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Non Trek Fic: DW: The Doctor and Sarah: The Deadly Assassin

USS Fardell

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
The Doctor and Sarah 01: The Deadly Assassin
Prologue
Through the Millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey live a life of peace and ordered calm; protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords were about to face their most dangerous crisis in their long history...


Part 1
The Capitol, Gallifrey
The Doctor’s TARDIS materialised in an area of the Capitol. Even before it started materialising an alarm sounded.
Sector Seven, Sector Seven, alert! Unauthorised capsule entry imminent. Repeat, unauthorised capsule entry imminent. Stand to on sector seven.
Guards came running. They were in position before materialisation was complete.


Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor saw Sarah leave the console room into the corridors. He turned to the scanner. “Right outside the capitol itself. I’m in trouble now.” He activated the viewscreen. “Chancery Guards. What a welcome home,” he said disparagingly.


A Time Lord and a Guard Commander approached the TARDIS.
“It looks...”

“Yes?” the Time Lord asked.

“If I didn’t know better, Castellan, I’d swear it was a Type 40.

“It is.”


The Doctor listened in via the scanner. “But that’s impossible. There are no Type 40’s in service. They’re out of commission, obsolete.

The Doctor was outraged. “Obsolete?” He turned to the console. “Twaddle! Take no notice, my dear old thing.”

Nevertheless, Commander, this is a TARDIS. It’s in an unauthorised zone. I want the occupants arrested.” The Doctor looked up at that. “The barrier on this model is a double curtain trimonic, so you will need a cipher indent key to get in.

“Very well, Castellan. I’ll send for one.

After you have arrested the personnel, impound the machine,” the Castellan directed.

“Of course, Castellan. Will you want me to question the...

The Castellan interrupted. “Eventually, yes. But not on a Presidential Resignation Day, Hildred.

“Presidential Resignation Day!” the Doctor realised. He saw the Castellan depart the area.

The Doctor continued to watch the screen...

He saw the Castellan go away. He then saw that the guards were waiting for the key to be delivered.

“I have to warn the President somehow,” he mused. He thought about the situation. He knew that he had to do something.


Meanwhile, Sarah Jane was in the library, at the secondary console. She was viewing the scanner screen. She thus knew that the Doctor was in serious trouble. (She also didn’t want to know what more advanced TARDIS’s were capable of.) She looked around at the library and wondered if there were any books that would help in the situation that they were in. The size of the library was overwhelming. She turned back to the secondary console. Was there an electronic index?


The Doctor overheard the Castellan’s voice on the Commander’s wrist communicator. “The occupant of your Type Forty is a convicted criminal. Approach with caution.”

Very good, Castellan.” The commander turned to his men. “Set your stasers.”

“I must get past them and warn the President!” He then reconsidered. “But, how, without putting Sarah in danger?”

Fortunately, the door on the wood panelled console room could be locked from the corridor side. If he could get to the main console room quickly enough... He dashed out of the room and locked the door.


Commander Hildred entered the incongruous Type 40. He realised that the chameleon circuit must be malfunctioning. It was stuck in camouflage mode. “Right, follow me,” he said to his unit.


The Doctor entered the main console room and flipped a switch on the console, reassigning the control of the TARDIS away from the wood panelled console room. He used the scanner to check that the guards were all in that console room. He saw that they were all in the TARDIS. ‘Good!’
“Don’t move! I said, don’t move!” He saw the Commander move to look at the Doctor’s distraction...

“Time to go...”


Hildred approached the occupant of the Type Forty, except that it wasn’t. It was a diversion! He picked up a letter. The President is in danger! He then and saw the occupant in the scanner screen, outside the TT Capsule! “There he goes! Quick!”

Some of the guards attempted to leave the capsule by the way that they had come in, but quickly found that impossible. “Commander!”

“He must have switched control rooms. That’s clever! Quick, we can find the other control room if we’re quick enough.” He went to the door and immediately found that it was locked. “Of course.”


In the library, Sarah laughed. The Doctor had effectually corralled them into a trap. She wondered how they would get out.


“The door’s locked, find the switch in here. Quickly,” Hildred ordered.

“Yes. Commander.”


‘Of course,’ Sarah thought. She wondered how soon they would find that switch. She hoped that it would take some time.


The Doctor arrived at a lift and summoned it. Unfortunately a guard arrived in it. ‘Oops!’ the Doctor thought.

The guard indicated to the Doctor to go back, before he’s shot by a mysterious figure.

The Doctor looked around for the figure, but he left quickly. “Hey, just a minute! Excuse me!” He then selected a floor and quickly ran away from the scene...


After a minute searching, Hildred switched the TARDIS control back to the wood panelled console room. “That’s it, Quick!” He and his men then filed out of the TARDIS.


Sarah saw the guards leaving the TARDIS. “What now?” she wondered. She was safe, for the moment (if she kept the door to the console room locked), but she wanted to know more about Gallifrey...
She started to think whether it would be worth the risk to do some investigation.


Hildred and his men ran up to the fallen guard a minute later. “Coyned. He's got into the tower. You'll have to check every floor.” He activated his wrist communicator. “All guards report to main tower, sector seven. Dangerous intruder at large.” He then went to report to the Castellan, taking the letter that the renegade had written.


Sarah then saw that the Doctor was returning. She then left the library.


The Doctor approached the TARDIS and poked the sonic screwdriver in through the doors. He then used it to reverse the console room control switch. He withdrew his arm as it did its work. He then dashed into the main console room.


The Doctor and Sarah met outside the wood panelled console room. “Sarah! The danger hasn’t passed,” the Doctor said as he unlocked the room.

“I’m curious, Doctor.”

“Of course, but in this case, it’s ill advised.”

“How so?”

“You may be returned to Earth, without the memories of your journeys with me,” the Doctor said seriously.

“They can do that?” Sarah asked, with some shock.

“They can,” the Doctor said in an ominous tone.

“That’s not good!”

“I agree, which is why you’re staying here.”

“You could stop it from happening, right?”

“There’s no guarantee. Stay in the TARDIS.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Sarah said, with a flash of indignation in her eyes.

The Doctor knew that she would try to argue with the Time Lords. He wished that he had warned Jamie and Zoe... “Return to the library.”

Sarah agreed. She turned around and headed back in the direction of the library. The Doctor re-entered the wood panelled console room.


“Now what’s on the local news program, eh?” The Doctor switched the scanner onto one of the Capitol’s media channels.

Around me in these high galleries of the Panopticon already the Time Lords are gathering, donning seldom worn robes with their colourful collar insignia. The scarlet and orange of the Prydonians, the green of the Arcalians, the heliotrope of the Patrexes, and so on. And the one question that is on all their lips, the question of the day, as His Supremacy leaves public life, is who will he name as his successor?”

“Oh no, it’s Runcible. Runcible the Fatous,” the Doctor commented.

In a moment, I hope to talk to Cardinal Borusa, the leader of the Prydonian Chapter, the Chapter that has produced more Time Lord Presidents than all other Chapters put together, and perhaps get an answer to this question.

‘Yes,’ the Doctor thought.

On the screen, Runcible stopped a figure that was coming down some stairs. “Cardinal Borusa, if you can spare a moment, sir.”

Yes?” Borusa asked.

Public Register Video,” Runcible said, indentifying his broadcaster. “If I could ask you a few questions.”

Good gracious. Runcible, is it not?

Yes, sir.”

One of my old pupils at Prydon Academy.”

May I congratulate you sir, on your elevation to Cardinal?

Thank you, Runcible. Good day.

No, no, wait, sir. Please if I could ask you a few questions.

Runcible, you had ample opportunity to ask me questions during your mis-spent years at the Academy. You failed to avail yourself of the opportunity then and it is too late now. Good day.” Borusa said, blowing off the journalist.

I’m afraid Cardinal Borusa cannot, at this present moment in the time band, commit himself. However, it is certainly no secret that a very senior member of the Prydonian Chapter, and the present number two in the Time Lord Council, Chancellor Goth, is the widely fancied candidate.

“Oh, get off,” the Doctor said. He switched the Scanner to see what was happening outside the TARDIS.

There’s no way this Doctor can enter the Capitol from the tower, is there?” Chancellor Goth asked.

Not unless he’s got the help of an accomplice,” the Castellan said.

From within?

Perhaps he’s gone to the tower to shake off his pursuers while somebody inside lifts the barrier.”

What an inventive suspicious mind you have, Spandrell.” Goth pointed at the TARDIS. “So this is an old type Forty.”

Its shape was infinitely variable.”

Remarkably good condition. What are you going to do with it?

I hadn’t thought. I was more interested in its operator.”

Well I wouldn’t leave it here in case he tries to sneak back. Transduct it to the Capitol.”

Very well, sir.”

Oh, and, er, keep me informed on the progress on the conspiracy.”

Of course,” Spandrell said. He turned to a guard. “Transduct this to the museum.”


The Doctor waited as the TARDIS was transducted to a museum.


Sarah arrived at the console in the library in time to see the transduction in progress. “The Time Lords are more advanced than I thought,” she said to herself. She turned around and looked at the large quantity of books. “I have better get started.”


Shortly after the TARDIS appeared in the museum the Doctor emerged. “What a way to travel. But which way the Panopticon?” It had been a long time since the Doctor had left Gallifrey...

He looked around the museum and found a suit of Time Lord regalia. “It would have to do.”


Sarah turned from the books, which were mostly about Earth history, and went back to the console. “Now, the Time Lords have to have a version of the BBC, or something similar. I don’t think they’d be like the Americans...”

The TARDIS decided to be helpful. The console flashed up some information for Sarah.

Public Register Video – Gallifrey’s Primary Public Video Information Service.
...
“Oh, Ok. Switch it on,” Sarah directed.

The TARDIS got the gist of Sarah’s direction, and put on Public Register Video, right in the middle of one of Runcible’s monologues...


The Doctor entered one of the robing rooms being used by the older Time Lords.
“You know, I remember the inaugural of Pandek the Third,” one said.

“Really?” another said.

“Yeah, nine hundred years, he lasted. Now there was a President with staying power, what?” the first said, as he put his gown on a coat hook. The Doctor saw his opportunity and took it, grabbing the gown...

“What?”

“Staying power,” he grabbed empty space. “Where the dickens is my gown?”

“Nine hundred years, eh?”

“I could have sworn it was here a second ago.”

“Here you are, sir,” the Doctor said, handing the Time Lord the gold robes from the museum. He helped him into the robes.

“Ah, thank you. Most kind. Yes, very different from the fellows nowadays, what? They're chopping and changing every couple of centuries.”

The other Time Lord saw what he was wearing. “You're not gold, are you?

The Doctor then exited the robing room...


Sarah was annoyed, Public Register Video had switched from its live transmission to a short documentary on the outgoing Time Lord President. “We shall return to the live coverage in a few minutes.”


The Doctor entered the Panopticon. He saw Runcible. “Runcible, my dear chap. How nice to see you,” he said as he approached.

“What? Oh, I don’t believe we’ve... er. Oh, I say/ Weren’t you expelled or something? Some scandal?”

“Oh, It’s all been forgotten about now, old boy.”

“Oh, really? Well, where have you been all these years?”

“Oh, here and there, you know, Round and about,” the Doctor answered enigmatically. He saw some guards and bent over.

“Is there something the matter?” Runcible asked.

“Oh no, just a twinge in the knee.”

“Well, if you lead such a rackety life. Have you had a facelift?”

“Several, so far.

“Yes, well, nice to have met you. I must get on. I’m doing the PR videocast.”

“Yes, and splendidly so, if I may say so.”

“Oh, do you think so?”

“Oh, it's a gift. Somehow you have a wonderful way of making the whole thing come alive,” the Doctor said, trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh, that's very nice of you,” Runcible said as some organ chords could be heard. “Oh, that'll be the President now. He's just arrived at the Panopticon.”

The Doctor remembered the vision he had had of the assassination. He looked at the gallery.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Runcible asked.

“What? Yes.”

Runcible was distracted. “Come on, you stupid yoik.”

“What?” the Doctor asked, unsure if Rucible was referring to him.

“I should be getting a signal from my camera technician up there.”

The Doctor looked over and saw a rifle on a railing. “No!” he called out. He then ran off through the crowd of Time Lords dislodging his headdress in the process... “Let me go! Let me go!”


Sarah was still watching. She had seen the trailing end of the Doctor’s talk with Runcible. “Just a little disturbance here in the Panopticon, as the President starts to ascend. Already the members of the High Council, led by Chancellor Goth, are moving forward to greet His Supremacy.


The Doctor entered the gallery and quickly got behind the rifle. He saw someone down in the main chamber aim a hand weapon at the President. ‘No!’ He grabbed the rifle and fired...


Sarah saw the President collapse. ‘Oh no!
 
Part 2
Gallifrey

The Doctor tried to flee. “There he is!” Hildred said. The Doctor is then knocked out.


In the TARDIS, Sarah decided to ignore the Doctor’s earlier instructions, and to go and try to help him. She ran out of the library.


“What a terrible thing to happen,” a Time Lord said.

“Did you see what happened sir?” Runcible asked.

“It’s terrible, terrible!”

“But is the President dead?”

“We live in evil times,” another Time Lord, Borusa, said.


“Ah, Castellan Spandrell. Perhaps you can tell me what has happened?” Runcible asked.

“Will you all stand back, please. We've got the criminal,” Spendrell said,

Guards brought the Doctor to them.

“Is that him?” the first Time Lord asked.

“A Prydonian,” Borusa said.

Hildred proffered the rifle. “He was still in the gallery, Sir, still holding this.”

“Extraordinary. The roof’s still on. I could have sworn it fell on me,” the Doctor said.

“Get him to a detention room,” Spandrell ordered.

“No, no, wait, wait, I...” the Doctor was interrupted as he was hustled out.


Sarah entered the console room. She switched on the Scanner. “Access Public Register Video,” she ordered.

The TARDIS complied, desiring Sarah to have all the information possible.
Runcible was speaking. “The assassin has been taken to a facility where he will await trial and execution before the election in 48 hours time.”

“Execution! I won’t let that happen!” She ran to the door, and out of the TARDIS...


Hildred was using ‘enhanced interrogation.’ “You will confess, Doctor.”

“All right. All right, I’ll confess.”

“Very sensible.”

“I confess you’re a bigger idiot than I thought you were.” He then gave out a grunt of pain.
“There are fifteen intensity levels in this device, Doctor,” Hildred said. “At the moment, you’re only experiencing level nine. Much easier to talk.”

“I’ve got nothing to say,” the Doctor objected with a grunt.

“Oh, you’ll think of something soon,” Hildred said as he turned up the intensity of the device with a twist.

The Doctor gave out more grunts of pain “Tweedledum.”

Spandrell approached. “Turn it off!”

“Tweedledee,” the Doctor said.

“I must apologise for my subordinate. He lets his enthusiasm run away with him,” Spandrell said.

“I see. The hot and cold technique.”

“We are simply seekers of the truth, and we haven’t got much time. Chancellor Goth has ordered your immediate trial.”

“I’d like to help you. How about a signed confession.”

“That will help,” Spandrell said as he paced. “I hate going to court without the full facts. Motive, for instance.”

“Now that’s a sensible question. Why should anyone want to assassinate a retiring President?”

“A personal grudge?”

“I never met him.”

“I know, I’ve seen your biog.”

“And you still think I did it?”

“I think you’re going to be executed for it. They are preparing the vaporisation chamber now. You have about three hours to live, Doctor.”

“What? Well that’s monstrous. Vaporisation without representation is against the constitution.”

“You are an embarrassment!”


Sarah had followed Spandrell to the holding chamber. As she heard Spandrell’s pronouncement of doom, she decided to leap into action.

“No!”

“Sarah! I’ve been framed!” the Doctor said, confused.

“Framed?” Spandrell asked.

“Who is this?” Hildred asked.

“An Earth expression, and she shouldn’t be here!”

“Really?” Hildred asked, with sarcasm.

“What does the expression mean?” Spandrell asked.

“It means that someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to get me in this mess,” the Doctor said.

“Exactly,” Sarah added.

“Who are you?” Spandrell asked.

“Don’t answer!” the Doctor told Sarah.

“Is she from Earth?” Spandrell asked. “Your association with that planet was also in your biog.”

“Why did you bring her here if she is?” Hildred asked.

“More importantly, Why did you come back here?”

“I’m not answering the first question,” the Doctor said. “The answer to the more pertinent second is: to try to save the President’s life. If you remember I left a note for you.”

“Yes,” Spandrell answered.

“Which, presumably, you did nothing about?”

“All that I could. So you knew that the President was going to be assassinated?”

“Yes. In a way, I experienced it.”

“Go on.”

Sarah watched and listened as the Doctor told Spandrell and Hildred of his premonition.


“What are we going to do with the girl?” Hildred asked Spandrell as they left the Doctor’s holding cell/cage.

“Leave her in there with him, for now,” Spandrell asked.
“Certainly, Castellan.”

“And Hildred.”

“Yes, Castellan.”

“Don’t be rough with her, is that clear?”


The Trial
Both the Doctor and Sarah were sitting accused. The Doctor was drawing pictures while Sarah was glaring at the Time Lords. Hildred was on the stand. “...The Doctor eluded us at that time. Later I went with Castellan Spandrell to the Capitol Museum where the TT capsule had been transferred. Erogen tracer immediately became active. I concluded the prisoner must have been in the vicinity sometime previous.”


Runcible was in the witness stand. The Doctor was still drawing pictures, while Sarah was actually taking notes.

“He seemed nervous, well, apprehensive. He was looking around all the time that we were talking. Then, just before the President appeared, he turned and started to run across the Panopticon. After that, I thought he said...”


A little later...

“...He pushed past me in a loutish and unmannerly way. Never in all my years of attendance at the Panopticon can I recall such...”

“If you could confine yourself to this incident, sir. What happened next?” Goth asked.

“Well, I caught him by the arm to remonstrate with him, and he shouted 'Let me go. They'll kill him.'”

“Are you quite sure of that?”

“Let me put it to you. Could the accused have said, 'Let me go, I will kill him'?”

“ What?”

“Are you perhaps getting a little hard of hearing these days?”

“Well, er, at my age one can expect these things. I've been having a bit of trouble with my hip lately.”

“Let me put it to you. Could the accused have said, 'Let me go, I will kill him'?”

“Well, yes, I suppose it is possible. He could have said that.”

“Thank you.” Goth turned to the Doctor. “Has the accused anything to say before sentence is pronounced?”

“Yes. Article Seventeen," the Doctor said.

“Article Seventeen?” Goth asked.

“I offer myself as a candidate for the Presidency.”

There were mutterings of disbelief.

“Are you sure?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” the Doctor answered her quietly.

“The application is frivolous,” Goth objected.

“No, sir. I invoke Article Seventeen of the Constitution which is a guarantee of liberty and says, in part, that no candidate for office shall in anyway be debarred or restrained from presenting his claim.”

“The guarantee of liberty does not extend to murderers.”

“As a jurist, Chancellor, I must point out that until the accused is pronounced guilty, he is protected by Article Seventeen,” Borusa said.

“He is abusing a legal technicality,” Goth objected.

“No, sir, I am claiming a legal right.”

“Chancellor, this court must be adjourned until the election is over.”

“Very well. But do not think you will escape justice. Castellan Spandrell?”

“Sir,” Spandrell answered.

“ See that the accused gets no opportunity to leave the Capitol.”

“Yes, sir.”

Everyone except the Doctor, Sarah and Spandrell left.

“Forty eight hours, Doctor.”

“Well, it's better than three.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Suppose, suppose I can convince you I didn't do it?”

“All right, convince me,” Spandrell said.


Later, in a corridor...

“Well?” Someone asked.

“The trial was abjourned, master. He pleaded Article Seventeen.

“He will not escape.”

“Escape? Escape is not in his mind. Now he’s hunting you.”

“It was a mistake to bring him and that Earth girl here. We could have used anyone.”

“Earth girl? No I only wanted him here! And no, we could not have used anyone. You do not understand hatred as I understand it. Only hate keeps me alive. Why else should I endure this pain? I must see the Doctor die in shame and dishonour. Yes, and I must destroy the Time Lords. Nothing else matters. Nothing!


In a nearby corridor, the Doctor was examining the rifle that was used earlier, Hildred keeping guard.

“Don’t get any ambitious ideas!” Spandrel said.

“I just wanted to check it was the same staser,” the Doctor said. He turned. “You see that symbol at the end of the corridor?” he asked.

“What about it?” Spandrell asked.

“You try and hit it,” the Doctor suggested.

“What?” Spandrell asked.

“Go on. You try and hit it,” the Doctor said.

“Just the kind of hooliganism we’re always running the Shabogins in for.”

“Who?” Sarah asked.

“Hush!” the Doctor said.

Spandrell took up the rifle and tried to fire at the symbol.

He missed. “Miles away,” he said.

“The Sights, you see,” the Doctor pointed out. “So you see, I couldn’t have shot the President if I tried. And equally, I couldn’t hit the assassin. That’s why they were fixed.”

“The assassin, according to you, being one of the High Council.”

“Yes, Yes. He was in the party surrounding the President. I saw him pull a staser and step forward. I aimed a bolt at him, but at that time I didn’t know that the sights had been fixed,” the Doctor explained.

“One of the High Council,” Spandrell said, with slight cynicism. “It’s getting better and better.”

“What is?” the Doctor asked.

“Your story. But still a story. Where’s the evidence, Doctor?”

“I’ll tell you were the evidence is.”

“Where?”

“In the Public Register Camera. I was standing right next to it,” the Doctor answered.

“Doctor, you may yet end up as President. Hildred?”

“Yes, Castellan?”

“Take the Doctor to the Panopticon.”

“And Sarah too,” the Doctor interjected.

“And Ms. Smith,” the Castellan added.

“Now, sir?” Hildred asked.

“Of course, now. And I want Commentator Runcible there too. And wait for me.”

“Very good, Castellan,” Hildred said.


Spandrell was talking to Chancellor Goth. “That’s an unusual request. You want the Panopticon open at this hour?” Goth asked.

“For further investigation, sir.”

“I see: Well, if there is anything further to be discovered, Castellan.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You are keeping a close watch on the Doctor and his accomplice, I hope?”

“Someone is with them both all the time.”

“Good. You know that, apart from myself, he is the only other candidate in this election?”

“Is that so?”

“A murderer and a renegade. That exposes the highest office in the land to ridicule. Well, my first action as President will be to have Cardinal Borusa draft an amendment to Article Seventeen. I shall see that this sort of thing never happens again.”


Soon, they were in the Panopticon.

“It’s not really my field, of course. The technician would normally be responsible,” Runcible said.

“Your technician disappeared. Probably scared to death of being involved. All I want to see is the last sequence leading up to the assassination,” Spandrell said.

“I expect that would be in the last band of the drum,” Runcible said.

“Splendid. So perhaps you’ll be good enough to fetch it,” Spandrell said.

“Yes, All right, Castellan.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sarah offered.

“Sure!” Runcible said.


Little did they know that there was someone there already...

Runcible looked into the camera, and fainted. ‘What is it?’ Sarah asked herself. She looked herself and saw the shrunken technician there. She screamed.

The Doctor heard the scream. “Sarah!”

“Wait, Doctor!” Spandrell called as he followed.


Sarah was sobbing, as the Doctor, Spandrell and Hildred entered the gallery. “I couldn’t stop him, Doctor,” she said.

“Who, Sarah?” the Doctor asked.

“The Master,” Sarah whispered as she lay against the Doctor for comfort.

“The Master!” the Doctor realised.

“Who?” Spandrell asked.

“A very dangerous man,” the Doctor said. He looked in the camera. “Just as I suspected. Matter Condensation, a technique he picked up somewhere in his travels. He’s a fiend who glories in chaos and destruction.”

“A Time Lord?” Spandrell asked.

“He has his own TARDIS,” Sarah put in.

“His own capsule, eh?” Hildred asked sarcastically.

“Sarah’s right, he has his own TARDIS, not necessarily a Type 40, he was a Time Lord a long time ago,” the Doctor said. He paused. “A lot of things are becoming clearer.”

“Not to me,” Spandrell said.

“If the Master’s here on Gallifrey, then this represents the final challenge. It explains why I was brought here. There are old scores to settle. And that’s just a sort of greeting card,” the Doctor explained.

Runcible finished removing the records from the camera.

“Take it to Records. I’ll have a look at it there,” Spandrell said. He turned back to the Doctor. “I want to know all you can tell me about this Master. And I warn you now, if there is some private feud between you, do not try to settle it on Gallifrey.”

“It cannot be avoided. Like it or not, Gallifrey is involved and I’m afraid things will never be quite the same again,” the Doctor said.


They went down from the gallery back to the Panopticon. “If he’s a Time Lord, there’ll be a DE on him in the archives,” Spandrell said.

“Hmm, Perhaps, perhaps,” the Doctor mused.

“What do you mean, perhaps?” Spandrell asked. “There is a full biog on every Time Lord,” he clarified.

Hildred interrupted. “Runcible.”

Followed by Sarah. “Runcible!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Runcible got out, before collapsing. He had a stake in his back.”

“It was thrown, Doctor. One moment he was fine, and the next it was there!” Sarah explained.

“Did you see where it came from?” the Doctor asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Sarah admitted.

“Four cold-blooded killings in one day...” Spandrell mused as he, the Doctor, Sarah and Hildred entered the records room.

“Flea bitings, Spandrell, flea bitings. Things will get worse,” the Doctor said.

“Not here in the Time Lord Capitol!”

“Well, it might rouse some of them from their lethargy. They live for centuries and have just about as much sense for adventure as dormice.”

Coordinator Engin spoke up. “Nothing Castellan. There is no record of any Time Lord ever adopting that title.”

“I told you so. If there had been a DE on the Master, the first thing he would have done would be to destroy it,” the Doctor said.

“According to Coordinator Engin, the Time Lord data extracts cannot be withdrawn without the fact being recorded. I thought yours had been scanned recently, but he assured me that was impossible,” Spandrell explained.

“Rubbish!” The Doctor objected. “Anyone with a little criminal knowhow could do it. I could do it myself.”

“More than criminal know how, Doctor,” Engin put in an objection of his own. “Excitonic circuitry.”

“Child’s play to the Master. Do you think this stuff is sophisticated? There are worlds out there where this kind of equipment would be considered prehistoric junk.”

“What’s the Master like on mathematics?” Spandrell asked.

“He’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He’s almost up to my standard,” the Doctor asked. He spotted a piece of equipment. “What’s that?”

“The APC Control,” Engin explained.

“What?” the Doctor asked.

“Amplified Panatropic Computations.”

“Brain Cells,” the Doctor said.

“Yes. Trillions of electrochemical cells in a continuous matrix. The cells are the repository of departed Time Lords. At the moment of death, an electrical scan is made of the brain pattern and these millions of impulses are immediately transferred to the ...”

“Sush, I understand the theory.”

“Interesting....” Sarah said under her breath.

“What’s the function?” the Doctor asked.

“Well, to monitor life in the Capitol. We use all this combined knowledge and experience to predict future developments,” Engin explained.

“Ah. Like the assassination of a President,” the Doctor said.

“For some reason, that was not foreseen,” Engin said.

“Oh, yes. It was foreseen by me. How very clever. This time he’s surpassed himself,” the Doctor said.

“What are you talking about?” Spandrell asked.

“Well, don't you see what he's done? We Time Lords are telepathic. That's simply a brain storage system. He intercepted its forecast that the President was to be assassinated and beamed it into my mind.”

“Is that possible?” Spandrell asked.

“No,” Engin said.

“Obviously it is,” Sarah said.

“Thanks, Sarah,” the Doctor said. “Yes, he could do it. You said my DE had been scanned,” he asked Spandrell.

“Yes.”

“Yes. He'd need a biography print to beam a message accurately over that distance. It makes sense, Spandrell.”

“Maybe, but why?”

“I told you. Because he has an old score to settle.”

“Doctor, I simply cannot believe that anybody could do what you're suggesting. How can one intercept a thought pattern from within the Matrix itself?” Engin asked.

“By going in and joining it,” the Doctor said.

“You mean, a living mind?” Spandrell asked.

“Well, in a sense that's all a living mind is, electrochemical impulses. If I went in there, I could discover where he intercepted the circuit.”

“I couldn't allow that. It's too dangerous. The psychosomatic feedback might kill you,” Engin said.

“Are you sure, Doctor?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, I am sure. There is no other way,” the Doctor said.

“It’s never been done,” Engin said.

“It’s better than being vaporised, and that’s what’s in store for me if I don’t produce the Master,” the Doctor said.

Soon, the Doctor entered the matrix.


Matrix
The Doctor appeared in a simulation of a quarry. Sinister laugher echoed all around him. He recognised that laugher. It was the Master. He fell down a slope and over a precipice. He manages to lasso a bush to stop his fall. But a samurai appears and cuts the scarf with his sword. The Doctor falls.


Records Room
“It’s stopped,” Engin said.

“What’s stopped?” Sarah asked.

“Brain activity,” Engin said.

Sarah burst into tears.

“You mean he’s dead?” Spandrell asked.

“Virtually. I warned him. The Psychic shock of that environment...”

“But he’s still breathing!” Spandrell objected.

“Oh, motor functions continue for some. He’s back!” Engin said., but he was interrupted by Sarah.

“He’s back! Good!”

“His brain must have a high level of artron energy,” Engin continued.

Matrix
The Doctor awoke into a surgical theatre. A surgeon was over him holding a needle. “You were a fool, Doctor, to venture into my domain.”

The Doctor rolled off the table into a World War One battleground. He found himself trapped on a railway line.
 
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