Doctor Who_ The Dalek Factor Part 4

'Oh, you can't do that.'

'Why?'

'I don't know.'

Fellebe reminds him. 'Captain, all comm links went down an hour ago.'

Captain Vay s.h.i.+fts uneasily. 'Yes, of course.'The man smiles. 'A philosopher once said that forgetfulness is contagious. Which philosopher? Who knows? I can't remember her name.'

Captain Vay motions Kye to him, then he turns to the man. 'This is ranger Kye. I should be grateful if you would give her as much detail as possible about your life here and the layout of the tunnel network and the kind of equipment you have in your possession.'

'If it helps.' The man's willing to volunteer information and immediately starts speaking to Kye. 'This tunnel extends three hundred and eight paces from the chair at my outermost outpost to here. I should know because I've paced the distance, counting every step done that often. Solitude you see. Loneliness. The progenitor of eccentricity. There is a suite of eleven rooms here. This, the lounge. Next to this, the morning room. Morning room? It sounds dreadfully formal, but that's where I find myself every morning. Through the doorway there in the corner...'

With the stranger speaking to Kye, the Captain waves us back through into the corridor, then beckons us closer so he can speak without the man overhearing. 'I've had easier conversations,' he admits with a grimace.

'The man's clearly insane,' Tar'ant states. 'He doesn't know his name; doesn't know why he's here; doesn't know squat.'

'Or eccentric,' the Captain counters.

'Or lying.' Fellebe is uneasy.

Captain Vay nods. 'That's one of the reasons I don't want to quit on him yet. According to the robot probes, there should be no sentient life on this planet. They didn't even detect this tunnel complex.'

's.h.i.+elding?' asks Dissari.'Perfect s.h.i.+elding at that.' The Captain is grim. 'Its builders have invested time and energy to conceal what appears, so far, to be a retreat for a lunatic. That's enough to turn anyone's head into a breeding ground for questions.'

Pup shrugs. 'He could have been forced into making a landing here, or been deliberately marooned, then he stumbled across the place.' He gives another expressive shrug. 'Bearing in mind most of the world out there is bug-ridden swamp, this place is dry and bug free.'

I add: 'And the solitude has sent him...' I tap the side of my helmet.

'Crazy,' Tar'ant agrees with feeling.

'In the const.i.tution there's no prohibition against mental aberration. I can act contrary to our host's will only if he's a danger to us, or to the Thal nation, or to himself.' The Captain removes his helmet. 'Once I've established that, he'll be at liberty to speak in rhyme or whatever he does until the end of time if that's what he wants.'

Fellebe looks back at Kye still trying to talk to the man. 'So, what can we do now, sir?'

'We've still to locate the energy signature the sensors picked up. Odds are, it will be nothing more than one of those hunks of Dalek sc.r.a.p. When we've done that, we'll conduct a detailed search of the gentleman's...' his eyes scan the tunnel walls '...residence. Then we return to the s.h.i.+p.' He checks the pad on his sleeve. 'My comm link and environmental sensors are still down. Anyone still have a link?'

We check. There's a chorus from the platoon: 'No, sir.' 'Mine's dead.' 'Nothing here.'

'That has to be a mighty electrical storm building up there.' Captain Vay shakes his head. 'OK. I want that Dalek trace located as quickly as possible. I know it'll be a lump of rust, but we have to verify its position and status, then we can cross it off the commander's "to do" list.' He gives a wry smile. 'So does anyone still have their tracker in working order?'

At first everyone choruses their 'Negative' again, but I see Rain recheck her sleeve pad, then catch the Captain's attention. 'Wait... Mine's rebooting itself, sir. It'll just be a moment.'

'That's something,' he breathes. 'We'd be in the c.r.a.p if we couldn't get a lock on the next target.'

'Sorry, sir. It's slow. It must be the electrical storm outside.'

'When you source the trace it will be very weak. We're probably talking about a piece of sc.r.a.p the size of your hand.'

'It's coming through, sir. That's it.' She touches the tiny screen on the sleeve pad. Then she stiffens. There's an expression of shock on her face as she stares at the screen.

'What's the matter, ranger? You've got a reading?''Yes sir. But it's strong very strong... Wait! Sir, it's gone right off the scale!'

'Ranger. In what direction?'

'It's not indicating a direction.'

'Concentrate, ranger. It must give co-ordinates.'

'No, sir. I'm registering a powerful Dalek signature.'

'But where from?'

'That's just it, sir.' She looks at him, her eyes shockingly wide. 'It's all around us.'

TEN.

'DALEK, YOU SAY?'.

'Yes. Dalek!' Captain Vay repeats the word for the fifth time.'Dalek... Dalek? Dalek.' The man, in turn, repeats the word as he taps his lips with the fingertips of one hand. He frowns. 'No. Sorry. Never heard of the word.'

'You don't know your own name? You've never heard of Daleks?'

'No. Should I?'

'Everyone's heard the word Dalek.'

The man shrugs. 'I don't mean to be obtuse. But the word has no emotional value for me. I don't react in any way whatsoever to it.'

'How about the word "prison".' Captain Vay notices the man flinch. 'And do you know another word that rhymes with "rhyme"?'

The man shakes his head. The smile has vanished from his face.Captain Vay locks eyes with him. 'Earlier, you told me some words that rhyme with rhyme. The one that you omitted to mention was "time"'

Now the man twitches as if he's just put his finger on a live terminal. When he speaks, he sounds winded. 'Thank you for the solution to my conundrum, Captain. One less word to marry up.' He takes a deep breath. 'But no. Dalek means nothing to me. See that drawing of a beetle?' He indicates a sketch on the wall. 'I'm especially proud of that. And I can name its components. See the jaws? Those are the mandibles. The prothorax is linked to the abdomen by the meothorax, where you will find its rear legs and the scutellum. I don't know why, but I have a precise knowledge of insect life. For some reason, the life cycle of the b.u.t.terfly and moth I find especially fascinating. First there is the egg, followed by the larvae, then the hard, stone-like pupae before the final stage of the metamorphosis the imago the adult b.u.t.terfly.' He drops his gaze sadly. 'Of course, all the b.u.t.terflies here are venomous. Still, creatures of great beauty though. But then the beautiful and the deadly can often be found in the same skin, isn't that so, Captain Vay?'

Instead of answering the man's question, he asks: 'Sir, how did you come to be in this place... ?' Then the Captain grimaces and answers for him. 'You don't know?'

'That's right. I don't.'

'So you can't tell us if there are any Daleks here?'

'Not if I don't know what they are.'

Captain Vay turns to address the platoon. 'Unlock your weapons. Activate ammunition charging procedure. We've a strong trace that indicates we might have viable Daleks close by.'

We run through the charging procedure. My weapon begins to vibrate in my hands. After checking his side arm, the Captain replaces his helmet. The platoon is alert, slipping into a state of battle readiness. This is what all those months of training were for. We're listening, watching, even smelling the air for danger. Rain's tracker sensor had registered a big, fat pulse of energy consistent with a Dalek presence. It might just be an ancient Dalek sc.r.a.p heap. Or it might be a Dalek sleeper pod. Or it might mean this whole complex is swarming with Daleks. Those thoughts are enough to send adrenaline shooting through my veins.

I step out through the door, gun at the ready. Pelt stands there. He's not wearing his helmet; his eyes are wide and expectant. The puncture wounds made by those leech parasites are still visible in his skin as a myriad of small, black dots.

Fellebe stares at him. 'Pelt? You were supposed to stay in the shuttle.'

'Come back to me,' he breathes. 'I died ten minutes ago died ten minutes ago.'

I use my fist to push him hard against the wall. Even as he falls, his body dissolves, spewing thousands of insects. In seconds, nothing of Pelt's body shape remains. The insects are streaming for the outside world again.

'What a planet,' I hiss. 'Sweet life, what a planet!'

ELEVEN.

AS WE MOVE ALONG THE CORRIDOR, THE MAN FOLLOWS US. 'A name.'

The Captain pauses. 'Pardon?'

'A name. I should have a name.'

'That s conventional practice.'

'Then I must have one too,' the man gushes.

'We'll have to debate that later, sir. First, we have work to do.'

'Oh? Daleks.'

'Yes. Daleks.'

'Then let me help you. I know the layout of these tunnels.'

'You're volunteering to be our guide?'

'Of course. And of course I must have a name. We can't have you calling me "sir". Or "that man" or "hey, you!"'

'You've remembered your name?' The Captain is hopeful.

'Oh, no.'

'Sir!' Sweet life, does he sound irritated. 'Sir. Return to your quarters and please wait for us there. This won't take long.'

'I can help. But to help, I need a name.''Sir ' I figure Captain Vay is close to ordering one of us to haul the man back to his living quarters. 'You have to understand that'

'Professor! Call me Professor. Yes... Professor has a pleasing ring. Now let me show you the way.' He throws out a hand toward a door and

declaims: 'Bathroom!'

We're in the search programme. We act automatically. With a crisp hand signal, Captain Vay orders Golstar and Amattan to check the room. They return in seconds.

'All clear, sir.'Captain Vay nods at the man. 'OK, Professor. Show us what you've got down here.'

'My pleasure, Captain. This way.'I see the screen pulsing red on Rain's sleeve. A sure sign that the place is filthy with Daleks. Only there's no visual confirmation yet. But, then again, who knows what lies beyond the next door?

The man who now calls himself Professor stands outside another doorway. 'Guest bedroom. Rather a mess, really. I've been using it to store '

'Stand aside, Professor.' Tar'ant and Pup enter. I glimpse an untidy room piled with furniture.

'Never had guests,' the Professor explains. 'Now, the next one is the library. All clear? Good. And this is the kitchen. Please excuse the dirty dishes. I simply didn't antic.i.p.ate visitors.' Tense now, Captain Vay motions us forward. He's so focused on the search that he doesn't respond to the Professor's rambling explanations of solo domestic life. 'Rain. Golstar.' He gives the hand signal to enter. They do so, gunstocks snug against their shoulders in case they need to fire.

The Professor grimaces. 'It won't be pleasant in there, unfortunately. Grease on the cooker. Half eaten ca.s.serole in the pan. And as for the plate in the sink? Heaven alone knows what I'd left on that, but it's returning to primordial slime. Yesterday I was sure I saw something move in there... something alive. Y alive. You see, there are never enough hours in the day to do everything that one would wish to'

'Captain... Captain!' That's Rain's voice. There's an edge to it that sets my heart pounding. She's seen something.

Captain Vay slips the handgun from the holster. 'What shows, ranger?'

'You'd better take a look at this, Captain.'