Chapter 15

Dr Richardson moved swiftly back down the deserted corridor, towards the lift. She pressed the 'call' button and the doors instantly whooshed open. She walked in and pressed for the lower basement. That was where all the clones were and where the cells were processed and made suitable for the cloning process. She didn't know exactly what they were doing to them. She didn't care. All she cared about was that the process was near completion and that no one interfered with it.

When the lift finally stopped and the doors re-opened, she instantly saw all the large chambers that housed the growing clones. Scientists were everywhere, three to a chamber. The chambers seemed to go on forever and disappear into the distance.

She drew a deep breath to calm some nagging nerves that were creeping into her and walked out of the lift. A squat Vitian scientist with blue hair, a man called Professor Par Veyron, who was in charge of the lab, moved over to her.

"Ah, Dr Richardson," greeted the Professor, warmly,

"Professor," she replied.

"We never see you down here, what can I do for you?" he asked

"I'm here to see how everything is down here," she replied, taking look around then looked back at the professor, "so how is everything?"

"Oh, fine," replied the professor, "better than what we expected," he added

"Is that right? Are we still on schedule?"

"Absolutely," he replied

"How long will they all be ready?" she asked, looking at one of the chambers where she could see the humanoid features of the clones in the light. Its eyes were closed and had something like an oxygen mask over its mouth. Intravenous drips were in both its arms and two metal rods with needle like objects at the end of them were imbedded into its head. It seemed not to feel it, just sleep. It was weird.

"We estimate the first batch to be ready in about 2 hours," he replied, bringing her back to the conversation. She turned back to him.

"Good, good," she replied, "because that's the other reason I'm here. Our Master wants to deploy the first batch now."

"Really? Now?" he exclaimed, shocked

"Is that a problem?" asked Penny. She could see he was starting to sweat. She knew that he was becoming nervous.

"No, no," he replied, smiling and laughing nervously, "actually it is," he later added, not looking at her. He seemed to try and catch the eye of one of the other scientists but as she looked, none of them seem to have turned around. But, she could see that they were listening in, because a few of them froze.

"What is it?" she asked, looking back at the professor, who now seemed to be shaking.

"The clones aren't ready yet," he replied

"But, I thought you said they were," asked Penny, confused

"I know but we need another 2 hours and then another hour to equip them for their job," he replied

"So you're saying you need 3 hours, not 2. I don't think our master will be happy," she retorted, "I don't think I'm happy," she added. The professor seemed to bristle.

"I don't care if your not happy, Dr Richardson. You're not the one that matters here. It's that thing upstairs. You're just its messenger, nothing more," he retorted angrily, "but yes, we need another 3 hours and then we will be ready to deploy. And before you ask, there is no way to speed it up without ruining everything."

"Ok," Penny replied, a little shocked by the professors sudden outburst, "Just make sure we are because, as a word of warning, if this doesn't work then we all get it in the neck and I promise you we wont survive it."

"You think I don't know that," he replied, nervously

"Yes well… anyway…I'll come back when they're ready so I can see them deployed. Just make sure they are," replied Dr Richardson, turning on her heels and walking away.

"Ok" murmured the Professor, watching her leaving back, then turned away and headed towards the nearest chamber.

As Dr Richardson reached the lift, another scientist was calling her name. She turned and saw Dr Marshall rushing towards her.

"Dr Richardson! Wait!"

"Dr Marshall, what can I do for you?" she replied, when he had reached her.

"Well, I just wanted to know if our Dalek friend is heeding to any of my requests and actually getting new sources of DNA for this project," he replied, breathlessly

"We need new sources? I thought we had enough. Have you asked it?" she asked

"Of course," he replied, irritably, "went up there a few hours ago,"

"Then I'm sure it will do everything you recommend," she smiled,

"Yeah, right…Ok…thanks," he replied and walked off, grumbling to himself.

Donna watched as the Doctor disappeared through the door with the man whom he had called the Master.

Who exactly was the Master, anyway? The Doctor hadn't mentioned him before. This situation only emphasised to Donna, that there was a lot more to learn about him. But, there was one thing she did know from her short time with him and that was that he was very secretive, always keeping his cards close to his chest.

She walked towards the TARDIS central control panel to look at the screen suspended there. As if on cue the image of the detention cell flashed up as the Doctor with his prisoner came into view. It was like the computer knew what she wanted to see. It seemed that they were talking or arguing with each other or what was more likely, the Master was still pleading to the Doctor who was just ignoring him, locking him up and walking away. The Master, inside the cell moved away from the barrier and sat down on the cushioned bench.

"Anything interesting?" asked the Doctor as he walked back into the control room, a few minutes later, startling her slightly.

"No, just the picture of the detention cell," replied Donna, turning towards him, "I didn't know that you had a detention cell? I thought you disapproved of that kind of thing?"

"I do," replied the Doctor, "although in these kind of situations, it can be very useful. What's he doing?"

Donna looked at the screen again, with the Master sitting on the bench.

"Sitting on the bench in the cell. I saw you talking to him when you put him in there, what did he say?" replied Donna, looking at the Doctor who was now standing beside her.

"The same thing he said before," said the Doctor, studying the image with a look of distrust.

"And are you going to listen to him?" asked Donna

"Possibly but not right now," said the Doctor, turning to the control panel and started to flick some nearby switches. Before he indeed talked to the Master again, he needed to find out, for himself, what exactly happened and where the TARDIS actually went.

"What are you doing?" asked Donna, watching him

"Trying to find out the truth," said the Doctor, "the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me god," he added, with a mock-American accent, while hitting another switch with too much enthusiasm Donna thought it would brake. Donna giggled. She couldn't help it.

"What?" asked the Doctor, looking at her, smiling, hand poised over another strange looking switch.

"You're mad! One minute your serious and then you're like an excited puppy"

"I know but I wouldn't say I'm like an excited puppy" he grinned, earning another smile from her.

Flicking more switches here and there, he tried to retrieve the co-ordinates of the latest place his beloved ship had been to without him. The screen flashed with the name Gallifrey. That surprised him but the date was the big shocker. It indicated that it had passed through the locked time barrier and witnessed the destruction of Gallifrey. That was impossible. No one could enter the timelock. Not even a TARDIS, without being destroyed in the process. He had made sure of that. But it did explain the destruction inside the TARDIS and the pain that had engulfed him. He was just thankful that his precious ship was still in one piece and that maybe the measures weren't that destructive as he thought. It also proved that the TARDIS was much stronger than he thought she was. Even after all this time. This also meant another big thing. The Master was telling the truth. He was trying to get to Gallifrey. But what was the true reason. Did he still blame him for the destruction of Gallifrey and wanted to prove his suspicions?

If the Doctor were being honest, then the answer would be a resounding yes. But why now? Why didn't the Master go before when he had taken the TARDIS off of him the last time. Then he remembered that he had locked the controls, so he couldn't. And, anyway the Master had other plans at the time.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you still don't trust him," said Donna, looking at the Doctors face as he looked at the screen. Brought out of his thoughts he turned to look at her.

"It's not that I don't trust him, which to be honest I don't, but I have already heard and felt the bad end of his 'proposals' and I truly don't want to go through that again," said the Doctor.

"Again? Who is he to you exactly?" asked Donna

The Doctor was silent for a moment as he studied the screen again. Should he tell her or not? He knew he had to, just to protect her. With a sigh, he straightened up and walked over to the captain's chair and sat down. Donna turned to face him, leaning back against the central control panel.

"The Master is a Time Lord, like me, but a rival. In the beginning we were friends, but the situation changed and we became enemies. That's how its been for hundreds of years no matter how I have tried to make him listen," said the Doctor, with a heavy sigh.

"But, what actually happened between you two before?" asked Donna, softly

"Well, I was with Martha then. Do you remember when the President of the United States got assassinated on TV a few years ago, and a man who became Prime minister called Mr Saxon?" said the Doctor, looking at Donna, who nodded.

"Well, Mr Saxon was…is the Master. It's his cover name. He took control of the whole Earth with the help of a race he invented called the Tocklaphane. Which were humans from the distant future. He destroyed most of the planet and built rockets in order to make war with the universe. He captured Martha's family and locked them up and tried to use them against me. He tried to turn Martha against me. He even captured the TARDIS with me along with it. Luckily Martha escaped. Well, she was forced too. I could do nothing. She walked the Earth while the Master pursued her. She helped me defeat him," explained the Doctor.

"But, why did he capture her family?" asked Donna, horrified at what the Doctor and Martha had gone through, although she didn't know who Martha really was.

"To make her come back to Earth so he could capture her, me and the TARDIS. He wanted to use the TARDIS as a paradox machine which opens the gap in time and space, so he could make his war on the universe," he replied solemnly

"But, how did you defeat him?" asked Donna

"By turning everything the Master had against him. With help, the TARDIS was disabled, which closed the tear in time and space and so reversed all the damage. It became known as the year that never was. But, the downside was that only me, Martha, her family, the Master and his entourage including his wife only remembered it because we were in the centre of storm. The people on the ground didn't, luckily," he explained.

"Then what happened?" she asked, sadly, as she looked at the increasing look of sadness on the Doctors face as he explained everything.

His voiced lowered as he continued to describe what happened next.

"Afterwards, I tried to take him back to the TARDIS so I could keep an eye on him and look after him as I felt responsible for him. Still do. But of course, he didn't want to listen, even in defeat," said the Doctor, "and I couldn't save him. I didn't see the gun. I only heard it and saw him fall to the ground. His wife, who he didn't treat very well, had shot him. I pleaded with him to regenerate but he refused."

A tear escaped his eye and ran down his face as he thought of that horrible moment when he thought he would be the only one left alive and alone.

Donna moved and sat down next to him. She placed her hand on his arm in reassurance. She felt the Doctor place his own on top of hers although he didn't look at her.

"Before he died he asked me if the drumming in his head would stop."

"Drumming?" asked Donna,

"He had been driven mad by it ever since he looked into the time vortex when he was a child. We all had to do it but it affected him more than people thought. More than I had thought," explained the Doctor, really knowing that the Master had only complained about the drumming after he was captured inside the TARDIS and the Time vortex, years ago.

"And when he died," he added, "it felt like I had lost them all over again."

After that he broke down and covered face with his hands, sobbing. It was like the gates that kept all his feelings at bay had broken down and his pain flooded throughout his body. But, it wasn't just that. It was the intense pain and grief he had felt when he lost Rose and the sadness when Martha had left to look after her family. He was unable to control it and for the moment he didn't want to. The tears and the pain blocked everything else around him out. He could distantly feel the TARDIS try and comfort him but then he felt himself being taken into a strong hug. He knew it was Donna and he felt comforted by it. He involuntarily rested his head on her shoulder. He felt her stroking him and heard her whisper words of comfort to him.

Deep inside he felt embarrassed for showing his feelings and burdening them onto Donna. He had been caught off guard with it all. He didn't realise that just by retelling the story it would drudge up all the old but still raw feelings he had inside. He was gradually regaining his composure.

"But the important thing is that he's here now," said Donna, softly.

"Yes, but I still need to figure out why and how," replied the Doctor, regaining most of his composure that had temporarily abandoned him and slowly sat up as Donna released him from her hug. He wiped his face with his sleeves.

"Sorry, for putting you through that," she said, in a small voice

"No, its ok," he smiled, "You needed to be told the story but I was just caught unawares by it all…but thank you, Donna," he added, as he drew her into a big hug, "and I promise to never do that again," he said, softly

"Oh, it's alright. Anytime and anywhere," she chuckled. That got a laugh from the Doctor.

"Love how you put that…anytime…anywhere…brilliant," he remarked, grinning

Donna grinned back.

"Glad your feeling better and anyway why don't you just ask him how?" asked Donna, "After all he has been wanting to talk to you?"

"I know but I don't really want to hear it. It could be another trick," replied the Doctor.

"Just give him a chance, Doctor. You don't have to go into the cell with him or let him out to talk, do you?"

"No," replied the Doctor.

"Well then there is no problem is there?" said Donna, bossily

He looked up at her and smiled at her persistence. She smiled back.

"Theres no telling you is there?" laughed the Doctor

"Nope," said Donna, defiantly, smiling

He got up from the captain's chair, stretched and turned back to Donna.

"But I really need a cup of tea before I head back down there. All this story telling stuff has left me rather parched. You want one?"

"Oh, yes," replied Donna, stretching in the chair, mimicking the Doctor as she did so.

"Hey! That's my line!" replied the Doctor, mock-indignation

"Didn't see your name on it," grinned Donna, "well get to it then!" she ordered, motioning him away with her hand.

"Yes, ma'am," saluted the Doctor, grinning and he bounded out of the room heading for the kitchen.