Chapter 8
The Doctor stood horrified, feeling utterly helpless, as the two Dalek guards took aim at his friends. He was fully prepared to throw himself in front of Amy. Better him than her. There was always the slim chance that he might survive to regenerate. Then, just when he was sure they'd be killed, the Central Command Dalek ordered their lives to be spared. Mentally, the Doctor gave a great sigh of relief, but forced his face to appear neutral.
"Amy, Rory, Malcolm. If you want to stay alive, stand perfectly still and don't say a word, not one single word. Whatever happens in the next few minutes, do not interfere." The Doctor told them staidly. Towards the Dalek on the raised platform he squinted his eyes and tilted his head, his mind already questioning the reason why they were all still breathing. The Doctor hooked his thumbs in his braces and said suspiciously, "You're not sparing their lives out of the goodness of your heart, because you don't have one. So the million pound question is, what do you want?".
"Prisoners may not ask questions. They must obey. OBEY! OBEY! O-BEEY! " The Central Command Dalek ordered.
"Oh do be quiet. I heard you the first time. It's like listening to a broken heavy metal record. The same loud notes playing over and over again. Let me tell you, that sort of thing is very un-cool." The Doctor told it dismissively, shaking his head and stepping away slightly from his friends. "In my experience, anyone who has to shout, does so because they don't want you to think too hard about what they're actually saying. If you need to hurl threats or abuse to make your point, either you're an idiot, or you don't have a moral leg—or in your case, a tentacle, to stand on."
The Doctor's eyes darkened, his face suddenly showing the full power and contempt of a Time Lord. As he stepped forward a pace, the two guards actually moved ever so slightly away from him.
"You know you can't intimidate me. I'm the blinking Oncoming Storm. You can shout at me till the proverbial cows come home, and all you'll do is make me yawn and reach for some aspirin. So why don't you stop threatening me and my friends here, and just cut to the chase and tell me what you want."
Surprisingly, the Dalek didn't kill him.. The Doctor took that as a good sign. He didn't always enjoy telling them off. Somehow, the Doctor felt like a parent who was continuously having to reprimand a mean and disrespectful child. Or in this case, a highly temperamental, volatile alien with advanced technology and lethal weaponry. If the Doctor didn't know any better—and after his long history with these most deadliest of enemies, he liked to think that he did, he'd have sworn that the Dalek staring down at him from the platform was somewhat taken aback by his attitude. After a long pause, the creature spoke.
"We are having difficulties operating alien technology. We need a Time Lord." The Central Command Dalek begrudgingly admitted."
"And what makes you think that I'd ever help you?" The Doctor sniffed. Although he was afraid that he already knew the answer to that.
"We have a female prisoner. And we have these three humans. If you do not help us, they will all be exterminated."
"Yeah, I thought as much." The Doctor admitted, frowning at the Dalek. "And what happens if I do help you? Afterwards you'll simply kill them anyway, and probably a lot of other people as well."
"If you do not agree to help us, you will watch the other prisoners die, one by one, before we probe your brain for the information we require. You will not survive the process." The Central Command Dalek said.
The Doctor sucked in his breath as the two guard Daleks moved closer to his friends. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the three of them standing white-faced and motionless. Rory had his arm curled protectively around Amy's shoulder, while a wide-eyed Malcolm stood close beside them, staring down at the body of Major Tibbets. The Daleks knew him a little too well, it seemed. The Doctor heard their guns click into firing position.
"Alright, alright! Point taken." He sighed, holding up his hands in surrender. "Let's not be too hasty here. Why don't you explain to me what this so-called alien technology is, and why you need my help with it." The Doctor said, rocking back on his heels, and regarding the Central Command Dalek peevishly. "I don't like making instant, uninformed decisions about things. I'm not one of those people who only get their information from one source and then never question any of it. I like questions, me. Love 'em. The only truly stupid question is the one that's never asked. So tell me, why are you lot messing about with Earth's history?"
"We possess a weapon which was given to us by a prisoner in exchange for his freedom." The Central Command Dalek told him. "But our engineers have not been able to perfect its use. They have been experimenting with this weapon, focusing on a specific year of Earth's history. When we have mastered its use, we will use this weapon to create a multi-dimensional negation known as a Time Submersion Antithesis . By manipulating the time lines and bringing Earth's past into its future, we will void out the humans entire history, and they will all cease to exist throughout time and space."
"But, you can't!" The Doctor shouted, his face and voice suddenly filled with a mixture of disbelief and fear. In his horror at what the Daleks were planning, he forgot all about the armed guards and strode up the base of the platform, and stood looking up at the Central Command Dalek. "With a weapon like that, you'll not only make the human race disappear, but all of time could collapse! Even you would cease to exist. This is utterly mad, even for a Dalek!"
"Nevertheless, Doctor, we will use it. With or without you." The Central Command Dalek told him, lowering his eyestalk as if talking to the Doctor was almost beneath him. If a Dalek could sneer, this one would have been.
For a moment, the Doctor was tempted to let them try it on their own. Maybe it would be worth it, if it meant the end of the Dalek race. If he'd been alone, perhaps he would have. But then he thought about all of his human friends of past, present and future. They would be wiped from existence. He couldn't allow that to happen. The longer that he postponed their deaths, the better chance they all had of escaping, however slim that may be.
"And if I help you, then what?" The Doctor asked softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking down at his booted feet. "All of my friends will no longer exist. You're asking me to kill them. I can't do that. Not ever."
"But they are alive now, Doctor." The Central Command Dalek told him. "They can die here, in pain and suffering, or they can painlessly disappear after the weapon has been deployed. The choice is yours. Only a Time Lord can fully understand this technology. The prisoner escaped before he could instruct us in its use."
"What sort of prisoner gave you this weapon?" The doctor asked. "Where did it come from?"
"The prisoner was one of your own species. The weapon is of Time Lord design." The Dalek told him.
"Captured in the Time War, I suppose." The Doctor said.
"No, the prisoner was captured fleeing through a warp star wormhole two Earth years ago." The Command Dalek informed him.
"But...that's impossible." The Doctor said, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. "I'm the last of my kind. Who was this prisoner?"
"He is the Time Lord who calls himself the Master." The Central Command Dalek said.