3. Chloe's Task.
Chloe arrives in a small storeroom. Some equipment is humming gently. A small sign flashes and tells her its likely purpose.
"Tardis Repulsion. Operational," it says when she looks at it. .
Chloe looks at the equipment. How can it tell that I looked at it? she thinks. .
She tries shielding her eyes from different parts of the equipment and after a short time she notices a tiny camera, centrally mounted, below the sign.
How do I turn it off? she wonders. It isn't the main thrust of her mission today, but it seems a useful thing to do - it might help the Doctor sometime. A small switch is all it takes.
A decade or two earlier, this equipment had required a large room to house it (ref. 14).
Switching it off now happens to permit the Doctor's Tardis to land (in the previous chapter).
The camera unsettles Chloe. If there are tiny cameras even in small storerooms, won't it be bristling with cameras everywhere else?
But then, if this one was only checking for a likely lifeform being present and looking at it, won't most of the other cameras be similarly purely performing their own individual tasks?
She finds space to lie down behind the equipment. Maybe it's safe in here? Yet something tells her the Daleks will discover that someone has turned off the Tardis repulsion system and they'll come looking.
Being caught in the storeroom where something happened might not be a great idea. Chloe looks at her map. Another similar small storeroom, some distance away, catches her eye. She thinks of it and activates her wristwatch transport...
This second small room appears not to be used for relegated equipment. A line of Dalek computer racks stands in the middle of the room with flashing lights behind darkened glass panels. A few of the panels appear to be broken and have been left unreplaced. Scorch marks show this damage might have been done by a Dalek. There are no spiders' webs to show how long ago this might have been, but then might there not be any spiders on Skaro, Chloe wonders? A mouse dropping alerts her to other possible inhabitants. Maybe a Dalek had taken a pot shot at a rodent?
A glance around the back of the line of computer racks confirms the resident rodent is still alive and active. A small rat is gnawing at a brace of cables connecting through to another room. It seems annoyed that the cable can go through the wall, but it can't! .
Feeling the scorch marks on the equipment, Chloe finds them to still be warm to the touch. This isn't a safe room to be in either! She consults her map.
A sound outside the doorway alerts her to the prospect of meeting a Dalek. She thinks of the adjacent small room and activates her wristwatch transport...
Chloe sees the brace of cables going through the wall to the previous room and pulls it. The remaining few cables break and the rat scampers through. It's startled to see Chloe and rushes off to hide behind yet another line of Dalek computer racks.
A hissing sound comes from the next small room. They're trying to gas the poor creature! she thinks. She steps behind the computer racks and finds the rat happens to be against her ankle, trembling.
Consulting her map, Chloe thinks of another small room some distance away... This time the rat travels with her!
A Dalek stands with its back to Chloe. She's alarmed but relieved... But it's talking with another Dalek that's out of view.
"We've had a number of minor happenings on your shift, Dalek Ent, see that it doesn't happen again!"
This seems unfair to Chloe, but the Daleks are rarely fair!
"Yes, Dalek Rav. I dealt with all that went wrong appropriately."
"Alright, you may stand down. Your replacement will arrive shortly. Dalek Bur is dealing with a rodent issue but will arrive here to relieve you. You may go now."
Chloe notices a small desk with a Dalek computer keyboard on it. She hides behind it and finds the rat has already taken cover there. It looks at her. She smiles and slowly nods her head to the side. This seems to take the tension out of the encounter and Chloe wonders if the Dalek is still there. She peers around the desk and discovers it's rolling slowly her way!
She crawls to the other side of the desk and hides there instead. So does the rat.
The Dalek stands at the keyboard and operates a few keys. Chloe wishes she knew how the Dalek equipment worked! Now isn't an appropriate moment to ask! .
Maybe this is a good moment for her to pop home and rest while thinking where to go next.
She checks the rat isn't near her, thinks of home and activates her wristwatch transport.
At home, Chloe is pleased to find there are now some chairs in the lounge which had been barren before. Her father, Devyon, must have been busy!
As she studies her pocket plan of Skaro, her father enters.
"Home at last?" he quips. He knows it's unlikely Chloe will be staying for long. "Cuppa?" he asks hopefully, ready to create whatever drink she wants.
"I'd better not, Dad," she says. "I'll be off out in a jiffy."
"Where's Skaro?" Devyon asks inquisitively, peering over her shoulder.
Chloe thinks for a moment before replying. "Somewhere I'm trying to improve." .
"Wristwatch travel?"
"Of course. Dad, I'm trying to choose just where to go next!"
Devyon can't resist one last jibe before he goes.
"If they've got a swimming pool, see if they have a sauna!" .
"Thanks, Dad," Chloe says as nonchalantly as she can. .
A Dalek sauna seems extremely unlikely! .
As Chloe has no idea where the Daleks might store copies of the plans, and the device the Doctor gave her isn't working. She decides she must just go for destroying the central store. This is now likely to be a computer, protected against electromagnetic pulses but with some sort of backup devices. She must look for those.
She marks up her maps with her recently gleaned knowledge. It seems like a drop in the ocean. Even if she looks in every room the Daleks have and adds the contents list to the map, the Daleks may well move everything around before such knowledge might be of use!
Before finalising her location to rematerialise, she looks at the possibility of arriving behind a panel, but all panels have no significant space behind them to be in – no Dalek would ever want or need to go behind a panel!
She resolves that if she is spotted, she will leave immediately and return to an earlier time somewhere else.
There seems to be only one place for her to arrive. In the secure central strong room itself.
As no information exists as to the locations of furniture or equipment in there, she must just guess and hope, but there's likely to be at least one Dalek in there, so she decides to hide near a wall and hope there's some cover for her!
Chloe thinks hard about this decision and finally thinks of the location and activates her wristwatch transport...
A risky decision!
