'Maybe not yet,' Sam agreed. 'But it'll be all right, Doctor. You'll work it out, and beat the Daleks, too.'

He managed a watery smile. 'Thank you for your faith in me, Sam,' he said. 'Though it may well be misplaced. I may have been instrumental in killing millions of people, and that's something that my soul couldn't bear.'

'Doctor,' Sam said firmly, 'Stop it, for G.o.d's sake. What's wrong with you? You're not thinking straight. Whatever planet it was you blew up with this Hand thing, it was where Davros had his base. Does it really matter what the name of the planet was? Whether it was called Skaro or Fred? Davros's army was there, so they must have already killed whoever was there in the first place. All you did was to destroy Davros's forces, and you said you believed that to be worthwhile. So what's your problem?'

The Doctor's eyes lit up at this, and he abruptly placed both of his hands on her shoulders, leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. 'Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam!' he exclaimed in relief. Her forehead burned at his touch, and she flushed. 'Destroying that planet was probably the most difficult decision I've ever had to make in my entire life. And to have done it for nothing...' he smiled at her.

Sam was confused and recharged at the same time. The Doctor surged to his feet once more. 'Right,' he said briskly. 'Let's get to work again. Cathbad, can you give me an estimate of how long we've got before we reach Skaro? Ayaka, try to get the sensory web working, and plot whatever we pa.s.s on the way in. If we're coming out this way again, it will help us to know what to look for. Chayn, tap into communications. If the Daleks send out any recognition codes to anything we pa.s.s, I want a full record of them. Sam, you keep an eye on me and make sure I stay on course.' He flopped down into one of the chairs and started to access the computer memory cores.

Sam grinned. She had done something to help him, after all. Maybe she wasn't as technical as Chayn, or as drop-dead gorgeous as Ayaka, but she still had something that they didn't.

A kiss on the forehead, for one thing!

She watched as the others bent to the tasks that the Doctor had a.s.signed them. After a few moments, Cathbad announced, 'We're now at the outer limits of the Skaro system. Time to landing, approximately one hour.'

'I'm picking up the first of the perimeter defences,' Ayaka announced. 'Killstations.' She threw a picture up on one of the screens. Sam grimaced. The thing looked like something out of Star Wars Star Wars: a huge, vaguely circular s.p.a.ce platform, bristling with gun emplacements, and with ships docked at it. It was certainly something that n.o.body could get past in a hurry.

'I'm hacked into the communications grid,' Chayn reported. 'I'm picking up the recognition codes and downloading them.'

'Excellent,' the Doctor murmured, watching everything with darting eyes. 'It's certainly well protected. Getting back out won't be easy.'

'You think we can get back out, Doctor?' Cathbad asked.

'Anything's possible,' the Doctor replied vaguely. 'But it's nice to keep our options open.'

For the next hour, Sam watched and listened, getting more and more worried all of the time. They had pa.s.sed eight of the s.p.a.ce gun platforms, and two of the outer planets in the system were even more heavily fortified. She thought of her earlier pep talk. Now she was beginning to think that the Doctor was being wildly optimistic to even think they stood a chance of getting back out again. The fire power they were pa.s.sing could easily take out a hundred ships like theirs without a problem.

'This doesn't look like a race that's lost a war to me, Doctor,' she finally said. 'If the Movellans beat the Daleks, you'd hardly expect this kind of fortification, would you?'

'No,' agreed the Doctor. 'I'm afraid you're quite right, Sam. This is not a beaten foe by any means.' Strangely enough, he didn't sound too worried.

And then they were approaching Skaro itself. There seemed to be hundreds of ships in orbit about the planet. 'Isn't that overkill?' she asked.

'No,' the Doctor answered, rubbing his chin. 'Most of those ships are transports, not war vessels. It looks to me as though there's been a large recall of Daleks to Skaro.'

'Why would they do that?' asked Ayaka, puzzled. 'They're certainly not in trouble on their war fronts.'

'Summit meeting perhaps?' the Doctor suggested. 'This must all tie in together somehow, and I'm sure we'll discover the meaning very shortly. We'd hardly have been brought all this way and allowed such access to information, only to be left in the dark at the end.'

Chayn glanced up. 'The ship's asked for and received landing clearance,' she announced. 'We're going down.'

Sam leaned forward, eager for her first glimpse of the surface of this world she'd heard so much about one that wasn't even supposed to be here... They descended towards a large range of mountains, eventually dropping through the low clouds. She could make out a large mountain lake, and then a large city close to the base of the mountains. It was difficult to get a proper idea of what it looked like from above, but it was quite clearly huge. It was also constructed almost entirely of polished metal.

There was a slight shudder as the ship touched down on the perimeter of the city, clearly in a large s.p.a.ceport. The view screens showed dozens of other such ships around them, many of them disgorging Daleks onto sloping ramps.

The Dalek in the doorway turned to them. 'Prepare to leave the ship,' it commanded. A second Dalek glided to join them. 'Doctor, you will accompany me. The others will join the Thals in confinement.'

Sam was suddenly terrified of being left apart from the Doctor. She clutched the Doctor's hand. 'No,' she insisted.

He nodded. 'Sam comes with me,' he said gently.

'Very well,' agreed the Dalek, surprisingly accommodating. He turned to the other Dalek. 'Escort the prisoners to the holding cell in the docking bay,' it ordered.

'I obey.' The second Dalek turned to face Cathbad, Ayaka, and Chayn. 'You will accompany me.'

The Doctor caught Ayaka's worried look and gave her a rea.s.suring smile. 'Go on,' he said encouragingly. 'I'm sure that everything will be fine. I'll see you shortly.'

'Very well, Doctor.' Ayaka led her companions out of the room and followed the Dalek down the corridor. It was clearly not worried that they would try to escape. After all, they were on Skaro, the heart of the Dalek empire. To where could the prisoners possibly attempt to flee?

'Doctor, you will come with me,' the first Dalek said.

The Doctor nodded, and he and Sam accompanied the Dalek as it glided along the ship's corridors. They exited an airlock, where the Doctor paused for a moment, waving a small instrument he'd taken from the communications room. 'No radiation,' he murmured. 'Odd. The entire planet ought to be radioactive.'

'One more little mystery,' Sam quipped, as he slid the device back into his pocket. The Dalek proceeded down the sloping ramp, and through a doorway into the city proper. Sam looked behind her before she followed it. The s.p.a.ceport stretched as far as she could see. There were hundreds of ships, all with Daleks flowing back and forth. How many Daleks were there on this entire planet? And how could they possibly hope to get out of here without being killed? The situation was certainly not improving in the slightest.

Inside the city, the walls, ceiling, and floor were all polished metal. Thankfully, it wasn't too slippery. The doorways were arched, conforming to the pepper-pot shape of the Daleks. The walls were bare, except where there were controls or other mechanisms installed.

'It's a bit bleak, Doctor,' she commented.

'As I told you,' he explained, 'Daleks have no interest in anything but conquest and war. Art, decoration, poetry, music it's all irrelevant to them.' He gave her a quick smile. 'Good thing, really. Can you imagine a Dalek trying to sing?'

The thought of their grating monotones attempting anything of the kind made Sam smile. 'Worse than the Spice Girls,' she agreed.

There were many other Daleks about, all moving purposefully along the corridors. Most were of the grey colour, Sam noted, but there were occasionally ones in red, or black, and some in blue. She nudged the Doctor and asked him about this.

'That's how you can tell status in Daleks,' he explained. 'The grey ones, like our friend here, are the warriors. They're the foot soldiers or in this case the roller soldiers. Very limited intelligence, good at obeying orders and chanting choruses of "Exterminate! Exterminate!" Next up are the Blue Daleks. A bit brighter, the non-coms you know, corporals, sergeants, if you like. The Red Daleks are where you start to see the real brains. They have a certain autonomy of action, and can actually think for themselves.'

Sam was both bemused and slightly alarmed to see the Doctor warm to this subject so thoroughly. 'And the Black Daleks are in charge of that lot, and are a lot nastier and smarter. Above those are the Gold Daleks. They're the elite. And at the top is the Dalek Prime, the one who makes all the big decisions.'

'Sort of a colour-coded society,' Sam said.

'Quite. It comes of being bred in vats. The Daleks select what kind of an embryo they need and breed the right numbers up. The grey outnumber everyone, because they're the most expendable.'

They had reached a moving walkway now, similar to those Sam had ridden on in Heathrow Airport. The Dalek led them onto it, and it carried them deeper into the heart of the city. Sam couldn't help wondering what was in all the rooms and buildings they were pa.s.sing, but she knew that there was no point in asking. Whatever the Daleks wanted them to know, they would be told. She just stared around, trying to take it all in.

It was entirely devoid of personality. The place needed some pictures, books, potted plants anything to relieve the monotony of the metallic finish. Every now and then, they pa.s.sed huge gla.s.s windows, and she could catch a glimpse of the exterior of the city. Tall spires, vast minaret-like shapes, towers, walkways rollways? of the same metallic shade as indoors, broken only by the occasional doorway or window. It was a staggering piece of workmanship, but almost totally without soul. Exactly like the Daleks themselves.

Finally, the moving walkway ended, and the Dalek gestured for them to enter what was clearly a lift. It followed, and then inserted its pad into a control surface. A moment later, the lift began to rise. Sam lost count after about forty floors, but they must have ascended at least a hundred before the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened.

They were in a large control centre. Panels lined the walls, with dozens of Daleks operating them. Sam didn't have a clue what most of them could possibly be for. One was clearly a map of Skaro, though, showing mostly land ma.s.ses and very little water. Another was a three-dimensional globe of the galaxy, with coloured markers obviously showing the distribution of the various forces in all the wars the Daleks were fighting. The sheer number of these metal killing machines was terrifying.

The Doctor stopped in his tracks, and stared at one of the panels. Sam followed his gaze curiously. It was not being operated by a Dalek but by what looked like a tall humanoid. He was dressed in a white jumpsuit, and had dreadlocked hair. He gazed at the Doctor and Sam incuriously, and then returned to his work.

'Movellans,' the Doctor breathed.

'I thought you said they were the enemies of the Daleks,' Sam pointed out.

'I did. They are.' He frowned. 'They're humanoid robots. See that little tube on his belt? That's his power pack and brain. I think the Daleks must have reprogrammed him to obey them. That's the trouble with having a brain like that. No allegiance.'

The Dalek they were following led them to a door at the far end of the control centre, and triggered the lock. Its eye stalk swivelled to face them. 'Enter,' it ordered, obviously planning on staying outside itself.

'Thank you, Jeeves,' the Doctor murmured. He breezed into the next room, Sam close behind him. She barely heard the door close behind her, staring as she was.

The ceiling and far wall here were a single piece of gla.s.s, or gla.s.s-like substance. She could see out across the city, and most of the way up the mountain range, until the clouds closed in. It was a staggering view, incredibly impressive.

'Doctor,' said a Dalek voice. 'Welcome.'

Sam and the Doctor turned to face their host. It was a Dalek, but not like any she had seen before. This one was slightly larger than the others, with a bulbous head. It was a burnished gold colour, and had about a dozen lights about the expanded dome instead of the average Dalek's two.

'The Dalek Prime,' the Doctor murmured.

CHAPTER 8.

PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS.

Davros followed his captors down the ramp from the Thal vessel and towards the waiting city. His sensors showed him what he was seeing, and he stopped in astonishment.

'You will proceed into the city,' the Red Dalek ordered.

'Wait,' Davros said, scanning all that he could see. 'Where am I? What world is this?'

'You are on Skaro,' the Red Dalek replied.

'No!' Davros exclaimed. 'That is not possible! I destroyed Skaro.' He whirled to face the Red Dalek. 'You are lying!'

'No,' the Dalek answered. 'This is Skaro. You are in error.'

Davros realised that he would get no further arguing with the creature. He powered his chair and moved forward again, trying to a.s.similate this information. The Dalek believed it was on Skaro, which was absurd. Skaro was dead this was some other world. Perhaps the Daleks had simply renamed it Skaro after they had occupied it. 'Skaro' after all, was simply the word for 'home' in the old Kaled tongue. It would be typical of the rigid-minded Daleks to do that. And the lesser ranks, not being bred for their intellectual prowess, simply a.s.sumed that this world was the original Skaro, having known no other.

Davros pondered his children. They were stagnant and self-delusional. He could see why some were seeing him as their messiah, their hope for a new and more glorious... well, Skaro, if they insisted.

And he would make certain they would get it. With Davros as their leader, how could the cause possibly fail?

Ayaka surveyed the room, where the Thal troops had spread out to rest. There was very little else they could do, after all. There was only the one exit, which was closed and guarded. Shelves around the walls were meant as beds, showing that this had to be one of the slave quarters for the humanoids the Daleks employed around the s.p.a.ceport. Daleks enjoyed humiliating and brutalising other life forms.

There were sixty-two troopers and crew left alive. Several had died in the attack, but the Daleks had spared everyone else. Four of the troopers required medication, and the Daleks had allowed Ayaka access to the medical supplies without a fuss. That in itself was almost unheard of in her experience. Daleks usually let injured slaves die without treatment. They could always be replaced.

So the Doctor was right there was some reason the Daleks wanted them alive, and relatively well. Ayaka had no clue as to what that might be, but she knew that her first task was to thwart it. Whatever the Daleks wanted, she must counter.

Ayaka went over to Cathbad and Chayn, slumped on a bench. 'This is not a good situation,' she said.

Chayn grunted. 'Agreed,' she answered. 'We're in a jail cell on the Dalek home world, surrounded by one of the greatest war fleets in existence and millions of Daleks. It kind of throws a damper on my life. What there is left of it, anyway.'

Ayaka nodded. 'Therefore we must escape.'

Cathbad gave a bitter laugh, and gestured at himself. 'All I have is my clothing,' he pointed out. The Daleks had confiscated their weapons along with their battle armour. 'It is all that any of us have left. We cannot attack Daleks with cloth.'

'Perhaps not,' agreed Ayaka, looking at Chayn in her far looser clothing. 'But the Daleks did not search you. Do you have any resources on you?'

'Me?' Chayn asked innocently. Then she grinned and pulled up her tunic. 'Don't get the wrong idea,' she told Cathbad. Ayaka saw that Chayn had several small packages taped to her bare skin. 'Careful when you free them,' she said. 'I don't want to lose my epidermal layer, too.'

Ayaka and Cathbad gently removed the packages, and Chayn replaced her tunic. 'I figured they might come in handy,' she explained. She gestured at Ayaka. 'You can barely hide yourself in that outfit, so I knew it was up to me. Prudery has its advantages at times.'

The packages contained several sets of microtools. Ayaka could hardly believe their good fortune, or the foresight of this alien engineer. 'That was extremely clever of you,' she commented.

'That's me all over,' Chayn answered. 'Still, I'm glad the Daleks didn't want to do a strip-search.'

'You don't have anything else hidden, do you?' Cathbad asked in amazement.

Chayn grinned. 'Ask me that when we're alone.' Ayaka chuckled as Cathbad blushed ferociously. 'So, fearless leader,' she asked Ayaka. 'What's the plan?'

Ayaka studied the door with interest. 'All of the control panels are on the outside. We don't have a cutting torch in your tools, so we can't gain access from this side.'

'Sorry I couldn't hide one,' Chayn replied. 'But this was all I had access to while we were free.'

'It was not a complaint,' Ayaka said hastily, lest she be misunderstood. 'We can still gain access when the door opens. A small microprobe inserted under the door will be able to work through the circuitry to the panel. Then we will gain access to the control systems.'

Cathbad frowned. 'Are you sure that the door will open?' he asked.

'Yes. The Daleks are carefully preserving our lives. They will therefore logically supply us with food and water within the next several hours. Once they do, we can begin work.' Ayaka surveyed her dispirited troops. 'Once we are free, we will return to our ship.'

'And what about the Doctor and Sam?' asked Chayn. 'We just ignore them?'

'There is nothing that we can do to help them,' Ayaka said simply. 'They are at an unknown location in the city. We dare not attempt to penetrate further. We would be bound to be detected and exterminated.' She shook her head. 'I'm afraid the Doctor and Sam will have to fend for themselves.' She had a responsibility to her troops that overrode any obligations to the Doctor. She was sure that he would understand.

But she wasn't sure that she could forgive herself for making that decision. That was the problem with trying to wage a war with moral considerations. Sometimes you had to sacrifice one belief for another.

'So,' the Doctor asked in a conversational tone, 'is this the bit where you exterminate us personally, or is it where you explain your masterplan and gloat a lot?'

Sam wondered if it was terribly wise of the Doctor to bait the Dalek Prime like that, but the Dalek Prime took it with surprising mildness. Sam had been expecting the Dalek leader to be a homicidal machine s...o...b..ring oil and spouting propaganda and death. Instead, the creature seemed to be calm, controlled and thoughtful. Which was definitely far scarier. It was even phrasing its speech much closer to that of humans. That was scary, too.