Holiday on Skaro Part 5
We've spent longer on Skaro than any of us had expected or even wanted to. The general idea was to drop Mikey off and go on. He never asked for help. Even if he demanded help, the Rodent knew how to talk him out of it. That was one thing that she was good at. The problem was the Rodent wanted to actually help the argumentive little blob. She claimed we just couldn't just leave him. I didn't argue. I only followed along. Besides, the two males of the crew, Mikey and Alandis, did enough arguing with each other to more than make up for my lack of participation. Alandis claimed to hate our dalek companion along with any other member of his race. Mikey had been the only dalek I had ever meet up to this point in time. Alandis assured me that I was most fortunate, because Mikey was a "nice" dalek. This fact I found hard to believe. Mikey was the most arrogant, ill tempered, argumentive, and sadistic creature I have ever met. A normal dalek was worse?
When we went through our various adventures on Skaro, I found from hearsay from the various thals that Empirical Dalek were much worse. With all Mikey's various flaws, they found him a "nice" dalek also. I was promised a chance to find out how truly bad it was on a first hand basis. Our two thal companions were quite intrigued with Mikey, and Talar found K-9 interesting. Well, he was rather an interesting piece of equipment in his lack of practical use. He made a lousy mobile computer, but he was a good vacuum cleaner. All I had to do was remove his head, (It really wasn't an important part anyway.) and attach the hose. He seemed to enjoy the sensation. It was one of the many things that made his tail wag.
Garkoe was an interesting fellow in of himself. He was very excited and intrigued by our blood, even more so than Alandis. I know that he had gotten his blood back and destroyed all discoveries of his state of being. Having thals know about him would never do.
After many and various adventures through hostile thals and a rather nasty food explosion, we finally managed to get Mikey to the Rebel Dalek City. He told us with many a threat that we were not to follow him there, because there was no way that we would be able to convince the rebels that were daleks.. Pretending to be a dalek was not my idea. The Rodent and Garkoe came up with that one. So, we camped out about a mile away from the entrance of the cave that lead to the city. Several boulders provided us with support for a tent to shade us against the harsh Skaro sun. The Rodent stretched out on top of one of the boulders. She was intent on getting a well endowed suntan.
"Wouldn't you do better without so much clothes?" I asked her. After all, she continued to wear her jacket, long tacky jeans and worn tennis shoes, while Garkoe, Talar, and I wore light weight short sleeved shirts and shorts.
"Don't encourage her!" complained Alandis, "The result may be frightening!'
The Rodent sat up and pulled her sunglasses up. "Why thank you, Alandis!" she exclaimed, then she laid back down spread eagle.
Twice daily, the Rodent and I took radiation pills. Alandis denied any offer of them. he claimed that his body was cursed to remain stationery. he didn't seem very still to me, so I was puzzled by the statement. Besides, there was no telling how long we would be staying on Skaro, so it would be better to reserve the pills for the Rodent and myself. Garkoe and Talar were of this planet, Through many generation of the intense radiation, the thals finally acclimated to it.
I was able to liven up the thals' insty-meals a bit, but there was only so much I could do for it. We each waited for Mikey's return in our own way. Talar spent most her time with her toilettes, since the thals had not invented the portable computer yet. For a computer genius, she spent more time prissing herself up than any other female I had ever met. I would think that she could speculate computer things on paper or something useful. Alandis spent most of his time trying to convince me to return to the thal city. I had no real practical skills to offer the group in this venture, but I was tired of being left behind on these adventures. So, nothing he could say would convince me otherwise, but I did enjoy the attention he paid me. Out of the five us, Garkoe and the Rodent kept the most entertained. Garkoe had spent a good portion of his time in cataloging the different species of creature on Skaro. So, the Rodent tried to help him out by playing Tiddily Winks with snails. She would flip one in his direction, he would give her its scientific name then flip it over his shoulder. Most of them landed near Talar. The female thal would give out a terrified shriek, and the snail would go flying across the group. the snails for their part would try to right themselves and go uncoordinatedly about for awhile until the Rodent would come upon them again, and the whole thing would start all over again.
At the beginning of the third day, the Rodent found a scorpion like creature. Garkoe laughed and assured her that it was harmless. She acquired that large mischievous grin of hers. Alandis and I knew that soon would be trouble. She sneaked over to where Talar still slept, and dropped the creature down the back of her pajama top. The end result was a thal woman doing a famous female ear piercing scream and an amazing dance to rid herself of the intruder. Garkoe, who was obviously taken with the computer scientist, only rolled around on the ground in laughter.
Before Talar could erect her revenge, Alandis called out that six daleks approached camp, and we should take cover. Mikey was due back, but we could not be sure that this group was Mikey and acquired help. After all, the last time we saw Mikey, he was what the Rodent dubbed a "hippie dalek". These daleks appeared to be normal daleks.
When the lead dalek reached our abandoned campsite, he hailed us, "ALANDIS! RODENT! MIRIEL! @#$%&* THALS! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU INFERIOR NI-PED LOWLY HUMANOIDS!"
The Rodent was the first out to greet him. "Hi, Mikey! Good to see you, too!"
The rest of us followed her. Alandis shook his head. It had been decided that he would be the first to greet the daleks, since he was the hardest to kill. He never trusted any of the dealings with the daleks. The tales he had told me about them were terrifying at the very least, and they could be creative liars when it suited them.
The five other daleks looked us over cautiously with no sign of threat. "THESE DALEKS HAVE COME TO AID ME ON MY QUEST," Mikey announced, "THEY ARE CALLED DAVETT AND HIS GASEOUS EMISSIONS AND FRIEND PRANNALAGER. THEY ARE A MUSICAL BAND FROM KRAMA-LI."
"And how exactly is a musical band going to help you on your mission?" Alandis asked cynically, "You were suppose to get combat or scientific daleks."
The dalek that Mikey refered to as Prannalager shot a sparkling white beam at Alandis. He grimaced and raised an eyebrow in confusion at the dalek. "ALL ARGUMENT WILL STOP ABOUT OUR USEFULNESS AND GOOD QUALITIES. I HAVE ZAPPED YOU WITH POSITIVE WAVES, AND NOW YOU WILL HAVE POSITIVE THOUGHTS!" a feminine voice stated.
"She sounds like you, Rodent!" I commented.
Alandis' cheeks puffed up and he broke. He fell to the ground in laughter. "This is going to be rare! If you don't sing the Empirical daleks to death, you can always shower them with positive waves."
"IT WORKED," she protested, "LAUGHTER IS A VERY POSITIVE THING."
"Female dalek!" Garkoe exclaimed excitedly at the same time as Alandis' statement. "The rarest of rares! I must have a blood sample of this one and dissection and the whole shoamooley!"
The other four daleks and Mikey rounded on him. 'NO!!" they emphasized.
"PRANNALAGER IS OUR FEMALE!" one of the daleks answered, "GET YOUR OWN!"
"NO THAL IS GOING TO MESS WITH ANY OF MY RECRUITED HELP!" Mikey answered, "YOU WILL NOT KILL PRANNALAGER AND PUT HER IN A JAR!"
Alandis sat up and cocked his head to one side. Puzzlement crossed his face.
Garkoe frowned. "Oh yeah. I guess that wouldn't go over too well."
Alandis shook his head. "Perhaps we should get to the plot already," he suggested, "I'm overly tired of Skaro. It feels like we have been here nearly a year!"
"It does seem like a long time," the Rodent agreed, "but it is rude not to have formal introductions."
Mikey moved forward and point out each of the daleks as he named them, "DAVETT, FRIZBOTE, GLIMMER GLOT, BRIMBOTBUBULAT, AND PRANNALAGER." Although all daleks looked the same to me, I somehow knew the difference between them. Davett acted like he may have all his marbles, and Prannalager moved and acted feminine. That only left the other three, and somehow they were truly different.
Mikey looked at the 10 of us. "THE GENERAL IDEA I HAVE IS THIS," he said, "WE BRING THE HUMANOIDS IN AS CAPTURED CONSPIRATORS WITH THE DOCTOR . . ."
"BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE YOUR FRIEND?" Glimmer Glot complained.
Mikey looked skyward. "THEY ARE! IT IS AN ACT. WE CANNOT JUST GO TO THE EMPIRICAL DALEK CAPITOL AND TELL THEM THAT HUMANOIDS ARE OUR FRIENDS!"
"OH . . . WHY NOT?"
"TRUST ME!"
"You have got some bright ones there!" Alandis commented.
"SHUT-UP, ALANDIS!" Mikey ordered. He turned his attention back to the plan. "ONCE WE GET TO THE CONTROL CENTER, I WILL TELL THE EMPIRICAL DALEKS HOW WE FOUND OUT THAT THE DOCTOR WAS BEHIND A PLOT WITH THESE HUMANOIDS. WE WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE, TORTURE, AND KILL THE DOCTOR. I HAVE VISUAL PROOF OF HIS EXTERMINATION."
"THE DOCTOR IS DEAD? AND WE KILLED HIM?" Brimbotbubulat whined.
"Nah, Bubu," the Rodent answered, "We went to a place that does videos of executions, and the Doctor is a good actor."
"OH . . ." he answered.
"WHILE I DISTRACT THE DALEKS WITH THIS SPECIAL VIDEO, TALAR AND DAVETT WILL INSTALL THE PROGRAM."
"WHY DOES DAVETT GET TO HAVE ALL THE FUN?" Frizbote complained.
"BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ONE OF YOU WITH ANY INTELLIGENCE!" Mikey returned.
"OH, ALRIGHT," Frizbote agreed.
"THE REST OF YOU WILL GUARD THE PRETEND PRISONERS AND HIDE DAVETT AND TALAR FROM VIEW."
"KINKY!" Glimmer Glot exclaimed, "CAN WE WATCH?"
The other three daleks cheered their enthusiastic agreement to this idea. Talar threw her toilettes bag at Glimmer Glot, but he moved easily out of her way. Davett shot him on the retreat with some kind of energy blast.
Talar shook her head. "I would much rather work with you, Mikey. At least I know what to expect from you."
"I CAN TALK AND ACT LIKE AN EMPIRICAL DALEK SINCE I WAS ONE NOT SO LONG AGO." Mikey looked around at the other five daleks, who huddled together and moved all appendages in a strange synchronized way. "BESIDES, THEY WOULD SCREW IT UP."
"HEY! WE CAN'T HELP IT THAT YOU UNCOOL EMPIRICALS AIN'T GOT GOOD LINGO!" Brimbotbubulat remarked.
"I don't see anything wrong with Bubu's language," the Rodent commented, "Sounds good to me."
"MY NAME ISN'T BUBU," argued Brimbotbubulat, "IT'S BRIMBOLLBUBUBELLAT!"
"YOU TOLD ME THAT YOUR NAME IS BRIMOTBUBULAT!" Mikey retorted.
"OH BUBU DOES THAT," explained Davett, taking to the Rodent's shortened name, "HE HARDLY GIVES THE SAME NAME TWICE."
"WAS GRISMAR THE ONLY ONE OF YOU WHO TRIED TO SMOKE THE VARGA PLANT?" Mikey inquired very slowly.
The five daleks looked at each other and conversed silently. Talar, Garkoe, Alandis, and the Rodent all looked at each other and mouthed, "Smoke a varga plant?" After several moments, the daleks looked back at Mikey. "YES," they answered, "WHY?"
"NEVERMIND," Mikey replied.
"This was the most helpful bunch you could come up with?" Alandis asked.
"YOU SENT ME INTO THE CITY AS A FOOL, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT I WOULD GET AS A FOLLOWING?"
So, the eleven of us discussed the plan, and when we had gotten down our parts, and things were final, the five rebel daleks gave a great hoorah. They gathered together in a circle and extended their suction cups, and with an exclamation of "PLUNGER POWER!" they came together with their plungers. The force of the impact made the suction cups stick together. Mikey rolled away from the group. We could hear him grumbling as he passed then a metallic scream was heard from his direction. The five daleks tried to pull themselves apart from each other, but the suction cups held firm. They struggled and struggled, as motors and wheels dug into the sand. Garkoe, Talar, and the Rodent worked on pulling them apart.
"We are all doomed," exclaimed Alandis.
So, it was agreed that we would rest tonight and tomorrow morning we would start out for the Empirical City. I made a wonderful meal out of the supplies present. Mikey out ate his dalek companions. Somehow, I was not surprised. Talar, the Rodent, and Garkoe and I all settled down to sleep. Alandis would rest in his own time. He had to seek out his own meal in his own way. I did not understand, but I had learned to accept it. The daleks did not need to sleep, and Mikey spent his time to teach them their numbers for the adventure in the Empirical City.
"BUBU, YOUR NUMBER IS 221-21616," Mikey told him.
"THE NAME IS BRIMBRAKLATBACKABEE," he answered.
"NUMBER," insisted Mikey.
"2 . . .12 . . . 7 . . . 3 . . .69," he replied/
A cry of distress came from Mikey. He sighed and returned to the group. "WE HAVE A LONG NIGHT AHEAD OF US."
"IT IS THE TIME OF THE YEAR FOR LONG NIGHTS. ACTUALLY TONIGHT IS A RATHER SHORT NIGHT AMONG THEM," replied Prannalager.
"DAVETT," Mikey said, ignoring Prannalager, "Your number is . . . "
I fell asleep during the drill. I woke to a cry from the Rodent. I looked over at her. The five strange daleks moved away from her. She was completely soaked.
"No fair!" she complained, "I've already had my bath for this adventure!"
Alandis appeared silently at my side. "They got me first," he remarked. I turned to look at his soaked form. Water dripped from his hair and clothes. I tried to hold back the laughter, especially since I knew how much he hated water, but I couldn't contain it. I had never seen him wet, muchless soaked. The sour expression on his face made it even funnier. "It's not funny!" he complained.
"You don't see yourself now! Honestly, it's funny!" I answered.
He sighed exasperated. "You know I feel about the same as the Rodent does about being wet!"
The five daleks split up. Three of them went to surround Talar, who continued to sleep, and two of them went to Garkoe, who was not awakened by the Rodent's cry. A large inflated balloon appeared at the end of each of the guns from each one of the daleks. The other daleks took the end of the red balloon in their guns and carefully pulled it over the given thal. The balloon was expanded with a heavy material. It was most likely water, considering Alandis' and the Rodent's wet forms. A great purple symbol, that the Rodent explained was a peace symbol from the earth's 1960's era, grew on the center of each balloon. The balloons grew and grew. Then it reached its capacity. The daleks stood for a few moments, then they retreated quickly to five directions as they allowed the balloon fall on its victim.
Talar woke with a curse. Garkoe sat up drowsily a moment, then laid back down and went back to sleep. Talar's attacking daleks glided away quickly into hiding before she could retaliate their insult. The two daleks over Garkoe just looked down at him as he continued to sleep. Alandis shook his wet hair ad went to Mikey to wake him by knocking on his lid.
"No, wait, Alandis," the Rodent suggested.
"Why?" he asked.
"Once Miriel makes breakfast, he'll wake. It is better to have him in a good mood," she replied.
"He's a dalek, he has no good mood!" he argued, "and what about Garkoe?"
"He'll wake up for breakfast also. He's a normal male. His stomach talks to his brain, unlike other males that I know."
So, I made breakfast for the eleven of us. The five daleks looked on curiously at my preparation of the food. They were too occupied last night to pay attention. When I was done, the Rodent announced brightly:
"Breakfast, come and get it!"
Mikey promptly woke and went for his heaping share. The five other daleks looked at each other. Garkoe woke up also at breakfast call. Although food was often the motivation for him, he ate moderately. Rassilon showed up and did his thing. He pulled bits of food from everyone's plate, and he managed to get the remainder of Talar's meal by making crude faces at her, until she shrieked and hid behind a boulder. This was the fourth day we had been camped outside of Krama-Li, and this was the tenth time he had done this to her. I don't understand why she didn't send him flying across the desert. I sent him flying across the TARDIS kitchen the first time he tried to intimidate me out of my food. Everyone, including Garkoe, ignored her and continued to eat.
Finally, after the meal, Rassilon crawled back into his sanctuary of the Rodent's pockets, and we started out for the dalek's Empirical City. The Empirical City was nothing special. Actually, it was rather dull on the whole. The city was made out of metal, and it was smooth and regular cut, even if at strange distorted angles. Unlike what Mikey had told us about the rebel dalek city, this place was not painted with fancy designs or bright colors. It was all plain metal.
Our dalek companions filed us in a line. Mikey led and Bubu took up the rear. We were stopped at the doorway by two Empirical Daleks.
"STATE NUMBER AND PURPOSE."
U7246825. WE HAVE PRISONERS. WE BRING THEM FOR SPECIAL INTERROGATION."
"THERE IS NO PATROL ON SKARO THAT IS UNACCOUNTED FOR OR WITH YOUR IDENTIFICATION NUMBER."
"WE WERE ON SCOUT SHIP 7448 TO COLONIZE 578. WE EXPERIENCED TROUBLE. WE WERE THROWN OFF COURSE. DAMAGE CAUSED US TO CRASH INTO THE WASTELANDS. WE HAPPENED UPON THIS GROUP OF REBELS. THE EXPEDIENCY TO RETURN TO BASE WAS OVERRIDDEN BY THE PRIME DIRECTIVE TO EXTERMINATE THESE HUMANOIDS , BUT WE FOUND A SPECIAL ALERT ONE ENEMY WITH THEM. GIVEN THE SPECIAL DANGEROUS QUALITY OF THE ENEMY, WE TOOK THESE CAPTIVES FOR INTERROGATION."
"PROCEED."
We went forward. "TA-TA, SEXY!" Prannalager remarked seductively.
The guards turned on us with their stun guns raised. Three more guards appeared. "REPEAT YOUR STATEMENT," the first guard demanded of Prannalager.
Davett rolled before her. "YOU CANNOT COMPUTE THAT A DALEK WOULD MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT. IT WAS ONE OF THE PRISONERS."
"WE DID NOT SPEAK TO YOU!" the Empirical daleks focused their guns on him.
"DALEK 421132-198920 IS DAMAGED AND CANNOT SPEAK. THIS IS WHY I SPOKE."
The five Empirical daleks relayed messages to each other in silent computer language. Finally, the lead dalek spoke again. "YOU WILL KEEP YOUR PRISONERS SILENT."
"WE OBEY."
Davett shot a beam of energy at Alandis. He cried out and crumpled. This startled the four of us. "PICK HIM UP," droned Davett, 'THE NEXT ONE OF YOU WHO SPEAKS WILL BE EXTERMINATED."
Garkoe and I supported Alandis as we moved onward. Alandis looked at me through hanging red hair. He gave me a wink, as he kept his look of pain. I felt less afraid to know that he was faking the pain. When we cleared the guards and moved into an empty corridor, Davett turned onto his other band members.
"NO MORE COMMENTS OUT OF ANY OF YOU!"
"OH POOH!" Glimmer Glot complained, "YOU'RE AS DULL AS THE SPLOTCHY DALEKS!"
"WE PLAN TO SURVIVE THIS ADVENTURE. THESE DALEKS WILL KILL YOU, AND ESPECIALLY YOU, PRANNALAGER. THEY DON'T RESPECT YOUR WORTH."
"I COULDN'T HELP IT! HE WAS A SEXY LITTLE POSH, AND HE FRIED MY FRITTERS!"
"HE WILL DO MORE THAN FRY YOUR FRITTERS, IF YOU DON'T KEEP QUIET!" Mikey complained.
"OH GOODY!" she exclaimed.
"I think he means that the daleks her will kill you," Talar explained.
"OH PRAGT!"
While this conversation had been going on, Frizbote looked over the dull walls. "PHOOEY!" he complained and proceeded to do artistic things to it by way of spray paint from his gun. I wondered how many different things that these daleks have that they could use those guns for, especially since he could change color at will.
Davett shot a beam of energy at him. The dalek jumped with a yelp. "QUIT THAT AND COME ON!"
Frizbote grumbled a response, and we continued down the corridors. Mikey led us through several corridors. We finally came to an area where there were several daleks milling about at different computers. None of these daleks seemed to pay us any attention. Mikey went to a black dalek, who seemed to be supervising other daleks.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS. EXPLAIN."
"WE ARE FROM SHIP 7448. THE MISSION TO 578 FAILED. WE WERE ATTACKED BY SONTARANS. THE SUPERIOR COMMANDING DALEKS WERE DESTROYED BY THE SONTARANS. WE WERE ABLE TO ABLE TO ESCAPE. SHIP 7448 WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED, THEN IT WAS DESTROYED UPON LANDING IN THE WASTELANDS OF SKARO."
"FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE. WHY RETURN? YOU SHOULD HAVE SELF-DESTRUCTED."
"WE KNOW THE COORDINATES OF THE SONTARAN BASE. IT IS OUR DUTY TO HAVE THE SONTARANS PUNISHED FOR THEIR INTERFERENCE WITH THE DALEK'S MISSION TO DOMINATE 578. WE CAN NOW SEEK AND EXTERMINATE THEM."
"ACCEPTABLE. RELAY COORDINATE AND EXPLAIN PRISONERS."
Mikey spoke to the dalek in computer language, and the black dalek received the information. "PRISONERS WERE FOUND WITH THE ARCH ENEMY OF THE DALEKS. WE FOUND THEM WITH THE DOCTOR. WE WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE AND DESTROY MANY OF THE REBELS, INCLUDING THE DOCTOR. I HAVE VIDEO PROOF OF THE DOCTOR'S EXTERMINATION."
"THE PRISONERS SHOULD BE EXTERMINATED NOT BROUGHT HERE ALIVE."
"WE DESTROYED MANY OF THEM IN SEARCH OF THEIR BASE. WE WERE UNABLE TO LOCATE AND DESTROY THEIR BASE. WE CAPTURED AND BROUGHT THESE PRISONERS FOR SPECIAL INTERROGATION. WHEN THE DOCTOR HAS MEDDLED WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE DALEKS IN THE PAST, WE HAVE ALWAYS FOUND SOME UNDERLINING PLOT. WE CAN FORCE HIS PLANS FROM THESE PRISONERS. THEIR TORTURE SHOULD PROVE ENTERTAINING."
"WHERE IS THE DOCTOR'S BODY?"
"AFTER HIS TORTURE AND DEATH, THE BODY WAS LOST IN THE METHANE SWAMP."
"ACCEPTABLE. SHOW YOUR VIDEO."
"THE EMPEROR WOULD BE MOST PLEASED TO WITNESS THIS EVENT."
"THE EMPEROR IS ON MOST URGENT BUSINESS ON 20TH CENTURY EARTH. HE WILL WITNESS THIS EVEN AFTER HIS MISSION THERE IS COMPLETE."
Mikey moved across the room. The video tape shot out of the top of his casing. He caught it with his plunger. He inserted the video into one of the computer banks. The video was a tasteless display of a man's pain. The Rodent had bought a copy for her allusive father. From what she has told me of him, he is a strange sadistic being with a major meglomaniac streak. As the video played, more of the daleks turned to the screen and away from their work. We were ushered to the other side of the room.
Talar and Davett took the initiative to get to the computer behind us. The other four daleks surrounded us. We stayed well in front of the working pair. the video ran for fifteen minutes, and our daleks made crude comments about it. The Empirical daleks, on the other hand, cheered with enthusiasm.
We heard Davett behind us make a comment to Talar. "IF YOU WERE A DALEK, I WOULD RUMBLE IN YOUR CAN NOW!"
We soon heard the sound of a foot hitting a casing with great force, and we saw Davett's casing whirl backwards into the far computer banks with a thud. the Empirical daleks didn't notice. They were too caught up with the video.
Soon the video ended. Talar uttered a curse. She had not finished installing the program. Davett whirled around and cried out, "ENCORE!"
The Empirical daleks paused a moment, then they took up the chant, "ENCORE! ENCORE!"
So, the black dalek rewound the video and played it again. "THIS IS INDEED A SPECIAL MOMENT FOR THE DALEK RACE."
About halfway through the video, Davett exclaimed, "WHOALA!" The Empirical daleks were too busy to notice. Talar and Davett had finished their work.
The film ended again. "ENOUGH. BACK TO WORK. TAKE THE PRISONERS TO DETENTION. WE WILL PROPERLY DEAL WITH THEM LATER," the black dalek announced. He rolled away with the sound of almost harmony, 'THE DOCTOR IS DEAD! THE DOCTOR IS DEAD! YIPEE!"
Mikey returned to us. "DETENTION," he announced.
"But we installed the program," Talar protested.
"SILENCE!" Mikey ordered. We were led to a cell. Mikey turned to Davett. "I WILL GUARD THE PRISONERS. YOU TAKE THE OTHERS AND SEEK OUT THE REBEL BASE," he told Davett.
"I OBEY," Davett replied.
We've spent longer on Skaro than any of us had expected or even wanted to. The general idea was to drop Mikey off and go on. He never asked for help. Even if he demanded help, the Rodent knew how to talk him out of it. That was one thing that she was good at. The problem was the Rodent wanted to actually help the argumentive little blob. She claimed we just couldn't just leave him. I didn't argue. I only followed along. Besides, the two males of the crew, Mikey and Alandis, did enough arguing with each other to more than make up for my lack of participation. Alandis claimed to hate our dalek companion along with any other member of his race. Mikey had been the only dalek I had ever meet up to this point in time. Alandis assured me that I was most fortunate, because Mikey was a "nice" dalek. This fact I found hard to believe. Mikey was the most arrogant, ill tempered, argumentive, and sadistic creature I have ever met. A normal dalek was worse?
When we went through our various adventures on Skaro, I found from hearsay from the various thals that Empirical Dalek were much worse. With all Mikey's various flaws, they found him a "nice" dalek also. I was promised a chance to find out how truly bad it was on a first hand basis. Our two thal companions were quite intrigued with Mikey, and Talar found K-9 interesting. Well, he was rather an interesting piece of equipment in his lack of practical use. He made a lousy mobile computer, but he was a good vacuum cleaner. All I had to do was remove his head, (It really wasn't an important part anyway.) and attach the hose. He seemed to enjoy the sensation. It was one of the many things that made his tail wag.
Garkoe was an interesting fellow in of himself. He was very excited and intrigued by our blood, even more so than Alandis. I know that he had gotten his blood back and destroyed all discoveries of his state of being. Having thals know about him would never do.
After many and various adventures through hostile thals and a rather nasty food explosion, we finally managed to get Mikey to the Rebel Dalek City. He told us with many a threat that we were not to follow him there, because there was no way that we would be able to convince the rebels that were daleks.. Pretending to be a dalek was not my idea. The Rodent and Garkoe came up with that one. So, we camped out about a mile away from the entrance of the cave that lead to the city. Several boulders provided us with support for a tent to shade us against the harsh Skaro sun. The Rodent stretched out on top of one of the boulders. She was intent on getting a well endowed suntan.
"Wouldn't you do better without so much clothes?" I asked her. After all, she continued to wear her jacket, long tacky jeans and worn tennis shoes, while Garkoe, Talar, and I wore light weight short sleeved shirts and shorts.
"Don't encourage her!" complained Alandis, "The result may be frightening!'
The Rodent sat up and pulled her sunglasses up. "Why thank you, Alandis!" she exclaimed, then she laid back down spread eagle.
Twice daily, the Rodent and I took radiation pills. Alandis denied any offer of them. he claimed that his body was cursed to remain stationery. he didn't seem very still to me, so I was puzzled by the statement. Besides, there was no telling how long we would be staying on Skaro, so it would be better to reserve the pills for the Rodent and myself. Garkoe and Talar were of this planet, Through many generation of the intense radiation, the thals finally acclimated to it.
I was able to liven up the thals' insty-meals a bit, but there was only so much I could do for it. We each waited for Mikey's return in our own way. Talar spent most her time with her toilettes, since the thals had not invented the portable computer yet. For a computer genius, she spent more time prissing herself up than any other female I had ever met. I would think that she could speculate computer things on paper or something useful. Alandis spent most of his time trying to convince me to return to the thal city. I had no real practical skills to offer the group in this venture, but I was tired of being left behind on these adventures. So, nothing he could say would convince me otherwise, but I did enjoy the attention he paid me. Out of the five us, Garkoe and the Rodent kept the most entertained. Garkoe had spent a good portion of his time in cataloging the different species of creature on Skaro. So, the Rodent tried to help him out by playing Tiddily Winks with snails. She would flip one in his direction, he would give her its scientific name then flip it over his shoulder. Most of them landed near Talar. The female thal would give out a terrified shriek, and the snail would go flying across the group. the snails for their part would try to right themselves and go uncoordinatedly about for awhile until the Rodent would come upon them again, and the whole thing would start all over again.
At the beginning of the third day, the Rodent found a scorpion like creature. Garkoe laughed and assured her that it was harmless. She acquired that large mischievous grin of hers. Alandis and I knew that soon would be trouble. She sneaked over to where Talar still slept, and dropped the creature down the back of her pajama top. The end result was a thal woman doing a famous female ear piercing scream and an amazing dance to rid herself of the intruder. Garkoe, who was obviously taken with the computer scientist, only rolled around on the ground in laughter.
Before Talar could erect her revenge, Alandis called out that six daleks approached camp, and we should take cover. Mikey was due back, but we could not be sure that this group was Mikey and acquired help. After all, the last time we saw Mikey, he was what the Rodent dubbed a "hippie dalek". These daleks appeared to be normal daleks.
When the lead dalek reached our abandoned campsite, he hailed us, "ALANDIS! RODENT! MIRIEL! @#$%&* THALS! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU INFERIOR NI-PED LOWLY HUMANOIDS!"
The Rodent was the first out to greet him. "Hi, Mikey! Good to see you, too!"
The rest of us followed her. Alandis shook his head. It had been decided that he would be the first to greet the daleks, since he was the hardest to kill. He never trusted any of the dealings with the daleks. The tales he had told me about them were terrifying at the very least, and they could be creative liars when it suited them.
The five other daleks looked us over cautiously with no sign of threat. "THESE DALEKS HAVE COME TO AID ME ON MY QUEST," Mikey announced, "THEY ARE CALLED DAVETT AND HIS GASEOUS EMISSIONS AND FRIEND PRANNALAGER. THEY ARE A MUSICAL BAND FROM KRAMA-LI."
"And how exactly is a musical band going to help you on your mission?" Alandis asked cynically, "You were suppose to get combat or scientific daleks."
The dalek that Mikey refered to as Prannalager shot a sparkling white beam at Alandis. He grimaced and raised an eyebrow in confusion at the dalek. "ALL ARGUMENT WILL STOP ABOUT OUR USEFULNESS AND GOOD QUALITIES. I HAVE ZAPPED YOU WITH POSITIVE WAVES, AND NOW YOU WILL HAVE POSITIVE THOUGHTS!" a feminine voice stated.
"She sounds like you, Rodent!" I commented.
Alandis' cheeks puffed up and he broke. He fell to the ground in laughter. "This is going to be rare! If you don't sing the Empirical daleks to death, you can always shower them with positive waves."
"IT WORKED," she protested, "LAUGHTER IS A VERY POSITIVE THING."
"Female dalek!" Garkoe exclaimed excitedly at the same time as Alandis' statement. "The rarest of rares! I must have a blood sample of this one and dissection and the whole shoamooley!"
The other four daleks and Mikey rounded on him. 'NO!!" they emphasized.
"PRANNALAGER IS OUR FEMALE!" one of the daleks answered, "GET YOUR OWN!"
"NO THAL IS GOING TO MESS WITH ANY OF MY RECRUITED HELP!" Mikey answered, "YOU WILL NOT KILL PRANNALAGER AND PUT HER IN A JAR!"
Alandis sat up and cocked his head to one side. Puzzlement crossed his face.
Garkoe frowned. "Oh yeah. I guess that wouldn't go over too well."
Alandis shook his head. "Perhaps we should get to the plot already," he suggested, "I'm overly tired of Skaro. It feels like we have been here nearly a year!"
"It does seem like a long time," the Rodent agreed, "but it is rude not to have formal introductions."
Mikey moved forward and point out each of the daleks as he named them, "DAVETT, FRIZBOTE, GLIMMER GLOT, BRIMBOTBUBULAT, AND PRANNALAGER." Although all daleks looked the same to me, I somehow knew the difference between them. Davett acted like he may have all his marbles, and Prannalager moved and acted feminine. That only left the other three, and somehow they were truly different.
Mikey looked at the 10 of us. "THE GENERAL IDEA I HAVE IS THIS," he said, "WE BRING THE HUMANOIDS IN AS CAPTURED CONSPIRATORS WITH THE DOCTOR . . ."
"BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE YOUR FRIEND?" Glimmer Glot complained.
Mikey looked skyward. "THEY ARE! IT IS AN ACT. WE CANNOT JUST GO TO THE EMPIRICAL DALEK CAPITOL AND TELL THEM THAT HUMANOIDS ARE OUR FRIENDS!"
"OH . . . WHY NOT?"
"TRUST ME!"
"You have got some bright ones there!" Alandis commented.
"SHUT-UP, ALANDIS!" Mikey ordered. He turned his attention back to the plan. "ONCE WE GET TO THE CONTROL CENTER, I WILL TELL THE EMPIRICAL DALEKS HOW WE FOUND OUT THAT THE DOCTOR WAS BEHIND A PLOT WITH THESE HUMANOIDS. WE WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE, TORTURE, AND KILL THE DOCTOR. I HAVE VISUAL PROOF OF HIS EXTERMINATION."
"THE DOCTOR IS DEAD? AND WE KILLED HIM?" Brimbotbubulat whined.
"Nah, Bubu," the Rodent answered, "We went to a place that does videos of executions, and the Doctor is a good actor."
"OH . . ." he answered.
"WHILE I DISTRACT THE DALEKS WITH THIS SPECIAL VIDEO, TALAR AND DAVETT WILL INSTALL THE PROGRAM."
"WHY DOES DAVETT GET TO HAVE ALL THE FUN?" Frizbote complained.
"BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ONE OF YOU WITH ANY INTELLIGENCE!" Mikey returned.
"OH, ALRIGHT," Frizbote agreed.
"THE REST OF YOU WILL GUARD THE PRETEND PRISONERS AND HIDE DAVETT AND TALAR FROM VIEW."
"KINKY!" Glimmer Glot exclaimed, "CAN WE WATCH?"
The other three daleks cheered their enthusiastic agreement to this idea. Talar threw her toilettes bag at Glimmer Glot, but he moved easily out of her way. Davett shot him on the retreat with some kind of energy blast.
Talar shook her head. "I would much rather work with you, Mikey. At least I know what to expect from you."
"I CAN TALK AND ACT LIKE AN EMPIRICAL DALEK SINCE I WAS ONE NOT SO LONG AGO." Mikey looked around at the other five daleks, who huddled together and moved all appendages in a strange synchronized way. "BESIDES, THEY WOULD SCREW IT UP."
"HEY! WE CAN'T HELP IT THAT YOU UNCOOL EMPIRICALS AIN'T GOT GOOD LINGO!" Brimbotbubulat remarked.
"I don't see anything wrong with Bubu's language," the Rodent commented, "Sounds good to me."
"MY NAME ISN'T BUBU," argued Brimbotbubulat, "IT'S BRIMBOLLBUBUBELLAT!"
"YOU TOLD ME THAT YOUR NAME IS BRIMOTBUBULAT!" Mikey retorted.
"OH BUBU DOES THAT," explained Davett, taking to the Rodent's shortened name, "HE HARDLY GIVES THE SAME NAME TWICE."
"WAS GRISMAR THE ONLY ONE OF YOU WHO TRIED TO SMOKE THE VARGA PLANT?" Mikey inquired very slowly.
The five daleks looked at each other and conversed silently. Talar, Garkoe, Alandis, and the Rodent all looked at each other and mouthed, "Smoke a varga plant?" After several moments, the daleks looked back at Mikey. "YES," they answered, "WHY?"
"NEVERMIND," Mikey replied.
"This was the most helpful bunch you could come up with?" Alandis asked.
"YOU SENT ME INTO THE CITY AS A FOOL, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT I WOULD GET AS A FOLLOWING?"
So, the eleven of us discussed the plan, and when we had gotten down our parts, and things were final, the five rebel daleks gave a great hoorah. They gathered together in a circle and extended their suction cups, and with an exclamation of "PLUNGER POWER!" they came together with their plungers. The force of the impact made the suction cups stick together. Mikey rolled away from the group. We could hear him grumbling as he passed then a metallic scream was heard from his direction. The five daleks tried to pull themselves apart from each other, but the suction cups held firm. They struggled and struggled, as motors and wheels dug into the sand. Garkoe, Talar, and the Rodent worked on pulling them apart.
"We are all doomed," exclaimed Alandis.
So, it was agreed that we would rest tonight and tomorrow morning we would start out for the Empirical City. I made a wonderful meal out of the supplies present. Mikey out ate his dalek companions. Somehow, I was not surprised. Talar, the Rodent, and Garkoe and I all settled down to sleep. Alandis would rest in his own time. He had to seek out his own meal in his own way. I did not understand, but I had learned to accept it. The daleks did not need to sleep, and Mikey spent his time to teach them their numbers for the adventure in the Empirical City.
"BUBU, YOUR NUMBER IS 221-21616," Mikey told him.
"THE NAME IS BRIMBRAKLATBACKABEE," he answered.
"NUMBER," insisted Mikey.
"2 . . .12 . . . 7 . . . 3 . . .69," he replied/
A cry of distress came from Mikey. He sighed and returned to the group. "WE HAVE A LONG NIGHT AHEAD OF US."
"IT IS THE TIME OF THE YEAR FOR LONG NIGHTS. ACTUALLY TONIGHT IS A RATHER SHORT NIGHT AMONG THEM," replied Prannalager.
"DAVETT," Mikey said, ignoring Prannalager, "Your number is . . . "
I fell asleep during the drill. I woke to a cry from the Rodent. I looked over at her. The five strange daleks moved away from her. She was completely soaked.
"No fair!" she complained, "I've already had my bath for this adventure!"
Alandis appeared silently at my side. "They got me first," he remarked. I turned to look at his soaked form. Water dripped from his hair and clothes. I tried to hold back the laughter, especially since I knew how much he hated water, but I couldn't contain it. I had never seen him wet, muchless soaked. The sour expression on his face made it even funnier. "It's not funny!" he complained.
"You don't see yourself now! Honestly, it's funny!" I answered.
He sighed exasperated. "You know I feel about the same as the Rodent does about being wet!"
The five daleks split up. Three of them went to surround Talar, who continued to sleep, and two of them went to Garkoe, who was not awakened by the Rodent's cry. A large inflated balloon appeared at the end of each of the guns from each one of the daleks. The other daleks took the end of the red balloon in their guns and carefully pulled it over the given thal. The balloon was expanded with a heavy material. It was most likely water, considering Alandis' and the Rodent's wet forms. A great purple symbol, that the Rodent explained was a peace symbol from the earth's 1960's era, grew on the center of each balloon. The balloons grew and grew. Then it reached its capacity. The daleks stood for a few moments, then they retreated quickly to five directions as they allowed the balloon fall on its victim.
Talar woke with a curse. Garkoe sat up drowsily a moment, then laid back down and went back to sleep. Talar's attacking daleks glided away quickly into hiding before she could retaliate their insult. The two daleks over Garkoe just looked down at him as he continued to sleep. Alandis shook his wet hair ad went to Mikey to wake him by knocking on his lid.
"No, wait, Alandis," the Rodent suggested.
"Why?" he asked.
"Once Miriel makes breakfast, he'll wake. It is better to have him in a good mood," she replied.
"He's a dalek, he has no good mood!" he argued, "and what about Garkoe?"
"He'll wake up for breakfast also. He's a normal male. His stomach talks to his brain, unlike other males that I know."
So, I made breakfast for the eleven of us. The five daleks looked on curiously at my preparation of the food. They were too occupied last night to pay attention. When I was done, the Rodent announced brightly:
"Breakfast, come and get it!"
Mikey promptly woke and went for his heaping share. The five other daleks looked at each other. Garkoe woke up also at breakfast call. Although food was often the motivation for him, he ate moderately. Rassilon showed up and did his thing. He pulled bits of food from everyone's plate, and he managed to get the remainder of Talar's meal by making crude faces at her, until she shrieked and hid behind a boulder. This was the fourth day we had been camped outside of Krama-Li, and this was the tenth time he had done this to her. I don't understand why she didn't send him flying across the desert. I sent him flying across the TARDIS kitchen the first time he tried to intimidate me out of my food. Everyone, including Garkoe, ignored her and continued to eat.
Finally, after the meal, Rassilon crawled back into his sanctuary of the Rodent's pockets, and we started out for the dalek's Empirical City. The Empirical City was nothing special. Actually, it was rather dull on the whole. The city was made out of metal, and it was smooth and regular cut, even if at strange distorted angles. Unlike what Mikey had told us about the rebel dalek city, this place was not painted with fancy designs or bright colors. It was all plain metal.
Our dalek companions filed us in a line. Mikey led and Bubu took up the rear. We were stopped at the doorway by two Empirical Daleks.
"STATE NUMBER AND PURPOSE."
U7246825. WE HAVE PRISONERS. WE BRING THEM FOR SPECIAL INTERROGATION."
"THERE IS NO PATROL ON SKARO THAT IS UNACCOUNTED FOR OR WITH YOUR IDENTIFICATION NUMBER."
"WE WERE ON SCOUT SHIP 7448 TO COLONIZE 578. WE EXPERIENCED TROUBLE. WE WERE THROWN OFF COURSE. DAMAGE CAUSED US TO CRASH INTO THE WASTELANDS. WE HAPPENED UPON THIS GROUP OF REBELS. THE EXPEDIENCY TO RETURN TO BASE WAS OVERRIDDEN BY THE PRIME DIRECTIVE TO EXTERMINATE THESE HUMANOIDS , BUT WE FOUND A SPECIAL ALERT ONE ENEMY WITH THEM. GIVEN THE SPECIAL DANGEROUS QUALITY OF THE ENEMY, WE TOOK THESE CAPTIVES FOR INTERROGATION."
"PROCEED."
We went forward. "TA-TA, SEXY!" Prannalager remarked seductively.
The guards turned on us with their stun guns raised. Three more guards appeared. "REPEAT YOUR STATEMENT," the first guard demanded of Prannalager.
Davett rolled before her. "YOU CANNOT COMPUTE THAT A DALEK WOULD MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT. IT WAS ONE OF THE PRISONERS."
"WE DID NOT SPEAK TO YOU!" the Empirical daleks focused their guns on him.
"DALEK 421132-198920 IS DAMAGED AND CANNOT SPEAK. THIS IS WHY I SPOKE."
The five Empirical daleks relayed messages to each other in silent computer language. Finally, the lead dalek spoke again. "YOU WILL KEEP YOUR PRISONERS SILENT."
"WE OBEY."
Davett shot a beam of energy at Alandis. He cried out and crumpled. This startled the four of us. "PICK HIM UP," droned Davett, 'THE NEXT ONE OF YOU WHO SPEAKS WILL BE EXTERMINATED."
Garkoe and I supported Alandis as we moved onward. Alandis looked at me through hanging red hair. He gave me a wink, as he kept his look of pain. I felt less afraid to know that he was faking the pain. When we cleared the guards and moved into an empty corridor, Davett turned onto his other band members.
"NO MORE COMMENTS OUT OF ANY OF YOU!"
"OH POOH!" Glimmer Glot complained, "YOU'RE AS DULL AS THE SPLOTCHY DALEKS!"
"WE PLAN TO SURVIVE THIS ADVENTURE. THESE DALEKS WILL KILL YOU, AND ESPECIALLY YOU, PRANNALAGER. THEY DON'T RESPECT YOUR WORTH."
"I COULDN'T HELP IT! HE WAS A SEXY LITTLE POSH, AND HE FRIED MY FRITTERS!"
"HE WILL DO MORE THAN FRY YOUR FRITTERS, IF YOU DON'T KEEP QUIET!" Mikey complained.
"OH GOODY!" she exclaimed.
"I think he means that the daleks her will kill you," Talar explained.
"OH PRAGT!"
While this conversation had been going on, Frizbote looked over the dull walls. "PHOOEY!" he complained and proceeded to do artistic things to it by way of spray paint from his gun. I wondered how many different things that these daleks have that they could use those guns for, especially since he could change color at will.
Davett shot a beam of energy at him. The dalek jumped with a yelp. "QUIT THAT AND COME ON!"
Frizbote grumbled a response, and we continued down the corridors. Mikey led us through several corridors. We finally came to an area where there were several daleks milling about at different computers. None of these daleks seemed to pay us any attention. Mikey went to a black dalek, who seemed to be supervising other daleks.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS. EXPLAIN."
"WE ARE FROM SHIP 7448. THE MISSION TO 578 FAILED. WE WERE ATTACKED BY SONTARANS. THE SUPERIOR COMMANDING DALEKS WERE DESTROYED BY THE SONTARANS. WE WERE ABLE TO ABLE TO ESCAPE. SHIP 7448 WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED, THEN IT WAS DESTROYED UPON LANDING IN THE WASTELANDS OF SKARO."
"FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE. WHY RETURN? YOU SHOULD HAVE SELF-DESTRUCTED."
"WE KNOW THE COORDINATES OF THE SONTARAN BASE. IT IS OUR DUTY TO HAVE THE SONTARANS PUNISHED FOR THEIR INTERFERENCE WITH THE DALEK'S MISSION TO DOMINATE 578. WE CAN NOW SEEK AND EXTERMINATE THEM."
"ACCEPTABLE. RELAY COORDINATE AND EXPLAIN PRISONERS."
Mikey spoke to the dalek in computer language, and the black dalek received the information. "PRISONERS WERE FOUND WITH THE ARCH ENEMY OF THE DALEKS. WE FOUND THEM WITH THE DOCTOR. WE WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE AND DESTROY MANY OF THE REBELS, INCLUDING THE DOCTOR. I HAVE VIDEO PROOF OF THE DOCTOR'S EXTERMINATION."
"THE PRISONERS SHOULD BE EXTERMINATED NOT BROUGHT HERE ALIVE."
"WE DESTROYED MANY OF THEM IN SEARCH OF THEIR BASE. WE WERE UNABLE TO LOCATE AND DESTROY THEIR BASE. WE CAPTURED AND BROUGHT THESE PRISONERS FOR SPECIAL INTERROGATION. WHEN THE DOCTOR HAS MEDDLED WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE DALEKS IN THE PAST, WE HAVE ALWAYS FOUND SOME UNDERLINING PLOT. WE CAN FORCE HIS PLANS FROM THESE PRISONERS. THEIR TORTURE SHOULD PROVE ENTERTAINING."
"WHERE IS THE DOCTOR'S BODY?"
"AFTER HIS TORTURE AND DEATH, THE BODY WAS LOST IN THE METHANE SWAMP."
"ACCEPTABLE. SHOW YOUR VIDEO."
"THE EMPEROR WOULD BE MOST PLEASED TO WITNESS THIS EVENT."
"THE EMPEROR IS ON MOST URGENT BUSINESS ON 20TH CENTURY EARTH. HE WILL WITNESS THIS EVEN AFTER HIS MISSION THERE IS COMPLETE."
Mikey moved across the room. The video tape shot out of the top of his casing. He caught it with his plunger. He inserted the video into one of the computer banks. The video was a tasteless display of a man's pain. The Rodent had bought a copy for her allusive father. From what she has told me of him, he is a strange sadistic being with a major meglomaniac streak. As the video played, more of the daleks turned to the screen and away from their work. We were ushered to the other side of the room.
Talar and Davett took the initiative to get to the computer behind us. The other four daleks surrounded us. We stayed well in front of the working pair. the video ran for fifteen minutes, and our daleks made crude comments about it. The Empirical daleks, on the other hand, cheered with enthusiasm.
We heard Davett behind us make a comment to Talar. "IF YOU WERE A DALEK, I WOULD RUMBLE IN YOUR CAN NOW!"
We soon heard the sound of a foot hitting a casing with great force, and we saw Davett's casing whirl backwards into the far computer banks with a thud. the Empirical daleks didn't notice. They were too caught up with the video.
Soon the video ended. Talar uttered a curse. She had not finished installing the program. Davett whirled around and cried out, "ENCORE!"
The Empirical daleks paused a moment, then they took up the chant, "ENCORE! ENCORE!"
So, the black dalek rewound the video and played it again. "THIS IS INDEED A SPECIAL MOMENT FOR THE DALEK RACE."
About halfway through the video, Davett exclaimed, "WHOALA!" The Empirical daleks were too busy to notice. Talar and Davett had finished their work.
The film ended again. "ENOUGH. BACK TO WORK. TAKE THE PRISONERS TO DETENTION. WE WILL PROPERLY DEAL WITH THEM LATER," the black dalek announced. He rolled away with the sound of almost harmony, 'THE DOCTOR IS DEAD! THE DOCTOR IS DEAD! YIPEE!"
Mikey returned to us. "DETENTION," he announced.
"But we installed the program," Talar protested.
"SILENCE!" Mikey ordered. We were led to a cell. Mikey turned to Davett. "I WILL GUARD THE PRISONERS. YOU TAKE THE OTHERS AND SEEK OUT THE REBEL BASE," he told Davett.
"I OBEY," Davett replied.