Chapter 2: The Daleks
The Doctor, Ian and Susan emerged from the forest; there was the city just a few yards away from them. It certainly stood out from the rest of the bleak landscape of the planet.
"Doesn't look quite so impressive close up does it," Ian commented.
"That might be because close up you can't see quite as much of it," the Doctor said.
"True. Do you think Barbara might be in there?"
"I don't know, but if she isn't we can always ask the inhabitants if they can help us look for her."
Then the Doctor strode off towards the city, Ian and Susan followed quickly after him. When they inside the city it seemed very different to how it had looked from the outside. The Doctor didn't like it, he felt as though there was some evil present. He stood just by the entrance sizing up the situation and any risks they might encounter.
"Susan I think you should stay here for the time being?" he said.
"Why?"
"I think it could be dangerous in there," the Doctor explained, and he sounded like he really meant it.
"Alright I'll stay here."
"Good girl, and if she hear any sounds of trouble, run, get away from here. Back to the TARDIS and wait outside it."
"Alright, be careful Grandfather."
"I will Susan, don't worry about me," and with that the Doctor strode off down the cities streets, Ian followed him.
Susan watched them go, hoping that they wouldn't encounter any danger.
Target possibility sighted.
Two specimens, one male, one female.
Age of female: approximately 15 years, possibility of actual target: 80, action: kill.
Age of male: Approximately 16 years, possibility of actual target: 0, action, ignore unless attempts are made to prevent death of other specimen.
The Raston Warrior Robot was hiding in the dead foliage, two people were approaching. They were a similar age to Susan; there was a boy and a girl. They were both talking and laughing happily. They passed by and the robot stepped out of its hiding place. Then it fired a spear needle right into the girls back. She collapsed, blood flowing out of where the spear had struck, it had gone right through her. The boy turned round to see the robot, he then looked at the girl. Then he shot towards the robot which released a series of small needles straight at the boy who collapsed, paralyzed. The robot stepped over the boy and headed towards the girl. She was still alive but dying from blood loss. The robot could tell that she was shaking with fear. The robot casually fired another spear into her head.
Status report
Female specimen executed, male specimen disabled.
Confirm executed specimen is required target…NEGATIVE.
Ian and the Doctor continued walking down the city streets, there was no sign of life…anywhere. They were still debating whether they should enter any of the buildings or not. They didn't look very inviting.
"Doctor I don't think we're going to find any help here," Ian said nervously.
"Well even if there isn't anybody here there should at least be some scientific equipment with which we can use to…" the Doctor didn't finish what he was saying; he just collapsed for no apparent reason.
"Doctor what's wrong?"
The Doctor got to his feet again, groaning slightly. He looked round the street they were in, he felt a sense of foreboding now, and he didn't know why.
"I think we'd better go," he said, "There's something dangerous here."
The two of them turned round and saw that the street was blocked. By a machine. It was about the height of a man. The very top part was a domed shape with stalk coming out of the front, running along this stalk were a series of discs and a sphere on the end with one side flattened out and holding a lens. The lower part was covered in a series of half spheres and in the middle two tubes were pointing at them. The machine also had two robotic tentacles with three fingered claws on the end. The machine was mostly coloured a light blue while the half spheres were a darker blue. Then it spoke, the dome flashing in unison with its speech.
"Intruders. Surround them."
The Doctor and Ian looked round to see more of the machines appearing out of the buildings and side streets. Then one of the machines approached them, a beam of light came out of one of its tubes at the Doctor's forehead. The Doctor stood there, frozen for a few seconds. Then the light shut off. The machine turned the dome until the stalk was facing another one of the machines.
"There is another waiting by the entrance to the city," it said, "Find them and bring them back here."
"I obey," the second machine said and drifted off across the streets.
"Search them," the first machine said.
The machines grabbed the Doctor and Ian, the tentacles playing over their bodies searching for anything that might be of relevance. All they found was a small piece of metal on a chain that the Doctor had round his neck. The key to the TARDIS.
"Take them to the cell."
The machines then started pushing the Doctor and Ian towards the entrance to one of the buildings. The Doctor thought that Ian had been right. They weren't going to find any help here at all.
Susan heard something; she looked down the street in front of her and saw the machine approaching her. Slowly she backed away from it, then turned and ran into the forest. The machine continued on until it came to the edge of the city. It stared after her as she disappeared into the dead foliage. Then its tentacles retracted and it rose into the air, a blue light coming from its base. It drifted over the forest. Searching for Susan.
Barbara didn't know what had happened. All she could remember was seeing the machine approaching her and then the flash of light. She thought it had probably used a stun ray or something similar. She'd woken up in a completely empty room, the space inside was about a three metre cube. Enough space to not make its occupant feel claustrophobic fortunately. Barbara sat on the floor leaning against one of the walls, wondering where she was and what the machine was planning to do with her, or what had already done to her. Then the wall opened and the Doctor and Ian were pushed inside by three of the machines. Then the wall closed behind them.
"Ian, are you alright?" Barbara asked, relieved to see them again.
"I'm alright, for the moment."
"Where's Susan?"
"Safe, I hope."
"But I've a feeling we'll be seeing her soon," the Doctor said gravely. Then he collapsed again.
Susan ran through the forest. There was no sign of the machine. Maybe it had gone back. She hoped it had. She stopped running, she was out of breath. She looked round. She felt dizzy. Her vision of the forest swam in and out of focus. Then she collapsed. Unconscious.
"Doctor. Doctor what's wrong?"
Ian was trying to rouse the Doctor; he was still lying on the floor groaning slightly. Ian was frantic, the Doctor was their reason for being here and only he could really get them out of here.
"What do you thinks wrong with him?" Barbara asked.
"I don't know, I'm no Doctor."
"Is there anything we can do for him?"
"We can only wait for his condition to return to normal."
"Yes but if he's an alien we don't know what normal is for him," Barbara commented, "I mean even this could be normal."
"Do you think so?"
"Well no, not really."
"Blimey I feel hot," Ian said wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Me too," Barbara said, "And sleepy."
"Well try to stay awake," Ian said, "I need your help with the Doctor."
Barbara didn't reply. She'd drifted into unconsciousness. Ian sighed looking at the other two. For the time being he was alone.
Susan woke up, she still felt a bit dazed and she couldn't see clearly. What she could tell was that she was lying on rough ground; the air now seemed a lot colder then it had been earlier. After a few minutes her vision started to clear up. She could see a man in the distance with his back to her. He was peering through the dead plants as though he was looking for something. He then turned round and walked towards her. The man had quite a strong build, his face showed signs of friendliness. He had blond hair and his skin had a slight blue tint to it. His clothes were fairly tight fitting and were made out of some artificial yellow material; he was also wearing a fur cloak. He knelt down in front of Susan and smiled. Susan felt a slight sense of nervousness towards the man; she knew that appearances could be deceiving.
"Who are you?" she asking after a brief pause.
"My name is Anecdone," the man replied, "I'm a Thal. The native life form on this planet."
"What was that machine that came out of the city?" Susan asked, still feeling nervous.
"A Dalek. A creature of pure hatred. Inside that machine is a small green mutation, about this big," Anecdone held up his hands about a foot apart to illustrate, "They were Thals like me…well not quite like me. There was a disease long ago which turned them into those hideous creatures. Our scientists tried to find ways of helping them survive, so they built those machines as a life support system. Then they discovered that the disease altered the minds as well as the bodies of its victims."
"How?"
"It removed any sort of emotion from their minds. Our scientists tried to counteract this but all they could preserve was hate. The Daleks turned on us, exterminated most of the Thal population. The Daleks then retreated into the cities and took on a new name, the same name that had been given to the virus they'd all been infected by. Ever since they've been trying to get rid of the survivors. Once they set off a nuclear explosion which spread radiation across the whole planet. A fair few of us died but the others managed to find a drug which would counteract its affects. How long have you been here?"
Susan thought hard, "I'd say a day, nearly two."
"Then you're more than likely to have been affected by the radiation," Anecdone said very gravely.
Susan was shocked to hear this, they were lucky to still be alive. Then she had another feeling of dizziness and collapsed again.
"I should say that confirms it," Anecdone said taking a small box out of a pocket in his cloak.
Susan looked at it as he opened it. Inside were a few small glass tubes with plastic caps on the ends containing a blue liquid. Anecdone took one out and gave it to Susan.
"What is it?" Susan asked groggily.
"A drug, to fight the effects of the radiation."
Susan took the tube that Anecdone was offering her, removed the cap and swallowed the liquid that was inside. She shuddered; the taste was like everything else on the planet. Unpleasant. Susan shivered slightly; the cold seemed to be getting to her. Anecdone took his cloak off and put it round her.
"Listen, you should get these drugs to your friends, they'll need them otherwise they might die very soon," Anecdone said putting the drugs back in the cloak pocket.
"Alright, I'll try," Susan said, unsure of how exactly she was going to do it.
Then from out of nowhere they saw a flash of light and small patch of ground explode, ashes flying everywhere.
"What was that?" Susan asked shaking from the shock of the event.
Anecdone looked up and saw what he knew would be there. The Dalek was almost directly above them…