With a buzz and a flash and a zap — they all tumbled into the chameleon arch room. The Doctor looked up, jumped to his feet with a grin... then froze. The grin faltered and died.
"Ah." The Doctor ran over to it, buzzing it with his sonic screwdriver.
"I told you it was broken, back when you outlined the plan to Jenny," Kardeni said, getting up and walking over. She stopped by the side of the chair, watching the Doctor's face get more and more troubled. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I know why you're really here. But you've got to accept it. I didn't know anyone on that battlefield. I only felt something because the TARDIS panicked inside my head." She put a hand on his arm. "I'm not Bivazeer. Not a Time Lord. Not your friend." Let him go and stepped back. "Just a normal human."
The Doctor, for a moment, just looked very sad.
Then pushed his sadness aside and raced over to the slot for the fob watches. "Actually, believe it or not, coming here had nothing to do with you." Buzzed it with his sonic. Checked the readings. And sighed. "Right. So much for that part of the plan. The watch-writer's kaput. Burned out."
"Before it's last use?" Seo asked, coming over. "Or after?"
"Don't know," said the Doctor, taking off a panel and analyzing the wiring. "Someone else has been mucking about in here. I can't tell." Poked around a bit, causing a spark. "At any rate, we can't use it. Unfortunate, since the plan sort of banked on..." He paused. Stroked his chin. Then spun on his heel, turning on Kardeni. "Does your Battle TARDIS have a Re-Partitioner?"
Kardeni frowned. "A what?"
The Doctor described the tool to her and what it did.
Kardeni laughed. "Oh, that! I didn't know what it was. It's in the toolkit. Fourth console, third drawer on the left."
The Doctor stepped towards her, his hands on her shoulders. "Then I'm going to have to ask a favor of you. And I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry. But you're not going to like it."
"The plan's changed?" Jenny asked.
Yimi was already rooting around underneath the 4th console. "There was a problem with the chameleon arch. The Doctor says we have to do something about a tablecloth."
"Tablecloth?" Jenny rushed over and helped Yimi beneath the console. Yimi described the new plan as, together, they lugged out a huge toolbox, and carried it over towards the central console.
They crashed it down a short ways away.
"Okay, tablecloth," Jenny confirmed, wiping some sweat from her forehead. "Well, it's a lot more work for us than the previous plan. Zeera agreed to this?"
"She..." Yimi trailed off. "I can see in her mind how strongly she wants to say no. But she still said yes." She shook her head. "How is that possible?"
"She feels badly about what she did, Yimi," Jenny offered. "This is your proof." She headed over to the central console. "Come on. We better get started. This is going to be tricky."
The Doctor kept going over the chameleon arch again and again, opening up all the panels and scanning the insides with his sonic — then checking the readings, shaking his head, and muttering beneath his breath.
Finally, he stepped away.
"How bad is it?" Kardeni asked.
"Fixable for our purposes," said the Doctor. He rolled up his sleeves. "But I have no idea what damage was caused by Lantro messing about in there, versus what was caused during the final transfer." He ducked under the chair, buzzing things with his sonic screwdriver. He paused. Frowned. "Oh, hello. What's this?" He squinted. "Biodata reader." Poked it. "Wonder whose biodata might activate...?"
An image of a young man suddenly appeared in the room with them. He looked so real, Seo actually had to try to touch him, just to make sure he wasn't.
"Ah. Mine." The Doctor scooted out from under the chameleon arch and jumped to his feet. He looked at the person in front of them, giving a sad sigh. "Bivazeer. Of course." He glanced over at Kardeni. "From the look on your face, I'm guessing he looks a bit familiar."
"He...! I...! Shut up," Kardeni said, her voice quivering. "That doesn't prove anything."
The man in front of them waved. "Doctor," he announced, then — with a mischievous grin — added, "and yes, I did just call you that to drive you crazy. I won't salute or call you sir, though, because I'm pretty sure you'd get the Time Lords to resurrect me just so you could punch me in the face." He shoved his hands behind his back, and gave a sad little shrug. "So, you've probably guessed by now — if you're getting this, it means I'm dead. I tried to leave it for you in a more obvious spot, but I kind of got... stuck here, in the end."
"Ah," the Doctor muttered.
"It's a long story, and I won't bore you with the details," Bivazeer continued. "Let's just say that I knew the Daleks wouldn't kill me until they drilled that encryption code out of my head. So... yeah. When you got away, I was taken prisoner." He sucked in a deep, painful breath, as if suppressing a whole chunk of memories of what the Daleks had done to him. "I escaped, of course. And then — I stumbled across proof. Rassilon did force the Apos'alu into existence. It wasn't an accident. I knew I needed to expose the truth, so I came back here." He gestured at the chameleon arch. "And found the Apos'alu trying to use the chameleon arch to put itself back together and escape."
"First true thing Lantro ever said," the Doctor muttered.
"Well, I stopped the Apos'alu mid-transfer," said Bivazeer. "Completely destroyed the machine. Problem is — now, the Apos'alu is a non-corporeal ghost desperate for a body, and here I am, a Time Lord body ready for the taking. I can't let her get her hands on that." Bivazeer shrugged. "So this is it for me. I'm overloading the chameleon arch and then using it on myself. That'll tear my body to shreds for sure. No regeneration. No chances for the Apos'alu to get her hands on a Time Lord body or the encryption key in my mind." He gave a sad laugh. "Funny, isn't it, how you always told me you were ready to die — and here I am, forced to do it instead? Guess that's how life works out." He snapped his feet together, and saluted. "So, for the last time, this is private Bivazeer, signing out." Then he cursed beneath his breath. "I told myself I wasn't going to salute. He's going to kill me for..."
The message blinked off, as it ended.
"So he did use the chameleon arch?" Seo asked.
The Doctor gave a long, slow sigh. "Yes. Well, sort of." He ran his hands down his face. "Questions, questions, it all just leads to more questions!" He stared at Kardeni, again — for a long, long moment. Then, finally, he shook his head and turned back to the chair. "No. Don't have time to work it out. I need to fix this before the Apos'alu finishes gathering her swarm and they leave the surface of Galia-4."
Seo bounced over. "What can I do?"
"Stand there and don't blow anything up," the Doctor told her, as he started, slowly but surely, to fix it.
Seo pouted. "But I can...!"
She stopped, as she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Turned, peering at it.
"Hold that thought," Seo instructed them all, racing to the far corner of the room.
The Doctor, still working on the chair, warned, "Seo, really, don't..."
"Leave this to me," Kardeni said, racing after Seo. "Eight kids. Remember?" She gestured at the Doctor. "You keep doing whatever you're doing."
He sighed, but got back to work.