Doctor Who_ Remembrance of the Daleks - Ben Aaronovitch [41]
The battle computer spat out optimum strategy options.
Recalibrating the time controller would take time; they had to hold the Imperial stormtroopers until they could escape.
After that, Time would belong to them.
The Doctor threw himself on Ace. They both went skidding along the corridor floor. Blaster fire stitched a pattern where Ace had been standing.
‘Close,’ said Ace.
‘Stay down,’ hissed the Doctor.
‘This isn’t part of the plan,’ said Ace, ‘is it?’
Another bang and a light fitting hissed overhead.
‘That’s very perceptive of you.’
Rachel crawled over to them; one lens of her glasses had cracked.
‘Hallo, Rachel,’ said the Doctor. ‘Coping?’
‘I’ve done this before.’
‘Really, when?’
‘Summer of 1940.’
‘The Battle of Britain, wicked,’ said Ace. ‘What was it like?’
‘Not now, Ace,’ said the Doctor.
Gilmore walked over and looked down at them. ‘You can get up now,’ he said. The Daleks are withdrawing.’
Abbot cautiously poked up his head from behind the wall of sandbags. The Daleks had turned and were leaving the playground, one of the destroyed ones belching a black oily smoke. Abbot slipped down again and leant against the wall. Fumbling in his pocket he pulled out a crumpled packet of woodbines and extracted a cigarette. He found a box of matches in Faringdon’s pocket and lit one. It was difficult to light the cigarette because his hands were shaking. Abbot took a deep drag, and looked over at Faringdon. The soldier was missing his head.
Quite suddenly, Abbot began to cry.
Ace stared out of the window in the chemistry lab. ‘They’re retreating, all of them,’ she told the others. She leaned out of the window. ‘Wimps!’ she shouted.
Rachel stared at the girl in disbelief. What does it take to shake this child? What kind of future is it that produces children like that?
‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘we’ve had a report of a radar contact.’
‘On a re-entry curve from low orbit?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’ll be an imperial Dalek shuttlecraft,’ said the Doctor.
‘They’re not landing a spaceship here?’ asked Gilmore.
There was a rumble like thunder overhead.
‘Here?’ said the Doctor. ‘No. We’re much too far from the main action.’
The rumble was getting louder. Fragments of glass began to vibrate on the workbenches.
‘You’re sure?’ asked Rachel.
Ace was staring up at the sky. ‘Whoa,’ she said.
‘Ace,’ yelled the Doctor, ‘get away from the window.’
Ace came scrambling over the benches to them. The rumble grew until it filled the room. Something blotted out the light. Instinctively they all ducked under the nearest bench. The window blew in, splinters of wood and glass burying themselves in the walls. Superheated gas screamed into the classroom. The noise was unbearable.
Something huge and technological travelled past the window.
Rachel found herself face to face with the Doctor. The noise cut out suddenly.
‘Well?’ she cried.
‘I think I may have miscalculated,’ said the Doctor.
13
Saturday, 15:50
There was the crunch of powdering concrete. The shuttle rocked once on its suspension before settling. The imperial shuttle commander ordered the main doors unsealed.
Two scouts raced out to take point position. Their onboard sensors swept the playground. There was battle damage. Preliminary data indicated conflict between renegade Dalek forces and native military personnel.
Warrior section one unshipped from the port-bow module and filed swiftly away from the shuttle. The shuttle commander cautiously deployed them in defensive positions. Once the immediate area was secure, sections two and three deployed as a phalanx.
Orbital intelligence indicated that the main renegade staging area was 3500 metres to the east; native resistance was expected to be minimal. The shuttle commander’s tactical computer showed orbital images of the local conurbation. Three optimum routes were picked out in neon green.
The shuttle commander decided to use all three routes.
Section one would travel north, section