Doctor Who: Changes in Time and Space - Chapter 34: Dalek

Chapter 34: Dalek

The TARDIS materialised in a space that resembled a museum. The Doctor, Rose and Felicia emerged.

“Where is this?” Felicia asked.

“Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground,” the Doctor answered.

“And when are we?” Rose asked.

“Two thousand and twelve,” the Doctor answered.

“G. That's so close I should be twenty six,” Rose stated.

“It's closer to my time,” Felicia said.

The Doctor flicked a switch.

“Blimey. It's a great big museum,” Rose exclaimed.

'You didn't notice this before?' Felicia pondered.

“A great big alien museum,” the Doctor clarified. “Someone's got a hobby.” He began to examine the exhibits. “They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship.”

Rose noticed something else. “That's a bit of Slitheen. It's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed.

Felicia looked. Indeed there was a Rexacoricofalpatorian arm.

“Oh look at you,” the Doctor said.

Felicia looked. The Doctor was looking at a Cyberman's head.

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old.

“Is that where the signal's coming from?” Rose asked.

“No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive,” the Doctor answered. He touched the display, causing an alarm to go off.

“Shouldn't have done that,” Felicia said, as guards rushed in, cutting them off from the TARDIS.

“If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A,” Rose said to the Doctor.

Henry van Statten was annoyed. He didn't like it when he was annoyed. People usually got their memories wiped when he was annoyed! While he was waiting for the three intruders to be brought to him, the 'English Kid' was showing him the items he had bought at auction.

“...paid eight hundred dollars for it,” the 'English Kid' said.

“What does it do?” van Statten said.

“Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think, maybe fuel,” the 'English Kid' said.

Van Statten took the device from the 'English Kid'. It was then that Diana Goddard brought the intruders into the office. “I really wouldn't hold it like that,” the male intruder said.

“Shut it,” Goddard said.

“Really, though, that's wrong,” the male intruder said.

“Is it dangerous?” the 'English Kid' asked.

“No, it just look silly,” the male intruder said as he reached for the device.

As the guards pulled their weapons, van Statten gave him the device. The male intruder stroked the device, causing soothing music to be produced. “You, just need to be, delicate.”

“It's a musical instrument,” van Statten commented.

“And it's a long way from home,” the male intruder stated.

“Here, let me,” van Statten said. He stroked the device. Music came, but not as soothing as before.

“I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision,” the male intruder explained.

It took a while, but van Statten did improve.

“Very good. Quite the expert,” the male intruder said.

“As are you,” van Statten said as he casually flung the alien instrument aside. (He didn't see much potential in it.) He approached the male intruder. “Who exactly are you?”

“I'm the Doctor. And who are you?”

Who hadn't heard of van Statten? “Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake.”

“Pretty much sums me up, yeah,” the 'Doctor' said.

Felicia wasn't sure what to make of this 'van Statten'. 'At least he is focusing on the Doctor,' she thought. Then she heard him refer to Rose and herself as 'cat burglar accomplices'. 'We may be pretty, but the Doctor doesn't just collect people the way he's implying!' But before she get a retort in, Rose got the opportunity.

“One of them's going to smack you if you keep calling them, 'they',” she said.

“One of them's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend,” van Statten said.

Felicia rolled her eyes. “We're both English,” she said playing up her East Anglian accent.

“You can choose,” van Statten said.

'The pig!' Felicia thought.

“This is Mr. Van Statten,” the English boy said.

“And who's he when he's at home?” Rose asked.

“Mr. Van Statten owns the internet,” the English boy answered.

“Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet,” Rose objected.

'He could own a majority stake in a majority of the Service Providers,' Felicia thought. She didn't like the idea.

“And let's keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?” van Stattem said.

“So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything don't understand, you lock up,” the Doctor said.

“And you claim greater knowledge?”

“I don't need to make claims. I know how good I am.”

“And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?”

“You tell me,” the Doctor said.

“The cage contains my one living specimen.”

“And what's that?” the Doctor asked.

“Like you don't know.”

“Show me.”

“You want to see it?” van Statten asked.

“Blimey, you can smell the testosterone,” Rose commented.

“Goddard, inform the Cage, we're heading down. You, English, look after the girls. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet.”

'Just what is his 'pet'?' Felicia wondered.

Adam Mitchell led Rose and Felicia into his office.

“Sorry about the mess. Mr. van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods.” He handed a piece of metal to Felicia. “What do you think that is?”

“A piece of debris?” Felicia answered.

“And not just any debris. It's from the hull of a spacecraft. The thing is, it's all true. Everything the UN tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist.”

“That's amazing,” Rose commented.

“I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe that the universe is just teeming with life,” Adam said.

“I'm gobsmacked, yeah. And you do what, sit here and catalogue it?” Rose asked.

“Best job in the world,” Adam answered.

“So you want to get out there?” Felicia asked. “Go out among the stars and see it for real?”

“Yeah. I'd give anything. I don't think it's going to happen. Not in our lifetimes,” Adam said.

“Oh, you never know. What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?” Rose asked.

“I think they're nutters,” Adam answered.

“Yeah, me too,” Rose agreed. “So, how'd you end up here?”

“Van Statten has agents over all the world looking for genius's to recruit,” Adam answered.

“Genius?” Felicia asked. “Prove it!”

“When I was eight. I logged onto the US Defense System. Nearly caused World War Three,” Adam said.

“I suppose...” Felicia pondered. That sort of thing wasn't really difficult, it just needed knowledge and persistence.

“Well, you should've been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!” Adam said.

Felicia huffed and left the room. 'Irresponsible!' she thought. Of course the same could be applied to van Statten himself. “Now, what sort of stuff does he have here...” She muttered as she decided to try to find his office again.

“What's up with her?” Adam asked Rose.

“No idea, I just met her today,” Rose said.

“Did you just meet the Doctor today?”

“No, we've been travelling together for a while, then Felicia sort of barged in.”

“Are you and him?”

“No, we're just friends.”

Soon, Adam patched through the comm system and he and Rose saw the 'Metaltron' being tortured...

Meanwhile, Felicia found a server room. She wasn't exactly proficient, but the technology was antiquated compared to her time. 'Too bad I don't have the sonic, that would make this easier,' she mused. Someone was sloppy, no one was in the room, but someone had their account open.

“Now... What is happening?”

Soon, Felicia saw van Statten torturing the Doctor. “Doctor!” she called out. Big mistake. That caught the attention of a guard. “Oops!”

Van Statten was still torturing the Doctor, when the guard brought Felicia. “Sir, I caught this intruder hacking in one of the server rooms,” he said.

Van Statten grabbed Felicia.

“Hands off her!” the Doctor directed.

“You can leave,” van Statten told the guard. As the guard left, he turned his attention to Felicia. “What were you doing there?”

“Digging up dirt on you! Then I saw you torturing the Doctor!”

“Corporate espionage, is a serious crime.”

“So's torture,” Felicia countered.

Van Statten turned to the Doctor. 'Fiesty, isn't she.”

Felicia slapped him. “You're lucky it's me that has been doing what I have been doing, and not Jia'hale!” she whispered in his ear.

“Fine, I'll stop referring to you and the other one in the second or third person! You're lucky that I don't want to put you in there,” van Statten said.

Then alarms started blaring, as the Dalek started to run amuck after Rose had touched the casing..

“Repeat, this is not a drill!”

The Doctor glared at van Statten. “Release me if you want to live,” he said.

Felicia's expression brooked no argument. “Whatever he said earlier, you should have listened,” she said.

Soon, van Statten, the Doctor and Felicia were in his office, and Rose and Adam were on the screen outside the 'Metaltron Cage'.

“You've got to keep it in that cell!” the Doctor directed.

“Doctor, it's all my fault.” Rose said.

“I've sealed the compartment. It's can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations.”

“A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat,” the Doctor said.

'I didn't think that they were that smart. Then again, this was a Time War Dalek,' Felicia thought.

The Dalek escaped!

“Open fire!”

“Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed!” Van Statten directed.

“Rose, get out of there!” the Doctor ordered.

Soon the situation was getting worse...

The Dalek absorbed the power from the western half of the United States and downloaded the Internet. And then continued it's escape.

“Tell them to stop shooting at it!” Van Statten said.

“But it's killing them!” Goddard retorted.

“They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on it's bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?

No response. The gunfire soon stopped. Not because they obeyed their Boss's orders, but because the Dalek had 'exterminated' them.

Goddard called up a schematic of the base and pointed at the screen. “That's us, right below the surface.” She pointed down further. “That's the cage and that's the Dalek.

“This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?” the Doctor asked.

“Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them,” Goddard said.

“We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there,” van Statten directed.

The Doctor didn't like that idea! “Leaving everyone trapped with it. Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that?” He pointed to a portion of the schematic. “It's got to go through this area. What's that?”

“Weapons testing,” Goddard answered.

“Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it.”

Goddard nodded.

A short while later... “I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something,” Van Statten reasoned.

“What's the nearest town?” the Doctor asked.

“Salt Lake City,” van Statten answered.

“Population?” the Doctor asked, although he had an idea.

“One million.”

“All dead,” the Doctor paused, to let van Statten take that in. “If the Dalek gets out, it'll murdur every living creature. That's all it needs.

“But why would it do that?”

“Because it honestly believes that that they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, van Statten, you've let it loose!” the Doctor turned to the microphone. “The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot.

“Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot.”

Felicia took the microphone from the Doctor. “Listen to him!”

“I have taken his information into account, miss!”

“Right,” Felicia said with some sarcasm.

The Doctor wondered what Felicia was thinking, but the thought was quickly quashed as he focused on the situation at hand.

Soon the Dalek massacred those forces.

“Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place,” van Statten said.

“Except there is no power to the helipad, sir,” Goddard said with slight snark. “We can't get out.”

“You said we could seal the vault,” the Doctor said.

“It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war. Steel bulkheads,” van Statten said.

“There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive,”

“We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors,” Felicia suggested.

“We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius,” Goddard objected.

“Oh,” Felicia siad.

“Good thing you've got me then,” van Statten said.

“You want to help?” the Doctor asked.

“I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that,” van Statten retorted. “And nobody knows this software better than me.”

Goddard noticed something, “Sir.” The Dalek was on the screen.

'What is it doing?' Felicia wondered.

“I SHALL ONLY SPEAK TO THE DOC-TOR.”

The Doctor noticed the drizzle of water around the Dalek. “You're going to get rusty.”

“I FED OFF THE DNA OF ROSE TY-LER. EX-TRAP-OL-AT-ING THE BIO-MASS OF A TIME TRAVEL-LER RE-GEN-ER-AT-ED ME.”

“What's your next trick?”

“I HAVE BEEN SEAR-CHING FOR THE DAL-EKS.”

“Yeah, I saw, downloading the internet. What did you find?”

“I SCANNED YOUR SAT-TEL-ITES AND RAD-I-O TEL-ES-COPES.”

“And?” the Doctor prompted.

“NOTH-ING. WHERE SHALL I GET MY OR-DERS NOW?”

“You're just a soldier without commands.”

“THEN I SHALL FOLLOW THE PRIMARY OR-DER, THE DAL-EK INS-TINCT, TO DES-TROY, TO CON-QUER.”

“What for?” What's the point? Don't you see it's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for.”

“THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

“All right then, If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself.”

'That's a bit extreem!' Felicia thought. She locked her gaze with that of Diana and shook her head.

“THE DAL-EKS MUST SUR-VIVE!”

“The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the universe of your filth. Why won't you just die!?” the Doctor said raising his voice as he ranted further.

“YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD DAL-EK.” The Screen went blank.

The Doctor turned to van Statten. “Seal the Vault.”

“I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the baulkheads. It's been years snce I had to work this fast.”

Felicia didn't like van Statten's tone. “Are you enjoying this?” she asked. She looked at the Doctor, she could tell that he was about to ask the same thing.

“Doctor, she's still down there,” Goddard said, referring to Rose.

The Doctor picked up the phone and dialed Rose's number. She replied. :”Where are you?” he asked.

A pause.

“You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six.”

Another pause.

“I'm the one whose closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you.”

Felicia could see the pain on the Doctor's face.

“Now for Goodness sake, run.”

A short while later...

“Done it. We've got power to the baulkheads,” Van Statten said.

“The Dalek's right behind them,” Goddard said.

“We're nearly there. Give us two seconds,” Rose said.

“Doctor, I can't sustain the power/ The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got the close the bulkheads,” van Statten said.

Felicia saw the pain on the Doctor's face.'I don't know if Rose survives, don't ask me!' she thought. “Do it,” she said.

The Doctor pressed Enter, causing the bulkheads to lower.

“The vault is sealed,” van Statten said.

“Rose, where are you? Did you make it?” The Doctor asked.

“Sorry, I was a bit slow. … See you then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault.”

'It is my fault, just as it was at the end of the War,' the Doctor thought. He felt Felicia place her hand on his arm as a comforting gesture. She turned to her and saw that her eyes were moist with tears.

“And do you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world.”

“EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” With that, the line went dead.

Diana Goddard didn't like the situation one bit. The Doctor may have been blaming himself, but as far she was concerned, the blame fell one one person; Henry van Statten. She glared at him as Rose Tyler said her last works. As soon as the Dalek's battle cry was heard, Felicia Lovell burst into tears.

“I killed her,” the Doctor pronounced.

That seemed to cause Felicia more grief.

“I'm sorry,” van Statten said.

'No you're not!' Diana thought.

“I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me.”

“It was the prize of my collection!”

“Your collection? Was it worth it? Worth all those men's death? Worth Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater.”

“Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!

“You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old.”

Felicia let out another burst of sobbing.

Felicia was still grieving when Adam entered the office. She was quick on her feet, getting to him before the Doctor could. “You,” her voice was breaking. “You left her behind!” She weakly hit both her hands on his chest, tears still streaming down her face. She felt the Doctor grab her at the sides.

“Easy girl, this is my job,” he said.

“I'm not the one who sealed the vault!” Adam objected, as he pushed her off him.

“Doctor, Felicia,” Goddard called.

Felicia turned, and saw that Rose was still alive. Her grief turned to joy and fear...

“OP-EN THE BULK-HEAD OR ROSE TY-LER DIES!”

“You're alive!” the Doctor exalted.

“Can't get rid of me.”

“We thought you were dead,” Felicia said.

“OPEN THE BULK-HEAD!”

“Don't do it!”

“WHAT USE ARE EMO-TIONS IF YOU WON'T SAVE THE WO-MAN YOU LOVE?”

“I killed her once. I can't do it again,” the Doctor said. He began to reverse the closure of the bulkheads.

Felicia stopped him. “No!” she said with a shake of her head. 'The Dalek being loose is worse than losing Rose!' she thought.

“I wouldn't forgive myself,” the Doctor said, as he opened the bulkheads.

Felicia sighed.

“What do we do now, you bleeding heart. What the hell do we do?” van Statten asked.

“Kill it when it gets here,” Adam suggested.

“All the guns are useless, and the alien ones are in the vault,” Goddard said.

“Only the catalogued ones,” Adam pointed out.

The Doctor perked up. “Lead the way,” he said.

Felicia had stayed behind in the office. She was trying to think of ways to stall the Dalek before it started killing. 'I admit, there aren't many options,' she thought as she looked around the office.

Soon the lift door opened, and the Dalek glided out. “Don't move, don't do anything. It's already questioning itself,” Rose said as she followed it out.

“VAN STAT-TEN. YOU TOR-TURED ME. WHY?”

Van Statten was, understandably, paniced. “I wanted to help you. I just. I don't know. I was trying to help.” The Dalek began to move again, causing him to go backwards. “I thought if we could get through to you, we could mend you.” Van Statten became more paniced as he was pushed against the wall, eyestalk to face. “I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear. I just wanted you to talk!” He had raised his voice to a higher pitch for the last word.

“THEN HEAR ME TALK NOW! EX-TER-MIN-ATE. EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” However, Rose intervened.

“Don't do it! Don't kill him. You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing.” Rose said.”What else is there? What do you want?”

“I WANT FREEDOM.”

Felicia waited before she followed the Dalek and Rose out of the office. She stopped, and saw the Dalek... with it's casing open, and absorbing sunlight directly on its skin... 'That's unusual,' she thought.

The Doctor then arrived on the scene, holding a large gun. “Get out of the way. Rose, get out of the way now!”

“No. I won't let you do this.”

“That thing killed hundreds of people.”

“It's not the one pointing the gun at me,” Rose said.

Felicia walked up to the Doctor, slowly. “She has a point there.”

“I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left.”

“Look at it,” Rose said.

“What's it doing?” the Doctor asked.

“It's the sunlight, that's all it wants,” Rose answered.

“But, it can't,” the Doctor objected.

“It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?”

The Doctor thought. He tried to take in what Rose had just said.

“I couldn't. I wasn't. Oh, Rose, Felicia. They're all dead.

“WHY DO WE SURVIVE?”

“I don't know.”

“I AM THE LAST OF THE DAL-EKS.”

“You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating.”

“IN-TO WHAT?”

“Something new. I'm sorry.”

“Isn't that better?” Rose asked.

“Not for a Dalek,” the Doctor answered sorrowfully.

“I CAN FEEL SO MANY IDEAS. SO MUCH DARK-NESS. ROSE, GIVE ME ORD-ERS. OR-DER ME TO DIE.”

“I can't do that,” Rose objected.

“THIS IS NOT LIFE. THIS IS SICK-NESS. I SHALL NOT BE LIKE YOU. ORDER MY DESTRUCTION! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY!”

Rose hesitated. “Do it,” she said sadly.

Soon the Dalek self destructed...

Shortly afterwards, they returned to the TARDIS, with the additon of Adam, who Rose had invited along, and were on their way, leaving Goddard (who had van Statten arrested, apparently) to seal the vault with cement, and to talk to the families of the dead personnel.