Before Sunset (6/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Pairing: AU!Master/Doctor (10)
Summary: The Master and Jack are enjoying their trip, while the Doctor is enjoying his - until someone makes him an offer he very well can refuse, though maybe he shouldn't.
Note: Dedicated to very few people here and at Teaspoon who keep commenting and asking me to continue. Wouldn't do it without you. Which means: Love you!
Lazily gazing out of the window the Master made a show of not being impressed. Because he wasn’t. Jack’s ship was small and not all too fast. Not in the atmosphere at least, and that was where they were. He didn’t know how big it was on the outside since it had been invisible when they’d climbed in but it couldn’t be any bigger inside. In fact it was probably smaller. A lot.
Jack wasn’t talking much. The Master suspected that he’d confused and possible annoyed him a little earlier but he didn’t care much. Didn’t feel like talking for once.
If he was absolutely honest to himself the Master was nervous. He wanted to get to the location of the alien ship - the other alien ship - as fast as possible. Anything could happen while they were on their way. It could disappear forever, it could be destroyed, someone else could steal it. Nothing of that was very likely but this close to success one tends to become a bit paranoid.
He should have taken the Doctor with him.
It wouldn’t have been too hard to get Jack to take him along. It was the first time in more than a year that the Master had left him alone for so long outside the TARDIS. While he was gone the Doctor could get worse. He could die. He could do something stupid, which was more likely.
No, he was out like a light. The Master was sure. Even if he woke he would be too weak to leave his bed, let alone the room.
If anything happened the Master wouldn’t know before he got back. He’d never before felt how much he depended on his lost telepathic senses.
Speaking of paranoia…
“What time zone are you from?” Jack suddenly wanted to know.
“None,” the Master answered, still looking out of the window. Not long now and the Doctor would be fine. He would leave him with Real-Time-Jack and his incompetent little team or those stupid guys from UNIT who couldn’t defeat a single alien menace on their own to fully recover, steal the TARDIS and go back to a world they’d visited weeks ago, where a young ruler was just about to realise that his people should reclaim their rightful place in the universe. A young and inexperienced ruler who needed advisors. Eventually the Master would take over and wait for the Doctor to appear. Back to the roots so to speak.
(…only their roots went so much deeper than that and didn’t involve violence and killing but red grass and skipped classes and two little boys who just wanted to know how it feels like…)
“That’s impossible,” Jack’s voice cut into his thoughts. As if he’d know. “Everyone has to be born somewhen.”
“Not us.”
Short silence. Then: “I just let the ship’s sensors run some tests. You’re from about two-hundred years in the future, from the planet Cobscar, which will be…” He stopped himself, probably unwilling to tell the Master the inevitable fate of his ‘homeworld’. The Master grimaced.
“Will be destroyed. Yes, I know. I was there. Feel awfully sad about it.”
The time agent didn’t dignify that with answer.
-
It was hard to concentrate, but the pain was bearable now. The Doctor had reached his room, taken the painkillers and waited. He didn’t have much time. After a while he’d accepted that the pills didn’t seem to work, not enough, too slowly, and had taken some more. While he was sitting on the floor in front of his bed the pain had lessened, a little. Too little. He’d taken another one and finally felt able to get up, and get the spare sonic screwdriver he kept in his drawer since the last time he'd lost one. Now he was standing in front of the console, letting the TARDIS do a scan for anything unusual. He needed a moment to make sense of the readings. Time travel detected nearby. Alien technology, origin unknown, large power build-up. Space-time-ship from the future of Earth moving toward it. That would be Jack and the Master.
Whatever the Master was up to, it was bad. It was always bad. The Doctor didn’t give him the benefit of doubt anymore.
He wondered how much longer his old friend would bear with him in this state. Would be better if he left him. Just go away please don’t leave me. Didn’t make much sense anyway. But it did.
No. No.
Couldn’t let his thoughts drift.
The TARDIS landed close to the alien machine - it was a hundred meters long, a station containing several life-forms, the scanners told him.
The Doctor collided with the door before he could tell he was falling. He hardly noted the impact, just pulled himself upright and stepped outside. Everything seemed very far away, like it was someone else’s body, not his. But that meant the pain was also someone else’s, and this time he was fully okay with that.
As it turned out the TARDIS had not landed close to the station but inside. He was okay with that as well. A bit hard collecting his thoughts and coming up with a plan. He just kept walking, had to meet someone sooner or later.
-
It was sooner rather than later that he found himself surrounded by armed guards and standing in front of the high and mighty commander of this station.
At least he thought it was sooner. His sense of time was a bit messed up at the moment.
As it turned out the creatures - a little fish-like but with legs and lugs which was neat because he didn’t feel up to swimming at the moment - had come from the galaxy called Sombrero and a bit in the future. They had landed on Earth to refuel their ship.
The ship merely needed energy from the sun. It was the other energy that bothered the Doctor.
People were strapped into machines all along the walls of the command centre. They were humanoids with green skin and hair, and as far as the Doctor could tell they were slaves. Just like every not-fish-like creature on this ship. Which were quite a lot.
The Fishes controlled them with the power of their mind. They all were wearing heavy helmets that looked silly but enabled them to induct pain through the collars the slaves were wearing.
The Doctor didn’t like them.
The people in the machines were controlling the station while being controlled by the Commander. They controlled the engines, the life-support-systems and most of all the weapons.
They greatest weapon was some kind of energy blaster that could not be blocked by any kind of shield. Because the energy they used wasn’t conventional in any way.
The machines these slaves were strapped into also enabled them to suck the life-force out of any living creature within several dozen square-miles of the station, store it and, if needed, channel it into a beam of energy. And they had come here for a refill. The preparations were almost done. In less than a day the nearest city would be full of corpses.
The Doctor was feeling a lot more active now. His head still felt fuzzy but he was quite furious. Yet he stayed calm. And asked the commander, very politely, to stop, and leave, and never do it again. And free all the slaves while he was at it.
The Commander laughed. And ordered his execution.
So the Doctor took the sonic screwdriver they hadn’t recognized as a weapon and shut down the power of the Commander’s helmet, thus shutting down his mind as well.
He fell from his seat. As did every other Fish in the station. The slaves didn’t need long to adjust to the situation. Their masters were still alive but by the time they woke up they wouldn’t be anyone’s masters anymore.
The slaves in the command centre declared him their hero. Except those in the machines, still lacking any sign of being alive.
The Doctor walked over and found the switch that opened the transparent capsules they were trapped in.
“Can you hear me?”
yes
A collective answer in his mind. They’d lost their individuality. ‘I’m sorry’, the Doctor thought sadly.
don’t be
He didn’t like it when someone read his mind without asking. But he didn’t feel like giving a lecture.
“You can go home,” he said softly, and out loud to make a point.
we will not
“Why not?”
there is nothing for us
This he could understand.
don’t be sad
Easy to say. The Doctor wandered around, over to the place where the Commander had been sitting and looked at his screens. The power level for the energy transfer was still rising.
“You can stop that now,” he said.
no
He didn’t understand. “No-one’s forcing you to do it anymore.”
it gives us power
“But you’re hurting others!”
we have been hurt as well
“Not by them.”
it doesn’t matter
That didn’t make sense. Especially those who’d suffered themselves should know what it meant and not do it to others. Why did they want to harm anyone if they didn’t have to?
it doesn’t matter
“Oh yes, it does!”
we do not care about others - we need that power - we can do anything - nothing can harm us now - it keeps us strong - we feed on it
“But it kills innocent beings!” the Doctor exclaimed desperately. “Your people have been killed, haven’t they? You know that pain! How can you willingly cause it?”
tell us doctor have you never killed innocents?
“That wasn’t…” He stopped, feeling sick.
join us
“What?”
you possess great knowledge - a powerful mind - we need you
“I’m not going to let you get on with this.” The Doctor changed the setting of his screwdriver when suddenly everyone moving in the room stopped, and turned to look at him.
you will have power
“I don’t want it.”
you can stop evil
“And cause it.”
Sparks began to fly as the Doctor pointed the humming tool at the console in front of him.
There was a subtle change in the tone of the collective voice.
weak flickering little life - almost gone - we can make you strong again - feed you the life of others - do you not want to live?
The Doctor looked at them, corpse-like figures in coffins of plastic, stealing the life of strangers and not caring.
“Not for this price,” he said.
then we shall not ask
The still figures standing in the room now moved towards him, their eyes empty. The Doctor ducked when they reached for him. The sonic screwdriver went flying. He threw himself on the floor when another set of hands tried to grab him, got hold of his tool and jumped back to his feet, nearly falling down again. His knees were like jelly.
The zombie-like people were blocking the way to the console now, and still coming closer. There was nothing more he could do here. The machine was damaged but probably not irreparably so.
The Doctor was torn between the urge to run and the need to finish the job. There was no way he could do anything useful now though, and if they got hold of him all was lost. So he turned and ran, his heart beating painfully in his chest and it was still just the one. He felt like throwing up, stumbled back the way he’d came, a dozen green-skinned men and woman on his trail. But they weren’t acing of their own free will and moved sluggishly, uncoordinated. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had the slightest chance to escape.
Deep beneath his feet he heard the humming of starting engines.
Willing his legs to run faster he had to accept once again that will alone was not enough to move a body that didn’t have the strength for it. When he reached the TARDIS he fell inside, the doors closing on their own. For a long moment he just lay there, his head pounding, his lungs burning and unable to see. He had to get away, get back to the alley where the TARDIS had been parked before. What would the Master do now? Would he be able to get into the station? Would he be able to use it? Was it even still on Earth?
He lost track of his thoughts as he struggled to remain conscious.
When he got to his knees he threw up. Gall and blood splattering all over the floor.
“Sorry,” he rasped between breaths. He was making such a mess of his ship.
Somehow he made it to the console. Half blind he flicked a few switches, hoping it to be the right ones. He hardly noticed when his body hit the ground.
-
“Here we are.”
They climbed out of the small spaceship and looked down into the valley where the alien ship was parked. They had seen its outline quite clearly on the screen of Bill’s ship. With their own eyes they saw nothing.
“It’s camouflaged,” said Bill. Harry snorted.
“No shit, Sherlock!”
Quite an expert with classical literature then. And seriously starting to get on Bill’s nerves with his attitude.
The Cobscaran picked up a stone and threw it far into the valley. Its flight ended it a flash of lightning and dust.
The next several minutes they spend back in the ship, trying to find out what kind of barrier was blocking their way and if there was any way to get though it, since neither of them wanted to get vaporized.
In the end Harry stated: “You’re totally useless!”
“I don’t see you doing anything helpful!” the time agent snapped back. He was beginning to get a bit worried. The nature of this barrier didn’t feed any hope that the owners of that ship where friendly in any way. Which meant he desperately wanted to get rid of them before they could do whatever they’d come here for. At least Harry didn’t seem to be working with them - unless he was just trying to distract Bill while his partner did something evil.
‘Wait a moment!’ his heart demanded. ‘Didn’t we decide the Doctor couldn’t be evil?’
‘You decided that,’ answered his brain. ‘Leave me out of this!’
At least his libido didn’t join the discussion. His libido wasn’t even pissed at Harry - while pretty much every other part of him was.
For a moment they glared at each other.
Then the ship on the screen blinked out of existence.
-tbc
October 2, 2007
NEXT
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Rating: PG
Pairing: AU!Master/Doctor (10)
Summary: The Master and Jack are enjoying their trip, while the Doctor is enjoying his - until someone makes him an offer he very well can refuse, though maybe he shouldn't.
Note: Dedicated to very few people here and at Teaspoon who keep commenting and asking me to continue. Wouldn't do it without you. Which means: Love you!
Lazily gazing out of the window the Master made a show of not being impressed. Because he wasn’t. Jack’s ship was small and not all too fast. Not in the atmosphere at least, and that was where they were. He didn’t know how big it was on the outside since it had been invisible when they’d climbed in but it couldn’t be any bigger inside. In fact it was probably smaller. A lot.
Jack wasn’t talking much. The Master suspected that he’d confused and possible annoyed him a little earlier but he didn’t care much. Didn’t feel like talking for once.
If he was absolutely honest to himself the Master was nervous. He wanted to get to the location of the alien ship - the other alien ship - as fast as possible. Anything could happen while they were on their way. It could disappear forever, it could be destroyed, someone else could steal it. Nothing of that was very likely but this close to success one tends to become a bit paranoid.
He should have taken the Doctor with him.
It wouldn’t have been too hard to get Jack to take him along. It was the first time in more than a year that the Master had left him alone for so long outside the TARDIS. While he was gone the Doctor could get worse. He could die. He could do something stupid, which was more likely.
No, he was out like a light. The Master was sure. Even if he woke he would be too weak to leave his bed, let alone the room.
If anything happened the Master wouldn’t know before he got back. He’d never before felt how much he depended on his lost telepathic senses.
Speaking of paranoia…
“What time zone are you from?” Jack suddenly wanted to know.
“None,” the Master answered, still looking out of the window. Not long now and the Doctor would be fine. He would leave him with Real-Time-Jack and his incompetent little team or those stupid guys from UNIT who couldn’t defeat a single alien menace on their own to fully recover, steal the TARDIS and go back to a world they’d visited weeks ago, where a young ruler was just about to realise that his people should reclaim their rightful place in the universe. A young and inexperienced ruler who needed advisors. Eventually the Master would take over and wait for the Doctor to appear. Back to the roots so to speak.
(…only their roots went so much deeper than that and didn’t involve violence and killing but red grass and skipped classes and two little boys who just wanted to know how it feels like…)
“That’s impossible,” Jack’s voice cut into his thoughts. As if he’d know. “Everyone has to be born somewhen.”
“Not us.”
Short silence. Then: “I just let the ship’s sensors run some tests. You’re from about two-hundred years in the future, from the planet Cobscar, which will be…” He stopped himself, probably unwilling to tell the Master the inevitable fate of his ‘homeworld’. The Master grimaced.
“Will be destroyed. Yes, I know. I was there. Feel awfully sad about it.”
The time agent didn’t dignify that with answer.
-
It was hard to concentrate, but the pain was bearable now. The Doctor had reached his room, taken the painkillers and waited. He didn’t have much time. After a while he’d accepted that the pills didn’t seem to work, not enough, too slowly, and had taken some more. While he was sitting on the floor in front of his bed the pain had lessened, a little. Too little. He’d taken another one and finally felt able to get up, and get the spare sonic screwdriver he kept in his drawer since the last time he'd lost one. Now he was standing in front of the console, letting the TARDIS do a scan for anything unusual. He needed a moment to make sense of the readings. Time travel detected nearby. Alien technology, origin unknown, large power build-up. Space-time-ship from the future of Earth moving toward it. That would be Jack and the Master.
Whatever the Master was up to, it was bad. It was always bad. The Doctor didn’t give him the benefit of doubt anymore.
He wondered how much longer his old friend would bear with him in this state. Would be better if he left him. Just go away please don’t leave me. Didn’t make much sense anyway. But it did.
No. No.
Couldn’t let his thoughts drift.
The TARDIS landed close to the alien machine - it was a hundred meters long, a station containing several life-forms, the scanners told him.
The Doctor collided with the door before he could tell he was falling. He hardly noted the impact, just pulled himself upright and stepped outside. Everything seemed very far away, like it was someone else’s body, not his. But that meant the pain was also someone else’s, and this time he was fully okay with that.
As it turned out the TARDIS had not landed close to the station but inside. He was okay with that as well. A bit hard collecting his thoughts and coming up with a plan. He just kept walking, had to meet someone sooner or later.
-
It was sooner rather than later that he found himself surrounded by armed guards and standing in front of the high and mighty commander of this station.
At least he thought it was sooner. His sense of time was a bit messed up at the moment.
As it turned out the creatures - a little fish-like but with legs and lugs which was neat because he didn’t feel up to swimming at the moment - had come from the galaxy called Sombrero and a bit in the future. They had landed on Earth to refuel their ship.
The ship merely needed energy from the sun. It was the other energy that bothered the Doctor.
People were strapped into machines all along the walls of the command centre. They were humanoids with green skin and hair, and as far as the Doctor could tell they were slaves. Just like every not-fish-like creature on this ship. Which were quite a lot.
The Fishes controlled them with the power of their mind. They all were wearing heavy helmets that looked silly but enabled them to induct pain through the collars the slaves were wearing.
The Doctor didn’t like them.
The people in the machines were controlling the station while being controlled by the Commander. They controlled the engines, the life-support-systems and most of all the weapons.
They greatest weapon was some kind of energy blaster that could not be blocked by any kind of shield. Because the energy they used wasn’t conventional in any way.
The machines these slaves were strapped into also enabled them to suck the life-force out of any living creature within several dozen square-miles of the station, store it and, if needed, channel it into a beam of energy. And they had come here for a refill. The preparations were almost done. In less than a day the nearest city would be full of corpses.
The Doctor was feeling a lot more active now. His head still felt fuzzy but he was quite furious. Yet he stayed calm. And asked the commander, very politely, to stop, and leave, and never do it again. And free all the slaves while he was at it.
The Commander laughed. And ordered his execution.
So the Doctor took the sonic screwdriver they hadn’t recognized as a weapon and shut down the power of the Commander’s helmet, thus shutting down his mind as well.
He fell from his seat. As did every other Fish in the station. The slaves didn’t need long to adjust to the situation. Their masters were still alive but by the time they woke up they wouldn’t be anyone’s masters anymore.
The slaves in the command centre declared him their hero. Except those in the machines, still lacking any sign of being alive.
The Doctor walked over and found the switch that opened the transparent capsules they were trapped in.
“Can you hear me?”
yes
A collective answer in his mind. They’d lost their individuality. ‘I’m sorry’, the Doctor thought sadly.
don’t be
He didn’t like it when someone read his mind without asking. But he didn’t feel like giving a lecture.
“You can go home,” he said softly, and out loud to make a point.
we will not
“Why not?”
there is nothing for us
This he could understand.
don’t be sad
Easy to say. The Doctor wandered around, over to the place where the Commander had been sitting and looked at his screens. The power level for the energy transfer was still rising.
“You can stop that now,” he said.
no
He didn’t understand. “No-one’s forcing you to do it anymore.”
it gives us power
“But you’re hurting others!”
we have been hurt as well
“Not by them.”
it doesn’t matter
That didn’t make sense. Especially those who’d suffered themselves should know what it meant and not do it to others. Why did they want to harm anyone if they didn’t have to?
it doesn’t matter
“Oh yes, it does!”
we do not care about others - we need that power - we can do anything - nothing can harm us now - it keeps us strong - we feed on it
“But it kills innocent beings!” the Doctor exclaimed desperately. “Your people have been killed, haven’t they? You know that pain! How can you willingly cause it?”
tell us doctor have you never killed innocents?
“That wasn’t…” He stopped, feeling sick.
join us
“What?”
you possess great knowledge - a powerful mind - we need you
“I’m not going to let you get on with this.” The Doctor changed the setting of his screwdriver when suddenly everyone moving in the room stopped, and turned to look at him.
you will have power
“I don’t want it.”
you can stop evil
“And cause it.”
Sparks began to fly as the Doctor pointed the humming tool at the console in front of him.
There was a subtle change in the tone of the collective voice.
weak flickering little life - almost gone - we can make you strong again - feed you the life of others - do you not want to live?
The Doctor looked at them, corpse-like figures in coffins of plastic, stealing the life of strangers and not caring.
“Not for this price,” he said.
then we shall not ask
The still figures standing in the room now moved towards him, their eyes empty. The Doctor ducked when they reached for him. The sonic screwdriver went flying. He threw himself on the floor when another set of hands tried to grab him, got hold of his tool and jumped back to his feet, nearly falling down again. His knees were like jelly.
The zombie-like people were blocking the way to the console now, and still coming closer. There was nothing more he could do here. The machine was damaged but probably not irreparably so.
The Doctor was torn between the urge to run and the need to finish the job. There was no way he could do anything useful now though, and if they got hold of him all was lost. So he turned and ran, his heart beating painfully in his chest and it was still just the one. He felt like throwing up, stumbled back the way he’d came, a dozen green-skinned men and woman on his trail. But they weren’t acing of their own free will and moved sluggishly, uncoordinated. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had the slightest chance to escape.
Deep beneath his feet he heard the humming of starting engines.
Willing his legs to run faster he had to accept once again that will alone was not enough to move a body that didn’t have the strength for it. When he reached the TARDIS he fell inside, the doors closing on their own. For a long moment he just lay there, his head pounding, his lungs burning and unable to see. He had to get away, get back to the alley where the TARDIS had been parked before. What would the Master do now? Would he be able to get into the station? Would he be able to use it? Was it even still on Earth?
He lost track of his thoughts as he struggled to remain conscious.
When he got to his knees he threw up. Gall and blood splattering all over the floor.
“Sorry,” he rasped between breaths. He was making such a mess of his ship.
Somehow he made it to the console. Half blind he flicked a few switches, hoping it to be the right ones. He hardly noticed when his body hit the ground.
-
“Here we are.”
They climbed out of the small spaceship and looked down into the valley where the alien ship was parked. They had seen its outline quite clearly on the screen of Bill’s ship. With their own eyes they saw nothing.
“It’s camouflaged,” said Bill. Harry snorted.
“No shit, Sherlock!”
Quite an expert with classical literature then. And seriously starting to get on Bill’s nerves with his attitude.
The Cobscaran picked up a stone and threw it far into the valley. Its flight ended it a flash of lightning and dust.
The next several minutes they spend back in the ship, trying to find out what kind of barrier was blocking their way and if there was any way to get though it, since neither of them wanted to get vaporized.
In the end Harry stated: “You’re totally useless!”
“I don’t see you doing anything helpful!” the time agent snapped back. He was beginning to get a bit worried. The nature of this barrier didn’t feed any hope that the owners of that ship where friendly in any way. Which meant he desperately wanted to get rid of them before they could do whatever they’d come here for. At least Harry didn’t seem to be working with them - unless he was just trying to distract Bill while his partner did something evil.
‘Wait a moment!’ his heart demanded. ‘Didn’t we decide the Doctor couldn’t be evil?’
‘You decided that,’ answered his brain. ‘Leave me out of this!’
At least his libido didn’t join the discussion. His libido wasn’t even pissed at Harry - while pretty much every other part of him was.
For a moment they glared at each other.
Then the ship on the screen blinked out of existence.
-tbc
October 2, 2007
NEXT
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5