Corky froze in place as the other Daleks fought-and sometimes even broke- their rusted chains. Backing up as several approached the TARDIS, he instinctively fired off shots with his phaser set to the highest setting. "Doctor! What is happening?" The shots were ineffective.

"Bad idea gone worse!" the Doctor replied, "Get in! The shields aren't going to hold forever!" Of course he'd probably explain later, but right then they just had to get out of there.

Corky scooted into the TARDIS without any further questions. "Explain." He demanded, turning on the Doctor, "Why do they hate you so much? Why did your name awaken them?" By now Q had disappeared again- no surprise considering the unpredictability the man walked with- otherwise Corky might have asked him instead.

The TARDIS began to screech again as the Doctor piloted it back to where they came from. "Same reason why I almost killed you when I first saw you… I'm their greatest enemy." He almost spoke the statement as a mark of pride, even if at the same time he detested that he was considered such a killer. "The day they catch me will be their Christmas."

That wasn't the answer the Dalek was looking for. "But why are you such enemies? Why do they not scream to destroy the whole of the Time Lords instead?" He'd only picked up on the Doctor's race because Q had mentioned it.

"They already destroyed the rest of the Time Lords. All that's left is me," the Doctor replied, pulling a few more levers on the TARDIS as the screeching gradually diminished.

"Then you are the only one. You are like I am. But you keep escaping the Daleks while your kind is nearly extinct. How did the Daleks destroy your race when they are not capable of exterminating just you alone?" He knew he was venturing into dangerous waters, as he'd learned that death was often a touchy subject. Even so, the Dalek's curiosity had been tapped into, and wasn't about to stop anytime soon unless he got answers.

"We're back at your school," the Doctor said bluntly, walking over to the doors of the TARDIS and flinging them open. He was wrong. Outside the doors was what seemed to be a somewhat tropical place… not like a jungle, but almost as if it were a vacation spot. "...if your school was a prime vacation spot." He ran back to the controls on the TARDIS, finding that she wouldn't let him pilot her but eventually learning that they were on the planet Risa. Risa…? Why does that name sound so… oh no.

"It is not," Corky answered, rolling behind the Doctor and peering out through the TARDIS doors. When the Doctor ran back, Corky did not move from his place but rather followed him with his eye. "Planet is identified as Risa." He didn't know that the Doctor had just figured out the same thing. "Why are we here, Doctor?"

"Take any guess you please. The TARDIS is here for whatever reason," he said quickly, brushing off what he knew about the planet. That was the future, and time could be rewritten. Perhaps that's what they were there to do. "She doesn't have the best of navigation." With that, he put his screwdriver in his pocket and exited the blue box, looking back at Corky expectantly. "Well, come on, then!"

Corky remained staring back at the TARDIS console for a few seconds before he followed. The Dalek took to hovering, promptly following the Doctor. "You call your ship a 'she'. Why? Why can we not take off? What are we leaving the TARDIS for?" The questions were mind boggling and distracting as the Dalek struggled to keep to the air. Hovering was a pain, as it required constant thought just to keep afloat.

"Because she's the TARDIS," the Doctor replied simply, "She takes us to where we need to go, even if it is INCREDIBLY ANNOYING AT TIMES!" At this point he was yelling back to the TARDIS as if she could hear him. Scanning the surroundings with his screwdriver, he realized that the planet shouldn't even be habitable… too much seismic activity. But there wasn't any. There was simply peace.

"Your ship cannot hear you," Corky stated, as if the Doctor did not know that, then continued, "Why would we need to be on Risa at this time?"

"In the future, it doesn't exist," he said simply, while at the same time trying to figure out why, specifically, they were there. Why this time period? He'd find out eventually.

"Does not exist?" Corky repeated, confused. "What could possibly destroy this planet? It is known for its peaceful nature… it would not be a strategically logical planet to attack. There are no Federation bases here. There are no bases of any kind. Risa has very little in weapons capabilities. It would be like destroying a planet void of life."

"No one knows why. It just doesn't exist anymore," the Doctor replied, continuing to walk ahead of the Dalek. He could've sworn he saw a big building of some sort in the distance. Maybe that was where they needed to go to fix all this.

The Dalek tried to hurry to keep up with the Doctor, but the limitations of his casing made it difficult to -especially now when he was hovering. "That would be interfering dangerously with time," Corky warned, "I have been studying Time Warp theory and physics at Starfleet Academy. It would be unwise to interfere."

"Rule number one: time can be rewritten. Not always, but time can be rewritten. So let's see what we can do." The duo eventually made it to the base of the building, which didn't seem to be marked in any way. It was just a building in the middle of nowhere. "What do you think, shall we go inside?"

Corky examined the door, analyzing it and finding nothing about the building. "I think it would be foreseeable," the Dalek answered, instinctively setting his phaser to the highest level of stun. "And if time can be rewritten, how would you know if it would or would not be dangerous to do so?"

"I don't. Isn't it marvelous?" the Doctor replied, using his screwdriver to unlock the door, and, while there was some resistance, it opened easily enough. It seemed to be rather dark inside, but the Time Lord entered anyways, using his screwdriver as a flashlight until he found the actual panel to turn on the lights.

"It is not, Doctor," the Dalek replied, sure of himself. "It is dangerous." Swivelling his head to look around, it seemed that they were on a fault line, as the machines whirring in the background sounded like those of seismic regulators. Starfleet kept one on the san Andreas fault, just to be sure they could control an earthquake if it threatened any cities nearby. Corky knew enough to recognize one, but any familiarity beyond that was lacking. He quickly relayed the information to the Doctor -or, rather, slowly did, as his voice chip did not allow for fast paced annunciation.

"Interesting contraption," the Time Lord said, walking around and eventually finding what seemed to be the main control panel. He scanned it with his screwdriver. "Also interesting is that the lights were off when we came here. Who's monitoring this place?"

"I do not know. If this machine is like that of the one at the academy, at least one person should be monitoring the machine at all times."

"Funny you should say that," the Doctor replied, showing Corky the readings his screwdriver was giving him as if the Dalek could read them. "Because it isn't operational."

"Then what reason does it have to be here? It appears to be on one of the more unstable fault lines on Risa." He was running images through the positronic matrix equipped in his casing on and about Risa. There wasn't a whole lot of information that the Dalek had, but there was enough to feel knowledgeable about the planet.

"It's supposed to be stopping earthquakes," the Doctor said, feeling a rumbling under his feet as he spoke. "...the earthquake that tears the planet apart." Immediately, he ran back over to the control panel, running as many diagnostics as possible to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. But then again, maybe there was something mechanical. Or something else. "We haven't got much time! Let's see if we can fix this thing!"

"Doctor, if we stay here then we will be ripped apart," Corky said flatly. He knew that if the Doctor were correct that millions of people would die. Even so, a selfishness stole his compassion away. The Dalek wanted to flee, but what good would that do if their only escape route was the TARDIS - the ship he couldn't fly.

"All the more reason to hurry," the Doctor replied, looking at the rest of the machinery to see if there were any problems. "You're a Dalek! You're brilliant with technology, so go see what you can do with that control panel over there!"

Corky turned to stare at the Doctor, his eyestalk giving off perhaps an even more blank expression than usual. "I might be a Dalek, but how should I know anything about this machine?" The willingness to obey orders, however, forced Corky to listen anyhow. Doing as he was told, Sa-ak rolled over to the controls and dutifully removed the panel's cover. "I am not familiar with this equipment, Doctor."

"Neither am I. Just play with it and see if you can get it to do anything," the Doctor said, unfazed as he continued analyzing another part of the machine. His screwdriver didn't seem to be doing much.

Doing as he was told, Corky fiddled pointlessly around with what controls he could. "This is not going to work," he insisted, a small tremor beneath them shaking the ground below.

With that statement, the Doctor was able to reactivate something where he was investigating. Or maybe it was the tremor. He didn't know, but perhaps they were going to save the planet after all… maybe. "Daleks are born knowing how to use computers. Even if they've never seen technology of the type before. You just need to figure out WHY it's stopped. And quick!"

Corky stared at the controls, trying desperately to remember anything that might help. The controls were alien to his eye, and although the Doctor thought all Daleks knew technology better than anything else, Corky was the exception. "I am not your typical Dalek, Doctor." Even so, he fiddled with the levers and buttons until something started to whir beneath them. The Dalek wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"I guess we're learning about nature vs. nurture, then," the Doctor replied, preoccupied with figuring out what the Dalek had started up beneath them. However, before he could conclude what it was, it slowed back to a halt again. "Wait! Whatever you did, do it again." He kept his screwdriver trained on the ground, attempting to analyze what had just happened. Maybe they were getting somewhere.

The Dalek pulled the lever he had before, starting up the machine once more. "What is it that this control is doing, Doctor?"

"Not sure, but it's better than nothing." The Doctor scanned the floor below them quickly. "I think the machine's starting up again." Or the earthquake is still coming. Ugh, stay positive, Doctor!

"Doctor, I do not believe that getting this machine running once more will negate the effects of an earthquake. These machines are used to disrupt and nullify the quake at its core. The tremors have already started, and have probably already done damage. If the fault line slides and this machine is not on, there will be no helping this planet."

"Stop being such a Dalek! There's still hope if we just… wait." The Doctor turned around to face Corky urgently. "Is this planet normally populated?"

"Doctor, Risa is one of the most densely populated planets known to Starfleet. There are many visitors -typically on vacation." Corky answered dutifully.

"Then why didn't we see anyone when we landed here?"

The Dalek was silent for a good long time. "I do not know. It is against all known fact."

"...they've evacuated already." The Doctor could feel another tremor under his feet. Running back to the door they went into, he found it shut and locked. Deadlocked. "So it's a trap, eh?"

"That would be illogical. Why would anyone set a trap for one man? And how would they know that you would be coming to this exact point in time and space?" Corky asked.

"One: because I'm the Doctor. And two: ...we're going to find out." The room began to shake again, even stronger than before. These weren't just tremors anymore, the full-out quake beginning to take hold. The one that would tear apart the planet. "Why would you want to destroy a perfectly good planet?" the Doctor yelled into the seemingly empty building around them. Its structure was crumbling, and, if they didn't get crushed beforehand, a way out might be made for them. "Or are you too cowardly to show yourself?"

A wordless high-pitched whirring replied, growing closer until the Doctor could almost see them. He already knew what they were, though. "Daleks."