Subject: Oh, I had to.
Author:
Posted on: 2014-01-31 09:50:00 UTC

Fearn: ... ACCEPTABLE.

Morgan: It had better be. All right, 'Supreme Chancellor' Fearn, tell the Citrine Theorist everything you know. To my knowledge no-one's ever closed a temporal fold before it blew, so we have to move fast. Sapphire Watcher, Amethyst Keeper, I'd really rather be wrong about that, so I need you to scour the canon and find anything that even might be helpful. Jade Warden, you're on monitor duty: work with Lat and Rho to keep track of everything that's-

Reader: Hang on a minute-

Notary: -why are you in charge?

[They glare at each other for a second, angry at having agreed on something]

Morgan: [Icy] What is my job?

Reader: Tigereye Castellan. What-?

Morgan: And what does that entail?

Notary: Defending the Council.

Morgan: Then let me bloody well defend it!

[Deafening silence. Everyone stares at Morgan]

Morgan: Jade Warden, if anything really bad shows up, tell the Doctors. I'm deputising them to Dalek elimination duty.

11th Doctor: Wait, what? Why?

Morgan: Because you're so good at it. Spinel Promotor... you're on Dalek distraction duty. Stop Fearn's 'Council' from causing any more havoc.

Notary: And how do you intend me to do that?

Morgan: I don't know, file their taxes or something. Just do it!

[Everyone scurries to work. Nine comes over to Morgan]

9th Doctor: You've changed. You're not the kid I once knew.

Morgan: Yeah. Things have been... difficult, these last few years.

9th Doctor: The Time War?

Morgan: Mm. [The Librarian taps her on the arm and shows her a tablet. She grimaces] We've got a Special Weapons Dalek in the Mongoose Shelter. Doctors, can you contain it?

11th Doctor: Just tell us where to go.

Fisherman: I'll show you. [He shrugs] Not like I'm doing anything else around here...

[Some time passes. Morgan is standing at the head of the table, which is now covered in books, CDs, DVDs, portable computers, the works]

Morgan: Yellow, what've we got?

Reader: It's not just a single fold any more. According to Fearn, there's at least eight layers to the thing. It's going to be murder to sort out.

Morgan: Thanks. Blue, pink, I hope you've come up with something.

Agent: It's purple!

Disentangler: It's pink, I'm afraid. Uh, no actual temporal folds, but plenty of loops, pockets and the like. We're thinking the best comparison to this event is a slow-motion time ram - two TARDISes crashing into each other.

Reader: In that case, the simplest way of solving it would be to just pull the folds apart again.

11th Doctor: That doesn't sound simple to me.

Librarian: It sounds like a recipe for a massive temporal implosion.

Agent: That's what we're facing anyway! But if the Reader's right-

Reader: It's my job to be right. If we anchor a TARDIS to each of the folds, we can yank them apart - set everything back to normal.

Librarian: We will have to move fast. The last refolding brought full-on Alternate Universes into play - we have Thaleks coming in now.

Morgan: Red? Is it possible?

Fisherman: Depends how much you like your TARDIS. It'll knock years of the warranty, I can tell you that much - but they should be able to pull through.

Librarian: The alternative is the TARDISes being the only things left after Headquarters is destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion.

Morgan: Green's right. We- [She pauses, sighs, and turns to the Notary. Very formally:] Spinel Promotor, do you have anything to say about this course of action?

Notary: Only that it is the riskiest, most reckless, most improbably, and generally downright unworkable plan I have ever heard.

[Silence, for just long enough that Morgan starts to turn away.

Notary: But.

[Morgan turns back and gapes at her as the Notary gives a small smile]

Notary: It is also our only chance - and it is a work of genius.

Morgan: ... thank you, Grey. And all of you - thank you. TARDIS keys, everyone!

[She fishes in a pocket to produce an ornate key, while the Doctors pull out their simple Yale keys. The Notary hesitantly follows suit, followed by the Reader and the Fisherman. The Agent and the Disentangler glance at each other, and the Agent feels in his pocket and produces a key]

Morgan: Librarian?

Librarian: I told you. I walked here from my group's TARDIS - I do not have one with me.

[Morgan crumples]

Morgan: Then this has all been a waste of time. We don't have time to find another ship - and without it, we won't have enough to fix the fold before it collapses. Omega's teeth, we were so close!

[Fearn swivels his dome to look at Lat and Rho, then turns back to Morgan]

Fearn: WE HAVE A TIME SHIP.

[Morgan turns slowly to stare at him]

Fearn: WHAT? DID YOU EXPECT OTHERWISE? DA-LEKS ARE SUPREME! THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF TIME ARE UNDER OUR CONTROL!

[Slowly, a smile breaks out on Morgan's face]

Morgan: Fearn - I might just start to like you. All right, Councils - let's fly!

~

That was fun. :D I'm not actually sure if the Reader has a TARDIS, but it's only a minor change if not (eight becomes seven, 'Librarian' becomes 'Librarian? Reader?', and the Reader gives an explanation. Simples!). And I enjoyed letting everyone actually do their job.

If someone wants to finish this, this is a good place - either an action sequence or an after-action meeting would work. Alternately, if you think there's still milage in it, another open-ended section would be fine too.

hS

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