feeling listless

News As The Doctor sat down in the small room which had been set aside by the hotel for the press conference he reflected yet again at how he'd somehow managed to find himself the gopher for a beurocrat. He could have been working on the Tardis trying to get his freedom again. If The Brigadier had wanted someone to attend this farago he could have sent Sargeant Benton or any number of people. The world's press were here as well, so it wasn't as though the details couldn't be surveyed in tedious length the following day in the Sunday newspapers. He glanced across at Jo Grant who was looking pensively at the large screen which was being errected on the stage at the front.
"To think they could actually be doing it Doctor." She said.
"I know Jo. The impiceles. Playing about with science."
"At least your here Doctor. To keep an eye on them I mean."
The Doctor grinned. Perhaps he was being selfish. He wasn't a nanny for the human race, but it was a remarkable development given the level of technology which seemed to be available, so he need to make sure another hand, extraterrestrial hand wasn't at work here.

Three figures stepped from a corridor, through a doorway into the front of the room. The Doctor recognised the first man from the photograph Lethbridge-Stewart had shown him earlier. In the flesh, Dr Zavos, a tall man who didn't look like he had the power of lifegiving in his hands. As he sat down The Doctor noted a wave of cynicism seep into the faces of the press. The timelord was more cautious. Jo looked puzzled. She turned to say something but thought better of it.

As the press conference proceeded The Doctor's caution turned to abject concern. Zavos didn't seem able to descibe in any great detail the processes that were being undertaken. He drew parallels with test tube babies and space pioneers. But the content was bland, it lacked substance. For someone who was intermating they were about to make a breakthrough in cloning he was keeping his cards firmly to his chest. When his presentation broke for questions, Zavos advised that he would be keeping the final slide until the end so that those gathered could see how far the work had progressed.

The Doctor guessed what would be on that slide. They'd done it. They'd create a clone. But how and why? There were infertile couples, but they were being helped by regular IVF. It had to be a cover story. He rubbed the back of his neck. Then looked around. As the back of the room, a journalist, from Sky News as far as he could make out, was speaking to an older man with a dark beard, Zavos press secretary. But The Doctor knew him as someone else. He wanted to jump up, but to do so would have drawn attention to himself. So instead he was helpless as the bearded man looked forward into the journalist's eyes and said hypnotically:
"I'm am The Master, and you will obey me!"