"A hyperphase gate?" Rose asked. "You mean, like a stargate?"

"Sort of, yeah."

Rose turned and looked out over the expanse of desert with dismay, remembering the map in the Tardis. "But that thing's huge! It's got to be two miles across. They could move an army through there!" She stopped and turned and gave the Doctor a dubious look. "An army of rabbits?"

He shrugged. "Not all invaders are Daleks or Slytheen. There's no reason some couldn't be Leporidae."

She screwed her face up trying to figure that out. "Butterflies?" she asked.

"You're thinking Lepidoptera," he corrected her. He tilted back his hat and looked out over the desert. "Leporidae are the family of rabbits and hares. And this one is certainly as mad as a March Hare."

"Oh, you just had to..." she rolled her eyes at him. He grinned back.

"No, the real question here is..."

"The real question here is," she interrupted him. "How do they get an army through when that thing's buried underground? Wouldn't they materialize in solid rock? Not that I'm against that."

"No, the gate just provides power and direction, they could phase through to any point on this world. They've got the whole planet as a power source and..."

"Hold on," she laid a hand on his arm, turning him toward her before he could go off on a tangent. "What do you mean by that?"

"The whole world as a power source?" he asked. She nodded. "Just what I said." She still looked confused. "Look, you know the planet has a magnetic field, right?"

"Yeah, you've showed me pictures."

"Right. So, you also know that lightning not only comes down from the sky, it also comes up from the ground, meeting in the middle."

"Really?" Billie asked, wide eyed as he crawled up the slope beside them. The Doctor looked down at his eager face.

"Yes. And electricity - lightning," he put in for Billie's benefit, "always follows the path of least resistance, like water." Billie nodded and sat down, wrapping his arms around his legs as if he was listening to a good story. Rose looked between him and the Doctor, following along. "This hyperphase gate wasn't built here by accident. It's sitting on a node, a convergence of the lines of electromagnetic force that crisscross the planet."

"You mean," Rose said, "like those lines churches are supposed to be built on?"

"Exactly, here on Earth you call them ley lines. The gate is using that for power."

"Then, why the wait?" Rose asked. "If they've got the machine and the power, why haven't they invaded?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps this Kokopelli is an advanced scout, and they were waiting for a report. Or perhaps they're not waiting, there are loads of long-lived species out there to whom a two month delay wouldn't be any time at all."

"Or perhaps they're waiting because it's broke." Rose put in pragmatically.

"Possibly. But it isn't really. Not yet. The miners have taken a big bite out of it, yes. But the outer ring hasn't been severed yet, there's still a thin thread connecting it. You saw on the scanner."

She nodded.

"It wouldn't take much to fix it. Just patch up the ring. But it looks like our bunny friend hasn't had the chance. He's using that magnetite down there as a focus. That's no original part of the machine. He should be able to materialize on any part of the planet he wants to, yet he seems to be limited to riding the ley lines. That's why he disappeared a minute ago," he nodded down at the desert floor. "There's a ley line running through there, he basically jumped into it."

Billy was rocking back and forth on his seat, taking this all in with enthusiasm.

"So, we've got an army of rabid rabbits sitting on the other side of this hyperphase gate, just waiting to invade. And a mad march hare on this side masquerading as a Hopi god trying to scare away the miners."

"Spirit, not god."

"Whatever. So what do we do? Finish destroying the gate?" Rose asked. "But that still leaves Kokopuff running around loose. What are we gonna do about him?"

"Can I have him?" Billie asked.

"No," the Doctor and Rose both said together.

"Fine!" the boy wrinkled his nose and glared at them, then hunched forward to sulk.

Rose knelt down and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, Billie. But he's not just a big rabbit. He's dangerous."

"But I could have him stuffed!"

Rose recoiled, repelled by the idea that a thinking creature...

"First we have to catch him," the Doctor said, breaking into the moment. Rose looked up at him in horror. He just grinned at her and flicked his eyes at the boy. She relaxed.

"How you gonna do that? I tried. But he's too smart, and if he can just disappear like that..." he waved his hand down at the desert.

The Doctor looked back and forth between the boy and the woman, then looked behind him at the lonely town of Tombstone. He grinned. "I've got an idea."


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