'Yes, you do,' Sam answered. 'Yes, you do.'

'Anyway,' the Doctor said, heaving a sigh. 'To get back to your question, Sam. The Thals no longer live on Skaro, and neither do the Daleks now. I helped to destroy it.'

'Destroy it?' Ayaka asked. She looked confused. 'Doctor ' She broke off when a chime sounded from her helmet. Reaching back, she tapped a b.u.t.ton. 'Ayaka.'

'Are the crew confined?' came Delani's voice.

'All but one,' she reported. 'The bridge is secure, and the other crew are being guarded in the dining area. I have two men out looking for the final person.'

'Acceptable,' Delani decided. 'We will now head down to the storage bay and claim our prize. Have one of the crew escort you down there.'

Ayaka turned to Chayn. 'You will show me the way,' she ordered. Sam noticed that her weapon hung straight down. She'd obviously decided that the crew was not a threat. 'Doctor, you may accompany me if you wish.'

'And I'm coming,' Sam said firmly. 'I'm not being left out this time.'

A faint furrow appeared in Ayaka's brow. 'This is not a family outing,' she said. 'This is war.'

'I'm with the Doctor,' Sam insisted. 'And I'm coming. The only way you'll stop me is to tie me up or shoot me.'

'Shall we go?' beamed the Doctor.

Ayaka sighed. 'Very well. But stay quiet. Delani will not be pleased.' She gestured, and Chayn led the way from the overcrowded bridge.

Sam felt both excitement and trepidation. She was going to get to see what this was all about at last. 'Will this be safe?' she asked the Doctor.

'I shouldn't think so for a minute,' he answered cheerfully. 'Rethinking your desire to accompany us?'

'No,' Sam said with determination. 'Just confirming that I made the right choice. You'll need me around if there's trouble.'

'That's my Sam,' he said approvingly.

This sent a shiver through her. It meant so much to her that he was fond of her in his own, alien way.

They walked in silence the rest of the way through the underlit, musty, oily corridors. Sam could see that the Quetzel Quetzel really was a patched-together junk ship. Most of the systems seemed to have been repaired a dozen times, using non-matching parts each time. But she was starting to get used to it. Sort of like a house that's been lived in for a couple of centuries, she decided. It has character, and something undefinable about it that makes you feel at home. It may be a mess, but with all this recycling going on it had to be the greenest ship in the galaxy. really was a patched-together junk ship. Most of the systems seemed to have been repaired a dozen times, using non-matching parts each time. But she was starting to get used to it. Sort of like a house that's been lived in for a couple of centuries, she decided. It has character, and something undefinable about it that makes you feel at home. It may be a mess, but with all this recycling going on it had to be the greenest ship in the galaxy.

There were two Thal guards outside the storage-bay door, both stiff at attention, their weapons at the ready. They were both beautiful blonde women. Weren't there any ugly Thals? Sam wondered. Or even non-blond ones? Ayaka nodded to them and then entered the doorway. The rest of them followed her. There was a small area inside to stand, and then a ladder leading down. Ayaka slung her rifle over one shoulder and started down. They followed her.

This bay was pretty much like the one the TARDIS had landed in. It was large, cavernous, and filled with junk. There were a bunch of Thals over by a couple of broken bulkheads, and one of the crew. Harmon, Sam realised. The one who had called in the Thals.

Delani looked up and scowled as they approached. 'Why have you brought all of these civilians?' he demanded. Close-up, Sam could see that he was slightly older than the other Thals. He didn't look like a cold-blooded killer more like a refugee from Baywatch Baywatch.

'This is the Doctor,' Ayaka said proudly.

'The Doctor?' Delani looked surprised, and then pleased. 'Is it really you?' he asked.

'Yes, I'm afraid it is,' the Doctor answered sheepishly. Delani was clearly sceptical. 'Alydon! Temmosus! Ganatus! I brought with me Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, and Susan!'

The names meant nothing to Sam, but Delani was clearly becoming more impressed.

'Come to join us in your TARDIS for the moment of our triumph!' Delani exclaimed. 'You've always managed to turn up when we've most needed you, haven't you?' He laughed, apparently very happy.

'You seem to be very popular around here,' Sam said.

'I'm a bit of a legend to these people,' the Doctor informed her quietly. 'It's a little embarra.s.sing, really. But useful. I may be able to prevent further bloodshed.' He smiled at Delani. 'And what is it you're after?' he asked politely.

'This, Doctor,' the soldier replied, gesturing to something out of sight behind the closest shattered wall.

Sam, the Doctor, and Chayn all moved to see what it was. Ayaka followed. Sam frowned. It was just a large, egg-shaped metal object, pitted and scarred, with burn marks on the outside. 'So what is it?' she asked the Doctor.

'Dalek design,' he replied briefly. 'Some sort of a life pod, which is odd.'

'Daleks don't need life pods,' Chayn pointed out.

'Precisely.' The Doctor ran a hand over it. 'Still powered, too. It must have been floating around out there for a good number of years.'

'About thirty, we believe,' Delani said.

'What's inside it?' Sam asked. 'You know, don't you?'

'Yes,' Delani answered. He turned to one of his men. 'Cathbad, open it up.'

The younger Thal nodded and moved forward. He had a small instrument in his hand some six inches around and four thick. He clamped it to the side of the egg, where it stuck, obviously magnetically. There were several controls on the upper surface of the device, and coded lights. He tapped away for a moment or two, and paused.

'The computer's overriding the locking mechanism,' he reported. 'It should be open soon.'

The Doctor moved back a couple of paces, frowning. 'I have a very bad feeling about this,' he said softly.

That bothered Sam. If he was worried, she knew that she should definitely be worried too. She stared at the pod, trying to figure out what it could be. There were b.u.t.terflies in her stomach flying 747 jets.

The pod gave a sigh, and then began to come apart. Fissure lines opened in several places, and then began to fold back with electronic sighs. Air hissed slightly.

'Life supports are engaged,' Cathbad reported. 'The subject has survived and is waking.'

The panels opened downward, acting like legs, balancing the half-egg firmly on the ground now. The metal was several inches thick, obviously serious protection for whatever was inside. A bank of machines was now exposed, all of them lit and functioning. There was still no sign of the occupant. The machines began to fold back out of the way. Some obviously contained nutrients, others mechanisms Sam couldn't even begin to identify. Cryogenics, she supposed, to keep someone or something alive until it could be rescued.

The occupant was revealed as the apparatus peeled away. Sam gasped as she saw the ugly creature exposed. It was barely more than a wizened head and shoulders, embedded in electronic equipment. The skin was yellow-green and wrinkled, eye sockets sunken and blank. The nose was a beak, the mouth a short, dark gash. There was wiring over the skull, a small microphone attached next to the mouth, and what appeared to be some sort of a sensor embedded in its forehead.

The Doctor shook his head. 'Davros!' he breathed.

INTERLUDE.

HUMAN s.p.a.cE.

s.p.a.ce Special Security Agent Dryn Faber stood in the airlock, breathing gently as he began to equalise the pressure. Water cascaded in, flooding the chamber, and then he released the outer door. Light flooded in, diffused through the ocean, as he pushed his way out of his scout ship. As far as it it was concerned, it made very little difference whether it was in s.p.a.ce or underwater. He had programmed it to maintain its position a hundred and fifty feet below the surface of Antalin's ocean world. was concerned, it made very little difference whether it was in s.p.a.ce or underwater. He had programmed it to maintain its position a hundred and fifty feet below the surface of Antalin's ocean world.

An entire planet wreathed in water seemed incredible to him, but it was the case here. No islands or continents broke the unending waters. All life here dwelt in the ocean; there was nowhere else for it to go.

His files on this planet weren't exactly extensive. Antalin had been discovered fifty years earlier and hastily surveyed. With no land ma.s.ses, it had been considered a poor place for colonization. There didn't seem to be any native civilisations no way for them to invent fire, for one thing, to get them started on the road to technology but anything was possible in the depths, Faber imagined. And that had been it, until SSS had detected the shadow of a Dalek contact in the area. It was standard practice to send in teams to investigate, and Faber had been a.s.signed to check out Antalin, even though it had seemed highly unlikely.

And on the way down, his stealth ship had definitely picked up signs of activity below. He'd released a coded satellite that would fly to the edges of the system before it began transmitting. He didn't want to alert the Daleks to his presence. Now he had to take a look at what they were up to, and then disrupt it if possible.

His s.p.a.ce suit worked just as well under water as above. The drive unit propelled him at low speed through the ocean. If the Daleks were monitoring and they most likely were he wanted them to view him as just another big fish. And there were plenty of those about. A school of silvery shapes flickered past him, each fish the size of his forearm, and bulky.

A larger, darker shape slipped past the school. Some sort of predator? Hard to tell. The fish didn't seem disturbed, however, so it was probably safe. And there wasn't much chance he'd be attacked here. He was extremely unfamiliar life, after all.

Faber broke the surface gently, no more than his eyes exposed. His visor clicked in automatically, binocular vision targeting the Dalek structure ahead. It looked like some kind of drilling rig splayed floats, a nacelle and several upper decks, topped with a large laser-like drill. That made sense. The Daleks continually needed new supplies of metals and chemicals for their never-ceasing war efforts. And Antalin was completely unmined. The chances of good supplies here had to be high. This single base seemed to be their entire contingency here, though. Well, they were actually in human s.p.a.ce here, albeit close to their own border. This had been a test project, most likely, to see whether it was worth exploiting Antalin in full. If these Daleks reported back favourably, then a full-scale invasion might well follow.

It was up to Faber to be certain that this didn't happen.

He'd sent for backup automatically, of course. But in this business, you didn't wait for the cavalry to arrive. He was trained, as all SSS agents were, to act as an army of one. It never occurred to him to scout out the situation and wait for other agents.

He ducked below the surface again, sinking to about fifty feet, and then headed across towards the mining platform. He began to inventory his supplies. He was carrying a couple of magnetic mines, and he had more stored in his ship. His pulse rifle was strapped to his back, and he had grenades in a leg pouch. After a few seconds deliberation, he decided to head back to his ship and get further supplies. He'd get the chance for only one attack on the platform, so he'd have to destroy it the first time out.

Towing a small underwater raft behind him with several more mines and a small deuterium device, he started back towards the platform. He had the advantage of surprise here, but he knew better than to underestimate the Daleks. They were paranoid and obsessively cautious. They'd have some way to monitor beneath the platform, just in case. For all Faber knew, there could be whale equivalents here that might attack a floating station, and the Daleks could be watching for them.

Which meant he'd have to be very careful in his approach. He was helped in one way, in that light didn't penetrate too far underwater. He'd be no more than a vague shape until he was quite close to the platform. But sonar was another matter, and he set his suit's sensors scanning for any such signal and detected it almost immediately.

That could be a problem. His suit wouldn't register as technology, thanks to its construction, but the raft behind him would. He'd have to disable the sonar somehow before he could set to work planting his mines. And the Daleks were bound to get suspicious as soon as the sonar went out. Unless, of course, he could supply them with a plausible, natural explanation as to what had happened to it.

Another one of the large, dark creatures started to glide past. It was almost twice the length of Faber, and was perfect for what he needed. He released the raft, and, as programmed, it maintained position, waiting to be recovered. Drawing his survival knife from his suit, Faber jetted towards the underwater creature.

It looked like a very large eel of some kind, its body long and sinuous. It had a crest along its back, and swam using several sets of paired fins that ran down the length of its belly. As he drew closer, the eel thing turned to stare at him. It had two eyes, and a large, tooth-filled jaw. It squirmed about in the water, heading towards him.

It was a predator, then, and would attack almost anything. Perfect. Faber waited, unworried, as it closed in on him. The ma.s.sive jaws opened wide enough to swallow his legs, and several rows of sharp teeth were exposed. There wasn't much chance those teeth could puncture his armour, but there was no point in taking chances. Faber increased the power to his jets, and angled downward slightly, pa.s.sing below the mouth of the surprised eel. As he did so, he swung over onto his back, and struck out with the knife. It penetrated the creature's skin easily, and he ripped it open several feet.

Dark liquid sprayed out, inking and clouding in the water. Portions of the eel's innards fell free, and he ripped around some more with the knife just to be certain he'd killed the creature.

It shuddered, and then relaxed in death, its fins ceasing to beat. Faber slipped his blade away and grabbed the carca.s.s before it could fall into the depths. He tore at the incision he'd made, widening the gap, and then started cutting out the internal organs, creating a s.p.a.ce in there large enough to disguise his own bulk. It was messy work, and the seas started to fill with scavenger creatures, all nipping at whatever he cut free. Well, at least that tidied things up a little. Thankfully, they didn't start tearing at the main bulk of the eel yet. They were probably not quite that brave.

In a few moments, he had what he needed, and slipped into the gap he'd carved. Then he started his jets going again at low power, back towards the drilling platform. He discovered that kicking out with his legs made the tail of the eel wiggle almost realistically.

With luck, the Daleks would see nothing suspicious in an eel approaching the station, and be caught off their guard. Faber grinned happily to himself. The platform grew larger, and it moved from being a dark shape into crystal clarity.

There were three main pontoons holding it up, which were joined by a framework. The work areas were built on this frame, and the laser drill was held suspended below. It wasn't working at the moment, which was one worry fewer for Faber. Dodging a laser beam wasn't high on his list of leisure activities.

Then he spotted the sonar detector, suspended a foot or so below one of the pontoons. A simple device, joined by wires and an armature. Nothing much to it. He cruised up to it, making it seem as if the eel were after food, and then used his knife to sever the cable connectors. His helmet informed him that the signals had ceased. There was a video monitor unit on the next pontoon, and he fixed this in a similar fashion.

The Daleks were now blind below the waterline, so he threw off his disguise, watching it sink towards the sea bed. The scavenger fish pounced as it fell, and set to work on it. Faber doubted it would ever reach the bottom. Time to recover his raft and plant the bombs.

There was another shadow in the water, and he glanced at it. Another eel?

He realised he was wrong. This was no creature native to Antalin. It was wide, about six feet across, and two thick at the centre. It swam by undulating its entire body, like a ray. Twin stalked eyes stared at him, malicious intelligence evident.

A Slyther...

This was a creature from the Daleks' home world. They must have released one to patrol the sea about the platform. It would envelope its prey like a jellyfish, grabbing hold and then absorbing it through its membranes. It could pump stomach acids from the underside of its body to weaken its prey and partially digest it. Those acids would be able to penetrate his suit if it enveloped him.

The creature swam closer, and he unsheathed his rifle. There was the possibility that the Daleks might detect an energy discharge underwater, but he had to weigh this against the certainty that the Slyther would kill him otherwise. As it drew closer, Faber could see it preparing to extrude its stomach and envelope him. At the last second, he opened fire, raking that disgusting organ with a white-hot beam.

The Slyther thrashed in agony as he opened it up. He moved to one side as it dirtied the water with its outpouring blood, squirming in agony as it perished. Then it stopped moving, dead in the water. The little scavenger fish closed in again, tearing away at the creature. If he kept this up, he was going to have his own piscine fan club.

There was now no time to waste. The Daleks might well have detected his rifle's discharge, so the need for subtlety was gone. He sent a signal for the raft to join him, and moved to the closest pontoon, planting the two mines he carried, and adding the grenades for good measure. The raft closed in, and he started using the explosives there on the second pontoon.

A pressure wave slammed into him, and the water thrashed. He hit the pontoon with a bone-jarring force.

The Daleks were dropping depth charges at him. d.a.m.n.

He placed the three mines he had as a second detonation slammed through the water. There was no time for any more precision work. He locked the raft on to a collision course with the final pontoon, set his jets to maximum and shot himself out of the immediate area. A third explosion slapped his back, giving him a little extra thrust, but doing no damage.

He had to get out of range before triggering the mines. But if he waited too long, the Daleks might have time to remove or defuse them. And then, in the water ahead, he saw another shape. This was no Slyther. It was larger, bulkier and rounder.

Marine Dalek...

It was torpedo shaped, with the eye stalk at the point, scanning forward. Halfway down the streamlined body, parallel to itself, were the gun stick and a grappling arm. The inevitable sensor globes flowed towards the reactor at the rear that propelled the Marine Dalek through the water.

h.e.l.l... There was no time to waste. Faber triggered all of his explosives at once.

The pressure wave slammed into him, driving him towards the Marine Dalek. His sensors were overloaded in the blast, and he couldn't get a clear lock on it. Thankfully, its own equipment seemed to be scrambled, too. It opened fire on him as he drew closer, but the laser fire couldn't target him properly. The water was churning and bubbling ferociously, no doubt helping to hide his shape and exact position. It also made it difficult for him to make out the Dalek clearly. He managed to free his rifle, though, as his readings started to come back on line.

If his were, then so were the Dalek's. He didn't dare wait for a clear target. Instead, he laid down a pattern of fire in the general direction of the Dalek, hoping for a lucky shot.

He didn't get one. Pain lanced through his arm as the Dalek returned fire, only with greater accuracy. His right arm lost all feeling, but he was left-handed, so he still had a hold of his rifle. And now, he'd seen the flash of the blast, he knew where the Dalek was.

His return fire tore across the belly of the Marine Dalek. Metal howled ferociously in the water, ripped apart and falling. Oil or some other liquid gushed out, like the ink from an octopus, blurring the waters. He kept firing anyway, and was rewarded with a ball of flame. He jetted on, and saw the bulk of the Dalek falling slowly out of its own cloud, towards the waiting sea bed. Its belly had been torn open, exposing the green, writhing creature within.

The omnipresent scavengers closed in, tearing at the Dalek creature as it slowly drifted down to the seabed.

His arm was starting to hurt badly now, and he headed towards his waiting scout ship. As he did so, he glanced back through the waters. They were filthy with clouds of darkness, but he could see something bulky tearing itself apart, and sinking slowly into the ocean behind him.

He'd succeeded in destroying the platform hopefully, before the Daleks could send out word of his attack. With any luck, Dalek Central would simply a.s.sume something had gone wrong with its platform, and that Antalin wasn't a suitable place for mining operations.

Faber made it back to his ship, and was inside again in moments. He stripped off his suit, taking great care with his injured arm. He'd been hit across the biceps, which explained the horrible pain. He gave himself a shot of painkiller, and then put a regenerative pad over the wound, fixing it in place with a bandage. As he worked, the throbbing fire seemed to die down in it, and he focused now on preparing to lift off.

But were all of the Daleks destroyed? His quick glimpse of the platform on the way down hadn't revealed any starships moored there, but he hadn't had the chance to do a proper scan. Leaving the ocean might expose him to withering fire. On the other hand, if there were any Dalek survivors, staying here was suicide.

He powered up his scout, and armed all of his weapons. Then, grinning savagely to himself, he gunned the engine and shot towards the skies.

As he broke water, fire erupted all about him. He shot back, though he could see no targets at first. As he rose, his ship shuddered, but the shields held. His sensors had started to make sense of what was happening two Dalek hoverbouts, their single Dalek occupants blasting at his ship. They had to be all that was left of the Dalek base, and they were trying to take him out. Faber spun his ship over, and launched one of his heat-seekers.

The first hoverbout exploded, showering metal and burning fragments towards the boiling sea below. The second Dalek fired again, and then Faber targeted it, too. Pathetic, really. They didn't have the fire power to take out his ship, but it had never occurred to them not to bother attacking. It would have been totally against their nature.

Alone in the skies, he banked about, and examined his handiwork.