by Doctor Who
The hole in the floor grew bigger as the Dalek’s sucker tore at the metal. Though it was young, confused, still forming, the Doctor realised, it must have worked out how to use its sensors to see through into the lift. To see him.
He pulled himself up and out through the gap into the lift shaft, thankful for his skinny frame. Then he grabbed hold of the steel cable and climbed up it, hand over hand.
Rose got Kate out of the site and on to the main road. It was easy to hitch a lift from a passing lorry driver. ‘Two blondes,’ thought Rose.
‘Double hitching power.’ She told the driver, a pleasant young man who introduced himself as Atif, that Kate was feeling a little sick. They got up into the cab with him.
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Kate’s eyes flickered open fully and she turned to Rose. ‘What just happened back there?’
‘Don’t worry about it. We’re getting away,’ said Rose, trying to sound confident. She turned to Atif. ‘Where are you headed?’
‘France eventually,’ he said.
‘I can drop you off in Hastings,
Dover. . . ’
Rose took another look at Kate. ‘Dover’s fine.’
The Doctor crashed out of the bungalow. He looked quickly round the site, trying to spot any advantage, any tool he could use against the Dalek.
His face fell. ‘Oh no.’ A couple of police cars had chosen that exact moment to arrive, turning on to the waste ground. A security man and the student diggers were clustered round the site entrance.
One of the students spotted him and pointed. ‘That’s him, the bloke from London.’
The Doctor raced forward. ‘Please, you’ve all got to get out of here!’
He looked back at the bungalow. The noise of tearing metal echoed from inside. ‘Now!’
The security man stared at him uncertainly. ‘Can I see your identifi-cation, please, sir?’
The Doctor felt for his psychic paper, then decided against it. Explaining would just waste time. ‘There’s no time for that!’ he shouted.
‘Run! Get out, all of you, now!’
His hearts sank as he saw four police officers get out of their cars.
The students were looking at him, this time with amusement. The security man put a hand on his shoulder.
The Doctor knew what was coming for these innocents and it chilled him.
A gargling croak came from behind and he whipped round. The Dalek was moving across the waste ground towards them, its eye-stalk and sucker arm twisting and turning angrily.
The students laughed nervously. The security man took his hand from the Doctor’s shoulder and frowned, trying to understand what he was seeing.
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‘It’s newborn,’ said the Doctor quietly. ‘It’s not fully formed. There’s still a chance, but you must all get away now.’
The police officers surrounded him, while at the same time turning confused, half-amused faces towards the Dalek. Their leader ad-dressed the Doctor. ‘OK, sir, I think it’s time you and your robot left these people to do their job.’
The Dalek moved closer, its eye sweeping over the humans, as if curious.
‘Hey, it’s got a sink plunger on it!’ cried one of the students.
The Dalek croaked angrily and zoomed over to him. Its sucker arm extended, then shot out and fixed itself to his middle. Then it picked him up and tossed him aside. His body flew through the air, coming down with a crunch of bone and flesh on the hard ground.
That was when everyone started screaming and running.
The Dalek lifted into the air, cutting off their escape through the main gate. Its sucker arm shot out and clamped on to the side of one of the police cars. There was a screeching of twisted metal. The car lurched, bumped, rocked on its tyres. Then slowly, straining and creaking, it started to rise. Just a little at first – high on the suspension. Then it left the ground, the Dalek’s terrifying strength holding it. The seats fell forward as it tilted, loose objects flying about inside. The sucker arm suddenly shot out even further and hurled the car forwards. The car flew low across the ground, finally catching on a mound of earth from the dig. It spun, rolled and crashed down, inches from the terrified humans, in an ear-splitting din of glass and tearing metal. Then the petrol caught fire, turning the car into a blazing wreck in seconds and ending any hope of escape.
The Doctor looked on with horror as the Dalek zoomed forwards, forcing the crowd into a narrow alley between two of the flats, ‘No!
Get out of there!’ he cried, running after them.
The Dalek waited until they were all in the alley. Then it followed them, lifted itself up and started to crash between the walls. On top of one wall was a mass of girders and heavy metal scaffolding pipes. The vibrations started to roll them towards the edge. In a few seconds, they would crash down on the huddled, terrified mass of innocent 35
humans.
The Doctor ran forward. ‘Oi, Dalek!’ he shouted.
The Dalek instantly stopped its battering against the walls. Its domed head section whipped round and its eye focused on the Doctor.
‘Da. . . lek,’ it croaked. ‘Da. . . lek. . . ’
‘Yeah, I know who you are. I know what you are. And you know something else? Those are just humans. Any passing evil being from space can have a go at them. That’s easy. But do you know what I am? Do you know who I am?’
The humans used the Dalek’s distraction. They ran out under it as it swooped, as though fascinated, towards the Doctor. Its blue eye zeroed in on him, scanning him up and down.
‘You. . . are. . . not. . . hu-man,’ it said, each word forming slowly.
The Doctor walked forward casually, trying to give the others time to get away. He flung open his coat and pointed to his chest. ‘Give him a biscuit. Take a look at these beauties.’
‘The Dalek continued its scan. It shook slightly, as if surprised.
‘Two. . . hearts.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘Yes. Aren’t you a clever little Dalek? Now, consult your data store. Go on. What does that mean? What does that make me? Come on. I haven’t got all day to waste talking to you.’ He glanced to one side: the humans were running from the site.
Death was on hold, for them at least.
The Dalek’s sucker arm shot up. Its weapon socket clicked uselessly.
‘You. . . are a Time. . . Lord!’ The final word was spoken with the upward screech the Doctor knew so well.
‘And not just any old ten-for-a-penny common-or-garden value-pack Time Lord,’ the Doctor teased. ‘Do you know who I am?’ He leaned forward, almost spitting the words, one by one. ‘I am the Doctor!’
The Dalek quivered.
‘I’m sorry,’ said the Doctor mildly. ‘Did that word upset you in some way? Have another look in your data store, boy. I might be in there under Oncoming Storm, The.’
‘Doc-tor,’ the Dalek groaned. Its weapon socket clicked again. ‘ The Doc-tor!’
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He waved. ‘That’s me!’
‘The Doc-tor is an enemy of the Daleks!’
‘Wrong! The Daleks are an enemy of the Doctor. No, strike that, the Daleks were an enemy of the Doctor!’
‘The Doctor must be exterminated!’
‘With what?’ The Doctor ran off, with something very particular in mind, leading the Dalek away from the main gate, deeper into the site. ‘If you’re so hard, come and get me!’
The Dalek zoomed after him.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
KATE’S FOREHEAD WAS PRESSED against the window of the driver’s cab. She watched the B-roads go by. All the little cars with all the little people inside. They were hateful, inferior forms of life. She saw a child standing up on a back seat to wave at her and she cringed.
Why had she never noticed how ugly people were?
There was just no point to people. They were wasteful, always at war with each other. They were better off dead, and the universe would be a tidier place without them. The part of her that was st
ill Kate argued, in a small voice, that they were innocent. No one is innocent! ranted the Dalek part. These creatures were genetically inferior. Only the Daleks were pure.
A wave of bile washed up into her mouth. She winced, sickened, and the shock allowed the Kate part of her to assert itself.
‘You OK?’ asked Rose.
Kate looked into her concerned brown eyes. ‘What’s happening to me?’ she asked, tears welling. ‘I keep thinking disgusting things.
There’s so much hatred, anger, I feel I could kill the world, the whole world. . . ’
She noticed Atif the lorry driver eyeing her oddly. ‘I’m always like that on a Thursday,’ he called over cheerfully.
A stab of evil pierced her. What a stupid thing to say, what a waste of words.
Rose put her arm round Kate’s shoulder. ‘Believe in me,’ she said. ‘I promise you, it’s all going to get back to normal.’
‘And who are you to promise that?’ snapped Kate. ‘You’re just trying to sound like him.’
‘Who?’
‘The Doctor,’ Kate spat. She struck out with her foot, banging her knee on the underside of the dashboard. ‘I know all about him. It’s 39
in my head. The destroyer, the oncoming storm. Always blocking our way. . . ’
‘The way to what?’
‘Purity. I can see it. . . the universe cleansed. So beautiful, serene.
Only us, only Daleks.’
‘You’re not a Dalek.’ Rose stressed.
‘I will be,’ said Kate. ‘You don’t know how good it’s going to be.
Peace for ever. No war.’
‘But quite a lot of shooting to get there,’ said Rose. ‘And what are the Daleks gonna do when they’ve exterminated everyone? Stroll through the meadows in floral skirts, making daisy chains?’
‘Do not be flippant.’ Kate smiled. ‘Daleks working together. Daleks studying together. An ordered empire stretching out for all time. So clean and calm.’ She shook her head as if to clear it. ‘Like the words of “Imagine”. I’d do anything to get there.’
Rose swallowed, looking rather alarmed, and tried to change the subject. ‘Kate, who did you last go out with?’
Kate flinched at the memory. ‘I went out with an inferior. Toby. He spent my money, and it wasn’t even mine to begin with. Because of Toby, I used all the credit on my card. I will find and exterminate Toby.’
Her fist clenched.
Atif kept shooting worried glances at Kate. ‘Is your mate feeling all right?’
‘She’s fine,’ said Rose. She took Kate’s hand. ‘Come on, Kate. You can fight it.’
Kate pulled her hand away, disgusted. ‘Do not put your flesh against me!’ she shrieked. ‘Human flesh stinks! It is impure!’
‘Think I’ll make a detour to the hospital, shall I?’ said Atif.
Kate leaned over Rose, pinning her against her seat, and grabbed the wheel of the lorry, twisting it violently. The lorry swerved as Atif hit the brakes. It bumped across the road, grinding to a halt on a grass verge next to a row of shops. Kate was pleased to see they had arrived in Twyford, the nearest town. It was nearly lunchtime on market day and it was sunny. The place would be crawling with humans.
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Rose grabbed her round the waist, and put her hand in Kate’s face.
Kate threw her back with a casual flick of her elbow and scrambled out of the lorry. She landed like a cat on the grass, stood and licked her dry lips.
Rose sat up, trying to draw breath. Kate’s blow had winded her. She found Atif staring at her, shaking his head, more stunned than angry.
‘What’s your mate been taking?’
‘Drive! Get out of here!’ Rose urged him. She threw herself out of the lorry and looked round desperately for Kate.
They were in a small market town, with half-timbered buildings leading off a quaint high street. It was full of shoppers. A little crowd had gathered around the lorry, ooh-ing and aah-ing.
‘Where’d she go?’ she asked desperately. But at the same time she saw Kate walking quickly and stiffly up the high street and, clutching her aching stomach, she set off after her.
The Doctor knew he had only one chance.
The Dalek was unformed, slower and more cautious than a full-grown warrior. It was just as well he’d removed the weapon or by now everyone on the site, including him, would be dead. Without the gun, the Dalek was operating only on its wits, and they weren’t quite up to scratch just yet. Even so, his plan – the plan he’d just made up –would take all of his skill to pull off.
He was crouched down inside the cab of the largest crane, right at the far edge of the site. His eyes just peeped over the control board, allowing him a view of a gap between two of the unfinished flats. The Dalek was fixated on him and soon enough it would have to turn that corner. His opportunity to destroy it.
The midday sun glinted off a hint of gold. The Dalek turned the corner.
The Doctor braced himself. He reached up for a lever on the control board with his right hand. His eyes swept keenly across the scene below him, taking everything into account. He waited until the Dalek 41
was exactly between the two walls, with a cliff edge only sixty or so feet behind it.
Then he stood up and gave a loud whistle. ‘Over here!’ he called.
Just as he’d expected, the Dalek swivelled round, its eye-stalk raised.
The Doctor leaned out of the cab and threw the brick clutched in his left hand. It whizzed through the air and struck the Dalek in the middle of its eye-stalk, its weakest point.
‘My vision is impaired!’ it shrieked. ‘I cannot see!’
The Doctor pulled the lever and the ball attached to the crane –half a ton of lead – smashed into the Dalek’s mid-section. The Dalek screeched in surprise and anger as it sailed through the air and then disappeared over the edge of the cliff, spinning as it was lost from view. A second later there was an almighty crash.
The Doctor punched the air and scrambled down from the crane.
He ran to the cliff-top and looked down to the sea. The Dalek was lying in the shallow water, the waves lapping over it. Its eye-stalk and sucker moved feebly.
The Doctor took a deep breath and then started to climb down the cliff, moving from handhold to handhold like a monkey. At last he plunged into the water. The Dalek was only a few feet away, croaking and gurgling to itself. He waded towards it, filled with purpose.
It was do or die. And to do, in this case, meant to kill. He had killed millions of Daleks – but never before with his bare hands.
A second later he was using the sonic screwdriver. He ran it along the hinge and ripped open the top section of the Dalek. The mutant inside was now almost complete. Its tentacles were firming up, tightening their grip on the casing’s connections. In a few seconds it would be unstoppable; it would use its auto-repair function to repair its eye-stalk and become a truly worthy opponent. He had to act while it was still weak. He had to kill it.
The Doctor hesitated for a second.
‘You cannot kill me, Doctor. . . ’ moaned the Dalek. ‘You. . . will not. . . do it.’
‘That’s an old one. And it doesn’t work any longer!’
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He adjusted the settings on the sonic screwdriver and plunged it into the casing. It touched the vital life-support connection.
The Doctor gritted his teeth. ‘No second chances!’ He activated the sonic screwdriver.
The Dalek screamed.
The casing crackled, green sparks flying.
The Doctor was thrown backwards, hurled into the sea. He just had time to notice a fish swimming by before he blacked out.
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CHAPTER NINE
KATE WALKED THROUGH THE market, flinching from contact with the humans bustling around her. There were other animals too, flying pests and filthy dogs. The scents of the food products around her were vile. Nutrition was a need, not something to be enjoyed flabbily.
She felt flooded wit
h strength. ‘I will be unstoppable!’ she shouted out loud.
A few of the humans in the market around her laughed.
‘Oh, will you?’ said a flat, dull voice behind her.
Kate turned. She knew the voice. It was Serena, shopping bag under her big fat arm.
‘Serena,’ said Kate, relishing each syllable of the name.
‘Do you realise you’re sacked?’ Serena said, pushing her stupid glasses up her nose. ‘I didn’t swallow that road accident story for one minute. And now here you are, lunchtime, mooching around the market. Had your hair done, I see. It’s been mad this morning. De-lays in mattress delivery all over Liverpool and the North-East, people screaming my ears off in Scouse and Geordie. “She’ll come in,” I kept telling myself. “Even she can’t be that irresponsible. Perhaps she was actually telling the truth. . . ”’
Kate reached out and clamped her hand around Serena’s throat.
‘Stop your prattling!’
Serena’s eyes bulged. Her fleshy, wet mouth struggled for air. One by one, the people in the market who were near enough to see what was happening moved towards Kate. They were screaming for her to let go, but she ignored them and tightened her grip on Serena. She felt gloriously happy.
‘I will never have to worry about you again,’ she spat, turning Serena from side to side. ‘To think, this morning, I was worried about you. Worried what you might say. Worried about my job. Worried 45
about clearing my debts.’ She threw back her head and laughed joyfully. ‘And you were nothing!’
‘Please, Kate. . . ’ Serena pleaded.
‘Put her down, Kate!’ shouted another voice.
Rose ran up to her, pushing through the astonished crowd.
Kate smirked, shaking Serena like a doll. ‘Why?’
‘Look, there must be something human left inside you,’ Rose told her. ‘Your mum and dad, you live with them, don’t you?’
‘That is not relevant!’
