'Leader,' said one of the underling-Daleks, 'Scanner shows tritium leak-age in tunnels below us.'
Now, the Daleks - as you know - do not at all mind a bit of radioactivity now and then; indeed, they are so un-natural that they actually thrive on it! However, it was still not very wise to hang about under the circumstances.
'We leave at once!!' the Dalek leader commanded, backing up the ramp into the awaiting saucer. Addressing the Master, it went on: 'You betrayed us in your ambition to rule the cosmos. But the Daleks are generous. We shall spare your life. I salute you, master of a dead world!'
'Spare me! I beg you!! I am your servant...your slave!!!' he choked. But the ramp was already disappearing inside the saucer which then rose from the trembling ground and shot off into outer-space, driven thither by the same anti-gravity principle as suggested by Mr. Wells in his fictional account of a trip to the Moon...
Back again in the Doctor's TARDIS, the scanner showed the Master's TARDIS dematerializing; its destination was the Dalek space-ship, and its cargo a Dalek bomb ticking the rels to zero...
The image of the Police Box faded to reveal behind it a Dalek shell burning brightly as rain or condensation started to trickle down the screen and streaks of flashing light illuminated the tunnel.
'Doctor,' ventured Liz 'you know, of course about tritium?'
'Hmm? Third isotope of hydrogen? - Of course: it's what creates the lighting in the TARDIS,' he replied.
'Well,' said Liz, 'I have a funny feeling that our Dalek friend has ignited one of the tritium-cylinders!'
'And when tritium burns...' said the Doctor.
'You get radioactive water...' added Liz.
'Which,' he continued, 'will seep into the underground lakes, taking care of those slumbering Cybermen for us. I wish that there could have been some other way Liz...that's all.'
~~~
Gazing up into the eternal night, the Master could just discern the Sun, and then the bright blue dot that was Earth - the object of so many of his maniacal designs. There also, he could see the Dalek-saucer - a bright speck rushing off to escape the solar-system to return to Skaro. But suddenly, that little dot burst like a firework into a shower of colour. What had happened? Never mind - he had best look to his own predicament; for one thing, he realized that his oxygen was running low...
~~~
As Dr. Who's TARDIS spun through the vortex back to Earth, there was one as yet unanswered question bothering Liz.
'Doctor, where do you reckon the planet Nivkel got its name?'
'I really can't imagine, Liz,' he replied, adjusting the flight-controls. 'I suppose that there might be any number of possible explanations.'
'I guess it be a corruption of the name of one of the original explanations.'
'Perhaps you're right,' he said, looking up from some dials he had been studying. 'But whatever the solution to that particular puzzle, the mission to find water on Nivkel lies in the future - your future - and it has now become part of your past. So it is vital that you do not attempt to alert Carl Burke, or anyone else, to the mission's futility!'
That said, he stared blankly at the wall. What a pickle! Had he been too hasty in assuming that the Master had been exterminated by the Daleks? And what were the Daleks doing there in the first place, with the Master's TARDIS?
It had all come as such as a surprise that he had not had the opportunity to grasp control of events. He thought of those Earth astronauts and their Nivkelian descendents: he thought of all that precious metals, and even oil (!) in value. What a terrible waste. And again, what of the Master? Perhaps the villain had perished in the Dalek-saucer - and had the Doctor the right to wipe out that particular Dalek task-force? The Time Lords might not think so. Events had taken him by surprise. If only there had been some other way...
The Master choked for breath. In their haste, the Daleks had left behind the Time-Scoop, and he was frantically working away at it with a 'sonic-spanner' - could he alter its function and thereby escape this dead world, this hell of his own creation? Would time run out, and leave a Time Lord..TRAPPED?
written by
IAN McPHERSON
copyright 2009
artwork by
STEPHEN LAW - Dalek
IAN McPHERSON - Cyberman
COLIN JOHN - The Master
copyright 2009