A Holiday on Skaro Part 2
I have always been one to help a friend. So, when Mikey not so subtly suggested that he wanted to go back to Skaro, (It had to do with that big smoking hole in the TARDIS console.) I didn't argue much. Well, let's face it, having a teed off dalek about was not exactly a good thing. Besides, he wasn't much of a conversationalist. There is only so much you can get out of shrieks such as "Exterminate!" and "I am the superior being here. we will do things my way!" (It was fun to get those longer statements out of him in a single shriek!) Yet, somehow, I was rather regretful to let him go. One only had to know how to talk to him to get him to do what was wanted. Just make out that it was his idea, and he'd do it. This is how I got him convinced to get some live meat for Miriel, Alandis, and myself. I just suggested that it was a good time to practice his shooting skills. Of course, it didn't hurt much to appeal to his sadistic side, so that the game was still alive when Alandis got to it. One must keep a vampire well fed, even if he is disgusted with me. His chemistry work could only do so much.
After several unsuccessful attempts and more blasts to the console, we finally arrived at Skaro (with a Dunkin Donut go bag in hand). Now, could I really help it that the coordinates I gave the TARDIS and the destination did not exactly match! Anyway, after I made a collection of several things, that should prove helpful with the thals, with Miriel and K-9 in tow, we decided that we would make contact with the thals first. This adventure should prove quite interesting to me. The last I heard of the thals, they were a bunch of blonde blue eyed folk!
K-9 carried the precious program that the three great computer minds had come up with. (The daleks were in trouble!) The thals could help us out with getting rid of the bugs in the program. I suggested a can of Raid, but the blast from Mikey told me that that was the wrong kind of bug. So, I tied K-9 to the back of the motor scooter, and we were off across the desert.
Everything was going fine until we were half a mile from the woods, and the motor scooter gave out a disgusting sputtering noise (and a more disgusting smell, I might well add), and we made a dead stop. With the combination of the three of great mechanical minds at hand, I ended up pushing it for the last half mile. After we finally reached the forest, I whipped out the lock and chain. I really didn't want ot lose my means of transportation to a wandering thal. Nevermind that it wasn't exactly mine in the first place. I just kind of borrowed it a couple of years ago, and I haven't had time to return it. Troublesome companions and all, you know. Oh well, when I get around to it, I will just have to back up a few minutes after it disappeared in the first place. Ah, the advantages of time travel. Besides, I may find some gorgeously mechanically inclined thal to help these ladies in distress! After I chained the motor scooter to a sturdy tree, Miriel and I shouldered our packs, and I tied my leash to K-9's tail.
We proceeded in the dark woods with its heavy over hanging branches and sinister noises, that sometimes sounded like large explosions and the ping of projectiles. After K-9 got caught on several wires crossing our paths and I cut them apart, so he could pass, I decided that Miriel could carry him. What are companions for anyway. For a long time, we trekked through the treacherous woods. Finally, we came upon a pleasant little clearing. So, I decided it was time to feed my demanding stomach. I pulled out the grand supply of Twinkies, and I munched thoughtfully until my quiet happy repose was disturbed by my Twinkie being wisked away by a laser bolt. Miriel and I froze our movements, K-9 wagged his tail. We were soon surrounded by six thal men with quite sizeable blasters ( that didn't bade well for their welcoming personalities) aimed directly at us. ( That didn't bade well for the heriones.)
Miriel looked shocked. K-9 made a crude noise, and I was teed off! (No one disturbs my Twinkie Time!) I scrutinized the tall not so good smelling young thal, with a dirty grey t-shirt with "Number Splattered" written on it with multiple marks afterwards. The green marks didn't bother me as much as the red ones did.
I stood up and glared at the insolent thal. "How am I to finish out my important mission when you blast good wholesome food from my hand. You know the Alegres of Millipsee 7 would give an arm for that Twinkie!" (As if that was some great prize! After all, the Alegres had fifty arms apiece, and they would readily regenerate a new one. Besides, what would I do with an Alegre arm anyway! But the thals didn't know this.)
The thal aimed his blaster. Miriel shook off her startlement and stood beside me. "We came to seek your leaders. We need to talk to them. We might be able to help you against the daleks," she said softly.
The leader thal made several hand motions ending in a fist. The thals took aim at us, then suddenly they all fell with a blue flash. Another party of blonde, none too good smelling thal females came, threw the unconscious thal men over their shoulders and left. Miriel and I looked at each other puzzled, and K-9 made circles. We shrugged and moved forward.
We came to a city. It was a city of tall gleaming white buildings of shining glass. Each building was about twenty stories tall and was as about wide as it was tall. There was a marking of a name scrawled across the buildings. They were frivolous names, such as "Mysan block" (Mysan was a highly allergenic type of flower that prospered on Skaro.), "Big Rock Block", "Sun Block", and such like. Generally, it was a bunch of boring names like street names.
We came to the gates and walls of the city. The gates were made of unbreakable glass, that reflected the sun. there were two tall blonde, lanky, and a whole lot better smelling than the thals we just met in the woods. They were dark complected and neatly attired in uniforms. They aimed their guns at us also.
"Hi there!" I chirped with a wide grin. They looked at us puzzled. "We would like you to take us to your leader," I added in the cliche science fiction phrase, "and have a good meal. I just lost my lunch to some marauding smelly thals! What a welcoming party! Where are the manners of the thals nowadays."
The thal guards were not impressed. The leader motioned to his companion, who called up reenforcements on a portable telephone. Within moments, we were tied, gagged, and thrown over the shoulders of a couple of hefty thal men. This was really a lousy welcoming party! I had the distinct feeling that they really did not like us. We were thrown in a none too gentle manner into a glass cubicle. Four guards took station at each of the corners. A guard at the head and to the right worked a remote control, and the cube began to float along. I managed to roll over and saw Miriel in the opposite corner. She was sitting up. K-9 was in a corner on his head and was hog tied. I moved to sit up, and the cube bobbed and swayed. I managed to ungag myself and do some redecorating with the half the Twinkie that I had managed to eat. What can I say. I was cube sick.
The thals took us to an opened area inside one of the buildings. It was dark and an opened empty room like a gymnasium. A spotlight flashed down on our cube and illuminated Miriel, K-9, and me. Miriel had by now managed to ungag herself, but unlike me, she managed to keep her lunch. Finally, a light shone on an official looking thal in a grey suit. He was a thin grey haired thal with piercing sea blue eyes. A younger muscular built young thal, with an innocent looking farm boy face, stood at this official looking thal's side. I was intrigued.. This younger thal was tall, clean shaven, and had bright sapphire eyes, that could melt a girl. He wore a white lab coat with multiple deep pockets, bulging with multiple scientific instruments. He was munching on some crunchy snack in a white bag, that made my stomach protest further, especially since half my Twinkie now lay in the corner of our prison. Three others stood behind these two. They were dressed in military uniforms and carried blasters.
The thal in the grey suit motioned to the thals behind him. We were bodily dragged out of the cube and thrown on the floor. K-9 left a gift for these thals, too, and we heard him make a homerun in it.
The guard pulled us off of the floor and went to search us. K-9 and Rassilon came to our rescue. K-9 shot a fork and nailed the thal that searched Miriel. He yelped and pulled the fork from his behind. Rassilon saved me and the guard, who wasn't all that good looking for a blonde older thal man, from the endless search of my vast pockets. My guard pulled out what 'once was' a half eaten ham sandwich with an interesting new and unique orange fungus growing on it. Rassilon was attached at the other end.. My rat companion, feeling about food as I do, ran up the sandwich and bit the thal. Taking his sandwich back, he dove back into my pocket.
The third guard trained his blaster on us. Our searching guards pulled back from my companions' attacks. The four guard, that had accompanied us here, aimed their blasters at us also. This had not been a good day.
"Please, wait!" Miriel cried out with her hands held out, "We are friends of the Doctor. From what the Rodent has told me of the Doctor's adventures, he has often helped your people."
The leader in the grey suit held up his hands and the guards backed off of us. The scientist thal crumpled his empty bag and stuffed it the official thal's pocket. The older thal shot an angry glare at him. The scientist gave an embarrassed smile. The official turned to us. "Prove your words."
I smiled brightly. "K-9 was a gift to me," I answered, "He has the Doctor's signature on his bottom."
One on the thals looks puzzled. He put his gun to one side and rolled the dog over. "This is the esteemed property of the Doctor. Please, return if lost" was carved on the bottom. K-9 was always lost, and he still had not been returned.
I dug through my pockets. A guard threatened me with a gun, but the leader held up his hand. The guard pulled back. I came up with a ring. It was engraved on the back, "To the Doctor with love, Zodan". Somehow I had the feeling this may be why the Doctor left Gallifrey in the first place. I mean, after all, he didn't seem upset when Rassilon took it.
The official thal nodded. I shrugged and took back my ring. "I also have evidence in our bags that may help my friend Mikey out, if I may have an audience with your leader."
The thal smiled. "You may impart your information to me. I am the leader of Racar."
"I would like to talk in a more private and comfortable place," I answered, "with a bit to eat would be nice."
"You aren't mutos or psychos. Although we feel you may be borderline. We weren't sure for awhile there, mind you. You are far too fair complected to be a kaled," (compared to what Alandis had to say about me!) "but you could be a rebel. Your companion is dark enough for a kaled, though."
"I thought the kaleds no longer existed. I thought they were all daleks now," I commented.
"Not all," the scientist answered, as he looked us over. "Some of the kaleds were out on special missions elsewhere on the planet, and there were a good thirty or more spies in our city during the great war." He looked Miriel up and down. "You look like a kaled, but you don't dress like a kaled. Neither do you dress like the rebel faction."
"Rebel faction?" Miriel asked.
The scientist stood back and waved his hand at her. "You know. The thals and the kaleds who are no longer pure thals and kaleds. They have mingled their blood." He dug through his luminous lab coat pockets and couldn't find what he sought. Then he went through the pockets in the pockets of his other clothes, but he still couldn't find what he sought. "Oh drat!" he exclaimed as he ran from the room. The official thal shook his head, and we waited and waited. My stomach made more rude noises. We still waited. We heard a large crash and a louder thalian curse. Another crash, a tinkerling of glass and another curse came through the walls, then the scientist suddenly appeared and made a sudden stop.
A device appeared in his hand from nowhere. It looked like a gun with a TV screen on it. The machine made a high pitched noise as he aimed it at Miriel. "Nop!" he exclaimed, "She's not a kaled. Can I experiment on her, Shranas? Please! Huh? Huh? Please! I'll be a good boy! I promise!" he exclaimed jumping up and down.
Shranas shrugged and shook his head "no". The big thal stomped his foot and left. Shranas had us escorted after him, and a guard carried K-9 after he bumped into a couple of walls. K-9 happily wagged his tail in the guard's arms. We came to a brightly lit room. We were bid to take a seat. Shranas sat at the head of the table/
"Your life scans say that you aren't from this planet," Shranas stated, "I need not see the readings to know you are alien. Garkoe was too excited for you to be from Skaro. He has gone off to make analysis of the information that he just gathered." he made a vague hand motion. "But, anyway, we have many and various legends of the Doctor in many and various ways. He always fought against the evil daleks, and we hold him in great honor because of that."
"The Doctor has helped many," I agreed, "and I have had his acquaintance many times. It's always been a fun encounter, to say the least. We are here to help a friend of a strange nature, to say the least, and you might well benefit from it. Since the daleks are troublesome from either side, we have come up with a way for them to be . . . uh . . . well . . . maybe less aggressive."
"Dead would be good," answered Shranas.
"Well, that's not what I had in mind. Mikey is quite a . . . well, maybe not . . . different kind of dalek!"
"What! You are dalek sympathizers!" He raised a microphone to the intercom.
I stood up quickly, and K-9 shot a fork. He managed to hit the wall behind him and it ricocheted off and nailed Shranas in the rear. He jumped with a yelp. The guards aimed their blasters at us. "Wait!" I cried out! I can prove that Mikey is a good dalek, and I believe we would all be better off if we could get the daleks a bit more like him."
I rummaged through my knapsack and Miriel's and came up with several of Mikey's things. I had his rental card for the "The Best Hopping, Flying Slithering Little Video Game Rental Dive of the Orion Belt" with a picture of his slimy blob in the corner, the official membership card for the "Invertebrates of the Universe Unite" club, a trophy for the winningest score in the game "Doom" (He'd say it was proof of his superiority! He's been introduced to a Super Nintendo for three months, and he was able to master all its games! No fair!) , a video collection of video nasties from Varos (with a duplicate copy of the one starring the Doctor), and finally, in a large 9 X 12 envelope, I had what caught the attention of most thals. I had two intriguing photos of Jo Grant, with an amazing lack of clothing, posed in strategic ways with a dalek. This gave the present thals quite a bit of enthusiasm. Shranas insisted that he borrow these photos for investigation into the authenticity. He was gone for quite some time. There were sounds of howls and wolf whistles from the other room. Shranas returned to our room as he straightened out his collar and cleared his throat. He took his seat again at the head of the table.
"We would like to keep this photo for awhile," he said.
I shrugged. "Oh, I guess." Honestly, I really had no need for photos of ex-associates of the Doctor's in the nude . . . now photos of the a certain Doctor in compromising positions were a complete different story! Oh well, to business. "We would like your computer experts to look over this program that Mikey, K-9, and my TARDIS computer came up with." At these words, K-9 moved across the floor with the paper print out in his wake. "It is suppose to make the daleks more like Mikey." Lord help us!
"If we refuse?"
"You do want peace with the daleks, don't you?"
"Well, truthfully, not really," Shranas answered. The guards nodded in agreement. "We would like to wipe them off the face of Skaro."
"Now, come-come! Thals have always wanted peace on their planet, and this will be a step towards that peace. You will all go down in history." Boy, would they ever Shranas didn't look impressed. So, I added. "Besides, the daleks will be easier to defeat when they are more like the thals, now won't they?"
His brow furrowed in thought. "It is true they have always failed when they have tried to achieve emotions and illogical thought in the past. I will bring this up to the other ruling members of the thals. The way I feel is, if nothing else, this program will create enough chaos in the dalek city to give us advantage."
So, we were led back to the interrogation room. After several attempts to raise Garkoe on the com, he gave up. Finally, Garkoe appeared from nowhere in the room, and was spewing all kinds of technological jargon about the information he had found on Miriel.
"Shut up, Garkoe!" Shranas ordered. the hyper scientist shushed. "I'm putting these ladies in your custody."
"Oh goody!" he exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down.
I looked worriedly at Miriel. Garkoe happily led us to his lab. We were given the strange summary of the history of Skaro in between grovels for blood samples from the both of us. He and Alandis already had something in common! We both appeased him in this manner. What could it hurt? Not to mention, it gave us a more coherent history of Skaro. The first part of this story I already knew from the Doctor's stories. So, I amused myself with thoughts of Garkoe trying to get a blood sample out of Alandis.
Garkoe went on and on as he examined our blood. So, this is the gist of it, excluding the exclamations of the oddities in our blood. The thals and the daleks had abandoned Skaro long ago, but they all got rather homesick. That was pretty good for the daleks, considering they were suppose to be emotionless. So, both groups eventually returned. The daleks had returned first, because of the war they were raging with the Movellans. Now, some of the thals never left Skaro, and they didn't intend to do so either, even when the Movellans bombed the dalek city with the germ bombs. The virus killed most of the daleks in the city, but the thals, having different chemistry than the daleks, reacted differently. The thals effected by the virus were driven insane and each generation continued the insanity. Proof positive that insanity is hereditary . . . you can get it from the daleks! These were what the thals called the psycho-thals.
Some of the thals, who had abandoned Skaro, returned. They found the dalek city still inhabited and psycho-thals still running about, but they also found rebel daleks, who were more capable of allowing their presence be known since the depletion of the Empirical daleks. They had lived far enough away from the dalek city, that the virus did not carry out to them. The kaleds were discovered a bit later. They lived farther out than the rebel daleks. The kaleds were not affected by the virus either. Somewhere between the rebel daleks and the kaleds lived the mutos and the rebels of kaleds and the rebels of the thals, who denied the ways of each race and bred among themselves. They were no longer kaled of thal.
No one got along with the other group of sentient beings, but territories were drawn. Since only one with the desires to wipe out everyone else on the planet were otherwise occupied . . . another words the Empirical daleks were busy with the Supreme daleks. They did not have time to wipe out this vastly occupied planet. Everyone was happy enough to annihilate anyone who trespass on their territory. Of course, everyone did individual raids on the Empirical daleks city, but none of them could work together to get rid of the common foe.
Garkoe had been busy and had acquired a couple of daleks basically in tact. The thals had discovered how to disable some of the daleks, which gave the scientists such as Garkoe to study them and figure out how they ticked, therefore, figuring out to destroy them. Garkoe had five varying green blobs of daleks in glass jars - - one was an Empirical dalek mutation, one was a special weapons dalek, and lastly was the rebel dalek's rebel dalek. Garkoe was quite proud of his collection. He also had an incubator of different blood samples. He explained that this device kept the blood alive.
We were talked out when Shranas came back with the decision of his superiors. They would be willing to help Mikey with his program to blend into the rebel society daleks and disrupt the Empirical daleks, under the condition that they could keep the photo of Jo. No big loss! So, I obviously agreed. Shranas and some of his guards, Garkoe, Miriel, and I went out into the woods to get back to the TARDIS. K-9 was in the computer laboratory, so that the program could be updated.
Well, in route, we heard a round of laser shots and saw a bright explosion in the distance. We ran in this direction, because knowing Alandis' impatience, I had the feeling he was responsible for the ruckus.
We tracked some strange foot prints, and a few body marks with multiple tentacle marks to the side. After a half hour argument with Garkoe that this was Alandis and Mikey outside of his casing and not some new species of mutants, we finally followed the tracks to a tree. I looked up the tree. All I saw was heavy dark branches and thick green leaves.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out Rassilon. His beady lavender eyes glared at me. "What!" he complained.
"Go get Alandis and Mikey out of the tree."
"You do it!" The good thing about Rassilon was that he made Mikey seem a pleasant acquaintance.
"Will you do it for a Twinkie and a Dunkin Donut?"
He scrutinized me a moment. "Make it two donuts, and you can keep the Twinkie. I don't eat junk!"
"Alright."
"You had better have the jelly filled kind!"
The rat bounded up the tree as I got my donut stash out. I heard a startled scream come from the tree, and a body fell face down from the tree into the mud. The party gathered around my two companions. Mikey's slimy green blob was attached to Alandis' back.
Garkoe looked Mikey over and poked at him. "What a fat dalek!" he commented. Mikey did a dalekian thing and bit him. Garkoe swore, pulled his bloody fingers away, and sucked on them.
At this time, Rassilon landed on my head. "Donuts!" he demanded. I handed him the bag. He took it in his mouth and disappeared into my pocket once again.
"I'm sorry about your companion," Shranas said.
"What? Mikey? Ah, well, we'll just get him a new can. No problem," I said as I went over to Alandis.
"I mean your other companion," he said.
I knelt by Alandis' head. "Alandis?" I said.
"Go away! I'm having a bad day!" he replied face down.
"I got the thals. We're going to their city. So, quit slacking and get up!"
"You are so sympathetic!" he muttered, as he pulled himself up painfully. His face and body were covered in blood.
"You look like death warmed over," I commented.
"Thank you," he replied sardonically, "I've done enough penitence for the nest hundred years!"
"See, I told you that we would work that guilt off of you quickly," I returned.
"I can't see," he said out of the blue, as he blinked at us.
"I'll help you," Miriel offered, as she wrapped her arm around him carefully. Mikey made a crude noise, but he didn't try to bite her.
"We must hurry if you want the dalek safe," Garkoe pointed out, "Daleks need their environmentally controlled casing to survive."
So, we headed back to the city. Garkoe took an interest in Alandis. that didn't take long! The scientist whipped out the scanner machine again. It went crazy. Oh well, there was something lively about Alandis. Who would have thought it!! Garkoe's eyes went wide and showed with delight. "I can't wait to get a hold of some of your blood!" he exclaimed to my battered companion.
Blind as he may have been, he turned to the scientist and gave a shrewd terrifying look. Garkoe only returned a bright grin and followed along. I suppressed the laughter.
"That's a change!" I exclaimed happily. I'm certain that Alandis was glad that I didn't explicify further.
After our long walk, we finally arrived back at the thal city. Alandis' sight had returned, and he gently handed Mikey's blob over to me. He was going to take up the offer of the warm bath that Shranas not so subtly hinted that we all needed. Garkoe would have happily followed Alandis for that special blood sample. Alandis gave him another vicious look, that completely missed Garkoe. He gave the bright stupid grin again. I gave a hearty yank at his lab coat and insisted that he get Mikey that new casing, before my companion became a slimy blotch.
With a heavy dejected sigh, Garkoe took Mikey and me back to his lab. After opening several closets to dangerous avalanches, we finally came to Garkoe's casing collection. He had casings of every size and shape and color. There was one casing that stood out like a sore thumb. It was fashioned in tye dyes of lime green, shocking pinks, fluorescent yellows and oranges, and deep blues. Beads hung around the eyestalk and peace symbols of Earth's 60's era dominated the skirt.
"This is the model with the most room," Garkoe said, "It should be rather comfortable for your slimy friend."
Mikey made a crude gibbering noise.
Garkoe crossed his arms. "You're in no position to complain. Be glad that I have a casing that you will fit into! What on Skaro have you been eating to get you so fat! I guess it's more like what haven't you been eating!"
Mikey made more gibbering noises, wriggled about, shook his tentacles at him. I think Garkoe just got the dalekian form of being flipped off. Then Mikey quieted down and paused. He gibbered a question.
"No, it doesn't have television. What would a dalek want with a television!"
Mikey responded.
"What is this . . . Slimer, and why is it so . . . why would a dalek refer to it as . . . sexy?"
I was taken aback. "Don't ask!" I warned. Mikey made more squealing noises. "Oh, do pipe down! If you argue further, you will be joining Slimer!" I dumped him unceremoniously into the casing with a loud squish.
Gurgling and squealing noises came from the can as Mikey worked on making himself at home. I looked at Garkoe. He just stood by with his arms crossed. Finally, the eyestalk moved to glare at us.
"@#$%^&*!!! THALS CANNOT GET ANYTHING RIGHT!" he complained, "THIS CASING WILL TAKE ME A MONTH TO IMPROVE ON SO THAT I MIGHT EVEN LIVE IN IT! IT SMELLS OF A STRANGE DALEK . . . A MOST STRANGE DALEK! . . . IT SMELLS OF STRANGE SUBSTANCES . . . " There was a pause. "BUT IT IS A MOST INTERESTING SMELL."
"Come on, Mikey," I said, "Let's go back to the lab."
"I DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM AN INFERIOR SPECIES." Garkoe opened his mouth to object. I held up my hand.. The eyestalk scanned him then me. "WE RETURN TO THE LAB."
"Yes, o'mighty master."
Mikey led the way, I followed, Garkoe shrugged and followed me. We entered the lab. Mikey moved around the room and looked at the different specimens. I looked away from him to see Alandis leaning on Garkoe's desk. Garkoe was ecstatic and looked Alandis over thoroughly. My companion gave him one of those condescending stares.
"What a remarkable recovery!" he chirped, "I must have a blood sample! Even your sight is fully restored! This is amazing! Think what this will do for thalkind! Now, all I have to do is figure out what makes you regenerate so fully!"
Alandis frowned. "You don't want to pay the price," he answered.
"And the diet's lousy, too!" I added. Alandis glared at me. I gave one of Garkoe's bright grins. "Oh, that reminds me. I'm still hungry. Rassilon took my dinner."
Garkoe jumped up on the desk and leaned over backwards. He opened the bottom drawer. It was filled with many and various packages. he tossed me a couple of them, and he offered some to Alandis. My companion shook his head. "I've already fed."
"Hey, Mikey!" I called across the room, "Are you hungry? Garkoe's got goodies!"
Strangely, I received no answer. He tended to answer all questions, even the ones he didn't know the answer to. he'd just make something up. he normally was most prompt when food was involved. So, the three of us went across the room to him. he was staring at one of the daleks in a jar.
"87-96877," Mikey said, "HE WAS ONE OF THE UNITS I SERVED WITH WHEN I WAS HERE WITH THE EMPIRE."
Garkoe's eyebrows rose. "You regret?" the thal scientist remarked surprised.
"WHAT IS THIS REGRET?" Mikey grated.
"You miss him," Alandis explained.
"BAH!" he exclaimed, "IT IS A WEAK EMOTION! DALEKS HAVE NO EMOTIONS!"
"Whatever you say," I remarked.
"I want a blood sample of this dalek!" prompted Garkoe, "In my 25 years I've never heard of a dalek that could feel pain over a lost comrade."
I hushed him. Mikey's eyestalk shot to us. "NO BLOOD SAMPLE! I WILL HAVE NO THAL POKING AT ME!" His eyestalk turned to Alandis, "NO!" he stated with emphasis.
"I'm not interested in your blood," my companion added.
"But, I am!" Garkoe exclaimed, "I could put on a dark wig and pretend to be a kaled! Please! Please! Please!"
"NO!' Mikey answered.
"Food is usually a good bribe," I put in.
"NO!" Mikey insisted.
Garkoe went to his desk and pouted. I smiled. "Tell us about the dalek, who originally had this casing," I asked persuading his mind away from his failure. "It looks like a hippie dalek."
"Hippie dalek!" Garkoe exclaimed, as he totally forgot about his failure. He sorted through his papers and came up with a folder of papers/ He sorted through those and came up with what he was looking for. Then he looked for a pen. He went through all the drawers of his desk, and he searched twice before he found one on the desk under a pile of paper. He quickly scribbled down my words. "Hippie dalek! What a name!" he exclaimed. He looked up at the three of us. His childish face took on a serious manner. "these daleks are a subgroup of the rebel daleks. I am not sure why they developed into this subculture. there mutation is also different. There are about 20 of them in Krama Li."
Mikey looked up at me. "IT IS TYPICAL OF THE REBEL DALEKS TO NAME THEIR CITY 'HOME' IN OUR NATIVE TONGUE."
"And what is the name of your city?" Garkoe asked.
"PASSAH," Mikey answered totally missing the sarcasm in the thal's voice.
"Empire," Garkoe translated.
I shrugged. "Daleks are not known for their originality."
Mikey moved on and inspected the other specimens in Garkoe's lab. "HOW MANY REBEL DALEKS ARE THERE?"
"Maybe 200," Garkoe answered. "They are a disorganized bunch with a strange dalek culture. They have developed many of the lost aspects of the kaleds, such as art and music. I can't say that the things are pleasing to the eye or ear, but it is an amazing achievement for daleks. They are not as technologically advanced as any race on Skaro, except for the mutos. They have not the knowledge of space travel for one. Another thing is, they are not produced in a lab like the Empirical and Supreme daleks. Although their numbers be few, their technology less, having many splinter groups that will not work together, they survive despite the Empirical daleks and the Supreme daleks and our own efforts to destroy them. The kaleds tolerate them. The psycho thals only attack the Empirical daleks and us. The rebel daleks are too far away. The mutos make their attacks on them, but they are not organized and are not out to annihilate them. Then there are other mutated creatures, but they stay for the most part in the petrified forest. Although Skaro is fraught with dangers, they have the will to survive. I believe this was the most basic instinct that Davros bred into them. It is more basic than destroy their own kind in the midst of the destruction of another. They always keep enough of their strength hidden away to avoid complete extermination."
"What are the chances of Mikey fitting in with the rebels?" I queried.
Garkoe shrugged, as he watched the dalek move around the laboratory. "The rebel daleks are . . . free. they have the innovation and creativity of the kaleds in a green blob. Mikey can find a niche among them. It is harder for untainted Empirical daleks to pretend to be rebel daleks than it is for rebel daleks to pretend to be Empirical daleks." Garkoe gave a shadow of a smile. "If you succeed, we may finally have peace between the thals and the daleks."
"I thought you didn't want peace," I remarked.
"Shranas doesn't want peace. The war and hatred keeps his political position. Think of the scientific breakthroughs that both races would gain if we worked together. Talar would mess her pants to get into the dalek's main computer."
"And you have daleks in jars," Alandis coldly pointed out.
"Daleks have thals in jars."
Alandis turned to me, "Shut-up!" he ordered. I didn't say anything.
"Where is the program?" Mikey queried.
"Talar has it. I don't know anything about programming. I am a biologist. I pride myself on my bloodwork," Garkoe answered.
"So does Alandis," I commented.
Garkoe clamped his hands together. "We do have commons! Shall I show you my special collection. I can keep the samples alive in an incubator. It is much more fun to watch the thingies kicking around than with them just sitting there. He went to the cabinet. the horrifying scream even made Mikey cringe. I looked at the completely destroyed scientist weeping on the counter of the empty cabinet.
I looked at Alandis, who put on his most innocent look. I went to Garkoe and said, "Cheer up. You still have three specimens to draw from. Miriel and I will let you probe our blood again. I'm certain given the circumstances, Alandis will be generous and give you a sample this time."
My red haired companion shook his head 'no'. I nodded 'yes'. "You will. Anyway, what can it hurt? Besides, he may find a solution to your problem."
"I seriously doubt that."
Garkoe looked up at him hopefully with bog sorrowful puppy eyes. Alandis grimaced. "Not too much," Alandis relented, "To give up my blood is a very precious thing."
"I won't take too much! I promise!" So, Garkoe got his blood sample out of my blood sucking companion. Miriel came into the room. She was escorted by two guards. Alandis blushed and pulled his arm away from Garkoe. The thal was going to complain, but he got what he was after and went happily about his studies. The guards left her without a word.
"And did you get into a bit of trouble?" I asked.
"Well," she answered, "I was only trying to tidy up a few offices along the way, and . . ."
At that moment the alarm went off. Alandis, Miriel, and I started at the sound. Garkoe ignored it. he was otherwise occupied.
"What is that alarm?" Alandis asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. It just sounds an hour before sundown. The mutos tend to get into the city after dark, and we all must hide from them," the thal answered without looking up.
"KILL THE MUTOS!" Mikey stated.
"Too many of them," Garkoe answered, "Hey! This is most extraordinaire!" he exclaimed, "I've never seen anything like this blood before! The life force seems to be controlled by an outside force! The blood itself seems to be already dead, but this energy gives it life and consumes itself."
"My master sleeps. He still drains life from me, but his need is not great yet," Alandis answered, "I am free for the time being."
Miriel took his hand. "What will happen when he wakes?" she asked.
"We will fight for my control," he answered, " I grow stronger while I am awake. the experience strengthens me. He remains stable as he sleeps. When the time comes, he will call his minions to him. some will die, because his hunger is great, but the rest will fight for him."
"Oh, do go on," Garkoe enthused.
"That is all you need to know," Alandis replied.
Miriel looked puzzled. "Shouldn't we do something or go somewhere because of the mutos?" she asked.
"Oh yeah!" Garkoe chirped, "Let me get my things, and we'll go to my place."
"What about K-9?" Miriel asked.
"Talar will take good care of him," Garkoe answered.
After a half an hour of getting his disorganized mess together and packed, we set off into the deserted streets. The sun had just set. Garkoe gasped and hurried us on. He led us up to one of the brightly lit buildings. He took us into a hallway of bright lights and concrete. We went up an elevator to the 11th floor and to an apartment. Garkoe fumbled with a key card, as Alandis and I tried to get Mikey up the five steps leading to the door. Suddenly, all the lights went out. Garkoe uttered a thal curse. Still his key card didn't work. An emergency light flickered on, but it was still quite dim. We could see shadows approaching us. Garkoe had a stronger curse for the moment.
I have always been one to help a friend. So, when Mikey not so subtly suggested that he wanted to go back to Skaro, (It had to do with that big smoking hole in the TARDIS console.) I didn't argue much. Well, let's face it, having a teed off dalek about was not exactly a good thing. Besides, he wasn't much of a conversationalist. There is only so much you can get out of shrieks such as "Exterminate!" and "I am the superior being here. we will do things my way!" (It was fun to get those longer statements out of him in a single shriek!) Yet, somehow, I was rather regretful to let him go. One only had to know how to talk to him to get him to do what was wanted. Just make out that it was his idea, and he'd do it. This is how I got him convinced to get some live meat for Miriel, Alandis, and myself. I just suggested that it was a good time to practice his shooting skills. Of course, it didn't hurt much to appeal to his sadistic side, so that the game was still alive when Alandis got to it. One must keep a vampire well fed, even if he is disgusted with me. His chemistry work could only do so much.
After several unsuccessful attempts and more blasts to the console, we finally arrived at Skaro (with a Dunkin Donut go bag in hand). Now, could I really help it that the coordinates I gave the TARDIS and the destination did not exactly match! Anyway, after I made a collection of several things, that should prove helpful with the thals, with Miriel and K-9 in tow, we decided that we would make contact with the thals first. This adventure should prove quite interesting to me. The last I heard of the thals, they were a bunch of blonde blue eyed folk!
K-9 carried the precious program that the three great computer minds had come up with. (The daleks were in trouble!) The thals could help us out with getting rid of the bugs in the program. I suggested a can of Raid, but the blast from Mikey told me that that was the wrong kind of bug. So, I tied K-9 to the back of the motor scooter, and we were off across the desert.
Everything was going fine until we were half a mile from the woods, and the motor scooter gave out a disgusting sputtering noise (and a more disgusting smell, I might well add), and we made a dead stop. With the combination of the three of great mechanical minds at hand, I ended up pushing it for the last half mile. After we finally reached the forest, I whipped out the lock and chain. I really didn't want ot lose my means of transportation to a wandering thal. Nevermind that it wasn't exactly mine in the first place. I just kind of borrowed it a couple of years ago, and I haven't had time to return it. Troublesome companions and all, you know. Oh well, when I get around to it, I will just have to back up a few minutes after it disappeared in the first place. Ah, the advantages of time travel. Besides, I may find some gorgeously mechanically inclined thal to help these ladies in distress! After I chained the motor scooter to a sturdy tree, Miriel and I shouldered our packs, and I tied my leash to K-9's tail.
We proceeded in the dark woods with its heavy over hanging branches and sinister noises, that sometimes sounded like large explosions and the ping of projectiles. After K-9 got caught on several wires crossing our paths and I cut them apart, so he could pass, I decided that Miriel could carry him. What are companions for anyway. For a long time, we trekked through the treacherous woods. Finally, we came upon a pleasant little clearing. So, I decided it was time to feed my demanding stomach. I pulled out the grand supply of Twinkies, and I munched thoughtfully until my quiet happy repose was disturbed by my Twinkie being wisked away by a laser bolt. Miriel and I froze our movements, K-9 wagged his tail. We were soon surrounded by six thal men with quite sizeable blasters ( that didn't bade well for their welcoming personalities) aimed directly at us. ( That didn't bade well for the heriones.)
Miriel looked shocked. K-9 made a crude noise, and I was teed off! (No one disturbs my Twinkie Time!) I scrutinized the tall not so good smelling young thal, with a dirty grey t-shirt with "Number Splattered" written on it with multiple marks afterwards. The green marks didn't bother me as much as the red ones did.
I stood up and glared at the insolent thal. "How am I to finish out my important mission when you blast good wholesome food from my hand. You know the Alegres of Millipsee 7 would give an arm for that Twinkie!" (As if that was some great prize! After all, the Alegres had fifty arms apiece, and they would readily regenerate a new one. Besides, what would I do with an Alegre arm anyway! But the thals didn't know this.)
The thal aimed his blaster. Miriel shook off her startlement and stood beside me. "We came to seek your leaders. We need to talk to them. We might be able to help you against the daleks," she said softly.
The leader thal made several hand motions ending in a fist. The thals took aim at us, then suddenly they all fell with a blue flash. Another party of blonde, none too good smelling thal females came, threw the unconscious thal men over their shoulders and left. Miriel and I looked at each other puzzled, and K-9 made circles. We shrugged and moved forward.
We came to a city. It was a city of tall gleaming white buildings of shining glass. Each building was about twenty stories tall and was as about wide as it was tall. There was a marking of a name scrawled across the buildings. They were frivolous names, such as "Mysan block" (Mysan was a highly allergenic type of flower that prospered on Skaro.), "Big Rock Block", "Sun Block", and such like. Generally, it was a bunch of boring names like street names.
We came to the gates and walls of the city. The gates were made of unbreakable glass, that reflected the sun. there were two tall blonde, lanky, and a whole lot better smelling than the thals we just met in the woods. They were dark complected and neatly attired in uniforms. They aimed their guns at us also.
"Hi there!" I chirped with a wide grin. They looked at us puzzled. "We would like you to take us to your leader," I added in the cliche science fiction phrase, "and have a good meal. I just lost my lunch to some marauding smelly thals! What a welcoming party! Where are the manners of the thals nowadays."
The thal guards were not impressed. The leader motioned to his companion, who called up reenforcements on a portable telephone. Within moments, we were tied, gagged, and thrown over the shoulders of a couple of hefty thal men. This was really a lousy welcoming party! I had the distinct feeling that they really did not like us. We were thrown in a none too gentle manner into a glass cubicle. Four guards took station at each of the corners. A guard at the head and to the right worked a remote control, and the cube began to float along. I managed to roll over and saw Miriel in the opposite corner. She was sitting up. K-9 was in a corner on his head and was hog tied. I moved to sit up, and the cube bobbed and swayed. I managed to ungag myself and do some redecorating with the half the Twinkie that I had managed to eat. What can I say. I was cube sick.
The thals took us to an opened area inside one of the buildings. It was dark and an opened empty room like a gymnasium. A spotlight flashed down on our cube and illuminated Miriel, K-9, and me. Miriel had by now managed to ungag herself, but unlike me, she managed to keep her lunch. Finally, a light shone on an official looking thal in a grey suit. He was a thin grey haired thal with piercing sea blue eyes. A younger muscular built young thal, with an innocent looking farm boy face, stood at this official looking thal's side. I was intrigued.. This younger thal was tall, clean shaven, and had bright sapphire eyes, that could melt a girl. He wore a white lab coat with multiple deep pockets, bulging with multiple scientific instruments. He was munching on some crunchy snack in a white bag, that made my stomach protest further, especially since half my Twinkie now lay in the corner of our prison. Three others stood behind these two. They were dressed in military uniforms and carried blasters.
The thal in the grey suit motioned to the thals behind him. We were bodily dragged out of the cube and thrown on the floor. K-9 left a gift for these thals, too, and we heard him make a homerun in it.
The guard pulled us off of the floor and went to search us. K-9 and Rassilon came to our rescue. K-9 shot a fork and nailed the thal that searched Miriel. He yelped and pulled the fork from his behind. Rassilon saved me and the guard, who wasn't all that good looking for a blonde older thal man, from the endless search of my vast pockets. My guard pulled out what 'once was' a half eaten ham sandwich with an interesting new and unique orange fungus growing on it. Rassilon was attached at the other end.. My rat companion, feeling about food as I do, ran up the sandwich and bit the thal. Taking his sandwich back, he dove back into my pocket.
The third guard trained his blaster on us. Our searching guards pulled back from my companions' attacks. The four guard, that had accompanied us here, aimed their blasters at us also. This had not been a good day.
"Please, wait!" Miriel cried out with her hands held out, "We are friends of the Doctor. From what the Rodent has told me of the Doctor's adventures, he has often helped your people."
The leader in the grey suit held up his hands and the guards backed off of us. The scientist thal crumpled his empty bag and stuffed it the official thal's pocket. The older thal shot an angry glare at him. The scientist gave an embarrassed smile. The official turned to us. "Prove your words."
I smiled brightly. "K-9 was a gift to me," I answered, "He has the Doctor's signature on his bottom."
One on the thals looks puzzled. He put his gun to one side and rolled the dog over. "This is the esteemed property of the Doctor. Please, return if lost" was carved on the bottom. K-9 was always lost, and he still had not been returned.
I dug through my pockets. A guard threatened me with a gun, but the leader held up his hand. The guard pulled back. I came up with a ring. It was engraved on the back, "To the Doctor with love, Zodan". Somehow I had the feeling this may be why the Doctor left Gallifrey in the first place. I mean, after all, he didn't seem upset when Rassilon took it.
The official thal nodded. I shrugged and took back my ring. "I also have evidence in our bags that may help my friend Mikey out, if I may have an audience with your leader."
The thal smiled. "You may impart your information to me. I am the leader of Racar."
"I would like to talk in a more private and comfortable place," I answered, "with a bit to eat would be nice."
"You aren't mutos or psychos. Although we feel you may be borderline. We weren't sure for awhile there, mind you. You are far too fair complected to be a kaled," (compared to what Alandis had to say about me!) "but you could be a rebel. Your companion is dark enough for a kaled, though."
"I thought the kaleds no longer existed. I thought they were all daleks now," I commented.
"Not all," the scientist answered, as he looked us over. "Some of the kaleds were out on special missions elsewhere on the planet, and there were a good thirty or more spies in our city during the great war." He looked Miriel up and down. "You look like a kaled, but you don't dress like a kaled. Neither do you dress like the rebel faction."
"Rebel faction?" Miriel asked.
The scientist stood back and waved his hand at her. "You know. The thals and the kaleds who are no longer pure thals and kaleds. They have mingled their blood." He dug through his luminous lab coat pockets and couldn't find what he sought. Then he went through the pockets in the pockets of his other clothes, but he still couldn't find what he sought. "Oh drat!" he exclaimed as he ran from the room. The official thal shook his head, and we waited and waited. My stomach made more rude noises. We still waited. We heard a large crash and a louder thalian curse. Another crash, a tinkerling of glass and another curse came through the walls, then the scientist suddenly appeared and made a sudden stop.
A device appeared in his hand from nowhere. It looked like a gun with a TV screen on it. The machine made a high pitched noise as he aimed it at Miriel. "Nop!" he exclaimed, "She's not a kaled. Can I experiment on her, Shranas? Please! Huh? Huh? Please! I'll be a good boy! I promise!" he exclaimed jumping up and down.
Shranas shrugged and shook his head "no". The big thal stomped his foot and left. Shranas had us escorted after him, and a guard carried K-9 after he bumped into a couple of walls. K-9 happily wagged his tail in the guard's arms. We came to a brightly lit room. We were bid to take a seat. Shranas sat at the head of the table/
"Your life scans say that you aren't from this planet," Shranas stated, "I need not see the readings to know you are alien. Garkoe was too excited for you to be from Skaro. He has gone off to make analysis of the information that he just gathered." he made a vague hand motion. "But, anyway, we have many and various legends of the Doctor in many and various ways. He always fought against the evil daleks, and we hold him in great honor because of that."
"The Doctor has helped many," I agreed, "and I have had his acquaintance many times. It's always been a fun encounter, to say the least. We are here to help a friend of a strange nature, to say the least, and you might well benefit from it. Since the daleks are troublesome from either side, we have come up with a way for them to be . . . uh . . . well . . . maybe less aggressive."
"Dead would be good," answered Shranas.
"Well, that's not what I had in mind. Mikey is quite a . . . well, maybe not . . . different kind of dalek!"
"What! You are dalek sympathizers!" He raised a microphone to the intercom.
I stood up quickly, and K-9 shot a fork. He managed to hit the wall behind him and it ricocheted off and nailed Shranas in the rear. He jumped with a yelp. The guards aimed their blasters at us. "Wait!" I cried out! I can prove that Mikey is a good dalek, and I believe we would all be better off if we could get the daleks a bit more like him."
I rummaged through my knapsack and Miriel's and came up with several of Mikey's things. I had his rental card for the "The Best Hopping, Flying Slithering Little Video Game Rental Dive of the Orion Belt" with a picture of his slimy blob in the corner, the official membership card for the "Invertebrates of the Universe Unite" club, a trophy for the winningest score in the game "Doom" (He'd say it was proof of his superiority! He's been introduced to a Super Nintendo for three months, and he was able to master all its games! No fair!) , a video collection of video nasties from Varos (with a duplicate copy of the one starring the Doctor), and finally, in a large 9 X 12 envelope, I had what caught the attention of most thals. I had two intriguing photos of Jo Grant, with an amazing lack of clothing, posed in strategic ways with a dalek. This gave the present thals quite a bit of enthusiasm. Shranas insisted that he borrow these photos for investigation into the authenticity. He was gone for quite some time. There were sounds of howls and wolf whistles from the other room. Shranas returned to our room as he straightened out his collar and cleared his throat. He took his seat again at the head of the table.
"We would like to keep this photo for awhile," he said.
I shrugged. "Oh, I guess." Honestly, I really had no need for photos of ex-associates of the Doctor's in the nude . . . now photos of the a certain Doctor in compromising positions were a complete different story! Oh well, to business. "We would like your computer experts to look over this program that Mikey, K-9, and my TARDIS computer came up with." At these words, K-9 moved across the floor with the paper print out in his wake. "It is suppose to make the daleks more like Mikey." Lord help us!
"If we refuse?"
"You do want peace with the daleks, don't you?"
"Well, truthfully, not really," Shranas answered. The guards nodded in agreement. "We would like to wipe them off the face of Skaro."
"Now, come-come! Thals have always wanted peace on their planet, and this will be a step towards that peace. You will all go down in history." Boy, would they ever Shranas didn't look impressed. So, I added. "Besides, the daleks will be easier to defeat when they are more like the thals, now won't they?"
His brow furrowed in thought. "It is true they have always failed when they have tried to achieve emotions and illogical thought in the past. I will bring this up to the other ruling members of the thals. The way I feel is, if nothing else, this program will create enough chaos in the dalek city to give us advantage."
So, we were led back to the interrogation room. After several attempts to raise Garkoe on the com, he gave up. Finally, Garkoe appeared from nowhere in the room, and was spewing all kinds of technological jargon about the information he had found on Miriel.
"Shut up, Garkoe!" Shranas ordered. the hyper scientist shushed. "I'm putting these ladies in your custody."
"Oh goody!" he exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down.
I looked worriedly at Miriel. Garkoe happily led us to his lab. We were given the strange summary of the history of Skaro in between grovels for blood samples from the both of us. He and Alandis already had something in common! We both appeased him in this manner. What could it hurt? Not to mention, it gave us a more coherent history of Skaro. The first part of this story I already knew from the Doctor's stories. So, I amused myself with thoughts of Garkoe trying to get a blood sample out of Alandis.
Garkoe went on and on as he examined our blood. So, this is the gist of it, excluding the exclamations of the oddities in our blood. The thals and the daleks had abandoned Skaro long ago, but they all got rather homesick. That was pretty good for the daleks, considering they were suppose to be emotionless. So, both groups eventually returned. The daleks had returned first, because of the war they were raging with the Movellans. Now, some of the thals never left Skaro, and they didn't intend to do so either, even when the Movellans bombed the dalek city with the germ bombs. The virus killed most of the daleks in the city, but the thals, having different chemistry than the daleks, reacted differently. The thals effected by the virus were driven insane and each generation continued the insanity. Proof positive that insanity is hereditary . . . you can get it from the daleks! These were what the thals called the psycho-thals.
Some of the thals, who had abandoned Skaro, returned. They found the dalek city still inhabited and psycho-thals still running about, but they also found rebel daleks, who were more capable of allowing their presence be known since the depletion of the Empirical daleks. They had lived far enough away from the dalek city, that the virus did not carry out to them. The kaleds were discovered a bit later. They lived farther out than the rebel daleks. The kaleds were not affected by the virus either. Somewhere between the rebel daleks and the kaleds lived the mutos and the rebels of kaleds and the rebels of the thals, who denied the ways of each race and bred among themselves. They were no longer kaled of thal.
No one got along with the other group of sentient beings, but territories were drawn. Since only one with the desires to wipe out everyone else on the planet were otherwise occupied . . . another words the Empirical daleks were busy with the Supreme daleks. They did not have time to wipe out this vastly occupied planet. Everyone was happy enough to annihilate anyone who trespass on their territory. Of course, everyone did individual raids on the Empirical daleks city, but none of them could work together to get rid of the common foe.
Garkoe had been busy and had acquired a couple of daleks basically in tact. The thals had discovered how to disable some of the daleks, which gave the scientists such as Garkoe to study them and figure out how they ticked, therefore, figuring out to destroy them. Garkoe had five varying green blobs of daleks in glass jars - - one was an Empirical dalek mutation, one was a special weapons dalek, and lastly was the rebel dalek's rebel dalek. Garkoe was quite proud of his collection. He also had an incubator of different blood samples. He explained that this device kept the blood alive.
We were talked out when Shranas came back with the decision of his superiors. They would be willing to help Mikey with his program to blend into the rebel society daleks and disrupt the Empirical daleks, under the condition that they could keep the photo of Jo. No big loss! So, I obviously agreed. Shranas and some of his guards, Garkoe, Miriel, and I went out into the woods to get back to the TARDIS. K-9 was in the computer laboratory, so that the program could be updated.
Well, in route, we heard a round of laser shots and saw a bright explosion in the distance. We ran in this direction, because knowing Alandis' impatience, I had the feeling he was responsible for the ruckus.
We tracked some strange foot prints, and a few body marks with multiple tentacle marks to the side. After a half hour argument with Garkoe that this was Alandis and Mikey outside of his casing and not some new species of mutants, we finally followed the tracks to a tree. I looked up the tree. All I saw was heavy dark branches and thick green leaves.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out Rassilon. His beady lavender eyes glared at me. "What!" he complained.
"Go get Alandis and Mikey out of the tree."
"You do it!" The good thing about Rassilon was that he made Mikey seem a pleasant acquaintance.
"Will you do it for a Twinkie and a Dunkin Donut?"
He scrutinized me a moment. "Make it two donuts, and you can keep the Twinkie. I don't eat junk!"
"Alright."
"You had better have the jelly filled kind!"
The rat bounded up the tree as I got my donut stash out. I heard a startled scream come from the tree, and a body fell face down from the tree into the mud. The party gathered around my two companions. Mikey's slimy green blob was attached to Alandis' back.
Garkoe looked Mikey over and poked at him. "What a fat dalek!" he commented. Mikey did a dalekian thing and bit him. Garkoe swore, pulled his bloody fingers away, and sucked on them.
At this time, Rassilon landed on my head. "Donuts!" he demanded. I handed him the bag. He took it in his mouth and disappeared into my pocket once again.
"I'm sorry about your companion," Shranas said.
"What? Mikey? Ah, well, we'll just get him a new can. No problem," I said as I went over to Alandis.
"I mean your other companion," he said.
I knelt by Alandis' head. "Alandis?" I said.
"Go away! I'm having a bad day!" he replied face down.
"I got the thals. We're going to their city. So, quit slacking and get up!"
"You are so sympathetic!" he muttered, as he pulled himself up painfully. His face and body were covered in blood.
"You look like death warmed over," I commented.
"Thank you," he replied sardonically, "I've done enough penitence for the nest hundred years!"
"See, I told you that we would work that guilt off of you quickly," I returned.
"I can't see," he said out of the blue, as he blinked at us.
"I'll help you," Miriel offered, as she wrapped her arm around him carefully. Mikey made a crude noise, but he didn't try to bite her.
"We must hurry if you want the dalek safe," Garkoe pointed out, "Daleks need their environmentally controlled casing to survive."
So, we headed back to the city. Garkoe took an interest in Alandis. that didn't take long! The scientist whipped out the scanner machine again. It went crazy. Oh well, there was something lively about Alandis. Who would have thought it!! Garkoe's eyes went wide and showed with delight. "I can't wait to get a hold of some of your blood!" he exclaimed to my battered companion.
Blind as he may have been, he turned to the scientist and gave a shrewd terrifying look. Garkoe only returned a bright grin and followed along. I suppressed the laughter.
"That's a change!" I exclaimed happily. I'm certain that Alandis was glad that I didn't explicify further.
After our long walk, we finally arrived back at the thal city. Alandis' sight had returned, and he gently handed Mikey's blob over to me. He was going to take up the offer of the warm bath that Shranas not so subtly hinted that we all needed. Garkoe would have happily followed Alandis for that special blood sample. Alandis gave him another vicious look, that completely missed Garkoe. He gave the bright stupid grin again. I gave a hearty yank at his lab coat and insisted that he get Mikey that new casing, before my companion became a slimy blotch.
With a heavy dejected sigh, Garkoe took Mikey and me back to his lab. After opening several closets to dangerous avalanches, we finally came to Garkoe's casing collection. He had casings of every size and shape and color. There was one casing that stood out like a sore thumb. It was fashioned in tye dyes of lime green, shocking pinks, fluorescent yellows and oranges, and deep blues. Beads hung around the eyestalk and peace symbols of Earth's 60's era dominated the skirt.
"This is the model with the most room," Garkoe said, "It should be rather comfortable for your slimy friend."
Mikey made a crude gibbering noise.
Garkoe crossed his arms. "You're in no position to complain. Be glad that I have a casing that you will fit into! What on Skaro have you been eating to get you so fat! I guess it's more like what haven't you been eating!"
Mikey made more gibbering noises, wriggled about, shook his tentacles at him. I think Garkoe just got the dalekian form of being flipped off. Then Mikey quieted down and paused. He gibbered a question.
"No, it doesn't have television. What would a dalek want with a television!"
Mikey responded.
"What is this . . . Slimer, and why is it so . . . why would a dalek refer to it as . . . sexy?"
I was taken aback. "Don't ask!" I warned. Mikey made more squealing noises. "Oh, do pipe down! If you argue further, you will be joining Slimer!" I dumped him unceremoniously into the casing with a loud squish.
Gurgling and squealing noises came from the can as Mikey worked on making himself at home. I looked at Garkoe. He just stood by with his arms crossed. Finally, the eyestalk moved to glare at us.
"@#$%^&*!!! THALS CANNOT GET ANYTHING RIGHT!" he complained, "THIS CASING WILL TAKE ME A MONTH TO IMPROVE ON SO THAT I MIGHT EVEN LIVE IN IT! IT SMELLS OF A STRANGE DALEK . . . A MOST STRANGE DALEK! . . . IT SMELLS OF STRANGE SUBSTANCES . . . " There was a pause. "BUT IT IS A MOST INTERESTING SMELL."
"Come on, Mikey," I said, "Let's go back to the lab."
"I DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM AN INFERIOR SPECIES." Garkoe opened his mouth to object. I held up my hand.. The eyestalk scanned him then me. "WE RETURN TO THE LAB."
"Yes, o'mighty master."
Mikey led the way, I followed, Garkoe shrugged and followed me. We entered the lab. Mikey moved around the room and looked at the different specimens. I looked away from him to see Alandis leaning on Garkoe's desk. Garkoe was ecstatic and looked Alandis over thoroughly. My companion gave him one of those condescending stares.
"What a remarkable recovery!" he chirped, "I must have a blood sample! Even your sight is fully restored! This is amazing! Think what this will do for thalkind! Now, all I have to do is figure out what makes you regenerate so fully!"
Alandis frowned. "You don't want to pay the price," he answered.
"And the diet's lousy, too!" I added. Alandis glared at me. I gave one of Garkoe's bright grins. "Oh, that reminds me. I'm still hungry. Rassilon took my dinner."
Garkoe jumped up on the desk and leaned over backwards. He opened the bottom drawer. It was filled with many and various packages. he tossed me a couple of them, and he offered some to Alandis. My companion shook his head. "I've already fed."
"Hey, Mikey!" I called across the room, "Are you hungry? Garkoe's got goodies!"
Strangely, I received no answer. He tended to answer all questions, even the ones he didn't know the answer to. he'd just make something up. he normally was most prompt when food was involved. So, the three of us went across the room to him. he was staring at one of the daleks in a jar.
"87-96877," Mikey said, "HE WAS ONE OF THE UNITS I SERVED WITH WHEN I WAS HERE WITH THE EMPIRE."
Garkoe's eyebrows rose. "You regret?" the thal scientist remarked surprised.
"WHAT IS THIS REGRET?" Mikey grated.
"You miss him," Alandis explained.
"BAH!" he exclaimed, "IT IS A WEAK EMOTION! DALEKS HAVE NO EMOTIONS!"
"Whatever you say," I remarked.
"I want a blood sample of this dalek!" prompted Garkoe, "In my 25 years I've never heard of a dalek that could feel pain over a lost comrade."
I hushed him. Mikey's eyestalk shot to us. "NO BLOOD SAMPLE! I WILL HAVE NO THAL POKING AT ME!" His eyestalk turned to Alandis, "NO!" he stated with emphasis.
"I'm not interested in your blood," my companion added.
"But, I am!" Garkoe exclaimed, "I could put on a dark wig and pretend to be a kaled! Please! Please! Please!"
"NO!' Mikey answered.
"Food is usually a good bribe," I put in.
"NO!" Mikey insisted.
Garkoe went to his desk and pouted. I smiled. "Tell us about the dalek, who originally had this casing," I asked persuading his mind away from his failure. "It looks like a hippie dalek."
"Hippie dalek!" Garkoe exclaimed, as he totally forgot about his failure. He sorted through his papers and came up with a folder of papers/ He sorted through those and came up with what he was looking for. Then he looked for a pen. He went through all the drawers of his desk, and he searched twice before he found one on the desk under a pile of paper. He quickly scribbled down my words. "Hippie dalek! What a name!" he exclaimed. He looked up at the three of us. His childish face took on a serious manner. "these daleks are a subgroup of the rebel daleks. I am not sure why they developed into this subculture. there mutation is also different. There are about 20 of them in Krama Li."
Mikey looked up at me. "IT IS TYPICAL OF THE REBEL DALEKS TO NAME THEIR CITY 'HOME' IN OUR NATIVE TONGUE."
"And what is the name of your city?" Garkoe asked.
"PASSAH," Mikey answered totally missing the sarcasm in the thal's voice.
"Empire," Garkoe translated.
I shrugged. "Daleks are not known for their originality."
Mikey moved on and inspected the other specimens in Garkoe's lab. "HOW MANY REBEL DALEKS ARE THERE?"
"Maybe 200," Garkoe answered. "They are a disorganized bunch with a strange dalek culture. They have developed many of the lost aspects of the kaleds, such as art and music. I can't say that the things are pleasing to the eye or ear, but it is an amazing achievement for daleks. They are not as technologically advanced as any race on Skaro, except for the mutos. They have not the knowledge of space travel for one. Another thing is, they are not produced in a lab like the Empirical and Supreme daleks. Although their numbers be few, their technology less, having many splinter groups that will not work together, they survive despite the Empirical daleks and the Supreme daleks and our own efforts to destroy them. The kaleds tolerate them. The psycho thals only attack the Empirical daleks and us. The rebel daleks are too far away. The mutos make their attacks on them, but they are not organized and are not out to annihilate them. Then there are other mutated creatures, but they stay for the most part in the petrified forest. Although Skaro is fraught with dangers, they have the will to survive. I believe this was the most basic instinct that Davros bred into them. It is more basic than destroy their own kind in the midst of the destruction of another. They always keep enough of their strength hidden away to avoid complete extermination."
"What are the chances of Mikey fitting in with the rebels?" I queried.
Garkoe shrugged, as he watched the dalek move around the laboratory. "The rebel daleks are . . . free. they have the innovation and creativity of the kaleds in a green blob. Mikey can find a niche among them. It is harder for untainted Empirical daleks to pretend to be rebel daleks than it is for rebel daleks to pretend to be Empirical daleks." Garkoe gave a shadow of a smile. "If you succeed, we may finally have peace between the thals and the daleks."
"I thought you didn't want peace," I remarked.
"Shranas doesn't want peace. The war and hatred keeps his political position. Think of the scientific breakthroughs that both races would gain if we worked together. Talar would mess her pants to get into the dalek's main computer."
"And you have daleks in jars," Alandis coldly pointed out.
"Daleks have thals in jars."
Alandis turned to me, "Shut-up!" he ordered. I didn't say anything.
"Where is the program?" Mikey queried.
"Talar has it. I don't know anything about programming. I am a biologist. I pride myself on my bloodwork," Garkoe answered.
"So does Alandis," I commented.
Garkoe clamped his hands together. "We do have commons! Shall I show you my special collection. I can keep the samples alive in an incubator. It is much more fun to watch the thingies kicking around than with them just sitting there. He went to the cabinet. the horrifying scream even made Mikey cringe. I looked at the completely destroyed scientist weeping on the counter of the empty cabinet.
I looked at Alandis, who put on his most innocent look. I went to Garkoe and said, "Cheer up. You still have three specimens to draw from. Miriel and I will let you probe our blood again. I'm certain given the circumstances, Alandis will be generous and give you a sample this time."
My red haired companion shook his head 'no'. I nodded 'yes'. "You will. Anyway, what can it hurt? Besides, he may find a solution to your problem."
"I seriously doubt that."
Garkoe looked up at him hopefully with bog sorrowful puppy eyes. Alandis grimaced. "Not too much," Alandis relented, "To give up my blood is a very precious thing."
"I won't take too much! I promise!" So, Garkoe got his blood sample out of my blood sucking companion. Miriel came into the room. She was escorted by two guards. Alandis blushed and pulled his arm away from Garkoe. The thal was going to complain, but he got what he was after and went happily about his studies. The guards left her without a word.
"And did you get into a bit of trouble?" I asked.
"Well," she answered, "I was only trying to tidy up a few offices along the way, and . . ."
At that moment the alarm went off. Alandis, Miriel, and I started at the sound. Garkoe ignored it. he was otherwise occupied.
"What is that alarm?" Alandis asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. It just sounds an hour before sundown. The mutos tend to get into the city after dark, and we all must hide from them," the thal answered without looking up.
"KILL THE MUTOS!" Mikey stated.
"Too many of them," Garkoe answered, "Hey! This is most extraordinaire!" he exclaimed, "I've never seen anything like this blood before! The life force seems to be controlled by an outside force! The blood itself seems to be already dead, but this energy gives it life and consumes itself."
"My master sleeps. He still drains life from me, but his need is not great yet," Alandis answered, "I am free for the time being."
Miriel took his hand. "What will happen when he wakes?" she asked.
"We will fight for my control," he answered, " I grow stronger while I am awake. the experience strengthens me. He remains stable as he sleeps. When the time comes, he will call his minions to him. some will die, because his hunger is great, but the rest will fight for him."
"Oh, do go on," Garkoe enthused.
"That is all you need to know," Alandis replied.
Miriel looked puzzled. "Shouldn't we do something or go somewhere because of the mutos?" she asked.
"Oh yeah!" Garkoe chirped, "Let me get my things, and we'll go to my place."
"What about K-9?" Miriel asked.
"Talar will take good care of him," Garkoe answered.
After a half an hour of getting his disorganized mess together and packed, we set off into the deserted streets. The sun had just set. Garkoe gasped and hurried us on. He led us up to one of the brightly lit buildings. He took us into a hallway of bright lights and concrete. We went up an elevator to the 11th floor and to an apartment. Garkoe fumbled with a key card, as Alandis and I tried to get Mikey up the five steps leading to the door. Suddenly, all the lights went out. Garkoe uttered a thal curse. Still his key card didn't work. An emergency light flickered on, but it was still quite dim. We could see shadows approaching us. Garkoe had a stronger curse for the moment.