Using screwdrivers and nails and almost surgical looking equipment, the Doctor disassembled a Dalek. After exploding, most of the work had already been done for the Doctor, leaving pieces of mechanisms scattered across the ground. The Doctor took parts, hoarding them like a deluded genius, and reconstructed them to his own non-Dalek designs.
Beside the Doctor, one of the Dalek puppets twitched on the floor. It raised its palm towards him, where a Dalek gun protruded from its skin. It could quite speak properly, but managed to utter the words. "E . . . Ex . . . Exter . . . Extermin . . ."
The Doctor turned around, raised his Dalek gun, and shot. Casually, the Doctor wiped the sweat from his brow. He pocketed his devices. Before he changed his mind, he turned back to the Dalek puppet. It . . . She was a woman. A very beautiful woman, if it wasn't for the Dalek additions.
"Sorry . . ." the Doctor apologised. He pressed a button on his vortex manipulator and disappeared.
"Sorry, I couldn't find anything," Sasha apologised.
"I got these," Alec announced, entering the console room with a hockey stick, cricket bat and a golf club.
"They'll be useless against the Daleks," River frowned.
"I'm not sure what these are," Shannon said, carrying several electronic looking items.
"Let's have a look," River examined, rummaging through the items. "Well, there's a Cyber deactivation unit, a radio, I don't know what is this, or this and a sonic pulse."
"Sonic pulse? That sounds fun," Alec smiled.
"Really?" River frowned. She activated the device . . . Nothing happened. "The battery's flat. So, in total: nothing."
Sasha groaned, falling back against a railing. "We don't stand a chance, do we?"
"I still say we go in with these bats and clobber those metal suckers," Shannon decided, picking up the hockey stick. "Don't worry; that was just a joke."
"Not the time," Alec moaned.
"Yeah, I kinda realised," Shannon agreed.
"I'm starting to wonder what the point is," Sasha muttered. "We've got to trust the Doctor will be fine and that he'll destroy the Daleks. If he comes back for us, then there will've been no point in us worrying. If he does die out there, all we have to do is walk through those doors . . . If only I didn't care for him so much. If I barely knew him, this wouldn't be a problem."
"If the Doctor does die out there, we die here too," Alec reminded her. "There'll be no-one to stop the Daleks with us stuck here."
"We don't have a choice, do we? We can't help the Doctor, so we can either spend our lives in here or spend our lives at home. I don't know about you, but I'd choose home. My mum's there. My bed's there. It's safe and warm and welcoming. Don't get me wrong – I love this place too – but outside those doors I have a family," Shannon said. "If there's nothing else that I can do, I want my home."
"Me too," Alec agreed. "I want to travel for the rest of my life, but there's more I can do if I can't have that. I can go back to school and pass my exams. I'd like to . . . I don't know. It sounds stupid."
"Go on," Shannon insisted.
Alec gulped. "I'd like to meet someone. You know. That special person. I never will with my luck, but I'd give it a try. To be honest, I just want some friends. I used to have some great friends: Matt, who was always obsessed with food; Connor, the camp one; Craig, the sport guy that had this giant nose; Dave . . . he was in to taxidermy."
Shannon laughed. "My life is nothing like that. Most of my friends are obsessed with boy bands, make-up and Facebook. It's pretty boring. You can never really be sure whether to trust them. There are many people you can put one hundred percent of your trust into."
"You trust me, right?" Alec asked.
"Yes. Of course I do. You've been my best friend since Mr Derbyshire and those cells. How could I not trust you?"
"Well, I spend most of my time flying around through the universe."
"Fair point."
Alec laughed a little. "I make sure we get to come back to Earth every now and again."
"What's there on Earth? You have space! Why do you come back instead of everything out there?"
"Because of you," Alec replied, bluntly. "We'll come back again, once this is over. We could . . . I don't know. Have a coffee?"
"A coffee?"
"I know, stupid suggestion. It's the thing everyone says on TV, so I might as well try. We could go bowling? See a movie?"
"We could," Shannon replied.
Sasha and River looked up, exchanging the same expression. They were happy to see Alec's face, but at the same time they could help but remember what Shannon had told them. Shannon would never be able to see Alec again.
"Anytime?" Alec asked, smiling.
Shannon hesitated a little. She knew it was wrong to lead him on, but now wasn't the time to tell him. " . . . We'll see."
"Alright," Alec smiled.
"Alec, I don't . . ."
"You don't what?" Alec asked.
Shannon stuttered. "Nothing. I just hesitated."
The Doctor appeared in a dark room. In the centre of the room was a blue paradigm Dalek; its body was cut apart into pieces, and cables were plumbed into its head, which disappeared into the walls. He looked to the ship designs, trying to find where he was. The control room. Yes, the Doctor realised! The Dalek was used to control the ship, hidden away in a dark room. Slowly, a frown crept across the Doctor's face – the designs specified that there were three more Daleks in the room.
A croaking voice stuttered behind the Doctor, "Exterminate!"
Reacting just in time, the Doctor leapt behind the blue Dalek, shielding himself from the Dalek's shots. The room flickered with light, disorientating the Doctor as he cowered from the Daleks. There were hard to spot, but were visible before the moment the lights switched back off. Their blue eyestalks shone brightly, noticeable whether the room was light or dark.
His hands slipping, the Doctor reached for his Dalek gun. He found it. He fired a shot at a Dalek but missed; he was shaking. The lights flickered on, giving the Doctor a brief moment to accurately shoot two of the Daleks. The lights went out. From the amber burning of the two dying Daleks, the Doctor could see the final approaching Dalek. The Doctor shot and missed.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek cried. It shot at the Doctor, narrowly missing him.
The Doctor was finally able to shoot the Dalek, causing it to explode and collapse onto its side.
Gasping, the Doctor leant against the paradigm Dalek, watching as the others around him burned; their blue eyes flickered then died. Slowly, he eased himself off the ground. "Ok . . ." he muttered to himself. "Begin step two."
"That's it!" Alec gasped, blinded by his sudden revelation.
"That's what?" River asked.
"I've got it. I've cracked this wide open!" Alec laughed.
"But what is it?" River persisted.
"Nothing is new. Everything repeats. If we need to travel through time and space, we don't need something new – we need something we've already seen before! Mr Derbyshire had a device he used to snatch children out of time. We managed to take it from him, and I bet that it's still here in the TARDIS. If we can find it, we can use it to get back to the Doctor," Alec explained.
"That's brilliant," Sasha smiled.
"You bloody genius!" River cried. "We need that device! Do you know where it is?"
"I have an idea," Alec suggested.
The Doctor took his newly assembled device from his pocket. He used the screwdriver he had stolen to open up the front of the paradigm Dalek, exposing a jungle of wires and cables. Carefully, biting his lip, the Doctor cut several of the wires, then proceeding to attach one of his devices to the wires, connecting it to the Dalek.
Immediately, a light started flashing in the room and a siren wailed. The Doctor would have to move quickly. Scrambling, the Doctor removed the vortex manipulator from his wrist, attaching it too to the Dalek. With a quick tinker with the wiring, the vortex manipulator began to flash an orange light.
The Doctor smiled to himself. "You beauty . . ."
The floor shuddered, causing the Doctor to slip onto his back. It felt as though the floor was moving, yet the room stayed exactly the same. The cables wobbled. It was then that the Doctor realised that it wasn't the floor that was moving . . . The whole room was ascending.
"Found it?" River called.
"Yeah!" Alec called from beneath the console room. "Here it is," he announced, dashing up the stairs with the device in his hands. He threw it to River, who caught it.
"Ok," River muttered, beginning to type into the device. "This is a one person only transport system, so I'll go."
"Why you?" Sasha asked.
"Because I can work this thing," River replied. "I'll be back in this room in the next five seconds if I can get this thing to work accurately enough. See you soon." River activated the Derbyshire's device . . . Nothing happened. "What?" River cried, pressing the device again. Nothing happened.
"What's happened?" Shannon inquired.
"The battery's gone!" cried River, now resorting to slapping it.
"We've lost our only chance?" Sasha gasped.
"Can't we just recharge it?" Alec asked.
"This isn't a mobile phone. It's not as simple," River replied. "This is a time travel device; it needs the sort of energy we can only buy from the sorts of traders that only appear once in every couple of galaxies."
"But we've got the TARDIS. Surely it can use energy from this ship," Sasha suggested.
"Yes, of course!" River laughed. "No wonder the Doctor loves you lot. You're brilliant!"
"Yeah, alright, just get to it," Shannon insisted.
The room stopped. Looking around him, the Doctor recognised where he had arrived. He stood in a large room, blinded by the glittering bronze of the hundreds of Daleks that surrounded him. Their deadly eyes scattered throughout the darkness like bright city lights in the distance. Swallowing his dread in a thick ball, the Doctor smartened himself, ready for the pantheon of Daleks that surrounded him.
"Doctor!" the Dalek Emperor bellowed. "You have been summoned to the Dalek pantheon."
"Summoned?" the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. "You make it sound so official."
"After escaping your prison, the Daleks are faced with no choice but to exterminate you. Prepare for you immediate extermination."
"No!" the Doctor cried, raising the second device he'd made. "Touch me and I activate this!"
"What is this device that you threaten us with?"
"My trap!" the Doctor smiled. "I've used your technology against you, Daleks; even your Supreme Strategist."
"What have you done?"
"I've implanted one of my own creations into your Supreme Strategist. A bomb, of sorts. When I activate it, your whole ship blows."
"The device does not have such a capacity," a Dalek announced.
"Really? I'd check again," the Doctor grinned. "I've wired a vortex manipulator into that Dalek. Do you know how much energy is in that one small device? Millions and billions of joules, I can assure you, all squashed into such a small space. When I detonate it, every last bit of energy from the vortex manipulator will surge throughout this ship. Even if it doesn't tear this ship apart - which I'm certain it will – it'll disable the programs embedded in the ship that stop it destroying itself. Any sort of regulation of control this ship has will be ineffective. But wait; that's not all! This isn't any old Dalek – this is your Supreme Strategist. This one Dalek has control over not just this ship, but the whole Dalek fleet. If this Dalek goes offline, the whole fleet will suffer the same.
"You are a fool, Doctor!" the Dalek Emperor laughed. "The other Dalek ships have Supreme Strategists to control them. Only this ship shall be destroyed."
"But this whole ship will be torn apart. If the vortex manipulator doesn't swallow your whole Dalek fleet in flames, then your own ship will. I have the ability to wipe every one of you out the sky in one movement of my thumb!"
"But you would destroy yourself in the process!"
"Just try me!" the Doctor spat.
"It's just managed one percent charge," Sasha announced, watching Derbyshire's device.
"What will that do?" Alec asked.
"Not much. Barely enough to get the Doctor and get back," River frowned.
"We'll have to use it as quick as we can; the Doctor's in trouble," Shannon reminded them.
"Ok. I'll do it," River announced. She unplugged the device and held it in her hands. Slowly she breathed. Just as he fingers touched the buttons, she stopped.
"What is it?" Sasha asked.
"Please, just go. That the Doctor and make sure he's safe," Shannon pleaded.
"I can't . . ." River stuttered.
"Then let me," Alec insisted, reaching for the device.
River pulled it away from him. "No, you can't. None of you can."
"Why not?" Alec asked.
"Thing it through. If we pull the Doctor away from the Dalek ship, then we may never get a chance like this to stop their plans. It's selfish. We'd get the Doctor back but lose Earth in the process," River explained.
Shannon covered her mouth as she gasped.
"But if we save the Doctor, imagine the amount of lives he could save," Alec argued.
"We can't make that sort of decision," Sasha interrupted. "We don't have to the right to choose Earth or the universe."
"If the Doctor dies out there then we lose them both," Alec pointed out.
"We can't save him," River decided.
"But we have to!" Alec pleaded.
"There has to be some other option!" Sasha begged.
River looked up. "We could do a swap. One of us could take the Doctor's place."
"I'll do it," Alec offered, stepping forwards.
"No! I won't let you!" Sasha refused, pulling Alec back.
"But if it saves the Doctor . . ."
"I don't care!" Sasha snapped. "I'll go, not you. I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but you're too young. I can't let you make a decision this big."
"She's right, Alec. You shouldn't go," Shannon agreed.
"I'll have to go," River announced, resetting the device. "I'm the Doctor's wife; it only seems right."
"River . . ." Shannon pleaded.
"No!" River snapped. "The Doctor is worth more than any of us. He has to survive this day."
"Let one of us do it instead," Alec insisted. "You travel the universe too; surely you have many more lives to save. We won't! What do any of us actually do?"
"You mean everything to the Doctor," River said. "The Doctor can't function without companions and he knows it."
"You mean everything to the Doctor too," Sasha added.
"If you destroy the Dalek ship you will destroy yourself!" the Doctor Emperor argued.
"Happily done. I've got a whole universe to protect, so don't for one moment think I'll even question my decision," the Doctor answered, his finger tightening on the bomb's trigger.
"Then we shall take the power from the Supreme Strategist so that your bomb cannot detonate."
"To do that, you would have to drain the entire ships power. It'll end with the same destructive result."
"But imagine the millions that will die as a result of your extermination."
The Doctor lowered his head. "I guess I'll have to live with that . . . Well, die with it, considering the circumstances. At least I'll be protecting the universe for that little but longer."
"We shall exterminate you this very second . . ."
"And I'll make it my dying act to destroy your Dalek fleet. Checkmate, Daleks!"
"This is not chess."
"No – it's extermination!"
"You can't go, River," Sasha pleaded.
"But I have to. Don't you get it?" River cried.
"Get what?"
"You have to survive this day too. All of you have to survive!"
"You don't have to look after us."
"I'm not. There's something coming," River explained, fearful look trapped in her eye. "Something's coming, and you have to be there when it arrives. Someone is coming. I've already been there when it happens, but you haven't."
"Who's coming?" Alec asked.
River winked. "Spoilers."
"Then I'm sorry, Professor Song, but I'm going to screw up your past!" Sasha cried.
Without thinking, Sasha punched River in the nose. As River staggered back, covering her nose with blooded hands, Sasha grabbed Derbyshire's device from her hands. Before she disappeared, Sasha looked into her brother's eyes – they were a mix of pain and worry and confusion. That one look was never forgotten. That beautiful look of the brother she loved to the very core of her heart. She managed a weak smiled, holding in her tears against their pleas to escape. Then, with her fingers trembling and quaking, she activated the device and disappeared from the TARDIS.
The Doctor appeared. He wobbled a little; he was confused and extremely exhausted. Slowly, he looked up, staring at the shocked faces of his companions, all there but Sasha. "Where's Sasha?" he asked.
With a burst of white light, Sasha appeared inside the Dalek ship. She held out her hands, catching the Doctor's detonation device as it dropped it. Daleks filled her eyes, instilling panic and fear into her.
"Who is this primitive female?" the Dalek Emperor questioned.
"Who am I?" Sasha replied. "You've been worrying about the Doctor so long that you've forgotten the real enemy: me! I may only be a human, but I will claw at your metal cases for my survival, so just sit by and watch. My name is Sasha Parker. I'm a less than adequate police detective from London. My brother disappeared from my life for ten years and I was looking for him all that time. I found him again, and I was so happy – but you lot stole him from me. You've already crossed a line that should never be crossed, so now it's payback time. I'll do anything for the Doctor, and I'll do even more for my brother. Today's the day that you messed with the wrong woman. I'm going to die any moment now, so I'm going to take you all with me. So, taking mind that these are my last moments, I think it's time for an epic set of last words . . . Damn it! You know when the right thing to say just slips your mind? Oh well. I never was good at public speaking . . . Screw this. GO TO HELL!"
Sasha's thumb clamped down on the detonator. Immediately, she was thrown to her back by the pulse that ricocheted throughout the ship. Her hair billowed like leaves on an oak, whipped by the wind that surged through her. Orange. All she could see was the deep orange burning that raged through the ship and inter her eyes. Diamonds of sweat were glittered over her body, glistening a sparkly with light. Daleks wailed around her, eventually cut silent as their bodies spiralled into flames. Sasha was motionless, paralysed with fear as everything around her was engulfed with fire.
. . . So, that's it for now. On the edge of your seat? The final chapter will be posted soon. I hope you enjoy it. Please review and thanks for reading :)