Valla had fallen asleep at her console something she thought she would never be able to do again. The Doctor too had decided to take a well earned nap while the console he had repaired gave out its continuous 'bleeping' sounds.
Suddenly, they were both awoken by the sound of someone hitting the door into the communications room where they were held up.
Valla instinctively made a move for her weapon, while the Doctor fell to the floor.
'Who do you suppose that is?' asked Valla, as she moved cautiously towards the metallic door.
'Or what?' suggested the Doctor, 'Don't forget, those Armaryte creatures are still running about the place.' The Doctor picked himself up off the floor, dusted himself down and moved over to Valla's side as yet another beating commenced on the door, this time causing some minor indentations, which prompted both the Doctor and Valla to move back a step or two.
'What are we going to do?'
The Doctor looked about them as if searching for something.
'What are you looking for?' asked Valla.
'Looking for some internal surveillance of the base, so we can see who or what is out there.' The appropriate equipment caught his eye and the Doctor began to operate it.
A screen in front of him fizzled into life and a dim lite picture of the corridors beyond the door came into view.
Valla moved over towards the Doctor cautiously. still aiming her weapon at the door as the beating intensified against the metallic surface.
'Well,' she began to ask, 'can you see anything?'
'No,' mumbled the Doctor, 'the picture isn't very clear but there is definitely movement outside.'
'You don't have to be Einstein to work that one out.' Valla moved back towards the door. 'Now what?'
'Let's take a closer look, shall we?'
'What?! Are you mad?!' declared Valla. 'What if it's those creatures?'
The Doctor looked at her. 'Well, you're the one with the gun - just don't miss,' he mused and began to operate the control to the door.
~~~
Ace had followed the Dalek as far as she dared and had found herself in a large spherical-shaped room just off to one side of the corridor. A strange, red glow filtered through the air which appeared to feel very heavy as she moved into the room.
She noticed several monitors lining a wall with various readings which constantly changed. Why, Ace did not know. She did not know that is, until she stumbled upon another doorway, but this time it was closed.
Ace cautiously listened against the door for any sign of movement coming from beyond, but there was nothing except a low humming noise which she could not only hear but feel the vibration of on the door.
Once examining around the area of the door, Ace found the correct control in which to open it. She felt uneasy at first but felt she was at best prepared for the worst and hit the spherical dial hard with he hand.
The door slid open and a gush of cool air hit her face from within. Moving cautiously and looking around the outer room, she eventually plucked up the courage and entered the room beyond.
Once inside, Ace was greeted with several large clear containers, which on close examination contained the remains of various humanoid life forms. They appeared to be suspended within the tanks, which were also full of liquid which bubbled occasionally as air was filtered through.
As she moved closer to one of the tanks to observe its contents, she was suddenly startled by the sudden reflex action of an arm reaching out to her. 'They're still alive,' she said to herself and walked slowly towards the next tank. Again the humanoid's reflexes reacted. 'they must know I'm here.'
As she touched the glass with her hand, something even more nerve-wracking occurred. the eyes of the humanoid opened. Ace gasped at the sight. Then without even the lips moving the humanoid began to speak.
'Help me,'
'What?'
The humanoid repeated its plea as Ace stepped back.
'Who are you?' she asked. 'What's happening here?'
Silence followed for a moment as the humanoid struggled to answer her questions.
'I...am...Karn...from Grycon Three...'
The water within the tank seemed to bubble more intensely as he continued to speak.
'I...we...are...to...become...Dalek...creatures...you...must...help...me...'
'How can I hear you?'
'Thought transference,' he replied.
'Telepathy?' asked Ace.
'Not...quite...'
'What do you want me to do? How can I save you?'
'You can not!' said another voice. Ace turned around sharply, this time the voice came from another tank. 'You must kill us!'
'There must be another way!' declared Ace.
'There is not...' said Karn, 'If you disconnect the life support system we will die anyway.'
'If the Doctor were here, he'd know what to do.'
'Who is the Doctor?' asked Karn.
'A friend,' replied Ace, her thoughts were now of him and not of her predicament, so much so that she was unaware that a Dalek had glided into the chamber.
'Behind you!' cried Karn
Ace turned to face the creature and causiously moved aloong the row of tanks.
'Do not move!' screeched the Dalek as it glided towards her. 'Do not move!'
Ace could see no way out of the chamber other than the way in which she had entered earlier. The Dalek moved closer still. 'Why dosen't it open fire?' thought Ace, 'Of course,' she said, 'It dosen't want to damage the tanks!'
Ace could see that the Dalek had moved away from the exit and could see her oppourtunity to run. This was her only chance and she took it. Ace ran as fast as she could, weaving in and out of the tanks which lined the room.
The Dalek suddenly sensed a great urgency at the thought that the humanoid creature would attack it and instinctively opened fire continuously - shattering all the tanks within the room. Ace dived for cover as a great serge of water engulfed her and the Dalek, which was forced against a wall and momentarily exploded into flames. Sparks now filled the room as much of the Dalek-technology was blown apart in the on-slaught.
Sirens now rang through-out the ship alerting the entire Dalek crew to the sudden disturbance aboard.
Ace sat up, soaked through by the sudden flood. She noticed the body of Karn beside her - he was still alive.
'Thank you...' he whispered as the last gasp of air filtered away from his lips and the last throws of life went with it.
Ace stood up and moved towards the door, she was suddenly aware of both the outer and inner doors beginning to close. As the chamber continued to fill with sparks and explosions, Ace exerted what energy she had left and made a final dash towards the doors.
Once through the doors and out into the corridor, Ace was suddenly confronted by two other Daleks moving in her direction. There was nowhere to run, but as the Daleks moved ever closer, grating their call for her death, the ship suddenly lunged to one side sending the Dalek creatures out of control and sliding into each other.
'What the...?!' Ace cried out as she struggled to gain a hold of something so that she wasn't sent hurtling out of control also. She pulled herself up towards a viewing window as the ship continued to rock back and forth. 'We're going to crash!' shouted Ace as she could see the surface of the planet below hurtling towards her.
~~~