The Seismologist ' s Story ( short story ) The Seismologist ' s Story was the fourth short story in the Short Trips anthology " " . It was written by Peter Anghelides . It featured the Third Doctor and Jo Grant . Summary . The TARDIS materialises in an underground cave during an earthquake . The Doctor and Jo escape the TARDIS just in time as it falls into a crevice . They are surprised to see the TARDIS reappear and fall again , and the Doctor realises it ' s caught in a time loop . The Doctor and Jo climb out of the cavern and find themselves in 1950s Greece . At a taverna , the Doctor notices a man sitting at a nearby table , while Jo notices a good - looking man at the bar . The Doctor suddenly heads for the first man ' s table and accuses him of being a Time Lord . The man , Katsoudas , agrees , and shows the Doctor and Jo a device on his table that causes time loops . He activates it , and the good - looking man at the bar repeats his actions of talking at the bar and leaving it , before ending up back at the bar . Katsoudas explains that he is on a mission for the Time Lords , who imprisoned criminals in a time loop which has now gone wrong . They need the Doctor ' s help , and it was they who brought him here . Katsoudas is pretending to be a seismologist studying the prediction of earthquakes . He turns off his time loop device , and the good - looking man , introduced as Katsoudas ' assistant Nikos Spiridakis , joins them . The four of them head for Katsoudas ' dig site . Spiridakis and Jo take a lift underground , while the Doctor and Katsoudas enter the building that houses the equipment . The Doctor wonders at the sophistication of the equipment , and Katsoudas explains that his patron , Senator Szef , funded the equipment . Katsoudas also explains that he is able to predict earthquakes because he is the one causing them . Katsoudas starts an earthquake , which damages the lift shaft . Spiridakis is unconscious , and Jo leaves the lift to look for help in the cavern . She is left behind when the lift ascends , brought to the surface at the Doctor ' s insistence . A large creature approaches Jo . However , she soon realises that the creature , which is wearing a spacesuit and coming out of a spaceship , is going through a time loop and resets before it can see her . This happens several times , and Jo is feeling a bit bored , when suddenly a voice addresses her by name . The Doctor is appalled at Katsoudas ' actions and worried when the lift brings back only Spiridakis . He wishes to meet Senator Szef , who now appears on the scene . The Doctor realises he should have expected that Szef was in fact the Master . He is accompanied by Jo , whom he has captured . The Doctor realises that Katsoudas is not actually a Time Lord , but was hypnotised by the Master . The Master explains his situation . He is trapped in the area of the time loop , along with the Odobenidan crew of a spaceship . He is using earthquakes to try to free the ship , heedless of the damage it will do to Earth ' s Mediterranean region . As the Doctor distracts the Master , Jo drags Katsoudas to the TARDIS . She tries to get Spiridakis to come with her , but he heads for the controls of the Master ' s equipment . The Master sees him and tries to stop him , but when he fails , he leaves in his TARDIS . Spiridakis has managed to confine the earthquake ' s effects to the immediate area , but the temporal equipment ages him to death . The Doctor heads for the TARDIS , where Jo and Katsoudas are waiting , protected from temporal damage . Katsoudas boasts that he has been free of the Master ' s control for some time , and that he plans to continue his work , using the alien equipment . However , the Doctor will not allow it , and removes Katsoudas from his own time to preserve the Web of Time .