Author's notes: This upload was delayed by university work. But I'm back on track now, especially since I love this story. Series 1 is probably the scariest the Daleks have ever felt.
Disclaimer: My run of not owning Doctor Who continues unabated.
Dalek:
And since this episode is called "Dalek", I think we may be dealing with... The Ice Wariors! - MrTARDISreviews.
Chapter 1: The Alien Museum:
The time travellers peered out of the TARDIS doors. The room they'd materialised in was pitch dark, with the only light coming from their ship. The Doctor spotted a light in the gloom and began feeling around for a switch.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Said Rose.
"Some sort of distress signal, drew us off course." The Doctor replied.
"So, where are we?"
"Earth, Utah desert. About half a mile underground."
"And... when are we." She was just getting used to this way of talking.
"2012."
"Gosh." Said Rose. "That's so close. I'd've been about 26."
The Doctor found a switch and flicked it, illuminating the room. They found themselves stood in a massive hall, with painted concrete walls. All around the place, glass cased were arranged in neat rows.
"We must be in some sort of museum." Said Rose."
"An alien museum." Said The Doctor.
Every case was filled with escape pods, fragments of spaceships, lasers and strange blue-glowing, devices as well as a lot of things Rose couldn't identify.
"Someone's got a hobby." Said The Doctor, walking along the aisle. "They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite. Moon dust... That's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship!"
"That's a Slitheen's arm!" Cried Rose, pointing at another case. "Someone's stuffed it."
But The Doctor was looking at something opposite. "Ah, look at you."
The case contained a steel head with blank circular eyes and a slit for the mouth. It also had grab handles on the sides.
"What is it?" Said Rose.
"Old friend of mine. Well enemy, more like. The stuff of nightmares reduced to a museum piece. I must be getting old."
"Is that where the signal's coming from?"
The Doctor looked at the trail of wires beneath the head. "Nah, its stone dead. The signal's coming from elsewhere."
What the time travellers didn't realise was that they'd triggered the museum's motion detectors the moment they stepped out of the TARDIS. Guards had been gathering at all the entrances. They chose this moment to leap into action. Rushing in and forming a blockade at either end of the aisle, pointing assault rifles at the intruders.
"If they're collecting aliens, that makes you exhibit A." Rose muttered.
It was another day at the office for Adam Mitchell. Though, he had one of the best jobs in the world, it didn't make living on the remote base any easier. It was true what they said, any task becomes much less fun once it's your job, even if your job is examining alien artefacts.
"Bad Wolf One descending." Said a voice on a speaker. Oh bugger, he was here already, and he'd expected another couple of hours to prepare to meet him. Adam grabbed what he could and ran from the lab.
Up by the entrance, Holister, head of operations, was in a similar rush, preparing a greeting for the man who practically ran the world.
The guards stood to attention as Henry Van Statten stepped through the entrance to the bunker. He didn't even nod to them, he just strolled by.
"On behalf of everyone here, I wish you a very happy birthday." Said the Holister, rushing to keep up. "The President sent his personal congratulations."
"The President is ten points down." Said Van Statten. "I want him replaced."
Holister paused. "With respect sir, I'm not sure that's wise."
"Thank you for your opinion, you're fired." Van Statten shrugged. Not even looking back as a couple of guards dragged the protesting man away. "Put him by the road near Memphis, Mineanapolis. Somewhere beginning with M."
Realising she was now the most senior person at the base, Diana rushed forward to take her former colleague's place.
"So, the next President." Van Statten said without looking at her. "What do you think. Democrat or Republican?"
"Democrat, I think." She replied.
Van Statten stopped for the first time. "And why."
"Er... Because they're so funny sir." She said nervously.
"What's your name."
"Goddard sir. Diana Goddard."
"I like you Diana Goddard." He grinned and strolled onwards. "So, where's the British kid?"
Adam quickly pushed his way through the guards. "I've bought ten more artefacts at auction sir."
"Bring 'em along. Let me have a look."
"With respect sir," said Goddard, "there's something more urgent. We found intruders, ten floors down. We don't know who they are or how they got in..."
"I'll tell you how they got in, in t'rough da window." He waited a moment. "That was funny."
The guards hurriedly forced a laugh.
Satisfied, Van Statten continued. "Bring them to my office too. And tell Symonds I want to visit my little pet."
Goddard stepped to one side and put her finger to her earpiece. "Symonds, you'd better give me good news. Is it talking?"
Symonds switched off the device he'd been using on the creature. It had taken him a long time to fathom how exactly you torture something made of metal but a couple of days ago, he'd discovered that the creature was wired up to feel pain if any part of its armour was damaged. He'd therefore spent much of the week drilling tiny holes an eighth of an inch deep. He wasn't sure what difference it was making but it was better than just leaving it.
"Not exactly talking." He said.
"Then what is it doing?" Said Goddard.
"Screaming."
He drilled the creature again. An agonized mechanical scream filled the room.
The Doctor and Rose were led to Van Statten's office, where they found a ufology graduate handing a weird dorsal shaped-object to his boss.
"And this is the last piece, sir." Adam was saying.
"What does it do?" The American asked.
"Well, I haven't had much of a chance to examine it yet sir. But, there's these tubes on the side so I think it may have been used to channel something. Possibly fuel..."
"I wouldn't hold it like that if I were you." The Doctor interrupted.
"What, is it dangerous?" Said Van Statten.
"No, just looks silly. If I may?" He leaned over the desk.
Several security guards cocked their guns but Van Statten held up a finger to calm them and handed the intruder the device.
The Doctor laid the device in the palm of his hand and gently ran his fingers along one of the ridges. A sweet whistling hum emitted from the holes, which rose and fell as The Doctor altered his finger movements over the surface.
"It's a musical instrument." Van Statten grinned. "May I?"
The Doctor handed it back. "It may not work as well." He said. "It requires gentle touch."
Sure enough, Van Statten's first attempt produced the same squeaking tones a child learnig to play violin might produce. But he was a clever man and it took him about a minute of trial and error to produce his first few, stuttering notes.
"Very good." Said The Doctor. "You're quite the expert."
"As are you." Said Van Statten, tossing the instrument aside. "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm The Doctor. And who are you?"
"Like you don't know. We're deep underground, hidden away with the most valuable collection of alien artefacts in the world and you just happen to stumble in?"
"Pretty much sums me up."
"The question is, how exactly did you get in? 53 doors down and you get in with your little cat burglar accomplice. Quite a collector yourself. She's quite pretty."
"She's gona smack you in a minute if you keep calling her "she"." Rose spoke for the first time.
"She's English too! Hey Spotted Dick, you've got yourself a new playmate."
He nodded over at Adam, who thought he should say something constructive at this point.
"This is Henry Van Statten."
"And who's he when he's at home?" Said Rose.
"Mr Van Statten owns the internet." Said Adam.
Rose raised an eyebrow. "Don't be stupid. No-one owns the internet."
"And let's just keep telling the whole world that kids." Van Statten grinned.
"So you claim to be an expert in everything except the things in your museum?" Said The Doctor.
"And what makes you claim greater knowledge." Van Statten replied.
"I don't need to say I'm great, I know how good I am."
"And yet I captured you. Right by the cage. What were you doing down there Doctor?"
"You tell me."
"The cage contains my one live specimen."
"What's that?"
"Like you don't know."
"Show me."
"Want to see it?"
Rose was watching their word tennis with mild amusement. "Blimey, you can smell the testosterone here." She muttered.
"Goddard." Said Van Statten. "Contact the cage. Inform them we're heading down. English, look after the girl, go and, condole, or spoon or whatever it is you British do. Doctor. You're coming with me."
53 floors down, there was an operations room. All sorts of survey equipment was strewn around , though getting little use. Ahead of them, one man was stepping out of the cage, pulling off his bio suit.
"We've tried everything." Said Van Statten. "The creature has shielded itself off. But there's definite signs of life inside."
"Inside what?" Said The Doctor.
Before Statton could respond, Symonds interrupted him "I've had to take the power down." He said. "The Metaltron is resting."
"Metaltron?" Said The Doctor, who'd never heard of such a race.
"Thought of it myself. Neat huh?" Said Van Statten.
Symonds offered The Doctor some gloves. "You might wanna take these. The last guy who touched it... Burst into flames."
"I won't touch it then." The Doctor shrugged.
Goddard and the guards chuckled.
"In ya go then Doctor." Said Van Statten, pulling a reinforced door open. "Impress me."
The Doctor stepped through into a darkened room and heard the door shut behind him.
"Keep that door shut until we get results." Van Statten instructed some operatives at a computer bank on the far wall, Symonds was directing someone in reactivating the lights.
In the gloom, The Doctor spotted a collection of drills and cattle prods, laid out on a table, He could also see an electrical transformer in the corner, with wires running towards the creature. Clearly, they were using an unbelievable electrical charge to torture the poor creature.
He looked over to the only light source in the room, a small blue light, which he assumed was where the creature would be.
"Look, I'm sorry about this." He said gently. "Mr Van Statten may think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm The Doctor."
"DOCTOR?" Said an all too familiar voice. Two white lights lit up on either side of the blue.
"Impossible." The Doctor gasped.
"THE DOCTOR!"
How many times must he have heard that voice screaming his name before? How many times more in his nightmares?
The lights came on in the room at last. Right there, before him was a member of his deadliest foes. One he thought he'd seen the last of. A Dalek.
"EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR! EXTERMINATE!" Screamed the Dalek.
Suddenly consumed by panic, The Doctor spun round and hammered on the locked door, screaming "Let me out!"
"Sir, It's gonna kill him!" Goddard protested.
"Quiet!" Shouted Van Statten. "It's talking!"
"YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU MUST BE DESTROYED!" The Dalek chanted.
The Doctor had given up on the door. Even if they did open it, they wouldn't be quick enough to save him. He backed into the wall trembling.
Even in its battered and bent state, even covered in chains, the Dalek was still straining to get at him. With a great effort, it pointed its gun in his direction... and nothing happened.
An ecstatic grin suddenly covered The Doctor's face. "Doesn't work!" He cried. "Fantastic!" He laughed manically from the mix of fear and delight. "Powerless! Look at you, the great space dustbin. How does it feel?"
He charged forward to stare it down the eyestalk. The Dalek now strained on its chains to get away from him.
"KEEP BACK." It shouted.
"Or what? What for? What're you gonna do to me?" The Doctor shouted. He was taking an incredible amount of pleasure from this situation. "If you can't kill then what are you good for, Dalek! You're nothing!" As he spoke, he circled the Dalek threateningly. "What're you here for?"
"I AM WAITING FOR ORDERS."
"What's that mean?"
"I AM A SOLDIER, I WAS BRED TO RECIEVE ORDERS."
"Well you're not gonna get any. Not ever."
"I DEMAND ORDERS."
"They're never gonna come! Your race is dead. You burned, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second!"
On the far side of the wall, Van Statten, Goddard and Symonds were watching security footage of their conversation, with increasing amazement.
"YOU LIE!" Roared The Dalek.
"I was there. I watched it happen. I made it happen!" The Doctor roared back.
"YOU DESTROYED US!"
The Doctor suddenly lost all the elation he'd felt a minute before. He stepped away and went to face the shadows for a moment. "I had no choice."
"AND WHAT OF THE TIME LORDS?"
"They burned with you. End of the last great time war. Everyone lost."
"AND THE COWARD SURVIVED."
The Doctor now felt a renewed sense of glee. "Oh, and I caught your little signal. "Help me I'm in trouble." Poor little thing." He taunted. "But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no-one else left."
"I AM ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE." The Dalek said, its eyestalk drooping.
"Yep." The Doctor smiled.
"SO ARE YOU. WE ARE THE SAME."
The Doctor stopped smiling and charged forward to stare it down again. "We're not the same! I'm not..." He began, but paused. "No, wait, maybe we are. You've got a point. 'cos I know what to do! I know what should happen! I know what you deserve! Exterminate!"
He rushed over to the transformer and turned all the dials to maximum., before throwing a switch to send millions of volts coursing through the Dalek's armour.
The Dalek screamed in pain. "HAVE PITY!"
"Just like you did with my people? Of the Thaals? Or Sara? No, you get what you deserve."
He reached over to flip another switch but was promptly dragged away as guards burst into the room.
"You've got to destroy it!" He roared as Van Statton marched in, and the guards dragged him out. Symonds rushed to shut down the equipment.
"I saved your life now talk to me! Talk to me!" Statten shouted at the creature, but it had fallen silent once more. "The last of your kind." He leered over the eyestalk. "And now I know your name. Dar-lek... Speak to me Dalek. I am Henry Van Statten, now recognise me!"
The creature didn't even twitch.
"Make it talk again, Symonds, whatever it takes." Said Van Statten. Symonds seemed positively delighted by that prospect. "In the meantime, I've got an alien of my own to interrogate." He peered round the door at The Doctor, still struggling to get at the Dalek.