Doctor Who: World Base Six

[Toucan Sundae]

Why not, eh? I assume this is for more than Pokémon.

Stars the Eighth Doctor.

World Base Six


The war had been raging for longer than anyone could remember. The cause had been forgotten in time and the victories and losses on both sides remained undocumented. Some claim that they remember a time before the war, and that they have seen times after it, however, they are dismissed as mad men. A vital twist in the war had happened only a decade before, yet that victory was not celebrated for too long. The other side had retaliated with ferocious power.

All over the universe, the Children of Earth had been lost. Some in battle, others taken in as prisoners, the rest were converted. The few who remained had fled the war-ridden planet and had found solace on a planet orbitting a binary system. The Children of Earth settled there and named it 'Neo-Earth,' (it's scientific name 'World Base 6' was too cold for the refugees) within a year it was known as home for the Children of Earth and for the first time in centuries, the human race felt safe.

***

The Doctor ran hyperactively around the TARDIS, flicking switches, pressing buttons, turning cranks, bashing things with a hammer and, accidentally, tripping over. The Doctor looked up and smiled, his goofy smile quickly turned to trying to hold back painful memories as he flicked another switch, his good mood had suddenly been thwarted. He had forgotten that he was alone, and it stung. He checked the white-board screen over-looking the TARDIS where numbers would appear. For an ancient, time-travelling device, the TARDIS had scruffy handwriting.

He had planned to go to the Rainbow seas of the second Moon of Gyplancia, but he had forgotten that he was alone, there was no one to show off his incredible (yet partly-true) knowledge of the silver fish swarms that flew from Gyplancia to it's second Moon twice during the Moon's seventh season. This was very boring on his own and tempted him to go to Earth, just to find someone.

He shrugged off the idea and journeyed further into the TARDIS. As he left, the console sparked and shuddered. After a recent, and unfortunate, explosion his TARDIS had changed in it's interior and looked more like a class-room with a massive console in the centre. Even the monitor over-looking the door was like a white-board. Thankfully, his console seemed pretty much the same as his last one did, but there were cup-holders now.

The ceiling was a look into the TARDIS. See-through gears constantly grinding and turning were a brief distraction to the blindingly white light, as the TARDIS traveled through time, it would turn red for travelling to the future, and would turn blue for travelling into the past. However, while the TARDIS was stationary, it was white.

As the Doctor walked back in, evidentally he had taken a walk. He stared at the white-board and his eyes lit up, he swaggered over to the console and started hyperactively flicking switches, pressing buttons, turning cranks and bashing things with a hammer. The trademark whooping and vorping of the TARDIS echoed throughout the room, the console lit up, lights everywhere flashing.

And then it stopped. Everything. The noise, the colour, the lights.

The Doctor looked up at his monitor and shrugged, he certainly was not anywhere near Gyplancia. He grinned a silly grin, forgetting about his loneliness. This was somewhere new, somewhere uncharted. As he neared the door, he searched his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, it was still there. Before he could touch the handle, there was a distinct knock at the door.

***

Oliver let out a loud sigh as he entered his quarters. Even though the threat of the enemy had been last seen almost a decade ago, each member of the community had to look out for any passing ships. The human race had established itself on its planet and for nine years had hid in fear of the oncoming forces. They had nine years and they still were not prepared.

Oliver had been one of the few children allowed on Shuttle Gamma. Well, by allowed, it was more like his parents did not like the idea of having him staying on Earth and being slaughtered by the enemy so they hid him in the cargo bay, and when they reached World Base 6, they found him. (At this time, he was eight, so he knew not to make noise.)

What Oliver found odd was that how the enemy had spent the best part of a millenia chasing the humans and wiping out their genome. So why would they ignore Shuttle Gamma? The last colony of the human race and they chose to ignore it. There was something strange, something so wrong about the idea. If the enemy were as ruthless as the stories said they were, they would not spare the last one hundred (and one) of humanity. Perhaps the enemy were killed on Earth, and the radios had not got to Neo-Earth by then.

Oliver liked to believe that idea, this meant that his parents were still alive.

He stared into the television screen opposite the door in his room. His hair fell down to his shoulders, but no further, white as a Christmas in Antarctica. His face was young and smooth, forest green eyes allowed a window into his soul, his life, his education. However, most of that was sum-up-able in a sentence due to the life he had to lead. Facial hair grew at the bottom, particularly a rough patch on his chin. He wore scrubs, the same that everyone else wore. Scrubs were repairable and cheap. His build was average, he didn't have much time to over-eat, or under-eat, so he found himself pretty healthy. He found himself doing what most vain people do, checking himself out. He snapped out of it and stared forward, into the monochrome wall.

A light flashed on the television screen in his room, a face appeared lone on the screen. An indifference on it's face. In the background, every now and then, a flash of purple numbers washed across the screen.

"Oliver Tyroxi, your next shift on Western Sky watch will be in 38 hours." The face stated, the voice was voices. Male, female and a microsoft Sam-esq voice all said at the same time.

"Okay, thank you. Please warn me for that in 37 hours and 40 minutes."

"Alarm in 2260 minutes." The voices replied.

Just as the conversation ended, Oliver sat down on his bed and gave another sigh. He was only seventeen, and they had him working six shifts a week. When he had free time, he would practise with a gun. So when the enemy did return, he would be armed and prepared. He stretched and lay on his bed, his eyes closed and...

The alarm rang louder than anything he could have imagined. He leapt to his feet and rushed for the gun in his sock drawer. He rushed toward the source of the alarm, the Children of Earth had set alarms all over the planet, so when there was an intrusion, they could follow the noise. Quicker than normal, he sprinted out of the settlement and found the source. He was the only one following it, he assumed everyone else was hiding.

When he reached the source, he found a box. A blue box. A big, blue box. The wooden frame of it stood there, he was amased it could travel through space, let alone not get burned up on entering the atmosphere. The two doors were an invitation to the entrance and, perhaps, his evacuation of Neo-Earth. His gun held in one hand, he lifted the other to the door of the big, blue, wooden box and knocked.

The right door flung open, a man stood there. Clad in Edwardian clothing. His brown hair twitched and writhed in the Neo-Earth winds, the same for his coat. A look of curiousity and loss was plastered onto his face, both Oliver and the man were of similar height. Oliver looked shocked and could not phrase a sentence together as he stared gormless at the man in the big, blue wooden box.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." He gave a childish smile and held out his palm. The man looked human, maybe he came to Neo-Earth to tell the Children of Earth that the war was over and that it was safe to return to Earth. Oliver replied.

"H-hey, I'm Oliver Tyroxi. Passenger number 101 of the original 100 passengers of Shuttle Gamma. Welcome to Neo-Earth, Doctor." Oliver stated, montonously. As if it was the millionth time he had said it to someone.

"Neo-Earth, huh? Humanity is so creative som- ...Wait, passenger 101 of 100? Does that mean you were a-"

"Stowaway? Yessir."

"Fantastic, I love stowaways, they are always so sneaky- and something is bothering me, don't ever call me sir, I hate being called sir."

"Okay, 'Doctor,' well, it was less of me being sneaky and more of my parents hiding me on board. Just one thing 'Doctor,' are you from Earth? Can we go home?"

"Earth? Why? No. Why? Is there something wrong? Solar Flares? Too much pollution? Invasion of Cyber-"

"...Doctor, don't you know? Where have you been over the last few centuries? The war, remember? Some of the most important figureheads of the planet were evacua- Wait, why am I telling you this... you could be working for them..."

"I'm sorry working for who? Or is it whom? Anyway, working for who...m?"

"The Daleks."

***

The binary system '6' appeared on a massive screen. One large sun and one much smaller sun meant a trail of the smaller one was being absorbed into the larger one. Three planets orbitted the two, one in the 'Goldilocks zone,' which meant it was close enough for life. Not too hot, nor too cold. An eye-stalk glanced over the information on the screen the light blue light at the end of the stalk thinned.

"TYPE 40 TARDIS HAS BEEN DETECTED ON THE THIRD BINARY SYSTEM PLANET. MOVE IN AND EXTERMINATE."

***

The very mention of the word rang alarm bells, not dissimilar to those of Neo-Earth, in his head. If one Dalek could cause devastation in a town of 10,000, an entire fleet against a cowardly army of 100...and 1 would wipe them out in a matter of seconds. Images flashed in his head of times he struggled to think of any solution, and people would die because he did not act quick enough. On occasion, no one could be saved.

"How long have you lived here...in fear?"

"Four orbits of this system's sun, they estimate it is about nine years." The white-haired teenaged stated, as if he could barely believe it himself.

"Hmmm...nine years...nine years...three thousand, two hundred and eighty-five days... seventy-eight thousand, eight hundred and forty hours... four million, seven hundred-and-thirty thousand, four hundred minutes... two hundred and eighty-three million, eight hundred and twenty-four thousand seconds. Nope, there's nothing special, unless..." The 'Doctor' turned around and looked at his box. He closed the door and started walking forward, alarms rang as he walked through the shrubbery.

"Doctor... please don't tell me that your ship has alerted them." Oliver asked, trailing behind the Doctor. His curiousity could not hold him back. He sensed that the Doctor had no clue to where he was going and was following a path-like direction.

"Well, we don't know if they are here yet. I could just be speculating, but if I know the Daleks..." He stopped and turned around, looking Oliver in the eye. A stern, old man hiding behind the body of a younger man was shown through his eyes. "And I do know the Daleks, they are coming. Whether it is today, tomorrow, Christmas, the fourth celebration of Prosch, New Easter, the ninety-eighth night of McWarq, they will come. So, even though I'm an oddly dressed stranger, wandering away from whatever settlement you have set up, rambling on about alien things, you followed me. Why is that?"

"I... I don't know. I guess I feel safer with a total stranger than the people I've spent the last nine years with."

The two started to laugh.

"However, what did you say your- wait, yes, Oliver, this is no time for laughter. You see, while we've been talking, I've been using this." He held up a metal tube, a blue light emitting from the end of it. A warbling sound could be heard coming from inside the casing. "My sonic screwdriver, handy little gadget. Used to have a spanner which came with it too...lost that surfing on the gaseous seas of Quebec... the planet not the city, does Quebec still exist in this time? Anyway, it has been telling me if there are any non-human, non-native presence on this planet, excluding me."

Oliver took a moment to take in the man's ramblings, then realised what he had said. "So you're not... y'know, human?"

"Of course not! Do I look human to you? Actually, ignore that question. I'm a Time Lord, an ancient enemy of the Daleks...and, yet again, anyway, my screwdriver has been telling me that there's been a presence orbitting this planet for eighteen years. The shape of a large moon, however made of an element you won't like."

He gave Oliver an apologetic look, and then turned back, walking towards his ship. His hands now buried in his pockets.

"You see, that is made of Dalekanium. Me thinks it's a Dalek docking station, however there's no life on, or in, it... for now. I would suggest arming yourselves, because this is the first time I've ever seen a Dalek ship take nine years to find its enemies." He carried on walking to his ship, he then turned around again. "Unless, we rig the docking station to explode once the Daleks land on it... and, anyway, why haven't you tried to get home. Your ship is fully operational."

"We've been waiting. There's a reason we're not fighter's Doctor, there's a reason why we're hidden in fear even when a 'Time Lord' in a silly, wooden box lands on our planet. They are the intellectuals, those not built for fighting or military strategum. These people dedicated their lives to science, on Earth, during the war, keeping the ongoing development of the human race alive. Then they evacuated, before World Base 6, they tried all seven of the Lost Moons, the long side of Flatt, and even Dead Sun! All of them had been destroyed by the Daleks, we fear it has also happened to Earth."

The Doctor nodded, he fumbled around in his pocket for a key and opened the double doors to his box. He gestured for Oliver to follow. He stopped for a second, before he wandered in.

"Doctor, don't you th-" he stopped mid-sentence as he said that. How could such a small, blue, wooden, silly, 'Police' box be so large on the inside? Through the doors was a huge command console with buttons and lights and switches and levers all lighting up and flashing. The walls were lined with plaster (or so it looked like) with several wooden desks lined up next to it. There were no chairs.

"I've heard this before, it's bigger on the inside? Time Lord technology, I'm surprised, with the human race this far along, that you haven't come up with anything like this yet." He gave an arrogant smirk as he flicked what looked like a light switch, on the plaster-white wall, and both the doors closed behind Oliver. They didn't creak when they opened, but they did as they closed. "I'm taking you to see Earth, taking you to see what remains of your home planet. We'll see if you, and your scientist friends can go home."

He flicked some of the flashing switches on the console, he flipped a hatch covering something that looked like a hand-print, but with an extra couple of fingers. He hit it with a hammer, twice, then flipped the cover back over it. He ran over to one quarter of the console, this quarter covered in dials and faders. He twirled three of the dials and flicked all of the faders up and down.

"So, Oliver. I need to know the year, so I can keep the co-ordinates for that the same, I've heard the war lasts from 17-" He was cut off.

"24632." Oliver said, still in a daze of how a place like this could exist.

"It's lasted for millennia? That's commendable, you humans sure know how to put up a fight! Anyhow, while I'm doing this, press your thumb onto that button and look up. If that white void turns blue, red or green, press down even harder and think 'White.'"

Oliver followed orders. The Doctor finished with the dials and leapt to a fire-extinguisher attatched to the plaster walls. He smashed the glass, pulled out the fire extinguisher and armed himself with it. Aiming for the console. Like he was expecting an explosion. Oliver moved out of the way and sat on one of the desks. This was so insane.

But he loved it.

Suddenly, the console lights died and a grinding and vhorping sound echoed throughout the impossible room. Oliver could feel the twisting and turning as the ship manouvered throughout space. The Doctor relaxed with the extinguisher. He fit it back into place and looked up.

"The last time I took a journey, where I wasn't travelling in time, the TARDIS, that's her name by the way, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space...well, the TARDIS took this badly and exploded on me. And regenerated it's interior. The TARDIS likes to time travel, y'see, she doesn't like just being used as an ordinary space-ship."

"Doctor, you're talking about it like it's alive..."

"The TARDIS is alive. They were grown and are products of an eco-system."

Oliver was too baffled to give a coherent remark. Then, the grinding and vhorping stopped and the console lit up again. A chalkboard also dropped from the ceiling before the Doctor. Numbers were written on it.

"Hmm. We're here. However, the TARDIS did time travel a little bit, a naughty little bit of thirty-second-into-the-future travelling, undetectable by the ceiling. Would you like to see the planet you left nine years and thirty seconds ago?" He flicked the light switch on the wall again, and the double doors, the blue double doors, of the TARDIS opened.

***

"SUPERIOR DALEK, TYPE 40 TARDIS HAS CONFIRMED TO HAVE LEFT THIRD BINARY PLANET SYSTEM. SHOULD WE PURSUIT?" The Dalek asked, it's gun, sucker and eye-stalk all twitching in different places as it questioned. Unlike other Daleks, these ones seemed to have been put together by the left-over bits. The question-asking one kept it's iconic frame, however it was welded together with bits of other Daleks. Silver, white, blue, red, black, gold, bronze, yellow and orange pieces of the Dalek could describe it as a Dalek made out of leftovers. However, none of the Daleks there were any different. All pieced together by parts that looked like they came from separate jigsaw puzzles.

One Dalek sat in the centre of the theatre. Wires and life-feeds connected up to it. The Dalek casing was all one colour, however the shape was more like a jar. The bronze casing covered the view of the insides, however in the centre of the shape, a glass casing surrounded it. The fluid encasing the Dalek could be seen as it was pumped in and out. The Dalek in there was a tiny, tentacled being. As it breathed, tentacles twitched and it blinked it's one, yellow-and-red eye. There was no gun, no eye-stalk nor a sucker. Just the jar-shape. As it barked orders, it's voice was much more darker and deeper than the others. The floor vibrated and rumbled as it spoke. The way it spoke was more calm than the other, recongisable voices of the Daleks, as if it was actually speaking.

"No. It is not the Time Lords that we are at war with. Scanners also detect a human settlement on the planet, on Neo-Skaro. We can land, and enslave the remaining human beings. They can become the servants of the DALEKS." As the Superior Dalek spoke, it's pitch and tone became less and less calm, and more blood thirsty. It had taken the Daleks almost a human decade to rebuild after the massacre on Earth and the Daleks had been searching for an unprotected settlement. The humans were just about unlucky enough to land on Neo-Skaro.

"ALL HAIL THE SUPERIOR DALEK!" The other Daleks barked and cheered as the all drove away. Preparing their battle stations and redying themselves for the attack and salvaging of the unprotected humans.

The ship crept closer to the white and khaki planet of Neo-Skaro, the attack would be a surprise, nevertheless the start of the downfall of the human race.

***

Oliver, yet again, was rendered speachless. He had imagined that the Earth had suffered the same fate as all seven of the Lost Moons, the long side of Flatt, and Dead Sun, however, there it was. The big, blue marble, spinning in space with it's animal, plant, living-mineral and fungi companions. The Moon was still there, the huge space-port was still open and ships were flying to and from it. A satellite slowly passed infront of the TARDIS, obscuring the view, and then passed away from it. The Earth was still there, thirty seconds in the future nonetheless, however it was still there.

"I'd never seen the Earth, properly. My parents and I spent seven years living in an underground bunker built almost a thousand years ago. I didn't even get to try non-tinned foods until I landed on Neo-Earth. My parents were too scared of what the Daleks would do on Earth if it was ever attacked. They wanted me to survive." Oliver stated, his eyes fixated on what used to be his home. The giant, blue-and-green ball hung there in space, as lively as it had ever been. No genocide, no massacre, no...

"So the question is, why haven't they called you guys on World Bae 6? I'm sure if you guys were the intellectuals of Earth they would want you back..." The Doctor paused as he started to think, started to try and rationalise an illogical situation. He sat on a desk and then jumped off again. "Unless...you're still in war! They don't need the intellectuals until the war is done, why would they? Who needs a robot dog if you're battling a race of cybernetic mutants?"

Oliver ignored the Doctor and continued to stare at the place where he was born, where his parents were born, where his ancestors who lived in the 21st century were born. Where soldiers and military scientists were being trained to battle the ultimate foe. The doors shut close and obscured Oliver's view again as a voice emmitted from the white board overlooking the door. There was a screen where a man, a woman and a humanoid lizard, which he could assume was a Silurian, all stood. They looked shocked and fearful and angry and prepared and sad at the same time. The Doctor jumped into animation, pulling a microphone out of a, what looked like, cup holder and sat on the desk again.

"Hello Earth, well I hope you're still called that. This is the TARDIS. I represent those on World Base 6, they would like to come home."

The Silurian, who was revealed to be a woman, spoke for the two humans. "Sadly, TARDIS, Earth is not prepared to cater for those not prepared to fight for the continuation of Earthkind. The Children of Earth have retreated through the stars and have had to restart here after the massacre here almost a decade ago. We are preparing for a second attack, we are almost certain that Daleks still exist in the galaxy."

"Well, I've got some news for you. I dunno whether you will think of it as good or bad right now. But orbitting World Base 6 is a Skaro docking station, a militia kind. And a gut feeling inside me is telling me that it's about to become active very soon." The Doctor was talking like he was taunting the three, using the information to wind them up rather than persuade them to help the people living in fear on Neo-Earth.

"I'm so sorry Doctor, but currently we are protecting the interests of Earth. If we had soldiers, weapons, ships that we could afford to lose, we would gladly send them to their deaths fighting the new Dalek forces on the other side of the galaxy, but we don't and your revalations mean we must prepare very quickly, if there are Daleks still in the universe. They will be coming for Earth, and Earth only." The Siluarian woman stated, the screen then shut off.

The Doctor stood up and started playing with the controls.

"Oliver. That gun in your pocket, have you ever used it on a living thing?"

"No."

"Well, today is the day you might have to. Me, you, and the one hundred scientists on World Base 6 are going to war with the Daleks. And we will win."

***

As the communication switched off, the three started walking. The female Silurian lead the two humans, all three dressed in military gear. The two humans, at first glance, were rather old, both approximately in their sixties, while the Silurian's age was undetectable. The three cold, stern faces stormed down the corridor, their boots clanging against the steel flooring. As they stormed in one direction, humans, silurians and a variety of other aliens draped in laboratory-appropriate clothing walked in the opposite direction. The floor shuddered and a filament lightbulb burst, the Silurian stopped.

"What was that?" She pulled a passing human scientist, grabbing him by his coat and stared into his fear-filled eyes. Her eyes filled with so much wisdom, and age, it was highly evident that she was either a similar or older age than the two humans.

"We were testing out a photon-dilution field on the Dalek's guns. It made the gun do less damage, but in a wider area. We would need a dilution field the size of a planet to make a shot from a dalek non-fatal." He replied, quickly. Having gotten to know the Brigadier, the human knew not to waste time with matters that did not matter to U.N.I.T., such as a waste of human guinea pigs.

"Just don't try to destroy the base, and next time you try to find a way to paralyse the Daleks, try using a prisoner rather than one of our artificial humans, they could prove useful." She started walking again, the two old humans still in pursuit. The corridor ended in a lift, the two doors screeched open and the three walked inside.

"Why didn't you tell the 'Tardis' about Decoy Shuttle Gamma?" The old man asked, he didn't look at the Brigadier, he just stared forward, at the door.

"For all we know, he could be one of them. If there's a Dalek fleet heading towards them, if they put up a fight, artificial humans may prove useful as fighters." She replied, as the doors opened, the three carried on the walk, down a similar corridor as before.

"...And my grandson? He's there with him." The human woman replied, her expression filled with worry.

"Your daughter-in-law was stupid enough to hide him on the ship." The Silurian replied, without expression.

"My son and his wife were both executed by you for it. Please don't let me lose another." The woman begged, her voice tembling near the end of the sentence.

"You became stronger for it, Tyroxi. You should be thanking me." The three reached a room, a large circular room. There, in the centre, was a Dalek.

***

The monochrome walls of the flat-pack base on Neo-Earth lit up red as alarms all over the planet went off. Each hole, cupboard and table had a resident hidden under it, with their eyes closed and hands tightly clasped over their ears. Two, however, stood outside, staring up at the white sky. The day-moon was clearly visible along with a saucer-shaped object. The two were both women, dressed in grey scrubs. The women stood there, a tear cascaded down the woman on the right's cheek.

"They've found us, Sami. We're not prepared, Sami?" The woman on the right turned to the woman on the left, Sami. Both of them looked the same, however, their hair colours were different. Sami was blonde and the woman on the right was ginger. "Sami?"

Sami stood there, not looking at the woman on the right, her eyes closed and she looked down. She pulled a gun, finger on the trigger, out of her pocket. The woman on the right stared in disbelief.

"Sami?"

There was no reply, Sami looked at the gun in her hand, fingers caressed the barrel and she looked up, at the woman on the right. Tears trickled down Sami's face, she lifted the gun to her head. She stared into the woman on the right's eyes.

"I-I can't do it, I can't die like that. I'm sorry, Lily...I'm jus..." Sami sobbed, her tears splattered on her scrubs.

"Sami, just...just please. Don't..."

She lifted the gun to her temple, and tightened her grip on the trigger. "I love y-" She gripped too tight and the shot had fired mid sentence. Her body collapsed, limp. She had fired away from Lily, the ground next to where she had fallen was soaked in blood. Lily stood there and sobbed loudly, the rest of Neo-Earth was hidden, so her sobs went unnoticed.

***

"Remember, Oliver, keep your thumb on- oh, you're already doing it..." The Doctor stated, tapping what looked like a large compass and holding up his 'screwdriver.' He then ran over to a filing cabinet that stood next to the fire extinguisher. "There's...something in here...we can...use...aaaaand...here it is!" He lifted up the bottom half hour glass, however the sand inside was blue...and it was liquid.

"Never thought I would get to use this. Something I picked up from Macaque II when I had my first face, and I've never thought to use it...well, legally anyway." He rambled, holding up the hour glass to his face and tapping on the glass.

"Any explination to what it does, Doctor?" Oliver asked, wondering when the never-ending rambling of the Doctor would end.

"Oh! Yes! Of course! More or less, it absorbs photons and turns them into these little things." he tapped the glass again, and then shook it. "These are living particles, the smallest possible living things. My people discovered them, they called them Qouons. The size of an electron, but they can live and breathe. It's doing it right now, but on a lower scale."

Oliver shrugged and stared at the console, the only thing lit up was the button he had his thumb on. He looked up at the Doctor and wondered when he would stop looking at the Qouons, that day had really been filled up with non-sensible terms.

"Oh! Yes! You can stop now." The Doctor laughed and put the half hour glass on the console. "If this thing does not absorb the photons from a Dalek, it will atleast spread them, make them less deadly."

"Alright, Doctor. Why all the preperation, though? We don't know for sure that there are Daleks near Neo-Earth." Oliver questioned, removing his thumb and looked at the fire extinguisher, the smashed glass had gone and was replaced.

"Didn't I mention?"

"Mention what Doctor?"

"I'm sure I did...of course I did, there is no doubt I did...did I?"

"Doctor! Mention what?"

"Oh! Yes! When I was scanning your Dalekanium Moon, I also scanned the system. Nice binary system by the way, one red moon, one blue moon..."

"Doctor!"

"Oh! Yes! I also scanned the system and there was a ship in it...made of Dalekanium too."

***

Lily had stopped sobbing, and had decided to take action. She pulled the gun from Sami's hand and shoved it into her scrubs pocket. What was odd, and something she had never grown to accept, was that the ship did not come with food supplies, nor a regenerating oxygen matrix. The cargo bay was full of explosives too, nothing too fancy, just something that would wipe out ships within a forty-mile radius too. Then there was the stowaway, on previous ships, the stowaways were killed or jetisonned upon discovery, however Oliver Tyroxi, the infamous number 101, had managed to sneak on board...with a gun. None of the other officers knew either, it was a secret they kept to themselves.

The ship was no longer in the sky and had landed. The pounding alarm that rang throughout Neo-Earth, it had landed north. With Dalek speed, she estimated that would give her 30 minutes to rile everyone up and cause an unholy mess, inspiring the rest of humanity, if there was anyone left, to carry on the effort and beat the Daleks.

Instead of hiding, the entire 98 members of the crew (excluding Sami and Lily) had met up in the main conference room. Most of them, dressed in pastel coloured scrubs, panicked and huddled together. The alarm of the conference room flashed red and white, one man stood in the middle. Unlike everyone else, he did not wear scrubs. He wore a black, long-sleeve shirt and similarly coloured trousers, a lab coat, with the sleeves rolled up, his long, greying hair, with black streaks still visible, slightly dangled over his shoulders and eyes, he had either forgotten or couldn't be bothered to remove a pair of goggles from his forehead.

"Can everybody please quiet down?" He pleaded.

"You're about to die too, Sullivan, how the hell can you keep a clear head?" A voice from the crowd cried out, a gritty, cockney accent.

"Everybody quiet!" He ordered, the noise died down slowly, then suddenly as others noticed. Sullivan rooted through his pocket and pulled out a little, white disk. "This disk has data on it, data that we were never meant to see. Most of you did not see it, only me and Officer Samantha Cunningham saw what was on the disk." Sullivan walked over to a large screen and pressed the disk into the centre of it. The whole board lit up.

"You see, Shuttle Gamma...was a decoy ship. In the penultimate days of Earth, one million artificial humans were created. 300 of them were sent out in decoy ships and the rest were cannon fodder on Earth. All 100 of us are artificial, our memories that took place passed ten years ago were faked so that, we would all have suffered at the hands...tentacles of the Daleks and would have a reason to think that we were being evacuated. The Brigadier at the time, Madame Tyroxi, hid her son on board as she believed he would have more of a chance of living as a decoy than on the human central. He is the only non-artificial."

There were cries of uproar in the crowd, people sobbed, others protested, some sat there quietly taking in the information that most of their life was fake and staged and that they were meant to die from the very start. Shouting started, then cursing, then bellowing and anarchy began to unfold, all the while the Daleks slowly made their way towards Decoy Shuttle Gamma. Protests from Sullivan were drowned out by the bickering and fighting of the artificial humans. Then, it all suddenly went quiet as a shot was fired into the ceiling. A woman, dressed in grey overalls, with ginger hair, stood their, her gun pointed to the sky.

"While we may be artificial, we are still human. We have been human for the past ten years! In twenty minutes, those mutants will reach here. I say we make a trap. Decoy Shuttle Gamma was filled with explosives when we set off. We could rig it that, when the Daleks get to the main conference room, here, that it explodes. We may all die, but we will be martyrs and go down in history as those who won the war."

No one in the crowd was too sure what to make of Lily's speech. Then one agreed, a woman who looked exactly like Lily, except her hair was pink. Another agreed. Then another. Almost instantly after the first one agreed, the entire crowd were nodding, some clapping, in agreement to what Lily had said.

***

The TARDIS gave a weary groan as it landed, the exact same spot as where the Doctor originally landed. The TARDIS, yet again, had jumped into the future, yet again, by thirty seconds. There, by the poorly-constructed electric fences was a body, face down, covered in blood. The landing of the TARDIS caused a ripple in her blood and it splashed on her body as it were waves crashing on the White Cliffs of Dover.

The double doors of the TARDIS opened, and both Oliver and the Doctor stepped out. Immediately, they were drawn to the body, lying flat, in the khaki grass. Oliver knealt beside her body, while the Doctor stood, loomed, over her.

"Doctor, this was Officer Samantha, or Sami, Cunningham. Me and her were quite good friends...why? What on Earth inspired her to do this?"

"Do what? Did she-?"

"Yeah, she committed suicide. Ach, and I know why..." Oliver looked at the horizon, a line of twenty Daleks flew over it, their shadows black, with a tint of yellow, behind the red sun. "One minute went by Doctor...one-"

"Actually, I was lying - I tend to do that - it was more like five..." The Doctor replied, counting on his fingers and reassuring himself, and the traumatised Oliver.

"Still, five minutes went passed, and one of my oldest friends is dead..." Oliver stood up, he had knealt in the blood, purely by accident, he sighed, trying to brush the blood off. "Is this what it's always like with you Doctor? Death and the Daleks?"

"No.. most of the time, I visit beautiful planets, or save civilisations, no one usually dies...This never...hardly ever happens."

"Doctor, was that a lie?"

***

The Silurian and the two humans stood around the Dalek in a triangle. The Brigadier looked at the Dalek, right into the eye stalk. Its weapons had been removed and, for extra safety, it was chained, its casing was dead-locked and there was no electricity running through the room. All lights in the room were paraffin. The smell of damp, and the taste of battery acid hung in the air.

"You told me that there were no Daleks left, except for you and the Superior Dalek. How have the Daleks survived?"

"THE DALEKS CAN REBUILD THEMSELVES."

"Rebuild themselves...out of what?"

"HUMAN FLESH."

"Doesn't that make them impure, though?" The old man asked.

"THE FOLLOWERS OF THE SUPERIOR DALEK ARE MADE OF HUMAN FLASH AND DALEK DNA. WHEN THEIR PURPOSE IS FULFILLED, THEY WILL BE EXTERMINATED. THEY ARE SLOWLY DYING ANYWAY. HUMAN FLESH IS WEAK."

Suddenly, the Dalek moved. The casing rose into the air, pulling the chains out with it. It span its body around, swinging the chains like a mace. The chains struck all three of the Earthlings in the room, sending them to the ground. The chains fell apart, off of the Dalek, and a claw emitted from where the sucker would usually go. The claw lifted up the gun from the Brigadier's pocket and attached it to the hole where its old gun should have gone. It hovered a little bit more, then shot down the paraffin lights, setting the entire room on fire. It hovered out of the room, into the lift, and turned back.

"HUMAN FLESH IS WEAK."

***

Ninety eight residents of Neo-Earth had armed themselves. Some using left-over piping, others creating make-shift arrows out of wood. All of them set in specific points, designed to slow the Daleks down until the explosives were ready. Lily wandered back over to Sami. The Dalek silhouettes started to show features and they were getting faster and faster, as if they were getting stronger and stronger. Where Sami was, there was also Oliver and a man she had never seen before. A man dressed in Edwardian gear and held a half-smirk-half-remourseful expression. She then turned to the blue box, and then turned back. She looked down at Sami, and another tear fell down her face.

"Oliver, she didn't die for nothing. We're ready, we're planning on taking down the Daleks and sending them fleeing across the universe again. Even if we don't win, we'll go down in history, that's if Earth is still out there."

"It is." The man said, "Oh! Yes! By the way, I'm the Doctor."

"...How do you know 'Doctor'?"

"Because I took your friend, Oliver, for a little trip. They're there, but refusing to help."

"He's right, Lily. They claim they won't waste their weapons and men on-"

"They won't waste their weapons and men on us because we're artificials?" She asked, staring at her former friend.

"What? W-When did you find this out?" Oliver asked, stunned for the nth time that day.

"Sami and Sullivan have known for nine years, you're not one, just so you know. We weren't meant to survive leaving the Solar System..." She sighed and stroked Sami's hair, she was always so envious of her blonde hair, her beautiful blonde hair. A trademark hovering was heard and infront of her, Oliver and the 'Doctor' was a Dalek, a patchwork Dalek. It's gun twitched, the sucker too. The eyestalk examined Oliver, then Lily, then Sami. It turned its attention to Lily, its gun pointed at her.

"EXTERMINATE!"

***

The sky was black, speckled with stars, and planets, and galaxies. Specks of light flew across the sky and underneath was what-used-to-be a city. Carbon-coated sky scrapers and collapsed radio-towers still rose into the sky, but did not provide the idea of life that it once did. The city streets were littered with small clusters of people, tents pitched and surrounded a fire. Most of them were huddled together, some sang songs, others stared up at the sky. Humans and Silurians all sat around the fires, telling stories and reminiscing of the days before the Massacre. All of their faces were dirty, their clothes ruined and their expressions melancholy, the buildings flaked and carbon would rain down on the camps.

One camp stood by the side of main road, the heavy winds battered at their coats and the freezing temperatures froze their bodies. The group of twenty-seven humans, oddly no Silurians, most of them were children, the only adults were women. There were no tents, just blankets and the metal barrel where the bright orange fired burnt. The ash fell on the camp, all of the children sheltering their heads and cried out in protest.

They all stopped and stared up the street, a constant marching noise could be heared. It echoed throughout the street and elerted the other camps along the street. In the distance, lines of soldiers could be seen. Each of them wore the same clothing. A stern, expressionless face was carved into young bodies. Their march took them passed camps, soldiers on the sides forcing up the camps and dragging them along with them. The soldiers stopped marching at the camp of children and women, all of the soldiers, that did not have prisoners already, held up their guns to the camp. The one at the very front spoke, an accentless, expressionless, emotionless voice exploded out in a bellow.

"ALL HUMAN CHILDREN WILL COME WITH US FIRST, IF NEEDED, THE HUMAN WOMEN WILL FOLLOW." The soldier barked, pronouncing his words similar to how a Dalek would. The children whimpered and sobbed in protest, the women hugged the children, a tear escaping from their eyes. A woman with neon green hair spoke out, she was only hugging one child.

"Take me instead of Thomas, please..." She pleaded, lifting her child, judging by height, who was five years old. Her child had similar colour hair.

"DEFIANCE WILL RESULT IN EXTERMINATION." The soldier barked, soldiers strayed from the mob, removing children from the women. One by one, the women sobbed and collapsed to the floor, retching and sobbing. The woman still held her child in her arms. The soldier repeated his words, "DEFIANCE WILL RESULT IN EXTERMINATION."

Every soldier lifted up a gun and aimed for the woman and child. Their expressions did not change, their eyes were soulless, empty. The woman slowly lowered Thomas to the floor, and stood infront of him. She lifted up the sleeve from her black, tattered, patched dress and revealed a watch, or something watch-like. She pressed a button on it.

"EXTERMINATE THE HUMAN WOMAN, SHE IS SHOWING HOSTILITY."

The entire mob chanted.

"EXTERMINATE."

"EXTERMINATE."

"EXTERMINATE."

Their guns then fired, a thousand bolts of enery were fired at the woman and disintergrated her. All that remained of the woman was dust. Where Thomas was, right behind the woman, had not been hit. Yet he was no longer there.

"SCAN THE AREA FOR TRANSMAT DETAILS. EVERY HUMAN MUST BE USED. EXTERMINATE THE WITNESSES."

The entire mob lifted their guns again, aiming at the women. They chanted again.

"EXTERMINATE."

"EXTERMINATE."

"EXTERMINATE."

***

The U.N.I.T. base was chaotic. The scientists fled and hid in bunkers, the soldiers ran away from the stray Dalek, as if their commands had been changed. The bunkers were locked and the scientists hid in fear. Alarms rang and rang and one-by-one, each alarm was destroyed by a bullet of energy and one-by-one, each bunker was unlocked and all the scientists in there were killed, and one-by-one the skin of the humans was removed, the flesh, the organs, the metal salvaged from the machinary was used, by one clawed extrusion. Soon enough, out of the dead humans, was a make-shift army of Daleks.

The Dalek with the Silurian gun examined its army. All one hundred pyramid-shaped monstrosities. An entire human body, a brain and life support was crammed into a pyramid 3 foot in height, and width. Instead of an eye-stalk, the right eyeball of the human was wired to the casing, and the brain. The make-shift Daleks hovered in the air, a sickening grinding and crunching of bones could be heard as they hovered. The eye-stalk of the true Dalek shone in the artificial lighting, it cried out to its army.

"ARMY OF HUMANDALEKS, ADDRESS YOUR MASTER."

"01010111 01000101 00100000 01010010 01000101 01000011 01001111 01000111 01001110 01001001 01010011 01000101 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 00100000 01000001 01010011 00100000 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01000011 01010010 01000101 01000001 01010100 01001111 01010010 00100000 01000001 01001110 01000100 00100000 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01001101 01000001 01010011 01010100 01000101 01010010 00101110 00100000 01001000 01000001 01001001 01001100 00100000 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01000011 01010010 01000101 01000001 01010100 01001111 01010010 00101110 00100000 01001000 01000001 01001001 01001100 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01000111 01001111 01000100 00100000 01001111 01000110 00100000 01000100 01000001 01001100 01000101 01001011 01010011 00101110" They cried, their communications translator did not work on the human brain, their cry was head as Binary.

"FIND AND EXTERMINATE HUMAN REBELS. THOSE NOT WILLING TO BECOME DALEKS WILL BE EXTERMINATED, EXCEPT FOR CHILDREN, CHILDREN MUST BE BROUGHT TO ME." The true Dalek barked, the HumanDaleks praied in a cry of 1s and 0s, and they hovered away, the sickening crunching was relentless.

***

Oliver stared up at the multicolour Dalek, gormless. That was what the entire human race had been fighting against. The metal cans with a toilet plunger attatched was what they had been fighting. It looked like it had been salvaged from wreckage, or other material. Steam rapidly burst out from several not-that-greatly welded parts. Its eye-stalk focused on Lily, and Lily alone. It's gun twitched and swivelled, but pointing at Lily again. The Dalek's eye thinned and and the top of it's head swivelled behind it, as if it were looking for allies. There were none there. It turned back to Lily, who was holding the gun to its eye-stalk.

She pulled the trigger, the gun smashed the glass and the Dalek swivelled around, wriggling and writhing.

"MY VISION IS IMPAIRED. MY VISION IS IMPAIRED. THIS UNIT IS NON-FUCTIONING. THIS UNIT IS-" The steam built up and built up, swelling the casing of the patchwork-Dalek. It's gun and plunger still twitching and swivelling as it swelled.

"Oliver!"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Get away! It's going to explode!"

Oliver ducked and jumped out of the way, coincidentally, just in time. The steam swelled the casing and the front blew off. Suddenly a hurrendous stink emitted from inside the casing, and steam exited and lingered in the air, creating a light mist over the body of Samantha. The Doctor, Oliver and Lily all stared inside, to see what was on the inside. The Doctor was sure that this was not a proper Dalek. Inside the casing was a skeleton, head limp, skin clinging to the bone and had rotted away in some areas. Neon-green hair hung over its face. The size of a small child.

"Doctor...is that a Dalek? Do we evolve into Daleks?" As Oliver, ignoring the smell.

"...No. This isn't a Dalek, it's just a casing with a different host. It's a child...a human child."

***

The residents of Neo-Earth fired as the Daleks entered their base through all entrances, underground service-robot tunnels, through ventilation shafts and some through the doors. As they did, the residents opened fire, sharp sticks of wood bounced off of the Daleks, including their eye-stalks. However, javellins and other rocks and sharpened pipes made holes. For each human that died, a Dalek died. Unlike what had been told in legends and what had been said in rumour, the Daleks seemed easy to destroy.

Except that they were not Daleks.

***

Screens showing the battle filled up the monitor. The Daleks falling as easily as the humans, in many situations, the cases exploded, in others, a javellin would hit an eye-stalk and impair the Dalek's vision. The Superior Dalek watched from its ship, unable to move from its current position. Its tentacles wriggled and occasionally slapped the side of the glass. Burn marks along the side of the Dalek itself lit up as a Dalek died, as its scars lit up, it's eye closed in pain. It gave out a gurgling sound as one screen showed a young human child, a human woman and a Time Lord pushing an open casing into a blue box. The Dalek's eye focused on that scene, a light giggle could be heard over the gurgling.

"MY CREATIONS. MY HUMANDALEKS... WHY HAVE YOU FAILED ME? YOU WERE SO GOOD ON EARTH, DURING THE MASSACRE. WHY DO YOU DIE? HUMAN FLESH IS SO WEAK..."

***

As Oliver and Lily pushed the casing inside, Oliver retched and so did Lily. Tears descended down both of their faces and the overwhelming smell masked Lily's reaction to the TARDIS. The Doctor pulled out a pair of Binoculars from his filing cabinet and sat next to the casing.

"If you two want, you can leave. All I'm going to do is examine what created this, well I know what created this, but I want to know who. And why they didn't use proper Daleks, they don't break so easily."

The Doctor fumbled around with the outside of the casing, shining his screwdriver against it. The two humans watched, their faces told the events of that day well. Suddenly, the casing lit up and the skeleton lifted its head, two milky, human eyes stared into the wall of the TARDIS as the skeleton began to speak, its voice child-like and mourning.

"Mummy...mummy where am I? The robot is making friends with me...you're not my mummy..." The skeleton stated, it stared at the Doctor, then at Lily, and then at Oliver. Almost examining them, then it returned its gaze to the Doctor. "I haven't seen my mummy in ten years."

"Why...why what happened to your mum?" Oliver questioned, he sensed the loss, the confusion, the fear of the child. He wanted to help. The child quickly turned to Oliver.

"Our camp. We were safe in our camp. Me, my mummy and everyone else. Then the shouting soldiers came, told my mummy to give me to them. She said no, and they took all of my friends away. My mummy used the teleportmat thing on me and I was taken into the soldier base. I saw the Robot...he was nice to me, he built me a special chair that I could sit in and be safe in. Do you like my special chair? I want to show it to my mummy..."

Oliver smiled a little, a pitying smile, he reached in and stroked the child's face. "Your mummy is fine. What did the Robot look like?"

The Doctor pulled Lily away, into the stair-case of the TARDIS. A winding, winding, winding staircase that looked like it lasted forever. He stared straight into her eyes, holding her by her shoulders. He looked at her with remourse, partnered with a feeling of self-loathing. He blinked and then looked down.

"Just so you know, Lily, he needs to die. Whatever power he is using right now, it's fading and his death could be long and painful, maybe everlasting. Whatever that Dalek did to him, we need to stop it from doing it again. I need you to understand that this thing, this HumanDalek should die. Oliver is only a child and won't understand, I need someone by my side to be strong. I've learnt in the past to never travel with children."

"I understand, Doctor."

"Thank you."

As the two walked back in, Oliver was still there, comforting the dying child. He had a smile on his face, one to make sure the child did not panic in it's dying day. Lights flickered on and off inside the casing.

"My mummy said that my dad worked for the good guys. Saving the world from the evil, bad guys out there. She said that they looked like octopuses...but in a tin can."

Oliver smiled more and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Your mum sounds incredible. I bet that you are too..."

"When will I see my mummy again?"

"Very soon." The Doctor held the screwdriver to the top of the casing and the light shone.

"What was your name?" Oliver asked.

"T-T..." The voice was growing weaker, the lights started to face.

"Please, try hard. Focus..."

"T-Thomas..." He said as the lights went out and the head lolled again. Another tear fell down Oliver's face. Oliver jumped up and kicked the casing, tears fell down his face, however his eyes showed anger. He turned to the Doctor.

"They were right. The myths, the legends, the propaganda...it was all true. The Daleks are pure evil." He turned to face the wall, his fist pounding against it. "Those Bastards! Why use a child?" He mourned, holding his palm to his face and sobbing.

The Doctor flicked the light switch and the doors opened. On his own, he watched the violence. It could be seen as the Humans winning, however, the children in the cases were also human. A grimmest day humanity ever had to face, adults battling children. Bodies of both sides littered the floor, blood, shrapnel and flesh.

***


The army of the HumanDaleks swarmed over the Carbon-coated cities. Their Pyramid-shaped bodies dancing in the cold and the dark. They descended upon camp after camp, wiping out any adult there, sparing the children for when the soldiers came. They barked orders in binary, to eachother, and at their victims. Their eyes still looked human, their voices were still the same...but they were encased in metal, a tiny, metal pyramid.

On the outskirts of OldeLondon, a camp was prepared. Men, Women, children, a mixture of Human and Silurian, all stood there with their guns prepared. They had trained for the day when the Daleks would return, their faces showed fear, anger, vengance, and hatred. Their clothes were patchwork, much like most of the other camps', but they were clean. The river running next to their camp had provided fresh water and somewhere to clean, however, it had started running with blood.

"Daddy..." One little girl asked, standing next to a man. The man was almost seven foot tall, and towered over her. His long, black hair and leather clothing was a huge contrast to the little girl's blonde hair and patched-up pajamas. She, too, was carrying a gun. She had been taught how to use it by her father.

"Yes, Lizzy?" He asked, his voice was rough and American, another contrast to the little girl.

"Daddy...when are they coming?"

"I don't know sweetheart, stay close. I don't want you fighting until you absolutely have to..."

His sentence was cut short as overhead, dozens of the HumanDaleks descended. They screamed at the camp, in binary, and none could respond. The instinct from the camp was to open fire. Adults, children, both of them fired on the pyramids, and unlike the Daleks, the pyramids were not protected by a shield.

After the first few HumanDaleks died, exploded in mid-air. They started to return fire, a burst of light energy exploded from underneath the pyramids and scorched the ground, and evaporated any thing in the path of the energy. However, the pyramids did not fire on the children, the children were safe.

The camp was greatly outnumbered by the pyramids, and the fight they had tried to put up was terrible. Twice the camp members had died than the pyramids and most of who remained were children and Lizzy's father. He screamed as he fired at the pyramids, his bullets taking down several at a time. He was making up for the ratio.

"Lizzy, get the other children and run. If those things follow you, shoot at them. Please, don't let them take you away." He told her. Then immediately started shooting again. Lizzy stared for a second, then two, and then three. "Run, Elizabeth!"

And she ran, on her own, she ran and ran and ran.

She ran away from the noise, the death, her father. Then she heard him scream, and she screamed too.

***

Thomas blinked as he was moved from behind his mother, into an empty lift. The walls of the lift were spattered with blood, and burn marks. The lift was moving, and closed, when he was teleported in it. He wondered where he was, and where he was going. Most of all, he wondered what had happened to his mummy.

The lift shuddered to a halt and the double doors slid open. Thomas wondered passed locked doors and flickering lights, at the end of the corridor was a bronze-coloured bin, with three sticks poking out of it. The top stick, attatched to the round head, moved downwards, it was pointing at Thomas.

"H-hello? Have you seen my mummy?"

The bin stayed silent.

"M-mr Robot, where is my mummy?"

"I DO NOT KNOW... COME THIS WAY"

Thomas followed the robot to a large room, with pieces of metal thrown across the place, there was blood on the floor. It was fresh.

"OPEN MY CASING." The robot barked.

Thomas was stunned, he blinked and gawped for a little bit.

"OPEN."

Thomas opened the casing, it coming off very easily. Inside there was what looked like an octopus. It blinked.

***

The Doctor closed the doors manually. He turned back to face the two, and the casing. He sighed and sat on the console, fiddling with the half-hourglass. A though then struck him and he pulled out his 'screwdriver' again, he waved it over the casing, and Thomas, several times. Then inserted the screwdriver into the console. His face never left the whiteboard overlooking the door.

"Doctor...what are you-" Lily asked, walking over to the Doctor, placing a hand on the casing.

"Lily, Oliver told me that the year is 24632, is that right?"

"Seeing as we left Earth nine years ago, 24632 seems about right, why?" She asked, puzzled by the Doctor's questions. Wouldn't he, too, know the year?

"Well, the odd thing is- well, it's not odd... more of a correction to your statement. The year could not possibly be 24632. This child, Thomas, was born on the year 24627."

"Alright, so he's five years old Doctor..." Oliver stated, from over near the desks.

"No, Oliver, don't you get it? Thomas said that he hadn't seen his mother in ten years, Which would make the year 24637...but, there must be more..."

The Doctor gave a silly grin and nodded, "Yep! You see, my scanner shows that Thomas is, atleast, fifteen. Oliver, you mentioned that you have passed all seven of the Lost Moons, the long side of Flatt, and Dead Sun, yet you had still lived on 'Neo-Earth' for nine years...you couldn't have done that, seeing as all three of those are in very different parts of the Galaxy... I think..."

The Doctor flicked a switch and pulled out the microphone again, this time reciting what must have been co-ordinates into it. They appeared on the White Board, the scruffy, child-like handwriting. His face showed no enjoyment, but his eyes told otherwise, a childish gleam reflected in the light. There was no doubt the Doctor was enjoying playing 'Sherlock Holmes.' He carried on shouting the co-ordinates in, and then he stopped. He looked up at his work and gave an insane grin.

"I traced Thomas, back to his time, then searched for broadcasts, lasting for ten years...and I found this, it's been called 'The Children's Song,' this should be lovely."

The three stopped and stared at the board, the childlike numbers suddenly formed a pattern, repeating over and over. Then a picture appeared on the board too, a woman's face appeared on it. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue, complimenting her blonde hair. Her face was grubby and covered in marks, she wore a tattered, pink dress. The woman was obviously entering her late teens.

"Hi, my name is Elizabeth Darwin. It is the year 24640, and I am part of the last few real human beings. If this reaches World Base 6 then nine years after you left, nine years after the first massacre, came another. Already recovering from the first one, the fledgling army of Earth was struggling and then they attacked. Pyramid-shaped Daleks made out of humans. An entire human compressed into a three-foot tall triangle." She took a breath and held up a picture, a human eye dangled down from a poorly-constructed pyramid. Blood was shown to leak out.

"H-how can we help?" Oliver asked, the Doctor turned to him.

"Oliver, she cannot hear you. This broadcast was made two years ago, at least!"

"This is a time machine, can't you go back?"

The recording resumed.

"We fought them off, killed all hundred of them. We rejoiced, the human race had survived the second massacre. Yet, this is just the beginning. A second wave came, made out of those killed by the first. Soon, it was just us. The five who ran." The recording pasued again.

"D-Doctor, please, just those five? Can't we save them?" Oliver begged.

The Doctor did not reply.

"Doctor, please?!"

The recording resumed.

"And, now here we are. There are none of the pyramids left, yet whoever is making them is still here. Still alive. Look up, in the sky, that saucer has been there for almost three years. It's Dalek too. We reckon it's preparing to leave, to find you guys. But you've already had Daleks, according to the old U.N.I.T. files that is. If you've got this, don't come. It's a dead-end, there's no one."

In the background, a large army of soldiers approached. Their clothes in tatters and their faces scarred. The army lifted their guns at the five and screamed.

"EXTERMINATE."

The recording stopped there, the whiteboard turned white again. Then, the numbers rearranged themselves, and the pattern started up again. The Doctor grew wide-eyed and stared at the screen. It was a Dalek, in a huge jar.

"Time Lord, you will surrender your TARDIS or you will face the wrath of the Superior Dalek.

The recording ended.

The Doctor burst into action, storming over to the control panel and lit it up. His eyes were deep in thought, but his hands flew across the control panel, and he smashed down on the microphone, sending it back into the cup-holder prison. His shoes made a loud, metallic clang as he ran over to Thomas' casing and held his 'screwdriver' to it again, it lit up again.

"Mummy..."

Oliver rose to his feet in protest, "No, Doctor don't...please."

"Thomas. Look at me, remember where the robot's ship is? Can you take me there please?"

"...Doctor, please. No." Suddenly, the TARDIS jolted and sent the three standing falling to their feet. The casing whined and fizzed as Thomas piloted the TARDIS. As Thomas became steady, the Doctor swaggered over to the two humans, a plan was there, inside him. "Doctor. Hasn't he suffered enough?"

"I'm sorry, Oliver, but if he doesn't burn that remaining energy. He'll be alive forever, and forever is a long time, I've lived through it, but he'll constantly be in pain, forever. Falling, dying, crying out for his mother, forever...In the Darkness. This way, he uses up the last of his energy and will fade away. To be with his mother again." The Doctor's solumn expression did not change as he turned to Lily, there was a 'sorry' in his eyes, he took a deep breath. "Lily. Tell me, why would the human race create artificial humans if the ships were decoys...?"

Oliver stepped in, "Probably so the Daleks could trace life..."

"There's a different reason..." She sighed, her eyes facing the ground as she lifted her top. Instead of human skin, there were wires, and a putty-like substance with ebbed and flowed as she breathed in and out. Oliver stared at her, flabbergasted. "We hid it from ourselves, told ourselves humans were meant to look like this. You see, Oliver, these are explosives. Us artficial humans...we're bombs."

***

The artificial humans gathered around the casings, poking and prodding at them. Cries of joy and cries of sorrow could be heard, celebrating not having lost and mourning those who were lost, both parties were at their knees, staring up into the sky, the bright sky, the bright, white sky. A sky that reminded them of an old Earth religion, one about heaven, and hell.

They were certain which category the Daleks would be in.

***

Oliver stared at Lily, still confused, still amazed that someone could convince themselves that they were not a bomb. He had enough loss for one day, the rest of the human race would not be another one. Then another thing amazed him, the Doctor knew. "Doctor... how did you know about this? You're not from Neo-Earth, are you?"

"No! Of course not, I recognise these bombs. On contact with Dalekanium, the wires in the body send a signal to the explosives and it releases a gas. Undetectable by the human taste buds, you're lucky you've got a Time Lord on board. Nevertheless, I've got the TARDIS on board the Dalek's ship, which means when everyone on the ground explodes, we've got protection until Lily does. I'm sorry."

The TARDIS stopped dead. No grinding, churning, nor screeching, just a smooth landing. Thomas sat there, in his casing. The lights were fading, and there was no movement coming from him. Oliver walked over to the casing, tears trickled down his eyes and the TARDIS double doors opened wide. They were hovering over the ship.

"I...I've seen myself. The robot was not nice...I want my mummy. Please, nice man, can you help me come back to my mummy?"

"Yes." Oliver walked over to tha back of the casing and pushed it, pushed it to the double doors of the TARDIS, then one last push, letting the casing fall to the floor. Oliver took a deep breath and walked back into the centre of the room. "Doctor...that was horrible. This is horrible. Can you stop them, stop them from exploding?"

"No."

***

The Superior Dalek sat alone in its jar, its lone eye blinked. Its tentacles wriggled and swam in the liquid and its body swelled as it breathed in. It stared into the screen, the artificial humans stood there, smelling the gas, as the gas spread across their little utopia. The Superior Dalek watched and then spoke, to itself.

"The humans are exploding, they are dying. They will all die, this war is over. I have won."

***

Suddenly, the TARDIS shook again. It was heading downward, towards the bronze saucer landed on the edge of a khaki cliff. It loomed over the hurtling blue box, even though it was underneath them. Its presence dominated the landscape.

"Doctor, we're falling."

"Well done. I'm going to have to time this right, we're going to fall through the walls of the ship and into it. It'll be the only place to be to be safe...for about thirty seconds." The Doctor looked over to Lily, she smiled briefly at him and pulled Oliver back.

"I'm sorry, but if I'm going to explode after them, I think I should take down that Dalek in there. We'll win this war." She tried to convince Oliver with that, it was not her best, but she was about to detonate, she did not have any time to think of moving speeches.

The TARDIS doors slammed shut and with an almighty tremour and growl, the TARDIS materialised inside the bronze ship. The double doors opened again and the trio looked inside the ship. Dark, cold and filled with an unholy stench would be the best features. Lily and the Doctor stepped outside, Oliver turned back, unable to cope with yet another death.

"If I could trade places with you, I would. Lily, you're brilliant."

"Any chance you could trade places with me?" She faked laughter. Both of them did. "I guess this is a goodbye, look at me, I didn't-haven't known you for a day and I'm saying goodbye to you like we've been close for years. Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Look after him, Oliver. Everyone he's ever known has died, or will die. There's something about him too, if he wasn't here, would everything be different?"

"I dunno, and I will. I'm tired of being lonely."

***

Oliver wandered around the control room, alone. In one day, his entire life had changed. He could have been the last of the human race, something inside him made him reject that, something that was not instinct.

"Oliver!" The Doctor shouted, "Brace yourself, Neo-Earth is going to explode."

He heard outside, screams, flames, roars, then silence. The TARDIS did not move at all, oblivious to the death and destruction and devastation surrounding it. Or, as the Doctor would say, her.

Rushing back in, the Doctor closed the double doors and ran to the control room. He started rapidly flicking switches, pressing buttons, turning cranks and bashing things with a hammer, he looked over at Oliver. His concentrated face turned to somewhat mourning as he motioned over to the 'no time-travel' button. Oliver pressed it.

Within seconds, the TARDIS fell silent again and, on the screen, appeared the bronze saucer. The Doctor mouthed a countdown in an incomprehensible language. As he reached one that sounded similar to the word 'once,' the ship erupted in a pillar of flames and had disappeared, along with Neo-Earth. The Doctor walked over to Oliver and tried to console him by putting his hand on his shoulder.

The empty space on the screen turned to a close-up of Elizabeth's face. She had survived?

"Hello! Any of you still here? Well, when that ship flew off into the distance, the soldiers about to kill us dropped dead, then guess what? All of those ships that had fled in the initial battles and the massacre have come back. The human race isn't down to five, it's down to five million and five, and whoever is out there listening." The recording switched off. The Doctor and Oliver's expressions lifted a little.

"...They survived. All of that and we carry on! The human race have won!" Oliver cheered, however it was not-too-joyful as he was still in mourning. "Also, according to our calander, guess what right now is, what is has just turned?"

"What? New Year? The new Byzantine holiday? The anniversairy of the day you first made toast?"

"No, it's December 25th. The old days used to celebrate today, it was called Christmas."

"Well, then, Oliver. Oliver Tyroxi, Merry Christmas."

"You too, Doctor. Merry Christmas Neo-Earth, and you too Thomas." Oliver smiled, then turned to the Doctor. "Where am I going to go now?"

"I've lost too many people, because of me, not the Daleks, nor anyone else. You're going to help rebuild Earth."

***

The two wandered out of the double doors of the TARDIS and onto a massive, green field. Surrounded by trees at all but one edge, where it overlooked the ocean, the wind blew gently through the field and over the edge of the cliff and over the seas. Above the field was a night sky filled with billions and billions of tiny lights, creating the images of gods and warriors and animals that the inhabitants of Earth claimed they looked like.

The Doctor sighed and shook hands with Oliver, his gaze never breaking. Melancholy and filled with heartache, as the hand slid away, the Doctor turned around. Wandering back to the TARDIS.

"Doctor, I'd be careful."

The Doctor stopped and turned around.

"I know you would, I'm worried about me. Today, I let an entire planet of people die." The Doctor turned around and walked back into his TARDIS. The doors closing and it slowly phasing out of existence.

Oliver looked either side of him, shrugged and walked away, in the opposite direction.