Bowman started back up the steps to help, but the Doctor caught hold of his arm fiercely. 'No!'
'Cuttin' Edge!'
'HALT!' The Daleks on the stairwell were also starting to turn, but there wasn't much room to manoeuvre.
Cuttin' Edge, his teeth bared in a savage grin, kicked out at the machinery attached to the chains. It flipped over the stair rail and plunged heavily down into the darkness. The chain snapped taut and the Dalek was suddenly pulled downwards after it, tipping over, the blue glow from its underside strobing across the walls. With a terrible clatter, the machinery, the Dalek and the chains tumbled down the stair well. Then the Dalek struck another that had been rising up from below to help, and together they banged and crashed their way down into the shadows.
'EXTERMINATE!' screeched Dalek X. His blaster ray found Cuttin' Edge and lit him up for all to see, bones glowing, head back. He clenched his teeth and refused to scream, his eyes staying wide open in their sockets. Then he reached out, grabbing the nearest Dalek in both arms. The paralysing neutronic flare engulfed the Dalek as well and there was a startled metallic yell from within.
The extermination beam ceased abruptly. The Dalek dropped to the steps with a loud clang as its elevation unit failed and it started to topple down the stairs, threatening to knock the others down like skittles. They were forced to levitate higher, moving clear of their stricken comrade as it bounced and banged down the stairs, dragging Cuttin' Edge's dead body with it.
'This way!' yelled the Doctor, grabbing Bowman and Koral and hauling them across the landing towards the maintenance ducts. He kicked open a hatch and pushed them through. 'Move! Hurry!'
They tumbled into a narrow passage, pitch black and full of dust. They ran through a curtain of sticky cobwebs, dislodging spiders as big as hands.
Bowman crashed into a solid wall and swore. Koral dragged him away, pushing him to the left, along another narrow passage. Bowman's shoulders banged and jarred along the rough walls, his legs scraping against pipes and electrical ducting. Eventually they fell down a step into a small, rectangular bay. The Doctor switched on a pocket torch and checked they were all right.
'What the hell—' began Bowman, coughing up a lungful of dust.
'Service hatches,' said the Doctor, sweeping the torch beam around. They could see old, discarded tools and junction boxes covered in spiders' webs. 'Maintenance ducts. You know the kind of thing. Used by robots to help keep the place running in the old days. Luckily for us the access tunnels are too narrow for Daleks.'
'But Cuttin' Edge...' began Koral. 'Why did he do that...?'
'He saw where we were,' said Bowman. 'Standing right next to the hatches. He made a diversion so we could get away.'
'It cost him his life,' Koral said numbly.
'Then let's not waste it,' said the Doctor.
Bowman looked carefully at him. 'You've got a plan, haven't you?'
The Doctor grinned widely. 'Oh, yes! Do I have a plan!'
Neither Bowman nor Koral could manage a smile in return; they were still in a state of shock after Cuttin' Edge's sacrifice. But they both felt a surge of hope.
'There is one small snag, though,' the Doctor warned them. 'The plan does rely on us staying alive.'
'We're trapped underground with a squad of angry Daleks on our tails,' Bowman noted.
The Doctor winked at him. 'I never said it was going to be easy.'
TWENTY-THREE
Dalek X did not spare a glance at the dead Dalek as it crashed down the stairwell, dragging the human's corpse with it. No Dalek was capable of lamenting a loss or wasting time rueing an error, the Inquisitor General even less so.
He was, however, furious. And anger was something that every Dalek knew.
'THE DOC–TOR HAS ESCAPED!' exclaimed Dalek X. 'INITIATE EMERGENCY TRACKING SCAN!'
Two Daleks approached the maintenance hatches. One of them was an assault Dalek, and it immediately began to cut away a large section of the wall around the nearest hatch. The other extended its sucker arm, scanning the dark recess beyond.
The Command Dalek had descended alongside Dalek X. 'TEMPORAL SCIENCE TEAM ARE STILL UNABLE TO PENETRATE THE TARDIS.'
'WE NEED THE DOC–TOR! HE MUST BE FOUND!'
The Dalek scanning the maintenance tunnel swivelled its head around. 'HUMANOID LIFE FORMS TRACED IN STATION SUPERSTRUCTURE,' IT REPORTED. 'THEY ARE FOLLOWING THE MAINTENANCE CONDUITS.'
'ASSEMBLE ALL SEARCH UNITS!' ordered Dalek X. 'SEEK! LOCATE! EXTERMINATE!'
The Doctor, Bowman and Koral moved through the tunnels. They wanted to move quickly, but it was difficult in the darkness. The space was claustrophobically narrow, and they kept snagging clothes and skin on sharp, oily ledges and bundles of wire.
'So what's the plan?' asked Bowman, bringing up the rear. He couldn't see anything apart from the jerky movement of torchlight up ahead as the Doctor and Koral struggled on.
'I brought the Daleks to Hurala for a good reason,' replied the Doctor, his voice echoing dully along the conduit. 'And it wasn't the TARDIS. That was just the lure – Dalek X is so greedy for success I knew he'd come here if I gave him a good enough reason. But this place was a refuelling station, remember. There's a number of immense astronic energy piles buried underground. Chances are there is still a lot of residual energy in them – it's impossible to fully drain the tanks.'
'Astronic fuel is extremely volatile,' Bowman noted. 'So we're effectively sitting on a giant bomb.'
'A ginormous bomb,' agreed the Doctor. 'If we can find a way to detonate it, the explosion would not only destroy Dalek X and all his mates, but the Command Saucer and support vessels as well.'
'That would make for quite a dent in the Dalek war machine in this sector of the galaxy,' Bowman realised.
'So hurrah for Hurala,' the Doctor said.
'But it is a suicide mission, surely,' said Koral. 'We will not survive the blast either.'
The Doctor avoided a direct reply, suddenly exclaiming, 'Aha! Here we are...' as he emerged into a wider access area. It was a small chamber, dimly lit by a number of low-level phosphorous strips, and at last they could stand up straight.
Bowman stretched, his joints creaking, but he was careful to avoid meeting Koral's gaze.
'If we must lose our own lives to defeat the Daleks,' she said, 'then so be it. We must avenge the deaths of Stella, Scrum and Cuttin' Edge.'
'I'm hoping it won't come to that,' said the Doctor. He took out his sonic screwdriver. 'First things first, though. Let's find the fuel silo controls. They can't be far.'
As the Doctor began to focus the screwdriver and scan for the control systems, Bowman checked some equipment stacked against one of the chamber walls. There were a number of tools lying around, presumably left by the original contractors who had built the Lodestar station. They were old and dirty and forgotten, but some of them still had functioning power packs.
'Listen,' hissed Koral suddenly. She held up her hand for silence and the Doctor snapped off the sonic screwdriver.
They all heard the distant sound of Dalek voices grating out orders. The harsh words reverberated through the metal tunnels. Echoing, far away, but clearly drawing closer, they heard metallic cries of 'SEEK! LOCATE! EXTERMINATE!'
The Doctor looked serious. 'We're gonna have to fight. We can't let them stop us.'
'But we have no guns,' Koral said. 'How can we fight?'
'Guns are not the only weapons,' said Bowman, with the slightest of smiles at the Doctor. He lifted a heavy piece of equipment, blowing a thick layer of dust off its control module. It was shaped like a large, two-handed power drill. 'This is an ion bolter. It uses focused particle streams to propel ion bolts through plate steel. Crude but effective.'
The Doctor searched quickly among some of the other discarded equipment and came up with a device that looked like a heavy steel hubcap. 'And this is a magnetronic condenser.' He tossed the metal disc towards Bowman, who caught it easily. 'Could be useful.'
There
was a loud bang and crash from the adjoining tunnel and suddenly part of the wall began to glow a fierce cherry red. 'HUMANOIDS LOCATED!' grated a voice on the other side. 'WALL PENETRATION IN TEN RELS!'
'Move!' said the Doctor, leading the way out of the chamber.
The exit tunnel was much wider than the service ducts, and the Daleks would not have a problem following them. They all heard the wall caving in behind them.
A pair of assault Daleks glided through the burning gap. They scanned the surrounding area and set off in pursuit. 'SEEK! LOCATE!'
The Doctor scrambled out of the tunnel onto a wide metal gantry overlooking a vast, black chasm. Koral and Bowman ran straight into him, and the three of them peered over the edge of an old, rusted railing. They could see nothing but blackness.
'Empty silo,' said the Doctor, his voice echoing madly in the darkness. 'No use. Come on!'
They ran to the left, heading around the curved inside wall of the vast silo, just as the Daleks came into view behind them. 'VISUAL CONTACT ESTABLISHED,' reported the first.
'HALT!' yelled the second Dalek. 'SURRENDER! YOU ARE PRISONERS OF THE DALEKS! SURRENDER OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'
'Hurry!' shouted the Doctor as he raced around the perimeter. 'Run!'
The Daleks followed them, trying to manoeuvre for a clear shot. One Dalek rose up from the platform and flew after them, screeching instructions.
Bowman whirled, a look of grim intent on his face. With a heavy grunt, he hurled the magnetron condenser at the flying Dalek like a discus. It whirred through the air and hit the armour casing with a satisfying clang, clamping tight. The Dalek just had time to lower its eyestalk, attempting to locate the device on its body, when the condenser activated and a low whine started to emanate from the disc.
'UNDER ATTACK!' squawked the Dalek. 'LOCALISED MAGNETIC FIELD CONDENSING!'
Suddenly the Dalek imploded, as if crushed by a giant, invisible fist. It was squeezed so hard and so fast that the creature inside was forced through the splits in the metal armour. It squirted away into the darkness in a screaming fountain of slime.
The second Dalek watched the remains of its comrade plummet into the shadows. Then it swivelled its eyestalk back to the fugitives. 'HALT OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'
But Bowman was already running again, hurrying after Koral. The Doctor was sprinting with the sonic screwdriver held out in front of him. The tip glowed a brilliant blue and the doorway ahead of them swung open on old, grinding hinges.
They dived through, and the Doctor hit the deck, rolled, came up and fired the sonic screwdriver back at the hatch in one motion. The door rolled shut just as the Dalek reached it.
'Come on!' The Doctor scrambled down a stairwell, Koral close behind.
Bowman followed, a little slower because he was carrying the ion bolter. The muscles of his shoulders and neck stood out like cables, shining with sweat, but his teeth were bared in a savage grin of delight.
The stairwell went down three levels and then they were in a wide, curved corridor. There were several doors set in the walls.
The Doctor slowed to a jog, scanning with the sonic screwdriver. 'Not far now... should be just through here.'
He opened one of the doors and they went through.
'This silo is still in use,' the Doctor said. 'At least, it still contains astronic fuel. The controls system can be accessed from that panel over there.'
He led the way across a wide gantry that stretched towards a large, central dais suspended over what looked like a bottomless pit. The acrid stench of astronic fuel rose up in sickening waves from far below.
'The Daleks will be closing in,' Koral said. 'They'll signal our position and converge on this spot. We'll be trapped.'
'Yes,' said the Doctor. 'I know.'
'Never mind that,' ordered Bowman. 'Let's get to work.'
The Doctor busied himself at the controls, popping open an access panel and delving into the circuitry beneath. 'The Daleks will get here any minute,' he said quickly. His brows furrowed as he concentrated on the work. 'I've got to bypass the override and set up a feedback loop on the fuel containment field. It'll take – ooh, too long probably – so I'd appreciate it if you could buy me just a little time...'
'You've got it,' said Bowman. He grabbed hold of Koral's hand. 'Come with me.'
The Daleks were tearing the Lodestar station apart looking for the Doctor and his friends. The Command Dalek barked out orders to several different search parties as they spread through the refuelling complex.
Dalek X floated in the centre of an empty silo. His eyestalk revolved slowly, examining his surroundings, analysing, calculating, extrapolating. He scanned the structure using X-ray vision, infra-red, thermal imaging, spectronic diffusion. He compared the information with data absorbed from the sensor apparatus in his sucker arm. Then he downloaded a complete schematic of the Lodestar station from the Exterminator for comparison.
Less than a minute later, Dalek X moved across the silo and examined the access door. It had been locked using some kind of sonic recalibration code. Dalek X extended his suction arm and manipulated the locking mechanism, burning through the simple computer it contained using several million potential combinations in less than a second. The door slid slowly open.
Dalek X knew where the Doctor would be. He knew what he would try to do. He realised that he had been tricked into coming here and that the Doctor would attempt to destroy him and the Exterminator. This was a desperate ploy and doomed to failure.
But a deep, overriding hatred boiled inside the black and gold armour. Dalek X was determined to stop the Doctor, to destroy him at all costs.
And he would do this alone.
***
The access gantry was a wide, thick construction with metal floor grilles covering a ditch full of cables and pipes. Bowman prised up one of the lattice panels and jumped into the narrow channel beneath, beckoning Koral to join him. Together they crouched down in the gap and Bowman slid the grille back into place over their heads.
It was cramped and uncomfortable but they could see clearly up through the flooring.
'The Daleks will have to come this way,' whispered Bowman. 'We stay here and attack when the first one passes overhead. You strike first, disabling it. Then I'll do the rest.'
Koral opened her mouth to ask a question but a grating, metallic voice suddenly echoed across the silo.
'DOC–TOR!' The word was spat across the void with cold purpose.
The Doctor looked up from his work, sonic screwdriver clamped between his teeth. He raised his eyebrows and gave a little wave when he saw Dalek X approaching along the access gantry.
'STAND AWAY FROM THE SILO CONTROL SYSTEM,' ordered Dalek X.
The Doctor removed the sonic screwdriver from his mouth. 'Sorry! Bit busy right now. Why don't you come back a little later?'
'STAND AWAY OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED.'
'I wouldn't open fire in here if I were you,' the Doctor cautioned. 'Astronic fuel vapour – boom!'
'STAND AWAY!'
The Doctor turned his back on the Dalek, working with feverish haste at the controls with the screwdriver. 'I'll be right with you,' he called over his shoulder. 'Just wait there a sec.'
'DOC–TOR!'
The Doctor let out a huge, impatient sigh and turned around. 'Look, what is it? I've already told you, I'm busy.' He waggled the sonic screwdriver to show how busy he was.
'YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS TO STAND AWAY FROM THOSE CONTROLS BEFORE I EXTERMINATE YOU!'
'Don't be daft. Exterminate me and you'll never get the TARDIS.'
'WE WILL BREAK INTO THE TIME VORTEX WITHOUT IT!'
'I doubt that.'
'THEN WE WILL FIND A WAY TO PENETRATE THE TARDIS DEFENCE SYSTEMS WITHOUT YOU. DALEKS ARE NEVER DEFEATED!'
The Doctor's eyes widened. 'Wanna bet?'
The grating slid away beneath Dalek X, and Koral lunged upwards, claws extended. She ripped into the antigravity mechanism under the Dalek's base, tea
ring through the metal and plastic in a shower of angry sparks. There was a flash of energy and the Dalek shuddered, visibly sinking as his power to levitate faded.
'MOBILITY IMPAIRED!' shrieked Dalek X as he crunched down heavily onto the walkway. His gun and sucker arm waved around in sudden panic as he searched for his assailant. 'I CANNOT MOVE!'
Bowman rose up behind the Dalek, clutching the ion bolter. He rested the barrel against the neck grille as the head spun around and Dalek X's eye focused on him.
'HUMAN ASSAILANT!' cried Dalek X, his voice rising in pitch. His shoulder section began to turn, bringing the gun-stick round to bear on Bowman.
Bowman held the Dalek's gaze for a long moment, leaning in so that his face filled the creature's vision. Then, very carefully, he said one word: 'Exterminate.'
And pulled the trigger on the bolt gun.
The gun was set to automatic. A succession of heavy ion bolts rammed through the barrel and into the Dalek's neck.
'ALERT! ALERT! CASING BREACHED!' yelled Dalek X, shuddering as each bolt shot home. 'FORCE SHIELDS INOPERATIVE!'
Smoke and flames began to spew from the ruptured grille and the living thing inside suddenly let out a piercing yell of agony. Bowman switched position, ramming the bolt gun against a different section of the neck, and squeezed the activator. More ion bolts rattled into the Dalek and the whole machine seemed to shake under the impact. Dalek X's cries rose above the crackle and spit of the fire, and Bowman was forced to step back as the skin on his hands began to burn.
But the ion bolter was empty. Every round had been stamped into the Dalek's neck section, disrupting the electrical controls and skewering the creature inside. With a snarl of disgust, Bowman raised his boot and pushed the blazing Dalek X off the gantry. He tipped and then fell, trailing smoke and a bloodcurdling shriek until he disappeared into the darkness.
Prisoner of the Daleks Page 17