Post by Fitz Kreiner on Jun 3, 2009 10:21:58 GMT
“What is it?” Morris asked again as he leant closer to look at it, his hands on his knees supporting his weight.
“I’ve no idea,” the Doctor said, rummaging in his pockets. “But until we do know, I wouldn’t get too close if I were you.”
“You think it’s booby trapped?” Morris asked, looking up at the Doctor.
“With the Master involved, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Morris turned to look back at the strange construct. It had what looked like tubes coming from the central sphere and into the fuse box and the entire computer server which sat beside. The strange tube wires seemed to connect all the UNIT equipment in the cellar together. Morris didn’t dare touch anything, not just because of the Doctors warning, but because it looked alien and dangerous.
“Where did it come from?” He asked eventually.
“The facsimile,” the Doctor replied. “I would imagine it would have gotten its instructions direct from the Master and constructed this out of its own plastic.”
“It never rains...” Morris muttered as he straightened up.
Grimacing, he gave the device a brief kick and was surprised to see one of the tubes drop down. Morris’s eyes widened as the tube started to writhe around like a snake or tentacle. Looking round at the Doctor, Morris saw that he’d spotted it too.
“Fascinating,” the Doctor muttered as he pulled a magnifying glass out of his coat pocket.
The Doctor trained the magnifying glass on the tube, the light casting a beam onto another part of the device that the Doctor seemed oblivious too. Cautiously, Morris leant closer to study the strange tube. As he did so, the tube spat out a stream of liquid at both he and the Doctor. Both men jumped back, the majority of the spray that was directed at the Doctor had landed on the magnifying glass and his shoulders and was rapidly solidifying. Morris cried out as the spray hit his face and he fell back onto the concrete floor as the liquid plastic started to set about his face.
Spinning on his heel, the Doctor was immediately knelt beside Morris. Reaching up to his face, Morris clawed at the plastic which was forming an airtight seal over his face, clawing at the edge in panic. With one hand, the Doctor attempted to help Morris, whilst fumbling about his person with the other. Morris grabbed the Doctor’s lapel with one hand, his eyes wide, as he found himself getting faint and unable to breathe or even cry out.
Plunging a hand into a pocket, the Doctor pulled out a small glass bottle with a brown liquid inside. Quickly unscrewing the top, he poured the contents around the edge of the plastic which was suffocating Morris, desperately trying to prise it off with the other hand. Muttering to himself when it yielded no results, he reached into another pocket and pulled out another glass container with tiny bluish-white crystals inside. Removing the top of that, he sprinkled it over the edge of the mask.
Panic completely flooding him Morris felt a strange suction like feeling on his cheek and where the Doctor had sprinkled the strange materials started to tingle. His vision was starting to cloud and go black before he found he could breathe again. Not brilliantly, but very slightly. With one final heave, the Doctor managed to pull the plastic covering free and Morris gasped, gulping in great lungfuls of air.
“It’s ok, Will,” the Doctor said, pulling Morris out of the reach of the pipe and helping him up into a sitting position.
“Wha-What the hell happened?” Morris choked, his chest still heaving as he breathed deeply.
“That pipe thing,” the Doctor pointed to the tube that was still snaking about near the plastic device. “Like I said, there was a booby trap, and it was designed to cover the mouth and nose with the plastic fluid it emitted, which dried almost instantly.”
“I see,” Morris stammered. “Rather nasty.”
The Doctor nodded. “I’ve seen something similar before. Fortunately most of the fluid it squirted at me was stopped by the magnifying glass; otherwise we both wouldn’t be here now, eh?”
“Thanks,” Morris said, clapping a shaky hand on the Doctor’s shoulder, “I owe you one.”
“Think nothing of it,” the Doctor said, once again on his feet and cautiously examining the plastic thing.
“What was that stuff you sprinkled on it?” Morris asked licking his lips tentatively.
“Arcturan sea salt and Draconian vinegar; delicious on Gumblejack and chips.” The Doctor grinned and smacked his lips.
“Right,” Morris said slowly, once again not too sure what the Doctor was talking about.
The Doctor whirled round and grabbed Morris by the shoulders and started to lead him towards the stairs and up from the cellar. “Right Will, I think it would be very wise right now to shut down all power from here, all computer systems etcetera and run off emergency generators. I’m sure you can manage that right now. I wouldn’t trust anything whilst that creature is attached to the fuses and computer systems down there. While you’re doing that, I’ll have to work on a way to remove it. I’ll probably need a gas mask or some other form of respirator and a variety of chemicals.”
“Right then Doctor, I’ll see what I can do.” Morris started before turning back to the Doctor his eyes wide. “Hang on, I’m sorry, did you say ‘creature’?”
The Doctor nodded, with a confirming noise and smiled. “Don’t forget, Will, the Nestenes can animate anything made of plastic, and that thing down there is definitely animated. So, in the Nestene sense of the word, it’s alive. Not a life form like you or I, but a life form none the less. The blue sphere was in effect a polymer brain.”
Morris shuddered at the thought. “You sure you don’t want any help down there? I can easily get one of my chaps to put a bullet through that brain thing.”
“Oh Will. Will, Will, Will, Will, Will,” the Doctor sighed, gripping Morris by the shoulders again and shaking his head sadly. “Have you learnt nothing about Autons, bullets don’t stop them. It would most probably reform around the hole left by the bullet. No, I think my way is best. And don’t worry; I won’t go back down there before I’ve got a respirator.”
Jess was sat in one of the leather swivel chairs in the UNIT HQ briefing room. It seemed like days since she was last sat in there, yet a look at her watch told her it was only 24 hours. It seemed like so much had happened in that time; the Master, the facsimile, bumping into Kelly. She wondered whether it really had been six months she had been travelling with the Doctor or six weeks. No, it was definitely months.
She certainly felt better for a change of clothes and shower as the Doctor had suggested. It felt good to be back inside the TARDIS again, she felt safe for the first time since landing on Earth again. It was an odd feeling, not feeling safe on your own home planet, not when she’d felt so safe on both Florana and the Garazone Bazaar, even if she had gotten herself lost on the latter. She would feel a lot safer when the Master was dealt with and locked up or left Earth.
Sat back in her room at the TARDIS, Jess had been very tempted to lie down and sleep. She’d even lain down on her bed for a few minutes and heavily entertained the idea, but there was still that nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her to get back involved in stopping the Master. She also heard Toms voice filter through the TARDIS corridors at one point. She couldn’t discern any individual words or tell the tone of the shout. Still, it had spurred her to get back up and put some fresh, clean clothes on.
She’d gotten a surprise when she walked back into the console room; Tom was in the kitchen alcove cooking a full English breakfast. The smell of frying bacon and sausage filled the cavernous room. The smell reminded her just how hungry she was.
She had to turn away when she discovered that the reason for Tom’s cry was that he’d managed to burn himself by grabbing hold of the metal handle of a pan. She shouldn’t have found it funny, but she expected better of a Time Lord. Nevertheless, she helped herself to a generous portion of the breakfast, except the tomato, instead helping herself to extra mushrooms. She had to admit, he was a very good cook.
The sound of the briefing room door being open brought her crashing back down to Earth. She looked up at the figures that entered; the first two she recognised, Loding and Lovatt, but the next was a stranger in a military uniform. The pips on the strangers’ shoulders indicated that he was a high ranking officer. Jess watched as Lovatt showed the man to a chair, which he took and looked at both her and Tom, nodding curtly. Lovatt and Loding took seats either side of the officer. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.
The door opened again and Jess looked up again. She recognised the first man to come through; Sir Daniel Ashfield, his hair greying at the temples much neater, the stubble shaved off and a smart business suit. Captain Morris was close behind him, with the Doctor bringing up the rear. Jess almost gaped at the sight of him. His purple velvet coat was spattered with what looked like beige coloured plastic, as though it had been sprayed as a liquid and it dried before it could be removed. There were globules of it in his hair as well, forming little beads in his chestnut curls.
Taking a position at the top of the room, the Doctor clapped his hands together, the sound reverberating around the room and causing everyone to jump.
“Right then, ladies and gentlemen,” he said with a broad smile across his face.”As you all know, we’re facing another attack by the Nestenes and their Auton foot soldiers, again, aided and abetted by the Master.” The Doctor nodded to Loding who handed out the files she had placed before her.
“One thing we need to keep into consideration is the Nestene ability to animate all forms of plastic.” The Doctor continued. “That means that all plastic could potentially be the enemy, as I’ve experienced myself recently. This HQ has had a pair of facsimile infiltrators and they attached a plastic device to the computer and other electric systems, thus giving the potential for every wire in this building to become a killer. Fortunately, with a little help, I’ve managed to neutralise the threat so we don’t have to worry about that any more.
“Now, we know where the Master is, and he knows that we now know. He’s likely to be on high alert and moved his base of operations. It’s also very likely that a lot of mannequins around the country are about to become ruthless killers. This HQ has already secured a large group of mannequins from a distribution centre nearby. I trust they’ve been taken care of?”
“We’ve had them moved to a safe and secured location.” Morris replied, looking from the Doctor to Loding who nodded in agreement.
“I hope by ‘safe and secure’ you mean ‘melted down and completely destroyed’,” the Doctor replied looking at Morris. “Because just locking them up still leaves the chance that they can escape and cause untold damage and destruction.”
“They will be taken care of, Doctor.” Morris replied.
“I certainly hope so, Will, I certainly hope so.” The Doctor said. “Everything I know about the Nestenes is in the files in front of you. That should save both my voice and time for my repeating myself. Now, before you say anything, Jess, Tom, I know you don’t have a file, that’s because I’ll be taking you with me when we leave and let the military chaps to it. I take it what I asked for has arrived from the stores?”
“It has indeed, Doctor.” Morris replied. “It’s down in the garages for you.”
“Excellent,” the Doctor smiled, clapping his hands together again. “Over to you Will.”
Nodding at the cue, Morris got to his feet and placed a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder as the Time Lord passed him and took a seat at the edge of the room, back from the table.
“After the debacle at the Rutillus Alec plastics factory and with our somewhat severe losses, I’ve called on General Bailey, our liason with the regular army, to sit in with us here, and if necessary, supply us with backup troops.” Morris said.
“I’d hope we could avoid a pitched battle, Will,” the Doctor cut in from where he was sat. “It was bad enough at the factory, but on the streets, we’d be putting civilians at risk.”
“I appreciate that, Doctor,” Morris replied, turning to face the Doctor. “But if the Master is anything like what you’ve told me, then I doubt that he’d take that into account. As you said, we must prepare to face the fact that every mannequin and plastic thing in the country is about to become hostile, and that may mean a mass mobilisation of the armed forces to protect civilian interests.”
“Quite,” Sir Daniel said, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on the large desk. “This is why I’m here. I can get the government to issue a cover story and call for the cessation of the upcoming celebrations.”
“Hang on,” Jess cut in loudly causing everyone to turn to look at her. “This whole thing started when we were called in to investigate your wife’s death. But what if the Master had meant to kill you? I mean, he’s been doing that for a while, who would replace you if you had died?”
A stunned silence fell over the room as all eyes looked from Jess to Ashfield. A large grin spread over the Doctor’s face.
“Well done Jess, yes of course.” He said.
“Erm,” Ashfield sat back in his chair, taken aback. “Well, we’ve this new chap, I can’t remember his name. He replaced Gavin Hilton, my previous replacement. That was a bit of a shocker, I can tell you. He was found in possession of sensitive materials he shouldn’t have had.”
“Of course,” the Doctor smiled, “planted by a facsimile most probably, to get this new successor placed in and to take your place. The Master has certainly covered all the bases.” Pausing, the Doctor turned to Ashfield and smiled. “Please, do carry on Sir Daniel.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Sir Daniel said, turning back and continuing.
Silently, whilst Ashfield was talking, the Doctor motioned to Jess and Tom to quietly follow him. Carefully, Jess got to her feet and quietly walked out of the room, it seemed that no one had noticed them leave as she silently shut the door behind her. Before he made his way down the corridor, the Doctor held his finger to his lips to the private stood outside the door, indicating him to keep quiet.
“Where are we going?” Jess whispered. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering, it felt the right thing to do.
“To hopefully save UNIT and the army a lot of trouble, and a lot of lives,” the Doctor replied.
The Master turned smiling from the report on the monitor screen. The Private Baxter facsimile had removed his TARDIS to a secure location, ready for him to collect it when he was ready. He now had everything he needed in place; it was now just a question of time. No doubt the Doctor and the UNIT forces would be moving soon, especially as the signals from the facsimile of Tom Rowan had ceased. It was down to whether the finer details could be finished before the UNIT forces could act. It didn’t worry him. He had numerous contingency plans in place and even if UNIT did arrive at the factory, he had the Auton force.
Getting to his feet, the Master crossed to the door of his office and opened it. Andrea was sat at her desk, busy with finer details of the plan. “Andrea, my dear,” he purred, “would you kindly tell the staff that they can leave now?”
“Are you sure, Master?” She asked, looking up from her desk.
“Of course; call it an extended holiday for the upcoming festivities.” Andrea nodded and got to her feet, the Master grabbing her arm as she passed him. “And then I have something very important for you to do for me.”
“I’ve no idea,” the Doctor said, rummaging in his pockets. “But until we do know, I wouldn’t get too close if I were you.”
“You think it’s booby trapped?” Morris asked, looking up at the Doctor.
“With the Master involved, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Morris turned to look back at the strange construct. It had what looked like tubes coming from the central sphere and into the fuse box and the entire computer server which sat beside. The strange tube wires seemed to connect all the UNIT equipment in the cellar together. Morris didn’t dare touch anything, not just because of the Doctors warning, but because it looked alien and dangerous.
“Where did it come from?” He asked eventually.
“The facsimile,” the Doctor replied. “I would imagine it would have gotten its instructions direct from the Master and constructed this out of its own plastic.”
“It never rains...” Morris muttered as he straightened up.
Grimacing, he gave the device a brief kick and was surprised to see one of the tubes drop down. Morris’s eyes widened as the tube started to writhe around like a snake or tentacle. Looking round at the Doctor, Morris saw that he’d spotted it too.
“Fascinating,” the Doctor muttered as he pulled a magnifying glass out of his coat pocket.
The Doctor trained the magnifying glass on the tube, the light casting a beam onto another part of the device that the Doctor seemed oblivious too. Cautiously, Morris leant closer to study the strange tube. As he did so, the tube spat out a stream of liquid at both he and the Doctor. Both men jumped back, the majority of the spray that was directed at the Doctor had landed on the magnifying glass and his shoulders and was rapidly solidifying. Morris cried out as the spray hit his face and he fell back onto the concrete floor as the liquid plastic started to set about his face.
Spinning on his heel, the Doctor was immediately knelt beside Morris. Reaching up to his face, Morris clawed at the plastic which was forming an airtight seal over his face, clawing at the edge in panic. With one hand, the Doctor attempted to help Morris, whilst fumbling about his person with the other. Morris grabbed the Doctor’s lapel with one hand, his eyes wide, as he found himself getting faint and unable to breathe or even cry out.
Plunging a hand into a pocket, the Doctor pulled out a small glass bottle with a brown liquid inside. Quickly unscrewing the top, he poured the contents around the edge of the plastic which was suffocating Morris, desperately trying to prise it off with the other hand. Muttering to himself when it yielded no results, he reached into another pocket and pulled out another glass container with tiny bluish-white crystals inside. Removing the top of that, he sprinkled it over the edge of the mask.
Panic completely flooding him Morris felt a strange suction like feeling on his cheek and where the Doctor had sprinkled the strange materials started to tingle. His vision was starting to cloud and go black before he found he could breathe again. Not brilliantly, but very slightly. With one final heave, the Doctor managed to pull the plastic covering free and Morris gasped, gulping in great lungfuls of air.
“It’s ok, Will,” the Doctor said, pulling Morris out of the reach of the pipe and helping him up into a sitting position.
“Wha-What the hell happened?” Morris choked, his chest still heaving as he breathed deeply.
“That pipe thing,” the Doctor pointed to the tube that was still snaking about near the plastic device. “Like I said, there was a booby trap, and it was designed to cover the mouth and nose with the plastic fluid it emitted, which dried almost instantly.”
“I see,” Morris stammered. “Rather nasty.”
The Doctor nodded. “I’ve seen something similar before. Fortunately most of the fluid it squirted at me was stopped by the magnifying glass; otherwise we both wouldn’t be here now, eh?”
“Thanks,” Morris said, clapping a shaky hand on the Doctor’s shoulder, “I owe you one.”
“Think nothing of it,” the Doctor said, once again on his feet and cautiously examining the plastic thing.
“What was that stuff you sprinkled on it?” Morris asked licking his lips tentatively.
“Arcturan sea salt and Draconian vinegar; delicious on Gumblejack and chips.” The Doctor grinned and smacked his lips.
“Right,” Morris said slowly, once again not too sure what the Doctor was talking about.
The Doctor whirled round and grabbed Morris by the shoulders and started to lead him towards the stairs and up from the cellar. “Right Will, I think it would be very wise right now to shut down all power from here, all computer systems etcetera and run off emergency generators. I’m sure you can manage that right now. I wouldn’t trust anything whilst that creature is attached to the fuses and computer systems down there. While you’re doing that, I’ll have to work on a way to remove it. I’ll probably need a gas mask or some other form of respirator and a variety of chemicals.”
“Right then Doctor, I’ll see what I can do.” Morris started before turning back to the Doctor his eyes wide. “Hang on, I’m sorry, did you say ‘creature’?”
The Doctor nodded, with a confirming noise and smiled. “Don’t forget, Will, the Nestenes can animate anything made of plastic, and that thing down there is definitely animated. So, in the Nestene sense of the word, it’s alive. Not a life form like you or I, but a life form none the less. The blue sphere was in effect a polymer brain.”
Morris shuddered at the thought. “You sure you don’t want any help down there? I can easily get one of my chaps to put a bullet through that brain thing.”
“Oh Will. Will, Will, Will, Will, Will,” the Doctor sighed, gripping Morris by the shoulders again and shaking his head sadly. “Have you learnt nothing about Autons, bullets don’t stop them. It would most probably reform around the hole left by the bullet. No, I think my way is best. And don’t worry; I won’t go back down there before I’ve got a respirator.”
*
Jess was sat in one of the leather swivel chairs in the UNIT HQ briefing room. It seemed like days since she was last sat in there, yet a look at her watch told her it was only 24 hours. It seemed like so much had happened in that time; the Master, the facsimile, bumping into Kelly. She wondered whether it really had been six months she had been travelling with the Doctor or six weeks. No, it was definitely months.
She certainly felt better for a change of clothes and shower as the Doctor had suggested. It felt good to be back inside the TARDIS again, she felt safe for the first time since landing on Earth again. It was an odd feeling, not feeling safe on your own home planet, not when she’d felt so safe on both Florana and the Garazone Bazaar, even if she had gotten herself lost on the latter. She would feel a lot safer when the Master was dealt with and locked up or left Earth.
Sat back in her room at the TARDIS, Jess had been very tempted to lie down and sleep. She’d even lain down on her bed for a few minutes and heavily entertained the idea, but there was still that nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her to get back involved in stopping the Master. She also heard Toms voice filter through the TARDIS corridors at one point. She couldn’t discern any individual words or tell the tone of the shout. Still, it had spurred her to get back up and put some fresh, clean clothes on.
She’d gotten a surprise when she walked back into the console room; Tom was in the kitchen alcove cooking a full English breakfast. The smell of frying bacon and sausage filled the cavernous room. The smell reminded her just how hungry she was.
She had to turn away when she discovered that the reason for Tom’s cry was that he’d managed to burn himself by grabbing hold of the metal handle of a pan. She shouldn’t have found it funny, but she expected better of a Time Lord. Nevertheless, she helped herself to a generous portion of the breakfast, except the tomato, instead helping herself to extra mushrooms. She had to admit, he was a very good cook.
The sound of the briefing room door being open brought her crashing back down to Earth. She looked up at the figures that entered; the first two she recognised, Loding and Lovatt, but the next was a stranger in a military uniform. The pips on the strangers’ shoulders indicated that he was a high ranking officer. Jess watched as Lovatt showed the man to a chair, which he took and looked at both her and Tom, nodding curtly. Lovatt and Loding took seats either side of the officer. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.
The door opened again and Jess looked up again. She recognised the first man to come through; Sir Daniel Ashfield, his hair greying at the temples much neater, the stubble shaved off and a smart business suit. Captain Morris was close behind him, with the Doctor bringing up the rear. Jess almost gaped at the sight of him. His purple velvet coat was spattered with what looked like beige coloured plastic, as though it had been sprayed as a liquid and it dried before it could be removed. There were globules of it in his hair as well, forming little beads in his chestnut curls.
Taking a position at the top of the room, the Doctor clapped his hands together, the sound reverberating around the room and causing everyone to jump.
“Right then, ladies and gentlemen,” he said with a broad smile across his face.”As you all know, we’re facing another attack by the Nestenes and their Auton foot soldiers, again, aided and abetted by the Master.” The Doctor nodded to Loding who handed out the files she had placed before her.
“One thing we need to keep into consideration is the Nestene ability to animate all forms of plastic.” The Doctor continued. “That means that all plastic could potentially be the enemy, as I’ve experienced myself recently. This HQ has had a pair of facsimile infiltrators and they attached a plastic device to the computer and other electric systems, thus giving the potential for every wire in this building to become a killer. Fortunately, with a little help, I’ve managed to neutralise the threat so we don’t have to worry about that any more.
“Now, we know where the Master is, and he knows that we now know. He’s likely to be on high alert and moved his base of operations. It’s also very likely that a lot of mannequins around the country are about to become ruthless killers. This HQ has already secured a large group of mannequins from a distribution centre nearby. I trust they’ve been taken care of?”
“We’ve had them moved to a safe and secured location.” Morris replied, looking from the Doctor to Loding who nodded in agreement.
“I hope by ‘safe and secure’ you mean ‘melted down and completely destroyed’,” the Doctor replied looking at Morris. “Because just locking them up still leaves the chance that they can escape and cause untold damage and destruction.”
“They will be taken care of, Doctor.” Morris replied.
“I certainly hope so, Will, I certainly hope so.” The Doctor said. “Everything I know about the Nestenes is in the files in front of you. That should save both my voice and time for my repeating myself. Now, before you say anything, Jess, Tom, I know you don’t have a file, that’s because I’ll be taking you with me when we leave and let the military chaps to it. I take it what I asked for has arrived from the stores?”
“It has indeed, Doctor.” Morris replied. “It’s down in the garages for you.”
“Excellent,” the Doctor smiled, clapping his hands together again. “Over to you Will.”
Nodding at the cue, Morris got to his feet and placed a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder as the Time Lord passed him and took a seat at the edge of the room, back from the table.
“After the debacle at the Rutillus Alec plastics factory and with our somewhat severe losses, I’ve called on General Bailey, our liason with the regular army, to sit in with us here, and if necessary, supply us with backup troops.” Morris said.
“I’d hope we could avoid a pitched battle, Will,” the Doctor cut in from where he was sat. “It was bad enough at the factory, but on the streets, we’d be putting civilians at risk.”
“I appreciate that, Doctor,” Morris replied, turning to face the Doctor. “But if the Master is anything like what you’ve told me, then I doubt that he’d take that into account. As you said, we must prepare to face the fact that every mannequin and plastic thing in the country is about to become hostile, and that may mean a mass mobilisation of the armed forces to protect civilian interests.”
“Quite,” Sir Daniel said, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on the large desk. “This is why I’m here. I can get the government to issue a cover story and call for the cessation of the upcoming celebrations.”
“Hang on,” Jess cut in loudly causing everyone to turn to look at her. “This whole thing started when we were called in to investigate your wife’s death. But what if the Master had meant to kill you? I mean, he’s been doing that for a while, who would replace you if you had died?”
A stunned silence fell over the room as all eyes looked from Jess to Ashfield. A large grin spread over the Doctor’s face.
“Well done Jess, yes of course.” He said.
“Erm,” Ashfield sat back in his chair, taken aback. “Well, we’ve this new chap, I can’t remember his name. He replaced Gavin Hilton, my previous replacement. That was a bit of a shocker, I can tell you. He was found in possession of sensitive materials he shouldn’t have had.”
“Of course,” the Doctor smiled, “planted by a facsimile most probably, to get this new successor placed in and to take your place. The Master has certainly covered all the bases.” Pausing, the Doctor turned to Ashfield and smiled. “Please, do carry on Sir Daniel.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Sir Daniel said, turning back and continuing.
Silently, whilst Ashfield was talking, the Doctor motioned to Jess and Tom to quietly follow him. Carefully, Jess got to her feet and quietly walked out of the room, it seemed that no one had noticed them leave as she silently shut the door behind her. Before he made his way down the corridor, the Doctor held his finger to his lips to the private stood outside the door, indicating him to keep quiet.
“Where are we going?” Jess whispered. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering, it felt the right thing to do.
“To hopefully save UNIT and the army a lot of trouble, and a lot of lives,” the Doctor replied.
*
The Master turned smiling from the report on the monitor screen. The Private Baxter facsimile had removed his TARDIS to a secure location, ready for him to collect it when he was ready. He now had everything he needed in place; it was now just a question of time. No doubt the Doctor and the UNIT forces would be moving soon, especially as the signals from the facsimile of Tom Rowan had ceased. It was down to whether the finer details could be finished before the UNIT forces could act. It didn’t worry him. He had numerous contingency plans in place and even if UNIT did arrive at the factory, he had the Auton force.
Getting to his feet, the Master crossed to the door of his office and opened it. Andrea was sat at her desk, busy with finer details of the plan. “Andrea, my dear,” he purred, “would you kindly tell the staff that they can leave now?”
“Are you sure, Master?” She asked, looking up from her desk.
“Of course; call it an extended holiday for the upcoming festivities.” Andrea nodded and got to her feet, the Master grabbing her arm as she passed him. “And then I have something very important for you to do for me.”