A/N: This is Doctor Who No. 8 we are talking about. For those few who have read the books involving Fitz, Anji, 8th Doctor and Sabbath, You'll know what I'm talking about. For those who haven't, read those books, they're almost as good as the TV show. If you've seen, read, or heard about The Daleks then you'll know all about this. If you have heard about the Daleks you'll at least know a little about it though.
It's an emotions one-shot.
ImperfectionsSkaro Part 1:
The Doctor was not having a good time.
The Tardis had left 1901 earth in a hurry. It had received a distress call from the Simanac world. The Simanax had been a pebble in the Doctor's shoe before now, but only slightly, and only because they had once worked in alliance with Sabbath. But this time it was serious.
The Simanax had captured a time ship and they were heading towards Skaro, planet of the Kaleds and Thals, and later planet of the Daleks as well.
TARDIS had been tracking the spaceship through time and space until it grew almost weary as the spaceship threw Space Time Blockers in its direction to stop it from going any further.
The Doctor was on his own this time- his companions had gone to sleep a long time ago. But the Doctor's determination to catch the ship drove him on, just like his determination had drove him on so many other times.
Suddenly the blockers stopped coming. The ship ducked out of the space time vortex on Skaro. The doctor pulled a lever on the control pad and the ship began to materialise.
Anji and Fitz were lying in their beds when the sound of the TARDIS materializing woke them both with a start.
Anji was the first to react. She rushed into the centre room to find the doctor studying a monitor.
' Doctor, what is it? Where are we now?'
The Doctor looked up.
' We have a problem.'
' What, again?' said Fitz, emerging from a corridor.
But the doctor was busy watching the screen and the yearometer.
' This is Skaro, a long time in the past. The Kaleds are still here.'
Fitz looked confused.
'What are Kaleds? I know about Daleks that come from Skaro,' (He shuddered to recall a previous encounter.)
The Doctor looked worried.
' The Kaleds originally lived on Skaro, warring against the Thals. Their chief scientist was Davros, creator of the Daleks. The Kaleds used a biochemical weapon that nearly destroyed all life. Some Thals survived; in fact I met them years and years ago… But only one Kaled survived- Davros. Twisted by years of hate, pain and grief, he decided to get his revenge on the universe. Then he created the Daleks… What's more, these people don't want us to follow them. I think they might want to help Davros…'
' Then we've got to stop them, I suppose?' Fitz sighed. ' And do you reckon they'll, oh, I don't know, be amazingly xenophobic and want to exterminate us to kingdom come?'
But the Doctor had already crossed over to the door, about to leave into the forest outside.
---Page Break---
The Doctor, Fitz and Anji were being carried in a car of sorts. It was quite large, like a Land Rover, it actually looked exactly like a land rover except for the fact it had loads of extra dials and knobs and it could travel through time.
This belonged to the mysterious time travellers who they had been following. Their driver had been almost silent until now.
" What were you doing following us?" he said in a harsh tone.
"Well, I'm the Doctor, this is Fitz here-"
"And I'm Anji," Anji finished.
" Our people speak of the Doctor… The Oncoming Storm…"
The Doctor instantly realized what was going on.
" Well, I think we ought to go now. We can stop here."
"No we can't, we're miles from the-"
"Shut up," the Doctor hissed.
The driver accelerated.
" You're not going anywhere," he said calmly, with a steely tone.
The Doctor didn't reply, but instead he grabbed the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at a knob on the machine. It complained and stuttered for a moment, then exploded, spraying black smoke everywhere.
" Jump!" Yelled the Doctor.
Fitz and Anji, obviously confused, did as the Doctor said. He had a knack for being right.
Then suddenly, a beam of electricity the Doctor knew all too well sliced through the air. Anji had already jumped but for Fitz it was too late. The beam hit him squarely in the chest and he fell still.
The car drove slowly for a few meters, but then the driver pressed a button and it sped into the horizon, leaving the Doctor and Anji behind.
The Doctor almost instantly began to reassure Anji. He could tell that it was only a stun beam, as Fitz would have jerked if it wasn't. He led Anji back to the Tardis, with a little help from a small mammal-like creature which spoke to them and gave them a ride.
When they were back at the TARDIS, The Doctor looked around him in the forest they had arrived in.
Suddenly, he remembered something from many years ago.
Trees which turned to dust with one touch, poisoned air and a race of pacifists. A biological bomb, made by the Kaleds. A destroyed world.
Skaro was that world, and if the Kaleds were there, then maybe the Thals would be there too…
The Doctor mulled over this in his bed, then went to sleep, waiting for what the next day would bring.
---Page Break---
In the night, the TARDIS was opened by a reluctant prisoner. A creature went into the TARDIS and came out with a drowsy Anji. When she woke, she began to scream loudly but suddenly a beam of light scythed through the dark and she fell silent.
All this was watched by a Thal, who crept into the TARDIS doors. He searched through the TARDIS and found the Doctor. He slowly looked around his room until he found the Doctor's handwritten instruction manual. He slowly shut the doors, one by one, until he was quite certain that he was safe. He then made his way to the control panel, being careful so as not to wake the one remaining TARDIS passengers.
If anyone else had been watching, they would see a blue police box flash slowly, fading away into the night.
(A/N: I'm not Fitz bashing, but the Doctor is important to the story and kidnapping Anji would be undoubtedly seen as sexist, with the ' damsel in distress' being rescued by the ' handsome prince (s)'.)Fitz awoke to discover he was in a cell, with the driver, now showing his true colors. He looked like an ordinary Dalek, except that he was entirely blue, and had square bumps.
Fitz tried to move, but discovered he had lost control of his body.
" What have you done to me?" he forced out with much effort.
" You are merely stunned," grated the Dalek. " You shall receive full bodily control momentarily. Meanwhile, you will listen to us. You have a right to know."
Since when did the Daleks have this legal stuff? I thought it was shoot first, read out ' whatever you say or do can be used against you in court…' afterwards, Fitz thought.
" We are friends of the Daleks- Simanax. In another time, we discovered them and the emotions they had gained from years of solitary confinement. We realized what they had done, and they ordered us to kill Davros. What they have done must be undone. We must kill Davros, their creator, creator of all the evil in the galaxy."
" But we can not do this deed. We need someone else to pull the trigger, so to speak. You see, we have worked this out. If one of us kills Davros, the Daleks cease to exist, thus being unable to order us to kill Davros. So we will use the Doctor. He is an anomaly, and what he does cannot be undone. A trick of the Time Lord."
"You know the Doctor," Fitz said hopefully.
The Simanax turned away.
" His fate is not of our concern. He shall serve his purpose. We will teleport him back to his ship for now, to form his plans to assassinate Davros. We shall also teleport you to the ship, the one you call TARDIS."
Fitz was reeling at all this information.
" Where is the Doctor?"
" We have detected him at the Thals home camp. We shall invade the Thals and capture him. Then he shall serve his purpose and the universe will be rid of our friends. Then we shall be at peace."
He paused.
" We shall teleport you now."
And Fitz was ripped apart.
--- Page Break---
Later, Anji and The Doctor woke up outside the Thals base. Anji looked at herself to find a plaster, and also found one on the Doctor.
" They've taken our blood. I know the Thals. They used to use blood as trophies. Humans and Time Lords must be rare additions to their collection," He said in disgust.
" Well, I'm glad we're out of there. Those guys are freaks, and they actually zapped me! They had the TARDIS key, as well."
" The TARDIS won't like that… She's almost a living being. And the key is an essential part of her. She and the key would hate that…"
The key, however, had been burnt to a crisp by weapons testing it. The doctor had plenty more, and he knew it, but he still felt sad that somehow, someone had got a part of TARDIS. How long was it before he could no longer fend of the evils of the galaxy? How long was it before his enemies caught up with him…
---Page Break---
Fitz had always wanted to be the hero, but now he finally had the opportunity he was totally messing it up.
Guided by a few random post-it notes and his memories of the TARDIS, he had tried and failed to find the doctor. So far, he had materialized in the right place every time, but always in the wrong time. He was getting closer, but it might be that he would have to wait the rest. He told himself that this would be his last try, and then afterwards he would wait until tomorrow. How does the Doctor do it? Thought Fitz. He makes it look so easy…
He walked into his room in the TARDIS, and played his guitar until he had enough patience to try again.
He materilized next to the Doctor and Anji, only to hear the Doctor say: " I have a way to summon the TARDIS using the key…"
Fitz could only hope that it wouldn't have worked. After all, he had been trying for hours on end to be a hero, and now it was for nothing.
The Doctor thanked Fitz, and told Fitz and Anji to get inside the TARDIS.
They sat down in chairs around the centre console. Fitz did most of the talking, about what the Simanax had been ordered to do, and how they needed him.
The Doctor sighed.
" Fools. Time isn't like that. It's not all in a straight line. Removing the Daleks would have huge implications. All those people alive, who should be dead. The time vortex is delicate enough. Anyone who did something like that would throw the true reality out of balance, and put a stronger reality where the Daleks didn't exist into place."
" Wouldn't that be a better reality? Can noone change anything for the better?Make the world paradise?"
The Doctor stood up.
" If I could change everything, do you think I would? No. I'll tell you why. That would remove imperfection. That would remove individuality, and life is nothing with no individuality. Nothing at all, just perfect days filled with perfect things. Which is not life, merely a shadow. Barely that. Life is about trying things, about emotion. About singing when you're winning, crying when you're losing, and smiling when you're happy. Cybermen removed imperfection, and look what they became. Imperfection made us what we are. We would be nothing without it.Without difference, without little quirks, without habits, without anything. I would never remove imperfection. People would be a race of similar monsters, and difference is life."
They were silent for a long time afterwards.