Chapter 23

"Exterminate!"

Barbara shot up from her bed gasping for breath. Her skin was drenched in sweat making her nightgown cling to her skin. Her hair that was normally well taken care off was all over the place as her eyes wildly scanned the bedroom she had in the Tardis for the Dalek. There was no blue glowing blue lens or the dome lights flashing as it screeched out its favourite word out at her.

Her right arm stretched over to the bedside table pressed into the wall beside her bed. Blindly she searched the table for the lamp. Her first attempt was a failure as her hand landed on her hairbrush on the table.

Grumbling to herself in annoyance she once again searched the table for the lamp. She kept blindly searching for the lamp.

"Urgh where is the blasted thing." she grumbled as she kept searching for the lamp.

Finally., after blindly searching for the lamp she found its cold metal circular base. On sensing her fingers brushing the sensitive touch pad the lamp came to life. It filled her bedroom with the soft golden light.

Groaning, Barbara rubbed her face with the palm of her hands as she sat up on her bed. Removing her hands from her eyes she could see her bedroom that Susan had given her within the Tardis. Being able to see her room in the soft golden light eased her worrying.

Looking around her bedroom in the golden light of the lamp she could see that it was like the rest of the Tardis. It was much bigger than it should have been. Her bedroom shared the same design as the Tardis in that the walls, floor and ceiling were white and there were roundels on all of the walls.

Her room had simple furniture in it. A large wooden cupboard with circular symbols graved into its wooden surface was pressed against the wall on the far side of her bedroom. After their first adventure Susan had shown her to the Tardis's massive wardrobe. That wardrobe had clothes from all time periods of Earth along with clothes from different planets. Susan had allowed Barbara to pick up as many clothes and outfits as she wanted. It wouldn't do her well if she only had the clothes she was wearing from the school and they were still traveling around time and space. So Barbara had picked as many outfits from the wardrobe that looked similar to what she normal wore. She needed a sense of normality as she travelled with the Doctor.

A wooden desk was also in her room. On the desk there was more of those circular designs engraved onto its surface like the cupboard and the strange symbol that Susan had drawn onto Ian's casing. A notepad turned diary was opened on the table. Since her travels in the Tardis had started she wrote in her diary every day.

A wooden chair was pushed in close to the wooden desk. Her jacket that she had worn while on Skaro was draped over the top of the chair.

In the corner of her bedroom was a tall coat hanger. Hanging from one of its claws was a large winter coat that was made out of real fur. Her stomach had dropped when she found out that it was made out of real fur, but she didn't say anything about it. The coat had been a gift an English king had given her after helping rescue his daughter from a power-hungry law. Susan had also gotten a jacket to match hers while Ian had gotten a sword. A sword that he wont be able to use now that he was a Dalek.

"Just a dream. It was just a dream." Barbara said to herself as she felt her heart slowing down within her chest. "There is no Daleks out to get me. The only Dalek in the Tardis is Ian. And he wont hurt you." she kept whispering as she reassured herself of that.

She swung her legs over the edge of her bed. The bed was the comfiest bed she had ever slept on. And she had not thought that a bed in the Tardis would be comfy. The floor of her bedroom was cold under foot.

"Those awful Daleks." she sighed to herself as she once again rubbed her face with the palm of her hands. "Nothing from Earth could compare to what they have done. Destroying their home. Trying to wipe out the entire Thal race. What they have done to Ian." she sighed as she stood up from her bed.

She quickly walked over to the coat hanger in the corner of her bedroom. He bare feet patted along the cold floor to the coat hanger. Standing in front of the coat hanger she reached for the fur coat. She tugged the fur coat off the coat hanger. The coat hanger wobbled after she removed the coat from it.

Barbara wrapped the fur coat around her shoulders as she stepped away from the still wobbling.

Barbara was walking out of her room without her thinking of what she was doing. She did not know where she was simply following the soft lights that glowed from its walls. The labyrinth of corridors were quite at this time of night. Well, she assumed it was night. It was hard to tell what time of day it was while in the Tardis.

For Barbara it didn't need to be night. Her body and mind needed rest after everything that happened on Skaro.

Barbara was still walking without thinking. The soft wall lights her only guide within the Tardis. She didn't know what she was looking for or where she walking to. She just wanted to walk

The soft lights led her to a fork in the corridor. Barbara stopped in her mindless walking as she looked between the two corridors. One of the corridors was bathed in a creeping darkness. Looking down that corridor made the hair on her arms standing like coldness had engulfed her, even under the fur coat she was wearing.

Wrapping herself more in the fur coat she looked down the other corridor. This corridor was bathed in the soft light like the rest of the other corridors she had walked down. Unlike its sister corridor it was much more welcoming. Which was strange to Barbara as all the corridors in the Tardis all looked the same. She was surprised in herself that she had managed to get this far into the Doctor's ship already.

Once again her legs were moving without her thinking of where she was going. She kept following the soft warm lights that lit the corridor in their warm glow.

Her bare feet slapped into the cold metal floor of the Tardis as she kept walking down the corridor. Her thoughts where a thousand miles away as she simple followed the corridor.

She kept following the corridor she couldn't go any further. Blocking her path was double round doors. Once again she saw those circular symbols drawn onto the door's surface.

The round doors shuddered as she stopped before them. Barbara couldn't help but step back as she watched the doors slid open to reveal an impressive laboratory.

Once again Barbara was moving before she could comprehend what she was doing. Taken small steps she walked deeper into the Tardis's laboratory. The Tardis's laboratory was much bigger than the science department back at Coal Hill.

Barbara turned her head left to right as she looked at all the many wooden benches pressed in close to the laboratory's walls. On every bench there was scientific equipment that she was familiar with and just as many she was not familiar with.

Not only was there scientific equipment on the benches there was also strange items. Items that the Doctor had collected on his travels through time and space. Many of them she did not recognise. No doubt items from the Doctors travels before she and Ian had joined them. Then there was some that she did recognise because at some point without her seeing the Doctor had grabbed a Dalek dome.

The Dalek sat upside down on one of the many workbenches in the laboratory. The many wires inside the horrible Dalek machine had been torn out and connected with a strange flashing box that also rested on the table.

Barbara couldn't help the shiver that shivered down the entire length of her spine as she looked at the blue glowing lens. The Doctor no doubt been playing around with it in his attempt to get a better understanding of Dalek technology.

Quickly she looked away from the Dalek dome on the bench. Her attention was drawn to the far end of the laboratory. "Ian." she couldn't help whispering to herself on seeing him.

She approached him with small slow steps. His casing was opened allowing her to see his mutated tentacled body. She dry swallowed upon seeing all the wires that connected him to the computer beside his casing. It was not just him that the wires were connected to. There was a nest of wires connected to his organic body and his casing. She'd never seen so many wires before.

Managing to tear her eyes away from the horrific sight of Ian connected to all the wires to one of the computer screens beside him. Annoyance bubbled up inside her when she saw more of those circular symbols.

On all their travels they could understand what was being said and written. No matter what planet or time period of Earth they could understand the language. The Doctor had explained that it was the Tardis. He had explained to her and Ian that the Tardis could translate any language both spoken and written. So she was confused as to why the Tardis was not translating the Doctor and Susan's language.

On the computer screen there was also a diagram of the Dalek casing. She didn't need to understand the language to know that the computer was looking over Ian and all the inner workings of a Dalek casing.

Barbara fascinated by what she was seeing on the screen stepped closer to it. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the very heart of the diagram of the Dalek casing on the screen. A red blob in the very heart of the casing. Stretching out from the main red blob were many small tendrils that were spread all throughout the casing.

Barbara's eyes flicked between the computer screen and Ian himself. He looked like a deflated ballon while he slept. She wondered what he was dreaming about. She also wondered what it was like to become a Dalek. A dark thought that had crept into her mind as she looked at what the Daleks had done to him.

Deep in her thoughts she did not hear the soft footsteps of someone else entering the laboratory and slowly walking towards her.

"A little late for a midnight walk?"

Barbara gasped as she spun around. Her eyes widened when she saw the Doctor quietly walking up to her. "Doctor I'm-"

The Doctor chuckled as he stopped beside her, "There is no need to apologise my dear."

Barbara relaxed as she looked away from him back to Ian who was still asleep. His single eye closed. Tentacles that were not connected to any wires or the casing itself had wrapped around his body. While sleeping, Ian looked peaceful even after everything the Daleks had done to him.

"Couldn't sleep?" the Doctor asked her.

Barbara engulfed in the fur coat still shivered as she looked at Ian's melted face. Looking at the phantom of Ian's face her mind remembered what he had looked like when he was human. A small tear formed in the corner of eyes as she could just make out his face.

"Yes. I kept dreaming about those Daleks." she managed to say as she shivered into the fur coat. She looked to the Doctor standing beside her. "Since we started travelling with you, I never thought we would meet creatures so evil."

The Doctor hummed while he rubbed his chin in thought. "There are many evil creatures out there, my dear. Humanity has proven to be just as evil as the Daleks in many times. Sometimes I do wonder what who is really worse than the other." he replied back to her.

"I know that humanity can be nasty, Doctor." Barbara couldn't help but snap back to him. "Just look at Earth's history. But those Daleks they were just so different to anything from Earth. They hated anything that was not like them, just like the Nazis and other groups."

Barbara looked away from the Doctor and back to Ian. She was surprised that he was still sleeping. Even with them talking and being close to him he still managed to sleep. He must have needed to sleep more than she had thought. "But the Thals were not any better. Look at Calavius when he first met Ian and then Thalea." she continued to speak to the Doctor.

"Indeed. Indeed." the Doctor mumbled as he also looked to Ian. He watched in silence as Ian's side expanded and then deflated with every breathe that he took. His breathing was accompanied by the ventilator hissing.

The Doctor's attention was brought back to Barbara as she asked, "There is so many wires connected to him. Are all Daleks like this?"

"Unfortunately, they are." the Doctor sighed back to her. "The original occupant of the casing looked a bit more humanoid. It still had hands and feet. Unlike Ian." he continued to explain to her.

Barbara looked away from Ian to look back to the Doctor. "Then why does Ian look like that?" she asked him as she pointed to the still sleeping Ian.

"I am not sure as of yet Barbara." the Doctor explained to her. "Right now I have found that the casing has become vital for Ian's survival." he continued to explain to her.

Barbara tightened her hold on the fur coat as she took in what the Doctor had just told her. "So he cannot leave the casing at all?" she finally asked him while she kept staring at Ian.

The Doctor sighed as he placed a hand on Barbara's shoulder. "I do not know yet. Right now I am still trying to understand what exactly the casing does for Ian. It is like what Ian had said when he first went into the casing; it is like a hospital ward." he explained.

Barbara sighed as she looked at Ian. He was hooked up to so many wires and cables. Then there was also some of his tentacles that were hooked up to the casing itself. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat when she managed to look away from him. Keeping under the warmth of her fur coat as she looked to the Doctor.

The pair fell into silence while the laboratory still made noises. From the computers beeping to the hissing of Ian's ventilator that aided him in breathing. There was also the noises that the Tardis was making, as if she was reassuring the four travellers that everything was going to be alright.

"Doctor, do you know what any of those do?" Barbara asked breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of them.

"Hm?" the Doctor asked looking to her.

"The wires that are connect Ian to the casing?" Barbara asked as she pointed to the many wires that were connected to Ian.

The Doctor removed his hand from Barbara's shoulder as he stepped closer to Ian. He leaned in closer to the lump of flesh that had once been a human man. There was no reaction even with him moving closer to Ian. The Doctor sighed at how deep in sleep Ian was. Ian at this point could sleep through a warzone without being woken up.

Still leaning close to Ian, the Doctor looked away from the lump of flesh that was Ian back to Barbara. Still looking to her, the Doctor pointed to a thick cable that was inserted into Ian's right side. "This cable here provides Ian with all the nutrients that he needs. It is connected to a tank deep inside the casing where we can fill it with what he needs. I am still trying to work out what is in the liquid currently in the tank. But once I know what it is I will be able get the food replicator to make the same later on." he explained to Barbara.

"So he can't even eat food?" Barbara asked him with disgust. She couldn't look away from the cable that was feeding Ian. Her stomach churned at the thought of the gruel that Ian had to eat in order to stay alive.

"It is connected directly to his stomach, Barbara. I don't know if we could remove it. There is too much unknowns with the Dalek technology. The only thing that is certain is that it gives him the nutrients that his body needs." the Doctor gentle explained back to her.

The Doctor looked away from Barbara as her face twisted into one of disgust. Once again he was pointing to an IV line inserted into Ian's left side. "And this one here is providing his body with a cocktail of medicines." he continued to explain to Barbara.

The Doctor ignored the sob Barbara made as he continued to explain what the other wires and cables that were connected into Ian's flesh done.

"Dalek technology is brutal." the Doctor said with a scientific delight that only a scientist would have with what had happened to a friend. He stood to his fuel height while still looking to Ian who was still asleep despite how close he had gotten to him. Humming to himself he stepped away from Ian and looked back to Barbara. "But it is truly fascinating to see the advancements in technology that a race does in order to win a war and then survive." he said to her.

"It is not fascinating, Doctor. It is horrible." Barbara cried making the Doctor step back away from her. Tears streamed down her face as she looked to him. "How bad was this war that the Daleks done this to themselves?" she asked.

"War makes monsters out of everyone who fights in them." the Doctor coldly responded back to her.

Barbara wrapped the fur coat around her more as she stared at Ian. He was still asleep despite the pair of them talking and being so close to him. Even after everything that happened to him he could still sleep. Her mind couldn't help but question itself if Ian knew what all those wires and cables were doing for him.

"My dear," the Doctor said suddenly closer to her, "I believe that it is getting late. We all need to rest after all the adventures that we have been in the last couple of days. And right now that is exactly what Ian and Susan are doing."

Barbara did not say anything or struggle as the Doctor lead her out of the Tardis's laboratory. Her mind was still swirling with everything that she had learned. The first time she had seen the Daleks she had thought that they were machines. Machines that the Daleks had created but had outlived their creators. Instead, there was a living creature inside of the metal casings. A living creature that had destroyed everything about themselves in order to survive and win a war.

"Doctor?" Barbara said as she and the Doctor approached the double doors of the lab. Her only response from him a hum, a sign that she could continue with her question. "I was wondering if we are really going to know what started the war between the Thals and the Daleks? And what both sides done in order to win. Because back on Earth, wars are not won by being nice. Both sides end up doing something horrible to themselves or their enemies."

The Doctor kept walking as he responded, "I don't think we will ever learn what started the war on Skaro, Barbara. All we know is that the Daleks and Thals hated each other. Their hatred was that bad that their war turned to nuclear that nearly killed everything on Skaro. But the nuclear fallout from the war had mutated both the Daleks and the Thals."

"The Thals were not mutated, Doctor. They looked just like us. We could have mistaken them for being human." Barbara said to the Doctor.

The Doctor gave her a small chuckle as they walked out of the Tardis's impressive laboratory. Once they had cleared away from the doors closed behind them both with a loud thud.

The loud thud of the doors closing gained Barbara's attention. Still walking beside the Doctor she looked over her shoulders to see the laboratory doors closed.

"My dear Barbara." the Doctor chuckled gaining Barbara's attention. He waited until she was not looking at the doors anymore but at him before he continued. "Did you not notice the scaly formations on every Thals that we meet?" he asked her.

"What are you saying, Doctor? That the Thals like the Daleks had been mutated?" Barbara asked him.

The Doctor chuckled as he led her to the fork in the corridor. "You thought that the Thals had been spared the deadly touch of nuclear fallout?" he asked her with a chuckle.

Barbara shock her head as she kept walking beside him. "No. I know that the Daleks said that the Thals had been mutated as well. I just didn't believe them. I just assumed that because they were aliens they would look slightly different to us. So hence the blue and yellow scales." Barbara replied back to him.

The Doctor stopped walking. He stared at her as if she had grown another head. "Us? Whatever do you mean by that?" he scoffed back to her.

Barbara hearing that the Doctor had stopped walking found herself also stopping. Turning to face him with confusion spread on her face as she couldn't help but ask him, "But you are human? Your just from a different time and planet, but you are still human. Aren't you?"

"Not even close." the Doctor chuckled back to her. "Me and Susan may look human but can assure you, my dear that we are not human." he said with a more series tone as if being referred to being a human was a bad thing.

The Doctor chuckled as he started walking ahead leaving a stunned Barbara behind him. His smile got larger as he heard Barbara shouting, "Then what are you Doctor?"

"Oh, I am just an old man." the Doctor chuckled as he kept walking ahead of her. He heard her bare feet slapping the metal floor of the corridor as she followed after him. "An old man who stole a Type 40 Tardis with his granddaughter so that they can both see the universe together." he continued to chuckle as he lead the way down the labyrinth white corridors.

Barbara stopped walking beside the Doctor. She watched him continuing to walk down the corridor and further away from her. She could hear him chuckling softly to himself as he continued to walk away from her. "Are you ever going to tell us anything about you are? Or are you going to remain a massive secret even as we remain together in this ship?" she shouted after him.

The Doctor kept walking as he said over his shoulder, "Only time can tell if I will ever share my secrets, my dear."

Barbara sighed as she tightened her grip on the fur coat. "You are an impossible old man, Doctor." she muttered to herself as she followed after him.

"What was that my, dear?" the Doctor asked her from in front of her.

"Nothing, Doctor." Barbara responded back to him when she finally caught up with him.

Once again silence feel between the pair as they continued to walk along the white corridors of the Tardis. Even under the warmth of her fur coat Barbara still felt cold. Her mind went over everything that had happened to her and Ian since they had joined the Doctor in his journey. In such a short amount of time her world had been changed into something that she did not recognise. One that she didn't understand really well.

During their silent journey through the corridor Barbara's mind raced over many things. Maybe she and Ian should have sent a letter to the Doctor about their concerns for Susan, instead of barging into his life back in Totters Lane. Totters Lane and Coal Hill High School felt like it had happened a thousand years ago, but in the Tardis it was hard to tell how long it had been.

It didn't matter how long it had been since they started travelling with the Doctor they really should not have barged into the Doctor and Susan's lives. If they had had kept their noses out of their businesses their lives would not have been put in danger from cavemen and Aztecs. And Ian would not have been turned into a Dalek.

"Doctor?" Barbara asked the Doctor as they got ever closer to the bedrooms. "If and when we find our way back to the right time of Earth can you promise me that you will keep Ian safe? That is if we cannot find a way to undo what has been done to him?" she asked him.

The Doctor stepping in beside her gentle placed his hand on her shoulder as he gentle reassured her, "My dear, I will do everything I can to return you home. As for Ian we are still working out what has happened to him."

Barbara sighed as she looked away from the Doctor.

"Now my dear," the Doctor said as he looked at an old watch on his wrist, "I believe it is time that we both get some sleep. Both Ian and Susan have had the right idea a couple of hours ago."

"I suppose you are right." Barbara said back to him before a yawn betrayed her on how tired she really was.

The Doctor gave a small chuckle as they both once again started to walk down the Tardis's corridor. He and Barbara didn't say anything as they walked through the maze of corridors of the Tardis.

Inside the Tardis laboratory there was a mechanical beeping almost like a heartbeat as the computers monitored Ian wrapped in the middle of a nest of wires. The beeping of the computers was joined by the hissing of the ventilator that aided Ian in breathing. There was also the soothing noises that the Tardis was making. Her way of soothing her passengers after a trying adventure on Skaro.

Despite all the noises polluting the laboratory Ian was still deep in sleep. With the aid of the casing's ventilator he took stead deep breathes keeping his blood filled with oxygen. His heartbeat to a steady beat inside his deformed body.

Slumped into the corner of the inner section of the casing Ian had found the most comfortable position. Tentacles that were connected to any of the many computers inside of the casing along with the wires that connected him to the computer in the labs, wrapped around him. An attempt for him to keep warm while his casing was opened.

A sudden shiver shivered down his body The computers connected to the Dalek beeped a warning as the screens turned red.

All of Ian's tentacles twitched as he woke up. His yellow eye was narrowed as he scanned the laboratory he was in. With a wheeze through his lungs, his eye closed and his body relaxed into the furthest corner of the casing. His tentacles once again wrapped around his body as he drifted back to sleep.