Debris pouring down on them from the collapsed floor, the four struggled to push themselves up from the ground, their fall cushioned by burlap sacks abandoned long ago.
Dusting himself off, Paul pulled away pieces of wood from his hair, blood trickling down his face from the impact of the fall against the pieces of hardwood that lay broken underneath his feet.
"Everyone okay?" Cappy shrug off the pain, knowing fully well that he can handle it.
Bumble answers that she remains operational and Taylor pulled pieces of wood from her hair as she affirmed that she was fine, her legs wobbling as she tried to find her bearings in the darkness.
Noticing the blood rolling down the side of his nose, Taylor reached into her pocket as she pulled out a sheet of tissue before gently putting it against the gash.
"I don't remember a tunnel being under the lumber mill," Bumble commented as she glances around their new surroundings as Cappy slowly moved beside her as they moved cautiously.
Affirming that Bumble was correct, Cappy muses that someone had been busy in the last two weeks.
"Daleks couldn't have done this, though," Cappy was quick to say as he narrowed his cyan eyes. "They're loud and abrasive, I'd hear them from my loo window if that were the case."
Paul asks if whatever attacked them with telekinesis was responsible and Cappy pondered this question as he walked ahead.
He asks for Paul to use the Sonic Screwdriver and he did, there's a trail leading down the tunnel.
"What on earth could the Daleks want with… whatever made the tunnel?" Taylor questioned the reasoning for it, causing Cappy to remind her that with Daleks, they have their own reasons, even if it doesn't make any sense to him or her.
Something with telekinesis would be enticing to the Daleks, assuming they can use it, and as the adage went: if the Daleks can't use it, they exterminate it.
… Though the lack of Dalek activities is causing doubt in Cappy.
Not even a phone call from the government requesting his aid.
As he frowns, Paul said to Cappy, "I'm afraid they've been getting craftier these last few centuries, sir. Even my TARDIS can't keep track of them."
Exhaling sharply at this, Cappy sighs as he said, "Of course they are, they've taken notes from the damned Cybermen. Probably other things, too, the buggers."
Despite that, Cappy sensed something wrong, and he slowly moved ahead of the three as he muses, "I don't doubt a Dalek slipped through undetected, I'm doubting that there's only one. Even the scheming fools don't come alone, does it say anything about that?"
Checking his Sonic Screwdriver, Paul frowns as he answered that it showed only one trail.
Baffled, Taylor goes, "You don't think the Dalek could've wanted whatever's down here, do you?"
Only one?
Indeed, they're voracious bunches in their own right, Taylor risking life and death standing oppose with Paul, but one couldn't have the aptitude corralling and controlling something that possess telekinesis.
Nodding, Cappy agreed with her assessment, adding his own, "They're known to scheme against each other, whatever's down here, our metallic friend certainly wanted it for themselves. Let's see what, shall we?"
Bumble's eyes illuminated as she went into adaptive night vision mode, allowing her to see with impunity.
She scanned the tunnel as they're traversing and she muses that they didn't look manmade.
"Surprising that there wasn't a bootlegging operation underneath the lumber mill," Taylor found it peculiar that there wasn't one secretly made when it was in operation.
Cappy found it surprising, too, he commented to the inspector about it during the initial bust, but the inspector told him that the ground wasn't "proper" for that sort, and even the most deluded mobster wouldn't attempt digging out a tunnel.
Turning his head, Paul echoes, "Proper?"
Shrugging, Cappy explained that the area they're in was known for the thick layers of clay and sediment that would make it improbable for tunnels being built, even with necessary support.
All the rain leeching into the ground, the clay would cause instability in an instant.
"Not even he had a death wish," Cappy sums.
Warily looking around, Taylor worried about the possibility of a collapse, and Bumble shared her fear as she noted that for now, it's stable, but it didn't make sense for her since the area had heavy rains a few days, ago.
Chewing on his lip, Cappy raises a finger as he walked, "Something tells me that whatever attacked us with telekinesis is behind it."
Makes perfect sense when considering that in normal conditions the clay would collapse on itself after something tunnel through it.
Strong enough to attack them and keep its composure when Cappy gave it a quick buzz for the attacks, capable of keeping the tunnels open for however long until it had enough of them.
Not many species came to mind, but if there's a Dalek involved, it's in Cappy's interest making sure it either has a way off the planet or dead and buried.
Harsh, but Cappy didn't live for thousands of years just to make the same mistakes.
Whatever made the tunnels was large, something fierce, but nothing that they can rightly register, even Bumble couldn't helpfully identify what they're looking for, only what it can do to them given the chance.
Cappy struggled for ideas what they're looking at, given that he led a quiet life as a monk when he left Gallifrey and came here, but there was nothing that stuck out to him.
Not even the once vast ecosystem of Gallifrey produced something like what's lurking underground here.
"Dalek must've brought it here, then," Paul concludes that whatever the Dalek was scheming their telekinetic adversary was part of it, unwillingly, he should add.
It's a known quantity, now, that no one willingly worked with Daleks unless they're simple minded or smarter than the Daleks that they can get away from them before things take a turn, after all.
Though, why a Dalek would bring it here, remains unknown for the moment, but given that the Sonic Screwdriver is only detecting one Dalek thus far, doesn't seem like a plan either man seen from a Dalek before.
"Unless something happened," Bumble spoke up about the possibility that the Dalek didn't intend on coming here, but something beyond its control forced it, and it was wise enough not to make a big enough noise that Cappy or the country didn't detect it.
Slowly gesturing, Taylor questioned the logic with, "How did one Dalek manage to control… whatever this being or whatever?"
True, they're stubborn bunches, but one Dalek against a telekinetic being seemed like a one-sided match.
Going through the tunnel, the four found shackles and binders, instantly Cappy identified them as non-Dalek paraphernalia taken from a different species and retrofitted for Dalek uses.
"This answers your question," Cappy's cyan eyes narrowed on the sight.
Don't know what species it originated from, probably already stardust given the Daleks reputation.
Continuing traversing through the tunnel, Paul couldn't help but marvel how the telekinetic being managed to keep the tunnel sustained in this fashion for an extended period, only reinforcing the belief they're not looking at a mere alien.
"Can't believe that one Dalek managed to capture it, don't care how aggressively annoying they are, this thing can throw crates around like tissue boxes with its own mind. What the hell was that Dalek thinking?" Bumble became curious as to why the Dalek went out of its way to obtain the being despite clearly being outmatched on its own and Cappy gave a pragmatic response.
The Dalek saw something in it that it can use and whether it wants to or not, it's to help it in its ploy or else it'll exterminate it as Daleks do to insubordinate.
Given what they're seeing, the Dalek is hedging that it can do something it wants with excellency.
What that is, it isn't anything good, and if they don't find the Dalek a flattened rubbish heap, then they'll force the answers out of it.
Should it be the case, however, it'll take more than hope that the being would be willing to answer those questions.
