Shareen vs the Universe
The Sound of Drums
The quiet of a London alleyway was suddenly disturbed as a Time Vortex opened and the Doctor, Martha, Shareen and Jack all emerging from it, falling into the alley. They all groaned and stumbled as they tried to regain their bearings. "Oh, my head." Martha groaned
"And I thought having that Cassandra thing in my head hurt." Shareen mumbled
"Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer." the Doctor grunted
Jack cracked his neck and led the way out of the alley and onto the main street. "Still, at least we made it." he said. "Earth, 21st century by the look of it. Ha, ha, talk about lucky."
"That wasn't luck, that was me." the Doctor replied.
~o0o~
On Malcassiro, the Doctor ran over to where Martha, Shareen and Jack were bracing the door against the Futurekind. "Hold still!" the Doctor told Jack, using his sonic screwdriver on Jack's Vortex Manipulator. "Don't move! Hold it still!"
"I'm telling you, it's broken!" Jack told him. "It hasn't worked for years!"
"That's because you didn't have ME!" the Doctor retorted as the Manipulator whirred into life again. "Martha, Shareen, grab hold!" Both women complied and each grabbed one of Jack's arms. "Now!" the Doctor yelled and pressed a button on the Manipulator, sending them all away to safety.
~o0o~
The quartet were soon all sat in a pedestrian area, discussing their next move. "The moral is, if ya gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his Vortex Manipulator." Jack remarked.
"But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS." Shareen pointed out. "He could anywhere in the universe at any time."
"No, he's here." the Doctor said. "Trust me."
"Who is he, anyway?" Martha asked. "And that voice at the end, that wasn't the professor."
"If the Master's a Time Lord, he must've regenerated." Jack surmised
"What does that mean?" Martha asked
"Means he must've changed his face, voice, everything." Shareen replied
The Doctor meanwhile noticed a nearby homeless man tapping a rhythm of four on his mug. The Doctor frowned at this. Something about that rhythm seemed familiar to him.
"Then how're we gonna find him?" Martha asked, pulling the Doctor's attention back to them.
"I'll know him, the moment I see him." the Doctor replied. "Time Lords always do."
"Oh, that's helpful." Shareen huffed.
Martha then noticed some posters on the wall nearby which encouraged people to 'Vote Saxon'. "But hold on." Martha frowned, "If he could be anyone... We missed the election. But it can't be."
Just then, a large screen in the plaza showed a newscast. "Mr Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters." the newsreader said, and the screen showed a man in a suit walking down some stairs with an entourage, a blonde woman by the man's side.
"I said I knew that voice." Martha voiced her realisation, "When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him, we all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon." She pointed to the man on screen and the Doctor realised that this Harold Saxon was in fact the Master.
"That's him." the Doctor swallowed, "He's Prime Minister."
"He's what?!" Shareen stared
"Mr Saxon, this way, sir." a photographer said on the screen, "Come on, kiss for the lady, sir."
The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain." the Doctor said grimly. The Master then kissed the blonde woman by his side and camera panned down to reveal that both the Master and the woman were wearing wedding rings. "The Master and his wife?" the Doctor stared. He knew that Master was not above using Humans for his own ends.
The Master turned to the camera and made a speech. "This country has been sick." he announced, "This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs right now... is a Doctor." He smiled into the camera.
The Master's meaning was not lost on the Doctor. "He know I'm here." he said grimly, "We've gotta move fast."
~8~
The Master walked through the halls of the rebuilt 10 Downing Street with his wife at his side, clerks handing him files as he passed. "Finance report, sir."
"Military report, sir."
"EC directive, sir."
"Annual budget, sir."
"Recommendations."
The Master stopped outside the door to the Cabinet Room. "I'm so proud of you, Harry." his wife said, and they shared a kiss.
Just then, Tish Jones walked up. "Uh, sir... if you don't mind me asking... I'm sorry, but it's all a bit new. What exactly do you want me to do?" she asked
"Oh, yes." the Master replied. "What was it, uh...?"
"Tish. Letitia Jones."
"Tish. Well then, Tish... You just stand there and look gorgeous." the Master told her and entered the Cabinet Room where the Cabinet were waiting. "A glorious day." the Master addressed the Ministers. "Downing Street rebuilt, the Cabinet in session. Let the work of government begin." He threw the files into the air and their contents scattered everywhere. "Oh go on, crack a smile." he egged the bemused Ministers. "It's funny, isn't it? Albert, funny?" he addressed the senior Minister. "No? Little bit?"
"Very funny, sir." Albert replied in a deadpan way. "But... but if we could get down to business, there is the matter of policy, of which we have very little..."
"No, no, no, no." the Master interrupted, "Before we start all that, I just want to say... thank you. Thank you one and all, you ugly, fat-faced bunch of wet, snivelling traitors."
"Yes, quite." Albert nodded slowly, "Very funny. But I thi..."
"No, no. That wasn't funny." the Master interrupted, standing up. "Hm, you see, I'm not making myself very clear. Funny is like this." He pulled an exaggerated smile. "Not funny is like this." He pulled an exaggerated frown. "And right now, I'm not like this..." He pulled the exaggerated smile again. "I'm like this..." He pulled the exaggerated frown again. "Because you are traitors. Oh, yes you are! As soon as you saw the vote swinging my way, you abandoned your parties and you jumped on the Saxon bandwagon. So..." He sat back down. "This is your reward." He reached under the table, produced a respirator and slipped it on.
"Excuse me, Prime Minister, do you mind my asking... what is that?" Albert asked, getting a muffled response from the Master. "I beg your pardon?"
The Master lifted his respirator. "It's a gas mask." he told Albert and put the mask back on.
"Yes, but, uh, why are you wearing it?" a confused Albert asked, getting another muffled response from the Master. "I'm sorry?"
The Master lifted his respirator. "Because of the gas." he told Albert and replaced his mask.
"What gas?" Albert asked. He got his answer a moment later when the speakerphones in the centre of the table popped up and sprayed poison gas. The Ministers all coughed and choked as the gas entered their lungs. "You're insane!" Albert managed to choke out, pointing to the Master, who just gave him a thumbs up. Albert succumbed to the gas and flopped dead on the table, as did the other Ministers. The Master, protected by his respirator, began tapping out a four-beat rhythm on the table.
~8~
Martha took the Doctor, Shareen and Jack to her flat in Lambeth so they could get information on Harold Saxon and plan a course of action. "Home." Martha breathed as she looked around her home. It felt strange being back home after all the months of travelling in the TARDIS.
"What've you got? Computer, laptop, anything?" the Doctor asked her, then he noticed Jack trying to make a call on his mobile. "Jack, who're you calling?" the Doctor asked. "You can't tell anyone we're here!"
"Just some friends of mine." Jack replied, "But there's no answer."
Martha fished underneath her TV cabinet and pulled out a laptop. "Here ya go Any good?"
Jack took the laptop. "I can show you the Saxon websites." he told the Doctor, "He's been around for ages."
"That's so weird though." Martha mused. "It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you two." she said to the Doctor and Shareen
"We went flying all around the universe while he was here the whole time." the Doctor murmured
"You gonna tell us who he is, Peacock?" Shareen asked
"He's a Time Lord." the Doctor replied vaguely
"What about the rest of it?" Martha probed, I mean, who'd call himself the Master?"
"That's all you need to know." the Doctor waved her off and turned to Jack. "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."
"He'll have to give us proper answers one day." Shareen muttered to Martha who went over to the answering machine to check her phone calls.
"Martha, where are you?" the voice of Tish said, "I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird, they just phoned me out of the blue. I'm working for..."
Martha cut the recording off. "Like it matters." she grunted. She couldn't be bothered with her family's trivia right now, not with an apparently evil Time Lord running the country.
Jack had soon brought up the Saxon party website. On it were endorsements from Sharon Osbourne, McFly and Ann Widdecombe. "Former Minister of Defence." Jack explained, "First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." He turned to the Doctor. "Nice work, by the way."
"Thanks." the Doctor muttered, sitting on the arm of the settee.
"But he goes back years." Martha said, looking at the bio on the screen, "He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, rugby blue, won the athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life."
"He's probably faked it all." Shareen said. "I mean, anyone who's clever enough can forge fake backstories for themselves, so if this Master bloke's as clever as Professor Yana was, he's probably done that."
"Yes, he's done it before." the Doctor nodded in agreement, "We need to take a deeper look into his life story. The Master's a genius but he's not infallible. There's gotta be a crack in the façade somewhere."
Budge up." Shareen said to the Doctor and Jack. "I'll see if I can find it."
~8~
Presently, Jack went into the kitchen to make everyone a cup of tea while Martha went to freshen up. "But he's got the TARDIS." Jack said to the Doctor, who was busy studying the Saxon bios on the computer with Shareen. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."
"No." the Doctor replied bluntly
"Why not? Worked for me."
"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates." the Doctor told him, "I locked 'em permanently. He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."
"Yeah, but a little leeway?" Jack prodded, knowing how unpredictable the TARDIS was.
"Well, 18 months." the Doctor shrugged, "Tops. The most he could've been here is 18 months."
Shareen suddenly realised something. "Hey, wait a minute. 18 months ago was when Harriet Jones got kicked out of office." She rounded on the Doctor. "You did that. You made it possible for this Master to become Prime Minister."
The Doctor paled as he realised that Shareen was right. By deposing Harriet Jones, he'd inadvently created a power vacuum which the Master had exploited to somehow rise to power. "But how has managed all this?" he wandered, "The Master was always sort of... hypnotic but this is on a massive scale."
"I was gonna vote for him." Martha remarked as she came back in.
"Really?" the Doctor frowned
"Well, it was before I met you." Martha shrugged, "And I liked him."
"Me too." Jack added
"Why? What was his policy? What did he stand for?" the Doctor probed
"I dunno, he always sounded... good." Martha replied, sounding a bit distant. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice..."
Then, the Doctor noticed that Martha was subconicously tapping a four-beat rhythm with her hands, just like the homeless man earlier. "What's that?" he frowned
"What?" Martha asked as she snapped out of her apparent trance.
"That, that tapping, that rhythm. What're you doing?"
"I dunno, it's nothing." Martha shrugged, "It's just... I dunno."
"Sounded a bit like a drumbeat." Shareen remarked. "Could just be a song that's in the charts."
"You know it?" the Doctor asked her
"'Friad not." Shareen replied. "I'm a bit out of touch with the charts these days."
Just then, a message flashed up on the website, indicating that the Master was making a broadcast on all channels. "Our lord and master is speakin' to his kingdom." the Doctor muttered, switching the telly on.
The screen showed the Master sitting in the cabinet room of 10 Downing Street. "Britain, Britain, Britain. What extraordinary times we've had." he said, "Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown. Falling from the skies, you've seen it happen." A clip of the Slitheen ship striking the Westminster clock tower played. "Big ben destroyed." Then a clip of the Sycorax ship played. "A spaceship over London." Next came a clip of Cybermen. "All those ghosts and metal men." finally, a clip of the Racnoss Webstar attacking London played. "The Christmas star that came to kill." the Master finished his recap of the past two years worth of alien incursions, "Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not ME, not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this... Citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted. A message for Humanity, from beyond the stars."
The screen changed to show a hovering black sphere. "People of the Earth, we come in peace." the sphere said in a girl's voice, We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is for your friendship."
The screen changed back to the Master. "Aw, sweet." he said, "And this species has identified itself. They are call the Toclafane."
"What?!" the Doctor spluttered. He knew that there was no such species as the Toclafane.
"And tomorrow morning, they will appear." the Master continued. "Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist, and lorry driver and farmer, and, oh, I don't know, every... Medical student?" he grinned maliciously at the camera.
The Doctor got the message. He looked behind the telly to see a bomb strapped to it. "OUT!" he yelled, grabbing the laptop. The quartet promptly legged it outside and hit the deck as the bomb detonated, blowing out the front window of the flat.
"Alright?" the Doctor asked everyone as the dust settled
"Fine, yeah, fine." Jack replied
"Shareen?"
"Still in one piece." Shareen answered
"Martha?" the Doctor asked, then he noticed that Martha was using her phone. "What're you doing?" he asked
"He knows about me. What about my family?" Martha replied, dialling her mother's number.
"Don't tell 'em anything." the Doctor warned
"I'll do what I like!" Martha snapped. Just then, her mother Francine answered the call. "Mum! Oh my God, you're there!" Martha gasped in relief
"Course I'm here, sweetheart." Francine answered calmly. "You alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?"
"Martha, I think perhaps you should come round."
"I can't, not now!" Martha replied
"No, but it's your father, we've been talking, and we thought we'd give it another go."
"Don't be so daft." Martha answered sceptically, "Since when?"
"Just come round." Francine replied, "Come to the house. We can celebrate."
But Martha was still sceptical. "You'd never get back with him in a million years." she pointed out
"Ask him yourself." was Francine's answer.
A moment later, Clive's voice came over the phone, "Martha, it's me."
"Dad? What are you doing there?"
"Like your mother said. Come round, we can explain everything." Clive replied
Martha smelt a rat. "Dad, just say yes or no. Is there someone else there?"
"Yes!" Clive answered, now sounding frantic, "Just run! Listen to me, just run!" He was suddenly cut off and Martha could hear frantic shouting.
"Dad, what's going on? Dad?" she asked frantically. No proper answer, just more frantic shouting. "I've gotta help 'em!" she cried, hurrying to her car.
"That's exactly what they want, it's a trap." the Doctor warned her
"I don't care!" Martha growled back as she jumped into the driver's seat.
"Right with ya, Martha." Shareen said, jumping into the front passenger seat
The Doctor and Jack got into the back seats and they set off.
~8~
The car was soon speeding towards the Jones house. "Corner." the Doctor warned, and Martha took the corner tightly, the car's tires squealing in protest.
Martha took her phone out again and dialled Tish's number. "C'mon, Tish. Pick up." she grumbled as she heard the dialling tone.
Finally Tish answered. "Martha, I can't talk right now. We just made first contact, did you see..." Tish said, only to suddenly start shouting for someone to get off her.
"What's happening?" Martha demanded, "Tish?!" She received no answer and realised that Tish had been taken too. "It's your fault!" she screamed at the Doctor. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"I hope you're happy, Peacock." Shareen glared at the guilty Time Lord. "You got rid of Harriet Jones and now look what's happened!"
They reached the Jones house just in time to see a handcuffed Clive and Francine being bundled into a van by men in black suits while a sinister-looking blonde woman supervised. "It's your fault, all of you!" Clive roared at the spectating neighbours, "You voted Saxon! You did this!"
"I was helping you!" Francine snarled at the sinister woman, "Get off me!" Then she saw her daughter. "MARTHA, GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT!" she yelled
"Target identified." the sinister woman said to her men, who promptly aimed their rifles at the time travellers' car.
"Martha, reverse." the Doctor urged, "Get out now!"
Martha promptly reversed in a 3-point turn.
"Fire!" the sinister woman ordered, and her men opened fire on the car as it took off down the road.
"Move it!" Jack hollered as bullets ricocheted off the back of the car. He and the Doctor then ducked as a few rounds shattered the back windscreen. Fortunately, they were soon out of the range of fire.
"The only place he can go is Planet Earth... great!" Martha grumbled, furious at the Master for using her family to get at the Doctor, furious at the Doctor for making it possible for the Master to rise to power and furious at herself for accidentally awakening the Master in the first place.
"Martha, listen to me. Do exactly as I say." Jack told her, "We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!"
Martha parked the car by an underpass and they proceeded on foot. "Martha, come on." the Doctor called to Martha, who was on her phone again.
"What about your family?" Jack asked Shareen
"My grandparents live in Tenerife and I haven't spoken to my parents in four years." Shareen replied. "I don't think the Master knows about them."
Martha meanwhile was trying to contact her brother. "Leo!" she gasped in relief as Leo answered. "Thank God, Leo, you've gotta listen to me. Where are you?"
"I'm in Brighton." Leo replied, "Yeah, we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on the telly?
"Leo, listen to me, don't go home." Martha urged him, "I'm telling you, don't phone mom, or dad, or Tish, you've gotta hide!"
"Shut up." Leo laughed, thinking his sister was joking.
"On my life, you've gotta trust me!" Martha told him seriously, "Go to Boxer's, stay with him, don't tell anyone, just hide!"
Suddenly, the Master's voice came over the phone. "Ooh, nice little game of hide and seek, I love that." he said maliciously, "But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, 100 tillion years?"
"Let them go, Saxon!" Martha demanded, attracting the Doctors' attention. "Do you hear me?! Let them go!"
The Doctor took the phone while Shareen comforted Martha as best she could. "I'm here." the Doctor said into the phone.
"Doctor." the Master said seriously
"Master." the Doctor acknowledged his fellow Time Lord
"I like it when you used my name."
"You chose it." the Doctor retorted, "Psychiatrist's field day."
"As you chose yours." the Master replied, "The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"
"So... Prime Minister." the Doctor said tersely
"I know. It's good, isn't it?" the Master said smugly, "And don't forget, YOU made it possible. You got rid of the competition for me."
"Who're those creatures?" the Doctor questioned, not wanting his arrogant mistake rubbed in his face anymore. "Cos' there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name like the bogeyman."
"Do you remember all those fairy-tales about the Toclafane when we were kids?" the Master replied casually, "Back home. Where is it, Doctor?"
"Gone." the Doctor replied stoically
"How can Galifrey be gone?!"
"It burnt."
"And the Time Lords?"
"Dead. And the Daleks... more or less. What happened to you?" The Doctor remembered that the Master had been executed. He knew that because his eight incarnation's first adventure had involved the Master bodysnatching a paramedic and attempting to get a new life for himself via the Eye of Harmony.
"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War." the Master replied, "I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself Human so they would never find me, because I was so scared."
"I know."
"All of them?" the Master changed the subject, "But not YOU, which must mean..."
"I was the only one who could end it." the Doctor replied "And I tried, I tried everything."
"What did it feel like, though?" the Master goaded, "Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"
"Stop it!"
"You must have been like God." the Master taunted
"I've been alone ever since." the Doctor said stoically, "But not anyone. Don't you see? All we've got is each other."
"Are you asking me out on a date?" the Master scoffed
"You could stop this right now." the Doctor persisted, "We could leave this planet, we could fight across the constellations, if that's what you want. But not on Earth!"
"Too late."
"Why'd ya say that?"
"The Drumming. Can't you hear it? I though it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head. The drumming, Doctor, the constant drumming."
"I could help you." the Doctor offered, "Please, let me help."
"It's everywhere." the Master continued "Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums."
The Doctor heard faint tapping over the phone, clearly the Master tapping a desk. It was the rhythm of four that the homeless man and Martha were tapping. Then he saw a man nearby tapping the rhythm on his legs. "What have you done?" the Doctor stared, "Tell me how you've done this. What're those creatures? Tell me!"
"Ooh, look you're on TV." the Master said
"Stop it! Answer me."
"No, really. You're on telly! You and your little band. Which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So congratulations on that." the Master said smugly, "Look, there you are! Ha!"
The Doctor saw a telly in an electrical shop window. On the screen was a news report with pictures of himself, Martha, Shareen and Jack with a caption claiming them to be terrorist suspects. "They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous." the newsreader said
"You're public enemies number one, two, three and four." "Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalyas, so he won't be getting any help from them. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"
The Doctor turned to see a security camera trained on them all. "He can see us!" he realised, and used his sonic screwdriver to destroy the camera.
"Ooh, you public menace." the Master remarked, "Better start running. Go on. Run!"
The Doctor turned to the others. "He's got control of everything." he told them grimly
"What do we do?" Martha asked, staring at the news report.
"We've got nowhere to go." Jack added
"And that Master bloke controls everything." Shareen breathed.
"Doctor, what do we do?" Martha asked despairingly
"Run for your life, Doctor!" the Master goaded over the phone before the Doctor promptly hung up.
"We run." the Doctor told his companions.
So they ran, needing to get out of sight before anyone could raise the alarm.
~8~
That evening, Martha snuck into a disused warehouse, having managed to go to a chippy and get dinner for the quartet. When she arrived, she found the Doctor and Shareen working at the laptop and Jack fiddling with his Vortex Manipulator. "How'd it go?" Shareen asked Martha
"I don't think anyone saw me." Martha replied. "Anything new?"
"I've got this tuned to the Government wavelength." Jack told her, "We can follow what Saxon's doing."
"Yeah, I meant about my family." Martha huffed
"Still says here that they've been taken in for questioning." Shareen replied. "The good news is, there's no mention of Leo. Looks like he's gotten away."
"He's not as daft as he looks." Martha smiled, glad that at least one member of her family had avoided the Master's grasp. "I'm talking about my brother on the run." she sighed, "How did this happen?"
"Oh, I know how." Shareen replied, casting a dark glare at the Doctor, then they all settled down to eat their food.
"Nice chips." Jack remarked as he tucked into his own chips.
"Actually, they're not bad." the Doctor agreed
They all ate in silence for a moment then Shareen spoke again. "Alright, we've been patient long enough, Peacock. Who the hell is the Master?"
"Yeah, how come the ancient socity of Time Lords created a psychopath?" Jack added
"And what is he to you?" Martha chimed in, "Like a colleague..."
"A friend, at first." the Doctor replied. A very long time ago, he and the Master had been the best of friends, before the latter's turn to evil.
"I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something." Martha remarked
"You've been watching too much TV." the Doctor chuckled
"But all the legends of Galifrey made it sound so perfect." Jack frowned
"Well, perfect to look at, maybe." the Doctor replied, "And it was, it was beautiful." He leaned back in his chair, going misty-eyed as he recalled his long-lost home. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Severn Systems. And on the continent of the Wild Endeavor, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below, sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Galifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the academy. And some say that's when it all began, when he was a child... That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality, though which could be seen the whole of the Vortex. You stand there, 8-years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired... some would run away... and some would go mad. Oh, I dunno." he sighed, snapping out of his reminisce.
"What about you?" Martha asked
"Oh, I was one of the ones that ran away." the Doctor replied, his full of chips. "I never stopped."
Just then, Jack's Vortex Manipulator began to beep. "Encrypted channel, with files attached." he noted, "Don't recognise it."
"Patch it through to the laptop." the Doctor instructed him
"Um, since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you." Jack said sheepishly.
~8~
Jack had soon patched his Manipulator into the laptop and the Torchwood logo appeared on screen. "You work for Torchwood?" the Doctor glared
"I swear to you, it's different, it's changed." Jack tried to pacify him, "There's only half a dozen of us left now."
"It was their fault Canary Wharf happened." Shareen scowled.
"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it?!" the Doctor glared at Jack
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf." Jack told him, "And I never agreed with them, so when they were gone, I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honour."
The Doctor wasn't at all happy but he decided that there more important issues to worry about at the moment. Jack pressed a button on the laptop and the screen changed to show a reporter named Vivian Rook. "If I haven't returned to my desk by 22:00, this file will be e-mailed to Torchwood, which means if you're watching this, then I'm..." she tailed off. Everyone knew what she meant. She must have found dirt on the Master, and he'd silenced her. "Anyway, the Saxon files are attached, but take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started, when Harry Saxon became minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network." The screen changed to a graphic of Earth with satellites orbiting it.
"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asked Martha and Jack
"I've got Archangel." Martha replied, holding up her phone. "Everyone's got it."
"I haven't." Shareen countered
"It's a mobile phone network." Jack explained. "Cos' look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."
"How come you haven't got it?" Martha asked Shareen
"Been outta the loop for a while." Shareen shrugged
The Doctor scanned Martha's phone with his sonic screwdriver. "It's in the phones!" he realised, "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait, hold on..." He whacked the phone against the table and it began to beep in a rhythm of four beats. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious."
"What is it?" Martha asked worriedly, "Mind control?"
"No, no, no, no, subtler than that." the Doctor replied, "Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code... 'Vote Saxon. Believe in me.' Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. Cos' I should've sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should've known way back. The signal cancelled him out."
"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asked
"Not from down here." the Doctor replied, "But now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back." Martha realised
"Oh, yes!" the Doctor grinned. He was soon busy pulling apart the laptop and phone. He then took his, Martha's, Shareen's and Jack's TARDIS keys and used his sonic screwdriver to weld circuitry to the keys and tied them to strings so they could be worn around the neck. "Four TARDIS keys." he said, "Four pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties, because the TARDIS is designed to blend in, well, sort of, but... now, the Archangel Network's got a second, low-level signal. Weld the key to the network, and..." He picked up one of the keys. "Martha, Shareen, look at me. You can both see me, yes?"
"Yep." Martha nodded
"'Course we can." Shareen added
"What about now?" the Doctor asked, slipping the key around his neck. Both women's vision immediately shifted to the left. "No, I'm here, look at me." the Doctor called.
Martha tried to look at him, but her gaze just shifted far over to the right, past the Doctor. "It's like I know you're there." she frowned, "But I don't wanna know."
"How're you doing that?" Shareen asked as the same thing happened with her.
"And back again." the Doctor said, slipping the key off so Martha and Shareen could see him clearly again. "See? Just shifts ya perception just a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed."
"Huh, bit like me and my parents." Shareen remarked. "They didn't notice me except when they wanted to pick on me."
"So we can sneak about without raising suspicion." Martha surmised. "Good idea, but do we know where the Master will be?"
"According to the government websites, the American President is flying in right now." Jack told her, "If Saxon's Prime Minister, he'll wanna go and meet the President."
"Then that's where we'll go." the Doctor decided.
~8~
The quartet were soon walking through the city streets with the keys around their necks. "Don't run." the Doctor advised everyone, "Don't shout. Just keep ya voices down. Draw attention to yourselves and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."
"Like ghosts." Jack nodded
"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts." the Doctor agreed.
They soon arrived at the airstrip where Air Force One had touched down. Sure enough, the Master was there with his wife, Lucy. The American President, Arthur Winters came striding up. "Mr President, sir." the Master greeted, giving him a mock salute.
"Mr Saxon." Winters said dryly, "The British Army will stand down. From now on, U.N.I.T has control of this operation."
"You make it sound like an invasion." the Master remarked
"First contact policy was decided by the security council in 1968." Winters told him, "And you've just gone and ignored it."
"Well, you know what it's like, new job, all that paperwork." the Master said nonchalantly, "I think it's down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket, and uh... Ooh, and I found an old map of the Underground from 1968!"
Winters wasn't amused. "Mr Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is, but there are provisions at the UN to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful." he said tersely, Is that understood?"
The Master made a zipping his lips gesture.
"Are you taking this seriously?" Winters glared.
The Master nodded.
"To business." Winters continued, "We've accessed your files on these, uh, Toclafane. But first contact can not take place on any sovereign soil. To that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at 8 am."
The Master said something rather muffled, futher annoying Winters.
"You're trying my patience, sir." he grunted
The Master made an unzipping his lips gesture. "So America is completely in charge?" he asked
"Since Britain elected an ass, yes." Winters retorted, "I'll see you aboard the Valiant."
"It still will be televised, though, won't it?" the Master asked, "Because I promised, and the whole world is watching."
"Since it's too late to pull out, the world will be watching... me." Winters answered and walked away.
The Doctor, Martha, Shareen and Jack had been watching all of this. "Well, at least one person's not affected by that Archangel thing." Shareen said to no one in particular.
"The last President of America." the Master remarked to Lucy, "We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling..." He gestured for Lucy to get in the waiting car, which she did so. The Master turned and looked in the direction of the time travellers, almost as if he could see them. His attention was caught by a siren and he walked over to a police van that had just pulled up. "Ha. ha, hi guys!" the Master taunted as Francine, Clive and Tish were escorted out of the van. Clive was quick to give the Master a piece of his mind, but the Time Lord wasn't bothered. "All will be revealed." he smirked and the Joneses were led away.
"Oh, my God!" Martha gasped
"Don't move." the Doctor told her
"But..." Martha protested
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do for now." the Doctor told her firmly but sympathetically.
"I'm gonna kill him." Martha growled as her family were bundled into a Land Rover
"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack said darkly
"Good plan." Shareen replied
"Now that sounds like Torchwood." the Doctor glared
"Still a good idea." Jack scowled
"And I don't hear you coming up with anything better." Shareen said to the Doctor
"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility." the Doctor told her, "I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him."
"Don't you dare put him before Martha's family!" Shareen said angrily. "I don't care if he's a Time Lord, he's still an evil nutter who's taken over the country and taken Martha's family hostage. It's your fault all this happened, so don't you go taking the Master's side!"
"I'm not." the Doctor reasoned. "I can handle the Master. Just trust me."
Jack began messing with his Vortex Manipulator. "Aircraft carrier Valiant." he said, "It's a U.N.I.T ship at 28.2N and 10.02E."
"How do we get on board?" Martha asked
"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor asked Jack
"Since you revamped it, yeah." Jack replied, "Co-ordinates set."
Everyone held onto held onto Jack's arm and the Doctor pressed a button on the Manipulator, causing them to disappear from the airstrip and reappear in an engine room. The three Humans all fell to the floor groaning. "Bloody hell." Shareen mumbled, feeling very dizzy.
"That thing is rough!" Martha agreed
"Oh, I've had worse night." Jack grunted, cracking his neck. "Welcome to the Valiant."
"It's dawn." Martha realised, seeing daylight out of a porthole. She went over for a closer look. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"
"A ship for the 21st century." Jack replied, "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."
Shareen joined Martha at the porthole and saw that the Valiant was a flying aircraft carrier. "Valiant? Should've just called it Cloudbase." she muttered.
~8~
The quartet were soon running through the maintenance halls when the Doctor suddenly stopped. "We've no time for sight-seeing." Jack reminded him
"No, no, shh, shh, shh." the Doctor waved him off, "Can't ya hear it?"
"Hear what?" Shareen asked impatiently. All she could hear was the whirring of machinery.
"Doctor, my family's on board." Martha reminded
The Doctor simply strode past her. "Brilliant!" he said, suddenly looking happy. "This way!" And he changed direction and ran off down the corridors, the three confused Humans having no choice but to follow. They sped into a storage bay to find the TARDIS. "Oh, at last!" the Doctor grinned
"Oh, yes!" Martha cheered
"Am I glad to see that thing!" Shareen laughed, and the trio all ran towards the box.
"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack wandered as he followed more cautiously
The Doctor opened the door and his face immediately fell. The console room was bathed in an eerie red light and the console itself was blocked off by a wire-mesh cage. "What the bloody hell?!" Shareen stared in horror as she and Martha followed the Doctor in.
"What the hell's he done?!" Jack stared as he joined them
"Don't touch it." the Doctor warned him
"I'm not going to." Jack replied
"What's he done, though?" Martha wandered as the Doctor rushed over to examine the console. "Sounds like she's... sick."
"It can't be." the Doctor breathed as he looked at the console, "No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't be."
"Can't be what?" Shareen asked
"He's cannibalised the TARDIS." the Doctor answered grimly
"Is that what I think it is?" Jack asked
"It's a paradox machine." the Doctor confirmed. He bent down and examined a gauge on the cage. "As soon as this hits red, it activates." he told the Humans, "At this speed, it'll trigger at..." He looked at Jack's watch, "Two minutes past eight."
"First contact is at eight." Jack remembered, "And then two minutes later..."
"What's it for? What does a paradox machine do?" Martha asked the Doctor
"More importantly, can you stop it?" Jack asked
"Not till I know what it's doing." the Doctor replied, "Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system."
"Then we've gotta get to the Master." Martha determined
"Yeah, how we gonna stop him?" Jack wandered. It seemed that no matter what they did, the Master was always two steps ahead of them.
"Oh, I've got a way." the Doctor said, suddenly sounding cheerful. "Sorry, didn't I mention it?"
"No, you bloody didn't!" Shareen grumbled.
~8~
The quartet had soon snuck into the Valiant's conference room, where President Winters was droning on to the cameras. The quartet could see the Master sitting next to Lucy, watching Winters' speech with amusement. "This plane, you gonna tell us?" Jack whispered to the Doctor
The Doctor held up the TARDIS key on his neck. "If I can get this around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real." he explained, "It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me, you've got keys."
"Yes, sir." Jack nodded
"I'll get him." Martha said determinedly. She had accidentally awakened the Master and her family were paying the price for it, so she was going to stop the Master even if it was the last thing she ever did.
"And if you don't, I will." Shareen said.
"And I ask you now, I ask of the Human race to join with me in welcoming our friends." Winters continued his speech, "I give you the Toclafane." Four Toclafane materialised by him "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and it's associated moon."
"You're not the Master." one of the Toclafane said, this one in a male voice.
"We like the Mr Master." another one, the one with the girl's voice added.
"We DON'T like you." the first one said to Winters
"I can be master, if you so wish." Winters stammered, "I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."
"Man is stupid." the first Toclafane sneered
"Master is our friend." a third one, another male, added
"Where's my Master? Pretty please." the female Toclafane pipped in
"Oh, alright then, it's me!" the Master said, jumping to his feet. "Ta-da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect, people just get obsessed! Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the ability to laugh at myself? I don't know, it's crazy!"
"Saxon, what are you talking about?" Winters hissed
"I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you." the Master retorted maliciously. "Kill him!" he ordered a Toclafane, which promptly fired a laser at Winters, completely vaporising him.
Panic set in and the press tried to flee, but the Master's guards stopped them. "Nobody move! Nobody move!" they demanded, waving guns around.
The Master jumped onto the podium. "Now then! Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully." he announced.
The Doctor decided to try his chance and rushed for the Master.
"Stop him." the Master ordered, and two guards pounced on the Doctor, forcing him to his knees. "We meet at least, Doctor." the Master crowed, "Oh-ho-ho, I love saying that!"
"Stop this, stop it now!" the Doctor demanded, struggling against his captors.
"As if perception filters are gonna work on me." the Master sneered, "And look, it's the girlies and the freak." He looked at Martha, Shareen and Jack. "Although I'm not sure which is which."
Jack rushed for the Master, who simply pulled out what looked like a golden screwdriver and fired a yellow laser out of it at Jack, killing him.
"Laser screwdriver." the Master said proudly, "Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long, I get to kill him again!"
"Master, just calm down." the Doctor pleaded with him, "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself..."
The Master turned to the camera. "Excuse me, bit of personal business, back in a minute. Let him go." he ordered the guards, who released their grip on the Doctor.
"It's that sound, that sound in your head." the Doctor tried to reason, "What if I could help?"
"Oh, how to shut him up." the Master snorted, "I know, memory lane." He sat down in front of the Doctor. "Professor Lazarus, remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you two all this time, and if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology in one little screwdriver..." He held up his laser screwdriver. "But, ooh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do!" He got up and rushed over to a silver case. "I've got his hand!" He pulled the case open to reveal the Doctor's severed hand. "And if Lazarus made himself younger, what I reverse it? Another 100 years?" And he promptly aimed his laser screwdriver at the Doctor, who went into convulsions and screamed in agony as his genetic makeup was altered.
Jack revived as this happened. "Teleport." he whispered to Martha and Shareen, taking off his vortex manipulator and giving it to Martha.
"I can't" Martha replied. Her friends and family had been captured, her family was somewhere on this ship and she couldn't just leave them all.
"We can't stop him. Get yourselves outta here!" Jack urged her. The Master had them beaten, he was holding all the trump cards and there was nothing they could do.
The Master switched his laser screwdriver off and the Doctor fell to the floor, now a wizened elderly man. "Doctor, I've got you." Martha said as she crawled over to him.
"Aw, she's a would-be doctor." the Master smirked, "But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown 'em in, all the way from prison."
The doors opened and Francine, Clive and Tish were escorted in by armed guards. All three were handcuffed. "Mum!" Martha breathed
"I'm sorry." Francine sobbed, feeling responsible for everything.
"The Toclafane." the Doctor rasped, "What are they?"
"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break." the Master replied callously
"Is it time? Is it ready?" the first Toclafane asked
"Is the machine singing?" the female Toclafane added
The Master checked his watch. "Two minutes past." he told the Toclafane, then jumped onto the steps to stand beside his wife. "So, Earthlings... Basically, um... end of the world!" He held his laser screwdriver up to the air. "Here... Come... The... Drums!"
Rogue Traders' Voodoo Child began to play over the speakers as the paradox machine activated. Lucy stayed on the steps, bobbing to the song while the Master swaggered over to the porthole and watched gleefully as a rift opened in the sky and millions of Tocalafane poured out of it. The Master then returned to his wife and they both watched the descending Toclafane out of a large observation window. "How many d'you think?" he asked her
"I don't know." Lucy shrugged
"Six billion." the Master replied, and flipped a switch to stop the music "Down you go, kids!" he called to the Toclafane, who descended on the ground below and began firing indiscriminately at innocent civilians. "Shall we decimate them?" the Master asked Lucy, "That sounds good. Nice word, decimate." He addressed the Toclafane. "Remove one tenth of the population!" he ordered
Soon, voices begging for help came over the radio. The Doctor whispered something to Martha, who nodded tearfully and went back to join Shareen and repeated what the Doctor had just told her. There was one chance to stop all this. It was a long shot, but it was the only way. Martha activated the Vortex Manipulator, sending herself and Shareen away.
~8~
Both women reappeared on Hampstead Heath. They watched with heavy hearts as the army of Toclafane attacked the city in the distance then they looked to the sky. "We're coming back." Martha said determinedly
"This ain't over, Master." Shareen shouted to the heavens. "Enjoy it while it lasts cos' we're gonna stop you, even if it's the last thing we ever do." The Doctor had given them a mission and they were going to accomplish it come hell or high water.
~8~
On the Valiant, the Master was forcing the Doctor to watch the fall of Earth below. "And so it came to pass... that the Human race fell and the Earth was no more." the Master said triumphantly. "And I looked down upon my new domain as master of all and I thought it... good."
To be continued...
Author's notes: And that's part two of the three-part series 3 finale finished and with it we've finished series 3's home run of great episodes. One brilliant detail of the world-building in this episode is the fact that the Doctor accidentally made it possible for the Master to rise to power when he deposed Harriet Jones back in The Christmas Invasion. It's just a shame that the Doctor himself didn't realise this. I've remedied this in all three stories where I've adapted this episode. Shareen certainly isn't afraid to remind the Doctor of this, nor is she afraid to call him out on putting the Master before all of his victims. I couldn't resist covering the scene where the Master assassinates the Cabinet. He does make a good point in that scene; politicians are very two-faced and backstabbing. It's interesting to look back at this episode and see just on the mark it is with politics. Sadly, evil madmen like the Master do trick people into voting them into power and by the time we all realise this, it's too late to stop them. I'm not gonna name any names, but there are monsters like the Master in positions of power in the world right now. Politics aside, I hope you like this chapter and hope to see you next time.