59 - Worst rescue ever
Two soldiers drag me into a room, the Master follows me. The Doctor is bound and gagged, strapped upright to a trolley chair. I see his worried eyes following me as the soldiers shove me down to a chair by his side and tie me up, while the Master oversees the operation, a smug grin on his face. Wilf is tied to another chair in front of us.
"Now then, as somebody pointed out", he says, glancing at me, "I've got a planet to run. Is everybody ready?"
The Naismith Master reports for duty. "Six billion, seven hundred and twenty-seven million, nine hundred and forty-nine thousand, three hundred and thirty-eight versions of us
awaiting orders".
I watch him as he laughs while other Masters around the globe give their numbers. He winks at me. "Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship. Nothing to say, Doctor? What's that? Pardon? Sorry?".
"You let him go, you swine", Wilf says.
"Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss", the Master mocks him.
"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was".
"Hush, now. Listen to your Master", he snarls, then snaps out of his gloating when a mobile rings.
"But - that's a mobile", he says, puzzled, looking at me, and the Doctor.
"Yeah, it's mine", Wilf says. "Let me turn it off". How great is Wilf, seriously?
"No, no, no, no, no", he says, returning to Wilf, pointing his finger. "I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?
"It's nobody. I tell you, it's nothing. It's probably one of them ring-back calls", Wilf tries to explain, while the Master searches his pockets.
He finds a revolver, first. A revolver? "Oh, and look at this! Good man!", he mocks him.
He tosses the revolver on the floor and gets the phone, looks at it. "Donna. Who's Donna?", he says, answering the call.
"She's no one. Just leave it", Wilf says.
"Gramps, don't hang up. You've got to help me." We can hear her desperate cry for help through the phone. The Master flinches, puzzled. "I ran out… but everyone was changing".
"Who is she? Why didn't she change?", the Master asks, looking back and forth between me and the Doctor.
"Gramps, I can't hear you", Donna insists.
"Well, it was this thing the Doctor did. He did it to her. The Metacrisis", Wilf explains.
"A meta- Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls. Ugh!" he says, shaking his head.
Donna is still on the phone. "Are you there?".
"Find her. Trace the call", the Master orders.
"Are you still there? Can you hear me?"
"Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad", the Master snarls, putting the phone to Wilf's face.
"Donna, get out of there! Just get out of there. I'm telling you, run!", he cries, while the Masters track her down. "Run, sweetheart, that's all. Run for your life!".
Donna is still on the phone. "Donna? What's happening? Are you still there?", Wilf asks.
"They're everywhere".
"Just run, sweetheart. Just run!". The Master stay by Wilf's side, giggling triumphantly.
"It's not just them. I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?", she asks, crying.
"Donna, don't think about that. Donna, my love, don't", Wilf screams.
"And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!". I cringe, doubting for a moment that Donna will actually be safe, as her cries become more and more desperate, then she whispers. "What did I-".
"Donna? What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna.! Donna! Donna!"
The Master turns around, suspicious, at the Doctor. Even with the gags it's clear he's smiling. He winks at the Master. He walks over and snatches his gag off.
He stretches his face. "That's better. Hello. But really, did you think we'd leave our best friend without a defence mechanism?".
The Master glares at him, and oh, he's annoyed. He turns to me. "Was this you?".
I shrug. "Was this you?", he repeats, insisting. I smile.
"Very good psychic engineer, Zoe", the Doctor continues.
"Zoe, what happened?", Wilf asks.
"She's all right. She's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep".
The Master looks at me, furious. Then turns to the Doctor again. "Tell me, where's your Tardis?".
"You could be so wonderful", the Doctor says. I look down, because I can't bear to look at the Master after I got that glimpse of what he could actually be if he was loved.
"Where is it?", the Master insists.
"You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are". The Master smirks, appreciating the compliment. "But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour".
The Master's smirk disappears, and he keeps listening. "Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough". He looks at him, then at me. I feel the bond burning, tightening. Is the Doctor convincing him?
"Would it stop, then?", he whispers. "The noise in my head?".
"We can help", I say.
He turns to me, still hurt by my earlier betrayal, but doubting himself. "I don't know what I'd be without that noise", he whispers again.
"I wonder what I'd be, without you", the Doctor says.
He looks away, fighting tears, glances at me, then back at the Doctor "Yeah", he says, smiling.
"What does he mean? What noise?", Wilf asks.
"It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of…duty", he starts telling, sitting down. "Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism".
"What does that mean?", Wilf asks again.
"It's a gap in the fabric of reality. You can see into the Time Vortex itself", the Doctor says. "And it hurts".
"They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums." He says, darkly, closing his eyes. "Listen to it", he opens his eyes again, looks at me. "Listen", he repeats.
"Then let's find it. The three of us".
"Except… Oh. Oh, wait a minute", he says, standing up. "Oh, yes. Oh, that's good".
"What? What is?", the Doctor asks, slightly worried.
"The noise exists within my head… and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes", he says, getting visibly excited. The energy buzzes all over him again, twice, and he crouches down in pain.
"The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying", I tell him, softly.
He turns to me, standing up slowly. "This body was born out of death. All it can do is die".
But then he turns to the Doctor again. "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said… the end of time".
"I said something is returning. We were shown a prophecy. That's why we need your help".
"What if I'm part of it? Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now… it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source". The Doctor doesn't seem convinced.
"Oh, Doctor", he continues, cheering. "That's what your prophecy was. Me!", he says, gesturing theatrically again.
Then he slaps the Doctor. "Where's the Tardis?".
"No. Just stop. Just think".
He slaps me. "Where. Is. The. Tardis", he repeats.
"Still no", I repeat.
He turns to the helmeted guard in the room, gesturing to Wilf. "Kill him".
"I need that technology, Time Mates. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead".
"Don't tell him", Wilf bravely says. I look at the helmeted guard. Uh.
"I'll kill him right now!", the Master screams.
"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid", the Doctor says, calmly.
The Master cracks his neck, rolling his head. "Take aim".
"You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?", the Doctor continues.
"Like what?", he indulges him.
"Zoe?", the Doctor invites, nodding at me.
I nod. "That guard… is one inch too tall".
As he turns to check, the guard knocks him out with the rifle butt, then removes his helmet revealing his spiky green head. He's agitated. "Oh my God, I hit him! I've never hit anyone in my life", he squeals.
Addams runs in. "Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast". She frees Wilf, while Rossiter comes to me, then to the Doctor.
"God bless the cactuses!", Wilf says.
"That's cacti", the Doctor corrects.
"That's racist!" the green Vinvocci says.
I stand up and help him, but boy, did the Master make sure the Doctor was tightly bound.
"Come on! We've got to get out", Addams calls.
"There's too many buckles and straps", Rossiter says, apologetically.
"Just… wheel him", Addams says, and Rossiter starts pushing the trolley with the Doctor still strapped on.
"No, no, no. Get me out. No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no", he starts screaming.
"Which way?" Rossiter asks as we run through the palace.
"This way".
"No, no, no, no, no. The other way. I've got my Tardis", the Doctor insists, screaming.
"I know what I'm doing", Addams insists too.
"No, no, no, just just listen to me!", he pleads, then a terrified look comes on his face. "Not… Not the stairs. Not the stairs!". We run down the stairs. I feel for him, as the wheels bounce with every step.
"Worst. Rescue. Ever!", he screams. "Just, just stop and listen to me!" he finally pleads as we enter the basement room.
The Master runs in after us with armed guards. "Gotcha", he smiles.
"You think so?" Addams says, pressing her wristwatch.
"No, no, no, no, don't!", the Doctor screams, but we teleport to the Vinvocci ship.
I look around. "Now get me out of this thing!", the Doctor pleads, again.
"Don't say thanks, will you?", Addams protests.
"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!", I crouch down to help him out of the chair.
Wilf looks out of a nearby window. "Oh, my goodness me. We're in space!".
"Come on!" the Doctor protests. "Zoe, the teleport!"
"I don't have the laser", I shake my head.
"Oh, right", he snarls when he's out of the chair, and jumps to the teleport deck to zap the teleport controls with his sonic screwdriver. "Where's your flight deck?".
"But we're safe. We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth". Addams says.
"He's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire", I tell her.
She nods. "Good point".
We all run out. The Doctor returns to gently lead Wilf away from the window. "But we're in space!", I hear him repeat in shock.
"We've got to close it down!", the Doctor repeats, while we run to the flight deck.
"No chance, mate. We're going home", Rossiter says, starting the engines.
"We're just a salvage team. Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better", Addams says, quickly, then the Doctor turns around and points the sonic to the flight controls.
"We're not leaving", he repeats, as the console buzzes with sparkles. The whole spaceship goes dark.
"Shh, shhh, shhh", the Doctor says, putting his finger across his lips. We all repeat the gesture, confused. It's a trick that always puzzles me. "Now, last thing. Zoe, he took your laser, how about the necklace?".
"Is her necklace important?", Addams says.
I pull it out of my t-shirt, dangling it. "Tech jammer, perception filter", I explain.
"Without it, he would know where we are".
Wilf looks at me. "He said you were his wife. That's not true, right? Zoe?".
I look up, embarrassed. "The Master and I… we have a special relationship. But we never married, no".
I can't help but notice the look the Doctor gives me.
"No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything", Addams says, annoyed. "You've wrecked the place!"
"The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit." Rossiter complains.
"Thanks to you, you idiot!". Addams groans, then leaves, stomping.
Wilf smiles encouragingly. "I know you two, though. I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on. You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flim-flam, sort of thing?", he asks, but then notices our gloomy stares and figures out we don't really have any trick. "Eh? Oh, blimey".
"Zoe", the Doctor whispers, softly, stepping away from the railing he was leaning on. "Bit of a chat with you, please".
I nod. He puts his hands in his pockets, walks to the big window facing Earth.
I cross my arms, following his gaze down to the planet.
"You know him better. What do you think he's going to do?".
"You think I know him better? I'm not sure. And…He's improvising. Can't really predict what he'll do". I close my eyes, then look at Earth again. "Still… six billion people. Six billion Masters. Won't take them long to find the source of that drumming.".
He keeps looking at Earth. "How is that going for you?".
"Mother of all the headaches", I blink. "It hurts, Doctor".
"Why didn't you help him find the signal? Fix it?".
"You know why", I say, shaking my head. "He wanted the Tardis. Demanded, the Tardis".
He laughs ironically. "Demanded!", he repeats. "Do you have any idea? Of what those drums could be?".
"What he said before… I don't know. Maybe he's just insane", I say. "Maybe it was the Time Lords".
"The… oh, well", he shrugs. "Is your ring working? If something happens… it'd be nice if at least one of us all was able to get out".
I twist the ring around my finger. I don't feel anything. "It usually does when it matters".
He finally looks at me, nods. To finally look in his face again almost breaks me apart.
"One more thing, Doctor". I say as he's about to look away again, but his eyes return to look at mine. "I made love to him".
"Wh-", he stifles a nervous giggle. "Zoe, come on", he says, then runs his hand down his face. "You know I don't like gossip".
I look away, then back at him. "Thought you should hear it from me, and not because our psychic link is leaking. I mean, that's still, technically, knowing it from me-".
"Zoe".
"I don't like to keep secrets from you".
"Thank you for telling me".
"It's just… that potential, the friend you knew. I got a glimpse of that, and it's… it made me think you two are not that different after all".
He snorts, bitterly, looking away again. "Yeah".
"I mean, besides his being an egocentric evil psycho, you know".
"Apart from that, yeah", he giggles, tilting his head. "I stand by what I said, before. Yesterday. But also, a long time ago. I wish you were… ", he gulps. "but, I still think you could be the best thing that ever happened to him".
