Chapter 55

The group headed back for the central area. They had just entered the door of Nora's room when Nora spoke. "Nate, we have a problem."

She was at her computer, rapidly typing, only briefly looking at Nate. The Doctor was also there. She was mostly watching, but it seemed she knew something was wrong too.

Well, Pride had never really bothered to learn how to read these complicated computers. "What's going on?" he asked.

"There's some sort of signal going out of our planet so ships can find us. Worse yet, I think it's a dalek signal. No one is supposed to find us, but if one of them does we'll be in the hot water. Quickly. So one of us really needs to cancel that signal Nate." She turned pointedly towards her second in command.

"I KNOW, I'M TRYING," Nate said, the stress getting through even with the dalek voice. "YOU KNOW HACKING WAS NEVER MY STRONG POINT."

"Convenient," the Doctor said.

"Doctor." Lilly sounded like she was actually scolding her, disgust in her expression, as she turned to Nora. "If we can't turn it off remotely, couldn't we destroy it?"

"That could work," Nora agreed.

"Then I'm going to do it," Lilly said.

"Lilly," the Doctor warned. "I wouldn't do that."

"Of course you won't," Lilly said. "That's why I have to. Because regardless of how your paranoid mind seems to work, these people are innocent. And you claim to hate the daleks, but you sure seem to be fine with them coming here. You wanted me as your conscience? Well my conscience says to save these people."

Then she turned and ran for the door.

"Lilly!" the Doctor shouted. She turned back to the others. "She shouldn't-"

At that moment, the building rocked. The Doctor wobbled a little. Pride grabbed the door frame to stay standing.

"What was that?" he asked.

"It came from the basement." Nora stood up, with impressive speed considering how old she looked. "Lee! Come on!"

The four left the room, clambered into the elevator, and headed for the basement. As they went down, Pride could see outside. He could also see something fading in and out of view in the courtyard.

"Doctor, look!" Pride shouted. "The TARDIS!"

The Doctor looked out as the big blue box landed in the courtyard. "Right. That makes sense. She couldn't land before because, like all other ships, she couldn't locate this planet. With that signal going out she can find us."

They reached the basement and climbed out. There was a glow coming from further down the hall that they all followed. As they followed it, they came upon Lee, facedown on the ground, and a glowing dalek before him.

"LIFE FORMS DETECTED." The dalek's voice sounded a little warbly, like the whole dalek was fading in and out, as it turned around. "YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED."

That got all of them to slow down. The Doctor actually dropped lower and covered her head in her arms, like that was supposed to help.

"STAND BACK," Nate ordered.

The others were basically already out of the way. Nate fired at the glowing dalek before it got the chance to. It shattered into gold dust.

"THAT . . . THAT WAS SET TO STUN," Nate said. "HE SHOULDN'T HAVE EXPLODED."

"No," the Doctor agreed, glaring at where the dalek had been. "But I have a pretty good idea why it did."

Suddenly, Lee began to glow. The light looked similar to that of the dalek. Then he sat up with a gasp, but his hair had changed to black, his eyes green, and his oval face had become more triangular. He might've been taller too, but it was hard to tell when he was sitting down.

"Ow," he said, not sounding all there.

"What?" Pride asked.

"He regenerated," the Doctor explained. "Surely I've mentioned Time Lords do that."

"No, you really didn't," Pride said, though it explained some things.

"I think I have," the Doctor disagreed. She spun and addressed the group at large. "Now then! That's taken care of. For now. Lilly can't go running off on her own."

"I'LL GO," Nate said. "I'M THE FASTEST ONE HERE AND I CAN DO THAT AND WORK ON THIS SIGANL AT THE SAME TIME. I'VE GOT IT JAMMED, BUT IT'S TEMPORARY."

He started rolling away.

"Pride, go with him," the Doctor instructed. "I'll be with you soon, but I've got to make a stop at the TARDIS. I have a plan."

Well it was good that she had a plan, but it meant the next few moments, ranging from minutes to hours, were going to be unpleasant.

"Okay. Nate, I'm coming!"

Nate stopped at the entrance to the first floor. (He hadn't taken the elevator, hovering up a narrow staircase instead.)

"OKAY. WE STILL NEED TO FLY TO GET THERE WITH ANY SPEED, SO GET ON MY BACK."

Pride looked at the case. "I'm not going to get burnt on touch, am I?"

He certainly had the first time he'd tried touching a dalek.

"I CONTROL THE HEAT."

Good enough. Pride climbed onto the little black base at the bottom of the dalek armor. It really didn't burn him, but there wasn't a lot of space back there. He made himself more secure. He managed to loop his arms around to the front, and grab the weapon limbs.

"RIGHT. HERE WE GO."

Then Nate lifted off, flying for the exit.

[The 13th Doctor isn't exactly forthcoming, but she probably did at least hint at regeneration. I mean she said just a few chapters ago that she'd died before.]