Doctor Who and the Universe of the Daleks: Chapter 15: Surrounded

New chapter coming in hot!

The elevator door clanked open and the assault team disgorged into a wide, round metal room. Cas kept herself out in front of The Doctor, attempting to shield her most valuable resource. 

It was her first time actually inside a Dalek installation, and it was a daunting experience. She’d never been in such a clean, shiny, brightly lit environment before. It was like being inside one of those old Christmas decorations. 

The walls were slightly angled inward and bronze in colour, the floor plating gun metal. Thick cables ran along the ceiling, with lighting strips on either side. There were three corridors, two wrapping around the hanger tunnel, and one going east. 

She couldn’t read Dalek numbers, but going by the buttons and the number of rows, they were at least seventy stories underground. 

She turned to The Doctor. “Are you sure this is the right floor?” 

“No, but it’s the bottom floor, and had a big red button, so probably,” said the Doctor, shutting his eyes.

Cas scanned the hallways. No sign of Daleks. “Which way?” she asked over her shoulder. Silence. Puzzled, she turned, only to find The Doctor was gone. In of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a figure marching up the north hallway: The Doctor! 

What the—?!?

Cas and the rest of the team ran to catch up. 

Intercoms along the hallway crackled to life: “ATTENTION! ATTENTION! COMMAND COMPLEX WILL BE SEALED IN THIRTY RELS. POWER LEVELS TO MAXIMUM. PREPARE TO INITIATE FIRST STAGE. STAND BY!”

“We don’t have much time!” shouted The Doctor, maintaining his brisk pace. “Alons-y!”

“Keep your voice down, for love of God!” Cas stopped and let her team pass by, mentally name checking each as they did so. Where the blazes was Craddock? Blast! He’d stopped in the middle of the hallway. He was standing on his tippy toes, arms up, touching the ceiling cables. There was some kind of junction box there. “Craddock! Come on, man!” she hissed.

Craddock sheepishly met her gaze, gathered his kit and trotted up beside her. “Sorry, boss. Setting insurance.”

“Stick together!” she snapped. “You know better. We don’t want to get separated down here.”

They caught up with the others as they entered a large, multilevel chamber. A large circular monitor was mounted on the east wall, flanked by a circular interface ports and a passageway. A balcony wrapped around the room about six meters up.. Along the base of the walls were heavy metal gratings, behind which ran thick, insulated cables. A large metal transformer, sixty feet high, dominated the centre of the chamber. Ripples of energy passed up its length. It was set into a trough lined with machinery. 

“What about this?” asked Craddock, opening up his satchel and approaching the column. “It looks important.”

“Perhaps,” muttered The Doctor, approaching one of the monitors. “Voltage conversion for the fission stacks. Only there’s no power running through it.”

“How do you know?”

“Sensitive to energy fields. There’s only enough to keep the circuit active.”

“At least we haven’t run into a Dalek patrol,” said Cas. “Our luck is holding. Sanjay, Ian, watch the exits.” 

Ian grunted and hefted his Phoenix launcher. “Bring’em on, guv.”

The Doctor walked over to the monitor. “Yes, it is convenient, isn’t it? Almost too convenient…” The Doctor placed a hand on the interface panel and the screen swirled to life. “Neural interface. Interesting,” he muttered. The monitor flicked through neon green floor plans in rapid succession. 

Cas and Fiona walked up beside him. “Where next?”

“Susan’s just up ahead. I can feel it. But I want to get a lay of the land before we go in, to be on the safe side. Oh… Now that’s odd—”

The south door clanged shut. 

Daleks flooded into the room from the two eastern passages, the tunnel north, and onto the balcony above, six in total. They were led by a Red Dalek, who emerged from the north east passage.

“YOU ARE SURROUNDED! SURRENDER OR BE EXTERMINATED!” it boomed, levelling its weapon at The Doctor.

Doctor Who and the Universe of the Daleks: Chapter 14: Into The Breach

Welcome to another bite-sized chapter, abridged for the Tik Tok generation! Who says an old tiger can't change his stripes, or medium, or apps, or service provider? Is blogging even a thing anymore?

Wendy stooped down and picked up a large rock, lifting it up using her knees. Proper form was key to avoiding injury. Injury was death. The Daleks swiftly disposed of anyone unproductive. Her work team had been shoring up the hanger tunnel all day. Ten hours? Twelve? They’d been given a ten minute break, then sent topside and reassigned to debris clearing. There’d been a few incidents of rocks damaging the saucers: as they rose out of the tunnel, their antigrav engines sometimes caught up debris in their wake vortice. 

This would be the last shift of the day. Phil and Molly had retrieved wheelbarrows from the work shed depot. 

She walked over to Phil’s and dropped the rock in with a clunk, wiped sweat from her brow, and risked a glance over her shoulder. The Dalek had moved on, checking on other work details to the north. The two robomen unrolled their whips and walked among the slaves, slashing at them if they dared to pause. One was tall with red hair, the other built like a boxer. His name had been Madden. He’d been a slave for several months before he’d been converted. 

He’d always shared his bread ration. 

As he approached, she quickly bent down and grabbed another rock, following his progress out of the corner of her eye.  

As she stood, she noticed another work detail walking out from behind the work shed. It was coming in their direction. Wendy squinted. She didn’t have her glasses, but this lot looked much better fed than was typical. Their clothes, too, were in good condition. And the boots! What wonderful boots they wore, she thought enviously. Several held bundles wrapped in cloth. 

Strange. 

Who were these privileged prisoners? 

Ah. They were actually making for the access shaft. 

One of the robomen peeled off and walked towards her. Madden went to intercept, to confer, as was roboman custom.

They exchanged a few words. Too far away for her to hear. She had to keep busy putting rocks into the wheelbarrow. But she did notice Madden stiffen. That meant he was waiting for orders. Something untypical was happening. The other roboman stepped neatly past him and approached Wendy.

He piqued her curiosity: this roboman moved a little too fast, too surely. 

“Don’t react,” said the burly fellow. His face was stoic, but his eyes! His eyes were lively. Expressive. Wendy looked him over: he wore a pristine flight suit and carried a good deal of equipment, including something wrapped in a sack slung over his shoulder. A shovel, perhaps? He was armed with a submachine gun, and his strong chin was covered in stubble. “You’re Wendy? Just nod.” 

She gaped. He sounded normal! Impossible! Had his helmet short circuited? Had he killed a roboman, and stolen it? Should she alert the other roboman? Would they kill her for failing to?

“My name’s Sergei,” he said with a big, toothy grin. “I’m with your sister. I’m here to rescue you.”

Doctor Who and the Universe of the Daleks: Chapter 13: Sergei And The Pit

No, not that pit. The one in alternative-future Bedfordshire, 2150 A.D.

Sergei peered up over the edge of the construction material disposal pit. There was a work shed directly ahead, and stacks of broken planks to either side, high enough to obscure line of sight. “It’s clear,” he said over his shoulder, and hefted himself up over the edge. “Come on!” He crept over to the shed and peeked out. 

The access shaft was directly ahead, across a muddy field littered with large chunks of rock. The shaft was ringed by metal sheeting mounted on wooden pylons driven deep into the mud. There was a single deeply inset bronze metal door; an open stairwell was beside it with a thin metal railing. 

There was a faint ping. A light above the bronze door lit up, the door swung to the side, and a Dalek hovered out over the metal sheeting, followed by two robomen. They flanked the stairs as a stream of exhausted workers in tattered clothes trudged out and formed a line.

“Pizdets!” swore Sergei softly. No way they could get past that lot unnoticed. Fortunately, that might not be necessary. Ben and Craddock came up behind him. 

Both were wearing silver metal robomen helmets!

In a fabulous stroke of luck, they’d found two robomen corpses under a pile of loose rocks in the tunnel. Both had been shot, and their helmet location beacon smashed. Probably killed by the black marketeers. One of the helmets had been caved in at the back, but if not examined too closely, no one would notice. 

The work team out there was definitely too close. 

He felt a small hand on his shoulder. “Wendy!” blurted Cas.

Sergei looked back at her with alarm. “Ssh! They will hear.” 

Cas flung out an arm and pointed. “That’s my sister,” she hissed, pointing at a petite woman in a torn blue dress at the end of the line of slave workers. “She’s alive!”

Well, thought Sergei, that complicates things. 

Sergei straightened up behind the shed and pulled Cas back with him.

He considered a moment. As much as he wanted to deliver destruction to the Fascist tin pots, he knew the team needed Cas more. The revelation that Cas' sister was alive would break her focus. Family bonds were strong, as Sergei knew. “I will save her,” he whispered to Cas. “You go ahead. Complete the mission. You only need one helmet.” He snapped his fingers at Ben. “Helmet please.”