Author's Note: I got a new laptop today, and this is the first thing I've written on it! Took a bit of getting used to, and I still don't know whether I've configured it right. So if there are any delays with updating, I haven't gone missing, I'm just learning how to work my new computer. :)
I would like to thank AnGeL oF mAdNeSs, for helping me on this chapter, and dealing with a rant or two about the lack of official Gallireyan language. :)
The Master's POV:
I burst through the door, crashing into the splintered table as I'm unable to stop my momentum. Picking myself up slowly, I look left and right down the corridor. There isn't really any way to tell which way the wolf took the Doctor. I wait for a few moments, hoping I'll hear another scream that will lead me to them, but nothing comes. Everything's silent, apart from the quiet sobs of the dying man behind me.
I let out an exasperated sigh, and choose to head right. I make my way down the corridor, trying each of the grey, steel doors as I reach them. None of them budge, and I wish I still had my laser screwdriver. I could get through any of these in seconds.
I reach a corner, and peer round it carefully. There's no way I want my head to be cut off, thank you very much!
The corridor ahead of me is clear though, and I have another choice: straight on or right again. It suddenly dawns on me how hopeless this is. This place is a maze. There's no way I could find the Doctor here. I consider going back to the TARDIS, but that option quickly gets squashed, as I realise I have no idea where the exit is. I was so busy goading the Doctor when we came in, that I didn't think to memorise the route.
I whack my head against the wall, which makes me feel slightly better, before choosing to go straight on.
As I step onto the new route, there's a moment when I think the floor has disappeared. It's so disconcerting and unexpected that I stumble and fall. Only, like my feet, my hands go right through the white, tiled floor, and then stop.
I remain where I am for several seconds, as I try to think what could be happening. If the floor is real, my hands and feet shouldn't disappear, but if it's a hologram, then why have I stopped? Reaching out, I prod the wall I'm leaning against. That's solid enough, at least.
The floor begins to shimmer and move beneath me, but I can't feel it. I try to pull my hands back, but I can't move. Tugging at them, I force myself not to panic, and look around for anything that might help me. I've been fighting against the Doctor for so long, I must have picked up some of his MacGyver instinct.
The corridor is so bloody empty though, that I'm actually considering calling for help. Wouldn't that just make the Doctor's day, I think bitterly.
The floor now seems to be rising, or maybe I'm sinking, when another one of those wolves appears around the corner. It looks like the one that was chasing us before, but how do I know if they look all the same or not? I press myself against the wall, hoping that it won't see me. As it's coming down the corridor I'm in, the chances of it not seeing me are about a billion to one.
Sure enough, it cocks its head to the side, staring at me, as I feebly try to free my hands again. When it steps into the corridor, its paws don't sink. In fact, the floor seems to rise to meet it. It stops a few metres from me, and growls.
I can't think of anything better to do, so I growl right back.
The wolf looks shocked and takes a step backwards. "Yeah," I say, hoping I sound more confident than I feel. "That's what I thought. You don't wanna mess with me!"
The wolf makes what sounds like a scoffing noise, which I think is extremely rude. Why can't it just be scared of me? It would be so much easier.
It sits back on its haunches, looking at me as if to say, "I'm so not scared of you, it isn't even funny."
I try to tug my hands away from the floor again, and this time they come free. I scramble backwards away from the wolf, rather disproving my earlier statement. It follows me with its eyes, and I begin to think it might just let me get away. That is, until I feel the solid wall behind me. I know there wasn't a wall there before. It's so unfair.
The wolf begins to lope over to me. A few test shoves against the wall prove that it's real all right. It's not going to budge an inch.
The wolf pauses for a moment, putting its head on one side. Then it opens its mouth and speaks.
"Are you of the same species as the one who came before you?"
"Uh..." I say, not entirely sure I should be talking to this thing. I have an insane image of the Doctor telling me not to talk to strangers in my head right now, and it's not helping.
The wolf sighs. "You know," it mutters. "For a supposedly advanced race, you aren't half lacking in vocabulary!"
"Hey!" I stand, taking a step forward. If there's anything that can make me forget my fear, it's being insulted. "You're not even on the intelligence scale. You're a dog!"
"Hmm. So you do understand English. You must be a different species then." It nods decisively. "We'll have you too."
"Woah!" I back up slowly, feeling the wall behind me. "I didn't mean you were completely stupid. You actually look very intelligent... and I love dogs! Always have. I was on Earth only recently, and there was this lovely, little pooch my wife had. I can't remember the name, but it was big and strong... maybe it was one of your relatives?"
I have never seen a less impressed wolf. It starts to walk towards me again. "Will you put up more or less of a fight than the other?"
"Um..." I repeat. Come on, I tell myself. The Doctor would have at least five plans by this stage. "I don't know how much fight he... put up?" Even grammar fails me at this stage.
It nods considerately. "Of course. I must ask you that don't run."
I feel like asking where to, but the next thing I know, the wolf has bent down and taken the collar of my jacket in its jaws.
"Put me down!" I roar. The wolf ignores me, bounding off down the corridor.
I'm hanging several feet above the floor, swinging haphazardly from side to side. I can see the wolves' paws thundering along the ground, but that's all. It's quietly comforting that they compliment the drums.
Tosh crossed the hub, heading towards Jack, who was standing at her computer. She could see the man in military uniform walking to join him, and hid behind Gwen's desk, hoping to catch a nugget of their conversation.
"Haven't you told your team anything?" asked the man.
Jack turned around and narrowed his eyes. "Why? Have you?"
"I managed to avoid most of it. They don't know about the year, but they know the name 'Master' now. They said they knew about the Doctor before."
"What?" Jack shook his head. "Since when?"
"You talk about him all the time apparently." The man leaned around Jack to look at the computer screen. "Nothing seems to be happening."
Taking this as her cue, Tosh left her hiding place. "That's because I've already decoded it."
Jack jumped at her sudden intrusion, which she thought was quite strange, but didn't comment on. "But..." He gestured at the screen. "It's still in... square form."
"Give me your mobile." Tosh held out a hand, taking Jack's phone and holding it close to the screen, clicking the camera button. "There you go." She passed the phone back.
When Jack looked down at it, he wasn't looking at the small black and white squares that still adorned the computer screen. There was instead an image, which shifted and fluctuated with the movement of the person in it.
Jack's breath court in his throat. The Brigadier knew who this was. He didn't know about Toshiko.
The woman he was looking down at, held in a tiny, barely habitable prison cell, was Lucy Saxon.
The darkness was pressing in from all sides. The pain was steadily getting worse.
The Doctor doesn't even remember stopping screaming, when he hears more growls coming from all sides. Not being able to see his adversaries is scaring him more than the pain is. Sight is the one thing that Time Lords can never lose, and the fact that he is effectively blind places all his power in the hands' of his captors.
"Arapsst mere l'ua." Reveal your life.
"Chemi?" Why?
When had he started speaking in Gallifreyan?
"Arapsst mere l'ua." Reveal your life.
The voice repeated itself
"Ka lae'zaz forh eri." Or we will take it.
The voice warned him.
He could feel it moving around in his head. The eyes were blinding him. No, he thought. Get out of my head!
"Kiorgor Arawink." Very well.
The voice paused for a moment, giving him a glimmer of hope that they would indeed heed his... warning? Plea? The eyes seemed to dim, but then the voice spoke again.
"Lae'zaz forh." We will take.
And the Doctor fell into hell.
Author's Note: The mention the Master makes of 'MacGyver' is a reference to an 80's (I think) TV show by that name. The main character got into all these bad and difficult situations, but always managed to get out by taking whatever natural materials he could find, and turning them into an escape devise. For instance, he once built a bomb with chewing gum, a rocket launcher with a propeller, etc, etc.
The Data Matrix, showing up as the small black and white squares, is really decoded by taking a picture of it. I'm not sure how this works, but the technology I have in this chapter is correct. :)