Susan lead the way down the corridor. This corridor was like the other corridors in Dalek City. The walls, ceiling and floors were all made out metal and had been painted white. The corridors were not very high, and was built in a weird shape. A shape that reminded Ian of the Daleks shape.
Inside the casing and connected with the lens Ian scanned the corridor. He was still on edge. There had been no signs of any Daleks since they had left their cell, but he wasn't willing to take the risk of allowing a Dalek to sneak up on them. Not when they were getting closer to getting out of their City.
That brought him to wondering how Susan could remember what corridors to take. All the corridors looked the same. There was no markings on the walls. And yet Susan had excellent recall skills where she was able to remember the way the Daleks had taken her when they allowed her to get the drugs that the Thals had left for them.
Ian managed to look away from the screen that allowed him to see out of the Dalek casing to look down at his own arm. His arm was still connected to the many wires that were connected to the medical computer. He followed the wires to the medical computer that showed his heart rate. Not only was it monitoring his heart rate it was also monitoring his blood oxygen level along with this organs.
His attention was brought back to what was happening outside the casing when he heard Susan speaking in a hushed tone, "There is a Dalek just ahead of us. It is standing in front of the lift. And we need that lift to get out."
"Good." the Doctor responded back to her. A smile spread across his face as he turned to look at Ian. He watched as the eye stock twitched upwards. He was temporary blinded by the blue glow from the lens that looked at his face. "Chatterton it is up to you know." he told Ian with a series tone. "Remember to use as little words as possible."
Barbara twisted around to look at Ian behind her. She swallowed the lump in her throat as the eye stock twitched towards her. "Ian, try to sound as mechanical as you can. You already do sound like a Dalek but you sound like you." she said to him.
"Alright." Ian responded back to both the Doctor and Barbara. He controlled the casing to get closer to all three of them. Being this closer to them the three of them walked faster towards the lift and the Dalek standing on guard by its door.
Ian looked past the others to look at the Dalek on guard. It's domed heard swirled around one-hundred and eighty degrees when it heard them approaching. The blue lens of its eye stock narrowed into a small dot as it glared at them approaching it. It watched in silence as Ian kept moving pushing them closer to it.
The Dalek's silver domed head twitched slightly as it looked past the three prisoners to look at the Dalek behind them. It's eye stock twitched as it glared at Ian behind them. The blow glowing lens was bright as it glared at Ian who was still behind the Doctor.
"Why have you brought the prisoners here? Explain!" the Dalek on guard snarled at Ian.
Ian's brain had gone blank. He had not thought what would happen if they did cross paths with another Dalek. He had hoped that that there would be more time before they came across another Dalek. He had not even thought what he was going to say to a Dalek. He had be careful with his words. He did not want to give away the plan too soon. Not when they had just started making their way through the quite corridors of Dalek City.
He winched and bared his teeth as yet another wire connected into his brain. He was flooded with information about the Dalek's and their City. "The Dalek Supreme wants to interrogate the prisoners." Ian found himself saying back to the Dalek Guard.
Ian watched the Dalek closely. He held his breathe as he felt the Doctor and Barbara looking at him. Inside the casing he tried to make himself smaller, but he could not move an inch. The inside of the casing was too cramped. He ignored their worried glances as he kept focusing on the Dalek guarding the lift.
The Dalek glared at Ian with its unblinking lens. Its manipulator arm and gun stick twitched as its entire casing turned around to face its four prisoners. "I have received no notification that the Dalek Supreme wants to see the prisoners." it snapped back to Ian.
"The Supreme issued the ordered when I entered their cell with their food." Ian responded back to the Dalek with a monotone voice. He was trying to keep sounding like the Dalek, but he was scared. He focused on the Dalek that stared at him as he thought on how he knew about the Dalek Supreme.
"Obey the Dalek Supremes orders! Or be exterminated!" Ian quickly shouted at the Dalek Guard.
The Dalek Guard stared at Ian for what felt like an eternity to him. It's unblinking blue lens seemed to burrow deep into Ian despite him being encased in metal.
"I obey." the Dalek responded back to Ian after staring at him. It turned its entire body around to face the lift. It pressed its manipulator arm up to the touchscreen on the wall beside the door.
The door slide open with a mechanical whirling. The group once the door opened was able to see into the lift. It would take them up to the top levels of Dalek City and from there they could get back to the planets surface. They were so close to freedom.
Ian kept moving his casing forward. Getting closer to the others meant they walked forward. He kept the eye stock fixed straight ahead and onto the backs of the others as he lead them into the lift. He ignored the glare that he could feel the Dalek was given him. Did it know that he was a not Dalek? Or did Daleks hate everything, even other Daleks?
The group stumbled into the large round lift. Ian spun the casing around so that he was facing the touchscreen on the side of the lift's door. He approached the touchscreen and pressed the manipulator arm of the casing up towards it.
A computer inside of his casing and the computer in the lift door's control touchscreen connected. Ian couldn't help but winch when both computers connected inside of brain. This somehow made him knew what he needed to do to get the lift moving.
Ian send a mental command to the computer in his casing that went into the computer in the door. The lift door closed. Ian watched the Dalek Guard's eye stock swirling away from them before the door closed. The lift shuddered to life as the lift took them up.
"Ian is everything okay?" Barbra asked him with concern. She took a step back as he reversed the Dalek casing and away from the lift's door. She felt a shiver run down her spin as she looked into the unblinking blue lens that looked right at her.
The lights on the top of his domed flashed as he prepared to speak but he stopped when Susan jumped to stand beside him as she said, "That was amazing, Ian."
Susan was unaware of the scared tone that was in Barbra's voice. She also could not see the Doctor's intense glare on Ian as he stroked his chin in thought. She giggled as Ian's domed head swirled so that she could look into his eye stock. Susan leaned in closer to the blue glowing lens with a large smile on her face. "How did you to that?" she asked him still looking into the lens.
"Yes, dear boy. How did you know what to do?" the Doctor asked Ian with a cold hard glare towards him. Even underneath the glare there was a glance of worry towards the man inside of the casing.
Ian's eye stock moved away from Susan to look to the Doctor. The Doctor stood tall as the unblinking blue lens landed on him.
"It is hard to explain, Doctor." Ian responded as he flicked his eye eye stock downwards and the manipulator arm up to look at it. "But when I had placed the manipulator arm up to the screen the computers inside of my, I mean the casing and the computer in the wall connected. And my brain connected with both computers." he explained to them all.
The Doctor looked away from Ian to look over to Barbara. He and Barbra both exchanged worried glances. Ian had referred the casing as his. They did not say anything to each other or to Ian as they looked back to him.
Barbara licked her lips as she stepped into line of Ian's eye stock. Once again she found herself looking into the unblinking blue glow that stared at her. It was a mechanical cold. The complete opposite to the warmth in Ian's eyes. "Can you get out of the casing now Ian?" she asked him.
Inside the casing, Ian pressed buttons that he somehow knew what to press. A whirling noise filled the inside of the casing as it's front section swung open. Bright light blinded Ian making him rapidly blink as his eyes adjusted to the bright light.
Both Barbra and Susan gasped as they saw all the wires and cables that had connected Ian to the casing. For the first time since he had gone into the casing, Susan looked worried.
She cried, "Grandfather what is happening to him?" as she looked at him. Tears streamed down her face as she watched her grandfather stepping closer to Ian. He looked at Ian with worry as he studied the many wires and the sickly pallor that his skin had taken.
The Doctor ignored Susan as he stepped closer to Ian. He bend down and got closer to Ian. Being closer he was able to see get a better look at all the wires that connected Ian with the casing. He looked away from the many wires to look at Ian himself. Ian looked like he was fighting an illness.
"Grandfather why does he looks really sick?" Susan asked the Doctor as he continued to study Ian's face.
"I do not know why, my child." the Doctor responded as he stood back up and looked over to Susan. "I have never seen anything like this before." he said to her as he looked back to Ian.
"Now Chatterton," the Doctor addressed Ian, "do you think you can disconnect yourself from the Dalek machine?"
Not saying anything, Ian reached for one of the wires in his arm. It was the first wire that had connected him with the casing. He stole a glance to the screen that was monitoring his heart rate and organs functions.
He looked away from the screen to look at his right arm. It was not connected to any wires. His fingers had been pressing buttons next to it. His right arm reached over to his left arm and with trembling fingers wrapped around one of the wires in that arm.
His eyes jumped away from his arm covered in wires to look at the Doctor and Barbra. Barbara's hands were clasped together tightly as she looked right at him. There was tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she looked at what the Dalek casing had already done to him. The Doctor however was staring at Ian with a cold glare as he waited for him to start disconnecting himself from the casing.
Ian swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked back to the fingers that had wrapped around one of the wires. He took a steadying breathe in, he tugged at the wire. Both he and the computer screamed as the wire was dislodged from his arm.
"Ian!" Barbra shouted at Ian as she watched the casing close. She looked away from the Dalek casing to look at the Doctor. "What is happening, Doctor?"
The Doctor's head turned to look to Barbara. "I do not know this technology, girl. So do not ask me what is happening to Chatterton?" he snapped at her.
The Doctor looked back to the Dalek casing. "Chatterton what is happening!" he shouted at Ian as he limped closer to him. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the casing start to rock back and forward. Steam was starting to rise out of the vents on the Dalek's neck. "Talk to us, boy!"
"It's the casing!" Ian shouted to the Doctor. The two lights on the top of the domed head flashed to life with every word he said. The Dalek machine started twitching as the casing turned against him. "It's not letting me go!" he groaned in pain as the casing filled the inside of itself with radiation. "Doc-tor I feel sick." he whined as the eye stock started to droop and the blue lens flickered.
The lights in the lift flickered as the lift shuddered to a stop. Barbara looked away from Ian to the lift's ceiling. "What is happening? Have we got to the top?" she asked as she looked to the Doctor and Ian.
"Grandfather, look!" Susan screamed as she pointed to the lift's door.
The Doctor and Barbra both looked to the door. The door was glowing bright red as something very hot was cut into the metal of the door. "The Daleks they are cutting their way in." Barbara stated as she looked away from the door to look to the Doctor. He had a series look on his face as he looked between the door and Ian. "The Daleks must have figured out what happened in the cell." she continued to speak to the Doctor.
The Doctor ignored Barbara. He ignored Susan's screams as he focused on Ian. "We only have a short amount of time before the Daleks break through that door and get in here." he said to Ian. "So hurry up and get out of there Chatterton!" he urged him.
The casing was still rocking backwards and forwards. Steam had started to rise out from the vents of the grill like neck section. A smell of metallic ion filled the lift. "Doctor get Barbra and Susan out of here. I'm not going to get out of here in time." Ian responded back to the Doctor. A strange electronic buzz filled the room from the Dalek casing as it twitched. "I don't think I will ever get out of here." he said more to himself but the others heard him.
"No!" Susan shouted as she ran to Ian's side. "We are not leaving you behind, Ian!" she shouted at him.
The domed head swirled around so that the eye stock fixed on her. The blue glowing lens was focused on her face as Ian said, "I will only slow you down. I cannot find a way out of this machine. It is like the casing does not want to let me go." heexplained to her.
He made the eye stock look away from Susan to look to the Doctor. "Doctor do it! I cannot get out of the casing. And there is no point in all of us getting captured." he said to the Doctor.
Susan followed Ian's eye stock to look at her grandfather. "Grandfather, please. We have to do something." she pleaded with him as tears ran down her face.
The Doctor looked over to Barbra who also had tears flowing down her face. Even with the tears streaming down her face he could see that she understood what Ian was asking of them. He returned his attention back to Ian and asked him, "Ian if you can get yourself out of the casing before the Daleks get into the lift do you think you can catch up with us?"
Ian's domed head rotated around to look at him. He looked into the blue glowing lens that stared at him.
"I will try, Barbra." Ian grumbled back to her through the pain that thundered through his body. "Now go before the Daleks break through the door. There is no point in us all being captured again." he explained to all of them.
"Very well, dear boy." the Doctor said back to Ian as he reached for Susan. "Come along child. You heard Chatterton." he said to her as he gently held onto her arm.
"No!" Susan screamed as she whipped her arm out of her grandfather's hold. She looked to his shocked face. She had never spoken to him like that before. "We can't leave him here." she cried to her grandfather as she looked between him and Ian.
The Doctor stepped up to Susan and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her tear-filled eyes as he said, "My dear, we have little to no choice. It is like Chatterton had said there is no point in all of us being recaptured."
The Doctor hugged her as he looked over to Ian. The casing still rocking backwards and forwards with steam rising up from the vents of the neck section of the casing. He looked away from Ian to look back to Susan. She was still crying only into his jacket this time. "And maybe the Daleks can reverse what is happening to him." he admitted to her with a hopeful tone in his voice.
Susan pulled away from the Doctor's hug as she turned her head towards Ian. Ian had turned the casing around so that he was facing the door. The door that the Daleks had almost cut through. A ghost of a smile was on her face as she looked back to the Doctor. "Really? Do you think they will do that?" she asked him.
"Of course my dear." the Doctor reassured her with a kind smile.
"Doctor you need to go now!" Ian's mechanical voice roared from where he was still in the lift. Steam was still rising up from the vents of the neck section of his casing. His eye stock was fixed on the door that the Daleks had almost cut through. "I will try and keep the Dalek's attention focused on me as long as possible."
"Ian's right." Barbara spoke up. She surprised Susan who whipped around to look at her. Barbara looked to her as she said, "We can maybe find the man who helped Susan. He helped with the anti-radiation drugs. So maybe he and his people can help us again with Ian."
The eye stock of Ian's eye stock swirled around to look at the three of them behind him. "I can also look after myself, Susan. I have been a prisoner before." he reassured them all. "Now go!"
The Doctor looked past Ian to the lift's door. Sure enough the Daleks had almost cut through the metal that the door was made of. Humming he nodded his head as urged the two girls to the door on the other side. With the help of Barbra and Susan he was able to open the door.
The Doctor allowed Barbara and Susan to clamber into the small opening of the door. He looked over his shoulder to look over to Ian. Ian's eye stock was still looking at him. The blue glowing lens was flickering, as if Ian was fighting to stay awake. "Be careful dear boy. We will come back with a plan if we do not meet you back at the TARDIS." he reassured Ian.
"Go!"
The Doctor nodded his head to Ian before he looked back to the open door. He followed Susan and Barbra to see that the lift that had taken them up some levels. He was not sure how many floors they had gone up, but it was a start. His ears strained as he heard the faint shouting of the Daleks as they broke through the door.
Susan ran into him crying, "Grandfather we cannot leave Ian to the Daleks!"
The Doctor sighed as he hugged her. "I am sure that Chatterton can look after himself, my dear." he assured her as he started leading her down the quite corridor of Dalek City. "And if it comes to it, we will just need to rescue him. But not now."
"But-"
"Susan, we have to hurry. Ian can look after himself." Barbra interrupted her as she also helped the Doctor keep Susan walking down the corridor.
Susan's shoulder slumped as she kept walking between the Doctor and Babara. She looked down at the metallic floor. She took in what they and what Ian had said in the lift. He would be alright. He said he would be alright, and her grandfather had said that they would go back and rescue him.
"Alright." she whispered back to them. She looked back to the Doctor. He had a small smile as he looked to her. "Alydon and his people will be in the petrified forest somewhere. I am sure that they will help us save Ian if we ask them for their help." she gleefully said to both her grandfather and Barbra.
"But the petrified forest is huge. It took us a good part of the day to get here." Barbara said as she looked past Susan to look at the Doctor. "How can we possible find this Alydon and his people?" she asked him.
The Doctor hummed, "Indeed that is something we need to think about."
"I meet Alydon," Susan spoke up making Barbara and the Doctor look to her, "by the Tardis."
Barbara looked back to the Doctor. "I would say that is the best place to start looking for Alydon." she said to him. She looked away from the Doctor and Susan. She folded her arms across her chest as she looked straight down the corridor.
"I just hope that we don't need to rescue Ian and he can get out himself." she whispered to herself.