The Dalek Factor

by Simon Clark

  I glance back over my shoulder toward the doorway. The child has stepped backward into the corridor.

  'That is strange.' The Professor frowns. 'The hives tend not to retreat when approached. But then again, they have being behaving out of norm recently.'

  I remember how the 'Thal boy-child' acted earlier. 'One of those things seemed to bring the platoon here this morning.'

  'Really? Now that is odd.' He regards the child as it stands in the corridor staring back in at him. Then he addresses it: 'Can you understand me?'

  The child doesn't reply. Doesn't even react. Simply stands and stares with those wide, grey eyes.

  'Do you want us to follow?'

  The child doesn't move until the man takes a step forward, then it reciprocates with a step backward.

  'You do want me to follow.'

  The child shape doesn't respond verbally, but with every step of the Professor's it reciprocates with another step down the corridor.

  I whisper to Kye: 'I think we should follow, too.'

  Kye nods as she picks up her firearm.

  I glance at Tar'ant. 'Best stay here and keep an eye on the kitchen wall, in case it performs the disappearing trick again.'

  'Happy to. Those bug people give me the creeps.'

  The three of us take our time following the 'child.' It moves one step at a time. In the distance we see the man's reading chair in the centre of the corridor. The 'child' appears to wait until it's sure we are following, then turns and walks forward into the spare room.

  'Well, it can't get far that way.' I slip the gun strap over my shoulder. 'It's just your junk room, isn't it, Professor?'

  'Junk room? That's my treasured archive.'

  Kye steps forward. 'She wants us to follow her in there.'

  'She's a "they", if you remember.' The Professor holds up a hand to stop us. 'The swarm of insects that have taken that shape see you as baby food.'

  There's been a shift in our relationship, I realise. The Professor has become our guide and protector. Once more he holds up his hand to stop us from entering the room, instead electing to go first, even though he is unarmed. I know this state of affairs can't continue. There's a chance he will be our prisoner in the future, so I know I'm going to have to reestablish my authority over him. But… Well, there is something formidable about him. I find myself slipping into the role of respectful student overawed by the charismatic (if spectacularly eccentric) schoolmaster.

  'Professor. Next time, let me enter a room before you, just in case-'

  'Quickly, rangers. You should take a look at this.'

  I glance at Kye, and her shrug's eloquent enough. We are losing control of the man. From the tone of his voice we realise he's found something, so we dart through the door.

  Two things.

  First: the 'girl'. Something's happening to her. She's changing.

  Second: the room itself. That's different, too.

  Kye shouts: 'My sister did want to help us. She's showed us a way out!'

  This time it's the Professor who catches my eye. He's uneasy that Kye identifies what amounts to a parasitic swarm as her sister. Even so, I realise that the 'girl-child', for whatever motive, has led us into a room that has undergone a profound change.

  'Zoe?'

  Kye has used her sister's name to address the 'walking hive,' as the man dubs it.

  'Zoe.'

  The figure of the child is changing. I watch as its mouth alters shape; the lips are swelling, seemingly blistering, as their colour darkens from pink to black. Lumps form on the face. I realise that where there was once a nose and lips I'm now seeing a mass of insects. The figure is losing its cohesion. Instead of the insects making up an integrated human form, they are releasing their grip on each other; what was such a tightly woven fabric of legs, wings, thoraxes and hard carapaces, is unravelling. When it happens, I'm not exactly sure. One second I'm seeing a humanlike figure, albeit blurred as the swarm frees itself, then the next instant the 'girl' dissolves into a cloud of buzzing insects. We flinch back as they hum through the air. For a moment, I think they've launched themselves at us. However, they sweep round the room in a black mist, increasing in speed until the buzz becomes a hard whine that sets our teeth on edge. The next moment, they're gone.

  Not through the doorway this time. But through the far wall of the junk room.

  The Professor looks at us. 'It seems it's gone and done it again. My walls appear to have developed the perplexing ability to disappear. My, my. A "here today, gone tomorrow" habit. This is very confusing indeed.' He makes a move toward the dark void beyond the room.

  'Not this time, Professor.' I move fast. 'I'll go first. Kye, watch our backs.'

  This time, instead of finding an opening to blue skies, a rain forest and a fortress on a cliff, we find ourselves at the start of a narrow tunnel that slopes steeply downward.

  Drawing a deep breath, I take a few paces back, then call through the doorway toward the kitchen. 'Tar'ant… Tar'ant! You better join us in here. This place has just gone and done it all over again.'

  SIXTEEN

  I KEEP MY WEAPON READY. THE PASSAGEWAY IS UNLIT; SHADOWS swarm in its depths; noxious forms, like predatory creatures in deep water. Slowly… slowly… I step forward until I'm in the tunnel. In the section where I stand, the walls begin to glow. Probably some backup lighting system triggered by my presence; sufficient to see by - just. Walls and floor are not only bare but a featureless grey. Not so much as a rivet or weld seam. Free from dirt and debris.

  'Looks like the only way, Kye.' I wait for her to acknowledge my suggestion.

  She nods. 'We've no choice, Jomi.'

  'What say you, Tar'ant?'

  'Lead on, friend.'

  'Wait… Wait!' The Professor surges through the opening to grab my arm.

  'What is it?'

  'You can't go down there.'

  'We've got to find our platoon, Professor.'

  'No.'

  'It's the only way out of here.'

  'You can't go down there, do you hear me?'

  'Why not?'

  'Danger… Awful, awful danger.'

  'What kind of danger, Professor?'

  The man almost howls with frustration. 'That's just it. I don't know. I mean… I mean I did know. Once! But I can't remember.'

  'We must go.'

  'If you go down there, ranger, then nothing will ever be the same again! Nothing… Not for you… not for me… anyone…' His gaze loses its directness; he's peering inward on himself again as his speech fragments. Trying to locate secret truths hidden in the depths of his mind.

  Kye speaks: 'You don't have to come with us, Professor. Not if you don't want to.'

  'Want? Want! Nothing to do with want! Don't you understand? I'm frightened of what I'll find!'

  SEVENTEEN

  WE STAND THERE. TENSION TURNS THE MAN'S FACE INTO A RIGID mask. His eyes stare into the tunnel's shadowed maw.

  I ask: 'And just what are you afraid of down there?'

  'Terrible things… terrible,' he breathes.

  'You're beginning to remember?'

  He shakes his head, his voice a whisper. 'I'm afraid I'll find my name down there. Then I'll remember what I've forgotten. And I don't know if I do want to recall my past anymore. My amnesia must have some greater purpose.' Perspiration forms on his brow. 'It's down there… I can feel it.'

  As if in confirmation, a deep soulful cry shimmers from the depths of the tunnel.

  Kye gasps. 'What was that?'

  The man's eyes are locked on that tunnel of darkness. 'Friend or foe,' he whispers. 'I don't know… I don't know… '

  It sounds again. A deep ululation; far away; but charged, somehow, with huge sorrow; an eternal yearning. A longing. The sound is so melancholy that shivers ripple down my spine. For that call triggers a memory within me. It's the sound Yo made when she was struck by the mineral conveyor. The sound I hear now is not only emerging from the depths of the tunnel, it's echoing from the depths
of my mind. Initially, I figure that if I advance into this conduit I might encounter whatever monstrous creature has made these cries… then I fear I might meet something worse down there. Call it what you want - guilt, remorse. But I wonder if my failure to put my childhood pet out of its misery is coming back to haunt me again. What's more, I wonder if I will have the courage to face whatever I find down there.

  Taking a deep, steadying breath, I check the magazine cyst on the underside of the gun. 'Kye. Tar'ant. The charge is beginning to degrade. I'm down to eighty percent. How's yours holding out?'

  'Seventy-five.'

  Kye clicks her tongue. 'Mine, too. It's like this place is sucking the juice out of the thing.'

  The man stares fixedly into the darkness. A statue-like figure. Fascinated yet appalled by this conduit that runs deep into planet bedrock.

  'Professor. We're running out of options now. We're losing power in the weapons.'

  He breaks out of his near trance. 'Weapons?'

  'Our weapons.' I hold the gun so he can see it. 'In a couple of hours we won't be able to fire them.' I'm not sure if I'm getting through. 'That means we'll be able to use them only as clubs.' I nod to Kye. 'Ready when you are?'

  'I'm ready.'

  'OK. Good-bye, Professor.' We begin to walk into the tunnel. As we appear to be on the verge of moving once more into absolute darkness, a faint glimmer flows into the walls to give us just enough illumination to see where we step.

  Then the silence is broken by a faltering voice from behind. 'Wait… wait. I'm coming with you.'

  EIGHTEEN

  WE'VE BEEN WALKING FOR A WHILE. THE TUNNEL IS FEATURELESS, dimly lit, apparently a road to nowhere fast. I see nothing ahead of us. Nothing behind. With the exception of Kye, Tar'ant and the Professor, of course, who follow. There are no junctions in the tunnel. No branches off. Grey, grey… Grey walls forever. Once more my mind spins back those long dead years to when Yo was struck by the vehicle. I hear her cries. I find myself gazing into those brown, trusting eyes again. Helpless, but knowing I must act to free her from her pain…

  'Four thousand,' the man declaims.

  'What's that, Professor?'

  'Four thousand. I've counted every step of the way.'

  'We should be reaching the end of it now,' says Kye; a statement rooted more in hope than in fact.

  'As long as we're not in a storm drain,' I add. 'I hate the idea of being flushed.'

  Tar'ant sniffs. 'You're not the only one.'

  The mournful cry echoes along the tunnel again; a ghostly sound that chills my blood.

  'A storm drain?' The Professor's eyes gleam with uncanny lights in the shadows. 'Oh, I think it's far more than that.'

  We move on.

  'Four thousand and one, four thousand and two, four thousand and three…'

  If the Professor's going to count aloud every step of the way, this will send me as crazy as he is.

  'Four thousand and four, four thousand and five…'

  Kye murmurs so the man doesn't hear: 'Are you going to shoot him, or shall I?'

  I open my mouth to reply; only I don't get chance. The floor is no longer there - I'm falling. A steamy, warm atmosphere rushes over me. I see ten different shades of green. Then solid ground hurtles up.

  NINETEEN

  'JOMI… JOMI! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?'

  I don't breathe any more. At least, that's what it feels like. I'm lying flat on my back in a mess of broadleaf plants, looking up at two faces that peer down at me through the hole I fell through.

  Now that doesn't make sense, I tell myself. I'm walking through a subterranean passageway, then I fall out of it into the open air. What's more, I've fallen a distance that's more than twice my height into vegetation that's a bilious green.

  I don't breathe any more… only I need to breathe. My back hurts. Pains shoot through my ribs. Then in a rush I breathe in. I wince, expecting that inhalation to be agonising. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt as much as I expected. Exhaling, then taking another breath, I find the pains in my jolted body are receding. This helps me take more of an interest in my surroundings.

  With a groan, I raise my visor. All around me clumps of billowing green burst out of the ground. The sky above is blue. (No cloud; no rain; no thunder. Strange). I see that looping across and through the blue are long grey tubes. They look the same as the one I fell from. Only, thankfully, that particular one isn't so high from the ground. My eyes take in the grey tubes that make me think of arteries within the body. They run in seemingly random patterns from one horizon to the other. The longer I examine them, the more I see that a number appear to snake out of the blue stuff of the sky to slope downward to the green stuff of the ground.

  'Jomi!' Kye's shouting again. 'Are you OK?'

  I wave to her, still trying to recover from the winding I got from the fall. She interprets this as me not being badly hurt.

  'Can you stand?'

  I nod; at the third attempt, I make it to my feet. Then I retrieve my gun from where it splashed down into a cluster of fungi that reach as high as my knees. The weapon's smeared with a foul smelling jelly from the fungus, but appears to be undamaged.

  The Professor calls down, his bright eyes fixed on mine: 'Can you tell where you are?'

  'Rain forest,' I manage to say.

  'Can you see Tar'ant?'

  'He's down here?'

  'He fell through just seconds after you. The floor dissolved right from under his feet.'

  'No… I don't see him.'

  'The fall might have stunned him. All we can see is you and the area of ground immediately around you. Do you see anything else?' Kye adds: 'Any sign of the platoon?'

  I shake my head. Looking round, I see a mass of verdant green. Heavy crimson blossom hangs from branches. Green tsunamis of vines sweep over boulders. There are myriads of insects painted in dazzling colours - emerald greens, metallic blues and purples. Vast butterflies with papery, lemon-hued wings flutter above my head.

  'I don't understand it,' I begin. 'Clear skies… but there's no sun. I can't-' My voice morphs into a shout. 'Hey, Kye! Professor! I can see the building again. The same one we saw from the kitchen. This must be-'

  'Then take great care, Jomi,' the Professor warns. 'Remember your people encountered hostile forces out here.'

  He's right. I drop to a crouch, use leaves to wipe away the slippery gunk from the gun, then set the trigger to rapid-fire. Now I scan my location, searching for the Daleks I suspect haunt this jungle.

  After a moment, I call up. 'I see nothing that presents a threat.'

  Kye kneels at the lip of the hole. 'Keep watching, Jomi.'

  I remember what happened to Golstar, so I keep watching all right. As I scan the encircling trees I call out: 'Tar'ant… Tar'ant?'

  Why doesn't he answer?

  'Jomi, I don't know how we're going to haul you and Tar'ant back up here. There's no way of reaching you.'

  'There's no need anyway. If anything, you have to find a way to climb down here' I glance at the crushed plants that broke my fall. 'Without cracking any bones. But I'm starting to get worried about Tar'ant.' I look round. 'Tar'ant? Can you hear me, friend?' Uneasy, I try and make a joke of it, to drive away the anxiety that's gathering like a dark cloud over me. 'Tar'ant? Are you there? Knock once for yes, twice for no…'

  Above me, the pair of them appear to go into conference, no doubt discussing the best way to climb down from the aerial tube to the ground. Now, I notice that an oval section of the bottom of the tube is missing. Strange, because I'm sure it had been intact before I fell through it.

  For a while I crouch there keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings. Hoping Tar'ant will lumber from the bushes with a big grin on his face. From time to time, dragonflies with iridescent wings buzz me. The hostile way they dart toward my face suggest they're sizing me up as their next meal. I flip the helmet visor back down. When they hover too close, I jab them away with the muzzle of my weapon.

  The Professor a
nd Kye are taking their time over deciding how to reach me. I glance up.

  Sweet life. What I see leaves me open-mouthed. The tunnel has resealed itself; a patch of black material has replaced the hole through which Tar'ant and I fell, and I never noticed a thing. Even with the predatory dragonflies circling, I risk removing my helmet, just in case I can hear the pair. Only I hear nothing but the cry of birds and the unpleasant whine of those damn dragonflies. One buzzes close to my ear. With the butt of the gun I take a swipe at it.

  'Kye! Professor?' I listen again for a reply. Nothing. Damn. How can I have been so unobservant? Now they're sealed inside that aerial grey tube again. Beyond reach. I follow the tube with my eyes, trying to determine if it simply terminates or if it snakes away into the wide blue yonder like so many of the others. Only, at last, I see that this airborne artery suddenly dips downward to penetrate the ground. Will the pair wait? Will they retrace their steps? Will they go forward? Hell, I have no way of knowing. I check the pad on my sleeve, hoping that the comm link has been re-established. Not so much as a murmur. The whole system's dead, including telemetry and environment sensors. Now I have to rely on what Thal evolution has given me. Sight, smell, touch, hearing. I see little apart from profuse plant growth, blue sky, insects and the metallic fortress on the cliff. The smell is undoubtedly powerful. Rich, organic smells of rain forest, scented with heavy perfumes from the blossom. Touch. Here, I feel only the press of the humid atmosphere against the small areas of skin that aren't protected by my suit. Again, sounds are restricted to a cocktail of insect buzz and birdcalls from the forest deeps.

  Moments pass. The dragonflies are enough of a nuisance to persuade me to flip down my visor. Above me, the black patch that re-sealed the hole is lightening to the same grey as the rest of the tube. It seeming increasingly unlikely that Kye and the Professor are going to find a way out through this section, I decide that what I must do next is find Tar'ant. I move through the waist-deep plants, softly calling his name. I'm wary that too loud a shout could attract the wrong kind of attention.