The Pandora Project: The Nightmare Ship

[carmen_lj]

The Pandora Project

Summary: At the end of series three, the Doctor and the Master end up travelling together and totally manage not to destroy each other or the universe. More or less. Meanwhile, Martha gets a job offer from UNIT, Jack fails to realise his team are a bit useless, and there's a giant squid for no good reason whatsoever.

Rating: PG-13, mostly, as far as I can tell for these things.

Index post for the series

7 - The Nightmare Ship: In which Martha Jones finds out more than she wanted to know about Time Lords.


The Nightmare Ship

"The thing is Colonel," said Martha, "I'm a doctor."

"Yes, I know." The Colonel didn't bother to look up from her desk, and Martha had discovered several days ago that Garret was more than capable of holding an intelligent conversation and getting on with her paperwork at the same time. She continued, "The thing is Dr. Jones, UNIT's upper echelons were pretty much wiped out two years ago and while a couple of us were lucky, we lost almost all of our most experienced and intelligent operatives in one swoop. Now, I would be thrilled if you suddenly discovered a talent for physics or chemistry or a dozen other things that it would really, really useful to have an expert in right now, but I'll settle for someone who's got a decent scientific education and, more importantly, can deal with alien life forms."

She finally looked up at Martha and her expression wasn't unkind. "Martha, you've been out there. You know what we might have to deal with and you can handle it. You're just a kid to a lot of my soldiers, but when they see this kid civvie holding her own, then they know they can too. And you are a good doctor. We need you, Martha."

Martha sighed. Good speech. But Colonel Hilda Garret had a knack for inspiring the best in others and Martha was no exception. "I still don't like feeling useless, sir."

"You're not. Your team's pretty busy as far as I can see. Leadership is about delegation, Dr. Jones. Sometimes you just have to wait."

"Not very good at that either."

Garret smiled. "You don't say. So there's still no sign of the Doctor then?"

"He said morning," said Martha. "And the TARDIS isn't exactly pinpoint accurate. So long as he turns up by lunchtime..."

"If you want to go to the hospital-"

"No," said Martha, rubbing her hands across her eyes, knowing she should have grabbed a few hours sleep when she'd had the chance. "I'd just get in the way. I'll get the reports from the psychiatrist when she's finished. No point in hassling her."

"Go find Sergeant Patterson then," said Garret. "He makes a damn good cup of tea, and you look like you need something to keep you awake."

Martha gave her a wan smile that turned to excitement as the sound which she quietly thought of as not entirely dissimilar to a pregnant elephant enveloped the room. The TARDIS materialised next to Garret's desk. The Colonel put down her pen, regarded the box with a look of irritation. "Miles of farmland," she muttered glancing at Martha. She shrugged, and the TARDIS door opened.

Out bound the Master, looking worryingly cheerful. He clapped his hands, gave Martha a smile and the Colonel a salute. "Right then," he said, "here I am. Intergalactic doormat for the problems of lesser races. What's the problem today? Confused about relativity? Lost a kitten? Need to be told just how to make those pesky hydrogen atoms behave in your super-duper explosions?"

Garret narrowed her eyes. "Weren't you Prime Minister?"

"Briefly," said the Master, pulling a face. "Very briefly, in your case. I'd tell you about all the cool stuff I did, but since most of you people can't remember a damn thing about it, I'd sound a bit of an idiot."

There was an angry shout from inside the TARDIS, and the Master looked suddenly bashful. "Scuse me just a moment, folks, domestic issues," he said, and dashed back inside.

"What did I tell you!" demanded an angry voice that was definitely the Doctor's. Martha exchanged a look with Garret as they heard a series of furious whispers, and then the two Time Lords stepped out, with the Master looking considerably less cheerful.

"Sorry about that," said the Doctor, before squeezing Martha in a tight hug. It was rather ruined for Martha by the face she saw the Master pulling over the Doctor's shoulder. "Martha Jones, good to see you. Busy saving the world then?"

"Trying to," she said, as he let her go. "Currently I'd settle for Wales."

"Doctor," said Garret.

"Colonel," said the Doctor, shaking her hand in both of his. "Good choice with Martha here, by the way, very good choice. She's saved the world twice, y'know."

Garret's eyebrows lifted just a notch. "And what is the former Prime Minister doing travelling with you?" she asked.

"Ah, yes, well, didn't Martha explain?" The Doctor gathered pretty quickly from her expression that she hadn't, and he looked more than a little awkward at having to do the job himself. The Master, however:

"I'm the sidekick," said the Master chirpily. "The little person learning about big things. Truth, love, justice, all the ways I can make the universe nice and happy and full of pretty flowers, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseam, please kill me, etc."

"This is the Master," said the Doctor, trying not to meet the Colonel's eyes. "There might possibly be something about him in UNIT's old files."

"Oh yes," said Garret, her eyes flicking to the Master, regarding him with a cool and thoroughly unimpressed gaze. "Responsible for numerous alien incursions in the seventies. You're currently reported as an escaped prisoner."

"Am I really?" said the Master. "How riveting."

"Colonel," said the Doctor, "I'd appreciate it, if given the circumstances and all you might be a little, ah, flexible with the bureaucratic side of things."

"If he stays out of trouble, then I don't see him," said Garret. "Good enough?"

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

The Master coughed pointedly. "And if I do get in any trouble?"

"I'll have you taken to a prison facility where you'll serve out the remainder of your sentence," said Garret. "Which, if I recall correctly, is life. "

"You know, Colonel, given what I have to put up with in there," he said as he jerked a thumb at the TARDIS, "that's rather a tempting offer."

Garret smiled sweetly. "All right then. If you cause any trouble, I'll have the pair of you locked up together. In a very small room. Indefinitely."

The Master held up his hands. "Best behaviour. Got it."

"So," said the Doctor, "what's the problem?"

-

Garret led them outside, and Martha noted the look of surprise on the Doctor's face. "UNIT's got a bit more rustic then?" he said. Green fields surrounded them, a little road lead down to a steading, but the farm was devoid of animals.

"Temporary headquarters, Doctor, "said Garret. "I'm afraid the former residents were the first victims of the current problem. Not much left of them."

The buildings in the steading were old, steady stone that had sat there for hundreds of years. A few soldiers could be seen patrolling the place, the grounds beyond. Garret took them to a low building by the side of the much more modern barn, stopped outside a closed wooden door.

"Brace yourselves," she said. "You get used to it, but..." She shrugged. "It's not so bad now." She opened the door and led them into a low-lit room. Martha's breath caught in her throat as she felt the chill go through her mind, her thoughts. She pushed her nails into her palm, concentrated on the things around her, ignored the images forming before her mind's eye.

She stole a glance at the two Time Lords. The Doctor looked the same as ever, but the Master had turned noticeably pale. His jaw was set, and his fists were clenched. He noticed her attention and shot a look at her, gave her a smile that reminded her of a snake and she turned away.

The thing, whatever it was, was still there, sitting on the centre of the room, watched over by a pair of soldiers and their precious electronic equipment set up in one corner. It, like the rest of the room, was entirely black, carbon residue, as though the place had been subjected to a raging fire.

"What is it?" asked the Doctor, looking over the blackened shell, almost two metres high, a little longer than that and there being nothing left other than its shape to identify it.

"We're not sure," said Garret. "A ship of some sort, we suspect. Its interior is large enough for a good-sized humanoid, but it's the...images that are the curious thing. The dangerous thing."

The Doctor frowned, "I don't see-"

"Excuse me," said the Master. "I'll be just outside."

As he left Garret checked over the readings her soldiers were monitoring. "When it crashed, the psychic disturbances were enough to send the animals running, mad, caused chaos on the roads. Affected some dozen or so square miles. That's what alerted Torchwood, and they found the farmer and his family, already dead."

"Cause?" asked the Doctor.

"Heart attacks, all of them. Same for five more people who were in the same area at the time."

"They died of fright," said Martha quietly. "Torchwood's got one of their men in hospital because they came in too quickly. And we've another three soldiers injured... all the in a psychiatric ward now, and none of them can rest because of what they're seeing in their heads."

"We seem to be okay," the Doctor said.

"The intensity of the...projections, whatever you want to call them, has been decaying steadily over the past six days," Garret told him. "Now you can only feel them inside this room, and apart from the stress it doesn't seem to do much - no! Don't touch it."

The Doctor yanked his hand back, looked a tad guilty.

"I've already lost a soldier who tried that," said Garret. "She seemed to get the full impact all at once. Our readings show the effect of the source to be decreasing but that ship itself is still deadly."

"I doubt it's the source," said the Doctor. "What you describe would most likely need a living being."

"Look around. I can't imagine anything surviving this," said Garret.

"You'd be surprised," said Martha. "Just because it's probably humanoid doesn't mean it has the same human weaknesses."

The Doctor nodded. "Mmm. Colonel, can I get a copy of the readings you've taken since you found the ship?"

Garret nodded to one of the soldiers. "Five minutes, sir," he said. "I'll send the info through to HQ for a printout."

"Back in five minutes then," said the Doctor, and went outside. Martha didn't follow; she had a good idea of where he was going.

-

The Doctor found the Master a little distance away, inside the barn, sitting on a bale of hay, tapping out that incessant rhythm. He rested his chin in his other hand, was watching something that the Doctor couldn't see.

"You're a freak," he said as he noticed the Doctor approached. "Even the humans felt it."

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pocket, and frowned. "What d'you mean?"

"The ship...that decrepit shell of a ship is practically alive with...well, I'm sure you'll work it out after you've seen it all written down in nice numbers and figures. UNIT seem to be able to get their hands on working scientific equipment these days."

"What did you see?"

Now the Master scowled. "Go ask one of your little friends in there."

"I'm asking you."

The Master sighed, stood up and closed the distance between himself and the Doctor, staring straight into the Doctor's eyes. "You know, I'm almost tempted to let you into my mind just to see how little of yours is left in there," he said, as he tapped the Doctor's forehead. "Didn't you feel anything?"

The Doctor swallowed, shivered at the Master's tone, the conviction that he felt there. "Just after we went inside. As though something swept over my thoughts."

"And that was it?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you afraid of anything?" asked the Master quietly.

The Doctor shook his head. "I...I don't..."

"Tell the truth," said the Master, and the Doctor could see him staring into his eyes, feel the force of those words (the drums) echo in his own mind. He could have stopped it, pushed up his defences and stepped away. He didn't want to, he wanted to confess.

"So much has turned to ashes," said the Doctor, "that when they burn now, I'm not sure I can feel it anymore, not really."

The Master cocked his head, and one hand reached out to touch the Doctor's cheek. The movement was slight, so slight, almost nothing, but the Doctor did lean into the hand offered and he closed his eyes.

"Poor Doctor," said the Master without a trace of sympathy. His thumb stroked the skin beneath his eye, a mockery of wiping away a tear.

The next thing the Doctor knew the Master's lips were pressed against his own. His hands moved to the Doctor's head and held it tight as he intensified the kiss, powerful and crushing and the Doctor responded, opening his mouth and letting the Master take whatever he wanted.

The Master pulled away, finally, and quirked a smile at the Doctor's almost-hurt look. "Good Doctor," he said and then stared over his shoulder.

The Doctor spun to see Martha standing there, disappointment etched in her features.

The look was gone almost as soon as he caught it. She looked no more happy, but it was irritation that he felt from her, an emotion so much more fleeting, so less cutting, that the Doctor felt quite relieved.

"Got those readings," she called. "If you want to take a look."

The Doctor nodded, glanced at the Master.

"I'm not going back in there," he said. "Don't worry, Doctor, I'll behave. Be right here." He gave a little wave and the Doctor found himself believing him.

Martha watched the Doctor go back inside the little building, turned to the Master. He looked at her with a curious expression, head tilted to one side.

"Problem, Ms Jones?"

"It's Doctor Jones, actually."

The Master cracked a smile. "Oh yes. Of course." He gave her a little salute. "Well done."

"What have you done to him?"

"Hmm?"

"The Doctor. What have you done to him?"

Then he laughed, and Martha struggled not to react, to hold her ground. "Well?" she asked again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the Master said, "I thought you understood."

"Explain then."

The Master leant forward and lowered his voice. "We're in love. Been planning the marriage for months. Oh, it'll be beautiful and the happiest day of our lives and then afterwards we're going to adopt some fuzzy little kittens."

"Not fucking funny."

"Oh, Dr Jones, such language! Shame on you." The Master turned to sit on the bale, stretched his legs out in front of him. "So, tell me," he said, "how does it feel to know that I can kiss the Doctor whenever I feel like it and he'll let me?"

Martha just stared at him. She didn't have to stay, or listen to him, but she so much wanted to understand, just a little, of what existed between the two Time Lords. And he might tell her, but he was going to hurt her too. She knew that.

"Or how about this one? It doesn't matter what I do, doesn't matter who I kill or what I destroy, he'll forgive me every single time." He raised his eyebrows; her expression didn't change. "No? Alright, then shall I tell you about the first time I came to this planet? The Doctor was exiled here. And we fought: stupid, childish games, and humans got caught in the middle and died a lot, as you fragile little things do, and he didn't give a toss, because I was distracting him from the misery of being stuck in one time and one place."

"You're lying," said Martha.

"Go and ask him. See if he can convince you he's telling you the truth." The smile was back, that meaningless, empty expression he wore so often. "Martha Jones, I mean more to him than your world, than your whole species. And I've done the most terrible things, but he can forgive each and every one of my crimes and d'you why? Because his were greater. Ask him. Ask him about his exile and the Vervoids and Skaro and how the Time War started and ended. Ask him how it felt to murder his entire species and blow-up his own planet."

Martha swallowed, and staring into his eyes, she couldn't quite convince herself it was all lies. "He's a good person," she said.

"Road to hell," said the Master. "He's all broken bits and pieces inside and, right now, I'm the only thing holding him together. Now doesn't that get you just right here." He clasped his hands and placed them between his hearts.

Then he winked and laughed and fell back onto the bale, and Martha knew that he was quite, quite mad.

Her phone rang. She turned away and picked it up, desperate to talk to whoever it was on the other end.

"Martha Jones," she said, forgetting to check the caller ID.

"Martha, the Doctor there?"

"Jack!" She smiled, felt warmth return to her limbs. "Yeah, hang on a sec. How's Ianto?"

"Doing okay," he said, but Martha could hear the worry in his voice. "Alive and stable. I think he even got some sleep last night."

"Effects wearing off?"

"Don't know. The shrink thinks most of the patients are developing a tolerance to the...well, whatever it is they're seeing. The Doctor's okay then?"

"Like he didn't feel a thing. It was a bit creepy actually." She pushed the door open. "Doctor!" He looked up from the readout, eyebrows raised.

"Hmm?"

"Phone. For you. Jack." She passed it over.

"Hello?" said the Doctor. "Yes. Fine...wonderful. No. No, I'm fine Jack....yes, really....really, really...I'm working on it, don't worry...actually, no, he's just outside...no...no...no, Jack...yeah, here's Martha."

Martha took the phone back. "Jack?"

"Is he serious? The Master's wandering freely around up there?"

"Not exactly wandering. He's outside sitting on a bale of hay and laughing like a lunatic last I checked.

"Martha..."

"Yeah, I know," she said, turning away from the Doctor and lowering her voice. "I...don't understand it, and I don't know if I want to."

"Keep an eye on them, alright? I don't want to leave this lot alone, especially with Ianto still in the hospital."

"I will. Take care."

"You too, Dr. Jones."

He hung up and she pocketed the phone. She fixed a smile on her face, turned back to the Doctor and the Colonel. "Right then, so what have we found out?"

"Massive psychic disturbance occurred when the ship...materialised, I suppose, since I doubt very much it flew in here, and it was violent enough to ignite the immediate area, leaving behind these very nasty after-effects," said the Doctor.

"Treatable after-effects?" asked Martha.

"Mmm. Yes, think so. Have to do a little jiggery-pokery, but I think I can come up with a device that'll allow those affected to have a good spot of delta-rhythm sleep, and they'll recover nicely in a few days. Plenty of bits and bobs in the TARDIS."

"I'm more concerned about who did this," said Garret. "Who they are, why they're here and whether or not they're a threat to this planet."

"Right, Brigadier-"

"Colonel," corrected Garret.

"Yes, exactly. Well, I don't know. No way to tell, and I imagine there's not enough of them left to identify given what happened to the ship since it's made of much hardier material than almost any organic tissue."

"You think the pilot's dead then?"

"Almost certainly."

"And the fire?"

"There're a lot of phenomena associated with psychic energy and pyrokinesis is one of them. Whatever caused these afterimages, would, I assume have caused the fire too."

"Any idea what it could have been?" asked Garret.

"Something pretty nasty," said the Doctor. "Consumed by hate, rage, that sort of thing...if there haven't been any other incidents like this reported, I'd say you're safe - it doesn't feel like the sort of thing to lay low for any length of time."

"I'd still feel better knowing where it came from."

"So would I, Colonel," said the Doctor.

Garret sighed, glanced at the skeletal ship remains. "Alright, so what do we do now? The effects will keep diminishing won't they?"

"I'd imagine so," said the Doctor. "Might want to hurry it along by blowing it up."

The Colonel raised her eyebrows. "The Doctor, suggesting we solve a problem with an explosion? Are you sure you're the man in UNIT's files?"

The Doctor shot her a withering glance. "No-one's going to get hurt with a controlled explosion, and it should release enough kinetic energy to take care of the remains quickly and safely."

"All right, Doctor. Give the sergeant the power requirements, and we'll get it done."

-

Back in the TARDIS workshop, the Doctor had assembled everything he needed to for his gadget and was diligently putting it together as Martha watched. The Master had returned to the TARDIS with them but, thankfully, had elected to go elsewhere in the ship.

For a moment, Martha could half-believe it was another time, when everything had seemed a little bit simpler.

"Brain needs to properly relax," the Doctor was saying, "I mean really relax, sort of like a reset switch, put it back to default mode." He looked up at her, offered her a grin. "You'll be alright though. Maybe a few bad dreams, but it'll pass in a day or so."

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm fine. Always fine." He wasn't looking at her, of course; Martha sighed.

"The Master wasn't."

"Yes, well...ah, that's where that capacitor's been hiding, interesting..."

"Doctor."

"What d'you want me to say, Martha?" he asked.

She took a deep breath. "The Master, he said...he told me you blew up your own planet, killed your people."

"Yes."

"That's it? Yes?"

He looked at her, really looked, and when she saw his eyes Martha was shocked by how alien they seemed, how very old, and tired. "I had to," he said. "If there had been another way... Martha, you can't understand. I mean that literally; you really, really can't. And that's not saying you're stupid because you're not. But there are things that the human brain just can't comprehend, and what was happening to the universe then is one of them. It would have torn itself apart if the war hadn't ended. And I ended it, the only way I could."

Martha nodded. There was nothing she could say, nothing that meant anything, but she tried anyway: "Thanks. Thank you for telling me."

The grin returned, and she felt a little frightened at how easily, how quickly, he could bury all those things that haunted him. "You're my best friend, Martha Jones; I'd tell you anything."

She quirked an eyebrow. "You great fibber. It's like pulling teeth getting anything out of you."

The Doctor screwed up his face. "What a horrible expression. Look! The light's flashing!" He pointed to the delta-wave inducer which, just as he said, now had a little red LED flashing on and off.

"Reminds me of GCSE Physics," said Martha. "I take it that means it's working?"

"Right first time! I can see why they made you a doctor." Martha just stuck out her tongue at him. "Now," he said, grabbing a pen and looking around for some paper. "I'll just leave you a few notes and instructions for what to do, how to do it and, just incase anything goes wrong, what not to do. Which it won't. Unless it does, in which case, you'll have useful notes."

-

Martha found the Colonel in the steading, overseeing the explosives team.

"He's gone then?" she asked.

Martha nodded, keeping a tight hold of the box the contained the delta-wave inducer and a worrying amount of hastily written notes. "I should get to the hospital," she said. "Get started on treatment."

"Need any for yourself?" asked the Colonel. "A few days off?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You're sure?" Martha nodded again. "So what did it show you?"

Martha swallowed and looked at the ground for a long moment before meeting Garret's cool gaze. "Ever imagined the end of the universe?" she asked.

"Can't say that I have."

"I've been there, right at the very end of everything and looked up at a starless sky, and we're still there, humanity, still fighting, but it's so...I don't know, like a sort of hopelessness hanging in the air even when you do something amazing... nothing seems to matter anymore... and you start to think that maybe it never did..." She shrugged. "What about you?"

"I like to believe that when I lose a soldier its for a damn good reason," she said. "But it should always hurt, and keep on hurting." She took a deep breath, and managed something approaching a smile. "After this little explosion's over, you and I are going to the pub."

"Now that," said Martha, "sounds like a very good plan."

Comments

[vous-et-moi.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's me just caught up with this fic now and it is amazing! I can't wait for the next instalment (no really, update the next chapter NOW!).

I really REALLY want to know what it was exactly the Master saw, will we get to find out in following chapters?

lovin'it!

S

x x x

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Ta muchly! Delighted you're enjoying.

I really REALLY want to know what it was exactly the Master saw, will we get to find out in following chapters?

Ah, yes! In 9, I think.