Sorry this is so short, but it was the perfect place to end the chapter. Sorry, also, for the delay in updating. I have my last set of university exams at the moment. I'm right on the boarder between a 2:1 and a 1st, so the results of these are crucial in determining was mark I get overall for my degree.

Chapter Eight

Donna looked at the man who the Doctor addressed as the Master. She was certain it was the same person who'd been threatening them in messages from the past.

"I thought you said he was did," she said.

"He is. He died in my arms."

"Then who's he?"

"He's created by block transfer computation." Donna's blank look told him exactly what she thought of that as an explanation. "The computations generate solid objects simply by having a mathematical model of them. Adric's talented enough that he made a copy of himself so realistic that none of us guessed the real Adric was being held prisoner. He must be doing the same thing now to create a copy of the Master."

"Oh, but I'm much more than a copy, Doctor," the Master smiled wickedly.

The Doctor frowned, peering at the man as though trying to focus on something. "The temporal influence. But how? You're just a mathematical concept. Even Adric doesn't have the skill to compute the temporal stimulus. You can't be a Time Lord."

The Master laughed. "I can, Doctor. I placed a piece of myself inside the boy. Just a fragment of my essence as a Time Lord, preserved in the mind of a human so that a part of me would be safe no matter what happened in our encounters."

"What's going on?" Donna demanded.

"Essentially, he's made a complete copy of himself, even his... his soul for lack of a better word, at the point where he set the trap. That means you have no recollection of anything that's happened since then."

"Why would I need it? I can destroy you and then I can learn anything I need to as I bring the universe to its knees before me."

"But everything's changed now," the Doctor said, almost frantic. "The Time Lords are gone. They were destroyed in a war. I'm all that's left and now you."

"You're lying, Doctor. No one had the power to match the Time Lords."

"The Daleks did. Gallifrey is gone and our people wiped out."

"You cannot fool me, Doctor. You are just trying to prevent your own destruction, but it won't work."

The Master pressed a button on a control panel. Suddenly, there was a faint light surrounding the Doctor and Donna. She tried to move, but was held trapped, the light somehow pinning her in place.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Adric cried out.

"Can't you stop making the copy?" Donna asked, her mouth free to move even if the rest of her was trapped.

"It won't work now," the Doctor answered for the kid. "A piece of the Master's soul is now inside the copy and can sustain it like a real model. Adric's not creating him anymore."

"True," the Master said, "but he still could be so very useful to me. Think of all he could create for me. With his mathematical skill, I can reshape the universe to my own design."

"You mean Adric's design," the Doctor said. "It's his mind that's doing the computation. The block transfer creations will all be coming from him, shaped by his thoughts and desires, not yours."

"But at my command. He is in my power completely."

"If he were completely in your power, he would be apologising to me."

"No matter. You will die just as surely."

The Master pressed another button. Donna screamed as pain seared through her. It felt as though liquid fire was being poured through her veins. Even over her own shouts, she could hear the Doctor crying out.

"Goodbye, Doctor. You have been a worthy adversary, but now our enmity meets its inevitable end."

"I think not." Donna heard a new voice enter the conversation.

The pain ended and she was able to move again. She collapsed to her knees, unable to stand as her body recovered from the agony. She looked up towards the panel where the Master stood. With a hand over the buttons that had caused her recent torture, stood a man with a mass of curly hair and a ludicrously long scarf.

"It's not possible," the Master said, staring between the new arrival and the Doctor.

"The Doctor always come to my rescue," murmured Adric.

Donna, utterly confused, looked at the Doctor, who was smiling.