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Rachel and Allison stood in the cellar and stared at the alien machine. Rachel’s fingers were itching. Inside the machine were secrets that could reshape the world. She wanted to get in there and have a good look at its guts.

‘The subject obviously is placed on the dais,’ said Allison. ‘Then what?’

‘The Doctor called it a transmat,’ said Rachel. ‘What does that imply to you?’

‘Matter transmission, but that’s...’

‘Impossible,’ said Rachel glumly. ‘You know, after this is over I’m going to retire and grow begonias.’

‘Lovely flowers, begonias,’ said the Doctor from the stairs.

‘Doctor,’ said Allison, ‘how exactly does this thing work?’

‘Don’t bother,’ said Rachel.

The Doctor stepped over to the transmat and casually ran his hand over it. ‘It’s a link for the Daleks, allowing them to beam attack squads on to Earth without anyone knowing it.’

He shook his head and raised the baseball bat as if feeling the weight of it. He smiled and then smashed the baseball bat down on the control panel: metal crumpled, energy flared off the bat, and coloured panels shattered.

There was a stink of ozone. ‘And I don’t want them here just yet.’ He punctuated every word with the baseball bat.

There was a splintering sound and the end of the bat flew off. It ricocheted off a wall and fell at Rachel’s feet. ‘Hah –

weapons,’ the Doctor looked at the remains of the handle,

‘always useless in the end.’

He looked at Rachel. She stared at him. Those remarkable eyes of his were full of energy.

‘Come on,’ he said, ‘there are things to be done.’

Mike came down the stairs smiling. When he saw Ace, the smile became wider.

‘I found this upstairs,’ he said, producing a Dalek eyepiece from behind his back, ‘in the chemistry lab. One of the Daleks seems to have lost it.’

Ace took the eyepiece from him, tossed it end over end and caught it. ‘I wonder how that happened?’

‘Somebody must have knocked it off,’ said Mike, ‘with a blunt instrument.’

Ace tossed the eyepiece up again. A hand snapped out and caught it in mid-air.

‘Where’s Gilmore?’ said the Doctor.

‘He’s coming,’ said Mike, gesturing at the stairs.

The Doctor waved the eyepiece at Ace. ‘It’s dangerous to play with Daleks, even bits of Daleks,’ he said and threw the eyepiece over his shoulder.

Gilmore emerged from the stairwell. ‘The area is clear of Daleks. How should we proceed from here?’

‘I think,’ said the Doctor, ‘before we proceed anywhere, I should consult my assistant.’

He pulled Ace out of earshot. ‘We’re facing a very serious crisis. Destroying the transmat won’t hold the white Daleks very long.’

‘I could brew up some nitro-nine,’ said Ace.

‘I think it’s gone a little beyond that now,’ said the Doctor.

Mike leaned over and said to Allison: ‘What’s he up to now.’

‘Something Machiavellian,’ said Allison.

‘Something what-ian?’

Rachel looked at the Doctor’s back. He was making small sharp gestures; Ace was nodding. ‘I think he’s playing games, very dangerous games.’

Gilmore nodded. ‘He seems to know what he is doing.’

It was said grudgingly.

Rachel looked back at the Doctor. ‘But Group Captain,’

she said, ‘do we know what he’s doing?’

10

Saturday, 15:00

The technological renaissance on Skaro briefly made the ageing planet once again the centre of Dalek cultural life, in so far as it can be said that a race like the Daleks can have a culture. This was its short flowering before the inevitable fall.

The Children of Davros, a Short History of the Dalek Race, Vol XX

by Njeri Ngugi (4065)

It was called the Eret-mensaiki Ska, Destiny of Stars. The flagship of the Imperial Fleet, it was constructed in orbit round Skaro. Elegant in conception and execution it typified the Dalek renaissance.

Now it ran quietly, locked into geostationary orbit by the ceaseless murmering of its thrusters. Passive sensors soaked up data from the planet below like a sponge.

The systems co-ordinator was alone at the centre of the bridge, the Dalek’s adapted manipulator arm plugged into the console before it. Through the interface it monitored the many functions on the vast ship.