Chapter 20:

Boarding the Fish

"ALERT" , blazed the computer screen that sat above the face of Artemis Fowl. In one fluid motion, the brain-jacked genius willed everything away from his attention and focused on the one solitary screen in front of him.

"Computer, Terminal Main acknowledges" Artemis intoned with no emotion. "State origin of emergency"

The warning went away, to be replaced by a bright orange mass. It was a Scientist; the coned shape of the head and multi-occular eye-stalk meant it was Head Scientist Draag.

"LAB 416 REPORTS ION EMMISIONS IN ENGINE ROOM 7" Draag shrilled. "HEAVY ENERGY SIGNATURES INDICATES FOREIGN MATTER."

"Is this of concern? Foreign matter denotes that said matter is unknown, and that which is unknown has equal probability to be harmless or dangerous."

Draag's eye-stalk dimmed, and a whirring sound indicated a switching of lens. He was re-reading the report from Lab-416.

"SCANS REPORT CHRONOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE. IT IS THE DOCTOR!"

Artemis' mind ran through hundreds of possible scenarios. Settling on the appropriate course of action, he terminated the link with Draag and proceed to open communications with Head Strategist Sken.

Onto the screen flashed Sken; a bright blue Strategist with a crest remeniscent of a Spartan.

"EXPLAIN THIS INTERRUPTION, TERMINAL" Sken boomed, his voice crackling the speakers.

"Lab 416 reports that The Doctor has boarded The Nightmare Child" Aretmis said. "I request for an immediate assembling of Strategists to deal with the problem"

Sken was silent, and then; "STRATEGISTS WILL BE ASSEMBLED"

Meanwhile, in Engine Room 7, the TARDIS sprang into existence, and out popped Doctor 7.

Dear God" he said. "This thing is an absolute monstrosity."

Butler stepped out of the TARDIS, observing the room. It was a massive cacaphony of tendrils and veins, all hooked up to strange metals baubles on the ceiling. "Quite" he growled at Doctor 7.

Holly quickly stepped out, followed by Mulch, Juliet, Luskar, Trouble, and a flood of Doctors. "Now, we all have a general idea of what we're doing, yeah?"

"Find Artemis, blow stuff up, don't let evil monsters eat Earth" Juliet said. "All the boring, usual stuff."

Doctor 9 looked slightly amused. "I take it you people have led interesting lives."

Foaly poked his head out of the TARDIS. "Good news. Computer says there's a human signal coming from a Terminal Point in the head."

Trouble frowned. "How far is the head from here?"

"Quite a short ways away!" Doctor 1 yelled from the control panel, No.1 and Foaly by his side. "Yet I duely suggest you not dilly-dally!"

The Doctor, or Doctor 11, as he should be known, nudged himself between Butler and Holly. "Right then. The three of us will go get Artemis; the rest of you, divide and destroy as much as you can. We'll only have a short amount of time before Davros pinpoints where we are."

And with that, the three of them ran off. Juliet and the fairies were left being stared at by a gaggle of aliens. "Alrighty" Juliet beamed. "Now, the best way to go about this is-"

FWOOOOOOOOSSSHH! Juliet turned to see a giant tendril go up in flames, Luskar licking his lips in satisfaction. Suddenly, the entire room contracted and quivered; the great beast could feel its' insides burning.

Luskar turned to Juliet. "The best way is the easy way." And, turning his back to everyone, bgan to spray fire everywhere. Mulch, not wanting to be left out, ran up beside a metal terminal and took a huge bite, which he immediately spat out.

"This entire room tastes like crap"

Doctor 2 turned to Doctors 3 and 4, and whispered; "We've certainly aquianted ourself with interesting people, haven't we?"

"Most interesting indeed" said 4.

"And I have a feeling, gentlemen, that the meetings will be quite eventful" said 3. Then, not wanting to feel left out, ran to a tendril and let loose a Venusian Judo Swing Chop.

"HAI!"

While the others amused themselves with carnage, the Doctor, Holly, and Butler were running down corridors, according to the directions of Foaly, safe inside the TARDIS and communicating by radio.

"Now" the centaurs' voice came crackling over the radio, "hang a left, then a right..."

Left...right...

"...And continue down, then another left should put you-"

"DOWN" Butler hissed. The Doctor and Holly immediately fell against the wall, inches from the turn. The Doctor took a small mirror out of his pocket, and through it saw two Drones guarding the door.

"What do we do?" Holly whispered.

The Doctor put a finger to his lips, and, when the human and the fairy had quieted and shrunk themselves against the corridor, walked brazenly into the view of the Daleks.

The red Drones spurred to life. "THE DOCTOR! THE DOCTOR! INFORM LORD DAVROS, THE DOCTOR HAS-"

"Oh, stuff it, you prudes" The Doctor snapped. "No need to tell Davros what he doesn't need to know." He edged closer to the Drones. "I mean, really, this is an oppurtunity of your lifetimes, yes? To get to meet me, The Doctor, in the flesh. It's like seeing Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster for Daleks isn't it? And I've seen that happening, so I know you must be feeling some sort of twisty turning emotional-"

"SILENCE!" the first Drone boomed. "YOU WILL SURRENDER YOURSELF FOR CAPTURE, OR BE EXTERMINATED!"

"Really?" said The Doctor. "Well, that's odd, because I can't surrender to guards sleeping on the job." And with a flourish, he stuck his sonic screwdriver under the grill of the first Drone, and with a WHIIIIIIIIR, the Drone fell silent. And before the second could react, he did the same.

Pocketting his screwdriver, he looked at the Daleks. "Isn't 'Don't speak to The Doctor' the first thing they teach you in training?"

Holly emerged from the corridor, brandishing a mini Neutrino, lest the Daleks wake up. "You know," she said, "they could've just shot you as soon as you stepped out."

The Doctor's face went blank for a second, and then; "Oh. Yes, I guess they could have done that."

Butler stepped out, rolling his eyes. The three of them moved to the door, and with a quick sonic-ing, it slid open to reveal...

"Oh, gods."

There was Artemis, hanging from a rats nest of veins plugged into his spine, staring like a zombie at a mulitude of holographic screens. The air was so humid, sweat beads began forming on all their foreheads.

The Doctor approached very slowly. "Now, we have to go about this very carefully... they've...integrated him."

Butler notice the twinge in the man's voice. "'Integrated' meaning how much damage could be done to him?"

"Death. If done improperly. If done properly, then...he should be safe. I would like to stress emphasis on the 'should', because...during the War, Time Lords we found in the Dalek labs always died either way, of course with a few very lucky exceptions."

Holly moved in close. "Do it."

The Doctor looked at her. "I can't just yank him out, Holly. That could-"

Holly looked at him. "Do it. Trust me."

The Doctor looked at Butler, who nodded, knowing what Holly was going to do. Out came the sonic again, and, with slight reluctance, turned it on the terminal.

A flash of colours, a shower of sparks, and Artemis dropped out of his nest with a SCHLUCK, and began to scream in pain. "YRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!"

Holly moved quickly, grabbing his head to stop him thrashing, and poured all the magic she could into him. "Heal' she whispered.

Blue sparks exploded from her fingertips, and wove their ways down the body of Artemis Fowl, sinking ito his skin, until he stopped thrashing and his screams died out into a whimper. He laid like a rag doll in the arms of the captain, his friends gathered around him. Then, a fluttering of eyes and;

"I'll be dammed. You did all come for me."

Holly felt like crying. "Of course we did, you stupid Mud Boy. You know how boring our lives would be if you died?"

Artemis managed a weak smile. "I can. It's horrifying."

Butle picked up his young friend and master, helping him stand on his weak legs. "It's good to see you too, Artemis. Now, we need to get out of here before-"

CCCCRRRRRCHHH. The radio sprang to life on Holly's belt. She brought it to her face and said "Foaly, this is Short, Over. We found him."

But instead of Foaly's voice coming over the speaker to congratulate them and pat his own back for the part he played, out came the voice of Doctor 8. "That's all well and good, but, not to one up you, we think we found something more important."

The Doctor snatched the radio out of Hollys' hand. "What did you find?"

"The Gates. We found where Davros is keeping The Gates of Elysium."