A/N: The plot bunny decided a one shot wasn't enough and is now trying to create a plot. Still don't own Doctor Who, still wish I did. Major love goes out to the Tardis Technical Index for any and all info you could ever want about Tardises! .net/tardis
"Had any luck?"
Just barely managing to save himself from the indignity of slamming his head against the console from surprise the Master grunted a"No, you?" and turned to look at the Doctor.
"There's not enough luck in the universe to make up for six hours of cleaning. You don't even want to know what I found in the extra kitchen…" The Doctor made a face. The 'extra' kitchen was in fact meant to be the main kitchen, but since it was about as far from the control room as interdimensionally possible it didn't see much use. In fact none at all for almost 75 years… with the possible exception of what had been growing in one of the cupboards. But at least now that area of the Tardis didn't smell funny anymore, well not much.
The Doctor sighed and sat down on the beaten up bench, watching the Master where he was sitting on the floor. "Really, after six hours you're still clueless?"
"No." the Master glared venomously. "I just haven't had any luck with fixing it." He got up from the floor and started to pace around the room.
"Of course it would help if she didn't try to electrocute me every so often." He hit the center console with the butt end of his laser screwdriver in a childish attempt at revenge. The Doctor smirked, and the Tardis didn't really care.
"So what's wrong with her?" The Doctor moved to where he could see one of the monitors better. "The Artron energy levels are all over the place!"
The Master nodded slowly and rubbed at his face in frustration. "The artronic resonators are clogged up, and no I don't know how that is possible either." He paused, looking at the Doctors increasingly worried face before adding, "And the Conceptual Geometer is offline. I assume you don't have a spare somewhere?"
It took a few minutes for the Doctor to fully process that bit of information. "Oh that's bad, that's very bad." He ran a hand through his brown hair, trying to fight off the rising panic. "The Conceptual Geometer can't be offline. They're virtually indestructible, and you can't travel in time without it. At all. Are you sure?" He darted around the central column, getting down on his belly and poking his head through the maintenance hatch, trying to get a better look at it.
"Unless your Tardis has an exceptionally bad sense of humor, then yes it's offline." He sighed, leaning back against the railing, waiting for the Doctor to finish his pointless inspection. After about five minutes the Doctor did get back up, only to hurry down under the platform to get a look at the artronic resonators, where he almost instantly started to make various dissatisfied noises. The Master shook his head in annoyance and started to fiddle with the controls, trying to get the Tardis to at least tell him where and when they were.
When the Doctor finally decided he had seen enough and gotten back up on the platform he could read location and time on a screen, Sol system, Inner Asteroid Belt, 21st Century."To Earth then." The Doctor beamed, which made the Master even more frustrated, they had very, very different opinions about Earth, humans and the 21st century.
"Of all the bloody where's and when's it had to be this. That's just great." He fumed and somehow managed to check the impulse to drum his fingers against the console.
The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets, running some numbers through his head. "And it'll take us about a month to get there considering the condition we're in. Well…. A week if we can clean up the resonators." He trailed off, looking thoughtful.
"Yes. Well have fun with that." The Master turned on his heels, but before he managed to actually get anywhere he was stopped in his track by an outraged "Oi!" from the Doctor.
"You're not going to help?" his voice sounded angry enough indeed, but he had a look of utter shock and despair on his face.
"No. You passed the Bio-Mechanics class, even if it took you three attempts and a lot of help. Still it should be enough to handle some simple cleaning." The Master replied with an even tone, glaring over his shoulder.
"But that mess looked horrible, like a troop of Judoon had a collective sneeze and cough attack down there!" He emphasized his protest with a grimace.
"I'm sure it's nowhere near as bad as the thing you found in the kitchen." The Master smirked, "Besides, I'm not the one in a hurry to get to Earth." He added before walking off, leaving the Doctor with even more cleaning to deal with.