Terminus
"Well?" Ace was at her most combative, verbally, physically, emotionally. Kyris knew it was useless to try and bring her down to a less battle-ready attitude, but he tried anyway, only to have her shrug his hand off her arm impatiently. She wouldn't even look at him, keeping her eyes trained directly on those of the Doctor. A different Doctor from the one she'd traveled with, a different Doctor from the one who'd fathered him and whom he, ironically enough, had yet to meet.
"I don't know where the Master is. I'm waiting for him to respond to the signal I sent, so the TARDIS can track him down." The words were quietly spoken, meant to diffuse the tension Ace brought to the room by her mere presence, the Doctor's gaze meeting hers with equal firmness. She was the one who finally wavered and broke, looking down at her feet with a snort of disgust, and Kyris knew it was safe to touch her, to take her hand in his and give it a gentle squeeze.
"You sent the signal?" They turned as one, neither Kyris nor Ace recognizing the new voice. A young woman with short brown hair stepped into the TARDIS, followed closely by Nyssa and the man both assumed to be her husband. "What happened? Did he answer yet?"
"Not yet, Peri," the Doctor replied. "Allow me to introduce Ace and my son, Kyris." There was only the slightest of hesitations in his voice as he introduced Kyris. He gestured vaguely toward the two. Ace nodded and Kyris managed a smile and a handshake. "You two have already met Nyssa, and this is her husband, Tyrel." Polite murmurs of acknowledgement, and the introductions were over.
Peri looked dazed. "Future companions, past companions, two TARDISes…this is the craziest trip we've ever taken, Doc."
"And it appears that it's about to become crazier," the Doctor pronounced as a buzzer sounded on the TARDIS console. He stepped lightly to it, pressed a button, then scanned a read-out no one else was close enough to make out. But they could guess; judging by the grimness of the Doctor's expression, the Master had made his reply.
"What does it say?" Ace demanded after only a few seconds had passed. She stepped over, not quite crowding the Doctor, but coming close. "Where is he?"
"He's given us coordinates to follow." The Doctor looked up. "He demands that I come alone, of course."
"Of course." Kyris lips twisted in a sour smile. "How predictable. Does he honestly expect you to do something so monumentally stupid?"
Before the Doctor could object to his son's obvious intentions, Peri spoke up. "We're coming too." She glanced back uncertainly at Nyssa and Tyrel. "Right?"
"Of course," Nyssa said firmly. "Borean has everything under control, and Tyrel and I want to help."
"Fine, of course, off you go then, the lot of you." There was an undertone of irritation in the Doctor's voice, but resignation as well; what else had he expected? "Just don't let the Master catch you following me, or there'll be hell to pay. Follow these coordinates." He tossed off a series of numbers, which Kyris repeated back to him verbatim as soon as he was finished. With a curt nod, he headed for the outer door, Ace right on his heels and the others falling into place behind them. When the parade was gone, the Doctor closed the door, then glanced down at the console.
The numbers he punched in were not the ones he had given to the others, but he wasn't about to put anyone else in the Master's path. Yes, Kyris and Ace had their own reasons to find him, but he doubted very much that their quest to reunite with their daughter would succeed. Susan, he knew firmly, was raised by himself and no one else. Although he thought he recalled a young woman who had acted as a sort of nanny until Susan was a teenager, but whoever she was, it certainly wasn't Ace.
Who was she, then? He puzzled over it for all of a half-second, then dismissed the fuzzy memory from his mind. He had other things to concentrate on, such as rescuing Tegan and her son without sacrificing his TARDIS in the process.
He depressed the button that would set his journey in motion, then sighed and stretched tiredly. When would it end, this running feud with a man who had once been his closest friend?
The answer, he suspected, was never, but he refused to accept it.
Maybe this time, for once, it would truly be over.
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A/N: Hello again, and please accept the usual apologies for the delay. Things are coming to a head and I hope you enjoy this installment. Where did the Doctor send Kyris and the others? And will they discover the ruse in time to do anything? Only the Shadow knows...and my humble self, of course. Stay tuned!