Chapter 1
The Doctor was smiling at Rose, watching her as she laughed. She was in high spirits because it had been almost a year since she'd been home to see her mother. Mickey had moved away, finally tired of her rejections. The TARDIS engines sped up abruptly. The smile vanished from his face. "That's not right," he said.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"We've accelerated in time -" he glanced at his watch and counted aloud. "2053, 2043, 2033. Rose we're skipping decades. We were heading for 2006 and we're going to shoot straight past it." He ran to the controls, trying to slow down the engines. It didn't work. "Something must have interfered with the TARDIS route. We were taking a short cut but it just doesn't make sense..."
"Shouldn't we just reverse?"
"I can't or we'll freeze completely."
"Well then… how will we get back?"
"I think we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"And what do you think will happen? Has this happened before with you?"
"Once," the Doctor replied. "But that was a malfunction. There's nothing wrong now. And I have no idea what will happen."
Rose moved over to the TV screen. She knew how to use it now and selected an alien news channel. There was a news flash. The title at the bottom read: Unknown E.Ts tamper with space and time. "Doctor?" Rose said. "I think you should see this."
The Doctor moved over and stared at the writing. "Oh no." he breathed. Rose turned up the volume and the newsreader read, "… chaos today in time tunnels, a strange machine unknown -" the screen flicked to a picture of a blurring blue thing, spinning round and round. It was going so fast it was indistinguishable. The clip started again but this time slower. The Doctor leant forward, closer. Rose pointed at it. "That's the TARDIS? How are we causing chaos in time? All that's happened is us speeding up… but faster than usual."
The Doctor frowned, puzzled. He didn't reply to her question but kept his eyes fixed on the screen. The newsreader continued. "If anybody can identify this machine, please get in touch with the time lords so they can put a stop to the machine before it crashes into the planet Skaro, home of the Kaleds and Thals -"
"Impossible." The Doctor said, turning off the screen. He turned his back on Rose.
"What's impossible?" Rose asked, walking round to face him.
"The planet Skaro. It was destroyed in the 30th century by a stellar manipulator device known as the Hand of Omega which was triggered a supernova in Skaro's sun. It's still there. I tried to make sure it would be destroyed forever and we're heading straight for it. Rose," he said quietly looking up at Rose. "Are you good at anagrams?"
"Yeah, I'm decent at them, but what does this have to with Skaro?"
"Think about the word Kaled. What could it be?"
Rose paused and then her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "Are you saying that Skaro is the home of… the Daleks?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Who are the Thals? Why haven't the Daleks killed them yet?""They were driven from the planet by them," the Doctor explained. "The Daleks made it a devastated planet, its seas dead and its surface devoid of almost all life. But it was of some use to them. It was rich in minerals which the Daleks used to build armies to conquer and destroy other worlds, building an interstellar empire. Some time after the Daleks also abandoned Skaro. It was later reoccupied by the Imperial Dalek faction. Something to do with Davros a scientist there. The Kaleds and Thals went to war resulting their mutations caused by the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons used and this was soon seen by Kaled scientists as being the end of their species in its "pure" form. Unfortunately Davros sped up the process and put them in the tank like suits the Daleks wore and called them 'Cyborgs' but they're still Daleks"
"So then you're saying we're heading straight for Dalek central?"
"Yep." The Doctor replied shortly.