Once the TARDIS lands, I move to the console to check the date. "Well, it looks like we were off a bit. That or she brought us further back to give us extra time. We are eight months from when we left." Alice looks at me with a complicated look.
"Who is the Master, and how could he stay on earth without being noticed?" I just shrugged before speaking again "It's what he does; he can be hypnotic, but given time, he can be brilliant at what he does. Just because he is insane in most cases does not mean he's not intelligent, the man is older than me as well, as for who he is, the easy way is to tell you the name he uses currently, Harold Saxon".
Hearing me realisation appears on her face, "You mean the prime minister who disappeared after he said he had made first contact with aliens?" My brows raised at that, it's never really stated what the public knows since the year Martha spent travelling, which never happened after the paradox machine was destroyed.
It makes sense that the last thing they saw was contact with the Toclafane and then nothing, so to them, it was like the prime minister had just disappeared. Now, for how I plan on screwing with the Masters plan, I know that in a direct confrontation, my odds of winning against him are slim. I need to be smart about this.
Moving away from the console, I make my way to the door. I had set the destination for my old apartment, but unfortunately, by this point, it was empty. Mickie was no longer staying there, but he might have noticed that the rent was connected to my old bank account, meaning the money was still going out even if someone was not there.
I ensured the account had enough money to last until 2030 because I felt I would need a space to work in secret. No one expects me to hide here, though. Obviously, I am going to have to make some upgrades to it during this time.
Stopping the Master's paradox machine will be impossible, but I can at least make things difficult. I can also use this time to improve my computer coding and see if I can leave something in the Archangel network to help the Doctor and Martha.
Opening the door, I am greeted by my old apartment just as I had left it. Mickie has not changed anything, too busy worrying about Rose, probably. Oh, right, doesn't he end up marrying Martha? That's going to be interesting to see.
Something's bothering me, though. Something unexpected is going to happen. I should look for anything out of place as the events unfold, just in case. For now, though, I move towards the computer I can see in the corner of the room, which looks like the one from Mickie's apartment. He must have moved it here.
I had landed in the apartment living room so no one would know I was here, anyway, once I got to the computer, I turned it on and waited for it to boot up, while I was doing this, Alice came out of my TARDIS "so you're just going to land in someone's apartment and use their computer without asking".
Her words make me sigh before I speak: "It's my apartment, and before you ask, it's a long story. OK, we do not have time to get into it." I can see the gears turning in her mind, as if she is trying to figure out why a time traveller with something like the TARDIS would have an apartment in London.
At one point, I can see her open her mouth but quickly close it again when I give her a look that says we do not have time. Not with this uneasy feeling in my stomach getting worse. The first thing I do is look for any coding material. Luckily, with a time lord brain, learning this stuff would take a few weeks at worst, at best, one week. Compared to most Time Lord knowledge, human stuff is easier to remember.
A week passes quickly, with Alice using money to buy everything I might need. I could stuff everything I needed to know about coding into my head. The best part was that my system registered it as an actual skill.
System: Skills and Abilities
Primitive Coding:
LVL: 1
Description:
This skill covers the coding of Races deemed primitive by the perspective of a time lord. Note that each level represents a coding language of a single primitive race. At one, it means you have learned one race's coding languages; note that this does not mean you have mastered them.
Seeing this, I can only sign with this. I can start. I know the company responsible for the Archangel network was a fake made by the master, but that did not mean I could not prepare for its arrival.
I had already asked Alice to get everything I would need to build a way to detect the Master's arrival and automatically follow his actions. This would let me know the exact moment to start infiltrating his plan and turning it into a weapon against him.
That's not all. I will build a few things to help Martha with the task the Doctor gave her. Building a few ways to cause problems for the Master, while ensuring Martha stays one step ahead, as I believe, unlike the shows, this is reality, and no way millions of Toclafane could not find any traces of her it's just so improbable she had no training for it yet they could not find her until the Old doctor women reported her, its so far-fetched that it feels like the perfect example of plot armor.
And relying on plot armour in the real world is the fastest way to get killed. After finishing my inner monologue, I should check my other skills. I have done so much since I last checked them.
System: Skills and Abilities.
Skills:
Disassemble:
LVL: Max
Description:
This skill allows the user to disassemble any machine into its basic components without damaging them.
Assemble
LVL: Max
Description:
This skill allows the user to combine components to create a machine or create new components.
Creation:
LVL: 50
Description:
This skill allows the user to combine components to create something completely new or based on a blueprint.
Design:
LVL: 20
Description:
This skill allows the user to create blueprints for new machines that can later be used with the creation skill to guide the creation of new machines.
Seeing my skills, I can see both my creation and design have gone up by 10 levels. As for why it's consistently higher than my design, I have a feeling its level cap is higher, but only time will tell if I am right.
Alice had already returned to the apartment with the stuff. I told her to do what she wanted, but to be careful who she talked to. I can't have the Master discover us the moment he arrives; that would be disastrous.
With my warning given, I get to work first. I designed and built a device to detect Time Lords. Since only three of us will be on Earth, this will make it useful on Earth. On Gallifrey, however, such a device is useless.
Taking the components Alice brought, I began assembling the device. Due to the limited technology of Earth, making a device that functions independently is impossible. I could use my TARDIS to get the components I need. Still, I would need to give it a complete rundown of each component for it to make them that would take days, and I am running on a clock here, I got two months before the Master shows up and I want to know precisely what he does the moment of his arrival as well have some contingencies in place.
As for the device I am currently building, it will need another device that will allow it to use the satellites already in orbit to locate the Master or the Doctor, not only that, I am currently limited to using Earth coding language, meaning the effects of the device will be limited by mot only its materials but also its programing.
That's how I spent the first month building this tracking device and the other devices it needed to function and have redundancies. I had to create and design at least six different devices to get the maximum out of the tracker. Then, I had to painstakingly connect them in a housing without damaging them. That was not fun in any way.
Alice, however, was never in the apartment for long. She spent her time outside, either getting us food or just exploring. At one point, she wanted to visit her family since her mother was still alive, but I told her it was not a good idea. I used Rose's experience when she met her Dad in the episode, where she saved him.
After hearing about the creatures that appeared when Rose changed her father's fate, Alice realised it was not a good idea since she was unsure if she could stop herself from telling her mother of her fate to try and save her.
With the tracker set up I start working on some devices to hind my presence from the Master, I even made a device that essentially hides a location from visual sight, well not exactly it acts like the spell wizards use in harry potter that makes muggles ignore specific locations, only difference is this one high jacks the same signal used by phones, similar to what the doctor did with the TARDIS keys but much stronger and much larger, even if the Master were standing right in front of the building he would not just ignore it he would subconsciously avoid it.
This device took longer than the tracker, but was more critical. Until I had a way to contend with the Master, it was better to take the safer approach. Sure, it's cowardly, but I am a mechanic, not a warrior. The Master, on the other hand, fought in the Time War for a duration. Speaking of the Time War, why was I saved by the moment and not trapped in a parallel universe with Gallifrey?
Damit, I should focus on the now. I can ask those questions later, and that's what I do. I push those thoughts, knowing full well I can ask when I meet the moment because there's not a hell of a chance I will not be present when the war doctor shows up.
It took a few days to take each component apart and attach it. This kind of device is complicated since it needs to be designed so that when the Archangel network activates, it hijacks the signal from it without being detected.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It took me two weeks to build this device. I had already made a slot in the housing for the tracker and the other machines. The housing is just a pillar with the cables running through the middle that have holes for each device. Why a pillar and not an elaborate housing? That would take too long to build.
I put the device into the slot in the pillar, making sure to connect all the cables. The device lights up once I connect the last cable, indicating it's active. As for how it works, it has created a bubble around the entire building.
I don't know if it's active. I should build a power source, but I have six months to do that. I can assume the master will first take control of power when his paradox machine activates, and not having control of the power for my own devices is bad. Still, for now, I should rest. The nonstop building with minimal sleep is exhausting. I may have higher base values than a Human, but I still get tired.
I make my way to my old bedroom before collapsing onto the bed and drifting off to sleep with only one thought on my mind: should I let the Master's final fate of this encounter play out, or do something about it?