Chaos broke out. The forcefields around the boys were deactivated, and immediately they took to running wildly around the room. The Doctor shouted "WHAT?!" and soniced his and my forcefields, bringing them down as well. The Dalek turned to face Matt, who raised his head and gave it a look of cold defiance.
"Now, I may have just met these guys," he said, stepping forward, "but I'm not just going to let them die."
"WHAT DO THEY MEAN TO YOU?"
At this, he raised his eyebrows. "You see, whether you like it or not, I've got you all figured out." A grin took over his face. "You can't feel emotions; you want to see wether or not they 'enhance' people, hold any sort of meaning. Therefore, you were ordered to take us here to be questioned, by some sort of scientific leader. Now my question is, why did you chose us? If we're weally going to be famous, which I can't say for sure (though it does make sense), why not just wait until then when you can question us about what our music means to us?"
He waited for an answer. When there was none, his grin turned from playful to mischevious. "The answer is, you're afwaid." (Here I grinned at his cute pronounciation again. I noticed Chris and Dom give him weird looks.) "You're afwaid of music, because you don't understand its power. Unable to understand emotion, you don't know what it's like to be able to put in a CD and feel someone else's thoughts and feelings. You can be told them, but no matter how hard you twy, you just can't. It's beyond you. You want to know if it enhances us, because you're scared of it. Because if it enhances us, we could gwow stwonger than you."
"Dude, can you please talk normally?" Dom said. Matt, in response, gave him a nice, cold glare.
"I pwonounce words like this," he grumbled, "wether you like it or not."
After a few moments' silence, he continued. "Continuing with our owiginal discussion. You know that while you're stwong, you're weak. Unable to weason, your only option is to fight. And you're vewy good at fighting, I'll give you that. You're physically invincible, armed with a blaster that can exterminate almost any living being, a suction cup that can suck out a being's bwain waves, and spaceships stwong enough to destwoy even Gallifwey. But you can't change your mind. You can't feel emotiones like sadness, or pity, or love, maybe." He paused, to let his words sink in. "And how do those help you? They give you an edge, a need for wevenge. For example, when you love someone, and they die, you feel sad. This sadness often amounts to anger at whatever killed them, and at least part of you wants them to die, even if you never make it happen." He grinned. "That, Mr. Dalek, is how emotions enhance the beings they affect."
The dalek examined him, and seemed to decide his argument was legit.
"YOU ARE INTELLIGENT."
Matt bowed his head and grinned. "Thank you."
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED."
His smile dissapeared immediately. "Wait, wha-?"
"EXTERMINA-"
"DALEK JAX, I HAVE THE FOURTH HUMAN!"
The black dalek turned to see a dull silver one leading a fourth child into the questioning room. He looked scared. Suddenly I felt bad. There was a fourth member, though he was rarely mentioned, and I had forgotten his name-
"Morgan!"
The kid being led by the Dalek turned and saw Chris. "Chris!" he shouted, running over.
"THE HUMANS WILL BE SILENT!" the silver dalek commanded.
Morgan slowed down, unsure of where to go. I was about to motion to him to get over, but Chris did before I could raise my arm. It was just as well, really; he didn't know me, but he and Chris seemed to be friends.
The two daleks left to talk about whatever plan they had to do with us. As they left, the room fell into a stunned silence.
"What's going on..." Morgan moaned.
After a speedy explanation of what was happening (by Dom) and a few minutes of silence, the silver dalek returned, the black one nowhere to be seen. "YOU WILL COME WITH ME."
We followed it into a wide elevator, with dull silver walls the same color as the dalek's armour... stuff. It took us up a few levels, then the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. It led us out into a copper tunnel, turned left, and stopped at what looked creepishly like a jail cell.
"YOU WILL WAIT IN HERE."
We followed the Doctor into the room and sat down on two benches attached to the walls. It was small, and I ended up squished between a very scared Dom and a very annoyed Doctor. I looked across and saw Matt back to examining his surroundings, plotting something or another. To his left sat Chris and Morgan, whispering to each other.
I looked down at Dom to see him resting his face in his hands. I felt bad for him; he had been through a lot in the last few days. I put a hand on his back, trying to comfort him.
Upon feeling this, he looked up at me in surprise. For a second he seemed lost in my eyes, and I gave him a pitying look. After a few seconds he looked back down, his face as red as a strawberry.
Suddenly the Doctor stood up. "I think I have a plan."
Matt looked up at him in confusion. "But... Doctor... they'll be coming back fairly soon."
He nodded. "So let's get moving."
I stood up and stretched, following the Doctor. Upon me standing up, Dom followed, looking up at us in expectation.
"Come on, then," the Doctor said, eyeing the other three boys impatiently.
Chris shook his head. "No, they'll be back soon. We can't leave now."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked over to the doorway. "If we leave right now, we have a chance of escaping without them noticing. One more minute of hesitation, and they'll be back, and they'll see us."
"Trust me, we've done this sort of thing before," I added approvingly.
The boys hesitated for a second, then Matt stood up. "He's wight. We need to leave wight now, or they'll find us."
Chris and Morgan exchanged reluctant looks, then rose to their feet. "Fine then. So when do we leave?"
The Doctor looked out into the hallway, scanning the area. Carefully he took one step, then another, then another and another until he stood in the middle of the hall. He took out the sonic and pressed a button. About twenty feet away, there was a zap and something showered sparks.
"Well, they'll definitely be coming now," he mumbled. "I should not have done that." Looking back at Chris, he added, "To answer your question, if you want to get out alive, I'd say..."
A whistling alarm went off near where whatever had sparked was. When he heard it, his face lit up in his cute, mad grin. "...now."
"RUN!" I shouted, following the Doctor down the hallway. As scared as I was, the adrenaline felt suprisingly good, flowing through my veins. Chatting with Dom Howard was not a normal adventure with the Doctor. It felt wrong. Running from Daleks? That definitely was.
As soon as my feet hit the floor, I heard the whirring of daleks behind us. I noticed Dom gasping for breath, not fully healed. "Come on, you don't want to die, do you?" I grumbled, yanking on his arm, pulling him to make him go faster.
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" I heard one of the daleks shout, firing at us. I heard screams, but they weren't screams of pain, only of terror. I saw the ray strike the wall, leaving a black scorch spot where it hit.
Suddenly Matt took off, a skinny, black-haired bullet. He shot ahead of us, slowing down when he reached the Doctor, who gave him a look of surprise. He answered with a maniac grin, much like the Doctor's own.
After a few minutes of running, I realized we were in bad shape. Chris and Morgan were gasping for breath, and Dom looked near collapsing. I pulled him forward, noticing tears in his eyes. If we had to keep running like this, who knows what it would do to him. I myself was getting seriously tired of running from hallway to hallway to yet another silver hallway.
Then there was Matt and the Doctor, near the very front of the group. The Doctor, being over nine hundred years old, was starting to get a little tired, but Matt looked, for the first time I had ever seen him... alive. His eyes were filled with a new sort of energy, and, despite the fact that daleks were trying to kill us, a broad smile had blossomed on his face.
He looked back to see how we were doing, and almost immediately his eyes fell on Dom. His smile dissapeared, and he bolted back to us, scooped up Dom, and continued at a more... human (but still fast) pace.
"EXTERMINATE!" one of the Daleks shouted, shooting at Matt.
"Gaaah!" he shouted, dodging the beam. It narrowly missed the Doctor, who looked back in suprise.
"You are enjoying this way too much, Matt," he said, obviously trying not to grin himself.
He smiled mischieveously. "It's like a life-or-death game of tag in a big, metal playground."
We turned a corner and arrived at a huge, metal door. Chris and Morgan ran in, panting. I noticed a burn mark on the side of Morgan's T-shirt. His eyes were filled with terror.
"I was that far away from being killed!" he panted, holding up his fingers about three inches apart.
"Welcome to my world!" the Doctor said, grinning.
Soon the daleks entered the area, trapping us against the door. There were six of them. I tried to convince myself that it was just a coincidence, and there wasn't one for each of us.
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" a copper dalek in the front stated.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Matt burst into uncontrollable laughter. This wasn't just the blissful, this-is-epic kind of thing from before, this was bending-over-can't-stop-laughing kind of laughing. And indeed, it looked like he couldn't stop.
Unable to tell what he was laughing at, the rest of us simply stared at him. When he paused to look up at our confused faces, he burst into laughter again, bending down, unable to stand from the shaking.
After staring at him for a few seconds, the Dalek asked, "WHAT DO YOU FIND FUNNY?"
He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. After a few seconds, he started speaking. "It's... it's just... just that..." He burst into laughter again, unable to even say whatever was so funny.
After calming himself down again, he was finally able to speak. "It's just... you guys were trying to kill us... and it's just so iwonic..." He giggled this time. Matt Bellamy. Age 15. Giggling. "At the face of death, I felt alive."
Following this statement was a long, awkward silence. The rest of us had been scared, to some level. And here Matt was, cracking up and saying it was epic.
"I DO NOT GET IT."
"Of course you don't, you can't enjoy. It's beyond you. But still..." He giggled again. It was seriously creepy. "It was like, I had all this energy bottled up inside me, fwom a whole lifetime of acting human, and I finally got to welease it. It was... it was awesome."
After a few minutes of silence, the dalek seemed to decide Matt was officially crazy and move on. "THE DOCTOR HAS DESTROYED DALEK PROPERTY. HE WILL BE EXTERMINATED."
"Oh, I wouldn't count on it," the Doctor mused, sonicing the door. On command, it opened, and we bolted through.
"EXTERMINATE!" one of the the other daleks shouted.
"Oh, I don't think so," the Doctor teased, turning around and sonicing the door again. It closed, coming close to crushing the dalek in front, but (unfortunately) it barely missed.
We turned around to run, but were met by a huge atrium. It was dark, and filled with holoscreens. Mostly, though, it was filled with daleks, each and every one staring curiously at us.
By the way, that remark I made earlier about daleks not understanding curiosity? I fully take it back now. Judging by the fact that at least a hudred of them were staring at us, they had to be curious to some extent, even if not as much as humans.
"THE DOCTOR, THE FEMALE, AND THE MUSICIANS HAVE INVADED!" one of the nearer ones shouted.
"Oh, I wouldn't say invaded," the Doctor said quietly, examining the control room.
"Nice contwols, by the way," Matt complimented. He nodded in approval. "Impwessive."
The Doctor looked down at him, then smiled. "Glad you're enjoying it, they're probably going to try to kill us again soon..."
"YOU WERE TO BE TAKEN TO TESTING!" another dalek added, coming closer for a better look.
"Testing?" Morgan blurted, looking worried.
"Probably to see what emotions feel like," I muttered, and he nodded.
"Well, that didn't happen, so what now?" the Doctor called, looking up at them mischeviously. "I have a feeling you're going to try to exterminate me, so that's settled. But what about Martha? Or Chris, Morgan, Dom and Matt? Are you going to capture them and test on them?"
"PRECISELY," one of the other daleks confirmed, solidifying the fear that had already been growing inside.
"But my question is, of all bands, why-" he stopped. "Why theirs? What is it about these four boys that scares you so?"
"THEY ARE POWERFUL."
"What do you mean, we're powerful?" Chris called, momentarily forgetting his fear in his curiosity.
It paused for a second, deciding whether or not to tell him. Then it said simply, "THE FUTURE MUST BE LEFT UNTOLD."
The Doctor grinned. "You're a smarter one. Tell me, what's your name?"
"I AM DALEK QOM."
"Right then, Dalek Qom. I might just spare you."
"SPARE ME FROM WHAT?"
"Oh, this."
And with that, he pointed the sonic upwards and pressed a button.
At first the effect was nonexistent. Long enough, in fact, that I began to wonder if he had actually done anything.
Until sparks exploded from the ceiling, and all the power went out.