Nyder crossed over to them. 'Take the prisoners to the cells. You can finish the questioning there. Davros wants them kept safely.'
As the guards bustled them away, the Doctor glanced longingly behind him. The Time ring still lay among the odds and ends on Ronsons desk...
Sarah's faint lasted only a few minutes. She awoke furious with herself—she'd always believed she was the sort of girl who never fainted. As consciousness returned, she heard low whispering voices. She decided to fake unconsciousness a little longer. Two cloaked and hooded figures were crouched beside her, one huge and massive, one thin and spindly. The big one touched her cheek with a misshapen hand. Sarah lay perfectly still. When the figure spoke, its voice was deep and gentle. 'She is beautiful... no deformities or imperfections.'
The smaller figure had a shrill whining voice. 'She is a norm, Sevrin. All norms are our enemies. Kill her.'
'Why?' asked the deep voice sadly. 'Why must we always destroy beauty, kill another creature because it is different?'
'Kill her,' the other voice insisted. 'It is the law. All norms must die. If you will not kill her, I will.' The creature produced a knife from under its cloak and long, incredibly thin arms snaked out toward Sarah.
Sevrin moved protectively in front of her, grabbing the knife wrist. For a moment the two creatures struggled. They broke apart as they heard footsteps and muffled voices. 'A patrol,' muttered Sevrin. 'They're sure to check the building.'
The smaller creature squeaked in panic. 'We must get away.'
'No,' said the deep voice authoritatively. 'Keep still. If you move they'll see you.'
But the slighter figure was already on the move, scuttling spider-like along the wall. From the darkness a voice yelled. 'Halt!'
The glare of a spotlight pinned the shuffling figure. 'Don't move,' ordered the voice, and the sound of booted feet came closer. Suddenly the spindly creature made a run for it. A single shot rang out and it dropped to the ground. Two fairhaired Thal soldiers came forward, one carrying a hand-beam, the other an old fashioned single-shot rifle. The first shone his light on their kill. 'Only a muto. You wasted your ammunition.'
The soldier with the rifle began to reload. His companion swept the torch-beam along the wall. 'Here, there's a couple more of 'em.'
The torch-beam lit up Sevrin crouching over Sarah's body. The soldier with the rifle took aim,but the other stopped him. 'Hold it. Remember orders. They need expendable labour for the rocket loading.' He shone the torch on Sevrin, pulling the mutant to his feet. 'This one's not so bad. Got all it needs to walk and carry.' Sevrin stood meekly, making no attempt to resist. The soldier shone the lamp down on Sarah. 'No reason this one can't work. Looks almost a norm.' He poked her in the ribs with his foot. 'Come on you, up you get.'
Sarah got slowly to her feet. So much had happened since she'd come to that she was still confused. She staggered a little as she stood up. The soldier with the rifle called, 'No good, this one's too weak and slow. Better let me finish it off.' He raised his rifle.
Sevrin stepped in front of Sarah, shielding her. 'She'll be all right, I promise. I'll help her.'
The soldier hesitated, then nodded. 'All right. Then move.' He gestured with the rifle. Sarah stumbled into the darkness, Sevrin supporting her.
She felt better once she was moving, and was soon able to walk unaided. The soldiers herded them across the Wastelands for what seemed a very long way, until at last they came to within sight of a huge dome-covered city. It was very like the one Sarah had seen earlier with theDoctor and Harry, though the design was slightly different. She nudged Sevrin. 'Where's that?'
He looked at her in surprise. 'It is the city of the Thals.'
They were taken through a guarded access tunnel, along endless concrete corridors, and herded into a huge, bare cell. Small groups of prisoners like themselves were scattered all over the room. Most were cloaked and hooded like Sevrin—mutos, as the soldiers had called them. But there was also a sprinkling of raggedly uniformed, dark-haired Kaled soldiers. Sarah supposed they must be prisoners of war.
Sarah and Sevrin joined the rest of the prisoners, slumping down on the floor, backs against the wall. Sarah looked around and shivered. I wonder why they've brought us here?'
'I heard the soldiers say they needed workers for their rocket project. I don't mind working. They may even feed us.' A nearby prisoner leaned across to them. He was a Kaled soldier, very young with a bleak, bitter face. Although neither of them realized it, he and Sarah had met before. The Kaled had been leader of the patrol which had emerged from the Kaled dome to capture Harry and the Doctor. Later he had been captured himself by a Thal raiding party. He gave Sevrin and Sarah a pitying look. 'You'll work all right, muto. On the kind of job that kills you just as sure as a bullet will.'
'What work?' asked Sarah.
The young Kaled seemed to take a gloomy pleasure in breaking the bad news. 'The Thals have built a rocket. Used up the last of their manpower and resources in one final gamble. If they manage to launch it they'll wipe out the Kaled city and most of the Kaled race in one blow.'
Sarah gave him a puzzled look. 'So what are we needed for?'
'They're packing the nose cone of the rocket with distronic explosives. To reduce weight, they're using no protective shielding. Every load we carry exposes us to distronic radiation. After two or three shifts you feel weaker. Eventually you die!'
Sarah looked at him in horror. Before she could speak a siren blared out and the prisoners shuffled wearily to their feet. She turned to the Kaled. 'What's that?'
'Rest periods over—time to start loading again.'
A Thal guard came over and prodded them to their feet with his rifle. 'All right,' snapped Sarah. 'No need to push!' She joined the long line of prisoners shuffling out of the door. Already her mind was busy with thoughts of escape.
The prisoners were marched through corridors and tunnels and finally into a huge concrete enclosure. Sarah caught her breath. Towering far above them was the deadly silver shape of the Thal rocket. The base of the rocket was supported by a framework of scaffolding, its nose-cone touched the roof far above their heads. Sarah guessed that a section of the dome would slide back at the moment of firing. Meanwhile the rocket was securely hidden inside the Thal city dome.
Sarah noticed that the guards in here wore all-over radiation suits, gauntlets and masks. She saw too that there was a dial inset in one wall, and that the final third of it was shaded red—presumably for the danger zone.
A steel door slid back and a small lifting-truck emerged, driven by a radiation-suited guard. The truck was loaded with ingots of some dull, silvery metal, and as soon as it entered the rocket silo, the needle on the radiation dial began climbing slowly toward the danger area.
By now the prisoners had been formed into a line, with Sarah and Sevrin somewhere near the end. One by one the prisoners lifted an ingot from the truck and, hugging it to their bodies, staggered over to the doors in the base of the rocket. When it came to Sevrins turn, he lifted the ingot with ease and set off with it. Sarah was next. She hesitated, reluctant to touch the ingot, but the guard threatened with his rifle, and she was forced to pick it up. It was astonishingly heavy for its size and she had to hug it to her body to carry it. The ingot in her arms, Sarah stumbled toward the rocket doors.
In a tiny windowless cell in the Kaled bunker, Harry Sullivan sat on a bunk and waited. It seemed ages since they had taken the Doctor away. The longer Harry waited, the more worried he became. At last he heard the thump of booted feet in the corridor outside. The cell door clanged open and the Doctor was shoved in by a guard, who promptly shut and locked the door behind hin. The Doctor threw himself on the bunk with a groan of relief. Harry perched on the metal stool beside him. 'How did you get on, Doctor? Are you all right?'
The Doctor gave him a weary nod.
'Did you tell them anything?'
The Doctor managed to grin. 'I told them everything, every bit of scientific gobbledyg
ook I could think of. They took reams of notes. Their scientific experts will be confused for weeks!' The Doctor chuckled. I learned more from them than they did from me!'
'What about this Bunker, Doctor? Where are we? What's it all for?'
'Most of the place is underground, like these cells. It's a few miles from the main Kaled dome, bomb-proof and completely impregnable to attack.'
'What are they all doing here?'
The Doctor yawned and stretched, rubbing his bruises. Harry guessed that the security guardshad given him the occasional thump to loosen his tongue.
'Years ago the Kaled government decided to form an elite corps. All their leading scientists, plus security men to protect them. Over the years, this Elite has become so powerful that now it can demand anything it wants...'
The Doctor stopped talking as they heard someone approaching outside. 'Perhaps it's the tea,' he said hopefully.
The door opened and Ronson appeared in the doorway, a guard behind him. He entered the cell and turned to the guard. 'It's all right, you needn't wait.' The man hesitated and Ronson snapped, 'I am armed. You can stay on duty outside.' The guard nodded and closed the door. Ronson looked at the Doctor stretched out on his bunk. 'I hope they didn't hurt you too much. I'm afraid I was unable to interfere.'
The Doctor waved a dismissive hand. 'I'm all right. The main thing is that you saved me from being the very first victim of a Dalek!'
Ronson started. 'How did you know that name? Just a few minutes ago, Davros announced that his new device would be called a Dalek—an anagram of Kaled, the name of our race.'
'I have a certain advantage, in terms of Time,' said the doctor solemnly. 'In fact the reason I came was because of—well, let's say future concern about the development of the Daleks.'
Ronson sank wearily on to the end of the bunk. 'I too am concerned,' he confessed. 'Others feel the same, but we are powerless.'
The Doctor sat up, leaning toward him. 'Perhaps I can help. But you'll have to trust me.'
Ronson glanced toward the cell door and dropped his voice. 'We believe that Davros has changed the direction of his research into something immoral. The Elite Corps was formed to produce weapons that would win this war. But soon we saw that was futile. Already the weapons used had begun to cause genetic changes. We were forced to turn our attention to thesurvival of our race.'
The Doctor nodded grimly. 'Meanwhile the early products of these genetic changes—the mutos—were banished to the Wastelands?'
'That's right. Davros believed this trend was irreversible, so he decided to work with it, to produce accelerated mutations in an effort to find our final mutated form. He produced what he calls the ultimate creature.' Ronson rose to his feet. 'Come with me, Doctor.' He rappedon the door and the guard opened it. I require the assistance of these prisoners in certain top-secret experiments. You will release them into my custody.'
The guard looked doubtful, but the habit of obedience to the scientific Elite was too strong in him. Dismissing the guard, Ronson led Harry and the Doctor in another direction. He took them along dimly lit passages to a short corridor. The roof was supported by heavy buttresses jutting out from the walls. The corridor ended in a massive metal door in which was set a small viewing panel, covered by a shutter.
Ronson pulled the shutter to one side, revealing a thickly glassed window. From inside it camea pulsating green glow. 'Take a look, Doctor.'
The Doctor peered through the little window then hurriedly stepped back. Harry saw the lookof revulsion on his face but couldn't resist taking a quick look through the panel. He caught a fleeting glimpse of long rows of tanks, holding twisted, hideously deformed shapes. Then the Doctor moved him aside, sliding the shutter closed. 'I wouldn't, Harry. Not unless you want to lay in a permanent stock of nightmares.'
Ronson looked at them, and Harry saw the bitterness in his face. 'You see, Doctor? If Davros has his way, that is our future. That is what the Kaleds will become!'
In the big communal cell, Sarah was trying to whip up a spirit of revolt. 'Look,' she said fiercely. 'We have to do something now. A few more shifts and we won't have the strength. We've got to get out of here.'
The young Kaled patrol leader glanced across at the doors. 'That's just not possible.'
Sarah looked at the guards. They were leaning against the doors, rifles held casually in the crooks of their arms. 'Oh yes, it is. Those guards aren't expecting any trouble—not from a group of worn—out slave workers.'
'Supposing we do get out—we'll only be in the rocket silo. The exit from that goes through a Thal command point—and that'll be crawling with troops.'
'There's another way out from the silo,' replied Sarah. 'Straight up! The scaffolding goes right up to the nose cone of the rocket. From there we could get out onto the surface of the dome, then climb down to the ground.'
eside them the giant mutant Sevrin sat huddled beneath his all-concealing cloak and hood. 'Climb that scaffolding,' he protested mildly. 'It's very high.'
'I know,' said Sarah gently. 'I don't exactly fancy it myself. But it's our only chance to survive.' She had endured one long work-shift lugging the metal ingots into the rocket's storage chamber. The Kaled soldier had explained that while the first few shifts produced only normal fatigue, further exposure would begin a dangerous build-up of radiation effect in the body. Sarah was prepared to face any risk rather than that.
The patrol leader had already endured several shifts, and his face was gray and drawn. 'Why not,' he muttered. 'Better to take a chance than rot away here.'
'All right,' whispered Sarah. 'Now—move around among the others. Recruit as many as you can!'
Guards came in with cauldrons of gray, mushy porridge, food providing the absolute minimum of nourishment, just enough to enable the prisoners to work. Bowlfuls of the stuff were passed out and the prisoners ate greedily with their fingers, afterward licking the bowls till they were clean. During the general confusion produced by this 'feeding time,' Sevrin and the young Kaled moved among the prisoners, explaining their plan for a breakout. Some prisoners fled from them in terror, others just stared blankly. But here and there they found some willing to listen. There were still a few whose spirits were not completely broken.
When feeding was over and the bowls handed in, the three conspirators met in a corner.'Well?' asked Sarah.
The Kaled soldier nodded fiercely. 'Some of my men were captured with me. They'll fight. So will most of the other soldiers.'
Sevrin however shook his head. 'The mutos are too frightened,' he explained sadly. 'We are always frightened. But I will help.'
'We'll just have to do the best we can,' Sarah said. 'Once we get started the rest will probably join in.'
The first part of the breakout was surprisingly easy. Sarah, Sevrin and the more aggressive prisoners all drifted slowly toward the door. When Sarah was opposite the nearest guard she stumbled and fell against him, pretending to faint. Instinctively the guard grabbed her—and theKaled soldier chopped him down from behind. Before the second guard could react Sevrin sprang upon him, lifted him high in the air and dashed him to the ground. He stood looking at the motionless body as if astonished by his own daring.
'Come on,' yelled Sarah. 'Quickly!' She threw open the doors and the prisoners streamed out, overwhelming the guards on the other side. The breakout had begun!
5 ESCAPE TO DANGER
The Doctor, Harry and Ronson were hurrying along the corridors beneath the Bunker. From time to time a passing guard glanced curiously at them, but the presence of one of the scientific Elite proved a good enough passport. They talked in low voices as they walked. Ronson went on with his explanations. 'Davros says that having evolved our ultimate form, he then created a travel machine in which to house it.'
The Doctor nodded. 'And the two combined have produced a living weapon—the Daleks! He's created a monster utterly devoid of conscience. Are you prepared to help me stop him?'
'I must,' said Ronson simply. 'There are
those in the Kaled government who may still have the strength to act. If they knew the full truth they could end Davros's power, close down the Bunker and disband the Elite. I myself am not allowed to leave the Bunker... But you two might make it.'
'Help us to escape,' urged the Doctor. 'Give me the names of the men you speak of and I promise you I'll make them listen.'
Was it going to be as easy as that, Harry wondered. He turned to Ronson. 'Can you really get us out?'
'One of the ventilation-system ducts leads to a cave on the edge of the Wastelands. The exit is barred, but you might get through. But there's an added danger..."
'I knew it,' said Harry. 'Go on.'
'Some of Davros's early experiments were with our wild animals. Horrific monsters were created—some of them were allowed to live as a controlled experiment.'
'Don't tell me—they're in this cave we go through?'
Ronson nodded. Harry sighed. It certainly wasn't going to be so easy!
Ronson led them through smaller and smaller corridors, until they came to a short rock-walled tunnel. It ended in a blank wall into which was set a ventilation duct, just large enough to admit a human body. A metal hatch covered the duct. It was stiff with disuse, and it took the Doctor and Harry quite a time to wrench it open.
As they worked, Ronson was scribbling rapidly in a plastic-covered notebook. The hatch creaked open and he handed the book to the Doctor. 'I've written down the names of all the people you should try to contact giving the facts about Davros's research, and I've added a note of introduction to confirm your story... If anything goes wrong...'
'Don't worry, I'll see it's all destroyed.' The Doctor knew that with the notebook Ronson was placing his life in their hands.
Harry jumped up to the opening and wriggled through into the cramped tunnel. Ronson helped the Doctor to climb in after him. 'Hurry,' he gasped. I think someone's coming. Good luck!'
Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks Page 4