The two prisoners were dragged down a tunnel and into a room, where a dim electric light showed tattered bunks and a wall covered with futuristic guns, along with primitive weapons that would not have been out of place in a Stone Age hut. The man who had captured them looked at the Doctor and Sarah, and shook his head.

"I thought we'd got one of them at last, but I guess not. Still, they don't look like Thals, or Mutos." He paced closer and stared at Sarah Jane, then the Doctor, and finally shook his head. He turned to one of the other men, and asked, "Were there any noises?"

"Noises, sir?"

"You know - those noises," he snapped.

"No sir, nothing - unnatural. But we might have missed it. The men are exhausted."

"Well, have them rest now. I'm taking these two to headquarters and General Ravon."

"Sir, one other thing. We'd propped up casualties out there to use as decoys, make it look like the trench was manned. And they're gone."

"Who steals dead bodies out of a war zone?" whispered Sarah to the Doctor. But there was no reply, only a rough shove to get them moving.

After a trip through more concrete tunnels, they ended up what seemed some sort of military briefing room, with a manned radio to one side and maps on the walls. In the middle of the room was a table bearing a large contour map; the Doctor recognised a model of the dome that they were presumably heading for, and saw that across a nearly mountain range was another dome. Between the two domes were square and rectangular markers - troop markers?

Sitting at the side of the table, brooding, was a young man with far more medals on his uniform than anyone that young should have earned. He was whittling away at a small red marker of some sort with a wickedly sharp knife; a pile of the tiny red markers sat at the side of the contour map by him. He looked up with a scowl, and his dark eyes settled on Sarah.

"What's this?" he said disapprovingly.

One of the soldiers who had captured them said, "General Ravon, sir, we found these two in Section one-zero-one …"

General Ravon – this boy was a General? Sarah wondered – arched one brow and said "Oh? Well, then the standard interrogation should loosen their tongues." He stood then, and came forward, staring at Sarah. "We so rarely get to interrogate women." He looked at her, testing the edge of his knife with his thumb, as though she was a well-done roast and he was deciding where to start carving her.

The soldier continued doggedly, "Sir, we found them inside the tunnels in Section one-zero-one. They breached the perimeter and nobody sounded the alarm."

"Who was on duty?" snapped Ravon, sheathing the knife at his belt.

"The duty schedule had a - gap."

"A gap? We are at war here, Captain Talt. A war of total annihilation. A war that we are going to win! All duty schedules are to have complete coverage of all entry points, is that understood?"

"Yes sir, but we need -

"More men, more men, I know!" Ravon turned his back and stared down at the contour map; the Doctor, being considerably taller, looked over his shoulder with ease. Ravon saw the prisoner's motion out of the corner of his eye.

"Every man that can be spared is out there, Captain, fighting to exterminate our enemies once and for all. To wipe the Thals from the face of Skaro. Burn their dome to the ground, make a pyre for all the Kaleds who have died in this war." Ravon's voice throbbed with fanaticism, as he returned to the map and started placing the little red markers irregularly over it, mostly to one side.

"Are those markers for the Thals?" asked the Doctor.

Ravon didn't appear to hear him. He was totally focussed on his task, and two of the soldiers guarding the Doctor and Sarah sidled uneasily, whispering to each other.

Captain Talt spoke up again, trying to get Ravon's attention. "Your orders were to bring anything unusual we found for your examination. They said a woman let them in, called Third Outer Speaker. So I brought them back here, sir."

Ravon placed the last of his markers, and then with sudden violence banged his fist down on the table holding the contour map. Sarah jumped. "Right!" he declared. "Finally, something real we can show those Elite …"

Ravon's voice trailed off at the entry of a man in a military uniform somehow different than his. His spectacles gleamed, along with the guns of his two personal guards.

"Those Elite … what, General Ravon?" the man said.

"Security Commander Nyder. Those, ah, Elite – personnel who don't believe the reports from the field."

"Davros says the reports must be the result of delusion. And what are these – things?"

By things he seemed to mean the Doctor and Sarah; Sarah looked rather indignant at being called a thing.

"A good question." Ravon stood and examined the prisoners. "They aren't Mutos, and they aren't Thals. And they say that a woman," Ravon repeated for emphasis, "a woman, let them into Section one-zero-one."

"Have they been searched?" asked Nyder.

"No. Turn out your pockets!" The boy General reinforced this command by drawing his sidearm, even though there were quite enough guns in the room already.

"All right … I try to clean them out once a year or so anyway!" said the Doctor, with a broad grin. He started to assemble a motley collection out of his various pockets onto the edge of the table: a yo-yo, his sonic screwdriver, a bag of candy, a pair of handcuffs, and various unidentified gadgets. Sarah's contributions were far more meagre: a pocket handkerchief, her folded rain hat, an empty film canister, and a sprig of gorse.

"A little bit of home, eh?" said the Doctor, poking at the gorse.

"Don't know when I'll see home again," said Sarah, nervously eying the nervous soldiers around them both.

Nyder stirred the travellers' possessions with one gloved finger, and finally chose a small red and black device out of the Doctor's selection, picking it up and examining it with a magnifying glass.

"What is this?" he asked, in the tone of a man who expects to be answered.

"It's for the detection of etheric beams, actually."

"It is not of Thal manufacture, where did you get it?"

"Oh well, you see, my companion and I are not from your planet."

Nyder said slowly, "Davros says that there is no life on other planets. So either he is wrong, or you are lying."

The Doctor quickly broke in, "We're not lying."

Nyder went on, "And Davros is never wrong."

The Doctor replied gravely, "Remarkable; even I am wrong on occasion."

"And according to you," Nyder stepped closer to Mary Jane, who stood her ground, "this woman is also an alien? Not just a particularly symmetrical Muto?"

"There were rumours that the Thals were developing robots," said Ravon, moving next to Nyder and toying with the hilt of his knife. "We could see if she bleeds." He and Nyder exchanged a glance.

Sarah really wanted to divert this train of thought. "Who are Mutos anyway?" she asked. "Are they some - indigenous tribe or something?" Sevrin hasn't seemed like anything to be feared.

Nyder looked down his nose at her. "Mutos are genetically impure rejects, the result of chemical weapons used in the first century of the war. Monsters who live and scavenge in the wastelands."

Sarah was still trying to understand Nyder's statement. "Rejects from?"

"The Kaled raced must be kept pure. Imperfects must be expelled before they can breed. Some survive."

Sarah gasped, picturing infants or children being cast out into that horrid landscape she had just left. The Doctor murmured, "A harsh policy."

Paying no attention to the prisoners, Nyder addressed General Ravon.

"Now, here is a list of supplies that you are ordered to deliver to the Bunker."

Nyder handed a piece of paper to Ravon, who looked over it. Then he looked up at Nyder, with just the hint of a smile on his face.

"Well, Commander, you'll be happy to know that all of these supplies are available. We have ample spares, and they should cause no shortages at all."

Nyder looked a hair taken aback, and Raven went on, "Strange, but if anything, these days we seem to be oversupplied with equipment."

Ravon turned and frowned down on his map. "Certain equipment that is. Bandages, general hardware, medical supplies, that is no problem. Ammo is hard, and there's never enough men."

Commander Nyder asked, "And just where should I suppose those supplies really came from? Stolen? Withheld loot?"

"Recycled?" put in Sarah Jane; the two Kaleds stared at her.

The Doctor chimed in, "Salvaged might be a more accurate term, we met a fellow outside who was doing some salvage work. A corrugator, runnel cases, and … well, general purpose hardware."

"By the box load," Sarah confirmed.

Nyder stared at both of them, then seemed to come to a decision. What influenced his decision most was, irrationally enough to any non-natives, Sarah's rain anorak. Why would anyone make protective clothing, clearly for outside, that was in such a distinctive colour? You'd be a sniper target lit up bright yellow!

Commander Nyder didn't like mysteries; although he did like taking mysteries apart.

"Ravon, you will release these prisoners to me. I want them properly interrogated, not butchered like your men would do. If there's any truth to these reports, we'll have it out of them."

Sarah Jane shivered; there was something terribly cold behind that mild voice and face.

Ravon replied, "The truth is equipment appearing out of nowhere, and now strangers walking in through our sealed access points. And look here!"

The General turned and pointed at the red markers on the contour map.

"Those markers are where I have reports of strange troops being seen. Not our men, not Thals in captured uniforms, and not Mutos either. They fade through the lines, and nobody can lay a hand on them. And they make - noises."

"Davros says these reports are false. You are not diverting military resources to hunt down these mythical shrieking ghosts, I trust. General." Nyder's voice was heavy with disbelief.

The other soldiers in the room shifted, except for Nyder's two escorts, who stood still as rocks by the door. Ravon looked up and snapped, "They are not ghosts! They are – something out there – something else …"

"I don't suppose these ghosts go 'ayayaya'?" asked the Doctor. "When that sniper had us pinned down, that cry or noise was …"

"Yes, but it wasn't 'ayayaya,' it was more like, eyiyiyiyiyi" – Sarah's imitation of the noise was cut off when Ravon leaped on her and seized her, clamping a hand over her mouth. The Doctor moved to defend his companion, and one of the soldiers behind him slammed him in the kidneys with a rifle butt, dropping him to his knees.

Ravon shouted in her face, "DON'T make that noise! Never make …." And then his voice trailed off.

Because the eyiyiyiyi noise had not stopped when Sarah had been silenced; instead it sounded off in the distance, then seemed to be getting closer.

Eyyiyiyiyi

EYIYIYIYI

The soldiers in the room drew their weapons, but there was nothing to see. Nyder drew his own pistol; Ravon's hand was locked over Sarah's mouth. The Doctor looked up from where he had fallen, a hand cocked behind each ear to capture the sound.

Eyiyiyiyiiii…..

And then the noise softly faded away, as though for want of an answer.

Ravon removed his hand from Sarah's mouth - the hand was shaking - and pointed at Nyder.

"And what was that, Commander, what was that!" he said, eyes wide with fright, but triumph in his voice. "You heard that, we all did!"

"I heard - something, true." Nyder seemed to draw his authority back around himself, calmly holstering his weapon as though he had just happened to draw it. "And I will ask that your concerns be addressed, General."

Ravon almost pouted, but seemed to sense that this was as much as he was going to get out of the older man.

Nyder said, "I'm taking these prisoners to the Bunker. With their possessions."

Ravon asked, "And will you tell Davros what you've seen, what you've heard, here today?"

"Perhaps."

Nyder signalled one of his guards to fall in behind Sarah Jane and the Doctor, while he gathered up their possessions into a box and gave it to the other. As they left, Sarah Jane glanced over her shoulder.

Behind them, Ravon sat beside his map, using a swagger stick to tap the red markers, one at a time, over and over again …

# # #

The travellers were not taken to the Dome, but were instead marched over what seemed to be a mile or so of rather noisome swampland, and then into a low stone building. They descended several turns down a stone ramp before coming face to face with a heavy steel door, topped by a camera.

A speaker beside the door squawked, "You will state your identification number and the nature of your business."

Nyder glared at the camera. "Use your eyes, Tane. Commander Nyder and escort, and two prisoners for interrogation."

"Yes, SIR!" half-shouted this Tane. Clearly Nyder was a man to commander fear and respect.

Inside the welcome room was far from welcoming; it was a narrow steel-lined room with far too many guards in it. Nyder turned to the man in a uniform like his own, and handed him the plastic box containing Sarah Jane and the doctor's personal possessions.

"I must report to Davros at once. Captain Tane, you will process these prisoners and deliver them to Ronson." Without another word, Nyder and his escort marched out.

The room seemed a great deal roomier without Nyder's presence, and the Doctor turned one of his brilliant smiles on Tane and said, "Well, now that he's off, how about a cup of tea?"

"A cup of what?" barked Tane; he seemed like the sort of fellow who barked all the time. There was something very doggish about him, with his dark hair and darker frown, like an angry pug puppy.

"Perhaps a snack? Biscuits?" suggested Sarah.

Tane's expression grew even darker. "Need I remind you that you are prisoners, and that if you do not obey my orders I have the authority to have you shot?"

Sarah muttered to herself, "So much for the tea …"

"You, in the scanner!" Two of the guards took Sarah by the elbows and dragged her under a metal arch; once she was in position under it, a bright light came down on her, seeming to pin her, and a harsh computer tone sounded. Sarah shuddered, as though the light was hurting her; and when it finally turned off and she stepped forward, her knees wobbled and one of the guards had to help her out.

"Oof! Like having your brains scraped out through your nose!" she complained.

"Now you," ordered Tane, and the Doctor was given the same treatment. But when he was under the arch, in addition to the computer tone, there was a shrill alarm.

"Power source detected on prisoner's right arm. Remove it," ordered Tane to the guards, who proceeded to roll up the Doctor's sleeve and remove the Time Ring. Shaking all over from the effects of the scan, the prisoner still made a play for his possession. "That's not a weapon, it's of no possible use to-" A blow silenced the Doctor, and he was roughly guided over to stand with Sarah. The scanner machine extruded a series of printed cards that were handed to the guard.

She whispered, "Hush up about that Ring!"

"Sarah, that Ring is our lifeline, it's vital that we not lose it."

"Sorry, would it have helped if I'd said it was an old family heirloom?"

The Doctor scowled, but still watched carefully as the Ring was placed in the box with their other few possessions and given to a guard, who escorted them away.

Deeper inside the Bunker they went: metal corridors, busy people in white uniforms, and more and more sleek soldiers. They were finally shoved into a sort of main laboratory: at a series of desks, more harried-looking men in white wrote and measured and carried out tests. Sarah Jane and the Doctor were led to a desk where an exhausted-looking older man was working.

"Prisoners for interrogation," said the guard, and walked away. The two travellers looked at the scientist, who looked up and said, "My name is Ronson. Please sit down."

Grateful for the unexpected kindness, they did, taking some chairs from along the wall. "Pleased to meet someone who can talk without shoving a gun in our faces," said the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Sarah Jane Smith."

"Well, I'm sorry about the guards. But I am afraid if you do not answer my questions, I will have to hand you back to them." Ronson opened the box of their possessions and was immediately alight with curiosity; behind him a woman in grey walked up and put down three cups on the desk, and gestured for the strangers to take two. Sarah Jane thought she looked familiar, but she only saw the other woman's face for a moment and her hair was in the way.

Ronson looked up, blinked at the appearance of the cup at his own elbow, and asked, "Where did you get these artefacts?"

"Oh, other places, other worlds," answered the Doctor. "It's amazing what you find out and about in the universe."

Ronson replied with a touch of arrogance, "It is a scientific fact that there is no other life in the seven galaxies."

"Isn't it also a scientific fact that there are more than seven galaxies?"

Ronson sniffed with disbelief. "As it happens, when you went through the security scanner, it made a complete record of your physiognomy, electrocardiogram patterns, and …" Ronson examined the cards that had been handed to him along with their possessions, and his eyes widened with surprise.

"Nothing matches – nothing matches any Thal, Muto or Kaled physiognomy! The Sarah Jane is somewhat like us but … you are …" Then he flipped back through the cards, frowned, and told the Doctor, "Show me your hair."

The Doctor obliging bent his head and ruffled his disordered curls into more disorder. "Anything in particular you're looking for? Four owls and a wren maybe?"

"Shouldn't those be in your beard?" asked Sarah.

"No..." said Ronson, looking at the card again. He said, not looking up, "Don't stare, but that Laboratory Assistant back there – can you see her? In her hair?"

They both could; she was standing with her back to them, talking to another one of the scientists. Her hair was loose, and where it parted off to one side Sarah Jane thought she saw something shiny. Metal? The Laboratory Assistant ran her fingers through her hair and the metal was covered.

"Metal discs in her scalp. Hmm, looks like a neural transmission array. Implanted in vitro, I presume?" guessed the Doctor.

Ronson's attention was focussed completely on the Doctor now. "You recognise them? Tell me-" A soft bonging noise came from overhead, over the speaker system, and Ronson immediately stood and gestured his visitors to do the same. A voice came over the intercom, 'Davros will address the Scientific Elite in the main laboratory. All members of the Elite Scientific Corps are to gather in the main laboratory at once.' Immediately doors along the sides of the room opened, and more scientists began to enter and take up positions.

"Who is this Davros? He seems a very popular fellow," asked the Doctor.

"Our greatest scientist, our Supreme Commander," said Ronson formally. "It must be a matter of great urgency for him to come here and address us. So keep still, and be quiet!" Following Ronson's example, Sarah and the Doctor rose to their feet.

A door opened at the back of the laboratory, and three men entered. One was Commander Nyder; beside him was another man in the same black uniform, but with a broad pleasant face and wavy brown hair. But it was the man who entered before them who took the visitors' shocked attention.

He was only half a man; a horribly withered face and twisted torso seemed to merge with an elaborate wheelchair. His body was forced erect with a back brace, and wrapped in a black plastic tunic. His head was crowned with a network of wires and a microphone by one cheek; the Doctor guessed that both eyes and ears must be mechanically augmented. He seemed more machine than man.

He should have been pitiful. He was terrifying. Blind, legless, but his presence filled the room like fire.

Davros spoke, and his voice was an eerie machine-like rasp.

"If I may have your attention. For some time I have been experimenting with the Mark Three project. Details of the modifications will be distributed later. However I am anxious that you should see immediately the remarkable results that I have achieved. And to that end I have arranged this demonstration." His wizened hand reached out and flipped one of the many switches that lined the front panel of his chair, and a door opened.

Sarah Jane and the Doctor immediately recognised the thing that trundled into the laboratory, guided by two technicians. It was a Dalek, with the familiar cone-shaped body and eyestalk, but looking crude and unfinished without its arm and inbuilt weapon. And its motions were halting, tentative, not the smooth sweeping glides that both of the alien observers knew so well.

"Oh no," Sarah whispered. "We're too late, the Daleks have already been created!"

"The what?" asked Ronson, then his attention was drawn back to the demonstration.

"Forward … forward … halt." Davros' commands were followed by his creation as best it could; the two technicians stood back, clearly not assisting the Dalek anymore.

"He's perfected voice control. Magnificent!" whispered Ronson to the two captives.

Davros continued, "The introduction and perfection of voice control is a great achievement, I am sure you agree. However the project has advanced even beyond that. Nyder. Gharman."

The Dalek had halted in the centre of the room, and Gharman and Nyder busied themselves in taking an arm and a gun from a case, and inserting them into the proper sockets on the front of the Dalek.

Davros' metallic voice rang out, "The creature is now outfitted for exploration and for defence. I have introduced it to a new environment - this laboratory. And it is totally self-controlled - as of now." His hand flipped another switch on his chair, and the scientists murmured in alarm. "It is a living, self-motivated intelligent being."

The Dalek began to move, almost gingerly, swivelling its head so its barrel eyestalk could look around the laboratory. Davros moved his own chair after it, then halted to give it more room to explore.

What did the Dalek make of the men standing at attention, the Doctor wondered. Did it think they were there for it? The more urgent question seemed to be, what the Dalek would think of them. It was wandering along the row of desks. Now it was peering at the Doctor and Sarah Jane, and its sucker arm moved in small circles as it observed them.

"It detects the nonconformity," whispered Davros.

"Alien!" the Dalek suddenly barked. It moved forward in almost a lunge, then back. Its eye darted back and forth, between the two strange figures in front of it.

The Dalek spoke again. "Alien … Alien units .. Aliens." Then it sat there, as though expecting an answer.

"Well yes, actually, we are aliens," said the Doctor, with a grave face.

"Dissimilar alien units … fight. Fight!"

"Well, we bicker on occasion, but we don't fight," answered Sarah.

"We don't fight each other just because we're aliens," said the Doctor. His mind raced: could this be a chance, right at the start, to introduce new concepts into the very first Daleks? "In fact," he continued, "there are many alien races that live in harmony with one another without fi-"

The Doctor stopped as the Dalek's eyestalk abruptly swivelled to the left, as though staring at the gathered scientists. It spoke again.

"First Laboratory Assistant."

The scientists did not move, but their eyes darted about.

The Dalek advanced towards their line, and they swayed back a step. Louder it repeated, "First Laboratory Assistant!"

Slowly, a figure leaned out from behind one of the scientists. Sarah Jane could have sworn that it was Thoss, but now she was dressed in a grey outfit cut rather like the scientists', with a plain white armband peeking out from under one short sleeve.

The Dalek backed up, and First Laboratory Assistant slipped through the line-up and stood in front of the creature and - beamed. She looked at the Dalek like it was the most adorable thing in the world to her.

She clasped her hands in front of her and asked the Dalek, "Sensory?"

The Dalek looked about and then at her.

"Excellent," it said.

First Laboratory Assistant grinned even wider. Then she put out one foot, with her heel down and toe up, and bounced it up and down, while making a noise like 'ikki-ikki-ikki'

The Dalek - burbled, that was the only word for it. One of the scientists looked like he was about to pass out; clearly the demonstration was not going as he thought it would. At all.

"Priorities?" asked First Laboratory Assistant.

The Dalek replied, "Exterminate!"

The young woman actually clapped her hands with glee – but the glee on her face was quickly erased. Davros has said something to Nyder, and the Security Commander had fallen out of line and was moving towards her.

The Dalek seemed to notice the direction of her alarmed gaze, and turned around, and then glided forward, menacing. Nyder stopped in his tracks, and First Laboratory Assistant stood behind the Dalek and peered over its dome, like a child hiding.

Ignoring the frozen Commander, the Dalek turned around again and gestured with its sucker arm for First Laboratory Assistant to stand next to the two prisoners. She did so.

"Have we met?" asked the Doctor out of the corner of his mouth.

"You and I have not met, but we have met, yes," she replied.

Now the Dalek was staring at the three of them. It backed up, as though to take them all in at once. Then it turned around, and moved towards Davros, and started to shout as only a Dalek can shout, its arm and weapon twitching. Nyder stood his ground, ready to shield his leader with his own body.

"Alien units! Dissimilar! They fight! Three! Why do they not fight! Attack! Exterminate! Why, why, why…"

Ronson was visibly shaking at this outburst; when the Dalek started to move in on Davros, he broke and dashed to Davros' side. He flipped the switch that had activated the creature, and the Dalek immediately was silenced, still, limbs hanging limp.

"You dare to stop my experiment, Ronson!" said Davros, turning his chair to face the scientist.

"I…I feared for your safety, Davros. The creature is still unstable, it...."

"Silence! The creature would never have attacked me. I am its creator. Your interference is inexcusable. The creature would have corrected its perceptions and oriented on its target - the aliens."

"Davros, please … I believe these aliens to have valuable information. They should not be terminated on … until that information is extracted."

The Doctor whispered to Sarah, "Terminated on a whim, I think he was about to say."

Davros seemed to be thinking over Ronson's request, and then he snapped out, "You will question the prisoners and indicate to me as soon as you have the information you require. The sensory array of the Mark Three travel machine clearly needs considerably more refinement."

The scientist who had looked about to faint now gulped in terror. The Doctor had a feeling that he was the sensory array designer.

Davros continued, "The aliens will be held in reserve for future testing. This demonstration is ended."

The crippled scientist turned his chair and rolled out of the laboratory, followed by Gharman and Nyder. Ronson came over to the two aliens, ignoring the group of scientists who were gathered around the inert Dalek, and said, "It should have attacked you, they are conditioned to attack."

"I don't know why it didn't. For a Dalek, it seems positively placid," replied the Doctor.

"It is a Mark Three travel machine, and it is dangerous. I don't understand why Davros ..."

He was interrupted by Commander Nyder, who had returned to the laboratory.

"The prisoners are to be taken to the holding cells. You can continue questioning them there. Davros orders it." He turned away, gesturing for two guards who came over and herded Sarah Jane and the Doctor out of the room. After they were gone, Ronson joined the group of scientists, but frowned with his own thoughts. Behind him on his desk, the aliens' belongings waited - a handful of instruments, a bit of twig, a heavy copper bracelet.