Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Dr Who - What If ❯ The Sound of Drums ( Chapter 15 )

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They escape from the end of the universe, and Rose takes charge.

Ever wondered why a Time Lord keeps his name secret until he gets married? This is my take on it.

(The character Darren Pye, mentioned by Rose is from the novel Winner Takes All, by Jacqueline Rayner.)

Non Anime: Doctor Who Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.16.2016 | Pages: 42 | Words: 17.7K | Visits: 354 | Status: Completed

WHOP!

Rose experienced the same gut wrenching twisting of her atoms from three to four dimensions and back that she had experienced at the touch of a Weeping Angel. 'Oh, my head.'

'Time travel without a capsule, that's a killer . . . argh,' the Doctor said as they staggered around in the alleyway. He headed for the street, Rose and Jack setting off after him.

'Still, at least we made it. Earth, twenty first century by the looks of it. Hah, talk about lucky,' Jack said, looking around at the architecture. Rose was hugging her stomach, struggling to keep up with the seasoned Vortex travellers.

'That wasn't luck, that was me,' the Doctor said tersely.

They found a pedestrian area, with stone seats set out for weary shoppers. Okay, they weren't shoppers, but they were weary.

'The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator,' Jack said light heartedly.

'But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space,' Rose said.

'No, he's here,' the Doctor told them. 'Trust me.'

'Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor,' she said.

'If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated,' Jack told her.

A homeless man was tapping a tin mug, begging for money, the four beat rhythm was somehow familiar to the Doctor and Rose, di di di dum, di di di dum. The Doctor instinctively knew the rhythm, and had it been a more organic sound, he would have recognised the lub dub lub dub, lub dub lub dub of his own hearts beats, as would have Rose.

'Then how are we gonna to find him?' she asked.

'I'll know him, the moment I see him. Time Lords always do.'

On a series of public screens in the pedestrian area, a newsreader was reporting on breaking news. “Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters”. They watched the new Prime Minister walk down steps with his wife.

'That's him . . . he's Prime Minister!' the Doctor said, looking at the screen.

'Mister Saxon, this way, sir . . . come on, kiss for the lady, sir,' a photographer said.

'The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain,' the Doctor repeated in disbelief. 'The Master and his wife?'

On the screen, the Master made an announcement. 'This country has been sick. 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 . . .' He looked at the screen, and the Doctor knew he was speaking to him. '. . . is a Doctor.'

The Doctor looked away from the screen. `We're in trouble. We need somewhere to lay low.' Jack was on his mobile. `Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here.'

`Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply.' He was hoping they could stay at the Hub in Cardiff, but it looked like they were in trouble also.

`Hang on, it's the day after the election,' Rose realised. `That's only a week after we cleared out my mum's flat!'

The Doctor gave her a questioning look. `So?'

`Well, that means it will still be empty. We'll be able to stay there.'

`Oh Rose Tyler. I can see why I married you. You're brilliant!' He grabbed her into a hug and kissed her.

`Oh, you kept your maiden name then,' Jack said.

`No. It's just that my husband can't be bothered to call me Rose Lungbarrowmas.'

`Oh, all right then. Rose Lungbarrowmas, you are brilliant!' He kissed her again. `Now, let's move.'

Outside number 48, in Bucknall House on the Powell Estate, the Doctor “sonicked” the lock and let them in.

`Didn't think I'd be back here so soon,' Rose said quietly.

`What have you got Rose? Computer, laptop, anything?' the Doctor asked her.

`There's Mickey's old computer in the spare room that we cleared out of his flat when he stayed in Pete's World.'

`Brilliant!' he replied.

Jack frowned. `Pete's World?'

Rose smiled. `Long story. I'll explain later.

Jack helped the Doctor set up the computer on the coffee table, while Rose made mugs of tea in the kitchen. She was grateful that they'd only taken the personal, sentimental stuff out of the flat.

`I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages,' Jack said as Rose brought through the drinks and sat next to the Doctor on the sofa.

The Doctor shook his head. `We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time.'

`You goin' to tell us who he is?' Rose asked as she sipped her tea.

`He's a Time Lord.'

`Er yeah. Kinda guessed that. What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?' she asked as she held his hand.

`That's all you need to know,' he told her. It was obvious there was bad blood between them. `Come on, show me Harold Saxon.'

The Saxon website had a lot of celebrity endorsements. `I'm voting Saxon. He can tick my box any day,' Sharon Osbourne said saucily. While McFly were saying, `vote Saxon! Go Harry!'

`I think Mister Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome too, Ann Widdecombe said.

Jack gave a commentary when the information finally came on screen. `Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve. Nice work, by the way,' he said to the Doctor.

`Oh, thanks.'

`But he goes back years,' Rose said as she read the information. `He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everythin'. He's got a whole life.'

`But he's got the TARDIS,' Jack reminded them. `Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades.'

The Doctor shook his head. `No.'

`Why not? Worked for me.'

`When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now.'

`Yeah, but a little leeway?' Jack reasoned.

`Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale.'

`I was going to vote for him,' Jack said.

`Really?' the Doctor and Rose asked together.

`Yeah. I liked him.'

`Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?' asked the Doctor.

`I don't know. He always sounded good.' Jack started to tap out a rhythm with his fingers as he spoke.

Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap.

`Like you could trust him. Just a nice guy. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice.'

Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap.

`What's that?' the Doctor asked with a nod at his hand.

Jack looked at the arm of the chair. `What?'

`That,' he nodded again. `That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?'

`I don't know. It's nothing. It's just, I don't know'.

A fanfare blared out from Mickey's computer and a pop up said Saxon Broadcast All Channels. Rose picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

`Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom,' the Doctor said cynically.

The Master gave a cheeky smile as he spoke. [`Britain, Britain, Britain. What extraordinary times we've had. 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.']

Archive news footage accompanied his commentary. [`Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill. 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.']

A metal sphere the size of a soccer ball floated next to the Master. [`People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship.']

The Master smiled playfully. [`Oooh, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane.']

`What?!' the Doctor exclaimed in disbelief.

[`And tomorrow morning, they will appear. 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. Oh, I don't know, every former shop girl,'] he said deliberately to the camera, making Rose shudder.

The Doctor looked across at Rose. That was the Master telling them that he knew who Rose was. Why would he do that? The Doctor stood up and looked closely at the television and the video in the cabinet underneath.

`Doctor?' Rose asked worriedly.

He looked behind the television and saw what looked like a Hollywood film prop. It was so theatrical, it was almost cartoon. Red sticks of explosives, with a timer taped to the front of them.

`Out!' he shouted, as he grabbed Rose's hand and ran out of the flat. They ran along the walkway and just made it around the corner of the stairwell, when the front door blew out in a huge fireball.

`All right?' the Doctor asked them.

`Fine, yeah, fine,' Jack said.

`Rose?'

`Oh, yeah. Fine. I was just thinkin', I'm glad Mum and Mickey aren't here. If he knows who I am, and where I used to live, what would he have done to them?'

The Doctor pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back, before cupping her face and kissing her. `At least we don't have to worry about them. Us on the other hand . . .'

`We'd better move,' Jack said, leading the way down the stairs.

`We need to find somewhere to hide,' the Doctor said.

`This is my hometown; I know some places from my childhood. Places I never told Mum about, because we weren't supposed to be there.'

She took the Doctor's hand again and led him and Jack across the courtyard below the burning flat. They passed the Post Office, where the Doctor used to park the TARDIS when he used to bring Rose to visit her mum. Her phone started to ring, and she reached it out of her pocket. The display said it was her best friend, Shareen.

She stopped walking and answered the phone. `Shar! Are you okay? Look you've gotta get out of town, it's not safe. Go on holiday or somethin'. Today.'

[`Not safe?'] the Master said over the phone. [`I'll have you know Rose Tyler, that crime in the city is at an all time low, what with my zero tolerance approach to criminals.']

`SAXON! Where's Shareen?' The Doctor and Jack turned and hurried back to her.

The Master ignored her question. [`Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?']

`Where's Shareen, what have you done to her?'

[`No idea where the gobby little tramp is. I just had her phone confiscated,'] the Master told her.

Before Rose could give him a mouthful of Powell Estate abuse, the Doctor took her phone. `I'm here.'

[`Doctor.']

`Master.'

[`I like it when you use my name.']

`You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day.'

[`As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?']

`So, Prime Minister, then.'

[`I know, it's good, isn't it?']

`Who are those creatures? Because 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? Back home. Where is it, Doctor?']

`Gone.'

[`How can Gallifrey be gone?']

`It burnt.'

[`And the Time Lords?']

`Dead. And the Daleks, more or less. What happened to you?'

[`The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. 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? But not you, which must mean . . .']

`I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything.'

[`What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?']

`Stop it!'

[`You must have been like God.']

`I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other.'

Rose was going to protest. He wasn't alone, he'd got her, but he put his hand up to stop her. If the Master knew they were married, she would be in more danger than she was already.

[`Are you asking me out on a date?']

`You could stop this right now. We could leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that's what you want, but not on Earth.'

[`Too late.']

`Why do you say that?'

[`The drumming. Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming.']

`I could help you. Please, let me help.'

[`It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums.']

A young man in a hoodie, lounging nearby started slapping his thighs in the rhythm.

Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap.

`What have you done? Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!'

[`Oooh look. You're on TV.']

`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. Look, there you are.']

The Doctor had walked over to one of the many charity shops on the Powell Estate, and saw a television in the window. The ticker on NEWS 24 said “Nationwide Hunt For Terrorist Suspects”, and had their pictures.

Through the open door, he could hear the news reader. [`Known as the Captain. They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous.']

[`You're public enemies' number one, two and three. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them.']

He beckoned Jack and Rose over with a nod of his head. As they stood next to him, the live feed from a surveillance camera on the estate showed them on the news.

[`Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?']

The Doctor turned and looked up at the camera on the side of the block of flats behind them. `He can see us.'

He took out his sonic screwdriver and deactivated the camera.

[`Oh, you public menace. Better start running. Go on, run.']

`He's got control of everything,' the Doctor told them.

`What do we do?' Rose asked him.

`We've got nowhere to go,' Jack said.

Rose looked at the Doctor imploringly. `Doctor, what do we do?'

[`Run, Doctor,'] the Master goaded. [`Run for your life!']

`We run,' he said simply.

[`I said, run!']

Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand. `C'mon, I know somewhere.'

`What about the cameras?' asked Jack?

`Hey, when you have a low life like Darren Pye livin' on the estate, it's easy.'

`Who the hell is Darren Pye?' Jack asked her.

`Local bully, hard man and petty criminal. He beat up my mum once for a winnin' lottery ticket. If you kept an eye on him, he always used to avoid gettin' caught by avoidin' the cameras.'

Jack grinned at her as they ran. `You can take the girl out of the estate . . .'

`Oi! Are you tryin' to say I'm common?' she said with humour that she didn't feel. She was just trying to keep their spirits up.

As they ran through the estate, the Doctor tried to remember all his conversations with the professor.

'Rose, at any time, did you mention to Professor Yana that we were married?'

Rose thought about it. 'No, I don't think so. I did tell Chantho, but we were out of earshot 'cos she was swearin'. Why, is it important?'

'Yeah. At the moment he thinks you are just a travelling companion, a friend. Now, he will try and use that as leverage, but if he knows you are my wife . . . Well, he'll want to search your mind.'

`What for?'

`My name; and he won't be polite or gentle about getting it from you. Do you remember the Gallifreyan wedding vow, “The groom will now exchange that which no other may know”? The reason no other telepath can know it, is because it's like an encrypted password to my soul.'

`Oh my God!'

In an old, dark, abandoned warehouse, Rose returned with bags of fish and chips. The Doctor was sitting at an old trestle table, looking at internet feeds on Rose's super phone. Jack had got a little brazier alight, and a couple of old fashioned oil lamps were providing light.

`How was it?' Jack asked her.

`I don't think anyone saw me. It was like bein' a kid again, sneakin' around with Shareen, hopin' our mum's didn't find out what we'd been up to. Anything new?' she said as she handed out the food.

`I've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing,' Jack said, indicating her phone. `Nice chips.'

`Actually, they're not bad,' the Doctor agreed.

`So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?' Jack asked.

`And what is he to you? Like a colleague or . . .' Rose wondered. He talked so little about his past life on Gallifrey.

`A friend, at first.'

`I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or somethin',' she teased.

`You've been watching too much TV.'

`But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect,' Jack said.

`Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, 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.' His eyes had a far away look in them as he saw the Citadel in his mind's eye.

`Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families 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 through which could be seen the whole of the Vortex. You stand there, eight 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. Brr.' He shuddered. 'I don't know.'

Rose reached out and held his hand. `What about you?' she asked quietly.

He grinned at her. `Oh, the ones that ran away . . . I never stopped.'

Jack's bracelet beeped. `Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it.'

`Patch it through to Rose's phone,' the Doctor instructed.

Jack hesitated as he uploaded the data. `Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you.'

The Torchwood logo appeared on Rose's phone.

`You work for Torchwood,' the Doctor said in an accusing tone.

`I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now.'

`Everything Torchwood did; and you're part of it?'

`My mum is stuck in another universe `cos of them,' Rose added angrily.

`The old regime was destroyed at CanaryWharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour.'

There was an awkward silence between them before the Doctor hit the play symbol on Rose's phone.

A woman appeared, sitting at a desk. [`If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm . . . 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.']

`What's the Archangel Network?' the Doctor asked.

`Everyone's got it,' Jack told them as he took out his phone. `It's a mobile phone network.'

Rose's phone showed a graphic of the Earth with orbiting satellites. `Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel.'

`It's in the phones!' the Doctor exclaimed. He took out his sonic screwdriver and zapped Jack's phone. `Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.'

He tapped Jack's phone against the table, and it started beeping.

Be-be-be-beep, be-be-be-beep.

`There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious.'

Rose put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder as she looked over it. `What is it, mind control?'

`No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. 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,' he said.

`Oh, yes!' he exclaimed in sudden realisation. `That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out.'

`Any way you can stop it?' Jack asked him.

`Not from down here,' he told him. `But now we know how he's doing it.'

`And we can fight back,' Rose said hopefully.

`Oh, yes!' He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a kiss.

`I'm starting to feel like a gooseberry around here,' Jack said with a smirk.

`Well, wouldn't want Captain Jack to be left out of the party. Come on then, let's have a scavenge around here and see if we can come up with any discarded electronics.'

They took an oil lamp each and started scouring the warehouse. A few minutes later, Jack called out. `I've found an old broken radio-cassette player over here. The handle's gone and the casing's split. Is that any good?'

`Has it still got circuit boards inside?' the Doctor called back.

`Yep.'

`Brilliant! Bring it back to the brazier.'

The Doctor took transistors, resistors and capacitors off the circuit board and welded them sonically to their TARDIS keys to make simple amplifiers.

`Three TARDIS keys. Three pieces of the TARDIS, all with low level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of,' the Doctor explained. `But now, the Archangel Network's got a second low level signal. Weld the key to the network and Rose, look at me. You can see me, yes?'

`Yes.'

He put the string with his key on it around his neck, and Rose found it difficult to look straight at him. `What about now?'

Rose blinked and tried to focus on him but couldn't seem to keep her attention on him, which for her, she thought would be impossible.

`No, I'm here. Look at me,' he waved at her.

Rose drew her gaze back to him, but it drifted off him again. `It's like I know you're there, but I don't want to know.'

He took the string from around his neck. `And back again. See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. Oh, I know what it's like. It's like, it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on.'

`Tell me about it,' Jack said to Rose with a sigh that made her snort a laugh.

They left the warehouse and started walking down the footpath. `Don't run, don't shout. Just keep your voice down,' the Doctor instructed. `Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows.'

`Like ghosts,' Jack said, putting the key around his neck.

`Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts.'

With the keys around their necks, they set off into the night, stepping aside to prevent people from walking into them as they went.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

WHOP! The time travelling trio materialised in a service corridor with pipes, steam, and a round porthole.

`Oh, that thing is rough,' Rose complained.

Jack stretched his back and shook his head. `I've had worse nights. Welcome to the Valiant.'

Rose joined her husband to look out the porthole. `It's dawn? Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?'

`A ship for the twenty first century, protecting the skies of planet Earth,' he told them.

Through the porthole, they could see they were effectively on a Cloudbase, with three landing strips and a helipad. They heard an announcement over the tannoy.

[`Europe now online. Awaiting confirmation from South America. And keep tracking Japan.']

They ran down a gangway to level 4, then opened a door at the end. There in amongst all of the Valiant's supplies, was the TARDIS.

`Oh, at last!' the Doctor exclaimed.

Rose nearly cried with relief. `Oh, yes!'

`What's it doing on the Valiant?' Jack asked as they approached.

The Doctor opened the door and stepped inside. `What the hell's he done?' Jack asked as they walked up the ramp.

`Don't touch it,' the Doctor told him.

`I'm not going to.'

Both the Doctor and Rose could feel it. The walls were lit with a red light, and the cloister bell was tolling from deep within the TARDIS. She was in pain.

`What's he done though?' Rose asked. `Feels like she's sick.'

`It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be.'

`Doctor, what is it?' Rose demanded.

`He's cannibalised the TARDIS.'

Jack's time as a Time Agent gave him some insight into what the Master had done. `Is this what I think it is?'

The Doctor nodded. `It's a paradox machine.'

The Doctor tapped a gauge on the metal mesh around the time console. `As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight.'

`First contact is at eight, then two minutes later . . .' said Jack.

`What's it for?' Rose asked. `What does a paradox machine do?'

`More important, can you stop it?'

`Not till I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system.'

`Then we've got to get to the Master,' Rose said.

`Yeah. How are we going to stop him?'

`Oh, I've got a way,' the Doctor told them, and then grinned. `Sorry, didn't I mention it?'

The Doctor, Rose and Jack entered the conference room of the Valiant, where the president of the United States of America was giving an address to the world.

`For as long as man has looked at the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone.'

Jack whispered to the Doctor. `This plan, you going to tell us?'

`If I can get this around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me you've got a key.'

`Yes, sir,' Jack said

`I'll get him,' Rose told them.

President Winters was finishing his address. `And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane.'

Four spheres appeared around Winters. `My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon.'

`You're not the Master,' a male sounding sphere said.

`We like the Mister Master,' a female sphere told him.

`We don't like you,' another male sphere said.

`I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will,' Winters said, not understanding what they were talking about.

`Man is stupid,' the second male sphere declared.

`Master is our friend,' the first male sphere said.

`Where's my Master, pretty please?' the female one asked.

The Master stood up. `Oh, all right then. It's me. Ta da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy.'

`Saxon, what are you talking about?' Winters demanded.

`I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you. Kill him.'

One of the spheres points its weapon at Winters and blasts him to pieces. People in the room went into a panic and guns were drawn. The Master laughed and applauded, before calling his ministerial guards into action.

`Nobody move! Nobody move!' the guard leader shouted.

The Master went half way up the steps and turned around. `Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully.'

The Doctor took off his key and tried to run forward.

`Stop him!' the lead guard commanded, and two men in black suits grabbed the Doctor by his arms.

`We meet at last, Doctor,' the Master said cheerfully. `Oh, ho. I love saying that.'

`Stop it! Stop it now!' the Doctor shouted at him.

`As if a perception filter's going to work on me. And look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which.'

Jack ran forward, but the Master zapped him with his screwdriver device.

`Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!' he said with glee.

`Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself . . .'

The Master looked at the cameras. `Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute. Let him go.'

`It's that sound. The sound in your head. What if I could help?'

`Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little announcement on the news was coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, oooh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do.'

He ran over to a briefcase and pulled it open, to reveal the Doctor's spare hand. `I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?'

The Master aimed his screwdriver at the Doctor, who went into rapid convulsions. Tears stung Rose's eyes as she watched her husband being tortured. Jack was lying by the side of her, when he came back to life.

`Teleport,' he whispered to her.

`I can't,' she cried.

`We can't stop him. Get out of here. Get out.'

The Master stopped zapping the Doctor, who looked at least a hundred years old. Rose knelt beside him and cradled him, stroking his face lovingly. `Doctor? I've got you.'

`Oh, the caring companion,' the Master said sarcastically.

The Doctor looked up at him from the floor. `The Toclafane. What are they? Who are they?'

`Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break.'

`Is it time? Is it ready?' the male sphere asked.

`Is the machine singing?' asked the female sphere.

The Master checked his watch. `Two minutes past.' He ran up the stairs and turned to face the cameras. `So, Earthlings. Basically, er, end of the world. Here come the drums!'

The Rogue Trader's song "Voodoo Child" started playing as the paradox machine in the TARDIS activated. A rift appeared in the sky above the Valiant and millions of spheres poured out.

The Master looked out of the window with excitement, and then ran up the stairs to his wife, Lucy. `How many do you think?'

`I, I don't know,' she said, looking out through the large viewing window.

`Six billion. Down you go, kids!'

The spheres headed down to the population centres below and opened fire.

`Shall we decimate them?' the Master asked flippantly. `That sounds good. A nice word, decimate. Remove one tenth of the population!'

Whilst the Master was distracted with the death and destruction, the Doctor whispered to Rose. `Go! Tell the world about me. Use the countdown and get everyone to say my name, on this day, in one year's time.'

She looked into his eyes, and although his body was old, the eyes were the same, fierce and defiant. He nodded at her, and as tears ran down her cheeks, she cupped his face and kissed him.

She stood up and activated Jack's vortex manipulator, disappearing in a bright light. The Doctor and Jack looked at each other, and the Doctor nodded. The Master and Lucy held up the ancient Doctor so that he could watch the slaughter.

`And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good,' said the Master.