Sarah had one of the most horrifying awakenings of her life. Buried beneath a pile of rapidly stiffening corpses, she could feel her face wet with blood. At first she felt confusedly that she must be dead too, or at least badly wounded. But as she struggled groggily to her feet she realized that the blood came from a shallow cut on her forehead. Miraculously, she was more or less unharmed.
She looked around. Along the line of the trench lay more bodies, sprawled in the grotesque and ungainly attitudes of sudden death. The metal door was closed. There was no sign of the Doctor or Harry. Sarah began to move along the trench calling softly, 'Doctor? Doctor, are you there? Harry?' There was no answer. She paused, thinking. It would do her no good to stay here. She started to climb out of the trench.
Sarah wandered across the Wastelands for what seemed a very long time, with no clear idea of where she was going or why. The gray half-light, combined with the drifting fog, made visibility very low. She stumbled in and out of shell holes, and disentangled herself from clumps of rusting barbed wire. Occasionally she heard distant gunfire, but saw no soldiers. Clearly the battle had moved away from this section of the line. All the time she had a feeling of something following her, of unseen forms creeping toward her. It was this, as much as any real hope of finding the Doctor, that kept her staggering wearily on her way.
As the darkness deepened, the following shapes moved closer. Sarah told herself it was all imagination, but she knew very well it was not. At last she paused exhausted, and a hideous shapeless something loomed out of the darkness, reaching for her. Sarah screamed and ran. The shapeless thing pursued her and soon others joined in the chase. She was hunted across the Wastelands, soft footsteps thudding behind her. Fear gave her fresh energy and she ran blindly at full speed, taking no care where she was going. Suddenly the ground vanished beneath her feet... She felt herself falling. It wasn't a long fall, something like five or six feet, and luckily she landed on soft ground. But it was enough to knock the breath out of her. She lay gasping, pressed close to the ground, and to her relief heard the sounds of pursuit pass by.
Scrambling to her feet, Sarah began to take a look at her surroundings. Close by she could just distinguish the outline of a broken wall. She moved toward it and felt her way along. It seemed she had fallen into the basement of a ruined house. She decided she might as well stay. At least the ruins offered a chance of rest and safety. She made her way out of the basement, climbing some broken steps. As she reached the top, Sarah suddenly drew back. She was in a ruined entrance hall. She could see the sky through the broken roof. Light was streaming from a room on the other side of the hall. Sarah crept up cautiously, feeling that she was more likely to meet enemies than friends on this dreadful planet.
Flattening herself against the wall, she peeped into the room. It was a large room, and might once have been some kind of conference chamber. A space had been cleared in the center of the rubble littered floor, and a portable field lamp made a central pool of light. On the far edge of the cleared area, a man was setting up a target, a life-sized, wooden cutout in the shape of a soldier. The man wore the white coat of a scientist. He was tall and thin, and his features had the dark, thin-faced intense look, so typical of most Kaleds.
There was another man in the room, but Sarah was unable to see him clearly. He was on the near side of the pool of light, his back to her, and was almost hidden by shadows. All Sarah could see was the back of an elaborate wheelchair. A withered right hand hovered constantly over the controls built into the chair arm.
The man finished setting up the target. 'I am ready, Davros.' He walked over to stand beside the man in the chair, his back to Sarah.
'Observe the test closely, Gharman, my friend. This will be a moment to live in history.' The voice was almost inhuman, filtered through some mechanical reproduction system. It had a harsh, grating quality that Sarah found familiar. She saw the claw-like hand touch a switch. There was a whirring sound from the outer darkness and something moved into the pool of light. It was a gleaming metal creature with a rounded base. The body was constructed of heavily studded metal panels, the top was a dome from which projected a lens on a metal stalk. Sarah recognized the creature at once. It was a Dalek.
True, it wasn't a fully-evolved Dalek, the kind she had seen in ruthless action on the planet of the Exxilons. The movements were jerky and the arm with the curious sucker-like tip was missing. But the gun was there, and the eye-stalk... This must be an early model, a kind of prototype. Sarah realized that the calculations of the Time Lords had been accurate. The Doctor and his friends had been brought to Skaro as the Daleks were about to be born.
Davros was putting the Dalek through its paces. 'Left, left, forward... now right. Stop.' The Dalek obeyed its movements faltering and uncertain. Sarah realized now why the voice of Davros sounded so familiar. It was just like that of the Dalek he had created!
At last Davros had the Dalek position to his satisfaction. It stood in front of his chair, opposite the target on the other side of the room. 'Now,' grated Davros. 'Exterminate!'
The Dalek's gun roared, and the target exploded in flames.
'Excellent,' said Davros. 'Locomotion is still faulty, and we must improve the sense organs. But the weaponry is perfect. We can begin!'
As Davros's chair swiveled around Sarah jumped back into hiding. Crouched low she saw the shape in the chair glide past her, followed by the Dalek. Gharman came last, carrying the field lamp. Sarah watched the bobbing light move away across the Wastelands.
She leant against the wall, thinking hard. Obviously she had stumbled on some kind of secret test, and she ought to get the information to the Doctor. But where to look for him? Presumably in the city. Sarah decided to follow Davros. As she started to get up, a huge, misshapen hand reached out of the darkness and touched her lightly on the shoulder. Sarah turned to see the black bulk of a hooded creature looming over her. The shock was too much, and she fainted dead away.
To their surprise, the Doctor and Harry were marched out of the domed city and across several miles of the Wasteland. Soon they saw lights ahead, and the shape of a small, low-lying building, a kind of blockhouse. Nyder halted the party by a massive metal door. A voice spoke from a metal grille. 'You will announce your name, rank, serial number, purpose of visit and authorization reference.'
Nyder glared irritably into what the Doctor guessed must be a hidden camera. 'All right, Tane, use your eyes. This is Security Commander Nyder with prisoners and escort.'
'Yes, sir,' squawked the voice in evident alarm. Nyder was obviously a character to be feared. The heavy door slid open and they marched through.
They found themselves in a largish anteroom. One wall was filled with complex scientific equipment, and another metal door faced them. Two black-clad officers stood waiting stiffly to attention, one beside the door, the other at a kind of control console. More black guards lined the walls.
Nyder nodded to the first officer. 'Captain Tane, I want these two screened and passed to Ronson. Full interrogation. Here are their belongings.' Handing over a sealed plastic envelope, Nyder turned. The second officer hurriedly touched a control. The inner door opened, revealing a tunnel stretching downward. Nyder disappeared along it, and the door closed after him. The Doctor gave Harry a reassuring grin. Any situation that started with Nyder leaving couldn't be all bad! He nodded affably to Tane.
'that's a relief. Any chance of a cup of tea?'' Tane glared at him speechlessly. 'Any light refreshment would do,' the Doctor added helpfully. 'We've been through some very trying experiences, haven't we, Harry?'
'Very trying, Doctor.' Harry's agreement was heartfelt.
Tane pointed to a sort of upright coffin surrounded with complex instruments. 'Step into the security scan.'
The Doctor glanced at Harry. 'No tea,' he said sadly.
Tane's voice was coldly angry. 'Let me point out to you that you have no rights here. I have full authority to execute any prisoner who does not obey orders.'
The lights went out, and Harry staggered out of the machine on the point of collapse. A soldier grabbed him, propped him against the nearest wall, then pushed the Doctor into the machine. Once again the light flashed and the instruments buzzed. But this time there was a new noise; a highpitched, warning shriek. Tane glanced at the instrument panel. 'Scan detects power- source on prisoner's left wrist.' The scan was concluded, the machine switched off and the Doctor stepped out. At a nod from Tane two guards grabbed him. 'Remove object on the left wrist of the prisoner.' One of the guards started to wrench away the bangle. The Doctor struggled wildly. 'You can't have that. It isn't a weapon, and it's of no possible interest to you...'
A brutal blow from the rifle butt of one of the guards choked off the protest. Tane took the bracelet, then dropped it into the plastic envelope with the Doctor's other odds and ends. The officer in charge of the scanner gave Tane a sheaf of cards, and he put them in the envelope without looking at them.
As he caught hold of the collapsing Doctor, Harry hissed in his ear. 'Stop making a fuss, Doctor.'
'That Time bracelet is our only hope of getting back to the TARDIS. We've got to get it back.'
'I know that,' whispered Harry. 'But we don't want them to know, do we?' The Doctor subsided.
Tane turned to the nearest guard. 'The prisoners are to be given over to the custody of Senior Researcher Ronson. Take this with you.' He handed over the plastic envelope.
The two prisoners were taken through the inner door and down the long tunnel. They were led along endless buttressed corridors and into an enormous underground room. Looking around in interest, the Doctor guessed he was in an advanced research laboratory. Or rather a collection of laboratories. The place was sectioned off, and in different cubicles and enclosed areas white-coated scientists were hard at work. They were taken across the room to a corner desk, where a haggard, gray-haired man sat wearily studying some figures. The guards handed over the envelope and the prisoners, then marched away.
Harry and the Doctor stood waiting before the desk. The gray-haired man tipped out the contents of the envelope and examined them. The Doctor's eyes gleamed at the sight of the Time bracelet and he took a pace forward, but Harry nudged him, looking around significantly. The huge room had many doors, but armed guards stood at every one.
The man behind the desk looked up. 'My name is Ronson,' he said. 'Do sit down.' Harry and the Doctor, taken aback by the first kind words they'd heard on Skaro, pulled over a couple of metal chairs and sank into them gratefully.
'Thank you. I take it you're not with the military?' the Doctor asked hopefully.
'I am a member of the Special Scientific Division.'
'Excellent. Perhaps we can have a conversation that isn't punctuated by rifle butts.' The Doctor rubbed his aching back. A little shamefacedly Ronson said, 'That depends. if you don't answer my questions satisfactorily, I must hand you back to the Security Guards.'
As if glad to leave a distasteful subject, he turned to the objects on his desk. 'Where did you get these things?'
The Doctor smiled. 'Oh, here and there. Different places, different Times.'
'If I didn't know better,' said Ronson slowly, 'I would swear they were produced on some other planet. But it's an established scientific fact that Skaro, is the only planet capable of supporting life.'
'Suppose there are more planets than you're aware of?' suggested the Doctor gently.
Ronson picked up the batch of coded cards. 'When you went through the scanner the instruments checked your physical make-up—encephalographical patterns, physiological composition and so on. So if you are from another world...' His voice faded away as he studied the cards.
'You were saying?' asked the Doctor politely.
Ronson looked up with awe in his eyes. 'His makeup,' he nodded toward Harry, 'is comparable to ours, with a few minor differences. But yours... nothing conforms to any known life form on this planet. Nothing—except the external appearance.'
'Just goes to show—you should never judge by appearances.'
Ronson leaned forward. 'Who are you? Where do you come from? Tell me.' The Doctor recognized pure scientific curiosity in Ronson's voice.
'It's a very long story. Do you have any knowledge of the Theory of Space Dimension Correlated to Relative Time?'
The Doctor was interrupted by a low gonging sound. Every single scientist, Ronson included, reacted with eager attention. The sound stopped and a voice said 'Davros will address the Elite Scientific Corps in the main laboratory assembly.' Almost at once more white-coated scientists began to enter the room, workers from adjoining laboratories.
'Our session will have to wait,' Ronson said. 'Davros is coming.' His voice was hushed with reverence.
'I gather Davros is your Chief Scientist?'
'Our Chief Scientist and our supreme commander. He must have something of importance to tell us.'
'I shall be interested to meet him,' said the Doctor politely. But even he was not prepared for the strange apparition that glided into the room. The Doctor was seeing, at close range and in clear lighting, the strange being Sarah had only glimpsed during the secret test in the ruined building.
Davros was no more than the shattered, ruined remnant of what had once been a man. He glided along in an advanced form of wheelchair that moved under its own power. The withered husk of a body was swathed in a high-collared, green plastic overall, and surrounded by a variety of life-support systems. The Doctor guessed that both heart and lungs were mechanically operated and maintained. Only the right hand was visible, a withered claw hovering constantly over the controls built into one arm of the chair. But the most horrifying thing about Davros was his face. Parchment-thin skin clung to the outlines of the shriveled skull. The eye sockets were blank and sunken, the mouth a lipless slit. A helmet-like arrangement of wires and plastic tubes surmounted the head, supporting a single lens that rested in the center of the forehead. Speech, sight and hearing must be mechanically aided too, thought the Doctor.
Harry Sullivan looked at Davros in horror. 'What happened to the poor devil?'
'An atomic shell struck his laboratory during a Thal bombardment,' whispered Ronson. 'His body was shattered, but he refused to die. He clung to life, and himself designed the mobile life-support system in which you see him.'
Harry said nothing. To himself he thought that death would surely be preferable to the kind of existence Davros must be leading now.
Davros had taken up his position in the center of the far wall, flanked by the black-clad figure of Security Commander Nyder. Davros spoke. 'If I may have your attention...' There was utter and complete silence. Helpless in his chair, Davros should have been pitiful. Instead, he was terrifying. The Doctor could almost feel the burning intelligence, the powerful, inflexible will that radiated from the crippled form. 'For some time,' Davros continued, I have been busy on a top secret project. There is still much to be done. However, I am anxious that you should see the remarkable progress made so far, and to that end I have arranged this demonstration.' Davros wheeled his chair to face the door by which be had entered. His withered hand dropped to touch a control, and seconds later a metallic shape glided into the room. Like Sarah before him, the Doctor had no difficulty in recognizing a Dalek. Armless, weaponless, but still unmistakably a Dalek.
As the machine glided up to Davros, his metallic voice commanded, 'Halt.' The Dalek stopped.
'He's perfected voice control,' breathed Ronson. 'That's magnificent.'
'Move left. Halt. Move forward. Halt. Circle. Halt.' Obedient to Davros's commands the Dalek moved jerkily about the room.
'Nyder!' The Security Commander stepped forward. He took a sucker arm and a gun, and fitted them onto the Dalek. 'As you see,' grated Davros, 'our machin
e is now fitted with a tactile organ and a means of self-defense. I shall turn the machine over to total self-control. It will then be independent of all outside influence. A living, thinking, self-supporting creature.'
Davros touched a switch. For a moment the Dalek did nothing. Then, slowly and uncertainly, it began to move around the room. Davros followed in his wheelchair. Somehow the two were curiously alike. Suddenly the Dalek seemed to see the Doctor. It moved slowly toward his corner, halting just in front of him. The Doctor stood quite still.
'Alien,' croaked the Dalek suddenly. 'Exterminate... exterminate... exterminate!' Slowly the gun stick raised until it was pointing straight at the Doctor.
4 ROCKET OF DOOM
Nobody moved. It was clear to everyone in the room that the Dalek intended to kill theDoctor. Suddenly Ronson darted forward and fficked one of the switches on Davros's console. Immediately the Dalek 'switched off,' gun arm and eye-stalk drooping.
Davros was furious. 'You dare to interferel You have the audacity to interrupt my experiment!'
Ronson was clearly terrified but he made himself speak out. 'It was going to destroy him.'
'And you consider his worthless life more important than the progress we have made? My creature showed a natural instinct to destroy everything alien—and you interceded.'
'Davros... I'm sorry,' pleaded Ronson. 'But this is no ordinary prisoner. I believe he hasinvaluable information. Let me interrogate him first—then your creature can do what it likes with him.'
Davros considered. 'Very well. You will be punished later for your insubordination. Meanwhile you may interrogate your prisoner until the end of this work period. After that, I shall resume my experiment.'
Davros wheeled and glided away. Ronson heaved a sigh of relief. The Doctor took a deep breath. 'Thank you,' he said simply.
Ronson seemed hardly able to believe his own temerity. 'I was simply doing my duty. Now you must cooperate with me. If you don't provide knowledge to justify what I have done, Davros will resume his experiment as threatened.'
Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks Page 3
