How was the Master doing this? How could he be in people's heads like that? The Doctor couldn't work it out. Yes he could be hypnotic. Always had been, even when they were young. He sighed as once again he recalled his childhood on Gallifrey, with his dear friend and lover. The Time Lord who was now his nemesis. Rival. Enemy. Why did things have to change? His thoughts were interrupted by the return of Martha. He and Jack were sat in an old abandoned warehouse, and he was seemingly studying a laptop, checking the news. He was even wearing his glasses, as he always liked to when he was working. It made him look more… clever.
"How was it?" Jack asked, as Martha walked over, bag in hand.
"I don't think anyone saw me. Anything new?" she replied. The Doctor instantly knew what she meant, quickly finding the relevant section of the news page he had supposedly been perusing as Jack informed Martha of his work in the time she'd been away.
"I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing."
No, thought the Doctor, that's not what she meant. Humans. They could be slow sometimes. Sure enough, Martha responded
"Yeah, I meant about my family."
Well of course she had. Why would she have meant anything else? What human would have asked about anything else when the people they loved were being imprisoned by a madman? Sometimes, the Doctor though sadly, he knew humans better than they knew themselves. He glanced at the laptop again.
"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning," he said as Martha placed the bag on the table. "Tell you what though, no mention of Leo."
Martha almost smiled at this, giving the Doctor a slightly warm feeling, cherishing the smile, which he knew would be oh so rare in the coming days.
"He's not as daft as he looks!" she commented, light-heartedly – definitely something that was becoming a rare occurrence. "I'm talking about my brother on the run," she continued, realising what she had been saying, all smiles and jokes slipping away. "How did this happen?"
"Nice chips," Jack butted in, interrupting Martha's flow. It was almost enough to make the Doctor smile as he took some himself… Almost.
"Hmm, actually they're not bad," he commented, throwing a couple into his mouth. He sighed to himself, as memories of that first 'date' with Rose came to his mind. They'd had chips. He'd been a different man back then. In more ways than one. The wounds of the Time War still raw. Still tender. She had helped. Made him so much better. Softened that tough shell he had built up, because he hadn't dared to do anything else. Because he'd lost everything and everyone he'd ever loved or cared for. Or so he'd thought. Until today. Until he'd found another Time Lord had survived. And not just any Time Lord, but the one with whom he'd shared the most history – friends, lovers, rivals, enemies. There had been nearly every possible feeling between them, almost all of his lives. So much more than there could ever be between a Time Lord and a human. Even in those early years, when there was only friendship and love, that was so much more than any human had given. Even Rose. Because there could be so much more intimacy between two Time Lords – they could share not only physical contact, but a mental contact – they could open their minds to one another – an intimacy that could never be imitated with a human. Unnoticed by him, Jack and Martha had been exchanging glances, before Jack posed the question both wished to know the answer to.
"So Doctor, who is he?" Jack asked, breaking the Doctor away from his thoughts. "How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"
"And what is he do you?" added Martha. "A colleague or…" The Doctor considered this for a brief moment. How best to answer.
"A friend at first," he opted for, truthfully. But he had become so much more than that. Koschei and Theta. The inseparable pair. They had made no effort to make their relationship secret. But now… now no-one could know but them. Ever since the Master had taken Koschei's place, and the Doctor had taken Theta's. Yes they were still the same. To some extent. But everything had changed. And Jack and Martha could never now what it was that it had changed from. No one could.
"Thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something!" Martha commented with a slight laugh.
The Doctor froze. Now that would just be… wrong, given everything that had been. That he secretly wished could still be. But no. Just… no.
"You've been watching too much TV!" he commented. So, so wrong.
"But all the legends of Gallifrey," said Jack, sensing the Doctor's unease on the subject, "made it sound so perfect."
The Doctor sighed as he thought of his home world. Lost. Burnt. Because of him. The Doctor. The man who heals people, and he had destroyed it. Destroyed them all. Because he'd had to, a voice inside of him insisted.
"Perfect to look at maybe," he said aloud. "And it was. It was beautiful." He sighed again, allowing images of his planet to flood his brain. Allowing his senses to remember what it had looked like. Sounded like. Smelt like. Felt like. Tasted like. Yes, he let himself truly remember for the first time in far too long. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe…" His race. His and the Master's. He thought of those mountains. Of that beautiful citadel. Lost forever. "Looking down on the galaxies below…sworn never to interfere…only to watch…" And that is why he could never have stayed. He had never been content to watch the universe go by, letting events unfold without helping. Without trying to save someone. His thoughts turned back to the Master. It was on Gallifrey it had all started. When they were so, so young.
"Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began." In fact he knew it was. How could he not. He'd known Koschei so well, how could something like that have escaped his notice? "When he was a child… that's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the untempered schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex." They all had to. Every single Time Lord had looked into the untempered schism. Koschei and Theta had both had to. Way back. All those hundreds of years ago. "You stand there, eight years old." They couldn't comprehend just how young that was, to a Time Lord. To someone with hundreds of years experience, eight was nothing. The blink of an eye. Oh it would sound young, yes. But to him? Nothing at all. "Staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired…some would run away…and some would go mad." Oh yes, Koschei had gone mad. But it had never seemed to show that much when they were at the academy. Yes there had been flickers of it. A flicker of what was to come. But it had never really shown. Almost as though the friendship they had shared, which had blossomed into love, had kept it at bay. Koschei had mentioned the drums, even then, but it had been as something faint, ticking away at the back of his mind, softly, barely noticeable. Back somewhere where it could do no harm. From what the Doctor could tell, they had become more pronounced with each regeneration. Maybe that was why he had now become obsessed with them. Because they were so loud. So much louder than they had been before. And maybe, a voice in his mind whispered, maybe if they could share that love again, it would subdue the Master's madness. Quieten the drums, like it had all those years ago on Gallifrey. Just maybe. But he couldn't test it out. Not now. Not yet. Not while the Master was ruling over this country, with whatever plans it was he had for this planet. No. He shook off the thoughts with a shake of his head. "Brrrrr… I dunno."
"What about you?" asked Martha, although the Doctor was fairly sure she knew.
"Oh! The ones that ran away! I never stopped!" Except… when he had been with his Koschei, Kos wasn't the only one who had been made better through that love. Because when Theta had been with Koschei, the need to run away suddenly didn't seem so urgent. He remembered one particular night, when he and Koschei had snuck out, together. They had laid out under the stars, his head resting on Koschei's chest. The other boy's fingers running tenderly through his hair. They had simply looked at the stars and enjoyed each others presence. And in that moment, Theta had felt he would never have to run again. Why would he want to when he could be with his Koschei. He had told Koschei so. He remembered the way the other boy had gently moved his (Theta's) head towards him, before kissing him on the lips. The first kiss of so many. He remembered how he had blushed as he returned the kiss. A kiss so tender. So loving. His first love. Oh how he wished that love could have lasted, for all eternity. The way they had promised each other it would. But it was not to be. He wondered what things would be like if it had lasted. Where they would be now. What would have happened. But it had gone wrong. He didn't bare to think of how and why. It was enough that it had. His thoughts were once again interrupted, causing him to once again force them away. He should really learn to keep control of them. Especially in times such as these. The beeper on Jack's vortex manipulator was going off.
"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it though." Jack informed him and Martha. The Doctor got up, discarding the chip wrapper.
"Patch it through to the laptop," he instructed. Jack sighed.
"Since we're telling stories, um, there's something I haven't told you," he said, turning to the laptop in front of them. He pressed a few buttons on the manipulator, and an all too familiar logo appeared on the screen. One that had been the cause of even more pain in his life. One that had caused him to lose yet another someone he had loved. How could Jack work for them? And how long had he? Had he been part of it, back at Canary Wharf? Back when he'd lost Rose?
"You work for Torchwood?" were his simple words, filled with questioning. Disappointment. How could his friend do this to him?
"I swear it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now," he replied, desperate to show the Doctor he hadn't betrayed him in any way.
"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it?" – he almost spat the words out, anger inside him building. Why would Jack do this to him?
"The old regime was destroyed at canary wharf." Oh he'd known the Doctor would take this badly. Why else would he have waited so long before divulging that particular piece of information? "I rebuilt it. I changed it. And when I did that I did it for you." He continued, a little anger of his own building up. "In your honour." He finished, glancing over at his friend, hoping the Doctor might accept it, but all he received was a glare. The Doctor still found it too difficult to believe that Torchwood could have changed that much, no matter who was heading it up. He turned away from Jack, an unspoken disappointment between them, and started the message. An unknown woman appeared on the screen.
"If I don't return to my desk by twenty two hundred," the image on the screen started, solemnly, "this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this then I'm…" she left the sentence hanging, but they all understood its implications. "Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel network." An image of Earth appeared on the screen, with several objects orbiting it. Archangel? What was that? It had to be something to do with the satellites shown on the screen. But what?
"What's the Archangel network?" he asked his companions. They should know, after all it was their planet…
"I've got Archangel. Everyone's got it," said Martha, pulling her mobile from her pocket.
"It's the mobile phone network. 'Cause, look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel," Jack explained, as the Doctor took Martha's mobile, and started to work on it using his sonic screwdriver. Yes, this had the Master's name written all over it.
"It's in the phones!" he exclaimed, working his sonic screwdriver on the appropriate setting. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." And there it was. That rhythm again. Coming from the phone. Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious." Oh yes, that was so very him. Subtle and hypnotic.
"What is it, mind control?" asked Martha, curiously.
"No, no, no. It's subtler than that." The Master always had been good at subtle persuasion. Where the Doctor rushed into situations, never really thinking about the consequences, the Master plotted. He crafted his plans so carefully. Down to the last detail. He had so much patience with them. He was charismatic. Full of charm. And knew exactly how to get people under his control, unquestioningly following. "Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code… Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world." And of course it had to be that rhythm. That rhythm that was so familiar to him. That had been strangely familiar even when Koschei had first told him, back on Gallifrey. He'd never quite been able to place his finger on why that beat was so… recognisable. So familiar. And then suddenly a realisation came to him. Oh the Master was clever. "Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. 'Cause I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back." Yes, because the Master would have known how important it was to make sure that only the correct version of the Doctor found him. Only the one who had found him on Utopia already. Of course he would have found a way to disguise himself. And trust the Master to link it in to hypnotising the world. "The signal cancelled him out." Ah, yes. He had an idea. A brilliant one. Well, of course it was brilliant, after all it was his idea!
"Any way you can stop it?" enquired Jack.
"Not from down here," he responded. Besides, his plan was much more fantastic than that. "But now we know how he's doing it…"
"We can fight back!" Martha finished for him. She was quite quick that one. For a human.
"Oh yes!" he replied, grinning. Time to carry out his plan. He took Martha's phone and his sonic screwdriver, and started to work, pausing only to retrieve the TARDIS keys – one from Martha, another from Jack and the third from his own pocket. As he worked on the keys, he let his work fully occupy his mind, not allowing any stray thoughts in. He'd had more than enough of those already that day. He fully concentrated on the task at hand, until it was completed. Returning his attention to Jack and Martha he laid the three keys on the table. His stroke of genius. He stepped back from the table, removing his glasses and placing them in his pocket, before proceeding to explain.
"Three TARDIS keys, three pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in." He thought of his TARDIS. Her faulty chameleon circuit. "Well… sort of!" He amended. "But… Now! The Archangel Network's got a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network and…" he paused for a moment. It would be easier to demonstrate… "Martha, look at me. You can see me, yes?" he asked, stepping back, holding one of the TARDIS keys out in front of him.
"Yep!" He smiled, knowingly.
"What about now?" he asked, as he slipped the key over his head. Martha looked confused. Blinking, shaking her head at the Doctor in front of her, who seemed to be trying to slide out of view. Jack laughed at her obvious confusion.
"No. I'm here. Look at me," he said, waving to attract her attention back to him.
"It's like…I know you're there but I don't want to know," she observed, trying to get her head around what was going on.
"And back again" said the Doctor, removing the key again, excited by his own genius. "See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. Oh," he exclaimed, as he handed the keys to Jack and Martha, "I know what it's like. It's like—it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on!" he explained, before heading off towards the exit. Behind his back, Jack and Martha exchanged glances. For a 900 year old alien genius, he couldn't half be slow sometimes, was the thought running through both their heads.
"You too, huh?" commented Jack, unheard by the Doctor. Martha simply nodded, before following that wonderful Doctor out of the warehouse. As they moved outside, the Doctor reminded them
"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." Yes, they had to make sure they weren't seen. Make sure they found the Master on their terms, not his.
"Like ghosts." Jack commented.
"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts." They each slipped a key round their neck, before heading out into the city.
