Sadly I don't own Doctor Who, nor do I own the First Doctor Adventures released by Big Finish; I don't even own those, but I hope they do more of the second Doctor in due course. That and more alternative Doctor stories.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this on Christmas Eve!
Stay safe!
You can't trust Daleks.
As the Doctor, along with Ian, Tryana and the two Thal guards left behind while Kreos, Susan, and Jyden and the rest of the armed party who'd been assigned to help search for the two youths - he would need to have a talk with Susan about running off like that, but ever since the encounter with that future, alternative version of his granddaughter, the Doctor knew he would need to accept Susan was not a child, but a growing young Time Lady and she deserved to be treated like one, and in any case, if she hadn't have done, the consequences might have been severe - descended into the secret level of the Dalek city, he had a moment to think.
When he had announced his intention to use the Fast Return Switch to try to return Ian and Barbara to their home time in London, 1963, he had known it would be met with some opposition, especially given how the last attempt had failed, but he had worked long and hard on restoring the switch to make it work, and if they were going to use the switch it needed to be now before they moved too far from the point in time where they'd originally left.
But it was still a viable plan, and it had worked; however, a return to Skaro was the last thing he had considered, although he should have expected the TARDIS to land them in a different point in time although it had landed them in the same place as they'd materialised before on their last visit before they were captured by the Daleks in the city when he had sabotaged the ship so he could explore the city.
But not the Skaro they had known.
Things had changed on the planet of the Daleks since they were last here, the Thals had moved on and they focused their efforts on rebuilding their civilisation using the technology of the Daleks, unaware Tryana had gone behind their backs and encountered some Dalek survivors, who had given them the scientific means of reducing the background radiation of the planet - the Doctor had been surprised and amazed when he had learnt the radiation had dropped considerably since their last visit, and by using ionising towers dispelling electricity into the atmosphere of the war-torn planet, but when he had met Tryana, he had realised that despite understanding the basics of the procedure, she genuinely did not know how the technology worked.
That had been the first thing that told him something was wrong, and a part of him wondered if he was just being suspicious, but since she was working with Dalek technology he had grown suspicious.
He had become even more worried when she had just presented what he viewed as an excuse when she kept saying they could not visit the city, but while there was likely a grain of truth to her assertions she had better knowledge than most Thals about the dangers posed by the Dalek city, such as those Varga planets she had described, he had still become concerned.
But it wasn't until he had seen the control panel and saw the concealed level of the city in the main control room, and realised that was the most likely place to find Susan and Jyden, his suspicions were becoming confirmed.
Susan must have been suspicious about the state of the repaired control panel, which had been damaged by the fighting in the Thal-Dalek battle he and Ian had organised long ago - for the Thals - and she would have seen as he had, the Thals had no need for a repaired control panel when there was still so much of the city left for them to explore and make use of.
Yes, the Doctor could understand the Thals providing power to doors and lifts, and even floors and pieces of Dalek technology now the nuclear power plant which had powered the Daleks' casings, providing them with static electricity among other things, was useless, and he could understand them repowering computers, but not a control panel in a control room.
And, like his granddaughter who was clearly really showing her intellect, the Doctor had spotted the hidden floor. It wasn't until the concealed door in that dead-end corridor opened, the Doctor's suspicions and fears were confirmed.
The Daleks had survived. The others hadn't wanted to believe it, but how else could the door have opened and how could it have closed before they'd stopped it? Who else could and would hide in the city after all this time?
The Doctor frowned thoughtfully as he thought about the encounter with the Dalek Supreme, and learnt the Daleks had hidden this level of the city deliberately. He could understand the logic and the necessity behind it; with a species at potential risk, it would make sense for them to hide the floor and shield it from the rest of the city. It certainly made sense; he had stated during their original visit to Susan, Chesterton and Barbara, when he was suffering from the effects of radiation poisoning the Daleks had built the city as a huge shelter; with the miles and miles of rock reinforced with metal and other materials, the Daleks wouldn't have had a hard time protecting their progeny.
He also understood how the waters from the Lake of Mutations, combined with the depth of the level they were in, had removed the dependency the Dalek creatures had with radiation.
But what he did not understand was what the Daleks were planning. He didn't doubt for a moment they had their own agenda, although he lived in the hope they were moving on from their genocidal urge to wipe out the Thals.
And yet…
The Doctor could not. He had been here, in the city, listening as the Daleks prepared to flood Skaro's atmosphere with radiation bled off from their nuclear power plant. Yes, he had to accept decades of time alone could have made anyone think, but had it succeeded with the Daleks? Try as he might, especially since the circumstances were different, the Doctor could not help but think about how he had dematerialised the TARDIS with Ian and Barbara inside, kidnapping them from 1963. At the time he had panicked and he hadn't really recognised the stupidity behind his decision, there was no way he could get them back, but it had been good having them since he had changed so much. He felt lighter in personality than he had been before, but this was different.
The Dalek Supreme had been in a state of suspended animation for years before Tryana stumbled across him…could he have really changed that much from just a few meetings with a Thal scientist?
Next to him, Ian was looking worriedly at his face, seeing him thinking. Ian himself could see that the Doctor was thinking, like he was, about the Daleks, and worrying if they were being sincere.
Gently, he rested a hand on the old man's shoulder. "Doctor," he began.
The Doctor jumped at the hand on his shoulder. "Yes, what is it, my boy?"
"I take it you're as worried as I am by this?"
The Doctor looked around carefully - there was only him and his human companion, and the two Thal guards, and Tryana… but there were the Daleks and their videoscopes. "Keep your voice low," he lowered his voice although he had no idea if it would work especially given the quality of Dalek surveillance technology, "the Daleks are likely eavesdropping."
Ian's eyes widened, and he nodded, especially when his mind flashed to the camera they'd found in their cell on their first visit to Skaro. But at the same time, he had the impression the Doctor did not want to speak too loud in case they alerted Tryana to the conversation. "What do you think about what's going on?"
"I wish I knew, my boy, I really do."
Ian didn't like the sound of that, the Doctor usually liked acting and thinking confidently. "You really are worried, aren't you?"
The Doctor glowered at him, but Ian had known the Doctor long enough to know the glare didn't mean he was angry. Oh no, the Doctor was just saving face, but he was also hiding his very real concerns.
"I am, my boy. I am worried. I admit, when we saw the generators in the Thal city, for the ionising towers, and Tryana was reluctant to speak about them, even when I asked those questions on how they worked, I was worried and curious about why their inventor didn't want to speak about them," the Doctor admitted.
"You knew then, but you didn't say a word?"
"Think about it, Chesterton," the Doctor sighed rather patiently, reminding Ian of just how far the old time traveller had come from the conniving, arrogant old coot he'd first met. "Did I have proof at the time?"
Ian closed his eyes, cursing his stupidity. Unlike many people, the Doctor never really accused anyone - that time in the TARDIS when the ship went out of control didn't count - and he never made assumptions when he had no proof. "Of course. But what about the Daleks?"
"I don't know, my boy; I would like to believe any race would want to move on, especially when you take in the state of Skaro itself, and yet…. I cannot ignore what I saw and heard with my own eyes; the Daleks were planning on saturating the planet with radiation, wiping everything and everyone out."
"I know, I was there when Temmosus was murdered," Ian said, purposefully using the last word to express what the Daleks had done in the most emotional manner possible. "I listened to what he said, about forming peace, turning away from war since it had destroyed everything…and they had shot him down, with their dislike of the unlike."
EXTERMINATION!
The Doctor closed his eyes, the word filling his mind unbidden. He had heard the word a couple of times during their original encounter, it had sounded so natural to the Daleks. And besides, after seeing World War Two and learning of the history of the Nazi's and other fascist parties in Italy and England, the Doctor had worked out the Daleks' philosophy followed the Nazis' sick excuse for a philosophy very nicely.
"I know," he said quietly, but he turned to Ian seriously. "The Dalek Supreme lied, you know."
"What?" True surprise flashed across Ian's face. "About what?" He added while he tried not to jump to conclusions.
"Think; the Dalek Supreme told Tryana this whole level was hidden to preserve the Dalek race; I believe that. We are miles from the surface, shielded from the radiation, protected by tonnes of rock and metal, and heaven knows what else the Daleks use for their construction of the city, so I believe that. I also believe the Dalek Supreme might be right, the water and the chemicals contained in the Lake of Mutations pumped down here might have removed their dependence on radiation…"
"But what did they lie about?"
The Doctor glared at him. "I am coming to that. The Daleks are a technologically advanced race, so why is it they needed to depend on the presence of a Thal to place some of their creatures into the travel machines?"
Ian had to pause at that. That was a good question, really. The Daleks they had met went out of their way to slaughter the Thals, so why would they need their help to return?
"I believe the notion they were in a suspended animation of some form, but I don't think the Daleks would need the Thals; remember, they originally suspected the Thals had been wiped out after the war before they learned otherwise. And don't forget, anything could happen to this city; objects from space could damage it, forcing their contingency plan to activate, or their nuclear power plant might accidentally shut down, leaving the Dalek Supreme and the embryo Daleks to survive. With those disasters, the Thals may not be here to engage the systems, and why rely on them?"
Ian was beginning to understand. "So why would they require them to wake them up?"
"Exactly, my boy," the Doctor's voice was filled with excitement that he'd worked it out. "I think the Dalek Supreme has the means to leave his tank any time he wishes, I also believe he has the means to independently place Dalek creatures into their machines on his own. No, the Daleks lied to us."
"But why?"
"Let's find out, shall we?" The Doctor asked, and they moved off into the lower level. Neither of them knew what was going on, but they knew you could never trust a Dalek.