Chapter 6: Where Time Lords Fear to Tread
K-19, In the North Atlantic Southeast of Greenland near a NATO post on Jan Mayen Island, 4 July 1961 04:10 hours
Executive Officer Vasili Arkhipov lay asleep in his bunk when the strange thrumming, groaning sound started up again. Years of navy service had taught him to be sensitive to any unusual sounds, because anything unusual generally meant trouble. He snapped awake in time to hear the sound fade away. Vasili quickly dressed and stepped out into the corridor.
Standing at the end of the compartment were the three so-called KGB agents who were so talented at disappearing without a trace: Colonel Doctor, Amelia Pondkina, and Roryski Pondkin.
Vasili paused to knock on the captain's door, then walked on to confront the three.
"That's quite the vanishing act you three pulled." He looked around briefly. "I assume you have something to do with this cabin?"
Vasili pointed straight at the TARDIS. "A cabin that isn't in the plans for this boat?"
The Doctor was surprised, but tried to cover. "Now now, you know as well as I do not everything is put in plans and maps. There are entire military bases that don't officially exist and never appear in maps."
"Yes, that is so," Vasili replied coolly. "But you seem to have taken it a step further with a cabin that appears and disappears!"
The Doctor was intrigued. How could this man be so certain? "What makes you believe a cabin can appear and disappear?" he asked.
"This cabin," Vasili declared in a tone that brooked no argument, "was not here an hour ago. After the last strange noise, I marked the end of the cabins."
He pointed down. "Now look at my mark."
A chalk arrow on the deck pointed between the last cabin and the TARDIS.
"Humans!" the Doctor exclaimed. He spun on his heel to face Amy and Rory.
"In your terms, the TARDIS has 'stealth' technologies capable of deceiving detection systems thousands of years more advanced than anything on Earth today… and it's defeated by a piece of chalk!"
A big smile broke out on the Doctor's face. "I love human ingenuity! There's nothing else like it in the universe."
Captain Zateyev stepped out of his cabin, half awake, and walked up behind Vasili. As he was about to speak, the alarm klaxon interrupted his thoughts.
A voice called over the intercom. "This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill. We have a reactor alarm!"
Zateyev ran to the closest intercom. "This is the Captain. Report!"
"The starboard reactor pumps have failed. Coolant pressure is at zero and the core temperature is rising rapidly!"
"Scram the reactors! Both of them!" Captain Zateyev commanded.
"Scramming port and starboard reactors! But Comrade Captain, the scram rods alone will not be enough. It takes both the rods and coolant to stop the reactor!"
"Captain!" called the Doctor. "I have some experience with nuclear reactors. I can be of assistance, if you will allow it. We're all in this together."
Captain Zateyev stared at the Doctor for a moment.
"Go!" he said, pointing down the corridor.
"You two stay here!" the Doctor called to Amy and Rory. He turned and ran aft for the reactor compartment.
Amy and Rory looked at each other. "What happened to not interfering with fixed points in time?" Amy whispered. "Shouldn't you go after him?"
"Sorry, Amy," Rory whispered back. "Let the Doctor do his thing."
"Then I'll go!" Amy whispered urgently, and tried to push her way past Rory.
Rory easily blocked her in the narrow corridor. "No, the Doctor told us to stay here!" he said loud enough for the captain and executive officer to hear.
Amy's eyes smoldered as she glared at Rory. "Rory, get out of my way before I do something we'll both regret," she growled.
The captain turned away from their drama and back to the intercom. "I am aware," he replied. "But it's better than nothing. I am sending the Comrade Doctor to assist you."
The lights dimmed in K-19 as the emergency lighting system switched on.
Zateyev eyed Amy and Rory suspiciously. "You two will accompany us to the bridge. I want you where I can see you. No more hide and seek games."
To emphasize his order, two crew members appeared in the aft hatch, blocking the way to the reactor compartment. One of them held a very large pipe wrench.
Amy sighed, her anger abruptly vanishing as she gave in. "Fine," she said, clearly unhappy. "I just wanted to talk to him."
As a group, they proceeded forward to the bridge.
In the reactor compartment, Lieutenant Boris Korchilov stood looking at the intercom with a puzzled expression. The captain was sending the medical officer?
His thoughts were interrupted.
"Comrade Lieutenant," the reactor technician called, a tone of fear distinct in his voice. "The core temperature is already past three hundred seventy degrees!"
Lieutenant Boris Korchilov waved dismissively. "You have misread the instruments," he said as he stepped over. "The temperature simply cannot climb that fast."
The technician pointed at the panel. "I wish that were so. See for yourself."
Korchilov felt the hairs rise on the nape of his neck as he scanned the instrumentation. He reached out and tapped the temperature gauge. The needle jumped to three hundred ninety-five degrees. "That can't be happening! That's–"
"Impossible?" said a voice behind him.
Korchilov turned around, startled. "You're that Colonel with the KGB, aren't you?" he said, as the captain's last comment suddenly made sense.
The Doctor smiled. "Yes, but call me the Doctor. As it happens, I am a reactor expert. I'm here to help."
He walked over to the instrument panel and began scanning with his sonic screwdriver.
"Now then, the symptoms are the core in the starboard reactor is heating up faster than it has any right to, is that about it?"
"Yes Doctor, that's it exactly!" exclaimed Korchilov. "It just doesn't make any sense! It can't be happening, and yet it is!"
The Doctor stopped scanning and looked at his sonic screwdriver. He glanced up at Korchilov.
"Quite so. Under ordinary conditions, you should easily have hours, not mere minutes before the core reaches eight hundred degrees; more than enough time to complete emergency repairs."
The Doctor pointed to the sealed hatch into the reactor chamber. "I shall need to examine things directly. If you would be so kind as to open that?"
"That hatch is meant to stay sealed while we are at sea, Doctor," said Korchilov. "It should only be opened in an extreme emergency."
"Which is exactly what we have on our hands!" replied the Doctor. "Look at the core temperature."
Korchilov glanced back to the gauge. The needle swept past four hundred twenty-five degrees.
"I am only asking as a courtesy," said the Doctor evenly. "If necessary, I will open it myself."
Korchilov wasn't keen to trust someone he knew nothing about, but the captain did send the man here, and he found the Doctor's self-confidence reassuring. Besides, he grudgingly realized – thanks to the reactor's strange behavior, he was out of his depth. He had nothing to lose.
Korchilov nodded. "Alright, I'll unseal the hatch."
He walked over and took out a key. He paused, a serious expression on his face.
"You should not spend more than ten minutes in there. That's the protocol, whether there's radiation present or not."
"That should be time enough," replied the Doctor.
Korchilov unlocked the hatch and stood by.
"Ready?" he said, holding up his stopwatch.
The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver in turn. "Ready!" he replied.
Korchilov pulled open the chamber hatch, quickly slammed it shut behind the Doctor and started timing. As he watched the Doctor through the portal, Korchilov could see him leaning over something out of view. Korchilov couldn't imagine what the Doctor was doing; that area of the chamber was little more than sealed pipes.
The technician breathed a sigh of relief.
"Comrade Lieutenant! The temperature has stabilized," he called out.
Korchilov went over to the panel. The technician pointed to one of the gauges.
"Look! We're getting coolant pressure again."
The pressure gauge jumped, faltered, stabilized at thirty percent of normal, then began a slow rise.
Korchilov felt a weight off his shoulders. "Good… good. The temperature is starting to drop." He grinned. "It's four-thirty-eight and falling rapidly."
A muffled banging echoed from the hatch. Korchilov opened it for the Doctor. He closed it once more and stopped his watch.
"Five minutes thirty-two seconds, Doctor. Good job!"
"Not as good as I'd like," replied the Doctor. He had taken off his jacket and had something wrapped in it.
"I could only manage a temporary fix. It won't hold for long, and when it fails again, that will be that. You do have time to affect repairs now. Best get started."
Korchilov noticed something curved and silvery peeking out from the Doctor's jacket.
"What is that? I don't recall any piece of equipment like it."
"Correct! It doesn't belong in there. I must to show this to the captain."
The Doctor headed forward towards the bridge.
Lieutenant Korchilov watched him go for a moment, then turned to his technician.
"Pull the plans. We must find a way to divert fresh water to the cooling system before it fails again."
Once the Doctor was out of view of the crew, he stopped and carefully unwrapped the object. He scanned it with his sonic screwdriver, and checked the readout.
He sighed. "I was afraid of that."
He re-wrapped the object and continued on to the bridge.
"Raise the radio mast and three sweeps on the radar. Let's see what's around us," ordered Captain Zateyev.
"Comrade Captain, we have a contact bearing one-zero-seven. Likely a destroyer – probably American."
"I wonder if they've seen us," said Vasili Arkhipov.
"Quite probably," said the Doctor as he entered the bridge. "But they are not important. This," he said as he held up his jacket, "is far more important."
"What have you got there?" asked Captain Zateyev.
The Doctor pulled the object out of his jacket and held it up. It was a silvery disk about the size of a dinner plate.
"This is the source of your problem, Captain. I am sorry to say your boat has been sabotaged!"
A collective gasp could be heard from the crew.
"The Americans! It must be!" exclaimed the political officer.
The Doctor gave him a disdainful look. "No, the Americans had nothing to do with this. In fact, no one on Earth had anything to do with this, because this…."
The Doctor waved the disk in the air. "…This is not from Earth!"
Captain Zateyev and Vasili Arkhipov looked at each other and back at the Doctor.
"That's quite an extraordinary claim, Doctor," Vasili Arkhipov said in a carefully even tone.
He wasn't sure if the Doctor was quite right in the head. "Do you have any proof besides an unusual discus an athlete might throw in a sporting event?"
"Oh yes!" exclaimed the Doctor. "I'm getting to that. Amy? Rory? Does this look familiar to either of you?"
Amy flatly crossed her arms. "No!" she said in a huff.
Rory frowned as he looked at the disk. "You know Amy, that does have a familiar look to it. It's almost like a miniature…."
Rory paled as realization struck him. A chill ran down his spine. "No! It can't be! Amy, don't you see?"
Amy looked at both the Doctor and Rory in utter disbelief. "What are you two on about? It's just a bloody disk!"
Rory pointed at the disk. "That," he said in a slightly quaking voice, "is Dalek technology!"
The Doctor pointed to Rory. "Top of the class! Yes, this is of Dalek origin."
"Oh come on!" said Amy with a dismissive wave. "How could a piece of Dalek technology be here? That's ridiculous!"
"It was planted of course," declared the Doctor as he tossed the disk onto the plot table, "by a Dalek sleeper agent."
The Doctor paused as he put on his jacket, closely watching Amy the entire time, his expression unreadable. Amy locked narrowed eyes with him in a silent staring contest. Rory was in shock. The crew looked at each other uneasily as the tension grew.
The Doctor straightened his bow tie and stood quietly.
"The thing about sleeper agents," he finally said, "is that they don't know they are sleeper agents. Amy? Step away from Rory, would you please?"
Amy did as asked, her face absolutely rigid. "Doctor? How could Rory be a sleeper agent? He can't be! Not my Rory!" she pleaded.
Her eyes shone brightly as tears began to form.
"Quite right," the Doctor gently replied. "Rory is not the sleeper agent."
"What?" said Amy, confused. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "If it's not Rory, then who?"
"Interesting," said the Doctor as his face hardened. "Even now, when the answer is blazingly obvious, it doesn't let you see the truth. It's you, Amy."
Amy looked at the Doctor and Rory in shock, jaw dropped, hands on hips.
"You think I'm a sleeper agent? I can't believe you! Rory! You know me better than that!"
The Doctor's face began to show his great sadness.
"I'm sorry, Rory. I am so, so sorry. When we were captured by the Parliament of Daleks and sent down to the asylum planet, Amy was exposed to the Dalek nanocloud when she lost her protection bracelet. She was infected and already showing symptoms when I put my own bracelet on her. When her symptoms disappeared, I assumed the bracelet undid the damage. I was wrong. The bracelet simply put the nanites on hold, masking her symptoms. Once the bracelet came off, it was only a matter of time until the dormant nanites reactivated.
"Captain Zateyev, I wouldn't be too hard on Lieutenant Korchilov," the Doctor continued. He pointed to Amy. "I'm sure she did something to the lieutenant – a chemical inducement perhaps – making him open to suggestion. Sleeper agents are good at their job."
The Doctor took a step towards Amy, holding her attention. "The first time we were here, you were the only one of us to visit the reactor, and then there's this."
The Doctor held up a small piece of white cloth. "This is the missing piece of your glove, Amy. I found it inside the sealed reactor chamber."
He laid the piece down on top of the Dalek disk.
Amy's eyes took on a glazed, far-away look. She jerkily turned towards the crew who had been watching the exchange in utter silence.
There was a flash of blue light.
Most of the crew collapsed at their stations. Amy turned back, a glowing blue Dalek eyestalk visibly sticking out of her forehead.
"That was a warning," she said to those still standing, which included the political officer, Captain Zateyev, Vasili Arkhipov, Rory, and the Doctor.
"This vessel is too primitive to operate effectively without a large crew. Therefore I have only stunned them. The next time, I will exterminate."
"Amy!" said Rory in desperation. "I know some part of you has to be in there. You have to fight it Amy! Fight it!"
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry Rory. She's not Amy any more. She's a Dalek, and probably has been for some time."
Dalek-Amy looked at Rory, her face devoid of warmth or affection. "I became fully activated shortly after returning from that crude settlement called Mercy."
She looked around the bridge of the submarine.
"The Parliament of Daleks may have forgotten you, Doctor, but we have not forgotten… humans!"
That last word was said with a distinct tone of disgust.
"All right! I've heard enough!" yelled Igor Boyakov, the political officer. "Comrade Captain, this is all complete and utter nonsense. That woman committed an act of sabotage! If you will not take action, then I will do so on my own authority, and you can be sure I will name you in my report as having neglected your duty!"
He pointed at Dalek-Amy. "You are under arrest! I want this woman in irons now!"
Dalek-Amy raised her arm. A weapon stalk extruded from the palm of her hand. The political officer was engulfed in a flash of light so bright it caused his skeleton to become briefly visible. He fell dead on the spot.
"Humans have been the bane of the Daleks for centuries," Dalek-Amy continued as if nothing had happened.
"Time and again, humans have spoiled plans for conquest throughout this galaxy and beyond. You can imagine my delight when, upon activation, I found myself to be in the distant past; a time when the entire human race was confined to a single planet, and moreover, divided into hostile factions!"
She smiled at the Doctor. "It's glorious! Humans of this era would make excellent Daleks."
The Doctor's face darkened in anger. "Don't you dare compare humans to your own kind!" he spat out.
"Why not?" Dalek-Amy said. "They are armed to the teeth with enough weapons to destroy themselves twenty times over. There can be no greater compliment than to compare them to us!"
Rory struggled to maintain control. Tears streaked his face.
"Amy, please! You have to fight this! Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?"
She looked at Rory, head tilted as if curious.
"Of course I know who you are," replied Dalek-Amy. "I made a complete copy of this unit's memories before destroying its higher-order brain functions."
Rory collapsed back. "Oh God! Oh God!"
She looked back at the Doctor. "With these memories, I have identified you as the prime enemy of the Daleks. My original plan had been to bide my time and plant time capsule messages informing Parliament about the danger you represent, but then..." She waved her hands. "You presented me with an opportunity."
"By 'opportunity,' I assume you mean this fixed point in time?" the Doctor said archly. He had noticed Vasili hand signaling to another crewmember, and wanted to keep Dalek-Amy's attention focused on himself.
"A gold star for the bright lad!" Dalek-Amy said, sounding momentarily like her old self.
She glanced over at Rory, then turned her attention back to the Doctor.
"Do you know why the Doctor calls this a fixed point in time, Rory? It's not 'fixed' because change is impossible; it's fixed because the Time Lords were afraid of them. A more accurate term would be an inflection point, where the tiniest alteration can be magnified into a vast change in outcome."
Her voice changed to a gravelly Dalek-staccato. "It is the ultimate power. Ul-ti-mate! Ul-ti-mate!"
She gave the Doctor a pitying gaze. "Look where Time Lords fear to tread, Doctor, and you will find Daleks."
At that moment, the Chief Starshina appeared in the doorway of the bridge, a service revolver in his hand. "Everybody down!" he shouted.
"No!" yelled the Doctor. It was too late.
The Chief Starshina took aim at Dalek-Amy and opened fire. The Chief couldn't believe what he was seeing. The woman simply stood and stared at him as he shot her. He wasn't missing either. He could see her body jerk as she took the hits. An instant later, he was enveloped in light.
"You leave these people out of it!" the Doctor said angrily. "This fight is between the two of us."
"That is where you are wrong," replied Dalek-Amy. "This fight is all about these people, or more precisely, the human race, and by extension the fate of the galaxy. What do you really know about this vessel, Doctor? Are you quite sure it's a fixed point?"
"I only skimmed the readings," admitted the Doctor. "But there is no doubt a fixed point is present, and if Daleks are meddling with fixed points, you are bigger fools than I ever imagined. The Time Lords had far more experience with this sort of thing than the Daleks ever will. There's a reason for the restriction."
Dalek-Amy shook her head. "How typically arrogant and hypocritical. You don't even understand this moment. Today's events are a distraction masking the real fixed point, a point so powerful you might call it a supernova of fixed points. It took a Dalek to discover it and exploit it."
The Doctor crossed his arms. "You remind me of Davros. He liked to lecture too. Please, continue," he said, voice dripping with scorn.
"A compliment," replied Dalek-Amy. "It's good to hear you finally acknowledge the superiority of the Daleks before you die. Humans have an expression: know your enemy. This is not something Daleks typically worry about, but sleeper agents do. I took full advantage, downloading and analyzing contemporary human history while cohabiting with Rory."
"I had wondered why you were surfing the web so much," muttered Rory, who looked dejected and miserable.
"I wasn't really complimenting you, you know," said the Doctor.
"No matter." Dalek-Amy smiled again at the Doctor. "Let me tell you about power. K-19 does not need to be lost at sea, because the true fixed point isn't this ship."
Dalek-Amy's smile broadened as she watched the Doctor's face.
"Ah, there it is. I see you begin to understand. In this moment, the most important man in the world is not a world leader, power broker, billionaire, or entrepreneur. He is a seemingly ordinary man, and he is here in this room. Kill this one man, and everything changes. You saw the result; a dead Earth. That was only the beginning. For want of a man, humanity is lost. For want of humanity, a galaxy is lost. For want of a galaxy, the Daleks will reign supreme throughout the universe! That, Doctor, is power. Observe."
Dalek-Amy turned towards Captain Zateyev and Vasili Arkhipov. She raised her arm. "Ex-ter-mi-nate!"
"NO!" shouted Vasili, who leapt sideways in front of Zateyev in a desperate attempt to protect his captain just as Dalek-Amy fired. The shot grazed Vasili on the shoulder. He collapsed, and Zateyev grabbed him as he fell.
Rory used the opportunity to leap up and tackle Dalek-Amy, knocking her to the deck and pinning her arms down.
"Doctor! A little help here!"
The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and made a couple of passes.
"There. I've severed the Dalek muscle control interface. That should keep her paralyzed until she routes around the damage – a few minutes perhaps."
He went over to Vasili, who was now sitting on the deck, Zateyev standing over him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as he leaned over to examine Vasili's shoulder.
"It hurts like hell," responded Vasili, "but it's actually starting to feel better already." He tried moving his arm around.
"You were lucky," the Doctor said. "That shot mostly missed you, and what didn't miss only charred your uniform. The impact was more like a stun shot, really. Very lucky indeed."
"Captain! How about you? Are you all right?" Vasili asked, anxious.
"Yes, I'm fine," replied Zateyev. "Besides, she wasn't aiming at me; she was aiming at you, Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov."
"At me?" replied Vasili in wonder. "What on Earth for?"
The Doctor stood up and straightened his bow tie.
"For something you haven't done yet of course! Do try to keep up."
"Doc. Torrr…. Doc. Torrr…."
Rory looked up. "Doctor! I think Amy is trying to say something!" He had Dalek-Amy's head and shoulders cradled in his lap.
The Doctor walked over. "What do you want?" he said in a hostile tone. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at Dalek-Amy.
"Doctor, please!" Rory begged. "This is Amy we're talking about."
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry Rory – she's gone. The best thing we can do is get her off this boat."
"Fire her out a torpedo tube!" demanded Captain Zateyev. "We will bury her at sea."
"Too risky," replied the Doctor. "Dalek sleeper agents continue to function as corpses."
"I am not giving up on Amy! You hear me Doctor?" Rory said through his tears. "I am NOT giving up!"
Dalek-Amy managed a half smile. "Doc… Torrr…. Did… you… think… this… is… the… only… ship… I… sa… bo… taged?"
The Doctor's eyes widened. "NO! Rory! Come on!" Without waiting, the Doctor took off running.
Rory wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"Can someone help me carry her?" he called out.
"I can help."
It was Vasili Arkhipov. Together they picked up Amy and carried her out of the bridge.
"Are we going to that vanishing cabin of yours?" Vasili asked.
"Yes," replied Rory. "I really don't know what else we can do."
"Hmm," said Vasili. "I have decided you can't be with the KGB, whatever your papers say."
"No, we're not," admitted Rory. They carefully eased Amy through the connecting hatch into the officer's compartment.
"I have concluded you must be with the Moscow Circus," said Vasili as they arrived at the TARDIS door. "Because only a clown act could fit inside that tiny cabin!"
Rory looked at Vasili with a small smile.
"It's a bit roomier than that."
The Doctor had not fully closed the TARDIS door. Rory used his foot to pull the door open, and together they carried Amy inside.
"Oh my…" was all Vasili could manage. They were inside a very large open space. His initial impression was that of a mad man's grotto constructed out of glass and steel. "This… this…."
"Yeah, it's bigger on the inside," finished Rory. They carefully laid Amy down on the floor.
As Rory straightened up, he became aware something was wrong. The normal TARDIS lighting was decidedly red, and there was a deep resonant bell bonging every couple of seconds.
"Is that a church bell?" asked Vasili, puzzled.
"It's the cloister bell!" shouted the Doctor. "She's done something to the TARDIS!"