"That is you, isn't it?" He gasped. "You brought me back. But how? And why?"
"I have been to every time, every universe of our creation, evolved to the point of godhood like no other. But everything we've done, all the victories and achievements, we are still only what we are... Daleks. To be more is desirable, but to become something else is hideous to us. And there in lies the fault in our genetics. We want to stay pure, we seek to live without change, but the only way to gain ultimate power and mastery of all things is to evolve beyond our own DNA. And so, we continue to fight, to be unmovable, to never grow and turn against other Daleks who dare to try."
"Meaning you, yes?" The Doctor lightly scoffed. "All that power, all that knowledge, and still... so very much the same." He stood close to Strat and looked into his eyes. He didn't see it before, not that he was looking, but there was a wisdom burning through he'd never thought would be possible for someone of his kind. A faint smile grew into more as he gently patted Strat's face with a chuckle. "There it is! There's the Dalek I knew that could be possible. If only given the chance, and now you've finally come... but far too late."
"Never too late…" The man replied back. "Everything must be as it was. The way it has always been… the way it should always exist as."
Lifting his finger up, the universe seemed to pause. The vortex halted and froze like a picture. The Dalek ship, firing its volley of lasers, hung in its place while the beams remained stationary a few feet from the Tardis. The only things moving where him and Strat; Even the central column was frozen in mid function.
"What?" The Doctor said In confusion. "What's happening? Why have you stopped it?"
Strat walked over to the other side of the room, close to the doors of the exit, and waved a hand to open them. The old style hydraulic mechanisms forced the dual doors to pull away as the slow noise of their unusual sound signalled the struggle they were under. The exposed vortex-space was now visible. The pressure should have released and sucked them out, but there was nothing. Strat stood before the open scenery, casually he glanced at the Dalek ship in the distance and to the bewildered Doctor (who was no doubt wondering as to what he was planning next).
"We created a Dalek utopia, no more Gallifrey, no more Time Lords, the end of the great Time War. We were now masters of our own destiny. It took so many reconstructs to get it right. But even when we were satisfied, it still was not enough. I tried my best for them, I tried and tried until I was sick of trying. They accused me of being impure, of becoming alien to them, and still I tried to appease them even more. It was never enough. I had almost given up, I was ready to end all of time, space, all manners of existence. Until I remembered you––our prisoner of forever. You were the only one capable to stop our forces, interfered with our attempt to recreate the universe, the one... the oncoming storm, that could keep us as we were, and always will be. To be Daleks eternal!"
The Doctor had nothing to say in that moment. He got the gist of that rambling, the clear cut answer Strat had been searching for all his life. But did he like what it was or whom it was directed? No, he did not. He would not be the reason for returning the way things were or had been, to be the lynch pin put back in place. If this was the only option Strat felt was necessary to bring it all back as it was, then he is as stupid now as he was then... as a Dalek.
Even with all those God-like powers, Strat just didn't understand, maybe it was a major flaw in their design. All the speculation and wonder of how such a powerful being could be so blind was insignificant to him now. He had returned and if this so-called super evolved being wanted to correct things, then that was good enough for him. Yet, he still tried to persuade just the same.
"It's a shame you're so blind to what you are, what you could do... you could end the war from the very beginning, give your kind that spark of empathy needed to become so much more, but you won't, will you?"
"No," He stated coldly. "I wouldn't wish this disgusting emotional turmoil on any of my fellow Daleks. We were meant to be as we are... perfection, a symbol of genetic purity forever."
The Doctor shrugged at his answer. A look of disappointment in his eyes. "Even with all that Omnipotence, you still think in small terms." He gave a sigh and passively motion at him, "Well, I cant say that I'm surprised. You've made a choice, just as I did giving up as your prisoner, at least we've come full circle, eh?"
Strat bowed slightly at him. "Indeed we have. But consider this my only gift for teaching me an invaluable lesson, and may you never attempt such a risky one at us again."
"Teach?" The Doctor squinted in vague confusion. "I've no idea what you mean."
"I see past your own thoughts, Time Lord." Strat smirked. "You allowed us to capture you and see what it would be like without your presence to hinder ours."
"Really? Hmm…" He coyly said, tapping his fingers to his lips. The look of innocence didn't fool the being glaring at him, and the Doctor couldn't contain falseness of it any longer. "Perhaps I did... lucky that it all worked out in the end, I guess, wouldn't you say?"
"It was well designed. Keep us in line, Time Lord," Strat said, then pointed a finger at him as his smile diminished. "Just as we do for you."
The Doctor's smile collapsed from that serious tone, and of the man's finger squared directly at him with just as much conviction. That moment stretched far too long for the Doctor, it was like a warning from a parent, and it made him wonder, "Just who is teaching whom?"
Strat vanished into a bright ball of energy, a white glowing orb that absorbed into the paused vortex. The Doctor quickly ran over to the opening and shouted into it. "So what happens now? Besides leaving the door open... like an absent minded farmer!"
"All will return as it was," the disembodied voice of Strat spoke. It echoed everywhere around him and through the vortex. "I will never become a god, and you we'll forget everything that occurred."
"Bah," The Doctor curmudgeonly scowled. "Now who's acting like the Time Lords. Erase the good parts and wash your hands of the whole affair." He headed back over to the console and patted the machine affectionately. "Perhaps it's just as well, eh, ol' girl? I did want to see what it would be like without me, and now... well, now I see that I was right all along. I have no choice, I've never stopped being a prisoner to it all. Now––and forever…"
Suddenly everything began once more. The furious shouts of the Daleks cascading over the airwaves of the Tardis and echoing in the vortex, but slowly fading out as the ship disappears from being inside of it. It was as if they never where chasing him at all.
The Doctor remained poised over the console, a momentary confusion washed over him. He fiddled with switches, buttons and levers. Something had happened, but for the life of him he couldn't remember. It was there though, at the back of his mind and fading into obscurity.
"That's strange, what was I doing just now? I just past by that Dalek patrol... and... blast! What was it about?" The minute he looked over at his chair and table, he remembered what it was.
"Oh yes, my tea, right... I need some biscuits for it. Yes, of course… Well then, off we go to Earth for a new packet. Can't very well fight a war on an empty stomach, now can we?"
The tea cup was unbroken (full of early grey goodness), his book was exactly where he left it before, and he was none the wiser of any of it being out of place. Punching the coordinates into the computer, the Doctor chortled away with a big grin on his face full of delight and moved about the Tardis controls as he steered the craft. "Viennese sandwiches, here I come."