Chapter Five

In Which They Are Hunted By Daleks

When Rose came into the flat, she was immediately almost-strangled by Jackie grabbing her and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Rose barely even managed to say hello before the breath was knocked out of her. When she finally had her breath back, all she could think of to say was, "I'm glad to see you too, Mum."

"Ten seconds, you said ten seconds, you always say that and it's always longer, been a week, how are you, where's the Doctor, he alright, not running off without you again, honestly, sometimes I can't stand that man, he's doing well, then?"

Rose laughed. "Sorry, Mum. I'm fantastic, the Doctor's in the TARDIS, he's fine, he'd better not be, I know, and yes, we're both fine."

"Good. Go on into the kitchen, I'm making tea. Go get yourself something to eat, then, go on, I'll be there in just a moment."

Rose had just poured herself a cup of tea when she heard Jackie's piercing scream. The mug dropped out of her hand and shattered on the floor, spilling tea across the linoleum. Jackie came running into the kitchen and hid behind Rose. "There's a metal thing," she sobbed, "a great metal thing outside the window!"

"A metal thing?" said Rose, alarmed. "Mum, shush! Come on, hurry." She ran for the door and slipped out silently. Jackie followed, and she ran down the stairs as fast as she could. Behind them, she heard the glass shatter. "Keep moving," she commanded in a whisper, "and don't make a sound."

They ran, mother and daughter, Rose half-dragging Jackie along the road. She reached the street where the TARDIS was waiting, and stopped dead as she saw two Daleks in the way.

"There are more of them!" Jackie wailed.

"Mum, shut up!" Rose whirled and sprinted in the other direction. Jackie ran after her.

Suddenly, Rose found herself facing a wall. Dead end. She turned and saw three Daleks coming towards them. "Exterminate!"

"What do we do now?" Jackie cried.

"We think really fast," said Rose, glancing from side to side. There was no way out.

Suddenly, she heard a shout. "Oi! Yeah, over here, you tin cans!"

She turned her head to see Mickey shouting at the Daleks. They turned. "Exterminate!"

A hand grabbed hers from the other side, and she grabbed Jackie's sleeve as she heard the Doctor's voice hiss, "Run!" She followed the command without a thought, without hesitating. This was as natural as breathing.

The Daleks gave chase, but Daleks weren't the fastest aliens in the universe, and all of them, including Mickey, made it to the TARDIS relatively unscathed.

"I've got—just one question," panted Rose. "What—are Daleks—doing in London?"

"No idea," the Doctor said calmly. "Mickey, get inside." Mickey was standing outside, within the force field, shouting at the Daleks to take that. The Doctor pulled him inside and slammed the doors shut. Then he was off, almost a blur, jumping from place to place to place, his hands moving too fast for her eyes to follow.

"We can't just leave those Daleks to terrorize London," she pointed out.

"Look outside, but be quick about it."

She did. There were no Daleks, just a small circle of white dust. "A transmat...?"

"Yep."

She closed the doors. "But why?"

The TARDIS shuddered and jolted, making Jackie squeal in alarm, and Rose knew they'd entered the vortex. "I don't know." He frowned. "Well, yes I do. Maybe. That is, I'm not entirely sure, but I do have a vague guess. But don't in any way take my word for it, I've got no proof, it's only a theory--"

"Why would someone dump some Daleks in London to chase us, then transmat them away as soon as we're in the TARDIS?"

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, closed his eyes, and said, very quickly, "TheDalekswerejustadiversiondistractingusfromsomethingelse."

"The Daleks were—hold on, what?"

He gave an exaggerated sigh and repeated it, slower. "The Daleks may have just been a diversion to distract us from something else."

"So why did you go after them?"

"Because they--" he began, but broke off. "Because whatever else was going on wasn't endangering people's lives."

The TARDIS shuddered. "That was short," she commented.

He frowned. "No. We didn't land."

"Then why--" She was cut off as they were all tossed to the floor, and Jackie screamed piercingly.

"What's wrong with it?" shouted Mickey, grabbing hold of one of the tall branching pillars.

"I have no idea!" the Doctor shouted back as the alarm began to sound.

The whole ship jolted. Rose clung tightly to the railing, so hard the muscles in her forearms screamed in protest. The Doctor struggled to reach the console and braced his feet against the floor. He put his hands against the glass around the central energy chamber. The eerie, flickering blue light shone on his face. He looked strangely calm, almost surreal, with his eyes closed and his face still, given a ghostly quality by the light.

For nearly two minutes, he was like that, like a statue. Then, his eyes snapped open and that manic grin flashed across his face, the one that meant he was going to act all cheerful about something terrible. She braced herself.

"Someone came in here who wasn't supposed to," he said brightly. "That's all I could get out of her. Someone came in here who wasn't supposed to be in here and who...knew about her."

"As in, knew this was not a police box? And what's that mean for us?"

The floor jolted, throwing him to the floor. Jackie screamed again. He staggered to his feet and walked across the grating to stand right in front of Rose. "Sabotage," he breathed in her face, his eyes glinting darkly.

She shuddered. "But who...?"

"I have no idea." He stepped back ad reached up to grab hold of a beam above his head. The TARDIS shuddered again. "Brace yourselves, ladies and gentleman, because it's going to be a rough landing."

A/N: Sabotage?! But how? Why? What are they going to do? How will they survive the trials ahead? How will they escape? How will they get rid of Jackie and Mickey? Why were Daleks chasing them through London? And what is this Chronis? Read, review, get answers. :P