Donna glanced at the attacking soldiers. The Doctor was right: two more were dying, screaming in agony. Not many were left.
And then came another Dalek ray blast – but from the human side. The shot caught the foremost Dalek in motion, exploding its dome. Donna couldn’t understand it until she saw there were fresh human troops carrying what had to be Dalek guns. The cavalry had arrived with fresh supplies – weapons that were as effective against Daleks as they were against humans.
The remaining Daleks clustered to fire at the fresh troops. One of the soldiers armed with a Dalek gun was caught and died shaking in agony. The others scattered, firing at will.
And then the ground shook. Donna barely kept her footing, and the Doctor slid to the mud. The earth quaked, as if raging against all of the violence. Donna glanced back and understood immediately what had happened. The Doctor’s sabotage had paid off.
The Black Dalek studied the readouts available to it. The complex was in serious danger of being destroyed. The power levels were dropping, and the damage to the crèche and foundry were escalating.
The unthinkable was happening: the Daleks were being defeated.
The Black Dalek spun about and moved from the control room. The transmuter was not responding to commands, malfunctioning, but it might still be possible to activate it manually. All the codes needed to destroy the surrounding area were inside its own inboard computer. The Black Dalek could plug its circuits directly into the transmuter and utilize it to destroy the enemy target. At least the failure then would not be so total and ignominious.
The door to the laboratory refused to open. The Black Dalek fired at it until the lock was reduced to slag, and then pushed the door aside. It took a single glance to show that the transmuter had somehow been torn from its position.
The humans…
The Black Dalek stared in outrage at the final evidence of the Dalek defeat.
Huge flames licked from the pit of DA‐17, rising twenty feet or more into the air. The ground beyond was ruptured, crashing apart. Flames and molten rocks oozed from the devastated ground. Fire was everywhere. It was as if the gates of Hell had been opened, and the internal fires loosed.
The Daleks that were left all seemed to go into slow motion as their power source was destroyed. Their guns died, their limbs faltered, and finally they stopped moving. The ground cracked and seethed about them, swallowing them up, returning them to the ground from which they had been forged.
A blast of heat washed over Donna, and she gasped from the pain. ‘Come on, Doctor,’ she grumbled. ‘We’ve got to move.’ There was no response, and she saw that he was now completely unconscious. ‘Oh, Christ,’ she muttered. Grabbing his good arm, she managed to lever him up, and started to drag him away from the increasing zone of destruction. Trees and shrubs close by had caught fire and were burning like huge torches. The grass was spreading the flames, and Donna had serious doubts about being able to make it out.
Then Barlow was with her, and he lifted the Doctor’s feet without comment. Together, sweating and aching, they carried their insensate burden beyond the immediate danger zone. When she was sure they were far enough away, Donna called for a halt. Her fingers were almost nerveless when she allowed the Doctor to flop gently to the ground.
‘I’ve got medics coming in,’ Barlow assured her. ‘I knew there would be casualties.’ He peered at the Doctor.’ Will he be OK?’
‘I don’t have a clue,’ Donna growled, fighting not to cry. ‘He’s an alien. God knows what sort of body chemistry he’s got.’
‘Jesus,’ Barlow looked back at the seething mass of lava and the burning grounds. ‘Well, you two obviously know how to throw a parry.’ Then he looked concerned. ‘What happened to your friend?’
‘Dead,’ Donna answered. ‘He saved the Doctor’s life.’
Barlow nodded, at least not making any inane comment about how sorry he was when it simply wasn’t true. ‘I lost too many myself,’ he said finally. ‘I think I’m burned out of fighting.’
‘Well, there’s hope for us yet, then,’ Donna said with a sigh. ‘Where the hell are those medics?’
‘They’re coming,’ he promised her.
‘They’d better be,’ said Donna.
Darkness had flooded Susan’s hearts, and she simply sat on the floor of the Master’s TARDIS as bitterness and loss filled her soul. The Master had shot her grandfather – perhaps killed him – and he had certainly killed David. Tears fell from her eyes unheeded as she thought about the loss. David had been her whole life for over thirty years, everything she had given up her freedom and heritage for. The recent troubled times were an unfair testament to their many happy years together. She knew they’d have got over their problems somehow. But now, there was no chance.
She’d known that David would die before she did – a long time before. But being gunned down by a homicidal maniac, after all they’d survived through… The same maniac who had uncaringly unleashed the Daleks back on Earth again. It meant nothing to the Master that the Daleks would create havoc and deal out death or enslavement to anyone who crossed their paths. To him, humans were insignificant beings, to be used and discarded as he wished.
Grief was rising within her, but not as swiftly as the rage. This monster had casually destroyed, or attempted to destroy, everyone that she held dear, all to gain a device by which he intended to blackmail other worlds into submitting to his twisted will. Rage filled her body, bringing back life out of her lethargy. She still held, unnoticed, the Master’s TCE, clutched in her frozen grip. The Master was paying her no attention at all as he laboured over his TARDIS’s controls. To him she was simply a minor inconvenience to be disposed of at his earliest opportunity, no doubt.
But he was wrong.
The fury was starting to consume her, giving her back her strength. She had almost forgotten the pain in her hand now as she focused only on her need for action.
There was the sighing again as the TARDIS landed somewhere, the time rotor switching from rising and falling to the spinning scanning mode. ‘Tersurus,’ the Master murmured. His TARDIS was obviously fully functional, unlike the Doctor’s.
Susan rose to her feet, glaring at him, and slowly moved towards the console. It was quite different in many ways from the one she’d been used to, thirty years earlier, but there were some similarities. Good.
The Master glanced up at her. He was still clutching the transmuter to his chest protectively. ‘Stay away, child,’ he warned her. ‘There are forces you cannot possibly comprehend being harnessed by these controls.’
‘Forces?’ Susan felt like spitting in his face.’ And what about all the things that you don’t seem to understand? Like love, compassion and decency?’
He laughed briefly. ‘Weaknesses,’ he jibed. ‘Excuses for the powerless. There is only one true reality in this universe – that of power! And that is my destiny.’
‘Power?’ Susan stared at him scornfully. ‘You used your power to kill my husband.’
He simply shrugged. ‘Humans have such short lives anyway,’ he commented. ‘I promise to be merciful and allow you to join him soon. When I can be bothered.’
‘Merciful!’ Susan was still moving slowly forward, drawing closer to the controls now. ‘You’re a shallow, vicious, self‐centred, evil little troll, with less decency than any of the people you’ve killed. You really think you deserve power?’
‘Power belongs to those who can claim it and hold it the Master responded, seemingly amused by her argument.
‘Then I’ll show you power,’ Susan snarled. She moved forward, touching both hands to the contacts for the telepathic circuits. ‘And I’m not a human – God help me, I’m one of you.’
The Master’s eyes widened slightly at this revelation, and he gave a sharp cry as he moved forward to knock her hands from the console.