Chapter Seven
On the Mothership:
"Emperor on the bridge."
A giant headed Dalek with no eyepiece, sink plunger or weapon rolls up.
"Report," the Emperor demands.
"The transmat is no longer operational."
"We have established the position of the Omega device."
"Prepare the assault shuttle," orders the Emperor.
"Renegade Dalek agents are in the area."
"They will surrender the Hand of Omega," the Emperor predicts.
At the Cemetery:
"Haven't you got a home to go to?" Ratcliffe asks the little girl. He turns to his men. "Come on, lads, put your backs into it. We haven't got all day."
When he looks back, the girl has vanished.
At the café, Gilmore is at the counter. The Doctor finally emerges from his reverie, much to Nita's relief.
"Group Captain," he called. Gilmore stepped over to the Doctor's table. "We need to establish a forward base at the school. Can it be done?"
"Of course," replies Gilmore.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
"Only a fool argues with his doctor." Gilmore turns to Mike. "Sergeant!"
"Sir?" Mike stands up.
"Get Embery. Set up a command unit. Forward command on the third floor, defensive positions on the ground floor and the roof. Get a move on."
"Yes, sir". Mike addresses his men. "All right, men, fall out. Follow me back to the school."
"Professor Jensen, Miss Williams, follow me," orders Gilmore.
"Jawohl!" exclaims Allison in disbelief. She stands up. "Coming, Professor Jensen?"
"Of course, Miss Williams."
"I wish Bernard was here," says Allison, thinking of Professor Bernard Quatermass, a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity.
"The British Rocket Group's got its own problems," Rachel replies.
"Harry, toast," calls Ace, getting to her feet.
"Coming, coming," replies Harry.
Just the Doctor, Nita and Ace are left in the cafe now. Ace sits back down with the Doctor and Nita.
"What's so important about the school?" asks Nita.
"Well, now that I've disabled the transmat, absolutely nothing. As long as the renegade Daleks have got the Hand of Omega, then the Imperial Daleks' attention will be focused on that."
"So there are two sets of Daleks," Ace realizes.
"Yes."
At Ratcliffe's office, Ratcliffe and his men drive into the yard with the casket on the back of the lorry. Ratcliffe goes to his office.
"We have the Hand of Omega. It's out in the yard," announces Ratcliffe.
"Excellent," replies the computer.
"Good. I'll tell my man. After all, he found it."
Allison meets Mike in the school corridor.
"Mike? There's a phone call for you in the Headmaster's office."
"Thanks."
The Doctor and the girls are out in the school yard.
"Professor?"
"Yes?"
"If this place is so out of the way of the action, what are we doing here?"
"Keeping an eye on Group Captain Chunky Gilmore. Although why his men call him Chunky, I've no idea." He said that because Gilmore is tall and thin.
They walk past a machine gun emplacement being built out of sandbags. They enter the school corridor.
"They're really going for it," Nita remarks.
"That's the general idea. I want to keep the military fully occupied and out of the way."
"Out of the way of what?" Ace asks, realizing he's keeping them in the dark again. "Oh, Professor, you promised us, remember?"
They start up the stairs.
"A long time ago, on my home planet of Gallifrey, there lived a stellar engineer called Omega."
"Stellar? As in stars? You mean he engineered stars?" asks Nita.
"Nita!"
"Sorry. Go on."
The Doctor places his hand on Nita's shoulder and indicated that she and Ace should sit down on the steps. He bent over, leaning on his umbrella. "It was Omega who created the supernova that was the initial power source for Gallifreyan time travel experiments. He left behind him the basis on which Rassilon founded Time Lord society, and he left behind the Hand of Omega."
Ace and Nita are listening intently. "His hand? What good was that?" Ace asks.
"No, no, not his hand literally. No, no, it's called that because Time Lords have an infinite capacity for pretension." He sits down next to Nita.
"I've noticed that," Nita remarks.
The Doctor gives her a look. He places his hands on his umbrella handle and rests his chin. "The Hand of Omega is a mythical name for Omega's remote stellar manipulator, a device used to customise stars with. And didn't we have trouble with the prototype."
"We?" Ace asks.
"They!" the Doctor quickly corrects himself.
"And the Daleks want it so they can recreate the time travel experiments?" asks Nita.
A soldier comes running up the steps and the girls and the Doctor has to lean to the side to let him through.
"But you said that both Dalek factions can already travel in time," Nita says.
"Oh yes, Daleks have got time corridor technology, but it's very crude and nasty. What they want is the power that Time Lords have, and they'll get that with the Hand of Omega, or so they think."
"And you have to try and stop them," Ace says.
"No, Ace, I want them to have it."
"Eh?" asks Nita. Now she is really confused. As much as she loves travelling with the Doctor, sometimes she really doesn't understand him.
"My problem is trying to stop Group Captain Gilmore and his men getting diced in the crossfire."
"So, all this is…" Ace begins.
"A massive deception, yes."
"Oh, well devious!" Ace cries. "So the Daleks grab the Hand of Omega and go, and no one gets hurt. Brilliant."
"Just one thing."
"What?" asks Nita.
"I didn't expect two Dalek factions, and now I've got to make sure the wrong ones don't get their grubby little protuberances on it." He stands up. The girls follow his example.
"Shouldn't we take Mike?" Ace asks.
"No. Dalek hunting is a terminal pastime."
"So what are we doing?" asks Nita.
"Dalek hunting." He walks away and the girls look at each other worriedly.
At Ratcliffe's yard, a black Dalek watches Ratcliffe's men take the casket off the lorry and inside.
"Advance!" commands the Black dalek.
Grey Daleks follow it. The three daleks approach Ratcliffe's men. As the men turn and notice the daleks, the Black dalek commands them: "Stay where you are."
.
Ratcliffe is sitting in his office. "It's been a long and difficult struggle for myself and my men. Now we can afford to relax and reap the rewards." He stands up. "As I said, people need a firm hand. It's in their nature. They feel more comfortable with a strong leader, someone who knows when to be lenient and when to be harsh."
He hears Dalek weapon fire outside. Ratcliffe rushes out to see his men being shot, then runs back in.
"What have you done to those men? They were on our side!"
"You are a slave, Ratcliffe," replies the computer.
The controller turns round and removes its helmet. It is the little girl! "You were born to serve the Daleks."
Ratcliffe's jaw hits the floor.
A door slides open and the Black Dalek enters the warehouse with the grey daleks following. "Patrol the area until the time controller is operational."
"We obey," reply the grey daleks, turning to leave.
Black enters Ratcliffe's office and Ratcliffe is terrified. "You will obey the Daleks or you will be exterminated. Activate the time controller."
The girl goes to Ratcliffe's desk and opens the bottom drawer. It contains a large globe on a base. She runs her hands over the globe, generating electricity inside it.
"Time controller activated. Calculating coordinates," says the girl.
"You will come with us," Black commands. Black leaves the office, followed by Ratcliffe and the girl.
Outside Ratcliffe's yard, the grey Daleks trundle down the street as the Doctor, Nita and Ace hide behind a parked car.
"This way," beckons the Doctor, running down the street. The girls follow. They dash through a door as another grey Dalek comes out and heads off. The Doctor peeks out as the Dalek goes past. Nita opens the door wider and pokes her head out.
"The main staging area must be in that warehouse." The Doctor gestured towards Ratcliffe's warehouse.
"Are we going to have a look?" asks Nita.
"Might as well." The Doctor took off towards the warehouse. The girls followed, Ace shutting the door behind her.