to change the course of history

[laser_not_sonic]

At precisely three o'clock in the afternoon, on- what is to Arthur Eddington, at least- the next day, a stray grandfather clock appears in his study.  Not to say that it simply blinks into existence with no fanfare whatsoever; it's accompanied by a strange, grinding noise that echoes faintly off the floorboards, and a glowing from behind the face

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[scienceandgod]

Arthur is too focused on his work to really pay any attention to the sound, at first at least. By the time he does look up, the Master is already in the room and grinning at him, looking anything but insulted. He quickly drops his pencil and reaches for a golden pocket watch laying on the desk amid a mess of notes, just within reach. A quick glance at it's face reveals that it is exactly three o'clock, which is good. For a moment the scientist had worried that time had flown by again, and he had missed the time of their meeting.

It's only once that worry is out of the way that it registers that the Master is in his house despite the fact that no doors were left unlocked, and that there is a grandfather clock resting against one wall that he knows was not there before. However, first things first.

'I apologize, though I don't seem to have lost track of time as much as I feared.' a pause. 'And you can call me Arthur.'

[laser_not_sonic]

The Master watches as a succession of emotions flicker over the man's face; he's quite as expressive as the Doctor, the Master finds with pleasure. Surprise, worry, and then something faintly disconcerted, as he surely takes in the unorthodox method of the Master's arrival. The Master smiles smoothly, brushing away his apology like a bothersome insect.

'Oh, it was time given to a worthy cause, I've no doubt. Arthur.' He adds Arthur's name almost like a postscript, and says it with relish. 'After all, I've all the time in the universe.'

Idly, he makes his way over to the desk, perching himself on the edge in a way which, entirely possibly, is an invasion of Arthur's space. Not that the Master's ever cared much for concepts of personal space. With amusement writ clear on his face, he surveys the pages and pages of notes and equations. Eddington, of course, has an extraordinarily inventive mind for his time, but the theories he's working over so laboriously really are laughably simple.

'Might I ask what was occupying you

[scienceandgod]

Arthur isn't used to having people sitting on his desk. He's not really used to having people this close, except perhaps for his sister, so it's a bit unsettling having the Master so close. He ignores the urge to move away, however and focuses on the papers before him. Discussing science, even in their current situation, seems to visibly calm Arthur.

When he begins to speak, the tone is more confident than before, less phased. 'The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. I believe there's some correlation between mass and luminosity of stars, judging from the pattern. But I can't work out the exact equation.'

[laser_not_sonic]

If he's not used to it, he makes it quite clear; his discomfort positively radiates off him, and the Master thoroughly enjoys it. The Doctor's doppelgangers are always the objects of his harassment, simply because it's so damned fun, but he rather thinks that Arthur Eddington is going to get a bit more than that. Something a little subtler.

Because with Arthur Stanley Eddington, he could easily change the course of history. He's a revolutionary scientist; someone responsible for taking humanity in an entirely new direction academically and scientifically. Influence him in the right way, help him along here and there, and the world could be changed irrevocably- and perhaps not in any way Eddington himself might like. Not that such differences would seem to be a direct result of his work; causality, after all, is a lovely thing.

So he smiles indulgently. 'Ah, yes. And you're quite right, of course. Luminosity doesn't correlate directly with mass, which, I should imagine, should make things difficult for someone working within