Chapter Two
Gilmore enters the Territorial Army Centre at Acton and meets Mike in the corridor.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Sergeant, what is it? Who is this man?" asks Gilmore, indicating a smartly dressed man with old school tie standing next to Mike.
"Sorry, sir. This is Mister Ratcliffe. He's brought some of his men, I think they can be of some use to us."
"You do, do you? Mister Ratcliffe."
Ratcliffe comes to attention and clicks his heels before holding out his hand.
"Pleased to meet you, sir."
Rachel and Allison are inside the control room.
"We must get that Dalek to a well-equipped laboratory," says Rachel.
"And a half decent biologist," agrees Allison.
"What do you do think we should do?"
"You're the Chief Scientific Advisor. It's your decision."
"Before I make any suggestions I want to catch up with the Doctor."
"Who is he, anyway?"
"Someone who knows a lot more about Daleks than we do. When I get hold of him, I'm going to get some answers out of him or…"
"Or what?"
"I'll set you onto him."
"He certainly seems to have a detailed knowledge of the Daleks, and given that they are not terrestrial, it is possible that he is…"
"Not of this Earth? An alien?"
"I just wish he was more obvious. You know, had green skin or antennae sticking out of his head or something."
In the school corridor, the Headmaster is putting a notice about car thieves up on the school notice board when the Doctor, Nita and Ace enter.
"Ah..." begins the Headmaster.
"Good afternoon," says the Doctor.
"And you would be?"
"The Doctor. And you?
"I'm the Headmaster here. Doctor, eh? Well, you're a bit over-qualified for the position, but if you would like to leave your particulars and references."
"References?"
"You are here for the job of school caretaker?"
"Oh, no. We're here for a completely different reason."
"Oh. What can I do for you, then?"
"Well, we would like to look round your school, if you don't mind?"
"I'm afraid that's out of the question."
"We've got reason to believe there is a great evil at work somewhere in this school."
"You'll have to be a bit more specific, Doctor."
The Headmaster touches his ear, as if he is wearing an earpiece although nothing is visible.
"But I don't think it would do any harm if you were to have just a quick look round."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
Gilmore and Mike are now inside the control room.
"Smith."
"Sir?"
"Are the anti-tank rockets being issued?"
"They're being taken direct to their position, sir. An additional consignment is going to the school."
"Good. Any news of the Doctor's whereabouts?"
"Red Four has been seen in the Coal Hill area, sir."
"He must be heading back to the school."
"What is happening about the Dalek?" asks Rachel.
"Don't worry. It's under guard. It's safe," Mike replies.
At the junk yard, the Dalek remains are hauled onto the back of a flatbed lorry.
"Right, get the tarpaulin over it," says Ratcliffe. "Come on, lads. Let's see you move. Right, let's go."
The Ratcliffe Building Contractors lorry drives off to reveal two unconscious soldiers.
At the school, the Doctor, Nita and Ace enter an old-style lab with Bunsen burners and racks of test tubes on the desks.
"You were expecting these Daleks, weren't you?" asks Nita.
"Yes, they're following me."
"I wouldn't be so pleased if I had a bunch of Daleks on my case," Ace remarks.
"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies."
Nita sits on a bench and picks up a book on the French Revolution. The Doctor has a sudden flash of memory. The book looks to be the same one his first Human companion Barbara loaned to Susan all those lifetimes ago. He goes to the window for some fresh air.
"Come and look at this," he says. "What do you make of that?"
The Doctor opens the window.
"It's a playground," says Ace.
"The burn marks. See them? Well?"
"A landing pattern for some kind of spacecraft, isn't it?" asks Nita.
"Very good."
"But this is Earth, 1963," says Ace. "Well, someone would have noticed. I'd have heard about it."
"Do you remember the Zygon gambit with the Lock Ness Monster? Or the Yetis in the Underground?"
"The what?" asks Nita.
"Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched by only its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself."
"If the Daleks are following you, what are they after?" asks Ace.
"When I was here before, I left something behind."
"You mean the Hand of Omega?" asks Nita, remembering the Doctor telling her about it.
"Yes."
They leave the classroom, and Ace's ghetto blaster on the bench.
"What is the Hand of Omega?" asks Ace.
"Something very dangerous."
In Ratcliffe's office anteroom, Ratcliffe uncovers the remains of the Dalek. A rasping voice speaks to him from his office.
"Report."
Ratcliffe enters his office. The person is in a Dalek travelling machine and has their back to Ratcliffe, with a Dalek-like dome and eyepiece on their head, facing a large screen and futuristic control panel.
"My men have recovered the machine," says Ratcliffe. "The Doctor is co-operating with the military."
"That is to be expected," says the Dalek computer. "I must be informed of his movements."
"Yes, yes. We have our contacts," Ratcliffe replies. "I shall see that he is followed. That Dalek machine."
"Yes?"
"I should like to know exactly what it is?"
"A machine, a tool. Nothing more."
The Doctor and the girls are standing at a closed door which is the entrance to the cellar.
"What are we looking for?" asks Ace.
"Shush. Whoever it was landed the spaceship in the playground."
"And that would be?" Nita whispers.
"More Daleks."
"Oh, great," Ace says sarcastically. "I thought it might be something really nasty."
"Ah, the cellar. It could be down in there."
"Why the cellar?" asks Nita.
"Good place to put things, cellars."
The Headmaster observes them.
They open the door and descend the steps into the cellar.
"I wish I had some Nitro Nine," says Ace.
"So do I," says the Doctor.
"What are you expecting to find down here, anyway?" asks Nita.
"The unknown."
"Oh. Isn't that a bit dangerous?" asks Ace.
"Probably. But then if I knew what was down here, I wouldn't have to look."
Ace takes an aluminium baseball bat from her rucksack and holds it ready. They get to the bottom of the steps and discover a transmat platform, flashing.
"This is some severe technology!" Ace exclaims.
"Yes. Very elegant, very advanced. Flux circuitry elements."
"What is it?" asks Nita.
"It's a transmat. A matter transmitter. But transmitting from where? Within about three hundred kilometres."
"Professor?" Ace cries suddenly, as lights start flashing. "Professor, something's activating it."
"Very likely. It has an automatic activator." Ace's words finally register. "What? You're right. Something is beginning to come through."
A shape begins to materialize.
"It's another Dalek!" cries Nita.
"Excellent," says the Doctor.
"Will this one be friendly?" asks Ace.
"I sincerely doubt that. If I can just get the transmitter to de-phase at the critical point." He starts poking and prodding the device.
"Doctor!" Nita cries as the Dalek materializes.
"Any moment now. Quick! Down!"
The Dalek is nearly solid when it disappears in a swirl.
"The controls have gone dead," says Ace.
"Yes, the de-phase must have caused an overload."
"What did you do to it?" asks Nita.
"Well, I persuaded one half of the Dalek to materialise where its other half was materialising. The two halves tried to co-exist at the same point. The resulting reaction destroyed it. Dangerous things, transmats."
"So no more Daleks can be transported through here?" asks Ace.
"Well, it'll slow them down a bit until the operator can repair the systems."
"The operator?" asks Nita.
"Yes, the Daleks usually leave an operator on station in case of any malfunctions."
"And that would be another Dalek?" Ace asks nervously, looking around.
"Yes."
"Stay where you are!" shouts the Dalek operator. "Do not move!"
"The stairs!" the Doctor cries.
Ace gets to the top of the stairs first and bumps into the Headmaster.
"Oh, sorry," she says.
The Headmaster knocks out Ace and bolts the door closed.
Nita and the Doctor bang on the door.
"Ace! Ace! Open the door! Ace! Open…" they both shout.
The elegant cream and gold Dalek is gliding up the stairs behind the Doctor.
"You are the Doctor. You are the enemy of the Daleks!" the Dalek shouts. "You will be exterminated! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"