Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (17 page)

Ace continued to watch as it went past the van towards Ratcliffe’s yard. A phalanx of imperial Daleks followed.

Ace ducked down behind the bonnet.

‘Which blobs do you think are winning?’ asked the Doctor.

‘The bazooka blobs,’ said Ace.

Saturday, 16:32

It happened very fast.

Mike and Ratcliffe were ushered outside by the Black Dalek. In the yard, grey Daleks were clustered closely round the Hand of Omega. The girl carried out the time controller and placed it on a trestle in front of the Hand of Omega. ‘Time controller fully operational,’ said the girl.

‘Departure imminent.’

Too bad about Ratcliffe’s plan, thought Mike.

The Black Dalek rotated to face the two men. ‘Destroy human captives.’

‘No!’ shouted Ratcliffe.

The world shook: the yard gates dissolved into an orange ball of flame; heat washed the exposed skin of Mike’s hands and face. Then the noise came, smashing him back against the double doors.

Mike saw Ratcliffe running for the time controller and the Black Dalek twisting to follow his path. A bolt of light hit the Dalek next to Mike; flame blossomed from its top dome. There was a ringing in his ears.

Ratcliffe snatched the time controller and shouted something.

More beams of light streaked through the smoke that masked the smashed gates. Another Dalek exploded. Mike saw the iron fire escape that ran up to the warehouse’s second storey and lunged for it.

The Dalek Supreme was getting confusing sensory input.

Images from the girl’s eyes kept merging with its own optical sensors. It caught a fragmentary glimpse of Ratcliffe picking up the time controller. It tried to shoot, but the double image confused its fire control and the energy bolt went wide.

Incoming fire from the imperial Daleks was intensifying; the renegade Daleks’ defence was disorganized.

The Dalek Supreme’s options were limited. It spat an order at the girl.
Recover the time controller.

The blast caught Ace and the Doctor halfway towards Ratcliffe’s yard. Even at fifty metres Ace felt the heat of the fireball. She had been looking at the gates when they exploded, and her eyes were dazzled. Ace blinked, but all she could see was the orange after-image.

The Doctor took her by the hand and she stumbled after him.

Power crackled through the girl’s nervous system. Charged as she was, time went slowly. She easily dodged the blaster bolts that seemed to float through the air. Her augmented eyes zeroed in on the human, Ratcliffe. In a moment she could see everything: the complex organic molecules that formed the fabric of his suit, the interplay of muscle in his shoulders, the constant motion of those absurdly fragile internal organs.

Power bunched up inside her; she flung out her arms to Ratcliffe and loosed it.

Mike heard Ratcliffe stumble behind him. He turned to see Ratcliffe falling forward, crackling blue fire racing along his back. Ratcliffe’s eyes were open in surprise, his mouth worked silently. He held out the burning globe of the time controller.

Mike took it as Ratcliffe fell to the iron steps. At the bottom of the fire escape Mike saw the girl. She was smiling.

The shuttle commander swung to the left of the special weapons Dalek. Its eyestick scanned the yard as it searched for the renegade Dalek Supreme. The shuttle commander took a glancing hit from a blaster bolt and lost three of its sensor globes.

Alarms sounded as the Abomination fired. The radiation discharge overwhelmed the shuttle commander’s shields.

The shuttle commander saw a flash of black in its peripheral vision, and shot forward, compensating for the rough terrain by overloading its motivator.

The distinctive black casing of the Dalek Supreme was framed in the shuttle commander’s aiming reticle. The shuttle commander fired once but the Dalek Supreme shifted sideways and the shot missed.

It tried to line up again, but the Dalek Supreme had turned to bring its own weapon to bear. The shuttle commander’s optical sensors whited out as a blaster bolt clipped its dome; it blindly returned fire. Its sight cleared just in time to see the Dalek Supreme vanish through the doorway to the warehouse.

The Abomination fired again and the last renegade was obliterated.

The shuttle commander’s life support indicators were red-lining. It could feel vital systems shutting down as its power-plant ceased to function. With fading vision it looked at the Omega device – the imperial Daleks had triumphed.

Darkness closed in. With a final gurgling sigh the shuttle commander commended its database to the Empire. Then it died.

The systems co-ordinator relayed the data to the Emperor.

We have recovered the Omega device.

Saturday, 16:34

‘I can see again,’ said Ace as she opened her eyes. She and the Doctor were opposite Ratcliffe’s yard. Smoke obscured the interior but the firing had stopped.

‘Which blobs won?’ she asked.

Dalek shapes began to emerge from the smoke – the Doctor’s hand tensed in her own.

‘I don’t know,’ he said.

Wind began to shred the smoke. The Daleks were revealed: they were cream and gold imperial warriors. Ace felt the Doctor’s hand relax. They watched as the Daleks moved out of the yard towards them.

‘Professor,’ said Ace.

‘Oh,’ said the Doctor, and pulled her backwards. She got a quick glimpse of the sign which read ‘Beware of the Dog’

before the Doctor slammed the door shut.

One thing about the Professor, thought Ace, is that he always has a getaway route handy.

There was a growl behind them.

Most of the time, she appended.

The Alsation growled again as they turned. Its lips were pulled back from its teeth, and a tiny strand of saliva trailed from its muzzle. Brown eyes stared at the Doctor. It snarled again. Ace could see its back legs tensing, hindquarters clipping in readiness to spring.

‘Shush,’ said the Doctor.

The Alsation’s eyes grew puzzled. The tension left its body and its head drooped guiltily while its tail wagged in low, hopeful arcs.

Don’t worry about it, dog, thought Ace, he has the same effect on me.

The Alsation trotted over to the Doctor’s feet and rolled over on its back. ‘Good dog,’ said the Doctor, and bent over to rub its stomach.

The Dalek Supreme overrode the battle computer and instigated the equipment destruct program. The link with the girl was down, so the Dalek Supreme was able to think clearly for the moment. Energy reserves were dangerously depleted; combat would be unrealistic. As the last remaining Dalek of the renegade task force it was imperative that it return home to report.

The Dalek Supreme triggered the destruct sequence and left the office. Behind it the battle computer burst into flames.

Mike stood completely still. The second floor of the warehouse was dark – he could just make out rows of shelves. He knew the creepy girl was in there with him because he had heard her light footsteps come through the doorway behind him. Now he listened in the darkness, waiting for her to make her move. His palm was slick on the handle of the pistol.

Mike smelled smoke. Now what? he thought.

He heard them – a patter of footsteps over by the internal stairwell. If he could make it to the fire escape, if no Daleks were left in the yard and if the girl didn’t catch him, he might get away.

And after that?

Mike figured he would worry about that later.

‘The Imperial Daleks have got the Hand of Omega,’ said the Doctor. ‘Good.’

Ace idly scratched the Alsatian’s head. ‘Why are you so keen that the Daleks should get it anyway?’

‘Quiet, Ace,’ said the Doctor. He opened the gate.

Ace left the dog and joined the Doctor.

A figure slipped out of the yard and started to trot up the road.

‘It’s Mike,’ said Ace.

‘He’s got the time controller,’ said the Doctor. ‘Typical human, you can always count on them to mess things up.’

Thanks a lot, thought Ace.

‘Ace, get after him, see where he’s going and stay with him.’

‘Right,’ said Ace. She took off, but was momentarily restrained by the Doctor.

‘And no heroics,’ he said. ‘I have enough problems already.’

‘Trust me,’ said Ace.

The Doctor watched Ace run up the street. Then he turned to look across at Ratcliffe’s yard. The smoke had cleared now and the Doctor could see a body lying sprawled on the fire escape. It was George Ratcliffe –

another death in a chain of blood that stretched from the future to the past.

I shall be well rid of the Daleks, thought the Doctor.

Something warm was butting him in the back of the knee. It was the Alsatian, snuffling for the Doctor’s affection. He stroked the dog’s head. ‘I wonder who you remind me of?’ The Doctor straightened, sighed and started back towards the van.

He had work to do.

Saturday, 16:45

The special weapons Dalek returned to the shuttle in triumph. Behind it floated the Hand of Omega. After the death of the shuttle commander the Abomination had assumed command. Pride filled the mutant as it boarded, the Emperor’s benediction was a clear undercurrent within the encrypted command-net.

The Omega device was placed in the prepared storage module at the rear of the shuttle. The dead pilot was replaced by a warrior from section four. Even now the chosen Dalek’s mind was filled with the relevant database, downloaded from the shuttle’s computer.

The shuttle started to vibrate as the engines warmed up.

The last of the Daleks filed aboard and started lock-down procedures. There were many empty spaces.

‘What are you going to do when all this is over?’ asked Allison.

Rachel thought for a moment. ‘Retire to Cambridge and write my memoirs.’

‘Professor?’ Gilmore appeared at the top of the cellar stairs.

‘Subject to security vetting of course,’ said Rachel.

Gilmore came halfway down the stairs and called down to the two women. ‘The shuttle appears to be leaving.’

Allison leapt to her feet. ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish.’

She’s as bad as Ace, thought Rachel. Was I like that when I was young? Did I just walk away from horror like that?

Suddenly she remembered a beach in August 1940

where the sun was going down in smoke. She could clearly see the stark angular shape of the radar towers against the sky. The sea was like a sheet of silver. She held him close, just to prove that they were both still alive. Yes we did – we spat death in the eye when we fought our war, she decided.

The four thrusters at the base of the shuttle roared. The concrete of the playground became white hot and burst into flame. The shuttle lifted on four pillars of smoke and fire, fighting to be free of the world. It rose slowly at first, then gathering speed it leaped for the sky.

The Doctor stood by the TARDIS and watched the shuttle accelerate into the upper atmosphere. He raised his hat as it departed.

Enjoy this moment, monsters, thought the Doctor.

Enjoy the brief moment of flight as you soar high above this pathetic little world. Except, of course, you can’t. You eradicated such worthless little pleasures centuries ago.

The Doctor held on to that thought. It would make what he had to do easier.

Ace heard the rumble and looked up. A shadow passed over her face. The shuttle shot away high over the houses, the noise of its engines dopplered into the distance. Ace stopped and watched it vanish.

‘Wicked,’ she breathed.

Ace looked around to get her bearings. She was pretty certain that Mike was heading east, out of the evacuation zone, but where?

She jammed her hands into her coat pockets. Inside her left pocket she felt something small and metallic. Her thumb ran down a serrated edge. It was a door key. She took it out and looked at it. Then, putting her hands back in her pockets, Ace set off deeper into Shoreditch.

The girl was skipping. The road slipped away under her feet. The houses drifted past like smoke. The girl tracked the female target as she turned a corner. Probability assessment indicated that the female target would lead the girl to the male target. They were both marked for extermination.

A star burned deep in the heart of the
Eret-mensaiki Ska
contained in a bottle of gravito-magnetic force. The interface stripped raw power from the plasma core and transformed it into electricity: one hundred and twenty-three million watts, usable, clean and versatile. Power to control; power to command.

Cables spread from the reactor to the thrusters and stardrive that gave the ship motion; to the life support plants that gave it life; to the sensors that gave it eyes; and to the batteries of weapons that gave the
Eret-mensaiki Ska
its teeth. Beside the cables ran a network of extruded glass.

Through this network flashed digital instructions carried on the back of laser beams. The glass fibre nerves ran from every extremity, bunching at ganglia, thickening as they wound through the ship towards the hub. There they terminated at the centre of all commands – the bridge. And at the centre of the bridge was the Emperor – a white spider hanging in a silver web.

The Emperor oversaw the flight of the shuttle. Inside the bloated, round casing, data flickered through neural implants. If the Emperor had wished it, control of that flight could have been his if he willed it so.

Shuttle switching to docking mode
, reported Tac-op.

On board the shuttle was the prize, the seminal device of the ancient Time Lords – the Hand of Omega.
What do
you think of that, Doctor?
thought the Emperor.
I know that
you are down there, on that pathetic little world. What desperate
plan can your devious mind devise now?

Vast doors in the belly of the mothership opened. With precise spurts of power the shuttle rose into the docking bay. The engines began to wind down. Multi-armed robots converged on its skin. A disembarkation corridor mated with the forward airlock.