A/N: So why does the Master tell Lucy so much in such a short time, when it's like pulling teeth for the Doctor to give the same information to his companions? The reason is that Harry wants Lucy fully under his sway; he wants her to be completely in his confidence (or think she is) and to poison her against the Doctor in case she meets him when Harry isn't around.

Constructive criticism is always welcome :)

Chapter Five

The Paradox Machine

Harold Saxon got up.

"Does that satisfy your curiosity for now?" he asked.

Lucy nodded. She couldn't trust her voice at the moment.

"Good!" Harry rubbed his hands together. "Then I have some work to do. First, we need to get them to give us some clothing like they're wearing. Otherwise, when the Doctor comes, we will be the first people he notices and that would not be good. After that, I'm going to work on the Tardis. Try not to attract attention to yourself."

Half an hour later, they were attired in drab clothing. Lucy had a hat on to hide her blond hair. She hung around Harry, not wanting to be with him but too shy of all the refugees.

"Oh, go on," he said. "I can't have you in the way." He started to walk away, but then stopped and cursed in anger. Lucy drew back, but he was not looking at her. He brushed past her and began almost running. She went after him until he met a guard.

"That blue box," said Harry. "You know the one?"

"Yes."

"Er, let's keep it a secret, eh? If someone else comes along with a blue box like it, then pretend you've never seen one before."

"I'm not sure I…"

"Just do it, all right? I have my reasons. And best not mention Lucy or me either. Can you do that?"

"I suppose so."

Harry still seemed nervous. "If I can just get it working," he muttered. "Then I won't have to worry about paradoxes and other annoying things like that."

Lucy didn't see him again until the next morning. He came to breakfast disheveled and very moody.

"I'd forgotten how much I hated this place," he said. "Oh, I'll be glad to get away from all these gloomy people and my horrible former self; what a nuisance he was!"

"How can you dislike yourself?" asked Lucy, curiosity getting the better of her determination to have as little to do with him as possible.

Harry looked like he was about to tell her to shut up, but then he sighed. "It's another thing Time Lords can do: we can change into humans to protect ourselves. Professor Yana is human, and very different from myself. He's quite a lot like the Doctor, curse him! No idea how that happened. He was even going to sacrifice himself for all these pathetic people by staying behind so he could launch the rocket. The idiot!"

"Harry," Lucy said, laying a hand timidly on his arm. "Calm down." She didn't know why she did it; surely it wouldn't have any effect on the Master of time and space. But, surprisingly, his face softened a bit and he looked at her with all the anger gone out of his eyes. It was a curious trait about him, as she would later realize: that he could change from mood to mood with the blink of an eye, and yet each mood was as sincere as the last.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," he said. "Long night and all that. And the Doctor is coming today! As much as I hate him, he's the only reason I was able to get out of this place and meet you. Now, I want to stress the importance of staying out of his way… and the out of the way of his companions, too. A dark-skinned girl called Martha, and some superhero named Jac. Don't talk to them, don't' even look at them. Can't have things slippng out."

"All right, but… look here, Harry." Lucy paushed, trying to say it just right. "I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about all this stuff. Has this happened before? I mean, when you were Professor Yana, did Harold Saxon and… me, Lucy, come up and talk to him… you? Is time on a loop like that? Can we get out of the time loop?"

"Oh, well, hmmm…" said Harry. "Now that you mention it, I do remember us talking to me. But it was such a small thing, seeing as we couldn't be of any help, that I thought nothing of it when I was the Professor, I had bigger things on my mind: saving the world, for instance. Ugh, that's something the Doctor would say." He spat, as if to get all traces of the words out of his mouth. "So, yes, time is on an infinite loop in this place and time. But we're not stuck on it. You see, time isn't linear. It progresses in a definite order, but it also doesn't. I came into your time from Yana's future, but it's the past for Martha Jones. She' probably seen me on TV. For her I might already be Prime Minister. For us, none of it's happened yet. For Professor Yana, he doesn't even know he's a Time Lord, and he won't until later today. Yet here I am, regenerated and in my own past."

Lucy blinked rapidly. "Er…"

"Anyways, come and see the Tardis. I've done a bit of tinkering with it. The Doctor thinks he's so clever, but then so am I. I remember one time, ages ago. Back when we were children…" his voice dropped to a mutter as if he had forgotten she was there and was talking to himself.

When they entered the Tardis, Lucy stepped back a bit. The blue light of the console room was gone, replaced by an eerie, cheerless, red. Lucy decided she didn't like it.

"What did you do?" she asked, trying to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice.

"It's in the process of becoming a paradox machine. Look over there." He pointed to the console, and Lucy could see a faint blue light still coming from it. "It will still function as a Tardis for a while. Long enough." He smiled. "What do you think?"

"I… think I liked blue better."

"Red will grow on you," he said. "Blue is too… tame. Too quiet and peaceful." He waited for a long minute and Lucy was quiet. Finally he grew impatient. "Well, go on! Ask!"

"Ask what?"

Frustration was evident in his voice. "Ask me what a paradox machine is."

"What's a paradox machine?" Might as well humor him, but she had at least a sort-of idea what it was.

"It means that we can create paradoxes without consequences. Once it's fully finished, you could kill your own grandparents before you parents were born, and you would still exist."

"That's horrible," murmured Lucy.

"Of course, it will render the Tardis useless as a time-and-space machine, but who cares? As soon as we get back to your time it won't matter anymore. We'll rule the world, Lucy!"

She thought he was being rather nonchalant about ruining such a magnificent ship. "I… would like to travel more, in time and space," she said.

"Well, there's the rub." Harry scowled. "I would, too. Only the Doctor jinxed it. It can only go here and where it landed in London. I was hoping that I could do something about that, but apparently the Tardis likes the Doctor more than she likes me. So she's brought this upon herself."

Lucy felt a chill run down her spine; he talked about the Tardis as if it were alive: a living thing that he hated. And she was learning enough to know that not just machines but anyone who got in Harry's way, 'brought it upon themselves' in his eyes.

"I think… I'll go out for some fresh air," she said, as casually as possible. "Bit stuffy in here." Not that the air was very fresh this far in the future, but she couldn't stand being around him.

"Watch yourself." Harry kissed her, on the cheek thankfully. "Oh, wait!" She turned to look back at him.

"You do know that the Tardis is really, actually bigger on the inside, right?"

Lucy looked at him as if he had gone mad. "What do you mean? Of course I know that."

"Well, it isn't just the console room… it's huge. Rooms and rooms and rooms, anything you could want."

Well, thanks for telling me that after I find out you've turned it into some stupid paradox machine. "Oh?"

"Why don't you… go up there, turn left, and open the yellow door." Why did he sound so… shy?

"All right," she said slowly.

The yellow door didn't seem very inviting, but she opened it and looked inside. The room looked like a clothing shop, filled with row upon row of garments of all types. Most were arranged neatly, but the hooks on the wall had random items of clothing hung on them. However, her attention almost immediately drawn to a mannequin near the front of the room, and the dress displayed on it. A wedding dress.