AN: Well well well, here we are again. Yes, I'm posting this directly after posting the first chapter. Aren't you a lucky bunch?
My current plan is to alternate chapters of these stories and of my currently established series, The Chaos Chronicles. So the next chapter from me should be in book 4 of The Chaos Chronicles, chapter 6 - The Poison Sky
Have fun, my loves!
Chapter 2: Daleks in Manhattan
The Doctor was rather impressed with his parking - the Tardis had tucked itself quite neatly against one of the corners of an army building with eleven points, just out of the wind that swept in from the water. He held the door open for Martha and she ducked under his arm, shuddering slightly at the drop in temperature.
"Where are we?"
"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, have you met my friend?"
She turned, following his gaze. There, sat on top of the building, was one of the most iconic statues on the planet, her weathered blue arm stretching high into the sky.
"Is that…? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty!"
"Gateway to the New World. Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
"That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one."
The sight of her ticking the 'new's off on her fingers made him grin. "Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."
Turning to look out across the water, she set off down the grass bank. "I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."
He shrugged. "Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…"
Spotting an abandoned newspaper on a nearby bench, she scanned the top.
"November the first, 1930."
"You're getting good at this."
She passed him the paper and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now." She grinned. "Come on then, you. Where do you want to go first?"
But something rather like a frown had appeared on his face. "I think our detour just got longer." And he pointed out the headline.
"Hooverville Mystery Deepens. What's Hooverville?"
"Let's go and find out."
Strolling in the direction of Central Park, the Doctor had launched into a history lesson.
"Herbert Hoover, thirty first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then-"
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Whole economy just wiped out overnight. Thousands of people became unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park."
"What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?"
As they got close enough, the edges of a roughly constructed shanty town appeared through the trees.
"Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."
As they made their way towards the centre - trying not to stare too long at the state of these people's existence - they could hear the beginnings of a disturbance.
"You thieving lowlife!... for a single loaf!"
"I didn't touch it!"
"Well, somebody stole it"
A small group was clustered near the central fire; it was clear that the majority of those were just bystanders. As they got a little closer, another man came from a nearby tent.
"Cut that out! Cut that out right now!"
He got between the two men, glaring at each of them.
"He stole my bread!"
"That's enough! Did you take it?"
The other man scoffed. "I don't know what happened. He just went crazy."
"That's enough! Now, think real careful before you lie to me."
His façade dropped. "I'm starving, Solomon."
Solomon held out a hand, and the man pulled the loaf of bread from inside his jacket. There were scandalised murmurs from the onlookers, which quickly quieted as he broke the bread in half and handed a piece to both men.
"We all starving. We all got families somewhere. No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
The crowd dispersed, and the Doctor watched Solomon poke about at the fire for a moment before approaching him.
"I suppose that makes you the boss around here."
He looked up, assessing the stranger's faces. "And, er, who might you be?"
"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha."
"A doctor. Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day."
"How many people live here?"
Solomon shrugged. "At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, both of you." He paused for a moment, before gesturing that they should follow him.
"But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me. That there's going to be the tallest building in the world." He pointed up at the Empire State, so close and yet worlds away from the cluster of people in residence in the park. "How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"
The top floor of the Empire State Building was currently being used as a works office for the construction still going on above. Many of the cupboards were taken up with rolls of outdated plans, broken tools, and decorating materials. The cupboard in the corner nearest the lift was currently taken up by Romana. She had sealed the door so successfully that now, three months after she had first started using it as a spyhole, nobody remembered that there was meant to be a cupboard there at all. It had taken quite a while to hollow through the back wall, creating a tunnel that joined to the service shafts of the lift. From there, she could move almost anywhere in the building without anyone having a clue she was there. Especially the Daleks. She'd managed to avoid their attention so far - she certainly didn't plan on changing that any time soon. She had watched the current argument happen with four different foremen so far.
"I'm telling you, the men won't stand for it. I mean, are you out of your mind? I got five hundred men working seven days a week. They're flat out, and you want us to go faster?"
Mr Diagoras shrugged. "The new masters demand it."
"But we're on schedule. What's the problem? Another month and we'll be done."
"The mast on this building needs extra work completed by tonight."
The foreman scoffed. "Tonight? No way. It's impossible."
"That's an order."
"Yeah? Well, one word from me and every man on this site stops working. So go on. Tell your masters that."
"If that's your attitude, I think that you should tell them yourself."
"Yeah? Well, I ain't afraid of no man in a suit."
Standing, Mr Diagoras moved to summon the lift. He stood there in silence for a few minutes, and the foreman started to shift uncomfortably on the spot.
"These er, these new bosses? What's their names?"
"I think you could say they're from out of town."
"Italians?"
He smirked. "A bit further than that."
"How much further?"
"Beyond your imagination."
"What's that supposed to mean? Who are they? Mister Diagoras, who're we working for?"
There was a soft ping as the lift reached their floor.
"Behold your masters."
The doors opened, revealing a Dalek flanked by two of the pigmen. Romana felt her hearts drop a little at the sight of them - ever since discovering how they were created, she had found it hard to look at them.
"What the hell?"
"I have been summoned. Explain. Explain."
The foreman backed up, panicking. "It can talk. How does it talk? And what the hell are they? You got to be kidding me."
Mr Diagoras shook his head. "I'm sorry, my lord, but this man is refusing to complete the work."
"Then we must replace him."
"Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is happening here?"
"Use him. Take him for the Final Experiment."
The pigmen each grabbed one of his arms and bundled him into the lift.
"Hey, what's going on? Let go! Let go of me! Get off me, you freaks! Mister Diagoras, will you tell them?"
But the doors simply slid shut, drowning out his words. The Dalek turned to look at him.
"The Empire State Building must be completed in time."
"It will be. Trust me. Labour is cheap and that man can be replaced."
"The plan must not fail. We calculate the gamma strike has accelerated. We need more bodies immediately."
"Yes, Master."
Having spoken to Solomon for a little while, getting to know the man, the Doctor finally broached the topic that had caught his interest in the first place.
"So, men are going missing. Is this true?"
He sighed, gesturing that they should follow him to his tent. "It's true all right."
"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
"Come on in. This is different."
Reading the man's body language, Martha could see that this had been weighing heavy on his shoulders for a while now. "In what way?"
"Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."
He frowned. "And you're sure someone's taking them?"
"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."
Martha glanced over the selection of newspapers the man had been keeping, seeing the headlines continually describe the situation. "Have you been to the police?"
He huffed out a cheerless laugh. "Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
The Doctor puffed his cheeks out. "So the question is, who's taking them and what for?"
They were interrupted by a young lad, tall and slim. He stuck his head through the tent flaps.
"Solomon! Solomon, Mr Diagoras is here."
The 'Mr Diagoras' in question was a short, stocky man with slicked back hair and a fancy suit that clearly made him think he was entitled to the entire world on a dinner plate. The air of smugness rolling off him made Martha's skin crawl.
"I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."
The boy, Frank, raised a hand. "Yeah. What is the money?"
"A dollar a day."
Solomon raised an eyebrow. "And what's the work?"
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"
The little group that had gathered to see what he had to say groaned, rolling their eyes and giving up for the day - that wasn't a job anyone wanted, and certainly not for so little money.
Solomon summed up their thoughts. "A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?"
"Accidents happen."
Raising a hand, the Doctor looked him dead in the eyes. "What do you mean? What sort of accidents?"
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?"
He raised his hand again, and the man huffed.
"Enough with the questions."
"Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go."
Realising that if she wasn't fast she'd get left behind, Martha raised a hand too, jabbing him in the arm as she did so.
"I'll kill you for this."
Diagoras didn't seem too happy. "Anybody else?"
Exchanging glances, Frank and Solomon raised their hands too. Both men had a feeling that these newcomers would be good people to stick around.
They followed him quietly to the entrance to the sewers, not wanting to provoke the little man any more. He had seemed irritated enough when they'd been the only ones to volunteer.
"Turn left. Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it."
Frank looked up at him from the bottom of the ladder. "And when do we get our dollar?"
"When you come back up."
The Doctor folded his arms. "And if we don't come back up?"
He smirked. "Then I got no one to pay."
A gleam in his eyes, Solomon stared right back. "Don't worry, we'll be back."
Already feeling the cold set into her bones, Martha shuddered and murmured to herself,
"Let's hope so."
And they set off, walking at a relatively quick pace.
Noticing that she clearly wasn't too happy, Frank tried to take her mind off the situation. "We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."
"So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?"
"Oh, you could talk. No, I'm Tennessee born and bred."
"So how come you're here?"
"Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home. I've only bumped into one English round here before, and that was a couple months back."
"Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too."
He smiled. "Well, you stick with me, you'll be all right."
A little bit behind the others, the Doctor and Solomon were deep in conversation.
"So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?"
"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
"How'd he manage that then?"
"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round."
Suddenly, the Doctor exclaimed aloud, and the others turned to look at him. All three of them had managed to walk past the luminous green blob on the floor, and they turned to get a closer look at it.
Martha's nose wrinkled. "Is it radioactive or something? It's gone off, whatever it is." Her stomach turned further when the Doctor scraped it off the floor and held it up. "And you've got to pick it up."
"Shine your torch through it. Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"
"It's not human. I know that."
"No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mr Diagoras send us down here?"
"Where are we now? What's above us?"
"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan."
Romana was still in the cupboard. For any human, the extended period of motionlessness would have caused joints to seize, muscles to cramp and the mind to go absolutely round the twist. But for a Time Lord, this was almost second nature. Long periods of quiet study had been the norm at the Academy - not that she'd ever really liked them. Diagoras' new team of builders were being talked through the new plans, and she listened carefully. Whatever was being discussed now were orders that came straight from the Daleks. And that meant they were monumentally important.
"And here, the crowning glory of the Empire State Building, the mast itself. One thousand four hundred and seventy two feet above New York."
The new foreman nodded. "It's a beautiful thing, sir, and every single one of us is proud of it. My wife says it's like a, like a spire reaching into Heaven."
"Except the Gates of Heaven need a little decoration. These plates have got to be fixed to the mast, right to the base itself."
The plates in question were heavy and bronze, dotted with slightly lighter metal domes. Unmistakably, part of the casing of a Dalek.
"That's okay. It's not too bad. Shouldn't take too long."
"But the work has got to be finished tonight."
This was, naturally, met with protests.
"What, are you trying to kill us? We're flat out up here! Come on."
"Don't argue with me!"
"But sir, men can't work up there at night. It's freezing. Your hands go numb. You lose your grip, you fall."
"You don't get it. If you won't work I can replace you like that! Now take those panels and get going."
Each man looking apprehensive, they moved to take a panel before filing back up to the roof to continue the work. One worker opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Diagoras shut him down straight away.
"Don't ask questions, just go. And I don't care how cold it is, how tired you are. Just get out there and finish the job!"
A soft ping, and a Dalek slid from the lift once again.
"The conductor must be complete for our plan to succeed."
"Unemployment is such an incentive. It'll get done, don't worry."
"Daleks have no concept of worry."
He scoffed. "Yeah? Well, lucky you."
"This day is ending. Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark. And yet, you have built all this."
"That's progress. You got to move with the times or you get left behind."
"My planet is gone, destroyed in a great war, yet versions of this city stand throughout history. The human race always continues."
"We've had wars. I've been a soldier myself, and I swore then I'd survive, no matter what."
"You have rare ambition."
"I want to run this city, whatever it takes, by any means necessary."
"You think like a Dalek."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
In her dim little alcove, Romana groaned internally. This human was playing right into the Daleks' hands - or rather, suckers - with every single conversation. It was clear that he hadn't realised that he would get treated exactly the same way as all those people he'd sent to them had been the second they didn't think he was useful to them.
There was a pause before the Dalek spoke again.
"Your loyalty will be rewarded. Come with me."
The two of them got into the lift, and she listened for a moment as it descended before slipping back through her network. She assumed they were going straight down to the sewers, and clambered down the maintenance shaft as quickly as she could. There were a few moments where her feet slipped a little in the holds that she'd so carefully created, making her hearts jump in a thrill. Slow down, she thought, and listen. There's an echo up here.
She could just about make out what was going on as she descended.
"I bring you the human."
Diagoras sounded a little nervous, but awestruck. "I take it you're in charge?"
"Correct. I am Dalek Sec, leader of the Cult of Skaro."
"Then, my Lord Sec, I am honoured to meet you. Ever since you first made contact with me, transmitting your thoughts into the corners of my mind, tempting me with such images, such ideas. Oh, sir, I'd always dreamt that the-"
"Cease talking."
"I just want to let you know how grateful I am-"
"I said cease. Slaves, secure the human."
There were faint sounds of a scuffle. "But you don't need to do that. I'm on your side. I'm working with you. I'm your partner. I'm your friend."
By now, she was only ten or fifteen levels away from them, and quickly getting closer. She hoped that, even if she couldn't rescue the man (which was looking like an increasingly difficult feat by the second) she could see what the Daleks had been planning.
"We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing."
Solomon was entirely right. None of them were really sure how far they'd walked by now, but there certainly didn't seem to be anything that needed fixing down here. Just an oppressive atmosphere that something was very, very wrong. Martha could feel the hairs on the back of her neck prickling.
"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?"
The Doctor nodded. "Looks like it."
Frank, now looking rather jittery, kept looking over his shoulder.
"So why'd he want people to come down here?"
"Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back. I'll be much quicker on my own."
An inhuman squeal cut them off, echoing around the wet stone walls.
"Hello?"
Solomon grabbed his arm. "Frank."
"What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared and half-mad down here on your own."
The Doctor eyed the boy. "Do you think they're still alive?"
"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost."
Further squeals sounded, and Solomon felt his muscles twitch, the urge to run setting in.
"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that."
"Where's it coming from? Sounds like there's more than one of them."
The four of them turned this way and that, looking down each corridor in the vague flashes that their moving torches allowed.
"This way."
"No, that way."
"I'm sure it's from here."
But it was Martha who landed in the fight place. "Doctor?"
They all turned their torches, throwing light on the hunched figure down the corridor. It was wearing a dusty brown boiler suit, and sat with it's head in it's hand. From here, it looked just like another person. Frank made the first move.
"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down here."
The Doctor shook his head. "It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look. He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight." As he spoke, he had been slowly making his way towards them. And now, he knelt by their side. "If you come with us…"
He trailed off at the sight of the face - because it was clearly that of a pig.
"Oh, but what are you?"
Hanging back in the corridor, Solomon couldn't keep the shake out of his voice.
"Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?"
"No, it's real. I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?"
Seeing movement over his shoulder, Martha tried to get his attention.
"Doctor? I think you'd better get back here." He didn't shift, and she tried again. "Doctor!"
Finally noticing the company, he got to his feet. "Actually, good point."
"They're following you."
"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon."
"What?"
"Er, basically… run!"
And so they did. None of them really knew where they were trying to go, just that they were trying to get as far away from the oncoming horde of pigmen as possible.
"Where are we going?!"
"This way!"
Spotting something promising at a junction, the Doctor made a sharp right turn.
"It's a ladder! Come on!"
He climbed up first, opening the manhole cover with the sonic and slipping through so he could help the others. As Solomon helped Martha steady herself, Frank grabbed an iron T bar and took up a defensive position at the end of the short corridor. Now with his own feet on the ladder, Solomon looked over his shoulder.
"Frank! Frank!"
A couple of the pigmen had spotted their attempt to escape, and were now closing in.
"C'mon, Frank! C'mon!"
Realising that he was never going to win against the horde, he tried to get to the ladder - but he had barely got his hands on the rungs before he was grabbed from behind. The Doctor and Solomon were hanging through the hole, trying to grab his arms.
"I've got you. C'mon! Come on!"
"Frank!"
But the pigmen were already pulling him back through the corridor, and Solomon had no choice but to slam the lid shut as a few of them tried to climb the ladder.
"We can't go after him."
The Doctor struggled against the other man's grip. "We've got to go back down. We can't just leave him."
"No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."
Shaking, a hand covering her mouth as she tried to hold back tears, Martha was the first to notice that they had company. The woman was bright blonde and very pretty, but the revolver in her hand was the first thing that caught everyone's eye.
"All right, then. Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business. Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"
"Who's Laszlo?"
The girl led them through to her dressing room, still directing the gun at them even as she flopped down at her dressing table.
"Laszlo's my boyfriend. Or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"
Wincing every time she waved the weapon about, the Doctor held out a hand.
"Yeah. It might, might just help if you put that down."
"Huh? Oh, sure." She tossed it onto a fluffy pouffe stool, and giggled as the others flinched back a little. "Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."
Relaxing a little, Martha leant against the dress rail. "What do you think happened to Lazlo?"
"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished."
The Doctor nodded.
"Listen, ah - what's your name?"
"Tallulah."
"Tallulah."
"Three Ls and an H."
"Right. We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."
Solomon looked grave, staring at a point on the floor. "And there are creatures. Such creatures."
Tallulah looked between them, eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, creatures?"
Fishing in his pocket, the Doctor revealed the blob he'd snatched from the sewers.
"Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is. Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
She pulled a face. "Yuck."
Leaving the girls to talk as Tallulah got ready to perform, the Doctor had tucked himself away in one of the props rooms to start constructing some equipment. Solomon had wandered off to look for anything useful, and now returned with a little radio in his hands.
"How about this? I found it backstage."
"Perfect. It's the capacitors I need. I'm just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie. If I can get a chromosomal reading, I can find out where it's from."
"How about you, Doctor? Where are you from? I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?"
"Oh, I'm just sort of passing by."
A hint of steel appeared in his voice. "I'm not a fool, Doctor."
"No. Sorry."
He glanced back to the manhole. "I was so scared, Doctor. I let them take Frank because I was just so scared. I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us."
He nodded, looking up from his work. "Good luck."
"I hope you find what you're looking for, for all our sakes."
While Tallulah corrected her makeup, she chattered away like she and Martha had known each other for years.
"Laszlo. He'd wait for me after the show. Walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rose bud."
"Haven't you reported him missing?"
"Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't."
"Can't you kick up a fuss or something?"
"Okay, so then they fire me."
"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, honey, I got one song in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle. Which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says! I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville."
"Okay, I get it."
"It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going, hoping he's going to come back."
Her voice started to crack, and Martha put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, you're lucky, though. You got yourself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit."
Her eyes widened. "Er, he's not… we're not together."
"Oh, sure you are. I've seen the way you look at him. It's obvious."
"Not to him."
"Oh, I should have realised. He's into musical theatre, huh? What a waste." Ignoring the baffled look on the other girl's face, she moved to toy with something tucked into the top of her makeup box. "Still, you got to live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going because, well, look. On my dressing table every day still."
It was a single white rose bud.
"You think it's Laszlo?"
"I don't know. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?"
Tucking herself behind two large machine banks, twisting to fit in the space and still be able to see through the gap, Romana listened closely to what was being said. One of the Daleks was blocking her view of most of the scene, so she'd have to rely on every sense.
"The chromatin solution is ready."
Dalek Sec was just out of view. "Then our preparations are complete."
Mr Diagoras, still restrained, sounded panicked. "What are you doing? Preparations for what?"
"This is the Final Experiment."
"What do you mean? Do you mean like this pig men things? You're not going to turn me into one of those. Oh God, please don't!"
"The pig slaves are primitive. The Final Experiment is greater by far."
"But how does that involve me?"
"We need your flesh. Bring him to me!"
The Dalek in front of her hiding spot rolled forwards, allowing her to see a little more. "Halt! This action contradicts the Dalek Imperative. Daleks are supreme. Humans are weak."
"But there are millions of humans and only four of us. If we are supreme, why are we not victorious? The Cult of Skaro was created by the Emperor for this very purpose. To imagine new ways of survival."
"But we must remain pure."
"No, Dalek Thay. Our purity has brought us to extinction. We must adapt to survive. You have all made sacrifices. And now I will sacrifice myself for the greater cause, the future of Dalek kind. Now bring me the human."
Romana watched as the man was dragged forwards, a pit forming in her stomach as she realised this was what they had been working towards. In the three months she had been hiding from them, it had been incredibly hard to figure out what they were planning without looking at their computers - and there had been at least one Dalek in the lab at all times, making that impossible.
"I don't understand. What do you mean? Get off of me!"
"Behold the true Dalek form."
There was a mechanical hiss as the casing opens, revealing the octopod-like organism inside.
"Now you join with me."
"No! Get off me! I did everything you asked of me! No!"
But the man was lassoed by Dalek Sec's tentacles, and disappeared within the casing in seconds. The casing closed, leaving everything looking exactly as it had done before. And nobody could see what was brewing inside.
Backstage at the theatre, it was a flurry of feathers and sequins as they got ready to hit the stage.
"Girls, it's showtime!"
"Lois, you spoil my chasse tonight, I'm going to punch you."
"Aw, quit complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses."
Tallulah grabbed Martha's hand. "Come on, honey. Take a look. Ever been on stage before?"
She shrugged. "Oh, a little bit. You know, Shakespeare."
"How dull is that?! Come and see a real show."
Up in the lighting gallery, the mood was far more subdued. The Doctor poked about with the glob, focusing a spotlight on it and jabbing a few pins into it so his gadget could (hopefully) get a good reading.
"That's it. We need to heat you up."
He plugged the sonic screwdriver into the back of the device and put his glasses on to read the data as it appeared.
"This is artificial. Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever."
After a few moments, the flow of data slowed, and he pulled a stethoscope from one of his many pockets - not that he knew how it had got there in the first place - to listen to the sounds ticking from the squidgy mess on the floor.
"Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine. Nine eight nine. Hold on, that means planet of origin…" He trailed off, hearts in his mouth. No. It couldn't be. After everything that happened, it couldn't be them. So he ran through his mental record of planetary codes again, hoping he'd made a mistake the first time around. But he hadn't.
"Skaro."
Tucked into the wings, Martha watched was the routine was announced.
"And this evening at The Laurenzi, our Dancing Devils, with Heaven and Hell!"
The curtains swung back, revealing the chorus line in their glimmering red dresses and tails, swinging back the feather fans to reveal Tallulah, shining bright under the spotlights.
"You lured me in with your cold grey eyes,
your simple smile, your bewitching lies. One and one and one is three.
My bad, bad angel, the Devil and me.
You put the devil in me.
You put the devil in me.
You put the devil in me.
My bad, bad angel, you put the Devil in me."
As she swayed side to side with the beat of the music, Martha caught the eye of a figure standing in the opposite wing. It most certainly wasn't human. Or at least, not entirely. It looked similar to the pigmen they had encountered in the sewers, but the face wasn't quite the same. It hadn't moved yet, and she tried to sneak across the back of the stage, desperate to try and have a conversation with them. Unfortunately, she had timed this movement terribly, and half of the chorus line had moved to the back, bumping into her.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey!"
Two of the dancers fell to the floor.
"You're on my tail. Get off my tail!"
The audience had started to laugh at the chaos, and Tallulah turned, hissing at Martha.
"Get off the stage. You're spoiling it!"
"But look. Over there!" She pointed at the not-quite-pigman, and Tallulah screamed. It ran off, and she scrambled to her feet, disappearing after it backstage.
"Hey! Wait!"
The other girls had swiftly ended the number and retreated, huddling backstage with concerned faces.
"It was like something out of a movie show."
"Oh, that face. I ain't never going to sleep."
Having raced down the stairs at the sound of the commotion, the Doctor burst in on the group.
"Where is she? Where's Martha?"
Tallulah shrugged. "I don't know. She ran off the stage."
A dreadfully familiar scream echoed down the corridor from the props rooms, and the Doctor set off at light speed.
"Martha!"
But by the time he got there, she was gone - and it was pretty obvious where she had gone. The cover to the sewer entrance hadn't been replaced. Grabbing his coat from the rail he'd thrown it over earlier, he made for the ladder.
"Where are you going?" Tallulah stared at him incredulously.
"They've taken her."
"Who's taken her? What're you doing? I said, what the hell are you doing?"
As he disappeared into the dark, she huffed and grabbed the nearest jacket that looked like it would fit.
"Crazy guy."
Her feet hit the floor, and he rounded on her.
"No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming."
"Tell me what's going on."
"There's nothing you can do. Go back."
She crossed her arms, looking up at him. "Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?"
"Tallulah, you're not safe down here."
"Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?"
She set off to the right, and he left it a moment before saying,
"This way."
And the two set off down the left hand tunnel.
Struggling against the firm grip of the pigman, Martha was vaguely aware of the line of people she was being led towards.
"No! Let me go!"
She was shoved against a wall, and a familiar voice gave her a speck of hope.
"Martha."
"Frank! You're alive! Oh! I thought we'd lost you"
One of the pigmen grabbed them by the shoulders, pushing them in the direction of the movement of the line.
"All right, all right, we're moving."
"Where are they taking us?"
Another voice - an English voice, Martha noticed - answered his question.
"There's a holding space where they sort people into categories. You might be there a while, depending on what's going on in the labs."
She turned to look at the person who had responded. The woman was slightly taller than her, and looked to be in her late twenties with ginger hair tied in a bun at the nape of her neck. She wore faded trousers and a dust coloured shirt, but didn't look anywhere near as grimy or hungry as the other prisoners, many of whom Martha assumed had come from Hooverville.
"How do you know?"
"I've been down here a while."
Frank stared at her, an odd look on his face. "Wait a second, don't I know you?"
The woman looked up at him for a moment before her face lit up in recognition.
"Yes, of course! You helped me find my way when I first arrived here."
Martha couldn't help but feel like this wasn't the time or place for a happy reunion.
"What do you mean, you've been down here a while? Surely they go through people pretty fast?"
She shrugged. "They don't know I'm here."
"But how?"
"I'm very good at hiding."
The group of prisoners begun to move again, and she groaned.
"Look, I wish I could get you both out of here, but I have to go back to the labs, try and stop what's happening. I don't think I can do both."
Martha shook her head. "Don't worry. We've got a friend, he'll find us. I'm sure of it."
She raised an eyebrow. "Does he know what's down here?"
"I don't think so."
"Then listen to me, and you might stay alive until he works it out. Stay calm when they come to assess you."
"Assess?"
"Just listen! People who fight back are the ones that get hurt first. Do what they say, stay calm, and keep an eye out for hiding points. You won't get back out of these sewers without a guide, so a discreet escape and hiding is your best chance."
As they crossed a junction, she ducked out of the line and slipped into the shadows - they could just about see her silhouette in the gloom.
"If I can get you out, I will."
And then she was gone.
Martha turned to Frank, baffled.
"Who was that?"
"No idea."
"You said you'd met her before."
"Yeah, but- only once. I don't even know her name. She's just… a Stranger."
Tallulah was just starting to grasp the seriousness of the situation, and couldn't stop the flow of questions.
"When you say, they've taken her, who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked."
"Shush."
"Okay, okay."
But he wasn't really listening to what she was saying - the shape on the wall ahead of them had frozen his hearts.
"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush."
"I mean you're handsome and all-"
He clamped a hand over her mouth, dragging her back into the nearest alcove. The two of them watched as the Dalek wheeled smoothly past them, disappearing down the tunnels with barely a hint of a sound.
He stepped back out, and Tallulah could see the grief in his eyes. He suddenly looked very old.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They survived. They always survive while I lose everything."
"That metal thing? What was it?"
"It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive."
"You're kidding me."
"Does it look like I'm kidding?" He snapped, before taking a breath to calm himself. She didn't deserve that. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."
"But if it's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space." When she got no response, she sighed. "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?"
"I don't know. But every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now."
They turned, only to come face to face with one of the pigmen. Tallulah screamed, and it turned away.
"Where's Martha? What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?"
He didn't expect a vocal response, but got one.
"I didn't take her."
"Can you remember your name?"
"Don't look at me."
Getting a little braver, Tallulah stepped forwards. "Do you know where she is?"
His reaction was immediate. "Stay back! Don't look at me."
The Doctor moved to stand in front of him, looking at the half human face that stared back. The nose was clearly porcine, but his eyes were clear.
"What happened to you?"
"They made me a monster."
"Who did?"
"The masters."
"The Daleks. Why?"
"They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."
"Do you know what happened to Martha?"
"They took her. It's my fault. She was following me."
Behind him, Tallulah's eyes widened. "Were you in the theatre?"
"I never… Yes."
"Why? Why were you there?"
"I never wanted you to see me like this."
"Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"
He turned to look at her, tears brimming in his eyes and wetting the flattened bridge of his nose.
"Yes."
"Who are you?"
"I was lonely."
"Who are you?"
"I needed to see you."
"Who are you?"
Her voice was cracking, and he looked down, ashamed to be the cause of so much pain. "I'm sorry."
"No, wait. Let me look at you. Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?"
"I'm sorry. So sorry."
Glad to see the reunion, but very aware that there were serious matters to deal with, the Doctor cut in. "Laszlo, can you show me where they are?"
"They'll kill you."
"If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone."
Laszlo hated that he was right. "Then follow me."
The prisoners had been held in the same section of the tunnel for almost ten minutes now, and Frank was getting jittery again.
"What are they keeping us here for?"
Martha wrapped her arms around her waist. "I don't know. I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder."
A little further down, the pigmen were clustered, shifting about anxiously.
"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?"
And then a harsh, grating, robotic voice cut through the chilling air.
"Silence. Silence."
Martha felt all the breath leave her body. "What the hell is that?"
A bronze creature with a singular eyestalk and two weapon like arms slid towards them.
"You will form a line. Move. Move."
Remembering what the Stranger had told them before, Martha called out to the rest of the panicking prisoners. "Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey."
"The female is wise. Obey."
A second one appeared. "Report."
"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause."
"What is the status of the Final Experiment?"
"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete."
"Then I will extract prisoners for selection. Intelligence scan, initiate."
The Dalek put it's sucker up to the man's face, scanning.
"Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."
Unsurprisingly, the man didn't appreciate that. "You calling me stupid?"
"Silence! This one will become a pig slave. Next."
"No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them. No! No."
But he was dragged away by the pig slaves.
"Intelligence scan. Initiate."
In the next tunnel, just out of sight of the Daleks, the Doctor, Laszlo and Tallulah watched on. Laszlo shuddered a little at the memory of his own experience.
"They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."
Tallulah looked affronted. "Well, that's not fair." The Doctor shushed her, and she continued in a whisper. "You're the smartest guy I ever dated."
The Docotr ignored her. "And the others?"
"They're taken to the laboratory."
"Why? What for?"
"I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment."
The Dalek had finished it's scan of Frank, and was now moving onto Martha.
"Superior intelligence. Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment."
Forgetting the advice to remain calm, she lunged forwards, only stopped from hitting the Dalek by Frank's hands on her elbows. "You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!"
"We are not human. Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."
Following a hushed argument once the line had started moving, Tallulah agreed to go back and the Doctor and Laszlo joined the prisoners. The Doctor slipped in between Martha and Frank, tapping the former on the shoulder so she knew he was there.
"Just keep walking."
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you."
"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want."
The pig slaves led them into a large lab space - clearly the Daleks' centre of operations. The aliens in question didn't seem to care that a group of prisoners had been brought to them for the moment; three of them were concentrating on the shaking fourth figure.
"Report."
"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution."
"Scan him. Prepare for birth."
The Doctor really didn't like the sound of that. "Evolution? Birth?"
Martha watched the black Dalek as steam poured from between it's grills.
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?"
"Ask them."
"What, me? Don't be daft."
"I don't exactly want to get noticed, do I? Ask them what's going on."
Seeing his point, she took a step forward from the group and cleared her throat.
"Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!"
The one to the far left turned to look at her. "You will bear witness."
"To what?"
"This is the dawn of a new age."
"What does that mean?"
Crawling back into the gap behind the machines, Romana watched - albeit with difficulty past the cluster of people - as the Final Experiment entered a dramatic new stage.
"We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again."
As they watched, the blue light faded from the black Dalek's eye stalk. There was a moment of still silence, then the casing opened with a crack. A bipedal creature in a striped suit struggled out, standing hunched for a moment before straightening up.
"What is it?" Martha breathed, faintly aware of the Doctor shifting to put himself between her and the thing.
It had one central eye, set beneath a half-exposed pinkish brain within oily brown skin. Twitching tentacles framed it's jawline. It wore the pinstriped suit that, she realised, matched the one Mr Diagoras had been wearing when they had first met. Taking a few deep breaths, getting used to having a voicebox for the very first time, it spoke - in Mr Diagoras' strong New York accent.
"I am… a human Dalek. I am… your future."
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