Nyssa carried the Doctor up from the chamber into the freezing air of the hillside. Given his size & dazed senses, the little she could do was to prop him over her left shoulder & encourage him to walk. Passing the jaws of the mine entrance, Nyssa was thankful to be out in the open air. Watching their steps on the frozen ground, Nyssa guided the Doctor over to a large rock where he sat, nearly falling backwards over the opposite side.
"Burned through most of my mental defences like it was childs play." he said, his eyes swivelling about in their sockets. "Formidable..."
Catching her breath, Nyssa sat to the right of the Doctor. More to ensure he didn't fall again, he was much heavier than she expected & a rest was not uncalled for.
"Doctor, what happened in there?" she asked.
"A pocket history to the unnamed planet." he blurted out. "Isn't from here, this universe that is, neither are those monsters."
Pitching forward, the Doctor rested his face in both hands. Several seconds went by & Nyssa was soon worried that he had fallen asleep when he jumped up, nearly slipping as he did.
"What are we doing sitting about!?"he said, alarmed. "We've got to get to the Tardis before this planet takes us to whatever nightmare it passed to get here!"
"I'm not an athlete!" retorted Nyssa. "I had to carry you as best I could up & out of the mines."
"Why didn't you just use the Temporal Shift?"
"I tried!" said Nyssa. "It's energy levels are low & I didn't know the exact location of the Tardis. I'm not even sure how far away we are from it."
The Doctor fished into his pocket for the device & began to tinker with it. Nyssa watched the Doctor for a few minutes before tilting her head back to look at the sky.
"There!" came the Doctor's voice. "It's past the point now, I'm afraid, but the kronostalthite should do us one last spacial hop. I can't lock on to the Tardis exactly-oh don't give me that look Nyssa-It'll get us within 1 or 2 miles of it, then we can make a beeline for the good ship Tardis."
The flash of light that announced their arrival was far weaker than it had ever been before. No arcs of electricity accompanied the forming ball of energy & once the Doctor & Nyssa did appear, they soon found themselves six feet off the ground.
"Oooff!" growled the Doctor, landing atop an outstretched root.
Nyssa, landing atop the Doctor & bouncing off, rolled a few feet before merely sighing.
"I'm starting to wonder if you're doing this deliberately, Doctor..." she said."
"It's not my fault that Dalek's spacial geo-scanner's not up to snuff." he said, wincing at the pain in his back. "That'll explain why it arrived in the lower atmosphere & fell to the planet."
Standing up, the Doctor helped Nyssa & then checked the small screen on the Temporal Shift with his plastic compass.
"Tardis in that direction." he said, pointing north. "One last mad dash & we're home free."
They had taken but a few steps when a rustling in the bushes behind them was immediately followed by a scream.
"Exterminate!"
The blast sent out went wide, exploding on the branch of a tree above Nyssa's head. Letting out a yelp of surprise, she felt herself being pushed forward by the Doctor.
"We've got to get out of here!" he cried.
"You cannot escape me, Doctor!" croaked the Dalek, letting loose another deadly blast of energy. "You will be exterminated!"
Ducking between branches & tree trunks, the Doctor & Nyssa fled as fast as they could. Every now & then, a blast would whizz by or explode just behind their feet. Craning her head over her shoulder, Nyssa saw that the Dalek was moving remarkably fast despite the terrain & natural obstacles that blocked it's path. Another blast of energy was enough to force her to concentrate on fleeing.
Darting behind a large rock, the Doctor grabbed Nyssa & pulled her behind just as a bolt of energy collided with it, sending sparks & red hot chips of rock into the air.
"How much energy you got left?" the Doctor shouted over the rock.
"Enough to exterminate you with!" came the staccato reply.
"That's what I was worried about."
In truth, the Daleks energy supply had now dropped below 10%. It would have to end this soon.
Pointing ahead, the Doctor took off, dragging Nyssa along. They were safe until the Dalek rounded the corner of their cover. As they fled through a maze of oak trees, the Doctor & Nyssa stopped dead in their tracks.
The Drone stood fifteen feet ahead of them.
"How-how did it find us." said Nyssa, aghast.
The Doctor stood staring in horror. The Tardis was still not in sight & there was no way they were going to be able to outrun or outmanoeuvre this creature.
As the Doctor gaped, a cry of "Exterminate!" brought Nyssa to her senses & grabbing the Doctor, dropped to the snowy forest floor.
Gliding into the clearing, the Dalek stopped. It's white iris narrowed as it focused in on the sight of the Doctor & Nyssa prone & the black dragon looming ahead.
"You." it said, a mixture of awe & disdain evident in it's tone.
The Drone, tilting it's head, let loose a high, cold screech. Echoing out through the snow covered trees, the Drone suddenly darted to it's right. Using the trees for cover, the creature launched forward on all fours, ducking & diving under various blasts of deadly energy. Closing the distance, the Drone grabbed the Daleks sucker stick & bent it over with such force that it snapped in two. With a heavy shove, the creature knocked the Dalek back several feet before disappearing into the cover of the trees.
Seeing the battle taking place, the Doctor & Nyssa took their chance & continued their flight. Seeing this, the Dalek attempted to aim a shot at them, only for the Drone to attack once more.
With a furious crash of it's claws, the Drone smacked & battered the dome of the Dalek, dents & bumps soon forming. Lowering it's head, the Drone opened it's mouth & launched it's pharyngeal jaw into the dome of the Dalek, bursting the metal through. Inside, the mutant looked up with alarm at this breach & anger flared a burst of energy, the Dalek swivelled around & fired blast after blast into the mid-section of the Drone. The creature was soon steaming from the ferocity of the attack, various welts & open wounds bleeding acid blood onto the fallen snow, but it was clear to the Dalek that it's energy was weakening. In one last ditch effort, the Drone launched itself forward, jaws wide & claws extended.
The Dalek fired.
Acid that spurted forth coated the front of the Daleks chest skirt section, grossly twisting & warping the Dalekanium. The smell of melted bonded-polycarbide filled not only the forest air, but the interior of the Dalek machine.
The mutant however, was far from beaten.
Cresting a hill, the Doctor & Nyssa stopped to catch their breath. The snow whirled & danced in front of them, sometimes being sent in a new trajectory by the strength of their vaporous puffs of air. The Doctor, placed a shading hand over his eyes, peered into the murky darkness of the the clearing below.
"I can see the glow of the Tardis from here." he said, determinedly. "Come on!"
Descending the hill, Nyssa found it an easy climb. Thanks to the thickness of the trees above, very little snow had fallen onto the forest floor. The most they had to contend with now was the fallen leaves.
Reaching the bottom, the Doctor began to rustle forward through the leaves when a familiar voice sounded.
"Halt!" shouted the Dalek. "Or you will be exterminated!"
"If we halt we'll be exterminated anyway so not a very convincing argument!" retorted the Doctor, ducking behind a tree. Looking to his left, he saw Nyssa had found cover in a bush.
"You just want a clear shot & you aren't getting it."
The Dalek descended into the clearing & from the Doctor's position, it had clearly won it's battle with the Drone, but at a cost. The metal & spheres of the skirt section were severely warped & in some places, the internal mechanisms & machinery were visible. The gun-stick was untouched, but it's sucker stick had been broken off & one of it's ears had been smashed.
The Doctor was about to talk again when a high-pitched whine filled the air. He saw out of the corner of his eye Nyssa clutching her ears. The Dalek, however, remained eerily quiet.
Silence took hold of the clearing once again.
"What new trickery is this?" croaked the Dalek.
"I didn't do anything." said the Doctor with a look of confusion. "It's the planet!"
As the Dalek began to speak, a riotous, monstrous roar shattered the silence. The thud of heavy feet rumbled through the clearing & the Doctor watched, his eyes wide with shock, as the Queen surged into the clearing. Knocking trees over in her wake, the Queen snarled & rumbled ominously as she advanced.
Inside it's machine, the Dalek frantically checked it's instruments. It had enough for two energy blasts & that was it.
Twisting around, the Dalek fired a blast of deadly energy at the new arrival. The blast struck the Queen's head crest, sending large droplets of acid rain over the various trees & bushes in the vicinity.
With a howl of fury, the Queen took several long steps forward & swiped a sinewy arm across the Dalek. Seemingly with little effort, the Dalek was flung skywards, three long gashes appearing along the back of it's skirt section as it sailed through the air. As it continued it's journey, the mutant let one final blast of energy loose, which connected again with the Queen's head crest.
"Into the Tardis!" cried the Doctor.
Needing no further inducement, Nyssa hurried ahead of the Doctor & flattened herself across the blue box's entrance. The Doctor, upon reaching her, fumbled for the key & soon opened the door. Nearly falling into the bright white console room, the Doctor quickly shut the doors behind him as Nyssa dropped to her knees.
"Those monsters are relentless!" she gasped.
"Which, the Dalek or those Xenomorphs or whatever the Dalek designated them as." replied the Doctor as he dashed over to the scanner control. With an electronic whine, the scanner screen lifted & the Doctor & Nyssa watched as the final events unfolded.
The Dalek landed crumpled & bowed in a holly bush. Desperately craning it's dome around, sparks of electricity danced about the dome as it's white iris focused in on the long legs of the Queen marching forward. Resigning itself to death, the Dalek let the dome slide listlessly, the eye-stalk resting atop a sturdy branch.
Looming over him, the Queen bellowed furiously at the battered Dalek & ducked her head for the coup de grace.
Through the various alarms blaring from various systems, the mutant inside caught the sound of several words, crackling from it's beacon.
"Shuttle-craft...inbound."
A sudden explosion of retrorockets encompassed the clearing & caused the Queen to wheel around toward the sound. Descending through the trees, the Shuttle-craft shunted aside branches & blasted away legions of dead leaves, clearing it's landing zone. With a defiant roar, the Queen stood at the ready for the inevitable attack as the shuttle landed with an almighty crash.
The ramp smashing to the ground, the first to emerge was a Black Dalek with white spheres around it's skirt section, the Dalek Supreme. Quickly following it was the Gold Dalek & many different shaded Grey Daleks. Fanning out, the Grey Daleks began to let loose blasts of energy at the Queen creature.
Roaring with a mixture of fury & pain, the Queen charged forward, trampling a Grey Dalek underfoot as it did & smashing another against a tree. The Dalek Supreme arrived at the battered remains of the Dalek & placed it's sucker arm over one of it's few undamaged skirt spheres.
"Energy transfer, engaged!" boomed the Supreme.
Slowly, life came back to the battered machine & it quickly began to cough & splutter as it spoke.
"Use...flame units...energy not enough to kill her." it croaked.
With a twitch of it's sucker stick, the Supreme wordlessly gave orders for the Gold Dalek. Turning, the Gold Dalek gave it's orders.
"Dalek units will switch to flamethrower attachments! Drive the creature away!"
Swivelling it's dome, the Supreme's eye-stalk lingered on the blue box several feet further into the clearing.
"The Doctor is here?" it asked, alarmed.
"Yes...he has escaped...to the Tardis." came the Dalek's stilted reply.
"He will meet his death yet." boomed the Supreme.
Behind them, the Grey Daleks had done as ordered & the gouts of flame issuing forth caused the Queen to recoil &, eventually, turn and flee into the darkness of the forest.
Automatically activating the Daleks hover unit, it followed behind the Supreme as they retreated to the shuttle craft.