A Most Paradoxical Interview
The prisoner was about to be interviewed. The Doctor had found him outside the prison where the Doctor was being kept prisoner and the prisoner had been mumbling something about seizing an opportunity to get a TARDIS. As nobody else on Earth could know about TARDISes other than someone who UNIT should interrogate, the Doctor had decided to bring the prisoner in. The prisoner was dressed in an odd purple jacket and was asian, grinning all the way to his UNIT cell.
The Doctor entered the room and sat down opposite the prisoner, with an annoyed look on his face.
"Who are you?" he demanded, "And how do you know about a TARDIS?"
"Oh, Doctor. It's good to see you again, after so long." the prisoner replied, smiling, "You know who I am."
"I don't know who you are. The Doctor will be back in a few hours and I am certain he will be happy to proceed with this interrogation." the Doctor said, lying back.
"Doctor, I'm the Doctor. But far in the future from the one you deal with. I've seen so much and enjoyed so many adventures on my own. I even met your daughter." the Doctor replied, making the Doctor stare at him in shock.
"How could you have met my daughter? And was she safe when you left her?" the Doctor asked, more curious than ever.
"Oh, she'll be safe. I left her team a Wirrn egg as a little gift, but they dealt with that. At least, I think they did."
"Shouldn't you be in your TARDIS rather than on Earth? What are you here for?"
It was at this point in the conversation when the Doctor aimed his pistol at the Doctor's head. "It's complicated." the Doctor said, simply.
"I have time." the Doctor replied.
"The simple version is that I had some trouble with the Kasaavin and the Doctor stole my TARDIS. I'm going to find the Doctor the long way round, without tampering with the past." "That isn't like you."
"I think something the Doctor did in my past rubbed off on me." "I see."
The Doctor left soon. The Doctor was alone again, hoping that he wouldn't run into his younger self.
"Hello dear chap," came a young-old voice that seemed all too familiar to the Master, "what are you doing here?"
The Doctor had entered the Doctor's cell. In his third incarnation, the Doctor had the appearance of a young-old man with curly white hair and he was dressed in a red velvet jacket and a white frilly shirt.
"Oh, now this is my lucky day!" the Doctor cried, however he was unable to clap his handcuffed hands together in joy.
"What the devil do you mean?" the Doctor wondered, not realising the future Master's context.
"Defeating you is just like falling onto a nice soft bed. But I won't battle you. I've got my own plans. They won't come into being for some time yet."
"I won't take you to your younger self. I just want to know one thing." The Doctor grinned eagerly.
"Tell me more." the Doctor said.
"I wish to know if you are a good man in the future. If you change your ways." the Doctor asked.
The Doctor thought back to when he had been a woman and how the Doctor had tried to make her a good person. The days she had spent in the Vault, playing a piano and a violin endlessly.
"For a bit, yeah. But then an experience changed my perspective." the Doctor replied, "Now could you release me please?"
The Doctor led the Doctor out of UNIT HQ and onto the street outside. The Master turned round and took one last look at the Doctor.
"I'll miss you." the Doctor said, smiling sadly at him, "You were always my favourite."
"I don't understand you but I hope we meet again." the Doctor said, walking back inside UNIT HQ, leaving the Doctor alone.
Once the Doctor had reached his base of operations, he sat down, thinking to himself for a few moments. He'd just had the oddest, the most impossible interview there ever could be and yet he felt there was something missing.
No, not something missing. Someone missing. There was a name on the tip of his tongue.
Annabel, Africa, Angela…
He would never know the answer to that mystery.