Thorn Bush (Doctor Who Story)

Chapter 39: Evolution of the Daleks

Dalek Sec reaches towards them, its singular eye twitching as he says, "These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridisation."

Kathy watches out of the corner of her eye as the Doctor sneaks away behind some equipment, not moving as she decides to stick with Martha as the Pigmen grab at them.

"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha cries fearfully.

Kathy smirks as she hears Happy Days Are Here Again start playing. Everyone stops, looking around in various degrees of confusion.

"What is that sound?" Sec questions, disoriented.

The Doctor pokes his head out and strides forward casually. "Ah, well, now, that would be me." He puts the radio down by a Bunsen burner and walks up to Sec. "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."

"Doctor." Sec utters.

"The enemy of the Daleks!"

"Exterminate!"

"Wait!" Sec quickly orders, the rest of the Cult of Skaro back down.

The Doctor walks up to Dalek Sec, closely analysing the hybrid. "Well, then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever."

"The Cult of Skaro escaped your and the Prophet's slaughter." Sec spits.

Prophet... Kathy is pretty sure she's heard that word before.

"How did you end up in 1930?"

"Emergency temporal shift."

"Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, huh?" The Doctor chuckles, turning to the other Daleks with a mocking grin. "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting." He turns back to Dalek Sec, curious. "All of which results in you."

"I am Dalek in human form!" Sec declares.

"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now." The Doctor prompts.

"I feel humanity." Sec turns away.

"Good. That's good."

"I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is," Sec turns back to the Doctor, speaking almost gleefully, "ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war."

"I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, mate." Kathy retorts, striding past the Pigmen as well as Martha, Frank and Laszlo's attempts to stop her.

Sec glares at her. "No, I think I do, Prophet. At heart, this species is so very Dalek."

"All right, so what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing!" The Doctor reprimands. "Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple little radio." He pats it.

"What is the purpose of that device?" One of the Daleks says.

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise." The Doctor aims his sonic screwdriver at the little radio. It emits a shriek that hurts Sec, the Daleks, and the Pigmen.

"Run!" Kathy cries, shoving Martha and Frank forward along with all the others.

Kathy can hear the Daleks frantically crying out the need to protect Dalek Sec as they flee down the sewers.

Kathy leads the group towards where she knows the ladder is from which they had entered. They run into a lost Tallulah and Kathy wastes no time in grabbing her hand and yanking her along with them, ignoring her questions about where Laszlo is. Kathy knows he'll be safe for now, the Daleks and the Pigmen think he's one of them, and he'll be fine for now.