The Master turned to look at Ben. “Just ‘the Master’ will do.”
“I don’t understand,” said Caroline. “Do you even remember what happened to you?”
The Master crossed over to his former, travelling companions and looked down at them. “Of course. Every, single, last, pathetic moment of it.”
Danny frowned. “Then can you care to explain to us what happened to you.”
“You see, my dear friends, the Doctor and I go way back. Way, way back. Further than he cares to remember. And we’re not exactly…friends. I’ve always thought of him as a very dear ally. A competitor. And, I am ashamed to admit, he has defeated me on many occasions. I’ve even died a few times because of him.
Well, on this particular occasion I had reached the end of yet another regeneration cycle. Yes, it happens to the best of us, I’m afraid.
My body was dying, my TARDIS had been destroyed. I went to the only place I could think that could save me: The Proto-Store Moon.
During the Time War - so long ago, now - Time Lords began creating new Time Lords. Proto-forms. They would begin as blank slates and quickly evolve into mindless drones. Perfect to send into battle. There was one left. And it was damaged. My plan was to transfer my living consciousness into the proto-form, effectively giving myself a new body.
But there was no way to do it. The Proto-form was badly damaged. It needed a kick-start. The only way I could do it was in it coming into contact with another Time Lord. Another Time Lord’s regenerative cells. I was only dying. So I transferred - cloned - my consciousness, loaded the proto-form into the tube and ejected it into the vortex.
I can only assume that my old body died soon after.
I latched onto the TARDIS and caused it to land in Manchester, triggering the Doctor’s regeneration. I was in close proximity to him as he regenerated. I absorbed all of his cells, rendering him unable to regenerate, but before I could complete my transformation, his little blue friend - was her name Aleena? - took the new Doctor away and abandoned me in that blasted airport. I wasn’t able to complete myself.
And so I forgot. I had nothing but the mindless Human cattle and the Doctor’s regenerative cells. Slowly I believed myself to actually BE the Doctor. Rational thinking took over. I believed myself to be a Watcher - an echo of a future incarnation of the Doctor. And slowly I became Matthew Cole.
But now I know the truth. It’s a very liberating experience, I can tell you that.
Oh, and now I get to watch you all die."
Back in the shed-TARDIS dimensions, Adrian had been shepherding the Apparites - the good ones - towards the various cracks in the landscape. The Doctor had promised to save them, and he was determined to make sure none of them were trapped inside when he closed these dimensions down.
“Is it done?” said Jayne, as she looked at the Doctor, hunched over the console.
The Doctor nodded slowly. “It’s done.”
“So all you have to do is-”
“-disconnect the two wires,” said the Doctor.
“Seems a bit simple to me,” said Jayne, crouching down and looking at the two, pathetic little wires dangling underneath the console.
The Doctor crouched to join her. “You forget all the work I’ve just done to disconnect everything. This is just the very, very last thing.”
Jayne sighed. “And then it’ll all be over?”
“And then it’ll all be over. The power will be drawn back into the heart of the TARDIS. The dimensions will collapse and implode on themselves and - hopefully - the Apparites will all revert to their normal, Human form. They’ll finally be separated from this place.”
Jayne looked a little sad. “It’s a shame Brandon couldn’t have been here for this.”
The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been very brave, Miss Robson. All these centuries guarding this place. Keeping everything in check. If only I’d know about it sooner.”
“Things happen for a reason,” said Jayne. “You can’t change them now. One thing I don’t get though. How are we going to get out?”
The Doctor looked at her inquisitively.
“Well, when you disconnect those wires, this whole place collapses, yeah?”
“Mmm-hmm,” nodded the Doctor.
“So how do we get out?”
The Doctor looked sad. “You and Adrian climb through a crack before I disconnect the wires.”
“And you then join us, yeah?”
The Doctor shook his head slowly. “There’s no time for me to get out.”
“What!?”
The Doctor held up his finger to Jayne’s lips. “I’m not here to argue. I need to shut this place down.”
“But you can’t just let yourself die!”
“Jayne, I’m dying anyway,” said the Doctor. “I might as well do it being heroic!” He laughed. “I don’t want to wither away and become a helpless old man.”
Adrian came running into the console room. “It’s done, Doctor,” he said, breathlessly. “I’ve got as many out as possible.”
“Good,” said the Doctor. He moved to a sitting/lying position under the console and grabbed the wires. “Head for a crack, you two.”
“But what about you?” frowned Adrian.
“He’s staying,” said Jayne. She leaned in a little closer to the Doctor. “Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely,” said the Doctor, refusing to make eye contact. And then his grey eyes flicked to hers. “Just do me one favour.”
“Anything.”
“Make sure Caroline gets the help she needs. And tell her that I’m sorry.”
Jayne nodded. And then she leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Thank you, Doctor. I won’t forget this. Ever.”
The Doctor watched as Jayne ushered the protesting Adrian out of the console room. And then he sat there, for what seemed like an eternity. Waiting for the right amount of time to pass until he destroyed yet another world.
In the crypt, the Master was pacing up and down, eyeing up the six people and the restless baby. His hands were behind his back and he was nodding to himself.
“So go on then, mate,” said Thomas. “How are you gonna kill us?”
“Don’t say that!” scolded Margot. “I don’t want to die, thank you very much.”
“I’m not going to kill you,” said the Master. “It seems there a few loose ends to tie up here, and I’m quite happy for our ghostly friends to do the business.” He smiled. “They’ll be in soon enough.”
He made for the inner door that led to where the Doctor’s TARDIS was standing.
“You can’t steal it!” shouted Caroline.
“My dear, Miss Parker, I can do anything I want.” The Master smiled and then went into the ante-chamber.
Standing there, gathering dust, was the blue TARDIS. Caroline raced after the Master, just as he unlocked the door - with the key the Doctor had foolishly given him a while back - and went inside.
Caroline hammered on the door, knowing full well that it was futile, as the TARDIS slowly dematerialised.
And then it was gone.
And for the first time, as Caroline heard the Apparites scrambling down the stone steps, she felt as though this really was the end.
The Doctor had given them a good ten minutes to get out. He looked at the small wire in his hand. He was about pull it free from the circuit board, when he heard footsteps. He looked from underneath the console. Standing there was Jayne.
“Adrian is safe,” said Jayne quietly.
“Jayne, what are you still doing here?”
“I’m staying,” said Jayne.
“You are not!” shouted the Doctor. “You are going back to your people. You have to be with them.”
“I lost them,” said Jayne.
The Doctor frowned.
“I let my obsession of protecting this place take over my life. I lost their faith a long time ago. The least I can do is help fix this with you.”
“But you’ll die,” said the Doctor.
But Jayne simply shuffled under the console to sit beside him. “I’ve done my duty in life. I can’t ever imagine doing anything else after this.” Jayne looked at him. “You know, when I was a little girl, all I ever wanted to do was visit the stars and have adventures. I could have done that with you, actually.”
“Jayne…”
“But you’re about to die. So that adventure is never going to happen.”
The Doctor closed his eyes and banged his head back against the console’s plinth.
“But maybe the greatest adventure is about to begin.”
“Jayne…”
“Too late, Doc,” she said, grabbing the wires from his hands and yanking them from the console.
At first nothing happened, and then there was an almighty rumble from somewhere in the distance. The ground was vibrating and bits of metal were beginning to slowly float towards the cracked time rotor. The Doctor and Jayne looked at each other and then got to their feet, running out of the console room, through the cavern and to the surface.
They watched as the sky flashed with electricity. The clouds started to evaporate and the snow all around was melting. The Doctor and Jayne looked as the land around them began to crumple and fold up. It was almost like they were standing in the middle of a giant paper bag and a hand was crunching it up into a ball.
Jayne put her arms around the Doctor and drew herself in. “Doctor, I’m frightened.”
The Doctor pulled her in to shield her. “It’ll be over soon. I promise.”
Bolts of time energy struck down from the ever decreasing sky. The land shook and the Doctor and Jayne stumbled apart. Jayne fell to the ground.
The last thing the Doctor saw of Jayne, was a bolt of energy hitting her. The red-headed woman exploded into light as the time energy overloaded inside her.
The Doctor saw her screaming from within the light, but he couldn’t hear her. And then, just as suddenly as the light had hit her, Jayne was gone. The energy within her had destroyed her from the inside.
The Doctor sat back and watched as the dimensions around him collapsed.
And then he closed his eyes.
Caroline and the rest backed away from the metal tube that contained the inner-dimensions of the shed-TARDIS. Outside the door the Apparites had arrived.
“Where do we go?!” yelled Rebecca.
“Back!” said Caroline. “We have no choice. That thing’s going to explode!”
They ran from the box and to the staircase where the Apparites were clutching their heads in pain. Caroline watched as they writhed around in agony. Their features were slowly shifting and changing back to Human again.
“They did it,” said Margot. “They bloody well did it!”
“GO!” said Caroline again as they pushed their way past the Apparites, who had also begun to stream out of the church.
In the crypt the shed-TARDIS was glowing white-hot. And then…
It exploded, sending one last shockwave of time energy coursing through the crypt, obliterating every single piece of equipment.
Outside the snow was melting as they all staggered out. They had just gotten clear when the church erupted outwards, showering them all with stone and mason. Everyone fell to the ground as St James’s church - a building that had stood there since the medieval age - exploded.
Rubble rained down on them, but Caroline and the others had managed to get to safety, shielding themselves under an overhang from the 1980’s-built Wilkinson’s building.
“Looks like it is good for something,” laughed Danny as they watched the light from underneath the ruins of the church recede back into the ground.
“Doctor!” yelled Caroline.
Danny watched as his friend stumbled across the smoke-stained snow. And then his head turned. Emerging from the smoke and muck was Adrian. He looked a little disorientated, but he was alive.
“Adrian!” yelled Danny, throwing his arms around his brother. “Where’s the Doctor?”
“And Jayne?” added Margot quickly.
Adrian shook his head. “They stayed behind.”
Caroline peered into the crater left from the explosion. At the bottom was the twisted, metal shell of the destroyed shed-TARDIS. She fell to her knees and sobbed. The Doctor was gone.
Next time: It's the series 2 finale. The Master has stolen the TARDIS, the Doctor is gone, Jayne is dead, and Caroline and the others are left to pick up the pieces. Coming Saturday 30th November.
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