The Doctor sat inside the cockpit of the ship. The Pentallion Core installation seemed an easy job, but his mind was still distracted by what the Dalek had said. Every now & then, he'd make a mistake, catching his fingers on a live circuit or placing a connection into the wrong slot. Such was his distraction that he did not here Nyssa enter.
"Doctor, are you all right?" she asked.
A sudden bang indicated his surprise & he shuffled out from the innards of the cockpit console rubbing the back of his head.
"If I wasn't before, I'm definitely not now." he said irritably. "...sorry, that was rude of me."
Nyssa merely smiled as she sat on the pilots chair & the Doctor sat in the opposite one.
"You're bothered by what the Dalek said, aren't you?"
"No, not in the slightest." replied the Doctor, a little too quickly.
Nyssa & the Doctor stared at one another for a moment, before the Doctor sighed heavily & let his shoulders sag.
"I don't like being compared to them, less so when it's a Dalek doing the comparing. Even the Dalek hated making the comparison, I could hear it in it's voice, but it still had the gall to do it. They always know where to pinch,where to jab, where & how to twist the knife so it hurts a little more. They get that from their creator..."
The Doctor trailed off, staring at a point just to the right of Nyssa's head. Silence descended upon the cockpit for a time. There were many things she wished to inquire about, but recognised it wasn't the right time. Delving too deep into the Dalek's history right now would likely sink the Doctor further into melancholy. Eventually Nyssa crouched next to the Doctor & placed a comforting hand on his arm.
"Think of all the ways you're different from the Daleks before you condemn yourself for the similarities. You're a good man, one of the best I've ever known."
The Doctor turned, his expression betraying how touched he was by Nyssa's words. Placing a hand over her's, he patted it gently before returning his gaze to the cockpit window.
"Thank you. It's silly to be getting like this, I know. But in all my travelling days all I've ever really wanted to do was just that, travel. See new places, meet new people, adventure, fun. But when the Daleks appear from around the corner, things become deadly serious. People die, lives are torn apart & it's always up to me to put a stop to them. I get this feeling that I'll be fighting them to the end of time...and even I won't go on forever."
"You make it sound like they're your worst enemy." said Nyssa.
"They are." said the Doctor, definitively. No pause, no hesitation, he did so with absolute certainty & no second guessing. For a moment, Nyssa was taken aback.
"I always thought the Master was your worst enemy."
Pfft, he certainly thinks he is, but it depends on your definition of worst when it comes to him. If ""worst"" is ""a ham-fisted pain in the backside"" then the Master certainly is that."
"True." smiled Nyssa. "But he's still incredibly dangerous."
"So is a lobotomised monkey at the wheel of a JCB." sniffed the Doctor. "Hang on...I know what you're doing, Nyssa of Traken. It's my patent technique to distract my companions when they get scared or upset & you're using it on me!"
"Learn from the best and you shall be too." beamed Nyssa.
"Who said that." said the Doctor curiously.
"Maleos of Velahaln, the 32nd Keeper of Traken."
"Sounds like a clever chap."
Knight sat in a passageway of the ship massaging his neck. He wondered if he'd be feeling that monsters grip on his throat for the rest of his life. It still shocked him how strong it was. To have picked him up by the throat whilst restraining his weapon hand, it was horrible. He had felt close to soiling himself, if not for the Dalek's coming back to life. That said, the young woman, Nyssa, had been at great pains to say that if the Dalek had managed to fire a killing shot, it would have killed him too. Either from the splatter of acid blood or the Dalek's ray washing over him too.
"Speaking of which." he muttered as he saw the Doctor & Nyssa making their way along the passage.
"Knight, is it?" said the Doctor upon reaching him, Nyssa passing by & heading for the ramp. "I'd like to ask a favour of you."
Knight eyed the young man suspiciously. He was intelligent & he certainly had guts to go into that hive & get out again, but Knight still had an element of bias against his seeming youth.
"Depends on what it is, spose."
"I'd like you to hand over the detonator to the C4 you gave Marveck."
"What!?" Knight said, snapping his head up & looking at the Doctor in alarm. As quickly as he reacted, he seemed to calm again & returned to staring at the floor. "I spose he told you."
"Yes, and he managed to plant the bomb before the Queen...well before she got him."
"If that's so, then what earthly reason could I have for handing it over to you?" asked Knight.
"Because I'm not all that keen on being blown up by someone who has clearly lost hope." said the Doctor, bluntly.
Anger flared in Knight at the mans remark, before it subsided.
"I'll not deny it. I've nought to smile about nor hope for, but I'm not likely to just blow us all up on a whim. You got the core after all, didn't you?"
"I did." answered the Doctor. "I'm also asking you to hand the detonator over because I have a suspicion that I'll need it."
Knight gave the Doctor a quizzical look.
"You don't think the core'll work, do you?"
"Oh I'm certain it will." said the Doctor nonchalantly. "I'm just worried about outside interference."
"The ships ready to go, all you need do is pile everyone in & get her started." said the Doctor.
"Finger's crossed." said Telly, turning & heading up the ramp.
The Doctor & Nyssa stood watching as the last of the colonists embarked aboard the ship. Out of the corner of her eye, Nyssa noticed a worried expression on the Doctor's face. For a moment, she thought his earlier melancholia had returned, but she soon dismissed it. It was something else, something to do with the ship.
Looking over her shoulder, Nyssa saw the Dalek by the door. It's dome had just finished returning to it's vigil at the doorway & she found herself wondering if it had been watching them. Her mind then turned to their next predicament. Once the Colonists were safely away, what would happen to her & the Doctor once they returned the power source to the Temporal Shift? The Doctor had been in no two minds about what the Dalek would do, but had elaborated little on how they'd escape imminent death.
Returning to the office, the Doctor grabbed hold of a lever by the door & pulled it. With a riotous screech of metal & grinding of gears, the roof of the repair dock began to separate. Slowly, the roof split in two & snow began to drift into the building, the dark clouds hanging ominously above them.
With a sudden eruption of flame from the engines, the ship burst into life. Gusts of wind blasted anything not held to the floor into every corner of the room. The Dalek, still by the door, seemed unaffected & uninterested.
The Doctor & Nyssa watched as the ship lifted some 10 feet off the ground before a high pitched whine pierced through the air. Nyssa clutched her head & heard the Dalek shouting.
"Alert! Alert! Anomaly detected! Alert!"
Beside her, the Doctor did not seem bothered by the sound &, as the ship slowly descended, before hitting the ground with a heavy slam, he slammed the lever back into place, but the roof remained separated.
"I knew it." he muttered, casting an irritated look towards the roof. "It won't let them leave."
Before Nyssa could question him, the Doctor exited the office & headed straight for where the ships ramp would descend.
After a few minutes, the ramp fell open & Telly emerged. To Nyssa, she seemed excessively pale.
"What's going on Doctor, the ship, it wouldn't...then this sound..."
"Is there any of the Professors material on board." the Doctor asked suddenly.
Telly, still somewhat befuddled, merely gaped at the question. It was Brett, also pale, who took up the question from the top of the ramp.
"No Doctor, we haven't touched or even looked at the Infinitium since before all this happened. Wasn't any need, really."
The Doctor turned & went back to the office. Entering, he picked up the Temporal Shift device & returned to the main area.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow this for a minute."
The Dalek twisted around from it's vigil, it's gunstick raised.
"You will go nowhere with the Temporal Shift!"
"There is an Entity on this world stopping the colonists from leaving & I need the Temporal Shift to get to it. I can't waste time in a flying rubbish skip when those creatures could launch an attack any minute!" retorted the Doctor.
"Entity? What Entity?" demanded the Dalek.
"Oh, so there's something you didn't know then?" the Doctor said, mock-surprised. "There's an entity which is tied to the creatures & it is stopping the ship from leaving, I must go & communicate with it."
"I have no guarantee you will return, you will not leave with the device." croaked the Dalek.
The Doctor clamped his eyes shut & sighed in frustration. A sudden explosion from the vent above the interior door & many, echoing screeches & growls sent everything into chaos.
"Everyone into the ship!" cried the Doctor.
The few colonists who had exited fled back into the depths of the ship. The Dalek & the few security men left stood guard by the ramp & waited for the next wave of creatures.
Racing to the cockpit, the Doctor found Telly & one of the pilots who had taken them to the temple seated in the pilots chairs.
"Do you have a communication device or a walkie-talkie!" asked the Doctor, hurriedly.
"Um, yes here." Telly said, fumbling at an alcove above the co-pilots chair.
"Will it work at distance, say the mines?"
"Well-I don't see why not." replied Telly.
"Keep the other one close & when you hear from either Nyssa or myself, start the ship up & get out of here."
"What about you guys?"
"We'll be alright." said the Doctor, disappearing back into the gloom of the ship. "Good luck to you all!"
It was a Warrior. It lived to defend the Hive from any threat & to be the Vanguard of any attack. It chafed under the task it had been appointed by it's sister-Queen. Despite being a task far more suited to a Drone or Worker, it could not deny her will. The wounds inflicted by the scaly one had been crippling, such that battle was the last thing it could hope to engage in.
Examining the stump where it's left hand had been as it climbed, the Warrior bared it's teeth in anger. The memory of the lizards pyrrhic victory burned hatefully in it's mind. It desired nothing else than a chance to revenge itself.
Crawling along the side of the Repair Dock walls, the Warrior shuffled it's load, held in the crook of it's bad arm, so as to gain purchase on the ledge of the roof. It's balance had been badly hampered with the loss it's tail & on more than one occasion, the Warrior had faltered in it's climb. Craning it's head over, the Warrior bore witness to the battle now starting on the floor below. The Silver One stood with the humans, it's killing light glancing off of the Warriors many kin surging forth from the vent & doorway.
It decided then & there. Once it's duty had been performed, it would challenge the Silver One.
Glory or freedom. It was the only choice left.
The Doctor found Nyssa still at the loading bay watching the furious battle taking place outside. She was the only one there, the surviving colonists having fled further into the depths of the ship.
"Nyssa, I'm going to need your help." said the Doctor.
"Of course." replied Nyssa.
A lull took hold in the proceedings, allowing the defenders to shore up their defences once again.
"We'll have to go back into the ship, we can't let that Dalek know we're going to use the temporal shift."
Retreating further back into the depths of the ship, the Doctor & Nyssa stopped near the sick bay. The colonists had all fled to various rooms aboard the ship, terrified of the onslaught taking place outside.
"Where are we going?" asked Nyssa.
"To the Mine." answered the Doctor, fiddling as he did with the device. A loud bang outside indicated an explosive had been used.
"I thought you scanned it & didn't find anything."
"I scanned it for anti-matter & didn't find anything."corrected the Doctor. "That doesn't mean there isn't something there. I thought it might be similar to the entity I encountered on Zeta Minor, but it's obviously something quite different...except for one thing."
"The pit that Marveck & Telly mentioned?" replied Nyssa, a concerned look on her face.
"Exactly. It may simply be an entrance to it's home, it's lair, a conduit for conversation, a gateway from this world to another, or just simply a big dark chasm. The possibilities are numerous. I'm hoping it's a conduit, of course it'll mean I'll have to enter it."
"Will it be safe for you to do such a thing?" said Nyssa insistently.
The Doctor finished fiddling & presented the device for Nyssa to place her hands on.
"I've really no idea, Nyssa." he replied. "But I've a few contingencies should it prove otherwise. Now, place your hands on this & we'll get underway."
With a last look of worry, Nyssa did as she was asked & the Doctor clicked a button his fingers had been resting on. With a blinding, electric blue flash, the two disappeared.