Dalek, Diverging (1/2)
‘Nothing,’ said the alien, its eyestalk - at least, Rose assumed it was an eye - drooping. ‘My race is dead. I shall die alone.’
She couldn’t help but think of the Doctor, then, and the comparison made a lump rise in her throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, softly, knowing how meaningless that sounded, except she really did feel it, because however much it looked like a giant pepperpot she knew that it was still a person, still had feelings and wishes and everything that humans had, and the thought of anyone losing so much and then spending the rest of their life being tortured by Van Statten…
Silently, she did the only thing she could do; reached out a hand to touch the alien, offer it what little support she could.
‘Rose, don’t!’ Adam interrupted, lunging forward to catch her wrist and stopping her fingers within centimetres of the metal. She stared at him, confused, and he explained. ‘Last person who touched it… well, he kind of… spontaneously combusted. I wouldn’t take the risk.’
‘What?’ Rose asked, incredulous. ‘Like… burst into flames?’ How could anyone burst into flames just from touching metal? Though if she’d learnt anything with the Doctor, it was that anything she thought was true could very quickly turn out not to be.
The eyestalk moved, very slowly, to look at Adam. ‘Do you fear me?’ it asked, almost sadly, the same question it had just asked Rose.
Adam swallowed, looking a little sheepish. ‘Yeah. Kind of. Sorry.’
‘How can you be scared of it?’ Rose asked him. ‘Look at it. It’s helpless. It’s being tortured.’
Adam glanced away, opened his mouth as though to say something and then closed it again. Rose was about to demand an answer from him, but one glance back at the alien make her pause. There were more important things right now than arguing with Adam, and even she’d been scared back on Platform One surrounded for the first time by aliens. And if he really had seen someone burst into flames…
For a second, she considered reaching out and touching the alien anyway, but caution won out, and she dropped her hand to her side with a slight twinge of guilt. ‘Listen,’ she said to the alien, determined to do something, ‘we’re not going to just leave you here. I’m going to get my friend. If there’s anything we can do, he’ll know about it. And we’ll get you out, at least. We’re not just going to leave you to… to die here. Even if we can’t stop you dying, we can take you somewhere… somewhere better.’
The alien’s eyestalk lowered, but it didn’t speak, and Rose turned to Adam. ‘Take me to the Doctor,’ she said.
‘But he’s with Van Statten, you can’t just…’
‘I don’t care,’ said Rose firmly. ‘I need to speak to him. Now.’
Adam looked uncertain, but eventually shrugged. ‘On your own head,’ he said.
*
The laser shot out again, and as much as he hated to give Van Statten the satisfaction he couldn’t help crying out.
‘Like I said, Doctor,’ Van Statten said, a cocky smile creeping onto his face, ‘nothing can escape the Cage. Do you really think I’d let such a priceless specimen go?’
Humans. Stupid, stupid humans, thinking they knew everything, poking around in things no one sensible would go near - and getting destroyed by it, every time, every Mephistopheles, every Frankenstein’s monster, and they never, never learnt. And all for the worst of reasons - greed, or power, or fame, or money - never mind the good that could come from alien technology, and never mind the bad, either; just sell what can be sold and get rich.
‘The same applies to you too, by the way, Doctor,’ Van Statten added. ‘I’m afraid you’re simply too good an opportunity to pass up.’
‘So that’s what I am to you, is it?’ he asked. ‘A specimen? Some new toy to play with?’
‘A complicated and very fascinating toy,’ Van Statten replied, looking more amused than annoyed. ‘That… Dalek,’ he savoured the word, ‘can only give me so much. From experimenting on it, we can learn a little more alien materials, metals, technology… and if we can get it to talk again? How much information do you think we’d get out of it, Doctor?’
‘Information,’ the Doctor said sarcastically, twisting in the restraints, trying - although he knew it was probably hopeless - to get his hands free. If only they hadn’t taken his sonic screwdriver - oh, and he bet Van Statten would just be delighted when he found that little piece of tech. ‘Can’t see a Dalek being big on swapping cultural details, sorry. They’re more into trying to wipe out all life in the universe. Could be a good little partnership - catch an alien and get your pet Dalek to wipe out the rest of them, make them one-of-a-kind, much better for your collection.’
Van Statten’s smile was cold. ‘I’m hardly a murderer, Doctor,’ he said, and the laser shot out again - for longer this time, arcing across his chest. He could smell the skin singeing where it passed, the light seeping through his eyelids turning everything red; he was tugging at the manacles, totally involuntarily, anything to get away from the pain.
And then the laser was cut off; he gulped in a deep breath, sagging in the restraints. Laser scanning equipment, unrefined - just how much sadism did it take to be willing to use that? ‘Good to know there’s some depths you won’t sink to,’ he said, refusing to let Van Statten get the upper hand without a fight. Although considering he was the one chained up, it could already be said he’d lost it.
‘Oh, I’ve no intention of killing you. Not unless you end up being more useful dead than alive, and I doubt that’ll happen for a long time,’ Van Statten said. ‘If I can’t get information out of the Dalek, then what about you, Doctor? You talked about a Time War. You talked about Time Lords and Daleks, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to hearing more.’ He smiled at that. ‘So how much are you planning to tell me willingly, and how much will I be forced to torture you for?’
‘What makes you think you can torture it out of me?’ he asked. ‘Alien, remember. I’m not going to snap. You’d probably get more out of me with a cup of tea and a friendly chat.’ He shifted uncomfortably in the restraints. ‘Make that definitely.’
‘Or you could just tell me everything I wanted to know,’ Van Statten pointed out. ‘I’m not an unreasonable man, Doctor. I don’t want to hurt you, particularly: I want knowledge. And I’m quite prepared to go to any lengths to get it.’
‘Ever considered a university?’ the Doctor quipped, and was treated to another blast with the laser.
‘Harvard,’ Van Statten replied, pulling a tiny mobile phone from his pocket. ‘Nice place. And excuse me for my impoliteness in making a phone call during a conversation, but I’m wondering how your little friend’s getting on.’
Rose.
‘Leave her alone,’ the Doctor said tightly, twisting at the restraints.
‘I was thinking I should tell Adam to find her a nice room somewhere,’ Van Statten said, raising the phone to his ear. ‘Somewhere nice and safe. After all, there’s a dangerous alien lurking around down there. And later, if we’re having co-operation difficulties, perhaps we can invite her along to join in the fun, hmm?’
*
Rose and Adam were almost back up to the top floor when an insistent beeping cut into the silence.
‘Ah, sorry,’ Adam said, fumbling in his pocket and pulling out a slim earpiece. ‘Hang on a minute, it’s Van Statten… Yes, sir?’
Rose leant back against the wall of the lift, crossing her arms across her chest. She didn’t really care what stupid thing Van Statten wanted with Adam. Probably some new chunk of metal from a spaceship, or something. And none of that mattered. Right now there was some alien dying in Van Statten’s basement, and the sooner she could get to the Doctor, the better.
‘Yes,’ Adam said again, and then his eyes widened. ‘What?’
He glanced sharply towards her, then turned half-away. With a soft ping, the lift finally reached the top floor. ‘But sir,’ Adam said, ‘I don’t…’
Rose couldn’t hear Van Statten’s voice, but from the abrupt way Adam stopped she could tell he’d interrupted. Not surprising, that. She doubted someone like Van Statten would take kindly to being questioned.
And what would make Adam question him, anyway? Or act so shocked?
‘Right…’ Adam said, more quietly, ‘okay… yes, I will… Level Fifteen … right away, sir.’ He took the earpiece off slowly, tucking it into his pocket.
‘What was all that about, then?’ Rose asked as she headed for the door. Adam caught her sleeve.
‘We’re… er… they’re going to meet us down on Level Fifteen,’ Adam said, giving her an overly bright grin. He pressed the button, and the lift smoothly started to descend, though the only sign was a hum of machinery and the disconcerting feeling of lightness.
She frowned at him, and his eyes flicked to the floor, then up to where an electronic display told them what floor they were currently on. Rose got the uncanny feeling he was avoiding her gaze. Whatever that phonecall had really been about, it hadn’t been a simple rendezvous. And Adam didn’t want to tell her the truth.
Well, fine. If he was going to lie to her, she’d lie to him, too. Play along. And in the process, try to work out what was really going on.’
‘What’s on Level Fifteen?’ she asked.
Adam shrugged. ‘Nothing, much,’ he said, slipping his hands in his pockets and glancing sideways at her. ‘Some storerooms and offices. Things like that.’
The lift stopped, then, and Adam led her out and down a blank magnolia corridor, doors set at intervals into the walls.
She made a face. ‘Why are they down there, then? If there’s nothing here?’
‘They’re still up on the top floor right now, I think,’ Adam said. ‘They’re just meeting us there.’ He hesitated. ‘We’ll probably have to wait a bit. I’m sorry, I know you want to get to the Doctor as soon as possible, but-’
‘It’s okay,’ she said, giving him a smile. It wasn’t okay at all. ‘I mean, Van Statten doesn’t look like someone you want to cross…’
‘Oh, he’s not,’ Adam said firmly. ‘Believe me, he’s not. I mean, I wouldn’t be working for him if I could do this same sort of thing somewhere else…’ He shot her an odd frown, before shaking his head and turning down a corridor. ‘He said to wait in here,’ he said pressing a button which caused a door to slide open smoothly.
The room beyond was fairly plain; a couple of leather sofas, a coffee table with a box of tissues and a wilting spider plant, a couple of prints of the kind of famous artwork that got everywhere - vase of sunflowers, abstract pond.
What Rose immediately noticed, however, was the door itself. Specifically, the fact that it appeared to be made out of steel, and the large black box set into the side of it which looked, to her, suspiciously like a lock.
She couldn’t let on that she knew - that’d remove any chance she had of figuring out a way to avoid getting locked in here -so she casually wandered into the room, glancing around as though taking in the scenery. No ways to escape, then. Not that she’d expected any. Instead, she turned back to Adam, who was standing in the doorway.
‘So we just wait here till they show up, then?’ she asked.
‘Well, I was thinking you could wait and I could go find them,’ Adam said.
‘And leave me on my own?’ Rose asked. ‘Can’t I come with you?’
She could see him trying to come up with an answer. ‘Erm… well… one of us should stay here, in case they turn up.’
‘Fair enough, then,’ she said, running out of ideas, and then blurted out, ‘What’s that black thing on the door?’
‘It’s a lock,’ Adam said, and then went red. ‘Er, we sometimes use this room for prisoners and things. Not that you are one, obviously. Mostly it’s for meetings and stuff.’
Honestly, how bad a liar could he be? It’d have worked better if he’d hauled her off without explanation and thrown her in here. ‘Doesn’t look like any lock I’ve ever seen,’ Rose remarked, heading over to examine it. ‘Where’s the keyhole?’
‘It’s just this button here,’ Adam said, pointing to a little white button on the inside. ‘Anyone can use this one if it’s unlocked, but the one on the outside uses fingerprint technology, only a few of us can open it.’
‘And you’re one of them?’ Rose asked, treating him to a grin. A little flirtation couldn’t hurt.
‘Yep,’ Adam grinned, and then went on, obviously eager to show off. ‘Even got smart doors, here.’
‘What’s so smart about it?’ Rose asked.
He patted the edge of the door. ‘Apart from the fingerprint technology? Three inches of steel slide from the wall into the door, keep it locked. Only it’d be a bad idea for someone to do that when the door wasn’t shut. So there’s a laser beam between the door and the wall. A weak one, obviously, or we’d be slicing through the door every time we tried to close it.’ He ran a hand over the black box in the door. ‘Door won’t lock if the beam doesn’t get there. Genius,’ he added.
‘Did you come up with that yourself?’ she asked, grinning.
‘Maybe,’ he said, winking at her.
Rose glanced into the room behind her - what could she use? Posters… no, to obvious. But the tissues…
Innocently, she pulled one out of the box, folded it up as thick as she could manage without being suspicious, and pretended to blow her nose on it. ‘Sorry,’ she said, wandering back to the door, ‘I’m getting a cold. So are you cleverer than the door, then?’
She leaned against the doorframe, smiling at him with all the flirtatiousness he could manage, and casually held the little tissue against the doorframe in just the right place to block the laser. If the laser was weak enough to be blocked by a tightly folded tissue, which in a door like this it should be, but…
‘I should be,’ Adam grinned back.
‘You’d better go and find the others,’ she said. ‘I’m still upset about that alien. After that, though… I don’t know. You got anything like a coffee bar in this place?’ She tilted her head on one side, giving him a shy smile, forcing herself not to glance down at the tissue.
He grinned at that, but she didn’t miss the guilty look in his eye. She didn’t care; all she wanted was for him not to notice the tissue.
‘Maybe,’ Adam said. ‘Well. I’d better go, then.’
‘Yep,’ she said. ‘Be quick, won’t you? I mean,’ she added, as though correcting herself hastily, ‘I really have to talk to the Doctor.’
‘Oh, yes, I know,’ Adam said. ‘Well. See you soon, then.’
‘See you,’ Rose said, and the door slid shut between them. She waited thirty seconds, holding the tissue in place, then crossed her fingers and hit the white button.
The door slid open.
Grinning to herself, she pocketed the tissue and slipped out into the empty corridor. Excellent. Now all she needed to do was find the Doctor.
*
Van Statten hung up, snapping the phone shut with a click that echoed around the room. The sudden silence was a challenge, Van Statten throwing his cards on the table, as it were. He nodded to the guards standing silently in the corners of the room. ‘Head down there. Guard the door.’
Without a word, they left, and the Doctor was alone with Van Statten.
The Doctor sighed. ‘Leave her alone,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk, as long as she’s unharmed.’ There wasn’t much other choice; he could hardly stand aside and watch a companion - Rose - be tortured. Not for a few snippets of alien trivia. But, he swore as a look of smug amusement crossed Van Statten’s face, he’d never tell him anything important. Nothing that could damage the timelines. Nothing he could use for his own profit. Nothing about the Time War, about his people - and he was already thinking up the lies he’d have to tell on that one, because a man like Van Statten was bound to ask.
‘Glad to know we can come to a compromise, Doctor,’ Van Statten said, and reached for the laser. ‘And I’ll have plenty of questions for you later. Until then, let’s continue with the physical, shall we?’
‘I can tell you what you want to know,’ the Doctor said. ‘You use that thing, you’ll end up damaging me. And I’m sure you don’t want a broken specimen,’ he added sarcastically.
‘You’ve already had twice the amount any of the human tests could cope with, and you don’t look broken to me yet,’ Van Statten replied, one hand trailing along the laser, his eyes fixed on the Doctor. ‘I think I’m safe for a while longer, don’t you? This scanner gives me far more detailed information than any description could manage, Doctor. That’s all I want,’ he said, and the laser shot out again, turning everything to agony, and this time he couldn’t help crying out; whatever Van Statten said, this would be too much, soon, too much pain, everywhere the laser touched in agony…
This time when the laser stopped, he could feel the burn marks it was beginning to leave on his chest, the smell of burning skin unmistakeable. He gasped in a deep breath and winced at the pain.
‘Information,’ Van Statten said thoughtfully, his attention on the scanner readouts. ‘I want a closer look at your brain. Let’s try a different scanner, shall we?’
*
The base wasn’t so complicated when Rose started to figure out how the layout was structured; the problem was that there was so much of it. She’d been out of the cell for almost an hour now, and she still hadn’t searched even the entire top floor.
It didn’t help that there was so much security. More than once she’d almost been caught; it had only been luck that kept them from finding her. It had been worst when she went back to the room they were in before, Van Statten’s office, but after waiting for ten minutes for an opportunity to slip inside she’d found no one there. And then coming out she’d almost been caught again.
Now she was wandering down a slightly less attractive corridor - not something intended for showing guests around, obviously; it was cold, industrial metal, and gave Rose the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped in a rather large pipe system. She had no idea what the Doctor and Van Statten might be doing round here, but what else could she do? All she knew was that they were on the top floor - and if Adam had been lying, they could be anywhere.
She wondered how long it would have taken the Doctor to find her if she’d been locked up in that cell. Probably half the time, she thought sourly, and she’d at least have had a comfy sofa to curl up on while she waited…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a distant scream, twisted and distorted by the echoes of the corridors. She stopped dead. Was Van Statten torturing someone else? He only had one alien, he’d said, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be torturing humans too…
She frowned, unable to figure out where the scream had come from. It was hard - the echoing had made it seem as though it came from everywhere at once. There was a crossroad straight ahead where two corridors crossed; had it come more from the left or the right, or straight ahead?
As she reached the crossroads, carefully looking round the corner to make sure there were no guards there - there weren’t - the scream came again, echoing down the left-hand corridor. It sounded human, too, human and in agony, and she bit her lip, glancing round carefully before hurrying down the corridor as fast as she could without making too much noise - if she got caught by the guards, after all…
Was Van Statten planning to torture her? Was that why he’d had Adam lock her up?
The silence felt almost oppressive, now, crowding around her, making her nervous. No screaming, although she was constantly expecting it; no guards, although sooner or later they had to come and catch her. Only the sound of her own breathing and her footsteps, more-or-less quiet, because she couldn’t walk silently anyway and she had to get to whoever was screaming…
The third scream made her jump, but it was much closer now, unless the corridors were magnifying the sound. Human, definitely male, and definitely in a lot of pain. Memories of the alien came back to her, suddenly, the sad mechanical voice telling her it was dying. What if this man…
She hurried down the corridor. There were doors along the sides; widely spaced steel doors with no windows in them, no light shining beneath them. He had to be in one of these rooms, whoever it was that kept screaming, but she didn’t know which; as much as she hated the feeling of waiting for someone to scream in pain, there was no way of telling where he was until he did.
An agonised gasp provided the clue; spinning round, she headed back to a door she’d just passed, hesitant, glancing backwards and forwards. If she were caught here…
And then a voice - Van Statten’s - spoke from inside.
‘I’m impressed,’ he said. ‘This brain structure… oh, I can hardly imagine the possibilities. Tell me, what’s your IQ?’
‘Do you really think I’m going to bother with some silly human intelligence test?’
Shock slammed into her, because she knew that voice, would know it anywhere. The Doctor. Her Doctor.
And then there was a faint whine of machinery and she heard him cry out again, and had to stop herself from barging straight in there and… and… She didn’t know what she would do, except save him, except stop that bastard Van Statten.
She forced herself to stay by the door. Rushing in would be useless, and she knew that. Instead, she carefully levered the door open an inch, as tiny a span as she could manage, and peered through. She couldn’t see much, but she could see the Doctor, just off to the left of her field of vision and half-obscured by the door, chained up like some kind of insect, and she could see red welts across his chest where Van Statten had hurt him. He was sagging a little in the chains, looking frailer and more exhausted than she’d ever seen him.
Rose clutched at the doorframe, desperate to run in there and go to him but knowing she couldn’t. Not yet.
‘Oh, but this is fascinating,’ Van Statten said. ‘If we can modify human brains to incorporate some of these features… Just imagine it, Doctor. Super-intelligent humans, every one a genius.’
‘There’s better ways to improve the species than messing with their genes,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘That’s how you get Daleks, Van Statten, that’s how you get creatures who want nothing but to kill and to hate and to destroy.’
Van Statten said nothing, but walked over, coming just into Rose’s field of vision, taking something that looked like a very large gun and pointing it between the Doctor’s eyes, twisting a dial.
‘I wouldn’t use that any more if I were you,’ the Doctor said. ‘There’s only so much trauma the tissues up there can take, you know, and that scanner’s going straight through the optic nerves.’
‘You’ve already coped with this scanner on twice the level it would take to kill a human,’ said Van Statten calmly. ‘I doubt one more scan’s going to do anything.’
‘You want to take the risk?’ the Doctor asked.
‘One more scan isn’t going to do any harm,’ said Van Statten, and he pressed a button on the side of the scanner. Instantly the Doctor screamed, his whole body tensing and shaking as though he were being electrocuted, white light blazing out and it was all Rose could do not to shout out. She wavered on the spot, unable to look away, feeling sick; how could anyone be doing this?
It seemed like forever before Van Statten stopped, and the Doctor sagged in the chains, gasping. ‘I told you not to use it,’ he managed to say, raising his head, and with horror Rose saw his eyes were struggling to stay focussed. What had Van Statten done?
He merely shrugged. ‘A little eye damage is irrelevant, Doctor, if I can use this information. Just think how many parents will want this kind of technology. Genetic upgrades, super-intelligent children… just think how much they’ll pay for this.’
‘It’s all about money for you, isn’t it?’ the Doctor said savagely. ‘Money and profit and power, and you don’t care what you have to do to get it.’
‘Sometimes the ends justify the means, Doctor.’ Van Statten moved out of Rose’s view, and then back into it, a different tool in his hand this time. ‘One more scan, Doctor, for the fine detail,’ he said, and raised the device to the Doctor’s forehead.
He jerked away. ‘Use that thing and you could wipe my brain.’ Rose tensed, unconsciously pushing the door open a little further. She couldn’t wait and watch any more, there was no waiting for the perfect moment, she had to do something. But what? The Doctor was helpless, and she couldn’t take on Van Statten on her own…
‘I’m hardly reckless enough to apply that strong a charge, Doctor,’ Van Statten said. ‘I don’t want to damage you, after all. Not seriously.’ He raised the device again. ‘How about I promise to stop as soon as anything goes wrong, hmm?’
And with that he pressed the button; the Doctor cried out, straining at the restraints, and Rose couldn’t keep still, reacted without thinking; the only thing in her head was that she had to stop Van Statten, couldn’t let this happen. In one movement she’d caught up the first scanner Van Statten had been using, pressed it to the front of his head as he’d whirled around at her sudden intrusion, and pressed the button.
And then the room was silent but for the Doctor’s gasping breaths. He was hanging in the restraints, eyes vague and unfocused but still roving around the room; she was still clutching the scanner, and on the floor Van Statten lay motionless.
She stared at the object in her hand. Van Statten had said the setting it was on was twice enough to kill a human. She’d known that. She’d heard him say it. He wasn’t moving.
Eventually, the Doctor spoke. ‘Who’s there?’ he asked, his expression guarded, and she looked up and bit her lip.
‘It’s me,’ she said, her voice shaking, and she forced herself to swallow hard, although her throat was so dry it was almost painful. ‘Rose.’
‘You alright?’ he asked. ‘Did they hurt you?’
She shook her head, and then realised he couldn’t see her. ‘No. But your eyes…’ She took a step towards him, and her foot brushed against Van Statten’s leg; she shivered and forced herself to step over him. Over the corpse. ‘You can’t see anything,’ she said, standing by the Doctor’s side. ‘Is it permanent? I mean… can you fix that, blindness?’
‘Depends what caused it,’ the Doctor replied. ‘But in this case, I’ll be fine. Give me half an hour back at the TARDIS and I’ll be as good as new.’
She laughed at that, although even to her own ears it felt a little desperate, and reached out to him. She was about to hug him, but he winced and she saw the painful welts on his chest - oh, how could anyone do something like this? - so she stretched up and squeezed his hand instead. ‘Glad you’re okay,’ she said,
‘You too,’ he replied. ‘What happened, then? You miss a lot when your eyes aren’t working. And any chance of getting me down? My sonic screwdriver’s still in my jacket, it should be on that table over there.’
He nodded in a vague direction, and Rose spotted the jacket immediately. Retrieving his things, with her back turned to him, it was easier to lie. Because she couldn’t tell the truth. What would he think of her if he knew what she’d done?
‘I hit him on the head,’ she told him, then turned back with the sonic screwdriver in hand. ‘Knocked him out. He’ll probably be waking up in a minute, so we’d better get out of here. Back to the TARDIS to get your eyes fixed up. And then Van Statten’s got this alien chained up, he’s-’
‘The Dalek. I know,’ the Doctor cut her off grimly. ‘And we’re sorting that out the second my eyes are fixed.’
‘Good,’ Rose said, and took his weight as she undid the second restraint. He was more in pain than she’d realised at first, wincing as he moved. ‘You okay to get back to the TARDIS?’
‘Not got much choice, do I?’ he replied. ‘And I’ll be fine. Don’t think I could manage the stairs, though, but I’ve never heard you complain about taking the lift.’
Rose forced a laugh, and helped him back into his clothes - which he insisted on wearing, despite the injuries - and then slipped her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders, because she didn’t think he could have walked on his own even if he wasn’t blind.
She guided him carefully around Van Statten’s dead body, making sure they didn’t kick it, though she wasn’t sure if that was respect for the dead or fear or the deep slow sickness at the thought of what had happened. Van Statten’s eyes were beginning to glaze over, the expression of surprise and horror on his face just slackening.
Rose closed the door firmly behind them, as if by doing so she could make everything she’d done go away, and led the Doctor carefully to the lift.
*
This way to Part Two.
She couldn’t help but think of the Doctor, then, and the comparison made a lump rise in her throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, softly, knowing how meaningless that sounded, except she really did feel it, because however much it looked like a giant pepperpot she knew that it was still a person, still had feelings and wishes and everything that humans had, and the thought of anyone losing so much and then spending the rest of their life being tortured by Van Statten…
Silently, she did the only thing she could do; reached out a hand to touch the alien, offer it what little support she could.
‘Rose, don’t!’ Adam interrupted, lunging forward to catch her wrist and stopping her fingers within centimetres of the metal. She stared at him, confused, and he explained. ‘Last person who touched it… well, he kind of… spontaneously combusted. I wouldn’t take the risk.’
‘What?’ Rose asked, incredulous. ‘Like… burst into flames?’ How could anyone burst into flames just from touching metal? Though if she’d learnt anything with the Doctor, it was that anything she thought was true could very quickly turn out not to be.
The eyestalk moved, very slowly, to look at Adam. ‘Do you fear me?’ it asked, almost sadly, the same question it had just asked Rose.
Adam swallowed, looking a little sheepish. ‘Yeah. Kind of. Sorry.’
‘How can you be scared of it?’ Rose asked him. ‘Look at it. It’s helpless. It’s being tortured.’
Adam glanced away, opened his mouth as though to say something and then closed it again. Rose was about to demand an answer from him, but one glance back at the alien make her pause. There were more important things right now than arguing with Adam, and even she’d been scared back on Platform One surrounded for the first time by aliens. And if he really had seen someone burst into flames…
For a second, she considered reaching out and touching the alien anyway, but caution won out, and she dropped her hand to her side with a slight twinge of guilt. ‘Listen,’ she said to the alien, determined to do something, ‘we’re not going to just leave you here. I’m going to get my friend. If there’s anything we can do, he’ll know about it. And we’ll get you out, at least. We’re not just going to leave you to… to die here. Even if we can’t stop you dying, we can take you somewhere… somewhere better.’
The alien’s eyestalk lowered, but it didn’t speak, and Rose turned to Adam. ‘Take me to the Doctor,’ she said.
‘But he’s with Van Statten, you can’t just…’
‘I don’t care,’ said Rose firmly. ‘I need to speak to him. Now.’
Adam looked uncertain, but eventually shrugged. ‘On your own head,’ he said.
*
The laser shot out again, and as much as he hated to give Van Statten the satisfaction he couldn’t help crying out.
‘Like I said, Doctor,’ Van Statten said, a cocky smile creeping onto his face, ‘nothing can escape the Cage. Do you really think I’d let such a priceless specimen go?’
Humans. Stupid, stupid humans, thinking they knew everything, poking around in things no one sensible would go near - and getting destroyed by it, every time, every Mephistopheles, every Frankenstein’s monster, and they never, never learnt. And all for the worst of reasons - greed, or power, or fame, or money - never mind the good that could come from alien technology, and never mind the bad, either; just sell what can be sold and get rich.
‘The same applies to you too, by the way, Doctor,’ Van Statten added. ‘I’m afraid you’re simply too good an opportunity to pass up.’
‘So that’s what I am to you, is it?’ he asked. ‘A specimen? Some new toy to play with?’
‘A complicated and very fascinating toy,’ Van Statten replied, looking more amused than annoyed. ‘That… Dalek,’ he savoured the word, ‘can only give me so much. From experimenting on it, we can learn a little more alien materials, metals, technology… and if we can get it to talk again? How much information do you think we’d get out of it, Doctor?’
‘Information,’ the Doctor said sarcastically, twisting in the restraints, trying - although he knew it was probably hopeless - to get his hands free. If only they hadn’t taken his sonic screwdriver - oh, and he bet Van Statten would just be delighted when he found that little piece of tech. ‘Can’t see a Dalek being big on swapping cultural details, sorry. They’re more into trying to wipe out all life in the universe. Could be a good little partnership - catch an alien and get your pet Dalek to wipe out the rest of them, make them one-of-a-kind, much better for your collection.’
Van Statten’s smile was cold. ‘I’m hardly a murderer, Doctor,’ he said, and the laser shot out again - for longer this time, arcing across his chest. He could smell the skin singeing where it passed, the light seeping through his eyelids turning everything red; he was tugging at the manacles, totally involuntarily, anything to get away from the pain.
And then the laser was cut off; he gulped in a deep breath, sagging in the restraints. Laser scanning equipment, unrefined - just how much sadism did it take to be willing to use that? ‘Good to know there’s some depths you won’t sink to,’ he said, refusing to let Van Statten get the upper hand without a fight. Although considering he was the one chained up, it could already be said he’d lost it.
‘Oh, I’ve no intention of killing you. Not unless you end up being more useful dead than alive, and I doubt that’ll happen for a long time,’ Van Statten said. ‘If I can’t get information out of the Dalek, then what about you, Doctor? You talked about a Time War. You talked about Time Lords and Daleks, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to hearing more.’ He smiled at that. ‘So how much are you planning to tell me willingly, and how much will I be forced to torture you for?’
‘What makes you think you can torture it out of me?’ he asked. ‘Alien, remember. I’m not going to snap. You’d probably get more out of me with a cup of tea and a friendly chat.’ He shifted uncomfortably in the restraints. ‘Make that definitely.’
‘Or you could just tell me everything I wanted to know,’ Van Statten pointed out. ‘I’m not an unreasonable man, Doctor. I don’t want to hurt you, particularly: I want knowledge. And I’m quite prepared to go to any lengths to get it.’
‘Ever considered a university?’ the Doctor quipped, and was treated to another blast with the laser.
‘Harvard,’ Van Statten replied, pulling a tiny mobile phone from his pocket. ‘Nice place. And excuse me for my impoliteness in making a phone call during a conversation, but I’m wondering how your little friend’s getting on.’
Rose.
‘Leave her alone,’ the Doctor said tightly, twisting at the restraints.
‘I was thinking I should tell Adam to find her a nice room somewhere,’ Van Statten said, raising the phone to his ear. ‘Somewhere nice and safe. After all, there’s a dangerous alien lurking around down there. And later, if we’re having co-operation difficulties, perhaps we can invite her along to join in the fun, hmm?’
*
Rose and Adam were almost back up to the top floor when an insistent beeping cut into the silence.
‘Ah, sorry,’ Adam said, fumbling in his pocket and pulling out a slim earpiece. ‘Hang on a minute, it’s Van Statten… Yes, sir?’
Rose leant back against the wall of the lift, crossing her arms across her chest. She didn’t really care what stupid thing Van Statten wanted with Adam. Probably some new chunk of metal from a spaceship, or something. And none of that mattered. Right now there was some alien dying in Van Statten’s basement, and the sooner she could get to the Doctor, the better.
‘Yes,’ Adam said again, and then his eyes widened. ‘What?’
He glanced sharply towards her, then turned half-away. With a soft ping, the lift finally reached the top floor. ‘But sir,’ Adam said, ‘I don’t…’
Rose couldn’t hear Van Statten’s voice, but from the abrupt way Adam stopped she could tell he’d interrupted. Not surprising, that. She doubted someone like Van Statten would take kindly to being questioned.
And what would make Adam question him, anyway? Or act so shocked?
‘Right…’ Adam said, more quietly, ‘okay… yes, I will… Level Fifteen … right away, sir.’ He took the earpiece off slowly, tucking it into his pocket.
‘What was all that about, then?’ Rose asked as she headed for the door. Adam caught her sleeve.
‘We’re… er… they’re going to meet us down on Level Fifteen,’ Adam said, giving her an overly bright grin. He pressed the button, and the lift smoothly started to descend, though the only sign was a hum of machinery and the disconcerting feeling of lightness.
She frowned at him, and his eyes flicked to the floor, then up to where an electronic display told them what floor they were currently on. Rose got the uncanny feeling he was avoiding her gaze. Whatever that phonecall had really been about, it hadn’t been a simple rendezvous. And Adam didn’t want to tell her the truth.
Well, fine. If he was going to lie to her, she’d lie to him, too. Play along. And in the process, try to work out what was really going on.’
‘What’s on Level Fifteen?’ she asked.
Adam shrugged. ‘Nothing, much,’ he said, slipping his hands in his pockets and glancing sideways at her. ‘Some storerooms and offices. Things like that.’
The lift stopped, then, and Adam led her out and down a blank magnolia corridor, doors set at intervals into the walls.
She made a face. ‘Why are they down there, then? If there’s nothing here?’
‘They’re still up on the top floor right now, I think,’ Adam said. ‘They’re just meeting us there.’ He hesitated. ‘We’ll probably have to wait a bit. I’m sorry, I know you want to get to the Doctor as soon as possible, but-’
‘It’s okay,’ she said, giving him a smile. It wasn’t okay at all. ‘I mean, Van Statten doesn’t look like someone you want to cross…’
‘Oh, he’s not,’ Adam said firmly. ‘Believe me, he’s not. I mean, I wouldn’t be working for him if I could do this same sort of thing somewhere else…’ He shot her an odd frown, before shaking his head and turning down a corridor. ‘He said to wait in here,’ he said pressing a button which caused a door to slide open smoothly.
The room beyond was fairly plain; a couple of leather sofas, a coffee table with a box of tissues and a wilting spider plant, a couple of prints of the kind of famous artwork that got everywhere - vase of sunflowers, abstract pond.
What Rose immediately noticed, however, was the door itself. Specifically, the fact that it appeared to be made out of steel, and the large black box set into the side of it which looked, to her, suspiciously like a lock.
She couldn’t let on that she knew - that’d remove any chance she had of figuring out a way to avoid getting locked in here -so she casually wandered into the room, glancing around as though taking in the scenery. No ways to escape, then. Not that she’d expected any. Instead, she turned back to Adam, who was standing in the doorway.
‘So we just wait here till they show up, then?’ she asked.
‘Well, I was thinking you could wait and I could go find them,’ Adam said.
‘And leave me on my own?’ Rose asked. ‘Can’t I come with you?’
She could see him trying to come up with an answer. ‘Erm… well… one of us should stay here, in case they turn up.’
‘Fair enough, then,’ she said, running out of ideas, and then blurted out, ‘What’s that black thing on the door?’
‘It’s a lock,’ Adam said, and then went red. ‘Er, we sometimes use this room for prisoners and things. Not that you are one, obviously. Mostly it’s for meetings and stuff.’
Honestly, how bad a liar could he be? It’d have worked better if he’d hauled her off without explanation and thrown her in here. ‘Doesn’t look like any lock I’ve ever seen,’ Rose remarked, heading over to examine it. ‘Where’s the keyhole?’
‘It’s just this button here,’ Adam said, pointing to a little white button on the inside. ‘Anyone can use this one if it’s unlocked, but the one on the outside uses fingerprint technology, only a few of us can open it.’
‘And you’re one of them?’ Rose asked, treating him to a grin. A little flirtation couldn’t hurt.
‘Yep,’ Adam grinned, and then went on, obviously eager to show off. ‘Even got smart doors, here.’
‘What’s so smart about it?’ Rose asked.
He patted the edge of the door. ‘Apart from the fingerprint technology? Three inches of steel slide from the wall into the door, keep it locked. Only it’d be a bad idea for someone to do that when the door wasn’t shut. So there’s a laser beam between the door and the wall. A weak one, obviously, or we’d be slicing through the door every time we tried to close it.’ He ran a hand over the black box in the door. ‘Door won’t lock if the beam doesn’t get there. Genius,’ he added.
‘Did you come up with that yourself?’ she asked, grinning.
‘Maybe,’ he said, winking at her.
Rose glanced into the room behind her - what could she use? Posters… no, to obvious. But the tissues…
Innocently, she pulled one out of the box, folded it up as thick as she could manage without being suspicious, and pretended to blow her nose on it. ‘Sorry,’ she said, wandering back to the door, ‘I’m getting a cold. So are you cleverer than the door, then?’
She leaned against the doorframe, smiling at him with all the flirtatiousness he could manage, and casually held the little tissue against the doorframe in just the right place to block the laser. If the laser was weak enough to be blocked by a tightly folded tissue, which in a door like this it should be, but…
‘I should be,’ Adam grinned back.
‘You’d better go and find the others,’ she said. ‘I’m still upset about that alien. After that, though… I don’t know. You got anything like a coffee bar in this place?’ She tilted her head on one side, giving him a shy smile, forcing herself not to glance down at the tissue.
He grinned at that, but she didn’t miss the guilty look in his eye. She didn’t care; all she wanted was for him not to notice the tissue.
‘Maybe,’ Adam said. ‘Well. I’d better go, then.’
‘Yep,’ she said. ‘Be quick, won’t you? I mean,’ she added, as though correcting herself hastily, ‘I really have to talk to the Doctor.’
‘Oh, yes, I know,’ Adam said. ‘Well. See you soon, then.’
‘See you,’ Rose said, and the door slid shut between them. She waited thirty seconds, holding the tissue in place, then crossed her fingers and hit the white button.
The door slid open.
Grinning to herself, she pocketed the tissue and slipped out into the empty corridor. Excellent. Now all she needed to do was find the Doctor.
*
Van Statten hung up, snapping the phone shut with a click that echoed around the room. The sudden silence was a challenge, Van Statten throwing his cards on the table, as it were. He nodded to the guards standing silently in the corners of the room. ‘Head down there. Guard the door.’
Without a word, they left, and the Doctor was alone with Van Statten.
The Doctor sighed. ‘Leave her alone,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk, as long as she’s unharmed.’ There wasn’t much other choice; he could hardly stand aside and watch a companion - Rose - be tortured. Not for a few snippets of alien trivia. But, he swore as a look of smug amusement crossed Van Statten’s face, he’d never tell him anything important. Nothing that could damage the timelines. Nothing he could use for his own profit. Nothing about the Time War, about his people - and he was already thinking up the lies he’d have to tell on that one, because a man like Van Statten was bound to ask.
‘Glad to know we can come to a compromise, Doctor,’ Van Statten said, and reached for the laser. ‘And I’ll have plenty of questions for you later. Until then, let’s continue with the physical, shall we?’
‘I can tell you what you want to know,’ the Doctor said. ‘You use that thing, you’ll end up damaging me. And I’m sure you don’t want a broken specimen,’ he added sarcastically.
‘You’ve already had twice the amount any of the human tests could cope with, and you don’t look broken to me yet,’ Van Statten replied, one hand trailing along the laser, his eyes fixed on the Doctor. ‘I think I’m safe for a while longer, don’t you? This scanner gives me far more detailed information than any description could manage, Doctor. That’s all I want,’ he said, and the laser shot out again, turning everything to agony, and this time he couldn’t help crying out; whatever Van Statten said, this would be too much, soon, too much pain, everywhere the laser touched in agony…
This time when the laser stopped, he could feel the burn marks it was beginning to leave on his chest, the smell of burning skin unmistakeable. He gasped in a deep breath and winced at the pain.
‘Information,’ Van Statten said thoughtfully, his attention on the scanner readouts. ‘I want a closer look at your brain. Let’s try a different scanner, shall we?’
*
The base wasn’t so complicated when Rose started to figure out how the layout was structured; the problem was that there was so much of it. She’d been out of the cell for almost an hour now, and she still hadn’t searched even the entire top floor.
It didn’t help that there was so much security. More than once she’d almost been caught; it had only been luck that kept them from finding her. It had been worst when she went back to the room they were in before, Van Statten’s office, but after waiting for ten minutes for an opportunity to slip inside she’d found no one there. And then coming out she’d almost been caught again.
Now she was wandering down a slightly less attractive corridor - not something intended for showing guests around, obviously; it was cold, industrial metal, and gave Rose the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped in a rather large pipe system. She had no idea what the Doctor and Van Statten might be doing round here, but what else could she do? All she knew was that they were on the top floor - and if Adam had been lying, they could be anywhere.
She wondered how long it would have taken the Doctor to find her if she’d been locked up in that cell. Probably half the time, she thought sourly, and she’d at least have had a comfy sofa to curl up on while she waited…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a distant scream, twisted and distorted by the echoes of the corridors. She stopped dead. Was Van Statten torturing someone else? He only had one alien, he’d said, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be torturing humans too…
She frowned, unable to figure out where the scream had come from. It was hard - the echoing had made it seem as though it came from everywhere at once. There was a crossroad straight ahead where two corridors crossed; had it come more from the left or the right, or straight ahead?
As she reached the crossroads, carefully looking round the corner to make sure there were no guards there - there weren’t - the scream came again, echoing down the left-hand corridor. It sounded human, too, human and in agony, and she bit her lip, glancing round carefully before hurrying down the corridor as fast as she could without making too much noise - if she got caught by the guards, after all…
Was Van Statten planning to torture her? Was that why he’d had Adam lock her up?
The silence felt almost oppressive, now, crowding around her, making her nervous. No screaming, although she was constantly expecting it; no guards, although sooner or later they had to come and catch her. Only the sound of her own breathing and her footsteps, more-or-less quiet, because she couldn’t walk silently anyway and she had to get to whoever was screaming…
The third scream made her jump, but it was much closer now, unless the corridors were magnifying the sound. Human, definitely male, and definitely in a lot of pain. Memories of the alien came back to her, suddenly, the sad mechanical voice telling her it was dying. What if this man…
She hurried down the corridor. There were doors along the sides; widely spaced steel doors with no windows in them, no light shining beneath them. He had to be in one of these rooms, whoever it was that kept screaming, but she didn’t know which; as much as she hated the feeling of waiting for someone to scream in pain, there was no way of telling where he was until he did.
An agonised gasp provided the clue; spinning round, she headed back to a door she’d just passed, hesitant, glancing backwards and forwards. If she were caught here…
And then a voice - Van Statten’s - spoke from inside.
‘I’m impressed,’ he said. ‘This brain structure… oh, I can hardly imagine the possibilities. Tell me, what’s your IQ?’
‘Do you really think I’m going to bother with some silly human intelligence test?’
Shock slammed into her, because she knew that voice, would know it anywhere. The Doctor. Her Doctor.
And then there was a faint whine of machinery and she heard him cry out again, and had to stop herself from barging straight in there and… and… She didn’t know what she would do, except save him, except stop that bastard Van Statten.
She forced herself to stay by the door. Rushing in would be useless, and she knew that. Instead, she carefully levered the door open an inch, as tiny a span as she could manage, and peered through. She couldn’t see much, but she could see the Doctor, just off to the left of her field of vision and half-obscured by the door, chained up like some kind of insect, and she could see red welts across his chest where Van Statten had hurt him. He was sagging a little in the chains, looking frailer and more exhausted than she’d ever seen him.
Rose clutched at the doorframe, desperate to run in there and go to him but knowing she couldn’t. Not yet.
‘Oh, but this is fascinating,’ Van Statten said. ‘If we can modify human brains to incorporate some of these features… Just imagine it, Doctor. Super-intelligent humans, every one a genius.’
‘There’s better ways to improve the species than messing with their genes,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘That’s how you get Daleks, Van Statten, that’s how you get creatures who want nothing but to kill and to hate and to destroy.’
Van Statten said nothing, but walked over, coming just into Rose’s field of vision, taking something that looked like a very large gun and pointing it between the Doctor’s eyes, twisting a dial.
‘I wouldn’t use that any more if I were you,’ the Doctor said. ‘There’s only so much trauma the tissues up there can take, you know, and that scanner’s going straight through the optic nerves.’
‘You’ve already coped with this scanner on twice the level it would take to kill a human,’ said Van Statten calmly. ‘I doubt one more scan’s going to do anything.’
‘You want to take the risk?’ the Doctor asked.
‘One more scan isn’t going to do any harm,’ said Van Statten, and he pressed a button on the side of the scanner. Instantly the Doctor screamed, his whole body tensing and shaking as though he were being electrocuted, white light blazing out and it was all Rose could do not to shout out. She wavered on the spot, unable to look away, feeling sick; how could anyone be doing this?
It seemed like forever before Van Statten stopped, and the Doctor sagged in the chains, gasping. ‘I told you not to use it,’ he managed to say, raising his head, and with horror Rose saw his eyes were struggling to stay focussed. What had Van Statten done?
He merely shrugged. ‘A little eye damage is irrelevant, Doctor, if I can use this information. Just think how many parents will want this kind of technology. Genetic upgrades, super-intelligent children… just think how much they’ll pay for this.’
‘It’s all about money for you, isn’t it?’ the Doctor said savagely. ‘Money and profit and power, and you don’t care what you have to do to get it.’
‘Sometimes the ends justify the means, Doctor.’ Van Statten moved out of Rose’s view, and then back into it, a different tool in his hand this time. ‘One more scan, Doctor, for the fine detail,’ he said, and raised the device to the Doctor’s forehead.
He jerked away. ‘Use that thing and you could wipe my brain.’ Rose tensed, unconsciously pushing the door open a little further. She couldn’t wait and watch any more, there was no waiting for the perfect moment, she had to do something. But what? The Doctor was helpless, and she couldn’t take on Van Statten on her own…
‘I’m hardly reckless enough to apply that strong a charge, Doctor,’ Van Statten said. ‘I don’t want to damage you, after all. Not seriously.’ He raised the device again. ‘How about I promise to stop as soon as anything goes wrong, hmm?’
And with that he pressed the button; the Doctor cried out, straining at the restraints, and Rose couldn’t keep still, reacted without thinking; the only thing in her head was that she had to stop Van Statten, couldn’t let this happen. In one movement she’d caught up the first scanner Van Statten had been using, pressed it to the front of his head as he’d whirled around at her sudden intrusion, and pressed the button.
And then the room was silent but for the Doctor’s gasping breaths. He was hanging in the restraints, eyes vague and unfocused but still roving around the room; she was still clutching the scanner, and on the floor Van Statten lay motionless.
She stared at the object in her hand. Van Statten had said the setting it was on was twice enough to kill a human. She’d known that. She’d heard him say it. He wasn’t moving.
Eventually, the Doctor spoke. ‘Who’s there?’ he asked, his expression guarded, and she looked up and bit her lip.
‘It’s me,’ she said, her voice shaking, and she forced herself to swallow hard, although her throat was so dry it was almost painful. ‘Rose.’
‘You alright?’ he asked. ‘Did they hurt you?’
She shook her head, and then realised he couldn’t see her. ‘No. But your eyes…’ She took a step towards him, and her foot brushed against Van Statten’s leg; she shivered and forced herself to step over him. Over the corpse. ‘You can’t see anything,’ she said, standing by the Doctor’s side. ‘Is it permanent? I mean… can you fix that, blindness?’
‘Depends what caused it,’ the Doctor replied. ‘But in this case, I’ll be fine. Give me half an hour back at the TARDIS and I’ll be as good as new.’
She laughed at that, although even to her own ears it felt a little desperate, and reached out to him. She was about to hug him, but he winced and she saw the painful welts on his chest - oh, how could anyone do something like this? - so she stretched up and squeezed his hand instead. ‘Glad you’re okay,’ she said,
‘You too,’ he replied. ‘What happened, then? You miss a lot when your eyes aren’t working. And any chance of getting me down? My sonic screwdriver’s still in my jacket, it should be on that table over there.’
He nodded in a vague direction, and Rose spotted the jacket immediately. Retrieving his things, with her back turned to him, it was easier to lie. Because she couldn’t tell the truth. What would he think of her if he knew what she’d done?
‘I hit him on the head,’ she told him, then turned back with the sonic screwdriver in hand. ‘Knocked him out. He’ll probably be waking up in a minute, so we’d better get out of here. Back to the TARDIS to get your eyes fixed up. And then Van Statten’s got this alien chained up, he’s-’
‘The Dalek. I know,’ the Doctor cut her off grimly. ‘And we’re sorting that out the second my eyes are fixed.’
‘Good,’ Rose said, and took his weight as she undid the second restraint. He was more in pain than she’d realised at first, wincing as he moved. ‘You okay to get back to the TARDIS?’
‘Not got much choice, do I?’ he replied. ‘And I’ll be fine. Don’t think I could manage the stairs, though, but I’ve never heard you complain about taking the lift.’
Rose forced a laugh, and helped him back into his clothes - which he insisted on wearing, despite the injuries - and then slipped her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders, because she didn’t think he could have walked on his own even if he wasn’t blind.
She guided him carefully around Van Statten’s dead body, making sure they didn’t kick it, though she wasn’t sure if that was respect for the dead or fear or the deep slow sickness at the thought of what had happened. Van Statten’s eyes were beginning to glaze over, the expression of surprise and horror on his face just slackening.
Rose closed the door firmly behind them, as if by doing so she could make everything she’d done go away, and led the Doctor carefully to the lift.
*
This way to Part Two.