The Panic

888

He watched Rose leave with his new companion. He shook his head as he watched the boy fawn and looking amazed as he was led into the halls of the TARDIS. He didn't like it, but Rose had insisted and begged and he, in the end, conceded. As soon as they were out of earshot he turned his attention to the console. The green glow filtered through the wires and bits of fragmented circuit boards. The center column was moving, they were in route, and he set to feverish work.

The recent events unnerved him. He flicked switches and rolled the little sparkling sphere, and snagged the monitor bringing it in front of his eyes. He watched the echo expand outwards from the TARDIS across the vortex, into every corner of the universe. He narrowed his eyes as the scanner reported nothing. Part of him felt relaxed, but only part. Part of him had a horrible sense of the truth.

"There's no such thing as 'just one Dalek'." He murmured as he took off his jacket and threw it onto the railing. He flicked more switches and readjusted some dials. A second echo expanded out into the expanse.

He circled the console turning dials and flicking switches and pulling dimmers. He grabbed the rubber mallet and hit a circuit board. A twirling whirling sound warbled up from somewhere. He patted the metal struts of the console.

"I know, I'll try and fix it, we'll get your console back up and working right, some day." He said as he stroked the console gently. She hated the mallet, but it'd become a necessity so many centuries back when she'd taken an unexpected time torpedo in the Second Battle of Sharv and after which finding parts became an issue.

The memory of it only fueled his annoyance, when, once again, nothing appeared on the scanner. All of that would be pointless, if what he feared was true. If there were more Daleks and there were undoubtedly more, all of it would've been for nothing, all of it. They had to be hidden, lost, powered down but they were out there, he felt it in the pit of his stomach. One was bad enough but a handful could rebuild the entirety of the empire in only a few months. He continued to stab at the console with his fingers. The more he scanned the more he thought and the more he reflected on what he'd just come from, and from that the discomfort only grew.

The idea only flashed across his brain in an instant but it was enough. He stopped in his tracks. The greater terror was even bigger than a few Daleks trundling about rebuilding their armadas. He grabbed the monitor and looked at it. A small sigh of relief came from him. That region of spacetime was still empty. Two stars hung there, a star system was there but not that planet, it was still gone. He flipped some more switches. He wasn't giving this up, but he was only one person, and they'd do their damnedest to keep him from finding them. They undoubtedly would see him coming from miles away. The monitor screen flickered and he smacked it slightly with the butt of his palm.

"Do you have any idea what time it - oh, it's you…" the person on the screen said looking up in surprise. She was in a night gown with a black eye mask perched on her forehead. Tufts of graying hair visible behind the mask. "I suppose you wouldn't…"

"No, I don't. I'm sorry if I woke you up." He said half-considerately as he folded his arms over his chest. "I've had the most unpleasant surprise…."

"That must mean something, coming from you." the person on the other side said, as she sat to attention.

"I found a Dalek…" he said turning his back to the screen and pacing back and forth. "An actual real life Dalek…a fully armed and operational Dalek."

"Impossible, I thought…" the person on the other side started.

"Yeah…" He said sharply, turning and facing the screen again. "Apparently, I wasn't as thorough as I thought."

"Does that mean…?"

"No clue, so far I've got nothing from my side. So the hope is, no." He said, his eyebrows bunched, his lips frowning. "But I'd be the first person they'd hide from. They'd do anything to stay out of my way until they were ready. Both sides would."

"I don't know what you want me to do…if you can't-" the person on the screen said, shaking her head.

"I want you to do what you do." He said as he paced back and forth. "Sniff things out, go to places I couldn't go, talk to people I couldn't talk to, do things I wouldn't do. Put your ear to the ground. I know you saw parts of the Time War, you know how bad it was, and how bad it could be if that stuff comes back. You'll see things I can't, you'll catch things I won't. They'll make mistakes that I'll miss but you'll catch…"

"I don't have the resources I used to have, I've kinda retired. You know ever since we lost the-" the person on the other side said.

"I know, but you're clever and determined, plus time agents are always losing their vortex manipulators." He said quickly. He heard the voices of Rose and the boy coming back. "Can you contact me if you find anything?"

"Yeah, I can find you; you make enough noise in the historical record." the voice said. "You know, when it happened I thought…."

"A lot of people did." he said, looking up to the doorway that the voices were coming from.

"I was so relieved when I saw the TARDIS at Crafe Tec Heydra…" the person said. "And I knew it was you, when I saw the carvings…and then I saw you…"

"It was nice to see a friendly face…" He admitted.

"You know, I kind of like this new face." the person on the screen said, the voice trying to be cheeky. She scrunched her lips to one side, appraisingly. "I mean the ears are a bit much…but not bad all things considered. You've got this Northern ruffian vibe going. Not as good-looking as the one I last remember meeting but…then again I love me a Martian invasion adventure followed by…."

"Yes, a lot of people liked him." He narrowed his eyes sharply, and tightened the crossing of his arms over his chest. "Just find out if there's more of them, or if anything else has escaped the lock. Will you, please?"

"Right, ok, I'll keep an eye open." the person on the screen said.

"Thanks a lot. There aren't many left that I trust with something like this." He said, as he saw Rose's shadow on the wall of the hallway. "Be safe, Benny…"

"Like you have to tell me that, when you're the one getting into trouble and finding Daleks." the woman laughed as the screen went dark.

He quickly turned to see Rose and the boy talking to one another as they came back into the console room.

"Were you talking to someone?" Rose asked pointing to the console.

"No, no one…just myself." He said as he tried to look innocent. "How'd the tour go?"

"Impossible…" the boy walked up towards the console and looked at it hungrily and reached out towards the console. "I mean this technology…"

"Is off limits!" He slapped the boy's hand. He shot a glare at Rose. Rose rolled her eyes and gave him a stern look saying 'give the boy a chance'. He shook his head and turned. "Right then, I suppose we should show you what this thing can do." He pushed past the boy and grasped the bicycle pump and started pumping it. "Rose, turn that glittery ball over there about three fourths of a turn."

"Where are we going?" Rose asked happily as she jumped to the console.

"Or is it when are we going?" the boy asked, smugly self-satisfied with himself as he weakly did finger guns to Rose. Rose only shook her head and smiled.

He let out an annoyed grumble and kept pumping. "You'll find out when we get there."