taxonomites | 1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

Entry tags:

1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

No sooner had the TARDIS come to a stop than the Doctor was throwing open the doors and dashing outside with a cheerful shout of "Come along, Ponds!", eager to see where they’d arrived this time. That was one of the fun things about connecting up the old randomiser every so often. Enter a few basic guidelines to avoid places that might end up with them all collapsing from something unfortunately terminal the moment the stepped outside or into the middle of a war zone (he’d been shot exiting the TARDIS once before, thank you very much, and had no desire to repeat the experience), then let the TARDIS do the rest. Guaranteed mystery the moment they opened the doors.

It was a little unfortunate then that it looked like 'mystery' in this case was...

"A white room with a sort of... thing on a pedestal. Not really what I'd call exciting but maybe there's something more out there. Like a ship or a space station or a..."

He trailed off, alerted by the silence even before he turned around to find no sign of the TARDIS or his companions. Just himself on a raised platform in an empty room in a place he wasn't familiar with. There was also something strange hanging overhead, and the Doctor frowned at it, his mind racing to fill in the blanks in what he knew.

"Some sort of teleporter maybe... I’ve been kidnapped?" The idea wasn't impossible, he knew for certain, since it had happened a few times before. But it had been a while since anyone had tried. "I suppose whoever’s behind this must be feeling pretty satisfied with themselves right now?"

His wrist felt odd, he realised. Well, he’d realised it earlier, in a vague sort of way, but it was only now that it persisted in feeling odd that he scratched at it and found what seemed to be a metal bracelet fused to his skin. "Did you go and tag me?" he asked the room incredulously. "Who goes around fusing jewellery onto people? ‘Oh, I know, he’d look so much better with a silver bracelet grafted to his skin’?"

The room remained silent, so obviously whoever had brought him here didn't feel like turning up to do the gloating bit. Which left him with the thing on the pedestal, the thing in the ceiling, and a door that proved to be locked when he tried opening it.

"If that's how you want to play it," he muttered, his hand delving into his pocket to produce his sonic screwdriver. It warbled reassuringly as he waved it in quick, apparently random patterns over the walls and door, but quickly escalated to a high-pitched shriek not unlike something in pain the moment he ventured too close to that thing hanging from the ceiling. Whatever it was didn’t want to be scanned in a hurry.

"Let's see what we've got then," the Doctor commented, extending the end of the sonic screwdriver with a practised flick of his wrist. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be ‘not much of anything’, which really only left the device sitting on the pedestal. Snapping the sonic closed again and returning it to his pocket, the Time Lord wandered over to it curiously, taking his time looking it over before reaching out and picking it up. Whatever it was, it was active and had been recording and uploading information to somewhere the entire time.

"Hello," the Doctor said, shifting his hands on the tablet to get a better look at it. "Been having a good look at me, have you? Let’s see... text, holo seems to be active... visual, voice... Oh, maps! Yes, let’s start with that then. Always a handy thing to have, a map." His finger hovered over the icon for a moment as he paused in thought, his brow furrowing. "Not that I normally use them. But I’ve heard they’re handy if you get lost easily and don’t like the fun of finding your way back on your own. Personally I always think that’s the best bit, seeing where getting lost takes you, but I suppose some people might—Oh?"

Cutting himself off suddenly, the Doctor’s eyebrows shot up as the map loaded, revealing this to be a decent sized city apparently named Taxon. But the really interesting and surprising part was how the map displayed people’s names next to some of the glowing dots on the map. Or, more accurately, the surprising part was what some of those names were. "Martha Jones? Charlotte Pollard? Fitz Kreiner? That’s... No. It can’t be. It’s just not possible..."

For a moment there was the barest flicker of uncertainty in his face, before it was quickly hidden again and the Doctor addressed whatever unseen audience he had. "I think I need some answers."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The answer hadn't changed, even after all the things they'd been through. Maybe the Doctor should have expected that, made the offer from a safer place, but he'd hoped that the Master's actions when they'd met for the last time (though he doubted anything was final where the other Time Lord was concerned) meant that there was a chance, a hope, for change.

Maybe there was, but it obviously wasn't here now, though he didn't stop trying. Even a flicker would be worth the effort.

"It doesn't always have to be this way," he began, keeping still as the Master's hand dived into his pocket, seeking out the sonic screwdriver. Fighting with the Drudges right there still wouldn't do much good. "Aren't you tired of it? Always fighting, never stopping?"

Again, the Master didn't answer right away, concentrating on the task at hand. Of course he was tired. He was tired of pushing so hard and the Doctor never giving in, not once. He was tired of knowing, with every beat of his hearts, that he was meant to control the universe, but constantly watching it slip through his fingers until he was left with only his fury and the pulse of the drums. He was tired of only hearing one Time Lord in his head instead of the billions it should have been. But he'd not admit any of that to the Doctor.

As he pulled the screwdriver triumphantly from the pocket, the Drudges tightened their grip on the Doctor's arms, instinctively responding to the reappearance of that thing. The Master raised his eyebrows, looking amused. "Not too pleased with you, is it?"

"Wasn't really going out of my way to impress it," the Doctor answered, doing his best to ignore the Drudges' grip. It wasn't tight enough to be too painful yet, but that could change.

"Not that it would have been a problem if you'd just listened to me in the first place. We could have had this exact same conversation without the need for guards."

He watched the Master carefully, tilting his head back a degree to study the other Time Lord down the length of his nose.

"So now what?" he asked suddenly. "I'm here, you've got the sonic, so what are you going to do now?"

"Listened to you?" The Master gave him a disgusted look, ignoring the question for the time being. "Whether you believe it or not, Doctor, I am currently the only thing standing between you and this House ripping you apart."

He held the screwdriver up, studying it for a moment. "It was a frightened, feral thing when I found it. No way to tell how long it'd been left alone without a Housekeeper to tend it, but do you know?" He grinned. "I think it had gone quite mad from all the waiting."

"Then you came along," the Doctor finished. "Someone to care for it and it to care for in return."

Which made things rather more complicated. The Master allied with a crazed House that would do its best to fulfil his every request. It was difficult to think of ways that wouldn't end badly.

"So it's been here this entire time?" he asked instead, thinking back to what he knew of the city already. Possibly more than the Master, if only due to more people who already knew the Doctor and were willing to share information with him.

"The mountain and your father's estates have been in this city the entire time?" If that were true, then coupled with what he'd learned from Aximili, it raised a slew of new questions.

The Master beamed, his eyes nearly closed. He could have been a cat that had gotten into the cream. "It trusts me," he agreed, stowing the sonic in an inside pocket of his jacket. "Not really a conventional relationship, of course, but we make do."

He glanced back at the Doctor, wondering what he was on about and what he meant by 'the entire time'. Certainly it had been on Gallifrey during the Time War, though it had taken some damage that had been mysteriously missing when the Master had happened upon it in Taxon.

"And 'no way to tell' means exactly what it sounds like, you do realize." He had asked, of course, but the House hadn't been able to tell him. It hadn't even understood the question.

Edited 2010-08-25 07:23 (UTC)

The Doctor watched silently as the sonic screwdriver disappeared into the Master's pocket. He hadn't really expected the other Time Lord to just return it to him, and would have been suspicious if that had happened, but all the same there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at seeing it vanish from sight. It wasn't going to be easy to reclaim it now, though at least the Master hadn't broken it or tried taking it to pieces for parts. At least there was the chance that he could reclaim it.

"No, not conventional at all, is it?" he agreed. "You're not really the Housekeeping type." The House of Oakdown must have been in a bad way indeed to form that sort of link with a male Gallifreyan, let alone someone like the Master. Something else that backed up the other's comments about the House's sanity.

"But if you're connected to the House, then you share a psychic link..." the Doctor continued, musing aloud to himself now. The question seemed like something obvious, but he needed to hear it from the Master.

No, a Housekeeper he certainly was not. It wasn't his finest of plans, the building of the link mentally exhausting and unnatural to both of them, requiring so many alterations. But if he hadn't reached out to it, soothed and tamed it, the House would have destroyed him just as it was itching to destroy the Doctor. Perhaps the Master wasn't the natural choice-- but he had been its only choice. And he preferred keeping it that way. His eyes narrowed, instantly suspicious of the Doctor's line of questioning.

"Might I remind you, Doctor, that without me, you won't make it out of here alive?"

"Of course not," he agreed readily, "place like this, with you the only connection keeping it together? I'd not even make it a few steps. 'Specially not with these two here."

He nodded his head to indicate the Drudges either side of him, how they'd imperceptibly tightened their grip on him, just enough for it to start hurting. Though whether that was from the Master's suspicion of his motives or the House's feelings was hard to tell.

"But what do you have to worry about? I'm just standing here, don't even have my sonic anymore. Hardly much of a threat, am I?"

The Master studied him a moment longer, unsure. The Doctor seemed far too chipper for his admission of helplessness, and he was likely formulating an escape route as he spoke. It would fail, however. He was sure of it this time.

There was no way out.

"Not at all," he finally said. "I'm merely concerned on your behalf. Wouldn't want you to perish before we were finished here."

"Before we're finished here..." The Doctor rocked on his heels a little, unable to keep completely still even while the Drudges were restraining him. "And when are we going to be finished here? I've already made my message clear, and it won't be changing."

He shifted a little, apparently trying to get a little more comfortable and ignoring the Drudges for the moment. "You don't have to help me if you're going to sulk about it, but try and hurt anyone else in this city and I will stop you.

"So, I'd say we're done here, wouldn't you?"

Oh, the cheek of this Doctor. The old one would have been pleading with him, begging to let him help. This new one was embarrassingly overconfident, nearly dismissive. He honestly couldn't decide which was worse. But he had a feeling he'd quite enjoy beating the pluck out of this one.

"Oh, yes. Quite done." The Master regarded him archly, a small smile tugging at his lips. He let that sink in for a few seconds before adding, "For now."

He gestured to the Drudges. "Take him away." The words and the wave of his hand were completely unnecessary except to show off his control once more to the Doctor; he'd already silently commanded the House. The Master turned then, and walked back to his chair, sinking into it almost gratefully before giving the Doctor a little wave.

"Ah..." The Doctor planted his feet as the Drudges started to drag him off, but it didn't really make much of a difference. Just one of them could have carried him without too much effort, and trying to fight two of them set on dragging him somewhere was a bit like, well, a bit like trying to fight against some Autons doing the same. That wasn't a particularly pleasant memory to be reminded of either.

The other problem was that while yes, he was happy that the Master wasn't going to do anything particularly bad to him right now, he didn't imagine that would remain constant for very long and there was his sonic screwdriver to think of. Leaving it in the Master's hands was not something he liked and he was fairly certain that he wouldn't be seeing it again in a hurry. Or at all.

"Wait a minute," he began, but by then the Drudges had reached the door and the Doctor could only shout protests back at the Master as he was dragged off into the House.

The Master's body was relaxed enough, but his eyes were alert as he watched them pull the other Time Lord back toward the door. The look on the Doctor's face when he realized where he was really headed was priceless, and he wanted to enjoy every moment of it. Every last indignant squawk.

"Night-night," he called after him, with a sunny grin. He told the House to fashion an appropriate 'room' for their guest, and then, as a small token of his appreciation, authorized it to use near-lethal force to keep him there.

Once the Doctor had vanished from sight, the echoes of his voice fading off down the hallway, the Master finally turned his attention to the screwdriver in his pocket, weighing it against the one still resting on the arm of the chair. It was time to get to work.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

[Location: Mount Perdition] SAME. If I find/make one I will share?

[Location: Mount Perdition] Deal, and same for me :D

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]

[Location: Mount Perdition]