The Doctor and Romana found themselves standing in a cold, dim void. White fog drifted past.

"You know, I don't like these surroundings very much," the Doctor said. "How about this?" They were suddenly standing on a beach on a warm summer day. The gentle roar of the ocean filled their ears as it washed ashore.

"It's all right, but I prefer something a little easier to walk on," Romana said, switching their surroundings again. They were now standing on a path leading through a sunlit forest.

"Oh, have it your way," the Doctor said. "Let's give the orders and get out of here. Controls?"

"Right here," Romana said and opened a tree trunk. Inside were readout screens and complicated circuitry. "I'll start locking off the Eye of Harmony. You release the weapons. Put the controls anywhere you want."

The Doctor took off his shoe and revealed it to be a phone. "I've always wanted to do this ever since I saw Maxwell Smart."

"You're hopeless," was all Romana could say.

Using his shoe, which now contained a small screen and touch pad, the Doctor instructed the Matrix to read his DNA to establish his Presidential authority. Then he took a deep breath and called forth the weapons Gallifrey needed to defend itself. They were waiting inside a fourth-dimensional bubble, which was in turn inside a tachyon-shielded fifth-dimensional area hidden somewhere within 500 years of the Big Bang.

The Doctor shuddered as he went over the list of the weapons available for use. He'd forgotten about some of them, and with good reason. He selected a few of the less catastrophic ones and prepared them for extraction into real space-time. When it came to coordinates, he instructed the Matrix to conduct a search for the Castellan and was delighted to find that he was still alive. He typed in the coordinates and initiated transference.

 

The Daleks had the Gallifreyan forces pinned down in the lower section of the city. Nesbin and his people had succeeded in taking another of the landing craft, but they couldn't do much more with it than purposefully crash it into the heart of the Dalek forces. It had bought them all a lot of time, at the cost of several Shobogan lives. Nesbin and his troops had bailed out at the last moment, and Braydon, Denner and Andred had launched a brief offensive to retrieve them. Now they all huddled for safety towards the edge of the city. At the moment, the atomic disruptors and the weapons which the escapees had stolen from the Dalek ship were all they had to keep the enemy at bay.

"Andred, it's over," Nesbin said. "I can't think of anything more to do. We have no choice but to retreat beyond the boundary of the city to the secret places of the Shobogans. We can come back and liberate Gallifrey another day. This battle is theirs."

"I know," Andred said through tight lips. He was badly bruised and his forehead was burned. "But by the name of Rassilon, I will return!"

"We all will," Nesbin grasped his arm. "But we must go. Let's prepare our troops for retreat."

At that moment a shimmering, swirling field of white blossomed right in front of Andred. "Watch out!" Nesbin shouted, pulling him away.

"No!" Andred said, a huge smile breaking across his face. "These are the weapons of Gallifrey! The Doctor's done it!"

The energy field resolved itself into a portal, and out of it came a small hover robot. Completely ignoring the sounds of battle and the approaching Daleks, it floated up to Andred and asked politely, "Are you the Castellan of Gallifrey?"

"I am!" Andred said, licking his lips with impatience.

"These weapons, capable of great destruction, built by the Time Lords of Gallifrey, are hereby remitted to your care," the robot said. "I will now list the weapons which are being released. One hund-"

"We don't have time for that!" Andred shouted. "The Daleks are approaching to destroy us all! If you don't release the weapons right now, there won't be any more Gallifrey!"

"The weapons menu will be saved for later," the hover robot said politely. "Please use your thumbprint for identification verification and DNA sample."

Andred madly pressed his thumb to the robot's sensor pad. Behind him he could hear Denner yell, "Bureaucracy on the battlefield! God, I love it." She blasted back at the Daleks, but her power pack was beginning to run low. She didn't have any more, and she knew Braydon didn't, either.

"Identification confirmed," the robot said. "How would you like the weapons delivered?"

"Just shove them out onto the bloody ground!" Andred shouted. "Right now!"

The portal belched forth one hundred twenty oddly shaped rifles. Andred dove for one and came up from cover. "Everyone, grab a rifle!" He aimed it at the leading squad of Daleks approaching up the street and fired.

A wave of gray energy, looking almost like a field of static from a video screen which had come alive, ballooned from the gun's muzzle and surrounded the leading squad of Daleks. They froze, then silently crumbled to dust within a matter of moments.

"Holy Jiminy Cricket, what are those things?" Denner asked.

"Time destructors," Nesbin said, handing one to her. "They accelerate time within the area of effect, compressing thousands of years into a few moments."

Denner looked at the weapon in awe. "No wonder the robot needed a thumb print," she whispered.

The remaining Daleks desperately tried to retreat and coordinate a counterattack, but in the face of such power they had no chance.

Together, the humans, Time Lords and Shobogans drove the Daleks back.

 

"You realize we're being watched, of course," the Doctor said, hanging up the phone and putting his shoe back on.

"Of course I realize that," Romana said. "But there's nothing we can do about it, is there?"

The Doctor raised his voice and called out to the surrounding trees. "Why don't you come out so we can talk face to face?"

He and Romana waited patiently. A few seconds later, the Master came walking towards them. He stood smiling, facing his adversaries. He and the Doctor locked eyes.

"I suppose you would like to be congratulated," the Doctor said. "I've never known anyone to cheat death as many times as you do, or to come up with schemes that defy the imagination in terms of the number of people manipulated."

"They only defy your imagination, Doctor," the Master said. "Not mine. Thank you, by the way, for allowing me into the Matrix."

"It's what you wanted all along, isn't it?" the Doctor asked.

"Absolutely. It's why I brought the Daleks to Gallifrey in the first place. By ordering them to attack while the both of you were separated from Central Control, and by destroying the transduction barrier, I knew you would try to get into the Matrix through your TARDIS. All I had to do was interface my TARDIS with yours and wait for you get to it, and ride into the systems on your ex-Presidential coattails. What took you so long?"

"Oh, things kept getting in the way," the Doctor said. "You know how it is. But I happen to know that manipulating me into giving you access to the Matrix isn't your only reason for allying yourself with the Daleks."

"Oh?" The Master kept his face neutral, tinged with amusement.

"We know about the prediction made by Rassilon, and your belief that you are the chosen one who will lead Gallifrey to a glorious new future," the Doctor said. "And we know you brought the Daleks to Gallifrey to bring about a state of chaos so that the prediction would come true."

The Master laughed once. "You never cease to amaze me, Doctor, even after all these centuries." He shook his head. "I have no idea how you found out about that, but I'd take my hat off to you if I were wearing one."

"Do you really think that the citizens of Gallifrey will bow down to you, the very cause of all their misery?" Romana asked. "No matter what promises you make, and no matter how much you attach the name of Rassilon to your own, you can't possibly expect them to accept you as their new leader!"

"But of course they will," the Master said. "In fact, I know they will. I know it for an absolute certainty. For one thing, both of you, and that idiot of a Castellan, are all sadly going to be reported as having been killed during the invasion. Oh, don't worry, I'll see to it that statues are built in your honor, and a few poems are written to recognize your sacrifice to the greater good of Gallifrey. Then, after your names are forgotten, I'll have the statues quietly removed. Perhaps used for target practice, just to keep me amused."

"You're mad!" Romana exclaimed, but the Doctor just shook his head sadly.

"Perhaps I am," the Master said. "But I'm also winning."

"Tell me one thing I don't understand," the Doctor said. "How did you hide your TARDIS in mine and escape detection?"

"Easily," the Master said. "You remember when our TARDISes were connected while in flight to Atlantis?"

The Doctor breathed out deeply, puffing out his cheeks. "Wow, that was a long time ago! We were younger, then. Five regenerations ago for me, and..." he looked at the Master inquisitively.

"Far too many for me," the Master replied. "You succeeded in cheating death, yourself, that day – like me, you've done it far too many times. But before our TARDISes separated, I thought it would be prudent to establish a permanent, valid link between them. You never detected it, and I've been using it ever since."

"Very clever," the Doctor mused. "That also explains why you and I keep meeting in the same order in our respective time streams, even though we both keep hopping backwards and forwards through time."

"Correct," the Master said. "The link between our TARDISes actually pulls them towards each other. And it has sometimes been a real delight battling you throughout the years, Doctor. But, sadly, it must all end now. My destiny, and your death, has arrived." Then he suddenly commanded, "Enter!"

For just a moment, the Doctor and Romana wondered to whom the Master was speaking. Then it became clear as Davros appeared beside him. They gasped.

"Behold," the Master said, his arm sweeping around dramatically. "The Matrix. Control of all Gallifrey."

"Is this some kind of elaborate trick?" Davros asked. "All I see is a forest."

"An illusion," the Master said. "The Matrix is so powerful that it manifests itself as a virtual environment. Only our minds are here. President Romana, of course, has created additional protocols in a vain attempt to deny me access to the Eye of Harmony. Since I entered the Matrix at the same time she did, I know exactly what those protocols are, and I can reverse them."

"You will now tell me those protocols," Davros demanded.

"No, I won't, you overblown cripple," the Master laughed. "I brought you into the Matrix only so I could give you a taste of what you'll never have. Did you really think I was going to share my power with you and the Daleks?"

"Of course I didn't," Davros said. "Just as I'm sure you never expected me to share my power with you."

The Master laid his head back and roared with laughter. "Davros, it never even crossed my mind!" he said. "Because the mere thought of you still being alive before this battle is over is one that not even I can conceive."

"Without my Daleks, you would have no army!" Davros shouted.

"That's true," the Master said. "But now no one has them. The Doctor released the weaponry of Gallifrey just before you arrived."

Davros breathed in sharply. "You assured me the Time Lords would be without their renowned weapons of destruction!"

"I lied," the Master laughed. "You see, once I take over Gallifrey, I won't need the Daleks to help me keep order. You and your sorry excuse of a race can be disposed of. You've served your purpose."

"You cannot dismiss the Daleks so eas-" Davros shouted, but the Master struck him across the face.

The Doctor flinched involuntarily, watching the betrayal with disgust. "You didn't use to be so violent," he whispered. "Even in the midst of your most diabolical schemes, there was a time when you were at least elegant and dignified."

"Regeneration sometimes brings out the worst in us, Doctor," the Master said. "I'd love to kill you now, but I can't quite do it within the Matrix in the little time we have left. But I've done the next best thing. I used the link between our vessels to sabotage the dematerialization circuit of your TARDIS, and I've also given your position to all the Dalek Assault ships." He smiled. "A TARDIS can withstand the blast of a few measly battleships, but the combined firepower of a whole fleet is something else again. I'll be removing my TARDIS from yours and retreating to a safer location. But don't worry, I'm leaving you Davros as company in your final few moments. Won't that be nice? Perhaps you and he can work out your differences before you die." He turned to Davros. "And you can meet death at the hands of your own creations. Quite fitting."

"I've survived before," Davros said, but the Master had already disappeared.

Davros disappeared next. The Doctor and Romana traded a look. Romana keyed one last command into the Matrix and they left, also.

 

Events, Reilly had long ago decided, were getting far out of his control.

He had stood by the wall earlier, with True beside him, watching the Master construct two circles of electronic leads which the Time Lord had then strapped around both his own head and Davros's. The Master had explained that the moment the Doctor and Romana entered the Matrix, he and Davros would also enter, and a program would run which would temporarily disrupt the Doctor's ability to dematerialize his ship. Reilly had watched as the Master closed his eyes, waiting for the moment, and then the bodies of both the Master and Davros had jolted as if hit with electricity. Reilly took this to mean that they were in the Matrix.

He turned to True, planning to ask her which switch she had found earlier that opened the doors, when the Master and Davros both took off their electronic interfaces.

"Didn't it work?" Reilly asked.

"Of course it did," the Master said. "Thoughts are so much faster than speech, so my confrontation with the Doctor was instantaneous."

"I think you should know, Mr. Reilly, that the Master has betrayed both of us," Davros announced with quiet menace. The gun slid up once more out of the control panel of his wheel chair.

"Good-bye," the Master said, and flicked a switch on his console.

 

The Doctor and Romana ripped off the gear sets and started furiously working the controls. "K9!" the Doctor shouted. "Add a third transduction barrier around the TARDIS! Nothing fancy, just minimal power, enough to block Dalek Assault Ship energy weapons. Suspend work on the first two long enough to solidify."

"Working," K9 responded, his ears waggling back and forth.

"What-" Danziger began, but was interrupted by the wheezing, trumpeting noise which heralded the arrival of the Master's TARDIS. It materialized in the corner of the console room, in the shape of a plain white box. It immediately dematerialized again, leaving in its wake a very confused-looking Reilly and a creature who could only have been Davros.

"Barrier complete," K9 said. "Resuming energy buildup for the first two."

"Doctor," Davros said, approaching him, awkwardly maneuvering his chair around the Dalek escape pod and the smashed furniture. "If you will allow me to communicate with my Dalek forces, I can order them to cease firing upon this ship."

"I've got a better idea, Davros," the Doctor said and whipped up his sonic screwdriver. He activated it and part of Davros's chair started to smoke.

"What are you doing?" Davros screeched. "Don't you realize that I am your only chance for salvation?"

Danziger turned to Devon and muttered, "Obviously, we missed something. Weren't they in there for only a split second?"

"I'm getting rid of that weapon on the control panel of your chair," the Doctor said. "TARDIS safety regulations forbid that sort of thing. Besides, I don't want you using it when I tell you that you've lost. You're not going to give any orders, because shortly there won't be anyone to receive them."

"What do you mean?" Davros asked.

"I'm running a new program within the Matrix," the Doctor said. "We knew the Master would detect it if we drew upon the Eye of Harmony for any great amount of energy, so we switched the Matrix temporarily to an alternate energy source: Gallifrey's sun. Using that energy source, we initiated a program which will rebuild not one, but two new transduction barriers around Gallifrey. These barriers are solidifying even as we speak. One of them is forming below the Dalek fleet, one of them is forming above it. When they reach full power, they will travel towards each other and crush your entire invasion force to powder."

"You are lying!" Davros shouted.

"No," the Doctor whispered, shaking his head. "I'm not. There's a third, low-power transduction barrier around the TARDIS now, enough to block the weapons of your Dalek fleet. They started firing at us 13 seconds ago. They won't hit us."

"Doctor, what about prisoners?" Devon asked. "The Daleks might have more people captive on board their ships! If you destroy the fleet, you'd be killing them, too!"

"No, we wouldn't," Romana said. "Daleks always keep their prisoners on board a single ship. It minimizes the danger in case of rebellion, and frees up all their other ships to remain as active battleships, which is really all they want."

"That is not necessarily so in this case," Davros said smugly.

"Yes, it is, Davros," the Doctor said, and his confidence was unshakeable. "I checked. I scanned. I thought of all this before."

Devon didn't look entirely convinced, and Oleander stepped forward. Until now, he had remained silent and in the background. "Don't worry, my dear." He put his arm around her shoulders. "I can tell you with absolute certainty that there are no more prisoners on board any of the other ships. Your friends freed all the prisoners which the Daleks were holding, and who were still alive."

"Doctor," K9 announced. "Forty-five seconds to transduction barrier completion."

The Doctor looked at Davros. "If there's one thing you should have learned by now, Davros, it's this: don't mess with the Time Lords."

"I shall take that into consideration," Davros said scornfully and activated another switch on his control panel. A long, narrow field of blazing white energy filled the room, ending at a point just in front of him.

"A quantum tunnel!" the Doctor shouted in frustration, watching as Davros disappeared into it. "He knew he couldn't use a normal transmat beam inside a TARDIS, but a quantum tunnel is a different matter altogether. Blast! If I had ordered K9 to make our transduction barrier just a little stronger, he wouldn't have been able to do that!"

Romana put a hand on his arm. "It's all right, Doctor," she said. "Where can he go?"

 

Davros appeared on the bridge of the Dalek flag ship. "Dalek Emperor on the bridge," one of the Daleks reported.

"Move this ship away from the planet!" Davros announced. "At once! At once!"

"We obey," the Daleks responded.

"Order all remaining Dalek Assault ships except this one to concentrate their fire on the Doctor's TARDIS!" he ordered. "I could quantum tunnel through his shielding, so it can't be as strong as he thinks it is. Destroy the Doctor!"

"We obey!"

 

"Thirty seconds to transduction barrier completion," K9 announced, and the TARDIS began to tremble slightly.

"What's going on?" Danziger asked.

"The Daleks are concentrating all their fire, trying to break through," the Doctor said. "And we can't move, not until I trace the rogue program the Master put into my systems to disrupt the dematerialization circuit."

"Doctor," K9 said. "I can cease building the two main transduction barriers long enough to strengthen the one around this vessel."

"What's the status of the Dalek fleet?" he asked.

"The Dalek fleet has detected the potential transduction barriers and are trying to move out of their field of effect."

"Then don't let up building the main barriers," the Doctor ordered. "They have priority. Protect Gallifrey. We'll just have to do our best on our own." The TARDIS shuddered alarmingly as the Daleks' energy weapons began to break through.

"Where's the Master?" Devon asked.

"And does he still have True?" Danziger asked.

"I don't know, and yes," the Doctor replied, frantically working at the controls.

"We confronted the Master inside the Matrix," Romana explained. "We took some precautions, but we weren't able to stop him."

"So you're saying that wherever the Master is, he now has control of Gallifrey?" Devon asked.

"If we can't get out of this, then yes," Romana answered. "I'm afraid he does."

The TARDIS shook again as the Daleks continued blasting away, determined to take the Doctor with them into death.