Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see
I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
But losing everything is like the sun going down on me
          --Elton John



Chapter 10:  SUNDOWN



          "Doctor?"
          He was swimming in a hazy sea of half-perceived images and
sounds, barely conscious of existence.  But even this was an improvement
over the inky blackness of catatonia that had descended upon him what felt
like a mere second ago.  Disconnected images floated before his eyes and
his tired mind struggled to remember what the hell was going on.
          "Doctor!  Can you hear me?"
          He knew that voice.  So familiar...that haughty, self-assured
tone...  He stiffened as a new sensation intruded:  pain.  His brain tried
to localize the source but couldn't manage it, the pain was everywhere,
sinking its rusted teeth into every part of his body.  Other voices reached
his ears, unfamiliar ones, muffled and far away.
          "Dammit, he's waking up.  I was hoping he'd stay out until Syrah
finished."
          "Is he in pain?"
          "Look at him, for Christ's sake!  What do you think?  How much
longer, Syrah?"
          "I'm almost done...Felix, give him 10 cc's of thanacaine."
          He felt the pinprick of a needle and the pain receded, but the
confusion remained.  Where am I...?  What happened?  The first voice, the
haughty one, came again.
          "Is he going to be all right?  Doctor, can you hear me?"
          "He'll be fine, just give him a minute."
          "Can't you wake him up?"
          "He's been given some kind of anaesthetic, but it's wearing off. 
Oxygen!"
          Cold air surrounded his face as a mask was placed over it.  His
head cleared as he inhaled and recent memories assaulted him with devilish
fervor.  He swatted the mask away, his eyes snapping open.  Romana was
leaning over him, as well as three people he didn't recognize, neither did
he recognize the location.  He stared up at them and they returned the
stare, looks of concerned expectation on their faces.
          "How...how did you get me out?" he croaked, looking up at Romana. 
She exchanged a glance with the older of the two men.
          "We didn't," she said.  A woman, evidently a doctor, straightened
up and put down the instrument she'd been using on him...looked like a
tissue regenerator.  She leaned in and peered at his face.
          "He'll be okay now," she said, her tone businesslike.  "I
repaired the damage, and the drugs are wearing off."
          The Doctor reached out for Romana's hand.  She grasped it and he
pulled himself into a sitting position, his other hand going involuntarily
to his aching head.  "What do you mean, you didn't?"  He looked around. 
"Where...where's Ace?  What's going on here?  Did you invade the complex?"
          "No," Romana said.  "You came to us."  She reached behind her and
picked up a small metal ring.  "With this," she said, handing it to him.
          He turned it over in his fingers.  "It's a time ring."
          "Yes.  I gave it to Ace when we first came here...seems like a
thousand years ago.  It was programmed to bring her back to my TARDIS. 
You're in the Soul Gardens, Doctor.  The rebel habitat.  My TARDIS was here
with me as we prepared to enter the colony.  About half an hour ago we were
doing some last-minute checks when you suddenly appeared in the console
room."
          The Doctor laid a hand over his eyes, the significance not lost
on him.  "She...she must have found me after the Master finished with
me...and..."
          "She put the time ring on you and sent you here, out of harm's
way," Romana said.  "She stranded herself there to save you."
          "You don't have to draw me a picture, Romana, I understand the
implications!" he snapped.
          "Oh, do you?" she said witheringly.  "Do you really?"
          He handed the time ring back to her and jumped off the table. 
"Give me some clothes, we haven't any time to waste."
          "We?"
          "That's right.  You said you were planning a trip to the colony? 
Let's get going.  If we move quickly we can get there before the Master
finds out I'm gone."
          "Doctor, you're not really in any condition to mount a rescue,"
Romana said.  "Syrah has healed your wounds but you're going to be in some
pain and the drugs need time to..."
          "Romana," he said, turning back to her, "the Master will kill
her.  Make no mistake."  He paused and stepped closer to the Time Lady,
lowering his voice.   "I know what you think of me now," he said.  "But if
you want to stop me from trying to help her then you'll have to shoot me." 
She held his gaze, a speculative look on her face.  "I love her," he said,
the words forced.  "She is my life."
          Romana contemplated him for another moment, then nodded
brusquely.  "In that case, let's get on with it."


          The Master threw open the door to the launchbay and tossed Ace,
gagged and cuffed, into the room.  She flew forward and fell onto the metal
floor, smacking her cheekbone painfully.  She leapt to her feet but there
was nowhere to run.  The Master reached out and ripped the tape from her
mouth.
          "You son of a bitch!" she screamed, struggling against the cuffs
that held her hands behind her back.  It wasn't much of a retort but it was
the first thing that sprang to mind.
          "I never fooled you for a second, did I?" he purred, grasping her
face in his hand.  "What tipped you off?"  He dragged her over to the lift
and chained her cuffs to it.  "Please tell me, I'd really like to know how
you discovered my ruse."
          "It wasn't hard," she growled, glaring at him from beneath
straggling wisps of hair.  "He's my husband."  Her voice fell.  "I know
him...too well."
          He climbed the rung ladder to the control booth.  "Yes, I suppose
you would at that."
          "This isn't going to work!" she yelled up at him.  "There's no
way I'm flying that thing and it's no use to you without control!"
          The sound of his laughter trickled down, and the hangar doors
began sliding open.  He came down the ladder, carrying a hand-held control
panel.  "Oh my dear, how low an opinion you must have of me."
          "You're very perceptive."
          "You think I didn't plan for this contingency?  The automation
systems on that collector are fully operational.  It makes no difference if
you fly it or not, it will function as it was intended to."
          Ace stared at him incredulously.  "Then why the big show-and-tell
to get me to fly it?"
          He advanced on her.  "If you have to ask the question then you
wouldn't understand the answer," he hissed.  "For centuries the Doctor has
thwarted my plans and stolen from me all that was rightfully mine!  This
time he will not escape me, but I am no longer content to simply kill him. 
I must *hurt* him...and the most obvious way is through you, my dear.  It
would have been eminently satisfying for him to know that you died
willingly assisting me...but now your simple death will have to do.  And I
expect it will do nicely."
          Ace didn't know what to say to that.  "You underestimate
him...and me," she said.  "You always did."
          He laughed again.  "If you're suggesting that he will come to
your rescue, well, he is welcome to try.  In fact, I *expect* him to try. 
I wouldn't dream of starting the show without him...but he'll get a nasty
surprise when he gets here," he said with a snarl.  
          Ace felt cold all over...but not without options.  In fact, she
almost had her hands free of the handcuffs when the Master drew his arm
back and crashed his fist against her jaw as hard as he could.  A flash of
blinding pain exploded through her head and then the blessed peace of
unconsciousness.


          Garner burst into lab 546, not sure what he'd find...but it was
deserted.  The gurney he'd put the Doctor on was empty.  He raised his
wrist communicator and spoke into it.  "Master?"  No answer.  "Master, this
is Garner, respond please."  Nothing.
          He ran up the stairs to the sixth floor, not expecting to find
Ace there...and he didn't.  He sprinted back out towards the elevator and
was on his way to the penthouse lab when the lights went off and were
replaced with flashing red ones, an automated voice braying "Security
Alert, Security Alert."  Garner flipped open the comm panel in the elevator
and dialed up the Chief.
          "What's going on?" he demanded.
          "Sir, we've had reports of incidents all over the complex."
          "What kinds of incidents?"
          "Fights, sir.  Blaster fire reported on several levels and...now
I'm receiving casualty reports, sir.  There must be intruders in the
complex."  Garner had reached the lab.  He went to the window and looked
down on the courtyard...emergency floodlights lit up the marble walkways
and guards were running hither and yon.  He went back to the comm
panel...the Chief was looking off camera but soon turned back to him. 
"Sir, I can only conclude that we are under attack.  I cannot explain how
the attackers got into the colony."  Garner shut the panel without another
word and ran to his office on the far side of the lab.  He dialed the
Gardens, not bothering with a secure channel...he was past caring at this
point.  Byron picked up.
          "Garner!  I tried to call you...I know we're really late, but..."
          "Is the Doctor there?  Tell me he's there!"
          "He is.  We're just getting ready to leave..."
          "Slight change in plans.  Bring everyone you can find, Byron.  I
think now might be the right time to mount a full-scale infiltration after
all."
          "What?"
          Garner spoke quickly.  "We're under attack here, I thought at
first you had arrived but now I don't know who's behind this.  I can't find
the Master or Ace and all hell is breaking loose here.  There won't be a
better time to move in.  But hurry...the Master probably has Ace.  The
launch window opens in half an hour...I'm going to try and disable the
collector."  He hung up without waiting for Byron's reply, grabbed his
toolkit and headed for the launchbay.


          Mona threw the security guard against the wall with all her
strength...only he wasn't really a security guard.  He slumped to the
floor, unconscious, but another was advancing on her.  She raised her hands
and her eyes narrowed, her mind automatically accessing the cumulative
power of the Guardians.  She directed it along her arms to her hands...she
could have had it take any form she liked, but with little time to think
about it her mind automatically chose the standard plasma burst.  A
nanosecond later her hands seemed to catch aflame and blasts of red fire
flew from them.  One shot struck her attacker's shoulder before he could
get his arm up to deflect the other but it was enough of a distraction. 
Mona darted forward, grabbed him by the front of his uniform, lifted him
off the floor and swung her arm like a massive catapult, whipping him
through the air to smash through the window at the end of the hall.  A
dizzying magnetic blast struck her in the back and she stumbled forward,
turning to lunge at her new attacker's legs.  She knocked him to the ground
and wrapped her long fingers around his head, zapping him into
unconsciousness.  She scrambled to her feet at approaching footsteps and
tensed for another attack...but the man who rounded the corner was familiar
to her.
          "Saul!  My God!" she exclaimed, relaxing.  "What the hell's going
on here?"
          Saul, a short beefy man with a full beard, grabbed her arm and
walked her down the hall away from the bodies of her Legion attackers. 
"Has there been much of that?"
          "Much?  I've had five encounters in the last hour.  It's complete
pandemonium around here...like Seth told every operative on the planet to
wreak as much havoc as possible."
          "That's probably not too far from the truth," Saul said grimly. 
"This whole place is crawling with Legion.  I just got word from Theo to
move in on the complex."  They came to the end of the hallway.  "Down,"
Saul said shortly.  They stopped and dropped through the floor to the level
below them and kept going.  They were both tensed and alert for an attack. 
None came, but there were signs of fighting everywhere.
          "How many Guardians?"
          "Three squads.  We could use more, though.  I can't even estimate
how many Legion are lurking about.  They seem to be crawling out of the
woodwork."
          "I wish you'd told me you were here earlier," Mona snapped.  "I
thought I was pulling a John Wayne."
          "Where's the Master?"
          "I have no idea.  I lost track of Ace after she left the sixth
floor, but I know she got the Doctor out.  What's Seth up to, anyway?"
          "Beats me.  I just work here."  A group of Legion appeared at the
end of the hallway and rushed at them.  Mona and Saul fought their way
through, conversation irrelevant for the moment.


          Troops filed into the TARDIS, disappearing comically into its
interior like clowns into a car.  The Doctor paced back and forth
impatiently.  "We have to get going," he insisted.  "We can still make it
before the launch window opens.  He won't dare make a launch until then."
          Byron hurried the troops faster, relieved that he didn't have to
give them any instructions.  They'd drilled extensively for this
eventuality.
          "First thing we'll do is drop Felix in the basement at the
biogeneration lab."  Romana turned to Byron's lieutenant, who stood nearby
grim-faced, cradling his pulse rifle like a favorite stuffed animal. 
"Felix, your job is to destroy any biomatrix the Master is preparing.  He's
not getting his new body, no matter what he does.  Understood?"  Felix
nodded crisply and cocked the weapon.  Romana turned back to the plans. 
"Then we'll land here," she said, pointing to the blueprints.  The Doctor
leaned over to look.  "The common area outside the Master's lab.  He'll
have to launch the collector from there, that's where the control systems
are."  She bit her lip.  "Garner said he'd try to stop the launch but we
can't count on him, you never know what's going to happen."  She and the
Doctor exchanged a glance.
          "He'll be waiting for me," he said.  "He'll have her inside the
collector, somehow.  He'll wait until I'm there to do anything.  He wants
me under his thumb, he needs her alive to do it."
          "What can we do?" Romana said softly.
          "Destroy the launch controls before the window opens," he said. 
"Otherwise...he could launch at any time.  I don't think he will but if
that window is open I won't have many options."
          Byron stepped forward.  "This is a time machine, yes?  Why can't
we just jump backwards and have all the time we need?"
          "It doesn't work that way," the Doctor said, pressing a hand to
his forehead.  "The laws of time forbid such interference."
          "Everyone's aboard, sir," Felix reported.  Romana immediately
went to the controls and dematerialized the TARDIS.  She glanced up at the
Doctor, who looked more anxious than she'd ever seen him.
          "We have time, Doctor.  Twenty minutes at least until he can
launch."  He nodded but didn't seem reassured.  "Relax."
          "I can't relax.  This is the Master we're talking about.  He may
be coming apart at the seams but he's still dangerous, he's still a genius
and he's still a Time Lord.  I've learned to expect anything from him...and
this time he's got the upper hand."


          The Master hunched over the control console, feeling the
unfamiliar rush of adrenaline at the impending confrontation.  The Doctor
was gone, Ace had told him nothing but it didn't take a genius to deduce
that her Time Lady friend had given her a time ring which had been used to
transport him away from the colony.  Such admirable loyalty.  He chuckled
to himself.
          The digital clock counting down to the launch window read 19:34
and steadily ticked downward.  He stepped back and pressed a button on his
control panel, staring up at the ceiling...a slit appeared straight down
the middle and the ceiling panels slowly retracted all the way to the floor
to expose the glass dome ceiling of the lab.  It was a breathtaking
sight...the lab was now without walls, its only enclosure the clear
reinforced glass of the observations skylight.  Orange light from the
Cerean sun flooded the lab, and the binary star system which provided the
light loomed low in the sky.  He pressed another button and felt the hum
through the floor as the collector was extended on its launch tower arm
from the hangar seven stories directly below him.  The nosecone appeared in
the window and slowly rose on the hyrdaulic arm until it filled the entire
window.  The Master stood in the center of the lab, his arms spread wide,
exultation filling him.  Surely, this time, the Doctor would be at his
mercy.
          He was jolted out of his dreams of conquest by the master control
panel beeping at him.  A smile creased his lips...it was the vortex alert
system.  He'd configured the external sensors in the colony to detect any
temporal activity consistent with a TARDIS to alert him to the Doctor's
approach.  He hurried to the panel and activated the temporal
destabilization subroutine...if the Doctor arrived *now,* he would not be
able to launch for another 18 minutes and that would never do.  No...the
Doctor would have to experience a bit of a delay.  He watched the status
screen and laughter rose in his throat as the temporal signature
destabilized, wavered, and then vanished.  He grinned and straightened up,
feeling invincible.  
          Soon, Doctor.  Soon you will meet your destiny.


          Romana's TARDIS spun through the Vortex, just a short hop to the
colony...but a precise landing, which took a bit more care.  The Doctor,
fully cognizant of his ignorance of this TARDIS' systems, kept out of the
way.  He stood off to the side, his eyes closed, thinking of his wife. 
Wife.  It still awed and amazed him that she could have loved him and
committed herself to him...and, more than ever, it made him shudder with
self-loathing at how he'd treated her.  But they had been happy, for a
time...memories of her swam before his closed eyes.
          Sitting at Bessie's wheel, laughing and telling him to hold on as
she drove it faster than he had ever dared to.  With a mischievous sparkle
in her eyes and her hair streaming out behind her...how she had seemed not
quite of the Earth, like a windy spirit come down to fly among the mortals
and teach them how to *really* live.
          Crouched on a forest floor, cradling the body of a freedom
fighter in her arms and angry at the injustice of it, her warrior's heart
crying out for revenge.
          Her face turned towards him, questioning...always the question of
what's to be done, believing that he will have a response and trusting him. 
Trust he did not deserve.
          He pinched the bridge of his nose.  Stress was making his mind
feel strange and out of control.  As often happened at times like this he
heard her steady, pragmatic voice in his mind.  What if I die? she said. 
What will you do?  You won't die, his mind insisted.  Never.  But death
comes to us all...to me and even to you, she whispered...if not today then
someday.  Someday will come, he thought.  And if it comes today I will have
wasted the time we've been apart...time we could have spent together.  He
squeezed his eyes tightly shut and a tear escaped to roll down his cheek. 
His hearts were heavy with remorse and shame.  Can you hear me, Ace? he
thought.  I'm coming.  Hang on, my love... please.
          "Materialization in ten seconds," Romana said.  She consulted one
of her readouts.  "In..."  She got no farther.  The TARDIS shuddered
violently and they all staggered to keep their footing.  The Doctor jumped
at the console.
          "We're caught in a destabilization wave!" he cried.
          Romana's hands flew over the controls.  "Origin?"
          "The colony!"  He slammed a hand on the console.  "I told you not
to underestimate the Master!"
          "I can't continue on this trajectory!" Romana yelled over the
sounds of temporal wake raging outside the vehicle.  "Altering temporal
course!"
          "No!" the Doctor cried.  "We have to get there before the launch
window opens!"
          "If I don't change course we won't get there at all!" she yelled
back.  The shuddering stopped and the time rotor resumed its smooth motion. 
"Temporal course stabilized," she said.
          "To when?!" he demanded, pushing her aside to examine the
readouts.  The time rotor began the landing sequence.  "Oh no..." he
whispered.  "We're landing twenty-five minutes after we left,"
          Romana's jaw clenched.  "The window is open."
          The Doctor moved to the landing controls and began making rapid
adjustments.  "We're landing right at the lab, never mind the basement."
          "Doctor, he must not transfer himself, no matter what happens to us!"
          "He won't," the Doctor said grimly.  He whirled around. 
"Felix...as soon as we land, take your men and head for the basement as
fast as you can."
          Felix gave a crisp nod.  The time rotor stopped and the TARDIS
materialized in the lobby area outside the penthouse lab.


          Theo jammed her hands into her gloves.  Angel stood in front of
her firing off updates.
          "Saul reports that they've engaged the Legion troops and
skirmishes are raging throughout the complex.  Unconfirmed casualties."
          Theo didn't pause, whirling her cape over her shoulders.  "Have
any of the Legion reached the Master?"
          "Negative.  They don't appear to be trying to."
          She stopped for a moment, cocking her head in thought.  "Hmm.  Odd."
          "If I may suggest, it seems as though they're just trying to keep
our troops busy."
          She nodded and sighed.  "Indeed.  Quite possible."  She buckled
her belt over her hips and slid her long sword through its slot.  She
paused and looked up at him.  "Angel, listen..."
          He held up a hand and stopped her.  "Theo, you don't have to
apologize for anything.  I am fully aware of what you've been going through
recently."
          "That doesn't excuse it," she said.  "I had no right to speak to
you the way I did."
          He looked surprised.  "Of course you did.  You're my boss.  I'm
fortunate in that you *don't* speak to me that way regularly but if you
did, I would have nothing to say about it."
          "Angel, I'm trying to apologize!  Can't you just let me?"
          He smiled.  "In that case I accept."
          She looked down at her hands.  "But this conflict was inevitable. 
I don't regret any of my tactical decisions...even if they were made under
slight duress."
          He averted his eyes.  "There I am still forced to disagree...but
they are not my decisions to make.  I will support you in whatever action
you decide to take."
          She clapped him on the shoulder.  "I never doubted that.  Now, I
think it's time we checked in with Saul."  She strode out of the office,
Angel close behind her.


          Garner threw open the doors to the hangar, his breath rasping in
and out of his chest.  He'd run all the way down here but it still seemed
he was too late.  The collector was rising out of the hangar on its
hydraulic launching arm and he could not reach it.  The control systems
were up in the lab...damn.  He turned right back around the way he'd come
and raced towards the elevator.
          When he reached the lab he knew it was too late.  The Master had
retracted the wall and ceiling panels, exposing the dome...the collector
loomed in front of the master control console, ready to launch.  The
digital countdown timer read five minutes to launch window.  The Master
himself was standing in front of the console, his hands clasped behind his
back.
          Garner stood in the doorway, his toolkit still clutched in his
mechanical hand, wondering what to do now.
          "It's too late, Garner."  He jumped at the Master's low, purring
voice.  The black-clad Time Lord slowly turned to face him.  "You can't
stop me now."
          Garner slowly walked forward, dropping the toolbox.  "What makes
you think I'd try, Master?"
          "You insult my intelligence...and yours.  I know your true
allegiance."
          Garner squared his shoulders and met the Master's eyes.  "I
thought I had looked into the face of true evil on this planet...but until
you came here I had no idea what evil was."
          "Oh, you're breaking my heart.  Evil is such an outdated concept. 
One either survives, or becomes superfluous."
          "The collector won't function," Garner said.  "I've disabled the
docking controls."
          The Master chuckled.  "Of course you realize that's impossible. 
But a courageous bluff.  I have more respect for you, Garner.  You're
becoming a player.  But there is only room in this game for one Master," he
growled, then darted forward with unnatural swiftness, body-checking Garner
to the floor.  The two men rolled over and over on the smooth black
surface.  Garner struggled to the top and brought the edge of his
mechanical hand down over the Master's neck.  It must have hurt but the
Master didn't seem fazed.  He pushed Garner off then swept one foot under
his legs, knocking him to the ground.  In a second he was on top of him. 
"Haven't you learned what happens to those who oppose me, Garner?" he said,
producing a syringe.  Garner tried to pull away but was pinned quite
effectively.  The Master thrust the needle into the side of Garner's neck. 
"The Doctor will fare no better.  Pity I can't chance keeping you alive to
see the culmination of our work."
          Garner fought against waves of blackness cascading over his
vision.  "You'll...never escape....alive..." he croaked.
          "Too bad you'll never know how wrong you are," the Master said,
smiling down at him.  Garner's head slumped to the floor.  The Master stood
up, rubbing his neck where Garner had struck him.  "Altogether too easy,"
he murmured, and went back to the control console.
          The digital countdown clock read 30 seconds to the launch window. 
The Master watched as it slowly ticked down...5...4...3...2...1.  The
window was open.  He grinned a self-satisfied smile and took up his post,
standing before the control console, facing the door, holding the launch
control panel in his hand.
          And waited.


          The Doctor and Romana hurried to the doors of the Master's lab,
Byron close on their heels.  Behind them, Byron's troops deploying
themselves to all parts of the complex and soon enough they were alone.  In
the background they could hear the sounds of many small battles being waged
through the complex...and the Doctor realized uneasily that there were
other conflicts being played out on this stage than his with the Master. 
The doors swung open by themselves as they approached...and the scene that
greeted them would haunt the Doctor for the rest of his life.
          The Master stood, looking supremely confident, in front of the
control console.  The entire room was a giant clear dome...and directly
behind the Master was the huge form of what could only be the fusion
collector.  Byron whipped out his hand scanner.
          "One lifesign inside the collector," he whispered.  "Human,
female...unconscious.  It's Ace."
          The Doctor walked forward slowly, stepping carefully.  He felt
like he was making his way through a minefield...one misstep and the Master
would push that button, sending Ace into the sun's corona to burn up.  His
mind refused to consider that possibility.  She *would* live.  There was no
other way it could work out.  "I'm here," he said, his voice low and
steady.
          The Master nodded, swinging the control panel by its cord.  The
Doctor could not seem to take his eyes off of it.  "So you are, Doctor. 
And looking a good deal better than when last I saw you."
          "Garner!" Byron cried, startling everyone.  He rushed over to
where Garner lay slumped on the floor, not moving.  Romana followed him and
crouched by the rebel leader's head.
          "Yes," the Master said.  "It's so disappointingly cliched that he
turned out to be one of them.  Really, that plot twist is so overdone," he
murmured, tsk-ing at the very idea.  
          The Doctor stood rooted to the spot.  For the first time in his
life he had no idea what to do.  The Master held all the cards.  He could
not see any way around, no way to wrest control of the situation away from
the Master.  The only thing to do was try to stall for more time.  "It's me
you want," he said.  "Let her go."
          The Master strolled forward, a half-smile lurking around the
corners of his mouth.  "How are the mighty fallen, Doctor," he murmured. 
"There's nothing you can do.  No words to cajole, no plan to execute,
no...ahem, Aces up your sleeve.  You're completely helpless."  He stood
before the Doctor, obviously relishing every moment.
          "You're right," the Doctor said.  "You've got me exactly where
you've always wanted me."  The Master smiled and walked back towards the
console.  "But it doesn't matter," the Doctor said firmly.  The Master
stopped and turned.
          "Don't even try, Doctor.  Your mind games will not work on me."
          "I'm at your mercy!  What's the point?  What are you going to do
now?  You can't kill her."
          "Oh, I can't?"
          "No!  As soon as you do you'll lose whatever power you have over
me now.  If she dies I will have nothing left to lose and you know it.  You
can't give up that trump card."
          "You think I wouldn't do it?" the Master said, his eyes blazing.
          "You can't do it!  And therein lies the rub," the Doctor said,
coming forward, his face like a thundercloud.  "Why threaten her?  To
control me....but it's an empty threat and we both know it."  The Doctor
spat his words as quickly as possible, praying he was right.
          The Master waved the control panel in front of the Doctor's face. 
"Are you willing to bet her life on that?  Are you really sure I won't do
it?"
          "Yes!  It's a pointless act that would get you nothing!"
          "You think I won't do it?" the Master yelled.  They were standing
almost nose to nose now.
          "You won't do it!"
          "You *really* think I won't?"
          "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" the Doctor roared.
          The Master turned abruptly and stalked back to the control
console, leaving the Doctor where he stood.  Romana and Byron knelt by
Garner's body, transfixed by the exchange.  For a moment it seemed the
Doctor was right.
          The Master turned around and held up the control panel.  "A
pointless act?  Is that so," he mused, completely calm.  The Doctor's
hearts plunged down to his shoes as he realized his misjudgment...perhaps
the worst misjudgment of his life.  It wasn't *control* over him the Master
wanted...he'd gone way beyond that.  "Let's see just how pointless it seems
now," he finished with a snarl, then jammed his thumb down on the large red
button in the center of the panel.  The whole room began to rumble.
          "NOOOOOO!!" the Doctor screamed and lunged forward...but it was a
futile, reflexive gesture.  The collector leapt off the launch arm and
streaked away towards the Cerean sun, leaving a white trail of smoke
behind.