by Gary Russell
And the Doctor was back in the realm, the Observer touching his cheek. ‘He is awake, Lord,’ the old man rasped.
Adric, Nyssa and Tegan were still with the Toymaker. The Doctor shook his head, to clear it of his extra-dimensional experience. Had that been Rallon, finding the dying energy to say goodbye?
The Toymaker was still talking about Adric. ‘You promised him a full life, Doctor. Adventure and excitement, but you sideline him. You ignore his potential to lead for fear he will usurp your own authority. Adric is like me, Doctor. From another universe, bearing gifts unique in yours. And how do you treat him? Like one of those young human creatures you are so fond of. You ignore him. He deserves better.
‘And Nyssa of Traken. You promised to help her find her father. Well, you have done - buried deep within Kos... deep within the Master.’
Rallon was still in there. The Toymaker would never have slipped in the Master’s real name unless Rallon was holding on. His sheer force of will was amazing. But why? What was he planning to do?
‘However,’ the Toymaker continued, ‘although you believed you could save your friend Rallon, and attempted to, have you ever tried to rescue Tremas? To fulfil your promise to this poor waif? Of course not - you could have done it, but it suited you to have the Master out there, roaming the cosmos, destroying and scheming, because it made you look better. More heroic. There is a selfishness within you, Doctor, which one day will manifest itself.’
He turned his attention to Tegan. ‘And this poor girl -
unable to return home, return to the mother who needs her in her time of distress. You could have brought her to Heathrow, on 28th February 1981, whenever you chose. But you chose not to - you need these people around you because they are flawed, Doctor.’
The Toymaker’s face was restored by now but there was a wilder look in his eyes, a suggestion, the Doctor mused, that he was not in as much control as he would like.
‘They are orphaned, cut off, neutered almost,’ the Toymaker continued. ‘They are emotionally fractured and dependent, yet angry and bitter. Surrounding yourself with such as these makes you feel better about yourself. Look at yourself, Doctor. You are in your fifth incarnation, yet you look barely older than them.’
The Toymaker was suddenly standing at the Doctor’s side, resting his elbow on the floating jigsaw frame. ‘With people such as these, as opposed to the Romanas, Zoes, Susans and Liz Shaws you are used to, you don’t feel quite so insecure. Quite so alarmed by your outward youthful exterior which no one other than them would take seriously. You are pathetic, Doctor, and you have lost this round of the games. I can give each of these people what they want, Doctor.’ The Toymaker had moved again - now he was back among the Doctor’s companions.
‘I can put Adric back on Terradon, where his experiences would enable hint to rise through the primitive class structure of his people.’ He placed a hand on Nyssa’s head. ‘I can separate the Master and Tremas, Doctor. Nyssa can forge a new life on a planet of her choosing, her father once more at her side.’ He placed an arm around Tegan’s shoulders.
‘Forget Heathrow, Doctor, I can put Tegan back on the Jovanka plot.’ He addressed Tegan directly. ‘I could even give you your father back, in full health. No one would ever know.’ He smiled at the Doctor. ‘All you have to do is stay with me, Doctor. For ever.’
With a click of his fingers, the Toymaker brought into existence the Magic Robot. With it came Commander Oakwood and Braune, Desorgher and Townsend. They took the scene in quickly and the Doctor was pleased to see they were in apparently good health.
The Toymaker raised a finger to quell the Doctor’s next question. ‘Oh yes,’ he anticipated, ‘they too shall return to their ridiculous little space station. Their minds are not worth exploiting. You, Doctor, you are my prize, my jackpot.’
The Doctor took the last jigsaw piece from his pocket and held it up in front of the puzzle, as if checking that it would fit the one remaining space. ‘If I put this last bit in place, Toymaker, this realm is finished.’
‘Of course, its time is over - this game, like so many before it, will have been played out.’
‘My friends go home, you begin again and I become a new toy.’
The Doctor pointed at LeFevre and Stefan. ‘Such as them?’
The Toymaker turned to his memory mirror. ‘No, Doctor, but you will join your other friend.’
For the first time since his original visit to the toyshop, lifetimes ago, the Doctor saw a small string puppet with a wooden painted head and wooden limbs with ball and socket joints. It was wearing a burgundy Prydon Academy cloak and sitting on the lacquered Chinese table.
‘Funny how you never asked after her before, Doctor.’ The Toymaker turned to Tegan and the others. ‘You see how he treats his companions? She has been here for centuries, and not once has the Doctor spared a single thought for her.’ He turned back to the Doctor and waved his ringed finger in front of the mirror, turning it opaque once more. ‘The game is over, Doctor. To free your friends, you have to place that last piece in the puzzle.’
The Doctor made to do so and, as one, his three companions screamed at him to stop.
‘I know my father is dead,’ cried Nyssa. ‘He’s lying!’
‘And I don’t want to go back into E-Space, Doctor. I like it here. With you!’ Adric looked imploringly at the Doctor.
But was it a trick? Was the Toymaker manipulating them one final tune?
‘Tegan?’
Tegan stared at him. ‘I would like to see home, Doctor. But not at the cost of your life. From what little I’ve seen, the universe needs you more than Brisbane needs me right now.’
The Doctor grinned. ‘Charade over, Toymaker. Checkmate, square number one hundred and final tiddlywink to me.’ He deliberately dropped the jigsaw piece to the floor.
The Toymaker let out a great shriek of agony and dropped to his knees, his features once more blurring into the starscape.
Confused, both Gaylord LeFevre and Stefan took a step away from him. And Braune took the opportunity. He pushed past the robot and dived at LeFevre - which was a mistake. LeFevre, not being a man of combat, was easily overcome. The security man pushed him to the floor with his knee, gripped his head in both arms and swivelled it violently.
The crack that followed was louder than anyone would have imagined possible and Braune rolled away, ready to take on the one he should have attended to first. The few seconds it took to kill LeFevre had bought Stefan the time he needed.
‘Braune!’
But Oakwood’s warning was too late - Stefan’s dagger flashed across Braune’s throat and the big man fell to the white floor, dying as silently as he usually lived. Stefan held his dagger ready, but the robot had already grabbed Townsend and Oakwood. It looked at Desorgher, goading the young technician.
Desorgher looked at the two dead bodies - Braune’s white uniform was turning pink as it soaked up his blood - and stepped back, surrendering.
‘Good lad.’ Oakwood said quietly. ‘No sense in losing you as well.’
The Doctor’s party, meanwhile, was engrossed with the Toymaker, who was staggering from side to side, ready to topple. He slumped further, then fell to the ground.
But part of him seemed to remain kneeling up. It was a body twisted and mutilated beyond recognition, hairless and white, gaunt to the point of being little more than a thin layer of skin on bones.
The eyes were gone, the nose and mouth little more than small holes.
‘I did it,’ a hollow voice said from within the feeble chest which wheezed painfully in and out, breathing properly for the first time in aeons. ‘I regenerated twelve times at once -
disrupted him completely.’
‘Rallon?’ The Doctor was at his old friend’s side in a second, hugging him, but terrified in case he broke.
‘Did we get there, Thete? Did we find the Toymaker?’ For a moment the Doctor was confused, then he realised that Rallon’s mind was retreating, that the memorie
s of his initial capture were resurfacing.
‘Are you there, Thete? I can’t see...’ His voice faltered and he coughed, a terrible hacking sound. The Doctor felt sure he heard his friend’s ribs breaking with the effort.
‘Millennia? Millennia, my love... I’ll miss you most of all.
Are you there?’
The Doctor was about to say no when Nyssa dropped down beside them both. She took Rallon’s brittle hands gently. ‘I’m here, my love,’ she said. ‘I’ll always be with you.’ Rallon sighed. ‘I... love you...’ And with a last breath, the Doctor’s oldest friend expired.
‘Thank you,’ the Doctor said to Nyssa. ‘That was... good of you.’
Nyssa stared at him, her face clouded with different emotions. He dared not hope which one would win.
Eventually she laid down Rallon’s hands. ‘I want a break, Doctor,’ she said. ‘We all do. No monsters, no danger, and just time to be ourselves.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘It’s been a bit of a roller coaster since my regeneration, hasn’t it? I think I can see the sense in what you are saying.’
He looked at the Toymaker, still lying beside them. ‘Is he dead,’ Tegan asked.
‘Oh no, but he’s going to be very weak for a while.’ The Doctor slipped the Toymaker’s ring off his finger and waved it before the memory mirror.
Instead of their reflections, he and Nyssa saw Rallon and Millennia, healthy and smiling, walking hand in hand through a rose garden, verdant and pleasant. The Doctor momentarily closed his eyes and smiled.
‘Happy days,’ he said. ‘And may they have many more.’
Then, with all his strength, he threw the ring at the mirror, shattering the glass into tiny fragments. Of the ring, there was no sign.
The whole realm began to shudder, accompanied by very loud thunder that caused everyone to raise their voices to be heard.
The Doctor took in the devastation behind them.
‘Stefan,’ he said darkly. ‘Your lord is in need of help - maybe a new body to support him. Will you take up the challenge?’ But Stefan snarled at him and backed away, waving his dagger around wildly so that no one could jump him. Then he turned and ran until he couldn’t be seen any longer.
‘That is my job,’ said another, old, voice.
‘The Observer!’ Adric cried. ‘He’s going to bring the Toymaker back to life!’
The Observer turned and looked straight at the Doctor. And smiled.
For just one second he wore a different face. Olive-coloured skin, dark hair, smiling eyes.
‘Rallon?’ the Doctor yelled above the noise of thunder. And then he understood. ‘Dymok. It wasn’t created by the Toymaker, it wasn’t his illusion, it was Rallon’s! And when it was destroyed it wasn’t used to power the Toymaker - it boosted Rallon, he bled all his own energy back into himself using the Toymaker as a medium. A focus! Of course, that gave him the last bit of energy he needed to do all this!’
‘I know,’ Tegan shouted back at him. ‘The Observer told me his plan, his secret. That’s why we disrupted the dreamscape
- to confuse the Toymaker, give the Observer time to do what he needed to do! And stop that chess game, of course. That was my addition to the plan.’
‘Well, thanks,’ said Adric. ‘For once, I’m very grateful to you.’
The Doctor agreed. ‘I’m sorry I doubted you, Tegan.
Sometimes you’re worth your weight in gold!’
‘Only sometimes?’ she smiled. Then she pointed behind him. ‘Doctor, look!’
The Observer seemed to melt into the Toymaker.
‘Tegan, Nyssa, we have to get everyone away from here.
Adric, get the Commander and the others.’
‘But the robot... ‘
‘Deactivated, I imagine, by now.’
Sure enough, the robot was lying on its back, shattered beyond repair, its chest monitor imploded and oils and grease oozing from its joints. Townsend and Oakwood were prised free of its grip by Desorgher and as all three hurried over, he kicked the robot’s head away from its body, just to make sure.
Oakwood stooped to check Braune’s body but then rose, shaking his head.
‘Um sorry, Commander,’ the Doctor said, but Oakwood waved his apology away.
‘We can grieve for him, and Dieter, later. What’s the hurry now? The Toymaker’s defeated, and Stefan has run away.’
‘Oh no,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t you understand? The Toymaker is far from defeated. Rallon knew he had to keep the Toymaker in check but over the unimaginable time he’s been trapped with him, he could feel himself dying. That’s why Rallon called me here - not to separate him from the Toymaker, but to release him so that another could take over.’
‘But no one would willingly do that, surely?’ asked Adric.
Tegan brightened. ‘The Observer would.’
The Doctor nodded urgently. ‘Of course - yes, and that’s the point. Remember, Dymok was an illusion, Rallon’s illusion.
Or, more literally, a powerful mental reality, a realm like this one.’
He was talking faster now, becoming breathless. ‘Even the Toymaker fell for it - he believed the Dymova existed, worshipped him as a god. But it was all a trap, set up from within. Rallon certainly learnt a trick or two from the Toymaker, but at heart he was still a Time Lord. He told me the answer was staring me in the face and of course he was right.
I thought he meant the puzzle, but no, he was being literal.’
Nyssa gasped as understanding hit her. ‘Observer! It’s another word for...’
‘Yes, well done, Nyssa, I’m glad you got it,’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘Another word for watcher.’
Adric almost stepped back in surprise. ‘You mean the Observer was ...?’
‘A projection, a shayde - something Time Lords can do -
project a new or alternative version of themselves prior to regeneration. And that’s what Rallon did - only the Toymaker didn’t realise it. There’s no real substance to a shayde but it contains an essence of what was and what will be.
The Observer was thirteen shaydes in one - enough substance to keep the Toymaker going for a while at least, but still on Rallon’s terms if you like.’ The others, particularly the humans from Little Boy II, looked blank.
The Doctor sighed. ‘Oh… it’s as if the Toymaker himself has regenerated. He’ll look the same, probably want the same things, but there’ll be subtle differences like there always are after someone regenerates.’
‘Let’s just hope he’s taken a turn for the better...’ Nyssa started. Then the thunder stopped and the instant silence seemed almost as deafening. She was looking down and became aware of a huge shadow looming over her. She looked up, as did the others.
Towering above them, thirty or forty feet tall, was the Toymaker.
‘New toys,’ he boomed.
‘I think Rallon’s plan failed,’ Tegan muttered.
‘I think you’re right,’ said the Doctor.
‘The only way out of this realm, Doctor, is to complete that puzzle, right?’ Desorgher asked.
The Doctor was lost for words. ‘Yes,’ he said eventually.
‘Yes, that’s what I must do. Maybe now the Toymaker has Rallon’s newest personality, I can find a way to manipulate him afterwards, escape somehow. But in the meantime, it’s the only way to get you all home.’ He looked at his companions.
‘Tegan, you’re the co-ordinator, remember? Take charge. Get Nyssa and Adric back into the TARDIS. She’ll get you all home.’
‘But Doctor, I...’
And he gripped her shoulders, fixing her with that stare.
‘Brave heart, Tegan...’ he started to say, but stopped as Desorgher scooped the jigsaw piece off the floor and jammed it into place.
The Doctor tried to reach out for him, as did Oakwood, but a maelstrom whipped up, pushing them away. The Toymaker’s laughter could be heard as his realm began breaking up - itself resembling a jigsaw, the pieces dropping away one by one.
Of Desorgher, they could see little - he too appeared to have become part of the puzzle, his tortured face replacing the image of the Doctor as the pieces exploded outwards. The Doctor’s vision blurred and he cried out in pain as the Toymaker and his realm disappeared in a cacophony of wind.
* * *
They were in the TARDIS, huddled on the floor, all six of them.
The Doctor was the first to get up, activating the scanner which showed Little Boy II’s cargo bay.
Oakwood was at his side in an instant. ‘This is your ship, is it?’
The Doctor nodded, as he helped Tegan up. Adric eased Townsend and then Nyssa off the floor.
‘How did we end up here?’ asked Tegan.
Nyssa touched one of the walls, stroking it. ‘It came to us, didn’t it, Doctor. The TARDIS saved us - it knew we needed to be safe.’
‘Somewhere the Toymaker’s influence couldn’t get into.’ The Doctor smiled. ‘Possibly, Nyssa. Quite possibly.’
Townsend looked at the TARDIS scanner which showed just space, and Little Boy II in the top left-hand corner. ‘Matt Desorgher?’ she asked, already knowing the answer.
The Doctor shook his head. ‘His bravery saved all of us.
Maybe one day I can retrieve him from the Toymaker’s celestial toyshop.’
Tegan stared at him. After all they’d been through, after everything that final battle had demonstrated about the Toymaker’s power and the Doctor’s role in it, he still wanted to look on the bright side. She didn’t know whether to hug him or thump him.
Oakwood looked at Townsend. ‘We’ve got work to do, Sarah.
The crew probably think we’re dead.’
‘If they even remember who you are,’ Adric added.
‘Oh, I think their minds will have cleared, Adric. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, though.’ The Doctor offered a hand to Oakwood, but the commander shook his head.
‘I’m sorry, Doctor, I can’t just shake and say forget it. Too much has happened.’
‘I understand, Commander. May I at least offer my thanks and sorrows?’
‘Yes, Doctor, thank you.’
