Doctor Who: Prisoner of the Daleks (6 page)

The planet was on fire. From the large portside viewing window, the crew of the
Wayfarer
looked down in disbelieving horror as the surface of the planet churned and broke apart, molten lava erupting from beneath the shattered crust, incinerating everything in its path and filling the atmosphere with toxic gas.

Auros had been a typical human colony world – naturally located in a temperate biosphere around its parent sun, with one small moon. It was a beautiful planet, with equatorial rainforests, mountains, deserts, grassland and oceans, and men had come here in their droves, keen to escape the overcrowded Earth.

The Doctor looked up from the unfolding devastation. Scrum was white-faced, and there were tears running down his cheeks. 'Any communications?'

Scrum shook his head. 'We didn't establish contact beforehand. We're not always welcome.'

'There were some ships flying away when we got here,' said Cuttin' Edge slowly. 'Looks like they were evacuatin'. A couple of them said we should clear out too. Auros is goin' down.'

'The last ship to leave told us to cut and run,' Scrum added quietly. 'They said the Daleks were coming.'

A chill spread through the
Wayfarer
, and even Koral – watching from the shadows through narrowed, smouldering eyes – moved closer to the others.

Jon Bowman stood behind all of them, like the statue of an ancient god overlooking Hell. His hard, rock-like face reflected the orange and red glow of the dying planet. 'I've seen this before,' he growled. 'It's the Osterhagen Principle.'

'They've scuttled the planet,' explained the Doctor in response to Scrum's questioning look. 'There's a network of nuclear devices across the planet, buried deep below ground. It's a self-destruct mechanism.'

'It's designed to prevent the enemy getting hold of the planet,' said Bowman. 'When all else fails.'

'I know what it's for,' said the Doctor bleakly. 'It was invented on Earth over five hundred years ago. It was a bad idea then and it's a bad idea now.'

Cuttin' Edge stepped back from the window, rubbing a hand over his shaven head in confusion. At first he seemed almost lost for words, but then he said, 'Hey, they must have done it for a reason, man.'

'You heard what they said,' Scrum argued. 'The Daleks are coming. Maybe this way the population will have time to escape.'

'Yeah,' Cuttin' Edge nodded. 'Yeah. At least this way the Daleks don't get the planet.'

Cuttin' Edge was desperate to make sense of what he was seeing, to find a way to come to terms with the terrible destruction consuming the charred surface of the world below. But all the Doctor could feel was the bile rising in his throat, a stark revulsion that he couldn't contain. 'It's a stupid, stupid waste,' he said. 'All they've done is save the Daleks a job. They'd have destroyed a planet like that anyway. Now they don't even have to bother.'

Scrum glared at the Doctor, and there was hate in his tearful eyes now. 'Don't say that,' he moaned.

'I'm sorry,' said the Doctor quietly. 'But it's what the Daleks do.'

'I can't watch it any more,' said Scrum. He turned away from the window and leant his head against the wall. His whole body was shaking.

'Take it easy, bro,' said Cuttin' Edge. He rested a hand on his friend's shoulder and shot the Doctor a venomous look.

'Satisfied?' Bowman growled at the Doctor. 'First Stella, now her homeworld. What's going on?'

'I don't know,' the Doctor said. He looked out of the window again, keen to avoid their accusing stares. On the surface of the planet below, vast chunks of charred land broke away into seas of boiling lava. 'But it wasn't the Daleks who did that.'

'What do you mean?'

'Human beings did that,' the Doctor said in a funereal tone. His big, dark eyes never left the planet. 'All those cities and homes and farms and fields... the sum of human endeavour on a beautiful new world. All gone – deliberately wrecked. A self-inflicted wound.'

Bowman's temper flared. 'What choice did they have? Auros is too far from Earth Command for them to protect it against a fleet of Dalek destructor ships.
This
was the only way to protect them. The only way. Don't you see that?'

'All I see is a planet in flames and not a Dalek in sight.'

'Then the survivors should count themselves lucky.'

The Doctor tore his gaze from the planet's death throes. He stared at nothing, thinking furiously. Then he clapped a hand against his head and yelled, 'Of course!'

The others stared at him.

He looked up, his eyes wide with a sudden, horrific realisation. 'Oh no. Oh no, no, no...!'

And then he pushed straight past Bowman and ran towards the flight cabin. 'We need to contact them – warn them! Hurry!'

Bowman jerked his head, and Cuttin' Edge and Scrum obediently set off after the Doctor.

'What's up?' Cuttin' Edge demanded as they reached the flight cabin. The Doctor was all over the controls, leaping from one panel to the next, flicking switches and jabbing buttons with frenetic speed. 'Hey – what you doin', man?'

The Doctor was practically tearing his hair out. 'I'm trying to make contact with the refugees,' he gabbled. 'There must be a long-range transceiver system onboard a ship like this – but where? This thing's been repaired, replaced and reconditioned more times than my TARDIS!'

'Here,' said Scrum, sliding into one of the cockpit seats and activating a control unit. 'It's a hyperlink data-stream salvaged from an old Draconian battleship. It can tap into almost any major communications signal.'

'Brilliant!' The Doctor slipped on his glasses and studied the console over Scrum's shoulder. 'Send out a broad-contact beam. But scramble the signal. We don't want to be any more visible than we have to be, do we?'

'What's going on?' asked Bowman as he entered the flight deck. Koral was at his shoulder, a shadow among shadows.

'We've got to warn the people who left Auros,' said the Doctor without looking up. 'Tell them to turn around and head back home.'

'What?' Cuttin' Edge frowned. 'You gotta be kiddin', man...'

'Their home is burning,' Bowman said. 'They're running away, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the Daleks.'

'Are they?' The Doctor whipped off his glasses and looked straight at Bowman. 'This is the Daleks we're talking about, remember. They don't let people go. It's not in their nature.'

And in that instant Bowman understood. 'The Daleks will ambush the fleet. It's a trap.' He turned to Scrum and barked, 'For God's sake, man, get them on the hyperlink now.'

'I'm working on it,' Scrum assured him. His fingers flew over the communications controls, his tears forgotten as he concentrated on the task. 'Here we are. Looks like they left Auros in commercial passenger ships and cargo freighters, plus some private vessels. A convoy, packed with the entire population.'

'How could they have organised all that so quickly?' wondered Cuttin' Edge.

'There's probably not all that many of them in planetary terms,' said the Doctor. 'No more than a few thousand. They will all have been located near to the major spaceport, or owned spacecraft of their own. And fear is a great motivator. Once the countdown for the Osterhagen nukes started, I bet they all moved pretty fast.'

Bowman's face was a grim mask in the light of the control board. 'Too fast,' he growled.

'I still don't understand—' Cuttin' Edge began.

'Shh,' said Scrum. There was a rush of static from the panel. 'I've done it – I've hacked into the Auros convoy's communications network.'

The Doctor leant in and grabbed the microphone by its flexible neck. 'Auros convoy! Do you copy? This is the
Wayfarer
calling the Auros convoy – can you hear us?'

A burst of static, then: 'This is the Auros convoy.' The screen fizzled into life and the grainy image of a tired, anxious-looking woman came into view. 'I'm Vanessa Lakestaad—'

'Listen to me—' began the Doctor.

'Do you wish to join the fleet?'

'No, listen—'

'You can't miss us,' Vanessa Lakestaad said. 'There are nearly four hundred vessels in this convoy alone...'

'Stop!' yelled the Doctor. 'Turn back!'

'I'm sorry, you're breaking up,' said the woman, frowning. The image crackled. 'There's another signal interfering with yours. It's very powerful...'

The Doctor's grip tightened on the microphone and his knuckles turned white. 'Turn around!' he yelled. 'Tell the fleet to split up! Scatter! Run for your lives!'

'What? I can't hear you. Wait – here's that signal again. It's drowning you out.'

There was a loud crackle from the speakers and Scrum winced as the picture suddenly zigzagged and disappeared. 'We've lost contact...' He adjusted some controls. 'We can still hear them but they can't hear us. Someone's blocking our signal.'

The woman's voice came again, loud and clear, almost as if she was standing next to them on the flight deck of the
Wayfarer
. 'Unidentified vessel, this is Vanessa Lakestaad, Leader of the Auros refugee fleet. Our homeworld is destroyed. We are fleeing for our lives. Please identify yourself.'

There was a long pause. And then a harsh, grating voice filled the cabin: 'S
URVIVORS OF
A
UROS
! P
AY CLOSE ATTENTION
!'

'Oh my God,' whispered Scrum.

The Doctor put his hand over his mouth in mute horror as the image on the screen slowly resolved into the familiar dome of a Dalek head. The eye glowed a bright blue, almost filling the screen.

'W
E ARE THE
D
ALEKS
! Y
OUR EFFORTS TO ESCAPE ARE USELESS
! P
REPARE TO SURRENDER
.'

'Please,' said Vanessa Lakestaad. Her voice now sounded small and frightened, suddenly almost childlike. 'You... you must let us pass. We are a refugee fleet, heading for the Inner Worlds. We can't—'

The metallic voice interrupted her. 'S
ILENCE
!
YOU WILL TRAVEL NO FURTHER
. Y
OUR CONVOY IS SURROUNDED
.'

'No, please, you can't mean that! You mustn't! We don't want to fight!' A sob broke through Lakestaad's words. 'We can't fight. We can't...! We're private vessels, merchant ships only. This is the entire population of Auros. We claim refugee status...'

'S
ILENCE
! Y
OU HAVE DESTROYED YOUR OWN PLANET AND FLED INTO SPACE
.' The Dalek voice rose in pitch as it grew more excited. 'Y
OU ARE NOW PRISONERS OF THE
D
ALEKS
!'

'I don't understand...' began Vanessa.

'Y
OUR SPACECRAFT WILL BE BOARDED AND YOUR PASSENGERS TAKEN AS PRISONERS
. A
NY ATTEMPT AT RESISTANCE WILL BE MET BY EXTERMINATION
.'

'No! You can't!'

The Dalek's voice grated on: 'A
S AN EXAMPLE TO THE REMAINDER OF THE REFUGEE FLEET, YOUR VESSEL WILL NOW BE DESTROYED
.'

'Please, no...' whispered Vanessa.

Scrum turned in his seat and looked up at Bowman. 'We've got to do something!'

But Bowman stared impassively at the communications console, utterly powerless.