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"I doubt it" Diva said, looking around once more. He felt his stomach rumble and said "You know, I'm really hungry. That jelly baby just did'nt work. Got any food?" He patted down his jacket, searching for any little tidbits. He came upon a custard cream and a satsuma, which he gave quite a bemused glance. He came up with nothing else and sighed.

"Gallifrey..." Diva thought, the words of Grandpa going around his head. God knows how many laws of time they were breaking right about now. And had'nt all of Gallifrey's quantum probabilites been wiped out in the war? Ah well, he'd find out about the whole 'multi paradox and bringing back of a whole planet' thing when he got to the city.

Diva rolled his eyes and said "Why don't you just shut up or get married? And, Trayte? How does it feel having not gotten any since the Bay Of Pigs?" He allowed himself a little smirk and began casting his mind back. Where was his screwdriver? Unless the handcuffs were deadlock sealed, which he highly doubted, he could use it and hopefuuly give Farlon a good kicking. He was'nt normally a violent man but this was getting ridiculous.

((Thanks! I borrowed it off my brother. The only problem is you can't hold anything whilst you have it on so I can't be cuddling my lil black cat thing at the same time... *sniff* So much for my really soppy avatar...))

"Now now..." said Farlon, placing a restraining hand on Trayte's arm as the scientist raised his gun towards Ace, "That wasn't part of the deal. You're on Gallifrey now, you have to do things by the book.

"Curse your book I'll do things how I like!"

"Not if you want my help,"

"I'll show you what your help is worth!"

Suddenly each Timelord was holding a gun to the other's head. Trayte's guards froze but the two traitors were at a standstill.
"I may have spoken hastily..." said Trayte, staring fearfully into the barrel of Farlon's gun.

"Me too," replied Farlon, who didn't seem particularly bothered by the situation as he was still smiling, "I think it might be better for both of us if we calmed the situation down somewhat."

The guns were lowered. Ace had been impressed. She hadn't even seen Farlon carrying a gun.

"You will not seperate the prisoners," Farlon continued, finger still on the trigger, "But I agree that it would be wise to disarm them. We have the others in custody, we should bring these lot to them."

"I can't let this trial take place!" snarled Trayte, "It would ruin everything!"

"Oh the trial will take place but nothing will be ruined. We only need to tip the odds a little in our favour...."

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Farlon clipped his gun back onto his belt and withdrew a long metal box from under his coat. He flipped open the lid, revealing a row of injector capsules full of some sort of blue liquid.
"A quick shot of this and when the time comes they'll suddenly find themselves unable to tell the full story. They would be under our control... at least as far as their testimony is concerned."

"The Council will check them for drugs..."

"And they won't find them. This is very special. Very expensive. But that is what I'm here for. Now, are we agreed on the plan?"

Trayte nodded. Farlon closed the box and threw it to one of the guards who caught it nervously.
"Inject them each with a capsules worth," he said, turning towards the door, "I'm going ahead to check on things. Try not to harm them - they have to look fit enough for a trial. Any damage would be suspicious, remember that."

Farlon left. Trayte stayed to watch as the guards began injecting each of the Doctors in turn with the drug. Ace felt nervous in his presence and she leant over to talk to the Professor so as not to seem worried. The handcuffs were beginning to bruise her wrists.
"I didn't know there was going to be a trial Professor!" she whispered, "What's happening? And what do they mean 'we won't be able to tell the full story'?"

The Professor shook his head.
"I can't say for sure Ace but I would guess that the injection they're giving us is some sort of mind-control drug. Beyond that..."
He trailed off, watching as David was held still by one guard, his face cringing as the other put a capsule to his arm. Ace was next.

She readied herself for pain but as the guard rolled up her sleeve and pressed a capsule to her skin she didn't feel anything but a soft prickle accompanied by a hissing noise. Then it was done and the guards moved on. She flexed her arm - still held by the handcuffs - and tried an experimental question.
"What is it about Trayte that we can't talk about?"
She was glad just to be able to talk at all. The Professor, who'd just been injected, shrugged.

"I really don't know... do you feel any different?"
Ace shook her head. The Professor frowned.
"Maybe it takes something else for the control to kick in."

"Come on!" snapped Trayte, who had been glowering ever since Farlon had left, "Down to the cells!"

Without much argument, the Doctors and companions did as they were told.

****

It had taken a good half-hour to explain to Mel exactly how the locks worked. And another half-hour for her to successfully use them. It hadn't helped when Morgan and Einstein had started argueing over whether or not the forcefield controls should be turned twice left or three times right.

They were now sneaking along the corridor towards what they hoped was the main TARDIS hangar. If they couldn't find their own TARDIS then they might at least be able to steal a new one - and then they could find the others. The only one who hadn't headed for the hangar was Big Nose who'd gone off on his own to find the Council - though he'd promised to go the long way, to give the others plenty of time to escape.

After a few wrong turnings and a near miss from a guard patrol they found the hangar. It was surprisingly empty. They'd expected to have to deal with at least one set of guards.

"Is this what a TARDIS looks like when it's not broken?" asked Mel, looking round at the strange, oblong boxes with their curved corners and smooth metal surfaces.

"Yes..." said Donald, "Boring aren't they?"

"They open from the side like this..."
Morgan banged the side of one of the TARDISes. A segment of the side slid out revealing a doorway. Morgan looked around, surprised.
"Hmm... I expected an alarm to go off or something..."

"You wanted an alarm to go off?" squeaked Mel.

"Well, it does seem suspiciously quiet..."

"Wait!" hissed Nancy, dropping his voice to a whisper, "Look, over there! There's something..."

The Doctors all ducked behind a broken TARDIS that had been tipped on it's side for repairs. Squinting past two more upright TARDISes they spotted shapes moving. They leant over for a closer look.

"Oh please..." said Morgan, rolling his eyes with an exasperated half-laugh, "You have got to be kidding..."

Nancy's radio device had kicked into life again, picking up the conversation going on at the other end of the hangar, where five Gallifreyan guards lay splayed out lifeless on the floor.

"INIATIATE PHASE TWO OF THE PLAN!"

"AFFIRMITIVE!"

"ALL RESISTANCE WILL BE CRUSHED!"

"AND THE COUNCIL?"

"THEY WIL BE EXTERMINATED!"

As they entered the cells, ace suddenly felt oddly cramped.
She heard two thumps, and found that sarah-jane and nyssa had fallen.
The guards looked confused.
Trayte looked at them.
'what's going on?' asked professor angrily.
'they're human. This stuff might be too strong for their puny brains.'
'Really?' asked Farlon as he came in. 'I specifically asked...'
then Sarah-jane's eyes flickered open slightly, and she gave ace a wink.
She caught on immediately, and fell to the floor with a sigh.
'Ace!' gasped the Professor, kneeling down next to her.
Trayte and Farlon were engaged in a heated argument.
'Now look what you're done, you gallifreyan twit!'
'Speak for yourself, you idiot renegade!'
Ace gave a barely audible whisper of 'we're alright.'
Then something registered in Trayte and Farlon's eyes.
'THe others!'
'They're gone!'
Grandpa started laughing.
'Idiots.'
Farlon grabbed one of the guards guns and began bashing him with it.
'Dont-you-DARE...'
'Hey!' Trayte pulled Farlon off him.
'Later. We need him.'
Grandpa picked himself up, and spat out some blood. At Farlon.
'Why you little...'
'And you can't do anything to me about it.'

((I think she meant - and I meant - the incarnations 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9. Earlier, when the TARDIS first landed on Gallifrey, they were taken into custody whilst the others escaped into America... then met Farlon and went from there. 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 were imprisoned but Mel let them out and they're now sneaking round in the TARDIS hangar - where the Daleks are.))

((I just looked up 'diastema' on google - gaps between his teeth? confused Well, ok so that might turn a man evil... but a Timelord? What the heck. I'll go with the flow...))

Farlon looked at Diva for a moment and then smiled, tight-lipped.
"Very amusing Doctor. I see you are quite good at finding weaknesses. However, people change..."

David grinned.
"...but sometimes their teeth don't..."

The colour drained from Farlon's face. For a moment the Doctors thought he might shoot them but then he turned away.
"I'm going to find the others..."

"Take some guards," Trayte said, pointing at two. Farlon shook his head.

"I don't need them!"

He vanished through the door. Trayte turned to the others, looking Grandpa up and down with a puzzled expression.
"And I thought we weren't to damage you..."
He seemed to be considering his options. Then he shook his head.
"I, at least, will not endanger the plan. Now that he has got me stuck here..."
He looked down at Ace and the other companions who were still lying motionless on the floor. He turned to the two guards by the door.
"Take them down to the medical wing. Be careful. If they so much as look at the door then shoot them. I want no mistakes."

The guards nodded and began lifting the women onto their shoulders. Ace felt herself being slung clumsily across someone's back but she didn't dare move. This was her one chance - and she didn't want to get shot.

***

The Doctors in the hangar were frozen to the spot, watching as the troupe of Daleks glided silently across the hangar floor and up towards the main building. There were at least ten of them and probably more to follow, all of them armed to the teeth. They didn't speak, they didn't have to. They were too efficient.

When they were finally out of sight Mel spoke up.
"Are they Daleks?"

"Yes..." Donald said, nodding, "I'm afraid so..."

"They never cease to amaze me," said Morgan, standing up and stretching his arms, "I don't know what they hope to achieve. The Timelords will wipe them out."

Nancy didn't look so sure.
"Well they did get through to Gallifrey. We don't know what their plans are now..."

Einstein's eyes brightened.
"Shall we go find out?"

Grinning to each other, the Doctors and Mel followed the Daleks out of the hangar.

Ace waited until she heard the door slam shut and then she cautiously opened one eye. She was in some sort of sterile white room, lying on a bed underneath a large plastic tube. It was odd - it didn't seem to be doing much and yet she felt tingly and more energetic than usual. The guards had gone outside and locked them in. Showed how much they cared for her well-being...

She struggled out from the tube-bed and slid quietly down onto the floor. Nyssa and Sarah-Jane were still pretending to be unconscious - if they were pretending.

"Sarah-Jane?" Ace whispered, shaking her shoulder. Sarah-Jane opened one eye.

"Are they gone?"

"They're outside..."

"Where are the Doctors?"

Ace shrugged.
"Back in the cells I guess...."

"And I don't suppose you took note of where they carried us?"

Ace shook her head and then turned as there was a thud from the other bed. Nyssa had hit her head off the tube.
"Ouch..."

"Ssh!" Ace ran over and helped her out. Then she went back and helped Sarah-Jane.

"What's that?" said Sarah-Jane as she finally got back to her feet.

"What?"

Sarah-Jane walked over to the wall and pressed her ear to it.
"A sort of... something... An earthquake maybe?"

Nyssa looked to the floor.
"I don't feel anything..."

"It's getting closer..."
Suddenly Sarah-Jane yelped and pulled back her hand.
"The wall's getting hot!"

"What?" Ace walked over and pressed her hand to it - and drew it back quickly, "Yeah! Something's coming through!"

Nyssa looked worried.
"What something?"

"Look at the wall..."

Sarah-Jane and Ace moved back. The wall was beginning to glow.

"Something's cutting it way in here!" Sarah-Jane yelled, pulling the others towards the door.

"Wait!" Ace said, pulling back, "It might be the Doctor!"

"Oh I very much doubt that! Only bad things cut through walls this way!"
She ran to the door and started pounding on it.
"Help! Help us! Open the door! Something's cutting it's way in here!"

"Har har..." said a voice from the other side, "Don't bother. We've got orders to shoot you if you try anything funny. So just shut up."

Ace crept closer to the glowing wall that was turning a vivid shade of red and then white in the middle. Through the wall she could hear voices.
"Robots!" she said, "Some kind of robot voices! They sound like... like..."

"Let us out!" Sarah-Jane gave the door a kick, "Let us out!"

"We're not falling for it! Now shut up!"

"Daleks!" shouted Ace, running to the door, "There are bloody Daleks coming through the wall!"
Her and Nyssa both joined Sarah-Jane at the door, frantically pounding to be let out.
"Daleks are coming through the walls! Let us out! LET US OUT!"

***

A little way behind the Daleks Nancy had picked up on the Dalek signal again. The group was crouched halfway down a hall, listening in.
"They seem to be attacking something..."

"Ssh!" Morgan waved him into silence as they strained to listen.

"DALEK PATROL.... NUMBER 5 TO... DESTROY MEDICAL WING... EXTRA POWER TO CUTTERS.... DESTROY... DES..."
The signal went fuzzy, filled with the noise of laser beams cutting into something.

"Why the medical wing?" Mel asked, "Won't it just be full of sick people?"

"Not many I shouldn't think," said Einstein, "They probably just want to make sure the Timelords can't use it. Cut off their supplies and all that."

"Shouldn't we try and stop them Doctor?"

"You can if you like Mel," replied Donald, grinning, "But personally I don't give us much hope of success..."

"Well we could at least get in the way... I mean, surely you don't want the Daleks to win?"

Morgan shrugged.
"It might give us the chance we need to escape..."

"Doctor!"

"Alright, alright..." Morgan held up his hands in defeat, "We'll see what we can do..."