Walking through the winding corridors, the four noticed an abnormal silence in the Daleks, none patrolling through the corridors, none rushing to exterminate them, it was a far cry when Cappy and Paul first arrived aboard the ship.
Bumble kept focused on her scanners, they're telling her that the radioactivity in the storage room is nearly depleted, that by the time they arrived at the Dalek Omega's chamber, it would be as though there wasn't any.
Nothing on her scanners shows how this was possible, not even an outline of what device was siphoning the radioactive parties.
The only thing Bumble can ascertain was it not being Dalek in origin.
Don't know what it is, like it was masquerading itself somehow, Bumble rightly can't figure it out.
Cappy gave her parameters to see if there was anything she could use, but it's taking time as they're close to Dalek Omega's chamber, the absence of the Daleks eerie.
As Dalek Supreme there should have been dozens of soldiers prepared to open fire on them at will, but there weren't, it wasn't making sense to either party, that Cappy and Paul grew concerned.
Nearing the chamber doors, it became more evident something happened, no soldiers were present, Cappy used his telepathy to try and locate the Daleks, but nothing crossed his mind.
"Are they trying to blow us up?" Cappy asks Bumble to check if the Daleks abandoned ship with the intent to exterminate them while they remained aboard, but Bumble denied it was that.
None of the escape ships were active, it appeared their resources were drained like the storage room she and Taylor went through locating the Sonic Screwdriver.
"How's this possible?" Paul questioned Bumble.
Shrugging her narrow shoulders, Bumble answered that she couldn't answer that, her scanners weren't showing anything.
"How could that be possible, my girl, I upgraded you with the state-of-the-art scanners last year!" Cappy brought up how he went through the efforts upgrading Bumble, so she'd be more capable of handling herself during their cases.
Shrugging, Bumble answers with, "It's like something is blocking my scanners. Something alien. I can't explain it. But it's not the Daleks."
Despite the Daleks' efforts, Bumble can see through their shoddy work with relative ease, since they're better at stealing.
This, every time her scanners are working to get around the problem, whatever's on the ship, it changes rapidly so that the scanners can't get a fix.
Not the work of a Dalek tech or appropriated tech from a different species.
All she knew was it was alien, much more advanced than anything she was certified against.
"Could've the Daleks have stolen something else?" Taylor inquiries about the possibility of them stealing tech that they didn't fully understand.
Frowning, Cappy believed it was possible that the Daleks stole something they didn't understand, they had a penchant doing that, even if it proved detrimental to their health, they have a habit of stealing something they shouldn't to thwart other Daleks from doing the same, a fear of them losing an edge, as it were.
Though what Dalek Omega stole remains unknown, he worries what it was that was capable of depleting radiation at an alarming rate.
"Bumble, where are the Daleks?" Paul turned his head to her as her eyes were swaying and she stated that they were in the chamber room with Dalek Omega and Dalek Thorn.
Something's wrong, though, they're not moving.
In front of the door, the four stood with looks as they turned to each other.
"What if it's a trap?" Taylor worried.
Shaking his head, Cappy expressed, "Dalek Omega wouldn't risk an attack having everyone in one place. Something's wrong… Bumble… give me auditory scan."
Bumble switched her scanners and stated that there was nothing happening, silence, and with Daleks, when they are silent, it's nerve wracking.
"Raise arms, Paul with me," Cappy began giving orders. "Taylor, fall back."
Everyone in position, Cappy and Paul forced open the door into the chamber, there they're in shock at the sight of motionless Daleks.
Circled around the chamber, they remain in their positions as the three filed in with Taylor waiting by the doorway.
Going up to one, Paul's angel eyes fell to the chassis as he checked the Dalek.
"Dead," Paul decreed as he glimpsed up to Cappy checking another Dalek.
Forcing the chassis open, Cappy glimpsed inside, grimacing at the sight before concluding, "The chassis power failed… damned thing suffocated in its own chassis."
Joining his side, Paul questioned how this was possible, Daleks would have activated the failsafe to force open their chassis to keep breathing, but Cappy affirmed his conclusion.
The power failed and the failsafe never went off, the Dalek suffocated, likely incapable of forcing the chassis to open with an emergency lever.
"What could've done this?" Paul questioned how the Daleks died to the same thing.
Cappy gestures as he answers, "Same thing that's eating the radiation, Bumble, are there any signs of life?"
He heard Bumble answer, "No. Nothing showing up on my scanners."
Gesturing, Paul asks about Dalek Omega and Thorn, but Bumble said she doesn't see any indicators of them being alive.
Aghast, Cappy refused to believe it, questioning how the Daleks died in quick succession.
"Yes. How?" Dalek Omega's electronic voice reverbs as it entered the chamber with Taylor walking ahead of it with her arms up.
Alarmed, the three turned their attention as Dalek Omega held Taylor hostage.
His angel eyes widened; Paul watched as the Dalek forced Taylor forward with its weapon pointed in her back.
"Impossible, my scanners say you're dead!" Bumble called out Dalek Omega.
Cheekily the Dalek answers with, "Nothing. Is. Ever. Truly. Dead!"
In the corner of her eye, Bumble sees Dalek Omega's vital signs return after masking them.
"What happened to your soldiers, Dalek?" Cappy demanded answers from the Dalek.
Droning at him, Dalek Omega shouted, "It. Was…"
It didn't finish its stilted sentence as Dalek Thorn suddenly opened fire on Dalek Omega from behind, causing the Dalek to erupt in flames.
Bumble grabbed Taylor, pulling her away from the flames as Dalek Omega shrilled while it burnt alive in its chassis while Dalek Thorn moved around the smoldering corpse.
"Give me one reason, Dalek!" Paul raised his voice as Bumble trained her blackened hands on it with Taylor behind her.
Dalek Thorn coldly says, "I. Keep. My. Word."
Standing triumph with the smoldering remains of Dalek Omega behind it, Dalek Thorn informed Paul how he and the others served their parts in its ploy to rid the Dalek Supreme and the soldiers.
Though the way the Dalek spoke during this time was a far cry from the way Daleks speak typically, and Cappy didn't hesitate to call out Dalek Thorn of this, but the Dalek refused to explain itself.
"Do. You. Want. Your. Answers?" Dalek Thorn testily asks Paul.
After all, as the Dalek chiefly brings up, it's the reason he'd been chasing it and its cult, and had any harm come to him or the others?
Had it not done what it said?
"You lied about the bombs!" Bumble spoke up.
Nothing inside the chassis, they were all empty, Bumble went through the chassis with her scanners and found nothing suggesting that there was even a hint of the bombs inside, at all.
"Simon. Says!" Dalek Thorn chortled.
His brow raised, Cappy turned his head slightly as he asks Paul in a hushed, "When did Daleks know about that?"
His angel eyes focused on Dalek Thorn, Paul answers, "I don't know. Dalek! You owe me my answers!"
Chortling at him, Dalek Thorn answers with a sly, "Nothing. Is. What. It. Seems!"
That was its only answer as it then asks Bumble if she noticed anything unusual on her scanners, now, and she answered with fear that whatever the Daleks kept, it's starting to affect the ship, and if they don't hurry, they risk dying with the ship.
"You call that an answer? Why were you after him! Tell me! Is he alive? ANSWER!" Paul raised his voice as he grew irritated with the Dalek, not giving him a clear answer, demanding it tell him why it and its cult were after the Master.
And how the Master survived.
However, Dalek Thorn cheekily answers, "Nothing. Is. What. It. Seems. Doc-tor!"
Above their heads, the four hear the wails of the sirens as the computers on the ship started failing, even the failsafe.
The oxygen levels are starting to wane, and the Dalek forced Paul to choose.
Cursing it with fire in his angel eyes, Paul was forced to abscond with the others as they fled through the corridors.
In the air, the four can feel the oxygen levels dropping, it's becoming difficult for everyone except Bumble to breathe, but thankfully they didn't need to go far, as the TARDIS showed up waiting for them with the door opened.
Rushing through the opened doorway, the TARDIS quickly disappeared from the ship, reappearing outside Cappy and Lizzy's flat.
Stepping outside, Paul exhaled sharply as he held a disgruntled look on his face.
All this time, he searched for the Cult of Thorn, when he finally found them, it was only their leader, and all he got from it were words that made no sense, probably something just to incite him.
"Daleks are never known to tell the truth, child, it wouldn't tell you the truth even if you held plasma cutters against its chassis," Cappy patted him on the back, seeing how aggravated he was how he went through the effort and came up empty.
Holding his arm, Taylor assures him that he did his best, he might not get what he wanted, but nobody could say he didn't try.
"The Master's alive, I know he is," Paul exhaled sharply.
Somehow, the bastard survived yet, again, that's the only explanation he had for this.
"Lingering on this is folly, even if you didn't get all your answers, there's always something you can get out of this. Come on, Lizzy must be worried," Cappy prodded Paul into coming with him and the women up to the flat for tea.
Exhaling sharply, Paul frowns as he went with Cappy and Taylor, Bumble opted to stay back with the TARDIS as her black eyes twinkled.
Elsewhere…
Dalek Thorn escaped the ship as everything failed on it, causing it to fall into the darkness below where it would continue until it was destroyed by an asteroid belt or comet, appearing on a different planet.
Waiting for it, there's a man with black slick hair with an equally prim goatee and sharp eyes to go with it.
"It's not enough," the man spoke with a posh voice exhaled as he grew agitated that he didn't get enough from the ship despite everything the Dalek did to ensure everything was drained.
Dalek Thorn asks in a droning, "What. Do. You. Suggest?"
His arms behind his back as his prim black suit glistened purple under the red sun, the man answers, "We'll have to find something else. I need more. This trick of yours only bought me enough time to locate another."
Dalek Thorn then asks, "What. Of. The. Doc-tor?"
His head stiffly turning to the side as if he's seeing something that isn't there, the man responded, "If not for that damned machine of his, I could have easily trapped him. Oh well. What's done, is done. You kept him curious; he'll never stop until he gets the whole answer, with or without the cult."
Glimpsing up to the red sun above with a hungry look in his dark eyes, the man then orders Dalek Thorn, "Prepare for your next mission. I have much to do."
His sharp eyes dropped as he saw the Dalek chassis opening and pale hands reached up from the opening as a figure starts climbing out.
The End