Chapter One

In Shoreditch in the City of London in 1963 is a Secondary School. An elegant woman in a two piece suit walks round the corner and past a pair of boys kicking a football between them next to a black van. The rest of the pupils are entering the schoolyard but one small blonde girl comes out to watch the scene. The TARDIS is parked by a block of flats. The Doctor is walking with Ace and Nita. Ace is carrying a 'ghetto-blaster' on her shoulder, blaring out rock music.

"What's she staring at?" Nita asks.

"Your clothing's a little anachronistic for this time period, and that doesn't help," the Doctor answers, pointing to the ghetto-blaster.

The Doctor switches off Ace's music.

"Well, it's not our fault this decade's got no street cred. I mean, look at that kid," Ace says, pointing to the small blonde girl.

"Strange," the Doctor remarks.

"Oi, Professor, can we get something to eat now?" Ace asks.

The Doctor looks at the doors to the back of the black van. An aerial rotates on the roof and there is a distinct humming.

"You're not carrying any Nitro Nine explosives in there?" the Doctor asks, pointing to Ace's backpack.

"No," Ace replies, winking at Nita.

"What do you make of that van?" the Doctor asks.

"Dunno. TV detector van?" Nita suggests.

"No. Wrong type of aerial. For this time period, that's a very sophisticated piece of equipment," the Doctor replies.

"What's so sophisticated about that rig?" Ace asks. "I've seen better aerials on a CB. Professor, I'm hungry. Lack of food makes me hungry, you know."

"Lack of food makes you obstreperous," the Doctor observes. "Why don't you go and buy some consumables? There's a cafe down there. While I undertake a detailed and scientific examination of that van that has so singularly failed to grab your attention."

"Right," Nita agrees.

Ace and Nita walk away.

"Girls!" the Doctor calls.

"What?" Ace asks impatiently.

"Money."

"Oh."

The Doctor holds out a small pouch. Ace takes it.

"Thanks."

Ace and Nita leave as the girl watches the Doctor examine the van. The Doctor climbs up the external ladder to the van roof and uses his umbrella to measure the length of the moving aerial. The little girl goes inside the schoolyard.

'Return to Sender is playing in the cafe as Ace and Nita enter and a young man in a flying jacket watches Ace put down the ghetto-blaster and take off her rucksack. He is reading the Daily Mirror with the headline – "Give Your Passport To Police". Nita goes to the jukebox. Ace hits an ashtray with a knife while the Beatles regale them with "Do You Want To Know A Secret".

"Service! Oi, anybody home?" calls Ace.

The young man in the corner speaks. "Not like that."

"Like what, then?" asks Nita.

"Like this. Oi, Harry! Customer! Like that," the man demonstrates.

"Right," says Ace.

"Coming!" calls Harry from the kitchen.

"See? It's easy when you know how," the young man says.

Harry appears from the kitchen area. Nita has been observing details about the café. The menu is priced in shillings and pence, and the calendar on the wall is November 1963.

"Right, give it a rest, Mike," says Harry. "I had enough of that during the war Er, can I help you, girls?"

"Oh, yeah. Six bacon sandwiches and two cups of coffee, please," Nita requests.

"Six bacon sandwiches and two cups of coffee. Righty-o," says Harry.

Ace tips her pre-decimal coins onto the counter and stares at them, baffled.

The Doctor enters the school playground. The little girl is playing hopscotch by herself in the middle of four dark patches in the tarmac.

"Five six seven eight, it's a doc…" the girl stops when she see's the Doctor.

The Doctor tastes the residue of the nearest patch and goes to the girl, who runs off.

"She doesn't talk to strangers. Very wise."

The Doctor looks at the hopscotch markers and uses a small abacus before smiling and leaving. The girl is standing by the Boys entrance.

"Five, six, seven eight. It's a doctor at the gate," the girl sings.

The Doctor leaves the school by the old Girls gate and runs across the road. He gets into the black van.

"Hmm, you took your time," says the woman in the two piece suit with her back to the Doctor. "Get on the radio and tell the Group Captain. I think I've located…" She finally looks at the Doctor, who is examining her monitoring equipment.

"The source of magnetic fluctuation, perhaps," the Doctor suggests.

"A rhythmically pulsed fluctuation, yes," the woman confirms.

"I thought so. Any possibility of natural phenomena?"

"Not likely. It's a repeated sequence."

"So, it's artificial in origin."

"Yes. Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Who are you?"

"The Doctor."

"I'm Rachel. Professor Rachel Jensen."

"How do you do? I'm sure I've heard of you."

A voice comes over the radio: "Red Four, Red Four, come in please."

"Red Four receiving. Listen, Group Captain, there's this man… What? On my way."

Nita, Ace and Mike are walking along past the block of flats.

"Twelve pennies to the shilling, eight shillings to the pound right?" Ace asks, trying to get her head around the imperial system. Nita is even more confused as Australia had not only gone decimal, but also changed over to dollars and cents in 1969.

"No, twenty shillings to the pound. That makes two hundred and forty pennies in a pound. Where are you from anyway?" Mike asks.

"Perivale. Why? Oh, this is a stupid system," Ace complains.

"Twelve pennies to the shilling, twenty shillings to the pound, right?" asks Nita.

"Yeah. Are you from somewhere else?" asks Mike.

They walk past the TARDIS.

"Australia. So what's half a crown?"

"Well that's easy," says Mike.

"Sergeant!" Rachel calls from the van.

Mike runs off.

"Sergeant?" Ace asks, looking at Nita, who shrugs her shoulders.

"The Group Captain says he's under attack. We have to get moving," says Rachel.

Mike goes to drive the van. The Doctor pops his head out of the back doors.

"Girls, get in here!" calls the Doctor.

Nita and Ace get in the back and Rachel joins Mike up front.

"Matthews is hurt," says Rachel.

"Where are they?" asks Mike.

"At the secondary source, Totters Lane," Rachel replies.

The Doctor ears prick up. Totters Lane?

Soon the van arrives at a junk yard. "I M Forman, Scrap Merchant, 76 Totters Lane" says the painting on the big gates where a crowd of locals has gathered. The Doctor's mind goes back six life-times to when he lived here with his grand-daughter, Susan.

A blanket is put over the face of a fallen soldier by Group Captain Gilmore then he goes to meet the van which has been stopped by policeman.

"Military," says Mike, showing his I.D.

"Fine, sir." The policeman signals and Mike sounds the van's horn. They drive through the crowd into the yard proper. Everyone gets out of the van.

"What's the situation?" asks the Doctor.

"Who the devil are you?" asks Gilmore.

"I'm the Doctor and these are Ace and Nita. You must be with the military."

"Well, how do you know?" asks Gilmore.

"I'm very perceptive," the Doctor replies.

"Is he with you, Professor?" asks Gilmore.

"Yes," Rachel replies.

"Smith," says Gilmore.

"Sir?" asks Mike.

"Take the girls and set up a position by Red Six," Gilmore directs.

"Yes, sir," Mike replies. "Come on, girls."

Mike, Nita and Ace leave.

"You'd better come and take a look," Gilmore tells the Doctor.

The Doctor uncovers Matthews and unfastens his tunic to check his torso.

"No evidence of tissue damage. Ah, massive internal displacement."

"What?" asks Gilmore.

"His insides were scrambled. Very nasty," the Doctor replies.

"The effect of the blast?" asks Rachel.

"No. A projected energy weapon."

"Projected what?" asks Gilmore.

"A death ray?" asks Rachel.

"Very succinct. I presume you've got reinforcements coming?"

"Any minute now."

The Doctor takes cover behind some metal object.

"This is preposterous. A death ray? It's unbelievable," Gilmore scoffs.

"What a predictable response."

Nita, Ace and Mike go to a black van with no aerial on the roof.

"Miss Williams? Allison!" calls Mike.

A blonde woman wearing a striped scarf appears. "Sergeant, you're here at last. How's Matthews?"

"He's dead," Mike replies, regretfully. "Is Blue One responding?"

"What?" asks Allison, shocked to hear about Matthews. "Blue One? Yes, they'll be here in a minute. Dead, are you sure?"

"Whatever fired that weapon's trapped in there," The Doctor points to the shed. "There's no way out."

"How can you be sure?" asks Gilmore.

"I've been here before," the Doctor replies.

An army lorry drives in carrying a bunch of squaddies.

"Right, everybody out! Come on, quickly. Move it, move it. Squad, attention!" the Sergeant commands.

"Stand at ease," says Gilmore. "Right, now the situation is this. we have an armed hostile pegged up in that lean-to shed. I want the squad to cover the entrance. No firing unless I give the command. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," say the soldiers.

"Remember, he's armed and hostile, so keep under cover as much as possible," says Gilmore. "Sergeant."

"Sir."

"Detail some men to clear these civilians."

"Yes, sir." The Sergeant turns to the soldiers. "You two, come down with me and we'll sort this lot out." He addresses the crowd. "Now, let's have you all back as far as possible, please. Thank you, madam. There's nothing to be seen here."

Gilmore turns to Mike. "Smith."

"Yes, sir?"

"Take two men and get Matthews out of here."

"Yes, sir." Mike turns to two soldiers. "You two, fall out and follow me."

"I don't think you realise what you're dealing with here," says the Doctor.

"Doctor, I assure you these men are hand picked. They can deal with anything, provided they can see it. Right men, take up positions."

The Doctor joins Nita, Ace and Allison at Red 6 while Mike and the soldiers recover Matthews.

"Take his arms. Move him back to the truck," says Mike.

Something targets one of the soldiers and zaps him. There is a brief flash of his skeleton as he is flung back against some corrugated iron sheeting.

"Down!" the Doctor cries.

"Covering fire now!" Gilmore shouts.

Gilmore and the soldiers take up positions round and under the army lorry and send short bursts of bullets into the shed.

"Cease firing!"

The Doctor and Rachel run over to Gilmore.

"Get down!" shouts Gilmore.

"What was it?" asks Rachel.

"That was your death ray," the Doctor replies.

"I know that, but how?" asks Rachel. "To transmit focused energy at that level, it's incredible. It's…"

"Yes?" the Doctor asks, encouraging her to think about it.

"It's beyond the realm of current technology," Rachel finishes.

"If you can save the science lecture for a less precipitous moment," says Gilmore. "Now perhaps, Doctor, you could tell me what is going on?"

"You must pull your men back now. It's their only chance," says the Doctor.

"It's preposterous. We can't disengage now," Gilmore objects. "Whoever is in there, my men can handle it. Sergeant!"

"Listen to me, Brigadier."

"Group Captain. Group Captain Gilmore!" Gilmore corrects him.

"Nothing you possess will be effective against what's in there!"

"Sir?" the sergeant replies.

"Three men, rifle-grenades, even spread left right and centre. Fire on my command."

"Yes, sir."

"Captain, you're not dealing with human beings here."

"What am I dealing with? Little green men?"

"No, Little green blobs in bonded-polycarbite armour."

"Grenades are ready, sir," says the sergeant.

The Doctor tries to get Gilmore's attention. "Group Captain Gilmore."

"Fire!" cries Gilmore, ignoring the Doctor.

"Humans!" The Doctor is frustrated.

"Fire!" cries the sergeant.

KaBOOM! and the shed is obliterated in a fireball. Nita and Ace join the Doctor.

"That's some serious hardware. Did you see that, Professor?" asks Ace. "Unsophisticated, but impressive."

"Smith!" Gilmore shouts.

"Sir?"

"Get on the radio. Call up Blue Four and Six. Tell Four to pick up an ambulance on the way."

"Yes, sir."

"It doesn't matter how many men you get here. It isn't going to make any difference," says the Doctor.

"Doctor, my men have just put three high-explosive grenades into a confined area. Nothing even remotely human could have survived that."

"That's the point, Group Captain, it isn't even remotely human."

Mike gets inside the van and uses a field telephone.

"Blue Four, Blue Four, this is Red Six. Come in, please."

"Red Six, receiving."

"Blue Four. Group Captain Gilmore requests that you pick up an ambulance and proceed to Bravo Delta."

The alien targets Mike in the van, but he moves at the last moment and it misses, going straight through the cab and knocking a bunch of steel drums over.

The soldiers start firing again as Mike scrambles out of the van and joins in.

"Cease firing! Cease firing! Wait for a target!" Gilmore orders.

A seriously annoyed oversized pepperpot trundles out, burning round its base.

"Fire!"

The soldiers start shooting, so the Dalek fires back, hitting at least one more soldier.

"Aim for the eyepiece!" cries the Doctor. "Ace, give me some of that Nitro Nine that you're not carrying. Quickly."

Ace hands over a can.

"And another."

"It's my last can."

"I should hope so, too. Er, how long, the fuse?"

"Ten seconds."

"That's long enough."

The Doctor makes his way towards the Dalek, keeping under cover.

"When I tell you, head for the entrance," Gilmore tells Rachel. Take the girls with you."

"Then what?"

"I'll meet you back at HQ. Go now, Rachel!"

Nita, Ace and Rachel start heading towards the gate. The Doctor runs behind some barrels level with the Dalek.

"Oi, Dalek! It's me, the Doctor. What's the matter? Don't you recognise your mortal enemy?"

The Dalek reverses to turn and approach the Doctor, who takes the tops off the cans and puts them by a stack of bricks.

"Three, four, five, six."

The Doctor leaves and the Dalek arrives just in time for the explosion. It is wrecked, and the Doctor is on the ground.

"Smith!" shouts Gilmore.

"Doctor!" cries Nita, from the gate.

Nita and Ace run to the Doctor.

"Ace, you said ten seconds."

"Nobody's perfect, Professor. Are you all right?"

"Yes, of course I am. Can either of you drive?"

"Why?" asks Nita.

"Good, I thought so. Get in there."

Nita turns to Ace. "I hope you can drive, 'cause I can't"

The Doctor, Nita and Ace get into a black van as everyone else comes over to investigate their enemy.

"I want an emergency team here at the double," orders Gilmore. "Put a guard on that thing. Inform command HQ we will be returning there at once. And I want a weapons team at the Coal Hill School."

"Sir," Mike replies.

"And, Smith? I want them armed with ATRs."

"Yes, sir."

Rachel uses a pencil to examine the steaming green gunk.

"It has an organic content."

"Or an occupant," suggests Allison.

"What the devil is it?" Gilmore wonders.

"A Dalek," The Doctor replies, after Nita asks the same question. "Only trouble is, it's the wrong Dalek."

Ace tries to start the van's engine.

"Would the right one be better or worse?" asks Ace.

"Yes. Choke."

"No, thanks."

The Doctor pulls out the choke, freeing more fuel into the engine.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mike's head appears at the window.

"Borrowing your van."

They drive out of the yard, only hitting one barrel.

"These Day-leks…" Nita begins.

"Daleks," corrects the Doctor.

"Oh, Daleks. Where are they from?"

"From Skaro. At least, originally. They're the mutated remains of a species called the Kaleds. Left here."

"When were they left here?" asks Ace.

"No. Turn left here."

"Oh, right."

"No, left! You've missed the turning."

"What turn? Where?"

"Why don't you concentrate on where you're going?"

"Look, I'm doing the best I can. If you don't like it, you drive."

They drive under a railway arch and suddenly the Doctor and Ace have swapped places.

"The Kaleds were at war with the Thals. They had a dirty nuclear war. The resulting mutations were then accelerated by their chief scientist, Davros. What he created them he then placed them in a metal war machine, and that's how the Daleks came about."

"So that metal thing had a creature inside controlling it?" asks Nita.

"Exactly. And ever since the Daleks were created, they've tried to conquer and enslave as much as the universe as they can get their grubby protuberances on."

"And now they want to conquer the Earth."

"Nothing so mundane. They conquer the Earth in the twenty second century. No. They want the Hand of Omega."

"What's that?" asks Ace.

"One thing at a time, Ace."