The Master's Game (Doctor Who)

A secret

A dull thud made Roka jerk awake. From below came a faint light that belonged to the tablet she had been using, and that was now lying on the floor next to the alcove. With a yawn she rubbed her eyes and remembered how she had been insisting on doing some research on those bracelets herself. It had been a foolish attempt, and she was well aware of it. After all, even the Master hadn't found anything during her absence. Still, she wasn't going to give up so fast.

After the drums had been gone, Roka had distinctly felt how exhausted she actually was. And it probably hadn't taken much time for her to simply fall asleep without even noticing it. Now she was alone and recognized sleepily that the lights in this part of the library were dimmed.

Where had the Master gone? Roka got up and placed the tablet on a cushion before strolling around. Somewhere she could make out faint noises, and the closer she got the more they sounded as if they came from a videogame or movie. Right... years ago she had set up a small gaming corner in here. There was a nice comfy couch and a decently sized TV. He probably had discovered it.

Really, there he was, laying on his back on the sofa, gamepad in hand and obviously very amused by GTA 7. Which in return made Roka chuckle.

"What are you doing here?" he asked while racing a car into a group of police men. "Four hours and twenty minutes isn't enough."

Roka blinked a few times and yawned. "Do you always keep track of how long I sleep?" She sat on the floor below the sofa, watching him running amok in an especially lively part of the virtual city.

"Someone has to. Not sleeping properly seems to be a habit of yours."

"Meh, I'm not even that tired anymore. Maybe I'll just get some coffee."

Suddenly she felt grabbed with two arms and dragged upwards onto the sofa. It barely was deep enough for two, but the Master slipped back a bit, so she could sit down and watch for a while.

"Mhmm... not tired at all." A chuckle made her snap awake again moments later, and look down behind her. The Master smiled up to her, sarcasm all over his face. Then he tugged at her arm and pulled her down next to him, before he brought his attention back to the game. Roka turned around to watch the TV and huddled a bit closer.

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There wasn't much about the human world that truly amazed the Master. The fact that this race made videogames that had the mere purpose of virtually running amok among their own kind was one of those though.

And while he was aware of the violent nature of humans, he hadn't thought that some of them might be able to sleep soundly to the sounds of screaming people, gunshots and explosions. He wondered if Roka would also look so peaceful, had he told her about the... slightly... decimated part of the library.

Sure it had been only boring crime novels... The Doctor certainly hadn't been happy to find his Agatha Christie selection floating in the swimming pool. The Master on the other hand had felt at ease for the first time in days at the sight of his enemy's devastated face. At least for a few moments. So the remaining rest of the boring collection had - all of a sudden - caught fire over a heated lamp. Whoops!

It had been the Doctor's own fault. Simply for the audacious attempt to talk! The mere thought of it made the Master angry again and he let his helicopter drop onto a particularly big group of people. The blood effects were really not too shabby.

So low had he gotten. Occupied with human distractions... But at least it was loud. A benefit no book in the universe could ever provide. And he was in desperate need for some noisy diversion.