Doctor Who_ Remembrance of the Daleks - Ben Aaronovitch [53]
Ace continued to watch as it went past the van towards Ratcliffe’s yard. A phalanx of imperial Daleks followed.
Ace ducked down behind the bonnet.
‘Which blobs do you think are winning?’ asked the Doctor.
‘The bazooka blobs,’ said Ace.
17
Saturday, 16:32
It happened very fast.
Mike and Ratcliffe were ushered outside by the Black Dalek. In the yard, grey Daleks were clustered closely round the Hand of Omega. The girl carried out the time controller and placed it on a trestle in front of the Hand of Omega. ‘Time controller fully operational,’ said the girl.
‘Departure imminent.’
Too bad about Ratcliffe’s plan, thought Mike.
The Black Dalek rotated to face the two men. ‘Destroy human captives.’
‘No!’ shouted Ratcliffe.
The world shook: the yard gates dissolved into an orange ball of flame; heat washed the exposed skin of Mike’s hands and face. Then the noise came, smashing him back against the double doors.
Mike saw Ratcliffe running for the time controller and the Black Dalek twisting to follow his path. A bolt of light hit the Dalek next to Mike; flame blossomed from its top dome. There was a ringing in his ears.
Ratcliffe snatched the time controller and shouted something.
More beams of light streaked through the smoke that masked the smashed gates. Another Dalek exploded. Mike saw the iron fire escape that ran up to the warehouse’s second storey and lunged for it.
The Dalek Supreme was getting confusing sensory input.
Images from the girl’s eyes kept merging with its own optical sensors. It caught a fragmentary glimpse of Ratcliffe picking up the time controller. It tried to shoot, but the double image confused its fire control and the energy bolt went wide.
Incoming fire from the imperial Daleks was intensifying; the renegade Daleks’ defence was disorganized.
The Dalek Supreme’s options were limited. It spat an order at the girl. Recover the time controller.
The blast caught Ace and the Doctor halfway towards Ratcliffe’s yard. Even at fifty metres Ace felt the heat of the fireball. She had been looking at the gates when they exploded, and her eyes were dazzled. Ace blinked, but all she could see was the orange after-image.
The Doctor took her by the hand and she stumbled after him.
Power crackled through the girl’s nervous system. Charged as she was, time went slowly. She easily dodged the blaster bolts that seemed to float through the air. Her augmented eyes zeroed in on the human, Ratcliffe. In a moment she could see everything: the complex organic molecules that formed the fabric of his suit, the interplay of muscle in his shoulders, the constant motion of those absurdly fragile internal organs.
Power bunched up inside her; she flung out her arms to Ratcliffe and loosed it.
Mike heard Ratcliffe stumble behind him. He turned to see Ratcliffe falling forward, crackling blue fire racing along his back. Ratcliffe’s eyes were open in surprise, his mouth worked silently. He held out the burning globe of the time controller.
Mike took it as Ratcliffe fell to the iron steps. At the bottom of the fire escape Mike saw the girl. She was smiling.
The shuttle commander swung to the left of the special weapons Dalek. Its eyestick scanned the yard as it searched for the renegade Dalek Supreme. The shuttle commander took a glancing hit from a blaster bolt and lost three of its sensor globes.
Alarms sounded as the Abomination fired. The radiation discharge overwhelmed the shuttle commander’s shields.
The shuttle commander saw a flash of black in its peripheral vision, and shot forward, compensating for the rough terrain by overloading its motivator.
The distinctive black casing of the Dalek Supreme was framed in the shuttle commander’s aiming reticle. The shuttle commander fired once but the Dalek Supreme shifted sideways and the shot missed.
It tried to line up again, but the Dalek Supreme had turned to bring its own weapon to bear. The shuttle commander’s optical sensors