AN: Well, hello there! How very nice to see you here again.
I will say now that this excellent writing pace I'm currently working at might not stay that way for long, as I'm heading back up to uni soon and I'll be incredibly busy. But I'll do the best I can to squeeze out a chapter here and there, it just might be a little slower than it has been for the last few weeks.
Having said that, I've got an idea! Currently, the series is at around 280,000 words (roughly), which is pretty decent so far. But this is what I want to know - when do you think I'll hit a million words? Go on, leave a review, I dare you! Let me know which series and episode you think I'll hit a million on! It'll be fun to see what your estimates are.
Chapter 6: Evolution of the Daleks
Standing at the front of the lab, Dalek Sec seemed to have adjusted to his new body, and was ready to continue with the plans.
"These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridisation."
As the Doctor and Eris crept away behind a large piece of equipment, the pigmen grabbed others in the group - including Martha.
"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!"
They loosened their grips on the humans as a song started playing in the background, something light and cheerful. Dalek Sec blinked.
"What is that sound?"
"Ah, well, now, that would be me." The Doctor appeared, holding a small radio. He passed it to Eris and approached a little more closely.
"Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."
She grinned, unable to resist. "Wish I could say that it was nice to see you again, but… well."
Dalek Sec stared at them. "The Doctor. And Eris."
The other Daleks were a little more open with their hatred.
"Enemies of the Daleks."
"Exterminate."
"Wait!" Sec held a hand up and stopped his subordinates.
The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and started to pace.
"Well, then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever."
"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter."
Eris raised an eyebrow. "How did you end up in 1930?"
"Emergency temporal shift."
"Oh, I bet that that must have roasted up your power cells! What a shame."
Her dad shot her a smile before turning back to the creature.
"Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you."
"I am Dalek in human form."
"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. That's your name. You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."
"I feel humanity."
He turned away, breathing deep. The Doctor was happy with that answer.
"Good. That's good."
"I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war."
His smile faded. "No, that's not what humanity means."
"I think it does. At heart, this species is so very Dalek."
"All right, so what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing." He plucked the radio from Eris' hands and gave her the nod. "A simple little radio."
The Daleks didn't know what he was up to, thankfully.
"What is the purpose of that device?"
"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it." He glanced back at the hostages to see Eris passing on the message - cover your ears if you value your hearing. "Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise."
He aimed the sonic screwdriver at the radio and it started to scream, a horrible shrill oscillating shriek that made the Daleks and the pigmen cringe away from it. Taking advantage of the reaction, the Doctor ushered the group back into the corridors.
"Run!"
As they escaped, the three remaining cased Daleks were too busy protecting their leader.
"Protect the hybrid!"
"Protect. Protect. Protect."
One of the Daleks managed to exterminate the radio and the noise stopped.
"Report status."
Dalek Sec managed to stand up straight again, looking a little disorientated.
"Pain. Pain of the flesh, like no other Dalek has felt for thousands of years."
"The Doctor has escaped."
"Then find him. Find him."
After safely delivering the stolen people - and Tallulah, who they had bumped into in the tunnels - back to Hooverville, the Doctor, Martha, Frank and Eris met with Solomon and did their best to explain what they had just seen. He had a hard time getting his head around it, understandably.
"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?"
The Doctor nodded, his face serious.
"They're splicing themselves onto human bodies, and if I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. You've got to get everyone out."
"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go."
"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York."
"There's got to be a way to reason with these things."
Eris took his hand. "Listen to us Solomon, please. Anything that isn't Dalek, they want to destroy. There's no chance of negotiation."
Frank agreed. "You ain't seen them, boss."
"Daleks are bad enough at anytime, but right now they're vulnerable. That makes them more dangerous than ever."
The sound of a whistle blowing drew their attention - it was closely followed by a shout.
"They're coming! They're coming!"
Solomon tensed. "A sentry. He must have seen something."
"They're here! I've seen them! Monsters! They're monsters!"
The Doctor looked grim. "It's started."
"We're under attack! Everyone to arms!"
Rifles were being handed out across the camp, and some people were picking up more improvised weapons - tent poles and tools. They could vaguely see people running away into the darkness, and Solomon called out to them.
"Come back! We've got to stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!"
It was too late though. Those who had tried to leave had already been grabbed by pigmen, and they were forming a net around the little settlement.
Martha gulped. "We need to get out of the park."
Eris shook her head. "We can't. They're on all sides. They're driving everyone back towards us."
Tallulah's voice was shaking. "We're trapped."
In direct contrast, Solomon sounded strong, confident.
"Then we stand together. Gather round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together."
A huddle formed near the campfire, men surrounding the women and pointing their guns outward defensively.
"They can't take all of us."
Alien guns started to fire, but it was unclear where they were coming from.
"If we can just hold them off till daylight." Martha wrung her hands together, looking over as Eris slid a hand into hers. But the girl was staring up into the sky. Next to her, the Doctor groaned.
"Oh, Martha, they're just the foot soldiers."
And then she saw it. "Oh, my God."
One of the Daleks was flying. It had spent a few minutes circling the camp, starting just enough fires to stop the humans inside escaping, and then hovered menacingly in the air in front of them.
Solomon's eyes widened. "What in this world is?"
A young man behind them was crying.
"It's the devil. A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation."
Frank scoffed, cocking his gun. "Oh yeah? We'll see about that!"
He fired, but the shot bounced off the Dalek's casing with a clang, having done no damage whatsoever.
"That's not going to work." Eris hissed.
Martha pointed up. "There's more than one of them."
A second Dalek swooped in, and the two fired simultaneously, blowing up a couple of the nearest tents.
"The humans will surrender."
Taking this as his cue, the Doctor stepped forwards.
"Leave them alone. They've done nothing to you!"
"We have located the Doctor."
Solomon took a tentative step forwards, and the Doctor tried to hold him back.
"No, Solomon. Stay back."
He ignored the gesture.
"I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks. Is that right? From what I hear, you're outcasts too."
"Solomon, don't!"
"Doctor, this is my township. You will respect my authority. Just let me try." Then he raised his voice. "Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" He lowered his rifle in a show of surrender, and took another step forwards.
"Right. See, I've just discovered this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?"
The response he got was the expected one.
"Exterminate."
A burst of bluish-green energy, and Solomon dropped to the ground. Frank screamed.
"No! Solomon!"
Martha was shaking. "They killed him. They just shot him on the spot."
Enraged, Eris stepped out in front of the crowd.
"Go on then, take a shot!"
And they did. Martha screamed as the shot collided with her friend's shoulder - and then her breath vanished entirely as she stayed standing. How was it possible, after what the Daleks had done to Solomon?
"Come on, that was pitiful! Do it again, I dare you!"
The Doctor stepped up by her side and whispered something to her (Martha couldn't even read his lips, given the darkness) and she returned to the crowd. The moment that Eris was beside her again, Martha grabbed her hand.
"You really can't die."
"Yep." She managed a pained smile. "Lost my temper a bit and went for it. He'll definitely have a go at me later for it though."
Now, it was the Doctor's turn to offer himself up. His rage was equally as visible.
"Daleks! Alright, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!"
"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy." It almost sounded like the Dalek was gloating.
"Then do it! Do it! Just do it! Do it!"
"Exterminate."
But nothing happened. There was an odd pause, and then the Dalek said,
"I do not understand. It is the Doctor. The urge to kill is too strong."
Clearly, it was communicating with someone else - presumably the Daleks back in the lab.
"I obey."
"What's going on?"
"You will follow."
Concerned, he nodded and started to walk. Martha ran after him and grabbed his hand.
"No! You can't go."
"I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds."
"But what about us?"
He thought for a second, then pointed a warning finger up at the Daleks in the sky.
"One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?"
There was a pause as they received their orders.
"Humans will be spared. Doctor, follow."
"Then I'm coming with you."
He shook his head. "Martha, stay here. Keep an eye on Eris, try not to let her do anything stupid. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go. Oh, and can I just say, thank you very much."
And, taking her hand in both of his and winking, he walked off in the direction of the Empire State building. She looked down. He had left the psychic paper with her.
Once the Daleks had left the people of Hooverville in peace, the community gathered together to put out the fires that had cropped up. Martha had got herself set up with a small first aid kit in Solomon's tent, and was doing her best to help the people who'd been injured. Most of them weren't too bad, just some minor burns. Tallulah entered the tent with a pan of hot water while she was bandaging a man's wrist.
"Here you go. I got some more on the boil."
"Thanks. You'll be alright. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean."
The patient thanked her and left, almost bumping into Eris as she joined them, rubbing her shoulder.
Tallulah sighed. "So what about us? What do we do now?"
Eris sat down on the bed.
"The Daleks should be preoccupied with dad at the moment, which would give us the opportunity to do some digging without being interrupted. Trouble is, I have no idea where we should start.
Martha turned the little leather wallet over and over in her hands.
"The Doctor gave me this. He must have had a reason."
The contents just looked like a piece of blank paper, and Tallulah didn't understand.
"What's that for?"
"It gets you into places. Buildings and things. But where? He must want me to go somewhere but, what am I supposed to do?"
From the second that the Doctor set foot in the Dalek's lab, he exploded with rage.
"Those people were defenceless! You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you. You had to start killing, because that's the only thing a Dalek's good for."
"The deaths were wrong."
Dalek Sec's response hit him like a train, and his jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry?"
"That man, their leader, Solomon. He showed courage."
"And that's good?"
"That's excellent."
He raised an eyebrow. "Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?"
"You are the last of your kind, and now I am the first of mine."
"What do you want me for?"
Sec sighed. "We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak."
"Yeah, I found one of your experiments. Just left to die out there in the dark."
"It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet. Its people."
He threw a breaker switch and lit up the whole cavern, revealing hundreds of floating trays above, each of them supplied by thick bundles of wires and tubes. Hitting another button, one tray moved down so they could examine it.
"We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look inside."
The Doctor took hold of the sheet covering the familiar shape and pulled it back, revealing a man's face. He was paper-white. Sec's voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"This is the true extent of the Final Experiment."
"Is he dead?"
"Near death, with his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas."
"Dalek ideas." He really didn't like the sound of that.
"The Human Dalek race."
"All of these people. How many?"
Sec gestured around them.
"We have caverns beyond this storing more than a thousand."
"Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?"
"Everything they were has been lost."
The Doctor thought about what they were planning. "So they're like shells. You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How're you going to do it?"
"Open the conductor plan."
Still sat in Solomon's tent, something occurred to Martha.
"Wait a minute. Down in the sewers, the Daleks mentioned this energy conductor."
Tallulah frowned. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know. Maybe like a lightning conductor or-"
She jumped as Eris grabbed her arm hard. "Dalekanium!"
"Oh!"
And Martha remembered what they had heard earlier.
"They said the Dalekanium was in place."
"In place where?" Tallulah's question threw them off a little bit, and they fell silent for a moment. Then, Eris nodded.
"Frank might know."
The young man was sat on a low bench outside, his head in his hands. As they got closer, they could see the telltale redness around his eyes. It was no surprise that he'd been crying. Eris sat down next to him and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Frank?"
"Hmm?"
Martha crouched to be on his level. "That Mister Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?"
"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere."
"But where, though? What sort of things?"
Frank sniffled. "You name it. We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best."
"But what sort of building work?"
"Mainly building that."
He twisted slightly and pointed up at the Empire State building.
And suddenly, everything fell into place.
A large holographic image of the building above them was displayed on one of the screens, and the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Empire State Building. We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you've hijacked the whole building?"
Dalek Sec explained. "We needed an energy conductor."
"What for?"
"I am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes, and waken each body from its sleep."
"Gamma radiation? How are you going to get access to gamma radiation? What are you-" And then he realised. Of course, it was obvious really. "Oh, the sun. You're using the sun."
Sec nodded. "Soon the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes…"
"The army wakes. I still don't know what you need me for."
"Your genius. Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless."
"Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That's what your creator thought, all those years ago."
"He was wrong."
That stunned him into silence for a few moments.
"He was what?"
"It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh, and also the heart."
The Doctor couldn't believe his ears. "But you wouldn't be the supreme beings anymore."
"And that is good."
The other Daleks had been listening to their conversation, and clearly weren't happy with it.
"That is incorrect."
"Daleks are supreme."
Sec disagreed. "No, not anymore."
"But that is our purpose."
"Then our purpose is wrong. Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now then we deserve extinction."
The Doctor found himself almost speechless, and did his best to recover his senses.
"So you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek."
"If you can help me. Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts."
"But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you."
"I want to change the gene sequence."
He raised an eyebrow. "To make them even more human?"
"Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability."
"Hold on a minute." He gestured towards the other Daleks. "There's no way this lot are going to let you do it."
"I am their leader."
"Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?"
There was a slight pause, just long enough to make the Doctor worry a bit, before he got a response.
"Daleks must follow orders."
"Dalek Sec commands, we obey."
Dalek Sec was very nearly pleading. "If you don't help me, nothing will change."
The Doctor sighed. "There's no room on Earth for another race of people."
"You have your Tardis. Take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again."
Weighing up everything in his mind, he made his decision.
"When's that solar flare?"
"Eleven minutes."
"Right then. Better get to work."
Of all the places Martha Jones had imagined she might end up one day, the service lift of the half-built Empire State building wasn't one of them. She, along with Eris, Frank and Tallulah, were waiting anxiously as the rickety elevator took them all the way to the top.
"I always wanted to go to the Empire State. Never imagined it quite like this, though."
Frank looked down at her. "Where are we headed anyway?"
"The top, where they're still building."
Tallulah tapped the leather wallet in Martha's hand.
"How come those guys just let us through? How's that thing work?"
"Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we're two engineers, an electrician and an architect."
Eris smirked. "Dibs on being the architect!"
That got a laugh from the rest of them, albeit a slightly nervous sounding one.
The four of them reached the top workroom of the Empire State building and looked around. It was clearly used as a planning room, there were bits and pieces of building materials everywhere, and stacks of blueprints on one of the tables. Tallulah gasped at the view - one side of the room was open to the night sky, clearly in preparation for a window pane being inserted, and she could see the whole city through it.
"Look at this place. Top of the world."
Eris was more interested in the blueprints, and started rifling through the piles. Checking out one of the drawing boards, Frank spotted something.
"Hey, look at the date. These designs were issued today. They must've changed something last minute."
Martha joined him.
"You mean the Daleks changed something?"
"Yeah, could be."
Sighing, Eris put the papers down.
"These are all from a couple of weeks ago. There's got to be one around here somewhere that's more recent, especially if they changed something today."
Martha took the papers from the board, checking the others that had been clipped there.
"The ones underneath, they're from before. The next one down is only from two days ago. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not on this one. We need to check one against the other."
Their conversation was interrupted by Tallulah.
"The height of this place! This is amazing."
"Careful, we're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off."
"I just want to see."
She stepped out to the open area, holding her coat tightly closed, wonder in her eyes. Her city looked incredible. It was beautiful from the ground, with all it's buildings darting up into the sky; but from above! Everything looked so small, and all the lights twinkling in the dark reminded her of fairies, like the ones her mother had talked about in bedtime stories.
"New York City. If aliens had to come to Earth, oh, no wonder they came here."
Still not entirely comfortable with working side by side with his greatest enemies, the Doctor tried to focus on the science involved instead of his lab partners.
"There's no point in chromosomal grafting, it's too erratic. You need to split the genome and force the Dalek human sequence right into the cortex."
Dalek Sec turned to one of the other Daleks. "We need more chromatin solution."
"The pig slaves have it."
As ordered, four of the pigmen carried in a large crate filled with the container of chromatin liquid. Laszlo was with them, and the Doctor couldn't help but ask.
"These pig slaves, what happens to them in the grand plan?"
Sec shrugged. "Nothing. They're just simple beasts. Their lifespan is limited. None survive beyond a few weeks. Power up the line feeds."
His hearts sank - he had expected as much. Once he got a free moment, he whispered to Laszlo.
"Laszlo, I can't undo what they've done to you, but they won't do it to anyone else."
The man was watching the human Dalek warily.
"Do you trust him?"
"I know that one man can change the course of history. Right idea in the right place at the right time, it's all it takes. I've got to believe it's possible."
Eris and Martha spread the blueprints out across the floor so they could see every single sheet. Tallulah, noticing that a storm was brewing outside, came back in to join them. Frank was chewing at his lip, looking at all the possible hiding places and entrances that could be used. He didn't like how exposed they were.
"I'll go and keep an eye out. Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody butting in."
Eris nodded, and Tallulah squatted down.
"There's a hell of a storm moving in."
Martha sighed, running a finger over the lines on the nearest drawing.
"I wish the Doctor was here. He'd know what we're looking for."
Tugging a slim pen torch from her boot, Eris laid on her front and lit the first diagram up.
"We can work this out, trust me. Logically, something has to be here."
Naturally, Tallulah was more interested in the details of Martha's relationship with the Doctor.
"So tell me, where did you and him first hook up?"
"It was in a hospital, sort of." She shrugged.
"Of course, him being a doctor."
"Actually, I'm a doctor. Well, kind of."
Tallulah laughed. "You're a physician? Really?"
"I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home."
"You could be doctors together. Oh, what a partnership. Oh, it's such a shame. If only he wasn't so different. You know what I mean?"
Martha sighed. "Oh, you have no idea how different he really is."
"Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart. That's different enough."
She glanced at Eris, but the girl seemed too engrossed in the architectural drawings to listen to their conversation. Still, she lowered her voice a little.
"He had this companion a while back, well they both did. This friend. And ever since then it's just been the two of them. I think it's been like that before, and they're such a good team. But you know, sometimes I say something or do something and he looks at me, and I just sort of think that he's not seeing me. He's just remembering. She's done it too a couple of times, but she always shakes it off and tries to keep me more involved afterwards. He just… seals himself off."
"Oh. Listen, sweetheart. You want to get all sad? You want to have a contest with me and Laszlo?"
"No. But listen, if the Doctor's with Laszlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out."
Tears started to pool in the corner of Tallulah's eyes.
"And then what? Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it."
"The line feeds are ready."
The Doctor nodded. "Then it's all systems go."
Dalek Sec watched the scanners. "The solar flare is imminent. The radiation will reach Earth in a matter of minutes."
"We'll be ready for it." He filled a large syringe with a blue liquid and injected it into a brass still, combining it with the previous contents. "That compound will allow the gene bonds to reconfigure in a brand new pattern. Power up!"
Two pigmen threw the sets of breakers - one of them was Laszlo, and he watched the Doctor anxiously.
"Start the line feeds." Sec ordered.
The liquid started to travel up clear plastic tubes, hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, all heading to the bodies above. It bubbled as it went, surging upwards.
"There goes the gene solution." Smiled the Doctor, hoping beyond hope that his screaming gut instincts were wrong.
Sec looked on.
"The life blood."
The three girls were still hunched over the building plans, squinting at the tiny details and pencil annotations. Martha was the first to spot the difference.
"Gotcha. Look. There, on the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?"
Tallulah nodded. "Added what?"
And then they spoke in union.
"Dalekanium!"
There was a slight crash as Eris shot to her feet, knocking over one of the easel boards. She was rummaging through her jacket pockets with a slightly wild look on her face, and eventually pulled out a small roll of brown leather. Martha's eyebrows were raised so high that she was surprised they hadn't fallen off her face.
"What are you doing?"
Eris unrolled the thing to reveal a selection of polished silver tools.
"Lock picking set. If the Daleks had that Dalekanium put up there, they did it for a reason. And whatever that reason is, it probably means bad things for us. I'm going to try and detach the plates."
She didn't wait for an answer before running to the ladder on the little balcony and starting to climb.
Down in the lab, as they stood and watched the chromatin solution flow towards the bodies, a klaxon started to wail. The Doctor didn't like the sound.
"What's that?"
Dalek Sec seemed equally confused. "What's happening? Is there a malfunction? Answer me!"
Checking the nearest screen, the Doctor realised what had happened.
"No, no, no. The gene feed! They're overriding the gene feed!"
"Impossible. They cannot disobey orders."
The first Dalek aimed it's gun-arm. "The Doctor will step away from the controls."
"Stop! You will not fire."
"He is an enemy of the Daleks. And so are you."
The Daleks then turned their weapons on their former leader, and he looked outraged.
"I am your commander. I am Dalek Sec."
"You have lost your authority."
"You are no longer a Dalek."
Still watching the process, the Doctor asked. "What have you done with the gene feed?"
"The new bodies will be one hundred percent Dalek."
Sec gasped. "No. You can't do this!"
"Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor."
Fighting his way through the pack, Laszlo made sure that he was the one to take hold of the Doctor. He had a plan to get them both out of here, and he really hoped that the Doctor was on the same wavelength. Dalek Sec struggled fruitlessly, still weak.
"Release me. I created you. I am your master."
Another alarm sounded, and one of the Daleks turned to check what it was.
"Solar flare approaching."
"Prepare to intercept."
A soft ding behind them made Laszlo hide a smile, and he muttered to the Doctor.
"There's the lift."
"After you."
Satisfied that the Daleks were occupied with the impending gamma strike, they made a run for it, just about making it into the lift before being noticed.
"The Doctor is escaping. Stop him! Stop him!"
The lift doors slammed shut in the pigmen's faces, and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief.
"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth. We need to get to the top of the building. Laszlo, what's wrong?"
Laszlo was leaning heavily against the side of the lift, shaking and breathing heavily.
"Out of breath. It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters."
The Doctor wasn't entirely convinced, but left the conversation there.
As the lift doors opened, Martha smiled wide enough to split her face in two.
"Doctor!"
"First floor, perfumery." He grinned.
Tallulah set eyes on Laszlo and sighed, running at him for a hug.
"I never thought I'd see you again."
"No stopping me." His smile was slightly weak, but she didn't seem to notice.
Martha updated him on what they'd learned.
"We've worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast. And it's good to see you too, by the way."
"Oh, come here."
The Doctor swept her off her feet, but the moment didn't last long - the lift doors closed again, and they heard it descending.
"No, no, no. See, never waste time with a hug. Deadlock seal. I can't stop it."
"Where's it going?"
"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?"
Frank glanced at the clock. "Er, eleven fifteen."
He nodded. "Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits." And then, he noticed what was missing from the room - or rather, who was missing. "Where's Eris?"
Martha pointed towards the open space at the other end of the room.
"She's gone up to deal with the panels."
As the Doctor ran out to see how she had managed to get up there, Tallulah followed, bewildered.
"Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?"
The Doctor gulped, staring at the view.
"Oh, that's high. That's very… blimey, that's high."
Martha pointed up the ladder - it didn't look particularly secure.
"And we've got to go even higher. That's the mast up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We've got to get them off."
He shouted up, hoping his daughter would hear.
"Eris!"
The reply was faint, and almost got blown away in the wind.
"Hello?"
"What the hell are you doing up there?"
"Trying to shift the panels!"
"How?"
"Lock picking kit!"
He laughed- that was typical of Eris - and put a hand on the ladder, before frowning as Martha did the same.
"That's not we, that's just me."
She glared. "I won't just stand here and watch you."
"No, you're going to have your hands full anyway. I'm sorry, Martha, but you've got to fight."
And he left her down there, climbing all the way up.
Martha jogged back into the room and Frank pointed up at the lift light. She groaned.
"The lift's coming up."
"I should have brought that gun."
Laszlo moved to stand in front of the group, squaring up.
"Tallulah, stay back. You too, Martha. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill."
"The Doctor needs me to fight, so I'm not going anywhere!"
"They're savages. I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth."
He moved to lift a heavy looking hammer, but staggered slightly and fell to the ground. Tallulah gasped.
"Laszlo? What is it?"
"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me."
"Oh, honey, you're burning up. What's wrong with you? Tell me."
He slumped, looking a little dazed. Frank glanced down at him and picked up the hammer himself.
"Great. One man down, we ain't even started yet."
Martha was shaking. "It's not looking good, Frank."
"Nope."
"We're going to get slaughtered."
Thunder cracked in the sky outside, and lightning flared - and an idea sprung into her head.
"Wait a minute. Lightening."
Thinking the same thing, Frank helped her to drag in long scaffolding poles and set them up across some of the chairs to form a link between the lift and the outside structure. Tallulah, still sitting by Laszlo's side, looked up at the two of them.
"Aw, you'll be all right, sweetheart. Don't you worry. What the hell are you two clowns doing?"
Martha explained. "Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still going to get hit. Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped."
The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh my God, that could work."
Frank gestured towards the poles. "Then give us a hand!"
"Is that going to work?"
"It's got to." Martha nodded.
Frank finished the setup. "I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside."
"Come here, Frank. Just sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal."
Upon reaching the top of the ladder and getting onto the top platform, the Doctor saw Eris straining to dislodge one of the Dalekanium panels, the muscles in her arms standing out. She'd already managed to remove one of them. He pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and dashed to her aid.
"We haven't got long left!"
"I know, but these two are stuck! The metal's seized!"
They tried together, using a combination of sonic power and brute strength, but had no luck. Those last panels weren't going to budge. And then to make matters worse, the sonic slipped out of his freezing hands and rolled off the side of the platform into the blackness below. Having kept a part of his mind occupied with counting down to the strike, the Doctor realised that they definitely weren't going to get them off in time. Thinking fast, he pushed Eris down and slammed her hand onto a secure looking piece of wood, making her grip it firmly.
"Hold on tight, the strike is coming."
"But what are you going to do?"
"The exact same."
And he wrapped his arms around the mast, squeezing his eyes shut as the lightning struck.
Downstairs, the electricity fizzled along the piping. The lift doors opened to reveal a herd of pigmen, and the humans in the middle of the floor flinched backwards, huddling tightly. Before the creatures could exit the lift, the electricity made contact, and they convulsed, collapsing onto the floor. There was a sudden silence. Like nothing had ever moved up there in the first place.
The group stood up, all of them shaking, staring at the inside of the lift. The ten pigmen that had arrived to attack them were all dead.
"You did it, Martha." Tallulah managed a smile, but Martha looked forlorn.
"They used to be like Laszlo. They were people, and I killed them."
Laszlo rested a hand on her shoulder. "No, the Daleks killed them. Long ago."
She nodded, then realised that both of her friends were far more exposed than she had been.
"What about Eris and the Doctor?"
Eris coughed, rubbing at her chest as she sat up. She felt completely fried - and she hadn't even been struck! Her head was fuzzy, her ears ringing. Dizzy, she tried to crawl towards the unconscious shape on the other side of the platform, and reached him in the same moment that Martha's head popped up. She had the sonic screwdriver in her left hand, and she tapped it against the Doctor's chest.
"Doctor! Doctor? Look what we found halfway down. You're getting careless."
He groaned, opening his eyes.
"Oh my head."
Eris smiled, wincing a little. "Hey you."
"Hi. And Martha! You survived, then."
A laugh from Martha. "So did you, just about. I can't help noticing there's Dalekanium still attached."
He craned his neck to see that she was exactly right, and groaned.
It took them a few minutes to get back down to the top room again; Frank had been halfway up the ladder when Martha had decided to come down, which had made for a slightly awkward collision on the rungs. And then it took the Doctor and Eris a little longer to get back down, both of them still sore and shaky from the strike. Once they were back on solid ground, the Doctor took over.
"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan."
Laszlo frowned. "How do we stop them?"
"There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first."
Martha raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but what does that mean?"
Eris' eyes widened slightly, but she said nothing as her dad continued. She'd worked out his plan, but saying something about it now might not be the best idea - of course, they had no idea whether or not the Daleks were listening in.
"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Where can I draw them out? Think, think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space. Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!"
The girl jumped slightly. "That's me. Three Ls and an H."
"The theatre! It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"
"Don't see why not."
He approached the left, grimacing as he remembered what had come up in it.
"Is there another lift?"
Martha nodded towards a door to the next corridor. "We came up in the service elevator."
"That'll do. Allons-y!"
He turned back and grinned at Eris.
"I like that, it sounds good. Allons-y!"
As he headed for the lift she rolled her eyes at the others, getting a laugh from them as they followed.
Tallulah managed to break them into the theatre, and the little group stood in the stalls. The Doctor was standing on a chair in the row in front, messing about with the sonic screwdriver.
"This should do it. Here we go."
Tallulah held her coat tightly around her.
"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark. Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and place, huh?"
Next to her, Laszlo dropped onto one of the chairs, panting a little.
"Laszlo, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just so hot."
"But it's freezing in here. Doctor, what's happening to him?"
He didn't even turn around to look at them. "Not now, Tallulah. Sorry."
Eris laid a hand against Laszlo's forehead, frowning a little at the temperature. She smiled reassuringly at him.
"It might just be the stress of today getting to you a bit, making your immune system kick up a bit of a fuss. Take it easy for a moment, you should be okay."
She looked up at Martha, and gave a small head shake. Something definitely wasn't right with him. Martha nodded, turning to watch as the Doctor worked.
"What are you doing?"
"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am."
He found the right frequency, switching the screwdriver on. Then, he glanced down at the others.
"You need to leave. It's going to get messy in here, it's not safe." Martha scoffed, and he pointed a warning finger at her. "I'm telling you to go. Frank can take you back to Hooverville."
"And I'm telling you I'm not going."
"Martha, that's an order."
"Who are you, then? Some sort of Dalek?"
Eris tried to step in between them, but before she could defuse the tension the doors to the theatre were snapped from their hinges as lines of people marched in from both sides, hemming them in. Each of them held a Dalek gun-arm, and stared ahead emotionlessly. She groaned.
"So it worked."
Tallulah gasped. "Doctor! Oh, my God! Well, I guess that's them then, huh?"
Martha stared at the blank-faced troops. "Humans, with Dalek DNA?"
The Doctor turned to reassure them.
"It's all right, it's all right. Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."
Eris nodded. "Don't get too close to them either. We don't know what their orders are."
Having recovered a little, Laszlo looked around and frowned.
"But what of the Dalek masters? Where are they?"
There was an explosion on the stage, and two of the Daleks appeared. Dalek Sec was on his hands and knees, heavily chained.
"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks."
Shooting the others a reassuring smile, he walked forwards over the top of the seats until he stood four rows from the front.
"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age."
The second Dalek joined in. "Planet Earth will become New Skaro."
His response was scathing. "Oh, and what a world. With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"
Dalek Sec sounded breathless.
"My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."
"Incorrect. We will always survive. Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor."
"But he can help you."
"The Doctor must die."
"No, I beg you, don't."
"Exterminate!"
Just as the Dalek fired, Sec struggled to his feet and stumbled into the line of fire, convulsing in pain before dropping to the stage. Dead.
"Your own leader. The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." He turned to address the gun-toting humans. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is? If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptise them."
"Dalek humans, take aim."
They cocked their weapons, aiming at the Doctor. He spread his arms out in surrender.
"What are you waiting for? Give the command!"
"Exterminate!"
He tensed, ready for the first shots, but nothing happened.
"Exterminate!"
"Obey. Dalek humans will obey."
Up on the stage, the Daleks were clearly getting agitated. A smile grew on Eris' face as she realised exactly what had happened. Martha didn't quite understand.
"They're not firing. What have you done?"
"You will obey. Exterminate."
The man at the front of the line on the right hand side tilted his head to one side.
"Why?"
"Daleks do not question orders."
"But why?"
"You will stop this."
"But why?"
"You must not question."
"But you are not our master. And we… we are not Daleks."
The Doctor smirked, folding his arms.
"No, you're not. And you never will be. Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."
The Dalek on the left side of the stage spoke, "If they will not obey, then they must die." and fired, shooting the foreman who had dared to speak up.
Sensing the conflict that was about to start, Eris dragged Laszlo to the floor, then pushed both the girls down.
"Stay low! They aren't targeting us but you don't want to risk getting caught in the crossfire!"
The Doctor dropped and covered his head as the Daleks and their failed human counterparts fired on each other.
"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"
A combination of several blasts from the Dalek-humans blew up the first Dalek.
"Extermin-"
The second was blown up before it could even finish it's statement, and the theatre fell quiet. Moving slowly, the group sheltering in the seats stood up, ears ringing a little.
The Doctor approached the Dalek-humans cautiously, keeping his hands palm up so they could see he wasn't armed.
"It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. You did it. You're free."
Before he could reach them, a high pitched oscillating sound bounced around the room, and the mutant humans clutched at their heads. Every single one of them dropped to their knees and keeled over as the others watched on in shock. The Doctor was furious.
"No! They can't! They can't! They can't! They can't!"
Martha was horrified, instinctively clutching at Eris' hand for support.
"What happened? What was that?"
"They killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide." There was acid in his voice as he rejoined them.
Laszlo looked a little wobbly, but did his best to keep upright.
"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed. One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."
"Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one."
Eris squeezed her dad's hand as they walked into the entrance of the Daleks' laboratory, both tensing as they saw the final Dalek wired into the panels.
"Now what?" The Doctor's voice was cold, flat.
"You will be exterminated."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just think about it, Dalek what was your name?"
"Dalek Caan. "
A note of anger crept into his voice.
"Dalek Caan. Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you."
He felt Eris tiptoe to whisper in his ear.
"Breathe. You have the high ground here. Be the better man."
And so he did. Taking a moment to calm his emotions, he started again.
"Right now you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. Because I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another. Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"
Unfortunately, the Dalek's response was far from what they had wanted.
"Emergency temporal shift!"
It vanished in a flash of light, leaving tangles of wiring behind. But they didn't have time for frustration. Martha and Tallulah burst through the doors behind them, supporting Laszlo as the man struggled to stay upright.
"Doctor! Doctor! He's sick."
Together, the four of them helped the wheezing pigman to sit down.
"It's okay. You're all right." Martha lowered her voice a little as Eris leant in to examine him. "It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."
Tallulah had tears in her eyes.
"What is it, Doctor? What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?"
Laszlo shook his head, breathing heavily.
"It's time, sweetheart."
"What do you mean, time? What are you talking about?"
"None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now, I'm dying, Tallulah."
"No, you're not. Not now, after all this. Doctor, can't you do something?"
The Doctor stood up straight.
"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H, just you watch me! What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one. Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today." He pulled over a small wheeled trolley and started gathering flasks of liquid and bits of equipment on top of it.
"Eris, keep him stable."
"Gotcha." She rolled up one of Laszlo's sleeves in preparation for a blood sample as he continued.
"Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that? Not one. Tallulah, out of the way. The Doctor is in."
Three hours. Three long, agonising hours of Tallulah pacing back and forth in the corridor and Martha chewing at her nails. Neither of them had any idea what was going on in the lab. They had been able to hear noises from time to time - loud beeps, the clunk of machinery, metal on metal. But they were none the wiser as to the progress being made. Tallulah eventually stopped pacing and sat down next to Martha, resting her head on the other girl's shoulder. She had almost fallen asleep when the doors to the lab opened, and Eris stepped out. The brunette had taken off her jacket and rolled up her sleeves; her forehead shone with sweat and she looked absolutely exhausted.
Tallulah shot to her feet.
"Is he okay? What's going on in there?"
A smile tugged at the corners of Eris' mouth, and she reached back to knock a jaunty rhythm on the doors. They opened, and Laszlo walked out. He stood tall, breathing easily. And, looking closely, it was obvious that his face had changed a little too. The snout looked a little more nose-like, and his teeth were far less prominent. He grinned as Tallulah threw herself at him. The Doctor followed him out of the lab, looking just as tired as his daughter, and Tallulah hugged him too.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"It was my pleasure."
Martha was amazed. "How did you fix him?"
He shrugged. "It was fairly simple once we'd isolated the pig gene. All we had to do past that point was re-adjust the chromatin solution and use an inverse splicing method to-" The look of confusion on her face made him laugh.
"We just about managed it, and that's what matters."
They waited, apprehensive in one corner of Central Park, as Frank walked towards them. He'd been in discussion with the residents of Hooverville for a long time now, and the suspense was awful. Laszlo looked particularly nervous - understandably - as he shrunk back into his trench coat.
Frank had his hands deep in his pockets, and in the dim afternoon light looked older than he had done when thye'd last seen him.
"Well, I talked to them, and I told them what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them."
The Doctor desperately hoped their plan had worked.
"What did they say?"
"They said yes. They'll give you a home, Laszlo. I mean, er, don't imagine people ain't going to stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain't got nowhere else."
Tallulah squealed and threw her arms around Frank, kissing his cheek before doing the same for her boyfriend. The relief on the man's face was obvious, and he let out a deep breath.
"Thank you. I can't thank you enough."
The trio made their way back to the Tardis, standing outside to get one last view of the city. Martha looked a little worried.
"Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?"
The Doctor grinned.
"I don't know. Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York? That's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too."
Leaning against him, Eris grinned.
"The pig and the showgirl."
"The pig and the showgirl."
Heart racing a little, Martha decided to drop a hint.
"It just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone."
It didn't exactly have the desired effect. His expression didn't really change, and a slightly odd look crossed Eris' face.
"Maybe."
She changed the subject.
"How's your shoulder doing?"
Eris grinned, showing her the pale skin and singed bra strap through the hole in her shirt.
"All better. Like nothing ever happened."
"You amaze me."
"Won't lie, I amaze myself half of the time."
The three of them laughed, before Martha returned to a slightly more sobering topic.
"Meant to say, I'm sorry."
Confused, the Doctor frowned down at her. "What for?"
"Just because that Dalek escaped. I know what that means to you. Think you'll ever see it again?"
His smile faded a little, and he opened the Tardis door.
"Oh, yes. One day."
They filed inside, all dwelling on the one that got away.
See you soon, and happy reading!
Much love,
Azzie xx