Doctor Who_ The Dalek Factor Part 12

'Possibly. Then there are other scenarios that I don't wish to even consider. Ah! Success.'

Well, part success. The door opens to reveal another empty cell. Then another... and another... all empty. Then 'Ah... what a smell.' As the door opens, the Professor clamps his hand over his nose. 'That's not the aroma of peach blossom'

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I recoil. 'Is that Dalek, too?'There in the middle of the cell, rising from the floor in a pulsing mound, is a creature from which ma.s.ses of tentacles erupt. I see that each tentacle is tipped with a glistening eye. In a moment it has noticed us, and all the eye-tentacles snap in our direction to stare at its visitors. The creature's flesh is a mottling of purples, pinks and glistening whites, and the whole thing is covered with a sheen of slime.

'Yes, they're all Daleks. Either mutated versions of themselves, or creatures that, although alien to them, have been reconfigured... reengineered to incorporate certain Dalek features... Including their very worst feature.' He taps the side of his head.

'Their mind?''Indeed, yes their mind. Hence our friend's statement back there that their hearts figuratively have been made in the image of the Dalek.' Grimacing from the stench coming at us in waves, he stands back. Both of us are grateful when the door reforms in the opening, sealing sight and smell of the tentacled monster from us. 'What we have here is a zoo full of Dalek-hearted creatures.'

'But why abandon them here?''A good question. And my prognosis lies toward the definition of the word: quarantine.'

'Professor?' I'm puzzled. 'You mean''I don't know what I mean, Jomi. I don't know my own name, remember?' He pauses, his eyes are suddenly faraway. 'Only it's coming back. I keep glimpsing images in here.' Once more he touches his temple. 'Like a receiver that's not properly locked onto a transmitter. Tantalising glimpses of memory. Places. Faces. Traces... Now didn't I tell you to shoot me if I started talking in rhyme again?'

He pulls the folded screen from his pocket. I bite my lip. What I don't want to see are images of my friends being tortured. 'Now surely, your comrades are behind one of these doors. But which one? If only what we see here would offer a clue.'

He scrolls pictures of my friends enduring their torments. Captain Vay is exhausted, bleeding from a ma.s.s of facial cuts. Still he fights the apelike creature. Kye continues to struggle to keep afloat in the cell that repeatedly floods with water. Yet again I see her fire into the wall. Water flows through the hole blasted by the weapon. The cell empties. For a few seconds she lays on the sodden floor panting, struggling to recover her strength. Then the process repeats itself all over again. The hole in the wall reseals. Water begins its remorseless inflow... The image scrolls to be replaced by one of Fellebe. Now the maw of the pit has devoured ninety percent of the floor. A yawning blackness that appears to plunge deep into bedrock. Fellebe stands with her back to the wall, her feet planted as firmly as she can on the ever-diminis.h.i.+ng ledge. How long until it shrinks to the point where she loses her footing?

This is too much. Seeing them suffer starts an ache in my chest. I have to turn my face away.

'Professor. Look.'

'Ah, our mysterious friend returns.'

Twenty paces to my right, I watch the white-haired man stroll across the pa.s.sageway. He moves toward one of the black doors. It does not open for him, but he continues walking regardless. For a moment I believe he is somehow melting through the door. Then I see his body is dissolving into flying insects once more. A second later, the figure has vanished. Its component parts go winging by my head and away down the pa.s.sageway with a whine of ten thousand beating wings.

'He got impatient waiting for us to find the right door,' I say with a grim smile.

'Perhaps even a little cantankerous, too.' He rubs his jaw. 'A trait that I'm beginning to remember.' The man takes a deep breath. 'OK, Jomi. He's shown us the way. Let's see if that room will yield its secret to us.'He strides to the door. Immediately, it opens. The moment the Professor sees what lies in there, his face is transformed. That expression... I've never seen a reaction like that before. It sends a wave of ice down my spine.

Turning to look me in the eyes, he breathes: 'I remember remember.'

TWENTY-FIVE.

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I FOLLOW AS HE STEPS THROUGH THE DOORWAY INTO THE CELL. For an instant I hope this is where I will find my fellow rangers. Instead I find nothing alive. Only bones. In the middle of the floor is the skeleton of a giant snake; in life it had coiled around an object with crus.h.i.+ng force to form the characteristic cone shape of a constrictor, coil stacked on coil. Its large skull lies on the floor, empty eye sockets forming sinister shadowed voids. The Professor is moving quickly toward the object that thrusts upward from the centre of the serpent's bones. It is the remains of a humanoid forearm. There's a vivid mental impression of a fight to the death here. Man battles with giant constrictor serpent. Both die. Both remain here to decompose in this grim cell. The man fought to protect an artefact from the creature. Here it is, hanging by a chain from skeletal fingers that are raised up above the ribs of the reptile. I see its silver glint as it sways slightly in a breath of air.

The Professor's eyes blaze with uncanny lights. It is as if what he witnesses has lit in his mind a furnace of memory that rages with searing power. Muscles quiver beneath the skin of his face. He cannot break his wide-eyed stare. His attention is locked completely on the silver object that sways from the finger bones of that upstretched hand.

'That belongs to me.' His voice is almost a hiss.

'A key?'

'Yes. My key! My key that unlocks a box full of time and s.p.a.ce. And worlds.' His eyes suddenly blaze. 'Worlds without end. Forever and ever...' Extending a trembling hand, he gently frees the key chain from long-dead fingers. Just the touch of the key sends a tremor through his body, as if hidden energies pulse within its metal shaft. 'Ah... TARDIS. My dear own TARDIS.' Then his eyes sweep past me. 'Behind you! Dalek!'

Turn. Fire. A blur of movement. My shot rips the Dalek in half, its metallic base somersaults backward to burst into shards against the pa.s.sageway wall. I run for the doorway to see if there are any more. There are. Two are gliding along the pa.s.sageway to my right. I blast them, reducing them to burning ruin. Weirdly, one continues moving toward me, even though my shot has decapitated it. Some dying intelligence within it fires off a wild shot. The ball of raw energy ricochets against the wall like some low-alt.i.tude meteor. The heat singes my hair. My face is scorched, but apart from that I'm unhurt. Raising my firearm, I'm ready to loose off another round at the amputated base unit that still creeps toward me, belching smoke from its torn superstructure. I glance at the magazine beneath the gun. Low power. I've got perhaps half a dozen rounds left in the reservoir. Instead of firing off another precious shot I peer around the corner of the doorway. What's left of the Dalek still trundles forward, leaking body fluids onto the floor in big, brown splotches. Its organic core is dead. The machine is a mindless configuration of electronics, hydraulics and motors that still function... just. It hisses by the doorway, b.u.mps into the left wall at an oblique angle, then slowly wheezes on to a slow-motion ricochet off the opposite wall. As the dying hulk creeps into the distance, I swiftly check that no more of the monsters are coming our way.

'Anything?' the man calls from behind me in the cell.'Daleks. There were two of them but they're not going to worry us now.' I remain on the threshold of the cell where I can keep watch on the pa.s.sageway. 'So you remember now. Tell me what happened to you, Professor?'

'Professor?' The man holds up the key by its chain so he can watch it glint in the light. 'Professor?' He shakes his head. 'No. Call me Doctor.'

TWENTY-SIX.

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I AM STANDING IN THE DOORWAY, ALERT TO DANGER, MY GUN ready. My black suit is scorched and torn. A flash burn tingles on my jaw. Dirt and chlorophyll from my march through the jungle smear my hands and face in greys and greens. And there's the otherworldly figure of the prisoner I encountered here just a few short hours ago the Professor. Or, as he would rather be named now, the Doctor. In the centre of the room is a humanoid skeleton that held the key; it's encircled by the bones of a serpent. The journey here has built secret on secret, question on question, mystery on mystery. Only now, the man holds the key in his hand. I'm beginning to understand that as well as unlocking his memory the key will, figuratively, unlock this world's enigma, too.'Professor ' I begin, then quickly self-correct. 'Doctor. You've encountered Daleks before, haven't you?'

'Oh yes, I remember now. Many times. They are the distillation of cruelty. The epitome of ruthlessness. In a word: evil.'

'Then how did you come to be here?'His eyes are distant, looking back deep inside his newly opened cache of memory. 'I was wandering... lost. So horribly lost. I arrived with a companion.' He fires a glance at the skeleton's arm thrust above the ribs of the snake. 'Have you heard of the coup de grace?'

Before I can answer, he adds: 'But then, why should you have? In torture chambers in France, the poor wretches that were broken on the wheel or the rack were rewarded, when they confessed, with the coup de grace: a stroke of mercy. That is to say, the torturer cut their throat or hacked off their head with an axe. Isn't mercy a beautiful quality, Jomi?'

'How does that relate to your presence here?'

'Oh-so much.'

'Doctor? Where are you going?'

'Time's up. We've got to save your friends.'

As he pockets the key, he runs back into the corridor to try the next door. It opens. Only this time, there is another barrier beyond it. A dark featureless wall... Then I look closer... Featureless, apart from the faintest of round marks. The man I now know as the Doctor slips the screen from his pocket.

'Jomi, look!'Despite a cold dread spreading through my veins, I watch the screen. I see Kye floating amid bubbles. The gun has slipped from her hands. She's limp now. Her eyes stare into the water as she floats toward the bottom of the flooded cell. Dead... That dread becomes deep heartache. My friend... my beautiful friend, Kye... Then I see her blink. Bubbles escape from her mouth.

I turn to the wall that runs immediately behind the open door and understand. 'Stand back!' The Doctor does so as I fire three shots into the wall. It disintegrates with a roar. This is a dam burst. Water floods from the ruptured barrier in a wave higher than my head. Both the Doctor and I are swept down the corridor with the rush of water. Fortunately it dissipates almost at once, presumably into hidden drains. Scrambling back to the cell on my hands and knees, I find Kye lying on her back in the corridor where the outflow has carried her. Wet hair is plastered across her face in a dripping veil. Her chest rises and falls as she struggles to breathe. A cough pushes water from her throat. Reaching her, I gently turn her over so she can cough the water from her lungs. The skin of her face is so cold. I pull her close to me, trying to warm her with my arms. At last her eyelids flicker open.

'She's going to be all right, Jomi,' the man tells me. 'Now we need to find the rest of the platoon. It's vital, believe me. Vital.'

Now we know that they are close by, we open door after door in this section of the building. Next we free Pup from the cell full of vicious, ant-like creatures that have been trying to creep onto his feet and up over his body. After Pup is Rain. She's constantly attacked by a swarm of insects that can mould themselves into humanoid form. If anything, it's the bugs that escape confinement first. The hive again has a.s.sumed my form. My mirror image instantly melts into thousands of insects that buzz down the corridor toward freedom. I help Rain from the cell. She's panting. She can hardly remain upright. The next door opens. Fellebe stands with her back to the wall that lies directly opposite the doorway, her arms flung out at either side of her, as if she's willing her hands to stick to the wall to hold her there. Her feet are twisted to enable her to stand on the narrow lip of floor that remains. Beneath her is the pit that plunges into darkness. Far below, I hear the mournful cry of some beast abandoned in the depths of its subterranean labyrinth.

I grasp the edge of the doorway then extend my hand across the void. 'Fellebe. Grab my hand!'

She shoots me a look, her eyes wild with fear. 'Jomi... Jomi, I '

Then she's gone.

I watch her tumble forward to disappear into the darkness below. Her scream tears at my heart. I try to pull back from the pit, stumbling as I do so. The Doctor catches hold of me to save me from falling after Fellebe. Immediately, he hauls me back into the corridor. A second later, the doorway closes.

There's no time to grieve now. I lunge almost recklessly at the next door. It opens. There in the cell, a b.l.o.o.d.y Captain Vay battles with a muscular ape creature. The moment I get the opportunity, I do it. Firing from the hip, I blast the monster. By the time the flash has gone, nothing remains of the creature but a smear of blackened dust on the far wall.

Captain Vay staggers from the room. All he can manage to gasp is: 'Jomi... Jomi. I couldn't fight any more...' Defeat burns in his eyes.

All four are exhausted. Kye sits on the floor still regaining her breath; water drips from her hair. Pup squats beside her. Captain Vay and Rain lean back against the wall.

Captain Vay wipes blood from a deep cut above one eye. Repeatedly he shakes his head. 'Daleks... We just didn't know they were here in this kind of numbers. We weren't prepared! He checks the pad on his sleeve. 'Comm link's still down. We've got to get back to the shuttle. Then we can call down some real fire power... burn this place to ashes.' Weary to the bone, he looks at me. 'Jomi. Good work. We lost Golstar. Did you find Tar'ant, Fellebe and Dissari?'

'I'm sorry, sir. They're dead. Amattan, too.' The news makes him flinch. I add: 'Sir, the man's here with me. The one we found in the tunnel.'

Exhausted, the Captain raises his head to see the man standing close by.

I continue: 'He's regained his memory, sir. He says he is called the Doctor.'

'Welcome back, Doctor.' The Captain manages to give the man a weary salute. 'It must be something to be reunited with your own past.'

'And my self, Captain.'With an effort, Captain Vay stands straight; blood still seeps from his wounds. This is a man who was brutally close to losing the battle for his life. 'Doctor. Have you any explanation for what's going on here?''What's taking place is a vast experiment. The entire planet's a laboratory.'

'But why didn't our probes detect Daleks in such numbers when they scanned the Quadrille?'

'Because they have expended tremendous effort and material to screen their citadel from any search by hostile forces. Now, tell me, Captain. You were captured by the Daleks?'

'Yes, too easily, I'm ashamed to admit. They locked me in that cell. The others too it seems. Then they tormented us for their own enjoyment.'

'No, not enjoyment. They were running tests on you. Observing how you reacted to challenges. If you survived or not.'

'We did OK, I guess.' The Captain nods at me. 'But we weren't as successful as Jomi here. He was the only one to evade the monsters.'

'Yes, he was the most successful, wasn't he?' Something about the way the Doctor speaks the words makes me glance sharply at him. He seems

to be reaching a new understanding.

Captain Vay flexes the strained muscles in his limbs. 'So, Doctor, what have the Daleks been working on here?'

'Tell him, Jomi.''They are modifying a variety of life-forms so that, in the words of one of the specimens here, they will all possess a Dalek heart.'

'A Dalek heart?'Quickly I run through what happened to the Doctor and me on the journey here from the man's living quarters, including our fiery encounters with Daleks and our discovery of the monstrous test specimens in the neighbouring cells.

Captain Vay shakes his head. 'I can see why the Daleks would exploit slave races on worlds they capture. But why embed their own Dalek thought structure in what, to them, are alien creatures?'

The Doctor eyes are hooded, as if he is withdrawing into himself. 'Because, Captain, Dalek instinct drives them to invade, conquer and occupy every galaxy, every planet, every grain of sand. They have an overwhelming obsession to possess everything that is capable of possession. Rugged though the Dalek is, it can't freely inhabit every environment. So how much better, from their point of view, if they could graft the mind of a Dalek into a fish, or a bird, or an insect, or even bacteria? That way, every living organism could become a Dalek' he gives a grim smile 'a Dalek at heart.'

'Then why haven't they unleashed this programme of modification throughout the universe?'

'Ah, because there you have the irresistible force slamming into the immovable object. Daleks are like a virus. They have no choice but to infect the entire universe with their species. To achieve that, they must mutate in order to adapt to different environments, different atmospheres. Equally, they instinctively despise all life forms that are different from themselves, even if they vary only infinitesimally at molecular level. Ergo: they are driven to destroy or dominate any creature alien to themselves.'

'But these Dalek-hearted creatures wouldn't be different. They would have the same goal. The same loyalties. The same craving for

domination.'

'Indeed they'd share the same goal. But what makes a Dalek a Dalek? The mutant's physical form is different from that of the Dalek, which is not only distasteful to Dalek sensibilities, but dangerous, too.'

'How could something with the mind of a Dalek be a threat to the Dalek race?'

'Now, there, as the ancient saying goes, is the rub.' The Doctor rested his fingertips together as answers evolved within him. 'What if the Dalek experiment here is a success? Imagine, if they create a being that is superior to the Dalek. More cunning, more ruthless. Imagine Dalek Imperial Command asking themselves: "What if our own creation decides we are inferior to it; therefore, we are to be despised... and deposed." What then, hmm?'