Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 4

The Master Control Program

Sean had gone back to the Thompson's house once the Doctor had cut off the transmission. He was stinging a little bit from it, and wished he had been able to say a better goodbye to Martha. A more physical one would have been nice, but oh well.

He was back in the secret room of the house, and he booted up the computer that still held the Doctor's face as the screensaver. Then, oddly, the face changed to a much older man that had very severe eyebrows and red lining inside his coat. As he watched, the image changed to another old man in plaid pants, and longer white hair, then a younger man with dark hair and holding what looked like a recorder. He still had odd plaid pants.

He shook his head to bring himself back to what he was supposed to be doing. He touched the screen and the desktop came up. Looking at it still made him shiver. He didn't know much about code or what went into programming an operating system. His best option, he thought, was to take the computer with him and get to the TARDIS.

Before he could even think about how to get the computer out of there, something in the bottom left corner of the screen caught his eye. It was a folder labeled "Windows Vista code".

He frowned. "That wasn't there before," he said. At least he thought it wasn't. He may have just been so taken aback by seeing the hated desktop that he hadn't noticed something out of the way in the corner of the screen.

Yeah, he really believed that.

He tapped the folder on the screen anyway, and it opened to a video showing a familiar face.

"Doctor!" he said.

"Yes, it's me," said the Doctor.

"What are you doing on the computer?" asked Sean.

"I'm talking to you of course, try to keep up." said the Doctor.

"Wait, how did you get on here?" asked Sean.

"I knew that folder would get your attention," the Doctor said with a grin on his face. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist it, even though common sense would have told you to bring the computer straight to me."

"Wait," said Sean. "Are you saying that this isn't a live chat right now, and you and Martha didn't just finish talking to me?"

"That's right," said the Doctor. "This is a recording of me having half of a conversation. I seem to remember having immense success with this sort of thing before, although people did die. Well, they went back in time and then lived to death." The Doctor looked very serious now. "If you ever see a statue of a stone angel that looks like it's weeping, don't look away from it. Ever."

Sean raised his eyebrows. "So you're saying... that I shouldn't blink?"

The Doctor smiled. "That's right, I remember! Don't blink!"

Sean rolled his eyes. "So how do you know what I'm going to say?"

It was the Doctor's turn to roll his eyes. "I've got the finished transcript. It's on my autocue."

"What's an autocue?" asked Sean.

"It's a teleprompter, Mr. American," said the Doctor.

"Oh," said Sean. "How do you have it? I'm only just now saying it."

"I'm a time traveler," said the Doctor, now exasperated and feeling a lot of Deja vu. "I got it in the future."

"But nobody is here recording what I'm saying," said Sean.

"You think that the Master doesn't have some sort of recorder in that room?" asked the Doctor. "Just in case someone is able to find their way into it and mess around with his things?"

Sean swallowed. He had not thought of that.

The Doctor laughed. "No, he doesn't," he said. "I put one in there when I planted this video on the computer, that way I could catch you saying everything you were saying, and be able to respond to it."

Sean's head was hurting. "How does that work?" he asked. "You couldn't have brought it in a recording of something you said if you didn't know yet what you were responding to!"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, you bring the recorder to me the next time you see me. That way I can get down everything I say and everything that you say. It's all wibbly wobbly timey wimey."

Sean waved him off. "Never mind that," he said. "What do I do with the computer?"

"You have to bring it to me, so that I can find out that the Master is the one that is behind the code of Windows Vista in the first place," said the Doctor. "I know I just said it, so I already know it, but if you don't bring it to me, I won't know it. I know it now because you did bring it to me, or will bring it to me. It was my past, and it will be your future. If you don't, it will create a paradox and destroy two thirds of the universe."

Sean smacked a hand to his head. "I really hate those," he said. He went to grab the computer and pick it up.

"Wait!" the Doctor shouted.

"What?" asked Sean. "What now?"

"You have to remember to make it look like nothing has happened in this room," said the Doctor. "Bring up the other computer from behind the desk."

Sean looked back there. "Where did that come from?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" asked the Doctor. "I put it here so you could replace the one currently there with it. It's identical to the one that is there right now, with the exception that it doesn't have this video on it."

Sean nodded. "Okay," he said. "Then what?"

"Once you set that computer up, you must bring this computer back to your house, and get in touch with the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "I'm not on it right now, but Martha should be. The end of this video has instructions on how to get me back from the Pilgrims."

"What?" asked Sean incredulously.

The Doctor shook his head. "There's no time to explain, now set up the computer and grab the computer and get out of there now!"

Sean didn't waste a second. He shut down the computer he was on and grabbed it. He set the other computer up as quickly as he could and sent it to the screensaver. Now there was a man with white hair and an opera cape. The image morphed into a man with wild eyes, a fedora, and an extremely long and colorful scarf.

He nodded, satisfied. He picked up the computer he was taking with him, and pressed the button in the corner on the wall. The room went back to its other appearance, with the pad of paper and pencil on the desk with the chair. He turned off the light, opened the door, and went back down to the basement and back up to the outside as quickly as he could. Rushing home, he knew he had to get in touch with Martha. The fate of the universe depended on it.