Tag Archive: Nevermore

Cpt 8

“The Land of Fiction?” Arissa repeated after a moment. Her tone was disbelieving, little more than a whisper, and she hated herself for it as it implied weakness, and weakness was something you couldn’t express if you wanted to survive the Master.

Showing weakness in a room full of them? Well, that was just inviting trouble.

To be fair as her eyes scanned the room, Arissa actually felt fairly confident that she could take them on. Not all at once of course, but one on one. Well, all but Missy, as that version was like a bag full of cats. You could smell the crazy on her. She was unpredictable enough to be the real threat and also seemed to be REALLY excited about the idea of doing great harm to our intrepid heroine.

“The Land of Fiction,” Missy repeated, her eyes boring into her as she smiled a toothless smile that somehow still implied fangs were involved.

Arissa stared back, determined not to break eye contact first. “I’ve been there once. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.” She said, discreetly tightening the grip on the sword hilt.

“Well if you’re familiar with it there’s no point in explaining is there?” The purple-clad Master quipped.

“Indulge me.” Said Arissa, still staring down Missy.

The original Master (but again, who was to really know) stepped forward and gently laid a hand on Missy’s sword, lowering the blade. She glared at him, but allowed it to happen, giving Arissa a golden moment to blink when she whirled away and sheathed the sword inside her umbrella. “It seems, my dear, that several cosmic coincidences have taken place at once. It started with this ridiculous crusade of the Doctor’s and his journey into THE DARK TIMES.”

The Master in the black crushed velvet began to laugh ruefully. “Who would have ever thought the destruction of the universe could be laid at his feet and not our own?”

“Sickening, isn’t it?” Asked blondie.

The original Master continued, unabated, “The first event was not the paradoxes, but the very act of traveling back. It ripped the fabric of space-time asunder and weakened the dimensional barriers that keep reality together. The paradoxes created in THE DARK TIMES echoed forward throughout the continuum, creating tears of their own.”

“By the time of your own excursion into THE DARK TIMES, the universe was in pretty rough shape.” Came the low voice of the leather jacket, sunglass-wearing Master, who somehow had snuck up behind her. He moved to her other ear. “You didn’t help.”

The crispy, sunburnt Master picked up the thread. “By the time we became aware of the Doctor’s meddling, all of time had begun to unravel. Catastrophic, cataclysmic damage done to the time vortex.”

“Bleedthrough was inevitable.” The original Master said.

“And one of those points of bleed-through was from The Land of Fiction,” Arissa confirmed.

The original Master nodded. “Precisely. Threads of that pocket universe snaked out and infected our own, manipulating reality and blending it with fiction.”

Missy sipped at a cup of tea and continued. “At the same time, a small podcast from Kansas gets the bright idea to suddenly change their schedule listings into a fictional story, featuring a fictional character who is self-aware. Coincidence?”

“The author is being influenced by the Land of Fiction,” Arissa said, realization dawning.

“Got it in one.” Missy purred.

“Here’s where it gets interesting.” The purple-clad Master intoned. “Because of that influence, their schedule quickly became the template for the real world. History was re-written into a new… UNBOUND universe.”

“Didn’t care for that.” Blondie injected.

“As their schedule became more and more prominent in the real world, more and more of reality became tethered to it. This podcast was suddenly the most important thing in the cosmos.”

“Speaking of, Transmitting now.” The crispy Master interrupted.

497 – The First Doctor Adventures 1.1 “The Destination Wars” (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who: Missy comic issues #2, #3.

498 – The Ninth Doctor Adventures Ravagers Box Set – 1. “Sphere of Freedom”, 2. “Cataclysm”, 3. “Food Fight” (Big Finish Audio)

499 – Lost in Time: The Space Pirates (Retcon & Novelization)

500 – Whosical the Musical – (Rocking revue of the Music inspired by Who)

501 – Lethbridge-Stewart The Laughing Gnome: Rise of the Dominator by Robert Mammone (Novel)

502 – The Eighth Doctor Adventures 4.3 “Nevermore”, 4.4 “The Book of Kells” (Big Finish Audio)

“And that’s when we began seeking you out, my dear. You continued to transmit the schedule for them, even as the walls of reality were breaking down. Your dedication simultaneously kept the cosmos from imploding and allowed the Land of Fiction to further infiltrate reality.”

“Things have inverted,” Arissa said. “The author is no longer in control; he only thinks he is.”

“Indeed. But as a construct of the author, you are the essential bridge to solving this problem.”

She looked around the room at the various faces of the Master looking expectantly (or in Missy’s case, predatorily) at her. “Whey do I get the feeling this is going to end badly?”

“Because it will, Poppet.” Missy’s toothless grin widened.