The Doctor was rummaging around in the Tardis. He was happy to see it. He felt uneasy whenever he couldn't get to it. He had always hated to be away from it but it had grown worse since Kop Tor. He often wondered that if he had been able to get back to the Tardis, if things would have turned out differently. He shuddered at the thought of Rose, pregnant still being sucked into the void. He couldn't imagine life without Kiam. He hooked up a power cable and drug it out of the Tardis behind him.
"Extra power. Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro feeds." He notices Yana sitting down, holding his head. "You don't have to keep working. We can handle it."
"It's just a headache. It's just, just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head."
"What sort of noise?"
"It's the sound of drums. More and more, as though it's getting closer."
"When did it start?"
"Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour. Still, no rest for the wicked."
They hear a voice on the monitor "He's inside. And good luck to him."
"Captain, keep the dials below the red."
"Where is that room?" He asks.
"It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet? Never heard of it." It worried him, how much he hadn't heard of here. He was fascinated but at the same time knew he needed to get out of this time as soon as possible. There was a reason Timelords didn't travel here.
"You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here."
An alarm sounds "It's rising. Naught point two. Keep it level!"
"Yes, sir."
"Radiation's rising!" he yells.
"We've lost control!" Jack yells back.
"The chamber's going to flood." Yana says.
"Jack, override the vents!"
He watches as Jack grabs two of the power cables. "We can jump start the override."
"Don't! It's going to flare!" He squints his eyes as electricity surges through Jack and sees Jack fall to the ground.
"I've got him." Martha says, Pushing Kiam into his arms and then rushing towards Jack.
"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" He says watching Martha try to resuscitate Jack.
"Without the couplings, the engines will never start. It was all for nothing."
"Oh, I don't know. Martha, leave him." He moves closer to her.
"You've got to let me try."
He gently pulls her away. "Come on, come on, just listen to me. Now leave him alone. It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct? Well..." He hears Jack gasp as he returns again to life. "I think I've got just the man."
"Was someone kissing me?"
-DW-
Him and Jack run into the room below the rocket. He had reluctantly left Kiam with Martha.
"Lieutenant, get on board the rocket! I promise you're going to fly."
"The chamber's flooded."
"Trust me. We've found a way of tripping the system. Run!" He turns to see Jack undressing. "What are you taking your clothes off for?"
"I'm going in." Jack says as if that statement answers everything.
"Well, by the looks of it, I'd say the stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh."
"Well, I look good though. How long have you known?"
"Ever since I ran away from you. Good luck." He watches Jack enter the Radiation chamber.
"We lost picture when that thing flared up. Doctor, are you there?" Martha ask over the intercom.
"Receiving, yeah. He's inside."
"And still alive?"
"Oh, yes." He leans against the door to watch Jack. "When did you first realize?"
"Earth, 1892. Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin." He winces "In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew."
"That's why I left you behind. It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong."
"Thanks."
"You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the Tardis reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."
"So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?"
"I never thought of it like that." He rubs his eyes.
"Shame on you."
"Yeah." He smiles at Jack. He had never been prejudice before, this was new.
"Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?"
"Rose."
"I thought you'd sent her back home."
"She came back. Opened the heart of the Tardis and absorbed the time vortex itself."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"No one's ever mean to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was human. Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."
"Do you think she could change me back?"
"I took the power out of her." He thinks of her. He's hearts aching." Taking a deep breath he continued. "She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah." He wants to say more but he didn't think he could continue without crying and the last thing he wanted was for Jack to see him cry.
"I went back to her estate, in the nineties, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello. Timelines and all that."
"Do you want to die?" He asked Jack, changing the subject back.
"Oh, this one's a little stuck."
"Jack?"
"I thought I did. I don't know. But this lot. You see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic."
"You might be out there, somewhere."
"I could go meet myself."
"Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with."
"This new regeneration, it's kind of cheeky."
"Hmm." He smiles.
Jack finally makes the final connection to his relief. "Now, get out of there. Come on!"
He picks up the telephone. "Lieutenant, everyone on board?"
"Ready and waiting."
"Stand by. Two minutes to ignition." He says.
"Ready to launch. Outer doors sealed."
The computer begins to count down as he rushes around the room flicking switches. He doesn't see Martha enter with Kiam until he hears he say. "Doctor, it's the Professor. He's got this watch. He's got a fob watch. It's the same as yours. Same writing on it, same everything."
"Don't be ridiculous." He says taking Kiam from her.
"I asked him. He said he's had it his whole life."
"So he's got the same watch." Jack says confused.
"Yeah, but it's not a watch. It's this chameleon thing."
"No, no, no, it's this, this thing, this device, it rewrites biology. Changes a Time Lord into a human."
"And it's the same watch."
"It can't be."
"That means he could be a Time Lord. You might not be the last adult one left."
"Jack, keep it level!" He says as an alarm sounds.
"But that's brilliant, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them. They died." I killed them all, he added silently to himself. He hugs Kiam tightly to himself as he tries not to think of the other children he lost.
"Not if he was human."
"What did he say, Martha? What did he say?" He says suddenly very angry.
"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it. Like that perception filter thing."
"What about now? Can he see it now?"
"If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide. The end of the universe."
"Think of what the Face of Boe said. His dying words. He said"
But he tunes her out as the computer finally reaches one. He turns the last switch and notices the letters on the computer. Y A N A. He hears the voice of Boe, saying You Are Not Alone. He grabs the phone and speaks into it quickly. "Lieutenant, have you done it? Did you get velocity? Have you done it? Lieutenant, have you done it?"
"Affirmative. We'll see you in Utopia."
"Good luck."
He starts to head back to laboratory and the control room door slams shut. Not letting go of Kiam he takes out his sonic screwdriver and him and Jack finally get the control room door open.
They run to the laboratory door "Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack, get the door open now!" He says panicking. Kiam starts to cry, but he ignores him as he tries to get the door open. "Professor! Professor, where are you?! Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch."
"They're coming!"
He turns to see the future kind coming down the corridor. "Professor! Open the door, please! I'm begging you, Professor. Please, listen to me. Just open the door, please."
They hear a gun shot and hears a crushing sound and then the door slides open. He watches Yana, carrying his hand, step into the tardis and shut the door. He runs at it pulling out his key, but when he puts the key in the lock it won't turn. "Let me in. Let me in!"
"I broke the lock. Give me a hand!"
"I'm begging you. Everything's changed! It's only the three of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!" He pleads. He sees a golden glow within the Tardis and knows that the Timelord within has regenerated.
"Doctor! You'd better think of something!"
He hears a voice from within the Tardis. "Now then, Doctor. Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello." He pauses "Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to. Stop me, I don't think."
"I'm asking you really properly. Just stop. Just think!" He pleads with his old friend.
"Use my name." The voice taunts.
"Master. I'm sorry."
"Tough"
"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!"
As the Tardis starts to dematerialize he locks the controls with the sonic screwdriver and then rushes to Jack. He grabs his arm with his left hand and tries to balance Kiam and the sonic with the right as he changes the Vortex manipulator.
"Oh, no you don't! End of the universe. Have fun. Bye, bye!" The Master taunts as the Tardis disappears.