The Doctor wasn't in the cell anymore. Instead he was locked away in a quite modern looking and brightly lit library. Not too big, but well enough equipped to keep one busy for a while. And a man like the Doctor had to be. There was nothing more dangerous than a bored Time Lord.

The Master pushed Roka into the room and got out his gun, pointing it at her head. "Do something stupid... well, I guess you know what happens then. And we don't want to stain all those nice books, right?" He smirked and gave her a poke with the muzzle and she moved forwards to the middle part of the library. It was more spacious and a TV stood there in front which the Doctor was sitting, a gamepad in hand and obviously enjoying a videogame.

A giggle escaped Roka when she realized he was playing Skyrim. Even with her blurry sight she could make it out easily. "Give the poor man a PC", she said to the Master. "Looks so much better with Mods."

At the sound of her voice the Doctor turned around and his gaze met that of the other Time Lord, before it wandered down. A few seconds later he recognized Roka and sprang up, rushed towards them and gave her a big hug.

"You don't look good, are you all right?" His voice sounded concerned and Roka tried to keep her head down so he couldn't see her eyes.

"Yeah... I guess I am. Although I was probably dead for a few seconds." Out of the corner of her eye she threw a mean glance at the Master behind her.

"What!?" The Doctor let go of her and rushed towards the Master, completely ignoring the gun that was pointing at him. "What have you done to her?"

"Use my name, Doctor... and I might tell you," he offered cheerily. "I just had some fun with your little pet."

The gun between them was probably the only reason the Doctor didn't dare to do more than staring angrily at the other man.

"I'm fine. Still alive, see?" Roka wiggled her arms around and smiled. She really wasn't eager to see her only friend getting shot.

"She's crazy, Doctor..." The Master nodded towards her. "What did you caught yourself there?" All he got was probably a mean look and after a few seconds he turned around. "The whole room is monitored. Don't try something funny." With that he left the Doctor and Roka alone.

"You're really all right?" The Doctor asked carefully and waved her over to sit down once more. He handed her the gamepad. "Want to try? I love that game. It has dragons!"

Roka giggled and gave him back the gamepad. In her current state it would be impossible to play, but she just said, "Ah, I think I played that one far too much."

It was surprisingly hard to talk, since she wasn't allowed to tell anything and she didn't even dare to hint at stuff. Also the necessity to remind the Doctor of her presence every ten minutes or so didn't help, but she didn't want to waste a single second.

"Well, at least he got you some good games." She looked through the cases and could recognize most of the covers from their color patterns. "You should try Dark Souls."

"I wanted to... but the CD is completely scratched," sighed the Doctor disappointed.

Roka took it out and felt the surface. It had definitely been destroyed on purpose. She burst out into laughter. "Well... that's not a surprise." For a while she just sat next to the Doctor and watched his blurry player character moving around in the snow. "Don't worry." It was so hard to sound confident. "I'll get you out of here."

The Doctor looked over and gave her a wink. "Don't think I'm just sitting around. I'll come up with something good eventually. You know me!"

A smile came to her face and for the first time in days she actually felt a little bit safer, like always when the Doctor was around. Even the most dangerous creatures feared him and there never had been a situation he wouldn't have found a way out of. Everything suddenly seemed surreal and she wished they could just walk away and forget about it all.

But for now it sounded as if he hadn't come up with a plan yet... The thought made her feel down again. There had to be something. She wanted to get away from the Master as fast as possible. Even though she didn't show it, his complete unpredictability did unnerve her.

"But you really shouldn't have put yourself in danger, Roka." He lay down the gamepad and looked at her. "He is dangerous, but he loves to make everything more complicated than necessary. Usually gives me enough time to stop all his plans."

"Sorry," Roka said quietly, really meaning it. "I just... reacted. I thought he would kill you immediately otherwise." She lay her arms above her knees and buried her face in them.

The Doctor carefully grabbed her shoulders. She couldn't look at him, didn't want him to see her broken eyes. "Hey, remember, you're not me, okay? Leave the dangerous stuff to me. And don't give in to the Master. Whatever he does to you, it's just a game for him. He tries to break you..."

"I know. But he won't manage." She smirked. "In theory... locking me up here was a bad idea. By now he probably already forgot about me." Maybe her glitch would be good for something for once.

But right as she finished the sentence the door opened and Roka spun around. How was that even possible? Even the Doctor forgot her every few minutes and she had been in here for over an hour.

"Enough family time. We have work to finish," came the Master's cheery voice.

"What are you forcing her do, Master?" The Doctor let go of Roka and she stood up to leave him with a heavy heart.

"Uhhh, I like when you use my name. Don't worry, she does it voluntarily. Believe it or not." He laughed. "You'll see... very... soon."

--------------------------------------

The Master put a paper in her hands and cheerfully added, "I found a catalyst. But the device needs some modifications."

Roka stared at it... it wouldn't be possible with that blurry sight. Even the blueprint was barely recognizable to her. She handed it back to him.

"Just do it yourself. I need more sleep to get that crap out of my system." She turned away from him and wanted to move to the other room when she felt a drag on her neck.

"No way. You built that thing. And so badly, it would take me at least a day to modify it."

"Not my problem. Let me go." She ripped at her collar angrily, but the Master already had pulled her back and probably was about to say something mean, but then let go of her and she could see him observing her.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" He held her head tight. "That's... interesting." His hand waved before her face. "You're not blind, right? Why didn't you tell?"

"And allow you a victory?" She smirked. "I'll just get some glasses."

"That won't help." He flicked her forehead.

"Whatever, I can't modify the device like that."

"Stay still..." He moved to his desk and when he came back he had something in his hands that suspiciously looked like a sonic screwdriver. "Let's see what use that thing is. Keep your eyes open."

Roka heard the familiar sound of the Sonic. Of course he had taken it. Why did she even wonder? The light hurt her eyes, but she kept them open.

"Is that thing broken?" He shook the Sonic then scanned her again. "Huh... strange."

"Maybe you're using it wrong." Roka stuck out her tongue.

"Heh, you wish. No. But there is nothing wrong with you. All nerves and muscles are intact. No brain damage. Simply... nothing. But you also can't simulate that."

Roka closed her eyes and rubbed her fingers against the eyelids. She blinked. Still the same. "That makes no sense."

His voice sounded mischievous all of a sudden. "Psychosomatic shock... probably goes away in a few days. Or never."

Roka waved a hand before her eyes. "Well... congratulations then. Seems you managed to literally break me." She let out a dry laugh. Hadn't she just told the Doctor this wouldn't happen?

"And you laugh at it..." He shook his head. "I don't get you." But he sounded a bit amused.

"Well... my eyes just don't focus on anything, but I can still 'see' in a way. It's only bad for your plans, cause I can't use my hands without my eyes...." She stopped. That was bad. The longer this would take the longer she would have to stay here. "Or maybe... I could guide you. I don't like it, but you have to sit right next to me. That way you're not mirrored. And I still can see your movements. I know the device in and out."

At first it was strange and it seemed not to work, but after a few minutes Roka could tell him accurately what to do. She just really disliked sitting so close to him.

"That doesn't work. That patch is way too small," the Master protested.

"Of course it works." Roka laughed. "But my hands are smaller. You'll need a tool to open it. Just be careful, it's easily breakable."

"Give me your hand."

"What? No!" But he just grabbed her wrist. "Alright, alright. I have it. Wait a second... it's open." She rubbed her wrist. "Don't do that."

"You're sure you're not a child?" He chuckled. "No adult can have such tiny hands."

"Hey! I'm even older than I look!"

"Right... almost forgot. How old are you anyway?"

"The star-shaped screw has to peak out a bit. That stabilizes it." She thought for a while. "Good question. I was 24 when the Doctor picked me up... and in case I haven't completely lost track of time since then..." She gulped. "Ah, man! I'm stupidly old! Never thought about it..." She sighed. "Something around 46 or so? Good thing I'm frozen or I'd be all wrinkly by now."

"You know that this is not just effective inside the TARDIS, right?"

"Huh? Not?" That surprised her. She never had a method to check that.

"I can't see or in any other way perceive any movements in your time stream." Roka watched his hands moving. He was skilled with that stuff. Very skilled. She couldn't have done it better. So why did he keep her around? Why had he let her build something like that in the first place? "Maybe you will never age at all." He held the device against the light. "Not bad. Combining the chrono-wire with the spiral... not bad at all..."

Roka looked at him. While working he seemed so normal, concentrated... sane. And this was even something like a normal conversation. She wondered if he was right though. Would she ever age?

"So... I might never die without external force... Probably. Well..." Her voice got toneless. "I guess you'll do your best to find out eventually."

He laughed. "You can bet on that. Although it's somewhat boring when you're not scared." He sighed dramatically.

Roka said nothing. Was she really not afraid? In that poisoned state she had functioned almost automatically, without much thought she had just done what seemed to be the most logic thing to do. And still... even at that moment where she had been sure... Her thoughts drifted away until she felt a stare on her and looked up.

"What?" Roka blinked a few times and noticed that she had spaced out for a few minutes.

He shook his head and continued to work on the device. For a while now the Master hadn't asked her anything, so Roka assumed he had figured out how it worked. That was fast, she thought. Why did she have to stay around? In no way would it have taken him a day. It had been not even an hour with her guidance. But then again, Time Lords had much more effective brains than humans and the Doctor had told her, the Master was some sort of a genius.

"What's there to grin about?" His voice once more brought her back to reality.

"Was just thinking about how I would love to peek inside a Time Lord's brain. A shame there are only two of you left."

He poked her with a screwdriver. "Tch, am I supposed to be afraid now?" He laughed amused. "Good thing you're such a coward."

"I'm not!" protested Roka.

"You sure are." He chuckled. "You wouldn't dare to kill someone."

"I'm just not a murderer," she mumbled and clenched her stomach.

"Ah, don't worry. Stay around me for long enough and you'll be thrilled to become one. I seem to have that effect on people." He stuck out his tongue.

Roka stared at him, frowning. Another reason to get away fast. Then after a while she just leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes. She felt so tired and her head was still hurting. Some time passed before she felt a poke on her head.

"Seriously..." The Master's voice sounded disappointed. "You can fall asleep next to me?"

She blinked and looked confused at him. Then she giggled. "I can sleep everywhere. And that's not even the most dangerous place I've ever slept." She shrugged her shoulders.

"That's a blatant lie!"

"Does a sinking ship count?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Inside a volcano?"

"What? How... No, I don't want to know. And no, it doesn't count!" He was obviously amused.

"Leaning against a Dalek?"

"You're making that up!" Now he was laughing.

"No... they also don't see me. And I was somewhat... trapped there. Long story. And there was also that one time in a giant bird's nest... that beast tried to feed me afterwards... that was less fun."

"That's... that can't be true! "And even if!" He poked her once more. "I'm still more dangerous."

"Wouldn't be so sure about that", she countered. "I once slept inside a spaceship with broken thrusters. And it was heading into a red dwarf."

The Master was still laughing. "You're hilarious. No one would do that!"

Roka smirked. "Well... I am no one."