Waiting for an elevator on the ninth floor also gave Lindsay time to ask the Doctor about his plan. Or at least what she suspected was a lack of a plan. "You're not just going to go up there and talk to them, are you?"
"It worked just now," the Doctor said nonchalantly.
"And that's what you're going to do? Shout at it till it falls down the stairs?"
The Doctor shrugged uncertainly. "Well, it sounds like a plan."
"And what do the rest of us do?" Lindsay demanded.
"The rest of you can...well...ah. Yes. You three go downstairs and get people to move away from the building. Just in case something, ah, happens." Lily nodded; Russell looked unconvinced.
Lindsay wasn't convinced either. "I'm coming with you."
"What?" said the Doctor. "No. You can't come. It's too dangerous."
"That's the point," Lindsay insisted. "You shouldn't go up there alone. And it's my job to come with you."
"Job? How is it your job?"
Russell thought he understood. "It's because you're the Companion, isn't it?"
"Exactly," Lindsay said. "We've all got our roles here; I'm the Companion, I go do dangerous things with the Doctor. You guys—" she waved at Lily and Russell—"are the locals; you do what the Doctor says." Russell opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it.
"All part of the story. Does that make sense?" Lindsay asked.
This time the Doctor began to protest, but Russell cut him off. "Yes, it makes perfect sense. Come on, Lily, let's go warn people." He pressed the down button, just as the elevator going up arrived. The Doctor hopped in; Lindsay followed him, waving to Russell.
Then they were gone. "I love her," Russell said as he sat down to wait.
"I can see why," Lily replied.
"What was that?" the Doctor asked as soon as the elevator doors had closed.
"That was me reading the script," Lindsay replied, not looking at him out of something like elevator etiquette. "I know how these things work; you need someone to keep you out of trouble."
"You know, you shouldn't believe everything you see on television," the Doctor said. "That whole Master of the Land thing was completely inacc—wait, sorry, bad example, I..."
"Did you really put Jamie's face back wrong?" Lindsay laughed, then glanced at the Doctor and guessed that he didn't want to talk about it. "Ah. But Zoe helped you do it right. See, you need a companion."
The elevator stopped.
The Dalek in the office was staring at its map again. It was puzzled, if Daleks could be puzzled: its squadmate had disappeared from the schematic, and two of the other dots were moving upward rapidly in the nearer elevator shaft. Then they stopped at the command level. The Dalek glided out of the office to investigate, and was met by two humanoids.
"IDENTIFY," it said.
"I'm the Doctor," one of the humanoids said. "What're you doing in Pittsburgh, then?"
While the Dalek considered, Lindsay edged out of its field of vision, hoping to spot the stairs.
"IDENTIFICATION NEGATIVE," the Dalek finally said. "YOU CANNOT BE THE DOCTOR."
"Well, I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not," the Doctor said, "and you're not going to fly this building anywhere." He glanced at Lindsay, who was now directly behind the Dalek and headed for the stairs.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" the Dalek asked.
"I'm looking at the wreck you've made of this building," the Doctor retorted. "Lovely building; no need to do something like that."
The Dalek turned its dome to look at the ruined furniture. Lindsay ducked behind what remained of a chair. "THEY WOULD BE DESTROYED ANYWAY BY THE GRAVITATIONAL STRESSES OF LIFTOFF."
"You say liftoff," the Doctor echoed, taking a step towards the elevator and forcing the Dalek to turn to face him. Behind the Dalek, Lindsay darted into the stairwell.
I am a Companion, she reminded herself. I help the Doctor, I back him up, I am /not scared/ unless the plot calls for it. The plot does not call for it.
She stuck a hand out the doorway and waved at the Doctor, who was still talking to the Dalek. "Where are you lifting off to?"
"OUR SENSORS HAVE DETECTED A DALEK FLEET PASSING THROUGH THE ECLIPTIC PLANE OF THIS STAR SYSTEM," the Dalek said. While it talked, the Doctor began moving in the other direction, never breaking eye contact with it. "THIS BUILDING IS IDEALLY SHAPED TO SERVE AS TRANSPORT AND HAS HAD MINOR MODIFICATIONS MADE TO IT SO THAT IT CAN BE LAUNCHED INTO SPACE, WHERE WE SHALL REJOIN THE DALEK FLEET."
"It won't be your fleet, you know," the Doctor said. "Your fleet was destroyed two hundred thousand years in the future of this planet. Now, I'm not going to speculate as to how you escaped. But you're not going to escape again." He was almost to the stairwell. The Dalek paused.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW OF THIS EVENT?" it asked slowly.
"I told you how. I was there," said the Doctor, and he vanished into the stairwell as the Dalek made the connection and began shouting.
"THE DOCTOR IS HERE! THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! EXTERMINATE HIM! EXTERMINAAATE!" It fired; the blast took a chunk out of the door frame. Lindsay and the Doctor shrank back into the opposite corner.
The Dalek's shouts echoed into the stairwell. "It's coming," the Doctor whispered.
Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Now is not the time to state the obvious!" she snapped. "Can you get behind it?"
"Behind it?"
"Yeah, and—" Lindsay mimed pushing the Dalek down the stairs. The Doctor finally got it as the Dalek glided into the stairwell; as it turned its head back and forth, looking for them, he dashed behind it and started pushing. It resisted a moment, then began to slide toward the stairs.
"EXTERNAL FORCE DETECTED! MOTOR CONTROL IMPAIRED!"
Lindsay glanced at the Dalek, now waving its arms wildly, and at the Doctor's face. He needed help, she decided, and hurried over. Together they pushed the Dalek over the edge.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINAAAAAA..."
Lindsay and the Doctor held onto the railings until the echoes of the Dalek's fall had died away. Then it was quiet for a while.
"Is it over?" Lindsay asked finally. The Companion doesn't cry.
"Yes," the Doctor said.
Lindsay nodded. The Companion doesn't cry.
They called all the elevators, and didn't speak to each other again until they were in one and descending. Lindsay no longer felt like a Companion. "Can I give you a hug?"
The Doctor smiled worriedly and opened his arms. Lindsay clung to him and cried, her face buried in his chest.