'Power source has been located within the parameter. Seek and destroy!' It screeched.
The other Dalek creatures scanned the room momentarily and immediately set about destroying the Time Lord's work:
'Exterminate!' they screeched together.
A blaze of energy struck the console before them but to no avail. The console remained intact.
'Unable to destroy. Force field in operation.' said one of the minion Daleks.
'Alert mother ship of position and advise.' said another.
Within seconds a message had been received back from the mother ship: 'Saros Five is to be abandoned. All units are to return to mother ship.' said a Dalek, and with that they proceeded to leave the base.
The Doctor was somewhat surprised at the sight of the TARDIS that the Time Lord had claimed to be his for it was his very own.
'You stole my TARDIS?!' snapped the Doctor.
'Not stole. We merely secured it from the Daleks, Doctor. They had attempted to destroy your time capsule, we merely removed it from time and space.'
'Well,' said the Doctor, removing the key from his pocket to open the door, 'Don't expect any thanks. If you hadn't removed the TARDIS when you did, things wouldn't have got out of hand. The Doctor moved to the door, but the Time Lord had produced a key of his own and opened it himself and entered the console room. The Doctor was clearly not amused and followed him in.
On board the Dalek ship, Ace had located the exit ramp. The ramp had been lowered ready to accept the returning Daleks and was completely left unguarded.
Ace moved causiously towards the opening but was suddenly aware of movement coming form behind her. She frantically looked about her for cover, but there was none to be found. There was no going back, she had to make a run for it. As she picked up a pace to run towards the ramp three Dalek creatures moved towards her picking up speed as they did.
'Exterminate!!' they cried out intermittently. As they fired their powerful rays towards her, Ace did her best to duck out of their way. As she reached the ramp she quickly looked down it to see several Dalek creatures making their way back up to re-enter the ship.
There was no way out. She looked over the side of the ramp to see if it was possible to jump clear but she would be killed for sure in the attempt.
A sweat broke across her brow. 'This was it,' she thought, 'This was where she would end her days.'
But a prayer had been answered
'Did I pray for anything?' she thought. She didn't really know, too many things were passing before her eyes, memories of times past, friends, relatives, the Doctor...the Doctor, that was it. Before her stood the familiar shape of her home, her new home - the TARDIS!
The doors to the TARDIS flew open and the Doctor emerged a hand stretched out for her to grasp. 'Come on, Ace!' he called.
'Doctor, the ship, it's going to...'
As Ace passed through the doors of the TARDIS, an explosion ripped through the interior of the Dalek ship, sending Dalek creatures in all directions. The ensuing explosions sent the TARDIS out of control as it began to disappear from view - out of space and time.
Within seconds this was followed by a burst of high-energy and light, like a silent explosion, as Saros Five was pulled out of orbit and out of time.
What followed sent the forces of nature into chaos: the star, Saros' very heart, imploded destroying the remaining orbiting planets into obliviousness.
Within the TARDIS console room, the scanner screen's view showed a mighty bright light that engulfed the very room that its occupants had sought refuge in.
The Doctor closed the scanner screen and turned to the Time Lord who, as ever showed very little emotion: 'I hope you're satisfied with what you've done?' he asked.
The Time Lord showed no remorse. 'My task here is finished.' He simply said.
'Wait up!' said Ace, 'Who's this geezer, Professor?' she asked.
'Not now, Ace!' snapped the Doctor. He looked at the Time Lord: a halo of light began to engulf the figure. 'Countless people have died so that the High Council could get what they wanted.' The Doctor's thoughts were of Valla and the other colonists who had simply reached out to the stars, to their future only to have it wiped out with a single blow form his own people
The Time Lord said nothing as he slowly disappeared from the console room.
Ace moved over to the Doctor's side. He was angry, hurt. 'Where's he gone?' she whispered.
'Back to Gallifrey, back to give his report of the day's events here, here in what was the Saros system' and with that the Doctor left the console room.
~~~
Ace sat squat-like on the floor of the console room reading one of the Doctor's many diaries she had discovered in an old dusty cupboard ( which was the size of a house and contained countless treasures from parts of the Universe ).
The Doctor entered the console room, having rested and continued to mess with the various dials and switches on the console. He was aware of Ace in the room and asked: 'What have you got there?'
'One of your diaries.'
'That's personal.'
'But have you read it?'
'Of course I've read it, I wrote it. Why?' he asked and looked over at her.
'It's this section here, about Earth.'
'What about Earth?' he asked and moved over to her side and sat down.
'Well, it's not so much about Earth, but Earth's Moon. It says here, that you witnessed it's arrival.'
'So' he queried.
'You watched the arrival, not of the Moon but of...Saros Five!'
The Doctor's face was a look of disbelief and he snatched the book from the hands of his young companion and looked through its pages.
'You could be right.'
'Well, you did write it.'
'Yes, I must have at one time.'
'We not only witnessed the future but we saw the past being created.' said Ace, her face was a light of wonder at what she had seen.
'Perhaps, the Time Lords map out all our futures,' he muttered to himself. He snapped the book closed, jumped up to his feet and said: 'Where shall we go from here then, Ace?'
Ace stood beside him a smile crossed her face, 'I don't know,' she said, 'What do you think?'
'Well,' he said, 'How about we find out where that *crystal came from?'
'What crystal?' she asked as she moved slowly away from the Doctor's side, like a naughty child who had been caught breaking a window with a ball.
The Doctor grabbed Ace's arm and pulled her back to his side and like a magician pulled out a crystal from her jacket pocket.
'This crystal!' he !’declared.
'Hey, that's mine!' she snapped, 'I found that when we visited The Homeland !’
The Doctor took the crystal and placed it within a small compartment set within the console and upon operating several switches and dials the crystal began to glow.
'What's happening?' asked Ace.
'It's setting co-ordinates. The TARDIS is taking us to its place of origin.'
'What? Where?'
'We're about to find out.'
written by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2009
artwork by
CHRIS EVANS