The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Fifty-Four

The Doctor leans into Sophie's grip, and smiles. "How are we going to find the Master?"

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

"But hold on," Martha starts, "If he could be anyone," she points to an election poster, "we missed the election. But it can't be."

All at once, screens all over the streets light up. The newscaster appears on the screen, "Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters."

The prime minister and his wife appears on screen, and they slowly descend a staircase. Martha's eyes widen, "I said I knew that voice. When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon."

The Doctor looks up at the screen, and his grip on Sophie's hand increases. "That's him. He's Prime Minister."

"Oh, bl**dy h*ll, the Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain... and he has a wife?"

***

They all travel to Martha's house, and the Doctor doesn't hesitate to enter the home, not waiting for her to unlock her house. "What have you got? Computer, laptop, anything." Martha sighs, and walks into another room. Jack turns his back on the Doctor, and pulls his mobile out, "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here."

The Captain glances over at the Time Lord, "Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply."

"Not even Ianto?" Sophie asks, leaning over his shoulder to glance at his phone.

Martha comes back into the room, a laptop in tow. She slips it into the Doctor's outstretched hand. "Here you go. Any good?"

Jack moves and joins the Time Lord at the table. He takes the laptop out of the Doctor's hands. "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages."

Jack starts typing furiously on the computer. Martha leans against the doorframe, "That's so weird though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you."

The Time Lord sighs, "We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time."

"You going to tell us who he is?"

"He's a Time Lord."

Sophie looks at him, and waits for him to tell them more. He simply averts his eyes. "The Master is a Time Lord. He was the Doctor's best friend on Gallifrey. They were in a sort of gang, the Master and the Doctor were the leaders. They loved each other, in many different ways."

The Doctor stands and places a hand over her mouth, "That's all you need to know. Come on, show me Harold Saxon." Sophie licks his hand, and he just looks at her disappointedly, "That isn't going to work, Soph. I was a father once, remember."

She rolls her eyes at him.

Jack presses a few final keys, and sets the computer on the table. Sharon Osbourne is on the screen, "I'm voting Saxon. He can tick my box any day." Then, she's replaced by McFly, "Vote Saxon! Go Harry!" Finally, Ann Widdecombe fills the screen, "I think Mister Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome too."

The video ends, and Jack pulls up the main website, "Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." He turns, and smiles at the Doctor, "Nice work, by the way."

"Oh, thanks."

Martha takes up the story, "But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look." She starts to flip through photos on the website, "Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life."

"'Ow's dat bosseble?" Sophie asks. The Doctor takes his hand off her mouth, and she repeats, "How's that possible."

Jack stands from his seat, and wanders over to the kitchen, and puts the kettle on. As he's waiting for the water to heat up, he turns, and leans on the counter, "But he's got the TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

"No," the Doctor states with certainty.

"And why is that?" Sophie asks, crossing her arms.

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

"Yeah, but a little leeway?" the Captain asks, bringing the tea cups over to the three.

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

"I voted for him," Sophie murmurs. "I really don't know why, he seemed like a trustworthy type of a guy." She then smacks the palm of her hand against her head, "Brainwashing! He f*cking brainwashed all of Britain."

"Too massive of a scale," the Doctor says with a shake of his head. "But how, how did he do it?"

"I was going to vote for him, also."

"Really?" the Doctor asks, flinging his head to look at the med student.

"Me too," Jack agrees.

"Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I don't know. He always sounded good," Martha muses.

"Like you could trust him. He just seemed nice," Sophie agrees.

"I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice," Jack finishes.

While the three were talking about the Prime Minister, they all started tapping on their wrists, four taps, in sequence.

"What's that?" the Time Lord nods at their wrists.

"What's what?"

"That," he nods again, "That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?"

"I don't know," Martha shrugs, "It's nothing. It's just, I don't know."