Thanks to all the lovely people who have been reviewing! You guys really keep me motivated, and it's a lot easier to make up the plot with your encouragement ^^
Special shout-out to I Don't Know What Im Doing and Mabudachi-trio for being the most loyal reviewers throughout this story :)
Thanks guys!
Jack came out of his room that morning, still a bit skeptical from his dream the night before. He nearly jumped out of is skin when the Doctor rushed past him as he entered the control room. The Doctor paid no mind to Jack's obvious discomfort, for he was buzzing with excitement.
"What's the occasion?" asked Jack, brushing off his previous jolt. This was the happiest he'd seen the Doctor in a long time.
The Time Lord turned away from the monitor on the console, breaking out in a wide grin. "I've found the signal!" he exclaimed. "Now we'll be able to track it to the source and save the Master."
Jack tried to match the Doctor's joy, but in all honesty, he was hoping that the signal would disappear before they found it. It's nothing against the Doctor, he told himself. I just don't trust the Master…
"That's great," he said. "What do we do now?"
"Well," replied the Doctor, "We can start by using the temporal vortex manipulator to create a positioning system. I can feed the signal through the vortex, and it'll tell us relatively where the feed is coming from."
"So, kinda like a GPS?"
"More like a UPS. Universal positioning system," said the Doctor. "Also including time and… well, yeah. It's basically just a positioning system."
Jack nodded absently. His mind kept distracting him back to the hazy atmosphere of last night's dream. It was several moments before he noticed the Doctor looking at him expectantly, as if he'd asked a question.
"Sorry – what?"
"I asked if you wanted to help me refine the signal, but—You don't look too well," said the Doctor skeptically. "Maybe you should go lay dow-."
"No," interrupted Jack, "I'm fine." The Time Lord looked unconvinced. "Really. I just didn't sleep very well last night. Just a bit tired." He stretched his arms above his head to express this.
"Alright," the Doctor replied eventually. He suddenly snapped out of his suspicious trance and circled the console excitedly, just hitting random buttons, in Jack's opinion. He practically skipped up to the bewildered Human and pushed him through the corridor. "This way," he said.
They walked through the long winding hallways until they reached a door, no different from the hundreds of others all through the TARDIS. How the Doctor could tell one from another, he had absolutely no idea. Following the bouncy Time Lord into the room, he could see the Master lying on a cot in the center of the room. IVs and sustenance were now being fed into his body, no doubt to ensure that his body would remain intact while they tried to restore his life.
Jack stood a moment, looking at the man who'd tortured and killed him countless times, created a massive paradox, and nearly destroyed the Human race. He hated the Master since the day he met him. He hated how he cared about no one but himself, and couldn't even begin to understand exactly why the Doctor wanted him alive. Yes, he understood that they were the last two Time Lords in the whole of Time and Space, but still—this was the Master. He was insane, deranged, evil, and no doubt felt superior to every other living thing in the universe. Why would the Doctor want him alive if all he does is create terror and wreak havoc?
But looking at the Master's still form now, it was difficult for him to imagine the same man who had terrorized him. What he saw was simply a being, just existing—if you could call it that. His dark hair looked soft, with a smooth face and thin stature. Maybe this was what the Doctor saw all the time. Jack knew that the two were childhood friends. Maybe the Doctor just couldn't allow himself to believe that his best friend was so evil…
'What am I talking about? Where did that last statement even come from?' he thought angrily. 'Of course he's evil! He's the fucking Master! Who else would have that name if not for him? The dirty, controlling bastard-'
Jack was suddenly shaken from his thoughts. "Jack! What the hell are you glaring at?"
He looked up into the Doctor's questionable gaze, feeling a slight blush light up his face. "Er… Sorry. Just a little—distracted," he stuttered.
"Yeah, I can see that," muttered the Doctor, turning back to the equipment. "Anyway, let's get started!" He pointed without looking up. "Get me my sonic, will you?"
Captain Jack followed the Doctor's direction, seeing the silver-and-blue device sitting on a counter. He quickly grabbed it and tossed it to the Doctor, who caught it—again, without even looking up.
"Okay, I'm gonna need you to hold these together while I bind them," directed the Doctor, handing Jack several pieces of wire. He helped the Doctor attach each piece with his sonic screwdriver to form one long piece about three feet long. He twisted it into a complicated coil-like shape, and connected it onto what Jack assumed to be the machine that refined and translated the signal.
"Come on Jack, we've still got a lot to get done."
About two hours later, the two stood back to look at their creation. First, the Master, with sensors and wires positioned along his body. A single thick, metal wire protruded from his skull, transferring the signal to a machine, where it was separated by wavelength. A series of multicolored wires branched out from it, carrying the refined signal to an enclosed metal tub filled with some sort of liquid. "It contains a plasma-based residue," the Doctor had explained. "The signal will generate an electrical current which can be translated and read by the TARDIS." A large coil ran from the opposite end of the container, connecting to the ship's mainframe.
The Doctor ran off, and Jack was forced to follow in fear of getting lost in the endless maze of rooms. They ended up back in the console room. The Doctor hunched over the monitor, a smile breaking out on his face. "Come on, old girl," murmured the Doctor, stroking his beloved ship. "Not too complicated, yeah?"
"What've you got?" asked Jack.
"It'll take the TARDIS some time to completely translate and relay the signal, as it's quite complicated—even more so than I imagined."
"So what do we do in the meantime?"
The Doctor looked bewildered. "Oh," he murmured. "Hadn't thought of that."
Hmm... What will Jack and the Doctor end up doing while the TARDIS translates the code? You'll find out soon!
Please review!