For a moment the Master looked worried, then he laughed. "You"re bluffing, Doctor."
"Am I? What about Time Ram?"
"Time Ram," said the Master uneasily. "You couldn"t do it in that pathetic old crock of yours. You"d never be able to lock on to my TARDIS."
"I"ve already done it. The two TARDISes are operating on the same frequency, and our controls are locked together. See for yourself."
To his horror the Master saw the needle on a particular dial creeping remorselessly towards the danger zone. "You know what"ll happen if that control goes over the safety limit, don"t you? Tell him, Jo."
A little unsteadily Jo said, "The two TARDISes will occupy precisely the same s.p.a.ce and the same time and that means -"
The Master slammed a fist down on the console. "I know what it means!""
"Do you?" said the Doctor remorselessly.
The word seemed forced from the Master"s lips. "Oblivion."
"Top of the cla.s.s," said the Doctor. "Utter destruction. For you, the TARDIS, the Crystal."
"And for you and your TARDIS and Miss Grant, Doctor," snarled the Master.
"Of course. But Kronos will be free again, and the Universe saved."
Defiantly the Master straightened up. "Very well. Go ahead. Time Ram!"
"You don"t mean it," whispered Jo.
"Why should I dance to the Doctor"s tune like a performing poodle. If you want to stop me, Doctor - try!" try!"
"Very well," said the Doctor quietly. "Goodbye, Jo."
"Goodbye, Doctor."
The needle on the Master"s dial crept closer and closer to the danger zone. It was hovering on the edge of it when it quivered and stopped.
The "Master looked up at the screen. "Well, Doctor, why have you stopped?"
"To give you one last chance."
"Rubbish. You can"t bring yourself to destroy Miss Grant. Admit it. It"s that fatal weakness of yours, Doctor. Pity. Compa.s.sion."
The Master p.r.o.nounced the words like curses. "For a moment, you almost had me believing you."
"Don"t think about me, Doctor," called Jo. "Think about the millions who will die. The millions who will never be born. Do it, Doctor, quickly!"
The Doctor hesitated. "There may be another way, Jo."
"Of course there is," shouted the Master. "The way to unimaginable glory."
Jo saw that she could just reach the control on the Master"s console - the equivalent control to the one the Doctor was using on his own. If she pulled that lever, it would mean Time Ram. Suddenly Jo Grant saw that she had to make the sacrifice that the Doctor would never make himself.
"Goodbye, Doctor!" She lunged forward and pulled the lever.
The needle slipped into the red zone. Somewhere in s.p.a.ce-time two TARDISes merged and disappeared. And for Jo Grant everything vanished in a ball of fiery white light.
Jo awoke to find herself, lying on the floor of the Master"s TARDIS. Mysteriously, she had been freed from her handcuffs. Close by was the Master, stretched out unconscious.
Jo cautiously got to her feet, and made for the door. She opened it upon nothingness. Not land or sea or s.p.a.ce - just nothingness.
Suspended in the nothingness, quite close, was the Doctor"s TARDIS.
Jo stepped out into the void, walked carefully across to the police box and went inside.
The Doctor lay unconscious on the floor of the control room. Jo knelt beside him and shook him gently. "Doctor. Wake up!"
He opened his eyes and blinked at her. "Jo! Are you all right?"
"Oh yes," said Jo, matter of factly. Tm dead, of course, but I"m all right."
The Doctor got up. "What on Earth are you talking about, Jo? You"re no more dead than I am."
"Yes, but that"s it. I mean, that"s what I mean mean. You"re dead too - and so"s the Master."
"And I suppose we"re in Heaven?"
Jo shrugged. "Must be. Or somewhere. Come and.~ have a look."
She led the way to the still open door, and stepped out into the void. Cautiously the Doctor followed;-She turned to him, gesturing around the vast nothingness. "Fantastic, isn"t it?"
"Fascinating," said the Doctor dryly. "Though somehow I don"t think we"re in Heaven."
"Well, where are we then?"
"That"s just it," admitted the Doctor. "I don"t know myself. You shouldn"t have put us into Time Ram, Jo. Besides, I was just on the point of doing it myself."
"Really?"
"Now look here, Jo -" He broke off, and smiled ruefully. "No, not really."
A sort of vast throat-clearing took place behind them and they turned to see a colossal face. It was a female face, beautiful and exotic, so large that they could have crawled upon the shapely nose like flies.
The Doctor was in a state where he felt nothing could surprise him. "Greetings," he said calmly.
The face spoke in a clear bell-like voice that reverberated everywhere. "Your courtesy is always so punctilious, Doctor!"
"You know me?"
"Of old."
"Do please forgive me, but I can"t seem to place you."
"I am Kronos," said the face.
"You!" said Jo in amazement. "But - you"re a girl."
"Shapes mean nothing."
"But you were a raging monster before," persisted Jo. "An evil destroyer."
"I can be all things," said the voice. "A destroyer, a healer, a creator. I am beyond good and evil as you know it."
"Where exactly are we?" asked the Doctor.
"On the boundary of your reality and mine. You brought yourselves here."
"With the Time Ram?"
"At the moment of impact I was released. That saved you.., and took you here, to the threshold of being."
The Doctor nodded. "I see. So what happens now?"
"I owe you a debt of grat.i.tude that nothing could repay. What would you wish?"
It was Jo who answered. "To go back home."
"In the TARDIS," added the Doctor.
"You shall."
"What about the Master?" asked Jo curiously.
"He will stay here."
"What will happen to him?"
"Torment," said the face sweetly. "The pain he has given so freely shall be returned to him in full."
The Master staggered out from his TARDIS and fell to his knees. "No," he screamed.
"Please Doctor, help me. I can"t bear it. Please, Doctor, please!"
The Doctor turned back to the great face. "O mighty Kronos, I ask one more favour of you."
"Name it."
"The Master"s freedom."
"He made a prisoner of me!" said the voice angrily.
"I know. But will you allow us to deal with him in our way?"
"I do not understand-you. But if that is your desire, so let it be."
The Master rose from his knees and stood facing the Doctor. "Thank you, Doctor," he said humbly. "
"Don"t thank me," said the Doctor brusquely. "You"re coming back to Earth with us."
The Master bowed his head, clearly a broken man. "Yes, of course," he whispered.
The Doctor stepped back and motioned the Master to enter the TARDIS. The Master walked slowly forward, gave the Doctor a shove that sent him staggering against Jo, spun round and vanished inside his own TARDIS.
"Stop him," yelled the Doctor, but it was too late.
The Master"s TARDIS promptly dematerialised.
"You asked for him to be given his freedom," said the voice amusedly. "He has it!"
"Here we go again," said Jo.
She followed the Doctor into his TARDIS.
Stuart Hyde held out a spoonful of mush to the baby on the laboratory floor. It stared disapprovingly at the spoon and said distinctly, "No!"
"Come on, Baby Benton," coaxed Stuart. "Come on, get it down you!"
Ruth looked up from her work at the console. "What are you feeding him on now?"
"The remains of my lunchtime sandwiches, mashed up with some cold tea."
"Well, stop playing mothers and fathers and come and give me a hand here. I think I"m nearly there."
"What are you trying to do?"
"Well, if I"m on the beam, I should be able to close up the gap in time for good," She made a last adjustment. "Right, switch on, Stu."
"Okay!" Putting down his saucer of improvised baby food, Stuart switched on.
Inside "the TARDIS, Jo was saying, "but why, Doctor? Why did you even ask?"
The Doctor adjusted the controls, and studied the rise and fall of the central column.
"Would you condemn anybody to an eternity of torment, Jo - even the Master?"
"No, I suppose I wouldn"t."
"Well, neither would I - even if he was responsible for the destruction of Atlantis."
"It"s terrible when you think of it," said Jo suddenly. "All those people..."