Still dazed and aching from the malicious interrogation session, a semi-conscious Sam was half-carried, half-dragged by her Dalek guard towards the holding cell where Clover was locked up. As they came up to the door, the Dalek heartlessly let Sam drop to the ground with a brutal thud as it moved to operate a control to open the cell door. As the door smoothly slid open, the Dalek started to move to shove Sam in, but then it suddenly stopped in surprise. The cell was empty! There was no sign of the other female prisoner anywhere!
"ESCAPE FROM THIS ROOM IS IMPOSSIBLE!" the Dalek stated tenaciously to itself. "THE PRISONER IS HIDING!" It started to glide into the cell and searched it thoroughly. The cell was small and featureless, with no possible hiding place, which meant the only place the human could be was…
The Daleks' eyestalk swiftly moved upwards to see Clover hanging upside down on the ceiling via her suction cup gloves. Before the alien creature could move to take action, Clover leapt down and landed right on top of the Dalek!
"ALERT! ALERT! PRISONER ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE!" screeched the Dalek as it swerved violently from one end of the cell to the other as it franticly attempted to force Clover to release her firm hold on its dome. Beginning to feel a bit dizzy from all the violent twisting and turning, Clover hastily jammed the Metal Morphosis Magnet Faux Tooth into the Daleks' grill section before she finally lost her grip and was thrown across the room and sent smashing into the wall of the cell. As she painfully slumped to the ground, she looked up in dread as the Dalek glided furiously towards her, its gun-stick aimed directly at her heart, ready to fire!
Suddenly, the Dalek jerked to an abrupt halt as sparks of electricity started to dance about its metallic casing. As Clover watched on in amazement, the Daleks' casing began to warp and break apart, bits of metal peeling and tearing away like the outer skin of an orange.
"EMERGENCY! CASING INTEGRITY IS COMPROMISED! HELP ME! HELP ME!"
The Dalek began to panic and gave out a horrific scream as its metal frame began to fold into itself, crushing the ghastly mutant inside and inadvertently triggering the machines' self-destruct mechanism. There was a colossal explosion and the Dalek was reduced to a fiery mass of scrap metal, covered in the gooey green remains of the dead creature inside.
"Yuck, you guys aren't any prettier on the inside!" retched Clover as she surveyed the grisly corpse of the Dalek. At that moment, there was an aching groan from the doorway and Clover dashed over to find Sam sprawled on the floor, rubbing her head as consciousness painfully returned.
"Sammy! Are you okay?" exclaimed Clover in concern as she delicately helped her visibly hurt friend get unsteadily back onto her feet.
"I've been better," admitted Sam rather groggily, feeling as though a stampede of rhinos had run right across her brain. Trying to shake off her splitting headache, she turned her head and caught sight of the repugnant wreckage of the Dalek.
"Whoa, at least I'm in better shape than that Dalek!" she remarked, unable to keep a bit of satisfaction coming out in her voice. "What happened to it?"
"It got itself a really nasty toothache," said Clover a little smugly as she picked up the Faux Tooth from the debris, amazed that the tiny gadget survived the terrific explosion. She then looked back at the destroyed Dalek and a guilty expression then crossed her face. "I actually thought the Faux Tooth would simply immobilise it. I didn't mean to actually blow its occupant to pieces, even after what they've done to Alex and the Doc!"
"You didn't really have any choice, Clover," assured Sam solemnly. "I've been having a 'chat' with the boss Dalek, and trust me, there's just no reasoning with them. I don't think I've ever come across a load of baddies with so much hate and ruthlessness in them. They want the human race out of the way so they can conquer the universe in the future, and they're not going to rest until everything on Earth is dead."
"Then we better hurry up and stop them before it's too late!" said Clover resolutely as she put Sam's arm over her shoulder and helped her walk gingerly away from the containment cell. Cautiously, they started to make their way down the maze of bland corridors back towards the control chamber, trying to figure out a way to immobilise the Daleks' weather machine. As they moved on, Sam gradually felt her strength come back and she was soon able to move on her own without Clover's help, though she still felt rather shaken up from the ordeal.
But as they turned a corner, first one, than two Daleks appeared around the sharp bend. Sam and Clover froze in total terror, realising too late that in this narrow corridor, they would not be able to leap clear of the Daleks' guns in time. The first Dalek barked "EXTERMINATE!" and the girls clenched their eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable and agonising end. A second later, they heard the horrendous sound of the Daleks' energy weapon discharge, followed by the sound of a very immense explosion.
After a long nerve-wracking moment, the spies tentatively opened their eyes, totally staggered to find that they were not already dead. To add to their astonishment, they saw the smoking remains of the leading Dalek, blasted to pieces by its own comrade from behind.
"Uh, did we just get saved by one of those metal baddies?" asked a shaky Sam in disbelief.
"Not exactly, ladies," said a familiar voice and to the girls' delight, the Doctor came round the corner, a big grin on his face. Before Sam and Clover even had a chance to respond, the Dalek that had just saved their lives spoke in a surprisingly merry voice.
"SAMMY! CLOVER! BOY, ARE WE GLAD TO SEE YOU," it grated in a tone that sounded seemed joyful. It took the girls just a half a second to realise what was going on.
"Alex? Is that you in there?" asked Clover, scarcely able to believe this miraculous turn of events.
"SURE IS!" said Alex through the voice modulator of the Dalek casing that she was currently driving. "BOY, IS IT HOT IN HERE OR WHAT?"
Crying tears of joy, Sam and Clover rushed over and hugged the Dalek casing that was currently housing their best friend. Words were simply inadequate to describe how relieved and delighted they were to find Alex still in the land of the living with them.
"Now there's something you don't see every day," the Doctor thought to himself, amused at the sight of a Dalek getting a cuddle and glad that the spies were happily reunited.
"Oh Alex, we thought we had lost you," sobbed Sam, unable to believe their good fortune.
"Yeah, and you as well, Doc," choked Clover as she gave the Time Lord a small smile.
"Oh it takes more than a small avalanche to get rid of me," assured the Doctor self-assuredly. "Actually, it was Alex and her shield belt that saved our lives."
"WE'LL EXPLAIN THE REST LATER," said Alex. "RIGHT NOW, WE'VE GOT SOME NASTY ALIEN BUTTS TO KICK!"
Out in the snowy wilderness, the Dalek patrols had at last reached the previously reported location of the Doctor and his spy accomplice. As they approached, they could see piles of snow surrounding the area where the enemies of the Daleks had been buried. The layout of the debris made it seem as though something had burst free from underneath the snow and ice.
"SENSORS DETECT NO BODIES," stated the patrol leader indifferently. "THE FUGITIVES ARE MISSING!"
Another Dalek ran an infrared scan of the area with its advanced eye-lenses. "SURFACE DISTURBANCE DETECTED," it reported, "FAINT HUMANOID FOOTPRINTS!"
The patrol leader came across and examined the tracks for itself. "THE TRACKS LEAD BACK TO OUR SHIP!" it grated urgently. "ALL UNITS RETURN TO CRAFT IMMEDIATELY!"
"WE OBEY," chorused the other Daleks, but as they started to move, one of the leading Daleks suddenly stopped and examined its seismic detector.
"WAIT. PRECEPTOR REGISTERS MOVEMENT NEARBY. AN ALIEN CREATURE IS APPROACHING THIS AREA."
Before the other Daleks could react, a large polar bear reared its head over the top of a nearby hill. With a ferocious and awesome roar, it charged uncompromisingly down the slope and ploughed straight into one of the strange metal intruders that had dared to trespass on its hunting grounds.
"DESIST! DESIST OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" demanded the unfortunate Dalek as it tried to rear its gun and defend itself against the savage animal. But before the Dalek could fire, the bear smashed down with its powerful paws and crushed the energy weapon. The roaring animal than grabbed the Daleks' dome with its powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Jerking its strong head back, it tore the top section of the Dalek wide open and threw the mangled dome aside, before bearing down on the helpless creature inside.
What happened next to the Kaled mutant was not a pleasant sight to behold at all.
But so intent was it on digesting its prey, the bear had forgotten about the other Daleks that had now surrounded it from all sides.
"EXTERMINATE!" barked the patrol leader vehemently. "DESTROY THAT PRIMITIVE CREATURE! USE FULL POWER! FIRE!"
Without hesitation, the Daleks obeyed their orders and opened fire mercilessly on the furry beast. With an excruciating and agonising roar, the bear collapsed to the ground, quite dead. The Dalek patrol leader glided over and examined the carcass of the creature that had so foolishly opted to attack them.
"THIS IS ONE OF THE INDIGENOUS CARNIVOROUS SPECIES OF THIS LOCATION," observed the patrol leader coolly, completely unconcerned by the loss of one of its comrades. "UNIMPORTANT. RETURN TO THE SHIP."
The Daleks started to resume their frantic return to their space vessel, leaving behind yet another corpse in their universal trail of death and destruction.
