The ground felt hard beneath Lucy. Where was she? As she struggled to remember, she heard a soft clink nearby. Quickly sitting up, she looked to where she'd heard the sound. A shiny piece of metal was on the ground near her.
"What the hell happened?"
"YOU ESCAPED," a loud voice croaked, and Lucy spun around to look.
A creature sat inside a metal case. The darkness hid the creature, but Lucy remembered the metal case from one of the books in Missy's library. It was a Dalek. A chill went up Lucy's spine as she looked around her to find some kind of exit. They were in a cave. There was little light and only one exit.
"I WILL NOT HARM YOU, TIME CHILD," the Dalek said. "REPAIR ME AND I WILL HELP YOU GET HOME."
"And if I don't?" Lucy asked and waited for a threat in return.
"YOU WILL NOT GET HOME," the Dalek said simply before bursting into a mad cackle. "DO YOU REMEMBER HOW WE GOT HERE?"
Lucy glared at the Dalek before trying to remember what had happened. She remembered flying the TARDIS… right into a weapon. She should be dead. She remembered an intense warmth before seeing a golden light.
"How am I alive? Am I alive?"
"YES. TIME TRAPPED US. YOU RELEASED US," the Dalek said with a giggle.
"I did?" Lucy asked, but things were blurry. She remembered hearing her brother's voice, and she'd fought tearing into the bright light with her bare hands. Lifting her hands, she looked at them. Tingles of pain reminded her of what she'd done.
"HELP ME?" the Dalek asked in an odd pleading manner. "I WILL HELP YOU IN RETURN."
"Why should I trust you? You might not even know how to get home."
"YOU NEED ME. I NEED YOU. YOU ARE DIFFERENT NOW… YOU WILL NEED MY HELP. TOUCH SOMETHING WITH YOUR LEFT HAND. SEE WHAT I MEAN."
Hesitantly, Lucy reached down and grabbed a rock. She stared in shock as it turned to dust in her hand, and she looked to the Dalek distrustfully.
"What was that?! How did you know that would happen?"
"I HAVE SEEN ALL. THE FUTURE. THE PAST. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE AND WHAT MUST BE DONE. YOUR GLOVES WILL PROTECT THIS WORLD FROM YOU."
Lucy hesitantly took her gloves from her pocket. They seemed fine. As she put them on, she half-expected them to disappear. They didn't, which gave the Dalek some credibility. Lucy paused for a moment before she reached down and grabbed another rock. It remained in her hand, unchanged.
"SO WILL YOU HELP ME, TIME CHILD?"
"What guarantee do I have… that you won't try to hurt me as soon as you get the chance?"
"I WILL NEED REPAIRS ON OUR WAY HOME. WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO. WHO ELSE WOULD HELP ME? WE MUST HELP EACH OTHER."
Lucy bit her lip and tried to figure out her next move. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything if it believed that she was planning to help it.
"Okay. What do you need for me to do?"
"LOOK AROUND YOU. SCATTERED PARTS FROM THE SHATTERED DALEKS ARE AT YOUR FEET, BUT WE WILL NEED SOMEONE TO HELP BUT THEM TOGETHER. TAKE A PIECE WITH YOU. YOU WILL NEED IT."
Lucy picked up a piece of the Dalek armor and took one last look at the Dalek. Deciding against asking him more questions for the moment, she left the cave. Sunlight hit her face. After taking a second to adjust, she took a look around her. She'd need someone familiar with metal. Maybe a welder would work. Smoke floated up to the sky in the distance, and Lucy smiled in relief. Hopefully, she could get some directions to the nearest town. Briefly worrying about what the reaction to a Dalek would be, Lucy stumbled upon a small cottage.
After knocking on the door, a large man answered the door and asked, "Are you lost?"
"Ah, well, I was wondering if you knew of anyone who works with metal or a welder… or if you could just point me in the direction of the nearest town that would work."
The man looked at her in confusion before he let out a bark of laughter. "Cobalt! Someone is in need of your services," the man said and stepped aside to reveal a small humanoid creature.
Cobalt gave Lucy a wary stare, and she smiled uncertainly. She'd never seen a creature like him before and was unsure of what to say or do. With a sigh, Cobalt asked, "I can help for a price. What kind of material would you like for me work with? It will determine the rate… as well as the type of weapon requested."
"Oh, it's not a weapon. It's a type of armor," Lucy said awkwardly and took out the piece of metal. She didn't have much to pay him and hoped the Dalek would think of something if she could bring Cobalt to it. "I don't really know what kind of metal it is… if it's too much trouble, I can go elsewhere."
Cobalt didn't seem to be paying attention to her. Instead his full attention was on the metal in Lucy's hand. After he took it from her, he inspected the metal, even licking and smelling it. A few moments passed, then his eyes went wide. He stared at her for a moment and asked, "Is there more?"
"Yeah, there was a lot of it. You can have whatever you don't use for the armor… for the payment."
Cobalt said with glee, "Of course. You have yourself a deal, child."
Lucy smiled in relief and waited as the large man left to get a wheelbarrow. Did the Dalek know that this would happen? This seemed to fall into place far too easily to be mere coincidence. Lucy worked on drawing a rough outline of what Dalek armor looks like and gave it to Cobalt. He gave her a curious look but said nothing. Lucy led them through the trees back to the cave where she woke up.
The large man looked shocked as he stared at the Dalek. Upon seeing Lucy look his way, he gave her an apologetic look. The sun had risen more since she had left. Sunlight now infiltrated the cave. Metal pieces glittered in the cave, and Lucy realized that there was even more than she had first seen. The Dalek was exposed to the elements. Its armor had been more severely damaged than Lucy had realized. The top portion completely missing. The second portion was still mostly intact but had dents on the sides.
By some miracle, the Dalek could still move, albeit at a slow pace. The large man and Cobalt packed the metal into the wheelbarrow. As they walked back, Cobalt started a conversation with the Dalek, and Lucy kept pace with the man.
"The name's Torbald by the way. Yours?"
"Ah, my name's Lucy. Nice to meet you."
"You as well. And your friend's name?"
"MY NAME IS CAAN," Caan shouted from behind them, and Torbald laughed.
"Good to meet you too, Caan," he said. "So… I think it's fair to say that you too aren't from around here."
Torbald glanced at Lucy's clothes, and Lucy remembered that she was wearing her butler uniform.
"No," Lucy said and glanced at Caan. "We're not. Thank you for doing this for us."
"It was likely a metal he's never seen before. Working with a new metal is worth it for Cobalt. Getting to keep the extra pieces was a bonus," Torbald said with a wink.
Lucy smiled, and they listened as Cobalt and Caan discussed the metal and how to work with it. By the time they had gotten back to the cottage, Cobalt had a gleam in his eye and a game plan in his head. Lucy waited with Caan as Torbald and Cobalt fired up the forge and began to work.
"So what do we do after this? How do we get home?"
"THERE WILL BE A RIFT BETWEEN WORLDS. WE NEED TO GO THROUGH IT."
"And that'll take us home?"
"NO," Caan said, and Lucy glared at him. "I TOLD YOU THAT IT WOULD BE A LONG JOURNEY. IT WILL TAKE US TO THE NEXT WORLD. IT WILL TAKE TIME, BUT YOU WILL GET HOME."
Lucy sighed and sat down. She didn't have a choice but to trust him for now. Getting back to Missy was her first priority. Checking her pocket, she realized that something was missing: her laser screwdriver. She frantically checked her other pockets. Did she really lose it?
"INSIDE YOUR ARM."
"What?"
"THE SCREW DRIVER IS INSIDE YOUR ARM. FOCUS ON IT. CALL IT OUT OF YOU MUST. IT WILL HURT."
Lucy stared at him for a second before lifting her sleeve. Something did feel off. She focused on the spot and felt immediate pain. Fighting through the pain, she kept focusing, and soon she had the screw driver in her hand. She laughed at the absurdity of it all before she rested her head on the back of the chair and fell into an uneasy sleep.
