Chapter III

"You can't be alive," said the Doctor. "I watched you fall into the TARDIS' Eye of Harmony. You're dead."

"You of all people should know that the Eye doesn't kill. It brings life," spoke the Master, turning away from the Doctor. "The Eye powers the TARDIS. It's a link between this reality and the time continuum. Every TARDIS is grown from the Eye, and has its own link. In fact ..."

The Master looked around and his gaze fell on Rose. "I'm not the only one who's looked into the Eye, am I? This pretty miss has seen it, too. The power is incredible, isn't it, Bad Wolf?"

He smirked at her and she gave him a disdainful look. He turned back to the Doctor. "You've never been through the Eye, have you, Doctor? No one has. But I have. It sucks you in, like a vacuum. And suddenly you are one with time and space. There is no past, present, and future. There just is."

"Fascinating," said the Doctor without emotion. "So the Eye took you into the space-time continuum, spared your life, and you've been sitting around looking for a way out ever since. Why these folks? Why Doctor Brown? Why this Hill Valley?"

"I studied a million different options and constructed a million different results," explained the Master. "I had the whole universe on a platter to explore, but no way to affect it directly. I couldn't even use my powers of mind control from within my temporal prison. But I could affect laws of space. Manipulate space and time. Do you know how long I've been in that plane? Thousands of years, Doctor. Thousands of years, planning and maneuvering, waiting for the right moment. I analyzed every possibility, and determined that it was through Doctor Brown that I would have the most likely probability of success. It would have worked flawlessly, until you came along. I admit, I didn't expect to see you here at all, Doctor."

"The TARDIS brought me. I guess the time continuum didn't want to let you out."

"I don't blame it," said the Master with a scowl. "I should be dead. I survived by sheer will power. And then something amazing happened. I fell into the Eye, and I was reborn. Feel my chest. Go on, feel it."

The Doctor hesitated, then slowly put his hand to the Master's chest. "Feel that, Doctor?"

"A single heartbeat," spoke the Doctor with amazement.

"One heart. I've been reborn. All my regenerations undone. A re-regeneration, you might say. I communed with time and space and my body, my life, was restored. I'm back, Doctor. Back from the dead."

The Doctor took a step back and aimed his screwdriver at the Master. "Then I might have to send you back again."

"Put that silly screwdriver away. It won't hurt anyone. Besides, you can't stop me. I've not only been reborn, Doctor, I've been infused."

"Infused?"

"Infused with the power of time and space. The power of the Eye inside of me. If our race was known as the Time Lords, then surely I am a Time God."

"The power of time and space," said the Doctor deliberately. "That's how you were able to manipulate the weather. And control the car."

"Simple tasks for a Time God. Now that I'm free of my temporal prison, nothing can stop me, Doctor. Nothing. Not even you."

The Doctor puckered his face and raised his eyebrows. "Well, I'm certainly going to make a good go of it."

"No, you aren't." The Master snapped his fingers and a vortex opened behind the Doctor, blackness oozing from it.

The Doctor looked behind him. "What is that? A black hole?"

"Far worse than that. I could kill you, but then you'd just regenerate. You've still got a few more of those in you, I see. And quite frankly, I'm tired of dealing with you. So I'm going to send you the one place you can't return from."

"The Eye?"

"Of course not. Nobody ever enters the Eye again. Only I can have that power. You're going somewhere much worse. Some call it purgatory, others Hell. But I think we Time Lords referred to it as the Void."

"The Void," repeated the Doctor quietly.

"The gap between time-space and reality. You're going to enter the world of nothing, Doctor. And there is no escape. Not without the TARDIS, and you can't access that from hell, can you? And besides that, it doesn't seem to be working, does it?" The Doctor looked at him quizzically. "I had nothing to do with it. It shut itself down, and I imagine it would require quite a shock to restart it. But too bad the Doctor won't be around to activate it. But it's nothing to me now. I no longer need a TARDIS to travel through time. I am time.

"But enough talk, Doctor. It's time for you to go. I've finally won. I've finally conquered the great Doctor." He grabbed him by his jacket collar. "Goodbye, Doctor."

The Master tossed the Doctor backwards into the vortex, the blackness swallowing him up, and the hole closing behind him.

"No!" screamed Rose, rushing forward.

The Master grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "He's gone now. It's over. But I think I'll let you live, Rose Tyler. You've seen into the Eye. You could be useful to me at a later date. I'll need a vessel. Doctor Brown," he said, turning to look at Brown. "Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without you."

He stepped away from the three. "It's been a pleasure." And he faded from sight like an apparition.

"He's gone," spoke Rose finally. "The Doctor's gone."

They stood silently for some moments. Then it began to rain, hard.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" asked the teenager. "Who the hell are you? Who's the Doctor?"

"Come on," said Brown, leading them forward. "We'll figure it all out back at my place. We can fill each other in on everything."

"But he's gone," said Rose quietly. "We have to get him back."

"There's nothing we can do right now," replied Brown. "He's gone and so is the time machine. Let's just try to figure everything out, all right?"

Rose nodded and Brown led them to his Packard. They climbed in and he drove them forward to his house. As they went they each glossed over all that had happened to them and how they had gotten to this point.

Brown, who Rose came to learn was often referred to as Doc, led them up his driveway to his great mansion. Rose admired it as they approached it. She had always wanted a great big house like that. He led them to his stately living room and had them sit down while he got them some towels. Rose sat in a corner seat, Marty sitting on the edge of the coffee table, poking at the fireplace with a poker. Doc entered and handed them the towels to dry off with.

Marty sighed. "I can't believe this. I mean, I thought time travel was weird enough. But this Doctor guy, he's an alien?"

"Yeah," said Rose.

"And he's a time traveler?"

"Yeah," she said again. "I guess his people invented it or something."

"But his people are all gone, right? You said his planet was destroyed."

"That's right. During some Time War or something. The Doctor doesn't like to talk too much about it."

"And you're a time traveler too? From the future?"

"Yep. The early 21st century. You're from 1985?"

Marty nodded.

"God, I wasn't even born yet," said Rose.

"But you're older than me," said Marty.

"Freaky, isn't it?" she asked, drying her hair with the towel and pushing it back over the top of her head.

"Heavy," Marty mumbled.

"Now we know how we all got here at least," said the Doc, walking between them. "Now the question is: what's next? You don't know anything about that man? That Master?"

Rose shook her head. "Never seen him before. The Doctor never mentioned him, but I guess they have a history or something."

"He said something about the Void," said Doc.

"Yeah. He said it was a gap between space-time and reality I think," replied Rose. "Whatever that means. That's where he sent the Doctor."

"What about your time machine?" asked Marty. "What's it called?"

"The TARDIS," answered Rose. "Only the Doctor can operate it, though. It's, like, bonded to him or something. I can't work it."

"And the DeLorean is stuck in the future," sighed Marty.

"Well, maybe we'll get it back," suggested Rose. "I mean, you said the Doc's older self sent you, right?" she asked Marty. "So when he sees the time machine's come back and you're not there, maybe he'll come back here for us."

Marty shook his head. "No."

"What do you mean 'no?'" she asked. "He wouldn't just leave you trapped here, right? You said he's got the plutonium or whatever he needs to work it."

Marty looked sideways at Doc who stood before the fireplace. He stood. "Doc, I have to tell you something."

Doc held his hand out to him. "Marty ..."

"Doc, we need the time machine."

Doc scrunched his face. "It's not as if I haven't already gathered more information than I should have. I already have my suspicions. But still. If I know any specifics it could change my behavior. Things won't happen as they should have and we could cause a paradox. It's too risky."

"What's going on?" Rose approached them. "What's the matter?"

Doc looked to her. "I die in the future."

Marty looked at him dumbfounded.

"That much was obvious," Doc looked at him, then walked past the two. "But how it happens and under what circumstances is not clear. And if I knew that, it could affect the way I handle everything."

"Oh, and like knowing that you're going to build the time machine isn't going to affect things?" demanded Rose. "It's not as if you know so little you can't mess things up, right?" She turned to Marty. "What happens?"

Doc gave Marty a stern look.

Rose scrunched her face. "I mean, is he alive to send the time machine back to us?"

Marty shook his head. Doc's face softened slightly. Marty went to Doc and reached into his overcoat pocket, pulling out a sealed envelope for him to see.

"What's this?" asked Doc, taking and reading what was written on it. "'Do not open until 1985?' You were going to leave me with this information?"

"I had to, Doc!" retorted Marty. "I couldn't ... I couldn't let that happen to you. Not if I could help it. I mean ... You're my best friend."

Doc's breathed in and nodded slightly with acceptance.

"Read it," said Rose, stepping up to them.

Doc hesitated.

"Oh, come on, you can't mess things up more than you already have," she urged. "We need your time machine, you know. It's all we've got."

Doc relented. He pulled out the flap and removed the folded paper, reading what was written to himself. "Shot by terrorists," he said as he moved the paper from his eyes. "The Libyan nationalists I mention in the video?" he asked Marty.

The teenager nodded. Doc stepped up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the warning, kid."

Marty smiled slightly, patting Doc on the back.

"So now that you know, you can prevent it, right?" asked Rose.

Doc thought about it. "I don't know. What if me getting shot prompted Marty to jump in the time machine? It might alter his decision if I'm still alive."

Rose contemplated that for a moment. "Guess you could always play dead."

"If I get shot by a bunch of maniacs I don't think I'll be able to play anything," returned Doc.

"I mean, you could put on a bullet proof vest," she suggested. "As long as you weren't shot in the head."

Doc looked to Marty for confirmation.

"Ah, no. Just the chest and stomach I think," said Marty. "But it happened so fast. All I really remember seeing is the machine gun and you dropping and not moving."

Doc nodded. "Then maybe we can pull it off," he said. "If I wear the vest and survive, I can play dead long enough for you to go to the past, and then my older self can go to town and find the time machine."

"But what if ... what if they shoot in you in the head afterwards or something?" Marty asked. "You know, for good measure."

Doc swallowed. "That's a risk we'll have to take to preserve future history."

"And if you survive, then what?" asked Rose. "Have you future self bring the car back here?"

Doc considered it, then shook his head. "It's two dangerous for two of version of myself to be here. The time machine would have to be sent back on its own."

"Okay," said Marty after a moment. "So ... what? I mean, is everything changed now? I mean, like now that you've decided to do that, has the future changed?"

Rose looked to Doc, not sure of the answer herself.

Doc ruminated over it. "The Ripple Effect indicates that anything that happens in the past has a direct influence on the future. Every decision ripples ahead instantly to change tomorrow. It's cause and effect. But the time continuum obviously sets up solid dates in which certain actions can be modified. Sort of junction points. For instance, the junction point for Marty's parents getting married and having children was their kissing at that dance. The future wasn't set then, but rather in a state of flux until that moment passed and Marty's parents either did or didn't kiss, which I'm presuming they did." He cocked his eyebrow at Marty, who nodded his affirmation.

"The junction point passed and the future was then set," Doc said, going to Marty and indicating for him to hand him his wallet. Marty obeyed and Doc took out a picture of Marty and his two siblings and viewed it. "That's why the picture's solid. Until the junction point has occurred, the picture would be in a state of flux. Meaning that the future created by an action caused a temporal shift that was undetermined at that moment in time. So in order for my future self to be saved, it would require an action that determines it, the junction point for that particular alteration to the space-time continuum."

"So what would that be?" asked Rose.

Doc shrugged. "The time barrier seems to indicate certain actions which are symbolic. Marty's parents kissing at that dance was a symbolic representation of their falling in love. They had to fall in love at that exact moment for Marty and his siblings to be conceived in the same exact way as they were in the previous timeline. What we need, then, is a symbolic action to indicate my determination to the time continuum to save myself and send the time machine back to us in order for the timeline to become fixed rather than dynamic and still changing."

Rose looked at him skeptically. Still, she was used to such longwinded ruminations from the Doctor. The two seemed very alike in many ways, almost as if they were destined to meet.

"So what sort of symbolic thing can we do?" inquired Rose.

Doc snapped his fingers. "Here!" he said, going to a table off to the side and taking out a sheet of paper and pen. "I'll write myself a note." He began to scribble across the paper. "This will tell me all of my actions I plan to do in 30 years. This way I'll have my intentions written in black and white for myself to read and follow in 1985, and I'll make a mental determination to follow these words exactly." He folded the paper and placed it in the envelope Marty had taken from his coat, crumbling the paper Marty had written on. "Personal determination in my mind, symbolized by it being written down and placed in this envelope," he said. "And for good measure I'll put it in my safe in the garage," the went toward the side door and ran across the lawn through the rain, the envelope protected under the flap of his coat. Marty and Rose followed him.

As they entered the garage where the Packard had been parked, they saw Doc go to a safe in a corner of the room, fiddle with the combination and open the door. He dropped the letter inside and slammed the safe shut.

"There!" he said. "That's where I keep my most important documents. All of my diagrams for inventions, including the one for the Flux Capacitor. Safe and sound and the place where I store all my most sacred thoughts and creations. It's perfect!"

"All right. Now what?" asked Rose.

Doc took a pocket watch out and looked at it. "We wait ten more minutes and then go to town."

"Why?" asked Marty.

"Because. It's ten till twelve," said Doc. "I indicated that I would wear a bullet proof vest and play dead long enough for you to escape to the past. Then, when I was sure it was safe, I would go to the town square and get the time machine and send it back to the exact date of November 13, 1955 12:01 AM. If writing this letter and putting it in my safe is the junction point for that action, then when we go to the town square at that time we should find the time machine waiting for us."

"And then what?" asked Marty. "We have the DeLorean, but how exactly does that help us?"

Rose answered. "That Master bloke said he sent the Doctor into some place in space and time. If we're going to get him out, we'll need a working time machine."

"Yeah, but we still don't know where he is," objected Marty.

The three stood silent, not sure what to say.

"Maybe we could, I don't know, maybe we could just go back and stop this all from happening," suggested Marty.

"Out of the question," said Doc firmly. "That would cause a major time paradox."

"Yeah, he's right," nodded Rose. "Don't want that happening again."

Doc eyed her with surprise. "Great Scott! You've caused a paradox?" he asked.

"Once," she admitted. "Don't want those creatures returning to try to clean up the mess. That will just make things worse."

"Creatures?" asked Doc. "I would have assumed that the whole universe would simply explode."

"Guess not," she shrugged. "Anyway, causing a paradox will just make things worse."

"Then how do we find the Doctor?" asked Marty. "If we don't know where he is we can't save him. I think he might be trapped."

Rose's face twisted with anguish. "I've got to save him."

"But there's no way to get to the Void."

"There might be a way," spoke Doc. "This Void, it's a gap between space and time."

"That's what the Master said I think," said Rose.

"The Flux Capacitor is designed to traverse space and time," said Doc, thinking to himself. "Maybe I can reconfigure it."

"Do you think you can access the Void then?" Rose said, going up to him.

Doc didn't answer for a moment. "Possibly." He turned to look at Rose. "The Flux Capacitor doesn't just travel through time. I saw more than that with my vision. It can access alternate realities."

"Alternate realities?" asked Marty.

"Like different futures?" added Rose.

Doc didn't answer. "The timeline obviously can be changed and altered. Nothing is static. By creating alternate realities, old realities are left in the wake, possibly sectioned off. If the time machine can access new realities, I might be able to reconstruct it to access former ones."

"And then what?" asked Rose.

"If what the Master said is true, then by opening a vortex to an alternate reality, we'll also be opening a vortex to the Void, which is a gap between realities. If I can focus in on that space in between, and open the vortex with the Flux Capacitor, I should be able to open a door to the Void. But I'm not sure if the time machine has enough power to do that. It's designed to release a quick burst of energy, just enough to transport the vehicle itself. It's not meant to open such an expansive breach in the time-continuum for more than an instant."

"But we have to try. If we don't, the Doctor will be trapped forever," said Rose. "And the Master will have everything."

Doc slowly nodded. He turned around and looked to Marty, and then to Rose. "All right. Let's get to work."