Chapter 21
Susan picked her lips as she paced around the tent. She along with her grandfather and the Thals had safely returned back to the Thal's camp. Upon their return to the Camp small fires still clung to life as they consumed what little was left for them to consume. There was still some tents in the camp still standing with the skeletal frames of others still standing.
The flames that the Dalek Scouts had started when they had captured them was nothing like the explosion that had torn the Dalek City apart. Susan had cried and screamed as she watched the metal towers of the city twist around each other as bright angry flames consumed the metal. While the City was being destroyed from the inside from the chain reaction that Ian had started there was no sign of Ian or Barbara.
She had wanted to remain behind and wait for Ian and Barbara to catch up with them. She would have stayed by the cliff that overlooked the valley where the Dalek City was located in. She had wanted to stay and waiting for them, but the Doctor and Alydon had dragged her away.
"Susan, my dear." the Doctor spoke up with an irritated tone in his voice. He was sitting on one of the large rocks in the Council Tent. A faint smile appeared on his face as he watched Susan stop her pacing.
"What grandfather?" she asked as she turned to look to him. She looked to the Doctor with shock from the tone that she had spoken to him. "I am sorry, Grandfather. I am just worried for Ian and Barbara." she apologised to him as she bowed her head.
The Doctor reassuringly smiled to her as he patted the rock beside him. "Come and sit down. I am sure that Ian and Barbara will be back soon." he gentle reassured her as she sat down beside him.
"I am still worried about them, grandfather." she admitted to him. She brought her legs close to her chest and then wrapped her arms around them. Leaning her check into her knees she looked to the Doctor. Her eyes glazed over as tears started to shimmer in their corners. "Seeing everything that has happened to them has made me regret leaving Gallifrey and heading to Earth. And seeing what the Daleks had done to Ian. We are partially responsible for that." she sniffled back to him.
The Doctor sighed as he looked at her with worry. "My dear girl all of this could have been avoided if they had not forced themselves into my Tardis." he explained to her. "If they had not stuck their noses where they were not needed they be still back on Earth. Not having had to deal with Azteks and now these Daleks." he continued to explain to her with more authority in his voice.
"So no it is not our fault that this has happened. This is their fault." he barked with conviction. Conviction that he was right about their companions.
Susan's eyes dried up slightly as she looked at him. "Their fault?" she crocked to the Doctor. Her tears may have dried up but they were still threatening to shed once again. "They were worried about me and that is why they followed me to that junkyard. And I know that you warned me about going to that school. But I had wanted to see what it was like to settle down somewhere and be normal." she said to him.
She looked away from him as once again she shed silent tears. Silent tears that she didn't want the Doctor to see. She tensed up slightly as she felt the Doctor moving slightly closer to her. She kept looking away from him as he wrapped his arm around her. Normally she felt comfort from it, but at this moment she didn't.
"I am sorry Susan. I know that we left Gallifrey in such a rush." the Doctor gentle told her. "But we had to leave Gallifrey."
Susan sighed as she finally looked back to him. "But you didn't tell me the reason why we left Gallifrey. You just packed us up on day and we left." she remarked back to him.
Her mind recalled her last day on Gallifrey. It had been like any other day before that day. She was getting ready to go to the Academy in the Capitol. Then the Doctor had appeared and took her to the repair yard for Tardis. He had simple told her that he was going to teach her better than the Academy by seeing everything in time and space.
Travelling with the Doctor, just the pair of them had been a great learning experience for her. But she wasn't learning a lot until Ian and Barbara had joined them. She had learned an important lessons. Lessons that she would not have learned from just travelling with the Doctor alone.
"And unlike you I am actually happy that Barbara and Ian had joined us." she stated to her grandfather.
The Doctor leaned away from Susan. He looked at her carefully as he considered what he was going to say back to her. "Really, my child? Even after they stormed into the Tardis? After they complain about everything?" he finally asked her.
"Yes." Susan responded back to him. She unwrapped her arms from her legs and sat up straight as she looked to him. "You have to admit it grandfather; without Barbara and Ian we would have been in much more trouble than we were in. They have helped us so many times. All the while showing us so much more than we had first been seeing in our travels alone." she continued to speak to the Doctor as she kept eye contact with him.
The Doctor hummed as he thought over her words. His mind thought over everything that the two humans had done for them. He looked away from her as he finally admitted to her, "You are right, my dear. They have helped us many times in the short time that we have been together."
Grandfather and granddaughter smiled to each other.
"Just do not tell Chesterton that. I would not hear the end of it." the Doctor chuckled to her.
Susan couldn't help the small giggle at the Doctors remark about Ian. Her giggling didn't last long. Once again she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her check on her knees. She sighed as she looked at nothing in particular in the Council Tent.
The Doctor looked to her with concern at how quickly she had become sad again. He leaned closer to her as he asked, "My dear, what is on your mind?"
She didn't respond back to him. She just kept staring at nothing in particular in the tent. He watched as she took steadying breathes, but he knew that she was fighting tears. Susan had also been an emotional child growing up. There was nothing wrong with that, but there was going to come a time when she would learn how evil the universe was. And an evil universe needed people to be strong.
He looked away from her. His gaze feel onto the bonfire that crackled and snapped in the middle of the tent. Its orange warm glow chasing away the cold night that hung over the camp like a blanket. "If you are thinking that I still look down on our human friends, then I can assure you that they have gained my respect. They have proven themselves time and time again." he said as he kept looking into the orange flames.
"Their minds are still little compared to those of a Time Lord." he gentle told her as he looked away from the flames and back to her.
"It's Ian, grandfather." Susan final spoke. She was still hugging her legs all the while not looking to him. Her eyes still fixed at some part of the tent. "He has been turned into one of those Daleks creatures. Even if we do get back to Earth at the right time what about him? He can't stay there. The humans would treat him just as bad as the Daleks." she gentle whispered.
Finally Susan looked to the Doctor as she sniffled, "He can never go back home."
The Doctor sighed as he looked away from her. He feel silent as he considered what he was going to say to her. He knew just as well that Ian cannot go back to Earth. Not as a Dalek. And not in the sixties. "That is something that we are going to need to discus with Chesterton later. Preferably back in the Tardis. But hopefully Ian and I can find a way to reverse the damage done to his body back at the Tardis." he said when he finally looked back to her.
"But what if you cannot find a way to undo what the Daleks have done to him?" she asked him. Tears freely streamed down from her eyes. "Looking at what has happened to him all I can wonder is how scared he must have been. All alone in the Dalek City being mutated into a Dalek." she sniffled.
The Doctor closed his eyes as he remembered the state Ian was inside of the casing. A creature that had no resemblance of human anatomy and was fully dependent on the machine that he was trapped inside of it. He wondered if Ian could be removed from the casing for a short period of time to allow him to see the inner workings of the Dalek casing.
"Doctor! Susan!"
Both the Doctor and Susan looked to the tent's entrance to see Alydon jogging into the tent. He was still covered in dirt and dried blood. His forehead glistened in the orange glow of the fire in the middle of the tent from the sweet.
"Alydon, my dear boy. You look like you have ran a marathon." the Doctor said to him as he stood up from the stone he was sitting.
"Is everything alright?" Susan asked as she also stood up from the stone. "It's not the Daleks is it?" she asked.
Alydon was breathless as he approached the two Time Lords. "No not that, Susan." he reassured her in a whisper. He took in a large lung full of air as he regained his breath.
"Then why are you out of breath?" Susan asked him.
Alydon looked directly back to her. He placed his hand on his chest as he slowly caught his breath. "I have just ran from the other side of the camp with news. Ian and Barbara have returned." he told them both when he finally caught his breath.
"That is good news. Good news indeed." the Doctor said with a faint smile spread on his face. He turned his head to look to Susan, "Come my dear. We should speak with them."
"Coming grandfather." Susan said as she stepped closer to Alydon. Her smile dropped as she looked to the Doctor and asked, "You will speak with Ian when we get back to the Tardis? Wont you Grandfather?"
"Yes, my dear." the Doctor reassured her. "Once we get back to the Tardis me and Ian will talk. I am interested in the Dalek casing. And maybe with me and him working together we can maybe find a way to undo what the Daleks have done to him." he continued to muse more to himself than reassure Susan.
The Doctor looked away from Susan and back to Alydon. The new leader of the Thal Council was looking between them. Alydon had managed to catch his breath in the time that he had spoken with Susan. "And where are Ian and Barbara?" he asked Alydon.
"They are currently speaking with Calavius and the other members of the Thal Council." Alydon responded back to the Doctor. He nervously looked over his shoulder to the tents entranceway. Outside the tent he could hear the clamour of shouting coming from out in the camp.
Alydon looked back to the Doctor, and he knew that the Doctor knew that there was something wrong. "We better hurry and join the others. There are many Thals who are not happy with Ian being in the Camp. Calavius and the others are trying their best to keep the peace." he explained to the Doctor.
The Doctor's face hardened as he took in Alydon's concern for what was happening outside the tent. "Then we should quickly join them and prevent any misunderstanding." he said to Alydon with a huff. "There is always something happening with those two." he muttered as he started walking towards the tent's entranceway.
The Doctor and Susan followed Alydon through the large gathering of Thals. Many of the Thals were still covered in mud and blood from the Dalek Scouts attack on the Camp. There were others that looked confused as the headgears that the Daleks had placed on their heads were removed. The blankly blinked as they looked around as if seeing the world for the first time. There were other Thals who they had never seen before stood around the camp in shock on everything that had happened.
Susan looked all around the gathering of Thals as Alydon led them through the crowd. Children were crying as loud as they could in attempts to be heard over the loud noises that polluted the once peaceful camp. Many different adults shouted in attempts to gain some form of control of the large crowd.
A tall muscular Thal with darker skin and white hair walked past the Doctor. Around his eyes and down his arms were dark blue scale formations. Some of his white hair had wrapped together to form a spikes.
"Can everyone who has simple wounds head over to that tent!" the muscular Thal shouted out with a booming voice out to the crowd. "I repeat anyone who has simple wounds head over to that tent!" he shouted out again as he pointed to a large tent that was being set up not far from him.
The muscular Thal did not repeat the first instruction again to the crowd. He was already shouting out the next order for the large crowd, "Anyone with much more series injuries must head to the Council Tent. It is being revamped to be a hospital unit."
The Doctor and Susan listened to the muscular Thal bellowing out his orders again to the crowd. Soon he was joined by others repeating his orders and pointing the wounded Thals to where they were needed to go. Slowly movement started to happen as the wounded Thals went to where they were meant to go.
"Any children who have been separated from their parents are to head to the large green tent beside the Council Tent." the muscular Thal shouted out his new orders. This time to the children. "Parents who are missing their children are to head to the same tent. We will try and reunite families together!" he continued to shout out. "Children if you don't know where to go find an adult they will take you to where you are needed to go."
The Doctor hummed as he listened to the muscular Thal's orders. He watched as slowly the camp came to life. Thals were slowly getting back to their feet. "I see you are getting everything organised after everything." he stated to Alydon as they kept moving through the crowd.
Alydon looked over his shoulder back to the Doctor. A sad smile appearing on his face. "Yes. We must pick up the pieces of our lives. No matter how small those pieces are." he responded back to the Doctor.
"And these are Thals from all over Skaro?" Susan asked as she looked around at all the different Thals that were now in the camp. "Not just from the Camp?"
Alydon's attention moved away from the Doctor to her. "Yes. After the Great Thousand Years War with the Daleks the remaining Thals split up. It was done to make it harder for the Daleks to find all of us. The plan was that the Thals were to regroup once they recovered. But after the war we were too busy running and hiding from the Daleks made it hard for us to reconnect with the other tribes." he explained to her.
"But now you are all back together." Susan cheered as she clapped her hands with delight. "You can rebuild Skaro together."
Alydon sighed as he bowed his head. "Indeed. But before that there is a lot that must be done here today. This is an important part of our history. And with such an important part it must be done with care." he replied back to her.
"Make room! Make room!" a Thal shouted up as loud as they could over the noises of the crowd. "Make a path to the hospital tent!" they continued to shout.
The group stopped and looked to the Thal shouting. He was a man carrying a little girl. His blonde hair was streaked with red from the blood that was seeping out of a cut on her head. One of her eyes was black and blue. The little girl clung to his blue tunic as he dashed through a cleared path for them.
"What happened to her?" Susan asked in horror as she stepped aside allowing the man carrying the girl to quickly get past them and others.
"I heard from someone that she was one of the Dalek Head Scientists experiments. We do not know what he was trying to find out. But we do know that he is insane." Alydon responded back to her as he watched the man taken the girl to the hospital tent for minor injuries.
"Insane is not even covering. It was his invention that turned Ian into a Dalek." Susan said with a shake her head.
"Speaking of Ian," Alydon said looking away from the man and girl back to Susan and the Doctor, "he along with Barbara are with the other High Council Members."
They kept walking until they were near the very edge of the Camp. The Doctor hummed as he saw the four other members of the Thal Council standing around the metallic roots of one petrified tress that stood tall around the camp as its silent guardian. He also saw another Thal was present in the makeshift meeting.
This new Thal stood with her back straight and hands clasped behind her back. She was wearing a blue robe that had been darkened with mud and grime. Her long blonde hair was lose. Her nose was pointed up to the sky as her blue reptilian eyes narrowed on the familiar shape of a Dalek casing.
"This is good news." Calavius happily said as he patted Ian's domed head. A large smile spread over his face. "Both the Dalek Supreme and Dalek Head Scientist are both dead. Along with every other Dalek on Skaro." he continued to speak with a nod.
"But are you forgetting about the Daleks that are not on Skaro? They could easily return and slaughter us all while we are in on place." the unknown woman stated to Calavius with a hiss. "And what about that one?" she asked as she pointed a clawed finger to Ian. Her lips pulled back to reveal her sharpened teeth as Ian's casing jerked backwards.
"Tell me Thalea where would you and your tribe be without Ian's aid?" Calavius asked her.
Thalea's only response to Calavius was to snort as she looked away from him.
"Like I thought." Calavius coldly said back to her. "You, like the rest of us would still be prisoners inside the Dalek City. You should be thanking Ian and his friends for what they have done"
Thalea's head snapped back to him. Her blue eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "Are you forgotten everything that the Daleks have done to us?" she asked Calavius with a venomous tone. "We cannot forget what they had done simply because one Dalek was different than the others." she continued to argue to him as her blue glare fixed on to Ian.
"I have not forgotten what they have done, Thalea." Calavius argued back to Thalea. He stepped closer to the female Thal who was slightly taller than him. "But you must admit that without their help we would still be hiding or prisoners of the Daleks." he continued to argue to her.
Thalea hummed as she ignored what Calavius was saying. Instead, she was looking directly into Ian's eye stock. She scoffed at the thought of the pathetic creature inside of it. A creature that was the source of all Thal's nightmares. "Tell me Dalek-"
"His name is Ian!" Barbara interrupted her.
Thalea growled as she looked away from Ian to Barbara. She ignored Thala's growling as stepped up to her. Not phased with how tall Thalea was compared to her did not deter Barbara from speaking, "You think you are so high and mighty. I saw you strutting around the camp like you own it. But I remember seeing you in the Dalek City begging to every Dalek you came across to spare you or to safe you. You were lucky when you crossed our path and we helped you get out of the City."
"Watch your tongue, alien." Thalea snapped at Barbara as she jabbed a finger into Barbara's shoulder making the human grunt.
Barbara slapped Thala's hand away from her. Thala made a noise as Barbara touched her, but again Barbara ignored the other woman. "Or what? What are you going to do to me?" Barbara asked Thala.
Thalea stepped away from Barbara. She glared at Barbara as she whipped the hand that Barbara struck into her dress as she sneered, "You have no right to speak in these matters, alien. Why don't you run along and go back to your own planet."
"I will gladly go back to Earth if I could. And the same goes for Ian." Barbara responded back to Thalea.
"No!" Thalea shouted making Barbara jump at how loud she could shout. "The Dalek will remain here. It will be our prisoner. We will make every Dalek fear the Thals after they hear what we have done to one of their own." she screeched to Barbara with her voice cracking under the strain of her screeching. "We will use this Dalek to copy their technology and use it against them. We will built our own casings that will crush them. And once that is done we will destroy this Dalek." she continued her rant to Barbara.
"I think not!" the Doctor shouted as he approached to the two arguing woman. "We will all be leaving Skaro. Once everything has been sorted out here we will all," he said as he nodded his head to Ian, "will be going on our way."
Thalea turned her attention away from Barabra to the Doctor. She glared at him with icy blue eyes. "You are nothing but an old senile old man. You cannot comprehend what has been happening all around you without your granddaughter spelling it out for you." she spat at him.
"Senile old man?" the Doctor asked himself with a shake of his head. He grasped the lapels of his jacket as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I can assure you my dear for a Time Lord I am still young." he told her.
"You and your female companions may leave Skaro whenever you are ready, Doctor. You do have our thanks after all. But you are no longer needed here." Thalea dismissively huffed back to him as she flicked her hand.
The Doctor hummed as he regarded the woman before him. She had looked away from him. A clear sign that she was done talking to him. "I am afraid, dear woman that we are not leaving." he spoke up gaining her attention again. Not taken aback by the glare she was given him he continued, "Not until we are all in the Tardis."
Thalea snorted as looked away from the Doctor. Her attention returned to Ian. She sneered as she looked upon the Dalek. She watched him in silence as his eye stock twitched up and down while under her glare. Looking away from Ian and still ignoring the Doctor she said with a flick of her hand, "Away with you."
The Doctor chuckled as he stepped closer to her. His movement was enough to gain her attention, and he could tell that she was not happy that he had gotten closer to her. "Now listen here my dear woman, I do not know you. I have not heard you before. And I am not going to listen to you anymore on this matter. My business is with the High Councilmembers of the Thals."
"How dare you turn your back on me, Old Man!" Thalea shouted at the Doctor as he turned his back on her. She stomped her foot into the muddy ground as she screamed at him, "I am Princes Thalea of the Northern Tribes. I have every right to be here and be a part of this!"
"Thalea," Alydon gentle said as he slowly approached her, "you along with the other leaders of the other tribes will have a chance to speak and be heard. But not on this matter. This is an issue for our camp to decide what to do."
"I am an important Thal!" Thalea screamed at them all. "But you are all nothing compared to me! You do not have royal blood flowing through your veins!"
"Thalea, dear." Nyla gently said to Thalea. Leaning heavily on Calavius as Thalea turned to her, Nyla continued to speak calmly "Please leave this issue to our council. Afterall this our camp Thalea. You may rule the Northen quarter of Skaro but here our rule is absolute. "
Thalea's nostrils flared in rage. Her foot tapped rapidly on the ground as she pointed a clawed finger at Nyla. "Listen here you old bat."
"No you will listen!" Nyla shouted back at Thalea making the younger Thal jump at her sudden change of tone. "You can either stay here. But only as an observer. Or you and what remains of your tribe can head back to the Northern regions of Skaro." Nyla continued more gentle to Thalea.
Thalea's mouth opened and closed but no words came forward. Her eyes twitched at being spoke to like that Nyla.
"Nothing to say, my dear?" the Doctor asked Thalea with a hum. "Maybe you should listen to us old bats, hm? We do after all provide some good advice." he chuckled as Thalea slowly turned to regard him.
"You should not be speaking to me like that at all, alien!" she screamed at the Doctor.
Thalea turned away from the Doctor. Her intense glare fixed in on Ian. Her nostrils flared as she watched the Dalek jerking back. Anger boiled deep in her blood as she looked at the last Dalek. "I should decide what happens to the last Dalek. I should be seen as the queen that I am. All of Skaro should see me as a hero that defeated the Daleks." she screamed to all of gathered around her.
"Enough Thalea!" Alydon shouted to her. He ignored her gasp and continued, "The Doctor and his friends have helped us in so many ways. They freed us from the Daleks. So you either stay and be quite or go back to the North."
Once again Thalea was shocked. No one had ever spoken back to her before let alone shout at her. Her tribe knew she was their ruler and her word was law. She was not to blame for the Daleks finding them, it was her people who made it easy to be captured by their worst enemies.
Her mouth opened and closed as she looked at all five Councilmembers. Once again she had lost her voice to her frustration. Frustration she was not getting what she wanted. Her nostrils flared as she looked right into the never blinking blue glow of his eye stock.
Quickly Thalea tore her eyes away from the intense blue glowing lens back to the other Thals. "Fine!" she scoffed to them. She threw her arms into the air as she stepped back as she screeched, "I am not going to be a part of this shambles of a Council meeting."
Thalea's hands dropped to either side as she stepped away from them. She started cackling as she slowly backed away from the gathering just on edges of the camp. "You are all insane. Insane in that you are going to allow these aliens to leave Skaro with a Dalek. The Dalek should remain here and face our judgment for all the crimes its kind has committed on us over the centuries." she continued to screech at them all.
Thalea stopped. She looked to all the Thals as she asked, "You really are doing this?"
"Please, don't do this!" she started to plead to them. "The Daleks are our enemies. And these aliens have no voice on this matter."
Seeing that she was not getting the response she wanted she huffed as she folded her arms over her chest. "Fine! I will leave this freak show and head back north. And I will take anyone who has a brain in their skill with me." Thalea shrieked at them.
"Good." Calavius scoffed back to her as he dismissively flicked his hand in her direction. He saw that she was still standing there. "Why are you still standing there? I thought you were going?" he asked her.
Thalea snorted as she finally turned on her heels. She balled her fists and ground her teeth against each other at how they were not listening to her. Keeping her fists balled she marched away from them. Her ears stained when she heard their hushed whispering. Anger and annoyance flashed through her veins as she spun around to face them once again and shrieked out, "You better watch your backs. That Dalek may be your friend today but tomorrow it will your enemy!"
Humming happily at the silence that she had created, Thalea turned away from them and continued to walk back to the main camp.
"Who was that delightful young woman?" the Doctor asked Alydon after Thalea disappeared into the massive crowd in the camp.
Calavius sighed as he rubbed his hands into his face. "That delightful woman was Thalea the ruler of a northern tribe further north than here." he explained to the Doctor rather than Alydon. "The northern tribe is different to our own. Unlike here where we have a council of five members, she instead rules her tribe alone. Upon her death her daughters will take up the rule." he continued to explain to the Doctor.
"She does not want to get involved with the other Tribes all around Skaro." Alydon suddenly spoke up from beside the Doctor. "But that has not stopped her voicing her opinions and has made it clear that she sees herself above all of us." he continued to speak when he finally looked to the Doctor.
"And it doesn't help us or the other tribes that her people call her Queen. This has made her think that she is the single ruler of all Skaro." Johor spoke up from the rock he was perched on. His legs hung over the edge of the stone kicked as he looked around himself at the gathering around him.
"And let me guess she was one of the big reasons why all the Thal tribes have not united together?" Barbara asked the Thals, but she wasn't looking at them. Instead she watching Thalea as she stomped through the massive crowd of the camp.
"Yes sadly. Her tribe have always seen themselves above the others." Nyla sadly responded back to Barbara.
"Why did you not join up with the other tribes and leave her tribe?" Susan asked the oldest Councilmember.
Nyla looked away from Barbara to the young girl. She sadly explained to Susan, "Sadly we could not do anything like that. It would incur her tribes wrath. And for a while we could not have a civil war between our people when we were still hiding from the Daleks and trying to survive."
"But it could have stopped everything that the Daleks had done to the Thals if you were all united together." Susan argued back to Nyla.
"Could." Nyla gentle hummed to Susan. She closed her eyes as her head leaned backwards. "That is a very powerful word, my dear." she continued to speak calmly to Susan as she looked back to the young girl.
"It's just a word. One little word can't be such a big deal." Susan said as she shrugged her shoulders back to Nyla.
Nyla sadly hummed as she thought how different Skaro would have been if they were all together. "Then let me explain it to you, child." she gentle said to Susan. "Our history could have been different if we were united together with the other tribes. But it could also have been that nothing really changed. We could still have been hunted by the Daleks."
The Doctor hummed in agreement to Nyla had said, "That is true, my dear. You never know what happens with the passage of time."
"But that," Calavius spoke up, "is something that we will worry about. But there is some matters that we must discus here with all four of you." he finished looking to the Doctor and his companions.
"We cannot thank you all enough." Alydon spoke up from where he stood beside Dyoni. Both of them had smiles on their faces as he held her hand in his hand. "You did not need to help us and yet you did. Even with the dangers you faced." he continued as he looked to Ian whose eye stock was still pointing towards the ground.
Susan smiled as she said, "We were happy to help. It was the right thing to do. Especially after everything that the Daleks had done."
"Yes indeed." the Doctor said. His attention was not on the Thals. No his attention was on Ian who had been so still and silent that anyone passing would have thought that they had dragged a Dalek casing back all the way from the Dalek's city. Ian's eye stock was dropping as he focused on nothing in particular, and the Doctor wanted to know what was going on inside the casing. And also know what Ian was thinking.
The Doctor hummed bringing his thoughts back to the present. Taring his attention away from Ian he looked back to the Thal's. The five Thals who they had all made friendships with. Friendships that the Doctor had not thought was possible with how they first met.
"But the question that must be asked now is what are the Thals going to do?" the Doctor asked the five Council Members.
Calavius was the one who spoke up, "We will discus with the other leaders and see what they want to do. But I am hoping that this experience will have made the other leaders want to join forces."
"Yes, the Daleks may be gone from Skaro but there is their battle fleet elsewhere in the galaxy." Alydon said with a sad smile. "I feel so sorry for the other races and planets that are being attacked by the Dalek forces." he continued to speak. A sad tone creeping into his voice as he thought over what the Daleks were doing to other races.
"Maybe you should use the technologies that the Daleks left behind?" Barbara suggested to the Thals. She placed her hand on Ian's domed head. She was concerned for him. He had been so quite on the way back to the Thal Camp. The only times he had spoken was when the Thals from the Camp had thanked him for what he had done for them. Then when they got back to the Camp he had been so quite and still.
Once again she patted the metal dome as she continued to speak the Thals, "I am sure that there will be something that the Daleks have left behind that you can use for the benefits of the Thals."
"Now that is a brilliant idea, my dear." the Doctor mused as he looked over to her.
"We do have a lot of rebuilding to do." Calavius said. "There is no doubt about that. And I am sure that the Daleks can help us in some way. Maybe even help us reach the stars." he finished as he looked up at the sky.
The many stars that dotted the night sky looked down on the Thal camp. A small fond smile appeared on Calavius face as he thought that maybe soon the Thals could be dancing amongst them.
"But what are you going to do?" Alydon asked the Doctor.
"We will be making our leave. We have planets to see. And also return Barbara to her planet." the Doctor explained to Alydon.
Alydon hummed as he nodded his head to the Doctor. His attention then moved away from the Doctor to look to Ian. "And what about you Ian?" he asked Ian.
Being spoken to broke Ian out of his thoughts. His eye stock swirled to look at Alydon. The intense blue glow at the end of it was bright in its unblinking watch.
Alydon took a step back to stop himself being blinded by the unblinking blue glow. He smiled as he looked into the blue lens. Managing to pull his eyes away from the blue lens to see the strange circular symbol that Susan had drawn on his casing back in the City. It was a clever way to mark Ian out from the other Daleks in the City.
"Will you be going with the Doctor and the others?" Alydon asked Ian as he looked back into the eye stock's blue lens. "I know that Thalea made it sound like you are not welcomed here but you are. You played an important role in freeing us all from the Daleks." he continued to speak to Ian.
Ian didn't say anything. His eye stock swirled away from Alydon. Under his unblinking gaze he watched as the Thals rebuild what the Daleks had destroyed. He watched as the Thals treated the wounded and families were reunited. There was much more happening in the Camp than before. The Thals will reclaim Skaro and their future.
"I am going with the Doctor." Ian responded back to Alydon. His eye stock swirled away from the bustling camp back to Alydon and the other Thal council members. "Thank you for the offer, Alydon. I just do not belong here." he finished as his eye stock dropped down to the ground. "I don't know where I belong at the moment. So I will remain with the Doctor and the others."
Alydon nodded his head to Ian as Dyoni spoke up, "If you ever change your mind Ian, know that you can always come back here. You can have a home here. I can't promise how the others will treat you but know that you will have us with you."
"Dyoni, dear don't force Ian to remain if he doesn't want to." Nyla gentle said to Dyoni. The older Thal looked back to Ian. A warm smile wrinkled her already wrinkled face. "But she is right. If at any time you figure where you belong is here than you are welcome. It will not matter if it has been week to many years. You can find a home here." she gentle said to Ian.
Ian's eye stock flicked between the two woman and he responded to both, "Thank you again. I mean it. Right now I want to make sure that Barbara gets home."
"I believe that we should be getting a move on." the Doctor suddenly spoke up making everyone in the gathering look to him. He grasped the lapels of his jacket as he looked directly to Alydon. The first Thal that they had meet on Skaro.
Alydon warmly smiled back to the Doctor. "Once again, Doctor. Thank you." he said to the Time Lord. He then looked away from the Doctor to Barbara and Susan. "Thank you all for everything that you had done for us. You didn't need to but you still helped us." he continued to say to them.
"Your very welcome, my dear boy." the Doctor replied to Alydon with a smile on his face. "Now," he said as he clasped his hands together, "I think that we should be getting back to the ship."
The Doctor turned and started to walk away from the Council members. Behind him he heard the whirling of Ian's casing as he followed after him. Slowing down his pace he waited until Ian appeared beside him before saying, "Once we get back to the ship I would like the have a look at the casing. I want to have a understanding of the Dalek technology."
Ian's eye stock swirled around to look at the Doctor. The blue glow from his eye stock bathed the Doctor's face in its bright blue glow. "I agree Doctor. I also want to know the full length of damage that has been done to my body." he replied back to the Doctor.
The Doctor hummed as he and Ian kept moving through the crowd of Thals. The Thals made way for them as they walked past them. Behind him he could hear Susan and Barbara talking with each other as they followed after them, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. It was not his conversation so not his concern.
The four travellers made their way through the camp to head back to where the Tardis was parked in the petrified forest.