Chapter 19:

The Doctors Think Up A Plan

Like most great geniuses, Foaly's childhood memories of school often had a recurring theme of not being included in something. Crunch ball matches, parties, projects. He was now having an impromptu flashback to those moments, as he now sat fuming on the sidelines as the Doctors snipped back and forth at themselves in a circle.

"We should destroy it sooner than later!" snapped Doctor 9.

"But what about the boy on board? We can't just leave him!" Doctor 3 snapped back.

"Think straight, you old fool" Doctor 6 said. "It's either one teenager or the Earth!"

"I will NOT have that boy's death on my conscience" Doctor 1 said, crossing his arms.

Foaly pounded the floor with his front hoof, making a loud clanging. "Might I make a suggestion?"

"SHUT UP!" came the reply from every Doctor, too engrossed in their argument to take notice of the centaur. Foaly flared his nostrils, and took a step back, standing beside Holly.

"Don't take it personally' she said, biting her lips. "We're all a little tense right now."

"Tense I understand" Foaly grunted. "But ignoring good input-"

"S'matter, horsey?" Mulch said, "not used to being ignored?"

All of a sudden, Doctor 4 slammed his right hand on the TARDIS control panel. "That's it! We're all idiots; it's been staring us in the face!" All the occupants of the TARDIS looked the beaked-nose man.

"The Gates of Elysium" Doctor 4 said, waving his hands. "Anything that comes through is tagged by an energy signature that allows it to pass through again."

Butler looked at the Doctor for an explanation. "The Eternals, the ones who made the Gates, were paranoid that less civilized species would try to steal their technology for use in war" the Doctor explained.

"In order to protect the Gates" Doctor 7 continued, "they created a system; they reversed engineered the energy signature of the Time Vortex, and 'attached' it to anything they sent through the Gates..."

Juliet's eyes lit up. "Like a bar-code!"

"Yes" said Doctor 8. "If the Gates don't read the signature, it won't accept whatever is trying to get inside."

"They only way Davros could get The Horde out of the Gates is if he has a way to replicate the signature onboard the Nightmare Child" said Doctor 9.

"Then that explains it" said Doctor 2.

Trouble didn't like being excluded from the conversation. "Explains what?"

"Why Davros took your friend" said Doctor 5. "Not just to get the Gates open; he could have easily done that himself. All the calculations to open the Gates are just icing on the cake; what he really needs this Fowl boy for is to re-engineer the signature to let the Horde pass through."

Holly felt a knot twist in her gut. "And then what?"

Doctor 10 looked uneasy. "The Horde will be free, and will consume Earth."

"Well, that's not very fair, is it?" said whined Mulch, knowing all too well what 'consumed' meant'. "Why Earth? What does Dervas have against us?"

"Nothing" said the Doctor, looking very sullen. "The Horde will be weakened after decades within Elysium; Earth is simply a snack meant to get its energy back. Technically speaking, Davros could have opened the Gates anywhere..."

"And he chose Earth because...?" Butler said, half knowing the answer.

All the Doctors smirked. "To spite me...us" said Doctor 10.

Luskar, who was reclining on the TARDIS couch, sat up and blew a funnel of smoke from his nostrils. "Well then," he said, "it seems Fowl's rescue is our top priority."

"Rescue? Yes," grumbled Doctor 6, "rescue him from the most powerful warship ever designed by the most ruthless race ever to exist, lead by a genocidal tyrant who plans to unleash a hive-mind death swarm. Rescue is the only option."

"Exactly" Holly said, face hard. "The best way to do this is in two teams; one goes for Artemis, the other wrecks havoc until we can get out."

"But then we still have Davros and all his Daleks to contend with" said the Doctor.

Doctor 4 rubbed his temples. "How did I become so absent minded? The energy signature, you fool!"

The Doctor fiddled with his bowtie, pondering what he just heard, then suddenly his face lifted up. "OH! OH-HO that is good!"

Foaly, still mad about being kept in the dark, ventured a question. "What's good, pour quois?" layering on a condescending voice.

The Doctor took no notice of Foaly's tone, and instead began fiddling with knobs on the control board. "Someone go wake up No1," he said, "we've got a plan to rehearse!"