Schrodinger's Doctor

17A Yes, master

The Doctor is woken abruptly, instantly aware. He's more careful this time; he stays slumped over the edge of the open pod. He feels a nauseating duplication of memories, and the fog caused by a collapsed timeline that he's already lived. Collapsed timeline; what happened? His time-sense tells him only a minute has passed since he reared up out of the cryo-pod bent on destruction only to be laid low, by… a torc on his head…and there's some sort of collar around his neck. Processing the memories he unfortunately knows exactly what the hell is going on this time.

"I know you're awake," states a soft masculine voice from the Doctor's right. "Sit up, now." The Doctor has no control over his motions as his muscles pay no attention to what he wants, and he sits up. The collar warms against his neck, but does nothing. "Look at me," the man demands. The Doctor hates being ordered around, and starts to argue with his body this time. As his head turns towards his kidnapper agonisingly slow, the Doctor grits his teeth, actively fighting the impulse. This time the collar blinks yellow, and shocks him. He's so surprised, he cries out, and his head whips to the side where he's looking into the dark eyes of a sandy-haired man. It takes his befuddled mind an extra second to supply the information, but he knows this man; just not a healthy version.

The Doctor desperately tries to separate the current timeline from the memories of the one that is now gone. This man, John Hart, is uninjured, and perfectly in control of himself. The Doctor is unsure if that will be better or not. So far, other than the lack of injuries, the memories are still the same-ish.

"Don't like orders, do you?" he asks, knowing it's rhetorical. "Well, neither do I, but you see this time's different; I have you to order around. You're my slave, and you will obey me. Hesitation is pain." With this he stares at the Doctor whose head suddenly feels like it's on fire. Clutching his skull with both hands the Doctor moans through a clenched jaw, everything rigid. "Obedience should be rewarded with pleasure, but I'm just not that kind of guy. If there's going to be pleasure here, it will be mine." With an unpleasant leer he releases the Doctor who slumps forward panting, the sweat running down his face and his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"So, Time Lord, let me tell you exactly how I have you restrained, so you know there's no point in fighting me. I would hate to be forced to hurt you. I'm positive you'll be more valuable alive, and...undamaged."

He finishes speaking, and the Doctor thinks he might be waiting for a response. He considers not, but the collar warms, and blurts out, "Yes, of course." Looking at his keeper now, the Doctor sees in his expression that he's a cruel man, and he prepares himself to take whatever this Maniac dishes out.

"Yes, …Master. Say it," John says a little too caught up in his fantasy.

"Yes, master," the Time Lord says flippantly. "Now really, you should try something more original. I already know a Master, and he…"

"Silence!" John screams at him, his face red. He was expecting the Time Lord to be suitably intimidated, maybe even scared, but he wasn't prepared for assured sarcasm, and belligerence. He will just have to teach him some respect. He decides to feel out his new toy's reactions to see what will be most effective in breaking him. Everything he'd just read about Time Lords in the ship's records was very generalised, but gave the impression that Time Lords were complacent and arrogant. While certainly arrogant, you could see it in the set of his features and posture, this Time Lord did not seem at all complacent.

The Doctor's ability to talk has completely deserted him, but not his ability to think, and he is already implementing the lessons from the previous timeline in an attempt to gain control over his body again. Injured and made crazier by sepsis, his previous version of the madman had been rather simple to hide from. Though he had still been a cruel man, and took disgusting pleasure in humiliating the Doctor, by using his body against him; the Doctor was completely unsure how much better or worse this healthy version would be. Thankfully Rose was not here—Oh God! Rose! Was the City still gone? Did she get out? What had happened to reset this timeline? He had no way of knowing. The torc and collar were still capable of completely blocking his telepathic abilities, and he couldn't feel for the link at all without the collar warming up. Frustrated, but with no way to express it, the Doctor resigns himself to the current situation, but at the first opening, things will change.

Eyeing the Time Lord speculatively, John is determined to get what he wants, and there isn't any reason why he can't have fun at the same time. "You will call me Master, and I will not tolerate belligerence," he says slowly, like talking to a child. "I'm sure you have a name, and I don't care. I'll call you slave and you will answer promptly. The Huduct developed this torc for just this purpose, and used it successfully for thousands of years, so don't think that you can get free of it. The collar is an added bonus from my own time. As you've already experienced, it will only allow you to get so uppity before it makes itself known. Be good," he remarks with a smile that does not reach his eyes and is anything other than pleasant.

"Now, stand." The Doctor has no choice, as he responds with alacrity. "Step away from the pod. We are currently in space on the way to Mars to finish repairs, and build the booster I need to get us to the 51st Century. The ship wasn't fixed when we left Chelsea 426 in a bit of a hurry," he says with satisfaction. He's still high from executing such a successful escape. Finding the cryo-pod storage on the way to the ship had been sheer luck, but perfect for his needs. So he'd had to shoot that stupid deck hand, so what? He'd made it all the way to the ship before his idiot partner probably even knew he was missing.

Continuing his lecture, "My files on you claim that Time Lords are brilliant, that better mean you can fix space ships. I hope you can, because I have no intention of losing you after all I've gone through to keep you. Can you affect repairs on this ship?"

Not sure how he should answer, the Doctor replies with a simple. "Yes." He knows exactly what's wrong with the ship, and he knows there's nothing he can do about it.

/Still in space, MORON!/ he thinks at the Maniac. The collar warms against his throat, and he furiously starts working on those partitions he needs to keep it unaware. He can't let the Maniac know that he has basically seen the future, so he just shuffles his feet and waits for his next order. At least he still has his sonic. He'll be more careful about not letting it be seen this time, and perhaps he can use it once the partitions are erect. He'll need to eat before he can start over-producing the hormones needed to trick the torc, and it's been hours since dinner with Rose.

/Oh, Rose, what's happened?/ he wonders, really wishing he could feel her through the link. When he gets out of this, and can reach her, there's a lot unfinished between them that he will make right at the first opportunity.

"That's good; an obedient response. I like it, except…you forgot...Master," he says this almost intimately. At the first licks of fire in his mind, the Doctor's knees give out, and he slams to the floor panting. Not fully in control of himself, part of his mind sickeningly begins begging for it to stop, "Gah….sorry…sorry…sorry…please...no not again, no never, of course Master, whatever you want, no never again…please."

The Doctor has been captured many times, and some of those times his captors have attempted to torture him. They would never have known that with his improved physiology, they really had no hope of success. He could turn off the pain, he could metabolise their drugs, and he could hide whatever information they wanted where even he wouldn't be able to find it again if necessary. It was only from his own people that he would have ever needed to worry about torture, but that was never going to happen now. He'd been living in a little fantasy world where he arrogantly believed he personally couldn't be hurt or taken advantage of. Those assumptions all came crashing down in this instant, as he felt himself coerced into behaving like an animal.

The flames devouring his mind are gone as fast as they appeared. With shuddering breaths and trembling, the Doctor tries to regain himself. He's humiliated to be wadded up on the floor like a whipped puppy, but he doesn't want a repeat; so he stays where he is. /So, the crazy bastard likes pleading, great,/ the Doctor thinks sarcastically. /I never would have thought I'd be in a situation like this, and still consider it better than the last. I'm getting too old for this./ Any situation where Rose might still be alive is always better.

"So let's try that again, can you affect repairs on the ship?" He asks again with an unsettling intimacy that would be appropriate from your Aunt asking if you'd like another cup of tea.

Right on top of the answer this time, the doctor says clearly, "Yes, Master."

"Good boy, now stand. I don't like the defiance you're trying to hide from me, and I'm afraid that isn't good." John saw the look of shame and disgust that had been on his face belying the pleading that had come from his mouth.

/Interesting,/ John thinks, calculating his next move. He considered having the Time Lord void himself, but thought better of it when the notion of the smell occurred to him. So many interrogation techniques he had learned since becoming a Time Agent, and here he was getting to try them out on a subdued Time Lord. Imagining to himself all things he might be able to learn, John begins reconsidering his original plans; formulating new ones. Plans where he will keep his prize, and once he learns how to use his new tool, he'll be able to set himself up so he'll never have to go back the Agency again.

Still gazing intently at his slave, John's lips curl into a particularly cruel smirk as a new idea has occurred to him, "You only need your hands for the repairs, and since you can't leave, I don't think you need clothes. Strip." John is expecting to see some expression of horror or revulsion pass across his slaves features, but he just looks bored as he strips naked and folds his clothes neatly to the side. Perhaps Time Lords don't have hang-ups about being naked. He's from the 51st Century after all; he understands, but he isn't pleased. Well, there are plenty of other things to try. Refusing to back off the nakedness, John begins to tell the Doctor what is wrong with the ship and that he expects results.

With the reset, the Doctor had been hoping to avoid the nakedness and everything that had previously gone with that unfortunate portion of this little nightmare. Apparently, the Universe is not feeling particularly kind today. He soothes himself with the reminder that there are only three days in this entire episode. Hopefully this time there will be a better ending. He can hold out that long, and the crazy Maniac has to sleep some time. He'll need to eat soon, if he's not to start making mistakes that could blow them out of space before they crash to Mars, and so he can have some success against the torc. The other unfortunate bi-products of being naked are the lack of his sonic, and he's now vulnerable to the emotional onslaught when being touched by his captor. Sighing inwardly, he finishes the first of his partitions, and hides his emotions behind it. At least the collar won't give him away now with every errant death wish he directs towards his captor.

Getting up from the command chair, and walking past his captive, John reaches out and pinches the slave's armpit hard on his way by, enjoying the flinch and grimace. Coming to the food replicator, he pushes a few buttons, and a couple of nutrient bars pop out. John throws one of the bars to the slave's feet, before he locks the replicator back down, turning on the isometric controls.

"I'm going to bed, get to work. Stay in this room." With another smirk to the back of his toy's head, John can no longer stifle his yawn, and he heads to sleep. Taking a bite of the bar, he's pleasantly surprised to find it tastes like pears; he loves pears. Two days to Mars, another few days to get help and build the booster, then home sweet home. This might be the best night's sleep he's had in months.

17B Oh, it's you.

The Doctor is trapped. Trapped in his mind and his body. Currently, he's pacing around the Pools in his Foyer. He hates the Pools, but —What?! Looking around, he knows he's done this already.

Motion catches his eye and he notices the surface of the Pools are angry, like they're about to boil, or are filled with piranhas. "Now that's a cheerful thought!" he snorts to himself. He's just about to step closer, when he abruptly falls to his knees overwhelmed with the nauseating sensation of his own timeline collapsing and rebuilding. The dual realities making room for themselves in his mind, causing waves of overlapping experiences; the now and not-now warring for space. He's intimately familiar with this awareness, having lived through it hundreds of times during the War, but it never gets any easier.

He now has a full set of new memories. His kidnapper, injured, abusive, and going mad with sepsis; while he was humiliated and made powerless—a slave, by an ingenious combination of Huduct torc and 51st Century sex collar. He had been working on solutions to both mechanisms, when… Oh God! Rose! The crazy bastard said the Sontarans had blown up Chelsea 426. That wasn't supposed to happen. He's pretty sure it was supposed to be decommissioned sometime in the 31st Century. Why would the Sontarans have been there at all? The torc had put him down when he'd found out and reacted too strongly. All he wanted to do was murder the maniac. Odd to feel somewhat thankful to such a hateful device for keeping him from acting on impulse and doing something he knew he'd regret later. The Doctor had even done what he could to strap the poor bugger down, before he locked himself back into the cryo-pod; then they'd crashed. He remembers not caring if he died or not. What would be the point. He was so tired of being the last, of being alone.

Still on his knees, with his head in his hands, and rocking quietly he relives all of the previous timeline's memories as if he were there, again. His grief for Rose was/is nearly debilitating. The spiral of self-hatred and blame is nearly impossible to break free of while he's trapped within his own mind. Wallowing in his misery, it takes him some time to realise he's no longer strictly alone. Pulling his hands from his face, he sniffs, and putting his hands to the floor he looks up at the toes of a pair of black leather boots. With a growing sense of unease and aggravation his gaze continues up past the jeans, jumper and leather jacket to see the piercing blue eyes of his previous self boring into him.

"Oh, it's you," he says petulantly, and he's annoyed with himself for sounding that way.

"Ya, it's me. What the hell are you doin'?" Right he'd been caustic, he remembers now.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Two can play at this game.

"Oh-ho, is that how we're playin' this then? Fine. Some part of you that isn't filled up with stupid thought I could help. I dunno, it's your 'ead now. Why don't you figure it out, pretty boy." The completely unveiled sarcasm and derision has the desired effect of getting the current Doctor off his knees and to his feet.

Glaring at each other for several moments, it's finally the current Doctor that speaks again, "Well, I have no idea how you can help. It's not like we can get out of here while our body is frozen in cryo-sleep." He starts pacing around the Pools again leaving his self alone.

Leather smiles at having won that little contest, not that it helps the situation at all. This part of the Doctor that remains is equal amounts amused and annoyed that his next self would be so pretty, and apparently—ugh…melodramatic! He's positive it has to do with regenerating while his head was filled up with Rose.

Rose. She's what they have in common. Their love for this particular singular human…oh wait, what's that? Catching up with his current self's memories, he's astounded at all that's happened. Being an abstract construct representing his previous self, in his own mind, Leather doesn't experience the memories as fully; something he's currently very thankful for. He knows exactly what's going on, but how to fix it, now that's a different matter. One thing he can do though.

Stepping into Suit's path, Leather puts a stop to the pacing. "Oi! What are you doing?" Suit says, nearly bumping into his past self.

"Oi! I'm stopping you from being an idiot, is what I'm doin'."

"Oh? And how's that? You're me, you know," Suit says with an eye roll, and people think he's rude now.

"Don' remind me! Look, we don't know that she's dead this time. Really, you didn't know she was dead last time. Got all emotional this go roun', yeah?" Leather asks rhetorically, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What? What are you saying?" He shouldn't be surprised that Leather would know what he was thinking.

"I. Am. Saying. That Rose might not be dead. We just went through a collapsing timeline; a reset."

"Of course! That's brilliant, maybe Chelsea 426 made it, but what about the Sontarans? We still have no idea what's happened."

" 'Course it's brilliant, I'm me!" he says with the daft grin Rose loved so much. Serious again, "No, but it's still a good enough reason, to not get all mopey about somethin' we don't know yet."

"So, I assume you're caught up?" Suit asks waving his hand around to take in his Foyer and all its doors.

"Yup. So, we're engaged to Rose. That's a surprise, though not as big as her bein' a Time Lady now. Would never o' occurred to me it could be possible. Does she know?" he asks referring to the engagement.

"I don't think so. She didn't know what she was doing. I called it a 'link', making it sound less…ahhh…important." Suit says this squinting at his trainers and rubbing the back of his neck, knowing what's coming.

"Important! It's only the most important thing tha's happened to us, since…well at least since the War, but as far as our…," Now it's Leather's turn to wave his hands around himself, at a loss for words or embarrassed about them.

"As far as our hearts are concerned? Yea, it is. No point being embarrassed here with each other. Not that we're ever good at being honest, even with ourselves," Suit says looking up at Leather with a small and understanding smile.

"Ya, that's true. Wish I'd a kissed her before it was too late; a real kiss I mean. I never expected to be saved by a little human girl. It's really a bit humblin,'" Leather says thoughtfully.

"Well, I've had plenty of opportunity to take up where you left off, thank you," Suit says feeling possessive.

"Pfft! Is that howya see it, waitin' till she's Gallifreyan before you can work up the courage? Ya almost lost 'er! No, I take that back, ya did lose her, ya daft git!" Leather is having none of it. He understands the reasons, but she had done too much for him, and he would have given her everything he had. Well, actually he'd done exactly that, but Leather isn't convinced the consolation prize is worth it. Taking a breath to calm himself, it won't really get them anywhere to bicker like a couple of old women, so he lets it go.

Suit on the other hand does not 'let it go'. Turning sharply, he looks his self eye to eye, blue to brown. Thinking he might be about to get in a fight Leather stiffens.

"You're right." Pushing both his hands through his hair Suit turns and paces away from himself. "You're right. I should have taken her as wife as soon as I was passed the Regeneration sickness. I was stupid, but I was so afraid of exactly what happened; that I would lose her. Do you have any idea how improbable the entire concept of the Sphynx is, and she's the only thing that brought our Rose home. What would the Bond have done to us then? Would it have survived the closing off of the parallel Universe, or would it have been severed? I can't decide which would be worse." Barking out a hateful little laugh he continues, "And here I am now, arguing with my previous self over the woman we love. I will tell you this though, I'll have a full Bonding with Rose, as soon as she asks. The TARDIS will help, you know how she is about Rose. Did you know they talk, like properly…with sentences?"

Leather crosses his arms again, and sighs at how he can natter on now, but he's somewhat mollified that Suit will actually finish the commitment, but can't quite help needling him one more time, "Ya know, if you'd already been Bonded, you'd know if she was alive or not, even here. Not to rub it in or nuthin," he says with the 'you're a moron, and I'm not' look.

"Ya, thanks for that," Suit says with exasperation. "Now, if you can think of anything that would actually help, I'll be over here, trying to find me a way out of this mess."

Some time passes, but it is hard to tell how how much. The Doctor's time-sense doesn't work well when his body isn't functioning fully. Time can pass differently in one's mind, than it does in the outside world, but it feels like a couple of hours to them. Suit has spent the time either leaning against the base of the pool or splayed on the floor, thinking. He and Leather have spoken very few words since their initial exchanges. Leather has spent the time pacing the Foyer, reading the walls and other surfaces as if looking for an idea writ in the stone around them.

He has just wandered closer to the central Pool, which is still quite active; if anything, it is even more agitated than previously. Looking into the shivering silver liquid thoughtfully, he glances over at Suit who is sprawled on his back nearby, arms crossed under his head gazing upwards.

"Do ya remember when we ended up in Romana's bedroom? When she installed…these," Leather says waving at the Pools. "I couldn't figure out why my head hurt so bad, even out of the coma. Meddlin' girl," he says with a sigh of sadness and affection as he leans forward on his palms looking deep into the Pool.

"I do," says Suit. "I had just been remembering that episode when I was here the first time, in the other timeline. What about it?" Suit sits up, looking steadily at his former self. Maybe he has an idea.

"Do you know what these are?"

"Well, yes. They're Temporal Stabilisation Pools. We both know that."

"Stop bein' so thick. Try using that big Time Lord brain of yours. They're also Temporal Nullification points. I think they're still movin' 'cause we're still involved with the previous timeline." Leather is looking at Suit like he's waiting for the lightbulb to pop.

"Okaaay, What's the point you're making?" Suit asks curtly, but then thrusts out a hand to forestall the inevitable snarky reply; he's still thinking. "That would imply we are still in the collapsing timeline, at the Event Horizon let's say,….orrrrr we're at the focal point of several potential timelines all struggling to exist." Looking over, their eyes meet and in unison, "Or are existing; we're the causal nexus point-like Schodinger's cat."

Suit throws himself from the floor and starts pacing agitatedly. Leather watches from his place by the Pool. Pieces start slotting together for Suit, and he begins thinking out loud, just trying to process all the possibilities.

"Why. Why would this be different? The Universe is always creating alternate timelines, and we never know them unless we specifically look. It's not like we're always affected by the outcomes of all the possible combinations. In fact, if this wasn't us, we could see them and navigate through the potentials. Why is this different? Why, why why?" he winds to a stop for a minute.

"Well, if you want my opinion, I think it's the destruction of Chelsea 426. We know that wasn't supposed to happen. So, if somethin' has changed that outcome, it directly affects us, and there's several ways it can play out." Leather starts ticking off points, "1, he keeps us in cryo for the entire trip to Mars, tries to fix the ship himself, we crash. 2, Still in Cryo, attempts to fix ship, not so much, we blow up. 3, He wakes us with the slave tech, and forces us to try and fix the ship, we crash…again 4, He wakes us, still slaved and we blow up the ship on purpose. Personally, I vote for options 1 or 2, since we've already had the 'delight' of 3. The cryo-pod is designed to withstand space, and should start transmitting a beacon when it detects the change in exterior atmosphere. The TARDIS should be able to pick it up…if we're bein' looked for, and IF the Crypod isn't damaged in the explosion. The worst part is not knowin'."

"Well you're a bundle of joy," Suit says sarcastically. "What about the Rose and the TARDIS find us, and get us off the ship, option?"

"Seriously? How would she get to us with that maniac out there, that I will point out may not be injured this time? She could get killed tryin'. We have no idea what kind of weapons he might have with 'im. I will tell ya, I'm not lookin' forward to options 3 or 4 bein' a possibility, again." Remembering the wanton cruelty the injured and dying man had been capable of, both men shiver at the thought of the humiliation and abuse that would be heaped on them at the hands of the intact madman.

"I completely agree with you," Suit says. "But none of this can get us out of here under our own volition. I hate that!" he says in frustration and throws himself down against the Pool next to Leather, who turns and moves to sit next to him. They're both frustrated, and while they have a better idea of what they're facing, neither of them has any solutions. With no contact to the outside world, they are literally trapped and helpless.

Another hour or so passes with the two Doctors sharing stories. They're both the same man, but their unique perspectives and methods are still intact, so despite themselves and the usual abrasiveness this sort of close encounter engenders, they are…tolerating each other, enjoying even…maybe a little. What it really boils down to, is how both incarnations are still very aware of how lonely they've always been, even amongst their own people, but they're still too close to the cataclysmic event that rendered the previous version of lonely—a complete and total understatement. Sitting on the floor in their mind, leaning against the Pool, they each find comfort in the other while relating stories they both know, but doing so in their own nearly lost language.

Leather is currently relating the incident on Satellite 5 when they found out Adam had had an interface installed in his head, and none of them, Rose included, could stop clicking it open. Laughing like school boys at the naughty prank, Suit suddenly leaps to his feet, with a shout.

"I've got it! Ohhhhh, I am so, brilliant!"

"Oi! You're like a cricket is what you are. So what've you got? Amaze us," Leather says with the usual acerbity, but his expression is open and smiling; excited at what his other self may have figured out.

"The interface. We are the interface. We know what's likely out there, or at least one version of it. We can prepare." Suit announces this with a boyish grin.

"How do ya mean prepare? We're still frozen," he points out, crossing his arms once he's standing.

"Yes! But we're active in here. I can be working on the partitions from inside now. I can't see why I'd have to be awake. I also still have the memories that I used for the loop, so if we wake up with the slave tackle on, we'll be ready!" Suit is so excited to finally have something that might be constructive to do that he can hardly hold still.

"Right. So you want me to start manufacturing the hormones, then. Ya know, we have no idea how much time we have. With the physiological system so sluggish it will take hours to have enough ready."

"Yup, but we already have no idea how long we've been in here. It might be the first day, or we might be crashing," states Suit, refusing to give up on the first good idea they've had.

"True. Alright, then let's get t' work. At least, we might be able to buy enough time to get the sonic out and short one or th' other things out. You should go blow up the factory that makes those damn collars, plant some more bananas."

"Oh good idea! You did have a few of those in your time," Suit comments with a laugh.

"Oi!" With a snort and an eye roll, the two versions of the same man get down to business.

The Doctor turns his consciousness even further inward beginning the creation of the necessary structures and setting into motion the plans that he and his previous self have just agreed upon. He's pleased with how well meeting and working with this former version of himself has gone. That's not usually the case. He thinks that it's Rose again. She's so pervasive in both their thoughts. He knows that she's already the reason he breaths, therefore his current task is for her as well, whether she ever knows it or not. Both of them love her unconditionally, but secretly the Doctor is very glad to have lost those ears. Omega, they were huge!

"Oi, she likes the ears!" Leather cries indignantly, having heard that last thought.

A/N: So which timeline will we end up with? -grin- Hope you liked the chapter. This has been a fantastic few days for reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to tell me what you think. I really appreciate it. I had no idea how inspiring it would be to keep writing a story when there are people who think its great. Thanks! You're ALL made of awesome. :-) Wednesday's Chapter...Augmented.