Backup Plans & Old Enemies

"...that hurt," groaned Alan Jackson, landing in the Attic of 13 Bannerman Road.

"Teleportation is capable of causing nausea," Luke Smith informed the party who'd just teleported into the house, before moving to help them up and subsequently becoming swept into a hug by Maria.

"I know," Jonathan agreed with him, knowing how such devices could upset biology. "Believe me; it's even worse when you're transporting yourself through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment – doubly so when there's Time Travel involved."

Maria had ceased her embrace with Luke by now. "So what do we do now?" she asked, in a defeatist tone. "Earth's completely overrun by the Daleks, and now we've found out that they're gonna destroy the whole of Reality. We're scuppered."

"We're not out yet," Jonathan told her calmly. "Relax for a moment."

"What d'you mean, relax?!" she cried, not understanding how he could be so calm, so detached. "People are dead-"

"And many more will go the same way unless we can successfully come up with a plan!" he cut her off snappily. It was in instances like these that some of the less Human qualities of the 4th incarnation of the Doctor started to show in Jonathan. "People think well when they're not overwhelmed by their emotions – and I'm sorry if I sound Inhuman to you, but it's a fact of life." He stopped to take a breath before apologising. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Maria..."

"I'm sorry as well, Jonathan," Maria told him. "Now then, what's the plan?"

"Well," he began, "there's naught we can do about the presence of Zed Neutrino Energy – energy can't be created or destroyed. We'd have to find some way of making the energy fold back in on the Daleks."

"How?" Alan asked curiously. "Earth doesn't have the technology to do that."

"We might not need technology, Alan," Jonathan told him. "We could use a formula called Block Transfer." At this, Alan and Maria just looked puzzled.

"Block Transfer can model any Space-time event in the Universe," Luke explained to them. But evidently, he saw the problem if his next words were anything to go by. "However, the mathematics aren't compatible with computers, and only a number of species could master it."

"And the species best known for being able to perform Block Transfer Computations are the now-extinct Logopolitans of Logopolis," Jonathan continued. "Only a few could ever hope to learn the science." His gaze turned to Mr Smith. "But the good thing is we have a member of one such species in the room. A Xylok could learn it in next to no Time."

"Mr Smith," asked Luke curiously. "Do you have any knowledge of Block Transfer?"

"I regret to inform you that I have no such knowledge," Mr Smith told them resignedly.

"But you could learn it?"

"Yes, in less than an hour if I have a direct information upload from a computer which has the knowledge of the mathematics."

"Oh dear," sighed Jonathan, whacking himself on the head. "We'd have been better off if we'd been able to bring K-9!"

"But we've got K-9!" Maria told him, now feeling a bit better at being able to contribute to the plan. "Sarah Jane told us she had the Mk IV K-9!"

Jonathan's face lit up in joy. "Thank you very much, Maria Jackson!" he cried exuberantly. "K-9?"

"Greetings, young Master," chirped K-9's voice as he materialised into the Attic. "How may this unit assist you?"

"K-9, I need you to upload everything you know about Block Transfer Computations into Mr Smith," the young not-quite-Time Lord told him.

"Affirmative," the Robot indicated his understanding. K-9 then moved to upload the program...

*DW* ...back on the Crucible... *DW*

"Activate the Holding Cells," ordered Davros. At once, the Doctor, Romana and Rose were enclosed by separate energy shields. The Dalek creator then took a short moment to survey his triumph over his most hated enemy, coming to a stop when he saw Romana. "Impossible...or is it? Oh, this is Destiny at work indeed!"

"I'd like to say it was nice to see you again, Davros," Romana told him, staring at him with a look of cold contempt. "But then I'd be lying. It's rather loathsome having to see you again." Davros said nothing to this. "I do have one question, however – how did you escape that block of ice that he," she inclined her head toward the Doctor, "said that even you couldn't escape from?"

"The Daleks freed me," Davros told her. "Ninety years I was frozen – ninety years of mind-numbing boredom. I was conscious every second. When I was released, the Doctor had regenerated." But before he could continue, Romana turned her attention to her lover.

"Might I ask, Doctor, what that life was like?" she asked him.

"I was a bit of a Cricket lover," he told her with a smile. "He was also the first one to feel Human."

"Much as I would enjoy listening to the pointless tales of the nature of your regenerations, Doctor," Davros cut back in, sounding as if he couldn't care less about such stories, "I would be more inclined to know about your companion who witnessed my awakening on Skaro." He turned back to Romana. "Name and Planet of Origin?" he demanded.

"Name – Romanadvoratrelundar," she answered, making sure to gauge Davros' reaction. "Planet of Origin – Gallifrey."

Davros hissed angrily. "Time Lord!" he spat. "It is fortunate that we had you placed in a Holding Cell – even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."

"Still scared of us, then?" the Doctor sneered. "And before you can talk any further, we are not doing the Nostalgia Tour, because...the Supreme Dalek said 'Vault.' As in 'Dungeon'...'Cellar'...'Prison." He locked eyes with the Dalek creator. "You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you?"

"Just like before, if you think hard and long about it," Romana continued the Doctor's train of thought and speech. "He once told me the Daleks left you for dead centuries ago. So now...you're...what? A Servant? Slave? A Courtjester?"

"We have...an arrangement."

Romana just snorted in derisive laughter – what a wonderful sound, the Doctor thought as she did so. "No...you are the Daleks' pet, waiting for a chewtoy!"

Davros turned to Rose. "So full of fire, are they not? And to think you crossed the whole of Reality to find the Doctor again..."

"Back off," spat Romana.

"She is mine...to do as I please," the Kaled Scientist shot back.

"So how come I'm still alive?" asked Rose.

"You are meant to be – it was foretold," Davros told her. "Even the Supreme Dalek would dare not contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan." With that, he flipped the Lighting Control Switch on his wheelchair, and the mad, rambling Dalek was illuminated.

"So...cold...and dark," Caan croaked. "Fire is coming...the endless flames...the shining light..."

In spite of the fact she'd heard this on the Subwave Network, Romana could only stare in blank shock. Daleks didn't speak in this manner the last time she'd checked. "What is that, Doctor?" she asked her fellow Time Lord.

"The last of the Cult of Skaro," the Doctor told her. "A group created by the Dalek Emperor to think as the enemy thinks. The other three – Daleks Thay, Jast and Sec – were wiped out in 1930's New York. Caan escaped, only to fly into the Time War unprotected..."

"He did more than that," Davros rejoined the conversation, pride in his voice that one of his own creations had managed such an impossible feat. "He saw Time...its infinite complexity and majesty...raging through his mind..."

"No wonder he's insane," Romana said quietly, for she knew that to do such a thing would destroy most minds in the Universe.

"This I have foreseen...in the wild and the wind..." the Dalek rambled again. "The last Time Lords will be here...as witnesses...to the End of Everything...the Doctor, the Crimson Cub and their precious Children of Time!" He began laughing. "And one of them will die..."

"Was that you then, Dalek Caan?" Romana snarled in righteous anger. "Did you murder Donna Noble?"

"Why did the TARDIS door close?!" the Doctor demanded furiously. "TELL ME!" This was roared with such force even Romana was taken by surprise. Her lover had clearly suffered the insufferable since she'd been gone.

"Oh, that's it!" Davros cried in perverse joy. "The anger...the fire...the rage of a Time Lord who butchered...MILLIONS!" The hatred Davros felt at the memory of the Hand of Omega incident had not faded over Time – he could still remember how many Daleks had died that day. "Why so shy? Show your companions...show your fellow Time Lord your true self. Dalek Caan had promised me that too."

"I have seen it," Caan continued in an insane, giggling ramble. "At the Time of Ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed!"

"Meaning what, exactly?" asked Romana, wishing that this mindless rambler would get to the point.

"We will discover it together, Time Lords...it shall be our Final Journey. Now, the testing begins."

"The testing of the Reality Bomb?" Romana asked him, outwardly calm. Inwardly, she was absolutely horrified at the scope of the atrocity the Daleks were about to commit.

Davros smirked. "Precisely..."