Etched in History
Writing the Plot
The Doctor looked on with a desperate frown on his brow, looking between the horror etched into Rynne's features over to the woman trapped by the Daleks, along with the fact that it looked as if she already knew she was going to die. Martha just took a sharp intake of breath, not knowing who the woman was either, but not wanting anyone to get caught in the crossfire of something that could escalate into a bloody battle. "Who is that, Rynne?"
"That's Jane…" The student shook her head sadly, unable to move her gaze from the woman that Dalek Caan obviously wanted to flaunt.
"Jane? The one that sold you out?"
That comment from the dark-skinned companion of the Doctor was enough to snap the gaze, though, with Rynne turning around to shoot a dangerously dark look at her. "Just… just don't, okay? She was the one that tried to warn me, and I turned my back on her. I can't do that again."
"That is a most wise move," the low, gravelly tone of Caan agreed, still terribly close to Rynne. "You must complete the manuscript."
Rynne then turned her gaze to the Doctor, a sad expression that gave him a silent apology for having to do something she had now realised was wrong. The realisation had come when she had seen Jane trapped like that… if she hadn't have been forced to write like this, the girl would have just gone home and finished the story without any thought whatsoever. At the same time, though, if such an evil race were willing to use living human hostages for their methods of persuasion, there had to be something else about the manuscript that held some sort of power to it. Earlier, Rynne had believed almost naïvely that if she wrote all of her knowledge down, everything would once again be fine… but now, the Doctor's stance told her that something awful was going to happen. Now, of course, there seemed no way of stopping it. "I... I need materials."
Whirring its head around, Dalek Caan kept its eyestalk glaring right at the creature he hated before him. "A computer had been prepared. You will write there." An open mouth to protect for a pen and paper, and Caan already refused. "You will write there!"
As Rynne was ushered over to the computer by one of the Dalek guards, the Doctor carefully took a step forward. "Caan." Snapping its frame back to the Doctor, the sole surviving member of the Cult of Skaro said nothing. "There was only you. Where have they all come from?"
"I am creating the new Dalek Empire," the tinny monster retorted. "This is only the beginning. Daleks will reign supreme!" The creature turned a moment to make sure that Rynne had started to type, and then returned its attention to the Time Lord. "With the technology of our enemies we will grow stronger! Not even the Doc-tor will destroy us!"
"If only you had listened to Dalek Sec. He knew that you needed to change, and-"
"He was a traitor to the Dalek race! He had to be exterminated!"
The Doctor looked at his enemy with disgust. "That's just it, isn't it? As soon as anything new comes along, as soon as there are any different ideas, you destroy them. You were made with imagination, you have your own name... isn't that against original Dalek programming?"
It was a shame that a Dalek didn't have a readable expression, as the Doctor looked a touch smug when his logic stopped the creature in its tracks. Instead, it just turned, moving over to Rynne, watching over her shoulder. The young woman sniffed back tears as she concentrated on nothing but the screen, typing as fast as she physically could. However, the girl then stopped, unable to carry on. "What is the meaning of your hesitation?"
"I... I've hit a block." She turned, seeing the unforgiving eyepiece of the Dalek beside her, realising that she would have to explain it further without it saying a word. "I just... the words won't come." Pausing, Rynne looked at the Dalek, pleading with it. "Please... can I see Jane? Talk to Jane? I'm too worried to sit and write like this. Oh, please, I swear I'll finish it, but I need to see her!"
"Bring the human," Dalek Caan then decided. "You shall be monitored. You have 600 rels to restart your task." With that, the Dalek then left her alone, returning to the Doctor and Martha. At first, it seemed that it was going to say something, but it just left them, going back to its previous position before they entered the control room. Rynne just couldn't believe that she only had such a short space of time to see Jane again: a Dalek rel was approximately the same time as a second, so there was little time to do or discuss anything! At least she had the Doctor and Martha in the room with her, though. They may not have been right beside her, telling her what to do next because of the guards, but their presence was enough: to keep her sane, if only for a little while.