Doctor Who
History of the Daleks
Episode Three
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"I see you're going to need some time to decide," said Ehsunis. "I'll keep lookout, just to be safe." He left the four of them to go check outside. Ryeitv tended to her grandfather, doing her best not to pay attention to the four strangers in this stressful situation.
"You can't be serious Doctor," said Yaz. "You don't really mean to kill Davros, do you?"
"You can't reason with him Yaz," said the Doctor. "Graham and I have met him. He will single-handedly destroy this planet if we don't put a stop to him, right here, right now."
"Yeah but doesn't that seem a bit extreme Doc?" asked Graham. "I don't like the guy all that much either, but murder is going a bit too far."
"It's for the greater good."
"You don't believe that and you know it," said Yaz. "I know you Doctor, you couldn't kill someone in cold blood. You're too kind."
"I don't want to do this. If there was another way I'd take it, but we don't have enough time to think of something clever."
"But you're the Doc," said Graham. "You always come up with a clever solution."
"Yeah, well, sometimes I'm at a loss."
"You've killed before, haven't you." It wasn't a question, and it hung in the air as everyone turned to Ryan. He looked at the Doctor, pleading to her that he was wrong.
"Have you Doctor?" Yaz asked. The Doctor hung her head, unable to look her friends in the eye.
"Doc," began Graham, but couldn't think of a way of finishing his sentence. Instead they stood there, four strangers on an alien planet.
"I've done things," the Doctor admitted. "Things I wasn't proud of, but I did them in the name of peace and sanity."
Her companions said nothing, trying to process the information. People had died while they'd been travelling, sure, but killing...
"Did you have a good reason?" Ryan asked. "For killing those people?"
"I'd like to think so," the Doctor said. "I truly hope there was."
"Who are you?" Yaz asked.
"I'm still the same person," the Doctor said desperately. "Those things I did, I was a different man back then."
"Oh and that makes it okay, does it?" Graham asked. "It's all in the past?"
"Yes!" the Doctor said. "I've changed. I've grown. I vowed to be kinder in this incarnation. I tried to be better."
"I thought you were my friend," said Yaz.
"I am your friend!" the Doctor said. "Yaz, Graham, Ryan... you're my fam. I need you, to remind me to be good."
"Oh is that all we are to you, is it?" said Graham. "Reminders not to kill?"
"You don't know what it's like," said the Doctor. "To live as long as I have... I need you to make sure I do what's right."
"And what's right is not killing someone!" cried Yaz. "Who are you, Doctor, if you need to be reminded of as something as simple as that?"
"I don't want to kill him," the Doctor said. "I just can't see any other option. If he brings the Daleks here everyone on this planet dies. Don't you see? Ehsunis, Ryeitv, Wannem, everyone they know and love. Every man, woman, child. Everyone. The Daleks won't rest till there's no one left."
"If you do this Doctor than you might as well take us home right now. I'm not going to be an accomplice to murder."
"You don't know how bad the Daleks are. I'm not seeing another planet wiped out by those monsters. I'm not going to make the same mistake again."
"You don't really want to kill him, do you?" The Doctor turned to Ryan, who had been silently standing in the corner the entire time. She sagged, dropping into a chair.
"No," she admitted. "I don't want to kill him. Not really. I just... I don't know what came over me."
"But we need to stop the Daleks from coming here, right?" continued Ryan.
"Yes. If nothing else we need to destroy his beacon. As for Davros..."
The four of them didn't say anything, as they milled around in the uncomfortable silence.
"You said if I killed Tim Shaw I'd be kicked out of the TARDIS," Graham said. "You said I was better than that. You were right. I'd like to think you're better than that as well."
"I'd like to think that to," said the Doctor.
"Right, have you made up your mind?" Ehsunis asked, re-entering the small hut.
"We'll help you," said the Doctor. "But the primary concern is the beacon. Killing him won't solve anything if the Daleks come here anyway."
Ehsunis glared at the four of them, but relented.
"Fine, whatever," Ehsunis said. "I need your help getting into the building anyway. Now get changed. We leave in five."
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"You haven't exactly thought to explain the plan to us yet," said Graham, as they made their way over the queue of staff waiting to go in to the parliamentary building. The five of them shuffled awkwardly, their ill-fitting overalls nevertheless helping them look like janitorial custodians.
"It's simple," said Ehsunis, nodding to the bag on his back. "Davros is scheduled to come back here after the rally, at which point he'll need to go to the toilet. You lot will be stationed at specific bathrooms to lead him to the right one. Once he gets there the bomb I plant will go off, ridding us of him once and for all."
"That's an incredibly stupid plan," said Yaz. "What stops someone else from setting it off instead?"
"Because I'll be there to make sure it works," said Ehsunis.
"Wait what?" said Ryan in shock. "You're going to be next to that bomb when it goes off?"
"It's the only way to make sure," said Ehsunis grimly. "I've already made up my mind. Don't worry, the blast won't be that big. You should be fine."
"You're taking a hell of a risk," said Graham. "I don't think I can agree to this."
"Go, then," said Ehsunis. "I don't need you. I can do this all by myself. But with your help we can minimize the causalities."
"This is insanity," said Yaz. "Doctor, tell him he can't do this."
"One thing at a time," the Doctor said. "First we need to get inside."
"But Doctor," began Yaz.
"Trust me," the Doctor said. "Please."
Her three friends looked at her suspiciously, but the kindness in her face won them over. Reluctantly they relaxed and followed the Doctor's lead.
"Negg," swore Ehsunis.
"What?" asked Ryan.
"They've got a metal detector," said Ehsunis. "This must be new, my inside source didn't mention this."
"You're telling me your inside source managed to smuggle out key cards and old uniforms but didn't think to tell you this?"
"I didn't exactly reveal my intentions," Ehsunis replied. "I was paying for privacy, and he happily obliged. We have to abort."
"No," the Doctor said. "We need to get inside and disable the homing beacon."
"Are you mad?" Ehsunis asked.
"On my good days," the Doctor said, pulling the sonic screwdriver out of her pocket and discreetly pointing it at the metal detector. Sparks shot from the machine, as it suddenly powered down. Guards and staff alike stood around, confused.
"Well come on then," the Doctor yelled from the back of the line. "Let us through. We have an important job to do." She elbowed Ryan, who caught her wink.
"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "What's the hold up? We need to get to work."
"Who are you?" the guard asked, as the Doctor barged her way to the front of the queue.
"Surprise inspection," the Doctor said, pulling out her psychic paper. "We're from head office, we're here to see how well-maintained the premises are."
"We weren't expecting an inspection-" began the guard, trying to focus on the psychic paper before it was yanked away.
"Well it wouldn't be much of a surprise then, would it," the Doctor replied, glancing at the guard's name-tag. "You can't go round announcing surprise inspections, imagine if we did that with parties, it'd ruin all the fun. Anyway, Yendys, lets get to the heart of the matter. This can go one of two ways. You either let me and my friends in, we do our jobs, no one has to think anything more of it. Or, and this is honestly the option I'm leaning towards right now, I rain hell down upon you with the full force at my disposal. Do you know what it's like to have an entire janitoral department to come down on you like a ton of bricks? Because we can make your life very, very miserable if you don't let us in right now!"
"Alright, alright," said the guard, almost tripping over himself in panic as he tried to get away from the Doctor.
"Thank you," the Doctor said, giving out a fake smile. "We'll make sure to give you a good recommendation when we're done. As you can see, my fellow workers all have their key cards ready to be scanned-" The Doctor took the key cards from the others and used Yendys' device to scan them while chatting, "and we're all good to go. Have a very good day. Right, off to work then."
"I'm impressed," said Ehsunis, while the Doctor's other friends looked at her in shock. They were surprised no one was following them and demanding more answers.
"Intimidation can take you a long way," said the Doctor, holding out her sonic screwdriver. "Now to scan the building and see where the homing beacon is located."
"And now to go plant the bomb," Ehsunis said.
"Oh that won't do you any good," the Doctor said off-handedly, looking at her readings. "I disabled it when I took out the metal detectors."
"What!" cried Ehsunis.
"I wasn't going to let you set a bomb off in here," said the Doctor. "You might have taken out an innocent life. No, you lot are going to have a look round, see what you can learn."
"What are you going to do?" Yaz asked suspiciously.
"Turn off the homing beacon," the Doctor said.
"And?" continued Yaz. The Doctor said nothing, looking at her screwdriver, very pointedly not saying a word. However it became clear that her companions weren't going to let it go.
"It all depends on the homing beacon," the Doctor said. "Disable that, and we have more options. Anyway, meet back here but, if anything goes wrong, I want you to get back to the TARDIS. Right, off we go then."
The Doctor swanned off before any of them could react. The four remaining people looked at each other, uncertain about what to do.
"I guess we'll just blend in then?" asked Graham, as he walked over to a bucket and mop. "Typical. All of time and space, and I just end up being a janitor again. What are the odds?"
The others didn't reply, all thinking the same thing: What was the Doctor going to do when she inevitably confronted Davros?
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"It has to be round here somewhere," the Doctor muttered, rummaging around in the main office of the parliamentary building. The historical significance of it upon the planet was totally lost upon her, as she haphazardly knocked a bust of the nation's first leader off a desk as she looked through the paperwork.
"Can I help you?" said a familiar voice. The Doctor's head whipped up to see Davros standing in the doorway alone, a sickening smile on his face.
"I mean you could give up and relinquish control," the Doctor said, as she continued to search around the office. "Or is that too much to ask?"
"You're looking for the homing beacon I presume," Davros asked. "To stop my from contacting the Daleks?"
"I do love it when people listen to me. Most of the time they're too busy yelling at me or throwing a temper tantrum because I spoiled their wonderful plans."
"Tap the middle panel of the desk three times," said Davros. The Doctor shot him a quizzical look, but Davros' face was a mask.
"Where's your security?" the Doctor asked, keeping her eyes on the man.
"Sent them home for the night. They won't be needed. The assassination attempt was never going to work."
"You knew about it?" the Doctor said in surprise, before rolling her eyes. "Oh but of course you did. Let me guess, you arranged it yourself?"
"It was one of them, yes," Davros replied with a wry smile. "It's so much easier to stop assassins when you're the one that created them."
"Let me guess, you capture them, put on a big mock trial, scare a majority of the population into toeing the line, all the while working out the next lot who will try to overthrow you."
"You are remarkably perceptive. It's rare to see an assassin with such intelligence."
"What makes you think I'm here to kill you?"
"Oh please, you think you can keep secrets from me? Or from the Daleks?"
The Doctor said nothing, eyeing Davros carefully. Davros slowly made his way forward, hands raised, palms open. The Doctor let him walk by her and tap the panel on the desk that he'd previously drawn her attention towards. A holographic screen popped up, showing a waveband on a spectrograph.
"Am I suppose to be impressed?" the Doctor asked.
"What do you know of the Neo-Kaled's history?" Davros replied.
"Just that your leader found a Dalek recording and used that as the basis of his conquest," said the Doctor. "The museum didn't have a lot of information."
"Of course not. We don't want the public getting... ideas, now, would we? No, we gave them a more acceptable version of events. What really happened that faithful day wasn't that we got a Dalek recording, but an actual Dalek. A reconnaissance Dalek, if what it said was true. It was quickly captured by Aniton and his followers... to be honest, it didn't seem nearly as dangerous as the rest of the universe made them out to be. Not that it mattered. A deal was quickly struck: It would help us, and we would help its empire. As such, using its technology and expertise Aniton killed Sicuck and started a war, which, well, you know how the rest went."
"So Aniton uses Dalek technology to win the war, and uses Dalek strategy to gain even more power. So where do you come into all this?"
"Oh it all started when I was a young, naïve follower. I worshipped Aniton and all the good he'd done for Hopies. Aniton quickly realized just how valuable I was, and let me meet the Dalek. I must say, the alien was beautiful. A wonderful integration of machine and flesh, with the clarity of understanding just what was wrong with the planet and how to set it right. It was the one who made me into the man I am today. It passed on the names from its history, so that we could wear them proudly. It helped me remove Aniton and let me take my rightful place as ruler of this land. It also taught me the best way to gain the attention of the Dalek Empire and how we could join them in their glorious mission."
"Where's the Dalek now?"
"Dead, I'm afraid. It used the last of its energy creating the perfect weapon. Why don't you see for yourself." Davros waved his hand at the spectrograph. The Doctor examined it cautiously, trying to work out its significance.
"Hang on," she said with a frown. "This is a psychic interfere. You can influence people's emotions, make them more susceptible by mucking with their neurochemicals. Angry, happy, scared, submissive... Oh of course." The Doctor turned towards Davros triumphantly.
"You've been using that machine to make the populace more angry and resentful, filling their minds with hate in order to destroy all rationality. That's how you managed to get elected."
"No."
"No?"
"No. We didn't use the device. It only turned on when you got here. Check the readings if you don't believe me." The Doctor had another look at the readings, her heart sinking when she realized that Davros was telling the truth.
"But that means-" she began.
"That the people elected us of their own free will? Yes. If nothing else, the people want us in charge. No all this, this is just for you. You seem to think that your righteous anger, your absolutely hatred, for all things Dalek makes you strong. But it doesn't. It just makes you like them. And Daleks understand themselves quite well."
"What are you-" began the Doctor, as Davros let out a chuckle. The Doctor turned back to see the patterns on the spectrograph start to change.
"They knew that your anger, your hatred, it made you foolish. Reckless. Easily manipulatable. The Dalek knew that our names, Davros, Nyder and the like, it knew that those names would trigger you. That our rhetoric would caused you to feel resentment, that our beliefs would cause you suffering. It knew that the best way to trap the Doctor was to slowly poison you, bit by bit, until you did something stupid. But, honestly, I didn't think it was going to be this easy."
"That's not true..." The Doctor mumbled, suddenly feeling very tired.
"Let me guess, you're going to go on about how you're the hero, the Daleks are evil, and you're here to save the day? Spare me the lecture. No, you're just some egotistical idiot whose more concerned with image than with doing good. How many planets have you left to fend for themselves, hmm? How many injustices have you let slip past because you've decided to leave? How many friends have died thinking of you as a hero when all you really care about is how you look in front of others, how your actions are perceived. You're not a hero, you're an attention seeker. An arsonist that runs into a burning building to save those they'd endangered."
"That's not me any more."
"Isn't it? Oh sure, Doctor, you claim to change, you claim to renew, but deep down you're still that same glory hound you'll always be. The Daleks told me why they hate you, and I can see what they mean. It's not just that you stand in the way of what is right. It's that you're so concerned with looking good as you do it."
The Doctor was going to come up with a rebuttal, but slumped on the chair, unable to stand.
"Course, I could say anything and the results would be the same," sneered Davros. "Yes, we turned the machine on when you got here, dialled up the anger and hate. Your Time Lord mind made you incredibly susceptible. So imagine our joy when the Dalek told us the next part of the plan. To flood you with so much despair and misery that you'd have no will left to fight. Do you feel the depression rising in you Doctor? Do you feel the hope leaving your body? Do you realize that I am in control of your mind, not you?"
The Doctor said nothing, couldn't say anything, just sat in the chair, paralysed by the emotions overwhelming her mind.
"We captured your friends, by the way. They'll be sharing a cell with you, while we wait for the Daleks to arrive. They should be here in about a week or so. If I'm nice, I might even turn the machine off for a bit, let you have a little bit of happiness in your last moments... or I could turn it up to the point where everyone will feel its effects. Guess we'll wait and see."
Davros snapped his fingers. Two guards waiting outside came in and dragged the Doctor away, the body limp in their arms.
"Goodbye, Doctor," Davros said, laughing away with his mad glee. "I'll make sure the Daleks say hi. One week, Doctor! That's all you have left! One week!"