out of his seat and turned to face the crowd. "Ta da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy."
"Saxon, what are you talking about?" President Winters demanded.
The Master spun towards him and leaned against the conference table, with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you." He nodded at his Toclafane. "Kill him."
One of the spheres soared forward, multiple weapons extended. It pointed one at Winters and disintegrated him.
The remaining dignitaries in the room ducked behind the chairs, while their guards drew guns and trained them on the spheres.
The Master clapped and laughed gleefully. "Guards."
His guards stood at the front of the room, pointing their weapons at the crowd. "Nobody move! Nobody move!"
The Master jogged up the steps leading to the bridge and looked at the still-rolling camera. "Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully."
The Doctor saw his chance slipping away. Throwing caution to the wind, he took his key off and tried to rush for the Master. He didn't even get halfway there before he was stopped by two armed guards. "Stop him!" a third guard shouted.
The Master looked down at him from the bridge. "We meet at last, Doctor." He laughed. "I love saying that."
"Stop it! Stop it now!" the Doctor ordered.
"As if a perception filter's going to work on me," the Master scoffed. "And look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which."
The Doctor felt a spurt of hope when the Master only mentioned one woman. Maybe, somehow, he didn't realise Rose was here, too.
I'm trying to stay out of sight, she told him. I figure I can do more to help if I'm not captured.
Good plan, love. He braced himself for her annoyance, but he wanted to be clear that he wouldn't hold it against her if she chose to escape. And you can always—
Their conversation was cut short when Jack ran forward, and the Master pulled something out of his pocket and shot him. The Doctor felt the odd pulling in time that always happened when he watched Jack die. The Master held his tool up. "Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long." He pointed down at Jack and grinned maniacally. "I get to kill him again!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Martha run to Jack. Trusting him to give her the teleport as they'd discussed, the Doctor focused on Rose.
Rose, Jack's giving Martha the Vortex manipulator. If you can get to her, you can both get out of here.
No! I told you, I'm not leaving you alone with him. Send Martha away if you need to, but I'm gonna stay here with you.
The Doctor gritted his teeth at her stubbornness, but he had to admit that if their places were reversed, he wouldn't leave Rose behind, either.
He took a deep breath through his nose and tried to get himself under control. "Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself—"
"Oh, do excuse me," the Master said to the television cameramen who were still filming. "Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." He looked at the guards holding the Doctor down. "Let him go."
They shoved the Doctor down onto the floor. He pushed himself up and looked at the Master. "It's that sound. The sound in your head. What if I could help?"
"Oh, how to shut him up?" The Master rolled his eyes and mimed talking with his hand. "I know!" He grinned widely and gestured to someone in the back of the room.
The Doctor heard a brief scuffle, and that combined with the sudden anger from Rose told him exactly what had happened. He tried to reach for her when she was pushed to the front of the room, but the guards grabbed his hands and held them behind his back.
"Did you really think I would let Rose Tyler go free?" The Master shook his head and tsked. "It's been too long since we've seen each other, if you could misjudge me so badly. I've got your bond mate, Doctor. Your little human-Time Lord hybrid." He twirled his laser screwdriver between his fingers. "If I remember correctly, you aren't positive she'll be able to regenerate. And—again, if memory serves—you aren't too keen to find out." His smile disappeared and he pointed the screwdriver at Rose. "Have you changed your mind?"
The Doctor seethed with rage, but he couldn't do anything but shake his head. He wouldn't risk Rose's life.
The Master laughed. "Look at what Earth's defender has been reduced to. Cowering on the floor, paralysed out of fear for his bond mate's life."
The look Rose gave the Doctor now was the same trusting, confident look he'd seen on her face when they'd stood in 10 Downing Street, faced with the choice to save the world at the possible cost of her life. It was a look which said she trusted him to do the right thing, to make the best choice.
He drew in a deep breath. When he'd developed his backup plan, he'd really hoped Rose would leave with Martha. Sentencing himself to a year in the gracious hospitality of the Master was one thing—leaving Rose in his hands for 366 days was entirely another.
One of the guards holding Rose twisted hard on her arm and then pushed her down onto the floor. The Doctor's restraint broke when she gasped in pain and he felt an echo of her discomfort blossom out from his wrist and elbow. He yanked his arms free of the guards, but he'd only taken one step when the other guard pistol whipped him in the face. He went down with a groan, a ringing sound in his ears.
He could have gotten right back up, but this gave him the opportunity he needed to put his plan into action.
"Doctor!"
Rose's panic screamed over their bond, and he remembered that she would have felt the the same dull pain he had when the gun hit his cheek. I'm fine, love, he reassured her, still not moving from his prone position. Her fear eased, and he nearly burst out laughing when she hurled inventive alien curses at the Master.
"Was that Atreyun?" the Master questioned. "I'm not sure what you just suggested is even possible for a race that excretes their waste through their skin, so I applaud the linguistic effort it took to translate that curse into their language."
Still sitting with Jack, Martha stared at her friends, a hand pressed to her mouth as she struggled to take it all in. The Doctor was on the ground, apparently passed out, Rose was shouting at the Master, and Jack was temporarily dead.
Jack gasped and sat up partway. "Teleport," he muttered under his breath, passing her the Vortex manipulator.
"I can't!" she protested.
"We can't stop him," Jack told her. "Get out of here. Get out."
Martha slipped the teleport into her pocket and moved to the Doctor's side. Even Time Lords could get concussions, and that guard had pistol whipped him hard enough to send him to the ground.
"Doctor? I've got you." She breathed a sigh of relief when he groaned and sat up with his head in his hands.
"Ah, she's a would-be doctor," the Master said. "But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison."
Martha watched in horror as her mum, dad, and Tish were led in in chains. "Come on, move," the guard ordered.
"Mum."
Her mum was in tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do—he had Tish."
"The Toclafane," the Doctor groaned from the floor. "What are they? Who are they?"
The Master crouched down in front of him. "Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break," he said, putting his hand over the Doctor's hearts.
The Toclafane buzzed around in excitement, and Martha remembered that the paradox machine had been timed for two minutes after eight.
"Is it time? Is it ready?"
"Is the machine singing?"
The Master looked at his watch. "Two minutes past." He went back up to the bridge and turned to face the cameras. "So, Earthings. Basically, um, end of the world." He held his laser screwdriver up over his head. "Here come the drums!"
Martha blinked when "Voodoo Child" by Rogue Trader blasted over the sound system. She heard a muted gasp beside her and looked down at the Doctor and Rose, who wore matching grimaces.
The Master ran to the porthole and the Doctor tried to ignore the twinned feelings of a paradox ripping through the fabric of time, and the TARDIS crying in pain. As soon as he had a chance, he had to tell Martha what to do.
The Master's wife danced to the music on the bridge, and the Master went back to her side, blowing a kiss down to the Doctor and Rose before leading his wife up to the large front windows. The Doctor pondered briefly that he looked quite a bit like the Wicked Witch of the West, sending her flying monkeys out. He almost expected the Master to say, "Fly, my pretties! Fly!"
He didn't have time to think about it long though. With the Master's back turned, this was the perfect opportunity for him to tell Martha what to do.
"Listen to me, Martha," he whispered. She leaned closer, her ear next to his mouth. "I have a plan to defeat the Master, but it's going to take a while, and I need you to do the leg work."
"Anything." She looked at him with hard eyes, and the Doctor tried not to think about how much harder she would become in the year ahead of her.
"I'm going to integrate myself into the matrices of the Archangel network. I need you to take the Vortex manipulator and go back to Earth, telling as many people as you can to think my name at the same time."
"What time? What's the countdown point?"
He winced. "That's the harder part," he admitted. "Do you see that clock on the wall over there, counting down to one year from tomorrow?"
Martha pulled back and looked at him incredulously. "You're going to spend a year on this ship—you and Rose both."
The Doctor's lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. "We don't have a choice," he spat out.
"And you want me to spend a year wandering the Earth, telling people about you?"
"It's our only chance."
To emphasise the severity of the situation, the Master gave a new order to his Toclafane. "Remove one-tenth of the population."
As the Doctor and Martha finished their conversation, they both heard the various calls for help coming over the horn from people who weren't aware of what had happened on the ship. Geneva and London both called. The Doctor raised his eyebrows and looked beseechingly at Martha.
Martha nodded slowly and stood up. She kept her gaze trained on the Master as she backed away, and then she closed her eyes and pressed the button on the Vortex manipulator.
One of the guards shouted for the Master, and he raised his eyebrows when he turned around and realised Martha was gone. "Oh, you've been naughty, Doctor," he crooned, "sending your companion away. But it's no matter. There's nothing she can do to stop me. Would you like to see what I'm doing?"
He nodded to the guards, and the Doctor and Rose were dragged up onto the bridge, over to the windows. When they tried to look away from the carnage below, strong hands grabbed their heads and forced them to watch. Millions of Toclafane continued to soar down to the planet's surface, their sole mission to kill and terrorise humanity.
The Master leaned close and whispered in the Doctor's ear. "And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good."
AN: So, Rose will be on the Valiant for the Year That Never Was. The closer we've gotten to the Master arc, the more worried questions I've gotten regarding her fate during this year. I want to tell you, up front, that she will not be raped. Yeah, that's a spoiler, but considering how big of a trigger that is for some people, I want to set everyone's mind at ease. No rape, not by the Master, and not by the guards.