As usual, I would like to thank my beta, TenRose4ever, and anyone who has enjoyed reading this story. This is a rather long chapter, as it is approaching the story's climax. Please enjoy Chapter Nine of Skaro and Earth.
Chapter Nine
"The Cult of Skaro's ship is right above the River Thames?" Rose asked in disbelief. "Seriously?"
"It would make sense," the Doctor explained. "It's a nice open space where humans would never accidentally bump into it. Probably low enough not to be in a flight path, but high enough for them to conduct surveillance without being detected."
"If you're right, then how will we locate its exact position? It's cloaked or something, yeah?" Rose poked a hole in the Doctor's plan.
"A great big ship, right above us?" the Doctor exclaimed. Tugging his ear, he reluctantly admitted that it would be a challenge, "Well… yes, I could use the T.A.R.D.I.S., but my scans would be detected immediately. The daleks would know where we were," the Doctor lamented with frustration.
"We would not get noticed!" Becky declared.
"Well… perhaps not, if you stay low and close to the banks," the Doctor affirmed.
"How are they going to find the ship then?" Rose pointed out. "The ship might be high in the sky!"
"Perhaps they could conduct low-level scans to help locate the ship."
"So much for not getting noticed," Rose grumbled.
"But the daleks may not be concerned about our scans," Becky suggested. "They are dalek in origin. They may not register as a threat, if we are careful."
"And who cares if we get noticed by the humans?" Maddy questioned. "It is not like their weapons have any effect on us. We can meet you back at your T.A.R.D.I.S."
"However, the humans could follow you back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and that could be a problem," the Doctor pointed out.
"We could scare them off if they attempt to follow us," Becky suggested. "I mean, we could shoot at them a few times, not to actually hit them, but to make it look like we are attempting to hit them."
"That is brilliant, Becky," the Doctor complimented.
Becky giggled, and somehow the Doctor and Rose did not find it strange. The more time they spent with Becky and Maddy, the more they were becoming aware of how far the rogues had diverged from the kind of daleks that they were familiar with. They smiled at each other.
"Wait, how do we know if the ship is downstream or upstream?" Rose inquired.
"We can split up!" Becky yipped excitedly. "Maddy could go upstream and I could go downstream."
A plan in place, the daleks went out to search. Rose and the Doctor returned to where the T.A.R.D.I.S. was parked and found a nearby bench to sit on while they waited for the return of their new allies. Only a few minutes had passed when they saw a strange object approaching them through the air, clearly operating with a will of its own.
The thing was not from Earth. This was obvious. It did not seem to have any wings or engine that it could fly with. It was simply hovering around of its own accord. It was a robot, disc-shaped with four "legs". It emitted a green glow. It was small enough that the Doctor would have been able to hold it in his hand. "Hello, and what are you, then?" The Doctor found the robot quite endearing.
Suddenly, it started to glow more brightly, and the Doctor stood up, scrambling for his sonic screwdriver. A beam shot out from the robot and hit the Doctor, throwing him back against the bench. He fell onto it with a thud.
"What's going on?" Rose's tone was sharp out of fear.
"I'll be fine. Just a very powerful scan. Get behind me!" the Doctor yelled to Rose, pointing his sonic screwdriver at the robot. The screwdriver buzzed as it was activated and the little probe dropped out of the air to land at the Doctor's feet.
"What was all that about?" Rose asked, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder to peer at the deactivated robot.
"I don't really know," the Doctor admitted. "It came, scanned me and tried to fly away again. I believe that it was something of the Cult of Skaro's, but why didn't it kill me?"
"Maybe it couldn't," Rose suggested. "Maybe it shot you for another purpose. Maybe it was simply a pilot fish."
~oOo~
Meanwhile, Maddy was flying upstream. No humans were causing her any problems. All of them were asleep. Maddy did not have a concept of sleep, but she was just happy that she was not spotted. She scanned upwards to no avail. Eventually, she determined that the hidden dalek ship was not within her scanning area. She sent a communication to Becky, informing her of her failure and to let her know that she was returning to the Doctor's location. When she arrived, Becky was already there.
"I was unable to locate the ship either," Becky admitted.
"And that's where I come in!" the Doctor boasted. "While you two were out scanning, the daleks discovered us with one of their probes! Genius little robots, these! But I think I deactivated it before it had a chance to relay any information back to the ship. Ha!"
Becky and Maddy swivelled their eyestalks to have a look at the probe that the Doctor held out in front of him.
"Rose, hold this please," he held out the robot for Rose to take.
"You sure it's safe, Doctor," she asked warily as she accepted it.
"Absolutely, nearly, well… it should be for now. Just hold still and I'll make some adjustments to it, genius me!"
"What are you going to do to it?" inquired Maddy.
"I am going to make it obey my commands. It will lead us to the ship. Now hold it still, Rose, while I sonic it. I'll just be a tick."
As the Doctor worked, Becky realized that there was a problem.
"Wait a rel, if this works, and the probe leads us to the ship, Maddy and I can elevate after it, but how are we supposed to get you and Rose to the ship?" she queried.
"We could ride on you," the Doctor suggested, "if you would oblige."
And so, minutes later, the Doctor and Rose rode Maddy and Becky, clinging to their casings, as the daleks followed the little probe, now programmed to return to its ship. After some travelling, they reached the invisible starship.
"Now how are we to get in?" Becky asked, pointing out an obvious flaw in the plan.
"Not to worry, Becky, we can replace our plungers with metal claws!" Maddy articulated, never one to be stopped so easily. "Part of a new suit design that was being implemented when we were created."
The Doctor and Rose watched from the daleks' backs as their plungers were sucked into the limb that they protruded from and metal claws, cleverly folded in such a way that they would fit, unfolded and replaced the plungers.
"I have heard of Time Lord technology, but that was something to behold," Rose remarked to the Doctor. "Your trans-dimensional pockets just got put in their place!"
As the Doctor gave a disgruntled snort, the daleks, wasting no time, used their sharp claws to cut a circle in the side of the starship. Peering into the interior of an invisible starship was like looking through an interdimensional portal. Undaunted, the daleks immediately flew in.
Once inside, the Doctor and Rose slid clumsily off the daleks. Almost immediately, they were ambushed by two enemy daleks.