Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 119: The Sound of Drums

"Hold still! Don't move! Hold it still!" the Doctor exclaimed as he used his sonic screwdriver on Jack's vortex manipulator. They were all using their complete levels of strength to keep the ravenous Futurekind behind the broken door.

"I'm telling you, it's broken. It hasn't worked for years." Jack said as he stormed against the door beside Martha and Echo.

The Doctor continued. "That's because you didn't have me. Martha, Echo, grab hold, now!" Once everyone was holding onto the repaired device, they vanished as it was activated.

Milliseconds later, they all then appeared in an empty alley during modern times. "Oh, my head." Martha groaned as they straightened up from their original positions.

"Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer." the Time Lord agreed.

Walking out onto the more populated main street, Jack nodded. "The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe without Echo's portal gun, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator."

Taking a seat at a couple of benches, Martha furrowed her brow with concern. "But this Master bloke, he's got the Tardis. He could be anywhere in time and space." she pointed out.

"Nope. He's definitely here." Echo informed as she thought back to what he'd said before escaping.

"Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end; that wasn't the Professor." she went on, greatly wanting to know more.

Rage suddenly filled Echo as she noticed a nearby beggar tapping out a rhythm of four on his tin mug. "He regenerated." she answered absently just as her lover noticed what she had.

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man." Jack answered grimly.

Martha's frown deepened from the troubling news. "Then how are we going to find him?"

Coming back to himself, the Doctor looked back to his friends and lover. "I'll know him, the moment I see him. Time Lords always do."

Realization then hit their human companion with the strength of a high speed freight train. "But hold on. If he could be anyone... We missed the election. But it can't be."

Around them, a series of public television screens on lamp posts were broadcasting the news. "Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside the Saxon Headquarters."

The new Prime Minister was then seen walking down a flight of stairs with a pretty blonde woman at his side. "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." Martha said with a horrified expression.

"That's him. He's Prime Minister. The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain.  The Master and his wife?" As the Doctor spoke, the man in question kissed the woman beside him.

He then looked to the audience around him. "This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that what this country really needs right now, is an Echo of a Doctor."

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After everyone had entered Martha's home, both Echo and her Doctor wanted to get right down to business. "What have you got? Computer, laptop, anything. Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here."

"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply." he answered as Martha came over to them with laptop in hand. Echo sat on the sofa silently as she delved deeper into her racing thoughts. "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages."

"That's so weird, though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you two." Martha said in intense confusion.

The Doctor kept his eyes on the computer as Jack worked. "We went flying all around the universe while he was here all this time." he muttered absently.

"You going to tell us who he is?" she asked, her need for more details building.

"He's a Time Lord." came the only vague reply they were going to get.

Echo then moved her gaze to the computer as Martha went on. "What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?" she pressed.

"That's all you need to know." the dimension hopper replied as she moved to get a better look at the computer. "Show us of Harold Saxon."

Martha then went over to her answering machine. "Martha, where are you? I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird. They just phoned me out of the blue. I'm working for--" then was turned off.

"Oh, like it matters." she muttered with a roll of her eyes.

After seeing all the media support for the Prime Minister, they went deeper. "Former Minister of Defense. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve. Nice work, by the way." Jack said.

"But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story." Martha said, then went to show them what she meant. "Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue.  Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life." she explained. Echo then took control of the computer as Jack went to make them tea.

"He's got the Tardis. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades." the ex-Time Agent elaborated as he passed out the mugs.

Echo shook her head in disagreement. "Nope. If he had full access, he'd have changed a shit ton more than he's done."

"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." the Doctor explained as his love enjoyed him wearing his glasses. She just couldn't help it.

"Yeah, but a little leeway?" Jack suggested.

He considered for only a moment. "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 was going to vote for him." Martha commented.

Echo looked at her with surprise. "For real?"

She shrugged. "Well, it was before I even met you guys. And I liked him." 

"Me too." Jack agreed with sudden confusion.

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I don't know. He always sounded good." As she spoke, Martha began to space out and tap her fingers in a rhythm of four. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about--... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

"What the hell is that?" Echo demanded as anger flashed through her once again.

Snapping back to reality, Martha looked at her in great confusion. "What?" feeling extremely taken aback.

"That tapping rhythm that hella pisses me off. What is that?" she went on, needing an immediate answer. What pissed her off the most was not knowing why it angered her to begin with.

Even more bewilderment flooded her system. "I don't know. It's nothing. It's just-- I don't know."

Interrupting them, a fanfare blared out from the laptop as a pop-up said 'Saxon Broadcast All Channels'. Moving quickly, the Doctor went to turn the television on. "Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom." As the Master appeared, they all watched with undivided attention.